The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Me...? No, you are a curse, Johnathan. We aren’t even sure what you are!” Josh said as he pulled me back.

  “HA! You are a third born, Josh, nobody knows what you are,” Johnathan said as he grabbed at me.

  “Oh my god!” I yelled at them.

  A bright flash came from my body and it knocked Josh and Johnathan away from me just as everyone flashed up to us. I floated to my feet as I held my hands out. Elin looked at Josh and then to Johnathan, who were both on the ground, one in front of me and one behind me. I felt my feet touch the ground and I opened my eyes up.

  “I am just pissed off!” I yelled at them. “I cry when I’m mad. I don’t need to be carried or held onto. I am not a doll!” I screamed at the two of them.

  Josh pushed himself up and looked at me.

  “You are mad?” he asked me.

  “Yes… major mad going on right now,” I said as I looked at him.

  Johnathan stood up and held his hands out to me.

  “If you want to talk, I’m right here,” he said.

  “No… I don’t want to talk. I want to take a blade and cut Caine up into a thousand pieces Johnathan,” I said as I tilted my head at him.

  Elin stepped up and raised her hand. “I’m game,” she said.

  I turned to her and squinted my eyes.

  “Shut up… you told us this on purpose,” I said to her. She smiled and bit her lip.

  “Yea… I’m onto you Elin. You are the drama… and I hate drama, so shut up and go back to your cave,” I said with as much hate as I could.

  “Oh… are you sure that this is about Caine? Or perhaps it is that I have had both of your boys here,” she said. Oh… mistake.

  I spun around and lunged at her. I knocked her to the ground and pinned her arms with my legs. I hit her in the mouth so hard, that I felt like I broke my knuckle. She laughed and I saw blood on her teeth. I pulled my hand back and Josh grabbed my fist, before it could connect with her again. I looked up at him and he shook his head.

  “I will hit you instead!” I yelled at him. He pulled me up and looked at me.

  “Okay… go ahead,” he said.

  He let my hand go and I stood there considering it. I looked back and Elin had a look on her face that just sent me to a whole new place. I looked back at Josh and took a swing. He flashed out of my way. I almost fell down. He looked at me and shook his head.

  “And you think that you are going to kill a protector that has existed forever?” he asked me.

  Theodore stepped forward and Josh held up his hand.

  “No, she has to learn some time,” Josh said to him without taking his eyes off of me.

  “Come at me,” he said to me.

  I gritted my teeth and lunged at him in a flash. He wrapped his arm around mine and spun me. I stumbled behind him and fell forward. My hand hit the ground and I pushed myself back up then turned to him and he grinned at me.

  “You have just been playing with me all along,” I said to him.

  He shrugged his shoulders and I jumped at him. He flashed behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I struggled and he let me go. I looked at Johnathan and then back to Josh.

  “You need to teach me how to fight,” I said. Josh grinned.

  “Well, you already have basic skill with the blade. You just don’t know how to be a killer,” he said to me.

  “I’ve killed,” I said to him. Josh rubbed his hand through his hair.

  “It was luck,” he said to me.

  “Luck...? No I stabbed a protector at the gates of Valon…” I muttered.

  “You think that you didn’t have help Rue...? Think about it, you were at the gates of Valon. If Sophia wanted, you would have been dead before you took a step,” he said to me.

  It made my heart sink. I really thought I had kicked some butt.

  “What about all the protectors who fell at the library and in the field when we stood in a circle?” I asked him.

  “That, I believe… was you, throwing a tantrum,” Josh said as he looked at Theodore.

  Theodore tilted his head, not knowing what Josh was doing yet.

  Truth is he is trying to make me furious. I stepped forward and pointed my finger at him.

  “I am not a child,” I yelled at him.

  “Well, to me you are,” he said as he relaxed his arms.

  “I had a tree shoot out of me towards the sky and then I charred the ground!” I said as I looked back at Sam.

  She just stood there and looked at me. Josh shrugged his shoulders.

  “Yea… that was neat,” he said.

  “Neat?” I asked him. “No… it was amazing, you don’t even know how it felt Josh!”

  “I can guess,” he said. I scratched my head and looked at him.

  “So, you think that I am normal, nothing special about me?” I asked him.

  “No… nothing that can’t be explained,” Josh said.

  I closed my eyes. I felt a deep vibration in my body. I was so frustrated that I felt like I would just burst into flames. I hadn’t been done a favor. I wasn’t shown mercy… I can kill, I can.

  Kai flashed up and had my blades in his hands. He looked at me as blue wrapped itself around me like a bubble. He looked at the blades in his hands.

  “Ummm, I found them,” he muttered.

  Sam grabbed them from his hands and threw them at me, I still had my eyes closed and I caught them both. He leaned in to Sam’s ear.

  “What is going on?” he whispered. Sam looked at him.

  “Josh is a genius… watch and learn,” she whispered back to him.

  Josh started to pace back and forth in front of me.

  “You don’t have the will to do battle, Rue,” he said to me.

  I opened my eyes and he looked at me. My eyes were swirling silver. I looked at him and he looked different to me. I could see his color clearly; he looked like he was tattooed with symbols. They glowed white with swirling black. I grinned at him. I could hear his heartbeat in my ears, it was slow and steady. I heard a whisper coming from his body… I thought it was in Latin, but then I realized that it was music. I tilted my head at him.

  “You are weak… You spend more time picking out what to wear than being who you are,” he said to me.

  I laughed and the sound in my ears was clear. I could hear everything. I heard animals in the forest. I could hear coffee cups setting down on a table. I could hear a baby cry. I even could hear my own heartbeat. It was slowing down. I took a breath and the air felt cold in my lungs, every nerve in my body tingled. I gripped my blades and watched as the colors seeped into the metal. I threw them into the ground and a sonic wave raced out from them in a circle. Everyone jumped it. I looked at my hands and symbols started to become clear to me.

  Josh pulled his blades and looked at me. I smiled at him.

  “Do you hear your lineage?” he asked me.

  I took a breath and put my hands out in front of me, my blades pulled from the ground and flew into my hands. I looked at them as the color wrapped around my wrists. I opened my hand up and the blade held in place. I glanced at him again.

  “I can feel a heartbeat in the metal,” I said to him.

  “You have bonded with them… they are a part of you,” he said.

  I lifted them as he flashed towards me. His metal hit my blades and I heard song in my ears. It welled up like a symphony. I felt myself start to move to it like it was a natural thing to do. He leaned up to my face and smiled.

  “You need to try to kill me,” he said. I laughed and stepped back.

  “You don’t want me to try Josh,” I said.

  He took a crouching position and lunged at me. I jumped, higher than I thought I could. He flew under me and sliced his blades at me. I rolled in the air and felt the metal clash again. He rolled under me and laughed. I landed, on my feet squarely, and sliced my blade through the air. The line of color was bright and strong. He stood up and looked at it.

  “Grab it,” he said to me.


  I looked at him and then at the line of color in front of me. I reached out and grabbed it, it felt solid. I pulled it from its suspension in front of me and held the color rod in my hand. I looked at Josh. He sliced his blades quickly and let his blades stab into the ground. He grabbed both of his color lines he created and crossed them in front of him. I sliced my blade one more time and grabbed one more to even the odds. I threw my blades into the ground and they hummed.

  I held both color staffs in my hands and Josh came at me. He started to crisscross them in a flash. I held mine up just as his came down and hit mine. I felt my foot push into the ground a little. Josh had hit with a decent amount of force. I grinned and pushed him off of me. I held them out in front of me and focused on what they wanted to do for me naturally. I started to roll my hands like it was something that my body remembered to do… kind of like riding a bike. You may not be the best at it, but you don’t forget.

  I stepped up to him in a flash and we started to hit each staff one at a time. I felt like it was too slow and I sped up. He grinned as I spun and started to hit against his staffs with more force. We started to do a dance I guess, if you can imagine one where you are moving in time, as you hear the crack of each hit.

  I glanced at Kai and he was just in heaven. I grinned at him and Josh hit me on the arm and it stung. I lunged forward and spun in the air as he leaned back and the light staffs I had in my hands barely missed his body, as he leaned way back. He jammed his staffs into the ground and pushed himself up. He rolled at his blades and pulled them from the ground and then rolled onto his feet.

  He threw one blade over his head in a half circle and grabbed this weapon he had created out of light and pulled it to his side. I threw my staffs down and watched them vibrate, as they protruded from the earth. I rolled towards my blades and swiped two half circles too then grabbed them from the air while he came at me. I rolled them at my sides and grinned as he brought his down and it made a violin sound to my ears, as it slid against mine.

  “You won’t win,” he whispered by my ear, as he flashed from me.

  I turned quickly as he flashed from me. I lunged forward and he leapt into the air coming down and jamming his staff on mine, pinning them to the ground. I stood up and looked at them. He brought his up and stopped at my neck. I stood there frozen. He smiled and lowered it from me. He let it drop to the ground and Kai stepped forward.

  “Oh my god… that was the shit!” he yelled out.

  Theodore laughed and so did Sam. She touched my arm and smiled at me. I had to smile too. Elin sighed and went to her car. She pulled away from us. I looked at Johnathan. I nodded at him and walked towards the house. Josh looked at Theodore.

  “Get in the book and figure out a way,” he said, as he turned and followed me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cookie

  Sara stood by her car and grinned. She watched Elin get out of her car and walk to her motel door. Elin looked around for a moment and then opened her door and walked in. Sara smiled and hit the button on her phone.

  “She is here; she just left their house,” she said as she twisted her hair in her finger.

  “Okay… I will,” she said as she lowered her phone and pushed the button.

  She stepped forward and started to walk towards the motel. She watched as two kids went by on their bikes. Her stomach growled and she considered cheating and hunting them down, but she had business to attend too. She stepped up to Elin’s door and knocked on it. She leaned in and could hear Elin’s heartbeat in her ears. She grinned when she heard a voice.

  “What?” Elin said through the door.

  “Elin? My name is Sara, I need to talk to you,” Sara said, as she grinned.

  Elin felt a slight vibration in her fingertips and she pulled her blade out. She gripped it in her hand as she slowly opened the door up.

  “What do you want?” she asked her. Sara leaned forward.

  “Oh, honey… you look tired,” she said as she scanned her face.

  Elin touched her face and stepped back, opening the door up to her. Sara stepped into the room, looking amazing. She had a navy blue dress on, with white polka dots on it. She looked around the room and sighed. Elin watched her as she held out her hands and grinned.

  “This isn’t exactly a palace is it?” Sara said as she walked to the lamp and touched the shade. She wiped her hands and turned to Elin.

  “I know who you are,” Sara said as she placed a piece of newspaper on the chair and sat down on it. Elin gripped her blade behind her back and looked at the door.

  “Oh, you could run, Elin, but I am fast too… you won’t get far,” she said.

  “What do you want?” Elin asked her.

  Sara held her hands out. “Oh everything and nothing, I guess.”

  Elin tilted her head at her. “Don’t talk in riddles,” she moved towards the door and closed it, not taking her eyes off of her.

  “I am here on a peaceful mission. We have a mutual friend, who wants you to help us,” she said, as she stared her down.

  Elin walked to the bed and sat down on the edge.

  She placed her hand behind her, still holding onto the blade.

  “Do you wish to stab me, Elin?” Sara asked her. Elin looked down and then back up to her.

  “How long have you been feeding?” Elin asked her.

  “Oh… not long really, but what a rush, huh?” Sara said, as she laughed.

  “You have no idea,” Elin said as she relaxed a little.

  “Well… now that I know what it feels like I have no intention of going back ever, I mean…” She stood up in a flash and Elin gripped her blade. Sara spun around and touched her dress. “To be young forever...! What a great thing.” Sara leaned forward.

  “How old are you anyway?” she asked her.

  “I would have been 55 last month,” Elin said as she leaned back. Sara stared at her.

  “What?” Elin said.

  “Oh nothing… you just look tired, are you tired Elin?” Sara asked as she stepped towards her.

  Elin stood up and walked to the mirror. She touched her face and saw that her eyes had a couple of wrinkles. Sara stepped up behind her, looking all pretty and flawless.

  Elin turned around and stared at her.

  “I just didn’t feed today,” Elin said. Sara sighed.

  “Pity… it looks as if you haven’t fed for a while,” Sara said, as she grinned at her.

  “Well, it’s been a week,” Elin said, as she walked past her.

  “A week? Oh god really?” Sara said to her. “Well, I feed everyday… Have to keep the body looking good,” Sara said, as she followed her back into the room.

  Elin touched her face and turned around.

  “What do you want?”

  Sara smiled at her.

  “Oh… Caine sent me here. He wants you to come home,” Sara said as she waved a hand at her. Elin crinkled her eyebrows.

  “No he doesn’t,” Elin said as she sat back down on her bed.

  Sara walked to the bed and sat down next to her.

  “Listen girlie, I know how you feel… boys! Oh god, they suck! But he wants you, and he sent me here to bring you back.”

  Elin looked at her.

  “What if I say that I don’t want to?” Sara looked at her and touched her face.

  “What are you going to do Elin? Sit here and rot in this flesh? Come with me, you know that Josh will not give you enough to survive. Hell… he might even be happy to watch you just fade away!”

  Elin looked into her eyes and then at the floor. Sara touched her chin and raised her chin up.

  “You are a beautiful creature. I would love for you to show me how to survive as long as you have. These protectors are selfish. They don’t care about humans. I know that. We need to be friends right?” Elin sighed.

  “I don’t trust him anymore,” she said.

  Sara grinned. “But, you can trust me and I can trust you.”

  Elin looked into her eyes.


  “I don’t even know you. I have been navigating within their world for a long time. You don’t know what beasts they are.”

  Sara laughed and stood up. She raised her dress and showed Elin a blackened bite on the inside of her thigh.

  “Oh… trust me, I know,” she said as she lowered it. Elin looked up at her and shook her head.

  “I don’t know; let me think about it, Sara.”

  Sara walked to the door and stopped.

  “You have until this evening, after that… you are in danger. I won’t kill you myself, but I assure you… he will get to you.”

  Sara opened the door and walked out, leaving it wide open. Elin got up and grabbed the door and closed it. She sunk down against it and sat on the floor. She touched her hair and shook her head.

  “I hate him,” she muttered to herself.

  Elin took a shower and tried to make herself look as pretty as she could. She pulled a gold dress on and latched a light silver strand of pearls on. She looked down at herself and adjusted her breasts. She sighed. She looked like she was rounding the corner on maybe thirty-five… or close to it. To her that was a disaster.

  She walked to her car and got in. She looked into her mirror and shook her head, as she bit her lip. She wiped blood from her lip and placed her finger into her mouth. She closed her eyes and turned the key.

  She pulled up to the house and stopped taking a look at it. She could see Josh standing in the living room and she sighed again.

  How the hell was she going to grovel to him, of all people?

  She opened her door up and the front door opened. Josh stepped onto the porch and looked at her. He crossed his arms on his chest, not a good sign. She glanced in the mirror and then stepped out. Her heel sunk into the dirt and she pulled it out, irritated that she got dirt on it. She grumbled and walked to him. She looked up at him and placed her hand on her hip, and leaned on it.

  “And… you want what?” Josh asked her.

  Elin looked at him and let her face relax. She wanted for this to go her way… she really needed it.

  “I need to feed Josh,” she said, just throwing it into the ring… right away. Josh laughed.