Shifters

Chapter 18

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes, "this seems like one messed up party to me." my voice was filled with ice. Xavier smiled at me, "Always the charmer." his attention glided over to Gabriel, "and who is your little friend you brought along?" I moved to place myself in front of Gabriel, but there was no need. He strode forward, shifting as he walked, and looked his brother in the eye. The shock that registered in Xavier's eyes was gone as quick as it came, "Gabriel! What a treat!" his voice was strained, he was extremely close to cracking and lunging at us both.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. He spread his arms wide and dropped his charming facade, "This is the future." he growled. His voice was gravelly now. And his eyes held a vicious glint that had not been there before. As he spoke he unfolded his glossy black wings and began beating them powerfully. I watched in amazement as he rose above the ground, his malicious grin spreading across his face. I turned to look at Gabriel, "What do we do?" he detected a panicky edge in my voice. He seemed just as confused by his brothers sudden flight as I felt.

"I don't see what we can do, shifting isn't really an offensive art unless you break the laws." we were slowly backing up, Xavier let out a fierce cry that didn't sound human. At once all the other animals turned on us. One of the creatures closest to us, a huge grizzly bear started forward, but stopped at the sound of Xavier's voice, "Join me and all of this can be stopped." he motioned to the animals advancing on us, "I would never join you." I spat.

He frowned, "that's a shame, I really thought you had promise." I looked up at Gabriel, "Think we can outrun them?" he looked surprised by my suggestion, "I don't know, I mean we can run fast, but not that fast." we were backing our way up the hill. The animals we following us. But we still had a good fifty feet between them and us, "Then Shift." I suggested, "The rules say we have to look human on the outside, but we can alter our insides." he rose his eyebrows, "Not necessarily. We have to be human, we can't have bird insides or something like that."

I let out an impatient hiss and turned my back an the advancing animals, "Then run." I cried to Gabriel. We both took off. If we could only get ourselves into the view of other people, they wouldn't attack us then. But no matter how fast we ran, the animals were faster. It didn't take long for me to be able to feel the hot breath of our perusers on my heels. And I realized that they would kill us in the presence of people. They had been around people when they first attacked, this was no different. It was a weird feeling knowing I was going to die. I didn't want to, especially if I was going to be torn apart. But I couldn't stop it.

A rush of wind stirred the air around us and Gabriel landed on the path just a little ways up. We skidded to a halt. I stumbled forward when Gabriel pushed me in front of him. I assumed that he thought the growling animals behind us were more of a threat than one winged man. He casually walked towards me, folding his ruffled wings as he went. Now they didn't seem beautiful to me. They seemed unnatural, wrong. Light reflected off the glossy feathers as he ruffled them and laid them flat again.

"Flight is so much faster than any other means of travel." he observed cooly as he stopped in front of me. There was a rustle behind us. The shifters were back in their strange humanoid forms. "Give in." he pleaded softly. Xavier picked up a strand of my hair and ran it through his hands as he talked to me. I had never seen eyes so dark. They had shifted from their deep golden form to something inhuman. No light reflected off their surface, instead it was absorbed into the endless darkness. I had to drag my gaze away from his eyes before I could reply, "I will never give in." Each word stuck in my mouth, but I forced them out anyways.

He frowned and tipped his head to the side to study my emerald eyes, "And why is that?" his voice was sharper now, but that was the only sign that he was losing his patience. The rest of his features were smooth and charming, almost challenging me to defy him, "Because that would be too simple." I pointed out. He tipped his head back and laughed. It was like hearing glass shatter. I had never heard a more unpleasant sound from anyone. Breaking the laws of shifting had more effects than I had realized before. He had lost all feelings of happiness and joy, the only thing he felt was hatred and cruelty.

He refocused on my face and opened his mouth to say something, but instead he looked over my head in shock and delight. I spun to look at what he had seen and my heart stopped. Gabriel was twisting and writhing on the ground, wrapping his arms around himself to block out the pain. But the most horrifying thing was that he was changing. And it wasn't into a human shape, "Gabriel, No!" I cried. Before I could rush towards him Xavier was holding me by my arms, pinning me to my place. I watched in horror as he twisted and contorted in front of me until it was done. He was a lion, but there was nothing sinister about it like there had been about all the other shifters who had broken the law. Instead he almost shone with a golden light. Xavier shrank away from him slightly.

His deep golden eyes were the same, only they shone deeply, like a fire was lit behind them. He shook out his mane and let out a terrifying roar. I looked into his eyes and he looked at me. At once I understand why he did it. He had broken the law to save me.

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