Chapter 14: Damion

Chapter 14 – Damio n

I don't want to lose her.

If this were a normal relationship, this wouldn't even be a conversation in my mind; but it isn't normal. Amri isn't normal.

Jyl keeps telling me to follow my heart, but it isn't that easy. If I want to follow my heart, not only do I have to share Amri with two, technically three, other people, but I have to die. I don't know the details, but I do know that to be in a relationship in the Underworld, you have to actually be in the Underworld. Which means, someone either has to kill Zain and Amri, or they have to kill themselves – and the same would go for me if I said yes.

I want to be with her, but I don't want to die. I don't want to leave Jyl. But if I say no, then I don't think I can stay around Amri. Or Zain for that matter.

I'd have to request a patient transfer.

I don't want to request a patient transfer.

Maybe I should talk to Jyl again. All she did earlier was argue with me, saying when she saw me with Amri before it was the happiest, I've ever been and that I needed to suck it up and be a man. Follow my heart and all that bullshit.

Maybe if I actually explained things to her, she would understand. Maybe I need a voice of reason to make me see clear, because if I follow my heart and do what it's telling me right now, I will die for her. I will share her with a man that drives me crazy. I will follow her to the Underworld just so I can see her face every single day, not only for the rest of my life, but for eternity. And that scares me.

I leave the break room and head to the camera room to talk to Jyl. She's the only family I have left, so if anyone's opinion matters, it's hers.

It only takes me a few minutes of walking the plain white hallways to get to her, the door open and waiting for me to walk in.

"I'm guessing you saw me coming." I say, sitting in a chair along the wall and looking to the cameras, seeing the hallway I walked down to get here.

"And I'm guessing you still haven't made a decision."

"It's not that easy, Jyl."

"It is, though. You've always looked after me. You worked three jobs so I could go to prom. You got me this job. Do something for yourself for once."

"But you don't know what following my heart means, Jyl."

"Fuck what it means, Damion! You've sacrificed so much. You've worked so hard. Do something for yourself – for once."

I sigh, running my fingers through my hair and sitting back in the chair. I level my sister with a look. "I would have to leave. Forever."

She gives me a look, confusion mottling her brow until recognition comes across her face. "You mean die. "

I don't say anything, just stare at her and watch her put the pieces together.

"Amri wants you to be in a relationship with her, Zain, and the Grim Reaper. So that means, you would have to die. There's no other way to really be in a relationship with the Grim Reaper unless you go to hell with him." Her eyes widen at her revelation, and her hand goes to cover her mouth.

"Technically, they call it the Underworld."

"That's why you've been so torn."

I nod.

She stays silent for a few minutes, looking from me and back to the cameras where they show Amri in her room. I watch her, too. She's constantly looking out the window in her room and twirling her curly red hair around her finger.

She's so beautiful. It's been so hard keeping my distance from her these past few days. I feel her every time she would look at me. I would shiver with anticipation every time her arm or hand would brush mine. I know all she wants is for me to accept her - that's all she ever wanted. And here I am denying her.

Before Jyl even says a word, I've made my decision. My sister is right, I need to do something for myself. Yes, the thought of dying is scary, terrifying actually, but the thought of living without Amri is even worse. She's my sun, what my world now orbits around, and I didn't even realize when she became that center. She busted through the walls I had built around myself with her laugh, her smile, the damn sarcasm she wields like a sword.

"I think you should do it."

The whispered words make me turn my head from the screen and look at my sister. There are tears in her eyes, but she's smiling.

"I don't want to lose you, little brother, but I would hate it if you didn't get to live your life to the fullest. If you didn't get to feel your heart fill with love. If you didn't get to keep looking at the woman you love with that same exact look you just had in your eyes." She takes a deep breath. "So, yes, I think you should do it. Quit hiding from the unknown and let yourself love someone. The scariest things in life are the things we should live for."

I reach out and take her hand, squeezing it in mine. "Are you sure?"

She laughs softly. "Yes. I believe you when you say what she says is the truth. I've always told you that some people see a different reality than ours, and I think she's one of them."

I get up and cross the small room over to my sister, leaning down to engulf her in a hug. "I don't know when I'll be leaving."

"Promise me you'll say goodbye."

"I will."

I pull away and turn to look at Amri on the screens again, but something else catches my eye. There's a new intake going on. The guy is huge, muscles near busting out of his scrubs and multiple tattoos all over his body, even some on his face. His long, dark hair is tied up behind his neck.

"New patient. Another insanity plea from what I hear."

I turn toward Jyl, "Another one? They usually don't admit them this close together. We just got Zain a few weeks ago."

She shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe they think Zain is doing better so they felt comfortable letting in someone else. I heard this one is bad news, though. He has an issue with woman. Apparently, he blacked out and killed all the woman at his job. It was a construction company, so thankfully it wasn't a lot of them, but it seems like he snapped."

"An issue with women?" I look back at the screen and frown. That doesn't make me feel good.

I look to Amri's room again and see it empty. "Where did she go?"

I scan each screen and finally find her walking from her room to the café, right where the new guy is headed.

"Damn it, Amri, why didn't you wait on me?"

"In her defense, the only time you've actually been walking with her lately is when Vaviri is with you, and lunch started…ten minutes ago."

Damn it.

"I'll see you later, Jyl. Love you."

"Love you, too, bro."

I kiss Jyl on the forehead and then walk out the door, heading down the hall to Zain's room. After a few turns through the empty halls, I stop in front of his door and pull out my keys to unlock it.

"About fucking time, lunch started like twenty minutes ago." Zain steps out into the hallway and shoots me a smile.

"Seventeen actually, and sorry, I was talking to my sister."

We head toward the café, walking past the hallway that Amri's room is in.

"Uh, Mr. Nurse Man, are you completely cutting her off now or something?"

I raise my eyebrow and turn toward him. "Huh?"

"Little bunny." That's all the explanation he gives me – little bunny. For some reason, though, that's all I need.

"She's already in the cafeteria."

Zain chuckles. "Is that why we're practically running?"

I roll my eyes. "We're practically running because there's a new patient and something doesn't feel right about him. He has issues with women and considering our woman is the most beautiful in this place, I have a feeling he's going to latch onto her like a leech."

I swear I hear Zain growl before I see him whip his head toward me. "Wait a minute. Did you say our?"

"Yes, I did. But don't you say a damn thing to her. I want to talk to her first."

Zain smiles and walks a little faster. "Yes sir."

We walk into the cafeteria and my eyes immediately search for Amri's fire red hair. I quickly find her, but scowl when I see who she's talking to.

"I'm guessing that's the new guy." Zain's voice is deeper than it was before, and I have the thought that he may have changed personalities right in front of my eyes. It's usually hard for me to recognize when I'm speaking to him versus Callyx, but the more I spend time with him, the more I'm catching on.

"That is." We start toward Amri, who is smiling up at the new guy with a weary look in her eyes. Her eyes shoot over to Zain, or maybe it's Callyx, and I walking up to the table, and she shoots up out of her seat.

"Callyx!"

So, I was right, his personality did shift.

She walks over to Callyx and wraps her arms around him in a hug. "See, Royce, I told you I had a boyfriend."

I narrow my eyes at the newcomer – Royce. Why does she have to prove that she has a boyfriend ?

I want to be called her boyfriend.

"It looks to me like you have more than one." Royce looks from Amri to me, no doubt seeing the territorial look in my eyes that I somehow don't have because of Callyx's arms around her, but because of Royce looking at her.

I see Amri's face turn red with blush. "Damion is…a friend."

My heart sinks hearing her say that, but I have to remind myself that she doesn't know we're okay. She doesn't know I'm going to say yes to her.

"Sure, he is." Royce's voice is condescending as he continues to stare down Amri.

I step up to say something, but Callyx beats me to it. "He is. But I'm more than that, so why don't you back off my girl?"

Royce laughs. "Or what, pretty boy?"

Callyx laughs right back at him, but his laugh gives me the shivers. It sounds so depraved. It sounds…inhuman. "Or, Humpty Dumpty, I'll chop you into so many pieces that they'll never be able to find all of you. I'll make you beg for mercy, mercy that only my kitten could grant you. And if I know her like I think I do, the only thing she'd grant you is a laugh in your face before she stabbed you in the heart."

Amri looks up at Callyx and smiles, and while I should be concerned about the clear threat one patient just made to another one, I'm more concerned with the fact that she hasn't shot me a smile like that in a week. That's too long.

Royce holds up his hands and starts to back away, smiling and showing off a missing front tooth. "Very well, pretty boy." He shoots a wink at Amri, "I'll be seeing you, Amri. "

I shiver at the tone in his voice and look over to see Amri watching him walk away. "I've got a bad feeling about him."

"Me too, Ree, me too."