Incarnations

by Butler, Christine M.

  Incarnations

  The Awakening Trilogy (Book 3)

  Christine M. Butler

  ***

  The Awakening Trilogy

  Birthrights

  Revelations

  Incarnations

  ***

  All matterials within are copyright protected.

  2012 ©Christine M. Butler

  Smashwords Edition

  ***

  BLOOD THAT BONDS

  Jaxon was on the move again, watching out for dark corners as she stuck to them herself. It was time she found a place to settle in for some rest, but she wasn't exactly sure where she was anymore. Since meeting Caislyn, everything in her life was turned upside down. There was always someone hot on their heels trying to harm them, because of some stupid prophecy neither of them understood. They had spent the last few months of their lives on the run, from their home in northeatern North Carolina in the United States to Ireland and the Gypsy camp somewhere in Eastern Europe. Now Jaxon was on her own, roaming through yet another little European town she'd never heard of before. On these dark nights, it sometimes felt as though the towns rose up around her, ready to swallow her whole. The only boon to her existence was that she was no longer the hunted. She was the hunter now, and she preferred it that way.

  Jaxon had left the Eurasian border countries three bodies ago. The minute she let herself think about the people she killed the guilt crept in, and she had to fight to block it out. The blood lust was stronger than she had anticipated. She only meant to feed from the poor street person last night, but she hadn't been able to stop feeding until she had taken every last drop of his blood. Jaxon physically shook off the revulsion that wound her stomach into knots while also calling up that hunger that dwelled deep inside of her. She needed to focus right now and thinking about what she had been doing to survive was going to be counter productive. She needed a place to rest. Having given up on hotels, and their questions about passports, she started looking through the more derelict parts of town for an abandoned place she could squat in for a night.

  It was in one of those darkened windows that Jaxon happened upon a man, dressed in brown robes, standing before the soft glow of candlelight. A wire tripped in her head, the one signaling the righteous path she had chosen to take. She would cleanse this world of the Brotherhood if it took her last bit of humanity and the last breath of life she had to do it. It was a vow she made to herself, to make them all atone for the sins they had committed against both Caislyn and herself. For taking their parents, and ruining their lives, the brotherhood would pay in blood, pain, and death. Jaxon stood for a moment taking in the scene before her. The man was overweight by about fifty pounds, balding with wisps and tuffs of hair forming an unruly halo around his otherwise balding head. He appeared to be alone in the house and was just getting ready to turn in for the night by the looks of it.

  Jaxon had to think quickly. She knew she couldn't kill him inside the house, too many bits and pieces got left behind at crime scenes and she didn't want any of the others to know she was coming. He needed to be lured outside and an idea was forming in her mind, one that would see her bring down another member of the brotherhood. Jaxon pulled the hood to her sweatshirt up over her head, and rounded the corner of the house, before walking right up to the front door. The moment she started banging on the door she put on her game face and started crying out frantically.

  "My sister! Please, someone... you have to help me!" Her palms were already turning red from the banging she was doing, but she had to look desperate enough for help to draw him out. As the man came to the door and took note of her panicked expression, she ramped her performance up a notch. "Please, she's just over there. I think it was a... a... vampire. He tore at her throat before I could get to them, but I think... he ran off. Oh God, please help me get her to safety."

  The man ran in the direction she had been pointing, brown robes flying in the wind behind him as he went. "Where?" He questioned as we got to the edge of the forest.

  "Just over there," Jaxon pointed and before the man could turn to tell her he didn't see anything, she was on him, no longer the helpless girl that banged upon his door. Now, she was the vicious killer exacting a revenge he would never even know about.

  She was on him, tearing at his throat in much the same manner her imaginary sister had just been attacked. Jaxon stifled a laugh as she sank her fangs down harder into the man’s throat. She had the presence of mind to pull back just before he died and she looked down into his desparate eyes, “do you know why this happened to you?”

  The man barely moved his head, but it was enough for Jaxon to perceive the “no.”

  “Your brotherhood took everything from me, and now I am taking it all back, one brother at a time. Lucky you! You got to be first.” She said nothing else only noted the panicked expression in his face as she smiled down at him before sinking her fangs in and finishing the job.

  It was over in minutes as Jaxon wiped the remnants of his blood from her mouth, feeling the blessed zing of another's lifeblood coursing through her veins. She turned to the sound of clapping hands. A woman stood in the shadows of a tree, amused with Jaxon's performance.

  "Now that, was a thing of a beauty." The clapping continued for a moment, "brava little one!"

  Jaxon was down in a crouch, ready to pounce if necessary. She was eying the woman, who stood clapping, suspiciously. "Who are you?"

  "Well, I was the woman that was going to kill that despicable creature there, until you beat me to him of course."

  "Why?" It was a simple question and Jaxon didn't really care about the answer, she needed time to think. The woman before her was obviously a vampire, and quite possibly not of the friendly variety.

  "The brotherhood disgust me." She actually spat on the ground, as if adding insult to injury for the dead man. "You ravaged him for me, and now I must be moving along. There are more, and they need killing."

  "I couldn't agree more." Jaxon said as she stood straight and then held out her hand. "Jaxon." She said simply by way of introduction.

  "Pleased to meet you, but I'm going to forgo the pleasantries." She nodded to Jaxon's hand, still smeared with the blood of her victim. Jax shrugged and stepped closer. "So, tell me, was that personal or just a hearty meal? It looked as though you were speaking to him when you first walked up."

  "Personal." Jaxon looked back at the body momentarily and the hatred she had for the brotherhood showed through her still solid black eyes. "Very personal."

  "Ah, then it seems I have found an ally. We have a common enemy and goal it seems. Let's go get you cleaned up and have a chat, shall we?"

  Jaxon nodded and turned to follow the woman. She was very obviously a vampire, but there was also something else that Jaxon couldn't quite put her finger on that was so familiar.

  "I'm Brigid, by the way." There was a certain lilt to her voice that Jaxon couldn't quite place, an accent that she hadn't quite been able to shake. The woman turned her back to Jaxon and walked away in smooth confident strides. She was actually a little shorter than Jaxon with straight, dark hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back, dancing in the wind as she went.

  "Good to meet you, Brigid." Jaxon looked back once more at the body, then she moved forward following Brigid into the night.

  ~*~

  Jaxon was looking around the room Brigid brought her to. It was a cozy little space with a couch dead center, book shelves surrounding the walls, and a fireplace off to the right that took the chill out of the air.

  "So, I know why I want those bastards dead, but I'd be interested to know your reasons." Brigid's accent again reminded Jaxon of something, someone. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something niggling at the back of her min
d, even as the memories of what the Brotherhood did to her mother pervaded her emotions.

  Jaxon looked up at her, the pain evident on her face before she was able to mask it.

  "Ah, I see, they took someone from you too." She stopped pouring the drink she had been occupied with and looked off into the distance, "they stole my life long ago. Not directly, mind you. They wouldn't dare have a vampire among them, but they were responsible none the less. My life forfeit would have been something I could have gotten over, but they took my entire family. That is something... well, no need reopening old wounds. Let's just say, I have yet to settle the score completely."

  Jaxon hadn't planned on opening up to this stranger. She hadn't envisioned saying anything at all, and yet her mouth was betraying her, and even as she realized what was happening she couldn't stop the flow of words. "They took my life, my best friend's life. Her parents, my mom, they are all lost to us now because of these parasites. They pulled my mother apart, mercilessly, drawn and quartered... laughing while I watched."

  Brigid sucked in a breath. "You are still lost to the pain as if it just happened," she said in a quiet voice.

  "It's been less than a month." Jaxon whispered as she sat on the couch, emotion weighing her down.

  "Less than a month?" Brigid was startled by that. "When you said she was drawn and quartered I thought perhaps it was another lifetime. I hadn't known them to use such, old methods, in many years."

  "Well, maybe they're just pulling out the old tricks for the witches then."

  "Witch?" Brigid sniffed into the air, then quick as a flash she was beside Jaxon, looking at her, really looking. "I thought you vampire when I watched you kill, but it would seem you are not at all what I first thought." Brigid shifted her weight and stepped back. Jaxon could feel the cold wash of fear flooding around her.

  "I won't hurt you," she said to Brigid.

  "What exactly are you? Not Fey, not witch, and not entirely vampire." She was done with the guessing as she took another cautious step away from Jaxon.

  "I'm witch and vampire by birthright." Jaxon looked up, eyes still nearly full black. She turned to the candle on the table in front of her and held her hand out to it, driving the emotion in that she knew would produce a flame, just a little of her hatred to burn bright. "I am one of the chosen, hunted because of the prophecy these brotherhood assholes have spread throughout the world. And I vowed that I would cleanse this world of their kind before anyone takes me down."

  A rueful smile played across Brigid's lips, "then your secret is safe with me, and we shall cleanse this world, together." Jaxon could feel the truth, the passion in those words and she was able to relax back against the couch and rest for the first time in a long while.

  Before she knew it, Jaxon was asleep on the couch, not the least bit concerned about the stranger who brought her here. Instincts kicked in, the ones that told her she shared a common bond with this woman, one that would trump any bounty that may be on her head. Jaxon slept, and for the first time in a while she didn't feel that tingling presence that was Caislyn trying to force her way inside. She began to wonder if Caislyn had given up on her, or if something worse had happened.

  ~*~

  He found the path she had taken, her presence still lingered here. Seth looked around and noticed the disturbance near the bushes along the treeline, and then he smelled blood on the air. The scent was still thick, but it was diminishing. It had been hours since the attack happened. He slowly approached the scene just off the road, a little ways into the treeline, where the balding, overweight man in the brown robes lay silent in his death, throat shredded to peices.

  “Jaxon, still on the warpath, I see.” Seth took the time to pick the deceased brother up and get him further into the woods where he was less likely to be seen by anyone. There was also the hope that the body would be eatten by animals, covering up the tracks for him. Seth had made a decision with the last body he found ravaged by Jaxon. It was taking too long to cover her tracks for her and he was beginning to lose her trail here and there, only picking it back up by chance this last time. He couldn’t afford to lose her again, not when he had gotten this close.

  ***

  LESSONS UNLEARNED

  "Concentrate Caislyn, imagine what you want to be there. See it in your mind, then make it be."

  "That's easy for you to say. I'm sure this was like a kindergarten lesson for you or something, but my Fey side has been bound the majority of my life."

  Ash smiled down on her for a minute, and then there was a sparkle in those unnaturally bright green eyes of his. Caislyn couldn't help but smile back. There was something about Ash that she couldn't deny, no matter how hard she tried. She felt herself pulled to him, like the moon orbiting the planet. It wasn't something she could just brush off even though there was a part of her, the part that was now married to Gregore, that wanted to be able to do just that. She sighed at the thought of Gregore, and Ash seemed to take note of her shift in moods.

  "You need to clear your head of whatever is bogging you down, Caislyn. Fey magic is a touchy thing, we do our best when we are in harmony with everything around us."

  "How the hell am I supposed to be in harmony with anything, considering everything going on in my life, Ash?" She turned around and looked back up into his eyes. He didn't answer, he just grabbed her up in a hug and she let him. "My mom's getting a little better every day, and that's a good thing, but there's everything else. There's Jaxon, and Greg, and..." she pulled out of his embrace as she whispered the rest, "and there's you."

  Ash looked down at her once again, and swallowed something he seemed to want to say. Instead he just turned Caislyn around to face away from him. He pulled her back into him, closely, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. Ash pulled her arms up in front of her, placed them palm up to the sky, and whispered in her ear, "find one thing in this moment that makes you happy and manifest it into anything you like. Empty your mind, forget everyone else - including me, and just let the first happy thought that comes to you flow through you. Imagine it building up inside you, when you don't think you can hold it in anymore, see it represented in the palms of your hand."

  He stepped back away from her then, leaving her to find an inner peace she wasn't sure she could conjure.

  It took a few minutes, Caislyn was breathing purposefully, trying to release the negative energy she knew was holding her back. She cleared her mind and thought about nothing but happiness. A warm tingling feeling began to flow through her as she imagined herself in the forest, butterflies fluttering around her in their magical dance, the warmth of the sun’s rays filtering through the trees, and the beautiful emerald flowers that she had grown so fond of. When she opened her eyes again her hands were filled with the velvety softness of those green petals, but that wasn't the extent of it. The world around her had changed, the sun was filtering through the trees, just as she'd imagined it. She could feel the warmth of the rays on her skin. The only thing missing were the butterflies, but as she turned to smile at Ash, Caislyn realized the butterflies had always represented something, someone... him. He was looking at her as if she were the only thing in the world. It was an intense look, one that both pleased and scared her.

  Ash leaned in, taking Caislyn's hands, the ones that still held the petals. She let him pull her closer, and then she was being shaken. Something wasn't right, the world began to tilt around her. Ash suddenly didn't look happy anymore. He looked more... pissed.

  "Caislyn!"

  "What?" Caislyn shot up in the bed, shaking off the sleep that still clouded her mind. She had been having a good dream. She had learned... oh, she had done it! Finally! She had been able to manifest something in dreams. Looking down around her though, she realized she hadn't been able to bring the flower petals out of the dream with her, which was actually probably a good thing since Gregore was standing over her, fuming.

  "What the hell, Cais? I leave to go get supplies, and I come back to find
you in bed with him!" Gregore pointed at the other side of the bed, where Ash was doing a good job of pretending to still be asleep.

  "Coward," Caislyn muttered under her breath to him. She thought she saw a small movement, a little twitch at the corners of his mouth. 'Great, now he's feigning sleep and laughing at me.,' she thought.

  "Are you going to explain yourself, at all, this time?" Gregore was beyond pissed. If his angry shouting hadn't clued her in, the rage that was evident on his face sure did. Greg had turned about three different shades of red already.

  "Greg," Caislyn started to say before Vesta walked into the crowded doorway.

  "Gregore, I warned you not to come back here. I've been checking on them. They are working. As you can see they are both fully clothed, on top of the blankets, and I do believe the required amount of distance has been kept between the two of them the entire time." Vesta looked weary.

  "Mom, this isn't your battle. You shouldn't have to prove how virtuous I am. He has eyes, he just chooses not to use them."

  "Yeah? Is that it Cais? Because I seem to remember our wedding night. I may not fully understand how this Fey dream-walking shit goes, but I do know you don't have to be physically touching here to be doing it there, in La La land with him."

  "And you don't trust me," Caislyn added to Gregore's tirade.

  "No! I don't trust him!" He pointed at Ash, who still looked as though he were sleeping blissfully through all the shouting and accusations. "And by the way, you're not fooling anyone! I know you woke up the same time she did."

  "Ah, yes." Ash said as he looked up, "but I was hoping you would blow your top and storm out as you usually do, so we could get back to training." Caislyn turned just in time to see Ash wink at Gregore.