by Rue Volley
Sophia looked at the girl and, in a flash, grabbed a blade from a guard’s hand and stabbed her through the heart. The girl cried out and then relaxed in her hand. Sophia flung her into the crowd and the humans parted, as she hit the ground in a thud. Her parents screamed out and ran to her. The man who initially started to argument raised his fist and cried out as all humans did. They all started to storm the platform and Sophia grinned, showing her teeth. She held her hands out in front of her and a large ball of light started to pulsate in between them. She raised her hands and took a breath, as she prepared to hurl it over the crowd, taking all of their light from their bodies and sending them to memory for good.
Caine flashed in front of her and turned quickly to the crowd. He waved his hands out over them and they all froze where they stood. Sophia blinked and looked at him as he turned to her. Caine shook his head and placed his hand on hers and lowered them in front of her.
“You must control your temper,” he said to her.
Sophia tilted her head at him.
“Mother, you were about to kill our food source. Do you have a plan that I do not know of?” he asked her.
Sophia sighed and looked at him.
“I grow tired of explaining myself to these insects. I wanted to teach them a lesson.”
Caine turned back to them and looked at all of their faces.
He sighed and raised his hands into the air.
“All you had to do is alert me to this; I can glamor them all. There is no need for this,” he said to her.
Caine drew his energy from the churning core; the air waved around him, as it pulsated from him. He closed his eyes and heard the whisper on the wind, the calling to his power. He drew his arms into his chest and then cried out as he released it over the crowd, it waved like water, knocking all of them down to the ground. Sophia stepped back from him, realizing how powerful he truly was. He turned to her, as all the humans started to rise up, rubbing their heads, and started to disperse. No memory of the book Sophia spoke of, no knowledge except for their happiness here in Valon. Caine turned to her and grinned.
“You need to learn to ask for assistance, before you make unnecessary decisions for all who reside here.”
“Do not speak to me of my decisions. I created you… not the other way around. Mind your place at my side, Lord Caine,” Sophia said, as she stepped away from him and started to walk towards the council door.
Caine looked out into the crowd of humans walking back to their homes, returning to their tasks, and then glanced at his mother.
“You will bow to me some day,” he whispered under his breath.
Sophia stepped through the council door’s large mirror, as it waved, and the first guard she saw she flashed a light at him and he dropped to the ground. She took a breath and started to walk quickly through the hallway, away from her embarrassment. She had handled the humans very well. She could have reached out to her son, but she did not… out of pride. Pride was another ugly mistress. It will tear down the foundation of any one who takes her to bed. Sophia had held pride’s hand for decades; only this was the first time that she had felt her sting of rejection, and bad advice.
She stopped and looked back at a guard, who stood motionless, and she flashed to him.
“Retrieve the Lord’s mate. I would like to see her,” she said.
Sophia stared at the guard; he nodded to her, hurried to the mirror, and passed through it. Sophia turned and walked quickly down the hallway. She stopped at a long set of stairs and looked up them. She grinned and took the stairs, walking up them quickly. She stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down the hallway to see two guards standing at a door. She walked up to them and stared them down.
“The Lord’s mate will be arriving shortly; bring her here,” she said to them.
They both nodded and Sophia looked at the door and walked in. She closed the door behind her and looked at the woman lying on the bed, motionless. She grinned and walked to the bedside and stared down at Elie Graph, lying there in deep sleep.
“You will serve me well,” Sophia said to her, as she turned to the window and looked out at the city, decorated in celebration.
“It would seem that my saving your soulless carcass served me well. I know that you cannot hear me, since you are neither living, nor dead. I fear that you will soon cross over to memory now.”
Sophia turned when a guard opened the door. Clytie, in Rue’s form, stepped into the room and looked at her and then at the woman on the bed. The guard shut the door behind her and Clytie glitched her form back, to that of her own, and smiled at Sophia.
“I see that you are finding it easier to change form, from that of Rue, to your own,” Sophia said to her.
Clytie stared at her, holding her chin up; her fingers interlaced in front of her.
“Yes, I have become accustomed to it now,” Clytie said to her.
Sophia looked at Elie on the bed and back to her.
“I have a task for you,” Sophia said to her.
“It does not surprise me,” Clytie replied.
Sophia tilted her head and grinned.
“I know that you and I have had our disagreements, but I ask that you think of your future here in Valon now,” Sophia said.
Clytie smiled and touched her stomach.
“Yes, that we have… and I do think of myself often, not unlike yourself. I guess in that way we are the same,” she said to her.
“I would like for you to drain this creature and take her form,” Sophia said to her.
Clytie looked at the woman lying on the bed and then back to Sophia.
“And to what end?” Clytie asked her.
“Oh, as you see… I have someone who needs to be visited,” Sophia said to her.
“Who is this creature?” Clytie asked her.
“Someone who will allow you to walk right up to Rue Volley and say hello,” Sophia said to her.
Clytie raised her eyebrows and looked at the woman on the bed.
“I find that a joyful task indeed,” Clytie said to her.
“You see this is Johnathan Graph’s mother; his sister is here, in the tower. She has been bitten by me… to allow her to track her brother down,” Sophia said.
Clytie laughed. “Oh, I have met him… quite the charmer,” she said.
“Mmm,” Sophia said.
Clytie walked to the side of the bed and touched the woman’s hand.
She pulled her hand back and looked at Sophia.
“She is cold to the touch,” she said.
Sophia waved her hand.
“Yes, I fear that I have been keeping her here. I felt that she may come to some use, and now I realize that my judgment did not fail me.”
“So, what do I receive for this, if I am to do it,” Clytie asked Sophia.
Sophia turned to her and smiled.
“Immortality my dear, something that you have chased after forever. I will give it to you.”
Clytie raised her eyebrows at her and looked back at Elie on the bed.
“That is a fair trade. Is there anyone else you would like for me to visit?” she asked her.
“Oh, you will find them all huddled together, like a family… Do as you wish when you find them. I would think that Joshua would interest you also.”
Clytie looked at her in a flash and gritted her teeth.
“Very much so,” she said.
“Well, you will stand at the Lord’s side in the ceremony this evening. Then you will dispense of this… after which you shall leave Valon with Sophie. She will lead you to your destination.”
Clytie touched Elie’s face and then looked at Sophia.
“This will be a joyous occasion, for us all,” she whispered to her.
***
I had paced in the tent over and over after my bath. I stretched my fingers out, and then I turned when I heard a voice. I looked over to see Johnathan standing in my tent opening. I sighed and looked back at my hands.
“Come on
in,” I said to him.
Johnathan stepped into the tent and I looked at his face. He looked tired, as we all were. I was feeling weird about what happened between me and Josh… even weirder about the fact that pretty much everyone knows. Well, everyone except Johnathan. I should tell him, or maybe I shouldn’t. I don’t know. I mean, I loved him… as friends go. I sighed and thought about Sara. God, I would love to be dealing with her right now. That would seem easier than this.
I looked at Johnathan, and he walked towards me and then veered to the bed. I almost stopped him from sitting on it, but he already had. I bit my lip, hoping that he wouldn’t feel anything from it. He adjusted himself and crinkled his eyebrows as he looked back at it. I don’t think that he has honed his skill in that way yet.
“What?” I asked him as I rubbed my hands.
He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders at me.
“I don’t know… it felt weird for a moment, when I sat down.”
I smiled and relaxed my hands.
“Oh… Well, I don’t know why,” I said.
LIE # 1. Great.
Johnathan leaned back on the bed, and then he laid back.
I stepped towards him, and he sat up quickly as he looked at me.
“What?” I said to him.
He stood up and looked back at the bed.
“Whose bed was this anyway?” he asked me.
I looked at it and raised my eyebrows at him.
I let out my breath and shook my head.
“Don’t know… haven’t used it yet,” I said to him.
LIE # 2. Freakin awesome.
Johnathan looked around the room and had a weird look on his face.
“Ummm, this whole room feels like a whore lived in it,” he said to me.
I scratched my head.
“Maybe it belonged to Lily… before ya know… Not now,” I said.
LIE # 3…OMG, I suck.
Johnathan stepped towards me and grinned at me.
“You know I am just messing with you,” he said.
My jaw dropped. I mean, he can’t know… no way.
He grinned and looked at the bed.
“Well, I won’t lie… I am jealous, but Josh… although I think he is an ass, loves you,” he said to me.
I shook my head from shock and looked at the bed as he turned back to me.
“So… you know then?” I asked him.
He smiled at me and stepped up. He touched my hair and pushed it behind my ear.
“Yea, Kai told me,” he said.
I had nothing to say. I mean, what do I say to that? Of course Kai opened his big mouth and told him… big shocker. Damn him and his girl-like gossip nature.
Johnathan looked at me and his grin faded.
“I am not going to say that I am happy; I love you. I just guess that if it isn’t going to be me and you… then I trust that asshole won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered.
“Oh… Johnathan, listen…” I tried to say.
Johnathan leaned in to my face and then he kissed my forehead, as he touched my face. I closed my eyes. I remembered why I loved him. He is so self-sacrificing... especially for me. I couldn’t ask for a better friend; if things had been different then Johnathan would be by my side. But I couldn’t imagine my life without Josh or him really… in fact, any of them.
He stopped kissing my forehead, and then he hovered in my face, like a kiss was coming. He started to lean forward and Brooke busted into my tent whoo-hooing. She skidded to a stop and looked at the two of us.
“Oh,” Brooke said.
Johnathan looked at her and started to walk in her direction with his hand out.
I looked at her too.
“Hey, Brooke,” I said as I smiled at her.
She leaned and looked at me.
“Came to say, ‘about freakin time’,” she said, as she looked back at Johnathan.
“OMG...! Who told you?” I asked her.
She grinned and placed her hands on her hips.
“Kai,” she said.
“Of course he did,” I said, as I walked to the bed and dropped down on it.
Josh stepped in and everyone looked at him. Johnathan stood up straight and nodded to him. Josh looked at me and walked past him. He looked back at them and grinned.
“Ummm, not to be rude, could I have a moment?” he said.
Johnathan muttered something and looked at me.
“Sure, yea whatever,” Johnathan said, as he walked past Brooke.
He grabbed her hand and she grinned…letting him pull her out of my tent.
I looked at Josh and grinned.
“Are they?”
He nodded.
“Huh,” I said as I looked down at my feet dangling from the bed.
Josh crouched down in front of me and took my hands.
“Hey, I just want to let you know that… that was beyond incredible, it really was,” he said to me.
I grinned and looked at his face.
“Yea, I agree,” I said to him.
“And I know that I said that I wanted to wait, but I am so glad that we didn’t,” he added.
I nodded to him.
Josh stood up and sat down next to me on the bed.
“Ya know it was good… because we now know that it will be amazing. It would have sucked if we would have done this, and then it was all like… sucking,” he said to me.
I looked at him and shook my head.
“Why would you ever think that what we did… would have sucked anyway?” I asked him.
He grinned.
“Well, humans do that… They, ah… wait until after they do the marriage thing, and then boom… it all sucks in bed. We don’t have to worry though; it was awesome.”
“Oh my god,” I said as I stood up and turned to face him.
“That is why you did it? You were all worried about the bedroom stuff being in the shitter!” I said.
He laughed at me. I didn’t laugh though.
“Oh come on! You know what I mean… What if we would have waited and then you were all weird about doing it?” he said.
“Me...? Why would it of been me? I mean you have had all this experience. I would think that you wouldn’t want to be with someone who had never… you know,” I said.
“Well, I was a little worried,” Josh said to me.
“OMG,” I said.
Josh looked at me and grinned, showing his canines.
I looked at them and pulled myself out of the stupor of how damn cute he is.
“You are an ass,” I said, as I walked towards the tent opening.
I felt him flash up behind me and wrap his arms around me. I pulled for a second and then I relaxed. He leaned down and ran his teeth across my ear. I sighed as I felt a chill run through me.
“Don’t think that this is how it will be forever; you saying stupid stuff and me getting all lost in you,” I said to him.
He turned me to him and grinned.
“Rue… I don’t know how long forever will be.”
I looked at his face and it hit me again, like a tidal wave. He is dying. Nothing that happened had changed that. I grabbed him and pulled him to me. We fell to the ground, as I ripped at his clothes.
***
Sam stood in the tent with Theo and they both stumbled. Sam looked at him and shook her head.
“Okay… this is bullshit… You find something to cut off this bond we all have.”
Theo nodded to her and walked slowly towards the black book on the table.
“I absolutely agree with you. If they are going to be doing this all the time, I will never get anything done.”
“I almost fell flashing back here!” Sam said as she held her chest.
Theo looked back at her and grinned.
“I passed out, where I sat,” he said to her.
Sam laughed and he flipped through the book, as Lily flipped the beautiful blue material out in front of her. She grinned and started to stand up. She held up
the beginnings of a dress and Sam smiled at her.
“It is beautiful, Lily. It really is.”
Sam took a chair and placed her head in her hands.
“Today, Theodore!” she said, as she controlled her breathing.
Theo grinned and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Chapter 20
If He Had Never Known Me
Caine stood at his mirror and stared at himself. Human girls were stripping him of his gear, and others were grabbing the blue leather that he would now wear as a Lord. He looked down at the human girl, holding his blue leather battle gear folded in her hand, and grinned. He took the shirt from her and slowly pulled it on as he felt his own energy sink into the leather. He sighed and started to pull the leather straps on the front of it tight. Two guards entered the room carrying a large white box and they placed it at his feet. He looked at them and nodded as he turned to the box and knelt down to one knee. The box had no opening and it was only a Lord who could open it.
He held his hand out and a light welled up in his palms. His black color floated from his hands and surrounded the white box on the floor. The box started to vibrate and then it opened to him, to reveal his new blades, those of a true Lord. He stared at the metal, as it glowed on his face, and grinned. He reached into the box and pulled the two blades out as humans scrambled out of the room and closed the doors behind him. He gripped the blades in his hands and then turned back to the mirror to look at himself wielding his new blades for the first time.
He raised them out to sides and tilted them in his hands as his color wrapped the metal like a snake and bound him to them. He sucked in his breath and they vibrated, singing his song out to him and only him. He closed his eyes and then quickly placed them into the holsters on his back. He heard a light knock at his door and turned to see who might be bold enough to interrupt his moment. The door opened and Clytie walked into the room and grinned at him.
“You will learn to not interrupt me,” Caine said, as he turned back to the large mirror and stared at himself.
Clytie walked up behind him and nodded to him.
“You look magnificent, my Lord,” she said to him.
Caine turned and stared at her.