Revelations

by Butler, Christine M.

  Revelations

  The Awakening Trilogy: Book Two

  Christine M. Butler

  ***

  Copyright © 2011 Christine M. Butler

  Book Cover and interior art © 2011 Christine M. Butler

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotes and descriptions included in articles and reviews.

  For more information about this book address Moonlit Dreams Publications at www.moonlitdreams.org

  Smashwords Edition

  ***

  DEDICATION

  Thank you to my mom and dad, Lind and Frank, for always being supportive. Thanks also to my kids, Bella, Devlin, Alex, and Lexy for being the reason I had to follow my dreams! I hope you learn that you can do the same in your lives!

  A huge thank you goes out to my good friend, Author Patria Dunn, for always being there, listening to me complain about this book when things were slow, and encouraging me to finish. You have truly been an inspiration and I couldn't have done it without you!

  And last, but certainly not least, I wanted to say a special thanks to my cousin, Susan Ekholm. She didn't read fantasy novels, or as she called them, "that junk," but she encouraged me constantly to follow my dreams and keep on writing away! She was an amazing person, funny beyond compare, and very talented. She was taken too soon, but will be remembered always in our hearts - until we meet again!

  ***

  INTO THE PAST

  Seth stood by the stream staring off into nothing more than his own memories. He knew Caislyn said they were in Ireland, but it hadn't dawned on him that they could possibly be at the point of his salvation. Seth felt a familiar tingle up the back of his neck and cocked his head a bit to the left to see a shimmering figure approaching him. "I was wondering if you would show up again."

  "I was wondering the same thing," Catronia said as she paused to look down at herself. "Ah, Seth, I thank ye for remembering my better days." She stood next to Seth not quite solid, but looking for all the world as she had the first night they met. He smiled as she admired her own form. She was lovely, shorter than Caislyn and paler, but with so many similar features. The corners of her mouth upturned with humor, then wonder, as she looked up into Seth's face and put her hand out as if to cup his cheek. "You look ever the same as you did when we met."

  "As do you," Seth remarked.

  "Yes, I am but a shade though, and this," she referenced the ghostly body she occupied, "is but an image plucked from your memories." She couldn't hide the sorrow that crossed her face momentarily. "You are forever beautiful though. I remember that night, when I came out to find you by this stream. You thought you would slake your thirst with its waters. Little did you know what had happened to you."

  Seth looked down at the water flowing gently over the rocks. "Yes, I remember." He stood, staring down at a spot in the water just in front of the old stone bridge. Back then the bridge had been new. Now as he looked he saw that bits of the stone had crumbled as moss and vines, no doubt, held many other places together.

  Catronia stood lost in thought too, remembering further back still, to what caused their fated meeting. It had been less than 20 years since the Great Hunger ravaged Ireland. Millions of the country's population either left for England, Spain and the Americas, or died from starvation and sickness. The women of Catronia's family were witches of the earth. During the famine, they were able to keep the potato blight at bay and grow enough to feed their families and occasionally share with some of the few remaining townsfolk. Once the blight had passed, the food supply in the country was increasing, but their hard earned potatoes and grains were being shipped to England through the guise of heavy tariffs. The majority of the population remained in poverty, fighting sickness and disease, while a handful reaped the benefits of their shipments.

  Catronia's family lived a few kilometers outside the town of Rathmullan. They worked their own land and hid their success through glamours. If anyone had known how well they were doing, they would have been brought before the church and executed. Witchcraft stopped being tolerated in those parts long ago, though there were many that still held the old ways close to their heart. Her family line had passed its knowledge and wisdom down through many generations. That tradition was not about to stopped because the world had embraced yet another religion. People weren't ready to hear that these ladies didn't just worship through the god and goddess, but that they were physiologically different from their human counter parts. Witchcraft wasn't their religion, it was in their blood. Catronia's family and others like her survived through secrets. They would do as they always had, help those in need, but stay to themselves whenever possible.

  **1867**

  Night had fallen across the coast of northern Ireland. The wind whispered its secrets through the grasses lining the stream bank. Catronia had been feeling edgy all day. She was able to see into the future at times, and while the strange sensations she had been experiencing were like that of the other-worldly visions she had, none presented themselves. Catronia thought maybe a walk outside, breathing the fresh, cool, night air would help ease her tensions. As she walked towards the stream, she said a quick thank you to the goddess for the bountiful harvest she had bestowed upon their family this day. The moonlight illuminated her path to the small stone bridge that had been built by her grandfather and father a few years before. There, Catronia took her position and leaned on the nearby wooden fence, watching the ripples dance across the water. At first, she thought the little waves were created by an animal quenching its thirst just up stream a ways, but Catronia couldn't see it. The insects had stopped their nightly chorus, and the air became suddenly still. The only noise was the furious lapping and splashing of water in the tall reeds along the bank. Catronia tried to sense the life she knew was there, but she could feel nothing. Silently she stepped away from her perch near the bridge and made her way towards the sounds. As she moved closer, she could see a shadowy form laying partially in the stream. Catronia stood motionless, unsure of the man collapsed there.

  "Sir," she started to say, "may I be of some help to ye?" The man stilled in the water as her willowy voice wrapped around him. "Sir," Catronia started again, this time she was cut off by the man’s sudden movements.

  Before she could blink he was out of the stream and standing, dripping before her, mere inches away. The look of panic on his face was the only thing that calmed Catronia. This man had no clue he was a vampire. He must have been left for dead by his maker. "Sir, I know what you need." She took her athame out of its pouch by her side and the man backed away slowly, retreating into the waters he had just vacated. Catronia wasn't bothered by his movements instead she pulled her athame around to slice an area there on the inside of her arm. A thin red line welled up to the surface as she spoke again. "Here," she said, "holding her arm out to the man in offering. "I will stop you before you take too much, but you need this to clear your head."

  The man appeared to tremble before her, as if fighting an internal war. When it became apparent that he would not close the distance and drink, Catronia took it upon herself to force the situation. "You must drink, sir. I don't offer my own blood lightly." She stepped forward, arm held out from her. "I can't have you going on a murdering rampage amongst my people." She stepped so close to him that her extended arm waved just beneath his face. She saw the moment his inner nature took hold and Catronia braced herself for what would come next.

  The man grabbed her arm in his hands and brought it closer to his face, he sniffed it, as if the aroma of Catronia's blood itself could sate him. Then he pulled her arm closer and licked the metallic sweet blood that had pooled there. Without another
moment of hesitation he was grabbing her arm in a vice like grip and drinking freely.

  Catronia knew of vampires, but she had never known what it was to feed one. Her mind swirled and she had to physically fight to keep from falling in a trance. Feeding was meant to be pleasurable for the victim so they would go off into sweet oblivion without a fight. There was pleasure, but on the edge of her consciousness was the warning, the knowledge of how dangerous this was. Catronia felt the pull of her blood intermingled with waves of intoxicating delight. She lost herself in it for a moment, until her knees began to buckle beneath her. She pulled against the vampire now trying to reclaim her hand. Physically she was too weak to fight his ravenous hunger or his grip. So she dug deeper into herself, into that part of her that was a witch. She threw an alarming amount of her power at him. He was staggered back enough by the push of power that he dropped her arm and spun around, startled, looking for an attacker behind him that wasn’t there.

  Now that his vision had cleared and his humanity was filtering back he looked at Catronia who had backed up to sit farther from the banks of the stream. He saw the blood stains along her arm, saw how drained she now looked, and he began to weep openly in front of her.

  "What kind of monster have I become?" The question was only a whispered trace along the wind, but Catronia heard it none-the-less.

  "You are vampire." Her answer fell across the land in a hush. He looked up at her, a mixture of fear and self loathing settled on his face. Catronia pitied him in that moment. "Another of your kind must have turned you recently. Think back, you will remember, when you are ready."

  "But, how?" He looked down at his own hands. He noted the blood there and while part of him was horrified he had to stop himself from raising them to his mouth to lick the remnants. Before he could think of it anymore he thrust them into the stream to wash the blood away. "I don't understand any of this." He looked around at the stream and the lush green lands all around it. "I was helping my family pack before the rebellions broke out. A woman approached us. She..." Anguish spread across his face as the memories returned. "She murdered them. All of them. She murdered me." Catronia watched as the vampire put his hand to his own throat looking for the spot where the woman had gnawed away his life, drank away his blood. "It's gone." He searched with both hands now. "How can that be?"

  Catronia's voice broke through his impending panic. "She turned you. When you are remade as a vampire all those wounds heal as if they had never happened. Except this wound, the one that took your humanity and replaced it with your blood lust." She looked to him as he climbed out of the stream on the opposite side of the bank and sat down. "What is your name?"

  "Seth," he replied absently.

  "Seth, I am Catronia." She looked up and their eyes locked for a moment before she went on. "I can help you, but you must make me a promise."

  "I am a monster now. My promises mean nothing."

  "You are wrong about that." She looked at him again and held his gaze while she continued, "I am a witch, Seth. You can feel the truth of that in your bones, if you listen. You've had your fill of my blood and through it courses magic. You will never know that feeling again, because witches do not feed vampires." She said the last with stern indignation. "I should not have done it. Now, I ask a favor in return. There will be a time, long after I am gone, when my family will need you. You must promise to step in and be the voice of reason during dark times. You are a lost soul now, Seth, but one day you will be much more." As she spoke, Catronia was still gazing into Seth's eyes, but she was no longer seeing him. In their depths, she was sighting his future. She smiled at the last image her sight had given her. "We will meet again, you and I, in this very place. You will be protecting my kin and I shall be thanking you. Your promise is happily received."

  "But I didn't promise anything." Seth countered.

  "I saw it in your eyes, Seth." Catronia smiled at him. "Now ask your questions because you need to be finding shelter before dawn. You will find the sun won't be as kind to you as it has been in the past.

  ***

  THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW

  “What's so interesting out there?" Caislyn asked as Jaxon looked out through the kitchen window.

  Jaxon appeared startled at her inquiry. "Crap, well I thought that was you out there with Seth. I was wondering what you guys were talking about."

  Caislyn looked out the window, puzzled momentarily. It didn't take long for her to figure out who was talking to Seth. "Jax, it's Catronia."

  "Who?"

  "You know, my great, great grandma who you met in the attic last night."

  "Oh," Jaxon started, "but, wait, she was old." Jaxon watched as Seth went from staring off in the distance to looking at the woman. "Why isn’t she old now?"

  Caislyn laughed, "I remembered her as old. Seth apparently remembers a much younger Catronia." Caislyn continued digging around in the cabinets and couldn't find anything that looked appealing or wasn't past its shelf life. "Okay, well, while they have their little reunion chat, I think we need to go to town for some supplies."

  Jaxon hadn't taken her eyes off the window yet, "what do we need supplies for?" She questioned, too preoccupied to worry about what Caislyn was saying.

  "Earth to Jaxon!" Caislyn announced, then she turned Jaxon so she was no longer mesmerized by the scene outside the window. "I don't know about you, but I gotta eat at some point." Caislyn held up some money and pointed to the front door.

  "Where the hell did you get money?" Jaxon inquired.

  "Cookie jar," Caislyn said as if that was perfectly acceptable.

  "What?"

  "Caislyn rolled her eyes and then realized Jaxon hadn't grown up the way she did. "My family has always kept stashes of cash throughout their houses in case of emergency. The cookie jar is one of those places. Jaxon grew curious and took the lid off the cookie jar and only saw a few stale cookies. At her questioning look Caislyn said, "look again, and open your eyes this time." Jaxon took another look in the jar and this time she kept squinting her eyes this way and that, when suddenly she was seeing through the cookies to a rather large wad of cash beneath.

  "So, if I reached in to grab a cookie I would be disappointed huh?"

  "Well yea, because they're probably stale as hell."

  "Wait, huh?"

  "The cookies are real, but they are charmed to sort of move out of the way if what you really desire is cash." Caislyn waggled her eyebrows at Jax, "pretty cool huh?"

  "It must have been so weird growing up in your family," Jaxon said as she walked past Caislyn to the door. As soon she moved through the door Jaxon stopped herself. She hadn't realized how vast and green things looked beyond the little kitchen window of the cottage. The stream just beyond the front door was grown up around the sides with so much vegetation that it reminded Jax of her trips through the J.C Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh with her parents. Even the bridge that ran across the stream reminded Jaxon of something out of an old fairy tale. She could almost picture a bridge troll living beneath it. As soon as she thought about trolls she turned to Caislyn, "Please, tell me there's no such thing as a bridge troll." Caislyn laughed and shook her head, assuring her that at least that one monster was the stuff of fiction. "Okay, then, where's the car?" Jaxon looked around, craning her neck this way and that, trying to pretend like she was examining the vast expanse of lush green nothingness surrounding the cottage, when in reality she was keeping tabs on Seth and the very young ghostly form of Catronia. They were sitting in their silent reverie at the moment, but if Jaxon didn't get out of here soon, she wouldn't be able to contain herself.

  "Umm, there used to be one around the corner in the garage. I'm not even sure anymore."

  "What? Okay, well we don't need a car anyway," Jaxon smiled, then knowingly said, "come hold my hand so we can teleport there."

  Caislyn smiled too. She hadn't thought about teleporting to the store. The girls joined hands and Caislyn thought about going to the market. When that didn't work s
he tried saying it out loud. "Take us to the market." Upon opening her eyes and still standing by the cottage door she added, "please."

  "Did we use it all up when we teleported so far away last time?" Jax questioned.

  "No, I think it's because I can't get a clear picture of the store in my head. It's been a long time since I've been back here." She pulled the door open and walked outside. "Looks like we're walking if there's no car in the garage."

  As Jaxon continued to look around she asked, "walking where? I don't see anything, anywhere."

  "The town is a couple miles away, Jax." At Jaxon's wide-eyed look Caislyn added, "but we can teleport back, so there's always that."

  "I am sooo not amused!" Jaxon's stomach began to grumble its own complaints, "and I am so very hungry. Let's go look for the car first."

  "Well, come on then, we need food and there's no other way." Caislyn looked back over her shoulder toward the stream where Catronia and Seth had been talking. "I wonder what he is going to eat."

  "What do you mean?" Jaxon said, looking at her friend curiously.

  "You know, he's on a special diet." At the blank look she got from Jaxon, Caislyn raised her two hands in front of her mouth and made fangs with her fingers.

  "Oh. Oh!" Jaxon said as it dawned on her. "You know, I never really thought about that." She suddenly looked worried. "Does he really eat people?"

  "Nah, that would be zombies, Seth just drinks their blood."

  "Oh my God!" Jaxon nearly shouted, "he kills people and I was practically throwing myself at him last night after one look."

  Caislyn couldn't help herself, she laughed, despite Jaxon's not so nice look directed her way. "Jax, it's all a bit more civilized than that. I really don't think Seth is the kind of person to drain people dry."