The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  Josh leaned up and looked at her. He looked over at Sam.

  “Grab her,” Josh muttered.

  Sam grabbed Sara by the waist and wrestled her to the floor. Sara kicked and started to yell out. Sam placed her hand over her mouth and held her down with her weight. The girl behind the counter looked at the fitting room door as she heard little muffled cries and walked to the door. She tapped on it and leaned in.

  “Are you guys okay?” she asked.

  Josh looked at Sam and then at the door.

  “Yep… Sara is just feeling a little sick,” he said.

  A thud rang out as Sara kicked her foot against the wall. The girl backed up.

  “I don’t know if all of you should be in there,” she said, as she considered running to the phone and calling someone to help.

  Josh stood up and cracked the door open. The girl looked at him and half grinned.

  “Listen, I really like your dress,” he said, as he looked her up and down.

  The girl blushed and touched her dress and then looked him in the eye.

  “Oh… I got it here,” she said.

  Another thud rang out as Sara struggled and kicked her legs.

  The girl leaned and Josh blocked her view. He smiled and winked at her.

  “We are getting ready to leave. Do you think that you could write your number down?” he asked her. She smiled and then bit her lip. He had her… he knew it.

  “Sure,” she muttered as she walked to the counter.

  Josh closed the door and looked down at Sara. She had a panicked look on her face. Sam had her held down and under control. Josh sighed and gripped the blade in his hand. He closed his eyes and drew all the energy he could into himself. His skin started to swirl with black. He drew in his breath and sliced his palm again. He leaned down and looked at Sam.

  “I will need you to move fast,” he said to her. She nodded.

  Josh placed his hand over Sam’s and Sam removed her hand from Sara’s mouth. Josh pressed it to her mouth quickly, muffling a yell. Blood started to flow from his palm into her mouth; his palm started to glow, lighting up the room. Sara struggled at first and then relaxed. She grabbed the back of his hand and gripped it so tight, her knuckles became white. Josh threw his head back and groaned as she drank from him. Josh started to sway a little and Sam grabbed Sara’s hand and pulled them from his hand. He fell backward and slumped against the wall.

  Sara lay there and arched her back. She thrashed her head back and forth as the wrinkles started to fade and her hair started to shine again. Sam scrambled to Josh and placed her hand on his heart. She leaned in and started to chant in Latin under her breath. Sara rose up and looked at the two of them. She wiped her mouth and licked her hand. Sam picked up the blade and pointed it at her.

  “Sit down,” she said, with a serious look on her face. Sara stepped to the bench and sat down.

  Sam sliced her palm and placed it over Josh’s mouth as his eyes rolled in his head.

  Sara leaned forward. “What is wrong with him?” she asked Sam.

  Sam shot a look at her as Josh started to feed from her hand.

  “You… you are poison,” she said.

  “What...? Me?” Sara said as she leaned back and watched Sam feed him.

  Josh raised his hand up and grabbed Sam’s hand. He fed from her until she knew that she had to stop him. She pulled her hand and pushed back from him. Josh shook his head and mumbled something under his breath. Sara leaned up and looked at him.

  “What?” she whispered.

  Josh opened his eyes and they were swirling black. He stared a hole through her.

  “You are lucky that I am generous,” he said as he pushed himself up from the floor.

  Sara looked up at him. He clinched his fists as he listened to her heartbeat speeding up.

  Sam pushed herself up and rubbed her hand.

  “That was rough,” she said to him. Josh nodded to her then looked at Sara.

  “You take her to Theodore, Sam,” Josh said as he took a breath and stretched his arms out.

  Sam stepped toward him.

  “You cannot go alone,” she said to him.

  “I won’t, send Elin,” he said.

  Sara looked at him and stood up from the bench.

  “What is going on?” she asked him.

  Josh flashed a look at her and it sent chills through her. She looked at Sam.

  “What is he doing?” Sara asked her.

  Sam placed her hand on her hip.

  “You drag Rue out of town… She is a sitting duck now,” Sam said as she stepped to the door and grabbed the handle.

  “Oh my god!” Sara said as she stepped toward the door too. Josh looked at her.

  “You ever place her in danger again and I will kill you myself, got me?” he said.

  Sara swallowed hard and nodded.

  “I am so sorry,” she whispered.

  ***

  I blinked my eyes and took a breath. It hurt. Sometimes I slept with my mouth open and it dried my throat out so bad that I couldn’t drink enough water to make it feel better. I rolled onto my back and realized that I was in a bed. What bed, I did not know.

  I pushed myself up on my elbow and hissed as I felt a pain in my back. That freaky girl had clawed my back and I could feel it. It had hurt when she did it, but I didn’t realize that she had actually hurt me. I looked around the room and saw tons of unicorns. Posters, porcelain figures, a lampshade with one that had sparkles flying behind it as it flew through blue clouds. I closed my eyes and sighed. I hate unicorns and purple. I opened my eyes back up and they were all still there. I guess I wished that it was a mirage, but of course not.

  I pulled my purple comforter, with pink unicorns on it, off of me and slid my legs over the edge. I suddenly remembered the huge gash in the back of my head. I raised my fingers and felt it. No cut… good. My hair was matted though, with blood, probably. I looked back at the pillow and a pink unicorn smiled at me, winking. He was smeared with blood. Evidently I had been bleeding… now I was not.

  I stood up and walked to a large floor mirror, framed in gold. Another thing I don’t like… gold. I guess I should have been thankful that Blake found shelter for us, but I was starting to feel like he put me in that room just to annoy the crap out of me. I stepped up to the mirror and leaned in to look at myself. I looked like I got hit by a bus. My hair was ratted, my skin was paler than usual, and my dark circles look really bad. I sighed and turned to inspect my back. I frowned as I looked at the cuts in the material. I pulled it up and looked at the long slices down my back. They looked red and nasty. I turned when I heard a voice.

  “I see that you decided to wake up,” Blake said to me.

  I lowered my shirt slowly; it felt like someone had laid a hot iron on my back. I flinched as I brushed my shirt against the cuts. I looked at him and nodded.

  “Yea… figured I’d check out the damage,” I said as I walked toward the bed.

  I sat down on the edge of it and looked up at him. He looked fine. I guess he had kicked butt. He grinned as he walked towards me. I couldn’t bring myself to get all flustered about his honesty. I figure, if he wanted to kill me, he would have done it already. He sat down next to me and looked at my hands. He touched my hair and I turned my head, so his fingers lost contact with me.

  “Okay… so you are mad, I get it,” he said as he stared at me.

  I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.

  “You think?” I said, in my classic sarcastic tone.

  “Listen… I was supposed to kill you first day. I did not… that should count for something,” he said, like I should be so thankful that he decided to show me mercy. I looked at him.

  “Who’s to say that you could have?” I said as I stared him in the eye.

  “Oh, you don’t think that I could have. Do you?” he asked me. I shook my head.

  “I don’t really care.” I said as I grabbed my bloody unicorn pillow and placed it on my lap.

&nbs
p; He looked down at it and smiled. He stood up and looked down at me.

  “You have a funny way of dealing with things,” he said.

  I looked up at him and squeezed my pillow.

  “Yea, well… when you almost die every day it gives you a new outlook on life,” I said as I rolled my eyes and looked at the stuffed animals I had apparently missed on the bed.

  He looked at the animals too.

  “You look like a child in this room, like a doll,” he said to me. I looked up at him.

  “Uh huh,” I said, like I thought that statement was just a little bit weird.

  “A porcelain doll,” he added. I sighed.

  “Listen… that is just kind of creepy, k?” I said as I threw the bloody pillow behind me.

  He laughed. “Sorry, I am attracted to misery… it’s kind of my thing,” he said.

  “Oh… that’s just neat,” I said as I stood up and walked to the window.

  I looked out and watched a newspaper roll down the street. A bike laid in the front yard. Creepy. I looked back at him.

  “Listen… I am miserable. I guess that is just the best to you, but I don’t find it fun at all,” I said.

  He stepped towards me. I could hear his heart beat speed up. I looked at him, hoping that he wasn’t about to grab me and try to kiss me or something. I guess he was good at reading facial expressions because he stopped and tilted his head at me.

  “You have been poisoned; I have to ground you.” he said.

  I tilted my head, wondering what the hell a ‘grounding’ was.

  “And what kind of voodoo is that?” I asked him. He smiled.

  “No voodoo. I have to draw positive energy into your body and take the negative out. It will purge you of the pain in your back… otherwise you will continue to deteriorate.”

  “Oh that sounds just perfect,” I said as I raised my hands and dropped them to my sides.

  He continued to smile at me. I guess I had no choice. I had no intention of letting myself get all crazy sick when he was the only one with me who could fix it. I hoped it wasn’t a trick. I didn’t trust him at all. He stepped towards me and I stood my ground. He held out his hand to me and I took it. He led me to the bed and had me lie down. I looked up at him and he brushed his hair out of his face. I bit my lip. He glanced at me and rubbed his hands together taking a breath.

  “So… I thought that rogues were all crazy and just ran around killing anything they could get their hands on?” I said to him. He looked at me and shook his head.

  “Well, a lot do… not me though,” he said.

  Not really the deep conversation I was looking for.

  I shook my head and watched him hold his hands out in front of him. He started to swirl in color. It was like a static to me though. I blinked as I watched him slow his breathing down and he opened his eyes up. They were black as night.

  “I can’t see your color at all,” I said to him. He grinned. It looked wicked with his black eyes.

  “Well, you can’t… You see rogues are not easy to track, in fact I have not encountered a protector yet who could detect us,” he said.

  “Why?” I asked him.

  He leaned down and placed his hands on my ankles.

  I felt warmth run through me and I squirmed a little. He looked up and bit his lip.

  “I would assume that it is because we no longer have a connection to the creator,” he said as he closed his eyes. I leaned up and looked at him.

  “How is that possible?” I asked him.

  He said something in Latin and I felt a vibration in my feet.

  I looked at his hands and the color came and went; I think it was Yellow… I couldn’t be sure.

  “You are strong with your communication,” I said to him. He opened his eyes and looked at me.

  “You see the Yellow on my skin?” he asked me.

  “Kind of… it is in and out though,” I said I continued to watch him.

  He let go of my legs and walked to the side of the bed. He touched around my knees and I sucked in my breath. It felt like an ice cube was running on my skin. He looked at me.

  “Is it cold?” he asked me. I nodded.

  He closed his eyes and whispered. I laid my head back on the bed and decided that I would just let him do his thing. I had no other choice anyway. He opened his eyes up and stepped up next to me. He leaned over and touched my chest, pressed his hand against it. I tried to control my breathing, but he was dangerously close to my boobies and I bit my lip. He opened his eyes and smiled at me.

  “This is not a cheap way for me to feel you up,” he whispered.

  I nodded at him and closed my eyes. I needed to focus on something else. I started to feel very relaxed. His hands were gentle and I could feel warmth pouring into me again. I took a breath and he took his hands off of me.

  “I find it very strange that you are Blue,” he said.

  I opened my eyes up and looked at him.

  “Yes… I am Blue; no one knows why… including me,” I said to him.

  “Curious,” he said as he looked at my body.

  “Listen, you need to take off your shirt,” he said as he stepped back from me.

  I pushed myself up on my elbows and glared at him.

  “Just when I thought that we could be friends,” I said to him. He laughed at me.

  “No… I want you to take your shirt off and lay on your stomach. I am going to draw the negative energy out of you at the source of your pain,” he said.

  I bit my lip and looked at the door. He shook his head.

  “I will step out. You take it off and lay on your stomach okay?” he said. I sighed.

  “Fine… I guess,” I said to him.

  He walked to the door and stepped out. He stood there with his back to me.

  I cleared my throat.

  “Could you close the door please?” I asked him.

  He grinned and turned his head sideways. He pulled the door, almost closed, and I sat up. I took a breath and pulled my shirt up over my head; I winced from the pain in my back. I dropped my shirt and sat there, with my bra on.

  “Bra too please,” he called in.

  “Alright, Blake,” I said as I undid the hooks and tried not to touch the cuts.

  I slowly pulled the straps over my shoulders, as I rolled my eyes. It hurt so much to pull it off, I shook a little but lay down on my stomach and placed my arms by my sides. I hoped that I didn’t have any boob peeking out from my arms. I pulled them in tightly; finally feeling like I had them covered up… no ‘side boob’. Good.

  Blake stepped in and looked at my back. He shook his head and walked to the side of the bed and stared down at the mess that the girl had inflicted on me.

  “Wow… she was vicious,” he said as he stretched his hands out.

  “Yea… we didn’t exchange numbers to text or anything,” I said as I took another breath.

  “How did you take her down anyway?” he asked me.

  I blinked. I couldn’t turn over and tell him; I was kind of in a bad position to be doing that.

  “Well, first I hit her with a hammer and then I jammed a crowbar into her head,” I said, like it was everyday stuff. He laughed.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said. I shook my head, as much as I could.

  “No… not a plan really, just happened that way.” I said to him.

  “Well, I have to cut you now,” he said all calm. I flinched.

  “What the hell?” I asked him. He looked at my back as he pulled his blade.

  “She cut you with her fingernails right?” he asked me.

  “Uh huh… but I wanna get back to the ‘you have to cut me’ stuff, if you don’t mind.”

  He looked at his blade and then at my back.

  “Well, I have to connect the cuts; it will make the energy draw much easier to do,” he said.

  “This sounds fantastic,” I said to him as I sighed.

  He leaned down to me and I could feel his breath on my ear.


  “It will be okay, I promise,” he whispered.

  I stared at that freaky unicorn on the lampshade and focused on his face. He looked like a mutant horse. I tried to focus on my black horse; he was so pretty, so very…

  “Oh shit!” I yelled out as I felt the blade cutting across my back. He had started at one long cut and cut straight across, connecting them. He seemed to be moving way too slow.

  “Could you finish already!” I yelled at him.

  He connected the last cut and pulled the blade from my skin. Normally cutting feels halfway pleasant, not this time… it felt like a hot knife, ripping me open. I squeezed my eyes shut and hissed as it started to burn.

  “Okay… now I am going to draw the negative energy from this mess, you need to relax and focus on it,” he said to me.

  “Focus on what?” I asked him.

  “On the pain… visualize it in a black mass on your back.”

  “Okay… yea, black mass,” I muttered as I tried to fight back just crying.

  “Wait a minute,” he said.

  I opened my eyes up and tried to see him. I didn’t want to move.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “I need something to put the energy into too,” he said.

  He grabbed a stuffed unicorn and laid it next to me. I could kind of see it.

  “You are going to poison that little guy?” I asked him. Blake laughed.

  “Yea, I’m gonna poison the shit out of him, Rue,” he said to me.

  I closed my eyes and Blake held his hands out in front of him.

  “Good, Rue…keep focusing on it,” he said.

  He placed his hands on my back and his skin vibrated against mine.

  I moved a little; he felt ice cold now.

  “Okay, give it all to me now,” he said.

  I relaxed and my back felt like it was ice cold; I suddenly felt what I could only describe as a snake start to move under my skin. I controlled my breathing although I wanted to jump up and run. It coiled itself inside of me and Blake sucked in his breath and took his hands off of me. I opened my eyes up.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “Sorry,” he muttered to me. “Give me a second, this is intense,” he added.

  I felt him place his hands back on me and the snake started to move again inside of me.