And things continue, The format changes a little here on in, Internal conversations are marked in '-'

Hope its clear enough to tell apart, Enjoy.

I'm a WHAT!

Max woke to an early morning sun filtering through the crack in the curtains. Outside, she could hear a couple of birds chirruping in the nearby trees. It must have been raining during the night as there were wet patches on the old wooden floor and a slow dripping from various places in the roof of the old cabin. The air smelled clean and fresh. A slight hint of pine gently masked the musky smell of the cabin.

Stretching herself out and letting out a big yawn, Max turned her head to look at herself as she lay stretched out on the old sofa. Jet black thick fur covered every inch of what she could see. Her belly fur, not nearly as thick, matched the rest in color but was thin enough to see her pink flesh underneath. Her two tails continued this trend. After a little experimenting, she found controlling them independently was surprisingly easy. She spent a few minutes distracting herself as she got to know her new body a little better. Anything for a distraction from the previous night's events. Quickly getting bored with this, she forced herself off the sofa, intent on looking around the cabin she just spent the night in.

She walked past the kitchen, down a very short hallway that ended with a small broken window. The curtain that once adorned it was laying on the floor below it in a heap. Obviously, the fixings had given way. On either side of the hallway were a pair of old faded pictures. One was a lazy river with a thick wood on one of the banks. The other picture was too faded to see much but it was definitely a field of flowers, she had no idea what kind. Next to each picture was a door. Both looked like they had seen better days, one of them clearly rotten through with a missing panel.

Peering through the panel, Max could see an old bathroom suit. Like the rest of the house, it was thick with dust and cobwebs. Other than that, nothing interesting. The other door looked a little more secure. Trying first to push it open with both her paws, the door only moved slightly. Not nearly enough for her to get through. Taking a step backward, Max launched herself at the door, slamming her shoulder against it. Surprisingly, the paneling in the door gave way, causing the wolf to crash through the door with a wood splitting crack. The sound gave Max a flashback of her mother being crushed by the vampire the night before, causing her to end up in an undignified heap of dust and wood splinters.

Getting to her feet and shaking the image out of her head, Max was surprised to discover her whole body mirrored the shake, creating a plume of dust to be shaken from her fur. Looking back at the door, she gave it a slight scowl. 'Stupid door.'

Looking around the new room, she saw it was much the same as the rest of the cabin. Thick dust, and cobwebs. An old iron bed was pushed against the wall with moldy looking bedding covering it. Above it, a sizable hole in the roof. An obvious leaky point. On the left was an old partially collapsed dresser with several small broken perfume bottles scattered on and around it. To the right was a tall looking thin object covered with an old sheet.

'Looks like one of those full-length mirrors,' Max thought to herself, gripping the sheet with her teeth and gently pulling it off to reveal what she suspected. An old patchy and cracked full-length mirror.

Taking a step towards the mirror, Max finally managed to get a proper look at herself. She was as she suspected jet black from nose to tail, say for light patches of brownish fur on her snout. Two big blue eyes married together with her furry face. Size-wise, she thought she looked about the same as a normal wolf. In fact, for a wolf she thought she looked fairly normal, except for the two tails obviously.

'What am I?' She thought to herself as she looked in the mirror for some semblance of the girl that should be looking back at her.

'Well, you're not some common wolf, if that helps,' a female voice said calmly. Max scampered backward, spinning around trying to find out where the voice came from. 'You're not going crazy. Honest,' the voice came again, trying to offer reassurance

Not finding the source in the room, Max darted out the hole in the door, slipping slightly on the floor as she rounded the corner and bolted across the living room. Bursting out of the hanging front door, she made it to the clearing just outside the cabin, panting.

The female voice started chuckling lightly. 'You can't run from me, would be a bit difficult considering.'

'Who are you? WHERE are you?' Max asked as she twisted around, trying to find out where the voice was coming from.

The voice didn't answer straight away, clearly thinking of the best way to word an explanation. 'You can call me Akira. Your mother did. As for where I am... that's kinda difficult to explain. An in between, I guess you could say. For simplicity, I'm in your head.'

'Great, I've officially lost it,' Max sighed, resigning herself to the deduction.

'Already told you, not crazy. I'm here to help,' Akira offered calmly, sensing the confused panic rising in the young girl.

'What are you?' Max pressed, desperate for some answers.

Not sure how to put it in simple terms, Akira decided to save the in-depth explanations for later. Once Max had sorted herself out and was safe, then they could talk details. 'Again, difficult to explain, but I USED to be what you are.'

'And that is!?' Max asked, frustrated at the vague, cryptic response. A lot had happened to her in such a short space of time and she wanted to know why.

'You're an Ahri,' Akira stated matter-of-factly as if it should just make sense to her. No explanation needed.

'That explains EVERYTHING... not.' Max shot back sarcastically.

'Ok, then. I suppose wolf demon would be somewhat accurate,' Akira added thoughtfully, hoping that might help her understand. It was more complicated than that, but for the time being this was a decent comparison.

Max frowned at the term, still confused and anxious about her situation. 'Not filling me with confidence here.'

'Relax. You're as much a demon as vampires, werewolves, succubi or anyone else with an ability, like empaths and telepaths.' Sensing Max deliberating this, Akira carried on. 'In truth, I don't even know exactly. I suppose… Ahri are kinda the best of both of vampires and werewolves. Social, lively, and caring, with one hell of a temper. Although, I'm still trying to figure out if that's an Ahri trait, or just women in general. Maybe it's a bit of both,' she chuckled,' but unlike both of those, Ahri are only born and mature on their fourteenth birthday.'

Max was silent for a while as she wandered through the woods. She could sense Akira waiting for her to say something, but she was still trying to sort out her own head before anyone else had a poke. Picking up the faint sound trickling of water, she headed in the general direction through the trees and eventually found a small river. Settling down on the river bank and having a drink, Max caught sight of her reflection in the water.

'Akira... Was my mom an… Ahri too?'

She could feel Akira thinking about this for a moment before answering. 'Yes. Ahri are female only. Unlike other races, they can't be 'made', only born as I said, and it's hereditary. If you're an Ahri, there's zero chance your mother wasn't one. Unless you're adopted, of course.'

Max let out a sigh as she slumped herself down on the riverbank, the tips of her paws touching the surface of the lazy river. A stray tear rolled down her furry cheek as she came to terms with everything. Or tried to, at least. 'Then… why didn't she tell me?'

Again, this had the potential to get complicated. Best to stick to straightforward semi-truths for now and deal with the big stuff later. 'Simple answer, to protect you. She... she wanted so much to show you, teach you.'

Taking it all in, Max nodded and asked her next question. 'Did my dad know?'

'Oh, he knew,' Akira confirmed, remembering Vanessa's fond recount of their meeting. 'He couldn't wait to see you either… as an Ahri, I mean.'

'I'm failing to see the appeal right now,' Max sighed, laying there in silence.

Thankfully, Akira had taken the silence as her wanting to be left to her thoughts. She went over the last few days' events, trying to make sense of it. They had barely buried William a few days ago before they uprooted and moved without so much as a word. All the hushed conversations she had walked in on only for them to be silenced or the subject changed abruptly both at Joyce's house and their new home... not that she thought of it as such. Her home was with Chloe. She momentarily thought about going back, but quickly dismissed it. They wouldn't recognize her like this. Then there was whoever killed… just thinking it caused the young wolf to let out a whimper. What if he came after her next?

'You can't just run from this,' Akira announced, wanting to nip this idea in the bud before Max got carried away. Running never solved anything. She had seen that particular truth manifest itself time and time again.

'I don't have a choice. I'm not me, and I won't put Chloe or Joyce in danger let alone anyone else. No one else is dying for me.' If it was the last thing she did, Max would make sure that she didn't involve others in her problem, especially people she considered family.

Akira must have realized she wouldn't get anywhere as she dropped the subject, retreating back into silence. Hearing the gentle rustling of leaves nearby, Max pricked her ears towards the sound and looked over to see a small black rabbit scampering about. The sight triggered her stomach to let loose a deep grumble of hunger. She hadn't eaten since the evening before and it was gone midday already. Choosing to ignore her stomach, she returned her head to rest on her paws and stared out over the river.

Sighing at the girl's stubbornness, one that rivaled her mother's, Akira gently pointed out the facts. 'You have to eat, ya know.'

'I'm not hungry,' she lied, fairly unconvincingly too.

Chuckling softly, Akira called her out. 'Have you forgotten? I'm in your head, I know when you're lying.'

'Ok, I am,' Max admitted now that she had been backed into a corner, 'but I don't feel like eating." Particularly something so cute and innocent. 'I just wanna be left alone, if you don't mind.'

Realizing that she wouldn't be able to get any further with Max today, Akira pulled back. There was no point forcing the issue. 'I understand, Just... It doesn't do well to be alone, Max. That goes double for Ahri. If you wanna talk, I'm here.'

With that, Max was left alone to her thoughts. A gentle evening breeze blew in, sending a few loose browning leaves fluttering to the surface of the river. She watched as they lazily sailed past. Part of her wished she could join them… just float away from all her troubles. A new set of tears rolled down her furry cheeks as she thought about all she had lost. As the evening light faded Max reluctantly got to her feet, taking one last drink before finding her way back to the abandoned cabin. It didn't prove as difficult as she thought it would, quickly picking up her own scent almost on instinct, getting caught short on her way back. She felt more than a little embarrassed about relieving herself in the middle of the woods, much to Akira's amusement. It was bad enough feeling awkward as she did, she didn't need Akira poking fun.

'Thanks for making that no more embarrassing than it was,' Max thought sarcastically.

Stifling her laughter, Akira was quick to reassure her. 'I'm sorry, Max. I wasn't laughing at the situation per se. Just what you were thinking about it.'

'NOT HELPING!' Max exclaimed, equal parts frustrated and embarrassed.

'Ok ok, I'm sorry,' she apologized, not wanting to annoy Max too much and alienate her. They needed to co-operate. 'Look, you have a human mind in wolf body. Of course some… things are gonna seem weird.'

'That's one word for it,' the young teen cut in.

Ignoring the interruption, Akira continued. 'My point is... think wolf. You need to be able to do both, seeing as you are… well, both.'

'So, I can turn back?' Max asked hopefully.

'Yes, but not on your own,' Akira explained briefly. She didn't want to get into too much detail now, but she had to answer some of the young girl's questions at least. Enough to satisfy her curiosity.

'How?'

Trying to keep her response as simple as possible, Akira replied, 'You need a crystal. They're called Auralite crystals. Get one of those around your neck and boom, you're humanoid again.'

Max pondered over the phrasing, drawing her own conclusions. 'Humanoid… You mean tails and ears?'

'Exactly.'

'Mom didn't have those... I would have noticed… ok, she had them last night,' Max corrected, the image still crystal clear in her mind. It had been a surreal discovery for her.

'Illusion charm,' Akira answered concisely. 'I can teach you how that works, obviously not till you're human. You'd look silly with no tail and no ears.'

For a moment, Max tried to imagine a wolf with no ears or tail, gaining a small amount of amusement at the odd image as she walked up to the cabin. Entering through the ajar door, she made her way to the sofa, climbing up and slumping down. It didn't take long for her mind to wander back to the previous night.

'I miss her too, Max. She was a good friend,' Akira mentioned, sounding genuinely sadden at her mother's death.

'How long did you know her?' She had to admit, she was curious.

'I first met your mother shortly after she fell pregnant with you,' Akira divulged, recalling the memory.

Max frowned at this new information, trying to make sense of it. 'How does that even work?'

This wasn't the first time Akira had been asked such a question. She had asked it herself once upon a time. 'I'm not just in your head if that's what you mean. I do talk to the other Ahri... although there's not as many around these days, mature ones anyhow. In the end, you were all she cared about, Max. She so wanted to see you grow up, teach you all she knew.'

'I must admit, she looked kinda scary. Beautiful, but scary," Max admitted, feeling conflicted.

'She was definitely a fighter, although she lost herself a little after you were born," Akira mentioned sadly.

'Oh…'

'I don't mean that in a bad way. Her focus shifted to her immediate family. Couldn't blame her really, but I have to wonder what would've happened if...' Akira caught herself, refusing to continue that thought aloud.

'If…?' Max pressed, wanting to know what she was going to say.

Done talking about this, Akira backtracked. 'It doesn't matter now.'

'AKIRA!'

'Leave it, ok.' She didn't want to think about that now. 'Look, tomorrow I'll help you with your orb, but you're going to have to eat first.'

'I'm not eating a bunny,' Max protested outright.

'Well, you have to eat something or no orb training. That's the deal," Akira stated, not prepared to budge on that stipulation.

Max curled herself into the corner of the sofa, again laying her tails over her face. She couldn't imagine herself eating something so cute, let alone killing it. That didn't do much for her current situation as her stomach let loose another loud grumble. Shoving her stomach's complaints to one side, she closed her eyes and drifted off to another night of troubled sleep.

Well, there's some more exposition for you, And we finally meet Akira :D

Hope you're enjoying it. I wonder what she's gonna eat :P

Leave a comment lemme know if its easy enough to follow

Peace out