Sinner (Starlight Book 3)

by D. N. Hoxa

“We’ll continue where we left off before I went away, and you’ll show me what you’ve learned in that time,” I said to the first group, and they all headed for the arsenal wall, which was much bigger and better supplied.

  Most of the supernaturals from the new group looked completely out of place. At least half of them would run away if given the chance. The hardest thing to work on with them would be their self-confidence. Once that was in place and they believed they could fight, the techniques could be taught easily.

  “We’ll start from the beginning. I’m going to ask you to pay attention because we don't have the time to do this properly. We’ll need to work hard to squeeze many months of training into one.” It wasn’t fair to any of them, but we all needed to work with what we had.

  Arturo stepped forward before I could continue. “Star, may I have a moment?”

  He looked serious—a little nervous even, so I couldn’t say no. Instead I walked away from the crowd and waved for him to follow.

  “What’s up?”

  “I want to help you train these students.” He couldn’t have surprised me more, and he recognized the expression on my face. “I’m going to need to do something and I am good at training—you know that. Leave the youngsters to me.”

  I wanted to laugh in his face but suddenly, that didn’t sound like such a bad idea. Shit. I knew he had the experience, and he was probably a better trainer than me. But was I ready to put that kind of a responsibility on him? Was it smart to put Red Rebels under him at this point?

  “I don't know about that.” My mind worked, but I couldn’t come to a decision fast enough.

  “You cannot train two groups at once. Not when they’re training on different levels. You know that, too. And I’m not doing anything else,” Arturo added.

  I wanted to believe him. God knew it would make my life so much easier but…I found myself waving Aaron over to us instead. I was more fucked up in the head than I realized, but what could I do? The man had already spoiled me by showing me I could count on him to be right the whole fucking time.

  “Arturo is offering to train the new group while I continue with the old,” I said in a breath when Aaron approached.

  He thought about it for a second. “I don't think that’s a good idea,” but Aaron didn’t sound too sure.

  “Why not?” Arturo shrugged. “Training has been my only job for the past century.”

  “He did train me,” I mumbled. He’d done a pretty good job, too, if I may say so myself.

  “Look, Star has enough on her plate already. It would be unreasonable for her to train two groups at once while I am here doing nothing. You’ll also be able to keep a closer eye on me while I’m here. Everybody wins,” Arturo said. He was as desperate as I was in the beginning for something to do.

  Aaron studied the Nephil’s face for a long second as he thought it over or did whatever it was that he did that told him if Arturo was being sincere or not. In the end, he nodded, only slightly.

  “If you trust him,” he said to me and took a step back.

  In the end, the memory of my first day at Lyndor made my decision for me. Arturo knew what to do with beginners a lot more than I did. I’d experienced it firsthand. So I nodded.

  “Okay, but we only have one month. So we need you to be fast and hard on them.” Arturo smiled like the whole world was his. “And remember, I’ll be right here the whole time.” It was a warning, but he didn’t seem to mind as he eagerly made his way to the new group, and I headed to the right where my group was waiting with their weapons already in their hands.

  I really hoped I’d made the right decision.

  ***

  After three hours of training, I was glad that I’d shared the training with Arturo. He definitely knew how to handle the group better than I did. He was much more patient.

  Aaron didn’t suspect anything when I said I was going to the kitchen to get something to eat. Instead, he told me to take my time, that he’d watch over the guys. It was good to be trusted, though I felt like shit when I went looking for Marie without telling him. Fighting with him was liberating. It actually took all of my stress away. I was glad to see that what had happened with his father hadn't stripped his will away. He fought like he always did—even better.

  The kitchen was empty but for a few sups that looked no older than fifteen. When they noticed me approaching, they all stood up and backed away until their backs were against the wall.

  “Hey,” I said when I was only halfway to them. I didn’t want to scare them any more than they already were. They didn't say anything. “How are you guys doing?”

  Half of them mumbled a good, but it was better than nothing, I guessed.

  “Can you guys help me out? I need to find Marie, the cook. Do you know where she might be?”

  They looked at each other as if they were asking each other why I hadn’t swallowed them whole yet. Not so great for my self-esteem but could I complain?

  “Probably in the laundry room.” Finally, a girl with short brown hair and cutes freckles covering her nose and cheeks spoke.

  “And where is that?” I asked because after Thomas had died, I just hadn’t had the heart to ask Aaron yet. I could probably find the room easily, but I still wanted to talk to those kids. I refused to leave until at least one of them stopped looking at me like I was going to eat them. I didn’t mind about adults, but they were just kids.

  “We’ll take you,” the girl said, but the two boys who were with her immediately stepped away from her. And the girl rolled her eyes. “I’ll take you.”

  I hid my smile as I followed her outside the kitchen. She didn’t look afraid anymore.

  “What’s your name?” I asked as we walked down the hallway to the other part of the Base.

  “Lily.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Lily.” The girl nodded at me with her lips pressed together.

  “They’re just scared,” she said, nodding back at the kitchen door.

  “Aren't you?” She wasn’t, but I wanted to know why.

  “Not anymore,” she said with a shrug. “Dad said at first that you couldn't be trusted. That you were still working for the Council and playing us. But then he heard about what happened in New Mexico. You killed one of the Council’s members. So now he thinks you’re cool.”

  “And what do you think?” I knew of the impact parents’ opinions had on their children, but Lily didn’t look like one to be convinced easily.

  She shrugged. “I think you’re exactly what we need.”

  I tried to hide my surprise at her answer, but she wasn’t even looking at me.

  “And what is that?”

  “Our own villain,” she said. “The good kind of villain, because you can only fight fire with fire. That’s what my dad says.”

  My mouth opened, but I found nothing to say to Lily. That was exactly what I thought about the whole thing, too. So why the hell did it suck so much to hear someone else say it?

  “There you are,” she said, pointing at a grey door to our right, and I was glad that we’d arrived. I didn’t want to say anything else to Lily that would alter her opinion of me. It was perfectly fine the way it was. It was honest.

  “Thanks, Lily,” I said when she turned to make her way back to the kitchen and her friends.

  “Anytime,” she called before she disappeared around the corner.

  As soon as I stepped into the laundry room, a heavenly smell filled my nostrils, the same smell that my sheets always had when someone changed them. I looked around in surprise. I had never asked anyone about who took care of housekeeping. I made a mental note to ask Aaron about it.

  Marie was not hard to find. She was smiling and speaking to another woman who was wearing a white and blue dress, and had salt and pepper hair. The sound of washing machines inside the room made me flinch.

  Marie looked surprised when she saw me. The other two women in there with her, folding clothes of every kind and color, looked surprised, too.

&n
bsp; I stood there awkwardly and waited for Marie to come close.

  “You came,” she said when she faced me, smiling like she couldn’t believe her eyes.

  “I said I would,” I mumbled. Marie patted my shoulder once and then turned to the other two women—a witch and a part Seelie fey, judging by their vibes.

  “This is Kerry and this is Tanya. She’s Russian,” Marie said. “The three of us take care of housekeeping in the Base.”

  “I thought you did the cooking,” I said as I nodded at the ladies.

  “Yes. I cook and do laundry, while these two clean and do laundry. With so many rooms, we all have to work here constantly,” Marie explained with a wink.

  “Oh,” was all I could think to say.

  “Ladies, I need a few moments alone with Star,” Marie said, and without a word, the two women disappeared out the door, leaving the clothes as they were. Marie headed over to the wooden bench against the wall to our right, and I followed, curiouser by the second. I had no idea what she wanted to talk about, and that had never happened to me before. I always had at least an idea.

  “I know this is probably confusing for you, but I…have no one else to ask. And I want you to know that I will understand if you decide that it is not worth it,” she started.

  “It’s not confusing, Marie. I will help you if I can,” I said and I meant it. She was one of the few who’d actually smiled at me for no reason every morning, and I appreciated it. If I could, I would definitely help her.

  “Thank you, Star, but I want you to hear me out first. It’s important,” she said, smiling shyly. Her cheeks were a bit red, too. She looked very uncomfortable. It was a look I’d never seen on her before.

  “Of course,” I said, and she wasted no time.

  “My husband…he is…well, he’s with the Council.” Husband. I barely held my mouth from hanging open. I didn't know why the fact that Marie had a husband would surprise me but it did. “We were never technically married or anything, but he did propose and I said yes. For us, that was enough,” she continued and looked down at her right hand. I followed her eyes to see a very simple golden circle around her finger, a ring I had never noticed on her before. “I will not bother you with the details of the story, and he now thinks I’m dead.”

  Her eyes instantly filled with tears, though the smile was still in place. It felt like I should pat her shoulder or something, but I knew I’d just blow it so I did nothing, just waited for her to continue.

  “It had to be done in order to keep him alive. See, my husband was an alcoholic. Not a violent one, but an alcoholic nonetheless. One night, when he was drunk, he made an impossible bet with a Red Rebel, a bet that would cost him his life, if he lost. And he did. So I went to the man he lost to, and I offered my services as his personal servant in exchange for my husband’s life. He accepted. But Everett wouldn’t listen, and he just…he wouldn’t let me go.”

  A tear slipped her eye. My hands curled up in fists.

  “So I had to fake my own death, because it was the only way he could live. But things went wrong and he thought that the RR killed me. So he joined the Council,” she said, shaking her head and wiping her tears, all the while smiling sadly.

  “I’m sorry, Marie, but are you talking about Everett Hapsburg?” I asked, as a man with a round face, round glasses sitting low on the bridge of his nose in front of deep, dark blue eyes, and with shaggy, light brown hair appeared in front of my eyes.

  Marie nodded. I stood up and started pacing in front of her. Everett Hapsburg wasn’t just with the Council. He was a Council member. Not only that, but he was the only one of the fourteen members who’d voted against me working as an assassin for the Council all those years ago. I’d never actually heard him speak in the two meetings I’d had with the Council, and I’d just hated him as much as he seemed to hate me when he met my eyes that one time.

  Marie nodded. “I know this is surprising, but…” she shrugged.

  “No, not surprising. I just never liked the guy,” I said, with the intention to make her feel better, but after I spoke, I realized I blew it.

  “I have heard some stories about him myself. But he wasn't always like this. He was a good man with a heart of gold, I swear,” Marie said.

  We stood like that in silence for a few minutes, until we both got our heads together again.

  “So, what do you want me to do?” I asked her, confused and curious again because I couldn't think of what she might ask from me.

  She sighed loudly before she spoke. “The warlock who I served died last year. He left me to work for the Base—”

  “Excuse me?” I cut her off.

  “He left me to work for the Base,” Marie repeated, her brows narrowed as if she didn’t get what I didn’t understand.

  “What do you mean, he left you? You’re not here because you want to be?”

  “No, I am,” she said, and then took a second before she spoke again. “What I mean is that I would’ve chosen to do this job even if I didn't have to. But I cannot choose not to, now.”

  I eyed the wall and was going to hit it with all my strength just to get some steam off, but I needed my knuckles unbroken for now. I just couldn’t believe the Elders would even allow something like this. This was slavery.

  “Star, I chose this fate for myself. I signed willingly and no one could’ve done anything about it, even if they wanted to,” Marie said. Her voice never wavered. “This is no one’s fault but mine, believe me.”

  Involuntarily, I called on the air around us to help me calm down. It nearly suffocated me when it hurried to wrap around my skin, and I still had to get used to how much I was feeling the elements ever since I killed Jespersen, but I would take what I could get for now.

  “What I am about to ask you will surprise you even more,” Marie said after a while, but I already knew what it was.

  “You still love him?”

  She nodded and smiled weakly.

  “I do. And I wanted to ask you to…find him. Talk to him. I realize he’s trying to kill you but I just…I want you to tell him about me. I want you to do it because nobody else is going to get close enough to him to do it. At least I don’t think so.”

  “Why don't you just call him yourself? Why not go and tell him?”

  “I can’t,” she said. “It is forbidden for me to find him. It was part of the contract. That’s why I am asking you…”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Really?” Marie whispered.

  My answer surprised her more than I expected.

  “Of course I will, Marie. I cannot promise you about the outcome, but the next time I see him, I will tell him about you no matter what comes after.” Even if it was in battle—which was the most likely scenario.

  “Thank you, Star. Really. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it,” Marie said. Her tears kept coming, but she didn’t look as sad anymore.

  “You don't have to thank me.” For whatever reason, it felt like I already owed her.

  “Yes, I do. We all need to thank you for what you are doing.”

  With my lips pressed together, I nodded and headed for the door. “I’ll see you later, Marie.”

  There was no point on dragging this on. I agreed to disagree with her, and it felt very good to have promised to help her. The woman—or anyone else who was practically a slave—deserved all the help they could get.

  “Where were you?” Aaron asked me the second I stepped in the training room again. He kept eyeing me suspiciously, but I gave nothing away. Or so I thought.

  “Who did you talk to?” he continued, and I rolled my eyes for show, but in reality, I was really considering that he was actually able to read my mind. Nobody was that good.

  “No one, Aaron. Just a couple of kids in the kitchen.” It was half the truth, and all I was willing to share with him for now. But I left my issues aside and concentrated on the sups in front of me, before I headed to Ella.

  It was time I took matters into my own hand
s with her. It was time I trained her myself. I knew how much that was going to suck even before I called her over. She eagerly came to me, smiling even, though she was almost out of breath.

  “Hey,” she said, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead.

  “Fight with me.”

  Her eyes grew big with surprise for a second, but she nodded and immediately positioned herself in front of me, as if she was afraid I was going to change my mind. But I wasn't about to. It was time I did things right with my sister.

  This is not my Ella, I said to myself in my mind, and when she hit me with her foot in my stomach, I reacted the way I did with Aaron and everyone else.

  I finally took her seriously.

  7

  After training, we all ate lunch together. Dad joined us, too. Even Kyle was actually talking, though only to Ella. I had to drag the poor bastard out of his new office because he insisted he ate in there.

  Half an hour later, after almost every plate on the table was empty, Jack stood up.

  “Time to go,” he said and motioned for me to follow him.

  Aaron followed me, and I ignored Arturo who seemed terribly disappointed that I shook my head when he pointed at his own chest to ask if he could join.

  “Edison’s waiting in Tho…” Jack started to say but cut himself off. Too late. Aaron’s shivers were visible for everyone to see at the half-mentioning of his father. “Aaron’s office,” Jack finished with a whisper. “I’ll, uh…” he looked everywhere but at us, “be waiting at the security room.”

  He disappeared before I could blink, and I eagerly changed the subject.

  “You know what this is about?” I asked Aaron, but he only shrugged.

  “I don't know. Could be that he found something interesting he wants to share.”

  “Or he just wants to know what we’ve found.” That was much more likely, and Edison had every right to know.

  “That, too,” Aaron said, before he opened the door to his office.

  Edison was sitting in one of the chairs across from the desk that had belonged to Thomas. He had three guards with him this time, too. Different guards from last time. Guilt made my knees tremble for a second. Aaron had been right. The bastard had killed his guards when I beat him at his own game the last time we saw each other.