Love Conquers All

Chapter two

Philip's POV

It's three in the morning.  Why am I up at three in the moring? Why is George up at three in the morning? I frown as I watch him get up, he groans and puts a hand to his head

"George.... what are you doing up?" I lean over and rub his shoulders. As soon as my hand touches his shoulder pain spikes in my temples. I gasp and yank my hand back, what the hell? It was like someone had just drilled a hole in my head and filled it with lemon juice.

"It hurts...." He mumbles and his head falls into his hands. He groans and finds his water bottleand chuges. I scoot over, giving him a wide berth, and study him.

"In your head?"I ask softly.  His eyes squeeze shut and he takes a shuddering breath. We did drink alot earlier.... maybe he just has a really bad hangover.

A really bad hangover wouldn't give others pain when they touched him. A voice chews at the back of my brain. I mean.... it's not wrong.

"Do you feel hot?" I ask softly, he shakes his head and gives a soft chuckle.

"No hotter then usual." I smile and roll my eyes.

"Let's see what we've got in the medicine cabnit,yeah?" I fill his water and pad out to the kitchen. I search through the medicine and herbs,the light flickers on and I almosy jump out of my skin.

"What are you doing up Philip?" Pop asks softly, he's still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. I relaxe and sigh, I turn back to find the headache relief.

"George isn't feeling good, he has a bad headache." I sigh and study a jar before tucking it into my pocket.

"How do you know its that bad that he needs the numbing weed from the south valley?" Pop cocks an eyebrow. That's not what I meant to grab.

"Well, I put my hand on his shoulder and it felt like someone had just bashed my head in with a rock, scooped all my brains out, and used it as margarita bowl." I sigh and study the leaves in the bottle.

"Woah, woah..." Pop holds his hands up and hos eyebrows raise up." You touched his shoulder and you felt the pain?"

"Well... yeah." I shrug." Doesn't that happen with you and dad? Thats normal, isn't it?"

"That's because we're mates Philip.  We feel eachothers pain." His eyes go wild. "It's not normal. "

"Oh... well anyway, Im going to go give this to George." I shrug and he grabs my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks.

"Philip, that's not George." I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Dad, I'm glad you're looking out for me and all, but I think I know that's George. You tried to seprate us and we still got back together.  I'm done with your games." I shrug his hand off.

"Philip, I'm not trying to break you guys up. That's a shape shifter. Not Geogre, they can give others pain.  Its what they do, they play tricks." Pop grits his teeth and Dad comes shuffling out.

"Alex, just let him go back to George."  He rubs Alex's back and yawn. Why was dad asleep? Its the Winter solstice, he should be outside working his domain magic.  Making the stars shine bright and the moon blue and all that jazz. He used to take me up to the roof against Pop's wishes and hed show me the magic.

"Philip, go get dressed." Pop has a sharp edge to his voice as he slowly grabs a steak knife from the counter.  Warmth radiates off him and he gowls like a lightning bug. His eyes narrow and his teeth bare.

I nod numbly and run back to the room, sure enough George's gone. Leaving the room cold and silent. Theres a loud crash from the kitchen and yelling with snarls shared like wild hogs. 

I quickly throw on some clothes scattered around the floor and grab a knife from the bed side. The snarls get louder and more angry as I run back the the kitchen and tackle the shape shifter. My legs lock onto his sides and I sit on his chest firmly  I raise my knife up and pause as the figure shift into George quickly.  The room goes silent except for his and pop's panting.

"What's that matter young prince?" He grins ear to ear and cocks his head. It's George's voice,a perfect replication of his voice. "Can't kill a shape shifter?"

"Shift to Aaron and I won't have any problem ripping your throat out." I growl, the knife in my hand starts to shake as I study him more and more.

"You claim to be mean and ruthless like your fathers, yet you can't kill a single shape shifter because he looks like your long gone boyfriend. " His laugh fills the air, its empty and sarcastic. His eyes are dead, missing the spark of live.

"Where's George?" I snap and my legs squeeze tighter.

"Now if I told you, that'd ruin the game." He purrs and eye ticks.

This isn't George.  This isn't George . This isn't George.

"So then you're not going to tell us?" I cock my head and the knige steadies itself.

"No, but I can tell you what he is." He hums. I look at Pop and he gives a soft nod after a few minutes.

"At what cost?" I growl.

"That knife in good old pop's hand would be a fair trade. " he hums. Shape shifters like shiny things ,it'll most likely take it back to its nest.

"Alright.  Spill." I growl at him.

You know,he never did get the kinfe. As soon as I heard what my George was.... is.... I buried my own knife into his neck with a snarl  and the body melted into the ground.

"No... no he can't be. " I shake my head and lean against the wall." That would mean that he could do anything anyone wanted him to do."

"And with the power he has...." Pop pales and his eyes widen.  "You go after him, I'll get your father. We'll be behind you with Laf and...."

I didn't hear the last part. I was already too far out the door to hear the rest.