by Rue Volley
“Oh my god… what is wrong with you?” I asked him.
He opened his mouth and I saw his teeth, his crooked canines were now filed to a sharp point and he grinned at me.
“Rue Volley.” He said out loud and it didn’t even sound like him.
“What the fuck?” I asked him as I started to back up and I felt the first step behind me under my foot.
I looked down the stairs and back to him and he was in my face. I screamed as he struck me and I fell, hitting every step on the way down and believe me I felt them all and as I hit the cold stone at the bottom I slid and shook my head, looking back to see that I had lost my blades along the way.
Joshua floated down in front of me, letting his wings move slowly and then his feet touched the ground and I looked up to see thin lines of black tracing his skin. I pushed myself back as he stepped towards me and the doors opened behind me and Michael stepped in clapping his hands and letting them echo in the room. I looked at him and scrambled to my feet and then back to Joshua.
“What have you done to him?” I yelled out.
“Oh... I have done nothing, this is Gabrielle, Rue... in all of his glory.”
“What?” I said as I looked into Josh’s cold dead doll eyes.
“No… this is not him, it can’t be.” I said as I glanced at my blades behind Josh on the stone floor.
“Oh but it is… wait, you do not remember child?” he asked me.
I looked at him and suddenly Josh was on me, he grabbed my arms and spun me around and slammed my back against his chest and I faced Michael, who grinned at me and tilted his head like a bird.
“Remember what?” I yelled out as I struggled to break free of Josh, but it was no use.
“Pity… you must have buried that deep into your heart.” Michael said as he stepped up and studied my face.
“You are quite stunning.” he whispered as he tried to touch my face and I spit at him. He stepped back and wiped it from his face and then licked it and I grimaced.
“You know, I had want and need once. I wanted to be by Gabrielle’s side and make this his paradise, the one he envisioned... the one without monkeys, but then you just had to come along and make a mess, didn’t you?” he said to me.
“Listen, I have no idea what the hell your problem is but I…” and he grabbed my head and the color seeped from him and absorbed into my mind as my eyes rolled in my head and Josh let me drop to the ground.
“See...” Michael whispered as he waved his hand over me and I twitched on the ground and spit foamed at my mouth.
I stepped out of a house and looked across a beautiful green field of grass and then looked back to see my home, the one I had always loved nestled in the side of a hill, next to a small stream that emptied itself into a lake that I had swam in a hundred times. I looked up at the sky and saw birds flying overhead and then I heard my Mother’s voice and smiled as I ran back into the house and she stood at the wooden counter with a basket full of fruit that she had picked and was about to prepare for dessert after what I was sure would be a fabulous dinner.
My Dad came into the house and he picked me up and spun me around and I caught a reflection of myself and him in large mirror and I had to be no more than five. He quickly sat down in our large chair by the fireplace and picked up my favorite book and I pointed to the cover and he smiled.
“Now there will plenty of time for stories after dinner.” My Mom said and I looked up to see Kai come running through the house and my Mom stopped him and he promptly took his shoes off and left them as he ran to his room and swung the door open. He came running out with a cat in his arms and she meowed and I smiled. I love that cat, always did but she was his and never slept with me.
My Dad lifted me and the black book and set me down in the chair and I looked at the cover of the book and smiled. It was a large White Tree with a single Raven in it and I loved it and this story. My Dad had read it to me a thousand times and I loved how the Raven, “Rue” was reunited with his family after years of searching, but he never gave up on them and it always made me smile even when I knew the ending and my Dad, being so loving, always read it to me over and over again even though we had many books to choose from in our library that he built in the house for my Mom. He stood up, setting me down on the oversized chair.
I looked up as my Mom giggled and my Dad kissed her on the cheek and then she looked in the basket and then looked at him.
“Oh… it seems I forgot to get peaches.” She said to him.
“No worries, you shall have peaches my lady.” He said and he started to put his coat on. I slipped off of the chair and started to follow him and he turned to me. “Chel, stay here love. I will be right back; I am going to the tree.” I stuck my lip out and my Mom laughed and he looked at me and grinned.
“I believe you should take her with you.” She said as she smiled.
“Me too?” Kai asked and my Dad shook his head.
“You stay and help your Mother prepare the food.”
I looked at him and grimaced.
“But I suck at that!” he said and everyone laughed.
My Dad picked me up and out we went to my favorite spot in the whole world… the big white tree that produced the most beautiful peaches in the world. We stepped up over the hill and the grass waved in the wind. I cannot wait until I am bigger and I don’t get lost in the height of it, but for now my Dad will carry me until I can walk through and actually see where I am going.
We stepped up to it and my Dad set me down. He pulled the basket from his back and started to reach up and then he stopped and made a noise and I looked up to see him drop his hand and place it to his stomach, he turned to me and the red started to well up through his white shirt and I stepped back as a creature stood up behind him as he dropped to the ground in front of me. The beast had black eyes; black as night and for a moment I was frozen in place. He stepped towards me and his wings spread out beside him and I screamed and pushed myself backward and started to run through the grass.
I was trying to run as fast as I could but I felt the shadow pass over me and it landed in front of me and I dropped to the ground and started to crawl. A blade barely missed my face and I squealed and then I rolled just as a blade swirling in color stabbed the earth behind me and I tried to keep moving. I heard a cry and covered my ears quickly as they popped and then I could hear it… screaming and I peeked up as the beast took flight and headed for my house along the hill.
I stood up and bit my lip, knowing I should run the other way but instead I ran towards my house as I hopped to see over the grass, each time catching a glimpse of black wings swooping and then I heard it… a terrible screaming and I broke through the grass just in time to see my Mother drop on our porch and the beast turned and spotted me and pulled his blade in front of him dripping with my Mother’s blood.
I screamed as he turned to Kai and stabbed him too and started to run, back towards the tree and then I felt it, a hand around my waist and a bite to my shoulder and then I struggled and pressed my fingers into the beasts eyes and bit into him as hard as I could with my small teeth, drawing blood on its hand and it cried out again and I fell, hitting the earth and rolling through the grass until I landed at the base of the tree and looked up to see my Dad staring at me. I hugged him and he felt cold, colder than stone. I screamed as the beast swooped me and then I decide to climb, although I was never any good at it, but I did it just the same. I grabbed at branch after branch leaving a trail of blood behind me until I reached a large that was wide enough for me to climb across and I stood up, swaying a bit… hoping I could make it to the hole in the tree ahead of me.
I started to move as quickly as I could and just as I reached the opening and freedom, the blade went through me and I looked down and grabbed at it with my small hands and it cut me as the beast jerked it out of me. I turned as things started to get fuzzy and then I turned slowly and a hand was reaching towards me and I saw his face… that of my Joshua as I fell into the hole in the tree and
tumbled down… down and further down until I hit the bottom and lay there, gasping for air until life started to leave me and all I could see was the faces of my family and how much I loved them, and the Raven… the Raven called Rue who fought for what seemed like forever through all trials you could imagine until he found his family again… and I faded, tears rolling down my cheeks and took my last breath as I mouthed the word “Mommy”.
Then I screamed and rolled on my side, spitting up blood onto the cold stone and Michael leaned down and smiled at me.
“Oh… are we coming back?” he said to me and I moaned as I tried to stand, everything tilted and my chest was tight and I caught a glimpse of that demon I had seen in my childhood… that of Joshua, who had killed everything that meant anything dear to me. I gritted my teeth and screamed out his name and he did nothing, not even blink at me and I looked at Michael and narrowed my eyes at him.
“That was a lie.” I said, half out of breath.
“Oh I would assume that you would love for it to be, but no… I fear it to be truth in all of its glory; you see Gabrielle thought that he killed you and your wretched family as he had so many before you. In fact he was so thrilled with your demise that he chose this spot to build Valon, and he built it around that tree he left you in so long ago.
“Lies!” I screamed as I grabbed at my chest and tried to get at least a small amount of air.
“Rue… I may be many things, but a liar of this I am not and it was necessary for you to see him for what he truly is. A hater of humans and he spent years with me at his side hunting and killing all of them and something happened… something quite terrible.”
“What? You guys stop having fun?” I asked him.
He smiled. “Oh no, the bite.” He said.
I tilted my head and looked at Joshua.
“The bite?”
“Why yes, you see yours was the first taste of innocent blood he had and when he bit you he gave something to you… some of his light and unfortunately it sustained your wretched shell until one day you woke and when you did, everything changed here in Valon.”
“So he only bit me then?” I asked him.
“Oh no... His taste for blood was undeniable and never ending. It was as if the blood consumed him and he could never be full… he killed and butchered thousands trying to feel it again… when he bit into you and tasted your blood it change him, but he never found it and it was when you emerged from the tree, here in Valon he became transfixed and approached you, and you had grown… into what you are now and he was so thirsty and he could hear your heart beating in his ears like a drum as we all could.”
“How romantic.” I said as I stood up straight to face him.
It was then that you tried to kill him and he did not allow it, he had you bound to the tower mirror, but for some reason he could not kill you, although I begged for him to do it, but he wasted over the years as you refused to have him as your own.”
I looked at Joshua and shook my head. “Why would I?”
“Because he is a part of you as you are of him, when the blood mixed so did your fate and over time Gabrielle became a shadow of what he once was, obsessing over you and the sweet blood he tasted on his lips.”
“He released you and then he was gone as well as you and it was not long before the war was waged here in Valon, a war that would claim many and change things forever.”
I opened my eyes wide and stared at him.
“I fought that war, I did… it was Joshua and I who put you in the earth along with the others.”
Michael smiled and nodded.
“That it was, but you killed him as he wished and he fell here before you and once again fate would not allow it to be so and with it you returned to writing your books and time changed again and again, always with the same ending, you killing him and him returning to you...pathetic as it seems.”
“I have changed.” I said as I glared at him.
“Oh really? Then why not take up my blade and slay him here and now.”
I reached out to Michael’s blade and took it from him as he walked away and left us in the room alone. I stared at his face and lifted the blade.
“Joshua… I know you can hear me, please change back to you… please, I don’t want to kill you, I know you have redeemed yourself, you have suffered for thousands of years and I know you can love, I know you can...” I said to him.
Joshua tilted his head and stared me down exposing his teeth.
“Joshua Barrington!” I screamed at him as he stepped towards me. I stared at him and the blade trembled in my hand.
“Joshua please… please hear me.” I whispered and he jumped at me and I screamed as he knocked me on my back and stared into my face. I closed my eyes and then looked to the right and saw that the book had fallen out and I grabbed at it as he leaned into my face and I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. I quickly pulled the book in front of me and opened it up and he sat up staring at the page before him. One word stared back at him and I knew it would have to reach him… have to, I knew as the memories flooded back to me I knew this one thing would have to bring him back to me and he shook his head and stared at the page before him.
Hope…
He touched his head and growled and I started to push myself back from him, I pushed myself up and stared him down.
“You remember? You told me so long ago that I gave you hope, hope that you could love, hope that you could find compassion, hope that you could be forgiven for all that you had done to this world and with that hope you were able to change and love me, you remember loving me Joshua? Do you?
“Loving me as I found myself loving you although I should not, I never should have given to you something you stole from me, I found it so disgusting and yet I could feel you in me, churning in my blood and with that came forgiveness Josh… I forgive you. I have forgiven you finally because something in me will not let me hate you and I do not know why.” I said and he cried out and fell onto his back as light started to wrap itself around him.
I stepped back and held the blade out in front of me as I held my breath, hoping it would not be what it always had been before and memories tore through him, but then one memory seeped up through all the darkness and he rolled onto his side and threw up blood all around him as evil and a curse spun and placed on him so long ago left him. He slowly rose up and turned to me as his eyes changed from black to blue and I held the blade out in front of me and continued to shake.
I stepped back as he stepped forward and he started to cry.
“Rue… please, please let me touch me.” He whispered.
“No… I can forgive you, but I cannot do that.” I said softly.
“Rue… please, I have to tell you something.”
I held the blade up and started to cry.
“What? That you were an evil bastard and stole everything from me?” I screamed.
“No… no” he said as he trembled and walked towards me.
I held the blade up higher and color swirled all over it in crazy patterns. He lunged at me and pushed the blade aside and placed his hand to my face and I screamed as those terrifying images flashed at supersonic speed in my mind and then slowed down as I looked up to see the beast that stabbed me and it was the face of Michael… not my Joshua.
My reasons for loving him as I do suddenly became so clear, Michael had woven his curse and the “story” he had given to me and Josh was actually his own, Michael had killed my family that day and had bitten me and then stabbed me, not my Joshua and even thought I tried to re-write the story a million times over, the curse placed upon him caused me to kill him every single time, not allowing us to be together and happy as we so wanted to be. Joshua held me and started to tell me the truth, a truth that had been hidden from me forever, he spoke and the visions filled my mind, my true history...
“I tried to save you Rue, I did, I tried to save you for many lifetimes since, and now I know… I know why I became your protector. You see, after Valon
was built around the very tree you perished in well you emerged as you are now and, he realized the power you possessed with controlling time and he wanted you for himself. You and I...” he paused and looked into my eyes.
“That was when we fell in love, for the first time Rue and Michael was furious and he cursed us both with old magic, dark and demon like. He placed the false memory of me killing your family and you in my mind and into yours. He poisoned me, but I never allowed myself to accept it fully and even though he insisted that I continue my wrath on the humans here on earth, which was a lie, I refused and he went out along with Lucifer and they created more, more of what he had accidentally done to you.
“I begged you to help me defeat him and Lucifer and you did, you helped me even though you thought I had stolen everything from you and when we placed his wretched body into the ground I handed you my blade and asked you to kill me and you nodded and you said “ hope would find you Gabrielle” and I carried that with me always, wishing I was not the beast that Michael made me believe that I was…but now, I know it was all a lie…every bit of what happened, Michael was the murderer, he slaughtered until the rivers ran red with blood with Lucifer by his side… but the love you hid away in your heart for me caused you to do something not expected.
“You see Rue…you are the first of the vampires and in that you received powers that none other possessed, you locked yourself away and started to write a story… the story of us and of your family and talked to no one after I died and it was then that the story of you and I began as it has been forever... I built memory for you, because you asked me to... hundreds of years ago, because each time the story began over you and I did not remember the books and the story of us and you needed a safe place to hide them away.” He said to me.
I collapsed in his arms as the truth swept through me and he held me and then he lifted my face to his and he kissed me, as it would seem for the very first time, as himself and not what he thought himself to be and the vibration that rocked through me was nothing short of heaven and earth falling into an abyss. He then hugged me and then stepped back and pulled his blades and gripped them in his hands steady and true and I saw color start to swirl all over his body and whip around his feet. I picked up my blades and he looked at me and nodded.