All Hail the Shifter King
Title: Surprise, Part I (Holiday Story 2014)
Word Count: 2198
Author's Note: I told myself I wasn't going to break up the holiday story this year but I've been terribly distracted by knitting projects the last while and I'm not sure when I'll actually finish this. Word-inspiration has been hard to come by! So, I'm tossing this up just to prove that I actually have written something lately.
The morning of Christmas Eve began as any other morning in Eli's small home - with the sound of something breaking, followed by the yipping and growling of the keesin seconds before Eli's voice rose in a yell of disapproval. Katrina listened to it for a few moments before she groaned and rolled over to check the alarm clock beside her bed. Just past nine. The brats had actually slept in this morning.
By the time she got downstairs Thaddeus and Crispin were cowering under the kitchen table, a feat given their size, with their eyes glowing a nervous blue and their enormous ears pinned to their heads. Their victim this morning, by the looks of it, was a stack of dishes that someone had left on the counter - no doubt the creatures had been too impatient to wait for breakfast and had turned to foraging for scraps from last night's dinner. Yawning and stretching, Katrina looked around the kitchen and, unable to immediately spot Eli, started a mental timer as she started a pot of coffee.
"These nuisance beasts of yours," he snarled as he stomped into the kitchen with a broom and dustpan to sweep up the glass. Seven seconds, a new record. "Remind me why I let these damn things stay in the house?"
"You love them," she reminded.
"I feel a lot of things for those rats," he seethed between clenched teeth. "Love is definitely not on the list."
The poison in his words made the two dog-things whine miserably, and they crawled out from under the table to collapse on the floor at Eli's feet, offering their thick necks and baring their bellies as they waggled their six legs at him in a show of supplication. Katrina watched, amused, as she waited for the coffee to brew.
"Now you've done it," she murmured.
"If you're expecting pity..." he said to the two beasts, but trailed off as their whines extended into drawn-out sighs of sadness, their color-changing eyes shimmering a pathetic white in a bid for forgiveness. He stared down at them with his lips pursed and eyes narrowed before he finally huffed in annoyance and crouched to rub their stomachs. "Get me every time, you little bastards," he muttered. Sensing their victory, the dogs immediately clambered to their feet and began smothering him with affectionate slurps from their forked tongues.
"You are such a pushover," Katrina told him, grinning.
"I'd still rather they didn't destroy the place every morning."
"Dishes are replaceable. I'm sure you've broken more than that over Ryder's face since we got here." She glanced through the window to the back patio and, not spotting Ryder at his typical smoking post on the wall, raised a curious eyebrow. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
"Gone with Becca to the market." Eli managed to extract himself from the affectionate attentions of the two dogs and resumed the task of cleaning up the broken dishes, shooing the animals away when they tangled themselves in his legs. "She says there's a storm coming tonight." When Katrina looked outside again, this time at the dazzling, cloudless blue sky, he chuckled and added, "I know, I know. But she's never wrong."
"Another night of Scrabble," she mused, as the coffeemaker beeped to let her know it was finished. As much as she enjoyed the company of her housemates, being shut in with them four or five nights a week thanks to the storm season was giving her a touch of cabin fever. Reaching into the cupboard, she removed one of the travel mugs and filled it with coffee. "I think I might go for a walk, then, while the weather is still good," she told him.
"Don't be gone too long," Eli said as she slipped on her runners. "Ryder wanted to take you somewhere when he gets back."
"To leave my headless body in a ditch, no doubt," she remarked, rolling her eyes. "I'm just going to walk down to the river. Tell him where to find me."
Though the clear sky made it feel like it was just another gorgeous day, as soon as she walked out onto the back patio she could feel the heaviness in the still air, the peculiar scent of the atmosphere that warned of the coming storm. She'd never noticed it, back when she first arrived in Rion Fell, but after nearly six months she'd come to recognize the changes in the environment in ways she'd never imagined possible. Maybe it was the lack of city distractions - no internet, no cable, no cellular phone to catch her attention with buzzing and chirping all hours of the day - or maybe it was just the peace she'd found since she'd adapted to her new lifestyle. She still wasn't remotely close to Rebekah's knack for predicting weather changes to the hour, but it was a start.
The pathway to the river was a narrow, well-worn trail that snaked away from Eli's patio and through the knee-high growth of heavy ferns and palms that ringed the edge of the rainforest. She kept her eyes on her feet as she walked, watching and listening for the tell-tale signs of snakes or other small animals, letting her fingers brush a tall flower or a sweeping palm that grew within reach. Despite the pressing weight of the muggy air, it felt good to be outside, to be walking and stretching her legs. It was warm, but not the oppressive heat she'd been greeted with when she'd first arrived in June. It was a shame, really, that such comfortable and tolerable weather was ruined by raging thunderstorms almost every day.
Thirty minutes later she was standing at the bank of the Azinsi River, the churning, sediment-filled wash of water that surged around the small village before splitting the rainforest in two. Hardly a picturesque sight - the water was a horrible brackish green-brown on a good day thanks to the silt that lined its bottom, and the muddy banks were usually lined with crocodiles, river snakes, or some other sort of unfriendly beast. The talisman that Rebekah gave her kept her safe enough, but still, it wasn't the most pleasant environment, which was precisely why Katrina chose to visit the river when she needed some time to think, or just to be alone. While there was a very good chance she'd spot an animal or two, the odds of her seeing another human were slim to none.
Climbing onto her favorite boulder, which sat beneath the dead, skeletal arms of a moss-covered tree, she looped her arms around her knees and thought about her parents. Specifically, to her parents, the fact that it was Christmas Eve, and for yet another year she wouldn't be home to celebrate the holidays with them.
Growing up, family holidays had been as natural as breathing. While most of her friends dreaded being stuck with their parents and mandatory family time, Katrina had adored it. Their family dynamic was quirky to say the least, what with her mother's research constantly interrupting dinner preparations and her father having to chase his random rescued animals around the house, but to Katrina it was perfectly normal and really quite welcome. Her aunts and uncles were just as eccentric as her parents and it led to her growing up in an environment where her own eccentricity was downplayed. She never felt abnormal hanging around with her family, something she'd come to appreciate as she'd grown older and had been shunned or rejected by the various social groups she became a part of.
Of course, her career tended to keep her away from home. It had been years since she'd sat down for a Christmas Eve dinner with her parents, or opened gifts with them on Christmas morning. She'd sent a card faithfully every year, even this year, though it had taken some convincing to get Eli to drive her into Rion Fell proper so she could use the only post office in the country. She had no idea if the card had even made it, but she hoped it had.
Sighing, she leaned back until she hit the tree and stared up through the leafless branches at the sky. Christmas didn't even exist in Rion Fell. Her friends knew of it from their time working on the Taggart base, but it wasn't like they observed the holiday in any shape or form. It felt so strange to her, to know that Christmas was one day away and there wasn't a string of festive lights to be seen, or a carol to be heard, or even so much as an obnoxiously wrapped gift.
She'd thought of buying presents for her friends, but really, even if they weren't terribly minimalist - which they absolutely were - it was awfully difficult to buy something for someone who had lived a few centuries and had already picked up most anything they really wanted or needed.
"Wow. Not even lunchtime and you're moping already."
She started slightly - a considerable improvement from when she'd first gotten to know Ryder and he scared her out of her skin half the time with his sudden appearances - and shot him her customary glare from her perch.
"I'm not moping, I'm thinking," she corrected.
"About?"
"My parents." She braced herself, then, waiting for some sort of smartass remark - really, did anything else come out of his mouth? - but when she dared glance over he was just looking curiously at her, his hands tucked in the pockets of his shorts. It was unusual to see him in normal clothing, the side effect of having to go out among the human population of the village. It amused her that she'd gotten so used to seeing him shirtless that she was surprised he even owned any. "It's Christmas tomorrow. It makes me miss them."
"You wish you could go home?"
"It doesn't really matter what I wish, Ryder, I can't go home." Her words had more venom than she expected, but instead of an equally poisonous response he again surprised her by simply smiling - though it was dangerously close to his characteristic smirk.
"You're great company today," he observed.
"Oh yeah. I'm puppies and rainbows." A crocodile pulled itself out of the river not ten feet away and lazed on the bank in the morning sunlight, peering first at Ryder and then her with only a passing interest. "What do you want, anyway?"
"We're going for a drive."
"So Eli said. Where, though?"
"It's a surprise."
"A..." She blinked, then narrowed her eyes at him. "You hate surprises," she pointed out.
"It's not a surprise to me, idiot." He glanced up at the sky, missing her withering glare. "We should get going, though."
"If it's all the same to you, I don't really feel like going anywhere," she said, turning her attention back to the river. "I mean, I appreciate it and all but -"
"How, exactly, is this not moping?" His voice had taken on a firmer tone, which meant either she needed to cave or the conversation was going to turn into one hell of an argument. He turned and walked a few paces, then looked back at her over his shoulder. "Come on," he said.
"Ryder, I told you, I don't -"
"Now, Katrina."
A slew of tempting thoughts flitted through her mind as she grudgingly slid off the boulder, not the least of which was the overwhelming urge to yank one of the fist-sized rocks from the riverbank and brain him with it, but in the end she simply followed him up the path back to the house, glaring daggers at his back that he was probably fully aware of and completely ignoring just to aggravate her further. It was a battle she knew she wouldn't pick, not when they had to be in close quarters for the evening, but sometimes her argumentative nature got the better of her. She was working on a carefully-worded remark about how his forceful nature must be such a hit with the ladies when they arrived at Ryder's battered Jeep - he opened the passenger door for her and stood expectantly, waiting for her to get in. It wasn't until she'd slid into the seat and fastened her belt that she noticed the backpacks in the back seat, and shot him a curious look as he climbed in beside her.
"What are those all about?" she asked, nodding her head at the packs.
"I assumed you'd want a change of clothes," he said, slipping the key in the ignition.
"Change of clothes? How long of a drive is this?"
"If we make good time, we should get there at sunrise tomorrow."
A thrill of excitement ran through her - anything that far away would be somewhere she hadn't been before, and the adventurer in her squealed at the thought of seeing something new - before she remembered Rebekah's dire prediction for the weather. When she mentioned this, though, Ryder gave her a knowing smile.
"Don't worry," he said, steering the car down the short dirt road. "There'll be no storms where we're going."
Word Count: 2198
Author's Note: I told myself I wasn't going to break up the holiday story this year but I've been terribly distracted by knitting projects the last while and I'm not sure when I'll actually finish this. Word-inspiration has been hard to come by! So, I'm tossing this up just to prove that I actually have written something lately.
The morning of Christmas Eve began as any other morning in Eli's small home - with the sound of something breaking, followed by the yipping and growling of the keesin seconds before Eli's voice rose in a yell of disapproval. Katrina listened to it for a few moments before she groaned and rolled over to check the alarm clock beside her bed. Just past nine. The brats had actually slept in this morning.
By the time she got downstairs Thaddeus and Crispin were cowering under the kitchen table, a feat given their size, with their eyes glowing a nervous blue and their enormous ears pinned to their heads. Their victim this morning, by the looks of it, was a stack of dishes that someone had left on the counter - no doubt the creatures had been too impatient to wait for breakfast and had turned to foraging for scraps from last night's dinner. Yawning and stretching, Katrina looked around the kitchen and, unable to immediately spot Eli, started a mental timer as she started a pot of coffee.
"These nuisance beasts of yours," he snarled as he stomped into the kitchen with a broom and dustpan to sweep up the glass. Seven seconds, a new record. "Remind me why I let these damn things stay in the house?"
"You love them," she reminded.
"I feel a lot of things for those rats," he seethed between clenched teeth. "Love is definitely not on the list."
The poison in his words made the two dog-things whine miserably, and they crawled out from under the table to collapse on the floor at Eli's feet, offering their thick necks and baring their bellies as they waggled their six legs at him in a show of supplication. Katrina watched, amused, as she waited for the coffee to brew.
"Now you've done it," she murmured.
"If you're expecting pity..." he said to the two beasts, but trailed off as their whines extended into drawn-out sighs of sadness, their color-changing eyes shimmering a pathetic white in a bid for forgiveness. He stared down at them with his lips pursed and eyes narrowed before he finally huffed in annoyance and crouched to rub their stomachs. "Get me every time, you little bastards," he muttered. Sensing their victory, the dogs immediately clambered to their feet and began smothering him with affectionate slurps from their forked tongues.
"You are such a pushover," Katrina told him, grinning.
"I'd still rather they didn't destroy the place every morning."
"Dishes are replaceable. I'm sure you've broken more than that over Ryder's face since we got here." She glanced through the window to the back patio and, not spotting Ryder at his typical smoking post on the wall, raised a curious eyebrow. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
"Gone with Becca to the market." Eli managed to extract himself from the affectionate attentions of the two dogs and resumed the task of cleaning up the broken dishes, shooing the animals away when they tangled themselves in his legs. "She says there's a storm coming tonight." When Katrina looked outside again, this time at the dazzling, cloudless blue sky, he chuckled and added, "I know, I know. But she's never wrong."
"Another night of Scrabble," she mused, as the coffeemaker beeped to let her know it was finished. As much as she enjoyed the company of her housemates, being shut in with them four or five nights a week thanks to the storm season was giving her a touch of cabin fever. Reaching into the cupboard, she removed one of the travel mugs and filled it with coffee. "I think I might go for a walk, then, while the weather is still good," she told him.
"Don't be gone too long," Eli said as she slipped on her runners. "Ryder wanted to take you somewhere when he gets back."
"To leave my headless body in a ditch, no doubt," she remarked, rolling her eyes. "I'm just going to walk down to the river. Tell him where to find me."
Though the clear sky made it feel like it was just another gorgeous day, as soon as she walked out onto the back patio she could feel the heaviness in the still air, the peculiar scent of the atmosphere that warned of the coming storm. She'd never noticed it, back when she first arrived in Rion Fell, but after nearly six months she'd come to recognize the changes in the environment in ways she'd never imagined possible. Maybe it was the lack of city distractions - no internet, no cable, no cellular phone to catch her attention with buzzing and chirping all hours of the day - or maybe it was just the peace she'd found since she'd adapted to her new lifestyle. She still wasn't remotely close to Rebekah's knack for predicting weather changes to the hour, but it was a start.
The pathway to the river was a narrow, well-worn trail that snaked away from Eli's patio and through the knee-high growth of heavy ferns and palms that ringed the edge of the rainforest. She kept her eyes on her feet as she walked, watching and listening for the tell-tale signs of snakes or other small animals, letting her fingers brush a tall flower or a sweeping palm that grew within reach. Despite the pressing weight of the muggy air, it felt good to be outside, to be walking and stretching her legs. It was warm, but not the oppressive heat she'd been greeted with when she'd first arrived in June. It was a shame, really, that such comfortable and tolerable weather was ruined by raging thunderstorms almost every day.
Thirty minutes later she was standing at the bank of the Azinsi River, the churning, sediment-filled wash of water that surged around the small village before splitting the rainforest in two. Hardly a picturesque sight - the water was a horrible brackish green-brown on a good day thanks to the silt that lined its bottom, and the muddy banks were usually lined with crocodiles, river snakes, or some other sort of unfriendly beast. The talisman that Rebekah gave her kept her safe enough, but still, it wasn't the most pleasant environment, which was precisely why Katrina chose to visit the river when she needed some time to think, or just to be alone. While there was a very good chance she'd spot an animal or two, the odds of her seeing another human were slim to none.
Climbing onto her favorite boulder, which sat beneath the dead, skeletal arms of a moss-covered tree, she looped her arms around her knees and thought about her parents. Specifically, to her parents, the fact that it was Christmas Eve, and for yet another year she wouldn't be home to celebrate the holidays with them.
Growing up, family holidays had been as natural as breathing. While most of her friends dreaded being stuck with their parents and mandatory family time, Katrina had adored it. Their family dynamic was quirky to say the least, what with her mother's research constantly interrupting dinner preparations and her father having to chase his random rescued animals around the house, but to Katrina it was perfectly normal and really quite welcome. Her aunts and uncles were just as eccentric as her parents and it led to her growing up in an environment where her own eccentricity was downplayed. She never felt abnormal hanging around with her family, something she'd come to appreciate as she'd grown older and had been shunned or rejected by the various social groups she became a part of.
Of course, her career tended to keep her away from home. It had been years since she'd sat down for a Christmas Eve dinner with her parents, or opened gifts with them on Christmas morning. She'd sent a card faithfully every year, even this year, though it had taken some convincing to get Eli to drive her into Rion Fell proper so she could use the only post office in the country. She had no idea if the card had even made it, but she hoped it had.
Sighing, she leaned back until she hit the tree and stared up through the leafless branches at the sky. Christmas didn't even exist in Rion Fell. Her friends knew of it from their time working on the Taggart base, but it wasn't like they observed the holiday in any shape or form. It felt so strange to her, to know that Christmas was one day away and there wasn't a string of festive lights to be seen, or a carol to be heard, or even so much as an obnoxiously wrapped gift.
She'd thought of buying presents for her friends, but really, even if they weren't terribly minimalist - which they absolutely were - it was awfully difficult to buy something for someone who had lived a few centuries and had already picked up most anything they really wanted or needed.
"Wow. Not even lunchtime and you're moping already."
She started slightly - a considerable improvement from when she'd first gotten to know Ryder and he scared her out of her skin half the time with his sudden appearances - and shot him her customary glare from her perch.
"I'm not moping, I'm thinking," she corrected.
"About?"
"My parents." She braced herself, then, waiting for some sort of smartass remark - really, did anything else come out of his mouth? - but when she dared glance over he was just looking curiously at her, his hands tucked in the pockets of his shorts. It was unusual to see him in normal clothing, the side effect of having to go out among the human population of the village. It amused her that she'd gotten so used to seeing him shirtless that she was surprised he even owned any. "It's Christmas tomorrow. It makes me miss them."
"You wish you could go home?"
"It doesn't really matter what I wish, Ryder, I can't go home." Her words had more venom than she expected, but instead of an equally poisonous response he again surprised her by simply smiling - though it was dangerously close to his characteristic smirk.
"You're great company today," he observed.
"Oh yeah. I'm puppies and rainbows." A crocodile pulled itself out of the river not ten feet away and lazed on the bank in the morning sunlight, peering first at Ryder and then her with only a passing interest. "What do you want, anyway?"
"We're going for a drive."
"So Eli said. Where, though?"
"It's a surprise."
"A..." She blinked, then narrowed her eyes at him. "You hate surprises," she pointed out.
"It's not a surprise to me, idiot." He glanced up at the sky, missing her withering glare. "We should get going, though."
"If it's all the same to you, I don't really feel like going anywhere," she said, turning her attention back to the river. "I mean, I appreciate it and all but -"
"How, exactly, is this not moping?" His voice had taken on a firmer tone, which meant either she needed to cave or the conversation was going to turn into one hell of an argument. He turned and walked a few paces, then looked back at her over his shoulder. "Come on," he said.
"Ryder, I told you, I don't -"
"Now, Katrina."
A slew of tempting thoughts flitted through her mind as she grudgingly slid off the boulder, not the least of which was the overwhelming urge to yank one of the fist-sized rocks from the riverbank and brain him with it, but in the end she simply followed him up the path back to the house, glaring daggers at his back that he was probably fully aware of and completely ignoring just to aggravate her further. It was a battle she knew she wouldn't pick, not when they had to be in close quarters for the evening, but sometimes her argumentative nature got the better of her. She was working on a carefully-worded remark about how his forceful nature must be such a hit with the ladies when they arrived at Ryder's battered Jeep - he opened the passenger door for her and stood expectantly, waiting for her to get in. It wasn't until she'd slid into the seat and fastened her belt that she noticed the backpacks in the back seat, and shot him a curious look as he climbed in beside her.
"What are those all about?" she asked, nodding her head at the packs.
"I assumed you'd want a change of clothes," he said, slipping the key in the ignition.
"Change of clothes? How long of a drive is this?"
"If we make good time, we should get there at sunrise tomorrow."
A thrill of excitement ran through her - anything that far away would be somewhere she hadn't been before, and the adventurer in her squealed at the thought of seeing something new - before she remembered Rebekah's dire prediction for the weather. When she mentioned this, though, Ryder gave her a knowing smile.
"Don't worry," he said, steering the car down the short dirt road. "There'll be no storms where we're going."