by Rue Volley
Elin reached down and slammed her hand into his chest. It pushed all the air out of his lungs. He closed his eyes and his head fell to side, as painful surges of light pulsated behind his eyes. He started to have visions in his mind...voices started to rise up. A red glow started to pulsate in his chest and rolled out around them. The color was swirling on his skin.
Elin groaned...as the glow enveloped her body, she shuttered and gasped for air as she threw her head back. She opened her eyes and they had a red glow to them. Johnathan laid motionless under her.
“You taste exquisite,” she said to him. “Such a waste, we could have been very good together.”
Elin stood up and walked to her coat, she reached down and pulled out a blade, holding it up in front of her, letting the sun glimmer on the metal.
“I am going to drink every last drop of you,” she whispered.
She turned around and Johnathan was standing where she had left him. He had his fists clenched and his head down, hair fallen over his face.
She gasped and lowered the blade. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Johnathan raised his head. “You should not of done that,” he muttered to her.
“You should be asleep Johnathan,” she said, irritation in her voice.
“Oh, I've slept enough Elin…don't you agree?” he said, as grinned at her.
“Well…seems you have your memory Johnathan, and the added bonus of being awake…how fun,” Elin said, as she held the blade out in front of her. “If you think you can kill me…then try,” she added.
“Oh I will do more than just kill you Elin, you will suffer.”
Elin laughed and light started to glow in her palms. “You can try little boy,” she whispered.
Johnathan flashed towards her and Elin flashed away from him. They headed into the woods, Elin ran straight ahead for a moment and then up a tree, grabbing onto a branch. Johnathan flashed under her and she swung down, kicking him in the back. He stumbled forward and fell, sliding across the ground on his side. Elin jumped down with the blade in both her hands over her head.
Johnathan rolled quickly to the side and she slammed the blade into the ground, about half way up the blade. She yelled out in anger. Johnathan smiled and started to run. Elin jerked the blade out of the earth and growled.
“So irritating!” she screamed. She stood up and the wind blew some leaves across the ground. “I know you are here!” she yelled out. She turned and looked around in a circle. “I can feel your miserable energy Johnathan, come out and play,” she said with a grin.
“I bet you wish your master was here with you Elin,” Johnathan's voice came out like an echo. Elin spun around, scanning the forest to spot him
“I don't need Noble...he needs me!” Elin yelled out.
“You should of shielded your memory from me Elin...I saw you with him, I saw everything you did,” Johnathan's voice called out.
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Elin laughed out loud. “You think you know me Johnathan...? You don't even know what you are,” she yelled at the trees.
“I'm not a parasite like you,” Johnathan whispered.
Elin spun around and Johnathan stood before her. He grabbed at the blade and Elin swung it at him. He hit her in the stomach and she backed up, in a stagger. She spit blood on the ground and laughed.
“So…you hit girls?” she asked with a grin on her face. “Lucky for you that I like to be hit.”
“Oh I know,” Johnathan said as he flashed towards her.
Elin raised the blade and brought it down on his arm as he passed her.
Johnathan skidded to a stop and grabbed his arm, blood welling up between his fingers.
“Ah, not so talented are you,” She said to him.
Johnathan let go of his arm and looked at the blood on his fingers. He raised his hand to his mouth and put his fingers in his mouth. Red swirls started to form on his skin, as he sucked his breath in.
“Taste good, doesn't it Johnathan?” Elin said as she watched him Johnathan opened his eyes and flashed away from her. He was faster now, and he could hear her heartbeat behind him. Suddenly another heartbeat welled up his ears and he started to see a trail of blue in front of him.
“Rue,” he whispered.
******
“Stop the car.” I said, as I sat up in the back seat. Sam looked in her rear view mirror and had a look of “what?” on her face.
“Stop!” I screamed out.
Sam slammed on the brakes and pulled the weaving car off the side of the road. Dust kicked up behind us. I reached over Josh and opened the door and started to crawl out over him.
“What the hell Rue?” he said as he grunted. I almost fell to the ground, but I steadied myself. I stepped out into the road and closed my eyes. They all sat in the car staring at me.
“I think she has lost her mind,” Theodore said.
I stood there focusing and color started to flow in my mind. I could feel Johnathan, pulling me to him. I opened my eyes and blue mist was rising from my body, it pooled around my feet. I looked at my hands and light glowed in my palms. I closed my eyes again and a heart beat started to well up in my ears. I let it fill me...slow and steady. I sucked in my breath.
“Johnathan,” I whispered.
I looked back at the car and then forward. A trail opened up to me...
leading me to him. I flashed forward, quicker then I thought I could move.
Everything was passing me in a blur, I could hear Josh yell out my name behind me, but I couldn't stop. I was being drawn to him like a magnet. It pulled me forward so violently that my muscles ached, like the iron in my blood was being separated from my blood. I kept going until I came to a forest and I stopped for a 294
moment when I saw another trail open up to me, this one was weak, it felt wrong, like a copy of someone, a clone of a protector. Josh flashed up to my side.
“What the hell Rue?” he yelled out.
“It's Johnathan, he's this way.” I pointed forward.
“Okay...good, listen, stay with me, don't go flashing off on your own,” Josh said as he touched my arm. “Geezus!” he yelled out, as he pulled his hand off of me.
“You are burning up, like you are on fire Rue!” he said as he rubbed his hand. I looked down at my arms and they were glowing blue…with traces of silver metal mixed in.
“What the heck?” I asked.
Josh looked at my arm and back to me. “Looks like mercury, Rue.”
I shrugged it off as I felt myself getting pulled forward.
“He's coming this way Josh!” I said as Johnathan flashed past me.
He skidded to a stop and looked at me. His skin was swirling with red, silver shimmering off of him. I ran to him and jumped into his arms. He held me as close as he could to him. “Rue,” he whispered.
“Ummm,” I heard Josh mutter. “Listen ,I know that you guys are enjoying the reunion here, but something is coming this way!” Josh yelled out.
Almost immediately, Elin flashed up to us, stopping about ten feet away.
She gripped a blade in her hand, tinged with blood. I looked at Johnathan's arm and saw blood on it. I looked back to her.
“You bitch!” I screamed out.
Josh flashed towards me as Elin lunged forward with the blade out, I twisted in the air and avoided Josh jumping over him. Elin sliced the blade at me and I twisted by her and punched her in the back. She grunted and stumbled forward, almost falling.
She stood up and grinned at Johnathan. “Ah, I see that your little girlfriend has found you,”SShe muttered.
“I am going to kick your ass Elin,” I said.
She swung around to me. “You?” she laughed out loud. “You can't do anything! I offered you power in the Tree and you squandered it, you stupid girl!”
“You offered nothing,” I said. “You are a trickster, you only care about yourself.”
“You make me sick...weak, weak like your stupid Mother… Now go home before you force me to kill you too,�
� she said as she crouched down, with the blade in her hand.
“Oh my god...really?” I said with a grin on my face.
“What?” she said as she bit at her lip.
“You are a pathetic excuse for a human,” I said.
Theodore and Sam flashed up to us and Elin spun around. She knew her odds had decreased and she flashed away from us, into the woods. I took one step, like I was going to follow her and Johnathan flashed to me, grabbing my arm.
“Don't,” he said.
I looked at him completely confused. “Let me go, I'm going to put her in the ground,” I said as I pulled at my arm.
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Theodore spoke up. “Rue, Elin may be human, but she is a formidable foe. She absorbs power from whoever she feeds from. You need more training before you can face her.”
I sighed, and looked at him. I knew he was probably right, but I wanted to beat her down, I really did.
Johnathan pulled me to him. “I'm an ass Rue,” he said as I buried myself into his chest.
“I'm getting used to having asses in my life,” I said.
“I am sorry...I truly am,” he whispered.
“Ummm, listen, we need to get out of here before Elin comes back, she probably has friends.”
“Yea...one good one,” Johnathan said.
“What?” Theodore asked.
“Yea, Noble is her master,” Johnathan said as her held my hand.
“Great…! Okay then, back to the car,” Theodore said as he flashed away from us.
I looked up to Johnathan and touched his face. “You ever leave me again, and I won't come to find you,” I said.
“Fair enough,” he said, and we flashed out across the field.
******
Running with Johnathan by my side. I wasn't sure it would turn out this way. As we flashed towards the car, I started to feel like we had dodged a bullet.
This is why you should never think that things are going to be easy...of course not. We made it half way when all of a sudden I heard Sam cry out. I watched her fly to the right and hit the ground rolling. Kai stopped and flashed to her side, as soon as he leaned down to touch her a flash rolled over him, and knocked him away from her. The rest of us came to a stop too. Josh and Theodore flashed to our sides. I looked in a circle, trying to focus on anything that looked close to human. Kai and Sam had been knocked around so quickly, I couldn't see who had done it. I knew that it most likely was not Elin, she was a borrower of power and whoever struck at them had been faster then I had ever seen.
“What just happened?” I whispered.
Theodore pulled out his blades, they were glowing white, with thin traces of yellow. He kept looking around and then he spoke in a tone I had never heard from him
“I would suggest that you stop showing yourself to be a coward,” Theodore yelled out.
Sam pulled herself up and grabbed at Kai, dragging them both to us. Kai was rubbing his head. “What the hell was that?” Kai asked. No one said anything.
Wind whipped around us and I closed my eyes as dirt spun up, and hit me in the face… I heard a laugh, in a male"s voice, and opened my eyes.
Standing before us was Noble, with Elin by his side. Theodore put out his hand, pushing Johnathan and myself behind him.
“You are a gift that keeps giving...Noble,” Theodore said to him.
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Noble stood there dressed in black, Elin matched him. She stared at me, as if I was the only other person in the open field.
“I do not have any business with you Theodore, I am here to return Johnathan to his rightful place.”
Nobles eyes wandered to Johnathan, and then to me. “It is also fortunate that you have brought me his mate.”
I looked at him and to Elin, who was silent.
“I am afraid that I cannot allow you to do that,” Theodore said, no nervousness in his voice...in fact I had never seen him more focused than right at this moment.
“Don't tell me that you have come alone,” he added.
Elin laughed and Noble put his hand up, she moved around behind him silent, but still wore a wicked grin on her face.
“Is that your pet?” Sam called out.
“We do not use that term, she is a „partner" to me,” Noble said as he walked to the right.
Theodore shifted his weight to block his view of me. “I don't believe that... You have such a low regard for human life Noble...just as low as your regard for your own people.”
Elin growled and tried to move forward, Noble grabbed her arm and jerked her back to his side.
“Always so passionate, why do you bother with this trash Theodore...? You had a very nice rapport in Valon... The ear of the council, a nice home...forgiveness for your family's disloyalty... Not to mention the blind eye to your banned little brother... Why would you trade all of that for two beasts that you do not understand?”
Theodore laughed, but stood his ground. “Beasts...? I would look inward and at your own side Clark.”
Elin grabbed at Noble"s side. “Let me kill him and his little friend,” she said.
“Stop,” Noble said to her. “You will know your place.” Elin frowned and gripped her blade.
“Better listen to your Master Elin, he is much wiser than you,” Theodore said.
I started to feel a vibration in my hands. It started at the tip of my fingers and crept up my arms. As it crept up the back of my neck, I started to feel light headed. Theodore looked around and I noticed that Josh and Sam stepped out to make the circle larger, leaving Johnathan and I in the middle. I leaned down and felt a vibration coming in the ground. I looked up at Josh and he grinned.
Theodore's blades started to glow brighter.
“What is happening?” I asked.
Theodore didn't turn to me but only said, “Stay in the circle Rue...both of you stay right where you are.”
Noble looked out toward the field behind us. “Looks as if you will answer to Valon now, all of you.”
I stood up and looked out across the field and saw a glow coming, the vibration in the ground was stronger now. I sucked in my breath as I felt a wave of energy run over us, it felt like an adrenaline rush, but heavy in my chest. I grabbed Johnathan's hand and squeezed it hard.
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“Oh shit,” Josh said as he crouched towards the ground.
Sam dug her heels in and pushed Kai towards us in the middle. He didn't say a word, which was new.
“I would suggest that all of you let me speak,” Theodore said, as he put his blades away. Sam and Josh kept theirs out. “Would you please not look as if you about to go to battle?” Theodore said to both of them.
“Your kidding, right?” Josh said.
“No, I am not...if it comes to battle it will be because we have no choice,”
Theodore said.
Noble and Elin flashed away from us, across the field and disappeared into the woods.
“Of course,” Josh yelled out.
“Be mindful of your feelings Joshua,” Theodore said to him. “Let the cowards hide.”
“I swear to God, I will kill them both,” Josh muttered.
Theodore, Sam, and Josh all moved to place themselves in front of us.
We watched as a group of twenty people moved towards us. They were all dressed in white, with white trees embossed on the front of their leather outfits, that looked very similar to our own, minus the tree. Behind them, a glowing white orb engulfed a large horse drawn carriage. The horses were twice as big as any I had ever seen before, they were ghostly white and their eyes were white also.
The hair of their manes were braided in multiple braids, with silver metal woven in. I had to stare.
The entire party stopped about thirty feet from us and I felt a heaviness in my chest. I tried to calm my breathing, but it was hard to do. I could feel Johnathan's heartbeat in the palm of my hand and I looked to him, as he stared at what sat before us.
Theodore stepped forward and placed his hand to his chest and
then knelt to the ground, placing it flat to the earth, while he kept an eye on all the guards standing in a line in front of us. I felt a vibration as he pressed his hand against the earth. I wondered if anyone else could feel it too.
A girl, with long black hair pulled into a braid over her shoulder, moved to the carriage and waved a hand over the side of the door. It waved like water and a girl stepped out and started to walk towards us. Theodore stayed on his knee.
with his hand pressed to the ground. She stopped about twenty feet from us and knelt down, as she held her hand to her chest, then she pressed it to the ground.
I felt another vibration and both she and Theodore rose up.
The girl stood there with no expression on her face. Then she spoke.
“Theodore Barrington,” she said.
“Sophia Graph,” Theodore replied.
I gripped Johnathan's hand harder. I stood there motionless, waiting for something awful to happen.
Then she took one step forward. “Seems we have a situation that needs to be settled,” she said.
Theodore held his hands out at his sides. “As you can see... I am not wielding a blade Sophia, I have no intention of battle.”
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She grinned and looked at the rest of us. “I would expect not,” she said.
“I am willing to forgive the loss of our brothers and sisters in that ugly business with Grace and William.” She said, “I only ask that you give me my grandson.”
I shifted my weight as I moved to lean against Johnathan. She turned her gaze to me. I felt another wave of heaviness in my chest. I drew in my breath to relive it.
“He does not want to go with you Sophia, he wants to remain with us,” Theodore said.
“Well, do you speak for him? Or does he have voice of his own Theodore?”
Sophia asked.
Johnathan cleared his throat. “I want to back with them, I do not want to go to Valon,” Johnathan said with no weakness in his voice.
“What of your human family?” Sophia asked.
“I would like for them to return also, but I do not speak for them,” Johnathan said.