The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  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 pigskin bag. “Oh my god,” I muttered.

  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.

  “Twenty Fifty.” She said as she stared at Josh.

  He leaned on the counter looking at her.

  “Twenty Fifty 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... yeah.”

  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.

  “Let’s 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.

  “You’re 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.

  “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 Johnathan... 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.

  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.

  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 lay 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 have 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 have shielded your memory from me Elin. I saw you with him, I saw everything you did,” Johnathan's voice called out.

  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 in fingertips. 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 heartbeat 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 than 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 moment when I saw another trail open up to me, this one was weak, and 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. “Jeezus!” 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,” She 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.

  Theodore spoke up. “Rue, Elin may be human, but she is a formidable foe. She absorbs power from whomever 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 g
ood 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 was surprised things had panned out the way they had. 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 than 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.

  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.”