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Here's a brand new Fun Size treat just in time for Halloween!\n\nTonight's terror tale is about a quintet of precocious pups taking a visit to their local house of horrors; the scene of a grisly multiple homicide. Definitely not a field trip their parents signed a permission slip for! It's all just boyish fun though. A night of ghost stories, s'mores, and body bags- I mean sleeping bags! But what happens when an uninvited guest crashes the party? A real shifty character with a slick tongue and an appetite for what's on the kids menu. Will anyone survive the night? Or will all five friends settle into a new permanent residence?\n\nI call this one... [i]Not Exactly Haunted...[/i]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Good evening, kiddies! Here's a brand new Fun Size treat just in time for Halloween!

Tonight's terror tale is about a quintet of precocious pups taking a visit to their local house of horrors; the scene of a grisly multiple homicide. Definitely not a field trip their parents signed a permission slip for! It's all just boyish fun though. A night of ghost stories, s'mores, and body bags- I mean sleeping bags! But what happens when an uninvited guest crashes the party? A real shifty character with a slick tongue and an appetite for what's on the kids menu. Will anyone survive the night? Or will all five friends settle into a new permanent residence?

I call this one... Not Exactly Haunted...", "writing": "Not Exactly Haunted\na bloody good snuffie tale\nby Alex Reynard\n\n\n* * * * *\n\n\nBenny's nickname wasn't Lightningstrike for nothing. The timberwolf pup bolted away at top speed, trying not to hear all the screaming going on behind him. Impossibly, Eric was still the one screaming the most.\n\nBenny rounded a corner, nearly on all fours, and bunched up the rug underneath him as he took off down the hallway. Panting hard. Eyes wide. Tongue flopped out and the taste of copper in the back of his throat. Nothing but moonlight to show his path. Unfamiliar surroundings. The walls and floor mostly bare in the abandoned house, but there were still boxes to trip over. Benny tried the nearest door. Locked, or stuck. Didn't matter which; same result. He tried the next door. Jackpot. He swooshed inside and sank to the floor, barricading the door with his body.\n\nHe was in a bathroom. Still breathing so hard it hurt, he tried to concentrate on the room he was in. Any escape routes? A window in the shower stall. But it was up too high and probably too narrow to fit his head through. A door, but only to a towel closet. He felt the cool square tiles beneath him. It looked like the only way out of this room was currently being blocked by his butt.\n\n\"Fuuuuuck...\"\n\nHe bunched his legs up against his chest, curled his tail around them, and buried his muzzle between his knees.\n\nWhen he closed his eyes, the image replayed and replayed and replayed.\n\nThe ink had torn Eric's head [i]clean off![/i]\n\nJust... ripped it like a sheet of toilet paper!\n\n'And it was Eric's idea to come here too,' Benny thought to himself. 'Bad choice, buddy. Whoops.'\n\nIt wasn't really ink though. It was dark, but moved like water. Though not like splashing either... more like... a water [i]bubble[/i]. Though that wasn't possible. It was like someone had blown a lot of black smoke into a pool and the smoke had lifted the water up in a moving cloud. Like a water balloon with the balloon peeled away. It had moved so fast. Eric had just gotten to the good part in the story. And then...\n\nBenny's ears swiveled. The screams had stopped. The house was silent. At that moment the realization hit: he had no idea where any of his other friends were. The five boys (now four, he reminded himself) had split up in completely different directions. \"Nice job protecting them, fuckhead,\" Benny whispered to himself, wincing.\n\nThey'd always joked that he was the group's token Pred. Five inseparable friends, and four of them were Prey. Eric the prairie dog was kinda stout, but was full of ideas and their natural leader. Ryan the black squirrel was second-in-command. Small and quick; their spy shadow. Ollie was a fat little bunny who a lot of their schoolmates picked on, but their group protected him. Partly for his loyalty, partly for his jokes, and partly because he always brought the best snacks. Joseph was skinny and quiet. Being a porcupine, he handled any bullies that Benny couldn't. Though Benny could handle most of them. Most of their school was Prey, by about two thirds, and Benny had hit a growth spurt early. Sometimes people even mistook him for a teenager (which he loved every second of). He was called Lightningstrike because he was fast as hell on the soccer field or the basketball court, but also because of the jagged streaks in his fur along his muzzle and down his back. He hadn't been fast enough to save Eric through.\n\n'Then again... who could have predicted that?'\n\n'Well, you buncha dipshits DID break into a haunted house of your own free will, right?' his inner voice replied with a snarky edge. He could picture a smaller version of himself with hands on hips, scowling. 'It was just for fun, right? You were so sure there weren't gonna be any real ghosts!'\n\n'I thought ghosts [i]weren't[/i] real! I mean... that's just a bunch of Halloween shit.'\n\n'Guess you were wrong!'\n\nEric had gotten the idea. He'd told them about it at lunchtime yesterday, as they huddled around him at their usual table. Eric's beady eyes had shone in his golden fur as he reminded them of the quadruple homicide that had happened in their neighborhood two years ago. Everybody remembered it. The grownups had tried to keep the details from their delicate young ears, but kids always have a way of rooting out the gory details to share amongst each other.\n\nA dad had shot his whole family. Chopped the bodies up. Then hung himself from the ceiling fan. But that wasn't the worst part. That right there was just your average guy-goes-psycho news story. They'd heard a thousand of those. No, what made this one different was that, according to the rumor in every schoolyard for seven counties, [i]he had hung the pieces of his dead wife and kids all around him on fishing line, like a mobile.[/i]\n\nThat was some world-class fucked-up right there.\n\nThe house had sat vacant ever since. A perfectly normal-looking two story house in the middle of the suburbs. Nothing abnormal about it. But everyone in the neighborhood looked away. People crossed the street to avoid it. No trick-or-treaters ever rang the doorbell. The place was like a black hole. A blind spot. Except, Eric said he'd heard from his older brother that some high school kids had popped the lock on the back door and spent the night there last week. They'd brought booze and kissed their girlfriends, like high school kids did. But the important part was they'd come out alive.\n\nThough supposedly, they'd heard things in there. Unnatural sounds. Weird shadows.\n\nEric thought maybe it was just because they were drunk. They'd scared themselves, like big babies. \"But we wouldn't be scared,\" Eric said.\n\nThat's when Benny knew that he and everyone else in the group had been drafted.\n\nAnd so, they had all told their moms and dads that they'd be sleeping over at one of the other guys' houses. They did it so often, they knew their parents wouldn't bother to check. All of them had stayed over at each other's places so often it was like they all had five sets of parents. (The only house they tended to skip was Joseph's. His parents were... weird. Kinda assholes. They mostly visited his place out of sympathy, so their porcupine pal wouldn't feel so trapped there.)\n\nBenny had stashed a secret backpack behind his house. Right after dinner he'd hugged Mom 'n Dad goodbye and got on his bike. It was an hour-long ride. His stomach was all twisted-up as he pedaled into the setting sun, past the endless identical homes. It wasn't that he was afraid of restless spirits full of murder. Not really. More like... Well, he was definitely afraid of getting caught by the cops. That would suck balls. And... He couldn't really articulate it, but it seemed [i]incredibly effing disrespectful[/i] to be crawling around in a place where real fursons had really died. Like having a party in a cemetery. Benny was totally cool with the group's weekly all-night horror movie binges. Was fine with them competing to gross each other out the most every October 31[sup]st[/sup]. But this kinda crossed a line. He at least felt better about it when he pulled up in front of 1213 Cabbage Rd. and saw Ryan and Joseph looking just as uncertain as he was. Ryan was fidgeting like a blur, twitching back and forth. Joseph was all quiet and wouldn't even look at the house.\n\nSitting in the bathroom with his back to the door, Benny thought about his parents. 'I'm so glad I hugged them goodbye. I'm never going to see them again, am I?'\n\nEric had pulled up a few minutes later, with a bigass macabre grin on his face. Though Benny could tell, his prairie dog pal was just as nervous as everyone else. Trying to act tough and irreverent so it wouldn't show. Benny could smell the fear-sweat on him as he sauntered past.\n\nAnd then of course, here came Ollie. Last place; natch. Puffing hard from the workout and the weight of his retarded-huge backpack. At least they'd eat well tonight.\n\nAnd they had. After a tense first hour of tiptoeing around inside the house, peeking into all the rooms and finding nothing scarier than spiderwebs and dead flies, they'd settled down in the wide hallway at the top of the double staircase (the downstairs had a few too many windows). Chairs had been located in the dining room and dragged up to be utilized. Sleeping bags were piled in a heap. Ollie had really gone all-out. Chips and pop of course, but he'd also brought along a portable grill with a battery pack, reasoning that the house's electricity would be turned off. By the light of their ring of flashlights, they'd toasted s'mores and hot dogs. It was like camping out, but in.\n\nAnd once it got good and dark, they'd turned off all the flashlights save one. That one was passed around and held under the chin of whoever's turn it was to tell a scary story. They were all masters at it. Connoisseurs of urban legends. Whenever they'd tell each other stories like this, their usual personalities melted away. They could become anything. Ollie was normally a bashful, nervous, social wreck. But with a story on his lips, his stutter completely vanished. Ryan could actually slow down enough to build tension. Life came into Joseph's normally faraway gaze. Eric was his usual enthusiastic self. But Benny, who was normally the quiet, observant watchdog of the group, was finally free to let his Pred side out. He loved when his friends told him that [i]his[/i] had been the best story of the night. He really worked hard on them too. Read lots of horror books and magazines at the library. Tweaked them, put his own twists on them. Did all the voices. Showed off his fangs. There had always been whispers from some of the nosy grownups in town, wondering why four nice little Prey kids would want to hang around a scary wolf. Well, he knew. He [i]was[/i] scary. And his friends loved it. He was their pet monster. He loved his role in the group too.\n\nHe'd had a real good one planned tonight. A story about a chick who cheated on her boyfriend, who worked in a laundromat. The ending was gonna have him trap her in one of those big steam presses, and when the cops'd find her the next morning her skin would have melted right off and be dripping out of the machine in a big awful puddle. Great stuff. Unfortunately, he would not be telling that story tonight. Ryan had started first, getting them hooked on a spine-tingling ghost tale, then getting a groan out of everyone when it was revealed the ghost was actually a sentient fart cloud that was trying to find a home in the protagonist's butt. Ha ha. Joseph went next, and genuinely froze their blood with the story of a kid drowning under the ice while his friends skated around right above him, looking for where he'd fallen through. Then it was Eric's turn. The prairie dog had really given it his all, dramatizing the events that had happened in this very house. Saying he'd researched all the details, that he knew the [i]true[/i] story. He had just gotten to the part where the dad was at the store buying the fishing line, knowing full well he'd be using it that night to decorate his ceiling with chunks of bloody limbs...\n\nAnd then it happened.\n\nNone of them had seen it coming, and how could they? Eric's flashlight had turned everything around him into shadows, which the monster was pretty much camouflaged exactly like. Benny had seen it for just an instant, or he thought he had in hindsight. A shimmering wet gleam around the shadows on the ceiling. Like leaking water. Just about to break surface tension and splash down on all of them.\n\nAs Eric's story rose to a crescendo, a pair of gigantic black arms dropped down from the ceiling and pulled his head off. Pop! Effortlessly. Lifted it straight up, like picking up a jack-o-lantern. Eric's eyes had gone wide. A scream left his throat that seemed to never stop. Blood gushed out like a red paint can tipped over. Before his flailing body could fall to the floor, more hands shot out of the darkness and [i]tore it in half[/i]. Perfectly down the middle. They could see ribs and lungs and all sorts of glistening organs. More blood. Infinite blood. The blood broke the other boys' screaming paralysis and they scattered.\n\nBenny sat on the tile of this unfamiliar house's bathroom. Eyes as round as two moons. Staring at the bluish-white bathtub and not seeing it. Only seeing Eric, over and over, his last moments. Off with his head, then straight down the middle. Blood, blood, blood, blood, blood. He could still smell it. Hell, he'd probably ran through pools of it and that was why.\n\nHis pants were hurting him. To his absolute revulsion, he looked down and realized he had a boner.\n\nA huge one. Like, bust-your-zipper-and-buy-a-new-one huge. His cheeks burned. He almost swore at his cock for being so fucking inappropriate. This was NOT the time! What kind of monster was he, getting hard after watching one of his best friends die!?\n\n'No, wait, stop. You're not a monster. Wasn't this that thing we learned in health class? The 'Now You're A Man' video they showed us?' They'd all laughed at it at the time, but the video had definitely said that erections could be caused by many things, including fear.\n\nBenny mimed taking his pulse. \"Fear? Yeah. I got that.\"\n\nWhat the hell was he going to do?\n\nHis brain could not fully grasp that Eric was dead. That he'd never see his gross, loud, funny, awesome pal ever again. Though... it occurred to him that maybe he could save his other three friends from a similar fate. If the ink-blob-shadow-water-thing was still busy munching on Eric, maybe the others had been able to find hiding places. 'I did.' So it was possible. Either way, time was probably all stretched out right now. It might have been only a few seconds since he'd run away. There might still be a chance.\n\nBenny got to his feet. He took a long, deep breath, steeling himself. He stared at the blank wood of the bathroom door. \"I'm going back out there,\" he said to himself. First as a meek whimper. But then again, as a command. \"I [u]am[/u] going back out there.\" Because his friends needed him. Even if the smoke-thing had disassembled Eric, he still had three other buddies, and they were in danger. He was their watchdog. 'Get off your scaredy-cat ass and help them.'\n\n\"Right,\" he said, and opened the door.\n\nHe was running before his worry could stop him. Maybe the monster was right outside and he'd smack straight into it and be pulled apart like taffy. But the hallway was empty still. Nothing but moonlight and taped-up boxes full of murder victim stuff. Benny's heartbeat was louder than thunder. His senses were on keenest alert. His ears swiveled and his nostrils were wide.\n\nHe got to the edge of the hallway and peeked around. There was a little circle of light down there from where Eric had dropped the flashlight.\n\nBut no Eric. No parts of him. Not even any blood.\n\n'I didn't hallucinate that,' Benny assured himself. 'We all saw it. We all screamed and ran. We all did.' So the monster must have covered its tracks. Slurped up all the evidence. Oh god fuck, Eric really was gone. Eaten.\n\nAs that word entered his mind, his dick twitched a little.\n\n'Stop that!!' he mentally screamed at his hard-on. He didn't care if it was a biological reflex, it was disgusting. Eric was his FRIEND!\n\n'But he was also Prey,' another side of his mind pointed out. 'Come on...' it whispered.'You've always thought about it.'\n\n\"I have not,\" Benny whispered under his breath.\n\n'Liar. They're Prey. All of them. You can't hide what your nose knows. How many months being pals with them until you could make yourself stop drooling at their sssscent?'\n\nBenny shut his eyes tight and physically punched himself in the skull. 'STOP THAT!' He had more important things to do than stand here in the hallway thinking about all this Pred/Prey instinctive crap. His dad had said it was normal. All Pred kids sometimes wondered what it'd be like to eat their Prey friends. It was natural. It was why meat factories had volunteers. But Benny'd thought he was different. He only ate store-bought meat, from nonevs. Eating other fursons was gross. Definitely gross.\n\nBenny stepped out into the wider hallway, slower now, and silently. The wood floors didn't creak, thank goodness. He cocked his ears to any sound. The house was silent as a void. He didn't dare call out for his friends. The smokewater-blob could be anywhere.\n\nThere were two staircases leading up from the livingroom. He could see down over the balcony into the ground floor. He squinted into the darkness. No sign of anyone. He didn't like being so visible, and ducked down behind the railing. Peeking through the bars.\n\nHe heard something from the kitchen.\n\nHe remembered it was downstairs, just to the west of the livingroom. They'd looked in all the drawers and cabinets during their initial exploration.\n\nBenny carefully duck-walked along the railing to the opposite stairs. They [i]had[/i] creaked, he also remembered. Safer, and also quicker, to just ride the bannister down. He sniffed around, and took a good long look through the railing. He sure as shit didn't want to slide down into a big open mouth.\n\nHe took a deep breath and just did it. In one swift motion he was straddling the wood and pushing off.\n\nA few swooshing seconds later he was at the bottom. Unharmed. He dismounted silently into a completely empty room.\n\nThe windows down here let in plenty of moonlight. Benny checked his watch. After midnight. He couldn't count on anyone passing by that he could call to for help. And if he sprinted to a neighbor's house, he'd have to explain why he and his friends had been in here in the first place. Benny shook his head. He turned towards the kitchen.\n\nThe sound he'd heard was breathing. Ollie's. Benny couldn't see him yet, but their roly-poly rabbit friend had a very distinctive wheeze when he was exhausted. 'Or terrified.' Benny poked his head around the corner. The kitchen was pretty big, but without many windows. Dark inside. Keeping close to the wall, Benny sank into a crouch to peek beneath the table.\n\nYup, there. From across the room he spotted the shadow of a trembling bunny on hands and knees. A sliver of moonlight illuminated white fur.\n\nBenny looked around in every direction. Even the ceiling. Then he cupped his paws around his mouth. \"Ollie,\" he whispered. Zero reaction. He was too far away and too quiet. But he didn't want to raise his voice much more or the creature might hear. \"Ollie!\" he tried again, a fraction louder. Still nary a twitch from the crouching bun. Benny was beginning to get irritated. He breathed in to try a third time, and that was when the fridge opened itself.\n\nLight poured out, blinding. Benny flinched back around the corner. Blinking. Seeing spots. From behind him he heard Ollie let out a tiny gasp-shriek. Like air squeezed from a deflating ball.\n\nAnd then there was a voice. Cold and clear and perfectly calm. Coming from inside the refrigerator.\n\n[b]Found you[/b], it singsonged.\n\nIcicles sprouted all up and down Benny's spine. He didn't want to look, but he had to. He had to. The voice was hypnotic. A devil's lullaby.\n\n[b]Come on out where I can get a better look at you, Ollie.[/b]\n\nTwo shining eyes, wide with terror, gleamed under the table. The fridge was totally empty. Just white light and a few tilted metal racks. But the voice was definitely inside. Ollie couldn't move a muscle. His jaw bobbled up and down, trying to speak.\n\nThe voice tsked. Then dark water began to pour out in two snakelike rivers from the bottom of the open fridge. They slithered across the linoleum silently. As Benny gripped the wall and watched (his claws accidentally shredding the wallpaper), the twin watery arms crawled up the legs of the table and lifted it away effortlessly. Underneath was one frozen bunny, jiggling like pudding on a plate.\n\n[b]And here we are.[/b]\n\nThe inky arms let go of the table and left it in the air. Perfectly stationary, as if resting on solid ground. Ollie didn't notice. He was too transfixed by the fridge light. His breathing was a rhythmic in-and-out rasp. Like he might choke on air at any moment. He shuddered and tried to wad himself up smaller, like a little white dumpling with a stubby tail.\n\nOne of the inky arms patted Ollie between the ears. Another patted his back, and the bunny stood up. From Ollie's stricken expression, Benny could tell it had not been a conscious choice. The dark arms were manipulating him like a puppet. They slid him closer to the fridge.\n\n[b]My my, what interesting eyes you have[/b], the voice said.\n\nOllie gulped, but nodded. Heterochromia was a word all his friends knew. Ollie had been teased about it a lot, in addition to his weight and general awkwardness. His left eye was maple brown. His right was sea-green. Either was an extremely rare color for a rabbit with Ollie's snowy fur.\n\n[b]I like them.[/b]\n\n\"Th-thanks,\" Ollie gurgled out.\n\n[b]I think I'd like them for my collection.[/b]\n\nOllie's trembling tripled. He was facing away from Benny, but the wolf could see utter terror radiating from the rabbit's body language. His fear-smell was strong as cologne.\n\n\"Please d-d-don't,\" the bunny begged.\n\n[b]There's nothing to worry about...[/b] the voice cooed, and then it did something with its watery arms. They clenched around the boy's neck and he visibly relaxed. His muscles went slack all at once. Benny could see Ollie wasn't dead though, as he still wriggled weakly to escape when another hand reached out of the fridge towards him.\n\nThe palm rested on his face, covering it like a catcher's mitt. Ollie made little gasps that were intended to be screams, but he couldn't get the air in.\n\nThen Benny watched the hand slowly pull away. In its magic grasp were two little round white spheres.\n\nBenny's claws gripped the wall so hard they sank into the wood.\n\nOllie had felt no pain, bizarrely enough. The inky hand's touch was strangely numbing. He had felt the water flowing into his sockets, loosening things in there. When his eyes came out, it was as easy as plucking a flower. As easy as this thing had pulled off Eric's head. \"Y-you k-killed my friend,\" Ollie found bravery enough to say.\n\n[b]Uh huh[/b], the voice readily admitted. [b]Wasn't it cool? Did you like the part where his head was still screaming as I ripped the rest of him up like a paper doll?[/b]\n\nOllie whimpered.\n\nThe voice snorted in a 'don't be a crybaby' kind of way. [b]He didn't suffer. I'm no fan of pain. As you've no doubt noticed from me sucking out your little olives. I think I'll eat them. One. Two.[/b] And just like that, the eyes vanished into the smoky water; gone.\n\nOllie was totally blind now. He had still been able to see while his eyes were being removed, as the nerve bundles were still attached, but then everything went lightswitch dark. \"Y-you don't have to kill me t-too, right? I gave you a souvenir, isn't th-that enough? Eric must've filled you up. He was a big kid. I'd just m-make you sick and throw up.\"\n\nBenny had to smile. Ollie's biggest strength, he'd observed over the years, was finding bravery through humor.\n\nThe voice nixed the idea though. [b]Nice effort. Applause-worthy. But you see, my appetite... is VORACIOUS[/b].\n\nThe arms suddenly yanked Ollie's shorts down, underpants and all.\n\n\"Oh Jesus!\" the bunny yelped.\n\nAnother water arm shot out of the fridge and made a beeline for the bunny boy's ass.\n\nOllie gave a second yelp.\n\nBenny watched in total paralysis.\n\n[b]Don't mind me, just making a noose.[/b]\n\nOllie's whole body gave a twitch as the water-arm gave a tug like a man pull-starting a lawnmower. Two yards of bunny guts came out. Ollie wiggled and wiggled as the arms began to unravel him like a spool of thread. Handful after handful of bright pink intestine.\n\nThe voice implied an invisible, toothy smile. [b]Feels almost good, doesn't it? Don't be confused. I [/b][i][b]like making it fun for you kids.[/b][/i]\n\nOllie was letting out little high-pitched yips as his insides became his outsides. Coils upon coils of himself, more than he would have thought could ever fit in him. And to his total shame, it [i]did[/i] feel good. Indescribable, and horrific, but there was definitely more pleasure than pain. And the arm holding his throat was doing something to his brain. Making him sleepy, relaxed. Making him not want to fight back anymore...\n\n[b]Good little bun-bun...[/b]\n\nWhen the hands had unspooled all that they could, they lifted the intestines into the air and wrapped a loop around Ollie's throat. His face had gone slack by then. Empty eyes stared up at the ceiling as he was lifted higher. His jaw hung open, tongue and buckteeth twitching.\n\n[b]Good... good...[/b]\n\n'It feels like sausages,' he thought, as the noose coiled tighter.\n\nBenny watched the arms lift his friend all the way up to the ceiling, bathed in the glow of the refrigerator light. The rabbitcub's pants fell off and his Underoos dangled around his ankle. Benny couldn't stop his cheeks from burning. He could just barely see the tip of a bunny erection.\n\n[b]I like to make it feel good for my prey...[/b]\n\nOllie made a last little gulping sound. Then the noose was too tight around his throat for anything else. Tight as a coiling snake. The snake was pulling him up into the sky. He didn't understand why at this point, but it felt nice. He started to see little blue and yellow sparkles dancing at the edge of his vision. But he couldn't see. How...? Well, it wasn't important. They were nifty. And he felt pretty nifty overall, in fact.\n\n[b]When I take their little lives away...[/b]\n\nOllie shuddered all over. A bit of cream spurted from his stubby cock, flew through the air, and was caught by the swift reflexes of another water-arm. It squished the bunnycum in its palm until it disappeared, then moved its fingers in a way that strongly resembled someone smacking their lips. A pleased sigh came from the voice in the fridge.\n\nThen Ollie went limp as a fur coat on a hanger.\n\nWhen a gargantuan mouth emerged from the fridge and began to slurp up his dead friend like a spaghetti noodle, Benny was finally able to tear his eyes away.\n\nChewing sounds came from the kitchen. Messy, sloppy chewing sounds. Meat being ground up and swallowed. Bunny meat.\n\nThe little wolf plastered himself tight to the wall, eyes staring straight ahead. His mind was blank. There was no room for any of the conflicting, bouncing, jumbling feelings he was having. Horror. Dread. Arousal... His stupid dick was trying to bust his pants again.\n\nHe rubbed his paws at his temples. 'No, I did [i]not[/i] enjoy seeing my second friend of the night die horribly!' he silently yelled at his own mind. 'No, it was not cool to see him squirt. Or imagining what he tasted like. [i]...Or his cum[/i],' another voice added. 'Stop it, stop it, stop it!!'\n\n The chewing lasted no longer than thirty seconds before Ollie was totally disposed of. An unseen throat gave one last Herculean gulp. Than an [b]Ahhhh... [/b]of satisfaction.\n\nThen Benny just about jumped to the ceiling at the earsplitting clatter of the table falling back down to the floor.\n\nHis heartbeat was a whizzing blur. 'Did it hear me!? Did I scream out loud or did I just scream in my mind!?'\n\nThese thoughts vanished as the voice in the fridge suddenly addressed him.\n\n[b]How'd you like my second act, kiddo?[/b]\n\nBenny turned to crystal. One hundred per cent petrified. The voice was like an ice cube dropped down the back of his shirt. He was next. Oh God, he was going to be murdered next.\n\nHe heard a quiet flowing sound as a puddle of smoky water sloshed along the kitchen floor towards the livingroom.\n\n[i][b]You didn't really think you were hidden, did you?[/b][/i]\n\nBenny's boner was literally the only thing stopping him from flooding his pants with panic-pee at that moment.\n\n[i][b]I mean, the coat closet? Could you get any more obvious?[/b][/i]\n\nBenny blinked. 'What?' He felt a bloom of hope inside him as he heard the water-sounds pass right by, just inches away.\n\nAt the front of the house there was a small entryway in between the two big windows. In this entryway was a little nook for storing winter jackets and raingear. The door was already open a fraction, and now a small brown paw eased it the rest of the way open.\n\nLooking resigned to his fate, Joseph stepped out. His quills and his head hung down towards the carpet.\n\nThe couch's shadow hid Benny from view, but he could see across the livingroom just fine. The smokewater-blob approached his friend. A gleaming, jiggling, impossible mass of swirling horror. Utterly alien. Not even seeming alive; just a construct of pure evil imagination. A manifestation of a vengeful spirit's will. It slithered towards the silent little porcupine.\n\nEven from across the room, Benny heard his friend's quiet, determined whisper. \"I peeked. I saw everything you did to Ollie.\"\n\n[b]Fantastic. That means I don't have to waste time explaining.[/b]\n\nBenny shivered. Joseph had been watching too? So... had he seen his wolf friend just sitting there on his ass, paralyzed, not even bothering to help? Suddenly the weight of his own conscience was crushing him into the carpet.\n\nThe young porcupine was, unlike a lot of Preykids, tall and skinny. Near Benny's height. He tended to look a bit malnourished. Maybe that was partly because of the baggy, too-big T-shirts he always wore. He had to get them cheap at the thrift store because his quills tended to chew through them completely after four wearings, tops. Joseph stood in the front hall with his hands at his sides. Posture straight. He could not make himself look directly at the cannibalistic specter drawing nearer, but he did not flee from it either.\n\nThe smokewater-blob reached out an arm towards the boy and grew a single finger at its tip. It placed itself beneath Joseph's chin and turned his face upwards. Another hand was there, tilting back and forth at him like a faceless, appraising head.\n\n[i][b]Mmm. Now look at you. No more scampering away? Realized that your spikes aren't going to work against something like me?[/b][/i]\n\nJoseph stared into the shifting, smoky palm. A small nod. \"Pretty much. You'll get me no matter what I do. So... Just make it quick, okay?\" He shut his eyes tight and his whole body winced.\n\n[b]Sure, I can do that.[/b]\n\nA moment later, Joseph was gasping in shock as all four of his limbs split from his body.\n\nThe monster hadn't even used its inky arms this time. Five pieces of porcupine hung suspended in midair, just like the table. Like he'd been drawn and quartered vertically. Blood fountained from the stumps. The legs were still kicking. The fingers were still clenching.\n\nBenny was utterly motionless. He was nothing but a camera now, recording events. Far too terrified to act. He felt silly for ever thinking he could save his friends from this thing.\n\nJoseph's eyes swirled around, counting his levitating limbs. Quivering in disbelief, confused by the total lack of agony he should have been experiencing. His gaze came back around to the monster to ask it 'Why?'\n\nIt cocked its face-palm. [b]Oh! You meant make your [/b][i][b]death quick! Sorry about that. I totally misinterpreted. Still, now you know what a piñata feels like. Interesting, isn't it? Olé![/b][/i]\n\nJoseph was not in a chuckling mood. More like he was slipping into shock.\n\n[b]Well you're no fun. Okay, okay. I'll give you lights-out time. Adios, amigo.[/b]\n\nFour limbs fell out of the air and bounced on the carpet, sending little arcs of crimson flying. The main part of Joseph elevated, then a hole emerged in the center mass of the smoke-ghost. It began to lower the boy inside, crotch first.\n\nRealizing that this was really it, Joseph forced his mouth to open one last time. \"Wait! I wanna ask a question!\"\n\nThe voice sounded mildly annoyed. [b]Which is it? 'Over with quick' or 'I wanna ask a question?'[/b]\n\nThe young porcupine (or what was left of him) stared down into the maw of the creature about to end him. A snarl came to his lips. \"When you killed your family, why'd you string them up from the ceiling? Just for fun, you sicko!?\"\n\nA moment's silence. The monster seemed genuinely startled.\n\n[b]I never did that,[/b] it said, sounding perplexed.\n\n\"So it was just a rumor...\" Joseph breathed. He had been hoping to at least unsettle this demon before it finished him off.\n\n[b]Oh! [/b]the voice said brightly. [b]No, I'm sorry I misled you! I'm not the ghost of the killer who lived here. I'm not even a ghost! I just dropped by because you kids showed up on my radar. Ha! What a silly boo-boo![/b]\n\nAnd with that it shoved Joseph down its makeshift throat before the boy could even get a yelp out.\n\nBenny could see his friend's confused stare, suspended upside down inside the creature.\n\nIt grew two arms to pat its belly with, looking quite contented. Then it picked up Joseph's limbs, juggled them for a few seconds, and let them drop one by one into its mass. They floated like chunks of fruit in Jell-o.\n\nThey sank deeper into the creature, like slow-motion film of diving in a pool.\n\nBenny's only camouflage now was his complete lack of motion. He sat against the wall like a porcelain statue. If the monster turned around now, it would see him.\n\nAnd yes, it was beginning to turn around.\n\nExcept fate was sparing the wolfcub yet again. The monster turned just enough to angle itself around a coffee table (Benny noticed that it clipped the edge, which sloshed right through it) and headed towards a door beneath the far staircase. It was actually humming now. A chipper little tune.\n\nAs it passed by, Benny could see Joseph's head and torso still visible in its transparent mass. Trapped like a bug in amber. His body was beginning to fizz at the edges. Blood trickled from his wounds like it was being lapped up. And his face... There was no expression of panic like one would expect from a kid who was simultaneously drowning and digesting. He looked almost... serene.\n\nMaybe it was the same relaxation trick the thing had done to Ollie. Some kind of hypnosis. Joseph had a calm, unworried smile on his small muzzle as his eyes drifted closed and his body began to melt away.\n\nThen the monster was too far across the livingroom for Benny to see any more. It flowed over minor obstacles like a tipped endtable and discarded telephone. Its destination was the basement door. The boys had looked inside earlier, but seeing pitch blackness at the bottom of the stairwell, all of them agreed it was not cowardly to 'nope' out of this one.\n\nThe monster showed no such reluctance. Still humming, it grew an arm to open the door with, then slithered and squoze inside.\n\nBenny was inanimate for a moment longer. Barely breathing. Staring straight out the livingroom window to the nearly-full moon outside in the sky. His limbs felt heavy as steel. But then he was up on his feet and dashing silently across the carpet towards the open basement door. It was barely a conscious decision. He could not stop himself. He had to see what happened next.\n\nBasements.\n\nBasements are just always scary, aren't they?\n\nEspecially at night in a house with no electricity. Only the barest traces of light struggled in through the narrow, dust-covered windows set in the cement. The basement was an orchard of shadows. A pool of black. As Benny crept behind the smokewater-blob, all he could see of it were the minute shimmers hinting at its outline.\n\nThe word for Benny at that moment was 'entranced.' He couldn't stop himself. He knew what was about to play out. Three chomped children definitely established a pattern, and whether he or Ryan would be four or five seemed irrelevant. But it was more than just inevitability. More than just the haunting, flowing tune of the creature's hum. Benny wanted to [i]see[/i]. His terror and arousal had become a constant pounding drum at the back of his brain, pushing, shoving him forward. He could not run away. He felt the wobbly wooden floorboards beneath his paws and begged them to creak. The sound might snap him out of his daze and make him run. He was conscious of wanting to escape, while watching his body take him further downward into darkness.\n\nBenny happened to notice the steps were all dry. The monster was made of water, yet didn't leave a drop behind.\n\nIt was cold down here, despite the warm night. Basements always seemed to suck the warmth right out of you. The creature reached the bare, crumbly concrete floor and paused. It silently rotated. Seeking.\n\nThe room was as silent as it was dark.\n\nA playful voice ended that. [b]Hi, Ryan! I've come to turn you inside-out![/b]\n\nNo response. Not a squeak or a shiver or a fart.\n\n[b]I have to give you points[/b], the voice praised. [b]Coming down here was smart. With your particular fur, you blend right in. I could search all night and not spot you.[/b]\n\nStill no response. Ryan was not dumb enough to be baited.\n\n[b]Too bad I don't have all night.[/b]\n\nBenny blinked hard and reflexively ducked as the lightbulb right above his head came on. Only the railing was shielding him from discovery now.\n\n[b]And too bad I don't play fair.[/b]\n\nA second light came on, this one illuminating a ceiling-high wall of trash bags, their contents identified via magic marker.\n\n[b]And too bad I don't search by sight, but mind.[/b]\n\nThe third lightbulb bloomed, revealing a plank-stiff little shadow-colored squirrel; eyes shut tight, wedged between the washing machine and dryer.\n\n[b]That's three 'too bads' in a row for you. Sorry, but that's a strikeout.[/b]\n\nBenny had lucked into the perfect position. The light above was actually creating a shadow for him to hide in, smashed up against the thin staircase railing. And the creature's bulk blocked Ryan's view of him. So the squirrel wouldn't have to wonder why his friend was just sitting there spectating instead of saving him.\n\nRyan peeked past his eyelids. There was the thing he'd seen decapitate Eric. The thing he'd heard taunting his friends upstairs. It was a mountain of dark, cloudy water. Jiggly, with bones floating around in it like fish in an aquarium. It was completely blocking the basement's only exit. Ryan was petrified, but at this point he had nothing to lose, right? \"You're really nothing but a big giant butthole, aren't you?\"\n\n[b]No, I'm a smokewater-blob[/b], it replied matter-of-factly.\n\nRyan glared at it and stepped out from between the appliances. \"No, you weenie!\" He pointed right at its face (or where one would have been). \"I meant that you're a total creep who kills little kids for fun!\"\n\n[b]Okay, I gotta give you that one. Spot-on.[/b]\n\nRyan snarled. This thing was immune to insult. If he couldn't use his fast wits, his fast legs were his only other option. He glanced quickly at the staircase. Could he possibly dart past the monster before it could react?\n\n[b]No you can't. I already told you I can read your mind.[/b]\n\n\"Shiiiit,\" the little squirrel wailed.\n\n'It can read minds...' Benny thought. 'So why hasn't it caught ME yet?' He had been so close to it so far, yet hadn't been 'seen'. His mind raced. He remembered it saying something to Joseph about, 'you kids showed up on my radar.' He hadn't said [i]how many[/i] kids. And maybe, somehow, that only meant [i]Prey[/i] kids. Maybe it couldn't 'smell' him, and that was why! Maybe there was a chance he could actually get out of this if he just kept hidden long enough!\n\nThe creature slithered forward.\n\nRyan backed up against the dryer with a loud 'whump'.\n\n[b]You've got a big mouth, little prey. Not that I'm condemning you; that would be awfully hypocritical of me. Because I've got a pretty big mouth too. Wanna see it?[/b]\n\nThe squirrel winced, buck teeth shining in the light. \"Naw. But you're gonna show me anyway, aren't you?\"\n\n[b]Correctamundo.[/b]\n\nLike a beartrap snapping shut, a set of tremendous smoky lips and teeth shot forward out of the monster's midsection. In the blink of an eye they'd stretched across the room to bite a perfectly oval-shaped section out of Ryan's belly. Right through his shirt and pants.\n\nRyan squeaked in shock as he suddenly had to keep both his underpants from falling down, and his intestines from falling out.\n\nA watery tongue licked the lips before they disappeared with a ripple back into the monster's bulk. [b]Nummy![/b]\n\nRyan could not believe this was happening. His pants were dropping to his ankles. His guts were squishier than he'd ever imagined. They were gunking up his arms and making it increasingly difficult to hold them in. \"Gimme that back, asswipe!\" he wailed. \"I [i]need[/i] that!\"\n\nThe monster tittered. It grew a hand-face just to waggle its finger at the boy. [b]Oh c'mon! Let it all hang out! After all, don't you want to put on a good show for the audience?[/b]\n\nRyan looked up from his torso-portal. \"What audience!?\"\n\nBenny's blood turned to ice water.\n\nThe smokewater-blob turned slowly, pointing its face-hand's finger directly at the huddled lump of wolf fur on the stairs. [b]Say hello to Contestant Number Five![/b]\n\nBenny was numb, dumbstruck, petrified, wide-eyed and pissing his pants all at the same time.\n\n\"B-Benny?\" Ryan said. Had his friend been trying to rescue him, just waiting for the opportunity? Or had he been sitting there watching the whole time!? The poor squirrel was so perplexed, his grip slipped and his giblets went cascading out onto the concrete floor. \"Crap!!\"\n\nThe smell hit Benny's nose. Fresh squirrel blood. And yummy organ meats. With a dazed expression on his face, he found himself standing up.\n\nThe creature's face-finger beckoned. [b]That's it. That's right. Come on down. Join the fun.[/b]\n\nWhile Ryan scrambled to pick up his guts and shove them back in, Benny walked down the staircase with a completely blank expression. A trickle of drool traced the side of his muzzle.\n\nRyan looked up. \"Dude, you peed your pants! Though, heh, I guess I got you beat in the embarrassment department. Hey... Benny? You're lookin' kinda weird. Snap out of it, bud.\"\n\nThe young wolf stopped a few feet equidistant between the squirrel and the monster.\n\nRyan managed to force a grin onto his muzzle. \"You're... you're not really just gonna stand there and watch him eat me, right?\"\n\n[b]Don't be silly[/b], the monster said. It grew an arm to pat Benny on the back. [i][b]He'll be doing the eating.[/b][/i]\n\n\"What!? No!!\" Ryan tried to back up again, and only succeeded in smashing his tail against the dryer. His innards flopped out again too.\n\nBenny's ears perked. His nostrils flared. Then he was down on all fours, crawling closer. Sniffing at his squirrel pal's tasty sweetbreads.\n\n\"Dude! Gross!!\"\n\nBenny's eyes were glassy. Vacant. He crawled forward and stuck his nose right into Ryan's abdominal cavity. Pushed his muzzle in deep. The wolfboy shivered in bliss. He began to chew.\n\nRyan grimaced and started trying to climb backwards up the dryer. His fingernails clicked on the smooth painted metal. He kept slipping. \"DUDE!! Not cool! Those are mine! Bad puppy!!\"\n\nThe monster chortled.\n\nBenny was super-totally not listening. The taste in his jaws was heavenly. Fresh and raw. Soooo much better than that supermarket stuff. Benny wasn't really aware of where he was, who he was, or what he was eating. Only that it was [i]deeeeee-licious![/i]\n\nRyan started nervously giggling. There was no pain. There hadn't been any when the thing had chomped off his tummyskin either. And it was almost sort of freakishly cool to look down at himself and see his friend, muzzle-deep, looking up at him. He heard the sounds of his own viscera being nibbled. He clenched the sides of the dryer. \"Um...\"\n\nThe smokewater-blob slithered closer to both of them, casting a shadow. [b]You're Prey. He's Pred. It's natural! Just go with the flow.[/b]\n\nIt, um, [i]was[/i] starting to feel good actually. Ryan's cheeks got hot. His breathing slowed. Hadn't he thought about this? Hadn't he teased Benny about this before? I mean, how could they not? They were four Prey buds with a wolf for a bro. The jokes wrote themselves. Benny'd even called him a chewtoy just the day before. Now that nickname was literal. Ryan was having conflicted feelings about this. It was getting harder to think. The creature was doing things to his mind, yeah. Definitely. Benny kept chewing and swallowing, and Ryan kept watching.\n\nSo did the creature.\n\n[b]Admit it. It's kinda cool, isn't it?[/b]\n\n\"N-no...\" Ryan stammered.\n\n[b]Aww, you can be honest! We're all friends here. If you're not enjoying yourself, then what's poking Benny's chin?[/b]\n\n\"What!?\" He hadn't noticed. And how could such an obscene possibility even have occurred to him? That he'd end up getting a massive chub while one of his best friends devoured him!?\n\nBenny hadn't noticed it either. The little pink fingertip poked out of Ryan's boxers to tickle his chinfur. Benny blinked. Something smelled new. He took a lick of it.\n\nRyan threw his head back. \"Ohhhhh shitfuckballsdammit!!\"\n\nBenny slurped and slurped. He liked the taste of this new meat, whatever it was.\n\nRyan made high-pitched little chittering sounds.\n\nBenny took a bite.\n\nThe squirrelboy's legs twitched and nearly sent him sprawling to the floor. But instead of screaming and running away, he leaned over and braced himself on Benny's shoulders.\n\nBenny took another bite.\n\nRyan panted.\n\nThe smokewater-blob watched the two boys at play, and reveled in their corruption.\n\nThe meat was squishy on the outside but with a tough, hard center. Like a really chewy hotdog. Benny's canines went to work on it, shredding it into little bits. Taking small bites to savor it.\n\nRyan had never felt pleasure like this before, and didn't even care that he probably never would again. He was breathing in and out a mile a minute, pushing his crotch into Benny's face. Trying to get more of his pencil into the sharpener.\n\nThe rich red blood was like ketchup on this special hotdog. Benny chomped, gnashed and tore until it was almost all gone. He had to dig his muzzle into the little fur sheath, trying to find more. And then there was a new flavor in his mouth. Salty but sweet. Dessert!\n\nThe monster was delighted to see the squirrel boy get a happy ending. He decided that was a good note to finish on.\n\nBenny had his eyes closed, enjoying the mysterious flavor so much that he didn't even noticed when his friend silently exploded. Poof. Just... squirrel one moment, an aerosolized cloud of blood the next. Ryan didn't mind either.\n\n[b]Having fun, Benny?[/b]\n\nThe pup nodded.\n\n[b]Do you have any idea at all what just happened?[/b]\n\nBenny opened his eyes. Awareness came flooding back.\n\nHe was lapping the last traces of blood, cum, and squirrelmeat from his mouth, on a cold basement floor, on hands and knees, with a sadistic nightmare just inches behind him. And the entire room was dripping with a new coat of fresh red paint.\n\nWith a shriek, he was on his feet and running across the room.\n\nThe monster's laugh boomed as loud as a car door slamming.\n\nFleeing as much from the knowledge of what he'd done as the monster itself, Benny crashed against the basement's walls like a pinball. Complete frenzy. He jumped up at a window, but it was caulked shut. He punched it just to be sure, and only succeeded in bruising his poor knuckles. He turned a corner. Now he was in a workplace nook. There was a wooden bench, and a pegboard full of old tools. A lightbulb popped up. Maybe they would see some use tonight.\n\nThe inky horror sloshed itself around the corner and made Benny's lightbulb literal. The wolfcub was revealed standing in a fighter's stance, covered head to toe in blood, snarling, wielding a handsaw.\n\nThe nightmare paused. It grew a pair of arms just to put hands on its hips. [b]I'm made of liquid, genius[/b].\n\nBenny had forgotten that; the saw had just looked so badass. He dropped it, turned, and reached for a power drill.\n\n[b]Liquid!![/b]\n\nDesperately, Benny scanned the pegboard. All this stuff was crappy and rust-covered. Not even fit for a garage sale. And all of it was made for putting holes in solid objects. Panic was pounding in his temples.\n\n[b]You might have had some luck with a shop vac, but unfortunately you couldn't plug it in even if you found one.[/b]\n\nBenny looked up. \"If there's no electricity, how are the lights on!?\"\n\n[i][b]I'm doing that[/b][/i], it said with a sigh. [b]Same as I made you eat your friend's [/b][i][b]delicacies[/b].[/i]\n\nBenny growled like a wild animal. \"You bastard!\"\n\nIt giggled. [b]Of course, that wasn't all my doing. I only prodded your mind a little bit. I only let out what you'd already repressed.[/b]\n\nBenny pushed himself back against the workbench. The splintery wood poked through his shirt. \"No...\"\n\n[b]Yes[/b], it counter-argued simply. [b]You're a wolf. You might be wearing clothes, walking upright and have all your favorite TV themes memorized, but underneath it all you're still Pred. You've always thought about it. Just a nosh wouldn't be so bad, right? An eartip? A bite of tail? Just a taste?[/b]\n\nBenny clapped his paws over his ears. \"No, no, no!!!\"\n\nBut the voice wasn't in his ears, it was in his mind. [b]The proof of the pudding is in the eating, they say. And in this case, the proof of the Pred is in the eaten. As in, the evidence is already in your stomach and on your lips, pup.[/b]\n\nBenny couldn't hold back the truth any longer. He froze, then sank to his knees. His eyes blanked. His tongue reflexively lapped at the wonderful taste still clinging to his teeth. Ryan. His friend. His meat. Benny tipped back his head and howled.\n\nThe monster was gracious and allowed him a moment before chiming in again. Quietly, as if an afterthought.\n\n[b]There is a way to make this all better, you know.[/b]\n\nBenny blinked and looked up at the thing. Its watery hands were open in a gesture of forgiveness. \"How?\"\n\n[b]You already know. You were thinking it when you walked down here; I heard you.[/b]\n\n\"What... what do you mean?\" Benny said, pretending not to know.\n\n[b]You tell me.[/b]\n\nBenny gulped. He shriveled back under the workbench, ears flat and tail tucked.\n\nIt reached out a long, long arm towards him, hand open. [b]Come on now. Out with it. You can tell your friendly old Uncle Evil.[/b]\n\nBenny stared into the outstretched palm. The smoke swirls turning and twisting around inside it were hypnotic. And the voice was right. He already knew. There was only one way this could end. One, two, three, four down. Only one left out of five. Benny couldn't imagine leaving here and having to tell his buddies' parents what happened. No one would ever believe him. They'd think that nasty, scruffy Pred kid did it. 'And I did...' The evidence was still spilled all over his t-shirt. So the ending was already written. His friends had always stood by him. He couldn't break up the team now.\n\nHis voice was soft, and cracked as he spoke. \"I... I have to join my friends.\"\n\nThe smokewater-blob nodded. Proudly.\n\n\"They... You ate them. They were Prey. Now I should be too. So we'll be together at least. And I deserve it anyway. I just watched it happen. So I should die too.\"\n\n[b]It is what little boys are best at[/b], the voice agreed.\n\nHe and the monster had both feasted tonight. And now, to atone for his meal, the right thing to do was to let nature take its course. Reverse the roles. Be Prey. Let someone else be Pred.\n\nBenny reached out and took the monster's hand.\n\n[b]See? That was easy. What a good pup.[/b]\n\nBenny felt the most bizarre, serene pleasure flow from the spot where the monster's fluid fingers wrapped themselves around his paw. It slithered up his arm. Tickling and relaxing him. Tingling. It got into his shoulder, then dribbled down his chest and up his neck. He felt his eyes roll back.\n\nThe young wolf felt himself lift off the ground. Effortlessly. His paws and tail dangled freely. Pinned in place in midair.\n\nThe monster snapped its fingers and Benny's clothes poofed into shreds. They fell away like cloth confetti.\n\nBenny was completely helpless now. Accepting of his fate.\n\nMore arms snaked out towards other paw and feet. Their grasp engulfed his extremities, swallowing them to the wrists and ankles. Benny felt the strangest numbness overtake them. Cold as icewater. Yet not painful. Not even uncomfortable. Flowing. Gently squeezing. Pulsing.\n\n[b]Ready?[/b] the thing asked.\n\nA barely perceptible nod.\n\nAll the arms pulled tight, stretching Benny out spread-eagle.\n\n[b]Then give me your life, boy.[/b]\n\nBenny's eyes went wide. He had no idea if he was terrified or excited.\n\n[b]Give me your ESSENCE.[/b]\n\nWith that the young wolf's whole body clenched, and he orgasmed so hard he saw stars.\n\nThe pleasure was ripping him into pieces. It felt like his balls were being emptied by the vacuum of space. Every muscle clenched. Benny's eyes were shut tight and his teeth were bared. He thought he might pass out. The sensation was incredible.\n\nWhite cream flew across the room in a four-foot arc, caught by the perverted demon's open maw.\n\nThen something changed. It still felt as good as ever. Paralyzingly good, in fact. But the volume of his emission tripled in the space of a heartbeat. He was pumping out so much cum it felt like his cockhole was wide as a quarter. He felt like a fire hydrant. It was unsettling and painful and excellent and he didn't want it to stop.\n\nThe monster laughed. Cackling sloppily. Laughing with its mouth full.\n\nBenny wrenched one eye open. It was horrific, but not entirely unsurprising. He wasn't cumming cum anymore.\n\nHe was cumming out all his blood.\n\nThe smokewater-blob was actually dancing in his crimson shower. Shuffling its wobbly bulk back and forth, swinging its arms happily. Doing the cha-cha in a tidal wave of boy blood.\n\nBenny didn't even have the strength left to react to this. The pleasure was obliterating his brain. His skin felt tight. Searching himself, he thought he felt lighter, skinnier. His arms and legs felt bony. Glancing down, he could see his ribs.\n\n'It's draining me dry,' was his last conscious thought.\n\nBut it felt too fucking good to get upset about.\n\nBenny came buckets until his body was as shriveled up as a raisin. Then the monster ate him.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n* * * * *\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[i]\"What smells like bacon?\"[/i]\n\nBenny was waking up. Blinking. Reaching up to brush the sleep-boogers from his eyes. He was in his pajamas, in his sleeping bag. Dawn light was coming in through the windows of an unfamiliar room.\n\n\"Huh...?\" He sat up slowly. He felt good at least. His whole body had that fuzzy feeling of a good night's rest in a warm place. His mouth tasted weird though. And when he realized he was in the livingroom of the murder house, the memories crashed in like sudden fireworks.\n\nBenny was stricken with the memories. Horrible, terrible, violent, vile, unspeakable (really hot) memories. A splash of guilt hit him in the face at all he'd done, though it was quickly quashed by the unbelievable relief of seeing all his friends waking up around him.\n\nThey were all blinking and rubbing sleep from their eyes too. As usual, Ryan was the fastest standing up. Joseph was smacking his lips, lying face down on top of his sleeping bag like an open face sandwich. Ollie was all tangled up trying to wriggle out.\n\nEric, wearing just sweatpants, was the first to say anything. \"Guys! Hey! Um, what a night, huh? Those scary stories sure did give me nightmares, heh heh!\"\n\nThey could all hear the nervous tremor in his voice. And that's when they realized they are all giving each other the same stare of nervous confusion.\n\nThey clammed up. No one spoke. The five friends all just looked at one another, not wanting to confirm the suspicions that were beginning to creep up inside them. Something more than nightmares had happened last night. But it had happened to all of them. Eric's bullshittery had only clued them into it.\n\nBenny's cheeks heated up. 'So they know what I did!' he thought. They knew he was a pervy cannibal who liked to eat squirrel guts!\n\nBenny was a second away from bolting out of the house forever in pure panic, when he realized something else. [i]Everyone[/i] looked guilty. And not just in a 'I spooged when the monster killed me' way. Close friends could share things through more than just words. Benny suddenly got the very strong feeling that each of them had had their own unique haunted house ride last night.\n\nAnd through an exchange of silent glances and nods amongst each other, this seemed to be confirmed.\n\nNo one wanted to be first to say it though, as it would have meant admitting what they'd seen. What they'd done. Benny sure as hell wasn't about to tell his Prey pals how much he'd savored the scent of their spilled scarlet. He wondered what they might have done to him. And, his dick pointed out, he was [i]really curious[/i] what they all might have done to him. Maybe in their dreams, he had been the prey. Or the monster. Or both.\n\nBenny had no idea how to bring it up, and hoped someone else would first, but he suspected they all had some stories to share soon at their meeting spot behind the big tree in Eric's backyard. He had no idea if he had the balls to spill all the details though. Or if his friends would either.\n\nOne thing was sure though, and it was something they could all agree on. Someone [u]was[/u] cooking bacon.\n\nOllie sat up. \"We should check out the kitchen. Maybe someone's in there who can explain all this.\"\n\n\"Yeah. Maybe.\" Benny said, getting to his feet.\n\nEric yawned and everyone followed suit. \"Allright, to the kitchen,\" the prairie dog said, hitching up his pants. \"Whoever's in there better have some answers, and some bacon, or we'll beat 'em both outta them!\" He held up a fist and the others nodded agreement. Joseph flexed his quills. Benny bared his teeth, thinking that was a damn good idea. Someone had played a 'prank' on them last night that had gone way too far.\n\nThe five boys gnashed their teeth and headed towards the back of the house to where the bacon-smells emanated. Growling bravado helped mask the flush of sexual embarrassment on all their cheeks.\n\nThe morning was bright and cozy. Beams of sunlight shone in through the window, making the vacant house look 90% less spooky than the night before. There was a soft humming coming from the kitchen. Male, and adult. Someone was turning a skillet on a stove burner. They could all hear a familiar sizzle accompanying the lovely aroma. The room itself was as unchanged and empty as the night before, but the morning gave it an all-over yellow glow.\n\n\"Hey!\" Eric shouted as he led the charge. \"Who the-\"\n\nAs the five boys entered the kitchen, the figure turned around.\n\n\"Yes?\"\n\nAll of them were stunned silent. Benny felt like he was going insane. He'd expected to find some drug dealer out here with a batch of hallucinogens he'd used on them. Or even the smokewater-blob. But [i]this[/i] guy was... Was..\n\nHe was indescribable. [i]Literally[/i] indescribable.\n\nBenny and the others were gawking right at him, but if they'd been asked later what the man had looked like, none of them would have been able to say. He was wearing clothes, but the colors and styles seemed to kaleidoscope past too fast for the eye to track. And as for fur or species, the guy was just a blur. A ripple in space. A blindspot. Not even a shadow, because there was no discernible color there. He [i]was[/i] but he [i]wasn't[/i].\n\nHe reached into the skillet with tongs to turn the bacon over. The only clear things on him were his oven mitt and his grin. \"I hope you boys had a nice sleep!\" he said.\n\nAll five boys shivered. That was the voice. THE voice. It didn't have that otherworldly, underwatery, brain-piercing hypnotic effect as last night, but everything else was the same.\n\nNoticing they were a bit too overwhelmed for words, their host slipped off his mitt and walked over for proper greetings. \"The name's Anton Void. I believe we met last night.\"\n\nThe boys dumbly shook hands. What else could they do? Benny stared at his paw afterwards. It had felt like that feeling you get when your leg falls asleep. Like sticking your hand in radio static.\n\nThe blurred gentleman returned to the stove. \"No need for introductions; I know your names already. Why don't you all have a seat? I'm sure it's time for Q and A.\"\n\nThey tore their gazes away from him long enough to notice that a table and chairs were set up nearby. Five chairs, of course. Plus a tidy linen tablecloth. Even a single rose in a vase.\n\nRyan was quickest. The black squirrel walked over, pulled out a chair, winced as it squeaked on the tile, then turned and plopped down into the seat.\n\nHe landed on the floor.\n\nThe table and chairs, rose and all, were gone as swiftly as they'd appeared.\n\nRyan rubbed his butt. \"That hurt, you fartfucker!\"\n\n\"Yes, sorry.\" Mr. Void didn't sound sorry. He giggled. \"But I hope that little demonstration has given answers to questions you now need not ask. I am an illusionist. While I mostly sculpt, I can also make people... mmm... see and do things. Things their inhibitions otherwise might not allow. But I coax 'em out.\"\n\n\"You're nothing but a huge pervert!!\" Joseph suddenly exploded.\n\n\"True,\" was the simple response. He started turning the bacon again.\n\nIt seemed there wasn't anything to be gained in insults. \"Why us then?\" Benny spoke up. \"You said last night- assuming that wasn't all just bullshit- that you sensed us on your radar. What does that mean?\"\n\nHe pointed the tongs at the pup. \"Well-remembered. That was true. See, normally I'm a collector of certain... art pieces. Transformed cubs. Cubs who are only cubs on the outside, but who inwardly yearn to be decoration.\"\n\nJoseph blushed immediately and wasn't sure why.\n\nRyan had gotten up and rejoined the others by then. He made a 'What the fuck does [i]that[/i] mean?' face.\n\n\"But you fellas,\" the man continued, \"were all exactly what it says on the label. I was a bit confused, since my inner radar's never led me wrong before. But then, aha! I remembered I'd been flirting with expanding my horizons a little. Branching out. Giving murder a try.\" He gave the tongs a flip and caught them gracefully.\n\nOllie could not stop himself from blurting, \"Well you suck at it 'cuz we're all still alive.\"\n\nA few of the boys managed to giggle, and Mr. Void did unashamedly. \"See that's the thing, I [i]can't[/i]. Otherwise-\" he pointed at the ceiling, \"-would get all pissy with me and take my powers away. Part of the deal.\"\n\n\"God!?\" Eric said incredulously.\n\n\"HA [i]HA![/i] No. Think more like... You know those stories where a good man sells his soul to a demon? Take that and put in reverse.\" He smirked. \"Anyway, here were five cool boys who liked horror, so I decided to give you some horror. Did you like it?\"\n\nEveryone blushed. Benny tried not to look at anyone else. Ryan wrung his tail.\n\n\"I...\" Ollie started, \"I actually did.\" They could see him blush through his fur.\n\nMr. Void seemed delighted. \"Good, good! I hope, even if no one else admits it, that my creative scenarios give you many happy wet spots in your pajamas these coming mornings.\"\n\n\"Eeew!!\" said Ryan.\n\n\"Oh, don't be a prude! I only looked inside your craniums and dredged up your most secretest desires. Stuff you'd never admit to. Stuff you'd never allow yourselves to tell. And I [i]do[/i] hope I didn't make you guys [i]too[/i] traumatized. Only a little. It was all in fun.\"\n\n'He actually sounds sincere about that,' Benny thought. And even though he'd been furious a moment ago, was he still now? Yeah he still felt all weird and violated. But in hindsight, knowing it really wasn't real, that helped a little. And at the end, he had seen into a part of himself he'd been looking away from, and maybe that changed things for him now. Plus, well... He couldn't deny that, for most of it, it hadn't been the monster manipulating him, but his own instincts. There was that [i]one[/i] part, sure. But even that... Benny could still remember the taste. He glanced at Ryan's belly.\n\nThen he realized Ryan was giving the exact same glance at Benny's butt. The little wolf's eyebrows shot up.\n\nThis night might have interesting repercussions.\n\nMr. Void shook the skillet again. \"Is anyone hungry? I sure am. None of you have asked what I'm cooking yet.\"\n\nThat made all of them blink. Bacon, right? It smelled like bacon. It sounded like bacon. They'd had no reason to believe it wasn't.\n\nGrimacing, knowing this was probably a bad idea, Ollie made himself ask, \"Allright... What are you cooking?\"\n\nMr. Void flashed a beaming grin. He held the skillet out for all to see. \"It's your dicks!\"\n\nFive boys started screaming and clutching at their pants.\n\nSizzling there in the bottom of the pan were five bright red little sausages. Different lengths and widths, but all were unmistakable. Normal sausages don't have urethrae.\n\nBenny held open his pajama bottoms. His eyes shrunk to pupils when he could actually see down [i]into[/i] his sheath! He reached in and poked a finger around. Completely hollow! (Though oddly, the sensation of fingering his little fur sleeve was pretty neat.)\n\n\"So, do I have your attention now?\" Mr. Void asked.\n\nEric responded by screaming some more.\n\nMr. Void produced a spatula to lightly 'doot' him on the head with. \"Oh hush. I'll give them right back after breakfast. Have you forgotten already I deal in illusions?\"\n\n\"But... but... I mean... LOOKIT!\" Ryan shuffled his hand around his pants to illustrate his distress.\n\nThe blur smirked. \"You're actually trusting your senses around me? How cute. The question I heard you all ask yourselves when you woke up was, 'Did I get a different adventure last night than everyone else?' and I'll give you that as a freebie: yes. Everyone thinks [u]they[/u]'d be the last survivor if they found themselves in a monster movie, so I gave you all variations on that theme. Man, I outdid myself on some of those ideas! Blood and guts and limbs and eyeballs and all that good shit! But here's the real head-scratcher: am I really cooking anything right now? Or do you think I am because I said I was?\"\n\nBenny shook his head. \"We smelled it! I woke up when someone said they smelled it!\"\n\nThe grin got wider. \"Do you remember which of your friends said it? Can you place the voice? No?\" The grin revealed teeth.\n\nBenny was mindboggled into silence.\n\nMr. Void started humming and went to work, sliding five cocks each onto six breakfast plates. He grew enough arms to hold them all, then walked them over to the table and six chairs, which had returned when no one was looking. And the rose. He sat down and tucked a napkin into the collar of whatever he was wearing. \"Well? Breakfast is served! Eat!\"\n\nIn a daze, the five boys all took their seats. (The chairs behaved this time.) They were looking down at the impossible sight of all their wieners, multiplied by six, all staring up at them from their plates. Cooked to perfection. And smelling disturbingly delectable.\n\nMr. Void was already digging in with gusto. He added a bit of pepper and basil, 'mmmmmm'ing loudly.\n\nEveryone stared at the dicks.\n\nEric blinked a few times. He nibbled his bottom lip, hesitating. Then he snorted. \"It's not real anyway. Fuck it.\" He forked his own cock and took a bite. Shrugged. \"Not bad.\"\n\nThere was some reluctance, but eventually the good smells won them all over.\n\nBenny had to admit, the grilled wieners tasted even better than their aroma. Chewy, sweet, fork-tender and [i]juicy[/i].\n\nRyan held up one speared on his fork. \"Definitely Benny's. No one else has a knot.\"\n\nThe wolfcub blushed.\n\n\"And you can tell Ryan's 'cause it's the little one,\" Ollie said.\n\nEveryone 'Oooooooh!'ed.\n\n\"Eat pellets, cottontail,\" Ryan shot back.\n\nMr. Void was pleased to see the tension had left the room. \"So boys,\" he said with a mouthful of Eric (then remembered his manners and swallowed), \"I'd love to do this again sometime. I had a blast. We could meet here, or...\" his grin grew a twisted edge, \"you could visit me at my place! It's not far. Just a bike ride away. Though... the visitors I get rarely tend to leave.\" He enjoyed the little shiver he caused in everyone with that.\n\nThough oddly, not in Joseph, who just looked lost in thought. \"You said you took other kids, but kept them. Turned them into stuff?\"\n\nVoid nodded, making no bones about it. \"It's my hobby and fetish, yes.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said the porcupine. He nodded slowly.\n\nBenny arched an eyebrow. \"You're not thinking about...?\"\n\nA shrug. \"I might be.\"\n\nMr. Void leaned over, closer towards him. His grin uncoiled wider. \"Yes, I see it now... Just a touch of objectification in you. I hadn't spotted it before, but it's there. Maybe a wastepaper bin would suit you. Or a piano!\"\n\nThe little porcupine shuddered at that, and felt the strangest surge of elation.\n\nBenny was about to interject in protest. But then he remembered all the memories of Joseph's uncomfortable home life. If any of them would consider it, Joseph made the most sense.\n\nEric gave the porcupine's shoulder a light punch (carefully). \"Naw. If you got turned into a lamp or somethin', we'd miss you.\"\n\nJoseph gave him a grateful smile for that.\n\n\"I could always allow you boys a free pass to visit,\" Mr. Void said accommodatingly.\n\nJoseph squirmed a little at the very thought that they were discussing this as a feasible possibility. As something that might really happen to him. Something he might willingly let happen...\n\nThe blurred furson put a finger to his chin. \"I almost never have live guests. Or, guests who stay that way, I mean. It could be fun. Though...\" He dabbed his mouth with a napkin. \"That suggestion about doing this again sometime wasn't really a 'suggestion' per se.\"\n\nA shadow fell over the table. \"What exactly does that mean?\" Eric asked.\n\nIn the middle of Mr. Void's indistinct face, his grin grew positively sharkish. \"Well you see... you boys are on my radar now. Marked. I rarely let a target go for long. And as much as dreams of grand guignol are fun, I really am a collector at heart...\"\n\nForks clattered to the table. A chill struck all their spines.\n\nThe room seemed to grow darker. \"Let's make a game of it!\" the monster said gaily. \"I've never tried this before. Let's see how long you boys can resist joining my decorations. A month? A year? Six days?\" He clapped his hands. \"What an idea for a game! What an excellent idea!\"\n\nBenny looked around to his friends. Eyes wide and jaws slack in horror. 'Wait... is any of this really happening now? Will I ever know for sure again?'\n\nDarker and darker, until all they could see was his grin. \"We could meet back here again for another sleepover. And another and another. Or maybe I could just visit you at home!\" Nothing else in the world seemed to exist but that infinite grin of damnation. \"All your bedrooms have closets, right? Do they have locks on the doors? Heh. As if that matters.\"\n\nUtter blackness swallowed the boys, the kitchen, the house and the entire world.\n\nMr. Void started laughing his ass off. The light returned in a blink. \"HA [i]HA![/i] Oh I'm just fucking around with you poor kids! Geez, lighten up! Eat your dicks!\"\n\n\n\nTHE END\n...for now\n\n\n\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Not Exactly Haunted
a bloody good snuffie tale
by Alex Reynard


* * * * *


Benny's nickname wasn't Lightningstrike for nothing. The timberwolf pup bolted away at top speed, trying not to hear all the screaming going on behind him. Impossibly, Eric was still the one screaming the most.

Benny rounded a corner, nearly on all fours, and bunched up the rug underneath him as he took off down the hallway. Panting hard. Eyes wide. Tongue flopped out and the taste of copper in the back of his throat. Nothing but moonlight to show his path. Unfamiliar surroundings. The walls and floor mostly bare in the abandoned house, but there were still boxes to trip over. Benny tried the nearest door. Locked, or stuck. Didn't matter which; same result. He tried the next door. Jackpot. He swooshed inside and sank to the floor, barricading the door with his body.

He was in a bathroom. Still breathing so hard it hurt, he tried to concentrate on the room he was in. Any escape routes? A window in the shower stall. But it was up too high and probably too narrow to fit his head through. A door, but only to a towel closet. He felt the cool square tiles beneath him. It looked like the only way out of this room was currently being blocked by his butt.

"Fuuuuuck..."

He bunched his legs up against his chest, curled his tail around them, and buried his muzzle between his knees.

When he closed his eyes, the image replayed and replayed and replayed.

The ink had torn Eric's head clean off!

Just... ripped it like a sheet of toilet paper!

'And it was Eric's idea to come here too,' Benny thought to himself. 'Bad choice, buddy. Whoops.'

It wasn't really ink though. It was dark, but moved like water. Though not like splashing either... more like... a water bubble. Though that wasn't possible. It was like someone had blown a lot of black smoke into a pool and the smoke had lifted the water up in a moving cloud. Like a water balloon with the balloon peeled away. It had moved so fast. Eric had just gotten to the good part in the story. And then...

Benny's ears swiveled. The screams had stopped. The house was silent. At that moment the realization hit: he had no idea where any of his other friends were. The five boys (now four, he reminded himself) had split up in completely different directions. "Nice job protecting them, fuckhead," Benny whispered to himself, wincing.

They'd always joked that he was the group's token Pred. Five inseparable friends, and four of them were Prey. Eric the prairie dog was kinda stout, but was full of ideas and their natural leader. Ryan the black squirrel was second-in-command. Small and quick; their spy shadow. Ollie was a fat little bunny who a lot of their schoolmates picked on, but their group protected him. Partly for his loyalty, partly for his jokes, and partly because he always brought the best snacks. Joseph was skinny and quiet. Being a porcupine, he handled any bullies that Benny couldn't. Though Benny could handle most of them. Most of their school was Prey, by about two thirds, and Benny had hit a growth spurt early. Sometimes people even mistook him for a teenager (which he loved every second of). He was called Lightningstrike because he was fast as hell on the soccer field or the basketball court, but also because of the jagged streaks in his fur along his muzzle and down his back. He hadn't been fast enough to save Eric through.

'Then again... who could have predicted that?'

'Well, you buncha dipshits DID break into a haunted house of your own free will, right?' his inner voice replied with a snarky edge. He could picture a smaller version of himself with hands on hips, scowling. 'It was just for fun, right? You were so sure there weren't gonna be any real ghosts!'

'I thought ghosts weren't real! I mean... that's just a bunch of Halloween shit.'

'Guess you were wrong!'

Eric had gotten the idea. He'd told them about it at lunchtime yesterday, as they huddled around him at their usual table. Eric's beady eyes had shone in his golden fur as he reminded them of the quadruple homicide that had happened in their neighborhood two years ago. Everybody remembered it. The grownups had tried to keep the details from their delicate young ears, but kids always have a way of rooting out the gory details to share amongst each other.

A dad had shot his whole family. Chopped the bodies up. Then hung himself from the ceiling fan. But that wasn't the worst part. That right there was just your average guy-goes-psycho news story. They'd heard a thousand of those. No, what made this one different was that, according to the rumor in every schoolyard for seven counties, he had hung the pieces of his dead wife and kids all around him on fishing line, like a mobile.

That was some world-class fucked-up right there.

The house had sat vacant ever since. A perfectly normal-looking two story house in the middle of the suburbs. Nothing abnormal about it. But everyone in the neighborhood looked away. People crossed the street to avoid it. No trick-or-treaters ever rang the doorbell. The place was like a black hole. A blind spot. Except, Eric said he'd heard from his older brother that some high school kids had popped the lock on the back door and spent the night there last week. They'd brought booze and kissed their girlfriends, like high school kids did. But the important part was they'd come out alive.

Though supposedly, they'd heard things in there. Unnatural sounds. Weird shadows.

Eric thought maybe it was just because they were drunk. They'd scared themselves, like big babies. "But we wouldn't be scared," Eric said.

That's when Benny knew that he and everyone else in the group had been drafted.

And so, they had all told their moms and dads that they'd be sleeping over at one of the other guys' houses. They did it so often, they knew their parents wouldn't bother to check. All of them had stayed over at each other's places so often it was like they all had five sets of parents. (The only house they tended to skip was Joseph's. His parents were... weird. Kinda assholes. They mostly visited his place out of sympathy, so their porcupine pal wouldn't feel so trapped there.)

Benny had stashed a secret backpack behind his house. Right after dinner he'd hugged Mom 'n Dad goodbye and got on his bike. It was an hour-long ride. His stomach was all twisted-up as he pedaled into the setting sun, past the endless identical homes. It wasn't that he was afraid of restless spirits full of murder. Not really. More like... Well, he was definitely afraid of getting caught by the cops. That would suck balls. And... He couldn't really articulate it, but it seemed incredibly effing disrespectful to be crawling around in a place where real fursons had really died. Like having a party in a cemetery. Benny was totally cool with the group's weekly all-night horror movie binges. Was fine with them competing to gross each other out the most every October 31[sup]st[/sup]. But this kinda crossed a line. He at least felt better about it when he pulled up in front of 1213 Cabbage Rd. and saw Ryan and Joseph looking just as uncertain as he was. Ryan was fidgeting like a blur, twitching back and forth. Joseph was all quiet and wouldn't even look at the house.

Sitting in the bathroom with his back to the door, Benny thought about his parents. 'I'm so glad I hugged them goodbye. I'm never going to see them again, am I?'

Eric had pulled up a few minutes later, with a bigass macabre grin on his face. Though Benny could tell, his prairie dog pal was just as nervous as everyone else. Trying to act tough and irreverent so it wouldn't show. Benny could smell the fear-sweat on him as he sauntered past.

And then of course, here came Ollie. Last place; natch. Puffing hard from the workout and the weight of his retarded-huge backpack. At least they'd eat well tonight.

And they had. After a tense first hour of tiptoeing around inside the house, peeking into all the rooms and finding nothing scarier than spiderwebs and dead flies, they'd settled down in the wide hallway at the top of the double staircase (the downstairs had a few too many windows). Chairs had been located in the dining room and dragged up to be utilized. Sleeping bags were piled in a heap. Ollie had really gone all-out. Chips and pop of course, but he'd also brought along a portable grill with a battery pack, reasoning that the house's electricity would be turned off. By the light of their ring of flashlights, they'd toasted s'mores and hot dogs. It was like camping out, but in.

And once it got good and dark, they'd turned off all the flashlights save one. That one was passed around and held under the chin of whoever's turn it was to tell a scary story. They were all masters at it. Connoisseurs of urban legends. Whenever they'd tell each other stories like this, their usual personalities melted away. They could become anything. Ollie was normally a bashful, nervous, social wreck. But with a story on his lips, his stutter completely vanished. Ryan could actually slow down enough to build tension. Life came into Joseph's normally faraway gaze. Eric was his usual enthusiastic self. But Benny, who was normally the quiet, observant watchdog of the group, was finally free to let his Pred side out. He loved when his friends told him that his had been the best story of the night. He really worked hard on them too. Read lots of horror books and magazines at the library. Tweaked them, put his own twists on them. Did all the voices. Showed off his fangs. There had always been whispers from some of the nosy grownups in town, wondering why four nice little Prey kids would want to hang around a scary wolf. Well, he knew. He was scary. And his friends loved it. He was their pet monster. He loved his role in the group too.

He'd had a real good one planned tonight. A story about a chick who cheated on her boyfriend, who worked in a laundromat. The ending was gonna have him trap her in one of those big steam presses, and when the cops'd find her the next morning her skin would have melted right off and be dripping out of the machine in a big awful puddle. Great stuff. Unfortunately, he would not be telling that story tonight. Ryan had started first, getting them hooked on a spine-tingling ghost tale, then getting a groan out of everyone when it was revealed the ghost was actually a sentient fart cloud that was trying to find a home in the protagonist's butt. Ha ha. Joseph went next, and genuinely froze their blood with the story of a kid drowning under the ice while his friends skated around right above him, looking for where he'd fallen through. Then it was Eric's turn. The prairie dog had really given it his all, dramatizing the events that had happened in this very house. Saying he'd researched all the details, that he knew the true story. He had just gotten to the part where the dad was at the store buying the fishing line, knowing full well he'd be using it that night to decorate his ceiling with chunks of bloody limbs...

And then it happened.

None of them had seen it coming, and how could they? Eric's flashlight had turned everything around him into shadows, which the monster was pretty much camouflaged exactly like. Benny had seen it for just an instant, or he thought he had in hindsight. A shimmering wet gleam around the shadows on the ceiling. Like leaking water. Just about to break surface tension and splash down on all of them.

As Eric's story rose to a crescendo, a pair of gigantic black arms dropped down from the ceiling and pulled his head off. Pop! Effortlessly. Lifted it straight up, like picking up a jack-o-lantern. Eric's eyes had gone wide. A scream left his throat that seemed to never stop. Blood gushed out like a red paint can tipped over. Before his flailing body could fall to the floor, more hands shot out of the darkness and tore it in half. Perfectly down the middle. They could see ribs and lungs and all sorts of glistening organs. More blood. Infinite blood. The blood broke the other boys' screaming paralysis and they scattered.

Benny sat on the tile of this unfamiliar house's bathroom. Eyes as round as two moons. Staring at the bluish-white bathtub and not seeing it. Only seeing Eric, over and over, his last moments. Off with his head, then straight down the middle. Blood, blood, blood, blood, blood. He could still smell it. Hell, he'd probably ran through pools of it and that was why.

His pants were hurting him. To his absolute revulsion, he looked down and realized he had a boner.

A huge one. Like, bust-your-zipper-and-buy-a-new-one huge. His cheeks burned. He almost swore at his cock for being so fucking inappropriate. This was NOT the time! What kind of monster was he, getting hard after watching one of his best friends die!?

'No, wait, stop. You're not a monster. Wasn't this that thing we learned in health class? The 'Now You're A Man' video they showed us?' They'd all laughed at it at the time, but the video had definitely said that erections could be caused by many things, including fear.

Benny mimed taking his pulse. "Fear? Yeah. I got that."

What the hell was he going to do?

His brain could not fully grasp that Eric was dead. That he'd never see his gross, loud, funny, awesome pal ever again. Though... it occurred to him that maybe he could save his other three friends from a similar fate. If the ink-blob-shadow-water-thing was still busy munching on Eric, maybe the others had been able to find hiding places. 'I did.' So it was possible. Either way, time was probably all stretched out right now. It might have been only a few seconds since he'd run away. There might still be a chance.

Benny got to his feet. He took a long, deep breath, steeling himself. He stared at the blank wood of the bathroom door. "I'm going back out there," he said to himself. First as a meek whimper. But then again, as a command. "I am going back out there." Because his friends needed him. Even if the smoke-thing had disassembled Eric, he still had three other buddies, and they were in danger. He was their watchdog. 'Get off your scaredy-cat ass and help them.'

"Right," he said, and opened the door.

He was running before his worry could stop him. Maybe the monster was right outside and he'd smack straight into it and be pulled apart like taffy. But the hallway was empty still. Nothing but moonlight and taped-up boxes full of murder victim stuff. Benny's heartbeat was louder than thunder. His senses were on keenest alert. His ears swiveled and his nostrils were wide.

He got to the edge of the hallway and peeked around. There was a little circle of light down there from where Eric had dropped the flashlight.

But no Eric. No parts of him. Not even any blood.

'I didn't hallucinate that,' Benny assured himself. 'We all saw it. We all screamed and ran. We all did.' So the monster must have covered its tracks. Slurped up all the evidence. Oh god fuck, Eric really was gone. Eaten.

As that word entered his mind, his dick twitched a little.

'Stop that!!' he mentally screamed at his hard-on. He didn't care if it was a biological reflex, it was disgusting. Eric was his FRIEND!

'But he was also Prey,' another side of his mind pointed out. 'Come on...' it whispered.'You've always thought about it.'

"I have not," Benny whispered under his breath.

'Liar. They're Prey. All of them. You can't hide what your nose knows. How many months being pals with them until you could make yourself stop drooling at their sssscent?'

Benny shut his eyes tight and physically punched himself in the skull. 'STOP THAT!' He had more important things to do than stand here in the hallway thinking about all this Pred/Prey instinctive crap. His dad had said it was normal. All Pred kids sometimes wondered what it'd be like to eat their Prey friends. It was natural. It was why meat factories had volunteers. But Benny'd thought he was different. He only ate store-bought meat, from nonevs. Eating other fursons was gross. Definitely gross.

Benny stepped out into the wider hallway, slower now, and silently. The wood floors didn't creak, thank goodness. He cocked his ears to any sound. The house was silent as a void. He didn't dare call out for his friends. The smokewater-blob could be anywhere.

There were two staircases leading up from the livingroom. He could see down over the balcony into the ground floor. He squinted into the darkness. No sign of anyone. He didn't like being so visible, and ducked down behind the railing. Peeking through the bars.

He heard something from the kitchen.

He remembered it was downstairs, just to the west of the livingroom. They'd looked in all the drawers and cabinets during their initial exploration.

Benny carefully duck-walked along the railing to the opposite stairs. They had creaked, he also remembered. Safer, and also quicker, to just ride the bannister down. He sniffed around, and took a good long look through the railing. He sure as shit didn't want to slide down into a big open mouth.

He took a deep breath and just did it. In one swift motion he was straddling the wood and pushing off.

A few swooshing seconds later he was at the bottom. Unharmed. He dismounted silently into a completely empty room.

The windows down here let in plenty of moonlight. Benny checked his watch. After midnight. He couldn't count on anyone passing by that he could call to for help. And if he sprinted to a neighbor's house, he'd have to explain why he and his friends had been in here in the first place. Benny shook his head. He turned towards the kitchen.

The sound he'd heard was breathing. Ollie's. Benny couldn't see him yet, but their roly-poly rabbit friend had a very distinctive wheeze when he was exhausted. 'Or terrified.' Benny poked his head around the corner. The kitchen was pretty big, but without many windows. Dark inside. Keeping close to the wall, Benny sank into a crouch to peek beneath the table.

Yup, there. From across the room he spotted the shadow of a trembling bunny on hands and knees. A sliver of moonlight illuminated white fur.

Benny looked around in every direction. Even the ceiling. Then he cupped his paws around his mouth. "Ollie," he whispered. Zero reaction. He was too far away and too quiet. But he didn't want to raise his voice much more or the creature might hear. "Ollie!" he tried again, a fraction louder. Still nary a twitch from the crouching bun. Benny was beginning to get irritated. He breathed in to try a third time, and that was when the fridge opened itself.

Light poured out, blinding. Benny flinched back around the corner. Blinking. Seeing spots. From behind him he heard Ollie let out a tiny gasp-shriek. Like air squeezed from a deflating ball.

And then there was a voice. Cold and clear and perfectly calm. Coming from inside the refrigerator.

Found you, it singsonged.

Icicles sprouted all up and down Benny's spine. He didn't want to look, but he had to. He had to. The voice was hypnotic. A devil's lullaby.

Come on out where I can get a better look at you, Ollie.

Two shining eyes, wide with terror, gleamed under the table. The fridge was totally empty. Just white light and a few tilted metal racks. But the voice was definitely inside. Ollie couldn't move a muscle. His jaw bobbled up and down, trying to speak.

The voice tsked. Then dark water began to pour out in two snakelike rivers from the bottom of the open fridge. They slithered across the linoleum silently. As Benny gripped the wall and watched (his claws accidentally shredding the wallpaper), the twin watery arms crawled up the legs of the table and lifted it away effortlessly. Underneath was one frozen bunny, jiggling like pudding on a plate.

And here we are.

The inky arms let go of the table and left it in the air. Perfectly stationary, as if resting on solid ground. Ollie didn't notice. He was too transfixed by the fridge light. His breathing was a rhythmic in-and-out rasp. Like he might choke on air at any moment. He shuddered and tried to wad himself up smaller, like a little white dumpling with a stubby tail.

One of the inky arms patted Ollie between the ears. Another patted his back, and the bunny stood up. From Ollie's stricken expression, Benny could tell it had not been a conscious choice. The dark arms were manipulating him like a puppet. They slid him closer to the fridge.

My my, what interesting eyes you have, the voice said.

Ollie gulped, but nodded. Heterochromia was a word all his friends knew. Ollie had been teased about it a lot, in addition to his weight and general awkwardness. His left eye was maple brown. His right was sea-green. Either was an extremely rare color for a rabbit with Ollie's snowy fur.

I like them.

"Th-thanks," Ollie gurgled out.

I think I'd like them for my collection.

Ollie's trembling tripled. He was facing away from Benny, but the wolf could see utter terror radiating from the rabbit's body language. His fear-smell was strong as cologne.

"Please d-d-don't," the bunny begged.

There's nothing to worry about... the voice cooed, and then it did something with its watery arms. They clenched around the boy's neck and he visibly relaxed. His muscles went slack all at once. Benny could see Ollie wasn't dead though, as he still wriggled weakly to escape when another hand reached out of the fridge towards him.

The palm rested on his face, covering it like a catcher's mitt. Ollie made little gasps that were intended to be screams, but he couldn't get the air in.

Then Benny watched the hand slowly pull away. In its magic grasp were two little round white spheres.

Benny's claws gripped the wall so hard they sank into the wood.

Ollie had felt no pain, bizarrely enough. The inky hand's touch was strangely numbing. He had felt the water flowing into his sockets, loosening things in there. When his eyes came out, it was as easy as plucking a flower. As easy as this thing had pulled off Eric's head. "Y-you k-killed my friend," Ollie found bravery enough to say.

Uh huh, the voice readily admitted. Wasn't it cool? Did you like the part where his head was still screaming as I ripped the rest of him up like a paper doll?

Ollie whimpered.

The voice snorted in a 'don't be a crybaby' kind of way. He didn't suffer. I'm no fan of pain. As you've no doubt noticed from me sucking out your little olives. I think I'll eat them. One. Two. And just like that, the eyes vanished into the smoky water; gone.

Ollie was totally blind now. He had still been able to see while his eyes were being removed, as the nerve bundles were still attached, but then everything went lightswitch dark. "Y-you don't have to kill me t-too, right? I gave you a souvenir, isn't th-that enough? Eric must've filled you up. He was a big kid. I'd just m-make you sick and throw up."

Benny had to smile. Ollie's biggest strength, he'd observed over the years, was finding bravery through humor.

The voice nixed the idea though. Nice effort. Applause-worthy. But you see, my appetite... is VORACIOUS.

The arms suddenly yanked Ollie's shorts down, underpants and all.

"Oh Jesus!" the bunny yelped.

Another water arm shot out of the fridge and made a beeline for the bunny boy's ass.

Ollie gave a second yelp.

Benny watched in total paralysis.

Don't mind me, just making a noose.

Ollie's whole body gave a twitch as the water-arm gave a tug like a man pull-starting a lawnmower. Two yards of bunny guts came out. Ollie wiggled and wiggled as the arms began to unravel him like a spool of thread. Handful after handful of bright pink intestine.

The voice implied an invisible, toothy smile. Feels almost good, doesn't it? Don't be confused. I like making it fun for you kids.

Ollie was letting out little high-pitched yips as his insides became his outsides. Coils upon coils of himself, more than he would have thought could ever fit in him. And to his total shame, it did feel good. Indescribable, and horrific, but there was definitely more pleasure than pain. And the arm holding his throat was doing something to his brain. Making him sleepy, relaxed. Making him not want to fight back anymore...

Good little bun-bun...

When the hands had unspooled all that they could, they lifted the intestines into the air and wrapped a loop around Ollie's throat. His face had gone slack by then. Empty eyes stared up at the ceiling as he was lifted higher. His jaw hung open, tongue and buckteeth twitching.

Good... good...

'It feels like sausages,' he thought, as the noose coiled tighter.

Benny watched the arms lift his friend all the way up to the ceiling, bathed in the glow of the refrigerator light. The rabbitcub's pants fell off and his Underoos dangled around his ankle. Benny couldn't stop his cheeks from burning. He could just barely see the tip of a bunny erection.

I like to make it feel good for my prey...

Ollie made a last little gulping sound. Then the noose was too tight around his throat for anything else. Tight as a coiling snake. The snake was pulling him up into the sky. He didn't understand why at this point, but it felt nice. He started to see little blue and yellow sparkles dancing at the edge of his vision. But he couldn't see. How...? Well, it wasn't important. They were nifty. And he felt pretty nifty overall, in fact.

When I take their little lives away...

Ollie shuddered all over. A bit of cream spurted from his stubby cock, flew through the air, and was caught by the swift reflexes of another water-arm. It squished the bunnycum in its palm until it disappeared, then moved its fingers in a way that strongly resembled someone smacking their lips. A pleased sigh came from the voice in the fridge.

Then Ollie went limp as a fur coat on a hanger.

When a gargantuan mouth emerged from the fridge and began to slurp up his dead friend like a spaghetti noodle, Benny was finally able to tear his eyes away.

Chewing sounds came from the kitchen. Messy, sloppy chewing sounds. Meat being ground up and swallowed. Bunny meat.

The little wolf plastered himself tight to the wall, eyes staring straight ahead. His mind was blank. There was no room for any of the conflicting, bouncing, jumbling feelings he was having. Horror. Dread. Arousal... His stupid dick was trying to bust his pants again.

He rubbed his paws at his temples. 'No, I did not enjoy seeing my second friend of the night die horribly!' he silently yelled at his own mind. 'No, it was not cool to see him squirt. Or imagining what he tasted like. ...Or his cum,' another voice added. 'Stop it, stop it, stop it!!'

 The chewing lasted no longer than thirty seconds before Ollie was totally disposed of. An unseen throat gave one last Herculean gulp. Than an Ahhhh... of satisfaction.

Then Benny just about jumped to the ceiling at the earsplitting clatter of the table falling back down to the floor.

His heartbeat was a whizzing blur. 'Did it hear me!? Did I scream out loud or did I just scream in my mind!?'

These thoughts vanished as the voice in the fridge suddenly addressed him.

How'd you like my second act, kiddo?

Benny turned to crystal. One hundred per cent petrified. The voice was like an ice cube dropped down the back of his shirt. He was next. Oh God, he was going to be murdered next.

He heard a quiet flowing sound as a puddle of smoky water sloshed along the kitchen floor towards the livingroom.

You didn't really think you were hidden, did you?

Benny's boner was literally the only thing stopping him from flooding his pants with panic-pee at that moment.

I mean, the coat closet? Could you get any more obvious?

Benny blinked. 'What?' He felt a bloom of hope inside him as he heard the water-sounds pass right by, just inches away.

At the front of the house there was a small entryway in between the two big windows. In this entryway was a little nook for storing winter jackets and raingear. The door was already open a fraction, and now a small brown paw eased it the rest of the way open.

Looking resigned to his fate, Joseph stepped out. His quills and his head hung down towards the carpet.

The couch's shadow hid Benny from view, but he could see across the livingroom just fine. The smokewater-blob approached his friend. A gleaming, jiggling, impossible mass of swirling horror. Utterly alien. Not even seeming alive; just a construct of pure evil imagination. A manifestation of a vengeful spirit's will. It slithered towards the silent little porcupine.

Even from across the room, Benny heard his friend's quiet, determined whisper. "I peeked. I saw everything you did to Ollie."

Fantastic. That means I don't have to waste time explaining.

Benny shivered. Joseph had been watching too? So... had he seen his wolf friend just sitting there on his ass, paralyzed, not even bothering to help? Suddenly the weight of his own conscience was crushing him into the carpet.

The young porcupine was, unlike a lot of Preykids, tall and skinny. Near Benny's height. He tended to look a bit malnourished. Maybe that was partly because of the baggy, too-big T-shirts he always wore. He had to get them cheap at the thrift store because his quills tended to chew through them completely after four wearings, tops. Joseph stood in the front hall with his hands at his sides. Posture straight. He could not make himself look directly at the cannibalistic specter drawing nearer, but he did not flee from it either.

The smokewater-blob reached out an arm towards the boy and grew a single finger at its tip. It placed itself beneath Joseph's chin and turned his face upwards. Another hand was there, tilting back and forth at him like a faceless, appraising head.

Mmm. Now look at you. No more scampering away? Realized that your spikes aren't going to work against something like me?

Joseph stared into the shifting, smoky palm. A small nod. "Pretty much. You'll get me no matter what I do. So... Just make it quick, okay?" He shut his eyes tight and his whole body winced.

Sure, I can do that.

A moment later, Joseph was gasping in shock as all four of his limbs split from his body.

The monster hadn't even used its inky arms this time. Five pieces of porcupine hung suspended in midair, just like the table. Like he'd been drawn and quartered vertically. Blood fountained from the stumps. The legs were still kicking. The fingers were still clenching.

Benny was utterly motionless. He was nothing but a camera now, recording events. Far too terrified to act. He felt silly for ever thinking he could save his friends from this thing.

Joseph's eyes swirled around, counting his levitating limbs. Quivering in disbelief, confused by the total lack of agony he should have been experiencing. His gaze came back around to the monster to ask it 'Why?'

It cocked its face-palm. Oh! You meant make your death quick! Sorry about that. I totally misinterpreted. Still, now you know what a piñata feels like. Interesting, isn't it? Olé!

Joseph was not in a chuckling mood. More like he was slipping into shock.

Well you're no fun. Okay, okay. I'll give you lights-out time. Adios, amigo.

Four limbs fell out of the air and bounced on the carpet, sending little arcs of crimson flying. The main part of Joseph elevated, then a hole emerged in the center mass of the smoke-ghost. It began to lower the boy inside, crotch first.

Realizing that this was really it, Joseph forced his mouth to open one last time. "Wait! I wanna ask a question!"

The voice sounded mildly annoyed. Which is it? 'Over with quick' or 'I wanna ask a question?'

The young porcupine (or what was left of him) stared down into the maw of the creature about to end him. A snarl came to his lips. "When you killed your family, why'd you string them up from the ceiling? Just for fun, you sicko!?"

A moment's silence. The monster seemed genuinely startled.

I never did that, it said, sounding perplexed.

"So it was just a rumor..." Joseph breathed. He had been hoping to at least unsettle this demon before it finished him off.

Oh! the voice said brightly. No, I'm sorry I misled you! I'm not the ghost of the killer who lived here. I'm not even a ghost! I just dropped by because you kids showed up on my radar. Ha! What a silly boo-boo!

And with that it shoved Joseph down its makeshift throat before the boy could even get a yelp out.

Benny could see his friend's confused stare, suspended upside down inside the creature.

It grew two arms to pat its belly with, looking quite contented. Then it picked up Joseph's limbs, juggled them for a few seconds, and let them drop one by one into its mass. They floated like chunks of fruit in Jell-o.

They sank deeper into the creature, like slow-motion film of diving in a pool.

Benny's only camouflage now was his complete lack of motion. He sat against the wall like a porcelain statue. If the monster turned around now, it would see him.

And yes, it was beginning to turn around.

Except fate was sparing the wolfcub yet again. The monster turned just enough to angle itself around a coffee table (Benny noticed that it clipped the edge, which sloshed right through it) and headed towards a door beneath the far staircase. It was actually humming now. A chipper little tune.

As it passed by, Benny could see Joseph's head and torso still visible in its transparent mass. Trapped like a bug in amber. His body was beginning to fizz at the edges. Blood trickled from his wounds like it was being lapped up. And his face... There was no expression of panic like one would expect from a kid who was simultaneously drowning and digesting. He looked almost... serene.

Maybe it was the same relaxation trick the thing had done to Ollie. Some kind of hypnosis. Joseph had a calm, unworried smile on his small muzzle as his eyes drifted closed and his body began to melt away.

Then the monster was too far across the livingroom for Benny to see any more. It flowed over minor obstacles like a tipped endtable and discarded telephone. Its destination was the basement door. The boys had looked inside earlier, but seeing pitch blackness at the bottom of the stairwell, all of them agreed it was not cowardly to 'nope' out of this one.

The monster showed no such reluctance. Still humming, it grew an arm to open the door with, then slithered and squoze inside.

Benny was inanimate for a moment longer. Barely breathing. Staring straight out the livingroom window to the nearly-full moon outside in the sky. His limbs felt heavy as steel. But then he was up on his feet and dashing silently across the carpet towards the open basement door. It was barely a conscious decision. He could not stop himself. He had to see what happened next.

Basements.

Basements are just always scary, aren't they?

Especially at night in a house with no electricity. Only the barest traces of light struggled in through the narrow, dust-covered windows set in the cement. The basement was an orchard of shadows. A pool of black. As Benny crept behind the smokewater-blob, all he could see of it were the minute shimmers hinting at its outline.

The word for Benny at that moment was 'entranced.' He couldn't stop himself. He knew what was about to play out. Three chomped children definitely established a pattern, and whether he or Ryan would be four or five seemed irrelevant. But it was more than just inevitability. More than just the haunting, flowing tune of the creature's hum. Benny wanted to see. His terror and arousal had become a constant pounding drum at the back of his brain, pushing, shoving him forward. He could not run away. He felt the wobbly wooden floorboards beneath his paws and begged them to creak. The sound might snap him out of his daze and make him run. He was conscious of wanting to escape, while watching his body take him further downward into darkness.

Benny happened to notice the steps were all dry. The monster was made of water, yet didn't leave a drop behind.

It was cold down here, despite the warm night. Basements always seemed to suck the warmth right out of you. The creature reached the bare, crumbly concrete floor and paused. It silently rotated. Seeking.

The room was as silent as it was dark.

A playful voice ended that. Hi, Ryan! I've come to turn you inside-out!

No response. Not a squeak or a shiver or a fart.

I have to give you points, the voice praised. Coming down here was smart. With your particular fur, you blend right in. I could search all night and not spot you.

Still no response. Ryan was not dumb enough to be baited.

Too bad I don't have all night.

Benny blinked hard and reflexively ducked as the lightbulb right above his head came on. Only the railing was shielding him from discovery now.

And too bad I don't play fair.

A second light came on, this one illuminating a ceiling-high wall of trash bags, their contents identified via magic marker.

And too bad I don't search by sight, but mind.

The third lightbulb bloomed, revealing a plank-stiff little shadow-colored squirrel; eyes shut tight, wedged between the washing machine and dryer.

That's three 'too bads' in a row for you. Sorry, but that's a strikeout.

Benny had lucked into the perfect position. The light above was actually creating a shadow for him to hide in, smashed up against the thin staircase railing. And the creature's bulk blocked Ryan's view of him. So the squirrel wouldn't have to wonder why his friend was just sitting there spectating instead of saving him.

Ryan peeked past his eyelids. There was the thing he'd seen decapitate Eric. The thing he'd heard taunting his friends upstairs. It was a mountain of dark, cloudy water. Jiggly, with bones floating around in it like fish in an aquarium. It was completely blocking the basement's only exit. Ryan was petrified, but at this point he had nothing to lose, right? "You're really nothing but a big giant butthole, aren't you?"

No, I'm a smokewater-blob, it replied matter-of-factly.

Ryan glared at it and stepped out from between the appliances. "No, you weenie!" He pointed right at its face (or where one would have been). "I meant that you're a total creep who kills little kids for fun!"

Okay, I gotta give you that one. Spot-on.

Ryan snarled. This thing was immune to insult. If he couldn't use his fast wits, his fast legs were his only other option. He glanced quickly at the staircase. Could he possibly dart past the monster before it could react?

No you can't. I already told you I can read your mind.

"Shiiiit," the little squirrel wailed.

'It can read minds...' Benny thought. 'So why hasn't it caught ME yet?' He had been so close to it so far, yet hadn't been 'seen'. His mind raced. He remembered it saying something to Joseph about, 'you kids showed up on my radar.' He hadn't said how many kids. And maybe, somehow, that only meant Prey kids. Maybe it couldn't 'smell' him, and that was why! Maybe there was a chance he could actually get out of this if he just kept hidden long enough!

The creature slithered forward.

Ryan backed up against the dryer with a loud 'whump'.

You've got a big mouth, little prey. Not that I'm condemning you; that would be awfully hypocritical of me. Because I've got a pretty big mouth too. Wanna see it?

The squirrel winced, buck teeth shining in the light. "Naw. But you're gonna show me anyway, aren't you?"

Correctamundo.

Like a beartrap snapping shut, a set of tremendous smoky lips and teeth shot forward out of the monster's midsection. In the blink of an eye they'd stretched across the room to bite a perfectly oval-shaped section out of Ryan's belly. Right through his shirt and pants.

Ryan squeaked in shock as he suddenly had to keep both his underpants from falling down, and his intestines from falling out.

A watery tongue licked the lips before they disappeared with a ripple back into the monster's bulk. Nummy!

Ryan could not believe this was happening. His pants were dropping to his ankles. His guts were squishier than he'd ever imagined. They were gunking up his arms and making it increasingly difficult to hold them in. "Gimme that back, asswipe!" he wailed. "I need that!"

The monster tittered. It grew a hand-face just to waggle its finger at the boy. Oh c'mon! Let it all hang out! After all, don't you want to put on a good show for the audience?

Ryan looked up from his torso-portal. "What audience!?"

Benny's blood turned to ice water.

The smokewater-blob turned slowly, pointing its face-hand's finger directly at the huddled lump of wolf fur on the stairs. Say hello to Contestant Number Five!

Benny was numb, dumbstruck, petrified, wide-eyed and pissing his pants all at the same time.

"B-Benny?" Ryan said. Had his friend been trying to rescue him, just waiting for the opportunity? Or had he been sitting there watching the whole time!? The poor squirrel was so perplexed, his grip slipped and his giblets went cascading out onto the concrete floor. "Crap!!"

The smell hit Benny's nose. Fresh squirrel blood. And yummy organ meats. With a dazed expression on his face, he found himself standing up.

The creature's face-finger beckoned. That's it. That's right. Come on down. Join the fun.

While Ryan scrambled to pick up his guts and shove them back in, Benny walked down the staircase with a completely blank expression. A trickle of drool traced the side of his muzzle.

Ryan looked up. "Dude, you peed your pants! Though, heh, I guess I got you beat in the embarrassment department. Hey... Benny? You're lookin' kinda weird. Snap out of it, bud."

The young wolf stopped a few feet equidistant between the squirrel and the monster.

Ryan managed to force a grin onto his muzzle. "You're... you're not really just gonna stand there and watch him eat me, right?"

Don't be silly, the monster said. It grew an arm to pat Benny on the back. He'll be doing the eating.

"What!? No!!" Ryan tried to back up again, and only succeeded in smashing his tail against the dryer. His innards flopped out again too.

Benny's ears perked. His nostrils flared. Then he was down on all fours, crawling closer. Sniffing at his squirrel pal's tasty sweetbreads.

"Dude! Gross!!"

Benny's eyes were glassy. Vacant. He crawled forward and stuck his nose right into Ryan's abdominal cavity. Pushed his muzzle in deep. The wolfboy shivered in bliss. He began to chew.

Ryan grimaced and started trying to climb backwards up the dryer. His fingernails clicked on the smooth painted metal. He kept slipping. "DUDE!! Not cool! Those are mine! Bad puppy!!"

The monster chortled.

Benny was super-totally not listening. The taste in his jaws was heavenly. Fresh and raw. Soooo much better than that supermarket stuff. Benny wasn't really aware of where he was, who he was, or what he was eating. Only that it was deeeeee-licious!

Ryan started nervously giggling. There was no pain. There hadn't been any when the thing had chomped off his tummyskin either. And it was almost sort of freakishly cool to look down at himself and see his friend, muzzle-deep, looking up at him. He heard the sounds of his own viscera being nibbled. He clenched the sides of the dryer. "Um..."

The smokewater-blob slithered closer to both of them, casting a shadow. You're Prey. He's Pred. It's natural! Just go with the flow.

It, um, was starting to feel good actually. Ryan's cheeks got hot. His breathing slowed. Hadn't he thought about this? Hadn't he teased Benny about this before? I mean, how could they not? They were four Prey buds with a wolf for a bro. The jokes wrote themselves. Benny'd even called him a chewtoy just the day before. Now that nickname was literal. Ryan was having conflicted feelings about this. It was getting harder to think. The creature was doing things to his mind, yeah. Definitely. Benny kept chewing and swallowing, and Ryan kept watching.

So did the creature.

Admit it. It's kinda cool, isn't it?

"N-no..." Ryan stammered.

Aww, you can be honest! We're all friends here. If you're not enjoying yourself, then what's poking Benny's chin?

"What!?" He hadn't noticed. And how could such an obscene possibility even have occurred to him? That he'd end up getting a massive chub while one of his best friends devoured him!?

Benny hadn't noticed it either. The little pink fingertip poked out of Ryan's boxers to tickle his chinfur. Benny blinked. Something smelled new. He took a lick of it.

Ryan threw his head back. "Ohhhhh shitfuckballsdammit!!"

Benny slurped and slurped. He liked the taste of this new meat, whatever it was.

Ryan made high-pitched little chittering sounds.

Benny took a bite.

The squirrelboy's legs twitched and nearly sent him sprawling to the floor. But instead of screaming and running away, he leaned over and braced himself on Benny's shoulders.

Benny took another bite.

Ryan panted.

The smokewater-blob watched the two boys at play, and reveled in their corruption.

The meat was squishy on the outside but with a tough, hard center. Like a really chewy hotdog. Benny's canines went to work on it, shredding it into little bits. Taking small bites to savor it.

Ryan had never felt pleasure like this before, and didn't even care that he probably never would again. He was breathing in and out a mile a minute, pushing his crotch into Benny's face. Trying to get more of his pencil into the sharpener.

The rich red blood was like ketchup on this special hotdog. Benny chomped, gnashed and tore until it was almost all gone. He had to dig his muzzle into the little fur sheath, trying to find more. And then there was a new flavor in his mouth. Salty but sweet. Dessert!

The monster was delighted to see the squirrel boy get a happy ending. He decided that was a good note to finish on.

Benny had his eyes closed, enjoying the mysterious flavor so much that he didn't even noticed when his friend silently exploded. Poof. Just... squirrel one moment, an aerosolized cloud of blood the next. Ryan didn't mind either.

Having fun, Benny?

The pup nodded.

Do you have any idea at all what just happened?

Benny opened his eyes. Awareness came flooding back.

He was lapping the last traces of blood, cum, and squirrelmeat from his mouth, on a cold basement floor, on hands and knees, with a sadistic nightmare just inches behind him. And the entire room was dripping with a new coat of fresh red paint.

With a shriek, he was on his feet and running across the room.

The monster's laugh boomed as loud as a car door slamming.

Fleeing as much from the knowledge of what he'd done as the monster itself, Benny crashed against the basement's walls like a pinball. Complete frenzy. He jumped up at a window, but it was caulked shut. He punched it just to be sure, and only succeeded in bruising his poor knuckles. He turned a corner. Now he was in a workplace nook. There was a wooden bench, and a pegboard full of old tools. A lightbulb popped up. Maybe they would see some use tonight.

The inky horror sloshed itself around the corner and made Benny's lightbulb literal. The wolfcub was revealed standing in a fighter's stance, covered head to toe in blood, snarling, wielding a handsaw.

The nightmare paused. It grew a pair of arms just to put hands on its hips. I'm made of liquid, genius.

Benny had forgotten that; the saw had just looked so badass. He dropped it, turned, and reached for a power drill.

Liquid!!

Desperately, Benny scanned the pegboard. All this stuff was crappy and rust-covered. Not even fit for a garage sale. And all of it was made for putting holes in solid objects. Panic was pounding in his temples.

You might have had some luck with a shop vac, but unfortunately you couldn't plug it in even if you found one.

Benny looked up. "If there's no electricity, how are the lights on!?"

I'm doing that, it said with a sigh. Same as I made you eat your friend's delicacies.

Benny growled like a wild animal. "You bastard!"

It giggled. Of course, that wasn't all my doing. I only prodded your mind a little bit. I only let out what you'd already repressed.

Benny pushed himself back against the workbench. The splintery wood poked through his shirt. "No..."

Yes, it counter-argued simply. You're a wolf. You might be wearing clothes, walking upright and have all your favorite TV themes memorized, but underneath it all you're still Pred. You've always thought about it. Just a nosh wouldn't be so bad, right? An eartip? A bite of tail? Just a taste?

Benny clapped his paws over his ears. "No, no, no!!!"

But the voice wasn't in his ears, it was in his mind. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, they say. And in this case, the proof of the Pred is in the eaten. As in, the evidence is already in your stomach and on your lips, pup.

Benny couldn't hold back the truth any longer. He froze, then sank to his knees. His eyes blanked. His tongue reflexively lapped at the wonderful taste still clinging to his teeth. Ryan. His friend. His meat. Benny tipped back his head and howled.

The monster was gracious and allowed him a moment before chiming in again. Quietly, as if an afterthought.

There is a way to make this all better, you know.

Benny blinked and looked up at the thing. Its watery hands were open in a gesture of forgiveness. "How?"

You already know. You were thinking it when you walked down here; I heard you.

"What... what do you mean?" Benny said, pretending not to know.

You tell me.

Benny gulped. He shriveled back under the workbench, ears flat and tail tucked.

It reached out a long, long arm towards him, hand open. Come on now. Out with it. You can tell your friendly old Uncle Evil.

Benny stared into the outstretched palm. The smoke swirls turning and twisting around inside it were hypnotic. And the voice was right. He already knew. There was only one way this could end. One, two, three, four down. Only one left out of five. Benny couldn't imagine leaving here and having to tell his buddies' parents what happened. No one would ever believe him. They'd think that nasty, scruffy Pred kid did it. 'And I did...' The evidence was still spilled all over his t-shirt. So the ending was already written. His friends had always stood by him. He couldn't break up the team now.

His voice was soft, and cracked as he spoke. "I... I have to join my friends."

The smokewater-blob nodded. Proudly.

"They... You ate them. They were Prey. Now I should be too. So we'll be together at least. And I deserve it anyway. I just watched it happen. So I should die too."

It is what little boys are best at, the voice agreed.

He and the monster had both feasted tonight. And now, to atone for his meal, the right thing to do was to let nature take its course. Reverse the roles. Be Prey. Let someone else be Pred.

Benny reached out and took the monster's hand.

See? That was easy. What a good pup.

Benny felt the most bizarre, serene pleasure flow from the spot where the monster's fluid fingers wrapped themselves around his paw. It slithered up his arm. Tickling and relaxing him. Tingling. It got into his shoulder, then dribbled down his chest and up his neck. He felt his eyes roll back.

The young wolf felt himself lift off the ground. Effortlessly. His paws and tail dangled freely. Pinned in place in midair.

The monster snapped its fingers and Benny's clothes poofed into shreds. They fell away like cloth confetti.

Benny was completely helpless now. Accepting of his fate.

More arms snaked out towards other paw and feet. Their grasp engulfed his extremities, swallowing them to the wrists and ankles. Benny felt the strangest numbness overtake them. Cold as icewater. Yet not painful. Not even uncomfortable. Flowing. Gently squeezing. Pulsing.

Ready? the thing asked.

A barely perceptible nod.

All the arms pulled tight, stretching Benny out spread-eagle.

Then give me your life, boy.

Benny's eyes went wide. He had no idea if he was terrified or excited.

Give me your ESSENCE.

With that the young wolf's whole body clenched, and he orgasmed so hard he saw stars.

The pleasure was ripping him into pieces. It felt like his balls were being emptied by the vacuum of space. Every muscle clenched. Benny's eyes were shut tight and his teeth were bared. He thought he might pass out. The sensation was incredible.

White cream flew across the room in a four-foot arc, caught by the perverted demon's open maw.

Then something changed. It still felt as good as ever. Paralyzingly good, in fact. But the volume of his emission tripled in the space of a heartbeat. He was pumping out so much cum it felt like his cockhole was wide as a quarter. He felt like a fire hydrant. It was unsettling and painful and excellent and he didn't want it to stop.

The monster laughed. Cackling sloppily. Laughing with its mouth full.

Benny wrenched one eye open. It was horrific, but not entirely unsurprising. He wasn't cumming cum anymore.

He was cumming out all his blood.

The smokewater-blob was actually dancing in his crimson shower. Shuffling its wobbly bulk back and forth, swinging its arms happily. Doing the cha-cha in a tidal wave of boy blood.

Benny didn't even have the strength left to react to this. The pleasure was obliterating his brain. His skin felt tight. Searching himself, he thought he felt lighter, skinnier. His arms and legs felt bony. Glancing down, he could see his ribs.

'It's draining me dry,' was his last conscious thought.

But it felt too fucking good to get upset about.

Benny came buckets until his body was as shriveled up as a raisin. Then the monster ate him.










* * * * *










"What smells like bacon?"

Benny was waking up. Blinking. Reaching up to brush the sleep-boogers from his eyes. He was in his pajamas, in his sleeping bag. Dawn light was coming in through the windows of an unfamiliar room.

"Huh...?" He sat up slowly. He felt good at least. His whole body had that fuzzy feeling of a good night's rest in a warm place. His mouth tasted weird though. And when he realized he was in the livingroom of the murder house, the memories crashed in like sudden fireworks.

Benny was stricken with the memories. Horrible, terrible, violent, vile, unspeakable (really hot) memories. A splash of guilt hit him in the face at all he'd done, though it was quickly quashed by the unbelievable relief of seeing all his friends waking up around him.

They were all blinking and rubbing sleep from their eyes too. As usual, Ryan was the fastest standing up. Joseph was smacking his lips, lying face down on top of his sleeping bag like an open face sandwich. Ollie was all tangled up trying to wriggle out.

Eric, wearing just sweatpants, was the first to say anything. "Guys! Hey! Um, what a night, huh? Those scary stories sure did give me nightmares, heh heh!"

They could all hear the nervous tremor in his voice. And that's when they realized they are all giving each other the same stare of nervous confusion.

They clammed up. No one spoke. The five friends all just looked at one another, not wanting to confirm the suspicions that were beginning to creep up inside them. Something more than nightmares had happened last night. But it had happened to all of them. Eric's bullshittery had only clued them into it.

Benny's cheeks heated up. 'So they know what I did!' he thought. They knew he was a pervy cannibal who liked to eat squirrel guts!

Benny was a second away from bolting out of the house forever in pure panic, when he realized something else. Everyone looked guilty. And not just in a 'I spooged when the monster killed me' way. Close friends could share things through more than just words. Benny suddenly got the very strong feeling that each of them had had their own unique haunted house ride last night.

And through an exchange of silent glances and nods amongst each other, this seemed to be confirmed.

No one wanted to be first to say it though, as it would have meant admitting what they'd seen. What they'd done. Benny sure as hell wasn't about to tell his Prey pals how much he'd savored the scent of their spilled scarlet. He wondered what they might have done to him. And, his dick pointed out, he was really curious what they all might have done to him. Maybe in their dreams, he had been the prey. Or the monster. Or both.

Benny had no idea how to bring it up, and hoped someone else would first, but he suspected they all had some stories to share soon at their meeting spot behind the big tree in Eric's backyard. He had no idea if he had the balls to spill all the details though. Or if his friends would either.

One thing was sure though, and it was something they could all agree on. Someone was cooking bacon.

Ollie sat up. "We should check out the kitchen. Maybe someone's in there who can explain all this."

"Yeah. Maybe." Benny said, getting to his feet.

Eric yawned and everyone followed suit. "Allright, to the kitchen," the prairie dog said, hitching up his pants. "Whoever's in there better have some answers, and some bacon, or we'll beat 'em both outta them!" He held up a fist and the others nodded agreement. Joseph flexed his quills. Benny bared his teeth, thinking that was a damn good idea. Someone had played a 'prank' on them last night that had gone way too far.

The five boys gnashed their teeth and headed towards the back of the house to where the bacon-smells emanated. Growling bravado helped mask the flush of sexual embarrassment on all their cheeks.

The morning was bright and cozy. Beams of sunlight shone in through the window, making the vacant house look 90% less spooky than the night before. There was a soft humming coming from the kitchen. Male, and adult. Someone was turning a skillet on a stove burner. They could all hear a familiar sizzle accompanying the lovely aroma. The room itself was as unchanged and empty as the night before, but the morning gave it an all-over yellow glow.

"Hey!" Eric shouted as he led the charge. "Who the-"

As the five boys entered the kitchen, the figure turned around.

"Yes?"

All of them were stunned silent. Benny felt like he was going insane. He'd expected to find some drug dealer out here with a batch of hallucinogens he'd used on them. Or even the smokewater-blob. But this guy was... Was..

He was indescribable. Literally indescribable.

Benny and the others were gawking right at him, but if they'd been asked later what the man had looked like, none of them would have been able to say. He was wearing clothes, but the colors and styles seemed to kaleidoscope past too fast for the eye to track. And as for fur or species, the guy was just a blur. A ripple in space. A blindspot. Not even a shadow, because there was no discernible color there. He was but he wasn't.

He reached into the skillet with tongs to turn the bacon over. The only clear things on him were his oven mitt and his grin. "I hope you boys had a nice sleep!" he said.

All five boys shivered. That was the voice. THE voice. It didn't have that otherworldly, underwatery, brain-piercing hypnotic effect as last night, but everything else was the same.

Noticing they were a bit too overwhelmed for words, their host slipped off his mitt and walked over for proper greetings. "The name's Anton Void. I believe we met last night."

The boys dumbly shook hands. What else could they do? Benny stared at his paw afterwards. It had felt like that feeling you get when your leg falls asleep. Like sticking your hand in radio static.

The blurred gentleman returned to the stove. "No need for introductions; I know your names already. Why don't you all have a seat? I'm sure it's time for Q and A."

They tore their gazes away from him long enough to notice that a table and chairs were set up nearby. Five chairs, of course. Plus a tidy linen tablecloth. Even a single rose in a vase.

Ryan was quickest. The black squirrel walked over, pulled out a chair, winced as it squeaked on the tile, then turned and plopped down into the seat.

He landed on the floor.

The table and chairs, rose and all, were gone as swiftly as they'd appeared.

Ryan rubbed his butt. "That hurt, you fartfucker!"

"Yes, sorry." Mr. Void didn't sound sorry. He giggled. "But I hope that little demonstration has given answers to questions you now need not ask. I am an illusionist. While I mostly sculpt, I can also make people... mmm... see and do things. Things their inhibitions otherwise might not allow. But I coax 'em out."

"You're nothing but a huge pervert!!" Joseph suddenly exploded.

"True," was the simple response. He started turning the bacon again.

It seemed there wasn't anything to be gained in insults. "Why us then?" Benny spoke up. "You said last night- assuming that wasn't all just bullshit- that you sensed us on your radar. What does that mean?"

He pointed the tongs at the pup. "Well-remembered. That was true. See, normally I'm a collector of certain... art pieces. Transformed cubs. Cubs who are only cubs on the outside, but who inwardly yearn to be decoration."

Joseph blushed immediately and wasn't sure why.

Ryan had gotten up and rejoined the others by then. He made a 'What the fuck does that mean?' face.

"But you fellas," the man continued, "were all exactly what it says on the label. I was a bit confused, since my inner radar's never led me wrong before. But then, aha! I remembered I'd been flirting with expanding my horizons a little. Branching out. Giving murder a try." He gave the tongs a flip and caught them gracefully.

Ollie could not stop himself from blurting, "Well you suck at it 'cuz we're all still alive."

A few of the boys managed to giggle, and Mr. Void did unashamedly. "See that's the thing, I can't. Otherwise-" he pointed at the ceiling, "-would get all pissy with me and take my powers away. Part of the deal."

"God!?" Eric said incredulously.

"HA HA! No. Think more like... You know those stories where a good man sells his soul to a demon? Take that and put in reverse." He smirked. "Anyway, here were five cool boys who liked horror, so I decided to give you some horror. Did you like it?"

Everyone blushed. Benny tried not to look at anyone else. Ryan wrung his tail.

"I..." Ollie started, "I actually did." They could see him blush through his fur.

Mr. Void seemed delighted. "Good, good! I hope, even if no one else admits it, that my creative scenarios give you many happy wet spots in your pajamas these coming mornings."

"Eeew!!" said Ryan.

"Oh, don't be a prude! I only looked inside your craniums and dredged up your most secretest desires. Stuff you'd never admit to. Stuff you'd never allow yourselves to tell. And I do hope I didn't make you guys too traumatized. Only a little. It was all in fun."

'He actually sounds sincere about that,' Benny thought. And even though he'd been furious a moment ago, was he still now? Yeah he still felt all weird and violated. But in hindsight, knowing it really wasn't real, that helped a little. And at the end, he had seen into a part of himself he'd been looking away from, and maybe that changed things for him now. Plus, well... He couldn't deny that, for most of it, it hadn't been the monster manipulating him, but his own instincts. There was that one part, sure. But even that... Benny could still remember the taste. He glanced at Ryan's belly.

Then he realized Ryan was giving the exact same glance at Benny's butt. The little wolf's eyebrows shot up.

This night might have interesting repercussions.

Mr. Void shook the skillet again. "Is anyone hungry? I sure am. None of you have asked what I'm cooking yet."

That made all of them blink. Bacon, right? It smelled like bacon. It sounded like bacon. They'd had no reason to believe it wasn't.

Grimacing, knowing this was probably a bad idea, Ollie made himself ask, "Allright... What are you cooking?"

Mr. Void flashed a beaming grin. He held the skillet out for all to see. "It's your dicks!"

Five boys started screaming and clutching at their pants.

Sizzling there in the bottom of the pan were five bright red little sausages. Different lengths and widths, but all were unmistakable. Normal sausages don't have urethrae.

Benny held open his pajama bottoms. His eyes shrunk to pupils when he could actually see down into his sheath! He reached in and poked a finger around. Completely hollow! (Though oddly, the sensation of fingering his little fur sleeve was pretty neat.)

"So, do I have your attention now?" Mr. Void asked.

Eric responded by screaming some more.

Mr. Void produced a spatula to lightly 'doot' him on the head with. "Oh hush. I'll give them right back after breakfast. Have you forgotten already I deal in illusions?"

"But... but... I mean... LOOKIT!" Ryan shuffled his hand around his pants to illustrate his distress.

The blur smirked. "You're actually trusting your senses around me? How cute. The question I heard you all ask yourselves when you woke up was, 'Did I get a different adventure last night than everyone else?' and I'll give you that as a freebie: yes.  Everyone thinks they'd be the last survivor if they found themselves in a monster movie, so I gave you all variations on that theme. Man, I outdid myself on some of those ideas! Blood and guts and limbs and eyeballs and all that good shit! But here's the real head-scratcher: am I really cooking anything right now? Or do you think I am because I said I was?"

Benny shook his head. "We smelled it! I woke up when someone said they smelled it!"

The grin got wider. "Do you remember which of your friends said it? Can you place the voice? No?" The grin revealed teeth.

Benny was mindboggled into silence.

Mr. Void started humming and went to work, sliding five cocks each onto six breakfast plates. He grew enough arms to hold them all, then walked them over to the table and six chairs, which had returned when no one was looking. And the rose. He sat down and tucked a napkin into the collar of whatever he was wearing. "Well? Breakfast is served! Eat!"

In a daze, the five boys all took their seats. (The chairs behaved this time.) They were looking down at the impossible sight of all their wieners, multiplied by six, all staring up at them from their plates. Cooked to perfection. And smelling disturbingly delectable.

Mr. Void was already digging in with gusto. He added a bit of pepper and basil, 'mmmmmm'ing loudly.

Everyone stared at the dicks.

Eric blinked a few times. He nibbled his bottom lip, hesitating. Then he snorted. "It's not real anyway. Fuck it." He forked his own cock and took a bite. Shrugged. "Not bad."

There was some reluctance, but eventually the good smells won them all over.

Benny had to admit, the grilled wieners tasted even better than their aroma. Chewy, sweet, fork-tender and juicy.

Ryan held up one speared on his fork. "Definitely Benny's. No one else has a knot."

The wolfcub blushed.

"And you can tell Ryan's 'cause it's the little one," Ollie said.

Everyone 'Oooooooh!'ed.

"Eat pellets, cottontail," Ryan shot back.

Mr. Void was pleased to see the tension had left the room. "So boys," he said with a mouthful of Eric (then remembered his manners and swallowed), "I'd love to do this again sometime. I had a blast. We could meet here, or..." his grin grew a twisted edge, "you could visit me at my place! It's not far. Just a bike ride away. Though... the visitors I get rarely tend to leave." He enjoyed the little shiver he caused in everyone with that.

Though oddly, not in Joseph, who just looked lost in thought. "You said you took other kids, but kept them. Turned them into stuff?"

Void nodded, making no bones about it. "It's my hobby and fetish, yes."

"Oh," said the porcupine. He nodded slowly.

Benny arched an eyebrow. "You're not thinking about...?"

A shrug. "I might be."

Mr. Void leaned over, closer towards him. His grin uncoiled wider. "Yes, I see it now... Just a touch of objectification in you. I hadn't spotted it before, but it's there. Maybe a wastepaper bin would suit you. Or a piano!"

The little porcupine shuddered at that, and felt the strangest surge of elation.

Benny was about to interject in protest. But then he remembered all the memories of Joseph's uncomfortable home life. If any of them would consider it, Joseph made the most sense.

Eric gave the porcupine's shoulder a light punch (carefully). "Naw. If you got turned into a lamp or somethin', we'd miss you."

Joseph gave him a grateful smile for that.

"I could always allow you boys a free pass to visit," Mr. Void said accommodatingly.

Joseph squirmed a little at the very thought that they were discussing this as a feasible possibility. As something that might really happen to him. Something he might willingly let happen...

The blurred furson put a finger to his chin. "I almost never have live guests. Or, guests who stay that way, I mean. It could be fun. Though..." He dabbed his mouth with a napkin. "That suggestion about doing this again sometime wasn't really a 'suggestion' per se."

A shadow fell over the table. "What exactly does that mean?" Eric asked.

In the middle of Mr. Void's indistinct face, his grin grew positively sharkish. "Well you see... you boys are on my radar now. Marked. I rarely let a target go for long. And as much as dreams of grand guignol are fun, I really am a collector at heart..."

Forks clattered to the table. A chill struck all their spines.

The room seemed to grow darker. "Let's make a game of it!" the monster said gaily. "I've never tried this before. Let's see how long you boys can resist joining my decorations. A month? A year? Six days?" He clapped his hands. "What an idea for a game! What an excellent idea!"

Benny looked around to his friends. Eyes wide and jaws slack in horror. 'Wait... is any of this really happening now? Will I ever know for sure again?'

Darker and darker, until all they could see was his grin. "We could meet back here again for another sleepover. And another and another. Or maybe I could just visit you at home!" Nothing else in the world seemed to exist but that infinite grin of damnation. "All your bedrooms have closets, right? Do they have locks on the doors? Heh. As if that matters."

Utter blackness swallowed the boys, the kitchen, the house and the entire world.

Mr. Void started laughing his ass off. The light returned in a blink. "HA HA! Oh I'm just fucking around with you poor kids! Geez, lighten up! Eat your dicks!"



THE END
...for now




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