Sanctuary: A dark urban fantasy (Shifter Chronicles Book 1)

by Amade, Melle

  “Valiant effort, pup,” says Murtagh. “But, she was captured trying to leave Topanga with the heir. As for your toad -

  “Get it right,” Roman interrupts. “I’m an Agalychniscallidryas.”

  “We have Ravensgaard injured from his poison that prove his involvement,” Murtagh states. “Now, I submit this Passief to the Muiderkring, along with her sibling, her mother, and the shifters who have been helping them, including the Edelman’s heir. They must die.”

  A ruckus erupts in the room and ricochets off the blood colored walls. “The group must desire what the individual leader wants.” That’s what Zaragoza said. What if they don’t want me dead? What if I can change their minds?

  “Why?!” I yell above the noise. “Why?!”

  The room is startled into silence.

  “Because I am different from you? Because I’m a dove instead of a mountain lion? Because I wanted to protect myself and my family so much that I begged to be given the Bloedhart when I thought it might kill me?”

  Vasquez clamps his hand over my mouth. “Enough,” he says.

  “No,” Murtagh smiles. “Let her speak. It will be her swan song.”

  “I have seen some of your history.” I wave my hand at the wall. “Some of our history. And, yes, the doves made a decision to save humans over two thousand years ago. But, they paid for that. They are all dead. The war between the Passiefs and the Plunderaars has gone on too long. Now there is nothing left. There is just me and… and…” I stammer as I look at my brother.

  Callum squeezes my elbow for support. I look around at the Muiderkring. They are a mix of curious, disgusted, and stonewall faces. I am not winning. Van Arend catches my eye and drops his chin in the slightest nod. The majority of the room is against me, but there are some who back me.

  “This painting!” I stride towards a large painting where many different animals stand around and perch in a tree. “The Order. Their first gathering. There are eagles, Ravensgaard and doves,” I point them out one by one. “We have been doing this together for a long, long time. We have a history of fighting, hating and killing, but maybe, just maybe, now is the opportunity for us to join together again. Maybe we can write the future differently. We can create a world where Passiefs and Plunderaars can again sit together.”

  I stand alone in the center of the gallery with all the shifters staring at me.

  “Will none of you share this vision?” I ask.

  “Everyone who has shared this vision,” Murtagh says with a sneer. “Stands accused and will ultimately die.”

  Zaragoza looks triumphant.

  “There is no avoiding the law, no matter how well you sing, dove,” Murtagh says.

  “We will be martyred,” Zaragoza says. “You are all animals. You pretend to be shifters with grand rules, but you are no better than humans. Kill us. You will see the future will be what the girl says.”

  His words drive horror through me. This is exactly what he wanted: martyrdom.

  They all want us to die.

  My gaze flies to my family and friends, and lands on Mom. Mom, who I’ve tiptoed around my whole life terrified she might try to kill me. Our eyes connect and I see she’s lived with the exact same fear. She’s lived her life in hiding, pushing down the anger and the shame of what it made her do; unable to realize her full potential and be who she truly is. I see her now for who she is: a loving, fearful mother.

  “I love you.” I mouth the words to her. She needs to know that I forgive her and that I’m not afraid of her anymore. I don’t want to live in fear.

  Her eyes squeeze shut as she smiles at me. When she opens them, they are brimming with tears.

  I have what she was denied: the power to shift, to truly transform. I can be who and what I am. My chin lifts. I stand up straight in the room where I’m hated and accused.

  My nails stop clicking.

  I’m no longer nervous.

  There is no anger, no ice.

  All I have is concern. And underneath my worry is love. Love for Henry. Love for Aiden. Love for Callum. Love for Mom and Dad. For Roman and Zan. A love rises through me from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head. It soaks every part of me.

  “The Passief will be executed according to the laws of the Order,” Murtagh says. “Furthermore, if any of her relations are found to possess Passief blood, they will also be executed.”

  Even though it’s expected, the ground falls beneath me. He means they will kill Henry. I wobble a bit, but Callum’s hand is below my elbow keeping me upright. Since when did this tall, black-haired boy become my support system?

  “You can’t execute her based on hearsay!” Zan shouts.

  The room froths with opinions. But Roman stands by her. “It’s against our laws!”

  “We all saw the dove on the battlefield,” Murtagh says. He will see me die.

  “Not all saw it,” Roman says.

  “But...” Murtagh looks around the crowd.

  “Evidence!” shouts someone from the midst.

  “Our laws require irrefutable evidence,” says Zan.

  “We want to see her shift!” another voice cries.

  “Show them she’s a Passief,” says Zan. I frown.

  “Our laws demand proof,” says Roman. “If you intend to kill us all, you must prove we have broken our laws.”

  A growl rises from deep in Vasquez, stirring the crowd

  “We are not animals!” calls Zan. “We are shifters!”

  “Make her shift!” yells a voice from the throng.

  Murtagh surveys the room and bows his head once. “With pleasure.”

  “I will shift, if my family goes free,” I say.

  “You are in no position to barter.” Murtagh dismisses me. “There are laws and we must all, every single one of us, follow them.”

  “My family has done nothing,” I say.

  “You are all Passiefs,” Murtagh says. “Doves.”

  “Don’t do it, Shae!” Mom yells. The Ravensgaard who stands next to her cracks his hand across her face.

  Ice flies across the crown of my head and engulfs my face, cracking down across my neck. I don’t even try to fight it down. I raise my face and a shriek comes from my throat that I didn’t even know I could make in human form. Shifters throughout the room respond in a cacophony of answering battle cries.

  “You will shift.” Murtagh steps from the dais and pulls Henry from Mom’s arms.

  “Ow!” Henry cries.

  “Leave him alone!” I push forward, but Vasquez restrains me. I struggle, but he’s a grown man and a shifter. I’m futile.

  “If you will not shift for us, shift for him.” Murtagh lays his ebony cane across Henry’s neck and squeezes it back.

  “Shae?” There’s terror in Henry’s choked voice.

  “Let him go!” I’ve never heard the voice that comes up from inside me. It barrels from my guts and flies through my torso, aimed right at Murtagh. Ice rage crackles over me.

  “Get your hands off my little brother!” I shout. “Hud feroaring ontstaan!”

  The words are a blur ripping through me as furious power explodes, shoots through every part of my body, and shatters the ice.

  I will take Murtagh by force!

  I hurl through the air with my talons raised and my wings outspread and my beak open.

  The smile wipes off of Murtagh’s face.

  He’s afraid.

  I screech in delight.

  Murtagh’s hands fall off my brother as he shifts into a raven and we meet in mid-air, talons dig into each other’s bodies and beaks rip at each other’s faces.

  The room erupts in pandemonium around us. I’m caught in a maelstrom of black feathers as Murtagh and I fight for each other’s blood. Our wings get tangled up and we fall to the ground, rolling over and over each other until I’m on top of him holding him down with one claw while the other slashes at his body.

  Murtagh shifts.

  The black raven is gone and the man lies undern
eath me, his head turned to one side, blood pours from multiple tears up and down his torso. The painting of the giant eagle gashing Prometheus stares down at me.

  Blood drips from my beak onto the gallery floor.

  I have become one of the animals in the paintings.

  “Enough!” Aiden’s dad shouts above the din of growling, cawing, and screeching that’s overtaken the room.

  Breathe in the flowers. Blow out the candles.

  I slide back into my human form, head bowed. Murtagh moans. His head lolls away from me. His body is healing, but it’s slow. He’s losing blood. I rip part of my t-shirt off and press it against his wounds.

  Callum moves between Murtagh and me. “I’ll take care of him,” he says, waving over a Ravensgaard.

  I scan the room for Henry. Blood, feathers and fur are everywhere. My attack on Murtagh must have instigated a free for all, but now all the shifters move back into their human forms, bruised and panting. But, there’s my brother. He stands next to Mom, staring at me, eyes like saucers. I rush to him and pull him into my arms.

  “You - you’re a bird,” Henry whispers so only I can hear.

  My laugh sounds more like a sob as I hold him close and kiss the top of his head. How can I tell him it’s all over for us? Now they have undeniable proof to execute me, and they will kill him, too.

  Liam and Tom come up and pull us in front of Van Arend. Murtagh stands there, held upright by Callum, his mouth gaping.

  “Shae was wrongly accused!” Van Arend proclaims. I’m startled. I look at him over Henry’s head.

  “What?” I ask.

  “She is a Passief,” insists Murtagh, his breath rattles in his chest.

  “It’s obvious she isn’t,” Zan snarls at Murtagh.

  “I’m not?” I ask in confusion.

  “We all saw her shift. Here in this trial,” Aiden states. “She is a Plunderaar.”

  “What?” I exclaim, as my head whips around to my friends. Aiden is silent. Zan smiles at me and nods.

  “She shifted into a dove during the battle,” insists Murtagh.

  “Zan, what am I?” I ask. She gives me a look that tells me to be cautious. Very cautious. She doesn’t have to. I get it, but still, I need to know. “Zan,” I whisper.

  “A Plunderaar,” she says.

  “But, what kind?” I insist.

  Zan looks away. She doesn’t want to answer me. I look to Roman, but he’s very busy with imaginary lint on his sweatshirt sleeve. Only Aiden will look at me. He opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, his dad’s voice booms across the gallery.

  “This girl is one of your own clan.” Van Arend speaks reprovingly to Murtagh.

  I look to Aiden for confirmation. He gives a slight nod as he puts fingers on my lips.

  “You’re a Plunderaar,” he whispers. “Okay?”

  He doesn’t move his fingers until I nod and he knows I won’t say anything. Callum catches my eye. He looks as perplexed as I am.

  “You are a raven,” whispers Henry. “A raven!”

  A raven? I’m related to Callum somehow?

  “But - but, she’s a dove,” insists Murtagh. “You all saw it on the field. You all saw it.”

  “Ridder Murtagh, you will be taken into custody for inappropriate use of martial law,” says Van Arend. “Because you are the Ridder here, you will be sent to the Order for judgment and a fair trial.” He turns to Vasquez who is flanked by two eagles. “You will be removed into custody, with him, for attacking and killing humans.”

  “What about the Ravensgaard?” Callum steps forward. “Who will lead them?”

  “I will head your clan,” says Van Arend, “until we hear from the Order how to proceed. Now, if you do not mind, it has been a long night.”

  Callum takes Murtagh’s cane and pounds it three times on the dais. It signals the end of the trial. It marks the beginning of my new life.

  Zan and Roman grab me in a bear hug.

  “Did you know?” I ask them. “Did you know I could be a raven?”

  Zan shakes her head. “I didn’t.”

  My gaze seeks out Roman. “But, you said, ‘Be who you are.’”

  “I knew there was still something odd about you,” says Roman.

  “Thanks.” I elbow him with a smile.

  “Something we didn’t know yet,” he grins. “I thought it was worth a shot.”

  “Can I still -” My words are cut off by Aiden’s hand on my mouth.

  “Later,” he says as he steps towards me and envelopes me, his hands slip to the small of my back like he’ll never let me go. I soak up his warmth for a moment, then push him away.

  “Where’s Callum?” I divert my gaze through the crowded hall, but shifters are milling around, breaking into pockets. Someone has arranged for food to be served and it looks like a party is starting.

  “Shae!” Mom grabs my hand, her eyes glistening. “I’m so proud of you!” She gives me the biggest, warmest hug I’ve ever had from her.

  I hug her back. Hard. She’ll suffer rages the rest of her life, but I know it’s not my fault.

  “Where’s Dad?” I ask.

  Mom’s face crumbles. “I - I don’t -”

  “My eagles found him on the hill side,” Van Arend steps onto the balcony. “He had a run in with Vasquez.”

  “Is he -?” I can’t choke the words out.

  Van Arend shakes his head. “He’s alive, but pretty beat up. I tried to have him taken to the hospital or even here, but he wouldn’t allow it. He insisted on going home.”

  “Let’s go home.” Mom puts her arm around Henry.

  I couldn’t agree more.

  31

  The wind howls up the canyon but the rains of the last few days have removed any trace of embers left glowing on the hillside. It took longer than that to get the reporters out of Topanga. Stories about flocks of attacking birds and murderous mountain lions spread across the nation. Topanga has been swarmed with reporters and morbid gawkers of all kinds, but there wasn’t anything unusual when they arrived.

  Nothing the general public would ever see, at least. Just a quiet canyon town on the outskirts of L.A.

  The night is cold enough that we’ve built a fire in the hearth. Blue and orange flames cast long shadows on the wall. I don’t know what happened to Dad up on the hillside, but he was fine by the time we got home. In fact, he’s been better than ever. I’m suspicious, but when I’ve tried to ask him about it, he just whistles and walks off, getting back to work on the house.

  It’s only been two weeks since the Muiderkring trial, but Dad has reroofed the house, rebuilt the fireplace and completed a remodel of the entire interior while he was at it. He had some help from the shifter community and, of course, Mom telling him what to do. I’m glad they left some of the old touches like the green tile and the old boulder fireplace. But, the newly sanded and polished hardwood floors and the custom-made sofa makes it finally feel like our house; my family’s sanctuary.

  This is exactly the kind of night to be home with family and friends.

  Roman sits at the make shift corner table Dad set up for Henry in the living room. They’ve opened Henry’s new microscope kit and Roman shows him how to set it up. Henry thinks it’s so cool Roman can turn into a frog and shoot poison from his fingers, he’ll follow Roman anywhere. I know Roman hopes to foster an enthusiastic science buff, but I’m pretty sure my little brother will have his head back in his books before too long.

  "When will you get your nose out of those books?" I push the sole of my foot against Zan’s thigh. She lays on her stomach on the floor with her feet kicked in the air, twirling back and forth as she turns the pages of some huge, ancient volume she’s dug up from who knows where. She brings a different one over every night.

  "When she finds what she’s looking for," grins Roman. "Tenacious as a blood hound."

  "She’s gotta be running out of books," I say.

  “Hey,” Zan kicks her foot at me. “I’m in the room.” />
  “We didn’t think you were listening,” I laugh.

  “Am I the only one who cares she’s a Nuvervel?” asks Zan.

  “Probably,” Roman shrugs.

  “Nuvervel.” I roll the word around in my mouth. “How do you make strangeling sound so cool?”

  “Well, the minute someone figures out what she is, we’ll be in trouble again.” Zan ignores my question.

  “C’mon,” I say. “The fact I can shift between two different birds has got to be awesome, right?”

  “You have a lot to learn about shifters,” smiles Aiden.

  “The last known Nuvervel was two hundred years ago in London.” Zan flicks through the book she’s been and points to a page. “1802. Zaragoza knew all this and tried to hide it.”

  “You shouldn’t be able to switch between two birds,” says Aiden.

  “Well, I can. And, I think it’s pretty cool,” I smile.

  “We all think it’s cool,” Zan agrees. “But, I’ll guarantee you there are laws around being a Nuvervel and, we’ll need to know what they are when the Order finds out about you.”

  “Don’t be in too much of a hurry, Zan,” says Aiden. “You never know what those books will uncover.” He sits on the sofa, too, but at the other end. His arms crossed over his chest, keeping his distance from both Zan and me.

  That’s just fine.

  I can’t change that I love him. But, I can also never do anything about it. So, if he keeps his distance it’ll be easier.

  A tapping at the door is almost indiscernible over the wind. But, my brother hears it. He looks up. The rapping grows louder.

  “Get the door.” Mom yells from the kitchen. She’s closed the studio for the week and has spent her time working with Dad to finish the remodel on the house. Her abruptness hasn’t changed, but, at least she’s been staying with the family. She’s not hiding upstairs anymore in guilt and shame. The sharing of secrets has relieved us all.

  I also think Zaragoza might have given her some ancient potion that alleviates her anger attacks.

  “Sure, Mom.” I don’t move a muscle. “Get the door, Henry.”

  He rolls his eyes, but jumps up anyhow. He will do anything for me since he saw me turn into a raven.