The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Do you wish to know?” he asked her.

  Clytie relaxed her face and stared at the two of them.

  “First, I would like to know who you both are,” she said.

  The boy opened his arms out wide and looked up at the sky.

  “A banished master and his companion,” the boy said, as he looked back at Clytie.

  Clytie stared at him and waited for more. The boy looked back at the girl and waved his hand. The girl sat down, and Clytie watched her pull out a small furry creature from her pocket and start to pet it.

  “I am Bailey and this…” waving his hand to the girl on the ground, “is Mia,” he added.

  “And may I ask what you are?” Clytie asked him.

  “Rogues,” Bailey said.

  Clytie looked at the girl, who grinned big and then shoved the creature in her mouth and started to chew quickly. She coughed, and Bailey grabbed her arms and held them up over her head. The girl coughed out some fur and then grinned at Bailey, as she continued to chew. He shook his head and let her arms go.

  “Mia… how many times do I have to tell you to stop putting these creatures into your mouth...? You choke every single time!” he said.

  The girl shrugged her shoulders and then swallowed hard. She narrowed her eyes and stared at Clytie’s cut on her arm.

  “I’m thirsty, Bailey,” she said, as she started to stand up.

  Bailey looked at her and shook his head.

  “No… I am talking to her; she is not a meal,” Bailey said.

  Clytie gripped her blade and realized what she stumbled onto. Two rogue protectors who happened to be cannibals. Perfect, just perfect… she thought.

  Bailey looked at her and grinned.

  “Don’t take it personally. Mia is tenacious; she is young and wants to eat everybody she runs into. Lucky for her that I am here,” he said.

  Clytie laughed and looked at her.

  “She looks like she is maybe thirteen,” Clytie said.

  Mia stood up and placed her hands on her hips.

  “I am fourteen, you ugly old woman,” Mia said, as she narrowed her eyes at her.

  Clytie laughed at her and then lowered the blade to her side.

  “I will accept that. I cannot even remember childhood, probably because I was created at the age I am,” she said to her.

  Mia bit her lip and looked up at Bailey.

  Bailey flicked her nose, and Mia swiped her hand at him.

  “Go play,” Bailey said.

  Mia shook her head.

  Bailey turned to her and knelt down in front of her, placing his hands on her hips.

  “Please, go play. I will be fine with the old woman here,” he said.

  Mia leaned around him and stuck her tongue out at Clytie. She flashed into the trees; Clytie tried to watch her, but she was too fast. Bailey stood up and faced Clytie, holding his hands out to her.

  “You will have to excuse her, she is juvenile. It is my fault; I changed her too young. They are hard to control at that age,” he said.

  Clytie tilted her head at him.

  “You changed her?” she asked him.

  “Yes, it is a messy business… I almost made a meal of her, but she wooed me,” Bailey said to her.

  Clytie touched her arm and hissed again. The cut was burning more and more over time.

  Bailey looked at it and smiled.

  “I could help you, if you want,” he said.

  Clytie looked at him and shook her head.

  “This is nothing, I have been injured worse than this,” she said.

  Bailey clicked his tongue and walked back and forth.

  “Not by a protector’s blade, that will continually get worse until you burn up with fever… You have been poisoned,” he said to her.

  “How do you know?” she asked him.

  Bailey laughed and looked at her.

  “Because I am one,” he said.

  Clytie looked at her arm and her vision blurred. She looked back at him and swayed on her feet.

  “What did you mean when you said ‘Lord Caine’s Plan’?”

  Bailey smiled and bit his lip, as he watched the blood run down her arm.

  Clytie covered it with her hand.

  “I will kill you if you try to feed on me,” she said.

  Bailey raised his eyes to her. “I apologize, I am hungry.”

  “Me too!” Mia called out from somewhere.

  “Mia...! Go play, I mean it!” Bailey yelled out to her.

  “Whatever,” Mia yelled out; as she flashed off into the trees again.

  Clytie sighed and looked at him.

  “Not to appear rude, but I am not able to linger here with you and your… friend.”

  Bailey smiled.

  “I am not with Mia, if that is what you imply,” he said.

  “Your affairs do not concern me,” Clytie said.

  “Well, they should. You see Lord Caine sent us out to build an army… with a bonus of a meal… that being you,” Bailey said.

  “What?” Clytie asked, as she stumbled and felt as if she would fall.

  Bailey flashed to her and grabbed her arm, lowering her to the ground. Clytie sat down and looked at him. She tried to lift the blade, but it felt heavy in her hand.

  “You are but a pawn, as we all are. I offer you a trade,” Bailey said.

  Clytie looked at him and his face doubled in her blurring vision. She cleared her throat and acted as if she was fine.

  “What trade do you speak of?” Clytie asked, realizing that she was probably at his mercy.

  “Well, I will heal you, and you will help me regain power,” he said to her.

  Clytie leaned back on her good hand and stared at him.

  “That is it?” Clytie asked him.

  Bailey looked at her body and grinned.

  “Well, it has been a long time since I have been, you know… with anyone,” he said.

  Clytie rolled her eyes.

  “So, you want power and me,” she said.

  Bailey grinned.

  “Oh, I believe that you will receive power too. It is power you seek… is it not?” he asked her.

  Clytie sighed and clinched her fist. She looked at her hand and back at Bailey.

  “I have power now,” Clytie said.

  Bailey stood up and looked down on her.

  “Really...? To me it looks as if you were sent to do your lover’s dirty work, then cast aside… seeing that Mia and I were offered you as a feast.”

  “How do I know that you are not lying?” Clytie said with slurred speech.

  Bailey flashed to her face and grinned as he smelled her.

  “Because you still breathe,” he said.

  Clytie started to slump to the ground and Bailey scooped her up into his arms and whistled. Mia flashed to him and grinned at Clytie, passed out in his arms. She quickly flashed to him and touched her hand.

  “No,” Bailey said as he looked at her.

  Mia looked up at him and frowned.

  “You want me to starve to death don’t you?” Mia said, as she stamped her foot against the ground.

  “Mia, seriously, knock it off. This woman in my arms can help us,” he said.

  Mia looked at her and then at him.

  “You like her!” she yelled out.

  Bailey tilted his head.

  “So what if I do?” Bailey said.

  Mia bit Clytie’s hand, and Bailey jerked Clytie’s body away from Mia’s mouth.

  “Mia!” he said with irritation in his voice.

  Mia stood there and rubbed her arms.

  “I don’t care anyway,” Mia said, as she started to walk away from him.

  Bailey looked at Clytie, and his stomach growled.

  “You will help us; you crazy nymph,” Bailey whispered.

  ***

  Theo walked back and forth in his tent. He stopped, rubbed his fingers over Rue’s third book, and opened it quickly, reading the last lines. He closed his eyes and slammed the b
ook shut. He stood there regretting not opening the books himself when Johnathan and Brooke brought them to him. How could he have known? Neither one of them had shared that the books were writing history as it happened. He regretted not asking, but the excitement of the ceremony had them all engulfed… sloppy, very sloppy of him.

  He heard a throat clear and turned to see Kai standing there in the tent opening. He looked at Kai and then glanced at the books. He picked it up, opened the large chest… placed the book in it, and closed it, rubbing his hand over the broken lock.

  “You need to stop beating yourself up,” Kai said.

  Theo looked at him and manufactured a grin.

  “That is not what I am doing,” he said.

  “Yea, it is,” Kai said, as he stepped in and looked around the tent.

  It was a mess. Clothes thrown everywhere… the bed unmade, so unlike Theodore… to be this ‘boy’ about his room. Kai grinned and looked back at him.

  “This looks like my room at home… or did, I mean,” Kai said to him.

  Theo looked around the room at the mess and laughed.

  “Oh this...? No, this is ahh, me not having the maid come,” he said.

  Kai laughed.

  “Oh, okay,” he said, as he rubbed his hair.

  “Listen, we have all been together long enough that I know what you all do. And this…” Kai waved his hand. “Is like me or Josh, not you,” he said.

  Theo grinned and tilted his head.

  “When did you become aware of your surroundings?” Theo asked.

  Kai laughed and sat down on the bed. He knocked the clothes to the side and looked back at Theo.

  “I am not an idiot; I know what is going on,” he said.

  Theo sighed, walked to the bed, and sat down next to him.

  “I never assumed that you were, and I doubt that someone like my Samantha would waste her time with a boy who bored her.”

  Kai leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

  “I just rock her world,” Kai said, as he grinned.

  Theo looked at him and shook his head.

  “Don’t do that,” he said.

  Kai laughed.

  “Okay, okay… just kidding.”

  Theo tapped him on the leg and laughed.

  “It is fine; I fear that I dropped my humor somewhere.”

  Kai laughed and sat up. He placed his arm around Theo and hugged him to his side. Theo sighed as Kai shook him like a ragdoll.

  “Well, I didn’t come in here to torture you with my business with Sam… I think that Jonah is going to eat Sophie,” he said.

  Theo jumped up and looked at him.

  “Kai Volley...! Why did you not speak of that at the start?!” he yelled.

  Kai grinned.

  “I guess I just wanted to give Jonah a head start.”

  Theo shook his head at him. He pointed his finger and shook it too.

  “You are as ruthless as your sister,” Theo said.

  Kai shrugged his shoulders at him.

  “Rue is stubborn; I am calm.”

  Theo flashed from his tent to the tent that they had temporarily housed Johnathan’s sister. He flashed in and looked at the bed. Sophie laid there, on her side… still in a deep sleep, the one that Theo had thrown her into until tempers calmed down and questions could be asked. He spotted Jonah in the corner and stared at him. Jonah rose up from his squatting position and stared at Theo. Theo could see Jonah’s bright white teeth even in the darkened tent.

  Theo crossed his arms on his chest and stared him down.

  “I would love for you to explain,” Theo said.

  Jonah stepped from the corner and relaxed his shoulders.

  “I would think that in times like these a creature, such as myself, would be welcome.”

  Theo glanced at Sophie and back to him.

  “You are a vegetarian now. No one would expect for you to eat anyone… even those who are seen as an enemy to us,” Theo said, as he stepped towards him.

  Jonah smiled.

  “Oh, it’s not that… seems that I am hungry,” he said.

  Theo tilted his head at him.

  “You jest.”

  Jonah looked down at his hands and back up to him.

  “Do you know what I am?” he asked him.

  Theo bit his lip and raised his eyebrow.

  “A protector, rogue by choice,” he said to him.

  Jonah laughed at him and sat down where he stood.

  He looked at his hands again and then up at Theo.

  “Sit with me, Theodore,” Jonah said.

  Theo looked at the ground and then sat down on it awkwardly. He tried not to move… not wanting to get dirty. He adjusted himself and then tried to look comfortable. Jonah watched him and leaned back on his hands.

  “Okay, I have sat in the filth… Can I ask why?” Theo said.

  Jonah looked at him and then up at the bed.

  “I feel… unhappy,” Jonah said.

  Theo looked at him and waited for more.

  Jonah sighed. He placed his hand on Theo’s and looked down.

  “I am unlike you and your family; I am a killer by nature,” he said.

  Theo leaned down to try to see his face. Jonah peeked up and his eyes narrowed.

  “I am rogue. When that beast and Sophie came… I, as well as Lily, stepped aside, as if we were separate from you. We both failed you all,” he said.

  Theo looked at him and shook his head.

  “It was not obligation on you or your sister’s part to involve yourselves,” Theo said.

  Jonah gritted his teeth.

  “I have watched all of you; how you talk to each other…”

  Theo stopped him abruptly.

  “We are all different in our own way, Jonah. How you react to things is your business; no one is angry with you or your sister,” he said.

  “But I felt nothing,” Jonah said.

  Theo tilted his head again.

  “About?” he asked him.

  “About the death of Johnathan, I feel nothing,” he said.

  Theo tapped him on the hand.

  “Well, perhaps you do not have sorrow.”

  “I want it,” Jonah said to him.

  Theo sighed and then leaned back, pulling his hand from his.

  “What is it that you ask of me, Jonah?”

  Jonah bit his lip and looked at Sophie.

  “I want you to give me memory; I want to feel the sorrow. That is why Lily and I did not attend his funeral. We felt nothing,” he said.

  “Jonah… you and Lily have been on your own for a long time. I would assume that you have simply lost your will to feel such things,” he said.

  Jonah sighed and touched Theo’s face.

  “I want to feel such things again,” he said.

  Theo stared at him and then stood up abruptly.

  “You do not. I can assure you that sorrow is not a gift.”

  Jonah stood up too and grabbed his hand. He placed it to his heart and stood very still.

  “I ask this of you, with no intention of ever asking for anything else. You see, Lily and I are the first, the first rogues to wander this planet. We are the reason that there are rogues inhabiting it now. I want to shed this, this numb feeling that I have and return to normal,” he said.

  Theo grinned.

  “You will never be normal, Jonah, and that is why I find you intriguing.”

  Jonah dropped Theo’s hand and stared him down.

  “So you refuse then?” Jonah said.

  Theo looked at Sophie and then back to him.

  “I would never wish my heartache on anyone; it is almost unbearable,” Theo said.

  “Fine, then I shall eat her and then take my leave of this place,” Jonah said, as he stepped towards Sophie.

  Theo flashed in front of him and shook his head at him slowly.

  “I know, as well as you, that you do not want that.”

  Jonah grinned. “You do not know of me, only what I say.�
�

  Theo grabbed him and kissed him on the mouth. Jonah struggled at first and then relaxed allowing it to happen. Theo slowly took his lips from Jonah’s and then placed his hand on his face.

  “I have come to enjoy your company,” Theo whispered to him.

  Jonah looked down and sighed.

  “Then you ask for destruction, for I am death,” Jonah whispered.

  “Not to me,” Theo said, as he leaned forward.

  Jonah stepped back from him and held his arms up, showing Theo his colors swirling on his skin. It glitched and faded. Theo watched it and then looked into his eyes.

  “Easily fixed,” Theo said to him.

  Jonah tilted his head and smiled.

  “Are you offering your services to me, Theodore Barrington?” he asked.

  Theo smiled. “I am offering more than that.”

  Theo lunged at Jonah and knocked him to the ground.

  ***

  Josh broke through the forest with me in his arms and then he stopped. He placed me on the ground and leaned over… taking a breath. I looked at him and leaned over to see his face.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him.

  Josh squeezed his legs and then stood up, cracking his neck. He started to laugh.

  “Payback is a bitch,” Josh said, as he sat down on the ground.

  I stood there and held out my hand, not knowing what he meant by that.

  Josh shook his head and laughed.

  “If you don’t tell me what is up, I will freak out right here,” I said.

  Josh looked up at me and grinned, showing all of his teeth.

  I felt a little tingle in my fingertips and looked away from him.

  “Theo is getting his freak on, and by the way I feel right now… I would say that it is nasty,” Josh said.

  I ‘oh’d’ and looked in the direction of the carnival.

  I started to giggle and placed my hand on my mouth.

  “Yea, it’s hilarious,” Josh said, as he leaned back on his hands.

  He looked me up and down and got that ‘look’ on his face. You know the one.

  I shook my head at him and held my hands up to him.

  “Nope,” I said to him.

  Josh pushed himself up and adjusted his black shirt. He cleared his throat and started to walk towards me, with that same look on his face.