The Trouble With Furries

by David Sharp

  The Satyr appeared out of the gloom and lowered on his cloven hooves. Wordlessly, the horned one offered a stone spoon filled with trail mix, first to the fox who gratefully inhaled it, followed by the wolf, who hesitated before doing it in his snout.

  Daniel's vision faltered. The beasts seemed real as they surrounded him making animal noises and sounds. The low lit lair spun around and the darkness came and all was pitch black.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven:

  Daniel awoke, disorientated because he could not see clearly. "I must have blacked out."

  The last memory he held was of the Satyr's lair and the powder. He reached up to his face but could not feel it. Daniel realized he was the wolf. Paws down, he looked over the interior of the car. It was roomy, a Jeep or a Ford. He could not tell which or who it belonged to. Paul was the most likely candidate since it had the musky smell of the Satyr about it. The world through the wolf's eyes was still off kilter. Hooking a claw under the lock, he managed to open the door. The blue wolf rose to his full height on his hind legs and saw rows of cars down the tree lined street.

  The Fur Meet, this must be where it is, Daniel, the wolf, thought. A whirring sound that reverberated hurt his ears as he made his way down the desolate road. Not a soul, human or beast, was outside.

  The mansion was stately and nice, not the gothic castle he had imagined for the animals upon first hearing of the gathering. The wolf knocked at the door with a large brass knocker and was too high to feel out of place. The sounds of many locks clicked and clacked until the solid door opened.

  A large owl man looked down on him, turning his head askew. "What's the password?"

  The wolf was taken aback by the formality. "Um, let me see." He thought back earlier, pieces coming to him, of how the animals had made noises. The wolf knew there was a word and almost had it.

  "The password, please," the owl, a symbol of death, seemed to rise higher.

  The wolf pictured the invitation in Daniel's mind and saw the word, "Animus."

  "Welcome, fellow beast. What may I call you?"

  "I am the blue wolf."

  "Good, I am the guardian owl." The owl bowed and stepped back from the entryway. "Please, come in."

  Daniel, the wolf, stepped inside and was truly frightened, as if he had stepped out of his depth. The owl locked the door and softly walked ahead down a long hallway. The foyer was columned and the floors were marble. His claws clacked on the smooth surface. The wolf felt out of place in being late and he remembered Adam's story of the mansion a year ago. The story he never bothered to hear the end of now disturbed him.

  The blue wolf explored and sniffed after the owl down the long hallway. Doors to the rooms along the way were open, offering sights of bestial couplings. A fur pile in one, a rabbit went down on a goat in the next, and a group of cat-men, not unlike the Thundercats, in another. The sights were a Kama Sutra of inter-species, anthropomorphic zoology. The surreal carnality overwhelmed the wolf's heightened senses. Excited, yet scared, he continued on shaky haunches down the hall. The wolf paused to see a koala and a bear bonding in an uncomfortable looking position. The animals turned to look at the wolf and he noticed the differences in the koala fur suit and knew it not to be Wes, but a stranger.

  A solemn bell tolled and drew the wolf further down toward the end of the passageway. The inner sanctum of the mansion was rife with ritual. A ceremony was taking place. Dog-boys and cat-girls with faces hidden behind correlating masks circled in dance. Other than a tail, they wore nothing else to hide their lithe nude bodies. Outside of the circle, the beasts watched with desire. Intricate in their design of bear, wolf, tiger, deer, goat, bison, and most if not all walks of life, they were represented in fur. The dog-boys and cat-girls danced to a sublime rhythm that only they could hear as a chant rose up from the beasts. They danced with each other, first opposite, then with their own kind. The wolf saw the hungry eyes and realized the dancers looked like sacrifices to the beasts.

  The bell tolled again and a leader appeared from the gloom. The Satyr, looking the part of the demi-god Pan, was in charge of the proceedings. The beasts drew closer to the circling dancers. Silently, one by one, each animal picked a feline girl or a canine boy, or one of each, or a pair of the same sex, to take them away to yiff. The blue wolf was frozen, not knowing what he should do as the dancers were depleted and he was left standing alone. Daniel, the wolf, found himself in the center surrounded by true beasts.

  The Satyr said in Paul's voice, "Interloper - you do not deserve the right to be a beast."

  The blue wolf simply stared in fear as the other animals watched what was happening to him. In his heart, Daniel knew they were judging him for not being pure...for being weak.

  "I am the wolf."

  "That may be, but here you are, only flesh for the beast."

  "No, I will go." The wolf tried in vain to keep Daniel's voice steady.

  "You cannot go. Now, take off the mask so we can see you for what you truly are."

  "No." The wolf resiliently stood and stared at the Satyr, hating the very fiber of its being.

  The beasts closed in on the wolf. A white polar bear gripped his paws back behind his back and a gazelle came from behind and unmasked the wolf. Daniel struggled as the wolf mask fell to the floor, exposing his human face. Fear engulfed him as he was then apart from the blue wolf. The wolf head stared up at him with a vicious snarl stuck on its curled lips. Other random paws unzipped the blue fur suit and stripped Daniel down naked. His prized blue hide vanished into the mass of animals.

  The Satyr, pagan and goat-like, ran a hand down Daniel's sweaty body. "I own you now."

  Daniel shivered even though his body was hot from being inside of the fur. The Satyr violently pulled off the cock ring and wolf tail with one yank. Daniel dropped to his knees, tears in his eyes, and looked defiantly into the horned one's face.

  "Take him, he is yours." The Satyr offered Daniel to the animals.

  "No, wait," Daniel managed as the paws groped and caressed his prone naked body. "Not like this. I am the wolf."

  The Satyr laughed a demonic laugh. Daniel broke free from the fur pile and ran with beasts, real and imagined, nipping at his heels. Upstairs, he panted out of breath and tripped, almost falling into the clutches of a black panther. Another hallway was trekked barefoot, the darkness closing in, and Daniel ran into the first room he could find and locked the door.

  Naked and sweaty in the dark room, Daniel tried the light switch and it did not work at first. In the flashes of the flickering bulb, Daniel saw the Minotaur coming at him with his third horn ready to thrust. Daniel backed away and the light went dark. When it lit the room again, James, the Minotaur, was hung by a rope from the light fixture in the ceiling. Daniel screamed and fur arms wrapped tightly around him as the red fox bit him in the shoulder. Blood flowed down, and knowing that he was being eaten alive, Daniel screamed again.

  *

  Chad took off the fox head to tend to Daniel, alone in a solitary room of the mansion. Daniel shivered in a pool of sweat as Chad, half-foxed, helped him into the stripped down bed in the barren room. The bottom sheet was made of rubber and it took all of Chad's strength to position Daniel upon it.

  "What have I done?" Daniel said out loud.

  "You're going to be okay. It's just a bad trip, dude."

  Chad pawed water on Daniel's face from a wide rimmed glass, accidentally hitting the eyebrow ring.

  Daniel looked at the light fixture. The Minotaur was gone and the light source stable. "Where's James?"

  "I don't know. He was in a bad place, too. Both of you did too much of that trail mix."

  "I saw him hung," Daniel shivered again.

  "No, that was some bondage thing. He's alright. A little choked up, but okay."

  "And Paul, why did he call me out like that?"

  "Because you were tripping." Chad unzipped the fox fur suit and freed a hand to feel Daniel's head. "You still are and you're burning up as well."

>   "There are no free rides, Chad," Daniel laughed, "I paid for it all."

  "I'm sorry, Daniel. It wasn't supposed to be like this."

  Daniel felt cold and he saw the mirror that encompassed the entire far wall. His reflected image stared back, blue haired, naked, and human. Chad, half-human and half-fox, tended to him with a soaked cloth of water with the care of a fallen angel. Below, on the floor, lay the carcass of the blue wolf. The wolf head was no longer snarling but lay on the floor limp and lifeless, a simple and cartoonish blue furry thing. It seemingly decayed, and to Daniel's horror, melted in a multicolored swirl into the floor. The bedroom darkened with malice from beyond. The shadows seemed inviting and Daniel found it hard to breathe. Something stirred in the encroaching darkness around him.

  "You can leave me here," Daniel rasped, fascinated by the changing room.

  "I ain't leaving you." Chad took off the red fox suit and let it drop to the floor. Naked, he climbed into bed next to Daniel and pulled his tail free. The cock ring clattered on the floor when he tossed it. Chad was no longer a fox, but a scared, naked young man.

  "You should. I am like you. I don't care about anyone but myself." Daniel's throat felt dry, so very dry.

  "You're nothing like me." Chad held Daniel close, trying to keep him warm without a cover by using the heat of his body.

  "When I close my eyes, I can see the shards of my life streaming by."

  "Daniel, stay awake, stay with me," Chad's voiced trailed off.

  Daniel felt a rush as he closed his eyes and a flood of images rushed behind them. The blue wolf and the red fox were yiffing in ecstasy. A collage of memories including gay life as a threesome (himself with Chad and Patrick) in the city, the fast pace of working at Trade, Patrick letting him go, Chad being arrested, the bloodbath in the bathroom, Adam the roan horse, Wes the knowing koala, Lance crying, the sailor Dean abandoning him, the judgment of the Satyr, and the hanging of the Minotaur filled Daniel's broken mind.

  Chad slapped Daniel and he opened his eyes. "I said stay with me."

  "You know, Chad, I never considered myself a hustler, but I took what was offered, and deep down, I always knew I was a hustler of a different sort.

  "That's bullshit. You always bitched at me and told me how you were not."

  "I lied." Daniel tossed under Chad's shaking hands and felt waves of nausea, the cold pouring sweat, shallow breath, and flashes of heat in his chest. The room became dim.

  Chad wrapped his naked body tightly to Daniel's. "Oh God, come on, man. Keep your eyes open."

  "Chad, I'm a bad person."

  "Shut up Daniel. I have to get you to a hospital."

  "It's too late. I can't blame anyone but myself."

  "Come on, sit up. I have to find us a ride."

  "I accept it. It is who I am."

  Daniel smiled as he lay still and his lip curled with a new understanding.

  "No, Daniel. Wake up...no..." Chad's voice faded.

  The room darkened and Daniel could feel himself float up toward the ceiling. He looked down and saw a nude Chad cradling a pale nude version of himself. The hides of the animals, both fox and wolf, were crumpled and lifeless as if they were shed skins. The darkness rushed in. Daniel thought about the strange scene below and felt a pull toward the light, and a revelation hit him like a thunderbolt. The animal mask was death. All he had to do was let go of the facade and be his true self.

  "And I, the wolf, was no more." He banished his spirit animal with those words.

  Daniel inhaled sharply, the air rushing through his empty lungs, the adrenaline coursing through his veins, and he gasped, knowing what it was to be truly alive.

  ~END~