Birthrights (25 page)

Seth walked to the elevator and pushed the button.
The doors chimed and opened. Seth entered them and hit the button
to go up. "That shouldn't be a problem." he said as the doors
closed.

Seth threw open the side door of the club and headed
for his Escalade. Just as he was climbing in, he saw a familiar
figure moseying up to the front door of Succubus. “It's my lucky
death,” Seth said as he got back out of his Escalade., slamming the
door shut as he went to approach Frank. With a fierce determination
and blinding speed he flew up to the front of the building before
Frank could get inside.

"What the hell!" Frank yelled as he landed with a
thud on the gravel.

Seth stormed over to him, grabbed him by the collar
hauling him to his feet. "I should have taken care of you at the
gallery. Better yet, I should have let Jaxon take care of you!" He
tossed him back again.

"S-Seth. What are you doing here?" Frank
stuttered.

"Don't play coy Frank. I'm tired of you following me.
You're gonna tell me everything you know, and you're not going to
leave out even the smallest detail." Seth hauled Frank up and threw
him inside the Escalade. Then he climbed in and took off in a cloud
of dust and rock from the parking lot.

"Now talk Frank. Why did Marc send you after me?"

"No way, Marc will kill me. He told me to make sure
you didn't find out. But I swear Seth, I wasn't following you
today. This was just a coincidence."

"He was right in telling you to make sure I didn't
find out. But, Frank, Marc is not going to kill.” Seth paused and
waited for that information to sink in. He saw Frank visibly calm
before he continued, “I am, if you don't talk though." Seth snarled
through growing fangs.

"Uh uh, well, he wanted me to find out what you were
doing with those girls. He didn't think you was telling him
everything. He didn't trust you."

Seth gunned the gas at Frank's admission. "Continue,
Frank."

Frank swallowed and tried to regulate his breathing.
He was scared. Seth was barely controlling his temper and that did
not bode well for Frank. Seth was not a vampire to reckon with.

"Well, I um, when I left, um, the gallery, I went
back to Marc and I told him what happened. About how that vampire
girlfriend of yours threw me around."

Seth swore underneath his breath. He made a few more
turns in the Escalade. finally ending on a back road heading out of
town. The sun was barely showing in the morning sky which meant
he'd be able to handle the UV rays for a few more hours. He slowed
the vehicle and pulled into a deserted clearing.

“What else, Frank? What was Marc's reaction?”

Frank eyed Seth curiously, “well, he didn't get to
react that girlfriend of his, she crawled out of her hole and piped
up.” At the look from Seth, Frank continued on, “she laughed and
said, 'she is one of them.'”

"Get out of my car now, Frank."

Frank obeyed silently as Seth walked around to his
side of the SUV.

"Why did Marc not trust me Frank? Why is he
interested in the girls?" Seth questioned.

Frank looked around. He was uneasy with being so far
out of town and in the middle of nowhere. "C-cause of that witch.
She screwed up her job and so he had to send you in to keep an eye
out on that bookstore chick."

Seth looked at the nervous vampire, then started
pacing. "Marc is working with a witch? Do you have a name?"

Frank thought for a moment. "Yeah, yeah, its like
Melody or Melinda or something like that. She's been hanging around
for awhile now. She's a power hungry one, that witch. I don't like
her."

Seth stopped in his tracks, his face showing his
surprise. "You mean Melina?"

Frank nodded, "That's it. She's the one that told
Marc that he should keep an eye on you. She said she saw it in her
visions or tea leaves or some mumbo-jumbo."

Seth started pacing again. His mind was quickly
putting the pieces together. Melina worked for Marc. Melina was
after the Seer. Marc was watching Caislyn and wanting leads to her
parents disappearance. Marc knew of his involvement with the
prophecy, and now thanks to Frank, Marc knew Jaxon wasn't just a
witch. He had to protect the girls, he had to protect Jaxon.

"Damn" he said aloud. He walked over to Frank and put
his arm around the vampire, walking him towards the SUV again.
"Thank you Frank. You provided me with answers I needed."

"Uh, Your welcome. You can't tell Marc that I talked
with you Seth. He'll kill me."

"No, he won't Frank," Seth said as he took a step
behind the vampire. He thrust his hand through Frank's body and
pushed out his heart. "I will." Seth pulled his arm out of Frank's
body and let it fall limply to the ground. He threw the heart on
top of it. The only real way to kill a vampire was to make sure the
wound was mortal and unable to heal. A broken neck could heal. A
stake in the heart could heal, but disconnect the head or take out
the heart, and their bodies weren't able to fix that kind of
damage.

Seth got a towel out of the back of his truck to wipe
off as much of the blood as he could. He'd have to throw out his
shirt when he got back to his hotel room. He started the Escalade.
and drove back out on the road. His next step would be to call
Councilman Samuel Dirk and get a meeting with him. He would have to
try to persuade the councilman that Marc was dangerous to the
Vampire Community. Fortunately for him, he had the backing of the
High Council but there were only a few that he trusted, and those
few were quite doubtful of Marc and his ability as leader of the
Vampires. Seth was going to have to play upon those doubts but he
had to do so quickly, before Marc was able to bring proof that the
girls were part of the prophecy. If that happened, the council
wouldn't rest until it destroyed any threat of the prophecy coming
true.

Samuel had been a friend to Darren, and suspicious of
his death. Maybe Seth could use that as a way to help force the
councilman's doubts about Marc. He grabbed his cell phone and
dialed the Councilman's office number. It was close to eight in the
morning now, so someone should be there.

"Mr. Dirks office. May I help you?" answered the
sweet voice on the other line.

"Yes, I need to speak to Mr. Dirk. Tell him its
Seth."

"One moment please" the secretary said as she patched
the call through.

"Seth, where the hell have you been? I've been trying
to reach you for hours!" the booming voice of Samuel Dirk came
across the line.

Seth blinked for a moment and glanced at his phone. 4
missed calls. "Sir, I'm sorry. I've been a bit, um, indisposed. Why
were you calling?"

"We have an emergency High Council meeting tonight,
boy, and you are the guest of honor."

***

Casting Out the Truth

The girls were up bright and early the next morning.
Neither had slept well thanks to the over-load with the previous
days events.

Caislyn, clad in her pajama pants, over sized t-shirt
and Gnome slippers met Jaxon in the kitchen as she was fixing
toast. "Did you have any more dreams with your dad?" Jaxon asked
her.

Caislyn gave a small smile to her roommate, "No. I
had really hoped I would but I don't think I ever relaxed enough to
go deep enough to dream-walk."

"I didn't sleep well either. I kept dreaming about
fights and Seth. Its bad enough he keeps showing up in my real
life, now he keeps ruining my dreams too," Jaxon complained.

"Okay, so what is going on between you and Seth? And
do you think it's wise?" Caislyn asked Jaxon after she
finished buttering her toast.

"Nothing," Jaxon said as she looked away, trying to
hide the smile that was betraying her true feelings. "He just shows
up."

"Mmhmm," Caislyn gave a hard look to her friend then
softened a bit. "Look, I'm just worried. He's freaking sexy,
there's no denying that, I am just worried about his agenda. I mean
every time we get an answer from him I feel like we only get half
the answer and two more questions."

Jaxon cracked, "I know, that's the frustrating part.
Every time I look at him, my first reaction is to want to tear his
clothes off, but then I have to wonder what the hell he's doing
there to begin with because he just shows up. Now he's showing
up in my dreams too. Its so aggravating!" Jaxon sat back not even
pretending to sip her drink and instead taking big gulps of it to
try to ease her frustration.

"Whoa there girl! First, I don't want to know what
you and Seth are doing in your dreams and second, it looks like you
have a drinking problem!" Caislyn laughed as Jax threw a dish towel
at her. "I don't know what's going on with him, or if we will ever
know. What I do know is that he feels like ripping your clothes off
too."

"Umm," Jaxon looked up over her cup at her smiling
friend, "Thanks, as if the confusing circumstances weren't bad
enough."

"What? It would be better if he were repulsed by
you?" Caislyn teased.

Jaxon emitted an exasperated sigh and continued to
drain her glass. "I just wish there was a way to get him to tell
the truth." She hadn't really meant to say it out loud, but Caislyn
heard her and ran with the thought.

"What if there was?"

"Huh?"

"...A way to get him to tell the truth." 

Jaxon looked startled for a minute, "Did I say that
out loud?"

"No, dummy, I can read your every thought." Caislyn
said as she tried to stifle a laugh.

"Ha ha, very funny, pick on the newbie vampire witch
who doesn't know anything. Damn, a girl can't even mumble to
herself without being picked on."

Caislyn continued laughing at her friend, a rare
moment of laughter that was much needed after all the stress she
had been under lately. "Seriously, though, there is a way to get
him to tell the truth. The only catch is, he's a vampire, so you
have to be real specific with your questions or he will be able to
skirt around the truth."

"Really," Jaxon asked, eyes sparkling with mischief.
"I think we should do it. We need to know everything we can, and if
he's holding out on us, we deserve to know what it is. After all,
we are the ones getting attacked every time we step outside, not
him."

Caislyn stood up and pulled her friend up with her.
"I agree. We will make a potion and slip it into his tea. A few
minutes after he drinks it, he will tell the truth to any question
we ask." Caislyn led Jaxon down the stairs and to the back room.
She opened the French doors and the girls stepped into the lush
green grass of the amazing indoor garden room.

"This room never fails to amaze me." Jaxon said as
she felt the blades of grass brushing across her still bare feet.
"So how do we get him here to drink the tea?" Jaxon asked looking
around the room. 

"We call him to us." Caislyn said as she started to
light the gas lamps, but Jaxon stopped her. "Here let me
try." 

Jaxon concentrated on the lamps, seeing the wick in
her mind's eye, and focusing her emotions on the wick. A few
seconds later, all the lamps in the room flickered and burned
brightly.

Caislyn smiled, "Cool! I might need to turn them down
a bit, they're burning on high."

Jaxon smiled widely, "It is pretty cool isn't
it?" 

Caislyn laughed at her friend, "Yes, some witches,
like yourself, can tap into a specific elemental energy with great
proficiency. Yours is apparently fire."

"So what is yours?" 

Caislyn headed towards the rows of drying herbs after
turning down all the wicks in the lamps. "My Mom and Dad taught me
how to handle all the elements," she paused for a moment as a
thought came to her. "You know, that's probably because I'm part
Fey. They have that ability too as long as they are in nature and
not inside a building. Metal weakens them. That's probably why I
was always made to practice outside or in this room."

"Sweet!" Jaxon exclaimed. "What else can you do, Miss
Super Fairy Witch?" 

Caislyn rolled her eyes at Jaxon's teasing comment.
"I can also talk to animals, well, not talk to them but they listen
to me, sometimes. It’s not something I really practiced on much. I
didn't see a need for it when I was younger. I used to be able to
call butterflies to dance with me when I was little. I think I
liked the butterflies so much that I never really thought to try
other creatures." She sighed remembering her mother and how much
she had tried to get Caislyn to pay attention to her powers and
practice her control. "Mom always told me it was important to know
exactly how to use all of my gifts in case I needed them one
day."

Jaxon walked over to her friend and gave her a
sideways hug. "We will find her. I promise. We're bad ass witches,
err vampire, umm Fey, witch type people. Any way, regardless of
what we are, it’s who we are that matters. And we are good people,
Caislyn, with lots of awesome powers." Jaxon wiggled her eyebrows
up and down for emphasis making Caislyn giggle and relieving some
of her sorrow. "We will find your parents. And we will do that by
making a truth potion for our dear, sexy, vampire stalker friend!"
Jaxon said with a sly grin.

Over the next hour, Caislyn showed Jaxon what herbs
were needed for their truth potion and how to grind them just right
to make the mixture smooth. They were just getting ready to apply
the finishing touches when they heard the buzzer go off indicating
that someone was at the door.

"Damn, we aren't ready yet," Caislyn said. "He always
shows up at the wrong time."

"Stalker boy is notorious for it," Jaxon agreed. "You
try to finish the potion and start brewing the tea and I will go
stall."

"Sounds good, stall for a while though. It's going to
take me a few more minutes to finish this and a few more still to
brew the tea."

Jaxon left the room closing the French doors behind
her as she went to the front of the store to answer the door. When
she got closer she realized it wasn't Seth standing there, but some
businessman with a briefcase. "Great," she said to herself, "Some
nerd needs a book desperately, despite the fact that we have a
closed sign on the door." She thought a moment about Caislyn
rushing to finish the potion and decided to warn her. "Caislyn,
it's not Seth."