Birthrights (10 page)

The man before her began to chuckle. “It’s because I
am so easily missed.” He grinned as he gestured to his very large
stature. “So, how did you manage to do this?” He turned the
attention from himself to the artwork around him. “I mean, I knew
Cais sketched sometimes, but she never showed me any of it. This is
incredible. I had no idea.”

Jaxon was slightly confused by the man’s obvious
attention to Caislyn’s work. “You know Caislyn?”

He smiled at her, then eyed her suspiciously. “You
don’t remember me from the new moon rave?” Recognition swept across
Jaxon's face as he introduced himself. “Gregore,” he said simply.
“I was the one who let you guys in the rave. I’ve known Cais since
grade school.” He turned and smiled at a particular moment she had
sketched of a young boy being picked on by a girl and there was
another girl in the picture who appeared to be vehemently defending
the boy. “She caught that moment perfectly. I have never forgotten
it, but to see it like this, hanging on the wall. It’s amazing. I
wonder why she never told me she had drawn it?”

“Does this particular sketch have meaning to you,
then?” Jaxon questioned.

Gregore smiled. “Yea, that boy is me and that feisty
girl there yelling, that’s Caislyn.” His smile grew bigger as he
talked. "She had just rescued me from Jenny, the girl who I turned
down for the school dance. She didn’t take it well and tried to
beat me up on the playground.” Gregore did laugh now, “I was a much
smaller boy, as you can see, so she was doing a good job of it.
Then this little girl walked over and I swear she commanded this
amazing power to put a person in their place. I had never met
Caislyn before, she was a couple years behind me in school. After
that day, we became the best of friends though.” Gregore was lost
in his revere and didn’t really notice that Jax had put a ‘sold’
sign on the piece until she had walked away. He hung his head and
Jaxon picked up on his mood. He was disappointed that someone else
had purchased a piece of his history with Caislyn. Before Jaxon
could say anything, he was walking away.  

As Jaxon made another round through the gallery she
felt the hairs on her neck prickle up. There was something about
Seth that always warned her when he was near. She turned to see him
standing so serenely behind her, just admiring the view. The view
happened to be her. "Jaxon, you know its getting late. The show is
over in a little while and I'm sure Ronald wouldn't want you
walking home alone. Why don't you let me give you a ride? We can
discuss these sketches and just what it is I find so alluring."

The only reaction Jax could muster at that moment was
a dumb-founded blink. Mentally shaking herself to find some
coherency in her brain, she said the first thing that came to mind,
"Ronald doesn't think my walking home is alluring, I mean, um, a
problem." She physically shook her head that time and tried again
as Seth stifled a chuckle. "What I mean, is that's a really nice
offer but I need to make sure everything is handled properly at the
close of this show. It is my project after all, so I sort of feel
like it’s my responsibility to make sure that everything is
correct."

"I understand," Seth replied with a charming smile.
"I applaud your sense of work ethic, Ms. DeLaney. I'm sure Ronald
does as well. Maybe soon we will all be able to meet this new
talent you have conjured up. Hopefully she will continue producing
such fine work. I'd love to talk with her about that more someday
soon."

"Uh, yes, thank you. I'm sure she'd love to talk with
you too." Jax said as she watched him watching her.

Seth couldn’t help feeling the energy that played
between he and Jaxon, despite how hard he tried to deny it. He
thought his seductive game would get him closer to her, but now he
was worried what it would do to him in the end. He put those
thoughts aside so that he could speak clearly. “I could wait
around, until you are ready to leave. I really don’t like the
thought of you walking home alone in this city at this late an
hour.“

Jaxon smiled, “I must politely decline. I may work
for you in some capacity, but I don’t know you, certainly not well
enough to climb into a car all alone with you. Besides, I can take
care of myself, thanks.” It took every bit of self control she had
in that moment not to throw herself at his mercy and let him have
his way with her, or was it her way with him? Her feelings around
him were growing very confusion. One moment she would feel guarded
and that he was dangerous, in other moments he was like walking sex
waiting to take her no matter who was there to witness it. The
energy that seemed to pulse from him through her nearly made her
rethink her answer. Then she stepped back, “thank you,” she said
politely and walked away from him. The distance helped
tremendously. She positioned herself near the exit door so she
could thank the many patrons who had come out at this late hour to
see the new exhibit. They had also been very generous in their
spending. Caislyn was going to be one happy auto-sketcher, and
Jaxon was in line for a big bonus with the sales they had made.

When the last person was gone, Jax locked up the
store and went to work organizing all the sales receipts, bids, and
shipping information while it was still fresh in her mind so that
she could go through it in the morning without the headaches. Then
she went back to the display wall where the young Caislyn stood
chiding a female bully and earning a lifelong friend. She pulled
the sketch from the wall, packed it carefully, and set it out on
her desk to be shipped in the morning via the gallery’s courier.
After seeing Gregore’s face and hearing him talk about Caislyn, she
had to send it to him. He was obviously in love with her, even if
Caislyn had never realized it. Knowing she was doing a good thing,
Jax closed up shop for the night, locked up the gallery and headed
out into the night for her apartment that was a few blocks away.
She had walked this path many times before over the past six
months, never going the same way, always varying her trip so that
anyone following her couldn’t establish a pattern. These were
things she had learned during her recovery after she moved from
Raleigh. She held her purse tightly in her hand as well, hoping she
wouldn’t have to use the blades she had hidden inside, but
comforted by the fact that they were there.

***

Bringing on the Change

The click of her heels along the concrete sidewalks
and the swish of her dress as she moved were the prominent noises
flooding Jax's ears. Her nerves were on edge for some reason
tonight. She chided herself for being so paranoid. She had just had
the most successful night of her career, which was good news for
both her and Caislyn. Something was still bothering her as she
moved along at her swift pace. She shifted restlessly, placing her
hand inside her purse, fingers grasping the dagger she had hidden
within. It was a comfort for her to touch the carved bone handle as
she walked. It momentarily relaxed her, but the uneasy feeling soon
returned.

She was only a block away from her apartment building
and had not seen anyone, but she couldn't shake the feeling that
she was being followed. Jaxon quickened her pace as she crossed
over McMorrine Street heading towards the exposed entrance of her
apartment complex garage. She was not even ten feet away when she
took in a deep breath and tried to convince herself that everything
was fine. She could feel like a jackass for perceiving non-existent
threats later. Jax scanned the garage one last time before she
entered it, heading for the stairwell that would lead to her
apartment. Seeing nothing, she continued her visual checks of the
area around all the cars as she walked. As she passed by the few,
old, beat up, familiar cars that occupied the garage she heard
someone breathing. She tried to tell herself it was just her mind
playing tricks, but then she heard it again. A deep intake of
breath from someone nearby. It sounded almost as if they were
sniffing the air. She tightened her grip on the dagger and picked
up her pace once more, headed for the stairs.

"Well, well, well, aren't we just the fancy bitch
tonight?" The harsh tone in that voice echoed off the walls and
stopped Jax dead in her tracks. She knew that voice and as she said
the name to herself, a cold sweat spread across her body. 

"Rick," Jaxon whispered to herself. Her ex-boyfriend
had tracked her down like he always said he would. She had trained
during her recovery to be prepared in case he had ever found her.
She knew she could defend herself, but Jaxon wasn't sure she would
be able to move through the fear that was now coursing through her
body. She listened intently, hearing him approaching from behind,
but also hearing other sounds of approach from one, no, two other
directions. He had not come alone. 'Coward,' she thought to
herself. His hand touched the small of her back and slid along
her side as he walked around her body to face her. Bile rose in her
throat. Any moment now she expected the same fear she'd felt all
that time ago to envelope her, make her helpless. That feeling
never surfaced. Still she braced herself for the inevitable pain
Rick was bound to bestow upon her. 

"What, no hello, Jasmine? Aren't you glad to see me?"
he laughed bitterly. He reached a hand to touch her face and she
moved away from it. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know better than to turn
from me." He grabbed her upper arms and pulled her close. His
friends drew closer, laughing at the obvious terror that Rick could
impart on his victims. With her face still turned away, his breath
was evident on her cheek. A fire was welling up inside of her and
begging for release. As Rick nuzzled her face and neck, inhaling
her sent, Jax was choking on his overbearing cologne. His scent had
such an animal smell to it that she wasn't sure at first if her
mind was playing tricks on her. He smelled like a wet dog dipped in
aftershave. Deep inside of her that fire was blazing brighter and
while she didn't understand what was happening to her, she knew
tonight she had something more than just her ability with swords on
her side. Jaxon still hadn't responded to him, even though he had
been repeating his question to her over and over. He shook her so
hard she felt as if her neck would snap before she was able to get
her feet solidly under her again. "I said, look at me, and answer
me!" He was snarling now, he was beginning to look the part of the
animal whose sent lingered on him. "Why did you leave me?!" He was
shouting now, as she just looked into his eyes and smiled. The
burning rage that had been building inside her had finally bubbled
over to her eyes, and when she smiled it was not a kind smile or
even the fearful one Rick had hoped for. What he saw in her eyes
gave him pause because he had never seen it there before.

Rick pushed her away, brushing off that feeling of
icy cold fingers sliding across his bones. As he walked to the
stairs he ordered his two friends to follow with her. When Rick had
pushed her, Jax had stumbled a bit in her high heeled shoes, but
she didn't stumble as hard as she appeared to. Jax was formulating
a plan at breakneck speed. It was as if someone had taken out all
of her doubt, her emotions, and the seemingly endless array of
bullshit knowledge and replaced it with the sheer thought of
survival. As Rick's goons began to approach, Jax rocked herself
forward, grabbing inside the clutch that had fallen from her grasp.
As the short and stocky lackey approached her from the right she
continued that forward rock into a full out roll. When she came
back up to her feet, she was standing face to face with Mister
Stocky. What Mister Stocky failed to realize was that when she came
to her feet, her amazingly beautiful, bone handled, silver dagger
was being propelled up in front of her. She sunk it home just under
his ribs angled upward with her movements. He looked onto her eyes
and saw a dark fire burning there before he looked down at his own
wounds and dropped to the ground. 

The other man, who was tall with an athletic build
and a blond crew cut had been stalking up to them as a predator
would, until the moment the unseen dagger hit its mark. He stopped
short, sniffing the air and crouched into a fighting stance. Jax
also sensed what he had. There was another presence nearby, but
before she could see who it was she was watching Mr. Crew Cut
sailing through the air, over top the red Pontiac Sunfire parked
just beside them. He didn't stop until he hit the far garage wall,
taking chunks of the paint and concrete with him as he slid down to
the cold hard ground. Jax turned back to look and saw no one. While
she wasn't entirely sure what just happened she decided to go after
Rick. She ran up the stairs, giving Rick the advantage. As she
rounded the stairs on the landing he was already there grabbing her
and using her own momentum to slam her through the door to her
apartment. 'Damn, crappy doors!' Jax thought to herself. 'Screw
better locks when the door won't hold up to a little beat down.'
Rick tossed her aside as he shut the now splintered door behind
him. 

The only light in Jaxon's apartment was filtering
through the curtains from the street lights outside. The barely
there light sent eerie shadows through the room and across Ricks
face, making it look disfigured. Jaxon could feel the anger rolling
off of him in waves. It matched the grotesque look the shadows were
creating. Jax still had her dagger in hand. She kept scooting
backwards away from Rick as he slowly stepped towards her. Anger
consumed him. Jax could feel the emotion as if it were tangible. It
was taking her breath away. She grabbed a hold of the arm of her
couch and pulled herself up, running towards the bedroom. She
slammed the door and locked it.

Rick laughed, "That's not going to hold me anymore
Jasmine. I'm stronger now, and so much more than what I used to be
when I was just a human."