The Sin Collector (18 page)

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 said 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.