Crimson Claws & Fangs ch.18

    Samantha has been roaming the country side near the roads trying to stay out of sight yet near enough to read the road signs to find her way to her old lab outside of San Diego. For several nights she has traveled this way, despite her speed in her were-dire form she has found it difficult to travel long distances thanks to the abundance of roads, cars, houses, and people of course everywhere. She would have liked to have hitchhiked or taken a bus, except for her lack of funds, and now after only a few days of staying in her were-dire form she once again is having trouble trying to assume a human form.

 

   Now Samantha finally finds herself standing on a hill overlooking the labs she once worked at. Her goal is simple, yet incredibly difficult given her circumstances, she wants to get inside and compare the samples she took over a year ago with herself to see just how similar she is to them in both her human form and transformed state. Standing on the hill she attempts to transform back into her human form, straining to focus, on her first attempt she was completely human but as she began to walk forward she realized she still had a tail. She tried to revert the tail but instead fully transformed into her were-dire form again.

 

      On another try her ears remained long and hairy, even though they were at their proper place on the sides of her head like some strange furry elf. On subsequent transformations she noticed how the odd shoes she had seemed to vanish in her full form and then reappear in her human form, something she is surprised she hadn’t noticed before. She began to wonder if maybe the cloths were affecting her ability to transform, but quickly dismissed this after one try being naked with no more success, “besides”, she thinks, “even if I pulled it off naked, I would still be naked trying to get into the lab.”

 

   Exhausted and back in her transformed state she stands on the hill looking down at the lab frustrated that she has come this far and can’t even get what she viewed as the “easy part” out of the way. Samantha is startled by a female voice behind her saying, “yo”.

 

    She looks back to see a very fit and beautiful teenage girl with long straight jet black hair standing there. The girl looks very out of place, dressed in a tight t-shirt and jeans. The girl is also completely un-phased by Samantha’s appearance.

 

   As though answering Samantha’s confusion the girls says, “Hey little sister, looks like were both going to be trained together today.”

 

   Samantha looks at her confused, head tilted like a dog, “who are you? Are you a were-dire like me?...or something like that Yasha?”

 

    The girl giggles a little, “nope, I’m Riska, Versa’s daughter.”

 

    Before Samantha can say anything else another woman appears, a woman Samantha recognizes from her hotel room in Brooksville. Standing in her buckskin clothing, and her wavy grey hair is the ever beautiful Versa in her human form.

 

    Versa looks at them both, “Samantha, my Crimson Vixen, a great name befitting your gorgeous coat, and my daughter Riska. I have decided to train you both at the same time for this lesson.”

 

   Samantha says, “excuse me, but I thought there were two offspring, uhhm, I mean two children, from what that guy whose horses were attacked told me.”

 

    Riska amused says to Samantha, “my brother Rish is being trained by our dad, you know, tall, dark, and overbearing, Rhuen”

 

 

 

    Versa ignoring her daughter’s comments as she knows them to be true says to Samantha, “I am going to give you both some special psychic training on how to focus so you can control your transformation abilities, my daughter already has that one perfected as far as going from her true state to human goes, and on how to phase through solid objects, which I trust will come in useful for you both.”

 

    Versa’s eyes glow blue and her voice can be heard in their heads, “These skills can not be explained, you have to know how they feel and practice them in dream time to get them down.”

 

    Samantha doesn’t know how long they stood there as she drifted into Versa’s Psionic virtual world where she and Riska practiced at changing shape and phasing through solid objects, the feel of these powers being etched into their minds and the transition and use of them becoming smoother.

 

   When Samantha once again finds her self standing on the hill she is in human form, she thinks how these skills will come in useful for going into the lab, almost too convenient that she showed up just at this time.

 

   Versa looks to them both, “Riska, Crimson, these skills were simple, a mere psychic lesson in only a few hours is all that was needed, however other skills will require much greater real world practice, now come along.”

 

    Samantha, Crimson, looks behind her as she starts to obediently follow and remembers what she had been thinking about only seconds before, “Sorry, but, I have something important I need to take care of.”

 

    Versa walks up to Samantha and leans in close, “do as you wish my dear, as your last act as Samantha.”

 

    Versa hands Samantha a scrap of paper, “When you are done doing what ever it is you are doing here come to this address.”

 

  Samantha opens the paper as Versa and Riska vanish into the air like ghosts, something Samantha isn’t as phased by as she would have been only months before. The paper has an address on it located in Las Angelus. As she tucks away the paper in her pants’ pocket and looks down at the lab she remembers what Versa said, “last act as Samantha”, She looks at the lab with new determination, “Now I really have to know, no matter what.”