Love, Lust and Lycanthropy

Sandra wakes up in her bed tangled in the covers, her dream still fresh in her mind, her hands were long talons digging into Jacob’s flesh tearing away large chunks and eating t it it doesn’t take a dream interpreter for her to know what the dream meant, she had betrayed Jacob, she can\'t even remember why she did it, ‘is what Sphinx said true? That he has pheromone glands in his neck, is that why I\'ve been so horny? Or is it that I might just be a werewolf tomorrow night?’ she thinks sitting up in her bed reluctant to get out, she has to suck back tears twice before she gets out of bed, she pulls an oversized t-shirt over her head and walks out to the livioom,oom, she looks around for Jacob but he’s nowhere to be seen, she flops down on her couch, curls up and sobs into a pillow.

Jacob goes down to Narcissus; he walks up to the same wereleopard waitress as before,

“Is Sphinx here?” he asks with his most charming smile,

“Let me check,” she replies in a chipper voice, she ducks behind the bar and checks the sign-in, she comes back to Jacob a wide smile on her face, “Yes she’s in room 104,” she hands him a pass slip,

“Thank you,” he smiles again and walks over to the back area, he flashes the guard the pass, he pushes the door open for Jacob, Jacob goes to the room marked 104 and knocks, there is a long wait before anyone comes to the door, the same large man from the other day answers the door wearing a terrycloth robe,

“What do you want?”

“I want to talk to Sphinx,” Jacob keeps his face cold and distant,

“She said no visitors,” the large man starts pulling the door shut but Jacob stops it,

“Fine then,” Jacob’s eyes have bled to wolf amber and his fingers grown long and clawed, he shoves the door open knocking the man back, Jacob claws at the mans throat slashing his jugular, the man tries to scream underneath Jacob but his windpipe is cut also, an equally large naked man steps from behind a curtain, Jacob’s face has begun to extend into a wolf muzzle, Jacob bounds at the man, claws ready to attack, the man puts him arms up to block the attack, Jacob’s mouth locks on to his arm and shakes his head violently tearing flesh from bone, the man screams as Jacob claws at his face and neck, Jacob is knocked off of him by a large black scaled tail, Jacob looks up seeing Sphinx in her snake form she reaches the roof as she bows back ready to strike, a low ragged hiss emanates from her throat, as she strikes at Jacob, her fangs pierce his shoulder pumping venom into his blood, Jacob swipes wildly at Sphinx half of his attacks cut only air, Sphinx reels back hissing madly her tail pins Jacob against the wall his claws rake across her scaled skin merely making small nicks in her thick hide, she lunges at him again piercing his throat Jacob makes a small gurgle as blood enters his air passage, a white furred half wolf leaps on the back of Sphinx’s neck digging it’s claws into her eye sockets, the immense snake thrashes wildly trying to shake the wolf off her, Jacob clutches at his throat trying to keep the blood from leaving the inch wide hole.

The wolf digs it’s claws deeper into the skull of the snake’s eye sockets almost to the wrist the wolf grabs the bone around the sockets and pulls upward, the snake makes a piercing shriek and begins to wither down, in a brilliant liquid movement the snake almost instantly becomes a large tigress, eye’s fully healed, the wolf lunges at the tigress claws, tearing against fur and flesh the tigress follows suit, both tearing chunks out of the other, Jacob uses the rest of his strength to finish shifting to his full wolf form, the tigress pins the white wolf to the floor raking her claws across the wolfs face and chest, the wolf bites at the tigress’s throat locking it’s jaws, a massive black wolf slams the tigress off the other wolf, Jacob has his powerful jaws around Sphinx’s neck shaking her like a rag doll waiting for satisfying snap of her neck, the other wolf joins him it’s claws dig under the tigress’s ribs and pulls against them, the skin stretches as the bones bow outward under the wolf’s strength, the tigress makes a thunderous roar as the bones give way, the skin tears away as the tigress’s ribs break free, the wolf digs a clawed hand into the opening and wraps it’s fingers around the throbbing heart, the wolf howls as it pulls the heart free from the chest, Sphinx spasms on the floor limbs still clawing at her attackers, the tigress soon goes limp and lifeless.

Jacob shifts back to his human form, the deep fang hole in his throat still leaks blood down his chest and air passage, he coughs up blood onto the floor, the white wolf claws at the leather collar around it’s neck and slowly turns back, Karen falls to her hands and knees feeling weak and light headed from the rapid shift, she crawls to Jacob’s side as the door to the room bursts open,

“What the fuck is going on here?” the guard asks ready to fight anything that comes at him,

“Get me a phone,” Karen cries at him, “Now!” tears fill her eyes as she watches Jacob cough up another lung full of blood.

Sandra goes through Jacob’s apartment looking for anything she might have left or forgotten there before, she only finds a hairbrush, her brand of shampoo and a couple CD’s, she takes one last look around the apartment and sets the note she wrote him on his coffee table, she jumps as the door comes blowing inward in a burst of wood and metal, she drops the contents in her arms clattering to the floor. Four large men come rushing in two are carrying someone with long black hair,

“Jacob,” she whispers as the men carry him to his bedroom, a woman follows them she has long red hair in thick curls and is wearing jeans and light blue blouse, Marcus helps a very weak and tired Karen to the couch, “Wh-what’s going on?” Sandra asks, Marcus,

“Jacob got hurt, pretty bad,” he realizes that he shouldn’t be telling her what happened and shuts his mouth,

“What happened?” Sandra ask grabbing Marcus’s arm, her eyes filled with fear and worry, Karen staggers into the apartment a drops down on the couch,

“Uh, he was jumped by some guys, they really roughed him up,” Marcus fails at trying to come up with something to cover what really happened,

“Shouldn’t we take him to the hospital then?” Sandra asks digging her fingers into his arm,

“That will take too long just trust them, they’ll take care of him don\'t worry,” Marcus holds her close comforting her, he sits her on the couch, sitting between her and Karen, her eyes well with tears, because she feels it’s her fault that he got hurt, she just knows it.

Karen picks up the folded piece of paper on the coffee table, her eyes skim over the first few lines and she puts it back, “I\'m sorry Sandra,” she says her voice thick with exhaustion,

Sandra sniffs back her tears, “What?”

“I\'m sorry, this is entirely my fault, if I never…” she stops herself remembering their company, “Marcus can you give us some privacy?”

“But I was-” Karen cuts him off,

“Please?” she strokes his cheek softly,

“I should probably check on Jacob anyway,” Marcus leaves them and goes to Jacob’s bedroom,

“I started all of this Sandra; I don\'t care if you hate me but don\'t hurt him because I was stupid,”

“But I-I cheated on him, with her, and you,” she can’t even say Sphinx’s name, she curls her legs up to her chest and rests her chin on her knees,

“Trust me, what happened to you was more rape than you cheating on him, Sphinx was screwing with your mind back there, that was how she got me and Jacob in the first place,”

“Karen, I know you’re trying to make me feel better but I seriously think it’s for the best,”

“God would you just get over it, how can you just give up on an amazing guy like him? Besides, what are you going to do if you turn tomorrow night?”

“How did you know that?” Sandra asks sitting upright,

“Please, I can smell it on you; I\'m sure all the others can too,”

“So, I\'m gonna change?”

“Don\'t know, if you’re lucky you’ll just get over it, but I wouldn’t count on it, Sphinx bit you too,”

“But wouldn’t being infected before cancel that out?”

Karen shakes her head, “How do you think she got two animal forms? She was bit by both a weretiger and a weresnake before her first change it’s a rare occurrence and even rarer for more than one bite to fully infect you but it can happen,”

Sandra puts her face in her hands, “Oh god, no, no, no, I don\'t want to be like her,” Karen goes against her better judgment and hugs Sandra, at first she tenses but she needed someone to hug her, even if it had to be Karen, Sandra sobs into Karen’s shoulder, Marcus slips out of Jacob’s room,

“Is it okay for me to come out now?” he says stepping into the living room,

“Yeah,” Karen says motioning for him to take her place, Marcus puts his hand on Sandra’s shoulder, she slowly lets go of Karen sucking back tears, “I\'m going to check on Jacob myself, don\'t let her leave, not just yet,” Marcus nods letting Sandra curl into him, her tears return falling against his exposed skin.

Karen walks into Jacob’s bedroom, Ivy and the four men are naked and curled on the floor around Jacob, his wounds nearly healed, “Wow, you guys work real quick don\'t you?” Karen says stepping up to the pile of bodies,

“Good thing we all have our own healing magic,” one of the men says, the rest sleep soundly against Jacob, “We’re all a little beat, his wounds were a lot worse than they looked and we couldn’t just fix his major ones, we lack that amount of focus,”

“You guys need a sixth?” Ivy shakes her head,

“No, once he wakes up we’re done here,” Ivy has a cold tone in her voice,

“Ivy, can you talk to Sandra?”

“What about?”

“She might be joining our ranks tomorrow night,”

“Yes, Jacob told me,”

“But he wasn\'t the only one to bite her,” Ivy’s eyes widen with anger and disappointment,

“Tell me you didn’t,” her voice is soft but laced with anger,

“No, not me, its worse,”

Ivy takes a deep breath, “Sphinx. That’s definitely a name I will not be missing,” Ivy caresses Jacob’s shoulder softly and stands to her feet, she sifts through the pile of clothes finding those that belong to her, she forgets underwear and pulls on the pants and blouse, “You take my place,” Ivy says to Karen, she nods slowly as Ivy passes her, Ivy steps out to the living room, Sandra is curled into a ball in Marcus’s arms, Ivy strokes Sandra’s hair, she looks up a the tall woman, “Hi, my name’s Ivy,” she says with a concerned smile,

“Ivy? You-you’re Jacobs sponsor?”

“He’s told you about me,” it was more a statement than a question, Sandra nods, Ivy makes a quick “Get out of here” gesture with her head to Marcus, he slips his arms away from Sandra slowly and wanders off, Ivy kneels on the floor by Sandra, “So tell me, what did he tell you?” Sandra is reluctant to say anything,

“A lot,” she squeaks,

“I take something he probably shouldn’t have, don\'t worry neither of you will be in any trouble, I just want to know what you know already,” Sandra takes a moment to consider but slowly tells all that Jacob told her.

Jacob’s eyes slowly flutter open, his entire body coated in the thick warmth of the other bodies, “Sandra,” he chokes, Karen and the other guy lean over to face him, “I want to see Sandra,” his eyes filled with determination, as he sits up,

“Whoa buddy just lay back down you need rest,” the man says putting his hand on Jacob’s chest,

“I outrank you; I\'m going to see Sandra,”

“Easy Jacob, I\'ll get her for you, you just stay here and rest,” Karen says getting dressed, he ignores her and slowly rises to his knees, he grabs the first pair of pants his hands find and puts them on, they’re too short and tight in the crotch but he doesn’t care, Karen helps him stand and walk he sways out of weakness, she leads him to the living room,

“Jacob,” Sandra says her eyes fill with joy at the sight of him but her heart breaks.

“Sandra,” Jacob has a goofy smile plastered across his face; if she didn’t know any better Sandra would say that Jacob was pissed drunk, Karen helps him walk to the couch, Sandra goes to him, her arms find their way around his back, her hands bury in his hair, “Don\'t worry, she wont hurt you again,” he whispers into her ear,

“What? What are you talking about?” Sandra turns her head upward to face his,

“She’s dead, I wont let anyone do anything bad to you again, I promise,” tears crawl down Jacob’s cheeks as he pulls her closer to him, Sandra’s mind can\'t believe her ears, her fingers run along his back, she moves them to his neck feeling under the skin, he takes her hand in his and kisses it repeatedly, “I\'d do anything for you,” his face still bears the goofy smile,

“But, I…” is all she can say before Jacob’s weight pulls her down with him as he falls over backward, his chest rising and falling slowly against her cheek his face slack and his eyes shut, Ivy kneels beside him she checks his pulse and breathing, she peels his eyelids open to check the pupil’s dilation,

“He’ll be fine with rest,” she says hooking her arms under his underarms, she lifts him effortlessly and drags him back to his room,

“He-he killed her,” Sandra utters trying to get the words to sink into her head, sitting up on the floor, she can’t decide if she should be happy or horrified. Sandra gets up after some deep thinking, she grabs the note on the coffee table and tears it into tiny pieces, she tosses the bits into the garbage and goes into Jacob’s room, her eyes widen with shock to see three men laying on the floor naked fast asleep, “I\'m not even gonna ask,” she shakes the image from her head and crawls into bed with Jacob, Ivy and the other man leave them alone, she hears the high pitched whine of a power drill in the living room, Marcus and the other man are fixing the door, her mind drifts away and the whine is nothing more than white noise as she falls asleep with her arms around Jacob.

The next night Jacob takes Sandra camping again for the full moon, that pack wouldn’t let her come to see the rest of them until they were certain she was going to be one of them, no matter how close she gets to the fire her body is freezing in the night air, mostly fear and anticipation, as the sun slowly inches over the horizon she notices Jacob become more distant,

“What’s wrong?” she finds herself saying, he takes a deep breath,

“I\'m scared, scared that I made you into a monster,” Sandra walks over to him and hugs him tightly,

“I\'ll love you no matter what,” Jacob runs his hands through her hair, she stands on tippy toes and kisses him, she drags him back to the unfolded sleeping bag and lies him down. They watch the fire until the sun is down, Jacob paces around the campsite his hair darting behind him like a school of fish, finally he stops as the moon nears it’s peak, Sandra watches as the change takes over Jacob’s body it’s faster than the last time she saw it, his wolf form bursts from his body violently, his breathing fast and ragged his body shivering not out of cold but from the rapid change, he slowly pads toward Sandra, his lips curl away baring his teeth, his eyes show happiness, he nuzzles against her stomach, her hands run over his fur, she kisses him on the top of his head and scratches behind his ears.
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