Blue Sacrifice (Blue Davison), page 1
Blue Sacrifice
Angela Horn
Copyright © 2012 Angela Horn
Nook Edition
Dedication
To 90’s Me for dreaming up a nice idea Now Me made better
Ferdy for inspiring me to write a raunchier Blue
and
MJ, MM, JH, MH, and LH
Blue Davison Novels
Blue Awakening (due early 2013)
Other Books Available by Angela Horn
Blood Tide (Shadow Sisters)
Shadowburbia (McCormick Sisters)
The Bite (Sub Sami)
Desert Flower (Nephilim – Vivi Rios)
The Moon Rises (Gigi Monroe)
Fallen (Angelic Redemption)
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter One
This was my day to die and I was the one who chose it. I also decided how I would die. Nothing too bloody like my mother or mysterious like my grandmother or public like Aunt Penny. While I wanted to die quickly, I also wanted to die cleanly. My hope was my mangled body wouldn’t be used to scare children one day like the stories about Great-aunt Selene.
My hope was the most difficult part of dying would be jumping. Once I stepped off of the normally unused Riser Bridge, the icy water would pull me under before I had time to truly panic. A quiet cold day with most people already at work and school, I’d die without good Samaritans to jump into the freezing waters to save me. This was a good day to die.
Stepping up onto the highest railing, I stared at the river. The waves beckoned for me and I lifted my foot to step off. Yet when a gust of cold wind pushed me forward, I grabbed hold of the metal posting and kept myself from falling into the water. Steadied, I caught sight of the very top of the Riser Memorial Football Stadium.
School had barely started and I could still make it to Calculus. Kids regularly came in late and the school didn’t make a big deal about it. They were just happy anyone showed up. It would be so easy to jump down and walk to school. Sign in and go to class. Make it to lunch with Lacey and have a normal day. This day didn’t have to be the end.
But what about Lily Falls? Would this place survive without its sacrifice? The voices told me no. The faces in the mirror told me no. All of the signs pointed to this as my time to die, but it would be so easy to live one more day. Or finish out the week, just to see if all my studying led to making at least a B on the Calculus test. I could go to a party on the weekend and meet a cute guy and touch him and let his warm skin help me forget all of the cold following me.
Yet a sacrifice needed to be made or the party might never happen. The weekend might never come without blood spilt and it had to be mine. I had to die and the waves below welcomed me.
Stepping out with my left foot, I forced myself to relax until I could let go of the post. My body weight leaned forward, kept upright only by one booted foot. Surveying the quiet morning, I looked for the faces and listened for the voices, but I was alone. The choice was mine to make. A sacrifice was never taken, always offered. On this day, I would offer mine.
“I’ll jump in after you,” a voice said, nearly startling me into the water below.
Turning towards the voice, I frowned darkly. Not only had he interrupted me, but he had simply appeared. Was he one of the faces? Studying him, I saw he was just a guy. A beautiful guy I had never seen before, but Lily Falls enjoyed a transient population. Most of the kids I saw at school this year, I hadn’t seen last year. Lacey and I stayed the same, but we were the exceptions to the rule.
“What do you want?” I asked, holding onto the post again.
“I’ll tell you what I don’t want,” he said, stepping closer to the railing, yet keeping his distance from me. “I don’t want to jump into the cold water to save you.”
“Then don’t,” I muttered.
Tilting his head, he gave me a little grin, revealing a dimple. “Why do you want to jump anyway? Are you depressed, fair lady?”
The fair lady crap was likely because of my pale freckled skin. In Lily Falls, I was the only stereotypically Irish looking person under the age of forty, save from Jordan Rynes who was known more for his firebug habit than his blazing red hair. Besides Jordan’s family had moved away during the summer.
Studying this stranger, I wondered about his story. Why was he in Lily Falls and why did he have to visit the bridge at this exact moment and ruin my plans? Seeing my gaze on him, he smiled wider. His smile was so dazzling I suspected he was quite the charmer with the ladies. Probably what they once called a rogue, but now referred to as a manslut.
“If I don’t jump now,” I told him, “I’ll just jump later. Why do you care?”
“Oh, I’m old fashioned, you see,” he said, pushing his dark brown hair out of his eyes, only to have the wind whip the locks right back where they were. “I think a man should jump into a frigid river to save a pretty girl.”
“But not an ugly one then?”
“Oh, yeah, I’d save her too, but she’s not the one teetering on the edge of the railing.”
Unable to tell his age, I thought he was a teenager, only because he had a sort of boyish appearance. It was probably his dark hair still hanging in his eyes. His smile though was full of grown male swagger. He smiled like the guys at the college did when girls on their third beers asked if they had girlfriends. This guy also smiled like he was in on the secret, but I still figured he was probably no more than a year or two older than me.
“I’m just very sad,” I said, “and I have a terminal tumor and want to die. Now go away.”
“Terminal tumor, eh?” he said, his bright smile widening into something glorious enough to keep him flushed with pretty girls. “Sounds awful. Did you get a second opinion though? Those doctors aren’t always spot-on when it comes to diagnosing terminal tumors.”
Glaring at him, I wanted to be angry. Yet I didn’t really want to jump and smarmy Joe had given me an out.
Jumping down, I sighed. “Well you’ve convinced me to give life another chance. Thanks for that. See ya.”
“Not so quick,” he said, following me as I hurried to where my backpack waited. “What if you’re tricking me and I let you out of my sight, then you rush back to jump?”
“What’s your plan then, slick? Are you going to stalk me because I think there are laws against that?”
Reaching down for my backpack, I looked up to find him in front of me, leaning against the railing. He was smiling casually like today was just any other day and this was just any other pickup. I suspected he picked up girls a lot which was why he possessed so much swagger.
His eyes were gorgeous, a deep green like the trees around here during the summer. His dark jacket wasn’t zipped completely and I noticed a white tee covered with a black buttoned shirt. His jeans looked well worn while his black tennis shoes appeared rather new.
Suspecting he was the kind of guy who rarely struck out with girls, I also imagined he kept score like notches on his bedpost. I’d seen enough of his kind at the college to keep me from moistening my panties.
“All that red hair,” he said, giving me a smile I returned with vigor despite my best efforts. “Not a lot of red haired girls around here.”
“No, there aren’t. Are you a collector looking to check off a redhead?”
“So jaded. Actually I checked that spot off back when I was a wee lad,” he said in an accent I suspected was European, though I couldn’t narrow it down more than that. Grinning wider now, he added, “I’m Flynn.”
“Kate.”
“What a beautiful name for such a beautiful redheaded girl. Too bad about your terminal tumor making you sad.”
“Go away, Flynn. I’m late.”
“Late for an appointment to get that second opinion, I hope.”
Rolling my eyes, I ditched him and rushed towards school. If I kept a steady pace, I would reach the front office in ten minutes. I’d only be partially frozen by then, but the cold felt good. Everything felt good because suddenly I was going to live the rest of the day. Dying would have to wait for tomorrow.
After crunching through the autumn leaves flooding the school parking lot, I opened the barn-style double doors leading into Riser High School. The lady in the front office was new and she tried to care about me being late. Then Mrs. Moore explained how no one cared about anything in Lily Falls and she should just let me get to class. Minutes later, I was a few rooms down from Calculus, trying to get Lacey’s attention through the window of her classroom door.
My best friend was staring at her hands, mourning me and probably wondering who she would have lunch with now that I was dead. I figured she’d eat with Aya who was the only girl Lacey could tolerate lately. Well besides me.
Staring through the window, I waited for Lacey to feel me watching her. Finally a dark skinned boy, who also wasn’t paying attention to the teacher, poked Lacey then pointed at me. I stuck my tongue out at Lacey and she flip ped me off. Relief flooded her beautiful face then she noticed how the teacher Abby Parker had stopped her lesson to stare at me.
I stuck my tongue out at Abby too, remembering when she was my mother’s best friend. This was a woman who once changed my diapers. She was also the one who found my mom in a bathtub filled with blood. I still remembered how Abby wept over her friend and promised she would take care of me.
Abby Parker hadn’t taken care of me though. She had loved my mom like a sister, but she knew what happened to Davison women once they hit a certain age. Having suffered enough over losing my mom, she wasn’t signing up to suffer over me. Yet I saw love in her eyes as she stuck out her tongue at me, eliciting laughter from her class.
Leaving the door, I arrived at Calculus in time to get in a little learning before class was over. If I died tomorrow morning, I wouldn’t need to know anything about math. Yet if I managed to survive another day, I wanted to do well on my test Friday. I wasn’t a teacher’s pet, but I liked getting good grades. When teenagers died while on the honor roll, adults usually spoke more fondly of them. With my family’s history, I wanted all of the positive press I could get.
By lunch, the morning on the bridge felt like a dream. I didn’t really want to die, so had I fantasized a handsome guy coming to my rescue? Convincing myself Flynn was merely a mind trick, I waited in the lunch line for Lacey.
Having met on the first day of kindergarten, Lacey and I didn’t become friends until the end of the year. Only after the rest of the class left one at a time to be replaced by new kids did we end up as the final students from the first day. Figuring we were the only stable choices, Lacey and I started hanging out. Sometimes I thought we were friends out of convenience, but we were friends nonetheless.
The Davison women were notorious in Lily Falls, but the Zandis had their own sordid history in the town. A wealthy family, who owned many of the businesses which drew people in and out of the area, the Zandis stood out for their wealth and Persian descent. They were notorious though because eight years earlier Lacey’s uncle massacred every person on his street. Systematically butchering one family after another, Assad Zandi finished with his own then took his life.
Many people would have left a town where their family’s name was so marred, but the Zandis were like the Davisons. We had come to Lily Falls a long time ago and just stayed. No matter what happened, we never left. This remained true until Aunt Aurora moved away nearly nine years ago and just months before the normally gentle Assad went on his murder spree.
Heading towards me in the large lunch room, Lacey was beautiful in a way I could never be. Her black hair shined. Her dark eyes glimmered. Her olive skin was flawless even through puberty. If she had one physical imperfection, it was that she spent a lot of time plucking and waxing. Lacey might be a million times prettier than me, but I’d never waxed anything and I never planned to. I’d rather be a hundred year old hairy monster than get anywhere near hot wax. Lacey always laughed when I said this even though we both knew it was unlikely I would reach eighteen, let alone a hundred.
“What happened, Blue?” Lacey asked, joining me in line.
“I think a guy came along and stopped me. That or I made him up in my head so I could back out of my plan.”
“Was he hot?” Lacey asked, running her manicured nails through her long locks.
“Yeah, very much so. Thanks for asking.”
“Then he probably was an illusion. A mirage of sexy to distract you. I hope you got some sexy times out of the crazy.”
Staring incredulously at her, I laughed. “Can you imagine me making out with air? How stupid would that be?”
“You talked to air, so why not give it a little tongue?”
Laughing, we pretended like I hadn’t planned to kill myself earlier. We also ignored how I would try again tomorrow.
“Need a ride after school?” Lacey asked as we took our trays outside to eat in the courtyard.
Shivering in the cold, I nodded. “I left my bike at home. Didn’t want someone stealing it.”
“Right because a dead chick needs a bike.”
“Gretchen could sell it after I died, you boob. It’s a nice bike.”
“Not that nice and would Gretchen really sell your stuff?”
“To cleanse her life of negative energy, she would. I’ll be dead, so I don’t care if she sells it.”
Lacey sighed, her nose turning pink from the cold. “Will you go back tomorrow?”
“Probably. Need to do it soon. The voices are getting louder. It’s time.”
Lacey’s dark eyes met my light ones and she just understood. We lived in Lily Falls and we understood in a way the kids around us couldn’t. They were outsiders to this place and they thought like outsiders. For Lacey and me, we knew Lily Falls expected its sacrifices.
My last class of the day was Government and I made a habit of always being late. I purposely walked slowly, but not because I hated Government. The teacher was actually sexy like Indiana Jones, rugged with a nerdy vibe. At the start of the year, I had flirted with him real obvious like. Nothing as obvious as the girl in the movie who wrote “I love you” on her eyelids, but pretty damn obvious. Lots of girls flirted with Mr. Farmer. He was hot after all and we were hormonal. The problem was that with me Farmer flirted back. Now I worked to be the last to class and the first out of the door, just to avoid taking our flirting to a level even I knew was unacceptable.
Living every day like I knew I would be dead soon had led to many stupid choices. I slept with guys who then wrote my name and number on bathroom walls. On the upside, I was known to give a good time. A year earlier, I dyed my hair blue which was a really bad look for me. I also got a tramp stamp of a smiley face. A whole lot of dumb crap that wouldn’t matter once I jumped in the river one day. Yet even if I would be dead tomorrow, I knew screwing my Government teacher was out of bounds.
Waiting at my locker, I wiped at my fat lips to get rid of the pink gloss. I wiped off a little eyeliner too. No need to look too attractive for Mr. Inappropriate with a Minor.
“With or without makeup, you are lovely, Kate.”
Considering I had only told one person my name was Kate, I wondered if I was hallucinating again. I glanced over my shoulder to find Flynn standing too close and wearing a roguish grin.
“Or is it Blue?”
“Why are you here?” I asked, turning to face him.
“I’m a student here.”
“Since when?”
“Since today.”
“You were late on your first day of school?”
“Aye and good thing too or else I wouldn’t have stumbled upon you. Is your terminal tumor feeling any better?”
“Miraculously healed. Well so long.”
Flynn didn’t move and I didn’t shove him aside. He reached out and caressed a lock of my long red hair in his fingers.
“I worry about you, Blue. Or do you prefer Kate? Is it a middle name?”
“I don’t care what you call me. I just want you to move.”
“I’ll move if you’ll meet me after school so we can talk about what happened on the bridge today.”
No way did Flynn want to talk. A guy didn’t fondle a chick’s hair and give such a devious grin if he was worried about her mental health. He wanted to add another notch to his bedpost. I’d have played harder to get, but I was planning to die the next day.
“Meet me at 56 Boone Street, next to the donut shop.”
Flynn lost his smile. “What’s there?”
“A real comfy spot between two dumpsters where we can talk. You’ll need to be quick though. I have a busy evening tonight.”
Flynn frowned. “Quick how?”
“Don’t play coy. We both know what you want and I’m game.”
His green eyes watched me then he smiled. “I’ll meet you. What time?”
“Five?”
“Perfect. We’ll have dinner.”
Rolling my eyes, I pushed past him. “I don’t want to date you, Finn.”
“Flynn, but I think you knew that.”
Sighing, I stopped walking and glanced back. “You’re right. That was rude, Flynn. I should treat you better since you saved me long enough for my tumor to heal. Have a great day.”
“I’ll see you at five then?” he called out and I just shrugged.
Flynn was achingly beautiful and I suspected he was probably an above decent lover. The manwhores usually were from all of the practice, but I didn’t really want to encourage him. On the other hand, a guy like him would be less interested once I put out. They loved the chase, so I would give in and enjoy his beauty. Then I would tell him I’d see him at school and instead jump off of the bridge. Sounded like a solid plan.
