by Rue Volley
“You act like you don’t know me,” Josh said, as he strapped his leather across his chest and stood up straight.
“Oh, I do… that is what worries me.”
Jonah and Lily flashed into the tent and looked at the two of them; Kai followed closely behind.
“Where’s the fire?” Kai asked.
Josh looked at him and grinned.
“Calvary,” he said as he headed to the door.
***
Clytie lay in the bed and spread her arms out. She grinned as she rubbed her hand on Caine’s bare back.
“Thank you, my Lord,” she whispered.
Caine looked back at her and grinned.
“Would you like to tell me when you drank Rue’s blood?” he asked her.
She sat up quickly and looked at him as she clenched the sheet to her chest.
“How did you know?” she asked him.
Caine stood up and pulled his leather shirt on, as he glanced back at her.
“I knew as I watched you sleep. Your energy glitches… like it is fake, copied,” he said to her.
Clytie pulled herself off of the bed and pulled the sheet with her.
Caine turned to look at her and laughed.
“Do not act as if you are modest now,” he said.
Clytie smiled and her image started to shift to that of her own. She stood there looking as beautiful as ever, long red hair, beautiful skin. She looked like a statue, a goddess that men would fight and die for. Caine grinned and picked up his blades and placed them on his back. Clytie laughed and stared him down as she raised her chin, proud as she always had been.
“Well, I appreciate the attention you placed on me… Tell me, how will I meet my demise?” she asked him.
He slid his blades into the holders on his back and grinned at her.
“You will not die at my hands,” Caine replied.
Clytie tilted her head and looked at him with confusion on her face.
“I am afraid to ask of what you want with me then,” she said.
Caine stared at her and stepped around the bed.
He stopped right in front of her and touched her face.
“You will be an instrument to me; one of which I will utilize when the time comes. I would assume that my mother knows who you are,” he said.
Clytie stood her ground and nodded to him.
“I would guess that she wants you to bear an heir to me,” Caine said.
Clytie nodded again.
Caine laughed and leaned into her face.
“Then we shall give her what she desires… an heir, to clinch her legacy and my own,” he whispered.
Clytie looked down and then back up to him.
“Your mother has wounded me, in that way. I ask that you reverse the damage that she has done.”
Caine looked at her stomach and leaned down to one knee. He placed his hands on her stomach and a light welled up under his fingertips. Clytie threw her head back as a warmth rushed over her and she felt her body heal, allowing her to reproduce. Caine grinned as he looked up at her. Clytie looked down and touched his hair.
“I did not expect you to be kind,” she said in a whisper.
Caine stood up and laughed.
“I am far from it,” he said, as he walked towards the door.
He stopped and looked back at her.
“My plan includes sending my treacherous mother to memory forever, to wander with no rest. If you even consider crossing me, you will be at her side,” Caine said to her.
Clytie nodded to him.
“I will send assistance to you; you are to dress for the ceremony tonight. I am to be appointed Lord to Valon, and you my mate,” he said, as he stepped through the door, and Clytie stood there with tears in her eyes.
She only wanted love, adoration… and once again she was being used for man’s desire. It infuriated her, but as she sunk onto the bed and thought of it… the thousands of years she had suffered, she finally had a moment. She realized that she would be able to take power. She would produce an heir to him, one of which would rule with fury and hatred. She would make sure of that. One who could someday kill all those who had crossed her, including Caine and all Valonians. The destruction of immortals tasted sweet on her lips. Revenge would become her calling, her one true legacy, even if it destroyed her in the end.
***
Johnathan had dropped to the ground as he watched Calvary burn. Something changed in him. He could feel it. His energy had shifted to something that he didn’t recognize. He tasted metal in his mouth. He reached up and brushed his hand on his face and pulled it out in front of him to see blood on his hand. His nose was bleeding. Brooke looked at him and ‘oh’d’ as she ripped a piece of her shirt off and licked it. She brushed it on his face and grinned at him as he placed his hand on hers.
He looked down at the bundle on his chest and stood up quickly to pull it off.
He leaned down and undid the jacket to reveal only three books.
“Oh shit,” he said.
“What?” Brooke asked him, as she leaned on her knees looking at the books.
“I lost one,” He whispered. “Damn it.”
“Well, let’s not panic. I am sure we just dropped it as we ran,” she said to him.
Johnathan looked at her.
“I dropped it; we didn’t do that,” he said.
Brooke raised her hand and touched his hair.
“Why do you always act as if you do everything wrong? I was with you… we dropped the book, okay?” she said.
Johnathan smiled and took her hand. He kissed the inside of her palm and closed his eyes.
“I do blame myself, usually,” he whispered.
“We gotta work on that,” Brooke said, as she grinned. “Stop acting like the whole world rests on you.”
Johnathan opened his eyes and looked at her.
“Where have you been?” he asked her.
Brooke bit her lip and pulled her hand from his.
“I have been right here, in Calvary… my whole life,” she said to him.
“Well, I wish I would have noticed that sooner,” he said.
He looked back at the books and separated them on the ground in front of him.
“Look, they are numbered,” he said.
Brooke leaned in and smiled.
“Well, looks like we have one, two, and three. Four is the straggler,” she said to him.
Johnathan opened the first book and read it out loud.
“Blood and Light… by Rue Volley,” he said, as he turned to her and smiled.
She smiled and picked up the second one.
“Smoke and mirrors,” she said.
Johnathan closed the first book and picked up the last one.
“Oil and Water,” he whispered.
He turned to the first page and read out loud.
“I sit here in my awesome white asylum gear, twisting my ‘Volley, Rue’ wristband.”
He slammed the book shut and looked at Brooke.
“Holy shit,” he said to her.
“What?”
“This is everything that has happened; everything that will happen… look,” he said, as he flipped to the last pages with words on it and read it to Brooke.
“This is everything that has happened; everything that will happen,” Johnathan said all excited, as usual.
He looked at Brooke and grinned.
“Do I always say things all ‘excited’?” he asked her.
Brooke took the book from him and read the next line then nodded to him.
“Evidently I say, ‘Yes, you do’,” she said as she smiled at him. “And according to Rue, I look at you longingly, like I love you.”
She closed the book and grinned at him as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Wait,” he said.
He picked up “Blood and Light” and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He slammed it shut and nodded his head grinning.
“I so knew it… she did want me,” he
said as he laughed.
Brooke took the book from him and leaned down, scooping them all back up into her jacket. She looked up at him and smiled.
“Well, that was then; this is now,” she said.
Johnathan leaned down and touched her face.
“Yes it is, Brooke.” He said as pulled her chin up to look at his face.
They had as silent moment, you know the one. Where people just know what the other one is thinking. Johnathan cleared his throat and Brooke did too. Johnathan stood up and watched the fire start to fade. He grabbed Brooke’s arm and pulled her up to him.
“Look!” he said, as he watched all flame turn to blue and then it rolled away from them.
“We can look for the book now… Come on!” Johnathan yelled to her, as she jumped on his back and he flashed back into the now fireless forest.
They flashed through the trees until he spotted something small to the right and he veered in that direction. He slowed and then stopped. Brooke jumped from his back and they both walked up to a smoldering book on the forest floor. Johnathan pulled his shirt off and started to slam his shirt over it, to stop the burning. Brooke stared at his back and he looked back at her. She touched her neck and blushed as she looked down at her feet. Johnathan stood up and turned to her.
“What?” he said.
She glanced at him and he looked down at his chest and grinned.
“Oh, you like?” he said.
She smiled and shook her head, as she leaned down over the book and touched the cover. It was charred and damaged. She brushed the char from the cover and held it up to Johnathan. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to read it.
“Clarity and Reason?” he asked, as he read it out loud.
Brooke looked at it and grinned.
“By Rue Volley… this is number four,” she said.
Brooke opened the book up to reveal blank burnt pages.
She flipped to the end and the last of the pages were gone… ripped out of the book.
“This one is missing pages,” she said.
“What?” Johnathan said as he leaned over her.
Brooke looked up at him and then got a bad look on her face. She picked up the book and clutched it to her chest as she stared behind him. Johnathan looked at her and shook his head.
“Do not tell me that we have been tracked down,” he whispered.
She nodded to him and shook her head ‘yes’.
“Shit,” Johnathan whispered to her, as he reached for his back.
“I wouldn’t suggest that you do that,” he heard behind him.
He turned slowly to see five Valon guards standing in a half ring in front of them.
“Oh, hey. How ya doing?” Johnathan asked them.
The female guard in the center tilted her head at him.
Johnathan raised his hand and waved.
“We, ah, were just taking a stroll, ya know,” he said, as he reached behind him and took Brooke’s hand in his.
“You are a protector, with human blood… How curious,” the guard said to him.
“I was not aware that we had been mixed with cattle,” she said.
The other guards laughed and Johnathan faked a laugh too.
“Yea, it would seem that my dad… ummm, ya know, likes humans,” he said.
Brooke stepped up behind him and leaned against his back.
The guard smiled and took one step towards him.
“Is she your lunch?” she asked him.
Johnathan stared at her and shook his head.
“She is nobody’s lunch. I do not eat humans,” he said.
The guard looked to her right and then to her left and grinned.
“Do you hear? A protector who does not feed, how intriguing,” she said.
The other guards smiled and pulled their blades from their backs.
Johnathan let Brooke’s hand go and grabbed his own blades, pulling them out to his sides.
“I would suggest that you all go and do whatever it is that you do… you know, burning towns, killing people and shit,” Johnathan said as he gripped his blades tightly.
“Oh,” the female guard said to him. She pointed behind her towards Calvary. “That...? That was just a directive. I wouldn’t be this far from Valon if we had not been ordered to. Valon has a bounty of humans to feed on, always has. Although, I will admit that this little adventure has caused my stomach to ache. I will tell you what, run. I will make sure that your friend is attended to.”
Johnathan shook his head, as he heard Brooke whimper a little behind him.
“Sorry, can’t do that… You want her; you have to get through me,” he said.
“Oh, think this through a little. There are five of us, and one of you,” she said.
They all turned when they heard a voice behind them.
“Correction… six against five. Looks as if you are outnumbered by one,” Josh said, as he stepped up and grinned, gripping his blades in his hands.
Theo, Kai, Jonah, and Lily flashed up behind him, all gripping blades in their hands.
“Oh, what do we have here?” Jonah asked, as he grinned.
Josh kept his eyes locked with the female guard.
“Assholes,” Josh said, as he turned his blade and pointed it at the guard.
The guard laughed and looked at the other guards.
“This is what you bring... traitors and rogues? Please… we are Valonian Protectors, the best of what our dear city has to offer the world. I doubt that you…”
Josh flashed through the air at lightning speed and her head dropped from her body in a thud, so quickly that he had to use his hand to tip her body over.
“Doubt that I what?” he asked her head.
Johnathan screamed out and lunged at a guard, who twisted in the air, as Johnathan had to arch his back to avoid the blade… It sliced over his chest, just inches from his body. His eyes got wide and he pivoted on his foot and sliced his blades through the air. He clipped the guard on the collarbone and the guard twisted in the air and hit the ground. Josh flashed over the guard and slammed both of his blades into the guard. Johnathan stepped back shaking his head.
“I had this!” he yelled at Josh.
Josh grinned and looked at him, as he twisted his blades and jerked them out, slamming his hands against the guard’s chest. He stood up and swung his blade behind him and stabbed another guard through the side as he stared at Johnathan.
“Didn’t look like it!” Josh yelled at him.
Johnathan ducked, as a guard flew over him from a strike from Theo, and he watched Theo flipped over him, after the guard, and pinned him to a tree. He twisted his blades and pulled them out in a flash. He slammed his hands against the guard and looked back at the two of them.
“Think we could focus, children?” he yelled.
Josh and Johnathan looked as Kai fought off the two remaining guards. Kai laughed and flipped his blades in his hand. One guard flashed behind him and sliced his blade across the back of Kai’s leg. He dropped to one knee, catching himself from falling by slamming his blades into the ground. The guard in front of him raised his blades over his head, and Kai grinned up at him.
Sam came flying out of nowhere and kicked the guard, behind Kai, in the head, knocking him to the ground with so much force it knocked his front teeth out of his mouth. She jumped over Kai, and Kai looked up and smiled.
“That is my baby girl!” he muttered, as she kicked the guard in front of him so hard he flew away from them and slammed into another tree.
She flashed to the guard and placed her blade to his throat. Kai turned and slammed his blade into the guard, on the ground behind him, and then pulled his blade upward, cutting the guard in half. He slammed his hands into the guard’s body and a flash of light welled up around them. Josh flashed to Sam and grabbed her blade. He stared at the last guard remaining and grinned.
“Why are you here, and who sent you?” Josh asked him.
The guard spit blood in his face and he wiped it o
ff with his hand and smiled. Josh pulled his blades and reached around Sam on either side and stabbed the guard in both sides. The guard screamed out, as Josh twisted the blades and pulled them out quickly.
“One more chance to answer me, I am not in a good mood today,” Josh said to the guard.
“I wish you nothing but sorrow,” the guard hissed through his bloodied teeth.
“Alright then, we will do it your way,” Josh said, as he grabbed Sam and threw her behind him.
He took both blades and slammed them through the guard’s face, pinning him to the tree. The guard slumped and Josh grinned, as he pulled his blades out of the guard’s face and let his body drop. He stood there with light welling up in his palms, as the guard twitched on the ground. He looked back at Sam and smiled as he knelt down and hit the guard with a bright flash of light. The guard’s body relaxed under his hands and he stood up and looked around. He looked at Sam.
“Where is Rue?” he asked her.
“I left her over there,” Sam said, as she pushed herself up from the ground and looked at Johnathan and Brooke.
Kai ran up behind her and grabbed her around the waist. He turned her to him laughing.
“Oh my god, you are such a badass,” he said to her, as he touched her face.
Sam grinned and kissed him quickly on the lips.
“I have my days, I guess,” she said.
Josh flashed in the direction Sam pointed and he slowed as he came up on Rue, lying in grassy patch under a tree. He slowed and looked at her angelic face. She looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. Everyone flashed up behind him and he walked to her and knelt down in front of her. He touched her face and then ran his fingers across her lips. He looked back at Theo and smiled.
“I feel her again; the bond has repaired itself,” he said.
Johnathan rubbed his neck and grinned.
“Yea, I kinda bonded with her while you were gone, dude. It was accidental,” he said.
Josh stood up and flashed to his face.
“What did you do?” Josh asked.
Johnathan stepped back from him.
“Relax, I thought she was hurt… I fed her my blood. She was all ‘Oh god’ and sweating.”
Josh looked back at Rue and shook his head.
“She wasn’t hurt. I was, ummm, doing something against my will,” he said.