by Pepper Pace
Paul’s face still looked human-ish, but also wolfish. His nose stretched what would have been his upper lip until it disappeared into a slash of mouth that showed his exposed teeth. His ears had moved back and were pointy and sprouted lighter, coarse hair. His normally light hair was still present but haloed his head in a freakish mane. The arms that reached towards the ground were also bulging with barely contained muscles. His hands were black and gnarled and the nails there were pointy and thickened.
When I looked into that thing’s eyes I saw that there was none of Paul present. What crouched before me was separate than the man that had been with me mere minutes before. I suddenly realized that Paul and I weren’t so different; just like Paul, I was no longer the same as I had been when I was a human.
A low growl was rumbling in the Were’s chest. I thought to call his name and then I thought…maybe it’s best not move.
It was difficult to think of it as Paul, but I forced myself to. Paul sniffed the air and I saw thick ropes of drool fall from his huge teeth. He had told me before that he’d need to hunt after changing…he’d need to eat.
My fear, my exhaustion, my pain was suddenly so overpowering that my eyes closed briefly. With a jolt I opened them only to see that Paul had moved closer to me. He was sniffing me.
“Paul…” I whispered and tried not to be afraid.
His breathing was loud but even. Crouching on all fours he nudged my bloody hands with his nose. I just stayed frozen in a way that Vampires do very well.
Paul whined softly and my fear spiked then suddenly melted away. He wouldn’t be whining if he was going to eat me, would he?
His tongue came out and he licked the blood from the back of my hand.
It hurt to do it, but I stopped pushing at the gaping wound in my stomach and I opened my hand and let Paul lick my bloody palm and fingers. He lapped it intently reminding me of what had happened just the night before…
His ears went back suddenly and Paul looked out into the forest. He was growling low in his throat. I concentrated on the sounds of the Weres. They were here, watching us from the woods. They were surrounding us; five or six of them, and closing in on us slowly—like we were prey.
How could the student beat the teachers? They’d been doing this for generations…and Paul had only been a Werewolf for two months. Perhaps they wouldn’t kill him. They wanted his blood, his strength. Maybe they’d take him back to Poland and while he would hate being a prisoner, at least he’d be alive.
Me…with my blood loss and injury I was of no help at all.
Paul’s Werewolf turned his head to me once again. He put his hairy wrist between his massive teeth and with a grunt bit down hard.
What-?
Paul grabbed my head roughly with his clawed paw/hand and pressed his bleeding wrist to my mouth. It amazed me that something as inhuman in appearance would have enough human thought to know that I needed blood. But it was such a bad time. Our enemies were closing in on us. I wanted to tell him to forget about me and reserve his energy, I even tried to push his paw away.
But he couldn’t be moved and blood was pouring down my throat. I had to swallow quickly to keep from choking.
And then something happened. His blood running down my throat felt like liquid fire. It burned as I drank, like liquid fire flooding my veins. I could feel it all through my body, especially within my stomach wound.
Distantly, I heard myself mewling as I greedily ate. Now, I didn’t want to turn away Paul’s blood. I drank long and deep. Strangely, my entire body seemed to envelope in fire, the heat not painful because it was a healing heat. His blood flow was slowing and I nipped him without thinking.
He didn’t even budge. When I thought to look up Paul was glaring into the woods.
I gripped his wrist and hung onto it as I fed. He still ignored me. Hot blood was pouring from my stomach. But I could think so much better now and I concentrated on healing the wound.
The pain lessened by small degrees.
I heard rustling in front of us and then I could see gleaming brown eyes staring back at us.
Paul yanked away from me, breaking my grip with no effort. Then he leaped impossibly far, landing on the other creature in the woods. They were rolling in and out of sight behind trees and brush. I could see the other Weres, many of which were watching the action and waiting for their opportunity to join in. My awareness was back…good or bad. I wasn’t going to faint.
My brow knit as I concentrated on my stomach wound. I needed to hurry and heal. The pain was bearable but still bad.
“Tyler? Monica?” I called them again, needing to know if they were okay. If I had been attacked then they surely had been, too.
But I didn’t get any answer. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the sun and the way it seemed to be blocking my energy…or if it was because the worse had happened.
I squeezed my eyes closed as I heard a pained whimpering from the woods. It wasn’t Paul. Don’t ask me how I knew, but I did.
Three of them were on him; snapping jaws and clawing talons.
There was no mercy in their biting teeth and ripping claws. They meant to kill him!
I could only think of this; my human friends may be dead in my house, Tige and my other Vampires were more then likely ash, and my man was about to be killed before my eyes.
There was a growl close to my ear and I whipped around only to see a Were, mere feet from me. Before my eyes he slowly transformed back to semi-human form.
Yosef.
He watched me with gleaming eyes and a pleased grin.
“I did not know that all of Paul’s women weren’t among the undead. It was a waist to kill the blonde one. Her blood was very strong and she would have bore wonderful children for us.” My brain seemed to explode within my skull. Yosef continued as if his words hadn’t just crushed my very soul. “Still her flesh was nourishment to our men. Now you will pay what you owe.”
Oh God…Monica. Any remaining fear turned to anger and anger began to turn to rage. My body shook as I came slowly to my knees.
My eyes turned red. I felt my teeth rip through my gums. My skin split from my neck all the way down my back.
Vampires didn’t morph. My muscles seemed to explode from my skin. It wasn’t like that the first time I’d become the Creature. It was happening so fast now that I could feel my fangs puncture my lower lip!
I don’t remember actually jumping on Yosef. I just remembered the look of surprise on his face when I changed and landed on him. He tried to change also but just couldn’t do it as fast as I had.
“Muther fucker!” I screamed in a voice I didn’t recognize. Yosef tried kicking me in the belly…but there was no more stomach wound.
I forced my hand into his chest and when I withdrew it I was holding his beating heart.
Yosef and I watched it, he with surprise, me with hunger.
Monica…I shoved it into my mouth and chewed as Yosef died.
I turned to Paul’s fight.
Paul had felled another Were but he was exhausted and the stronger Weres were taking pot shots at him.
I leaped on the back of one as he gripped Paul in a choke hold. My sharp teeth slid easily into the space at the back of his spine. I snapped my jaws shut and heard him shriek loudly. His spine crushed between my teeth and he collapsed in spasms to the ground.
Paul swung a thick arm and knocked the last Werewolf back by about six feet. We both double teamed him. Paul went for his neck while I went for his underbelly. He was dead in seconds.
The forest was quiet. Abnormally quiet.
Paul collapsed to his side panting. He was too tired to hurt me, I thought. I quietly eased up to him. He glanced at me with hooded eyes. I could see half a dozen terrible wounds; bites and claw marks.
God what a sight we both made. At least the blood and Johan’s heart had helped to heal me.
I suddenly remembered Monica. I needed to get back to my home. I turned but Paul reached out one taloned paw an
d gripped my ankle.
When I pulled it didn’t break his grip.
“Let me go, Paul.” I said in a husky voice. “I have to get home. I have to help the others.”
Paul just watched me. His mouth moved. The sound that left his throat wasn’t so much a voice as it was a rough growl that sounded vaguely like a word. “Dead…” was the word.
I was shaking my head. “No…I need to go back and save them-“
“Dead.” He grunted tiredly struggling to verbalize through his alien vocal chords.
Roughly I shoved his hand away and ran with all my might back to my house-
Something big hit me from the side. If I had needed to breath I would have been winded.
I rolled and skidded into the dirt. The Weres massive arms were gripping me.
I tried to wrestle out of his grip but I felt like I was being held by steel bands.
“Let me go!”
I kicked and growled and snapped at him and finally he slammed me roughly against the ground jarring my teeth.
I felt my Creature’s rage, now directed at Paul. But I forced myself to freeze. I stayed motionless and glared into the distance. There was enough of me to know that I wouldn’t hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt him.
Eventually Paul’s grip loosened but not by much. I still didn’t move.
I felt him begin to lick the back of my neck. He was vibrating and I realized that there was a rumble deep in his chest much like a kitten’s purr.
It soothed my Creature and I felt my rage melting away. Still my Creature was present.
Even though we had both changed, Paul and I didn’t look the same. I don’t know exactly what I was but I wasn’t like Paul. I didn’t have the additional hair nor a canine nose. But my arms were roped with muscles and I was so bulked up I didn’t even appear human. Little good our individual monsters had done my friends…
I need to go home. I need to see with my own eyes…
I bucked against him and leaped up again. He held me by the remnants of my clothes until those tore away and I was left completely nude. This time when he held me he clamped his teeth to the back of my neck. The pain was immediate but the weight of his body and his teeth on my neck let me know that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Let me go! Let me go!” I screamed in my own alien voice. I cried and writhed and tried to claw my way out of his grasp. For almost half an hour I tried to break free, until finally, I collapsed, exhausted in tears of resolution.
Paul’s Were stood. I couldn’t have moved if a pack of Werewolves were at my heels. He picked me up roughly and tossed me over his shoulder. I hoped he was going to take me home. He began to run quickly but not to the house.
Hurt and wounded, Paul had overpowered my Creature. As a Creature I was stronger then other Vampires. But Paul’s Were had me beat…Could he actually beat the Vampire?
By slow degrees I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going back to the house. At least not now. But what was he doing? I didn’t smell any more Weres in the vicinity. Upside down and moving at a fast pace wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. I heard something moving ahead of us, darting through the woods. Paul sped up. I couldn’t believe how fast we were moving! I hung on for dear life fearing that I’d get knocked in the head by a passing tree or something. I gripped the fur at his lower back and just kept hanging on until the nightmare ride could end.
Paul leaped and I felt like I was on an amusement park ride. We landed with a painful thud on a moving creature. I couldn’t see but he struggled to hold onto it and me and I was being slammed against the thing. A deer.
Paul had dropped a deer!
For a moment he let me fall to the ground as he tore the throat out of the poor creature. It was still kicking when Paul began to feed. I closed my eyes but as soon as I did I felt his hand grip the back of my head roughly.
It hurt where he was gripping my hair and scalp. But I understood that he wasn’t trying to hurt me when he pressed my face into the deer’s open wound. I clawed at the dying deer in horror. Its blood was in my nose, eyes and mouth: In my mouth then down my throat. My teeth were chewing before I understood what I was doing. Side by side Paul and I ate and ate. I drank and chewed the still hot flesh and blood. It was like filet mignon cooked to perfection. It was the best thing ever to go down my throat.
My head was buzzing and I was coming awake, coming alive. With one loud belch I slowly backed away…but there wasn’t much left; head and legs mostly.
The world looked strange through my eyes as I blinked rapidly. In and out of focus I could see the leaves from a mile away. I swayed on my knees.
Paul’s gold eyes watched me. He gripped my arm more tenderly then he’d touched me thus far. He used the back of his hand to stroke my face. He sniffed deeply then his tongue came out to roughly lick at my still split and injured skin. His tongue felt good against me as he cleaned me. I didn’t move while he did this. He took his time but when his tongue ran across my exposed nipple I jerked away from him.
I didn’t want the Were wolf turned on. Sex with a monster was too much for me. Ten minutes into his cleaning, it dawned on me that I should be the one licking his wounds. After all I was the one that had the anesthetic in my saliva.
Tentatively I leaned into him and touched his arm with the tip of my tongue. His wound had changed when he had. It was no longer to the bone, still the skin hadn’t mended and it was quite ugly.
As soon as my tongue touched him the saliva in my mouth worked over time. My manner of healing meant that I needed to probe the wound with my tongue. My saliva stopped this from being painful—of course that had always been with wounds I’d inflicted. I wasn’t quite sure how this would work on him. Still, the Werewolf seemed to enjoy it. His breath rumbled soothingly in his chest.
I don’t know what I had expected—well yeah. I had actually expected him to smack me across the forest! But he just watched me as I worked the wound with my tongue. After a bit, I moved to his chest but when I moved to his neck, he nudged me away.
What would be called his hand suddenly reached out to stroke my breast.
I didn’t like it. “No, Paul! NO.” I said as if I was talking to a bad dog.
Ignoring me, Paul’s Were leaned over and lapped at my breast. I pushed him away firmly but he gripped my wrist and yanked me against him.
Nothing about it was enticing; not even knowing that this monster was my husband beneath the hair and the deformed body. When he then roughly pushed me away I thought that meant he was going to stop.
I was wrong.
I landed on my belly and before I knew it Paul had covered me. Alarmed I tried to look behind me. Paul’s body on me was massive and heavy. He had me completely pinned. He was going to rape me!
“Paul…” My heart had leaped to life and was pounding against my rib cage. “No!” I yelled adamantly. Still I could feel him hard against my rump and the low growl of passion rumbling through him.
Werewolves mated for life. He had protected me, fed me, cleaned my wounds, now he meant to mate with me. All natural. Nothing unnatural about it.
Except, I didn’t want to fuck a Werewolf!
I had to concentrate really hard. No struggling in vain. I had to get out of his grip and get away. Could I flash? I tried. The vertical feeling was back, even stronger, but I was still there beneath Paul’s Werewolf.
I could feel his hairy pelvis rubbing against my backside. No!
He rose up a bit, I think to enter me. I took that opportunity to scurry away but Paul lopped after me on all fours like a dog. He caught me easily and this time I had no choice but to fight hard or be raped by my husband’s Werewolf.
I punched him in the face with all my might. His head went back but when he looked at me again his eyes were stilled filled with lust. My hardest punch had meant nothing to him.
Or did it…? Okay, this wouldn’t be considered an aphrodisiac, would it?
Paul leaped on me and slammed me easily to the ground face first. Di
rt was in my mouth and nose. His claws gripped the back of my neck painfully and held me in place. His other hand gripped me around the middle holding me against him. Even kicking and squirming I couldn’t get away. I couldn’t get away from him as hard as I tried!
Maybe if I just let it happen it wouldn’t be so bad. I felt frightened, frustrated tears gliding down my cheeks. But a second later something strange happened and the Creature in me snarled.
“Rape me and I’ll kill you! Do you understand me you fucking mutant dog?! I’ll hate you for the rest of my life!”
He didn’t move; not to enter me or to release me.
“You understand me, don’t you?! Let me go or I swear I’ll never forgive you! EVER!”
He released me slowly. I scurried away from him and crouched ready to fight. His eyes were blank. No Paul anywhere in sight. But that Were understood. He knew I wasn’t lying.
He began to run grooves into the ground with his nails as he stared at me. Instead of relaxing he was making me more tense than ever despite the fact that he had released me.
I watched his naked form trying not to focus on his huge erect penis. Huge was an understatement…try a one liter soda bottle.
So not happening.
The Werewolf seemed to understand the concept of rape…or maybe the concept of forgiveness, I don’t know but his erection faded and he grudgingly started walking. It was in the direction of the house so I followed at a cautious distance.
Was he leading us back to the house? I hoped so because if he really didn’t want me to go I don’t think I could have overpowered him...maybe at full power, but not now in my weakened state.
He ignored me and by slow degrees my Creature began to fade. It wasn’t by design. If I had my wish I would have kept the Creature: one because Paul might get the idea of sex in his head again, but two—if we really were going to the house, I needed the Creature’s strength.
But me wanting it to stay didn’t make it so and eventually it was just the Vampire me walking nude in the woods with countless rips in my skin and blood splattered over me in places that Paul’s tongue hadn’t cleaned.
