Soulshift

by Arizona Tape

  I snorted again. I must be going a little crazy. The body switching I could deal with. That was obviously real, it couldn't not be. The feelings and sensations were far too real, and while I'd been Tate, I hadn't felt the yearning hunger to feed, and disgust at the thought.

  Actually, I still didn't feel that.

  I ran my tongue over the back of my canines, surprised to discover that they were in fact vampire length. Okay, so a hundred percent back in my body. As if Sian hadn't been the giveaway there. But then, why wasn't I hungry...oh no.

  My eyes flicked between Sian and the two empty glasses sat on the wooden table. Shit. She hadn't? Right? Tate had been a vampire for a couple of hours, and she'd been drinking blood? I didn't understand the jealousy welling up inside me. How did she find it so easy fitting into my body when I didn't

  "Ayra, please, talk to me," Sian begged, her eyes widening as she looked at me.

  "Sorry, what?"

  "What's wrong? You're scaring me."

  "I'm just a little out of it," I replied, not completely sure what to say about any of it. There was no easy way to tell your girlfriend you'd switched bodies with someone and kissed their fiancé. Or been kissed by their fiancé. Devon had started it.

  No, Ayra. Stop.

  Even if he'd started it, that didn't excuse my behaviour. I'd still kissed someone else. And while thoughts of the kiss itself were making my heart skip a beat and do other weird things, I was also feeling a little guilty. Mostly because Sian had no idea it wasn't me she'd been here with.

  "Maybe you're right, maybe you shouldn't drink blood," she said with a soft smile, stroking her fingers across my cheek. Much to my disappointment, it was too soft. Or just, not enough. It was no hand in my hair tugging my lips towards her. Nor was it an insistent touch demanding that I let myself be touched and touch in return. Mostly because the thoughts that assailed me along with those descriptions were all centered around someone a lot more...male than Sian was. And that just opened a whole new kettle of fish.

  "How many have I had?" I was curious, but also, it made sense to continue this charade. Not only was it a great explanation for how oddly I was acting, but it could also give me a great excuse not to drink so often in the future.

  "One, Ayra. You only finished it five minutes ago." A frown crossed her beautiful features. She was so stunning. I always wondered how I captured someone so perfect. At least, perfect on paper.

  "Oh. How long have we been here?"

  Her frown deepened.

  Oops, maybe I should be thinking more about the questions I was asking. I was pretty sure I was giving myself away. At least, if Sian for a moment believed I was switching bodies with another woman.

  "Since I finished work, I picked you up from the park near the church, don't you remember?"

  It was my turn to frown. I remembered walking through the park. I always walked through the park after I'd met Marcus for coffee. Which meant I'd definitely need to explain my absence to David in the morning. Probably time to pull out the that-time-of-the-month card. Thankfully, I'd never used it before. Kind of hard to when vampires were only actually fertile once a year. Say that to any man and he'd let it slide faster than saying 'here, have some chocolate'.

  Okay, so, Tate had been with Sian almost the entire time we'd been swapped. That was disappointing. I'd had almost no time with Devon in comparison. Stupid freak out cutting my time short.

  Wait, what?

  Why was I even thinking these things? I shouldn't want to spend more time with this man. I was in a loving, stable relationship with a beautiful woman. And I loved Sian. Didn't I?

  "Oh."

  "Ayra..."

  "Sorry, I must be tired." I gave her one of my winning smiles. The kind that normally got her to forget what was going on. It'd gotten her into bed on multiple occasions too. Now there was a better train of thought.

  "Oh Ayra, you need to take better care of yourself." Her words should have sounded a little condescending, but they didn't. She was just saying it because she loved and cared about me.

  I leaned in, cupping her cheek with my hand, and pressed my lips against hers. She responded almost immediately. But this wasn't like any of our past kisses. They normally filled me with a sense of rightness.

  But no, this kiss just felt wrong.

  Chapter 8

  I checked myself in the mirror of the public bathroom, almost laughing at how awful I looked. Marcus texted me last night, saying we should go all out this year and try the Gothic look for this year's Vampire Festival. Normally, we didn't bother. We were already vampires after all. We hardly needed to dress up to pretend we weren't.

  And so, I'd done exactly what he'd asked. Dark make-up, black lacy corset and a tulle skirt that wouldn't have looked out of place on a ballerina. Except for the colour that was. Fishnet tights, and one of those funny little hat-grip slide things finished off my look. Hey, I might like dresses, but I wasn't a super girly girl. There was no room to be when I worked in such a male dominated space. Well, and lived as part of a male dominated society. unsurprisingly, given how long we lived, vampires were kind of old fashioned, and when the previous generation had been alive in the seventeen hundreds, it was hard for them to shake such ridiculous notions. My grandparent's generation was even worse. You should have heard them going on about the bloody restoration. As if it even mattered whether the churches were Catholic or Protestant, we couldn't go in them anyway, nor any other kind of religious establishment. Even other supernatural ones.

  That was just about the only lore about vampires that was true. Well, consecrated ground too. And Holy water was kind of an irritant, but only the way garlic was for humans. Oh, which we could eat.

  As far as I knew a stake through the heart would do us in, but then again, it would do just about anyone in unless they were an armadillo shifter with built in armor.

  Which was why I loved this Festival so much. It was like watching fiction about my own people, and it was amusing to see how the humans took it. So many of them wore crosses, which weirdly, wouldn't affect us.

  Actually, not true. They could affect us. But only if they were held by someone who truly believed. As far as I knew, that extended to other things too. If someone believed that the deity up there was a giant flying teapot, and held all teaspoons as a sign of their religion, then holding one out would stop a vampire.

  Weird, now that I thought about it.

  "Ayra, you in there?" Marcus called, knocking on the door with his fist. I sighed, slicking on the last of the black lipstick I'd picked up from the store on my way. It felt icky to me, but Marcus had given me instructions, and I followed.

  "Coming," I called back, doing another once over in the mirror. Yes. I'd definitely fit in.

  I pulled open the door and burst out laughing. Marcus looked almost as comical as I did. At least I had sexy going for me too. Or I hoped I did, I didn't really want to look terrible. And there was no denying that this corset made my boobs look fantastic.

  "Oi, what's so funny?"

  "You look like a gay Dracula," I blurted out through my laughter.

  "I resent that."

  "Which bit? Gay? Or Dracula?" I'd just about managed to control my laughter, but the mock outrage on his face almost undid me again.

  "Dracula and you know it. It's never a good thing when you have to hypnotise women to sleep with you."

  "I don't think Lucy actually slept with Dracula. Didn't they stake her first?" I asked, knowing full well that I was right. Classic literature was a passion of mine and Marcus knew it. He shouldn't even be trying to argue with me.

  "Bet that wasn't the way she wanted to be staked." He wiggled his eyebrows as he spoke, and my giggles burst free.

  "No, probably not," I acknowledged. I had to admit, the thought was a funny one.

  We wandered around the Festival, taking in the wide array of costumes. Humans really did crack me up. They had everything. Some people wore contacts that made their eyes red, and fangs that ex
tended down their chins. Hadn't anyone told them how inconvenient that would be? Especially as most vampires didn't drink directly from the vein anymore. Would likely cause a little bit of a ruckus if any of us snatched someone off the street and stabbed their fangs into their neck.

  But my favourites were the people dressed up like the more contemporary vampires. One of whom seemed to have sprayed his entire body in glitter, a shirt gaping open to reveal that he definitely was sprayed all over. Disturbing, but amusing. I was glad we didn't sparkle, it'd be so damned inconvenient.

  It always fascinated me how humans seemed to think we were so different from them. It was illogical, if you asked me. We lived, we loved, we ate, we worked. Basically, we did everything humans did, we just lived a little longer while doing it. And drank blood to survive.

  Eurgh blood. Just the thought of it had my stomach tied in knots. It'd been a couple of days since Tate had drunk it for me, and the benefits were definitely starting to wear off a bit. I wasn't in desperate need of a drink, but overall, I was tireder, and a little headachy. Nothing a good strong cup of coffee wouldn't fix.

  With that in mind, I steered Marcus towards one of the pop up café things, all of which seemed decked out in tacky vampire decorations. It was seriously bad, as if it was Halloween and not summer time. Oh well, it was the same every year, and it didn't seem to stop me from coming.

  It did stop Sian though. She hated coming to these things. Said it was insensitive to an entire race. I just hoped I'd get home and be able to shower before she saw me dressed like this. Although, she might like the corset in other circumstances.

  My mind wandered off, trying to picture my beautiful girlfriend's face when she saw me in it, and not much else. Except it wasn't Sian inhabiting my fantasy with me. It was someone taller, harder, much more obviously male, though he still smelled of the sea breeze, so at least that was normal. He was looking at me like a predator eyed up the creature that was becoming it's midnight snack. Oh I wouldn't mind being his snack alright.

  "Earth to Ayra! You okay there?" Marcus was waving a hand in front of my face, and I jumped back, my face flushing as guilt assailed me. I shouldn't be thinking about Devon at all, never mind be replacing Sian with him. That was just wrong...or was it?

  No, Ayra. Stop.

  "Sorry," I muttered.

  "Where were you?" he asked, his voice low and quiet. Almost intimate, but not in that way. He wouldn't dare. Besides, he knew I was Sian's. Or Sian was mine, however this whole thing worked. Except that given the recent direction of my thoughts, that might not be the case anymore.

  "Just thinking."

  He frowned, concern flashing through his eyes. Bless him, he always wanted to look out for me.

  "Is everything alright with Sian?"

  Now there was the question I'd dreaded anyone asking. Mostly because I wasn't sure how things were with Sian. A little strained possibly? It was hard to tell. We'd hardly talked or touched after that first morning when she'd tried mothering me and I'd snarled at her. Like actual teeth baring snarled. I still wasn't sure where it'd come from, but it had.

  "Fine." It was a better answer than trying to explain any of the truth. Marcus raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced.

  The queue for the coffee shortened, and we were now second in line. Probably time to work out what I actually wanted. Not the vile red stuff they were trying to pass off as 'blood coffee'.

  Silly humans.

  Blood wasn't even that unnatural bright red colour for very long. That was just the oxidation process. But even so, it wasn't the most appetising of colours.

  "If you want to talk about it, I'm here," he said evenly, and I nodded. He was telling the truth and I knew it. He'd never once promised to drop something and then did not.

  "Thanks," I replied as earnestly as I could. I really was grateful. Marcus was a good friend.

  "Hi, what can I get you?" the acne riddled teenager behind the counter asked, his own fake teeth only hampering his words a little. Maybe he had practice? Though it was weird to think that people would dress up as vampires more often than once or twice a year.

  "Non-fat latte, please," Marcus answered with a winning smile. Oh, so he was on one of his health and fitness binges, then?

  "Ayra?" he asked me.

  I shrugged, looking up and down at the chalkboard menu, my eyes finding it difficult to concentrate through the slight haze that seemed to overtake me.

  It was swiftly followed by a sharp pain, and darkness flashing across them. Time to take over another body then.

  Chapter 9

  Why was my face sticky? And why were their warm hands on my arm? They were definitely male hands, but Marcus shouldn't be warm. He was as much of a vampire as I was. Maybe even more of one to be honest. He wasn't completely repulsed by the sight of blood after all.

  "Tate, honey, are you okay?" a smooth male voice asked. A smooth male voice I recognised. Devon. My heart skipped a beat and my breathing quickened. If that was possible. I already felt a little short of breath.

  "Devon?" I croaked, needing to be sure that it was in fact him.

  "Hey, honey." He stroked my hair away from my face. His hand surprisingly rough. Which reminded me, I still had no idea what he did. Then again, did anyone know anything about anyone after only having met them twice? It was odd. It almost felt like I should know Devon better. Or like I did know him better but it didn't come across in my mind. Maybe it was just Tate's body remembering his. I could hope. Or not. Wow that was doing weird things to my head and heart.

  "Hey." My voice was scratchy, and I wondered if it was the swap, or whatever it was Tate had been doing before hand. But what had she been up to? Not Devon. At least, not if the clothes I was wearing were anything to go by. Damn. She could have left me with something fun to do.

  "What happened?" He sounded concerned, but firm, making me think of the doctors I often watched on those TV soaps. Normally at three AM in the morning when I was stressing over Sian's avoidance of our sex life. Which, came to think of it, seemed a lot more noticeable than before. We hadn't slept together since I began swapping with Tate, and while it had only been a week or so, that was a long time in Ayra land. Normally Sian would give in well before that, just so she could bite me. I had to admit that bit was fun at least.

  "I don't know," I muttered, opening my eyes slowly and blinking away the ache. "Where am I?" I looked around, surprised by the opulence surrounding me. Not sure why though, Tate and Devon's apartment made it clear they didn't want it for money. This was something different though. It reminded me of the inside of my parents' home. Over lavished and completely pointless. Just one of the reasons I refused to accept any money off them. Sian's parents had left her a little bit of money when they died, enough for us to put a deposit down on our home. Well, Sian's home, I guessed. I might pay for half of it, but it was only in her name. But other than that, we basically looked after ourselves. Neither of us had terrible salaries, but we weren't rolling in money. We weren't struggling either. It was just right.

  "At your parents. We came here earlier, remember?" He spoke softly, and carefully, his concern evident. Whether that was because I didn't seem to remember, or because I was lying on the floor, I wasn't sure. Wait, had I fainted again? I didn't think so. I'd just been with Marcus and thinking about blood, and Devon, and all the rest. Then I'd been here. With Devon.

  Hold on a second...was that how it worked? Did I just need to think of him to appear with him? That was handy to know.

  "Oh yes, my parents." Well, shit. There was a problem and a half. I was just about maybe convincing Devon I was Tate, I stood no chance convincing her parents. They knew her better. Or they probably did. No one went for Saturday lunch with their folks without having a close relationship. Oh well, at least I didn't have to grope around for names. Mum and Dad would do.

  "Are you quite finished with your dramatics, Tate?" an older woman sighed, looking down at me with disapproval written all over her face. It was odd.
She looked a lot like me, but older. More like me than even my own Mother looked. I'd long ago come to the conclusion I didn't look like either of my parents. Who knew where I'd come from really. But this woman? She was like a slightly older version of me but with skin a shade paler. I frowned. Then again, I had slightly paler skin now too.

  "Huh?" I half-grunted.

  Wow, Ayra. Eloquent.

  "Marian, please." Devon's voice was calm, but firm.

  "Don't doctor me, Devon. You're not her Mother, you don't know Tate like I do." The woman's nostrils flared. Huh. This was Tate's Mother? But why were they visiting if this was how her mother was talking to her? It seemed...odd.

  "I wouldn't dare," Devon muttered, probably too quiet for her to hear, but I wasn't too sure. Hmm, so things weren't all okay there either.

  "Tatiana Alyssa Orrin, you're about to turn twenty-five, couldn't you at least pretend to have it together and not like you're turning of age while still acting like a child."

  Eurgh, no wonder she used Tate, I'd use it too if my real name was Tatiana. That answered the question of whether or not she was a supernatural or not. This was as clear of a yes as I could get. Humans seemed to count eighteen as coming of age, whereas we counted twenty-five. I wasn't even sure if anything special would happen, I was twenty-four myself. But I supposed that made sense. Tate and I looked almost identical, our ages being so, made sense. And Devon hadn't batted an eyelid when I'd told him my birthday, so it seemed we were exactly the same age.

  I wondered if there was anything to that.

  "Sorry," I muttered, pushing myself up so that I was propped up, looking at a concerned Devon. He placed a steadying hand on my back, shuffling around so he could offer proper support. He was so sweet. Why wasn't he mine?

  Oops, better cut that thought. This was not a dream, and I was still with Sian. Until I had a chance to talk to her, there would be nothing with the sexy man in front of me. There couldn't be. Though I was now more than certain I needed to have a talk with Sian. That I needed to end things.