The room was exquisite. The living area had a large overstuffed, yet elegant couch with two similar armchairs across from it. A glass coffee table sat in between. On the farthest wall was a large fireplace with a fire already burning and a long window flanked either side of the mantle. The room was decorated in variations of a soft silvery grey that was instantly calming. I liked the room at once. It felt open and inviting. I wandered away from Billy and into the large bedroom. The fluffy white bed was huge and had at least a dozen pillows in the same grey fabric as everything in the living room. I followed a pleasant flowery smell into the white porcelain bathroom where a vase was overflowing with fresh lavender cuttings. A baby elephant would have fit comfortably in the whirlpool tub, which had a remote with several settings displayed.
Screw living under the radar. I am never staying anywhere without a therapeutic massage option again. I was still dazed but suddenly overwhelmed with excitement. I took the memory of Jimmy that had been crushing my chest since we found him and shoved it to the back of my mind. Everything was so beautiful and so new, I was grinning from ear to ear. I spun around to see Billy leaning against the door jam.
“So I can assume you like the room then?”
“Yes, I love it, it’s amazing.” Billy seemed amused by my suddenly high spirits and pulled me into a tight hug. I still wasn’t used to so much contact with another person. I tried to hug him back, his arms always felt nice, safe.
“Will you be ok here for a few hours if I go visit Clara now?” We both looked at the tub at the same time and I nodded fervently.
“Enjoy your bath and then get dressed. No reruns in bed tonight, we are going to my favorite pub.”
I heard him chuckle as he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. I locked up behind him. I made my way back to the bathroom and did exactly what I had intended from the moment I saw the gigantic tub. I filled it until it was almost overflowing and added a splash of every essential oil the counter contained. Soon the whole bathroom smelled like jasmine, lavender, freesia, and roses. Finally, I added a dash of orchid scented bubbles and hopped in. It was safe to say I could spend the rest of eternity here. I put my head back on the soft bath pillow and went into my imagination. Things were different this time. I wasn’t alone on the porch of my teal green house. Billy sat beside me. We sipped cherry sodas and talked about art and music. We laughed so hard we nearly spit out our drinks. I soaked up the smells and the lovely fantasy for two hours until the water began to cool.
Chapter 6
I wrapped myself in one of the fluffy white towels and dried my hair. I assumed Billy would be at least a few more hours so I took the time to curl it into ringlets. I put on makeup, a little heavier than usual, and unpacked my clothes. I stared at the pile of pants and shirts on the bed for a while before I settled on a sexy pair of jeans and a form fitting deep purple shirt with flowing sleeves. It was only three in the afternoon and I felt silly for being in my night attire already. I was now officially ready with no place to go. I finished unpacking and hanging all my clothes up in the walk in closet that was roughly the size of my old apartment. I considered unpacking for Billy but I wasn’t sure if he would want me going through his things. The doorbell rang and I looked through the peephole to see the room service cart outside my door. Connor was pushing it and I opened the door a bit confused.
“I’m sorry I didn’t order any room service…”
“Mr. Owens asked that this be brought up Miss.”
He left quickly and I pulled the napkin off the top of the bucket and smiled when I saw several chilled cherry colas. I sat down on one of the armchairs and flipped through the TV eventually finding a horror movie marathon. With all my energy, I tried to keep my mind focused on the television instead of the memories of Jimmy that were forcing themselves to the forefront of my thoughts. I sipped my drink and picked up my phone to sit it on the coffee table in case Billy called. I sat through three versions of Dracula before I heard the click of the door. I tried to look engrossed in Bride of Dracula when Billy came in.
“I am so sorry, I lost track of time, Clara started telling me all about every person we’d ever met in 100 years and then went on to tell me about the newest love of her life. She is insane. I would have called but I forgot my cell in my bag.”
My nervousness dulled when I saw his apologetic expression.
“Thanks for the drink. Are you going to take me to this wonderful pub I’ve heard so little about or should I go and find someone else to escort me around Dublin this evening?”
His face fell and he looked displeased with the idea of me having another escort. His reaction more than pleased me. I was starting to get a hang of this flirting thing.
“Of course we are going, right now, grab a jacket or you’ll look crazy. It’s pretty cold outside.”
He held the door open for me and grabbed my hand squeezing it reassuringly.
“I’d like to hear about Clara some.”
He hesitated a moment then smiled wide, “I would love to tell you about her.”
We held hands as we made our way down the tiny cobblestone street to the Long Stone Pub. I didn’t want to ruin the pleasant atmosphere the pub might create so I asked the pressing question before we went in.
“Did Clara know anything about the book, or Robert Doyle?”
He faced me with a harsh look of frustration shaking his head. “She didn’t know anything. She thought perhaps it was a coincidence.”
Now it was my turn to shake my head.
“I know,” he said, “it’s too much of a coincidence. We will figure this out.”
As we entered the Pub, the haunting song, played by the two men with guitars on stage, instantly overwhelmed me. The melody pulled the entire audience into its nocturnal trance. Billy led me through the crowd of people and I had just spotted two empty stools near the stage when a sharp pain overtook all my senses. I’d never felt pain like this before. I’ve read about it, seen a million actors portray it, held people dying, but I had never once felt it. Suddenly it was as if my head was going to explode. For all my trying I couldn’t adjust my eyes, the room was like looking through a blurry broken kaleidoscope. I could just make out the change in Billy’s face as it went from excited and happy, to horrified. I couldn’t stand, I felt weak and tired, and all the things I was never supposed to feel. Billy caught me before my head bounced off the edge of the hard wooden bar. I was happy Billy had caught me. I was sure that if I had hit my head it would have split open. I was vaguely aware he was carrying me, whispering something I couldn’t make out. I could feel his head whipping around the room, looking for something. No, he was looking for someone. He was looking for the other person in the room that should have been in as much agony as I was. The realization came far too late as I felt one more burst of pain behind my eyes, taking my eyesight with it. I closed my eyes and it became very quiet.
I woke up on the hotel bed. I was disoriented but comfortable on its soft duvet. For the first time in 100 years, did I faint? There was another Collector at the bar, of that I was certain, but who? Had Clara come looking for Billy not realizing I’d be with him? I took a sick comfort in the fact that, at least in this one instance, Olexander had been honest with me. The pain in my head had subsided almost entirely and I slowly opened my eyes. My eyesight had come back but my eyes were sensitive to the bedside lamp light. It was annoying.
“LiLi? LiLi can you hear me?” His words were full of worry and I tried to find my voice. I looked at his face and was surprised at what I saw. His whole body had a glow to it. It was very faint, but he was glowing, a light blue, like an aura. My eyes had definitely not gone back to normal yet.
“There was another Collector at the pub wasn’t there?” My voice was hoarse and I cleared my throat a few times, I wanted to feel normal, but I still felt weak.
“LiLi I’m so sorry, I didn’t feel him, or her, I didn’t know.” His voice sounded angry and his light blue glow turned fiery red. So strange I thou
ght. I tried to pull my thoughts together. I tried to make the whole situation make sense but I was coming up short.
“So it wasn’t Clara? There was another person there? Who was it?” I tried to sit up and his arm pushed me back down.
“It wasn’t Clara. Someone was there but I didn’t see them. No one else looked like they were in pain. No one else was as much as flinching.”
I was confused, and I sat up, slapping his arm away when he tried to push me back down again.
“What does that mean?” I could feel myself getting stronger and my curiosity was dulling the memory of the horrendous pain. Looking Billy in the face, I could see the red glow even more clearly.
“It means there was a Collector there. The way you collapsed like that, so quickly, it was a very old and strong Collector. You should not have been the only one writhing in pain, but you were. I don’t know what it means.”
His face looked disgusted and sick with the memory.
His voice got softer. “I think I should go talk to my Mother, to see if she has any idea what this could mean, but I don’t want to leave you alone.”
His whole body changed as he spoke, he went from a menacing red to a soft gold glow.
“I think I’m ok.” I tried standing and was relatively secure on my feet. The light from the lamp still hurt my eyes, but Billy’s glow was pleasant. He caught the odd tone to my voice and went back to his red glow again.
“Does it still hurt LiLi? Is there anything I can do?”
“It doesn’t hurt. It’s just that, you’re sort of glowing right now.” His eyes got wide and he tried to understand what I meant. He went back to the lovely gold glow that made him look like an angel.
“I’m glowing?” His face was confused.
“It’s like an aura around your body, I can see it. You keep changing colors. Maybe you should mention that to Clara, just in case it’s a sign that my brain did partially explode.” He didn’t find the humor and went once again back to red.
“Billy could you please stop getting angry, when you turn red it hurts my eyes.”
The thought that he may be hurting me seemed to soften him and he was gold again.
“I think you should go talk to Clara now. The light show is making my headache come back.”
He stood up hesitantly, putting on his jacket.
“Your cell phone is on the nightstand. Call me immediately if something changes. I don’t care if you are merely dizzy or if you start seeing pink dragons, do you understand?”
“I solemnly swear I will call you the second a pink dragon shows up.” I was feeling better and my sarcasm was returning with my strength, I smiled to reassure him. He grabbed his keys off the nightstand and kissed my forehead. It made him glow even brighter.
“I’ll be back in an hour, stay here, do NOT leave this room.” I nodded in compliance and he walked out the door with just a hint of red around his edges.
I had the best of intentions, really I did. I was going to take another bath and relax and not leave the room but I started to wonder. Could I see Billy’s colors because he was a Collector, or would everyone glow? I snuck out of the hotel room creeping down the hallway like a cat burglar, which was silly since it was three in the morning. I took the shiny silver elevator down to the large elaborate lobby. As the doors opened, I felt my jaw drop. There were only six people in the lobby, including the two desk clerks, but they were all glowing. The doors began to close and I scrambled to stick my arm out so I could go into the lobby for a closer look.
I will only stay down here for five minutes and be back in the room long before Billy gets back I reasoned with myself. I sat down on one of the overstuffed chairs. I was still a bit unsteady on my feet and stared at each individual glowing body. The woman by the window caught my attention first. She was the oddest color grey and it matched the dark circles under her eyes. She was in a pair of pajamas, and what I’d imagine was a very expensive robe. She paced back and forth rocking the pink bundle in her arms. One of the desk attendants was banging angrily on a keyboard and his red orange glow was the most prominent. The other desk clerk sat almost unmoving absorbed in a book with a smile on her face. She was a very faint green. Two men sat drinking wine and smoking cigars and they were almost the same color as the woman at the desk. The clock on the wall chimed and I realized I had been sitting in the lobby for well over a half hour. Crap I said aloud as I jumped up and ran into the elevator.
“Can you please hold the door?” An urgent hushed whisper said.
“Of course” I whispered as low as my voice would go. The grey lady stood tired but looked pleased that the baby in her arms was finally asleep. It was the first time I had really looked at the sixth person who had been in the lobby. The baby lay fast asleep in her Mother’s arms and it almost hurt to look directly at her. She wasn’t faintly outlined like the others. She glow a bright, blinding white. I held the door open as the grey lady got off and walked down the hall to her room. The white light was so beautiful, like nothing I’d ever seen before. So pure. Then it hit me, and I felt like an idiot for not realizing what was happening before. I was smiling and deep in thought when I walked back into my room. Billy was sitting on the edge of the bed not smiling.
“What was the last thing I asked you to do?”
I bit my lip and couldn’t help but squint my eyes, Billy wasn’t bright red anymore he was a darker red, like the color of congealed blood nearly black and his whole body pulsated with it.
“You asked me to stay in the room.”
“And what part of that confused you?”
I was irritated now; I could go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. I was one-hundred years old and over the need for a father.
“I had a theory and I needed to test it so I went to the lobby.” Ok so it was a lie, I hadn’t really come up with the theory until after I’d gone down to the lobby but he didn’t need to know that. He was caught off guard by my answer.
“Do I get to hear the theory?” I didn’t need to see his color to know he was pissed. He pulsed brighter and I hurried through my explanation.
“Well I was thinking that maybe the colors I was seeing weren’t like auras, but they were auras. I wanted to find out if I could see yours because you’re a Collector or if I could see everyone’s, so I went to look. What did Clara say?”
Changing the subject at the end there was hopefully a good trick, I sat down cross-legged next to him on the bed.
“Clara was just as confused as we are. She’s never heard of a Collector being able to shield itself like your attacker did.”
“No one attacked me” I pointed out. “It could have been a coincidence.”
He looked skeptical and he was fading back to a light blue, which was a relief to my aching eyes.
“Well are you going to tell me what happened with the lobby experiment?”
I smiled wide. I was excited to have someone to share my findings.
“I think that it’s a way for me to see people’s moods and their sins more clearly. Some of the people were similar colors but a few weren’t. It wasn’t until I saw the baby that I was sure. She was a blinding white light, which I’m assuming was because she was sinless. It was so beautiful Billy I wish you could have seen it.”
By the time I was done Billy was a pleasant golden glow again and I was glad to see he wasn’t angry anymore, but his bright blue eyes still looked troubled.
“Why do you look so worried?”
“It’s unusual for a Collector to have other gifts. It’s different and I don’t like different when it can’t be explained, especially since there was another Collector at the Pub. It’s too big a coincidence. There are just too many coincidences.”
When he put it like that, I couldn’t help but agree with him. It did all seem to happen in perfect synchronicity.
“Just promise me something ok. Next time you want to experiment just wait for me to go with you. What if you ran into the Collector again? No one would know what to do.”
He was an even brighter gold than usual and he looked so wonderful I threw my arms around him hugging him tight.
“I promise to wait for you.”
“You don’t have to be alone now LiLi. You have to trust me.”
I nodded staring at the painting on the wall behind him, I was glad we were still locked in a tight hug so he couldn’t see my face. Trust was not something I was accustomed to giving. I felt silly and my stomach felt uneasy. Billy had never given me a reason not to trust him. Was I being dramatic?
The Sin Collector Page 6
