Birthrights

by Butler, Christine M.

  "Don't be afraid little one," her father said to her as he pulled the cloak away from himself, revealing the luminescent glow she had always associated with the Fey. "You found my earring?"

  "Is it really you?" Caislyn asked as she reached out a hand toward her father's face.

  "Yes, but we haven't a lot of time." He looked around as if someone would pop out of the forest and drag him away if he were to say another word.

  "Dad, are you okay?"

  "Yes, sweet girl, I am fine, but you have to seek the truth in what you've found." Mac grew a little fuzzy around the edges as Caislyn looked at him. "Find the answers, you will find ..." his voice trailed off before he could finish what he was saying. The last thing to go was a faint glow where he had just been standing.

  "Daddy, wait..."

  ****

  "Sorry, but we are closed," Jaxon yelled out from just down the hall. She started walking towards the front to greet the customer when suddenly there was a bulky man standing in front of her. "Oh, you startled me," she said taking a step back to put distance between them. Every instinct went on alert as she took a good look at the late visitor. He was about 5'8" with scruffy brown hair and pale skin. His dark eyes oozed nothing but determination and Jaxon realized that she was face to face with an unhappy vampire. "I'm sorry but we are closed. I'm sure if you come back tomorrow, someone will be able to help you." She said as she tried to step around and get closer to the door.

  "I don't want anything from here. I want information. And you're gonna give it to me" the vampire stated.

  Jaxon sighed. This had not been on her agenda and she was tired of watching her step everywhere she went. All these supernatural creatures and their demands were really beginning to get on her nerves. "Fine. I'll talk with you for a moment," she replied trying to sound as sweet and vulnerable as she could while she walked over to the counter to put down her things. At least that's what she wanted the vampire to think. She was actually putting herself in a better fighting position and allowing herself to have both hands free. She needed to be able to grab the dagger she had hidden in her boot if the situation required it.

  The vampire watched her closely as she turned back to face him. He decided that this woman was intimidated by him and she'd cooperate nicely. If not, he would just rough her up a bit and scare her into staying away from Seth. "What's going on between you and Seth?"

  Jaxon put her hands on her hips and just looked at the vampire. Her eyes were ablaze with irritation. "That figures. Its always Seth that ruins my day! I have a great day and get away from all the supernatural crap that’s been going on and you have to come in here and just piss me off."

  The vampire paused a moment, obviously taken off guard with Jaxon's change of mood. "Don't make me force you to answer, woman." He remarked trying to control of the situation again.

  Jaxon crossed her arms in front of her and leaned against the counter. The vampire took a step closer. "You are going to explain to me why Seth has taken such an interest in you. I know he's hiding something about you, and I want to know what that is and so does my employer."

  Jaxon raised her eyebrow and just looked at the vampire. She was more irritated that this was about Seth than that an actual vampire was trying to intimidate her.

  She stood up straight and looked at the vamp. "You know, I'm really, really tired of having supernatural creatures think they can push me around. Caislyn and I have been trying to mind our own business and all of your little critter pals keep dragging us in the middle of your crap. Well I'm sick and tired of it." All the frustration from the last few weeks was starting to rise in Jaxon. All the stress and tension she had been feeling from Caislyn and that of her own concerns melded together inside of her and felt like it was about to explode.

  "I don't give a damn what you think. I want answers, bitch." The vampire reached out, grabbing Jaxon's arm and threw her down on the floor.

  Jaxon laid on the floor a moment, hoping the vampire would think he had hurt her a little and come closer. She could feel something inside her shift again. It was the same feeling she had when she fought Rick. She closed her eyes and allowed that feeling to take over.

  The vampire reached down to grab Jaxon again. "I have ways of making you talk,” he was saying as he pulled her up. Before he could attempt to toss her around again, she grabbed the hand he was holding her arm with. He looked at it and then up at Jaxon's eyes. "Oh shit," he said as she pulled his hand off her arm and pushed him with all her might. He went flying across the room and into the wall with a thud.

  In a blink, she was before him pulling him up at the scruff of his collar. He tried to fight back but she was stronger than he'd thought. He threw a punch and she caught it in her hand, wrapping his arm around his back and turned him. Jaxon threw him at the front door and the vampire went sliding on the floor stopping right before he hit it.

  The door opened and Seth stood at the threshold looking down at the vampire. Then he looked up at Jaxon. Her eyes were completely black, and she was standing perfectly still, too still for a human. "Frank,” he said looking down at the vampire on the floor, “I think you've pissed her off" Seth looked back up at Jaxon who had cocked her head slightly towards him as he continued talking. "I suggest you get out of here before I let her finish you."

  ****

  He jumped up from the lake, running out of the water like a startled buck, as Caislyn looked on curiously from the water's edge. "What on Earth were you doing in there?"

  "I was looking for you, this is just where I ended up. It doesn't always work perfectly." Her dad came to sit beside her as she lounged amongst the flowers growing by the shore. "Zinnias?" He questioned, "you and your mom used to grow them out by the cottage. She said they were the easiest to grow, so you wouldn't have to be disappointed because some would always bloom."

  Caislyn smiled as she remembered how she and her mom used to plant the flowers every year. "Yes," she said, "How is mom? Is she with you?"

  "Not anymore. They separated us. I still talk to her in her dreams though, like I am with you."

  "Why now? Why not before, in the beginning?" Caislyn could not hide the hurt look on her face as she wondered why her father hadn't come to her sooner.

  "You had to find the earring to trigger it. If you ever take it off our connection will be broken and I won't be able to find your dreams."

  The flowers around them began to turn brown and wilt as the news hit home. Caislyn could not lose her father again. As her emotions began to run high he started fading away again. "Dad, no, please, you have to stay."

  "I'm trying baby. You have to find the truth, so you can understand." He laid a book in her lap. It was one she recognized from the book store. When she looked back up from the book her father was gone. Before she could get up to head to the book store the book had dissolved too.

  ****

  Frank scurried out of the door so fast he was nothing more than a blur of movement.

  "Now, why the hell did you do that?" Jaxon said returning to her normal self. She took a moment longer to close her eyes and practice breathing again. “I was just about to beat some information out of him, but apparently you already know the answers. So, who is Frank?” She looked at Seth who was still just watching her and not answering anything. “More importantly, how do you know him? He seemed very concerned with what you and I were doing together. I wonder why that is?”

  Seth had been watching her, but he wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying. "Jaxon, do you realize what you just did?"

  "I realize that I just kicked a vampire's butt and you apparently know him. He wanted to know what you were talking to me about." Jaxon replied and walked back towards the counter to collect her purse.

  Seth blinked. "What did you tell him?"

  "What do you mean, what did I tell him?" Jaxon scoffed as she stepped past Seth and out of the gallery. "Did it look like I was telling him anything?"

  Seth stepped out onto the street and closed the
door, allowing Jaxon access to lock it and set the alarm.

  "Seriously Seth you tell your friends not to bug me at work. That isn't the place to handle social calls. You of all people should know that." Jaxon walked past him on her way back to the apartment, flinging her hair over her shoulder as she went. It was a dismissive act, Jaxon was done trying to figure Seth out and his motives, well, he wouldn't have them anymore if she stopped allowing him into her life.

  "He was not my friend," Seth said as he caught up to her to walk with her.

  "Well you knew him didn't you?" Jaxon asked sarcastically.

  "Yes, I know who he is, but believe me, that does not make us friends. What's with the attitude?"

  Jaxon stopped mid stride. Exasperated she looked at Seth. "Seriously? You want to know why I have an attitude?"

  Seth stopped beside her. "Yes. I do."

  Jaxon started walking again, "Fine, I'll tell you. Do you realize that every time you show up, I have to fight something? Somehow though, you miraculously show up in the nick of time, once again. Which means you were following me, again. And that vampire buddy of yours had the audacity to ask what was going on between us! Ha - as if!"

  Seth had to pick up the pace to keep up with Jaxon. The more she talked, the faster she walked. "Wait, I wasn't following you. I saw the light on in your office and was going to check in on you. I was concerned, and then I saw Frank, who is not my buddy. And what do you mean 'as if?' " He asked, beginning to get agitated.

  Jaxon stopped again and looked at him. They stood facing each other on the side walk right outside Hidden Dimensions bookstore, close enough to each other than Jaxon could see Seth's shirt rising and falling with his breathing. His eyes were bright with emotion and she had the biggest urge to reach out and touch him. Instead she swallowed, which brought his attention to her throat. And instead of being threatened or grossed out at the thought of Seth biting her, Jaxon felt her heart skip a beat. Even more irritated with her body's reaction to this vampire, no matter how sexy he was, Jaxon huffed in response to his questions and reached for the bookstore door.

  "Jaxon, regardless of whether you want to answer my questions or not. You are still going to have to come to terms with what you did back there. When I came into the gallery, I could not sense a human or a witch. You were neither of those things." He reached out and grabbed her arm to turn her to face him. "You were a vampire, Jaxon."

  ****

  "I don't understand what you keep trying to tell me." Caislyn was worried that her dad would slip away before he got to finishing telling her again.

  "I bound myself years ago, so that I could not tell. You have to find the answers on your own." He looked at her makeshift necklace that had once been his earring. "The secret lies there."

  The sands began to swirl around them as the wind picked up again. Caislyn's arms went out a little from her side as she felt the sting of each grain. Before she knew what was happening the butterflies were back in place of the sand, dancing around her hands. She allowed herself to be awed by them before she remembered to look for her dad again. He noticed the panic in her eyes.

  "I'm still here baby girl," he reassured her. Once again he handed her the book and as she took it the butterflies disappeared and she was back in the bookstore with the wind blowing papers around her feet.

  "Why would you bind yourself from telling me something?" She asked, but she realized there was no one else there to answer her now. She held onto the book her father had given her twice now and took a good hard look as it began to fade away.

  Caislyn awoke with a headache and grabbed onto the necklace that she was wearing. As she shook herself free of the dreamy fog she realized she was still laying on the book store floor with research books all around her. She began cleaning up the mess she had made and placing the books one by one on the media rack so she could put them away tomorrow. Caislyn picked up the third book and closed it, getting ready to place it on the media rack as well when she felt a warm sensation from her necklace. Before she put the book down, she turned in over and took a good look at it. She was completely astounded to see this was the book her dad had given her twice over in her dreams. The warm sensation emanating from the necklace made her think of her dad's earring again. "Maybe, I was not supposed to give up on you so easily," she told the jewelry. She flipped the book open and began looking through it for any mention of earrings or other heirloom jewelry. She found what she was looking for about half way in. There was a photo of the symbol that was etched on the earring and beneath it the captain read "Fey Royal Emblem - Members of the Faerie Royal Court are required to keep the emblem on their body at all times, some chose to wear it as a necklace, earrings, or a crown in the case of the Faerie Queen and King."

  Suddenly the truth of what she was reading dawned on her and the full impact of those words slapped her into a semi-shocked state. Caislyn had been trying to convince her best friend that she was more than she thought, when all along, so was she. Before she could wrap her mind around what she had just uncovered she noticed people outside of the bookstore.

  ****

  Jaxon and Seth stood facing each other again. She didn't have an answer to what had happened and had to rely on what Seth saw. But what he was saying was impossible.

  "Your entire body shut down. Your eyes were solid black," he said softly to her, knowing that she was struggling with this new bit of information.

  He reached out and touched her arm to try to comfort her when Caislyn opened the door to the book store. Her eyes were wide with a look that could pass for shock as she said, "I think I'm Fey."

  Jaxon and Seth both stopped in their tracks, caught off guard by Caislyn's sudden outburst after what had just taken place with Jaxon at the gallery. Seth recovered a little too quickly, having already guessed the truth of things when he saw the earring that Caislyn's dad had left behind. Jaxon, on the other hand, stood with her jaw agape, waiting for Caislyn to say something more.

  "I think we need to lock the place up and head up to the apartment where we can talk without interruptions." Seth suggested as he and Jaxon walked inside and he turned to set the locks on the door behind him.

  "Good idea," Caislyn began walking through the motions of her normal closing routine in a haze that had fallen over her since her last dream. She wasn't sure how to tell the others, and didn't entirely know if they would believe her or not.

  "This is turning out to be a hell of a day for discoveries," Jaxon finally blurted out as she walked to the stairs to head up to the apartment.

  ***

  Glamour & Blood

  The trio walked into the upstairs apartment in silence. Jaxon told Caislyn to go sit down and she would grab some drinks. As she headed for the kitchen, she grabbed the rum from their bar. They needed something stronger than tea this time to soothe their raw nerves. Her mind seemed to whir as it processed the events from the last few hours. Her unique abilities were growing and now Caislyn seemed to think she was Fey. On her way into the living room with the drinks, she snagged the bag of Cheetos, and some brownies from the counter. The way things had been going so far, comfort foods were going to be mandatory.

  As she entered the room, she looked at her companions. Seth sat silently in his normal spot in the chair beside the couch, lost in his own thoughts. Caislyn sat on the couch with her sketch pad in her lap, fiddling with her father's earring that she had some how managed to attach to her necklace. She was starring at the wall of sketches across the apartment, but Jaxon knew she wasn't seeing any of them. A wave of confusion, mixed with anguish and sorrow about her parents emanated from Caislyn and hit Jaxon like a wall of water crashing into a dam. Jaxon immediately put up a shield. She wouldn't be able to handle that heavy of emotions and be able to think at the same time. She wondered how her friend was handling it.

  Jaxon set the tray of drinks down on the table between them and sat beside her friend. She handed one to Caislyn immediately. "Drink it, you need it. Trust me, I can tell."

/>   Caislyn glanced at her friend as she took a long swallow of the rum and coke. She could feel the alcohol warm her insides as she drank.

  Seth waited until Caislyn had taken a few more swallows of her drink before he spoke. "How did you figure it out?"

  Jaxon looked at Seth and for moment forgot about Caislyn's Fey theory. "Um, you were there, you saw."

  Seth ignored Jaxon for the moment and spoke again, "Caislyn, how did you figure it out?"

  "Oh," Jax said as she sipped her own rum and coke.

  "The dreams," Caislyn whispered more to herself than anyone else. She knew they would both be more than capable of hearing her though, with their super vamp senses. "I was wearing this when I fell asleep," she said as she absentmindedly played with the makeshift necklace, "and the dreams started coming. At first they were foggy and I couldn't quite make out what was happening, but then I found my dad in them. He called it dream walking. He says very few people in the world, non-human or otherwise, have the ability, but his family has always been able to step into people's minds through their dreams." Caislyn looked lost as she recited what had been happening to her at night.

  Despite her shielding, another wave of absolutely misery and confusion swept over her, a sign that Caislyn was just barely hanging on tonight. Jaxon tried to throw a little more power into her shield to compensate, but at the same time she moved closer to Caislyn and put her arm around her. "Was it really your dad?" she asked cautiously.