The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  He looked at me crazy, like he was in panic mode. Sam flashed to us, as well as Theodore. I sat there looking like a guard from Valon, with my tree embossed gear on. Theodore leaned down to me and placed his hand on my head and then he stood up and stepped back from me.

  “That is what she said then?” he asked me.

  I knew he had skipped the conversation, so I nodded at him.

  “Oh my,” he said as he sat down on the chair. I looked at him and then at Josh.

  Josh held up his hands. I loved the fact that he had stopped just touching me and taking memory, but in this case three tubs would still be alive, and I wouldn’t feel so awkward. Theodore placed his hand on Josh’s face and Josh flashed his gaze to me.

  “She wants you to trap Caine?” he asked me.

  “Yes, you see? If you would have used your words, instead of just running through the house shooting fireballs, you would have known that already,” I said as I leaned back.

  Josh sat down next to me and looked at Sam and Theodore.

  “I don’t trust her,” he said as he glanced at me.

  “Who, me?” I asked him. He grinned.

  “No, Sophia Graph,” he added as he relaxed.

  “How did she manage to pull Rue through the water, Theodore?”

  Theodore stood up and looked at me.

  “Open your shirt,” he said.

  I looked at him and started to pull on my strap. The symbol, Josh had carved into to me with his blade, was shimmering. I touched it and it felt like a vibration under my fingertips. Josh sat up and looked at it.

  “We have to get that off of her Theodore,” he said.

  I closed my shirt and shook my head, “no”. Josh glanced at me.

  “And why not Rue?” he asked me.

  “Because… I may need it sometime, you don’t know,” I said, feeling defiant.

  Josh stood up and paced back and forth.

  “Need it? Are you kidding me? Sophia just ripped you through the tub up there!” he said, as he pointed toward the ceiling.

  I looked up.

  “I have no tub now. I will just take showers somewhere, I guess,” I said to him, as I stood up and walked to the kitchen. Josh followed me in.

  “You are the most stubborn person that I have ever met,” he said as he leaned on the table toward me.

  “No… I like to be prepared,” I said to him.

  “Prepared for what?” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “I don’t know… anything, maybe nothing… But you don’t know if this scar I have will come in handy, so I am keeping it,” I said as I drank some juice down.

  He slammed his fists on the table and I didn’t even flinch. That’s new for me. He walked into the living room pulling his hair. He looked at Theodore.

  “Will you tell her that it might be a good idea to get that portal off of her skin?” he said to him.

  Theodore looked up at him and grinned.

  “You tell her,” he said. I smiled and looked in at Theodore.

  Josh yelled, “AHHHH” and walked out the front door.

  I set the juice down and walked into the living room.

  “Thanks,” I said to him. Theodore looked up at me.

  “Well, I do not believe that you would allow it anyway. Am I correct in saying that?”

  “Yes… yes you are.” I smiled and walked to my room.

  I stood there and stared at my tub. It was broken it a couple of large pieces and then smaller pieces laid all over the bathroom. I shook my head.

  “Freakin perfect,” I muttered.

  I sat down at my vanity and stared into my mirror. I saw the tree and touched it. It was beautiful, but it sent a chill through me. I remembered Valon. It was such a beautiful place, but drenched with so much sadness. I thought about Laurie Anne and looked at my hands. I didn’t know what happened to her, I could only guess.

  So… Sophia doesn’t know who Caine’s Dad is? Wow, what crap, even being immortal doesn’t save anyone from drama. I grimaced at the thought of telling Kai that he may have a big brother. It would kind of make sense though. I know that my parents were clever enough to get around the binding placed on all protectors to prevent them from procreating. That would have made me a third child for my Dad then. No, Mom had me on her own. I sighed and laid my head down on my arm, as I leaned on the vanity.

  “What the crap?” I whispered.

  I really didn’t want to help Sophia trap Caine. I just knew he would kick my butt. I didn’t want Josh getting all macho with him either. His last encounter with him was a monumental failure. He could have died… oh god.

  I closed my eyes and heard Josh say something to me. I looked up and turned my head. He stood there in my doorway grinning. I sat up and looked at my shirt. I felt like I was in a costume… I wasn’t a guard, and never planned to be. He stepped forward.

  “Did you hear me?” he said.

  I shook my head, “no”.

  “I said that I might have over reacted,” he said, as he sat down on my bed.

  I turned in my chair and held onto the back of it.

  “Oh, you think?” I said, as I held my hand out for a moment.

  He leaned back and I looked at his flat stomach. I looked down.

  “Yes… you seem to be okay,” he said. I stood up and walked to the bed and looked down at him.

  “You cannot spend the rest of our lives running around trying to save me,” I said.

  He sat up and looked at me.

  “You are not going to die,” he said, like it was a fact. I held up my hands.

  “Well… you never know, I mean, I almost died on a vitamin Josh,” I said as I sat down next to him. “That’s a pretty pathetic way out,” I added.

  He grinned next to me and bumped me with his shoulder.

  “Listen…we just need to get you to twenty-one… then smooth sailing,” he said.

  “Oh yea… it’s been great so far,” I said, as I looked around my room and settled on the bathroom. He noticed, as he does with everything.

  “I will fix it, I promise,” he said. I looked at him.

  “Are you sure that you don’t want to go drain the lake here?” I asked, as I grinned.

  He bumped me again.

  “No, I think the fish will be safe from my wrath.”

  “Ya know, I was in your house today,” I looked at him..

  “No you weren’t,” he said as he looked kind of surprised.

  I looked at him and leaned back on my hands.

  “Yep,” I said.

  “Well… what did you think?” he asked. I looked at him.

  “Um, well you have no yard, that didn’t surprise me.” He laughed.

  “Oh god… yea, I hate that yard, it only dies.”

  “I thought that you could fix anything?” I asked him.

  He stood up and walked to my bathroom.

  “Well… grass is a whole different beast,” he muttered, as he leaned down and picked up a piece of porcelain.

  I stepped behind him and looked down. He held a broken piece in his hand and I watched as his palm pooled with silver metal, it glowed like a firefly. The broken piece started to pull itself back together. I leaned in and he looked up at me and smiled. The light lit up my face and he stared at me. I looked at him and stepped back.

  “That is amazing,” I said.

  “Oh… that’s nothing, watch,” he said as he stood up and held his hands out and started to chant in Latin.

  A ball of silver liquid formed in between his hands and he waved it over the tub. It started to reform, like it was on DVD and going in reverse. I watched, I had to. I knew that he could do it, but I had never seen him in action. I stepped forward, as the last piece slid into place and the tub looked like it did before he tore it apart. I grinned.

  “See?” he said, as he rubbed his hands together and shook them out.

  “So… you can fix anything?” I asked him.

  “Well… I think so. I haven’t tried to fix e
verything yet,” he said.

  I just had to ask, didn’t I? So here I go.

  “You have been around for a long time. I would think that you would have fixed just about anything you could think of.”

  He grinned, a wicked grin. I shook my head.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “Well, I’ve never tried to fix a girl,” he said, as he leaned against my bedroom wall.

  “What?” I asked him.

  He looked down himself and back up to me.

  “You know, to fix virginity,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Oh… wow,” I said, as I walked to my closet.

  “Yep… I’ve never been asked to, but I would love to give it a shot,” he added.

  I leaned back and looked at him.

  “Ask Elin,” I said. He laughed.

  “Oh god… I don’t know if anything could fix that mess,” he said, before he realized that he was talking to me… and not to Kai.

  “Nice,” I said, as I pulled a shirt from the hanger.

  I stepped into my closet and started to pull my shirt off. I heard him laughing… it was quiet, but it was there. I don’t know why he has to remind me what an ass he can be. It’s aggravating. He leaned around and looked at me.

  I hit him with the leather shirt and he backed off yelling, “Oww” as he laughed.

  “Try not to revirginize any one on the way downstairs,” I yelled after him.

  “That’s not how I roll,” he yelled back at me.

  I rolled my eyes and looked at the t-shirt that I had pulled. I grinned. It just had a target on it. Wow… how ironic.

  ***

  I stepped onto the first step, ready to go down… into the lion’s den, and heard the last voice I wanted to too. I walked down stairs, pulling my hair into a ponytail on top of my head and looked at Elin.

  “Oh look, the devil is here,” I said, as I walked to the kitchen.

  Elin grinned and sat down on the couch, next to Josh. I walked back in, with an apple, and sat down in between them… forcing her to move out of my way.

  “Okay,” she said, as she looked at me. She looked around the room.

  “Somebody is cranky today,” she said. I held up my hand to her. She looked at it and sighed.

  “What do you want Elin?” Josh asked her.

  She leaned up and looked at him, past me. I took a bite of my apple and some juice hit her on the cheek. She wiped it off and sat back.

  “Okay… so, is anyone interested in my news? Or should I just leave?” she asked everyone. Sam held up her hands.

  “Just drop the drama queen crap, Elin… get to the point. You said that you had to talk to us.”

  Josh leaned forward and looked at her.

  “I’m gonna just grab your head and suck it out, I swear to god.”

  Elin grinned.

  “Oh, would you?” she said to him, in her best sarcastic tone.

  Josh leaned around me and I pushed him back.

  “Don’t,” I said. He rolled his eyes and sat back, throwing his head back and looked at the ceiling. I turned to her.

  “Go ahead,” I said.

  Elin stood up and started to pace.

  “I went to the carnival,” she said. Josh leaned forward and looked at her.

  “Why the hell did you do that?” he asked her. She shrugged her shoulders.

  “I was curious,” she said. Josh stood up and looked at her.

  “How did you get out alive, Elin?” he asked her.

  “Well, I ran into the new master there,” she said to him. He glared at her.

  “You mean Jonah the freak king,” he said as he looked back at me and shook his head.

  “No, seems there has been a changing of the guard,” Elin said, as she placed her hands on her hips. Josh looked at her.

  “What...? Who then?” he asked her.

  “None other than our favorite freak… Caine,” she said.

  I stood up in a flash and ran to my room. I ripped out of my clothing and put my leather back on. I pulled my blades and looked at them before I placed them back into the holders on my back. I flashed downstairs and looked around at the room. Josh stood there and had his arms crossed on his chest.

  “And what are we doing, Rue?” he asked me.

  “Step aside Josh, I’m going to kill him,” I said as I took a step forward.

  He stood there and placed his legs apart.

  “You need to settle down,” he said as he lowered his arms to his side.

  I wanted to get past him, but I also had to get past Sam and Theodore. They stood up and walked up next to him. I tilted my head and looked at Elin. She was grinning. Of course she would know that this would infuriate me… What a bitch!

  Kai came running in and looked around the room. He looked at me.

  “What is going on?” he asked. I looked at him.

  “Tell Josh to get out of my way, Kai,” I said, as I looked back at him.

  Theodore held his hand up.

  “I understand that you would want to cause him as much damage as possible, but you are not prepared to do what you wish too.” I looked at him.

  “Really...? Are you sure about that?” I felt a vibration on my back.

  A light started to glow in my blades and I pulled them out and looked at them. I held them out at my sides and Josh took a different stance with me. I looked at him and grinned.

  “You don’t want to fight me, Rue,” he said.

  I lunged forward and hit him in the stomach with the end of my blade. I heard him yell at me as I twisted in the air and hit the door running

  I pushed as hard as I could through the woods. I almost lost it when I flew past a tree and my blade cut its side open. I jerked back from it and found my footing. I blazed forward, until I came to a dead stop. Josh stood there, looking as if he wasn’t even out of breath.

  I smiled and paced back and forth as I watched him. He crossed his arms.

  “Nice hit Rue,” he said as he lowered his head and grinned at me.

  I tried to move forward in a flash and he moved at wicked speed and blocked me. He shook his head, “no”. I shook my head back and looked down at my blades, they were blazing blue. My hands were shaking and I felt a sweat coming on. He leaned forward.

  “Please, hear me out,” he said.

  I closed my eyes and then looked at him.

  “You got one minute,” I said.

  Sam flashed up with everyone else and Josh held his hand up to them.

  “Listen to me… if you do this, you will be captured or killed and you put us at risk too.”

  I lowered my blades and let my head clear out. I was so mad that I hadn’t thought about anyone else. I didn’t think about my brother or Josh… not even Sam or Theo. I don’t care about Elin, so she didn’t even calculate. I didn’t want to get them killed, but I couldn’t just let him sit at the carnival and wait for me. I looked up at him and tried to smile, but it came off sad I’m sure. He stepped up to me and placed his hand on my blade; I let him take it from my hand, then my other one. I looked at Theo and back to Josh.

  “He has to die,” I muttered.

  Josh placed my blades on the ground slowly, by his feet, and stood back up with his hands out at his sides. I looked at him and shook my head.

  “I’m not crazy,” I said.

  “No… I don’t think that you are,” Josh said as he stepped toward me slowly.

  “I just… he, he did things to me in Valon. Things that I can’t forgive him for,” I said.

  Josh tilted his head and shot a look at Theodore.

  “You hid things from me?” he asked him.

  Theodore stepped forward and rubbed his neck.

  “Well... not exactly,” he said as he looked back at Sam.

  Josh looked at me and placed his hand on my face. His eyes got wider and he stumbled back from me. I just let him see Caine and I in the woods and on my bed in Valon. Josh started to pace back and forth in front of me. He kep
t glancing at me.

  “Oh hell no… no, no… no,” he said as he shook his head and clinched his fists.

  I watched him as he tried to control himself. Theodore stepped up closer.

  “It is time to heed your own advice, Josh,” he said to him. Josh stopped and looked at him.

  “Uh huh,” he said as he glanced at me again. Josh stopped and looked at me.

  “He held you down?” he asked me. I bit my lip and looked at my hands.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair. He stopped.

  “He put his hand in between…?” I looked at him and nodded.

  “Oh… that is it,” he said, as he picked my blades up. I looked at him and lunged forward.

  “Please,” I whispered to him, as I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to cry.

  I felt his body humming, like an engine. He was furious. I felt him sigh and drop my blades to the ground. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up into his arms. I leaned against his chest and continued to cry. He looked down at me and started to walk back towards the house. Theo and Sam caught up with him and started to match his pace.

  “What are we doing?” Sam asked him.

  “Going home,” he said as he kept walking. He looked at Theo.

  “You get back in that book and find a way to get me in there undetected. I will kill him before he knows anything,” Josh said, as he held me close to him.

  “I am coming with you, Josh,” Sam said. He nodded to her.

  “Just like Germany Sam… think massacre,” he said.

  He flashed forward and everyone followed.

  Josh flashed up to the house and Johnathan sat on the swing.

  He stood up quickly and stared at Josh, me still in his arms.

  “What the hell dude?” he asked as he ran down the steps and up to him.

  Johnathan stared at me and touched my hair.

  “Rue?” he asked me. I looked at him and my eyes were red.

  Blue was misting from my skin in swirls. Johnathan glared at Josh.

  “Do you think that you could not get her hurt, every time I leave?” Johnathan said as he tried to take me from him.

  “Shut up,” Josh muttered to him.

  “Stop,” I said.

  They didn’t hear me over their own crap.

  “Oh… just give her to me, Josh. You are a curse,” Johnathan said as he tugged on me.