Lunar Pressure

The restlessness made her muscles itch, she got up again from the porch and walked down the path and looked both directions for his car. If he didn’t hurry up and arrive soon she would change out of pure lunar pressure. She took a deep breath, smelled the cold air, her senses were always dilated at full moon, even before she changed.

After a few more minutes she heard his car in the distance and when he turned up her driveway she heard the loud music. As usual Ben played “Werewolves of London”. It didn’t take more than 45 seconds for him to be by her side.

“Seriously Ben? Always the same song?”

He laughed his deep laugh and she couldn’t be angry with him.

“Sorry I’m late. Josh wouldn’t go to sleep and Sara has horrible morning sickness…” He stopped and looked up at the moon. “Well, I guess it technically should be called evening sickness. But now I am all yours.”

They walked to the back of her house. The forest in front of them, now a dark wall but in a few moments they would be able to find their way perfectly.

“First to the river,” she said and started to get undressed. She still could change faster than him. An advantage of being his senior.  Twelve years between them but in the woods it didn’t matter.  The transformation started in the middle. Her heart got fiery hot and the heat spread through her body.

As soon as she stood on all fours she took off. Her intellect was allowed to rest for the evening. She was pure instinct. It didn’t matter that she only a couple of hours ago had been in a heated discussion with one of her pupil’s parents or that her mother’s cancer had come back or that she had been feeling incredibly alone for the last two weeks. Now all that was gone!

She could hear and smell Ben behind her; she could pick out his sounds and his scent anywhere.

At first they ran as fast as they could to get the restlessness to leave their bodies but soon they ran in joy. Together a stream of glimmering fur in the silver moonlight. Sometimes he was first, sometimes she was first. She came first to the river and Ben almost knocked her into the cold water. She growled and showed her teeth but he simply wagged his tail and ran into the darkness again.

The moon filled the forest with a cold clear light and she could smell winter in the wind. Soon snow would fall and she and Ben would have their best time of the year. The winter suited both of them; they liked the cold and the white pure snow. She followed his tracks and his scent further, deeper into the forest. She knew what he was trying to do.

She listened more carefully, stopped for a moment in the dark to locate him, she heard a faint crunching noise behind her and she started to run again. At the moment he came towards her to tackle her to the ground she took a graceful leap to the side. The speed left in his body made him tumble over and she was on top of him instantly. She put her sharp fangs on his neck and growled, felt his scent in her mouth and his rapid pulse on her tongue. If she had been human now she would have said, “Enough nonsense”

She didn’t let go until Ben whimpered and licked the side of her mouth. They stood and looked at each other, then turned and ran away. He followed in her tracks. Now they ran with purpose.

The scent of the deer drifted through the air and she looked back at Ben. He had sensed it too. They split up, slowed down, tried to get closer before the deer discovered them. They didn’t need to use words or commands, both of them knew what to do. It was part of their anatomy.

As soon as the deer sensed them it left its hideout in fright. Adrenalin flooded her body, her muscles worked harder, her lungs expanded and she ran faster than ever. When Ben came from the other direction and startled the deer, she took the opportunity and sank her teeth in the neck. The deer struggled, tried to escape but Ben was on it. Bit its hind side over and over, he yelped out of excitement. The blood was warm and salty in her mouth and she didn’t let go.

Soon the struggle ended and the deer lay on the ground exhausted. She ripped the throat in two and licked the gurgling blood. Buried her nose in the warm meat, tasted the earth in the blood. The leaves, the green grass, the river’s crystal water in the meat. Everything the deer had eaten she now enjoyed in return.

With bloody noses, bloody faces, bloody bodies they started to walk home. Let their tired muscles relax and stretch. She made sure she memorized how her body felt now.  On days when her human life was hard she brought this moment back and found tranquility.

When they returned to the backyard, Ben started to wash her. His warm tongue moved rhythmically over her body. She sank down, laid down on her side as he worked his way across her bloody fur. She closed her eyes; almost fell asleep and in her relaxed state she transformed back to human. Ben stood with his tongue out, looking intensely happy.  He sat down and waited for her as she went inside to get dressed and get a bucket, a towel and a brush to clean him with.

She started with his face, rubbed it with the wet towel, then his legs and his back.  He licked her hands as she cleaned off the blood. Then she started to brush him, long slow strokes. He sat still, pressed against her body. When he was clean again he laid down and she scratched the thick fur on his neck, rubbed his belly and petted him until he turned back into man.

They were not in love, yet on occasion when they had laid next to each other after an exciting run, they had had sex. But their connection had nothing to do with human emotions or simple attraction. They were more than soul mates. They were sister and brother tied together by what lay in their blood. Tied together by the moon.