Everyone knows the animal sanctuary down at the edge of town, half-hidden in trees and high walls. Everyone knows it's not open to the public, but you can buy your way in. Everyone knows there are lots of animals there that could hurt you if they got out.

What they don't know is that the animal sanctuary is run by a shapeshifter, a woman who can turn into any animal she wants to, but mostly retains her human form. And the animal sanctuary is mostly just a cover, because she takes in injured supernatural creatures and helps them. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, elves, anything that asks her for help gets it.

Now the question is will she come to regret that decision?

Name: Arianna Fischer
Age: 25
Race: Shapeshifter
Appearance: A woman about 5'8" with lightly tanned skin, hazel eyes and auburn hair to her waist in a thick braid. She has an easy smile, and she normally dresses casually; jeans and t-shirts or sweaters when it gets cold enough.

Name: Lukas Mann
Age: 32
Race: Naga
Appearance:
Human: Lukas is a man, standing an astounding 6'5'', with long white hair, and deep blue eyes. He is built, but not too built. No one knows of his true form, except his parents.
Naga: http://www.elfwood.com/art/b/o/bonad...background.jpg

Arianna yawned briefly and stretched as she made her final rounds for the night. She lived fairly close by, close enough to walk back and forth, but she wanted to make sure everyone was getting settled in for the night.

At the moment, she had no other 'special guests', just the animals. She had a couple wolves, a bear, a few lions, a pair of tigers, and a very unfortunate liger who wasn't happy most of the time. The only time he was happy was when he got to follow Arianna around like a giant puppy.

Satisfied that no one was going to break out of their cages, and no human was stupid enough to try to get into her sanctuary, Arianna made her way back up to the front to lock up her office and the side gates before heading home. Ah, home. And dinner. Mmm, dinner. Dinner sounded good. She locked her office and walked over to the side gate, as the main, front gate was always locked unless she used it for something.

Lukas walked by the sanctuary many times, examining every bit of it, until he finally stood at the front gate, trying to sneak a peak. "Excuse me?" he called out, hoping someone was around. He stood there, then took out his phone.

One Missed Call;
Caterina<3
7:38PM.

"Shit..." he groaned. She'd be on his case when he got home, but he didn't care. "EXCUSE ME?" he yelled, tapping his phone against the metal bars.

Arianna blinked when she heard the voice. "I'm over around the side!" she called, opening the side gate. She hadn't been expecting anyone. So who was it? Someone in need of help or someone just hoping to get a quick peak at the animals?

She stepped out through the gate and made her way towards the voice. "I'm over here. Can I help you with something?"

Lukas blinked at the woman, then inhaled her scent, even from a few feet away. "You..." he muttered, then blinked again, smiling to her. "Yes! I was wondering if I could tour this, with my fiancee, tomorrow!" His smile widened, and he walked closer to her. "I can pay fifty dollars, if you wish, for she and I!" he was hoping she didn't smell him. He reeked of Naga, and his original form, to any other creature that was not human.

Arianna eyed him for a few moments, a slight smile twitching her lips. He was obviously happy. She could tell he was something not human, but she couldn't tell he was a Naga, having never encountered one before.

"Certainly. Was there any time you'd like to be here? I usually get here around 8 in the morning and, as you can see, I don't leave until about 7 or 7:30 in the evening. Any time in between then is fine by me." Arianna smiled at him again.

Lukas sighed, relieved. "Thank you!" he shook her hand, then turned around, running in the opposite direction. "I'll be back tomorrow!" he waved, not looking back.

Once around the corner, he slowed down and walked, staring at his hand. Why was it tingling? Why did it feel so weird? Questions roamed around his mind, and before he knew it, he was at the apartment. He walked inside, and ran into Caterina. Her short, bleach blonde hair was sticking up. Her baby bump showing even more. He was afraid that the baby would come out, with a snake's tail. He has persuaded Caterina to have an at-home birth. Not even Caterina knew he was a Naga. He didn't want anyone knowing.

Arianna shook her head and walked back to her house, settling into a solitary dinner and then a quiet night of reading before bed.

The next morning she arrived at her usual hour, checking on all her animals and cleaning up after them, humming as she did. She wanted the sanctuary to look nice for the couple.

She swept all the walkways, sprayed everything down, cleaned up everything she could find, and made sure all the animals were happy too. Wouldn't do to have an unhappy tiger growling at them.

Around noon, Caterina and Lukas set out. They held hands, but stayed quiet. The fight last night left them in pieces, but they just went along with it.

Arriving at the front gate, he peeked in and saw the woman. "Hey!" he called out, smiling wide. Caterina glared at him, then the woman. She rubbed her stomach, and waiting for the woman to 'hop along'.

Arianna smiled as she walked over to them, unlocking and opening the front gate for them. "Hello. I'm Arianna, and this is the Sanctuary." She swept an arm to encompass the entire place.

"I put together some information for you two, in case you want it. That way you'll know all the animals I have here." Smiling at them both, Arianna held out two information packets to them.

"Any requests as to where we start the tour?"

Lukas and Caterina took the packets, and looked through them quickly. "Snakes," Lukas blurted out, without being able to stop himself. Snakes always acted weird, when Lukas was around. They tried to reach him, for he was one of them, so why would he choose that? Maybe...Just maybe...He was pulled to them, too? Shaking his head quickly, he smiled to the woman, and laughed. "I'm Lukas, and this is my fiancee, Caterina," he introduced himself, holding out his hand.

Arianna smiled and shook his hand first, then Caterina's. "Pleasure to meet you both."

"Snakes, you said? Right this way then." Still smiling, Arianna led the way along the path and off to the left, where she had all the snakes housed. She moved to the first enclosure, which had a few snakes in it. "Let's see... There's one of the garter snakes, and you can see one of the green tree snakes back there. All of these ones are comparitively small, maybe six or seven feet long at most. And they're all non-venemous."

Lukas leaned in to look closer, the snakes watching him. Grinning, he muttered something under his breath, Parseltongue. Immediately, the snakes slithered in circles, their bodies bending so much, Lukas thought they might break.

Caterina stood about ten feet away, her eyes wide open. 'Snakes...' she thought, petrified. She hated snakes. She hated everything about snakes. Slowly, she inched forward, lifting her chin and stretching her neck to see the snakes. "Ewww!!!" she cried out, making Lukas jump with fright. "Let's get out of here! So gross! All snakes are disgusting!"

Lukas glared at her. "That's an insult..." he muttered. Caterina stared blankly at him, confused.

"...What?" she asked, watching him carefully, but he just smiled as if nothing happened, and turned back to the snakes.

"Can I hold one?" he asked, smiling softly to the lovely caretaker.

Arianna bit the inside of her lips to keep from smiling when Caterina declared all snakes were gross. She personally thought otherwise, but she kept that to herself.

She looked at Lukas for a moment. "Well, normally I wouldn't allow it, but... Okay. Stay here for one minute."

She slipped around the side and pulled out her keyring, opening the enclosure and stepping in. She moved over to a snake in the trees, and he slithered down to coil around her neck, hanging there loosely. She stepped outside again, locked the door, and moved over to Lukas.

"This is Crowley. He's probably the most easy-going snake I've ever seen. Just pet him, rub his scales a little, and he'll love you forever."

Lukas reached out and went to pet the snake. Automatically, the snake twirled from Arianna's neck, to his arm. He grinned as the snake hissed softly, twirling all around his arm, then up to his neck. "He's beautiful, my friend," Lukas smiled and stroked the smooth snake, as it clung to him.

Arianna chuckled quietly as she watched, holding still to let the snake transfer over to Lukas.

"He should be. I had to take special care of him for a while, until he was healthy again. He got a bath once on accident. Fell in while I was in the bath." Arianna shook her head, obviously amused.

The snake slithered around Lukas's body, and he smiled. "Just like a girl... To be liked by one, you have to be one," he grinned, flashing a pearly-white smile. He handed the snake back, and winked before turning back to Caterina.

"Um...Caterina?" he asked, looking around. She was nowhere in sight. He walked around the corner, still no sign of her. "Damn..." he looked back to Arianna. What's next on this...Eventful tour?" he laughed, running his fingers through his hair.

Arianna put Crowley back away, giving him one last stroke before locking the door again.

"Well, I was planning on going over to see the couple of horses and other big herbivores I have here, and then swinging over to go look at the predators."

Nodding slowly, Lukas watched the woman and glanced at her backside before she stood back up and caught him. "I'd love to see more..." he muttered, then blinked and laughed. "Of the animals!" he grinned, stepping back slightly. He noticed the snake inching upward, in the cage, and he bent down, hissing to it softly, "Goodbye" in Parseltongue.

He stood up again, and stared at the woman. He ... Trusted her. For some strange reason, he trusted her more than anyone he'd met. "Odd..." he mumbled.

Arianna merely smiled and nodded, starting to walk over towards the herbivores.

"Caterina?" she called, looking for the young woman. "You may want to come see this. If you like horses, anyway." She was hoping that the young woman would come around so she wouldn't have to go looking.

"She went home," Lukas said, grinning. "Let's go see those horses, shall we?" he said, pushing by the woman gently. He smiled back at her, then when he looked forward, he frowned with utter dissatisfaction.

Arianna frowned a little herself at finding that the woman had gone home. Well that was a shame. She hadn't meant to scare her off.

"Alright. They're just up ahead." Arianna moved forward, passing by the rest of the reptiles and going over to the large pasture at the edge of the sanctuary. "I've actually got three hourses, a couple lamas, an alpaca, and some goats in there. They're all rescues."

Lukas watched all the animals from afar and smiled to himself. "I love animals...You have lovely snakes," he laughed and looked back to where the snakes were kept. "My mother hated snakes...She always hated me," he sighed.

As he watched the animals, a question popped into his mind. "How do you keep them so clean and lovely?" he asked, an honest question. They were so well-kept. "I can't even keep my dogs and cat looking that great." His laugh was whole-hearted, and cheerful, despite the fact his fiancee just ditched him.

Arianna watched him quietly before she managed a smile. "I love all my animals. I've never had a real problem with one before. I just make sure they all know who's boss, and they behave just fine."

Laughing a little at the question, she shook her head. "Well, I spend some time bathing everyone, and I spend a lot of time cleaning up all the enclosures. I also cleaned the walkways and the outsides earlier today so it would be clean."