(Blake's POV)

After teaching Mace to shift into his spiritual form, he seemed to get a bit freaked out and bolted out the window.

I curse under my breath as I attempt to locate him. “Mason!” I yell. Where the hell did he go!? I decide to check the park first since he seems to like the more quiet places. No luck.

Where should I look? Just how fast can a panther run? I decide to look it up on google...36 mph!? I was so screwed. I had been looking for almost an hour now.

I sent a signal out in every direction for a 40 mile radius. Finally, I picked up a signal a couple miles east of his house. Heading that way, I realize he must’ve gone into the woods behind the house.

I shifted into my owl form and began scanning the forest from the sky. As I keep going, the tree tops begin getting thicker. I swing down and swerve through the branches.

~~~

It’s been a few hours now and I’m getting worried. Mason hasn’t eaten anything today. He could pass out from exhaustion.

“Damnit!”

I decided to go back home to ask my brother for help. “Hey, lil bro!” Riley shouted. “Hi. I need your help. When I was teaching Mason, my partner, how to shift into his spirit form, he got spooked and ran off.

“Okay, What does he look like?”

“He’s a black panther with deep blue eyes.” I answered him.

“Huh? Deep blue eyes on a panther? That’s rare, but okay.”

I agree. It is weird for a black panther to have blue eyes. Usually they’re green or brown. Huh. Guess I’ll have to look into that later, considering in human form his eyes are such a pretty hazel.

Before heading out, my brother insists I eat something. ‘You won’t be able to keep your form if you don’t eat properly.’ I mock him, as I shove the rest of my sandwich down my throat. “I heard that!” He yells from the other room. I don’t respond, knowing full well he didn’t.

As my brother and I headed for the woods, my brother’s spirit animal being a white tiger, I sensed another presence. Swooping down, I see a dark brown werewolf, that I immediately recognize as my best friend, Alexander.

“Hey, What’s new?” He asked

“I have a partner, now.” I replied

“Whoa! Seriously, dude!? Congrats!” He congratulated, enthusiastically.

“Haha, Yeah. Now he’s shifted and run off. Think you can help…?” I asked, hopefully.

“Of Course!” He said.

I gave him the details and he scampered off in another direction.

I hear something down below me so, looking down, I see the shiny coat of a black panther. ‘Yes!’ I perch in a tree and shift into my human form and wait.

‘3’

‘2’

‘1!’

I jump down and press the part of his neck that will automatically shift him back into his human form.

He shakes his head like a dog as I drag him to his feet. I connect minds with Riley and Alex, telling them I’ve found him and pull Mace home.

“What were you thinking!?” I shouted angrily at him. Although I knew that was mostly instinct, he still made me worry, so I was pretty upset.

As expected, he shrugged his shoulders. Then, out of nowhere, was just like “Can I have chocolate. I’m…...just gonna ignore that. I decide.

I run a hand through my hair and sigh. ‘I suppose part of this was actually my fault, anyways. After speaking a bit more, Mace flops down on his bed. It can’t be comfortable to sleep in such tight skinny jeans.

“If your gonna sleep at least change into something more comfortable first.” I say. I’m not sure if he completely heard me, but all I got in response was a grunt. I sighed again and helped him change. Once I’m done, I begin the journey home.

Upon arriving home, my brother pounced on me. He was insisting that I tell him about Mason right here and now. I hear a chuckling and turn around to see Alexander. “Get off of him, Riley. Even if he’s your brother, you know how your partner gets. Riley met his partner, Jaymie, around 3 ½ years ago.

The peculiar thing about my friendship with Alex is most werewolves and vampires don’t get along, but I met alex almost 12 years ago and we’ve been close ever since. They’re the only other creatures that are also immortal. Well, besides demons. But who wants to mess with those beasts?

I tell the pair about what he looked like, and his personality. I also told him about what little background information I gathered. Then I remembered the thing about his eyes. I begin researching.

~~~

It’s been three hours and I haven’t found anything. I groan. Then, like magic, I find exactly what I’m looking for. It seems if a vampire bites a halfblood, then the half blood becomes a pureblood and can become just as powerful and live just as long as they would’ve if they were born purebloods.

You figure out if you’ve bitten a halfblood if there eyes change a rare color in their shifted form or if their form is one of the rarer ones. Black panthers are both really rare and his eyes changed.

Below that it says ‘Or if they were a vampire in their past lives and are bitten, their eyes change to their original color and they begin searching for the reincarnation of their past mate.’

Wow.

I wonder how he’s going to take this news. But which is it? Halfblood or Past Life? I’ll ask him tomorrow.

It’s extremely late, so I head off to sleep.

~~~

When I wake up it’s 10:00 am. Crap! I hope Mason isn’t up yet. I speed over to his house to find him still passed out, exhausted from the previous days’ events.

I smile and begin reading a book from his bookshelf.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Huh.

It’s almost noon when he wakes up. I smile at him, as another one of our days begin.