She stood up, gathering a faint sense of power around her. She knew her mother changed shapes without a second thought, flowing from one to another as naturally as breathing, but then Flame Song was a full-blooded shape-shifter, and had been changing forms for many decades before Serapha had even been born. She knew also that her siblings went about changing differently than she did. They lived much of their lives in the half-and-half forms of the their birth, suspended between aerian and firecat, and when they changed it was a matter mostly of instinct. With her though, it had always been conscious. Other than that first time when she chose the aerian form she most often wore she had not been able to readily shift until she came into her magic. She could feel the force, the inner strength of inborn power that every shapeshifter held, awaken and wrap its tendrils around her. She molded it, holding in her mind the form she wished, directing the power to remake her in that image. Her body blurred, the edges of her form dissolving as she reshaped herself. Her outer sight blurred as well, misting over as the change swept over her, though the inner sight that sensed the flow of magic never dimmed. When the blurring stilled she stood on all fours, looking out at the world from about waist height on her old self. She was a firecat now, her pure white fur striped with red and orange in flame-like patterns.

She took a deep breath, savoring her suddenly enhanced senses. She could scent a thousand details on the breeze, from the smell of green grass to the interesting mixture of human-like aerian and vampire scents that was her father. She could hear the faintest sounds, a veritable symphony of life suddenly audible all around her, and she drank in these sensations.

Not gifted with shapechanging, Aidan stood over her. He was twice her height now, but probably weighed less than a third of her compact feline bulk. She grinned at him toothily and said, “What are you waiting for?”

They hunted together with the ease of long practice, falling back into patterns learned in Serapha’s childhood. Aidan flew aloft, circling when he found game, and Serapha stalked it from below. She decided to challenge herself, after so long without hunting, and tried to take the first quarry they found, a brace of rabbits feeding quietly, alive. Her lack of practice showed, for she inadvertently broke the neck of one, and the other got away. With a shrug she stopped to eat the rabbit she’d felled, remembering anew the predator’s satisfaction in a completed hunt, but the small creature failed to satisfy her hunger, so she soon set out again.

Neither she nor her father felt any sense of urgency, so it was mid afternoon before she finally nabbed a second rabbit, this time succeeding in taking the creature alive. Aidan stopped down out of the sky on seeing her success and landed next to her.

“Here,” she said, in a somewhat muffled tone as the rabbit was dangling, kicking and struggling, from her mouth, “This one’s for you.”

Aidan took the rabbit from her, holding it immobile with the skill of long practice. He smiled his thanks and then turned away briefly, bending over the struggling creature. When he turned back it was still and lifeless. Serapha made short work of what remained and then changed back to her usual form.

“You know, I’ve never actually seen you eat,” she said in a speculative tone.

Aidan nodded. “I don’t like making people uncomfortable, so I’ve always tried to be a bit discreet about it.”

“But I’ve been around you my whole life. I’m not uncomfortable about you being a vampire. I don’t think it would bother me.”

He shrugged. “Perhaps not, but by now it’s an ingrained habit, and I’m not likely to change it.” Then he added, with a somewhat rueful tone, “And I’m afraid that even if you’re entirely used to it, I’m still a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. I still can’t quite shake the old notions about drinking blood.” Then he glanced up at the sun, almost halfway between zenith and horizon. “Maybe we should start heading back.”

“Probably. If we aren’t home by sundown, Mom will worry. But I want to walk part way. We still have time enough.”

Aidan nodded and the pair set of toward home at an easy pace. They made their way along the twisted gullies that threaded through the hills, working gradually downhill toward the more level tundra plain. As they passed through one particularly narrow channel, Serapha noticed a glint of white ahead. An extra chill on the cool breeze told her what it was. “Look! Snow! It must be deep enough here that it hasn’t melted.” She grinned at Aidan. “We can have a snow fight! Race you to it!”

Aidan laughed and followed after, but then he paused. Yes the breeze was chill, but the little ravine wasn’t really that deep. At noon the sun would shine on it fully. There shouldn’t be snow down here. Not unless there was something else keeping it cold… “Wait!” he shouted, his own blood suddenly seeming to chill. “Serapha! Don’t go down there!”

Serapha instantly halted, mere yards from the snow patch. “What?”

“There could be an ice worm!” said Aidan urgently. “Get back from the snow.”