by Rue Volley
“Doing what?” Johnathan asked him.
“I was having sex with her. Well… not her, a nymph,” he said.
Brooke tilted her head.
“Like a Greek nymph?” she asked him.
“Yea, a psychotic one… by the name of Clytie,” Josh said.
Johnathan stepped up to him.
“So let me get this straight, you cheated?” he asked him.
Josh hit Johnathan’s shoulder and knocked him back from him, a foot.
“Not on purpose, she looked like Rue.”
Johnathan laughed and looked at everyone.
“Oh, I see. So it is all ‘no big deal’ when you do it, but me… I do that and I suck,” Johnathan said.
“That nymph is older than me, you ass. She wasn’t twelve years old,” Josh said.
“Unknown to me!” Johnathan said, as he pointed his finger at everyone.
Brooke looked down and Johnathan sighed.
“Listen, I have… Well, we have something here,” Johnathan said, as he pulled the jacket from around him and laid it on the ground.
Josh stepped up over him and grinned.
“Is it porn?” Josh asked him.
Johnathan looked up and shook his head.
“No, you pervert. It is books… books that were written by Rue.”
“What?” Josh asked him, as he leaned down and knocked him out of the way.
Johnathan grunted and shook his head.
“Just once could you just wait? You know, not knock me out of the way?”
Josh glanced at him, as he unwrapped the books and looked at them.
“What the hell?” Josh asked, as he picked up a book and read the cover of it.
“Blood and Light… by Rue Volley?” he said.
Brooke stepped forward and looked at Josh.
“She wrote everything… It looks like everything that has happened for the past two… almost three years,” Brooke said.
Josh looked at Rue and started to wrap the books up. He tossed them to Theo and he caught the bundle. Johnathan looked at Theo and shrugged his shoulders.
“Guess he doesn’t think I can carry them,” Johnathan said.
Josh looked at him and shook his head.
He walked to Rue and gently picked her up. He turned with her in his arms.
“We need to get out of here. Who knows how long it will be before they send more to Calvary.”
“I agree wholeheartedly,” Theo said.
Josh looked at Johnathan and grinned.
“You might want to tell Brooke what you did,” he said as he laughed.
Johnathan sighed and looked at Brooke. She raised her eyebrows at him and he stood up and ran his hands through his hair. Everyone flashed away, one by one, until the two of them stood there staring at each other. Brooke looked into the forest and then back at Johnathan.
“Tell me what?” she asked him.
“Ummm, I uh. I kinda bonded with you,” he said as he bit his lip.
Brooke sucked in her breath and stared at him.
“Like boyfriend/girlfriend stuff?” Brooke asked him.
“Uh…yea. When we kissed, I broke my bond with Rue, you know the accidental one, and then I bonded with you… I didn’t mean to, so if you are feeling weird and …”
Brooke jumped up into his arms and kissed him on the mouth with as much passion as she could muster up. Johnathan made a noise of surprise and then relaxed into the kiss, holding her there in his arms off the ground. She slowly pulled her lips from his and smiled at him. He smiled back. She sighed and hugged him around the neck.
“Okay… I take it that you are okay with it then?” Johnathan asked her.
“OMG… Are you kidding me?” she said as she laughed.
Johnathan scooped her up and she cradled against his chest.
“Sweet,” Johnathan said as he flashed through the charred trees, back towards their new home… the carnival.
***
Sophia sat at her vanity and let the human brush her hair slowly. She looked up and grabbed the girl’s wrist and bit it in a flash. The human girl stood her ground and let Sophia feed on her. The girl’s arms were riddled with bites from Sophia, a nervous habit of hers as she awaited the guards to retrieve her, for the meeting with the humans she had scheduled. This needed to be done. Humans needed to be settled down. The last thing she needed was a mass suicidal exit on their part. Sophia looked over at her large chest in the corner and grinned.
“Retrieve the book from my chest,” Sophia said.
The girl left Sophia and walked to the chest and lifted the heavy lid as she grunted. Sophia looked in the mirror and grinned with her lips together, as she listened to the human struggle with the weight of the lid.
“Today please,” Sophia said, as the girl finally got the lid open and looked inside the chest.
She saw a large book lying in the bottom and she leaned over to lift it up. She tried to pull it up but found that the weight of it was a bit too much for her 90-pound frame. Sophia stood and flashed to her, knocking her out of the way. The girl slammed against the side of Sophia’s bed frame and ‘ooom’fd’ as the wind was knocked from her. Sophia grinned in her direction and shook her head.
“Why you were made so weak by your creator, I cannot figure out,” Sophia said to her.
The girl looked up and grabbed the side of Sophia’s comforter and pulled herself up to stand. She swayed a little and looked at the book.
“What creator do you speak of?” the girl asked.
Sophia grinned and held the book in her hand.
“This…” Sophia said, as she dropped the book in front of the girl.
It made a terrible sound as it hit the stone floor. The girl jumped back and almost fell on the bed. She looked at the book and Sophia stared at her.
“Ah Ah Ah,” Sophia said, as she reached towards the girl and grabbed her wrist.
Sophia jerked the girl to her and stared in her face.
“This is knowledge of which your weak mind could not possibly understand,” she whispered to her.
“I cannot read.” The girl whispered to her.
Sophia smiled and twisted the girl’s wrist.
The girl made a whimpering sound, as she fell to her knee, and looked up at Sophia.
“I am aware of what you can and cannot do. You have been a host to me for years.”
“And grateful to serve you, Sophia Graph,” the girl said, as she lowered her head and looked at the floor.
Sophia looked down at her and grinned as she let her wrist go.
The girl slumped to the ground and grabbed her wrist.
“Get in the tub,” Sophia said to her.
The girl looked up to Sophia with a confused look on her face.
“Do you mean you wish for me to bathe you?” the girl asked her.
Sophia leaned down to her and stared into her face.
“No… I wish for you to get in the tub… now,” she said.
The girl pushed herself up from the floor and ran into the large bathing room behind Sophia. Sophia stood there and listened as the girl started the water up in the oversized tub. Sophia looked at the book and sat it down on the vanity.
“I have read this book, cover to cover. I find it boring, for the most part. A book of stories, passed down from one weak man to another… for in the time this book was written, women had no power,” Sophia said, as she listened to the water continue to run.
“I know that you have never known power yourself, but I assure you that woman… no matter what species, are the strongest… much more so than men. We are the reason the earth tilts on her axis, the womb of creation. I find it humorous that man never realized this until much later in their existence.”
The water stopped and Sophia looked towards the bathing room.
She walked in slowly and the girl stood there by the tub staring at the water in it.
“Undress,” Sophia said to her, as she waved her hand in her direction.
; The girl slowly pulled her thin silk dress over her head and stood there next to the tub.
Sophia stopped and looked at the girl’s body… small and thin.
“You must eat more… Your body is the picture of weakness,” Sophia said to her.
The girl stood motionless. Sophia sighed.
“Get into the water.”
The girl looked back at Sophia and Sophia tilted her head.
“I am not asking,” Sophia added.
The girl stepped into the tub slowly and sank into the water as she looked at Sophia.
Sophia grinned.
“As I was saying, before you interrupted me with your rudeness… women are the key to creation. This book of man does not explain that. In fact, in the beginning of the book, women are damned. Something about a tree and fruit, seduction was the underlying theme. You see, men always knew their own weakness. They all know that a woman holds the power. I was not surprised to see that man, being the weak creature that he is, also struggled with that.”
“I apologize for my ignorance,” the girl said in a small voice.
“Do you...? Do you truly feel sorrow in your heart?” Sophia asked her.
The girl looked down at the water and her reflection in it.
“No, I think not. I believe that if a woman… such as myself, did not create organization here in Valon, man would rise and kill us all.”
“I would never even think about harming you,” the girl said.
Sophia flashed to the side of the tub and smiled down at her.
“Do not lie… I know that you hate me. I can smell it in your blood,” Sophia said to her.
The girl looked up and shook her head at her.
Sophia leaned down to her and smiled as she touched her face.
“I know your father and your mother, love. They were with us long before you. Tell me, when did your father first show you the book?” Sophia asked her.
“I… I don’t know what book you speak of,” the girl said, as she shifted in the tub.
Sophia flashed behind the tub and grabbed the girl by the throat.
She squeezed her throat as the girl thrashed her legs in the tub.
“Do not lie to me… The book of man, this false hope… entitled the Bible,” Sophia said, as she continued to choke her.
The girl’s eyes started to roll in her head and two guards came in with the girl’s father by each arm. One guard hit the man on the back of the head with the hilt of his blade and the man fell to his knees and looked at Sophia with panic in his eyes.
“Oh… I see that it is a family reunion of sorts,” Sophia said, as she released the girl’s throat.
She gasped for air. Her father tried to lunge forward and a guard stabbed him through the shoulder and the man cried out. The girl clung to the side of the tub and sobbed as she watched her father writhe in pain.
Sophia interlaced her fingers and looked at the man.
“I am disappointed in you. Your family has hosted me for a long period of time. Why would you start a revolution against the ones who feed you?” Sophia asked him.
The man looked up at her and spit blood onto her white stone floor.
Sophia looked at it and shook her head.
“Disgusting,” she said, as she looked at the girl.
“You see how little respect your father has for me?” Sophia asked her.
The girl reached out to her father and cried out to him.
The father looked at her and grinned, shaking his head.
“Do not fear little one. You know, as well as I, that a better place awaits us, beyond this,” he said.
Sophia laughed.
“I will tell you, as bluntly as I can… give up your names now. I need to know who has been infected with this virus, this book that you preach from.”
The man looked up at her and started to laugh. Sophia tilted her head at him.
“Do not test my patience. You only live to tell me of what damage you have done.”
The man coughed and rolled on his side as the guard took his blade from his shoulder…
He moaned and pressed his hand on the blood starting to flow from the wound.
“You, as I, are damned. We shall watch this hell burn and sink back into the pit that it came from. Both of us have no redemption to claim,” the man said.
“Of what cryptic gibberish do you speak?” Sophia asked him.
The man looked up at him and smiled, with blood on his teeth.
“Rue Volley. She will return… along with her mate, and kill you and all who live here,” he said.
Sophia flashed to the tub and grabbed the girl up by her neck. The girl dangled there naked and squirming in her hand. Sophia pulled her blade and pointed it at the girl’s heart.
“I have been preoccupied with other things and I fear that I do not follow your line of thinking. But I would suggest that you tell me, straight away… of what you know.”
The man looked at his daughter and tilted his head, as he had a look of compassion come over his face.
“Now as I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil…” he started to whisper.
“Speak now!” Sophia screamed at him.
“For you are with me, my Lord, and always will be,” the man continued.
“There is only one Lord! That of which is my son Caine!” Sophia yelled.
The man started to laugh and looked at his daughter.
“I shall see you again, my love. We shall walk hand in hand in paradise,” he said.
Sophia screamed and thrust the blade through the girl’s heart. The girl’s eyes rolled in her head and Sophia dropped her body into the water. Water splashed over the sides of the tub, some of it… crimson red, splashed onto the white stone and rolled towards the man on the floor. He reached out and touched the red water and tears rolled down his face.
“You see what you have done?” Sophia yelled at him.
The guards stood motionless as Sophia paced back and forth.
“Even with the imminent demise of your own daughter, you refuse to tell me of who all believes in this book of lies. I do not understand you; you sacrificed her. Her blood is on your hands,” Sophia said, as she clinched her fists, and then stopped to look at him.
The man pushed himself up the best that he could on his side and looked at her.
“You and all before you are demons and damned to hell,” he said to her.
“Hell?” Sophia laughed and looked at the two guards.
Sophia flashed to his face and leaned in, hissing at him.
“You do not know what hell you speak of. I will show you pain beyond understanding,” Sophia looked up at the guards and nodded.
“One of you stay and drag this carcass to the meeting. The other retrieve his family… especially his pregnant wife,” Sophia said.
“No… NO!” the man cried out, as the guard picked him up and dug his fingers into the fresh wound.
The man moaned and tried to catch his breath.
“You will tell all, that the book is filled with lies… Otherwise, you will watch your wife die slowly as I rip your unborn child from her womb,” Sophia said.
The man cried out as the guard dragged him from the room.
Sophia looked at the girl’s body floating in the tub and the red blood staining her white stoned floor.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered, as she walked out the bathing room and slammed the door behind her.
Sophia stepped to the window and looked out at all the banners flying in the wind. The meeting with the humans was so close at hand. She needed this hope… this book, stricken from memory. A glamor would do, if only she wasn’t weakened by handling Clytie and Caine. After she made an example of this human and restored the order amongst the humans here in Valon, she would welcome her new Lord… something that she had dreamed of for thousands of years.
“There is only one Lord, and I am its mother,” she whispered.
She heard a tap at her door and turned to see a girl step
in. Sophia smiled and stared at her.
“Sophie… come,” she said.
Sophie Graph walked to her. Sophia put her arm around her and turned her to the window.
“I would like to thank you for finding the traitors among the humans here. I can assure you that your mother will benefit from your loyalty, as well as yourself.”
Sophie looked up at her and smiled.
“Can I see her now?” she asked.
“Soon, love… soon. Let us attend to the meeting and then to Lord Caine. After that you may take your mother from this place, as I promised, and seek out your brother, Johnathan. It should be easy for you now that I have bitten you. You will be able to track him easily. Then you can have your ‘happy ever after’ that you seek,” Sophia said.
“Thank you… Thank you so much,” Sophie said, as she hugged Sophia.
Sophia looked out the window and rubbed her hair.
Chapter 19
I Want to Save You
I woke up in the tall grass. I sat up slowly, as everything starts out there in memory. I had been there before… I know it all too well. Only this time it felt like a dream, I didn’t feel anxious; I knew that I wasn’t trapped there. I guess a pinch on the arm might do it. I reached down and placed my fingers on my arm to snap myself out of it, and I heard a whisper on the wind. I looked up and, if I had better judgment and not a tenacious curiosity to know everything, I would have pinched myself, bringing this dream to an end. But no. I was Rue Volley, and I had to know. Great.
I lowered my hand and looked out across the swaying grass and smelled that familiar smell. Fresh cut grass, flowers… sweet in the air. I closed my eyes and breathed it into my lungs, let it fill me up, as I used to do at home… a home that had been burnt to the ground by a vicious woman, with no heart beating in her chest. I touched my chest and felt my heart beating harder. I slowed my breathing and stood up. I looked up at the sky and watched a flock of birds fly over me. The flock was so thick it blocked out the light for a moment and raced across the swaying grass in a black mass out across the field. My eyes followed it until it rested on the tree. I stared at it and realized that the whispers were coming from that direction.
I started to walk slowly, letting my fingertips run across the top of the swaying grass; it felt warm… like it was alive, breathing. This whole place teams of life, all around me. I never noticed it before, that I was standing on a heartbeat. I looked down at my feet and grinned as I focused in on the slow beating coming from the ground.