Birthrights (20 page)

"...and you?" Jaxon prompted. Neither she or Seth
realized the door was there until Caislyn cracked it open. "What
the..." Jaxon looked from Caislyn to Seth and back to the door
again. "Where did the door come from? And why is there a door into
a trash mound."

"I'll be damned!" Seth said, nearly under his
breath.

"Well, duh, you're a vampire - of course you're
damned!" Jaxon quipped. "That doesn't explain why there's a door in
a trash pile."

The humor was lost on all of them as they heard
Gregore calling to Caislyn once more. "I'll be right back," she
said as she quickly ran back around the mound, leaving her friends
near the door.

"Greg, did you want to insult me some more or what,
because this really isn't a good time. Maybe we can set up an
appointment sometime next week for you to tell me all the ways I
have disappointed you since my parents went missing."

Now it was Gregore's turn to feel the sting of her
words. He took a step back and then took a breath and remembered
what he came here to do. "Caislyn," he said it so low it was barely
audible, as he grabbed hold of her hands with his. "I believe in
destiny, Caislyn," Gregore said as he looked her in the eyes,
holding her tiny wrists in his own large hands.

"Greg..." she started to say before he cut her
off.

"No! You need to listen to me for once." He closed
his hands around her wrists tighter than he should have. "I believe
we share a destiny, you and I." His eyes dropped a bit. "I saw you
in my dreams long before I ever met you in the school yard. I
didn't realize it till recently when the dreams started again. Even
back then it was the older you I had been seeing, so I never knew.
I just always knew you felt right, like a part of myself, a piece I
haven't been able to live without this past year." He looked back
up into Caislyn's eyes, "If you are in trouble, I will help, like I
did with those vamps who chased you out of the New Moon Rave.” He
smiled sheepishly after seeing the shocked look on Caislyn's face.
“It was the least I could do, so I tripped a couple while your new
friend over there took care of the rest. Anyway, my point is, if
you need me I am here, and when you want me..." his voice cracked
and trailed off momentarily, "I will be who you need while I wait
for that." He gave one final squeeze of Caislyn's hands as he stood
there waiting for her to respond.

Caislyn had never been caught so completely off guard
before. She had to remind herself after a moment to breath. A part
of her wanted to forget her quest, to drop everything, and walk
into his arms because her wrists ached from the absence of his
touch now that he had let go. A loneliness was left to burn in
their place. Tears were forming behind her lowered lids because as
much as she wanted to give in to the promise of hope she saw in his
eyes, she was on a different path, a dangerous one, and she
wouldn't bring him into that. It wasn't fair, to either of them.
The timing was all wrong and she cursed the gods for that.

When she finally spoke her voice had a harsh
thickness to it. All of the pent up emotions threatened to choke
her as she spoke the words she wished she didn't have to say. She
looked back at her friends who were waiting on her to breach the
bunker they had discovered.

"Greg, I..." she stopped as she saw the slump in his
shoulders. 'He already knows.' she thought to herself, 'he knew
that I would disappoint him.' "I have to go, Greg. I can't do this
now and you should go." She turned her back to him, in part to give
her strength enough to finish her statement, but also so he would
not see the tears that she was no longer able to fight back. "Go,
enjoy the party and find someone worthy of you, because I am not
that girl."  She didn't have to turn back around to know that
he was walking away, wounded beyond measure by her words.

Caislyn took the first tentative steps back towards
Jax and Seth, wiping at the tears that spilled freely down her
cheeks, giving away her feelings. She pulled all her strength to
her so that she could hide some of what she was feeling from her
friends. She forgot for a moment that Jaxon was an empath and had
already felt all of it. As she walked up to her friends, Jaxon
placed her arm around her and whispered in her ear, "Caislyn, I'm
so sorry, one day things won't be so chaotic." She hugged her
closer momentarily and then let go.

Caislyn looked up at both of them, convinced now that
she had buried the majority of her emotions for now. Later, when
she was alone and not in so much danger, she would allow herself to
feel them, but for now she had to shut it all down. She looked up
at Seth and asked the only thing she could think to get them back
on track, "what is this place?"

Seth was looking at Caislyn who obviously had no clue
what they had stumbled upon. "These are the old labs," he said,
then he began rambling on about them, "I knew there were some
around here, hidden, but I didn't realize that one was this
close."

"Okay, my turn to be confused, what are you talking
about?" Caislyn looked back at Seth before she stepped over the
threshold and into the darkness beyond. Darkness was a problem for
her more so than for Seth or Jax, who obviously had better night
vision. When she realized she wouldn't be able to get far without
more light, she conjured a white flame in her hand to help light
the way. The white flame burned very dimly, but no heat was
emitted, making it a great flashlight.

"Remember why the OTHS was formed?" Seth walked in
behind Caislyn and waited as she conjured her flame.

"Yeah, because non-humans were being tortured by the
government to figure out what made them tick." Knowledge of where
they were suddenly dawned on Caislyn and her white light nearly
flickered out as she lost her concentration. "Oh," was all she
managed to say as she turned and explained to Jaxon just what they
had stumbled across. "But it was sealed up with Fey magic," she
said as she looked to Seth for answers.

"The OTHS's first missions were to find the testing
facilities, save those they could, put the others out of their
misery, and seal the buildings from humans." He sighed as he
continued to walk down along the corridor. "The hope was that most
of the results of all that testing would remain hidden too, but we
weren't so lucky there. Humans and their technology were way ahead
of us on the communication front."

"Holy crap, you mean we are in a lab where they were
dissecting non-humans for experiments?" Jaxon looked around, a bit
more on edge now that she knew what kind of place they had stumbled
into. "Do you really think we should be in here?"

"Something in here is calling to me." Caislyn said as
she continued to follow the felling in her gut.

"Like, literally calling to you or are you talking a
more figurative type calling, because honestly, I'm not sure which
is the most creepy option considering where we are." Jaxon
continued to look around in her normal nervous manner.

"I have this feeling in my stomach, almost like I am
being pulled or called and I really don't want to refuse." She
sighed as she continued walking, "it's actually quite nauseating,
but at the same time, I don't think I can afford to not listen to
my body."

"Have you ever felt this pull before?" Seth
questioned nonchalantly.

Caislyn thought for a moment and a memory came back
to her of a time when she was lost in the woods by her family's
cottage. She had wandered back there chasing butterflies while her
parents were occupied with an elderly woman who had come to visit
them. She didn't mean to go as far into the woods as she did, but
before she realized what was happening the butterfly flew high
above the trees and Caislyn remembered looking around and feeling
completely lost and hopeless. It was then that she felt a strange
pull in her stomach, she ran in the direction she was compelled to
follow and before long she saw her dad standing there. The worry
that was momentarily creasing his face eased into a smile as
Caislyn ran into his arms. "Daddy, I was lost." She had said to
him.

"I know sweet pea, I helped you find me." Her dad
said, "now, no more chasing butterflies into the woods, I might not
be around next time to help you back."

"Oh - Dad!" Caislyn shouted, as she picked up her
pace and began running toward the compulsion she felt.

"Wait!" Seth shouted at her as he grabbed her
arm.

"My dad, he's the only one that has ever caused that
feeling before. He found me that way when I was little and lost in
the woods."

"He may not be the only one who can do that." Seth
said to her sternly. "Maybe you should think about that before you
go running off half-cocked and getting us killed along with
you."

"I am not trying to die in this dank hole," Jaxon
interjected.

"But, what if he needs me. It already feels weaker."
Caislyn hung her head and allowed the sorrow of the past year to
sink into her bones. Then she shook it away and began to
concentrate on the pull again. "I have to find out."

"I agree, but cautiously." Seth allowed Caislyn to
continue leading them in the direction she felt pulled to. As they
went deeper underground the concrete walls around them were
somewhat moist. Even concrete and metal couldn't keep the low water
table at bay forever. This area of the country was never meant to
have below ground buildings, they just didn't fair well, if they
could even be constructed properly to begin with. When they came to
a branch in the corridor and had to choose whether to go left or
right Caislyn paused and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on
what she was feeling instead of what she was seeing. She felt the
distinct, though fading tug at her mid section and quickly turned
left.

"Damn it, it's fading faster than I can get there."
Caislyn was on the verge of panic when the feeling completely
subsided from her. She stopped dead in her tracks and without
realizing she had even been crying, she wiped the tears that had
been streaming down her cheeks in shiny rivulets. Only they
betrayed her diminished hope, because the rest of her body was
turning and searching, trying to find a cause for the sudden break
in feeling. 

"Cais?" Jaxon questioned as she stood there watching
her friend's internal turmoil spill down her cheeks. "Hey, I know
this is hard for you, but I really don't think..."

Before Jax could finish what she was saying Seth bent
down and picked something up off the floor. "Odd place for one of
these."

Caislyn turned to see what he had picked up. Her eyes
flew wide and she snatched it from his hand before even his vampire
quick speed could react. "This is my dad's." She turned the earring
over and over in her hand and found what she was looking for, the
Mac that had been carved into the back. "It really is his."

Seth once again had trouble controlling his surprise
as Caislyn announced that the earring she had found belonged to her
dad. "Are you certain?"

"Of course I'm certain, I never saw him a day in his
life without it." She held it close and felt a feint tug at her
midsection. "This is what I have been following. He's not here, but
he left this behind for me to find. He had to, because it was
charmed to call to me if I came near."

Seth gained control over himself once again and
managed to look like his normal aloof self, but while Caislyn had
been preoccupied with the earring, Jaxon hadn't missed the look on
his face. She was not about to let it go, but this was not the
place to start questioning his loyalty again. Instead she took hold
of Caislyn's hand and held on tight. "Is there anything else we can
find here, or was this it?"

"I think this is it."

"From the looks of the place it was pretty well
cleaned out when they finished with it. I haven't seen any sign of
recent usage here at all. I think that earring may have been left a
while ago." Seth turned to head back out of the bunker. "We should
go, someone's bound to know we disturbed the seal on this place and
it would most likely be a good idea to be long gone before they get
here." 

***

Gallery of Dreams

Caislyn took a deep breath as she tried to focus on
her research. She had been unable to find anything special about
the earring her father had left behind so she instead found a way
to fasten it to her necklace until she could figure things out. In
lieu of finding information on the earring she dove into trying to
locate more information about the prophecy as well as the book that
her parents were looking at when they were taken. She knew what
book it was since she had drawn it in her sketches. It was
obviously missing, as the girls had looked all over the store for
it. Caislyn had called around to some of the other high end book
dealers her father had worked closely with only to find that the
particular book she was looking for was very rare. She actually got
several offers for the book, if she were able to track down the
copy that her parents had been looking at. With frustration and
dead ends mounting again Caislyn decided she could try to find
other references to the book and see if she could piece together
what her parents had found. Her concentration was waning, however;
as Jaxon's chattering, pacing and fidgeting were taking their
toll.

"Jaxon," she called to her friend who was several
rows over rambling about some clothing sale and her not having the
money to go shoe shopping anymore. "Jaxon!" When that didn't work
she yelled, “Jax!”

"Huh? Did you call me?" Jax asked as she peeked
around the corner of the bookshelves. 

Caislyn was sitting on the floor with two books open
on her lap and surrounded by four others. "I can't concentrate with
you talking about shopping."

"Oh, Sorry. Its just that, with all this stuff going
on, I haven't had the time to get proper clothes to fight in. And
there's this big sale, but Seth told me to take some time off, so I
haven't been able to go get my bonus from Ronald. So, I don't have
any money to go shopping. And it just sucks because it’s a really
good sale.."