The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Rue,” he said, and my eyes immediately went from his stomach to his eyes.

  “Uh huh?” I said.

  “Stop making me feel cheap… I may charge you,” he said.

  “What...? No, I ah… Sara was here, and she had a blade in her hand.” I said, trying to get back to some sort of normal.

  Josh tossed his shirt at me like some over confident male stripper.

  I brushed it off my head and let it drop to the floor.

  “Do you hear me?” I asked him.

  “I did,” he said, as he stepped towards the table and opened the package up and stared into it.

  I watched him, wondering why the hell he didn’t care… about Sara and the fact that she had a blade.

  “Look at what I got,” he said.

  I was about to yell at him, and Sam and Kai walked into the house, laughing. They were holding hands. I guess that the short lived separation was over for them. I watched them stop in the middle of the living room and kiss. Not the normal ‘hey I dig you’ kiss, but the ‘all tongue’ one that I should never witness… Sam lifted her leg up, and Kai squeezed the side of her thigh.

  “Oh god,” I muttered, turning back to Josh who stood there grinning at me.

  “I am the man,” he said.

  I stared at him, then glanced back at Sam and Kai who had disappeared…probably to their room, and looked back at him.

  “Okay… fine. I will bite. What the hell is in the bag?” I asked him.

  “Close your eyes,” he said to me.

  “Ummm, no,” I said.

  Josh grinned his wicked grin at me, and I shook my head.

  “Fine… then I will just put this away,” he said, as he closed the bag and looked at me.

  I took a step towards him and sighed, as I crossed my arms on my chest.

  “No… show me,” I said.

  “Really? Oh, I don’t know if you can handle it,” he said.

  “Ha!... stop teasing me.” I said.

  “Oh, I haven’t even begun to tease you,” he said.

  I stared at him and felt my face start to heat up. Why the hell I was suddenly embarrassed at what he says to me was a mystery… kind of, I guess. I mean, Josh and I had been together, but I had never been with him… well, you know, in that way with him all full throttle on me. I mean, I was much more confident now, but Josh is ah, he is so…

  “Rue,” he said, and I snapped out of my internal conversation.

  “Yea?” I said.

  “Stop talking in your head and let me show you,” he said.

  I bit my lip and closed them tight.

  I mean what is the worst that can happen?

  “Ohhhh,” I said, as I felt his hands on my sides, and I started to peek.

  He placed his hand over my eyes with one hand, and then started to unbutton my shirt with the other. I won’t lie; I was shocked that he could navigate buttons. Then I realized that I was talking about Josh… Geez… Josh and his many skills. I heard him laugh under his breath, as he kept undoing my buttons, and I knew that he could feel the heat coming from my face.

  “Embarrassment is a sweet virtue.” He whispered.

  I sighed and let him continue; not knowing what he was doing, but finding myself powerless to care. He gently let his fingertips touch the bottom of my stomach, and I could feel my muscles jump under his hand.

  “Settle down,” he whispered to me.

  I tried to control my breathing, knowing that I was just asking for a situation to evolve from this. But once again my head said “What the hell?” and my body said, “Go ahead and do what you want with me.” I licked my lips and let my teeth graze my bottom lip, and he sighed.

  “Okay, lift your arms,” he said.

  I grinned… this is so hot. I couldn’t even imagine where he was going, and then I felt something slip over my head and down onto my body. The material felt soft and flowing. He touched my sides and pulled on the material letting his fingers barely graze my hips, and I knew then that he had bought something for me. His hands left me, and I stood there waiting.

  “Okay,” he said.

  I opened my eyes up and looked at him first. He stood there rubbing his neck and had a good look on his face. The kind of look that lets you know that you must look unbelievably good. I looked down and it was purple. Yep, freakin’ purple. Lots and lots of purple… engulfing me... in purple, my all-time least favorite color. I opened my mouth and then closed it quickly. I glanced up at him, and he smiled so proud of himself.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Josh smiled and crossed his arms on his chest.

  “I saw it, and I was like… holy shit, that is the dress. The one! I mean, could it fit you any better?” he asked.

  I looked down at it, and actually yes… it could have fit me better, considering the fact that it had more chest room than I could ever hope to fill. The stomach was baggy, and it went to my knees… well, right past my knees, mid-calf really. The material was deceiving. It felt soft like a teddy bear, and I rubbed my fingers on it and realized that it was velvet. Holy shit… purple velvet… too big, and did I say purple? Oh yea, I did.

  I stared at it and had to fight back tears. I could not believe that someone who had been with me…all naked could have picked out something too big and with major boobie room. I mean was this how he wished I was? I felt the back of the dress, and the material sagged on my butt. Like I had more butt than I did… at least in his mind.

  “WTF?” I asked out loud.

  Josh stood there and grinned.

  “I know…’Thank you, Josh’,” he said.

  I raised my eyebrows and grabbed the bottom of the ugly thing, holding it up… to my knee, and stared him down. I dropped it, and it fell back to knee-length. I shook my head at him.

  “This is a joke, right?” I asked him.

  He lost his grin and looked at me.

  “No… why?” he asked me.

  “You know… I mean, look!” I said, as I swung around.

  The dress kept moving when I stopped. It swung past my butt and settled back down to make a nice saggy bunch at my butt. I looked back over my shoulder and ‘Oh’d’ as I watched it. He looked at my butt and tilted his head.

  “You are a little smaller than she is,” he said.

  I turned and looked at him.

  “She who?” I asked him.

  He looked up at my face and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Well, this is an old dress… an old girlfriend that I had. I could have sworn that the two of you had about the same shape,” he said.

  I gritted my teeth, as I started to feel my blood boil.

  He had NOT brought a dress to me that some girl wore… some girl that he had been with… Did he?

  “Sam can totally fix this,” he said, as he looked at my boobs.

  I glanced down at my boobies, and then snapped my fingers to pull him out of his stare.

  “No… no. There is no ‘fixing’ to be done here,” I said, as I quoted the word ‘fixing’ in the air.

  “Oh, come on, Rue… we are two adults, honest and shit,” he said to me.

  I placed my hands on my hips and turned. The heavy velvet turned too… making me feel like I was not balanced. I grabbed the bottom of the dress and clinched my fists around two handfuls of some other girl’s dress. A girl who obviously had more boobie, more butt… more everything apparently. Who had enough to make him hold onto the dress long after she was gone.

  I started to walk as mean a walk as I could… hell-bent on going to my room, ripping off this dress, and cutting it into a million zillion pieces. Then I would spend as long as it would take to flush it all down the toilet…not caring if I ruined the toilet or the water line…didn’t care.

  “Maybe if you worked out more…” he started to say.

  I hunched my shoulders like he had just stabbed in the back.

  I slowly turned.

  “Really?” I asked him.

  He looked me over in this tent of a dres
s and shrugged his shoulders.

  “I don’t know… There are all kinds of ‘crunches’… like for the butt and boobies and…”

  “Ahhh,” I said, as I raised my hand to him and rolled my eyes.

  Sam stepped out of their room, looking at me in the sea of purple that I wore, and tilted her head at me.

  She glanced at Josh and back to me.

  “What the hell are you wearing?” she asked me.

  I looked at her and raised my hands up, letting the velvet flow like a purple shit river. I looked down myself and glanced at Josh, as I raised my arm and shook my head.

  “Josh here gave me a dress… one that his old girlfriend wore,” I said.

  Sam grinned a little; her lips kind of went white.

  “Wow,” she muttered.

  “Yea… WOW and WTF and OMG and on and on,” I said.

  Josh laughed, and I turned to him and shook my head ‘no’.

  “What are you laughing about?” I asked him.

  “You,” he said.

  I felt my face go red, but this time it was from my temper and not the thought of him seducing me. I felt a tingling in my fingertips, and it traveled up my arms and across my shoulders, reaching my neck and making me hunch my shoulders again.

  I closed my eyes, and a ringing started in my ears. It started out low and slowly started to build. I tried to calm myself down, but there was nothing to stop me from letting out some serious rage.

  I clinched my fists and heard Sam run from behind me. I looked behind me, and she came out of their room with her blades in her hand. She walked up to me and held her blades out to me. I grinned and reached towards them, as I watched blue swirl on my skin, and I started to reach out towards the blades. Sam nodded to me, and I grinned too. I gripped the blades in my hands, not realizing until this moment how much I missed the feel of them. I turned to Josh and pointed a blade at him.

  “Yard… now,” I said.

  He had pulled his shirt back on and looked at Sam, and then back to me.

  “Are you talking to me?” he asked all sarcastically, as he pointed at himself.

  “Oh, you know it,” I said.

  He flashed past me and up the stairs.

  I walked to the door, and Sam followed me.

  I stopped and looked back at her.

  “I am going to kick his ass,” I said.

  She nodded, all excited, and flashed to the kitchen. I didn’t ask why. I swung the door open and stepped out onto the porch. I felt a flash go by me and disappear into the woods. I could see a trail of Black and knew that it was Josh. He couldn’t possibly be scared… no way. It is Josh we are talking about.

  I stepped down from the porch, and Sam and Kai stepped out behind me. I smelled the popcorn before I even turned to confirm it. Kai reached in the bag and pulled out a handful, shoving it in his mouth. I rolled my eyes and looked at Sam.

  “You guys are eating...? Now?” I asked them.

  Sam nodded and grinned, as she chewed and looked at the forest.

  “It’s like a movie,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes and looked at the forest.

  “Yea…’chick kicking ass’ flick,” I said.

  Kai clapped his hands together and grabbed another handful of popcorn, shoving it in his mouth.

  “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!” he yelled out, as he wiped his hands on his jeans and left butter streaks behind.

  “That is monster truck stuff,” I said to him.

  “I wish we had a cage,” Kai said, as he stepped down and looked at me.

  “That is wrestling; this is blades and a pissed off girl,” I said.

  “Even better,” he said.

  I looked back at the forest and grinned.

  “You are gonna regret this,” I whispered to myself.

  I flashed after him, knowing that this battle was long in the making.

  I reached a clearing, with Sam and Kai following close behind me. I stopped and tilted my head, as I noticed that I could actually hear everything. The humming in my ears had been pulsating, to the point of annoying, and then all of a sudden the ringing stopped. It was like I was in an airtight room… I could hear bugs moving around on the forest floor, moving leaves and debris out of their way. I could hear a rabbit hopping off in the distance, letting his foot drag over a fallen tree limb. I could hear all the leaves whisper to me, as the wind gently moved them on the branches.

  Then I started to hear a heartbeat. I narrowed my eyes and tilted the blades in my hand. Josh dropped down from above us and landed like a cat a few yards from me. I turned to the side and stared him down.

  “I see that you finally realized that you can hear,” Josh said.

  I gritted my teeth, as he paced back and forth.

  He didn’t have his blades drawn, and I find that to be inconsiderate to me.

  “Pull your blades,” I said to him.

  He stopped and turned his head to me, still grinning like he thought that this was hilarious.

  “I only pull my blades when I find it is necessary,” he replied.

  “Oh, it is,” I said, as my hand clinched on my blade.

  I held it up and pointed it at him again.

  “You know what I think?” Josh said to me.

  I tilted my head.

  “Well… I think that you let your temper get the best of you,” he said.

  I bit my lip and looked back at Sam.

  She grinned and sat down on the dirt floor, Kai right along with her.

  I looked back at Josh and shook my head ‘no’.

  “Oh yea… that you do. It will be the death of you,” he said.

  “I… just pull out your blades,” I said, as I pressed my heel into the ground and twisted it.

  He looked down at my feet and laughed.

  “That stance won’t do you any good,” he said to me.

  I made the mistake of looking down at my feet; I felt the wind of him, but he moved too fast for me to catch him. I spun around, and he reached down. Sam raised the popcorn bag; he took a handful and shoved it in his mouth. He started to chew and grinned, letting a piece of it drop to the ground.

  “Thanks,” he said to her, and she smiled and looked back at me.

  “Want some?” she asked me, as she raised the bag up.

  “No… I don’t… come on!” I said to him.

  I tried to turn, and the velvet dress once again moved slower than me. I grabbed the bottom of it and pulled it over my knees. I grumbled, and he laughed, as he once again blew by me. My hair flew up in my face from the wind he produced from his unbelievable speed.

  I turned, and he was sitting on the ground, indian-style. I tilted my head and yelled out, as I lunged towards him… tired of him playing around with me. I swung the two blades across, and he rolled backwards and up on his feet pulling his blades at the same time. The metal of my two blades clashed against his, and he pushed me back, causing me to lose my balance. I fell on my butt and a not so warrior-like “Ahhhg” came out of my mouth, as the ground didn’t really cushion the fall.

  My blades slammed to the ground, and one of them flew out of my hand. Josh quickly snatched it up, and he was out of the way before I could swing my blade at him. I sat there, kind of pissed that I only had one blade now. I could hear him laugh behind me. I stood up, accidently stepping on some purple velvet, and stumbled to the right, catching myself with my free hand.

  “Shit,” I muttered out loud, and then I rolled my eyes and stood up to face him.

  “Come over here, so I can kick your ass,” I said.

  He laughed and flipped my blade into the ground.

  I watched it vibrate and then finally come to a stop.

  “Come and take what is yours,” he said, as he leaned over and grabbed some more popcorn.

  I yelled out as he chewed, watching him standing there all cocky and eating…of all freakin’ things to do. I am the only one ready to battle here... He, on the other hand, is just mocking me. He tilted his head at me and sm
iled.

  “Mad?” he asked me.

  “Pissed,” I said, as I tilted my one remaining blade and stared him down.

  “Do you know what this is?” he asked me.

  I stared at him, waiting.

  “No… drop the knowledge on me wise one,” I said.

  “Failure,” he muttered, as he came at me, like I had never seen him before.

  I had to pivot on my foot and bring my blade up at sonic speed to block his blow. He turned and whispered in my ear, as he slammed his shoulder against mine, and I stumbled to the right. I rolled and came up, gripping the one blade in both hands as my ears started to ring again. This time the ringing pitched, and I reached up and placed my pinky in my ear and shook it.

  He tilted his head at me and gritted his teeth, as he came at me like a freight train. I lowered myself to the ground and brought my blade up. His blade hit mine, and he flipped over me like a ninja. I tried to stand up, but my foot was on the bottom of the dress, and I fell again, all smooth-like. I could hear laughing, and I shot a look over at Kai. He smiled and whispered something in Sam’s ear. She smacked him on the arm, and I gritted my teeth.

  “Screw this,” I said.

  I flipped my blade into the ground, and a sonic ring rolled out in a circle from it. Josh jumped it, as it raced across the ground, but Sam and Kai had it roll under them. They both popped up and back down with a “Whoo hoo”, like it was the beginning of a ride. I grabbed the dress at the front and ripped it… not that I thought that I could, but it was what I had in mind. I tore it like paper on a present and dropped the entire mess of purple at my feet.

  I stood there in my panties and underwear. Josh took one look down my body and lowered his head, so that his hair fell across the left side of his face. I held my hand out over my blade, and the color started to roll from my hand and wrap the hilt of it. It flew up, into my hand, without me even telling it to. The ringing in my ears reached a fevered pitch… and then suddenly it stopped again. Only this time, I could hear my heartbeat and my blood, as it rolled through my veins. The blade felt like it had a pulse too, at first its own, and then it synced up with mine.

  I held my hand out, and a rope of Blue light left my hand and wrapped around the other blade that Josh had flipped into the ground. It flew through the air and back into my hand. I heard a rumbling in the sky, and the first drops of a storm that was looming hit my face, and I didn’t even blink, as it rolled on my cheek and onto my chin. I looked at the blades and then at Josh, who stood there with both of his blades drawn.