Birthrights (18 page)

"We ran into some trouble with a few Fey, and we
need..." Caislyn's voice trailed off because as she thought of what
she would need to kill a Fey an unsettling shiver ran through her
body.

"Demon-forged steel." Ve finished quietly.

Jaxon leaned over and whispered to Caislyn, "I
thought we were here for cold steel?"

"Cold steel is just a simple term for demon-forged
steel. Throughout history there have been accounts of demon-forged
steel being too cold for a mere human to handle, thus the term
'cold steel.'

Ve then looked at Jaxon, "And are you going to be my
payment?" Red flashed through Ve's eyes as he picked up on
Caislyn's sudden horror at what Ve was implying.

Caislyn snapped out of the impending doom feeling
that had befallen her at the thought of killing fey. She threw an
annoyed glance at Ve. "Didn't we just go over how rude it was to
call my friend a whore? Don't get your hopes up, Demon-boy. She is
not the prize."

Ve feigned a sigh, "Well, one can always hope." Ve
tilted his head back and took in a big breath then looked back at
Jaxon. "It's a shame really, because I sense so much potential in
this one."

"Earth to Ve," Caislyn interrupted. "We did come here
for a purpose and as to the payment plan..." Caislyn reached into
the book bag she had brought with her. "These are the books you
used to eyeball in my parent's store." Caislyn quickly held up the
volumes in question and quickly put them back into the bag.

"You brought them with you, interesting." Ve smiled
at Jacob, "Not very bright to bring them in person though."

"Aw, Ve!" Caislyn feigned hurt for a few moments as
she pouted. "I think you know me a little better than that. The
books are charmed right now." She smiled. "If I don't give them to
you of my own free will they will return where they belong."

"Mac taught you well." Ve conceded. "What exactly do
you require?"

Before she could answer there was a commotion in the
main entryway of the house. Ve turned, eyes the deep hot red of
burning anger personified. Before he could even get the words out
of his mouth, Jacob was running to the entryway to see what was
going on.

Jaxon looked towards Caislyn uneasily. "I do hate
being interrupted in the middle of business." Ve sat back down and
looked again at Caislyn, "so, you've run into a bit of trouble with
the Fey? Is this anything to do with Mac and Vesta's
disappearances?" Before Caislyn had a chance to respond Jacob came
back and whispered something in Ve's ear. "Ladies," Ve started
while staring forlornly at the book bag Caislyn was holding. "As
much as I want to conduct business with you, I am afraid this is
going to have to wait. We've had..." Ve looked away from the bag
and up towards Caislyn's face, "a bit of an emergency situation. If
you don't mind seeing yourself out the back door, Caislyn - I
believe you know the way." Ve got up from his seat and walked
towards the entry way.

"Damn it!" Caislyn muttered under her breath as she
got up from her seat.

"What the hell was that all about?" Jaxon asked.

"Better not to concern yourselves with that," Jacob
stated as he started hustling them towards the back rooms and to
the back door. "Ve has instructed me to let you know he will
contact you at once about your Fey problem as soon as he takes care
of his affairs here." The girls followed in a mutual silence.
Caislyn was pissed off and wondering what was going on in the other
part of Ve's building.

Jaxon started mumbling to herself without realizing
it, "I wonder if he's leading us off to some dungeon to become
demon cookies."

Once they got to the door Caislyn looked over at Jax
who seemed a bit more on edge. "What's up?" Caislyn asked as Jaxon
was almost sniffing the air.

"I don't," she paused and focused on the door in
front of them just before Jacob opened it. "I have a bad feeling
about the door, that's all. It smells like dog." Jaxon looked
disgusted with herself when she realized Caislyn had no idea what
she was talking about. The pompous human who was escorting them
suddenly pulled his hand away from the knob and pushed a button
that opened a panel in the wall where he could see the video feed
from the security cameras outside the door.

"I don't see anything out there," he said in an
almost surprised tone as he reached for the door handle again. He
opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as Caislyn
interrupted him.

"Don't worry bitch-boy, we know, Ve will contact us."
Caislyn grabbed hold of Jaxon's hand and walked through the door
and out into the back alley behind Ve's place. "Damn, tell Ve
thanks for the VIP treatment too!" 

The girls left as Jacob quickly slammed the door shut
behind them. They weren't sure if he was afraid of something
outside or just ready to get back to whatever action had ruined
their business with Ve. As the girls got ready to round the corner
of the alley Caislyn grabbed hold of Jaxon and pulled her back
behind the building, "Holy shit, there's hell hounds out there. I
think maybe we should go the other way, and quickly." 

"What? I thought we made a deal with the Weres?"

"No, these are real dogs, only they also happen to be
trained, vicious, killers. And the training part, well that's not
always the best way to describe them, because those frigging dogs
like to eat first and ask questions later, if you know what I
mean."

"Shit, shit, shit!" Jaxon chanted as she began to run
in the opposite direction with Caislyn. "Can anything else possibly
chase us this week?"

"I'm thinking the Fey could catch up to us, and now
we don't have the weapons we need." Caislyn thought a moment,
"Okay, back to the apartment, it's time to teach you how to do some
magic before we end up something worse than demon cookies."

***

Hell’s Spells

Jaxon sat down on a small cushion in the middle of
her bedroom. She situated three unlit candles on the hard wood
floor in front of her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She tried to clear her mind of any thoughts, which was harder to do
than it sounded as Jaxon's mind was constantly whirring through
things, especially with all that was going on lately. Jaxon was
determined to figure out how this power of hers worked.

She took another deep breath and focused her thoughts
on the candles. Jaxon mentally envisioned each candle distinctly.
The color, the size, the length of the wick. She felt it was
important to be able to "see" these details in her mind. Jaxon
slowly opened her eyes and picked one candle to focus on. She
stared at the candle, thinking of nothing but fire. She knew how
long the wick was, and where the flame would burn on it. She knew
the wax around the wick would begin to melt and pool in the middle.
With her eyes open, she mentally pictured this happening to the
candle. Then she threw the thought at the candle sitting in front
of her, feeding it with determination and demand.

The candle sat there, unlit. 

Jaxon blinked and tried again, going through the same
motions as before. She looked at the candle and pushed another
thought at it to make it light. Once again, nothing
happened. 

"Ugh, why won't the damn thing light?" she said aloud
her frustration coming out loud and clear.

Suddenly the wick on the candle burst into a small
flame. Jaxon looked at it and sighed deeply. How was she supposed
to control her power if she didn't have a clue as to how it
worked?

Just then Caislyn knocked lightly and poked her head
in the door. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Controlling my powers," Jaxon said with as much of a
sarcastic tone as she could muster.

Caislyn stifled a giggle and sat down beside Jax.
"Okay, walk me through what just happened here and let's see if we
can figure this out."

Jax explained to Caislyn exactly what she had just
done. Caislyn had a knowing look on her face, which Jaxon was not
at all pleased with. Her frustration was mounting quickly until
Caislyn laid a hand firmly on her arm.

"Jax, it's okay. You are just starting out and what
you don't realize is all magic is linked to our emotions. When you
are angry you burn flame hot, which is why you are able to
unintentionally start the fire when you get pissed like you did
when you thought of Rick, but you couldn't do it when you were
scared when the Fey were attacking. What you need to learn is how
to calmly channel that same angry energy into the flame." Caislyn
extinguished the still burning wick. "Now," she began as she pushed
the candle closer to Jaxon, "I want you to think of something or
someone that really pisses you off and I want you to channel that
anger into the candle and see it burn away your anger." Caislyn let
go of Jax's arm and watched as an unspecified anger brewed an angry
rage on her friend's face. As suddenly as the rage was there, it
was gone and the candle in front of Jaxon was ablaze. She hadn't
just lit the candle, it looked like a flame thrower had melted
through the entire thing. Both girls stared briefly at the puddle
of burning wax on the floor. "Well, that was interesting." Caislyn
quickly put the remaining fire out and looked back at a frustrated
Jaxon.

"Holy shit!" Jaxon looked at the puddle of melted wax
that had begun to stream away from itself in red hot rivulets.
"What the hell went wrong that time?"

"I would say you channeled a bit too much angry
energy to that little candle." Caislyn didn't bother peeling up the
wax, she simply took another of the candles and stuck it in the
still warm and pliable wax blob on the floor. "Okay, you ready to
try again? This time, not as much anger." When Jaxon tossed a
frustrated look at Caislyn, she remembered learning these same
lessons with her mother and being just as overcome with the process
as Jaxon. "Listen, most people think spell craft is about saying
the right words, making the right motions and presto-chango you get
what you want." Caislyn smiled lightly as she remembered her mother
saying those exact words to her. "That's not how it works at all.
That's why most humans can't cast a spell to save their lives.
Spell craft and element manipulation is as much about mastering
your emotions and yourself as it is about the task at hand. If your
emotions are out of balance you can't possibly focus the energy in
the proper way. You are transferring energy. All spell craft and
element manipulation revolve around energy transfer. Our emotions
are just," she paused trying to find the right words, "they're like
our own personal batteries. Different emotions have specific energy
and they will help a spell or an elemental charge immensely. As you
have seen, they can also be over done. That's where balance comes
in."

"Oh. That makes sense." Jaxon said feeling a little
better.

She focused back on the candle that Caislyn had
placed before her. Mustering her anger once again, she channeled it
at the candle. This time she only poured a small amount towards it.
The wick sparked and lit, its flame dancing and fluttering,

Jaxon smiled widely and looked to her friend, "Ha!
That was cool! What's next? What else can I do?"

Over the next few hours Caislyn taught Jaxon as many
basic rules about spell craft and element manipulation as she
could. Jaxon was eager to learn more, but Caislyn noted her friend
was beginning to look worn down.

"How about we take a break and go get some tea?"

"Can't we just magic the tea to us?" Jaxon asked with
a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"No, champ, we can't magic everything to us. Besides,
the tea is to help recharge your energy. Just because you're a
witch doesn't mean you have an endless power pool somewhere inside.
Just like finding a balance with your emotions, you must also find
balance with magic use."

Jaxon got up reluctantly and followed her friend to
the kitchen. "So, how do you know when you've used too much?"

Caislyn turned mid-stride to talk face to face with
Jax only to have Jax run right into her. "For starters," Caislyn
said as she laughed, "being too fatigued to notice abrupt changes!"
Caislyn grew serious as she looked at her friends eyes. "Look
inward and be honest with yourself about how you feel right
now."

Jaxon took a moment and closed her eyes. As she
thought about her own body, she realized she had been shuffling her
feet along as she walked, her shoulders had been slouched forward,
and her concentration had become muddled again. The weight of this
realization seemed to amplify the effects and suddenly Jax felt as
though she needed a nap. She opened her eyes slowly and gave a
sheepish shrug to Caislyn who had been waiting patiently. "Okay,
tea sounds good."

Caislyn handed Jaxon a mug of tea as they went into
the living room and sat down. Jaxon sipped her tea, letting the
warmth of the liquid start its healing affects.

"Mmm, this is really good. What kind is this?" she
asked her friend. 

"It’s a special mixture my mom taught me" Caislyn
answered. "It has Cowslip flowers, Chamomile flowers, Elderberry
flowers, Violet flowers, Rose petals, Red Clover, and some other
stuff. It helps to combat fatigue and lack of energy as well as
give a bit of a mood enhancer."

Jaxon sat staring at Caislyn for a moment blinking
her eyes as she thought about what her friend just said. 

"So basically, I'm drinking a flower garden? Nice
Cais, real nice," she said as she looked into her mug. "At least it
looks and smells good."

Caislyn laughed. "Herbs are very good for you. Not
only are they natural without all the chemicals that are added
these days, they have a ton of uses. There are teas that can be
made to help promote any number of health issues, as well as pastes
to help healing and reduce scarring of the skin. You just have to
be careful what herbs you mix together and in what amounts. Too
much of a good thing - of anything, can be bad."