by Lee Morgan
“How come you weigh so much?” Kara had to ask because she barely managed to pick him up back at the mountain, even then she felt like she pulled a muscle. She noticed that the litter in their shelter sunk into the ground before they left and she had to know his weight. He smiled when she almost gave herself a hernia.
“Unlike Balancers who eat for energy, we consume food for nutrients. We store just about everything we eat inside our bodies. We use those calories, vitamins and calcium stores as fuel to alter our physical makeup. And Changers all weigh more than the average human.” He smiled proudly.
Kara turned to look at him as she sat on her left foot and rested her arm over the back of the sofa. He seemed so calm and collected, like nothing could really surprise him nor bring his spirits down. That is one of the first reason she was so attracted to this ancient man. “Speaking of what you are, what can other’s of your kind do with their bodies.”
He mirrored her seating arrangement. Kara couldn’t keep her eyes off his deep and fathomless silver stare. He said in an explanatory manner “Let’s see… Most of my kind augment their characteristics to look more beautiful, handsome, younger or older, depending on where they are and how long they have lived at a certain location. Let me give you a demonstration.” Mark’s black pupils started shining a bright white. She watched as he made wrinkles develop across his face and around his eyes. Even his jet black hair started to ashen in color. He aged fifty years in only a few seconds. Quickly he changed his featured back to normal. He smiled as he continued and she was struck speechless. “Some, like myself, change their bodies for practicality. When there is a need, danger or just to show off, we can adapt just about any animal or look at will. Some animals are easier for us than others depending on the individuals personality. Easily angered Changers usually become lions or bears while docile ones become birds or horses. We can’t make a perfect change to a creature, but we can come close.”
“Like when you do your wolf thing.” He nodded and smiled. “By the way, why did you choose the wolf?”
“The wolf is a pack animal. They love to be around others, but most Changers are solitary creatures. Those who favor the wolf transformation are rare and usually seen as outcasts of our culture, but if a group of wolf type changers gather we are usually left alone to go about our business. But I don’t like many of them so I’m usually alone. I’ve always been able to take care of myself like many lone wolves.”
She had another odd question and asked it immediately after his sentence ended. “Did the Werewolf myth’s actually stem from you?”
He started laughing hard. “Yes, most myths of certain cultures came from the immortals. Don’t worry about myths because we aren’t allergic to anything this world has. But if you cut off my head or rip out my heart I’ll die. Many if not all myths have some root connection to an immortal. Like some of the gods from different cultures came from either Balancers or Changers who wanted people to worship them. Keepers have stayed out of the spotlight for thousands of years where as the others have mingled more with humanities cultures and civilizations throughout the centuries. Our races have been around for many thousands of years and some of us have influenced history in major ways. Even angels came from Changers because we can grow wings for us to fly; if we wished. Mine are black by the way. We can even grow gills like a fish, to breathe underwater if we wanted.” He stared at her reactions carefully.
Apparently they were very interesting.
This is a lot to comprehend. Are all myths in some way real? “What about Bigfoot?” She blurted out as a side thought.
Mark threw his head back and laughed. “Yes, he too is a Changer.” He shook his head. “His name is Bryce and he is a riot at parties, especially when he’s drank two barrels of mead by himself. He’s a good dancer too.”
“Are there any other unorthodox Changers?” Kara could help but imagine a drunken Sasquatch dancing.
He stopped laughing, but he continued smiling at her with those dreamy lips. “There is a rarer class of Changers who can use their bones as weapons. And they are twice as dangerous as I am.”
She skipped to another topic as she wanted to know as much as she could about who and what he is. “Do you have any kids? I mean in nine hundred years you must have had a family right?”
His smile vanished immediately and was replaced with sorrow. Kara had never seem him look so vulnerable before. It broke her heart and she wished the question could be taken back and forgotten, but it was too late. “I did...” He sighed as he began explaining a story that captured her full attention. “When I was still human over nine hundred years ago and lived in Ireland, I grew up as a farmer’s son. Many of us were at that time, but my father knew the way of the sword and taught me. Sometimes I miss the old country before technology, but I will never miss the ignorance that we lived in, in those days. Like any young man my hope was to find a love and raise many children. I was sixteen when I found a woman who would be my bride. She was a beautiful woman and many wanted her hand, I thought I was the luckiest man alive. Before our first year anniversary we had a beautiful son. Our baby was the envy of many from my home village. It wasn’t a happily ever after you’ve read in stories. Life was hard.
My son was five years old when he was killed by his own mother.” Kara gasped at the cruelty and now understood the forlorn look he showed. “She was told to kill our son by a priest. He told her that my child was sired by a demon.”
“But you’re not a demon, Mark.” She said empathetically.
He didn’t show any signs of hearing her as he continued. “I was out on a hunting trip when my wife killed my son as he slept in his bed. The priest was infatuated with my wife and used his authority to break our marriage contract, after my son’s death. She went willingly, thinking she could carry his holy child, thinking that his seed was the seed of god himself.
“I returned a week after my son was murdered and my wife laid with the priest. I was in such a rage that I yelled at him during a service. It didn’t go well for anyone. The priest had everyone leave except for my wife and the hired mercenaries that traveled with him.
“When the priest was through using my wife he slit her throat, he tried to have me executed for speaking against him saying God said it was just. The four armed men tried to take my life, but I took theirs instead. My father taught me well. I fought my way up to the priest and killed him, but I was mortally wounded by getting stabbed in the kidney. Even now I do not understand how I was able to move with a knife in my back, because once your kidney is stabbed you practically become paralyzed. I guess it was my unbridled anger for my son that kept me going until he was avenged.”
“Weren’t you born a Changer?” Kara asked, knowing how fast and strong he was from fighting her brother earlier today and couldn’t imagine a human slipping a blade into his flesh.
Mark shook his head. “No, Changer’s aren’t born, nor can they bear children.” He sighed and she wondered. How can’t he have children? Does that mean we can’t…?
“Let me finish the rest of the story before you ask another question.” He continued his story. “A man I had seen in my village many times before, saw the whole thing and sided with me over the priest. Everyone in the village thought he and those who lived with him were strange, but they never bothered or hurt anyone. The head of that household knew my vengeance was just and my actions appropriate for the situation. He personally carried me away to his house on the outskirts of the land before anyone else saw the carnage I delivered. He knew I was going to die if he didn’t do something. He offered me a choice; die painfully or become a Changer and accept even more pain. As you can see me still here and alive, you can guess what choice I made.”
“How does one become a Changer exactly?” She asked and his eyes became intense. He didn’t really want to tell her, but she had him on a roll.
“Our bodies contain a virus that can turn another human into a Changer. The virus itself looks exactly like every other blood cell
in the human body. When a Changer mixes his blood with a mortal’s, he or she, becomes one of us, if they survive.” He emphasized the last word as he looked into her eyes.
“If they survive?” she asked weakly, sensing dread.
“Yes, if… Statistically only five percent of people can survive the painful transformation to become one of us.” He was dead serious.
Only five? I have to think about this course of action. “What if we were to have…?” Her face began blushing as she looked away.
Mark quickly interrupted her question by answering it. “Even if the two of us were to mate, my seed is just as potent. All it takes is just one of my living cells to begin the change in you. Kissing is fine because fortunately the virus itself doesn’t get into our saliva nor could it change you after your pricked your finger on my fur. Cellular fluid, when mixed, will begin the change. It will be a pain you’ve never before experienced. Even after nine hundred years it still gives me the chills.”
“Oh.” She said weakly while looking down at her hands. So that’s why we haven’t been…intimate.
“Anything else you want to know?” Mark asked a minute later.
“A lot actually. How did my brother become what he is now?” She looked back in his silver eyes. The way he looked at her said he wasn’t going to hold anything back from her any longer. She had a right to know.
“Sarah actually made him. She was unmated and chose your brother. Sarah combined both Connor’s and her souls together. They are linked on a soul’s level. They will be together forever, until one of them die.”
“What happens if one of them die?” She asked in simple curiosity.
“Since they are literally soul mates, if one of them were to die, the other will pass on as well. They are one perfect soul now, but should one die the whole soul goes too and brings their mate too. Distance doesn’t matter in their case. Either way, they will die. They look after each other because they know their lives depend on the other.” He said evenly as he was still studying her.
So that is why those two are so protective of each other. “Are they even in love?” She said aloud.
“More than anyone can understand, unless you are an immortal.” He said, answering her question vaguely.
Kara reached forward and took Mark’s warm hand into her own. She asked “Are you in love with someone?”
He sighed and said “Yes.”
She leaned forward and was face to face with him. “Do I know her?”
He smiled. “Maybe, but I can’t understand what she sees in me.”
She put her hand around the back of his neck. “Maybe you need a lesson about being with a real women and not a mentally disturbed one.” She pulled him forward and they kissed.
A few hours later, after learning about what he has seen from history she asked as she was cooking both of them hamburgers “Can a Balancer and a Changer become Mates?”
He walked into her field of vision and leaned his shoulder on the wall. “No, that is a law among immortals that cannot be bent or broken.” He sighed, trying to find the best way to articulate it for her. “If my blood was to mingle with an unmated Balancer, their bodies would instantly negate the virus. Now if an unmated Balancer were to be with a Changer, they both would die. The soul fusion would kill the Changer and the virus would kill the girl when her soul became vulnerable. It has been tried three times before, to my knowledge, and none survived the blending. I heard it was a violent death that even frightened Keepers.”
She changed his mood by saying airily “Good thing I got you before some other broad did.” And he started chuckling.
When she finished cooking they ate together on the couch. He asked “When you first saw my transformation what went through your mind?”
I knew he would ask that sooner or later. Kara put her plate on the armrest of his sofa. “First, I thought something was going to silently kill my brother, but it was just you standing behind him. The first thing I saw from you was your black clawed hand when you touched his shoulder. That kind of freaked me out. When I got a good look at you, I was frightened at first until I saw in your silver eyes that it was really was you. I wasn’t afraid any longer, knowing it wasn’t me that was holding you back. The cutest parts that I saw from your transformation were your ears and your tail.”
His grin was priceless. “Is that so?” Suddenly he sat his plate on the ground and stood up. She watched his eyes start to glow and then his black tail came out from behind and she saw his ears change shape. The rest of his body looked normal as far as she could tell. “You like my ears and tail huh?” Then he began twitching his ears and tail very playfully.
When his eyes stopped glowing she stood up and felt his soft and velvety black ears. When she quit playing with his ears she stated “So you can also do partial transformations.”
“Yes and I can change my shape into whatever I want.”
Soon after they finished joking and talking, Mark drove Kara home.
Sitting at home Sarah watched as Connor made dinner. She looked out the window and saw how dark it became.
Sarah just had to say something to break the silence as the meat sizzled “I’m sorry about earlier.” He turned from the skillet to look at her sitting at the dinner table. “I’m sorry too.” He smiled and her heart started another rapid arrhythmia.
“What are you sorry for?” She asked weakly.
“I ruined another of the shirts you bought for me.” He turned back to the cooking food. It was smelling delicious.
She laughed softly. “I could care less about clothes.” He turned and winked at her with one eye. She felt the slight sensation of their still linked minds. He was still reading her mind so she gave him something good to think about. I’ll show you later how much clothes mean to me. Suddenly he turned to look at her directly when she sent a few delicious images and arched her left eyebrow proactively.
He smiled in anticipation.
When he brought the heaps of food he made to the table they ate together. He asked softly as his hazel eyes were fixed to hers “Can you tell me what had happened earlier at the clearing?”
She remembered exactly how it happened. “When you were explaining how to use Pressure, as wind, to fly, instead of solidifying the element, I used too much energy.” He nodded and still kept his eyes on her, wanting more. “I tried to fly just a few inches above the ground, but the amount I used was too much. I’ve never been too good with heights to begin with and when I opened my eyes to look down, I became deathly afraid.” She shook involuntarily. “I lost my concentration and plummeted. I thought I was going to hit the ground again, but this time I knew that today’s would be far more deadly.” He understood what she meant from falling back in school when Mathew pulled the table out from under her.
“I am just glad I had the energy and the speed to catch you.” His smile broke the tension she felt. “Tomorrow after I get my job up and running I’m going to work with you.”
“With what exactly?” His tone made her suspicious.
“You and I are going to have some flying lessons.” His playful grin didn’t work this time. It had the opposite effect, she became more frightened.
Sarah was deathly afraid of flying now. She felt her forehead start beading with sweat, her muscles locked in place and her heart was beating in pure fear. Sarah said weakly “I… I… What if I fall again?” She began nervously biting her bottom lip.
“That’s why we are going to do it together, Princess. I will keep a firm hold of you and I won’t let you go until you ask.” His smile and voice only slightly eased her apprehension for this newest idea of his.
“Ok I’ll try, but no promises.”
After dinner was finished and the pans were clean she showed her mate just how much clothes really meant to her.
After they made love during the night Sarah looked up at his face as she cuddled next to his warm and masculine body. As she traced the brand over his perfectly sculpted chest she said “When you and Mark
were sparring, did you know that very few Balancers could fight hand to hand with a Changer of his caliber. Not even Father could have fought like that.”
“Did I impress you then, Princess?” He said smiling down at her. His hazel eyes sent a chill down her spine and as their sweaty skin touched it felt like a mild shock from each of her nerves.
“More than anyone else ever could.” She pulled herself up and kissed him until she had to come up for air.
After another round of bed play, they went to sleep.
Early the next morning they went down to the advertizing agency that sat in the next town over and made fliers for Connor’s survival and outdoor campaign. While they were in town they each got a cell phone for this new business.
On their way back into town they stopped by the police station at Connor’s request. He walked in the establishment and gave Deputy Burrow his new cell number as the primary one to call if he’s needed. They also got permission to put some fliers up around the town. Before they went home they also stopped by the local newspaper and paid to put an ad in the paper for this new business.
Finally pulling into her parent’s garage, Jillian gestured for them to follow inside. She seemed up to something again.
When they sat down together Jillian asked “How did things go this morning?”
Connor spoke first as he laced his fingers with his love. “We have placed all of our advertisements around town and in the paper. All we can do now is wait for the customers to call.”
As Jillian finally sat down on the sofa, Jack entered the living room from working outside. “Good afternoon, you two.”
“Afternoon, Jack.” Connor said at the same time Sarah said “Good afternoon, Father.”
Her father sat down next to her mother and put his arm around her back. “Have you calmed down since your fall, Sarah?”
“Not entirely,” She admitted to him. “but Connor and I are going to practice on it more together.”
