The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  Caine had spent a couple hours torturing her, trying to get her to say anything. She wiped the blood from her mouth and licked the back of her hand. She concentrated on Jonah, his face, his lips. She raised her hands as they trembled and pushed all she could out of her, hoping that he would receive her warning.

  Caine flashed to her and lifted her up by her neck. She struggled as her doll fell to the floor by her feet. Caine tilted his head at her and grinned. He threw her across the room onto the bed and she slammed her head against the headboard. She looked up at him and smiled, big and sarcastic, then she started to laugh at him. Caine flashed to the bed and pinned her down under him.

  “So deviant you are,” he whispered to her.

  Lily hissed at him and kicked her legs. She turned her head as Caine leaned down and licked her face… tasting some of the blood from the cut he had inflicted on her. She closed her eyes and bit into her lip.

  “I will break you, Lily, and your brother will die,” he said as he bit into her shoulder.

  Lily cried out and tried to push him off of her, but he was simply too strong to be moved. Caine sank his teeth deep into her skin and tasted her blood. It was sweet, but had a bitter aftertaste to it. He raised his head and looked at her.

  “What do I taste in your retched blood?” he asked her.

  Lily grinned and spit blood in his face. He rose up and wiped it from his eyes. He looked over at her doll and saw a small vile lying on the floor next to it. He looked back at her and slapped her across the face with the back of his hand.

  “Do you think that a little poison will hurt me?” he asked her.

  She turned to look at him and grinned.

  “Yes, my Lord,” she whispered.

  Caine jumped from the bed and flashed to the empty vile. He raised it to his nose and smelled.

  “What is this?” he asked her.

  She smiled and crawled across the bed as she started to become weaker. Things were going in and out of focus. Caine grabbed his stomach as he looked at her. He dropped the vile and it rolled across the floor. He started to move towards her but another sharp pain went through his stomach.

  “Lily… you clever girl… Did you poison yourself with dead blood?” he asked her.

  Lily pushed herself off the side of the bed and fell to the floor. She started to crawl.

  “You know that we are not supposed to drink such things,” he said to her as he stumbled and hit the floor.

  He pushed himself up and saw that Lily was crawling towards the door. He grabbed his blade and pushed it into the ground. The blood would not kill him, but at the moment he was powerless to stop her by any other means than physical. Lily tried to stand and she almost fell over; she caught herself on one knee and then grabbed the tent and pulled herself up.

  Caine pushed himself up onto his knees and pulled his blade from the ground. He cut his hand and watched as the blood turned black on the metal. He tried to focus on Lily as he threw it at her back as hard as he could. Lily sucked in her breath as she felt the metal enter her and settle deep in her right lung. She cried out as she reached for it. Caine smiled with blood on his teeth and slumped to ground; falling into a good ten-hour sleep from the poison he had drank from Lily’s blood.

  Lily stumbled forward, everything going in and out of focus. The noise and the lights of the carnival seemed to confuse her even more, but she was determined to walk away, to find Jonah, to be safe. She slipped along the white tent, leaving a trail of blood behind her. The blade poisoned her more, with every step that she took. She made it to the field and almost fell down, catching herself with her hands. She placed them in front of her as they glitched in and out of focus to her and concentrated one last time on Jonah. She drew in faded light and pushed it out from her as she fell forward into the grass.

  ***

  Jonah had been careful not to flash once he got closer to the carnival; he did not want to alert anyone to his presence. He knew that Caine was not ignorant. He was a Lord, something that was revered as a horrifying attribute to any protector. Truth was, there had only been five “Lords” in protector history… all of which were gone now, except for Caine and Joshua Barrington. Lords are able to kill at will, whether it is a protector or any other creature, and usually resided in Valon, as an ultimate defense to its safety and longevity.

  Jonah crept up to the forest’s edge and suddenly grabbed his chest as he felt a wave hit him. He closed his eyes and hissed, as the bubble of energy hit him. It was Lily, a warning to him. He felt her fear… which was unlike her to project. Lily was usually steadfast in her lack of it.

  He opened his eyes and started to walk across the open field. He stumbled when he felt another wave hit him. It felt like a hot blade through his skin and he shuddered as he felt Lily’s pain rip through him. He gasped for air as he stood up and started to run. He knew that she was injured and he had to find her. His body started to hum as he raced across the field until he felt a strong vibration to his right and he slowed down, scanning the ground.

  He heard a small whimper and raced toward it. He saw her lying face down in the grass and fell as he lunged toward her. He crawled the rest of the way, until he made it to her and grabbed her hand in his.

  “Lily,” he whispered.

  Lily turned her head to him and grinned, blood coming from her mouth.

  “Oh god,” he muttered as he looked at the blade protruding from her back.

  “Did that demon do this?” he whispered.

  She didn’t respond to him. She simply gripped his hand tightly.

  Jonah kissed the back of her hand and leaned into her ear.

  “I have to take it out, my love,” he whispered.

  She nodded and whimpered softly.

  Jonah pushed himself up on his knees and stared at it. Black snaked all along the metal and into her skin. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He focused on his own energy and drew as much as he could into his hands. They started to glow like static on an old T.V., white then gray then back to white. He gripped the blades handle and jerked it out quickly. Lily screamed as it pulled her up from the ground and dropped her back down in a thud. The black swirling mass tried to snake up his arms, but he tossed the blade and shook his hands furiously.

  He clinched his fists as the lingering ache of the poison still lingered on him. Lily moaned and Jonah dropped next to her and slowly turned her over to face him. He touched her face and she closed her eyes. “I will have to take you into enemy territory, I am afraid,” he whispered to her as he rocked her on his lap. Jonah scooped her up and she cried out as he lifted her.

  He started to flash from the carnival, towards the edge of town.

  ***

  Sara sat on the couch with her hands on her lap. She had not felt weird until now. Theodore paced back and forth in front of her. He stopped every now and then and looked at her, then he would go back to pacing. She watched him and glanced over at Sam. Sam was staring at her blades and she looked up at Sara.

  “Will somebody talk to me?” Sara asked them.

  Sam grinned and shook her head at her.

  Sara stood up and placed her hands on her hips.

  “This is crazy… I already feel like a total ass,” she said.

  Theodore stopped and looked at her.

  “What?” he said. Sara sighed.

  “I feel so bad. Nobody talking to me, isn’t making it any better,” she said as she looked at Sam.

  “You should feel bad,” Sam said as she laid her blades down on the table and stood up.

  “So… is this some kind of punishment then? Because if it is, it’s working,” Sara said as she raised her hands up in frustration. Theodore shook his head.

  “I am not looking to punish you Sara. I am trying to figure out how to save you from your stupidity,” he said, like it wasn’t meant to be an insult.

  “Save me?” Sara said as she dropped down on the couch. Sam laughed.

  “I assure you, Samantha, this is nothing to
laugh at,” Theodore said as he picked up the black book and thumbed through it.

  Sam walked towards her and sat down next to her on the couch.

  “You are drama,” Sam said as she leaned back and looked at the ceiling. Sara grumbled.

  “Am not… I made a boo-boo,” Sara said.

  Theodore looked up from his book and shook his head; he glanced at Sam.

  Sam sat up and turned to her.

  “A boo-boo?” Sam asked her.

  “Yes… It was stupid of me to go to the carnival. I know that now… but I really don’t know what happened after that,” she said as she placed her chin in her hands.

  “Well, let me tell you,” Sam said.

  Theodore raised his hand up to Sam and shook it at her.

  Sam muttered something to herself and stood up.

  “What...? She needs to know,” Sam said.

  “’Completely unnecessary,” Theodore said as he sat down next to Sara and grinned at her.

  He tapped Sara’s knee and looked back at the book.

  “So… what do I have then? Some kind of virus?” Sara asked him.

  “Oh yea… it’s a cold,” Sam said as she walked out of the room.

  Theodore and Sara watched her go. Sara shook her head and looked at him.

  “She is like, hating on me hardcore now,” Sara said as she leaned back and looked at the ceiling. She tilted her head and stared at the knife like holes in the ceiling.

  “Do you guys know that you have holes in the ceiling?”

  Theodore looked up and back at the book.

  “That would be a casualty of Josh’s boredom,” Theodore said as Sara continued to look at the numerous cuts.

  “Ahhh!” Theodore said as he stood up quickly.

  Sara sat up and looked at him.

  “You find an antibiotic or something?” she asked him.

  He laughed and ran to the kitchen.

  “I really don’t know why I didn’t think of this before… stupid,” he muttered.

  Sara followed him in and watched him pull out a huge pot.

  He turned to the fridge and grinned at her.

  “What?” she said as she leaned on one of the kitchen table chairs.

  “Dead blood,” he said.

  “Dead what?” Sara said.

  “Dead blood… it is poison to us, but to you, it will be wonderful,” Theodore said as he pulled out different packages of meat and started to tear them open.

  He took a nice bloody roast and started to squeeze in into the pot.

  Sara crinkled her eyebrows at him and sat down.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Theodore stopped and dropped the meat on the counter in a thud.

  He walked to her with his hands all sticky with blood and smiled.

  “You need to be sick,” he said.

  “I don’t understand,” Sara said as she stared at his hands.

  The smell of the blood made her a little nauseous.

  “You will need to ingest the blood; it will make you sick. I will not lie, but we can battle that much easier than you aging into dust,” he said as he continued to tear packages open and drain the blood into the pot.

  “Oh, we will also need some bleach,” he said, like he was making a cake.

  Sara stood up and stumbled around the chair.

  “I don’t think that I like this idea,” she said as she backed away from him.

  Theodore stopped and looked at her.

  “Samantha?” he yelled out.

  Sam flashed into the kitchen and looked at him and then at Sara.

  “Sara is going to have to cooperate,” he said as he turned back to the pot.

  “Oh crap,” Sara muttered. She turned to Sam and grinned.

  “Listen… he is talking crazy. I am sorry about all the hoopty-doodle I caused, but I am not going to drink blood and bleach.”

  Sam smiled and moved to her right.

  “Okay,” she said as she tilted her head at her.

  “Oh come on Sam!” Sara said as she backed away from her.

  “This is one of those life lesson moments, Sara. Once we are done you can be like, ‘Ok… I won’t do that again’,” Sam said as she continued to grin.

  “I don’t want to!” Sara yelled out.

  Johnathan and Kai came flashing in and looked around the room.

  “Why are you freaking out, Sara?” Johnathan asked her.

  “Oh my God...! Johnathan, Theodore has lost his mind… He is going to poison me!” Sara yelled as she ran to him and hugged him around his waist.

  Johnathan stood there with his hands out waiting to find out why she was freaking out so bad.

  “What’s the deal?” he asked.

  Sam smiled and shook her head.

  “It is time to fix the damage that Sara has done to herself. Theodore is going to help her; he is not going to poison her.”

  Theodore turned and looked at Kai.

  “Bleach please,” he said.

  Kai looked at Sam and she nodded. He ran to the bathroom and grabbed a large bottle of it. He flashed back in and handed it to Theodore. He popped the cap and dumped it into the pot. Everyone covered their noses as the blood/bleach mixture sizzled on the stove.

  Sara pulled her face from Johnathan’s chest and looked over at Theodore.

  “Oh god… it stinks!” she said as she squeezed him tighter.

  “Sara… you have to be helped,” Johnathan said as he put his arms around her.

  He hoped that it would calm her down. She pulled from him and stumbled backward. She ran to the drawer by the fridge and opened it up. She grabbed a fork and turned around, with it in her hand. She held it out in front of her and started to point it at them all.

  “I am not drinking that stuff! I will fork any of you that try to make me.”

  “Oh for craps sake,” Sam muttered as she rolled her eyes and pulled her blade.

  Sara stared at her and cleared her throat.

  “I mean it,” she said as her hand started to tremble.

  “Listen,” Sam said as she held her blade out. “We can do this easy or hard. I would prefer easy… because I like you, but if you don’t settle down I am going to kick your ass.”

  Sara bit her lip and kept her eye on Sam. Johnathan held up his hands to Sara.

  “Sara… please, you need to settle down,” he said.

  “I am not going to drink that nasty!” Sara yelled at all of them.

  “I disagree,” Theodore said as he flashed to her and grabbed the deadly fork from her hand.

  Sara squeaked like a mouse as Theodore tossed the fork across the room and grabbed her waist. He nodded to Sam and she cleared everything from the kitchen table. He lifted Sara and placed her on top of the table so fast, she didn’t even realize that she had been moved until she looked up at him. He smiled and whispered, ‘Bind’ in her ear.

  “Holy Crap!” Sara yelled out as she felt her body stiffen.

  “Please, please… please don’t do this to me,” Sara said as she started to fake cry.

  Johnathan flashed to her side and leaned into her ear.

  “Stop fighting, Sara… it won’t help anything,” he whispered to her.

  Sam looked at Theodore and held out her hand.

  “Give it to me; I will pour it down her throat.”

  “Sam...! I thought that we had a good thing going on!” Sara yelled out.

  Sam leaned over her.

  “We do… that’s why you have to drink this, Sara,” she said.

  Sara pressed her lips together tightly and started to shake her head like a three-year old bucking green beans.

  “Open,” Sam said as she stood over her with the glass of nasty in her hand.

  “Mm-mm,” Sara hummed, as she closed her eyes and clinched her fists.

  Sam looked at Johnathan and smiled. Johnathan tilted his head, not knowing what Sam had in mind. Sam walked to him and pulled him into the living room. Johnathan stared at her and then glanced at Sar
a on the table.

  “It seems that you will have to get her to open her mouth up,” Sam said as she grinned.

  “I don’t know how you expect me to do that,” Johnathan said as he scratched his head.

  “Well… grab her boobs,” Sam said as she looked back at Sara who continued to struggle on the table.

  “You are kidding me right?” Johnathan said as he crossed his arms on his chest.

  “Listen, she has to be awake; otherwise I would put her to sleep and this whole thing would be over already… but no, so I need you to get her all flustered. She will open her mouth at some point, giving me a chance to pour it in,” Sam said as she held the stinky drink in her hand.

  She made a face as the smell hit her and held it away from her face.

  “Oh my god, this is soo gross,” Sam muttered.

  Johnathan caught a whiff of it too and held his hand to his face.

  “That is awful,” he said as he shook it off.

  “Okay… so let’s do this,” Sam said.

  Johnathan stared at her and rubbed his neck.

  “This is going to be weird. Sara is like a sister to me,” he said.

  “Listen… pretend that she is Rue then,” Sam said as Sara cried out some more crap about forking them all to death.

  “What...? No,” Johnathan said. Sam leaned into him.

  “We all know how you feel okay?” she whispered.

  “Whatever,” Johnathan muttered to her.

  Sam raised her hands up and waved them towards the kitchen. Johnathan shook his head and started to head for the kitchen, regretting what he had to do. He leaned over Sara and grinned nervously.

  “So… you look pretty,” he said to her.

  Sara blinked her eyes and looked at him. It pulled her out of panic mode temporarily.

  “What?” she asked him. Johnathan cleared his throat.

  “Yea… umm, you have nice hair,” he said all awkward.

  “I don’t know what the hell, Johnathan,” Sara said as she frowned.

  “I just wanted to tell you. I noticed when you came back, you look good,” he said as he glanced back at Sam.

  Sam rolled her hands over in front of her, indicating that he should continue. Johnathan shook his head at her and Sam raised her eyebrows at him and grabbed her own boobs. Johnathan grinned and looked back at Sara. He slowly raised his hands up over her chest and did the grab motion with his fingers.