by Rue Volley
“Uh huh.”
Johnathan cleared his throat and leaned up on the table, interlocking his fingers in front of him on the table. “I was cool with going with her. We came on this flight.”
Josh just sat there waiting; he is not big on people taking the long road to the point.
“Well, we ah, we ended up doing you know… we…”
“You humped.” Josh said as he grinned.
“You are an asshole, really.” Johnathan said.
“What?” Josh said as he grinned.
“Anyway, when we were…”
“Grinding on her like a freak.” Josh said.
“Shut up seriously… I am trying to tell you what happened.”
“Fine.” Josh said as he popped another strawberry into his mouth and the juice ran down his chin, looking like blood. Johnathan looked at it and then back at his hands.
“I started to ah.”
“Cum?” Josh said.
“Jesus Christ! Will you let me?” Johnathan said.
Josh laughed and shook his head. “You have issues.”
“God damn.” Johnathan said as he leaned back.
“I yelled out Rue's name,” he said.
Josh stopped chewing and leaned up as he tilted his head.
“You did what with the fucking who?” he said.
Johnathan sat there and hoped that Josh wasn’t about to jump up on the table and kick him across the room.
“I yelled out her name… I did.”
“And why the fuck would you do that?” Josh said as he took a breath.
“Because.”
“Oh! Because? Not a good answer… nowhere near good, dick.” Josh said.
“I know.” Johnathan said as he controlled his breathing.
“No really… why?” Josh asked.
“I love her.” Johnathan said like it was the best thing he could ever say out loud…lifting tons of weight from him at the same time.
“Oh, okay… yea, sounds good asshole.” Josh said as he slid out of the chair and stood up.
Johnathan looked up at him and shook his head.
“I know… I know I’m sorry.” He said.
“Sorry just sounds like bullshit.” Josh said as he stood there with his back to him.
“Wait… you said Rue walked in on you doing your creeper thing.”
“I am not a creeper.”
“Oh! Really?” Josh said as he turned and laughed at him.
“I’m ah, I’m fucked up dude. I am I admit it.”
“You think? Jesus Christ!”
Johnathan stood up and looked at him.
“There’s more.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Well.” Johnathan walked away from him, glad that round one did not turn into a fight. He stopped across the room and turned, staring at him.
“Rue hit me because the girl I was with… well, she wasn’t the girl.” He said.
Josh tilted his head.
“What? You’re humping on guys now?”
“No… no, I sorta glamoured her.”
“Okay… like what a twelve year old?”
Johnathan crossed his arms on his chest.
“No, you ass… it was ah.”
A light went off in Josh’s head and he looked down letting the hair fall in his face. He clinched his fists. He slowly looked up at Johnathan and looked like he was about to go full throttle on him.
“It was Rue, Josh… I made her look like Rue.”
“Run.” Josh muttered.
Johnathan looked at him and tilted his head.
“Excuse me?”
“Run… now,” he said.
“Listen…”
A light started to pulsate from Josh’s body and black swirled on his skin. Johnathan stood there and watched instead of taking Josh’s warning to heart.
“I think that we could talk this out… I really do.” Johnathan said.
Josh gritted his teeth and he held his hands up slowly, black color trailed behind his movement, beautiful really… if it wasn’t a prelude to the eventual butt kicking he had in mind.
“I said run.” Josh said as his voice got lower and the pressure in the cabin started to change.
“I want...” Johnathan started to say but at that moment a bright flash pulsated from Josh’s hands and blew towards Johnathan at supersonic speed. Johnathan’s eyes widened and he hit the floor in a blur, landing on his chest. The light hit the door behind him and knocked it off its hinges, banging it against the wall of the hallway behind it. Johnathan took a breath and realized at that moment that Josh had every intention of hurting him.
“Oh shit.” He muttered as he rolled and another blast of energy hit the floor where he had just been lying. Johnathan scrambled to his feet and ducked out of the now gaping hole behind him. Josh interlaced his fingers and strings of light appeared, almost as if he was weaving his anger into a sheet of burning light. He continued to keep his head down, not looking in the direction that he knew Johnathan had gone, truth is he doesn’t have too. Josh is beyond a good tracker, more a perfect killing machine when faced with adversity.
I stood in the shower, and then I felt it…my feet vibrated and then it crawled up my legs and into my stomach not unlike the black snake of energy I had fought years prior when I had been poisoned. I looked down at my hands and they vibrated in front of me. I slowly lifted them and tried to focus on them but they hummed with quickening force. I sucked in my breath and jumped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around myself as quickly as I could. It was Josh, feeling more intense than I ever remembered him being, I shouldn’t be shocked but his energy rocked through me as it does any mate, as I swung the door open and saw him standing there. He glanced at me and his eyes were black as the bottom of the ocean, his body shifted from the energy flowing through him and the color whipped at his feet and around the room.
“What?” I started to say.
“You said nothing.” Josh said as he stared at me.
“About?... Oh shit.” I said as I took a step towards him and held up my hand.
Josh flashed from the room and it whipped my hair around, which was a difficult thing to do because it was heavy when it was wet. I stood there, like shock kind of froze me in that spot, and then my instinct kicked in. The preservation one, that causes my head to spin and my body to just react without thought holding me back. I flashed out of the room and followed Josh’s black color trailing behind him. Not worried about the fact that I was wet and wrapped in a towel, not worried about me in any way. All I could focus on was the fact that I did not want Josh to throw Johnathan off of the airship, regardless of the apparent ridiculousness that Johnathan had caused. I flashed down the hallway and heard screaming before I even reached the bar, of course Johnathan ran towards the bar again, seemed we couldn’t get away from it. Doors opened, down the hallway, people popping their heads out as they obviously heard what I did. I skidded to a stop and slammed my hand against the door and swung it open. I stood there, wide eyed, looking at the crazy that had busted out in the room. Johnathan was suspended in the air, almost as high as the beautiful chandelier that was hanging above us and Josh stood there, all the muscles tensed up in his back as he faced away from me. I stepped in and looked at Johnathan, who looked like he was almost relieved to be on the edge of being torn apart.
“Umm… Josh?” I said as I slowed down and stepped up behind him.
“Busy.” Josh said as Johnathan continued to rise.
“This is so not cool.” I said.
Josh glanced at me and his face looked hard, like he had every intention of making Johnathan a memory.
“Oh really?” Josh said as he gritted his teeth.
“He is an idiot.” I said, hoping that my acceptance of Johnathan being what Josh had claimed him to be forever would help ease the tension.
“True that.” Josh said as he looked back at Johnathan.
“I think that we should talk.” I said.
> Josh laughed so hard, Johnathan lowered a little… like I had actually broken Josh’s concentration. Johnathan looked at me and grinned and I tilted my head at him.
“What the hell are you grinning about?” I asked him.
“Let him do it.” Johnathan said as he shimmered from the sweat that had started to roll down his forehead.
“Oh okay! That sounds fantastic.” I said as I flashed in front of Josh and stared at his face. He tried to not look at me, I know that I could pull him out of this tantrum, and he knows it too.
“Joshua Barrington, you set him down right now.” I said, sounding more like a mother than his mate.
Josh looked at me and shook his head.
“No can do.” He said.
“Can do.” I said as I crossed my arms on my chest. Josh looked at me and grinned.
“You want him down? Okay.” he said as he slammed his hands towards the floor and Johnathan dropped, hitting the floor so hard it cracked the wood and he yelled out as his shoulder made a cracking sound. I ‘oh’d’ and looked back at him as he rolled on his back and held his shoulder.
I looked back at Josh and tilted my head.
“Nice.” I said.
“Yea, I totally agree.” He said as he walked past me and stood over Johnathan, who laid there hissing from the pain in his shoulder.
“Once this trip is over, you leave for good… do you understand me?” Josh said.
Johnathan glanced at me and Josh kicked him in the side and he slid across the floor and hit the wall. I yelled out and ran towards Johnathan, falling to my knees and touching his hand. I looked back at Josh and Josh looked hurt, like my concern for Johnathan was a dagger straight through his heart. I looked at Josh, my face soft and as far away from confrontational as I possibly could and he laughed and shook his head.
“Unbelievable.” He muttered.
“Josh…” I said.
Josh held up his hand and looked at Johnathan.
“You only live because she wants you too.” He said.
Johnathan shook his head yes and looked at me.
I had to sigh, perhaps I had just made a huge mistake by not standing next to Josh and helping him tear Johnathan into a thousand pieces, but Johnathan was our friend, part of our family and I couldn’t hate him… regardless of how stupid he was. I looked back at Johnathan and shook my head.
“We will help you in London, and then you should leave.” I said.
Jonathan’s eyes looked glossy, perhaps he thought that his confession would be a joke, something we could all laugh about, but it was so not funny… not to me, and Josh looked as if he could and would have killed him with no regrets if I hadn’t of asked him not too. What a freakin disaster, one of which I had no idea how to fix… and quite honestly, I don’t really know if I could or if I want to.
***
The grass blew slowly, whipping up the smell that I so love. The sky was a crisp and bright blue, a few birds flying over in a familiar pattern as they all once again collected together to migrate. It was that time of the year when the air became cold and crisp, the leaves change and start to drop to the ground and all animals, humans included stock up on food and start to prepare their homes for the coming winter knocking on the front door. This was my favorite time of the year; I would guess that I wasn’t alone in that. Halloween beckons the following Holidays… Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the feelings that come along with it. I am not a huge Holiday person, more a changing of the season’s person. I welcome the freeze knowing that with the new spring everything will change again, life… renewed and everlasting.
Valon is a city that had stood forever. I like to think of it as a shining example of immortality, although I have no good memories of it… but that does not change the fact that it is a beautiful place, humming with life… home to my genetic line and that of every protector that has ever existed. I cannot hate it for that fact alone. It was the home to Sara too, my BFF… the creator, who stood by me for so long, trying to lead me in the direction that I needed to go. I do miss her, but to stand in Valon was to look into her face, shining and full of life… until now.
***
The gates of Valon glitched now, like bad reception on an old television. Vines wrapped the walls, windows stand open… no voices, no laughter… whether the laughter was a glamor or not. Truth was, all humans who had lived here were under its spell, but when Caine had killed the protectors in the council room all glamour’s had broken, all host families were freed, but also and most importantly, the protection spell that had been woven around the city dissolved, allowing the realities of the world and the urban decay to creep in. Valon still stood, but a mere shadow of what it had been for so long. The buildings now stood vacant, the square that had once shined with everlasting youth, now stood quiet, with dirt and debris slowly covering up the white stones that paved it. The tower still stood, as well as the fountain, but the fountain no longer flowed with the metal like energy that once was the premier attraction. The energy had seeped back, deep into the earth, lying dormant under her… quiet and eerily reminding the world that all things end, even things that are supposed to live forever. So much for the immortality thingy.
Wild dogs raced through the plaza square and two of them rolled as they attacked each other with what seemed to be the beginning of a fierce battle, but in truth it was just play. Teeth showing, growling echoing in the empty square that once held so much life. The larger dog started to howl, causing all of the pack to howl and then they moved on, out of the city and back into the forest that flanked all her walls except for one… the entrance. The huge mirror that had stood and protected the entrance to the tower and all the protectors who had lived here now no longer waved like water, catching glints of sun and looking more like an upright river, one that protectors would pass through easily, to return to their homes, or to attend a council meeting… or perhaps to watch someone strapped to the tower, hovering above the black water that loomed below it. The mirror still stood, but now a long crack ran up it, not allowing it to wave any longer. It was the same water that Rue had been within, and it was not as daunting as it seemed, but to any others it had stood as a warning as to why you should never disagree with the council, or the ways of the people who resided within Valon's walls. Valon… now silent, abandoned and alone... except for one.
The council room, once bright and ghostly white now sat dull and muddied. The walls no longer looked pristine; instead they carried dirt and streaks of mud that had whipped into the room. Storms never affected Valon before, the protection spell woven above and around the city did not allow for weather to cause any damage at all. But now, with the protectors gone and all invisible shields down, the room looked dark, vines woven over the open windows and above blocking much needed light. The floors now had green and brown woven in between the cracks of the once white stones. Living and dying weeds, invading the floor… something that the city had never seen before. Nature will take back whatever we leave behind, and nature surely had moved in on this once huge room that had housed every discussion ever had about the city and protectors. Bodies or what seemed to be bodies still lay all over the floor of the council room. Now slumped and decaying, still wearing their clothing that now looked tattered and torn. These were the protectors that had called Valon home, unknown to them that it would also serve as a gravesite at the hands of Caine. The room no longer held the humming vibration of life, the bright light that once hung over the circular center had long since burnt out, but one heartbeat remained… one that was black as night, that of Caine Graph who sat in the middle of the room, atop the circle that rose from the center. He looked older, as if that was possible for a protector, but he did. As if he had sat there and let himself be beaten down by the encroaching weather and vines that slowly ate away at the city that he had claimed as his own.
Caine had dragged a large chair into the room and had positioned it in the center of the circle. He sat there, staring out at the decaying bodies, mostly bo
nes now and grinned as he rubbed his chin. He now sported a beard, helping to make him look older. His clothes looked weathered, as if he never bathed. A strange sight, seeing that Caine had always been striking in appearance as all protectors are. They seemed to be cleaner than anything else on the planet, probably just because… seeing that they are immortal, and unlike the world and humans and everything in between… we do not age, we do not decay and yet Caine Graph was, doing just that… decaying. Just like the city… the immortal city of Valon, abandoned of its eternal youth and all the life that kept her humming along.
Birds called out above him and he looked up and gritted his teeth. He raised his hand and light flashed in the room. Two birds dropped to the floor in front of him and he stood up and watched their legs twitch as they took their last breaths. He stood up and walked down the steps, leading away from the circle and moved towards the two birds he had snatched from the air with one flick of his hand. Two ravens, a pair… mates obviously. He smiled and leaned down, the male raven eyeing him as his crushed bones caused him to shudder. Caine picked him up and bit into the raven’s side, draining him of his lifeblood in one suck. He dropped the bird to the floor and grabbed his mate. She shuddered and life left her and Caine touched her head and it flopped back. He dropped the bird and turned back towards his chair. He wiped the blood from his lip and stuck his finger in his mouth, still warm with the last heartbeat. He grinned as he walked past his ‘thrown’ and headed to the door that he had used so many times to sneak into the council room as a child. An echo of his Mother’s voice entered his ears and he closed his eyes and shook her out of his head. He looked back at the now dull and lifeless room and pushed the door open and stepped through. He heard a call to his right and smiled as he headed towards the voice. He stopped at the door and waved his hand over the symbols he had etched into it and the door opened up. A girl lay on the bed, wrists and ankles bound and Caine grinned at her as he stepped in and up to the side of the bed. She struggled and then sighed as he stopped and looked down at her.