Sin and Sacrifice (2 page)

Spying her phone on the
end table, she went over and snatched it up. After pressing
three
on speed
dial
for Galiana, she brushed strands of
hair away from her face and checked the status of her tan in an
oval mirror. Using her thumb, she pulled the black string aside
near her collarbone, exposing a paler swatch of skin amidst the
golden color surrounding it. She was making impressive headway in
the sunbathing department. The conspicuous shape of sunglasses
surrounded her eyes and she made a mental note to leave them off
the next time she basked in the sun lest she wind up resembling a
raccoon.

"
You've reached Galiana's voicemail,"
came her sister's voice down the line. "
Leave a message at the beep!"

"Where are you, Galian--"
She got cut off when the front door swooshed open.

Galiana stumbled in,
dragging her luggage, blonde hair askew around her face. She
knocked the door closed with the heel of a designer shoe and
snapped the bolt into place.

“
I made it!” she crowed.
It always looked like a strong wind would blow the woman
over.

Evelyn hung up the phone
with an exaggerated sigh, hiding her relief behind a sudden smile.
She met Galiana halfway and hugged her disheveled sister
tight.

“
Finally! That's what you
get for missing your flight.” Leaning back, she gave her a quick
once over; Galiana, the fairest and most fragile of the bunch,
looked harried but happy.

“
But I found the
best
sale at Saks, I
swear...”

“
Of course you did,”
Genevieve said, coming in from outside. Alexandra and Minna
followed. All three girls were dressed for a day lounging next to
the Mediterranean; bathing suits, shorts, sarongs.

Galiana left her luggage
right there and hugged each one with fervent affection.

There was a special bond
between them all that was never more apparent than when they'd been
apart for any length of time. And they had, at different stages of
their lives. A situation they tried to avoid when they could. If
Evelyn had been pressed to choose a sister she was closest to, she
wouldn't have been able to with any accuracy. She loved each one
with as much depth and devotion as the next. All of their
relationships were different and unique, their interactions varied.
But she didn't love one more than the other.

“
We're all moving to
Crete,” Alexandra announced. She wasn't as lavish with her hugs as
the other girls, but they all knew it was just her way and had no
bearing on her feelings. She just wasn't as girly as the rest of
them.

“
Excellent! When?” Galiana
didn't even blink at the news.

“
We have no idea. Sooner
than later though, I'm guessing,” Alex said.

Evelyn laughed, relieved to
have all her siblings present and accounted for.

They spent an hour getting
Galiana settled in and her things put away. The blonde exclaimed
over the suite and the view, which she took in with a deep breath
of air and her arms thrown wide. Galiana might have been dainty,
but she was expressive and dramatic and didn't care who knew
it.

“
By the way. We're going
out to The Andromeda Chamber tonight,” Evelyn said, bringing
Galiana a glass of water with two lemon slices floating in it.
There had to be two, never three, never just one.

“
I
love
that club!” Galiana took the
glass and had a quick sip. “What time? I need to go have my hair
and nails done.”

Alexandra, back at the
balcony table with her netbook propped on her thighs,
groaned.

“
You should just buy a
shop or whatever, G. You're at them all the time.”

“
You could do with a
facial and a manicure, Alexandra. Look at those fingernails.”
Galiana shuddered. Alexandra's nails were bitten back, the cuticles
untended.

Evelyn watched on, hiding a
grin behind a drink from her refreshed lemonade. Alexandra and
Galiana were the epitome of opposites. For as long as she could
remember, the sisters had squabbled over grooming and fashion—or
lack of Alexandra's interest in it.

“
Over my dead body,”
Alexandra quipped.

“
Around nine?” Evelyn
interrupted the banter, leaning against the rail. A cool breeze,
the seasonal
meltemi,
made the dry, hot day bearable. It sifted through her hair,
whipping the ends this way and that. Summer time in Greece was her
favorite. She loved being here and loved being on vacation even
more.

Galiana brushed a lock of
hair away from her chin. The pale cloud always had an artfully
disarrayed look to it. “Perfect. Gives me a little time to make a
few more stops.”

“
Shopping,” Alexandra said
with a snort of disgust.

“
I think you should let me
pick your outfit tonight, Alex. Jeans and flannel won't go over at
the Andromeda.”

“
Galiana, I might not
squeal over shirts and sales, but I don't wear flannel out to
nightclubs.”

For two hours, Evelyn
listened to the girls trade quips and flippant but teasing
commentary, one upping each other with every volley. Minna and
Genevieve lounged in the sun and Evelyn joined them, stretching out
on a chaise. There were few things she loved more than basking in
the heat. The scent of salt on the air was as relaxing as the
rhythmic lap of water against the pristine shore.

Galiana took her leave
before dusk set in with a promise to be back before they all
departed.

Evelyn had her turn in the
shower, choosing something flirty and fun to wear to the club. The
skinny straps kept her cool and the sunset colors of the knee
length dress looked good against her deepening tan. She choose
sultry make up to highlight the color of her eyes and daubed
lipstick with the dubious name of
Plumpeii
on her lips. She wasn't
quite sure what plums had to do with Pompeii, but the hue went well
with her skin and that was all that mattered.

At nine-thirty, when
Galiana called to say she still wasn't done, they all decided to go
on to the club without her. Evelyn didn't have the heart to be
annoyed. If Galiana ever showed up on time for anything it would be
nothing less than a miracle.

Taking a cab, the four
sisters chattered about moving and houses all the way to the front
doors of the Andromeda Chamber. The nightclub, with impressive
columns, lush foliage, and blue lights shining up the facade of the
stone exterior, had a tranquil aura despite the throb of music that
made the walls shake. It wasn't hard to imagine mythical gods and
goddesses moving through the carved tables, sitting in the plush
chairs, or gliding over the dance floor that looked like a sheet of
pale blue ice. Tiny white lights trickled down from the domed
ceiling, resembling stars in the gloom.

Dancers writhed and gyrated
through a thin fog that billowed lazily from jets rimming the
floor.

Even though she was
five-foot-ten, Evelyn felt short compared to Genevieve. Standing
several inches over six-feet, her sister commanded attention with
her exotic skin and strong bone structure. Alexandra, in charcoal
suede and a silk top of blue, swaggered along like she didn't have
a care in the world. Minna, mysterious and petite, had dressed in
demure slacks and a stylish shirt of red with an oriental flare
that fit her perfectly.

They chose to stand at a
tall table and order drinks within close range of the dancers.
Evelyn paid for the first round and declined two offers from men
for a turn on the floor. Minna and Genevieve went out right away,
leaving she and Alexandra to indulge in drinking and people
watching. It was always easy for Evelyn to tell the tourists apart
from the regulars; they stood around in small clusters, wide-eyed,
heads tipped together to make gossiping easier. One or two snapped
pictures.

Evelyn didn't consider
herself a tourist just because she was on vacation here. This part
of the world had been home for longer than it hadn't. In their much
younger years, she and her sisters had traveled Europe extensively.
Back then, there had been quite a few more siblings than there were
now. A thought she turned her mind from lest it make her
melancholy.

Alexandra, who always wore
a watch wherever she went, checked the time when they ordered their
second round. “Maybe you should call Galiana again. It's been like
an hour and a half.”

“
She'll be here. You know
how she is,” Evelyn said.

“
Well, yeah. But she's
gonna miss the whole night.” Alexandra shook her hand so that the
timepiece rolled down to cover the two small pinpricks on the
inside of her wrist. Before watches had existed, Alexandra used a
bracelet or band to hide the anomaly.

All of the sisters bore the
same mark. To a casual observer, it resembled a snakebite. Evelyn
kept hers obscured by a trio of thin, dangling bracelets. Only a
keen eye would detect the black dots just below the heel of her
hand. In this modern age, with so many millions of people on the
earth, Evelyn wasn't quite as paranoid about someone seeing them as
she used to be.

Another hour went by.
Evelyn gave in and danced with a man who'd come back three times to
ask. He was at least four inches shorter than her, on the thin
side, with glasses that slid down his nose every three minutes or
so. He had a kind smile and boogied with enthusiastic swings of his
arms and dramatic pauses that made her want to laugh. She didn't in
case she was supposed to find his jerky gyrating sexy instead of
funny.

Back at the tall table
after gently declining to give him her number, she indulged in
another drink with her sisters. The easy mood and buzz from the
alcohol made time go by quicker, especially when a few men joined
them, hitting on the girls with blatant stares and boyish grins.
The harmless fun ended when a sudden announcement for last call
came over the speakers between songs.

Frowning, Alexandra glanced
at her watch. “What the heck. It's one o'clock. Did anyone get a
text from Galiana?”

The men wandered away when
they realized none of the girls were going home with them. Evelyn
dug her cell out of the pocket of her skirt. No
messages.

Genevieve and Minna had
none, either.

“
Maybe she got back too
late and fell asleep at the hotel,” Minna suggested.

“
I'll go call her.” Evelyn
worked her way through the crowd toward the restrooms. Decorated
like the rest of the club, with pale blue walls and tiny lights
hanging from the ceiling, the women's room boasted a separate
vanity area that made it convenient to talk. The three other ladies
present were all washing their hands and giggling
drunkenly.

Evelyn found a quiet corner
and dialed. Galiana's voice mail came on.

“
Galiana, where are you?
We've been waiting all night. I know you can't
still
be shopping. Either way, we'll
be leaving for the hotel soon. A text would have been nice.”
Scolding her wayward sister, Evelyn hung up. Galiana, notorious for
neglecting to keep in touch like she should, left her sisters in a
lurch more often than not. She was easily distracted from things
like checking in.

When Evelyn got back to the
table and announced the news, Alexandra rolled her eyes.

“
She's takin' this
shopping thing to a whole new level. You guys ready to go? They're
closing in an hour anyway.”

One by one, the girls filed
out into the balmy night. Evelyn had just enough to drink to make
her tipsy but not drunk; one glance at her sisters told her that
none of them had imbibed enough to make them sloppy and careless.
She couldn't remember the last time the five of them had been
blitzed in public. Caution ruled the day when it came to losing
ones faculties outside the safety of home.

The concrete sidewalk led
them past trimmed hedges and fountains carved in the shape of
mythical Gods. Poseidon held his trident proud and tall next to
Athena, while Zeus sat sprawled in a throne. No expense had been
spared at the Andromeda Chamber.

Although Alexandra had
called them a cab when she'd been in the bathroom, a brief survey
of the parking lot to the side of the club showed the taxi hadn't
arrived yet. Overhead, the inky sky above Athens glittered with a
million stars and Evelyn whimsically tipped her face up to pick the
constellations out. Genevieve, Minna and Alex loitered just behind
her.

“
I want to visit The First
Cemetery tomorrow--” Alexandra's comment was cut off by a muffled
scream.

Evelyn quit stargazing to
snap a look around in confusion. The parking lot, while full of
cars, seemed empty of people except them. Whoever hadn't already
left the club probably wouldn't leave until it closed its doors in
an hour. When she glanced at her sister's faces, she saw the same
confusion there.

“
Is that someone drunk and
laughing?” Evelyn asked. Sometimes it was hard to tell one from the
other when someone had
that
much to drink.