The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “You are most peculiar,” Elin said as she slowly sat next to her.

  Lily looked at her hands and then at Elin’s face. She raised her hand and touched her. When her fingertips made contact with Elin’s skin, Lily quickly removed her hand and rubbed it.

  “Do you ever talk?” Elin asked her.

  Lily shrugged her shoulders. “Yes... I do.”

  Elin crossed her legs and watched Lily keep an eye on her every move.

  “I know that I am confusing to you, probably a torture really. I was once human, Lil, I have fed from protectors for a long time now, over thirty years. I am afraid that despite all my efforts, I still have the stench of human on me.” Lily glanced at her.

  “I know how to change you,” Lily whispered. Elin turned to her.

  “Change, as in making me completely like you?” Elin asked her.

  Lily nodded. Elin reached out to touch her face and Lily closed her eyes.

  “Why do you tell me this?” Elin asked her.

  “I love Jonah, more than anything in the whole world. I do not like Caine,” Lily said as she opened her eyes up and Elin watched as they started to swirl red.

  “Okay. Are you here to ask for my help?” Elin asked her.

  Lily stood up and looked at her. “I want to make a trade.”

  Elin stood up and looked at her, somewhat confused.

  “What are we trading?” she asked her.

  “I give you immortality and you take Caine to memory,” Lily said in a whisper.

  “Oh,” Elin said as she grinned. Lily tilted her head.

  “If you don’t want to do it, I will eat you,” Lily said. Elin laughed.

  “No, I do not wish for that, how unpleasant.”

  Lily smiled. “I will tell Jonah then,” she said as she flashed from the tent.

  Elin raised her hand to continue the conversation, but Lily was gone.

  Elin walked back to the mirror and adjusted her hat.

  “Well, that was a pleasant surprise,” she whispered to herself.

  “What would that be love?” Caine asked her.

  Elin turned to him and practiced her old trick of keeping her emotions in check. Instead of making a monumental mistake of acting as if Lily never came to her tent, she decided to give the half-truth. Caine is a master of trickery, explains why he has survived for so long.

  “Lily visited me, she is most curious,” Elin said as she continued to adjust her hat.

  Caine stepped up behind her and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

  “She is a beast,” Caine said as he grinned. Elin turned to him and sighed.

  “Have you had your way with her too?” she asked him. Caine tilted his head.

  “Jealousy is a bitter habit,” he said. Elin laughed.

  “No, I am not jealous Caine. I am just surprised, she is adorable.” Elin smiled at him

  “She is a cannibal. She would eat a child of her own.”

  “Is that a tinge of fear I hear in you, of all people?” she asked.

  Caine flashed to her face.

  “I embody fear. I do not experience it Elin, you should know better.”

  Elin turned her face from his and lowered her eyes.

  “I apologize. I am in a playful mood. I meant no disrespect,” Elin said as she allowed her heartbeat to flutter.

  Caine smiled and leaned into her ear, “I do value you Elin, you above all others.”

  Elin sighed as he backed away from her. She could hear the strong steady rhythm of his heartbeat in her ears. He walked to the tent opening and looked back at her.

  “You were wise to tell the truth Elin. I do not tolerate disloyalty.”

  “Of course,” Elin said as she turned back to the mirror. Caine disappeared from the opening.

  Elin took a breath and walked to the bed. She sat down and looked at her hands. She held them up and saw a slight tremor in her fingers.

  “Damn it,” she muttered.

  She stood up and adjusted her dress and lifted her head up. She stopped and looked in the mirror. She grinned so big it surprised herself. The thought of being free to live, no more begging, or being used up was the most amazing prospect to her.

  Elin stepped out of her tent and looked around. It was midday and the carnival wasn’t even close to being in full swing yet. She glanced to the right and saw Lily walking slowly towards her own tent on Jonah’s arm. She nodded to them and Jonah looked nervous, Lily did not. She grinned and Elin wondered if Lily would betray her. It wasn’t the first time that Elin has been at a cross roads with trust.

  Suddenly she decided that she wanted to take Lily’s offer. What could it hurt anyway? She would either be immortal finally or worst case scenario, dead. Either would be welcome at this point for her. She started to walk towards Lily’s tent, knowing that this could be the best thing that ever happened or the last moment she would spend in the sun. Caine had made it clear that she was off limits, but honestly… when it came to rogues, who knew what the deal was.

  She stopped at the tent, hoping that Caine would not pop out somewhere and ask her why she would even consider visiting Jonah or Lily. The three of them together would certainly look like a perfect set up for mutiny. She took a deep breath and walked into the tent; she immediately turned as she saw Jonah cutting his arm long ways, and Lily on her knees lapping the blood. Elin’s stomach growled and she cleared her throat. Jonah looked up and hissed, as Lily bit into the cut on his arm

  “Oh… Elin, come in,” Jonah said as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

  Lily peeked up at her with blood all over her mouth and grinned.

  Elin focused in on her pointed teeth and shook her head at them.

  “Well, I apologize for the intrusion,” Elin said, as she stood her ground.

  Lily wiped her mouth as she swallowed another mouthful of Jonah’s blood.

  Jonah stood up slowly and walked toward Elin.

  “So… I understand that Lily told you our greatest magic trick,” Jonah said as he looked in Elin’s eyes.

  “Yes… she offered a most tempting proposition. I am tilting towards immortality, not the alternative.”

  Jonah laughed and placed his hat on his head.

  “I would guess not… Lily isn’t the most compassionate of eaters, in fact, she is quite brutal.”

  Elin looked at Lily and she stood up and walked towards her.

  “You want what I have to offer?” Lily asked her as she tilted her head.

  Elin looked into her eyes and sighed.

  “I do… more than you will ever know. I only ask that you allow me to leave and ask for some help in dragging our favorite boy to memory.”

  Jonah and Lily looked at each other and then back at Elin.

  “Who would you wish to call on?” Jonah asked her.

  “I need Rue Volley,” Elin said.

  ***

  Sara drove out of town and a chill went down my spine. I knew better than this. I should have been hanging out with my new family, but there I was… acting like a girl. I leaned back in my seat and watched the trees go by. I looked over at Sara a few times and smiled. She smiled back. I’d known Sara for so long that she was like a sister to me. I would have been talking to her, but the music was so loud I couldn’t. Maybe it was for the best though.

  I am so disgusted with Josh. Sara was the only girl in the world that had never lied to me. I guess that how she so easily dragged from the safety of the house. I still felt emotional, to a certain degree. That damn cookie had me all crazy yesterday and today the magic muffin has me making decisions that I shouldn’t. I had no idea where we were going and to tell you the truth, I didn’t even care. Sara could have grabbed two tickets and we could have board a plane right then and I would be game.

  Just as I started to dream about travel Sara pulled into a train station and my heart jumped. The train was built fifteen years ago and I knew about it from the paper. I always wanted to take a ride on it. That was my chance to do it. Sara stopped
the car and for the first time in over two hours I heard her familiar voice again.

  “Oh girlie…we are gonna rock this train!” she said as she jumped out and started to walk towards the ticket station.

  I stepped out and looked out into the crowd of people. My stomach growled and I pressed on it. I want to feed again. Damn it. Sara called over to me and waved. I shut the door and walked in her direction. A man bumped into me as I moved through the crowd and his heartbeat welled up in my ears. I glanced back at him as he hurried along. I pressed on my stomach and wiped my mouth when I noticed that I started to salivate. I looked at my hand and it had blood on it. I lowered it quickly and covered it with my other hand. I must have bit my lip. I didn’t even feel it anymore. Not good.

  I stopped and watched a little girl let a balloon go into the air. I watched it drift upward and got caught on the color. It was red… like blood. I looked at Sara and she stood there staring at me with her head tilted. I blinked and she wasn’t tilting her head anymore. Odd, she looked different, no, it’s me. I smiled at her and she held the tickets up in front of her and grinned big time. I nodded and walked towards her. I was getting on that train. I was! I stepped up to her and the pounding got so loud in my ears from all the heartbeats around me that I couldn’t even hear what she was saying. Her mouth moved and I looked at her it and then at her neck. I saw a pulse… beating in perfect time.

  “Rue?!” Sara yelled at me.

  I broke from my apparent trance and looked at her.

  “Yea?” I said as I cleared my throat. She grinned and waved the tickets at me again.

  “We are so on this train!” she squealed.

  There she is… there is my Sara. How dare Josh hit on her… how dare he.

  “Awesome,” I said as I scanned the crowd one more time.

  Sara grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the train. My heart started to beat harder. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t even ask her where we were going. I guess I really didn’t care. Anywhere away from my life is great right now. I looked back, half expecting to see Josh flash through the crowd, but no. I almost stumbled and Sara gripped my hand. She ran to the entryway and held up the tickets to a boy that looked barely out of high school. He took the tickets and stamped them. Sara grinned at him and back at me.

  “Oh, he looks good enough to eat, right?” she asked me.

  I grinned and glanced at him. He kind of did. I guess that I had been so caught up on the two boys at my house for so long that I kind of forgot that any others existed. Sara pulled me up the stairs behind her and we stepped into the coolest train I had ever seen. People walked around, looking at their tickets in hand, and ducked into compartments with their numbers on them. Sara didn’t even look at ours, she seemed to be scoping out any and all boys wandering around. A group walked past us with matching jackets on from some school and she looked the tallest one up and down as he walked by. He noticed and almost ran into the boy in front of him. Sara looked back at me and grinned.

  “I am so gonna hang out with him on this trip,” she whispered in my ear.

  I touched my neck as the boy behind him looked at me. I looked back, a little… I guess. He had messy hair, dark black… nice eyes, full mouth. No Josh, but enough to distract me for a moment. The two boys whispered something to each other and of course Sara noticed. She leaned over to me.

  “Hold on,” she whispered.

  She started to walk away and I tried to hold her hand but she pulled it from mine and walked right up to the tall boy that she had been eyeballing. She twisted her foot in true Sara fashion as she spoke to the boys. She smiled and looked back at me as the two boys looked at me too. I grinned, my awkwardness so apparent. Sara took a pen from the boy and scribbled something on her hand. I watched, hoping that she hadn’t just done what I knew she did. She leaned in and whispered something to the boy and they both laughed.

  She walked back to me and I tried to focus on her, but the dark haired boy was watching me. I really didn’t mind I guess, didn’t mean that I wanted to talk to him though. Sara walked up to me and held up her hand. A number was written on it. She smiled and giggled. I sighed.

  “We are going to find our cabin now,” she said as she started to walk away from me.

  “Wait… what just happened?” I asked her. Sara turned as she kept walking and smiled.

  “Oh… we have a date, later,” she said as she winked at me.

  I shook my head, but I had learned that with Sara there is no telling her that something is not going to happen; you just give… it is much easier that way. Sara looked at each cabin door and finally found ours. She looked back at me and grinned then opened it up to find a couple sat on the bed making out.

  “Oh! Ooops!” Sara said as she backed out, bumping me back.

  I grunted as I felt a body behind me. I turned to see the dark haired boy and I cleared my throat.

  “Sorry,” I said as I looked at Sara. The boy leaned forward.

  “No problem,” he said as he grinned. I felt kind of funny. I didn’t like the idea of this boy thinking that I may be an easy target. He looked at Sara and smiled.

  “Are you having problems finding your cabin?” he asked her.

  She nodded, like some damsel in distress. He took her ticket and looked at it.

  “Oh... you were so close,” he said as he started to walk further down the hallway.

  He stopped and turned to us.

  “Okay… here you go,” he said as he handed the ticket back to her. She smiled at him and he looked past her to me. He smiled and I looked at the ground. He looked back to Sara.

  “Well, maybe we will see you guys later,” he said to her. Sara laughed.

  “Oh you can bet on it.” She looked back at me and winked.

  I rubbed my arm and tried to give a genuine smile, but it felt fake. I’m sure it looked that way to him. He walked down a couple of cabins and opened his door up. He glanced back at me one more time and disappeared into the room. I looked at Sara,

  “Why would you?” I said to her with a look of surprise on my face.

  “Because I can,” she said as she opened our door up and walked in.

  I stepped into our cabin and Sara must have shelled out some money for it. The bed was large, it had a small booth next to the window and a bathroom. I walked to the window and scanned the crowd outside. People ran around, either getting tickets or saying goodbyes. I noticed a red haired girl walking quickly through the crowd, and thought that it might be Sam until she found her boyfriend, a tall boy with brown hair, and kissed him. He turned her around and she was pretty, but not Samantha.

  I rubbed my palm, as I felt a tingling in it and looked back at Sara. She was already taking advantage of the small refrigerator that I had overlooked. She pulled out a small bottle and bit the cap; she twisted it with her teeth and spit it out. I looked at her and grinned. She chugged it down and tossed it in the trashcan. She pulled two more out and handed one to me. I would normally not drink… but when in Rome.

  I twisted mine and took a drink. It tasted almost sweet. What a surprise… something that doesn’t taste disgustingly like nothing. Sara grinned and touched the bottom of my tiny bottle and pushed it towards my mouth. I took another drink and smiled at her, as some dribbled down my chin. Wow… could I not be less cool. Sara laughed and dropped on the bed, as she drank her second one down. She looked up at me.

  “We are going to get super drunk… then we are going to go to…” she held her hand up to her face. “…Cabin 37 and I am going to do terrible things to that tall hottie.”

  I stared at her and felt a slight movement. The train was starting to move. I sat down in the booth and looked out the window. People stood along the platform, waving at their friends as we slowly started to pull away. I wanted to wave, but no one stood there watching me, so I didn’t.

  Sara opened the fridge again and leaned down.

  “There are only four more drinks in here, that’s ridiculous,” she muttere
d.

  “Well, I’m not drinking anymore,” I said. She slammed it shut and I flinched, as the bottles inside rattled. She looked super pissed. It was an odd thing for her.

  “This cabin cost a lot; you would think that they wouldn’t jip us on the drinks,” she said.

  I shook my head at her. “I will pay you back I swear, when we get back home,” I said to her, hoping it would make her feel better.

  She looked at me and tilted her head again. I didn’t necessarily like the fact that she had picked that habit up. I see and do enough head tilting, on a daily basis. She smiled.

  “No… Ruebear… this ride is on my Daddy,” she said to me.

  I grinned and felt the energy shift in the room. She was no longer mad. I was not used to seeing her with a temper, so when it happened it was unsettling. Sara plopped down on the seat across from me and leaned on her hands as she stared at me. I leaned back and looked out the window. The sky was starting to darken and I watched as the blue and black started to mix.

  I looked back at her and she sighed.

  “What?” I said.

  “You are sitting here on a kick ass train, which I know you always wanted to ride on, and all you do is think about Josh,” she said. I blinked and looked back out the window.

  “I wasn’t actually. I was thinking about freedom,” I said as I watched the sky continue to darken.

  “Freedom?” she said to me as she leaned back and looked out the window too.

  I looked back at her and watched her face. She looked better than I ever remembered her looking. Her skin was flawless, her hair shiny, her lips a nice red. She looked at me and caught me staring. I cleared my throat and shrugged my shoulders.

  “Yes, I was thinking about how I have always been in that town, I probably always will be... forever.”

  Sara leaned forward.

  “You don’t have to be,” she whispered. I looked at her and she looked serious, then she started to laugh. She stood up and walked to the door.

  “We could be in cabin 37 for instance. I guarantee that those boys have no idea what we are.”