She Belongs To No One

Transformation

Seraphina's POV

There is no way he could know Damon is coming. But something has got him alert. Worried. Bjorn paces. Fleetingly, his eyes wander over to me and he gestures for me to stay where I am. I stay still, holding my breath.

Moments later, the door opens like it had never been locked. I know that is the case. It is all I can do to not scream when I see Damon standing there.

He turns his head towards me, grinning.

"Missed me?"

I glare, trying to pretend I am not terrified. "You wish."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Bjorn asks. His voice is hard as steel and as cold as the wind that blew across the ocean.

"I am here for her." Damon points at me. I swallow hard, moving unconsciously closer to Bjorn, until I can feel the warmth of his body with mine.

"Well, I will not let you have her." The words are a snarl, animalistic.

He pounces, and though Damon is quick to evade, Bjorn is also quick to recover, grabbing at Damon's leg.

"Stop!" I shout.

But Bjorn is not listening. He throws Damon out the window, the glass shattering, shards flying in all directions across the room.

"Damon!"

Suddenly I am unsure. I had been scared that he would come for me like this. But he had saved my life. As mad as I am, I do not want him dead.

Then, Bjorn jumps out as well.

What the hell?

I run to the window, looking down below. Nothing.

I hear the fighting in the distance, though, and noises in the streets below. I cannot see. There are too many buildings in the way, and I am afraid someone is going to call the cops.

I have to stop them.

I jump out the window in one bound, snow splashing around my feet when I land. I run in their direction, eyes ahead, searching for them. They have left the buildings and have entered a park. Signs nearby point toward the zoo. I pray they have gone the opposite way, where the paths lead into more remote areas. Away from people. I do not know how to explain this otherwise.

I find them deep in the trees.

Damon moves quickly, deftly, but Bjorn is big, strong. I swear he must have been a wrestler once.

He throws Damon away like he weighs a pebble, his body crashing through some trees and breaking them in two before landing in a pit in the snow.

"No!"

I run over to him, but stop a few feet away, just as he emerges from the pit. Crouched on all fours, he shakes off the snow. Then he opens his mouth and lets out...

A howl.

Before my eyes, he grows, his hair spreading to cover all his body in black fur, some of it turning into a tail at the base of his spine. His head stretches, his nose turning into a muzzle with a set of sharp teeth.

Holy s**t.

Bjorn, however, does not look the least bit daunted as he arrives at the scene, and seconds later, I find out why.

As the wolf Damon has transformed into tries to hang on to his shoulder, fangs buried there, Bjorn lifts his head and stretches his arms. In the next instant, his dark skin has grown fur from his head to his toes, now claws.

A bear.

Damon has turned into a wolf and Bjorn into a bear.

I stumble backwards, trip, and go down hard in the snow. No matter how many times I close my eyes and rub them, when I open them, the same scene stands before me, a wolf as black as those piercing eyes I have stared into before is fighting a bear wearing Bjorn's necklace around his neck.

I am not dreaming. This s**t is real. But that does not mean it is not s**t.

Confused and terrified, I no longer care what happens. Let someone call the police. Or animal control. Maybe the zoo has room for them both. I run off as fast as I can in the opposite direction, my heart going even faster and my thoughts fastest of all.

What are they?

And if I can communicate with Damon, then what am I?

---

HOURS LATER, I SIT in an abandoned den in the middle of who knows where. I made a wrong turn somewhere and had only wound up going deeper and deeper into the park. I still do not have any of the answers. All I know is I am cold and alone, and that they are out there somewhere.

They are humans who can somehow turn into animals.

My mind had been circling around these two facts for ages now. How they do it and how they acquired the ability, I do not know.

I have gone over everything I know about it. Mythology. Fiction. Movies. Everything I have read or seen suddenly became more than an entertaining story. What if legend was merely data? Where does one begin scientifically to make sense of all of this?

Mutation? But this seems like an entire metamorphosis altogether, and in just the span of seconds.

It should be scientifically impossible.

Which means there is probably something more than science at work here. Which makes it even more scary.

Unless there is a science out there we do not understand. At one time, all of science was considered magic. There is no need to panic just yet.

Sighing, I pull my knees closer to my chest.

Well, that explains why they do not like shirts and why they do not have combs. That is probably part of their animal side.

But seriously, what are the chances of me running into two of them?

I stare at my hand.

Unless I did not run into them. Unless somehow, they were attracted to me. Damon did say I called to him.

I have been asking what they are, but maybe I should be asking: What am I?

Suddenly, I hear the sound of footsteps, of hearts beating a hundred feet away. The scents of Damon and Bjorn drift into my nostrils.

"Seraphina, where are you?"

Shit. They are here.

And if I can hear and smell them, then they can hear and smell me.

Or maybe not.