Revelations

by Butler, Christine M.

  Caislyn sat back down in a huff with more to sort out and meditate on than when she started. She looked back at the cozy little cottage that she used to visit as a child. “Hope you two are having fun in there,” she mumbled under her breath. Caislyn allowed her body to drift back down until her head was pillowed by the grass that somehow stayed green around the stream despite the weather, even this late in the fall. She was afraid to touch the water again, worried she might conjure up yet another ghost. ‘Maybe this one will be the ghost of Christmas future and will actually answer some of my questions instead of leaving me with more,’ she thought to herself. As she lay there contemplating ghosts and questions the slight breeze that had picked up began lulling her into a strange daydream-like sleep.

  ~...~

  Jaxon stood there, after having shut the door on Caislyn, staring at the wood grains and not knowing what to do. She knew Seth was still behind her. She felt him there. More than that, when she let down her shields a bit she could feel his need and his hunger. She knew what to do with the need, it was the hunger she felt there that scared her. But what frightened her most wasn’t the feeling she got from Seth, it was a stirring deep within herself. She had felt it before on and off throughout stressful times in her life, but she never had anything to equate the feeling to, until now. She couldn’t stand there counting the lines in the door any longer, she had questions and the only person who could answer them stood directly behind her. Jaxon turned to face Seth with a question hanging on her open mouth. She never got to ask it though, because the moment she turned he was on her.

  ~...~

  There were ghosts all around Caislyn as she stood by the stream. Now, it was more of a river flowing freely and there, just on the other side, stood Gregore looking so sad. She tried calling out to him and for a moment he flinched as though he heard her calling and he chose to ignore it anyway. It was then that she saw his lips were moving. As soon as she realized he was talking Caislyn was able to hear what she was saying. “Go away, Caislyn, get out of my dreams. It’s always the same, stuck on this side of the river while you call to me. I get it, okay! You don’t have to keep telling me that we were never meant to be.” He was looking at something in his hands. Caislyn tried to look closer, but the river seems to widen and she couldn't quite figure out what he was looking at.

  “Is it a picture?” She said it out loud, but to herself. She sat back down on the grass, defeated. “Gregore,” she whispered into the wind, “I’m sorry.” Gregore looked up, torment evident on his face. He watched Caislyn for a moment before he started running away.

  A finger caught the tears that had begun running down Caislyn’s cheeks. She looked up in time to see her dad perched above her. He knelt down to her level, "it's never easy for us, you know."

  Caislyn looked up at her dad in awe and then grabbed hold of him in a tight hug and whispered in his ear, "what if I don't let go? Can I bring you out of the dream with me?"

  “Don’t you remember asking me that as a child?”

  “I was hoping your answer would have changed.” As Caislyn let go of her father she realized he wasn’t looking so good. “Dad, are you okay?” She touched his face where a deep purple bruise stained his complexion. Then she noticed the line of bruises that continued down around his neck. She also noticed for the first time how gaunt and ill he appeared to be. “Oh, dad, what have they done to you?”

  “Don’t worry yourself Caislyn. I will be fine. You need to find your mother. You are so close to us now. I can feel you here, you’re in Ireland with us.” As if the thought hadn't occurred to him before he looked around at their surroundings, "ah, the cottage, I should have known."

  “How,” before she can finish her question she noticed the river receding back away from them.

  “You’re not far from us.”

  ~...~

  An instant of sheer terror washed over Jaxon as Seth seemed to want to devour her, and then as his lips covered hers she was at once put to ease. It was the sweetest of kisses, gentle, tugging at her lip. ‘Oh, God, he’s toying with me.’ Jaxon thought to herself. ‘This is so not happening on his terms!’ She pushed at him to move him back a little and when he didn’t budge she pulled up that dark part of herself and made sure she moved him. Jaxon almost laughed hysterically as her strength surprised them both. She managed to knock him all the way to the couch. She was on him quickly, taking him down to the soft cushions beneath them. Something cracked, but he was kissing her again and she no longer cared what it was.

  “Jaxon,” Seth managed in between her kisses, “we don’t...” She smothered the words away and let her shields down a little more, relieved to find he was very happy with the turn of events.

  “We do,” is all she said before she was pulling his t-shirt up and over his head. As she ran her hands along his perfectly sculpted chest she whispered to herself, “oh, God, we do.”

  That was Seth’s cue to take control. He grabbed hold of the shirt she wore and pulled down the buttoned front, freeing her body underneath. She quickly pulled her arms out of the sleeves, bending back down to take possession of Seth’s mouth once more. As the kisses grew deeper she was made aware of the fangs she had never noticed before. Instead of causing fear, as she had always assumed they would, she felt parts of her body growing warmer at the thought of those fangs scraping over her lip, her neck, and other areas. Seth went still beneath her, his eyes closed. It wasn’t until then that she realized she had been grinding on top of him and the clothes they both had remaining were now a problem. In one gracefully fluid motion she hopped off of him and began unbuttoning her jeans. Seth was there, stopping her hands and moving them to the side.

  “This is my job,” the sound of his voice sent chills across her body at the same time it sent a rush of heat through her. The growl in his voice, that predatory nature, it was all rolling in waves across her body causing a stirring of the same feeling inside of her. She couldn’t just stand there and wait for him to undress her, so as he was tugging her way to tight pants down her thighs she was unfastening the belt and buttons on his own pants. At least she was trying to before he moved to far out of her reach.

  Once her feet were stepping, of their own accord, out of the last inches of her jeans Seth was grabbing her up and throwing her back down on the now obviously broken couch. “We’ll fix that later,” he mentioned before dropping down to kiss her once more. Jaxon’s hands were roaming from his shoulders and trailing down his back, digging her nails in for effect. The look on Seth’s face told her it was working. He began kissing her again, but avoided her lips this time. He began a very slow, teasing decent from her neck, just at the hairline. He was kissing, sucking, and the fangs that scraped along the skin threatening to break through nearly sent Jax over the edge. His hands found her breasts, squeezing, and pinching, eliciting small yelps of both pain and pleasure from Jaxon as she threw her head back reveling in the warring sensations. The moment Seth’s mouth found her breasts, she was left gasping and begging for release.

  She felt one of his hands roam down her body and disappear, but the thought of where his hand went was lost on her as he continued to suckle from one breast to another as if he would find more there than just her flesh. The thought suddenly occurred to her, ‘he could find my blood.’ She didn’t care. She was too far gone in this to care now. His other hand was back and he was traveling down further, her navel, the fine line of her abdomen which lead to her pubic area, and then she whispered only a handful of words, “so this is heaven...” She hadn’t even realized she said them out loud.

  “No,” Seth said as he worked his way back up her body and perched himself just above her, looking straight into her eyes. “Not yet.” Apparently, he was good at removing pants with one hand, because as he leaned against her, she realized his pants were no longer separating them. He was fully hard against her and she felt herself spreading her legs wider around him. That was all the invitation Seth needed.

  ~...~

  “
I teleported us here.” Caislyn said as she looked back at the cottage. “I still don’t know how it works, only that I need Jaxon with me to do it.”

  “You don’t need her to do it. The Fey call it blinking.” He smiled down at his daughter, “think of it like weight lifting. You don’t start out bench pressing 300 pounds. You start small and work your way up as your muscles strengthen. You’re powers were bound for a long time. Jaxon is acting like a battery for you and you probably are for her as well. Once you exercise your abilities and get to know them a bit more you will find you can both do amazing things on your own.”

  “I’ll start practicing while we wait for Arkos to get here.” Caislyn looked up to her father to explain, “Arkos is on his way, with his wolves.” She wanted to give him hope about the impending rescue.

  “Then he knows, too. Your mother, she is being kept in a room on the sea side. Arkos will know of what I speak. When I go to her in dreams I can see it. She has a tiny window. She won’t fit through it and even if she could she would only plummet to her death, but we can smell the salt air.” He looked over his shoulder, as if expecting someone. “You must get your mother out of here. She...” his voice trailed off and a pained look overtook him. “She needs to be free of here, the Brotherhood...” pain surrounded him, clear and evident on his face. “They have lost their patience, she is no longer safe.”

  “What about you, dad?” Caislyn asked, tears once again flowing freely down her face.

  Mac looked at his daughter and wiped at the tears in a futile effort to bring peace to her heart. “Caislyn, you must promise me that you will find your mother and get her out of here. Don’t be afraid of your Fey side, you will need the magic of our people for your journey.” He pulled her into a hug, “you are the best thing I have ever done in my very long life, Caislyn. The very best thing.” She felt the goodbye he was giving her and as he began fading away from her dream she whispered, “I love you daddy!”

  “Caislyn! Caislyn!” Someone was shaking her and calling her name, but she didn’t want to let go of the dream. Her father had already faded away, but she couldn’t let go, because she knew when she did he would be gone for good. She could still smell his scent. He was the forest, the leaves, the damp earth. He was everything that always made her feel safe and now he was gone from her grasp. An icy coldness penetrated Caislyn’s dream and brought her back to her own reality. She was on the ground and she was soaking wet. “What the hell?”

  “Sorry, you wouldn’t wake up.” Jaxon looked scared as she helped Caislyn up off the ground.

  “Is it about to storm?” Caislyn asked looking around at the sky that was only moments ago so bright and blue.

  “Caislyn, we’ve been trying to wake you for a while, it’s 8:30.”

  “That’s not possible. I just fell asleep a minute ago.” Caislyn looked from a very wide-eyed Jaxon to the very rumpled looking Seth and realized the two of them had probably been busy for quite a while. “It’s not possible.”

  “We should go inside and get you dry, the temperature is starting to drop,” Seth suggested.

  “Why am I all wet anyway?” Caislyn asked as she walked with them to the house.

  “I couldn’t wake you up. I thought, maybe like in the movies if I threw water on you...” Jaxon shrugged at her own suggestion.

  “You know they only toss a glass of water on people in the movies, it looks like you threw the entire creek at me!”

  Jaxon shrugged her shoulders and smiled sheepishly, “sorry. In my defense, we really couldn’t wake you for a very long time.” Jaxon looked worried again, then she asked, “was your dad with you? We heard you say daddy, but we weren’t sure if he was there or if it was just a dream.”

  “He was there,” Caislyn said quietly as she twisted the front of her shirt to ring the water out before stepping inside the cottage. “Holy crap!” Caislyn looked around the disheveled living room and then back at both Jaxon and Seth.

  “How about I get this fixed up while Jaxon makes you some tea and you go change into something dry.”

  “How about Jaxon,” Caislyn started as she grabbed Jaxon’s arm, “comes with me and you start cleaning up!” Caislyn half dragged Jaxon down the hallway to the room she was staying in. “Do I even have to ask?”

  The huge smile along with the blush on Jaxon’s face told Caislyn everything she needed to know.

  “Okay, well hopefully you plan on steam cleaning the couch, right after we figure out why it’s suddenly sagging in the middle!” Caislyn laughed, “damn vampires!”

  Jaxon simply shrugged her shoulders and continued to smile.

  "Jax, I have to tell you about my dream and what my father said."

  ***

  PRESENT MEETS THE PAST

  “How long does it really take to get a bunch of werewolves across the ocean?” Caislyn was growing more and more restless. It had been three days since she dreamed of her father out by the creek bed and he hadn’t come to her dreams again. She was afraid of what that might mean.

  Seth tried to calm her nerves, “Caislyn, Arkos probably decided to wait until after the full moon yesterday so they would all be well fed and under control before taking the trip. You know some of his wolves tend to step out of line when they get too close to the full moon.”

  She let out a frustrated sigh before she could stifle it, “but I haven’t seen my dad. What if...” her voice trailed off, not wanting to give voice to the horrible things she had conjured in her imagination.

  “I know.” Seth walked over and hugged Caislyn, because it seemed like what she needed just then. “Arkos will be here soon and we will get your parents back.”

  Caislyn smiled at Seth sheepishly. She hated looking weak in front of anyone. When Seth turned back to the living room she took that chance to wipe the tears from her face. The same tears she had commanded not to fall just moments ago.

  “Where is Jaxon?” Seth finally asked. “She was right behind me when I walked in to talk to you.” He began to head back towards the living room and he now had Caislyn’s full attention.

  As they rounded the hallway they found Jaxon doubled over beside the couch clutching her head as if it were the only thing holding it in place.

  “Jax!” Seth was by her side in a flash and Caislyn caught up quickly.

  “Jaxon, what’s goin on?” Caislyn demanded.

  “My head, it hurts so bad.” She looked up at Seth and Caislyn. “It’s like some one’s trying to bore a hole through my head from the inside out.” Caislyn jumped up and went to work in the kitchen.

  “I’ll make you up some tea that should help with that.” Caislyn looked back into the living room as a very worried Seth was picking Jaxon up and setting her in the chair. “I’ve had this really weird feeling all day. It’s almost like someone has opened up my head and poured ants inside. There they are crawling all around, looking for something. It’s driving me insane.”

  Caislyn and Seth both listened as Jaxon continued on with her ever-inventive descriptions of what the feeling in her head was like. Caislyn was actually laughing at those descriptions as she put the tea into her friend’s hand. “Here, drink up. I am sure it will help a bit. Have you ever had a migraine before?”

  Jaxon looked up and held the mug of tea, cupped securely between both of her hands. “This is not a migraine, it's an alien probe buried deep in my brain and it's come to life.” She said before taking a sip. Once Jaxon had downed half the mug she looked up at Caislyn with smile on her face. “Oh my God, Cais, you need to market this stuff. Everything just stopped. No more ants in my brain, no more zombies on fire dancing around like little ballerinas!” She looked from Caislyn to the mug, “just amazing!”

  “Um, okay, well it doesn’t work that fast. And really? little zombie ballerinas on fire? What the hell have you been smoking?” Caislyn was all but laughing at her friend while Seth sat perched next to her not looking amused in the least.

  “Caislyn, it’s not funny. We have no clue what’s
going on here.” Seth started to fuss more, but Caislyn cut him off.

  “Seriously, you have to see the humor in barbecued zombies dancing in tutus up in that noggin of hers.” Caislyn motioned to Jaxon’s head laughing. The laughing stopped completely and she nearly jumped out of her skin when a knock sounded at the door.

  Seth and Jaxon were surprisingly caught off guard too. “I didn’t sense anyone coming,” Seth was saying as Caislyn got up and started walking toward the door.

  Seth caught her arm, “No, Caislyn, we don’t know who it is.”

  “And we won’t find out until we open the door.”

  “Jasmine?” Came a raspy female voice from behind the door.

  Jaxon stood frozen in place. She hadn’t heard anyone other than Rick call her that since she left Raleigh. She stood speechless, gaping at the door as Caislyn took the handle in her hand. Seth stepped back so he was out of sight when the door opened. Caislyn was the first to see the woman standing outside her door as she opened it. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was obvious at first sight that this was a relative of Jaxon’s.

  The woman didn’t miss a beat in seeing the shock on Caislyn’s face. “Jasmine, she’s here then!”

  Seth motioned for Jax to stay back, out of sight, until they figured out who the mystery woman was. Jaxon was only to happy to oblige.

  “Would you mind telling me who you are and how you came to find this place?”

  The woman smiled kindly at Caislyn. “You did a fantastic job hiding it from others, but I have blood kin in this house. Not even you,” she pierced Caislyn with her eyes trying to figure out exactly what she was only to come away confused again. “You, no matter what you are, can’t hide Chattox blood from one of their own.”