Birthrights

by Butler, Christine M.

  "Jax, you don't have to do this right now. It's too much, after what you just went through, let's just sit and talk for a bit." Caislyn eyed her friend, concern showing in the lines forming across her brow. She tried to reach for the sketch book, "here, let me take that for now."

  "No!" Jaxon yelped as she pulled the sketch pad closer to herself. "I want to see it the way you saw it." A far-off look crossed her face, a veil, covering the torment that lay beneath it. "I have to know. I need to know that I didn't just imagine it, that it's finally over." She remembered how things, bodies, were missing when she was leaving and she didn't want to believe that it was just some sort of psychotic break on her part. If it was in these sketches then it really did happen. She looked down at her hands, "besides, I have to know..." in looking back up at Caislyn, her friend was able to see the pain and all the questions as they showed themselves in the emotions she wore. "I have to know what I am, because no human could move the way I did."

  Caislyn understood then that while this was about Rick and what Jaxon had gone through, it was also about Jaxon needing to know who she was. "Sweetie, I don't think those sketches are going to give you the answers you're looking for. It's too much. There are other ways to find out and this one is just so painful. Are you sure you want to do this, right now?"

  Jaxon was clearly shaking as she turned the page in the book, there she saw the fight taking place in the garage, where she was dealing with the first guy. “I don't even know who this is,” she said blankly, “This isn't one of the guys Rick used to hang out with.” She turned the page again, this time she took longer trying to understand what was happening in the sketch. It was as if her mind would not allow her to see the entire picture at once, for fear of damaging itself further. “This, there is something not right about this one.”

  “What do you mean,” Caislyn got up and walked over to sit next to Jax on the couch. She looked over her arm at the sketch, “oh, there was a lot of movement in this scene. I think it's a bit hard to capture when you are looking at a sketch. Let me show you what is happening, as I saw it.” Caislyn began tracing her fingers over the sketch, “This is you and you were moving pretty damn fast, which is why these charcoal streaked areas are trailing behind you. Think of it as the pieces of you that have to catch up with the whole.” She pointed off to the side, where Jax had just stabbed the stocky guy, “This is the guy you just stabbed.” She sighed and watched as Jax took a steadying breath, “This blur here, was another man, I guess. He was moving way to fast for me to catch in the sketch as anything other than a blur, but he was definitely helping you out. He took out this guy over here, while you were running upstairs.”

  "Who? I never saw anyone else."

  “Well, you were a little preoccupied.” Caislyn watched as Jaxon turned the page. The final sketch showed a very blurred Jaxon, sword in hand, slicing through Rick's neck. “You were so blurred here, but I knew it was you because, well, I just felt it.”

  “I moved so fast.” Jaxon looked up at Caislyn, “How could I move so fast?”

  “I don't know.” Caislyn was thinking to herself an answer she would not say out loud right now, 'Vampires and Weres, to an extent, could move like that. Her ex-boyfriend was a Were, maybe she was too. She would know if she was. I would know if she was.'

  Jaxon put the sketch pad on the coffee table and hugged herself. "Well," she said, "Just so you know, I didn't tongue kiss him."

  Caislyn just looked at her for a second, and then burst out laughing. "Good to know!"

  Jaxon picked up her Hot Scotch Chocolate and began drinking. The heat of the beverage felt good and the Schnapps was relaxing. Although she knew that the little bit of Schnapps in the drink wouldn't relax her so quickly. Caislyn must have added a little spell or herbs to help out. Jaxon didn't mind though, it was nice to feel safe again. 'At least now I don't have to worry about hiding my tracks and watching my back anymore, 'she thought.

  She could sense Caislyn's concern for her, as well as her confusion at what Jax had done. "You said I moved really fast, so fast at times, I was a blur and like I had to catch up to parts of myself. What types of things do that? Move that fast?" Jax asked.

  Caislyn thought for a moment. "Well, there's vampires and Were creatures. But you don't drink blood, and you aren't a were or you'd know it by now. I'm not sure, some Fey do that, but they usually just blink." At the confused look on Jaxon's face Caislyn added, "they appear and disappear when they want to move. It's more complicated than that, and I have always just called it blinking, because one minute a Fey is there, then you blink and they are gone or somewhere else." Caislyn thought a moment and then looked at Jaxon in an odd way. "You're definitely not Fey though, you don't have the glow that they do."

  "I haven't seen Fey glow."

  "No, it's not something you see because they don't want you to, but my dad taught me to see through their glamor. It's a trait I inherited from him, not every witch can do it."

  "Wait, not every witch can do everything others can do?" Jaxon finally had a ray of hope in her questions about herself. "So, maybe it's possible that one of my traits is super-fast speedy movement?"

  "Jax, I wish I could tell you that was it, but one thing we witches are relegated to is human slowness." She saw the disappointment befall her friend again. "I'm sorry Jax, the only witch I have ever heard of moving swiftly like that was using a Fey charm to do it, and the results were not pretty in the end. Mrs. Carmichael had to be peeled off the floor when she was done because her molecules literally fell apart." Caislyn shook herself vividly recalling the gruesome scene in the store on Black Friday a couple years ago. "She's a cautionary tale for getting caught up in pre-holiday sales!"

  Jaxon looked completely aghast, then she caught the tiny smile on Caislyn's face and threw the sketch book at her. "Oh my God, I thought you were serious!" she said through a laugh, "you are just plain rotten sometimes, Cais!”

  Caislyn giggled, "I just needed to lighten the mood in here a bit, it was getting a little dark." She looked again to her friend as she put the sketch book down on the coffee table. "I know you have a lot of questions and most of them are going unanswered right now, but we will figure them out, together." She looked at the slumping shoulders on her friend and decided it was time to do what she could to teach Jaxon about the other than human world she had been thrust into. "Okay, here's what we are going to do, just ask me whatever questions you want and I will try to answer them if I can."

  "Well you said I got into the rave and it was a non-human thing. Could I be a witch and just not know it?"

  "But you're a donor. You can't be a witch and be a donor," Caislyn answered.

  "Unless, I was never tested. I had an ID card since I was really little and they didn't test me when I got my license! They just took the information from my ID card so it could all be a mistake!" Jaxon stated with hope thick in her voice. She'd much rather be a witch than any of the other possibilities.

  "Hmm, maybe, it still doesn't explain you moving as fast as you do. Well, if you are a witch, there should be other things you can do. Things that are natural to witches. We know you are empathetic," Caislyn remarked.

  "We do?" asked Jax. "And just how do we know that?"

  Caislyn laughed at the look Jax gave her. "Because you answer my thoughts at times. Things I've been thinking, well not thinking - more like feeling, but not saying out loud."

  "Huh," Jax replied shrugging her shoulders. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and looked at the candle flickering on the coffee table.

  Caislyn watched Jax carefully. 'She probably doesn't even have a clue of what else she can do. If she was never trained, so many characteristics can seem normal or explained as intuition. Maybe I should test her some how, get her riled up so I can see if anything happens.'

  "So this werewolf guy that attacked you, was he the reason you left Raleigh?"

  The mention of Rick made Jaxon's gut clench. She kept staring at the candle as she gave a brief
explanation to her friend.

  "Yeah, he was my boyfriend. Prince Charming turned asshole. I got tired of being his 'prized possession' with hidden bruises. He turned controlling and abusive. I used to have to cover the marks with makeup and clothing. His friends, well, he was a cop, and all they saw was their boy and none of them ever tried to help. So, really I had no one to turn to. He put me in the hospital and a my nurse got me out and I swore I would never be controlled by another person again, that I would never be on the receiving end of another angry blow."

  All of the candles in the apartment that were lit flared up as if they had been sprayed with gas. The ones that weren't lit, sprung to life. And the candle that Jax was staring at was now a huge flame as the wax it sprung from began melting at a rapid pace.

  "Um, Jax, can you not burn my apartment down?" Caislyn said as she quickly stood up and looked around her apartment.

  Jaxon turned to look at her, torn away from her memories of Rick. "What?" Then she noticed that the flames on all the candles were flickering and dancing like crazy. "You know you might want to trim your wicks down on your candles."

  Caislyn just looked at her incredulously, "my wicks are trimmed. I know how to handle candles. I've been doing it all my life. You did that. Hell some of these candles weren't even lit!"

  "What? No way. I can't do that!"

  Caislyn took a quick glance around at the candles that had settled down and turned back towards Jax. She put her hands on her hips and said one word. "Rick." The candles burst to life again, flames high, dancing, and flickering.

  Jaxon looked around, "Oh. Shit! Are you kidding me? I really just did that?" she paused, "You gotta admit, its kinda cool."

  "Yeah," Cais said as she rolled her eyes, "it's real cool till you burn my place down because you have no control."

  "Well, I just learned that I could do that, give a girl some time to figure out how it works." Jax responded.

  "Okay, so you just need to move in here with me, where you will be safe and I can teach you the basics of being a witch, you know, before you incinerate someone or something by accident."

  "You don't call what just happened at my apartment an accident? I killed two men, and I don't even know how I did it! And if I move in here, don't you think you'd be in danger too?"

  "No, I don't. First of all, I do know how to protect myself and secondly I am going to make sure you know how to use the powers you've obviously inherited. And thirdly no, it was not an accident that you just killed two dogs - not men sweetie, werewolves! It was a frigging miracle and I am just happy that you made it out with your life, even if you had to take lives to do it. It's called self-defense, and considering you were defending against three werewolves, I gotta say, I'm glad you didn't have control and that something inside of you took over and took care of business!"

  "Oh man, that's right! They were werewolves. I'm not gonna turn into one am I? I mean I've seen movies where if they even scratch you, then you turn into one! Rick did get me across my back! Oh God, I'm more of a faux fur kind of person, you know! I don't wanna grow my own!" Jaxon exclaimed.

  "Let me see your back," Caislyn was kicking herself for forgetting that Jax may have been injured, or worse, turned into a werewolf.

  Jaxon turned on the couch and took off her jacket. The back of her dress showed four large tears.

  Caislyn saw the tears, and as she examined more closely she realized she was seeing blood, fresh blood and it was getting on her hands as well. She took a napkin that was laying on the coffee table and began to dab the blood away. To her surprise she realized that there were no wounds beneath the drying blood.

  "You aren't hurt, " she told Jax.

  "What do you mean I'm not hurt? Yes I am. I felt it when he got me. I tried to move out of the way and I did - sort of, but he definitely got me. It burned like hell, and I felt the blood. I know he got me. You just aren't looking in the right spot."

  "No, Jax, there's plenty of blood back here, but I am telling you there is not a scratch on you." Caislyn looked at Jax questioningly, "How can this be possible?"

  "How am I supposed to know? I was too busy fighting for my life, remember?" Jax retorted.

  "I mean, I heal faster than normal. My mom always said I was the fastest healing witch she ever had the pleasure to know and it made her job a lot easier, but I think you have me beat by a long shot." Caislyn sat lost in thought momentarily and then continued, "I don't think you have to worry about becoming a were if you can heal like this, though I don't know how it's possible that you did."

  "So I'm not gonna turn all furry and have an uncontrollable craving for raw meat?" Jax said as she turned back to face Caislyn.

  Caislyn gave a half disgusted look at Jax and said, "Let's hope not. I mean, I will still hang with ya, but you're on your own come a full moon because I don't fancy becoming dinner!"

  "Hey! That's not even funny!" Jax pouted. "So you really want me to move in here? Where would I sleep?"

  "This place is a three bedroom, my parent's stuff is still here in their room, then there's mine and I have some stuff in the other room too. I will just have to move my crap out of the other one. I can put it all downstairs in the store room for now and we can get your stuff moved in." Caislyn grabbed hold of Jax's hand, "look, don't worry. We will figure everything out and make damn sure you can do cooler things than flickering a few flames in the meantime."

  Jax responded with a wicked lopsided grin. And then reached for her, now cold, Hot Scotch drink, "To my new roomie! Cheers!"

  Caislyn grinned back and toasted with her not so hot drink as well, but before Caislyn could say anything they heard a chiming from the wards downstairs.

  Jaxon sat straight up, the smile and relaxation slipping quickly from her face. "Didn't we lock the door? I know you locked the door! How did someone come in? I killed him! It couldn't be him could it? I mean, Were things stay dead don't they?"

  "Calm down, I'll go check," Cais went to a white box on the other side of the room and opened it up to reveal a TV screen. "We had cameras installed here when I moved over the store. And the chimes go off even if someone jiggles the handle. We keep odd hours here to accommodate different customers, so I'm technically supposed to be open right now. It's probably just someone looking for a book." Caislyn finished reassuring Jax and then turned her attention to the screen and pushed a white button to allow her to speak. "Can I help you?" She still couldn't see anyone on camera, which wasn't always a weird thing as some species were too small or just didn't show up at all."

  Jaxon stood up to look at the screen. "So, who is it? I don't see anyone."

  "I'm not sure, they may just be standing outside of the camera's view. I'll go down and take a look. You stay here," Caislyn said as she opened the door to the stairwell.

  "I'm not staying here." Jax replied as she grabbed the candle off the coffee table and followed Caislyn down the stairs. Caislyn paused to look at her and then at the candle in hand.

  "Why do you have a candle?"

  "Well, my bag with all my daggers and my knives in it is downstairs. So I figured I was gonna make this flame get big and throw it at whoever is there. Then I could at least get to my bag." Jaxon answered with a very serious look on her face.

  Caislyn allowed a giggle to slip before she answered Jax, "Alright come on, just don't burn down the bookstore!" She began walking down the stairs with Jaxon following behind her, "I'm pretty sure it's just someone wanting to get a book. The wards tend to signal if someone has a malicious intent and they didn't do that."

  The girls entered the bookstore and walked towards the door. They could see a darkened figure through the beveled glass of the front door. All they could see was that the figure was tall, and wide and standing to the left of where the camera was angled.

  Caislyn took a deep breath and opened the door. "Can I help you?"

  The figure turned towards her. He was at least 6 foot tall, maybe more, with shoulder length hair. His broad shoulders took up the en
tire space of the doorway. He wore a leather sash with markings of the local Lycan pack. "I am David, from the Albemarle Pack. I come under the protection of Arkos, leader of our pack. He has a message for your comrade."

  Caislyn tensed. 'This can't be good' she thought. "What comrade would you be referring too?"

  Jaxon slowly took a few steps back into the shadows of the store as she blew out her candle.

  "Ms. DeLaney, we know she is here. We followed her scent. I am ordered to deliver this message from Arkos." David answered.

  "Deliver your message then, I will make sure she gets it." Caislyn said with a terrifyingly defiant look upon her face.

  "I know she is close by and can hear me, but if you insist, then I will tell you as well. Arkos demands your presence at the docks tomorrow night. He wants an explanation for the murder of his pack members before he decides the punishment for such an act of violence."

  "Punishment? I was fighting for my life! And Rick wasn't even from here! He was from Raleigh, so he's not part of any pack!" Jax declared as she grabbed the door and opened it further, pushing herself up beside Caislyn in the doorway.

  Caislyn pushed back on Jax to make sure the Were could not easily reach in and grab her. The wards would keep him from being able to reach into the store without being asked in, but Jax was teetering dangerously on the edge of the threshold and her anger was keeping her from noticing. "You can let your leader know that we will meet with him, but there will be no punishment handed out and she will not be alone." She thought a moment, and then continued, "You can also let him know that we want to know why he can't keep his pack under control and why they're running around attacking innocent, human, girls and that maybe the pack elders should know about it. I am sure they would be more than happy to replace an inept leader."

  David looked closely at the girls and sighed. "Look, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I'm thinking you obviously do not know much about Lycans. I'm going to give you some advice. That message will result in a death sentence for you and your friend. No one questions Arkos's authority. Maybe you'd like to reword your reply."