There isn't anything sexual in this part but there will be in chapters to come. I decided to divide it up instead of finishing it in one fell swoop. It was just taking to long. So please enjoy this.
(Anything in parenthesis is meant as the mental communication between them.)
*PROLOGUE
The resonance of their screams linger but I do not hear them, the impression of their faces weigh heavy on my mind but I do not see them and despite my best efforts....I can still taste the warm rush of their blood across my tongue. Brain numbingly sweet and addicting I know that even if stopping were an option I couldn't even if I wanted to. I am to far gone and the pain grows by the day. My soul screams after every night of the full moon, silent and profound as it slowly starts to wither away to nothing.
'I've killed again!' My mind screams in agony even as I slowly suck the remnants of their deaths from my hands. 'I am a monster!'
Standing upon the edge of eternal darkness, I stare intently into the abyss that threatens to swallow me whole. Even as it's luring siren song calls to me I resist with what is left of the shreds of my humanity.
I know I am no longer the human I once was, but if I were to fall into the darkness I would loose myself...and the beast would fully emerge.
I can't let that happen.
Darkness falls beyond the tree line, blanketing the sky with the black curtain of night and the effervescent light of stars. There is to be no moon tonight, but even without the seductive pull of the moon I feel the first stirrings of the change tingle through my body. Not enough to change me from my human visage but enough to heighten my senses in anticipation.
My mind cringes even as my body comes alive and welcomes the change. The fine bones of my human body ache as they try to lengthen and twist into my beast but can not and a sheen of invisible fire licks at the surface of my skin. I felt as if I were an over ripe peach begging to be split by the divine edge of a blade.
I hated the feeling even as I relished it.
I could hear every animal scurrying through the trees, smell their fear, and taste the scent of their blood. Not nearly as sweet as a humans but satisfying enough to tide my beast till the dawning of the new day.
There was more than enough natural game to hunt but that was not why I had chosen this place. I was more than two hundred miles from the nearest town...and far away from the temptation of human flesh.
Hopefully this was to be my final stop in my quest. I am ready to make my last stand here. I want to live in peace but if I continue with my downward spiral...
"Death is the only option."
*CHAPTER ONE IOLE'S POINT OF VIEW
Silence echoed throughout the tiny cottage as the first bright rays of morning peered around the edges of the closed curtains, adding illumination to the darkened kitchen. I winced slightly as my eyes adjusted to the change, the weariness of another sleepless night burning them as my body made it's demand for sleep finally known.
It was the night before the full moon. My body trembles as I fight the urge to crawl out of my own skin. My metabolism slows to a crawl to preserve the energy I would need and my body stretches to condition itself for the change. Its always much worse as the full moon approaches. My body goes into overdrive as it begins to make demands for the night ahead.
It craves food to support the energy that would be required. I gorged myself on, at least, twenty steaks during the night. Medium rare as my beast demanded. It would have preferred that it had been rare and bloody but there was no way my human side would have allowed such a thing.
Now it was time to rest. Sleep drags heavily upon my aching body as I stumble toward my bedroom and collapse upon the bed. I take a minute to relish the coolness of the fluffy comforter beneath my cheek. I have no doubt that when I wake up the next morning that I'll be in a different situation than this. I usually wake up on a cave floor or the cold hard ground but on the rare occasions that I actually wake up with my body pillowed with the dead carcass of my prey I try to block it out with the memory of how good it feels to be in my own bed.
I have no fear of the sleep ahead because I know that I'll be consumed in a dreamless sleep. There will be no nightmares to plague me as they usually do and I am thankful for that small blessing.
*NIGHTFALL
Anticipation and dread swirl through my veins as I shed my cloths and throw them carelessly around me on the forest floor. My bare feet move soundlessly as I pass among the trees, my presence as a predator already noted among the wildlife as they scurry to flee in fear. They know what is coming.
My heart begins to accelerate as the moon moves higher in the sky, illuminating the world around me. Its almost magical to see everything gilded with silver light; almost as if a new world had descended to swallow the Earth for a short time. When I had been human I would always escape the tight confines of my country home to bask in its glory. Wanting to revel in such beauty was what afforded my current existence as it was. If I had known what was to occur that cold October night, I would have stayed home....but I hadn't and this was the path I was fated to follow.
Suddenly a cramp seized my stomach, the severeness knocking me to the ground. Pain radiates throughout my body as the originating cramp begins to crawl through me, the muscles desperately trying to stretch and accommodate the new shape of my twisting bones. My accelerating heart thuds ever faster as my spine begins to elongate beyond my body's boundaries, growing out of my tail bone and breaking through the fine layer of skin as my beast's tail begins to emerge. I arch my back to try and alleviate the pain as the rest of my body begins to emerge into it's destined shape. My ribs lengthen and push out to broaden my chest, my breasts flattening out as hair begins to mist over me. My knees collapse backward even as my arms and legs lengthen under rippling muscles, but the most painful transformation is in my face.
The bones in my face feel as if they've shattered as my jaw and nose grow to the lengths of a wolf's snout. My forehead broadens as my eye sockets enlarge themselves and my long ebony hair recedes to a fine downy fir. Lastly my feet, hands, and ears lengthen. The bones of my hands and feet stretch and widen to resemble paws as my ears move to the top of my head.
