The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Well, if anyone can go running around in human territory, you know it would be Rue.”

  “Lizzy was there,” I said.

  Theo looked at Josh and then back at me.

  “Lizzy seems to be everywhere lately,” he said.

  “Did she come here?” I said, as I looked around.

  “She is hunkered down at Johnathan’s house, getting ready to have a ‘party’,” Josh said, as he sat down on the chair and looked at Sam.

  “Well, she is a demon,” I said.

  Theo smiled.

  I guess that I thought that I was sharing some much needed info, but no… they know. Don’t know why it surprises me.

  Theo pulled out a book and looked at it.

  “It would seem that Lizzy is looking for this,” he said.

  I looked at the book in his hand and started to walk towards him.

  He placed it back in a black wrapping and held it close to him.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Kai came in, shoving candy in his mouth… intended for trick or treaters. He grinned, as he chewed, and his teeth looked brown from the chocolate. Josh snatched a piece from him, and Kai looked like a dog with a bone. No growling though, wish he had… would have made me laugh.

  “A book,” Kai said.

  Sam looked at him and laughed.

  “Why thank you, Kai, for exposing the mystery.”

  Kai shrugged his shoulders, pulled a chair in, and sat down on it backwards, as he let wrappers fall to the floor.

  Sam watched him and shook her head.

  “Well, it is a book… one of much power and deceit. It is a book written by a powerful Demon, one that seems to have borrowed Lizzy’s body.”

  “Did you read it?” I asked him.

  “Oh! Oh no. I wouldn’t dare. I knew by the way it felt that it was not for any protector to read. It is a book of spells, powerful and nasty. It is meant to summon a demon, one of which that is intended to kill the creator,” he said.

  I looked at him and then looked at Josh, who seemed to be preoccupied with the girl on the couch.

  “Who is that?” I mouthed to Sam.

  Sam smiled.

  “That is Mia, a rogue,” she said.

  I looked at Josh and Sam took my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. I looked at her and waited for some kind of explanation as to why Josh seemed to be all about this girl. Not that I was jealous, because I was sooooo not… I have just never seen him all parent like.

  “What is the skinny?” I asked.

  Sam grinned and leaned in to peek at Josh.

  “It is cute, isn’t it?” she asked me.

  I bit my lip.

  “What...? That Josh has appeared to become all ‘Daddy’?” I asked.

  She giggled.

  “Well, Theo had us drink a… ah, a spell. We are rogue now, kinda. I mean, it has made us ninja-like, but in turn, it has heightened our sense of protecting people. Mia there is the last rogue created. She called out… like a panic beacon on the train, and before I could reach her, Josh had her and brought her back here,” she said.

  “So you can feel a rogue in trouble?” I asked.

  “Yea, to tell you the truth, this whole rogue thingy isn’t that bad. I mean, if we had fully changed and lost our morality, then I guess that would suck, but we didn’t… thank the creator,” she said.

  “So who is she?” I asked, as I leaned over and peeked at her again.

  “She was once human, bitten and changed by a rogue. Theo tried to read her memories, but they are jumbled… or he is jumbled. All I know is that she had the book… you know, the demon book that Aiwass wrote.”

  I stepped from her and back into the living room. Josh sat there on the edge of the couch, and I walked up to him and touched his hair. He reached up and took my hand, pressing it to his mouth. I felt my breath quicken, and he stood up and grinned at me.

  “You did a good thing here,” I said.

  He smiled.

  “I know; I couldn’t really help it. I was sitting here trying to come up with a plan of attack to come and jerk you out of whatever you were in, and then it happened. I felt her, call out to me… like a beacon of fear. I started to run. Next thing I knew, I was alongside the train, and she blew out of a window and hit the ground, rolling. I picked her up and brought her back here,” he said.

  I looked down at her, and she shimmered to me, almost like gold. I grinned, as I felt her too. She was safe and for some reason it made me happy. He touched my cheek, and I looked back at him.

  “What is the plan?” I asked him.

  “Party,” he said.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “You think that is smart?” I asked him.

  “No,” Kai mumbled, as he chewed on yet another piece of chocolate.

  I leaned and looked at him.

  “You just keep eating, piggy,” I said.

  He rolled his eyes, and I looked back at Josh.

  “Johnathan is at the house, Rue, and so is Jonah,” Josh said.

  Lily walked in and looked at Mia on the couch and then at me.

  “Nice of you to return,” she said, as she made her way to the door and stepped out.

  I looked at Josh and crinkled my eyebrows. He grinned at me.

  “Lily hates everyone right now, not just you,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because, she wants to eat us all,” Josh said, as he laughed.

  “Well that sucks,” I said.

  Josh touched my face and grinned.

  “She won’t; she knows that she needs us.”

  “Nice of her to curb her appetite for friends,” I said.

  “Well, she is only focused on one thing; she wants Jonah back,” he said.

  “I can relate,” I muttered.

  Josh stood up and smiled at me.

  “You and me need some alone time.”

  I swallowed hard and looked at Mia.

  “Don’t you think that we have enough to deal with right now?” I asked him.

  He grinned and placed his hand on my face.

  “I am not talking about humping; although, I wouldn’t fight you on it.”

  I looked at him and laughed. I walked into the kitchen and looked at Theo, as he started to whip up some elaborate meal. I stepped up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “I need some rogue juice,” I said.

  Theo turned to me and raised his eyebrows.

  “Rogue juice?” he said, as he half laughed at me.

  “Yea, everybody else is all ninja… so give me some too,” I said.

  Josh cleared his throat, and I looked behind me. He stood there leaning on the doorway, and he looked half-worried, like me drinking anything altering was a bad idea, and maybe it was. I mean, Theo has tried over and over to give me something to curb my appetite for blood. Everything he has tried has either jacked me up or faded… nothing against his ability, because it was probably me and not his lack of trying.

  I turned and looked at Theo.

  “Whatever we are doing, I am there. So, give me some of whatever you all drank,” I said.

  Josh raised his arms up and let them fall to his sides. He turned and walked back into the living room, then stepped out of the house. I looked at Theo and grinned.

  “I don’t care if he doesn’t want me too,” I said.

  “Oh, I am aware of that,” Theo said.

  “It’s not that I want him to be upset,” I said.

  Theo touched my face and grinned.

  “You do as you wish; nobody would appreciate that more than Joshua. He has always done exactly what he wants to, regardless of what we wanted,” he said.

  “I am not Josh,” I said.

  Theo turned back to the stove and waved his hand over whatever he was mixing up.

  “I wish that you would realize how similar you two really are,” he said.

  I stepped up next to him and leaned over the pot, the smell of it burned my nose. I waved my h
and in my face and made the ‘yuck’ face.

  “We are not anything alike,” I said.

  Theo ladled some of the liquid into a glass, and it swirled and bubbled.

  I stared at it and crinkled my eyebrows.

  “Uh huh,” Theo said, as he held the glass out to me, and I smiled.

  “You knew that I would ask you, right?” I said, as I took it and watched the liquid roll in the glass.

  I leaned over it and quickly held it away from my nose.

  “Yes… because Joshua did the same,” he said.

  I looked up at him and tilted my head.

  “Theodore Barrington,” Sam said, as we both turned to her.

  She stood there in the doorway and smiled.

  “I thought that you said…and I quote, ‘I do not care what Rue says… I will not allow her to drink this mess’,” she said, as she grinned.

  I looked at Theo, and he tapped the glass in my hand.

  “I have learned that I can say what I would wish to happen, but it will more than likely go another way,” he said.

  I laughed and looked at him.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Sam walked in and looked at me.

  “I am going to tell you that it tastes…”

  Kai ran in and looked at me.

  “It’s awesome, tastes like candy,” he said.

  I looked at him and then at her.

  “He is lying, right?” I whispered to her.

  She nodded, and I leaned and stared at my a-hole brother.

  “Candy, huh?” I asked him.

  He nodded and had that irritating grin on his face that he has carried around, ever since I can remember, the brother grin, the one that tells me that he is feeling sassy and wants to mess with me. I smiled and jiggled my glass.

  “Did you want this one...? I can get another one from Theo,” I said.

  “No… no. I already drank enough of it; you go ahead,” he said.

  “Huh,” I said, as I sat it down on the counter and crossed my arms on my chest.

  “You do it first,” I said to him.

  Sam giggled and stepped out of my way and sat down at the table, watching the two of us.

  Kai glanced at her and then at me.

  “I already did; it’s your turn,” he said, as he let another candy wrapper fall to the floor.

  I looked at it and then back up at him.

  “Okay… pussy,” I said, as I reached for the glass and gripped it in my hand.

  Now… there are two things that I know about my brother, and they are…

  1. He thinks that he is always right and…

  2. He HATES being called out on anything.

  I guess that is why I was so shocked that he loved Sam the way he did. I never figured that he would let any girl beat his arrogant ass at anything, let alone everything.

  He grinned at me and swallowed the candy he was chewing on, like a pigasaurus. I smiled, because I knew the trap was baited and he was about to jump in it. I stood my ground, holding back laughter, and I could hear Theo holding down laughter behind me, as he stirred whatever stew he had decided to make. Kai looked at me and took a step towards me, and I bit my lip and raised one eyebrow.

  “You gonna man up and taste this before I chug it down?” I asked him.

  That was the final blow his ego needed to lunge at my drink and take a big gulp of it. I stood there and waited. He leaned his head back, and then he swallowed hard. I knew that it tasted like feet, because I could smell it coming off of him and the glass. He placed the glass on the counter and wiped his mouth, as he leaned over. I leaned over too and stared at his face.

  “You hurl, and you have to drink it all,” I said. “And when you do, I win.”

  He shook his head no and took a slow breath. I tapped my foot and stood back up, glancing over at Sam, who had leaned back and started to tap her fingernails on the tabletop.

  “What the hell is going on in here?”

  I looked up, and Josh stood there, smiling in the doorway.

  I guess that his protesting was short lived.

  Sam laughed and looked at him.

  “Kai here tried to tell Rue that the rogue spell tasted like candy.”

  “Oh, dude… so now what...? You in a ‘hurl off’?” he asked.

  I looked at him and tilted my head.

  “Did it make everyone throw up?” I asked.

  Josh nodded and looked at Kai.

  “You better let it come out.”

  “Mmm mmm,” Kai said, as he shook his head and tried to stand up straight.

  Josh looked at me and stepped towards him.

  “Dude, we all hurled the first time. I f you don’t do it, you will spend a week in the bathroom with other problems that we don’t have to mention.”

  I giggled and placed my hand on my mouth.

  “You mean the squirts,” I said.

  Theo laughed behind me, and I started to laugh so hard my side hurt.

  “Kai… just throw up; the bet’s off,” I said.

  “No… first one to hurl loses, so drink up,” Kai said, as he gritted his teeth.

  We all heard a growling noise come from his stomach, and Josh stepped back.

  “Dude, your ass is going to explode.”

  “No… it isn’t… but Rue has to drink, now,” he said, as we all heard another moan coming from his lower intestines.

  “Kai… from one guy to another… spit that shit up, before it gets to the Hershey highway.”

  Sam scooted her chair back from the table, and I took a step back too.

  Kai looked at me, and his face looked pale. I tilted my head, and then it happened. The noise… you know the one. It started out low and grumbly; then it picked up speed and hit a high note, until it trailed off into nothingness… followed by the nastiest smell that Kai had ever released from his body… or anyone had ever released in the history of man. I covered my mouth and backed up into Theo, and he stumbled. He turned and made a terrible sound, as he covered his nose too and backed up, holding my arm, like he was saving me from an invisible dragon on the loose in the kitchen.

  Josh hunched his shoulders and wiped a tear from his eye.

  “Did you just…” he started to say.

  Kai grabbed the back of his pants and hobbled out of the kitchen…the smell following him like a lost puppy. Sam just sat there and shook her head with a look of disgust on her face. I opened my mouth, but the smell lingered and I ‘oh’d’, as I covered it again. Josh grinned and cleared his throat.

  “He just shit his pants.”

  The laughter rose to a roar in the kitchen, as we all tried to catch our breath. I don’t think that I had ever heard anything as nasty as what just came out my brother’s butt, and I don’t think that I ever will again. The laughter stopped, as we all took a breath. We heard Kai yell out as another terrible noise rumbled through the house, and we all hit the floor rolling. Theo stood there trying to control his laughter, but even he was affected by the ridiculousness of the situation that we had all just witnessed.

  He turned and muttered, “Absolutely ridiculous.”

  He started to pull things out of my cabinets that looked like dry grass and dead bugs. I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked at Josh, who was beyond consoling. Evidently… immortal or not… someone shitting their pants was funny… Yep, sure is.

  “Oh my god… the burn!” Kai yelled out from the bathroom.

  His voice sounded more like a wounded animal, than that of my brother.

  “Theodore,” I said, as I laughed.

  Theo looked at me and winked.

  “Here… he needs to drink this… oh and,” he said, as he reached back into the cabinet and pulled out a jar that looked like mayonnaise.

  “Tell him to wipe this on his ah…” Theo stopped, not wanting to say it.

  I smiled and choked down a laugh, as he handed the stuff to me.

  “His asshole,” Josh said, as he slapped his hand on his knee and continued
to laugh.

  “I am not going in the bathroom,” I said, as I turned and looked at Josh.

  Josh stood up and shook his head ‘no’.

  I shook mine ‘yes’ and held the stuff out to him.

  “You’re a boy… you go in there,” I said.

  Josh sighed and looked at Sam.

  “He is your boyfriend… go help him out.”

  Sam shook her head ‘no’ and looked at her hands.

  “Nope,” she said.

  “Oh for craps sake,” Josh said, as he took the stuff from me and started to walk towards the bathroom.

  “My asshole just fell off!” Kai screamed out.

  Sam and I ran into the living room, and Josh stood there shaking his head.

  “It did not, you idiot.” Josh yelled out.

  “It did… I swear to god. It made a ‘thunk’ noise in the toilet, dude!” Kai yelled back.

  “No… it did not,” Josh said, as he walked up to the door and stood there.

  I know that he considered running. I would have.

  He tapped on the door, and Kai whimpered.

  “I can’t take it,” Kai said.

  Josh lowered his head and sighed.

  “Theo whipped up a spell… and I also have… ummm, some shit you can wipe on your ass.”

  The door cracked, and the smell rolled out like invisible fog. Josh coughed and placed his hands in the crack. Kai grabbed his arms and jerked him in. The door slammed shut, and I looked at Sam and giggled. She placed her hand on my arm.

  “Josh is going to kick his ass,” she said.

  We heard yelling and then stuff crash in the bathroom.

  The door jerked open, and Josh stumbled out and slammed the door behind him.

  “You put it on there,” he yelled back at the door.

  I cracked up; I couldn’t help it. The thought of my homophobic brother begging Josh to wipe mayonnaise on his asshole was killing me. I smiled and tilted my head at Josh, as he walked by me and shook his head.

  “Is he gonna live?” I asked Josh.

  I looked back, and he waved his hand behind him, like a grumpy old man.

  I looked down, and Theo called out to me.

  “Rue, it is time that you drink.”

  I swallowed my laughter and walked back into the kitchen.

  Theo looked at me with a glass in his hand.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  Josh looked at me and grinned.

  “You shouldn’t,” he said.