The Blood and Light Series (Six Books Boxed Set)

by Rue Volley

  “Feeling territorial?” she asked as she glanced at me with a smirk on her face and back at him. She took a drink and gave me a quick wink.

  “Why the hell?” Josh asked and she laughed under her breath.

  “I mean... he is something.” She said as she leaned back and I looked at Kai who was sucking his iced drink from his straw and I shook my head slightly.

  “Who is something?” I asked and Sam looked at me and leaned up.

  “Michael.” She said.

  “Oh, him? I mean, he is cute… I guess.”

  Josh shifted in his seat and looked at me.

  “Cute?”

  I raised an eyebrow and sucked on my straw as I shrugged my shoulders.

  Josh leaned back and started to fidget with his cup. Sam grinned and waited, knowing that she had sown the seed to cause Josh to expand on his rant.

  “His sister looks nothing like him.” Josh said.

  “So what do you think? That he lied and they are fiddling?” Sam asked.

  Josh leaned up to face her. “Fiddling?” he asked.

  “Rue.” Sam said and Josh looked at me and grinned. Knowing it was just one of my replacement words as I often use for most things. I continued to drink, trying to get as much caffeine in me as humanly possible. Truth was, I am addicted to it… the caffeine that is and I would drink it nonstop if they did not cost so much. Josh looked back at Sam and raised an eyebrow.

  “Maybe they killed their parents.” He said.

  “Oh yeah… I am certain of it, they killed them and possibly ate them,” she said.

  I choked at my straw and looked at her. “What?”

  Sam smiled and Josh patted my back as I continued to cough and then I regained a tiny bit of normalcy and took a breath.

  “Joshua here thinks that Michael and Jessica killed their parents and ate them.”

  “I did not say that they ate them.” Josh said as he glanced at Sam.

  “Like cannibals?” I asked, feeling my throat tighten up a little.

  “Just like that.” Sam said and took a drink as she looked at Josh who was not enjoying her jabs at his theory.

  “I just said killed, Sam added how.”

  “I like it… it sounds like a good mystery.” Sam said.

  “You like it because you think he is hot.”

  “Who’s hot?” Kai asked as he dropped his straw and flipped his drink in my direction, and I ducked and it hit my seat. I grunted and rose up staring him down and he smiled at me… reminding me of why it is a good thing that brothers go away to school.

  “Seriously?” I asked him and he leaned back and placed his straw into his mouth and I ‘ewwe’d’.

  “Gross.” I added.

  Sam sighed and leaned back.

  “Michael… the new boy in town.” She said.

  Kai looked at her and raised his eyebrows and she laughed.

  “This conversation started fifteen minutes ago… where were you?” she asked him.

  “I don’t think he is hot… maybe lukewarm.”

  “What the hell is luke warm?” Sam asked him.

  “You know, kinda hot… not all the way hot.” Kai added.

  Theodore came in at a furious pace and scooted Josh over; pushing me over too and Josh grunted as Theo placed his hands on the table and started to tap his fingers quickly.

  “I take it that you…” Sam started to say and Theo interrupted her.

  “Holy hell, have you met Michael?” Theo said with more excitement in his voice than I had ever heard from him. I leaned up to make sure it was in fact Theo. Josh grinned at me and turned to him.

  “You mean the serial killer from Maine?” he said.

  “What?” Theo asked as he turned to Josh and Sam shook her head ‘no’.

  “Do not listen to our brother, he is an ass.”

  “I am right here.” Josh said as he looked at her and she kept her eyes on Theo.

  Theo sighed and looked back at her.

  “Hot.” He said.

  “Smoldering.” Sam said as she shook her head ‘yes’.

  “Lukewarm.” Kai said as he shrugged his shoulders and Josh leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

  “This is ridiculous.” He muttered.

  “I think it is nice to have new people in town.” I said as Theo grinned and looked at me.

  “Hot.” He repeated and Josh rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

  “Okay… yeah, he is hot.” I said, tired of not being on team Michael and his smoldering appearance.

  “What?” Josh said as he started to rise and knocked his knees on the table, all the drinks shook and Sam laughed.

  “See, a girl knows, and he is hot.”

  Josh laughed and sunk into his seat.

  “Unbelievable, I can see it now… you will be on the side of a milk carton in a month.” He said to her.

  “What? No, just because I think he is hot does not change the fact that I love Kai.”

  “Oh thanks baby.” Kai said as he chewed on his straw.

  “And you?” Josh asked me.

  I rolled my eyes and tapped Theo on the shoulder.

  He moved out of the seat and I stood up and looked back at Josh.

  “Like I am interested.” I said as I walked away towards the bathroom. Josh watched me as the Theo rampage carried on and he started to go on about Michael and his blonde hair.

  I walked into the bathroom and sighed as I stepped up to the long mirror and looked at myself. I am just goofy, I swear to god. I seem to have too much leg and not enough body to accommodate it. I guess every girl see’s things that no one else sees. I mean Josh can’t… he couldn’t. If he thought I looked half as goofy as I think I do then he would not be with me, or better yet he would be the hot guy friend with no hope of fiddling. I laughed and walked into the stall and shut the door and then I heard the door open and chattering followed. Two girls came in and I suddenly could not pee, I have issues with using the restroom in public anyway, and having them in here will not help anything at all. I backed up, hoping to not look like a creeper, standing in the stall. I heard them giggling, as girls often do. I decided to sit down, with my pants up and wait them out.

  “I heard that he has a lot of money.” The one girl said as she leaned in and touched her lips, pulling out her lip gloss and taking the cap off.

  “As much as Johnathan Graph?” the other girl said and lip gloss girl stopped smearing the pink shiny stuff on and looked at her.

  “No one has more money than Johnathan Graph… except maybe God.” She said and they both laughed.

  “Well, Johnathan is gay.”

  “What? No he isn’t, he has that girl at the library.”

  The lip gloss girl laughed and turned to her.

  “It is a front, I bet you he is and that girl at the library is a bitch.”

  I stood up, if one thing can be said about me… it is that I cannot take other people talking about my friends, it bothers me on a level I cannot even explain. I slammed my door open quickly and stepped out, in between them… as rudely as possible and the lip gloss girl grunted and rolled her eyes, as I washed my hands for no reason.

  “Oh, Hello Rue.” She said all thick with sarcasm.

  I turned to her and grinned.

  “I don’t know your name.” I said as I walked past her and reached for a paper towel. She looked at her friend and grinned.

  “It is Lindsey.”

  “Oh.” I said as I wiped my hands and turned back to them.

  “Tell us something Rue, Johnathan… is he…”

  I cut her off.

  “He is not gay, if that is the question.”

  She giggled and looked at her friend who shook her head at her.

  “Well, how is he then?” she asked me.

  “About what?” I asked her.

  “In bed.” She said and suddenly my blood started to shift in my body, causing my fingertips to tingle. I cleared my throat.

  “Excuse me?” I asked her.


  “I mean you and Johnathan… that is the reason why Brooke broke up with him right?” she said to me.

  I laughed.

  “God no, Johnathan and I are friends, that’s all.”

  I started to walk by her and she muttered to close to my ear, I wish I had not heard her.

  “Right.” She said.

  I stopped and my fist clinched up at my side and I turned to her and her smirking friend.

  “Lindsey, right?” I asked her.

  “Yeah.” She said.

  “Didn’t you date the whole football team last year?” I asked her, knowing it was nasty rumor, but so was she.

  “You bitch.” She said as she stepped forward and her friend stepped in between us.

  “Rue Volley… we all know about you and your freaky family.” She said to me.

  “What?” I said as I tried to not smack her in the face.

  “You and your weird brother, with that girl… Sam?” she said as she glanced at Lindsey.

  “Yeah… she is what? Like 5 years older than your brother? But that runs in the family, doesn’t it…I mean, Josh Barrington graduated forever ago right?” she said.

  I stared at them both, thinking of awful things to do to them, but the probability of me being able to rip the sink out and knocking them both in the head with it was far from reality. It was an awesome vision though.

  I ran the fantasy all the way through in my head, watching them both lying on the floor, bleeding and twitching and quite honestly I kicked ass in the dream, I jumped up, smacking them both, causing them to scream and then I flipped in the air and kicked Lindsey in the jaw and she hit the mirror… shattering it, I leaned down and picked up a sliver of the mirror and caught my reflection in it, I think I was wearing white... then I heard the snap in my face and the fantasy ended. The girl looked at me as girls do… you know, the disgusted look that girls are famous for, and she laughed.

  “You are a freak.” She said as Sam walked in. Then they left me standing there, wondering why the hell I didn’t say anything… or better yet, do anything at all. The girls laughed and walked past Sam as she looked at me and I sighed and threw the paper towel in the trashcan.

  “Everything okay?” she asked me.

  I rolled my eyes and walked past her.

  “Fine.” I said as I walked out and saw them snickering at their table with a crew of girls, who were all the same as they were and the exact reason why I talked to no one here.

  I stepped up to the table and Josh looked up at me. I sighed.

  “I’m going home.” I said to him and I started to walk, leaving Coffee behind and my balls, I think.

  ***

  Johnathan cautiously peeked around the corner at the library and spotted Brooke sitting behind the desk looking all cute and bitchy at the same time. See that was the thing about Brooke, you just never know if she was pissed or not. She was a master of the infamous ‘poker face’, which makes for reading her a tricky thing to manage. Brooke adjusted in her chair and glanced up and Johnathan almost fell over as he slipped behind the wall and sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring... the one he had spent weeks staring at and then finally mustered up the strength and courage to buy. The buying part was not the issue, getting the right ring was, and he had dragged Rue along with him as a “girls opinion” companion on that venture.

  “Johnathan Graph.”

  Johnathan sucked in his breath and dropped the ring. Lowering to the stone floor quickly to pick it up and inspect it. He blew on it and looked up at Theodore, who stood there grinning and tapping his foot. Johnathan rose slowly and looked at him, placing the ring back into his pocket.

  “Ahhhh.” Theodore said as he slid his hand into Johnathan’s pocket, and Johnathan squirmed as Theo dug around and pulled it out, holding it up and inspecting the stone.

  “Could I please get that back?” Johnathan asked as he peeked around the corner and saw Brooke, smiling and rubbing her neck as she read her book. He turned back to Theo, who was still giving the ring a good look over and grabbed it from him, making Theo give him a “oh hell no” look.

  “What?” Johnathan asked him.

  Theo smiled and crossed his arms on his chest.

  “Give that exquisite ring back to her this moment.” Theo said.

  Johnathan started to laugh and rolled his eyes.

  “Trust me, I would love to… but she threw it at me this time.”

  “Oh please. You should know, as we all do by now… Brooke is yours as you are hers. This is fact not fiction.” Theo said.

  Johnathan sighed and leaned his back against the wall.

  “I wish I knew that was truth.” He said, sounding depressed. Theo shook his head and stepped around the corner, dragging Johnathan with him. He walked, as Johnathan tripped and Theo held him up. They stepped up the counter and Brooke lifted her eyes to Theo, avoiding Johnathan altogether.

  “Hello.” She said as Theo grinned and tilted his head, glancing at Johnathan. Johnathan looked down, and to the side, and above him… as if he had no intention of speaking to her. Theo laughed and leaned forward on the counter, pulling Johnathan with him. Brooke still kept her eyes locked on Theo.

  “It would seem that we have had some sort of misunderstanding.” Theo said.

  Brooke laid her book down on the counter and stood up, leaning on one foot and crossing her arms, she started to tap the toe of her blue high heel and Johnathan glanced at Theo and shook his head.

  “As we all know, our dear Johnathan has moments of… oh shall we say…feminine tendencies.” He said as Johnathan stood up straight and cleared his throat.

  “I do not.” Johnathan muttered and Brooke laughed out loud, just one quick burst that echoed slightly in the large room.

  “What? Seriously?” Johnathan said as he looked at her and she glanced at him but quickly looked back to Theo

  “Johnathan has more than moments.” She said.

  “Well, some girls would appreciate that quality in a boy.”

  Brooke smiled at Theo and stopped tapping her foot.

  “Some girls, does not mean me.” She said.

  “Brooke.” Johnathan said as he looked at her and she slowly turned and stared him down, looking more irritated than he had remembered her ever looking before.

  Johnathan cleared his throat and tried to think of what Josh would say in this situation, so he stood up straight and grinned at her.

  “I would say that you are the girl in this situation.”

  “What?” Brooke said… not because she did not hear him.

  “I would say…”

  “Ahhhhhh.” Theo said as he slapped his hand over Johnathan’s mouth and the muttering continued. Theo stepped on his foot and Johnathan “owed” under Theo’s hand and Brooke giggled. Theo turned to him and smiled.

  “A girl does not say ‘what?’ because she has not heard you; she says it to allow you a chance to change what you said.”

  Johnathan ‘mmm’d’ under Theo’s hand and Brooke smiled and nodded.

  “You know, you are very smart.” She said as she stared at Theo who grinned back at her.

  “Well, having a sister such as Samantha, teaches you a few things about the female species.”

  “Too bad you cannot just transfer what you know to him.” She said as she glanced at Johnathan, who raised his eyebrows and then decided that this was a battle lost.

  Theo sighed and took his hand from Johnathan mouth, he reached out to touch Brookes face and then crinkled his nose and wiped his hand on Johnathan’s shirt, Brooke giggled and then he touched her face.

  “Love is not to be understood, it is sometimes just to be tolerated… but I know that love is truly what this is, so why prolong the torture? Johnathan will never change this we know… but you need to ask yourself if change is what is needed, or perhaps it is simply adaptation.” Theo said and Brooke smiled at him and then looked at Johnathan.

  “You are a dick.”

  Johnathan sho
ok his head ‘yes’.

  “And I am tired of you thinking that I am leaving you.” She added.

  “I ... Okay.” Johnathan said as Theo looked at him and raised his eyebrows.

  “I need for you to understand that I am here, but I will not be if you continue to ask me all of the time.”

  Johnathan looked at Theo and Theo sighed and shook his head.

  “I suck and I am sorry.”

  “Well, that is a good start.” Brooke said and Johnathan stared at her and decided, to shut up…was the only way.

  Theo smiled and looked at Brooke then turned to Johnathan and leaned up in his ear.

  “Try to not use words.”

  Johnathan looked at him and he left him there, alone with Brooke and feeling lost as to what to do.

  Brooke cleared her throat and looked at him and he shifted from one foot to the other, like a child does when they are in trouble.

  He looked at her book on the counter.

  He reached out and turned it to him and smiled.

  “Vampires huh?” he asked her.

  She snatched the book from him and looked at it.

  “Yes, it is a romantic series.” She said to him.

  “I like romance, just not with vampires; they should be biting and killing people.”

  Brooke rolled her eyes and sat down, holding the book and not wanting to discuss it.

  “But…Um, I guess if it is done right, it could be cool” he added, hoping to save himself.

  “Really?” Brooke said.

  “Yeah, I mean… romance and biting could rock.” Johnathan said.

  Brooke smiled and held the book close to her chest.

  “The vampire in this book is such a hottie.” She said to him.

  “How do you know?” he asked her.

  “Well, he has dark hair, deep brown eyes and a beautiful jawline.”

  “I have blonde hair.” Johnathan said as Brooke looked up at him and grinned.

  “So you do.” She said, not giving him anything to feel secure about.

  “So… you are into dark hair?” Johnathan said to her and she laughed.

  “I am into this vampire.”

  “Well, what is this dark haired blood sucker’s name?” he asked.

  She smiled.