“No! She needs to know just how barbaric they are. You would have died if it wasn’t for Thayde and now,” she looked at the ground searching for words. “That freak wants to be friends?”
Flynn twitched at her words and for a brief moment, I thought he would attack her. Instead, he disappeared through the ground.
Tiesa gasped, her green eyes growing cartoonish in size. Ezen pulled her along with him into the house.
“Is that true?” Gavran’s voice rang out in the silence and Thayde and I turned to him. “Did he have something to do with Ezen being hurt?”
“No,” Thayde swore under his breath.
“Then what was she talking about?”
“He was slated to be drained for them. I hired a tracker to help me find him and we did.”
The look on Gavran’s face wasn’t very convincing. “What was all that talk about his family?”
“His family was murdered. You already know that.”
“His vampire family.”
I held out my hand. “Hasn’t he already told you all this?”
“Did he lie to me?”
Flynn’s voice rang through the trees like a bad omen, throwing all of us on alert. “I don’t lie.”
“Flynn? Where are you?” I called.
His words sent chills down my spine. “I trusted all of you.”
“You can still trust us,” I answered.
“I wanted to help!” He shouted, his voice echoing from a completely different direction.
“Flynn, just talk to us,” Thayde said to the night.
“I’m tired of talking.”
“We want you to be our friend.” I urged, trying not to reach out with my powers and pull him straight to us. “Please come here.”
“You merpeople,” Flynn’s voice filled with disgust, “so indecisive.”
That was it. I reached for him in the dark, released the orb, and pulled him from the roof of the house straight to me, my hand circling his neck. His eyes sad, he grasped my upper arms and we fell through the earth.
What do you think you’re doing? I spoke directly to Flynn’s thoughts.
Kidnapping you.
Any particular reason why?
He didn’t answer me. I didn’t need him to answer; I already knew. He was desperate for someone to trust him. And so I didn’t struggle – I allowed him to take me. When he pushed through the earth on the other side of the world, he released his grip. Looking me deep in the eyes, he ignored the rising sun’s rays wrapping around my frame.
“You remind me of her,” his voice was controlled and quiet. When I didn’t answer, he continued. “She was kind and she didn’t judge people. What I said earlier about you, I’m sorry.” His gaze broke away to the pink sunrise bleaching the horizon. “I am,” he paused, “broken.”
“Flynn, I know you are forcing yourself to die, in essence. As much as a vampire can die. No one is going to make you change your mind in the end, only you can make that choice.”
“What has been your greatest tragedy in life? You might say Anna’s death, but you’d be wrong. You loved Anna and she loved you. Do you know how lucky you were to have experienced that? Love?”
Flynn’s sigh interrupted me and I took his cool hand in mine.
“Flynn, the greatest tragedy in life is not death; it is life without purpose.”
His cold eyes met mine.
“Your life has no purpose and without it, your life has no meaning. You sentenced yourself to a life without joy or happiness and it has been a living hell.”
When he didn’t answer, I pulled him to a nearby rock, making him sit next to me.
“Alice Koller once said ‘Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own.’ You have been grieving for nearly two hundred years. You have not forgiven yourself for the deaths of your parents, even though it was not your fault. Anna is gone. Your family is gone. And now, you wish you would disappear as they did. Am I right?”
“Yes,” his voice was a whisper.
“You were given life. It’s a gift, not a right. What have you done with your life? Your best? You have loved. Have you lived enough – to your fullest potential? When given the chance to do good, did you take it? Can you answer these questions? If not, you’re not ready to go home.”
“I don’t have a purpose,” Flynn repeated my sentiments softly.
“Yes, you do.” I paused. “Everyone has a purpose – many of us have several purposes in life. Perhaps one of yours is to help the merpeople.”
“I can’t help an entire race,” Flynn scoffed.
“No, but you can help me and I can help the entire race.”