Amaranthine

Chapter Thirty One

“I told you last night, I can’t let him live through this. When we are gone he is going to find someone else to screw with, someone I care about. I can’t let that happen.”

“It has nothing to do with you. Nothing!”

“You don’t understand.”

“No! You don’t understand. Just stop and think about this, please!”

“I’ve thought about it. I’ve been thinking about it since the moment I laid my eyes on you. I know what I’m doing.”

I wasn’t getting anywhere, just frustrated, if that counted. “If you love me, you won’t do it.”

He looked disgusted. “I have to make it right because I love you.”

“No, you don’t. You just stay with me. That’s all you need to do!” Anger bubbled to its boiling point and I drew my hands back to swing at him.

He grabbed them and pulled them to his chest. His eyes softened. “It’ll be okay.”

Tears formed in my eyes. “If I can’t see you, if you’re not near me, it won’t be okay!”

“I promise.”

“Screw you, Orion! Screw you and your promises. I don’t want to hear them anymore.”

He stepped forward. “Don’t be like this.”

“Like what?” I was still fuming. “Like what, Orion? Please, tell me, what should I be like?”

“Be reasonable.”

What? He was going chasing after a devil, and he was telling me to be reasonable. “I’m not the one being unreasonable. You are being ridiculous,” I said, jabbing my finger against his chest. “Stop being such a testosterone-driven freak. You’re better than that!”

“You’re better than leaving this life knowing he will do the same thing to someone else. Can you be happy in your next life with that knowledge? He’ll go after people, Ireland. People you might still love that are left behind.”

There was only one person I loved who’d be left behind.

My dad.

My mouth dropped. “He’s going to go after my dad?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what he’d do, faced with losing his only chance at erasing my existence. But I’m sure he’d try to take it out on someone. I can only stop it by getting to him first. There’s no other way.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want him to kill you. What would happen to me then?”

“He won’t kill me.”

“He could.”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that!”

He came closer and wrapped his arms around me. It was usually comforting, but not now. “It will be fine. Please, the longer we keep having this conversation, the more time is wasted.”

“Talking about your life, or afterlife, or whatever it is, Orion, is not a waste of time.”

“It is. I’ll be fine. I promise. Please, just get ready. I need to get you to Mona.”

I was defeated.

I couldn’t change his mind, and after considering Damien may go after my father, I didn’t want to anymore.

I quietly headed to the bathroom and splashed icy water on my face, wishing so badly that it would wash away everything. It didn’t. I brushed my teeth with water, using my finger as a toothbrush. Gross. No wonder Orion didn’t want to kiss me. I came back out of the bathroom and saw him in his bedroom, holding out a clean tee shirt ready to lift it over his head. My eyes traveled up from his abdomen to his chest. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it last night, but there on his left side, right above his heart, was a bright pink scar. I don’t know how I had missed it. Next to his olive skin it stuck out like a beacon. I walked toward him before he could get the tee shirt over his head and put my hand on it. “You have a scar,” I said.