16 comments/ 81942 views/ 59 favorites Full Moon Strays Ch. 01 By: Evil Alpaca This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. -------------------- ------------------- "Full Moon Strays . . ." Part 1 -------------------- ------------------- Once again, Jane made her way home from work. She almost scoffed at the idea of calling what she did "work." It almost made it seem legitimate to sling brown sludge into bent and broken shells at the local Taco Shack. As on most days, she had scored some of the leftovers and had salivated at the thought of it. And between the doors of her place of business and what constituted her home, she had found someone worse off than herself who needed the nourishment more. This time, it was Old Ben, a homeless man she had encountered before. He had thanked her, she had smiled while her stomach rebelled, and she had been on her way home. She arrived at her dingy, twelve-by-thirteen studio apartment in the worst part of Springfield. There was a twin bed, a two-burner stove, a mini-fridge and tiny shower stall next to the toilet. Once inside, she secured the three chain locks and two deadbolts, and finally took a moment to relax. She took off her hair net and let her raven-black hair fall, and that took quite a while. Jane's hair reached all the way past her butt. She was only about five feet, five inches tall and was petite on top of that. She wasn't emaciated, but she wasn't particularly muscled either. She had narrow hips and a flat stomach and breasts that, while not huge, seemed a little bit too large for her frame. She was pretty, though she never wore makeup and rarely looked anyone directly in the eye. She was afraid they might look through her eyes and see the weakness that dwelled in her soul. When Jane had turned seventeen she had grabbed an old suitcase, everything she could carry and had run away to Hollywood to seek fame and fortune . . . anything to get away from her small-town world, her stepfather with the drunken breath and wandering hands . . . the black eyes and the crying while curled up in the dark corners of her closet. She thought things would be better under the bright lights of Los Angeles. Then that city had chewed her up and spit her out. She had found herself lying on her back on a number of "casting couches" while looking for acting jobs, none of which she had gotten. One such encounter had left her pregnant, but she had lost the baby and been left barren forever more. Jane had worked at a number of crap jobs, trying to make ends meet. She had even broken down once and done a porno movie, but the director had considered her a "dead fish" when she just lay there and let the guy fuck her. So he had handed her some money and told her to find another line of work. She hadn't felt ashamed at the time, but rather . . . she had felt empty. Just like with the casting-call guys. Sometimes, she tried to pretend it was love, but she never quite fooled herself. Then she had hooked up with a guy named James, a used-car salesman who picked her up at a restaurant where she was a waitress and brought her to Springfield with promises of a better life. That promise had lasted about a month before his wife found out. Each excruciating, dragging, harsh moment of her existence was like another hammer blow to the nails of her coffin. She had walked the Earth for only twenty-one years, yet she felt . . . old. She had barely had a childhood, and now it seemed that even Death had passed her by. It was as if the Grim Reaper didn't think enough of her to even bother killing her. So she kept walking through the world between her two jobs and one apartment; the shadow of an insect in a jungle of steel, concrete and glass. Jane sat down on her bed, grabbing a hairbrush and pulling it through her locks, feeling the silky smoothness of her hair sliding through her fingers. It was so relaxing to her, and it was her tradition when she got home. She knew she didn't have long to rest, as her second job was awaiting her. Then, she heard a pounding on the front door of her apartment. Her hands trembled and her face recoiled when she heard that raspy voice on the other side. "Oh . . . Ja-ane!" Victor said. Victor was her landlord, and was the type of man that other slumlords were ashamed to associate themselves with. "You know rent is due tomorrow. Open up. I think you need to consider my offer." Jane almost spit at the door. He knew how desperate she was for money most of the time, and he had offered to lower her rent on any given month in exchange for certain "liberties." Once, she had given him a hand-job because she had gotten sick and missed some work that month. She had done a lot of things in her life that she regretted, but reaching her hand underneath that beer-gut and grabbing that disgusting creature's member still burned through her eyelids when she slept sometimes. She had washed that hand for twenty minutes, trying to get his stain off of her pale skin and out of her soul. She stood up and went to the door, undoing the bolt-locks but leaving the chains in place. "I . . . I'll have your money," she whispered at the contemptuous forty-year-old on the other side, who was leering at her with unabashed lust. She had picked up quite a bit of overtime, and wouldn't have to resort to . . . doing favors. One of her few pleasures in life was seeing his face when he realized he wasn't going to get anything extra from her. As soon as his mouth started to scowl and his eyes darkened, she flashed him a little smile and then closed the door. As they said in the Princess Bride, Jane Collier was only "mostly dead." There was still a spark in her, fighting and flickering against the encompassing blackness. She sat down for a few minutes, staring at the wall and waiting for Victor's clumsy footsteps to signal his departure. She changed into her Big Al's Fried Chicken uniform, walked out the door and into the darkened streets. ----------- -------------------- A few minutes later . . . ----------- -------------------- 'God, I'm late again!' Jane thought as she hurried through the streets. 'Mr. Smith is going to be so mad!' She decided to take a short cut through some back alleys that she would normally rather avoid. Sometimes she hated living in an urban jungle. As she made her way past piles of trash, she thought of her home in the country . . . where she had lived until her father had died and before her stepfather had entered the picture. She thought of wooden fences, round bails of hay, the garden next to the house and that old beat-up tractor that her father had taken her for rides on. That was the last time she remembered being happy. Suddenly, she heard a series of whimpers, thumps, and yelps coming from another alley nearby. It sounded like a dog in pain, being beaten by something heavy. She took a step in the other direction. She couldn't be late for work. She couldn't afford to lose her job . . . it was none of her business anyway. Then she thought of some poor animal, getting kicked around by some mean man or hoodlum or some crazy homeless person. It wouldn't understand why, but it WOULD understand being in pain. For a moment, she remembered her stepfather's hand busting her lip open after she had made too much noise coming home late one night. She hadn't understood it at the time. She had just wanted her real father back, because she knew he would've protected her. Jane turned around and crept back towards the sounds. 'Maybe if I make a noise, whatever is attacking that dog will get scared and run.' She stopped. She had just peaked her head around the corner and saw not one but two . . . men? . . . standing at the other end of a dead end alley and overlooking a very large, furry pile of animal that seemed to be twitching. The two entities were wearing immaculate business suits, had shaven heads and were wearing sunglasses . . . in the dark . . . in an alley. They also wore leather gloves, which were mostly frightening because they seemed to gripping the cold metal of knives. Normally, Jane would have been filled with terror at that moment, but terror was normally reserved for those with something to lose. There was a part of Jane, however, that still clung to the charade that was her life. Her hands began to tremble and her lungs released a scarcely audible gasp. Then the two standing figures turned and faced the end of the alley where Jane was hiding. "I'm going to call the police!" she shouted, lacking anything better to say. One of the figures shook his head and smiled. All his teeth seemed to be far too pointy. "That would be a very . . . terrible . . . mistake," he hissed, his words escaping his mouth like dead air from a pharaoh's tomb. And then both of them headed towards her at an inhuman pace. "No," one of them rasped. "Finish it. I'll get the girl." The other one stopped and snarled some kind of response. Jane was running blindly, but she knew that the man behind her would easily catch her. So she ducked behind a dumpster, reached down and grabbed a board from an abandoned shipping crate, raising it to shoulder level. She barely heard the footsteps, but she stepped out and swung with all her might at head level. The board impacted the man's . . . the thing's head, smashing its sunglasses and causing him to drop his knife. Then Jane saw those glowing red eyes, and she felt terror unlike anything she had ever experienced. "Foolish mortal," the thing said. It punched her in the midsection, sending Jane flying fifteen feet through the air to crash into a wall. She fell to the ground like a crumpled wad of paper . . . like trash. Jane couldn't remember being in that much pain before. She knew her ribs were broken, and she could almost feel herself bleeding internally. Her face was cut in several places from her crash and her shoulder was dislocated. She was going to die. And strangely, she was almost tempted to thank her attacker. It would all be over soon. Then, as her vision began to fade, she heard some horrible growling from all around her . . . from back towards the alley and from the direction of the street. She saw her attacker . . . saw him staring first in one direction and then another. He snarled and tried to locate his dropped weapon. Then a . . . dog . . . jumped on him from out of nowhere, but it was bigger than any dog Jane had ever seen. And it seemed strangely . . . bipedal. Then a second such animal impacted Jane's attacker, and she heard the man in the suit begin to scream. She saw two more such animals rush past her and head towards the alley. She hoped they got to that other dog in time. Jane's thought was that maybe . . . just maybe . . . her life had made a difference in the end. As her eyes began to close, she saw a hairy, monstrous face staring down at her. No . . . wait . . . it was human after all. It was a very handsome young man. This new man looked at someone or something off to one side. "We need to get her back to the Den," he said shortly. Then Jane and the conscious world became strangers to each other. --------- ------------------------------ Some unknown time later . . . --------- ------------------------------ "She seems to be waking up!" came a voice from the void. Jane wanted to open her eyes, but was afraid of what she'd see. But a dull throb in her ribs caused her to moan, which had tipped everyone off. But who was "everyone?" There was a pause. "Listen, we know you're awake, so you might as well stop faking." That voice was definitely a female. "And Talia should know a thing or two about 'faking' it," came a male voice. "Bite me." "Not tonight. I have a headache." Jane opened her eyes, expecting to see monsters. There was an annoyingly bright tungsten light directly overhead, and Jane was lying on a long metal table. A number of young men and women surrounded Jane, including the handsome young man she had seen briefly earlier. "Where . . . am I?" she groaned, trying to sit up but quickly lying back down as the pain in her ribs became excruciating. "Well, that's a bit of a long story." That was from a beautiful black girl, the owner of the first voice she had heard. "I'm Talia, and these rogues are Michael, Mindy, Matthew and . . ." "Two many 'M' names," Jane muttered. 'Damn,' she thought. 'It's like an episode of Beverly Hills 90210.' This thought came when she noticed that everyone Talia pointed to was a highly attractive young person. Talia smiled. "And the last person is Nathaniel," she finished. "And you are?" Jane wasn't sure what to do. If these people were going to harm her, they could have easily done it by now, and the bandages around her waist indicated they had actually helped her. Maybe that was what she wasn't quite able to trust. "Jane . . . Jane Collier," she whispered. Her eyes had fallen on Nathaniel, whose face she had seen back in the alley. "I know you," she said. He smiled. He had a cute smile. "We were getting worried," he said. "You've been out for a long time. We weren't sure that Arthur was going to be able to save you. You took a pretty good shot there." A new man walked up, a little older than the rest, but still quite fetching and wearing a doctor's smock. "What happened?" Jane said, beginning to panic. "How long was I out? What were those men? Where . . ." "Shh," said Talia, placing one long finger against Jane's lips, bring the girl to a screeching silence. "You have a lot of questions, and you might . . . have problems with some of the answers. But in response to how long you've been here, the answer is four days." "Four days!" Jane said, sitting upright despite the searing pain. She tried to get off the table, but her body simply wouldn't allow it. She also realized that except for a few well-placed bandages, she was dressed only in her undergarments. "Where are my clothes?! I need . . . to go. My jobs . . . God, I've probably been fired! And rent was due . . . oh God!" she said slumping back onto the table. "I'll lose my place, or I'll have to . . ." Jane stopped, her shoulders shaking as tears began to fall. She had lost everything. She knew what Victor would demand of her in order to let her keep her apartment, and she knew she couldn't do it. She would rather die than touch him again. Talia looked alarmed and moved to comfort the girl. "Arthur . . ." "I'll give her some tea that will help her sleep," he said. "NO!" Jane screamed. "No more sleeping! I need to get to work! I need to find a new place . . . to . . . to live," she said. "Everything's falling apart." Talia waved everyone else away. "We will help you, but you need to rest. When you awaken, we'll explain everything to you," she said. Jane was in no condition to fight. She already felt her meager physical energy draining. "No," she murmured as Talia cradled her head and began to croon a very soothing sound. "Have to . . . go . . ." But once again, it was lights out for Jane. Talia looked at Arthur. "She's so weak," she whispered. "Are you sure she'll be alright?" "Yes. She won't be teaching any aerobics classes anytime soon, but she'll live." "And you're sure she has a Talent?" "Absolutely," Arthur whispered back. "I felt it when I was healing her." Talia stroked the girl's long, beautiful hair. "I hope so. She won't be allowed to stay otherwise, and it seems to me that this girl is one who probably desperately needs a family. And if she hadn't distracted the enemy, we would likely have been too late to save Robbie." "We'll call a pack meeting tomorrow when she awakens. Has Red gotten back yet?" Arthur grimaced. "No, not yet. She's going to be so pissed! First, Robbie goes on a solo hunt while she was in Los Angeles, in direct violation of her orders. Then we bring back an outsider to the Den." "Then I guess Robbie had better be the first one to talk to her when she gets in. He's the only one she probably won't eviscerate on the spot." He glanced over to another curtained area, where Robbie was laying and recuperating. He had been beaten badly by the hellspawn, and even his advanced regenerative abilities could only go so fast. Hopefully he could stand up before his big sister got home. ------------ ----------- The next day . . . ------------ ----------- Jane awoke with a start, but noticed the pain was less than the day before. She opened her eyes and took a look around. She seemed to be in some old, long building, but there was no natural light. It looked like a subway station, but one that hadn't been used in a long time. "This particular station was buried back in the fifties, and the city never thought it would be cost-effective to excavate it," said Arthur, who was sitting nearby. "We diverted some power-lines and water-pipes down here and voila! Instant home-sweet-home!" Talia approached. "Red and Tarloh are ready, and everyone is waiting." She looked at Jane. "Are you all right to move?" "Where . . . where are you taking me?" she asked. "Down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland," Talia said with a grin. "C'mon." Arthur brought up a wheelchair. "Wanna go for a ride?" Jane lowered her eyes. "Do I have a choice?" Talia lifted the girl's face and smiled. "Actually, today is all about choices my dear." She waited for Jane to nod, and then she and Arthur helped the girl into a wheel chair. "Clothes?" Jane asked timidly. "No time," Talia said, but she did grab a blanket and drape it over Jane's partially naked form, then wheeled her up a ramp and into what had once been the station's lobby. At one end of the lobby platform was a large table as well as a couple sets of old bleachers. There had to be at least thirty or forty people gathered in that area. She recognized a few from the last time she was awake. But there were two new faces that demanded her attention. One was a male, older than the rest, appearing to be in his mid-thirties. And when Jane saw him, the phrase "alpha male" reverberated strongly in her mind. Before he sat down, she could see he was easily six-and-a-half feet tall and as broad at the shoulders as a bison. He was dressed in the clothes of a transient, but even those could not hide his formidable physique. He had blue, piercing eyes staring out from beneath a mop of dark curly hair and he had the beard of a Viking warrior. Next to him was a woman. 'No,' Jane thought, 'the word "woman" seems so inadequate.' She was a vision. She was herself six feet tall and dressed in tight red leather that clung to her hourglass figure, with full hips and a firm-looking bosom. Her face should have been looking down on Jane from a billboard, advertising slim cigarettes or skin-care products, and her eyes sparkled green. She had curly red hair that flowed chaotically down her back, and there was a streak of white that went right down the middle of it. "Not many women like her," Talia whispered, sounding a bit amused. It occurred to Jane that it had been a few moments since she had last breathed. "It's okay," Talia continued. "She has that affect on people." "Well," boomed the voice of the alpha male, "it appears our 'guest' has arrived." The rest of the crowd went quiet. "You are Jane Collier?" Full Moon Strays Ch. 01 Jane nodded, almost afraid to meet his gaze. "It's okay to look up," he almost guffawed. "No one is going to hurt you." Jane raised her head. Everyone was smiling, except the lady in red. She looked none too pleased. "Why am I here?" she asked. "I you don't mind me asking . . . sir," she added. Laughter filled the room. "She said 'sir'!" the big man said. "Oh, that's precious! No one has called me 'sir' in . . . ever!" He wiped his eyes. "Young lady, we don't exactly stand on formality down here. Anyway, you are here because you apparently performed a great service to us, even if you didn't realize it at the time." "What?" she asked. "You helped rescue Robbie, one of our own. He had been assaulted by some . . . nemeses of ours, and you distracted them. It gave our rescue party time to get there." "Assaulted? You mean that dog in the alley?" A young man sitting at the table with his arm in a sling spit his beverage out his nose while everyone else began to chuckle again. "Dog?!?" he said at last. "I'm sorry," Jane apologized. "Cat? Gorilla?" Her mouth was still moving but her brain was on a twenty-second delay. The entire crowd lost all control and began to laugh uproariously. Everyone laughed except for the red-haired beauty, who was noticeably clenching her fists. "QUIET!" the woman shouted, and the laughter stopped. She paused and glared at the man with the broken arm and then she glared at the large man standing next to her. "Oh . . . kay," he grumbled. "Looks like Red is getting testy, so we'd better move along." He stared at Jane. "That wasn't a 'dog,' as you put it. Young lady . . . do you believe in magic?" There had been a lot of questions that she had anticipated, but that wasn't one of them. "No sir." "Please don't call me 'sir.' My name is Tarloh. And if you don't believe in magic, you will soon. Do you believe in a Supreme Being?" He watched as Jane nodded. "So you can accept that there are powers in the world that you do not understand, that you can't see but believe are still there?" Jane nodded again. "Good." He sighed. "Jane, for the time being, I need you to accept some things on faith. A lot of people believe there is life out there in the universe, but rather than thinking 'outwards,' I need you to think sideways. Have you ever heard of the idea of 'multiple dimensions?'" Another nod. "Excellent. Well, I need you to entertain the idea that these other dimensions are real. And just like the X-Files has told us, there are visitors from these other dimensions among us. This place," he said, waving his finger at the surrounding area, "was buried in an earthquake. An earthquake happens when the plates in the earth's surface shift. Well, the walls between dimensions are not completely solid, and sometimes the plates shift. This causes cracks to form, and things slip through, including life-forms and magical energy, and. . . . . and you don't believe a word of this, do you?" Jane was just staring at the man, who she now realized was a crazy person. 'Magic? Alternate dimensions? I was born in the dark, but not last night,' she thought. "We're wasting our time," the red-haired girl said. "She's clueless." "Red, please keep your tongue in check. We've given her nothing but a hypothetical situation, and a fairly far-out one at that." Red rolled her eyes. "Maybe a demonstration might aid in your understanding," Tarloh said. Suddenly, Tarloh's already hairy body seemed to grow even more . . . fur. His brow became furrowed, his nose lengthened and his hand grew some fairly pointy claws. And then he roared. In that moment, he more closely resembled a bear than a man. Then, he changed back. "So, have your beliefs changed in the last few minutes?" he asked. Jane sat there, her mouth agape. Somewhere in the background, a cricket chirped. Then it chirped again. "There are a lot of things in this world that are hard to understand or believe in, but maybe . . . just maybe . . . some of the things that go bump in the night are real. Do you know what a lycanthrope is?" Jane continued to stare, and crickets continued to chirp. "Oh for the love of . . ." Red started. She glared at the newcomer. "You might use the word 'werewolf,' though that's a bit of a misnomer. Wrap your brain around that and try and keep up." Tarloh shook his head, noticing that Jane blanched under the heat of Red's gaze. The girl was confused, terrified, and now she was being attacked. He knew what Red's problem was and that she wasn't actually mad at Jane, but Jane just made too convenient of a target. "Jane, over the history of the world, cracks between dimensions have come and gone. And it seems that there is a certain symmetry, as in there seems to be an alternate 'Earth' in every other dimension. One of those other worlds is called Terra, and it is the dimension that seems to be the closest to this one. A lot of your classic fairy-tale monsters seem to come from Terra. That includes vampires . . ." Jane gasped. " . . . trolls . . . " Jane gasped again. " . . . and lycanthropes. Over the years, creatures from both worlds have slipped through the cracks, and those cracks closed behind them. Sometimes multiple cracks converge, and the converging point doesn't heal. That point becomes a source of magic in this world. Some people from this world can learn to manipulate this magic. Other people . . . well, exposure to convergence points helps expose certain innate abilities. These abilities can be very powerful and are highly specialized. We call them Talents. Well, when Arthur was using his healing magic on you, he discovered within you the potential for a Talent to manifest itself. So while we had initially been planning on just making you better and getting you back on your feet, we found that you might, if you choose, be a possible ally for us." "Ally? I can't do anything!" Jane said. "That I believe," Red muttered. "Red, can it!" the big man said irritably. In response, Red stood up and stormed off, with the one known as Robbie in hot pursuit. Tarloh put his head in hand and paused. "I'm sorry. She's . . . stressed. Listen Jane, I know this is a lot to handle, and you probably still don't believe it all yet. It will probably still take you several days to heal, even with Arthur's help. If you have any questions, just ask." As the meeting broke up, Jane was left in Talia's care. Talia was more than a bit concerned that her young charge wouldn't speak for quite a while. Talia wheeled Jane over to an area where she could see the entire goings on. Finally, a thin whisper drifted up from the wheelchair. "Are you all monsters?" Talia leaned forward, trying to catch Jane's eye, but Jane just stared forward. "That would depend on how you defined monster. But no, not everyone is a lycanthrope. About ten of us are." "You come from another dimension?" "No. I'm second generation. First generation lycanthropes . . . the ones from Terra . . . they morph into something which is kind of wolf-like but not really. You may have heard that vampires and werewolves create more of their kind by biting them. That isn't true for vampires, but it can be true for werewolves, though the sire has to will the transformation as well as bite the victim. Lycanthropes created in this world tend to take on alternate forms of native species. That 'dog' you helped rescue . . . Robbie . . . well, that was a werewolf. Tarloh is a werebear. Michael, Mindy and Matthew are all actually Terran. They were out hunting one night and fell through a dimensional portal about twenty years ago. They age more slowly than humans, which is the reason they still look young. All lycanthropes get that bonus. Hell, I'm actually thirty-two," Talia said with a laugh, but her merriment wasn't returned. "Red is werecat of the puma variety. How she and Robbie got bit by the same sire but wound up so different is kind of a mystery. But Red is actually thirty-five, and she looks like a twenty-year-old." Talia placed a hand on Jane's knee, but the girl almost jumped out of her chair, shivering all the while. So Talia pulled her hand away. She knew something else was going on with the girl. "Red and Robbie are ACTUAL siblings by the way. I know she seemed mean, but she cares deeply about the pack and everyone in it." "The pack?" "Yeah, the pack. We actually call ourselves the Strays. Lycanthropes are pack creatures, and continued to keep that trait even as they evolved. Even the ones that wind up in this world tend to seek out social groups to belong to. It was actually lycanthropes that formed THIS little commune. They brought in others to help out. Like Arthur . . . who happens to be a skilled practitioner of healing magic. He used to be a doctor who succumbed to his own painkillers. We have some hedge-wizards, druids, and a bunch of people with Talents. We've got one guy . . . Patrick . . . who can fly, whereas Anya can turn invisible." "And . . . Arthur . . . thinks I have a Talent? I can't . . ." Jane stopped. She had planned on saying how she couldn't do anything again, but her mind shot back to Red's response from earlier. "Arthur is rarely wrong. And you generally can't manifest your talent until you've been exposed to a powerful magic source. But no one is going to force you to do that. It will be your decision." "Talia," Jane started after a pause, "why does Red hate me?" Talia sighed. "She doesn't hate you. She . . . she's had a lot on her mind. She was up in Los Angeles trying to get information on a tribe of hellspawn that have been causing us some problems as of late . . . those are the things you saw in the alley . . . when Robbie decided to go find them on his own. She feels very responsible for him, and he tends to do things that are rather rash. And she's also mostly responsible for making sure that everyone is clothed, fed and relatively happy, and she wasn't expecting to have another mouth to feed." Jane blushed and felt herself on the verge of tears again. "I'll get out of here as soon as I can," she said. "I don't want to be a burden. I won't tell anyone . . ." "No one would believe you anyway," Talia interrupted. "And don't go planning on leaving just yet. Give Red a chance to cool down. She's my best friend, and she isn't normally like that." Talia scooted around until Jane had no choice but to look at her. "Listen. We are a strange group. We steal most of what we need to survive, but we also roam the streets and try to keep them safe. There are some genuinely evil beings out there, and we fight them to the best of our ability. We don't have much, but we tend to have what we need, and you'll never find a tighter group. And you are a young woman who risked her own life to help what she thought was a dog. That means something down here. It means you have a lot of compassion and a lot of courage." Jane's eyes became very clear. "Or maybe there's nothing in my life that needs to be saved," she muttered bitterly. "I'm sorry, but I'm tired." Talia stared at her for a moment. "Did you want someone to sleep with tonight? It's pretty common to find a bedmate just to keep warm and . . ." Talia stopped. Jane had gone deathly pale and began trembling when Talia had mentioned sleeping with someone. "Or maybe it's a bit too soon to think about that. We'll get you a bunk in the old lost and found office . . . no one else sleeps in there usually. It'll give you some time alone to think, and it's near the first-aid area and Arthur." Talia wheeled Jane into a small, private room with a cot set up, then brought her plenty of blankets before helping her out of the wheelchair. Jane didn't say a word the entire time. ----------- ----------------- A little while later . . . ----------- ----------------- "How is she?" Tarloh asked as Talia clambered into his bed aboard one of the abandoned rail-cars in the tunnel. The two were good friends and often lovers, and Tarloh had sent word that he would like her company that night. When the alpha-male called, it was hard to resist. "She's terrified," Talia said, peeling off her clothes before huddling against his massive frame. "I don't know how much she's been able to accept. And there's more," Talia added. "I think she's been abused, and pretty badly. She's scared of human contact, and the idea of finding a bunkmate almost sent her into a coma. I used to see cases like hers all the time." Tarloh took the black beauty's word on that. Talia had been a crisis counselor at a women's center, once upon a time. The center had closed, but Talia had been unwilling to leave the area. That is what had attracted the Strays to her . . . and it was why Tarloh himself had sired her. Talia grimaced. "I'll talk to Red tomorrow to see if she'll cut Jane a break. With Red's state of mind and Jane's sensitivity, there could be some pretty unpleasant consequences." "I'll talk to her too," Tarloh said. "We had a rough time in L.A., but she shouldn't take it out on an innocent." "Speaking of innocent," she said softly, nipping on his ear, "I've missed you." Tarloh slid a massive hand down the woman's lean body, grabbing her ass and pulling her on top of him. Talia felt his massive rod slowly stiffening and pressing against her belly. "I missed you too," Tarloh said. While strict monogamy was rare amongst the Strays, it wasn't unusual for people to have favorites, and Talia was generally Tarloh's first choice. Talia locked her lips onto the big man's and shifted her weight to the side so she could wrap one hand around that mammoth shaft. Tarloh was the alpha-male for a number of reasons, and sexual capacity was one of them. She stroked his cock to its full eleven inches, feeling it stretch and expand in her hand until her thumb and index-finger could no longer touch. The veins of that mighty tool pressed against her palm, and its heat began to affect Talia's entire body. "You really DID miss me, didn't you?" she whispered raggedly. "I guess that means you've got a present for me?" she added, briefly fondling his hairy, heavy balls. She knew that going on a mission with Red meant that he hadn't gotten any play, so he probably had a lot of pressure built up in those babies. "Keep that up and you'll be getting your present a little early," he groaned. 'How a warrior's hands can be that soft I'll never know,' he thought as her tender grip made him rock-hard. "We can't have that," she said, letting go of his dick. She grabbed his hand and put it between her own thighs, letting those strong fingers explore her moistening sex. Then she pressed her thighs against his hand, pinning it to his leg. "I can give presents all night long." "I'm very aware of that," the big man grumbled. "I'll bet YOU didn't wait until I got back," he said with a grin. Talia was a very sexual being, and there were no delusions that she was one hundred percent faithful to him. "How many of the other boys did you fuck?" he added, stretching her cunt and rubbing his palm against her clit. "Tell me!" Talia was grinding against his hand, working towards what she hoped was the first of many orgasms. "Three," she grunted, then added with a wicked smiled, "I mean, two one night and one the next. But they were just pups. I want the big dog now." Tarloh smiled and kissed her. "The big bear, if you want to get technical." He knew Talia liked to make the younger and shyer boys feel more "at home." Usually such shyness didn't really last very long in the sexually promiscuous Strays. "I hope you didn't hurt them." "I fucked 'em raw!" she said, her breath becoming more labored. She was humping her lover's hand madly. "They were whimpering for mercy while I rode them all . . . all night," she gasped as her pussy clenched his fingers and she came onto his hand. "But the three of them weren't half the man you are," she said lying directly on his broad chest. "And don't you forget it," he growled. "Now . . ." He grabbed her head and pushed it down towards his crotch. He grinned slyly, arching a heavy brow towards his thick cock, telling her without words how much he wanted her talented mouth to please him. She looked up at him through those beautiful amber eyes . . . eyes filled with sexual hunger. She kissed the large, mushroom-like head, stroking the shaft with one hand while cradling his balls with the other. She placed the flat of her tongue against the shaft at its base, then gave a long slow lick all the way up to its tip. She could feel every bump and vein, and he felt every little bit of texture of her tongue as it caressed the underside of his meat. Then she gave two more long licks before finally taking the bulbous head into her humid mouth. His cock bumped against her palate, making her growl with delight. She blew a puff of air down the shaft, then sucked as hard as she could on the tip. She could feel him throbbing with excitement and each pulsation made her pussy clench greedily. For Tarloh, there were very few sites as enticing as Talia's supermodel ebony face attempting to devour his ivory staff. Her lips were stretched in an "O" shape around the area just below the head while she applied tremendously delicious suction. Then, she let another inch or two penetrate her mouth, engulfing his flesh in her warm gullet. She kept both hands on the shaft until her mouth had descended about six inches, when one hand returned to fondling his testicles. She pulled off his staff for a moment, though she kept her hand moving rhythmically. Her eyes locked on his as she enjoyed every texture, every taste of Tarloh's gorgeous cock. Teasingly, she flicked her tongue over its tip, collecting his pre-cum before consuming him like no other could. "Christmas is cumming early this year," he groaned, grabbing her head and holding it in place as he came into her throat. She choked on it for a moment, letting it spill out through her lips and drip onto her hand. She swallowed some, but more and more pumped through that shaft and filled her mouth to capacity. Some more leaked, but she got the majority of it down. "Keep it in your mouth," he groaned. It was less of an order and more of a request. No one ordered anyone to do anything they didn't want in the Strays. He just wanted to get hard again so he could satisfy this woman like she deserved. Talia did let it loose long enough to lick his sticky stuff off her hand, smiling at him the whole time. His cock was beginning to soften though, and she just couldn't have that. She took that sensitive tool back between her lips and just held it there for a moment. Her sucking was more gentle and coaxing this time as she teased his thickness back to life. "Fuck, no one can do it like you," the big man said, feeling the blood rushing back to his member and stopping its deflation in its tracks. Talia loved the feeling of a cock growing in her mouth. It was different than taking one that was already hard. She felt like she was cultivating it, making it more hers . . . more special. "There," she said at last. "All better." She slid down on the bed next to him, lying on her stomach. "On your knees," he told her, waiting for her to get up before positioning himself behind her. He pressed the head of his titanic rod against her vaginal opening, but then stopped. "Tell me what you want?" he asked teasingly. There was actual panic in her voice when she responded. "Please fuck me!" she whimpered. "Stick it in me! Take me like you own me!" Tarloh reached forward and grabbed her dark hair and, using it for leverage, slammed all eleven inches into her tight hole. He waited for her cunt to give its first full-force squeeze, marveling at her tightness. "What are you waiting for? Fuck me!" Talia shouted. She didn't care if anyone heard. With his hand still tangled in her hair, he started to pound away. He put his other hand on her tight black ass and squeezed as he rammed his cock into her time and time again. He was going to ride this woman until she howled. He balls were slapping up against her pussy, and a grunt of building excitement escaped her full lips every time he reached maximum penetration. Full Moon Strays Ch. 01 "You know what I want to hear?" he asked. She was grinning like . . . well, like a wolf. "Fuck me Daddy!" she said. "Fill your girl's pussy with your cum!" It was a little game they played, due to the fact that he had made her a werewolf in the first place. That was as far as their relationship actually had extended prior to her joining the Strays. "Oh Daddy, your cock is so big! It makes me want to . . . to cum!" And in just that moment, her back arched while her pussy enveloped the intruder in a death-grip, holding it while she came all over it. "Thank you Daddy!" "That's my Baby Girl," he replied. He bit the back of her neck and began fucking her again. "But I'm not done with you yet." Talia was chewing on the pillow, loving every moment of this. She knew that Tarloh saw her as an equal, but she was willing to submit to the alpha-male during sex. Mostly, she did it because she knew she was always sexually sated by the time it was done. And this time would be no exception. He banged her for another five minutes and brought her to another wonderful orgasm, then pushed her flat against the bed. He lay on top of her, fucking rapidly with his hips like an animal might. Both of them were sweating like . . . well, pigs, when the grand finale approached. "I'm going to fill Baby Girl's pussy now," he growled into her ear. "I'm going to shoot so much stuff into you that it comes out of your mouth." "Do it Big Daddy," she groaned into the pillow. "Fill your Baby Girl up!" At that moment, she felt herself begin yet another ascent into pleasure. It never ceased to amaze her how blessed out she could be with this hulk of a man. "Here we go," he said, burying himself inside her and sending a gallon of goo into her personal paradise. Finally, when her greedy pussy had drained him of every drop, he collapsed off to the side. "So, you wanna do that . . . thing?" he ask almost nervously. She was grinning as she shook her head. But she rolled back on her shoulders and brought her knees all the way back until they were resting on either side of her head. She had always been flexible, and it allowed her to do certain things that normal girls couldn't. Her pussy was just inches over her own mouth, and she clenched her vaginal muscles and forced his cum towards the surface, waiting as it dripped into her mouth. She waited until she had as much of it as she could, then took a loud, exaggerated swallow. She rolled over and gave him a salty kiss on the lips. "Thank you Daddy," she murmured, then rested her head on his massive chest. "You know, that whole 'fantasy' could be more fun if you would just dress up like a little girl sometime . . ." "Keep dreaming," she said. ------------- ------------ The next day . . . ------------- ------------ Jane was sitting in the wheelchair in the room she had slept. Talia had left her a flashlight, but she wasn't using it if she didn't have to. She didn't want to let anyone know she was awake quite yet. 'How . . . how can they expect me to believe them?' she asked herself. 'And why do I seem to want to?' She bumped the flashlight with her hand and sent it tumbling to the floor. She reached for it out of instinct, but her midsection screamed out in pain and she fell out of the chair and onto the floor, causing her to cry out involuntarily. Within a few seconds, she heard the door open and was almost blinded by the light flooding into the room. "What happened?" came Talia's voice as the woman came to Jane's side. "I fell," Jane said, lying through a grimace. Talia helped the girl back into the chair, lifting her off the ground with a tremendous amount of both strength and care. And even though she was being as gentle as possible, Talia could feel Jane trembling until physical contact was broken. "Let's get you out somewhere where the electricity works and Arthur can have a look at you." "No! I mean, I'm okay," Jane said, trying vainly to mask the pain in her voice. "No, you're not. Listen, if you want to get better, you need to let us help you," Talia said, pushing the girl's chair out into the main room. For her charge's sake, she wheeled her to an isolated part of the upper platform, and then sent word for someone to get Arthur. Jane was trembling when he arrived. She still had nothing on but her underwear, and her unease grew as Arthur approached. Her face blanched as he reached for the blanket draped over her body. "Jane," he said as soothingly as possible, "I just need to see how the healing is going. It may be uncomfortable, but I won't do anything more than I have to." "And I'll be right here beside you," Talia said. "We just want you to feel better." Jane tried to control her fear. She reminded herself again that if they wanted to do her harm, they could have easily done it by then. And when Talia took the blanket and held it between Jane and the rest of the platform, she relaxed just a little bit. But her skin still quivered a bit as Arthur's hand gently touched her exposed midsection. "Okay, let me know if something really starts to hurt. I'm checking to see how your ribs are doing." Arthur gently ran his fingers up her sides, carefully responding to any painful noises his patient made. Jane wasn't in nearly as much pain as she had been just a few days earlier, but she could tell she still had a long way to go. And she also realized that she wasn't as nervous about Arthur touching her anymore. "Are . . . are you a doctor?" He smiled. He appeared to be in his early thirties, and had that rugged Marlboro Man kind of look to him. And his face held no malice that Jane could detect, which was something she just wasn't used to. "No. I used to be, but now I'm a healer." "A healer?" "Yes. It's my Talent." He looked at her quite seriously. "Do you want to see?" Jane looked quizzical and then nodded. She saw his hands start to shimmer and glow, then felt her side begin to grow warm. Her skin seemed to tighten, and she could actually feel her ribs shifting just a little bit. She started to gasp, but the sensation began to dissipate. The pain was less than before. "What was . . ." "That was magic," Arthur explained softly. "It's not a miracle cure. I just help your body fix itself at an accelerated rate. When you first got here, I couldn't push too much since I need my patient to tell me if it's working. Now that you're awake, we can probably go a little faster. But you can't go too fast . . . the body just can't handle it." As he began to feel her sides again, Jane realized that there were a number of spots that were much less tender than before. She pointed out what still hurt, and he redirected his magic towards those places. After the second round of healing, she noticed that he had broken out into a sweat. Apparently, magic took its toll on the practitioner. "That's enough for now," he muttered. He looked at her face. "Well, all the cuts have healed, and that busted lip looks good as new," he added. As he moved to brush some hair from her face, her fear returned and she shrunk back. So he pulled his hand away. "I'm going to go take a bit of a nap. I'd like to work with you some more this evening. Would that be okay?" Jane nodded as Talia lay the blanket down on top of her body. "I . . . I'm sorry," she said. "I don't want to be a bother." Arthur looked her in the eyes. "It's not a bother. It's giving help to someone who needs it. Just like you did back in that alley." Then he wandered off. Talia knelt beside the chair. "Listen, Arthur has the gentlest soul I've ever met. He isn't a fighter, and he's never raised his hand to anyone that I know of. He won't ever hurt you." Jane stifled a sob. "I'm trying," was all she could say. "No one is asking for more than that," Talia responded sweetly. "Jane, I have to ask something. Is there someone out there who is looking for you? Someone we could contact for you?" Jane lowered her head. "No. No one." "Not even your parents?" "My parents . . . my father is dead, and I haven't spoken to my . . . my mother in a long time," Jane replied. "I don't have any brothers or sisters. I don't even have . . . have a job or a place to live." "Surely your landlord . . ." "My landlord is a disgusting pig!" Jane said, suddenly snarling. Then she sank back in her chair. She hadn't meant to snap. Talia looked her over carefully. "Jane, I can't imagine what caused you to be like this, but I want to help you. I want to ask you some questions, and I want you to be honest with me. Do you think you could do that?" Jane looked back at Talia with something she hadn't felt in a long time . . . hope. She nodded. Talia smiled. She sat down on the ground and began to ask Jane about her life, starting with her childhood. -------------- --------------- That evening . . . -------------- --------------- Talia was sitting around a table on one of the abandoned subway cars, having a pleasant meal of ravioli when she sensed a presence at the door. Without looking up, Talia began to speak. "So, have you finished being a bitch for this week, or do you still have some minutes left on your plan?" "That's not fair," Red said, sitting down across from her friend. "It's completely fucking fair and you know it," Talia said irritably. Red closed her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so." Talia felt some of her anger melt away. Red had the best of intentions, but had been under a lot of stress. "As long as we agree on that," she said smugly. "I'm sorry things didn't go better in Los Angeles. Still no info on who is sending these hellspawn after us?" "I don't think they're after us specifically. I think their tribe is making some kind of power play. I just . . . what was Robbie thinking?" she asked bitterly, standing up and staring out the car window. She saw her brother hobbling around the lower platform, chatting with some friends and showing off his scars. "Why did you guys . . ." "We didn't know he had left until it was too late. We followed his scent as soon as we realized he was being foolish." Talia stared at her friend pointedly. "We wouldn't have gotten to him in time without . . ." "Yeah, yeah. I know," Red grumbled. She sat down again. "It's just supplies are running low and we almost got caught on our last scavenging party. I just wasn't prepared to deal with a new person right now." "We help people," Talia reminded her, "and Jane needs our help more than most. She's fucked up Red, and I don't mean just physically. I got her talking today, and she's hurting inside." Red wasn't made of stone, though she sometimes tried to pretend she was. And Talia sounded concerned. "How bad?" "Bad. As far as I can tell, her dad died when she was nine. Her mother was incapable of being alone and married the first guy she could. Jane's stepfather physically and sexually abused her until she was able to run away. Then the Hollywood 'producers' and 'directors' had their shot at her. Her now ex-landlord was trying to extort sexual favors from her whenever she was short on rent money, and she actually sort of gave in once." Talia put her head in her hands. "Red, every bit of physical contact she's had almost her whole life has caused her pain and/or humiliation. And she hasn't had any friends or family to turn to. Red, we can't turn her away." Red sighed. "We won't. Hopefully she'll have a useful Talent, but even if she doesn't, we'll let her stay." Talia leaned over and gave her gorgeous friend a hug. "I knew I could count on you." "Do what you can to help her along, and you and Arthur need to let me know when she's physically able to manifest her Talent. And . . . thanks for keeping me in check," Red said, a little embarrassed. "No problem. Sometime I forget how much people ask of you, so I guess you're entitled to lose your head sometimes." Talia gave her friend a kiss on the cheek. "But you might want to talk to Jane sometime. She might be a little more comfortable if you can convince her you don't hate her." Red stomped her foot like a little girl. "Talia, you KNOW that I suck at apologies." "Practice makes perfect," Talia said. ------------- ------------ The next day . . . ------------- ------------ Jane was sitting around the area of the platform where Arthur had worked on her the previous day. She had felt good enough to wander around a bit and no longer needed the wheel chair. She was even wearing some "real" clothes, namely baggy sweatpants and a sweatshirt. The underground station was fairly sizeable, and included two platforms, a number of offices and a lobby area. There were also ten subway cars trapped in the tunnel, and the tracks went for a pretty long distance in either direction. There were sub-tunnels and maintenance shafts that led to the surface, which is how the Strays got in and out of the Den. "Hey there," came a voice from the tracks. Jane looked down and saw Red jumping four feet from the rails to the platform with relative ease. She looked around to see if there was someone else Red might be talking to or if there was a place she could hide. Red knew the look of cornered prey, and that was the look she saw on Jane's face. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to yell at you," she said, taking a step forward. Jane took two steps back. "You don't need to be scared of . . . hey, stop backing up!" she snapped, and Jane looked ready to run. "Red, stop scaring my patient!" Arthur said, walking up. But Arthur had a smile on his face. He knew Red's "scary face," and this wasn't it. "I'm not . . . that's not what . . . oooh! I told Talia I sucked at this!" Red stopped and took a deep breath, visibly trying to maintain her composure. "I just wanted to tell you that . . . for the last time, stop backing up!" she said again. Arthur put himself between Red and Jane. "Red, it's time for her healing session. Why don't you take a few minutes and . . ." "Don't patronize me Arthur," Red warned. But Arthur didn't look particularly afraid. He just waved her away, and waited until she stormed off, grumbling the entire time. He turned around and Jane was pressed up against the wall. "C'mon over here and have a seat," he said. "The mean woman is gone." Jane slowly walked over and had a seat, her breath increasingly labored. "Are you okay? She wasn't threatening you . . . really." "She hates me," Jane reiterated. "She doesn't want me here." "I don't think that's true. I've got a feeling she's trying but . . . well, her people skills aren't quite what they should be. Anyway, how are you feeling?" "Better," Jane said earnestly. "How . . . how long have you been able to do this?" she asked as he stuck his hands up under her sweatshirt and felt for the tender areas. She trembled a little bit at first, but quickly calmed down. Arthur saw that as an encouraging sign. As he applied some healing magic to one side, he took a deep whiff. "Uhm, Jane? Have you had a chance to shower since you've been down here?" Jane blushed. "Nuh . . . no. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to touch me . . ." "It's okay. After we're done, go find Mindy. Do you remember who she is? Good. She's in charge of laundry. She'll get you some more clean clothes and a towel, and she can show you where the showers are." Arthur finished up the session, and Jane was amazed at how much better she felt. Her abdomen was feeling a bit stiff, but most of the pain was already gone. What should have taken many months to heal was taking about a week. She very tentatively took a step towards him, gave Arthur a quick hug and then fled up the stairs. She didn't see the quirky smile on his face. Jane quickly sought out Mindy. She was talking with her brothers Michael and Matthew, their friend Nathaniel, as well as with Anya, the girl capable of turning invisible. Jane wasn't sure why Anya wouldn't want to be seen . . . she looked like a particularly Hispanic Cindy Crawford, minus the "beauty mark." And Mindy wasn't exactly an eyesore either. Her bare midriff showed a rock-hard set of abdominal muscles, stood a few inches taller than Jane, and had curly blonde hair framing her impish face. Jane stood a ways off waiting for an opportunity to speak but too afraid to approach the group. Anya noticed her. "Hey Jane," she said demurely. She even sounded sexy. "How are you feeling?" Jane stared at the ground while she replied, "I . . . I need to talk to . . . to Mindy." She heard footsteps approach, and the entire group moved closer, causing her to take a step back. "Hey guys, why don't you find something to do, and I'll catch up," Mindy suggested. Jane looked up and saw them leaving, Anya's arms draped over the shoulders of Michael and Nathaniel while Matthew ran off on another errand. "So what's up?" Mindy said with a smile, holding her distance. "Arthur . . . said you could . . . show me where the showers are," the girl said, stumbling over her words. "I guess I smell pretty bad." "Well, you've kinda been in bad shape for the last week, and it's not like anyone down here exactly smells like roses. Follow me." Mindy showed Jane to a storage room that had all their extra clothing. Jane noticed that some of those clothes still had tags on them, but decided not to ask any questions. Jane could barely remember the sizes of clothing that she used to wear, but Mindy helped her pick out a selection that would fit her, then found her a towel and some shaving supplies. "And the showers are over here," Mindy said. "First thing I have to warn you about though is that these are communal, coed showers. This used to be a maintenance area that we converted into showers. There ARE stalls and shower curtains, but that's as much privacy as we can promise. There's a bunch of different kinds of shampoos and conditioners in there . . . just grab whatever you fancy." Mindy looked at the incredibly long ponytail that Jane was sporting. "Did you want some help washing that?" she asked appreciatively. "You have GORGEOUS hair!" Jane blushed. "No thank you," she said. "I'm used to washing it by myself. Thuh . . . thank you." Jane walked inside the makeshift room. There were about a dozen large shower stalls placed at various points throughout the room. Jane made her way to the most isolated of them, pulled the curtain closed and stepped inside. She quickly got undressed, but just before turning the water on noticed that the stall directly across from hers was in use . . . sort of. Jane saw Nathaniel and Michael, completely nude and on their knees in the shower. They apparently didn't care that they could be seen, though they seemed preoccupied and didn't notice that Jane had come in. The both seemed to be in the throes of ecstasy while fucking . . . nothing. They were at least three feet away from each other and . . . 'Their penises are gone!' Jane thought. Then she heard Nathaniel speak. "Okay Anya, cut that out. It's creepy!" Anya appeared, trapped between the two men. Nathaniel's member was buried in Anya's mouth while Michael was fucking her pussy. Jane couldn't believe it. She had found herself in that position a few times in Hollywood, but she had felt . . . nothing . . . when doing it. Anya was obviously getting off on being sandwiched between the two studs. She had her hands on Nathaniel's butt cheeks and was encouraging him to fuck her face even faster. "You gotta love Anya," Michael said. "She's always ready to screw." With that, he gave a quick slap on the girl's ass before grabbing her hips and fucking the girl even harder. Jane turned on the shower, hoping they would realize they weren't alone and close their curtain. They either didn't notice or didn't care. Jane stopped peeking through the curtain . . . for a moment. She was amazed at how good the water felt, even if it was a bit cool. She let the water just cascade for a little while, washing away the outer layer of grime. She took a while to shampoo her hair and had just finished rinsing it out when she heard something that surprised her. Full Moon Strays Ch. 01 "C'mon," Anya was moaning. "Fuck my ass you fucking stud!" Unable to stop herself, Jane peeked out from behind the curtain again. Michael was lying with his back on the floor and Anya was sitting on top of him, grinding his cock into her cunt. Nathaniel has just squatted down behind her and shoved his cock into her asshole. He and Nathaniel quickly developed a rhythm, sliding in and out of her luscious body in tandem. Jane was feeling . . . slightly aroused. Those cocks filling Anya's lean, perfect body . . . making her moan like an animal in heat. She continued to watch as she conditioned her hair. Michael was sucking on Anya's light-brown breasts and dark nipples while he filled her pussy. Nathaniel was just gripping the woman's taut butt-cheeks as he violated her back door. While letting the conditioner seep in, Jane grabbed the razor and some shaving cream. She took care of her armpits and legs as Anya continued to get double-teamed. Then, the entire sexual conglomeration rolled over. Nathaniel lay on his back while Anya squatted over him, lowering her sphincter onto his rigid dick. Then she leaned back and braced herself with her arms. Jane saw that she was completely shaved in the vaginal area. Jane touched her own fairly furry mound. She watched as Michael knelt and sank into the girl's pussy again and she wrapped her legs around hip, spurring him in the ass with her heels. Jane looked at her own body with all its imperfections. She almost absently smeared some shaving gel on her own private area and began to shave it smooth. Once completely shaved, she began to rinse her hair out. She had forgotten how good it felt . . . to have clean hair that she could run her fingers and comb through. She peaked out through the curtain and saw Michael pulling out of Anya's pussy, then shoving his meat into her mouth. She reached pass the balls that were slapping into her chin and stuck a finger into the man's ass, which just seemed to spur him on. He pulled out of her mouth, pointed his rod at her face, then shot a series of white creamy spurts at her face and open lips. And Anya seemed to be getting off on it. Even while her face was getting coated with his seed, Anya reached down and began to play with herself. She sunk her fingers into that beautiful, moist slot and rubbed her thumb against her clit. Jane felt her heart beginning to race. "Oh yeah!" Anya shouted. Her abdominal muscles seemed to clench and ripple, and her cum covered face was awash with pleasure. "Too tight!" came Nathaniel's voice from below. "I'm going to blast her in the ass!" All Jane could see was that he stopped moving and grasped Anya's hips, apparently living up to his word. Just then, the door to the shower room opened. Jane felt her breath catch in her throat . . . it was Red. "Oh would you three get a room?" the red-haired goddess said irritably when she saw her three young comrades finishing their tryst in the shower stall. "We were just done," Anya said with a grin, standing up and washing the cum from her face. Red shook her head and moved to another stall, quickly and unabashedly removing her own clothes. Jane completely forgot about the three people that she had just seen have sex. Her eyes were completely glued on Red. The woman was physically perfect . . . as flawless as a valuable gem. Every muscle was perfectly formed and toned, her hips and breasts perfectly full and her waist slim and taut. Red's skin was pale but beautiful, and it contrasted with the flaming red of her hair. Even the white streak in Red's beautiful locks added to the woman's almost unholy beauty. And Jane noticed that as the three other inhabitants of the showers got dressed, Red stole a couple of glances. Not at Nathaniel and not at Michael . . . Red was looking at Anya, and it wasn't a very casual look. Red began to shower, and Jane couldn't divert her gaze. She watched as Red soaped over that magnificent body, and Jane began to feel a tingle down in her nether regions. It was something she had never felt before. Jane began to panic a bit. She slowly turned off the water and dried off, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She slipped into a snug pair of blue jeans and a sleeveless pink shirt and a pair of flip-flops. It wasn't glamorous, but it was comfortable. She slowly tried to creep along the wall without being noticed. Her eyes remained fixed on Red's nicely rounded backside when suddenly, Red turned. For a moment, the two women stared at each other. Red stepped forward. "Hey, I wanted to . . ." Jane took off running, almost slipping on the wet floor as she bolted through the door. "What did I do?" Red asked to an empty room. --------- ------------------- A little while later . . . --------- ------------------- Jane had found a corner and was trying to comb out her hair wishing that she had been able to find a bottle of detangler when Talia found her. "What's up? You're looking MUCH better," Talia said, genuinely meaning it. The young woman had some color back in her cheeks, and Talia finally realized just how very pretty Jane really was. While holding her position, she asked, "Would you like some help with that? I've never seen anyone with hair as long as yours." Jane bit her bottom lip, then nodded. Talia grabbed a chair and sat behind her young charge, taking the comb and working through over a week's worth of tangles and split-ends. "Your hair is gorgeous," Talia muttered. "I'd kill for hair like this . . . not literally of course. How long have you been growing it?" Jane was feeling incredibly relaxed, except for the lingering tingle she had felt when she had seen Red in showers. "All my life," she said softly. What Talia was doing was incredibly soothing for her, and Jane felt her muscles relax for the first time in a very long time. Talia realized that this was as close as Jane had let anyone get. Even after she had finished combing out Jane's hair, she kept stroking those long, incredibly soft locks. "Jane, I'm really glad you talked to me yesterday. I can't imagine how hard it is for you to open up. But while I want you to know you can talk to me whenever you want about whatever you want, you can also talk to the others." Jane was feeling too good to argue at the moment. "My mother . . . back before Dad died . . . she used to do what you're doing. I miss it." "I'd be happy to do it whenever you want. When it's dry, I could even be talked into braiding it." Talia stroked the young woman's forehead. "Listen, I'm going to say something and I don't want you to get upset, and I know this is sounding a bit like a broken record. It's about Red . . ." Jane's heart began to accelerate, but she strove to keep her cool. "Red can be a bit pig-headed and about as delicate as a freight train, but she doesn't hate you. Arthur told me about what happened earlier, and I think Red was going to apologize. It only happens once every blue moon, so I'd really appreciate it if you gave her a chance." "She just seems so angry." "She . . . well, she kind of is, but not at you. Listen, Tarloh is kind of the general leader, but Red is responsible for getting supplies and she's our chief hunter and trainer. She wears a lot of hats, and sometimes it's not easy for her to balance them all. And she loves her brother to death, so she kind of freaked when she found out he'd gotten himself in trouble." "How . . . she and her brother are both . . . lycanthropes?" Jane asked, trying to wrap her tongue around the word. "Yeah. We're not the only 'monsters' in the world. There are different groups out there with different temperaments and different agendas. One group killed Red and Robbie's parents, but some of the original Strays saved the kids. The original leader of the Strays . . . a guy named Olaf . . . he was the one who sired both of them and brought them into the fold." Angela sighed. "Don't tell Red I talked to you about this. She's kind of private in a lot of ways." "You can say that again," came a voice from off to the side. Jane turned her head and saw Robbie. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt or anything. I just never got a chance to thank our new friend for saving my ass." Despite his proximity, Jane didn't feel her usual desire to run away. The soothing affect of having Talia playing with her hair was working wonders. "I . . . I didn't do anything. Except get caught," she whispered. "You didn't even need to investigate, much less threaten to call the cops. That's something," the handsome young man stated, having a seat at a safe distance. He still had an arm in a sling, but he looked far healthier than he should for as badly as he had been beaten. Apparently Arthur was a very effective healer. "So," Talia began with a grin, "has Red finished chewing you out yet?" "Let's just say that thanking Jane isn't the only reason I'm all the way over here," he responded with a guilty look. "That was a stupid move," Talia said a little more seriously. "What did you do?" Jane asked. "We've been having problems with these hellspawn . . . the things you saw in the alley . . . attacking non-humans and trying to drive them out of the cities. Red and Tarloh had gone to Los Angeles to talk to the leader of another group and share information, but I was impatient. So I decided to go looking for the enemy's local base of operations. I didn't find it, but I DID find them," he added bitterly. "I . . . I'm sorry," Jane said. "For everything." Robbie cocked a smile. "Don't be. You couldn't do anything about my folks, and you did everything you could to help me. That gives you a pretty good batting percentage in my book." Jane just smiled, and she listened quietly as Talia and Robbie exchanged some pleasant banter about life underground until the both got called away for other duties. --------------- ---------- That evening . . . --------------- ---------- Jane was beginning to feel a little guilty about the fact that no one would let her do anything. Apparently, all the Strays had been told to keep her relatively inactive until Arthur gave the all clear that she was healthy enough. Everyone was being super-nice to her, and she wanted to do something to earn her keep. She finally gave up and headed back to the lost and found room, which had unofficially been dubbed "Jane's room" until she was ready to move out. As she approached the door, she saw someone was waiting for her, and her footsteps slowed while her heart beat faster. "Hey," Red said as calmly as she could. "Huh . . . hey," Jane gasped lightly. "Listen . . . I'm sorry," Red said, almost forcing the words out. "I didn't mean to snap at you the other day . . . or scare you the day after that." Jane held her ground. She spent an inordinate amount of time staring at Red's lips when she spoke. "I . . . I know. Talia told me that you . . . you've been under a lot of pressure." Red looked slightly miffed. "If she was going to apologize for me, then why'd she talk me into doing it too?" she muttered, as much to herself as to Jane. "That may be true," she continued, "but that doesn't mean I should take it out on you. Hell, you helped save that moron brother of mine, so you're the last person I should be yelling at." "I . . . thought you liked him." Red cracked a rare smile. "I do. But what's the point of having a brother if you can't get mad at him." 'She has a really pretty smile,' Jane thought. She couldn't figure out why she felt so warm. "So how are you feeling?" Jane frowned, looking at the floor. "Better, I think. Arthur wants me to . . . manifest? It think that was the word . . . manifest my Talent tomorrow." "Are you scared?" "Yeah. Does . . .does it hurt?" Red looked her over. "A bit. Mostly there is an initial jolt and there is some strange tingling and discomfort for a few hours. "Did you . . ." "No. Lycanthropy tends to suppress the ability to manifest Talents, and the existence of a Talent acts as a barrier to the onset of lycanthropy. No one has ever had both. Anya, Arthur, Patrick . . . them and a bunch of others have gone through it. We've never lost anyone to the process." Red had meant that as a joke, but Jane looked obviously distraught. 'Shit, why can't I ever say things right,' she thought, mentally kicking herself. "You'll be fine. Just get some sleep and Arthur will come get you in the morning." As Red walked away, Jane stared after her, waiting for her heart to calm down. She had a long time to wait. -------------- -------------------------- In another area of the Den . . . -------------- -------------------------- "Hey Arthur," Mindy said as she went into the medical cubicle. "Here's the last of the gauze. I put it on the shopping list for the next scavenger hunt." "Thanks," the medic grumbled. "With Robbie's expedition and Jane's condition, I'm running short on some basic necessities." Mindy smiled and sat down in his lap. "But you manage to make it work," she said. "Both of them are looking much better, you little miracle-worker you." "I'm not surprised about Robbie, but Jane was just human. She was touch and go for the first few days." Mindy tussled his hair. Arthur was one of those kinds of guys that never gave himself the credit he deserved and always tried twice as hard as almost anyone else. "I hear she's going to the Node tomorrow. No one could have gotten her ready as fast as you did." She blonde girl stopped and kissed him on the forehead. "When was the last time YOU got some sleep? More than a couple of hours I mean?" Arthur had to think about it. "Three days, I think." "You need to get some rest. You're going to need your strength tomorrow." She pressed closer against his body. Arthur was very aware of the proximity of the beautiful girl. "I don't think you've got my 'rest' on your mind right now. And you know what your brothers would do . . ." Mindy grinned, and she pressed her lips against Arthur's. "My . . . brothers . . . are quite indisposed. Anya took them topside for a little patrolling." While sexual activity was fairly rampant in the Den, Michael and Matthew tended to be a little protective of their sister. She wasn't exactly a virgin, but they did what they could to scare off potential suitors. Lucky for Mindy, her brothers were kind of stupid. "I thought I might help tire you out . . . so you can sleep," she said, kissing him again. She liked Arthur more than any of the other men in the Strays. He could be gentle (or not) and quite passionate. And the things he could do to her body . . . "You are a crafty little creature," Arthur said, taking a deep breath of air. Mindy tended to bring naughty thoughts out in him. Whenever he began to feel sorry for himself, she seemed to show up after ditching her brothers and make him feel pretty damn good. "I figure we've got an hour minimum before the boys get back. Why don't we play doctor until I howl at the moon?" She was straddling his lap now, facing him as she kissed him more passionately than before. She pulled his shirt off over his head and ran her hands over his lightly haired chest, then leaned in and nibbled on his nipples. "God, you're a horny bitch," he groaned. He reached around and grabbed her denim-clad ass, gripping it tightly and marveling at its firmness. "I think I've got a temperature Doc. You wanna stick your thermometer in me and see how hot I am?" Arthur felt his member reaching maximum rigidity in the confines of his scrubs. And he was willing to bet that Mindy felt it as well. He brought his hands back around and started to unbutton her jeans, but she had to get off his lap so he could finish the job. Arthur watched Mindy with hunger as he pushed his pants down and kicked them away, letting his hardness spring free. But Mindy quickly returned to her place on Arthur's lap, his cock snug and secure inside her wet sex. "I think I can safely say that the patient is very, VERY hot!" Arthur said as she ground her hips on his lap, squeezing his shaft with her vaginal muscles. He latched his mouth onto one of her firm little tits and sucked hard. She played with his hair while he nursed at her tits, moving from one to the other while she bounced gently on his cock. "I've been wanting to feel you inside me for days. Darn you and your work ethic," she murmured, bouncing harder. She curled her feet in and tucked them on the inside of his knees, and she pressed her breasts more firmly against his face. Arthur didn't object. His lips were everywhere, making the skin on her chest light up with goosebumps. His breath was so hot that even if she hadn't been feverish before, she was now. Arthur's hands were back on his lover's ass. She bounced upward, and he met her with a slap to the ass. She practically purred, so he began to give her a rapid series of spanks as she rode his meat. "Oooh!" she crooned. "Harder!" She was pouncing up and down on him like he was a pogo-stick. Her butt was beginning to sting, and she loved the sensation. "Bite my nipples!" she barked, and nibbled her bottom lip as he hurried to meet her request. He latched his teeth onto one of the nubs and then pulled outward, distending the tit-flesh. He kept pulling until she gasped, held on a little bit longer and then moved to the other tit. "That's it! Oh fuck yeah!" She leaned back, intensifying the pulling sensation. "I can't . . . hold it off," Arthur grunted, pushing her ass downward and blowing a load into her cunt. He couldn't even remember the last time he had gotten off, but it must have been a while due to the size of the spurt now coating the inside of Mindy's tunnel. He clung to her as his member continued to pulse and ooze his ejaculate into her willing body. "That's okay lover," Mindy said, kissing him on the forehead, the cheek, the neck and then the lips. "I know you can get it up again as soon as you want." "Maybe I want to do something else first," he said, glancing towards the cool steel of the Den's operating table. "Goody!" she squealed. She got off his lap and went towards the table. "How did you want me Doc? Face up or down?" "Down," he said, looking at her shapely ass. "Definitely down." She shot him a devilish grin and lay flat on the table, her head hanging off one end. He approached her and pushed her legs apart. Reaching under the table he grabbed the straps they used to secure the patient for surgery, particularly the ones who got a bit skittish. He secured her waist first, then her upper back. Next, he fastened sturdy leather cuffs about Mindy's ankles and wrists. Some people might think it odd to have such devices attached to an operating table. Those same people never tried pulling bullets out of a werewolf in full bloodlust. "Oh what-EVER shall I do?" Mindy said petulantly. "I'm all helpless now!" "I think the patient needs to just lie there and let the doctor operate," he said. He wondered what the rest of the pack would do if they knew what he and Mindy sometimes used the table for. 'Who am I kidding?' he thought. 'Most of them probably already know.' He pressed his hands between Mindy's thighs and slowly inserted three fingers into her honeypot. He stretched his fingers, testing the limits of his lover's pussy. After a little bit of stretching and a few thrusts, he smacked the girl's vulnerable ass cheeks again. This was followed by some more thrusting of the fingers, and soon Mindy could actually hear the sloppy penetration. "I'm feeling better already," Mindy whispered, wishing she could push her mound against Arthur's fingers or harder against the table or something . . . she was going nuts! Arthur was finger-fucking Mindy to his heart's content. He stopped spanking her so that he could grab one ass cheek and pull it aside. He then leaned in and pressed the tip of his tongue against her asshole, and that actually made her squeal with delight. Full Moon Strays Ch. 01 "Oooh! That's new!" The healer continued to ravish her anus while filling her pussy with his digits. Once her sphincter was nice and slimy, he pulled his head back and sank his thumb into her butt, all the way up to the palm. Then his free hand gave her a couple more swats. "Arthur," she gasped, her body beginning to shake. "It's gonna happen!" Arthur knew what she wanted. While his fingers continued to penetrate her, he started to concentrate and focusing his power. He had the ability to enhance the body's natural processes, so he caused all the pleasure centers in her brain and nerve endings in her crotch to amplify. The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. Mindy's eyes and mouth shot open as the mother of all climaxes wracked her body. She was shaking like train tracks when the Orange Blossom Special came rolling through. All the colors and lights in the room seemed impossibly bright, and every muscle she had was straining vainly against her bonds. And when she came, a veritable flood of juices poured out onto the table. It was less like she HAD an orgasm and more like she gave BIRTH to one. Her interior muscles were so tight that Arthur could no longer even move his fingers, and he waited patiently for her body to recover as he withdrew his power. "That . . . (gasp) . . . was . . . incredible!" she said at last. "I aim to please," he said. He had begun to concentrate his power inwards, willing his dick back to life. Soon, it was nice and stiff again, and he walked around to the end of the table where Mindy's not-so-angelic face was still gasping. "Now it's time to BE pleased, don't you think?" Mindy looked up at him hungrily and opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out as well. Arthur grabbed her by the hair and inserted his rod into her waiting lips, savoring the sensation of her tongue dragging along the undershaft. Soon, her nose was bumping against his pelvis and his balls were banging against her chin. Mindy, as he well knew, had no gag reflex. "Now that's a nice fit," he said as he started to fuck her face. She was already beginning to exert incredible suction on his dick, trying to draw it inside her mouth when he was pulling out. But he never stayed "out" long. He wasn't particularly well endowed, but getting deep-throated was always a treat. He held the sides of her blonde head while using her mouth for his pleasure. "You have the softest tongue," he groaned as that particular muscle pressed against the meat in her mouth. He pushed all the way in and stopped, watching the drool creep out of the corners of her mouth. Despite appearances, Mindy wasn't particularly a submissive personality. Actually, the two of them took turns being "on top," so to speak. "I worship your mouth. You know that, don't you?" he asked. All she could do was smile like a doughnut as he continued to pump away. Finally, enough was enough. He left the head of his cock in his lover's mouth and shot his second load of the evening. He didn't have as much spunk left as he'd like, but it was enough to cover her tongue with salty goodness. Arthur stroked his shaft, squeezing every bit of baby-batter that he could manage into her waiting mouth. Then he pulled back and watched her swallow. "I wish I had a camera," he said, looked at her sweaty, muscular body strapped to the metal table that was covered with her cum. "Maybe I'll grab one during the scavenger hunt," she said, the last traces of her man-treat vanishing down her throat. "Thanks Doc. That was just the medicine I needed." He smiled, then knelt and kissed her. "I think I needed it more than you," he said. "I guess you knew that." She looked at him lovingly. "Someone needs to look after you," she replied. She waited as he undid all the straps and she was able to sit up. "Arthur . . . " She stopped for a second. She wasn't ready to tell him what she really wanted to say. "You don't have to push yourself all the time. Everyone talks about the pressure Tarloh and Red are under, but no one can do what you do." 'Especially to me,' she thought. "And you're not going to be much good in an emergency if you're always exhausted." He gave her a hug before the two of them got dressed. "I know. But Robbie WAS in bad shape and Jane . . . Jane just took patience. If we can just avoid any conflicts for a few days . . ." "I know," Mindy interrupted, giving him a hug that lasted a little longer than intended. "But if you don't get some rest, I'll have to have a talk with Tarloh and . . ." "Yeah, yeah. Just let me clean up the table." Mindy pushed him towards the cubicle door. "I made the mess, I'll clean it. If you don't sleep now," she started, running her hands over her ass again, "then I might not be needing any more 'doctor visits' any time in the near future," she finished, making the threat very clear. "I'm going," he said, kissing her quickly on the cheek. He didn't see her holding a hand to that cheek as he walked away. -------------- ------------ The next day . . . -------------- ------------ Jane stood behind Talia as Red led a small contingent of people down one of the tunnels towards what Talia had explained was a Node. A Node was a place where dimensional cracks met and didn't heal, causing a pressurized point to stabilize. These points were powerful centers of mystical energy, and direct exposure to them could break down the walls that shielded a person's Talent from coming forth. Only Talia, Arthur, Tarloh and Red were going to accompany Jane on this voyage. "Are you sure you're up for this?" Talia asked. Jane was actually so nervous she was almost vibrating. "Yes," she lied. "I need to know what this is all about and . . . and I need to feel useful." "Don't be so hard on yourself," Tarloh grumbled. "Listen to the big man," Arthur said. "You've been through hell the last week or so. I'm impressed you're as ready as you are." Talia was a little worried. Only she and Red knew the extent of Jane's problems, both deciding that Jane would tell the others when she was ready. They squeezed through a crack in the wall and found themselves in a service tunnel. Up ahead, Jane saw a bluish-white light coming from around the bend. "Is that it?" she asked. "That's it," Red replied. "Actually, it's going to be kind of anti-climactic." They rounded the bend and saw a sphere of light wedged into a crack in the wall. "That's the Node. What you'll do is walk up and touch it. It'll give you a pretty good shock that may knock you out. When you come to, you'll be pretty disoriented." "How will I know if it's worked?" "You'll know," Red said, trying to sound as calm as possible. "People actually seem to gain a basic innate ability to use it, but total control will take time. Hey, if you want to back out . . ." "No," Jane said abruptly. She wanted to be strong . . . she wanted them to think she was strong . . . she wanted Red to think she was strong. "I'm ready." As Jane walked towards the light, her four comrades gathered around. She felt the terror growing with every step. 'What am I doing?' she thought. 'I have no place in this! This is a world of fairy tales and things that go bump in the night. I'm just a worthless girl that the world barely took the time to stop and piss on as it went by.' Then, something occurred to her. 'So what do I have to lose?' She extended her hand and touched the sphere. Jane was hit with what felt like a bolt of lightning, and she was blown backwards. Red caught her, but the force landed them both against the far wall. Red felt the power coursing through the girl's body, and wondered what would happen next. She found her feet, still holding Jane's limp form in her arms. She was as gentle as she knew how to be. 'She's beautiful,' Red thought, waiting for Jane to wake up as her friends gathered around. 'She looks so . . . innocent.' She shook her head. 'Stop those thoughts.' Jane moaned. The disorientation she had been warned about hit her with a vengeance. It was as if the entire world was spinning and she so badly wanted to spin and try to keep up. But she seemed to be held in place by someone's arms . . . strong arms. She fought to keep the nausea down. "That . . . was more . . . than . . . a good . . . shock," Jane gasped. Red smiled. "If we told everyone the truth, no one would do it." Talia suppressed a smile of her own. She saw how Red was holding the younger woman. She was cradling her like she would something precious, and had a peculiar look in her eye. 'I haven't seen THAT look in a long time,' Talia thought. But she kept her thoughts to herself. "So, feel any different?" Tarloh asked. "Not . . . really," Jane said as Red slowly lowered the girl's feet to the ground. But as Red began to let go, something strange happened. Jane wouldn't let go. More specifically, her hair wouldn't let go. It seemingly wrapped itself around Red's arms and shoulders and gripped with incredible strength. Red looked around at the hair that was encircling her. It seemed to grow and strengthen as needed. "Oh . . . kay," she said. "This is new." "What's happening?" said a still slightly confused Jane. "My scalp feels tingly." "That's not surprising," Tarloh muttered, leaning in to get a better look. Suddenly, strands of Jane's hair reeled up and almost lashed out, behaving much like a snake threatening to strike. "That's not right," the big man said, backing away. Talia took a step forward, but Jane's hair kept her at a distance. The same happened with Arthur. Until Jane's eyes were open and clear, the only person who could get near Jane was Red, who was actually bound to the girl by a series of locks. "Living hair . . . that's a first," Arthur muttered. "And it seems to protect her out of instinct." "Whuh . . . what are you talking about?" Jane said, her feet finally touching the ground. Without warning, her hair released its grip on Red and fell back into place. She took a step, began to stumble and reached out with . . . her hair. A clump of strands actually stretched out and braced against the ground, keeping Jane upright. She was actually amazed. She stood upright and looked at it, willing it to float in front of her, which it did. She looked at Red, amazingly pleased with herself. "Well I'll be damned," Red thought. Talia looked from Jane to Red and back again. 'You may very well be damned indeed,' she thought smugly. -------------- ------------- To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 02 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- "C'mon, keep your eyes up. Don't react to the hands! No, you're telegraphing!" Red growled. Jane was incredibly frustrated. Once declared healthy, Tarloh and Red decided it was time for Jane to start her training. Jane wasn't sure how exactly she was drafted into this group, but she had acknowledged that she didn't have anywhere else to go. So Jane was playing by the house rules, and that meant learning self-defense, stealth, and "other skills," which Jane didn't inquire about too much. Red had taken the younger woman aside for the second straight day and began trying to get Jane's feet, fists and hair all coordinated. While a number of people initially found the idea of "living hair" to be silly, Red had quickly realized the potential. Jane's hair had become as strong as steel and was able to stretch to lengths of thirty feet. She seemed to be able to manipulate eight groupings of hair, so Talia had suggested creating eight distinct braids. This had actually done wonders for Jane's control, and she found herself with twelve limbs at her disposal. And she was able to lift tremendous amounts of weight with her new hair appendages . . . the total amount was still to be determined. But for all her potential, Jane was moving around like someone with two left feet and a broken leg. She was trying as hard as she could, and desperately wanted Red not to give up on her, but she seemed to be failing at everything. Red was conducting a drill where she would approach Jane and try and lightly tag her by touching Jane's side. All Jane had to do was keep Red away, and Jane was failing miserably. She kept trying to run, periodically pushing blindly away with her miscellaneous extremities. She tried anticipating which direction Red was going to go, but the lycanthrope always seemed one step ahead of her. Jane hadn't seen Red's "other" form until the previous day. When Red morphed, her shoulder's broadened, her breasts seemed to shrink a little bit, her legs bent backward at the knee, her hands grew claws, her skin grew a thin layer of reddish fur and her head became that of a great cat. Quite frankly, she scared the shit out of Jane. But when training, that was the form Red always took. Jane whipped her head around and extended her braids until they were ten feet in length, using them much like a series of giant weed-whackers. But Red quickly ducked underneath, lunged forward and lightly tagged Jane on the side. Jane wanted to cry, but she quelled the tears. Her hands were trembling and she hung her head in shame. Then, she felt a soft hand underneath her chin, lifting her face. "Don't stress," Red said, morphing back to human form and trying to show the girl some support. "I've been doing this for twenty years. You've been doing it for two days, and you're still recovering a bit. Don't be so hard on yourself." "But I couldn't . . . I couldn't stop you," Jane whispered, her voice reflecting her internal pain. "I can never stop them . . . you . . . Can I go now?" Jane dejectedly headed to the showers as Talia wandered over. Talia wrapped her arm around Red's shoulders and watch their young friend walk away. "Well, that went well." "I . . . I don't know how else to train her, but she's so afraid of everything," Red muttered. "I know. I was just teasing. She really wants to please everybody, particularly you. She doesn't like feeling useless," the dark-skinned beauty pointed out. Jane had actually been doing much better the last few days. While she still kept a safe distance from most people, she let them approach without freaking out and she occasionally engaged in conversations. But mostly, she just seemed to want to listen. "She's been here what? A week and a half now? What's she expecting?" "Maybe she doesn't know what to expect. She's kind of been 'just reacting' since she got here. Considering what she's been through, I think she's doing pretty well. Well enough that I thought that I might take her topside tonight . . . you know, bring some of the girls along. You don't need many for the scavenging party, do you?" "No, just me, Tarloh and two of the gruesome threesome," Red chuckled, using her pet name for Michael, Mindy and Matthew. "Actually, I'll probably take Patrick too. Maybe Johan as well. If you're taking Anya, I'll need someone else stealthy, and a shadow demon will do nicely." Red looked towards the showers. She bit her lip for a moment. "Could you make sure she's okay?" "Why don't you go ask her?" Talia asked. "I've got a few things to do . . . finalize a list of targets . . . and she seems a little too fragile for someone with my people-skills to be talking to," Red said, heading over to Tarloh. "You don't fool me for a minute," Talia said under her breath, then went to get the girls. ------------ ---------------- A few hours later . . . ------------ ---------------- "God, I forgot how much I liked pizza," Mindy said, running her hands over her stomach. Down in the Den, they did have access to more basic foods but lacked the finer things. Pizza definitely counted as a finer thing. "Where did you get the money?" Jane asked. It hadn't occurred to her to ask how the Strays managed to survive, as none of them seemed to have jobs. Talia wrapped her arm around Jane's shoulders, happy she didn't tense up. "We . . . not everything we do is strictly . . . legal," she said. "We steal a lot of what we need to survive, or we scavenge what we can. A lot of the non-lycanthropes donate plasma, which brings in some money, while others work odd jobs whenever they can. Everything in the Den is communal property . . . everyone works for the common good." "Our dinner tonight was sponsored by a drug-dealer over on Canal Street," Anya said. "You deal drugs?!?" Jane asked, somewhat shocked. "No, I stole his wallet," Anya grinned. "It's a pretty common way for me to contribute, and I get a kick out of fucking with anyone who's trying to peddle cocaine to high-school kids." Jane still looked uncomfortable, and everyone picked up on it. "Listen," Mindy said, "I know it's probably hard. Stealing is wrong . . . that's what everyone is taught. But most of us could never hold full-time jobs or wouldn't want to. Keeping the streets safe from some genuinely evil beings is a job-and-a-half of work by itself." "Who . . . who do you steal from?" "Criminals, when we can help it," Anya said. "And WalMart," Mindy piped in. "Didn't I just say that?" "And there are some normal people who know about us and donate stuff. And we usually have enough meat after each hunt to last at least a month," Talia said, licking her chops. "Hunt?" Jane was curious. "Yeah," Mindy said gleefully. "Every full moon, the lycanthropes go hunting in the woods and mountains east of town. Deer . . . pheasant . . . wild turkey . . . rabbit . . . wild pig if we're lucky." "You . . . eat it . . . raw?" Jane said, feeling the pizza in her stomach backing up. "Of course," Talia said. "We ARE animals Jane. Admittedly, I prefer a good barbecue when in human form but as a wolf . . ." She almost began salivating. "Anyway, we only eat a little for ourselves and bring the rest back for the pack." "I just LOVE it when you guys get back from a hunt," Anya said wickedly. "Everyone is so randy afterwards!" "You are such a slut!" Mindy said, laughing and hugging her friend. "Oh, like you're so innocent," Anya shot back. "I heard you and Arthur last night." "That was fun," Mindy said unabashedly. She glanced sideways at Talia, who was giving her a "shut up" look while glancing at Jane. The newest member of the group had grown pale when the subject of sex got brought up, and she had fallen another step or two behind the rest. "I'm sorry," Talia said. "We won't talk about this if it makes you uncomfortable." Anya looked confused, as did Mindy, but both were smart enough to realize that there was something they didn't know and they yielded to Talia on the issue. "No . . . it . . . it's okay," Jane said. "You . . . you should . . ." "Are you a virgin?" Anya asked, not thinking about it. After all, it was a particularly reasonable question . . . for most people. Jane started to sob. "Nuh . . . no," she whimpered. Talia moved to wrap her arms around the girl, having to fend off Jane's living braids for a moment until Jane got them under control. "There, there sweetie," she crooned. "I'm sorry," Anya said, not sure what was going on. Talia flashed her a smile. It wasn't Anya's fault, and sex was one of the hot Hispanic's favorite topics and hobbies. "Did you want to talk about it?" she asked Jane. But Jane wasn't in the building, so to speak. She was thinking back to her own "sexual" experiences. "Touching . . . squirming . . . punching . . . hurting," she muttered. "Lies . . . flesh pressing down on me . . . favors . . . sticky stuff on my hand . . . I don't feel anything . . . hollow." "Calm down," Talia said, watching the poor girl's mind breaking before her. She motioned to an alley, and the four women moved into it, Talia pulling Jane along. The girl was obviously agitated, her hair periodically whipping out in random directions. She stopped rambling and just sobbed into Talia's shoulder. "Why can't I feel anything?" Jane practically whimpered. "Why am I empty inside?" "Jane . . . you need to confront this. You need to tell me what you're afraid of. And you can tell Mindy and Anya . . . you don't need to go through this alone," Talia whispered, stroking that living hair. Jane looked around at the small group of women . . . her friends. There was no judgement in their eyes . . . no condemnation of her weakness. There was just compassion. She didn't recognize it at first, since it was something she wasn't used to seeing, but it was there. She opened her mouth. "Can we go back home?" she asked plaintively. ----------- ----------------- A little while later . . . ----------- ----------------- "It's about time," Red mumbled as she and the rest of the scavenging crew stumbled into the Den. "Stop complaining," Tarloh told her. "It was a damn good haul!" "One frickin' security guard and we get denied those medical supplies." She sighed. "I'll . . . I'll go back up tomorrow. I'll find a way to get what Arthur needs." It was Tarloh's turn to sigh. No matter how good a job Red did, in her mind it wasn't good enough. "Fine. We may have to just buy it. We'll see how much cash we've got and I'll get it to you by the evening." Red hated spending the pack's limited funds on something she should have been able to acquire, but there were some things they couldn't wait on. She dropped her bundles off at the main table so that Tarloh and some of the others could start checking it off their lists. Red held onto a small package that had a different destination. While out, Red had noticed a couple human girls shopping at one of those superstores. One of them had been about Jane's size, and she was wearing a cute little set of designer jeans and a blue sweater. She was still feeling bad about how things had gone with Jane, so Red had inquired as to the girl's measurements (which had been a bizarre conversation), and had "procured" a similar ensemble and a long leather trenchcoat for the young woman. Red convinced herself that it was because it would be getting colder soon. She noticed Jane sitting with the girls she had gone topside with and Arthur seemed to have joined them. The entire group looked a little somber. "Hey. I hope I'm not intruding," Red said as she approached. "Nah, that's okay," Talia said. She peaked out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Jane's eyes had immediately been drawn to Red's face, and they remained there until Red caught her staring. "Okay," Red replied, unconvinced. But she needed to give her gift . . . donation before she chickened out. 'I wish I was better at this,' she thought. "Hey Jane," she started, "I . . . I figured you didn't have a lot of clothes that actually fit, so I picked you up some stuff." There was a brief awkward moment where Red wasn't sure if she was supposed to hand Jane the package or unwrap it for her. She opted for the former. Jane took the packages while avoiding making direct eye contact. "Uhm . . . thank you," she murmured. Everything was actually wrapped up in a single piece of brown paper with the consistency of a grocery sack. She was as careful opening the package as she would have handling fine porcelain. As each piece of clothing came into view, she touched it and pressed it against her face. Red couldn't take her eyes off of Jane. The girl almost looked like she had just been given the key to the Kingdom of Heaven instead of some stolen garments. Jane looked up with glistening eyes. "Thuh . . . thank you." These weren't hand-me-downs or surplus. "Why?" Red was getting more and more curious. She knew the girl had been through hell, but . . . "Don't tell me no one had given you a gift before?!?" 'I guess it is a gift after all,' she thought. With little warning, Jane was on her feet, her arms and hair braids wrapped around Red as the younger girl gave a hug that drove the air from her lungs. And Jane was crying again. Red had no idea what to do, so she just held the quivering girl in her arms and let her cry on her shoulder. Red and Talia locked eyes, and Red gave a 'What the hell should I do?' look. Talia just shrugged, which earned her a helpless stare. Talia figured it was time to say something. "Jane, we look after our own down here. We won't let anyone hurt you . . ." "I . . . I've heard that . . . buh . . . before," Jane sniffled. "It's what people say right before they . . . they . . . do something bad to you." Red was out of her element, but she wasn't without feelings. She held Jane gently and actually kissed the girl on the top of the head. She wasn't sure why. She also wasn't sure why Jane had decided to cling to her of all people. After all, Talia had definitely been nicer to her. Talia felt a little warm inside as she watched Red act with tenderness. 'You make people feel safe,' she thought of her old friend. 'Jane needs that.' Then out loud, "Jane, you and I have already talked about this, but you need to talk to the others. You can't let this eat you up inside." Jane just stood there for a moment, then finally began to release Red from her grip. Talia was reading Red's face, and didn't think the woman necessarily wanted to be released. Then Jane sat down next to Red's feet. "What . . . what do you want me to do?" she asked, looking first at Talia then up at Red. The red-haired beauty sat down next to her young friend. "Tell us everything . . . from the beginning." "Start with something decent," Talia suggested. "Tell us about your father." ----------- ------------- An hour later . . . ----------- ------------- Talia and Red had known a bit what to expect, though Red was hearing it straight from the horse's mouth for the first time. The rest of the small crew was able to feel disgust and outrage for the first time. But Talia noticed that the words got easier for Jane as she talked and she was able to meet her friends' gazes more often. From being molested by her stepfather through the Hollywood scouts, pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, the porn movie, the used car salesman and the decrepit landlord, those few anxious listeners bit their tongues. And the entire time, Jane stayed close to Red. Jane was emotionally exhausted after related her story, and she allowed Red to help her back to her temporary sleeping quarters. The rest of the group stayed behind, talking carefully for a while about what they had learned. "That explains a lot," Arthur said. "I wish you'd told me," he said to Talia. "I couldn't. I figured it would be better if she told people. Only Red and I knew, and I had to tell Red so she wouldn't push Jane too hard." "I know, but I still wish you'd told me," he said, standing to his feet and helping Mindy to hers. "It's frustrating. I can heal the body, but the mind is still a mystery to me." "So what can we do?" Mindy asked tentatively. "Just wait," Talia said. "Be patient, but don't coddle her. She really wants to belong and she NEEDS to belong, and we can't do that if we don't let her participate." "So, did I miss anything?" Tarloh asked, approaching the group. Talia smiled, hugged him and pressed her face against that massive chest. "I'll tell you about it later." She looked up at the big man fondly. "Right now, I think I just need to let off a little steam." "Hmm," Mindy groaned, "that sounds like a great idea." She grabbed Arthur by the arm. "So, who's up for a little 'four-play'?" Arthur shook his head. "Actually, that sounds like a pretty good idea." 'Wait,' he thought. 'We're missing someone. Where the heck did Anya go? Oh well.' He shrugged the thought off as the four of them jumped down onto the tracks and headed a little ways down. All of them, when confronted with someone who saw physical contact as being synonymous with pain, needed to remind themselves that it could be pleasure. Then, they would stand a better chance of convincing Jane. Once safely out of sight, Talia turned and jumped onto Tarloh, wrapping her long dark legs around his waist, grinding her hips against him while she kissed him. Mindy was nuzzling Arthur's neck while he gripped her firm behind. She sucked on his earlobe, actually relishing the taste of his sweat as she worked her way down his neck, up his chin before finally reaching his generous lips. Her tongue glided into his mouth and touched his tongue, caressing that slight divot down the middle. His breath smelled faintly of barbecue . . . a little bit sweet . . . a little bit tangy. So she devoured it, breathing it in and mixing his breath with the air in her lungs. She wanted him inside of her in every conceivable way. Next to them, there were no such pseudo-romantic niceties. Tarloh's pant's were down around his ankles while Talia's were nowhere to be seen, and he had all eleven inches buried in her tight tunnel. She was gripping his broad shoulders and spurring him in the ass with her heels, emitting low guttural noises when she bottomed out on his seemingly endless cock. She knew how much raw power Tarloh possessed and that he could fuck her standing up all night long if need be. And that might be what she required, just to get her mind out of dark places. Since she was supporting her own weight, Tarloh let his hands grasp her perky little breasts, kneading them and cupping them and toying with her stiff nipples. He wondered why tits were so appealing to men, but most of them tended to turn into mindless drooling zombies when they saw a nice pair . . . or a semi-nice pair . . . hell, if they were attached to a woman who was still alive. Of course, having a dick that was almost a foot long had a similar affect on women, so he thought that it all worked itself out in the great scheme of things. And once he got inside a woman, he usually was able to get them to say or do just about anything. He kind of wanted for her to talk dirty, but no one seemed all that chatty. He wondered what Jane had said that made them so desperate for physical release. Full Moon Strays Ch. 02 Mindy had Arthur's tongue between her teeth, pulling on it gently and then sucking on it a bit. She started kissing her way down his body until she was on her knees in front of him. Using her teeth again, she untied the drawstring for his pants. Then she pressed her mouth against his shaft through the flimsy fabric and blew hot air through that porous material. With her mouth in place, she traced her tongue along the center of the section in her mouth. She grabbed his pants with both hands and pulled downward while slowing moving her mouth upward. As soon as the purple head came into view above his waistline, she immediately took it into her mouth, and the rest of his cock soon followed suit. When his balls hit her chin, she started to hum softly, and she kept it up as the now-slick shaft began to emerge from its hiding place. Arthur let his hands rest on Mindy's curly-blonde head as it bobbed up and down on his turgid rod. He wondered if her brother's knew what a little sex-kitten she was, and hoped they wouldn't hold it against HIM when they found out. Her mouth was like a jungle, hot and wet (but minus the mosquitoes). She let his cock slide out of her mouth so she could stroke it with her hand while sucking on his balls. Arthur put his hands on the sides of her head and applied pressure, indicating a desire for her to stand up. It was his turn to kiss her. Then he got on the ground and lay on his back before making the "come here" motion with his hands. She smiled, put one knee on either side of his face and lowered her wet sex to his hungry mouth. As he pressed the flat of his tongue against her mound and rubbed it in circles, she cooed in pleasure and then swallowed his dick all the way to the root. Talia looked down as she was bouncing and saw Arthur's dick completely engulfed by Mindy's face. While she could never manage that with Tarloh, she had a sudden desire to try. She climbed off his flesh-pole and squatted down in front of him. Her mouth stretched outward as the slick, velvety skin crawled slowly into her throat. It didn't take long before the drool started to spill out. She was after all a carnivore, and carnivore's tended to drool when eating meat. Meanwhile, Arthur was pulling out all the stops between Mindy's thighs. He had her outer labia pulled apart with his fingers, gently massing them as he sucked on her inner lips and drained them of their sweetness. And with her inner lips suitable toyed with, he sent his tongue down her inviting cleft to find yet more moisture. It never ceased to amaze him how physiologically similar that the non-morphed form of lycanthropes was to humans. He was pleased, because he would have HATED to learn the cunnilingual arts all over again starting from scratch. Mindy probably wouldn't have minded as much, because she liked it when he "went exploring." She was funny that way. He was vaguely tempted to cheat like he had the other night, but for some reason didn't feel it was appropriate. He'd make it up to her. Tomorrow maybe. Of course, he wasn't going to be able to hold everything off until tomorrow. Mindy's mouth was too talented for that. She had about three inches between her lips and was stroking the rest with her thumb and forefinger. She was working frenziedly, causing his seed to boil up inside him, looking for a place to erupt. And when he did, he sent a geyser into her mouth. She didn't let a single drop escape, her lips acting as a pressurized seal around his manhood and her throat acting like a vacuum. She gulped rapidly, filling her belly with his cum. Tarloh and Talia had both stopped, examining the cum-hungry Mindy sucking the life out Arthur's member. Talia grinned, then pointed Tarloh own staff at her friend. Tarloh wasn't about to say 'no' to a little extracurricular sucking, so he let Talia lead him over to the other two, and he put the head of his mammoth rod near Mindy's face. Mindy felt like she had just had too many appetizers, and the main course had just arrived. But she was nothing if not game, and took that massive purple helmet between her lips. Arthur's continued attentions weren't helping her concentration at all. She had just gotten four inches of manhood inside her mouth when she felt a stirring in her groin. She had to pull off of Tarloh's beef-stick to avoid risking biting down when her orgasm ran through her. If Arthur had been doing his "magic orgasm" thing, Tarloh probably would've been singing a few octaves higher in the future. But everyone's private parts stayed in place, and Mindy came onto Arthur's face. While Mindy remained on all fours, she did lift up an arm and a leg to allow Arthur to escape. She went back to sucking on Tarloh, bound and determined to show off her oral skills to Talia. Arthur crawled up behind Talia and spread her dark ass cheeks and buried his tongue between them, stimulating her asshole and lower slit. Talia moaned, bending over at the waist and bracing herself by putting her hands on Mindy's back. This gave Arthur more room to maneuver. He also took the time to give his cock a quick magical boost, and it slowly raised itself to full mast. He wanted to plunge it into Talia's depths, but he wanted to make sure she had cum at least once before that happened. Talia's breathing had gotten harder and her knees weaker. She didn't like it when a guy with facial hair went down on her . . . it tickled something fierce. But Arthur was clean-shaven and talented, and she liked what he could do to her. His tongue was so far inside her she thought she would die (but die happy), and she LOVED the analingus. Not a lot of guys were willing to do that. She only knew of one other person who had an affinity for it, but that person wasn't exactly Talia's "type." Tarloh got to the point where he wanted his ENTIRE dick buried in something warm, so he positioned himself behind Mindy (still on her hands and knees), sank his manhood into her womanhood all the way to the hilt, grabbed her by the hips and went to town on her body. Mindy was so full she wanted to scream. She had been with Tarloh a time or two, but not often enough to become immunized to his girth. Her opening felt wide enough to drive a train through, but a locomotive wouldn't have held the same kind of power that Tarloh seemed to possess. And as Tarloh built up his steam, Mindy just enjoyed the ride. Talia's orgasm almost snuck up on her, but that didn't change the experience. Her body was glistening with sweat as it trembled under the stampeding feet of the "little death," her muscles as tight as Scrooge's wallet. She hadn't even finished her orgasm when Arthur stood up and sank his cock into her still-recovering cunt. Unlike what Tarloh would do, Arthur caressed Talia's ass rather than grabbing it. He traced patterns on her back along the spine as he took her from behind. Her hands were almost digging into Mindy's back as she held on for dear life, but all of Mindy's attention was diverted to the substantial piece of humanity that was in the process of violating her inner sanctum. She was lunging backward every time that Tarloh thrust forward, trying to make the biggest sound possible as hips collided with butt. She understood the difference between the two men present. Arthur was a human, and a gentle one at that. And while Tarloh may have been a wise and caring leader, he was scarcely more than an animal in the sack. And his animal side had taken over. He was growling a bit as he prepared to fill his temporary bitch with his seed, and he knew she was waiting for it. Mindy tightened her vaginal muscles, and that was all she wrote. Tarloh's cock felt especially sensitive as he shot his load into her womb, continuing to pump to make sure that his seed was suitably represented in her tight body. His second climax of the evening coincided with Mindy's. Tarloh's substantial manhood had managed to stimulate all the right points inside Mindy's hole, and Mindy was reaping the rewards. Arthur had reached his limit as well. After a few more strokes and a full body tremble, he came inside Talia's pink pussy. Some of his white stuff leaked out onto her dark labia, but Arthur wasn't exactly disgusted. He thought it was kind of beautiful. Talia turned around and gave Arthur a quick peck on the cheek, and then gave one to Tarloh. "Why don't you take me back to your place and finish what we started?" she whispered. She didn't really want to be alone that night. "Fine. We'll talk about . . . things in the morning." He looked at Mindy and smiled. "You, young lady, are a very dangerous woman." Mindy licked her lips knowingly. "I am what I am," she said, instinctively wrapping her arm around Arthur's before they all started to get dressed. "Do . . . do you think Jane will be interested in sex again? Someday? I know there are a lot of guys who think she's REALLY cute and they'd be really nice to her." "Maybe," Talia said with a secret smile. "We'll just have to wait and see." ------------ --------------- On the surface . . . ------------ --------------- Victor Naworski was walking home from the bar, his breath stinking of domestic light beer and his face stinging from multiple rejections of his offer for female companionship. He was pissed that the bitch from apartment 134 . . . Jane . . . had skipped out without paying rent. He KNEW he could've had her eating out of the palm of his hand. 'Or licking my stuff off her hand,' he thought acidly. He was sure she was on the verge of breaking, and broken women were easy to manipulate. He got to his apartment, which had the word "manager" printed in big letters so the useless morons he rented to could read it. But there was a surprise waiting for him there. Next to his door was possibly the hottest girl he had ever seen that wasn't on the cover of a porn DVD. She had a killer bod, major curves and curly red hair with a white streak in it. 'Things are beginning to look up,' he thought. "Hey honey," he slurred. "What can I do to you?" he said suggestively. "Are you the manager? Victor?" "Yeah," he said. "You one of the tenants' girlfriends? We've got a policy about anyone staying over more than a couple of days if they're not on the lease. Of course, I COULD be talked into letting it slide . . . with the right . . . encouragement." The woman seemed eerily calm. "Do you know Jane Collier?" Victor sneered. "Yeah, that bitch owes me a months rent. If you find her, tell that little slut that . . ." Red had endured enough. She grabbed that rat by his cheesy Hawaiian shirt and hurled him through his front door, which would have been considerably less painful if the door had actually been open. He crashed through the door and landed about six feet inside, which was bad for him since the wall on the other side was only five feet away. Red strode into the apartment, grabbing him by the leg and then throwing him into the living room where his glass coffee table was awaiting him. Victor found himself bleeding from places where he didn't even know he had places, and he was sure that something on his body was broken. He looked up, and even his dim brain could see that there was something animalistic in this woman's eyes. He was sure she was going to kill him. Red put one foot on his chest as he tried to scamper away, pushing him to the floor. "I am only going to say this once," she said, her voice almost physically dripping with venom and hatred, "the only reason I'm going to let you live is because Jane would probably be unhappy with me for killing you. You are beyond filth, and the world would be better off without you. You preyed on a young girl who didn't have the emotional capacity to stop you. If I EVER find out that you've done that to another living soul, I'll make you WISH I had killed you here tonight. Do I make myself clear?" She pushed down harder on his chest, making sure he couldn't breathe easily. He nodded wildly. "I know you're thinking you can call the cops and that'll teach me. I've been evading the police for years. They'll never catch me . . . at least not until I've caught you and ripped the skin and muscle from your bones," she added. She removed her foot from his chest, picked him up by the neck and pinned him to the wall with his feet dangling six inches off the ground. "Do you still have her stuff?" "Nuh . . . no," he whimpered. "I suh . . . sold it," he added. "How much money do you have? Both of your own and in petty cash?" "Nothing!" Red shook her head. Then she pounded him once against the wall. "How much?" "I've got a couple hundred in the bedroom but that's it!" She pounded him against the wall again, then punched him in the stomach. "Okay . . . (gasp) . . . okay. There's another three hundred in a box in the kitchen. Everything else is in the bank." "I don't have time for the bank . . . this time," Red said. "Let's go." Red drug the man around, gathering up all the money he had in the place. Red was pleased that she'd be able to help afford the medical supplies now, but was more pleased that she was making this scum bleed. She also saw a pair of pretty earrings on his dresser. 'Probably stole them from another tenant,' she thought, so she pocketed them as well. She thought Jane would look pretty in them. She also made sure to kick a hole in his plasma-screen television before looking at his sniveling form one more time. "Keep in mind what I said. You can be a sleaze, but if I find out you've been blackmailing anyone else too desperate to resist you, then so help me God I'll show you what pain REALLY is." She hurled him towards the couch with sufficient velocity to make the entire thing flip over and land on him. She could hear his breathing, so she was pretty sure he'd live. She spun on her heels and headed for the door. But Victor wasn't quite done. He crawled out from under the couch and tried to make his way to his feet for one last bout of defiant machismo. "You fucking cunt," he said through broken teeth. "I've got friends! You'll see! We'll get you and that other bitch too, and when . . ." As Red watched on, Victor's eyes shot open and he doubled over, grabbing his crotch. She had seen the front of his jeans suddenly "adjust," and she heard a distinct "thump" sound. After Victor hit the ground, Red heard another thump. Then, a voice drifted out of the nothingness. "You'd better be careful what you say," came a familiar voice, "because there's more 'bitches' around here than you know what to do with." Red walked outside and waited. She heard gentle footsteps come up beside her, and she smelled a familiar perfume. "So, how long have you been here?" "I followed you," Anya said, choosing to remain invisible. Of course, she was completely naked, which influenced her choice. Unfortunately, her Talent didn't extend to her clothing. "I saw you head out after taking Jane back to her room. It didn't take a genius to figure out where you were going. I was going to do it if you didn't. But hey, you made more of an impression than I probably could have." Red stopped for a second. "Don't tell Jane. Okay?" "Wasn't gonna," Anya said, wrapping an arm around her friend's waist. "Though you KNOW what Tarloh would have said." "Well, that's why I waited 'til he went town the tunnel." Red sighed. "Once they get started, there could've been a war going on and that group never would've noticed." "Well what can I say . . . everyone needed to vent some steam. They did it their way . . . and boy was it tempting to go join in and take a ride on our illustrious leader . . . and you vented your way." Anya slid her hand down and patted Red's annoyingly firm behind. "And if you are looking to try venting their way, you KNOW that I'm game." Red took a step away. "I don't think I'm ready," she said. "Bullshit," Anya replied. "But I won't press it . . . this time." ------------ ----------- Hunt night . . . ------------ ----------- "Okay, everyone ready to howl?!?" Tarloh yelled, revving up the lycanthropes for a night of hunting. It was one of the few times they got to go and do what they were born to do . . . hunt. Tarloh, Red, Matthew, Mindy, Michael, Talia, Nathaniel, Robbie (over Red's objections), as well as Karl (a first-generation lycanthrope) and Chris (a wereboar who was possibly the biggest redneck ever to walk the planet) had been buzzing about the opportunity all day. Jane had never really talked to the latter two, but the hunting pack all seemed pretty chummy with each other. Red had been working with Jane for about three hours a day for the past week. While getting Jane to stand her ground was like pulling teeth, it had finally begun to happen. The young woman was using her extra appendage to help keep her balance, keep potential attackers at bay, as well as maneuver. Jane could actually scamper at great velocity using her hair like a spider used its legs. It was kind of creepy to watch. She could even use her braids to push against nearby walls and scale upwards in alleys and narrow streets with incredible speed. She had nothing by way of an offense yet, but she was making progress. Red had made sure to compliment her when she did something right, and Talia noticed the pride Jane expressed when she received praise from her friend. Jane's recovery over the last week had been amazing. She still had a lot of emotional healing to do, but she no longer bore the weight all by herself. Those closest to her could see her with almost a bounce in her step for the first time since they'd known her . . . for probably the first time in many years. The rest of the Strays gathered together to wish the hunters well before the lycanthropes headed down a series of tunnels that led out of town. Jane, of course, said nothing but her eyes drifted from new friend to new friend before settling on Red, watching her personal trainer disappear into the darkness with a glance over her shoulder. "They're going to be randy when they get back," one of the other onlookers said. "I get first dibs on . . . everyone," Anya joked. Jane steeled herself for the idea . . . all those people doing all manners of things. Tarloh and Talia . . . Mindy and probably Arthur again . . . anyone who felt like it and Anya . . . Red and . . . and . . . Come to think of it, Jane couldn't remember seeing the beautiful woman go off with anyone. Hell, she didn't remember seeing where Red went when bedtime rolled around. She always seemed to be awake, organizing one thing or another. 'Wait,' Jane thought. 'That one time . . .' She was thinking back to one time when everyone had just woken up. She had been down on the lower platform and Red came out of . . . out of the tunnels. She had come from the opposite direction than where the Node was located. She looked around and no one was paying attention. Her braids extended like spider legs, and she scurried down onto the tracks. "What are you doing?" she asked herself. But she kept going. A ways down the tunnel, she reached what appeared to be a dead end. But off to the side, she noticed a door off on her right. She opened it, and there was a metal staircase leading down. It looked like a maintenance tunnel or something. 'What the fuck do I know about old train tunnels,' she thought. There seemed to be electrical wires running along the ceiling and a lone bulb at the bottom guided her way. She cautiously made her way down, emerging into a small room. "What the . . ." she started. The tunnel dead-ended about twenty feet down, but the wall next to it had been dug out for about ten feet and reinforced with steel. There was actually a queen-sized bed, some plastic vines decorating the walls and partially covering a mural . . . a depiction of a beach and a sunset. It brought the real world into the tunnel . . . making it home. There was a bookshelf and a dresser, almost like a real-world bedroom. There were some clothes hanging over the back of a chair . . . red leather pants and a red shirt. It was definitely where Red stayed. It was a strange space, not at all the way Jane pictured the warrior/hunter living. 'How DID you expect her to live?' Jane wondered. 'No one really talks about her.' Full Moon Strays Ch. 02 Jane sat down on the bed, even though she realized it was inappropriate. She wasn't just exploring anymore. Instead, she was snooping . . . invading someone's privacy. Red was a leader, yet lived apart. And Jane lay on the woman's mattress, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, inhaling the faint aroma of roses. She wondered where that smell was coming from, then noticed a vase of flowers on a nightstand on the other side of the bed. 'Those are pretty. I wonder where she got them?' It occurred to her that they had to be gathered fairly recent . . . they wouldn't survive down here without sunlight for very long. 'Something that beautiful shouldn't be kept under the earth,' Jane thought. "God this bed is comfortable," she muttered, drifting into a half-sleep. -------------- --------------- A little while later . . . -------------- --------------- Hellfire and brimstone, the sirens were loud! Jane awoke from her daze with a start. There was a blaring noise pulsing from down the tunnel. It sounded like an alarm. And even at that distance, she heard a commotion, and she felt her heart sink in her chest. She scurried up the stairwell and down the tracks. And the sounds she heard began to gel into an unpleasant cohesive concept . . . there was a fight going on. Jane poked her head around the corner and up over the floor of the lower platform. There was a full-scale battle going on in the underground subway station. She saw the Strays locked in mortal combat with . . . things . . . in suits and sunglasses and . . . 'Oh God,' Jane whimpered inside her mind, 'it's those things! The ones from the alley . . . the ones that almost killed me.' Jane's feet froze, thought her heart was going a mile a minute. She felt her skin growing cold and her hands hand become clammy. She couldn't move . . . she could barely think. The "Hellspawn" were carrying swords that seemed to go on forever, and several were covered in blood. But the Strays weren't the only ones with casualties, as a number of the evil beings were lying on the floor. 'No,' Jane thought, overcome with fear. 'Not now . . . not with the lycanthropes all gone.' Then it occurred to her . . . that was EXACTLY why they were here. Somehow, they had known that the strongest warriors wouldn't be there. 'How could they know?' She saw Shield, the Stray's defense wizard with a shield around the Strays many non-combatants, temporarily keeping the monsters at bay. It was true that everyone down there had a Talent, but many of those Talents were useless in a fight. She saw the flier Patrick flying around madly with a club, apparently trying to get to one of the Hellspawn that seemed to be working magic against the defense shield. Grunt, a virtual powerhouse, was swinging a heavy club and sending one flying, and Jane saw a sword, floating of its own volition thrust itself through the back on another enemy. 'That has to be Anya,' Jane thought. Arthur appeared to be feeding energy into Shield, but he was sweating and looked ready to drop at any minute. With so few warriors, the numbers game was working against the Strays. A Hellspawn threw a handful of white powder in the direction of the floating sword, and bits and pieces of Anya became partially visible. The thing grinned and approached her with its own weapon raised high. Jane should do something . . . It knocked Anya's sword from her hand. The girl had training, but her primary weapon had always been stealth. These things had come prepared for her . . . they had known all about her somehow. While dodging, Anya tripped and fell off the upper platform and onto the lower platform. The Hellspawn jumped down after her, raising its sword one last time. Anya had nowhere to run. Jane looked at the monster . . . the little bit of hell shoved into a flesh-suit and sent to hurt and kill. Its hand was raised, and she distinctly remembered the last time she had seen one of those monsters like that. It had been when Jane herself had been left bleeding to death, trying only to do the right thing. And now, it was going to kill Anya. Anya wasn't sure what was happening at first. Some kind of . . . rope . . . appeared from the tunnel behind her and wrapped around the Hellspawn's sword-arm. Then a second rope grabbed the creature's other arm, then a third and forth grabbed both legs. 'Those aren't ropes,' Anya realized, 'it's . . . hair.' She looked behind her and saw Jane emerging from the tracks, four braids holding the beast and the other four being used as legs. But there was something different about the young woman. Anya had seen Jane have expressions of hope, fear, pain, self-doubt, and hopelessness, but nothing like this. There wasn't even humanity in those eyes . . . just rage. It was as pure and unadulterated a rage as Anya could ever imagine, and it was directed at the creature in her grasp. One of these things had hurt Jane, now Jane was going to hurt it back. Right before Anya's eyes, Jane ripped the thing apart one limb at a time. There is a saying that goes something like this . . . "The lights are on, but nobody's home." This was especially true for Jane at that moment in time. She held the Hellspawn's miscellaneous limbs in her magical appendages for a moment, staring at the pieces of her enemy with immense hatred. She looked up on the upper platform and saw that about twenty Hellspawn were gathered, waiting for the shield to collapse, and it was visibly weakening. Jane was going to kill them . . . all. She looked around maniacally, her eyes finally come to rest on one of the old subway cars that was sometimes used as housing. Eight braids of hair whipped out and grabbed the car by whatever portion of the structure they could. If Anya hadn't been recently fighting for her life, she might have been amused by the expression on her enemy's faces as they turned, hearing the infernal sound of metal grinding on concrete. They saw a young woman, no more than one hundred and ten pounds when soaking wet, hurling several tons of metal right at their core group. They had nowhere to run and no time. The subway car plowed into them and smashed a dozen of them against the wall, knocking many of the others to the ground. But Jane wasn't done. She grabbed fallen swords and Hellspawn limbs and strode up the ramp to the upper platform with diabolical purpose. She had eight magical and two normal arms flailing attacking anything non-Stray in her path with reckless intensity. The Hellspawn had no idea of how to react. Their plan had been working, with their opponent's warriors out of the way and their remaining guards accounted for and neutralized. They had no idea who or what this new menace was. A foolish few of their number attacked the woman and were beaten and cut to ribbons by the girl's flailing hair. The rest realized that the odds were very much no longer in their favor and began to run. One of them was just a little too slow. Before it could vanish, its feet were ensnared by Jane's braids. She hauled the thing back, then smashed it against the wall with thunderous force. "Stop it!" she screamed in a voice tinged with madness and pain. "Stop hitting me!" With a twitch of her head, she flung her captive against the ceiling, then the floor. The Hellspawn was barely twitching anymore, as most of its bones were crushed and broken. "That's all you ever had to do was stop!" Jane's voice was breaking and her eyes were clouded with tears. "How does it feel Jack?!? How does it fucking feel?!?" Anya got it. Like a lightning bolt from the heavens, she got it. Anya remembered from her conversation a week earlier that "Jack" was the name of Jane's stepfather. Jane punished the Hellspawn, name by name. Shield lowered the protective barrier, and the remaining Strays watched on as their newest member, who was supposed to be the quiet one, beat the demon to a pulp. Except for Arthur and Anya, no one understood or recognized the names that Jane was calling out. The former denizen of hell was on the wrong end of a decade's worth of therapy rolled up into a single moment in time. Jane felt someone soft and friendly take one of her hands, and then someone else took the other. Arthur and Anya were at her sides, looking at her with a mixture of fear and love. "Let go," Anya whispered. "It will never hurt you again." "Not anymore," Jane whispered. Then her eyes rolled up in her head, her hair appendages dropped the almost liquefied Hellspawn and Jane collapsed in her friends' arms. --------------- ---------------- A few hours later . . . --------------- ---------------- It had taken a while, but Johan had hurried out to the woods and located the hunting pack, and they had all made haste back to the Den. Their faces were grim and wracked with guilt as they dropped their kills off at the main table. They had been out having fun while their friends were dying. The lycanthropes burst through the opening and looked around. Tarloh went over to Arthur to check on the wounded. Talia checked in with Grunt, who had been piling up the bodies of their enemies . . . and friends. "We should have been here," Red whispered, walking around the carnage. Patrick landed next to her. "You couldn't have known," he reminded her. "The hunt has been going on for decades and there was never a problem." Anya walked up after having gotten dressed. "Somehow they found out," she said. "They knew you would be gone, they knew about the powers of those who stayed behind . . . they knew everything. Either they've been spying on us more closely than we thought . . ." "Or we have a traitor in our midst," Red finished. "Check the . . . the bodies. Find out if there is anyone from our side that isn't accounted for. If there is anyone missing, tell me." Despite their guilt, none of the rest of the Strays blamed the werebeings for what happened. Red looked around. She was no stranger to war, but it was the first time she had seen it fought in her own home. "How the hell did that subway car get up there?" she asked. Anya looked back towards the tunnel. "Yeah . . . uhm . . . I was going to get to that. You see . . ." Red realized that someone was missing . . . someone she hadn't seen. "Anya . . . where's Jane? Is she . . ." "She's . . . actually, she's hiding back in your room. She seems to feel safe there. Red, she . . . Jane saved us." Anya told Red everything that had happened. Red went and talked to Tarloh. He told her to go check on Jane, and he would take care of everything else. ------------ ------------------------ Back in Red's chamber . . . ------------ ------------------------ Red walked back into her room. She wondered how Jane even knew about it. She wasn't particularly mad, just confused. She found the younger woman sitting on the floor, staring at the bookshelf. Jane was covered in the green blood of the Hellspawn. Red had wanted to thank her . . . to praise Jane for what she had done, but she could tell Jane wasn't in the mood for praise. So Red just sat down next to her, and didn't say a word when Jane rested her head on Red's shoulder. "I'm glad you're back," Jane said. "I shouldn't have left," Red replied. "Anya told me what happened. She told me what you did. How . . . how are you feeling?" "Red . . . I . . . I've never killed . . . anything . . . before," Jane stuttered. "But I saw them . . . everyone was dying. It was going to get Anya and . . . I couldn't let it. I've been afraid so long, and just when things were getting better, the monsters came back." Red stroked Jane's head. "There were demons that needed fighting . . . in the world and in your head. And I'd say you pretty much kicked their collective asses." "But . . . am I evil now? Red, the things I did . . ." "You did because you had to. Jane, those things WERE evil, and that's something you could never be. Power always comes from somewhere. Yours came from emotion tonight. I won't pretend I know how you feel now, or how you felt when the fight broke out. And I won't pretend that I'm not a little afraid now that you've shown what you can do. But I also won't pretend that I'm not thankful beyond words that you were here, because you saved a lot of lives. There are people out there that will live to fight another day because of you." Jane actually felt considerably calmer now. "So what happens now? Do you . . . we . . . retaliate?" Red sighed and rested her head on Jane's. "As tempting as that would be, we don't even know for sure why they were after us or who sent them or where they came from. And I'm not going to risk anyone else in a blind attack. We have to find out how they knew about the hunt and everything. We need to know if they just spied on us or if we were betrayed. And we may have to move." Red looked around. "I don't even know how we'd begin to move. I've lived here since I was turned . . . ever since my parents were killed." "I'm sorry," Jane said. "I keep talking about my problems . . ." "Because you need to," Red interrupted. "My pain lasted for a little while. Yours lasted for what? Eight years? Besides, it hasn't been all that bad. There are some good people out there . . . good friends." "Any . . . special . . . friends?" Jane asked, then blushed furiously. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business." "It's okay," Red said. "No. No one special, at least not anymore." She noticed Jane's quizzical look. "There was someone a while back. She . . . she and I split about a year ago. We'd been together for years." "I didn't mean . . ." "No, actually things ended okay. She kind of got tired of living down here. You know, stealing and hunting to survive. She wanted a more normal life. I couldn't imagine doing the nine-to-five thing. I thought we had it all, but I didn't love her enough to go with her and she didn't love me enough to stay." "You miss her, don't you?" Jane said. For some reason, Red's answer was important to her. "Yeah. Yeah I do. No one ever really got me like she did. This room," Red said, waving her arm around, "was the two of us trying to pretend we were normal. I liked it." She sighed. "Natasha . . . that was her name . . . she's dropped by a bunch of times. Her Talent is basically that she's invulnerable. She's a little stronger than most people, but mostly she just can't be hurt. So she's working as a bodyguard for a major movie company down in Hollywood." Red stopped and looked at Jane, seeing if the mention of Hollywood caused the girl any painful memories. But Jane looked . . . content, so Red continued. "She earns damn good money, and she still tries to help out by sending donations our way. Sometimes I think it would've been easier if we hated each other or had a bad breakup. But we didn't. We just weren't together anymore." Red scrunched up her eyebrows. "I guess this is a silly question, but you DID realize I'm gay, right?" Jane actually smiled a very pretty smile. "Yeah, I got that." "Listen, why don't you go get cleaned up. I've got to talk to Tarloh and the others." Red was suddenly very aware of the Jane's proximity. "Okay," Jane said. "I . . . Red, I'm afraid of what will happen when the others . . . look at me." "You've got nothing to be afraid of. If you like, you can crash here tonight. If you'd be more comfortable that is." 'What the hell are you thinking?' Red thought to herself. "I . . . I'd like that," Jane said as she stood up. The two of them walked back down towards the opening and out into the light of the Den. Tarloh and the council had been discussing some of the same possibilities that Red and Talia had earlier, so she joined them while Jane went off to clean the gunk off her. She knew people were staring at her, but she tried not to let it bother her. One thing did stop her . . . it was a large green stain were she had pulverized that one Hellspawn. Strangely, she no longer felt any guilt or remorse about obliterating her enemy. After all, she hadn't started that fight. Jane showered quickly, but realized she had no clean clothes to change into. Luckily, Mindy came into the shower area and Jane was able to get her to go snag a robe for the time being. But Mindy promised to clean Jane's stuff personally, because they had been a gift from Red. When Mindy got back and Jane finally had something to wear, the lycanthrope gave Jane a big hug. "What was that for?" Jane asked. "For being amazing tonight," Mindy said. "Not amazing enough," Jane replied absently, looking at the half-dozen Strays that had lost their lives defending the Den. Jane tried creeping back towards the lower platform, but this time she encountered more people. The meeting had broken up, but not much had been resolved. The lycanthropes were going to take shifts for the day, keeping watch while everyone else rested. As Jane made her way, a number of people, some whom she knew and some she didn't, hugged her or clapped her on the shoulder. She didn't sense any fear . . . any trepidation that she was some unstable monster. She was one of them, and she had done well by them that night. Jane got back to Red's room, but Red herself wasn't there yet. She stared at the little world that Red had created for herself, and Jane realized she felt safe there . . . she felt good there. "Hey," came a voice from behind. Red walked in, looking tired. "It looks like I've got the last shift, so I figured I could . . . get some sleep." Red seemed nervous. "Listen, Jane, when I told you that you could stay here, I . . . I didn't want you to think that you had to . . . you know, do anything. I just thought . . ." Jane was just staring at Red's lips again. She realized she'd been doing that a lot since she had come to live in the Den. And she no longer kidded herself about why. So she stepped forward and kissed those lips. For a moment, time stopped. Taking that one step forward to kiss Red was one of the hardest things Jane had ever done, but she also wanted it more than anything else on Earth. There was not exchange of tongues, just Jane pushing her inexperienced but incredibly soft lips against Red's. She had been taken by many men in her young life, but she had never felt anything from any of them. They had all left an empty feeling inside her soul. For many years, she had thought there was something wrong with her. There wasn't . . . at least not in that sense, or at least not anymore. There had been something wrong with THEM. Jane had simply been looking for affection for the wrong reasons and in the wrong places. Red wanted to say that she was surprised at the kiss, but she wasn't. She watched it close in on her, but did nothing to dissuade it. She had to stand on her toes to make contact but she still managed to make contact. Red could tell that her friend seemed inexperienced in kissing, simply pressing her mouth against Red's. 'This is when I have to stop it,' she thought. But she didn't stop it. She turned her head a bit so that their mouths fit together perfectly. She could feel their breaths beginning to mingle and lips growing warmer. Jane felt something . . . it was Red's tongue. It wasn't forcing its way into Jane's mouth, as had been the case in what had happened in what constituted Jane's sexual history, which was more similar to a bull in a china shop than an erotic act. Red's tongue seemed to dance with Jane's own, almost playfully. Jane wasn't sure how to react, but she had to try. Her own tongue slid into Red's mouth, and the redhead pressed her lips down on it, sucking on it as she finally pulled away. Jane hated the separation but realized it was necessary . . . neither woman had put much thought into breathing for quite a while. Jane's heart was beating faster than ever before, but for the first time in her life it wasn't because of fear or hatred. She longed for Red in an all-encompassing way. Full Moon Strays Ch. 02 "Jane . . . I was so mean to you," Red started. "Why me?" "Have . . . have you seen you?" Jane asked. "Talia told me you never meant to be mean . . . you just were stressed. And you've been so good to me and . . . and you make me feel things I never did before. And it's more than making me feel safe. You've been honest and decent and . . . and you're so beautiful." Jane lowered her face. "But if . . . if you don't want . . ." Without warning, Jane was swept off her feet and cradled in Red's arms. "How could I NOT want you?" Red murmured. "But if we do this, there's no going back . . . no pretending it didn't happen." "I don't want to go back," Jane whispered. "And I'm not pretending," she added. Red kissed the girl in her arms again. Jane was a little more confident this time, but still let Red control the pace. Red finally lowered Jane's feet back to the ground, then pulled the corner of the comforter and blanket back. She was looked at Jane's gentle face when she grabbed the tie at the front of the girl's robe and slowly pulled it, letting the front of the robe part. Jane's skin was so pale but also flawless, and she had a flat stomach though not particularly muscled. Her breasts seemed much larger "in person" than when she had clothes on. They looked marvelously soft, with large, soft pink nipples with tiny little nubs. And those cute little hips . . . "I didn't take you for a shaver," Red said, looking at the bare patch between Jane's thighs. "You don't like it?" Jane said, worried. "I saw . . . Anya . . . in the showers . . ." "I like it," Red said honestly. "So you were checking out Anya?" she chuckled, and it appeared to break a little bit of the tension. "I couldn't miss her," Jane said with a blush. "She . . . and Michael . . ." "Oh, that," Red said. "Anya is . . . a little free-spirited. But she's a good girl." "Did she and you . . ." Red smiled. "A couple times, but that was a while back . . . when I was with Natasha. And once or twice just to blow off steam after that." "You mean . . . the three of you . . ." Jane's eyes were wide. "Yeah, we had some threesomes. Don't worry," she started, looking a little concerned, "you don't have to be like that." Jane smiled. "I just want to be with you tonight . . . for a start." Red returned that smile, then stepped back. She peeled off her clothes, one tight-red-leather piece at a time until she was standing before Jane in nothing but a red silk g-string. The dull tungsten bulb overhead reflected off the shiny fabric and hypnotized Jane. Red was even more beautiful than she had been at the showers because she was now right in front of Jane. Red shrugged off the panties, revealing a mostly clean-shaven mound with a small strip of red-hair pointing towards that veritable sexual paradise. Jane took a deep breath and gulped it down. Red took the girl's hand and then lay her down in the bed, then scooted in next to her, pulled the covers off and then hit the light switch on the wall. And all was dark, but Jane felt safer than ever. She was comfortable, and the blankets as well as Red's body were keeping her quite warm. "How do we start?" Jane asked nervously. Then she felt Red's lips kissing her again, and fingers running slowly down her back, almost tickling Jane with her fingernails. Red's fingers reached Jane's behind, then made their way back up to her neck, which she held onto while continuing to kiss the girl. "How about like that?" Red muttered huskily, pressing her body even more tightly against her young lover's. "It's okay to ask questions," she said. "I'm guessing you haven't been with a woman before. But it's also alright just to let yourself go and do what feels right." Red pushed her leg between Jane's, moving it until he was placing pressure against Jane's wet mound. That little bit of contact made the younger woman let out a gasp. Red placed one hand against one of Jane's ass cheeks and held the girl in place while she rubbed her upper thigh against Jane's opening. She also started kissing the dark-haired girl's neck, then moved up to sucking on her earlobe. Jane's whole body was so yummy . . . so new. Jane was feeling good in ways she had never even imagined before. She had no idea what to do with her hands, and all her mouth was good for at the moment was gasping and letting out pleasant little whimpering noises. Finally, she let one hand feel its way down Red's back, touching the long muscles next to the spine before coming to rest on rock-solid buttocks. 'She has muscles in places I don't even have places,' Jane thought. 'I need to pleasure her some . . . some . . . somehow.' Jane was feeling a pressure down below. She knew what that feeling was by reputation, but it was something she had never experienced for herself. "Red . . . I feel strange," Jane said. Out of the darkness came Red's voice. "I think you feel wonderful." But Red could feel Jane's body changing . . . twitching . . . heating up and preparing to explode. Red was amazed. She'd barely touched the girl, but the physical signs were there. And when she heard Jane gasp and felt the moist patch on her leg grow exponentially, she had proof. Jane had just climaxed on her leg. "Oh my God," Jane whispered. "That . . . was . . . incredible!" "You're a bit fast on the trigger," Red returned. "And it felt kind of juicy," she added, a bit wickedly. She kissed Jane, and this time Jane's lips were voracious, completely unwilling to let go of Red's until they had drunk their fill. "Do you always cum that quickly?" If the lights had been on, Red would have seen that Jane was blushing furiously. She wasn't sure if there was something wrong with her or if Red was just good. "I . . . I don't know," Jane told her. "I've never . . . done that before." "You . . . you've never had an orgasm before?!? Even through . . . you know, masturbation?" "No," Jane said, putting some steel in her voice. "I . . . after my stepfather . . . did what he did . . . I never touched myself. At first, I didn't know it was supposed to make you feel good. Then . . . I didn't care." Red's mind was slightly clouded with rage, but she couldn't let Jane know. Certain things should never hurt. "Well it can feel good," she said with an even voice. "Give me an hour," she said, kissing Jane's neck, "or two, and I'll show you just how good." Red started kissing her way down Jane's face and neck, crawling further under the covers until her face reached those soft, warm breasts. She placed her hands underneath them, cradling them while she drug her tongue across the surface of Jane's skin. Those pleasant mammaries jiggled under her mouth's caresses, and Jane let out a pleasant little moan when Red wrapped her lips all the way around one of those soft nipples. Since Jane's nipples were soft and without much nub, there wasn't much for Red to latch onto, though that didn't keep her from trying. She pushed those tits together so she could rapidly switch from one to the other. "I could play with these all day," Red said, just loud enough to be heard. "But I've got places to go and things to lick." She continued her southward journey, taking time to tickle Jane's ribs enough just to make her squirm before moving to that flat little belly. Red circled her lover's bellybutton with her tongue, then slipped in just inside. That actually caused Jane to shudder, so the red-haired vixen did it again. She blew hot air across Jane's tummy, then gave it a long slow lick all the way up to where the ribs joined. Jane was sweating like she had just done a triathlon, but she wasn't even moving. Red's tongue . . . mouth . . . lips . . . they were everywhere that felt good. And they were moving slowly towards a place where they would feel great! Even in the dark under the covers, Red knew she had arrived at what she was looking for. She could smell the heat and the moisture emanating from Jane's sex, and she knew she had to taste it. She brought both hands down and placed them between Jane's legs, spreading them wide enough that Red could move over and crouch between them. Then she drug her fingernails lightly up from Jane's knees all the way to her inner thighs before letting them rest on either side of the girl's entrance. She could hear Jane's heavy breathing, and knew she wouldn't last long. Red gently touched Jane's outer labia with her thumbs, rubbing them up and down. Finally, she kissed that sexual paradise. Jane wasn't sure, but she was willing to bet someone had just lit off fireworks in her head. Because she was most definitely seeing stars at that moment. She felt Red's tongue penetrating her for the first time, licking her slot from bottom to top before dragging across her clitoral hood. In all her life, Jane had never felt anything like it before, but she didn't have long to wait to feel it again, because Red's tongue was lapping away at its new dish. Red pushed her thumbs into Jane's pussy, stretching it a little bit while sucking on her clit. She stopped her cunnilingus long enough to give her lover a kiss on each of her sensitive thighs before returning to some good, old-fashioned cunt licking. But Red had barely started sending her tongue deep into her lover's most pleasurable recesses when Jane came again. Her second orgasm actually seemed to have built in intensity from the first one, and her whole body trembled under its power. Red stuck two fingers into the girl's box, thrusting them rapidly and curling them upward each time. Her lips encircled Jane's nub and sucked on the hood, letting her tongue lash it directly. Jane didn't understand what was going on. Whatever Red was doing . . . besides feeling wonderful . . . seemed to be preventing her orgasm from ending. Rather that sinking into the afterglow, Jane's body was kept at a heightened state of arousal, and her skin tightened again. "It's . . . not . . . possible!" she gasped. But it was. Red had made her orgasm two times in a row, and didn't seem to be finished. Jane's hands slipped to her own breasts, manipulated them and toying with her nipples. After many years of not understanding pleasure, she was being schooled on the subject by a master teacher. There were three fingers penetrating her box now, stretching her entrance as they explored her depths. "Red . . . Red . . . again!" Red could barely hear her lover, as her attention was focused on the task at hand . . . and lips. She was happy that Jane was multi-orgasmic, though the young woman probably didn't know what that meant, much less how incredibly wonderful it could be. She pulled her fingers out and wrapped her mouth all the way around the girl's smooth mound as Jane arched her back, and this time Red just drank of her. She hummed as Jane climaxed, further stimulated that now hyper-sensitive area of her body, drinking her jizz like the precious fluid Red knew it to be. "How did you do that?" a very content Jane asked. "I've got a bit of experience," came Red's muffled replied. Jane felt her lover creeping back up her body, kissing Jane's stomach, navel, abdomen, breasts (then breasts again), neck and finally her lips. Red pushed her crotch against that of her raven-haired partner, smearing Jane's juices on Red's own pussy. Their two swollen mounds were pressed together, stimulating both. Almost out of instinct, Jane's legs encircled Red's hips as the elder girl humped Jane. "Did you want me to . . . you know . . . do you now?" Jane asked. She had no concept of what to do, but she felt it was something she wanted to try. "I want to make you feel like I do." Red kissed Jane's cheek. "One thing at a time," she cooed. "For now, I'm happy just having you here. But if you really want to help me along," she started, then grabbed one of Jane's hands and moved it between them, "you could do this for me." Jane loved the feel of Red on top of her and wanted to make her happy. Her hand was directly between the two women's crotches, palm up. She curled her fingers into Red's pussy . . . 'Pussy,' Jane thought. 'I like the way that word sounds.' The air temporarily escaped Red's lungs and she made a contented noise. She lifted her upper body off the bed with her arms and started to fuck Jane's fingers. Jane was getting a bit more out of the act than she expected, as every time Red humped down onto her fingers, Jane's knuckles pushed against her own cunt. And Jane was able to do a little bit of thrusting as well, and she tried stretching Red's tight opening. She soon had four fingers scrunched together that were being pushed into Red's body almost up to the knuckles. And with Red's body raised, Jane slowly moved her head forward until it came into contact with her lover's chest. She let her lips creep across until they found one of Red's incredibly firm tits and latched onto the stiff nipple. "That's my girl," Red moaned as her nipple was engulfed between warm lips. "Take the nub in your teeth and pull," she said. Jane agreed, and the reaction was instantaneous and pleasurable. She used her free hand to feel around for the other breast, pulling on whatever nipple she wasn't sucking on. Red started pounding against Jane's hand even harder, feeling her own release fast approaching. And Jane's mouth was wrapped around Red's nipple like a leech. "Here we go," she moaned. She stopped and arched her back, her vaginal walls clamping down on Jane's fingers. "You're so tight," Jane said, releasing Red's breast. "I can't believe I just said that," she added with a giggle. "Hey, I'll take it as . . . as . . . as a compliment," Red finished as the last orgasmic aftershock pulsed through her body, leaving Red tired and Jane sticky. "Are . . . we . . . done?" Jane asked plaintively. "Not by a long shot," Red returned. "Get those fingers going inside me." She waited until she felt her opening being violated some more, then she lay down on top of Jane. "Now anything that happens to me will be a direct result of what you do," she said. Red knew that Jane would need to feel like she contributed something, and simply being there wouldn't suffice, though that was all Red could have ever hoped for. Jane nuzzled her lover's neck while fingering her delightfully snug pussy. She placed her lips in that soft spot just under the jaw and tickled the skin with her tongue. She didn't see the effect that it had on Red, who was biting her bottom lip and had her eyes almost rolled back in her head. Then Jane rubbed her palm harder against Red's clitoral area. She wasn't particularly skilled, but her heart (and hand) was in the right place. Red was desperately resisting the urge to hump the hell out of Jane's hand, but she really wanted to give her lover the satisfaction of doing it herself. And the other little things that Jane was doing were very, very nice. The lips . . . the tongue . . . the softness . . . the heat. "Kiss me," she said, and soon felt Jane's lips against her own. That was when Red climaxed again, and she let out a mini-scream directly into Jane's mouth as her juices flowed onto her lover's hand. She pressed her thighs together and trapped Jane's hand in place, but never stopped kissing her. It wasn't until the mini-quakes stopped before their mouths reluctantly separated. Red shifted over and lay with on hand and one leg draped over the younger girl's exhausted form. Jane brought the hand she had used on Red to her lips, feeling a need to taste it. It was . . . slippery and musky and not at all unpleasant. "Is it always like that? That . . . wonderful?" Jane asked. "It can be . . . and so much more." Red kissed Jane on the forehead. "I . . . Thank you. I didn't realize . . . I could never . . ." Jane, for not the first time in her life, couldn't think of what to say. "It's okay. We'll work it out when we wake up," Red said. She didn't fondly anticipate that moment . . . when they would have to get up that evening at meet the world . . . deal with the dead and plan retribution. But for a moment, she wasn't going to worry about it. She was going to enjoy her moment of bliss with a beautiful young woman who . . . who was already asleep and snoring. Red smiled. She treasured it, because she was afraid she wouldn't have much to smile about come evening. -------------- ------------- To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 03 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- "Full Moon Strays . . ." Part 3 -------------------- ------------------- Red poked her head up from under the covers, barely able to make out the annoying red numbers on her digital clock. "Crap," she muttered. "Time to get up." 'Time to go deal with the dead,' she thought. Then the lump next to her began to shift and turn. 'I don't want to wake her,' Red thought, 'but I don't want her to come around and not know where I am.' So she reached over and turned on the light. Jane's face was so peaceful as it pressed against the pillow. Red hadn't seen her that much at peace. Even when she had been spending a lot of her time unconscious after almost being killed (the act that had brought her to the Den in the first place), she had been restless. 'I'm just so comfortable,' she thought to herself. But it was time to get up. She slowly worked her way out of bed and started grabbing clothes. "What . . . what time is it?" Jane asked groggily, opening one eye and noticing that it was annoying light in the room. "Almost five in the afternoon," Red said. She knelt on the bed and leaned in, hoping to sneak a kiss. But Jane was ready for it, turning her head and meeting Red lip-to-lip. There was a moment of joy, but even Jane knew there was work to do. "I guess we need to go see . . ." Jane couldn't bring herself to say it . . . to talk about those members of the Strays that had died the previous night. The Strays were a group of lycanthropes and humans with magical abilities (called Talents) who lived together in secret, stealing to survive but keeping the forces of darkness at bay . . . most of the time. The previous night, a group of demons called Hellspawn had come down into the Stray's underground lair (called the Den) and had attacked the Strays. A number of friends and potential friends had died defending the Den before the Hellspawn were driven back due in no small part to Jane's wrath. Between the two women who had shared that bed, most would have agreed that Red was more dangerous . . . at least, they would've agreed until the previous night's fight. Red was a second-generation lycanthrope who could morph into a part-human, part-puma hybrid with incredible combat prowess. Jane was a Talent with living hair. It seemed like a silly Talent, until she used that hair to hurl a subway car at her enemies, then beat the attacking Hellspawn to death with their own limbs. Jane was still suffering from emotional issues, and she had taken those issues out on those attacking the only people to befriend the young woman since her father had died over twelve years earlier. "Shit," Red said. "I was supposed to take the final shift tonight." She turned to say something to Jane, but stopped to admire the view. The smaller girl was in the process of pulling on the jeans that Red had stolen for her, and she filled them out nicely. Red waited until she got a glimpse of those wonderful breasts her lover possessed, then those breasts were covered by Jane's bra and sweater. "I . . . Do you want to go out separately or . . ." Jane started. She wasn't sure if Red wanted people to know what happened. Red walked over, put her hands on both sides of Jane's face and kissed her. "I wouldn't have let last night happen if I was going to be ashamed of it. And you shouldn't either." The two women grabbed their jackets and then made their way down the tunnel from Red's personal hidey-hole and into the Den itself. "I need to find Tarloh," Red said. "He's out in one of the entrances with Shield, seeing what they can do to improve our defenses. He's called for a meeting at six-thirty," Talia said, emerging from one of the subway cars. "Hey Talia," Red said with a smile. Talia was her best friend and a fellow lycanthrope (of the werewolf variety), and one of the few people she let herself lean on in times of crisis. "Hey, why didn't you come get me for my shift? What're people going to think if I start blowing off . . ." "I told everyone that you were going to need your sleep, so I picked up your shift," she said, smiling at Jane who began to blush like there was no tomorrow. "I dropped by and noticed that you weren't alone, so I thought I'd let you get some more rest." "Talia . . ." "Red . . ." Talia replied, whining extravagantly. Then she wrapped her arms around both her friends and hugged them together. "I was wondering how long it would take for you two to figure things out." Then she wandered off. "She . . . knew?" Jane asked. Red chuckled as she shook her head. "Talia's a little too smart for her own good." She turned and gave Jane another quick kiss. "Why don't you go get something to eat, and I'll see you in a bit." Jane stared hard at Red's hourglass shape and heart-shaped behind as she headed into the entrance tunnels looking for Tarloh. Jane sighed contentedly, but her contentment was short lived. As she climbed up to the upper platform, she saw a few bloodstains remaining from the previous night's fight . . . some red and some green. The bodies had all been removed and the subway car that Jane had used as a weapon had been pushed to the side. 'I did a lot of this,' she thought. She noticed some of the Strays glancing at her out of the corners of their eyes. 'Are they afraid of me? Do they trust me? Do they know about me and Red? How should . . .' "Penny for your thoughts?" Jane shook her head. "Huh . . . hey Anya." "How are you feeling?" Anya asked. "About last night. That was some impressive shit you did and . . . and I never got to thank you for saving my hide. And don't you dare say that 'it was nothing' or 'anyone could have done it' because neither is true." "You would've done the same for me," Jane whispered. "Now THAT is true," Anya said. "I owe you one babe, and I always pay my debts." Anya wrapped an elegant arm around Jane's shoulders. "You look . . . good, by the way. You finally sleepin' better?" Jane almost sputtered. "What do you mean?" Anya looked confused. "I . . . mean . . . did you get some sleep?" Jane blushed. "Yeah. I did." She looked around. "I feel bad though. I should've been up here helping." "You saved the day yesterday, and I can't imagine how much energy it took out of you. You probably needed it more than anyone." Jane looked around. "Do they have . . . is there a plan? For what happens next?" "That's what the meeting is going to be for," Anya replied. "Did you want to grab something to eat? I think the bosses are going to be a while." Jane was thankful for the reprieve. She wanted to tell Anya what had happened last night, but she felt a bit guilty about enjoying herself in the wake of tragedy. She and Anya went over to the dining area and grabbed seats. People kept walking up and talking to Anya or thanking Jane. Eventually, they were joined by Mindy as well as Robbie, Red's brother. Jane was strangely uncomfortable around Robbie, whose life he claimed she had saved just a few weeks earlier. After all, Jane had just slept with his sister. They all chewed their food and made quiet but friendly conversation. They were all nervous about what was to come. ---------- ------------ An hour later . . . ---------- ------------ There was an air of unease around the central table and the adjoining bleachers as everyone settled in for the meeting. Jane sat quietly towards the back of the aluminum steps, planning on being a silent spectator to the proceedings. She was watching Red who was still in consultation with Tarloh as well as the shadow demon known as Johan. Jane hadn't spent much time with that particular trans-dimensional traveler, but Mindy and Anya assured her that he was a class act. "Okay people," Tarloh boomed, his voice as intimidating as his six-and-a-half-foot frame, "let's settle down. First things first. We lost six of our own yesterday, and there will be a service for them an hour after the meeting ends. So nobody go running off. Now, we need to discuss what happened. The Hellspawn got too close and knew us too well. As many of you know, there's two ways this probably happened. The first is that they've been spying on us longer and better than we thought. The other is that we have or had a traitor in our midst." The assembled crowd muttered and the mood got grim. Trust and friendship was what defined the Strays, and a violation of those ideals didn't set well with any of them. "But I don't think that's the case," Tarloh said. "If there was a spy, he or she would've split during the fight, and everyone is accounted for . . . one way or the other. If there was a spy, then they would probably be amongst the dead. But just to be on the safe side, we're going to have to get strict on our 'no-solo' policy." He stopped and stared at Robbie, who just sank into his chair. "Groups of three if you're going to the surface and nobody . . . and I repeat, NOBODY . . . goes off alone. If there IS a mole, we're not giving them a chance to sneak off and report anything. Now, I'm handing things over to Red." The beautiful redhead stood up and took a shrewd look around. "I know a lot of people are looking for blood right now, but we're not going to run into anything blind. Tonight, I'm taking a squad and we're going to start doing some serious tracking. We'll be out all night, every night until we find out where these guys are coming from. If anyone hears or sees anything up on the surface that might help, LET US KNOW. Don't go after these guys by yourself. I promise you all, what happened yesterday will NOT go unanswered, but it's going to be on our terms. There's no point on planning an offensive against an enemy we can't locate with goals we can't discern being directed by a entity or entities we can't even identify." Red looked at her clipboard. "Okay, with me . . . Matthew, Michael, Anya, Johan, Nathaniel, Patrick, Talia, Torath and Snake. Tarloh is going to organize the other fighters into shifts, and we're going to extend the defense perimeters by a hundred yards in each of the three main paths out of the Den." "Red, I really think . . ." Mindy started. She was obviously angry about being left out of the hunting party. "Just a sec," Red said. She hated being interrupted, even by her friends. This was business. "Shield and Tripwire will be working on improving defenses, but they WON'T be installing any hardware until we get back. I would rather not have our own people getting blown up by our own traps. And Mindy," Red started, "you've got some shopping to do, and don't give me any lip about it. I don't want us sticking our head above the surface for a while if we can help it, so I want everything on the shopping list crossed off, starting with medical supplies. You're the best scavenger and . . . negotiator . . . we have, so use every trick at your disposal. And since no one goes to the surface alone, take Robbie and Chris," she said, looking at the wereboar who was about as good in a scrap as anyone and was intimidating to boot. "And take Jane too." There was some surprise at that second choice, none more so than from Jane herself. There was also some hesitancy at having their "secret weapon" leaving the Den, but Red was adamant. The meeting broke up and a fairly terrified Jane went over to where Red and Mindy had just begun heatedly debating. "You have no right to send me running errands when my brothers are going with you," Mindy snapped. "Yes, I do have the right. I'm sending people where they can do the most good, and you know what I said was true. It's just this one night . . . I have every intention on rotating you into the hunts after this." "Well why not send Arthur?" Mindy asked, a little of the wind getting taken out of her sails. "I'm not going to stick our only mystical healer and our best medical . . . person . . . where one of those things can get him. You are the best choice and you're going. Final," Red said, noticing Jane approach. Mindy was obviously not happy with the verdict, but she would follow orders. She brushed past Jane and headed towards the supply room to get the list of stuff they needed as well as what funds the Strays had recently accumulated. "Red?" Red smiled at the girl. "I know what you're going to ask. You're wondering why I'm sending you topside." Jane nodded. "Well first," Red continued, "the way you were living before you got down here, you probably know the cheapest places to shop. Secondly, I want to see if you can handle stealing if necessary. You know that we do it, but actually participating in it is something else. Third, I want a new pair of eyes up there. Just keep looking around, and maybe you'll see something going on that the rest of us have missed. And lastly, you seem to be my brother's good luck charm. He's not healthy enough for me to risk taking him with me, but he's still good in a scrap and hopefully you can keep him from doing something stupid." Red stroked one of Jane's long, magical braids. "By any means necessary," she added. "Jane, you told me you want to belong. Well, when shit hits the fan, these are the kinds of decisions I have to make, and . . . the way I feel about you can't interfere. I want you to be safe, but you also need to become a bigger part of our activities. Are you going to be okay with that?" Jane actually felt better, though she was still somewhat terrified. This is what "belonging" was all about. "I'll do my best . . . ma'am . . . or should I call you Red?" Red looked the sweet young woman in the eye, took a step forward and kissed her. A number of people in the surrounding area gasped, chuckled or smiled. This was unexpected, but quite welcome. Both women needed something, and hopefully they had found it. "Call me anything you want, as long as you're in my bed by sunrise." Jane turned beat red, blushing and looking around. Affection was new to her, and public displays of affection were even stranger. Robbie, who was standing nearby and looking both mortified (at seeing his sister kissing someone) and overjoyed (at seeing his sister kiss someone that he actually liked), hooked his arm into Jane's and walked her towards the supply room. "You," he started pointedly, "have some explaining to do. You'd better have honorable intentions regarding my sister," he added with a grin. "Sorry, but I've been waiting a long time to say that!" ------------- --- Topside . . . ------------- --- Robbie had tried keeping things light, but Mindy had been pretty sour all evening. So Robbie and Chris had fallen back together and the redneck wereboar was trying to convince his counterpart why tractor pulls should be an Olympic sport. Jane was still in a mental gloom of her own, thinking back to the funeral service for the fallen Strays. It was the first time she had heard their names, and that was important to her. 'No one should die without someone remembering their name,' she thought. Mindy stormed out a personnel door of Springfield Memorial Hospital with a scowl on her face and a bag in her hand. "I hate flirting with orderlies," she practically spat. "You've got to let them get to second base before they'll take you to the supply room for a quickie. At least then," she added, "I get to knock them out." "Did you . . ." Jane started. "Yeah, I got everything on the list. That's all I'm good for apparently," Mindy bitched. She didn't notice Jane shirk away. Jane had been more than a bit uncomfortable since their "shopping spree" had started. It was true that what they had stolen so far wasn't going to be wasted or even missed, because Mindy knew her stuff. She just didn't like being a criminal, no matter how Robin Hood it seemed. "Would you two shut up?!?" Mindy said, directing her anger at the two other lycanthropes and ignoring Jane completely. "For Christ's sake, how about actually helping me out and finding some of this stuff?" "Miss Mindy, what'r we s'pposed tuh do?" Chris asked. "Every tahm we . . ." "Never mind," Mindy said, turning away. "Is . . . is there something I can do?" Jane said cautiously. "I wish," Mindy growled. "I'm not sure how much good crying would do, but . . ." "That's it!" Robbie said, getting in Mindy's face. "Don't take it out on Jane because you've got a stick up your ass!" "Now lets all simmer down," Chris said. "We're all getting a might cranky and . . ." That was it. Mindy just started shouting at Chris, Robbie shouted at Mindy, Chris tried to calm Robbie down. It was about five minutes before anyone realized that Jane was missing. ------------- ---------------- Half a mile away . . . ------------- ---------------- Jane found herself crying . . . again. She wanted to stop, but couldn't. Mindy had been right. The only thing she was good at was crying. Even Red had admitted that Jane's burst of aggression the day before had been fueled by emotion, and Jane figured that the emotion in question was fear. She had wanted to be helpful, but all she had done was make Mindy angry, and Mindy had always been so sweet before. Jane knew she wasn't of much use to the Strays. She couldn't even steal a loaf of bread if it meant survival for the people that had tried to befriend her. "Could you even do it for Red?" she asked of a dark street. Jane stopped. "She's going to be so disappointed in me." Looking around, she realized she had wound up in her old neighborhood, and it made her skin crawl just a little bit. She walked in the opposite direction of where her apartment had been . . . she didn't want to encounter her ex-landlord. Just the thought of what he had wanted her to do to "help pay the rent" sent shivers down her spine. She soon found herself in the parking lot of the Taco Shack, a place she had worked at just a few weeks earlier. "It seems so much longer," she told herself. She had used to work there and take some of the leftover food to . . ."Ben!" She couldn't believe she had forgotten about him! Ben was a homeless man who lived in a cardboard box just a few streets down. He was more than a little bit crazy, but he seemed so incredibly happy when Jane had stopped by. She brought him food and listened to his stories. There were moments when he had almost seemed at peace. Jane dug through her pockets and found a buck-fifty. It was about all she had left from . . . wait a minute. "They owe me a pay-check!" She walked inside the restaurant and asked to speak to the manager. Luckily, it was the same one she had worked for. He was surprised to see her, seeing as she had simply vanished two weeks earlier. She told him that she had been injured, which was true, and that she had been recuperating (also true). She was able to get her last check and hurried over to her other job (Big Al's Fried Chicken) and repeated the process before heading to one of those open-late check-cashing establishments that stole a portion of her money for the honor of paying out the check. But she didn't care. She pulled out her wallet and went to an ATM. Since she hadn't paid her rent that last month, she still had about four hundred dollars put away, giving her a grand-total of seven hundred after all was said and done. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this before, but this was also her first trip above ground in several weeks. Full Moon Strays Ch. 03 "Great," she thought, coming down from her temporary high. "Now I've got seven hundred dollars. What the hell do I do with it?" She walked back over to the Taco Shack and purchased a few items off the value menu. She'd need to conserve money if she were going to . . . "Do what? Run away? Away from the only people who have ever taken you in? But what about what Mindy said?" She walked towards the alley where Ben usually slept, her brain working overtime. The idea of running away was so deeply engrained in her character . . . but Red. Her skin grew warm and her heart fluttered more than a bit when she thought of what had happened in that big, comfortable bed. Someone had touched her and made her feel . . . special . . . safe. Someone who had helped answer some questions about her life. She saw a bundle of rags with ragged breathing. She knelt next to the pile and pushed away the rag covering the face, verifying it was Ben. "Ben?" she asked quietly. The old man sat up suddenly, gripping what looked like a sharp stick. He didn't so much look at her as he did stare through her. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. "Jane? You crazy little . . . leprechaun . . . you scared the . . . (cough) . . . shit out of me." Jane had jumped back and was trembling, cursing herself. She should have known better than to surprise him. Bums that slept too heavily or unarmed tended not to wake up. "Sorry," she said mildly. "I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. I . . . I had some stuff come up," she added, fumbling for the food she had brought with her. "Here, I brought you . . ." She stopped, watching as Ben coughed quite painfully. It had gotten worse since the last time she had seen him. "It's not much," she added, wishing she had splurged a little more. Ben grabbed the morsels greedily and tore into them. Jane wondered how old he was and . . . "Ben, what's your last name?" He looked at her suspiciously. "Why? The government send you to spy on me? They know you know. They know that I know. (Cough) They know I seen 'um." "Seen who?" she asked. "Them suits . . .(cough) . . . They's everywhere (cough) (cough)." "Are you okay?" Jane interrupted. "Do you want to go to the hospital?" "No," Ben replied. "No hospitals. They've got 'em there too. Men . . . I think they're men . . . all in black with burning eyes and black (cough) gloves." Jane's skin went cold. "These men . . . you've seen them around a lot?" "You believe me?" he asked, his voice cracking in desperation. "Yes," she said. She sat next to him and threw part of her coat over his smelly but shivering body. "You were always a good child," Ben said, his voice evening out a bit. "Don't let 'em get you . . . them and their poison." "The men? The ones in the suits? What poison?" "Yeah (cough) . . . them. I seen what it do tuh folk. Fucks 'em up. Makes 'em lose their minds (cough) and such, and them fools . . . (cough) . . . line up with handfuls of cash for the pleasure. And the dark thing . . . they talks 'bout it but I ain't never seen it. It stays hidden somewhere East of the bridge. That's where the men come from. They says it (cough) . . . it feeds off the crazy folk . . . that's why I hide," Ben added, looking around. His eyes seemed hazy and his breathing more ragged. "My mind . . . its all I got. I won't let 'em . . . (cough) . . . won't let 'em take it." "It's not all you have," Jane whispered. "You have your life. You . . . you have a name." "My name . . ." Ben started. He looked confused. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a set of dog-tags. "My name," he whispered, staring at the little pieces of metal in his hand. He kept staring, but there was something missing in his eyes. Jane noticed that he wasn't coughing anymore. He wasn't coughing because he wasn't breathing. Tears crept out of the corners of Jane's eyes. She reached out and closed Ben's eyes, then turned the tags towards the street lamp. "Goodbye . . . Ben Strathmore." Jane buried her face in her hands and wept. Then, a voice came from the entrance to the alley. "I'm sorry Jane," Mindy said, approaching slowly and sitting in front of the young woman. "How . . ." Jane started. Mindy pointed at her nose. "Lycanthrope, remember? I could follow your scent for twenty miles." She looked at Ben's face. It looked at peace. "And you . . . never cease to amaze me," she added, glancing back at Jane. Jane blushed. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have run away, and I'm sorry I'm no good to you and . . ." Mindy hugged the breath out of the poor girl. "No, I'm sorry. I had no right to take my problems out on you. And you ARE good . . ." "No," Jane sobbed. "I can't steal and . . . and I've got no skills and . . ." She reached into her pockets and grabbed all the money she had gathered. "Here . . . it's what I had left in my checking and from work and . . . it's all I've got . . ." She shoved the money into Mindy's hands, leaving the woman looking shocked. "I wish it was more. Just don't be mad at me." Mindy held the girl to her and kissed her forehead. "I wasn't mad at you," she whispered. "I just . . . I hate it when my brothers go somewhere and I get left behind. I'm always afraid that something will happen and I won't be there with them. What we were doing tonight is important for everyone, even if I didn't want to admit it. And you're still learning. And I'm glad you can't steal, and that you care enough about someone no one else even noticed to be there at the end, even if all you could do was listen. And because you were so fucking unselfish, we may have actually gotten a lead in a place I never would have even thought to look. Maybe you still have some stuff to learn," she added, wiping the excess moisture from Jane's eyes, "but it looks like I can learn something from you too." She folded up the money and put it back in Jane's pocket. "This is yours. Do whatever you want with it." She stood up, grabbing Jane by the hands and pulling her up as well, giving the girl another hug. Robbie and Chris were standing at the entrance. Mindy looked over at them. "Guys, please gather up Mr. Strathmore." She looked back at Jane. "We'll bury him with our own." ---------- ------------------ A little while later . . . ---------- ------------------ Jane couldn't believe how late it had gotten. She was sitting on Red's bed in a pair of flannel pajamas (with footys) that Mindy had finagled from their stores. Mindy had apologized for about an hour before she and Jane made peace with each other. Jane had donated almost all of her money to the Strays coffers, except for about twenty dollars, plus enough to buy Red a gift. She had picked up a candle that gave off three different scents as it burned its way down, all of them floral. "God, that's so stupid," she muttered. She hadn't bought a gift for anyone in a long time, and never for someone she was trying to form an intimate relationship with. "What's stupid?" Jane jumped, her braided hair swirling around and rearing up like eight individual snakes until Jane actually saw Red standing in the doorway. When she began to relax, her extra appendages relaxed. "My . . . uhm . . . I bought something . . . for you," Jane said, blushing from head to toe. "This candle . . . it seemed cooler in the store when I got it." Red picked up the candle and breathed deeply, smiling from ear to ear. "It smells beautiful." Jane grinned a little. "You're just saying that." "Yeah, and I mean it," Red said, flopping down on the bed. "Tired? How . . . how did the hunt go?" Red grimaced. "Okay. We followed their trail for a while, then they split up in a bunch of directions. Then we think they used a wizard to cover their scent. We know they went east," Red said, then wrapped an arm around Jane's shoulders. "But the way I hear it, you already knew that." "How . . . " "Mindy told me . . . everything." She brushed some hair out of Jane's face. "I'm a little mad at you," Red added. "You shouldn't have run off like that." She kissed Jane on the cheek. "I know," Jane said. "I just . . . I'm still not good at all this. And . . . and I was so tempted just to keep running. I'm so grateful for what you guys have done for me, but I'm so used to running away." "Well, I'm glad you didn't run too far. I yelled at Mindy a bit, but she's beating herself up enough, so I stopped early. Jane, never let anyone talk to you like that, even if it's Mindy or Tarloh or . . . or even me. And Mindy told me about the money . . . that was very generous of you. And she told me about your friend Ben. I'm sorry," Red finished. "Me too. I . . . I'm just glad I could be there for him." "You are too wonderful," Red said. "Do you think he was telling the truth? About those men?" "Yeah. I mean, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, ya know? And sometimes . . . sometimes the people that see the most are the ones most people don't care about enough to hide from. You could probably get someone to go to some homeless shelters and shantytowns. Homeless people have their own territories and stuff, and there's a lot of drug addiction. If these guys are peddling something so they can feed this 'dark thing,' they . . . what?" Red looked amazed. "You realize that you just came up with a plan . . . full of original thoughts? Don't you? You're going to be absolutely amazing when you actually start believing in yourself a little more. I think that's a good idea," she added, "and I'm going to have you do it." Jane's eyes shot open. "Nuh . . . no way! I can't do that. I can't . . . I can barely talk to people! You know that!" "You talked to Ben," Red reminded her. "And people might be willing to talk to you because you ARE willing to listen. You aren't particularly good at crime. So why NOT give this a try? I believe in you Jane, even if you don't." "You do?" Red pushed Jane back onto the bed and straddled her hips. "You bet your cute little ass I do." Jane was biting her bottom lip, but looking up with brilliant, clear eyes. "Uhm . . . did you want to . . . I mean, I understand if you don't . . . since we did it last night." Red had to laugh. "You are so sweet!" She got a look of mock seriousness. "Jane, I like being physical . . . more than you can probably imagine. Once I find someone I might be able to get serious about, I tend to want physicality pretty much every day, minus that 'certain time of the month.' There are a lot of very pleasurable things I'd like to do with you, and yesterday was just the beginning." She looked Jane over. "The pajamas are too cute, by the way. Hey," she added, rolling Jane over onto her stomach. "Just like I thought," she mused. Jane's pajamas were the type with a rear-end panel. "Oh, this is just too perfect!" Red unbuttoned the panel and flipped it down, exposing that cute little pale ass. "What . . ." Jane started as a draft passed over her backside. She heard some shuffling behind her and felt Red pulling on her hips. Jane got her knees under her with her tushie sticking up in the air. Then, Red put her face in the square opening and stuck her tongue into Jane's box from behind. "OH!" Jane said, as much startled as anything. Then here eyes fogged over as bolts of pleasure rocketed through her system as Red's tongues separated and penetrated Jane's young pussy. For Red, it was like an exquisite t.v. dinner: a delectable morsel in a nice square area. She shoved her hands through the square opening and caressed that soft ass flesh while she ate Jane's box. Her range of oral tactics was limited by circumstance, but the novelty of it more than made up for everything. Besides, she had a feeling she could make this young lovely cum from any position. He could already hear her beginning to gasp for breath as Red sucked on those beautiful inner cunt-lips and licked up and down the cleft. She shot a breath of hot air, some of it mingling with the moisture from Jane's pussy while the rest crept up the girl's ass-crack like smoke up a chimney. She moved her hands down so Red could spread Jane's opening with her thumbs and get her tongue further into the girl's body. Her efforts were well received. Jane's mouth was agape and her head was swimming in an ocean of pleasurable sensation. Her body was so warm and comfortable in her pajamas, but her pussy was on fire due to Red's concentrated attack. She felt Red's tongue being replaced by fingers that began delving her depths, poking at the spots that made her squeal and pinching things that made her moan. But Red quickly put her tongue back to work, teasing Jane's . . . 'Wait, that's my . . . my anus,' she thought. 'That's wrong,' she thought softly, closing her eyes. 'So very . . . very wrong.' Red would have smiled if her tongue hadn't been busy. Jane was reacting very well, and was becoming more comfortable with the physical aspect of their relationship. 'Soon, I may see if she's interested in toys,' Red thought. But she had enough pleasant things to distract her, like Jane's increasingly wet pussy and twitching sphincter. "Jane, I'm going to do something and I don't want you to get scared. Just let it happen, and let me know what you think." Jane's brain was barely able to process the request, but her eyes opened up when she felt one of Red's fingers push its way into Jane's asshole. It wasn't particularly large, and actually felt kind of nice. That little bit of pressure made the sensations in her pussy seem that much better, and when Red returned to eating Jane's box, the younger woman knew that she had reached the peak. "Red . . . I think . . . I'm going to . . ." Jane wasn't able to finish her sentence before she came, her body quaking delightfully on the end of Red's tongue. And the lycanthrope never ceased to orally pleasure the younger woman until Jane's body was finally able to rest. "How do you do that?" Jane whispered contentedly, her face buried in the comforter. "I'd LOVE to show you," Red said. She stood up as Jane rolled over. Red got an idea. She fished through her dresser and grabbed a pack of matches, lighting up the candle that Jane had bought and then turning out the overhead light. The room was filling with dancing colors, wonderful smells and seemed . . . more comfortable. "C'mere," Red said. Jane sat up and scooted to the end of the bed, where Red stopped her. "I want you to be comfortable with me," Red said. She took Jane's hands and put them on Red's hips. "I want you to undress me," she added heatedly, "and feel free to explore." Jane was blushing but more than willing to comply. If possible, Red was even more beautiful by candlelight, and Jane was captivated by the warm colors flickering off the woman's sculpted abdomen. Jane grabbed the zipper to her lover's tight leather pants and began to tug. As she pulled down, her mouth sought out Red's bellybutton, just like that woman had done to Jane the day before. She ran her tongue around the woman's navel before kissing the taut skin. Meanwhile, she had completely unzipped Red's pants and was peeling them down to her knees when Jane got her first up-close-and-personal look at another woman's sex. Red wasn't wearing any underwear that day, and her mound was glistening in the dim light. As Jane pushed her lover's pants down to her ankles, Jane puckered up and kissed Red's opening, tasting her lover for the first time. And Red shuddered from head to toe. So after Red kicked her pants away, Jane did it again. She wanted to pay Red back for all the pleasure she had brought Jane, but there were still clothes to remove. Jane stood up and unlaced Red's snug vest, letting those firm tits bounce into the candlelight. With that garment gone, Red was completely nude . . . a body that Greek sculptors would have died to emulate. Jane's mouth sought out those perky nipples pulling on them with her teeth like she knew Red liked. Red moved forward, pushing Jane onto her back but letting the younger girl's lips stay right where they were. They had to break it off so that Red could peel off Jane's pajamas, but Jane immediately went back to suckling on those tits. Jane's hands were still available, so she grabbed Red's ass and fondled it, pulling the beauty closer to her. "See, you're getting the hang of it," Red murmured. Jane pulled on the nipple one last time before letting it go with a snap. "I . . . want to lick you . . . now," Jane said, making it sound more like a plea than a statement. "I wouldn't say 'no' to that idea," Red replied. "But let's keep it informative." Jane was obviously confused until Red flipped her body around. She was partially sideways with one knee pointed skyward and her aching box just inches from Jane's face, and it put her own mouth close to Jane's pussy. The advantage of this position over a traditional sixty-nine was that the two women would still be able to see each other better. "Just do whatever you want," Red murmured, licking Jane's slot from stem to stern. "I know I will." Jane's whole body shuddered every time Red touched it. She was nervous, but knew Red wasn't going to be too judgmental. So she started just by licking the cleft in one quick stroke. The texture felt strange against her tongue, and the mixture of heat and moisture was intoxicating. She pressed her mouth directly against the mound and pushed her tongue in as far as it could go. Red got tastier the deeper Jane got. Red was slashing her tongue in zigzags across Jane's inner labia, each time making the opening twitch in a delightful way, but Jane was just content to treat her lover's pussy like a banana split, minus the banana. Red had missed this . . . a beautiful woman, naked and illuminated by a single tiny flame. But the fire inside Jane was growing, and Red was going to be there when she erupted. She took all of Jane's mound in her mouth and just breathed on it. Then she sucked in as much moisture as she could before running her tongue across the surface. And once flick to Jane's clit later and the dark-haired young woman was involuntarily grinding her hips against Red's face as she climaxed for the second time. This time, cumming didn't wipe Jane out. Rather, it made her more determined than ever. She wrapped her lips around Red's clitoral hood and started sucking in and releasing with noticeable speed. She felt Red's tongue leisurely going back to work, and once again felt a finger probing her ass. But Red wasn't pushing THAT particular envelope too far, so Jane just tried to relax and enjoy it. And while it took her a few minutes, her oral efforts were rewarded. "That's perfect baby," Red growled, actually sucking on Jane's thigh as her juices flowed liberally onto Jane's face. Jane wasn't sure what she had been expecting. Her own orgasms over the last two days had made her think that her pussy was moving around all over the place, but that wasn't the case. Besides the girl-jizz, there weren't a lot of physical signs. But when she tried sticking her tongue back in, she discovered that there were things going on internally that were not easily interrupted. "I did it!" she said, then blushed. "And now I sound like a school kid who solved a math problem." "I like your kind of math," Red murmured as she nipped at Jane's inner thigh again. She quickly returned to torturing Jane's vulnerable sex, licking and ravishing until the poor girl's body shook for the third time. "So, you want to call it a night?" Red asked with a sticky face. Jane thought. Her body was pleasantly tired, but there was something she still wanted to see. "Could you . . . just lie there?" Taking directions, a quizzical-looking Red rolled onto her stomach while Jane knelt next to her. For a moment, Jane just held her breath, watching the reddish-orange light bounce around those perfect muscles and taut buttocks and powerful legs. Jane placed her hands on both sides of Red's back and just marveled at the musculature. She felt the woman beneath her beginning to relax, so Jane rubbed those muscles just a little bit before moving downward. She stopped and kissed Red right in the small of the back while her hands massaged that perfect ass. Jane straddled Red's back as she kept moving her hands down the backs of her lover's thighs. Full Moon Strays Ch. 03 When Jane's hands reached the backs of Red's knees, the lycanthrope gave out a throaty moan. 'So, she likes being touched there?' Jane thought. She stretched out, leaned over and gently kissed the spot she had just touched, touching the skin with her tongue. Red moaned louder. Jane smiled. She had figured something out on her own, just by exploring. She pushed her hand between Red's thighs, encouraging the latter woman to spread her legs again. It was an awkward angle, but she managed to sink a couple of fingers into Red's box while using her mouth to kiss and lick the sensitive areas behind Red's knees. Soon, she had Red humping the bed and Jane's hand in an attempt to achieve release. Jane almost got kicked in the head on a couple of occasions as Red got REALLY excited, but overall managed to avoid any injury. "Oh don't stop," Red grunted. "I'm . . . almost . . . there!" Suddenly, Jane's fingers were completely trapped as Red's powerful inner-muscles clamped down again. Jane was so proud as she waited for her lover's orgasm to dissipate, and it seemed to take forever. Jane was finally able to pull her fingers out and she tasted one of them. Sweet! "We share in the Strays," Red reminded her. Jane lay down while Red turned onto her side, grabbing Jane's hand and taking one delicate finger into her mouth and sucking it clean. If Jane hadn't been so wiped from her evening's adventure and subsequent sex, she probably would have wanted to go again after that particular sight. "That felt so wonderful," Jane said. "Yes . . . yes it did." Red sat up and pulled Jane up next to her so they could slide the covers down and slip beneath them. "You know, I was with Natasha for years, and I don't know if she ever did to me what you just did. You're pretty creative when you try," Red said with a smile. "I didn't know anyone could be so sensitive there. I guess there's more to sex than I thought." Jane snuggled up next to Red, resting her head in the crook of Red's neck. "There's so much I want you to show me," she whispered contentedly. "And I'll be happy to show you," Red replied. "There are some things . . . variations we can try, but I think we need to wait and discuss THOSE when we're both a little more awake. Could you get the light?" Jane didn't want to move because she had just gotten comfortable, and she suspected an ulterior motive when she caught Red staring at her ass when she crawled out from under the blankets. Jane smiled as she blew the candle out. ---------------- ------------ Out in the Den . . . ---------------- ------------ Mindy was sitting on the edge of the lower platform, her feet dangling over the tracks as she gnawed on a bit of beef jerky. She heard and smelled someone approached from behind her, but she didn't turn to look. She was still feeling fairly annoyed at herself. "Want to talk about it?" Robbie asked, having a seat next to her. "Or would you rather mope some more?" Arthur added, sitting on the other side. There's nothing someone wallowing in self-degradation hates as much as someone else making fun of them for it. "Kiss off," Mindy muttered. "I think that means she wants to mope," Robbie said, leaning forward and looking at Arthur. It was Arthur's turn to lean forward. "But she did actually speak, which means she may want to talk about it, but in a hostile way." "Mope," Robbie reiterated. "Talk," Arthur countered. "Mope!" "Talk!" "Thumb wrestle to see who's right?" "Jolly good idea!" Both men extended their arms and locked fingers. But before the thumb-war could start, Mindy grabbed both their wrists and turned them, causing a sharp pain and making both men repeat the word "Ow!" over and over again in rapid succession. "What . . . I . . . want . . . is to be left alone," she grumbled, but now striving not to smile. "Ha! Mope! I win!" Robbie crowed triumphantly, then Mindy twisted his wrist a little more. Arthur just flashed Mindy a wry smile. "If we leave you alone, you'll just get more and more depressed. And we still need you." Mindy sighed. The things she loved about Arthur were the same things she hated about him. He was just so . . . so damn right most of the time. "I was such an idiot," she said, accepting that these two clowns weren't going away until she talked things through. "I couldn't handle playing second string, and I took it out on someone who didn't deserve it, is emotionally unstable and has already proven how valuable she can be." "And that was stupid and thoughtless," Arthur said calmly. "Just like a lot of people down here tend to be, every now and then. You apologized. She forgave you." "She's a sweetheart," Mindy said. "She'd probably forgive Hitler if someone told her he was just misunderstood." "Probably. But she's got a fire in her too. We saw that when the Hellspawn attacked. And she's going to need to get her emotional problems under control, because we won't always be able to coddle her along. But we need to get her there first. You know that in your heart, and I think we all trust you to be more careful." Arthur took her hand in his own and squeezed it. "We're all on edge right now. You're no more perfect than the rest of us . . . well, maybe you're more perfect than Robbie . . ." "Hey!" " . . . and you're a lot closer to perfect than me." Mindy blushed. "I doubt that. I guess I should check in on her," Mindy said, looking towards the lost and found room. "See if she needs anything." Arthur looked amused. "Uhm, I don't think she's over there right now." Robbie was grinning behind his hand. "And she probably doesn't want you 'checking in' right about now." Mindy looked form one man to the other. "What are you two fools smiling about? Where's Jane?" Arthur raised his eyebrows and glanced down the opposite tunnel. "What? The only thing down there is Red!" Arthur wiggled his eyebrows. Mindy narrowed her eyes. "She's crashing with Red? Why, when she's got . . . Oh!" Mindy just clued in. She stared wide-eyed down the tunnel. "Oh my! When did THAT happen?" "Yesterday it would seem," Robbie said. "I guess you took off so soon after the meeting that you missed the liplock heard round the Den." Arthur rubbed his chin. "I'm not quite up on the specifics . . . actually, I don't think anyone is . . . but apparently Talia was expecting it to happen." "She . . . I mean, Jane didn't say anything to me about it." Robbie grimaced. "I think she wanted to. She's still more comfortable around the women than the men, and she really likes you . . . in a you've-been-nice-to-her sort of way. I saw her trying to say something to you a couple of times, but you kind of bit her head off." Mindy felt the gloom return, while Arthur punched Robbie in the shoulder. "Why don't you talk to her this evening? Don't over-apologize or anything . . . just a quick 'I'm sorry and was there anything you wanted to talk about?' kind of thing. We lost friends yesterday, so let's not risk losing any more." Mindy just stared forward for a moment. She turned to Robbie. "Jane and your sister?" He grinned. "I'm shocked too. She's so unlike Natasha it's scary." "Do you think she knows about Nat?" "I hope so. It's not like it's a big secret, and I have a feeling Jane's the sort of person who wouldn't handle it well . . . being surprised later down the road." Mindy chuckled. "Great. I'm sitting over here kicking myself while everyone else . . . even Jane . . . is getting some. Who would've seen that one coming?" "Well, the night isn't gone yet," Arthur said, darting his head in and kissing her on the neck. "And I REALLY need to get the thought of my sister getting busy out of my mind," Robbie added, putting his hand on her denim-clad crotch and rubbing it. "You two are . . . really . . . really . . . presumptuous, aren't you?" Mindy gasped. Arthur had to be the one who orchestrated this. He was the one who knew what she liked. "Thinking I'll just . . . give it up because . . . you're both handsome and . . ." "And because you've been almost constantly horny since the day I met you?" Arthur whispered in her ear before nibbling on it. "And because you like doing things you know would piss your brothers off?" Robbie added, unzipping her jeans and shoving his hand into them, pressing his fingers against her panties and rubbing her mound through the fabric. "I think Arthur was closer to being right," Mindy said, chewing her bottom lip. "Can we take this . . . somewhere a little . . . little more private?" The two men carried their female companion into one of the abandoned subway cars before stripping her as bare as the day she was born. "C'mon," she whined. "Get naked dammit!" Arthur grabbed Mindy around the chest from behind while a well-healed Robbie reached down and hooked each of her legs just above the knee, lifting her off the ground with his own body. Mindy hooked her legs around Robbie's waist, letting him unzip his pants and pushing them down pass his waist. Mindy really wished she could have met Robbie and Red's parents, because they made some fine looking children. Robbie's eight inches of warm, woman-satisfying happiness sprung forward, smacking against her mound. "Put it in!" she growled. Robbie rubbed the head up and down her slot a few times, making the trapped woman squirm a bit before finally sinking in balls-deep. He could see the breath flow upward and out her mouth in a single contented gasp. "That's what I need," she cooed, spurring Robbie's ass with her heels while he grabbed her thighs and went to town. As warm man-meat filled her passage, she turned her head and kissed Arthur on the chin. He turned and cocked his head, and her second kiss landed on his mouth, and that one lasted. Arthur enjoyed kissing Mindy, but he enjoyed playing with her tits too, and he couldn't think of a single reason why he couldn't do both at the same time. His arms were criss-crossing her chest anyway, so he just latched on and toyed with her nipples like radio dials while they swapped breath, spit and tongues with their mouths. Robbie and Mindy didn't get it on very often, so Robbie was going to milk the occasion for all it was worth. She was so wholesomely wanton that it was almost unbelievable, her pussy gripping his member like a glove while she spurred him to ride her faster. He lightly raked his fingers over her firm stomach, then went back to gripping her upper thighs. "Put me down," Mindy said. "But I just got comfortable," Robbie complained, enveloped in her warmth. "You . . . will be again," she responded. Robbie pulled out and they put Mindy's feet on the ground. She immediately dropped to her knees and sucked Robbie's beautiful dick into her mouth, stretching out a hand to fumble with Arthur's pants. When she finally felt his meat in her hand she tugged on his rod and pulled him over until she could go from sucking one cock to the other without missing a beat. "She's a frisky little thing," Robbie muttered after she had downed his whole staff. She pulled off, smiled and then downed Arthur's member. She slurped noisily and sucked hard, then pulled her two lover's cocks together, pushing the heads together and then stretching her lips around both of them. 'I think I'm going to rip my mouth,' she thought hungrily, unwilling to give up. She lashed the pee-holes of both purple helmets with her tongue before releasing them, spit spilling out of her mouth. "That's new," Arthur said appreciatively as he watched the young woman suck on both heads again. 'Young woman? Hell, she's as old as I am,' he thought. 'Damn slow aging process.' "I want you both to cum in my mouth at the same time," Mindy requested, looking up at the two men plaintively. "Please?" "I'd kind of like to do some other stuff first," Robbie said. Mindy's grip on both men's shafts tightened. "I want it . . . now," she said sternly. "I think we'd better do what she says," Arthur said as the young woman took both heads in her mouth again. That small little opening seemed grotesquely stretched, but she didn't seem to mind. "Don't worry. She seems to have a knack for inspiring repeat performances." The two men waited for about a minute, letting themselves relax as much as possible while Mindy stroked their meat. Arthur had to hold on for a few moments, but . . . "Here we go sweet-cheeks," Robbie said, and he and Arthur blasted two substantial loads of man-goo into her mouth. Mindy almost wondered if she had made a mistake as white sticky cream filled her mouth, making her puff her cheeks out like a squirrel. She hadn't realized when she started that it was exceedingly difficult to swallow like that, and precious cum dripped out before she pulled back and took a big gulp . . . just before the second pulses erupted and splattered on her face. "Now that's a pretty sight," Arthur said with a chuckle as Mindy swirled her tongue around, licking the cum off her lips. And he actually meant it . . . Mindy was always pretty. "Now, it's our turn," Robbie said. He and Arthur grabbed Mindy and hauled her cute butt up to one of the benches along the side of the car, each of them grabbing one leg and spreading them wide. "Did you want to go first or shall I?" Arthur thought for a moment, then got on the floor in front of Mindy and placed his face between her thighs. He quickly stuck his tongue as far in as it could go, then wiggled it wildly. Robbie was sucking on Mindy's cute little tits and pulling on her nipples. Mindy was loving this . . . there were tongues everywhere, making her skin tingle with delight. Robbie and Arthur quickly switched places, with Robbie excavating her sex with his tongue and Arthur lavishing attention on her nipples. But she and Arthur also exchanged some heated kisses, and Mindy could taste her own juices on his wonderful lips, and also on his tongue as it penetrated her mouth. Robbie was raking the inside of Mindy's slot with his tongue, moving it like a little jackhammer in her cunt. He quickly added his fingers to the mix, shoving three of them into her opening while lashing out at her clit with his tongue. He played around with her nether regions, spreading her opening in different directions to see what made her moan the loudest. He pushed his fingers against the several spots on the front wall of her cavity until he found a little disc that made Mindy's whole body shudder. Arthur was cheating again, using his healing magic to coax his member back to full staff. Mindy's hand quickly sought it out, stroking it while they kissed and while Robbie performed some magic of his own between her thighs. "I could really use some tea," Mindy said, blushing a bit as she did. Arthur knew what that was code for. Arthur grinned and stood up on the bench, then lowered his testicles to Mindy's mouth. She licked each warm globe before sucking them into her mouth one at a time. She even licked that flap of skin between the balls and the anus, but she mostly just tongued his balls and lower shaft while a steady pressure built up inside her body. Robbie's tongue and fingers were more than doing their jobs as Mindy neared climax, then the dam finally broke and she spilled onto his hand. "Switch again?" Arthur asked politely. "Why not?" Robbie replied. Arthur reluctantly moved away from Mindy's mouth and got between his favorite lover's thighs, sliding his now-hard prick into her slick pussy while Robbie offered her his semi-flaccid member, which she gratefully took into her mouth and started to nurse back to health. It was Robbie's turn to groan, as his meat was still sensitive from having climaxed. Luckily, the little hellcat that was sucking him was quite adept at the oral arts, and he found himself returning to full strength while completely engulfed in her maw. After he was completely stiff again, she let his cock slide out with a "plop" and started sucking on his heavy balls, her hand stroking his shaft. Arthur was just relishing Mindy's tight cunt, feeling its velvety grip on his rod as he pumped her with a good, steady rhythm. Her legs wrapped around him, enjoying his leisurely fucking while she orally stimulated the living hell out of Robbie. She was done playing with his balls and was deep-throating his substantial rod again, her lips cupping his balls as they pressed against her chin. "Wanna try something new?" Arthur asked innocently. Mindy barely heard him over the sloppy blowjob she was giving, but she knew something was up when Robbie . . . slowly . . . pulled his entire length from her mouth. Arthur grabbed her hips and managed to get both their bodies to roll sideways so that Mindy was on top with Arthur's cock still inside her. "What . . . what did you have in mind?" she asked as his cock continued to penetrate her. Suddenly, Robbie was behind her and Mindy almost panicked. She had seen Anya in this position many times, and she wasn't sure she was ready to handle anything bigger than a finger up her behind. She had considered letting Arthur have THAT privilege but . . . Mindy felt something unexpected. Robbie wasn't pushing his cock into her asshole. Instead, he was pushing it into her pussy, just above where Arthur was embedded. "No way," she moaned, torn between nervousness and desire, "you can't possibly fit both those things . . ." "I'm pretty sure we can," Arthur said, pulling her ass-cheeks apart so Robbie could see what he was doing. "You took Tarloh in there, and neither of us are nearly that big." "But . . . together you two are . . . oh God!" The head of Robbie's prick had slowly found its way inside, pushing down on Arthur's cock as it tried to make room. Robbie was obviously not going to rush this. Arthur had stopped moving, and had to admit to getting a bit of a thrill when he felt something sliding against his member which was already under tremendous pressure. Mindy felt like a ten-pound turkey being filled with eleven pounds of stuffing. It was so much headier of an experience than just having a big dick in her. Even with Arthur becoming more passive, he was moving a little and Mindy had man-meat going in two different directions in the same confined space, and her brain was completely unable to process the experience coherently. The only thing that was clear to her . . . she liked it. She had never felt that filled, and she wanted more. "Fuck me!" she barked as her vaginal walls relaxed a little. Robbie started to fuck her as fast as he reasonably could, the head of his penis sliding over the mushroom head of Arthur's member as it went in and out. But Robbie had one other trick to play, and he pushed his thumb into Mindy's butt-hole. That actually caused the girl to screech before she covered her mouth, her eyes wide with surprise. And when Robbie's other thumb worked its way into her sphincter as well, she sort of collapsed against Arthur's chest while the two handsome men used her body as they willed . . . she wouldn't argue with them even if she wanted to. But she started getting more lively again as she felt another big orgasm coming up. Someone's dick was banging against her g-spot which, combined with her sense of fullness in her pussy and having thumbs in her ass, was going to cause her to erupt. "I'm . . . gonna . . . oh, please, make me cum!" she whispered. "I'll do one better," Arthur said, placing one hand between their bodies and concentrating his magical energies towards her crotch. Mindy's brain began to glow . . . that was the only way she could possible describe it. Arthur had done this before . . . using his magic to amplify the power of the pleasurable nerve-endings in her pussy and brain during climax. Stacked on top of what was already going to be the motherload of all orgasms . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 03 "Oh . . . oh . . . OH!" Mindy's body froze almost solid except for her head and neck that were arched back, her mouth and eyes locked in the open position. Her pussy squeezed down on both cocks in her pussy as she unleashed what felt like gallons of girl-jizz onto both invading members. "Holy shit!" Robbie said, feeling his own member ready to burst under the pressure. And he could feel the underside of Arthur's cock against his own and could feel the sperm swimming upstream, and both men blew their sticky loads into Mindy's vaginal cavity. It was several minutes before Mindy could relax enough and before either man had shrunk enough so that they could de-couple. A mixture of seed leaked out of her abused opening and dribbled onto the bench. She was still breathless for the most part, but satisfied beyond the telling of it. Arthur looked at Robbie then motioned towards the exit with his head. Robbie smiled and gathered up his clothes, getting dressed and walking away. Arthur hugged Mindy to him and kissed her right between those glazed-over eyes, then once on the lips. That got Mindy moving again as she sucked on his bottom lip for a moment. "Feeling better?" Arthur asked, whispering in Mindy's ear. Mindy lay her head on his chest and ran her fingers over his pectoral muscles. "I feel . . . yummy," she replied lazily. "You always know what I need," she added, kissing his chest while he ran his fingers through her hair. "So are you going to stop beating yourself up?" Mindy bit his nipple lightly. "I guess. I'll go talk to Jane tonight." She looked up at Arthur, almost pleadingly. "Hey, you just wanna crash here tonight? I could go grab a couple blankets?" Arthur smiled. "I think I'd like that." ------------- ------------------ To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 04 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- Jane was sitting by herself, trying very hard to get some food down before the night's activities. She could barely tie her shoes without having an emotional crisis, but she was supposed to go out into the world on her first "mission" to gather information. She felt good that she was going to have some "muscle" in the form of Chris, who wasn't in on the tracking party due to his lack of stealth. He actually had a really great nose when morphed out, but he was also a little slow on the trail. But Chris was as good in a fight as anyone in the Strays, and Red wasn't going to leave Jane unprotected. Mindy was getting pulled into the hunting party, so it would be Jane, Chris, Robbie and Anya that night. "Hey Jane," Mindy said, plopping down beside the younger woman. "Howdy," Jane replied, concentrating on her sandwich. Mindy just stared at her friend for a moment. "So, still mad at me?" Jane looked over at her, obviously confused. "Why would I be mad at you?" "For being a bitch yesterday." "I told you, you weren't . . . I'm okay. I'm just . . . scared about tonight." Mindy went to tussle Jane's hair, but those magical braids temporarily moved away. Then Jane relaxed and Mindy was able to play with it a bit. "So," Mindy said slyly, "why don't you tell me about you and Red?" Jane almost choked on her sandwich, and she was blushing furiously. "I . . . uh . . . uhm . . . what?" "Please," Mindy started, "I heard all about the kiss, and apparently you've been 'sleeping' in her room. No one's really crashed with Red in a year since . . . ." "Natasha," Jane said wistfully. "So she told you about Nat?" asked Anya as the tall beauty sauntered over and sat down with the other two girls. "Good." "Why 'good'?" Jane asked. "It means Red likes you enough and trusts you enough to open up to, and she trusts you not to freak," said Talia, joining the group. Mindy scooted over until she was sitting behind Jane, moving her hair out of the way and rubbing the young woman's shoulders. "I'm assuming that . . . certain things went on in Red's room?" Jane blushed even more than anyone thought humanly possible. "Yes," she whispered, barely audible even to those closest to her. Talia and Anya each took one of her hands and both were smiling like Cheshire cats. "So," said Talia, "how was it?" As the minutes ticked away, the girls got Jane to open up a bit about her foray into sexual activity. They were courteous enough not to demand the gory details, but got her to talk about her fears and insecurities, while also getting details about how good it had made Jane feel. The young woman had been intimate with another woman and, for the first time in her life, she had felt special and cared for. When Red finally wandered over, all the girls were chuckling and Jane's blushing face was buried in her hands. "Oh, don't tell me you've started in on her already?!?" Red said exasperatedly. The group of girls stood up. "Hey, you started in on her first," Mindy pointed out, raising her eyebrows. "Oh God," said the very embarrassed Jane. "I . . . I . . ." "We'll leave you two alone for a moment," Talia said, giving Red a hug. "I'll get Chris and Robbie and meet you in the staging area," Anya said to Jane. "I'll talk to you in a few minutes," Mindy added, looking at Red. When they were momentarily alone, Red walked over and gripped Jane's hands softly, giving her a brief but warm kiss. "I hope they weren't too hard on you," she said. "No, they were . . . nice." "Still scared about tonight?" "Yeah." "Don't be," Red said, trying to sound soothing. "Go to the shelters and shanty towns. Find out what you can, and don't get into any fights. Let Anya help. She has . . . ways of getting people to talk," Red said with a laugh. "If something comes up, listen to Robbie and Chris." "But won't you need Anya?" "We're moving out into the suburbs now, and she doesn't move fast enough to keep up. She can do more good with you tonight." Red moved her arms around Jane, taking the girl's hands with them and pinning them behind Jane's back while Red kissed her again. "And be safe." ------------------ ------------ A few hours later . . . ------------------ ------------ "Christ, these guys are everywhere!" Robbie said after Jane and Anya reported what they had learned from their most recent set of "interviews." They had spent a long time sifting between incoherent, insane and/or drunken ramblings, but had gotten more and more information about the hellspawn and the drug that they were selling. The veteran members of the team were convinced the drug, sold in powder form and inhaled, was magical in nature, highly addictive and hallucinogenic and slowly drove its users insane. The hellspawn were targeting low-income users, the homeless . . . anyone who wouldn't be missed, and they were selling it cheap. That led Robbie to believe that money wasn't the object. And the hellspawn had been all over town apparently, preying on the weak and the desperate. "Why would they want to drive people that no one . . . that most people don't care about," Anya started, wrapping an arm around Jane's shoulders, "completely insane? And it's not like they're trying to drive them out of a particular area to get property values up or down." "I HATE it when something magical is afoot," Robbie grumbled. "It gets messy." He turned to Jane. "So, what do you think?" "I don't know," Jane said, trying to put some steel in her voice. "It has something to do with this 'dark thing' that Ben was talking about, but that could be anything. Couldn't it?" Suddenly, Chris lifted his nose to the air and inhaled. "What is it?" Robbie asked, joining in looking for a scent. "Hellspawn," Chris said, his disgust evident even through his Texas drawl. Jane's skin went cold. "Where?" "Upwind apparently," Anya said. "How far?" she asked Chris. "Couple hundred yards maybe?" the redneck said. He looked at Robbie and waited for a confirmation that he quickly got. "Don't you two even THINK about taking them on," Anya warned. "We need to find out what they're up to," Robbie pointed out, obviously cruising for some payback. "Then I'll go," Anya said, darting into an alley with her friends in hot pursuit, shirking her clothes and then turning invisible. "Miss Anya," started Chris, looking genuinely alarmed. "Ya can't go runnin' off on yer own!" "I'm just going to see what they're up to." The rest of the group heard the girl's footsteps for a moment, then Anya was gone. Robbie turned to Jane. "Jane, I need you to be another set of eyes." Jane was almost paralyzed with fear. "Me? How?" "They're fast," Robbie said, placing hands on both of Jane's shoulders and looking her in the eyes, "but they can't climb any better than a human," he said, looking up at the brickstone buildings surround them. Jane was still terrified, but she didn't want to leave Anya out on her own. She had to be a grownup now. She looked at the building next to her and willed her magical hair into action. All eight braids latched onto fire escapes or pushed against the walls behind her, and she scurried up the walls and over the ledge of the roof. Chris and Robbie just stared. The girl could move incredibly fast and fairly quietly as well. Chris looked at his friend. "She's like that Doc Oc character from Spiderman 2." Robbie raised his eyebrows. "Bet Doc Oc never needed that much shampoo." ----------- ------------------- Up on the rooftops . . . ----------- ------------------- Jane was peeking over the edge of an apartment complex at two familiar-looking forms, dressed in black suits, white shirts, gloves and sunglasses with shaven heads. Jane could steel feel the cracking of her ribs when she had been hit by one of these things, and she grew almost nauseous as she remembered ripping one apart down in the Den, then beating another into a fine paste. One of them handed a small back to a young black man they were talking to, who handed them some money and then walked away. Jane wanted to go after the young man, telling him what an idiot he was for throwing his life away. 'Who are you to judge?' she asked of herself. 'You spent just as much time hiding from the pain of living . . . you just didn't use narcotics.' The two hellspawn grumbled between themselves for a minute, and then headed down a side-street before climbing into a luxury car with dark windows. Jane wished she knew where Anya was, or that Chris or Robbie were around. Once the doors of the car were closed, she spoke in a low voice. "Anya? Are you down there?" A voice echoed up from near a trash bin. "Here. Crap, I didn't see you girl! You're pretty sneaky. Hey, think you can carry me?" "I . . . I think so," Jane replied. She stretched on braid down twenty feet and soon felt something tugging on it. She felt her way around (what she hoped was) Anya's waist and hauled her up quite effortlessly. "That is a cool power," came Anya's voice, sounding quite appreciative. "Let's follow them." "Shouldn't we tell Chris and . . ." "No time. We're not going to approach them. I just want to see where they're going and then we'll come back." Jane was nervous about the idea, but it made a certain amount of sense. Her hair extended again and she scurried from rooftop to rooftop, keeping the black car in sight. "I think you're power is pretty cool too," Jane said as they moved. "Mine is . . . weird." "Not so much," Anya said. "A Talent is an extension of the user. Let me guess, your hair was important to you, wasn't it? Even before coming here?" Jane thought about it for a moment as she climbed over another building ledge. "Yeah. It . . . my mom used to play dress up with me when I was a kid . . . back when things were good. She used to brush it and tell me I was a princess. When things got bad, especially when I ran away, I would brush it and . . . sorry, this sounds so stupid." "No, go on. Please." "I . . . I would brush it and it would make me feel like a princess again." "That's not stupid at all," Anya whispered. Jane scrunched up her eyebrows. "If your Talent is an extension of your personality, why are you invisible? You're so beautiful and you seem to love being around people." Jane heard a sigh. "Thank you . . . for the beautiful comment, and I do like being around people . . . now. But there was a time I didn't." "Why? If you don't mind me asking?" Anya was lost in her own head for a moment. 'You can't ask her to be honest and not be honest yourself,' she thought. Then out loud, "Actually, I used to be a model." "THAT I believe," Jane said. Anya was a true beauty. "I started when I was fifteen. I went to Italy, Spain, France, New York, Los Angeles . . . I was on every runway from here to Neverland, and it was a non-stop party. Literally non-stop. At first, everything was great. My agency and the clothing designers gave me everything I ever wanted. Money, cars, boys and girls to 'play' with, clothes, jewels . . . and in exchange, I made whatever it was designed look good and sell well. Life was a continuous party." Anya paused and collected her thoughts. "And that might sound great to some people, but it took a lot of energy. I had a serious cocaine habit by the time I was eighteen . . . my agents and 'friends' wouldn't let me near heroine because I couldn't afford to get needle-marks on my arms. Between the coke and the alcohol and trying to keep my image up, I would go for days without sleep. There were entire weeks of my life I couldn't remember. And not only did no one stop me, they kept egging me on. I was the life of the party, and it was killing me." "I'm so sorry," Jane said. "Don't apologize for me," Anya said crisply. Then her voice softened. "I embraced that life with open arms, so I need to accept a lot of the blame. But then I woke up one day in a bed with two guys whose names I couldn't remember after a night I had forgotten in hotel I couldn't identify and didn't know how I got to. I knew I had to stop. I tried to get my agency to give me some time off . . . to let me go into rehab. But they kept putting it off . . . booking me for new locations and new gigs. I felt like I was dying from the inside out, and they kept pushing me. I couldn't get away. One day, I ran away. Kind of like you I guess. I just wanted to disappear." "And you did?" Jane asked. "Not right away. I hitchhiked up her from L.A. and wandered the streets. My resolve broke down pretty quickly, and I started looking for a fix. I was in the process of offering up a blowjob to one dealer when . . . well, when I was saved." "The Strays?" Anya smiled, mostly for her own benefit. "Yeah. Actually, it was Red and Robbie. They had just gotten done cleaning out a nest of some kind of larvae demon when they happened upon me making the deal. I was on my knees and that creep was unzipping his pants . . . shit Jane. I shouldn't be bringing this up with you." "It's my turn to say, 'It's okay.' Victor was a pig, but only because I let him be." Anya wondered what Jane would say if she knew what Red had done to the girl's ex-landlord. Anya suspected he still had a number of broken bones and nightmares on a regular basis due to that red-haired woman. "Well, Red and Robbie came out of nowhere, morphed out, roughed the guy up and tossed him in a dumpster. Then Red looked down on me, and . . . she said, 'You can live on your knees, or you can stand up . . . right now . . . and come with us.' And despite everything I had told myself about wanting to start over, standing up at that moment was the hardest thing I ever did." "But you DID stand." Jane was sympathetic and more than a bit teary-eyed. She was trying to learn to stand on her own as well. "I was freaked, but yeah. I finally got up, the Strays took me in and the rest is history. Shit! Stop!" The two girls had gotten so caught up in talking that they had reached the edge of the city, or at least the end of the area where Jane could move freely without fear of being detected. They were on the east side of town, and could see the Inland Bridge off through the trees. "Just like Ben said," Jane murmured. "Let's go back to Chris and Robbie," Anya said. "They'll be worried." ----------- ------------------- A few minutes later . . . ----------- ------------------- "Where the hell have you been?" Robbie said, waving his arms around wildly. "We was a might worried 'bout you," Chris added. When Anya materialized completely nude, the big man blushed and spun around while she got dressed. "We followed . . . followed them for a bit," Jane said. "We just wanted to see where they were going." Anya was trying to process what she had seen. She wasn't stupid, but problem-solving wasn't her strong suit. "So nicely dressed demons in a really sweet ride come into town, seemingly at random, hand out a bunch of this super-drug for nothing and then head out somewhere in the boonies." She looked over her shoulder and noticed that Chris was still facing away. "C'mon Chris, you don't need to be a prude," she chuckled. "How many times have you seen me naked?" "Several ma'am," Chris replied, not changing his position at all. Anya smiled. She didn't think that there were any real gentlemen left in the world. "Well, I'm done. Let's get back to the Den." As they headed out towards the nearest entry point for the tunnels leading back home, Anya leaned against Chris and teased him outrageously, taking great comfort in making the big man blush. Robbie spent some time talking to Jane about her Talent and ways she might be able to use it. Jane felt something unusual . . . foreign . . . deep inside her. Pride. She had done something right tonight, and that made her smile. ------------ ------------------- Several hours later . . . ------------ ------------------- Jane was practicing manipulating her Talent, swinging around the Den and perfecting fine manipulation skills with her hair when the hunting party returned. They were dirty, some of them seemed to have been cut and were bleeding, and all of them seemed pissed as hell. And the most pissed off of them was quite obviously Red. Jane found it harder than she imagined not to run over and hold the beautiful warrior in her arms, but good sense told her this wasn't the time. So she approached with caution. But while Jane was a whisper, Tarloh arrived with a bellow. "What the hell happened?" he asked. Red was almost growling. "Apparently, we got too close. We followed Jane's lead and were roaming the woods East of town. We saw power lines leading off, but no one knew of any business out in that area. We decided to investigate, and apparently we tripped an alarm. We wound up in a fight, but they didn't seem nearly as organized. They were reacting, not attacking, and that means we were close. Damn it Tarloh, we were close!" Red had a wild-eyed look about her. "If it hadn't been for the wounded . . . I'll go back out on my own and . . ." "No," Tarloh said firmly. "For crying out loud Tarloh, you know . . ." "What I 'know' is that you're angry and taking this really personally. You chewed out your own brother for going vigilante, so don't make the same mistake he did." Red looked like she was going to say something, but Tarloh cut her off. "No, and that's final. Go out again tomorrow when everyone is rested and you've calmed down." Red stormed off, clenching her fists, and the crowd of people parted to let her pass. No one in his or her right mind fucked with Red when she was in that kind of mood. Jane wanted to go after her, but she felt someone grabbing her arm. "Don't," Talia said. "Give her a couple of minutes to calm down." "But . . . shouldn't I . . ." Talia grinned. "I know you want to help. But Red has one hell of a temper. She'll want you in her bed tonight, but don't go with her unless she's under control. It's always a bad idea to go to bed with someone's who's THAT pissed. Now why don't you go tell Tarloh about what you found out tonight?" Jane walked over to the big man and found that Robbie, Chris and Anya were waiting for her. They discussed the evening's findings, including the effects of the drugs, the targeted clientele and their form of transportation. "This is highly disconcerting," Tarloh said at last. "Tell me about it," Jane whispered. "It's like there's something out there feeding on madness and . . ." "Stop," Tarloh said. "What made you say that?" Jane almost felt like she'd done something wrong. She looked back and forth between her three friends and each of them nodded his or her encouragement. "Well . . . we keep wondering why this 'dark thing' wants to drive people nuts as if . . . as if there's something else that comes after. We didn't see these crazy people turned into something or picked up or used to rob banks or anything like that. They just go crazy, and at some point they die," she added. "What if driving them crazy IS the point? Maybe whatever this thing is just wants them insane." Full Moon Strays Ch. 04 Tarloh looked very deep in thought. "I think Jane may be on to something. Crap, that means I need to go see Lothar . . . that's a wizard and seer down in Los Angeles," he explained to Jane. "He's an ostentatious prick, but he's pretty damn good at what he does. We don't have any kind of scribe, but . . . I think I may have heard of something like this, but I don't want to say anything until I'm sure." He turned to Talia. "Gather up your gear. I'm taking you with me this time." "What about Red?" "We can't leave the Den without both leaders this time. Arthur's got a cool head, so I'll put him in charge of my duties while I'm gone, and that includes keeping a leash on Ms. Hothead down there," he added, looking towards the subway tunnel. "I'll be back in a couple of days," he said. Tarloh called Mindy over. "Have we got enough money in the stores for bus fare for two?" "Yeah, thanks to Jane," Mindy said, giving the girl's hand a squeeze. "You're just saving us all over the place, aren't you?" Tarloh asked of the small woman. Jane blushed and walked away hurriedly, decided to wait next to the tracks for Red to calm down. As she walked away, Tarloh's face fell a bit. "What's up lover?" Talia asked. "She's hooked on Red." "And that's a bad thing?" Talia asked. "No, except that if this is what I think it is," he replied, looking her in the eyes, "then we may need Natasha's help. I just don't know if whatever bond Red and Jane have formed can survive that." Talia smiled and kissed him. "Don't worry. Jane's growing into her combat boots, and she'll fight for Red. And while I love Nat to death, she and Red just weren't right for each other. So we'll just have to let them all deal with it. If you think we need Nat, we try and get her. Now let's go get our stuff." Tarloh told Mindy to get her brothers, go topside and make a phone call to the bus company. Things were about to get busy. ---------------- ----------------------- In another part of the Den . . . ---------------- ----------------------- "Hey big guy," Anya said, wandering over to Chris as the big redneck was sitting down for a midnight snack of beef jerky and Dr. Pepper. "Hello Miss Anya ma'am," the lycanthrope replied, standing up as she approached the plastic picnic bench he was using. Anya knew that if it was physically possible, Chris probably would have wandered around and pulled her chair out for her. "Mind if I join you?" "Not at all," he said. "Did you want me tuh get ya somethin' from storage?" "That's all right," she replied, holding up a banana and a bottle of water. "I'm not up for anything much heavier than this right now," she added. "Nervous?" "Not really. A little I guess. Tarloh's pretty worked up." Anya peeled her banana very slowly. "He won't say what he thinks it is that we're up against, and that's making it worse." "The boss knows what he's doin'," Chris replied. He was watched her take that first bite of her banana and . . . "Uhm, does . . . does Red know he's leavin'?" "I dunno. I think Jane's supposed to tell her as soon as the queen bitch calms down." Anya smiled as Chris looked flustered. She took another bite of her banana. "It's okay. She's my friend, but she CAN be . . ." "Difficult," Chris interrupted. "Yeah, she can be difficult." Anya finished off a large portion of her fruit. "As opposed to me, who's as easy as they come." "Yer a free spirit, that's for sure." Chris just smiled at Anya. " A 'free spirit?' That's an interesting way of saying 'slut.' I think I like your word better." Chris actually looked . . . vexed. "Yer not a slut," he said. "What's the difference then?" Anya asked. "A slut's someone who's got no respect for themselves . . . someone who does what they does 'cause they're not smart enough to do nothin' else. That ain't you, Miss Anya. That . . ." Chris started with a blush, " . . . and I just don't like that other word." "Then we'll use the 'free-spirited' thing," Anya said with a chuckle. Then she got pseudo-serious. "But you're not exactly a saint," she continued. "You've bedded a more than a few of the women down here, and that's just since I've been here. But you've never hit on me," she said demurely, "and you never look right at me when I'm naked, even when I'm just getting ready for reconnaissance work. Why is that?" Chris smiled. "I'm well aware of how easy on the eyes you are Miss Anya, and I surely didn't mean no disrespect tuh you." "You are the quintessential Southern gentleman. But PLEASE stop calling me 'Miss Anya'! It's driving me nuts! It's just 'Anya.'" "There's nothin' 'just' about you Miss Anya," Chris replied, actually blushing a bit. Anya found herself blushing as well. She got up, walked around the bench and leisurely stretched her leg over Chris's lap, having a seat and staring her friend in the eye. "Chris . . . I would love to bunk with you tonight," she started, deciding that honesty was the best policy. "I've got a feeling," she continued, feeling him swell in his pants, "that you'd like to bunk with me. But what . . . exactly . . . do you expect from me?" she asked softly. "I just . . . I don't want it to be just another fling for you," Chris said, finding it very hard to breathe. "I know one man or woman will never be enough for you. Maybe I'm a bit of . . . what do they call 'em? Hopeless romantics? But I want to at least have it mean somethin' . . . to you." Anya caressed the big man's face. "Maybe in all the watching you've been doing recently, you missed a few things. One, every time I've been with one of the Strays, it's meant something to me. Second, you . . . Mister Chris . . . are special. You're a good man, even among all these other good men and women." She rubbed her hips in a circle around his lap, and then leaned in to whisper, "But right now, I want you to be a very . . . very . . . bad man." A minute later, the two of them were in the now-vacant lost and found room with Chris's pants down around his ankles, his cock sliding up her path to paradise. Anya hadn't gotten much of a chance to see Chris's equipment, but she could sure as hell feel it. It didn't seem particularly long . . . she would guess a little over six inches . . . but God was it thick! It felt even thicker than Tarloh's substantial staff, and that was just how Anya liked it. Her body strained to contain him as he pressed her back against the tiled wall of the room. She hooked her legs around his thick waist and wrapped her arms around his neck, biting her bottom lip as she was taken by this powerful man. Chris had actually wanted to woo Anya for a while, but when a woman who looks like that says she wants you, then you just have to go for it. And even in the room's dim light, Anya looked like an angel . . . a very naughty angel. She clung to him like a second skin, and her pussy enveloped his meat like it was designed for him. "Harder!" Anya grunted. "Show me what kind of stud you really are." She was squeezing her vaginal muscles with all her might. Chris had gotten to her. He not only lusted after her . . . she was used to that . . . but he also actually respected her. It was nice to hear that, and she was going to repay his devotion in one of the only ways she knew how. His balls were slamming into her and she pushed off the wall with her shoulders, impaling herself even further onto his cock. She drug her hands down her hairy chest, leaving small white marks on his skin with her nails. She felt his powerful hands on her waist, bringing her body down onto him time and time again. "Yer one . . . amazin' . . . woman," Chris said, emphasizing each word with a particularly hard thrust. These harder thrusts seemed to be nailing something very sensitive and wholly delightful within Anya's body. "Oh, do that again!" Chris would give Anya anything she wanted, so he lunged his hips and buried his dick deep inside her, waiting a moment and then did it again. He saw Anya's face glazing over and a joyous smiling creeping over her face. He watched as her breathing increased in intensity and sweat glistened off her brow. Then her pussy clenched his member even more tightly as her body succumbed to a deep, soul-cleansing climax. And when she relaxed a little, Chris started in on Anya again. Anya's brain was slightly numb, but she was still impressed by Chris's staying power. Most guys would have blown their load already. "Are you close?" she asked, a stray hair fluttering in front of her eyes before become plastered against her forehead. "My momma always told me that patience was a virtue," Chris said, setting up a steady pace again. "You've got good genes," Anya said, then joked, "They look good around your ankles." "Well, we could stop . . ." "NO!" Anya shouted, then blushed. As Chris's cock continued spreading her inner labia, she realized she'd been had. Chris had returned to his directed thrusting, and Anya slid her hand down her body to where they joined, rubbing her own clit in small circles as she eased herself towards a second release. She looked at his massive chest, enjoying how his pectoral muscles flexed as his arms gripped her waist. Chris didn't think he'd ever met anyone as hot as Anya. Back before he had been turned into a lycanthrope while hunting in central Texas with his cousins, he never would have even bothered speaking to a woman like this. He had survived an attack by a deranged lycanthrope, but his cousins had been killed. And he had discovered that there wasn't anything quite like a near-death experience to make you appreciate life, and very little could make you feel as alive as being with a beautiful, passionate woman. "You're thinking too much," Anya murmured. "Turn me around!" Chris reluctantly pulled out of her, but she immediately spun around and spread her legs. And when he pushed back inside her with his hands grasping her warm ass, he drove the breath out of her. Push . . . clench . . . sigh. "Now, I want you to fuck me harder than you've ever fucked anyone in your life!" she growled. "Whatever you say Miss Anya," Chris said, pounding away hard enough that the sound of flesh slapping flesh could probably be heard through the walls of the room. He actually pumped her hard enough that her feet left the ground a number of times, and his grip on her sweet ass cheeks tightened. Finally, both of them had endured as much as they could. Anya's tunnel closed down at the same time that Chris' throbbing cock erupted. He pressed his chest against her back as she trembled and he stiffened up. Anya could feel every warm splash of cum in her womb and the heat from Chris's body against her skin. "That," Chris gasped, "was the most awesome I ever experienced." "THAT," Anya countered, "was just the beginning." She pulled away, Chris's cum leaking from her tunnel. She got on her knees, still facing away from him, but slowly turned and drug her tongue up his leg. When she reached his semi-flaccid member, she took the very sensitive head between her lips and started sucking lightly. She wasn't done with him yet. "Oh sweet Mary mother of . . ." Chris mumbled. The blood in his cock was getting awfully confused . . . shortly after finishing its job, it was being called back into service so that it could . . . well, service. Anya had fit all of his meat back in her mouth, sucking, blowing and humming it back to full strength. Her delicate hands, which Chris had witness skewer a hellspawn through its midsection, were cradling his ball, encouraging them to mix more of the sustenance she craved. And her affections were beginning to take their toll, and Chris felt his manhood grow to maximum strength while still trapped in that perfect prison. Anya wasn't sure that letting Chris get hard in her mouth was the wisest choice of actions, since it was causing her lips to stretch beyond what she was normally comfortable with. 'God he's thick!' she thought. With him rigid again, she pulled up towards the head, dragging her tongue along underneath. She kept the mushroom-like tip between her lips, teasing it with her tongue, particularly the delicate under-skin. She let it go with a strong suck and a loud plop. "Mmh," she crooned. "Now that's what I like to taste," she said, licking off some of the pre-cum already decorating the tip of his tree. She stroked him a couple times with one hand, then pushed her face back onto his manhood, refusing to stop until his pubic hair tickled her nose. She was gagging and drooling a bit, but she was happy. She had long since discovered what the difference was between sleeping with someone who didn't give a shit about you and someone (or someone's) who cared for you. She much preferred it this way. "Yo sure got a purdy mouth," Chris said, exaggerating his normal drawl as much as possible, then realizing he might not want to make her laugh with her teeth that close to something a might bit important. Luckily for him, Anya's mind and mouth were entirely devoted to the immediate task of providing oral pleasure. It was noisy and nasty and she was awfully good at it. But as good as it felt for her to stretch her jaws around his thick tool, she wanted one more thing. "Why don't you lie down on the floor here?" she asked. He looked behind him. "I dunno. It's kind of cold . . ." He was smiling when she glared at him. "I'm a gettin', I'm a gettin'. Sheesh." Chris lay back on the floor and Anya stood over him. She churned her hips in circles as she lowered herself down towards his throbbing cock, looking like the most exotic dancer in the world. Then, his cock made contact, but not where he was expecting. There was considerably more resistance than he was used to as his the head of his cock pushed against her sphincter. "What the . . ." "Shh . . . It's okay big boy. Just lie there and enjoy," Anya said, bending her knees even further and grimacing a bit as his thickness began the slow invasion of her tiny little asshole. There was a familiar burning pain as her sphincter struggled to accommodate such a wide probe. She closed her eyes and concentrated on blocking out the discomfort, a task aided when she felt Chris's hands pawing at her tits. She also started fingering her pussy, which DEFINITELY helped take some of the edge off. With two fingers curled up in her womanhood and a thumb caressing her clitoral hood, the throbbing in her sphincter was becoming much less of a problem. And when the head finally slid past that muscular ring, all was right in Anya's world. "That's what momma wanted," Anya sighed, sinking down until she bottomed out. The look on Chris's face was priceless . . . he was like a kid who just got the bike he always wanted for Christmas and suddenly didn't know what to do with it. He had always been nervous about asking for this from a girl due to his girth, but Anya didn't seem to mind at all. Hell, she seemed even more excited than before, and that was saying something. And the sensation! It was highly-pressurized paradise! It was all Chris could do to just lay back and enjoy being ridden like a beef pony. Once her ass was relaxed, Anya began to bounce. She hoped he'd cum quickly, since her saliva lubrication job probably wouldn't last long. She knew she wouldn't last long herself, as she could actually feel his cock through the walls of her pussy. Her asshole was tingling in an incredible sort of way, and her fingers were moving a frantic pace. Chris's hands were back on her breasts, making most of her erogenous zones accounted for. "Miss Anya . . . sweet Jesus, I don't think I'm gonna last much longer!" Chris growled. "Just . . . a . . . moment . . . longer," Anya grunted, each word emerging as Chris's dick plunged into her ass. She could feel the pressure building like champagne behind the cork of a bottle that's been shaken too much. "That's it! Fuck yeah, I'm gonna cum!" And she was a woman of her word, as her ass tightened its stranglehold on Chris's cock while her pussy tried to ensnare her fingers. A bolt of pleasure shot towards her head, clanging around in her brain like the bell at the county-fair strongman game before it crashed back down towards her crotch, expunging the girl-jizz from her body. As her cum dripped onto Chris's waist, she felt his member spasm in her behind. He was grunting so hard that Anya thought he was going to give birth as he filled her rectum with semen. 'The man's got some balls on him,' Anya thought as she felt the molten stickiness fill her backdoor. She collapsed against his chest, curling one finger around in his chest hair. "Was I worth the wait?" she hummed contentedly, soaking in his body heat. "Miss Anya, you woulda been worth twice the wait." "Well next time, I don't want to wait that long." She poked her head up and looked around. "Why don't we make ourselves comfortable on the bed . . . unless you're in a hurry to leave?" "Not much chance in hell of that," Chris said. "But what if Jane needs the room?" "Doubt that'll happen," Anya replied, getting up and getting on the nearby bed and holding the covers up as Chris joined her. "She'll probably be with Red again tonight. But if she comes back," Anya added wickedly, "we'll just let her sleep with us." "Life . . . is . . . good," Chris said, silenced finally by a kiss. ---------------- ---------------- Down in the tunnels . . . ---------------- ---------------- Jane was sitting next to the opening that led down into Red's lair. She had been there for over half an hour and was beginning to shiver, wishing she had brought her coat to the meeting rather than leaving it on the bed. 'How long should I wait?' she thought to herself. She was really worried about Red, but the others had warned her . . . She heard something coming up the stairs, and then Red walked out. The beautiful lycanthrope looked surprised. "Hey," Red whispered hoarsely, obviously still a bit upset. "What are you doing up here?" she added, suddenly looking concerned. "Are you cold? Why . . ." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Jane's smaller frame. "You should've come down." "They . . . they said to give you some space . . . not to go to . . . bed . . . with you when you're angry." Red kissed the side of Jane's head. "I don't just want you around to sleep with. And you should never be afraid of me. I won't hurt you," she said. Then she cupped Jane's chin and raised her face until they were looking eye to eye. "I need to talk to Tarloh . . ." "He . . . he said that he and Talia were going to Los Angeles soon to find some warlock . . . I think. He doesn't want both of you gone at the same time again." Red suppressed her anger. It was a wise move. "I need to talk to him anyway. Hey, why don't you go down and get into bed and I'll be back in a bit. You need to get warm." "But I'm not tired and . . ." "It's okay. I just thought we might spend some time together and . . . you know . . . talk. If you want to, I mean." Jane was just watching Red's face. 'She's so beautiful,' Jane thought. She risked a quick kiss on the lips, then reached out with her hair and scurried down the stairs. Red stood there for a moment, a smile playing across her face, driving the anger away. 'How does she do that?' the warrior woman thought, then went looking for Tarloh. By the time Red had made her apologies, discussed strategy and returned to her chamber, Jane was in her footy pajamas with only the top of her head poking up from the covers. Red smiled and slowly undressed. Even if she wasn't going to have sex, Red preferred sleeping in the nude, and she wanted Jane to become more comfortable with Red's body. She picked up one edge of the blankets and slid underneath, causing Jane to stir a bit and poke her head all the way out. "Hey. Sorry," Jane mumbled. "I guess I was more tired than I thought." She felt Red's arms sliding over her body and pulling her close. "Are you . . . okay?" Full Moon Strays Ch. 04 "So so," Red replied. "I kind of lost my head, and it bugs me. We've lost the element of surprise and I'm pretty sure we can expect some kind of retaliation. That means sitting back for a moment and waiting for something to happen to us, and that never works out well in my book." She sighed. "And it looks like Tarloh may ask Natasha to come back with him if this 'dark thing' is what he thinks it is, and that generally complicates my life." Jane's blood chilled, but she struggled not to let it show. "What's she like? Natasha?" Red kissed her young lover long and slow. "Annoying," she said with a grin. "Stubborn, short-tempered, prone to violence . . ." "Is this Natasha or you?" "Both, actually. That was one of the problems . . . probably one of the reasons we were able to go our separate ways. We were a lot a like, and it irritated the crap out of both of us. But she meant a lot to me, and she . . . she changed me quite a bit. Are you okay?" Red noticed that Jane was trying really hard not to cry. "Yeah . . . no. I don't . . . do you still love her?" Red stroked Jane's face. "Yes, and I always will. But not in the way that you think . . . at least not anymore. She's dropped by a number of times. Things always start out well and end up with us yelling at each other or getting into a fight. It's funny. You're worried about me and her hooking up again, aren't you? To be perfectly honest, I'm more worried about YOU wanting to run off with her." "ME?!? Why would . . ." "Because she's strong . . . gorgeous . . . and she can give you a better life than I can." For a moment, Jane was a bit offended. "I'm not looking for someone baby me . . . like that anyway," she grumbled, turning over. But Red was not to be discouraged. She scooted forward and spooned the young woman. "I want you to stay," Red said slowly, "but someday, you WILL be tempted to want to return to the surface full time. Everyone does. And someone like Nat can make that extra-appealing. Something you're going to have to do is decide what you really want to do with your life." Jane sighed. "Do I have to decide right now?" Red kissed her on the side of the neck, making Jane's whole body feel much warmer. "Nope. As far as I'm concerned, take your time." There was another kiss. "I believe that some things should take a long . . . (kiss) . . . long . . . (kiss) . . . time." And it was a long, long time before either woman would get any sleep. ----------------- --------------------- Somewhere east of town . . . ----------------- --------------------- Gelok was less than pleased with the recent turn of events. His hellspawn's movements in the city were under careful scrutiny by those annoying street dwellers, their carefully orchestrated attack on their enemy's lair had been thwarted by a veritable unknown, and those Strays had come far too close last night to his base of operations. He walked the halls of business complex that served as the hellspawn's base of operations, passing the human servants and swill that operated the software company that served as the hellspawn's front. They were rich humans, that was for sure, but Gelok doubted they understood the price that would someday be paid for their collusion. But it seemed that Gelok might have to pay a price as well, and even sooner. The Dark One was unhappy. 'The Dark One,' Gelok thought with some bitterness. He and his demon tribe had been great warriors for millennia on end, but even he himself involuntarily trembled when in It's presence. He and his warriors called it the Dark One because it had no name of its own. It and its kin had existed in a time before names . . . in a time before there were even words to describe them. They would be given many names by those unfortunate few who would learn of them in the years gone by, but the essence of them had remained unchanged throughout the duration of time . . . they were chaos. For reasons no one quite seemed to know, they had gone disappeared until this one had returned, and it was on a mission. Gelok didn't understand . . . he didn't want to. He just obeyed, and hoped to be in its "good" graces when the time came. Gelok opened a door and began a long slow descent into the bowels of the building. There was no lock on the door . . . there was no need. No one in their right mind wanted to go down there anyway. He emerged into a hallway which led him to a large room. There were no lights there, so Gelok was moving based on memory. He didn't have to wait long to be noticed. {{THERE YOU ARE, }} came that sickening voice directly into Gelok's head. It was like having raw sewage poured directly into your brain. {{ I EXPECT YOU TO EXPLAIN YOUR INCOMPETENCE!}} [[ We stopped them well away from the building, and they won't risk another push so soon, ]] Gelok replied in his native tongue, a little miffed that he and his warriors were getting blamed for something that wasn't really their fault. {{ THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN THAT CLOSE! THEY SHOULD BE DEAD! }} [[ They would have been if it weren't for that . . . woman! ]] he shouted at the nothingness before him. [[ There was no information on her, or even any sightings of her that we know of! ]] {{ NO EXCUSES! }} the Dark One replied. {{ THOUGH THIS NEW HUMAN . . . INTRIGUES ME! }} came the mental mutter. {{ I SENSED GREAT POWER WHEN SHE FOUGHT YOU . . . MORE THAN EVEN SHE KNOWS! }} Gelok was a bit mystified. [[ True, she fought well, but her power is odd and not overly potent, now that we know what we're facing. ]] {{ YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE FACING! ALL YOU SEE IS THE EFFECT OF THE POWER, NOT IT'S SOURCE! EVEN ACROSS THE MILES, I FELT IT! THE EMOTION . . . THE RAW FEELING! I FELT THE GRIEF . . . THE PAIN . . . THE TORMENT, AND IT FILLED ME AND MADE MY VERY ESSENCE SING! }} The Dark One's enthusiasm dampened for a moment. {{ BUT I FELT SOMETHING ELSE . . . SOMETHING DISGUSTING . . . I FELT HOPE. SHE HAS BEGUN TO HOPE, AND ANY FOOL COULD SEE WHY! }} The entity went silent as it pondered something. {{ IF SHE WERE TO BE DRIVEN TO INSANITY AND HER POWER COULD BE FUELED BY THAT MADNESS, SHE WOULD BE AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL WARRIOR! SHE WOULD BE MY AVATAR . . . MY RIGHT HAND IN THIS SAD LITTLE WORLD! }} The Dark One paused, then brought its thoughts to bear on Gelok's brain once more. {{ BRING ME THE GIRL, AND SEPARATE HER FROM THE SOURCE OF HER HOPE! }} Gelok wasn't pleased with this at all. The Dark One obviously meant to replace him as its emissary. But at least it would mean someone else would be blamed if things went wrong. [[ How do you want me to do that? ]] {{ ANY WAY YOU CAN! ACTUALLY, I HAVE AN IDEA. USE THE SWARM! }} Gelok turned and walked back down the hallway, a malicious grin playing across his normally stoic face. 'The Swarm . . . that might just do the trick,' he thought. Red's image flashed through his mind . . . that warrior bitch that had been a thorn in his side for so long without even knowing it. 'By tomorrow night, you'll be dead,' he thought, 'and your girlfriend . . . well, she'll just wish she was dead.' ------------- ------------------ To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 05 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- Jane stood in the alley, her eyes closed to the night-time world. Strands of her magically empowered hair were "sniffing" the air, for all intents and purposes, trying to sense her invisible foe. She felt something brush against a single hair, making her senses dance like a spider at the center of its web. Her eight braids reached out, grabbing debris and garbage cans to use as weapons when . . . "Stop!" came a sharp voice a little further down the alley. Jane's friend, mentor and lover emerged from the darkness. Red looked the younger woman over. "What did you forget to do?" Jane's pretty face was masked by confusion, and then reality seemed to dawn on her. "I went for weapons with everything. I didn't keep anything for defense." "Precisely," Red said, trying to sound soothing. She normally wasn't quite so polite when a trainee made a mistake, but Jane's fragile mental state earned her a few breaks. "Anya, how was her defense up to that point?" A small section of apparently empty space replied, "Actually, pretty good. Even with her eyes clothed, I couldn't get near her. That hair of hers is pretty frickin' fast and sensitive." Anya materialized and started to get dressed. Red, a red-haired lycanthrope and team leader, had decided the newest member of the Strays needed some topside training. She had wanted to launch another attack on the hellspawn that the Strays had been warring with for some time, but she realized that they had lost the advantage of surprise, so had decided to wait until her fellow leader, Tarloh, returned from Los Angeles with information about the Dark One. Tarloh and his companion Talia had been gone for a couple of days, and the waiting was making Red jittery. Whatever this Dark One was, it had to be a major mystical player, because the hellspawn were a warrior race that didn't bow down before just any old creature. So Red had brought Jane and Anya (a human woman with the Talent of invisibility) to train Jane in the use of her own Talent. Jane had gained the ability to manipulate her luxurious hair as if it were actual limbs. She was able to control eight braids with relative ease, and could use some of her free strands as a sensory shield. Her hair was incredibly strong and resilient, and had the ability to stretch for huge distances. What some might interpret as a silly ability had turned into something quite extraordinary, and it actually got stronger when Jane felt extreme emotion. Red walked over and stroked her lover's hair. "Let's take a break and go grab some coffee. I'm buying," she joked. Most of the money the Strays had at the moment had been provided by Jane. "C'mon girls," she said, sliding an arm around Jane's and leading the smaller girl towards the street, Anya on the other side. "Should we be spending money right now?" Jane asked. "It'll be okay. We're not going to Starbucks or anything. I just figured we could use a rest." Anya stretched her long sexy body as she walked. "Good thinking," she said. "Hey, we could mug a drug dealer on the way back to make up for it. I heard there's a slime demon dealing meth over on Seventh Street, and it was eating some of the clientele." Red looked over Jane. She was still nervous about getting the girl involved in a fight, despite knowing what Jane was capable of. "You up for it? Helping us make the streets safe?" "I . . . I don't know if I'm ready," Jane whispered, pushing herself against Red's side, enjoying her warmth. "You're going to have to find out sometime," Red replied, trying to sound stern while secretly wanted to wrap Jane up in her arms and protect her forever. "I think you need to see more of what we do . . . and you need to decide once and for all if this is the life for you." Red hated saying that. The last woman she had said it to had left her. "Okay," Jane said, looking into Red's eyes, begging for her approval. "After coffee." ---------- ----------------- A little while later . . . ---------- ----------------- Red had actually felt a little nauseous when she surveyed the carnage before her. Things had gotten ugly quickly. She and Anya had sent Jane topside to scout for any comrades the slime demon might have brought along while the two senior members of the Strays crept up on him. The pale-skinned thing that barely resembled a human was in the process of making a sale to an emaciated young man who was seriously jittery. The pusher had made some obscene gesture when the young man looked to make a purchase, indicating that more than money would be required. And the young man had stood up, his face caught between desperation and disgust, and reached for the button to his jeans as he turned around. When nothing happened, he turned back. The slime demon was gone. Red and Anya had seen what had happened. Jane's hair had come shooting down shortly after the monster's intentions had been made clear and encircled the thing, pulling it up to the rooftop before it could make a sound. The two women found a fire-escape and quickly made their way up, arriving at the roof of the building just in time to see one of the demon's limbs land on the edge. Jane had ripped the monster apart. She was dripping with the green blood of her victim, and her eyes were barely human themselves. When she saw Red, the humanity returned and she dropped to her knees, crying like a child. Red had shaken her head. She had hoped that Jane had stabilized on an emotional level, but seeing someone taking sexual advantage of someone had caused her to become unhinged. 'One step forward, one back . . .' the redhead thought as she and Anya escorted the sobbing woman back to the Den, where Jane curled up in a corner of Red's room and shunned visitors. But if Red thought if things couldn't get any worse, she was wrong. She walked back out to the meeting area, leaving an exhausted Jane to sleep fitfully. There was a commotion going on . . . Tarloh and Talia had returned . . . and they weren't alone. Mindy strolled up to Red. "How's she doing?" the blonde asked, hoping that her young friend wasn't going to go catatonic. Then she noticed Red's open-jawed, vacant stare, and she looked at the throng of people. She saw Tarloh and Talia, along with a number of other people, all of whom were talking to a beautiful, brown-haired brown-eyed woman with a tight, muscular body and . . . "Holy shit!" started Mindy. "Is that Natasha?" Then she glanced nervously at Red. Things were strange when the two of them were together. They were friendly, but there was an unspoken tension there. Then Mindy thought of Jane . . . the girl had been standing on the edge of sanity for many weeks, and if she were to feel threatened by Natasha's presence . . . "Yeah, that's her. Queen of the ball, as usual," Red muttered with a mixture of fondness and apprehension. From across the room, the two powerful warriors' eyes met, and the crowd between them parted almost instinctively. A few stuck around to see what happened, while others found ways to busy themselves. The two women approached, and Nat was smiling. "Hey gorgeous," she started in a voice so sultry that it almost melted Red's knees. "Long time, no see." "Hey Natasha," Red said, keeping her voice firm, realizing she should get back to check on Jane. "What brings you down here? Besides our obvious peril, I mean?" Natasha's face grew a little more serious. "Tarloh got a hold of me while he was in the area. After talking to that warlock, he thought he could use my help. Serious shit . . . I'm not surprised anything with any magical sense hasn't gotten the hell out of Springfield by now." Red looked at Tarloh, who was standing nearby. "What's the damage?" she asked, now highly concerned. Tarloh sighed. "Ever study the old magics? The sorts of shit that even immortals have long forgotten?" Red's blood chilled. "No. The founders of the Strays never talked about that shit much. C'mon Tarloh, what's going on?" "Get everyone together. This is important, and everyone's going to need to have a say in what we do. Where's Jane?" Red glanced back towards the tunnels. "She's . . . she's in our room," she added, feeling a need to express something to Natasha without explicitly saying it. "She had a bit of a relapse," she added. She told Tarloh everything, unsure if Natasha had been told about the newest member of the strays yet. "Holy crap," Nat muttered. "A slime demon? Those things are tough! But who's . . . " "And she ripped it apart like it was made of twigs," Red reiterated. "Tarloh, what the hell do we do?" she asked, feeling more than a little helpless. She knew she should be concentrating on the big picture, but she felt so responsible for the young woman. Tarloh steeled his shoulders. "We don't have time to coddle her now. She's going to have to toughen up or get out of the way," he said carefully, then moved to cut off Red when he saw genuine anger flashing behind her eyes. "And you know I wouldn't say something like that if this wasn't so fuckin' serious." Red looked torn, then turned on her heel and left to go get Jane, and Tarloh breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought she was going to punch you," Talia muttered. "Me too," he replied. Natasha looked at them both. "Okay, who the fuck is Jane?" ------------- -------------------- Back in Red's room . . . ------------- -------------------- Jane was curled up in a fetal position next to the bed when Red stormed in. She saw that Red was angry, and instinctively assumed it because of her. Red saw her lover cringe. "Stop that!" she started, then caught herself. "I . . . Jane, I need you to get up off the floor. We . . . need to talk." Jane didn't want to stand. She wanted Red to kneel down and comfort her. But Red wasn't going to budge, so Jane slowly crawled up onto the bed and sat down. "Jane, practice is over. Whatever Tarloh found out about, apparently it's the big time. That means you're going to have to suck it up. You know I want to help you, but we need you to be a grown up now. When whatever it is that is goin' on is done, I'll help you fight your demons. But right now, we need you to help us fight ours," Red finished. Jane tried to steel her shoulders. She had destroyed that demon and though it had deserved it, she was afraid of how it had felt . . . the pure hatred she had felt as she ended the monster's mortal existence. And she had never even seen its face . . . she had seen a familiar, hated countenance from the past she strove to forget. Red's face softened against her will. "This is your home now," she said softly. "Defend it. If the Strays mean anything to you . . . if I mean anything to you . . . then you'll be strong for me now." Red hated doing that . . . it felt like a cheap shot, but it seemed to work. Jane stood up, showing a little more strength, but Red was about to challenge her again. "And so you know, Natasha is here. Tarloh and Talia brought her back with them." Jane's fists clenched, but whether from anger or tension, Red couldn't tell. "Let's go . . ." the girl whispered. The two of them headed back topside, and Jane saw Natasha for the first time. Her first thought was that if Natasha wanted Red back, Jane would never be able to stand against her. Nat's strength was obvious and beauty undeniable. Jane was just a gnat in comparison. She tried to fall behind, but Red wrapped an arm around her shoulder and escorted her to the meeting table. Much to Jane's chagrin, Natasha sat on Red's other side. Tarloh stood up, a grim look on his face. His gaze swept over the crowd. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, here's the scoop. We've got trouble with a capital 'S.' We've got some mystical power that feeds on madness, and it redefines evil as we know it. Does anyone remember the stories of the Elder Gods?" Some people at the table looked confused. Some looked incredulous. Others looked downright terrified. Tarloh stopped, took a breath and then, "What we seem to have here is a Shoggoth. For those who remember, the Shoggoths were servants to the Elder Gods, at least in the beginning. And when I mean the beginning, I mean the 'BEGINNING,' as in the beginning of creation. Back before reality as we know it came into existence, the universe was a thing of chaos and nightmares. There were no rules . . . no boundaries . . . no sanity, and certainly nothing resembling our version of 'morality.' It was a veritable orgy of violence involving creatures of power beyond anything any of us could truly imagine. Primal forces formed their own armies and made war against each other until only a few remained, but they were so powerful that they remained locked in a standstill for time unending. These powerful few have since been dubbed the Elder Gods. The Shoggoths were the soldiers of the Elder Gods, supposedly to be mindless servants. But in a universe of chaos, there are no rules, and the Shoggoths found will and desire of their very own . . . though they tended to serve, but mostly because the Elders were far too powerful for them to challenge. But don't let that fool you," Tarloh said, "these 'servants' could devour planets whole if they were at full strength." Some gasped, while other failed to believe their ears. Tarloh continued. "When Jane mentioned something about this 'Dark One' feeding on madness, it got me to thinking of a story I heard Olaf telling me once . . . a story that had been passed down in his own dimension for generations. Apparently the Elder Gods, in order to end the standstill, tried something new . . . they tried to form alliances against each other. But this caused a problem, because alliances require rules . . . they require some kind of order. Almost unwittingly, the Elder Gods gave birth to a new entity that would be their undoing." He scanned the room again. "The universe was still just a mixing pot of energy back then. When something new was introduced at a particular moment in a particular point in time, or singularity, that concept took on a life of its own. It was order . . . it was law . . . and it was unlike anything that had come before it. This new entity grew powerful on its own, and drove back the Elder Gods, imprisoning them somehow . . . somewhere. And at the moment of its victory, this universe and all its dimensions was created with a specific plan and purpose. Everything in this universe is connected . . . cause and effect. "This story may sound impossible, and I'm asking you to take a lot on faith. But you've heard some version of this story before, though you may not know it. The winning entity has been . . . experienced . . . by living creatures since our universe began, and it has influenced every civilization on every habitable planet in every dimension. The great Evil defeated by the great Good . . . the Titans imprisoned by the Greek gods, the forces of the Devil tossed from the walls of Heaven by . . ." "God?" Jane said out of the blue. "Yes," Tarloh replied. "Vampires, lycanthropes . . . every civilization has some kind of story, legend or religion of some ancient battle in the heavens where evil was displaced. And unfortunately, every civilization it seems has a legend of that evil returning." Tarloh started to pace around the table. "The winning entity . . . we'll call it Order for the sake of argument . . . had created an army of its own. Its soldiers were also initially supposed to obey, but the remnants of the old universe were caught up in the creation of the new one, and they developed Will, as has every intelligent race since. But some of them chose not to serve Order, and when out into the universe to experience it. They apparently drop into civilizations from time to time and expose some scholar or wise man . . . or woman . . . to the history of our creation. That means that everything we know . . . everything I told you . . . may simply be revisionist history of the winning party. But it's all we have to go on." "So where the hell does the Shoggoth come in?" Natasha asked. Despite having more important things going on, she kept glancing out of the corner of her eye at the frail-looking woman to Red's right, wondering why everyone treated her with such reverence. "Well, since some of the servants of Order got loose, it only makes sense that some of the servants of the Elder Gods would still be loose. They're not as powerful as they once were because they have to abide by the rules of the universe, but they're still formidable and they want everything to go back to the way it was . . . no rules . . . no restrictions. When the mind of a sentient creature starts to break down, it feeds the Shoggoth. That's what clued us in," Tarloh said, giving Jane a nod. "And it won't stop . . . it's going to keep growing in strength. I don't know what its end goal is exactly, but I guarantee it won't be good." "So let me get this straight," Arthur said, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "We're facing a ancient enemy of unimaginable power and indeterminate goals that probably wants to drive as many people as possible completely insane and we're not sure why." "That pretty much . . . sums . . ." Tarloh had begun to reply. But the meeting had been interrupted by a . . . a buzzing sound. It had been faint at first, like white noise. Then it had built and crescendoed to a feverish hum until suddenly it burst into the room on the wings of millions of insects. And they were no ordinary insects . . . they consisted of nothing but burning hellfire, churning wings and teeth . . . oh so many teeth. "HellSwarm!" Tarloh shouted. "Where the hell were the sirens?!?" Shield was throwing up his magical force walls between the swarm and the grouped Strays when he replied, "I don't know! Everything was in place just an hour ago!" The Swarm consisted of millions of hungry mouths, but those mouths served a single purpose. Like a pulsating arrow, they shot towards Red, eating there way into the shimmering force shield that now separated them. It was obvious to all what their target was. "What the hell . . ." Red mumbled. All the lycanthropes began to morph, though none were sure why. A HellSwarm was a demonic foe that was generally not fought . . . merely experienced. To raise arms against it was like threatening to attack an earthquake. The swarm had no reason and no rhyme, and anyone who knew of them realized that someone called in a lot of favors and paid a terrible price to unleash one. Talia was afraid for her friend. "Red, get out of here! They were sent for you!" She knew it was a useless attempt . . . Red would never run. Natasha was wondering what she had gotten herself into, but moved to guard Red out of instinct. Protecting people was her job, and she had added incentive where THAT particular woman was concerned. She almost grinned, wondering what those little insects would think, assuming they were CAPABLE of thought, when they bit into Nat's skin and broke their little fangs. Full Moon Strays Ch. 05 Arthur was feeding what energy he could to Shield, but both were quickly approaching exhaustion. Mindy was near her friend and lover, trying to support him. Everyone else was arming themselves, including a clever few who were gathering aerosol cans and lighters from the supply closet. Red looked over at Jane. Jane already had that wild look in her eye . . . the one she got when she or her friends were threatened. Natasha noticed it as well, and it chilled her blood almost as much as the Swarm itself. Jane's mind was so close to snapping that the two women could feel the tension. Jane's hair unbraided itself and thousands of strands extended their reach as she strode forward, just as the shields began to crack and the Swarm started coming through. The Swarm was used to overwhelming its prey, but Jane posed a unique problem. Her hair was an army all by itself, and it began snapping and whipping through the air, ripping the swarm apart as it started to come through. And what no one knew was that although the Swarm would normally devour its goal and anything that got in the way, it had certain restrictions placed upon it that evening . . . Jane was not to be harmed. "Sweet Jesus," Natasha said, watching the young woman wander towards the encroaching menace like a weed-whacker from hell. "Where the heck did she come from?" The floor was strewn with corpses, many of which were lit on fire by the strays. The members of the Swarm that got through the crumbling shields and passed Jane headed straight for Red and while many were intercepted, some got close. Dozens latched onto Natasha, only to find their teeth useless against her impenetrable skin. But the problem with facing the Swarm was that it wasn't like a normal enemy. It had no sense of self preservation . . . no doubts . . . no regrets. It existed solely to kill, and some of its members found their way to Red. She was swinging a sheet of rusty metal, smashing the demonic insects with great force, but some found there way to her skin and began to bite and claw and sting. Red had never felt anything so painful in her life. Each tiny creature was inflicting a pain similar to being shot, and some were actually beginning to burrow into her skin. She smashed herself against a wall, crushing some of them and buying her an all-too-temporary reprieve. A number of other Strays were suffering similar fates, as they stood too close to the break in the shield or the insects' path to Red. The ground was crunching beneath their feet as more of the swarm was swatted down, but it was the screams of the Strays that filled the air. Red felt her flesh ripped as more of the creatures latched onto her. She had smashed through a wall and found herself in a utility tunnel leading away from the main platform. She threw herself up against one wall and then the other, crushing the insects feeding just underneath her skin. Then, Red felt . . . secure. She realized that she was spun up in something resembling a cocoon. The material was wrapped around her from head to toe and smelled faintly of . . . shampoo. It was Jane's hair. The young woman had followed Red down and completely enveloped her lover in a living mass of hair that squeezed the life out of any insect that tried to burrow or claw its way into Red. And the red-haired warrior felt Jane's weight fall lightly on top of her. Jane was going to protect Red's life with her own. Red tried to scream . . . to tell Jane to run, but it was no use. All sound was muffled by the hair and the buzzing in the air. Tarloh had followed down the hall and noticed the remaining Swarm desperately trying to get through Jane's protective cocoon, but he finally realized something else . . . the Swarm wasn't attacking Jane. They seemed to be avoiding her. Anyone else would have been dead meat by then. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that it would give the Strays a chance to save Red. He called up their few remaining flame units as well as Natasha, and after several minutes were able to destroy the remaining Swarm drones. Tarloh put his hand down on Jane's shoulders. "That's all of them," he said. "Let her go so we can . . ." Tarloh was unprepared for the sight of Jane's eyes when she whipped her head around . . . they had gone dark and were flickering like the rays of the sun trying to find their way around the moon during an eclipse. In that moment, Tarloh had no doubt that Jane had gone insane. Then, the darkness was gone, and Jane's eyes turned white as they rolled back in her head as she passed out. Her hair returned to its normal length and released its hold on Red. Red was bleeding from more places than not it would seem, and a few movements could be seen under her skin as a few remaining bugs ate away. These were quickly removed with Tarloh's sharp knife and the bugs were squashed. Red was picked up and rushed towards Arthur's humble medical facilities. For a time, all eyes were on their fallen leader, and it was a moment before anyone thought to go check on Jane. But by the time anyone checked, Jane was gone. ------------ ----------------------- Twenty minutes later . . . ------------ ----------------------- In all their history, the Strays had never been so chaotic. People were running all over the Den looking for Jane, while Arthur tried putting Red and the other victims of the swarm back together again. There were four more dead and a dozen wounded. Between the Swarm's attack and that of the Hellspawn, the ranks of the Strays had been decimated. There war leader was down, Jane was missing, and there were a lot of people feeling helpless. Arthur was sweating like a racehorse after its second Kentucky Derby. He had stabilized the other wounded, but Red had been hit hard. He had worked insect corpses out of her body and closed up all the wounds, but she had lost a great deal of blood and he didn't have the energy to accelerate her replenishing. He wasn't going to ask for an energy boost from anyone, because no one had anything to . . . "Arthur," Natasha started. She was sitting across from him, looking down at the woman she had spent years with, tears in her brilliant brown eyes. This wasn't how she had imagined her return at all. There was supposed to be that moment of fond remembrance with Red, followed by some good stories, great sex, the inevitable argument about who left who followed by the tempered reconciliation to hold them over until Nat's next visit. That's the way it had worked for over a year. "Can you borrow my energy? I know you've done it before." "You're invulnerable," Arthur reminded her. "I don't think it could work on you." "Try," she said. "Please, take whatever you need." Arthur was hesitant, but only because he didn't want to have to look into Natasha's eyes if he failed. She reached out and offered him her hand and Arthur took it, a little intimidated by her grip. He felt a barrier there when he tried to draw energy, but noticed that Nat had her eyes closed as she tried to relax and let her power flow. Suddenly, there was a flood of energy and Arthur felt . . . small. It was as if he had found himself in the ocean, clinging to the side of the whale and calling its strength his own. He placed his other hand on Red's damaged side and continued to mend her interior wounds and replenish her lost blood. In a moment that felt like a lifetime, Red's body was as healed as Arthur could do without pushing her systems beyond capacity. He felt heady . . . almost drunk with power . . . and a little awestruck. He'd only sensed power like that once before. 'What is it about the women in Red's life?' he thought. Meanwhile, Tarloh was in counsel with the remaining Strays, and thinks were getting even grimmer. A number of the Strays wanted to run in the face of this new enemy, and Tarloh couldn't say he blamed them. Jane was still missing, Red was still down, and Tarloh was at a loss for words. He was a good leader, but he had never had to lead alone. He found himself praying to whatever Gods might be listening to actually cut them a frickin' break. Talia wandered up. "Patrick is missing as well," she said, referring to the Stray who had the Talent of flight. "He wasn't among the dead," Mindy confirmed, "and I know he was at the meeting. You think whoever or whatever grabbed Jane grabbed him too?" "I don't remember seeing him in the fight though," Tarloh thought absently. "You don't suppose . . ." -------------------- ------------------ On the outskirts of town . . . -------------------- ------------------ Patrick held Jane in his arms as he flew towards the sterile-looking business complex where the Hellspawn were based. The place still gave him the creeps, as it had ever since he had been recruited. The Strays were a noble group, but they didn't have a good retirement plan. The Dark One did. Obey it, and he would have a place at its side when it ruled this world. All he had to do was keep an eye on the Strays and report back what they were planning and what they're defenses were. He was supposed to join up with the Dark One's forces when the Hellspawn attacked and the opportunity arose, but Jane's unexpected interference had caused him to rethink that, and luckily the Dark One had agreed. Of course he'd had to kill a Hellspawn to make it look like he was really trying, but it had all been worth it. When the Strays had left Jane alone to check on that egotistical bitch Red, he had grabbed her and flown off down one of the escape tunnels, and no one would down there would have a clue. He still wasn't sure why his Master had wanted this stupid little girl so badly, but it wasn't his job to question why. So he had snuck out and gotten word to the Hellspawn about what the Strays defenses were and how the Swarm might bypass them. He landed in front of the glass doors where two Hellspawn were waiting, opening the door for him as if he were some kind of emperor. 'Maybe I will be someday,' he thought idly as he carried Jane down the long stairs to the Dark One's chamber. He was met at the bottom by Gelok, who looked upon both captor and captive with some contempt. "The Master is waiting," Gelok hissed, in his best English. "I know," Patrick said, pushing past and carrying Jane into the darkness, depositing her on the floor. He felt It's presence and took pride in his accomplishments. {{LEAVE US,}} the Shoggoth's massive mind said telepathically. {{LEAVE ME WITH HER,}} it crooned. It sounded so much creepier when it wasn't trying to sound menacing. Patrick wanted to wait for his well-deserved congratulations, but he knew better than to defy the Dark One. He walked back toward the opening of the room. 'I wonder if I'll even recognize her the next time I see her?' Patrick wondered has he walked back up the stairs. -------------------- ----------- Back at the Den . . . -------------------- ----------- Red and the other victims of the attack that could be saved had all been stabilized. The amount of energy that Natasha had let Arthur share had proven to be more than enough. As Shield replenished the defenses, Tarloh tried to figure out what the Strays next move would be. He had never had to rule without Red's help before, and he didn't like the way it felt. Robbie and Natasha had refused to leave Red's side, and Talia had dropped by as often as she could. No one had ever seen her so weakened before. They were flabbergasted . . . using a Swarm to try and murder a single person was like using a nuclear bomb to destroy a single tank. Their opponents had been serious, and they had struck two blows. Red was down, Jane was gone and the Strays were scared. "She's gonna be alright," Natasha said, trying to soothe the red-haired girl's brother. Robbie was trembling in pure fury. He hadn't been able to protect his sister, though she had protected him so many times. And he was helpless to do anything about it. "Wha . . . what the . . ." came a low voice from between Red's lips. Her eyes opened, and Robbie held one hand while Natasha held the other. Red looked between one and the other. "What happened?" she asked. "We got hit bad," Robbie told her. "Arthur saved you, with a little help from your woman here," he said unthinkingly. While Red's affection and appreciation shown through, the words "your woman" brought someone else's face to mind. "Where's Jane?" Natasha flinched but didn't let go. 'I'm the one here with you,' she thought, almost angrily. Then she felt guilty. Red wasn't hers and she knew it. "Your friend . . . she's gone. We're not sure, but we think that Patrick might have been working for the other side and took her . . ." Natasha stopped. She shouldn't have said anything. She knew EXACTLY what Red would do. So did Robbie, as the two of them pushed down on Red to keep her from trying to get up. "THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Red snarled. "After all we . . . If they harm one hair on her head . . ." Red's strength was already giving way and she was easily manhandled back to bed. "Let me go . . .I've got . . . she needs me," Red almost whimpered. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be . . . she was supposed to go to the rescue, not lie around and wait for her lover to be destroyed. "Please let me go," she pleaded as her voice faded and she began the slide toward unconsciousness. ----------- ------------------ Outside of town . . . ----------- ------------------ Jane's eyes opened, though it didn't matter much. There was a pure darkness wherever she was that seemed to seep into her eyes. There was something sick . . . putrid . . . vile maybe, floating through the air. She didn't need to see it. She could feel it, and it made her soul cringe. She started to stand, but was smashed to floor by some . . . thing. Her chest ached and she was sure her nose was beginning to bleed. {{I'VE BEEN SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS MOMENT,}} came a voice from the abyss. No, not from outside . . . it was coming from inside her head. {{A STAR ALONE IN THE NIGHT SKY . . . UNAWARE OF YOUR BRILLIANCE. UNAWARE OF THE DEVASTATION YOU COULD BRING.}} "I don't know what . . ." she started as she got to her knees, then felt a blow against her cheek, sending her spinning back to the chilly floor. She began to cry. She was going to die, and no one was coming to rescue her. Her nose was bleeding, her cheek was broken, her back was aching . . . It would be over soon. {{DEATH?}} her captor projected, seeing through the window of her mind, {{DEATH WOULD BE A WASTE OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER. YOU WILL BE MY AVATAR.}} Jane crawled back up to her knees, placing one foot on the ground as she prepared to stand. "No," she whimpered feebly. "I won't." That time, she didn't feel a striking blow. Rather, she felt a kind of pressure being exerted on her shoulders and the backs of her knees, forcing her slowly but surely back to the ground. {{SIT,}} came the voice again. {{GOOD PUPPY. YOU WILL LEARN QUICKLY TO OBEY YOUR NEW MASTER.}} It lashed out with one of its many tentacles cloaked in darkness, smashing her arm, breaking the elbow. The Dark One almost sighed in ecstasy as it heard her scream. It knew how far it could push her before her body could take no more. {{YOU HAVE MUCH TO LEARN, AND I HAVE AN ETERNITY TO TEACH YOU.}} -------------- -------------- Back at the Den . . . -------------- -------------- Red's eyes opened, her vision awakened by the pounding in her head. She could still feel burning pain where the bugs had devoured her flesh and Arthur hadn't been able to reach yet. Arthur, completely exhausted, had fallen asleep with his head on her arm while Mindy stayed nearby, keeping an eye on them both. Red tried to move but found herself strapped to the table. "Sorry," Mindy said plaintively, "Tarloh's orders." "TARLOH!" Red screamed, finding her voice. She heard the thumping of his mighty footsteps, even over the chaotic din of their underground layer. "Let me up!" she screamed, straining vainly against the heavy leather straps. "Only if you promise to . . ." the big man started as he appeared in her view. "I promise to break your neck if you don't let me loose!" Red was frantic and was prepared to morph into her lycanthropic state, even if it killed her. "You're in no condition to help her!" Tarloh said, pinning her to the table with his mammoth hands. It broke his heart to see Red like this. "Calm down Sis," Robbie said from nearby. "Tarloh's right. We've gotta . . ." "Don't you fucking dare tell me to calm down!" Red growled. "Why aren't we going after Jane?!" Red looked around. Tarloh, Natasha, Talia, Mindy, Robbie, Anya, Arthur . . . if everyone was still at the Den, who was saving Jane? "We can't rush into this," Tarloh said, trying to be calm. "We're at a disadvantage. You know I care about Jane, but I'm not going to sacrifice everyone else in a foolish . . ." Red might have well have been slapped. "Jane saved one of us, when she had no powers and no reason to do it. She would've died for one of us, and you aren't even going to try? I thought we never left our own behind." Red's eyes were clouded with grief and rage, both fighting for dominance in her sight. "That's not damn fair," Tarloh said, though he felt doubt and saw that same doubt on the faces of others. "Fuck fair," Red said coldly. "Untie me. You have no right to keep me. Dammit, I'll go by myself." "You'll die," Robbie began, stressed beyond words. His sister was all the family he had left in the world. "That's my choice," she told him, meeting his gaze. "She saved us all. She saved you," she added directly towards Robbie, "and she saved me. I can't do nothing. I won't. Fuck it Robbie," she started openly crying now. It was the first time Robbie remembered seeing her cry. "I love her and I have to save her." Natasha felt cold for a moment, then oddly free. The cold was because she had to accept that things with Red were over, and free because they could both stop waiting for something they knew was never going to happen. Red's heart had found a new home. Nat grabbed one of the buckles and undid it. No one moved to stop her. "I'm going with you," Natasha said, giving her friend a brief smile. Tarloh looked at the remaining Strays. Some had chosen to flee after the battle, no longer able to withstand the fear. Between the departures and the deaths, only twenty or so Strays remained. They had all gathered around, and many were hanging their heads in shame. Then his mind cleared. "You're right," he said softly, the crowd noise dying. "For decades, the Strays have fought battles no one would ever hear about for no reward, on behalf of those who can't fight for themselves. If we give that up, then we're nothing but street rats." His eyes darted from face to face as Natasha removed the last of Red's constraints. "If anyone wants to walk away, then now's the time. No hard feelings. But," he added, offering Red his hand and helping her to her still-unstable feet, "the rest of us are going to pick a fight." ------------- ------------------------ In the Shoggoth's layer . . . ------------- ------------------------ Jane was curled up in a ball somewhere in the darkness. She had run out of tears, breath and prayers many minutes earlier. She no longer believed that Red was going to tear through the surrounding blackness on a magnificent steed adorned with shining armor and rescue Jane. There was no light . . . only the Dark One. The Dark One was almost intoxicated. The girl was on the edge and beginning to fall slowly into the abyss. It had been whispering into her mind . . . telling her stories of agony and ecstasy intertwined. It teased her with false hopes, then slammed her with fear. It promised her relief, then delivered a mental image of Red's corpse rotting on the subway platform. It knew that Jane could no longer tell the truth from the lies, and in fact no longer cared. Full Moon Strays Ch. 05 A problem with immortality is the belief that one is untouchable . . . that one is more powerful and wiser than mortal beings and thus incapable of making a mistake. That was when bullies, tyrants and dark gods made their mistake. The Dark One wanted to push someone who was already falling, possibly out of sadistic glee. But by reaching out its "hand" to push her, it gave Jane something to hold on to, and that was a very dangerous thing. The Dark One pushed its thoughts into Jane's head, touching her soul with its own foul essence. That's when it sent to her the simple phrase, {{IT WILL ONLY HURT FOR A MOMENT! THEN YOU'LL BE MINE!}} Eight years earlier, when Jane was too young to defend herself, her stepfather Jack had said the exact same thing. He had said it after going into her room late at night when her mother was stoned out of her mind on antidepressants and vodka. He had said it before . . . before doing unspeakable things to her. She had wanted to scream out back then . . . to wake her mother and make the woman come to her daughter's aid. But she had been afraid. But Jane wasn't going to go down without a fight this time. She was going to scream, and she'd rescue herself if she had to. The Dark One was like a whale in the ocean . . . powerful, but still just another tiny creature when compared to the waves themselves. Even whales can drown. The Shoggoth fed on fear and madness and pain . . . with Jane, it began to choke. The scream that Jane let out was enough to send the angels running for the pearly gates and the demons to hide behind Lucifer's throne. It was a scream that would become a thing of legend in the nether regions that hid behind the dimensional cusps. Jane had heard those words, had seen the face of the man who had nearly broken Jane's spirit so many years ago, and with their minds still connected, Jane lashed out at the Shoggoth. Both physically and mentally, she attacked the void. Her hair filled the room, finding the creature's form and ripping at its flesh. It wasn't a God . . . it just wanted to be. It was, by the rules of the universe, now a mortal creature however powerful, and that meant it could suffer and die. And Jane fed on its own energy as she tore at its physical and spiritual beings, as well as at the stones of the surrounding room. If she were going to die, she was going to tear down the walls of Hell in the process. For the first time in millennia, the Shoggoth felt fear. ----------- ---------------- Up in the lobby . . . ----------- ---------------- Gelok and Patrick were waiting by the security desk, wondering how long it would be until their Master's would be done with its new plaything. Then two things happened. The alarms began to go off, and the ground began to rumble. Hellspawn came running from all over the place and storming out the front door. They were met at the gate by a number of lycanthropes and Talented humans, all of whom had evil gleams in their eyes. Arthur was suddenly afraid. He floated off the ground, looking for an escape route. Gelok and a dozen or so of his warriors had moved towards the door, preparing to repel the invader. He was a bit surprised . . . he thought that with that red-headed whore dead that these mongrels would have lost their will to fight. Or was this simply the last desperate act of a crazed dog? 'No matter,' he thought as reinforcements arrived, bringing the number of Hellspawn to twenty plus. "This is going to be too easy," he muttered, a puff of brimstone escaping his lips. A body hurtled through the glass front of the building, which was impressive considering how thick that glass was. One of the outer sentries lay in a pool of his own blood in front of the receptionist's desk. For a moment, there was silence, except for the crackling of glass on the tile floor and the clicking noise made by the receptionist's clipboard falling off the countertop. Then Gelok saw eyes in the darkness. One would think he would be used to things that go bump in the night. He was one himself, and served and even greater one. But those burning reddish lights approaching contained an animalistic aura that made him sweat . . . and cringe. The faint outline of a creature came into view . . . sleek . . . powerful . . . cat-like. Then he saw the rust colored fur and the gleaming teeth of the werecat. 'Impossible,' Gelok thought, his eyes widening. 'She can't be . . .' Red had flesh in her teeth, blood on her tongue and punishment on her mind. She had forgotten what it was like . . . the difference between a fight and a war. A fight is a clumsy thing, reserved for back alleys by people with lead pipes and pistols. A battle . . . that was where warriors shone. Battles were chaotic, but there was a serenity about them. Battles were where what you did mattered . . . it was where wars were won. As she jumped through the broken window, she ignored the stabbing pain of glass in her paws. She smelled Jane, and nothing short of the Grim Reaper was going to keep her away. Behind her, a huge and hulking bear-like creature strode through, along with a menagerie of creatures that Noah wouldn't have let on board the Arc. Werewolves, a wereboar . . . things not of this dimension. If there was a zoo in hell, then someone had left the cages open. The moment of silence broke with a clap of thunderous rage as the Strays fell upon the Hellspawn. Tarloh in his bear-like state had unmatched power, and sent his foes hurtling through the air like paper planes. Gelok was not going to fail the Dark One again. If he hoped to survive, he had to kill Red, so he pulled knives from underneath his immaculate jacket and lunged. He saw the animal in her eyes and came to one conclusion . . . one of them wasn't walking away, and he was no longer certain who it would be. ---------------- ----------------------- In the depths of the earth . . . ---------------- ----------------------- The Dark One had forgotten what it meant to bleed, but Jane was reminding it. The little human woman had indeed been pushed over the edge of reason and had pulled the Dark One with her. But Jane had proven that she could fly . . . floating over the abyss and tickling it with her toes. Her snake-like hair was striking everywhere at once, and what passed for the Shoggoth's hide was torn and aching. There was a ventilation duct leading up and away from was once its throne room and was now its execution chamber and for the first time since before history began, a servant of the Elder Gods ran for its life. There would be another day for Jane. The Shoggoth melted its way into the ductwork and sped away. Jane continued to tear at anything she could get her hair on. When the pliant flesh of her enemy was gone, she let loose her wrath on the stone itself. Like a den of snakes, her normally silky strands slithered off, getting into everything they could. Her hair was pulling the sobbing and hysterical woman along, as her body could no longer stand. Brick by brick, tile by tile and inch by inch, Jane was destroying everything around her. When the ceiling began to cave in, her hair formed a protective shield. Then like a spider, her hair acted as legs and she began crawling slowly upward. ------------ ----------- Up above . . . ------------ ----------- Gelok was hurting. Red had caught him with a swipe across his gut, and he was losing blood fast. But he had stabbed the bitch in the shoulder as well, and her left arm was hanging uselessly at her side. The great bear had piled up a number of corpses, and the Hellspawn were obviously the losers in this fight. But Gelok would take at least one more before he was called home. The wild werecat would . . . Red saw what happened through blood-stained eyes. The floor opened up beneath Gelok, and he was drug downward. Then she heard the sounds of a demon screaming, then saw Gelok's head come flying back out of the hole. But what followed it up was even more terrifying. The shell that Red and the other Strays saw resembled Jane only in the most superficial of ways. She was snarling, her hair was flailing, her crippled body hanging underneath an angry head that was frothing at the mouth. And her eyes . . . Red had never seen anything glow black before. Even the blood coming from Jane's nose was eerily dark, and shimmered with a white outline as if it were oozing power. Jane had been touched by a power older than stars, and part of it was still inside her mind. She was on the intersection of mortality and immortality, here and there, with "nowhere" right in the middle. The Strays and the remaining Hellspawn backed away. Even the stupid and tired amongst them was afraid of the creature slinking before them, hissing and spitting like fat on a hot grill. Everyone stepped back except Red, who had reverted to her human form, and Natasha. Natasha took a step in front of Red, knowing her long-time friend and former lover was in no condition to fight if that was Jane's intention. Natasha probably could have saved herself the trouble. "Intention" required reason, and Jane was utterly devoid of that. With a snarl, a braid of Jane's hair whipped out and sent Natasha hurling through the air like a rag doll. The brown-haired and semi-invulnerable beauty crashed through a wall on onto the ground outside. It had hurt like hell, but she'd live. The remaining Hellspawn scattered to the four winds, knowing at least that this was a battle they didn't even want to fight. Tarloh and some of the Strays went to check on Natasha while the others waited . . . needing to see what happened next. Red's arm hung limply, her body burned with pain and fever, and her blood cascaded like water droplets in a storm. But she stood her ground against the once piteous creature that had shared her bed and had begun to love her. Jane stopped. What was left of her brain wanted to lash out, but something stopped her. It was as if her magical locks refused to move against Red. It was as if her magic remembered what her mind had forgotten. Her magic had been driven by emotion and desire, and it was used to "desiring" to hold Red, not rip the flesh from her bones as it was being commanded to do. In Jane's mind, all she saw was a man's face . . . a man that had stood over her many years earlier and taken her innocence by force. It was the face that had hurt her, drove her mad, and still seemed to be mocking her weakness and pain. "Jane . . . don't . . ." "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" the thing that was Jane screamed. "DAMN YOU JACK! I'M GOING TO STRANGLE YOU WITH YOUR OWN GUTS YOU SON OF A BITCH!" "Shit," said Anya and Talia in unison from near the broken front of the building. Both of them had been there when Jane had ripped a Hellspawn apart, saying that same name. They knew who he was, what he had done, and the anguish it still caused the girl. What had brought on this episode, neither of them knew, but . . . Red began to speak. She had fought many battles, but this was one she knew she wouldn't win with her fists, feet and fangs. Whatever had happened to Jane down in that dark hole, it had changed into something more powerful than Red could contend with. But what a lot of people didn't know was that Red could win fights many different ways. "Jane!" she shouted with what strength she had left, "This isn't what your father would want!" Jane stopped in her tracks. "Father . . ." she said, her words trailing off. When her father was alive was the last time she had ever felt safe. He would have never done the things that her stepfather did . . . he would've protected her and held her when she cried. Those were her last good memories until . . . until the Strays. Until Red. But madness had a momentum that was not so easily dissuaded. Red was making Jane feel again, and Jane didn't want to feel anything anymore. She lunged forward and grabbed Red by the throat with broken arms, but her hands held no strength. Red, even weakened, broke the girl's grip and wrapped her arms around Jane's shaking body. Jane's hair was flying around madly, but no longer held any menace. It was like a child throwing a tantrum. Jane's eyes had stopped glowing and her blood had returned to its normal reddish hue. The strength she had gained from her interaction with the Dark One had faded. The curse of consciousness was lifted from her, as it was from a hurt and battered Red shortly thereafter. Natasha, who had recovered from Jane's attack, walked over and picked up both women and the shocked but determined Strays faded into the darkness of the forest. ------------ ----------------- Several days later . . . ------------ ----------------- Jane was lying in Red's bed, as she had been for days. She hadn't spoken to anyone, and barely even seemed to notice when Arthur came in to work his healing on her. She felt a shame so deep it could swallow the world, for the things she had almost done. Red had requisitioned a cot and had taken to recuperating there, not wanting to disturb Jane but refusing to leave her side. Out around the broken council table, there were only a dozen Strays left. The rest had died in recent conflicts or had left, their hearts heavy with remorse but their souls filled with doubt. They had signed on to help take on gangs and drug traffickers and even demonic crime in the streets. They hadn't planned on tangling with the servant of an Elder God. Tarloh, Talia, Arthur, Michael, Matthew, Mindy, Shield, Nathaniel, Anya, Robbie, Chris and Johan were trying to decide what they should do next. Natasha had postponed her return to Los Angeles indefinitely and while her presence was a comfort, being reduced from more than fifty to barely over a dozen was sobering. With Red out of action for a while longer and Jane practically comatose, things were looking bleak. "I wish I knew," Tarloh was saying, echoing the confusion of he comrades. "Unless Jane comes around, we may never know what happened in that basement or where the Shoggoth is. And once word on the streets gets out that we're weak, there's going to be anarchy up there. Do we fight them? Do we prepare for the Dark One?" "I say we hunt down Patrick and rip his spine out," Robbie muttered grimly. When Patrick was seen flying away during the fight and his treachery had been confirmed, many of the remaining Strays had promised themselves that the flying man had a date with pain. "As tempting as that is," Tarloh grumbled, "the traitor is the least of our problems. Natasha glanced at the group as they began to debate, but she slipped away. She would support the Strays however she could, but didn't feel comfortable about making decisions that she herself wouldn't have to live with. She walked down to the lower ramp and on towards Red's sanctuary. She traced the wall with her finger, remembering somewhat fondly when the two of them had decided to create a little place of their own. Even then, Nat had begun to grow a bit stir crazy being cooped up underground. She descended the stairs and found Red sitting on her cot, staring at Jane. Natasha had never seen the redhead look so . . . caring. "Hey," she said from the door. "They're getting ready to start. You should go. I'll stay with her," she added softly. Red looked up, her eyes hard and cold. She hated leaving, but knew the rest of the Strays needed her. Without a word, she gripped Jane's hand, stood up and hugged Natasha on her way out to the meeting, hobbling as she went. Natasha sat next to Jane's bed. "Hi," she said, brushing the girl's hair out of her face, though the hair seemed to move out of the way on its own accord. "Well, you've got Red all worked up. Even I could never do that. I think she's fallen for you," Natasha said, her remaining jealously ebbing then flowing away. Jane's eyes opened, complete with tears. "Natasha . . ." came a plaintive, questioning voice. Natasha was floored. Jane hadn't said a word in days, but now she was doing just that to the person who knew her the least. "Yes?" "I . . . I need you to kill me." ------------- --------------------- Out in the main room . . . ------------- --------------------- The Strays had been arguing for quite a while, trying to figure out what their goals were and whether or not they should pull up stakes and head for a new location. "But the enemy knows our weaknesses and our defenses now!" Red said. "I don't like it, but we have to leave the den and get set up somewhere new!" "But at least here, WE know our defenses as well. We try and set up shop elsewhere, and we might not be ready . . ." "Tarloh, we're a small group now. We don't have the manpower to defend this space anymore. We have to rely on speed and mobility, and we don't have that down here," Red finished, almost softly. "This is my home too, big guy. And you know I don't like running. But I like the idea of the few of us that are left dying even less." "Where would we go?" Anya asked. "We've got running water and electricity right here!" Chris raised his hand. "Listen, I know a place that just might work. There's this ol' slaughterhouse a couple miles off the interstate . . . I'm sure we could get what we need runnin' again and . . ." Tarloh interrupted. "Don't forget that we still have a job to do. How can we protect the people of this city if we're not a part of it anymore? I know the place you're talking about and it's way outside the city limits." Nathaniel was looking pensive. "We've got to guard our own asses too," he said dejectedly. "Most of us can get to town quickly enough . . ." Mindy piped in. "Red, I know how you feel. You KNOW I'm always up for a fight, but we can't help anyone if we're dead and we need to regroup." Red was sweating like a horse after the Kentucky Derby. She wasn't close to being one-hundred percent, and while she wanted to slam her fists on the table in a dramatic gesture, all she could do was slump into a chair. "I'm so tired of running and fighting on our heels. We've been playing defense the whole time, and now there's barely a skeleton left." Red pounded her head hard enough on the table that she began to bleed. Arthur sighed. "Red, I'm not going to heal that. I don't have anything left." Red lifted her head, a small cut on her forehead. "Not asking you to." She wiped the blood from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said firmly. "I understand everyone's concern," she started, looking at her few remaining friends. "But I can't go with you if you leave town," she added, noticing the expressions ranging from confused to alarmed. "We were all rescued at one point or another by the Strays. If we put our own safety above the people we protect, then we make a mockery of the Stray legacy." She hung her head. "I don't want to think we've been fighting for nothing. Because that means we've suffered and died for nothing, and . . . and . . ." "And you've got another problem," came Natasha's voice from nearby. Red snapped her head towards Nat, but before she could speak . . . "She's asleep. I wouldn't have left otherwise. But Red . . . she talked. And you need to hear what she said." Natasha noticed the room had hushed, but her eyes stayed locked on Red's. "Red, she wanted me to kill her." "What?" asked Talia. "Why?!" added Mindy. Red looked even more pale than usual. "Why . . . why . . ." "I don't know. She was kind of incoherent. She thinks she's evil and that she's a danger to you and that she won't be able . . . she won't be able to resist when the Dark One returns." "It's still alive," Tarloh muttered. But at that moment, Red didn't give a shit about the Shoggoth. "She wants to die?" the redhead asked. "She's afraid to live," Nat corrected. She still cared enough for Red and knew that woman well enough to see and feel the woman's heart collapsing. "Red, she kept saying that she couldn't get him out of her head, and that the Dark One used it to drive her over the edge. Then she . . . she just kind of babbled herself to sleep. What is she talking about?" Full Moon Strays Ch. 05 Those closest to Jane shared a look. "You think she's talking about her stepfather?" Talia asked of Red. "Who else? Damn it, is that piece of shit ever going to leave her alone?" Red looked at Tarloh. "You all decide whatever you're going to do. I'm going to go check on her." She stood up and made as brisk a pace towards her quarters as she could. As she descended the stairs, she realized that Talia had followed her. "I want to be there for her too," Red's best friend stated firmly. "I'll go with whatever the rest of the Strays decide. Red, I think I can help." Red agreed by remaining silent and continuing to her room. Jane was still asleep, albeit fitfully. Talia could see the two women's pain reflected on each other faces. Neither of them deserved what had happened to them, nor did they deserve the continuous strain that their burgeoning relationship had been under. It's hard to fall in love when you don't have time to breathe and while you're fighting for your life. Red gently sat down on the bed next to the prone Jane, who stirred and opened her eyes. For a moment, there was hope behind those green eyes and no small amount of devotion. But there was also despair. Red didn't mince words. "Natasha told me what you said," she whispered. "Why?" "She shouldn't have," came Jane's raspy voice. "I can't live. I'm a danger to you. There's got to be a reason it picked me," the increasingly agitated girl said. "I'm evil. That's why . . ." "Don't you dare say that's why this has happened to you, and don't say your evil," Red almost snapped. "You've done good things when any sane person would have turned away, and you've been a good person when you had no reason to be. These aren't the acts of someone capable of being evil." "It's still out there," Jane practically sighed. "It's out there and I won't be able to resist it. I wasn't able to last time." "Jane . . . I need you to tell us what happened down there," Talia requested. "If the Dark One is still alive . . ." Jane's eyes turned glassy. "I don't think 'alive' is a good word for it. The Dark One 'exists.' And it's so big and so empty . . ." Jane started to babble about what had happened in that hole in the ground. About what it said to her and how it hurt her. Talia had counseled many a battered woman in her day, but nothing like this. Talia and Red were getting a blow by blow account of what it meant to lose your soul. But Jane didn't remember much of anything after the Shoggoth had uttered that fateful phrase. She remembered the fight, and she remembered crawling up towards the surface. Neither Red nor Talia felt like explaining what had happened next. Talia mulled things over in her head carefully before speaking. "Jane, I need you to stay calm and listen to what I have to say. When the Hellspawn attacked the first time, I know you were thinking about your stepfather when you lost it. You were thinking about him again when you were defending Red against the Swarm, and that's what set you off when you were facing the Dark One. Jane, you can't let him haunt you like this!" Talia tried inserting some more compassion in her voice. Just mentioning the stepfather had caused Jane serious anguish. "The things that have happened to you for the last seven years . . . some things you LET happen . . . it's all because you're still afraid of him." "Of course I'm afraid!" Jane shouted, her eyes flashing black before (thankfully) returning to normal. "I can still feel him pushing me down . . . I can still hear him saying how it would only hurt for a moment, and I can still feel him . . ." Jane started to weep uncontrollably. She still screamed . . . deep in her thoughts were no one could hear, whenever she thought back to that moment. All the things he had done before that . . . all the presents he had bought her to keep her quiet couldn't silence the pain she had carried with her for so long. She had run across the country to escape its voice, only to find his echo come from the hollow voice of an ancient evil. Jane's blood-shot eyes weren't focused on anything in particular, but she felt Red's closeness and could feel those eyes on the back of her neck. "It was only supposed to hurt for a moment," she uttered. "So why does it still hurt so much?" Jane looked helpless, Red looked furious, and Talia desperately wanted to make everything better. The Strays needed both Red and Jane back at one-hundred percent, and neither would reach that goal without each other. "Healing takes more than time," Talia said, sitting on the corner of the bed. "It takes effort. You've been too busy running. You've tried finding someone else to take the hurt away. And more people hurt you along the way. You've got to stop running Jane." Jane's eyes met Red's, but the lycanthrope gave her no sign of what she should do. Red knew that her best friend was right. "Jane," Talia continued, "we need you. You've got power, and we'll need it to defeat the Shoggoth when it comes back." "I can't," Jane cried. "How can I help against that? I don't even know how I did it the last time! How can I stand against it when I couldn't . . ." Then Jane stopped, her face inscrutable. "I can't stay," she whispered. Talia sighed. "You can't run away anymore. I told you . . ." "I'm not running away. This . . . it all started when I ran away. You were right. How can I stand against anything when I could never stand up . . . to him? I have to go home. I've got to face him." With that said, Jane felt . . . peace. Red and Talia were both taken slightly aback. "Are you sure?" Red asked. "This isn't about revenge is it?" inquired Talia. "I don't know what it's about. I just know that it's about time." Jane coughed, then leaned back, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Talia and Red walked outside. "She can't go alone," Talia said as the ascended the stairs. "I can't leave," Red said, her heart not in her protest. She didn't want to let Jane go off alone. "Someone has to keep the streets safe and . . ." SMACK! Talia's left hand had smartly struck Red's cheek, leaving the red-haired woman more perplexed than injured. "Damn it, the rest of the Strays aren't exactly dog food!" Talia growled. "You're not the only one who cares, and you don't have to do everything all on your own. The Strays NEED time to rest, we NEED a new place to do it, and YOU need to get your girlfriend's head on straight. Otherwise, we've got no chance in hell against the Dark One once it recovers. You want to single-handedly protect something . . . protect her! I think she's right. Jane needs to confront her demons, so to speak, and someone . . . that being you . . . needs to stop her from doing something she might regret when she lays eyes on him. And I don't like her being out there alone when the Shoggoth is unaccounted for, and you're the only one who might stand a chance of looking after her. Now snap out of it and . . ." SMACK! Red punched Talia straight in the face, knocking her best friend to the ground. Talia was clutching her nose, hoping it wasn't broken. "You're right," Red said calmly. "I'll go with her. And you should have known that NO ONE hits me and gets away with it." Red smiled and extended her hand towards her friend. Talia accepted the assistance, grabbing Red's hand and getting pulled to her feet. "Bitch," Talia said petulantly, but strangely found herself resisting the urge to laugh. -------- ----------------------- A few minutes later . . . -------- ----------------------- Tarloh's hand was over his mouth, trying to conceal his grin as Talia looked in a slightly-cracked mirror, checking on the status of her nose. Arthur had given it a once over and determined it wasn't broken, but it looked like hell. "I can't believe she hit me," Talia said for the millionth time. "She's Red!" Tarloh chuckled. "You went in planning on pushing her buttons, yet you're surprised at what happened when your plan worked?" "But did she have to hit me so hard? Why not just a friendly punch in the arm? Isn't that what schoolyard chums do?" Her friend and lover laughed a full-throated laugh. "Hey, think of it this way. If I'd said that stuff to her, she would've hit me a lot harder!" "Small comfort," Talia mumbled, but felt a little better when Tarloh's mighty arms snaked around her from behind and held her against his warm body. 'God, when was the last time I felt safe like this?' she asked of herself. 'Even just for a moment?' "How would you like a little bit of . . . large . . . comfort?" he rumbled in her ear. Talia let out a heated breath as she felt his growing member pressed against her backside, almost as if it were trying to find its way to a friendly port. Talia didn't think twice. Life consisted of moments, good and bad, but limited in number. She was with a man she cared about, and it was a moment she wasn't going to let slip by. Talia reached back and grabbed her lover's heavy hands, drawing them up her body until the rested on her small firm breasts. Tarloh drew her back into an alcove. They didn't need the darkness for protection from prying eyes. They needed it for comfort. Tarloh's sizeable endowment was using up a proportionally large amount of his blood supply. That and Talia's scent were making him a bit light-headed. But he didn't need to think, as instinct quickly took over. Her hands were fumbling behind her as she tried to undo the bindings to Tarloh's pants and free the satisfaction they contained. When his manhood was finally able to breathe, she wrapped one hand around it and sighed, a source of comfort and normalcy having returned to her. Talia's felt her lover's hands roughly shoving down her pants, and she quickly was able to feel the raw heat of his member against not only her hand but her ass cheeks as well. She released his rod as he picked her up with those strong arms and, without further adieu, placed her on the tip of his organ and slid her body down. "Oh sweet Lord above," she whispered, bending her knees and hooking the fronts of her feet around the backs of his knees as Tarloh started a slow, methodical penetration of her being. She didn't miss the "foreplay" . . . she'd make it up to him later. They both needed something basic . . . simple. Something that the rest of their lives wasn't at that moment. Tarloh noticed a few things that he had missed as of late . . . the curve of Talia's shoulder and the scent of her hair. She fit him perfectly as he slid his substantial endowment into her warm recess. He took in the little grunts she made when he drove himself home and savored the feel of her sweat. He almost ripped the shirt from her body as he increased his pace. They may have kept their human bodies, but their animal spirits were taking over. Talia placed her hands against the wall in front of her while Tarloh grabbed her hips even more firmly. He was taking no prisoners, and she would never surrender. Talia would take everything the alpha male had, and she would do so with a smile on her face. Normally, she would talk dirty to him, but normally they weren't in the midst of fighting something like a Shoggoth. He was drilling her like an oil-well and she was ready to blow. In almost record time, her insides were clenching and entrapping the invader, holding it hostage until her body shook under the pressure of sweet, sweet release. "Hair trigger?" Tarloh whispered. "You know it," she murmured in replied. "Turn me around." Tarloh pulled his lover off of his shaft, spun her and braced himself as she jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist and lowering herself back onto his cock. "Now take me like you mean it," she growled. "I always mean it," he rumbled back as he shoved Talia's back against the wall and hammered her like there was no tomorrow. Because quite possibly, there wouldn't be. He was laying almost a foot of lumber on every stroke, driving the air out of her on the upswing and sucking it back in on the downswing. His balls were smacking against her taut ass like battering rams and could probably be heard throughout the Den. She was so hot and so wet . . . more so than he could ever remember. Talia was digging into Tarloh's powerful buttocks with her heels as he filled her as only he could. She clung to his chest, clawed at his shoulders and kissed him passionately. He was her man . . . her alpha male and lover. He was pushing against her so hard that she was getting an imprint of bricks on the skin of her back when he let his seed loosed in her warmth. Her pussy gripped his member, feeling it quiver and pump cum deep into her body. She gasped as she clung to him. He let out a deep breath as he filled her. Neither wanted to speak again. The silence and the moment were too perfect. -------------- ---------------------- In the medical area . . . -------------- ---------------------- Arthur was lying on the one intact gurney while Mindy straddled his hips. They had shared a giggle when they heard Tarloh, quite loudly, give Talia the stuff she craved. "Those two are so loud they could wake the dead," Mindy cooed, rocking her hips and savoring the feel of Arthur's cock inside her. She leaned over and took Robbie's warm dick between her lips as she rode Arthur. Red's brother had been chatting with the two friends when Tarloh and Talia had started going at it, and had been more than happy to join in. Mindy wanted to help him forget his troubles for a moment. Everyone was so stressed about the survival of the Strays or Jane's mental well-being that many overlooked that Robbie had almost lost his sister several times over recently. And with Arthur being tired, Mindy was determined to bear the "weight" of their sexual encounter on her quite capable shoulders. "Oh, that's so sweet," whispered Robbie as his organ slid down her throat and his pubes nestled against her nose. Mindy held is cock in her throat until he was almost ready to burst, the slow let in slide out, smiling up at him after it was free and then kissing its mushroom-like head. She felt Arthur's hands grasping her ass cheeks, holding them so fiercely that she wouldn't have been able to dismount if she had wanted too. His member seemed to have swollen to larger-than-normal proportions, as if fueled by desperation. Arthur was thrusting gently with his hips, driving himself deeper into this miraculous woman's body. Her pussy had become so familiar to him, yet always amazed him. It was so powerful and voracious yet gentle, much like Mindy herself. He saw Robbie's rod disappearing down her throat as his own member penetrated her vaginal opening. She moaned happily around Robbie's meat, eliciting a smile from that man. The reverberations went in from his manhood and spread throughout his body, making every hair on his body stand on end as her warm, wet mouth pleasured him. Mindy felt Arthur's lips encircle on of her nipples, his five o'clock shadow pressing against the sensitive flesh of her breast. He was hungry for her skin, and she wanted to satiate him . . . to satisfy both of her lovers. "Time to switch," she murmured. Mindy crawled off of Arthur's cock and down his body, letting her feet slide of the table until they touched the floor. She had let Robbie's shaft slide from her lips, but she quickly replaced it with Arthur's as Robbie wandered around behind her, grabbed her hips and sank his dick into her treasure trove. He wasn't quite so gentle as Arthur as he started to pound her, sometimes hard enough to lift her feet back off the floor. But Mindy wasn't the kind to complain. Her suction on Arthur's cock was absolute, and she hummed into his skin as Robbie banged her from behind. Mindy REALLY liked this arrangement. Robbie's cock-head was pressing her g-spot like an elevator button, but the elevator wasn't going all the way to the top floor any more. Thinking wasn't something Mindy was doing anymore. She was simply succumbing to pleasure. She had to lift her head off of Arthur's beautiful meat to avoid biting it when Robbie's constant, pounding thrusts brought her to delicious orgasm. It was a wet, warm climax that had her skin trembling, her body exhausted and her soul satisfied. "Nice work, Robbie my boy," Arthur said as Mindy's still-willing mouth finally encircled his cock again. "Always willing to please a lady," Robbie said as he started fucking Mindy again with the same pace and power as before. He sank his thumb into Mindy's tight sphincter. She moaned contentedly, sucking happily on Arthur's root. They went on like that for several minutes, Robbie playing with Mindy's ass and fucking her pussy while she blew Arthur's rod. But Mindy had developed a taste for something else . . . a sensation she wanted to revisit. "I want both of you," she said. "You've kind of got both of us," Arthur replied. "No . . . I want you both in here," she corrected, reaching back and touch where Robbie was entering her, "at the same time." "Is she serious?" Robbie directed to Arthur. "Dead serious," Mindy growled. She clambered back onto the table and sank onto Arthur's cock again. "Now get back in my pussy," she whispered back to Robbie. "I want to feel you both in me . . . I want you both to cum in me," she added. "We created a monster," Arthur said, holding her ass cheeks apart so Robbie could push his own dick into Mindy's already occupied pussy. Mindy's brain basically exploded as Robbie worked his way in. His cock was sliding against Arthur's as the two men pistoned her cunt, leaving Mindy feeling very filled. The last time they had done this to her, she had been nervous. Now, she needed it. It didn't take long before both men started to feel that familiar building pressure. But it was actually Mindy's next orgasm that set everything in motion. Her pussy was putting incredible pressure on both men's shafts, and it was that pressure that made them shoot a gallon of creamy seed into her womb. Three bodies lay atop a rickety surface, sweating like racehorses and gasping for breath. Mindy was sandwiched between two sexy and wonderful men, and she wished things could stay that way forever. ------------- ----------------- In the supply room . . . ------------- ----------------- "Step right up boys! Don't be shy!" Anya said with a grin before biting her bottom lip as Michael slid his member in her backdoor. She was straddling Chris, who was lying on his back on the floor. Michael was beginning to give her a nice, leisurely ass-fucking, and Matthew, Shield, Nathan and Johan stood nearby, smiling from ear to ear. Anya had decided earlier that everyone in the Strays deserved to get lucky, and she was more than happy to entertain as many of the troops as possible. With her front and back doors filled, she reached out and grasped the erect cocks of two on-lookers, stroking them while she took turns sucking on the two remaining members. "The girl can multi-task," the pretty-boy Nathan said as Anya took his entire dick in her throat. Anya was a sex machine, and she had gotten better at it since she started doing it with people who actually cared for her. "Mmh hmm," Anya agreed around the object in her mouth. She was stroking Matthew and Shield while blowing Nathan, and she wished she had more hands. All her boys were behaving themselves so nicely! Michael grabbed Anya's hips and started plowing her ass with greater fervor. With Chris's thick dick filling Anya's front tunnel, the pressure in her butt-hole was intense. "She's fucking incredible," he grunted. "She's fucking amazing," Nathan agreed. "She's just fucking," Shield said. Anya was bracing herself by placing her hands on Chris's massive chest, keeping her torso mostly upright. She noticed he was the only one not talking dirty to her, but that wasn't his style. Even in the middle of a gangbang, he was still, in a bizarre way, the quintessential southern gentleman. She knew that while all her lovers "liked" her, Chris was developing stronger feelings for her than that. She was afraid she wasn't ready to experience that kind of relationship yet, but wasn't going to turn him away. Chris made her feel special. She figured she'd have to talk to him about it, but that would have to wait until later . . . assuming they lived that long. Full Moon Strays Ch. 05 Then Anya heard a groan and felt Michael's rectal pounding cease. He was buried all the way in her backside as his penis erupted, sending a wave of jizz into her ass. It was one of those loads of almost Biblical proportions, and it was seeping out of her sphincter when he pulled out. Anya let loose of Nathan's cock with a gasp, drool dripping from her bottom lip. "Someone hurry," she whined. "You," she ordered, looking up at Nathan. "Get back there," she ordered, pulling Matthew over so she could swallow his root while jerking off Shield and Johan. Nathan scrambled to take Michael's place, easing his spit-slick shaft into her ass. It was everything he could ever have wanted it to be . . . which didn't really surprise him, since he'd done it before. But Anya had a way of reminding you, each time you had sex with her in any capacity, why you always came crawling back for more. And Nathan would crawl over broken glass for a chance to feel the tight velvet glove that was Anya's asshole. He started off slowly with nice, long, even strokes while he reached around her body and grasped her perky little tits. He watched the way the muscles of her back rippled as she pleasured every man around her, and that sight alone would have gotten him hard (if he weren't already). She would drain every one of them of their very essence and leave them thanking her for the privilege. Anya had become a party of flesh, and everyone was invited. Soon after Nathan penetrated her backside, the pressure had become too much for Chris and the man below her spewed his cream into her womb. She released the cocks from her mouth and leaned in to Chris's bemused and satisfied looking face. "Stay inside me," she whispered into his ear. She squeezed her vaginal muscles, coaxing his temporarily depleted member to remain at least semi-rigid. Chris was more than happy to oblige as he just lay back and let that spectacular woman do what she did so well. He felt the movement of Nathan's phallus in Anya's ass, and the sensation was helping keep him from going flaccid. Anya's lips quickly wrapped themselves around hot cock-flesh again, sucking Shield's thick root all the way down before pulling back up, slurping noisily. She loved it when spit hung from her lips during a blowjob. It tended to feed her amorous spirit. She would have to talk to Talia and Mindy though. They were being a couple of lightweights and only having sex with one or two people, leaving Anya to "reluctantly" carry the load. But she wouldn't complain. She was too much of a trooper, or at least that's what she told herself as she tried to fit the fleshy helmets of Shield's and Mathew's dicks in her mouth at the same time. It didn't quite work, but was a lot of fun to try. She had flesh in her mouth, her pussy and her ass. She had a mountain of humanity below her, and a fit, strapping young man pressing against her back. Anya wasn't sure if this could ever officially count as heaven but if it didn't, she never wanted to go there. She heard a gasp from in front of her and turned towards Shield's dick just in time to catch a mouthful of cum, which she greedily sucked down. She glanced up at Johan, who was jerking off while watching Anya swallow seed. "More," she muttered. It didn't take long before she had what she wanted, in more ways than one. After polishing Johan's knob with her mouth and stroking his shaft with her hand, the shadow demon erupted between her lips. And as she drank his fluid down, she felt Chris reached full mast again down south. She gobbled up Matthew's shaft, giving her a cock in every orifice. She wanted all of their cum, and she wanted it quickly . . . and all at once. Anya was a master with her own body. She would contract whichever opening she needed to move towards an apocalyptic climax. She was tender with her mouth while clenching her pussy, and she just let Nathan do what he was doing. Chris had already cum once, so he was going to have to be hurried along. She wasn't sure how long Nathan would last, or herself for that matter. She was due for a wallop of an orgasm, and she wanted it to be perfect. "Don't you dare," she growled at Nathan when she heard the rhythm of his breathing increase. "But . . . but . . . " he stuttered in reply. Asking him to stop at that moment was almost like asking a freight train to stop on a dime after moving at full speed. But he knew he had to manage, otherwise she might not ever let him take the dirt road again. "Yes . . . 'butt.' It's what you'll never see again if you don't hold on a little while longer," she almost snarled, confirming Nathan's concern. She actually lifter her shoulders up a bit higher, letting Matthew ram his shaft down her throat while she grabbed some of Chris's chest hair and hung on for the ride. Nathan just had to grin and bare it as he prayed his two comrades wills would weaken. As it turned out, Anya's will was the first to cave, and it set everything else in motion. Her back arched almost in a jerk as her body trembled in anticipation of her upcoming pleasure. Her vaginal walls ensnared Chris's member and her asshole clamped down on Nathan's stick. She proceeded to suck Matthew's rod like the vacuum of space, and the four of them climaxed within seconds of each other. For Nathan, there was no relief as sweet as filling that beautiful woman's butt with cream, particularly in light of his agonizing delay. He heard Anya sigh with contentment as Matthew gave her another load to swallow, and he knew that the squishy noise coming from her pussy was in at least some small part to Chris leaving a second deposit there. Anya licked the sticky, salty remnants of Matthew's gift from her lips and smiled, turning her head so she could see each of her lovers' faces. A camaraderie existed between them that defied convention and logic, but cared little for either. "So, anyone else ready for seconds?" the Latin babe asked with a devilish smile. ---------------- ---------------- Next to the tracks . . . ---------------- ---------------- Nat sat quietly, listening to the sounds of carnal satisfaction echoing from the station behind her. She bore them no ill will, but did feel a trifle lonely. She glanced down the tunnel toward Red's room . . . the room that held so many wonderful memories. She smiled. They were indeed some good memories. Then, she heard footsteps behind her. "I wish I was even partially gay," Talia said softly as she sat down beside her old friend. "I'd let you get a little action tonight," she chuckled. Natasha wrinkled her nose. "Not after you've been with THAT beast you wouldn't," she replied, looking back towards the cubby hole Tarloh usually slept in. "I don't even have that enhanced sense of smell you furries have, and I can smell the sex on you!" "Don't be bitter just because . . ." Talia started, then quickly stopped. "Because I made my choice and now Red isn't available anymore?" Nat finished. "Broken record babe. I got that message. I . . . strangely, I'm worried about Red." "Worried?" Talia asked, here eyebrows shooting up. "Red's as tough as they come." "In a fight, yes. But she never really had a chance to be a young woman. She was turned and fighting for her life while most girls were worried about prom dresses and first dates. She may be good at sex . . . in no small part to my own mad skills," Nat said with a wry grin, "but this . . . this is different. I've never seen her so bent out of shape, and it's all because of Jane." Nat shook her head. "Talia, I know you like the girl, and you know her a lot better than I do, but Jane . . . Jane is broken. And Red ain't the type to put things together again. And you know as well as I that if she sets her mind to trying and fails, it'll screw her up." Talia sighed. "I think you underestimate Red. Red NEEDS to protect people, and no one needs to protected more than Jane. You . . . you were so strong and stubborn that you never really needed Red. You wanted her, sure . . . but you didn't need her. But you're right about one thing. This is new territory for her. And it had to happen eventually." Talia took her friend's hand. "Nat, I think Red's in love with that broken down, basket-case of a girl. And that relationship, kinda like this fight we're in, has to play through to the end." "You're gonna take all the fun out of my worrying, aren't you?" Nat grumbled. If she wasn't going to be getting laid, she at LEAST wanted to be feeling righteous. Now, she wasn't getting either. "I try," Talia said, wrapping her arm around Nat's shoulder's while the near-invulnerable woman rested her head on the lycanthrope's shoulder. --------- ------------------- Down the tunnel . . . --------- ------------------- Jane and Red lay next to each other in a thick silence. Jane had gone numb after making the decision to go home. It was kind of like having butterflies in your stomach to an extreme degree. It was one thing to have nightmares, but it was another to seek them out in the holes they dwelled and facing them. Her head was lying in the crook of Red's arm, but it was not an act of intimacy. She barely knew that the red-headed woman was there. Red was searching the corridors of her mind, trying to find words of comfort or encouragement or . . . or anything. They were a sorry pair, with Red covered in bandages and Jane with an arm in a cast and the remnants of intensive bruising on her face. And soon, they would be leaving the place Red had called home for the last ten years to go to . . . to wherever it is that Jane had once called home, where the powerful but unstable young woman might very well rip her stepfather apart. And Red wasn't sure if she should try and stop that from happening. She wasn't sure if she wanted to. "Stop thinking," Jane said softly. "Your brain is loud . . . like an alley cat stuck in a trashcan, trying to get out." She felt a tear form at the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry Red. I'm sorry for everything I've done, and everything I brought upon the Strays." Red kissed the top of Jane's head. "We were fighting this war before you arrived. The Shoggoth would've come after us sooner or later anyway. But I know I won't convince you of that. You'll have to come to terms with it on your own." She felt a warm tingle as Jane cuddled closer to her. "Jane, when we get to where we're going, what do you want me to do?" Jane closed her eyes. "Just be there." --------------- --------------------- To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 06 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- "Full Moon Strays . . ." Part 6 -------------------- ------------------- Red was a lycanthrope . . . a powerful creature whose physical existence shifted between her human form and a half-human, half puma entity. She wasn't meant for or fond of enclosed spaces. The inside of a passenger train definitely counted as "enclosed." But nevertheless, she found herself sandwiched between an elderly gentleman who smelled faintly of mothballs and a pretty young woman with her arm in a sling. It was this latter creature . . . Jane . . . who had brought Red to this place. A few months earlier, Red had simply been worried about hellspawn activity in the underworld of Springfield, California. Since then, Jane had showed up, helped save Red's brother (another lycanthrope), manifested a powerful magical Talent, been almost killed twice and had fought an ancient and evil creature, almost losing her life and sanity in the process. Jane had come to the Strays a fragile and breakable creature, and the Shoggoth had preyed upon that and fed upon her growing mental instability. It had come so close to devouring Jane's soul that Red shuddered to think about it. Now, Red was escorting the woman she had unexpectedly and secretly come to love back to where she had grown up. And more importantly, she was taking Jane back to the thing Jane had been running from for years . . . the thing that had broken her spirit and sense of self-worth . . . the man, if he could be called that, that had hurt Jane so very badly so very long ago. Jane could feel herself getting closer to her home town with every jostle of the car, and she felt a chill creeping down from her brain and infesting the rest of her body. 'Do I really want to do this?' she asked of herself. 'No, I'm pretty sure I don't,' she thought. 'But I need to.' Her arm crept around Red's and she rested her head on the woman's shoulder. She knew the lycanthrope was uncomfortable leaving the Den in such a time of turmoil. "It'll be dark when we get there," Jane said absently. They would take the bus from the train station to the sleepy little town she had once called home. "If you want, you could get some sleep now and . . ." "No, that's okay," Red replied, pulling her girlfriend closer. "I don't think I could sleep now anyway." She paused. "Are we going straight there?" She didn't need to explain where "there" meant. "Yes," Jane whispered, almost fearfully. She still didn't know what she was going to do when she saw her stepfather. She hadn't seen Jack in many years . . . not since she had run away. It occurred to her that she hadn't even considered what she would do if she saw her mother. Jane's feelings about her mother were . . . complicated. The two women slipped back into silence. It would all be over soon enough. ----------- ----------------------------- Outside of Springfield, CA . . . ----------- ----------------------------- Deep in the recesses of a mountain cave, the Shoggoth stirred. It sensed that the creature it had grown to despise with unbridled passion had left the area, heading westward. Part of it was in still in her mind . . . not enough to exert influence, but certainly enough to know when its host was missing. As soon as the sun set, the Shoggoth would take flight for the first time since that pathetic little world had come into existence. It would not report back to its master that it had been foiled by some pathetic human, however powerful she might be. The Dark One would not wait for his foe to recover . . . it would attack as soon as possible. It would all be over soon enough. --------- ------------ In the Den . . . --------- ------------ The few remaining Strays, along with Natasha, were once again gathered around the central table. They had been debating where to move the Den for hours. Robbie was acting as his sister's surrogate, arguing to keep the Strays where they were. But he was outnumbered, even with Nat stepping in on his side as an "outside" voice. "This place just isn't safe anymore," Shield was saying. "There's so much bad mojo around that it's next to impossible to put up solid defenses." "So you want to move to a slaughterhouse? How much worse can the mojo get?! And it has no power, running water and . . ." "That can all be arranged and you know it," Tarloh interrupted. "I'm sorry, the big man said, less confrontationally, "but I don't want to sleep so close to wear we've buried our friends. This place was good to us over the years, but we've got to go." "And we've got to find some allies," Talia said, trying to shift the conversation to something they all agreed upon. Robbie would beat his case to death just because he knew it's what his sister wanted. "But who the hell would want to hook up with a bunch of people in the path of a God?" Nathan asked. "Not a God," came a voice from out of nowhere. "Just something that wishes it was." The Strays reacted with a start. Only one person they knew could be invisible, and that was Anya, who was sitting in plain sight. So if the hidden voice wasn't hers . . . Suddenly, a purple and green mist formed in the center of the table, and it seemed to crackle with lightning. Then red sparks shot out the side, while the mist formed the head of what humans would call a dragon. The dragon's head roared, but the roar sounded more like a lion. Tarloh had collected himself quickly and was actually rolling his eyes. "Lothar, would you can it?! You almost scared my people into doing something rash." The mist vanished and standing in the middle of the table was a slightly pudgy young man, no more than twenty-four, wearing purple robes with an assortment of gold moons and stars and random symbols decorating it. He also wore a large, conical hat with similar decorations and a pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses. "How did you know it was me?" came the now slightly-nasal and much-less-booming voice. "Because you have the tackiest entrances of anyone I've ever met," Tarloh grumbled. Lothar, or Lothar the Magnificent as he liked to be called, was a wizard from Los Angeles who had been helping Tarloh and the Strays in recent months try and identify the source of the Hellspawn threat. It was Lothar who had directed them towards the legends of the Elder Gods. "Tacky?!" Lothar blurted. "I worked hard on that entrance!" Most of the Strays had recovered and were curious about the newcomer. They had all heard of Lothar, but only Tarloh, Red and Talia had ever actually met him. "The Dragon was cool," Chris said. He'd liked fantasy books when he was younger, so he appreciated the effort. "Really? Did the scales look believable?" Lothar asked, suddenly distracted by actually having a fan. "Oh hell yeah," Chris said. "Though I'm not sure about the forked tongue and . . ." "AHEM!" Tarloh uttered. "Sorry," Lothar said quickly, wiping his hands on his garish robes. "What brings you down this way?" Talia asked. "Forget to tell us when we were . . ." "I think we may have a problem," Lothar said hurriedly. "Yeah, the Shoggoth. We've met it." "You MET the Shoggoth?" Lothar said, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "Well, one of us did," Anya said softly. "I'm sorry for your loss." "No, she's not dead, but it was close. And it was close to being worse," Anya replied. Lothar looked perplexed, so Tarloh quickly explained the whole story. Lothar listened intently and with great interest. "She actually drove the Shoggoth off?" he said at last. "This Jane person sounds quite formidable. Too bad she and Red aren't here, 'cause you guys ALL need to hear this." He took a deep breath, indicating the approach of a verbal onslaught. "The Shoggoth . . . it didn't make sense to me. Not that it was here, but that it would be trying to ascend, so to speak. So I began to wonder, how did this thing get loose from its prison? 'Cause there are a lot worse things in those prison dimensions than a Shoggoth." "Like WHAT?!" Mindy shouted. "Like the things that created the Shoggoths . . . the Elder Gods." Suddenly, there was silence. Lothar, being a bit of a ham, actually cast a silent spell that dimmed the lights, almost as if it were story time. "According the keepers of order . . . you might call them 'angels' . . . and their disciples, the Shoggoth rarely started power plays on their own. So either this one is one of the few rare rogues wanting its own dimension to play with, or it's just the tip of the iceberg. It may be trying to draw together enough power to free its master. And if that happens . . ." Lothar trailed off, his theatrical spell forgotten. "Lothar," Arthur began, "what would happen if an Elder God got free?" "Hell would be like a rest stop compared to what this dimension would become," Lothar replied with a gulp, then a breath. "You see, the Elder Gods major weakness in the new reality was that they couldn't travel between dimensions. So the force of order that defeated them sealed them in dimensions that contained ONLY the Elder Gods and their forces. If the dimensional wall to one of the prison dimensions has weakened so that the Shoggoth can escape and eventually free its master . . . And that's not the worse of it." "It isn't?" Tarloh said, almost too exhausted to be surprised anymore. "No. The one that this Shoggoth served, according to my sources, was the last of the Elder Gods to be imprisoned. It was the most powerful of them, and it was the one the others had united to try and defeat. If it gets free and into this dimension, it will be powerful and hateful and insane beyond all reason. And it will do ANYTHING to keep from getting sent back. The problem is that the force of order that defeated it has remained basically on the sidelines for the sake of balance. It has had no counterpart since time as we know it began, so it has simply watched. If the Elder God gets free, then the force of order. . . God . . . will go after it. Whatever dimension they fight in . . . well, our dimension to be more specific . . . would become the battleground for the Second Great War. Every intelligent species has some legend about that war, according to the prophets at least. Around here, it's mostly just called Armageddon . . . the End of Days." ---------- ------------------------------- Later, somewhere out East . . . ---------- ------------------------------- The sign announcing Jane's home town had been tagged by wannabe "gangstas," making it impossible to read in the fading light. Jane would have been amused if her mind hadn't been elsewhere. There weren't any real gangsters in her home state of Idaho. Lots of pretend ones to be sure. Jane and Red were walking down the long, semi-paved road that led to the house she had grown up. Every step echoed in her skull, and every breath crept out from between clenched teeth. 'What should I do?' she asked of herself. 'I want him dead . . . I want his blood on my hands,' she thought, growing angry now. 'I want to show him who has the power . . .' Jane stopped in her tracks. Red looked over the young woman's shoulder at the house they had arrived at. The lawn was unkempt, the windows and doors boarded up and a sign in the front lawn that read, "Property for Sale." "Impossible," Jane muttered. Her mother had sworn she would live in that little house forever. She and her father had promised . . . Jane's real father. Jane walked up to the front door. Without even thinking, she sent strands of hair out and ripped the boards off the door and then the door off its hinges. Red looked around, thankful there was some distance between them and the neighbors. Jane walked inside. Everything was gone but the dust and the memories. She knew Red was following her, but she didn't really care. She went first to the den where she remembered curling up on her father's lap as a child, watching the Rose Bowl Parade every year and cartoons every Saturday. Then on to the kitchen where she and her mother had made cookies and her mother had sometimes brushed long, beautiful hair. Even as a child, Jane had gorgeous locks. Down the hall Jane went, then stopped at a little room with a wooden floor. There was a plank torn up in the corner. It's where she had hidden her diary once upon a time. She walked over and stared down at the empty hole, her heart beating a mile a minute in her chest and almost unfathomable fear and rage battled for control of her thoughts. Red stood quietly in the doorway. 'Was this where it happened?' she thought. 'Was this where the monster struck?' "What do I do?" Jane asked, her back still to Red. "We find where he went," Red said. "And we finish it." "I finish it," Jane corrected, staring at the floor. Red sniffed the air. The house had been abandoned for some time. An occasional hint of a visitor, maybe a realtor or a transient or stoned teenager, but no long-time occupants. Then she heard tires on pavement coming to a halt, hear a motor cooling off. "Someone's here," she said, taking Jane by the shoulders and walking towards the front door. She'd try and talk them out of it, because Jane was in no condition to make a run for it. Out front, Red saw a sheriff's cruiser . . . one of the slightly older models she thought was reserved for television shows. There was an slightly elderly gentleman walking around the front, and Red noticed thankfully that his hand didn't instinctively reach for his gun. He was probably one of those guys who had been on the force so long that he wasn't going to risk getting in a gunfight with two girls on a B&E at an abandoned house. "Ladies, I'm afraid you're trespassing," he said in a tired voice. "And I'll bet you were going to tell me how the door was all broken by the time you got here?" Despite being caught on the defensive, Red actually found herself liking this cop. He was no nonsense, and Red respected that. "No officer. We . . ." "Holy shit!" the officer said, finally getting a good look at the woman who had been standing in Red's shadow. "Jane? Jane Collier?" Once the girl had shown her face in the streetlight, he had recognized her instantly. He better well have. A slightly livelier version of that face had been staring at him from a "missing" poster for the last five years. "Sheriff Horton," Jane whispered, her face downward but her eyes glancing up. "Good . . . good grief," he said, excited as could be. He took a step forward, but Jane retreated and Red interjected herself. He stopped. He wasn't surprised, but he had been forgetful. He knew more about what had happened than Jane could probably guess. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's just . . . damn girl, no one's seen ya for five years, and here you are, just . . . just outta the blue." "I . . . I've been . . . away," she replied, stepping up to Red's side again. Sheriff Randolph Horton was a good man. He had been sheriff of this county for as long as Jane had been alive. He was more quick with forgiveness than condemnation, and that had earned him a place in the community many, many years ago. Her father had always thought highly of him. "I can guess that," he said. "Uhm, what are you doin' here?" he asked. He wasn't sure if Jane knew what had happened after she had left. Jane was flushing, but from fear or shame or what she couldn't say. "I . . . was just . . ." She straightened up her back. "Where's my mother?" she asked. "Where'd they move too?" "Gosh . . . you've been gone but . . . I just thought you knew, but . . . but I guess you not knowin' might explain why you didn't come back." "Where are they?!" Jane said, her voice carrying some force and volume now. "Where is that son of a bitch?!" she added, the anger returned. "Where . . ." Red had to give the officer credit. He was keeping his cool. "Jane . . . Jack is over on Pine Brook Road now," the officer said, obviously not sure how Jane would react. Jane looked like she'd been hit with a brick. Her eyes glassed over and her head turned slightly as she mouthed some words that Red didn't pick up. Red looked at the sheriff. "What's on Pine Brook Road?" ----------- --------------------- A few minutes later . . . ----------- --------------------- "This isn't fair," Jane said, clenching her fists and staring at the small mound of earth before her. Red had found something out about the sleep little town that evening. There was only one thing on Pine Brook Road . . . the only thing that had ever been there and the only thing that ever would be . . . Pine Brook Cemetery. On the tombstone read "Jack Ewes: 1964 – 2005." No other epitaph was to be found. "What now?" Jane asked almost angrily of Red. "How do I confront a dead guy?!" She fell to her knees and began beating the ground with her hands, leaving Red to hope she didn't start using her powers. "It's not fucking fair! You don't deserve to sleep you son of a bitch!" "No rest for the wicked," Sheriff Horton muttered, taking a step back. He knew the girl deserved to vent. She deserved a hell of a lot more. Jane stopped and began to weep on the ground. Jack was beyond her power . . . she'd never be free of him. "Where's her mother?" Red asked quietly. The sheriff sighed. "She's . . . she's in prison." Jane swung her head around. "What?!" "Jane, I'm not sure how . . . Hell Jane, your momma was convicted of killin' yer stepfather three years ago. She wouldn't say a word in her defense. Hell, I don't think she's spoken to anyone since." "Why . . ." Jane started, her mind reeling. "She . . . she found your diary," the sheriff replied, his heart in his throat. He'd read those pages himself. He'd read every day of her pain, and had wished deep down he could have done what Laura Collier had done. "She went nuts. I know she was out of it most of the time, but . . ." He stopped. Laura had shot her scumbag husband to death with a twelve-gauge shotgun while he lay drunk in his chair. The defense attorney assigned to her had managed to get a severely reduced sentence due to independently found evidence of abuse. She had been sentenced to serve time at a psychiatric hospital. The only person she was a danger to anymore was herself. But what had really helped her, as much as the sheriff hated to think of it, was when the jury heard Jane's words . . . printed clear as day in a little book covered with pink-velvet with a big red heart on the front. "We know what he did," the sheriff began. "Your mother knew . . ." "What," Jane said crisply, looking him in the eye. "You know nothing. He . . . raped . . . me," she said. The earth has a profound respect for some things. For the moment, the earth grew silent in that little corner of its surface. Jane let out a breath. It was the first time she had said that word out loud in eight years. "He had always been creepy," she continued. "Doing things he shouldn't have. But I was scared . . . and Mom was so doped up on some kind of anti-fucking-depressant that she never noticed, and she never listened. Then . . . when Mom was at work . . . he walked into my room . . . talked nice to me . . . started to . . . to touch me," Jane said, sobbing again. "I tried to push him away, but he was so strong. He kept telling me how I was so grown up and how pretty I was and how it would only hurt for a minute . . ." Jane put her head on the ground, gripping the worm-filled earth. "You don't know what it was like . . . how dirty I felt . . . how guilty. Don't tell me you know . . . you couldn't possibly know." She sat up, dirt on her face, and stared at the stars. "And Mom never caught on. She couldn't handle being alone after Dad died, so . . . so she just turned off. She married Jack, and let him . . . she left me alone with him and he forced himself on me!" Full Moon Strays Ch. 06 Red's soul had become frigid. She wanted to rip the ground up and shred the bones. "I am SO sorry," the sheriff said, his hear in his throat and on his sleeve. "I ain't criticizing you, but you . . . you could have come forward. I never much trusted Jack, and I would've . . ." "I don't think second guessing is going to do us much good," Red said. She turned and knelt on the ground beside Jane, who had gone back to pounding the turf with her fists and crying. "It's not too late," Sheriff Horton replied. "You can still talk to the parole board . . . maybe help your momma out and . . ." "Why the fuck would I want to help her?!" Jane hissed. "She let this happen." The sheriff sighed. "That's not true. Your mom wasn't any more invulnerable than anyone else. She loved your dad so much . . . losin' him almost destroyed her." "Dad," she whispered. She stood up and strode down a path, pausing long enough to spit on Jack Ewes grave. Red and the sheriff followed at a safe distance. "Sorry," he asked, "but where do you fit in to this?" Red shook her head. "I'm not totally sure," she admitted. "But I'm here for her. In whatever way she needs me to be." The Sheriff Horton nodded. He wouldn't ask any more questions about that. "Where's she been all these years?" "Running . . . hiding . . . trying to forget," Red said by way of reply. "What happened to her arm?" "Long story." Jane had stopped at another grave. This one was much better maintained. The headstone read, "William Collier: Loving Husband and Father: Soldier." It had been too long since she had been there. "Hi Dad," Jane whimpered. "It's me. I'm sorry I haven't been by, but . . . things have gotten complicated." She put her face in her hands. "Why did you leave me here? Things were fine until you . . . you . . . until you died. He hurt me Dad. He hurt me, and you're supposed to protect me!" She took a step away and turned her back on the tombstone. Then she turned back. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Jane stared at her feet. "I'm sorry I let you down." Red slowly walked over and put a hand on Jane's shoulder. "You didn't let him down," she murmured. "You were just a kid . . ." "Who was afraid to say anything," Jane replied in a tear-choked voice. "If I had just said something . . . but I didn't. I just hid and ran. I let people . . . do things to me and tried to pretend it was love. Red, he," she said, pointing towards her father's grave, "was a fighter. He protected people with his life. I'm a quitter and a coward and a worthless whore and . . ." "Stop it!" Red shouted. She was tired of where that rant was heading. "Don't you get it?! Do you really think I would've risked my ass TRYING to rescue the kind of person you're talking about? You really think the Strays would've walked into hell for the sake of a coward? Okay, I get it . . . you're scared. You're angry at Jack for what he did, and you're angry at yourself. For what? Because someone three times your size forced himself on you and you couldn't stop it? Damn it, I've been getting my ass kicked a lot recently. I didn't think I stood a chance against the Dark One, but I was willing to fight it. I was willing to fight because I thought what I was fighting for was worth it." Red put her forehead against Jane's. "I still do. I just wish you did. You keep showing that you want to fight. You've shown that you can." She looked down at the grave of William Collier. "Being a soldier isn't about winning," she added. "It's about fighting. It's about serving something bigger than yourself." Sheriff Horton was confused. He had been trying not to eavesdrop, but he hadn't been trying very successfully. 'What does 'Dark One' mean?' he thought. 'Is this some kinda new slang the kids are using?' Jane pressed her cheek against Red's chest as the lycanthrope's arms encircled those trembling shoulders. "He would've liked you," Jane said softly. "I think you're a lot like him." Red kissed her head. "Is that why you wanted to be with me?" "I don't know. Maybe." Jane looked up. "Is that okay? That you remind me of something good?" "It's a start," Red responded, as gently as she knew how. "But . . . do you think you might . . . love me for me?" "I think I've already started." Jane snuggled her head back under Red's chin. "I don't get revenge do I? I don't get the last word." "You get the last laugh," Red said, holding her lover close. "You get to live while he rots in hell. You get to start over. He's cashed in his chips and left the table. You get to be alive. He'll never get that again." ------------ ---------------------------------------------- Somewhere in the skies over California . . . ------------ ---------------------------------------------- Patrick wasn't sure why he had stuck around. The Strays had to have known that he had betrayed them, so his life was pretty much forfeit if they every caught up with him. But something had kept him here . . . had kept him from running. He kept thinking how easy it would be to just fly off into the night sky underneath . . . "What the . . ." he started to say. The stars had vanished overhead. "Oh my . . ." Whatever he had meant to say died on Patrick's lips as hew was enveloped by the darkness. The Dark One needed a host. Its body had been damaged, so it was going to borrow another one. This one was weaker than the girl had had been, but he would have to do. It seeped into Patrick's frail form through his ears, nose, mouth, and even his anal cavity. His legs seemed to explode to be replaced with dozens of black tendrils. Similar limbs protruded from his mouth, making him look much like a squid. His hands developed into enormous claws, and vast bat-like wings sprouted from his back. 'AND NOW,' it thought as it took its newly won prize on a blistering pace through the sky, feeling very much reenergized, 'I WILL HAVE THE WOMAN'S SOUL, EVEN IF I MUST PRY IT FROM HER COLD DEAD FINGERS!' --------- ------------------------ Down in the Den . . . --------- ------------------------ Tarloh stood aside from the rest of the Strays, all of whom were buzzing about the possibility of a genuine apocalypse. He heard footsteps approaching. "Hey big guy," Natasha said, sitting on the floor in front of him. "So can we say, 'Well at least it can't get any worse' yet?" "I'd rather we didn't," he replied in a deep, gruff voice. "This is more than we ever bargained for. We can barely stay together. How can the Strays fight something like this? You and Jane were the only ones who would stand a chance against the Shoggoth, and it's apparently just a minnow next to its boss." "Then get help," Nat said. "Who? We don't have a lot of contacts and even if we did, who would want to come out here and help us fight . . . well, the Devil?" "If this thing gets loose, it's going to affect all of us. I don't think we can fight it, but we NEED to keep it from using a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. We need to find where the dimensional barrier has thinned and we need to find a way of fixing it." Nat drummed her fingers on the ground. "I think I may have heard of someone who could help us with the former . . ." "And I," said Lothar, appearing in a mist, "think I might be able to help with the latter." He looked over at Nat. "You're quite perceptive. You might just be smart enough to be my apprentice!" He drooled inwardly at the idea of having the hard-bodied woman around. Nat rolled her eyes. "I'm close to invulnerable, I'm stronger than most anyone here, I'm hot and I make seven figures a year. What can you possibly offer me?" Lothar was at a loss for words. He didn't make that much! "Okay, could you two stop flirting," Tarloh interrupted, trying to keep a straight face even after getting kicked in the shin by Nat. "What did you two have in mind?" Nat leaned back, bracing herself with her hands. "There are a lot of Talented humans out there. And being in the protection business, I've met several. There's one that I've heard of who has an . . . understanding of dimensions beyond anything you or I could grasp. His name is Croc, but . . ." "But what?" "He's . . . well, he's an assassin." Tarloh just stared at his old friend, assuming that she had misspoke. "I'm not kidding. Don't get me wrong, he's supposed to be one of those guys who only goes after really bad people. The CIA has hired him a number of times to flush out people they can't get to. But I wanted you to know what he is." Tarloh looked thoughtful. "I couldn't say unless I met him. But regardless, how could he help?" "He actually can slip out of this dimension." Nat looked at Lothar. "Let me know if get something wrong, but I understand that the dimensions are almost like bubbles pressed up against each other. Well, that means that there is 'space' between them. Croc hunts by sliding through dimensional membranes, at which point he can basically reappear anywhere he wants. And somehow he can emerge just enough into this dimension to look around but not be easily detected himself, much less hurt. It's kind of how a crocodile sticks its eyes above the surface of the water, hence the name 'Croc'. But he can feel where the dimensional barrier is weak." "So what do you have for us?" Tarloh said, looking at Lothar. "And why exactly are you doing this? Field work has NEVER been your specialty?" Lothar blushed. "Like the woman said, if the Elder God gets loose, it's everyone's problem." He straightened his back a bit. "I've heard rumors from South America about a magical item that can heal anything, flesh or not. "It's supposed to be a big jewel that a shaman I've heard of has hidden in his village. Roughly translated, it's called the Heaven's Eye. Big friggin' jewel, or so I hear." Lothar sighed. "But he's not likely to give it up without a fight. He's a bit of a savage. That's not me being a snob either. He's actually trying to convince the locals to take up human sacrifice and cannibalism again." Lothar gulped a big breath of air. "I'm willing to go, but I'm not a fighter," he admitted dejectedly. Tarloh cocked his head. "But you're a valuable ally," he said, meaning it. Normally Lothar was just a geek with some cool tricks. He was showing himself to be made of sterner stuff than Tarloh had thought. "We would need to find someone who could get down there quickly, since I'm assuming you couldn't really teleport an army." "Nope," Lothar admitted. "Teleportation is tricky when it's just me." The leader of the Strays appeared deep in thought. "Robbie!" he shouted suddenly. Red's brother wandered over, a number of the Strays following in his wake. "Wa'as up boss?" "Do you have a guess where the Raptors might be this time of year?" Robbie just stared at the werebear like he'd lost his mind. "Why?" "Because we might need their help." "They're insane! I mean, I thought WE liked to fight, but the Raptors are . . . edgy." "Uhm, who are the Raptors?" Chris asked. He hadn't been with the Strays as long as some of the others. "The Raptors are a bunch of orphans that can fly," Tarloh explained. "They've slipped through different dimensions, but can't coexist this close to civilization like we can. It's hard to hide those wings. There's maybe a dozen or so of 'em. Some succubae, at least one gargoyle, two quetzalcoatl . . ." "What's a quetzalcoatl?" "A winged serpent. One went a little nuts down south a few millennia ago and the Aztecs started worshiping it. Normally, not bad creatures from what I understand." Tarloh concentrated. "They've also got a pack of dragons . . . don't get excited people. Apparently on Terra, they're kind of like intelligent vermin. Oh, and the harpies. Can't forget the harpies." "Harpies?" queried Johan. "Aren't those dangerous?" "Only if you piss them off. They're a warrior race at heart. But they may be just what we need, and they're not often going to back down from a fight. They're actually migratory, so they might not be in this area." Robbie was thinking hard. "Actually, I think they'd be in Mexico right about now. We haven't had any contact with them in years, but they were pretty consistent. Tracking them will be a bitch though, even if we have a starting point. Who's going to go looking for them, and how do we even know where to start?" "And I doubt that this Croc character is going to help us out of the goodness of his heart," Tarloh said, giving Nat a glance. "Leave that to me," she replied. She had a good amount of cash put away, and they weren't asking him to do anything but help find weak spots in the dimensional membrane. It should be enough. "I'll put word out. If he's interested, he can apparently get in touch really quickly." "I've got a locator spell that I've devised," Lothar started. "It's not perfect, but it should put us in the same area as these Raptors." "You weren't planning on going after THEM were you?" "I think it would be best," the wizard replied nervously. "If we can enlist their help and they ARE in Mexico, I think it would be good to head straight down to South America, and I think I should be there to help with that shaman and handle the Heaven's Eye." "When did you become a hero?" Tarloh asked, almost amused. "I'm not. But I don't want this dimension destroyed. It's where I keep all my stuff." The Strays actually began to laugh. They hadn't had much to laugh about recently. And Lothar, for the first time in his life, felt like he belonged somewhere. All his power and all his fame and wealth . . . it didn't seem as important to him as did the camaraderie he experienced at that moment. "Let's get started first thing tomorrow," Tarloh said at last. "This dimension isn't going to save itself." ----------- ------------- Out east . . . ----------- ------------- Jane and Red were moseying down an old dirt road towards the town's only hotel. The sheriff had offered to give them a lift, but it was only a couple of miles and the two women, especially Jane, needed to walk off some frustration. The sheriff had given Jane some information that she has asked for, and they had agreed to rendezvous the next morning to work out some legal matters. Jane felt like someone riding a roller coaster whose heart was still beating in her chest, but who could finally see the end in sight. She wanted off that crazy ride and get her feet under her for the first time in many years. "Talk to me," Red said after a lengthy silence. "What's going through your head?" Jane leaned against her girlfriend. "Nothing. I'm so used to it being dark in there . . . in my mind . . . and scary and chaotic. But now I don't know what to think. I'm not used to it being so quiet." Then she stopped, her eyes shooting towards the sky. "It's here," she whispered. "What's here?" Red asked, already knowing the answer. "The Dark One. It's come for me." Jane thought it was ironic. She had come out here for revenge. Apparently, it wasn't for HER revenge. She turned towards Red, raised herself up on her tiptoes and kissed the lycanthrope square on the lips. It was brief, but to the point. And it might very well be the last. "I won't let it take you," Red promised. It wasn't fair. They were supposed to get a break. They were supposed to have some time together to heal. But the darkness was coming nonetheless. The trees around them were being buffeted by strong winds, though the air had been quiet just moments before. Red and Jane heard a scream of unimaginable hate from above, and they heard branches cracking as something came through the foliage. What landed appeared to have been human once, but neither of the two women would have recognized it as Patrick except that the remains of his clothes still clung to its hide. Red smiled a little at that. He had wanted to serve at its side. Now, he was a little closer than that. This thing was a undulating mass of tentacles and claws and wings . . . all as black as a starless sky. And it seemed to be screaming, the sound coming out of its skin and making the hairs on the back of the girls' necks stand on end. {{WELL, MY LITTLE MEAT PUPPET,}} it emitted, {{IT'S TIME TO FINISH WHAT I STARTED. I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU WISH YOU HAD JOINED ME. I WAS GOING TO KEEP YOU ALIVE LONG ENOUGH TO FEED YOU TO THE MASTER, BUT NOW I BELIEVE THAT I WILL JUST RIP THE SKIN FROM YOUR BODY AND LET YOU CRAWL IN A POOL OF YOUR OWN BLOOD AND WATCH WHILE I VIOLATE THAT HALF-BREED BITCH WHO TRAVELS WITH YOU.}} Red moved between Jane and the Shoggoth, morphing into her half-human, half-puma form. The Shoggoth shot a tentacle out, smacking Red in the side. As she went flying through the air, she raked the tentacle with her claws, cutting it deeply. Even as she crashed into a tree and had the wind knocked out of her, she came to a realization. 'It's mortal,' she thought. The Dark One turned its attention back to Jane. {{ANY LAST WORDS BEFORE THE PAIN BEGINS?}} Jane did something then that the Shoggoth had never expected. Normally, it would relish the unexpected as such things tended to fall under the realm of chaos. But this . . . this was disconcerting. Jane had begun to laugh. Jane couldn't control herself. What had started as a brief expulsion of air quickly turned into that type of laughter that interfered with breathing. The Shoggoth looked so . . . so . . . ridiculous. 'Before the pain begins?' she thought, trying to regain her composure so she could fight for her life. 'What does it think I've been in for eight years?' And therein lay the problem for the Shoggoth. It lived on pain and fear and madness. Its source of nutrition back in Springfield was too far away to provide it sustenance, and Jane . . . there was no pain there left to feast upon. Jane was tapped out. She had already beaten the Shoggoth back once, so she didn't fear it like she should or like it needed her to fear it. And the chaos in her mind was gone. Its mental tricks and powers were useless against her. {{NO MATTER,}} it sent. {{I AM STILL MORE THAN CAPABLE OF KILLING ONE SILLY LITTLE GIRL!}} "You need to learn to count," it heard from behind it. Claws sank into its back and fangs latched on to the back of its neck. The Shoggoth had forgotten about Red, and that was a costly mistake. The Dark One felt something quite pure coming from the lycanthrope that was attempting to eat it . . . love. Red loved Jane and that was translated into something else quite pure . . . hate. She hated the Dark One and anyone or anything else that had ever hurt the little dark-haired girl in the past. And that pure hatred was directed at the Shoggoth. It realized, a bit too late, that it had fucked with the wrong two people on the wrong night. The Shoggoth howled and used some of its tentacles to reach up and pull Red off, taking chunks of its flesh with her. It raised the lycanthrope over its head, intent on smashing her against the ground when it was struck in the midsection by a tree. Not a branch, but an entire tree. Jane had ripped it out of the ground with her magical hair and had swung it with great force, knocking the Shoggoth back and causing it to drop Red. The fight was on. Even as it begun, the Shoggoth realized that it was going to lose. It, a creature that had once struck terror in the hearts of entire civilizations, was going to be destroyed by two young women. Jane was protected her arm and lashing out with her hair, more focused than ever before. Where the Shoggoth had dozens of tentacles, Jane had thousands of strands of hair. She whipped at the Shoggoth's flesh and beat it with whatever was available. Her follicle army did, however, part to let Red maneuver freely, clawing and biting and ripping to her animalistic heart's content. The Shoggoth did not go down without a fight, but it was losing power exponentially. Its opponents' confidence grew with each second, while the Dark One itself began to lose hope . . . something it hadn't even known it possessed. Full Moon Strays Ch. 06 When it was over, Jane almost felt cheated. She had expected more. She had some new bruises and was bleeding from a cut lip, and Red was in much the same condition. But the Shoggoth finally toppled, crashing to the ground. The darkness that made it up began to melt, seeping into the earth and disappearing from sight, leaving the remains of Patrick's body behind. And around the two girls was silence. Then, a few crickets began to chirp and the world returned to normal. A demi-god had just died, but the earth was going to show no remorse at its passing. Red and Jane stared at the ground for a moment. Then Red gathered up Patrick's remains and tossed them into the woods before reverting to human form. When the body was finally found . . . IF the body was found, there would be no way to connect it back to her. She walked over and held Jane close. "Let's go," she said. "I think that's enough excitement for one night. "I was hoping," Jane began, looking up into Red's eyes and biting her bottom lip, "that we might have some more excitement." Jane, much to her own surprise, still needed to work off some energy. "You know, when we get to the hotel?" Red shook her head, but was smiling while she did so. "I don't think I'll EVER figure you out." ---------- ---------------- At the motel . . . ---------- ---------------- It wasn't as romantic as Jane would have liked. Neither woman had engaged in much personal grooming for weeks and both smelled like they had just been in a fight. They were bruised, battered, and Jane was still ginger with her healing arm. But nothing short of an act of God was going to keep them apart that night. As soon as they had paid the deposit and gotten in the room, Jane had turned and with a bit of her traditional shyness returning, she slowly raised up on her toes, keeping contact with Red's eyes until the last possible second, and then kissed her. She could taste Red's sweat (and a little bit of her blood), but she couldn't remember anything feeling as good as those lips against her own. "Are you sure you want this now?" Red asked. "Yes," came the reply. "I really do." Red picked Jane up, minding her arm, and carried her over to the full-sized bed with blue-floral bedspread folded back so nicely. The room was overly cool, as motel rooms often are, with the hum of the antiquated air-conditioning unit emanating from under the window. Red lay down next to Jane, slightly to the side. As she kissed the young woman some more, she let a hand wander down Jane's front to the crotch of her jeans, squeezing her mound gently through the fabric. Jane gasped, but obviously not from pain. She had come home to confront someone who had taken her by force. Now, she was giving herself willingly to someone far more worthy. Jane felt Red's hand release her momentarily, then slide under the snug waist of her pants. Jane felt Red's fingers approaching the slightly fuzzed and slightly moist entrance to Jane's body. Those fingers touched the southern-most point of Jane's slot, drawing their way upward and an excruciatingly slow pace. It slid up and down, just barely entering the cleft and lighting up Jane's who body. She sent her magical hair out, removing her clothes as well as Red's leathers. "That stuff comes in handy," Red said as Jane's hair caressed her now-bare back as it retracted to its normal length. It was actually kind of ticklish. But its silky caress didn't have nearly the effect that Red's finger was having on Jane's body. The smaller woman's skin was already getting goosebumps as she gripped her normalized hair, bucking her hips slowly against her lover's hand. Red stopped her kiss, but withdrew only a little bit, then ran her tongue around Jane's lips. Jane tried to capture that tongue and draw it into her mouth, but Red was crafty. She kept it just out of Jane's hungry mouth until the girl's breath grew desperate and ragged. Then there lips made contact again, they shared a jolt of electrical pleasure and their tongues danced together. Finally Red's finger stopped skimming the surface and began exploring Jane's depths. The red headed woman sank her middle finger in and left her palm pressed against Jane's clitoral hood. Her finger pumped rapidly while her palm pumped more slowly, but they were each effective in their own way. Jane let her good arm reach around and hold Red as close as she could and still be able to breathe. And when Jane started to climax, she moaned directly into Red's mouth and that connection was so solid that no sound escaped. But a great deal of Jane's nectar escaped as she left her mark on Red's hand and the cheap hotel comforter. Red wanted to pull back for a moment and give both girls a chance to catch their breath. Jane was having none of it. She kept kissing until they both ran out breath, and even then only parted reluctantly. "Is it my turn?" she asked. "There are no turns," Red responded. "Just sharing." Jane kissed Red's neck, sliding her own hand down to Red's crotch, pushing her finger inward and matching her lover's tempo. Her hair extended, wrapping both in a cocoon as it obeyed her subconscious desire to never let Red go. She had been running for so long with tears in her eyes that she didn't realize until that night in the graveyard that she had arrived somewhere that maybe . . . just maybe . . . she had been supposed to go all along. "I can love you now," she whispered during one of the few moments they weren't joined at the lip. "I do love you now." Red shifted her invading finger, curling the tip and rubbing against an unseen spot. "How about now?" Jane was seeing stars. "I REALLY love you now!" She again tried to emulate her lover and after a little practice, met with some success. Of course, that didn't stop Red from getting Jane off a second time before Jane was able to, with ragged breath and a trembling hand, return the favor. The small room smelled heavily of their sex and the throes of the lovemaking seem to have seeped into the very walls. But Jane wasn't done. She commanded her hair to release its grip, but only so that it could lift her up off the bed while protecting her arm, spinning her around and holding her face just over Red's beautiful pussy. Red got a bird's-eye view of Jane's sweetness in the process. It looked good enough to eat to the red headed carnivore, so she dove it with an appetite. Jane's own oral attempts started much more gingerly and exploratory, but she grew in confidence with each moan or contented grunt that she elicited from her more experienced partner. Red's tongue was in so deep that Jane thought it might pop out the other end, and the lycanthrope's thumbs were massaging the peach-fuzz on Jane's swollen outer labia. Her touches sent shocks through Jane's body while her tongue grounded the young woman. Jane was spending much more time around the surface, tasting her little piece of the pie with her tongue, one inch at a time. One of her favorite spots to savor was the clit. True, it was kind of taking the easy way out in regards to getting a reaction, but she was still learning. She just knew that pleasing Red was important to her. She also realized that she had been holding herself up with her enchanted hair for quite some time now without tiring. 'I'm getting better and a lot of things,' she thought happily. Red sucked Jane's inner labia into her mouth, letting out a playful growl as she tugged them with her lips. Jane had only one response . . . to latch her mouth around that sensitive nub and just suck as hard as she could. The lycanthrope thought her eyes were going to be sucked into her stomach with the kind of pressure Jane was applying. Red released those inner lips and started moving her tongue up and down the cleft with blurring speed, but it was too late. Jane was going to win that round hands down, making Red's body shiver with delight. She bucked her hips, forcing her crotch harder against Jane's sweet mouth, letting the girl taste the fruits of her victory. Jane just suckled contentedly at the moist fleshy bits as Red continued her "work." It didn't take long. She licked at Jane like a really big kitty at a saucer of milk, and eventually got the cream inside. The younger woman was too exhausted for her body to put much into the orgasm, but the pleasure she felt was no less than the first time. The two women were sweating and breathing hard, but both were also smiling. Red looked at the bed, then called the front desk to see if they could get some new sheets. She threw on a spare set of clothes, ran down to the office and headed back with dry linen, making an excuse about "spilling something." By the time she got back, Jane had fallen asleep in a chair, and Red gently lifted her up and tucked her into bed. ----------------- -------------------------- The next morning at the Den . . . ----------------- -------------------------- Talia was sitting next to the remains of the main table, looking around. The Strays had decided to move, but she had to admit that she would miss the place. For all the blood on the paved stone and metal tracks, the Den had some good memories. Her good times with Tarloh . . . Mindy yelling at her brothers for a prank they had played . . . Anya belly-dancing on the table . . . Red and Robbie arm-wrestling for an hour . . . good times. But she saw something that Red hadn't quite grasped. It was just a place. What had made it "home" was the people, and the people could move. They NEEDED to move. She sighed. Before going to bed, she needed to see how her best friend was doing. She went to the supply area and grabbed one of the pre-paid cell-phones the Strays had acquired. She headed down a tunnel and closer to the surface, hoping that Red would have called to let her know that they had gotten to where they were going safely. She checked the messages and found out that she had just missed Red's call. "Drat," she mumbled, sitting underneath a drainage gate where she could get the best signal as she listened to Red's message. "Hey . . . everyone," the voice came. "Uhm, we've . . . we've got a lot to report. Don't worry when I tell you this, but the Shoggoth came after us." Talia's heart jumped out her throat. "But," Red's voice continued, "we actually managed to kill the damn thing. It had possessed Patrick's body . . . he's dead too, if anyone wants to cry about it . . . but it just wasn't as strong as I thought. I guess Jane fucked it up more than we suspected. Anyway, that's one less problem. Jane . . . Jane didn't have to do anything bad. I'll explain . . . actually, I'll let her explain when we get back. I think we're going to have to stay an extra day. Jane has some business she needs to take care of out here. Well, she's waking up, so I should probably get going. Take care, and let me know where I'm going to be meeting up with you guys when we get back." Talia walked back to the Den with her eyes as wide as pie-plates. The rest of the Strays except Shield (who was on first watch) were asleep. She wanted to wake them and tell them the good news immediately, but decided to wait. Let them start off their night with a good howl before they prepared to face a new enemy. She didn't want to wake up Tarloh, so she headed down and slept in Red's chamber for the day. Could it be that something had really finally went their way? ------------ --------- Out east . . . ------------ --------- Jane's morning had been exhausting to say the least. She had met with the sheriff, the judge, someone from the department of paroles . . . Jane was the sole heir to her mother's estate, such as it was. Now, she was waiting in the overly-clean and glaringly white waiting room of the psychiatric hospital. The front staff had been surprised, as had the guards and orderlies. No one had come to visit Ms. Abigail Collier in a long time except her lawyer. The head nurse wasn't sure what to expect. Abigail hadn't spoken since before being sentenced. "Don't be surprised if she doesn't talk to you," the nurse said. "She hasn't said a word in years." "I know," Jane whispered. "There will be a guard in the room and we can view the cameras from here. You will be perfectly safe," the woman said. She wanted to ask where the inmate's daughter had been all these years, but didn't. She had read the file, so she knew that Jane didn't really owe anyone any explanations. "I'll be right here," Red said, having a seat in the lobby. Jane walked down the barren hallway to the locked door. There was a guard on this side . . . a large, brutish looking woman who didn't look particularly interested in goings on. The door whirred and clicked as Jane approached, and it appeared to open of its own accord. The next room had a number of small white plastic tables surrounded by white plastic chairs. The tables were placed at clearly defined intervals from each other. It looked . . . bleak. Only one table was occupied, and its occupant was sitting with her back to the door. Abigail Collier was in a daze. She had been for a long time. She didn't feel comfortable in that room. It always felt as hollow as she did. She was only in it when her attorney dropped by to check on her. He had been there just a month . . . a few . . . actually, she didn't remember the last time. Not that it mattered. Nothing ever really changed or . . . "Mom?" Abigail's silent and dry world came to a halt. 'Impossible,' she thought. She knew she was disturbed. Apparently, she had now officially gone insane. 'That voice . . . God, why are you tormenting me? I am being punished, but now you mock me?' She heard the voice again. It was a voice filled with no small amount of fear, but it was so clear and so real. "Mom? It's me," came the voice in a choked whisper. Jane's mother's hands were trembling and her skin had gone cold. Did she dare? She stood up. She heard the inside guard shift her weight nervously. She slowly turned her head, peeking through her unkempt hair. She saw her angel. Older, but innocent. Beautiful, but tired. Hopeful, but afraid. "Juh . . ." she started, her throat raspy from disuse. "Jane?" Jane was crying. She had, in some corner of her heart, wanted to hate her mother for letting what happened happen. But she couldn't. Her mother . . . this broken bird before her . . . was punishing herself. So Jane went with something that came much more naturally to her spirit and temperament. She wanted to offer solace. Guards and cameras be damned, she threw her arms around her mother and wept. Her mother was dumfounded. The tears came, but she was scarcely aware of them. What did finally arrive was the realization that her daughter was there. After all those years, the girl she had failed had returned. The guard looked surprised, as did the nurse watching over the monitor. It was clear that Jane was in no danger, so they allowed the embrace to continue despite it being a violation of policy. The nurse was just shocked to hear Abigail's voice. All the therapists, counseling and drugs the doctors could concoct couldn't do what this young woman's presence had accomplished. "I'm . . . so . . . sorry," Abigail cried. "Me too," Jane whispered. "Me too." "I didn't protect you. I should've known . . . I could have stopped him . . ." "I should have said something. Then maybe you wouldn't be in here," Jane replied. "I deserve to be here." Abigail was crying so much it hurt. "If not for killing that son of a bitch, I should be here for letting him do that to you." She broke away from her daughter, feeling years and years of shame that had gone into a numb remission boiling out of her pores. "I . . ." "You didn't do this Mom! Jack was the one who did it. Not you, not me, not Dad . . . I wanted to blame someone so badly too. I figured something out last night. I went and visited Dad. I was so desperate that I wanted to blame him. But it wasn't him. If he was alive . . . but he's not. Mom, you're all the family I've got." "And you're all I have left of William. But how can I be your mother in here? How can you even stand to look at me?" Jane walked over and hugged her mom. "The same way I'm learning to look at myself. Mom . . . I've done some pretty . . . disgusting things to try and get by and feel . . . normal. I'm not proud of my life. But I've met someone who makes me feel special and makes me feel like I'm worth something. Someone I think I'm in love with and who I think loves me." Down the hall, the head nurse was wiping her eyes with a tissue, then offered the box to Red, who was watching the monitor. Red refused, mumbling something about her allergies, but she whipped her eyes with one hand when no one was looking. "I live in Springfield California now. I'm kinda between jobs, but I've got friends now and a place to live . . . sort of. It's not great but . . . but I'm starting over. I want you in my life Mom. I think Dad would have wanted it that way." "I think he would've been proud of you right now," Abigail responded. She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "God, what am I going to do? I'm in here for . . . for God knows how long. What I did was wrong. Even if it felt right." "I know. I've already talked to almost everyone I can. Sheriff Horton wants me give some kind of statement about . . . about what happened. He doesn't know if it will help, but it couldn't hurt." Abigail sat down, staring discontentedly off into space. Jane sat down next to her. "Are you . . . staying in the area?" Abigail asked. Jane sighed. She felt guilty, but, "No. I . . . I have a place in Springfield. But I'll write and I will come back to visit. I promise. And if . . . when you get out, I want you to come out to California." "I can't sweetie. I love you and I want you to write and visit but . . . your father is buried here. If I ever get out, I want to stay near him." "But he's dead Mom. You're not. Don't you want to start over?" "I think we just did," Abigail said, gripping her daughter's hand. "I think we just did." --------- ----------- At the Den . . . --------- ----------- Robbie was sitting alone near one of the entrances to the tunnels. He was dead tired and had drifted off several times while leaning against the inside of the overflow tunnel. But he wanted to wait and see if his sister was going to call again. Like everyone, he had been stunned to hear that the Dark One was dead, and wanted to fill big sis in on the new plan. Then, at one moment he opened his eyes and noticed there was someone else in the tunnel with him. "Not much of a lookout, are you?" the large man asked in an amused tone. The man was almost as big as Tarloh. Huge shoulders and arms, and his broad chest and powerful legs were clad in something that resembled snake-skin armor. 'No,' Robbie thought, preparing to wolf-out. 'Crocodile armor.' "Ho there short stuff," the man continued, a smirk on his lips. "If I wanted to fight you, I'd have started and finished by now." He offered his hands. "I got word that you folk were looking for my services, but I've also heard a bit about what's been goin' on out heah." Robbie detected a faint Louisiana accent, or at least it matched what Robbie had heard in old voodoo movies. "I also figgered you wound'n want a stranger just poppin' in all uninvited like. So I thought I'd wait until you'd finished with yer beauty sleep." Robbie was annoyed. Mostly because he'd been caught napping, but secondly because a total stranger was rubbing it in. "And you are?" Robbie felt like a moron. It was pretty obvious who this had to be. "The fuckin' Easter Bunny," the man Robbie assumed was Croc said. "Now take me to your leader." ----------- ----------- Down below . . . ----------- ----------- The Croc had listened quite intently as a roused Tarloh and Natasha explained to the newcomer what the situation was. While concentrating, the large man was eerily silent. Full Moon Strays Ch. 06 "So there you have it," Tarloh said. "We need help finding this weak spot so we can fix it. Let us know if you're interested and how much . . ." "I'll do it," Croc said quickly. " He leaned back. "The price is . . . well, you obviously don't have all that much money. So how 'bout we say y'all owe me one and leave it at that." Tarloh looked suspicious. Talia looked surprised. Natasha looked confused. Croc was a high-priced player. Why was he waving his fee? "Don't worry. The favor will also be . . . negotiable. Don't look so friggin' surprised. I stand to lose as much as any one 'uh you if what you say is true. How 'bouts I wait for y'all to get some sleep and we'll start this evenin'?" "That sounds . . . acceptable," Tarloh said. Will you be staying here or . . ." "Here's fine," the Croc said. He grinned. He liked pushing peoples' buttons, and these folks were edgy already. He could tell that no one could figure what to make of him. They knew that he killed people for a living, so his generosity was causing hell on their mental models. He wasn't an easy man to entertain, and this group looked like they could be fun. Tarloh measured the man up. He seemed to be almost brutally open. The Croc didn't appear to holding anything back. Whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing, he couldn't quite decide. He turned to Robbie. "Well, we've got one piece of the puzzle then. I need you to work on the other. Take the three M's," he said, motioning to the lycanthrope siblings of Mindy, Michael and Matthew, "Chris, and Lothar, and go find the Raptors. Take Arthur too, just in case SOMEONE," he added pointedly, looking at Robbie, "gets himself hurt. Enlist their help, and bring us back the Heaven's Eye. Nathaniel, I want you to do scavenging duty. We're going to need the basics for setting up a new base, as well as food and the like. You're a sweet talker, so get what you can and steal the rest. Talia, I want you and Shield to find us a new place to live. The slaughterhouse is location number one, but keep your mind open to other possibilities. Johan and Anya, you two know the city as well as anyone. You help Croc. If the Dark One set up residence here, it probably came through near here. Spiral out from its former headquarters." He looked at Croc. "Is that acceptable to you?" Croc had been staring appreciatively at Anya's long legs. "Ah think I can handle that." "In your dreams, lizard boy," Anya replied with a smirk. Croc smiled back. "Hey, big man," Nat said. "Forget someone?" "Didn't forget. I don't have the right to tell you what to do. Not that you ever listened when I did, but . . ." "I'll go down Mexico way with the gang. I'll even be so generous as to get them there," she said, punching Tarloh in the arm for his earlier comment. It was true of course. She had never been big on following orders. "Any word from Red?" Talia asked of Robbie. "Nope. I'm gonna head back topside and wait for her to call." Robbie grabbed a blanket and the cell phone and wandered out into the tunnels. "Everyone get some sleep," Tarloh ordered. "We've got a long night tonight." ---------- ------------------ The next evening . . . ---------- ------------------ 'Why did I volunteer for this again?' Natasha asked of herself as she hurled down the interstate in a rented minivan. Michael and Matthew were in the back with Chris between them. Chris had earned that spot because the two brothers had actually started to quarrel, in all seriousness, about who had crossed into whose side of the seat. Mindy, Arthur and Lothar were in the middle seat. Mindy and Arthur kept having their conversation interrupted by Lothar trying to explain why advanced Dungeons and Dragons was a better role-playing system than G.U.R.P.S. Robbie was in the passenger seat and, like Natasha, was gritting his teeth. On more than one occasion, he had tried to get the menagerie of passengers to "shut the hell up," but any silence achieved had the shelf-life of a frat-boy's promise to call in the morning. "How does Red put up with this?" he muttered so that only Nat could hear. He hadn't gotten a call from her before they left, and found himself missing his sister more and more. "I never understood that. I used to think she was just temperamental. Now, I think she needed to let off steam more often." "I never want to be in a position of responsibility again." He looked back at his talkative passengers. "Can we stop at the gas station?" "I need to pee." "Can we get a slushie and some beef jerky?" "Hey, let's play a travel game! I spy . . ." Natasha's heart sunk in her chest when she saw the sign that said how many miles there were to the Mexican border. She hoped Lothar would be able to pinpoint the Raptor's location quickly. Otherwise, she was killing somebody. --------- ------------- At the Den . . . --------- ------------- "So how'd a nice girl like you end up in a place like this?" Croc asked. Anya had heard that line a million times, but the Croc was making it over-the-top sleazy, which kind of made her grin. "I liked the ambiance." Johan looked over at them. "Would you two like me to leave? Or maybe you'd like to get a room?" Croc had been picking at Anya all morning like a cat at its food, probably realizing that this mouse had teeth of its own. "What? Just makin' conversation." He stopped suddenly. They had arrived at what had once been the Dark One's headquarters. Strangely, there was no police tape around the scene. It was as if the human race didn't want to acknowledge a place seeped in evil. "This was it wasn't it?" "Yep," Anya said. "Still creeps me out," Johan said. Coming from a demon that was born of shadows, that was saying something. "And one girl beat it?" Croc replied. He had heard rumblings from the mystical forces in the area, and knew that whatever had been here had put great strain on the world. "Yep." Anya was more than a little proud and slightly awed by what her friend had done. "Darn thing must've damn near killed 'er," Croc said. "Almost did something a lot worse than kill her," Anya replied. Croc looked around. Then he quickly vanished, disappearing into a ripple of . . . nothing. It was as if the air shimmered, then he was gone. "That was interesting," Johan said. Then, Anya felt someone pinching her butt. She turned to slap the intruder, but no one was there. "Okay smartass, show yourself." A pair of eyes attached to a translucent face appeared in front of her. The lines of the face seemed to stretch and fade. It was almost like Croc was pushing against plastic wrap, and only the parts of him that were closest were visible. The rest faded into obscurity. Finally, he pushed himself back into the Earth dimension. "Cool trick," Anya said pleasantly, and then slapped him. Croc grinned. He had deserved that. "Well, it didn't break through here, at least not from wherever it came from. It broke the barrier fer sure, but that was recent 'n all. Probably when it went after your friends. I'm willing to bet it just pushed through where it was until it formed its own little bubble between the dimensions. Kinda like I do, but a lot more powerful." Anya looked confused, but Johan seemed to be grasping. He turned to his comrade. "Think of dimensions as separate plastic bags. You push your hand through and it forms around it, but as you stretch out the area behind starts to retract. Except dimensions don't like getting stretched, so it just sort of seals behind itself. Pushing through one wall is hard but doable. That's what Croc here does. Pushing through two is what the Dark One did, or at least that's what I'm gathering from Croc. The thing we need to watch out for is something that pushes through all three." "Like an Elder God?" she asked. "Like an Elder God," Croc confirmed. "If it's as big and bad as you say, it could leave a hole that won't heal. Not only will we get that apocalypse you all are talkin' 'bout, but one dimension could bleed into the other. Total chaos." "And with a ancient and powerful creature that thrives on chaos, it could be enough to help it win against order. It could actually beat God." Anya stopped. She had inadvertently realized how high the stakes could be. "Shit," Croc said. There was a moment of awkward silence. "Anyway, I thought I saw which direction it had been stretched from. Let's head west." "You know there's an ocean there, don't you?" "Hope you brought your bikini." "Silly Croc," Anya said, "I always swim naked." She walked off at a brisk pace. Croc stared after her. "She's a devilish woman." Johan clapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to our world." ----------- -------- Elsewhere . . . ----------- -------- "Man, the slums around here have gone straight to hell," Tarloh said as they scratched another possible new home off the list. "I can't believe I said that and was actually surprised." Talia and Shield had convinced the big man that he needed to get out and get some fresh air, so he had gone "house shopping" with them. They were trying to keep with Red's wishes of not removing themselves too far from the people they were trying to protect, but they hadn't found anything with the infrastructure needed to set up shop. They'd have to reroute power and water and keep both sets of tampering hidden. "Maybe we SHOULD stay in the Den," he muttered. "No, we need to get out," Talia reminded him. "We've been over this. You're just saying that because you hate shopping." "True." Shield shook his big head. "Listen, the slaughterhouse is still the best bet, but even it has problems. Eventually, someone will show up and want to build something else there. Also, it IS a bit off the beaten path." "Can we actually just . . . buy it? How much would the property cost?" Tarloh asked. "You have been out of it for a while, haven't you?" the defense expert said. "This is California. The property would cost what we in the business like to call a 'shit load' of money." "And we're not asking Natasha for any more help," Talia interjected. "She's already done more than she needs to, and she's probably only stuck around this long to prove that she's over Red anyway." "She is kind of transparent about that," the leader of the Strays admitted with a chuckle. He looked east. While the slaughterhouse was isolated, it wasn't so far that most of the lycanthropes couldn't cover the ground quickly. The ground was heavily wooded but also quite rocky, making it unlikely that it was going to be developed. But it was still a risk. If they could buy it somehow . . . "Just in case, find out who exactly owns or controls the land." "Oh, that's easy," Shield said, putting on his spectacles and looking at his clipboard. It helped that he used to be a cop, because he knew how to track down information. "A woman and her 'domestic partner' own it. Her name is Rose McGuire. She inherited a whole lot of land a couple of years ago. Now she's one of the richest land-owners in the state. She's picky about who she sells to and she's also donated a lot to nature preserves and wilderness areas." "Sound like a great person," Tarloh said appreciatively. "Maybe we could tell her it's a commune . . ." "Which would be kind of true," Talia said. " . . . that would be animal friendly . . ." "Again, kind of true." " . . . and would actually help patrol the wilderness." "But we have no money. Certainly not enough to buy that much land." Tarloh sighed. "Let's go look it over again." Shield looked at his watch. "Actually, I'm gonna go see if I can find some more info on this land owner. I'll catch up with you back at the Den." Tarloh and Talia started the long trip to the outskirts of town. Once in the woods, they morphed into their animal sides and made rapid progress on their way to the abandoned building. It was really quite large. It had been cleaned before being abandoned, hoping it might help attract a buyer. There were a lot of rooms, including a wide-open area, a room where the meat had been washed which could easily be converted into showers, and actual smaller rooms that could be used as living quarters. It was perfect except for the distance from town. The two of them wandered around. They enjoyed spending time alone with each other. They checked out the surrounding area and actually found a small cave nearby, embedded in a rock outcropping. It was about thirty feet deep with relatively smooth walls, with a smaller ten foot enclave off towards the back right-hand corner. "This is so cool," Talia said. "Look," she added, pointing up. There was a spot in the ceiling that had a small hole in it. "That would work as a chimney." "For what?" "So that Red could live out here. You know, have her own space again. Something for her and Jane." "Always looking out for her, aren't you?" Talia wrapped her arm around his. "You too. Both of you forget to look after yourselves sometimes, but Red's worse. You sometimes take time to smell the roses. Red . . . Red needs to have a mission. She needs something to occupy her all the time. At least now she's occupied with Jane, and that girl needs some looking after no matter HOW powerful she is." The two of them strode from the cave and back down to the main building. "What about us?" "What ABOUT us?" "Should we consider getting our own space?" Talia was a little surprised. "Well, we've never been completely exclusive," she replied. "Either of us." "And we wouldn't have to be," he said. "We're both a little too wild. But we DO keep ending up together, and I kind of like it that way." "Me too," she replied, kissing the big man on the lips. "I think we could find our own little corner. Maybe a little far removed since . . . you know," she said throatily, "we tend to make a little more noise than most. "WhatEVER do you mean?" he ask, feeling her hands drifting down his front and stroking his staff to its enormous height. "What I mean," she responded, "is that I'm a loud fuck." "Care to put your money where your mouth is?" "There's something else I'd rather have where my mouth is," she said, pushing his pants down, bending over and started sucking on his mammoth meat. "That's my girl," he sighed happily, pulling his shirt off. "Good Daddy," she said. She was in a playful mood. "Treat Daddy good, and he'll give you some candy." Talia was sucking on the head like a lollipop already, so the candy reference almost made her laugh. She could never down much of his rod, but she enjoyed stroking his hardness with both hands anyway. It felt so good having it between her lips again. She let Tarloh unfasten her top, only ceasing with her suction long enough for him to pull it off of her. Then her lips went straight back to the head. She thrust her tongue underneath, caressing the spongy skin on the bottom of his member as she worked the first few inches in and out of her throat. When she pulled away, she tongued the little pee slit with the tip of her tongue, then downed what she could again. "Good girl," Tarloh said. "Show Daddy what you've got. Show Daddy your love." Talia stopped and stepped back. She was topless already, so she made a show of slowly peeling her pants down, her slightly bubbled butt pointing towards her man. She kicked her clothing away, then sat down on the ground. She lifted herself up with her legs and one arm. With her other hand, she started to masturbate. Tarloh was licking his lips. Talia was in rare form that evening. He was stroking his own cock as he knelt next to her. Their gazes met as his free hand joined hers between her ebony thighs. While she rubbed her clit, he slid two large fingers inside her warm depths. He slid them in and out, then stretched her opening a little before pushing them back inside. He was searching for that magical button that would make this spectacular woman so very, very happy. When her hips gave an involuntarily jerk and then slammed against his hand, he knew that he had found it. "Give it to me Daddy," she crooned, closing her eyes and smiling. He had big fingers, and he knew how to use them. She couldn't help but buck her hips and he twanged her g-spot. "I'll be your good girl," she added. "Or maybe your bad girl." She laid her shoulders against the ground, freeing up one hand to reach out and ensnare his member. She couldn't do much from the angle she was at, or even get her hand all the way around his cock, but she held it gently and anticipated its upcoming entry into her body. But Tarloh was going to make her wait just a little bit. He wanted her to be the first to achieve release. She pressed her thighs together against his hand and cried out, "That's it Daddy!" She let go of his cock and grabbed his wrist with both hands, holding it there while his piston-like fingers made her body ebb with ecstasy. It was one of those perfect, glowing, lose-track-of-time kind of orgasms. It was one that she would remember. Tarloh sat back. "Why don't you sit on Daddy's lap and tell him what you want for your birthday?" Talia laughed. Her birthday was actually just a week away, and the big man had remembered. She crawled towards him, stopping when her head reached his enormous manhood. "I'd like a big lollipop for starts," she said, licking his shaft excruciatingly slowly from balls to crown, then popping the head into her mouth. She couldn't get more than a few inches in her mouth. Its girth was just too prohibitive, but she loved to try. She wrapped both hands around the rod below, rubbing it up and down. She let it loose from her lips so she could lick every square centimeter before downing enough to make her gag. She let the spit dribble out of the corners of her mouth. "And I'd like a pogo-stick," she continued, crawling forward until his waving cock brushed against her abdomen like an antenna against a low-hanging branch. "Or a pony. I just want something I can ride until I'm satisfied." The head of his cock was resting between her slick inner labia, held there by the barest of pressure. One tiny bit forward and it would fall away. But Talia wouldn't let that happen. She eased back slow, letting half the head penetrate, then stopping. "But Daddy, it's just so big," she said slyly. She sat back, squeezing her pussy muscles as she did. The head was captured and in a death grip, and Tarloh was at his wits end. He wanted inside her, but she was going to make him wait. She started a slow slide downward and was completely enjoying the ride. She was feeling every inch and every vein and every change in width. She spent a full minute lowering herself down that rod. But with that part of the journey out of the way, she decided to make some progress towards the destination. She got her feet under her and started bouncing on his cock. At first, she raised herself all the way up to the crown then slammed herself back down. But after a while, she developed a smoother rhythm. His big paws caressed her breasts as she road him. He could be so gentle when he wanted to be. Sometimes she forgot that. Particularly when he had her bent over something and was hammering her like a railroad spike. But that wasn't they way either of them wanted it. Tarloh did hold her off of him, stand up and then pick her up, slowly placing her down on his cock like his own personal velvet glove. He pushed her back against the dirty metal wall of the room and their lips met just as gently as their bodies had. Talia's legs wrapped around his thrusting hips . . . his hands cupped her buttocks and helped support her body weight. He stopped, completely embedded inside her and let her squeeze and clench her vaginal muscles while they kissed. It was the kind of kissing that was so intense it required actual concentration and no shortage of lung-power. Of course, Talia's lungs failed her when she came again, clinging to him like wet towel as she leaked her love onto his dick and balls. Full Moon Strays Ch. 06 "Baby girl is all wound up," Tarloh muttered softly. "Big Daddy's got her all straightened out now," she replied, kissing his cheek. "Now Baby girl wants her candy." Tarloh started pumping again, with greater speed this time. "I wanna taste Daddy's candy," she said. He pumped a few more times and then put her down on the ground. She swallowed the head of his cock again and started to stroke it, its girth slick in her hand. He was so big and so hard that just jerking him off was a turn on for Talia. She felt the veins underneath pulsate and the first wave of his jizz splashed against the back of her mouth. It seemed like he would never stop cumming and soon Talia's mouth was overflowing. She swallowed and slurped and swallowed some more, just keeping ahead of the game. Finally, his cock has expended its last and all he could do is lean against the wall, sweating and panting. "Well, now it feels more like home," Talia said as she gave his semi-rigid member a final tongue-based caress. "But who's going to break the news to Red?" ----------- ---------- To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 07 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- Red and Jane lay in bed, quiet in each other's arms. Jane had gone through another day of interviews, and it had been taxing. She kept having to answer officials' questions about what had happened with her stepfather all those many years ago, why she hadn't said anything, why she had run away and where had she been. But that part was getting easier for her. What was getting harder was having to explain what she was doing now, and how could people get a hold of her? Jane had been very careful about what she said. She was between jobs and between homes at the moment. She was in a serious relationship. She wasn't there to get any money from her mother. She wasn't looking to profit from her stepfather's actions or death. But all these questions kept bringing up feelings for Jane and putting ideas in her head. She had made a decision about what she wanted, and she had just told her lover. "Are you sure?" Red asked, obviously pensive. "Yeah." Jane snuggled closer, mindful of her injured arm. She had told Red that she wanted to get a real job and a real address. If . . . when her mother got out, Jane wanted her to be able to come visit, or to stay if she wanted. Red had panicked at first, thinking Jane was leaving her and the Strays, but Jane wanted to remain a part of the group, even if she couldn't find a way of living with them. It had taken a lot of kissing on Jane's part to convince Red that the younger woman still very-much wanted the lycanthrope in her life. "I don't know how it's going to work," Jane added. "But we'll make it work. I'm not giving up the best thing that's happened to me in my adult life. I just . . . I want my mom to have a place too." "She will," Red said. "I won't leave you like Natasha did," Jane said, then wished she hadn't. She had little knowledge of that relationship, so it wasn't fit for her to comment. "I'm sorry." "It's okay. But Nat isn't a villain. She and I . . . just didn't work. But she helped me out a lot. Believe it or not, she was a good influence on me." "How?" "I used to be a lot more temperamental." Jane blinked. "How?!" Red smiled. She wasn't known for her cool and collected mind. "Imagine my temper with my brother's self control, and you pretty much have it." Jane's eyes opened wide. Robbie was a rash young man, and Red often found herself bailing him out and being responsible for him. "Yeah, that's it," Red said, noticing Jane's realization. "But Nat helped me get my head on straight and start taking responsibility for things in my life. That's kinda when I got stuck being second in command. And I used to be a lot more butch." "Butch?" Red looked quizzical, but realized that Jane was still somewhat new to the lesbian "lingo." "Yeah, I . . . I wasn't very interested in attracting . . . you know . . . a mate. I wasn't concerned with my appearance or being friendly to anyone. When I started to calm down . . . well, let's just say that Nat made me realize what effect a pretty girl can have on you when you're paying attention." Jane slowly cracked a smile. "I think I understand that." "I'm not THAT pretty," Red replied. "Yeah, you are. Even when I thought you hated me, I couldn't take my eyes off of you." Jane slid on top of Red's body, using her magical hair to keep her weight off her arm. "I still can't. Seeing you made me feel alive in a place I thought was dead." She kissed the redhead. "Seeing you helped bring me back from going insane." She kissed her again. "And seeing you be strong helped give me strength to come back here and make peace with myself and my family." Red held the girl close to her. Jane had wanted to hate someone for what had happened to her. Her stepfather had raped her when she was just a young girl, and Jane had been broken ever since. But her stepfather was dead now, killed by a mother who hadn't seen what her daughter was going through until she had run away, and Jane's father had been in the ground for thirteen years. There was no longer a point in hating the first, since she couldn't ever exact her revenge. There was no point in hating the second, as her mother had been coping with her own pain, and had exacted a terrible toll on the perpetrator when she finally discovered his crimes. And the third had been a loving and decent man who had died in service to his country and would've had died again if it would have spared his little girl. So Jane had finally given up on hating, and had finally started healing. "Get the lights," Red said. Jane slowly extended a lock of hair until it wrapped around the switch, and the room got dark. She felt warm lips touched the skin just above her collarbone. They kissed her there, then kissed her neck, the underside of her chin . . . Jane wanted them to hurry up. She felt them on her earlobe, her forehead, her cheek and then finally . . . finally . . . on her lips. Red's breath escaped into Jane's mouth, finding a willing sanctuary there. Her tongue followed suit, running its tip along Jane's upper teeth before sliding inside to dance. Red released the kiss with a gasp. She couldn't see her girlfriend's face, but knew that Jane was probably looking straight at her. She raised her lips back to Jane's face, making contact with the girl's chin and finding their way back to Jane's mouth based solely on feel. As the liplock continued, Jane started to roll over and Red rolled on top of her, almost by simultaneous mutual consent. Jane's legs parted and let Red settle between them. Their breasts pressed together, occasionally rewarding them both when nipple rubbed against nipple. Red reached around and grabbed the back of Jane's head, holding their faces together so their kiss would never have to end. It was obvious that Jane didn't want it to, as her hair ensnared Red's hand and kept it there. Red's other hand snaked its way south, sneaking between them as Red briefly raised her hips. She placed the back of her hand against her own mound while curling her fingers into Jane's warm pussy. Jane was out of breath. If Red's kiss hadn't done enough, her fingers had driven the rest of the air out of her body. Red reared her hips back and slowly pushed forward, driving her fingers deeper into Jane's body. Jane wrapped her legs around Red, gently spurring the woman's butt with her heels and encouraging her. Red started to pump her hips and fingers faster, but slowed down from time to time. She was in no hurry. She wouldn't mind if that moment could last forever. For Jane, the moment slowed as she achieved an unusually rapid climax. Her hair extended, caressing and gripping Red's body and holding her in place as Jane pressed her thighs against the beautiful redhead's hips and came on her fingers. "Someone was wound a little tight tonight," Red said. "I guess you're right. I didn't realize . . . but it was kind of like this yesterday too. I think I'm going to like sex with you!" Red stifled a laugh. "I certainly hope so." Lips met lips again. She felt herself being turned over as Jane's magical locks seemed to have and idea. Jane lowered her thighs to the sides of Red's face, and her own lips quickly dove towards Red's paradise. Jane was growing bolder, even if in baby steps. This position was comfortable for Jane, as she was able to keep weight off of her arm. She was quite nervous about performing orally on her lover, seeing how little practice she had up to that point. She didn't realize that her tentative and gentle explorations were actually driving Red quite mad with lust. For every one gingerly lick of Jane's tongue, there were a dozen ravenous licks from Red. Both girls had actually taken time to groom themselves recently, including their "private" areas, so nothing got between their voracious mouths and their juicy prey. Red had already shown, in their few earlier sexual encounters, that she knew exactly how to make Jane moan, and she was proving it again. Her tongue and fingers were performing an intricate and delicious assault on the depths of Jane's sex. It was so efficient that Jane couldn't think straight. So after one long stroke of the tongue, she encircled Red's clit with her mouth and started sucking on it and then letting it go in rapid succession. She pushed a finger from her good hand inside that magical opening and explored the inside of Red. Then she remembered something from a rendezvous back at the den. She pushed her thumb into Red's pussy, then inserted a single finger into the woman's rectum. Red clenched her butt-cheeks around the unexpected but wholly welcome invader. She had to will her anus to relax so that Jane could do whatever it was that she had planned. That shy finger grew bolder and toyed with Red's anal opening. But even this new combination didn't prevent Red from bringing about Jane's next orgasm before Jane could return the favor. Jane lost track of time and thought as she came on Red's face. She was trembling so hard that it could have easily been mistaken for a seizure. Red was discovering that her young lover had an endless supply of nectar. Even after having cum once, she almost drowned Red with her second climax. Red kept her lips and tongue moving, teasing Jane's nether-lips in the afterglow of her orgasm. Jane was able to get her fingers moving again, joined shortly thereafter by her tongue. She noticed that Red was toying with her more now, giving Jane a chance to "catch up." So Jane inserted a second finger into Red's asshole, sucking on her clit more rapidly and with firmer resolve. "That's it baby," Red said softly as she felt her own body prepare itself for the ultimate rush. Red had commented that Jane had been wound a little tight. Apparently, she was as well. When she climaxed, the earth stopped spinning, the angels sang and she saw stars circling her head. Jane's fingers were hopelessly trapped in Red's behind and her mouth was introduced to a copious amount of Red's honey. "Oh . . . oh that was nice," Red said, feeling Jane shifting positions and creep back up until they were next to each other again. Her superior night vision helped her see how happy Jane looked . . . how content. "Wanna clean up?" Jane's hand crept into Red's. "Will you join me?" Red kissed her. "Any time." ----------- ----------- In Mexico . . . ----------- ----------- "You've got to be kidding?!" Robbie exclaimed at the hapless cactus that stood before him. "The trail . . . the rumors . . . they HAVE to be here!" Natasha stood next to him. "Unless these 'Raptors' look much different that you described, then they're NOT here." Lothar looked perplexed, his chubby face contorted. "I don't get it. The crystal pointed to here. If they're gone, they can't have gone far." This little group of Strays and allies had been driving around Mexico for days, trying to find a group of flying outworlders called the Raptors. For creatures with enormous wingspans and distinct appearances, they were remarkably good at hiding. They kept to the unpopulated areas wherever they went and traveled at night. All of them were nocturnal anyway. Robbie rolled his eyes and gripped his hair. "Aurgh! I . . . I . . ." He didn't know what to do. Leadership was new to him, and he didn't much care for it. "I'm gonna take a piss." He walked off into the darkness about twenty feet. He wasn't particularly shy about whipping it out in front of the others, but he didn't to clear his head. He stepped behind a rock and began to urinate over a fallen log. His bladder shut down rapidly when the log moved out of the way. Rising up from the sandy soil was a really, really, really big snake. It had to be forty feet long and six feet around. Its back, rather than being scales, seemed to be dark brown feathers. And its viper-like head was looking straight at him. {{ How rude, }} came a voice directly into Robbie's head. Robbie screamed like a little girl. He wasn't proud of himself at all for doing it, but it seemed like the natural thing to do when facing a quetzalcoatl for the first time. Particularly when your pants were around your ankles. In his single prior encounter with the Raptors, he had only met one of the harpies, but not this creature. The feathered serpent reared back and looked annoyed, or so far as Robbie could tell from its cold expression. Its tongue flicked out. {{ You are strange. You smell of both beast and man, and you have been following us for some time. You are a lycanthrope, no? }} "Yuh . . . yes," Robbie stammered as the rest of the Strays approached. The quetzalcoatl didn't appear concerned. "Is that . . ." Lothar started. "That is," Michael replied. He was a bit of a geek when it came to knowledge of outworld species, and he had always wanted to meet one of these mythical beasts. Behind them, the dirt shifted and a second serpent as large as the first emerged from the sand. The Strays were surrounded. Natasha noticed that her friends were looking edgy and knew she needed to keep them cool. "We aren't here to fight," she said. "At least, not against you. We've been looking for the Raptors. I'm assuming that's you?" {{ Indeed, }} the first serpent thought, broadcasting its telepathic messages so it didn't have to repeat itself. "We have . . . heck, this WORLD and dimension have . . . some serious problems. We need to get to a remote section of South America, pick a fight with a shaman, steal a magical jewel and bring it back to prevent an Elder God from breaking through and starting a second war in Heaven." The rest of the Strays stared at her. "Don't hold anything back now," Michael said, a bit sarcastically. "Yeah, we wouldn't want them to think we're hiding something," Matthew interjected. "Shut . . . up," Robbie said to one then the other. He was just happy he didn't have to say anything important. The group heard the flapping of wings, and the remaining Raptors swooped in. Most of the Strays had never seen harpies before. First generation lycanthropes recognized the three succubae (two females and one male), the gargoyle and the four dragons, as all these creatures came from the Terran dimension's version of Earth. Succubae were light-boned winged humanoids that greatly resembled humans except for longish fingers and feet and having feathers rather than hair on their head. Oh, and the large feathery wings. The gargoyle was a squat creature that more resembled a gorilla than a person, and its skin was the color and texture of stone. Dragons looked somewhat like European legends of them would depict, except that they were the size of large dogs. They also had long tails and leathery wings. Dragons weren't as intelligent as their counterparts. Michael had once referred to them as the Terran equivalent of "ape intelligence," or maybe a little cleverer. These ones seemed quite quizzical and were actually sniffing around the newcomers' feet. The quetzalcoatl (both singular and plural) were from a different dimension from those already mentioned as well as from the harpies. There were ten harpies in all, three male and seven female. Harpies, unlike succubae, were very muscular, relying on power rather than a light frame to keep aloft. Their shoulders were as massive as those of bodybuilders, and there wings were leathery and wider than those of succubae. There feet resembled those found of birds of prey, and their human-shaped hands were capped with sharp talons. Just above the base of their spines sprouted something like tails, but different than anything the Strays had seen before. These tails consisted of a series of tentacles that hung down over shapely butts, and sometimes they moved. Michael had heard that they had prehensile tails that they could use to cling to branches and the like when perching, but he had never understood the dynamics of the appendages until now. One harpy stepped forward. It was a female, and she possessed a severe beauty that took many of the Strays by surprise. To Robbie, she resembled a bodybuilder he had seen on television by the name of Cory Everson, except that her skin was gray and her short hair was pitch black. "Kalib has relayed to us what you told him" the harpy said, looking at the great feathered serpent that Robbie had first made contact with. "Your story . . . intrigues us," she added sternly. "What it has to do with us . . . that you must tell us of," she added. "May I ask who we're speaking with?" Robbie asked. "I am Belsa. I am the leader of the Raptors, and I speak for them." The rest of the Raptors gathered behind the woman as if to emphasize her point. Except the dragons. They were chasing after rabbits in the brush. Belsa shook her head in disgust. "Why do we keep those things around?" she asked of the group behind her, most of whom were watching the dragons' antics with some amusement. "I'm Robbie. I'm a representative of the Strays." "I remember your name," Besla mused. "You spoke with Oltivant before?" She motioned with her hand, and one of the male harpies strode forward. (Despite human legend, harpies were both male and female). "Hey," Robbie said almost casually. "Long time, no see." The male harpy just looked at him. "Oh. . . kay," Robbie continued. "And Tarloh still leads your band?" Besla asked. "Yeah, he and Red." "The fire-haired warrior," Besla said with a grin. She had sparred once with Red and found her an admirable opponent. "So, tell me of this proposal and of why you came to us." -------- ---------------------- Back in Springfield . . . -------- ---------------------- Croc, Johan and Anya were standing in front of an abandoned mineshaft well north of town. Croc had been "feeling" his way long the dimensional membrane for several days, trying to find where the recently defeated Shoggoth had started to worm its way out of its prison dimension and closer to this one. He was certain he was close. The big man looked tired and more than a little queasy, but he refused to listen to Johan's or Anya's advice to take a break. He couldn't deny that he wouldn't mind impressing the sexy young woman and earning a spot in her bed for the evening, but he was wondering if his burst of machismo might be short-sighted. The closer he got to the source of the dimensional weakness, the more his skin crawled, and he wasn't the type to scare easily. He was a professional assassin, and he had never felt like this before. "Okay, ah think it's time," Croc said, rotating his neck and shoulders. He didn't really need to stretch, but he wanted to impress the sexy Latina. "Listen, we've done enough for one day," Anya said. She knew that Croc was posturing, but couldn't help but admire the view. "No, it's all right. I'd rather get this over with." Croc put his hands out and watched as they disappeared in a scarcely visible ripple. It was like pushing his body into heavy water, and took more energy than one might think. Once through, he looked back at his temporary comrades. Staring through the dimensional membrane was similar to staring through slightly warped glass. He could see things just fine, but there was a surreal quality to it. Full Moon Strays Ch. 07 But what was really surreal was the mineshaft. It had gotten darker when he crossed over. It was so black that he wondered if light had EVER existed there. And it seemed to be pulling at him, coaxing him towards the entrance with black velvet tendrils and whispered promises. He stepped forward. It was the daftest thing he had ever done in his life and he knew it. But for a second, his feet did not belong to him. Then, another second and another step. Croc was sweating, he was sure of that. An overwhelming curiosity was overtaking him. 'What's down there?' he thought. 'It couldn't possibly be that . . .' Out in the real world, Anya and Johan were sitting on a boulder when a hand shot through a dimensional ripple and starting waving maniacally. It looked like Croc was trying to come through but something was pulling him back. Johan lunged forward and grabbed Croc's hand and wrist, digging his heels into the dirt and pulling for all he was worth. Anya ran up and tried to help, though physical strength wasn't something she had an overabundance of. Slowly, a second hand punctured the membrane, so Anya grabbed that one instead. With a lurch, Croc came tumbling through, back into the "real" world. Anya almost didn't recognize the assassin. His face was as white as a sheet, and his face was contorted with terror. While on all fours, he started to vomit, gripping the earth so tightly that his fingers began to bleed under the nails. "What happened?!" Anya screamed, looking around for any sign that they weren't alone. The air around them was dead still. Croc continued to vomit until there was nothing left. Then he collapsed onto his side. That was when Anya noticed that his right eye had turned red. They needed to get him to the hospital. His eye was filled with blood. --------- ------------------- A few hours later . . . --------- ------------------- Tarloh, Talia, Shield and Nathaniel all arrived at the hospital within minutes of each other. They had been enjoyed a brief meal when they got a frantic phone call from Anya. Something had happened to Croc. "What happened?" Tarloh said when Anya and Johan met them in the lobby. "He . . . huh . . . he went through and then his hand came out and he was panicking and we helped pull him through but he got real sick and was throwing up . . ." Talia wrapped her arms around Anya's shaking shoulders. The girl was spooked. "Is he . . ." "He's alive," Johan said, a little more collected than his female counterpart. "The doctor's said he's lost the use of one eye, but no one has any idea what could have caused it. Needless to say, I think Croc found something bad. Maybe what we were looking for." A doctor came over and informed them that their friend was stable but asleep, and it might be best if they got a snack or some coffee. The doctor wasn't sure if he'd wake up by the end of visiting hours. The Strays gathered around a table in the cafeteria, drinking the strongest coffee the kitchen was able to muster. Johan and a slightly calmed Anya recounted the events of the day. They all felt relieved that Croc was going to be relatively okay. "We need Nat and the gang back with that jewel," Talia was saying. "If this is what we think it is and it was able to get to Croc . . ." She just let the statement trail off. "Yeah," Tarloh said. "Weren't we supposed to get a break? Red and Jane killed the Shoggoth. Doesn't that at least warrant a breather?" Johan took a sip. "Keep in mind, we may still have time. This thing is a God, so no wonder it was able to affect Croc. But if it could actually do anything but exert influence in the void, we never would have gotten him back. He did something at the wrong spot at the wrong time. Let's not go panicking yet." Nathaniel felt unease. The Strays would never succeed if they started doubting themselves now. "Johan's right. Let's play this one by ear. If the gang gets that jewel in time, we can nip this thing in the bud. Hell, no one would have given us a shot against the Shoggoth a month ago, but it's gone." He noticed the group had perked up a bit. The handsome young man continued. "Let's get some other affairs in order while we've got the time." Tarloh nodded his head in agreement. "Okay. Red and Jane called. They'll be back tomorrow night. Wanted to know where to meet us. Figured we'll stay at the Den for a bit longer." Talia took the hand of her leader, friend and lover. "I talked with the owner of the property. She seemed like a great lady. Not at all like other land owners. She'd be happy to sell at a great price, but that price is still high. I can't blame her. It's a lot of land. We don't have that kind of money, so we need to start looking somewhere else." "How much?" Anya asked quietly. Talia quirked her head. "If we treated it like a wildlife preserve and kept it up, it'd still be a half million." Anya raised her head. "I can get four-hundred thousand," she said softly. "It'll take a few days, but . . ." "What?!" was the collective response. "How could you . . ." "I have money left over. I've checked a couple of times to make sure I was never declared officially dead, so . . ." "But . . . how?" "I used to be a pretty high-priced model. The cocaine and heroine usually came free at the types of parties I went to. When I ran . . . I still had a pretty good stash of cash. One smart thing I did was I handled my own money. Mostly it was because I'd gotten so paranoid that I transferred it into a new account without telling my managers. Hell, I could probably take a few more jobs . . . the novelty of it will probably get the price high enough to cover the rest of the bill." "We can't ask you to . . . you have four-hundred thousand dollars?" Nathaniel repeated. "Yeah. I think I've got some stuff in storage at . . . wait, I own a house!" Anya scrunched up her forehead, deep in thought. Then she noticed everyone was staring at her. "I should have told you. I know how much the Strays could have used the money but . . . I didn't like who I had been back then. I didn't want to remember the person who had bought all those things, because I would have had to remember how I bought them." Tarloh grabbed her hand gently. "When you join the Strays, you bring only what you can carry. If you didn't want to haul that baggage around, you didn't have to. I hate to ask you to go back, but . . ." "I'll do it," Anya said, more easily than she had suspected possible. "I feel kinda dumb about it. I mean, Jane had the guts to go home and try to face the guy that raped her. How can I not be able to face a couple of agents and managers? They're only human. Barely human, maybe, but human nonetheless." Inside, her friends felt a flicker of hope. It seemed that they might have caught another break. ------------ ------------ In Mexico . . . ------------ ------------ Robbie was druuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunk. He hadn't been drunk in a long time, and he couldn't remember being that drunk ever. The Raptors had been surprisingly enthusiastic about helping, particularly when they heard there might be a fight involved. Robbie then remembered that, according Michael, war was the primary form of population control for harpies. They were a medieval race on a violent world, and fighting wasn't second nature to them. He'd heard a joke that the only thing a harpy liked more than a good fight is a good fuck and that is was sometimes difficult to tell the two of them apart. And this combative nature had worn off on their counterparts. The Raptor's had agreed to help, and the party had begun. Harpies liked to celebrate. He started to sit down on a log away from the main encampment, trying to clear his head. Then he checked to see if the log was actually a giant snake. Then he decided he didn't care. The cool air was doing him some good. He stopped and looked up at the stars. "How long has it been since I've stared up at them?" he pondered. "Been living underground too long," he added. Even though he had acted as Red's voice in the meeting, he actually was looking forward to moving. He was a wild animal, and he needed a wild space. "No one should live anywhere but under the sky," came a smooth and slightly slurred voice. Besla had glided ever so silently up and landed with barely a noise. No wonder the harpies were such efficient predators. And Besla was carrying a bottle of tequila in her hand. "I never understood how the Strays could live in a hole. No offense." "It was home," Robbie replied, trying to straighten up. "It was comfortable and . . . well, we thought it was safe." Besla offered him the bottle, which he respectfully declined. "I am sorry for your troubles and your losses," she said. She respected what the Strays were and what they stood for. "We would have joined you in battle had you but asked." "We . . . didn't know," he said, almost falling off the log. "Not until it was too late. How bad it was going to be, I mean. We went from fighting just plain old ordinary Hellspawn to fighting the servant of an Elder God. Now, we may have to fight an Elder God, and . . . well, there IS no fighting one of those." "That is what makes this quest so important," she started, getting excited. "The weight of the world . .. no, the universe . . . no, our entire reality . . . it all hangs in the balance! This is the opportunity that my people wait their entire lives waiting for!" Robbie grinned. "Sure. All we have to do is find this jewel, defeat a powerful shaman and whatever magics and underlings he may have, then get this jewel back to California to try and stave off the end of existence as we now it." "Yes! Is it not exciting?" "Yeah," Robbie said, his blood beginning to pump faster. "Actually, it is!" "That is the spirit," Besla said. Then, her face took on a new demeanor. "You know, my people have a saying. If you might die tomorrow," she started, swinging her legs over and straddling his lap, "then live tonight." Her small but firm breasts were heaving under her leather vest, and her denim clad crotch was pressing against his hardening member. Even alcohol wasn't going to keep his soldier from saluting. "Uhm, what are you . . ." "It is our custom to enjoy the flesh before we battle," she whispered huskily, dragging her long tongue up the side of his face and then sucking on his ear. "You would not refuse me this simple request?" she added, reaching between his thighs and grabbing his cock through his pants. Refusing her anything was rapidly becoming a non-issue. Robbie had thought the girls of the Strays (particularly Anya) were a little forward. Besla had decided that she wanted to fuck him and she had started without him. Robbie was going to have to play catch up. He reached around and slid his hand up the back of her leg until it encountered the firm buttock underneath her leather shorts and beneath that tentacled tail. He squeezed gently. 'God, that's tight,' he thought. Besla was in no mood for "taking it easy." She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulled him to her and stuck her tongue almost literally down his throat. Harpies, like other winged humanoids, had long tongues. She felt his grip on her ass tighten considerably. 'Much better,' she thought. Robbie was still on the defensive, and wasn't sure what to do about it. Besla was madly fumbling with his trousers, trying to get to the hidden surprise like an angry child trying to find the prize at the bottom of a box of cereal. He also remembered that she had some pretty sharp claws, and wasn't looking forward to those overly anxious hands nicking something important. He hurriedly undid his own pants. "This what you were looking for?" he said, his sizable rod waving in the cool desert air. "Perfect," she replied, following it with her eyes like a cobra staring at a snake-charmer's flute. She shoved Robbie backwards onto the ground, his cock still waving. She removed her own clothes faster than Robbie could blink, then pounced on him. She spun around until her very human-looking pussy was over his face, smooth and moist. Robbie knew what he was supposed to do. Oral sex was nothing new to him . . . or so he thought. Besla took his cock into her mouth, and he was treated to something beyond his wildest fantasies. For one thing, harpies could open their mouths fairly wide, so taking his entire cock down her throat was no problem. Also, Besla had learned a thing or two about the delights of oral sex, and was quite addicted to it. And she could do something that no human female could. With Robbie's dick completely immersed in her mouth, she wrapped her nimble tongue around his shaft and started to stroke it. Robbie's brain was ringing like a winning pinball game. She was basically giving him a tug-job AND a blowjob at the same time! It was the most incredible thing he had ever experienced. Her strong slimy tongue was easily as talented as any hand, and her mouth was so warm and so inviting. He didn't know what he would be able to do to match that. So he just started licking her pussy with as much speed and ferocity as he could muster. Besla was pleased. Normally those she mated with blew their loads before thinking of providing her pleasure. This lycanthrope's oral attentions were quite vigorous and pleasing. Then, she felt his tongue tease her rectum, and her eyes shot open. So many earth men were somewhat squeamish about performing such an action, but she had an affinity for it. Of course, she had been informed that she was a bit overly amorous or, in human terms, a total horn-dog. But Robbie seemed to have to qualms about teasing both her opening with his slick tongue. She had chosen her lover well this time. She clawed the ground on either side of his hips as her mouth and tongue continued their work. Robbie was trying hard to keep up. He sometimes had to push Besla's tail tentacles out of the way so he could stimulate her asshole, then decided to concentrate on her vaginal opening. So he thrust two fingers into her ass, noticing the pleasurable moan it caused, then started licking her slot. Harpies had very tight outer labia, but their inner labia were almost non-existent. Their clits were hidden a little deeper than he was used to, but he managed to find it and attacked it directly. But try as he might, he couldn't hold out against her attack. Her tongue was stroking his meat in her mouth, and he erupted with little warning. But she took it in stride, swallowing pulse after pulse of jizz at it flowed into her mouth. She drained him dry, at least for the moment. "Most satisfactory," she mumbled, letting his softening member fall to his belly. Robbie kept going, licking, poking and ravishing anything he could find that brought Besla pleasure. She pushed back against his face, driving his tongue deeper into her willing sex while he shoved his fingers deeper into her asshole. He learned something that night. When a harpy female is about to reach orgasm, her tail entraps her partner by coiling around him (or her) and keeping them in place until their moment of rapture passes. So Besla's tail tentacles wrapped around his head and wrist, securing them where they were and ensuring her release. Robbie was feeling a little claustrophobic, but stopping never crossed his mind. When she came, her tentacles constricted and he was afraid he might drown. Luckily, harpies didn't have overly liquid orgasms, and mostly he just got an up-close-and-personal look of her powerful pussy contracted and quivering. "You are . . . most talented," Besla purred, licking his cock. She wanted it hard again. She wanted more. "You are not done, are you?" she asked. "Are you capable of more, or do you need a nap first?" While she hadn't meant it to, Besla's comment had tweaked Robbie. His manhood had been challenged, and he had to rise to the occasion. So to speak. He pushed her off of him and got on top of her, kissing her deeply. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Besla HATED being on bottom, so she rolled the pairing over, but kept the kissing. One of Robbie's hands found his lover's breasts, while the air was latched onto her ass. He continued the roll until he was on top again. He didn't know what game she was playing, but he was determined to win this time. Then he felt her rolling and found himself on bottom again. But his time, it was only briefly, as the two lovers-turned-sparring-partners had encountered a small problem. It was called the edge of the hill. The two managed to hold onto each other as they tumbled about twenty feet over rocks and small bushes until crashing into a boulder. Luckily, both of them were basically unharmed, barring a number of scratches and bruises. Besla had become incredibly aroused. Her hormonal levels were at an all time high, as both her sexual and combat-related systems were in full swing now. She stood up, pulling him with her and shoved Robbie against the boulder, kissing him more as she ground her body against his. Robbie was hard as the rock he was getting shoved against. This harpy was a total freak! He grabbed her by the hips, lifted her up and shoved her down on his rigid cock. He took a step forward and allowed her legs to wrap around him. He was roughly groping her ass as he started to pound her. He even started to tap into his animal side. He felt his hair grow a little coarser and his muscles swell with adrenalin. He wasn't going turn into his wolf form. He just wanted to fuck Besla like an animal. Besla heard her mate growl and noticed with some glee his now inhuman tempo and power. She smelled both the human and the animal in him, and found the scent intoxicating. "Harder!" she cried. Robbie obeyed, but only because he was headed that direction anyway. In the background, a coyote howled as if in appreciating for the fact that his lupine brother was representing in a big way. The slapping of skin seemed to carry out across the desert. This time, it was Besla who first succumbed to her body's demands. Her pussy clenched and trapped Robbie's member, and her tentacles assisted her legs in ensnaring his waist as she climaxed. She was gripping his shoulders, trying (mostly successfully) not to dig her claws in, but did leave a few tiny punctures as she relished her bliss. She pushed him away, happy to see that his eyes were still hungry and his cock was still hard. She spun around, spread her legs, wings and tail and offered him a view of her tight little ass. She quickly felt his hands on her hips and the head of his dick at her anal opening. "What are you waiting for?" she asked impatiently. Her anal ring spread as his member entered her, and she left gash marks in the boulder as she forced her body to acclimate. Inch by inch slid into her backdoor like a snake finding a burrow. One of his arms slunk around and he thrust his fingers into her well-treated pussy, pumping them as he pumped her ass. 'What a magnificent lover!' she thought happily. His other hand found her small breast, and then he was off, fucking, fingering and pinching Besla to within an inch of her sanity. Her sphincter welcomed him, her pussy desired him and her breasts needed him. She turned her neck and met his fierce gaze, and the two kissed as their forceful coupling continued. Her tail had parted for him, and now wrapped its many tendrils around him, helping him drill her like there was no tomorrow. She felt another orgasm coming on, but was determined to take him with her this time. As her back arched, she clamped down with her powerful anal ring. She began to climax, and felt his rod trying to expand within her. Robbie's fingers were able to free themselves, but his dick was temporarily lost to him. Besla wanted it and the stuff it contained. He pressed his back against her, noticing almost off handedly the texture of her wings as he came in her ass. Full Moon Strays Ch. 07 Both of them were gasping. They were beaten up, tired, bleeding a little bit and had no idea where their clothes were. "Was it good for you?" Robbie asked. "It was a most satisfactory beginning," Besla replied with a grin. Robbie smiled. Then he stopped. "Beginning?" ------------- ---------------- Back in Springfield . . . ------------- ---------------- Croc opened his one good remaining eye. He was in a hospital. He'd been in enough of them in his life to know what they looked like. It was mostly dark except for the moonlight streaming in through the window, meaning he'd probably been out for a while, and he was alone. He was a bit surprised by that. He didn't imagine the Strays as being the types to just run off and leave him, but it occurred to him that they might not have had much choice. He sat up, feeling a little sore from his vomiting episode, but otherwise in good condition. "Hey," came a voice from the air next to him. Croc jumped a bit before he recognized the voice. He was in a delicate state of mind. "Well hell-ooooooooooooo nurse," he said, forcing a smile. "I thought you'd gone off and left me, now that my good looks are scarred a bit," he joked half-heartedly, touching the patch over his ruined eye. Anya had been waiting at his bedside since the end of visiting hours, slipping back in while invisible as soon as she could. She felt a tear welling up in her eye, but quickly wiped it away. He was a handsome man helping them out for no real reason that she could see, and it had cost him. "Just stuck around to make sure they didn't overcharge you for the medication," she said. Croc easily detected the emotion in her voice. "It ain't yer fault ya know. I knew what I was gettin' into, but none of us could'a expected this." "It's not your fight," Anya said. "Bullshit. It's the fight of any living thing in this universe that doesn't wanna be destroyed. You folk need to stop tryin' to hog all the fun." Anya snickered. Mindless bravado and machismo . . . sometimes, it could be quite charming. "That's muh girl," Croc said, leaning back. "So, what's the plan next?" "We wait until Robbie and Nat and the gang get back. Not much more we can do until then," she said. "I'm going to try and get some modeling work again . . . we're wanting to actually buy land this time so we don't have to worry so much about being 'discovered.' We're about a hundred grand short of what we need." "Crap, I could loan that to ya," Croc said absently. "No, we couldn't ask that. You've already done what you'd said you would do." "Listen . . . okay, I know everyone thinks I'm just a merc. Probably because I encourage people to think that way. I help get rid of bad people that no one else can get to. Helpin' with the Elder God is just a really big version of that. But even I need a place to hang my hat from time to time." Anya sat on the bed next to him. "Wouldn't that be slumming a bit? I mean, you're a high class roller . . ." Croc looked towards her voice. "And you're used to strolling down runways all over the world," he said softly. "But you seem happy here. With these weird people and that boyfriend of yours." He blushed. "Sorry. He's a lucky guy I guess." Croc couldn't see, but Anya looked confused for a second. "Boyfriend? Oh you mean Chris? He's not my boyfriend." "But you two seemed so close, and he was real worried 'bout you when he left." "The Strays . . . we don't really do monogamy well, except for Red. And even she isn't above a little extra fun, though probably not so much now that she's with Jane. Chris is special to me, true. I can be in the middle of fucking five guys, and he can still make me feel like . . . like a lady," she said. "Five guys?" Croc was impressed. "Oh yeah. I like sex. A lot. C'mon, you've wanted to bang me since you saw me. Admit it!" "Of course I admit it! I'm only half-blind," he said, chuckling. He just realized what a chick-magnet an eye-patch could be. "I'd even wondered what it would take to woo you away." Anya smiled. "The Strays aren't big enough for everyone to pair off. It's not that it isn't allowed, but it just doesn't really happen much. Mindy and Arthur are awfully sweet on each other, but I've seen both of 'em with other people. Heck, I've been with Arthur, and wouldn't mind being with Mindy. She just isn't particularly gay in any way. Tarloh and Talia are mostly an item, but they get around too. No one in the Strays ever gets left out. Chris is turning out to be one of my best friend, but he knows he isn't my only lover." Croc was pleased by that prospect. "Well as I said, I can help you folk out if yer willin' to let me crash at your new place when I'm in this corner of the world. A safe port in the storm, if you will." Anya was staring at the handsome man before her. She had misjudged him when she first heard of his occupation. He was a good man. She suddenly wanted to see how good. "Well, seeing as you're being SO generous," she said, her voice quite husky, "let me know if there is ANYTHING I can do to make you more comfortable." She lifted up his blanket and stuck her hand under his hospital gown, grabbing his soft cock. "Who," Croc said, startled by the bold but not unwelcome gesture. "Listen, you don't have to . . ." "I'll explain this once," Anya replied, rubbing his cock like a lamp she wanted a wish from. "I'll do a lot of things for other people, but I promised myself I'd never do this again except when I wanted to." His sizeable cock was swelling in her hand. "Which must mean I want to." His member was quite thick, so much so that she could barely get her hand around it. She pushed the covers back so she could see it, and her mouth watered at the sight. It was nice and thick, and maybe eight inches long. She wrapped both hands around it and stroked it gently. Croc was more than a little freaked out. Not by the fact that Anya was apparently more than willing to scratch his itches, but by the fact that he could see the indentions made by her hands in the skin of his pecker, but couldn't see her hands. He just saw the skin moving up and down. "That's just weird," he said, leaning back and enjoying what she did. After a few minutes of stroking, the head of his dick disappeared. Literally. But he still felt it, and it was in a warm place with a lot of pressure being exerted on it. He also felt Anya's tongue licking the soft underside of his shaft as her head (presumably) started bouncing up and down. As much of half of his cock would vanish, going from solid to slightly blurry to gone in less than an inch of space. "Just lay back," Anya cooed, "and let me do what I do best." She went back to sucking his root, taking three-quarters of it down her throat while she cradled his balls in one small hand. She was going to drain those balls completely. She let loose of his cock and sucked one testicle into her mouth, rolling it around and teasing it with her tongue. Then she did the other, stroking his stick all the while. Then she returned to the crown of his dick, licking under the head of the mushroom, kissing it on the tip and then downing it into her throat. Croc couldn't wipe the smile of his face if he tried. 'Good grief, this girl is good,' he thought as he member continued to vanish and reappear like a sexual jack-in-the-box. Then his stick reappeared and he felt the bed squeak. He felt the warm wait of a woman's body against his chest and Anya's nipples pressed against him. He felt her warm breath near his mouth. Then there lips met. Her lips were so soft . . . he couldn't remember ever tasting softer. And then his cock vanished from sight completely as she slid her tightly little pussy back onto it. "Mmmh," came a voice from above him. Anya thought there was just something incredible about a nice full pussy. She sank down and savored the moment, squeezing all the muscles in her abdominal area to draw him further in. "Good boy," she said. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her ass and was quickly rewarded with a good hard squeeze. "Damn girlie," Croc said with a grin. "You got the best bedside manner I ever seen." "Fuck me good, or I'll take your temperature with an anal thermometer." "Yes ma'am." He may not have been in possession of his full strength, but he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity. He had been with some hot women in his life, but females like Anya . . . well, you were lucky to run across one in a lifetime. His hands were gripping her invisible flesh, which was a trip all by itself. Having his dick disappear on the down-strokes . . . that would take some getting used to. He slid his hands upward, clinging to her skin until her found her soft breasts. He heard her moan as he found and tweaked her nipples and thrust his hips upward, his balls slapping against her transparent butt cheeks. "That is just so weird," he muttered as he saw his testicles bouncing against . . . nothing. Anya started riding her lover harder. "C'mon baby," she groaned. She held his hands against her tits as she bounced up and down on his pounding hips. She felt all the right parts of her body tighten. For a moment, Croc was wondering if his good eye was playing tricks on him. He thought he saw light from the window reflecting off droplets of nothingness. 'No,' he thought. 'It's her sweat.' And the minute amount of sweat that became visible as Anya climaxed was floating around her face. He felt her squeezing his cock with her delighted pussy, and he quickly blew his load deep inside her. Thankfully, he DIDN'T see his seed floating around like a sexual lava lamp. Croc felt a kiss on his cheek as his penis reappeared and he felt a weight vanishing from the bed. "Take care," Anya's voice purred. "See you tomorrow." "Yes, but will I see you?" For a moment, Anya appeared in all her nude glory, and she was smiling. Then she vanished. But for that moment, Croc's one good eye had enjoyed the view. ----------- ----------------- Several days later . . . ----------- ----------------- Talia caught Red in a huge hug when the Strays that had remained in Springfield met up with their returning comrades at the old Den. She noticed that while Jane looked more at peace, she still stood a step behind Red . . . her protector. 'Maybe that's just who she is,' the lycanthrope thought. "I missed you," she said to the red-haired warrior. "Don't go getting soft on me," Red replied, obviously not all that offended. "Where the hell is everyone?" she asked. She was looking around for her brother, hoping he hadn't gotten himself in trouble again. Talia looked nervous. "A lot has happened in the last couple of days Red. The trouble has gotten worse." "Worse?! We killed the damn Shoggoth! How could things be getting worse?!" Tarloh hated this. These two pilgrims deserved a rest as much as anyone. But there was no time. "The Shoggoth had a boss. This boss is looking to finish the job its servant started." Red shook her head. "An Elder God? How the fuck are we supposed to fight that?" She was clenching her fists. She and Jane weren't completely recovered from their fight with the Dark One. But she would fight if she needed to. "We may not have to fight it," Talia said, trying to convey some sense of hope. "Lothar came up from Los Angeles. He'd . . . found out new information." Talia went on to explain everything from Lothar's visit to the decision to send most of the remaining Strays after the Raptors and to try and locate the magical jewel known as the Heaven's Eye. "You put Robbie in charge and . . ." Red shook her head. She looked at Tarloh. "What were you . . ." Tarloh had half expected this from his co-chief. "I was thinking that you were hundreds of miles away looking after Jane and saving the world from ANOTHER ancient menace that I might actual be a leader and let someone else step up." "But Robbie . . ." "Has been in the Strays just as long as you have. Red, you can't do it all yourself and you know it. If it were anyone but your brother, you wouldn't even be making a fuss." The big man's eyes softened. "You've done everything you promised them you'd do," he reminded her. "You've got to trust your brother now . . . just a little." Jane was as confused as she was scared. "Promised who?" Red lowered her head. He was right. "It's nothing," she told her lover. "I'm just worried about Robbie. You know his head isn't always where it's supposed to be." She looked at Tarloh, anxious to put this argument behind her. "So, what is the . . . housing situation," she said. "We decided . . . as a group . . . on the slaughterhouse. And we won't have to worry about hiding this time." "How so?" "Because we're purchasing the property. Nice and legal!" Red couldn't take many more surprises. "How? We don't have that kind of money!" "That's not entirely true," said a voice from the opening to the surface. There stood Anya in all her glory. She was wearing designer clothes, expensive boots and was carrying a purse that cost more than most Americans made in a year. "I . . . had a little put away that I'd kind of forgot about." "That's a pretty outfit," Jane said absently. Then she blushed. "Sorry. Not relevant." Anya looked at her friend. "I wasn't going to stand by and let the Strays go homeless. So I'm going back to work . . . at least for a while." "But you hated that world!" "But we need the money. We can't keep going the way we were, especially with our numbers down. I can help just by strutting down a runway every now and then. I sold my house and emptied my savings. And Croc helped out too," she said, a bit fondly. "Happy to help," the man in question said, appearing out of nowhere. He noticed, with some admiration, that the red-haired woman didn't flinch when he appeared out of nowhere. He wore a patch over his ruined eye, but he thought it actually helped his image. "I guess that from what I've heard, I owe you thanks," Red said coolly. She would take time in assessing the man's character. He had won over the rest of the Strays already, and that counted for something . . . but not everything. "Does . . . does the . . . slaughterhouse have an address?" Jane asked, uncomfortable with all the tension. "Yeah I suppose." Tarloh looked a bit perplexed. "Why?" Red gripped her girlfriend's hand. "Are you sure this is what you want? We could find you . . ." "I need some of the normal world," Jane said, "but I'm not leaving you." Talia didn't understand. "Jane . . . what's going on?" Something occurred to her. "Dammit, I'm sorry. We never asked what happened . . ." "I didn't kill him," Jane said, answering the unasked question. "I didn't have to." It was Jane's turn to recount everything, from breaking into her old house to the fight with the Shoggoth to the visit with her mother. Anya almost cried, and even Talia held back a sniffle. "So," Jane finished, "I need a job again. I need . . . I need something I can help her out with. A life I can tell her about. I . . . was gonna get an apartment again . . . maybe but . . ." "You won't have to," Tarloh interrupted. "We'll give you as much 'normal' as we can." Talia wrapped an arm around Red's shoulder. "I think we found a place that you two could stay too. Assuming that . . . " Jane leaned her head on Red's other shoulder. Talia smiled. "I assumed you two might want to bunk up." Red steeled herself. She still didn't want to leave the place she'd called home for so many years. "Let's go look at this place . . ." --------- ------------------- A little while later . . . --------- ------------------- Talia and Red were still up at the cave that Red and Jane might likely call home. It would take a lot of work to get it comfortable for both summer and winter weather, but it seemed to strike a primal chord with Red. Jane just wanted her girlfriend to be comfortable. Jane excused herself and went back to the main building. She found Tarloh and Anya and Croc talking financial matters. "Hey little one," the co-Captain of the Strays said when the shy girl approached. He noticed Croc eyeing the young woman, and then he noticed Anya elbowing Croc in the ribs while shaking her head. Croc quickly got the hint that this wasn't someone to play around with. "Huh- . . . hey," she said, forcing herself to not stare at the ground. "I didn't mean to interrupt." "It's okay. What's on your mind." "I . . . I need to find a job," she muttered. "I know this place is isolated and all but . . . is there anything even kinda nearby?" Looking at the magic-haired young lady who had problems meeting someone's gaze, he never would have guessed that she had twice fought the Shoggoth and won. He wondered if she'd ever realize how strong she could really be. "There's a couple of gas stations out on the highway. We'll find you something." He ruffled her hair, which promptly smoothed itself out. "That's weird," Croc muttered. "You don't know the half of it," Anya whispered. "Can . . . can I talk to you alone," Jane whispered, glancing up towards the cave. "Sure." Tarloh escorted her to a side office. "What's up?" "Red won't tell me so . . . When you said she'd fulfilled her promise, what did you mean?" Tarloh grimaced. He wasn't sure he should talk about it, but he was pretty sure Red wouldn't. "Red . . . you know her and Robbie's parents were killed right? By other lycanthropes?" He sighed. "I'd been with the Strays just a couple of years. We'd been hunting this rabid band of renegades for a while. They'd been going after outlying houses and campers and the like . . . for food. We caught up with them just . . . just as they were finishing off Red's father. From what Robbie told us later, he'd gone to try to save his mother and had almost been killed by a backhand swipe. When the renegades turned on the father, we heard him screaming at her. He told her to save her brother and get him out of there. When we got to where they'd been camping, we saw a fifteen year old girl swinging a stick at a pack of monsters. She was between them and her brother and she wasn't gonna budge." Jane saw a look of admiration pass over Tarloh's glum face. "She was always a fighter, wasn't she?" Tarloh nodded. "She was yelling at Robbie, the enemy, her parents, the stars . . . she swore she'd never let them hurt her little brother. Even when we jumped on the renegades, she stood over him. She took a swing at anything that moved. We took out the others, but even after that it took a while to convince her that we weren't going to hurt her or Robbie. We had a different healer back then, and we finally let her let the guy take a look at Robbie. We turned around . . . damned if she wasn't kneeling over her father's body and closing his eyes. She was crying . . . last time I ever saw her do that. She promised her dad again that she'd never let anything happen to Robbie." "Is that . . . when you turned her?" "No," came a feminine voice from the doorway. "Red . . ." Tarloh started. "It's okay," the red-haired warrior said. She hated thinking back to that time. It made her feel weak. "Olaf . . . the Strays leader at the time would do it. He said I was too young to understand the decision. So I waited until I was eighteen and sought him out." "Why? You were safe and Robbie was safe and . . ." "But we weren't," Red replied, pushing her lover's hair from her face. "There were still monsters out in the world. I knew that, and I could never 'un-know' it. I saw them every time I went to sleep and in every shadow. I couldn't let them do what they had done to my parents . . . what they'd tried to do to my brother." Red shrugged. "I wanted this life." "Olaf was old, even back then. He turned Red, then Robbie. He died not long after, and I wound up being in charge of the Strays. Red," he said, giving the girl a grin, "really didn't give me much of a choice as to who my second in command was gonna be. Then she became a co-captain and that was that." Full Moon Strays Ch. 07 Jane smiled. She wandered over and wrapped her arms and hair around Red. "I think I still need protecting." Red chuckled. "That you do sweetness. And I'll be there for you." Then a perplexed looked came over her face. "But still, I worry about that little lug." She glanced at Tarloh. "How do you think he and Natasha are doing?" ------------- ----------------------- Down in South America . . . ------------- ----------------------- Robbie lay on his back, bleeding from his nose and a busted lip. The Strays and the Raptors had scouted out the village and temple where the Heaven's Eye was being kept. They'd thought that all they had to deal with was a shaman and his bodyguard. They'd assumed that the shaman used parlor tricks and basic magic to scare the rest of the villagers into subservience. They'd thought and assumed wrong. Robbie and Natasha had decided to try and reason with the man and convince him of their need for the jewel. It turned out that the shaman was quite insane, paranoid and quite a bit more powerful than they had anticipated. While the villagers grabbed the equivalent of torches and pitchforks, the shaman had summoned a number of earth golems. Robbie and his allies had found themselves in a major fight. At that moment, Robbie was lying on his back. He had been broadsided by an eight foot walking pile of dirt and clay. He was trying to clear the cobwebs from his head, but almost wished he hadn't. When his head stopped spinning, he saw the golem raise a monstrous foot, preparing to squash him like a bug. "Holy . . ." ------------- -------------------- To be continued . . . Full Moon Strays Ch. 08 This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity. --------------- ----------------- The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission. This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions. -------------------- ------------------- ". . . shit!" Robbie shouted. He, the Strays and the Raptors were fighting for their lives in the jungles of South America trying to capture a magical jewel called the Heaven's Eye from a maniacal shaman. The adversary conjured up a set of massive earth golems to aid his followers in the defense of the jewel, and all hell had broken loose. Robbie found himself lying on his back, scrambling to get out of the way of the descending foot of a golem before it crushed him like an insect. 'If I let that thing step on me, Red will have my hide,' he thought absently. Then he felt hands on his shoulders and was pulled out of the way just before the foot came down. "I'm not explaining to your sister that I let you get killed," Natasha said as she helped Robbie to his feet. She looked pissed. The Strays and Raptors were generally too fast for the golems but the golems were too tough to be readily destroyed. Most of the shaman's followers had been incapacitated or had run off, leaving a kind of roaming stalemate. Besla and her Raptors had taken to trying to drop heavy objects on their earthy enemies, but they weren't able to lift anything big enough to do significant damage. Natasha was strong but not strong enough to take on those things. She didn't much care if they hit her. The shaman himself had watched her casually let one step on her and she just got up afterwards. "This guy is pissing me . . . off," Natasha said, trailing off. She noticed one of the golems step in a fire pit. Shortly thereafter, it took a step and she saw several chunks dropping off its leg. "BESLA!" she shouted. She looked at Robbie. "Fire," she said excitedly. "These things are flexible. Fire 'em up and they'll go stiff." Robbie stared at her. "What? Am I the ONLY one around here who took a ceramics course in college?!" Robbie dodged a clumsy blow from the golem. "Never went to college, remember? And where are we supposed to find that much fire? I left my Greek Fire in my other pants." "Is that what you told Besla?" Natasha said jokingly as she ducked another swat from the golem. Robbie saw Besla bashing another golem over the head with a heavy stick, mostly to no avail. The quetzalcoatl were having limited success by constricting and crushing the enemy, but it was a slow process that left the feathered serpents vulnerable. Robbie waved at her frantically. After a moment she flew over, obviously exhausted. "Yes?" she snapped. "Sorry," Robbie said. "Didn't mean to interrupt your lack of progress!" Natasha stepped between the two hotheads. "Besla, we think we've found something we can use. Can anyone in the Raptors produce fire? The dragons maybe?" Besla snorted. "Dragons breathing fire? Where do you humans come up with these ideas?" The three of them put some distance between themselves and the fray. "How about Lothar? Can he conjure fire?" Robbie asked. "I don't know. He's been trying to get at the shaman and he's sweating up a storm. He's not used to this," Natasha said nervously. Lothar was well hidden, but eventually the shaman would find out where he was and send a golem after him. "We need to either take care of some of those things out or find a way of getting to the shaman. Where's he drawing all that power from? Lothar is no slouch, but he's sweating like a pig." "The jewel maybe?" "I don't think so. I don't think that's what the jewel does, from what Lothar told me." She looked at Besla. "See if you can get a good look at his surroundings . . . see if he's standing near anything or is protecting something." She turned to Robbie. "Sneak over to Lothar and see if he has anyway of conjuring fire. Tell him what we saw with the golem." Natasha watched her comrades take off. She figured she'd make another play at the shaman. It wasn't like he had anything that could actually hurt her. She tore off across the field, dodging her earthy adversaries. She got within fifty yards and ran into a new problem. More specifically she sank into it. "Holy fuck!" she shouted. The ground around the shaman had been softened, and Natasha quickly sank up to her knees. It seemed to have little effect on the powerful golems, but the ground-based attackers were slowed anywhere in the shaman's vicinity. "I'll give the bastard credit. He's clever," she muttered. Then she almost smiled. 'It's VERY soft,' she thought. Meanwhile, Robbie had found Lothar hidden in a grove of trees. He had a narrow view of the field of battle, but it was all he needed. The nerd-turned-hero was sweating from pores he didn't know he had. "I can't get through, and he doesn't even seem to be getting tired!" Lothar gasped. "We think he may have some kind of power-source," Robbie said. "Besla is looking for it. Listen, can you . . . like do fireballs and stuff? Fire makes the golems brittle. We might be able to start breakin' 'em up." "Fire is tricky and potentially dangerous. It'd be easier to localize it than to try to fill the air up with it." "There's a bunch of ceremonial fire pits out there. Will that do?" "Yeah, but I don't have much juice left. If you can get them all close together . . ." Robbie nodded. "Leave that to us. Don't worry about the shaman for a bit. Let's take his guards out. Keep an eye open. I've got an idea." Actually, he didn't have an idea. He just wanted to sound like he did. 'Fuck, how am I gonna manage this?' He bolted out into the open, headed straight for one of the golems. He kept an eye out for the biggest of the fire pits. "Do you have a plan YET?" came Besla's screech as she swooped in next to him. Robbie was annoyed. Couldn't she at least wait to be critical of him until AFTER they had won? Or died? "We need to get 'em near a fire pit," he told her. "As many of 'em as possible." "Very well," she replied. "He seems to be drawing power from three stones on the alter, but he has golems doing nothing but guarding them. And . . . wait, your friend!" They both stared as a golem raised its foot and prepared to squash an unsuspecting Natasha. They tried to yell at her, but she didn't seem to notice them. The foot of the creature came down and smashed her into the muck. The last he saw of her was her hand sinking down into the mud, grasping a handful of some kind of straw. "NATASHA!" he shouted, moving to help her. "Isn't she incapable of being harmed?" Besla asked. "Yeah, but she still needs to breathe!" He looked pensive. "Try and draw the golems toward that pit. They know you're a threat. Trying playing injured. Then . . ." "Finally," she interrupted with a smile. "I think you have a plan." Besla flew off, screaming orders at her fellow Raptors. Slowly, the plan started to come together. Besla "was injured" and landed near the fire pit that Robbie had pointed out. Robbie went and lured the one that had smashed Natasha away and towards the meeting spot. Finally, a handful of the allies had the majority of the golems in a circle around the pit. The shaman was screaming at his minions, mostly likely telling them to kill off the intruders or something like that. No one understood a word that he was saying. "Scramble!" Robbie shouted. Suddenly, the "tired and wounded" Strays and Raptors scatter, taking to the sky or rushing between the legs of their attackers as fast as the soft ground would allow. "Now!" he shouted when they were all clear. "LOTHAR!" In the thicket, Lothar concentrated. Most people didn't really understand magic. Magic wasn't about violating the natural order. In fact, that was impossible. Magic was about manipulating the world as it was. A sorcerer could not create something from nothing, nor could he destroy something absolutely. He could simply push and pulled at the fabric of what was to make the universe more compliant with what he wanted. What Lothar wanted was to move particles around, causing the air above and around the fire pit to be saturated with oxygen, feeding the flames until . . . It was quite a sight really. Robbie wished he'd brought a camera. The air above the bit shimmered and glowed for a moment, and then a column of fire erupted out about ten yards from the pit and up to the sky. Flames engulfed all of the nearby golems and for a moment hid them from view. The towering constructs emerged from the flame, but their surfaces were cracked and scorched. "Now tear 'em apart!" Robbie shouted. The tide of battle turned sharply in favor of the challengers. The quetzalcoatl were smashing great chunks from the now-brittle golems with their powerful tails. The Raptors were finally able to started ripping substantial chunks from those earthen forms, and the Strays began swarming one enemy at a time and tearing them up with claw, tooth and tusk. Arthur rushed to the thicket to check on Lothar and give him an energy boost. The shaman looked panicked. He grabbed one of the stones he had been using as power sources off the altar and raised it over his head, and the ground around the shaman began to swell. "Not again!" Robbie panted. "How many times can he do this?" Mindy said next to him. She was tired as all get out. But just as quickly as the fight had started, it stopped. Up from the muck, a form arose. There was a length of reed in its mouth area. The figure spun the shaman around and belted him straight in the mouth, forcing the sorcerer to collapse to the ground in an unceremonious heap. When the shaman went down, the remaining golems ceased movement. The figure wiped the mud from its face. "Natasha!" Mindy screamed delightedly. Natasha spit the hollow grass stem she had been breathing through from her mouth. It had taken her a while, but she had managed to creep up on the shaman and past his guardians. "I SO need a bath," she muttered, mostly to herself. Slowly, the Strays and Raptors all gathered around the altar. Lothar grabbed the power stones and shoved them into his bag. Robbie looked at the giant pearl-like jewel that they had come for. It was pretty, but didn't look too special. "I don't see what the big . . ." Robbie picked up the Heaven's Eye and, deep in his soul, he heard it hum. He slowly put it back on the altar. "You take it," he told Lothar. There was a moment of quiet content amongst the allies, and Natasha and Robbie both got some pats on the back. "Let's get back home," Robbie said at last. "There's work to be done." ------------ ------------------ Back in Springfield . . . ------------ ------------------ Red was sitting back in the cave that she and Jane were going to share. She couldn't believe that the Strays actually owned the land they now stood on. Anya's career was on the verge of exploding (in a good way) again. A supermodel apparently rising from the dead had gotten some peoples' attention. Talia was also talking about going back to work as a crisis counselor to help make some money, and Jane was currently interviewing for a cashier's job at the closest gas station to where the slaughterhouse was located. She was looking around, trying to figure out how to make the cave more habitable and wondering if Jane might be more comfortable in the main building. But there was plenty of room for a bed and she knew she could build up the front and . . . "What am I doing?" she muttered. She was playing house . . . she was becoming the woman who stayed at home while her mate went off to work. She walked down the trail to the main building. She found Tarloh, Johan, Talia, Croc and Shield were laughing amongst themselves. "You think that would work?" Tarloh was asking. "What's going on?" "Talia," the big man said, "thinks I should get a bouncing gig at a strip club. I could think of worse things," he chuckled. "You're getting a job?" Red asked, her voice edged with incredulity. "Yeah," Tarloh said, missing his partner's tone. "We were also talking about fixing up the road in here and maybe getting a communal car or two. Talia pointed out that it might help some soon-to-be-employed folk out a bit." "What about patrolling?" Red said, trying to keep her cool. "Don't worry," he said almost absently, turning back to the crowd. "We'll set up a schedule." Red turned and quietly left the building, standing on the edge of the woods and glancing at the sun low in the sky through the trees. Her breathing was hard and fast. She was angry. "What's up?" came a voice from behind her. Talia came up and tried to put an arm around her best friend but, for the first time that she could remember, Red quickly pulled away. "Red, what's the matter?" "How can you even ask that?" Red hissed. "What the hell is with you people?!" "What? You're not making sense." Red shook her head. "Am I the only one who's still actually interested in protecting the public? You're all looking past what the Strays are supposed to be about! Everyone is getting jobs and thinking about cars and what . . . patrolling gets relegated to 'We'll get around to it eventually'?" "Don't start with this again," Talia started. "You're not the only one . . ." "Yes," Red growled. "Apparently I am the only one. We haven't even stopped the Elder God, and you people are already retiring!" Talia was confused, but she was also getting defensive. "We're STILL going to patrol! But damn it, we need to change! We don't have the manpower . . ." "How does going domestic help? How does spending less time on the streets with fewer people make the city safer?!" Red was so mad that her face was almost matching her hair. Talia couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her friend this unhinged. "We are NOT abandoning our mission!" "No, you're just penciling it in on your day planners between work and soccer practice," Red said, turning on her heels and walking off into the woods. "Tell Jane I went for a walk," she shouted behind her. Talia was dumbfounded. "Where the hell did that come from?" she asked of the trees. ---------- ------------------ Several hours later . . . ---------- ------------------ Red found herself in the worst part of Springfield, an area simply called the Row. She had left the slaughterhouse and just kept walking for hours. Anyone who saw the stunningly beautiful redhead walking through that area with the sun having set would say that she was just asking for trouble. They would've been right. She had noticed that a lot of the normal paranormal traffic had died down. It had started during the war with the Dark One and its Hellspawn, and the mystical world still seemed to be uneasy. It knew something was up, even if it wasn't sure what the trouble was. Red had been tempted to go to the mine area wear the Elder God was trying to break through. But even in her current state of mind, she thought better of it. Red wanted a fight and she wanted it bad. She knew she was probably overreacting, but she couldn't help herself. Her blood was boiling in her veins and her mouth was dry. "I need a drink," she told herself. She found her way to a bar she knew to be seedy and to house unholy elements. Normally, she went there with a crew. She'd never been there solo. The moment she walked in, she realized that she'd found what she was looking for. Behind the bar was a suave looking man whose face looked concerned when Red came in the door. Red noticed a group of three men in the otherwise deserted establishment sitting at a back table . . . black suits, black gloves and sunglasses indoors. 'Hellspawn,' she thought with almost sadistic satisfaction. "Hey, we don't want no trouble in here," the bartender said. "Get used to disappointment," the redhead said as she closed the door behind her. ------------- ----------------------- Early the next morning . . . ------------- ----------------------- Jane had been wandering around the slaughterhouse and pacing the trail between the building and the cave. Talia had told her about Red's explosion and Jane's girlfriend still hadn't returned. On one trip back down the trail, Jane ran into Tarloh and Talia. "Still nothing?" Talia asked. "No," Jane whispered. Things had been going so well, except for the looming threat of an apocalypse. Like Talia, Jane hadn't seen this coming at all. She had been so proud that she'd gotten the job, as unimpressive as being a cashier was. She'd wanted to tell Red all about the interview and everything. Now, she was gripping the bright yellow smock she would be wearing and wondering where her lover had gone. "Was there anything else you said? She couldn't have . . ." They heard footsteps further down the trail and they all turned their heads. Stumbling up the trail was a dark figure. Talia didn't need to see the face . . . she and Tarloh both recognized the scent. And Jane just knew. "Red?" "What . . . what're y'all doin' here?" came Red's voice. But her words were slurred and were tinged with the reek of tequila. "Sweetie," Jane said, taking a step forward. Red started to topple and Jane's magical hair extended instinctively, catching her girlfriend and pulling her closer to the front of the cave where the lantern could illuminate her. Red was bleeding from her nose and mouth and from cuts on her arm. She was heavily bruised and her red leathers were torn. She was also stinking drunk. Her eyes were glazed over and she had a lopsided grin. "S'okay," Red said absently. "You should . . . should see the other guy . . . guys." "Oh God, what happened?" Jane asked, her voice breaking. "What . . ." "I was patrollin'," Red said. She started to look more agitated. "I was doin' what we're s'pposed to be . . . " Red's eyes rolled back in her head and she was out, and the only thing that kept her from crashing to the ground was Jane. The three of them took Red into the cave and placed her on the makeshift bed. Talia looked her friend over. "She's beaten up pretty bad, but nothing life-threatening. Maybe some breaks. Tarloh, go get the first aid kit." Talia sent Tarloh because she knew just by looked at her distressed face that Jane would never leave Red's side. "She's going to be okay?" Jane whimpered. "Physically, yeah," Talia said, rubbing her eyes. "But mentally . . . I don't know what set this off. I knew she wasn't happy about the move out here but . . . I've never seen her like that. And I've never seen her drunk. Not ever." Tarloh returned and they cleaned up and bandaged what they could. Tarloh built a fire in the center of the cave while Talia and Jane tucked Red into bed. "I'll stay in here until she comes around," Talia told the big man. She looked at Jane. "I know you'll be here, but I should be around if she needs more medical help. I'm the best we've got until Arthur gets back." Jane nodded. She didn't care who else was there. She curled up and tucked herself into the crook of Red's arm, her hair wrapped up Red's body and keeping her warm. --------- ----------------------- Full Moon Strays Ch. 08 Twelve hours later . . . --------- ----------------------- Red had only had a hangover once before in her life. She remembered suddenly why she didn't drink. But last time, she was pretty sure that the only symptoms had been nausea and a headache. This time, her entire body ached as if . . . "Wait," she mumbled. "I WAS in a fight." Bits and pieces of her night on the town were coming back to her. "Red?" came a voice at the end of the bed. Jane had been reading and had fallen asleep again in a chair next to the bed. The younger girl quickly moved to Red's side. "What did you do? What happened? What . . ." "Red?" This time it was Talia at the mouth of the cave. "Good God girl, what the hell did you do last night?" "I . . . went patrolling," Red said. "By yourself?!" Talia said. "Dammit, that's just the kind of dumb-ass stunt your brother would pull!" "I had everything under control," Red grumbled. She tried to sit up but her ribs objected mightily. "Oh really?" came Tarloh's voice from the door. Suddenly, all the remaining Strays piled into the cave, and Red had to pull a blanket up to cover her mostly naked body. She wasn't ashamed of her body. She was ashamed that she'd been beaten up so badly. Anya sat on the bed and dropped a paper on the bed. Red picked up. On the open section, someone had circled a police article about a "disturbance" at a local bar where, according to a traumatized bartender, a red-haired woman had gotten into a fight of biblical proportions with three well-dressed men. His description of the fight was jumbled as he talked about the woman having fangs and claws and the men's eyes were glowing and their teeth gleamed. The woman managed to brutalize the three men before taking two bottles of Jose Cuervo and disappearing into the night. The bartender had hidden behind the bar but also claimed that other men, dressed the same as those killed, had arrived and collected the bodies. While the police agreed that there had been a struggle, no sign of the supposed victims had been found. Croc was the only one smiling. "Next time you go to the bar, invite me," he said. "It sounded like one hell of a . . . ouch!" Anya had elbowed him hard in the ribs. Tarloh's face was hard to read. "Do you have some kind of explanation for this? And don't say you were patrolling again." Red closed her eyes and leaned back. "I had to do something. There are still monsters out there, and getting a job as a bouncer isn't going to make them go away." Tarloh shook his mighty head. "No. But it will help the Strays get back on their feet. It will still give me eight hours a day to patrol, as well as on my days off." Shield looked down on the woman who had saved so many of their asses so many times. "Is it so bad? Is wanting to remember what being normal is like so bad?" It was Anya's turn to speak. "Say the word and I'll quit," the beautiful Latina said. "If you really feel that we're abandoning you like Natasha did . . ." Anya didn't believe that Nat had actually abandoned Red. She was just trying to provoke a reaction. "Nat didn't . . . " Red started. "This isn't about her." "What's it about?" Jane asked. It wouldn't take a genius to realize that she was terrified. Red hurting meant that she was hurting. "Why did you do it?" A little bit of Red's sanity returned. She hadn't even thought about how her actions would affect this young woman. "I did it because . . . because it's the only thing I know how to do." She looked at Tarloh. He had been her friend since before she had been turned. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just don't know any other way to be." Tarloh was confused. "What do you mean?" "I can't be normal," she said. "I train the new people. I get the supplies, and I fight our enemies. I can't fight an Elder God. You all are buying our supplies now, and we don't have any new people. I don't know if we ever will again." She sighed. "I can't handle . . . I don't know how to be obsolete." The cave was silent as all eyes were locked on Red. Tarloh was the first to speak. The big man shook his head and sat down on the bed next to his friend. He took her hands in his and said . . . "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!" at the top of his voice. Red's hangover erupted with all the bells and whistles of a train station. She actually had to clutch the sides of her head to make sure it didn't fall off. Tarloh had a slightly wild look in his eyes. "I mean . . . good grief! When are you going to get it through that thick head of yours that we're NOT GIVING UP! You've been bound and determined to take on the entire world all by yourself since you were fifteen years old! You don't have to do that! Have you forgotten how things work? I cheer people up, make unreasonable promises to all of them and expect YOU to make it happen somehow. And it's worked for a long time! Maybe we NEED to get jobs because we're not going to be able to steal everything we need! Jane showed us that. Maybe we've got to learn to live another way! You think that I'M going to figure out how that's going to work? You think that I, or any of the other Strays for that matter, are going to be able to get new members up to speed . . . and yes, I'm expecting our ranks to grow back like they always have. No! I expect YOU to do it. You said it yourself! We have to do more with less." "My . . . head," Red groaned through immense pain. "I don't give a crap," Tarloh grumbled. "As soon as you get done feeling sorry for yourself and can walk a straight line, get your ass down to the main building. We've got to figure out how we're going to handle things when the others get back with that fucking jewel." Tarloh promptly stood up and wandered off. Talia was grinning. She knew she shouldn't be. Red had been seriously beat up and wasn't in the best frame of mind at the moment. But still . . . Most of the other Strays were trying really hard not to laugh. "Red, you REALLY thought that we didn't need you anymore?" Anya said with a chuckle. She leaned in and kissed the woman on her aching forehead. She and Croc left, followed by the rest of the Strays except Jane and Talia. Red wasn't sure what was worse . . . the pain or the embarrassment. "I guess I made an ass out of myself?" "Just a bit," Talia said. "I guess I can't blame you though. If I'd been through half of what you have and had to deal with everything people expect you to, I'd have had a breakdown too." Jane looked at her girlfriend and raised her tiny fists in a mock sparring movement. "You can still train me." "Not you too," Red moaned, pulling a blanket over her head. "I love you," Jane said, curling up next to her lover. "I'll always need you." "Listen to the girl," Talia said. "She ain't dumb." Then she left the two alone. "Don't scare me like that again," Jane pleaded, pulling the blanket back so she could see Red's bruised face. "Promise?" "I promise," Red whispered. She gave Jane a kiss on the nose. She started to sit up. "Help me get dressed. I need . . ." Jane sat on her lover's lap and refused to budge. "You need to rest." "I don't need . . ." "Yes you do," Jane said, trying to sound forceful. Mostly, she just sounded squeaky. "What are you going to do? We can't face the Elder God until the guys get back. We have food for now. We have shelter for now. You look like you got beat up by a truck." Jane kissed Red on the lips. "You deserve some rest. Even if it's just for a day . . . let me take care of you." Red smiled and lay back down. She let Jane lay a cool cloth on her head before lying down next to her with Jane's head on Red's chest and still-beating heart. --------- --------------------- Inside the building . . . --------- --------------------- "You didn't have to be quite so mean," Talia chortled. "Yes I did!" Tarloh shouted, then got himself back under control. With a sigh, "If I didn't nip her path to martyrdom in the bud, she would've finally convinced herself that she really was useless and probably left the Strays to go on some damn fool . . . she would've tried to go and save the world by herself. I don't know if she or the Strays would've survived that. Especially not right now." "You really think she would've left?" Anya asked. "The only thing that would've stopped her was Jane," Talia said, gripping Tarloh's hand. She knew he had been right. "I should've seen it coming. She's been on the verge of breaking down since she got back and found out what Robbie had done. Between dealing with him, dealing with Jane's problems and still trying to do her regular duties of keep everyone else safe and fed . . . The whole 'I'm useless' thing was just a way out, even if she didn't realize it. And until Jane came along, she didn't have any . . . anyone to play with," Talia added suggestively. Anya laughed. "It IS the best way to calm the nerves." "With you, it's not exactly calming," Tarloh said, ruffling the hottie's hair. "It's Red's own damn fault anyway," he grumbled, unwilling to let his second command off the hook quite yet. "She's so damn picky." "What do you mean?" Croc asked. "Red has been with only three women in recent memory," Anya said. "Natasha . . . me a couple of times . . . and now Jane. I'm the only one she wasn't actually in love with . . . I just got lucky enough to be around when she and Nat were both extra frisky." "Nat turned her around," Shield added. "But Jane . . ." Talia started. She smiled. "If those two could ever get a few moments to just breathe, they'll be so good for each other." "Unless they turn out like she and Nat did," Tarloh replied. Talia shook her head. "Don't you see? When Nat wanted to leave, Red wouldn't go with her. Red's already followed Jane across several states and back, and she was ready to support her moving back to the surface. She was going to stay with her, and that was something she wasn't willing to do with Nat. Jane was right. They need each other." "You are SUCH a romantic," Anya said. "But I hope you're right. Now, we just need to avert an apocalypse so they can . . . I dunno . . . go on a honeymoon?" "I think we ALL deserve a break if we survive the next couple of weeks," Talia said. "Why wait?" Anya said, raising her eyebrows suggestively and tracking her fingers down one of Croc's powerful arms. "Is that all you ever think about?" Talia laughed. "If I can help it," the sexy Hispanic woman replied. "I take it you want us to leave?" Shield said with a grin, elbowing Johan in the ribs. "Why? This is ME we're talking about. The more the merrier." Anya looked at Talia and Tarloh. "Care to join us?" Talia stood in front of Tarloh and pressed her firm buttocks against his groin, feeling it begin to swell. "I think I talked him into it," she grinned. "Damn feminine wiles," he grumbled, grabbing her hips and holding her in place. Anya moved with such grace that she almost seemed to be dancing as she moved from male to male, kissing each on the cheek, the lips and then breathing heavily onto their necks. She even gave a peck to Talia, but mostly for the boys' benefits. She knew Talia didn't swing that way. Croc was impressed. He knew that Anya was a freak, but apparently everyone in this little crew had liberal inhibitions. He was liking it! He stepped up behind Anya and started to untie her top while she rubbed Shield's and Johan's staffs through their respective pants. Nearby, Tarloh had pulled Talia's top down past her shoulders all the way to the waist and was pawing her warm breasts and kissing her on the neck. She loved his gruffness . . . his raw animal nature. She fumbled with his trousers behind her back, anxious to feel the heat of his intimidating manhood in her hands. Soon, she felt just that and gripped it with both hands, moaning in anticipation. "You will share, won't you?" Anya said, removing the pants of one lover-to-be at a time. "I will." She got on her knees with three fine specimens of maleness looking her in the eye. She started with Shield, kissing each of them on the head in turn. She moved over to do the same to Tarloh, but Talia pushed on the back of her friend's head, "forcing" Anya's mouth around that massive head. "Don't do it if you're not ready to do it right," Talia said. She knelt in front of Croc, sucking the assassin's cock into her mouth while jerking off Johan and Shield. 'If she's gonna sample MY favorite, I'm gonna steal some of HER style,' she thought. Croc was pretty well endowed himself, so she saw him as "good practice" for her main man Tarloh. Anya meanwhile was enjoying Tarloh's huge rod, only getting about half of it down her throat at a given time. The veins of his cock tantalized her lips as inch after inch of flesh slid in and out. She stroked his dick while pulling her mouth up, sucking hard on the head. "Mmh," she cooed happily. "This is why you're in charge." "I thought it was my good decisions," Tarloh said, almost petulantly. Talia would have chuckled if she wasn't tickling her nose with Shield's pubes. She felt someone touching her backside. Johan had knelt behind her and was pushing into her pussy. She spread her legs just a bit, giving him a bit better access. Anya pulled off of Tarloh and smiled. "That's my girl," she said, watching her friend getting drilled in both ends. Johan and Shield were picking up their pace, and Talia wasn't exactly resisting. She was grasping Shield's hips as he drove his cock into her mouth while Johan was clutching her ass cheeks. Anya loved listening to the spanking of flesh on flesh, even when it wasn't hers. But she didn't have to go without. Tarloh pulled the unsuspecting woman up to her feet and grabbed her by the waist. "Wanna go for a ride?" the big man asked. "You KNOW I do," she replied. She felt the opening to her paradise stretch as she was lowered onto that big cock. She let the air escape her lungs so she could make more room in her body for hot male flesh. Croc watched as the Hispanic beauty took her leader's cock all the way to the hilt. Most guys might be put off by watching the woman they were pursuing fucking another guy. For Croc, it was Anya's honest and uninhibited nature that he found so captivating. Then he got a wink and a nod from Tarloh after Anya had closed her eyes for a minute. The co-captain of the Strays had a plan. Anya had only gotten pumped a couple of times when she felt herself being lowered. While Tarloh's cock was still inside her, she was being lowered by TWO sets of powerful hands until she was perpendicular to Tarloh's body. She opened her eyes and found herself face-to-face (so to speak) with Croc's muscular body and beautiful cock. "You've got to be . . ." Anya started to say as Croc placed the head of his dick on her lips. She dropped "kidding" from her sentence and just swallowed it, feeling it slide almost directly down her throat. She felt like a prize piece of meat impaled upon a spit, just waiting to be rotated. 'Maybe that's what I am,' she thought contentedly. With Tarloh holding onto her hips and Croc holding her shoulders, she had nothing to do but float there and let them fuck her. Croc watched the woman's throat expand and adjust as he invaded it with his manhood. He made sure to maintain a firm grip on her upper body. If his grip were to slip, the ramifications would be quite painful. Talia paused and took a break while Johan and Shield switched places. Both had been good friends to Talia for many years, and this wasn't the first time she'd been with either of them. But as much fun as she had with them, she was damned sure gonna get a piece of Tarloh by the end of the evening. But since he and Croc had Anya on a spit, she returned to the tasks at hand. She got pulled away from Johan long enough to get to her feet. She bent at the waist, keeping Johan in her mouth while letting Shield stand up and get a much steadier and harder rhythm going. Shield was a stocky guy and he was able to put some power in his thrust. 'That's the way I like it,' Talia thought happily. Anya was grunting like a wild woman as she got fucked, suspended almost a yard above the ground with her back down, pinned in place by two powerful men. She was pressing the insides of her thighs and knees against Tarloh's hips out of a fear of falling. But deep inside she knew better. These men would never let her fall. Tarloh stepped back and pulled Anya back up to his chest. The two friends grinned at each other as he thrust up into her one more time. Then he pulled her off of his shaft, spinning her in the air and handing her to Croc. The assassin didn't even miss a beat, lowering that beautiful body slowly, easing his own powerful erection into her sex. "Now this is teamwork," she hummed. She wrapped her legs around this new lover's waist and spurred him into action. She was rewarded with him embedding himself in her and pressing his hard body against hers. "Good man," she said softly. She blushed. Was she actually getting sentimental? She looked over at Talia who was grinning back at her. "Mind if I borrow one of the boys? I've got an . . . an itch that needs scratching." Shield wasted no time. He was hoping she wanted what he was thinking she wanted. He sauntered over and she directed him to stand behind her. With Croc holding on to her, she reached down and grabbed her own ass cheeks, spreading them as much as she could. "Get to work," she growled. Shield took his wide pole and pressed the head against Anya's sphincter. He knew better than to keep her waiting. She could get cranky. "Oh yeah," Anya murmured as her asshole spread to accommodate her new partner. She was feeling full, and it was a familiar and welcome sensation. Talia had gone back to blowing Johan, but she also soon felt a familiar feeling. She and Tarloh had been together so many times that she could tell his touch out of instinct. And when his fingers brushed up against her back, sides and then buttocks, she knew what he was going to do. She spread her legs as far as she could and waited for that moment . . . the moment when he entered her . . . the moment that her big bear mounted her and made her want to howl at the moon. She got a special thrill when he filled her. She moaned happily into Johan's cock skin, rewarding him for Tarloh's entrance. "Liking that," Johan said. "Same at this end," Tarloh added. Talia felt new every time they got together. He relished the slow push into her as her spectacular body gripped his member. He wanted her to feel everything he had to offer. Talia ran out of breath about the time Tarloh was all the way in. She picked up the pace on Johan, gripping the base of his dick while sucking the head and upper third rapidly. Johan's member was long but not as thick as some, so she was able to get a good handle on it. Anya was getting double penetrated by a couple of strong guys, and she was loving every moment. Both anal and vaginal openings were delightfully full, and Shield and Croc had developed a nice rhythm. She didn't even have to support her own body weight . . . her lovers were taking care of that. Her brown Latin skin was sandwiched between Croc's well defined-physique and Shield's barrel chest. She liked a little variety. Variety led to orgasms, and Anya found herself being treated to one hell of a doozy. "Oh sweet mother of pearl . . ." Shield said. When Anya climaxed, her anal ring increased its pressure. It turned out to be more than the defense specialist could stand as he emptied his seed into her ass. "Don't stop," Anya grunted, gripping Croc's shoulders like her life depended on it. She was riding a nice juicy wave of ecstasy. Before Shield's member could even begin to really shrink, she felt her other lover's member twitch and spurt. She contracted every muscle she had, milking both her men for every drop. "Good boys!" she crooned contentedly. Full Moon Strays Ch. 08 Johan was the next to fall, so to speak. Talia was licking and sucking like a she had a lollipop. It didn't take her much longer before her proverbial sweet tooth was satisfied. Johan unloaded with a grunt and a grin. 'How typically male,' she thought amusedly, swallowing down her treat. When Johan's staff slipped from Talia's lips, Tarloh went to town. He grabbed her waist with his powerful hands and thrust into her so hard that his testicles slapped against her mound. "Gimme!" Talia shouted. "C'mon big daddy." "Big daddy?" Anya said. "Don't knock it," Talia replied as Tarloh hammered her. Those participants who were already spent watched with some appreciation for the animalistic display going on before them. Tarloh wasn't just having sex with Talia . . . he had mounted her and was taking her for a ride. And she was grunting happily as he went. The sound of skin slapping skin was almost like thunder in the metal-walled building. A fine sheen of sweat was covering Talia's back as she braced her hands on the floor. Something deep inside her was building and Tarloh's substantial manhood was drawing it out. "Ooh yeah," Talia mumbled. She didn't need to announce what was happening. Tarloh's suddenly hindered progress by the tightening of her vaginal opening. She was breathing hard and loving life. Anya, Shield, Croc and Johan all started applauding as Talia enjoyed her orgasm. "They're really quite good at that," Croc mentioned. Anya rolled her eyes. "You have NO idea." But Tarloh and his favorite mate weren't through. Talia pulled away, stood up and then jumped up against his chest. He grabbed her as she slid down onto his cock one more time. He spun and pushed her against the wall with a not-too-delicate "thud" and started back up again. "Hey!" Anya said with a laugh. "Don't damage the walls! I just paid for those!" Tarloh and Talia couldn't care less. The leader of the Strays was thrusting like a piston and Talia's legs were wrapped around his sizeable waist. She grabbed a double handful of his beard and pulled him into a ferocious kiss. She bit his bottom lip lightly before sending her tongue into his mouth. She wanted to be inside him as much as he wanted to be inside her. Anya's fears about damage to the metal walls almost turned out to be realized. There was a lot of clanging followed by a groaning noise, but the groan turned out to be Tarloh. He had finally lost control and was releasing a huge stream of cum into Talia's body. She was clinging to him like a second skin, direly in need of breath after kissing him for the last minute. Finally it was over, and he stopped pressing her against the wall. It creaked when pressure was removed and the cause was lowered to the floor. Talia snuggled against Tarloh's chest. "I think . . ." "Yes?" Tarloh asked when she paused. She grinned at him and then her friends, "I think that I'm just getting warmed up." "Hey!" Anya said indignantly. "That's my line!" --------- --------------- A week later . . . --------- --------------- Robbie and Natasha were both cranky as hell by the time the Strays arrived at the slaughterhouse. They had gotten a message on Natasha's cell phone on where to go, but then her battery went dead so they couldn't call back. They had returned the car, taken cabs out to the nearest gas station and then hiked back in. Lothar got help carrying the heavy magical jewel all the way. His magical battle had taken a lot out of him. That, and not having ever been to this new Den before, prevented him from teleporting. "They're back!" came a cry from a window as the weary travelers approached. Talia and Tarloh came sauntering out and embraced their friends, happy to see them all still alive. Robbie explained that the Raptors would be joining them that evening when darkness allowed them easier passage through the skies. "This is big," Natasha said, "and they wanted to be here for it." "I'm not sure what good the rest of us are going to do," Tarloh said, putting a big hand on Lothar's shoulder. "The rest is pretty much up to you." "No pressure," the pudgy man said. But he felt comforted. He had as much support as someone could ask for. He motioned towards the backpack that held the Heaven's Eye with his chin. "We better get this inside. I'm gonna need to work with it for a while . . . match my will to its. Whoever created this thing had serious mojo and I don't want to make any mistakes." "We'll get you set up," Anya said, giving the man a hug. He got a stiffy just being NEAR a woman like Anya. "Hey guys," said Nathan excitedly. There was another man beside him when he emerged from the building. "Snake?" Mindy exclaimed, embracing the thin man. Snake was one of the Strays who had left after the last battle with the Hellspawn. He was a thin man whose Talent was the ability to run at tremendous speed across or even up most any surface. "Yeah," he said with a blush. "Nathan told me what was up and . . . and I felt like crap for leaving anyway so . . ." "Don't," Mindy interrupted. "Don't beat yourself up over it." Arthur nodded. "No one should be here unless they're sure they want to be." Snake nodded back. "I'm sure now." Tarloh had just got done hugging Mindy and her brothers as well as Arthur. He picked up Natasha and Robbie in a single bone-crunching hug. "Careful," Robbie gasped. "We're still in a lot of pain." Tarloh put them down. "Let's go inside. I figure we all have stories to tell, and it will be easier if we're all there at the same time." "Where's Red?" Robbie asked, looking around. Tarloh looked towards the head of the trail that led towards the cave. "She's up there. Follow the scent. You may want to have a few words with her," he said mysteriously. Robbie's eyes opened wide. "Wait. That's the voice you use with her whenever she needs to talk to me about something stupid I did." "Yeah," Tarloh said, leading the others inside. "Screw that," Natasha mumbled as she looked at Robbie. "I'm going with you!" The two of them wandered up the trail and found Red applying brick and mortar to the front of a cave, creating a fairly serviceable looking wall with an opening for a door. It didn't take much to notice that she wasn't moving as well as she should be. She had some visible bruises and cuts on her arm that were in the process of healing. She hadn't noticed them yet because they were downwind of her. "Hey Sis," Robbie said. Red spun around, an enormous smile creeping onto her face. She dropped what she was doing and picked up her "little" brother in a fierce hug, though it obviously pained her somewhat to do so. "Hey, I'm okay!" he said. While they did love each other, Red hadn't always been so overt in her affection towards her only remaining kin. "What's got into you?" "Nothing," she said, suddenly trying to compose herself. "Then what the hell happened?" Natasha asked, touching a bruise on her cheek. "Oh that? It's . . . " Red sighed. What was she going to say? That she ran into a door? And that it was carrying a knife and brought a couple of friends? "I'm okay. Really. It looks worse than it is." "If it WAS worse than it looked, you'd be in a pine box," Nat grumbled. "Nuh unh Sis," Robbie said. "You make me tell you everything every time I've done something . . . what's the word?" he asked, looking at Natasha. "Rash?" "That's it." Red growled. Neither her brother nor her friend seemed particularly intimidated at the moment. The she sighed. "Come on it," she muttered, walking towards the back of the cave. "I'll explain." "Jane here?" Nat asked nervously. She wasn't sure if she should be there, thought it would probably be okay because Robbie was chaperoning. "She's at work," Red said. "After what happened out east, she decided she needed a job." She decided just to dive right in. She told them everything, from the bus-ride out to Jane's home town to Red's total break down. Robbie was staring in amazement. His sister had ALWAYS been the reliable one. What she had done was so un-Red-like. "PLEASE tell me you've got that out of your system," he said at last. "Yeah. I think I've seen the error of my ways. Or at least felt them," she groaned as she leaned back against the wall. "We can have Arthur take a look at you in a bit," Nat said. "He's probably tired and . . ." Red started, but her brother wasn't having any of it. "Let him help. Arthur was actually able to rest on the trip up. Luckily, none of us got injured," Robbie said. "I'm impressed," Red said with genuine respect. "It's hard to lead troops into battle and bring them back." "Yet you've been doing it for how many years?" Robbie asked. "And you never complained." Robbie was as open with his sister as he had been in years. "Red I never realized how hard what you do is. I've done it once and . . . and I don't WANT to do it again. I stunk at it. The only reason we all made it out was because we worked as a team. I'm not putting myself down. I just not as much of a leader as you are and I'm okay with that." "I don't know. I think you're not giving yourself enough credit." She looked at him and ruffled his hair, then gave him a hug. "Okay, now you're REALLY creeping me out," Robbie said, though he didn't mind so much. Red smiled at him. "You've grown up." She looked him in the eyes. "Jane . . . she was asking Tarloh and them about how it started. About when we first met the Strays." Robbie's mood sobered quickly. "I hadn't thought about that in a long time." "Me neither. Afterwards, I just started thinking back to Mom and Dad and the promise I made. I think that's what started this," she said, looking at her bruises. "I've been doing one thing so long that the idea of changing things this much was a bit overwhelming." Natasha smiled as she and Robbie helped Red to her feet. "You're a strange bird," she said. They walked down the trail to the main building. "And for everyone's sake, I hope you never change." ------------ ------------------ Later that evening . . . ------------ ------------------ Jane was moving through the forest at high speed, wanting to get home. She'd gotten a call on her cell that all the Strays were back and she wanted to see them. In her many magical braids she was carrying some snacks she had bought with her meager money. She'd also grabbed all the hot dogs from the grill that had been there a little too long. There was always someone in the Strays who would eat that stuff. She scurried up to the building and clambered inside. And she was in for a surprise. When she emerged into the main room, she saw a huge man with wings . . . bat-like wings. He turned and seemed to growl at her. Jane screamed. The Strays came rushing forward, prepared for anything. The Raptors had arrived just half-an-hour earlier and they had been trading war stories. No one had thought to call Jane and warn her. When Tarloh got to the front of the room, he wound up being more amused than alarmed. Jane had extended eight magical braids to defend herself against this intruder with anything at her disposal. "At her disposal," at that moment, was a steel folding chair, an old vase, a branch, two rocks, a jelly doughnut, a bag of chips, a jar of salsa and metal pipe. "Woah there girl," the big man said with a grin. "It's okay. This is Otlivant. He's one of the Raptors . . . they're allies." Jane was breathing so fast she was practically panting. The other Raptors and Strays were watching as Tarloh tried to talk the nervous girl into relinquishing her . . . weapons. "Hey," said Raid as she ventured into the whirlwind of silky-smooth tentacles that was Jane. Jane instantly began to calm down and wrapped her arms and hair, weapons and all, around her girlfriend. "There there," Red said softly. She knew she was making a scene, but she also knew that Jane was quite capable of hurting someone if she got spooked. Besla leaned in and whispered to Robbie, "This is your sister's mate? She seems . . . fragile." Robbie shook his head. "Don't judge a book by its cover. That girl has saved every one of us at some time or another. Even before she had her Talent, she saved my ass just by being brave at the right time." "I shall take you at your word," Besla said, still unconvinced. Jane's head was resting comfortably on Red's chest and she was calming down. She felt a little silly at the fuss she had made. "Sorry everyone," she said, blushing a bit and hiding behind Red as she released her from those braids. One strand held up a doughnut to the harpy that had been called Otlivant. "Chocolate glazed?" The harpy just stared at her, looking totally perplexed. Everyone else just started laughing. "Now that you're all calmed down," Mindy said, rushing forward to hug her friend. "Mindy!" And just like that, the tension was broken. Jane finally noticed that Red was looking much better. Arthur must have worked some of his healing mojo on the red-haired beauty. Jane had to give him a hug for that. But there was one person who didn't feel all that jovial. Chris had been staring at Croc for hours. Sure, he had gotten a hug from Anya when he had returned with the others, but then she had been on the arm of that . . . outsider all evening. He hadn't cared all that much when the guy had shown up, but now . . . Chris wasn't sure what was going on. It's not like Anya had ever been exactly loyal to a single person before. But she seemed different with this guy now. She'd said that she liked Chris because he was a gentleman. But had she been ribbing him? Was she really that smitten with bad boys? Jane was at a table, trying to lay out what little she had managed to bring. She wasn't particularly good at socializing, so maybe if she played the quiet hostess role . . . "Hey," came a smooth voice from behind her. Jane felt a bit clammy. She turned around, still holding a jar of salsa she had forgotten to pour. "Nat . . . Natasha," she blurted. Natasha looked her over. "You don't like me do you?" "No," Jane started. "I mean . . . I don't know you. I can't . . . It's just . . . " "I complicate things?" Nat asked. "You scare me," Jane said, finally looking Nat in the eyes. "You want Red and . . ." "I want Red to be happy. And I've never seen her as happy as she is with you." Nat smiled. "Sure, I wanted her available so we could play our stupid little drama out every time I came around. I knew that wasn't going to last. But I'm going to be around a lot more, assuming the universe still exists in a week or so. The Strays need my help and, quite frankly, I miss these guys. I know you're freaked about me being around. You don't need to be. Red is yours. But you're going to have to accept my presence. Red seems to think you've got a little iron in your spine that most people can't see. I hope she's right. I'd like to be friends Jane. But that would take two of us." Jane was staring at her shoes and gripping the hem of her mustard-yellow work smock. "I'd like that," she said softly. "She always says you brought out the best in her." Jane raised her face again. "That counts for something." "I may have brought it out, but you get to keep it. I'd say that puts you ahead." Natasha was pleased that Jane was smiling now. "What was she like?" Jane asked. "When you first met her? She said she was . . . butch?" Nat laughed outright at that. "You have no idea. She . . ." "INTRUDERS!" came a shout from Shield. He had reestablished a warning system a hundred yards or so out around the complex, and it was triggering alarms in his brain. The lycanthropes immediately went to the windows and sniffed the wind. "Hellspawn?! Again?!" Michael exclaimed. "And Shadow Hounds," Mindy added. "Together? Those things never . . ." "Cravens," Besla said. While a harpies sense of smell was not nearly what her comrades was, she could hear the shrieks of the winged demons in the distance. "Damn it!" Tarloh said. They just were never going to get any rest. "Why the hell . . ." "It's the Elder God," Jane said. Part of the Shoggoth would always be stuck in the back of her mind, and she suddenly sensed a familiar energy. But the Master's power dwarfed its servant's, even when trapped in another dimension. "Somehow it's directing them." "Shit," Red growled. "It knows we've got something that could stop it from escaping." Lothar nodded. "It may not be able to get at us directly, but anything that has any magical sense knows its coming by now. Every living thing is going to have to choose a side, and my guess is they've made their decision." "They've chosen death then," Red replied grimly. It was time to do what she did best. She looked at the assembled forces, all of whom seemed to turn instinctively to her. Even Besla and her Raptors were listening. "Okay folks," she started, "here's what we're going to do. They're coming in from the west. Besla, get the Raptors out the back. Fly up but stay out of the moon. Wait until their forwards are in, then attack their rear. Get them to panic when their forces are split." She watched as Besla nodded and the Raptors fluttered, pattered and slithered out the back. "Shield . . ." "Yes ma'am?" "Don't bother trying to cover all the exits. Hold the main doors. Make 'em come in one at a time through the others. That gives us four points of attack. Gruesome threesome," she said to Mindy, Matthew and Michael. Take the corner next to the kitchen. Johan, Snake and Nat," she said, "you three are upstairs next to the railing. Nat, you take point on that." She looked at her co-leader. "Tarloh, take Robbie and Chris and hold next to the offices. Nathan, you're with me and Talia next to the loading dock. Lothar, you hide in the management office and do whatever you can to support the different crews. Unless you'd rather bug out now. No one would blame you if you did." "No," Lothar said. Courage was a strange rush to him. "I'll stay." "Thanks," she said. "Arthur, run independent. Help whoever needs you." It was time for Red to make the order she hated more than anything. She looked at Jane. "I need you to grow up," she said softly. "Right now." Jane simply nodded. "I'll do anything for you." Red kissed the girl's forehead. "You, Anya and Croc will do more good outside than in," she said. "You can move through the trees faster than anyone. Stay high. Distract them and let Anya and Croc take them out by surprise. Only expose yourself if you have to," she added, her voice expressing what her words could not. She wanted Jane to be safe more than anything, but she needed Jane's skills if the Strays and Raptors were going to survive. "Okay," she said, addressing the crowd. "You know what to do. Do it well and we may just make it through the night." The Strays scattered, getting to their posts just ahead of the invaders. The attackers were numerous but didn't seem particularly well organized. They flooded in through a few narrow openings and were met with teeth and claws. Red had morphed into her full were-puma form. She had bone in her teeth and death on her mind. ------------ -------------- Outside . . . ------------ -------------- Jane had no taste for battle. It piled up on her tongue and dripped from her mouth as bile. Yet she found herself suspended from two large trees, looking down at a pack of rat-like beings called . . . she thought Anya had called them caval. Their participation in this was also strange, as they were a race of scavengers. Something powerful had driven them to fight. Sometimes, Jane heard wings and cries from above as the Raptors fought for control of the heavens. She saw one of the rear caval vanish into nothingness. Croc had grabbed another victim and drawn it into his dimensional rift. The group turned and one of them was leveled by a float club. 'There's Anya,' Jane thought. She grimaced. It was her turn. Magical braids wielding heavy branches descended from on high, bludgeoning the unsuspecting creatures into a fine state of unconsciousness. 'They'll never get to Red,' she told herself by way of consolation. Full Moon Strays Ch. 08 Croc appeared. He never would have believed that such a timid creature would be so effective in combat. He heard a voice in his ear. "And this is when she's hesitant," Anya told him. "You don't want to see her when she's mad." They heard someone scream from the building. It was Nat. "They've broken the perimeter!" "Head back!" Croc yelled upwards. Jane wasn't waiting. Red was in there. She tore through the tree tops, swinging and pulling her way to the stairs leading to the second story entrance. There were some human looking things with long teeth . . . vampires. Natasha had one in a headlock while Snake shoved one over the rail and to the floor below. Johan lay on the stairs, bleeding from multiple wounds in his neck. Jane felt a cold chill when she arrived. She knew he was gone. Croc helped Nat dispose of her two opponents while Anya was still reaching the entrance. Jane came in through and access window and noticed that several of their enemies had gotten inside. Red had broken from her post to deal with them. Even someone who hated to fight couldn't help but admire the almost graceful way that Red fought. She was as smooth as a stream but as powerful as a wave. She took out a vampire and some slimy bipedal creature in a matter of moments. A hellspawn tried to attack her from behind, but it was captured in eight magical braids of hair and smashed against the ceiling. Red turned and smiled. Jane had been watching her back. The fight didn't last much longer. The attackers had thrown everything at the defenders at once, walking into the fortified area with almost reckless abandon. Soon, the only thing left was the clean up. "This makes no sense," Tarloh said. "This was one of the clumsiest attacks I've ever seen." "Not so clumsy," Talia said, tears in her eyes as Johan and two harpies were laid on the ground. The allies had suffered losses, and it pained the survivors to see their friends laid low. Shield stood over his long time friend and just looked angry. "What the hell were they trying to do?" Croc walked to the center of the room, dragging a heavily wounded vampire with him. "Maybe we can . . . extract . . . some information from this one." Red stood over him, then looked at Jane. "Babe, would you mind checking outside? Take Mindy and Talia with you. You probably shouldn't be here for this." "No need," the vampire coughed up, an odd smile on its face. "I'll tell you what you want." It then coughed up some blood. The Strays and Raptors looked incredulous. This was getting weirder and weirder. "I don't trust it," Besla growled. "It is in alliance with the enemy. It has to be." "I . . . was," the vampire growled. He looked at Croc. "You were touched by it, weren't you? I can sense it." The vampire was staring at Croc's useless eye. That was when Croc noticed that BOTH of the vampire's eyes were blood red. "You've seen it?" Croc said, shivering in spite of himself. "Yes. More of it than you I should . . . (cough) . . . think. It called out to those it could . . . to those of us that were weak. It came in our dreams . . . made us promises . . . it was impossible to resist." "If that's true, it's gotten stronger since your encounter with it," Tarloh told Croc. "No," Jane whispered, burying her head in Red's chest. "It's just gotten closer." The vampire laid its head down. It was dying, and yet felt nothing but relief. "I see its lies now. In death, I will be beyond its power." It looked at Red, the life draining from its eyes. "Don't listen," it hissed. "Don't listen to what it promises you. There is a price." Then the prisoner died. Chris was looking at Croc. "So you got touched by this thing, hunh?" Croc looked back. "Yeah, but I never heard any promises." "How do WE know that?" Anya looked vexed. "Chris, if Croc was working with them, we'd be dead right now." "Maybe," the wereboar said, then turned away and went to help with the dead. "It's okay," she told the assassin. "He's just angry." Croc was less willing to let it go, but he didn't push the matter at the moment. Red looked at Tarloh. "We can't wait. We've got to seal up the dimensional weak spot, and we've got to do it now. If it's powerful enough to exert its influence in this world, then the Elder God is way too close for comfort." Tarloh nodded with a heavy heart. "Lothar, do you have an idea how to use that thing yet?" Lothar was holding the Heaven's Eye. "I . . . I think so. I just need to match my will to this thing's, and then convince it of what I need to do. But I won't be able to do that until it's time, and I'll need to be able to see it." Croc stepped in. "I can open up a hole, but it won't last long. Normally, I just slip through, but the principle is the same." Red looked outside. The sun was getting ready to come up. "If we wait until night, it'll have a chance to find more forces. We're tired," she said, looking at the throng. "We're hurt. We've been back on our heels for months. And we've all lost people we care about," she added softly, looking at the dead. "We bury those that fell, and then we go to finish this. By tonight, we'll be dead, or we'll have pulled off the impossible." She walked over and picked up Johan. Besla and Otlivant picked up the fallen harpies and sent their comrades to build pyres. The Raptors burnt their dead, sending their ashes to the sky the loved so much. ---------- ----------------------- A few hours later . . . ---------- ----------------------- The crowd walked or glided in silence. Walking to the gates of Armageddon seemed to have a sobering effect. Lothar was staring deep into the Heaven's Eye. He'd wanted to be part of an adventure. He was beginning to wish he had nothing to do with it. Croc and Anya walked next to each other. Chris hadn't spoken to either of them since the accusation earlier, and it was eating Anya up. But she didn't know how to approach him, so she decided to wait until after this was all over. Red walked hand in hand with Jane. Red was almost ashamed to admit to herself that she felt relieved. She was just along for the ride on this one, and she had meant what she said. They would win or lose in a matter of moments. No more waiting and then, one way or the other, she would get some rest. Jane wanted to kiss the warrior goddess she had become so dependent on for her happiness and sanity. Only one thing kept her from doing so. It would be too much like saying goodbye. ------------- ------------------ A little while later . . . ------------- ------------------ There was no noise around the mineshaft. It seemed like a lot of vegetation had died, and the local wildlife was nowhere to be seen or heard. There would be moments where the air was still, and then there would be an apparently random gust. The temperature shifted from too hot to too cold in minutes. The rules had changed in that little corner of the universe. Lothar stood facing a spot that Croc had pointed out to him. He was sweating. He was terrified beyond normal comprehension of the word. This isn't what he thought he would be doing since he first discovered his talent for magic. He thought it would all be about cool tricks and impressing chicks. Facing down unimaginable evil with an untested magic had never been part of the plan. Red hated this. She felt about as useful as a knife with a bowl of soup. She walked over to Lothar and put a hand on his shoulders. "Sometimes, the heroes don't get to choose. They just get chosen." "Thanks," Lothar replied, his voice hoarse. He looked at Croc. "Now's as good a time as any." He wished he had something cooler to say, seeing as it might be the last thing ever said. Croc concentrated. He would've like to get a boost of energy for this from Arthur, but the healer was standing near Lothar, ready to feed him as much energy from Nat as he could. Jane too. The young woman was almost petrified, but she wasn't ready to give up on the world that she had just found a place in. Red's past and present lovers had both shown themselves to be in possession of great power. Everyone wondered if it would be enough. The assembled crowd watched as Croc reached into the air. It shimmered around his hands. Then a thin line appeared, which quickly expanded and filled with a blinding light. That's when things went wrong. A roar was heard by the Strays and Raptors. It was unlike anything any living thing had ever heard. It was pain . . . madness . . . fear . . . It was, in fact, Chaos. Chaos had a voice and then, it showed its hand. From the breach emerged a pitch-black tentacle came shooting out, reaching for whatever or whoever it could. All the allies were hearing voices in their heads, but they didn't seem to make sense. They wondered how long those creatures that had attacked the Den had been exposed to those voices. They couldn't give Chaos another chance. "LOTHAR!" Red screamed through the buzzing in her own head. Lothar snapped from his amazed stupor and concentrated. Getting the Heaven's Eye to do what he wanted was like trying to hold on to a greased pig . . . difficult at best. He looked through the Eye and saw where the fabric of existence for Chaos's dimension had grown weak enough that it was beginning to poke through. The tentacle was frenzied. It lashed out, heading right for Anya's head. Croc screamed, but he couldn't stop what he was doing. Anya thought she was done for. Then Chris leaped in the way. Chris was bound and determined to be the one to save Anya. The tentacle made direct contact, but didn't smash him like he had expected. It past into him. Then he heard Its voice very clearly. Somewhere between a whisper and a roar, It made him promises. Give into It, and Chaos would grant him everything. Even as his left eye filled with blood, Chris couldn't help but listen to it. It promised him peace . . . love . . . fame and fortune. Then, it promised him Anya. The object of his infatuation would have eyes only for the wereboar. And for a moment, Chris wanted that. And that was all the time that Chaos needed. Red watched as Chris turned. The man who had once been her trusted friend had been transformed. His eyes were both red now, and his mouth was opened in a maddened snarl. And he was charging Lothar. Chaos knew that the sorcerer, along with that accursed orb, could banish It back to Its prison for an eternity. As Chris charged, Red stepped forward to meet him. Both lycanthropes morphed, and a savage battle ensued. They fought, scratched, rolled and struggled with one another. Red felt tears in her eyes as she called out for him to stop. She knew he wouldn't listen. And she knew what she had to do. Chris punched her in the stomach and then tried to run past her. Red mustered up her strength and jumped on his back. With her bloodlust in conflict with her heavy heart, her powerful feline jaws clamped down on the thick flesh around Chris's neck. She could taste the foulness of his blood and it made her want to vomit. The voices in her head started to get louder. The allies were enraged. They were throwing anything they could at the tentacle, but their attacks had no effect. Shield had a force wall up to protect Croc, who was otherwise quite vulnerable. Tarloh swung a heavy branch at the attacker, but it passed right through. Chaos was angered. It reached for another victim. It sensed a familiar soul . . . it reached out for Jane. Besla grabbed Jane and pulled her away. The quiet girl with the beautiful, magical hair was screaming. She was particularly susceptible to the whisperings of this entity, and she decided she would rather die that suffer that kind of touch again. A number of allies moved to intercede. Besla and the Raptors were trying to get Jane out of the way, but the whisperings of Chaos were echoing in their minds, making it hard to concentrate, much less fly. Natasha moved between Chaos and Jane, knowing that even her near-invulnerability wouldn't save her. But it was Red who was closest. Red saw the enemy go after the two women who had defined Red. One of them, Red loved more than anything. She was looking in Jane's eyes, over Nat's shoulder, when Chaos's hand made contact with Red's mind. {{ YOU ARE STRONG, }} came Its voice directly into Red's thoughts, now clear as crystal. {{ BUT YOU TIRE. YOU FIGHT, BUT YOU DESIRE PEACE. I CAN GIVE YOU THESE THINGS, }} It crooned. {{ KILL THE SORCERER AND ALL THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE WILL BE YOURS. YOU CAN REST, }} It promised. It delved deeper into her subconscious. {{ I WILL MAKE HER YOURS FOREVER, }} It added, putting Jane's face at the front of her thoughts. {{ I WILL MAKE HER LOVE YOU. I WILL GIVE YOU A PALACE TO LIVE IN. }} It tried one more tactic. {{ I WILL GIVE YOU YOUR PARENTS BACK. I WILL MAKE YOU A FAMILY AGAIN. SERVE ME, AND IT WILL BE SO! }} Jane watched as one of Red's eyes began to turn red. The other was still filled with tears. She heard Robbie screaming, trying to get to his sister. He had just reached where Jane was standing when something new happened. A light began to shine. Somehow, a single brilliant ray of light was beaming into the clearing. It was as bright as the tentacle was dark, and it fell directly on Jane. For the first time in seven years, her head was completely clear and serene. Then she heard two voices . . . male and female. They whispered encouragement to her . . . and then they whispered a name. "Annabel," Jane said in a voice not her own. It was a mixture of the two voices that had soothed her soul. Somehow, she knew what it meant. Robbie stopped and stared at her. He hadn't heard that name in a long time. It was Red's real name. The only ones who had ever called her that were . . . "Mom? Dad?" Red whispered, but was still miraculously heard by Jane and Robbie and Nat. "We're here," came the not-quite-Jane's voice. "And we are so proud of you." Then their voices were gone, but Jane's returned. "Please," she whispered. "Come back to me." Red turned her thoughts to the enemy in her head. {{ You offer me nothing, }} she thought with surprising calm. {{ I would never shame my parents by accepting you on their behalf. And you offer me a love that I would never take by trickery. I have no need to. It is given freely. I reject you . . . now and forever. }} Red tore free of the tentacle's influence and stumbled forward. Nat and Robbie caught her. Jane was still bathed in light. She heard the voices of Red and Robbie's parents grow feint, whispering things to her . . . things for their children. Then she heard another voice. This one was much more familiar. It was very masculine, with a deep baritone quality. It was the voice of bedtime stories. It was the sound of laughter when Jane was waiting for her hot chocolate complete with little marshmallows. It was the voice from behind the big white beard that Christmas morning that conveyed the illusion that there was still a Santa Clause. It had been her whole world until that voice was silenced. Now, it whispered sorrow . . . pride . . . love. The voice whispered something that made Jane blush, even as she cried a little. The voice faded. "Bye Dad. I love you too," Jane said to the wind. "GOT IT!" Lothar shouted. It was like hearing the last click of a combination lock sliding into place . . . a moment of clarity. The Heaven's Eye glowed in his hands as man and magic came to a mutual understanding. And on the other side of the tear that Croc had created, the fabric of Chaos's dimension began to heal. And Chaos screamed. Immortal power equaled immortal pain and immortal fear. Chaos knew that it was returning to its prison . . . to wait another eternity. Its finger into the new world was being forced to withdraw. The last bid of Chaos to make a great and terrible war had been foiled . . . all thanks to the meddling of an insecure wizard, a neurotic young woman and a red-haired warrior's defiance. The Raptors and Strays watched as an ancient evil slowly retreated back into its hole, its scream trickling to a whimper. And then it was gone. The hole it had dug through its own dimension vanished, ripping like water and then lying still. Croc's rift was likewise close and healed over. It was all over but the crying. Despite being safe, Red still felt a tinge of sorrow when she looked at the ground where Chris was lying. Anya knelt on the ground and looked into the un-morphed and maddened expression of a man she had once known. "It's not him," she said out loud. "It's not him." ------- -------------------- A few hours later . . . ------- -------------------- The celebration was somewhat muted considering the circumstances. They had just narrowly averted an apocalypse of biblical proportions. Raptors and Strays mingled in the new Den engaged in numerous conversations. Most of them were genuinely pleased that there would be many more tomorrows for all of them. But not everyone was feeling relieved. Anya hadn't spoken to anyone since the battle. Neither had Red. She had collapsed shortly after Chaos had been banished. Fighting an Elder God, even in your head, was apparently an exhausting process. Jane and Robbie had been hovering over Red until she came too. Arthur had been called in to check on her, and several other allies followed along. Red had defied a god . . . they all wanted to know how. "You okay?" Jane whispered when Red stared up at her, one eye beautiful green and the other eerie and red. "No," Red replied. "No, I'm not." Arthur was investigating the warrior's red eye. "I take it . . ." "Nothing," Red interrupted. "I can't see anything with it." She closed that eye. There was silence. Besla finally broke it. "I don't understand. We won. You vanquished the enemy. Lothar sealed it away forever. Why is no one . . . elated?" Red closed her other eye. "I can still taste my friend's blood," she muttered. "I killed Chris. I guess I don't feel like much of a winner." "You didn't have a choice," Nat said. "I loved Chris too, but what you killed . . ." "It wasn't him," interrupted a soft and sorrowful voice. Anya was standing in the doorway, and the rest of the onlookers cleared a path. "I . . . I've been thinking for the last two hours. I've tried to figure out what It must have offered Chris . . . to make him turn." Red and Anya just looked at each other for a moment. Both of them knew that Anya had a role in Chris's possession. That was something Anya would have to come to grips with on her own. "How can you not hate me?" Red asked. "I know Chris was special . . ." "Chris was," Anya interrupted. "That . . . thing . . . wasn't Chris. I've been grieving losing the man that was special. But he was gone before you killed what was left. You did what you have always done. You made a decision that I never could have. The thing in Chris's body . . . it would've killed Lothar and the universe would have ended." "I'd like to give props for stopping the 'killed Lothar' part," the sorcerer in question interjected. "You did good," Red said to Lothar. "You saved our asses." "I just did what you gave me time to do. You and Jane and . . . well, a little help." "What . . . what was that?" Talia asked, talking to Lothar but looking at Jane. "That light . . . was it . . ." "I . . . don't know," Lothar said. "But my guess is yes . . . It was God or Order or whatever you want to call It." "But, it really didn't seem to do anything," Croc said, obviously confused. "Did it?" All eyes were on Jane. "It . . . I . . . I didn't see any . . . God or anything. I didn't hear Him or Her. I just heard . . ." She stopped and looked at Robbie and then back to Red. "I heard your parents. They told me your name," she said. "Her name? Her name is Red, isn't it?" Tarloh asked. It had never occurred to him that it could be any other way. Full Moon Strays Ch. 08 Red blushed. "No. I never really liked my real name . . . which will NOT be repeated," she told Jane with mock sternness. "When Jane whispered it . . ." Red shook her head. "I hadn't heard even HEARD that name in years. And no one knew it but Robbie and our folks. And then I heard their voices in yours . . ." "What did they say?" Robbie asked. He wished he remembered more about them. "That they loved you and were proud of both you for everything you've done," Jane replied warmly. "Mostly, I just think they wanted you and Red . . . especially Red at that moment, to remember what you were fighting for." "Why . . ." Anya started, clenching her fists. "Why didn't It show up sooner? Why . . . couldn't it have helped Chris?" She may not be blaming Red for what had happened, but she had a burning desire to blame someone or something. "It probably couldn't," Lothar said slowly. "The light . . . it didn't appear until AFTER Chaos had pushed its way into our world. Before, both sides could only really exert influence through stuff like dreams. And when it came through, it was already too late for Chris. You saw how fast it worked." Anya looked wholly unsatisfied with that explanation, but decided to leave it alone. "We all have people we care about," Jane said, laying her head on Red's shoulder. "Maybe what It wanted was to remind us what was at stake." Red stood up. "Has Chris been buried yet?" Tarloh shook his head. "Not yet." "Let's do it," she replied. "We'll bury the man who was our friend and then maybe celebrate what he . . . what all of us . . . fought for." Anya hugged her friend. There would be hard times ahead for both, dealing with what had happened. But they would remain friends. And all that would have to wait for another night. They would celebrate, then take the Heaven's Eye back down south. Lothar was convinced that he wasn't meant to have it and that it should be buried somewhere safe. After that . . . who knew? -------- -------------------- A few hours later . . . -------- -------------------- The dams of emotion that had been built up over the last month had finally burst. The Strays were almost afraid to feel relief, because they were so used to have something bigger and badder lurking around the next corner. But there was nothing "bigger" or "badder" than what they had just faced down. Red watched her comrades slowly beginning to unwind. Talia was hanging off Tarloh's arm, Besla was getting Robbie drunk for some reason, Mindy and Arthur were spending some time together . . . even Lothar was getting some attention from one of the succubae who had been impressed my the sorcerer's courage over the last week or so. Red's eyes met Anya's at one points and they both forced smiles. But neither one of them were kidding themselves . . . it would take some time to accept what had happened. But with Croc being the perfect gentleman at her arm, Anya would at least pretend to forget. Red was feeling a bit out of it herself. She looked around to find Jane, but the small woman was nowhere to be seen. The redhead raised her nose and tested the air. Jane had gone outside. Red followed the scent trail and found herself on the path back up to the cave. She went slowly, not wanting to spook her girlfriend. She saw light flickering from deep inside those stone walls and through the open door that Red herself had constructed and put up. She peaked in the door and saw Jane. The long-haired girl had slipped into her footie-pajamas and was lighting candles placed on the book crates they were going to use as furniture. There were a couple of cans of some kind of soda next to the bed, stolen from the Strays' stores. Jane grabbed some flowers, similar to those found in the nearby woods, and sprinkled some of their petals on the blanket. Red smiled slightly. "What's up?" she said softly from where she was standing. Jane's hair whipped around and went into a defensive posture. Unfortunately, she knocked over a candle and had to use her hands to grab it. She yelped when some hot wax dripped onto her hand before she was able to right the situation. "Hey . . . I wasn't expecting you yet and . . . and . . ." Jane blushed. She had been trying to play the role of "seductress" and she had found herself babbling again. She had tried to do things just like she had seen in the movies, but she was just bumbling. "It smells nice in here," Red said, trying to help the girl out. Jane stood there in her pj's, rubbing one shoulder as her hair calmed down and fell back into a less animated state. "You set all this up just tonight?" "Yeah," Jane whispered, staring at her feet after giving Red a shy glance. "I . . . It's so stupid," she added, suddenly disappointed. "I thought maybe that . . . and the flowers . . ." Red moved forward and placed her finger under Jane's chin, lifting the girl's face. "It's beautiful," she said. "You don't have to say that," Jane said, now unable to look at anything but Red's face. Red was sporting an eye patch over her ruined eye now, and it just made her look more mysterious and downright beautiful. "I was going to hurry to the station . . . we've got a sale there on wine. It's cheap wine but hey . . . but I didn't have time so . . . I just wanted to make tonight special." Red kissed the tip of Jane's nose and then those trembling lips. Red had never met anyone so absolutely desperate to please her. "Any night with you is special," the redhead said earnestly. "But what brought this on?" Jane blushed again. "Because I love you," she said, barely audible. "And because it's the first time in . . . forever . . . that we didn't have to worry about some monster coming after us, at least for a while. Because I want you know how I feel and . . ." Red put a finger to Jane's lips. "You know what It offered me?" she asked in a straightforward manner. "When it touched me, do you know what Chaos promised?" Jane was a little confused. Why was Red bringing this up now? "No. What?" "You. It knew the one thing I wanted more than anything was you . . . in my arms." "But you said no?" "I told It that it couldn't offer me anything I didn't already have. I knew how you felt because I felt it too." Jane felt warm from her head to her toes. Her hair extended and began to entwine Red's body, pulling the two closer together. "Red?" "Yeah?" "Why did you never mention your real name was . . ." "Stop!" Red said hurriedly, blushing a bit herself. "Sorry. I HATED the name 'Annabel.' I started telling them to call me Red when I was seven. I was able to beat it into Robbie, but my folks never listened." Red felt a little shadow rush through her thoughts. "I never really realized how much I missed them until they spoke through you. I'm glad you got to meet them . . . sort of." Jane was resting her head on Red's chest. "They weren't the only ones who . . . who spoke to me," she whispered. "Really? Did you . . . uhm . . . talk to God?" "No. I think God or Order or whatever . . . It just let the people who could make a difference do the talking. After your parents left," Jane said, looking up, "my dad talked to me." Red was suddenly quite serious. "What did he say?" She saw the beginnings of tears in Jane's eyes, but for the first time that Red could remember, they were signs of happiness. "Same as yours. That he missed me and loved me . . . that he was sorry he couldn't be there for me when . . . you know. And . . ." "And what?" Jane smiled. "He said I'd found a good woman." Jane kissed a surprised Red on the lips, sinking just the tip of her tongue into that warm and willing mouth. "I knew he'd like you." Red had no idea what to say in response. Luckily, Jane wasn't all that interested in talking anymore. She just had one more thing to say. "Tonight . . . let's start starting over." Red grabbed Jane just below the buttocks and pulled her up so that the smaller girl was off her feet and was nose to nose with the lycanthrope. Jane could feel her girlfriend's warm breath on her nose and cheek. Red pressed her own cheek against Jane's face, just holding the girl there. Jane was waiting for the kiss, and Red wouldn't deny or disappoint the girl. As their tongues intertwined like serpents, Red's hand undid the panel on the back of Jane's pajamas, letting her hands fall on the soft warm globes of Jane's behind. She gently dug her fingertips into that flesh, anxious to feel more. She felt Jane's magical braids untying Red's vest while placing her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders, kissing her all the while. 'The girl has got skills,' Red thought pleasantly as the taut and scarred skin of her upper body was exposed to the fire-warmed air of the cave. Her nipples hardened and pressed against the thin cloth of Jane's pajamas. Red had to resort to less magical means, unbuttoning her lover's garment slowly and taking in the sights as she went. When Jane's outfit was opened down to the navel, Red slowly slid her hand inside. For the lycanthrope, watching her girlfriend's face light up was priceless. Jane's eyes widened as she felt Red's fingers slide inside her sex. She was powerless to resist when the fire-haired warrior pulled her closer, pinning Red's hand against her own leg with those talented fingers inside Jane's body. With Red's other hand grasping Jane's butt cheek, Jane was "forced" to ride Red's leg like a stick horse. Red watched as Jane succumbed to the pleasure. Red had slowly introduced the once-terrified young woman to the world of sexual gratification, and now Jane was able to truly experience it without fear. Jane was humping Red's hand like a woman who was finally able to enjoy something that she should have been enjoying all along. The younger woman was breathing heavily as she was penetrated by those long digits, and she pressed herself more snugly against Red's body. She let her pajamas start to slide off her shoulders so her breasts could come into direct contact with Red's hot body. Jane tried to push down Red's leather pants down, but they were too tight and Jane had no real leverage at the moment. Red was sliding her fingers faster, getting them nice and wet as they probed and prodded Jane's pussy. Jane's gentle face couldn't hide what was coming up. She was practically glowing when the first set of contractions limited the movement of Red's fingers. And Jane's body was quivering when she spoke . . . "Tell . . . me," she gasped. "Please?" Red kissed her and, as Jane's climax hit full force, Red whispered, "I love you" directly into Jane's mouth. The only thing Jane had to reply with was her breath, but it carried a heat that transcended words. Red released Jane's ass but kept her hand on the small of Jane's back, holding the girl close while she recovered from her moment of ecstasy. Then she lifted the smaller woman and laid her gently on the bed. She stood up so that she could remove her own pants, but Jane's hair was beating her to the punch. Red let those magical braids unbutton the tight leather trousers and peel them down. Red still had a few bruises and scars from her recent scuffles, but Jane saw no flaws. All she saw was the perfect warrior's body, adorned by a noble, one-eyed face. Jane chewed softly on her bottom lip, waiting for Red to come to her. She didn't have to wait long. Red sat on the side of the bed, placing her hand on Jane's ankle, slowly drawing it up one leg past Jane's satisfied sex and up to her stomach. Jane giggled, making Red smile. The redhead leaned in and kissed her lover's bellybutton, running her tongue around that soft skin. She felt Jane playing with her red curls as she kissed each of the girl's rib and each breast on the way up to her neck. Then up to the neck and finally to the lips . . . "What kept you?" Jane asked shyly. "I had some things to take care of," her lover replied. She slid her hand back down between Jane's legs and set her fingers in motion once more. "And some things left to do." Jane smiled and kissed Red as that woman's fingers started to work their magic. But Jane was no longer willing to just sit by . . . she was a partner in Red's life, or at least she wanted to be. She slid her own hand down Red's side, happy that Red lifted up enough to let her explore between the warrior's thighs. Red actually gasped a little, as it had been a while since her body felt something pleasurable. The two women pressed against one another, fingers sliding within the confines of vaginal walls, moving quickly yet without being rushed. They had all night for the first time in a long time. Red's fingers were more experienced, but Jane had growing enthusiasm. Once, when Red arched her back, Jane lifted her head and took one of the hard nubs on Red's breasts between her lips and tasted it. She sucked on the nipple, then ran her tongue around the areola. Red was thoroughly delighted by Jane's growing confidence and skill. She started humping Jane with her hand a little bit faster. Jane was squirming a lot, making it difficult to keep her fingers inside, but Red was a pro at this. Jane sent a flurry of enchanted strands of hair out to caress Red's back. It felt weird to Red, but not at all unpleasant. "Wanna try something new?" Red murmured. "It all feels new," Jane replied. "But yeah!" Red moved down and knelt between Jane's legs. She spread them as Jane watched on in confused anticipation. Red spread her own legs and scooted back towards her lover until their pussies touched. Red took hold on one of Jane's legs and kissed her calf as she rubbed her mound against the younger woman's. Jane quickly got the gist of the idea and slowly pushed back. It was a strange sensation. There was more pressure being exerted than she expected. But Red was able to exert just the right amount of pressure as she rubbed fleshy bits against other fleshy bits. Jane wasn't going to be a passive participant in this. She tried doing a little rubbing of her own, and it soon turned into a competition . . . two women bent on each other's pleasure pushing against each other but trying to keep it within reasonable limits. Red kept kissing Jane's calf and running her fingernails up and down the woman's thigh as they humped each other. Jane just held onto one of Red's legs for dear life. Jane, still sensitive from her earlier orgasm, was quick to achieve release a second time. She felt like she was cumming directly into Red's body as her thin frame trembled with delight. Their junction became so wet that it was hard to apply pressure directly without sliding a bit. But Jane's somewhat weakened attempts to rub back were still enough to let Red join her in the throes of climax. And when Red came, she actually just lay back on the bed and let the sensations roll over her. Jane watched the love of her life shiver happily. Red's good eye was closed and she was smiling. She didn't even notice that Jane had slowly pulled away. She didn't see Jane slowly positioning herself between Red's spread legs, leaning in and breathing warmly on Red's still tender pussy. But Red DEFINITELY noticed when Jane's tongue started to move. "Oh my," she gasped as Jane went to work. The girl with the magic hair seemed to have found some magic fingers somewhere along the way. She pulled slightly at the swollen outer labia and snaked her tongue inside. 'God, she's hot!' Jane thought excitedly as Red pushed her mound tightly against Jane's face. The younger woman withdrew her tongue so she could suck on her lover's inner labia, taking one into her mouth, then the other and finally both at the same time. A few more deep licks followed. 'She's getting better,' Red thought dreamily. The girl's tongue had become as nimble as those enchanted locks of hers. Jane was gaining confidence, and Red expected that confidence to grow. She figured that being instrumental in saving creation might have that effect. Jane was in no hurry. She wanted Red to be able to just lay back, relax and cum when the time was right. So she leisurely licked and sucked at whatever sensitive bits were available. She didn't go after the clit often and when she did, she was gentle. She would suck on it just for a second, but preferred slowly circling it with her tongue. Then she kissed it before returning her tongue to the cleft. Red felt that familiar warm glow approaching, and she did nothing to stave it off or deter Jane from her attentions. Red, while certainly enjoying their tryst, wanted something just a little bit more that evening. She was exhausted and battered, and she just wanted to lie in the arms of the young woman whose love she shared and Red wanted to sleep and worry about nothing. For the first time in her memory, at least since the before the death of her parents, there was a chance she might actually achieve just that. Red gasped and pushed up with her hips as her orgasm began. She liked the fact that Jane didn't panic and start to lick faster or anything when she realized what was happening. She just kept on with her gentle nuzzlings and caresses and let the magic happen. She did partake of Red's juices for a bit longer than necessary, but Red was too . . . content . . . to mind. Jane bit her bottom lip as she suppressed a smile and stared up Red's firm body and caught her eye. Red made a "come hither" motion with her finger, so Jane slid up her lover's body and was met with a kiss and an embrace. "Did you want to . . ." Jane started, thinking that Red might want more. But Red just clung to the girl and whispered "Shhh." "It's okay," she started. "Just pull up the blankets and lay here with me for a while." "How long?" "Forever sound good?" Jane blushed from head to toe. She responded by pulling up the covers and then hiding completely beneath them, her head on Red's chest. The red haired warrior had to lift up the edge of the blanket to see her lover's face, but that face was still smiled. Red couldn't help but return Jane's mirth, pulling the blanket up over her own head as well, and there was no small amount of kissing and pillow talk before their well-deserved sleep arrived. --------------- ------------- Six months later . . . --------------- ------------- Jane leaned the broom up against one of the front windows of the Kwik-R Stop where she worked. It was a warm summer night, so she was able to clean up the parking lot without a jacket. She paused and ran her finger over her name pin, which was now done up in faux gold rather than the regular white plastic. "Assistant manager," she muttered happily. The promotion only meant an extra dollar an hour, but it was still special for her. She had done a good job, and she had been rewarded. Of course, it also meant extra responsibility, but she didn't mind. It was good honest work. She still worked nights, but never alone. Her company insisted on having at least two people on graveyards. Her coworker for the evening was a pimply-faced college student named Earl, trying to save some extra money over the summer. He was a nice kid. He had tried hitting on Jane for a while before she had told him she was "spoken for," and he had respected her boundaries. She glanced into the woods nearby and smiled. She knew someone was watching her. Red had blatantly abused her authority and insisted that one of the Strays always keep on eye on Jane when she was at work. Jane walked inside, grabbed some hot-dogs off the grill and went back outside. Earl was calmly trying to check out the porno mags without LOOKING like he was checking out the porno mags, so he didn't really pay much attention to her. She could write the dogs off as spoilage. She walked over to the edge of the woods. "C'mon out," she said amusedly. "I figure you might as well get something to eat while you're waiting." She heard some rustling and then Mindy appeared, looking a little sheepish. She was following by Russ, a new member of the Strays. Russ was one of the edgier people that Jane had ever met, which might have been why his Talent manifested as the ability to extend thousands of porcupine-like spines from the skin on his back, arms and legs.