Saints and Sinners

Forty-seven:

Forty-seven:

"You want to what?" this came from Jesper, who was looking at him as though he'd grown a second head. "I know you're used to doing the impossible, Morozova, but you are asking for the impossible and the illegal."

"Jes, I'm shocked," said Wylan, his soulmate, "is that a hint of fear that I hear in your voice?"

Jesper glared at his soulmate. "Of course not. It's only that my boss has made an insane request, and I'm starting to wonder if he's lost his damn mind."

Aleksander smirked at his private detective. "To answer your question, Jesper, no, I have not lost my damn mind. You're sitting across from me and my ancestor right now. What about this is hard to get?"

"All of it," Jesper confessed.

Aleksander looked at The Starless Saint, his ancestor.

The Starless Saint smirked. "I'm disappointed, Fahey. Your past versions were a lot gutsier."

Jesper huffed. "There is only one Jesper Fahey."

"Yes," said Aleksander, "which is exactly why we need your help in order to make this happen."

"The event that you're asking me to rob----the one with all of the Ravkaan officials, including President Lantsov---would involve practical magic in order to get it."

"That's why we need Wylan too," said The Starless Saint, "because I happen to know that you have skills beyond being an accountant. And that you were instrumental in the freeing of Matthias from prison."

Wylan coughed. "I barely even knew Matthias. We were acquaintances, really. I didn't even know that he was in prison."

"Smooth, babe," said Jesper, kissing him on the cheek, and making Wylan turn bright red. "You are an absolute shite liar."

Wylan scowled. "Says the thief that's afraid of thieving."

"I'm not afraid, I am merely cautious," said Jesper, "as every thief should be. We've got to know what we're getting ourselves into so that we're the ones that are doing the take and are not the ones that are being taken. This is not a strictly normal heist. We are stealing a giant piece of art----"

"Giant magic egg," corrected The Starless Saint.

Jesper's eyes widened as The Starless Saint corrected him. "Fine. Giant, magic, egg. We are stealing a giant magic egg in front of a shit ton of Ravkaan officials. Do you really think that's wise?"

The Starless Saint shook his head. "No. It's not wise. But if we don't, Luda is going to come after you and she will kill every single one of you. And she won't stop until you are all dead. And then I will be back here, again, doing this all over, again."

Wylan raised an eyebrow. "How many times have you done this?"

"Far too many," said The Starless Saint, "I've seen every version of this scenario that's played out. All of them have failed. Of course, this time Nina and Hanne didn't die. Which means that Luda is going to be distracted by the two of them and trying to fix that. So, we have a way to distract her, which means we'll need you working security for them. And Wylan, you'll need to come up with some kind of flash bomb. So, you're going to have to pose as the DJ so you can be around electronics."

"Right," said Wylan, "but if you've done this millions of times before, aside from Nina and Hanne what else makes you think this is going to work? Because I don't want my pristine reputation to be ruined either. I've got a squeaky, clean professional record to maintain because I'm an accountant. I can't be connected to something like this, you know?"

The Starless Saint laughed. "It's hilarious that you think that any of this mattered.... but we've got two people that we didn't have before to help all of us."

"Who is that?" Jesper asked.

"Aleksander and Alina," The Starless Saint replied, "they're going to change everything about this. Especially since this is the first time that Alina will be coming to one of these heists. We're going to need her for a distraction."

"Alina?" Aleksander said. "You really want Alina to be part of this?"

The Starless Saint nodded. "Yes. I've got everything going for me this time. Nothing is going to change it. Alina is the key to everything. It's important for her to be there. You know this, Aleksander. Alina has to come even if you don't like it."

"Fine," said Aleksander, "fine, she'll come. But I swear if anything happens to her----"

"You'll what?" The Starless Saint said. "You'll kill the big, bad, scary immortal? There's only one way to get rid of me. That involves going through with this whole heist thing."

Aleksander sighed. "Fine. If something happens to her though, I'll find a way to make you hurt and bleed, Saint."

The Starless Saint grinned. "I'd like to see you try, Aleksander. Very much. Because no one has managed to succeed in centuries. And I've come across those that are far scarier than you, young Mr. Morozova."