by Lou Grimes
“A bit drastic. Do you hunt like regular people, too?” She wondered if such sports were below Lupine while taking in the rustic cabin. The mounts could have easily been there when they bought it. The previous houses had made Louvette and her mother used to roughing it, but never to this degree. It was a nice change of pace.
“Yea, it’s a bit humbling because sometimes I can’t always kill something. My wolf hates it,” he confessed, following her movement about the room, gauging her reaction to everything.
“I can only imagine how frustrated your inner wolf must be to watch dinner run off, especially when hunting is what a wolf lives to do. You must have a lot of control,” she said, getting a laugh from Arsen.
“Did you eat like I told you? You’ll be burning thousands of calories tonight. You will wake up starving. Are you ready?” he asked, questioning her out of concern. Louvette was pleased that he was worried about her. She tried to not think too deeply into how important his tips actually were. Regardless, Louvette had followed all his rules for once.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she murmured while she slapped her palms together to show her mock readiness.
“Let’s do this then. Outside, otherwise you might get excited and tear my cabin down, and then I’d probably be pretty upset,” he warned. His face gave away nothing as they headed out.
“I don’t think you could be upset with me,” Louvette said, pushing his buttons.
He paused and let a little chuckle like he had just realized that fact.
Louvette and Arsen moved outside, walking a little into the trees as a precaution against the possibility of someone showing up in a car. He turned and looked at her, completely serious, and Louvette almost did a double take at how similar he looked to his father.
“Okay, there are three things I have to tell you before we begin. The first is, don’t fight the break, go with it. The second is, if you get stuck in mid-shift, don’t panic. I’ll talk you through going back to human form. The last is, resist attacking me,” he instructed while laying out the ground rules. The last one caught surprised Louvette.
“Why would I attack you?” Louvette asked, apprehensively. She couldn’t promise that she’d have any ounce of control when she finally shifted.
“I challenged your wolf the first time I met you so it may not like me at first. I tore up your arm as well in the hall, remember,” he revealed sheepishly.
“I’ll try not to eat your heart out,” she assured him. She couldn’t resist throwing a saucy wink in his direction. Arsen simply shook his head at her words.
“I appreciate it. Whenever you’re ready, go ahead. Now, think about needing to stretch your muscles like never before, to run faster than you’ve ever run, and to be what nature intended you to be,” his soothing voice said as she closed her eyes to follow his words.
When something like that lurked in the corners of one’s mind, it was an easy thing to feel. However up until this point, she had just shut it off like it wasn’t a part of her because she didn’t know. She didn’t understand it. Louvette, like anyone else, feared it. But this time, she did want to, so she gave it a try.
For a second, nothing happened. It was kind of an eerie silence, like watching a cute bunny eating a carrot, oblivious to the hawk swooping down to get it. No movement. She tried to put everything into her will to call up the thing that was so wild. The pains started. Her bones strained under an aching foreign pressure. Her muscles twisted about like silly putty.
“Good. Now let your wolf join you.” He softly spoke in a calming tone. He could have starred in his own yoga video, expertly executing the downward dog every day.
Her mind was alerted of other more basic thoughts that had a different voice than her own. Her breath hitched at the intrusion. The minds hesitated for a second, then connected to each other to form a more animalistic version of herself.
“A breaking point will come where you will either fold into it or against it. Make sure to pick the right one,” he hinted as her body throbbed under the weight of this change. It was hard to breathe under that amount of weight.
Her bones ached until it seemed like they would shatter into a million pieces. She took a deep breath and let them. The glass shards of her soul split. Her knees hit the earth. Louvette couldn’t scream as her body broke in every single way possible. The insurmountable pain started to rescind as her body snapped again, sending her hands digging into the ground.
Then, it was over. She felt stronger. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her eyes opened out of surprise. It took her a second to connect what she was seeing. Two extremely white paws were where her hands should have been. She shifted them about, feeling the earth between her claws.
“You’re so white and fuzzy. It’s ridiculous,” whispered someone nearby. The words were louder than normal and echoed slightly.
She jerked her head up and zeroed in on the thing near her that had made such awful noise. Her ears went back like an ornery mule. The speaker slowly put his hands up at this development. He all but waved a white flag at her. However, his actions were quickly deemed not good enough for her wolf.
Her wolf snarled, recognizing the boy as a previous attacker. The wolf’s hackles rose. She charged him. The wolf rolled him on his back, her thick powerful jaws going in for the kill.
No screamed a voice inside and Louvette realized what she was about to do. She had stopped her wolf seconds from killing Arsen. Louvette had nicked him. The remorse sent her wolf whining as she backed off him. Bad dog, Louvette thought harshly, unsure on how to communicate to her wolf.
“It’s okay. I expected that to happen at the very least. To be honest, I expected your wolf to do a lot worse than that,” he admitted as he watched her pacing. Blood trailed down his slightly raised hands. The dropping sound of it splashing the ground was so mesmerizing to Louvette that she followed its impact. The drop sounded like a cannon.
“Hey, I’m going to change. Don’t freak out,” he warned. He changed within a few seconds to the same large gray wolf she had seen in her kitchen a couple weeks ago. A shock still today even after this event.
Louvette recognized him, but her wolf didn’t in his wolf form. She warily got closer, sniffing. He didn’t move while she bumped her nose against his except for a tiny nudge back. A fraction of an inch moved, but that was all her wolf needed for its mindset to change.
The playful side of wolf came out as she bit him gently on his side and took off, spastically darting through the trees. He quickly took chase. She was light and springy on her feet and half his size. It took him a second to catch up to Louvette’s new wolf.
They ran and played for hours, ran more miles than she could count, and lightly hunted for food. Louvette caught scent of a deer. Arsen went dashing after it. They found their dinner for the night. Louvette’s skills were still raw so she lost the deer to Arsen’s precision and speed. He shared his prize with her though and Louvette was almost positive he gave her wolf more than its fair share. The sun was beginning to rise as they went back to the cabin at a leisurely pace.
Louvette didn’t even have to think about it to change back. Her tired muscles and bones slid back into place as she came into the cabin in the clearing. This time, it was like the change had oiled her body to slide back into place more easily than the first time. No earth-shattering pain. Louvette could get used to this, she reflected.
As they walked in, Arsen changed so smooth that Louvette was a tiny bit jealous. She was half tempted to crawl through the door but didn’t want to seem weak in front of Arsen. Louvette hoped that her shift would someday look as effortless as his.
Louvette attempted to collapse on the coach, but Arsen scooped her up before she could lay her head down. She groaned out of mock anger at being disturbed from her endeavor to collapse.
“No, you’re not sleeping on the couch. I am,” he told her as he laid her in the bed and pulled the covers over her. She incoherently mumbled her objections as her eyes sli
d closed. They attempted to flicker open at the light kiss on her lips but failed miserably.
***
The smell of bacon peeled her well-rested eyes open. Louvette’s stomach viciously growled at a one of a kind temptation that only could be associated with bacon. Her stomach had never experienced this deep of a hunger in her life. She glanced around to find Arsen in the kitchen. She grinned because it was obvious he was doing his best at cooking quietly for her sake, though she knew it was quite a feat to accomplish because she had tried to do it at home once and her mother ended up coming down and helping cook.
“I thought you couldn’t cook, Arsen. You’ve been holding out on me,” she jested, smoothing her wild bed hair while walking toward him.
“Only an idiot can’t cook breakfast,” he retorted. She placed a hand over her heart and made a hurt face. He caught the gesture and laughed.
“You can’t make breakfast? How do you plan to survive in the world?” he asked once the outrage at his laughter had subsided.
“I can’t ever get the eggs right. They always end up overcooked or undercooked depending on the day.” She defended her attacked pride like a seasoned soldier with ten years of scrimmaging, battles, and wars under his belt.
“You completely ruined any chance I had at serving you breakfast in bed, too,” he said mournfully as he took the crispy bacon out of the pan and took a rather cheeky bite.
“Aren’t I supposed to be partially clothed in that cliched fantasy?” she wondered out loud. Her hands were on her hips as she watched and loved the blush that was travelling up Arsen’s neck.
“Well, I was trying to avoid the potential awkwardness of discussing you naked so soon, but you dragged it out and set it up for me,” Arsen responded.
“I think you’re going too fast for me,” she sighed without conviction. Louvette even fluttered her eyelashes coyly.
“See that’s exactly why I didn’t want to talk about it. Am I going too fast for you?” He laughed, placing plates on the table. A tiny bit of worry glinted in his eyes.
“No,” she whispered, leaning in for a deep kiss. He put the food down and met her lips. The kiss turned to making out. Arsen placed her on the counter. She wrapped her legs around him pulling him closer. The only thing that saved them from this total loss of control was her stomach grumbling.
They both burst out laughing and separated.
“You were right about last night. It is such a freeing experience. Like I connected with a part of myself that should have been connected a long time ago and I was just too stupid to let it happen,” Louvette said, leaning forward animatedly.
“Yea, it’s the best,” he said while he gazed at her across the table, smiling out of amusement. Louvette could tell that he enjoyed being able to share this experience and talk about Lupines with her.
“Dig in,” he encouraged. They ate bacon, pancakes, and eggs while making small talk with the occasional laugh.
While they were packing up after breakfast, Louvette wondered about her safety if she went on runs alone. If she had it her way, she’d go for a run every night.
“Are the investigators still here?” she asked.
“Yes, they were supposed to leave this weekend. But they found two pairs of shoes a mile from the body,” he told her.
“What, they found my shoes? Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, looking around like one of the hunters was suddenly going to stroll out of the trees.
“There’s no smell on them, otherwise they would have come for you since you hadn’t shifted before. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you more stressed out than you already were about this,” Arsen answered.
“This isn’t ever going to work if you keep me in the dark. I’ve been in the dark my whole life. There’s parts of me that I don’t even know. I don’t know anything about my father’s side. I’m not going to live that way. I can’t,” she warned, completely and utterly serious.
“I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing. Next time, I’ll tell you straight away,” he promised earnestly. Louvette’s anger slowly rescinded at his apology.
“Thank you, what are we going to do today?” she asked, deciding to move on.
“We are going to practice half phasing. I know you can do it. I’ve seen you,” Arsen replied. The relief that she wasn’t vexed at him was evident in his tone.
“Let’s do it,” Louvette agreed. She bounced in place as geared up to start.
“So, let’s start with your hand. Limbs are the easiest part of your body to change. Focus only on that. The same method of how you changed before,” he coached her.
Louvette looked down at her hand before closing her eyes. She pictured her hand changing to a massive paw. She felt the snapping begin. This time it wasn’t so overbearing. The change was even easier than the last time.
“Good. Now the arm,” Arsen encouraged in a light, relaxed tone.
She expanded that feeling to the upper part of her arm. At this point, she didn’t have to think too hard to control it at all.
“Turn all that back to normal while changing your other arm,” he challenged, pushing her further. A challenge she quickly completed. She opened her eyes to find Arsen watching her easily half-phasing.
“What?” Louvette asked at the odd look he was giving her.
“How are you doing that? That took me hours to figure out,” he wanted to know.
“I dunno. I guess I can sort of feel the energy,” she answered. Another thought quickly struck Louvette. She was amazed it wasn’t the first question she had asked.
“How are we able to shift? Why do we?” she asked, completely absorbed in his next words.
“The blood witches is why we shift,” Arsen said.
“Blood witches?” she wondered, furrowed brow.
“In Europe during the middle ages when witch hunting really began, the witches feared for their future. Our ancestors had small amounts of witch blood in them. Not enough to do any real magic, but enough to handle animals well or have some elemental affinities. We were considered useless to full blooded witches because we were men that had only a tiny percent of witch blood in us. They cursed us so that we were useful. The blood witches cursed the original generation of men and every generation after that to become animals. We were supposed to be their army that they had complete control over. It backfired and drained every witch in attendance to death. That power gave our ancestors the power to change shape. It also gave us more specialized power which we call Gifts”. He finished like he had recited that legend on several occasions.
“Gifts? What gifts?” Louvette queried.
“Once our ancestors were given the ability to change shape, the Gifts began to reveal themselves. The Gift is based on the heart of the shifter. You are born with the Gift, but it doesn’t manifest itself usually until a person shifts. More than one person can have the same Gift,” Arsen said.
“Why did all the witches die?” she wondered.
“We believe that they messed up the balance between good and evil. Good took them out to right itself,” Arsen supplied.
“Are there still full witches today?” Louvette asked.
“Yes, but much humbler than their ancestors,” Arsen replied.
“Do you think they’d ever go after us again?” Louvette wondered.
“No, I don’t think so. Their numbers are shrinking and ours are growing every day. I can’t help but wonder what else might be growing, though. The Gifts do help” Arsen pointed out.
“What’s your Gift?” Louvette inquired.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, spreading his arms out.
“It’s fire, isn’t it? Did your parents know before they named you?” Louvette asked.
“Yes, and yes. There is a wolf in our pack whose Gift is foresight. So it has become tradition recently to take your babies to him to name them more fittingly. Otherwise, I would have probably been a Kenneth Junior after my father,” Arsen told Louvette.
She p
aused for a moment. “No one did that to me, so I have no clue,” she murmured out loud. The words were more for herself than anything. However, Arsen put a comforting arm around her, knowing she was crestfallen at this answer.
“Like, what can you do?” Louvette delved deeper.
“Again, it depends on the shifter. I have an advanced level control of fire. I could create fire, but a lower level would need a flame already formed to control it. Some shifter types have more control over their Gifts, like a polar bear having water as a Gift,” Arsen told her.
“Wait, other shifters? What else is out there?” Louvette asked. Her mind was blown to say the least. Just when she thought she knew what normal was, normal manifested itself into something else.
“Everything. Any person that has a small amount of witch blood in them can pop up at any time and be a shifter, though some animals are rarer than others, like elephants, giraffes, and hippos. Large mammals don’t usually happen, I think because of the amount of magic that has to go into shifting each time. At least, that is my theory. I’ve only heard of one before. He was a rhino,” he answered calmly.
“So now, I have to be prepared for Bartholomew the Beaver to grow a pair of human legs?” Louvette demanded, cynical thoughts swirled around her head. Wave after wave.
“No. Wolves are the most densely populated shifters out there. The bears are next, followed by the cats. Other populations are so small we don’t even attempt to count. As for meeting a shifter beaver, they aren’t that easy to find. They will avoid you on smell, especially in your wolf form. You kind of have a spicy kick mixed with the Lupine’s scent,” Arsen informed her.
“Spicy kick? What did I get, a little more Spanish heritage on our way to the New World?” Louvette joked at his comment.
“No, I think it’s because you are a girl. I’ve never met one before you,” Arsen pointed out.
“Are there other girl shifters?” Louvette asked.
“No. I think it’s part of the curse. Witches can only be women, so they left the women out of the curse. Many of the men married non-witches, and the witch blood was diluted. As the witch blood became diluted, the curse grew stronger in the shifters,” Arsen said.