Prologue
Fate, what a cruel twist to life, condemning people for what they are rather than who they are. I wish life could be normal, before I inherited this wretched gift that cast me out of my village, and turned my family against me. Not all of my people turn into skin walkers, it's the bane of my existence to forever be alone for there is no other skin walker that I have found. Many times i wish I could go back before I had met those ethereal golden eyes. It was during the summer of my seventh year, it was my favorite time of year, I could lay in our forest glade forever just reveling in the beauty of it all, it was then that I had seen the shadow of a black wolf with eyes not quite animal but more human. As a child I had no fear of nature, and curiosity got the better of me, I walked closer to the wolf that lurked within the shadows and envied its grace and poise, wondering as I always did what it would feel like to be an animal, for the wild feeling of freedom. The breath on the nape of my neck told me the wolf I had been staring at was now behind me, but no longer a wolf he was something else. A malicious voice echoed in my head, drowned out by my own screams of agony, as pain suddenly ripped through me. I felt like it had been tearing me apart, a wildness within my own soul the shadows that lurked within longing for that freedom, clawing its way out of my body. I felt the shifting of bones and the pain as they shrank and grew, fur sprouting everywhere, as my body contorted to change into the first form I ever new, the panther. Staring through the golden green eyes that were no longer human but nor were they animal I watched the wolf fade as if an apparition, at the time I hadn't understood what had happened but the animal, the shadow in me was straining for more control. The pain in my body still echoed in my head and the naive weak girl I was receded letting the shadow take the pain for a while as I faded into the blessed abyss, and because of that I paid the heaviest price I have ever known.
Blood... so much blood, the only sound in the darkness was my own heavy breathing as I raced to find the source of the blood, already knowing in my heart what had happened, as my mind screamed that it could not be true. He was my brother MY BROTHER, my other half, my twin he couldn't be dead any one but him... No! NO! The faces swirled from the darkness, as I held my lifeless brother in my arms refusing to believe that he was dead, they were so angry and furious at me. Why me? I didn't do this did I? I felt the tears slide down my cheeks... I didn't understand...none of it made sense... my own mother stood at the front of the crown with such hatred and disgust on her face, in her eyes as she yelled at me " You are not my child, you are a demon from the very pit of hell, who devoured her own brother, be gone demon you are not welcome here." The face of my brother lying in my arms so still, his face contorted in fear, forever frozen in horror, his lifeless eyes staring without sight at me...
Skin-walkers, also known as shape shifters, people who are cursed or blessed with the ability to take any animal form that they have came in contact with, but like all things it comes at a price..
Chapter One
Waking with a start to the old nightmare, the old memory, I rose and walked the short distance to my shower, turning the water to scorching hot, so I could drive the chill from my bones, and my soul. The water quickly turned from scalding hot to freezing or perhaps it was simply that time had escaped me, time was not something I cared about. For most people the life they have on earth is quick and fleeting, a small candle flame that the smallest breeze could put out. But for me time was my enemy,and my oldest companion it would simply continue on regardless of life or death. I turned off the water and stepped out into the bathroom of my apartment into darkness. Like the darkness that lived within me, so was darkness my home. The animal within stirred begging for release for the thrill of the hunt and the illusion of freedom it gave. It was as restless as I was , creeping down the stairs without a sound I slipped from the building into the glowing night. Walking the shadows of the streets I made my way to the forest of the bayou, clothes falling in my wake as I shifted to my favorite form, and yet the animal I feared most, the black panther my hair shortening on my head and sprouting from every pore in my body the bones contorting, but this time painless, my eyes changing from the emerald and summer green to a mixture of green, gold and feline yellow. The shift was effortless and painless, my body was too used to the shift to even register it now in the blink of an eye where a young woman stood now stood the lethal panther with the glowing eyes of a hunter on the smell of prey assaulted me, the exhilaration of the hunt beginning made shivers of excitement run down my spine. As the panther I stalked my prey feeding on its fear and the chase, the prey running to exhaustion when all hope was lost, knowing they were already dead yet still they ran. It was funny in some ways how everyone runs from their fate but still it comes to pass whether they wish it to or not, all run like prey being chased down by the predator, with no hope they fight to last breath, it was laughable, why do humans cling to life so desperately ? Because everyone is afraid to die...
Jumping over the log in my path, I cornered my prey, the game was over with a final vicious lunge of my jaws the prey was dead, and I feasted upon my food. In the human part of my brain the old ways of my people stayed with me as I prayed for a quick travel to Valhalla for the beast and thanked it for providing the sustenance I needed. The religion of old was a religion I understood well and accepted. No matter how hard I tried I could never understand the Christians God he made no sense, and to me their was no grey area for mistakes then that was my opinion I understood that they liked it and that was all I needed. Personally I'll always keep to the old ways; then again I new the old magic that happened, the magic that coursed through my veins was a testament to the gods.
They were real even if they sometimes ignored their people but then I always suspected that the magic that came to earth was Loki's doing, I'll never be able to prove it though. In the murky water I could see what was suppose to be a rueful look that more or less looked liked a hungry grin full of teeth. Shaking my body as the great cat I strode back the way I had come, changing forms only when I made it back to my clothes I hurriedly pulled them on though the chill did not pierce my skin. My lazy stride back to my home was halted as a chill ran down my spine, as if someone was watching, using my enhanced senses, I could not find anything or anyone. But someone or something was definitely out there. A cold menacing voice whispered in my ear as their breath touched my neck " So how do you like the darkness within your very soul, does it consume you, or excite you?" fingertips brushed my back lightly, I simply stood there frozen by my own uncontrollable fear.