Charred, blackened skeletal logs cracked and fell into the hot ash below with a 'poof'. The noise awoke Elizabeth as her long, pointed, dark-elfin ears twitched to track the sound. Turning her head, her eyes fluttered open and she blinked several times before the blurry black maw of the fireplace came clearly into view.
Smoke was still rising up from the log carcasses and ash. Trying to turn on her side, she found Connor's arm slung over her chest and a leg thrown across her thighs effectively pinning her beneath him.
Air stirred within the common room of the house. She wasn't sure what happened to her vision, but as soon as the air shifted she felt new inner eyelids slide down over her eyes and she was able to see the movement of the current of air, additionally her newly heightened sense of smell alerted her that the air smelled fresh.
Sitting up in alarm, throwing Connor's arm and leg off, she looked over Lachlan who was still laying where he had gone to sleep to the front door. It was wide open where it had been closed and barred shut when everyone had settled down to sleep. A silver she-wolf stepped out of the night and stood just inside the doorway. Her right arm was missing from just above the elbow and was still dripping blood from what appeared to be a cauterized amputation.
Then it struck her, the she-wolf wasn't a wolf anymore. She was standing upright like a werewolf with the head of a wolf and the body of a silver furred woman with small sleek breasts and broad, thickly muscled hips, buttocks, and thighs. Her one remaining hand seemed a bit too large with its long claws. Her legs seemed to be a hybridization that allowed her to walk on the balls of her feet that looked more like paws, and to help her keep her balance she had a long fluffy silver tail that sprouted from between her upper ass cheeks.
The shorter golden hybrid she-wolf stepped out of the night and stood in the doorway as a shadowy figure moved and loomed over Lachlan. It ran a humanoid hand through his spikey, synthetic hair before the giant maw of the shadowy she-wolf opened.
Elizabeth let out a strangled yell as she struggled to get to her hooves, while Connor didn't move or stir from his sleep at all. Reaching out for Lambrys she remembered it was back in the bedroom with the girls.
"Please," Shadow hissed as she backed away from Lachlan and stood up and turned her one good red eye to Elizabeth.
"Help us," She begged as she stumbled back another step, "Please! Before he wakes up…"
"What?" Elizabeth growled, "Why should I? I should incinerate all three of you; right here, right now!"
As she spoke the angrier she got, and as her temper rose so did her temperature. Her hair began to wave in the air like it was caught in a breeze, and her belly, chest, and breasts began to glow giving her dark brown skin a golden sheen as dragon scales began to shine through.
"Look," Gold exclaimed as she pointed to the bedroom where the girls were, "We are only the monsters that he made us into. He is the true monster!"
"Help us, please," Shadow begged again.
Turning to look where Gold was pointing, Elizabeth's hair caught on fire and burned in a golden flame above her head as horns of flame grew from her forehead and curled back over her head and ears. The trail of hair on her lower back and down her tail caught on fire, and in the light of her own flames she saw what looked like a dark inky shadow extending across the floor from the black she-wolf to connect to Connor, and then his shadow stretched across the common room to the girls bedroom.
The bedroom door was wide open. An oil lamp light cast an eerie glow across the room. The blankets were pulled all the way to the foot of the bed revealing a naked Blair and Ailsa laying atop. Blair seemed to be turned on her side and asleep, but Ailsa was wide awake. Her eyes were as big as saucers as tears ran down her cheeks, and her mouth was open in a terrified scream she was so frightened she couldn't give voice. Her feathered arms reached out to waken her sister just as the large male werewolf of inky shadows grabbed her ankle and pulled her down the bed and her legs apart. It stepped between her thighs, and Elizabeth screamed when she realized what it was about to do!
"Lachlan!" She shrieked as she leaped over the chairs in the room and nearly flew at the Wolf…
——(!)——
Shadow watched apprehensively as Elizabeth charged off, but then looked down at Lachlan, who still hadn't moved and gave him a firm shake. When he still didn't wake up Silver and Gold came over and turned him over.
Lachlan stared up at them with red mechanical eyes that were wide open in fear. He worked his mouth silently. He couldn't speak or move. It was Gold that saw the amulet and pointed. Silver hissed angrily as Shadow gasped and reached out and snatched the cursed object from Lachlan's neck. Her skin hissed as it burned her hand, and with a yelp she threw it across the room.
Lachlan sighed in relief as he stretched out a hand for Shadow to take as he said, "Holy Restoration."
The burns healed instantly, and with a grunt Shadow pulled him to his feet. As he looked from her to the other two she-wolves and nodded, "Thank you for your help, and I am sorry for what has happened to you so far. Obviously, the villains and heroes of this story are not as they appear."
"There are no heroes in this story, young man," Shadow answered bitterly, "Only villains and victims."
"Well let's see if we can't change that then," He answered as he turned to see what he should do to assist Elizabeth.
——(!)——
Elizabeth tackled the monstrous werewolf so hard that they hit the log wall and punched right through sending wood beams and splinters blasting across the yard. They hit the ground and tumbled as she scratched, clawed, and bit at the wolf while he reciprocated by scratching, clawing, and biting her.
Her attacks cut through the semi-corporal smoky shadow of the cursed wolf to no avail. His attacks scratched her outer layer of dark-brown semi-translucent skin, but then sparks flew from his claws as they raked across the scales beneath. It was then that she realized that she hadn't needed armor, she was walking, breathing, armor!
With neither able to hurt the other, they wrestled on the ground, kicking up large clods of dirt and knocking debris from the cabin wall out of their way as Wolf laughed in her face, "You low-class whore! Of all the women I've ever met you were the easiest to breed!"
Elizabeth screamed and moved to choke the life from him.
He laughed even harder as they rolled around, "You were so easy I didn't even need to bring you to my bed! You gave yourself to me right there before the fireplace! Right in front of your little robot-boy!"
"So, you really are Connor Amaroq," She screamed right in his face as golden flames escaped her mouth, "I am going to kill you! I am going to burn you to a crisp and scatter your ashes in the wind!"
Wolf snarled in her face, and then laughed at her scornfully, "You do not have that kind of power. Only a god can kill a god, or you must have a weapon capable of doing so and you have neither!"
From her belly to her breasts she glowed so brightly the entire forest was lit up like it was midday. As they rolled around she flapped her wings to keep leverage on the slippery Wolf.
Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Ailsa and Blair. The roof over the bed had caved in, and they were cringing against the far wall crying while Lachlan, Shadow, Silver, and Gold either held up the roof or were clearing away debris.
"Ailsa! Blair!" Elizabeth screamed, "Grab Lambrys! Grab my axe, and cut off Connor's head!"
Ailsa was too shaken to move, her eyes lost and vacant as she bawled. Blair looked around quickly and found Lambrys. Grabbing it by the handle. She tried to lift it but it was too heavy. She heaved and yanked at the axe, but it wouldn't budge.
"I can't lift Lambrys," Blair screamed.
Wolf snarled in Elizabeth's face sending spittle splattering across her cheeks, "Of course she can not lift Lambrys! Connor gave that axe to you! You are the only one that may wield it now!"
He laughed at her with glistening white teeth and a wolf's maw that smelled like all the dead he had consumed, and it turned her stomach. He somehow managed to shrug as they fought as he sneered, "What will you do little dragoness whore? Play with me? Or, go slay a husk?"
"Lachlan!" She screamed.
"Yes ma'am," He shouted as he leaped into the air, unfurling his mechanically feathered wings of synthetic light as he pulled his sword from its scabbard. He landed with a thud right beside Elizabeth, and stabbed it into the ground as he shouted, "Holy Consecration! Chains of the Penitent!"
Magical light glowed all around him as a golden seal stretched out on the ground burning the grass away in a circle thirty meters in diameter. Holy flames ignited the ground and burned the Wolf as he struggled in a frenzy to escape. Elizabeth was losing her grip on him, but just as he slipped away golden chains shot out of the ground and pulled him back down.
"Run!" Lachlan shouted, "I can't hold him for long!"
Elizabeth staggered backwards as she gave Lachlan a shocked and grateful glance, and then she turned and ran, hopped, and flew to the broken wall of the cabin and swooped inside. Wolf thrashed and howled and snapped at Lachlan as Elizabeth snatched Lambrys up and ran to the living room. Connor was still laid out cold, face down in the rolls of furs and blankets where they had lain together and he had taken her over and over again!
She raised Lambrys over her head as a honeysuckle scent wafted through the air, and her hands and legs began to shake. When she saw his softened, sleeping face doubt and desire trembled in her heart.
She hesitated, and a stabbing pain in her lower belly began to thrum and resonated with Connor. Clutching her belly, she doubled over as gnawing doubt made her think that she was making a mistake.
Maybe, he could be a good husband and father to her children, after all, she was nothing like any of his previous wives. She was certain that she could change him. She could make him a better man, a good man!
Heat blossomed in her womb, and as her nectar trickled down her inner thighs desire threatened to overwhelm her. All she wanted was Connor to caress her. She wanted nothing more than his powerful body hovering above her and thrusting between her thighs. He could be her hero and companion…
She almost dropped Lambrys to the floor...
Movement caught her attention, and she turned to look toward Connor's feet when she saw writhing, inky shadows much too dark to be natural stretched out across the floor reaching into the bedroom where Ailsa and Blair had been sleeping…
Where the wolf had almost raped Ailsa…
The wolf was Connor…
Connor was the wolf…
He called her a whore…
He didn't love her…
He never loved her…
What was she thinking?
"Elle!" Lachlan shrieked.
Fiery tears of flame fell from her bright blue dragonic eyes as she turned back and with all of her might brought Lambrys down…
A long victorious howl peeled through the night and shook the cabin on its foundations.
"YES!" Wolf thundered as he laughed triumphantly.
Pulling Lambrys free of the floorboards, Connor's head pivoted and rolled away as Elizabeth ran back through the cabin.
Wolf towered over everyone as he threw back his shoulders and howled to the black sky above. He was twice as large as he had been when she left. Laughing maniacally, he swatted at Lachlan like he was a fly sending him spiraling through the sky to disappear over the horizon of trees. Wolf turned to regard Shadow, Silver, and Gold, then he turned to Ailsa and Blair as Elizabeth came charging out and roared as golden dragon's fire blasted from her mouth in a cone to hit him and split to each side.
Once her dragon's breath was spent Wolf laughed at her as he taunted, "It seems you have freed me from the shackles of that husk inside. Thank you."
"Don't worry," Elizabeth sneered as she hefted Lambrys, "I will chop you down to size soon enough."
Wolf laughed again, "You can try, but you will fail. Like I said before, only a god can kill a god. It seems though that I can not kill you either. So, I will give you this promise. I am going to hound you wherever you go, and I will devour everyone you love, starting with those two over there."
"Over my dead body," She growled as she tightened her grip on Lambrys and started toward Wolf.
"Oh no, not yet," He taunted, "Only once I have taken everything you love from you, then I will end you…"
As she closed in on Wolf, heat started to build in her lower belly again, but it wasn't like before. It stopped her in her tracks and forced her to look down and put a hand on her abdomen just below her navel as she hunched over in pain.
Wolf watched her with curiosity as he cocked his head to the side.
Looking up from her belly, she growled, "What have you done to me?"
"I did nothing to you," He replied, but then pointed at her belly as he added, "However, there are always consequences to taking a god into your bed…"
Her eyes opened wide with fear and shock as she demanded, "What do you mean?"
Wolf laughed at her, taunting her as he took a step backward, "You have the seed of a god in your belly! Who knows what could be conceived from the union of a god with such a creature as you?"
Elizabeth screamed in fury. The burning in her belly changed and started resonating with her anger and pulsed. From her abdomen to her breasts the golden scales beneath her skin glowed with golden power that worked its way up to her throat until flames were bursting from her mouth just as a new white light in her lower belly began to grow and shine through her scales even brighter than the gold. It mixed with the golden power already illuminating her body and suddenly changed her golden dragonic power into something else!
Holy flame enshrouded her body from her hooves to the tips of her floating, flaming hair. Her hands burned scorch marks into Lambrys' handle as she stood up straight, and the weapon seemed to audibly groan as it white fire and electricity popped and jumped from it to blow holes out the ground all around her.
"You said it takes a god to kill a god right," She growled in a resonating voice of power, "Then let's test that theory…"
She swung her axe out at the wolf and light, fire, and lightning shot out and hit the cursed demon god in the chest. It howled in pain and fur and flesh were burned away revealing muscle and bone beneath only seconds before Wolf was blown away into the night and far across the forest.
Elizabeth swept her wings down and leapt into the air to follow after the wolf and finish the job of killing it when Lachlan flew in and hovered in front of her. He looked out at where the wolf had been thrown. His mechanical eyes shifted as he zoomed in and saw the wolf, badly scorched with missing fur and flesh, turn and limp away.
"He's retreating," Lachlan said.
"I should kill him now," Elizabeth growled.
"You could," He agreed with a nod, "But that isn't what heroes do."
"He threatened you and your sisters," She retorted.
"Yes, and we have proven that we are not easy prey," He answered, "If he returns and attacks us, and we kill him, then we are defending ourselves. If you fly off to finish him now, you are the killer."
"I see," Elizabeth replied with a nod, "I guess I really am a monster."
"A monster-hero," Blair called from the ground, "Elle, you saved us all," She said as she pointed to their three new companions lying on the ground and continued, "You've even saved them!"
Turning in the air she saw that the three she-wolves had collapsed. Elizabeth and Lachlan landed on the ground, and Ailsa came out and joined them in the yard. She was still shaken. Her red feathered hair, the long green feathers on her arms and tail feathers were all ruffled. The flames enshrouding Elizabeth subsided as the exhaustion of the amount of manna she had used hit her. She staggered and fell to her knees just as Ailsa came to her and hugged her as she cried into Elizabeth's hair.
Elizabeth patted Ailsa's hair and squeezed her in a tight hug, "I will never let anything happen to you, I promise!"
Ailsa cried all the harder for a long time, until Blair gasped, "What's happening to them?"
"Oh my god!" Lachlan whispered.
Ailsa pulled away, and she and Elizabeth watched as black, silver, and gold fur fell from the three she-wolves bodies and turned into cursed ichor that hissed and smoked as it disintegrated. With the lifting of their curses, it was revealed that Shadow was a beautiful woman with alabaster skin that nearly glowed in the moonlight. She looked like she would be of a height with Elizabeth, much taller than average. However, she had a very slim if exotically curvy figure, and her breasts were very voluptuous. There was a scar on her otherwise perfect left breast where there was a large gash from a knife wound to her heart from centuries prior, and she also had a slash across her right brow and cheek where her eye once was. Her left fluttered open and she looked around. Her eye was as black as onyx that matched her long glossy black hair.
"Sah'Laehn?" Lachlan gasped as he held a hand out to the lady.
"Yes, how did you know?" She whispered in a voice that was much softer and feminine than it had been when she was a wolf, "I… am so sorry for how I behaved before…"
"Connor told me your story," Lachlan whispered as she shook his head at the memory.
Silver was a beautiful dark skinned woman who sat up and blinked startling blue eyes while long silver hair fell down her back. Her right arm was a stub that ended just above her elbow, and like Sah'Laehn, she was slim though shorter. Her hips were broader, and her breasts were slight handfuls. Ignoring everyone, she twisted around in a panic to find Gold. Once she found her, she scrambled over and wrapped her in a fierce embrace.
Elizabeth nodded her head and mumbled, "She must be Pandora and the other is Pyrun. Only a mother is that frantic, and that relieved…"
Pyrun had her mother's dark skin, and her mother's eyes, but her hair fell down her back in waves of purified gold. She was also thicker, broader, bustier, and curvier than her mother. Also, rippling muscles in her arms, thighs, and abdomen bespoke a lifetime of training to battle the Wolf that had left many scars through the years.
Pandora and Pyrun cried as they hugged and laughed for several minutes before turning and looking back at their saviors, with a smile and nod Pandora said, "Thank you so much for saving us!"
"Don't thank me," Elizabeth replied with a shake of her head, "Regrettably, I didn't act with the intention of saving you. I was only trying to save Ailsa from getting raped by that monster."
"Intensions never matter as much as actions," Sah'Laehn replied from beside Lachlan who was still holding her hand as he ogled her.
Elizabeth looked around and then down at herself and hissed. They were all naked, "Lachlan! Boy, close your eyes!"
He groaned but did as he was told. Sah'Laehn chuckled as she squeezed his hand and purred, "I don't mind if he looks. It has been a long time since I've had such… honest... interest directed toward me."
"He's too young," Elizabeth snapped, "If you want to wait eight more years for him, that is your choice…"
Sah'Laehn raised her eyebrows, but she didn't say anymore.
With a groan Elizabeth stood up only to be run into by Blair who hugged her and Ailsa. Pandora and Pyrun helped each other up, and then they all went inside the cabin to find clothes amidst the debris.
With three women from the ancient Mediterranean, Elizabeth felt that if she kept the fabrics for the chitons and peplos hidden in her bag, she would be a thief. So with a sigh she found her bag and pulled out the cloth and handed it to Pandora with a mild sigh. Pyrun found herself a more practical ancient Scandinavian dress and pulled it on to be followed by sturdy stockings and boots. Once she was dressed she helped her mother to turn the fine white bolt of fabric into a chiton. Then she helped her mother tie on sandals.
Sah'Laehn helped herself to the purple bolt of fabric and wove it around her body so that it fell down the front and back just enough to cover her breasts, sex, and buttocks, but not much more than that. She tied it with a simple cord just under her breasts, and then she found another pair of sandals and tied them on.
Ailsa didn't bother with clothing, instead she transformed into her fairy-form and buzzed around the cabin. Blair found her underwear and wrapped her breasts and pulled on and tied the fundari until the skimpy cloth was tight. Afterward, she pulled her nagajuban followed by the furisode. She spent some time explaining to Elizabeth how to help her wrap and tie the obiage, the obi, and finally the obijime. Once her dress was complete she stepped furry, pawed, fox feet into her geta.
Elizabeth was the last to get dressed. There was nothing left that fit her exotic measurements except for the transparent chiton.
"Here, let me help you," Sah'leahn offered as she stepped up and began arranging the diaphanous fabric on Elizabeth's body, "A woman as beautiful as you should wear this as intended, and with the utmost pride."
When Sah'Laehn was finished she took a step back and the fabric was now arranged as a short strophion clipped over her right shoulder and exposing her left breast. Elizabeth looked up at Sah'Laehn with her mouth ajar as she gasped, "There is a ten year old boy out there that I have to be in front of! He can not see me flaunting about naked like this!"
"Why not?" Sah'Laehn asked with a lewd smirk, "He battled the wolf by your side, and you were completely naked then. Why is it different now?"
"Because, now, I would be choosing to walk about without clothes on," Elizabeth retorted as she gestured toward the damage to the cabin, "As for the other, I can't help that I keep incinerating my clothing. It just keeps happening!"
There was a room full of giggling and then Blair came forward with Elizabeth's armor and suggested, "If we put this armor on you then it will most likely cover almost everything."
Elizabeth wasn't sure what to do. It would take all night to dismantle the dresses in the wardrobe and try to fashion something new that would fit her. Or, she could live with what she had.
"Fine!" She hissed, and let Blair step in and help her shrug into the sexy roman legionnaire armor.
Once she was done everyone walked inside the cabin and stared down at Connor's body laying on the floor in front of the fireplace. Pyrun and Pandora both knelt down and put a hand on his back.
"He was a good father to me," Pyrun said in a heavy-hearted whisper.
"He was a good husband to me," Pandora offered as she put a hand on Pyrun's shoulder.
"He was a monster that deceived me into taking his curse and then killed me," Sah'Laehn growled, "Good riddance! The world is a better place with his passing…"
"He saved Ailsa from a dark spirit inhabiting what was once a dryad's tree," Elizabeth said with a shake of her head as she put a hand to her lower belly, "And then he took advantage of me, and nearly raped Ailsa. Whether he is a man or a god, he is a being of contradictions with the capacity for good and evil. Maybe I made a mistake. Connor was the last vestiges of what was good, and now, all that is left is evil."
Sah'Laehn came over and took Elizabeth's hand, "Do not regret what you had to do. If you had not killed him, then as soon as he awoke the curse would have consumed us once again as we still would not, and may never have broken free. The only time they are one is when he is asleep, but our appearances were always so horrifying that when we tried to seek help the only thing that happened was that we would be hunted for the rest of the night."
"Still," Elizabeth sighed as tears fell down her cheeks, "I killed a man tonight…"
"Yes," Sah'Laehn agreed with a nod, not trying to make light of what happened, "Yes you did, but how many would be dead now if you hadn't? You must also remember the lives you save when you think of the life you took tonight."
"He at least deserves a burial," Pandora said as she stood up.
Elizabeth looked around the cabin, and then she suggested, "A burial will take too long. How about a funeral pyre?"
Pandora followed Elizabeth's gaze around the cabin, and then nodded, "That will do."
They gathered the rest of their supplies outside, and then everyone stood in a line and watched as Elizabeth, for the first time, intentionally gathered the dragonic power in her belly. She fanned the small ball of fire into an inferno until her belly and breasts were glowing brightly, and then breathed a gout of flame that engulfed the cabin in seconds.
Once it was a roaring, crackling blaze, they stood there and watched it burn until Lachlan walked up and asked, "So, where are we going to sleep now?"
"There will be no more sleep for us tonight," Elizabeth answered with a shake of her head, "We must stay here and make sure this doesn't catch the forest on fire, and then, hopefully, tomorrow you and your sisters will be sleeping in your own rooms and beds at Gabriel's house."