Blood and Light

by Rue Volley

  Maybe some hot water would wash away this weak feeling he had. He leaned against the wall and let the water beat down on him. He coughed and red drips of blood fell from his mouth, it swirled at his feet.

  “What the hell?” he whispered.

  He opened his mouth and let the water fill it. He spit it out and grabbed the soap on the shelf. He reached up to rub it to his face and felt a sharp pain in his temple. He dropped the soap and grabbed at his head. He staggered, as it became overwhelming. He turned and let the water wash over his face to get the soap off. He reached for the door and slid it open. He tried to step out, but fell to the floor with a thud. He rolled over and grabbed his head. Flashes of white light started to pulsate behind his eyes. The ringing tone in his ears reached a fevered pitch and he squeezed his eyes shut, yelling out. Suddenly everything went silent.

  He opened his eyes and he was looking into the mirror with the toothbrush in his hand. He looked to the shower and the water was not on, the door was closed. He looked back at the mirror and jumped when he saw Elin standing behind him.

  “God!” he called out, as he turned to her. “Do you ever knock?” he said to her.

  286

  Elin laughed. “I did…you didn't answer,” she said.

  “Well, when people don't answer their door it means they are either asleep, or they don't want company.”

  Elin looked at him, trying to look distraught. “Are you saying that you didn't want to see me?” she asked …one hundred percent, upset girl.

  “No…listen, I didn't hear you knock, even if had, I wouldn't know it was you…

  How could I?”

  Elin crossed her arms. “That's not what you said.”

  Johnathan sighed, he was fighting a circular argument…he just knew it.

  “Listen, I'm sorry, I haven't felt well lately and I am grumpy… I was rude, I apologize.”

  Elin grinned. “Okay, apology accepted, lets go out today... Fresh air would do you some good, you look like a ghost.”

  Johnathan squeezed the back of his neck and rubbed the side of it. There was no saying “no”, he knew it, but he really did not want to go anywhere.

  “Okay...fine, I will go out, but not long...something quick.”

  Elin clapped her hands together. “Oh...sweet,” she said, as she left his room.

  Johnathan sat down on his bed and sighed. “I think she did that on purpose,” he muttered to himself. “Girls,” he said, as he shook his head. He walked to the bathroom and looked into the mirror, he bent over and spit into the sink. Nothing...no blood. He looked back at himself and saw how pale he was.

  He pulled at his face. “God, she's right...I look like death,” he whispered to himself.

  ******

  Elin sat at her vanity, putting her makeup on. She honestly didn't need it.

  Her feeding had retained her youth. Frozen her at twenty one. Truth was, she would have been fifty two...this past December, but you couldn't see one line on her face. She was flawless...all her flaws crept in her soul, or lack of one. She sat there smiling at herself and looked down as her phone went off. She turned it in her hand and saw “master” flashing at her. “God, Noble..what do you want?” she said to herself. She pushed the button.

  “Yes,” she said, irritation in her voice.

  “You sound flustered my girl, what"s wrong?” Noble asked her.

  “Nothing…well, Johnathan is weak. This would have been easier if you would have had the mirror here before we arrived, I fear he is having flashes of memory,” she said, as she rolled her eyes.

  “I told you that Elie would not allow for the mirrors to be transported by anyone but the movers she hired,” Noble said.

  “You are immortal… You could have made it happen,” she said mockingly.

  “That is true, but it takes a lot of effort to change things. It has been enough effort just to shield you and Johnathan from leaving a trail,” Noble said with anger. “You would be wise to appreciate what I am able to do for you Elin. Remember that I made it possible for you to enter the realm of memory… You could not do it yourself.”

  287

  Elin laughed. “You need me as I need you, remember that it was me who pulled you out of that stupid library… You could have perished there, with the others.”

  The phone was silent for a moment. “Come to me Elin…I am hungry, as you are.”

  “I cannot, I have a „date" with out Johnathan today. I will try to see you later on, I promise.”

  Noble sighed. “Don't be long...”

  Elin laughed and pushed the button on her phone, ending the call. She picked up her lipstick and put it on slowly. “I will see you when I feel like it,” she said, as she dropped her lipstick on the vanity.

  She stepped out into the hallway and ran downstairs. Johnathan was waiting for her on the large Victorian couch. He stood up when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “So…? Where too?” he asked.

  “We are going to the woods, to take a walk Johnathan,” she said, as she grabbed her new red coat.

  ******

  “Give me the keys Kai,” Sam said as she grabbed her bag.

  “Oh come on Sam...let me drive this time, just once,” Kai said as he threw his jacket on.

  “I'm not asking…I'm telling you,” Sam said as she blocked the front door. She held her hand out.

  “Fine,” Kai said as he dropped them in her hand. I giggled.

  Kai was never one to give in so easy and I have to admit that watching Sam semi-bully him, is a treat. I reached down and grabbed my back pack and swung it up on my shoulder. Josh came down the stairs and had a small plastic bag. I looked at it in his hand.

  “That's all your bringing with you?” I asked him.

  He looked down at the bag and back to me. “Yea...toothbrush, we are going to be close to my house, I'll swing in and grab whatever... We won't be gone long anyway, Johnathan isn't going to be a problem.”

  Theodore laughed. “Really...? Did you not get the point that it is not Johnathan we will probably have to deal with, but Elin, Josh?” He was dragging a huge piece of luggage behind him.

  Josh looked at his suitcase and grunted. “What is that for?” he asked.

  “Well, I like to be ready for any situation,” Theodore said as he stopped and put it down on the floor.

  He looked down at it. Josh raised his eyebrows. “What?” he said. Theodore started to walk to the door.

  “Oh for god"s sake,” Josh grunted. He walked to Theodore's bag and picked it up.

  As Josh passed me, I pulled my backpack off and held it out to him.

  “No,” he said, as he passed me by.

  288

  I swung it back on my shoulder and looked around the room. I hoped that the next time we stepped in this house that Johnathan would be by my side, I could only hope.

  ******

  I walked out to the car and Kai and Sam were in the front and Theodore was already in the back seat. Josh was stuffing Theodore's bag in the trunk. I threw my backpack on top of the bags in the trunk over him and he grunted, I guess because I didn't stop to pack it in. I stopped at the back door of the car and waited for him.

  “You sit in the middle Rue,” he said, as he walked up to me.

  “I get claustrophobia,” I said.

  “Listen, I am over six foot, Rue...! I cannot sit in the middle,” he said, as he waited for me to hop in. I looked in the car and Theodore smiled at me.

  “Fine,” I muttered. “But if I freak out and the car explodes with a flash of light, don't act like I didn't warn you,” I added as I crawled in.

  Josh got in and I adjusted myself, so I didn't feel like a caged bird.

  “I doubt that you will blow up the car Rue,” he said, as he pushed on the seat in front of him.

  “Listen princess, I need for you to move the seat up,” Josh said to the back of Kai's head . Kai pulled his seat up, without responding to him.

  “So...we will be pretty clo
se to Valon, huh?” I asked.

  “No, Rue...we are not going there,” Josh said, as he looked out the window.

  “I didn't say that, I just wondered,” I said, as I shifted in my seat.

  Sam started up the car and we headed out. I looked back at my house and then back to my hands.

  Kai turned around in his seat, “Hey where was that Motel you two stayed at?”

  Josh said, “Adda” the same time I said, “No.”

  Theodore laughed. “We will drive straight to our destination, in fact, we will stop driving before we get there, and go on foot the rest of the way,” he said.

  “Why are we going to go on foot?” I asked.

  “Trust me Rue...once we get close you will understand, you will feel it... The energy is so strong, you will want to be on foot,” he said, as he stared out the window.

  “Okay...I don't understand, but I guess I'll have to see,” I said.

  ******

  We drove for two hours until we took a break, we stopped at a small gas station and everyone got out and stretched. I went into the small convenience store and grabbed some road snacks. We had exhausted our food supply already. I walked through the small aisles and grabbed anything that looked edible. I was reading the thousands of ingredients on the back of a bag of cheese puffs and I almost dropped the bag when Josh snuck up behind me.

  289

  “Don't worry about reading it...it's never going to be good for you to eat it,” he said, as he passed me by. I put the bag in my basket and kept looking at all the over processed junk on the shelves. I looked up when he had found his gold.

  “Now this,” he held up a bag of pig skin. “Is what I call fuel.”

  “Gross,” I muttered.

  He tossed it at me and it landed in the basket I was carrying. I picked up the bag and started to read the back of the bag.

  “No need...it's pig,” Josh said, as he rummaged through the shelf.

  I looked up at him. “I know it's pig, I'm not stupid,” I said.

  He laughed. “I can't believe…” He leaned over to me to whisper, “That you have a problem with pig skin, but you like blood.” I swung the pig bag at him, he tried to move out of my way, but I clipped him with it.

  “Don't damage the goods.” he said as he laughed at me.

  “Shut up,” I said.

  “You know we are in Adda,” he said, without looking at me. “Should we stop in for a quickie with that woman at the motel?”

  I sighed. “Yea, that sounds good, I love crabs,” I said, without looking up.

  He laughed and took the basket out of my hand. “You are all sunshine today,” he said.

  “Well, I am just worried about Johnathan. I am doing the right thing...right?” I asked him.

  He stopped. “What…? Are you asking me for advice…? Listen, you do whatever you think is right, don't ask me… I'm just here to make sure you don't get yourself killed.”

  “Killed?” I asked in a whisper.

  “Yep...Elin is a bitch, and if she is hanging out with him, we will have to deal with her.”

  “I'm going to kick her ass,” I said without wavering.

  “Well…we may have too... Listen, you might as well prepare yourself for the possibility that Johnathan has been doing the nasty with her.” He started to walk away from me.

  “What...? No way, no...he would never,” I said.

  Josh stopped and turned back to me. “You don't know her, I do... She is quite persuasive.”

  “Gross...no,” I said, as I pulled the basket from him and walked to the counter.

  I started to pull out the wretched crap we had piled in it. I looked up at the young girl chewing her gum at the counter. She grinned and straightened up, as Josh walked up behind me. “Hello,” she said to him.

  He gave her a quick “hey” and went back to talking to me, like we were alone.

  “She loves sex Rue... She will do anything to get you to do it with her,” he said to me. The girl behind the counter started to ring us up and she looked Josh up and down, when he started to mention sex.

  I sighed. “Well...he has never, no... He wouldn't do it with her, I know him.”

  “You may think you know him, but he's a guy...and she does the most amazing thing with her tongue, I don't even know how, but…”

  I hit him in the chest with the pig skin bag. “Oh my god,” I muttered.

  290

  The girl behind the counter popped a bubble and started to twist her gum on her finger, while she looked at Josh. He noticed she was giving him the eye and started to grin.

  “Is gum like a staple in everyone's diet in this town?” I asked her sarcastically.

  “22.50,” she said as she stared at Josh.

  He leaned on the counter looking at her.

  “22.50 huh?” he said to her as he winked.

  I rolled my eyes. “Pay her Josh,” I said.

  “I get off in an hour,” she said to him.

  “I bet,” he said, as pulled a licorice out of the bag and sucked on it.

  “Oh my god, give her some money, we need to go Josh,” I said.

  “Oh...yea.”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. She finished the sale and leaned over, so that her cleavage was showing. I reached over and pulled the receipt from her hand and grabbed the bag.

  “Lets go Josh.” I said, as I grabbed his arm and dragged him from the counter.

  He came with me, but looked back at her as we got to the door. I reached back and grabbed his shirt pulling him outside.

  “What?” he said as I walked to the car.

  “Your an ass,” I said, as I opened the car door and got in. He leaned down and smiled at me.

  “Jealous?” he said.

  “No...I just hate gum, it's obnoxious,” I said, as I tore into the bag and popped some chocolate covered peanuts in my mouth.

  “Huh,” he said. He opened the door and slid in next to me, reaching over me to the bag and grabbed some more licorice.

  Sam, Kai, and Theodore returned and spotted the bag of goodies. They all grabbed something to snack on. “Sweet... pig skins!” Kai yelled out.

  Josh grinned at me as he bit off his licorice. “See…pig is good.”

  I rolled my eyes and we pulled out.

  ******

  Johnathan and Elin had walked for about thirty minutes before they found a clearing, and Elin said she needed to rest. Johnathan sighed as Elin sat down on a flat rock, sticking up out of the ground. She looked at him and tapped the rock next to her.

  “I think your color is coming back Johnathan,” she said to him. He didn't say anything, but he walked over and sat down next to her.

  “Yea, maybe the air is helping,” he said.

  “See…I knew this was a good idea,” she said, as she touched his arm.

  She pulled her coat around her neck and sighed. “Johnathan, I had another reason that I wanted for us to spend time together today.”

  Johnathan crossed his arms. “What would that be Elin?” he asked her, as he stared at the ground.

  291

  “I want you to know that I care about you, very deeply Johnathan... I can only hope that you feel the same way... We once were together and I would like for us to be together again.”

  Johnathan sighed. “Listen Elin, I can't be with anyone right now… I'm no good for that.”

  “What...? I don't understand Johnathan,” Elin said, as she started her fake crying.

  “Oh god, don't cry Elin...please., Johnathan said as he leaned over to put his arm around her.

  Elin held her hand to her face and cried. “I don't understand Johnathan...why...? I thought that you cared for me,” she said in between tears.

  “Oh, Elin...listen, please don't cry, I just...I don't know, I'm not well. I have nothing to offer anyone right now,” Johnathan said as he held her.

  Elin looked up and she was close to his face. She reached up and touched his face. “Kiss me...please Johnat
han...just one kiss,” she whispered.

  Johnathan looked into her eyes, wet from tears and leaned in...gently pressing his lips to hers. Elin wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him. He grunted, as he tried to push her off of him. It became a struggle and he finally stood up, leaving her on the rock.

  “We should walk back now,” he said as he pushed his hands into his pockets.

  Elin stared out across the field.

  “Elin?” Johnathan asked her.

  She raised her hands to her face, as if she was crying and then lowered them, with a wicked grin on her face.

  “You are pathetic,” she said.

  Johnathan crinkled his eyebrows. “What?” he said.

  Elin stood up and shed her coat, dropping it on the rock.

  “Pathetic. You are emotionally distraught, like a girl,” she said as she waved her hand at him.

  “I am not a girl,” he said. “I'm not pathetic Elin...what the hell?”

  “Oh, god...for two months I've babied you, talked to you...offered myself to you and you just curl up in a ball and grieve... it's sad, really is... This is about that stupid little girl, I am sure. You have no idea who I am… How many men would love to have me, what I offer…God! You bore me to death!” she said as she walked back and forth in front of him.

  “I...I don't know what the hell you are talking about Elin!” Johnathan said as he squared his shoulders.

  “You...” she pointed at him. “Make this grand gesture of love by having your memory stripped and now you wallow in pity. I am going to put you out of your misery. You don't even know what you are...a miracle really...! And you just waste it , moping around like a little bitch!” Elin yelled at him. “I would kill to have the power you have in that miserable shell you call a body, flesh is weak!”

  Johnathan had started to back up from her, as she ranted on. He had no idea what was going on, but he started to consider the idea of running.

  “I don't know why you are going all psycho, but I'm leaving Elin... When we get back to the house I suggest you get your crap and leave our house, Johnathan said, with anger in his voice.

  292

  Elin flashed up to him and knocked him to the ground. “I'm going to give you your memory back Johnathan, so that when I kill you, you will truly know what you have lost,” Elin said as she sat on top of him.