The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Jonah?” Lizzy said, as she stared into his eyes.

  “It is me, love. I have come to tell you that I am sorry…sorry that I had no love to give you, only pain.”

  Lucifer laughed and clapped his hands together.

  “Oh Jonah! Really, I am touched, in the deepest places; I really am. You, my son, are an exquisite piece of work; you really are.”

  Lizzy hugged him, and Jonah stared at Lucifer and raised his eyebrows at him.

  I cleared my throat, and Lucifer turned to me.

  “What is it angel?” he asked me.

  I tilted my head and took a breath.

  I let Josh’s hand go and stepped forward.

  “You can have me,” I said.

  Lucifer looked at me and grinned.

  “This is a surprise, dear. I mean, are you offering yourself to me...? Really?” he asked.

  “If you release everyone. Just take me and Johnathan back to your house, and we will call it even,” I said.

  “Oh, now this is just, I mean… you would do that? Even for a murderous pig like Jonah?” he asked me.

  Josh stepped in front of me and stared him down.

  “No… take me,” he said.

  Lucifer crossed his arms and looked around the room, grinning.

  “Wow, the generosity in this room is bringing a tear to my eye,” he said.

  Josh grinned, and I tried to pull him back… but he stayed right where he was, in his stupidity.

  “No,” I said, as I stepped in front of him and glanced over at Josh.

  “It’s me, not any of them,” I said.

  Lucifer laughed and stared us down.

  “I am not my father; I don’t get all weepy over self-sacrifice,” he hissed.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I whispered to Josh.

  “Yesssss, Joshua… what is it that you are doing?” Lucifer asked.

  He walked towards us, and I gripped Josh’s hand.

  Lucifer’s eyes rolled to black, and he leaned in and stared at Josh’s face.

  “Since I have been in this room with you, I have read nothing in your mind… It is like a blank canvas, and we all know that you think… all the time.”

  “I am concentrating,” Josh said.

  “Mmm, really?” Lucifer said.

  “Yea… I am, you dick,” he said.

  “Oh! There you are, you self-righteous monkey,” Lucifer said, as he smiled.

  Lucifer looked at me and grinned.

  “You know, I have many stories… concerning your boyfriend here,” he said.

  Josh looked at him and laughed.

  “It’s jealousy,” Josh said, as he looked at me, and I bit my lip.

  I mean, pissing the devil off is so not a good thing… I mean, it can’t be, right?

  Lucifer looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

  “No, it isn’t,” he hissed.

  “Really?” Josh asked, as he grinned.

  I hit him on the arm, and he looked at me and winked. I crinkled my eyebrows. Lucifer looked mad for a moment. Then he let the anger on his face soften, and he looked at me.

  “Every single time…” he said.

  “Every time what?” I asked him.

  Lucifer placed his hands behind his back and looked at me, with a grin that would have made anyone’s hair gray. I stared at him, hoping that Josh would just keep his mouth shut and let me try to handle this mess. Lucifer pivoted on his foot and looked at Johnathan, who fell to his knees and moaned. I stared at him and stepped forward.

  “Oh my god… Johnathan, are you okay?” I asked him.

  Johnathan’s body trembled, and he started to sweat a lot. Lucifer walked to him and touched his hair, wiping it back from his face. Johnathan looked up at him and grinned. His teeth were starting to yellow, and his eyes were getting blacker by the second. Lucifer looked at me and leaned down, pulling a long chain from Johnathan’s hand. He pulled it from Johnathan’s grip, and he held it up, letting the silver circle on the end of it to twist in the air. I leaned in, and then it hit me…it was the watch, the one that Kai had given to me. I had not seen it in so long, and the fact that Johnathan had it squeezed in his hand, made my heart ache for him.

  “Oh, lookie,” Lucifer said, as he stared at it.

  “That is mine,” I said, as I stepped forward and held my hand out to him.

  “Oh, I know… you say that every time,” he said.

  I looked back at Josh, who looked as confused as I was. I looked back at Lucifer, and he flashed to me, letting the watch turn on the end of the chain in front of my face.

  I looked into his eyes and sighed.

  “I would love to continue to just try to figure it out, but could you explain the ‘every time’ crap?” I asked him.

  He laughed.

  “I swear, it never gets old…but your attitude gets worse over the centuries,” he said.

  I bit my lip and snapped the necklace out of his hand and felt a vibration coming from it. I held it there and stared at it, as the hands moved slower and slower on the moon side of the watch.

  “Yes… it is yours, but before you it belonged to me… then Caine, then your Mother… and finally to its rightful owner…you,” he said.

  I looked at it and flashed back to Caine and my mother in the field. He had placed it on her neck, same old chain… it glinted in the sunlight like fire. I didn’t know until then that it was the same watch… but it was. I could feel it.

  I looked up at him and clinched my fist around it.

  I lowered my hand and shook my head.

  “You said ‘centuries’,” I said.

  “Yes, that I did. How many times do we need to do this until you realize that you are the shield?” he asked me.

  “The what?” I asked him.

  Lucifer looked at Josh and grinned.

  “The only jealousy I have is that you finally slept with her, Joshua. You have tried many times and failed,” he said.

  Josh looked at him and shook his head too.

  “Do you want to elaborate...? Or do you just want to keep talking nonsense?” Josh asked him.

  Lucifer raised his hand, and Josh, along with everyone else, froze in place.

  I took a breath and looked around the room at everyone.

  “I apologize… but he annoys me. He really does,” Lucifer said, as he stepped back from me.

  I tried to remain calm; I mean anyone would in the same situation I think. My heartbeat did speed up, but I swallowed the darkening feeling that I had in my chest.

  “Please explain,” I said.

  Lucifer smiled and tapped his head.

  “See, there she is… all calm and ready to take on the world,” he said.

  “I need you to catch me up to speed,” I said.

  “Well, let’s see…many times we have stood right here, and many times you have said the same thing…that is ‘no’… You would think that I would have lost my patience with you… but this time is different, I can smell it,” he said.

  “So, you are saying that we have done this exact same thing, over and over… like a movie on repeat?” I asked him.

  “Oh, I like that… yes, just like a movie,” he said.

  I sucked in my breath and looked at Johnathan on the floor, then at Jonah…who stood there holding Lizzy’s hand.

  I turned back to him and shook my head.

  “Are you lying?” I asked him.

  He laughed and shook his head.

  “I am many things, but a liar I am not… that was just a rumor, stirred up by the faithful…a smear campaign, if you will,” he said.

  “And…” he said, as he pointed behind him.

  Mia walked in and looked around the room.

  I stared at her, completely shocked that she had found her way here.

  “Hello love,” Lucifer said, as Mia stood there slowly pulling out her blades.

  Lucifer stared at me and grinned.

  He leaned up and winked at me.

  “She is
always a little feisty, so just let her speak,” he whispered.

  “Lucifer… you will return to your home and let her be,” Mia said.

  I leaned and looked at her, surprised at her tone.

  Lucifer turned and held up his hands.

  “So… this time you manifested in a rogue…very clever of you. No one could feel you coming, and you stayed off the radar quite efficiently I see,” he said.

  “Mia?” I said.

  Mia grinned at me and held her blades out to her side.

  “Yes, first human, then rogue… I will admit that it was complicated. I lost memory at birth and didn’t know who I was until about fifteen minutes ago,” she said.

  “Ummmm, are you saying that you are the creator?” I asked her.

  She nodded and winked at me too.

  I rolled my eyes with relief.

  “Oh thank god! Or you, or whatever… I mean, I thought that I was,” I said.

  Lucifer laughed and looked back at me.

  “Oh no… you are the creator’s shield though… very powerful, as is the monkey behind you… only he is the sword, correct Mia?” Lucifer asked, as he looked at her.

  She grinned and stared at me.

  “That she is, as well as Joshua… I am happy to see that for once she did not kill him,” Mia said.

  I looked at Josh and raised my hands up.

  “So… in other lives, I killed him?” I asked.

  Mia nodded and grinned at me.

  “It would seem that we couldn’t get him past the memory sucky thing… as you call it. You always dropped him then… quite messy,” she said.

  “I think I need to sit down,” I said, as I felt woozy.

  I mean, how many times have I have done this; how many lives have I lived?

  “Six…this would make seven,” Mia said, as she smiled at me.

  “I don’t… I mean… I am…”

  “Confused?” Lucifer asked me.

  “Uh huh, just a little,” I said, as I stood there and the room started to tilt a little.

  Mia walked towards me and held her hand out to me.

  “Rue Volley…it is you who can end this, only you,” she said.

  “I don’t… I can’t even think right now,” I said, as I looked at my hands.

  “The hour is late, and this time you need to stop the cycle,” she said.

  I looked at her. Her face was glowing like an expectant mother’s does, like life itself. I felt her vibration go through me, and I looked down and a blade was in my hand. I looked back up at her and shook my head.

  “I don’t understand what it is you both want from me; I really don’t.”

  “We need you to correct a glitch in time, one that has us all living it over and over,” she said.

  I looked at Lucifer and leaned into Mia.

  “He is the devil,” I whispered. “Aren’t you guys on opposite teams?”

  “Well,” Mia said, as she looked back at him.

  “I would love to say yes…but in this case, we are hoping for the same outcome …you see…”

  I cut her off and smiled.

  “I just want to say, that I think it is kick ass that the ‘creator’ is a girl.”

  She smiled and tilted her head.

  “Oh… okay. Well… as I was saying, and I too, think that it is ‘kick ass’,” she said, as she touched my arm.

  I felt a slight jolt of electricity from her fingertips, pass through my skin, and I felt my heart jump.

  “As I was saying, we have one common goal here… to right a wrong,” she said.

  I looked at the blade in my hand, and my heart sank in my chest. I hate the words that are coming, but have to hear them just the same. She smiled at me and touched my head, moving my hair out of my face.

  “Rue Volley…you were created to protect, to protect all who have come before you and allow for those waiting to live, to come forward,” she said.

  I hunched my shoulders and looked around the room.

  “Sounds like I am gonna be busy,” I said.

  Lucifer laughed behind Mia, and she turned and raised her eyebrows to him.

  He held his hands up and smiled.

  “Sorry…I like her; I really do,” he said.

  Mia turned back to me and placed her other hand on my opposite cheek, holding me still… to look at her.

  “Rue you are the shield of the creator, and Joshua is the sword. Once you accepted him and loved him, as I hoped that you would… you allowed yourself to become what you were meant to do. You are now strong enough to carry out the task at hand,” she said.

  I swallowed and so wanted to shake her hands off of me.

  I saw Johnathan twitch a little behind her, and she turned and looked at him.

  She turned back to me.

  “This is where I must tell you that your decision must change; this will undoubtedly fix the problem behind me,” she said.

  “You want me to kill Johnathan don’t you?” I asked her.

  She nodded to me and sighed.

  “It is now that you say yes, Rue… Otherwise, we will once again be cycled through this rift in time…and I cannot promise that I will ever get so close to being able to convince you again,” she said, her voice sounding completely sincere.

  “This is freakin’ crazy,” I said, as I backed up from her and looked at the blade in my hand.

  My hand trembled a little, and the metal caught flecks of light on it, like small sparks of fire. I got caught entranced by on it for a moment, and Lucifer snapped his fingers.

  “Get on point,” he said.

  I looked up at him and glanced at Josh, who stood there still frozen in time.

  How I wished that he wasn’t.

  “You love him…do you not?” Mia asked me.

  I looked at her and felt my eyes get glossy.

  “I do,” I said, as I lowered the sword.

  “Well, then let him live… let life come, Rue. One task at hand and things will return to how they are intended to be,” she said.

  “And what is that exactly?” I asked her.

  “Well, not so good for you,” Lucifer said.

  Mia held up her hand and turned to him.

  “This is a time for silence from you,” she said.

  Lucifer shrugged his shoulders and looked at me.

  “I told you I don’t lie,” he said.

  Mia looked back at me and tilted her head again.

  “You are the only one who can kill him, Rue, for it is you that he has given his heart to… You do this, and the world will move again, life will resume and the ones you love will live,” she said.

  “Wait… what?” I said.

  Mia looked at Johnathan and back at me.

  “If he’s allowed to live, he will kill everyone, including Joshua… In fact, he has killed him before…all of them before, after you said no,” she said.

  “So… and this is a big ‘really’? That I am handing out here… you are saying that I have stood here before, with this blade… with you guys, asking me to kill someone that I really care about, and I have said no every single time?” I said.

  Mia placed her hands behind her back.

  “Well, you say ‘no’, and then you dramatically stab yourself, which is very avant garde, but causes things to shift back to the beginning,” she said.

  “Oh shit,” I muttered, as I looked at the blade.

  “Rue… I feel your heartache, but I can assure you that if you do not do it this time, things will end for us all,” Lucifer said.

  I bit my lip so hard that blood started to run down my chin.

  Lucifer stepped towards me, and Mia held up her hand and shook her head.

  “It is one life for many… a small price to pay,” she said.

  I looked up at her and closed my eyes. I knew what I had to do…I really do now. I didn’t want to… everything in me said stop, but I could feel my hand tightening on the hilt of the blade. My heartbeat is slowing, and my breath is becoming shallow
by the minute.

  “Why can’t he live?” I asked, as I looked at Johnathan who twitched again.

  Lucifer smiled, and Mia stared at me.

  “Because he is death… and I will have to stop him. He will kill me, and with that, nothing will be ever again. For I cannot live without him, and he cannot live without me.”

  “Oh… okay, that sounds reasonable,” I said, as I felt tears rolling down my face, warm and slow.

  “Don’t cry…you should rejoice in the fact that everything shall live,” she said in my ear.

  I didn’t even feel her move towards me, but the truth is I don’t feel anything right now.

  Lucifer grinned and looked at Mia.

  “This is the first time that she has been so calm,” he said.

  Mia nodded and looked back at me.

  “The first time we were all in this moment, you cursed… a lot,” she said.

  I laughed, only because it was so absurd to think that I had done this before, stood here before… talked this same conversation…well kind of, before.

  “Why me?” I whispered to her.

  “Because he loves you and you him… And love has a funny way of being the most powerful thing that has ever existed,” she said.

  I took a breath; it was the first one that I can ever remember clearly feeling like fire in my lungs. I gripped the blade in my hand and looked at Johnathan. I took a step towards him, and Lucifer held up his hand.

  “Not here,” he said.

  I turned to Josh, and Lucifer cleared his throat.

  “You better say your goodbye,” he said.

  Mia shook her head.

  I walked to Josh, slowly at first, and then I hit him running, wrapping my arms around him and holding onto him as tightly as I could. The tears burned my face, as they rolled down my cheeks, and he stood there… frozen, unattainable… rock hard. Nothing of what I would want him to be ever, but I also want him to live… as I do all of them… I love them all, him most of all.

  I leaned back and looked at his face, as I traced his lips with my fingertips and felt my heart sink. He stared down but not at me, and I wished that he was. I wished that he could see me…into me and know that I love him more than I love myself, more than anything that I have ever known of, or would ever know of. I leaned up and kissed him, getting nothing in return and whispered.