A Moonlit Encounter
You step out of the office after a particularly grueling day at work. It's only wednesday and you feel the urge to drink. The sun is beginning to set as you hop in your car heading for the nearest convenience store.
You grab a six pack and some cigarettes before mixing back into traffic. Navigating the packed roadway of the business district into the housing zone before routing yourself onto the old interstate. The ride takes a good deal of time as the sun disappears; You're the only car in sight as houses and buildings become less and less frequent.
Nearing your destination you turn onto a lightless gravel road leading down into a grass parking area. An old wooden sign reads "Lowlands Park".
Climbing out you set to walking with the flashlight of your cellphone through a grove of widely spaced large, old trees, ankle high grass eventually giving way to a thin dirt path at the edge of the grove. This is where a second woodline forms with skinnier trees packed closely together, the gaps between them filled with overgrowth. Taking the path for a brief time deposits you at a clearing within the woods containing two worn picnic tables placed next to one another.
Sitting down at the first table with your body facing outwards you lean your back against the top as the seat board sags in the middle to accommodate your weight.
Shutting the phone light off you sigh, sitting in complete darkness you close your eyes as the hum of bugs fills the scene; your mind begins the task of dumping the stress from work. Fingering around you pry out a beer, taking a swig before fishing for a cig and striking it up.
You cant recall having ever seen another person on these grounds; located in a rural section of the county, with the nearest set of houses some two miles away it's not surprising. People do visit though, or used too, you think while tracing the carving of someone's initials with the fingers holding your cig. The seclusion of it makes it feel like your own personal getaway, as often as you find yourself here it basically is.
Time moves in a blur and by the time you finish beer five you're starting to feel a buzz; A full summer moon has climbed it's way up into the sky casting a faintish glow through the tree tops, the leaves and branches silhouetted in the clearing. The chorus of night-critters, the buzz, the soft light dancing in shapes around you as the breeze moves the trees gently, its beginning to make you tired. You could just go to sleep, wouldn't be the first time you've slept here; you would like to sleep here being so relaxed, but remind yourself you have work tomorrow.
Squinting at your watch in the pale light you can see it's close to midnight. Opening your last beer you decide you'll leave after finishing. You drink a little more than half of it with an audible gulp, striking one more cigarette. You blast a lazy drag exhaling slowly, watching the rising smoke glow. You lift the beer to kill it, but stop as a singular howl pierces the atmosphere.
The sounds of the night go silent, the small wind seems to stop and everything is still. It was certainly the howl of a wolf, and it was close, the reverberation of the sound felt in your core, your ears almost ringing. A primal fear strikes in your stomach and you make your breathing quiet, intently listening while still holding your comforts.
Your mind races for direction, should you attempt to leave or stay put? It was only one howl. Wolves travel in groups right? Are there more? You dont have a weapon to defend yourself. Your car isnt that far, but running could alert them, making them give chase. You opt to stay put for now.
The quiet continues on with the stillness for a moment too long; the thought of how foolish it seems to be afraid in this small slice of park you are so familiar with makes you embarrassed. You've been a guest here amongst the wildlife many times and never been bothered; animals are almost always more afraid of people than people of them. You stifle a chuckle, your fear subsided; beginning to finish the remainder of your drink, still quietly observing, a snap of the brush makes you swallow hard. The feeling of being watched sets in. An empty drink occupying one hand your smoke still burning in the other, nearing its end, but you dont dare move to toss them. Glancing to the area in the darkness of the thicket you believe the noise came from you see nothing, cautiously looking around you, making a mental picture of where you sit. The two tables are in the back corner of the clearing matched awkwardly against one another sideways, the tables parallel, rather than put together appropriately in a line. You sit backwards at the table furthest from the wall of growth and trees, your head turned left to investigate the direction of the sound before turning right to another snap near the entrance on the opposite side. You are certainly not alone, your exit possibly compromised, and feeling almost naked under a gaze you cannot spot has fear returning in force. A sudden rustle of brush and a succession of snaps this time behind you, is that running you hear? Before you can turn around to look, the noises grow in volume and seem to behing shifting: left, then directly ahead, right, rear, left, before you lose track sitting petrified. Are you being surrounded?
The commotion within the four inky walls of trees and growth ceases. Your ears strain to listen over the heavy beat of your heart; body frozen, breath caught in your lungs, your eyes locked forward onto nothing in particular. You note how the moons light seems to intensify in the clearing, like a spotlight exposing you to whatever lurks in the void.
Mind now screaming for you flee, you take a sharp breath in preparation for a dash; the air sticks in your lungs as the wood of the table behind you groans in announcement of a visitor.
Another moment passes with you unable to move or even breath. You know there's a presence behind you, the sensation of eyes on you and the fear of the unknown reaches a crescendo of horror in tune with your max heart rate. The heavy velvet voice of a woman breaks the silence, "Well aren't you going to greet me?" The voice rings with a bit of mock exasperation. As if the words have command over you, you Rigidly turn your head to lock with gazes with stunning blue orbs; the predatory sharpness of them freezing you, stabbing you with fresh terror. "Don't run, I'll catch you" the words asserting with promise that you cannot escape whatever fate is to befall you tonight. "Face me properly..., I've been waiting to meet you for a long time.." The first part of her words spoken with cold instruction, the other tapering off with a tone of...playfulness? Your body betrays your mind, obediently swinging your legs over the seat with your eyes drowning in the deep blue pools.
The moon makes her eyes radiate, you stare hypnotized by their intensity. You struggle to tear your gaze from them, the illumination of the moon generously reveals your company. Short, jet black fur covers her face, from her tall pointed ears to the end of her long snout where threatening fangs glisten. A patch of hair a little ways past the middle of her skull, somehow darker than her fur, is brushed neatly behind her head; some hair loosely resting on shoulders broader than your own. Straps hold a well fitting, formalish top, nearly the same color as her eyes, that covers her a little ways past the navel; a bush of the black fur at her neck hangs over the fabric stretched taut by D-size breasts. Though you sit nearly six feet apart it's easy to make out some impressive definition in the muscles on her arms and stomach. You look downwards in the space of the table, seeing clawed hands folded politely ontop a matching skirt reaching mid thigh; she crosses her defined legs at your gaze, prompting you to look up in shock and a bit of..embarrassment?
"What wondering eyes you have", a coy smile showing in the corners of her mouth. "Like what you see?" Rows of menacing teeth sparkle in the light when she speaks sending a shudder up your spine. Your gaze swims in hers, struggling to stay afloat with your heart racing so fast.
She exudes power, this..werewolf? While sitting, she is a head taller than you, her daunting frame and muscle build is larger than your own by far; the traits of what is surely enormous strength are offset by her alluring feminine curves. You seem to have no peripheral vision, the image of her ample chest thinning down near the navel to flow back out to her wide hips flashes in your mind; your pounding heart quick to force redness into your cheeks. Her eyes stay gripping yours communicating a clear predator-prey relationship, but they show sparks of fiery passion only a female can have; the proportions in the face of this she-wolf displaying a balance of femininity that is unmistakable, even to an alien species. The raw fear of what could be a sudden death is met with sexual attraction to a form you haven't seen before tonight, stirring a whirlwind of emotions inside you.