This new person stepped up to the bars to get a better look at me. In the dim light I could see bare legs tattooed with tiger stripes, and human feet with sheathed claws instead of toenails. How odd, I thought.
Then I leapt at the bars, snarling and slavering in the visitor's face. A completely naked tiger woman released a feline-like yowl and jumped backwards. The other onlookers howled with laughter. Then an enormous six-legged tiger barged his way into the tent with a ferocious growl. The other customers shrieked in terror and tore up the base of the tent at the back so they could escape through the hole.
I could only gape at the tiger girl and her giant pet in amazement. She was human shaped, with a beautiful, curvy figure and normal arms and legs. She had pert human breasts and her hair was a bushy yellow mane that tumbled over her shoulders. But she had cat eats, whiskers and a harelip. And she had extended fearsome black claws from her fingers and toes. Behind her, a long striped tail swished in agitation. I thought she was upset because I'd scared her.
Her tiger watched me intently, but didn't growl, bare his fangs or flatten his ears against his skull. He seemed to accept me.
Then the girl said, lisping because her lip; “Don’t worry – I’ll set you free. Do you understand me?”
She thought I was being held against my will! I reached through the bars of her cage, sliding a latch across. I pushed the door open, then stood in the doorway. I growled softly, wishing I could talk.
“You’re … you’re not a prisoner?” the tiger girl gasped.
I shook her head, then pulled the cage door closed. I mimicked the nonchalant walk of someone wandering into my tent, then crouched down in the middle of my cage. As the cat girl watched, I leapt up with a snarl. Then I laughed.
The girl could only stare. “You … you like scaring people?”
I nodded vigorously."
“It’s such a shame you can’t talk. I would love to hear your story. My name is Felina, by the way.”
Never had my inability to speak annoyed me as much as it did now. I patted the necklace at my throat with one hand, then beckoned Felina forward.
She stepped closer, so close the musky, animal scent of her body filled my nostrils. It was intoxicating. “What is it?”
I patted my necklace again, willing her to understand that my amulet was something special, something Magickal.
“It’s very nice,” she approved.
I sighed. I'd have to explain it in one of my other forms. I decided to "change the subject" and pointed at Suresh.
“Of course – his name is Suresh. He’s my soul mate.” Felina slipped an arm around his shoulders. “He made me realize my true tiger nature. I can communicate with him, experience the world through his senses.”
Suddenly, the tent flaps were lifted wide behind her, flooding the little room with light from outside. Felina and Suresh turned, expecting to see the carnie they had frightened. He was there, but cowering behind the tall, imposing form of the Ringmaster, in his long black cloak and top hat. He was armed with a cane with a silver knob on the end, and his long hair wafted in the breeze.
“So you’re the pair who have been scaring people. Who are you?”
Felina stood her ground, refusing to be intimidated by the Ringmaster's formidable presence. “I am Felina and this is Suresh,” she declared. “We thought the Wolf Woman was a prisoner, but we appear to be mistaken.”
“Victoria is free to come and go as she pleases. I am the Ringmaster Adam Delfay. What brings you here?”
“Curiosity.” She stepped out into the light and Suresh followed. The carnie they had scared scuttled back to his post as the tent flaps fell, cutting off my view of the outside. I sat back down on my straw, hoping that the beautiful woman and her tiger would stay with us. I could sense that she was as feral as me, and I wondered if perhaps after the sun had gone down we could go out for a hunt in the nearby forest together.
A desperate longing filled me, and suddenly I didn't want to be here any more. I wanted to be running through the hills with Felina.
A young couple entered the tent, holding hands and giggling stupidly. I hunkered down low, and soon as they had walked up to the bars, I sprang up with the loudest, angriest roar I could muster. I shook the bars so hard the cage door fell off.
The couple fled screaming. I sat back down on my straw, feeling a little better.
"Dammit Victoria!" cursed the carnie Ralph as he stomped into the tent. "That's the third time this week I've had to put this bloody door back on! Don't be so rough on the props!"
Late that afternoon, when I emerged from my tent, I found the cat girl and her tiger waiting outside for me. I couldn't believe my eyes. Overjoyed to see her still here, I grinned from ear to ear.
“I’ve decided to stay for a while,” Felina explained. “There may be some unusual-smelling characters around here, but this seems like a good, clean place and the animals are well looked after. I may even make this my permanent home.”
I nodded vigorously then dropped onto all fours, and then flicked my head towards the thick trees up on the hill.
“You want to go for a run?” Felina asked.
I nodded again, then bounded off up the hill. I glanced over my shoulder to see Felina also dropping onto four legs and following. Amazingly, she had sprouted fur all over her body. Suresh sprang into action, keeping pace with her.
The forest's dark canopy soon enveloped us, the Circus Infinitus disappearing from sight behind thick trunks. All of us could see perfectly in the dark. For a while we simply ran through the evening, the last of the daylight already gone from the dense undergrowth. Then I detected a tantalising odour on the wind. I slowed and stopped, gesturing ahead. In a small glade below, several deer were feeding on fresh grass.
We didn’t even need to speak. We could communicate without words in the language of the hunt. We separated, coming at the deer from three different directions. The frightened herbivores scattered, but an older, slightly lame creature wasn’t so lucky. I leapt onto its back, bringing it down. Suresh charged in, biting it on the neck to snap its spine. Felina caught hold of its flailing limbs. The feast of fresh meat was everything we could ever have hoped for; hot, juicy and delicious. We were so hungry we cleaned the carcass down to its bones. In fact, I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten fresh venison. These days I mostly lived on rabbits and other rodents, and whatever I could get at the Circus.
“That was spectacular,” Felina gasped. “We hunt so well together!”
I nodded as I cleaned my paws. Then I looked up at the night sky, where a large, golden moon was slowly creeping up over the treetops. I wondered how late it was. During the hunt I had lost all track of time.
Felina settled down beside Suresh, who was already dozing. “I’m not going back yet,” she declared. “Will you stay here with me, Victoria?”
I glanced at the sky again, then shrugged and settled in beside the tiger mistress. I would use whatever time I had left to its fullest advantage. Felina felt so warm and soft beside me, and she smelled so alive and free. She didn't shrink away from me as I slipped my arms around her and pulled her close. In fact, she retracted all her fur and snuggled into me! I couldn't believe my senses! She wanted me as much as I wanted her!
I ran my tongue down her cheek. Then suddenly we were rolling onto the grass together. I had never felt so alive! This was what I had been waiting for, ever since I had first changed into the Wolf Woman. I had a beautiful, wild female creature in my arms; her body soft and yielding, yet muscular and powerful at the same time.
I ran my tongue down her smooth throat to her pert round breasts and teased her little nipples. She smelled so good! I wanted to touch and taste every part of her. And it seemed she wanted the same thing, because she started to purr with pleasure as I continued to explore her body, running my tongue down into her belly button, and then in between her thighs, where I ventured into some interesting folds and clefts. Her purrs soon changed into meows of delight. She
had obviously never felt the like, and neither had I! But years of exploring my own body during solitary moments of loneliness had shown me exactly how to pleasure Felina. My tongue was very long and dextrous. I soon found places within her that soon had her moaning and squealing with delight. Her squirms excited me so much I had to stop to pleasure myself with my own tongue. But Felina was a quick learner, and just as eager to please as I was. She put her own catlike tongue to work caressing my womanhood, and soon had me howling at the moon.
Our activities didn't stop there. Our first attempts at pleasure only whet our appetites for more. Nose to tail, we licked and caressed each other, exploring the depths of each other's folds until we were over-stimulated and literally couldn't take any more ecstasy. Felina's long, sinewy tail served as an added source of pleasure at it curled and entwined around my legs and between my buttocks. I wished my own tail was as dextrous, but she seemed to like the feel of it brushing across her bare nipples.
I was seeing stars and feeling the rotation of the earth as I finally flopped to the ground. I was quivering all over. The soft, warm body that cuddled into my furry form shivered with a similar exhaustion. Oh, how I wished I could speak!
I would tell Felina how much I loved her already.
When I woke, some time later, I knew I'd changed. I was Mrs Frankenstein, so it had to be just after midnight. In this form, I didn't sleep. Making sure not to disturb Felina, I hurried back to the Circus Infinitus, hoping that no-one would see me. I was buck naked, and in this body, more likely to turn heads away than towards me. I was very pale and skinny. I hoped when she woke Felina would return to the circus. I would try to explain everything there.
She found me about six hours later, around dawn. I'd been helping the Professor create some more monsters for the Carnival of Freaks and we were in the process of dismantling the Immortality Machine when I heard her cautiously creep into the room. I went over to her.
“Hey, we’re not finished here,” Abbacus growled after me. “We have to get this thing packed up before the first show!”
The cat girl was not comfortable in this steam-shrouded room, and looked like she wanted to flee. “Felina?” I called to her.
Felina stepped forward. “Who are you? How do you know my name? We have not been introduced!”
“Enough with the chit chat,” growled the Professor without looking up. “We have work to do!”
“I will be with you in a minute!” I snapped at him, in a surly tone I had never used with him before. Normally I was so polite to him, but right now I didn't want Felina to run away. “Surely you can continue by yourself while I speak with Felina?”
The Professor stared at me as though I had changed forms right there in front of him. But then he straightened up, expelled a black sooty cloud, and stomped off to the other end of the room where he started yanking out cables and swearing under his breath.
“Look at me closely," I told Felina gently. "You must recognize me.”
She could only stare. “I … I have only ever seen the necklace.”
“You do see. I can never take it off. It is a part of me. It is my curse.”
Felina shook her head in frustration. “I don’t understand.”
“I am Victoria, Felina. In this form they call me Mrs Frankenstein. But I am the same person you were with last night in the forest. Each night, at midnight, the necklace changes me into one of seven different forms. I will be the Wolf Woman again, but I don’t know exactly when. One day in seven. That is why they call me Victoria-7.”
The cat girl peered deeply into my eyes and I thought I saw a look of recognition. “Tell me more about last night,” she insisted.
“We hunted together. We caught a deer and ate it. Then we made love under the stars.” I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’m so sorry I had to leave you, but in this form I don’t feel comfortable out in the wild. I am more at home within these walls, surrounded by machines.”
Suddenly, Felina plonked herself on the floor. “Who else do you become?” she gasped.
I sat down beside her and slipped an arm around her shoulders. She sniffed me and grimaced, probably detecting my faint odour of death. But she must have picked up something else, because she didn't cringe away. She actually cuddled closer to me, and sniffed my amulet. That was familiar to her. Could she, with her enhanced animal senses, detect its unique odour? I had been wearing it for so long it didn't smell like anything to me anymore.
I explained to Felina all about my curse, and the cat girl accepted my story.
Chapter Nineteen
Unfortunately, some of my other forms unnerved Felina. Although she could communicate with Lady Frankenstein, the Vampiress and Amuna, she didn't like the way these forms smelled. Arachnora may have been alive, but Felina didn't like the bizarre way she hunted. She got along with me as the Invisible Woman, but I was very shy in this form, and couldn't enter into much more than a formal, somewhat uncertain relationship with her. But that didn't worry me. I didn't desire her as much as my other forms did and was quite happy to keep her at arm's length.
In my form as the Swamp Girl, I was initially happy enough to splash around in the new Water Wonders arena with the Fiji mermaids. They were friendly creatures and I loved them, but only as pets. But then Felina showed up and I realised I wanted more than just the affection of animals. I desired her.
Unlike the Werewolf I could talk. But I was much shyer than her, and feared my grotesque appearance would turn Felina away. But then she came to watch me swim around tank with the Fiji mermaids. I could see her fascination, and realised that although I was silvery green and covered with scales, I still had a curvy female body with round hips, pert breasts and long, lithe limbs. I began to wonder if we could be together. I could only leave the water for an hour at a time, and cats hated water!
But then, to my surprise, one afternoon Felina came to the edge of the pool and dangled her feet in the warm water. "I don't know how to swim, Victoria," she told me. "I really should learn. Would you be able to teach me?"
"Of course! Have you been in water before?"
"Not by choice!" She chuckled. "I've always been afraid - I suppose that comes from the cat part of me."
I held out my hands to her. "Let me help you in. The water is only up to my neck, so you should be able to stand too."
She looked uncertain for a second, but then slid forward into my embrace. She gasped as the water surrounded her, and I lowered her gently into the liquid until her feet were touching the sandy bottom. "It's ... it's nice," she declared. "Not cold or nasty at all!"
"It's kept warm by the steam-pipes that run underneath," I explained as I guided her away from the wall. "This is where it rests normally, when not in use, so the main conduits from the boilers keep the water at a good temperature." I don't believe I remembered that, I thought. I must have been channelling Lady Frankenstein! In this form I was normally off with the pixies.
But now I had something to focus on, I was very controlled. Felina had trouble moving in the liquid and slipped several times, but I held onto her, keeping her head from dropping beneath the surface. The Fiji mermaids flitted around us, curious about Felina's presence in the water, but I motioned them away. I didn't want the cat girl frightened.
Next, I got her to lie back in the water while I supported her. This took some effort - she was very nervous about tipping her head back. But she trusted me, and I was able to get her to float. I marvelled at the beautiful sight of her lying on her back in front of me, staring up at the ceiling, her breasts thrust out and her stomach muscles clenched. I thought I was making remarkable progress. But then Professor Abbacus had to spoil it all by stomping into the area and shouting that it was time for the next show to begin.
"Shall we continue this afterwards?" I asked Felina as I lifted her upright.
"Yes please. I'm having a great time." She smiled at me, and then ran her tongue down the side of my face! "Did I ever tell you how much I like fish?" she
whispered into my ear. "Next time we appear beside a river or lake, you'll have to teach me how to catch them!"
"Of course," I whispered back.
"Enough canoodling!" shouted Abbacus. He clapped his hands. "It's time!"
After the show, the second for the day, Felina returned for another lesson, which I was only too happy to provide. I helped her to float again, and then tried to get her to hold her breath and put her face in the water. She was loath to do this, but eventually I got her to try it. Once. She jerked back with a loud splutter and furiously shook the water from her face. The Fiji mermaids cackled with laughter at the sight. "That is going to take some getting used to!" she cried. Water dripped from her whiskers.
I gave her a smile, and then licked some of the excess salty water from her cheek with my tongue. "Lots of people don't like getting their faces wet.
She slipped her arms around my neck and cuddled into me. We kissed, and around us the Fiji mermaids started to giggle and frolic in excitement. She wrapped her legs around me, enveloping me in her delightful warmth. In this form I was cold blooded, not from death, but from my own reptilian nature. I loved the heated water I swam in, but the beautiful cat girl was even warmer, and I sighed with pleasure as her heat filled me. Her hands roamed across my body, mimicking my own as I explored her. Our tongues met and caressed. Then I began to kiss her body. Because I was aquatic, I could slip underwater to continue teasing and tantalising the parts that were beneath the surface. My buoyancy in the water enabled me to move expertly all over her body. While I stroked her thighs and buttocks, I teased her breasts with my quick, expert tongue. Then I slipped between her legs to continue licking her delicate folds and the sensitive nub in the middle. She moaned and quivered in my grip at the entirely different sensation of being aroused underwater. Then she climaxed and lost her balance, splashing backwards into the water. I held her up by the hips so she could float on her back. She sighed with pleasure.
The Circus Infinitus - Victoria 7 Page 15
