by Rue Volley
Jonah leaned forward and touched her cheek.
“Thank you for looking so delicious this evening,” he said quietly back to her.
Lizzy’s heartbeat sped up, and Jonah sucked air through his teeth and stared at her neck.
“Would you think me rude if I asked to skip the meal and retire...? Perhaps you would join me?” Jonah said, as his eyes began to swirl.
Lizzy tried to control her heart.
“I would not think it rude. In fact, I would prefer to be away from the crowd,” Lizzy said.
Jonah smiled and stood up, holding his hand out to her. She took it, and he pulled her up. Jonah glanced at Lily, and she grinned and looked back at the boy she was charming. He smiled, and she touched his wrist and flipped it over to reveal the vein pulsating just under his skin.
Jonah placed his hand on Lizzy’s waist and led her from the tent and out into the night air. Lizzy looked up at the night sky and at the stars. She noticed Jonah staring at her and looked over to him.
“I find the world fascinating,” Lizzy said, as she stared into his eyes and looked back at the sky.
Jonah continued to stare at her smooth skin on her neck and grin.
“I find you fascinating, Elizabeth Crowley.”
Lizzy looked at him and cleared her throat, as she touched her mouth.
Jonah leaned down and looked at her face.
“You need not fear me, for I have fought off my urge to eat you for five years… I do not think that I will give in tonight.”
Lizzy laughed and shook her head.
“What is it?” Jonah asked her, confused by her reaction.
“Oh, it is… well, what a strange conversation to have! I mean, whether you will eat me or not,” Lizzy said, as she laughed.
Jonah straightened up and smiled at her.
“And this is your charm, love… your lack of fear.”
Lizzy looked at him and slowed her laughter.
“I do not fear you, Jonah, quite the opposite.”
Jonah took her hand and started to walk with her.
“I find that incredibly delightful,” he said.
They walked hand and hand, until Jonah stopped at his tent and turned to her.
“I would ask that you stay with me tonight, Elizabeth,” he said, as he leaned into her.
“That was my intention all along,” Lizzy said, as she bit into her lip.
Jonah pulled her into the tent and swung her around, placing his hand on her face and staring into her eyes.
“I will warn you that I am not as gentle as I should be, but I will attempt it for you.”
Lizzy sucked in her breath and closed her eyes, as he pressed his lips against hers and made a low noise deep in his throat. Lizzy instantly felt dizzy from her first kiss. She had dreamed of Jonah since she was a little girl, waking up to his face. She had no idea why they had spared her life, but at this moment she was thankful that they had shown mercy on her. Jonah continued to kiss her, as he slowly led her to the bed and laid her down. She relaxed on the bed under him, and he grinned at her.
“I find you quite exquisite.”
Lizzy grinned and touched his face. Jonah closed his eyes, as he smelled her wrist close to his mouth, and he instinctively bit her before he realized it. Lizzy cried out and twisted under him, as he took her blood into his mouth and moaned.
“Stop… Jonah, please stop,” she said breathless.
Jonah growled and took his mouth from her wrist, grinning with bloodstained teeth.
“I fear that you taste better than I expected,” Jonah said, as he grabbed her hand tightly.
Lizzy looked at his face, as it changed from gentle to more animal-like.
“Jonah?” Lizzy said, as he stared at her face and suddenly grabbed her face with his free hand and turned it, pressing the side of her head against the bed.
He sank his teeth into her neck, and she kicked as he drank from her with more force than he had from her wrist. Lizzy started to feel dizzy, and she struggled to break free of him. Jonah stopped and flashed up from her and started to pace in the room.
“You have to leave me now,” Jonah said, as he paced and rubbed his hands together.
Lizzy sat up slowly, as her head spinned and tried to focus on him.
“Jonah… you can, love. You can,” she said, as she tried to crawl from the bed. Blood continued to flow from her neck, and Jonah looked at her and gritted his teeth.
“I will kill you if you stay,” he said.
Lizzy shook her head and stumbled, as she tried to stand.
“No… no Jonah. I know that you have love in your heart as I do, please,” Lizzy said, as she swayed on her feet.
Jonah could feel her heartbeat slowing in her chest. He had mortally wounded her when he had bitten her neck, and he flashed to her and touched her face.
“You are dying, my love; I can feel it.”
Lizzy tried to focus on his face, as it blurred into two.
“Jonah, I have always loved you… in this life and the last.”
Jonah tilted his head as he looked at her face.
“You remember, Lizzy...? You remember being with us before?”
Lizzy nodded, and her eyes started to roll in her head.
“I remember now, Jonah. I remember as a child… long ago, sleeping in your bed.”
Jonah stared at her and grinned.
“Yes, my love, you were with us a hundred years ago… You died, killed by me… I thought that we had made it past that point with you this time. You have been with us for five years, and I had never had the urge to touch you until now.”
“Jonah?” Lizzy said as she started to fall.
Jonah held onto her and lowered her slowly.
“It hurts, Jonah… Please kill me quickly; I do not want to feel this way,” Lizzy said, as she gritted her teeth.
Jonah sighed and pulled out his blade.
He looked at her face and smiled.
“I know that we will be together again, love. I will make this easier for you… I promise to be swift.”
Jonah gripped the blade in his hand and gently kissed her on the mouth, as he suddenly thrust his blade into her heart and twisted it. Lizzy shook and relaxed his arms, and he sat there staring at her face.
“I am a beast, and you are doomed to die at my side… Please find your way to another when reincarnation touches you again, love,” he whispered.
Lily flashed into the tent and stared at the two of them.
***
“Jonah...? Jonah?” Lily asked him.
Jonah broke from his memory of Lizzy that night and stared at her.
“I killed her, Lily; I did. It was not an accident. I could hear her heartbeat in my ears, and her blood called out to me. I bit into her with too much force and caused damage to her that was not reversible. I killed her, and now she is trying to get back to me.”
Lily stepped up to him and tilted her head at him.
“We will do this together, Jonah. I will not let you die.”
Jonah smiled. “No, this is something I must do on my own. She will either listen to me or give me what is due.”
Lily grabbed him and hugged him.
Jonah stood there and stared out into the room.
“I love you, Jonah,” Lily whispered.
Jonah grinned and kissed her on the top of the head quickly, and she backed away from him.
“As I do you,” Jonah said, as he flashed from the tent quickly.
Lily turned, as the wind he kicked up made her hair fly around her head. She sighed and closed her eyes, as she realized that their bond was indeed broken, for she could not follow him as she had always done before.
“Be careful, love… return to me,” Lily whispered to herself.
Chapter 8
The ‘What’ Face
I had drifted off, staring at the cheap reproduction of the night sky on my ceiling. I focused in on the Milky Way, until it blurred out of focus, and I found myself engulfed in flas
hes of memory, that I could not comprehend fast enough. Faces rolled up behind my eyes… my mother, my father… Kai. Then it pushed me on. I saw Sam and Josh and Theo… standing in my kitchen… Theo cooking a meal, Josh flipping his blades in his hand, and Sam standing there with her hands on her hips.
Dreams are funny, well… kinda. I mean, you create them to a certain degree, and then you try to navigate your way through them, as the late meal you had weighs in your stomach and twists and turns your thoughts. At least that is what my Mom said. She always told me to not eat late, because your dreams would be more intense. I had spent a year having nightmares so intense that I would sit up in my bed, clutching at my chest, gasping for air… but to this day I could not tell you what they were about. Not a single one of them.
The dream continued, and I found myself standing at the base of my tree. I looked up and there my tree house sat, all old… with vines wrapping around it. It looked abandoned, once loved but now time had taken its toll on it. If it had not been mine, I wouldn’t even recognize it.
I looked up, shielding my eyes from the sunlight pouring through the thick leaves, and I thought I saw someone peek out and pop back in quickly into the tree house above me. I didn’t panic, my heartbeat stayed steady, and I reached out and placed my hand on the tree and found the first knob to pull myself up. I started to climb, and I looked up again. The tree house suddenly seemed so far away, like it moved up towards the sky with every step I took. I didn’t get discouraged by it. In fact, I felt like it was due to me… I deserved to work hard to reach it. I had abandoned it, after it had sheltered me, and to reach it I had to now work harder to get there.
I continued to climb, and I looked down. The ground looked so far below me, and as I looked back up, the tree house looked just as far as it had been before. I sighed and continued to climb. I really had no intention of not making it; I guess I can thank my parents for my stubborn nature. I climbed for what seemed like an hour, the ground disappearing below me, and the tree house mocking me from above. I finally leaned forward and looked at the old weathered bark and hugged it close to me.
“Please… please let me in,” I said.
I felt a vibration under me, and the tree tried to shake me off of it. I gripped it tightly and closed my eyes.
“I am sorry,” I said, meaning it with all my heart.
I felt the tree disappear from my grip and for a moment, I did panic as I felt myself falling. I hit the floor hard and rolled on my side as I “oomf’d”. I slowly pushed myself up and looked around. I had made it inside… finally.
I stood up and looked around the small room, full of borrowed books, and saw a flash of something to my left. I looked and tilted my head in the direction of the flash.
“Hello?” I said.
I waited a moment and heard a little rustling.
“Hello...? I am Rue volley. I am not here to hurt you. This was my tree house when I was little, and I only wanted to see it,” I said.
A stack of books fell to my right, and I looked at it and took a breath.
“Listen, if I scare you… I will just leave. I don’t mean to intrude,” I said.
A small girl stepped out of the shadow in the corner and stood there with her hands placed behind her back. I stared at her and smiled.
“Rue?” I asked.
The girl raised her eyes to me and grinned.
“I missed you… Will you read to me?” she asked.
I took a step towards her with my hands out in front of me and grinned.
“I remember you. Your name is Rue, and I spent many nights with you… reading to you and many days on picnics with Grace and William,” I said.
The little girl smiled and nodded her head.
“You are the same as me,” she said.
I nodded to her.
“You lied… You said that your name was ‘Chel’,” she said.
I knelt down to one knee and looked at her.
“I know that I did, but I didn’t know if I should say that my name was Rue,” I said.
“You should never lie,” she said to me.
I sat down, as I stared at her, and nodded.
I cannot believe that a five-year old me is telling me what I should already know in my heart.
“I am sorry,” I said to her.
She skipped over to a large black book and picked it with a little bit of a struggle. I tried to stand up to help her, but she already had it in her hands and was heading for me. I relaxed back into my sitting position and let her step up to me with this oversized book in her hand. I looked at it and then at her.
“What do you have there?” I asked her.
“A book we wrote,” she said to me.
“Oh, really?” I asked her.
“Uh huh… We wrote it before all the other books; it is old,” she said to me.
My curiosity was brimming at this point. A book older than the ones we had already found? I looked at her and smiled, as I held my hands up to her.
“Do you want me to read it to you?” I asked her.
She nodded and sat down on my lap, adjusting the book on her lap.
She looked up at me and shook her head at me.
“If you read it, you have to live it,” she said.
I crinkled my eyebrows at her, not in a mean way, but in an ‘I don’t understand’ way. She turned, placed her tiny hand on the book, and started to open it up. I felt a vibration again under me, and she acted as if it didn’t even happen.
“Did you feel that?” I asked her.
She nodded and opened it up, revealing a picture… drawn in pencil. It was a large tree…beautiful really. I stared at it, and my mind relaxed. Pushing all worry out of it.
“This is life,” she said to me.
I smiled and leaned in. Her hair brushed my lip, and it was softer than the softest pillow, and smelled sweet like honey.
“The creator?” I asked her.
She giggled and shook her head ‘no’. I sat quiet, as she turned the page, and it revealed a girl, dark hair… lying in the grass on her back. She looked as if she was sleeping.
“Creator,” she said, as she rubbed her fingers over the drawing.
I leaned in, and the figure moved on the page. The girl turned her head and I stared at myself, smiling back at me. I jumped back, and little Rue fell from my lap and landed on her butt on the wood floor. She looked back at me and smiled.
“I don’t understand,” I said to her.
She closed the book and stood up, as she pulled the book up with her.
“It is not for you to understand… only to live as you are meant to,” she said.
I tilted my head, and the floor started to vibrate more violently under me.
“Tell me why I was on the page!” I said, as the first panic really started to set in.
She ran from me and hid behind a large stack of books in the corner.
“Rue?” I yelled, as the tree house started to sway under me, and I scrambled to my feet and tried to steady myself.
She peeked out and smiled at me.
“Say that you are sorry,” she said.
I watched the tree house start to crack, and I scrambled to the door and grabbed the handle. I looked back, and all the books were gone and so was little Rue. I jerked on the handle, and it refused to open. I looked up, and the roof started to crack. The floor under me vibrated violently to the point that I fell, still gripping the handle in my right hand. The tree moaned with loud creaks, as the wood strained from the shaking, and I fought to stand up and pull on the door with all my weight. I finally jerked it open and stared out, as the branch cracked and fell off in front of me.
“Freakin’ great!” I yelled out, as I steadied myself in the doorway
I looked around for anything that I could grab onto before the tree disintegrated under me.
The tree continued to shake, like it was trying to rid itself of me, and all I could do is hang on the best that I could. A piece of the roof fell in, and I
fell to the floor to avoid it from hitting me and spotted another branch. It was about five feet to my right, and I decided that I had to jump… had to, if I planned on surviving at all. I pulled myself up, as the sound of the tree dying beneath me became so loud it sounded like a freight train. I lunged at the branch and caught it. I wrapped my legs around it and hugged as tightly as I could. The tree didn’t appreciate my apparent jump to freedom, and the branch started to crack from the thick trunk. I “Oh’d” really loud, as it broke off and finally shed me of it.
I started to fall, and I hit my head on a branch and grabbed at it. I felt my body bounce off of another branch, and it stung as my elbow cracked against it. I grabbed at that too, and then I felt a sharp hit to my back, as it knocked the wind out of me. I continued to fall until I saw the ground coming up on me fast, and I instinctively placed my hands over my face. Then I felt hands on my shoulders, pulling me up, and I opened my eyes to see Josh, cradling me.
I would have said something, but the wind had been knocked out of me. I relaxed in his arms, and he held me there close to him. I could hear his heart beating… faster than usual. He pulled me back and placed his hand on my face, as he looked up the stairs.
“What the hell are you doing down here on the floor?” he asked me.
I took a breath and my ribs hurt; I must have hit them while falling. I looked up and there were my stairs… the same stairs that I had fallen down so many times as a child, that my parents had placed a baby gate up to try to stop me from doing it in my sleep. I shook my head and gritted my teeth, as I felt a pain in my neck.
“I was sleepwalking,” I said to him, as I took another breath and felt every rib in my side.
“Sleepwalking?” he asked me.
I nodded and pushed on him, as I rolled to my side and placed my hands on the floor to push myself up.
“Yea… you know, sleep… then walk,” I said.
Josh leaned back and stared at me.
“Well, that is just crazy,” he said to me.
I shot him a look and shook my head, as I stood up and stumbled a little.
He flashed up and grabbed my arm, as he looked at my face.
“Are you hurt?” he asked me.
I shook my head, although I was.
