In The Shadows - Fan Fiction Version by Katydids

Shifter Royalty

The four of us sit in the living room. Kota and Mr. Taylor on the couch, Owen and I in the chairs on opposite sides of the fireplace. Mr. Taylor's the only one who's done any talking and made me tea. He's obviously trying to put me at ease. I stare at the fire, holding the warm mug and watch the sparks that disappear up the chimney. I can feel their eyes all on me.

I clear my throat, "Are you sure about me?"

Owen's voice is strangely soft. "Yes."

"How?" I continue to look at the fire.

"We knew right off your first day at school," Kota says. "Remember that we told you shifters can detect another one, or even one that hasn't gone through their awakening yet, from their distinct scent?"

I nod.

"We knew from that, from your scent."

I think about the first time I met each of them and their odd behavior. It makes sense now. One thought continuously creeps into my mind. "So my real parents...." My throat begins to burn and I can't finish the sentence.

In an instant, Owen's crouching before me, his hands wrapped around mine, holding the mug. "Your real parents are David and June Sorenson."

I look at him in shock, "But my dad was..."

"A shifter."

I'm stunned. How can that be? I look at him questioningly.

Owen turns to Kota. "Get the book please." Kota gets up and walks out of the room. A few moments later he comes back with a large and ancient looking book. The leather is worn and curled around the edges and the pages are dark yellow along the sides. He hands it to Owen.

Owen sits back in the chair across from me, putting the book on the small table next to him. His steel eyes hold mine. "There were female shifters a long time ago."

I nod, but I'm confused by the direction the conversation is going. I want to know about my father.

"Although they were rare, there had always been females throughout our history. For some reason, they stopped being born and the last one died about three hundred years ago....." He pauses. "Sean said he told you that we don't get sick and you know we heal from our injuries."

I nod once again.

"Shifters die for only two reasons. Old age, or an injury so severe that the body isn't able to heal from it in time. The last female didn't die of old age, she was murdered along with her husband and son who were also shifters."

He leans forward in his chair, clasping his hands together, his elbows on his knees. "Her name was Ellasanglyn," he shakes his head and mutters about something being 'so obvious'. "Her husband was Alexander and their adult son was Jude. They were an important family to the shifter world. Royalty in a sense. Ellasanglyn descended from a unique bloodline of shifters. Most of her female ancestors had certain....abilities, after their awakening, but not all of them."

My curiosity is piqued. "What kind of abilities?"

"Some could see moments of the future, some could read thoughts, Ellasanglyn had the ability to heal things. She could assist a shifter in getting over injuries more quickly, bring a dying plant back to health and even heal human injuries."

"So female shifters had special abilities?"

"Only some of those in that bloodline........Since there weren't as many females as males, most of the male shifters have always had human mates and therefore often, human children. One shifter from a prominent pack had a human wife and son who were gravely ill. He and his two older shifter sons brought them to Ellasanglyn to heal them, even though she had never been able to cure sickness. He was desperate. She regretfully told him there was nothing she could do, and they died a few hours later. They went mad with rage and murdered her and Alexander and Jude that night. The mutilated bodies of the parents were found by the river, but Jude's wasn't, having apparently been washed away."

While an interesting story, this isn't what I want to know right now. "What does this have to do with my father?"

He picks up the old book. "This book, and others like it, contain our history. As I said, Ellasanglyn was important to our world. Sketches have been made throughout history of such ones and in this is a drawing of her, and Alexander, and Jude." He opens the book toward the end and turns a few pages. He then faces it toward me and offers it. I take it, surprised at how heavy it really is and lay it on my lap. I examine the detailed drawing of the family and immediately notice two things that make my heart stop.

First off, the petite, beautiful woman has the same pendant hanging around her neck that I do.

And secondly, the young man who must be Jude.....is my father.