Sinner (Starlight Book 3)

by D. N. Hoxa

  “Cool,” he simply said and returned to the screen. What the hell kind of answer was that?

  With an eye roll, I returned to the files in my hand.

  ***

  I was smiling widely, my smile mirroring his. Those ocean blue eyes bore into mine and saw deep down within me, saw all of my secrets and my truths, and he still kept smiling. We swayed around the empty, giant ballroom, decorated with red and white and gold, and the world outside didn’t exist. He held me tighter every time our bodies separated because of some dance move, and I shivered. His hand slowly caressed my back as we moved like we were one on the deep red carpet, and my beautiful dress flowed around our feet like it was made out of liquid.

  He watched me and I was fascinated all over again. His eyes, his nose, his cheeks. His lips were the most beautiful lips I’d ever seen and no doubt would ever see. And they were smiling. For me. Because he was mine.

  I giggled, unable to contain my joy. He joined me and his ocean eyes were peaceful, calm. Filled with adoration.

  Then, all of a sudden, I was pulled back by a force I couldn’t see.

  “No!” I shouted. “Aaron!”

  But Aaron was standing right where I left him, his eyes filled with pure terror now. I couldn’t break free from whatever was holding me back. I reached out my arms for him just like he did for me, but I couldn’t make it. I saw his lips move, but no sound came out of him. He was calling my name.

  Suddenly, the room filled with fairies. Tall and short, in colors I couldn’t have even imagined, all equally beautiful. All watching me and laughing their hearts out.

  I couldn’t understand what was happening. I looked back at Aaron but now…now he was laughing, too, his eyes mocking me. He looked so terribly similar to the fairies as he joined them in their laughter.

  I called out to him again, terrified. Because I was wrong—he didn’t look like a fairy.

  His eyes had become dark and his smile pure evil, better than any I was able to fake. Black smoke seemed to come out of his pores—even the clothes on his body. His fingernails were black and sharp. Even his dark hair had grown inches without me even realizing it.

  “She’s dancing with the devil,” someone from the crowd shouted. “She’s doing it! She’s dancing with the devil!”

  So. Much. Laughter.

  My chest hurt. The fairies were laughing so hard, but they were all looking at Aaron now and patting him on the shoulder while he raised his glass to all of them and smiled widely.

  What was he doing?

  I called his name, over and over again, but my voice was lost. I couldn’t move anymore. Someone had my arms pinned to my torso and my feet pinned to the ground.

  But why was he laughing with them? I didn’t understand.

  “To the devil,” another fairy shouted, touched his glass to Aaron’s, and they both nodded at each other as they brought the glasses to their lips.

  “Don’t drink that!” I wanted to shout to Aaron, but only my lips moved. No sound came out. I started screaming.

  He sipped his drink and turned to look at me while I stood there, unmoving and screaming without sound.

  The next second, his face was a hair away from mine. I gasped, but he kept smiling coldly. He looked so different. So horrible. I started shaking my head because it couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be my Aaron.

  He put his cheek on mine and inhaled deeply, sniffing me. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. He let out a strange sound from his throat before he faced me again.

  “I don’t have a mother.”

  “Aaron, please…” I breathed, but I wasn’t sure if the words had really left my lips.

  “I don’t have a mother!” he shouted, angrier than anyone I’d ever seen, his eyes gleaming bright red.

  And then I fell.

  ***

  "Star, we’re here.”

  When I opened my eyes, dark eyes were looking at me. Fear froze my limbs until I realized that it was only Arturo.

  Shit. Just a dream. It was just a dream, though my hands were still shaking. It had felt so fucking real.

  I squeezed my eyes shut for a second to get that face out of my mind—Aaron’s transformed, horrible face.

  “Star?”

  Both Kyle and Arturo were looking at me, their eyes wide with confusion. I offered a weak smile before I realized that we weren’t moving anymore and the rotor blades were barely making a sound. I unbuckled and jumped up without wasting another second. We had arrived.

  We were at least twenty stories high in the heart of Philadelphia. Before I let nostalgia hit me again, I went for the door of the roof that would lead us downstairs.

  “Give me your phone,” I said to Kyle while we were on the elevator.

  The phone was more a tablet than anything else, but I didn’t complain. I opened a new note and wrote down a name: Thomas Hart, were-panther.

  The elevator doors opened. We stepped outside on the crowded street and took in the not-so-fresh air. It was already noon so the sun was up and shining, though it was still cold. The bookstore wasn't far. But we’d need a cab. I was starting to really hate cabs, but I hailed one, anyway.

  The guys followed without a sound. Arturo took the passenger seat and Kyle and I jumped in the back. I slipped Kyle’s phone back into his hands. He looked at the name on the screen with confusion. I leaned in to whisper in his ear.

  “Find out what you can about him. Focus on relationships, if he was married, who he dated, everything you can find.” Kyle nodded. “And it’s personal, so no word about this to anyone.”

  By the time we got out of the cab and I saw the same old purple sign of Sam’s bookstore, my stomach growled. Could have been from hunger. Or nervousness. Or stress. Probably all of them combined.

  “Okay, guys,” I said to Kyle and Arturo. “There’s a place right around the corner that makes the best pizza.” They both looked at me like I was crazy.

  “What?” Kyle said hysterically. “You told me I’m going to meet Samuel Belmont.”

  “And you are. I just need to go in alone first.”

  “Again?” Arturo said, raising his brow.

  “Listen, it’s not that I don't trust you. But I need to see him alone first. Then, I’ll give you a call, and we’ll meet over there, where it says Sam’s.” I pointed at the purple sign across the street.

  “A bookstore?” Kyle asked.

  “What, you didn’t know? Samuel both owns and lives in a bookstore.” I grinned. “Just give me half an hour.”

  That was all I needed, if I didn’t have to kill the old man, which I honestly hoped I wouldn’t. Still, if it needed to happen, I would have to come up with a really good excuse for Kyle. I shivered just at the thought of it.

  I directed the boys to Danny’s and nostalgia hit me again. Ella had loved Danny’s pizzas so much.

  When I could no longer see Kyle or Arturo, I slowly crossed the street. My senses washed over the entire neighborhood, and I barely felt Sam’s summer magic. He was down at the bookstore, just like I’d expected.

  With a deep breath, I made my way to the alley around the building. The smell hit me hard, and I almost tripped on broken asphalt. A homeless man was lying on one corner, and he was sleeping like he had no care in the world. The smell of alcohol lingered around him.

  Other than him, there was nobody else there, so I got down to business. The window that would lead to Sam’s apartment—his bathroom specifically—was small, but I thought I could fit just fine. I pulled up my sleeves and grabbed the nearest, dirtiest dumpster in the alley, and dragged it all the way over to the wall. Ugh. I already couldn’t wait for a very long shower.

  I jumped on the filthy green lid of the dumpster and looked up. Perfect. I just had to jump a little to grab the windowsill. So I did. If the homeless guy heard anything, he sure didn’t look like he cared. I pulled myself up slowly as the muscles in my arms burned. The top sash was open a bit. I had no doubt that Sam’s apartment was protected by spells. He wou
ld know if I used force to enter. He could also know if I slipped in without breaking anything, too. Who knew what spell he’d used, or what witch or warlock had created it?

  But I tried the least obvious road, anyway. I grabbed the wooden frame and pulled it up until there was enough space for my arm to fit. The wood cracked, but it wouldn’t give. My fingers were still a good two inches from the lock.

  Shit. I was sweating by the time I decided that it didn’t matter if Sam knew an intruder was in his apartment. I was going to need him to come upstairs anyway. So I wrapped my fist with the sleeve of my hood, and without another thought, I broke the window.

  I almost heard the silent alarm that warned Sam of an intruder. I kept moving. Going in headfirst wasn’t the best idea. I found that out when I was facing the toilet. That, together with the smell of the alley, almost made me throw my guts out for real. Instead, I closed my eyes and concentrated on moving my legs. I held on to a small wooden drawer on the right until my whole body was inside, and I jumped to my feet on the white bathroom carpet a second later.

  My ears, as well as my senses, told me that there wasn’t anyone in the apartment, so I slowly opened the door. I walked into the living room and looked out the window. I exhaled slowly and took a seat on the brown, comfortable sofa, right before I dropped all of my shields. My energy filled the air with tension—I could feel it vibrating on my skin. Now, Sam would know who the intruder was.

  ***

  Five minutes later, he finally decided to come up and face me. The door opened with a crack, but he didn't move inside right away. I didn’t move, either.

  “Star,” he whispered when he entered the living room.

  I felt his eyes on the back of my head before I slowly stood up and turned around, goose bumps already covering my arms.

  After all those years, he looked barely a year older, if that. His light blue eyes shone just like I remembered. His gray hair was neatly brushed on one side of his head, and his green shirt was a size too big for his thin frame.

  “Sam,” I said with a sad smile. I’d looked at the man like he was my own father once. For a second, I feared I wouldn't be able to kill him when the time came.

  “I was waiting for you,” he said with a nod, and then turned to the kitchen. He left the door open so I could see him, too. He took two glasses from the cabinet, and some orange juice from the fridge. I smiled at a memory. He was always very hospitable.

  He sat on the sofa across from me and motioned casually for me to do the same. I did and analyzed his face while he poured the juice for us. His hands were shaking. I felt filthy, knowing he was scared of me. I felt disgusted with myself knowing that he had the right to be scared, because I knew why I was there. But some things just had to be done.

  We held each other’s eyes for a second. A mix of emotions showed on his face, but I didn't stop to analyze. Thoughts were already battling emotions inside of me.

  “There’s only one question I want to ask you, Uncle Sam.” Calling him Uncle came naturally to me, and I was glad it did. I wanted him to know how much I had trusted him and how much he hurt me.

  But he nodded and spoke before I asked.

  “You don't have to. I’ll tell you why, Star. It’s the least I can do.”

  I took the glass filled with juice from the table just to do something while I waited for him to start speaking.

  “The first reason is that I honestly believed that they would be safer here, close to you.”

  Yeah, right. He knew how the Council worked. We all did. Why we chose to ignore it for so long was beyond me.

  “The second reason was that I had no choice.”

  “We always have choices. I had a choice when I left my family, too. I was just too much of a coward to make it.” I remembered the day at the hospital all too well.

  “I’m sure you feel that way, but you weren’t then who you are now.” Before I could speak again, he stood up to go stand next to the window. “I’m going to tell you a story, Star. Whatever happens after that, I want you to know that you have made me proud, many times. I love you like I do my own daughter.” His face showed no trace of fear.

  The words he said rung completely true. Mentally, my mouth was hanging opened and my eyes were teary, but physically, I held my lesser evil smile on and stared at him without blinking. A second later, Sam began to tell me his story.

  “When I was seventeen years old, I fell in love. I felt like the whole world belonged to me and nothing could possibly go wrong anymore, because she felt the same way. What I didn't know was that a full witch wasn’t allowed to be together with a half. I learned that the hard way.”

  The sad smile in his voice made me feel sorry for him already. This couldn’t end well.

  “My mother, a fairy who cared more for her reputation that she did for me—naturally—threatened to kill us both because we wanted to break the rules. But we were seventeen and had our heads in the clouds so we didn't listen. Instead, we ran away together. She was pregnant at the age of seventeen, and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl when she was eighteen.”

  A tear had left his right eye, and he wiped it away while he still smiled.

  “Two months after that, they found us. My mother found us, and she killed my Leila.” He pressed his lips tightly. “In front of my eyes.”

  It didn’t take a genius to see how brokenhearted the man still was over that fact.

  “But my mother gave me a choice. She would let the baby live if I agreed to obey her requests for as long as I lived. So, I accepted.” He raised both his hands to his sides. “Here I am today.”

  I realized I had my mouth open, and I clamped it shut, swallowing hard. I couldn't even begin to imagine Sam’s pain. Fucking hell. Just a few sentences and everything looked different. I tried to picture him as an eighteen-year-old with a baby in his arms, but I couldn't.

  “What does this have to do with me and my family?” I asked when I found my voice again.

  “My mother wanted me to go to Lyndor, to train so I could work for the Council. I was her gift to them. They could do with me as they pleased, and in return, they all owed her a favor. My daughter…she works for the Council, too. She gets to keep her life as long as I don't refuse any of the Council’s requests. I’ve done things I am not proud of, Star, but you’re wrong. I didn't always have a choice,” Sam said and I felt shocked all over again.

  Suddenly, things seemed clearer to me.

  “That’s why you helped me?”

  “I helped you because you grew into me the day I met you. And that night, you reminded me so much of Leila. You were ready to die for your family, without blinking. You were as ready as she was. As ready as I am.”

  My chin trembled because the honesty in his voice and face couldn't be ignored. And because I would’ve done the same for Ella and Dad without even a second thought. Sam had lied to me because he was protecting his daughter. He worked for the Council because of his daughter. He practically lived so his daughter could live, too. Otherwise, he would’ve given up long ago. I could see that in his eyes.

  “You know, don't you?” I asked, and I didn’t need to tell him that I meant the potion. He just nodded and looked away.

  “I’ve known from day one,” he whispered. “I’ve even done most of the research for it.”

  “You also know I’m going to try to stop this, right? Even if I have to kill everyone who gets in my way?”

  A shiver ran down my spine as I realized that I wasn’t going to have to kill Sam after all. Or maybe I should, but I’d decided that I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. Not when I knew I’d have done the same.

  “I know, and I am proud of you for it. But I will warn you, Star. Things are not at all what they seem. One wrong move and you will lose your way without realizing it.”

  I nodded. “Did you know about me?”

  He shook his head without missing a beat. “I knew you were special. But I didn't know you were the Elemental until they…took your family.” he said
, whispering the last words because he knew exactly how that felt. “I am sorry, Star, but if I could turn back time, I would’ve done it all the same, all over again.” I respected him for his honesty, something not many people had lately. “And I will understand if you...” Sam’s voiced trailed off and he looked away.

  He was telling me that he understood if I wanted to kill him. I almost laughed because it seemed impossible that a man like him could belong to the Council. I had no idea how the hell he’d survived for so long.

  I walked over to him and sat down on the floor until we were eye level. He smiled sadly, obviously getting the wrong idea, which made me feel even worse about myself.

  “That was the plan when I came to find you, but I can't kill you for something I would've done myself. And especially not you.” I said, and he sighed but smiled. “I remember everything, Uncle Sam. I know that if it wasn't for you, I would've died in that hospital. But I also remember your lies. How they hurt, exactly because they were from you. I will not forget either of those things. But you will not die by my hands.”

  “I know,” he whispered, his eyes filled with tears again.

  I stood up and wanted to get out of my own skin. Situations in which I had no idea how to act always got the best of me.

  “However, I am going to ask you something.”

  Sam nodded without missing a beat.

  “I want to know about the Supernatural Keepers of Order. I know you were there last year, and I want to know what goes on in those meetings.”

  All blood left his face, and Sam didn't speak for a few minutes. Patience was never something I was well known for, but I kept my mouth shut and gave him his time, thinking, measuring, calculating.

  “Before we go on with this, I would like to clear the waters between us.”

  Uh…what? He caught me completely off guard.

  “I hold myself responsible for where you are today...”

  My mouth opened to stop him, but he didn’t let me.

  “No, let me finish. If I would’ve just helped you run and never introduced you to the Council in the first place, you wouldn't be here. But I do not regret it, even for a second.”