Birthrights

by Butler, Christine M.

  “Anything else, Seth?” Marc questioned.

  “No. Like I said, I’m still investigating and searching through documents. That takes time Marc.”

  “Well, you must not be as well connected as I once thought.” Marc replied snidely. “I’ve heard a few rumblings lately, rumors about a fight in Camden at Causeway Park. Know anything of this?”

  Seth swore silently. He maintained control of his shock at Marc’s knowledge of the fight but feigned innocence. “No. I haven't heard a thing, but most human fights are handled through the police and are of no consequence to the Vampire Community.”

  “Well, I think this will be of interest to all the communities. It wasn’t a human fight. Fey were involved.”

  Seth raised both eyebrows in response to Marc’s sharing of information. “Really? I’ll have to look into this further. Did you hear with whom the altercation took place?”

  “No. That’s all the information that my sources gave, but do look into it, Seth. I want to know what brought the Fey out in the open like that.”

  Before Seth could answer, Marc held up a hand to silence him. Someone else had walked into Marc's office, “Damn it, Frank! I told you to wait until I summoned you." Marc looked back at Seth then, "I believe we are done here." Without another word the connection was severed.

  ***

  Steel, Demons, & Knowledge

  Late the next morning, the girls left the bookstore to acquire weapons to help defend them from Fey attacks. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jaxon looked more than a bit apprehensive about having to go deal with a demon today.

  "Don't worry Jax, just remember what I told about demons and you'll be fine. My dad used to work with this one from time to time. Don't get me wrong, never, ever, underestimate a demon! Ve is the only one we can go to for weapons capable of killing Fey. Besides, I have something he wants." Caislyn patted the book bag she was carrying. Before they left the book store she had gone downstairs and charmed a couple books to take with them. Jaxon hadn't understood what she was doing at the time and it showed on her face now as she looked doubtfully over at her friend.

  "Seriously, you intend to charm some Fey killing weapons out of a demon using books that you put spells on?" Jaxon shook her head trying to clear out the cobwebs that obviously must have formed there. "I really don't understand. For some reason, every day I wake up lately has been a challenge to understand what motivates all these weird non-human groups to do what they do."

  Caislyn tsked gently as she teased Jaxon, "Watch your tongue, Jax, you are one of us weird non-humans now!" Caislyn snuggled the book bag closer to herself as she continued, "Trust me, Ve has been after these books for years and my dad wouldn't part with them for some reason."

  "So, what's to stop a big bad demon from just taking them?"

  "Remember those spells, really charms, I put on the books before we left? They ensure that I have to give the books as payment of my own free will and without menacing acts affecting my decision."

  "Okay, well I guess I will see how that works later." Jaxon said doubtfully.

  "Hopefully not," Caislyn said as she hugged the bag closer to herself. "I really don't want to have anyone attempt to take them by force, that wouldn't go over well for anyone."

  "Great," Jaxon said as she rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, Jax! The books are charmed!" Jaxon said sarcastically, "somehow, it's not the books I'm worried about. Can you put one of those charms on me?" Jax questioned.

  "Are you done, yet?" Caislyn asked as they rounded the corner. "I really hope you are because we're here." Just as Jaxon looked up Caislyn found herself face to face with an old, drunk vagrant outside of Ve's building.

  The old man looked up at them with his dirt stained, weather worn face, "You!" He looked from Caislyn to Jaxon and back again. "And so it has begun. The world will change after all. The man's eyes glazed over and he began to speak in melodic voice that wasn't present only moments ago.

  "Their power unleashed will open eyes

  And bring forth the species beneath the skies

  Battles for truth will not deny,

  As one they shall all live or die"

  "The prophecy has come to pass, they are among us." The old man was now back to himself, and began sounding a bit out of sorts again as he stumbled away from the two girls. "Tell no one," he ordered them. "Your lives are not your own if you do." The old man ran off singing of an Irish maid and her man she found in the woods, or some such nonsense that the girls could barely understand.

  "Okay, now I didn't see that one coming, weird!" Caislyn acknowledged as she watched the man who was now dancing down the street to his own song.

  "Really?" Jaxon complained, "after all the things that have happened since we've met and this is the first thing that strikes you as weird?" Jaxon rolled her eyes at Caislyn once again as she asked, "Honestly, I don't think I can take any more surprises before going to see a demon."

  "Let's just go in," Caislyn was still looking into the horizon where the crazy man had disappeared when the front door to Ve's building opened. She was startled back to reality when she heard a male voice.

  "I said can I help you?"

  "Oh, um," Caislyn fought to gather herself after being caught off guard. "We need to see Ve."

  "I'm sorry, he's a bit indisposed with business right now. Besides, I don't think he's auditioning any new girls."

  Jaxon looked confused as she asked, "auditioning?"

  "Oh, hell no, you stupid little minion!" Caislyn yelled at the man before her. "You get your haughty little ass in there and tell Ve that Caislyn Vadoma is here and it's very important!" She crinkled up her nose at the man before her who suddenly looked very indignant at her outburst. "You heard me, if you value your position you'll run along and tell Ve I am here with a friend."

  As the man walked back into the house Jaxon looked at Caislyn as if she had lost her mind. "Do you think that was very smart? Did you just insult a demon? Oh my God, we are going to die right here and the last person who saw us alive is going to be some raving lunatic who was talking about the end of the world and then danced off into the sunset singing an Irish ditty. Seriously, could this day get any better?" Jaxon finished rambling as the front door re-opened.

  "My apologies, Ms. Caislyn, Ve says I am to seat you in the parlor."

  Caislyn looked back at Jaxon when she hesitated to step over the threshold. "Are you done throwing your hissy-fit now? Because this fool," she pointed to the man leading them inside, "is no demon. He's as human as they come, no matter what he wishes he could be."

  "My name is Jacob, lady, and I am perfectly fine with being human." He pointed toward the seats in the parlor as they reached the door. "You may have a seat in here, Ve will be with you momentarily."

  As they sat and waited for an audience with Ve, Jaxon's hands were shaking slightly in her lap when Caislyn reached over and grabbed them to still her.

  "Don't worry," Caislyn whispered to her.

  "Easier said than done. You brought me to a demon's house to talk with him about weapons because we have so many other creepy things chasing after us."

  "I think dealing with Ve will end up being the least of our problems, today. Remember though, he feeds off of strong emotions so try to calm down a bit." Caislyn was trying to reassure Jax, but the whole prospect of something "feeding" on her emotions brought a renewed sense of dread to the pit of her stomach. Taking several deep breaths, Jax tried to calm herself, concentrating on keeping her hands still so that Caislyn, nor Ve, would see just how nervous she was by being there. A few moments later, Caislyn reached over and put her hand on Jax's arm, "You do realize that you are shaking the whole couch with your leg don't you?"

  Jaxon gave her friend a blank stare, "Oh. See, I can't just sit here when I'm this nervous. Its either shake my legs or pace. And I figured that pacing would probably give away the whole 'I'm extremely nervous because I'm about to be face to face with a demon' thing. I have to get this restless energy out so
mehow, so I guess just shaking..."

  "Now your rambling, Jax" Caislyn stated. "Just stop worrying so much. This is going to go just fine. I know it is. Now just sit there, close your eyes and center. Remember how I taught you to shield yourself? Try building a shield to keep your energy in and other energy out. I mean this place is full of all sorts of emotion, I can only imagine that you are picking up on some of it, which has probably exaggerating your nervousness. Concentrate on your shield."

  Jax listened to her friend's advice, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She visualized an impenetrable shield forming around herself. As soon as the shield was complete, Jaxon felt calm and peaceful. She felt like she could breath and think again.

  Ve entered the room in a manner that exuded a pompous stature without even trying. "Ah, Caislyn, it has been awhile," Ve drawled slowly as he looked Caislyn over. Caislyn knew that look. It was hunger. She wasn't real sure if it was the sexual type or the 'I want to eat you for dinner' type. Ve was kind enough to be wearing a human illusion for them. She wasn't sure how Jax would have felt about how the demon really looked. She noticed as Ve paused for a moment, then looked over at Jaxon curiously, "and who have you brought for me? Another whore for my collection, perhaps?"

  "What is it with everyone assuming I'm a whore, already?" Jaxon whispered to Caislyn. Jaxon nearly lost her shield when her anger flared to full force and it wavered briefly.

  Caislyn, having dealt with Ve before had expected some sort of shocking comment from him. She clasped her hand over Jaxon's and smiled reassuringly at her before she turned to address Ve. "Now, is that anyway to treat guests, Ve?" Caislyn feigned indifference before she began talking again. "We came to beg favors from you and you call my friend a whore?" She prepared to stand and continued on, "maybe you were the wrong demon to come see, after all." She tsked under her breath and waited for Ve to take the bait.

  "Favors, you say?" Ve questioned almost immediately. Caislyn knew from watching her father deal with the few demons who had come in his store that the one thing demon's could not resist was a favor. She also knew the one thing she never wanted was to owe a favor to a demon. They tended to end badly and are never worth the rewards you received. Ve continued on when Caislyn didn't answer immediately, "my apologies to your friend, please, sit and stay a while." He smiled as Caislyn sat back down. "Now, do tell what sort of favors fair Caislyn is requesting?"

  "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.