change me back.
âBack into a vampire.â
You seem to be stuck on that point.
âWell, you have to admit, you donât run into vampires every day,â I pointed out.
Actually, I do. My brothers are Moravians, as well, as I believe I just mentioned. He wobbled over to the door that led to the area where the cats lived and banged his head on the doorknob.
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the faintest twinges of a tension headache. âNow, waitâthat doesnât make sense. Iâve seen movies. What youâre saying is that youâre a werewolf vampire, and you know, thatâs completely against all the rules.â
Werepanther, I believe, would be the technical term. And who says thereâs a rule that Moravians canât be shape-shifters? Just because I donât know of any doesnât mean there havenât been some. Damn it. Come open this door for me.
âWerejaguar.â
Avery, werejaguar vampire cat, shot me a look filled with undiluted irritation. Panther sounds more manly.
âItâs a misnomer, however. You wouldnât want to go around telling people youâre a panther when youâre not, now, would you?â
Lovely. I get the anal-retentive cat whisperer , he answered, trying to turn the doorknob by getting a grip on it with his teeth.
âI am not anal retentive! And stop thatâyouâre getting slobber all over the handle. All right. For the sake of time, my sanity, and to keep my sister from having a nervous breakdownâCora! Stop yelling. Youâre upsetting the cats in the back! Go outside to the truck and get the camera for me if youâre upset. Iâm just going to move past the whole impossibility of the situation. Just show me you are what you say you are, and Iâll help you. How, I donât know, but Iâll try my best.â
Show you?
âYes, show me.â
Two furry black dots that were his eyebrows rose. Is that a proposition? Because if it is, Iâm going to be obliged to you if you could wait until Iâm back in human form to take you up on it.
âI meant show me that youâre a werejaguar vampire. Change.â
Change?
My hands did a fluttery thing. âWhat are you, a werejaguar vampire parrot now? Change. All the movies Iâve seen and books Iâve read say that were-whatevers can change their forms themselves. They donât need their girlfriendâs father to do it for them.â
I am not a whatever. I am a Moravian werejaguar, and a damned nice specimen of one, if this handsome black coat is anything to go by. And Danielle wasnât my girlfriend. I donât have a girlfriend, thus making me able to take you up on your proposition later. She was just a means to an end.
âThus thinketh many men,â I said, the vision of Greg rising briefly in my mind. âVery few actually come right out and say it, though. I may award you bonus points for that. So are you going to change or not?â
You might be on to something there , he answered thoughtfully. Let me see . . . hmm. How do you suppose you go about changing your form?
I shrugged. âI donât know; Iâm not a werejaguar. I imagine concentrating might do the job. Maybe like meditationâclear your mind of everything but the image of you as a vampire, and see if that does the trick.â
His pretty blue eyes squinted at nothing as he focused his attention, one lip curling up as an odd, abstracted expression formed on his face.
âYou look constipated.â
He stopped squinting to glare at me. Flatterer.
âI meant that youâre trying too hard. Havenât you ever done yoga or meditated? You need to relax, allow yourself to become one with the universe, let your mind wander. While, of course, holding the shape-shifting thought.â
When I get back to the Baum compound, thereâs going to be hell to pay , he swore as he slumped down onto the ground, his big