by Olivia Harp
They started down the trail, the wind brought the forest to life, the leaves up high dancing in the night.
Rosenberg was a good place. Filled with good people, but up here in the mountain, worries just seemed to fade into the background. This place was wild but peaceful at the same time.
They passed Damien’s cabin on their way down to the headquarters area —where the barbecue was taking place— and she couldn’t help but wonder how hard it must have been for them to build these kind of houses up there. Or maybe things aren’t so hard for bear shifters as it is for us.
Then a stinging pain bolted down from her right shoulder, she gasped as she reminded herself she wasn’t human anymore. Not for a long while.
Music and laughter reached them from the gathering, her belly tightened as they approached but she was not going to hide any longer. They knew what she was and she had to own up for what she did. And thank them for helping me. Can’t be easy to help a predator.
***
The bear clan had a huge bonfire in the middle of three steel gray buildings. The bigger one of them had a big, pyramidal antenna going up higher than the pines, the other two were half its size.
“This is our headquarters, we come here before each of our rounds, that’s the comms tower,” Mav said pointing to the big building, then to the other ones, “that’s the lab, where Enzo tried to help us and that’s the workshop, we keep bigger tools there, it also serves as a kind of storage area.”
The whole place was perfectly set up on even ground and close enough to the bears cabins.
People gathered around a big plastic table beside the fire, a big man with white hair handled the huge grill, lots of thick steaks on it, a little girl had a stick and was poking at the fire, laughing when the stick picked up a small flame, playing with it as if it was a torch.
“Hello everyone!” Maverick shouted.
The bunch greeted him and Faith, some waved, others said ‘hi’ from their place. The little girl turned to them and stood still, her eyes wide in wonder, then she ran to the big, white haired man and grabbed him by the leg. The man bent over and said something to her, she nodded and said “hi Maverick!” in a sweet, high pitched voice.
Faith felt her gut tighten again. This is going to be... interesting.
They got to the table, everyone looked at her and then carried on with their businesses, conversation was lively. When was the last time you were at a family meal? Then she reminded herself this was a clan, not a family. These people were here because they wanted not because they had to.
“Hello, I’m Zoe” a dark haired woman said, standing up and going to her, “it’s great to have another woman here.”
“Hey, I’m a woman!” the little girl said and everyone laughed. She had to be around six.
“Oh yes, Dee,” Zoe said, “but I meant a grown woman!”
The little girl —Dee— looked at her with pursed lips, then smiled big and said “okay.”
“I’m Faith.”
Zoe shook her hand, “you can sit here if you want.”
“Everyone, this is Faith,” said Mav.
The other four men were tall and were totally ripped. They all looked like superheroes or those rugged faced models Men magazines put on their covers.
“I’m Damien, nice to meet you.”
He sat next to Zoe and kissed her, putting his arm around her.
“Faith, this is Enzo, our medic; over there working the side dishes is Franklin, and that big guy over there is Raiden. What he’s got in brawn he lacks in brain.”
Raiden pointed the meat fork to him, “you shut that trap before I break it. Hello Faith.”
“Hello,” She said laughing.
“I’m kidding,” Mav said, “he knows all kinds of stuff.”
“Course I do,” replied Raiden.
“He has too, he’s the oldest of us all.”
Raiden looked at him again, “that’s two strikes out of three boy, I take it you’re don’t want to have dinner tonight.”
“I take it back! I take it back!” Mav said.
“You want a beer?” Franklin said, looking at Faith, then, for a brief moment, everyone went silent. Franklin cleared his throat, “oh, I’m sorr—”
“I’ll have one,” Mav said.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Faith said.
The moment had passed. They all knew what she was. And they didn’t mind. She hadn’t socialized like this in a long time, especially with strangers.
“Hey guys, check this out,” Franklin said. He placed a small speaker on a stand, just outside the Comms Tower, tapped the screen on his cell phone and music started playing, “hi–def music, completely wireless.”
“Nice,” Damien said.
“I was getting tired of connecting a million cables just to play some music, so I set this up.”
“How’d you do it?” Faith asked, “looks complicated.”
“It took a while, I had to configure some repeaters, signal up here is either by satellite or direct cable connection, which—”
She understood about half of what he said. He realized it and stopped.
“Just a signal repeater and some creative work, I just followed a tutorial,” Franklin said.
“It still amazes me how you get web access up here.”
“Let’s just say it is pretty freakin’ complicated,” Franklin said, sitting down, taking a sip of beer, “satellites and cables and that kind of stuff. Then you upgrade your equipment for ease of use and all. Check your phone, you have pretty good coverage here.”
Wow, four bars.
“I hadn’t noticed,” Faith said.
“You’re welcome,” he said taking a sip of his beer again.
“Please excuse my friend,” Raiden told her, “he gets turned on talking about computers.”
Everyone laughed, Franklin shook his head.
“Cut it out, Ray,” Damien said, then continued talking to Zoe. They were whispering to each other, laughing and enjoying the evening. They looked so happy.
“We appreciate what you do F, it’s just a joke,” Mav said.
“Yeah, just kidding, man, you know I love you,” said Raiden.
It was funny to her, these people were bear shifters, supposedly the hardest people alive. She always thought of them as serious, not to be messed with people. Bears were territorial, ‘aggressive’ was the word that surfaced when she pictured them.
But were they, really? She was an outsider. A vampire, a supposed enemy. But it didn’t matter to them. Maybe it was all marketing. They had their place in society and there are people who like to starts fights “just to see” if someone else is really as hard as they say.
Propaganda helps them avoid confrontations. Why would they flaunt their power? It would benefit no one. That’s smart.
“So,” Enzo said, sitting across Mav and Faith, “how do you feel?”
She was a little uncomfortable with the question, but sooner or later they were going to bring up the subject, didn’t they? Maverick looked at her.
“I think she’s feeling better,” he said.
She nodded, the burning, itchy sensation was still there, but not nearly as painful as it should have.
“Yes, much better, thank you.”
Enzo nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
That’s interesting.
“Really? Why?” Faith asked.
“Well,” Enzo said as he leaned forward, clasping his hands, “I’ve been doing some tests and—”
“Hi, I’m Deedee,” the little girl said, suddenly standing right next to Faith. She was wearing a yellow raincoat, a blue country dress and military boots, the elements of her outfit were so contrasting they actually looked good. Almost like a hipster fashionista.
“Hi Deedee! How are you?” Faith said to her.
“My dad says you’re not going to bite me.”
Her stomach turned, everyone fell quiet for a brief moment.
“Of course not! Why would
I do that?” Faith said, looking at her.
Doubt crept in her mind. Did she belong here?
“Hey buddy what did I say?” Raiden said, “No bothering our guest.”
“Dad, I’m not bothering her! I’m just asking.”
“It’s fine, really,” Faith told Raiden.
“Can you fly? Or turn to smoke? Is it purple like in the movies?” Deedee said, unable to hide her excitement.
Raiden jetted to her from the grill, cleaning his hands on the apron he wore and picked her up.
“That’s enough, buddy, go play with the fire.”
“But daaaaad...” she said, grabbing his arm, “I want to know.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Faith said, “I can’t fly Deedee, some people like me can but I can’t.”
“Oh,” Dee said, visibly disappointed.
“You see?” said Raiden, “now go—”
“I can do other things, though,” Faith said. Deedee’s eyes lit up, unable to hide her curiosity.
“Reaaaally?” Deedee said, elongating the word, she was that excited, “like—”
“Like this,” Faith said, and suddenly she wasn’t there, she just blinked out of existence.
“Holy shi—” Raiden said.
“Hey, dinner is almost ready!” Faith interrupted, poking the meat with a fork, up in the grill. Everyone turned to her and she vanished again. Like blinking. She was there and then she wasn’t.
“Up here guys.”
She was sitting on the edge of the Comms Tower roof, swinging her legs in the air.
Deedee’s mouth hung open, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.
“That’s amaaaaazing!” she said.
“It’s cool,” she said from up there.
“Isn’t it?” and finished her sentence sitting next to Mav again. It all just happened in a few seconds.
“Shit,” Raiden said.
“Daaaad,” Deedee said, her hand covering Raiden’s mouth, then rolled her eyes.
He looked at her, still amazed, “yes, sorry, sorry dear.”
They laughed.
“It’s one thing to know, or see it on TV,” Damien said, “but another thing entirely to see it in person.”
“Well, thank you?” Faith said, smiling.
“You’re amazing,” Mav whispered to her, putting his arm around her.
“So, you were saying?” Faith said to Enzo, he shuffled in his chair.
“Well... I picked up some samples, blood samples. From you and Maverick, the night you came.”
She turned to him, he hadn’t told her.
“Small samples, don’t worry. Vamps, well, you know, shifters blood on a vampire never goes well, it’s like poison,” he mimicked the word blood, eyeing Deedee.
But you didn’t take much, and there was an instant change in your wound. It may have been minimal but it was there.”
“I don’t get it, what do you mean?” she said, a bit anxious.
“I mean you took a very small... sip? is that how you say it? a very small sip of him, resisted it and healed instantly. That’s not really normal, right?”
“I don’t know...”
“I’ve done some research, Vamps have fast healing, sure, it’s much quicker than humans but definitely not like shifters. Somehow—”
“So she took it well,” Maverick said, “and she’s been doing great, what’s so wrong with that?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Listen,” he said, lowering his voice, “I’ve seen how vamp tissue and blood behaves under... how can I say it? Non–optimal conditions. I’ve read about it, too.”
“Yes,” she said, immersed in what he was saying.
“The samples I took from you are acting weird.”
“Weird how?” she said.
Her whole body was tense now, what the hell was going on? Maverick was not saying anything, for once, he was just as curious as she was.
Enzo looked at them, choosing his words.
“I took a sample out of the lab, to see what happened to it, and nothing happened.”
She didn’t get it. What was he saying?
“I don’t follow,” said Maverick, “you took a sample of her blood out of the lab to see what happened to it. And nothing happened. So?”
“I mean,” Enzo said, “out in the day. I took it out, exposed it to daylight. Didn’t burn. You see what I’m saying?”
Faith felt like puking. It was a forgotten feeling, too, now coming back to haunt her.
She couldn’t do anything but stare dumbly at Enzo, couldn’t even process what she just heard.
Vampire’s blood vaporized when exposed to sunlight. It was one of the myths that was true.
“Dinner’s ready,” Raiden said, everyone cheered.
Now she had to pretend she was fine, as her world started crumbling around her.
Chapter 14
“I’ll pick this up,” Damien said, “Mav do you need any help?”
“No, it’s fine, we’re almost done here anyway.”
Faith was helping with the cleanup. Dinner had been a lovely affair. A kind of feast: meat, potatoes, salad, sausages, plus the warm up snacks, plus dessert. I’ve never seen anyone eat this much.
Bear shifters ate insane amounts of food, she was sure they were going to explode at any moment, but they didn’t even seem full, or tired.
Afterward, they divided all the cleaning work, which they carried out with almost military efficiency.
She was almost done, took the box of cooking tools to the workshop and went back outside.
Zoe was saying her good byes, every other bear but Damien had already gone. It was past twelve, and these guys woke up at dawn, she didn’t envy them.
Maverick was pouring water over the bonfire, then dirt. He made real sure it was completely put out when he turned to her.
“How did you like it?”
“What? The reunion? I think it was fantastic. Even the weather’s perfect for it.”
“Yeah, not too hot, not too cold. I’m glad you were here with us.”
She nodded and lowered her eyes.
“You okay?” Mav said, walking to her.
“Yeah, everything is great.”
“You know you can tell me anything, right?”
“I... I feel like I owe you an explanation.”
Maverick moved closer, put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her. A sweet kiss. Her insides fired up instantly. It was warm and wet and slow, when he finished he smiled.
“You don’t owe me anything,” he said, “come on, I want to show you something.”
He picked up a pair of flashlights and tossed one at her, “think fast!”.
She caught it, and when she turned to look at him again he was picking up a blanket from the bed of his truck.
“Just in case we get cold.”
“Cold? Why?”
“Shh, it’s a surprise, don’t spoil it, just follow me.”
No moonlight passed through the forest canopy. It didn’t matter, her kind thrived in the dark, and it didn’t take much to see that Mav didn’t have any problem either.
“You can see in the dark too?” he said.
“Not if it’s completely dark, but if there’s a glimmer of light anywhere I can see much better than any human.”
“Cool, I guess being a vampire has a lot of benefits.”
“Not as many as being a shifter.”
He smiled at her.
“We can’t fly. Or whatever thing you did back there, that was awesome.”
“Thanks. I didn’t fly, I just moved fast.”
“None of us could pick up your movement, that’s no small feat. I think I’d always be doing everything like that, super high speed, I’d finish work and then just explore in my bear form.”
She chuckled.
“Well, it doesn’t quite work like that.”
They were deep into the forest now, the undergrowth was much harder to navigate, bushes, roots, st
ones... it was nature in the rawest sense, not the distilled down, picture friendly areas people trek.
Maverick turned on the flashlight. The trees were huge here, getting bigger and bigger as they got deep into the heart of the forest, far from the base.
He walked slowly now, holding her hand.
“Really, then how?”
“How do shifter powers work?” she changed the subject, but was fully aware that he noticed it.
“They’re not really ‘powers,’ we’re not like, super heroes or something. It’s more like we’re two beings at the same time: man and bear. But it adds to much more than just a bear with a man’s mind, or a man with bear’s strength.”
“Our senses are much stronger than the animals, and our strength is greater. They’re still trying to figure it out, my guess is we get our strength from somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?” Faith asked, that was interesting to hear.
He stopped and looked at her.
“Listen,” he said, “we’re not really just Rangers here. We’re protectors.”
“Protectors from what?”
He shifted his eyes, then sighed.
“We’re here to stop the Shadowlands from puncturing our reality.”
Shadowlands? What was he saying?
“I know how it sounds, especially to city people, like you.”
“I don’t get it.”
“There’s this... ‘diseased’ reality, I don’t know how to call it, honestly. It’s like another world, a reflection of our own. My clan’s primary duty is to find the Rot, which is the physical form in which the Shadowlands spread into this world. The Rot comes in through what we call Puntcures. We find the Rot, destroy it and seal the puncture. That sound crazy enough?”
“Is that why you have government equipment back at the base?”
“Yes. The government needs us. But bear clans like ours have been around forever. Fighting the Shadowlands is a calling.”
“How come nobody knows this?”
“People can’t know, for their own safety.”
“How? People could help.”
“You really think that? Most people wouldn’t care, others would try to help, mostly interfering with our job, and a select few would even try to help the Shadowlands bring about the end of the world. People are crazy like that; we have our hands full as it is.”
