Blood and Light

by Rue Volley

  “Oh a miracle...really he is, something special,”... he leaned down and touched his hair... “He is the first of his kind... Caine"s son...created with a human.”

  Sam and Josh sucked in their breath..

  “That is not possible,” Sam whispered.

  “Oh, but it is...look we have proof laying at my feet.”

  Samantha stammered…

  “Why...? Why would he do that…? He hates humans… He would never create with one... never.”

  “Oh Samantha, my dear...he killed many...hundreds trying. Seems Caine cannot create with any protectors... He tried that too…not so successful though.”

  Josh took a step forward...

  “How do you know so much...?”

  “Oh Josh...I know so many things, it is my business to know.”

  Josh looked at Johnathan on the ground...

  “I will kill it, when your binding spell wears off of me,” Josh muttered.

  “Oh”... Noble began to laugh... “You will not, he is protected... I know, I tried when he was a child.”

  “The protection Caine placed on him is unbreakable”... Noble looked at me...

  “Jealousy is an ugly beast.”

  116

  Josh flashed up to him...

  “This is not about her,” he whispered.

  “Ohhh...you would be surprised how much it is Josh.”

  People started to come out of frozen animation... We saw them all start to shift slowly..

  We looked back to Noble... He leaned down to Johnathan and picked him up in a flash... He started to chant and slammed his hand into the middle of his chest.... “No memory,” he yelled.

  Noble flashed from view, only a light blue mist reminding us that he was ever there. Everyone started dancing and I looked at Johnathan who smiled back at me.

  Josh turned to me and said…

  “We are leaving...now Rue, no sarcasm, no bullshit…walk with me now.”

  I looked at him...never even imagined he could be so serious.

  “Listen Josh I have to at least say goodbye...please.”

  He stared at Sam...then back to me...

  “You got five minutes, then get in the car... I'll carry you if I have too.”

  I nodded.

  ******

  I walked up to Johnathan... He looked a little confused, from his knowing we were just in a heated dance and now I had to cut out... Think Rue, what to say.

  I put my hand on his face, he closed his eyes. God, did he have to be so...

  sweet. I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me, until we were away from everyone else.

  He looked at me.

  “Listen Johnathan... I'm sorry but I…I have to go.”

  “Why Rue...? Did I do something...? Something you didn't like?”

  “No…oh god no... I liked everything you did.”

  I started to blush. I looked down at my hands. Then back up to him.

  “It's Sam…she uh, she's sick… Think she drank something that didn't sit well or something.”

  He looked at me.

  “Why can't Josh just go home with her?”

  “Well she asked me too...ya know, „hold her hair at the toilet" stuff.”

  He grinned at me.

  “Well that sounds like a suck job...sorry.”

  “Yea I totally agree… Listen I'll call you tomorrow... I promise I will Johnathan.”

  “I'm not freaking out here or anything…swear.”

  He came close to me and raised my chin... He leaned in and gently kissed my lips…

  “I believe you,” He whispered.

  I threw my arms around him and hugged him so hard I know it must have been weird for him.

  117

  He pulled me back... “Sure your okay Rue?”

  “Yea...better than okay,” I lied.

  I turned away from him and ran to Sara"s car... They were all waiting for me, engine running.

  I did not want to go home... THIS WAS GOING TO SUCK.

  ******

  Grace had sat next to Elin"s body for hours. She didn't have anything left to cry out of her. She lifted from the floor and started to look around the room. All the symbols were glowing like fire. She approached the wall and started to trace each one with her finger dampening their glow, with the tips of her fingers. Sharp pain welled in her temples, but she pushed on, out of anger. She backed away from the wall and lifted her arms... She started to chant in Latin...old fluid words probably not spoken in centuries. Light started to glow in her palms…she fought through the searing pain in her head. She ran over to Elin and rolled her onto her back. Grace placed one hand over Elin"s heart and one over her own. She leaned down and gently kissed her lips, as she pulled away from Elin traces of blue mist trailed from Grace"s lips to Elin"s. Grace started to lift her hands away from her heart and Elin"s and blue mist flowed from Grace to the still body. Grace began to tremble...her breathing became erratic and with one last gasp she fell to the floor on her side. Elin moaned... She started to move...trying to push herself up, she was disoriented and everything was out of focus. She noticed Grace laying still on the floor... Elin turned Grace"s face toward her and her eyes were closed…

  “Grace?”

  Elin started to panic and began to shake her.

  “GRACE?” she repeated.

  The door flew open so hard it cracked the wall.

  Caine entered the room and looked at Elin in surprise.

  “What have you done?” he yelled.

  “Nothing my lord... I did nothing! I woke and she was...here just like this!”

  Caine waved his hand and Elin flew across the room hitting sideways on the wall.

  “Not you!”... He came to Grace and knelt down... “Grace...? What have you done here… So foolish!”

  Elin started to move…groaning from the impact that had knocked the air out of her.

  “I should kill you again!”

  Elin began to sob... “I swear to you I did nothing my lord...nothing.”

  “Be silent!”

  Caine lifted Grace up to him and pulled out a knife slicing it across his hand, he pressed it against Grace"s mouth...

  “Drink of me Grace.”

  Grace did not move...

  “DRINK OF ME!” Caine screamed at her.

  Graces mouth began to move and she fluttered her eyes.

  118

  Caine drew in his breath and threw his head back. Grace reached up and grabbed his hand so tightly that she drew blood from where her fingernails were digging into his skin.

  “Stop Grace you have taken enough,” Caine whispered.

  Grace pulled his hand from her mouth, blood dripping from her teeth, and looked at him...

  “I will kill you myself Caine,” she muttered.

  She grabbed his hand and pressed it too her mouth continuing to feed.

  Caine gasped and trembled, falling to his side...the light began to fade in his palm.

  119

  Chapter 6

  Blue

  120

  Grace jumped up and flashed to Elin"s side...she held out her hand. Elin grabbed it and they ran from the room. Grace ran as fast as she could dragging Elin behind her. They passed many doors, Grace wanted to stop at each one to see if they held more prisoners. Elin did not know but Grace did...that she had not killed Caine…only wounded him.

  To kill him she would have died herself because one protector cannot drain the life of another that way without sacrifice. She wished she had but her thoughts were of William, Kai, and Rue so she went as far as she could feeding on him until she felt her energy start to drain.

  They passed a large room, filled with mirrors and Grace jerked Elin back to her side. Elin stared in, her eyes wide, out of breath...

  “What...what is this?” Elin whispered.

  Grace turned to her…

  “A way out of here... Come.”

  Grace drug her in and turned to her.

  “Elin, trust me... Close your e
yes.”

  Elin looked at her and pressed them closed. Grace waved her hand over her face and said, “Sleep”.

  Elin started to drop and Grace caught her...she picked her up in her arms.

  Grace began to chant in front of the largest of the mirrors in the room... She watched until the mirror started to wave like water... She looked down at Elin and chanted a protection on her and stepped through the mirror.

  ******

  We pulled up the house and Sam and Josh jumped out of the car heading for the door.

  Sara leaned out the window yelling in Josh"s direction...“Okay Josh... I'll come by tomorrow?”

  The door slammed shut on her last word. She looked at me.

  “Well...you know Rue, I don't know if he likes me very much.”

  I sat still then decided to let her get a good nights sleep knowing no one here would...well maybe Kai.

  “No I think you got him right where you want him Sara.”

  She smiled at me...so pretty.

  “Really...? Oh Rue that would be awesome… I really think he"s cute ya know?”

  I looked back towards the house.

  “Yea I know Sara.”

  I hugged her and got out just knowing that what waited inside was that side of suck bad…really bad.

  I walked up the steps and I could hear voices before I even opened the door...great. I went in and hit it mid swing. Everything in the living room was moved to all walls. Kai was on the stairs like he was ringside some match. I shot him a look of disgust but he didn't care. He was a gamer and he was about to experience some world class virtual reality.

  “Josh...listen, you need to calm down right this minute!”

  121

  He started laughing but it wasn't a “haha laugh”, it was a defiant one.

  “Really Sam...I need to calm down... THAT...” he pointed off in the distance towards the woods... “Was bullshit!”

  “I knew you would go all Rambo on the situation here, if you knew... We need answers not bodies Josh!”

  “Ohhh…there will at least one body tonight,” Josh grumbled.

  For a half second I thought he just threatened Sam, but then I realized he must be talking about Johnathan. I looked at Sam then at Josh.

  “You will not harm him...! I swear you do and you'll deal with me!” I yelled.

  Josh looked at me... He flashed over to me, sooo fast, I almost lost my balance, He grabbed both sides of my head and in an instant all of my memories flooded up, flashing one by one like a television channels being flipped through at super sonic speed. Sam ran to us and knocked him off of me and he slid across the floor. She grabbed my arms, glad she did, because my legs were going from under me. I felt light headed and nauseous...white stars flashing at the corners of my vision.

  “Josh! You asshole…! You can't do that so fast...” That's all I heard... I started to fall backward and I passed out.

  ******

  I woke up in my bed…wasn't new anymore... I squinted my eyes, my mouth was dry. I needed to brush my teeth, really bad. My mouth tasted like metal…yuck. I started to move around and when I sat up my head felt heavy like I was getting a cold. I rubbed it...didn't help. I looked up and saw Sam sitting on a chair, she must have brought up from the kitchen table.

  “Hey you,” she smiled at me.

  “Hey Sam…what the hell happened?” I asked. “Where"s Josh?”

  She reached down to the floor and picked up a bowl of soup...chicken broth never smelled so good.

  “Here, first things first…you need to eat some.”

  She handed the bowl to me and grabbed a hand full of crackers from the package at my bedside... She crushed them in her hand and dumped them in.

  “Lots of carbs in those,” she smiled at me again.

  I looked at her with a “WELL?” on my face.

  “Josh is fine... He's downstairs… I'm sitting here with you. Oh, and your brother is out getting steaks to grill. Well, he's not grilling them…god forbid.”

  I dropped my spoon in my soup.

  “What happened after I...ya know?”

  Sam stood up and walked to the window.

  “Well…it took everything I had to convince Josh to stay and not go on a killing spree. Truth is after he… ” She turned to me and held her hand up to her head…

  “Ya know, with your memories, he freaked out when you passed out… He really did.”

  “Jerk,” I mumbled.

  “I agree, but he carried you up here to your bed and stayed with you all night.”

  122

  “What…all night?”

  Sam started to laugh..

  “NO…oh god no Rue…geez what kind of people do you think we are?”

  She continued.

  “He sat by your bed… He felt really awful about what he did to you.”

  I had only taken two bites of soup and crackers, but I sat my bowl on the nightstand.

  “He should feel like the biggest turd in the world... That was not cool, by any stretch of the means Sam!”

  “Well”...she continued... “That was the first night.”

  “What...the first night? How long have I slept Sam?”

  She came over and sat on the edge of my bed...

  “It's been seven days Rue.”

  I jumped up out my bed and she stood up. I swayed a little. Sea legs. I'd read about it, but I never had the floor moving under my feet. I reached out and steadied myself on the side of my bed.

  “Rue…maybe, you should sit back down.”

  I shot her a look.

  “Yea...not gonna happen Sam,” I said, as I looked at my legs.

  I started for the door...heading for downstairs. I made it down the steps, but it wasn't the prettiest thing. Sam tried to grab at my arm, a couple times, but I defiantly jerked it back from her. I stood at the bottom step for a moment...things were making me just a bit nauseous, but I wasn't going to turn around now. I looked up and Josh had stood up. He had a smile on his face.

  Sam looked at him and said, “I told her that jumping up was not the best idea.”

  He came walking over to me. I was sooo glad that he did, because I don't think I could of made it too him. I looked up and he was still smiling.

  “Rue...I…” he started to say.

  I swung and hit him in the jaw as hard as I could, it rocked his head to the side...maybe more due to the element of surprise than anything. Sam stepped forward and he put his hand up to her…holding his jaw with his other hand. I looked at him so mad, my eyes started to water. He stood his ground.

  “I told you to never do that again...memory sucker!” I yelled.

  “I...I know we went over it, but I…I didn't listen, sorry,” He had a smirk on his face.

  I reared back and hit him again... Kai had just opened the front door and got to see it.

  “Dude I told you she was gonna be pissed,” Kai smiled at both of us and headed into the kitchen.

  I swayed this time... I had exerted too much energy on both swings, I only wished I had been full power on both. Josh reached out and caught me before I hit the ground. I was alert, but my body felt as if it were sleeping.

  Josh helped me too the couch, where he sat me down... He backed up quickly…probably thought I was going to do it again. Sam had followed us over and went to sit down. Josh looked at her and told her to go mess with the food.

  123

  He sat down across from me, on the chair. He set his feet apart and put his hands together in front of him.

  “Listen Rue...you are right, I was mad and I had no right to do it.”

  “Damn right you didn't,” I said.

  “I should of thought first and acted later.”

  “Go on.” I just crossed my arms waiting.

  “I am a dick and I suck more than anything in the history of sucking.”

  I started to grin...this was good.

  He looked at me and I put my hand out in a “Go-On” motion.

  “I should have b
een thinking of you and not what I thought I needed at that moment?” It came out as a question this time… He was fishing.

  I pointed my finger out at him...

  “You EVER pull that again and I will never ever talk to you again...no matter what.”

  Kai leaned in from the kitchen...

  “Dude you might wanna put your hand on her head.”

  I shot him a look of “I hate you”. Josh put a hand up to his mouth, lowering his head. I knew he was trying not to laugh, but I wasn't ready to play.

  “I mean it...! I will go a million years ignoring you...I swear!” I yelled out.

  He smiled at me, then cleared his throat, swallowing his smile.

  “Deal,” he said.

  Sam carried a bottled water over to me...

  “Drink Rue.” I took it and chugged it down... I was sooo thirsty. Sam and Josh reached for the bottle, at the same time..

  Sam stammered, “Uh...honey listen you may want to...”

  Too late... I folded forward and hurled all over Josh's shoes.

  He jumped back, Sam started to laugh.

  He looked down...

  “I guess I deserved that,” he muttered.

  I looked up with “sorry” on my face.

  “What the hell is wrong with me?” I asked.

  Josh walked out the front door...I was sure, to burn his shoes. Sam sat next to me.

  “Listen Rue...when Josh did his...you know…thingy, he was angry, did it full throttle on you. It really wrecked you energy wise... He was frantic when you fell... He really was, I know he'd take it back if he could.”

  “Nice,” I said with a sigh.

  “Yea, well you hit him twice and puked on his favorite shoes, so now maybe your a little closer to even.”

  She smiled at me and placed a hand on the side of my face.

  “Maybe you should lay down for a bit,” she added.

  “No Sam...! I slept for a week... Trust me I'll be fine, really I will. I feel better now that I hurled...especially on him.”

  She laughed.

  “Okay, but lay off the boxing today, K?” she said as she touched my face.

  “I'm mike tysoned out... I promise you,” I muttered.

  124

  Sam got up and went into the kitchen and I layed my head back, staring at the ceiling....

  The phone rang... I reached over and picked it up before anyone could get to it.