The Original Sinners: The Red Years

“I’d hardly be a sufficient tour guide with a corpse in my hand, would I?”

Zach glanced worriedly at Griffin who thankfully still seemed calm even as the priest continued to hold him in his vicious grip.

“I suppose not. A tour would be fine.”

S?ren let Griffin go. Zach noted that on Griffin’s neck right under his jawline were distinct red impressions of the priest’s fingers. “Shall we then?”

Reluctantly, Zach left Griffin at the balcony. As flirtatious as the young man was, Zach far preferred his genial company to Nora’s priest.

“What’s Nora doing?” Zach asked as S?ren guided him from the balcony to an unmarked exit at the opposite end of the bar.

“Eleanor is doing what she is always doing, Zachary—anything she wants to.”

* * *

At Nora’s touch the sleeping boy’s eyelashes fluttered open. She bit her bottom lip to stifle a laugh as the boy scrambled into a sitting position.

“It’s all right. Don’t be scared,” she said as if talking to a frightened animal. “It’s only a dream.”

He looked at her with silver eyes moon-wide. His face flushed and he pulled his knees tight to his chest.

“Do you talk?” she asked.

“Not usually.” He raked his hands through his long hair and shoved it behind his ears.

“You can talk me to me. You can say anything you want to me. I want you to. Do you understand?”

The boy nodded and Nora nodded back. She was gratified to hear a small, nervous laugh.

“Okay, I understand.”

“Good boy. Do you know who I am?”

He nodded again and Nora raised her eyebrow.

“Yes. Father S., he told me about you, that he knew you.”

“What did he tell you?” Nora asked.

“He said you were an old friend of his. I mean, not old—”

“We’ve known each other a long time,” she said, coming to his rescue.

“Right. And he said you were the most beautiful woman who ever lived.”

Nora blushed slightly. “What else did he tell you?”

The boy inhaled sharply and met her eyes.

“He said you’d help me.”

Nora cocked her head slightly. She reached out and touched the top of his foot.

“Do you need help?”

The young man didn’t answer at first.

Slowly, the boy relaxed his arms from around his legs. He started to take off his watch but his fingers fumbled too much and he exhaled in exasperation.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Here. Let me.”

The boy tenuously stretched out his arm. Nora unbuckled his watch and nearly gasped when she discovered why he wore a watch with such a wide band.

Down the center of his wrist stretched a white scar and the crosshatch outline of stitches. He held out his other arm and slid off his wristband and showed her the matching scar and stitches. The wounds appeared fully healed. With her knowledge of scars she guessed his suicide attempt had been around a year ago.

“Why?” she asked.

“My dad, he caught me…” He took a hard breath. “I had stuff in my room he found. He saw the bruises and burns. He said he refused to have a sicko for a son. He left a couple of months later. Mom—she’s not okay anymore.”

“That isn’t your fault,” Nora said. “Your father’s the sicko, not you. And he left for his own reasons. My family’s fucked up, too.”

“I know. Father S. told me that, too. He said we had a lot in common. I couldn’t believe it when he told me he knew you.”

“You knew who I was before he told you?”

“Yeah,” he said, blushing. “I’ve read your books.”

Nora ran her hands up and down the boy’s forearms. She traced the scars with her fingertips.

“He said if I went a whole year without hurting myself, then he would let me meet you,” the boy said in a whisper. “Sometimes it was the only thing that kept me from trying again.”

Nora’s heart dropped. She hated how much S?ren’s unusual mercies made her feel in one breath all eighteen years of her love for him. She looked up and met the boy’s eyes. They shone like polished silver; his pupils dilated.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Michael.”

“Michael…Michael was God’s chief archangel. Michael, has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful?”

He blushed and shook his head. “No.”

“You are, angel.” Nora reached out and ran her hand through his long black hair. Michael sighed with pleasure and closed his eyes. He opened them again when Nora pulled her hand away.

At the back of her mind Nora knew Zach was out there alone with S?ren, but she wouldn’t rush this moment or this scared boy, not for the world. She knew she shouldn’t be here, knew she shouldn’t have left Zach at S?ren’s mercy. But she remembered how S?ren had saved her a lifetime of misery when he’d told her what she was, what she could be. She understood why Michael had tried to kill himself. She’d never been tempted to kill herself but she couldn’t deny S?ren had saved her life a time or two. As Nora studied Michael she told herself it was her duty to stay, to help him any way she could.

“Michael, I’m going to take your virginity tonight.”