The Shifter’s Prisoner

by T. S. Ryder

“How?”

  He gave her a frustrated look and she kept her mouth closed. “For you it was your sacrifice of freeing me. You took a risk, not knowing the reason I was cast in stone, and you were lucky that I was not a malicious dragon. He has made no such sacrifice, so a sacrifice must be made.”

  “Okay…” Kiara almost held her breath, waiting.

  “In the light of the moon, you will cast a spell. It’s not the most difficult spell, and in your dragon form I have no doubt you would be able to perform it.”

  “What’s the spell?”

  “I will tell you, but you should know it’s the elements required that are the sacrifice.”

  She knew of spells that required things like hair or even body parts. Some required intangibles like time or memories or happiness. To receive something like the power to shift into a dragon it would likely be something drastic.

  “It requires the blood of a virgin.”

  “Like, how much blood?” They’d just had the conversation about both of them being virgins. Easily accessible blood right there in her own body.

  “All of it. The empty vessel of the virgin is also required.”

  “So I need to kill a virgin and have the blood and the body?”

  Sindri nodded and explained the rest of the spell. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “I wish you luck, young one.” Sindri lowered his head then flew off.

  Kiara had a few herbs and things to gather for the sacrifice spell and a few other general herbs she liked to keep on hand. She also made a visit to the cave. She and Spence had spent a lot of money recently going out and doing fun things. If he survived she wanted to be able to do something awesome to celebrate. She selected a handful of coins, something easy to carry, and flew back to the woods.

  Chapter Seven

  Most of the elements for the spell to make Spence a dragon shifter were simple. A few plants, a certain potion and the moonlight. She could get all the plants from the dragon haven, she had some of the potion already and the moon was in abundant supply. Though there could be a problem if it was cloudy tonight or he didn’t survive the night. She should have asked Sindri how long it took the curse to kill someone. She was kicking herself for not knowing that, but it was the least of her worries right now.

  This virgin thing made her sick to her stomach. Would she have to kill someone? When Sindri had first said the word “virgin” she’d been relieved. If both she and Spence were then their blood was readily available. But of course it couldn’t be that simple. A dead virgin’s body and all of his or her blood. Could she really kill someone to save him?

  Kiara spent some time in the woods, pacing. There were many hours left of the day before the moon would be in the sky. She had time. Too much time to think, but not nearly enough time with Spence. She wanted to be with him, to spend every moment with him. But she couldn’t face him. Not yet. She had to decide first what she would tell him.

  He wouldn’t want her to kill anyone, surely, but how could she look him in the eye and tell him he was going to die and there was nothing she could, or would, do about it? Was there some other way? What if she went to a hospital and waited for someone to die? She could maybe take the body without anyone noticing.

  Except the timing would be really tricky on that since the body needed warmth for the spell. If the potion she had to pour into its mouth grew cold, everything would take too long and it wouldn’t work. So she’d need to be there right when someone died—someone who was a virgin—and she’d need to find a way to sneak the body out without someone stopping her. Right. Like she would ever get that lucky. If she had weeks maybe she’d try, but today was probably her only shot.

  Then an idea came to her. She thought back through everything Sindri had said. Then she went through it all again. Nowhere in all of his explanation had he said that the virgin had to be human. She’d assumed that was what he meant based on the way he described the spell. It was probably the best way to do it. If she cheated, it might have negative consequences. But at this point, when her options were to let him die, die herself or kill someone else, this seemed like it was worth a shot. And if it didn’t work he’d just have to live another day, and tomorrow she would kill someone.

  Now the question was, what sort of creature would make the best sacrifice in the place of a human? An ape would be the closest to human, but there were no zoos nearby, and flying in as a dragon to steal one then flying it back here would probably not be the best idea. She may have come a long way on her cloaking spell, but she hadn’t tried to increase it to the ability to cloak someone else with her. People would probably notice an ape flying through the sky.

  There was an awful lot of literature on wolf shifters. Werewolves. Books, movies, even a real disease that covered people in hair. Wolves were often thought of as kindred spirits to humans. Maybe they would be a good choice. There were wolves in the area, and if she chose one young enough to have never gone into heat it would be a virgin.

  The wild relief mixed with the idea in her mind. Could this really work? Should she take the chance? After pacing for a while, she decided. She would do this first. If it didn’t work properly she would find someone to kill. Someone annoying and pathetic from her school, maybe. Even if the guilt haunted her forever, she would not lose Spence, not like this, not by her own fault.

  She went into dragon form and put up her cloak, then pointed her nose into the air and sniffed around. There was a pack of wolves a few hundred feet away. She walked closer and thought that by the scent, by how thick and dense it was, this must be their home. The wolves would be there when she needed them. Right now she had no way to keep one. She’d have to make some sort of cage or get a leash and a lead to hold it until she was ready for the spell. She went close enough to smell that there were young pups there before leaving the woods in human form.

  Spence was still in bed sleeping when she climbed in through his window. She kissed him and he stirred. His eyes were glassy and his complexion even worse. It smelled like sick in the room. He’d probably thrown up. Sweat glistened across his forehead.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” he croaked.

  “You really can’t die of this now, because I don’t think we’d be able to fix that virgin thing with you in this state.”

  His mouth twitched into a smile before falling back to a straight line. “I’d find a way.”

  “Of course you would. Do you need anything? Can I bring you something?”

  “I need”—he coughed and she saw the splatter of blood on his hand—“to not die.”

  “Oh, that.” She waved her hand in the air, trying to lighten things a bit. “Yeah, I’ve totally got that all worked out. No worries.”

  He blinked at her. “Really?”

  She grinned. “Yes. We have to wait until the moon is out, but yes. There is a spell.”

  “What does it do?”

  “Well, that’s actually the extra cool thing. It makes you into a dragon shifter, too.”

  “Really?”

  She shrugged. “The only way to survive knowing the secret is to be part of it.” She wondered then if that was why Sindri had given her the power. If he hadn’t, she would have died after freeing him because she saw him. Maybe that’s what he meant when he said that she was lucky he wasn’t malicious. He could have just let her die, and she would never have known why. Who knows how many people she might have told? She could have started a chain of cursed deaths. And if Sindri was evil, he might have allowed it. Well, none of that mattered now.

  “Yup,” she said. “Then we can fly around together. You probably didn’t know this, but in dragon form my magic is way stronger. Just wait until you see the magic you can do.”

  “What’s the catch?” He coughed again and wiped sweat from his forehead.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Has to be something bad about it or everyone would do it.”

  “Well, first, only those with magic can bec
ome a shifter. So it wouldn’t be everyone. And yeah, it’s a difficult spell. And it does require a sacrifice.”

  He looked at her, waiting.

  “We have to kill a virgin.”

  His mouth hung open. “We can’t do that!”

  “No, shhh.” She put her lips to his for a second. “I figured something out. It doesn’t have to be a human virgin. We’re going to kill a wolf virgin.”

  His face fell into a frown.

  “I know it’s still not ideal. I don’t even like the thought of killing a little wolf, but when I’m a dragon I eat lots of different animals, including wolves. It’s part of the food chain. And if it means we don’t have to kill a person and you don’t die and I don’t die, then I’ll have to be okay with killing a wolf.”

  He nodded. “I guess that’s better.”

  “You being alive is better.” She smoothed back the hair that clung to his forehead. “If I have to, I will kill for you.”

  The look he gave her was so full of love and longing that she wished they could take care of the virgin thing right then. But he would live. He had to. And they could do it right. Make it special. And not when he was all sickly and half dead.

  Chapter Eight

  Kiara didn’t know how long it would take to get everything set up to do the spell, so as soon as the sun started to fall she went to retrieve Spence. From his bedroom she snuck downstairs to where his parents were in the living room doing paperwork and watching TV. She cast a charm on them so they wouldn’t go upstairs to check on their ill son.

  Then she bundled him up in sweats and layers of shirts, wrapped a blanket around him and helped him out of the window. Dropping out of the window was still easier than trying to cloak them both to get him out of the front door with his parents right there. He shivered, despite the warm night. She gave him a warming potion that she’d luckily thought to put in her tote bag, which seemed to help a little. They walked into the woods, Spence half shuffling.

  It took a long time for them to reach the clearing where they did their magic. She drew out the circle of the spell with her toe in the dirt. In her bag she had all the ingredients needed, and she placed them in the correct places around the circle. She gazed up into the sky. The sun had gone, but the moon wasn’t high enough yet. She clenched and unclenched her fists. Was it too soon to get the wolf? What if she waited too long? She hadn’t found any sort of cage, but she had a rope.

  Eventually, she couldn’t wait anymore. If the wolves had gone out to hunt or left their nest for another reason, she might have to follow their scent for a while. This wasn’t the time to take the chance that they wouldn’t be available when she needed them.

  “I’m going to change and go get the wolf,” she said.

  Spence sat on the ground, leaning against a tree, clutching his blanket tight. He nodded at her and turned his head to cough up more blood. The cough was getting worse; the blood was getting worse. He looked more and more green and had thrown up so many times that he had only been able to dry heave for hours.

  She cast her usual protection spells and shifted into dragon form, then cloaked. “Can you see me?”

  He shook his head, then whispered, “You’re so cool,” before closing his eyes and resting his head against the tree.

  Kiara went to find the wolves. Their scent was clear and vivid to her as a dragon. That part always amazed her. Humans were so cut off from the animal world. They had no idea of most of what was around them. Even though she spent a lot of time as an animal, when she was human she couldn’t access the same sense of smell and hearing that she could while in dragon form.

  She crept up to the wolf den, where it appeared that they were all sleeping in a big pile. They looked so cute, all together like that. But this was about Spence. It was either one of these little pups or a person, she reminded herself. And it was meant to be a sacrifice. As he’d said, there’s always a catch. If it was easy then everyone would do it. This was meant to be difficult. And it was.

  It almost wasn’t fair. They could smell her, but they wouldn’t see her coming. There was so little they could do as she walked over and gently lifted one of the cubs into her mouth. The adults stirred and growled and bit at her, but without seeing her they only had her scent to guide them. And she was out of there before they knew what was happening.

  She hurried back to the circle and set the pup down. Then she quickly changed back and grabbed the rope.

  “It’s just like a puppy,” Spence said.

  “I know. Don’t look at it. It’ll just make it worse.”

  The wolf pup sniffed around and went to Spence. He reached out to pet it and the pup licked him.

  Kiara dropped her head in frustration. “You’re going to make it worse. Plus, don’t forget that it’s a wild animal, not a cute little puppy. I will get you a puppy tomorrow, when you’re alive because this one died to save you.”

  “Thank you, wolfy,” Spence said, scratching behind its ears.

  Her throat grew thick at the sight. How in the world was she going to be able to go through with this? She tied a circle of rope and made a leash for the wolf. Then she secured the other end to a tree. The last thing she needed was for the wolf to run off when she needed it.

  She looked up at the sky and the moon shone back, bright white against a deep blue sky. Was it dark enough? Sindri hadn’t said anything about it being dark, just that they needed the moonlight. And moonlight was what they had.

  “Okay.” She nodded to herself. “I think we can start.”

  Spence looked up at her, his hand resting on the sleeping pup, who had curled up by his side. At least the pup had been treated well before his death. Maybe he even liked Spence.

  She began the ritual, standing in the center of the circle. The plants and herbs were burned, the opening words of the spell spoken. She went to the wolf and, with a deep breath and after casting a sedation spell, she opened his mouth and poured the potion in. He whimpered a bit, but licked his chops and swallowed it.

  The sound of wolves howling echoed in the forest behind her. No, not now. She listened but couldn’t hear with her human ears. She changed into dragon form, but by the time her transformation was complete the wolves were there. They had found the scent and had come for their lost pup. Five adult wolves circled Spence, eying up the pup, who sat still by Spence’s side.

  Kiara crouched down and growled at them. They snarled back, revealing their sharp teeth. She took a step forward, hoping they’d be scared and run off. Instead, one swiped at her with his paw. He missed her and caught the side of Spence’s leg.

  Spence howled in pain, four bright lines appearing through slits in his sweatpants. He gripped his leg, pressing his fingers into the fresh blood.

  Anger flared in Kiara. She swatted her huge paw through the air, knocking into the wolf who’d hurt Spence and sending him flying into the air. The wolf slammed into a tree and hit the ground, whimpering.

  The other wolves descended on her. The biggest one snapped his jaws at her and took several swipes, but she was too big for them and too strong. The wolf’s claws glanced off her hard scales. He came back to attack again but couldn’t get to her soft belly—the only place she was vulnerable.

  The fight felt unfair to her. She swiped her paw and sent another wolf flying. It was too easy. She didn’t want to hurt them, but they needed to leave them alone to do the spell.

  Three wolves remained. They fought their hardest, trying to circle around her and catch her off guard. But she spun, whacking one with her thick tail. The wolf ran off with a limp after hitting the ground. The last two took off running when she bared her teeth and growled at them. She ran in the direction they’d all headed to chase them and make sure they stayed away.

  When she got back to the clearing, the moon was higher and the night darker. She changed back to human form, then dashed to Spence’s side.

  “Are you okay?”

  “It really hurts and there’s a lot of blood.” Spence held his l
eg and his face was twisted in pain.

  She took out a cloth she kept in her bag for wrapping plants inside, and tied it tight around his leg. “We’re almost done.”

  She went back to her bag, which sitting in the center of the spell circle, and got the knife, fresh determination washing over her. The wolves had a right to attack, sure, but they’d hurt him, and somehow she felt a little less bad about killing their pup now.

  With the knife in one hand, she picked up the pup by the scruff of his neck. She carried him to the center of the circle and laid him down. Whatever anger she’d felt at his protectors was gone when she looked into his sad, scared eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. She blinked away tears and held a shaking hand to his throat, the blade of the knife ready. She closed her eyes.

  The blood ran down her hand as she held the cup, making sure all of his blood fell into the smaller circle of herbs in front of her. When he stopped bleeding, she laid the body on the ground on top of the blood, then brought Spence closer. She changed back into dragon form. She’d need the stronger magic to pull the spell off.

  She cast the final part of the spell, watching the red and green and blue flashes surround Spence as the spell worked. The magic entered his body and he started to change.

  First, his skin became a shade of silvery gray and popped out into scales. Then he grew larger, slightly bigger than her, as his bones moved into the shape of the dragon. When his transformation was complete he stood before her, a grand dragon.

  But there was clearly something wrong.

  “Spence? Are you okay?” Kiara tried not to panic. “Do you feel okay?”

  He looked down at his dragon body. He held out an arm, watching the moonlight glint on his silvery scales. Then he ran his paw over the patch of white and gray fur at his chest. He stretched out the paw that ended in more thick fur and yellow claws and looked behind him at his tail that ended in a hairy puff instead of spikes. His yellow-green eyes blinked from a face of fur. A wolf face.