Birthrights (28 page)

There was a knocking on what sounded like glass that
brought Caislyn's attention from Gregore. They were suddenly
sitting in a car outside of her family's cottage in North Carolina.
Someone was tapping on the window of the cottage. "Oh! I have to
go, my parents are going to be so pissed." Caislyn said, without
another thought her hand flew to the door handle.

"Cais, no, stay with me, please!" Gregore begged her.
His voice broke up a little on the please which in turn twisted at
Caislyn's heart. "These are the dreams I have of you, only this one
feels so real.  Don't walk away from it now."

"It's okay," she said, "I will see you later, every
thing's back to normal now." Caislyn bent over and kissed him
lightly again, before hopping out of the car. She walked to the
house and opened the door only to find herself now in the special
room at the back of Hidden Dimensions. She stood barefoot in the
grass, looking over by the pond. There was a book laying in the
grass. She wasn't sure what the book was, but she knew it shouldn't
just be laying around on the ground so she went to it. As she got
closer, the book seemed to fall further away from her, as if the
world was rushing past them. When she finally got close enough to
touch it she realized she wasn't in the same room any longer.

****

Seth flopped down on the couch and sighed deeply.
This had turned into a complete mess. The more he tried to think
about what their next move might be, the more thoughts of Jaxon
drifted through his mind. The woman drove him insane. Ever since he
had laid eyes on her his life had become increasingly complicated.
Now the council would be after them, and there was no telling to
what lengths they would go to find the girls. Seth sat up on the
couch and put his head in his hands. He could feel the tug of the
night calling to his need for blood. But since he wasn’t sure where
exactly they had teleported to, Seth was reluctant to go hunting.
Many countries had not accepted the existence of his kind as well
as the United States had, and were very active in keeping down the
population in whatever means they found necessary. He would have to
find other means to sustain his body.

Standing, he walked over and opened the sliding doors
that lead to the kitchen.

****

Caislyn reached for the book, and spun forward
through the Irish cottage until she was standing in the attic. The
book sat on top of an old armoire.  She went to reach for it,
and was surprised at someone clearing their throat behind her.
Caislyn turned to see her great grandmother standing there.
"Maimeó," Caislyn used the endearment she had heard her mother use
for the woman when she was just a child. "How are you here?"

"You are dreaming, dearest, Caislyn." She smiled up
at the girl who had so obviously inherited her father's height.
"That book is not just for you."

"What do you mean?"

"You alone can not possess it. I don't think your
mother did it that way on purpose, but Fate has her way with our
tongues sometimes, does she not?"

"So, who then?"

"I think you already know that answer, child."

Caislyn thought a moment about how Jaxon and
herself could do things together that they could never do
alone.

****

“Holy Crap!” Jaxon shrieked. “Could you warn a lady
before you just barge into the room? Geez, I almost threw my hot
tea at you!”

Seth raised an eyebrow “I apologize, I didn’t mean to
startle you. I wasn’t aware you were in here. You must be
learning to mask your presence.“

Jaxon turned back towards the stove where she had
just poured herself a cup of hot tea to help relax. “ Whatever, I
just came in here to get some tea, I’ll be out of your way in just
a second.”

“Jax, you aren’t in my way.”

“Really?" Jaxon remarked turning to face the vampire.
"Because it seems lately that is exactly how you’ve been reacting
towards me. You know, Like you’d rather me be a good little girl,
mind my manners, stay home and out of the way unless spoken too.
Well, you’re out of lucky buddy. I've had one man in my life that
treated me like that and after almost killing me and coming after
me again, I killed him. I’ll be damned if I will ever live through
that again!” Jaxon declared holding her head high.

“I have never treated you like that! I just don’t
want to see you tromping off flaunting your new found powers and
getting yourself killed!” Seth remarked stepping up closer to
her.

“See, there  you go again!” Jaxon threw her
hands up. “I’m not some careless child. Caislyn and I have been
training, I’m not going to get myself killed. Besides why would you
care? We’d be out of your way and you can go back to being with
your precious council!”

“I don’t want to be with the council,” Seth said in a
low velvety voice. His need for blood and his mounting frustration
had turned his eyes a bright green. Jaxon was close enough he could
smell her light perfume. Her dark eyes were flaring with anger and
she looked sexy as hell.

Suddenly Jaxon felt the atmosphere in the room turn
from strained tension to a deep attraction that was pushing at them
both. Seth reached out and grabbed her, pulling her to him. He
kissed her roughly, allowing a small bit of his desire to seep
through. 

At first Jaxon didn’t know how to react, but her body
immediately defied any logical thought and responded to his
urgency. Her hands followed their own path, one reaching up curling
her fingers into his hair, and the other running along the hard,
defined muscles of his chest and abdomen. Jaxon could feel the
slight scrape of his fangs along her lips and it sent a
tingling rush through her body.

Seth’s grip on Jaxon tightened as he backed her
up, pressing her against the counter. Kissing her had only ignited
a deeper yearning, and his control was starting to slip. He could
feel his body reacting to her close proximity and knew she could as
well. He had wanted this for weeks and he wasn’t about to let her
go now. His mouth left her lips and traveled a painstakingly slow
path along her chin and down her neck. His hand was moving up her
rib cage underneath her shirt. Jaxon let out a small, barely
audible moan when the heat of his palm reached her breast. That
small sound drove Seth nearly mad. He reached up and grabbed a
handful of hair, directing Jaxon's face back towards his as he
reclaimed her mouth. He pressed himself against her harder, and
reached for the clasp of her bra.

"I know where the book is! The one my parents
were looking at when they were taken! The key to their
disappearance is here!!” Caislyn burst into the kitchen, eyes wide
with excitement.

Jaxon pushed Seth aside quickly, “W-what?” she asked
stumbling over the word as she tried to give herself a minute to
shake off the encounter she just had. Her body was still shaking
from anticipation and her face was flush with heat. She blinked
rapidly trying to understand what Caislyn had just announced.

Caislyn realized what had been going on before she so
rudely barged in, but she didn't want to embarrass Jaxon any
further, and this was too important to wait, so she pressed on. “I
had another dream! The book that my parents were looking at when
they were taken, you know the one I kept trying to find and it was
gone? Its here! I just need help getting to it.”

“You mean your dad dream-walked with you again? He
showed you where it was?” Jaxon questioned.

“No, this was more like a vision. I saw the attack on
the store again, when my parents were taken. I saw this man wearing
a brown cloak with these crystal blue eyes, then I saw the book and
it was like it was flying through time and space. And then I saw it
here. It’s up in the attic, but I can’t seem to get the door to
come down. My Great, Great Grandmother appeared to me in the dream
and told me I couldn't get the book myself. She wasn't lying, the
door is stuck. That book holds the key Jax. I have to have that
book!”

“Okay, well, lets go get it,” Jaxon declared as she
started to walk into the little hallway. She was grateful for
the interruption. Her breathing had calmed somewhat, but she
wanted as much distance between her and Seth as possible and didn't
even want to think about what could have just happened. 

Jax stood looking up at the cutout in the ceiling
containing the stairs to the attic. The little string that was used
to pull the stairs down had broken a few inches from the clasp. It
hung, right above her head, taunting them.

Jaxon looked to Caislyn, who held up the rest of the
string. “It broke when I tried to pull them down,” she gave Jax her
best cheesy smile.

“I’m shorter than you, Cais. There’s no way I can
reach that string," Jax began looking around. "Where’s a chair?
Maybe if you stand in the cha-"

“Jaxon, you’re part vampire. You can jump and reach
it.” Seth said irritably as he moved in front of the girls and
hopped up grabbing the pull string. He had to tug hard, but the
stairs creaked downward allowing access to the dark storage area
above.

Caislyn grabbed the rungs and started climbing
without hesitation.

"Oh, right! I forgot." Jax commented grabbing the
rungs and heading up behind Caislyn as quickly as possible. She
could feel the frustration rolling off of Seth. He was irritable as
hell, but there was something more to it than their little tryst
being interrupted. Jaxon couldn't identify the feeling though.
Between Caislyn's anxiety to find the book and Seth's foul mood,
she was sure it was enough to cause her to unintentionally ignite
something. She decided she needed to put up her shield, even
if it was only to allow herself some clarity of thought.

Caislyn stepped up to the wooden floor of the attic
into complete darkness. She held up her hand and witch light glowed
from her palm. It gave just enough illumination for her to see the
small lantern hanging from the ceiling. She turned towards Jaxon,
"Can you light it?"

"Can I light what?" Jaxon asked as she stood up
straight and banged her head on the lantern. "Ouch! Oh that. Yeah
sure," she steadied the swinging lantern and rubbed her head. The
wick sparked to life and filled the room with a yellow
light. 

Caislyn looked about the room and noticed the armoire
she had seen in her dream. She moved a couple steps towards it to
give Seth room to get up the stairs too. As she moved closer, a
cold tingly sensation ran it's way up her arms and over her entire
body. Through shivering teeth she managed to say, "something is not
right. It just got really cold in here."

"Caislyn?"  Jaxon questioned, but before she
could say anymore an old woman sort of flickered into existence
beside Caislyn. It was as if she was just a thought in one moment
and then she pulled herself together to create the illusion that
she was just as solid as the two girls in the room. "What the
hell?"

"Jaxon, meet my Great, Great Grandmother." Caislyn
smiled shyly then shrugged, "I did mentioned that she was in my
dream last night, but honestly, I didn't expect to find her here
when we came up either. I thought she was just a dream person, you
know?"

"The two of you," the old woman said with a smile,
"always so much trouble, even before you were born." She laughed a
hearty laugh that only old ladies can get away with. "I don't have
much time. Your mother sent me with a message, Caislyn.” The look
on Caislyn's face let the old woman know she had left out some
important information. “Oh, she is quite fine, dear, as is your
father. You need to find The Order though, and the monks that stole
them away. The book they were looking for is here. A secret only
the two of you can uncover lies within. Your parents were looking,
and came so close, Caislyn.  The monks took them, with their
brown robes and cruel eyes. You must find them soon, and fear not
help is on the way. Trust your hearts, they'll see you through.”
The old woman was beginning to fade a bit around the edges.

“What are we supposed to do? What about Seth?” Jaxon
asked.

“Seth?” the old woman questioned, then she looked
pensive. “Quite the character, if memory serves.” She smiled and
faded a bit more,before she noticed the man who had finally found
his way up into the attic. “Ah, I knew I could count on you to
stick around.” She smiled up at Seth, “Your word is yet kept.” She
looked to the girls, nearly invisible now, “trust your hearts.”

The girls both looked to Seth.

“Looks like you have more to explain, Seth,” Caislyn
started.

“A lot more,” Jaxon finished. “Let's get this book
downstairs and figure out what the hell is so important about it.”
Jaxon paused after watching Caislyn pick the book up. “What the
hell did Grandma Ghost mean about trusting our hearts?” Jaxon
asked.

“The hell if I know,” she shrugged again, “but we
need to figure it out because she was right about the monks.
Remember my dream sketches from when my parents were taken? Those
men were wearing brown robes, they very well could have been monks.
Maybe the book here will tell us which kind.”

“Or maybe Seth will know,” Jaxon interjected turning
to look at the vampire, “he seems to know everything else before we
do.”

“Yea, I am more concerned right now with what she
meant by help being here soon. How would anyone know where to look
for us?”

“If help knows where to find us, we may not be as
safe as you thought here,” Seth pointed out.

“Great, nothing like setting a girl’s mind at ease
there stalker-boy.” Jaxon started in.

“You kidnapped me, remember?” Seth retorted.

“Shut up! The two of you were just trying to rip each
others clothes off a few minutes ago, thank you for that image that
I have to try to erase by the way.”  Caislyn thought for a
moment. “What do we know?”

Jaxon and Seth simply looked at her, afraid to put
their two sense in now that Caislyn appeared to be starting up on
her own rampage.