The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Nice,” I said to him. He grinned and layback on my bed.

  I walked past him and looked at his feet. They looked dirty.

  “Eww,” I said. He sat up and looked at me.

  “What?” he said.

  He looked down and grabbed one, smelling it. I shook my head and walked to my closet.

  “They are just dirty, Josh. If they stink, I don’t know about it,” I said, as I rummaged through my clothes. He dropped his foot.

  “Well, they don’t, just so you know.”

  “Uh huh,” I said. “I don’t know how because you are filthy,” I added. He stood up.

  “I am not filthy, I am a clean person.”

  I grinned, without looking at him. I was getting under his skin for once. Cool.

  He walked up behind me and touched my hair. I didn’t really respond to him. I was busy digging in a pile of t-shirts. He leaned forward.

  “I just love how you ‘wear’ how you feel, but don’t you think that it is a disadvantage to you?”

  I stood up and looked at him.

  “No… I think it saves time explaining crap,” I said, as I walked to the bathroom.

  “You should not give anything away to your enemy… that they could use against you.”

  I looked at my t-shirt and then at him.

  “I think that I am safe today,” I said. I held up my shirt at him and he laughed as he read it.

  It read, “Unicorns eat children.” He looked back up to my eyes and shook his head.

  “I had heard that,” he said.

  I closed my door on his smiling face and turned to my tub. I looked down at it.

  Josh yelled though my door, “Shower… not bath!”

  “Got it!” I yelled back at him. I sighed and dropped my clothes on the floor.

  Like I’m interested in filling the tub with water, just waiting to be flushed down it… right!

  ***

  Elin rolled over in the bed and blinked her eyes. She touched her lips and felt dried blood on them. She grinned and pushed herself up. The sheet fell from the front of her and she raised her arms and stretched her hands out.

  “See that you finally woke up,” she heard from the room.

  She looked around and Sara stood there with a tray in her hands. She dropped it on the bed and the plate rattled. Sara stood there and stared at her.

  “So nice to wake up to your smiling face,” Elin said as she grabbed a piece of meat from the plate and tore off a piece and put it in her mouth.

  “Mmm,” she said as she raised it to her. “Someone you know?” she asked her.

  Sara rolled her eyes and walked to the chair and plopped down.

  “How I got designated to be your bitch, is beyond me,” she muttered.

  Elin leaned up and smiled at her.

  “Well… bitch, where is the bath?” she said, as she started to slide off of the bed.

  “It’s Sara, Elin… okay?” she said, as she crossed her arms. Elin tilted her head at her.

  “Are you jealous?” she asked her. Sara laughed.

  “I’m like a hundred years younger than you… are you kidding me?” she said.

  Elin stood up and stared at her. She looked at Sara’s chest.

  “Too bad that you really didn’t develop before you fed… it will stunt your growth, I’m afraid.”

  Sara grabbed her boobs and looked at them. Elin walked to the vanity and sat down.

  Sara frowned at her. “At least I haven’t done everyone.”

  Elin had started to brush her hair and she lowered her brush. She wasn’t going to allow an eighteen-year-old brat to outwit her. She tilted the brush and tapped her head.

  “You were a virgin?” she asked her. Sara stood up.

  “No,” she said. Elin turned in her chair and looked at her.

  “Oh my god… you were, how cute,” she said, as she looked her up and down.

  Sara placed her hand on her hip.

  “I have been with boys, before,” she said, as she rolled her eyes.

  “Right,” Elin said, as she turned back to her mirror.

  Sara stepped up behind her and stared at her in the mirror. Elin grinned and turned around.

  “Fingering yourself like a pathetic little bitch, does not count. If you think that someone like Caine will not get bored with you, you kid yourself,” Elin said as she glared at her.

  Sara stood there and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Elin touched her arm.

  “It’s okay… You just keep telling yourself that you are the prettiest… Okay?”

  Sara turned and ran from the tent. She ran into Jonah as he peeked in. She pushed past him and Jonah stepped in, as Elin was putting on a silk robe. He stared at the soft skin on her back and cleared his throat. Elin turned around and slowly closed her robe, as Jonah stared at her body. She snapped her fingers in front of her, and Jonah looked into her eyes.

  “Oh… yes. Well… Elin! Welcome, I did not get the opportunity to properly introduce myself last night to you.”

  He tipped his hat and bowed to her. She watched his hair fall forward and he grabbed it and pulled it back, as he stood up and placed his hat on his head. She grinned at him. He cleared his throat again and she waved a hand towards the bed. He walked to it and sat down. Elin walked up to him and took his hat off, letting his hair fall into his eyes. She touched it and moved it out of the way.

  She leaned forward, into his ear, and whispered, “Hello, Jonah.”

  She stood up and he stared at her, caught on her lips for a moment.

  He blinked and smiled at her.

  “Yes, well… hello,” he said, as he took a breath.

  Elin sat down next to him and leaned forward, letting her robe fall off her shoulder. She stayed down by her feet, placing her slippers on slowly. Jonah raised his hand and almost touched her skin. His heart started to beat harder in his chest. She smelled intoxicating to him, human blood mixed deeply with protector’s blood. She was enough to drive him crazy. She sat up and looked at him, her face close to his.

  “You want to eat me,” she whispered. Jonah stood up and looked down at her.

  “No… no, I would not even consider that.”

  “I could hear your heart beat quicken, as you imagined what I would taste like in your mouth,” Elin said, as she stood up in front of him.

  Jonah stared at her and shook his head. She stepped up to him and touched his hand, she placed it on her breast, her robe fell open. He moved his finger slowly, as she looked into his eyes. She placed her lips close to his ear.

  “If you want to lie down, go ahead… you can eat me,” she whispered.

  Jonah pulled his hand from her chest and stumbled away from her.

  “You are a demon,” he whispered to her. She nodded at him and he ran to the door.

  Elin laughed and walked to the mirror. She let the robe fall around her feet and touched her skin, it looked young again, tight and desirable. She smiled at herself.

  “I am the only real demon here,” she whispered.

  ***

  I finished my shower with no crazy. It was unbelievable that I even had to worry about things like that. I am trying to accept things. I really am… I swear. My brain was about to ooze out of my ears, though. I missed Sara.

  I looked around for my phone and realized that I didn’t have one. It was either at the bottom of a lake, or I’d dropped it in Valon. I laughed, when I thought about her calling it and some protector picking it up… staring at it like a foreign object. Saying things like, “Oh my… what could this small device be?” or “Stab it with your blade!” I grinned with my internal conversation. Sara would probably make their heads pop off with her chatter. Ha! Take my secret human weapon, you evil protectors! Sara, the amazing chatter machine.

  I had jumped on my bed and I was swinging my pillow around like a fake sword, making noises like, “Ah ha!” and “Whoosh.” Josh cleared his throat and I dropped the pillow and looked at my hands. I grinned at him.
r />   “Ummm, yea, I was slaying protectors and stuff,” I said, before I really thought it through.

  He sighed and shook his head.

  “Okay then,” he said as he stepped in.

  I dropped down on my bed and bounced a couple of times. He looked at me.

  “Well… it looks like the cookie put you in a good mood.”

  “Oh… I don’t know, I think it’s really just insanity setting in,” I said, as I grinned and leaned back on my hands.

  I looked down at my shirt and giggled. He looked at it too.

  “Yea, well… I don’t want to be the downer here, but we have to figure out how to get into the carnival,” he said, as he looked at my feet. I looked down.

  “Mine are clean… See?” I asked him.

  “Uh huh, I see that,” he said.

  I know that he wanted to have a grown up conversation, but I didn’t. The previous day sucked dirty butt and I needed a fun day. I looked at him and grinned big. He tilted his head at me.

  “Are you even hearing what I am saying to you?” he asked me.

  I got up and grabbed the pillow in my hand and swung it at him. I hit him square in the face and he “oh’d” under the pillow. I smiled and lowered the pillow from his face.

  “I am getting Theodore, I think he got you high with that cookie.”

  “No,” I said as I looked at him, letting the pillow fall to the floor. “I’m sorry. I just want to have fun today. Could we do that?” I asked him, like he was in charge of the plan. He bit his lip and raised his eyebrows. I leaned up to him.

  “You said that they cannot come into town, so what’s the rush?” I asked him.

  He raised his hands up and let them drop.

  “Okay… umm, what then?” he asked me. I looked at him and ran to the window.

  “It is a really nice day, let’s go out,” I said, as I scanned the street.

  No kids rode around on their bikes. I shook my head and maintained my optimism. I knew, in the back of my mind, that somebody must be missing, because of that damn carnival. I didn’t want to think about it right then though. I turned to him and shrugged my shoulders.

  He looked at me and stood up.

  “You are serious?” he asked me.

  “Yes… I am totally serious, and hell bent on having a good day.”

  He rubbed his hand through his hair and took one more look at me.

  “Okay crazy,” he said to me. I laughed out loud.

  “Awesome!” I said, as I grabbed my shoes and started to pull them on.

  He looked at me and pointed his finger at me.

  “Today we will have ‘fun’, but tomorrow we are back to business, k?” he said.

  I nodded and jumped up.

  “Let’s go get Sara!” I said to him.

  I ran out of my room and down the stairs. Johnathan sat on the couch with Kai, playing a video game. I smiled at him and he watched me jog into the kitchen. I opened the fridge up and grabbed a drink, drank it down, even though it tasted like nothing in my mouth. I looked at it and smelled it then Theodore stepped up and took it from me and gave it a sniff over too.

  “It is fine,” he said, as he handed it back to me.

  I shrugged my shoulders and chugged it down, without the help of a glass. I wiped my mouth and looked into the living room. Johnathan was staring at me and I smiled and tossed it into the trashcan.

  I clapped my hands together once and said, “Okay then,” with a little too much enthusiasm. Theodore handed me a cookie and I grinned at him.

  “The upside is that your taste buds seem to be dead,” he said, as he grinned at me.

  “Yep,” I said to him and bit into the cookie.

  I looked at it and realized that I bit the eye off. I grinned at it.

  “Sorry,” I muttered to the cookie. Johnathan had stepped into the kitchen and stared at me. “You okay...? You seem a little too happy,” he said to me.

  “Oh… I can’t be happy, without an alarm going off, huh?” I said.

  I hit him on the arm and jogged into the living room. Theodore leaned back and looked in as I jumped on the couch causing Kai all kinds of drama, as he tried to play his game.

  “And why?” he yelled at me, as he tried to not die on screen.

  I grabbed his controller from him and ran.

  “Oh, you turd!” Kai yelled at me, as he chased me into the front yard.

  Johnathan, Josh, and Theodore stepped out onto the porch and watched us wrestle in the yard. I had Kai in a headlock, rubbing my knuckle into his skull. He kicked, until he flipped me over and started to tickle the crap out of me. I screamed and kicked my legs in the air. Johnathan shook his head and walked back inside.

  Theodore leaned over to Josh and started to laugh.

  “It’s the cookie… I am afraid that I might have put an anti-depressant in it.”

  Josh looked at him.

  “Awesome, she is going to be a joy tomorrow,” he said.

  Theodore held up his hands and walked back in.

  Josh leaned over the ledge and watched, as Kai flipped me and put my arms behind my back.

  “I give!” I yelled at him. He picked up his controller and laughed at me.

  “That’s right,” he said, as I rolled over and looked at the sky. I watched the clouds and kind of got lost in it for a moment. Josh stepped up and leaned into my view.

  “Okay… so what do you want to do first?” he asked me.

  I looked at him and winked. He shook his head slightly.

  “What?” he asked me.

  “Let’s go into the woods and I’ll let you feel me up,” I said, as I grinned.

  “Okay… no, pick something else, please,” Josh said as he held his hand out to me.

  He pulled me up and I looked at him holding out my hands.

  “What...? The unicorn shirt not doing it for ya?” I asked him.

  “Umm, well, not really… Give you some candy and you look illegal,” he said to me.

  I laughed, a little too hard. He looked back at the house, half tempted to yell for Theodore.

  “Okay... let’s get some coffee then,” I said. I started to make a warped “ice cream truck” song, with a badly executed whistle. I don’t whistle normally… well, never really.

  “Alright. I can do that,” he said. I looked at the house.

  “Get everybody,” I said to him. He looked back at the house and shook his head.

  “No, just us… it’s okay.” I frowned at him. He grinned.

  “Let’s go!” he said all excited to me, like he really meant it. I grinned big and goofy.

  I ran to the car and got behind the wheel. He stood there and looked at me, as he shook his head. He walked up to my window and leaned in.

  “Let me drive, Rue,” he said.

  I shook my head, “no”’ and kept waving my hand over the ignition, like I could start it. He shook his head and walked to the other side. He got in and looked at the ignition. He waved his hand over it and the car started up. I laughed.

  “Sweeeet,” I said.

  “Okay listen… take it easy on the… Oh god!” Josh yelled out, as I hit the gas and we screeched out into the road. I slammed on the brake and looked at him.

  “Ooops,” I muttered.

  He held onto the dashboard and slowly turned his head to me.

  “Do you think that we could survive, for just a little while longer?” he asked me.

  I winked at him and hit the gas. He slammed back into the seat and grabbed his seat belt. I careened around a corner, and he tried to grab my seatbelt. He finally managed to get it fastened. I didn’t even notice really. I was racing… who… I didn’t know, but in my mind, I was kicking all ass. I slammed on my brakes in front of Coffee and left the car in gear as I jumped out. Josh reached over and stopped the car.

  “Geezus god,” he muttered, as he watched me run across the road and barely miss getting hit by a car.

  “Oh god,” he yelled, as he got out and ran after me.
>
  Josh made it inside and I turned back to him with two ridiculously large drinks in my hand. I smiled at him and he stepped up to the counter as the girl raised her hand to me.

  “You still need to pay!” she said.

  Josh held up his hand to her and pulled out his card. I walked to a booth full of people and started to push one of them over, as I sat down and started to talk, like I was in the conversation. Josh smiled and leaned up grabbing my arm.

  “Sorry,” he said to the table of kids and led me over to a booth.

  I sat down and he sat down next to me, scooting me over. I think that he just wanted to trap me in one spot for a moment. I would have done the same thing. I sucked on my drink with a serious attempt to suck it all down in one try. It gave me awful brain freeze. I grabbed my head.

  “Oh God!” I screamed.

  The place went quiet for a moment and Josh rubbed my forehead.

  The chatter rose back up and he tasted his drink. He winced and choked it down.

  “Why are you trying to poison me?” he said, as he sniffed at his drink.

  I looked at him and took another drink of mine.

  “I am not… it’s chocolate and coffee… with something else, I can’t remember,” I said as I looked at mine.

  Josh set his down and looked around the room. Then he turned to me.

  “Okay, listen… please let me drive when we leave.”

  I looked at him and shook my head, “no” as I drank my drink with crazy force.

  I squinted my eyes and, “Oww’d” really loudly.

  A boy in the next booth looked over the top and asked, “Everything okay?”

  I smiled up at him and gave him the thumbs up. Josh smiled.

  “Yes… just fine, thanks.”

  The boy slowly lowered himself back into his booth and I laughed.

  “I bet he thought that you hit me like you did yesterday!” I said as I laughed.

  The boy looked back over at Josh and stared him down.

  “I never hit her,” Josh said. I looked up at the boy.

  “He hit me with his blade… I thought I was gonna die!” I said to him.

  “What kind of crap is that, dude?” the boy asked Josh. Josh held his hand up as I giggled.

  “It isn’t what you think,” Josh said as he glanced at me. He leaned over to me.