I was dead. Right? That thing I'd seen, that was the face of death, wasn't it?
Maybe not.
I opened one eye and cringed as I quickly shut it- the light of the fire was tearing into my eyeball and ricocheting around my skull a few times for good measure. It took some time before I could attempt it again and this time I did it slowly, trying to shield my aching head with an arm, trying to get used to the light.
Once I could open them enough to see I found myself lying on the bathroom floor, tiles cracked under me from the heaviness of the fall, and more or less intact. There was a fucking awful pain in the back of my head, another in a shoulder and the broken door of the cabinet was now lying on its side beside me, so I could guess what I'd crashed into . Just finished the job. From the feeling of the hot tiles, the fire was really raging now, but something seemed odd. Something, besides the fact that I'd just seen an 'alien' face peering at me through a window.
Not the fire. The feet. Feet rushing around the bedroom and downstairs. Splashes of water. A loud 'hisss' of a fire extinguisher right underneath me in the garage. The bathroom door had fallen open again and I saw people, at least six of them, with a hose. Fire fighters? I might have thought so except that they weren't wearing anything protective, just wandering around with a hose, spraying water all over the place. They had long dark hair, tanned skin, and I recognised them as Native Americans. Indians? I wasn't sure what was politically correct any more. But that was who they were, it was impossible to ignore it and it confirmed that I'd officially caused myself brain damage somehow because this was completely impossible.
Had someone built this place on a native burial ground or was I going stark raving mad? Did we even see ghosts? I caught sight of a sneaker, groggy, head lifting, and decided that it probably wasn't supernatural. Unexplained, sure, but not a bunch of helpful ghosts. Were these neighbours of mine? Newcomers to town? It was a big town, by country standards, but not so big as to hide such an obvious group of people. Hell, even Clay was well known, and he rarely bothered going near humans unless necessary.
One of them caught sight of me and said something to one of the others trying to get the fire out. Woops. Was I supposed to be unconscious and not staring at them like a stunned chicken? I made my eyes flutter shut, but felt someone lifting me up and carrying me down the stairs. It went a bit blurry again, as pain rocked through my body and head, tunnel vision returning big time. It was when they froze, as they passed a window, and nearly dropped me that I managed to re-focus. I opened an eye a fraction and startled badly as I found myself eye to eye with that same monster alien face at the window, hand against the glass, trying to get in. It literally banged its head against the window, making the entire window frame rattle. Or maybe that was the fire- it was really going for it, I saw it crawling along the hallway.
A shout, I was dropped as the person carrying me freaked out a bit too, and I skidded to my feet and backed up, or tried to, but my injured foot was not really letting this happen. I slid backwards, as I was ignored now, the face the main focus of their interest now. They saw it too? That was a relief. My weird ghost or maybe neighbours or maybe hallucinations were also catching sight of this other hallucination. I was collectively mad with them.
Something happened. The world shifted sideways, there was no other way to describe it, as I lay there perfectly still. An explosion rocked the garage. Nick's car? He'd be heartbroken. They vanished, every single one of the men and women, even the sneaker wearing one, the monster vanished, and I fell.
I woke when I hit the ground floor, pain exploding throughout my back, conciousness flooding back into me as the face followed. Body too. Just going through walls, through the hole in the bathroom floor, the fridge tipped over and floor hot under me. Flames had been licking at the ceiling in here, must have eaten through the floor, and I must have fallen further than I thought. I didn't know. It was confusing and I was disorientated.
Well, I was hoping to redecorate. And I'd worried about too many toys. I groaned as I lay there, stunned, watching the fire eat away at my precious home, more upset about how it was destroying the next two week's worth of meals in the big chest freezer than about the bigger picture. But I was sure that whatever I'd seen had to be an illusion of some kind.
It took me a few seconds to remember what had happened before the fire. The twins. The intruders. Thieves. Looking for money and the babies. How had they known the triplets were outside? God, what about the triplets, were they here? The twins? I wasn't sure what was dream and what wasn't- only that there was a fire. And that it was upstairs. Babies. I had to make sure they weren't there.
I got up, slowly, waiting to find a broken bone or something, but was relieved to find that there was nothing seriously wrong. I hoped. Except for lungs burning, which was natural in this smoke, and probably a ton of bruising where I'd crashed through the floor, not to mention my cut foot which was now again extremely upset. The back of my head was a bit tender too. Screw that. The fire caught my attention, burning my throat, and I jumped to my feet.
Fire. What did I do? Did I get shit out of here? Go upstairs? Why the hell did the stairs have to be on fire right now! I had dropped my bag up there... I thought, till I saw it still over one arm. But did I get more? What was the advice in a fire? Get everyone out? Wait? My head swam with thoughts, as I leaned against a wall, swam and danced and confused me further. Had I already gone upstairs or was I going mad?
I went for the stairs, slowly at first, and then faster as I became determined about getting the hell upstairs to find kids. I was exiting the kitchen when I ran head first into Reece, our foreheads clashing, and the world went black again.
Again, I swum and swirled through weird images, mostly dreams, seeing those people again, seeing that face again, nothing quite making sense. Fire everywhere. Babies.
It was Reece's voice that cut through it and sort of brought me out, a statement that frustrated me so much that I wanted to wake up and smack him.
“I can't look at her. She's bleeding.”
That was Reece. I groaned, shutting my eyes, trying to sit up as something pinned me down. The smell of smoke, flames, it was in my hair, skin, nostrils, in my lungs. Nothing else got in, besides the sounds of people moving around, water, splashing.
“Reece...” Jeremy's voice, a low warning. “Get the towel and bring it here.”
How bad was it? I might have thought it was really bad if I hadn't seem him freak out over a few shards of glass. I didn't ask, I lay there, feeling totally fucked over, cold, and …the triplets. Nevermind that, I had to smack him for being a woss about blood.
I tried to sit up again, hands pinning me down again, long silky hair brushing against my hair as the hands forced me back. When I opened my eyes Elena was leaning over me, hands firmly against my shoulders, shaking her head when I tried to get up. I felt something happening with my foot and lifted my head to see Jeremy there trying to get my foot uncovered. Blood and ash had more or less coated the entire thing. It looked pretty bad actually. Warmth was still dribbling down my head too. It tasted metallic.
No wonder why Reece couldn't look. I didn't want to look.
I shut my eyes and dropped my head back onto something soft. Something fabric-ish that may or may not have smelt like Reece.
“Babies?” I tried to sit up once more- Elena was quick to put a stop to it. She frowned at me. “In house?”
“Triplets are with their grand dad. Twins, Savannah and Adam are right behind them now.” Elena said from above me. I felt something damp dripping and she released me to take a towel and stroked it across my face. “Just looking for more injuries. Stay still.”
“Nothing else is hurt. Just my head.” I cringed. “Did Reece knock me out?” Or was that me? Everything hurt.
“Sorry.” He called, sheepish, from closer now. I opened one eye to see him sitting there, trying to not see what Jeremy was doing with flesh, covered in soot and ash. “I went upstairs when you were out here.”
“Upstairs? The hallway was on fire.” The words burnt my throat, my mouth, smoke clouding everything.
“It was a little so I scaled the building just in case.” Reece said it so casually that I rolled my eyes, aching head or not. Of course he did. Reece, ignoring his human body, scaled a two story building, climbing into a burning bedroom, looking for babies and finding nothing. He couldn't handle my blood but that kind of feat? He'd do it and pose after. I saw him lift a bag. “I got some of your clothing. And your wedding dress.”
I slapped him hard, Jeremy cursing under his breath as he pressed too hard, and Reece fell back.
“Hold still.” Jeremy ordered, hand closing down on the space above the swollen ankle.
“What was that for?”
“Going into a burning building and getting clothing. What the hell?” And I felt like hitting him. I'd forgotten what my reasons were, for wanting to hit him, but...
He looked confused, glancing to Elena as if to get support, but she was giving him the same 'What is wrong with you?' expression I was. “Don't women really love their wedding dress? Anyway, the building isn't that bad.”
God. I was going to hit him when Jeremy let me. It was a dress. I would have been more devastated if he'd gotten hurt. “No one hurt?”
“Besides you?” Jeremy shook his head. “No.”
“The twins are ...” The words Elena had said, that Savannah and Adam were after them, it finally made sense. Slowly. Did she mean, someone had taken them? Who was it? Was it the people who'd set the house on fire? The Native Americans? The ...weird face? God, was I going crazy? “Gone?”
“They were taken by someone.” Elena sounded so damn calm. Much too calm. “As I said- Savannah and Adam are on their heels.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stay still, trying to not panic, Elena's body not shifting as if she was expecting me to start panicking at any time. Maybe I was. The urge to change and race down the driveway after them was not going away. I had three legs and teeth so what else did a wolf need?
“If you need a sedative...” Elena said softly, as I twitched.
“My twins are gone. I need the whole damn box. Wait, what about the triplets?” My eyes flew open and the shove came just as I was tempted to fly up again. “Did you find them? Where?”
“Car, asleep, just there.” Elena's eyes went to the car parked nearby. We were a few hundred metres from the house, I realised, more or less concealed in the bush. The door was open and the three toddlers fast asleep under blankets on a back seat converted to a bed thing. “They found Nick's shed of abandoned toys and were asleep on one of their new beds.”
The toys we'd run out of room for. We'd stuck their presents in there and the beds. Someone had, anyway, after we'd realised we weren't going to be able to swap rooms. At least the triplets had their stuff still.
“Smart kids.” I muttered.
“We moved them just in case the fire spread. But it was already dying down. There was water everywhere. Jer thinks a few pipes busted in the heat, luckily, it's an old house.” She added, softer. Elena glanced at her phone and frowned, stiffening. “Hold on. It's Clay.”
“Clayton?”
“Reece, don't let her get up. No panicking! We've got it under control.” She was already moving away, running away, as if she was determined to make sure I didn't hear a single word. “If she moves, I'll kick your ass Reece, she's got to stay still.”
Reece shifted behind me reluctantly. Instead of pushing me down, he carefully lifted me up, slid behind me with his legs crossed, and I rested back against his lap, the 'pillow' now under my head. I fell asleep so fast there, I couldn't stop it, my body just collapsed again.
When I woke, Jeremy was there. Had he always been there? I blinked sleepily at him, confused,having a great view of Jeremy's work as he was carefully cleaning the wounds out, but Reece was avoiding watching him. I lay there, wondering how far we were from the fire if it wasn't loud here, unable to smell much more than just faint traces of smoke now.
“How bad?”
“You'll have a headache for a while and won't be walking for a while.” Jeremy gazed up, his dark eyes serious, over my head to Reece “Make sure you're keeping that on your head.”
“I think they lured the triplets out.” I said softly. No answer for a while. Sleep suggested itself as a nice idea but I shoved it aside, determined to talk, determined to stay awake and participate somehow. “Jer, I can't... let me think about something. Do you think they lured the toddlers out?”
He sighed and nodded.
“Did you smell strangers in the hallway?” Jeremy asked softly. When I shook my head he shrugged lightly. “Maybe they saw them playing in the shed, or Reece moving away with a torch, or both. Or they used that spell on them.”
“That spell?”
“You had a glamour spell on you.”
I groaned. Suddenly the alien and Indians and ...it all made sense. Suddenly it made a lot of sense. This was like the damn birth thing. They showed me my worst fear and boom, there I was, totally distracted when there were more important things going on. Like fires and kidnapped twins. “I hate magic.”
“We all do.” Reece muttered from above me. His fingers stroked my ear, slowly, his eyes fixed on anything but the blood.“Glad you got out.”
“Nearly.” I reached up to touch where our faces had crashed into each other. There was a big tender spot on my forehead.
“Sorry.” He grinned awkwardly, reaching down to touch the spot, a beautiful matching red spot on Reece's forehead.
I tried to not panic, ears strained for Elena, but could hear nothing. “What's going on, Jeremy? How do you have it under control?”
“Clayton flew back for the night. Savannah and Adam are behind them, he's waiting to ambush them, and you need to heal this foot to play your next part. They won't hurt the twins- they're only valuable alive, as harsh as that sounds.” Jeremy squired more stuff inside a cut and I cringed as he made it open. “There's ash and rubble throughout them. Sorry. I'm cleaning them first.”
“Just let them bleed a bit. It'll do it.” I muttered. Much nicer than what he was trying to do. “Is the house lost?”
Jeremy glanced back up and shook his head. “No, just your room. Didn't you try and put it out?”
“I ...are you sure?” I remembered seeing flames everywhere. Was that another illusion? “I don't think I did. I can't remember.”
“There was water all over the place and a hose inside the bedroom. We assumed you had.”
I twitched. A hose inside the bedroom? I was really confused now. Had I gotten a hose and pretended I was watching myself … I didn't know anymore. At the hint of concern on Jeremy's face, as he caught my confusion, I tried to smile. “Guess we're moving bedrooms sooner than we planned. Where's Matt? Still at your house?”
“He came over?” He seemed surprised. As soon as fear flashed across my face, Jeremy put a calming hand on my leg.
“After dinner.” I grimaced and Reece shoved me down when I tried to sit up. “Wandered off with a hiking bag full of snacks.”
“Then he was probably there. The twins had put up a tent in their bedroom and we didn't want to wake them. Matt probably had crawled in.” He patted my leg, relaxing, and so did I. Matt had just gone 'camping' with the twins.
My lips twitched at the news and I sighed, shutting my eyes, reaching up to hug Reece in the awkward position we were in. “Thanks for finding the toddlers.”
“No problem.” He leaned down to kiss my forehead, the side of it, his head going back to the house as something crashed. I turned to look too and saw the roof falling in onto the bedroom. Ah fuck.
“We'll make sure it's safe to go in before you move back in.” Jeremy said softly. He leaned back for the kit and started to put plasters back on the foot as I waited patiently, or tried to, and then when it was wrapped up and he was satisfied it was waterproof, he made sure nothing else was wrong. The ankle was wrapped up too, an ice pack removed, and with nothing else going on, he finally let me get to my feet with help. “Keep that ice pack on your head.”
“So how can I help find the twins?” I wanted to trace those thieves down. Stealing my children? I'd already torn one apart and the other three were just delaying what I'd do. Instead I stood there, legs shaking, finding myself holding an icepack when he shoved it into my hand and pushed it against my head. I tried to hide a yawn, tried to force myself to stay awake, but it was getting worse. I wanted to stand up and get to work, not nap!
“You don't. I know you probably want to rush off and force vengeance on them all but we caught them leaving the driveway and are on their heels.” Jeremy's voice was calm, no hint of panic there. He didn't seem the least bit worried, I realised with surprise, like nothing about this was upsetting to him. Reece seemed calm too. And I believed him, somehow, when he said, “It's under control. Relax.”
“Can I have them when you get them?” Even as I asked it, I scowled, that wasn't the same. While I had no desire to hunt humans for fun, I had every urge right now to hunt them for other reasons. But I wouldn't be kind, hunt or no hunt.
“We'll figure that out soon. Right now, rest, stay with the triplets, and let Clay direct this.” Jeremy sat back. “To the car, Reece, let her sleep.”
“With her head?”
“We're wolves. Sleep will speed healing.”
Speedy healing sounded good, so I let Reece carry me into the car and I slid down to lie beside the triplets on the flattened seats, Reece in the front seat and lowering it back a bit, as the fire engine finally came. The siren woke the triplets, not surprisingly, but they caught sight of me and didn't panic or get upset. We were hidden in the bush, the car off, and Jeremy moved to sit in the front seat. Panic kept me awake though. That these two weren't who they said they were, even though I knew that wasn't true, that the twins weren't coming back, all kinds of things, some totally illogical, some more so. The more magic screwed with us the less I felt like I knew what was reality and what wasn't.
Reality was those three babies though, I knew that much, because the second I was done they were snuggling up. I stank and the three of them changed their minds, sliding away sleepily, wrinkling their noses. I was there, that was enough, and they settled down again soon.
“Where's your phone, Reece?”
Jeremy handed me a phone, Reece glancing at the dancing flames with a grimace, and I sighed. This was why I didn't like keeping photos on a phone.
I shut my eyes, as I dialled in Nick's number, and no answer. Damn it. What was he doing, washing his hair?
After a while they got out again. I lay there, wide awake, panic and anxiety beating a horrible fast rhythm in my painful skull, and I doubted anything at this point could have really got my eyes to shut. In the darkness I watched Reece and Jeremy nap, so confidant that they did have it 'under control', watched the fire truck make sure everything was okay, and then leave. Presumably to Elena's property to tell her. Or maybe they didn't need to tell any of us. I'd seen they'd put tape around the building though.
It's under control. Under control. Under control. I repeated Jeremy's voice, his exact tone, his words, over and over in my head as I lay on the uncomfortable 'bed' in the car. I repeated them, to begin with, in order to not steal the keys, kick them all out, and chase down the thieves myself. This wasn't an unattractive fantasy at all. Mean, maybe, when Jeremy and Reece were physically weaker than me right now... but not unattractive.
Instead, I lay on my aching back, watching the stars outside, the soft breathing of the triplets right beside me. I repeated those words so many times that they stopped sounding like words. Then I tried other words. I didn't know what words to use. Sometimes I heard things outside in the forest, my heart thudding with panic, heard movements, was convinced I sometimes heard feet, or wings far too close to the car. At one point an owl came and sat on the dash and directly looked at me, its eyes in mine, eyes that in my panicked state felt more human than owlish.
Then it took off again with a hoot.
I blinked sleepily up at where it'd been, slowly, and found my eyes and conciousness drift again. Soon I had slipped back to sleep, alone in the car, images of that owl dancing in my head.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
A/N Thanks for reading! :D So starts part 2 of Changes!
I would love a cover... if you know a great cover maker or want to try one, let me know! (Otherwise, I'll have one in a few days. :) )