SteeleKizz, Inc

Superman....NOT!

Jaxon

    Jaxon and Nessa had driven back to Kat’s mansion so that he could be seen and gather a small bag of items, mainly clothes, to take with him to Nessa’s hideaway.  Nessa had gotten off just at the far western corner of the property, promising to meet him near his room.  Jaxon had parked the car in the garage in its normal space.

    Once inside, he made his usual rounds, greeting some of the house staff, teasing Tabitha in the kitchen, and making Oliver run around like a chicken with his head cut-off.  He enjoyed pestering the man-servant to no end.  

    In his room, he gathered his gym bag, emptying out it’s contents and tossing it in the hamper near the closet.  He then went about his room gathering clothes.  He couldn’t decide what exactly he wanted to wear.  Earlier it had been chillier outside, now, he couldn’t really tell the difference.  Yes, he could see the breath of others, but not from himself.  ‘Hmm, that’s new,’ he thought.  

    His bag was packed and ready for him to leave.  Jaxon wondered just how Nessa was going to get to him.  He started pacing until he heard a tapping at his window.  He walked to it and looked out to see Nessa floating at the window 2nd story height.

    He opened the window, looking around wondering just how she did that.  He decided to ask.  

    “How do you do that?”

    “Practicing for some 2000 years helps, Jaxon.”  She hovered with her arms crossed like she was waiting for something.

    Jaxon looked around trying to figure out what she was waiting on.  “Are you going to come in?” he finally questioned.

    She sighed.  “Something else, I must teach you, boyo.  You must be allowed entrance.  Whether by declaration of a resident or owner of the house.  It can be said verbally, subconsciously, or even in a dream.  The same goes for being told to leave.”

    Jaxon looked around surprised by this news.  “I guess because I live here, I didn’t have to give myself permission, eh?”

    “Right,” Nessa commented.  “Wherever you live, past or present.  You always have unspoken access to entrance.  I have found that public places aren’t as critical as people’s homes.  It’s as if a magical force is placed around homes to protect them from unwanted harm.  Purified homes and sanctuaries have their own vibe to them.  While we may be welcomed in, something there causes us some level of discomfort.  For me, I typically get a case of a sleepy leg, like ants crawling over me.  I love to look at crosses, but dare not touch one.  Some have even received severe burns when touching a holy item, yet we can look at them.”

    Jaxon circled his lips realizing what all things he would have to learn and relearn.  Then he remembered.

    “Please come in, Nessa.” He spoke up.  She came in and landed with a gentle thump onto the carpeted floor.  She walked around his room and surveyed everything.  When she approached his closet, she scooted things around and giggled.

    Nessa pulled out one of Kat’s more risqué outfits for him.  She held it up and gave Jaxon an intrigued glance.  “Do you really wear this?” she asked.

    Groaning, he nodded at her.  “Yeah, Kat likes me wearing that get up when we are at her ‘special’ parties.  It shows off my manly figure, so she says.”

    Nessa gave it a look over and continued her giggling.  “So I would say,” Nessa said, putting the outfit back.  “Special parties?  None of the parties I’ve been to have seen men dressed like that.”

    Jaxon turned on his heels and smirked.  “Men wore dresses.  What do you have to say for yourself?”

    “Kilts.  Not dresses, kilts.  They scared off the enemy and their tiny wooly worms when in battle.  Plus, easier access.  Can’t say I didn’t enjoy those days.”

    “Too much information, Nessa,” Jaxon said coyly.

    “Shall we talk about where you bit me earlier?”

    Jaxon’s face turned red and he turned away from her.  “No.  Are you ready to leave?” he asked, hoping to change the subject.

    “Clever move, slick.”  Nessa held up her finger for a moment, closing her eyes.  She seemed to disappear for a few seconds and reappear.  When she came back to sight, her face appeared oddly flushed.  “That is the cruelest set up I think I’ve ever seen.  What type of parties are you going to, Jaxon?”

    Jaxon cautiously approached the question.  “It’s an art auction.  Uh, buyers get special things.”

    “I guess so.  What type of ‘special things’?”  Nessa could be quite insistent.  What she saw on her quick tour of the house, made even her feel utterly terrified and disgusted. 

    “Other people.”

    “Oh. My. Word.  Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat.  I can’t believe that she’s doing that.  Jaxon?  Did you know about any of this?”

    With a slow shake of his head, he confirmed her initial thoughts.  “Not at first.  The more I went to her auctions, the more I learned about who and some of what she did.  I don’t agree with it.

    “I would hope not, Jaxon.  That's something that, even I can’t deem as morally acceptable.  The counsel would have a field day with the likes of this.  Something I’ll need to report to them, especially if she starts abducting supernatural beings for her sick games.”

    “There’s more out there, just like her.  One even approached me in the bathroom nonetheless,” Jaxon said and handed her the card he kept on him at all times.

    She looked it over, smiling.  “I think he may have not been there to hit on you, but to see about getting information from you.  About Kat, these parties, and so forth.  He could be a key to ending this.”

    She fanned her hands out to this house and the clothes.  Her obvious concern for Jaxon’s safety kept growing the more she was learning about this Kat, person.

    “So, we can leave now?” Jaxon requested.  He was more than ready to leave.  He had a feeling he was about to learn quite a bit in a shortened span of time.

    Nessa looked around the room and nodded.  She took his hand and headed to the window.  “I’ll be taking us there.  You’re not ready yet to learn how to travel any amount of distance through the air.  It’s not as close as you think.”

    Jaxon placed the duffel bag over his shoulders and let the hefty part rest against his back.  “Okay.  I’m ready when you are.”

    “Hope your stomach handles this better than mine did the first time.  She pulled him in close, wrapped her arms around him, doing the same with his arms around her.  She focused her thinking on their weight and where they were going.  The rest was like riding a bike or her, but with some adjustments.

    They were out the window and slowly levitating upwards into the sky.  They then started moving at a rapid speed horizontally.  Jaxon looked down taking in the view of the ocean side city slowly diminishing and they made their way across the Atlantic Ocean.  He wanted to ask where they were going, but didn’t know if that would break her focus. Another larger island, around the size of Georgia or Alabama came into view as they floated along.  He could see in the distance a small amount of light teasing at the horizon.  He had determined if they were any higher up in elevation they could almost be in space.  

    Slowly lowering down, they came to a dimly lit cobblestone street with a few cottages and townhome style buildings spotting the shoreline.  The stone cottage had a pointed roof and a similar stone created fence around a small yard.  

    When his foot hit a solid surface he lost his sense of balance for a moment.  With wobbly knees he had to push himself back up straight.  Nessa was standing firm and adjusting her attire.  She walked to the edge of the building and looked down.  She glanced along the street before walking off the edge.  Jaxon gained his balance slowly and crept along behind her.  She looked up at him from the edge of the single story roof..

    “Are you coming down, or not?” she asked.  “Silly boyo.  You aren’t going to die from that distance.”

    Jaxon raised up and tried to gauge the distance down.  He takes a deep breath, walks off the ledge of the building and careens down posing for a superhero landing.  Nessa stands off to the side shaking her head.

    “Really?”  She heads to the entrance of the stone cottage they landed on from.  She speaks in a tongue nearly foreign to him.  He stands up, dusts himself off, moves his head around popping it and stretches.  

    “Of course, what young male doesn’t want to have the opportunity to do that without the possibility of him dying.  I get the chance to fulfill many young boys' dreams.”

    He follows her and stops at the doorway remembering what she said.  Off in the distance he hears her call out.  “You are a resident now.  You will always have access to my home, office, hide out, whatever you wish to call this.  Close the door behind you.”

    Jaxon steps in and hopes he doesn’t get a case of the ebegebes.  When he doesn’t, he looks around her place just like he did his.  Unfortunately, in the front room, there wasn’t much to see.  He makes his way down a small corridor, where she sits at a desk off to the side.  Windows are boarded up with heavy dark drapes.

    “Nice place you got here, Nessa.”

    She looks up from a briefcase type computer and around at the minimalistic room.  Aside from this small desk and the briefcase, there’s a phone, a board with random bits of information tacked on it, and a map of the world. 

    “I guess.   It’s been my home since one of mine and Teo’s descendants found me and deeded it to me for eternity.  I have a cot in here and I have another twin size bed in the other room.  When daylight hits, we’ll have to go to sleep or we’ll be frozen in place until night hits.  Trust me, it’s not fun being locked in place sitting in this chair because I wasn’t paying attention to the time.”

    “How much time do we have, Nessa?” he asks.  He looks down at his own watch seeing Eastern Time, not wherever they are at.  “Where are we exactly?”

    “Culross, Scotland.” She said finishing off what work she needed to do on her computer device.  “Just a few miles from where my family’s lordship and land was.  Nothing I can claim today, other than namesake among the elder members of the counsel.  Which is what grants me seniority over how I wish to live and work for the counsel.”

    “Oh,” said Jaxon.  Surprised that they had travelled such a distance in what seemed like a small frame of time.

    “I would say, about 2 hours from now, we’ll need to bed down.  Until then, I’ve got a few things to show you.  One, especially that you’ll need to know about if you happen to wake up before me.  Feeding.  When you wake up, you’ll have a hunger that you can’t explain or seem to satisfy.  Behind this house and over the hill is a sheep farm.  The farmer understands that several of our kind need nourishment.  He gives us access to his barn and field.  I suggest that you get used to the smell of country air.”

    Jaxon looked at her and shook his head trying to clear his mind.  “Sheep? Nessa?”

    “Look for the middle of the herd.  Not the strongest or the weakest.  That way the strongest are left and you don’t get worn down by the blood of the weakest, but it won’t be such a battle for you to quell them.  Not the tastiest blood, but it suffices.  If you happen to go overboard, a dead sheep now and again happens, but we try not to overfeed them.  You’ll know when you are about done.  The blood will taste watered down.  You don’t ever want to go all the way.  It’ll make you sicker than Dickens and it’ll waste the energy that you did obtain.”

    “Okay, I’ll do my best.  Next?”  Jaxon anxiously awaited the next tip.

    “Next?  Hmm, I think I need to teach you to fly like we did tonight.  I may not always have the chance to come to you, but you can come to me.  Sounds good?”

    “Sure.” Jaxon said.  Standing up as soon as she got up from her seat, heading outside.  

She took a bountiful jump up onto the roof and walked the small incline.  She looked down at him and waited for him to do the same. 

    “Remember that extra bit o’ energy I gave you back then.  Think of this as a super dose o’ that.  You can do anything that you put your mind to.  Just focus.”

    Jaxon took a couple of steps back and took a running leap onto the roof, nearly missing and sliding back until he gained some footing and climbed the rest of the way up.  He finally caught up to her.  

    “You need better or different shoes.” She says.  “That’ll be first on the agenda tomorrow.  Now, let’s get you floating.  First, you focus or think like you are a cloud or a plane.  That you know there is going to be the gravitational force, but that you can overcome it.  Planes do it all the time.  Then, you think, up.  You keep thinking up, until you are as high as you want to be.  Ready to go?”

    Jaxon gave a notion of uncertainty.  “So we don’t change into bats?”

    “No, Jaxon, we don’t change into bats.  There are lycans or shifters who can, but not us.  None, I’ve ever come across ever have.  Now, get to scootin’.”

    She pushed him to the edge of the roof overlooking the side where grass had grown up some.  He looked down.  Jumping down seemed more fun.  Jaxon closed his eyes and flapped his arms.  He walked out to the edge, still flapping his arms, and flopped down face first into the grassy area.

    “You’re not a bird, Jaxon.  Get up here and try again.”

    Jaxon didn’t run as far back, but he springboard jumped towards the roof of the house and landed smoother.  “Much better.” Nessa commented.  

    Jaxon determined that flapping his wings was too distracting.  He strolled to the end of the rooftop and focused on remaining at it’s level, but fell down again into a roll.  He looked up to Nessa, aggravated, he pounded the grass.

    “You’re trying too hard, boyo.”

    Jaxon tried to think of anything and everything that he could use to focus on.  The closest thing, aside from swimming, was when he did the jump and tumble for the final winning play.  He did recall feeling a free floating sensation as he soared up and over the line of scrimmage.  He went back to that moment and took off along the tip of the roof.  Instead of going into a rolling tumble, he thought of being propelled into the sky and wanting to stay there.  A slight jump up into the air and he began slowly drifting upwards from the house.  He looked around him and then down at Nessa, which halted his focus.  He was beyond excited, causing him to start hurdling down to the ground.  

    Nessa hollered out something when he realized he lost his focus.  While freefalling, he struggled, but managed to regain his focus kicking off in the air like pushing off from the edge of the pool.  He began soaring mid air again, belting out a cheerful hoorah!  He did a few circles several feet into the air before coming down with a slight thud on the tip of the rooftop.  

    “That was harder than I thought it would be.  I also feel tired.”  He finally said as if wanting to catch his breath, but had no breath to catch.  Though he did feel the ever-growing ache of exhaustion.  “Do you feel tired?”

    “At first, when you do a lot in a day, yes.  As you get closer to the sun rising, your body will slowly start shutting down.  Or exhaustion, as you are calling it?  The more you grow into your new state, it won’t be so bad.  You’ll get used to it.”

    Jaxon had a lot to think on, about, learn, and try.  He just hoped he wouldn’t let Nessa down.  She was growing more and more into the cool aunt-like figure for him.  He never was close to his parent’s siblings, like he was with Nessa.

    Once inside, she started working on her briefcase computer, fluttering her fingers rapidly across the keyboard.  Jaxon had sat down on the cot, using her blanket as a pillow against the wall.  He started to daze off.  She snapped him out of it before the daylight claimed his essence.

    “Head to your room before I throw you in there.  You sleep wherever you land.”

    He laughed, getting up from his spot.  When he was in his room, he left the door ajar.  A lantern dimly lit the room, causing him to have to adjust his eyesight.  He found the cot and a pillow.  He looked around, finding a trunk against one of the walls.  Inside were some folded up blankets.  He pulled out one and threw it across himself as he got comfortable on the cot.  

    There weren’t any windows that he could make out in this room.  So when the sun came, he didn’t realize it.  He was just out.