"Oh," Caislyn said as she read the words her friend had written to her. "Oh, no! We have to stop her."
"I have no clue when she left, I just got back from hunting." Seth began to pace back and forth. "We have to go after her. I knew I should have had someone sit with her while I was gone. This is all my fault."
"Seth!" Caislyn started in as she got out of bed and began tossing on her cargo pants and a sweatshirt over the tank top she had been sleeping in. "Stop rambling, it's no one's fault, but mine. She obviously heard me telling you about going to get the herbs."
"You were planning on going out there, where Merriwyn was murdered and you never said anything to me?" Gregore asked.
"I didn't think..." Caislyn started.
"Now is not the time for this squabble." Seth said, "we need to go find Jaxon before she gets herself hurt or killed."
"Greg, can you please stay with my mom till I get back."
Gregore looked lost, confused, hurt, and pissed all at once. "Yeah, and when you get back, we are going to have a nice long chat, Cais."
"Alright." It was all she could manage as she gulped down another big helping of guilt. Caislyn grabbed a couple bottles of water and stuffed them in the pocket of her cargo pants. She looked up at Seth, "Let's go."
***
REVENGE
Jaxon was moving briskly, aware that the supplies she was after needed to be back at the camp sooner rather than later. She was numb to her own pain now. She had found a way of shutting it all out. Jaxon was part vampire though, so this was a possible existence for her. Caislyn, was made of different things, and she had to be protected from the emotions that Jaxon felt nearly killed her. She pushed aside those memories that tried to surface, the ones where her mother screamed endlessly in her mind.
The sharp pain and with it the joy and laughter that the brothers had felt. It made Jaxon sick. No one could possibly understand having lived those two distinctly different sets of emotions at once. They couldn't understand what it was like to have shared those emotions with both her mother and the Brotherhood members who were torturing Merriwyn. 'God, I miss her,' she thought. 'I can't let Caislyn have to go through losing both of her parents too. She was certain it must be slow torture for Caislyn to wait and wonder if she would have to bury her mother, if she would have that permanent scar on her heart that the Brotherhood put there, the twin to Jaxon's own scar. That was one more commonality she didn't want for her best friend.
As she found the road that trailed through the forest Jaxon caught the scent of people up ahead. She quickly darted into the cover of the woods on the other side of the road and listened. She could hear two male voices, one she recognized immediately. It was him. It was the man who stood laughing and joyous as Merriwyn perished in the most horrific of ways. This was the man who's emotions tormented Jaxon every time she tried to close her eyes. The only thing she could think coherently now was that she would elicit from him a new emotion. One that would allow her to sleep at night.
Emotions started rearing their ugly heads within Jaxon. She had to take a deep breath and then release it, knowing that it would be her last for a while. She let go of her feelings and allowed the darkness of the past few days consume her. "I will get my vengeance," she whispered as she crouched lower in the weeds along the roadside. She felt around, trying to find the discarded herb satchel, and was pleased when her fingers ran over the fine leather stitching.
As Jaxon clutched the satchel to her, and then tied it to the belt loop at her waist, she wondered if she would be able to kill the guilty when the time came. Just like that, her answer popped in her head, as she relived that moment back in Elizabeth City where she killed her abusive ex-boyfriend, Rick. The thoughts of how easy that kill was, how painless, and how freeing it had felt to be rid of him propelled Jaxon forward. She knew she could do this, beyond a shadow of a doubt. She stood and beckoned to the brothers who still remained at the camp. There were only three now. Seth might think three was too many for her to take alone, but he had been underestimating her since they met. Three wasn't even going to be a challenge for her now. Jaxon remembered giving Gregore a command he couldn't break free from on his own just days ago. No, Jaxon may not have had total control of her powers yet, but she had mastered enough of them to know she could do this, and make it look effortless while she was at it.
"I am no longer an abused girlfriend. I am no longer a pitiful human. What I am is something you will come to fear just before I take your lives." The words rolled off her tongue and out into the night air, just loud enough for the brothers sitting near their campfire to hear. The bald one stood and looked around, a smile playing across his face. The others exchanged worried glances as they looked out into he night and saw nothing. Jaxon was moving too fast to be seen. The shadows hid her as she went. She passed by their campsite in a blurring dance of movement, tossing her dagger in the air as she went. The silver blade caught the moonlight just a moment before it lodged in the youngest man's chest. There was barely an audible whimper from his lips before he slumped and fell, just missing the fire he had been sitting near. The others may not have heard it, but Jaxon did and now she was smiling. She watched the other two from the dark, listening to their rapid-fire heartbeats. Then she pounced, grabbing the man who sat by the fire stunned as his friend bled out beside him. "You, are going to love this," Jaxon whispered in his ear as she drug him into the woods behind the camp. Once she was out of sight of the other brother she sank her teeth deep into the man's neck and began pulling his blood from his body. Small rivulets of blood escaped her mouth, dripping the thick, hot, red liquid down her pale white face. Jaxon didn't let go until the man had collapsed in her arms and his breathing had ceased.
She dropped him and tilted her head up to the night-dark sky letting loose a feral scream as the energy from the blood zinged through her. She was off, in another heartbeat, chasing down her final victim of the night. He was the one she really wanted. She would make him scream. She would make him pay in ways he had never dreamed of. She sniffed the air and caught the putrid scent of the balding man. Her vampire abilities were heightened beyond the norm now that she had the life blood energy coursing through her veins. It was nearly all she could feel. She had to remind herself that she had a mission to accomplish. The blood, it was beyond invigorating, and it was making her think of nothing more than killing her prey and getting more.
Jaxon found him easily. He was winded and trying to hide in the underbrush of the forest. She didn't say a word as she sneaked up behind him and tapped his shoulder. As his shaking frame turned in her direction she shouted, "BOO!" Then she laughed and drug him back to he camp. His high-pitched girl scream could be heard for quite a ways, but it was her own laugh that reverberated back at her from the trees.
"You like killing witches." It was a statement not a question.
"No, no, I think you have mistaken me for someone else." The man didn't hesitate to try to defend himself, but she could taste his fear and his lies on the air.
"You like to kill them in heinous ways." Jaxon stated again as she circled the man.
"No, I swear, I don't kill. I am but a modest monk."
"You," Jaxon paused and made sure she was looking directly at him before she continued, "you are nothing!"
"No, you're right. I am nothing." The man was blabbering now. His body quivered beneath Jaxon's stare.
The whole time Jaxon circled him she was placing a protective barrier around the two of them. Neither of them would be getting out of it and no one would get in until the deed was done. "So, you never told me, why is it that you like killing witches?"
"I...I...I never said I liked killing witches."
"Let's not play pretend now," Jaxon whispered as she watched the man's feeble attempts to back through her circle. He was jolted as he touched the line and jumped right back into the middle, closer to Jaxon. "I'm pretty sure you enjoyed a recent witch killing. It happened right over there," Jaxon pointed to the crossroads where
her mother had been torn apart. The balding man looked in the direction of the crossroads and a small smile marked his face before he remembered to keep it in check. "Oh, so you really enjoyed that one."
"No, it's not like that." The man began nervously tugging at his bandaged earlobe. It was the spot Merriwyn had bit the other day when he got to close.
"Brother..." Jaxon paused, realizing she had no clue what this balding, repugnant man's name was. "I'm sorry, I've been terribly rude, haven't I. My name is Jaxon." She bowed with a flourish of her hand, but never gave up the eye contact she now had with him, "and your name is?"
"J-J-John."
"Ah, Brother J-J-John." Jaxon made little sad faces at him as she mimicked his nervous stutter. She continued to wonder around him in a circle. "Do you know what I am?"
"A witch." He spat the words at her as if they were the most vile thing to roll off his tongue.
"In part, yes. Tonight though, I am far more than that. Tonight, you get this, "she allowed him an up close and personal look into her pitch black eyes. Her vampire's eyes."
Brother John shuffled backwards on his hands and feet until he came into contact with the circle again and was thrown forward with the impact of the jolt. "This is not possible."
"Oh, it is possible, just as I was foretold, here I am. An abomination. Your worst nightmare. Surely, you brotherly people have heard of the prophesied ones?"
At the mention of the prophecy Brother John went completely and utterly still. "You!" The terror on his face was replaced with something else, altogether. "You must listen to me, we have been searching..."
"Shh," Jaxon cut him off and put her finger to his lips. "No more of that. I wasn't finished my story." She paced backwards a few steps and then squatted down to make sure she had eye contact again. "I am the daughter of the witch you played with in the crossroads only days ago." The man visibly paled as she revealed her story. "You see, she was sent out on an errand so that we could heal someone. Not harm them, heal them. And what did she get for trying to help someone in need? She was drawn and quartered. That was a pretty archaic means of dispatching a witch from this life, don't you think? And before that, she was beaten, by you. And do you know what? You enjoyed every damn minute of it. I know because I am also an empath. I felt her terror. I felt your elation. I felt them together. Guess what that does to a person."
"Jaxon!" Caislyn yelled from the roadside. Both she and Seth had been standing there long enough to hear everything.
The balding man in the middle of the circle with Jaxon turned and started screaming for help. "She's crazy! She's going to kill me! She doesn't understand her purpose! You have to help..." Jaxon's fist made contact with the man's jaw and he went flying into the circle's barrier only to bounce back towards Jaxon just as quickly. She stepped out of the way and watched as he rolled into the barrier on the side and was jolted off yet again. The smile on her face was not a happy thing.
"Oh Gods!" Caislyn whispered. "What do we do Seth?"
"We kill that bastard and take Jaxon back home to heal." Seth stepped forward and was jolted back the minute his body touched the circle. "Shit! See if you can do it, Caislyn. You're a witch, maybe it will be different for you."
Caislyn stepped forward hesitantly, and was thrown off by the energy of the circle in a flash. "If things weren't so dire I would be congratulating Jaxon on a perfect circle, but I don't think I can do that right now." Caislyn sat down and crossed her legs, closed her eyes, and started chanting words Seth was not familiar with.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to bring down the circle. And I think you had better try to talk her down a bit, before she does something she can't come back from."
"Jaxon, please! You're mom wouldn't have wanted this for you." Seth was trying to get through to her, through to her pain. If she acknowledged her pain, some of the vampire barriers she had up would come down.
"Yes, listen to him. Your mom wouldn't want you to stoop to..."
"To stoop to what? The things you did to her? Your level?" Jaxon smacked the man harder this time. Then watched as he pinged off the circle a few more times. "So, you don't think witches deserve vengeance?" Jaxon cocked her head sideways. "It's the witches you fear the most, perhaps I should let Jaxon witch out to play."
John's eyes widened in terror. Jaxon had been right, he feared witches for some reason. "Please," he whimpered as she started levitating him off the ground with a few words. "Please, no."
A flip of her wrist and his left arm was thrown wide. Then the right, his legs were spread wide in much the same manner. "Are you comfortable yet? This is the position you tied my mother in, is it not? I thought you might like to feel some sort of kinship to her." She smiled and then frowned as she continued to look at him. "No, this isn't right just yet." She spun her hands and his body began rolling over on itself in midair. "Oops, that was a little too much. You know, I still don't have total control of my own powers yet." Jaxon straightened the man back out so he was looking at her, and then she flung him so he was hanging in mid air, at waist level to her, with his limbs spread out before him. This was the same position that Merriwyn had been in when she was tied to the horses. "You don't get to see the pretty sun shine filtering through the trees the way my mom did, but look, there, you get stars. It's a little more magical this way, don't you think?"
Caislyn was continuing to chant, throwing all her energy at the barrier that was around them. Nothing was working. She would have to try something else. Seth, for his part, had not given up trying to reach Jaxon on an emotional level, but it was as if she couldn't hear a thing he was saying. She was too busy toying with her prey to notice. As Caislyn sat there on the ground trying to come up with a different tactic an emerald flower petal blew across her lap and flitted into the circle. She stilled and watched as the petal danced around and then fluttered back out of the circle on the other side. "You are of the earth, sweet Caislyn, stop trying to bully your way in, and let nature do the job for you." It wasn't so much a voice as it was a whisper on the wind, but Caislyn understood immediately. Her lineage was that of Earth witch and forest Fey. She thought she knew how to do this now, thanks to Ash.
"Thank you," She whispered back into the wind.
"What?" Seth asked. "Did you get through?" He went and tried to touch the circle again, only to be jolted off.
"I know what to do now," she said. Then Caislyn was chanting again.
"So, which of my mother's limbs do you think was torn from her body first?" Jaxon toyed with her prey as she tapped a finger on his left arm. "This one maybe?" A thin, grin that was more evil than anything played across her face as her victim flinched beneath her touch. She walked slowly around and behind him. "Perhaps this one," she said as she touched his right arm just as lightly, but garnering the same panicked response. She laughed as she stood still this time and spun him around so she could tap his right foot. "What about this one?" He flinched as he had done previously and then horror ran across his face as he noticed Jaxon had stopped breathing and her eyes had gone black again. "Yes," she continued on, "this one will do nicely for starters!"
"No, no, no!" The man was mumbling the word almost incoherently as he looked into the pitch black eyes. "Please, you have to listen to me. The prophecy will change everything. If you do this, you won't know." His screams were all Jaxon heard, as she ripped his leg from his body in what seemed like slow motion. Within seconds his leg was mended and reattached. Jaxon looked at the leg in wonder, trying to figure out how he had fixed himself. Brother John was also in a bit of shock as he noticed his leg was still there and good as new.
Seth looked from the scene he had just witnessed to Caislyn on the ground beside him and noticed she had a slight nose bleed. "Oh, no. Caislyn, you're hurting yourself."
"Hmmm, that was odd and regrettable." Jaxon admitted to the man.
"You and your friend out there... you have to come with me. You can save our..." She cut him off with a look and flick of her wrist a
s his mouth melted together in one big puddle of melted putty. Inhuman noises were still coming from his throat as Jaxon just laughed.
"Jaxon, listen to me... Caislyn is hurting herself out here, trying to help you." Jaxon looked up momentarily and saw Seth outside of her circle pleading with her and Caislyn sitting cross-legged on the ground chanting. Caislyn seemed to be doing just fine to her so she turned back to the bald man she had suspended in the middle of her circle.
"Since you can no longer tell me why you enjoy killing witches, I think the only thing left to do is kill you."
"Jaxon! Please, you have to listen to reason. You do not want to go down this road." Seth was speaking from outside the circle again. Jaxon could hear him, but she didn't want to acknowledge anything he was saying. She had work to do. She had revenge to satisfy. She turned her attention back to the whimpering man who now smelled of his own urine and blood.
"Which one shall it be this time?" She smiled at the man, "I don't think she can put you back together again if I take your head this time. Although, I really would prefer to make this last at least a little longer. I mean, you tortured my mom for quite some time. Remember how you beat her with the stick after she bit your ear?" Jaxon walked over to the bandage that was still there "I see she left her mark upon you, so you would never forget. My mother was a good woman like that."
The whimpering mewling sounds the man was making were pitiful things, but he no longer had a mouth to form the words he needed. "So, the head it is then. I was growing tired of our little game anyway." A scream that has no way of getting past a person's lips is a terrifying sound that a is never forgotten. It is also one that, luckily none of them had to endure on their consciousness forever. As Jaxon tried using magic to pull Brother John apart, Caislyn was flooding her circle with magic that would protect him. Apparently she wasn't alone because intermingled with her magic were petals of green. Ash was somewhere nearby lending his magic to help Caislyn save her friend.
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