by Rue Volley
“Ah. I see someone has been naughty.” She said as she quickly grabbed Gracie’s arm and jerked her up to her, placing her arm around her and had her facing Alex. Alex stood up quickly and grabbed the blades, gripping them in his hands. Sara leaned into Gracie’s ear and whispered.
“You will not win.”
Gracie closed her eyes and Sara threw her across the room and Alex took a step and Sara lifted her finger and waved it. Then she stopped and looked at her nails and Alex crinkled his eyebrows and stared her down.
“Oh shit… look at this.” Sara said as she held her hand up and stared at all of her fingers spreading them out. “My nails are long overdue for a manicure.”
Alex shook his head and looked over at Gracie, who lay still on the floor. Red staining the floor and her clothing.
Sara glanced at her and then back to him.
“She is quite the pain in the ass, wouldn’t you say?” Sara said as she popped up the edge of the well and sat there, folding her wings in behind her and letting her feet swinging back and forth.
Alex held the blades up and his hands trembled.
Sara tilted her head and grinned.
“Oh please, I could strike you down with the wave of my hand.”
Gracie moaned and rolled onto her back, touching her chest and trying to pull air into her lungs.
“Oh shit… looks like I have to get to business.” Sara said as she flashed to the floor and then started to walk towards Gracie.
Alex flashed in between them and held the blades in his hands as steady as he could.
Sara smiled and waved her hand with little effort and he flew across the room, hitting the stone wall and cried out as he hit the floor, knocking the blades from his hand.
“Seriously, don’t bother.” Sara said as she leaned down over Gracie and touched her face. Gracie’s eyes looked glossy and she tried to speak.
“It is amazing… isn’t it? Feeling that last spark leaving you? Wondrous… I envy you, I do… I have come close, but as we all know, I cannot die… I will never die.” Sara said.
Gracie looked at her and her eyes started to roll back in her head.
“You know who I am now… don’t you? This is as it needed to be. I need you, to bring them here. They are the only thing that truly keeps me trapped, not you Gracie… their love for you will allow me to finally kill them and I have to thank you for that. Joshua and Rue… the sword and shield… funny how they think they are designed for me… in fact, they were born to keep me at bay.” She said as Gracie tried to yell out, but could not as the blood filled her lungs and her throat.
Sara leaned into Gracie’s ear and whispered… telling her the secret… the truth, and Gracie’s eyes widened as Sara placed her mouth over hers and blew… light sparking from her hands and feet and her wings spread and trembled as light pulsated from them and then she started to fade and enter Grace… and with one sonic boom, a ring of heated air blew out from the two of them and rolled like a rogue wave towards Alex, it hit him and knocked him against the wall again and everything turned to black.
Chapter 19
Awakening
Theo, Kai and Sam ate in silence. Nothing really needed to be said. Theo grinned as he looked at Sam who ate, ignoring Kai… who sat there eating, being careful to not make a mess.
“See… this is good.” Theo said as he placed his cup on the table and Sam looked at him and then at Kai.
“Yeah… yeah it is.” She said.
Kai sighed and pushed his plate back.
“I am tired.” He said.
He stood up and Sam started to and Theo held his hand up to her. She stayed in place and Kai stood and walked from the two of them, out the doors and back towards the cabin.
Sam sighed and looked at her plate.
“Isn’t it new, like something is shifting?” Theo asked.
Sam looked up at him and grinned.
“Kind of.” She said.
“I just want you to be who you are.” Theo said as he felt a slight tingling in his hands. Sam looked at him and smiled.
“I don’t know who I am.” She whispered.
Theo tilted his head and listened to those words, they sounded strange and foreign to him.
“What did you say?” he asked her.
“Me… I am not sure what I should do… what I want to be.” Sam said as she leaned back in her chair.
“You can be whatever it is that you wish.” Theo said.
Sam looked up at him and shook her head.
“I can’t think of anything… it’s like I live to make him happy… wandering around, not knowing what I should do.”
“Samantha, we all find ourselves caught in that… not knowing.” Theo said as he cleared his throat and looked at his plate.
“But… Kai is in school, I mean was… he is all about computers and games, you… you love books and me, well I have no clue.” She said.
Theo shook his head as he felt slightly dizzy and Sam looked at him and reached across the table towards him.
Theo held up his hand and grinned.
“I am fine… this just all sounds so familiar, like we have had this conversation before… or I have, I cannot be certain.”
“Maybe we waited too long to eat.” Sam said as she leaned back and kept her eyes on him.
“Perhaps.” Theo said as he stood up and started to take a step, he stumbled…feeling something strange in him, a slight vibration. He looked at his hands and then back to Sam.
Sam stood up and walked around the table to him quickly.
“What is it Theo?” she asked him.
“Not sure, perhaps I am coming down with something… I feel dizzy.” He said as he held onto her arm.
Sam looked at him and then started to walk him to the doors, she passed through them and as they walked down the hallway of the train Theo started to hear echo’s… distant voices calling to him. He blinked his eyes and sweat started to form on his brow. Sam looked at him and shook her head.
“Theo… you look like shit.” She said.
“Oh! Well thank you.” Theo said as he half laughed.
“No really… you look really bad.”
They stopped and Theo looked into the window, with nightfall coming on he could see his reflection and he looked pale and sickly, not at all normal. He sighed and pushed on as he stumbled again and Sam held him up the best that she could as they worked their way towards the door of their cabin. Sam slammed the door open and Kai laid on the floor. She yelled out and pulled Theo inside, walking him to the bed. She sat him down quickly and ran back to Kai, rolling him over. He looked pale and sweaty too and then looked back just as Theo fell backward on the bed and then she stood up and the dizziness hit her too like a wave and she dropped like a rock to the floor and closed her eyes as the train barreled on, towards the north.
***
Johnathan stopped as he felt Brooke’s hand becoming weaker in his. He knew they had ran, as fast as possible and he didn’t feel it, but she would… being human and all. He looked back at her and she touched her chest and she held her hand up to him.
“Just give me one second.” She said.
Johnathan placed Elijah to the ground and then looked at her again. Knowing she was determined to not show weakness, but she could not help it. He looked towards the sky and watched the gray clouds gathering and something in his chest ached, like something was forcing him to want to move on, quickly towards Valon. He looked at Elijah and knelt down to him.
“I am going to need for you to be strong.” He said.
Elijah looked at him and then back to Brooke and he walked to her and took her hand.
“What are you doing?” Brooke asked him.
Johnathan felt his hands, the tingling had started and he knew in his heart what it was. He knew that when he killed that thing in Rue’s house that he might be killing himself and he didn’t want to say it… not to her, and not to the small boy standing by her side.
“I think that you
should stay… stay here, with Elijah.” He said.
Brooke raised her eyebrows and stared him down.
“Ah… no.” she said.
“I am not asking you Brooke, I am telling you that is how it has to be.”
“Who the hell do you think that you are talking too?” she asked him. Elijah stepped behind her and Johnathan raised his eyebrows.
“Brooke… please.”
“No… you know what? I am tired of being safe, I ran from you… I ran from all of this and look what happened. I mean no offence, but I think if anyone should able to see this through to the end… it should be me Johnathan.” She said.
Johnathan sighed and looked at Elijah and then he stepped to her and took her hand, he pulled her with him and he held his hand up to Elijah and pulled her far enough away from him so that he could not hear.
They stopped and he held her hands in his and then looked at her face, not angry not anything really, but just peaceful…like he knew what he had to do.
“Brooke… I am dying.” He said to her quietly.
Brooke sucked in her breath and stared at him.
“No.” she whispered.
Johnathan cleared his throat and glanced at Elijah.
“I know that I am… when I killed him, I killed myself and I would do it a thousand times over so that both of you could be free of him.” He said.
“Johnathan.”
“Brooke… listen to me, this may be it, and in fact it probably is. I am an asshole, I always have been. But believe me when I tell you that the biggest mistake that I ever made in my entire stupid life, was letting you go.” He said.
“Nope.” Brooke said as she ran back to Elijah and knelt down in front of him quickly and stared him in the face.
“Bite me.” She whispered to him. “Hurry… do it now.” She said.
Brooke held her wrist up to Elijah and he bit into her quickly, breaking her skin and Johnathan cried out as he grabbed her and threw her back from Elijah as quickly as possible, but the damage was done. Brooke rolled on her side and hissed as she felt it creep through her. She rolled onto her back and arched it as she grabbed at the grass underneath her and Johnathan flashed to her and leaned in.
“Why!” he screamed at her.
Brooke gritted her teeth and felt the vibration creep into her hands and then it rumbled through her legs, she rolled over and coughed and Johnathan touched her back and she took deep breath after deep breath until she felt it all through her, the virus that she ran from for so long… that of shedding her mortality. She coughed again and Johnathan stood up and stared at Elijah.
“Elijah… why?” he asked him.
“She said.” Elijah said as Johnathan looked back at Brooke and she slowly pushed herself up and raised her head. Her energy shifted and Johnathan felt it for a moment until suddenly she became invisible to him as the rogue blood filled her veins. She took another breath and stepped towards him and he backed up, hoping that she would not pounce on him and try to feed.
“Brooke?” he said as he slowly backed up to Elijah and placed his hand on his head and moved him behind him.
“Yes.” Brooke said as she grinned.
“Should I run?”
Brooke laughed. “I would doubt that you could outrun me…but no, you don’t need to run.” She said.
Johnathan titled his head and stared her down.
“You don’t want to suck on me?” he asked her.
“Oh god… really, you are an asshole.” She said as she stepped towards him.
“You are rogue Brooke.” Johnathan said.
“And you are a demon… I think we are in the same boat here.” She said.
“Why… why did you do that Brooke, you should have never done that.” Johnathan said.
“What and let you wander off like the hero? No, I think that I need to be able to stand by your side… as well as him.” Brooke said as she glanced at Elijah.
Brooke suddenly felt it too, something in her pulling her towards Valon.
“I feel it now Johnathan… Valon is calling to me.” Brooke said as she looked towards the stars.
“I know, I have felt it for like an hour now.”
“Well… let’s go then… as a family Johnathan.” Brooke said as she stood her ground.
Johnathan looked down at Elijah and took his hand.
“You Mom is crazy.” He said.
Elijah smiled and the three of them took off towards what they knew would most surely be an end… but together as one.
Sara stood in the center of the council room grinning, as angels returned to her as well as rogues… many piled in, almost too many for the large room to hold them all. She stood there with her back to them all and she placed her hand over her face and slowly moved it from the top of her head to her chin and her face changed, to that of Gracie’s. She turned and looked at them all gathered. She swallowed slowly and raised her head high and opened her mouth to speak… a war cry, much needed, spun with some truth but mostly lies.
“I welcome you all to this great city. A beacon of light to this ugly world infested with humans. I ask you all to set aside any doubts, be it that we do have our differences, but in the end… our blood is the same, our mission that of returning the king to his thrown and all you fight here today will receive mercy from him, I have seen it in the black water churning in the tower above us. This city awaits his return, the world needs him and we will make it possible for him to remember who he truly is and why he built this place to begin with.
The words rang out in the hall and a small murmur rose. Sara looked around the room and spotted the doubters.
“Come forward.” She said as Erik moved his way through the crowd and broke out in front of them all and stared at her.
“You speak of Joshua Barrington, how can you be so sure, that he will arrive knowing that we are not his enemy?”
“Oh, he will not… I assure you that he will battle… and it should be this way, he has to taste blood to spark the light in him and he will. I ask that you know that some of you will fall, but he is to pass through… that and his mate.” She said.
“So you ask that we sacrifice ourselves for him?” Erik asked.
Von, Alandra and Cali stepped up behind him and stared up at Sara.
“Do you wish to taste the true immortality Erik? You may fall, but as he rises to power so all have fallen will rise, to serve him.”
“Sounds like lies.” Erik said as another murmur rose in the room.
“I find your lack of faith disturbing.” Sara said as she nodded to Von and ran his blade through Erik, and he cried out and dropped to the floor. Erik turned as other rogues stepped forward.
Sara held up her hands and looked out at all of them.
“I ask that you understand, you fight for Valon and her salvation… or you die, here.” She said as wings spread around the room, one after the other…all around the outer edges of the room. The rogues were pushed inward to a circle and started to yell out to each other.
“I thought that they would embrace it… no matter.” Sara said as she lifted her hands and all angels wrapped themselves in their wings, shielding themselves from the flash of burning light that lit up the room like the sun. All rogues cried out and fell to the floor, writhing in pain as the spell snaked its way through them all. Sara relaxed her hands and they started to rise, one by one… looking more like drones than rogue. Their eyes glossy, standing on their feet but not under their own power.
“Now.” Sara said as all the angels unfolded their wings and gripped their blades tightly at their sides.
“Go now… to the gates of Valon and meet those who would have this city crumble at your feet…go now and fight for her king who is on the march to return as we speak… kill all… except for him and his mate, let them fight their way to the gate, and from there I will take them and Valon will be restored to her former glory!”
All rogues lifted their blades and yelled out as they flashed quickly from the great ro
om and towards the gate to fight the battle that must be.
***
I slapped Joshua awake, with one good hit to his face. He blinked and looked up at me… kinda shocked. I guess I would be that way too. I mean getting hit was not the best way to wake up, but I had no choice and I felt nothing in my hands, I was hoping that he did, because we needed a warrior, I need him to fight this with me. He sat up quickly and grabbed the wedding band from his finger and threw it. I smiled, I couldn’t help it. He grinned at me and then hugged me, harder than I ever remember being hugged in my life before. The kind of hug you sink into in, but for now it needs to be short and sweet. No time for reunion… no time for much of anything. He knows as I do that this is it, time to shine… we both knew it to be true.
I smiled at him and stood up quickly, holding my hand out to him. He took it and pulled himself up quickly, looking around the room.
“We need our blades.” He said and I nodded. I mean he knew, so do I… that this was it. This was what we were built to do. All other things fade from my mind. I was not angry with Johnathan, I was not sorrowful about my losses. I knew that I needed to make things happen, and when you decide that is your only function, it was easy. So much easier than even breathing.
We ran from the library and out into the streets of Calvary. It was lifeless here now. Paper floating across the streets of a once beautiful and humming small town. I looked up at the sky and gray clouds gather, preparing me for the task at hand. I guess I would prefer blue, green grass and sweet smells of flowers… but I couldn’t focus on that, if anything… this town and its decay were the only remnants of how I felt. I had pushed that out and so far away from me… but Calvary was a reminder. The heart could be heavy but didn’t need to slow you down. It was not my surroundings that should be affecting me, but the hand that I held… and that was of my one true mate, my companion, my love. Joshua glanced over at me and we flashed through the deserted streets and back towards Hideaway Drive.
We reached the house and it was dark. Cold and lifeless. No laughter, no feeling of joy. It hurt my heart to see it this way, but it was truth. A house was nothing but wood and temporary shelter, without those you love to fill it, it was nothing. Black and daunting, no light. We ran up the steps and Josh jerked the door open. The weight of its emptiness filled me as we entered. Everything looked old, cobwebs…dust. He flipped the light on and it cracked and hissed at us. I looked up at it and narrowed my eyes. The only thought floating through my mind was that of going upstairs and grabbing our battle gear, putting it on and gripping my blades. I had hoped that I would feel something then, when I held them. Josh and I were a team, a team of two but really functioning as one. One heartbeat, one fluid motion, one life.