[The Shifters Committee 01.0] Time Shifters

by Rebecca Foxx

  “I’m not crazy,” Abigail says angrily, “What’s crazy is allowing vampires to hide out in your attic when they are passing through town.”

  It’s like my parents were a stop along the Underground Railroad for vampire escapees. “Abigail, you have to leave them alone.” I say, “They did not do anything.”

  “Oh I’m sure they did.” Abigail brings her sword wielding arm up above her head. She is getting ready to strike down and kill Sahara and Loraine, but I won’t have any of it. I jump forward and knock her over; she clearly was not expecting me to act.

  I go to grab her katana to get it away from her; she is too distracted by me to see Loraine jumping up towards us. Loraine bites Abigail’s neck and latches on like an angry hound.

  “Stop!” I shout, “Don’t do that!”

  It’s too late though. Loraine sucks Abigail dry until she is emptied of every bit of blood in her system. Loraine stands and wipes blood off of her face. “Thanks,” she says to me.

  “Bitch! I was going to marry her!” I say as I stand.

  “She would have said no,” Loraine says, “Did you not hear her? She was only with you to find out what you knew.” She smiles, “But it’s good to know there is a vampire sympathizer in town in case any other hunters come our way.” Loraine stretches and reaches down towards Abigail, grabbing her by her ankle. “I’ll dump the body and let the clan know about Damion.”

  “You don’t seem too sad that your boyfriend is dead,” Sahara says.

  “I get over things fast.” Loraine says and drags Abigail’s dead body off like this was just the most casual thing ever.

  Sahara and I are alone now. I stare at her, unsure of what to say. Thankfully she speaks first, “No wonder I was so attracted to you.” She says, “If your parents had been hiding vampires in your home throughout your life, perhaps I sensed it?”

  “You can do that?” I ask.

  “You really don’t know much about vampires, do you?” Sahara asks.

  “I know that one of them just killed my girlfriend.” I cross my arms, surprised that I am not more upset than I am, “She turned out to be an entirely different person than I thought. I mean, I saw this list she kept of all of her kills… it was pretty disturbing. I don’t know if I could be with someone who like that…you haven’t ever killed anyone, have you?”

  “Yeah.” Sahara says rather casually. “They all deserve it. A bunch of ex boyfriends, I have to admit.”

  “Damn.” I say, not at all eager to get involved with someone who has you for a snack if it does not work out. Then again, I’m so curious about this woman. “Anyone I would know?”

  She smiles and takes a step towards me, “Ever hear of Jack the Ripper?”

  I raise an eyebrow, “You dated Jack the Ripper?”

  “He was actually really sweet other than the whole serial murderer thing.” Sahara laughs, “Let’s just say I have not made the best choices in men.”

  “Sounds that way.” I say, “So what does that say about me then?”

  She steps forward again and then touches my chest. I find myself blushing at her touch, but I am almost positive I am not under some sort of spell this time. “It says that the law of chance is on our side at this point.” She smiles. Even with those fangs, she has a nice smile.

  “I’m not sure if I’m about to make a terrible mistake,” I say and grab her hand, “Or the best decision of my life. Sahara, would you like to have coffee sometime?”

  She is practically glowing with excitement, “You are asking me on a date? Like a human date?”

  “As long as you promise never to drink blood in front of me,” I say, “Then maybe we see where this goes. I mean, last night was pretty awesome, right?”

  Sahara shrieks happily and scoops me into a tight hug, “You have got to meet my clan! Oh, they are going to love you! And if your parents are really vampire sympathizers, well, our families will get along so well! This is great!” she drags me to the other side of the cemetery towards the crept.

  I am smiling despite my nerves to meet a group of vampires. “Hold on,” I say and stop her before we go down into the underground caves. I pull her in and give her a gentle kiss on her carefully painted pink lips. I have a feeling that my life is about to get very interesting.

  THE END

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  Blood Moon Lovers

  Preface

  "This is a magic flower," said the old man to little Sarah pulling the plant out of his pocket. "This has withered, but is still alive, keep it until the day you will have your large greenhouse and place it there."

  "Can I smell it?" smiled the little girl.

  "No, you don't have enough lifetime. Remember, this is a magic flower and it will recover its magical features only once, when it will be smelled and get energy from an eternal living soul," said the old wise man. "And remember, that this should be our secret."

  Little Sarah smiled. She kept it a secret, but did not know, that, indeed, one day she would have a greenhouse and that flower would prove its magic power.

  Chapter 1

  That was a perfect place for the writers, who would like to get inspired, and the travelers, who were seeking for adventures having spent all their sensations at every possible place on the earth.

  When a baby was born in one of the villages surrounding the huge impressive and dark forest, then the elders were not telling fairy-tales or frighten them with devils, into behaving well, but instead they would tell them about a vampire living in the heart of the deep forest.

  And little Sarah Wood was not an exception. She was also told about the vampire and listen to the rumors with her eyes wide open. However, when she grew up and became a big beautiful and educated woman, she stopped to believe in that legend unlike her villagers.

  Before the crazy chain of strange events would happen, she managed to be one of the most admired woman in the community. She was as beautiful as the object of the most marvelous descriptions in the famous romance books. She was masterpiece not only outside, but also inside.

  Her tender nature that became excited when the birds would sing over the blue lake was also strong like the roots of oak growing around the lake. Her fragile heart that had compassion for every living things was a perfect contrast with her strong arms and hips. They would not tremble when the wind would go mad over the world and shake trees creating a divine symphony.

  Her strong fingers would tenderly run into the hair of her mother and encourage her when she needed it. Her waist was as narrow as the trunk of the tall narrow flexible yet strong trees, which disobeyed mad winds.

  Sarah was a successful woman as much as her profession and business allowed her to be one. And by the age of 22, she had dedicated all her passions to her job.

  She was a self-educated biologist who knew every plant in the world. Some were known to her through books, the others were observed by her in the villages surrounding the great forest and those in the outer parts of the forest as no one had ever thought of going deep into. First, that was a reflex, but one day she made her mind up to penetrate into the darkness of the forbidden forest to study all the plants inside its virgin deepness.

  But before that fatal day would arrive, fatal as her charm and courage, fatal as the love and forbiddance that would change the universe in her eyes, she was the most adored woman in the villages known for her divine beauty and perfect mind.

  Her house was on the edge of the forest, on the edge of the earth. It was a place humbly hidden from the hectic storm of the developing world. It was a heavenly place, that breathed in various hues of fresh wavering air, autumn morning mists, summer evening breezes and cool winter sunsets.

  Sometimes people from near and far neighborhood would gather at their place in the cool late autumn evenings, where the Woods would make an unbelievably huge fire , so bright and rich that it lightened large area leading
to the forest. They would sit around the fire and talk about anything happening in the world and even out.

  They heated the fire with arguments and when they ran out adrenaline of provoking talks, they invented stories out of nothing. It was matter of fantasy, sometimes it was just a matter of boredom. The Woods were strict folks, even Sarah's grandfather and great grandfather were famous for being strict priests teaching moral as sunrise grew into sunset.

  There were periods of boredom and to get out of stress, they came back to the most controversial issues about the Vampire duke. The discussions about Duke excited their heart and mind but for Sarah, that was a funny legend which she refused to believe in.

  When she saw the young teenage girls getting madly involved in those discussions with tension of all their innocent eyes and ears, she would grab their hands and take them to her greenhouse in the back of the Woods house. It seemed as if the most wonderful flowers would grow there.

  When one entered there, the divine scent of the hundreds of flowers would make them go crazy from admiration and excitement. Many told that it had to be cut from paradise. Even just walking by it and seeing the marvelous flowers and plants from the thick glasses of the greenhouse pleased their soul.

  Sarah loved classical music and believed that flowers have good taste in music too. She would turn violin, piano, saxophone music on and watch the flowers awakening form their tender beautiful sleep.

  Sometimes Sarah stopped watching her tamed flowers and looked at the daisies spread on the valley, which were told a freedom lullaby by the summer wind.

  Sarah knew the names of thousands plants and knew what scent each possessed. And they smelled in different ways depending on her mood and season. She knew when they were born and dead and revived. She knew how tender each plant was: some were coarse like her eyelashes, and some were tender like her eyelids.

  She knew colors each flower possessed both under midday sky, when the sun was yellow like the yellow of the egg and under midnight sky, when the moon was cool pale silver like the fish scale. She also knew about their possible usage.

  Some were poisonous so that only from their sight one could go deaf and blind, but at the same time useful as they could be used in medicine and cure illnesses. Some were safe and gentle like the blue birds flying over magic lake, which did not bring anything but sense of peace and freedom.

  Sometimes when travelers visited that remote place, they went to the greenhouse as people go to sightseeing places to enjoy excursions. There was a large ancient building made into a guesthouse that belonged to the Woods, and that was where the travelers would rest for a day or two and go back as there was no other road or path to follow and reach.

  The forest was not recommended for them as it was full of wild animals questing for blood, let alone the vampire about which the villagers did not dare to tell the foreigners as they wouldn't believe them anyway. But they were generous in telling frightening stories around a cup of hot tea.

  One of those evenings, village had visitors, two travelers called John and Mark. A traveler called Mark smiled at Sarah. He apparently liked the ivory color of her sensual skin. However, she was indifferent to his charm.

  He kept talking as if with all, but seeking her silent approval, which he did not get. Sarah felt the haunting gaze of the foreigner and left the large living room of their house, that had a good fireplace. The travelers kept telling their stories to the villagers who needed to hear news and also discuss the foreigners after they would leave as it happened always.

  Sarah cut the way of the narrow hall and went upstairs to her bedroom. She picked her woolen mantle, put it on her shoulders covering the big virgin breasts and went down again. Being tired of the conversations and hectic movements of the crowd, she wanted to get peace at her favorite place near the lake.

  She walked through the narrow path that led to the lake. It was surrounded by wild flowers, and the air was full of whispers of wild birds. She sat on the broken tree trunk, which had extended to the lake.

  She loved to sit there and hang down her legs above the water without touching it in warm seasons and just holding it in position just to enjoy its view and not sensing its coldness in cool seasons. She wanted so much to test the temperature of the water now, though it was late summer and not so warm evening, that indeed did so being bold and never depriving herself of her wishes.

  She loved to kill her fears to not letting them limit her. So she raised her flowery skirt up and slowly lifted her right leg into the water. Her beautiful sexual feet went deep into the dark water and her hips shone under the silver moon. Her hips suddenly urged to penetrate into the water too. So she looked around to ensure that no one was around, put off her skirt and gave her hips the pleasure to get wet. She leaned her arms on the tree and enjoyed the remote sight of the forest lying ahead. How much she wanted to go there.

  Probably it is full of marvelous plants and flowers which exist only in that area. She wanted to be bold enough and visit that place, which should be virgin like her body, never touched, never studied, never tested. Many had gone there and never come back as it was full of wild animals, not some vampires as folks told.

  Well, she would not dare to go there. Not that. But what if she went, just not too far. Just enough to examine the new foreign plants, to add them to her collection and enrich her greenhouse with new members?

  She was enjoying her dreams and even fears when suddenly heard a sound of some branches getting broken or being pushed. There was no wind and no single leaf was moving, so she concentrated all her listening to the direction of the sound.

  She tried to catch on more sound, but there wasn’t any. She got anxious as it repeated, but she could not see anyone. She put her skirt on, took the mantle and left the lake still turning and looking back. Her watchful departure was successful.

  She came home, and began to like still hot and cheerful voices of the conversation coming from the living room. It gave her sense of safety. However, she did not join them, as her mere passing by the door did not remain unnoticed by the traveler interested in her.

  So she went to upstairs and pushed the curtains away, as the window was looking at the lake lying far. There wasn’t anyone, but wind was playing. “Was there wind then? I am not sure anymore. No, there wasn’t any, it just began or I must have been excited and been mistaken.

  Who could be there at that late hour? Anyone could be there, but why did they try to conceal or be careful not to be noticed? Was I being followed? Uhh, I must have gone crazy of the mad dreams of observing forest for flowers,” she thought. She threw herself on her soft bed. It felt comfortable, soft and safe as never. “Come on, you are a brave girl, what’s with you, Sarah?” she asked herself and laughed at her own fears. She considered her fears to be sillier in the morning, when the sun shone over the land and penetrated into her room bringing new energetic mood.

  Chapter 2

  “We want to go into the forest," said one of the travelers, John, a strong tall man with beard and great confidence.

  “That is perilous," said Emma Wood, “No one has ever returned from there.”

  “Because of the wild animals?”asked Mark.

  “No, because of... well, you will not believe in my story, but believe there is some evil force there. A vampire is living there, he reigns the forest.” whispered Mrs. Wood.

  “Ahahah,” laughed out John with his high pitched voice from which birds sitting on the window flew away. “Are you kidding, Mrs. Wood? Oh my god, these folks are very naive.”

  Mark, who looked confident too, but not too self absorbed and so arrogant, limited his fun with a humble smile.

  “There are no vampires, Mrs. Wood. The vampires exist only in books, though they are out of fashion now,” he said talking to Emma Wood, but looking at her daughter.

  Sarah was drinking hot cup of coffee and following their conversation without saying a word. She did not believe in that story either, however, the arrogant behavior of the newcomers see
med to her disrespectful, as they were thinking about them to be folks out of fashion like stories about the vampires.

  “They talk about civilization of their lands and mock people. Even if they find this to be nonsense, they could be more polite in their manners.” thought Sarah.

  "Anyway, we'll go there," said John.

  "Then I will join to you," said Sarah.

  "Are you crazy, girl?" shouted Emma Wood.

  "I am sure that place is full of plants we have never heard about," said Sarah

  "We will be glad if you accompany us," said Mark and then feeling his own sentimental tone added ,"Of course it would be great if anyone native could lead us."