A short scream escaped my lips. 

Jake bent his knees as we landed, softening the impact. As he stood up straight again, he looked at me, smirking.

"Please, if you're going to do that again, warn me first," I laughed, unable to be angry with him even though I wanted to. He had just jumped down from the second floor! With me on his arms!

"I'll try to keep that in mind," he said, already walking away from the house, towards nothing but forest.

"You'd better do so," I mumbled in response. Then asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"Just some place."

"Well, that gives away a lot."

He only grinned.

Sighing, I decided I can't get against him. I asked, "Can you at least tell me if it's far? I could walk by myself." He didn't seem to be thinking of putting me down.

"Your leg's in a cast," he pointed out boldly.

"And so? I can still walk," I argued back, but clearly I wasn't getting anywhere with it. Jake was planning something and all I could do was to let him take me away.

"But not as fast," he retorted as we made it through the front line of trees. A few more steps and Jake's house was beginning to disappear from our view.

"You're not exactly a speedy one either, you know. I'm heavy. Sooner or later you're on your knees." Although I highly doubted it, honestly. At the same time, even if I preferred walking on my own two legs... a part of me enjoyed it. I liked to feel his strong arms around me, carrying me as if I'm weightless. Being this close to him, I could smell his familiar scent of fresh rain, earth and hay.

He shook his head slightly, revealing his perfect white teeth as he smiled at me. "But I can go faster. Thought you'd never mention it." He tightened his grip on me. "You'd better hold on tight."

I had a bad feeling about this. Doing as he'd said, I pressed myself into him as hard as I could, ready for whatever he was about to do. Through Jake's shirt, I felt his muscles tense - only seconds before he took off into the depths of the forest. My eyes fought with the cold air whipping my face, but as they slowly got watery, I had to bury them in Jake's shirt. For someone carrying a girl on their arms, Jake was in great shape. Aside from the fear he might trip, resulting in lots of pain - for me at least -, I was amazed by his capability to run like a top athlete on a track field. Jake dodged trees and branches, roots sticking out from the ground as if it's something he does every morning. Even a huge fallen tree couldn't stop him; not slowing down, he easily jumped almost two metres and over the old trunk with graceful catlike moves. A glimpse at his face told me exactly how much he enjoyed it.

Just as I was about to ask how much further will we go, he came to a stop. He looked up, as if looking for something.

I turned my head to see around us. "Are we there? Here are only trees and... more trees."

"Almost." For a moment he eyed me, measuring me. He said, "Put your arms around my neck. I need a free hand."

"Uh, okay." I let go of his torso and did as he'd said. Jake made a couple more steps, freeing one of his hands that had been holding me. I was a little worried about what he might have in mind, but I couldn't prepare myself for what happened next. He broke into a short run, bent his knees and jumped what seemed more than two metres this time. He clang to an old big tree. Without pausing, he poised himself even higher. With one free hand only and while holding me, he was still climbing faster than I ever could.

Only when we reached it did I notice the small wooden cabin built on wide and strong branches, high from the ground. With no complications he pulled both of us through the open doorway that took half of the cabin's wall. Only slightly panting, Jake sat down on the floor and smiled at me as I took seat across from him. The room was so small that our legs touched.

"What is this place?" I asked, looking around curiously. There wasn't much to see, though. The cabin was empty and had thin slits here and there between the planks it was made of. Only the wall behind me had some colorful prints on it.

"It's my secret haven. I was eight when I built it, funny it has last for so long. Back then I came here almost every day."

I pulled back a little to have a better look at the wall behind me. There were human hand prints in different colors and sizes, but something told me they were all from the same person. Among those were few prints of a big cat's paw. A jaguar's paw. There were many of the smaller ones - both human and jaguar -, but the bigger they got, the less there was.

"You know, you're the first person I've ever brought here."

"Really?" It made me feel special. It also dawned on me that this place held a lot more than a stranger's eye could see. "Why me?"

He shrugged, but the smile on his lips held unsaid words. I couldn't help but to smile, too.

"When you come here, what do you do? You don't come here that often nowadays, do you?"

He shrugged again. "Just enjoying the nature. Thinking. Resting my nerves. As a kid I used to play here with my imaginable friends and jump and climb all around these trees."

I laughed. "You had imaginable friends?"

He raised a brow. "Is this wrong?"

"No, not at all. Mum says I used to have one when I was little, but I can't remember it."

Cautiously, I went a little closer to the door we'd come through. The ground was so far away. I clenched the edge of the floor as hard as I could. Should this place fall, things would not go well, but Jake's relaxed form behind me kept me calm. There was no ladder, of course, on any side of the cabin. Jake never needs one.

"Have you ever fallen while climbing trees?" I asked out of curiosity.

"In fact I have. You never know when you step on a wrong branch."

I stared at him. "And you couldn't tell me this before bringing me up here? You even used only one hand!"

Jake merely looked amused. "Accidents happen. The last time something like that occurred was almost a year ago."

Sighing, I turned away from the doorway. Jake's eyes never left me and for a moment we just looked at each other. I moved closer, thinking this may be a good chance to get some answers to some not-so-important questions.

"Is there anything else besides inhuman speed and super climbing and jumping abilities?" Sitting across from him again, I crossed my legs.

Jake smiled wryly. "Here comes the inquiry, uh?" I nodded. "Well then... My senses are sharper, I might also be faster and stronger than the average human, but don't expect me to do any magic." He stayed silent, but seeing that I was waiting for more, he continued. "Some of these senses aren't as good on my human form, that is why I sometimes change my eyes, for example. Anything else?"

"And then there's this thing with soul and mind," I added. "But is there something more? Anything?"

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Nothing special I think."

There was so much I wanted to know, but getting the questions right was a lot different story. A few minutes later, I asked, "Can savannians be any animals?"

"Not exactly. I'm not quite sure, but as far as I know, doves are the smallest creatures you can find among us, or other animals about the same size."

I scowled, trying to picture this transformation in my head. "Doesn't it hurt or something? It's really hard to imagine a human turning into a dove without some magical blast that covers them or something."

Jake laughed. "You pretty much don't even feel it, no matter what animal."

I stared out at the treetops and suddenly remembered something else. "I promised mum to come home this morning," I said. Then, as another thought hit me, added, "What if hyenas go there, looking for me?"

Jake remained calm. "I considered this. Your house is being watched."

I raised my brow. "So you put someone to guard it." It felt somehow strange.

"They'll make sure no one gets hurt, if there's anything to be worried about."

Thinking about it for a moment, I nodded. "Okay. For as long as the hyenas are in Blue Mist. But I still think I should be going home soon."

Jake stood up and came next to me. "I'll take you back. But a little later. We only just got here." As he said this, he took my wrist to help me stand up too.

"So what are we going to do here?"

He stepped closer to the open doorway and grabbed from a branch close by. In an instant, huge crooked claws protruded from his now a little chunky fingers. With the help of these, he climbed out and onto the roof of the cabin.

"Selina, grab from that branch over there, can you?"

I stared at it, a couple of feet away from me. "What?"

"Try to reach it and I'll then help you up."

Going as close to the edge as I dared, I looked down and shuddered. Carefully, without losing my step, I tried to get hold of the branch. It felt too far away and I thought of turning around and sitting down on the cabin floor so that even Jake couldn't lift me up from there. I wasn't exactly afraid of heights, but this was a bit too much. Then, just before I could wimp out, I got it.

"Now what?" I asked, not daring to look up. I didn't have claws to climb like Jake did. It seemed like I had nowhere to go next.

I felt arms around my waist. Suddenly I realized my vulnerable position; my arms stretched out in front of me, my tense legs trying to support me on the cabin floor, my body tilted forward, above the ground so far below. Laying down on the cabin's roof, Jake had no problem putting his arms around me to hoist me up.

The roof resembled two layers of planks, between which was some kind of impermeable material to keep the rain out, as it seemed to me. Jake felt quite relaxed up here, so I trusted we would not fall through. But even as he put me down, I didn't let go of him. Having no walls to surround me, I felt a little insecure.

"Now what?" I asked.

Jake held his arm around my shoulders as he turned us to face the other way. "Look," he said, pointing to something far away.

I looked and noticed some colors, far where the trees gave way to a clearing. The sun shone through the green leaves, giving them a bright color, and landed on the colorful flowers planted on the clearing of mowed grass. Not very far from it something glimmered. A small stream perhaps.

"What is that place?" I asked a few minutes later, hardly getting my eyes off the colors.

Jake smiled sheepishly. "It's actually some rich guy's personal pleasure garden. But to me it seems more like a park."

Slowly a grin made it's way to my lips. "So you spend hours here, peeking into other people's gardens?"

He laughed. "I wouldn't exactly say 'peeking'. It's only a few times when I've seen people around there. At least the view's great."

"You're right about that," I replied, nodding.

Suddenly, the ground was gone. I grabbed whatever I could in case I should fall, but when I didn't, I was simply confused for a couple of seconds. I lay on top Jake, his arms around my waist. I raised my brow, staring at him questioningly, but he only laughed. He'd done it on purpose.

As he stopped laughing, we looked into each other's eyes for a few moments. He reached one of his hands to the back of my head and in an instant I realized what his plan was. I let him pull me closer, until our lips met.

_________________

Author's note :D

I just want to make sure everyone gets this. Jake has some super-human abilities, but I'd rather you not compare it with the usual vampire stereotype. His strength/speed/senses have limits, and savannians are far from being the creatures with most advanced abilities on Earth (though some stuff depend on their species). That means: a normal cheetah would probably outrun Jake and a normal eagle has a better eyesight than he does.