The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “I fear that Samantha will hate me when I take the glamor off of her,” Theodore said.

  Jonah grinned and walked into the room. He picked up the book and Theodore watched him.

  “I would say something consoling, but I fear that I am not built for that,” Jonah said to him.

  Theodore sighed and looked back out the window.

  “I will need your assistance, if it isn’t too much to ask,” Theodore said to him.

  Jonah dropped the book with a bounce on the bed and looked at him.

  “I do not know what I could do for you… I am not well,” he said.

  Theodore tilted his head and stared at him.

  “You feel no better?” he asked Jonah.

  Jonah sat down and winced as he stretched his legs out in front of him.

  Theodore continued to watch and wait for a response.

  “I think that rigor mortis is setting in,” Jonah said, as he crossed his leg over his other one and Theodore heard his knee crack.

  “I will find something,” Theodore said as he tried to pass Jonah.

  Jonah reached up and grabbed his arm. Theodore looked at him and shook his head.

  “You need to worry of other things,” Jonah said to him.

  “I need to remedy your problem and then I will attend to other business,” he said, pulling his arm from Jonah. Jonah laughed.

  “What is it with you and your siblings? You are so restless… so ready to meet destruction head on,” Jonah said.

  Theodore sat down next to him and stared out blankly.

  Jonah looked at him and touched his hair. Theodore looked back at him and bit his lip.

  “You need to set aside your pride. Let me help you,” Jonah said.

  Theodore closed his eyes and knew that he was right.

  He knew that he needed more than what he could do. He looked at Jonah and took a breath.

  “What is it that you suggest?” he asked him.

  Jonah smiled and started to stand up.

  “You need an army, of which I have access,” Jonah said.

  Theodore looked up at him and crinkled his eyebrows.

  “An army?” he asked.

  Jonah walked to the door and stood there for a moment leaning on the doorframe with his hand. Theodore stood up and started to walk to him. Jonah held up his hand to him and Theodore stopped. He laughed.

  “And you speak of my pride,” Theodore said.

  Jonah turned to him.

  “There is war coming… and we are the front line, Theodore. We need help. You need to take your spell off of your sister and Lily and I need to leave.”

  Theodore looked at him and shook his head.

  “You need to allow me to help you, Jonah.”

  Jonah grinned.

  “Help yourself… I have been through worse than this. Lily and I will travel south; I have a carnival to catch.”

  Theodore nodded to him and Jonah walked out into the hallway.

  He turned back to Theodore and smiled.

  “If I do not see you again soon, I will tell you that I have enjoyed your compassion… it is something that I am not accustomed to.”

  “How will you heal?” Theodore asked him.

  Jonah gritted his teeth.

  “I fear that I will have to practice old habits, things of which I prefer that you not ask.”

  Theodore smiled and took a breath as he watched Jonah reach his hand out to Lily and she took it. They walked to the door and Theodore wanted to say so much, but knew that none of it would stop him from leaving. They stepped out and flashed into the forest.

  Theodore stood there and decided that Jonah was right, he needed Sam… He could not do this alone. He looked at his hands and placed them on his face. He cried… for the first time, in three thousand years.

  ***

  Evil lay on the bed, in her new home in Valon. A house created for a king. She rolled over and placed her arm across Josh’s chest. He didn’t respond to her. She sighed and pushed herself up and looked back at him. She rolled her eyes as he stared off into nothing.

  “How boring,” she muttered to him. “I mean really, Josh, is this your way of pouting? Well, of course not… You don’t even hear me. I fear that my spell has rotted your brain.”

  She stood up and walked across their bedroom. She picked up a brush from her vanity and quickly threw it at him. It hit right beside his head and bounced off the large headboard. He didn’t even flinch. She sighed and bit her finger lightly.

  “Stupid boy,” she said. “I don’t know what Rue sees in you, besides your bedroom theatrics. I mean other than that, you are quite useless,” she added as she walked to the window.

  She turned back to him and smiled.

  “Sophia has no idea that you have yet to become a Lord, my love. If she finds out she will surely try to kill us both. I need for you to do me a favor,” she said.

  Josh continued to look out into the room with a blank expression on his face.

  “Hey!” Evil said as she snapped her fingers at him.

  He slowly turned his head to look at her.

  “Yes, my love,” he muttered.

  “That’s right… look at me, Joshua… You need to feed, because I am hungry. You need to eat like the Lord I am making you appear to be.”

  He nodded and started to push himself off of the bed.

  She flashed to him and grabbed his hands. She placed them on her face and closed her eyes.

  “Why do you not love me?” she asked him.

  He looked over her head at the window.

  “Love me like you love her, Joshua. I am Rue Volley… well, a piece of her. That little bitch threw me away like trash when she was twelve. I guess I scared her,” Evil said as she rubbed her face on his hands.

  Josh continued to stand still, not responding to her.

  Evil dropped his hands and hit him across the face. Josh stood there, no reaction.

  “Oh… I see. I only get talking when I ask and when you lie on top of me then?” she said.

  Josh looked at her and shook his head.

  “I love Rue,” he whispered.

  “I know, I know. That is all I get from you! ‘I love Rue’. Well, you know what? I don’t. If I can figure out a way to kill her, I will. Then you can just spend the rest of eternity looking at me and saying… ‘I love you’.”

  She walked back to the window and crossed her arms on her chest. Josh looked down at his hands and a small pulse started to well up in his palms. Evil saw it and flashed to him. She grabbed his palms and covered them with hers. She closed her eyes and started to speak in Latin. The pulsing light died down and she opened her eyes up and looked at him. She placed her hand on his face.

  “I fear that I talk too much, my love; it has upset you. I have renewed the spell. Now, let’s eat,” she said.

  She turned when a knock came at their door. She looked at Josh and smiled.

  “Wish it and it will come true,” she whispered to him.

  She walked to the door and opened it up. She wore nothing and the guard stared into her eyes and refused to look at her body. Evil looked down and smiled as she looked back up at him.

  “I felt no need to hide my body. Why do you not look at me?” she asked him.

  He stood there and then a girl stepped beside him. Evil’s eyes lit up.

  “Is this dinner?” she asked him.

  He nodded and Evil grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her into the room, slamming the door behind her. Evil looked at her and touched her hair. The young girl stood there, looking somewhat disinterested in Evil’s attention.

  “Are you not afraid?” Evil whispered in her ear.

  The girl leaned a little away from her.

  Evil laughed and started to walk around her.

  “I can smell the fear welling up in you… I find it intriguing,” Evil said as she stopped in front of her and looked at her face.

  She placed her hand on her face and then squeezed it.

 
; “You will talk to me.” Evil looked at Josh and then back to her.

  “He just lays around, boring me to death.”

  The girl glanced at Joshua and then back to Evil when she squeezed her face harder.

  The girl moaned a little.

  “You know what? I think that I would like for you to lie on the bed for me,” Evil said.

  She released her face and took her hand. She pulled her towards the bed.

  She turned her to her and started to pull her clothes off of her. Evil looked at Josh and smiled.

  “Look, my love. She is so delicious,” Evil said as she touched the girl’s breast and then pushed her back on the bed. Evil crawled over her and grinned.

  “Joshua, lie down,” she said.

  Josh turned and lay down on the bed. Evil grinned and took his hand. She placed it on the girl’s breast and started to squeeze his hand. Josh stared at the ceiling. Evil laughed and looked at the girl.

  “I fear that he is frigid,” she whispered to her.

  Evil grabbed Josh’s face and turned it to look at them.

  “Watch,” she whispered.

  Evil leaned down and gently kissed the girl. Josh watched them with no expression. Evil continued to kiss her and looked at Josh. She stopped and started to move down her. She stopped between her legs.

  “I will find something that will bring you to life, if it takes all night, my love,” she whispered as she lowered her face and the girl arched her back.

  Josh watched her and bit his lip. Evil raised her head and grinned at him.

  “Was that a reaction?” she asked him.

  He said nothing.

  Evil lowered her head and the girl continued to moan and twist on the bed.

  “Kiss her,” Evil whispered to him.

  Josh looked at her and leaned over. He started to kiss her and the girl cried out.

  He backed away from her and Evil rose up with blood on her mouth.

  “You are kidding me, right?” Evil said.

  Josh said nothing.

  “Oh… okay then,” Evil said as she flashed to side of the bed.

  She pulled Josh’s blade and flashed back to the girl.

  She crawled on top of her and raised the blade.

  “I will stab her, where?” Evil said as she pointed the blade at the girl’s chest.

  “The heart...? No. How about…” Evil lowered the blade and placed it in between the girl’s legs. “Here?” she asked him. “Oh… how messy. I am not a beast. How about…”

  Evil sliced the blade in the flash across the girl’s neck. The girl grabbed her neck and gasped for air. Evil dropped the blade and looked at Josh. He just watched.

  “Drink!” she screamed at him.

  He did nothing.

  “Drink now… She will die and then the blood is no good!” she yelled at him.

  Josh stood up and walked to the window.

  The girl laid there and slowly started to relax on the bed.

  “Do it…! I am hungry; without this I will not be able to stay!” she yelled at him.

  He leaned against the window as the girl took her last breath. He closed his eyes and sighed.

  Evil stood up and stared at him.

  “Is this the game we are going to play, Joshua...? I will not stand for it. I will kill every pathetic human here… She did not have to die. We could have simply fed and then let her go back to her meaningless existence.”

  Josh turned to her and said nothing. He started to open his mouth and she flashed to him.

  “Yes, my love?” she asked him.

  “I love Rue Volley,” he said to her.

  Evil sighed and looked at the girl on the bed. She walked over to her and pulled the white sheet over her head. The blood started to stain it as it absorbed.

  “That is fine… just fine... You will hunger; and when you do, I will be there to feed from you. You will love me,” Evil whispered.

  She turned to him and grinned.

  “Or you will die,” she added.

  ***

  We stood on the platform at the train station and I watched people scurry around. I have never ridden a train, but I have always wanted to do it. I looked up at Johnathan and he stared at the tickets in his hand.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him.

  Johnathan looked at me and grinned.

  “Checking the itinerary,” he said.

  “What itinerary...? It’s a train. There are only so many things a train ride offers. Mainly the ride itself,” I said to him.

  Johnathan shook his head and held the paper up to me. He pointed at the list.

  “See...? Breakfast at eight. Lunch at noon. Dinner at six. They make four stops, two today and two tomorrow. Both of which I plan on getting off. Look,” he said as he handed it to me.

  I read the stops and smiled.

  “Oh… chocolate,” I said to him.

  “Exactly. Not just any chocolate, this is like liquid ‘you know’,” he said to me.

  Now, ‘you know’ to Johnathan is “sex”.

  I love it when he says it. Not that I want to have it… the “sex” that is… I just think it’s funny.

  “Well then… we have to go there,” I said as I laughed at him.

  “Uh huh,” he said.

  He took the pamphlet from me and I looked at the train, it hissed and smoke billowed from the wheels. This was the monster train… the one that they built a few years ago. I wanted to ride it even when I didn’t have a reason to. Now I did… so away we go.

  A boy stepped out on the edge of the platform and yelled out, “All aboard!”

  I grinned and leaned down to grab my suitcase. Once again, Johnathan took it and I let him. He smiled at me; he knew how excited I was… He was too, I think. We walked along with all the other people boarding. I stopped and looked over at a lady with a girl, hand and hand. I blinked when I thought I saw her eyes shimmer. I guess “shimmer” is a good word to use. It looked like her pupils shined like metal. I looked again and she was grinning at me. She looked fine, of course she did. I felt Johnathan grab my hand and I shrugged it off as a trick of the light on her eyes. I had to take my pills. Geez. The last thing I needed was a hallucinating fit on the trip.

  Johnathan stepped up into the train and he pulled me behind him. We stepped into the hallway and I couldn’t believe how big it was. It was a monster, just like I said. The hallway was wide enough for four people to walk down the middle of it, with cabins off to both sides. I guess pictures could never actually give you the reality of its size. Johnathan looked at the tickets in his hands and pulled me along with him. I listened to the chatter, all these people heading for somewhere… just as excited as me.

  Johnathan stopped at a cabin and looked at the number on the door. He looked at his paper and I watched the woman with the girl walk into their cabin two doors down. Johnathan placed the tickets in his mouth and opened the door. I looked in and grinned. The cabin was large, with a big bed to the left. A table sat along the wall by the window. I looked at Johnathan and couldn’t help but look like a kid. I stepped in and stood there, just smelling the room. I closed my eyes and took a breath. Johnathan stepped in and set the suitcase down.

  “You like?” he asked me.

  I turned to him and nodded. I watched him walk to the window and look out.

  I stepped up and leaned my knee in the booth and looked out too.

  “Look at all those people,” Johnathan said.

  I looked out the window and scanned the crowd.

  “Yep, and not one of them know us,” I added.

  Johnathan slid down in the booth and looked at me. I turned to him and smiled.

  “Um, shouldn’t you find your cabin?” I asked him.

  He shook his head and raised his eyebrows at me.

  “This is our cabin, Rue,” he said.

  I pulled my knee up and sat down across from him.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Is that okay?” he asked me.

&nb
sp; I grinned and nodded at him. I really was not too worried about our relationship getting all crazy after all this time. He reached across the table and touched my hand.

  “I am so glad that we did this together,” he said to me.

  I smiled and pulled my hand out from under his as I walked to the small fridge and pointed at it.

  “Really?” I said as I looked at him.

  “Yea… I got the cabin with all the bells and whistles,” he said as he slid out of the booth and walked to it.

  I leaned down and opened it up. I “oh’d” and pulled out a bottle of wine.

  I held it up to him and smiled.

  “Nice,” he said to me. I laughed.

  “Theo would crap himself,” I said.

  Johnathan laughed and rubbed his neck.

  “Well,” he said as he pulled the bottle from my hand and placed it back in the fridge.

  “How about we save that for later?” he said.

  I smiled at him and looked at the bed.

  “Um,” I said.

  Johnathan turned and looked at the bed.

  “What?” he asked me.

  “There is only one bed,” I said.

  Johnathan smiled at me and shook his head.

  “Yes… one bed. To sleep in, how weird?”

  I laughed and walked back to the window. I guess that I had a moment, a weird one at that, with him. Why I would think that Johnathan would ever try to get me all romanced up with one bed… was a joke. Johnathan looked at me and then he panicked Johnathan-style.

  “Oh shit!” he yelled out.

  I looked at him and gave him a “What?” face as I held up my hands.

  “I totally forgot my suitcase!” he said.

  I ‘Oh crapped’ and ran to the door.

  We felt the train start to move and Johnathan looked at me all sad. I laughed. I didn’t mean to. He just looked like someone killed his dog. I held onto the door as the train jerked and he almost fell over.

  “I guess that we will have to shop,” I said to him as I tried to walk across the floor.

  The train jerked and I fell against him and he held me steady. I looked up at him and for a moment I felt weird… like he was going to lean down and kiss me. I looked down at my feet as the suitcase fell over. I leaned down to get it and so did he. We banged our heads together and we both fell on our butts and laughed as we held our heads.