Everything seemed to be happening very quickly. First, I was standing two feet from Olexander, next thing I knew he had grabbed me tightly. It happened so fast I didn’t understand why, until I felt Olexanders weight slump against my body. The dagger was in the middle of his back. Billy went running back through the door he’d come from. We both collapsed to the floor. Olexander looked stunned.
“Olexander look at me.” I spoke in hushed whispers and shook him gently until his eyes met mine.
“Olexander if you have any chance I need to pull it out.” He nodded weakly and I used all my strength to remove the blade from his back. He arched his body in agony before collapsing back into me. “Olexander I don’t know what to do, tell me what to do.” The tears were flowing freely now. “Why did you do that?” I choked out.
“I had...I had to rescue you.” He had the faintest outline of a smile on his lips.
I felt a hundred years of sadness swallowing me up, but I fought against it. Olexander wasn’t dead yet, and if Jules was in this building, I was going to find her. I took a deep breath to make me brave, and looked into Olexanders face.
“Olexander I have to find Julia, and then I’ll come back for you.” He nodded weakly. I kissed him. His lips were soft underneath mine. I wrapped the bandage on my hand more tightly and picked up the legitimate Castus dagger. I was going to end this today. I followed Billy into the dark corridor.
Chapter 16
The corridor was pitch black. I felt my way uneasily along the wall. Holding the dagger I’d pulled from Olexander at my side ready to shove it into anything that moved. I wandered into the sparse lighting of the sub-basement. I saw Billy in the corner of the room playing idly with his knife. I wondered what I would turn into if I had been in his place. His Mother killed in front of him.
“Billy we can stop all this right now. No more people have to die here today.” I spoke to him in the same voice I would speak to a child.
“We all have to die, we are all damned.” He had a wild look in his eyes, like someone who had nothing left inside, just a shell of a person.
I inched toward him a bit closer than I should have. “Billy we aren’t damned. You don’t know any more than I do what worlds lay beyond this one.”
He looked into my eyes. “We let monsters into paradise. We will be meant to pay for that. They said killing the abominations would be enough to save me. I have to repent for who I am.”
“Whose words am I hearing now? The Castus? Did Angeline tell you all this? Did it ever occur to you she is lying? She brainwashed you Billy.”
“I know about the pit. I know about the torture, and the anguish,” he spit out.
I could feel anger rising in my chest. I was angry that Billy wasn’t strong enough to fight this nonsense. I was angry that he was now my enemy.
“Oh I’m sorry, I must have forgotten about that summer when you backpacked across the pit.” My voice was seething rage and sarcasm, I liked it, and it seemed to make me brave. I felt strong.
“The Castus are warriors of God. I only killed the people who deserved to die.” He said the words matter-of-factly, unwavering in his faith. I knew then, the Billy I had known was wholly gone.
“Like your Mother? Tell me Billy did Clara deserve to die?”
“That is enough.” A booming voice broke through the tension, and I spun around.
“So this is the little flower causing me so much trouble.”
I had never seen this man before. He was tall and intimidating. Fifty years old would be my guess. His skin was the color of dark chocolate, and it made the whites of his eyes stand out menacingly. His voice was deep and rich and brought with it an air of authority. He was wearing a tailored grey suit with gold cufflinks, and an ornate silver cross hung from around his neck. He looked ridiculous standing with all of us in a dingy basement. A man and woman in black army fatigues soon flanked him. I recognized the young girl from the warehouse and I saw more coming out of the shadows, at least seven of them surrounded me, all in black, and all very young.
“Quinlan I presume,” I said, trying to hide the defeat in my voice. I was outnumbered and royally screwed. Billy scrambled over to Quinlan’s feet mumbling pleas for forgiveness. I wondered how I could have missed how broken Billy had been. Had fear made him a good liar, or had fear only recently shattered him completely. It was probably a little bit of both.
Quinlan patted his head as you would a dog, “my dear boy, do not grovel. You did your best.”
Billy didn’t even see the blade coming, it happened so fast I barely did, in one swift motion Quinlan had slit Billy’s throat.
“I’m sorry William, but your best was simply not adequate.” He took out a handkerchief and wiped off the blade of his knife as well as his hands. I stood, shocked. Quinlan stepped over Billy as if he were no more than a dead insect and focused his attention on me.
“I know what you’re thinking little flower. You are thinking he isn’t dead, there is still a chance for him to heal, but you would be wrong. William here was telling the truth about never Collecting a sin, therefore he is far more human that he realized. I’m afraid that wound is fatal.” He was still walking toward me, completely at ease. He was human, but his aura was like nothing I had ever seen. There were so many variants of red and orange it looked as if he was in flames.
I was about to run, possibly fight, definitely scream, when suddenly the lights went out. The room went black as a moonless night. You could hear the flustered footsteps of the Castus, disoriented in the sudden darkness. The Castus became disoriented, but I didn’t. I could still see everyone, or at least their auras. Everyone in the room was suddenly glowing. All my power was raw, alive, and very pissed off.
They shined so brightly, each a distinct glow. I took the dagger and shoved it into the man nearest my right. Another woman rushed me and I kicked her as hard as I could in the gut. I heard her fall to the ground. I could see the rest of the people retreating, but Quinlan had barely moved. I ran at him carelessly and was grabbed from behind by another man, knocking the dagger out of my hand. I heard it clatter on the polished stone floor. I used all my energy to spin around and punched the man so hard in the head I heard him fall to the ground as well. Backup generators kicked on, and I realized I was alone in the dank room with Quinlan. I had never even seen him move, but he now held the dagger I’d so carelessly let slip from my grasp. He stalked toward me slowly, with the blade at the ready, fully prepared to shove it into my side, just as Nela had predicted. Each stride measured like a hunter never doubting his prey was both cornered and defeated. I slowly reached behind me, placing my hand on the dagger there.
His penetrating eyes were mocking as he stared at me, a smug grin stretching across his face.
“I think it’s time you left,” I said.
“Don’t be ridiculous, where would I go?”
I tried to keep my voice steady, staring into his wicked eyes.
“I believe you’ll be going someplace warm.”
And with that I thrust the dagger into his chest.
He stumbled backwards. A look of confusion flashed across his face and I knelt down so I was at eye level with him. He still had an arrogant smile on his face.
“You can thank Angeline when you see her” I said, “it was her dagger.”
I reached over and twisted the blade in his chest and his body went limp and colorless. I pulled the dagger out wiping it on the pant leg of his ugly gray suit, before returning it to the back of my belt.
“Now that was something to see.” I turned to see Olexander leaning heavily on Julia, who was wearing a large grin and Olexander’s hat.
“You rescued us Lily.” She reached out to hug me, without letting go of Olexander.
“Julia are you ok, are you hurt?” I looked her over methodically but she didn’t appear injured. Her clothes were filthy, that was all.
“I already made sure, she is unscathed. I hope you didn’t mind us turning out the lights.” Olexander sai
d still grinning. “It was the best we could do under the circumstances.”
“We knew the rest of them would get scared and run away. It was my idea.” Julia explained. Julia was safe, Olexander was safe, and I was still alive. That made me laugh aloud, and both Olexander and Julia looked at me quizzically.
“I was just thinking of how nice it was to not have been stabbed.” I draped Olexander’s arm around my shoulder to help support his weight.
“Well Lily my dear didn’t anyone ever tell you? Mystics are hacks.” He kissed me deeply until Julia was making gagging sounds. I sighed and put my arm around his waist.
“We better get that wound cleaned so it can start to heal,” I said, and the three of us slowly climbed the stairs to daylight.
Epilogue
Beneath the window in Julia’s room, birds were gathering and singing in the Vendome gardens. I could see her sitting wordlessly listening to their sweet song. As if she feared, any movement might startle the beautiful choir away. We had been at the Hotel Ritz Paris for three weeks. Three weeks since Olexander, Julia and I had walked hand in hand onto the busying streets of Madrid.
We had abandoned the yacht, only after I had gone to retrieve some of our more personal possessions. It had taken me less than an hour to gather up Olexander’s ornate box and some files from his office. I had been willing to pack up all of Julia’s things, but all she requested was her pink teddy bear, it had been a gift from Lydia, and the picture on her bedside table of her Mother. I stopped quickly in my room to retrieve the book of fairytales, but that was all. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, the silver locket hanging around my neck. I walked to the deck, and opening it, blew the delicate lilacs into the open sea air then tucked it securely in my pocket. Olexander and Julia had waited in the car. Olexander, even with the blood loss, had quickly chartered us a private plane to Paris, despite it still being quite early in the morning. We had each other, and could buy anything else we would need.
Therefore, we were now content to lounge inside the beautiful apricot and honey colored walls of the Ritz. The best room money could buy, now occupied by Olexander and Liliana Masson, and Liliana’s beautiful little sister Julia Thayer. That was us, at least for now. The first few days in Paris had been difficult. Olexander, still extremely weak from the attack, would pass in and out of consciousness. It wasn’t until the fifth day that he seemed to be showing signs of his old self again. After pulling me into a tight embrace and kissing me heatedly, he asked on the whereabouts of his hat. Julia was having nightmares, but even they seemed to fade away with each passing night as I reassured her no one was coming after us.
That was true enough, for now anyway. The members of the Castus I had seen had all been quite young, but not without faith. I had killed Quinlan. I did not expect that to go without retribution. However, in my estimation, we had a few years before his regime was organized enough to come for us. We would have to prepare ourselves in the interim.
After a week in Paris, I was going to call Sofie. Olexander encouraged me to maintain our friendship. Truthfully, I had always missed her, but I resisted the temptation. It seemed that portion of my life was over. I knew she would take care of Valentine. She was a good friend with a good soul. I was going to miss them terribly.
As for today, we were safe, anonymous, and going to church. Julia was still sitting motionless at the window in her sage green trapeze styled chiffon dress. It offset her red curls beautifully and it made me sad to think of how grown up she already was. As it turned out Julia brought out the shopaholic in me. At first, we shopped quickly, only for necessities, neither of us wanting to leave Olexander out of our sight for very long. As he began to feel better, our shopping trips dragged on, both of us taking the time to try on everything in every store we found appealing.
Today I was dressed up as well, in a lavender, knee length, strapless chiffon dress, with a matching sweater that Julia insisted brought out the color of my eyes. The cut on both my forearm and hand were healing nicely, just a thin pink scar was visible, and soon there would be nothing at all. I sat at the mahogany desk fiddling with the buttons on my sweater.
“Do you suppose we will ever get going?” Julia asked quietly, still afraid to make too much noise and scare away the birds.
“Perhaps he isn’t well enough to go out today,” I whispered back to her.
“We are going, I swear it,” Olexander said happily, as he threw the double doors of our bedroom open, his eyes sweeping the hotel room.
“None of us are getting any younger you know,” Julia said rolling her eyes.
“Very funny, you know she never had this sarcastic tone before you came along.” He said playfully narrowing his eyes at me before looking through the shopping bag on the sofa. I came up behind him, putting the hat on his head.
“Looking for that?” I said with a smirk.
He let out a sigh before turning around.
“I believe, Liliana my love, I have found everything I was looking for.”
“Can we please go? I don’t want to be ninety before I see the Sainte-Chapelle,” Julia said playfully. I took her hand and grabbed my purse. Olexander held the door open, “ladies first.”
I grabbed his hand as we walked down the beautiful hall toward the elevators. Things might not stay this perfect forever. Perfection could never be guaranteed even when time was on your side. I was different now. I knew to enjoy the perfect while it lasted. When the time came, I would take a deep breath for bravery and together we would find the strength to fight. Everything could be new again, and as I looked at my family, their loyalty and love shone like a beacon from every inch of them, calling me home.
THE END
Look for the second book in
The Sin Collector Trilogy.
The Sin Collector: Sacrifice in 2013.
Acknowledgments
I would first like to thank Madelyn Bucci for her amazing cover design. She took a very vague idea in my head and made it blossom into a gorgeous piece of art that I am absolutely in love with. I could not have been any luckier than her agreeing to do my design. I would like to thank John Duvall, who came in like a knight in shining armor and fixed my computer when it up and died on me so close to publication.
I would like to thank my Mother Susan for meticulously editing this book several times. I would be ripping my hair out without her support and keen eye for writing.
I want to thank my Aunt Dolly for being my own personal cheerleader every day, and always believing in the worth of this book even when I didn’t believe it myself.
Lastly, I want to again thank my Mother Susan and my Father Thomas for letting me, their bum daughter, live in their house rent free while I worked tirelessly writing.
I send you my love, always.
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