CHAPTER 1
The air was cold and the moon, a pale sliver that scarred the black cloak around it, was brightly lighting the night. The sky was cloudless, but the stars were barely visible between the thick layer of trees overhead, and Amy wondered if they were even out. But there were no chattering worries here. Not yet anyways. The night was still young after all.
Soft footsteps made their way closer to Amy as a couple of lupines treaded on rich earth, picking their way over tree roots and instinctively avoiding dead leaves so as to remain as silent as possible. The pink creature's ears twitched in recognition and bowed the way her mother always taught her how to do when her superiors approached. A couple of heartbeats later, two lupines appeared into view: a male blue hedgehog and a female brown chipmunk called Sonic and Sally. As Sonic walked by, he stuck out his arm to catch the end strains of Amy's pink quills, letting them slide over his fingers like silver streams. Sally followed closely behind Sonic, throwing a glare at Amy as she passed by. As they went on their way, Amy straightened her back and gazed after them. A slightly annoyed frown playing on her lips. They were probably going to make out somewhere in the thicker parts of the forest or actually do some hunting for the pack. In her opinion, their goal was the first choice.
The fact irritated her. Sonic was hers. Well, more precisely, she was his. But she swallowed her broken heart. She was only his pet.
Yes. The word "pet" was correctly used. Lupines were one of the few species of immortal night beasts. Amy, being a lowly, mortal shape-shifter, was taught that lupines were her superiors because of their higher capabilities. In most lupine packs, shape-shifters often lived as servants or concubines to lupine masters who fed and clothed them. To Amy, it was nothing more than enslavement. Please don't misunderstand! She enjoyed being one of Sonic's many pets and being cared by him, but she had no real freedom. Perhaps she may come to fall in love with Sonic one day as most of his other pets have done, but for now, she didn't particularly have strong feelings for anyone.
Tearing herself away from her thoughts, Amy shrugged her emotions off and continued towards the heart of the pack- the campgrounds.
(Meanwhile, up in the high mountains, east of the dark forest, a solitary vampire was faced with his current agitation.)
"Rouge..." Shadow hissed, his voice slithering into the room.
Rouge, an albino bat vampiress, glanced up into the eyes of her King, Shadow, a flaming black and red hedgehog. At the moment, she was tangled up under satin sheets with a red echidna- her fangs piercing his throat. The echidna's eyes drifted towards the intruder as well and smirked slightly. Slowly, the bat retracted away from her meal and fully faced Shadow, giving him one of her "I will do what I want" looks.
"Welcome back, my lord." the echidna said, his voice brimming with humor and sarcasm.
Shadow let out a long sigh. "Knuckles. Of course." His eyes never left Rouge's. "Out of all the mortals and vampires you could have chosen for your lover or meal, why in night's name did you choose a stinking DOG?!"
Rouge smiled and refocused her attention to her Knuckles, stroking his quills lovingly. "Oh, Shadow. If you only knew what it's like to love." she practically purred.
Knuckles responded to her touches by playfully growling and kissing her fingers. Shadow sneered, his lips twitching up into a disapproving look. When the happy couple started making out, he couldn't help but interrupt again.
"I'm. Still. Here." he hissed.
"Then leave if this disgusts you." Rouge mumbled between kisses.
"This is my room!" he protested.
"Hmm." Rouge hummed.
Thoroughly frustrated, Shadow slammed the doors shut and stormed out of the castle, sending out shockwaves of fury in every direction. The dawn was already climbing into view. The daytime. Usually, Shadow was asleep by now, comfortably in his bed. Lately, however, he was exploring his enemies' territory more and more since his wonderful bed kept getting stolen by Rouge and her blasted pet dog. Well, at least he was getting some good out of working over time. By now, he knew the entire east side of the forest from pebble to the largest oak tree. However, he had yet to cross the stream into the thicker parts of the forest where he knew the heart of the lupine pack resided in. Perhaps it was time to risk even more danger. After a moment of hesitation, he made up his mind.
Yes, it was time.
Moving under the sun was no problem early in the morning when the sun's rays were weak, but now, it was near the afternoon and the heat was becoming more like a furnace.
Balancing his weight throughout his body, Shadow stealthily moved from one place to another, slowly making his way closer to the Lupine Camp. He had successfully made his way undetected for about 11 miles past the stream he usually stopped at. Already, he had come across new information. The stream was an extension of a rumbling river that eventually flowed down as a waterfall south of the stream. There, the fallen water gathered into a beautifully deep pool with red lilies floating on its surface, looking like a bouquet of roses, and fresh irises surrounding it.
It apparently perfect for bathing judging by the gossiping shape-shifters there. Shadow had never seen so many female shape shifters gathered in one place and was quite troubled to come across them, but he changed his mind the moment he picked up on their chatter.
"Ah, Master Sonic is so wonderful." a female towards his left sighed loudly. "Those rippling muscles beneath his blue fur..."
"If only he was mine only." another commented.
"If only I was born a lupine." someone to his right blurted.
Then all the females burst into declarations of love and wishes. It seemed that all of the shape-shifters wished they were lupine. Shadow understood that being a slave to lupines was horrible. After all, he himself would rather die before bowing down to a lupine. However, he didn't want to be one just because he was different. Just then, a female shifted into her blue jay form and flew away. As he watched her fragile form get smaller and smaller, he realized that if he was a pathetic beast whose life ended too soon to really see the world, he would want to be a strong immortal, too.
Below in the water, the females were all still shrieking and crying out in wishful joy- all except for one. This shifter simply remained quiet. In fact, she just sat there with her eyes closed to the sky in peaceful bliss. The light bounced around her, setting her blossom quills radiating in every direction. Her smile hinted of melting chocolate and Shadow caught himself staring. He wasn't dumb to deny that he was mesmerized. Instead, he wondered why in night's call was she smiling in the sunlight? He could barely stand it and he was in the shade!
She was a pink hedgehog. A rare breed. Hedgehogs were usually born male.
And once more, Shadow was captivated.
The girl's smile faded and her expression turned sober as she got up to leave. Without a word of goodbye to the others, she faded into the forest. Before she disappeared completely, Shadow left his hiding spot and followed her deeper into the forest.
The sounds of birds could be heard faintly in the distance, but that was the only sound available. As time passed, Shadow had this ominous feeling that she knew she was being followed. Every once in a while, she would change her pace quickly and subtly or stop abruptly and remain still. Then, finally, she turned around.
Shadow was hidden in the treetops, but the girl looked up right at him. Her curiously green orbs sparkling with the late afternoon sun. A few heartbeats thudded between them in a tense atmosphere. Without a warning, the girl shifted into a cat. A small, fragile looking kitten. Immediately, Shadow felt pity for her. She had looked about his age in her hedgehog form, but her cat form looked too young to be without a mother. So as not to frighten her off, Shadow slid down to the ground, staying kneeled long after he landed on firm ground.
Her fur bristled and her eyes flashed wearily. Hissing, she moved into an attack position. He wondered if he gave off a threatening scent. Curious, he tasted the air and caught her scent instead. It was like ripe strawberries, which was odd since strawberries didn't grow anywhere near these areas.
'Well,' Shadow thought. 'She looks like a strawberry. Guess her scent fits her.'
Then, she attacked.
Although he was rarely caught off guard, Shadow was too distracted to dodge correctly this time around, so the two hedgehogs stumbled into a nearby bush. Amy poised herself on top of him so that his arms and legs were pinned to the ground. When he opened his mouth to speak, she slapped her hand over it. Starting to get irritated, Shadow started struggling, but then he heard something in the breeze that chilled his blood.
"So as I was saying, thousands of vampires were coming down on me, but with the strength of the moon, I fought hard. You see this scar? I got it from that battle."
'Ah, that must be Sonic.' Shadow thought as a ripple of sighs washed towards him. Through the little gaps in between the bushes, Shadow could see Sonic and all his little shape-shifters surrounding him.
His attention slipped back to Amy just in time to see her eyes roll sarcastically.
If it wasn't for the dangers surrounding him, Shadow would have liked to laugh out loud. It was obvious that this particular pink hedgehog wasn't overly fond of Sonic. Once more, his attention was riveted by her lusciously rosy quills and her damnably strawberry scent- and her eyes, two stars of a golden green. He found it interesting that he had to consider her as one of the possible dangers at the moment.
'Ironic.' he thought amusedly. 'A vampire king is at the mercy of a lupine pet, a mere shape-shifter.'
