The Cost for Freedom

Chapter 21

A/N: I have posted a new cover/title picture, let me know what you think!! Thanks to Electric__Love for this!! :)
Anyways hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Comment, vote, share what you think!
-E

I decided to change the subject. "So what's your story? How did Derek become a werewolf?"

"Uh, I'm actually not a werewolf. Not technically..."

"Oh-kayy what are you?"

"I'm a shapeshifter. There is only a handful of other beings that can shift, though the most common is the wolf. So yeah I guess you could call me that."

"And how'd you become one?" I continue pressing.

"Not how, more like why... See we, all of us shifters, are very strong. Our bones are like steel," he stops as we both eye his deformed leg. He continues as my mind wonders how hard the vampires must have hit him for that to have happened. "...muscles, vision, all that, hyperaware; ultrasensitive. But our bodies are built like that because we are considered protectors. The first shifter was made right when the first vampire was... it's a complicated story, but they were brothers."

"What?" I eye him in disbelief, "brothers? As in they were family?"

"Yup," he nods at me, understanding my surprise. "The stories vary depending where you hear it but my uncle told me it was because the village they lived in was in danger. Apparently they prayed for help from the gods, seeing that the enemy they would fight was also god-like."

"God-like how?" I cut him off.

He chuckles at my excitement. "Calm down, calm down, I'll finish. They were preparing to fight a - a Dragon." He says theatrically.

"A dragon," I repeat flatly.

"You are talking to a werewolf shapeshifter," he reminds me.

I sigh, shaking my head, "Ok, you got me. What happens next?"

"Well, the gods answered they're prayers. But it came with a price. They became their own weapon. Hence, the vampire, and the shapeshifter. But there was another. A third being that was also created; to make peace, make things even."

"Who?" I ask him, becoming engrossed in the story again.

"A witch," he waggles his brows at me before continuing. "Not just any man or woman though, it was their sister."

"The sister too? But why?"

"Balance. Having two beings that might forever lose themselves in battle against another was not the way. So, a vampire was created to bestow fear; represent evil, darkness. A shapeshifter was created to protect, defend; represent hope. And the witch was made to give, or take, both of these powers. The sister was the middle ground, having the choice to choose either brother."

"What do you mean choose?" I find myself leaning closer to him as the story progressed.

"Well, if it came to a time to have to choose, only she would tip the scale and worsen or better the battle. Of course the siblings never believed things would come to that, so they accepted the gifts and used them to fight. The shapeshifter chose to become a local legend, one the village people feared. It was known as Canis Maxis, an ancestor of the grey wolves you see today. This brother was the oldest, hence his protective nature, and he knew this fear could become a strength. The middle sister was given powers she could learn. And the youngest, some say the most naïve, became the vampire. One who could absorb the life of someone else. But only the life that he was. As in a-"