Arcana Pt. 01: A Shapeshifter's Desire

"A charm laid on the walls with little etchings in the paint. Whenever weak kinetic energy, mainly sound waves, hits the walls, they will be transformed into heat energy." Kate explained.

"Really? You can do that? Wait, if we get too loud, won't we burn down the bedroom?" Caroline suddenly felt very nervous.

"Oh jeez no. You know how much energy it takes to start a fire? Whenever kinetic energy strikes a solid object, a small portion is transferred into heat. All this spell does is ensure that ALL of it is. At worst, if you screamed at the wall for a few hours, you might get the whole thing to raise five or six degrees." Kate waved it off with a laugh.

"I'm surprised you can do all this. Is it really that easy?" Caroline stared at her.

"It's like being back in high school classes. For me, it was simply a matter of looking at the book and then understanding it. I'd never forget it, so just understanding it was all I needed to do. Same thing here. I can always picture the magic perfectly in my head and cast the runes with perfect shapes, but I just needed to understand how the casting itself worked." Kate explained as if it were as simple as putting together a bookshelf.

"Huh. Very cool. So what else are you going to do around here?" Caroline asked with a mouthful of leaves and croutons.

"What else?" She raised an eyebrow, "I don't know. This was just a simple energy conversion. I don't know what else I could do around here that would be of use. If we have a store..."

"Then you don't want to landmine the door." Caroline snickered. Kate just blushed and nodded, making her chuckle again, "Maybe find something else."

"Do you think we could make this a cafe? We could sell coffee and sandwiches." Kate suggested, "I mean... I know how to do a little shop from having run the gas station."

"You have magical powers and a Mythic wife who can quite literally transform into your fetishes. We make a very good living from my work with the SPD and still have a veritable fortune in the bank." Caroline said, teasingly, "And you want to build a cafe."

"Yea." Kate mumbled sheepishly.

"Alright. Here. I've got to go down to the station, so try not to spend all of our money." Caroline smiled, pulling out her wallet and pushing it into her hand.

"R... really?" Kate squeaked, looking at it.

"Yea, if you spend all of it, we're gonna be screwed." Caroline teased her more before pecking her on the cheek and heading downstairs.

*******

Caroline walked into SI and found it a flurry of activity. There were twice as many officers in as usual and Lieutenant Hail was addressing a woman standing at the door to her office. Caroline skillfully slipped through the numerous bodies in her way without touching a one of them. Draconis's instincts were making even her normal form more agile and talented.

The woman was interesting and rather out of place. She was wiry and tall, looking as if a stiff breeze might blow her away. She wore airy clothes, poofy leggings and a loose top reminiscent of old Arabic genies. Her clothes seemed to flutter around her even without a speck of air moving.

She glanced at Caroline as she walked up, and Caroline stopped in her stride when she did. The woman had cold silver eyes that sparkled unnaturally, and framed by her long grey hair, it was quite a sight. What really caught her eyes though was the dashed triangle tattooed on her brow. It was far from normal ink and skin, just looking at it sent tingles up Caroline's spine.

"Hello." The woman said and her very words sent goosebumps over Caroline. She had an accent, though she hadn't said enough to play it yet.

"Caroline. Good to see you. You're just in time. This is Khamsin. You two will be working together over the next few days. A trade vessel anchored out in the Sound has not been heard from or moved for nealy a week. Helicopters report absolutely no crew visible on board and Alex has told me that there is a mystical malevolence around it." Lieutenant Hail explained, "I have bartered for forty eight hours starting this morning in which no other force will land upon the ship or disturb it in any way."

"You need us to go out and take a look around." Caroline confirmed.

"You and Khamsin are the two that have all the tools for this mission. If something goes wrong out there, I don't want anyone who can't swim or fly the entire way back getting stuck on the ship." Hail nodded, "Forty eight hours starting six hours ago. Get to it."

Khamsin nodded and turned on her heel, striding towards the doors. She moved even more fluid than Caroline, as if the physical couldn't touch her, and all that with bare feet.

Out front, Caroline looked at her, "So what are you?"

"Wind." Khamsin said simply, "To the docks. Hail has a boat waiting."

"You're wind? What does that mean?" Caroline asked, following close to her.

"It means what it means." She said, continuing forward without pause. She didn't say another thing until they reached the pier and boarded the coast guard boat waiting for them. She shared a quick word with the driver and then they were off. It took little more than an hour to bounce across the choppy waters to the SS Ghanta, which was anchored halfway from Seattle to the Puget Islands. It was an enormous cargo ship that was stacked high with heavy shipping containers and Caroline knew immediately what Alex had been talking about. There was a feeling of death around the ship, one that put Draconis on edge.

"Close as I get." The driver said as he stopped the boat twenty feet from the ship, "There's a rope ladder hanging there." He pointed directly ahead of them where it clacked against the side of the ship.

"Thank you." Khamsin said and she dove over the side of the boat.

"Well fuck." Caroline sighed and went over after her. Good thing she forgot her phone at home and had given Kate her wallet. The cold waters of the Pacific engulfed her and she kicked off towards the ship.

*******

CHAPTER 17 - DEATH ENCROACHES

It was quiet aboard the MS Ghanta, which set Caroline's nerves on edge. The lights were dim and only a single flood light shone down from the top of the bridge. She looked sideways at Khamsin, who was curiously perfectly dry after having climbed out of the ocean.

'Draconis. You feel anything?' Caroline asked inside her head as they walked quietly towards the stairs leading up to the bridge.

'Its dead. There's not a speck of life anywhere I can feel. I can't hear anything but the splash of the ocean.' Draconis replied.

'Something is making me feel very uneasy.' Caroline glanced at Khamsin and then up the stairs in front of them. Draconis's warm presence appeared at her back, a protective and comforting spirit.

They mounted the stairs and found the bridge door standing wide open. A scent of death and the steely tang of blood met Caroline's sensitive olfactory. Khamsin stepped just inside and flicked on the light.

Blood splattered the walls and the ceiling. Corpses were laid around the floor and they were torn to hamburger. Caroline grabbed her nose and immediately turned back out of the door.

"This is what. Now why?" Khamsin said as she stepped through the room.

Caroline shook her head and took a breath of fresh air.

"Come. Don't waste time." Khamsin waved to her.

"I can't stand the smell. I'm too sensitive to it, it makes me sick." Caroline said, trying not to breathe the scent wafting out the door. Blood wasn't the problem. It was the rent intestines and the warm decay. Blood and death she could handle, but Draconis gave her such enhanced senses that smells like this couldn't just be ignored.

Khamsin sighed and waved a hand towards the opposite door that was also open. A gentle breeze blew from behind Caroline and through the bridge, taking the worst of the scent with it. She cocked her head, "Better now?"

"Sorry, yes." Caroline said, walking into the bridge. With the soft wind blowing through, the scent wasn't nearly as thick and she could at least breathe the fresh breeze.

She looked over the half dozen bodies that were strewn around the bloody splatters. Draconis helped her hold down her nausea.

"These wounds. Not likely killed by a man." Khamsin said as she knelt over the body that was the captain's, as shown by the bars in the shoulders of his destroyed uniform. His chest was laid wide open and his arms were covered in lacerations. His guts had been torn to shreds and splattered all about. He had died screaming.

'The wounds... the same as Capone.' Draconis pointed out.

Caroline nodded, feeling the realization course through her. If her mother had done this, then why? And if it wasn't her mother, then who else? She shook her head, "A beast. Probably..."

'The patterns all fit enormous paws, but the shape of the wounds is indicative of a large cat, a predator tearing apart it's prey.' Draconis told her.

"A big cat. Lion, tiger. But not a wild one. This attack was precise, directed by reason not instinct." Caroline finished.

"How do you know that?" Khamsin looked at her.

"If you're the wind, then I'm the wild." Caroline smirked, looking up at her.

"As you wish." She nodded.

"I..." Caroline's head shot up and she turned her head. She heard the scrape of claw on metal from somewhere below.

"What?" Khamsin looked at her.

"The killer is still aboard." Caroline looked out the window. A shadow flitted behind a container and she pointed, "Go!"

Caroline rushed for the door and leapt down the stairs in a single bound. Scales were already crawling across her body and she lost her shoes over the next three steps.

'Draconis. Where?' Caroline thought as she looked around. She breathed slow and quiet, keeping her emotions controlled.

'That way! A heartbeat!' Draconis directed her towards midship where they could hear the gentle thump of a heart and the quiet breath of someone hiding. She took off at a full sprint, talons clacking on the metal deck as she ran. A powerful leap brought her on top of the shipping containers and she ran forward.

There was a shifting below and a winged figure leapt off the side of the ship. Caroline pounced with all the might she could and she struck the figure, a woman with four long wings spreading from her shoulders.

"You're coming down with me!" Caroline growled through draconic fangs and she sank them into the woman's shoulder. Her powerful claws wrenched at the woman's beating wings and the cartilage in them cracked loudly.

The woman shrieked in pain and they tumbled down into the surf. Before they had hit the water, the woman had pulled the wings back into her body and fish scales were growing from her skin. Caroline refused to let go and so she sank her claws into the woman's flesh, piercing thea aquatic scales easily.

It was then she realized they were both under the water and she split gills down her neck. Water flowed into them and she breathed deep, even as she and the mystery woman thrashed.

Next thing she knew, fur was sprouting from below her and suddenly she was hanging onto an enormous, padded grizzly bear. A wrench of muscles below her dislodged her from the woman and she got clobbered over the head with powerful paws. If the water hadn't been there to soften the blow, it might've knocked her out. As it was, it just pissed her off. Horns sprouted from her head and she grabbed the bear's thrashing arm. Yanking hard on it, she forced them together and ran her horns into the bear's broad chest, making her roar in pain and start kicking for the surface.

Their bodies twisted together as Caroline tried to drag the woman back down under. The woman was too strong though and they broke the surface a hundred yards from the ship. The bear fur fell away and she shoved Caroline back, ripping her horns free of her side. Fresh wings sprouted from her back and she fought to drag herself out of the water.

Just as the woman got herself free, a surge of wind bore down on them and the woman was driven hard into the side of the ship. She tried to kick herself back into the air, but only succeeded in getting above the lip of the ship before another enormous gust slammed her into its deck.

Caroline rushed over and dug her claws into the side of the ship. She climbed quickly up the side and topped the edge of the ship just in time to see Khamsin slam the woman down on the deck with another enormous column of air. She was driven down to sit back against a shipping container. She was naked from head to toe and her eyes flitted to Caroline as she came over the railing.

"Mother." Caroline growled, as she saw her face in the light for the first time.

"Hello, daughter mine." Yu smiled through a mask of blood running from a gash in her head, though Caroline could already see her flesh knitting together. Something that hadn't occurred to her before as she had avoided serious injury until now, could she just shapeshift her wounds closed?

"What have you done here?" Caroline snapped, standing over her, "There are innocent people dead! What's worse, you're in trouble with SI for killing Capone! Why are you doing this?"

Yu snorted and gave a bellowing laugh, "You are the most naive and stupid daughter I have ever had! We talked of this already!"

"What do you mean? Tell me." Caroline said, squatting down in front of her. Her own clothes were torn and tattered, but at least they were decent.

Yu shook her head and chuckled again. Then she took in a deep breath and Suddenly they were all blinded by a wild surge of fire. Caroline's clothing caught and burned, but her scales protected her completely from the heat. She shook her head and tried to rub the blinding agony from her eyes, but before she could, she heard a splash over the side of the ship.

Running back to the railing, she looked over it at the ripples in the dark water.

'Draconis?' Caroline asked, lifting one leg up on the railing in preparation to jump.

'No. If she was bleeding, then we might be able to follow, but you know she isn't. She healed all her wounds before she jumped and with how dark it is, there is no way we can follow her through sight. With the ship here and all the waves splashing on it, we'd never get a bearing from sound either.' Draconis said dejectedly.

"Caroline. What was that?" Khamsin asked.

"That was my mother. A Shapeshifter like me. She killed Capone a while back, and while Hail and I agreed she could've done it to protect me, I think it's clear that isn't why." Caroline said, letting herself sink back to her regular form. She was totally naked, but entirely too angry at her mother to care.

"She was the killer here." Khamsin observed.

"Yea." Caroline nodded, crossing her arms.

"Why? She said she told you." She asked.

"She barely told me anything last time we talked. The only things she told me was some answers about our kind, about Native American Shapeshifters." Caroline shook her head as she thought. The ship fell into a few moments of silence, only the sound of the waters around them.

'But she did. I live off the life of others Sex or killing. That's how I grow.' Draconis said and Caroline's eyes went wide.

"Idea?" Khamsin asked.

"We Shapeshifters... our spirits must feed from others, from their magic or life or whatever. Our spirits learn to feed in one way from the first time you feed them. I do it through sex with my girlfriend, fuck her brains out, sip a little of her magic and no harm done. But there are other ways. My mother told me our spirits can also feed through the death of others. If we kill in our hunger, then that's what our spirit becomes accustomed to." Caroline explained, putting her hands on the ship railing as she stared out at sea.

"She killed to feed from them." Khamsin said.

"That appears to be it, but why? These were normal folk, way out here in the Puget. Why here? It would obviously draw attention. If she was trying to hide it, she'd grab a homeless man or something of the sort that wouldn't be noticed." Caroline wracked her brain.

"Curious, to be sure." She agreed, "Look around. Then we report back."

Caroline nodded and headed off across the ship.

*******

It took them more than an hour to find something out of the ordinary. A shipping container with a door ripped off its hinges.

"Shapeshifters this strong?" Khamsin asked.

"I guess. I could probably just keep adding muscle until I'm strong enough." Caroline shrugged. She was still naked, but she had decided to revert to a dragon because her scales were much warmer against the cold Pacific air than her skin.

"Quite amazing to change ones body so much at will." Khamsin said, running her hand down the jagged metal.

Caroline picked up a broken piece of wood and blew fire on it until it caught. She could see in the dark, but Khamsin probably couldn't.

"What was in here." She muttered. Whatever it was had been chained at least a dozen times inside a wooden crate, and that crate and been bolted down inside this shipping container. Everything had since been torn apart and there was a blood mess over all of it.

"No corpse." Khamsin pointed out.

"Whatever was in here, it was what my mother really came for. She killed and took the power of whatever was here, not those men up there. They were just witnesses." Caroline ran a talon through the blood. It was thick and pungent, definitely not human or anything she had seen before

"Why stick around so long?"

"I don't know. It takes me a while to feed from Kate, and that's just a small portion of her life. Maybe killing and consuming the life of some big beast takes a while." Caroline pondered.

"Mayhaps, she knew you were going to be here." Khamsin held up the makeshift torch to reveal blood writing on the inside of the container, "And she waited.

"What." Caroline said, staring in shock.

'Feed, my daughter, and grow.' Draconis read through her eyes.

*******

"You have got to be fucking kidding." Hail said flatly.

"No. My mother is the criminal here. She killed them and she killed something that was being shipped in that container. I imagine she didn't anticipate my stopping her. I think I've gotten stronger than she expected." Caroline said as she and Khamsin sat in Hail's office early the next morning.

"And you couldn't stop her?" Hail asked.

"No. Draconis and I have been over the fight a dozen times. We've come to an agreement. At best we pricked her side, my mother was never in any danger from us." Caroline shook her head dejectedly, "I wounded her many times, I stabbed her in the heart. She doesn't die. Her Shapeshifting lets her heal as fast as she can change, and who knows what other power she has that I haven't seen."

"You can too though." Hail pointed out.

"Not like her. Whoever strong her spirit is, it's more than Draconis or I can reach for. That fight has left me starving. I am having to resist the urge to jump on one of you right now. My mother... she wasn't even winded, just taken by surprise." Caroline hung her head and clasped her hands in her lap, "I don't know if I even can heal like her, I've not tried. But Draconis thinks it's much more difficult than just changing the flesh. She insists that once damaged, she can't control or change the cells nearly as well. So the idea of being stabbed in the heart and just putting it back together right there... I can't even fathom."

"Great. Shapeshifting demigoddess of unknown quantities and a taste for life. We cannot let her run rampant. If she is the true source of the killings and not Capone... we've got a lot more problems." Hail groaned, "Caroline, you've got to have more for me than this. What about your kind, what can you tell me? Weaknesses, anything."

"Nothing I know of aside from what you already know. I get tired when I shift too much, and I need to feed. I've never known another of my kind and everything I know has come from Draconis or experimentation." Caroline shrugged.