True Shifter

by Rains, Christine

  Questions erupted.

  “The hunter was a shaman?”

  “Not a Black Shaman, right?”

  “Why haven’t we been staying in the cave then? If it’s the safest for us.”

  “The totems’ voices?” Kinley repeated.

  Bear held up his hands and released a hissing exhale. “The hunter was a shaman because he must have had magic in him to be able to use the skins as he did. Not a Black Shaman. He was not a shifter. We could not have searched for the totems hidden away in a cave.” He turned back to Kinley. “Yes. The voices you hear are totems. In essence, they’re spirits, and there are many in the world, but listen to yours, your sisters’, your lover’s, and the ones we do not have yet.”

  Kinley’s head dipped down. “Okay.”

  “We will at least bring Kinley to the cave.” Saskia still didn’t like the idea of leaving her sister alone in the middle of the wilderness. Azarius could so easily trick Kin into coming out of the safe cave. Just one cry from a hurt animal and her sister would run out.

  “The portal we need to use is in Old Harbor.” Bear stated as if the discussion had already ended.

  The small town wasn’t far from Lucky’s house. It wasn’t as if they would be losing a ton of time. Saskia’s fingers curled to form fists. “We will bring Kin to the cave.”

  “I will go with her and stay until she’s done.” Ransom’s statement didn’t contain the hostility of Saskia’s, but it was just as firm.

  “You have a task.” Bear pointed to Ransom and then swept his hand out to include all of them. “We all have our tasks. We cannot spare—”

  Saskia rounded the table. “You aren’t in charge—”

  Bear stepped toward her. “I know what we need to do. You will listen. I am B—”

  “I don’t care who the fuck you are.” Saskia didn’t budge. She wasn’t going to let him boss them around. Yes, maybe he did know more of what was going on, but Sedge would have understood their need to protect one another. He wouldn’t have pushed it. Bear, on the other hand, had no sympathy. And probably didn’t care if they all died as long as he got the totem pole back.

  Everyone else fell silent. The power of Bear radiated from him. It pulsed through her veins, familiar and frightening at the same time. She swallowed before continuing. “We will do your damn tasks. But we will not leave anyone alone in danger. It was your idea to stay together as a group since last fall. You know we’re stronger together.”

  Bear’s nostrils flared and relaxed. His retort was not as growly as she expected. “This knowledge I have and your power to change into any shape may only be temporary. We must act as if the sun is setting on the world forever and only we can keep the darkness at bay.”

  Fuck him. He had a point. They had no idea how long the domovoi’s gifts would last, and they didn’t know when Azarius would strike next.

  Saskia sighed. “Ransom will take Kin there then. The rest of us will fetch the other tokens.”

  There was a pause, and finally Bear nodded. “All right. Take Ametta and prepare her as if she is going to take a vision quest. Lucky can help in this. I will give Ransom his task and send him with your sister in the right direction.”

  “What’s the mission, boss?” Ransom stood and offered a hand to Kinley.

  “Yes, what’s the mission?” Saskia hadn’t moved, and neither had Ametta nor Lucky.

  “It is a simple trek for the lynx, which he can do from the cave.” Bear turned away in dismissal.

  Saskia wanted to fight for an answer, but if Ransom was going to stay in the cave with Kinley, she could live with it. The rest of them would be going on the more dangerous job. Maybe the salmon token was affecting her, giving her the wisdom not to drag their disagreement out.

  “Come on.” Saskia gestured to Ametta and Lucky. It took days to prepare for a vision quest, be it in a sweat lodge or a wandering. They likely had minutes. “I need help finding some herbs in the kitchen.”

  No, she didn’t feel any wiser for not continuing to argue. It still seemed a joke she had earned the salmon. One moment of clarity that didn’t matter anymore. Not when Sedge was gone.

  Ametta stood motionless, dressed in the same clothes she had worn the night the Shadowmen attacked and Azarius saved her and took her to his hidden place. Her long lashed eyes were closed as Bear muttered the Inupiat words of a ritual in the steamy master bathroom. He smeared on her cheeks and forehead the paste they had made from various herbs, including chamomile, sage, cedar, and lavender.

  Lucky watched on intently as if he would jump in any second he found something inappropriate. Saskia rolled her shoulders, unable to relieve the tension.

  Kinley and Ransom left a half hour ago on one of the snowmobiles. Bear had been close-mouthed about what task he had given Ransom. What was he going to have the cat do? Spy on Azarius? But Bear did say Ransom could do it from the cave. Something in the astral? Surely he wouldn’t tell him to do something that stupid.

  But Saskia didn’t know anymore. Bear only cared for his duty.

  Ametta’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Only the whites showed. Beside Saskia, Lucky let out a low hiss, his displeasure obvious in how he looked.

  “She’s ready. Let’s get to the portal.” Bear placed down the small ceramic bowl he had been holding and opened the door to head into the hall. He didn’t even wait for them.

  Saskia and Lucky didn’t move. Did Bear expect them to lead Ametta?

  Growling under his breath, Lucky stepped forward and scooped Ametta into his arms. “I’ve got you, babe.” He glanced at Saskia and shook his head before exiting the bathroom.

  Saskia understood the feeling. She took a second to pull the plug in the tub to drain the hot water away, flipped off the lights, and then hurried after them down the hall and stairs. Bear hadn’t even held open the front door for Lucky and Ametta. Apparently the old gods had no manners.

  The gift from the domovoi better be temporary. She couldn’t live with Sedge as Bear. While they needed his knowledge, his asshole-ish attitude was not welcome.

  The ride into town was just as uncomfortable. No one said a word as Bear drove and parked in front of a large old house. Lights warmed a few windows, but no one peeked out to see if they had guests.

  “Come on.” Bear turned off the vehicle and hopped out. Again, not waiting for the rest of them. Was the jerk just going to go walking into the house?

  “I’m liking this less and less.” Lucky muttered as he slipped out and drew Ametta into his arms.

  Saskia nodded once. Bear’s focus was on the tokens. She wasn’t going to trust him to protect them if need be. That would be up to her. “I got the doors.”

  She closed all the doors and followed behind Lucky. Thankfully the portal wasn’t in the house but in the unfenced backyard. Still, a huge man dressed all in white was going to draw attention. And Bear wasn’t even trying to be stealthy. This wasn’t his world anymore. The old god needed to be taken down a notch.

  Later. Though Saskia’s hands clenched into fists, she breathed out the urge to snap at Bear. She needed to be fully alert. They were entering enemy territory.

  Bear instructed Lucky to stand Ametta in front of the portal. Black as it was, Saskia could plainly see it. Which was odd. Never before could she see a portal quite like this. Maybe a glimmering around the edges, if she was lucky, but it was more of a feeling to go with the hair standing up on her arms and the back of her neck.

  Shadowmen and who knew what else used these to travel between worlds if they knew how to navigate them. Which, Saskia had been told, was damn near impossible for people from Earth. That included shifters.

  But Azarius had told her that. So was it even true?

  She clenched her jaw to the point it was almost painful. Everything she knew, every thought she had, she doubted. She had to question it because Azarius taught her everything.

  Bear chanted quietly in Inupiat again and finished off whatever ritual he’d started back in the bathroom. Saskia
scanned the area. Though, if Azarius were near, she’d feel it. His token would call to hers. At least he couldn’t sneak up on them.

  Unless he found a way to mask it. If anyone could, he would. And would Bear tell them it was possible? Likely it wouldn’t even cross his mind until it happened.

  “Hold her hand.”

  Bear’s addressing Lucky shook Saskia out of her thoughts. He had already gripped Ametta’s left hand and Lucky her right, and Ametta walked forward into the portal with them.

  Shit. Saskia leapt after them. Bear snatched her hand just as everything went dark. Not just dark, but black. No sight, sound, or scent. Not even the feeling of being on the ground, but she didn’t fall.

  Bear’s firm grip and the heat of his body were the only tangible things. How did anyone ever find their way through these portals? If they got lost, would they wander forever?

  Suddenly there was light. All four of them stood in a dimly lit storeroom. A cellar. Yes, this was exactly how Ametta described Azarius’ hidey-hole. Saskia wanted to whoop but braced herself for an attack instead.

  None came.

  Ametta stopped walking and stood next to a shelf. Dust covered everything like a filmy blanket. Motes flew in the air around the Edison lightbulb. It smelled stale and like… Azarius. Saskia gritted her teeth.

  So this was where he hid. Did he sleep here too? There wasn’t any evidence someone lived here. No food or bedding or a toilet. Even if he was a raven, he still had to eat, sleep, and shit.

  Bear knelt and removed a cardboard box from the bottom shelf. He plucked out a small safe. “They’re both in here.”

  “Let’s take it and go.” Lucky hadn’t let go of Ametta’s hand yet.

  “No.” Bear set the safe before him. “The magic on it will attract unwanted attention. I will take out the tokens here.”

  “Won’t the tokens themselves attract attention?” Lucky asked the same question Saskia was thinking. And they had already traveled through the portal with two bearers. Was it possible something could follow them?

  “Yes.” Mr. Blunt didn’t expand on his answer.

  “Fuck. Mett is helpless until she wakes from her trance. The sooner we leave here the better. Just take the damn safe. I don’t want to have to fight anything in here.” Saskia wanted to kick Bear in the ass. All their lives were in danger being there, but Ametta was particularly vulnerable. Her sister wouldn’t even be able to run away.

  “I’m opening it here.” Bear didn’t even look her way. He moved his fingers slowly over the surface of the box. From the sides to the top and back down again.

  “Yeah, of course you are. With no consideration for anyone else.” Saskia would carry the damn safe herself. She turned to step toward him. “I’ll—”

  “Behind you!” Lucky shouted.

  Saskia turned just in time for the blow to graze her cheek. She might have thought the black blur to be a Shadowman, but the intense pull of another totem in the room besides hers and Ametta’s told another story.

  This time they weren’t on the astral plane. This time she would kill the son of a bitch.

  Azarius didn’t try to convince her to back down nor did he make any effort to avoid fighting her. She might not have been a good student in many ways, but combat was something she excelled at. And while she had the element of surprise of being able to shift into anything, she wanted to beat him with her own two fists.

  Neither of them said anything. Punches and kicks so fast they were beyond blurs. Every few seconds, she noticed his dark gaze dart to Bear and the safe.

  She grinned inwardly. That’s right. They were going to take the other tokens. And when they had six of them, they would capture Az and take his too. Her sisters had a fear he might rip their tokens off their chests, but Saskia would be more than pleased to tear his off.

  One of his kicks caught her on the shoulder. She grunted and stumbled back a few paces. Too close to her sister and Lucky.

  “Keep her out of the way!” Saskia snapped at Lucky. She didn’t add for him to protect Ametta. He’d do that with his very life.

  Lucky swept Ametta into his arms and tucked her behind him in the farthest corner in the rear. It still was only about fifteen feet away, but Saskia could work with fifteen feet. Not even acknowledging the brutal battle happening, Bear still knelt with his hands on the safe.

  “Lie down and take your beating, you bastard. You aren’t leaving here alive.” Saskia snarled and nailed him in the gut with a swift side kick.

  “You always were overconfident.” Azarius spun and attempted to sweep out her legs. When she jumped, he reversed the momentum of his legs and kicked her in the knee as she landed.

  Hot pain zipped through her, and she hissed as she launched a flurry of blows without hesitation. “And you’re a liar. A fucking murdering raven!”

  Blocking her punches and backing up to a wall, he jumped, grabbed a rafter, and aimed a kick at her face. “A true shifter.”

  Saskia stepped back enough that he didn’t bust her nose. Blood trickled down at the blow nonetheless. “An aberration!”

  She hit him in the head, and he returned the favor. Breathing heavily, he bared his teeth. “No! I am the only one who deserves the power here. When I get the totems, I’ll return the world to the way it was. To the way it was meant to be.”

  Azarius spun with a kick, and when she darted back to avoid it, he leapt at her. In the form of a giant cobra.

  Saskia let out a wordless shout as she ducked.

  As she turned around, Bear pulled the two tokens from the open safe and flung up a hand as the cobra slammed into him. With fangs way too large, Azarius bit into Bear’s hand before he was whacked to one side.

  Before the cobra even hit the floor, he shifted back into his human form and landed in a crouch. His brow furrowed as his upper lip curled. “Bear.”

  Bear didn’t say a word. He clutched his swelling hand to him and roared. Tokens dropped, forgotten, as he shifted and charged Azarius.

  Azarius turned into an immense bear. Brown, but somehow bigger and shaggier than a normal brown bear. As huge as Bear’s animal form. Dirt and dust fell from the rafters as the two collided.

  Claws raked, heads butted, frothing maws aimed to latch onto the other’s neck.

  Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Blood and violence in the air. Red coated her vision.

  No way was Saskia going to let Bear have the kill. She shifted and rammed into Azarius’ side. He stumbled, crashing into a shelf. Somewhere someone shouted at them to stop.

  One of the larger bears smacked her away and sent her tumbling close to the portal. Saskia couldn’t see who it had been since her head had been lowered.

  With one shelving unit demolished, Azarius rammed Bear into another against the back wall. Bear wobbled, shaking his injured paw.

  The cobra venom. How much did the bastard pump into Bear? Surely Bear’s system could deal with it. Right?

  They didn’t have time for a long fight. Saskia leapt into battle once more and again was easily batted away by the males.

  She had to play it smart. Being a bear wasn’t working.

  Azarius smashed Bear’s head against the stone wall. Another yell from someone. The floor above creaked and cracked. The whole ceiling could come down on top of them.

  But what could beat a bear of that size?

  Bear toppled to one side, the froth in his mouth tinged red. He shook himself and attempted to stand up. But he couldn’t rise up from four legs, or rather three. His injured paw was tucked to his side.

  No! Azarius could not take him from her.

  Thunder boomed.

  No, not thunder. A gunshot.

  Azarius jerked back.

  A second shot. Saskia twisted her head to see Lucky with the weapon in hand.

  Azarius roared and shifted into a raven. He flew like a feathery lightning bolt into the portal and disappeared in the blackness.

  “Don’t just stand there!” Lucky shouted, holstering hi
s gun. “We need to get out of here. Sedge, you need to shift back. Saskia and I will help support you, and we’ll hold Mett’s hands as she leads the way.”

  Shit. Saskia had forgotten Lucky and her sister were there. How could she have done that? Ametta could have been crushed.

  Bear groaned as he shifted. His hand had swollen to the size of a baseball with an angry red color. He knelt and attempted to push himself to his feet. “I’ll walk on my—” He fell back to his knees with a hiss.

  Saskia hurried to his side and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. She couldn’t hide her trembling. “Come on. We need to go and get the venom out of you.”

  It wouldn’t kill him. She refused to let a little bit of poison take him down.

  Lucky scooped up the tokens from the floor and let out a gasp. One wasn’t a necklace anymore, but a silvery fox running around his legs. It let out an excited yip and jumped upwards as if on springs.

  Lucky swung his arms out to catch it, and they closed on nothing. He let out a small moan. The fox was gone.

  The fox totem had chosen its bearer.

  Saskia and Lucky dragged Bear through the black void as Ametta led the way. They reemerged in the snowy backyard in Old Harbor. Thick flakes fluttered down from the sky and melted against their exposed skin.

  “Get him into the Hummer. We’ll take him to the fire hall. We have first aid supplies.” Lucky didn’t miss a beat as he picked up Ametta. “Do you know how to wake her?”

  “No.” Saskia’s stomach roiled. What if Bear didn’t recover? What if her sister was stuck like that forever? She had fucked this whole thing up. Her job had been to protect them all, and she failed.

  Bear muttered something and then spat out a gob of blood. He turned his head to her. “Inupiat words… her duty is done.” He gasped for a breath. “Wipe… paste… from forehead.”

  They exited the backyard and raced to the Hummer. Bear’s legs shook like strands of seaweed and with as much strength.

  He would be fine. He’d get through this. He was a motherfucking god, wasn’t he?

  “Okay, good. Try not to talk any more.” Lucky opened the backdoor and put Ametta inside along with the owl token before running to the rear and opening the hatch. “Let’s get him in here. Damn. I know we don’t have anti-venom, especially not for a King Cobra. Do you know any magic herbs or something?”