by Rue Volley
1. From Valon, which is so not good, and…
2. She looks pissed…once again, not good.
“Ummm, Josh, who is she?” I asked him, as I looked up at him.
He looked so focused I didn’t know if he heard me or not.
“Rue… back away and then flash home. Have Kai strengthen the spell on the house, then send a bubble to Sam or Theo,” he whispered to me.
I didn’t like his tone; he sounded serious, which for Josh is always a prelude to something crazy.
“I won’t leave you,” I said.
Josh tensed up.
“For once… listen to me,” he said, as he gritted his teeth.
I decided to do it. Josh doesn’t get this way very often, and he must have a reason. I turned and stopped, as I looked at two more, one girl and one boy… standing behind us about 20 yards out. They also had battle gear on with the tree embossed on their chests.
“Josh… ummm,” I said.
“Rue… we don’t have time,” Josh said, as he glanced behind us quickly.
“Oh shit,” he muttered to me.
I backed up and leaned against him.
“I swear that I was going to go.”
“Well, that’s a first,” he said.
I looked up at him from the side, and he grinned.
“You know it’s true,” he added.
“This in no time to point out my flaws,” I said.
He laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked him.
“Oh because… I love to fight, but not with you by my side,” he said.
“Why? Do I suck that bad?” I asked him.
“No, I can’t focus… even now. I know we are in trouble, and I keep thinking about your boobs,” he whispered.
“Shut up,” I said, pressing against him as the boy on the right took a step towards us.
“Well, they are nice,” Josh said.
“Thanks?” I said, as I glanced at him.
He laughed again.
“Do me a favor,” he said.
“What?” I asked him, as I kept my eyes on the two behind us.
“Tell me that my hair rocks,” he said.
“What?” I asked him, as I grabbed the back of his shirt.
“Tell me,” he said.
“This is so not the time to inflate your ego,” I said.
“I disagree completely, tell me my hair is the shit,” he said.
I had to laugh, and the two enemies behind us tilted their heads at me.
“You are ridiculous,” I said.
“No… I just have never in my life… which has been a long one, had a girl tell me that my hair was stupid,” he said.
“Oh my god.”
“Just say it, I may be dead here,” he said.
Sia spoke up finally.
“What are chattering about, Joshua? Is this another naïve little girl that you have lied to about love?” she asked him.
I leaned around him and looked at her.
Josh instinctively looked behind us at the other two.
“Josh is not a liar, and I am not a little girl,” I said.
Josh nudged me.
“Don’t provoke her.”
Sia laughed at me.
“I was not speaking to you, Rue Volley,” she said.
I crinkled my eyebrows.
“What the hell do you want anyway?” I asked her.
Josh sighed.
“Oh, here we go,” he muttered.
“Oh! What do I want...? Oh, let’s see… perhaps my heart. Did you happen to find it on that wretched boy as you whored in his bed?”
“Excuse me?” I asked her.
She grinned, and I placed my hands on my hips.
“You didn’t go there,” I said.
She laughed.
“Oh, but that I did. Joshua Barrington is notorious for taking whores to his bed, and I would not doubt that you are but one of thousands in a long line of them,” she said to me.
“Oh, hell no,” I said as I took a step towards her and raised my finger.
“First of all I am not a whore, and Josh is a great person with a big heart.”
She laughed and looked at him.
“Oh, you have fucked her into delirium, Joshua,” she said to him.
“Sia… stop,” Josh said, as he positioned himself sideways and glanced at her, then behind us.
“Stop what, Joshua...? Telling the truth of what you are?” she asked.
I looked at her and could feel my blood start to boil.
She is but yet another crazy girl and I have no doubt that Josh had been with her.
“Listen, I don’t know you… I don’t know what it is that Josh did to you, but I am sure it was like a thousand years ago. So why don’t you just ask him to apologize and leave,” I said.
I thought it sounded reasonable, but I guess it wasn’t enough for her.
She bent over laughing, and I looked at Josh and raised my eyebrows.
I stared at him and whispered.
“What the hell did you do?” I asked him.
He shrugged his shoulders and grinned.
I tilted my head and looked back at her, as she started to talk again.
“Well, my… my. You are something quite unique little girl. Since I am so certain that before I leave this disgusting place… stinking of humans, you and your first here will be dead; I will indulge you and share my tale of love and betrayal.”
“Sia… there is no need for this. Rue has nothing to do with…”
“Silence!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, and I flinched at the sheer volume of it.
Sia took a breath and relaxed her fists, as she slowly moved her neck around like she was cracking it.
“You really pissed her off,” I whispered to Josh.
“Like I don’t know that already,” he whispered back to me.
“Okay then… where to begin. Well, it was long ago… as you so pointed out,” she said, as she took a step towards us.
I backed up into Josh and reached for his hand.
“I was young and impressionable, and Joshua Barrington here was an up and coming Lord to Valon… something that all girls in Valon dreamed of, myself included. I knew of him and him of me. I had come of age, and my genetic code had aligned itself for mating.”
I looked at Josh and shook my head at him.
“This is not going to be good,” I said.
Josh half grinned and I looked back at her.
“I found myself wanting, things I had not wanted before. Joshua was still in training, and I would watch him every day. He was magnificent, in every way. His skill with a blade was not matched by any.”
I looked at him, and he nodded to me, like he was proud.
I shook my head and looked back at her.
She continued on. “One day, as I watched him he glanced at me… my heart fluttered, and I know that he felt me. I also felt him react to me, and I knew at that moment that I wanted him. The thought of a future Lord finding me compatible was such a thrill, and I left that day full of excitement at the thought of this coming to pass.”
I looked at Josh, and he shrugged his shoulders. I sighed.
“Please… go on,” I said.
Sia looked at Josh, and her expression changed from soft to hard.
“Well, he courted me… for quite some time. I found him charming in every way.”
“Oh yea… I’ve seen that,” I said.
She looked at me and tilted her head.
“I had no idea at to what cost my passion would take. He charmed me one night, to his bed and took me. I can still feel his mouth on my…”
I interrupted her and raised my hand.
“No offense, but you can skip the details,” I said.
Josh shuffled his feet, and I looked at him.
He was smiling, and I hit him on the arm.
“Stop it,” I said.
I looked back at Sia and sighed.
“Listen… I know that
Josh has his moments… I really do. I won’t lie; he aggravates the crap out of me sometimes… but obviously something didn’t work between the two of you and most of the time, people just break up and date somebody else,” I said.
Sia took three steps towards us and stared at me.
“I find it ridiculous that you are trying to give me advice as to my affairs.”
“Sorry… I just thought that I would try to…”
She interrupted me.
“I need nothing from a mutant like you,” she said to me.
“A mutant...? I know you are upset, but you don’t need to get all personal with me,” I said.
“You are a curse on our people, and a whore to a demon,” she said.
“What?” I said, as I looked at Josh.
“I told you to not talk to her,” he said.
“I am not a curse,” I said, as I stepped towards her.
“Oh, but that you are… we all know of you, as we have for centuries,” she said.
“For centuries...? You have me confused with someone else. I am twenty years old… that is all.”
Sia laughed and looked at Josh.
“Oh, and your treachery knows no bounds,” she said.
Josh stared at her and reached for his blade on his back.
I stared at him and shook my head.
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked him.
“Sia… Rue has nothing to do with this, let her go,” he said.
I kept staring at him.
“Do you want to tell me what is up?” I asked him.
He glanced at me.
“Not now,” he said.
I laughed… not a ‘ha ha’ laugh but an ‘I am disgusted’ laugh.
“You are amazing; you really are! Here I am all feeling bad about not telling you about stuff and then this crap,” I said.
“Rue… seriously, I am about to fight a girl that is older than me, and she is crazy and really, really good at killing. I can’t be doing this with you,” he said.
“Huh… well, I take it back then,” I said.
“You take what back?” he said, as he twisted his foot and pulled his blades to his sides.
“About your hair… I don’t like it… all the time.”
He turned to me and raised his eyebrows.
“Really...? What is wrong with my hair?” he asked me.
I bit my lip and crossed my arms.
At that moment, one of the guards behind us flashed up to us, and I grabbed Josh’s blade and stabbed him in the heart, not even looking at him. He fell behind us, and Sia took a step towards us. I kept my eyes locked on Josh’s.
“This is so you.”
“What is so me?” he asked me.
“This!” I said, as I raised my arms in the air.
“Oh, okay, so I had a life before you,” he said.
I laughed, as the other guard flashed up. Josh twisted and stabbed her, and she fell to the side. I didn’t even look at her. I kept my eyes on him, and he held his blades out and gave me the ‘what’ face.
“You were a whore and this is what you get,” I said.
He laughed and nodded his head.
“Oh, and what about Johnathan?” he asked me.
I tilted my head, as Sia watched us and pulled her blades out, tilting them in her hands.
“What about Johnathan?” I asked him.
“You know.”
“Stop it, both of you!” Sia yelled out.
We ignored her.
Josh pointed his blade at me, and I leaned back, as I looked at the end of it.
“You love him… more than me,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
“I so do not,” I said.
“Listen to me!” Sia yelled out.
We went on as usual.
“Uh huh… you so do!” Josh said.
“You are insecure,” I said to him.
He took a step back and shook his head ‘no’.
“No way.”
I nodded yes and stepped towards him.
“You so are! You have always been that way about him, because I was with him first.”
Josh laughed and stared me down.
“Why would I be insecure about that idiot...? It was your bad taste not mine.”
I huffed and started to half laugh.
“Oh, please… your taste gets us stalked like deer,” I said.
“ENOUGH!” Sia screamed, as she flashed at us, and we both turned to her.
“Shut up!” Josh and I yelled at her in unison, and she lunged at us.
I kicked her in the stomach, and a bright flash came from me and Josh like a burst from the sun’s surface. She stopped and screamed out, as she was lifted from the ground and bent sideways. The light wrapped around her like a snake would its prey, and she trembled and her eyes rolled in her head. I wasn’t even really thinking about killing her. I was just irritated, and the fact that a devastating wave of death came out of me and Josh like that, kind of shocked me.
She rolled in the air, and then she flew from us, through the air and out of sight over the trees. I relaxed my hands and looked at them, as the light started to fade. I looked at Josh with, what I am sure was, a strange look on my face. He stood there and stared in the direction that we had flung her like a ragdoll.
He looked at me slowly and that old Josh smile took over his face.
“That was the shit.”
I had absolutely nothing to say to that, because I totally agreed… for once.
That’s new. Huh.
Chapter 9
The Dead Rise
Johnathan touched Brooke’s hair and watched her move a little. He knew she would wake up, and he really wanted her too. Hopefully she would not freak out; he had missed her… more than he expected too. He stood up, walked to the window, and looked out, watching the snow slowly fall on the yard and the trees that lined the long drive way leading up to the entrance of Lizzy’s house.
“Lizzy… who the hell are you?” he asked under his breath.
He turned, as he heard her voice.
Lizzy stood there grinning, rocking on her heels.
Johnathan stared at her and tilted his head.
“What are you smiling about...? And why are you back without anyone?” he asked her.
Lizzy’s smile kinda faded, and she stared at him.
“Oh, I see, Mr. Grumpy Pants,” she said.
“I am not ‘Grumpy Pants’ or whatever you called me. Where is she?” he asked her.
Lizzy walked over to Brooke and looked down at her.
“She was harder to find then I expected her to be,” she said.
Johnathan walked to her and looked down at Brooke.
“She can’t be that hard to find! She smells like evil,” Johnathan said.
Lizzy looked at him.
“Like evil?” she asked.
“Yea, she does. When she stabbed me, I smelled something awful,” he said.
Lizzy laughed.
“Evil does not have a smell,” she said.
Johnathan looked at her.
“Oh, yes it does, and she smelled terrible,” he said.
Lizzy tilted her head and reached up and touched his hair. Johnathan looked at her, uncomfortable for a moment. He backed away from her and cleared his throat. Lizzy lowered her hand slowly and looked back at Brooke.
“It is a shame that you don’t want to feed on this one. She still has your blood lingering in her… it would so make it possible to leave this place.”
Johnathan looked at Brooke and shook his head.
“No way, not her,” he said.
Lizzy shrugged her shoulders and walked away from him and into the other room. Johnathan took another look at Brooke and followed her.
“Lizzy,” he said.
Lizzy leaned down, picked up a book, and turned back to him, as she opened it up and stared at the page.
“Uh huh,” she said without looking at him.
“Brooke needs to go
home; she doesn’t belong here with us.”
Lizzy peeked up at him and shook her head.
“How do you know where she belongs?” she asked him.
Johnathan took a step towards her and raised his hand, pointing back in the direction of the room that Brooke laid in.
“She is a good person, a friend. You brought her here and lied to me about why you did… Now I am not mad, I guess I kinda understand with the whole blood thing, but she is not a meal to me,” he said.
“What if she was the only option you had?” Lizzy asked him.
Johnathan tilted his head.
“But she isn’t the only option.”
Lizzy laughed and closed the book.
“No… no, she isn’t, I guess. I was just curious as to what you would say.”
Johnathan rubbed his neck and stared at her.
“Well… what now?” he asked.
Lizzy dropped the book and it banged really loud against the wood floor. Johnathan didn’t flinch, but Brooke did and her eyes started to flutter open. Brooke slowly pushed herself up, looked around the unfamiliar room, and took a breath, as she adjusted herself on the couch. She looked up at the ceiling and around the room.
“Hello?” she called out.
Johnathan sighed and looked at Lizzy.
“That was not necessary,” he said.
Lizzy smiled and glanced at the living room.
“You better go and make sure she doesn’t have a meltdown,” Lizzy said.
Johnathan shook his head and ran into the room.
Brooke looked at him and instantly her eyes became glossy.
“Johnathan?” she said under her breath.
Johnathan smiled and walked to her.
He sat down slowly next to her, and she looked at him with a confused look on her face.
“I am not dreaming, am I?” Brooke said, as she looked in his eyes.
Johnathan shook his head ‘no’ and reached out to her slowly.
She watched his hand, and then he touched her face and she closed her eyes.
“Oh god,” she said.
Johnathan leaned in.
“Don’t panic… this is ah… ummm.”
Lizzy leaned in the doorway and looked at her nails.
“Purgatory,” Lizzy said without looking at either one of them.
“It’s you,” Brooke said, as she stared at her.
Lizzy looked at her and smiled.
“Yea, it’s me,” Lizzy said, as she raised her hands up and waved them.