by Rue Volley
“Holy crap… did she do that?” I asked him.
He rolled his eyes and pointed at Sam.
“You used me as a shield!” he yelled at her.
“You kept her busy,” Sam said. “She seemed to not like you.”
Kai looked at Mia on the floor and stepped towards her.
“She is gonna find out what not liking someone is all about.”
Josh stepped in front of him.
“I understand that you are pissed, but hurting her is not going to make it any better.”
“Oh no… no. I think that I would feel just awesome if I can just stab her a little.”
Josh placed his hand on Kai’s chest.
“Don’t,” he said.
I looked at him and sighed.
Kai took the towel off and turned his head.
“Do you see this? I mean I look like shit,” he said.
Josh grinned and touched it.
Kai hissed and stumbled back from him.
“Don’t touch it!” he yelled out.
Josh looked at Sam.
“Where is Theo?” he asked her.
“Shopping,” she said.
“Of course,” Josh said, as he looked back at Kai.
“Theo will fix you up, no worries.”
“Does that include killing the beast?” he asked, as he looked at Mia.
She moved, and he scrambled backward. Josh looked at her. Mia’s face changed, as she looked at Josh and stood up. She walked towards him, and I placed my hands on my hips.
“You even think about chewing on my boy, and I will blast you into the next town,” I said.
She lunged at Josh and hugged him. He slowly placed his arms around her and looked at me, shrugging his shoulders. Mia looked up at him and smiled.
“You came,” she said.
“Yea… I heard you call out to me.”
“They killed my Bailey,” she said, as she pressed her face against his chest and cried.
Josh stood there looking all weird, as he tapped her back and tried to console her. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows at me. I looked at her and stepped forward.
“Mia…” I said.
She looked at me and lunged to me, wrapping her arms around me. I stood there as she cried, and my shirt started to get wet from all the tears. I looked at Josh and shook my head. She coughed, and snot hit my shoulder. I grimaced.
“Ummm, maybe we should get you a tissue,” I said.
Kai stood there shaking his head at me.
“Kill her… now,” he mouthed.
I bit my lip and shook my head at him.
He rolled his eyes and pressed the towel to his ear.
Mia stopped sobbing and looked at me.
“Rue Volley?” she said.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yes,” I said, just hoping that she wouldn’t decide to have another Volley as an entrée.
She grinned, her face wet with tears.
“I was supposed to kill you, but I didn’t… I didn’t want to,” she said.
“Oh, okay… thanks, I guess,” I said, as she stood there and looked at my face.
“You are so pretty, just like I remember,” she said.
“Have I met you before?” I asked her.
“I used to run the booth… at the carnival… with my Bailey.”
And with that, she started to cry again and grabbed me.
I placed my hand on her back and started to rub it.
“Okay… it’s okay; you are safe here,” I said, not knowing what to say to her.
I mean, she was a rogue… She should not be all emotional, right?
She pulled back from me and looked scared.
“We are all dead,” she said.
I walked her to the couch and sat her down.
Josh followed and sat down in the chair across from us.
“Why do you say that?” I asked her.
“The demons, they are here on the earth, and they want us all dead,” she said, as she looked around the room and then settled on Kai.
“What?” he asked her.
She frowned at him and looked back at me.
“Caine wanted us to kill a demon for him, but she was tricky and Bailey was an ass. I got mad and left him, that is when the demon stabbed him,” she said.
“What demon?” Josh asked him.
Mia looked at him and sniffled.
“Clytie,” she said.
Josh looked at me, and I looked at him.
“Great,” I said.
Theo stepped in with Lily by his side; she dropped the bags she had in her hands and lunged at Mia. Mia flipped over the back of the couch at lightning speed and hid behind Kai.
“Oh yea… yea, sure. I will soooo protect you,” Kai said.
Mia held onto his leg and slid down, trying to hide.
Josh grabbed Lily by the waist, and she yelled out as she struggled in the air.
“Lily…Mia is staying here,” he said.
Lily hissed and kicked at him.
Josh gritted his teeth, as her foot hit his shin.
“Do you want me to bite you?” he said.
Lily settled down and looked at me.
“She is not to be trusted,” Lily said.
I looked at her and crinkled my eyebrows.
“Why didn’t you tell us that you knew her?” I asked.
Lily sighed.
“I was going to eat her,” she said.
Josh shook her, and Lily made a noise.
“We don’t chew on people here,” he said.
Lily rolled her eyes and stared at Mia.
She pointed at her, and Josh shook her again.
“Don’t make me, Lily,” He said.
Lily took a deep breath.
“Fine… fine,” she said.
Josh lowered her to the ground slowly, and Lily adjusted her dress.
“If Jonah was here, he would tell me to kill her,” Lily said, as she placed her hand on her hip.
“Well, Jonah is not here, love,” Theo said, as he stepped forward.
“He and Johnathan are with Aiwass, at the Graph house. We are going to go and get them out.”
“Really?” Mia said, as she rose up, and Kai tried to shake her off of him.
He rolled his eyes and pressed the towel against his ear.
“Not you… you are not going,” Lily said, as she walked back to the bags and picked them up.
Lily gripped the bags in her hand and walked past Kai and Mia.
She stopped and looked at Mia.
“Don’t think that I don’t eat rogue; my palate goes way beyond human,” she said, as she gritted her teeth.
Mia hunched her shoulders and looked at me.
Lily stomped upstairs and slammed a door.
Probably mine, but I was not going to tell her to get out of my room, no sir!
“She was always bitchy… always,” Mia whispered.
I grinned and looked Josh, and he smiled.
“Well, she is right… you are not going with us, Mia,” he said.
“Why not?” Mia asked, as she gave a look that I know all too well… a look that I know that I have sported a few times.
I felt kinda bad for her; here she was all young and pissed off and just wanting to kill something. I could so relate to that. I laughed, as that thought crossed my mind because I was not old, but god did I feel like I was.
“Because,” Josh said, and he walked out of the room, like a Dad.
I mean, that is a parent thing to say to someone. ‘Because’ is so not an answer; it is a finality. One that I fought all my life, well… for fifteen years to be exact. I looked at Mia and smiled.
“He has his reasons,” I said, as I suddenly got a weird look on my face, as I realized that was a mom backup move that I just pulled off.
I shook my head and looked at Theo. He grinned. I knew that he picked up on it… the whole ‘parent’ ninja move that Josh and I just pulled off. Mia huffed and walked to th
e couch and dropped down on it. She crossed her arms on her chest. I walked into the kitchen and looked at Josh, who stood there downing a drink as he looked out the window.
“Because?” I said.
He turned to me and shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know; it just popped into my head. All I know is that we can’t have some young rogue running around in that house,” he said.
I nodded and heard the water running upstairs.
I looked at him and grinned.
“I am gonna go and talk to Lily; I think that she is pissed,” I said.
“Let her be… we need her mad,” he said.
I sighed and walked back into the living room. Kai sat there next to Mia, and they were playing a zombie video game. They both ‘whoo’d’ and gave a high five. I looked at Sam and raised my eyebrows. She grinned and shrugged it off. I looked at the stairs and sighed, as I contemplated the fact that maybe I didn’t need to talk to Lily. Maybe she should just be alone… but that wouldn’t be me. I knew how she felt. I had been there before, and I had people to talk to… so I was going, god help me.
I stepped up to my door and tapped on it. I heard the handle jiggle and stepped back, as Lily opened the door up and stood there with a towel on. I tried to not grin as I looked at her, there I was… about to try to console a rogue, one that has eaten more people than I would like to think about.
Lily tilted her head and stared at me.
“It is your room,” she said.
I stood there and fiddled with my hands.
She looked down at them and grinned.
“I won’t eat you… just come in,” she said.
I stepped in, as she walked away from the door and I looked back at it, as she waved her hand and it closed behind me. I swallowed and turned with her standing in my face. I sighed, and my heart fluttered. She looked at my chest and shook her head.
“Hearts, I used to go for them first. They taste like chicken,” she said.
I looked down at my chest and back up at her. She grinned and walked to my vanity and sat down. I bit my lip and walked to my bed. I sat down on it, crossing my legs at first and then undoing them… because I didn’t normally do that.
“Ummm, Lily, I ah…” I said.
She turned, as she brushed out her long blonde hair, and looked at me.
“I am not big on girl talk, Rue… no offense.”
“None taken,” I said, as I raised my hands up and let them fall on my lap.
She turned to me and pointed the brush at me.
“Although, I am touched that you care,” she said.
I tilted my head.
“Really?” I asked.
“No… I just thought that you would like that,” she said, as she turned back and looked at her reflection in the mirror.
I smiled, because that fact that Lily was joking with me was totally bizarre. I mean, I stabbed her, and Josh cut off her brother’s head at one point. Now there we were, in my room, joking. Life is strange… it really is.
“I forgive you,” Lily said.
I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.
“For what?”
“For stabbing me, I understand. I love Jonah, as you do Josh, and I would have done the same thing… so no bad feelings,” she said.
“Oh…okay,” I said.
She smiled in the mirror and looked down.
“You know, you and I have a lot in common I think,” she said.
“How’s that...? I mean, well… you know,” I said.
She stood up, and the towel dropped off of her.
She didn’t even notice, and I looked up at my ceiling and then at the floor.
She glanced at me and grinned.
“Does nudity bother you?” she asked.
“No… no,” I said, as I cleared my throat.
“Well, as I was saying, we both have a death wish,” she said.
I looked at her, and her boobies were perfect.
I opened my mouth and then looked up into her eyes.
She really was amazing… beautiful, I would say.
“I don’t have a death wish,” I said.
“Mmmm. You sure?” she asked.
I tilted my head at her.
“Yea… yea, I am,” I said.
“He must be amazing in bed,” she said.
I rubbed my hair and stood up.
“Good talk,” I said. “I ah… I’m just gonna go back downstairs and eat something.”
She turned and smiled at me, as she tilted her head.
“I understand; I do. A love that intense is destined to kill you, as I am about to find out,” she said.
I stopped and looked at her.
“We are not going to die tonight… none of us,” I said.
“I wish that I had that optimism; I really do, Rue. I have lived a long time. I have seen things that I wouldn’t dare to tell you.”
“Yeah… okay,” I said.
Lily looked at me and grinned.
“I lied… I kinda like the girl talk. I just usually did all the talking and then I would eat them… so this is nice.”
“I don’t… ummm. I don’t know what to say to that, Lily; I am sorry.”
She laughed and walked over by my closet and reached into a bag.
“I got something for you. Theo and I had to pick up stuff for the party,” she said.
I looked at her as she pulled out a dress. I stood still, as she held this beautiful thing in front of her and walked towards me. She stopped and held it up to me; it looked perfect. It was beige, with black lace over it. The collar was pointed and thin, with two small buttons at the back of the collar, and it had no sleeves. The bottom flared out with a crinoline skirt under it. I placed my hand on it and looked up at Lily who stared at me, trying to read my expression.
“Oh my,” I said.
“Oh my indeed.”
She laid it on the bed and walked over to me.
She reached down and unbuttoned my shirt.
I raised my eyebrows and looked at her.
“I am not going to try to do you; I just want to see it on you,” she said.
I grinned, and she pulled my shirt off my shoulders and turned me around. I felt her undo my clasp on my bra. I placed my hand up as she slipped it off of me. The door opened, and Josh stood there. He grinned as he looked at Lily and then at me, as I cupped my boobies in my hand.
“I so didn’t know that you were about this,” he said, as he stepped in.
I sighed and rolled my eyes.
“I am trying on a dress,” I said.
Lily grinned at him and stood there. He looked her up and down and bit his lip. I stepped in front of her and stared him down. She leaned up against me from behind, and I ‘oh’d’, as he tilted his head.
“God damn,” he said, as he looked at us there in my room.
“Get out,” I said.
Lily leaned in my ear and whispered.
My eyes got wide, and I looked at Josh.
“She said something dirty, didn’t she?” he asked, as he rubbed his neck.
“Ummm,” I said.
Lily laughed and placed her hand on my stomach.
I flinched, and Josh bit his lip.
“Are we doing this...? I mean, I kinda need to know,” he said.
“What...? Oh god, no. I am trying on a dress,” I said.
“Uh huh,” Josh said, as he stared at Lily.
“Hey,” I said, as I snapped my fingers.
“What?” he asked me.
“I… ah, this is weird,” I said.
Lily waved her hand, and the door closed.
Josh turned and looked at it and back to me.
“Uh oh,” he said.
Lily grazed my neck with her teeth, and I shrugged my shoulders.
“Oh geez… ummm, I uh,” I started to say.
Lily moved in front of me and grinned.
“Rue, this may well be the last night I have on earth. Will you allow me to show you som
ething?” she asked.
I leaned and looked at Josh, and he nodded his head ‘yes’.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Lily, I think that you are very pretty… for a meat-eating assassin, but I feel awkward and a little ummm… I guess panic would be a great word right now.”
I heard Josh laugh.
I waved my hand at him and quickly covered myself back up.
“I have always thought that you were very pretty, Rue, beautiful really. Your skin, your lips… your eyes. Green like the grass in memory, mesmerizing.”
She moved behind me, and I flinched when she touched my side and ran her fingers up my back. I looked at Josh and Orange was swirling on his arms. He looked down and rubbed them. He looked up at me and tilted his head, smiling.
“I’m sorry, but this is hot… Its ahhh… it’s just fucking hot. I can’t really apologize… I am so not sorry,” he said.
Lily lowered herself, and I felt her mouth on my back. I jumped up a little, and Josh smiled. She ran her mouth across my lower back, and then I felt her tongue on my skin. I sighed and closed my eyes.
“Holy shit,” Josh muttered.
I looked at him and shook my head. He held his hands up and grinned, kind of nervous. I mouthed the word ‘no’, and he put his hands together, like he was begging me. I frowned.
“Listen, Lily… ah… oh god,” I said, as she bit me.
It didn’t hurt… it was so gentle that it caused my legs to weaken. I turned, and she stood up in front of me. She smiled with blood on her lip, and I heard Josh behind me. He walked up and leaned against me, and I sighed.
“Lily… I have never even thought about being with a, ah… ummm, a girl,” I said.
She placed her hand on my face and looked into my eyes.
“It is just like a boy, if you close your eyes.”
I felt Josh lean down and place his mouth on the back of my neck.
I am in so much trouble; I just know it.
“Oh okay... ummm,” I said, as Josh placed his hands on my hips and gently moved his hand downward.
Lily leaned in and kissed me, as I ‘mmm’d’, and Josh laughed under his breath.
“I swear to god I will smack you,” I said.
I turned my head, and she kissed my collarbone and started moving towards boobie land. My heart raced in my chest, and I looked down at her, as her mouth reached my…ahh, ummm, nipple, for lack of a better word and my knees kinda buckled. Josh held me up, and I leaned against him.
“You are the coolest chick in the history of chicks,” he whispered.