Whispers in the Dark

HANDBOOK OF SURVIVAL: SURVIVAL GUIDE
RULE #1 Don't Fall In Love With Your Assignment

Light speed couldn't compare to the pace I was going now.

I always knew I was fast, but once I got the gene, I was challenging the speed of light. Faster than sound, faster than any superhero you read about in comic books. I hate to disappoint you, but they aren't real. Only in your head of course, but I, was physically real.

I'm sure you girls out there have read those Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer, read about the vampires, the wolves. I'm sure many of the people reading about my story have heard of others, the Harry Potter series for example, The Boy Who Lived. The Hunger Games. What they wrote about was real, it all happened. But they forgot one part of the whole equation: Me.

They forgot about the ones no one writes about. Actually, I believe they don't even realize that we exist. Unfortunately, we do, we are the stuff of nightmares, the reason you run to your mother when you see something scary on TV. The creaks, the moans, the thuds, the feeling that you aren't alone? Yeah. That. You never are alone, those sounds? Those scary hallucinations you see? All real. In fact, the hallucinations aren't even what you think they are. They're quite real. You can't touch them, we don't like that. We hate being seen in our real forms so we disguise ourselves in a sort of glamor. You see your fear. We're undesirable.

People that were drunk and pointed over your shoulder at something you couldn't see? Yeah, that was us. We depend on people not believing them and they thinking they're crazy. They see us because they have an extremely open mind when drunk. They see the world with their eyes. Not their mind. The mind only lets you see things you want to see, not what really is. Some of you won't read this because it doesn't make sense, but like every person's life nothing makes sense until the end. Try to stick around and not get yourself killed until then alright?

Anyway, the few people that are unfortunate to have such a vividly bright and open mind, are able to see us. It's an unfortunate event because once they see us, they go insane from the madness. Our true forms are somewhat . . . dark. Scary even. I've had one such mind who looked at me, he dropped dead on sight. Poor bastard. As I was saying, to the humans that can see us, we resemble demons . . . only much, much worse. To other immortal beings, we look like humans. We blend in easily to hide. Hell, only one out of a million immortals can see or smell what we really are, and if they're lucky, or unlucky (depends on how you see it), enough to have both.

This is all fine and dandy, up until a few years ago, until one of my kind had a small run in with a vampire coven. Not just any vampire coven, but The Control. The Control is to us what you are to deer: Killers. They exterminate our kind. They don't like us and we definitely do not like them. I think that should be quite a noticeable feeling, judging on the fact that they are indeed trying to kill us. The Control was formed in the somewhere in the late 1500's (as far as we can tell), I of course have never actually seen them and I think that is a preferable choice than being dead.

How can they kill us is besides me, I don't even think we die, we just resurrect. Maybe we have one of Voldie's Horcruxes tied to us that keep everyone one of my kind together. My apologies, I've described to you my kind, but I never actually gave you a name to call us by. Not sure we have one to be perfectly honest. Let me start with the easy question. We have ranks, they're not much different than your human ones.

Firstly, there is The Council. They manage our numbers and who we torment, stuff like that. The Hunters, are the ones who fight The Control. There are many more ranks but you only need to familiarize yourself with those two plus these two: The Freaks who are just plain weird and have mind blowing talents other than the ones we use for tormenting the humans, and The Assignees. And that, would be me. I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I told you I used to be one of the Council. I got demoted to the beginning again because I have a hard problem listening and not asking questions about the mission you are Assigned. If I fail this, I become one of the Damned. Never see light again and be left in solitary until I resurrect or I go insane.
My job is to go walk the earth and get rid of people like The Control, or immortals gone bad. Rebels I guess you could say, and if I pass I get to become one of The Hunters, The Freaks you have to be born into, I was given no such extraordinaire gift. Now the second question, what are we? You could say we are very advanced Shape-shifters. But we call ourselves Morphers.

Just like every government, we have laws, what we call The Three Decree. Only three rules do we have to abide by, but there are around 50 for my job. I call them the Survival Guide. The three rules are: Don't show your true form not matter what the cause may be. Rule number two: Do not question the Council, and rule number three: don't fall in love with your Assignment.

I think that is enough explaining for now. Time to get back the situation at hand. I may or may not have had a little run-in of my own. There are two different sections of The Control. . . The Werewolves, and the Vampires. I happened to have walked smack dab into the center of the Werewolf Control Camp a place where they train to kill Morphers like me.

And as of right now, I had about sixteen huge, furry wolves the size of Belgian horses on my ass. I was booking it as fast as I could, unluckily for me and many other Morphers who had met the deadly fate of The Control, Morphers were not made for speed. But luckily for me, I happened to have a speed vial, something I could inject to give me a tiny bit of hope to my current problems. To my dismay it was my last one and it was quickly fading from my veins. There are different kinds, speed vials, strength shots, control concoctions, and more. Thanks to one of the Freaks who had an ingenious skill for creating remedies and cures to most human diseases, one of which including weakness. The poor guy died by one of The Control members who found his lab and murdered him before he could finish instant burritos. I could do with one right now.

Yep. It was official. I was going to die, because whatever they used, I had a horrible feeling I was NOT going to resurrect. The dogs were gaining on me. I felt something whiz past my ear and I recognized it as a crystallized golden bullet. There was a rumor that we could die by those, the crystal was too pure for us, it was said that crystal was made of angel tears, and the gold was the solid shell that the crystal coated that hardened over time and solidified in a point, making it extremely easy to pierce our hardened skin. My skin was more solid than concrete, more durable than most heavy duty rubber and ten times the flexibility of pretzel dough.

All of this gave us an edge, we were quick, we could dodge, splitting (although doing so made us extremely vulnerable to attack and very defenseless If a bullet pierced us when we were split, we'd die completely, splitting allowed us to scan the perimeter much quicker than if only one of us were doing it), separate (breaking our soul from our bodies, even more risky, if your body was destroyed or you could not inhabit another body within twelve hours, your soul would fade, as if you never existed. Your soul when it separates from your body is that of a projection of your body only it is invisible to others that are not of your kind and is not by any means solid. To humans it is similar to sliding out of a pair of jeans in a t-shirt only more complex, you have to focus on letting go of your body and your mind will protest; it will fight you at every turn, though we can do it, it is not simple nor natural and is incredibly painful, many have died in the attempt) and morph. Morphing allowed us to turn into something completely different than what we really are and no one could suspect a thing, we were masters at it, masters of disguise, the reason we are called Morphers in the first place. There was a risk that came with that as well, if you stayed that thing for more than a day, that is what you would become and you could never change back.

I could escape without a problem but with a price, now you see why we were doomed. And that is why the inventions of the vials were so needed around here, they gave us an extreme advantage. My temporary strength and stamina was starting to give out, and when it did, all would be lost. My body would collapse and I would fall to the ground, on rushed by wolves, and be eaten alive, or whatever they were planning to do to me. I didn't want to find out. This only left me with one option: I'd have to morph into one of them. They would hopefully think I was one of theirs, if I could get away far enough. I've traveled miles in just a few hours I was praying to every God I knew of to get me to go another fifteen miles to get away long enough to camp out and morph. Meyer did not capture the part of morphing. It was not instant, it was not easy, and again like everything else, it was dreaded and physically agonizing.

I accelerated to my fullest extent and shot off like a rocket. five miles down another ten to go, the mind killing problem was when I accelerated the wolves did to, and that is when it hit me. They were playing with me. Who knew how much faster they could go! I kept running, I had to, another four miles ahead of them, that made it nine, 'Come on, come on,' I gained another three miles on them, now I was at twelve, just a few more miles and I would be free to morph. I put power into my stride and knew I had done it. I was ahead of them by fifteen miles, but for how long I did not know. I had to act quick or my last hope would be given one hell of a horrible death.

I dived behind some bushes and hit the ground hard and felt one of my muscles clench. If I had been human that landing would have killed me, my bones would have smashed into fine particles of dust. Death by landing. I snorted. Well that was a new one. I concentrated on the ball of fire I held inside of my heart. I imagined it growing larger and into the form of one of the huge wolves. It did, slowly and agonizingly but it did, I held in my screams. Despite what books told you, and scientists, pain was not all from the mind. It was but it wasn't. Because of your mind, you have the undesirable (for some, even those few wouldn't want every bone in their body broken nor would any human survive that, the pain alone would kill you) ability to feel pain, but without your mind who is to say that you do not feel pain?

Growling and holding in a few more screams, my form finally burst free and bracing myself, I landed on all four feet. I gave myself a full minute to adjust to my forms size and to become familiar with the gears of this form before lunging forward. Running for me is second nature. It was easily done. But trying to go fast without overexerting your stamina and oxygen levels, was more than a challenge. Then again, for Morphers it was an everyday challenge to stay alive. Or not be found by The Control for that matter. I couldn't stop going nor could I keep going. It was looking more and more like I was seriously going to need a miracle. Not that I would get one. Miracles flew right through me. Never stopped to say hello or goodbye, don't even get a chance. I suppose that is because I have used all of my chances.

Well, not all of my chances. I still had one little idea running through my head, but weather it could help me or not, was up for questioning. I was part Freak. My mother's ability, my father was one of The Hunters. I had the awesome ability to set myself on fire and not burn. My skin wouldn't blacken; I wouldn't even scorch myself, not that it was possible. We can't burn unless we are humans, I am one of the only exceptions. However, if anyone else touched the hot flames that rolled off of me, they'd feel the heat, and would burn whatever part of skin that touched the fire and would never heal. Doesn't mean that it would kill them, if it could, that would solve all of my problems quite nicely.

If I was going to live through this, I would need a lot more than speed, more than stamina, more than my cool ass-kicking fire power. I would need a bloody good miracle. How the hell I would get a miracle to help me out, I did not know. But identical to ever person we all have that moment to change our life around. I never thought I would get that moment.

Running crouched, I pushed back on my hind legs, delighting in my new found power. Going faster and faster. Challenging even the speed of light I pressed onwards toward the large oak that had fallen in my path. When I was not more than five feet from it, I pushed upwards and threw myself forward, I was leaping over a damn tree. I would have gone around it, but on the left were very steep hills, and on the right was a cliff. I knew I couldn't go up the mountains they were too steep. I didn't exactly feel like dying from sharp rocks either so my multi-choice answer was C: Jump the damn tree. So I did. Pause.

Everyone has those unexpected moments, the man who just found out he was a father because he didn't wear the condom, the woman who found she was pregnant by said man, you walking across the street to go to the new fast food restaurant and you get hit by a car, you never expect it to happen. And when you think about those moments you say: "That won't happen to me.", but sometimes they do. No one knows they are going to happen until they do and those unexpected instant deaths, you don't even know it happened because it happened too fast for the tiny human brain to realize what was going on.

The same thing happened for me. One minute I was jumping the damn log (I loathe logs with a passion but I think you figured that out by now . . . I hope) and the next I was flying through the air ladidadida . . . right over the damn cliff. I free fell, zipping through the air like a stick that you pretended was a sword when you were a child. I took time to acknowledge that I was going to die. Death by sharp rock. How fun.

Before I could even prepare myself for it, I landed on something very cushion-y, but pierced my skin like a thousand sharp, cold knives. My fur was wet and I was chilled the the bone, but for some reason it didn't bother me that much. Damn. That was a quick death. Then I heard a muffled thud. I opened my eyes only to shut them tightly as the onslaught of water pummeled my vision. I swam to the surface and my head bobbed above the waves long enough to make out a black shape a few feet away under the water before the current splashed over me and forced me back under. But this time I had a purpose. I was going to find out what the hell that back thing was and why it wanted to save my skinny ass. But more importantly why it pushed me into this ass freezing ice cold water.

I kicked my legs and lunged toward it and fought my way through the huge currents that threatened to overtake me and chased the back shape through the water only coming up to check where it had gone before I realized that the wind and water wasn't moving it, the shape was doing that all on its own. Shrugging, I looked around for a place to go since I couldn't very well swim out here all day, I'd tire faster than if I was running, mind you, I had been running for almost 8 hours and we do have a stamina limit, granted most of the distance was the strength the vial gave me but that was beside the point. The black shape got father away and I decided to follow it, after all, it knew where it was going and I, did not.

As soon as I was back on shore, I was going to find a nice little cave to hole up in and hide and sleep until I had recuperated and then I would run again. And try and figure out how I could kill those annoying hairballs and go find some nice simpler immortals to kill and take out. With great difficulty and more strength used up, I made it to the shores and collapsed on the sand. The black shape was gone by now. I hauled myself to my feet and went in search of a place to sleep everything off. Then I would need to find out where I was and locate the next or nearest Morpher lab and pick up some more vials.

Hopefully before they realized that I stole them. I wasn't supposed to have anymore I was given exactly the amount to use for my Assignment, of course, neither they nor I realized I was going to have a run-in with the damn Control. We had not counted on that to happen, the wolves were supposed to be up north, what they were doing in the southern regions, I do not know. Maybe they were turning into furless, mutts (mutants, mutilations, ect.). That would be a funny sight. I suppose you are beginning to think that I am a cruel Morpher, and I am not, thank you, I just don't have a reason to trust anyone. Anyone could kill me, anyone could pose as my friend then turn on me, anyone could stab me in the back (literally or figuratively), and most importantly anyone could get close to me, and I'd be naked, vulnerable. It is better for me to not trust anyone, than to trust someone and get hurt. It is not that I am afraid of the pain, I enjoy living, to an extent just like everybody else.

Nor was I afraid of death, I really did not want to die. I rather enjoyed the world and all of its . . . imperfections. It's weak links. It's differences, it's simplicity. Am I boring you? I hope I am not, you'd miss out on all the fun and the sexy, hot rebel I got to meet, and some of the chicks that I made friends with. Recaptured your attention did I? Now sit back down and enjoy the show.

I made my way inside a little cave and went deep into the darkness, I hated being disturbed by the light. I think that is another given, considering the fact that I am a dark creature, I hate the bright light. I sat there in the complete and utter darkness for a little while and worked on morphing back. Morphing back was less complex than morphing into something; All you had to do was let go, drift back into your form of what you were before. It was natural for this type of letting go, you were just changing back to yourself, it was as if you were peeling off a layer of your skin after getting sunburnt: completely painless.

Curling up into a ball on my left side, I tucked my hands under my head, and buried them into the shelter of my tangled, matted (but normally straight), little bit past shoulder-length, chocolate colored hair. I sighed and thought about how close I was to dying if it hadn't been for that black creature. I owe thanks and my life to it. I wonder where it went, maybe it was like me, disappear immediately after you meet someone. Maybe it was a total accident that he had knocked me over a cliff. After all, why would anyone save me? He had to be another immortal, otherwise he wouldn't not have seen me, then again he did not see me. That doesn't explain why he didn't shy away from me when he got close to me like normal humans. So he must have been immortal. Shit.

If he ran into The Control, they would smell my sent on the creature, and come after me after silencing him for good. Damn, I dragged another one into this mess. Nothing I could do about it now though. I hope that he had enough sense to go north instead of east like I was, or west where they were coming from. South would only take him to the ocean. Not much good that would do for him. It was possible he had a permanent residence around here, but highly unlikely.

Rolling onto my back I ceased all thoughts of the black shape who may or may not have helped me, who may or may not have been a threat to my existence, and slept. Of course, if I only had the time and had been paying attention and listening with my acute hearing, I would have heard the third splash that accompanied the black shape's and my own. And again, if I had been paying attention and listening, I would have realized I was not alone in the cave like I thought. I would have realized that there was something behind me, breathing, and very much alive.