Change

by J. A. Smith

  “Information is what he wants and he will do anything possible to get it, even kill your friend” I fell to the floor sobbing. This is not happening, this was the ultimate nightmare, one long continuing, never ending nightmare. I started to rock back and forth trying to calm down. Then I realized Amber would tell them where I live and they would go to my house where my dad was. Uncontrollable Panic quickly set in.

  Without even thinking, I ran through the house and out the front door. I barely noticed that it had begun raining as I started to feel myself change, I didn’t even need to kneel, I was jumping over a log as a human and when I landed I was on four legs. I pushed myself to run faster than I had ever run before. If I wouldn’t have been so panicked, it would have felt great to stretch out my legs and push myself like this but in the present I was still feeling like it was in slow motion, taking too long to run home.

  I arrived at my house about twenty minutes later. Sniffing the air I caught the scent of Byron; he vampire was near but not at my house yet, quickly running up to the front door I scratched, tearing huge bits of metal shavings from the door in a frantic attempt for Dad. “Hold on” I heard him growl, looking behind me i made sure it was safe for my dad to open the door. Thankfully there was no vampire there to suck my blood yet. When the door swung open my dad froze, with a relieved look he dropped to his knees.

  “I am so sorry Lana,” he said through the tears. We didn’t have time for apologies and making up, I gently grabbed his shirtsleeve with my teeth and began to pull him in the opposite direction of the door we needed to get out of here.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked whispering. Thank God, he didn’t resist as I lead him into some trees across the street. We could still faintly see the house from where we now hid behind a large pine.

  I watched as Byron came out of ambers with her in tow. I could tell she had been badly beaten, sobbing hysterically saying “There, There” she was nearly dead from the amount of blood pouring out of her leg, but kept pointing to my house.

  “Awe, Thank you my dear you have been most helpful” Byron stated looking at my house like he had found the treasure. I figured this would be the part that he would bite my friend but instead the son of a bitch grabbed the back of ambers neck with one hand and the front with the other, giving it a vicious twist, I watched ambers head pop off her shoulders like a cork exiting a wine bottle.

  I would have screamed if I were in human form, but being a tiger I could only make a horrible mournful noise.

  “SHHH… Lana. He will hear you,” Dad said in a frantic but hushed whisper. I watched the vampire walk up to my front door, he knelt down to look at the metal shaving I had left than sniffed the air like he was trying to track me. With no luck he casually kicked the door in, I was waiting for him to say “Lucy I’m home”.

  “Come on lets go while he’s in the house” Dad told me as he started walking north. I couldn’t make my feet move, Amber’s body lay lifeless with her blood pouring onto the sidewalk were we had drawn butterflies as kids, her head was thrown like a bad of trash in the middle of the street were we had skinned our knees while learning how to ride a bicycle I felt a rage take hold inside me that making my body feel like a super nova without thought of my safety, I growled while charging towards the house. I heard my dad yelling my name from behind me giving up my element of surprise to the vampire that came dashing out the door and on to the lawn.

  “A White Siberian tiger,” he stated in admiration.

  “Funny, you don’t smell like a tiger, Lana is it?” he said. He must have gotten my name from Amber or heard Dad yell. He finally realized I was there to play games, I watched his fangs lengthen and his eyes turn a flaming red, seconds before I hit him full force. We began fighting for the dominate position, he caught me off guard with a hit on my left side, wrapping his legs around me then flipping me over, till my back slammed hard into the ground. I felt the impact but it was a dull pain compared to the one in my heart. I rolled over with all my strength making him the one to lie on the cold ground.

  “You are strong for a tiger, but I doubt your strong enough” he said trying to get his hands free from under my paws, I leaned in until I could smell his foul breath. His eyes widened in fright as something he saw, later I would wonder about it right now my soul called for him to die, letting instincts take over I bent my head lower, opened my mouth wide until I felt the soft tissue against my teeth then ripped his head off, offering him the same death he had Amber. The body under my paws began cracking and splitting, it was falling apart as I stood upon it, this was my kill and I would not move as my enemy flaked away like ashes from a fire caught in the wind.

  I was so caught up in my victory I didn’t notice our next-door neighbor Mr.Wington peering out the window. He was already on the phone with animal control telling them there was a tiger running loose. I glanced towards my Dad who was kneeling in the middle of the road frozen with fear. I figured he needed a little time to compose himself so I went into the house to find his truck keys. Once I had them safely in my jaw I made my way up to him slowly since he was still in the same spot I had left him in. Dropping the keys at his feet to snap him out of it I began staring with pleading eyes for him to drive away. Finally, I ended up growling in agitation, I could hear the sirens coming closer.

  “What have you done?” he said snapping out of it and starting to shake. He picked up his keys and went to his truck slowly backing away from me like I had the plague. Once he was safely in the truck, he rolled down his window and said he would follow me to Bills. My body didn’t make it past the door after we arrived.

  I awoke in a bed that was not my own and surrounded by the opposite sex of my family. Bill, Quinn and Dad had been keeping a vigil over me while I slept, apparently passing out was also abnormal for a weretiger. It appeared as if Dad had been crying, his voice was husky and his eyes were bloodshot though that could also be from lack of sleep.

  “Honey, you ok?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said rolling over. I was wearing grey sweat pants and a white t-shirt, I just really hoped it had been Tanya that had dressed me while I was unconcious.

  “Babe, we really need to talk,” Quinn said smiling at me.

  “Can we do it later? I’m still kind of tired,” I said yawning trying to get them all out of the room so I could have some private panic time.

  “Yeah, but not too long” Bill stated while moving a lock of hair out of my face.

  Yeah I was afraid of that.

  After a restful sleep of eighteen hours I felt a lot better than I thought I would have, though what I had done the other night I wouldn’t think about.

  I got up, took a shower, dressed, and brushed my teeth like I would have any other day.

  When I came downstairs, Dad was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table like he would have been at the house, nope wouldn’t go there right now. As I approached him; he tossed the cover page my direction. The headline read “tiger kills teenager”. The article said the tiger had broken in the back door of Ambers house and proceeded to tear the family apart. There was a shoot to kill order issued by Animal Control’s Authority. I sat down heavily next to my dad, holding my head in my hands I began sobbing once again.

  “I didn’t kill her. You were there. That fucking vampire did”.

  “I know, but watch your language your still not an adult yet.” he said rubbing my back trying to be dad again, like nothing terrible had transpired.

  “Lana, I want to know how you killed Byron.” Quinn asked walking into the kitchen, no paliminarys to the subject I wanted to forget.

  “An eye for an eye. He… killed my best friend, I didn’t think it was appropriate he got to live and she didn’t” Quinn’s eyes opened widely.

  “Your dad says Amber was decapitated” Quinn pointed out, I gulped down the vomit that threatened to erupt.

  “Yes, I
am well aware of that”

  “You were able to rip a vampire’s head off?” he questioned, making it sound impossible.

  “Yes I was, not if you would be so kind as to not say that again I would be most grateful”.

  “Lana, I don’t think you quite understand how impossible that should have been,” Bill said, as he began to pace to and from the hallway. “Babe, he’s right. No one of our kind has been able to kill a vampire. They are able to burn with a touch and can capture you in their gaze” Quinn stated.

  “So that’s why his eyes turned red? He was trying to capture me?” I asked curious

  “No their eyes turn red when there burning you with touch but you don’t have a lasting burn mark on you” frantically he searched my hands and face.

  I heard my dad gulped this time.

  “Lana what happened when he died?” Bill asked.

  “Well, he kind of, just started to flick away like ashes from a fire,” I said removing my hands from Quinn’s still searching eye. I was grateful my hungry stomach took that moment to make its demands be known

  “I guess it’s time to eat.” I stated as I patted my stomach and jumped up from the table with a picture of a huge roast beef sandwhich on my mind. I was personally quite happy the damn vampire was dead.

  I could feel the eyes of all three men watching me as I merrily went around the kitchen in search of food since there didn’t seem to be any roast beef.

  “Hey can I cook some eggs?” I asked while my head was still inside the fridge.

  “Sure.” Bill said still amazed at my “eased emotional state”. I was being to “calm” about the whole thing. I hadn’t noticed my shields had dropped that much to catch his thoughts, but after hearing that I stood up and glared at him.

  “How do you want me to feel? Yes I know what happened last night was beyond terrible, I know I did something monstrous to an evil demon. But will me sitting here sobbing, thinking about how I could have saved Amber really make all of this go away?” I said with one hand on the counter looking at Bill.

  “You just read my thoughts?” he asked puzzled and still not listening to me. I through my hands in the air frustrated, beyond all reason.

  “Yeah, it was a stray thought. It won’t happen again I know how much you hate it” Bill stomped over to me; put both hands on my shoulder and looked into my eyes like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. I soon realized he was pushing at my shields.

  “Owe. Hey you don’t like it when I do that so quit.”

  “Lana, I was shielding you from my thoughts just now. You shouldn’t have been able to hear anything.” Since Bill was very experienced in using his ability, I was a little scared.

  “Maybe you weren’t shielding as tightly as you should, like I said it was just a stray thought” I pointed out while making my way to the oven. Everyone was watching Bill for an explanation as he sat down stunned.

  I ended up making enough food to feed an army. I offered some to the men, but they declined saying they had already eaten. There wasn’t an even a crumb left over, good thing I had a fast metabolisim.

  “Got you’re tiger appetite I see,” Quinn said chuckled.

  “Yeah, maybe because I changed twice last night. How does that work anyways? I thought we only changed with the full moon” I said as I got up to clear the dishes.

  “Usually only the strongest can change at will, there aren’t many of us that can do that without the full moon let alone twice in one night” I had changed in the middle of running to save my dad, no kneeling to the ground involved. I opened shields enough to show Bill what I had done. Bill gave me a gentle smile.

  “You are learning how to use your new abilities thought I haven’t heard of anyone doing that before. But you need to be careful, you were seen last night. And now that Byron is no more, the other vampires will be asking a lot of questions,” Bill said.

  I didn’t want any more vampires coming around but the thought that I might be stronger than the average weretiger gave me a powerful feeling. I was smiling as I walked into the living room the men followed behind me.

  “Okay, so we need to talk about what we are going to do with you Lana,” my dad announced.

  “What do you mean” I asked. “Why can’t I go home with you? I mean, that is if you want me to.” I said lowering my head in shame.

  “Lana I want you to live with me more than anything, but you can’t anymore not after what happened last night. Your physical appearance is changing to quickly, people will notice.” I would not cry, I would not cry.

  “Don’t cry” he said wiping a damn tear from my face.

  “I love you. But it isn’t safe for you to be around here anymore, not until this thing with the vampires is dealt with. I would like you to stay with your Uncle Allen until at least next month. It’s secluded, safe and no one knows about it because Allen is paranoid. The full moon fall on your eighteenth birthday, we can be together again then,” he said smiling at me like everything was going to be alright.

  “I don’t want to go to Uncle Allen’s. They hate me,” I said sounding like a child even to my ears.

  “They don’t hate you. They just don’t know what to make of you. Allen would never let anything happen to you, and he lives far enough out in the country that you can’t get into too much trouble. You can even finish out your school year on home school, I know it is not what you wanted for your senior year, but it is the safest for everyone” he gently stated.

  “Please don’t make me do this.” I said hugging him, for what felt like the last time. He held me tight as if he also felt an omunos future ahead . I knew he didn’t want to let go, but he finally pulled away and without looking at me or saying good-bye to anyone, walked out the door.

  “He is right,” Bill said standing behind me.

  “Allen’s house would be the safest for you right now.” He placed his hand on my shoulder like my father not even telling his only daughter good-bye was ok.

  “He can’t say goodbye to you Lana. That would be permanent. He is trying to do the right thing by letting you go.” It didn’t feel like the right thing, it felt like I had been left on the side of the road with nothing but the clothes on my back. Watching Quinn pick up my bags with one hand to carry them to his truck confirmed my thinking.

  “Come on babe.” he said taking my hand, gently leading me outside. Feeling the cold water on my face, I realized it was still raining. Quinn opened the driver side door so I could slide into the seat. It felt like the door to my life was just slammed in my face, with a closed for business sign permanently mounted. I didn’t say thank you to Bill or Tanya for their hospitality, being in emotional shock apparently would do that.

  Chapter 7

  It was beginning to get chilly by the time we pulled into Uncle Allen’s house. He was waiting on the front porch for us as we pulled up. I felt so alone and detached, like I wasn’t in my body anymore. I didn’t answer Uncle Allen when he asked me if I was hungry once all my belongings had been put up in my room; it was like I could only hear their voices in a distance. I didn’t say anything to anyone as I made myself go upstairs to the guest room.

  I went mute for at about two weeks after the horrible night, everyone tip toed around me as if stepping on broken glass. Derek would try to get me to talk, so did Uncle Allen, but I didn’t have anything to say. When they spoke my gaze was far off and out of focus Uncle Allen even had a doctor come to check on me. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health and a diagnosis of shock, urging my family to try to continue to snap me out of this funk. I didn’t read anyone’s thoughts, I just kept to my zombie like self, floating between a consciousness of not awake nor asleep and emotions between numb and blind, exhausting anger.

  The seasons were changing to fall now, the leaves were changing color signaling the passing of time. Everyone had stopped trying to ma
ke me talk about a week or so ago, so now when I came downstairs to eat breakfast, they would all just ignore me letting me be.

  Derek was sitting at the table reading a book at the kitchen table when I entered. I sat down in front of him, which was out of my normal mute routine.

  “Are you going to talk to me today?” he asked putting his book down, I thought for a second, gaging my internal emotions to find that I felt better today. The hollow felling in my soul was a little smaller than previous weeks.

  “Yes, I might just do that,” I said causing him to almost jump out of his chair out of surprise. He quickly leaned across the table to hug me like I had been away for years.

  “Okay, Okay. I can’t breathe,” I said tapping him on the shoulder.

  “Oh sorry my bad” He stated sincerely releasing me. He had a huge grin on his face like I had just given him the best present ever.

  “So I hear you graduated.” Home schooling had its advantages. There wasn’t a lot of chitchat and I was able to devote all my time for schoolwork. I had graduated early and had finished school last week, but had decided not to attend the ceremony.

  “Yep,” I said smiling at my accomplishment. It did feel good to talk, even if I was only saying little things, my smile felt a little plastic though.

  “Want to do anything today?” Derek asked trying to get me out of my inner box more, like a rescuer trying to coax a cat out of a mountain caves.

  “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

  “We could go to the movies, my treat” He suggested, grinning knowing I was going to say yes.

  Derek ended up taking me to the theater inside the mall. I was a little claustrophobic being around so many after having no physical involvement with anyone. We ended up watching the new “horror” flick that was out. I believed it to be boring and over rated while Derek sore it was “awesome”. Afterwards we ate burgers while talking about what I was going to do for my eighteenth birthday. Derek informed me of a new nightclub that just opened up. Of course since my birthday fell on a full moon, we would have to wait until afterwards. From then on Derek and I spent a lot of time together, Uncle Allen was relieved I was talking again even though he watched me like mother bear watched her cubs that might be in danger.