by Rue Volley
“You need to rest, all this crazy with Rue has to stop,” she said.
“I feel fine,” Josh said to her.
“Oh, really? Then why do I feel like the wind has been kicked out of me?” Sam asked him.
Josh sat down on the bed and rubbed his hands.
“So it’s that apparent, huh?” he asked her.
Sam sat down next to him and placed her hand on his.
“We have always been cursed to feel each other. I still remember when Dad died. My heart stopped in my chest, I swear,” she whispered.
Josh looked at her and grinned.
“I am not going to die, Sam. I need to stay here.”
“I hope you do,” Sam said, as she stood up and walked towards the door.
Josh looked down at his hands and watched the black cracks slowly creep up his hands.
“I got this. I am on point, Sam.”
Sam smiled and turned.
“You better be,” she said, as she disappeared through the opening in the tent.
***
Sophia stood in the empty hall, after everyone left it, and leaned down to pick up a blue flower. She smiled as she smelled it. Clytie stepped up behind her and Sophia dropped the flower to the floor and turned to her.
“I would like to be sent out now,” Clytie said.
Sophia looked at her face and grinned.
Clytie’s eye was bruised, as well as her lip. Faint marks could be seen on her neck.
“Do you not find it pleasurable with your new Lord?” Sophia asked her.
Clytie grinned and looked at her bruised wrists.
“His appetite is tenacious for me. I will be able to bear an heir when I return to you,” she said.
Sophia laughed and touched her face.
“Be careful what you wish for,” she whispered to her.
Clytie held her ground and waited. She had no intention of returning to her Lord’s bed for a while. He had kept her there since the ceremony, his lust knowing no bounds. His want for an heir first on his mind. She waited for Sophia to release her, to commit this murder. Sophia started to walk away from her.
“Come,” she said, as it echoed in the empty hall.
Sophia and Clytie moved up the stairs quickly.
Sophia stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back at her.
“We must be quick; the new Lord can feel most everything,” Sophia said.
“Why did you have me wait to kill this creature then?” Clytie asked her.
Sophia grabbed her chin and stepped into her face.
“He would have tasted her on your lips, you foolish creature… Now follow, and then go and do my will,” Sophia said.
Sophia released her face and walked towards the room. She opened the door and stopped to see Caine standing in the room, leaning over Elie’s body. Sophia sucked in her breath and looked back at Clytie.
“My Lord,” Sophia said, as she lowered her head to him.
“Mother,” Caine said.
He glanced at Clytie and then back to his mother.
“Why is my child’s mother held here in the tower?” he asked Sophia.
“My Lord, she became ill. Humans do, weak as they are. I placed her here to keep her safe.”
Caine looked at his mother and smiled.
“You have never kept anything safe your entire life, including me,” he said, as his eyes rolled black.
“I did everything to benefit you,” Sophia said.
Clytie stepped past her and looked at Caine.
“She wanted me to eat this woman, and then kill your son.”
Sophia hissed and reached out to Clytie, and Clytie stepped away from her quickly.
“Oh, I see… of course she would,” Caine said, as he touched Elie’s face and then looked at Sophia.
“Why do you pain me so?” he asked her.
Sophia tilted her head at him and held her hand up to him.
“My Lord, I have lived only for you. Everything I have done is for you, what you could become. I have given that to you,” Sophia said, as Clytie turned to look at her.
“You live for yourself. Caine is aware of what you did to me… controlling his heir. He has healed me so that we may begin anew, in this place,” she said to her.
“I healed you so that you could live long enough to eat my mother,” Caine said to her.
Sophia sucked in her breath and looked at the two of them.
“How dare you threaten me. Without me, Valon will fall… crumble to her foundation.”
Caine laughed and stepped around the bed, waving his hand at his mother.
She fell to her knees and grabbed at her stomach.
“Without you, she will rise, to what she should have been… before you poisoned her,” Caine said.
“Caine… please, please… You are under this evil wenches spell. You would not wish my destruction; no son would of his mother.”
Clytie leaned over to her.
“He does this of his own free will… You know free will, Sophia; you have enjoyed it for so long now,” she whispered in her ear.
Caine stepped towards her and grinned.
“I do admit, I like your plan, and it will be carried out… Only Clytie will kill them all, strike at the heart of what festers outside of this city. It is unfortunate that you will not witness it.”
He placed his hands in front of him, and Sophia cried out, as she was lifted from the ground in front of him. Caine’s eyes rolled black, swirling in hatred, and black as the deepest parts of hell. He grinned as his hands shook in front of him. He jerked his hands and Sophia hit the window and broke through it. She hovered for a moment, as he stood there with his back to her. She cried out to him, as he shook and turned to her, slowly gritting his teeth.
“I love you my son; I always have.”
Caine stared at her and laughed.
“Say hello to William,” he said, as he slammed his hands towards her.
She was hit with a bright flash of light that started to crack her skin in thin black lines. She screamed out as she started to fall. Her body fell from such a tall height; birds flew past her as she fell. She slowly started to quiet, as the black cracks in her skin became bigger, and her skin changed from beautiful white porcelain to a grey color, void of life. She hit the white stone and shattered into dust and rolled up and out, into a perfect circle. Caine dropped to his knees, and Clytie placed her hand on his hair.
“My Lord,” Clytie whispered to him.
Caine looked up at her and sighed.
“Feed on this creature, take her form, and leave this city. Come back to me when they have all fallen to your wrath,” he said.
Clytie smiled at him and lunged on top of Elie’s body and tore into her, as Caine rose and walked to the door. He glanced back at Clytie and then turned to walk out into the hallway. He stepped out, and a small girl stood there watching him. He grinned and felt her energy, a human… bitten by Sophia. He held his hand out to her and she took it.
“Come, I will give you real power,” he said to Sophie Graph.
She looked back at the door and heard tearing, and looked back up at him.
“May I see my mother soon?” she asked him.
He stopped and picked her up and looked in her face.
“You look like your mother.”
He bit her on the neck and she cried out in a small voice.
He stepped into a room and slammed the door behind him with his foot.
***
I stood there in the tent and held my hands over my eyes. Lily had insisted. I so want to see the dress, I really do. I was waiting, almost holding my breath… Well I would, but I was afraid that I would pass out and then miss the ceremony… that would be my luck, right? I stood there, and then I got a tap on the shoulder. I almost took my hands from my face, but instead, I felt a blindfold slip over my eyes and I moved my hand.
“Oh, come on!” I said.
I felt my shirt get pulled on and I flinched.
&nbs
p; “This is not weirdness,” I heard Sam say to me.
I relaxed. I mean, being blindfolded and stripped sounds like a beginning to a bad situation. I grinned, and then she lifted my arms. I felt her pull the softest material over my head. I popped my head out the top and felt it settle into place. The material was so thin and soft; it really felt like I had nothing on at all. I felt her play with my hair in a flash, and I could smell them… flowers. They smelled so sweet to me, it made my stomach ache. Suddenly she stopped touching me, and I waited.
“Oh, Rue,” Sam whispered.
“What?” I asked her.
She untied the blindfold and it fell from my face. I looked into the mirror and almost died… In fact, I think I did; I died right there. The dress was so beautiful. I instantly felt tears well up in my eyes. I placed my hand to my mouth and stared at myself.
The dress was strapless, beautiful blue. It swept back and forth across the front… across my chest, like my leather straps on my battle gear. It did this to the top of my hips and then it flowed, like water, around my legs, down to my feet. I turned to see that the back was open, with thin strands on silver criss-crossing on my back, shimmering like the sun. How the metal picked up that much light, I had no idea.
The sun was starting to go down; it was twilight… my favorite time of the day. I turned back to the mirror and looked at my hair. Sam had almost woven it, with blue flowers and silver threading. I looked like a magical creature from some kick-ass movie. I looked at Sam and opened my mouth but nothing came out. She smiled and looked at me.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” she whispered to me.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” I said.
Sam tilted her head to me.
“Nothing… until you speak to my ass of a brother,” she said.
I looked at her and my eyes got big.
“Oh god,” I said to her.
“What?”
“I don’t… I didn’t write anything to say to him!” I said in a panic.
Sam laughed.
“You don’t write it down… A protector says what comes to the heart as you stand there, and then you share the blood,” she said to me.
“Share the what?”
“The blood… Don’t tell me, my brother said nothing… right?” she asked me.
I nodded to her.
“He just said that he loved me and he wanted to do the ceremony,” I said to her.
“Okay… listen. It is easy. You go to him, and he tells you what he wants you to know. Then you do it. Then he pulls out his blade, cuts his wrist, as well as yours, and you press them together…light, flashy… kiss… Done,” she said to me.
I blinked as she said it, trying to follow her.
She looked back when Lily stepped up and peeked in.
“Ohhh!” she yelled out, as she covered her mouth. Sam smiled at her.
“I know, right?” Sam said, as she looked back at me.
“Pretty,” Lily said, as she removed her hand and grinned.
I looked at her dress, the same color as mine. Sam looked at me.
“You go with Lily. I am gonna get dressed.”
Sam looked at Lily.
“Where the hell are Brooke and Johnathan?”
Lily shrugged her shoulders, and Sam pushed me towards Lily. She grabbed my hand and ran me from the tent to another one. I sat down on the bed and looked at her.
“I have no idea what I am going to say to him,” I muttered.
Lily leaned down in my face and smiled at me.
“Love,” she said.
I bit my lip and watched her peek out the tent opening.
“Oh!” she said, as she pulled it shut and looked at me.
“Josh and Theo,” she whispered, as she held it behind her and smiled at me.
For this not being a human wedding, it is sure starting to feel like one.
I stood up and rubbed my hands. Lily looked at me and tilted her head.
“I am nervous!” I said to her, as she giggled.
***
Johnathan and Brooke had become engulfed in the first book. Brooke turned the page and Johnathan looked up at the sky.
“Oh crap,” he muttered, as he stood up.
Brooke stood up and dropped the book at her feet. Johnathan grabbed it, threw it back in the jacket, and tied it to himself. Brooke jumped on his back, and they flashed back towards the carnival, hoping they were not late for the ceremony. They flashed across the field, and Brooke watched the sun as it moved right to the edge of the sky.
“If we miss this, I am gonna be so pissed!” she yelled in Johnathan’s ear.
He blinked and glanced at her.
“You do not need to yell; I can hear you just fine.”
“Sorry!” she yelled.
Johnathan gritted his teeth and pushed on as fast as he could.
He slammed against the side of a tent, and Brooke grabbed her head from hitting the tent.
“Ow!” she said, a little loud, to him.
He peeked around the corner and saw Theo walking into his tent.
“Shit.”
“What?” Brooke said.
“Theo, he just went into his damn tent.”
Brooke laughed. “It’s his tent,” Brooke said.
Johnathan looked back at her and she slid off his back.
“I know that. We just need to get the books back there.”
Brooke looked at him and grinned.
“Well, I will put them back. I will just sneak and do it when the ceremony is happening.”
Johnathan smiled at her.
“You are so smart,” he said, as he touched her face.
“Librarian,” Brooke said, as she tapped her head.
“Hot Librarian.”
Brooke laughed at him, and they ran around the corner, to his tent, and slipped inside. Johnathan stopped and looked at the bed. His battle gear was laid out on the bed and he smiled.
“Guess it’s formal,” he said to her.
Brooke ran out of the tent, towards her own, hoping that she had a present awaiting her too. She ran in and a beautiful dress lay on her bed… made from a beautiful blue fabric. She picked it up and held it out in front of her and “oooh’d” out loud. She started to undress quickly and pulled it over her head. It fell right in place.
“How did they know my size?” she whispered, as she touched it with her fingers.
She looked up as Sam stepped in and smiled at her, wearing the same blue as she was.
“Nice to see you made it,” she said.
Brooke grinned. “Yea, ummm, Johnathan and I were…”
“Ahhh, it’s fine. Whatever you do is your business. I have had enough of knowing what is going on today.”
Brooke tilted her head and almost said something, but Sam looked at her and waved her on.
“Come on… it is starting,” she said.
Sam and Brooke ran out. They stopped as Theo ran up too.
Kai stepped up in his battle gear and smiled as he looked at Sam in a dress.
“Oh,” he said, as he looked her up and down.
Sam smiled and they all looked down the long walkway that had been covered in flowers. They had transformed the Will and Wonder stage into a beautifully draped platform, covered in flowers, with the blue fabric slowly flowing from the top of stage and around it. It truly looked magical. No one would ever recognize it for the wooden stage that had been home to Jonah and Lily for hundreds of years.
***
Johnathan stepped out of his tent and looked to his right. Josh stood there leaning on his tent, looking down. He coughed and Johnathan walked to him and then stopped. Josh had pulled his hand from his mouth, and Johnathan saw blood on his palm.
“Dude!” Johnathan said, as he walked towards him quickly.
Josh stood up straight and smiled at him.
“Hey, you ass,” Josh said.
Johnathan stopped and looked at Josh’s hand.
“What’s with the blood?”
Johnathan asked.
Josh shrugged his shoulders.
“It seems that I am dying, a little faster than I expected to,” he said.
Johnathan shook his head slowly and then tilted it.
“You can’t die; who the hell will I argue with?” Johnathan said.
Josh grinned. “True, someone needs to remind you of what an idiot you are.”
He coughed again and leaned on the tent.
“Josh...”
Josh held up his hand to him.
“Listen… for once in your life, I need you to hear every word I say.”
Johnathan leaned down, and Josh leaned up and laid his head back on the tent.
“I need you to keep her safe. I need a promise from you, that you will see that she is happy… forever.”
Johnathan looked at him and shook his head.
“What are you doing?” Johnathan asked him.
“Listen, you ass, I am asking you to make sure that she is okay, even if it means that you end up with her someday,” he said.
Johnathan shook his head.
“Theo is going to find something to fix this; he always does.”
Josh laughed and touched his side.
“Nothing will fix this, except me taking another’s light. I would have to kill another protector to stop it, and me being the asshole that I am, I can’t do that.”
Johnathan sighed and leaned against the tent next to him.
“I am shocked that you didn’t kill me, dude.”
Josh looked at him and laughed.
“It crossed my mind,” he said.
“Well, thank you for the consideration.”
They both stood there for a moment, as the sun started to fall beyond view.
“So why are you doing this then?” Johnathan asked him.
“Because, I want her to be happy, if only for a moment… One moment of her happiness means more to me than immortality. If I can give her this night, this moment… I will die happy,” he said.
“You sound like a girl,” Johnathan said as he grinned.
Josh hit him on the side of the head, and Johnathan raised his hand up. They both stopped when they heard music start up. Josh stood up straight and pushed from the tent. He stumbled a little and Johnathan took his arm. Josh looked at him and smiled.
“Thanks, you ass,” Josh said.