Note: Once again, due to added content, I've found myself bumping against Tapas' character limit. This is part one of a two-part update. Please be sure to click through to the second part!

Blood? I was horrified.  “Why do you need blood?” 

“We need to make it look like those clothes were on you when they were shredded”, Owen replied. 

“Ok, I see. So... more rabbit blood then?” 

Leander sighed. “Sorry, but no. Rabbit blood was good enough for our little ruse last night, but once those men found evidence that you were here this place will be treated like a crime scene. When they find your clothes here they will want to test them, and when they test them they’ll need to find your blood, not a rabbit’s.” 

I realized what Leander was saying. “So you need my blood. I’ve got to cut myself.” 

“Yes, we need your blood. You don’t have to cut yourself, though. We can extract your blood into bags, just as if you were donating it. I figure one half litre should do. We only need enough to make a mess inside that cave.” 

Now, I normally considered myself to be a pretty tough guy. Like I’ve told you earlier, I am a good fighter, and very fast. If you were to ask me of any fears that I have, I honestly would not be able to tell you any. Except for needles. Fuck needles.

“Are you sure you couldn’t just cut me?” I asked hopefully, holding out my palm.

“Don’t be ridiculous”, Owen said. “We’re not savages here. A simple needle to draw your blood will suffice. Surely you’re not afraid of a little needle?”

 I glared at Owen. Sure, fucking him was now off the table, but I was not going to let him think of me as a wimp. I stuck my arm out. “Get on with it, then.” 

“There’s a good lad”, Owen-bear said as Leander retrieved some medical looking equipment from the bag. 

“Wait”, I said as I watched Leander retrieve the gear. “You actually carry equipment for draining blood out of people along with you? Do you bleed people often?” 

Leander looked hurt. “No! This is just some generic medical equipment that I thought we should have. We are both healers, after all. Doctors, if you prefer, though our people don’t use such titles.” 

Leander then stuck a needle into my arm and attached a tube to it. I watched as the bright red liquid flowed through the tube and started filling a clear plastic bag.

Just as I was congratulating myself for not fainting over the needle I heard a noise that sent shivers up my spine. “Hold on. What’s that?”

“What do you mean-” 

“Shh! Please! I hear something.” 

Owen and Leander looked at each other. Owen said “I don’t hear-” 

“I think I hear a helicopter.” In fact I was sure of it. “It’s a long way off, but it’s coming this way.” 

I could see Owen straining to listen.

“Can’t you hear that?”, I asked. “It’s plain as day.” 

“No, sorry, I can’t.” 

I then looked at Leander, who shook his head. 

Owen said “Are you sure you hear anything? I have excellent hearing in bear form and I can’t hear a thing.” 

“Of course I’m sure! How can you not hear that? It’s getting louder, even. Aren’t you the one that once called them ‘noisy helicopters’?” 

Leander removed the needle from my arm and stood up. “Here”, he said as he handed the bag of blood to Owen. “You go make your mess in the cave. Let me have a listen.” 

In a flash the black panther was standing there with its head cocked, listening intently.

“Yes, yes, I think I hear it now. It’s very faint, but...” 

“Faint! There’s nothing faint about it! It’s clear as a bell!” 

Leander was looking at me oddly again, the same way he had been looking at me when he saw the colour of my eyes.

“What are you looking at now?”, I asked. 

“Oh, nothing”, Leander said as he shook his head, almost as though he was coming out of a trance. “It’s just that, well, it seems as though you have the use of your animal abilities even while in human form.” 

“So? Isn’t that normal? I mean, at least as normal as could be with people that change into animals?” 

“No, it isn’t. It is extremely rare, as a matter of fact. Some think that we enjoy slight improvements in our senses of sight, smell, and vision, but nothing compared to what we experience while in animal form. It’s actually been proven that even the slight improvements we think we feel are merely placebo – having to constantly hide from humans makes us more aware of our surroundings, even in human form. We simply pay better attention than true humans do.” 

“So why can I do it then? I can’t even properly shift yet, so why can I see and hear so much better?” 

“Oh, you can see better, too?” 

“Yes! I told you guys that just a few minutes ago when you were freaking out about my eyes. Last night, before you got here, before those men got here, I was standing on the plateau looking out over the valley and I could see everything. Even though it was dark I could see clearly. I could even see the faces on the men in the boats! I thought it was normal for shapeshifters, but now you say it isn’t. Why is it not normal? Why can I do it?” 

Leander paused, looking very much as though he was considering his answer carefully. 

“Well, it’s just that your particular skills are very, very rare among our people. Most of us – indeed, almost all of us – have never possessed the ability to use our animal senses while in human form. Being able to use those abilities without shifting would largely negate the necessity of shifting. To my knowledge there was only one bloodline whose members ever had some of those abilities, and that bloodline is extinct as far as we know.” 

“What do you mean, ‘extinct’?”

“Well, many years ago, the last known member of that family disappeared and was never heard from again. It is thought that he was killed somehow, though many think that to be highly unlikely. Members of the r---” 

“Enough talking”, Owen said as he suddenly emerged from the cave. He was giving Leander an agitated look as he deposited the medical equipment back into the bag. “We must go! I hear those helicopters now. They are getting nearer.” 

I shot Owen a dirty look for interrupting what Leander was about to say. I had the distinct feeling that this was not an accident. I then shifted my attention back to the sound and found that Owen was right – the sound was growing louder. I stared in the direction of the lookoff, where this whole fiasco had gotten off to a flying start the previous day. “Wait, I see it. It’s not quite to the lookoff yet.” 

“Wait, how can you see... give me a moment here…” Owen said as he shifted from bear to golden eagle. He was looking in the direction of the lookoff.

“You’re right, I see it now, too. It will be here in less than ten minutes. We must go now, there is no time to waste.” 

Leander shifted into the big black owl. 

Owen-eagle regarded me. “Do you think you can shift? Fully?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t think....” I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself as a bird, spreading my wings. I opened my eyes and saw that I had failed – the wings were there, as was the tail, but I was definitely no bird. 

“Damn it”, Owen said. “Oh well, we’ll have to make do. At least you’ve cloaked yourself. Leander told me you flew last night. Is that correct?” 

“I sure did.”

“Good. Let’s go then, all of us. You can carry the bag.” 

“Why me?” 

“Because you’re the only one of us with hands, and I don’t fancy carrying it in my mouth. Enough talking, let’s go!” 

With that Owen spread his giant wings and started pumping them. He took off in a whirl of dust, and Leander followed. I reached down and grabbed the bag. I spread my white wings out.... and immediately realized that I had never actually taken off properly before. I started pumping my wings vigorously and could feel the weight leaving my feet. I looked down and could see that I had risen a half metre off the ground.

“Come on!”, Owen yelled as he circled back around to the plateau. “They’re almost here!” 

I looked out over the lake and could see the helicopter was already halfway across it. I could see that there were boats in the water too, all coming this way. I pumped my wings harder and felt a surge of acceleration. I was very unsteady though, until my tail feathers automatically shifted to steady me. Once I was far enough off the ground I began wondering how I would convert upward motion into forward motion. As I was thinking this I felt my wings shift their pattern of beating; instead of flapping straight up and down they shifted to a forward/aft pattern, almost like doing the breast stroke while swimming, and I was pleased to discover that I was now moving forward at a good clip. 

“Good”, Leander called from beside me. “I had forgotten that you’d never had a proper take-off before. You’ve nailed it! Keep up the good work!” 

I had never felt such joy! It was just like it had always been in my dreams, and this filled me with an intense pleasure. I felt free. Free of trouble, free of worry, and free of the constraints of gravity. As the two birds flew steadily in front of me I was diving, climbing, banking, just having a good old time while learning the nuances of flight. I probably looked like a fool to the older birds, but I didn’t care. I was having the most fun I’d ever had in my life, and I was making the most of it. 

Sure enough, though, the eagle slowed up and flew along side me. 

“Would you please stop showing off? You’re holding us back!”

 I rolled my eyes. This was the Owen that I met yesterday. Gone was the tender, almost human Owen that had slipped through this morning while he thought he was alone with his husband. This Owen, however, had not an ounce of fun in his entire body. 

The owl had slowed too, and was flying on the other side of him now. 

“Oh, leave him be, Owen. We’re well away from those men and are in no hurry now. We’re all cloaked anyway, so they’re not going to see us. Let him use his wings properly for the first time. It’ll help him to sharpen his flying skills.” 

“Fine. Let him make an ass of himself then”, the eagle huffed as it pumped its wings harder and pulled ahead. 

“Oh, don’t mind him”, Leander said as we watched the eagle flying up ahead. “Sometimes I think he forgets that he was young at one time, although I often wonder whether he ever really was.” 

With that the owl winked a bright green eye at me and surged on ahead to catch up to its husband. Over the rush of wind in my ears I could hear the couple bickering. I had to chuckle to myself at how much they reminded me of any number of old married couples.

But fuck it. I didn’t care about Owen’s opinion. I was flying, dammit, and nothing in the world was going to get me down today. I continued with aerial acrobatics, getting bolder and bolder with my antics. I quickly mastered full control of my wings and tailfeathers, and was now doing corkscrews, loop-de-loops, sharp climbs, and even sharper dives, all the while having absolutely no troubles keeping up with the others, no matter how much Owen may have said that I was holding them back. The further I went, the more I worked my wings, and the stronger I felt. On my final dive I decided that I was going to pull out of it in a loop-de-loop, and I was just starting to pull up when I lost his grip on the duffel bag.

Leander’s duffel bag. The Leander who had just defended me, and now I had gone and lost his duffel bag, probably pissing him off and at the same time vindicating Owen’s shitty attitude.

Not fucking likely. I was going to get that bag back or I was going to die trying. I folded my wings against my back and went into a steep dive after it. The wind was whistling past me as he accelerated but I could tell that I was not gaining on that bag as it fell. Gravity alone was not gong to be enough. I started pumping my wings hard, flying straight down. The bag was still putting distance on me.

I heard a slight pop and was briefly blinded by a flash of light but didn’t have the time to think about that right now – I had to catch up with that bag! Leander would be disappointed, but Owen would probably kill me if I lost it! 

I beat my wings harder and harder, and now I could feel real acceleration. I was now flying so fast that I was catching up to the falling bag quickly. Closer... closer... NOW! I finally caught up to it and closed my beak around one of the straps. I arrested my dive by spreading my giant wings and going into a long curve, my belly coming within mere centimetres of the trees below. I pumped my wings hard again to gain altitude and caught up with Owen and Leander, who had been blissfully unaware of these events. For some reason they both looked smaller to me now. 

Good. They hadn’t seen a thing. I flew In between them nonchalantly, as if nothing had just happened, and said “So, where are we going, anyway?” 

Leander turned to answer: “We’re heading to our place”. He then looked back ahead to watch where he was going, and after a moment, turned back toward me so quickly that he almost lost control of his own flight. 

“Oh my god! What’s happened? You’ve done it! You’ve...”