by Nancy Glynn
“So where is he then?”
“He just had some business to handle with his father and Jack for his big day...your big day,” he corrected himself.
“So Lydia just put her clothes back on and walked away is what you’re telling me?" She lifted her eyebrow.
“No, Jack got angry with Christian for not obeying. He had sex with her in his true form, Daisy.”
“What?”
Eric began to cry. He pulled over to a side street and sobbed for his childhood friend.
Daisy unclicked her seat belt and hugged him. She allowed unfinished tears to fall with his. “Oh, my God. Eric...”
“I’m sorry, Daisy. I feel like a fool." He wiped at his nose and cleared his throat.
“No, Eric. You just lost your friend. This place really is hell…”
“But you must know how Christian feels about you. He never went against Jack before, ever. He used to...”
She touched his face. “Finish...he used to what?”
“He used to enjoy being with the girls, sometimes more than one at a time. He really loves you, Daisy.”
She sat back in her seat. She tried to picture him doing those things like Eric said. Women kissing and loving on her Christian, him loving on them. Those thoughts needed to go. Tears blurred her vision. She liked Lydia. “How can Christian do business with Jack after what he did tonight?”
“He had no choice, Daisy. He knows Jack will kill you if he doesn’t go along with what he wants with the plans. He proved it by killing Lydia. It was a message." He wiped his glasses again from the tear streaks.
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive, Eric? I can if you need me,” she offered, rubbing his shoulder.
“Christian’s a lucky man, Daisy." He looked at her with a sad smile. “I need to go to Chicago to find a girl like you,” he added, chuckling.
“Well, that girl would be lucky to have you!”
He wiped his eyes and started the engine.
The streets looked the same as they did a few nights ago. No life. Thoughts scattered through her mind of tonight’s events.
After Eric drove through the gates of Stone Manor and into the driveway, he turned to her. “Are you sure you can let yourself in okay? I don’t mind walking you to the door.”
She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be fine, Eric. You’re such a gentleman for taking care of me. Christian would be proud.”
“I don’t feel like a gentleman, Daisy. What I want to do is run off with you and never come back. Do you always have that effect on guys?”
“Not that I’m aware." She kissed him on the lips this time, something she felt he needed. It wasn’t a deep kiss, just a soft, human touch. Something to remind them that there is good in the world. No matter what they experienced tonight, there was still good out there.
When she pulled away, he thanked her. “I needed that.”
“I know,” she whispered. She got out, walked slowly up the marble steps, the heaviness of the night on her back, and turned back to him once more and mouthed thank you.
He smiled and nodded.
James let her in and she walked up the stairway to her room. She threw her dress off and looked in the mirror. The new scratches she obtained were gone. Perfect smooth skin.
The pouch still lay in its place on the vanity table. She opened it and took the cross out. After kissing it, she clasped it around her neck for the night.
She slipped on her silky nightgown and collapsed into bed, tugging the blankets up to hide under. The ticking of the clock kept her awake. Just as she was about to fall asleep, a knock at the door startled her.
“Daisy, it’s me. Can I talk to you?”
She contemplated letting him in. Was it really the loving Christian she knew or some demonic carbon copy?
“Please, Daisy.”
And then she remembered what he’d been through tonight as well, what he saw. “Hang on." She grabbed her matching robe and opened the door.
“I’m so sorry, honey." He tried pulling her to him, but she didn’t know what to believe, what to trust. He looked defeated. The smell of alcohol wafted from him, but that couldn’t be.
“Come in, Christian. I need to hear it from you what happened.”
They sat in the two chairs in the sitting area near the window. He told her exactly what Eric had said. His shirt was partially opened and looked disheveled. She wanted to run to him and rain kisses on his face, cradle his head to her breasts. But something bugged her. “Were you drinking, Christian?”
“A little, why?”
“I thought you stopped after your mother?”
“I don’t at parties. This was no party.”
She wondered if she could believe him. She didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Daisy? I’m so sorry about Dane. Come here, baby. Let me hold you,” he begged. He held his arms out for her.
Daisy bit her lip and then couldn’t contain herself. She got up and flew into his arms. “It’s been such a horrible night, what happened to Dane, watching you almost kiss another woman, and then her dying for you not kissing her." She allowed him to kiss her then, tasting the vodka.
“God help me, but I want you so much, Daisy!" He picked her up and carried her to the bed.
“Christian, no! What’re you doing? He’ll have us both killed!”
He pushed her against the pillows and crushed his mouth to her breasts. “I’d die for you,” he groaned against her skin.
After she wrestled him off her, he calmed down and pulled her to him. “Please forgive me, Daisy. I couldn’t help it, but you’re right. I’m not letting anything else happen to you.”
They lay in each other’s arms for a while before she sent him to his room.
Morbid thoughts trampled her mind. Dane again as a little boy. His eyes pleading with her. The look on Aunt Betty’s face as he died. Her little boy. Her only child left. Jack had taken both of her children now. He was good at that. She stained the pillow with her tears. Was Christian just as sad in his room? Did he shed tears for his best friend? For Lydia?
Her life before coming here seemed so far away. Like it never happened.
Being a kindergarten teacher was all she ever wanted. The thought of giving all that up put a hole in her heart. To teach little kids brought joy, something this town needed. That sweet girl who gave her daisies had to be in a school, right? She never really noticed the kids here before, but now she began to think.
Maybe she could bring her joy of teaching here? Joy in itself was needed here.
After thinking about it more, she allowed sleep to come. And dreamed of little girls with black wilted flowers. They said in a dead voice the words, “You can’t save us, Daisy,” over and over.
Chapter Twelve
“What are all these?" Daisy eyed the multiple notebooks Christian dropped on her bed the next morning.
“Study time. Need to learn our town’s ways if you plan on staying,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Come down for breakfast and we can go over some important rules.”
“Are you serious? I’m expected to know this stuff?”
“Yep.”
“Hey, I never gave my decision of staying here, Christian Stone.”
“How can you not? You love me,” he smiled, walking to the door.
“I’m not letting that...man...touch me.”
“I’m not either." He closed the door behind him.
She rushed around to get dressed and met him in the dining room with a few of the books. He sat there with his coffee and newspaper.
“You actually read a real paper?" She sat in the chair next to him.
Lucinda brought her coffee and a cheese omelet. “Is okay, Miss Daisy?”
“Perfect, Lucinda. Thank you." She returned her warm smile.
Christian responded. “I do. I can’t read on a tiny phone. I like to feel paper.”
“Poor trees,” Daisy teased. “We’ll have to get you a Kindle
.”
He chuckled and sipped his coffee. “I’m sorry again about last night in your room. You didn’t deserve that." His hand slipped over hers.
“You were only acting out what I wanted as well. Don’t beat yourself up.”
“Oh, yeah?" He wiggled his eyebrows and showed his dimple.
Her eyes lowered and glanced back at him with a deep sadness.
Concern etched his face. “I’m also so sorry what you witnessed last night, Daze. I know it’s killing you. I wish I could take it all back.”
She wiped away a tear and forced a smile, nodding.
Christian smiled and touched her hand. “Get a chance to look anything over?”
“Not yet, but I did want to talk to you about something. Do they have a school here?”
His eyes narrowed, looking confused. “Of course." He sat back, understanding her question more. “You want to teach here?”
“Well, I thought why not? I was ready to teach when I got back to Chicago, but since there might be a change in plans...”
He cradled her face. “I love that idea. There’s just one thing, honey.”
“What?”
“You don’t exactly teach them the Common Core. It’s more of...Jack’s Education.”
“They don’t learn math and English?”
“They’re groomed to know their place, to either be a sacrifice for the twenty-first birthday or to be by the birthday boy’s side in the after dark. Stupid, right? The ones that will be a wife do need education, so that’s where they could need you. Either way is an honor for them in their family’s eyes.”
She was stunned. A thought came to her. “Will Eric have a ball?”
He arched his brows. “Yes, why? I know I had him take care of you last night, but what exactly happened between you two? I never did ask,” he said, putting his paper down and leaning closer.
“Don’t be jealous, Christian. The guy just lost his dear friend, and I was a shoulder to cry on. I felt bad for him and still do, as so should you.”
“I do, believe me, but if he touched you or had some thought about you–”
She shook her head. She didn’t dare tell him about the sweet kiss they shared. “He was a perfect gentleman. He just has a broken heart.”
“Well, I don’t want you mending it.”
She furrowed her brow. “I’m confused. I thought you wanted nothing to do with this whole birthday thing. Why all of a sudden you seem like you can’t wait?”
“I have my reasons.”
“Was it that meeting you had last night with Jack? Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
Her eyes widened. “Did he threaten me?”
“Can we just look over this stuff, please?" He opened one of the books and searched for something.
“He did, didn’t he? I’m not afraid of him, Christian. Don’t do anything because you think he might hurt me.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt you. I sometimes wonder if I’m any good for you. Maybe Eric would be better for you.”
“What? Don’t talk like that.”
“You don’t know the power I’m coming into when I turn twenty-one, Daisy. What if I am this monster? How can you love a monster?”
“But you’re not, my love. You’re not." She touched his face.
“How do you know?” he whispered.
“I just do. Okay, show me what you want me to know." She pulled the book to her to begin her studying.
As she studied the books, he studied her. She glanced at him, twirling her hair. “Stop staring. I feel funny when you do that,” she ordered, grinning.
“Can’t help it. You drive me crazy.”
“Well, help it." She returned her attention to the book. “It says here I have to throw tea parties for the women. All the married women?”
“Yep.”
“So, they’ve been through the ritual of the ball. He...touched them?”
“He did, but not in his true form...not since Bessie. But he does initiate them.”
“Or Lydia,” she reminded him.
“Or Lydia.”
“Why does he do that? Is there a point?”
“Just to basically say they really belong to him, not the schmuck they’re going to,” he answered.
“So, if I decide to do this, would he be...”
“In human form?”
She nodded.
“We discussed that last night. He wants to be in his true form so the baby will have more of a chance of...” he searched for the right word.
“Being like him?”
The grin disappeared. “You can say, yes.”
“Oh, my God." Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Daisy, with your power, you can close your eyes and not be there...just like the whipping.”
She shook her head. “That would be much harder, Christian.”
“That’s what we argued about last night. I tried to tell him I didn’t want that. I don’t even want him touching you at all. The thought sickens me. I want to be the only one.”
“But you’re not.”
“Don’t remind me. I know Dane died for what he did, but part of me is happy he did. I know that’s wrong. If Jack didn’t do it, I might’ve myself,” he admitted, pounding the table.
She wrapped her hand around his angry fist.
He continued. “So, in my mind I will be your one and only. I just want to leave and give it all up. I don’t want his hands or anything else on you, but thanks to my father’s promise to him,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Is that why you drank last night?”
“Yes. I thought it would help, but it made things worse.”
She took both his hands into hers. “Christian, let’s just leave, get out of this town. We don’t need to stay here. I trust in my power and yours to get away from...him.”
“God, I wish it were that easy, honey. I do.”
“It is. We can do this. Let’s find some small town, maybe another state...another country. Whatever it takes.”
He sighed and shook his head. “It’s impossible. He’ll find us.”
“You said I’m safe if I wear my cross, right? We’ll get one for you, too.”
“I don’t think I can wear a cross, Daisy. Look what happened to Dane, and he didn’t have the power I have. I hate even saying power because it’s an insult to your true power. I have a darkness in me that could snuff out your light.”
“I don’t believe that. What about your mother? She gave you her light, her love for God. All you have to do is accept it. Let the other part of you go.”
“Did I ever tell you what happened to Tara?”
“Your high school girlfriend? No, you never told me how she died, and I didn’t want to pry. I’m scared of what you’re going to tell me now.”
“She was a little like you, had all these dreams and hopes. She also wanted me to run away with her. My mother loved her and would talk to her. My mother is the one who told her to run away, even if it was to leave me." His hands shook as he spoke.
“Go on.”
“Well, I cared for her but not like that, not like I do for you. I didn’t love her and she knew it deep down. She decided she deserved better and packed her belongings,” he said, taking a staggering breath before continuing. “Her parents found out and told Jack.”
“He killed her?”
“Yes. So, that’s what prompted my mother to kill herself. She felt responsible for Tara’s death.”
“But I’m different from Tara. We can do this. You can use your degree in Psychology and I can teach. It would be perfect.”
“There’s nothing I would want more than to start a new life with you...here or in another town." He pulled her to his lap and kissed her, softly at first and then more urgently. She allowed his lips to trail down her neck.
“Christian, I do love you. I do want to be with you.”
“I want to be with you, too.”
“No, I mean I want to be with you.”
He stared at her and understood, nodding. “Meet me out in the garden tonight around ten o’clock. We’ll be safe there by the fountain,” he instructed, his voice raspy.
“I wish we could drag the fountain around with us,” she joked.
“Me, too,” he smiled and kissed her one more time. “I have some errands to run for my father and a meeting at Jack’s Den. I don’t know how I’m going to concentrate on anything they say.”
She giggled. “Why, what’ll be on your mind?”
“You’re a funny girl. Anyone ever tell you that?”
“Nope." She stood and collected all the books to return to her room.
“So the day is yours. I can bring you something to eat or just have Lucinda make something. She likes you.”
“Well, I like her, too." She carried the books up the stairs after watching him go out the door.
On her way to her room, one of the paintings whispered to her. It was the one with little children with terrified looks on their faces, looking at something in the woods and pointing, a jackal crouching behind them with snarling teeth.
“Help us, Daisy. Save us from the bad man. Don’t leave us here with him,” they screamed in small, whispered voices.
She turned to get a closer look, but it just appeared to be a regular painting.
One of the books fell out of her arms to the floor, opening to the last page. She bent to pick it up but something caught her eye.
Upon turning twenty-one, the new leader will change into his true form as his satanic father, as will the chosen one. The words jumped out at her, squeezing her heart. Christian never told her that he would change into some sort of demonic son of Jack or that she would. Why would he keep that from her? Although, he did say monster.
It was a subtle warning from him.
She picked the book up and ran to her room, away from the whisperings, the pleadings. Should she call him? Text him? Ask him what the hell this was? Maybe it was an old ritual and not done anymore. That could be a possibility.
But what if it wasn’t?
Would he tell her the truth or make something up? What could she believe?
She picked up her cell phone and hit his number he had given to her last night. “Eric? Can you drive me somewhere?”
