Myrddin's Magic - Book One of the Magic Trilogy

Chapter Thirteen

Amalie woke and stretched, then burrowed into the blankets. She let her mind float as she reviewed all the changes in her life. She had learned so much in the last week. She never knew that there were vampires outside books and movies, and magic had seemed to be something that someone in a top hat and tails did to entertain people. She hadn't believed that magic, real magic, existed before she met Killian. Smiling, she sat up and erected a force field around her. It shimmered in the air, and she chuckled. Magic was fun.

She dropped the shield and thought about becoming a wolf. Out of all the magic that she had been exposed to over the previous week, shifting was the scariest. She worried that she wouldn't be able to shift back into a human form.

She thought about Killian and his belief that it would be easier to shift now that she had been marked by Mack. She decided to try it. She got out of bed, took off her pyjamas, and concentrated on shifting into wolf form. She banged into the bedside table as she shifted, and the lamp went flying onto the floor. Killian came running into the room, hands ready to cast a spell, looking around the room frantically. "Are you all right, cariad?" he asked as he spotted her next to the bed. Amalie whined. He smiled. "Just practicing?" Amalie nodded her head. "You did a good job. Can you change back into human form? It's time for breakfast."

Amalie concentrated on turning back to human form, but she couldn't do it. Killian tried to guide her in the shift, but she still wasn't successful. She started to whimper, and she lay down, ears back against her head, her head between her paws. "I think the problem is that you are hungry. Are you hungry, cariad?"

Amalie nodded her head and whimpered some more.

"Why don't you come down to the dining room and have some breakfast? I think once you eat, you'll be able to shift easily. Remember what Mack and I said last night? It isn't a good idea for you to try to shift or do any other form of magic when you're hungry. I think you used up all your energy shifting to wolf form, and now you need more energy to shift back again."

Amalie got to her feet and padded out through the door. She looked at the stairs, then looked at Killian. He started to laugh. "I can't tell you how to go down the stairs. I have to leave that up to you." She stared at the stairs a minute more. "Do you want me to bring your breakfast up to you?" Amalie looked at the stairs again, then hesitantly put a paw out. "Don't think about it", said Killian. "You can do this, but I think that it would be easier if you don't think about the fact that you have four paws. You walked out of the bedroom just fine, and I'm sure you can do the stairs as well. Focus on the bottom of the stairs and concentrate on being there. Your body will know how to do the stairs if you don't think about it."

Amalie looked at him again and whined. Then she put out her paw and started down the stairs. She made it down one floor and, when Killian followed her down, she started to jump and bark. "I told you that you could do it, cariad. I'm proud of you. Now can you do another set so that you can have some breakfast?"

Amalie ran down the second set of stairs and slid on the floors as she rounded the corner into the dining room. Clara had put a plate of raw steak on the floor, and Amalie ran over to the food and started to eat. It was one of the best meals that she'd ever had.

"Killian", said Gabriel as he entered the house. "There's been another murder." He came into the dining room, momentarily surprised by Amalie's wolf form. "Hello there", he said. "Who are you? I don't recognize you." He sniffed the air. The wolf smelled musky, but she also smelled surprisingly like flowers.

"This is Amalie", said Killian with a smile. "She just learned last night how to make herself shift into wolf form, but she's not as good shifting back to human form yet. I think that, when she has something to eat, she will be more able to shift back to her human form."