Blue Sacrifice (Blue Davison) (27 page)

“You can’t know that.”

“Why not? Have you ever been in love?”

Even shaking my head, my mind flashed to an image
of Tyson’s smile. A smile so beautiful that whenever Tyson used it for anything,
I couldn’t help sharing it. I had long thought I loved Tyson, but Flynn was the
sign. Flynn was the one who saved me and now held me. So despite a part of my
heart belonging to Tyson, I forced myself to move closer to Flynn and embrace
the warmth he offered.

“I haven’t either, but I’m not scared. With you,
it feels perfect even when it’s not. I don’t have to second guess my feelings,
but of course I was raised to reach for what I wanted. You weren’t raised that
way and so you think about the rational crap. I’m not interested in that.”

“I love you.”

Flynn gave me a heart stopping smile, so full of
love I shuddered under its power.

“I know, Blue. I saw it in your eyes even before
you admitted your love. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t seen
it. Possibly begged or cried like a snot kid.”

Smiling, I kissed Flynn while pulling him closer.
“I love you. It feels weird saying it as if loving you is a prize someone will
steal away.”

“No one is taking you from me,” he whispered.

“Promise,” I whispered back, desperate to trust
him like I hadn’t trusted anyone since my mother. “Promise you won’t lose
interest. Promise you won’t feel what everyone feels and want to leave me.”

Flynn kissed my forehead then my lips. Finally he
took my hand on his chest and kissed it too.

“You think I can’t promise that, but you’re wrong.
I must be with you if I’m to be happy. Since I really enjoy being happy, I’m
not giving up this feeling. So I promise everything you need me to promise and
I don’t promise lightly.”

Even without Flynn saying the words, he held my
heart and could do with it whatever he wanted. Yet he held it tenderly and I
promised myself I would do the same with his.

Flynn and I cooked breakfast with me in charge of
the eggs and him as the king of the potato hash. His dad sat nearby, reading
the paper and grunting occasionally at things that annoyed him. Every grunt led
to Flynn rolling his eyes then grinning at me. He was in such a great mood
after we exchanged yummies that morning. I knew he was also thrilled by how his
room was a few degrees warmer after he performed his magic in the attic.

It would be a lie to say I felt absolutely
comfortable in the house with the two men. While I loved Flynn so much I was
terrified to do something wrong and have him turn on me, I wasn’t accustomed to
spending time as part of a family. Even when Gretchen, Hans, and I did things
on the weekends, I felt like a third wheel. The closest to family times since
my mother’s death were with the Zandis, but now I tried to enjoy the male
bonding between dad and son.

“My Blue knows how to cook an egg,” Flynn
announced as if I possessed an amazing skill.

His praise made me smile, but I worried about the
day he no longer deemed my egg cooking skills amazing. What happened when my
magic faded for him? I knew Flynn thought my magic and our love would last
forever, but I couldn’t imagine Flynn loving me in a year, let alone ten.

“Breakfast looks wonderful,” Beck said, setting
aside the paper. “It’s nice to have a woman in the house again.”

When Flynn grinned, I grinned too, yet he
immediately lost his smile.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m nervous,” I admitted since Flynn wanted me to
be honest with him.

“It’s normal,” Beck said, scooping potatoes onto
his plate. “You barely know Flynn and you don’t know me at all. Soon we’ll have
more of your belongings in the house and it’ll feel like your home and less
like a place you’re visiting.”

Staring at the plate of food, I tried to catch up
to how Beck thought I would live here now. Was that possible? I was sixteen and
I had a guardian and school and was it legal for me to be here with them? What
if Hans complained? I doubted Gretchen would notice I was gone for weeks, likely
longer. She had shown less interest in me since I turned fourteen. By my
sixteenth birthday, there were days when she appeared startled when I emerged
from my room.

So Gretchen wouldn’t care, but Hans might complain
except Flynn clearly freaked him out with his threats. Okay, so Hans wouldn’t
complain. Did that mean I could just live in this big house with two men? It
felt surreal to think of this weird, cool, drafty, amazing house as my home.

Unsure how to adapt to the concept of living with
a boyfriend I’d known for a week, I just ate silently while Beck read the paper
and Flynn stared outside through the sliding glass door.

“We should stock up on supplies,” Flynn said
suddenly. “If the town is going nuts, we should be ready to hide out here.”

“Will you attend school?” Beck asked.

After a minute, I realized he was talking to me. “Oh,
I guess.”

“It’s not safe,” Flynn said. “Besides we didn’t
even have teachers for much of last week. It make sense to stay home for the
week and see what happens.”

Nodding again because I didn’t know what else to
do, I realized I genuinely hadn’t expected to live this long. If I had lived, I
just assumed I would do what I always did except the town wasn’t doing what it
always did. The darkness was waking and violence was everywhere. While staying
home made sense, I felt overwhelmed by the sudden shift in my life.

A month ago, I had school, occasional boyfriends
and hookups, my best friend, and vague plans for college. Then suddenly I was
going to die and all my plans were voided. Now I was going to live with Flynn
who I barely knew.

Yet he loved me. I knew he did and having him love
me felt right. With him, I could survive and eventually those vague plans for
college would find clarity. As I ate, I imagined what I might do for a career.
Would I have to stay in Lily Falls? Could I really travel like Lacey always
wanted? Like Flynn now wanted? In bed, he talked about showing me the places he
had seen and introducing me to foods he hoped wouldn’t make me puke.

The idea of seeing a world outside Lily Falls made me smile without realizing it. Eyes tearing, I quickly started breathing
too fast. My future had all kinds of possibilities now and I was excited in a
way I had never been before.

Flynn took my hand and squeezed it. When I looked at
him, I thought to explain, but he just smiled and somehow I knew he understood.

“When will we go shopping?” I asked.

“Oh, I’ll do that,” Beck said. “If this town has
got it out for you, it’s probably unsafe for you to walk around.”

Blinking rapidly, I realized Flynn had told his
father everything and Beck believed him. Or at the very least, he gave the
whole idea the benefit of the doubt.

“Actually I would be safer than you,” I said
quietly. “The town wants me to choose to die. Even if it’s essentially pushing
me off of the bridge or holding the gun I use, it still wants me to be the one
to jump or pull the trigger. You’re vulnerable though. Everyone in town is.”

Beck glanced up at the ceiling as if thinking then
he shrugged. “I have errands to run so I was going to chance it anyway. No reason
I can’t add stocking up for the Lily Falls Armageddon to my to-do list.”

“It’ll be okay, Blue,” Flynn said while claiming
seconds from breakfast. “Are you still hungry?”

“Yes, a little. Thank you.”

Nervous again, I pictured Beck as a target. The
darkness hurt Gretchen and Hans. Who would it hurt next?

Texting Lacey with my morning check-in, I waited a
full half hour before she texted me back with what I assumed was her half
asleep response.

“Everything will be fine,” Flynn said as he
cleaned up the table. “You and I will hang out and talk and bond in other more
physical ways.”

Despite my nerves, I smiled at how Flynn wiggled
his eyebrows mischievously. We walked to the living room where the fire roared
and a plush blanket waited.

“Let’s watch boring TV until Dad leaves then we
can do those more exciting activities.”

“I’m actually tired from this morning,” I sighed.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I told him with a little grin.

Flynn stretched out on the couch then cuddled me
next to him until we were finally warm under the blanket.

“As fun as it is to chase, I believe I’ve already
caught you,” he whispered as we flipped through channels.

“Are you sure?”

Flynn smiled as if wanting to prove how entangled
I was in his charms, but Beck appeared downstairs ready to run his errands.

“Watch out, Flynn. Those mermaids are difficult to
catch and even more difficult to keep. They’re too wily to hold onto for long.”

“I’ve got it handled.”

Once again the two men got into a minor pissing
match, though Beck mostly ignored Flynn’s irritation. Apparently living with
them would involve watching them passively argue. I’d seen worse and figured it
was worth the awkwardness to enjoy their company.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. If there’s trouble
or you think of something you specifically need from the store, just call. I
promise to answer.”

Staring at the television, Flynn frowned again.
“Got it handled.”

“Heard you the first time.”

My frayed nerves insisted I laugh, so I did and
both men smiled in response. I didn’t know if they were really irritated with
each other or if having me around was causing issues. I wanted everyone to be
happy because I kept thinking of how the demons were just outside the windows,
glaring at me.

“Be careful,” I told Beck who smiled again.

“You too. Be back later.”

As soon as Beck was out of the door, my gaze was
on Flynn.

“You have great lips,” he said, ignoring my frown.
“I love sucking on the bottom one. Have I been too subtle about this fact?”

After allowing for a little subsequent sucking on
my bottom lip, I ignored how warm we became under the blanket.

“Do you and your dad bicker like that a lot?”

“Bicker? We didn’t bicker.”

“You seemed irritated at him though.”

“Hell yeah I am. What’s he giving me relationship
pointers for anyway? Last I checked when he fell in love with the perfect
woman, he let her get away. I’m not planning on doing the same.”

Finally I asked what was on my mind since
breakfast. “The answer might be obvious, but I didn’t want to assume anything
so I’ll just ask. How long do you plan to let me stay here?”

Smiling tenderly, Flynn caressed both of my cheeks
with his fingers. “I want you to stay with me now and forever. I could tell the
idea freaked you out at breakfast, but if you need space, you can have the warm
spare room. I just don’t want you going home. That place is creepy and that woman
didn’t even acknowledge you when you got your things. She’s basically your
mother and she didn’t even say hi. Plus her boyfriend is a douche.”

“And your dad is okay with me staying?”

“He knows I love you and he knows I’m no sap.
Finding the woman I love means doing whatever necessary to keep her. The man’s a
romantic. He won’t ruin what we have. That is why he’s trying to help with his
stupid advice. I personally think I’m doing just fine though.”

“I agree.”

Until my phone rang, Flynn again focused his
attention on my lower lip. Hearing the ringtone, he sighed heavily and put on a
pout while I answered the call.

“Aunt Penny, are you okay?”

“The clock is going to chime,” she announced, her
voice so high pitched I was forced to pull the phone away from my ear. “It’s
going to chime and the darkness will awaken and the town will bleed. Just like
with Assad.”

“How do you know that?”

“Rhiannon told me. Assad too. They’re all here
because you won’t listen. They want me to make you do what you were born to
do.”

“Maybe that’s not why we were born? Maybe it’s a
lie?”

“No, it’s why. Before my mom died, she told me what
my purpose was and she told me again a few minutes ago. They all told me.”

Imagining Penny surrounded by the demons and
knowing she had nowhere to hide, I felt the guilt rising up in me. As if
sensing I was in a bad place, Flynn wrapped his arms around me and gave a sympathetic
smile.

“Penny, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to die. I told
you about the signs. About the guy I met and he’s special and I love him and
I’m not going to kill myself.”

“You have to!” Penny screamed into the phone.
“They won’t leave me alone until you die. They did the same thing when your mom
didn’t want to die.”

Hearing voices in the background, I sensed
hospital employees were worried Penny was getting out of hand.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to die.”

“It’s not your choice.”