by Rue Volley
“You belong to me now,” he whispered.
Clytie closed her eyes and nodded to him.
Caine climbed on top of her. She took a breath as he laid down on her and pressed his body against hers. She looked into his face and he slowly kissed her, as he touched her cheek. He pulled his lips from hers and whispered.
“Rue.”
Clytie grinned as Caine bit into her shoulder and she gritted her teeth from the sting of his bite.
“I have wanted you, for so long,” he whispered in her ear.
“You can have me,” Clytie whispered back to him.
Caine pulled her dress up under him and adjusted himself on top of her.
He slowly lowered into her and she sucked in her breath, as he pressed against her slowly.
“I will be careful not to hurt you, love,” he said in her ear.
“Do as you wish, my Lord. You pain me not,” she replied.
“I know that you have never had a lover. I wish to be gentle at least this time.”
Clytie pressed against him and he moaned. She cried out, to appear to feel pain.
“Oh, my Lord… Please, please,” she whispered in his ear.
He sighed as his body trembled on top of her.
Clytie felt a vibration welling up in her; it took over her breathing and her heartbeat. To be taken by a Lord was beyond anything she had ever experienced before. Caine rolled her on her side and touched her face gently. She stared at him a little confused.
“What?” Caine said, a little breathless.
“I just did not know that you would be so tender to me,” Clytie said.
Caine grinned. He grabbed the back of her hair and thrust against her in a flash.
She cried out and squeezed her eyes shut.
“I fear that I will not be able to control myself,” he said, as he gritted his teeth.
“I ask that you do not,” she said.
Caine smiled and tilted his head at her.
“You seem to be different now,” he said to her, as he pressed against her.
“You would be surprised at what a year will do,” she said, as he turned her away from him and grabbed her hips.
He dug his fingernails into her skin and she moaned and twisted in front of him. Caine grinned and pressed against her with great force, and she cried out as she threw her head back. He grabbed her hair and pulled her up in front of him, placing his other hand on her throat.
“Let us see how different,” he cried out, as he pressed upward.
She rolled her eyes and gasped for air.
***
Sophia stood outside the house and grinned as she listened to the moaning. She knew that Caine would take her. She only hoped that when Clytie awoke that she would not try to sway him; she had not. A nymph is always consistent in one thing… needing the love of another.
Sophia started to walk away, when she heard Clytie scream out at the top of her lungs, and continued towards the council. She had a celebration to execute and a meeting to conduct with the humans in Valon. Once these two things had been carried out successfully, all plans could go into effect. Sophia had no intention of keeping Clytie alive… She was simply a bargaining chip to lure Caine back to Valon.
Sophia’s true intention was to produce an heir for her son. Solidifying their place in Valon forever and ushering in a new era. One that would forever be that of Protectors ruling over the humans they treated as cattle here. She was tired of them running around… these humans… She would like to see them chained up, fed on at will. Not running around pretending to live a life in these walls. Sophia grinned and touched her lip, as the thought of it excited her. She waved her hand over the council mirror and it rolled like water, allowing her to pass through it.
***
Johnathan flashed across the fields towards home. He had sadness in his heart at the thought of Rue losing Josh. Theo had explained to him that Josh had been injured, mortally wounded by Caine… who was a Lord. The only reason Josh did not fall where he had been struck is the fact that Josh had some of Caine’s blood in him. This seemed to slow the dying, at least for the moment. Theo sounded confident that he could find something, anything that would save him, but Johnathan could feel his sadness. He had decided to go home and try to find anything that could help. Maybe the library had a secret to give; maybe something in his past. He did not know, but he had to try… for Rue… always for her.
He slowed and looked out across the field and saw the lights of Calvary. He had hoped in his heart that they would all return to this place together, but there he was alone. What would he find here really? He sighed and started to walk across the field, knowing in his heart that he may not find anything to help at all.
He stopped as he remembered something, something that he and Rue had stumbled on accidentally. The tree house. Yes. He flashed towards the woods behind Rue’s house and through the trees searching. It had to be here… had too. He spent an hour searching before he suddenly felt a slight vibration in his hand. He looked to the right and saw Brooke, stumbling through the forest.
“Brooke?” he called out to her.
He flashed to her side and she looked up at him and half grinned. She had tears in her eyes. Johnathan tilted his head and looked at her.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked her.
She wiped her face and shook her head at him.
“Are you real?” she asked him.
Johnathan smiled and touched her face.
“Of course I am. Why do you ask me that?” he said.
“I, uh… had these dreams, of an asylum and flashy light… of you,” she said.
Johnathan realized that Theo must have glamoured her after they returned and before they all left to try to find Rue. He grinned at her and pushed her hair behind her ear.
“You are not crazy; it is all real,” he whispered to her.
“Oh! Thank god! I thought that I was about to be checked in to the asylum for real. I mean, I went back to the library and no one came. I knew it; I just knew it! I am so gonna kick Theo’s ass for this!” she yelled out.
Johnathan took her arm and started to walk.
“I am sure that he just wanted to keep you safe… He likes you, you know that,” Johnathan said.
“Listen, about all that… I, uh,” Brooke started to say.
Johnathan grinned.
“I know, you drank my blood. It’s cool,” he said to her.
“No,” Brooke said as she stopped and looked at him.
Johnathan turned to her and stared in her eyes.
“What?” he said.
Brooke looked at her hands and then at him.
“I, uh. I like you… a lot,” Brooke said to him.
Johnathan bit his lip and looked out into the forest.
“Oh,” Johnathan said as he looked at the trees.
“Listen, I know that you are all about Rue, so it’s not gonna hurt my feelings or anything. I just wanted you to…”
Johnathan flashed to her and kissed her. She stumbled and he placed his hand at the base of her back to steady her. She held her hands out to her sides like she was being attacked at first and then she relaxed, letting him kiss her without struggle.
Johnathan suddenly stopped and looked out into the forest.
“What?” Brooke said, as Johnathan grabbed her hand and pulled her with him.
“Someone is coming,” he whispered, as he pulled her down behind a large rock and they sat there together.
Brooke stared at him all starry-eyed and Johnathan listened to the forest with his head tilted. He looked at her and grinned when he saw the look on her face.
“You okay?” he said.
She nodded and bit her lip.
He pulled her up and scooped her up in his arms.
“You may want to bury your face in my chest. We are gonna be moving fast,” he said to her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. Johnathan grinned as he felt her hear
t beating hard in her chest. It was different to kiss a human girl. He could feel her excitement and nervousness much more clearly than a protector, like Rue. He flashed across the forest and avoided trees and fallen debris. He suddenly came to a stop and looked up at a twisted old tree with knots on the side of it.
“Oh, there you are,” he said, as he placed Brooke on the ground and started to climb it.
Brooke held up her hand and called out to him in a loud whisper.
“Can I come too?”
Johnathan looked down at her and realized that she was scared to stand there alone.
Of course she would be.
“Oh… sorry,” he said, as he jumped back down and pushed her towards the tree.
“Ummm, grab hold of that,” he said to her.
She grabbed the first wooden knot and ‘oh’d’ as he pushed her up, accidently touching her butt. She looked back and grinned.
Johnathan looked up at her and rubbed his neck.
“That was accidental,” he muttered.
“Uh huh,” Brooke said, as she continued to climb up the side of the tree.
Johnathan followed her and they both came to a branch that led to the small door.
Brooke looked back at him as he pressed up against her from behind.
“Okay, listen. I am going to push you up. Grab the branch and hang on. I will get up there and pull you up the rest of the way,” Johnathan said.
Brooke nodded and grabbed the branch, wrapping her legs around it too. Johnathan popped onto the branch easily and stood over her. Brooke looked up and crinkled her eyebrows at him.
“Help?” she said, a little sarcastic.
Johnathan smiled and reached down, grabbing her hand, and easily pulling her up to his side. Brooke let her feet touch the branch and then held onto him tightly as she swayed.
“You need to work on your balance,” Johnathan said to her.
Brooke half sighed as she laughed and looked up at him.
“I am not an immortal, remember?” she said to him.
Johnathan laughed and started to work them towards the small door on the side of the tree.
“I am so aware of that,” he said.
Johnathan opened the small door and pushed Brooke inside first. He then jumped in and started to stand up. The ceiling was low and he almost hit his head on it. Brooke looked around and held her hands up.
“Look at all these books! Holy crap!” she said, as she ran to a stack and started to look through them.
She picked up one and ‘oh’d’ as she opened it up.
“Do you see this?” she said, as she held it up to him.
Johnathan glanced at it and nodded.
“This is first edition here… The writer made notes in it!” she said like she was in shock.
Johnathan looked around the room and started to root through stacks.
“Yea, Rue is a clepto,” Johnathan said, as he grinned.
Brooke looked at him and shook her head.
“OMG,” she said, as she stumbled over books to get to the treasure that she had just discovered.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me, right?” she said, as she lifted a large book and blew the dust from the cover.
“What?” Johnathan said, as he stumbled towards her.
“This is an original copy of the Bible,” she said.
Johnathan stopped stumbling towards her and continued his search.
Brooke looked at him and shook her head.
“There are only a few of these in existence, you know?” she said.
Johnathan shrugged his shoulders and continued to look through the stacks at his feet.
“It is kind of a big deal,” Brooke added.
Johnathan looked up at her and held his hands out.
“Big deal… noted,” he said to her.
“Well, I know people who would pass out right here, just looking at it.”
Johnathan laughed.
“You do know that I am a protector, right?” he asked her.
“Yes, I am aware of that. I would just think that you would have respect for this book. I mean, it is a book of man. You know human? Like me?” she said.
Johnathan looked up at her and smiled.
“I do respect it, as I respect you,” he said.
“Oh, okay… good,” Brooke said, as she started to take her jacket off and wrap up the book.
“Ummm, what are you doing?” Johnathan asked her.
“I am going to take it the library and lock in the Rue wing,” Brooke said.
“The ‘Rue Wing’? Johnathan asked her.
Brooke grinned at him.
“Yes, that is what I call it… All the great books are there. You know, all first additions,” she said.
“Yea, Theo set her up good… She was super happy when he gave her that room,” Johnathan said.
“Well, not all the books came from him… Rue brought books there too,” Brooke said to him.
Johnathan stopped and looked at her.
“What?” he asked her.
Brooke clutched the Bible, wrapped in her coat, to her chest and shrugged her shoulders.
“Yea, she came and went… most of the time later in the day. She brought books in. I never saw them. She never spoke to me, just waved when I said ‘hi’ to her.”
Johnathan stood up quickly and looked at her.
“You are a genius,” he said all excited.
“What?” Brooke said.
Johnathan flashed to her and grabbed her hand. She ‘oh’d’ really loud as he jerked her towards the door. She almost lost her grip on the Bible and she jerked back from him.
“Hey, careful… I almost dropped it; it could damage the binding!” she said.
Johnathan looked at her and grinned.
“We have to go to the library,” he said.
“Can I ask why?” Brooke said, with her eyebrows raised.
“Rue hid books there. She was probably sleepwalking,” he said to her.
“You are kidding me, right?” Brooke said.
“Nope,” Johnathan said.
He grabbed her hand and she was jerked out the door onto the branch. They stood there, Brooke trying to balance and Johnathan looking like a cat, at home on the branch. He pulled her down with him in a crouching position and she swayed a little. He grabbed her arm and placed his finger to his lips.
“Do you hear that?” he whispered to her.
Brooke shook her head ‘no’. Johnathan tilted his head and pushed her back in the room inside the tree. Brooke fell and Johnathan flash rolled quickly under her and she landed on him. They laid there and smiled at each other.
“Thank you,” Brooke whispered in his face.
He rolled her off of him and knelt against the door.
“What do you hear?” she asked him.
“Guards,” he whispered back to her.
“From Valon?” she whispered back.
He nodded his head at her and closed his eyes.
“I need for you to settle down; your heartbeat is pounding in my ears right now… They will hear you if they get close to us.”
Brooke looked at him and sighed.
“I am trying,” she whispered back to him.
He held up his hand and held his breath. He could hear them approaching.
He leaned against the door and concentrated on them, trying to hear what they were saying.
“Sophia was very clear. She wanted the house burned to the ground, as well as the forest,” one guard said.
A female voice responded to him.
“I do not understand why. It is known that they all perished at the hands of Lord Caine in Trial,” she replied.
“It is not for us to question.”
“Very well. We will torch the house, as you and your party can handle the forest,” she said. “And then the town, correct?” she added.
“Oh shit,” Johnathan whispered.
He looked back at Brooke and shook his head.
“We are
in trouble,” he whispered to her.
She sucked in her breath and held it. He shook his head at her and grinned, as he held up his hand and heard them all moving away from them.
“Okay, we gotta move now,” he said to her, as he held his hand out to her and stood up.
“What is going on?”
“They are going to burn the town down to the ground.”
Brooke sucked in her breath and hit the door running.
“Omg… omg… omg,” she muttered over and over, as she held onto the tree and swayed. Johnathan popped out and looked at her.
“I am so sorry… about your house,” he said.
Brooke looked at him and shook her head.
“Screw my house; they are going to burn the library down!” she yelled at him.
“Oh!” Johnathan said, as he swung out and grabbed her hand.
He swung her up into his arms and jumped from the tree.
He landed easily and she ‘oh’d’ as they hit the ground.
“Nice jump!” she said to him.
He held her close to him and started to flash through the forest.
“Okay, we will hit the library and then we gotta go… Cool?” he said to her as he ran.
“Well, yea!” she yelled back to him.
Fire started to well up in the forest. He dodged falling tree branches and jumped burning grass.
“They don’t wait around, do they?” she yelled at him.
Johnathan didn’t say a word as he rolled with her and dodged more fiery debris. He rolled onto his feet and shot out of the forest in a flash. He didn’t care if anyone saw him, as if the human eye could track him down anyway. It would look like a blur to them.
He rounded a street corner and there the library stood, against a sky that had started to turn black from smoke. He looked at Brooke and they flashed towards the front doors. He kicked as he came towards it and busted the door off of its hinges. Brooke buried her head in his chest and just clung to his neck as tightly as she could. He skidded across the floor and stopped at the door to Rue’s wing of the library. He lifted his foot and Brooke yelled out and pushed out of his arms.
“I have a key… don’t!” she yelled, as she pulled the chain up from under her shirt and scrambled to place the key in the door.