Birthrights (12 page)

"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.