For Disclaimer, parnings, rating, parings, summary and legend, please refer to chapter 1.
Chapter 2
"The legend of the shifter has been known to take many forms, every religion and culture having their own stories that gradually became more and more distorted as they were passed from generation to generation. Shifters were called by many names, depending on what people believed about them. Some people believed they were shamans, people who could interact with the spirit world, and looked to them in times of hardship, few believed that shifters were skin-walkers, people who could change their form into any animal they wished and many believed that shifters were Naguals, creatures that could transform themselves into any animal. But there were also those people who believed that shifters were dangerous and evil, many of these people believed shifters to be sorcerers or witches and as a result, many shifters were burnt at the stake.
It wasn't until the early 17th century, during the reign of King Charles 1 that shifters were seen as people rather than witches/sorcerers/Naguals/Skin-Walkers. When the King's chief guard Thomas Moore was injured after rogues attempted to rob his highnesses stagecoach, the horses had been so terrified that they had run and Moore's men had followed, leaving him stranded, alone and bleeding out until a shifter called Godin approached him, in his animal form, before shifting into his human form. At first Thomas was terrified of the creature, begging and pleading to have his life spared, for he had done the creature no harm, before he had passed out due to blood loss.
It was when he had woken up that he had realised that the creature had moved him from the place he fell, to what appeared to be a cottage of some sort, and he was no longer laying on cold, hard stone, but on a soft, warm bed. Moore had inspected his wound, seeing that not only had it been cleaned rather thoroughly, but it had also been stitched in an almost professional manner. When he had been able to walk again, Moore had made his way slowly, back to the castle, welcomed with open arms, he had told his men that he needed to see the King right away and he had been taken to him.
Thomas had explained that after the convoy had taken off, he had been approached by a shifter, which had caused numerous gasps among the people. He told of how he passed out in the middle of the road and woke up in a cottage with his wound cleaned and sutured expertly and he told the King that he believed the shifter had something to do with it. With that, the very next day, Charles had sent out a party of guards, to find and retrieve this shifter, so that he may thank him for his good will. Godin accepted this on the condition that Shifters were to be treated less like monsters and more like the people they were"
(18 months later)
Excitement filled the air of the Lennox house, after five months of Will being gone, he was finally on his way home. Alexx had grown into a young woman, looking as if she were in her early mid-teens, but really being only a year old and was constantly out and about, climbing trees and sitting on the roof. In the time that Will had been away, Sarah had given birth to a beautiful little girl, whom she had named Annabelle and Alexx had found that she had a way with the local cats, due to her being a feline shifter. It was a wonder the cats weren't scared of her, considering what animal she shifted into.
Up until now, Sarah had been keeping a close eye on Alexx, making sure that she didn't wander off when they went to the city and always protecting her from people who looked strange. The blonde woman had also started reading the handbook again as well as having read the letter again too. She was baffled about how fast Alexx had grown in the last 18 months, but the more she read the handbook, the clearer everything became. Thankfully, she noted, Alexx wouldn't reach sexual maturity until she was about two years old, so that gave her plenty of time to read the part about feline puberty and also research it on the internet too, so she would be ready. What marred her conscience though, was the fact that, as soon as Alexx reached sexual maturity, the feline shifter would most probably leave her, to find herself a mate and settle down.
Sarah decided that she would forget about that for now, and just enjoy the time she had left with her first daughter, while also looking after her second daughter. It was funny to watch how Alexx acted with Annabelle, at first the dark haired female had been terrified of the baby, but true to her feline nature, curiosity soon got the better of her and she started examining Annabelle, with Sarah watching her every move. Sarah had laughed for a long time when Annabelle had made a high pitched squeal, which made Alexx jump a mile and hide behind the couch.
Watching a human behave in such a way would make most people think she was some kind of crazy, but the blonde woman knew the truth. Currently, Sarah was sat in the kitchen, watching Alexx play with Annabelle with a smile on her face. It seemed that in the few months Annabelle had been around, the feline shifter had formed a kind of special bond with her, running to her if she hurt herself, keeping watch over her like a loyal dog. Because of this, Sarah felt safe enough to get some time to herself every so often, whether that be a lounging soak in the bath or mowing the lawn, she knew Annabelle was protected and safe. As she sat, drinking her coffee, Sarah's mind travelled back to when she and Will had told Alexx of her true heritage and of what she really was.
~Flashback~
Sarah and Will were sat downstairs, thinking that Alexx was in bed and asleep, they were both reading the Shifter handbook, trying to learn as much as they could about the feline shifter they were raising.
"So, she'll be like an eight year old kid by the time she's six months?" Will asked.
Sarah looked at him and nodded, before looking back down to the handbook.
"Yeah, and it says that she'll probably look like she's in her mid teens when she's a yearling" she replied.
Will nodded and continued to read about Alexx, sighing when he read the part about shifters being hunted. That was all they needed, he was in the military and he was harboring a creature that could and would cause their lives to be hell. He looked to his wife and released another sigh.
"Are you sure about this Sarah? I mean, we're going to get a lot of stick for this" he said.
The blonde haired woman looked at her husband and then looked down to the handbook again.
"What am I supposed to do Will? Just chuck her out on the streets to survive on her own? I can't do that, my maternal instinct for one won't let me" she stated.
Will growled and ran his hands through his hair, leaning back against the couch, before sitting back up again.
"Does she at least know what she is?" He asked.
Sarah shook her head.
"I haven't told her yet" she answered.
Will groaned.
"Well don't you think you'd better?" He questioned.
Before Sarah could answer, there was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and both adults turned to see Alexx appear just under the slanted ceiling, where she sat on the step there.
"Tell me what?" She asked.
Will and Sarah looked at each other and then looked at Alexx, before Sarah got up and put her hands together in front of her.
"Um...why don't you come and sit down" she said.
Alexx got up and walked the rest of the way down the stairs, before going to sit next to Will, who budged over to make room for her and Sarah. When Alexx had sat down, Sarah sat down too and handed her the handbook.
"The night I found you, you were left on the porch, I assume by your birth parents. When I found you, I saw that you had a brown envelope resting on your basket and when I took you in, I read it" she said.
She then handed Alexx the letter from her parents.
"This was in the brown envelope, along with the handbook" she stated.
Alexx looked down at the letter and began to read it, her eyes drifting over the words, taking them all in. She could read better than any child her age, because of her abilities, her mind was more developed than a regular child's mind was. When she'd finished, she put the letter down and just sat there.
"So you're not my real parents" she whispered.
Sarah put her hand on Alexx's back and rubbed it slightly.
"No sweetie, but whether we're your blood parents or not, we love you all the same" she said.
Alexx's head shot up and her eyes narrowed.
"You might do, but Will doesn't" she said.
Sarah looked up in time to see Will's eyes go wide, before he leaned forward on his knees.
"It's not that I don't love you Alexx; it's that...I'm worried" he explained.
Alexx looked at him and narrowed her eyes.
"Worried about what?" She asked.
Will looked at Sarah and then looked at Alexx.
"About you. If anyone finds out what you are..." he began.
The shifter female looked between the two humans and raised her eyebrows.
"What?" She questioned.
Sarah rubbed Alexx's back again.
"Alexx, there are some terrible people out there, people who don't like your...uh...breed of...uh...people and they'll try to harm you. As it is, according to what your parents say in the letter, you were supposed to die the night they did" she explained.
The black haired girl looked at Sarah and her eyes widened, before she looked down and sniffled.
"I guess that's why I can't go and play with the other kids" she sobbed.
Sarah's heart broke and she pulled Alexx into a protective hug.
"Yeah, Alexx...that's why sweetie" she said.
It didn't take long for Alexx to calm down and when she did, it was with a new understanding of what she was.
"So...does the handbook say when I'll find out what I'll shift into?" She asked.
Will picked up the handbook and flipped through it, coming to the page that said 'First shift'. He read it and grimaced a little, before giving a bit of a laugh.
"It says that the first shift will be like a baby going through the teething stage" he stated.
Sarah grimaced a little too, before looking at Alexx.
"Your first shift will be painful then" she said.
Will continued to flip through and then put the book down and covered his face with his hands. Sarah gave him a worried look.
"What is it Will?" She asked.
The man looked at his wife and then looked at his adoptive daughter and sighed.
"It says that her first shift will be...well...around now really" he said.
~End Flashback~
True to what the handbook had said, Alexx's first shift was quite painful and while the handbook had said that humans weren't supposed to be around someone who was experiencing their first shift, Sarah had ignored that and had stayed with Alexx all throughout the painful experience, eventually seeing the breathtaking animal that her adoptive daughter had shifted into. A majestic Black Panther, or Black Jaguar as the internet had told her, either way, her feline form was absolutely gorgeous. After that, more things had started happening, Alexx had grown a lot faster as had her mind and when Sarah woke up one day to find Alexx missing, well...it had scared the living daylights out of her. But nothing scared her more,than when she had found Alexx sitting atop the roof for the first time, she temporarily forgot that Alexx was a feline shifter and thus had excellent balance and kind of freaked out, scaring Alexx as well.
But the more Alexx did it, the more accustomed Sarah and Will got to yelling out the window or door when dinner was ready or when they needed to talk to her about something. Sarah found it both strange and exciting to have one normal child, a child that would grow at a normal human rate, and one child that would look like she was in her early twenties by the time she was twenty six months old. In a way, the blonde haired woman was glad that Alexx wouldn't be around as much as Annabelle grew up, that way there would be no questions from the youngster about why Alexx was so different and no secrets for the little girl to keep from her friends. She was glad that Annabelle would be able to go to school without knowing about the shifter who was her sister. But the more she thought about it, the more daunting it became, whether Alexx was her biological child or not, in a years time, she would go through what every other mother goes through after eighteen years, empty nest syndrome. She'd heard other parents talking about it, the feeling of complete helplessness and sadness when a child leaves home for the first time.
She dreaded the day Alexx left, without anyone to protect her from the people hunting her, the girl would need to lay low all her life, constantly looking over her shoulder. What a horrible way to live, but necessary if the feline shifter were to survive and live a long and healthy life, and her life would indeed be long, Sarah had looked up the life expectancy for a Jaguar and had seen that in captivity it can live for up to twenty years, but in the wild, it was only eleven years and upon reading the handbook, she saw that, because Alexx was a Shifter, she would live longer than humans and captive Jaguars put together due to her rapid healing rate. Sarah had inadvertantly found this out when Alexx has accidently cut herself on a bit of metal on the roof, she had come inside with a large gash on her arm that was bleeding profusely and Sarah had bandaged it up, after making sure that the blood vessels had constricted by using a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel. But the next morning when she had taken the bandages off, there was nothing but a pink scar.
Suddenly, the sound of Annabelle crying caught Sarah's attention and she turned to see that Alexx was bringing the baby to her, holding her out as far as her arms would allow her, causing Sarah to first panic, taking the baby off of the shifter, before she began to laugh at the face the black haired teen was making. A sure sign that Annabelle had soiled her diaper. Sarah's laugh dwindled to a mere chuckle as she got the baby changing mat and put it on the table, pulling out a spare diaper and some wipes and baby powder too, she kept her eye on Alexx, watching the faces she made.
"So...you like her when she's not pooping then" she said.
Alexx gave Sarah a look and poked her tongue out in a disgusted way, before making a disgusted sound and pulling her tongue back in.
"You try having a very sensitive sense of smell and see if you like the scent of human poop, especially baby poop" she said.
She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest, her hazel eyes glaring daggers at the blonde haired woman, who was still laughing.
"Suck it up Alexx, babies poop and pee all the time" she stated.
The feline shifter nodded.
"Yeah and cry and puke and gurgle and sleep and cry more and poop more and puke more and gurgle more" she listed.
Sarah laughed again and finished changing Annabelle, before unbuttoning her blouse and pulling her bra down, letting the little girl suckle.
"Well...you're gonna have to go through the same thing one day" she said.
Alexx chuckled.
"Yeah, but not for as long. Shifter kids are weaned at four months" she argued.
Sarah smiled and looked down to Annabelle, before looking back up.
"I reckon you'll make a great mom one day Alexx, with the way you play with Anna" she said.
Alexx snorted, but smiled anyway.
~Shifting Hearts~
A/N: So the second chapter is up, apologies for the fact that there's not a lot of speech until near the end, I needed the story to be more important than the speech, because truthfully, for the first few chapters, where Alexx is with Sarah and Will, the story is most important anyway, after the growing up part is done, there will probably be more speech. Anyway...I really hope you're enjoying this story so far and please don't forget to review.
Thank you for reading and enjoy
Vampyrex1
Date Written: 21 June 2014
Word Count: 2989
Upload Date: Saturday 26 July 2014
Next Chapter Due: Saturday 02 August 2014