by Rue Volley
“What? What is it?”
“I want freedom.” She said.
Johnathan laughed and rubbed his neck.
“You are fucking dead! Do you realize that?”
“Oh I know that.”Luci said as she waved her hand and picked up another book.
“Then freedom to where?”
“The tree… I want inside the tree.” She said.
“The tree of creation? Are you fucking kidding me?” Johnathan said as he laughed again.
“No!” Luci said loudly and it shook the room and vibrated the floor. Johnathan swayed a bit and Luci sighed and fingered at the pages of the book.
“I have been reading and I know that tree is the key to freedom.”
“Put down Rue’s book.”
Luci looked at him and smiled and she tore out a page and stared at it.
“Oh look at that… a doorway out of memory.” She said as she stared at the page and Johnathan stepped towards her. She lifted it and smiled at him.
“You want your spawn and that freak out of memory? You help me find that tree and I will give you this.” She said.
“Or… I can gut you like a fucking pig and take it... hmmmm I think I will.” Johnathan said.
“Oh really?” Luci said as she opened her mouth and it stretched unnaturally, exposing rows and rows of sharpened teeth, she quickly crumpled the paper and ate it, swallowing quickly.
“Son of a bitch.” Johnathan said as he stepped towards her.
“Oh…” Luci said as she touched her stomach.
“I am going to rip that out of you.”
Luci held up her hand and smiled.
“Not before the snakes eat it.”
“What?”
Luci smiled and lifted her shirt to reveal movement under her skin. Johnathan grimaced.
“What the fuck?”
Luci grinned and burped loudly and Johnathan stepped back and waved his hand in the air.
“God! That smells terrible.”
“It is rot; you see I am just full of it. A curse of sorts, but honestly, if you wish to tear the page out of me… go ahead, but I fear that all I have to do is think the word ‘eat’ and my little babies will devour your much needed piece to the puzzle quickly.”
“Fuck.” Johnathan muttered.
“Now?”
Johnathan looked at her and narrowed his eyes.
“No you bitch; I wouldn’t fuck you if my life depended on it.”
“What about your sons?” Luci asked and Johnathan sighed and lowered his head.
***
I stood motionless as I stared at the woods and Sam, Kai and Theo stood behind me. Brooke was like a statue and I couldn’t blame her, not really. I mean she had just lost the love of her life and I am sure all of the guilt was eating away at her, all the times she told him to leave and said that she didn’t love him anymore. I had no idea if I created that along with everything else, but I needed a clear head… I cannot be living in regret at all at this point. I took a deep breath of cold air and felt a hand on my shoulder and I glanced at Sam and she nodded to me.
“So, what is the master plan?” she asked me.
“We need to go in two directions.” I said to her.
“May I make a suggestion?” Theo said as he stepped up to us and I looked at him.
“What?” I asked him.
“Well, I don’t believe that we do.”
I stared him down and so did Sam. Kai stood there and munched on an apple and I tried to ignore the crunching sounds.
“We need to get Elijah and Gracie out of memory, and I know where Joshua is… he is in Valon now, with Michael.” I said.
“We already have someone on our side helping the children.” He added.
Brooke looked at him and he touched her face.
“Of course.” I said as I gripped my blades and stared at the trees, listening to the creaking as the wind picked up. I thought of Johnathan.
Brooke covered her mouth and then shook her head and I stood very still, waiting… I just need one vibration to come through that is all. I felt a slight burning on my chest and looked down and touched it. The wound was still there along with the pain and I have to swallow this too. I cannot worry about what will be the inevitable outcome of stabbing myself to kill Clytie.
In fact, right now whatever the outcome is it was so worth it, but not before I get Joshua out of there and see my daughter. Knowing that they are safe is my only true thought and purpose now, not my own mortality. Theo leaned into me and chanted something under her breath and touched my arm, I looked down to see light pulsating under his hand and I smiled at him as I felt a slight warmth take over me for a moment and then it settled in. I touched his hand and he smiled at me.
“Thank you, for prolonging my life.” I whispered to him.
He nodded and it was then that I knew I had only a limited amount of time to achieve everything.
“Stand back.” I said as I placed my blades out to my side and closed my eyes. I focused as hard as I could and my mind traveled at the speed of light, through the earth, tunneling its way until finally it broke through to the core and I felt it, I could see it as brightly as the sun on the best day in
Calvary, as beautiful as my love for Joshua and for Gracie and all those around me. I sucked in my breath and with all the strength I had in me, I slammed my blades into the earth and felt the strength of it racing towards me. I gritted my teeth as the ground vibrated and Kai, Theo, Sam and Brooke swayed on their feet.
“Drop to the ground!” I yelled at them and they did just as the first wave of energy hit me and lifted the ground around me, raising me up at least five feet.
I held onto my blades and did what Josh had taught me to do, I focused, wholeheartedly and true… with only good intention and love in my heart and my blades started to glow brightly as the earth itself started to enter into them with all of her strength. I yelled out and threw my head back as the power of it surged through the metal and up my arms, finally reaching my heart and for a moment a sharp pain entered it and made it stop in my chest and then I screamed “NO!” as it settled in me and my heart started up again and I sucked in the cold air and the earth shook, and my mind was consumed with fire.
The ground beneath me started to sink, along with me on it and I lowered my head and gripped my blades as my palms bled. I had to use them both to steady myself as I rose up and then I jerked the blades out, blood pooling from where they had been thrust into the earth and I turned to look at everyone and they rose slowly and stared at me, like they were seeing me for the first time. Sam ran to me and I shook my head and she stopped, staring into my eyes as I opened them.
“Oh my God.” She said to me and I blinked and looked at Theo.
“Her eyes… do you see them?” Sam yelled and I stood my ground, feeling like a volcano lurked inside of me.
Theo stepped up to me and looked at my face.
“Your eyes are yellow like the sun,” he said to me.
“I have the power of the core inside of me now.” I whispered.
“Do you not think that I have enough to contend with love?” he asked me.
I smiled and felt a slight burning in my hands and looked down as the blood that had seeped from them inched its way into the hilt of my blade.
“I am not concerned with me. We need to end this, once and for all.” I said.
I looked out at the woods and the most beautiful colors trailed everywhere, zigzagging across the tops of the trees and along the branches, everything was alive, every single thing around me. I lowered to the ground and placed my hand to it and felt a heartbeat, strong and true and I watched as black color rose out of the ground and started to race across the yard into to forest, I stood up and flashed through the trees, faster than I had ever moved before and I could hear everything, every movement, every breath taken, but the only thing that made me whole was the heartbeat of my Joshua and knowing I would be with him again soon.
Chapter 14
/>
Blood
Johnathan stepped out onto the porch and coughed; he wiped his mouth and then spit onto the ground. Elijah and Gracie stood up and watched him as he cleared his throat and grinned, but they could tell that the grin was manufactured for them both.
“Dad?” Elijah said and as he took a step, Luci stepped out of the house, buttoning up her shirt and Gracie clinched her fists and stared her down. Luci looked at her and laughed.
“You have your Fathers eyes… and mouth.” She said as she continued to adjust her shirt and Gracie narrowed her eyes.
“Lucifer… you bitch.”
Luci grinned and walked up behind Johnathan, whispering something into his ear and he closed his eyes and sighed.
“I will kill you.” Gracie said and Johnathan held his hand up and she stopped and stared at him.
“What? If anyone deserves to die it is that.” Gracie said.
“We need her.” Johnathan said and Luci grinned and touched his face, walking past him as she looked out across the field and grinned.
“I think it is a beautiful day to walk.” She said and with that she hopped down off of the porch and started to head out into the field.
Gracie stared at Johnathan and Elijah turned to watch Luci go.
Johnathan stood up straight and Gracie looked down and grimaced.
“Zip up your pants.” She muttered as she turned and looked at Luci.
“Don’t be hateful, I had to handle that.”
“Oh I am so sure that you did.” Gracie said.
Johnathan stepped down and touched her arm and she looked at him.
“You know, you look at me just like he does and I won’t lie and say it isn’t funny.”
“Who? My Dad?” Gracie said.
“Yeah, just like him.”
“Whatever… what crap have you gotten us into now?” She said as she pulled her arm away from him and stared at Luci again.
“You know, I love him… he is my friend and always will be.” Johnathan said as he started to walk and Gracie stood there for a moment and let those words sink in; she then shook her head and caught up to him, dragging Elijah along with him.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
“Well... Luci there has a piece of paper from a book.”
“A way out?” she asked as she stopped him from walking.
“Yes, so we need to help her find something she wants and then she will give us the paper from the book.”
“Oh hell no… let’s just kill the bitch and get out of here.” Gracie said as she started to walk and Johnathan grabbed her hand and she looked at him strangely as he held it and then let her go. She looked him over and glanced back at Elijah who was still walking.
“She swallowed it and she has uhhh, she has snakes in her stomach that will eat it if we do not help her.”
Gracie continued to stare at his face and she shook her head.
“You didn’t just come to memory, you are dead aren’t you?” she asked him.
Johnathan looked down and then back up at her.
“Oh great! That is just perfect!” she yelled at him.
“Stop… you need to stop now.” Johnathan said and Gracie stared at him.
“You cannot find a doorway let alone get through it here.” She said.
“I can help you, I am helping you now.” He said.
“No… you are a dead weight… no pun intended.”
Johnathan smiled at her. “God, you know it’s like talking to them together… just rolled up into one tiny little package of hellfire.”
“Listen to me… I am leaving this place and getting back and Elijah can come or stay here, that is up to you and what you do right here and now.” She said.
“He will leave with you; you will both get out of here… I promise you that.” Johnathan said as he stared her down.
Gracie placed her hands on hips and glared at him.
“You know what, YOU are a pain in the ass, you always have been I would assume and if you love him you will stay here and let me do this.”
“I cannot do that, you know that.” He said.
“What is it then with you! Are you just determined to fail at everything?” she screamed at him.
Johnathan sighed and looked into her eyes.
“I didn’t fail when I forfeited my life to save Rue… that is why I am here.” He said.
“What?” she said quietly and he ran to catch up with Elijah as Gracie watched them both and fidgeted with her hands. She then sighed and ran to catch up with the both of them, swallowing her heart in her throat.
***
Josh cried out as the light continued to burn at his wrists and then he relaxed, knowing that this spell that Michael had conjured would not allow him to get free, I mean why would it? Joshua had devised it himself long ago. It was old magic; the kind that was never written down or shared… except with a few and all had perished except for himself and Michael of course.
Josh looked up at the ceiling again and then closed his eyes as the doors swung open and Michael came in smiling. He stopped and looked at Josh and held his hand up, and then he clinched his fists and yelled out, with joy, a joy that Josh had not heard from Michael in thousands of years.
“Did you win the lottery?” Josh asked him as he grinned and Michael stared at him completely confused.
“If by “lottery” you mean that Rue Volley herself, keeper of time is on her way here… then yes.” Michael said.
Josh gritted his teeth and jerked at his bindings.
“Oh what? Did you think that she would not? I had every hope that she would and it all worked just as it should have.”
“What do you mean?” Josh asked him.
“I upset her, quite a bit it would seem and I know that she is headed this way but I cannot tell if any survived with her, she is surrounded in fire from the core.”
“The core? Oh god… no, no.” Josh said as he looked at his bloodied wrists and then back up to Michael.
“She took the energy into herself and I would guess she has maybe two days in her... this is lovely, it truly is.” Michael said.
“I will rip your wings off and eat your heart Michael.” Josh screamed at him as he struggled to break free.
Michael laughed and tilted his head. “Did you expect less of her? I did not, I knew that she would come with everything she had and I would prefer it that way, it will make watching her die a true triumph and die she will Gabrielle, doubt it not.”
“You harm her and you will you burn in fire for an eternity.” Josh muttered to him.
“Oh! Such love and devotion you have for this creature you created.” Michael said to him.
Josh looked up and narrowed his eyes.
“You are a pathetic creature.”
Michael flashed to him and Josh struggled with his bindings as he tried to reach him. Michael smiled and nodded his head.
“I really wish that you would just relax, I will kill her quickly if you prefer and then it is you and I as it always should have been Gabrielle.”
“Listen asshole, it is Josh... Joshua Barrington, Gabrielle is dead.”
“No… no he is not, he sits before me consumed with what I would guess is love? This is so beneath you and once I extinguish this reason you have for binding yourself to this hideous form you will transform and fight me as you should, as the angel Gabrielle, once a true warrior, with no love in your heart for anything other than yourself and your own kind. That is the beast I wish to slay not this heartbroken shell, this construct you slipped into. Vampire? Seriously, you could have done better…a creature that must feed… how droll.”
“I feel pity for you.” Josh said as he stared him down and Michael screamed and pulled his blades out to his sides and his chest rose and fell as he breathed harder, then he shook his head and mumbled to himself.
He placed his blades behind him and crossed his arms on his chest.
“You know Luci is in memory.” He said and Josh looked up with a t
errible expression on his face.
“Oh… did you not know? Well of course you didn’t, you had your memory erased... well she is in memory, with your daughter.” Michael said and Josh screamed and struggled as Michael left him alone again to suffer in fear.
***
I broke through a clearing and the black color raced out before me, across the field and into another patch of trees. I scratched my head and looked in all directions as suddenly I realized the color was all around me, not leading me, but just lingering… this was not bringing me to the gateway I needed to pass through to get to Valon. It was a wild goose chase, one I was sure was fabricated by Michael to delay me on my mission. I sighed and lowered myself to the ground, feeling the vibration of life inching its way through my fingertips and Theo, Sam and Kai caught up to me and skidded to a stop.
“Dude… seriously, you are faster than light.” Kai said as he looked down at me and I grinned.
“I have to be.” I said as I rose and looked at the sky.
“I find it exhilarating.” Theo said as he smiled at me.
“Well… thank you; actually thank you all for not being all crazy right now.”
“Oh the crazy will come.” Sam said as she grinned and inspected her blades.
“Sam I need you to be on point.”
“Oh you know it.” Sam said as she smiled at me.
Just then I looked all around us and stopped breathing, I could feel something coming, something I had not felt in quite a while and I gritted my teeth and everyone formed a circle with me.
“It would have been nice if you had not allowed them to live.” Theo muttered and everyone prepared themselves as we waited for an unexpected nuisance… that of rogues.
The first of them stepped out of the trees and I gripped my blades tightly and took a deep breath causing my chest to burn as the wound in it tore a bit. I shook it off; I had no time for pain or anything else really. Then we all looked to the right and more appeared along the tree line.
“Well this sucks ass.” Kai muttered as he glanced at me.
“Did you think it would be easy?” I said.