Shift

 For years now, I have had a burning anger in my mind. I always likened it to a campfire that fed on my dark thoughts, and my anger. I would feed it and allow the thoughts to fade like smoke in the wind. The few times since my mother died in front of me that I let loose in my anger, it was like giving my whole mind to the fire and letting it control my actions. The memories of what took place when I gave in to my anger were hard to recall, like looking at them through a red haze.

 But in the last couple of months, in fact, it's been since I moved to Forks. My internal fire had gotten hotter, but my thoughts didn't cloud or fade. It was like the fire was reaching past my mind and towards my body.

 This thing that called itself a Vampire had overwhelmed me in strength and speed with no apparent effort. My chances of running were nonexistent, so all I could do was accept my fate and probably die. But I didn't want to accept that, at least not passively. This heartless world had taken from me my father before I knew him, my mother in the most helpless moment of my life. Now when I was recovering, it tried to take my sister. Finally, when I was catching a glimpse of a future I wanted to work toward, it wanted to kill me. Well, FUCK YOU WORLD!!!

 I was done forcing the anger down, I was done trying to keep it contained. I reached for it and pulled the white-hot torch into myself with all my might. Out of my mind and into my body, in the hopes that it would help me in my fight to stay alive. My bones suddenly felt liquid, like they were malleable. I fell forward onto my hands and knees and suddenly it felt as though my body expand outward.

 I registered the Vampire saying something but the roaring of my blood blocked out my ability to understand what was said. When my bones felt solid again, I looked at the Vampire and was surprised to see I was still looking down on him. {I thought I fell to my hands and knees, how am I still looking down on a 5ft 6inch person?} I breathed in to say something, but I just kept inhaling, like my lung capacity was endless. When I finally felt like I had taken a full breath, the burnt, sweet smell hit me, and it made me furious.

 I let out a roar that was thunderous to my own ears, I even caught the vampire trying to cover his right ear with his hand and shrug his shoulder to the left side of his head in an effort to cover it as well. As the echo of the roar faded, I took a tentative step forward, it was almost awkward. My front leg lifted off the ground and my paw folded for a moment before placing it on the ground in front of me and reflexively I felt my back foot move forward. It was symmetry, it was a natural reflexive balance.

 My hearing started to register the Vampire saying "NO" over and over again. He turned and started to move away from me, but it looked rather slow. Especially compared to his earlier barely discernable speed. My impulse was to chase something running from me and I allowed this instinct to take over. I didn't consciously start moving, just let my subconscious take over, and before I could think much I was on the Vampire, pushing him to the ground.

 My jaws opened and clamped down on the back of his neck, it felt like no effort was required to close my mouth and when my teeth came together his head popped forward and rolled a few feet from his torso. I tasted no blood in my mouth and took no satisfaction from the kill. It did not taste edible at all, and I was very disappointed in that. I took my disappointment out on his body, ripping his remaining arm off and then his legs. Shaking my head in frustration at the lack of edible material.

 Slowly my instinct faded, and my rational mind took over. I looked down at what I had done and felt... Nothing. This thing had every intention of killing me and probably could have instantly, had he taken me seriously when he thought he had the overwhelming advantage. {I guess you should have listened when you were told not to play with your food.}

 I learned then that my roar did not just come out when I exhaled, but it started when I breathed in, and I could then intensify the outgoing roar. The sound traveled for miles before it tapered off as I closed my mouth, and then I started moving through the forest.

 After running through the forest for a time I decided that I wanted to see what I was now. My paws were white with black stripes and the same color was on the parts of the body I could see, so I had a good idea what I was. But I still wanted to see for myself.

 Strangely, I was a little weirded out by how calmly I was taking this whole transformation thing. It's just that... It felt so natural. Like I had found a part of myself that I didn't know was missing. I decided to head for the stream near the Quileute border and find a place that would reflect my image for me.

 As I moved, I was thinking about the vampire, and comparing it to the Cullen's. There were just too many similarities for me to brush off. The difference was that they only smelled sweet without the burnt smell and their eyes were not red, but they ranged from a honey brown, gold to a light yellow or black at times. I didn't know what this meant to me right now. Will they smell different now that I have changed? 

 My thoughts drifted off as I finally found a pool of still water that looked reflective enough to show me what I looked like. I slowly approached and looked down inquisitively. The first thing to stand out was my very pink nose, topped by short white fir and surrounded by long whiskers. Locking eyes with my reflection I noticed that my eyes hadn't changed at all, they were still the pale sky blue, though I was told that sometimes they deepened in color. 

 My head was a patchwork of white fur with black lines forming random patterns, my neck sported a mane weirdly enough. {What tiger has a mane?} I asked myself. I had no way of judging my height or length other than the fact that I was still looking down on someone who stood at 5ft 6.

 Out of nowhere, I felt a voice, {"Thomas??? Is that you I feel, or Jared?"}

 I looked around in surprise for Sam, I recognized the voice but didn't see him. Then it dawned on me that I didn't so much as hear the voice as feel it in my mind. I reached out and tentatively asked, {"Sam? Is that you? I don't see you, its Thomas."}

 {"I don't see you either, weird. The legends say that we should be connected and able to hear all thoughts and even see through each other's eyes if needed. This feels more like talking long distance. Where are you? Are you ok? Do you understand what happened?"}

 {"I think I am a few miles upstream of where we last met, I came here to see my reflection and get a look at what I changed into. Wait, did you know this transformation was going to happen to me?"}

 {"Yes, I did. But because of tribal law, this cannot be told until the change actually happens. We are in an even more gray area because so far as we know, no one that was not tribal has ever made the change. I am making my way to you now so stay calm and tell me what happened."}

 Happy to have someone to talk to even if it was a bit of a stranger, I told him everything from the beginning to end with the vampire and then with my impulse to come here to see what I looked like.

 {"I am almost there; you are taking this surprisingly well Thomas. I went mad for a couple of weeks after my first change."}

 {"This just feels so natural, like something that was always supposed to be. Tearing that vampire into 5 different pieces helped me avoid the first-time jitters I guess."} 

 {"Yeah, my first change was seeing my dad and his new family just outside of Seattle. He ran away from me and my mother when I was very young because he said he couldn't handle the responsibility of a family, and then he went and made a new one. I truly thought I went mad for a while. Took me two weeks to get tired enough to fall asleep and change back."}

 {"So, is it strong emotions that cause the change? Because I have had some very strong ones before without going all furry."}

 {"So far as we can tell, it is actually the presence of a vampire that starts the change, but it can be enhanced by emotion. With vampires so near the tribe, the changes started again. But because they haven't approached our lands or caused intense emotions in anyone in the tribe, the change is only happening gradually. If we were under attack, the change would be instantaneous. At least that's what the stories say."}

 {"You mean the Cullen's, don't you?"}

 {"Due to a treaty, we made I cannot say anything about them to you. Almost there."}

 I could hear some heavy footsteps getting closer and looked in the direction they were coming from. {"I hear you approaching."}

 My eyes picked up a figure of pure black making its way through the trees on all fours, but it looked a bit different from what I expected. A black tiger? Never heard of that before. White is rare enough. His pace slowed down and he slowly broke through the tree line just 15 feet in front of me. Comically we both jumped back once getting a good look at the other and shouted mentally, {"WHAT THE FUCK!!!"}