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  BLOOD BORN

  By

  Chris Neeley

  www.TitanPress.net

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  BLOOD BORN

  Copyright © 2006 by Chris Neeley

  ISBN: 1-59836-270-4

  Cover art and design © 2006 by Sable Grey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without permission, except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

  For information, you can find us on the web at

  www.TitanPress.net

  Dedication:

  For Tracey West.

  Because.

  PART I

  THE COMMENCING

  Chapter One

  The sun shot spears of light through the fog that grazed the top of Big Hoary Mount, just outside of Rockside, Tennessee. It glistened through the trees. The leaves were just starting to bust out, and they shimmered, silver-like, on the morning that Anna Caine saw the first redbird. She stopped, her dew covered feet planted firmly, and watched. Her Momma had told her long ago that seeing a redbird, before the first of May, meant that your love would soon come and here it was just getting on to mid-April. The redbird jerked its head, its shining black-bead of an eye looking in her direction. Redbird studied Anna from its perch on a twiggy branch. She held her breath. A breeze lifted her auburn hair and she blinked as it brushed across her grey eyes.

  She started saying her ABC's in her head. A…B…C…D…

  The bird twitched a wing. Anna's heart thumped.

  J…K…L…

  Redbird jumped into the air and swooped, riding the breeze, wings glistening red as blood in the morning sun.

  "M, his name will start with M," Anna said, watching the bird as it flitted in and out of the branches. She lifted the hem of her cotton dress, the one with the tiny pink rose print, and raced after it. She jumped deadfall and prickly weeds as she followed, her breath coming easy. She smiled as the breeze lifted her hair from her shoulders. She felt she was flying, like the redbird.

  She ducked under a low-hanging limb, losing sight of the bird for a moment, then she heard it call. She had to see where he would perch, for if he perched on a fence...

  She stopped as she rounded a rise. Her heart sank. She stomped her foot on the ground as hard as she could.

  The redbird was perched on a post of an old split-rail fence. The fence was so ancient, it looked like a row of broken hound's teeth. That didn't matter though. A fence was a fence. "Damn it," Anna cursed. ‘When the redbird lighted on a fence, your love would still come, but the wedding ring wouldn't.’ That's what her Momma had said.

  Anna turned and trudged back to the shack. Tall weeds, brown and left over from the fall, whipped her legs. She had chores to do, anyway. She snapped a tall grass from the ground and stuck it in her mouth, chewing the fresh shoot at the root. It tasted wild and green on her tongue. "Wonder who he might be?" she said, dreaming of the lover that was sure to come. He wouldn't marry her, but that might be all right. She was used to living on her own since that dark night a few years back when Momma and Pa had died. It might be just quite right, having a lover to keep her company and not a husband to tell her what she should do and when she should do it.

  She grinned, feeling a might better about the whole thing, and kicked her long legs into a run. She'd better take a bath, maybe brew up some love herb tea. Never knew when he would show up. She raced through the woods on her way back to the little shack that sat in the crook of the Hollow along Hoary Ridge. The shack, she called home.

  ***

  Seph staggered out of old Matthew's barn as the day started leaning toward the evening. He tripped over a bucket, catching it with the toe of his work boot, and sent it clattering. "Son of a..." He caught himself before he fell face first into the dirt. Maybe, he thought, I shouldn't have had that last draught of 'shine. He stood still for a minute and shook himself. Have to walk straight. If he didn't walk straight, Chloe would know for sure where he'd been. He put one foot in front of the other, stiff-legged as a jaybird and scuffing up dust, and headed in the general direction of his pick-up.

  On the third try, his hand found the door handle and he jerked it open, almost sending himself into the dirt again. He swung himself into the cab and slammed the door. He nodded his head. "Got that far," he mumbled, digging in the pocket of his worn out jeans for the key to the truck. He tugged and tugged. The key wanted to stay put in his pocket. He sighed, then belched and gave it one more try. The key let loose of the pocket and came out in his hand. Leaning forward, he shoved the key toward the ignition, but the key wasn't of a mind to go there, either. Seph worked it around the steering column, but he couldn't find the hole that the key fit in.

  He leaned back in the seat and pulled his handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped his face.

  He thought on the problem. If he couldn't find the keyhole, he couldn't drive now, could he? Chloe would have her panties in a twist if he didn't make it home soon.

  Seph looked toward the woods. If he could cut through the woods and down through the Hollow, he'd be at the house in no time. He made up his mind. He'd just go on and walk home. He’d walked home before when he was too far gone to drive after spending time at Matthew’s. Chloe would think nothing of it, him leaving the truck.

  He opened the door of the truck, wincing at its creaking protest, and swung out his long legs. He put his feet firmly on the ground and slowly stood, testing the mettle of his legs. He bent his knees a couple of times. "They'll do, I s'pose," he mumbled. He started off, swaggering a bit, and headed into the woods. He hoped his legs would hold up for a mile or two.

  ***

  Anna Caine drifted out on the front porch of her shack, stepping around the hole in the boards that was directly in front of the door. She'd almost broken her leg the day that those boards had decided their job was done. She hadn't gotten around to patching them yet, even though it had been there nigh on to a year now. Her feet knew where the hole was. Someday she'd get around to it, but it wasn't a pressing matter, so she let it be.

  She gathered her Momma's shawl around her shoulders against the chill air that crept down from the Mount. Anna leaned against the porch post and let her eyes travel the dirt track that ran up to the shack. In the twilight that fell early this side of the Mount, her eyes searched for a sign. The woods around her wouldn't give away any secrets. She took in a breath of night air and felt the wetness of it in the back of her throat. There would be no rain tonight, but the dew would be heavy.

  She was lonesome this evening, more than she had been in years, and she'd all but given up on what the Redbird had foretold this morning. She ambled back inside and appeased her mind with the fact that it wasn't the midnight yet. Here she was, on the down-side of seventeen and still pure to a man's touch, but the day wasn't all the way done. He could still come.

  She sat down in Granny's old rocker, sliding one foot across the floor, back and forth as she rocked and stared into the fire that she had lit to hold back the night chill. The fire was the only light. Her Pa had never had the electricity wire run back to the shack. 'Too much money. You can light a candle for far less and build a fire fo
r free a'livin' by these woods,' her Pa had said when she had asked him about it one day.

  Not that she was complaining. She liked the way she lived. The old way. The way her Momma and her Granny, and even her Granny's Momma who came before, had been raised. It didn't matter that it was 2006 and everything in town was modern and new as it could be. Back here in the Hollow it was still peaceful, and that was the way she liked it. She got funny looks when she went into town for the supplies that she couldn't make or find in the woods, but they still bought her eggs down at the grocery and that gave her enough money for all that she needed. Those town people could wonder about her all they wanted. At least Anna Caine had a wood floor in her shack and that was more than some had. There were some folks back here that still had dirt for a floor beneath their feet.

  Now, if only she could get herself some blue-eyed southern boy to keep her company on nights such as this one. She'd be as pleased as a coon with its’ own personal wash-basin.

  She hugged herself and watched the fire lick down low. Before long, her eyes grew heavy with sleep and closed. Anna fell into a dream about a blue-eyed man.

  A chicken squawk woke Anna with a start. She jerked up out of the rocker, one of the rocker runners coming down on old Fuzzy's tail. She was up and out of the chair and had one hand on her shotgun before the cat let out his first caterwaul. He raced in front of her feet, almost tripping her in his haste to get away from the thing that had caused his pain.

  "Damn cat!" Something crashed onto the front porch. "What the..." Anna swung the barrel of the gun waist high and flung open the front door.

  "Damn, woman, don't shoot!" A man was lying, half on, and half under, her porch.

  Anna lowered the barrel of the gun. "Who are you and what are you a-doin' on my front porch in the midnight?"

  'Redbird' her Momma's voice whispered in her ear.

  "Would you help me up out of here?" the man asked, his voice deep and gravelly.

  Anna leaned her gun against the doorjamb and grabbed the man's arm, hoisting him out of the hole in the porch that was now more man-sized than foot-sized.

  Anna's heart twittered in her breast when the man slipped his arm around her shoulder to steady himself. She looked up into his face and saw eyes as blue as a July sky. They twinkled with the reflection of the dying fire inside the house. She knew right then that her heart was gone.

  "Come on in the house and let me check on your legs," she said.

  "I was hopin' you would say that," he said, with a sloppy grin.

  Anna smelled the alcohol on his breath. Out wandering in the woods with the 'shine on his breath. Redbird, you sure picked a good one, she thought as she helped the man limp into the house. She got him to the rocker and set him down, then knelt down in front of him. "What's your name?" she asked.

  "People call me Seph," he said, his eyes wandering around the shack.

  Anna unlaced his boots and tugged at them. "What's your given name?" One boot came off and Anna noticed the hole in the toe of his sock.

  "Joseph Randolph Mayhew, Ma'am."

  "Mayhew," Anna repeated, pulling the other boot off. This was the one. This wandering, drinking one.

  As Seph reached down to hike up his sock, Anna saw a glint of gold on his left hand. She got up from her knees and went to the cupboard for a cup. A married one to boot, she thought, pouring love herb tea into the cup. That Redbird had sure had a challenge in mind for her when he thought to show himself to her this morning. It had been foretold when that bird had landed on the fence post that marriage would not be in the bargain. If he was married, then so be it. Her heart already belonged to those blue eyes of his. She was tough. She could handle it.

  She carried the cup full of potion to him, knowing that giving it to him to drink was the wicked way around the thing, but she was tired of waiting out here alone in the Hollow. Besides, the bird had said that today would be the day. "Here, drink this," she said, holding his hand in hers to help steady the cup.

  "What is it?" he asked, wrinkling his nose and sniffing at it.

  "It'll make your eyes a might clearer," she said.

  He raised the cup to his mouth, wincing at the first sip. "I hate to be rude, but this is the most awful concoction that I've ever tasted."

  "Trust me." Anna touched his hand that held the cup and guided it up for him to take another sip. She wasn't too sure just how the 'shine that she could smell on him would react with the brew.

  He took a long draught, grimacing all the while, and stared into the coals of the fireplace. Anna could see tiny flames licking in his eyes. She kneeled down in front of him again and ran her hand along one of his legs, feeling for a broken bone. He had strong muscled legs, firm and hard. She checked the other leg as she waited for the tea to hit him.

  It didn't take long.

  Anna knew that she had picked the right recipe from her ancestral book when she felt Seph's hand trail down her hair. She looked up at his face. His eyes looked as soft as a doe's.

  "Lovely," he whispered, tangling his fingers in her hair, "Your hair shines like the fire." Seph put his hand on the back of her neck and with his fingers still tangled in her hair, brought her up from her knees to stand in front of him. He leaned back in the rocker. "You are something, standin' there, lit by that fire. Do you have a fire burning down inside you, too?" Seph asked, his voice thick and deep.

  Anna felt a back-draft come down the chimney. It sent sparks flying from the coals into the air above them. It lifted her hair a bit and it swirled around her face. She glanced behind her, checking for embers on the floor.

  Seph grabbed her hand. "Come here, Fire Witch." He pulled her down to his lap. His arms went around her waist. He leaned toward her until their noses touched and then he touched his lips tenderly to hers. Something inside her melted and she snaked her arms around his neck. She parted her lips and his tongue found hers.

  Seph and Anna embraced and the heat inside her grew so hot that she could barely stand it.

  Suddenly, Seph pulled back from Anna. "Wait," he said, gasping like he'd just run a race. He lifted her from his lap and stood, placing her feet down on the floor. She put her arms around his neck again and tried to pull him close.

  "Wait--wait a minute," he said, snaring her arms in his hands. "I just--" Seph blinked and wiped sweat from his forehead on the sleeve of his shirt.

  Anna felt a stab of uneasiness. Maybe the tea hadn't been strong enough. This had been the first time that she had used that spell. "Seph," she whispered. He looked down at her, confusion showing in his face. "Seph, come to me." He leaned toward her, his mouth coming up against hers, hard and hot this time. She ran her hands over the muscles of his back. Sweat poured from him, one of the side effects of the tea. "Let's go out in the air," Anna breathed when their lips parted.

  "Yeah," he said, shakily, "It's so hot. You make me hot." He kissed her softly on the mouth again, running the wetness of his tongue across her teeth.

  Anna smiled up at him when he leaned away from the kiss. "Come on." She led him by the hand to the front door. "Watch out, now. I don't want you to fall back in that hole and get hurt."

  They stepped over the hole and Seph slipped his arm around her waist as they walked to the edge of the woods. "I can't seem to walk too straight," he said with a chuckle.

  "Lean on me," Anna said, taking his arm from her waist and putting it around her shoulder.

  They walked through the shadows of the woods. Moonlight broke through the trees every so often, shining a cold, silver light on the forest floor. Seph jumped when a red jimmy scampered across his foot. Anna giggled at him. "Don't you ever go huntin', Seph?"

  "No, I don't much have the time. Where are we going, anyhow?" Seph moved a branch out of the way before it could poke his eye out.

  "I've got a place in mind. We'll do the natural thing out in the wild where it's cool and we can smell the earth."

  She continued to lead him to the clearing where she liked to sit and watch the moon wax a
nd wane. It was the place where she swore that she could feel spirits in their passing and the moon lit the world and made its magic. She tried to urge Seph a little faster. She didn't know how long the love herb tea would keep him with her. All the signs were right this night. She ticked them off in her head while she guided her man to the place where she would bed him. The Redbird had shown itself and foretold their meeting. Then, when she had rung the chicken's neck that she had picked for her dinner, it had broken with one twist of her wrist. The moon was good and full, and Anna, herself, was in the middle of her monthly phase.

  Everything was right, except for the fact that Seph was married. Anna could handle a drinkin' man. Her Pa had liked his 'shine, too. But, Anna would need something to tie Seph to her. A child. That would bond him to her. Anna would have to make sure that she conceived.

  They stepped out into the clearing and the moon moved out from behind a cloud, washing the clearing in its chilling light. The clearing was about half as wide as the property that Anna's Pa had left her, which put it at about two acres. The tall grass that was left from the fall whispered in a light breeze. Anna led Seph to the middle of the clearing, the sound of the grass rasping against his work jeans in the dark. A mournful hoot-owl called in the night. Anna left Seph standing in a spot in the middle and slowly started to walk in circles, making them wider as she went, bending down the tall grass until she had made a bed of it. She walked back to him and took him by the hand. She drew him down with her onto the grassy bed and told him softly, "Lie down. Let me take care of you." She unbuckled his belt and pulled the tail of his work shirt out of his pants and unbuttoned it. She pulled him up to a sitting position and looked him in the eye as she removed his shirt, letting it drop behind him so that the grass wouldn't scratch his back. She pushed his chest gently with the palm of her hand and he laid back and stared up at the sky.