Birthrights (29 page)

Caislyn sighed and kept rolling through her little
tirade, “We know that I am part witch and part Fey and that Jax is
part witch, part vampire. That makes us both pretty unique, I
guess. We know that together we are stronger than we are
separately. My parents are okay for now and are being held by some
loony-bin monks who have a hard-on for this book,” she held the
book in the air for effect. “We know that we are in Ireland now,
which is at least somewhat safer than where we were in the States,
especially since it will take a while for anyone to realize how far
we went or in what direction. According to my dead great
grandmother, help is on the way and we are this close to uncovering
the secret my parents have been working on for years. We’re close
to an end, guys. We just have to find the creepy monks, rescue my
family, and figure out how to make the non-human community believe
we are not part of some freaky end of days prophecy.”

“Yea, that sounds simple enough!” Jaxon said
sarcastically, while all Seth did was give an audible sigh.

Caislyn looked over at the two cynics she now had to
deal with, “well, I don’t know about the two of you, but I'm tired.
I only got about an hours worth of creepy-dream time sleep earlier.
I need to shut my eyes so I can think tomorrow.” She headed for the
bedroom and turned in time to catch a look passing between Jaxon
and Seth. “Seriously, I don’t care if you two screw or fight all
night, but I don’t have ear plugs, so which ever you choose, just
keep it down. Tomorrow I am all about saving the world!” At the
looks she got from her friends Caislyn amended her comment, “okay
how about just saving my family and our own asses then?”

***

Three Short Stories of The Awakening Trilogy

Into the World a Witch is Born

Into the World a Secret is Born

Double Crossing Demon

***

Into the World a Witch is Born

Catriona came from a long line of witches, many with
special talents. Hers would prove to be one of the rarest talents a
witch could inherit, future sight. It had not been seen in their
family line for more than five generations. She didn't just see
glimpses or random predictions, if she focused on a particular
person she could see their entire life and beyond flashed before
her in waves of emotions, knowledge, and sometimes as clear as a
movie playing in her head. When her great granddaughter, Vesta, was
born she would use her gift despite the fact that she did not agree
with meddling into the family line and looking to their own
futures. Vesta had been sick from birth and they all just wanted to
have a little piece of mind about whether the child would make it
or not.

Catriona took a small lock of the child's hair and
went to work scrying for her future in the waters of the pond
behind their old stone cottage. At first she saw nothing and she
feared what that meant. Then slowly, the light chop to the water
decreased and became smooth as glass. Images began to unfold and
Catriona was dumped into a conversation she would one day have with
Vesta as a young woman.

"Maimeó, I don't know what to do." Vesta looked to
her great grandmother, the most trusted person in her life since
she lost her parents, and pleaded for answers that she knew the old
lady did not possess. "I love him, Maimeó, I can't just walk away
from him and go back home." Tears were streaming down her flushed
face. Vesta was the token Irish girl in looks alone. Her mother's
family had come from Romania, but her father's family was pure
Irish. The red hair that fanned out across her shoulders along with
her alabaster skin, which was spotted with freckles, gave away that
Irish heritage.

Vesta was the first Vadoma female to be born away
from the gypsy clan in her family. They denounced her mother for
running away with the fair-haired Irishman who swept her off her
feet during their travels. Having been banished, Vesta's mother,
Drina, moved with him to his family's home in Ireland. While Aedan
was not magical in nature, he came from a long line of Irish
witches. When the women of the family found out that Drina was a
gypsy they embraced her and her knowledge while sharing theirs.
Vesta was five when her parents packed her up and they moved to the
United States where Aedan was offered a position he couldn't
refuse. She would always visit her grandmother and her great
grandmother during her summer vacations from school. In doing so,
it ensured that she kept a bit of the Irish lilt to her voice when
she spoke, especially when her temper flared. Catriona smiled as
the imprint of how Vesta came to be was intermingled with her own
memories of meeting Drina and blessing her union with her grandson,
Aedan.

"Gariníon," Catriona spoke softly, "It is easy to be
pleasant when life flows by like a song, but the man worth while is
the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong. For the
test of the heart is trouble, and it always comes with years, and
the smile that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that
shines through the tears."

"Maimeó, that was beautiful! You always know just
what to say."

"Don't pass judgment on me too quickly, Gariníon, I
read that one on the Internet this morning." Catriona laughed
heartily and Vesta could not help be undone by the woman's pleasure
with herself. "See there, sweet child, life is not all tears. Your
troubles will soon be quelled."

"How can you be so sure?" Vesta looked into the wise
old woman's eyes and saw in them years of experience, heartache,
sorrow, happiness, and life. She bowed her head to her beloved
great grandmother just as a knock sounded at the door. Both women
turned in time to see MacDara come bursting through. Catriona gave
a knowing look to him as he came closer to them. Before he could
say anything she was already speaking. "And so the past repeats
itself with a twist of circumstance." She looked upon the confusion
written all over her granddaughter's face then back to Mac. "I know
what you have done, more importantly I know who you really are
MacDara, son of the Oak. You may fool the young ones, but a true
wise woman knows when she sees one of the Fae in her midst. Love's
will shall be done, and I will not step in the way, she is yours to
love, but also yours to protect. Should any harm come to her you
shall feel my wrath for eternity."

"Maimeó?" Vesta questioned.

"Go, now my sweet Gariníon," She looked to the corner
of the room, where she had been busy packing before Vesta came to
speak to her. "You're things are ready to go." At the questioning
look in Vesta's eyes she continued, "I glimpsed the pond this
morning when I was about gathering my herbs. She told me of your
troubles and showed me what must be done." Catriona smiled up at
her great granddaughter and hugged her fiercely. "Go now, child.
May your feet be swift as the wind and your lives be beyond the
reach of those who seek you."

Taking her great grandmother's blessing and the bags
she had packed for them, Mac and Vesta set out to the United States
together, running from one family and blessed by another, just as
her parents had done so many years before.

Catriona's vision diminished only to be replaced by a
new one. This one flashed forward a couple of years in the life of
her beloved Vesta. "Mac," Vesta squalled out amidst a hard
contraction, "We aren't going to make it, just pull over."

Mac looked at his wife with fear barely concealed in
his eyes. "We can get there, just tell her to hang on a little
longer. Nika will be able to help you through this better than I
can, plus we have to pull a lot of magic to conceal a Fae birth."
He said it. The concern they both had through this whole pregnancy.
It was forbidden for a child to be born of witch and Fae descent.
Throughout history only two such births were known, and they were
spoken of as a cautionary tale. In one instance a child was killed
by an assassin of the Fae high court when he was born. In another
instance a pregnancy between Fae and witch was thought to have
happened and so the woman was killed before she could birth the
baby. As it turned out the child was not part Fae, she was just a
witch, who had been set up by a Fae she had slighted in some
manner. In either case the course of action was clear, if you dare
produce an heir to both Fae and Witch lineage the Fae will seek the
child out and end the matter.

Vesta doubled over in the front seat of the blue
station wagon as another contraction hit her. Sweat beads were
forming on her head and she was having trouble breathing, despite
the exercises Nika had taught her. "Please, Mac," she pleaded, "I
don't want to give birth in this car. I never liked the damn thing
to begin with, don't let her be born in this hunk of metal."

One look into his wife's troubled eyes and Mac could
no longer deny her. He pulled off on an old country road and found
a little hidden cove in a copse of trees. He helped her out of the
car and left her to lean on it momentarily while he formed a
protective circle in the grassy area at the center of the cove.
Once the circle was nearly made he picked Vesta up and placed her
at its center, then closed the circle.

Mac began to chant an age-old spell that would help
conceal the fact that they were even in the field to begin with. He
hoped it would be enough to conceal the baby's birth as well. If
his family ever found out, there would be hell to pay and he was
not about to let his daughter be left to the Fae's form of
justice.

Vesta screamed, causing Mac to nearly loose his
concentration with the concealment chant. He was going to kick
himself for listening to her later. He couldn't chant and talk her
through this at the same time. As he continued to chant he helped
Vesta sit forward to push each time a contraction hit. Vesta knew
the moment the baby crowned because Mac's eyes grew large and
clouded with unshed tears. She pushed again several times and fell
back to rest as Mac held up their baby girl to the sky. He still
continued to chant, but through the chant she heard him name their
baby girl. "Caislyn Moira Vadoma." He was blessing her now "A
daughter of wood and fire. She will be both the fuel and the
flame." Mac proclaimed as he laid the baby on her mother's
chest.

Vesta knew full well what he meant, he was MacDara,
son of the Oak, and she was Vesta, named for the guardian of the
sacred fire. Her daughter would be both Witch and Fae, something
far more powerful than either of them separately.

Tears graced Catriona's cheeks as she realized she
was watching her future great-great granddaughter playing in a
field three years after her birth. Copper strands shimmered amidst
the chocolate brown hair on the three year olds head.

Caislyn was playing in the filed where she was born.
Her parents managed to buy the property shortly after her birth and
they had a small stone cottage, reminiscent of Catriona's own
cottage in Ireland. Caislyn was practicing magic again. Of course,
she was still too young to understand the consequences of what she
was doing. There were twenty small butterflies fluttering around,
dancing with her. They were all trying to catch the sun's rays as
they were lost behind the billowy cloud cover only to peek out
again a few steps from where they had been. It wasn't until Caislyn
conjured a hound straight out of Faerie to play with that her
parents began to worry about being found out.

"Mac, you have to do it. What if she decides to
conjure a person to play with out of Faerie? How do you think it
will go over when the Fae Guard shows up to take our baby
away?"

"She will live a half life, never being fulfilled if
I bind her, Vesta." Mac looked out at his daughter who was still
dancing in the field with butterflies. "How do I break such a
beautiful little thing?"

"Better a half life, a broken life, than no life at
all." Vesta was stubborn and set in her ways. She would not be
convinced that the girl could learn to control her Fae side. "She
will be raised as a witch, Mac. She will still be better off than a
human child. She will know magic." Vesta hung her head low and
continued on quietly, "she just won't be able to know the magic of
her father's people." Tears began to fall from her face as Mac
pulled her in closer.

"Once again, you are right, my beautiful wife. We
have no other alternative." As his chin rest upon his wife's head
and he looked out at his daughter dancing with butterflies Mac
mourned the loss of the her Fae powers, the part of her that was
completely him. "I will do it tonight when she falls asleep."

That night as Caislyn slept her father placed a
binding spell on her, effectively blocking her use of her Fae
abilities. He could not, however; bring himself to fully bind her
and so he added a little clause in the binding. "One soul belonging
to two worlds, shall forever hide a side. Dreams will reveal
glimpses, but locked out of Fae and it's use she will be until
comes such a day, as my darling daughter finds another soul like
hers, to help her along the way."

A wave of nausea swept through Catriona signaling to
her that she was near the end of the journey through her future
lineage. Tears still fell down her cheeks as she watched a teenage
Caislyn struggling to be normal when she was anything but.

"Come on Gregore, they will never know." Caislyn was
pleading with her friend to take her to a party downtown that she
had heard about. Gregore, while one of the better looking guys in
her school, was strictly friend material for Caislyn. Even though
there was a spark of something more in his eyes when he looked at
her, she refused to believe it. Caislyn was not, however; above
using that to her advantage to get her way.

"Cais, your dad always knows." He snuck a sideways
glance at her through his messy dirty blond, too long hair, and
continued, "Remember last time, when I took you down to the river
for that bash in Camden?" He ignored her giggled response, "yea, I
thought your dad was going to fry me up for dinner that night. I'm
still not convinced that he doesn't have a lock of my hair
somewhere so that he and your mom can perform some sort of spell on
me, give me the pox or something."