Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (2 page)

Kara still feet
smug about doing it.

Yet the past memories of the previous months still kept coming.

The next morning the four of them
drove up to these moun
tains for a graduation camping t
rip
or a double date as she
heard Sarah say on the ride up here
.
Kara
thought it would be a great idea and everyone had agreed with
her
.
Sarah and
she
walked together
,
up
the mountain’s trails
while the boys went on ahead and set up camp.
They
had some
quality
conversations that eased some of
Kara’s deeply feared
worries.

As
Kara
looked
at the three that still stood shoulder to shoulder
she
remembered
the dramatic events that took place
minutes
ago
.
Like I
could
ever forget
?

Kara
sat
contently
in front of the
warm
,
crackling
fire
while resting
on Mark’s shoulder when everyone
heard
branches snap
loudly under a heavy weight.
Her b
rother and Mark moved t
oo fast for
her
eyes to follow
,
and
sensing a problem Kara
grabbed
her
bow and notched an arrow quickly.
They
had all moved
and reacted
to the strange
ly approaching
sound.

As
Connor
and Mark stood together,
facing the intruder and blocking the fairer sex from the threat, her brot
her and Sarah were talking about something
that
Kara
couldn’t follow
nor understand
.
Then
Kara’s
heart
nearly stopped when she
saw
her b
rother’s
eyes literally glowing
a pure
white in the darkness
of the night
.
It was the most freakish thing
she has
ever seen in real life.
He told Sarah and Kara
that a bear
approached
and he told her to take
Kara
away.
W
hen
Kara
hesitated
Sarah picked her
up like
she
was
as
light as air and moved
from the area
at an unbelievable pace and before
Kara
knew it
she
dropped
her long
bow and was hidden behind the t
ree line of the
camp.

Sarah
moved
too fast and
felt
too strong
to be
that of
a normal girl
.

As
Kara
turned to see what unfold
ed on the other side of the tree
she
tried asking questions to Sara
h
. She gave
such a
cold look that
it
silenced
Kara
and she
turned to watch the boys. When she
finally unfroze
,
Kara
turned back and
became immobilize
yet
again as
she
saw
her
brother
standing
with both of his hands raised in the air and
blazing
above him
floated
a ball of fire that looked like a miniature sun.
She
couldn’t fathom what was happening as
she
tried searching for Mark who
somehow
vanished.
Kara
could barely hear the roaring of the bear over the sounds of the fireball over
her b
rother’s head.
Things became too confusing
to comprehend
.
And for a single moment Kara
believed she
was either hallucinating or having a very
,
very
vivid dream.

It was too strange to be a dream.

After
Connor
threw the ball of fire
Kara
saw a black
shadow
vanish
into the trees. From her
angle
a few moments later
she
could see
a wall of fire
blazing
and two undistinguishable shadows
stood
before the blaze. Then
she
saw
that
her b
rother
had
somehow
extinguish
ed
the fire and relit the fire pit.

It
all ended
in a few seconds.

When the bear
fled for its life
Sarah
put a firm grasp on Kara
for nearly a minute. Then when the hand released they
ran back to
their men together. Connor stopped them by holding up one hand. Kara
felt
worried about what happened and
where Mark was.
Her
brothe
r said something about being a
Balancer
,
but
she
cut him off
to
ask about Mark.
He wasn’t a
round and that made her
worry more than the bear.
And not long after
her b
rother moved
did
she
g
e
t a good look at
her
Mark
.

Usually Mark’s appearance is slightly taller than
Kara
and his muscles are hard and taut
,
like a smaller duplicate of
her
brother
’
s
,
with the only difference
being that Mark has a hairy, manly
chest, but now…

Kara
knew it was Mark
immediately
when
she
saw
those
warm silver eyes, but they were now slit
, catlike,
instead of circular.
Mark
now
stood
as tall as
Connor
, but didn’t look anything like his usual appearance.
Where his
mouth
had once been
now
produced
a muzzle with sharp
, deadly
teeth
and his
tapered
ears moved back and forth
,
apparently listening to everything around
them
. H
is flat
, human
chest
had
barreled
out
and
soft black fur
cover
ed
his e
ntire body. 
A
solid mane of black hair
tumbled down below his shoulders
.
Kara
saw
movement as
something twitch
ed
behind his bottom and saw that it was in fact
,
a black tail. Where his fingernails
once
were
,
now held long
,
sharp claws that made him look all the more menacing.
He
i
s dangerous.

Kara
realized this was Mark’s real secret.

Sarah called him a
Changer
and he made a remark
like it was obvious. It was a remark
like Kara would
usually
make
.
She
beg
an
to rub off on him.

As she finally forced her
self to move
Kara
walked up to
her
boyfriend
,
smiled up
into his silver eyes
and
then slapped him as hard as she
could.

That slap hurt her
far more than hitting his thick skull, but his expression was
even more shocked
than
her own personal
pain
.
She
commanded
“Sit Boy!” and he
dropped
down
obediently on his haunches. As he understood what he just did
,
his expression changed into disbelief
.
 
Kara
just sounded like an obedience
animal
instructor.
He did exactly what
she
said when it was said. He was a
good boy.

She
then tackled him
,
now that he
moved
in the right
position
for
her
to do so
.
As
Kara
pinned him to the ground relief washed over
her
.
She
just had a glimpse of his secret and knew that i
t was
n’t really
her
that was holding
him
back.
He could do something freakish
and inhuman
, but he was
the one
afraid
she
’d reject him and that’s why he hid it.

The images finally faded and her senses came back under control.

It wasn’t easy accepting any of this.

Looking up at the three
solid
pillars
Kara finally
asked “
Ok how about the three of you tell me what Balancer’s and Changer’s are?”

Sarah
wore brown jeans
,
hiking boots
a green blouse
that matched her intelligent eyes
. Her
lovely
green eyes looked
up at
Kara’s b
rother and her left arm wrapped around his
right
. “I think we should tell her everything.
She’s
already
seen too much
of what we can do
and we cannot let her remain
like this
for it shall be more dangerous
.
It’s best she understands her new position.
” She suggested.

“No,” Connor
said calmly
,
looking at
his sister
with reluctance
. “Let’s tell her just a little bit for now. It is a lot to take in and process
at one time
.
We don’t need to overload her with all the little details.
” Kara’s
overly muscled and protective brothe
r
now
stood
shirtless
after the fight
and she
couldn’t see where his shirt went to.
Her b
rother was trying to placate
her
and it would work,
usually
.
Not this night though.

“Brother
,
I
know I
can take it. Tell me.
”
Kara’s
brown
eyes shifted to his left.
“
Hello, I’m lo
oking at my boyfriend who is a
flesh and blood
W
erewolf!
”
She
said trying to be calm, but it came out as a plea.
Her
heart finally began to slow down very slowly
after saying that aloud
.
At least she didn’t sound hysterical.