by Rue Volley
“Thanks,” he said. She nodded and looked at Jonah.
Theodore and Kai flashed up and Bridgette stood up and stared at them. Bridgette was a very pretty girl, but she looked young. She grinned at Kai and he cleared his throat and looked at Johnathan. Johnathan stepped forward and held his hand out.
“Theodore… Kai, this is Jonah and Bridgette,” Johnathan said to them. Theodore felt a vibration in his hands and rubbed them.
“You are rogues,” he said to them. Jonah smiled and bowed to him.
“That would be true,” he said to him.
“I find you most interesting really. No one knew that you even really existed,” Theodore said as he stepped forward.
“Well… I would tell you that the rumors are true,” Jonah said to him with a wicked grin.
Theodore tilted his head and stared at him. Jonah was most charming, too much really. He had a pretty face, perfect skin, and nice lips. Theodore knew that he would be most dangerous to himself, if allowed too. He was exactly what Theodore liked in a boy. Jonah tilted his head and bit his lip.
“Do you find yourself attracted to me?” Jonah asked him.
Theodore blinked and realized that rogues are charmers, what a tricky proposition.
“No… intrigued,” Theodore said.
“Mmm,” Jonah said, as he looked at Kai.
“And you are Rue’s big brother,” Jonah said, more of a general statement than a question.
Kai looked at him and felt a vibration in his palms.
“Yes,” he said to him, wanting to keep it short and sweet.
Jonah flashed to him and smelled his neck. Kai stumbled backward.
“Dude, I have a personal boundary here,” Kai said as he swung his arms out around him.
Jonah laughed.
“Oh… you smell like your sister, a little,” he said to him.
Kai looked at Theodore and shook his head. Theodore looked at Kai and grinned.
“Jonah here is a cannibal, Kai,” he said, as he looked back at Jonah.
“Oh… I did not know that you could tell,” Jonah said as he laughed.
“Well, I can smell it. Also, your energy is jumbled,” He said to him.
Jonah walked to the water and leaned down. He scooped it up and threw it on his face.
He stood up and shook his hands.
“I did not realize that you could smell my food selection,” he said as he glanced at Johnathan.
Johnathan stepped forward and looked at Theodore.
“Is everyone awake then?” he asked him.
Theodore nodded to him and watched Bridgette, as she moved towards Kai. Kai crinkled his eyebrows as she stepped up to him and touched his face; he felt a slight vibration run through his body and when it reached below his belt he stepped back.
“Okay… uncomfortable,” he said as he looked at Theodore.
Theodore smiled and walked to Bridgette.
“You are very young,” he said to her. She flashed her eyes to him in an instant.
“I am sixteen,” she said to him. Theodore tilted his head.
“How have you come to receive your power already?” he asked her. Bridgette looked at Jonah.
“I was made,” she said, as she glanced back at Kai.
“Made...? As in, you were human?” he asked her.
Bridgette smiled and stepped back from them.
“Yes,” she said to him. Jonah clapped his hands together.
“Okay… I believe that we have had enough with the introductions, it is time to get on with the business at hand.”
Jonah turned and grabbed his blade; he flashed to Bridgette and ran it through her heart. She cried out and started to fall in front of him. She bit his arm on the way down and he hissed at her. He jerked his blade out and jumped on her. He bit into her shoulder.
“What the fuck?” Kai yelled out, as he stepped toward them.
Elin grabbed his arm and jerked him back. Everyone turned their backs to Jonah as he proceeded to eat her. Johnathan grabbed his mouth and ran toward Theodore. Theodore grabbed his arm and held him there. He leaned over to him.
“Bridgette was an enemy,” he whispered to him. Johnathan shook his head.
They could hear a bone crunch and Kai flinched.
“Oh my god… that is gross,” he whispered.
Jonah finished eating and stood up. He looked down at Bridgette, picked her up then tossed her body into the water and watched it sink under. He turned around and cleared his throat.
“It is done,” he said. Everyone turned to him and he was covered in blood... his mouth, especially. Elin grinned at him.
“I am surprised that you waited so long,” she said to him.
“Well… hunger overtook me I am afraid,” Jonah said as he glanced at Kai.
Kai raised his eyebrows at him.
“Do not tell me that I made you hungry,” he said as he stepped back. Jonah laughed.
“Oh, but you did,” he said as he wiped his mouth. Kai turned to Theodore.
“Let me kill him,” he said.
Theodore sighed. “Jonah has his faults, but we need his assistance.”
Kai looked at Jonah and pointed his finger at him.
“You even look at me funny and I will stab you dude,” he said. Jonah bowed to him.
“You are not on the menu, Kai,” he said, as he stood back up and winked at him.
Theodore looked at Elin.
“Can you see a trail?” he asked her. Elin shook her head.
“Just Josh and Sam, I cannot see Rue,” she said. Johnathan stepped up to them.
“Why can’t we see her?” he asked. Theodore shook his head and looked at Elin.
“Perhaps Rue does not wish to be seen, but she will not be able to hide from Josh… He will track her with no problems.”
Jonah washed the blood from his mouth in the water; he watched as the water stopped churning and looked at his face. He smiled at his reflection and placed some water in his mouth, swooshing it around and then spit it out. Elin stepped up behind him and he saw her face come into focus. He sighed.
“I do not like the fact that Lily is with him,” he said in a low tone. Elin leaned down next to him.
“We have to get going,” she said to him. He turned his head to her.
“No ‘thank you’ for disposing of Bridgette?” he asked her. She smiled and stood up.
“You are the only one who could eat her,” she said.
Jonah stood up and turned to watch Elin walk away from him. He didn’t really expect a thank you, just a better response to his worry for Lily. Perhaps he had more to worry about than what his sister was doing.
Blake and I had been walking for a while. He wanted to keep holding my hand, but I eventually let his hand go after I stopped thinking about stuff and just walked. I really wished that this was a regular ‘go out and check out’ the train tracks, but of course it isn’t. I saw a house in the woods off to our right and realized that we may have been getting closer to a town. I glanced over at Blake and he looked a little tired. I slowed down and looked at him.
“Do you need to chill for a minute?” I asked him.
Most guys will act like they can do anything, especially when they are with girls. Surprisingly he looked at me and nodded his head. I grinned and stopped for a moment. He sat down on the track and looked up at me.
“You aren’t tired at all, are you?” he asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.
“Not so much,” I said. I wasn’t in the mood to play.
He laughed and leaned back, stretching his arms out by his sides. I looked down at him. I swear, any other day, life or situation and I might have liked him. He was very cute, in a normal way. I grinned when he caught me looking at him.
“So… why were you on the train?” he asked me.
I sat down. I really didn’t need to, but the question made me feel like it. I looked down at my hands and then back up at him.
“It’s one of those bad decisions; I really sho
uldn’t be here,” I said to him.
“Okay… we’ll I’m glad you are,” he said to me.
I looked up at him and he stood up and walked to my side of the track. He sat down and for the first time I realized that he had a really cool pair of tennis shoes on. I stared at them, seeing that I have a thing for tennis shoes anyway. His were black with white guns on them. I stared at them and he cleared his throat.
“I like shoes,” he said. I looked up at him and grinned.
“Oh… yea, sorry. I was looking, they are cool,” I said as I straightened up.
He looked down at them.
“Oh, these cost a lot, but worth it I think,” he said as he tilted his foot and looked at it himself. He let his foot relax and looked at me.
“So, bad decision huh?” he continued.
I really am not the sharing kind of girl. I don’t usually just blab my business, but there was something about him that made me feel comfortable. I was not attracted to him really… just to his way of making me feel at ease. I looked at him and shook my head.
“I got mad,” I said.
“Uh huh,” he said. I thought maybe he would expand on that, but no.
He just “uh huh’d” me and left it. I laughed.
“Okay… I guess that I kind of have this boy, who aggravates me every day. I didn’t know I liked him, but then I realized that I did and now I ended up on a train with Sara, who by the way is being awful. She told me something crappy and I just left with her… so here I am.”
He looked at me and smiled. I tilted my head.
“What?” I asked him.
“You,” he said to me. I shook my head.
“Me...?”
“Yea, you, I would love to be the boy who aggravated you, Rue,” he said to me.
I turned my head and looked down the track. How easy it would be to just walk around forever and not deal with anything, but I can’t… it sucks. I felt him push my hair over my ear. I guess that I like it because I closed my eyes. He kept his hand on my hair for a moment. I stood up and looked down the track.
“We should go,” I said.
I knew that we were, at a moment, you know, the moment when you know that you have the power to change the course you are on. I already had him kiss me once and I had no intention of having it happen again. I didn’t want to give him the impression that I was able to be with him. I actually did like him, even though he was nowhere near strong.
I looked down at him and held my hand out. He grinned and took it. I pulled him up and he stood there staring at me for a moment. I had to believe that the fact that I am getting my powers has to be a factor in this new ‘Rue is cool’ thing I seemed to have with boys now. My boobs hadn’t got any bigger… in fact I suspect that they may have gotten smaller, so it has to be the power.
I started to walk and he ran up next to me and put his hands in his pockets. I glanced over and I knew that he was staring at me. I guess it didn’t bother me, not really. I was more afraid of words now, more than anything. Words like “love” and “rogue” and “Caine.” I blinked when Caine came to mind. I really wish that Josh would have let me stab him in the heart. I giggled. Blake looked at me.
Me, stab Caine. Yea, right. He would probably chew me up and spit me out.
“What are you laughing about?” Blake asked me. I shook my head.
Once again… that’s a big “You don’t wanna know” moment.
“My life is one crazy moment to the next,” I said.
He looked at me and grabbed my hand. He stopped me and I kind of pulled my hand, trying to get us going again. He had a look on his face that told me that he had to say whatever it was or I had no chance of getting him to move again. I tilted my head at him.
“What?” I said.
“I am going to say something and I want you to have an open mind,” he said to me.
Oh… I hate the prelude to a statement, I really do. My theory was, just freakin say it; it makes it so much worse to throw up a red flag before you open your mouth. I looked at our hands. He had a pretty good hold on mine. I looked back up at him.
“Okay Blake… shoot,” I said to him.
“I was sent to kill you,” he said as he held my hand.
I blinked at him and sucked in my breath. My mind raced through how to kill him without using an ounce of my power. I knew that I was outside of the protection spells; I knew that I was nowhere near anyone who could help me. I froze really. Stuck looking into his beautiful blue eyes, his pretty skin, his full lips.
Oh crap, he was a protector… how did I miss that? How did I end up here? I pulled my hand from his and backed up a step. I looked down the tracks and saw nothing but trees lining both sides. I looked back at him.
“You were sent?” I asked him. He nodded.
“But I won’t,” he said.
“Oh… okay, thanks Blake… if ‘Blake’ is your real name,” I said to him.
“It is, Rue,” he said as he stepped towards me. I stepped back from him.
I wanted to flash into the woods so badly, I could taste it.
“You have no need to worry,” he said.
I laughed. I had too. How bizarre a thing, to think that you are just hanging out with normal, but no… of course not, not for me.
“Would you like to tell me who sent you and why?” I asked him. I figure that I should at least get an explanation from him… who knows how long I had to live.
“I am a rogue… I was sent to take you out, because you are a threat,” he said.
“Okay… not complete, but at least it’s a start,” I said, as I started to walk backward.
He walked with me, he kept his distance. I kept my eyes on his.
He grinned. His grin now is much more sinister than before, not that it changed really, just in my mind.
“Rue, listen to me… I really thought that you would be some big problem, come to find out… you are not. I don’t find it necessary to kill you… I don’t want to.”
“Gosh… I’m glad,” I said, as I continued to walk backwards. I was passing the fear stage and moving right into the pissed off portion of the day. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.
“So… that whole thing about your family was crap,” I said. He tilted his head.
“I found it intriguing that you even cared,” he said to me. I grumbled.
I raised my hands and held them out.
“What...? I can’t care about people?” I asked him.
“No… I guess that I didn’t expect you to have any humanity,” Blake said as he kept his pace up.
“Listen… if you want to fulfill your mission then just try. I guarantee that you will know that you were in a fight. I won’t say that I will win, but you will know that you had to battle,” I said.
He laughed again. “Oh god, no. I don’t want to harm you in any way,” he said.
I stopped walking. I crossed my arms on my chest and stared him down.
“Why did you tell me anyway?” I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders.
“I guess I just wanted to be honest,” he said to me. I shook my head.
“The girl at the platform… did you come with her?” I asked him.
“Yes… that was Bridgette, my sister,” he said to me.
“Okay… and what about Colin?” I asked him. He looked around and back at me.
“Glamour,” he said.
“Oh that’s just awesome… so he doesn’t really know you then?” I asked him. Blake smiled.
“No, he was just there, traveling home from school; his friend let me borrow his jacket.”
I sighed. “You mean you killed his friend and took his jacket,” I said to him.
“Well… Bridgette did, I just got the jacket from her,” he said.
I raised my hands and let them fall at my sides.
“That’s just great Blake,” I said to him in total disgust.
I turned and started to walk. I really didn’t know what he was going to do, but I wasn’t goi
ng to stand there forever just waiting. He caught up with me and walked next to me. I glanced over at him and shook my head. He smiled.
“Why the hell are you smiling?” I asked him.
“You… you get so angry, it’s cute.”
I stopped walking. I clinched my fists. I was not going to have him calling me cute.
He stopped and turned around.
“What?” he said.
“I don’t think that I like you anymore,” I said to him. He grinned.
“You like me, Rue… I could feel it,” he said.
“Oh really?” I said to him as I shifted my weight to my other foot.
“Yes… I gave you ‘normal’. You like that don’t you?” he said.
I placed my other foot in a battle stance. I felt a butt kicking coming on. He tilted his head.
“You are not thinking about battling me are you?” he asked.
“What do you think?” I asked him. He held his hands up to me.
“Listen, why would I tell you the truth and then try to kill you, anyway?” he asked me.
“Who sent you here?” I asked him.
He smiled at me. I was really getting tired of his smile.
“Well?” I yelled at him. He looked around and then at me.
“Erik sent me, Rue… seems that you killed his mate,” he said.
“Erik...? Oh I remember that ass; he was in Valon right?” I asked him.
“Well, he is no longer in Valon. Seems he shed his easy existence and decided to come out into the real world.”
“So, where is he...? And where is your sister?” I asked him.
“Erik is with Caine. My sister went to strike a deal with him; I wanted to see you live so I changed sides,” he said.
“What...? You went from one tool’s team to another tool’s team?” I said with a lot of sarcasm.
He placed his hands in his pockets and I had no choice but to watch him. I can’t trust him now.
“When you live in the world, you have to make quick decisions… Caine’s offer was better,” he said.
I turned and started to run. I wanted to flash, but I didn’t know who was lurking around me. Blake ran after me and I felt him grab my arm and slow me down. I spun around and hit his chest with my shoulders. He held onto me and looked down at me. I hated him so much that I could blow myself up just to take him out with me. I struggled and he held me still.