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“I am here for the same reason you are,” I growl back at her, assuming a fighting position. “I will fight for the safety of my clan.”
“Your clan?” she laughs offensively. “Don’t be ridiculous! You don’t have a clan. You don’t belong anywhere. We took pity on you, because you are worthless, and you will never be anything other than a useless human being!”
Her words do something to me. I never thought it was possible to feel such rage for someone.
I spread my arms to the side, with my fingers outstretched.
“Do you want to see what I truly am?” I say, feeling that same need for that maniacal laughter, but I manage to resist the temptation for such theatrics. I am better than her in so many ways. But if she needs me to prove it to her, I will be happy to oblige.
I watch her eyes widen in awe when she sees how branches start to grow from fingers They sprout greener than ever, rich with leaves and flowers. My hair starts to float around my head, also turning green. I can feel something inside of me grow, but I still don’t know what to do with that energy.
Gala seems lost in thought for a moment, then she regains her senses.
“So, you’re not a measly human then, huh?” she snorts. “In that case, killing you will be an even greater pleasure.”
Suddenly, she closes her eyes, and her entire body starts twitching. I know what she’s doing. She’s shifting. I just don’t know whose form she has chosen to morph into.
I should probably attack her right there, before I give her the chance to become someone else, someone stronger, but I can’t. I watch as her body becomes taller, her hair shortens and becomes darker, her limbs prolong, then her entire face becomes more angular, more manly. A moment later, and I recognize the shape of the person she has chosen to shift into.
“No…” I whisper to myself, recognizing Edmund.
“I’ve never shifted into a vampire before,” Gala says in his voice. “It might take me some time to figure out his moves, but I’ll get there while I’m kicking your ass.”
I take a step back. Older shifters can take on the memories of the person they have shifted into. They can instantly know their skills, their capabilities, everything. I wonder if she can read his mind and find out that we slept together. She doesn’t mention it, so I guess she can’t see that yet. She hasn’t shifted that many times to have mastered that skill. It is something that comes to a shifter after a while. It doesn’t happen all at once.
I guess it is the same with my skills of a dryad. So far, I can only make branches grow out of my fingers, which won’t do me much good in a fight. But maybe I will be able to do something else. Maybe something inside of me will awaken. I have to rely on my inner instinct, like Edmund advised me to do.
Gala comes at me, and I avoid being punched by her by a few inches. She took me by surprise. Also, seeing Edmund attack me confused my brain. For one fraction of a moment, I forgot that it’s not Edmund, but Gala who has shifted into him, and she used that moment of confusion against me. I can’t allow her to do that again. It might cost me my life.
She has always threatened to hurt me horribly. This time, I know she aims to kill. That much I’m sure of. I have to use all my skills and resources to prevent her from doing that.
She lunges at me again and having the shape of a man makes it easier for her to overpower me. But my mind is quick, much quicker than I thought it would be. I aim my hands at her, and this time thin, wiry roots sprout from my fingers, wrapping themselves around her feet. I pull backward as hard as I can, and she falls to the ground.
The roots release her and withdraw back into my fingers.
“That’s a nice trick,” Gala jumps back on her feet. “But you’ll need much more than tricks to defeat me.”
She widens her lips, opening them to show me her protruding teeth. If she bites me, I won’t become a vampire, because she is not a real vampire, but she can drain me of all my blood. In other words, she could kill me with those. I have to be very careful.
She swings her hand at me. I bend to the side, avoiding it, but she is quick on her feet as well, shoving her elbow into my side. I stumble down onto the ground, coughing violently. I can barely catch my breath.
Before I can even lift my head to see where she is, she grabs my head with her hands and knees me in the face. I hear a slight cracking of my nose, and an incredible amount of sharp pain shoots through my head, down my back, all the way down to my feet.
I roll to the side, knowing that I can’t stay in one place. She will keep hitting me with whatever she has, until I’m not breathing any longer. I have to move away from her. I have to regain my senses. I have to be in control of the situation, because she won’t stop.
My head feels like a drum someone has been hitting over and over again. I try to get up, but it’s hard. I can barely find my balance. I lean back and almost fall, when I feel someone grab me around the waist, keeping me up.
“What the…” I hear Gala say, then I see her looking behind me.
I turn around, and almost scream with fright. The tree behind me has lowered its branches to keep me from falling. I shiver in its arms, but suddenly, a realization washes over me.
There is no need to fear, someone whispers right into my ear. Almost like the soft breeze of the wind. I hear no words spoken, and yet, my mind recognizes them instantly as being directed to me.
Suddenly, there is no fear in me. Only rage. Only the need to defeat those who have always thought they were better than me, who wanted to crush my spirit and see me down on my knees. Now it is their turn to kneel.
I stand up, putting my feet firmly down on the ground. My blood boils inside my veins. I press my open palms on the branches around my waist. I squeeze softly. The branches pull away, as if on cue, understanding that I don’t need their help any longer. It’s my turn now.
“Enough of this shit!” Gala growls at me, then jumps with her fingers in the shape of claws and her teeth aiming straight for my neck.
