The Beta - 4. Chapter 3-Lessons Learned

The Beta

Chapter 3-Lessons Learned

When Chris arrived at the loft with Jacob, he tensed up the moment he walked through the front door. Trystan was there, walking towards one of the rooms. The only thing that kept him from ripping her throat out immediately was the little boy he was holding. She tried to run up to the pair to get Jacob; however, Xena stopped her before she could take her first step. Chris had no intentions of allowing the traitor to take the boy from him, a small part of him was afraid of what might happen if he wasn’t holding Jacob, the larger part wanted to punish the bitch for what she had allowed to happen to Xak. With the sleeping boy held tightly against his chest, he walked past the trio, once his back was to them, he said tersely, “Pawpaw will be here in about an hour and a half. Gary, please find somewhere else for her to be before I come out of the room.” Xena and Gary noticed that he held onto the child in his arms as if he was the only thing in the world that was keeping him from losing control. He continued walking and went into one of the bedrooms to put the boy to bed. When Chris returned to the living room, he could hear Trystan from behind a closed door crying, begging Xena and Gary to talk him into giving her some time with Jacob. He listened to them while looking at Dallas’ downtown skyline, thinking that Xak was somewhere out there, probably scarred, and hopefully, not hurt. He knew that Xak would be upset with him if he ever found out that he was keeping Jacob from spending the last moments he would possibly ever have with his mother from him. Even if Xak was safely returned unharmed, the fact that she had lied to them instead of asking for help, and then taken actions that put pack member in harm’s way, sealed her fate. Everybody knew what the punishment for such a traitorous act would be, but since Richard was Alpha, they needed to wait for his arrival before deciding on any further actions. Reluctantly, he decided to allow Trystan to spend her last moments with her son, under Xena’s supervision. He called them back into the room and simply said, “I’m doing this for him, not you. You have until my grandfather gets here. Make the most of the time you get.” She tried to thank Chris for allowing this, but as she took a step towards the young man, Gary held her back and shook his head as a warning. Xena escorted her into the bedroom and closed the door. Gary, unsure of what to do or say, simply sat next to his cousin and put his arm around him.

Chris was holding the note that was left in the parking lot, reading it for the hundredth time. As he read the words, he suddenly remembered what Jacob said to him in the park just before falling asleep. The words, “I’m okay, Mr. Toby took care of me while I was at that house. He wanted me to tell you that Xak would be fine, and to make sure that Pawpaw calls Nicolas tomorrow night,” played over and over in his head. Something didn’t make sense. Trystan had told them that Gary or himself was the one that Nicolas wanted. But, Jacob had mentioned that Toby wanted him to know that Xak was going to fine. Why did Justin think he had Gary or Chris, while Toby knew that Xak was the one that had been taken. Surely there hadn’t been enough time for them discover the truth about who Xak was between Justin leaving the club and Toby telling Jacob the message. All of this thinking was giving him a migraine, he didn’t know how his mate could do this all the time. Chris had never had to worry about thinking too much about the problems in his life, he had Xak to do that for the both of them. If a problem ever came up, he would simply tell Xak all the details he knew; then, in a matter of time, depending on how complex of a problem it was, Xak would present the possible solutions and Chris would make a decision based on Xak’s recommendations. That’s what made them such a great team, and why the pack supported them when they had come out the previous week.

While Chris was dealing with the oncoming migraine in the living room, Trystan and Xena were in the bedroom, where Trystan simply stood, looking at the boy asleep on the bed for about five minutes without saying a word. Finally, she gently woke him, tears streaming down her face. He asked her why she was crying and what was wrong. She said to him, “Jacob, I want you to know that I always have and always will love you more than anything on this earth, but Mommy’s going to have to go away and you’re not going to see me again. I did something really bad, and Xak may be hurt because of it.” Before she continued, she looked at Xena and said, “Hopefully if Xak is okay and makes it back, he and Chris will take care of you.” Xena knew what she was doing. Since Xena was a social worker in Cherokee County and there would soon be a new orphan there, Trystan was asking her to make sure Jacob would be placed with the couple. Xena silently nodded her head. Once she said that, she looked at Jacob and started inspecting him for bruises, cuts, or any other signs that he had been hurt. Not seeing any physical signs, she asked, “Did anybody hurt you at all while you were away from me?”

Jacob looked a little confused and shook his head and said, “No ma’am, Toby and I played games and he would read to me at night before he tucked me into bed. He stayed with me the whole time I was with him except during the daytime. That was when his friend Thayne stayed with me. I thought Thayne was Xak when I first saw him, but then after Toby introduced us, I could tell he wasn’t Xak, he just looked a lot like him. Nicolas was the only scary thing there, but Toby wouldn’t let him or Justin near me.” Trystan threw Xena a curious look and Xena responded with shrug looking confused. He then asked, “Are you going to go be with Daddy? Tell him I said hi and I promise to be good. I’ll see y’all again, I know it, Thayne told me I would.”

Trystan could hardly contain her emotions, but she wanted to be strong for Jacob. The little boy with shaggy black hair and emerald green eyes crawled over to her and said, “It’s okay Mommy, you’re not really being punished. Thayne told me that you were needed over there to help when everything happens Tuesday morning. It has to happen Tuesday morning, so you have to go over there tonight. Daddy knows your coming and Xak will need your help. I’m sad, but I know you’ll be watching me from there and Thayne told me that if I think about the people that are there and tell them I love them and miss them that they’ll hear me, even if I don’t see them.”

Trystan gathered him into a hug and Xena asked, “Jacob, who is Thayne?”

He responded, “Thayne told me not to tell you much about him yet. You’ll meet him Tuesday morning. He’ll explain who he is. I’m sorry, I promised him I wouldn’t tell.”

Though she was less than happy with that answer, she nodded and said, “It’s important to keep promises. But you would tell me if he had hurt you right?”

The boy looked at her and nodded. He hugged his mother tight, and said, “I love you Mommy. You can lay down with me till Pawpaw gets here.” He then curled up into a ball and closed his eyes. Xena thought to herself that it was amazing how quickly cats can go to sleep.

Trystan waited till she knew, for sure, that Jacob was asleep. She then told Xena about Justin killing her parents, taking Jacob, giving her the phone, and then Nicolas giving her orders. Xena said, “You should have told Richard or Xak, or any of us what was going on. We could have worked with you and helped you. Because you put the pack in danger, Richard’s not going to have a choice but to…” She left the rest of the words unspoken. Trystan nodded and looked as if she had accepted her fate.

About half an hour later, Richard finally arrived at the loft. He was calm and collected when he walked into the room and crossed to Chris immediately to hug his grandson. He could easily sense that he was barely holding his anger and rage in check. After holding the younger guy for a minute, he held him at arm’s length and looked him in the eyes, trying to let him know everything was going to be alright. He then turned to Gary and said, “Go and get the girls, we need to talk.”

Gary returned with Xena and Trystan and the five of them sat around the dining room table. Richard said, “First things first, what the fuck happened last night? Where has Jacob been and why is he in the other room? Was Xak the target or was it supposed to be any of y’all? It’s late, I’m sure you’re all tired, we’ll get some rest soon just walk me through the night.”

Trystan began by saying, “I’m sorry for putting the pack at risk, I fully accept my fate. I know what you have to do. Please make it as quick and painless as possible.”

Chris snarled, “You don’t fucking deserve quick and painless. We have no clue what they are doing to Xak right now. I can’t even reach him through our link.” He then turned to Richard and said, “I didn’t even know there was a way to block it.”

“Gary, please tell me exactly what happened last night, and who was responsible.” Gary then told Richard the events of the previous evening, how Trystan had admitted that she brought them to the club knowing it was a trap, but that Chris or himself were supposedly the targets, not Xak. Chris then showed him the note and relayed the message Jacob had given him. Xena then filled them in on what happened to Jacob and Trystan’s parents, and then what he had said in the bedroom. Richard absorbed everything and when all the information had been shared, he looked at Trystan and said, “I wish you had come to me with this. I would’ve done everything I possibly could to help you. I don’t know who or what this Thayne person is, but according to Jacob, you are supposed to be with Dean by Tuesday morning, and somehow you and Dean will help Xak. I’m sorry, but since you knowingly and willingly placed members of the pack in harm’s way and allowed the kidnapping of a pack member to occur, I, as Alpha, must pass judgement on you. You swore your life to the pack and you forfeited your life when you betrayed the pack.” Once that was said, he turned to Chris and said, “Will you make it quick and painless if you issue this punishment?”

Chris was flabbergasted. Usually, the Alpha or Enforcer carries out a death punishment. He asked, “Pawpaw, why are you offering me the chance to carry this out?”

“It’s your mate that was taken, and you are the future Alpha. Will you make it quick and painless?”

With a heavy sigh, he responded, “Yes, I don’t wish for anyone to suffer more than is absolutely necessary.” He turned to Trystan and said, “I don’t know about all this spiritual shit, but once you’re ‘with Dean’ and ‘on the other side,’ you better fucking help Xak anyway you can to get back to me or I will find a way to torture your spirit from now until eternity.” He then walked behind her, placed one hand behind her neck and the other reached around to grab her face on the opposite side and then, as fast as he could, twisted her head, and snapped her neck. Trystan’s body fell to the floor and he walked away towards the room Jacob was sleeping in. He quietly opened the door, walked into the room, and shut the door again without saying a word. He laid down on the bed, and Jacob snuggled back into him. Chris held the little boy while he cried until he finally fell asleep.

In the living room, Gary silently wept. He cried for Xak. He cried for Chris. He cried for Jacob. He cried for Trystan. But mostly, he cried because of his own loneliness. He wanted, no needed, nothing more in life than to have somebody to care about and love as much as Chris loved Xak. He wanted to know that that love was returned just as intensely. He watched as Xena wrapped Trystan’s lifeless body in a sheet and carried her to the SUV in the garage. He looked at his grandfather and asked, “How are we going to get Xak back? What does Nicolas really want? How did Toby know that Xak was taken? What’s going to happen?”

Richard looked at the young man, took a deep breath and sighed. Shaking his head, he simply said, “I don’t know. I’m only sure of one thing, and that is that this shit ends tomorrow.” As the sun rose over the horizon, Xena returned from the garage. Richard then said to them, “Let’s get some rest. There’s nothing more we can do till midnight tonight. After you get some sleep Xena, I want you to take Trystan to the pack lands and have Ben prepare a pyre for her, then you come straight back here. I need you here before midnight. I know she wasn’t a shifter, but she was pack and she deserves a proper pack funeral. I honestly think that no matter what she might have done, every path led to her dying this morning.”

Xena silently agreed. When Jacob was talking about Thayne earlier, Xena read his emotions and saw that the boy believed wholeheartedly everything he was saying. She wasn’t sure if that was a false hope that Thayne had placed inside the boy, but it had helped him accept his mother’s death and that’s all that mattered. She guided a still weeping Gary to his room, helped him to bed, then went to her own room where she finally broke down and cried,

About 10 miles away in the area of Dallas known as Highland Park, Xak was finally regaining control of himself and coming around to full consciousness. Surprisingly, he wasn’t restrained or even in a locked room. Instead, he found himself in a library. Books lined shelves that spanned from floor to ceiling and covered every wall. He knew that he wasn’t alone in the room, he could smell two others nearby. He turned towards where the other two occupants should be. He saw a guy that appeared to be about the same age as himself, with light brown hair. The young man said, “My name is Toby. I don’t have long to talk right now; I need to get to my room before the sun is fully up so that I can sleep. I’m sorry we had to take you, but we need your help. Don’t try to leave the estate while we’re asleep, the doors are too thick for you break and all of the windows are bulletproof so you won’t be able to break them either. My friend Thayne will explain further. I hate to leave, but I must run.”

From out of nowhere, another man appeared right in front of him. Xak almost thought he was looking into a mirror for half a second. There were some minor differences in their appearances. The other man seemed to be older than Xak, there were subtle lines on his face that spoke to that. He was also slightly taller than Xak and his hair was more purple than auburn. He said with a smile, “Come now nephew, we have quite a lot to cover and only a few hours to do it in. You don’t have to call me Uncle Thayne, Thayne is fine. Though, technically, it is Prince Thayne. But you only need to use that around your grandmother.”

Xak blinked and said, “Excuse me? Nephew? I’m supposed to believe that you’re my uncle? I don’t have any uncles, sorry. And I’ve never met any of my grandparents, I was told they were all dead before I was born.”

Laughing lightly, Thayne responded, “Your mother, Sarah, was my half-sister. We have the same mother, your grandmother. Her father though was a wolf-shifter; my father was a king. We didn’t really know each other; I mean I was already 400 years old by the time she was born. But enough of the dilly-dally we need to get to work now. I’m about to overload you with information and I need you to not do that thing you do with thinking so damn much. Just believe me when I say, our time is short, the consequences if you fail are astronomical, and you won’t be able to call for Chris through your mental link so stop wasting your energy on that. I’ve got that blocked.”

“Slow down and back up. My mother was your half-sister and you were 400 when she was born. You’re some sort of prince. And I can’t use my mental link with my mate because you’re blocking it?”

“Gods, are you going to repeat everything I tell you? We’ll be here all fucking day and accomplish nothing if you do that. Once again, yes your mommy and I were bubba and sissy, like you and Ellie, I mean Xena, and you are. I was 400 years old when your mommy was born. No, you can’t use your link to talk with Chrisy-wissy because Uncle Thayne won’t allow it.” Dropping the condescending tone, he continued, “And no, I’m not just some sort of prince. I am Prince Thayne the Morgan of the Winter Court of the Sidhe. Heir to the throne of Queen Mab, the Queen of Winter, Shadows, and Darkness. But don’t worry, she’s not THE Queen Mab from the old fairy tales, it’s just a title. Her real name is Helena, but don’t ever call her that unless you want to be a frozen wolf-sicle for the next 150 years.”

Xak’s head was spinning. He felt as if he were on a merry-go-round that was moving at the speed of light. He sat down hard and simply said, “Prince Thayne the Morgan of the what court of the who. Heir to the throne of Mad Queen, the Queen of Winter, Shadows and Darkness?”

Thayne said “Close enough. The Mad Queen part especially. Alright, I guess it’s time for a history lesson. Shifters and vampires are all that’s out there. There are also witches, which I really don’t want to talk about. Like, ever. And then there’s the Sidhe. The Sidhe, also known as the Fae, the fairy folk, the first people, and too many other names to list, are supernatural beings that live on the other side of the veil. Dammit, okay imagine your world is here and existing, however, right next to it is a similar world that is separated by a thin veil of mist. Humans can cross the veil only while they are asleep or after they die. Vampires cross the veil when they hide in the shadows, though most of them have no clue what they’re really doing and don’t realize it. Witches can cross the veil, but only on holy days like Beltane, Samhain, Yule, the solstices, and the equinoxes. Shifters used to be able to walk to Old Ways to cross the veil until the Dark King, your great-grandfather, closed off all the Old Ways, and Mab (cough)Helena(cough) has never gotten around to reopening them. However, the Sidhe can cross the veil at will anytime they please. Well almost anytime. I mean, physically, we can only cross at dusk and dawn. But we can astral project our consciousness there when we fall asleep here physically. That’s what’s been happening to you for the past few years. Maybe if you had explored a little instead of trying to analyze why you kept coming back to the same place every night, you would’ve discovered all the neat shit you can do while you’re there.

“The Sidhe are split up into two courts. Winter and Summer. Dark and Light. NOT good and evil. Believe me there are right nasty evil fuckers in the Summer Court. The Sidhe have the ability to manipulate the world around them and affect how people perceive the things that are around them. This includes the ability to know what others are feeling, sometimes even what they are thinking. Xena’s empath ability for instance. You, however, are special. Although you’re only one-quarter Sidhe, you are the only being I know of that can astral project that isn’t a full blood. Your astral projection is every bit as strong and fast and has the exact same capabilities as your physical being. Also, Sidhe can bring others with them when they project. I have a theory that you can too, though we’ll have to hope it’s true and trust my gut tomorrow, because there’s nobody here to practice with.

“The reason you’re here now, is that Nicolas and Toby need your help. Nicolas isn’t evil. He is possessed. The vampire that turned him, named Nicholas ironically, was evil, and Richard killed him after he bit Nicolas. He was Richard’s true mate but Richard had imprinted on Nicolas and loved him. When Richard chose Nicolas, the vampire attacked. Nicolas was bit, Richard killed the vampire. Decapitated him. So, as Nicolas lay there dying, he ingested the vampire’s blood, thus turning him into a vampire. However, Nicolas was so close to death that his spirit had started crossing the veil. When he came back, the vampire’s spirit tagged along. He’s been holding Nicolas’ spirit captive ever since. Over the years, Nicolas has gained some control and has been able to take control every once in a while. During those times, he and Toby devised a plan. They only needed someone who could cross the veil. I cannot help them because it would be a Sidhe royal taking a side in a shifter-vampire conflict. There are rules and laws that govern all of us supernatural beings that cannot be broken. Ever. No matter how much Will put into trying to break one of those laws, you cannot do it. A Sidhe royal interfering in a shifter-vampire conflict is a prime example, though it doesn’t say that exactly what it does say is that if two or more are in conflict, none of the others may interfere unless they chose a side and bring the full support and strength of their kind to that side. Neither my mother nor the Summer Queen, Tatiana, will allow the Sidhe to become involved in this matter. Through Nicolas, Nicholas has gained too much power in the physical world and is planning on getting more vampires to completely eliminate all shifters. This would go against one of those laws, but since Nicholas is a spirit, he is no longer bound by the Lilith Council Treaties. Don’t ask about Lilith, it can wait till this shit is handled, though we do need to talk about her.

“So, Toby learned about the Sidhe and witches from a book he found on Richard’s old pack lands in Beaumont. He first sought help from the witches. They refused to help, since Nicholas ran the Coven that was in Dallas off and out to suburbs of the Frisco area, where they didn’t have the needed energy resources available to do anything significant until recently. Vampires feed off human blood to live, shifters feed off nature’s energies to live, witches feed of human energies to live, and Sidhe feed off human dreams. Are you keeping up with me?”

“Ummm, yeah, so Mab wouldn’t get involved directly with the shifter-vampire conflict, but she just so happened to have a wolf-shifter daughter that conveniently finds her way to Richard’s pack. She being half-Sidhe has two kids who are a quarter Sidhe. One of those kids happens to have the needed ability to stop this conflict once and for all? Why do I fell like a lab experiment?”

“Picked up on that part didn’t you? Yeah Mab couldn’t get involved without Tatiana’s consent, which she would never get. Mab has clairvoyance and saw where Nicholas was taking this. She couldn’t allow one whole branch of Lilith’s children to die off. We all need each other, to balance the others, we are all brothers and sisters, we are the Children of Lilith.”

“Lilith? Like from Jewish mythology Lilith? The first wife of Adam? The mother of magic? The destroyer of the earth?”

“Yup,” he said while crossing the room. Thayne went to one of the shelves and removed a book and started reading out loud, “After she was cast out of Eden for not submitting Adam’s will, Lilith went to the Land of Nod. Everything outside of the Garden was still forming, taking shape, full of the magic of Creation. She learned to control the Creation magic and created two daughters for herself. One she made at night; that daughter had black hair and fair skin. She was very beautiful, but extremely cold. Lilith named her Mab. The second daughter she made in the daylight. This daughter had blonde hair and tanned skin, again very beautiful, but quick to anger. Lilith named her Tatiana. She had to hide them from the One that made her, so she created a world next to the physical world and separated them by a veil of unseen mist. They became the first Queens of Winter and Summer, but they were alone. Lilith had shown her daughters how to manipulate the world around them, so they each crated for themselves a mate. The children the Queens had with their mates became the Sidhe. There were spirits present in the physical world, but they were not able to interact with it. Lilith showed these spirits the way to cross the veil. Once the spirits were on the other side, they found a world they could exist in and interact with. Thus, the Sidhe became the keepers and guides for the spirit world.

“Time wasn’t properly set yet, so a day could last a millennium, or mere seconds. Everything was in a constant state of flux. From the Land of Nod, creatures began to take shape and form. The first to emerge was a wolf, followed by a panther, then a coyote, and so on. These creatures then met Lilith and she convinced each to change his shape to that of a man. Since they were still forming, this was easy. First, the wolf-now-man lay with Lilith and she bore him a son. When the boy reached a point in growth, under a full moon, she told her son that he was the child of the wolf. He then became a wolf. She did the same with each of the man-creatures she encountered. And so the shifters were born.

“Next, people started emerging from the Land of Nod. These people were already formed, so they could not change their shapes. The men she met first, she lay with and bore them children. To these children, she taught simple physical magic. Defensive spells. Attack spells. More and more they became the users of magic. Thus, the witches were born.

“Her husband and his new wife were cast out of Eden. This happened after she took the form of a serpent and went into the Garden and convinced the woman to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. She did this out of jealousy since she was no longer allowed to live in the Garden. She figured they shouldn’t be allowed to live there either. The pair had two sons. Cain, whom she fell in love with, and his suck-up little brother Abel. Having changed her looks with the magic she had learned, she married Cain. The One that made her and Adam then demanded a sacrifice. She convinced Cain that he couldn’t sacrifice one of her sacred animals, he should make an offering of his grains and fruit. Abel, however, sacrificed an animal and the One was pleased by that. The One found Cain’s sacrifice unfulfilling and demanded more. Lilith convinced Cain that the best sacrifice he could make would be his brother Abel. What better way to show the One the love you have than to sacrifice the brother you love? Once Cain killed Abel, and the One was not pleased, Cain was marked. The mark of Cain was the need to consume blood from another person to live. Since Cain spilt Abel’s blood, his children would be cursed with blood lust. And so the children Lilith bore Cain were the first vampires. Lilith was so distraught that her children would cursed so, that she decided to destroy everything that had been created. When her children saw what their mother was doing, they joined together to stop her. Between the manipulation of her reality by the Queens of Winter and Summer, the commands of the leaders of the shifters infused with their Will, the spells of binding the witches placed upon her and the wonder she felt from being the thrall of Cain’s children, she went to sleep. When she starts to wake, she once again starts destroying creation. The Lilith Council was formed to make sure that Lilith stays asleep, that none of her children ever do anything against their brothers and sisters, and that one of children doesn’t become too powerful and forget their purpose.”

Thayne closed the cover of the book and Xak saw the title. The Children of Lilith: The Lilith Council. Xak asked where the current Lilith Council was and why they weren’t regulating the situation with Nicolas/Nicholas. Thayne responded, “In all my years, I have not seen a Lilith Council form. In all of Mab’s 954 years, she has not seen a Lilith Council form. The last Lilith Council was disbanded by the Dark King 1,016 years ago. Lilith is waking again. Nicholas is the first sign I think. The Council is normally made up of The Winter and Summer Princes or Princesses, their mates, a pack Alpha and their mate, a Clan leader and their mate, and a Coven High Priest or Priestess and their mate. Ten members normally. However, this Council will be a bit different. My mate is the Summer Prince; our mothers do NOT know. If everything goes smoothly tomorrow Richard is an Alpha, Nicolas is a Clan leader. We would have to find a Coven and convince the High Priest or Priestess to join us. So that would mean this Council would have only six members. If things go south tomorrow, Chris would be Alpha and you and he would be asked to join. Toby, if everything goes according to the contingency plan, will be Clan leader. He has not yet found his mate.”

“Actually, Richard is stepping down as Alpha, so you’re going to get Chris and me no matter what.”

“Oh. Okay that’s fine. That’s more members. Good. Now, let’s get to work. You need to practice projecting and fighting and shifting while projecting.”

With that, the day got under way. At dusk, Thayne said it was time to quit since it was unsure if Nicolas or Nicholas would show up. Over the years, Nicolas had learned how to hide things from Nicholas, so he knew nothing of Toby and Nicolas’ plan. By the time Toby returned to the library, Xak had learned to control his projection. He could shift, fight, and even do minor manipulations to reality. Thayne had to leave to return to court since it was night. He promised he would return at dawn. At midnight the phone in front of Toby rang. He answered it saying, “Hello, Richard. Nicolas cannot talk at the moment. Xak is here and he is fine. Would you care to talk to him? Certainly.”

After retrieving the phone from Toby, Xak said, “Pawpaw, you’re never going to believe this shit. You, Chris, Xena, Gary, and Jacob need to be here at dawn.”