by Crow Gray
He sniffed the air, wondering if there were any more. The smell of blood and the Broken choked him, and he wasn't sure if there were any outside or not. He stood and let himself heal, steeling himself in case he was attacked again. He wasn't however, and after a few minutes the bleeding had stopped and he was healed. He shifted back to human form, but was careful not to let his guard down in case he needed to shift again quickly.
He surveyed the ruined cabin and sighed. He'd have to leave now. He'd been here for so long, but that was over. He gathered up a few belongings in his old snakeskin suitcase. The skin belonged to a serial killing shifter he'd killed years ago. He'd promised the were-python he'd make a suitcase out of him, and had ended up doing just that.
Once he'd gathered his few belongings together, he shifted back and dragged the bear carcasses out into the woods. People finding a broken down cabin wouldn't think much of it, but if there were bears inside it may draw some unwanted attention. He shifted back to human and examined the motorcycle that belonged to Bo. It was trashed, so he left it.
He walked outside and gave the cabin one last look, not sure if he'd ever see it again. He had cabins and trailers all over the world, but none he'd called home as long as this one. He walked off into the woods, heading towards Bo and Candy.
“Something's happened to the Broken,” Horis said. He and Indigo sat at a table in a small roadside diner one town over from Damian's cabin. Horis looked much like you'd expect from a werebear. He was a tall, thick, hairy man. He was bald but had a bushy beard.
“I felt it too. Something killed them. What the hell could have killed them?” Indigo asked. In contrast, Indigo looked nothing like you'd think a were-bear should. She had a Hispanic look to her; short and thick but her curves were in all the right places. She was very busty with a nice ass. She had long, jet black hair with dark skin.
“How the fuck should I know what killed them, you stupid bitch? But you can bet your ass it wasn't those two kids. They have help. The question is, who?” Horis said, sipping his beer and thinking.
“Did you feel...something else earlier?” Indigo asked.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I felt some type of―I don't know what to call it. It gave me goosebumps. It was almost a sexual type of feeling, something in the air.”
“Goddamn it. If you don't have something important to say, just shut the fuck up.”
Indigo just shook her head. “Nevermind.” Horis had never been psychically sensitive, so it didn't surprise her he hadn't felt what happened earlier. He also talked to her like this all time, so she'd gotten used to it. But she'd sensed something, but had no idea what.
“Anyway, I guess we better get a move on. We have to handle this ourselves now,” Horis said.
“So we're going up against something that possibly killed two Broken? Shit. I wish we had back-up,” Indigo said.
“Quit your bitchin'. We have some back-up.”
“What?”
“Nevermind. Let's just say we're covered. You know, this is turning into a real pain in the ass. These two shouldn't be giving us this much trouble. I think I'm going to kill them slowly when we find them. And I don't want to hear you fucking crying about her being your friend. Get over it and stop acting so fucking stupid.”
Indigo didn't speak. For one thing she didn't know what he meant by back-up, but she knew better than to ask. She'd seen how sadistic Horis could be, and she hated the thought of him torturing Candy like that. She knew they couldn't allow the couple to escape, but she didn't see a reason they had to make the princess of their clan suffer. She really wasn't looking forward to any of this.
Bo had lost track of how long he'd been running. He had just run as fast as he could, the stamina of his wolf form combined with his panic allowing him to make good time through the bayou. A few times he'd reached bodies of water too large to cross, so he'd gone around. He'd hated to waste the time, but he didn't have a choice. He couldn't swim for long distances with Candy on his back, and she was just too slow in bear form.
“Bo, we have to stop,” Candy whispered into his ear. He was breathing so hard he didn't hear her. “Bo, stop!” Candy said, louder. She finally tugged his ears to get this attention. “Stop, Bo!”
He stopped, and she slid off his back to stretch her legs. She'd been gripping his fur for hours, and her hands ached. Every muscle in her body ached, not that he had a chance to do an inventory. Bo was still in full wolf form, sitting down to rest himself. He would never admit it, but his stamina was gone. He'd run as far as he could for now.
Candy opened and closed her hands to get the circulation back. “You may as well shift Bo, I know you've hit your limit even if you won't admit it,” she said.
He shifted back to human just as Candy shifted to bear. Shifting allowed the muscles to stretch and reshape, which usually helped with fatigue. He felt better in human form than he had as a wolf, and Candy felt better in bear at this point. She shifted back to human and started to dress.
“Whew, that's much better,” Candy said, taking a seat on a stump. The two had stopped in a small clearing, and it was much drier than some of the wetlands they had crossed.
Bo pulled a pair of shorts from their bag and put it on and nothing else. If he had to shift back this way he at least wouldn't ruin much clothing. Clothing was truly the bane of the shifter.
“So what now?” Candy asked.
“Now, we wait,” Bo said. “Give me a few minutes and I'll find us something to eat. There's got to be some fish or rabbits or something around here.”
Bo sat on the ground beside her and they were quiet. Candy finally broke the silence. “Do you think Damian is okay?”
“Yeah, did you see the size of him? I didn't know he was bear clan, but he was the biggest damn bear I've ever seen,” Bo said.
“But the Broken...I don't know...”
Bo wondered about Candy's concern for the man he'd just watch her fuck a few hours earlier, but now wasn't the time for an argument. “I'm sure he's fine. He said he'd find us. I guess we'll stay here for tonight and see if he shows up by morning.”
“What if he doesn't?”
“I don't know. We'll decide that when the time comes. We better hope he took care of the Broken, though. Otherwise we may not have the luxury of making a decision.”
Candy said nothing in response.
Sam walked through the remains of the cabin as Gigi circled the outside. “Anything?” he called out to her.
“No, but they were here,” Gigi answered.
Sam and Gigi had searched the area for a long time before finally coming upon the cabin. It must have been magically hidden, there was no other way it could have taken them so long to find. They'd also found the bodies of the Broken outside. Something had killed them, and Sam was guessing it was whoever owned this cabin, which was probably Damian Ivory. This could be trouble.
Gigi walked in behind Sam, nude since she'd recently shifted. “Their scent is all over this place. They were here, and not long ago. Something killed their scent though. I may be able to pick it up but it'll take some time.” Before he'd left, Damian had placed a spell on the area to mask the scents, but eventually the wolves would be able to find it again.
“This is serious. We have to find them and soon. If they have hooked up with Damian Ivory--”
“Who the fuck is that? You keep talking about him like he's the fucking boogeyman!”
“He's the Tantric Shaman. And he's real. No fairy tale, no ghost story, he's fucking real. And he's dangerous.”
“Bullshit. And anyway, why would he be helping them?”
“That I don't know. But I find it hard to believe they came here by accident. We have to assume he's helping them, and we better be real careful. Shit, why does everything have to be so complicated!”
“I'm going to try to pick the trail up,” Gigi said, shifting back to wolf form and bounding outside. Sam just shook his head and took a seat on the only chair sti
ll standing. Why does it always have to be so fucking complicated?
Candy and Bo munched on the raw squirrel he'd managed to find for them. They were in human form since the food seemed to go further that way, but they still could find raw meat palatable. The sun was going down quickly and soon it would be dark. Shifters didn't need much shelter for the night; they'd just shift to animal form and sleep if need be. But they were both wondering what had happened to Damian.
“You hear that?” Bo asked.
“Hear what?” Candy said, finishing off her food.
“That sound? Like flapping or something?”
“No. What do you―oh I do hear it. What is that?”
They both looked up in the air, but the trees left little sky visible. Then they saw something fly by overhead.
“What the hell was that?” Bo asked.
“It was a big-ass bird, but I think it was―carrying something,” Candy said.
“Carrying something? What do you―oh shit. Is it a shifter? An eagle? Not a bat I hope?” Bo said, both of them standing up and scanning the sky now.
“Do you think they've called in aerial help?” Candy said. The avian shifters and the ground shifters rarely had much to do with one another, but they had been known to work together from time to time. They both wondered if this was someone looking for them.
“Shit. This could be bad,” Bo said.
The flapping had faded but then it got louder, and sure enough, the bird was still visible. It was a large hawk, and it was carrying some type of case. No doubt about it, it was a shifter. And it was diving towards them.
“Shift Candy,” Bo said, pulling his shorts off and shifting to werewolf form. Candy was wearing a sundress only so she could remove it quickly, which she did, going to full bear form as the bird neared them.
They both roared at the bird as it dropped the suitcase on the ground, then turned to human form just as he landed. It was Damian. The two shifted back to human as he opened his suitcase and took out a pair of jeans, sliding them on.
“Damian! You made it!” Candy said, grinning. She watched as he pulled the jeans on. She felt some lust rising in her body but pushed it back down, getting angry at herself.
“Good to see you, buddy!” Bo said, grinning as well.
Damian pulled his hair back in a ponytail as he returned their grins. “Yeah, you two made good time. It took me a while to find you even from the air.”
“So what happened?” Bo asked.
Damian's grin faded. “Two of the Broken showed up. I took care of them, but it took a lot out of me.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Bo said. “You shifted to a bear earlier, I saw you. How the hell are you a hawk now?”
Damian shrugged. “I'm a little different from most shifters.”
“What do you mean? How many forms do you have?” Candy asked.
“I'm not sure, but a lot,” Damian said.
“Wait, so you can do more than hawk and bear?” Bo asked, intrigued.
“Yeah, I can do more than those,” Damian said, clearly uncomfortable talking about it.
“So the legends are true then? Can you really do all the things they say the Tantric Shaman can do?” Bo said.
“Listen, I can do many things, but I don't know about the legends. Most legends are bullshit. Besides, there are things people just don't know. It's not all fun and games, trust me. We don't have time to talk about this now anyway,” Damian said. Then he looked thoughtful. “Then again, there are some things I need to explain.”
Damian took a seat on the grass and motioned towards the stump. “Why don't you two have a seat and let's talk. Did you two get something to eat and drink?”
“I got us a squirrel and there's some fresh water just over here. Do you need something?” Bo asked.
“No, I had a fish on the way over, so I'm good. Now, I need to tell you a little bit about what happened earlier.”
“You mean with the Broken?” Bo said.
“No, before that. What happened with the three of us.”
“Oh, that,” Candy said, and felt herself blushing.
“Yeah, that,” Damian said. Bo remained silent.
“Well, what about it?” Candy asked.
“What happened―it's not entirely in my control,” Damian said.
“What do you mean?” Bo said, interested.
“I mean the things I said and some of the things we did―there really is a reason for it. It wasn't just me being a pervert,” Damian said. Sure it wasn't, a voice in the back of his mind said. You fucking loved every minute of nailing that hot little teenager, now didn't you? He ignored the voice. It got you off making her boyfriend watch you use her like a whore. Just admit it, you weakling. The voice rarely spoke to him during sex, but when things were calmer it would arise.
“The power sometimes controls things. It brings out the dark side in a way―it takes things to the darker side of sexuality. That's where the rawest sexual energy comes from, and the power hungers for it.”
“You almost make the power sound like a living thing,” Candy said.
“I sometimes think it is,” Damian said. “But I just wanted you to know that wasn't all me. But I do get the most power when more people are involved. The more people sexually excited, the more sexual energy being generated.”
“That makes sense. So like a huge orgy would give you even more power?” Bo asked.
“Maybe, but there's also the chance of the power getting out of hand.”
Candy chimed in. “What happens then?”
“I'm not sure. I've heard stories, but I've never lost control myself. I know it's not good.”
“So that's why you needed all three of us, then. And the things you were saying--”
“I know you were both really turned on by what happened,” Damian said. “That's something else the power does. I can bring out things in people, sexual acts that get them excited that they may not have even discovered yet. It's easier with young people like you. And also, the amount of power generated by first time acts like that is tremendous.”
“So are you saying I get turned on watching someone fuck my girlfriend?” Bo said, upset.
“It's not that uncommon, Bo, trust me. It's something you may have gotten into later, maybe twenty years from now and after you've been married a while, I don't know. But that was something you'd have gotten into, both of you. You just experienced it a little earlier than you would have.” And don't pretend you didn't love introducing them to it, you pervert, the voice said.
“This is―a lot to take in,” Bo said.
“I'm really sorry I had to do this to you, but there really was no other way. I would never have been able to defeat two Broken without that influx of energy,” Damian explained.
“So let me see if I understand this right,” Candy said. “You get more power when people are introduced to new sexual things.”
“Correct, but it has to be things they like. I can't just force someone, it doesn't work that way. The power taps into people's minds and leads me where I need to go.”
“So we've done a threesome now, anal, and double penetration. If I understand what you're saying, if we did it again you wouldn't get as much power?” Candy continued. Bo was a little surprised to hear his normally demure girlfriend discussing sex so openly.
“Exactly. I can get energy off of any sexual act, but the big charge comes with introducing people to new things and the intense high people get from experiencing it the first time. Oh and the part where you, um, swallowed. That was so I could track you. Now I'll be able to find you, so don't worry about getting lost.” Damian couldn't bring himself to mention how Candy would always be submissive to him now, how she'd always have a strong sexual attraction to him. It was a side effect of what they'd done, and there was no way to avoid it.
“Are you the only one? The only Tantric Shaman, or are there more?” Bo asked.
“I know of at least one other, so I'm assuming there must be more out there some
where.”
“Are they all male?” Candy asked.
Damian paused before answering. “No.” Candy saw something in his reaction that troubled him, but decided not to press him further.
“How did you end up this way?” Bo asked.
“Honestly? I don't remember,” Damian said. It was true, he had no memory of how he became a Tantric Shaman.
“How old are you?” Candy asked.
“Old. Very old.”
“Like what, forty-five?”
Damian laughed. “No. I don't know how old I am exactly, but I know I'm over 150 years old.”
Both Bo and Candy gasped. Shifters had a slightly longer life span than humans, many living to 100. But the idea of Damian being 150 years old and appearing so much younger was startling.
“The power keeps me young. To be honest, I don't understand how it all works myself. When I was younger I went on a journey to find out more about myself, but I never really did. Then I got too old to care.”
“Thank you,” Bo said. “Even if you are friends with my grandfather, you didn't have to help us. Thank you.”
“And we're sorry. We didn't mean to get your house destroyed and put you on the run. If we'd known this would happen we'd never have bothered you,” Candy said.
“If you hadn't come to me you'd both be dead now. Don't worry about it. But now we have to figure out our next move.” Damian pulled a small blanket out of his suitcase and spread it on the ground. “I think we all need some rest and we'll pick things up in the morning. We should be fine until then.”
“You're sleeping in human form?” Candy asked.
“Yeah. I don't have a natural shifter form, so if I stay shifted for too long it really drains me. You two should shift though, don't worry about me. Good night,” Damian said as he lay down. “Oh, and one last thing. I guess Bo isn't a terrible name for a wolf, but who names a princess Candy?” Damian said with a laugh.
“Hey, they named me Candy because I'm too damned sweet, and don't you forget it!” Candy said with a giggle.