by Rue Volley
I slowly moved my feet from the bed and let them settle onto the floor and then I could hear voices and I stood up, steadying myself on the bedframe, swaying a bit on my feet and then sucked it up. I have to, I have so much to atone for and so many things to fix and retrieve, I so don’t have time for this…just like I didn’t have time for Clytie. I smiled for a second, knowing I had finally killed her and yes I was not sorry, not one bit… sometimes things like her needed to die and at my hand no less.
I walked to my door and leaned on the frame for a moment to steady myself and then I found the strength to walk down the hallway and then to the top of the stairs. I paused, gripping the railing and then took a step, then another and before I knew it I was at the bottom. I stood there and looked around the room and no one said a word to me. Just sad faces and that alone meant something was wrong.
I stepped forward and Sam met me and touched my face and then my hair and I narrowed my eyes and looked past her, to Theo, who was kneeling down next to the couch and I walked forward and then stopped as I saw Johnathan laying there, looking like utter shit. He was pale, more so than I had ever seen him before and his eyes were sunken in and dark circles took the place of his once bright eyes. I walked to him quickly and stood there, swaying a bit and Theo looked up at me and grinned slightly and then stood up and started to walk away.
“Theo?” I said and Theo looked at me and shook his head slightly and I looked at Johnathan and slowly lowered myself until my face was even with his. Johnathan looked at me and tried to smile, but I could tell that he was in so much pain.
“You look fantastic.” I whispered.
Johnathan laughed and then stopped quickly as he grabbed his stomach and looked down to see it, this awful festering wound that almost looked alive.
“Don’t make me laugh… it sucks.” He said as his voice cracked.
“Well, we need to get you fixed up… we have stuff to do.” I said as I started to rise and he caught my hand and I stopped and looked at him.
“Rue… its death; I can feel it and its okay.” He said to me.
“Ummmm, no… actually it is not.” I said as I tried to move again.
“Rue.” I stopped and looked at him.
“I have done this before, it is no biggie… trust me, it is not so bad.”
I shook my head.
“It is a “biggie” to me.”
I felt Theo touch my back and I looked up at him.
“Theo... seriously, do something.”
Theo said nothing and I looked back to Johnathan who was changing color, he was slowly going from pale to greyish blue and his eyes continued to darken.
“Johnathan Morris Graph, you get up right this minute and knock this shit off… I need you.”
“You do?” Johnathan said as he smiled and his teeth looked as if they had blood on them.
I dropped and held his hand and stared at his face.
“Tell me… tell me what to do for you.” I said.
“There is nothing you can do… this is the way it should be and if you go changing things again nothing will ever be the way it should be.”
“No… no.” I said as I touched his face.
“Rue… I died at your wedding, I should have stayed where I was and instead I came back, I don’t belong here anymore and this poison is a bitch… I will tell you that.” He said as he pulled his legs up and moaned as he held his stomach.
I screamed at Theo and he stared at me.
“We need a magic cookie, or muffin, or a spell right now!”
Theo lowered his head. “I am afraid I can do nothing, Johnathan gave you his light to live Rue.” He said quietly.
“No… no, no.” I said as I looked back to Johnathan and he grinned at me and touched my face.
“I never got to say goodbye to you, when I died… I wanted to tell you things, things I wanted to say to you and you alone.”
I watched him as he slowly continued to change a light shade of blue.
“Where is Brooke?” I asked as I looked at Sam.
“She is outside, they already said goodbye Rue.”
I looked back at him and closed my eyes as I could feel the tears welling up. He touched my chin and raised it.
“Rue… I love you, I always have… from the day I met you in the library, that day meant the world to me, you were so nice and you held my hand… I needed that. I never felt like I belonged, or felt human really and you accepted me for exactly who I was, even after you found out about the demon thingy.”
I shook my head and smiled a little as the tears warmed my cheeks.
“I never would have been happy in this would if you had not shown me love.”
“Johnathan… I do love you.” I whispered as I hugged him and with that he shuddered slightly and I felt the air leave him… I leaned back and he looked at me and shook his head, getting that shitty grin on his face.
“Tell Josh he is a dick.” He muttered and then he closed his eyes and I stared at him and couldn’t catch my breath for a moment. I felt numb and lifeless as if all the light just left the world and then I gritted my teeth and lowered my head as I held his cold hand. I started to rise, ignoring the pain in my chest and the death of my best friend lying before me and I turned and looked at Sam and Theo.
“I know where he is.” I muttered under my breath and I headed for the stairs.
***
Johnathan woke in memory all pristine and beautiful as he should be and he rose up and smiled as he stretched his arms and looked around at the green grass waving in the wind.
“So.” He said as he started to walk through the grass and smell the sweetness floating in the air. Truth is “memory” is quite beautiful if you belong there, if not it sucks dirty butt… but not this time for Johnathan, he was finally at peace until he looked up and saw two figures rushing towards him.
“What the hell?” he said as he shielded his eyes and tried to make out who it could be.
“Dad?” Elijah yelled out and Johnathan smiled and started to run to him, they reached each other and he hugged Elijah so hard that he lifted him and Gracie stopped and stared at the two of them.
“We do not have time for all of this stuff.” She said as she crossed her arms on her chest and looked at the two of them. Johnathan laughed and let Elijah go and turned to her.
“You are creepy, you look somewhat like Rue but you sound like Josh.”
“Huh.” She said as she looked behind him.
“Where is the Calvary?” she said.
“What?”
“The army that should be with you, to get us out of here.”
“Oh.” Johnathan said as he glanced at Elijah.
“Ummm, I am sure they will be along, I just got here first.” Johnathan said.
“You got here before my Dad?” she said.
“Yeah… why? Does that shock you?”
Gracie laughed. “Yes… yes it does. My Dad is a badass, you are a demon.”
“Oh… that hurts.” Johnathan said as he smiled at her.
“I don’t know why? It is true.” Gracie said.
“Hey.” Elijah said as he looked at her and shook his head.
“What? You are too.” She added.
“Well thanks for pointing that out.” Elijah said as he sighed.
Johnathan smiled and nudged Elijah.
“So… can’t find a way out huh?” he asked Gracie.
Gracie stared at him and narrowed her eyes.
“I know that I could if I had to.”
“Really?... so.” Johnathan said as he looked at Elijah and grinned.
“What has she figured out so far?”
“Well… a tree almost killed us.”
“Oh! That sounds awesome.” Johnathan said as he looked at Gracie and laughed.
“Ummmm… no. Elijah was all hungry and he was the one who fell for the demon tree, not me… in fact I saved him.”
Johnathan crossed his arms on his chest and smiled at her.
; “And you went with him?”
“Of course I did! I don’t know if you know this, but he is just as useless at saving himself as you are.” Gracie said.
Elijah started to walk away and Johnathan followed him, Johnathan looked over and smiled.
“She is a pain in the ass.”
Elijah laughed and looked back at her.
“Yeah… she is, but…”
“But what?” Johnathan asked.
“She is… I mean can be cool, she is smart and uhhh… pretty.”
“Oh no... no, no.” Johnathan said as he stopped him and looked at him.
“What?”
“Listen to me, that is Rue and Joshua the dicks daughter, she is not for you.”
“I never said that!” Elijah yelled as Gracie caught up to them and laughed.
“You guys just stay here; I will get us out of here… no worries.”
Johnathan looked at Elijah who shrugged his shoulders and followed Gracie while Johnathan sighed and rubbed his hair.
“Shit.” Johnathan muttered under his breath.
***
Josh slowly started to open his eyes and then he yelled at the top of his lungs as he jerked at the white light binding him to the floor. He struggled in vain knowing this spell woven was that of Michael… who he hated above all others. Josh slowly glanced around him and saw all the symbols etched into the stone and recognized them as a powerful binding spell, one he had conjured centuries before, one he held Michael imprisoned with. Josh looked up as he heard wings and Michael floated to the floor and spread his wings out wide and then relaxed them behind him. He tapped his chin and smiled.
“It is a fabulous spell, don’t you think? I mean… I guess you would know.” Michael said as he laughed and started to pace the room slowly.
“Michael, I will tell you once… free me and die with dignity once and for all.”
Michael stopped and looked at him, grinning a sinister smile showing all of his whiter than white teeth.
“Gabrielle, you are in no position to make demands and we both know this to be truth.”
“Michael you are a plague and an abomination.”
Michael was on him in a flash and grabbed his hair, jerking Josh’s head back and making him moan as the light ripped at his wrists and smoke slowly curled up leaving a scent of burning flesh in the air around them.
Michael leaned down into Josh’s ear.
“I am not the one who murdered.”
Josh closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
“What? Nothing? You have nothing to say do you sweet Gabrielle. Is it not truth that you murdered this world? Is it not truth that it was you who led the army to destroy the humans? Was it not you who killed everything in your path?”
The last of Michael’s words echoed in the stone room as Josh leaned forward and sighed.
“I did kill Michael, but I changed, I changed where you could not find any, you could not find love in your heart for anything and with it you became a shell, a sad memory of what you once were.”
Michael laughed, leaning over and tapping his knee and then he rose up and stared Josh down.
“You always had a silver tongue… so convincing, so charming… but we both know that is a lie.”
“No… it is not.” Joshua said as he raised his head and stared Michael in the eye.
“You are no better than Luci, Michael… no better and what is your plan? To kill me? Then do it now and get this over with.”
Michael pulled his blades and pointed them at Josh, Josh held his arms as high as he could and Michael gritted his teeth. “Do not speak her name,” he muttered. He lowered his blade and sighed, tilting his head and looking at Josh like he was sorry for him.
“Oh… I will kill you Gabrielle, but not before I kill everything you love before you.” Michael said as he left the room and slammed the doors behind him, leaving Josh to struggle to no avail in his chains of light. Joshua cried out as he looked up at the ceiling and tilted his head at the old painting on it. He sighed as he focused in on a white and majestic tree; with a girl sitting beside it… he closed his eyes and let his head fall.
Chapter 13
Reunions
Johnathan, Gracie and Elijah had walked for what seemed like hours with little to no conversation. Then Gracie stopped and started to fidget with her hands and Johnathan noticed and grinned. She glanced at him and narrowed her eyes.
“What?”
Johnathan looked at her hands and smiled.
“What is it?” he said.
“What?... oh.” she said as she looked down and dropped her hands.
“I got that from my Mom, I guess.”
“Yes you did, it is one her many cute ticks.”
“It is not a tick.”
“I would say that it is, but I did add the word “cute” in there, so you should not be offended.”
Gracie sighed and rubbed her neck.
“Oh my god.” She said.
“What?” Elijah asked her.
“The books.” She muttered.
Johnathan looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “What books?”
“The books in the house, my Mom’s books, they are all there.”
“Here in memory?” Johnathan asked her.
Gracie placed her hand on her hip.
“No… in London, yes here.”
“Okay… so where is the house?”
“I don’t know.” Gracie said as she looked around at the fields.
“I do.” Elijah said and both Johnathan and Gracie looked at him.
“You do?”
Elijah looked at Johnathan and smiled.
“Yeah, it’s that way.”
“Now how would you know that?” Gracie asked as she followed him.
“I am good at tracking.”
“You got that from your Mom, not me.”
Elijah laughed. “I know.” He said.
Gracie slapped him on the back of the head and he owe’d and looked at her.
“What?”
“You knew where the house was this whole time and you said nothing?”
“I didn’t know that was where you wanted to go!” Elijah said as he rubbed the back of his head. Gracie passed him mumbling under her breath and Elijah looked at Johnathan and shook his head.
“Pain in the ass.” Johnathan mouthed to him.
Gracie stopped and clinched her fists.
“I have excellent hearing and I heard you.”
Johnathan laughed and so did Elijah. Elijah ran up next to her and she started to walk as he smiled and she ignored him.
They walked up to the top of a hill and looked down and there it was, the house again and Gracie smiled and started to run towards it as Elijah and Johnathan followed closely behind. She stopped at the front door and waited for them to join her and then she opened the door and stepped in, immediately rubbing her arms and looking around the room. Her breath came out white like smoke and Elijah stepped in along with Johnathan. They all stopped and Johnathan stepped in front of them both.
“Something is wrong here.” He said.
“And what would that be?” Gracie asked, Johnathan ignored her and started to walk quietly ahead until he reached the large door. He stopped and placed his fingers to the door and took them away quickly as he felt a slight vibration, something dark and ugly and he looked back at Gracie and Elijah and waved them out.
“What?”
“Shhh.” Johnathan said as he waved at them again, then he looked back and mouthed the words “get out” and they both started to back up just as the house moaned and creaked, and a vibration ran along the floorboards and made them sway.
“Go.” Johnathan whispered to them and they backed out of the house slowly and Johnathan looked at the door and sighed.
“Even in death I have to deal with shit.”
Johnathan opened the door slowly and peeked into the room, not seeing anything out of place and then he heard a voice so familiar and so not needed.
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“Come on in Johnathan, it’s been awhile since we have had a chat.”
Johnathan closed his eyes and sighed and then decided to step in, he really had no other choice with his son and Gracie waiting outside.
He opened his eyes just as Lucifer rose from behind the desk with a book in hand and smiled at him, adjusting her glasses on her face.
“Sara.” Johnathan said as he closed the door behind him.
She laughed.
“Oh Johnathan, sweet… sweet, Johnathan, we have been through too much for you not to call me Luci.”
“That’s cute.”
“What? It is my name.”
“Not Lucifer?”
“Well… I guess if you want to be formal, but quite honestly, I just prefer Luci, if that is okay with you.”
“What are you doing in memory?”
Luci laughed and slammed the book shut.
“Why would I not be? All angels come to memory.”
“You are no angel.”
“Oh please, just because of all that demon business? It did not change what I am. I was an angel first and will forever be. That is the beauty of forgiveness.” She said as she held her hands out and then looked upward.
“There is no forgiveness for you.” Johnathan muttered and Luci was on him in a flash and sucked in her breath as she touched his face and her tongue flickered at his mouth. Johnathan stood his ground and stared at her.
“Oh… it would seem that you are dead.” She said as she smiled.
“Seems that way.” Johnathan said.
“No fun… here I was thinking that some torture would be in order, but how to torture the dead.” She said as she tapped her chin then she sniffed the air and smiled at him.
“You have company.” She said as she tilted her head and grinned.
“You fucking even think about doing something heinous and I will spend an eternity breaking your neck.” Johnathan said as he stepped towards her.
“Oh!” Luci said as she laughed and then leaned against the desk.
“I have no interest in messing with your spawn; I just have one thing I want.”
Johnathan hesitated and then unclenched his fists.