by Rue Volley
He pulled back from me and placed his hands on my face. I looked up to see tears coming from his eyes. I was in shock at the sight of it. Josh, crying… for real. What a bizarre thing to witness, but happening all the same. He leaned in and grinned as he stared into my eyes.
“I have never seen anything as beautiful as you are this moment,” he whispered to me.
I kissed him and he kissed me back as he moaned in my mouth. We fell to the ground on our knees and he continued to kiss me, like he could never get enough me… not in an entire lifetime. He pulled from my lips in a sigh that melted my heart instantly. He had his eyes closed and he started to whisper.
“Tell me you are real. Tell me I am not dreaming of you… Please… I beg you.”
“I am as real as you,” I said to him.
He opened his eyes and cried out as he rose up and pulled me with him.
He picked me up and held me close, my feet dangling from the ground.
“Josh,” I said.
He ignored me.
“JOSH!” I yelled out.
He sat me down and continued to hold my hand as he looked at me.
“We have to get the hell out of here, now,” I said to him.
He looked back at Theo, hovering over Caine, and yelled to him.
“Let’s go… I’m on point.”
He flashed a look at Sam and grinned.
“You track,” he said to her.
Sam laughed and looked at Theo.
“I am so gonna kill some rogue,” she said.
***
Johnathan stood there staring at Caine on the ground. In all the excitement, Theo had stepped away from Caine and Johnathan gripped his blades in his hand as he gritted his teeth. He flashed to Caine and looked down at him. Caine looked up and shook his head at him.
“I fear that you have this situation misunderstood.”
Johnathan gripped his blades in his hands and cried out as he stabbed Caine with both of his blades, pinning him to the ground. Caine cried out as Johnathan’s blades welled up in a blinding light. Josh looked back and screamed as he realized what was happening.
“No! Johnathan…NO!” he screamed as he released my hand and flashed towards the two of them.
Johnathan heard nothing. He only had one thought and one thought only… killing Caine as quickly as possible. Johnathan slammed his hand against Caine’s chest and a huge flash welled up, throwing Johnathan through the air. He hit the ground, bouncing to a stop. Caine cried out and started to rise from the ground. He stumbled and Josh stopped and looked at him with his eyes wide in shock.
“It would seem that you have deceived me,” Caine muttered as he touched his chest and raised his hand up to his face, watching color start to drip from his hand.
“No… No deception, Johnathan is just an idiot,” he said.
Caine shook his head at him.
“No, I believe that you knew of this… all of you!” he screamed out to him.
Josh shook his head as Caine slumped to the ground.
Johnathan pushed himself up and smiled.
“Is he dead...? Tell me that he is dead!” he yelled.
Josh looked at him and shook his head at him.
“You are the biggest pain in my ass… You have just fucked everything up!”
Johnathan pushed himself up from the ground and looked at him.
“You should thank me, you ass… I did something that you couldn’t even do.”
The ground started to shake as light started to pulsate from Caine’s body. We all steadied ourselves as the ground shifted and the lightning cracked overhead. I looked up as lightning started to centralize itself over the spot that Caine laid. Josh flashed to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the bright flashes of lightning. I looked back to see Theo, Sam, and Johnathan flashing behind us. All the lightning came together and struck Caine’s body in the field. The ground started to wave out from him in a circle; it rolled at us like a tidal wave.
I turned my head back and continued to flash with Josh towards the carnival. A rogue met us with her blades drawn. Josh simply sliced his blade at lightning speed and she dropped out of sight with no sound. If I didn’t know it had happened so fast, I would not have believed it. Another one flashed up to my side and Josh lifted me and spun in the air, kicking the shadow out across the field away from us. He placed me back down and I matched his speed.
“This way!” he screamed at Theo, Sam, and Johnathan.
I looked back and saw the ground catching up with us. Josh grabbed me and picked me up, not that I felt like I couldn’t run. I guess he just decided to do it out of his overwhelming need to protect me.
I felt us rising, as the earth rose under us. I buried my face in his chest and we suddenly became airborne. I could feel the wind on my hair and could hear the lightning crashing around us. Josh came down in a thud and rolled, not losing his hold on me. I looked up and saw the stage… with the mirror on it. Theo lunged towards it, throwing his light at its surface. The mirror started to roll like waves and I could see the reflection of the storming sky in it. I sucked in my breath as we all heard a thunderous sound… a voice crying out behind us.
I looked at Josh and he shook his head.
“Caine is pissed,” he said.
The ground trembled under us and then, with one jerking motion, it threw us into the air. I screamed as I looked back and saw Caine levitating in the sky… light flashing from him like the sun. He held his hands out in front of him and pushed a huge ball of light in our direction. Josh suddenly grabbed me mid-air and pulled me to him.
“This is gonna sting a little,” he whispered in my ear.
I closed my eyes and held onto him as tightly as I could as the light hit him in the back and threw us towards the mirror. I felt Josh relax his hold on me and I gripped him as tightly as I could to me. I looked down and saw the mirror coming up on us fast. I could only hope that it was fully ready to let us pass through it or this is it… we will be crushed like a bug on a windshield.
My body hit the rolling mirror and I went from supersonic speed to a crawl. I shook my head and reached out, pulling Josh to me as I felt like we floated through deep black liquid. Suddenly we shot out of the mirror at the real carnival and flew across the stage, falling off the side of it into a crowd of unsuspecting humans. The crowd “ahhh’d” and then another flash welled up as Theo, Sam, and Johnathan followed. They tumbled across the stage and piled on top of me and Josh. Finally, Jonah and Lily came hurling through it and the crowd went to a roar as Jonah caught himself and grabbed Lily’s hand… stopping them from landing on the rest of us.
I pushed up and heard a groan. Johnathan rolled off of me and I rolled over quickly to see Josh lying there on his face, motionless. I panicked and rolled him over to see a smile on his face. He started to laugh and I cried out as I grabbed him and he grunted. Theo, Sam, and Johnathan stood up, looking like they had just been through a washer. I stood up, reaching my hand out to Josh. He took it and pulled himself up next to me. We stood there, like we were part of the crowd, as Jonah and Lily took their bows on the stage.
I started to laugh and Josh grabbed me and hugged me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I pulled back from him and we all started to laugh, shocked that we had survived at all. People in the crowd started to tap us on the shoulders and continue to clap. I looked at Josh and grinned.
“We… ah, put on a ‘Will and Wonder’ show, so that we could portal,” I said to him.
He laughed and Theo hugged him as well as Sam.
I looked at Johnathan and shook my head at him.
“I didn’t know,” he said, declaring his ignorance to Caine’s intentions.
“I know that,” I said over the cheering.
Josh grabbed my hand and started to pull me from the crowd.
We broke through it and he stopped and looked at me.
“You are an amazing creature, Rue Volley,” he said.
I smiled and stared at him.
&
nbsp; “You are a pain in my ass,” I said as he laughed and picked me up, spinning me around in the air.
Chapter 16
Predator Becomes Prey
Sophia stood motionless, staring at the Trial mirror. It waved like water and she grinned… knowing that something had happened. Hopefully Josh had been destroyed. She knew that it would be hard to convince the council that Caine would be an excellent Lord to Valon. She knew that his exile had been unanimous among all the protectors here in Valon… so much so, that her own vote was disregarded at the time… her vote to salvage her son. The one she had tortured into existence.
No one knew of her violent nature except for Caine and Grace… and of course William Volley. No one would suspect that she had caused the war to begin with, bored of the old ways. Sophia wanted all protectors to understand that humans were no more than food, and a great resource for menial tasks. Sophia had no respect for any who considered them equal in any way. She had also orchestrated Caine’s apparent demise to strengthen his rise to power. She had want of Joshua Barrington becoming a Lord… simply to ensure the death of Rue Volley, to use him as an instrument of destruction, but Caine being the only Lord in Valon would do.
Sophia turned when a guard hurried into the Trial room and she turned to look at him.
“Of what do you rush upon me here for?” Sophia asked.
The guard knelt down and lowered his head.
“Sophia, we have had two deaths… of humans in the city,” he said.
Sophia looked at him and stepped down from the platform.
“Of what do you speak?” she asked him.
The guard raised his head to look at her.
“It would seem to be two suicides,” he said.
“What?” Sophia asked, shocked at the very idea of any humans taking their own lives.
“Yes, two young humans… the girl sixteen, the boy seventeen. He appears to have hung himself in their living quarters and the girl, upon discovery of her brother, threw herself from the window onto the stone road.”
“That is ridiculous. We have never had voluntary deaths here in Valon… this is an oasis,” she said.
The guard rose and stared at her.
“There is much gossip among them now… stories of an afterlife, better than what we offer.”
Sophia turned to the mirror and sighed.
“Call a gathering, of all humans in the square tonight. This is a situation that will be brought under control today,” Sophia said.
The guard bowed to her and then hesitated.
“Is there more you wish to share with me?” The guard sighed.
“Rue Valon would like for you to visit her at her home… at your earliest convenience, of course.” He said.
Sophia turned to him and nodded.
“Advise her that I will visit her, before this evenings meeting,” she said.
The guard left her alone in the hall.
Sophia looked at the mirror as the surface rolled in a chaotic pattern.
“You will need to emerge sooner than later, my Lord,” she whispered towards it.
She turned and walked to the door, as she placed her hand on the door she thought she heard a whisper in the room. Her name called out from a familiar voice… that of her son. She turned back to see the mirror still rolling like water.
“I hear you, love,” she muttered as she stepped out into the hallway.
Sophia walked towards the council’s mirror. She stopped and looked up at the cathedral ceiling and grinned as she watched the birds fly across the open sky. Regardless of the chaos she felt a sense of peace coming over her, unexpected after hearing news of apparent suicides among humans here and the death of an heir. She knew that a change was coming; one that would turn Valon into what she had wanted it to be for a millennia. Her son was about to emerge the new Lord. He would be a lightning bolt in this world. If she could convince him that everything she did was to ensure the survival of their people and make Valon the center of the universe, as she believed it should be, things would finally fall into place for her.
She grinned as she waved her hand over the mirror and stepped out, not accompanied by any guards. She had every intention of visiting Rue without any additional protection, showing her that she could be trusted. If she was unable to destroy the girl… then an alliance would do, at least for now. Now that it was proven that Rue could carry an heir, her importance had shifted to something that could benefit Sophia and all protectors to come. Perhaps the girl could bear an heir to Caine… solidifying the Graph’s in protector history forever.
Sophia walked across the square and looked at the buildings. She truly did love this city, always had. She remembered running these streets as a girl, feeling as if she was always meant for more among their people, and now that she headed the council and had produced a Lord. She felt as if her time was coming… time to control and not convince any longer.
She watched humans moving about, doing their menial tasks, being a part of the bigger plan. These were her people, the ones who fed them and sustained the strength of Valonians. She stepped up her pace, excited to visit Rue and get to the heart of the real business for her. She finally came to her door and smiled as she raised her hand to knock on it. The door opened before her knuckles contacted the wood and Rue stood there in a white gown, looking as beautiful as ever. Rue grinned and stared at Sophia and then stepped aside to allow her to enter. Sophia stepped in and looked around the primarily white room and then turned to Rue.
“Rue Valon, I bring news to you… news that will lighten your heart.”
Rue stared at her and then waved her hand towards the chairs in the room, indicating that she would prefer for them both to sit. Sophia looked at the large red chair and walked to it. She sat down gracefully and watched Rue take the chair across from hers.
“Of what news do you bring?” Rue asked her as she tilted her head.
“It would appear that Lord Barrington has met his demise,” Sophia said, truly not knowing for sure if that was the case.
Rue’s eyes lit up and she produced a small grin, not showing her teeth. She touched her mouth and closed her eyes. Clytie laughed inside, feeling that her plan was falling into place. She opened her eyes and smiled at Sophia, showing her approval.
“I would expect his body to be strung in the square to be fed on by the ravens, until he is consumed entirely,” Clytie said with no emotion in her voice.
Sophia stared at her and shook her head.
“There are no remains of which to display,” she said to her.
Clytie stood up and walked to the window then she turned back to her.
“How dare you come here and speak of death with no body,” Clytie said.
Sophia maintained her composure, realizing that Rue’s loss of a child was still effecting her reaction.
“Rue Valon, I would ask that you take my word that another Lord has risen, and it is this Lord that has dispensed of your attacker. You can be assured that Lord Barrington’s death was a painful and long one.”
Clytie sucked in her breath and then returned to her chair.
“Of what Lord do you speak of?” she asked.
Sophia crossed her hands on her lap and looked into her eyes.
“Lord Caine… my son,” she said.
Clytie stood up in a flash and held her hands out to Sophia.
“I ask that he come to me at once,” Clytie said.
Sophia tilted her head at her.
“He is not ready to come, Rue. He will be available as soon as he feels it necessary; to rush a Lord is a dangerous business.”
“I would assume that he has emerged from the mirror already,” Clytie said.
Sophia smiled and shook her head.
“No, he will in due time.”
“Well, then how do you know that Joshua Barrington has been destroyed?”
Sophia stood up and stared at her.
“Because I felt him leave the mirror, and my son emerge,” she said to her
.
Clytie sat back down and touched her face then she looked at Sophia. Sophia waited for Rue to say anything. Clytie, still looking like Rue, started to laugh. Sophia tilted her head and waited… trying to understand her sudden laughter. Clytie looked at Sophia and started to click her tongue.
“I would like to be taken to the mirror at once,” she said.
Sophia shook her head ‘no’.
“What...? You refuse me?” Clytie asked her.
“You have no business there. When the Lord emerges he will choose his mate… or many, as is usually the case. If he wants your company he will ask for it.”
Clytie stood up and clinched her fists.
“I am the only mate for a Lord… You do not choose; the Lord does not choose. I have already bore an heir… I am proven worthy,” she said with some irritation in her voice.
Sophia held her hand out to her and Clytie stared at her.
“You must be patient. Do not doubt that I will introduce you to my son, but after that it is up to him as to what he will do.”
Clytie laughed and walked back to the window.
“Disgusting,” she muttered.
Sophia stared at her and felt a slight change in the energy in the room.
“Excuse me?” Sophia said.
Clytie turned to her and bit her lip; then she continued to laugh.
“You… disgusting in nature, so desperate to love… I would not doubt if you seek the company of your own son… to bear an heir to this sad little city,” Clytie said.
Sophia felt a vibration in her hands and clinched them together.
“I would suggest that you control you tongue with me. This is my home, my city… I have lived a long time in her shadow. I will forgive your insolence at the hands your loss, but I will only tolerate it for a short time. You will show respect for me and this place, if you plan to remain here.”