Incarnations

by Butler, Christine M.

  Marc looked worn out, but Jaxon had no sympathy, she pushed harder to make him keep going. She wasn't going to let him stop till he gave them everything they needed to make sure she and Caislyn would be safe again.

  "My name wasn't always Marc Pithview, you know. I took that name as a joke, after what happened. When Caleb and I left the monastery that day, I decided it was high time to go visit one of the whore houses there. We were a part of the Brotherhood, but that did not entail us taking actual vows of celibacy. Caleb wanted no part of the whore houses. He was completely wrapped up in the Brotherhood’s dogmas, which included not laying with a woman, as they were the ultimate distraction from the cause. I didn't care. The Brotherhood had done something to me that I couldn't explain, and when they did, it changed something in me. I no longer cared about their dogma or their plans. In truth, they should have chosen Caleb to begin with, he always was the better of the two of us. He went back to the monastery. I stayed. Staying changed me, forever."

  "I did go to the whore house..."

  "Spare us the details of your lost innocence and get on to the important shit!" Jaxon was growing testy. It was draining her quicker than she liked to keep pushing Marc for the truth.

  "Trust me, you don't want me to spare this detail." Marc smiled a snide smile over his shoulder at Jaxon before continuing. "I cut the purse strings of some drunken schmuck in the back of the tavern. He never noticed. I hadn't used the skills I learned on the streets as a child in a very long time, but apparently some things are harder to forget than others. I used the purse to pay for the most beautiful woman in the establishment. There was something exotic about her. I mean, really exotic. She had this otherworldly presence that I couldn't shake. It wasn't until we were upstairs in her private room that I would learn what made her so special. Cecilia Winters was her name."

  "Cecelia was your sire?" Seth sucked in an audible breath before waving his hand for Marc to continue.

  "Yes, she was. Now, you should ask yourself how a witch became a vampire, because it's a question I've been plagued with for many years. Apparently, whatever the Brotherhood did to me, allowed the vampire venom to take affect where it normally wouldn't have with a witch. So, you see, Jaxon. I too am a Vampire Witch, hence my name!" After seeing the blank expression on Jaxon's face he added, "scramble the letters, and think about it."

  He looked back toward Seth and Brigid then. "I went back to the Monastery. The hunger hadn't come over me yet, and I didn't know what I had become. I had been told of vampires before, but I was also told they couldn't turn a witch. So, I didn't think anything of it. When I got there, I was fine. At least until I hit the training area, where Brother Michael had just cut himself. The blood lust hit me like a freight train. The weight of that need slammed into me and took over everything else. I killed Brother Michael, drained him right there. Two other members of the Brotherhood were there to witness, and so I killed them too. I don't even remember their names anymore. The only witness I hadn't been prepared for was Caleb. When I noticed him lurking in the corner, I went for him. Not to kill him, just to explain. He seemed to sense this. He didn't judge, didn't threaten, just took me aside and got me away from the Monastery as fast as possible."

  "So, what happened after he helped you escape?"

  "He told me if we ever crossed paths again he would kill me, because I was an abomination now." Marc smiled, "I think I was his only moment of weakness. You have to understand, Jaxon, my friend went on to become the leader of the Brotherhood. Caleb, the man with the crystalline eyes, he is the one who seeks you out. You and Caislyn."

  "Why does he want us?" Jaxon asked, as she tried to keep her voice from shaking. Keeping Marc in a talkative mood with her powers was draining her, but she knew he had more to say, and she wanted to make sure they got it all before Seth and Brigid had their way with him.

  "That is the problem. He can't ever be allowed to get you. It would destroy everything. That's why I spent so long searching. Then I had you right under my nose and I trusted the wrong damn vampire with you!" Marc looked pointedly at Seth, who just shrugged at him. "You see, don't you? You see why they have to die? It would ruin everything, for everyone, if they were allowed to live. If Caleb gets them, it will end everything!" Marc looked emploringly to both Seth and Brigid. "Please!" He was yelling now, "We have to kill her, and then you have to kill Caislyn too. They must both die so that we can continue on. KILL THEM!"

  Jaxon dropped her hands from Marc, and stood staring at him. Before she could even react Seth was there with one of Jaxon's long knives she left that she brought in her bag by the couch. Marc's head, which was lopped off in one quick stroke, rolled awkwardly across the floor as both Brigid and Jaxon stood frozen in place.

  ***

  A CHOICE

  "Where have you been?" Gregore sniped at Caislyn as she walked up to the RV. He had apparently been waiting on the front steps for a while. Sweat was beaded up on his forehead and he looked worn out.

  "I was out in the woods," Caislyn said, choosing to keep her answers simple so as not to anger Gregore.

  "With?" He prodded.

  "With what, Gregore? What exactly would you like to know?"

  "Not with what, Caislyn, with who?"

  "Do we really have to do this right now? I'm tired." Caislyn didn't even bother trying to get past Gregore into the RV. She could see he wasn't willing to budge yet, so she plopped down on the ground cross legged. Apparently, they were about to have a lengthy conversation. "Obviously, I was with Ash, training."

  "Training, huh?" Gregore snorted.

  "Yes, training. He showed me how to access Faerie, and..."

  "He what? Caislyn, do you not remember how they threatened you? What were you thinking going there?"

  "It's not like that. I'm not under threat right now?"

  "And why would they suddenly change their minds about something like that?" One look at Caislyn's reddening face and Gregore shook his head, "they think the baby might be his, so they can't touch you?"

  Caislyn nodded and watched as Gregore took a moment to compose himself again. "I can't help what's already happened, Greg." Caislyn plucked nervously at a few blades of grass that sprouted up around her.

  "No, you can't. That would be one thing, and I could probably just get over it. It's the fact that you aren't trying to keep it from happening again. I saw you guys out there today, before you disappeared into Faerie. You had quite the little picnick set up there for people who were supposed to be training."

  "Damn, Gregore! Ash had it all set up before I got there. He said he wanted to make sure I had plenty to eat while we trained so no one was getting mad about me not taking care of myself." Caislyn tossed the blades of grass she had been plucking from the ground. “I ate some food while I trained. If he hadn’t brought it, I wouldn’t have even thought twice about needing to feed myself or whoever’s baby this is inside of me. I swear, you are both making me resent this whole thing. I can’t help what happened. I can’t help the questions that are still hanging in the air about who’s baby it is. I wish to God I could take it all back and go back to a simpler time. I really do, because if you think this is all fun and games for me, you are sadly mistaken, Gregore!” Caislyn was crying now, quiet tears of frustration steadily streamed down her face.

  Gregore huffed in response and dropped his head into his hands. Caislyn just watched, waiting for him to say or do something more productive than sitting and pouting, once again.

  "Seriously, Greg, what the hell do you want me to do?"

  "I want you to choose Caislyn. I want you to be a grown up and make a decision. You can't have us both. I don't care if that Fairy-ass..."

  "Stop," Caislyn shouted.

  "No! I won't stop. I don't care if he doesn't mind sharing you, but I damn well do, and you have a choice to make, Cais!"

  "You aren't sharing me. Why can't you get it through your head, we are training, Gregore! Nothing more. Nothing has happened, since..."

  "Sin
ce our wedding day? That's reassuring, Cais. And it doesn't matter if nothing has happened, yet. He's just digging his claws in slowly. He's smart Caislyn, and he is wrapping you around his little finger every time he gets to crawl in bed with you for "training” or every time you he takes you into Faerie to dazzle you with the other world magic they have. Did it ever occur to you that he is prolonging all this training to have more time with you? You're a smart woman, Cais. I've seen you pick up stuff that took other witches months to learn, and you did it in weeks. Suddenly, it's taking forever for you to learn something new? I don’t buy it!"

  "It's not witchcraft, Greg. We're talking about Fey powers that I haven't been able to use and play around with my whole life. They've been bound. I am having to exercise them, just like muscles that haven't been used. I am getting better., but you're never around for me to talk to about that. What am I supposed to say? Even if he is prolonging things, I still need him till I get the hang of this."

  "Why?"

  "Jaxon."

  "Oh, forget Jaxon! It's always something or someone else with you, Cais. It's not your job to find and save everyone! You can't even save your own marriage right now."

  "If that's how you feel," Caislyn stood up from the ground and turned her back to Gregore.

  "Caislyn, you know what I meant."

  "I'm not sure I do, why don't you spell it out for me?"

  "It's him or me, now. You have to choose." She could feel him standing just inches behind her. She longed to lean back and let him pull her close. She wanted so bad to have him wrap his arms around her and make the rest of the world just disappear, but there were other things to consider. She was going to need Jaxon back in order to figure out how they could live without always being in hiding. There was so much they had to do. And now, her one hope of getting Jaxon and helping her was sitting on this precipice. "How can you tell me Jaxon isn't important? Without her, without figuring this prophecy out, we will always be on the run. Is that how you want to raise our child? Fleeing from one hiding spot to the next, hoping that we don't get caught?"

  "Cais," Gregore was pleading with her, but she knew he wasn't going to listen to reason himself.

  "I can't just send Ash away, Greg. What if it turns out this is his baby? What then? I will always be linked to him too." She could hear him sigh, and the shuffle of his feet, but she never thought for a moment she would hear him walking away, until she did.

  ***

  SNAPPED

  "Seth!" Brigid screamed out, "NO!"

  "What have you done?" Jaxon questioned.

  Seth turned and looked from one girl to the next. "He had to die."

  "No," Jaxon said, "he had to tell us why he thought Caislyn and I needed to die."

  "He was playing with you, Jax. I don't know what kind of mumbo-jumbo you thought you were doing to him there, but it probably wasn't actually working. He told you what he wanted you to hear. He's always been clever like that."

  "Seth, you don't know that," Jaxon countered.

  "And now, we'll never know," Brigid added. "I can't believe this, Seth. I've been plotting my revenge on Marc all this time for our family and you come in and take it right out from underneath of me."

  "Really?" Jaxon yelped. "Really, that's what you're worried about? Not why he wanted Caislyn and I dead, but your vengeance?"

  "Um, Marc's a lunatic, I agree with Seth on that point. He probably only told you what he thought would elicit the biggest response. Some of it may have been truth, but you have to know that there's a good possibility that none of it was."

  "Is that what happened to our family, Brigid?" Seth was suddenly still as he asked the question. Jaxon just stood glued to the spot, and Brigid began fidgeting.

  "Seth, I didn't know." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I swear, I had no clue what he was. And yes, I fell for his lies."

  "So, our entire family died, and we were both made monsters because of your little crush on that," he pointed to what was left of Marc on the ground.

  "Seth," Brigid began and then stopped. She sucked in another breath and tried again, "I'm sorry. I've spent every day since wishing I could take it back. I was with him, in the field beyond the stream. I didn't know. I didn't know that he had sent someone else to butcher out family. I had no way of knowing he just wanted me as one of his trophies, his toys." Brigid sat back down on the couch and hugged herself. Jaxon could see the far off look in her eyes, and with her gift of empathy she knew that Brigid was reliving everything.

  "I don't blame you Brigid. We knew nothing of this kind of monster then." He looked up at Jaxon then, "we really need to get you back to Caislyn. All this stress with you gone isn't good for her. She's been training like crazy. Gregore is flipping out about Ash, and about her working so hard to find you. She didn't sound too good the last time I talked to her."

  "I'm sorry, but I can't go back. I have to go find Caleb." Jaxon turned her back on both Seth and the mess that surrounded them, because the blood was just too much. It wasn’t like the blood of humans, it smelled tainted, but it still brought forth the lust that she still wasn’t able to control.

  "Wait, what? You can't do that, Jaxon. You heard what we said about Marc. That may be exactly what he wanted you to do. We need to get back to the camp and figure things out. I think the others, especially Caislyn, deserve to know what you found out. They deserve to have a say in whether or not we all believe Marc."

  "And what if we wait, and something bad happens anyway? I mean look at you. You just killed Marc before we could hear him out completely. Are you going to explain that to Caislyn?"

  "Jax, I lost my temper. I've wanted to kill him for years for what he did to Darren, your father! And then to find out what he did to my own family, my sister." Seth shook his head. "It was too much to hear him shouting that we needed to kill you and Caislyn too. I've been going through hell not knowing where you were. I can't even imagine a world without you in it."

  “Yeah, well look at me, Seth!” Jaxon turned back to him, eyes blazing with the black depths of her vampire side. “I can smell the taint on his blood, and still it drives my blood lust.” She looked down while trying to shake the hunger. “I can’t go back there like this. All I can do is try to make things better for them. If I can find this Caleb, I might be able to do that.”

  ***

  CONSEQUENCES

  "Caislyn, I think you need to take a break, you've been at it a while now." Vesta's worried look just ticked Caislyn off further. She still hadn't heard from anyone. It had been a couple days now. There had been no word on whether Seth had found Jaxon, and no word from Gregore since he left. It was driving Caislyn crazy trying not to think of all the possible reasons for not hearing from anyone. It was also like being thrown back in time. She was suddenly the pariah no one wanted to help. It was like her family disappearing all over again. Only this time it was her husband and her best friend, and they both took off of their own free will. She couldn’t blame either of them. Just meeting Caislyn had brought nothing but misery to her friend, Jaxon. And Gregore, he never deserved the kind of betrayal Caislyn heeped upon his feet day in and day out by not being able to make a proper decision. She had to stop herself from crying out in despair. Instead she refocused her efforts on the magic she was trying to perform.

  "I'll take a break soon," she told her mom as she continued to try to pull flower petals out of thin air.

  "Didn't Ash tell you that your training will be a lot easier out in nature than in this big metal box?"

  "Yes, he did. And I believe in challenges. If I can do it just as easily in this big metal box, then I can do it anywhere. So, I am going to keep practicing in here. It's like adding weight to a workout." Caislyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to center herself again. She still heard when Vesta left the RV. A couple minutes later the RV door opened again, Caislyn assumed it was her mother coming back in and continued her training. She was so close to being able to pull a flower, or at least a petal out
of Faerie. There it was. She reached out, into the beyond. It was the place that lay in between the worlds, the thin veil that separated the lands of the Fey from the mortal world. She reached her hand through the beyond and into Faerie, touching one of those gorgeous emerald flowers. Slowly, she plucked it and pulled it toward her. The flower pulled through the beyond, an inch more and she would have it there with her in the RV.

  Someone was now standing far to close to her, and she began to lose her concentration. "No. No, no, no." Caislyn cried out in frustration, as the flower was sucked back into the lands beyond her reach. She opened her eyes to find that at least one petal had detached itself and fluttered down into her lap.

  She picked that petal up and brought it to her nose, inhaling the exotic, spicy sent.

  "Caislyn, you are wearing yourself out with this," came Ash's worried voice behind her.

  "But look," she held up the petal as evidence, "I got a petal through that time, it would have been the whole damn flower, but you were distracting me back there."

  "Yeah, well, I wish you could see yourself right now, Cais. You don't look so good. Your mom came to find me. She said you won't listen to reason. She thinks your gonna hurt the baby if you keep this up."

  "It doesn't matter anyway. Everything's wrong. This life is wrong, can’t you feel it? I shouldn't have to be running for my life from every one and every thing. I shouldn't have to wonder why my best friend or my husband are gone, or when or if they will be back. I shouldn't have to wonder who the father of my baby is." Caislyn was shaking uncontrollably. The wall of emotions she had been holding back with her devout training regime finally broke and the only person there to witness it was Ash.

  "Shhh," he cooed into her hair as he pulled her back into him. She curled up into his lap, and let the sobs take her over. "Caislyn, I'm sorry. I know at least part of that is my fault, and I am so very sorry." Her only response was a whimper and to curl up tighter into him.