Chapter 5: Birth

"I thought we were going to talk about this!"

"Well I'm still packing so I guess we can do both." Sasha replied softly.

The red haired incubus stood in the middle of his room, canvas duffle bag open at his feet. He was only halfway through the packing process when Aunt Shi came in to his room; Sasha had hoped to slip out into the night so that by the time she noticed he would be long gone. That unfortunately didn't work out and now she stood leaned against his far bedroom wall, fuzzy blue robe and slippers adorning her frame. Though even those childish items couldn't hold back the succubae's rage, it came threw in the crossing over her arms and the flare of her nostrils. But mostly the red head could feel the emotion so powerful it prevented Sasha from looking directly at his aunt.

"You're going to destroy your life!" Shiarra's voice hissed as she stressed her point, "The twins, Charis, Lindsey, Cam; you think that they will understand? You will become a bigger pariah over night then Sabine!"

Sasha dropped another two shirts into the duffel, "You have so little faith in my friends."

"No I have faith; I have faith that they will follow what they were taught."

"So dad was a hunter."

"Yes but they were unaware of Deklin's trade and believe me that makes all the difference in the world."

"That's bullshit!"

"Watch your mouth with me Sasha!"

Shi's eyes turned impossibly red, fangs flashing violently into existence. Her whole body seemed to swell with the momentary expression of rage but then a second later the woman deflated back to her more petite frame. One gain the woman flared her nostrils but she simply pouted softly and pulled a shirt free from the closet and folding is tenderly, fingers almost caressing the soft fabric. She dropped the light shirt into the bag and barely heard Sasha as he continued to argue. That was something that Sasha has inherited from both parents, a stubborn fighting spirit.

"It is, even when my father became an incubus; he was still a hunter."

"Yes he was until the day some hunter found out what he was, then that hunter had no problem carving him up like a butcher!"

"Shut up!" Sasha seethed, eye flashing briefly.

Shi brought her hands to her lips and gasped like a blade had slid between her ribs. Disgust and shame rose in her cheeks and eyes, she knew she couldn't take back those words and that alone twisted the knife that she had plunged into herself. When the elder succubus tried to reach out towards Sasha, her hand was shoved away and the young man pulled the last of his clothing into the over sized pack. Not speaking, he dropped the final pair of jeans into the half empty bag and closed the duffle securely. Sasha paused a moment, eyes full of pain before he slipped down the hall. Shi followed shortly behind even though she knew exactly where he was going.

The guestroom, the only room in the house that no one entered but today, the redhead was going too. Sasha shoved against the door with all his might and popped the seal, the scent of stale air and dust instantly rushed up his nose. A sneezing fit followed the opening of the door and continued for a good few minutes before Sasha managed to get a handle on them. When the young incubus finally had it all under control he wiped his eyes, surveying the room. Compared to the rest of Aunt Shi's house, this room was almost Spartan. No color on any of the walls, the windows drawn shut and a bare mattress of a twin bed lay on its metal frame. But none of that matter was important to Sasha was the items on the bed.

An aging leather bomber jacket, brown and cracking slightly; aged perfectly by his father. The fur of the lining and collar smelled of sweat and the sweet smell of a crowded bar, it was a scent that filled Sasha's chest. Slipping his arms into the sleeve, the young incubus basked in his father's prized possession. Fingers drifted over Deklin's belt as Sasha navigated the leather into the loops of his jeans and then he pick up his father's journal. It was small, the size of a bible and bound like such but its pages were ragged, random and held together with tap. As he carefully buried the journal in the confines of his duffel bag a ring full of keys fell from the jacket. Sasha eyed them curiously before returning them to the inside jacket pocket.

Before the red head could turn a pair of arms crashed around him and pulled him tightly in to a hug. Sasha can barely hear his aunt's words over the sounds of his groaning ribs. Left with no escape Sash nuzzled warmly into the hug and patted his aunt's back softly. The raven haired woman's words rumbled softly through the others body.

"Promise me this Sasha, you will stay in Seattle." Shi released, "I have an apartment there you can stay with me. Just promise me you wont suddenly vanish and I wont here from you."

"I promise Aunt Shi. Until I get the hang of it, ill stay with you in Seattle."

Shiarra teased with false humor, "You better, want me to walk you to the gate?"

"Yes please."

With his bag slug over his shoulder, Sasha stepped out into the night. Though it was in the middle of December, the midnight air was warmer then most summer days. Sighing softly, Sasha looked up into the sky and smiled. The whole sky colored a rich purple and navy clouds drifted by the pale moon. The incubus blinked and suddenly found Shi next to him, a scarf dangling delicately around her pale neck. They walked through the empty streets; it all looked like a slice of suburban pie with a splash of LSD, lawns were to green and paints were too vibrant in the darkness of night. Echo came from all sides, they bounced off the houses and even on the empty air. There was something gloriously about the sounds, it timed their movement like a swift hand of a metronome and before they realized it they were all the dais of the gate.

Shi walked right up to the shimmering lip of the gate, its light casting strange shadows across the stone. With one step forward, the blond vanished and left the poor young incubi alone on the dais. Sasha stepped up to the gate and sighed, clearing his mind of all thought. Or at least as well as he could clear his rapidly turning mind. When he managed to strip the noise away, Sasha surrounded himself in the whiteness. Aunt Shi, he brought the image of the dark haired succubus up in his mind. This was the only way he would able to get to Shi's apartment, focusing on a person rather then a location he had never been. If he didn't he might end up caught in a wall somewhere. Talking two steps back, Sasha prepared himself for the gate.

"Sasha"

A voice shouted and by the time the redhead registered the voice. Cam has him wrapped up in a kiss, hands slipping under the jacket and shirt; fingers tracing toned muscles under the skin.

"Cam?"

"I'm sorry I had to see you and you weren't at home."

"Its okay Cam," Sasha let his fingers stroke the side of Cam's face "Sorry we had to leave you with you parents."

"I understand why you did. Sash I love you."

"What?!"

"I said I think I love you." The bronze incubus wrapped himself around his friend, lips just inches apart.

Sasha broke the hold and stepped away, "I…um…Cam what are you doing here?"

"Me, I told you I was trying to see you and you weren't home. What are you doing here?"

"Going to Seattle with Shi."

"And you were going to just leave in the middle of the night."

"Shi insisted," Sasha lied, "Said it would be better for starting out in the world."

"Starting out? Why do you have to sneak off in the night if your just gonna be joining the family business."

"Because I'm joining my fathers business, that's why I'm sneaking off."

"So."

"He was a hunter Cam" Sasha whispered, barely audible.

"What?"

"I'm going to be a hunter alright!"

Cam stepped back in fear and confusion. His left forearm rose defensively as if Sasha's words were bladed. The bronze incubus tries to form words but is unable to as Sasha steps forward, the bronze incubus turned pale and shrinks away from his touch. A body plows into Sasha's right side, crumpling the boy to the ground. When he finally regains his sense of direction, Sasha looked up to find Lindsey looming over him with Cam a good distance behind. As the redhead moved to sit up Lindsey's leg kicked out and struck Sasha in the chest, knocking the wind completely out of him. The larger blond spoke, ever statement punctuated by a kick to Sasha's ribs.

"You son of a bitch! What is wrong with you! You're going to go off and hunt, like those assholes that murdered out parents!"

"You don't understand." Sasha wheezed

Cam grabbed at Lindsey, "Stop it, your hurting him."

"Ge'off me!" The blond shrugged off the smaller boy, watching as Sasha got to his feet and spat blood on to the stone of the gate. "You choose to be one of them! Too turn your back on us all!"

"My father was a hunter and an incubus!"

"But he chose to become one of us!"

The redhead turned away and stumbled towards the gate, feet not reacting as quickly as his knees. He tripped and nearly fell twice. In spite of his state of disorganization, he could feel Lindsey's attack coming. In two moves he blocked Lindsey's punch with his forearm and pulled free Aunt Sabine's gift; a black blade curved like a claw. With an arch of the redhead's arm, the blade caught Lindsey in the chest slicing clean through his shirt and just barely cutting the skin. But from the way the large blonde fell away from Sasha it was almost like he had been cut open with an iron knife. Holding his hand out away from his chest, Lindsey made sure the moon light struck his blood before he turned to Cam. When the smaller incubus saw the injury, his tan skin flushed to a sickly yellow; making his eyes appear bigger and his emotions more obvious. The fear rolled off Cam in waves, like a tsunami plowing into the shore.

"See Cam, he's already armed himself against us."

"No Cam I didn't mean…"

"He's already becoming a kin-slayer."

"I didn't mean to I swear I just was defending myself."

"He cut me Cam, what kind of friend slices open another."

"I was just reacting on instinct."

"You hear that Cam instinct, his instincts are to bring a knife against his friend."

"Cam, please, just please."

"You think he can't see the blood?"

"Cam, I…"

"He's a danger to us all, I'm just sorry we didn't see it."

"Cam…"

"Best we warn the others."

"Cam." Sasha fell silent as the bronze incubus stepped forward.

Despite the obvious fear, Cam held his shorter frame as large as he could make it. He didn't flinch as his eyes shifted to the blade held in Sasha's hand, instead he stepped closer; placing himself deep inside the redhead's grasp. He ignored Lindsey's protests that he shouldn't get close to the man who was causing him such confliction of emotions. One side of his brain told him that it was only a matter of time before Sasha would come back, armed with iron weaponry, and massacre them all in their sleep. But before that voice could even finish speaking another rose up, this was Sasha, His Sasha; the redhead that would laugh so hard that ice cream would manage to come out of his nose. This was the incubus whom Cam was falling so deeply for, Sasha wasn't a monster like those hunters he couldn't be.

Cam's hand touched his friend's cheek and relief washed over Sasha, who closed his eyes for a moment. In those few seconds that Sasha's electric blue eyes had closed, the warm hand of the bronze incubus disappeared. When Sasha opened his eyes to see what had happened he was confronted with stars and a severe pain in his jaw that all faded to black. The last thing to pass through the redhead's vision was the subtle shifting of the invisible curtain that made up the gate. The rest was darkness, complete and cold.

'You son of a bitch'

'I love you'

'Kin-slayer'

'It's a Celtic love knot, Sash, and they are made in pairs.'

'He's a danger'

'Stop hurting him'

'You son of a bitch'

Light flooded Sasha's mind, or at least his eyes, as the sun streamed through his bedroom window filling ever corner and hiding spot that shadows could find. The early morning sunlight washed away the nightmare that had plagued the redhead. It came back in vivid flashes; the bloody knife, the attack, the confession, the attack, Cam's right hook, the confession, Lindsey bleeding and it all seemed to flutter together without and sensible form. When Sasha would begin to establish how the events occurred the dream would break down; duplicate or delete and reform, starting the pattern fresh. Now as the nightmare no longer hunted him, Sasha sat up on a bed twice the size he remembered it and looked out the nearly floor to ceiling windows as the sleepy cityscape. The redhead sat up in bed, everything snapping suddenly together and he turned to the side and dry-heaved for a few minutes.

He settled down to the bed again, body still wrecked with nausea like he couldn't believe. After a moment he was aware of the fact that he wasn't along in the room, with a turn of his head Sasha took in the shape of his aunt. She leaned against the door, hands holding to mug of tea; their steam curling through the air. Sorrow marred her cheeks and eyes, giving Shi an age that made her look more like Sasha's mother then his sister.

"Morning." Her voice was thick.

Sasha could barely make the words he wanted, "Mornin' Aunt Shi"

"Some morning it is." The woman handed Sasha a cup, something she only did when she had something serious or bad news to talk about. "I've never seen someone become an outsider as quickly as you. Of course declaring that your father was a hunter and attacking both Cam and Lindsey didn't help. You're lucky Alyosha didn't send people after you."

"I didn't attack Cam."

"Not according to Lindsey, he told his grandfather that he tackled you because he saw you hitting Cam by the gate."

"He's lying. I assumed he was but it doesn't matter."

A man stepped into the doorway, purple hair screaming in the pale room; it was the Counsel member Uphori. The elder incubus could barely look at Sasha, not from fear but of shame, the redhead could feel that emotion fill the room as he entered. His clothing was all shimmery and mesh, reflecting the morning light all over the room. Several glow stick bracelets dangled from the incubus slim wrists, he crossed his arms over his chest. Uphori nodded at Shi, whose eyes only helped to display her shock at the man's arrival, and then the counsel member's neon eyes skimmed over the redhead barely covered by the sheet. With a lick of his lips and a shake of his vibrant hair, Uphori attempted to break the silence.

"Hey Studly, I wish I was seeing ya like this under different circumstances."

"Ditto" Sasha mouthed waking a small smirk work over the man's lips.

"So what does this mean?" Shi asked hop in her eyes,

"Well you aren't banished," Uphori attempted to smile, but it fell flat. "Aloysha needs more then just you planing on hunting and his grandsons words to set that in motion"

"Oh thank god."

"That's the good news" Sasha hissed, "Then what's the bad?"

"You're basically a pariah."

"So when I return."

"I wish I could give you an answer but I have none. I have to go and put a stop to Aloysha." With a wrinkle of the incubi's nose, the walking rave vanished.

Sasha screamed into his pillow. "This is fucking perfect."

"Sasha, I will still not tolerate that language even now."

Sasha gulped down the hot tea, he ignored the scolding crawls of the liquid as it passed his lips and down his throat. He was lost. It heart ached for comfort for the love that only Cam had been able to give. His skin missed the playful way that the smaller incubi's finger traced his flash. His nose called for the confusing smell of a fresh shower and top soil that seemed to be the boy's marker. Pain ripped up through the redhead's stomach. It bubbled like a pot of water, scolding up through his lungs and forced blinding tears to roll free. Every tear burned down the sides of Sasha's cheek, leaving behind tiny paths in his dirty face. Shi wrapped around her nephew and let the hot pain burn down into her clothes.

"There, there Sash." Shi whispered, "It's not too late, I'm sure with some pleading with the counsel. They would welcome you back."

"NO!" Sasha roared, pushing his aunt away

"What?"

"I said no, I will not bow to them."

"But you will remain an outlaw."

"I would rather do something good then be loved."

Shi hang her head low, "I understand, I don't approve but I understand."

"Thank you."

A/N: End of Prologue. See you all in the New Year! Please review.

-WordDemon