As Dark As You Want To Be

All characters are over the age of eighteen

In honor of Halloween. This is something a little different for me. Inspired by Jack Williamson's classic Darker Than You Think with a dash of The Howling.

Averil stood in the shadows by a tree on the fringe of the deep woods. She sniffed the air for any scent of danger. Her eyes were focused on the rundown old farmhouse that hunkered down by the gravel road.

Her long hunt had led her to this place. But she had to be certain that her quarry was at home tonight. If not, she would have to until the next full moon to fulfill his destiny.

Her mother had taught her the all the old legends of her people. That there would come one to save their people from extinction. And taught her that her destiny was irrevocably bound to his.

This night was the culmination of the years of training, uncovering and refining her gifts. She could not allow herself to fail now.

She stepped from the shadows into the light of tonight's full moon. Her pale flesh and platinum tresses seemed to glow in the moonlight. She summoned her strength to resist the call of the moon. Tonight was a different hunt. It was not the time to run the woods in her true form.

She prowled closer to the dilapidated structure. A slight smile of triumph crossed her lips. She was close enough to sense his presence. Cautiously, she moved toward the front of the old house. She made certain that there was no one else within sight and crept around to the front steps. She silently stepped over the sagging step onto the porch. She then passed through the locked door like a wisp of smoke through an open window.

Averil padded noiselessly through the house following his scent. Her nose wrinkled at the odor of cheap whiskey he used to keep his true nature hidden from himself. Tonight, she would unleash that nature.

She could hear the rhythm of his heartbeat in the bedroom down the hall from the living room and followed the sound toward him. She paused at the door of his bedroom, gazing on him as he lay in there. The light of the full moon shone on him through the dirty windowpane. He lay on his back under a stained sheet. Averil took the sheet between her thumb and forefinger and uncovered him. He was lean and wiry with a trail of black hair running from his navel down to his shorts. His face was narrow and sharp-featured, with a three-day stubble softening the line of his jaw. His jet-black hair was an unruly mop that curled down over his ears and covered his high forehead.

Averil brushed the hair away from his forehead with her left hand and gently laid her palm there. She closed her eyes and concentrated on connecting to his secret nature. It was buried deep in his subconscious, but her mind worked through the layers of denial until she found his inner wolf. She gasped at how strong it was. Her mother had trained her to be the most powerful of their people, but his strength was she beyond anything she had imagined. Unleashed, he would be the greatest of all of them.

But, to unleash him she would have to find a way to lead the beast out of the mental fortress that had been erected to keep it locked away. If there was a key, it was hidden so deep that she could not find it. She could sense the beast, but she could not connect to it. She would have to find a way to breach those walls on her own.

The man in the bed stirred, but did not awaken. Averil saw his nostrils flare as he sniffed the air in his sleep. She could sense the beast beginning to awaken. She felt a thrill as the beast began to be aware of her. Averil could see the man's penis twitch as it became more erect. Was that lust the key to unlock the beast's cage?

She cautiously reached down with her right hand and grasped the waistband of his boxers. Slowly, she pulled it out and down freeing the growing member. It now stood fully erect with a drop of sticky fluid at the tip. Carefully, she released the fabric and drew her finger up the length from the base to the tip. She wiped the liquid onto her fingertip and brought it to her lips. She touched the tip of her tongue to her finger to taste his arousal.

Her body had already begun to respond. She felt the tightness of her nipples and felt an urge to squeeze her thighs together. She reached down and stroked him with a single finger. His penis twitched at her touch.

Averil took the first two fingers of her right hand and slid them between her moistening labia. She moaning softly at the sensation. The gentle strokes of her fingers kindled more fire in her loins. She took the now wet fingers and passed them under the man's nose. He stirred again and inhaled the aroma of her womanhood. Averil lightly touched the fingers to his lips. His tongue emerged from between his lips and licked her dampness from them.

She reached between her thighs and re-moistened her fingers and brushed them against his tongue. It lapped hungrily at the wetness of her fingers. Averil paused to make certain that he was still in a deep sleep. He was, but she could feel the beast grow stronger as the man's lust grew stronger.

She spread her legs to allow her better access to her seeping womanhood. She put her two fingers against her opening and forced them in to the first knuckle. She winced at the feeling of her first penetration. She wiggled the fingers gingerly to gather as much of her fluid as she could. When she touched them once more to his mouth, the sleeping man sucked them between his lips. His manhood twitched and throbbed. More drops of liquid oozed from the slit at the tip.

Averil had to restrain herself as that sight and his scent filled her senses and increased her own arousal. She repressed her desire to seize the tumescent member and devour it.

"Patience," she whispered to herself. Soon enough she would be rewarded by the beast.

As she felt the man's true nature grow even closer to mastery, she realized that the time had come for the next step in freeing it. She closed her eyes and focused on the man's sleep cycle.

"Time to dream, now," she whispered into his ear.

The man opened his eyes to find himself standing alone in the woods. The breeze was cool on his bare skin. He looked down to see that he was completely naked. It was very dark except where the moonlight penetrated the leafy canopy above his head.

In the darkness he had no idea where he was or in what direction he should go. With no clue which way would lead him out of the woods, he went in the direction he was facing.

As he passed between two large trees into a small opening lit by a shaft of moonlight, he saw what he thought was a large white dog. He paused at the sight, and then to his terror, realized it was not a dog, but a wolf.

He stopped dead still and froze. The wolf did not move. It stood and watched him in silence. There seemed something supernatural about the exquisite beaty of the white wolf. Accidently, he let his eyes meet those of the wolf and was astonished by the intelligence he saw there. The wolf regarded him for a minute, then turned and trotted into the darkness.

He realized that he could recognize the small animals among the trees around him. He could hear the soft rustle of fur as they moved. He could smell and identify each one, the squirrel huddled in its hole in a tree, the rabbit snuggled in its den, the birds roosting over his head. There was a feral cat hunting a vole to his right. A possum digging for grubs behind him.

He waited for a few minutes, then watchfully began to move forward once more. After some indeterminable time, he saw a flash of white ahead. He stopped and stared into the darkness ahead of him. Was it the wolf or his imagination? He slowly crept forward one step at a time searching the darkness in front of him.

After a few steps, he saw a shape pass through a beam of the full moon. It was not the wolf. It appeared to be a person. The figure paused in the moonlight. He realized that it was a naked woman. She turned her head and seemed to meet his eyes. She took a step back into the light where he could see her more clearly. A cloud of wavy white hair floated down to her shoulders. But she was not an old woman, she was young with long legs and a delightful shape. A soft feminine voice seemed to whisper into his ear.

"The hunt is on. Follow me if you can."

He looked to see if there was someone there whispering, but there was no one. When he looked back, the woman was gone. Something was drawing him to her. He walked on, his head on a swivel, searching the darkness. Ahead, he thought he saw another glimpse of white moving among the trees.

"Follow me" The voice whispered again.

He walked toward where he thought he had seen it, moving as quickly as he could through the shadows. Then he had another glimpse of a pale form, this time toward his left. He hurried that way, occasionally tripping on a root or blundering into a tree branch.

By the time he got to the spot where he thought he had seen her, she was gone as if she had never been. Then he saw her again off in another direction.

This continued, as she would appear and then as he approached, would disappear. All the while the voice would whisper in his ear, alternating between taunting him and encouraging him.

Unconsciously he had moved downwind of his prey. He could smell her dried sweat and the pungent scent that he identified as female arousal. He felt his penis throb and realized that he was rampantly erect. Somewhere deep inside him, a feral part of him had already detected and was responding to the pheromones she had been broadcasting. A part of him was terrified by that, but that part no longer was in control.

His heightened senses were now almost to their full power. He could hear the soft tread of her feet along the leaf-carpeted woods. He could hear her brush past the tree limbs. Her scent was like a beacon flashing in the darkness. He could tell she had stopped ahead of him.

"I am waiting, come to me," The voice whispered. "Come and take me."

He was close. He could smell her as if she were next to him. Ahead, he could

see a break in the trees.

He stepped out of the trees into a small clearing bathed in the light of the full moon. She was standing there in the center of the clearing waiting for him. His manhood throbbed at the sight of her. She stood there lit by the moonlight. Her face was not what he would call beautiful, it was too sharp-featured, with high cheekbones, a narrow nose and a wide mouth with full lush lips.

But her body was lean and athletic. Her breasts were high and firm and perfectly proportioned to her shape. Her belly was flat and ridged with muscle. Her hips were perhaps a trifle wide for the rest of her body. Her womanhood was hidden by a fluff of platinum.

She stood quietly her eyes locked on his as he slowly stepped out of the darkness. When he had moved into the patch of moonlight, she turned her back to him and gracefully dropped to her hands and knees onto a soft bed of leaves. She moved her knees apart opening herself up to him.

Then he was on his knees behind her. He could see the line between her labia sparkle with moisture in the moonlight. He had never felt so overwhelmed with lust as he was now. He saw a drop of her wetness dribble down the inside of her pale thigh. Her scent filled his nostrils, driving away everything but his desire to possess her.

"What are you waiting for?" the voice whispered, "mount me and mark me as yours."

Grabbing her waist with one hand, he held her tightly so she could not pull away. He took his penis in his other hand and pushed it between the glistening lips. When the tip found her opening; he drove entire length into her with one brutal stroke. She screamed as he stretched her tender walls, but pushed back against him as her lust matched his.

"Yes!" cried the voice in his ear. "I am yours!"

He took his hand off her waist and seized a handful of her hair pulling her head back as far as he could. She cried out again, and arched her back to take him as deeply as he wished.

He leaned over her supporting himself on one hand. He kissed her neck fiercely and then bit down on her shoulder, eliciting another scream. She thrust back against him grinding her muscular behind against his hips.

He thrust into her with all his strength and she matched his passion with her own.

She cried out, whimpered and moaned as his thickness filled her vagina,

withdrew and drove back in. As they rutted together, the voice whispered encouragement into his ear.

"Unleash your beast! Yes! breed me!

He could feel the fire building in his loins. It would not be long now. He could feel any remaining control fall away as he pounded against her with total abandon. No matter how desperately he thrust into her, she matched his passion with her own.

He felt something unlike anything he had ever experienced. Agony and ecstasy mixed together tore through his entire body. Even to muscle, skin and bones. He was hung on the edge of release as his body seemed to reshape itself. His arms and legs twisted and changed. It was excruciating pain and unworldly pleasure together as he surrendered to what was transforming him.

It seemed he was observing from a distance as his body distorted itself into something both terrible and wonderful. He could see her body transform even as his did. Her pale skin sprouted thick white fur. Her head changed shape, the nose and mouth elongating into a snout. A bushy white tail grew from her lower back as her legs and rear reshaped themselves into a wolf's haunches. Their changes were in sync as each part of them transformed at the same time.

All through the changes they continued to mate frantically, the mixture of pain and pleasure uniting them. As they

approached their climax, he felt his mind begin to transform itself. The monster he had lived in fear of for the last ten years had escaped its prison and now was in the process of fusing itself with him.

"Let go" the voice whispered in his ear. "Let go of your fear and weakness. You will become something new and different and sublime."

He was almost totally transformed. He had surrendered to the beast and became a part of something more powerful than he could have imagined. He sank his teeth into her shoulder

until he tasted copper in his mouth. The last part to change was his phallus. He felt it grow longer and thicker, filling her even fuller. Instinct took over and as the finish came closer, he pressed the bulbous base against her opening. He felt a little pop as the knot entered the she-wolf and the floodgates opened. The wolf howled to the full moon as its seed filled its mate. The she-wolf echoed his howl with one of her own. They howled together one more time in joy and ecstasy as his consciousness fled into darkness.

Will awoke as the morning sun shone through the window into his eyes. He braced for the inevitable hangover, but he felt better than he had in years. His eyes were clear and his mind was sharp.

He could not say the same for the rest of the room as odors of unwashed clothes and stale liquor assaulted his nose.

"This place did not stink this bad yesterday," he thought to himself.

Then he realized he was not alone in the bed. From her smell, he could tell it was a woman, one who could use a bath. Though he was sure that was true of himself also. Her scent told him she was about his age and that she was sexually aroused. He wondered how he could know that from her scent.

He heard a continuous muffled thump. It seemed familiar and it took a few

minutes to identify the sound as a beating heart. How could he hear a heart beating from across the bed?

He slowly raised up and rolled over to take a look at his unknown bedmate. She was lying there wrapped in a sheet leaning on one arm and smiling at him.

"Good morning!" she said cheerfully with a slight and unidentifiable European accent. "Did you have a pleasant dream?"

Will decided the best course would be not to play any games or pretend he remembered her from the night before.

"If I may ask, who are you and how did you get into my bed? I may have been very drunk last night, but I think I would remember a woman as striking as you are."

She smiled at him with a mysterious half smile. "My name is Averil. We have not met in the flesh until just now. And the story about how I came here is too long to tell before coffee."

Will stared at her as something nibbled at the back of his mind. Something seemed very familiar about her, even with her denial that they had met before. She sat up and dropped the sheet. He was astonished at her naked beauty. It was only marred by what looked like human bite marks on one shoulder. On the opposite shoulder then were several small puncture wounds in a rough U-shape. There were a few drops of dried blood around the wounds.

She stood up, completely unselfconscious about her nudity. He could see five small bruises on her right side, as if she had been held mercilessly by a strong hand. She appeared to be oblivious to the contusions.

"Are you alright?' Will asked. "It appears you have had some rough treatment."

"You mean these," she responded, vaguely motioning to her waist and one shoulder. "They are nothing, they will be gone by tomorrow."

She put her hand fondly on the shoulder with the punctures. She smiled that mysterious half smile as she

continued. "This mark will be permanent."

Will rolled to the edge of the bed and stood up before he realized that there was a tent in the front of his briefs. His hope that she did not notice was quickly dashed as she looked directly at his crotch and smiled a predatory smile.

"It that for me?" she asked with feigned innocence.

"Sorry," he answered with a blush. "Just morning wood. It will go away in a minute."

She gave an exaggerated pout. "What is it the kurwa say? A hard man is good to find"

He blushed even harder. He quickly grabbed his pants and pulled them on. He dug through the piles of dirty laundry until he found a shirt that was almost acceptably clean.

She stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "I don't suppose you have anything I could put on? You do have me at a disadvantage."

He looked pulled out the drawers in the beat-up chest-of-drawers until he found a clean but ragged T-shirt. He handed her that and his last clean pair of boxers.

She put on the shirt, it was loose and hung down past her hips. The boxers were too big and sagged down to the edge of her hips. He found a safety pin in a drawer and helped her secure them.

She walked down the hall to the kitchen. She pored stale coffee out of the pot and rinsed it in the sink.

"In the second cabinet by the stove" he called out.

She found a half-empty can of coffee and a filter. She efficiently got the coffee started. While waiting for it to brew, she looked in the refrigerator with disappointment. There was nothing edible there. She did find a partial loaf of stale bread. She was able to find four slices without mold and dumped the rest on top of the overflowing trashcan.

She put the bread in the toaster and searched the cabinets, coming up with a jar containing some peanut butter and a one of homemade jelly of unknown provenance.

While she was doing that, Will grabbed a couple of reasonably clean coffee mugs and a couple of paper plates.

"I hope you like your coffee black," he said. "I think there is some sugar if you want that."

Averil spread peanut butter on two of the pieces of toast and jelly on the other two. She put one of each on the paper plates and handed one to Will, while keeping the other.

"I came a long way to find you and to free your hidden half. You were not complete, suppressing it inside of you." She explained. "I need to tell you about our people. We are few and are scattered widely all over the world. We have barely survived times when the humans have tried to exterminate us. They fear our strength. And many just want to destroy anything different from them. We don't know if we are an offshoot of humans or the opposite. Our old legends say we were first, but who can entirely trust such things. As few of us as there are, there are even fewer males. They must keep traveling to avoid being caught and killed. The only male I know is my father, who is very old and ill. Too weak to breed any more females. That is why I have been sent to find you. The old tales told us that one day when our people are near elimination, a great male will come to mate with all the females of breeding age and will replenish our race. My mother sent me to find the Great Father. I have traveled for the last four years to find him. And I believe you are he. That is why it was so important to free your inner wolf."