Incarnations (10 page)

Jaxon perked up visibly with this information. "And
where do we find them?"

"First things first, we can not kill Caleb. It's not
possible, even if we didn't need him."

"Caislyn! He ordered my mother's death!"

"I know, Jax. I know. I'm so sorry about your mom.
I'm sorry about my dad too, because if he hadn't been Caleb's
prisoner, he may still be alive too. All I know is that we need him
to complete this transference of power."

"What transference of power?"

Jaxon, I am going to go into your mind, because it
will be easier for you to accept what I’m about to say if you can
see it happening before your own eyes, the way I saw it in my
vision. I need you to be open to seeing what I’m going to show you
though. I’m not a hundred percent sure I can even do it.”

“
Alright, give it a try, I guess.”
Jaxon said, feeling a little unsure of having Caislyn trapsing
around in her brain.

Caislyn closed her eyes and concentrated on the
magic that allowed her to visit Faerie, to dreamwalk, and to
manifest things from another world. She focused long and hard until
she felt the pop and pull of the in-between giving way and allowing
her access. She was there, inside Jaxon’s mind, and she knew Jaxon
was aware of it as well. “Jaxon, listen, we're giving it all back.
The magic that keeps the vampires alive, the magic that makes the
witch’s magic work, the lycans' ability to shift, it's all going
back. We will all live out the rest of our natural lives as humans,
equals. That's the huge change the prophecy was talking about." She
flashed her vision before Jaxon’s eyes, allowing her to see and
feel what the other world would be like. Jaxon soaked it all in for
a little while and then waited for Caislyn to back out of her
dreamwalking state before she asked any more questions.

"What happens to us when we do? Do we die? Are we
human too?"

"According to my vision, we will live out our lives
as humans too, but Jaxon, even if it kills us..." Caislyn hesitated
only momentarily, "I want to do this, because I really can't loose
another person while I'm cowering in corners trying to save myself.
I've already lost my dad, you, and Greg's gone too."

"Oh, Caislyn, you have not lost me. I will stand
beside you and do this, because I can't keep running either. The
more I run, the more the monster wants to take over. I can't tell
you the number of times I just wanted to call you and beg you to
forgive me for the things I was doing. I didn't think you ever
could, so I stayed away. I wasn't running from you, Caislyn, I was
running from me."

"Well, now we have the chance to stop running
together."

Caislyn hugged Jaxon, “I would never hate you,
Jaxon, you have to know that. You are my family now. You were the
only one there, helping me try to get my parents back. I drug you
into the middle of all of this, and look where’s gotten us?”

“
Cais, I...”

“
No, Jax, this is exactly why we
need to do this. It doesn’t matter what each of us has done in the
past anymore. We can change the future for the better. We can be
rid of magic, of the prohpecy, and live normal lives. Let’s just do
it.”

“
Okay,” was all Jaxon had to say
after that.

The girls took a little while longer to form a plan
of attack on the Brotherhood. The only person they needed alive was
Caleb, and they would shed some Brotherhood blood on the way to get
to him. Of that, they were both certain. There was only one other
obstacle they had to get around. They would have to ditch their
current guardians who didn't want to leave them alone for long.

***

THE BROTHERHOOD

"We will be fine. I really wish you guys would stop
worrying so damn much. Look, Caislyn can't fit into her damn
clothes anymore. She needs new ones, and we need some time to catch
up and bond again." Jaxon was telling Seth.

"Well, at least take Brigid, so you have someone
there to back you up if anything happens."

"No offense to Brigid at all, but Caislyn and I would
like a little time alone to discuss things." Jaxon eyed Seth again,
"besides, I think the two of you could use some time to catch up on
everything. You haven't really been able to have a good sit down
chat about what's been going on with each of you since... you
know." Jaxon turned as Ash strolled into the room. "Besides, I
promise I will keep an eye on her, I don't want anything happening
to her or the baby either." Jaxon flinched internally as she felt
Ash's reaction to her comment. She wished she could tell Caislyn
exactly how he felt and make it an easier choice for her, but she
knew that nothing would ever be easy for her friend where Ash and
Gregore were involved.

"Just let them go," Ash commented offhandedly.
"They're going to do it anyway." He smirked as Caislyn walked into
the room. Jaxon could feel the love flowing through him at just one
glance towards Caislyn, who was trying for the third time to fasten
her pants, unsuccessfully. "Besides, Caislyn really does need
clothes that fit, look at that."

Everyone turned to look, and Caislyn's face
immediately took on a flame red glow. "Seriously, it's not funny. I
don't fit in anything!" She turned and marched from the room
pouting amidst snickers from everyone else.

“Aww, Caislyn, it’s okay. It’s not like you’re
getting fat or anything. You’re going to have a baby! You can lose
the weight later.” Brigid tried to interject. Jaxon just smiled,
knowing that Caislyn timed that little scene perfectly.

~*~

The girls were two streets down from the condo when
Jaxon grabbed Caislyn's arm and tossed up a little barrier that
would keep their conversation private. "You know they're following
us, right?"

"Yeah, I figured as much. Don't worry, I have a
plan!" Jaxon dropped her hold on Caislyn's arm and they continued
walking a ways till Caislyn pointed up ahead of them. Jaxon looked
in the direction she was pointing. They were about to duck into a
boutique, where Caislyn's plan would hopefully work so they could
get out from under the watchful eye of Seth, Ash, and Brigid. The
minute they were inside, Caislyn eyed two girls who were laughing
in the corner. She began muttering under her breath until the two
girl appeared to look just like herself and Jaxon. Meanwhile, she
and Jaxon dipped inside a changing room and grabbed hands,
preparing to teleport straight into the heart of the
Brotherhood.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Jaxon questioned
one last time.

"I have you here this time, and I'm pretty sure we
don't have a choice in the matter anymore." The two girls Caislyn
had spelled were leaving the building, still giggling about
something or other with a package in tow.

"Perfect, it looks like we bought something in here
too." Jaxon looked wistfully after the girls as they left, “I wish
that really were us, just out shopping together, laughing, and
carefree."

"It will be, Jax. That's why we're doing this, so we
can have that." As she said it, she made sure to get a firm grip on
Jaxon's hand. "Ready?"

Jaxon nodded and they began to fade away in the
familiar tingle that teleporting caused throughout their
bodies.

~*~

Caislyn had never attempted to teleport to a specific
person before, it was always to a place. So, it was surprising when
they ended up just outside a fortress that was surrounded on all
sides by forest. "Wow," Jaxon commented, "I wonder where the hell
this is?"

"I have no clue, but I was hoping we would end up
inside the building."

"On the bright side, we didn't end up inside the
building... like part of the brick and mortal detailing."

Caislyn hit Jaxon on the shoulder, "shut up, that's
not funny, it totally could have happened."

"I know, that's why I'm thankful!" The two girls took
a minute to laugh, but it was definitely more nervous laughter than
anything. It was just the two of them up against the entire
Brotherhood now.

"The good news is, they need us to get this thing
done, so I don't think they'll hurt us at all."

"Yeah, that kind of goes against my plans," Jaxon
said as she prepared to charge forward.

"Jax," Jaxon stopped and looked back at Caislyn, "I
didn't say we weren't gonna hurt them! They took our parents, we're
taking as many of these sons of bitches down as we can!"

Jaxon smiled and then her features contorted right in
front of Caislyn. Her once chocolatey brown eyes turned darker,
into full blackness. Her canine teeth elongated in her mouth,
protruding slightly from her open mouth. She looked nothing like
the sweet, petite young woman Caislyn remembered meeting at a rave
not so long ago. Now, she looked like one of the most menacing
monsters Caislyn had ever encountered. It was frightening until
Caislyn remembered Jaxon was on her side.

"Let's go, Cais," Jaxon growled out and then she was
running forward, with Caislyn close behind on her heels.

The front entrance was opened and only guarded, if
you could call it that, by two of the Brotherhood. They went down
quickly and quietly as Jaxon blazed through snapping necks with her
super human strength. Caislyn was equally impressed and distressed
by the speed at which Jaxon killed the men. They didn't have time
to stop and think about things though. They had no real clue what
they were up against here at the Brotherhood's headquarters. As
they ran down the main entrance, a few more members were lurking in
the hallway. Jaxon snapped the neck of the first one, just as she
had the two guards. This did not at all phase the other three
members who were now very aware that they were under attack. Jaxon
took the next one with little to no effort, while Caislyn
concentrated all her energy on the Fey magic she was trying to
channel. A bright green ball of magic developed in her hand and she
slung it at the Brother who was furthest away and appeared to be
about to go sound an alarm. She hit him in the back with the ball
and he stumbled, and was held in place by a mound of earth that
sprouted from the ball as it hit. He was buried up to his nose in
the hard packed dirt. Caislyn didn't have time to analyze what
she'd done, so she kept right on going, just as Jaxon had. By the
time she got to the earth covered man, Jaxon had already snapped
his neck, along with two others and turned the corner to be
encountered by five more of the Brotherhood.

These men did not attack as Jaxon stood there summing
them up. Neither did they flinch when Caislyn strolled around the
corner baring another large green energy ball. She didn't hesitate,
as everyone else did though. She threw the ball right into the
middle of the five of them. They were immediately immersed in a
ball of earth that grew until it encapsulated each and everyone of
them, effortlessly snuffing out their lives as they suffocated
while their lungs were crushed under the pressure.

This went on, corridor after corridor, Jaxon and
Caislyn took out more Brotherhood members than they cared to count.
Few fought back, and those who did were a lost cause anyway. The
girls finally found the center of the fortress they had been
cleansing. If the vast open room, covered floor to ceiling in
marble trimmed with gold, wasn't a clue, the booming voice coming
from the dais in the center certainly told them they found what
they were looking for. More specifically, they found who they came
for.

“And they have come to set the world to rights,
bringing forth the new order in a blazing swath of bloodshed.”
Caleb smiled, speaking from the Dias like a preacher in his pulpit.
He stood in the center of the room, raised up on a gorgeous marble
slab with an altar at its center. His smile didn't appear friendly
at all, and he continued on, voice booming through the room as the
accousitics carried it to every corner and back again, “just as it
was written.”

"Caleb!" Jaxon exclaimed as she moved closer to the
dais.

"Wait," Caislyn warned.

"Don't worry, we can't hurt him anyway,
remember?"

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean you won't try."

"Oh, you are absolutely right about that." Before
Caislyn could say another word to stop her, Jaxon was flying
forward so fast she appeared to be nothing more than a blur.
Caislyn watched as Caleb snapped back over the altar he had been
standing in front of with the brute force of the attack, but then
he righted himself and laughed.

"I wondered if you would try it. Not that I can blame
you for doing so, but you are doing nothing more than wasting
precious energy at this point." Caleb stood and looked down on the
two girls who were now standing side by side in front of the dais.
"You see, I have been made truly immortal in order to see this to
its end."

"So, we've been told. Marc was certainly willing to
blab about the whole affair to us when he thought his life was in
danger." Jaxon was boasting, and after hearing about what good
friends Marc and Caleb had once been she hoped it at least stung a
little to know that Marc would sell his friend out.

"Ah, my fallen brother. And how did you leave him? In
pieces, I presume?"

"I left him just as he was, though I can't say others
felt the need to be as compassionate."

"I doubt compassion had anything to do with it. I'd
say maybe someone else beat you to the punch. But that is neither
here nor there. Rest in peace, my long ago friend. I hope your soul
has finally been released from its prison."

"I don't think he saw it as a prison, especially
since he was trying to stop us from coming to see you." Jaxon's
monstrous features were fading away as she spoke.

"And do tell, why would you come see me when you've
been so cautiously warned away."

"Because we happen to agree with you this time,"
Caislyn interjected.