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Shadows of Life

And other Dark Dreams

By Dustin Feyder

Table of Contents

Section 1 Shadows of Life .............................................Commission by 'Keys Spider Queen'

Section 2 Fractured Memories ....................................Commissioned by 'Dodish'

Section 3 Battle of the Zzuragg....................................Commissioned by 'Rogueybear'

Section 4 The Wrong Book......................................... Commissioned by 'night_spore426 '

Shadow of Life

Commission by 'Keys Spider Queen'

A man stands at a window tented blue black looking down from a tall tower onto the heavenly hell of the modern world. He stands in the dark, dressed in the most stylish suit on the market, a single lamp sits on a table behind him. The door opens behind him allowing in only the scantest of light from the hallway. An elderly man walks, he has a full salt and pepper beard, dressed in a green blazer, and tans slacks, he walks with a cane a book under his arm.

The suited man curls his lip slightly pained by the light coming in from the hallway. "Please close the door." He ask. The door is shut and the room is darkened once more. "Mr. Dove I presume?"

The bearded man replies in a hefty New Yorker voice "yes, I am Joe Dove."

The suited man without looking back explains "the brand on your left-hand marks you as being the property of the von Richton society."

Joe Dove nods again "good guess."

"no guesswork needed. I have seen many of you around since the 1800's. I trust you know already why I wanted to see you."

Dove places his book on the table and produces a pin from his pocket. "then how about we get to work."

The suited man sighs "yes. We should. Where should we start? My name perhaps? I was born as Claude Druand ..."

Joe starts writing looking up briefly "You are a Gaiadren?"

"Lycon, Vession, Blutbogg. I have had all these names used to describe me. I would like to not bother with such titles. Use whichever word you feel most comfortable with. The year was 1750, Dysentery has yet to reach France shores, Luis the 15th is the longest sitting king in living history, and the disparity of wealth between the rich and the pore has never been greater."

"I was born to an aristocratic family, elevated to our level more by king Luis lust then by our own merit, but that his hardly important. Luis the 15thhad 2000 sons and 6000 slaves some people clamed. Across the French kingdom ballrooms have become centers of governances. A man like me could dance and make marry with the elitist of the land and even influences public policies"

Joe interrupts "you are a werewolf? Does that mean that your mother was a werewolf as well?"

Claude nods "of course. In the 16th and 17th century in France werebeast could walk around in the open freely, unlike today where we have to hide under cover of night. In fact, in the flesh trade werebeast women were coveted. It turns out that randy businessmen at the time found beastmen to make fine chambermaids. My birth was somewhat of a surprise all though, a vession giving birth with a nonvession partner is uncommon."

Joe looks up from his writing again "vession can take lots of shapes, lizards, cats, dogs, birds. Are you all cross fertile with each other?"

"as far as I know. It seems that we are capable if sireing families with almost any man, beast, or lycon we like."

Joe nods "alright."

"but I am no expert on vession history or culture. I have almost always been an island onto myself. I am a historian of only one thing, and that is myself. I should be happy to tell you that story if that should pleasure you."

Joe wave Claude on "please go ahead."

***

Claude is a wealthy man, he has danced at dozens of balls and has friends in every influential house in France, even though he is narrowly over fifteen he is a man of prestige, he has given his life to working clay, his statuettes decorate the houses of many noble ladies. To spite having the finest clothing and living in the lap of luxury from time to time Claude still feels a burning need to walk the streets of the slums and partake of the wine and women and dancing of the lower class.

This month Claude has made a dozen trips into town, today for something more than just drinking and dancing. On his last trip, in a brothel, he spotted something that drew his eye. A squirrel women, a year or two younger then him with fiery hair, long limbs and acrobatic features, her childish shape just starting to give way to show of her womanly form.

Claude had whispered around the pub looking for the name and nature of the siren squirrel, he learns that her name is Célia Valentine, she was born somewhere in Scandinavia, and that her father had been a fur trader before moving to France. Some bad run of luck had robbed the Valentine's of their fortune and now the lot of them are stranded with little money and a practice with limited market value.

Claude soul is filled with needing, Celia has enchanted Claude, he wants her, he will have her. Night after night Claude sneaks away from his home after sunset to seek out his enchantresses. She is a playful girl, she dances with sheep one stage one night, she plays a drinking game the next, and plays a card game the night after that. It is the third night that Claude finely sits down to make his precens known.

Slipping in and out of a crowed is a skill every good nobleman has, Claude knocks on the card table to get himself shuffled in. Card games are something Claude has little experiences with but sitting and watching from afar he has come to understand the basics of the game they are playing.

The game they are gambling on today is called 'Hanging Man' all numbered cards have face value, at the end of the game you get scored on how many cards of the same suit you are holding and deducted a value for each card of the wrong suit, a Jake always cost you two points if in your hand, a queen loses you five, a black king ten but, red king forces you to discard three non-face cards and recount your score with what is left. You start the game holding five cards and the perfect hand is 5-10 black or red. If two players have the same hand tie goes to black. After wagering your first bet you may discard up to four cards and be dealt the same number.

As a gambler, Claude is both a high roller and awful, placing a comparatively large amount of coin on the table with each hand. Early in the game he represents himself as a 'good times Charlie' offering to pay of a bottle of wine to pass around the table and some dinner rolls. Celia takes interest in him immediately. Even if Celia doesn't know who Claude is she can guess where is he from. Celia takes notice of Claude mannerisms and elegances. He is no urchin, that much is clear.

Any girl in Celia's possession would of course be opportunistic, after only a few hands of cards Celia deduces that she wants to get closer to Claude, she wants to taunt him and tease him, provoke him and seduce him but most impotently leave an impression, get him coming back for more. Even living in France Celia has the noteworthy advantage of being a Swede, she knows how to act meek when it is to her pleasure but she also know that it catches Frenchmen off guard when she shows her Nordic half and chooses to act dominatingly.

'Surly this is to be a fun relationship.' Celia thinks, 'though I be pray, even mice in the northland have been known to walk toe to toe with cat. Besides, this French folk are well known for being Nancie's.'

three bottles of wine later Claude hits a hot streak managing to win three hands in a row and get back most of his coin. A musketeer that had stopped for a cheap drink and cheap entertainment grows annoyed with Claude, he draws the arquebus from his belt and threatens the aristocrat. Claude lacks a level of street smarts that would allow him to defuse the situation resorting instead standing up to the musketeer bearing his fangs.

Celia on the other hand has a much more elegant idea. She slaps another cardplayer with the basket they had been eating bread from inspiring a brawl to commences. In the ensuing confusion, Celia grapples with Claude forcing him out the side door and onto the side-streets around the port.

"If ya' wish to live long enough to see your hair gray I suggest not talkin' to nobles thata' way." Celia playfully shoves Claude.

Claude falls back against the side of a building, with a childish grin he exspresses "He wouldn't have ..."

Celia slaps Claude "he most certainly would. I have seen that man shoot a women in the street for coughing!" Celia points "you get wise, you fallow me around."

"strong and clever. Is there anything you are not?" Claude smiles arrogantly "I fine prize to be had." He grips Celia by the arms, his head tips his eyes narrow threating to kiss the squirrel.

Celia hooks her arms outwards to brake Claude's grip then she thrust her arms into his chest throwing him at the wall. Celia's hands find the cuffs of Claude's shirt holding him up. "if there is to be any of that. I'll be the one on top if ya' don't mind." Celia offers a kiss.

***

Joe slaps the table before him to catch Claude attention. The hunting Claude stops his monolog for a moment to allow Joe to speak his mind "Are you saying that you where courting a child?"

Claude's eyes close as he his tortured by his thoughts for a short time before he corrects Joe on the statement, "No mr. Dove, I feel that is misrepresentative of the information I have offered. I did not call Celia a child, I clammed that she was younger then I. You must understand, time and culture are fluid. When I was young it was considered a locale costume that it is not age but physical development that is key in determining ones' mature statues."

Joe claps one had over his fist as he leans onto the table at which he is sitting resting his head behind his hands "does that seem wrong to you?"

"Right and wrong are a matter of morality, unless you wish to testify to a transcendental mandator of morality, I feel perfectly comfortable considering my thoughts and actions at the time being in line with an ascendant morality. If it is the norm in your country that men marry at fourteen, then surly that must be right. But though the leans of this decade it would certainly be scandalous."

Dove folds his hands tipping his head back as he thinks "maybe you have a point. But that doesn't make it sound any less strange."

"I can't apologize for the century I was born in. May I continue my story?"

Joe picks his pen up again and waves Claude on.

"Thank you." Claude crosses his arms behind his back tuning his eyes to the sky "The enchantress and I enjoyed some time together, not nearly enough though. It did not take long before I felt inclined to sneak the urchin into my home and my compony. I can't say with any certainty how common or uncommon this action was, I can't even say that I care."

***

Claude first order of business after sneaking Celia into his mansion is to call his army of caretakers and tailors to bath and dress the street rat of a squirrel, she is stripped of her peasant garbs and fitted with an elegant white and yellow dress suited for a proper lady. Celia make quite a fuss as she is stripped and measured for her new dress. Claude has some fun at her expense, watching and chuckling.

Celia being bathed with kosher salts and oils is another sight to behold. The differences in living standards between liberoes and nobles most surly be immeasurable seeing how Celia needs to be instructed in how to apply bath-oil. Once clean, Celia looks even more magical then before. She has the face of a royal and the charm of a feral, A dangerous combination.

Claude take some time to try to show Celia how to walk and talk in public places and tutor her in how appearances have value in the upper-class. Things that Claude has known since childhood seem to be new ideas to Celia.

By day Celia is a leather smith working out of the slums by night she is a princess. Claude also enjoys the benefits of Celia being 'lowborn'. The nobility has delusions of complicated courtship rituals, politics and dowries'. Lowborn's have no such traditions, romances in the lower class is fast and passionate. Together the two of them enjoy some midnight runs through the orchards, Celia provokes Claude's animalistic hungers.

Celia wants to run, Claude wants to lay chase. Running naked though the forest under moonlight, it is something so primal, so natural. It would seem that Celia feels just as caged as Claude in many ways.

But such fun, such innocence's was never meant to last in this world. Claude could never have expected how his world would change after the new year festival. The laborers have gone from revolting to rebelling. Musketeers are attacked on the streets, noble messengers and supply trains are stopped. Knights are called in to establish order, but this time shouting and rattling swords is not enough to frighten off the sick and hunger.

Celia sneaks into Claude's mansion at sun set. Celia had not anticipated going to see Claude tonight and so finds him in his room preparing for bed. Celia grabs Claude by the forearms and in a skitter start trying to explain where she had come from and what she had seen but her fluster keeps her from forming comprehensive thoughts. Thinking that Celia is being randy Claude pushes her at his bed, Celia falls over "I'm in no mood to hunt today, perhaps we skip to the end?"

With a second to collect her faculties Celia cut in "you: silly, silly, dog. Have you been out to the streets as of late? The marketplace is calling for blood. Louis will die at sunrise and if you are here you will as well."

"Louis is a wicked man and if there is one thing my mother stressed onto me it is that the wicked never die."

***

"In retrospect, I can hardly believe my arrogance at the time. Celia's point was made unmistakable clear when only moments later a bottle of burning oil finds its way through my bedroom window. At that point the fear of mortality is shocked into me. I pick up Celia and run out the back door of my estate to the stables. There is gunfire on all sides of us. I can't see who is shooting but both Celia and myself suffer a shot; me to the back, the slug gets trapped in my shoulder blade, Celia catches a bolt to her hip. We both manage to climb atop horses and flee."

"the anarchy that clammed my home was hardly isolated. Fires consume much of the French empire as best as I could tell. The two of us book passage on a fratire destined for America, Bostin to be precise. I was lead to believe that I would find friends there. Celia does not survive the journey. She suffers a fever and passes the first night aboard the ship. I wish I had as well, yet it seems I was cursed to live long enough to reach this godless land."

Joe joins in on the conversation "the gunshot she suffered, it become infected? And there was no one that could treat the wounded on the ship? Guns had been around for a few years by then you would think there would be surgeons around that had the training to deal with things like that."

"yes the bolt could be pulled out, but the knowledge of how to treat infections had yet to reach the high standards that you enjoy today. It is most shameful to think of how much we know and how little we understand of what we have yet to know. "

"in the fallowing days I to would suffer a fever, but mine was one of the mind not the skin. The trip to America and the death of my lover taxed me to my braking point. Once my feet found the cold cobblestone of Boston's streets I found myself in tears, I shouted to the skies for death to come for me. I have lost everything, my wealth, my home, my love, and my future. Strange enough as I called for death, death called back."

***

In a fit of madness Claude runs down the streets of Bostin, no man can hope to understand in insanity that has taken root in his mind. Be it hunger, grief, loneliness, or loss it is all the same. The hart ack he feels now is simply more then he can stand.

Claude approaches the workshop of an iron smith, he takes a satchel form the wall and starts to fill it with tools. The smith tries to talk to Claude, tries to ask him what he is doing, Claude pays no heed. Instead Claude picks up a length of chain and ties the bag to his chest with it. He then runs to the pear and stands looking down at the water.

Forty pounds of metal should be more then adequate to drag Claude to the ocean floor. He need now only drop into the water and let the sweat salt wash away his pain. The waves run softy onto the sands, the sounds of water on rock mutes every other sound. The ocean is so brightly gray. The water talks to Claude, sooths him, assures him that its embrace will cure what ills him.

Dreams of a better life fill Claude's vision. 'Yes, the sweat, sweat salty ocean awaits. Just step in and breath deep, it will only be painful of you fight. Stand with your arms open wide on the other hand and death will be merciful, she will lift you into the stars with a warm grasp and pull you away from perdition. just one more step, that is all it will take.'

A voice call from behind. I child's voice, young and soft, not yet tainted by the sins of the world. "you are hesitating. You talk to yourself to find reassurance. You think Death will be merciful with you, but you can't possibly know that. Who are you to dictate the thoughts and feelings of the one truly neutral arbiter ?"

***

Joe looks up from writing to address Claude "so when you said death you meant Death with a capital 'D'? as if a person called Death."

Claude rubs one hand down his face as if to wipe sweat from his brow then tucks his hands behind his back again "I would not be so kind as to say 'person'. What the boy was I have trouble articulating. The boy had powers that set him aside form man or beast. Death is not our advisory as you may believe, Death is kind, and should be welcomed into our homes as a friend. If I had not been so arrogant I might have known this then. Have you ever thought about death Mr. Dove? How will you great Death when you come for you?"

Joe lowers his head masking a grin, he rubs his eyes with one hand "I haven't put much thought into Death, but I have shaken hands with two Gods. I ended up have disagreements with both." Claude turns to face Joe momentarily awaiting more information, Joe fails to deliver. Claude faces the widow again.

***

The sky goes gray, color bleeds out of the world leaving Claude and the haunting boy the lone specials of color in a gray frozen world. All sound falls into silence, Claude's breathing becomes the only thing addible. "I know not who you are but it should be wise of you to keep a distance."

The boy chuckles, "go right ahead, step into the water, you will find it is harder than stone."

Still in the fever of rage Claude throws himself onto the water, he collapses atop it with a grown, the water can no longer be moved in any way shape or form. Only now does Claude look around and see the whole of the world is frozen, birds frozen in the sky, ships in water, nothing in space seems to be within the grasp of time, objects in motion remain frozen in motion.

Claude pushes himself into a sitting position to take in the oddities all around him "this cannot be..." he whispers to himself.

The strange boy speaks up "so narrow your eyes are. You assume all time is relative? Space is finite? There is more on earth thin in heaven or hell. Yet you make all haste to see for yourself what the next world holds for you. Publius Vergilius Maro was more right then he could have known when he claimed that 'life after life to be a cruelty of god.' "

"who are you? What are you?" Claude commands of the macab boy.

"I am that which grieving men fear." The boy offers a hand "Come with me and you will never need to drink of the bitterness of St. Peter's challis"

***

"What the boy promised was nothing shy of immortality. How I wish I had turned my back on his unholy offer." Claude places a hand on the glass before him as if to test the idea that the glass is indeed before him.

Joe ask for clarification "so then he did not interduce himself as the Grimm Reaper?"

"I have trouble fathoming whatever else he could have been. The boy had wealth like you would not believe, every earthly thing that one could with for the boy provided for me. He pulls me form the water and with time stopped he walks me for miles weaving in and out of object locked within the continuum of the unmovable. Hand in hand we travel to the young city of New Orleans. There the boy has set himself up as a duke of sorts. He is a plantation owner, dozens if not hundreds of min service him day and night. I am fed well and cured of my fever. I tell my story of sorrow time and time again to deaf ears it would seem, the panacea prescribed to me by my new master and his slaves is debauchery. Drink and ocean of wine and wash it down with the flesh of young girls."

Joe finds this comical, to spite the clear discomfort Claude is experiencing talking about it. "I will tell you, when I was your age I thought that was just what I wanted."

"Deces Rugal is what he called himself, and what he offered I found magical for a time."

Joe cuts in "that is not even clever wordplay."

***

The Rugal house is a large prairie style plantation, miles of fields it seems manned by hundreds of hands. The main house is set up to entertain compony nightly. Well lit, gold and silver adorning every corner of the ball room at the center of the estate. Every few days some noble family arrives to view the artwork in Rugal's care and enjoy live music and dancing.

Without fail when they leave in the morning Deces has drained them of years of their life if not pints of their blood. Deces is a sophisticated monster with a taste of royal blood. His charm and magic draws in just what he wants day after day.

Quickly Claude comes to understand what it is that Deces wants from him. Deces has walked alone for lifetimes without number and now he is sculpting himself a 'partner' someone to offer him truly romantic love, someone to share in his hunger to feed his loneliness. Claude was never Deces guest, he has always been his prisoner.

It is Deces intention to transform Claude into an addict of sorts. Someone who cannot live without continues physical stimulation, someone that must feed of the blood and admiration of others, addicted to sex and money, chained to the physical by gluttony and lust. Only by sharing his sickness with others can Deces find any form of sallies in the world. It doesn't matter if Deces pray is young or old, male or female, any flesh will do.

It is nothing by the ghost of Celia that gives Claude the need to even attempt to struggle against Deces. But it would take years for Claude to find the strength to try to fight his master. After his soul is stanned by a decade or more of cardnal sin, and Deces has begun casting the spells that would ultimately turn Claude into whatever form of demon Deces is.

The two monster sit together at their dining room table dressed in the finest fashion of the year. They sit with empty plates and empty cups before them pretending to drink, it is hours till sunset and till then nights festivities. Deces enjoys the imaginary food set before him, served by their very real slave girl who has been conditioned to believe that the food is really even if she cannot see it and to clean the dishes after the meal even though they have not been used.

Nether Claude no Deces need to eat human food anymore, Deces dark magic has seen to that. The lot of them sit in the dark, Claude at a sensitive point in his metamorphisms wherein he is aversive to light.

Deces looks up from his invisible food "Are you not eating tonight?" he offers a sincere gaze.

Claude leans off to one side of his chair his lags folded tightly two fingers and his thumb rested to the side of his face in a glare of board aggravation "eat what? We dine from empty plates and drink invisible wine from bottles drained ages ago. When was the last time we eight? Has it been a weak? A month? I honestly cannot tell anymore."

Deces places down his untenses "would you rather we go to town to dine? Surely, we can find someone to prepare us a fine meal. But I fear you will no longer find mortal food to be to your liking."

In an apseen display Claude throws a napkin form the table to the ground, raising his voice ever so slightly Claude softly shouts "since meeting you there have been a grate many things I have found not to my taste."

"It will pass. The first few decades are the hardest." Deces whips his face then folds up his napkin placing it back on the table gently. "why don't you wait here? I can handle setting up for tonight's dance."

"If you are going by way of the town ask the stable master if he has a stallion up for adoption. Our mares seem to not be taking to our current one."

Deces dismisses himself from the table "our mares seem to like you ridding them more than the stallion we got for them, don't they?" with a childish giggle Deces walks off. Claude turns his noise up in disgust.

Claude walks to the windows to watch Deces take a mare form the stable and ride off into town. One of Deces slaves, an elderly woman of conquistadoren lineage addresses Claude "you should learn not to aggravate him like that."

Claude pulls away from the from the window. "you should run. Go to the worker's hut, grab your kids and start running, go west. Don't stop till you reach Zuni Dakota."

The Spanish women tries to stop Claude "what are you planning on doing?"

"I plan to cleans this unhallowed place with fire." Claude waist no more time. He walks out to the fields with a bag filled with lamp oil and a burning touch in hand. He gives the slaves a few moments to begin running, Then lets the baptism begins.

***

Joe looks confused "you had your fortune, you drowned yourself in gluttony, then you let it all burn. What was your escape plan in all of this?"

"Escape was never part of the plan. I wanted to test my limits, see who I was, what I can get away with."

"I have a feeling Deces wasn't impressed by your forwardness."

"Not at all."

***

Fires burn, the warm dry air pulls the flams form the fields to the main house in startlingly fast. Claude holds his arms out turning his eyes upwards, he awaits devein retribution. It comes fast enough. The red sky thunders into gray, Deces jumps down from his horse approaching Claude shouting "what is the matter with you! Is this some sort of perverted altruism! Fire?, really fire. You just plane to try to burn away our life, our livelihood? I love you! You ignorant peace..."

With a strange grin, Claude commands "then punish me. Kill me for what I have done to you."

Deces thrust one hand forth expelling magical force throwing Claude to the ground without need to touch him. "I will punish you. But you will not die. Not today, not ever. You will walk this world side by side with the thousands of other dealthless ones, you will be driven mad by your own hunger, your cardinal lust. You will cry for Death but I will not hear you. You will stock the night searching for the cure to life, and the warmth of humanity to end your suffering. But no pleasure will lessen your pain for more than a few fleeting moments, and in two hundred or so years you will come to understand how short a moment truly is."

Deces plants his lags on either side of Claude knelling atop him. Deces bites on of his own hands to draw blood from it, black tar lick blood the stinks of age and decay, he tears Claude's shirt from his chest the begins to draw on his furry chest with his acidic blood working his memorial magic. Claude is paralyzed by Deces magical blast unable to struggle against Deces in any way.

A tattoo of celestial marks burn into Claude's chest then Deces lays over him resting his head to Claude's body. "I am filled with sorrow that you and I will never speak again after sunrise. Just like with everyone that I love I offered you heaven. But like everyone I love you chose hell. Just like all the loves I feel age into sand, so to shall everything you touch. I offer you one last gift before we part ways. Like the blood from my palm and feel ecstasy one last time before all feeling is lost to you."Deces drips his blood onto Claude's noise and the two of them experience an orgasmic explosion of joy.

After the redactory period time return to normal and Deces is gone, never to be heard from again. Almost instantly Claude starts to feel the emptiness Deces had warned of. Embers cool, the fire devourers everything in sight, the sun crest the horizon and the light seems to freeze the world underfoot. This sunrise is the last Claude will ever enjoy, as every sunrise after this will melt him into sand only for the moon to bring him back at dusk. Deces curse has begun.

***

"Deces had told me something important during all of this, first he used the word Deathless, giving what I am a name. he had also claimed that there where thousands of us. This would give me something to look for. A purpose. Which is something I desperately needed. The transformation into the Deathless came with a wide range of new skills and powers. You will need to forgive me for not going into detail about all of this. For you see it would take me another hundred years to truly gain a grasp of what I am and what has transpired."

Joe rubs his eyes as he is straining to keep writing hours into the story "I need a drink," joe whispers to himself. "what happened next?"

"I would spend weeks walking aimlessly though the night. I found I not only wanted but needed the warmth of others to keep myself well. To kiss, to love, was to feed. My touch charmed girls calling them to me, should I choose to touch them it would make me strong for a day, but would bring them illness, and should I spend three or more days with anyone it would kill them. Detatchment became a requirement of my life. Every relationship lasting only a few short hours, I would take what I need from any women I could then be on my way."

Joe takes a troubled breath, "then there is only one thing worth asking. Why?"

Puzzled Claude looks to Joe with his eyes narrowed "what do you mean Why?"

"why hunt? Why tell me about it? Why go out looking for more of your kind? That is what I meant by why."

Realization flashes before Claude's eyes "ah, that is what you mean by why. That is the easy part. A distraction. Anything to keep my mind off of what I am and what I must do. I cannot say if this is a constant of what we are but I for one have a hunting preference. I seem to only be able to find pleasure in the stocking and consuming of the flesh of teenage girls. clearly you are not a girl or a teenager. Therefor with you here tonight and me telling you my story we have saved the life of at least one child."

Joe picks up his cane resting it across his lap "and why not just close your eyes and wait for the end of time?" Joe gets up to start walking around the room, as he circles the room he pours from his pockets a gritty white powder. "the story is grate, I love it. But do you know what I think?"

"what are you doing Mr. Dove?" Claude ask

"First off I don't think there ever was a Deces, also I don't know if you ever got off the boat in Bostin, not as a mortal anyway. We are talking late seventeen hundred, right? You were shot and I don't recall you saying anything about ever getting the built pulled out of your shoulder, so maybe you never did. You did on the other hand say you contracted brain fever. Dysentery can do that, as can scarlet fever, meningitis, encephalitis. You could have been exposed to any of them on the boat. And pre-nineteen ninety recover rates on some of those where less then stunning. Maybe you died of dehydration, internal bleeding, maybe you took your own life."

Claude's calm exterior starts to slowly melt away, his youth and beauty giving way to a phantasmal skeletal form wrapped in phosphorus blue light "what interesting ideas you have Mr. Dove"

Joe continues "you are a free roaming specter. You contacted the Holy Order of the von Richton Watcher's Society, because you are looking for a cure to death. And wouldn't you know it they just happened to send their oldest and most talented wizard."

"you make a good deal of assumptions."

"since you were nice enough to offer your age and where you landed I would be willing to guess if I went to the Boston port office of vital statistics I could trace down your remains and form there healing you would take little more than some gasoline and holy water. In the meantime, I could guaranty your safety right here."

Joe goes to walk out of the room. Claude starts to chase after but finds he is frozen in place, the powder Joe sprinkled on the floor creating a wall of ghostly flames that hold him still. Joe yells back as he vanishes down the halls "I'll stop back and check on you in a day or two."

Claude calms himself morphing back into his beautiful wolf-like shape. "Nicely played Mr. Dove. I look forward to meeting you again."

***

Notations by Archivist Amarant Springfield.

This journal was field by active Watcher S-class Joseph Dove 08-28-01 cataloged in both soft and hard format under archival log SJD-2001.828. fallow-up attachments have been added by Watcher's Wright von Richton class S-hunter, and civilian asset Tarren Del'arose, an Abit field aperitive, classification Worldwalker.

1764 S.S. Dimeter on root from Paris France to the United States Boston Massachusetts under the expert handling of Captain Crag Cook. According to the logs of the ships medical professional Dr. Larnel Snow, Scarlet Fever broke out aboard the ship in pandemic proportions. 48 of the documented 83 passengers showed symptoms of the infection. In the 20 days at sea 9 men had died of complications in the treatment of this infection as well as 3 crewmen in an unrelated event See attachment SLS-1760-1786.101. The office of vital statistics has been contacted in order to attempt to secure a complete personal list of the people aboard the Dimeter.

On 09-05-01 Watcher S-class Joseph Dove secured what he believes to be the remains of Claude Druand. Fallowing the disposal procedures described in the von Richton monster hunter's guide handbook Joe Dove sanctified and burned what he believes to have been the remains of Druand. If all has gone according to plan Claude Druand should now be at rest. See attachment RVR-2001.951 for additional information and HG-B03-C10-P96.

FIN

Note from the author:

Keys-spider-Queen asked me to write this for her. She is a fan of the Ann Rice _ novels _and had started working on a self-insert fan fiction. She sent me the first draft of her story and asked me to review it and do a rewrite for her. This was the first draft version of what I sent her back. We have ever since bounced back and forth a dozen more versions. Out of respect for a fellow author I won't share the latest version.

Fractured Memories

Commissioned by 'Dodish'

As I sit in this train car my thoughts turn back to my school days, better days some might say. I can't disagree more, whenever I think back to sixth grade I remember only pain and discomfort, I couldn't reach my twenties fast enough. I write in this journal struggling to piece together half remembered day's gone. I recived a letter in the mail from a 'friend' I have not spoken to since before middle school.

Samur Mike Ashcroft. He was a exchange student. I am tolled he cames from a well-to-do family. He was an acquard one. A hyena if I am not mistaking, he had black hair and sharp green gray eyes. he dressed in the same outfit almost every day of the week; a cap that was not quit a bowler but not modern enough to be called a ball cap, a sliver sports coat with a number stitched into the caller, and black slacks with fade marks running down the lag where the cuffs have been stretched. These outfit bassed on its wear must have belonged to his father before him. It was a look from a generation earlier.

Mike was never unkind to anyone, but we were kids and kids tend to act dumb, we never understood Mike when he talked and the older kids amongst us seemed to have fun ruffing him up after school. I remember a smell, Mike had the worst cologne in the world. It was something between watermelon, honey, and gasoline. Every boy I knew talked about how bad it was. Maybe the girls liked it, I cant remember.

I do remember a field trip on the other hand, the one where Samur and I first talked. It was the fourth, fifth and sixth grade classes, we had gone to a nature reserve, and swimming at the end of the trip. When Mike sripped down to his swimsuit almost every boy in my grade broke out in laughter, his swimsuit was something hideous long black trunks that swung around his knees and a skin-tight undershirt that was clearly cut for a girl. Mike was quit and sensitive, he broke into tears and ran into the woods screaming. I was the first person to go looking for him.

In the fallowing days Mike was quick to track me down and we spent some time together. I was even invited over to his house. To spite him having claimed to come from a family with both wealth and influence the home he resided in was a house of modesty. Not even so much a house as a room in the upper floors of what at one time might have been a palace but now is a multiplex.

Something that I came to learn was that Samur really couldn't speak my language fluently. History tells us that in a time not so many decades ago there where sixteen kingdoms, all isolated. They had their own church, their own tongue, their own costumes. It was the construction of the railroad that brought the kingdoms together.

Honestly Samur wasn't that bad at catching on as the schoolyear trudged, one thing Mike never seemed to grasp was that in this land words have gender. He never seemed to use the right variation on words, espousal when talking about himself or his father he always used the wrong word, time and time again refereeing to his father and himself using feminine terms. I tried constantly to correct him.

In the later years, our land has slowly married into four mega kingdoms, the land I was born in has found itself as part of what we call the Westernlands and I am now exiting my home and moving into alien tarator. The next trainyard I reach will mark the crossroads of the four lands, I will be borading a train next talking me into the Southkingdom.

Why? Did I not say? Included in Mike's letter to me was a train ticket. I don't know why but I feel inclined to go to my one-time friend. The letter was less then specific with its instructions saying unclear words like 'I need you.' And 'there is something you must do for me' as for what these thing might be that is the part that was left out. Nevertheless I packed two bags and left my house in the hands of a acquaintance of mine and now here I go.

On the second train, I board I am greeted by wolves. A strange people they are, being from a land of cats I have never seen dogs best as I recall. In my land, there are no wolf actors or wolf poets. They provide me with a fine dining experience, they offer me a plate of a meat called something like horse-lag served with a side of eggs and a bitter drink that they serve warmed. I though the horse was a ruff meat and the drink did not suit my pallet but I was happy to entertain the company. They seemed to have more than a hand full of question to ask me as I did them.

We talk back and forth about nothing of interest for some time till at last I reach the last connection in my trip. The roads leading to Mike's house I understand are uneven, unsafe for motor vehicles to travel in the spring. So, a charioteer awaits to escort me the last few miles to meet my friend.

The property that spreads out before me is like nothing I have seen in my homeland. A fence wraps around the estate that must be five miles long, a whole town fits within the walls. A cobbled brickwork path leads up the side of a hill at the center of town leading to a house that might be a castle. But unlike the one he stayed at in school this one looks functional. An old castle, the type that old-world lords and ladies lived in.

My shock and aw does not recede as I am pushed up the stairs and into the gate. The inner hall is painted in a blinding yellow, mirrors line the walls bouncing light every which way transforming each candle into a hundred or more candles. A grand stairwell wraps around the floor leading up the castle into the highest reaches, five landings can be seen where one could exit the stairs and look down to the floors beneath.

A rope and bell hand from the wall on the left just inside the door, the walls are decorated with spears and shields, armor is set up on mannequins at the foot of the stairs and before each door. As a man with in interest in history I have collected a hand full of knives and helmets, but mine are old and worn, these are splendid, and show platina put are still in good repair. These armaments have seen battle and returned home.

"Mike!" I yell having little idea what else to do.

A voice, calm, sexy calls down from the second floor, my eyes roll up searching for its origin, my eyes catching a goddess like figure looking down at me, well formed, generously shaped, wide hips and moderate breast wrapped in a glowing gown that looks like fish scales forged out of rubies, thick black hair rolling down her back and flashing blue green eyes. Her fur is speckled between tan gray and black, with a dark ring around her noise and over her ears.

"You sound ridiculous when you say my name. it is the western tongue, you like the hard 'I' and you forget the 'E' I will not have more of this silliness. You will call me Madam Ashcroft or Sumar, no more of this 'Mike' business." Her voice is low and commanding but she is trying to make it sound high and inviting. "my lovable Mr. Dirhon Lovecraft. Why should it have taken you so long to come to me?"

I am in shock; the hair, the voice, the body they are all wrong. But the eyes, the inflections they seem right. But this can't be my friend, can it? "Sumar, you are a girl.?." I don't know if that is a question or a proclamation, my heart is suddenly pounding as she starts her way down the steps and her 'hideous perfume' finds my noise and suddenly I remember it, I understand it.

"Did I not say so much a hundred times when we were younglings?" her voice echoes down the chambers as she fallows the twisting spires down to me. "as a girl, many times your face invaded my dreams, my body wanted you, even then, even now. Did you never see it?"

It was never perfume, it was musk, she was leaving a hormone trail and somehow not I nor anyone else understand it. It was puberty, her body was shouting for attention, how did I never work that though in my head?

As the hyena reaches the bottom landing and moves in close I take a step back pressing my back to the wall trying to collect my emotion, I am overwhelmed by confusion. Sumar is not. One of Sumar's long then hands finds my face, she grips me by the back of the head and forces me to lean into her, her mouth opens, her muzzle parts, her fangs wrap around my lips, she kisses me with a depth and passion I would never have expected. I get lost in the kiss.

Just for arguments sake I want to say I am not from a poor family, the Lovecraft's are a respected lot, my father was a respected poet, my grandmother worked for a concert and stage company and I myself am an artist of sorts, I clean and repair damaged artifacts for the county museum. Many would say the Lovecraft's are rich. Now let me tell you, there is a fine line that divides the rich form the wealthy, you can lose riches. Have too much fun over a weekend, get attacked to fast cars and fast women and your riches will be gone before you know it. Wealth is something else altogether.

Wealth builds cities, shapes cultures. Wealth is the cornerstone of governments and communities. When you have real wealth you can lose that, the people around you won't let you. Even if you lose the money society will remember your name and doors will open for you that won't open for people that are only rich. If your name happens to start with something like; Dutch, Barron, or Czar, you will find that there will always be work for you to do and people that will offer to take care of you.

The Ashcroft's are in the latter category and I never would have known it. I knew the name, everyone has seen it somewhere but it is so omnipresent in many of our lives and you wouldn't associate it with a person, it's more like a place and a thing: the Ashcroft library, hospital, museum. Grew up on Ashcroft street. Meeting someone with that name seemed trivial.

Samur is the owner and operator of Ashcroft Vineyard and Winery and the fourth largest distribution center in the world (as far as I know anyway). The Vineyard is where I am now. Samur takes me out to the barn, she interduces me to her prize winning astro, it is a beast of burden a bird green in color with a rainbow tail weighs about 900lbs, his name is Grimm. Samur takes me on a ride, shows me the compound.

Truth be known I should have been able to work this out back when we were kids, the clues where there but I thought it was all miscommunications and misunderstandings of the usage of words, phrases like "my family grows wine" sounds insane taken out of contexts.

I have never ridden a bird before, I end up needing to in front of Samur, I sit on her lap laying forward onto the back of the peacock looking beast, she rests forward onto me as we run across the vineyard. Samur has under her command a village worth of employs; men to pick fruit, men to sort it, men to peal fruits and man to grind them, a facility to wash the produce and at last a place to barley age the nectars that will become the most widely consumed wine in the country.

Samur is happy to talk at lengths about the wines that are bottled at her vineyard. She tells me how the cheap and sweat wines are made for daily needs and how that is different form the dark bitter wines that are only sipped by the most sophisticated coinsures. I must confess yesterday I would never have imagined what I am getting to see today.

After a long ride, we return Grimm to his coop and walk back to the main house. Samur takes me to the dining room and interduces me to two of her retainers. The first is a man named Griswold, he is in charge of Samur's dietary needs, the second is a woman named Vidal, her job seems to be meeting any needs not related to eating or working out.

Griswold is a happy fellow, he offers to ready a meal for the two of us and is more than happy to attempt a feline recipe that might be more to my pallet to me then what he is accustomed to prepping. I assure him that I am adventurous and ready to try anything he is willing to place on a plate for me.

This possibly loos phrasing end up getting me a plate piled high with what looks like grilled spiders with lobster claws, a boiled snake, and a thick yellow soup that I never could place the flavor of. I might have thought this a tasteless joke till Samur reaches over the table to take some of my fried spiders for herself.

After dinner, I walk around the house, I am shown a privet theater, an indoor swimming pool, I am given a bedroom. From there it is off to the basement, and that is where thing start getting... of color let's say. Somewhere in the maze of a basement we come to a door with a red spotlight cast on it.

The red door is pushed open to reveal a well-lit room with an oversized bed and a collection of toys I dare not descried today. There are lights on the wall the spell out the words 'Dungeon Master', a small bar is off in the corner and a table with seating for two. Samur's teeth find my shoulder and one hand reaches around me in a lewd way, I suffer a small bite then her fangs move up my neck and around one of my ears, his an airy voice she whispers to me "and this is my game room." Something gets pushed into my lower back, it is rubbery, not hard but stiff.

The color must have started to melt form my face as once more I feel confused and overwhelmed. Samur is so commanding, so needing, some confident. What am I to do? Her is a woman that is everything I can ever want and yet I can hardly find the words to speak. Why am I afraid? What is that she is holding agents my back? "do you want to play a game?" she breaths the phrase into my ear.

"what game?" I galp

Samur walks into the game room and closes the door, hidden behind it is a wooden target board, she picks up from the table in the room a par of dirk. "every throw knives before?"

"Once or twice."

"let me see" Samur hands off the short blades. I may have exaggerated my ability to throw knives. With my first throw I fail to even hit the door with my next I hit the target with the blunt end and bounce it off.

Samur picks up the knives next, she throws like a wimp, not a one of her throws landing. Something feels wrong, did she miss because she doesn't know how to throw knives or did she miss because I missed?

I pick up the knives and try again. I don't do much better. Samur hands me the knife to try again then jokes with me, her tails flicking about "do you like gambling?"

"I have been known to flip a few cards."

"I make you a bet. You get two more throws, my next one will be closer."

I saw her throw, I know she can't do this, I think. So I take the bet "what is on the table?"

"I want a pet."

"A pet?"

She pulls a dog caller from under the bar "I want you to be my pet."

"what if you miss?" I know sounds stubbed, I know this is a bad idea but I am feeling good about myself.

Playfully Samur clips the caller around herself "you get to be the master."

Suddenly my balls take charge. I know I can do this, I wined up and throw my first knife. Bullseye! Too bad it was handle first. Second throw I cut the lower right corner off the target. That is worth something right?

Samur smiles brightly, her eyes narrow and as she picks up the knifes she leans forth and sticks her tail high in the air mocking me, forcing me to look at her tail. She looks over her shoulder as she stands back up and scandalously comments "A true killer I see. Where you just playing with me with your first throw?" Samur's hands draw up her body calling attention to her sharp hips.

She walks up alongside me one foot slightly in front of the other as she turns to face the target. A quick twist of the hips and her left arm swings out in ridge-hand two fingers on one side of the knives handle and her thumb on the other side. her throw isn't good, it isn't masterful, it is downright artful. Like some sort of an assassin stepping off the canvas of a middle age poem the knife strikes the target cutting the horizon perfectly.

I mutter "that can't be."

Samur clearly hears me as she brings her other hand up and slaps her shoulder lunching an underhanded throw from her right side slinging the other knife into the dart board just under her first knife the two of their handles crossing in a 'T' shape.

Samur turns her eyes to me with a uneven grin on her face. She takes off the caller she is wearing and wraps her arms over my shoulders clipping it around my neck. I can only assume that if you have the sort of money that the Ashcroft have you can afford to spend time doing things like learning how to throw knifes. Samur smirks darkly "It now looks as if I should own you."

The Hyena touches her noise to my neck then playfully pushes me away. She walks over to the table on other side of the room and reaches into a folder that is sitting in wait on the wall. "Now let us get started with the real game. I should like you to write your name here." She points out a dotted line in the lower right corner of a piece of paper she has on a clip board, there looks as if there should be writing on the paper but it is in a form of ink that seems to not be visible under the neon lights of the 'Dungan Master' sign. I pick up the page and try to see the writing but it simply can't be done

Samur takes the clip board from me and places it back on the table "Silly kitten, just sign." She pulls a check out from between her breast and sets it on the table, now this I can read clearly, this is a casher check for over ten times my annual salary "I get you to sign this paper and I give this to you or who so every you want me."

I can't turn that down, just think about what you could do if you had ten years pay in your hand right now. I do as I am told, Samur kisses me in turn and hands me the check. "Now, I should like you to take these." She pulls out from under the table a stack of paper that looks to be pressed from leather, then she pulls out a candle and a pin that can't be less than 200 years old with the inkwell to go with it "Write for me three letters and seal them with wax; one for your mother, one for your best friend and one for the museum. I need you to tell them that there is work that you must do abroad and you regret that you will not be home for three months."

I turn my head, my eyes find Samur's "three months? You want me to stay here for the next three months?"

Samur smiles placing her hands under her chin batting her eye's cutely "do you wish to not? For I think it should pleasure me much if you should stay. Maybe you can say it to be a vacation from your little art job. How does your job work anyway? I should like to know more."

I need time to think, I can't grasp all at once how a weekend trip could turn in a three moth long one or way, but again I think about the money I was just given, and then about the question of what I do "I am on artist by trade, I am specially trained in the handling of antique artwork, and its repair"

Samur waves me to sit down giggling happily "the paradox of art. Everyone wishes they can make new art that everyone can love. But there in is the problem is it not? If you should think about all the things you love are they not all things they have? And all things new are things you cannot know that you love. "

I laugh embarrassed "yeah, that is why people that clean paintings get payed so well" Clearly suffering a lapse in judgment I sit down to start writing. I take note of a watermark on the pages, an emblem; three question marks, one backwards, one upside down, one backwards and on its side, all connected by a single ring in-between them. I can't say why this caught my attention, only that it did, and that it will again.

The letters, something about them and the way Samur asked me to write then feels like something I have seen before, something from the past. Samur reaches under the table setting a hand on my lag as I write. She tickles me to keep my attention. I feel hypnotized.

After I finish the letters Samur places them in a set of envelops, she produces a wax stamp and seals them shut, the embroidery on the stamp resembles the letter 'V' and a set of wings. At that Samur is overtaken by animalistic urges. She pushes me at the bed in the room and forces me onto my stomach. She grips me by the haunches and pulls me up to all fours. She lays on my back play humping me as she nibbles at my neck.

For some time Samur bites and kisses at me, her heat builds and her hips rock up against my butt. That same soft, stiff feeling starts to arise again. I am nerves, uneasy, Samur reaches around be clawing at my chest. I have never been pushed on to all fours like this and never has a girl rubbed my rump so erotically. If I may I would also like to say that I never thought I would be with a girl from outside my kingdom.

Samur slides her hands into my pants offering to push them down for me. At that point I try to pull away and tell Samur that 'I'm really not that excited'. I get as far as saying "I" then she rolls me onto my back and pulls my lags up to her sides as she lays me in missionary position. She takes my muzzle in her moth and she forces me to his her. Her tongue slides into my mouth and I can do nothing but except her lust.

At some point during all of this I can only assume I fell asleep. I awaken what I can only guess to be hours later in the room that was given to me on the second floor. I don't think I slept with Samur but suddenly the thought is on my mind. If she starts to act so rowdy again I might just have to try to reach down and get a feel for her little hole. Thinking about it I am disappointed I didn't have that thought earlier.

I go for a walk around the castle, I find most of the doors locked. Ultimately not unreasonable. I do find a few open doors, the door to the basement, a door on the second floor that leads to a study, and a door that leads into a theater room. As I walk a hand full of thoughts keep creeping to the front of my mind, first that way Samur said "...three letter." That sounded so strange to me, the words and the idea alike seemed in so many ways wrong, second everything in the mane wing of the castle, why is it all painted bronze?

I come to a mirror at the end of a hallway on my walk, the mirror is eight feet wide and ten feet tall, it is pointed down the hall to a second mirror of identical diminutions, the two mirror reflect each-other creating the illusion of a hallway without ending. The glass is backed by a yellow metal giving the mirror a sickly reflection, everything looks aged and yellowed, the glass itself is imperfect, it has slight ripples in it that make the edges look like they are reflecting throw water.

There is a gold molding around the outside of the mirror with elaborate carvings in it, fish like shapes swim up the sides of the mirror, then there is a watery brake in the molding that marks fish turning into birds flying up to the keystone of the mirror, a sun like shape... but what is that? The same shape I had seen in the watermark of the paper, the three question marks and the ring. There inside the sun. what is it? What does it mean? I reach up to try and run my fingers along it but then feel the need to try to find my way back to my room instead. I will need to remember to ask Samur about the etching.

For the next day or two I don't see Samur. I ask Griswold about it and he can only tell me that she is not available. I should have expected so much. Someone like her surly cant afforded to sit around all day right? The strange mark I had seen had almost slipped my mind before I returned to my room the fallowing night to find a peace of paper on my bed with writing in red ink on bronzed paper that reads "Have you seen the mark?"

The letter seems ghastly but I discard it ready to lay down and hopes of seeing my friend in the morning. I hear whispers in the back of my mind as I way down.

"...Silly Kitten, Just sign..."

"...Now the real game can begin..."

"...All the things that you love are they not things that you have..."

"...Just sign..."

"...Have you seen the Mark..."

My eyes snap open, I feel something pressing down on my chest, something large and heavy is sitting atop me. My arms can't move, my lags can't move, I want to shout but my body will not allow it. I hear roaring, I feel wind rushing out from under my bed and out the door like some sort of air tunnel, I see a haze rolling form beneath me, I smell cold in the air, I taste something bitter in my mouth. Hands reach for me from the foot of the bed, my heart pounds. Hands rest on my chest. The bitter taste like blood and gasoline chocks me.

Rumbling quakes the bed, hands crawl up my chest. I struggle, I try to shake from side to side but no part of my body will reply to my commands, it is almost as if I am outside myself looking up. Some sort of prerecorded memory playing out in real time, as if I can't fight become I didn't fight. I yell at myself in my thoughts I cry, is swear, I want to do something, anything.

The hands inch ever closer, they move up my chest and around my caller, they move to my cheeks then. Eyes come into sight, blocking my vision. Shadowy blue eyes, I feel a squeezing sensation. I experience a flash of light; my vision fades to black.

Suddenly it is mid-morning, birds are chirping, I can hear men working outside. My skin feels sticky, my eyes are swollen from the clay in the air and I have an uncomfortable hard-on. After rubbing my eyes and growing, waiting for the sleep to leave my body and my unexpected arousal to reseed I climb out of bed and take inventory of my room. Surly whatever was in my room left something behind to prove it was truly there.

I find what looks like claw marks under the bed, water resin on the floor, but no monsters. I find the crumbled up note that I had discarded earlier. Holding it up to the light it has the watermark that the leather paper from the dungeon had "Have you seen the mark?" I whisper to myself, yes, I have. In my heightened sense of awareness, I can see hair floating throw the air. As well as a beam of light trailing across my room that is filtered an off color, this light is moving against the rest of the light, it's not coming in from the window it is coming out of the mirror in the corner of my room...

Surly I must look mad if anyone where to look at me at this very moment as I run at the mirror chasing the light. I find it! A chip in the mirror! Evenly at eye level a chip only slightly larger than the head of a tip of a ball point pen. I press my face to the glass struggling to look past the mirror. There is a room on the other side of the wall, simple and gray, a t.v., a radio, boxes stacked floor to ceiling in one cornor, and no doors or windows visible.

I pull the mirror off the wall to reveal a hole drilled into the drywall around the size of a small coin, otherwise the wall is smooth. Paranoia grips at my soul, what is this room? Is it related to what I saw last night? I run out of my room and search the hallway for a way into the room adjacent to my-own.

I find the next nearest door on the right side of the hallway and haphazardly push it open, it is a bedroom, Vidal's bedroom. Vidal screams when the door opens, she is standing mostly in the nude before a mirror on her side, she tucks a hand between her thighs hiding her feminine bits and folds a hand over her breast. She shouts at me in the common tongue of the land and waves at me in a threatening way.

I close the door and walk back a hand full of steps, I slide down the wall sitting down as I think. Or maybe I just sulk. I force myself into a state of calm and walk out into the grape fields. It would not be too much of a hyperbole to say I was born on the far end of the lake from here, "across the pond" is the phrase kids used in school to describe foreigners. I cumbersome weight strikes my mind as I think about how big that pond really is.

At home I am someone, people know me, know my work. Given the condition many take for granted the niceties extended to them. You know your own customs, the way people talk and act in public, but when you are a stranger in a strange land it becomes crushing when you notice you no longer understand the tone of peoples voices or the words the use.

In a bout of loneliness I approach an elderly women and try to grate her, she sees me and understands that I am trying to talk to her and she talks back but it is clear that she doesn't understand the words I am saying, and I can't understand her. I spend some time in the 'village' hopping to shack some hands and learn about the area before I start to draw the conclusion that Griswold and Samur are the only people around that understand the western tongue.

This actualization is enough to convinces almost anyone to turn their eyes to the sky and contemplate "how big is the world?" or "how small am I?" a day's walk from home but it feels like a different world, I don't know if the words exist to adequately descried the depths of space, and if the words to descried such a thing can be found I have trouble fathoming the idea that our minds would be able to embraces the vastness around us. Thinking about the way we measure things and the variable scale that one could conceive of, it seems to me that from a plot in space in which you could properly perceive the cosmos, looking back to my tiny earth you would not see distinctive valuable live so much as meaningless scant growths of semi-intelligent symbionts blindly fumbling to grasp at the value of the world on which they sit. What horror? What vast emptiness awaits anyone foolhardy enough to reach their hands to the stars and wish to be a part of them?

I am thankfully distracted from my existential moment when I hear the bird Grimm squawking and I see Samur riding nearby. I wave, Samur notices, she turns Grimm to face me and runs into the fields where I watch the sky. The peppy hyena jumps form her mount landing atop my chest throwing me at the ground. Her arms reach around my neck and her noise touches mine as her eyes lock with me.

"Silly kitten, what are we doing now?"

"cloud watching" I try to play off my anxieties

Samur rings the bell around my neck with one finger "I think I grow hungry. Let us return home, Griswold will take good care of us." Her teeth rub my shoulder as she whispers "lest I take a bite out of you?"

I can't possible turn this invitation down, for the last almost two days I have felt a longing that I knew Samur could heal. Samur picks me up and dust me off. As we mount Grimm heading back to the estate I whisper with Samur "Have you seen the mark?"

With a bubbly smile, she calls back "what for do you mean?"

"I'll show you" the two of use return to the castle. I take Samur to the hallway in which I had seen the antique mirror. I point out the sun symbol in the center of the molding. The image vexes me, the wavy lines, the ring within the ring. I fear the symbol even without understanding it.

I look to my friend "what is it?"

"old, I can tell you that much." Samur stars into the mirror watching herself, she turns from side to side and pulls on the sides of her dress holding in to her body examining her features. "I think I have seen 'it' in the book depository. Something to do with some river goddess as I recall."

"I have seen it more than once in the last few days." I express

"Maybe. This mirror, my grand-mama took it from the skeleton of a burned church. Perhaps the church wants it back." The tone in Samur's voice is far to calm, to happy and playful for talk of such grisly things. "I have not walked down this hallway in some time. Tell me what else have you seen?"

"A room full of boxes and a television hidden in the wall of my room."

Samur laughs "show me!"

I cant understand the way she is acting, I am quivering and she is giggling. Yet still we rush back to my room and I show her the hole in the wall that leads to the storage room. I exsplain to her that I couldn't find a way in, she tells me how she thinks that the way in is through the floor. So she leads me back down to ground level and start counting her footsteps looking for where my room would be.

With some pocking around we find a closet with a trap door leading up. The door is nailed shut and the nails bent off to one side forming hooks. Samur pulls up her dress and withdraws a skinning knife from her garter belt. Utilizing the hook at the end of the knife she pulls the nails from the ceiling and a ladder falls leading the way up.

We climb into the tiny room together and stat exploring. the t.v. still seems to work as does the v.h.s. player hooked up to it. The boxes seem to be packed tightly with cosset tapes. As I start pulling open boxes I take notices of the dates on them. Most of these seem to be only a few years old. The two of us dig about looking for the last tape. We pull it out then load it into the tape deck. I hit play.

The tape plays, it looks like some time of a student/ avant-garde, expressionistic peace. The film is grainy and the images that flash by the screen seem softly out of focus and in gratinate grayscale. The first image on the screen is a moldy looking tome on a turntable, it starts to spin, slowly at first but then to an excessive speed. A white flash dissolve, then the image turns to what looks to be the antique mirror in the hallway, somehow the camera man stays out of frame. Next image is a boat, a barque perhaps, the image jumps nauseatingly from the side of the ship to the sails then back to the water, next to the helm in a sequence of quick cuts. Then on the screen flashes a murder of birds, then a snake of some sort, then back to the book on the turn table.

My eyes catch the faintest glances of words flickering on the spine of the screen.

"I"

"am"

"The"

"lord"

"there is no"

"escaping"

"I am"

"Everywhere"

"love"

"me"

"I am"

"truth"

"grace"

"peace"

"I"

"am"

"Cravixs"

"worship me"

The next image on screen is a candle lighting, it is a reversed shot so the lighter never comes into view, instead the flame burst to life. Trees, the sun, more words flash by

"Have"

"you"

"Seen"

"IT?"

I look to Samur to see what she thinks, she has leaned forward onto all fours sticking her tail up as she is fiddling with the TV settings trying to adjust the focus. I call to her "Samur!"

She looks over her shoulder at me wagging her tail "what?"

"what was that?" I ask

"don't know, couldn't see it."

"rewind it, I want to see it again."

Samur rewinds the tape, she plays it again, we find nothing but white noise on a second viewing Samur looks at me with a concerned gaze "I think I broke it. What was it?" Unable to find a simple way to sum it all up I shake my head and lower my ears in jittering melancholy. With a smile and a wave Samur calls to me "we can get back to this, I am still hungry."

When we go back to ground level my ears are assaulted by strange sounds, copper clanging, hissing, chattering. I watch Samur seeing if she reacts to the strange sounds, but if she can hear them she is showing no outward signs. When we reach the dining room the otherworldly echoes stop all at once.

Samur yells of Griswold, he appears in the room with some sort of alien lifeform pulled across his face. I jump out of my chair backing away manically. I point and scream to draw attention to the flesh toned scorpion like monster wrapped around Griswold's eyes, its tail clearly growing out of his back.

Griswold tucks his heand behind his back paying me no heed, Samur fails to react as well as the tow of them start talking about what is on the menu for the day. I gain my faculties and grab the chair I had leapt form with intention of smiting the intrusive alien with the utmost of zeal. Griswold places one hand on the back of my chair holding to the ground with surprisingly little effort.

Griswold ask me what I would like for my supper. I can't seem to pull my eyes away from the grotesque cancerous mass attacked to his face. Samur recommends something but my thoughts are too far distracted to tell what she had ordered. Griswold turns and vanishes into the kitchen area.

I shoot Samur a shocked glance, there is simply on way she hadn't seen what I had seen. I try to ask about it but she insist that she simply could not see what I sow. I force myself to calm. Griswold emerges for the kitchen with our food. Two bolls of boiled onion, steamed roots, and squid with ink sauce. This time Griswold is devoid of face eating parasites.

After eating Samur takes me to the library to search for anything we can on the mark we had seen earlier. Taking notice that my privet journal is running short on pages at this point I ask for another book. I come to find there is no shortage of journals to be had in the library.

Samur hovers over the spines of books for a time before turning to face me "where do we start looking?"

"Marks, churches, river gods, Cravixs, I don't know."

Samur starts picking up books "that is much ground to start with." Samur is happy to sit in the library with me diligently pureeing over books looking for any trail that could help me understand the things I am seeing. I can't help but wonder, why is she not as frightened by the mark as I am?

It is well past sundown before Samur seems to find something of interest. Like an energetic child, she leaps to her feet and pushes the books at me, she nearly lays on my back as she guilds my line of sight "the Icon of Chaos. 'Chaos is a primal goddess, the youngest of the Gardeners of Eden. she is a mother god, with the power alter life.' It seems to say."

"Alter, what does it mean alter?"

"that part is not clear."

"what about the other name Cravixs?"

Samur sits on my lap wiggling till she is comfy then leans forward to flip through the book for a few more pages looking for the name. "Cravixs is the anti-god, one of thousands of names given to the Void."

"Anti-god? Some sort of a demon?" I find myself asking.

"looks more like a negative god, a god that has the power to wish out of existence things that other gods wish into existence, a neutralizing power I guess."

"why would such a thing exist?"

"why wouldn't it? If the universe IS by necessity, and the universe see fit to create a lifeform that had all conceivable power then like and antibody the universe may have created by necessity something that has the power to take away all conceivable powers."

"then why have gods in the first place if you are going to create a god the lives to kill other gods."

"maybe the gods were part of some sort of first draft, an attempt to create a universe wherein there is space of all things, a universe where nothing isn't." Samur seems to have thought about this one before, as she already read this book and is simply remembering it as we talk?

Samur turns around sitting on my lap facing me, her lags find my hips and her arms my neck, she squirms about making me rub up her body. "is there anything else you would like me to look for so long as we are here?"

I express that we have read enough for one night. I take the book that Samur had found with the description of Chaos and Cravixs in it. I tuck the book under my arm and start to make my way back to my room with it. Samur fallows, she takes one of my arms and holds it to her side in a pseudo hug.

My hand finds her crotch, I feel around slightly playing about I feel something unexpected. When I rub past the thick firm mass between her thighs her head lifts in a pant, and I look down confused. I just came to terms with the idea that Samur is a girl but what I touched doesn't feel like anything I have seen on a girl before.

I fumble about trying to ask what I just did to her and my ignorance seems to affined the hyena, with an annoyed growl she shoves me into my bedroom then talks off in a huff. Are dogs so far removed from cat that I they have such different hardware to work with? I just hop at this point my stupidity hasn't done irreparable damage.

I lay down to read, I keep my notebook alongside me, I have decided to give this notebook a name. I am calling my new journal "The Mark" and I ingrave the cover with the 'Icon of Chaos' in obsession I record my every thought as I read from the pages of this moldy book.

Just as my eyes get to heavy to read my ears spring to life, a crackling inside the walls triggers my survival instinct, white light is bleeding past walls. I stand up and walk to the crack in the wall of my room. I look into the TV room to find the television has been moved into center frame form my hole in the wall. Yellow paint mask the screen, there is the Mark burned into the static on the screen. The screen flics back and forth between white noise and images of snakes and worms swarming.

It haunts me, it hunts me. The Mark. What does it want? What is it drawing me into? It wants me. It needs me. It whispers in my ear in a tongue I cannot speak.

I have seen it!

I have SEEN IT!

"I have seen the Mark."

Saying those words out load seems to have momentarily appeased whatever spirt hides in the dark. The TV turns itself off. My room goes dark. The night falls into silences. "I have seen the Mark." I whisper again.

Weeks pass. Things are peaceful. Since the night, I proclaimed aloud "I have seen the Mark" the mark has made very few appearances. No more nightmares, no more noises or monsters hiding in the dark that only I can see. But still it is burned onto my mind. I have cut the symbol into the palm of my left hand to make sure I never forget what it looks like.

The next time a strange note appeared in my bed the quotation it asked was more of in order depending on the way you look at it. This time the note reads "Love me" no period, no question. Just a statement "Love me".

Things smooth over with Samur fast enough. She seems to understand that I was not trying to be off-putting with her, I am no lie, childishly unaware of the shape of a dog's body. Till Samur explained it I didn't even understand that hyenas are not wolves. Looking at them head on they look pretty much alike after all. But no. hyenas and wolves are related but they are more like cosines then siblings, sounds like hyenas might also be cosines to skunks rabbits and even cats through some sideways logic and genetic gymnastics.

I spend days walking around the vineyard, I spend some time talking to a young girl, between the two of us we start to learn each-others languages. We have fun together. Wall Samur spends her days at work I spend more than a handful of them with this hyena child running though the fields and struggling to understand one-another. She is cute, she is funny, it would be nice to have a child like her. I still haven't figured out how to pronounce her name right to me it sounds like Isis.

Six weeks into my vacation. Still nothing else strange.

Late at night Samur shows up in my bedroom. I can taste her pheromones in the air. I have taken to sleeping in the nude and am more than surprised to see her open the door and waltz in. Samur's hair is amess, her eyes glazed over with physical need. Samur drops her dress off her body and for the first time I see her body in its full glory.

Samur is covered head to toe in almost perfectly symmetrical white, tanned, and black spots. I see firsthand for the first time her naked breast, she has three sets of tits, all a glossy black, and then my eyes find her clitoris, five and a quarter inches long, the head of it oozing thick white jelly.

The shape of a hyena's vulva is like no other animal's that I know. The vulva of a hyena is attached to the end of their clitoris and comes out of front of their pelvic girdle instead of off the bottom like with a cat or wolf (from what I understand). Samur climbs onto the bed, she crawls over me. Samur doesn't talk, she forces my muzzle into her mouth. One hand slides under the covers and Samur throws the blanket off of me. Samur's legs find my hips, she tickles my chest with one hand, her other hand grips her clit and starts tugging on it till it becomes stiffened.

Samur's honey drips form her clit onto my manhood, I can't believe how quickly the hot juice smearing arouses me. I grunt, my hands hind her rump squeezing it greedily. Instinctually I pull up on Samur's hips to try to find her lips treating her like a cat. Samur lays forward correcting me, one hand still on her swollen clitoris she wiggles her unit against mine till finely the head of my penis slides into the hole at the tip of her clit.

Samur squeals feeling the ruffe hooks on the underside of my foreskin. It takes a moment for both of us to get comfortable. Samur exhales slowly, her weight rest atop me, the jelly-sleeve that is her vulva wraps around me balling up around my testacies. After I am as deep in her as I can get Samur starts to raise then drop her hips. Her vulva loosens as she lowers her weight then tightens as she pulls back, this creates a strange vacuuming feeling, her tension quickly shifts from well experienced partner to childishly tight. Even my first time I wasn't with a girl that can squeeze to firmly, and my first time I was 13 and so was my partner.

Samur is such an exotic feeling, there is nothing quite like a whet hyena sitting on top you. She keeps rested forward, kissing lustfully. Samur gets progressively faster in her thrusting, her body seals in moister, I can't help by start sweating after only a few short moments of her on my lap. I can't stop myself, after what couldn't be more than three or four minutes I find myself spraying into her sheath. Samur is not quite satisfied she places her hand on my chest and even after I finish she keeps thrusting on me. It takes another fifteen minutes before she is satisfied and allows me to fall out of her shaft. I pass out.

The fallowing few days Samur pays me a visit early in the moring to 'play' with me, she then goes to work, and at night we eat together and talk. Another few weeks' pass, Samur sees me back to the train station and doubles the pay she had already given me. I part ways with my friend, our relationship having gone farther than I had ever hoped. I will miss my friend. I can only hope we see each other again soon.

After getting home I take up a new hobby, I start writing. I find a magazine that specializes in suspense stories. I start sending in regular letters, short stories, and within 10 months I have a full manuscript ready to be reviewed.

I still find myself looking around, searching for the Mark. One day I find it. In my mail box, a box about 18"/9"/12" it is from Samur, there it is on the top of the box painted in golden lipstick it seems. The phrase "I found the Mark." Written beneath it.

I open the box to find a hand full of things in it: A C.D., a VHS tape and player, A letter folded up and sealed with wax, a rubber stingray painted pink with crab claws and a monkey like tail glued to it, and a book entitled "Mind's Eye: the Darkest Depths". It is a modern looking book like the kind you seen in gaming stores that explain the rules for complicated table top games. I think I had seen it in Samur's dungeon, but unable to speak the Hyena tongue I would never have known.

I set of the VHS player first and watch the tape. I fear I know what it is. Samur appears on the screen, she is in the dungeon the film quality is shockingly good. She is dressed in a loose fitting white gown, obviously pregnant. Samur waves innocently with a wide smile. She picks up a peace of paper form the table in front of her. It is the contract.

Samur speaks "Lovecraft, I was playing with you. I feel the need to explain everything. First, the Mark: it is a holy symbol yes, but a fake one, it is from the game 'Mind's Eye Theater', the mirror with the Mark on it and the book in my library are both forgeries I made as part of a large-scale game I was setting up. But as the game was going on I could see that I was hurting you so I stopped. The ghostly voices, that was nothing more than an atmosphere tape playing over some load speakers, and the monster in the kitchen, that was a chew toy and some makeup nothing more. Also, the ghost in our bedroom was Vidal, we set some fans under your bed and a fog machine outside your window to give her the otherworldly look. Griswold also had the grate idea to expose you to a neurotoxin Succinylchonline that should have paralyzed you and cussed minor hallucinations. "

"Lastly there is this." Samur unfolds the letter she is holding "I, Samur Ashcroft, am going to try to scare you, the undersigned, as part of a live theater event. You will be brought to a secluded location populated by actors hired by the above signed. Over the cores of this performance we may choose to utilizes: make up, prosthetics, light manipulation, radio and camera equipment, costumes and mind altering chemicals strictly within limits described by the surgeon general. We will shock and thrill you but myself and the other actors are all under order not to do in form of physical harm." She folds the letter up again setting it before her.

"the document was written in lemon based ink, it was invisible till the paper was heated. you really where nice to me Lovecraft, and I hope you would be so kind as to come see me again. Next time I will have an all new game for us to play." Samur kisses her hand then blows on it, she waves and turns of the recording.

A game, was it a game? I think hard for a moment. Maybe I do want to go around one more time. I start writing a letter back to Samur, I want to make sure I have a clean notebook on hand. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for my next visit.

A note from the Author:

It is not uncommon for me to be contacted by young writers. Ever since my second book hit shelves my social media has been alight with messages from people asking me to help them get into the field of writing. When Dodish got in touch with me she had just finished reading 50 Shades of Gray and had asked me to look over her online art gallery and see if I would be willing to write up a short story for her. After some deliberation, this is the story I gave her. I at first had it broken into 5 chapters but for this printing I thought it would be better read as a single short story instead of a pseudo novelette.

Battle of the Zzuragg

Commissioned by 'Rogueybear'

A gloved hand reaches over slapping Kauri on the side of his mask. "Hay pup, you doing all right?" the hand belongs to prvt. Maize, she is a silver haired fox with shimmering blue eyes, not that they can be seen thought the mask she is covered with. Prvt. Kauri finds himself locked into a personnel drop ship, dressed in his full body armor: a vacuum suit, self-contained atmospheric admitter, and a slew of armored plates and tools tide to his body just like the others, not in inch of his body visible through it. Each and every one of them pacing 2 magnetic guns, a SAW called the Mg Mk VRSN 3 (or MG3 for short) and a side arm called the Vt7.

The drop ship has ten min in it, two Lt.'s from the Navy here to piolet the command ship, and eight SM's: 1 corporal, 3 privet first class, and 4 privet second class that is where Kauri finds himself.

Today is Kauri first day on active duty. After 14 weeks of hand to hand training and 46 weeks of utility training. But it turns out that no amount of utility training can prepare someone for the feeling of being on a ship, a star ship, and even if he had been in a star ship before today a drop ship is not the same.

Prvt Dover shouts over "come on, lets see if he is still awake when we touch down!" Dover chuckles, he is a red fox, young and irresponsible, a place like the SM was never meant for the likes of him. This place will brake him. Maize reaches out to grab at Dover threateningly, Dover giggles and slaps at Maize "you want to start something island girl?" Dover's behavior is childish.

Cprl Dawg Barks "knock that shit off or I'll teach both of you respect with the back of my hand."

Maize sits back and clinches the locking bar over her set. Dover giggles "I love you Dawg!"

Dawg locks eyes with Dover and points. Dawg is in old wolf, he has been in service for over twenty years, no one knows why he is so low in the picking order, or why he keeps signing up for more tours. After a long star Dawg whispers "one more word and I go get your mama."

Maize leans over Kauri "you good?"

Kauri nods "I think I'm going to be sick."

Maize nods in return "Everyone is there first time."

Kauri calls out to Dawg "Cprl. Can we get a brief?"

Dawg calls out "All right you knot-head! Damage control time. Here are the fax: A mining ship passing through Thaghta encountered a hostile. We lost contact with them 07-26-4014-23.55. we encountered a SOS at 08-03-4014-01.01 coming from the same region. We are going to investigate. According to scans taken by the SS.Titan Thaghta is currently under the control of Zzuragg."

Maize inquires "what are Zzuragg?"

Dawg adds on "If we are lucky we don't need to find out."

Dover ask "and if we are unlucky?"

"you will find out what happened to my other eye."

Lt. Corman's voice comes over the radio "landing codes are locked in, we are making our final approach."

A new voice comes in and a video feed starts in on one side of the visor everyone is equipped with "I am Elion, I will be your navigator. Your radio's have all been linked into mine. All your broadcast will be filtered through me and in the event, that contact is lost with Crpl. Dawg I will be taking over as your S.O."

The drop ship flies around a wreckage then off in one direction in order to find the landing spot they had locked on to. The planet they witness is covered in a gray black slime, strange stone spires shoot from the ground, the party lands on a lonely stone island. The rear hatch drops open and the SM walk out in signal file MG3 in hand.

Dawg taking up the lead looks over his shoulder after completing initial perimeter sweep. Each man yelling 'clear' in turn "Ok, everyone flip on the tracing light of the man in front of you." One by one each solders shoulder mounted lights get activated. Dawg waves the last man to the front to turn on their light for them.

Dover looks to Dawg as his lights get fired up "so Cprl. Why aren't you doing some sexy desk job? You're like seventy or something, aren't you?"

"Because I want to die with my boots on."

Elion's voice comes in over the party radio "one of you has a spy bug strapped to your back. Turn it on, I will take remote control of it from here." Each of the solders search the body of the solder next to them.

Kauri call over "Maize has it."

Dawg nods "you heard the lady, fire that shit up." After a few short moments of assembling the spy bug the small brass gold helicopter looking tool starts to levitate.

Corman's voice comes in "we have eye. Seems there is a healthy amount of terrane radiation. Keep an eye on your atmosphere generators, if anyone's filter reads over 70/30 drop what you are doing and get back to the ship."

Elion adds on "your cameras seem to be flickering some. Anything you can do to boost your signal Dawg?"

"all our shit has been flicking for days. I say you should put in a call to D.S. and get us some new gear." Dawg replies frankly.

Elion signals "Copy. Now Dawg, Kauri should have a low power radar pulse emitter strapped to his arm, the entina for it is on his back, collect Kauri's MG3 and hand him the entina."

After being given the radar Kauri is pushed to the front of the team. It is a two mile walk through ankle deep slime as the lot of them make their way to the downed mining ship.

"anyone have any idea what this shit we are walking though is?" Maize ask from the third rank.

From fourth Dover calls up "do you really want to know?"

At first rank Kauri calls back "I can see something on radar. Movement eight, maybe twelve signals."

Dawg holds up his riffle looking around "which is it; eight or twelve?"

"Don't have a positive lock." Kauri declares.

Dawg talks to base "what do my eyes see?"

Radio chatter picks up as Elion and Corman speak back and forth

Corman starts the exchange "I see movement at your 10. Four confirmed."

"markings?"

"Abdominal section figure eight."

"is in an eight or an hourglass?"

"is there a difference?"

"there is."

"hourglass."

"Willow family."

"five more at your two Dawg. Marking, two rings, large and small."

Elion takes over the radio "Dawg, you have at least 2 families of Zzuragg in your proximity. Both are 3 generations displace from Hive. This could be a territory dispute you are walking into. Hopefully you can slip between them without being noticed. Your objective is to reach the crashed ship. Engage only if necessary."

Dawg prods for more info "Do we have classifications on potential hostels?"

Corman cuts back in "according to the index seven scavengers and two hunters."

Kauri speaks up "that leaves two unconfirmed."

Dawg nods "I noticed."

The walk is slow and tense, the SM unit crouches to stay hidden in now waist deep slime. Dawg keeps his head slightly higher then the other as he servase the battlefield in waiting. He knows the threat that hides in the creep below, but never has he seen it in its own environment. Kauri whispers "twenty-six, there are now twenty-six signals in range."

Skittishly Dover calls over "twenty-six? What is the range on that thing?"

Corman is the one to retort "33.334 cubical yards"

Dover starts looking around franticly "that's like 90 feet or something, isn't it? Shouldn't we have visual lock on?"

Elion whispers into her headset "take it easy Dover, they are hidden by the creep."

Maize taps her helmet to join in the communication "can we change to search mode to compensate."

Dawg picks up the back-and-forth ". This sludge is protein based and if you switch on your search mod it will overload. Stay low and a stay slow."

A winter fox from rank seven calls over "Protein? You mean this is liquefied meat?" his name is Huston, he is a pretty boy who is a charming as he is incompetent, his family is wealthy and influential in the courts, the type of kid that has a habit of skipping town when the service calls. But if Huston wants to run for congress when his mother retires he needs to finish at least one four-year tour with S.M. six years with Navy or eight years with S.D.F.

Dawg calls back to the team "four groups of two. I want you each locked at the hip, each man is responsible for covering the four through eight of the man next to them" this is a S.C.R.A.M. (Secure, Control, Retain, Aim, Move.) maneuver, Dawg is getting uncomfortable. The S.M. can feel it. The move together in teams of two, one man on point the other walking backwards covering their tail.

In double time the team reaches the crashed ship. Dawg waves the team out into cover possession, crouched and watching the horizon he then looks about, the ship is mounted in the ground at a 45* angle, it would be impossible to find entry "Demolition!" he yells, Maize brake the line to comply "we need a door"

Shadows move on all sides, chartering and creaking sounds fill the air, snarling and hissing. Spotlights light of the swamp, the threat moves ever closer, but the lights see nothing.

Shape chargers are set, the countdown starts, gunshots are fired, the ground becomes unstable. In the blink of an eye a saga of unlikely string together that would make any Goldberg machan proud; shape chargers open an air pocket under the mining ship, the ship starts to tip, swamp gas sends a blast of rock into the air, the weekend hall of the mining ship foulds in on itself and by grace of whatever powers govern the universe the S.M. team finds themselves safely inside the ship, covered head to toe in slime, but safe nevertheless.

Dawg flings some slime from his facemask then looks around the team "Who was shooting at what?!"

Huston calls over as he finds his feet "Sorry 'bout that chaps. Artillery malfunction."

Dawg walks over and looks the winter fox up and down "do we have the situation under control?"

"Seems to be working fine now."

Dawg points at his own eyes then at Huston, he points back and forth several times as he walks around picking people up and dusting them off. Everyone understands the point Dawg is getting across, Dawg doesn't believe that was a malfunction.

Huston picks up the sand coyote that fell alongside him, she has a narrow build but a shaper tongue, she could easily be mistaken for one of the boys if not for the sent of honey that lingers in the air around her, she is the time 'greaser' everyone knows if something brakes call her. People call the Coyote Prvt. Chin but that is because no-one seems to be able to pronounce her real name Churnebogge. Chin looks up at Huston "thanks for covering for me."

Huston looks her up and down with a needing smile "what did you see out there anyway?"

Chin grabs Huston's helmet with both hands to lock their gazes "eyes here." She jokes with him.

"as if it even registers with me that you might be a sexual animal." Huston teases.

"I'm already a two time looser, I bungle another job and the fed is going to mail me home in the cargo hold. There was something out there crawling in the mud, I saw it reach up and I..." Huston holds a hand up to silence Chin

"I get it." Huston looks over to Kauri "Talking about things that are bungled." He yells out "Hay Hyena. I would love to know, is it true that on your island the women have bigger ballocks then the men?"

Kauri grunts lowering his riffle ready to scrap with Huston, Dawg steps in front of him grabbing one of Kauri arms "don't take the bait..." Dawg leans in close whispering "is it true?" Kauri offers an uncomfortable nod.

Maize takes to the head of the unit "what is our next target."

"Deck by deck sweep. We search each floor: ascertain the fate of the crew, recover any usable data and assets." Dawg explains. The party starts walking. The ship around them is falling apart. Wires hang low, large hunks of meatal stick out of the walls.

Crawling up through floors air and water pipes penetrate though the ground, frozen water sprays into the air. Maize grunts as she pulls herself up to the next deck, she drops into a crouch and sweeps her rifle side to side searching the floor, she calls out the 'clear' sign then starts helping the rest of the team up. For two floors, so far there has been nothing but twisted metal.

At last something comes into sight, but not what the team had hoped for. What would seem to be a dining room, the room is locked down, frost has covered, beyond the glass something moves. Dawg, Maize, Dover, Hutson, Chin and Kauri gather in tight to look past the frosted glass. A beast twice the size of any dog, long sharp narrow limps, six arms, four lags.

Chin pulls her sidearm and takes aim "what the hell is that thing?"

Dawg explain "that is what took my eye." Chin cocks her side arm, she takes aim, Dawg holds a fist up in the 'hold position' "Kauri, check radar, narrow the stream, how many bugs are in that room?"

Kauri looks down at his wrist mounted computer "six."

Dawg nods knowingly "they are in guard formation, one stands up to draw in pray, five to ten more lay down waiting to jump. We just keep walking. Save our ammo till we need it."

Huston complains "I'm starting to get the feeling that a Drifter Island's mining ship isn't worth this kind of trouble."

The crawl through the ship takes them next to the crew quarters and the first signs of the staffing, another hyena, this one female, middle aged. She seems to have discarded her armor and is stumbling around slouched over at an odd looking angle.

Kauri runs over to offer aid. If only he had moved slower, if only he had been paying closer attention, he may have noticed a great deal more things out of place. As the hyena girl lifts her head some things are clearly missing; her mouth is wired shut by what looks like spider hairs, from her cheekbones hooked nail emerge like the bolts on a not quite finished marionet, as she tacks notice of a lifeform approaching her joints swing loosely on their hinges unrestrained by muscular physics, her eyes are filed with teeth lick fingers sticking out of an inverted bowling ball.

Kauri is young and filled with the will to do good, not yet jaded by age and the weight of reality. Dawg shouts at Kauri, Kauri can't heir him, or maybe doesn't want to. The monster that was no doubt a chipper girl not so long ago reaches its arms out, mandibles piercing its skin pointing the puppet at its target.

Kauri has never seen anything like this, no author or artiest he has ever rub shoulders with could have dreamed up such a horror. Kauri gasp shuffle-stepping back, his arms come up to hide himself from the reality bending monster looming into him. The sounds of buzzing, clicking, humming and chirping silences all other sounds around Kauri.

The mouth of the puppet rips open, the hallow crevasse hidden by its jaw slowly fills with a par of pincers and two inner mouths with crisscrossing fangs. Dawg grabs Kauri from behind with one arm and with mantic strength Dawg throws Kauri away from the monster.

The beast body stretches and morphs in unhuman ways as it ties itself around Dawg, the four-pointed mouth of the monster clasp partly around Dawgs torso singing its fangs into his armor. Dawg howls pulling his sidearm from his hip, with a snarl he mounts his sidearm in fanning position and starts franticly firing on the monstrosity.

The magnet gun fires pea sized steel bulbs that forge a vacuum cone in the air tare sections of the monster away. But braking of the beast body sections seems to do little to stop the monsters biting into him as the broken parts grow crab like legs and start hopping around like flees.

Chin calls out "Company fire!" fallowing the instruction the team forms ranks four crouching two standing and they fill the hallway with a spray of fire. Kauri is still on the ground hiding his head under his arms. He tries to shout up to the group, he tries to remind them that Dawg is still somewhere in the mess of jumping monster but his voice is lost under the echoing of bullets bouncing of steel walls.

Pounding on the walls is barely audible till Maize notices the man alongside her stop firing. All to late they recall Dawgs warning '1 stands, 6 crouch' the hall behind them has filled with more monsters. The large ones, the six armed four lagged mantes like monstrosities they had only seen under glass before.

***

As the fighting starts Elion and Cormen jump back and forth between computer monitors observing the battle and starting to offer warnings and advice clueing in the team as to what the cameras can see that they might not have in the heat of battle. Cameras one five and seven black out, the interments in the command vehicle detect a spike in radiation levels then all the cameras fade out. For a few short moment there is only audio, shouting and gunfire, then that fades away too.

Elion tries to keep talking to the team "All units 'Rads' have jump above maximum safe levels. We are encountering destructive interferences. Repeat All units 'Rads' have jump above maximum safe levels. We are encountering destructive interferences. It is imperative that you that you fall back to a previse deck in ranks, two and two. Offer short controlled burst of suppression fire..."

Cormen takes off her headset "save it. We aren't getting though."

Elion looks to her partner "what the hell happened in there. I have studied Zzuragg battle formations and..."

Cormen looks over "that wasn't one of them. Maybe that just means we haven't survived to report this sort of attack yet." Elion takes off her headset and sighs. Cormen get out of the opperater set and walks back up to the front of the ship. "this mission is a wash."

Elion yells out "give them a minute. Our boys might still pull though."

Dover's camera comes back on line first "Base... Base... can you hear me!?"

Elion quickly put her headset back on "Dover. Copy that, we can hear you. I need a status report."

"report? We just got the shit kicked out of us."

"yours is the only readout that has reboot so fair, what is your position."

"E-112 I think. Our team has been separated. I have: Maize, Chin, Huston, and Kauri with me. I don't know what happened to Dawg and the other two." The condition that the remaining members of the S.M. team find themselves in is an embarrassing one. Eight men with best training, best weapons and most modern armor the United Coalition can afford beaten back by a dozen 'bugs' with barely animal intelligences. Eight are now five barred up in a cargo room.

Corman takes Elion's radio her voice replacing the other Lt. "Privet Dover, Turn your radio on to announcement mode then turn to face Privet Kauri" Dover fallows instructions as he has been programed to do "Mr. Kauri. By the power vested in me by the United Coalition Allegiances I, Lieutenant Hester Corman, hereby bestow upon you the title of standing Corporal, with all privilege and responsibility attached there to. In the eyes of this court, and in the precinces of all those that hear my voice Corporal Emmit Dawg is labeled as missing in action and it will be your first priority to complete his final mission. On your safe return, and that of your team, you will be given this tittle officially and fully. Should any see why this order should not be carried out you may speak now."

Dover speaks out "The Hyena? He is next in the line of succession?"

Huston calls out "Lt. Corman, I believe that I hold the title of privet first class and have seniority."

Corman retorts "Negative, according to coalition official documentation although you do possess the most number of years of active service a 1 tour and 3 years Kauri logged in 42,000 hours of extracurricular training, and both Dover and Maize have 17,000 hour of EX drills which is equivalent to 9 and 6 bonus years of service consecutively. If it is the feeling of this gathering that Kauri is not capable of preforming all duties that may be required then the job falls onto Dover next."

Dover needs only a second to think this over before he calls out "Let the hyena do the job."

Huston ask "what is your major Dover?"

"Rugbee"

Huston looks confused as he thinks about it "you play soccer? That is not a major."

"yeah by thee guys that work at the curriculum center don't seem to have picked up on that."

Chin approaches Kauri "give me your helmet."

"is that atmosphere stable in here?" Kauri ask

"If it isn't I'm sure you will find out soon." Chin yells out to the team "Everyone, Helmets here!" the team fallows instructions discarding their helmets. Chin picks up the helmets one by one exsamining the visor and radio units searching for salvageable parts. With some work, she is able to disassemble four helmets and get two up and running again at full power. "looks like there are five of us and three working H.U.D.S." the coyote explains "unless one of you doesn't mind me cannibalizing your M.G. for a power relay coupling."

Kauri orders "Disregard that request. No one is trading a gun for a radio."

Dover looks Kauri up and down "By the way cprl. What happened to your rifle?"

Kauri looks to the boarded up door to the room "Dawg took it."

Maize holds her rifle out to Kauri "Take mine, I'm rubbish at 20'+ anyway"

"Thank you." Kauri excepts "Everyone count your round and call them. I want to know what we have for assets before we open that door."

The party quickly counts out their inventory Huston is the first to call out "3 stacks of 32 50/50's, 1 round of 76 plus 6 loaded."

Maize is next "2 50/50's, 4 76's, and 2 concussive, 6 shape chargers." She then hands the rifle rounds over to Kauri

Dover calls out "50/50 is dry, 4 76's, full stock of corrosion."

Kauri throws a clip of 50/50's at Dover "now you have 1, hold on to it."

Chin counts out her load "I have a box of 90 50/50's that is enough for 2 clips plus a remainder, 40 76's rounds and 1 welding torch empty."

Kauri counts up the ammo he has on himself then looks around the team "Pass them around, make sure everyone has at least 2 full racks of 50/50s. load up, lock'em down. We are going back out there."

The team armors up and readies themselves to continue exploring the downed ship, Huston whispers with Dover "Soccer, that is really your plan?"

Dover nods "I really love soccer. What about you, when we get home what are you going to do?"

"I want to be a librarian."

The door opens, something has happened, the lights are flickering on and off, Chin makes a remark about the ship starting to 'come back on line' but no one takes notice. The team finds a mess hall and an egg sack hanging form the ceiling and anchored to the floor twentry feet long and twelve feet high. The group walks around the mucus oozing mass. The mass seems to breath swelling and shrinking every few seconds, light shining on them reveals the thin transparent skin of the eggs showing off the manta ray shaped monsters growing inside. Hundreds of them, swimming around in the protoplasm iterated by the lights.

But eggs are not all that hide in the stillness of the room. creeping like shadows a dozen of these monsters slide along the walls looking after their eggs, rotating them, shifting them, keeping them warm. But the intruders have them on edge, it takes the winged aliens some time to look over these strange new lifeforms.

One winged horror grows agitated and jumps off the wall starting a swarm, for crab like lags emerge form it's underside as it lands on Dover's chest, it wraps its wings over his head and two spikes wiggle there way from the mantis abdomen. Dover brings one hand up and tries to hold the monster at arm's length as he cries for help.

Maize runs to Dover's aid, the two fangs of the monster sink into Dover's arm. Maize pulls a knife from her belt and hooks it around the monster for leverage. Maize pulls the monster to the ground. A second winged best comes to the aid of the first landing on Maize back, it grows out its stinger but is interrupted by being shot by Huston.

The air grows thick as more and more monsters fall in through the ceiling, Kauri gets back to back with Chin. The two of them start firing controlled burst into the air slowly picking away at the monsters.

Kauri looks peaks over his shoulder at Chin "you have that torch handy?"

Chin nods "so what?"

Kauri watches the ammo counter on his gun starting to drop, he drops out the empty cartridge and slaps in the next, the flying beast move in closer pushing the unit ever tighter together. "Set the room on fire."

Elion mutes her radio momentarily to look to her partner "what are we doing here Corman?"

"Standard rescue and recovery mission" Corman keeps her eyes on the computers tracking the team

Elion puts her hands on Corman shoving her "Don't act like I'm a four-year cadet. I have been sitting in this chair for over twelve years now, you don't think I can see something is wrong here? The court doesn't call in space marinas for RnR jobs. This is an extraction. What are they in there looking for?"

"you don't have clearance..." Corman starts to explain

Elion cut her off "I don't have clearance? What do you mean I don't have clearance!"

The two opperators become forceful with each-other "I don't have clearance either, Dawg is the only person that know what the real job was!"

"Dawg is nothing but an infantry man..." this time it is Corman that cuts of Elion.

"he also has family in the courthouse." The argument is cut short by a clashing sound as something strikes the roof of the command vehicle. The two silences themselves looking around. Corman points over her shoulder "you stay on the horn, I'll take a look around."

Corman approaches the hatch to the command center, she unclips her side arm drawing her pistol, the pistol has barley left its sheath before a par of moon shaped blade cut through the door pulling it down Corman shouts lifting her weapon. A brute of a beast steps into the ship, it has a body that looks like a clam shell and no determinable head, it has scythe shaped arms and a scorpion like tail, the shell at the center of its mass parts to show off hundereds of fishhook like teeth.

Corman tries to shoot the monster but her shots are deflected by the monster's shell. The beast thrust its body at Corman knocking her to the ground with its massive size, it brings up its claw threatening to sunder Corman's body. Corman is curled up on the ground cradling one of her arms, she kicks off the ground pushing herself slowly away from the towering mass. Corman yelps and cries.

Elion jumps up from her set taking notice of the six-lagged monstrosity pushing its way into the ship. Elion picks up the nearest tool to her, which happens to be a Cold-fusion shocker. Many mettles show abnormal behaviors in low gravity, the mettle the command station is forged from for example when exposed to wide with radiation, aka microwaves, takes on a semi gelatin skin, if two or more sections of mettle with the microwave skin on them touch they melt together, this tool generates that microwave.

Elion is terrified by the beast standing before her but she must act, she gasp and jumps away from the monster before taking a stand. Elion holds the microwave stick in front of herself like a spear, the monster slaps at the stick pushing it away, Elion rolls it up pushing it between them again. The monster tries to run past the spear only to find it stabs itself.

The microwave stick sparks, the monsters shell partly liquefies, Elion takes advantage, the monster jumps, Elion chases after it. The combatants stab and thrust at each-other. Elion has reach over the monster giving her the upper hand. The beast fears the sparking stick and pulls away every-time Elion thrust at it. After some time Elion gets a lucky thrust, the monster clasp its shell shut with the spear becoming trapped inside of it.

The monster thrashes and howls, its mouth fused shut, in its death throws it picks up Elion, it lifts her in the air threatening to squeeze her to death in its claws. Elion can do nothing but grab the monster's claws and hopelessly try to elevate the crushing power. The beast might have cut Elion in half if only it had a second more strength, but oxygen depredation sets in and the monster faints. It throws Elion at the floor as its last act of wrath. Elion falls to the floor, a dozen rips broken she gasp struggling to crawl to her partner.

***

Chin sets the cafeteria ablaze, Kauri kicks open a service tunnel and waves the team on. Maize drops onto all four and is the first into the tunnel, Huston picks up Dover and is next in. Kauri calls for Chin next, Chin pushes Kauri in instead choosing to bring up the rear. Chin fires her touch down the tunnel as they crawl to discourage the winged demons from chasing them.

Kauri taps his radio to call base "we are under fire, repeat, we are under fire. I need a HUD map of HG-1016 mining frater. Repeat, HG-1016 HUD map, I need one." The radio remains silent Kauri huffs to himself "this part of the ship must be emitting radiation as well." He yells to Maize "we are blind, were fallowing you Maize."

"Grate, I love having three smelly men nipping at my tail. Next time Kauri, you go first."

Huston jokes "at least the view isn't bad."

"if you can think about chasing tail in full combat gear you have a stronger imagination then me." Kauri comments. "Dover, what is your condition?"

Dover grabs his helmet and drops it in the tunnel, his fur is bleeding color and he is sweeting bullets "it's about 200* in here and I can't breathe."

"Can you still fire a rifle?" Kauri ask

Weakly Dover nods "sure. You aim for me and I will squeeze the trigger."

Chin blast her flamethrower again keeping the tunnel behind the group clear "Dover, if you die, I'm tacking your bike catalogs from your locker."

"what about my girly magazines?" Dover tries to act optimistic

Chin adds on "I'll take those too."

"check out issue 440 of 'HEAT', it is my favorite, it has an interview in it with editor of 'Bite My Tail' I love that fox."

At the front of the team Maize tacks aim and shoots a full round ahead of her as the lights on her shoulders pick up movement coming from the other end of the service tunnel. "hard left" she calls to the team pointing at a turn in the pipes slightly ahead. Maize crawls past the turn and mounts herself into the ground to keep shooting at the monsters moving in from the other side.

A ten-armed variation of the centaur looking bugs is running at them, Maize lays down fire, the monster seeming only slightly stunned by the gunshots. Dover and Huston take the turn, Kauri stops next to Maize and point his rifle with one arm seeing now what Maize had seen already. The two of them shoot down one to reveal a second behind it.

Chin bumps into the two of them as she is crawling backwards down the tube. "these things sure can suck up rounds, can't they?" Chin complains.

"Maize, fallow Dover and Huston. Chin Trade me" Kauri offers Chin his riffle and takes her torch. Kauri looks down at the fuel gauge noticing that he is out of gas "that didn't last did it?"

Chin and Kauri sit back to back with monsters charging them from two sides "it's a welder not a flamethrower, I jerry rigged the thing." Chin sprays a wave of shells down both tunnels to keep the monsters at bay.

Kauri rolls the empty fuel canister down the tunnel then pulls out his postal. Kauri takes a single shot at the canister rupturing it. Even without gas in the can there is still prepollent and the prepollent being exposed to oxygen forces a defining blast of dark light and a wave of noise.

The monsters are paralyzed by the shockwave, Kauri and Chin chase after the rest of the team being given some breathing room. The tunnels twist and turn becoming ever more foreboding. Dover complains as he is being pushed down the tunnels "Slow down man, help me take off my chest plate. It's just too heavy"

Huston looks at Dover as if he was crazy for a moment but ultimately complies. "you know you are going to get a 'red ticket' for this"

"I don't care. the check is in the mail already." Dover drops his armor on the ground stripping down to his service greens then keeps walking. After being lost in the tunnels for a time they team comes to an exit. The team emerges from the tunnels in what looks to be the medical word. "I didn't know mining ships had such nice labs." Dover comments.

Huston lifts his ears as he looks around the dark lab. Gunfire can be heard echoing from all sides, then the sound of a grenade detonating, then chattering whispers coming from the depths.

Dover falls into a sitting position squeezing his chest struggling to keep breathing. Maize emerges next, Chin and Kauri not long thereafter. Kauri orders "Maize, I need this door charged shut."

Maize digs around in her pouches looking for her shape chargers. Dover's ears twitch as in unnatural whisper shouts in his ear, alien voices call to him in alien dialects. Dover pushes himself to his feet and walks over to Maize "Let me help you with that."

Maize looks at Dover as the two of them start to set up explosives around the tunnels hatch "you aren't licensed to do this."

"there is a lot of stuff I'm not licensed for. Are you going to stop me?"

"Maybe another day"

"Hay, Maize do you remember just before we left for the academy how you and I spent a month out on your grandparent's property?"

Maize nods "yeah, it was you and me; Clair, Victor, and Chris. We wanted to spend the summer searching the coast for sunken treasure." She chuckles thinking about it "or maybe we just wanted to go SCUBA diving."

"yeah, and your baby brother was with us. The night before we were supposed to get on the boat going back to the mainland's, you, me, and Angelo snuck away to go for one more dive. Right after we jumped off the boat you lost your swimsuit..." Dover reminisces

Getting into the memory Maize cuts in "and there was my kid brother with his underwater camera tacking snapshots of my tail, that little scamp."

"then when we got back to land you chased Angelo up and down the beach still naked." Both of them laugh for a moment remember the better parts of their childhood before Dover cuts in "I totally told your brother to do that. We both though it was funny as hell. He mailed me the pictures he took a few days later." Dover uses the distraction to pocket a hand full of charges.

"You told my brother to take a picture of my muffin and send it to you?" Maize can't tell if she is confused, offended or both.

Dover nods "yeah, that was all me."

The explosives go off burning the hatch shut not a moment before bounding on the door alerts the team that their pursuers are still coming.

Something seems to pound on the walls making the room shake. Dover reaches one hand up and holds his own head, he starts to twitch and shake himself like someone might if they were suffering from critical nerve damage. Shadows creep along the walls. Kauri calls for the party to circle.

The ground underfoot crakes, a set of ant like jaws shoot up through the metal floor then quickly disappear ripping apart a large section of lab as it does. Kauri tries to shot at the ant like jaws but it seems to move to fast for him to lock on to. The monster appears again and Maize takes a shot at it. Maize yells back "Hit not confirmed."

Chin calls out "Keep your eyes open everyone."

Kauri taps his radio "Command, can you see anything on your end?" there is no replay. "Radio is still down." He whispers to himself.

Slowly the party walks around each other searching for both a target to shoot at and a escape route from this room. Huston whispers "are you sure the radio is out? I can still hear your transmitter buzzing." Not counting the service hatch there are three doors that go into the lab.

The ghostly whisperers shout at Dover, Dover brings his hands up to his ears and pulls them down trying to block out the unheard sound, shadows crawl on the walls and only Dover seems to be able to see them. Dover brakes formation and run at one of the doors braking it down when he strikes it then he vanishes into the dark.

Kauri shouts "Dover!" in a split decision Kauri brakes formation to chase after Dover, Maize and Chin fallow a second behind, Huston needs a second to catch up. The sting Dover had received seems to be driving him mad, Kauri fallows the light of muzzles flashes and the sounds of gunshots in the deep as he tries to catch up with Dover. A small stack of dead bugs seems to imply that Dover is clearing the party a path.

The gun shots stop, the flashes stop, there is nothing left to chase. Kauri doesn't want to give up, he chooses a direction on instinct to keep fallowing, a grenade explodes somewhere nearby. A shout comes from the back of the group. Huston calls for "Kauri!"

Kauri stops running to look back, Maize and Chin catch up and stop with him. Kauri looks around "Where is Huston?"

Chin looks back down the path they came from "I lost sight of him."

The party turns back to look for Huston, but their search is cut short when they find the hallway behind them as caved in as has seemingly three floor down. For a moment, Kauri start to break down, his hands find the back of his helmet and he shouts incoherently.

Stress effects everyone in one way or another and everyone has their own defenses mechanism, Kauri shout, Chin starts rambling, Maize shutters despair starting to take hold of her thoughts. "what the fuck is going on, what the fuck is going on!" Chin starts to work herself into a rage to keep control of her emotion.

Maize tries to tack charge "we can double back the other way, look for a way around..."

Chin starts to shout "this is shit! We have the best gun and the best armor in the galaxy! And we are getting the shit kicked out of us by a bunch of Cambrian monsters!"

Maize turns to Chin "Keep your cool coyote."

Kauri tries his radio again "Command, do you copy Command..."

Chin barks "there not picking up!"

Maize become impatient "your shouting isn't going to change that Sheman." The remark was meant as a joke, a reference to a book Maize read years ago, clearly Chin doesn't understand.

"You think I don't have ovaries? You don't think I can throw down bitch?" Chin shoves Maize into a wall then puts her hands up ready to start boxing "I am all women under this armor."

Maize pushes herself off the wall and drops into bladed stance waiting for Chin to ruch her "I should have known a coyote..."

"A coyote what?" Chin throw the first punch. Maize steps in to meet the punch forcing them into grappling range with each other.

"Coyotes where the last race to sign the nonaggression pack. Apparently that was for a resin." The two women start rolling on the wall slugging each other.

The fighting comes to a sudden halt when Elion's voice come on over the radios "this... is Command, ...what is your condition?..."

Kauri still aggravated replies "I would say tits up would describe it pretty well. Dover is AWOL, Huston went MIA, and I would say we need an E-VAC SAP. If the court wants this ship back we are going to need more hand, more boot, and more guns" Kauri notices the lag on the radio "what is your condition?"

Chin jokes "I would say F in the B would sums it up"

"Command was attacked..., I needed to place Cormen... in the freezer. I'm not doing grate ether."

Kauri thinks a moment "it is time to regroup, we need to get back to the Salarus and get central on the horn."

Elion agrees "you are absolutely correct, find the nearest Jerry tube and make your way to the hall, I will get us in the air." She freezes a moment looking over the specs "Dawg's transmitter just turned back on." She flips over the switchboard noticing that Dawg's transmitter is on the wrong channel "Dawg. If you can hear me you are broadcasting on channel 00-09-00 that is not a secured line, I need you to reset your radio." The single scrabbles "is his transmitter damaged?"

"LT. can you see anyone else?" Kauri ask

"yeah, Dover and Huston are both transmitting also."

"you don't have a lock on Dover, he discarded his armor after getting stung."

"Dover is moving, I'm going to jack into his net." Elion's finger dance on her keyboard as she types. She locks on to his transmitter to talk to Huston and so she can see out his visor. "Huston, you are outside the communications room on the second deck, I read twenty heat signatures within 7 meters of you." The images on the visor are unclear, there is movement, light, but everything is reading inverted. "Huston, I want you to look to your right. There should be a door there. I want you to open it as soon as your 20 is clear." Huston refuses to comply.

Elion yells "Huston, are you reading me? Do you copy?"

Something moves in front of Huston's visor, A cockroach like monster stands on Huston's chest looking into the armor studding it. The roach opens its mouth reveling a warm like creater parasitically attached to the roof of its mouth. The warm lets go of the roach and jumps at Huston's visor, the signal cuts off.

Elion does not see what happens, but the mirror neurons in her brain peace the rest together in gory detail. Elion's hands find her chest as she imagens the worm breaking the helmet Huston was wearing in half then crawling into his chest using any hole it can find.

Elion sits frozen for a short time before being snapped back into the moment by Kauri

"Command, do you have a lock on the others? Where are we regrouping?"

Elion shakes herself slightly to calm down the looks over maps and schismatic she has of the mining ship "Kauri, turn to face 6, in 515 feet you will see a 'T' intersection you will turn to face 9" the S.M. team starts fallowing Elion's directions, Elion switches to Dawg's channel for a moment "Dawg, you are still on 00 frequency , I need you to reboot then change to channel 700."

The hallways have grown still, scratching and chirping make up a hideous ambient noise, the clanging of metal boots on metal floor echoes like thunder, the clawing behind the walls like rain. Kauri calls back to his team "Remember to sweep 3 before turning to 9."

Elion comes back in "130 feet there will be a hatch at your 3, the number over the hatch will be 4-228-W. if you have opened the right hatch there will be a vertical shaft on the other side of the door."

"And if not?" Kauri ask

"then you opened 4-228-E, and 4-228-W is at your 6." Elion act playful briefly "I will be cutting radio off my radio for a minute, I need to get the bird off the ground. Try not to die will I'm away."

The team finds the door, Kauri jumps into the pipe first and starts to climb, Mazie stands guard for him, Chin waves Maize forward as she then brings up the rear. Growling and hissing can be heard on every deck, the bugs are fighting each other, slime drips from the walls.

At the top of the ladder Kauri tries to push the hatch to the roof open but it seems jammed, he examines the door "Bulkheads are dropped. Maize I need a charger."

Maize pats herself looking for her chargers "out."

"Torch." Kauri request

Chin yells up "I gave it to you."

"Do we have anything that can cut a bulkhead?"

Chin nods "Yeah, how many 76 do you have on you?"

"do you really want me to count them now?"

"is it more than 5?"

"yes."

Chin reaches around Maize and crawls up to get noise to noise with Kauri. Chin places her feet up on Kauri hips for balances as she lies on the wall "turn to face me, place one of your knees on me stomach, I need a flat surface, you are going to need to tuck one of your arms behind your back to stabilize yourself and push yourself against me to pin us both in place."

Kauri complies "this is very uncomfortable."

Chin takes several of the tools form her belt and starts disassembling bullets "Just be happy I'm not a man." Chin then pulls one of the lights off her armor and breaks it apart to get to the wiring inside, Chin cuts the bullets into a flower like shape and weaves the electrical wire through them.

"did they teach you how to do this at the academy?" Kauri inquires.

"no this is how my mom got over the boarder wall." Chin starts to glue the wire of bullets to the ceiling.

"are you unlicensed?" Maize questions

"I am licensed. My mother wasn't. but you know what they say '...everyone that can run jump or swim...' my mom was a clever girl, she showed me how to kick ass and blow shit up. Just in case I ever needed it." Chin moves the last bit of wire down, she twist it around the power cord of her light assembly "now this part is going to really suck. Keep your heads down and fold your ears in if you can."

Chin turns on her contraption, the chain of bullets explodes in organized chaos cracking the lock and the hinges of the bulkhead. Wall the team is still rearing form the blast fingers reach into the door and fling it open, the zombie hyena looks down into the pipe. She reaches in and wraps a hand around Kauri pulling him out of the tunnel.

Kauri topples and rolls along the roof of the ship, the zombie hyena's might unpredictable. The hyena slams the bulkhead shut on Maize and Chin as the two of them struggle to gain their balance, the monster vomits on the door burning it shut. Maize punches at the door trying to open it once more, Maize yells at Chin "Open it!"

Chin crawls over Maize to reach the door "Out of my way fox." Chin starts constructing another I.E.D.

Kauri grunts pushing himself up to a kneeling state. The zombie walks to him, she whispers in a ghastly voice, sexuality oozing from her lips "you don't need to fight me, just let me be inside you."

Kauri reaches for his pistol but the puppet of a hyena is atop him before he has time to take aim. The hyena girl claps her hands over the gun and collapses Kauri wrist making his throw his weapon across the roof. Kauri is forced to adjust his defenses, he throws in uppercut into the zombie's pelvic girdle then pushes off its hip-flexors to push himself into a standing.

"What are you?" Kauri draws his knife from his shoulder holster.

The puppet walks slowly, unintimidated by Kauri's threats "Just another link in the chain of life." Kauri rushes the zombie, he throws out a flurry of slashes at the monster: backhanded slash to the neck, fronthanded slash, backslash across the underbelly, cleave down the noise, stab to the chin.

Claws and teeth grow from every wound sealing them shut as quickly as they are made. The monster brings both arms down atop Kauri knife-hand pilling his arm to her breast. A pair of spider like arms tare from her back and snap around in front of the puppets body to forcible hug Kauri. The monsters mouth drops open and a stinger climbs out of its throat.

Kauri brings up his free hand wrapping it over the eyes of the monster and pulls back on its head to force it to look up. The rooftop hatch blast open again, Maize and Chin jump onto the rooftop. In an instant Maize sees the struggle underway and runs over jumping onto the zombie's back to aid her partner.

The zombie disengages off Kauri chest sending him toppling away, then snaps her spider lags backwards to grab Maize and spike her at the ground. The zombie vomits it's flaming goo onto Maize setting her armor on fire. Maize crawls away discarding her armor as quickly as she can stripping down to nothing more than her government issued undergarments in record time, the heavy metal gear boiling away like sugar in water.

Chin covers Maize by dropping into tripod stance and laying into the beast with her rifle. The monsters skin chips away like paint reveling dozens if not hundreds of insectoid monstrosities intertwined around a hyena skeleton. The bugs pull and stretch at the skin forcing it back into its original shape to the best of their power. Clearly the hyena body is nothing more than armor.

Enraged by Chin the zombie runs at the coyote. Chin tries backhopping to keep away from the zombie but it seems the zombie is unnaturally speedy and dextrose. The beast wraps a hand around Chin's head and hoist her into the air. It snaps it's spider like claws into Chin's arms shattering her armor. Chin screams. The zombie opens its mouth again ready to sting Chin and clam ownership of her body but ends up getting distracted by Kauri.

Kauri finds his pistol and tacks a few shot at the demon before them, quickly the last of his shots are fired. The demon throws Chin's broken body at the ground and turns to face Kauri. This monster is unlike any other, guns don't harm it, they only make it mad, knives are useless, in melee range no one can hope to overpower this thing.

In the blink of an eye the zombie is standing over Kauri again, it slaps him to the ground breaking his helmet apart. "enough fourplay, I want your body." The monster stands over Kauri straddling him. It lowers itself down and places her hands on his chest, slowly its head moves in ever closer sensually, it offer a forceful kiss and grinds it's body lightly before pulling back and summing it's stinger, it clotures stiffening in anticipation. All this, this fighting, this killing, to the zombie this was never a war, this was a mating dance.

Kauri is to tiered to fight, Maize has no weapons and no hope, Chin is to injured to do anything but lay on the ground and bleed. Kauri drops his head back and awaits whatever may come next.

A spotlight fills there vision, the command ship floats down before them, the wings glow and a trail of laser-fire rains down on the mining ship. This is enough to frighten the zombie, she drops Kauri and crawls along the ground ferally. Elion tries to blast the monster chasing after it with the ship 'till the thing jumps down off the side of the ship vanishing into the swamp.

***

Corporal's log

Mission statues: Active

Corporal Dawg: MIA

Report: transmitter signal still firing. Has moved out of range. Inquirer with upper command has been responded to as CLASIFIED.

Privet Howe: KIA

Report: Privet Howe's body was recovered by Bata team alongside Privet Stine.

Details: death by internal bleeding. It has been postulated that Howe and Stine survived the encounter with life form KRAIN possible with the aid of Dawg. Concussive damage to armor resulted in hemorrhaging and eventual death.

Privet Stine: KIA

Report: death via artillery fire

Details: body recovered by Bata team alongside Howe, Stine suffered multiple gunshots to the abdomen, visor was broken and head trauma seems to have occurred. If this was before or after death is unclear.

Privet Dover: MIA/ presumed KIA

Report: Armor was recovered by Bata team. Body has not been found

Details: Under republic law a solders body must be recovered before death is deemed official. A delta team is currently on the surface attempting to find the remains of Dover and Huston. Dover's family has been contacted.

Privet Huston: MIA/ presumed KIA

Report: transmitter data from command ship Morphus suggest that Huston was attacked by unknown life form.

Details: unlike in the case of Dover, Huston's armor was not found on the sight. As the mining ship Natulus is being recovered a hand full of its crew hands have been found with inverted skeletal structures. There are still 44 bodies unaccounted for. It is my fear that Huston has suffered the same fate.

Privet Maize: Active

Report: Maize after recovering from critical epidermal damage has been restored to active duty.

Details: Maize is currently aboard the SOLARUS receiving secondary training in heavy armaments

Privet Churnibog: Medical leave

Report: Chin has been pulled from active duty and is receiving reconstructive surgery.

Details: lifeform KRAIN had broken both of Chin shoulders and seemed to leave behind a corrosive substance that did considerable damage to muscle tissue but slowed bleeding at the same time. Chin is expected to return to active duty.

Lieutenant Corman: UNKNOWN

Report: N/A

Details: N/A

Lieutenant Elion: FOOTLOCKER

Report: According to official channels Elion has been removed from her post for insubordination

Details: unofficial channels tell me that Elion made contact with Dawg 48 hours after Delta team arrived. What happened after that is unclear.

Privet Note: after my encounter with lifeform KRAIN I started suffering from night terror. I will be seeing specialist afforded to me by HQ. I found life form KRAIN terrorizing, yet my thoughts are hunted by what she must have been before the bugs took her, and I want to be with her...

Note from the Author:

_There are a number of both art and writer's blogs that I read on a regular basses. On one blog that I had replied to someone replied to my reply. This individual ended up become somewhat of a friend of mine. One day he tells me that he is a fan of military protocol stories and sites Riddle Scott, Tom Clancy, and Gene Roddenberry as his major influences. So, he ends up asking me after some time if we can write a story together that reads like a military drama starring cute furry characters. I was happy to play along. _

The Wrong Book

Commissioned by night_spore426

** ** Im not a rich man, I never was. I spent most of my twenties working for a day labor compony surrounded by people that don't speak the common tongue of the land. Day labor attracts three tips; kids that don't know what they want from life, forty year old's looking for a fix, and men that can't prove their citizenship. I'm not going to waste our time telling you where I fit in.

But I will say that I got luckier than most. I got in tight with the lady in bookkeeping, she is this tiny girl with amazing feminine features, slender form, small tight breast, and a little bronzed skin, the type you see on girls from the middle east. She is the type of girl that doesn't need to work, no doubt she could find a half way good guy with more dollars then sense to their name to look after her.

Turns out it is her old man that owns the building I work out of, and about fifty more in my neighborhood. I started seeing the bookkeeper socially I'm going to call her Asia, and she changed my life.

Through Asia I met the girl that would become my wife (her idea not mine) I'm going to call her Cassandra. Cassandra works for Asia's old man just like me, but Cassy on the other hand is a high-class privet contractor. Cassy manages a team of environmental service experts (which it took me some time to understand means maintenance and laundry) that's right, she is a maid that makes $75,000 a year. Putting my $15,000 to shame by the way.

I was married to Cassy six months after we met, she payed for everything, a trip to Europe, three days in Cuba, and in outdoor ceremony (she told me I could pay her back latter. Clearly she is joking.)

I still see Asia, but she has pushed me into construction clean up, one step up form day labor, and that is when my life started getting odd. Not much more than a few weeks ago, one of the old man's renters defaulted on his shop. As small shit shop if you ask me, this guy, whoever he was, rented out a four-story office building in let's say the scavy side of town. He nailed shut most of the door and used the main floor as a so called 'antique shop'.

Myself, Asia, Asia's pup Anya and guys from Cassy's team should up the day the cops finished moving the sucker out and we took a look around. The antiquer had a taste for taboo art. If the stuff the cops left behind were any indicator; photographs of horses and dog in all sorts of lewd position. Strange photomorphs of women merged with rats and cats. I can't even imagine how that would have been done pre 1990. But the smell of the place, that is what I couldn't get over. The other clean team guys will tell you...

Old things have a smell, people, have a smell, and dead things have a smell, all of which once you have smelled you will know for the rest of your life. But what I smelled in the antique shop is unlike anything I have smelled before, I can't even tell you what it was like, it wasn't bad, but it was offensive. The only thing I can compare it to is the smell of one's balls after a day of rock-climbing, sorry if that was to colorful, but even that is mild by contrast.

As Asia and the others started spraying down the first floor with an industrial equivalent to Fubries I was given the job of hammering down the doors on the upper floors to see if there was anything worth salvaging. Anya fallowed me. I love that dog, she is a Russian Shepherded, almost 150lbs of love and fur, tan and brown mostly hair long in back, short on top, look it up, she looks just like you are thinking.

After seven or eight hours of digging around in piles of waterlogged wood something finally popped. A box, looks like stone, two feet by two feet by sixteen inches. This thing. It is a treasure chest with a sliding lip cover, almost like sarcophagus. Anya growls at the box, her tail squeezes tight to her underside, almost without a thought my hand finds the latch under the lid of the box and I push it open.

Inside, there is a book bound in snake skin, wrapped in a blanket. I don't know why, I feel compelled to pull the book from its cradle, the book whispers to me, it tells me "I know you are filled with lust. I know you know you should be happy with your life. But something is missing. Let me give you everything you never knew that you wanted."

Footsteps echo behind me, Asia calls my name, Anya barks at me. I don't heir any of it. All I can here is the book whispering. "slide your fingers softly over my pages, peal my cover open, expose my secrets and they are yours."

I am enchanted, I can do nothing short of fallow the books lead. I open the book, light spills from the pages with such force it blinds me, moans and cries fill the air. As white fades to black then black to color I find I am on my back, there is a weight on my chest. Anya runs her tongue up my cheek. Then into my mouth.

In confused laughter, I try to push Anya off of me, only to find long strong werewolf claws around my biceps. Am about to scream when Asia's voice leaves Anya's body "don't you want this?" the beast atop me is not Asia or Anya, it is both, But this shape, something about it... It is hard to explain, all Asia's best features are in the monster, if not better. Her breast are the size of a wine glass, with two extra pairs of teats in her stomach. Her hips have widened taking away her childish appeal and giving her motherly qualities to her shape. I have never slept with Asia, I want to say that now, she and I just aren't there, I never would have thought that we would be.

But it seems Asia has other plans now. She pushes off my bottoms and slides herself up my body sitting on my pelvis. Was Anya in heat? I of course didn't look under her tail to find out, why would I? Anya or Asia or whatever, her body is soft and inviting, her alien shaped lips part smoothly for me whipping thick sticky oil off on my lags as she movies into position.

The book speaks to my mind. "isn't this nice? Don't you want more?"

The book is right, I don't even think that I wanted to have sex but all of the sudden, my senses are sharpening, I can taste the blood of this animal in the air, I want it! It seems she also knows I want her. The werewolf opens her jaws, her fangs find my neck and softly she applies pressure. My hands find her tail, I pull forward on her suddenly finding myself wrapped in her warmth. She growls as do I, she pants and barks, her excitement grows.

That smell, the one I couldn't place, I smell it again, it is coming from Anya. I don't know how, I don't know why, but I know what it is now, ovum, I can smell the eggs in Anya's body. Anya's claws find my chest, I am twitching and shaking in her, my tension is mounting. 'I want her eggs' I recall thinking. I feel she somehow knows that is what I am thinking. Her weight drops on me holding me in her, I can feel her womb, she giggles girlishly, her lips squeeze her vulva pulls, I can't stop myself from spraying in her. Anya's head drops onto my shoulder, she bites me to stop herself from squealing. I have never felt better then I did right there, in that moment, in that monster that was both Asia and Anya.

Once I have regained my wits it dawns on me that is it dusk. I pick up Anya, and the book. I don't know what I have done, but I know I need to do something. Anya is asleep, even if I was only in her for two or three minutes I guess she enjoyed it. I drive Asia's car back home. I hide Asia, still as Anya in the office in the basement of my house.

I don't know what I am going to tell Cassy when she sees Asia's car but no Asia. My senses are strong, I can heir Cassy, smell Cassy a block away, I can heir mice in the walls of my house, I can smell their heat. Cassy is walking up to the door, her keys ringing, her heals clicking. The book whispers to me "expose my secrets and they are yours."

Cassy is unlocking the door, my hands are around the book already, the mice in the walls scratch and moan endingly, what I have done, what I am thinking about doing, what will happen the next time I open the book?

As if drunk off the power that I now know that I weald I smirk finds my lips, my hands sweet as a clench my grip on the book ever tighter. The door before me opens, there she is, Cassy, her blond beehive hair, lanky Scandinavian form, crevasses hips and milk-tanks that look like honeydew. she is dressed in all white as she typically is after work; a ruffled silk blouse, laird skirt, tube socks and flat-bottomed shoes. This is in opposition to the men under her that she orders into boiler suits. Cassy is better than them and she is not afraid to let them know it.

In her right hand Cassy is holding a set of keys; the key to the house is pinched in-between her pointer and thumb, bangling below that is the key to her muscle car, on a second ring can be found the keys to her office and a chain with a doll of a cartoon cat she found in France. I her left hand is a plastic bag with the logo on it from our local taco house. The smell of grilled onion is thick on her.

Cassy throws the bag at me with an intoxicating smile. "Anything fun happen today?"

I tell her how I 'flipped a property' I left out the part about finding a magic book.

"I see Asia is here, should I go get some more tacos?"

Cassy doesn't expect a thing. I am twitching in anticipation already. 'no,' I explain 'the drive from here to her office is shorter than the drive home, she needs to be back at work early. She is asleep in the guest room.' Most of that is true, Cassy believes me.

We step into the den together, we have a dining room but Cassy only likes to eat here with her friends, Im just as happy in the TV room myself. I watch Cassy as we eat, somehow, she doesn't notice the book sitting on my lap as we eat, that or she doesn't care. I hear Anya whimper in the basement as she awakens. Cassy seems not to.

Cassy gets up to go wash up, I can't wait any longer. I need to try the book again! Slyly I stand up, I hold the book out and with both hands I pull it open, my head turned away from the light. Having evaded the flash this time I get to watch as the book takes effect.

One of the mice in our walls gets pulled across the room and into Cassy's hands, the mouse then turns to light and get sucked into her breast, Cassy shrinks about a foot and a half, white fur covers her body, her eyes turn red, her feet ark, she grows claws, a long fleshy tail, four extra teats under her meaty breast, whiskers and fangs. Her clothing dangles loosely from her now much smaller body,

Cassy looks at me, her noise twitches, she is confused, she shrinks away from me docilly. I can smell the lust in the air as I grab Cassy by the cheek, she doesn't fight me, she doesn't complain, she doesn't ask why, she remains silent. I lead Cassy upstairs to our room. I feel in animalistic growl bubble in my chest. Cassy stand before me shacking, waiting for me to tell her what to do.

I fail to close the bedroom door, fail to turn on the lights, I'm just to existed to think. Both my hands find Cassy's muzzle and I plant a kiss on her typing her head upwards. Cassy opens her mouth and lets our tongues touch. Once she understands what I want she starts kissing fervently. This gives me the opportunity to push down her skirt, then drop her blouse from her body. Cassy has never been so ready to fallow my lead.

With her close off, Cassy grabs me by the belt and walks backwards falling onto the bed. She rolls onto her stomach and pulls her legs into her chest, her tail flags off to one side as she shows off her womanhood to me. Such a rosy pink, glowing greasily from the slight illumination from the hallway, her vulva parted letting me look into her depths. I know Cassy, I know how she acts when she is horny, this isn't it. The book, it knows my wants, it changes people to make them act the way I dream of them acting.

I don't want to wait any longer, Cassy's tail is up, I want in. I push down my pants eagerly, I take Cassy by the hips and I line her up with me. I slide my manhood into Cassy's waiting body, she is smaller, tighter than ever. Her body pinches me, holding me in. her tail ties itself around me.

My hands caress through Cassy's fur, I feel her breast and her teats as I start making love to her. Cassy starts dripping a hot jell from her vulva, as it cools it becomes elasticy, holding me, forcing me to push in deeper, then hold me there once I give in. Cassy never makes a sound, her arms fold under her chin and her moth hangs open as if trying to screem but she never does.

With glue gripping from Cassy's neither region I come to find after some time that I can no longer thrust in her but instead end up wiggling about, I find the sources of the glue also as it seems I am being held up against her cervical door tickling it, prodding it. Only now with orgasm in sight does Cassy make a sound and it is the softest sweetest squeak you could hope to hear.

I can't hold out, five maybe ten minutes in Cassy and I find myself having one of the hardest ejaculations of my life, one hard spray which I can feel get sucked into Cassy's womb, then two softer ones which paint her cervices.

I slomp forward onto Cassy, we both melt onto the bed, it takes about twenty something minutes before I feel the glue holding us together start to drip away. I'm ready to get started again, and it seems Cassy is to as she bounces her hips slightly when she feels me sliding out of her but she slides too far forward and I end up falling out, he glues still around her lips pulls them shut and seals off her vulva. Some sort of a mating device of mice I assume, some way to make sure that once their lover has sprayed in them that the juice stays in long enough to do its job.

With a mildly disappointed look on her face Cassy curls into a ball and falls asleep. Me on the other hand, actualization starts to take hold. I have transformed two of my friends into animals, and mindlessly I have had sex with both of them. Not yet even thinking about the possibility that I could have knocked them both up I start to think, how do I turn them back? What happens when they change back? Can they change back?

There is only one way to get answers. I lock all the doors to my house and close all the blinds. I pick up the book and try to flip it open. The book resist, I slide my fingers under the lip and with grate force pull at the cover, the book refuses. I curse at the book; the book tells me "Im not in the mood right now."

Fear, anger, frustration. A whole gambit of other emotions run though me. The book taunts me "what do you want anyway?"

"Change my friends back."

"no."

"why not?"

"I like them more this way?"

"I don't"

"What A lie. Hear me hot stuff, just do what I tell you and I will give you everything you could ever want, And right now what I want is more girls. Now be a good boy, go pick up the phone and order us up some room service." The book is laughing at me, and my hand is reaching for the old touch tone phone on the wall.

I look at the presets I have listed on the index card, the fist number is 'Cassandra's Cook Clean and Home Maintenance Service' the second is 'West Meadow Animal Clinic and Rescue' I don't know if it is me or the book but one finger is outstretched and starting to dial.

I slam down the phone. I'm not going to drag anyone else into this twisted dream. The evil book shouts at me. "Are you actually thinking about fighting me little dog? Do you somehow think getting you off is the limit of what I can do? I have been playing nice so far, but if you are going to act like a fool you just wait and see what comes up next."

The book has never been so loud and clear with me, this is no whisper, no passing sensation, this is clear as day, the book shouting. I feel like a lunatic as I stand over the book and point at it "I want you to put my girlfriend, her coworker and dog back where you found them, do you got that!"

The book goes silent for a few short moments then starts bellowing back "Hell No little dog! There asses now belong to me! And so, does yours you dammed fool! Now stop wasting time and bring me more girl."

I pick up the evil book shacking it angrily "now you listen here you..."

The book cuts me off "No! you listen dumbshit. Your friend's souls are mine. You go ahead and keep their bodies, the rest I'm keeping. Now if you want to keep up this foolishness go head and stick your head in the kitchen and see what is waiting for you."

I can't help but wonder what the book is alluring to I look into the kitchen and there I see something I could never have imaged, a fifty-foot man eating viper stretched out on my floor. I jump back in surprise, this thing I see can't be, vipers can't live in a climate this cold.

The book cackles at me darkly. I pull the kitchen door shut and rest my back on it shocked. The book is laughing "what you going to do now little dog?"

I point at the book "Ill tell you what I am going to do. I'm going to call animal control."

"Go right ahead." The book smirks "but maybe you should get the front door first." Steam starts to spray from the heater in the living-room, condensation gathers on the walls and windows transforming my front room into a jungle.

The doorbell rings. I run to the door. I open it reviling Lidia from work behind the door, she is a fifteen-year-old school girl, she joined the union under a student apprenticeship program. She is dressed in her work uniform, a boiler suit and tool belt. "You called me boss" she flicks her long yellow hair form her eyes as she greet me.

"NO!" I bark. I didn't call, I didn't call anyone. Did I?

The snake has come into the font room, it slides past me inching ever closer. The book contest "you are going to invite that girl in here or that snake is going to fuck then kill both of you."

I turn and yell "Shut up book! I know what...!"

The book cuts me off again "think hard little dog, think hard about what you are about to say."

The snake is drooling, it is arced along the lintel of the door. It is looking down at me waiting for me to close the door, as soon as I do it will drop onto me and... I don't want to think about what happens next.

Lidia is looking at me one side of her lip slightly curled in confusion as I must be visible aggravated. Schizophrenically I turn my fear and anger into a cartoonish smile "Come on in Lidia, do you like hot chocolate?"

Lidia stares for an uncomfortably long time "did you just tell a book to stop talking?"

The snake slides away hiding somewhere in the house. I fail to address the question at hand instead continuing my own thought "I love hot chocolate."

Lidia produces her phone "If there is someone in your house with you just nod your head and I will call my brother. He is a detective, he will be here in 3 minutes or less to take care of them."

"I have had a very strange day." I sidestep waving Lidia in. Lidia apprehensively steps in.

I take Lidia into the kitchen. The book seems satisfied. I open one of the cabinets to look of a block of Spanish chocolate, an octopus holds a box down to me. I take it laughing madly, Lidia seems to fail to see the monster in my pantry.

Lidia tries to make small talk as I prep the drinks "it is hot as hell in here you know that, right?" she unzips her top and pushes it down.

"I have a demon book holding me prisoner." I try to explain. As a distraction in owl headbutts the window over the sink. "I mean, there is a monster in my Livingroom." The snake peeks its head out from behind the freezer. "I mean, I turned my wife into a rat." A bear appears on the patio. "do you prefer milk or cream?"

The book is clearly letting me know that it owns me at this point. If I try to run, try to fight it will hurt me. It can call animals into being from anywhere at any time. What the hell does it need me for anyway?

The book yells at me from the next room "What are you waiting for. Wish for the girl and let me work my magic!"

Lidia jumps up suddenly aware of the animals gathering around and the demon book in the next room. Lidia pulls out her phone, her phone gets pulled from her grip by an unseen hand. The doors in the room start to open and shut sporadically, lights flicker, the room starts to fill with bats the book drops form the ceiling onto the table.

Lidia looks at me terror gathering in her eyes. Invisible hands grab Lidia and hoist her into the air stretching her limbs. The book mandates "tell me what you want little dog."

"this is maddness! What do you want!" I command.

"I want you to make a wish before I make one for you." The book has grown eyes and a mouth, it is no longer even trying to hide what it is from me.

"Do you know how old she is? She is only a child!"

"and why should you care about that? The is subjective at best. What is objective on the other hand is that she has compatible parts we can use."

I have no chose in this, I have to do what the book wants. I try to think, try to remember what I had done the last two times. I place a hand on the book pull open the pages. The book cackles "you know just how to touch a book don't you?"

There is a flash of light and a thunders crash. When open my eyes, Lidia has become a part of the snake. Her head, shoulders, and torso all remain her-own, everything form hip level down has become the snake with a brief few inches of stomach that are flesh toned scales.

I whisper to myself upset "I'm going to burn for this."

"burn?" the book seems to ask "how unimaginative."

Lidia's eye glow golden, she smiles predatorily. One of her hands grips the table between us, she flips the table smashing it to peace's against the wall alongside us. She lowers her torso and wiggles her tail hypnotically.

I throw my hands in the air and run away, arms flailing like soggy spaghetti in the wind. Lidia chases. She fallows me out of the house and in to the back yard. Outrunning a lamia is a hopeless endeavor, she leaps forty feet easily overtaking me once we are outside. A hand pinches around my trachea, in a single swift move the monster that was Lidia lifts me ten feet in the air then throws me at the ground.

Every bit of energy that I thought I had is robbed of me. The snake coils around my lower body, she lowers her head to get to eye level with me. Lidia hisses, rolling her torso across mine as she sizes me up. I can't struggle, falling ten feet onto ones' back is painful, being thrown at the ground is a lot more like a thirty-foot drop, and at that speed the differences between grass and gravel becomes travel.

The Lamia grips me by the caller and pulls off in either direction, her strength is supernatural, she shreds my shirt as if it had been made of paper. Her head snaps down to my breast as she sinks her teeth into my abdomen. Lidia jiggles side to side drunk off my blood on the other hand I cry out in mortal agony.

As the snake licks the blood from my arm and neck the scales along her pelvis part softly reveling a hole about for inches in diameter. Her tail slips into the waistband of pants, she forces my pants down.

Mightily she drops her weight atop me, my cock being slide into her generous hole, the lamia makes her body tight quickly finding the right amount of tension to start to tug me off. I get no say in what is going on. I lay stunned under Lidia, she forcible rolls on me. After serval minutes sliding around in her soggy opining, I find the power to reach around Lidia and hold her by the tail. I find myself crying in pleasure as I hold her tail, she milks me till I faint. Maybe longer.

** I wake up, I'm somehow in Lidia's car. Lidia still as the snake is rolled into a ball in the back seat, her tail hole having sealed up but my cream still marking where her opining is. I feel panic welling up in me again. I just got fucked by a fifteen-year-old, that can't be good. There is only one thing I can think to do. I will drive Lidia home then walk back to my place then...then...**

** Alright, I have no plan after dropping off Lidia. I run back in side, I find her jumpsuit and keys in my kitchen. I run back out to the car and I start to drive. I have been to Lidia's house once. I mostly remember the way there.**

** I am nervous, I drive recklessly. That doesn't go unnoticed. I am only a few miles from my house when I start getting fallowed. It is dark, I can't see who is fallowing me but I think I know already. I am in the car of a girl from a family with a cop in it. If I am driving half as bad as I think I am there is no doubt in my mind it is Lidia's brother behind me.**

Red and blue lights flash in my rear-view window. I do what is right, I pull over. There is chuckling in the set alongside me. The book, the evil book is sitting in the set next to me. There is no escaping that unholy thing. Everywhere I go it fallows me. I turn in my set and push my body to the door. The book giggles at me, it knows I am frightened, the book seems to be getting off on my fear.

** There is a tap on the glass, I turn in a sharp jump to look out the other window. There are two cops walking around the car, a man and a woman, both dressed in tactical gear. Past the lights, I can catch a glimpse of their nametags the man is named Geovanni the women Gray. My mind jumps back and forth as do my eyes,**

The women comes around to the driver side. She taps the glass, I roll down the window to greet the officer, she shines me with her flashlight, her face hidden by the light. The cop called Gray addresses me "how are we feeling today?"

** "A-little stressed out to be honest."**

** The book can't stop rolling around balling "Are you a 'fan of the Man' little dog?"**

** The officer Geovanni flashes his light into the back seat. He must see the monster in my back seat. There is no way he hasn't. Geovanni mumbles something, the two cops talk back and forth between each other.**

** Gray lowers her head to speak to me again "Can I see your I.D. please?"**

** I dig around in my pockets looking for my wallet. The snake in the back seat springs into a sitting position. The book laughs opining itself, light sprays out of the car. The behavior of the book changes, it seems to no longer need me. Geovanni punches through the door of the passenger side now in the shape of a fox, Gray reaches thought the window, now as a giant raccoon.**

** I scream, I put the car in drive and run away. The creature that was Lidia reaches over the seat teasing me. The book hackles. I speed off into the night. My heart is pounding, I feel lost. I turn left, then right, I see fog rising from the road.**

** The book mocks me "you shouldn't have ran little dog. We could have had a lot of fun with those two."**

** "This game has gone far enough. You can't just turn people into monster" I protest**

** "and what are you going to do about it?" The book retorts.**

I spot a sign on the road. Lake st. and Calhoun. I'm a block from 'Lake of the Isles' I can throw the book in the lake. Maybe that will stop the madness. I pull over and grab the book. I jump out of the car and lock Lidia in. I run to the waterfront and pull the book back ready to throw the unholy thing into the water.

** It comes to my attention far too late that the monsters that are all around me are still just as smart as they were before there transformation. The raccoon Gray, the fox Geovanni, and the snake Lidia are all around me. I try to throw the book away. The book offers one more tease as I do "Not going to work Little dog."**

** The book opens up mid throw. Light pours out, the monsters start to get sucked away, and I do as well. The book sucks me in. when the light fades away I am in some sort of animated negative version of my own world. I am surrounded by animals with hungry eyes.**

***

** The book falls to the ground complaining "well shit. Now I need to find a new host. Why oh, why do people keep running away from me?" the book has barely had time to finish that though before a pair of shoes comes into sight, someone is moving towards where the book has fallen "Fresh fish." The book thinks aloud.**

Night-spore is an fellow author (to my understanding) that lives oversees, he contacted me saying "I have a great idea for a story... but I don't know how to get started" he asked me to help him write an intro chapter. I have offered this service a number of times in the past. Typically I offer 1600 words no charge, he continuously malled me asking for help with 'just one more page' before long we had a 25 page short story.

Evil Book 2

Antiquing, in the upper middle class is as good of a way as any other to prove your stripes. Parma, and Artus Mus are siblings, brother and sister to be particular. Parma is the elder by 10 months, He and his sister have a strong relationship, some even describe it as in unhealthy one. They went to the same school. Took the same classes, when Parma moved out to start college Artus fell into a sickening depression for the sevral months before she could fallow.

Parma spent 6 years studying to become a laboratory technician, Artus had hoped to do the same but ended up fallowing a different path instead find she had a knack for veterinary medicine. The two of them found work in the town of La-sur, bought a house together not long after.

Parma tries to act the way a young sexy 'doctor' should act, bringing home girls regularly, he has a new live in roommate every 18 months, but Artus is his true love and there is nothing he can do to hide that.

Artus has a passion for trying to look good in front of her community, to that end the sibling spend their Saturdays in the summer searching for craft show, estate sales and a fleet stores looking for anything that looks old and valuable to dress up their din.

As the par dig around on a table of collectables for sale at a craft sale in st. Peter, the next city over from La-sur, Artus holds up an egg-shaped glass doll "what's this thing?"

"Matryoshka" Parma explains.

"it worth anything you think?"

"$20-$40" Parma shrugs as he shifts around some knitted blankets.

"looks like a mouse, I like it." Artus giggles.

Parma brings one hand up and tugs on one ear hearing an irritating sound mumbling nearby. Parma turns his head searching for the sources of the sound. The noise draws him to a book shelf housing a few dozen leather bound books with gold trimming. When he puts his hand on a particularly tattered looking book wedged between a par that are in shockingly good shape the noise stops abruptly.

The tattered book has sun spots on the cover, water damage on the spine, and a sweat-and-sours stink resonating from it. There seems to be no title, but sometimes older books simply don't have the title on the cover. Parma is about to open the old book to take a peek at the cover page when Artus yells over to him, "look, a bronze backed mirror." Parma tucks the old book under his arm fallowing his sister.

Parma rubs his eyes dizzily after they have been walking around for some time, a whisper in his mind cohering him, pushing him towards unsavory thoughts 'long, thick, platinum hair, concaved stomach, tight ass. You sure that is your sister marshmallow? God she has a nice backside, breast a little to high and tight for my taste but the rest looks fine'

Artus notices Parma staring at her as she is leaning over a box of stuffed toys, she places her feet slightly apart and wiggles her hips teasingly "something wrong doctor?" she smiles looking over her shoulder at her brother.

"I think I need a drink, grab that mirror, and that wall scroll and let's call it a day." Parma rubs his eyes and hisses clearly experiencing some level of discomfort.

Artus stands up straight approaching Parma concern heavy on her face, "hand me the keys, I'll drive us back." Parma nods hand over the keys to their truck. "oh, I also like that short bow. I think I will get that also."

The trip home is short and sweat, their house is one of the nicer homes on their block, on one end of their street is a church, on the other is a school, the house is on a hill, the church at the dale, the school on the crest. Artus is the type of person that can't help but bring her work home with her, the whole second story of their home is filled with cages and animals of all sorts that she has rescued, mice, rats, crows, cats, dogs, even a hand full of exotic reptiles.

As the two of them inter the house Parma's current partner is asleep on the Livingroom floor, she is a younger girl named Junny Elray, Jun for short, Parma picked her up at a barista. Jun is a poet, she is struggling like so many others to find real work in the field she loves, truth being what it is the two of them find themselves in a relationship of conveniences. Jun needs a place to live, Parma provides that, and in return Parma gets a girl 7 years younger than him to mess around with, Jun gets to tell her friends she is with an older man that takes care of her, Parma gets to bost to his friends that he scored an artist. In the end, not that bad of a deal for anyone, and strange as it is seeing that Parma was honest about what was going on with Artus, Artus is just fine with the circumstances as well.

Artus takes Parma upstairs to get showered and relax, whispering echoes in the back of Parma's mind bringing him some amount of pain 'will you look at that, your sister has all sorts of fun stuff up hear marshmallow, I'm going to have all sorts of fun here.'

Parma looks about trying to find the source of the whispers "Artus, is there someone here outside of us?"

"Jun." Artus looks confused.

"no, I thought I heard someone else, an older woman maybe."

Artus shacks her head "you don't look good at all, take a shower and lay down."

Parma nods thinking about it. "I hear cats can transmit parasitic infections to humans. I hope I didn't contract Purple-eyed Broodsack from one of your cats."

Artus chuckles slapping Parma on the rump, "you work in a chim-lab, you are just as likely to have caught Rynfields Disorder from one of your co-workers."

Parma steps into the bathroom, he wipes sweat from his face then steps into the shower. The disembodied voice that had been fallowing him since the craft show nearly shouts at Parma 'Are you really going to keep ignoring me?! You are starting to piss me off.'

"Who are you? Where are you?" Parma start to become distraught

'Thank you marshmallow, but you don't need to talk out load, if you just think in my direction I can hear you. My name is Evee, I am a Shikigami, and I am here to bring your dreams to life.'

Parma whispers "Like some kind of jinn?"

'something like that.' Evee whispers to Parma.

Parma smile somewhat interested by the prepossession "ok Shikigami what are the rules to this game? what does it cost? What do I get? And what do you get?"

Evee, laughs hideously 'Finally, someone that gets me.' There is a short pause as Evee seem to think about it 'there are a lot of things I can do, but creating something from nothing is not amongst them, you tell me you want something, I need to go out and find it, or make it from whatever is laying around. I am a creature of the night, that is not to say I can't walk around in the day, clearly, I am here talking to you right now, but at night I am stronger. I am a transmuter, that should tell you a lot right there. I am here looking to have fun, if whatever you say sounds fun I will play along, if not, you are going to have a bad time.'

"Transmuter? I don't understand." Parma expresses

'I turn things into other things, I can also manipulate thoughts and invade dreams.'

Parma's eyes almost burn with greed, "Ok Evee, show me how it works."

Evee shrieks in laughter 'this is going to be the most fun I have had yet.'

Parma falls over in crippling pain, his hand twist into claws, he shrinks to about a third his height, a long thick prehensile tail springs from his tailbone, knees invert, fangs grow out fallowed by whiskers and a sharp snout. Parma crawls out of the shower and pulls himself up onto the sink to look at himself in a desperate attempt to piece together what has happened. Parma strikes the mist form the mirror to reveal he has become a monster that is something between a man and a kangaroo rat, pouch included.

Parma has barely begun to process what has transpired before the bathroom door opens, Artus crawls on all fours into the bathroom in a matching rat like shape, her eyes wide and clouded. Parma jumps down to meet with Artus, it not yet registering with him that they are both nude and no longer human. "I,...I don't know what I just did." Parma explains.

Artus fail to replay, her eyes lock with her brothers as she places both hands on his chest pushing Parma over. Evee continues laughing, her laughter becoming evermoor hysterical. Artus crawls forth standing over Parma, her slick body rubs across his, one of her hands slides down his body gripping him by the crouch.

Parma cannot resist his sisters advance, he doesn't even try. A bestial lust overtakes the two of them, Parma's hands find Artus back, he holds her to his body, once Artus has forced Parma into her body everything else fades into a black out, only the need for lust remaining.

(section 2)

Parma is shocked awake, how much time has passed is unclear, the fog has cleared from his mind, as has his monstrous mutation melted. Artus on the other hand seems to be missing. As if jolted awake by night-terror Parma spins about collecting his surroundings. He is on the bathroom floor, the shower still on, running cold. Parma jumps to his feet shouting "Artus!"

Ice crackles spreading sharply across the mirror of the bathroom, Parma cries out for his sister two more times before the mirror yells at him. "Bite your tongue marshmallow, unless you are looking for a fight. Artus is fine, she is with me in the book."

Through the spreading ice a face forms in the mirror: a hauntingly Stunning, vaguely human, grotesque vestige, discreetly feminine, pearl white skin, eyes sown shut, hair replaced with hooks and chains flung back from the scalp, an empty slit running down the neck giving the only sign of color, a bright pink gash against sliver white backing, its lips black like coagulated blood.

Parma locks eyes with the monster in the mirror, the mirror orders him "go down stairs, grab my book, I want Jun next. Pick one of your sister's animals and I will turn the two of them into a striking forbidden pleasure for you."

Parma's mouth drapes open as he gazes on the inhuman creature "I can see you."

"I coming, becoming more like what you are, coming closer to your world."

"for what purpose? What are you after?"

"What do you care Marshmallow? You benefit all the same."

In a half-intoxicated state Jun stumbles up the steps having heard Parma yelling. "Parma? Everything good?" Jun notices the Ice, she is shocked into alertness. Jun catches the smallest glimpse of the monster under glass. Jun turns to flee, Evee notices.

Evee shouts at Parma "Get the book, bring me Jun." Parma enticed by the prospect of power Evee is offering turns to face where Jun had just run from and lays chase.

Jun rushes down the steps and to the front door. The door locks itself, Evee giggles, excited by the game they are playing. Jun rounds the corner making her way across the kitchen, she scoops up a mop as she runs sliding it under her arm as a bo-staff. Parma catches up shortly.

Jun tries to open the back door with the same results as before, the door locks itself. "Jun, wait!" Parma calls. Jun thrust out with the mop jabbing Parma forcing him to buckle forward, she then sidesteps in and swings down braking the mop over his back.

Evee whispers with Parma "just tell me what you want from this scrappy dog and I will make it happen."

Parma sits up, darkness finding his eyes, the promise of power boiling his blood. "what is a god idea, I think my sister has a wolf puppy, use it." Light flashes, the book on the table snaps open flooding the floor with magic.

Jun picks up a folding chair from the front room in preparation of punching out a window. The magic dust filling the room loosens her grip, her eyes widen as the chair drops, her will to fight robbed from her. Apatheism overrides all other feelings, Jun's head tips back, her jaw stretches, white fur covers her body, her arms and legs stretch, growing new joints and muscular structure, her clothing peals away from her body. Merely moments after the light fades Jun is gone and a monstrous shewolf out of Norse mythology has replaced her. Seven feet tall, hunched forth onto all fours, hands and feet wider then a human chest, hooked teeth two inches long each. Her clothing stretched and ripped in ways that make it functionally useless

Evee cackles "here you go marshmallow, your own personal wolf bitch. Anything else I can do for you right away?" Parma approaches wolf Jun. he walks around her looking her up and down. Under her white fur her skin has turned a coal black, her eyes retain their human expressism. Jun stands still in a blank state, her mind still rebooting after the shock of her transformation. "Go ahead, tell her to do something."

Parma shacks he head "this is so wrong."

Evee snarls "you are already balls deep in this, Don't you dare go soft! You have power, use it!"

Parma starts to complain "But..."

Evee cut him off before he can finish a thought "It's only skin."

Parma's mind is warped, his thoughts twisted, Evee invades Parma's lower brain pulling at his most beastly nature "Jun," Parma orders "stick up your tail. I want to take a peek."

Jun recognizes the voice, she must comply. Jun lays forth, her hind quarters extend and her tail lifts sticking her ass end in the air, her head turns and ears drop as she watches Parma. Parma sets a hand on Jun's back petting down her back and up her tail, his head lowers as he looks at her underside, quickly his hand moves from her tail to her underbelly, then his hand wraps around her spade shaped lips.

A tiny drop of fluid forms at the tear of Jun's lips. Parma moves both hands onto Jun's hips, he rubs up and down her sides, his hands ruffling up her course white fur. Jun's tail falls off to one side flagging, her mouth slides slightly open letting the tip of her tongue leave her muzzle, her eyes widen with a soft wine. Jun can taste the lust on Parma's body, the lust infects her.

Jun jurks her hips from side to side rubbing Parma off on her, Parma allows his unit to be slid into Jun. Parma gasp as Jun's lips squeeze down, Jun starts bobbing her hips up and down forcing Parma to play with her fast and harshly.

Parma grips Jun by the hips holding her back against him, he gives her what she demands, Parma pushes hard into Jun then starts giving her quick strokes. Jun can't take the pleaser for long. After only slightly over five minutes of being played with Jun has a sticky spray of feminine juice onto Parma, Parma falls forward onto Jun's back and empties his love into her body in return. Jun collapses overwhelmed.

As Parma is recovering the book slams closed, Jun vanishes drawn into the books pages. Parma rolls onto his side, a stinging pain pushing throw is body. He growls and barks rolling around on the floor. Parma's body is molded by Evee, Parma grows younger, thinner, his hair darkens, his eyes become hypnotic. Parma jumps into the shape of a wolf momentarily, then a rat, then back to himself before the pain stops.

Evee is no longer just in Parma's mind, she is now in his body as well, ever time Parma calls on her a peace of him will vanish and a peace of her will replace him. The possession has begun. Once half Parma's body belongs to her, Evee can kill of her host and be brought fully into this world unhindered.

"Parma, my love." Evee whispers, "how may I pleasure you next?"

(section 3 start)

Parma locks himself in his apartment, he bars the doors, he pushes furniture pushed before the windows. He knows something is wrong, something horrifyingly wrong. But wood and locks are of little good, the demon is not attacking him from without, he is being attack from within. As the night falls Parma becomes ever more bestial. A hunger for flesh drives Parma to call on unholy power and smash down the walls of his home. Parma runs off into the night searching for that which will satisfy his hunger.

Parma runs for miles, touched by moonlight, he falls onto all fours running like a feral monster. Parma's hands become claws, her feet paws, his arms and legs act as springs lunching him half a dozen yards with each bound. Parma's eyes burns with starlight, his noise twitches guiding him through the darkness.

A fairground lures Parma in, the scent of barnyard beast inspiring ecstasy. Now outwardly more monster then man Parma brakes into a display building, walls of cattle are lined up. Parma in savage greed starts sticking his noise against the tails of sheep, horses and cows alike filling himself with all-consuming yearning for flesh. He considers reliving himself on a nameless beast but Evee stops him. "save your energy, a cow soul trades for so little. Find a woman first, then you can have your mare."

Embraced by the umbral Parma crouches in the dark, his eyes lights shimmering in shadow. Parma isin't kept waiting long. A girl with sand yellow hair steps into the barn building, she is dressed in skinny jeans, and an orange knotted blouse, she has a fedora cast out of rawhide and matching high-topped boots, the lanyard around her neck has her photo and name, A.J.

Parma's blood runs hot, he pants in exhilaration at the young flesh that has walked into sight. "Evee, I want the cow girl." Wolfishly Parma whispers.

Evee snickers "how would you like her?"

Parma looks about then locks eyes with a sheep, "like that." He points

"you, filthy wolf. I like it."

The panting, wheezing and mumbling of the wolf-best hidden in the corner of the room does catch AJ's attention. AJ is a rough and tumble girl, she had grown up in Arkansas with four brothers, that being what it is she learned how to look after herself. AJ took boxing classes in school, and after graduation she got a hunting rifle and a six-shooter, she learned how to use them as well. Aj never leaves the house without a hunting knife and her six-shooter.

AJ approaches the sounds of whispering, one hand on her hip holding her gun, the other she grips a tactical flashlight in. AJ looks over a dividing wall, kneeling down she spots a monster that is something between a giant and a wild dog, Parma is laid forward onto all fours, unsheathed and playing with himself driven half way to madness by the scent of sexuality.

Truth be told AJ can hardly comprehend what she is seeing, as wise man once said, "under stress no one rises to the occasion, everyone falls to training." In one fluid move AJ pulls her gun, tucks her flashlight beneath it, and shoots the monster before her three times with the gun tucked under her breast to compensate for short range shooting. Three shots fired, three hits to the chest. Parma falls onto his back.

Evee shouts angrily, her voice echoing in from all sides, "Parma you weakling. It's only a scratch, get up and lets fuck this cowgirl." Wind howls, loose piles of tools lift off the walls and fly before the exits forging walls of blades that one would need to contest in order to reach the outside. Pins brake open and thunder roars frightening the livestock.

AJ pulls from her back pocket a phone in order to try to call for help, unsure what can or should be done to stave off such an otherworldly abomination. Evee will have no of it, consumed by wraith Evee starts to materialize in a physical form. But even powered up by rage at the moment Evee con only muster becoming simi-tangible mist pulled together into a body that mostly resembles her own. Unaware of her own restriction Evee outstretches her arms to grapple with AJ.

Evee cannot yet touch AJ but the apparition alone is enough to scare the phone out of AJ's hands, AJ falls over backwards scrambling away from the extraplanar atrocity, Evee walks forth, a wisp in the shadows struggling to keep within this transiently reality. Even with Evee's body not yet solid her magic is yet unchained. With a wave of a hand Evee offers sentients to chains and leashes, tools used by ranchers to restrain beast now slither along the ground like serpents.

With her back to the wall AJ pulls herself upright, she slides a hand behind her back producing her hunting knife. Animate chains snap out in attack. AJ fights back, with one slash of her knife she frightens one away, with two more a second, but then a third catches her unaware, gripping the cowgirl by one lag it pulls off to one side throwing her off balance. Leashes tack AJ by the arms dragging her across the barn, the chains tie her to one of the sheep Parma had sniffed.

Girl and sheep tied together, darkness mounts, light fixtures rumble then burst. Evee's evil magic distorts the creatures into a single one. The fusion monster has gray back skin on its face and underbelly, accented by pink patches, think curly white wool covers much of its body, hands hand feet give way to three clove pseudo hands. This fusion is less perfect, though the body mutated the brain is left untouched, the beast being only a skin.

Evee pulls AJ over to a wooden horse, the living chains binding her hands to the horse chest, her legs to the wooden effigies hind quarters. "Why do you fight?" Evee ask, an almost earnest crackle bleeding past the dominating grow. "you would be having so much more fun if you submissive."

AJ squeals, she wiggles and shouts trying to brake her binds. AJ is strong, but not stronger than a demon. Evee slides over to AJ, she tucks her hands between her thighs to lean in nose to nose with her slave. "you see AJ, I am trying to be human with you, I want to talk. But if you on the other hand are to rude to offer such a simple curtesy so be it. My avatar is going to use your flesh, then I am going to use your soul. Let me send you to heaven, before I send you to hell."

AJ has nothing to say to Evee, what even could be said? She can only whimper and fight waiting for the wolf beast to come back to life and have his way with her. AJ isn't kept waiting long, Parma stands up, dry blood clinging to his fur. Parma drools hungrily. The sheep is all gift rapped and set out for him already.

More animalistic then anything Parma slides over to AJ, he stand behind her and grips the sheep by the haunches. He starts to rub his hips up and down hers, quickly his cock slides out of its scabbard. The small sheep is surprisingly loose, comfortably Parma parts AJ's lips and slides into her soft wet body.

At first AJ struggles, but after a few moments her body turns on her, she starts having fun. Parma moves fast and harsh, but AJ seems well suited to take it. Drunk with pleasure Parma pulls up on AJ to find a comfortable angle, AJ pushes her back end up to the best of her ability wanting him to do so.

The sex is fast and savage, there is biting and kicking involved but all in good fun. Parma's unit swells plugging up AJ, AJ twitches and shakes booth loose themselves in the pleasure. Both faint after Parma empties his love into AJ...