The Sin Collector (15 page)

I stood frozen for a moment listening to every hate filled word before quickly closing the phone and putting it back into his pocket. I felt sick, I had no idea who that woman was, but it was certainly not Clara. I quickly dressed, head to toe in black, it seemed fitting and tried to compose myself as much as possible. Billy emerged from the bathroom still smiling.

“I think I heard your phone buzzing while you were in the shower,” I said, trying to sound as normal and happy as I had been just fifteen minutes earlier. He walked to his pants pocket and checked his phone heedlessly, and began to get dressed.

“Who was it?” I managed to ask casually, as if I was only asking to be polite.

“Just Clara, always so worried about me, I’m completely impervious to harm and yet she still calls constantly, I can’t imagine what the poor human sons must go through with their Mothers.” He smiled wide, and I tried to smile back. Despite the fact that it felt as if my heart had fallen through the floor right down to the bottom of the ocean.

“I will meet you topside” I said and walked slowly down the long corridor. I couldn’t even imagine a good enough reason for him to have just flat out lied to me like he did, and my imagination was superior. I didn’t like it. I felt alone and betrayed, and extremely confused. Olexander was the only one on deck when I got there. He glanced at me and then quickly did a much slower once over.

“Lily, are you alright?

His concern felt genuine, although I was seriously questioning my own competence in the judging area. I didn’t want to be a fool, I didn’t want to be suspicious of those around me, and I really didn’t want to die tonight. I wasn’t sure if it was over four-hundred years of practice, or just the fact that he’d known me all my life, but Olexander took one last look at me and didn’t ask another question. He simply pulled me into a tight embrace.

The others soon joined us gathered once again around the large table.

“Now of course we cannot hurt another Collector,” Olexander said as he lifted a large box onto the table, “but these will certainly hurt the Castus.”

The large moving box was loaded with weapons. It contained several guns, loads of knives, what appeared to be a crossbow, and a few tiny balls that I recognized as grenades.

“Where did this box come from? Militia ‘R’ Us?” I asked as I carefully looked through the array of weapons. “In what universe would a crossbow be a weapon of choice?”

“Better safe than sorry,” Olexander said, with a smirk.

Billy already had a gun. I remembered that quite clearly. He took a knife as well. Thomas appeared to be in weaponry seventh heaven and was loading up as if we were hunting bears. I took a few of the small throwing knives, but didn’t touch the guns. Truth be told I was a terrible shot. I could throw a knife blindfolded and hit the target, but give me a gun and the odds of me hurting an innocent bystander were twice that of me harming an enemy. Olexander took nothing from the box. I wasn’t sure if he already had chosen his defense of choice, or if he was going pacifist on us. Either way it was clear there would be no more stalling we had to go.

We all walked to the black SUV Thomas had rented earlier in the day with a fake ID. The group of us was comical to look at. Without coordinating, we were all in black, and looked like a crack goon squad. On top of that, Billy and Olexander were pulsating bright red auras, as if they were each in their own little bubble. Thomas was the only one who remained a calming green. Now that I studied the way he held himself, with a sense of honor, eyes alert, one hand on a weapon, it became clear Thomas was not just a Collector in wartimes. He had been a soldier. For some reason this new realization made me like him even more. This was certainly not his first raid.

It would only take us about half an hour to drive to the hostel where two survivors were allegedly staying. We drove in silence through the shadier part of town. Olexander eyed Billy in the rearview mirror more than once, where Billy sat tense and wordlessly. Thomas appeared to be the only one prepared for a fight. He had estimated that we would be able to sense another Collector from 100 yards. We parked the SUV and filed out, all of us more aware of our surroundings than before. I instantly felt the pull of another Collectors sins, but not in the direction of the hostel. It was still an odd experience. I had only been around Rebecca since I’d had the ritual of protection performed on me. I could feel the sins but they didn’t hurt me. It felt like a bad headache coming on.

“
There’s a Collector this way.” I motioned to my left where an abandoned warehouse sat looking like it might collapse at any moment.

I could feel the pull and the push at the same time, conflicting. I was certain there was a Collector inside. All three men nodded in agreement and we walked toward the building. After all that was why we were here. The others followed me cautiously, guns drawn, all but Olexander whose hands remained empty. I pulled one of the knives out of the sheath on my belt, better safe than sorry.

“
Maybe Thomas and Billy should stay out here and cover us?” I whispered to Olexander. It came out sounding more like a question than a suggestion, but Olexander nodded and we all gathered so no one would hear our whispers.

“
Billy you and Thomas cover us from the outside, Lily and I will go in and bring the others out.” Olexander spoke with an undeniable tone of authority.

Billy looked hesitant to separate. He opened his mouth to protest but a sudden movement inside had Olexander and I rushing through the door. I could feel we were getting closer, when I rounded the corner and finally saw what I’d been feeling all along. He was tied to a chair, gagged, and bleeding heavily from a deep wound on his neck. I didn’t have time to react. Before I could stand, someone kicked me in the gut and sent me flying into the far wall. I regrouped quickly to see Olexander fighting with a man dressed all in black army fatigues, his long brown hair braided neatly down his back. This man, appeared to be forty at least, and very well trained. His aura was quite prominent. It curled around him like black smoke. He was matching Olexander’s sophisticated fighting style with ease. I ran to the boy tied to the chair, but as it was, we were too late. One last shudder of breath and all the pull I had felt outside was gone. The glow around his body flickered for a moment like a candle flame before going out completely.

I ran to get Thomas, who at least had a gun, when I felt the sharp pain on my right forearm. A woman had come out of nowhere, and more than that, she brandished a very ornate dagger that could cut me. It was very large, and had words engraved on it, but I couldn’t make them out. It had a black marble handle. I was no longer afraid, as I had been earlier in the car. Now I was nothing but bleeding and pissed. We circled each other like animals ready to fight. I could see the violet glow of another person hiding in the shadows, but I knew I couldn’t fight two at once. Luckily, whoever it was seemed content to stay hidden. The woman circling me was around twenty-five, definitely human, with long sandy brown hair that also hung in a neat braid down her back. Were braids part of the Castus uniform? I would have loved to ask but she looked like she was about ready launch herself at me when I heard a gunshot. She fell with a heavy thud and I turned to see Billy, his gun still in his hand.

“
Olex.” I shrieked, but my worry was unnecessary. Billy aimed just in time to see Olexander pull a large hunting knife from his jacket and plunge it into his attacker’s heart. I saw a girl out of the corner of my eye. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen, dressed in the same army fatigues. She was quite plain, the only thing about her that stood out was the violet glow that surrounded her, and she was terrified. She sprinted out the side door. We all stood there a moment looking at each other, breathing heavily. “Should I follow her?” I asked out of breath and applying pressure to my arm.

“
I don’t think we should split up. We will find her again.” Olexander said wearily. I looked around. “Where is Thomas?”

Billy’s face turned scarlet and his words came out in a rush. “The sons of bitches took him. We were ambushed. A van with about five men pulled up and just took him. I tried to stop them but they sped off.”

He was out of breath and still throbbing a bright red aura, which only got brighter when he saw I was bleeding.

“We better get out of here,” I said, “more could come.” Olexander ignored me as he was patting down the man in the chair. I walked over to the body of the woman Billy had shot, but her dagger was gone.
“Damnit”
I mumbled to myself. The girl must have taken it.

“We need to know if he was human or one of us.” Olexander said quietly and wild eyed as he continued to search the body paying no mind to the blood that was starting to cover his own clothes. His aura was beating several different colors at once, as if his body couldn’t even settle on which emotion he was feeling.

“There’s no way for us to be sure Olexander, he’s dead.” I grabbed his arm and tried to pry him away but he wasn’t having it. Finally he found the man’s wallet tucked in the inside pocket of his jacket. I thought Olexander would be done and ready to leave as we were all so ready to leave, but he stood frozen staring at the boy. Finally, I took his face in both of my hands, forcing him to look at me.

“Olexander we need to go right now.” I pronounced every word slowly. He remained frozen until he saw the blood on my arm, which seemed to snap him back into reality. He took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wrapped it around my wound.

“Back to the car. We need to get back to the others.” His careful voice of authority was back. We all ran outside, Olexander threw Billy the keys and I threw myself in the backseat. Billy was speeding and racing through streets, while Olexander toyed with the wallet. He looked confused.

“Who is he?” I asked. I wasn’t ready to bump the poor dead boy to past tense speaking yet.

“I don’t recognize him. I thought I would, I thought perhaps he would be a descendent of the original seven Castus, or a Collector I’d heard of, but I’ve never heard this name before.”

He handed me the wallet, and I felt the oh-so-familiar ice water in my veins. Olexander may have never heard of him, but I damn well had. He had several forms of identification, but not one of them was legit. He had been a Collector. I’d seen forgeries like these before. He must have been quite young to think any of these papers would pass scrutiny. Underneath the picture of his childlike appearance and his wide smile was his name, Robert Michael Doyle.

“Olexander I’ve heard this name before. Remember when I told you about Jimmy, my boss. A piece of paper with this man’s name was found at his house.” My thoughts were racing, and I had the gut wrenching feeling I was missing something but I wasn’t sure what.

“William hurry. We need to get back to the dock as fast as possible.”

Olexander had a new tone to his voice, fear. It was so out of place for him. He was scared, but of what? We were safe in the car for now. That is what I was missing. Olexander wasn’t scared for us. There were only two Castus at that house. Many more had been needed to kill Robert, so where were they? We needed to get back to the others. The ones we’d so foolishly left unprotected.

Chapter 14

I jumped out of the SUV before it had time to stop. I heard Billy screaming after me but I didn’t care. Running as fast as I could straight to Julia’s bedroom, I still had the knives, if I needed them. I prayed more than I’d ever prayed in all my life that she would be alright. I threw her door open but the room was empty. The bedside table was knocked over and her desk lamp was broken. There had been a struggle. Someone grabbed me from behind and I spun around knife drawn. I was ready for blood. I could taste the revenge, iron and violence. Olexander grabbed my arm before the knife made contact with his chest.

“Liliana it’s me. It’s me.”

“Did you find Julia? Is she here?” I asked frantically. He looked at me with dark eyes.

“She’s not dead,” I whispered.

“She’s not on the boat, Lily. They took her.”

I felt like someone had kicked me in the chest. I leaned into Olexander because I didn’t think I could stand. We had been so stupid, running off leaving her here with only Rebecca for protection.

“What about Rebecca, is she missing as well?” He didn’t answer, but the look on his face said it all.

“I want to see her.”

“Liliana I don’t think that is a good idea.”

I was already half running to Rebecca’s room. All the things I had seen, I thought that I’d seen it all, but I wasn’t prepared for the brutality of what I found. Billy was standing in the doorway, as if he couldn’t even bring himself to cross the threshold. Rebecca was on the floor, her throat slit, as well as her wrists. Blood was everywhere. It smelled of death and fire. I walked over and sat near her head, smoothing her hair. I had barely known her, but we had been family in a way, and she had been loyal to the end.