Chapter Two
My thoughts were cut short by a rustle from an animal. I sniffed. Deer. One male, two females, and a couple of babies. It would have to do. I was so... thirsty. I hid in the branches of a huge pine tree. It wasn't great shelter, but the deer wouldn't be able to get away.
On three, I thought. One... Two... Go! I jumped right on the bucks back in one swift movement and in another I had bitten into his neck, I could hear it's rapid heart beat, and then he was dieing. I looked at my prey. I could sense the pulse slowing down and the blood pulsing through his veins. I couldn't wait to bite into his neck.
I bent over and bit into it's neck once again, but this time my white, razor sharp, knife pointed, teeth sank in to get blood, not to kill. The blood running down my throat tasted so good. It was intoxicating. I couldn't remember any meat I had ever eaten tasting so good...
Over a dozen deer later I was full and climbing through the same window I had jumped out of. I couldn't believe it. I jumped over fifty feet in the air and land on the window ledge. I stuck my head through the window and the next my whole body was through. Raz was waiting in the same spot he was when I had left.
"Nice hunting, I hope?", he asked.
I nodded. "Couldn't have been better.", I complemented.
"Always is and always will be. Umm... You're welcome to stay here if you want."
"No thank you, but thank you anyways. I'd rather sleep outside.", I said, remembering my favorite hideout on my Uncle's property. It had a nice view of the sunset. "But I was wondering, when was the last time you seen, or talked to, my parents?"
"Well actually, it was two weeks ago. They said there were vampire hunters after you. They wanted you dead. They said to have my spies watching you in case they disappeared. I did but they were attacked. Your parents were attacked too but they were taken by the attackers. One of the spies watching them returned. He wasn't in a good condition.
"When he returned I sent Barbus for you. He had to have had some sort of trouble, I guess, because he was gone for far too long. I'm sorry for him being so rude and tieing you up. He's just an old grunt. All shapeshifters are. Especially bear shifters."
"Okay... Umm... Can I ask you another question?", I uttered, not feeling too at home. I wasn't quite feeling right.
"Anything and I know you remember me clearly. You don't have to be a stranger. Whats your question?"
"Well... What was my mother? Human, shapeshifter, vampire, or, assuming they exsist, a witch?" This was the one thing that was confusing me. Everything about my parents was clear, besides my mother and who she was. It was like a force field blocking everything, besides her apearance.
"Oh, they do exsist. Yes, she's a shifting witch. She's... Difficult to explain. She is a... A queen. She is Queen Zanna of the Shapeshifters and is highly thought of. Her and her family are the oldest living shapeshifters we know of. Your parents met at a gathering twenty-two thousand milleniums ago. But your mother... She's something else.
"Your mother is a... A Dragon. And a very rare one too. That means that you're a shifter, witch, vampire, and a human. You have the greatest gifts of all. You can shift, brew, elevate, and still think with the kindness of a naive human heart.
"When you were born the Shifters thought it was a pack between the Shifters and the Blue Vamp's. Your mother told them so. The Blue Vamp's agreed with them. The Witches receeded from the Red Vamp's and joined us. They knew we were the stronger group and possibly the winning side. The Red Vamp's still won't come to an understanding.
"I think you ought to know that your real name is Raksha Drache. It means 'Demon Dragon', but in prettier words. Your mother named you Arrianna Shaldean to hide you from the Red Vamp's. You are over the legal age to choose your shifting form but I'm not sure if you already have." He finally stopped talking and stared at me, Raksha, suspiciously.
I liked my name. I shrugged my shoulders. I hated it when people stared at me unless it was in the eyes. It got me mad. Sort of like a alpha animal thing. My Uncle was still looking at me. "You know it, now you have to remember it."
I nodded. Closing my eyes, I started looking through old memories. My first buck... Dad and the snake... Visiting Aunt Katrina and Uncle Raz...Not necessary... Not necessary... Not- Wait, Maybe... No... There!
I was sleeping in my fathers arms. (He looked so much like Raz.) I was around thirteen and my Father was carrying me into an old abandoned house. It was raining so hard outside. Zanna, my mother, appeared at the door way. (She really was beautiful.)
My father was so startled that he dropped me, but before I fell my mother caught me. The younger Raksha's eyes flew open. I realized that in the memory my mother looked... Transformed. She looked like a dragon but yet you could see her human form. I guessed that it was my mothers half dragon, half human form.
Stop. Dont watch this. Your gunna get us into so much trouble Arri. This is not what you want. This is not your life. Its mine. Stay. Out. Of. IT. My Voice was yelling at me...? Somehow the vision stopped. This was getting me mad. What right did she have to this situation?
Why are you interupting? If this is your memories that means your me. Which means I have as much right to them as you. Plus you cant reach them if I can't. Which also means you have no way of helping your parents or our Mother's kingdom. Just let me help and we can help each other.
My Voice didn't answer. She grumbled and continued the vision. I smiled inside and thanked her. As she went back to hiding I felt a presence and instantly the Raksha in me was alert. Continue this memory. You need to remember it to truely understand our dilema. I'll guard us. Then she was gone and the vision continued.
The younger Raksha's hand was on my mothers shoulder. The younger me began to change. The next second she looked like a real Dragon. My mother was so startled that she actually did drop me. The younger me looked very confused. My mother stuttered something that sounded a lot like "She chose."
My father was wearing a really straight face for his daughter changing into a Dragon but he couldn't hide the shock, joy, fear, and pride that he was feeling. I felt inside how much my younger self had praised my mother. She had been an idle to me and whenever my teachers or anyone asked me what I had wanted to be I had always told them, "I want to be as wonderful and amazing as my Mother."
My Mother spoke louder this time. "She can't remember this Mason.". So that was my father's name. "The Reds will kill her if they find out. And it'll be easy since she's weak. The Witches will turn against us, too. There aren't supposed to be any more Dragon shifters in the Underworld. I promised. You have to agree to erase her memory one last time. It's for her safety, Mason." Zanna looked pleading. She must have loved me so much...
I knew though that no matter how much erasing of my memory she did, my mother couldn't change the fact that I had chose my Shifting form. Once you change you can't change back. There were no exceptions. So when you chose, you had to chose what you really wanted. There was no redo's or second chances in the Shifting Kingdom.
Mason looked very taken aback, but then his faced changed when Zanna mentioned my safety. Mason looked at Zanna and said, "I know Zan, but she's confused. We're not sure she even knows how to change back. She'll learn someday. Anyway," He looked at Zanna, saw the worry in her eyes and changed his sentence. "But for now the best thing to do is erase her memory."
He bent over the younger me and kissed my forhead. "I love you." he whispered to me. Then he touched my shoulder, like Uncle Raz had done, and then my fathers voice sounded, in both the younger and present Raksha's head, saying "Forget everything."
Without meaning to I jerked out of that memory. Opening my eyes I saw that I was still in Uncle Raz's office. I'm a Dragon, I thought. But I didn't mean to. I just touched her and... And I changed. I realized that Raz was looking at me with concern.
Flashes of Raz's emotions came shooting out of nowhere into my head. They read concern, suspicion, curiosity, and, was it really, guilt? Drache, I thought. Dragon. Makes sense but where'd Raksha come in? I was barely listening to Raz. "Do you remember how to change?", he asked. Another, more substantial, wave of guilt came from Raz's emotions. Why'd he even care if I knew how to change? That's not important. He should be trying to keep me from changing.
"Yes." I was still searching Raz's emotions. It was amazing how this new power worked. It was like a sixth sense. There was a lot of guilt in Raz's emotions, but what was he doing to make himself feel so guilty?
"It's easy. But, hey, I've got some more questions. Do Dragons have powers? If they do, what are they? I mean, if nobody wants them alive, then they should have a defense that's really powerful. And why is my mother still alive?"