Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 13:51:49 -0600
From: Throat Wolf <throat_wolf@hotmail.com>
Subject: Sonja's Tale: A She-Wolf Story

			     Sonja's Tale

			 A She-Wolf Adventure

	       By Throat Wolf <throat_wolf@hotmail.com>


Sonja was hungry, incredibly hungry. She should have fed, would have fed
days ago, except that she was not in a place where it would have been
appropriate. Circumstances had forced her to the heart of the city, where it
was not so easy to find prey--or, at least, prey that would be both
acceptable to her palate and not easily missed.

But now she had no choice. The hunger was upon her, and would not let her
rest. She knew that if she did not feed, and soon, she would be forced to
take the first possible victim she found--an act which could have unpleasant
consequences, especially if it were to be seen.

As much as she disliked it, Sonja knew that she had to hunt.


The professor dismissed the class, and Greg Dodgwick filed out into the hall
along with the rest of the college students. Physics was hard, especially at
the 400 level. His head was still filled with abstract problems, the kind of
thing that the professor had droned on and on about and he for some reason
just couldn't get out of his head.

Greg walked down the hall, shifting his knapsack to one shoulder. He was
just a bit under six feet in height, with brown hair and a surprisingly
clear complexion for a college student. There wasn't really anything special
about him . . . which was why he stopped and stared when he noticed who was
watching him.

It was a girl, with long, dark hair and a slightly pale, Slavic complexion.
Her clothes were simple, slacks and a tee-shirt--and she didn't seem to be
wearing anything underneath the shirt. She was looking right at him, with an
unreadable expression. As Greg watched, she slowly beckoned to him, then
stepped back into one of the doors along the hall.

Greg's better judgement was telling him to go, but he ignored it. The girl
had been . . . well, beautiful almost wasn't the word. She looked like she'd
stepped out of a movie or a TV screen or something. And Greg was curious as
to what she wanted with him. And to tell the truth, he also hoped for a
chance to get a look at what was under that shirt.

And so Greg followed her into the door, which opened into a deserted
classroom. As soon as he entered, he saw her standing there--completely
nude. Greg gasped, and his knapsack hit the floor.

"Come a little closer," the girl said in a delicately-accented voice, lips
slightly parted.

Greg walked slowly up to her, knees shaking. Was this some strange sorority
ritual? he wondered. Get someone alone and have sex with him in a classroom?

Needless to say, Greg was very surprised when she suddenly became a giant
wolf, and immediately thereafter, swallowed him whole.


A couple of minutes later, Sonja hurriedly pulled her clothes back on. The
meal had been faster than she would have liked, but it couldn't be helped;
there was no time for the kind of foreplay she usually favored. She would
have preferred not to have had to eat him with his clothes on, but there had
been no time. At least he had struggled nicely on the way down, and he
seemed to be free of any foreign substances. So often of late, her victims
had just lain there unconscious and she'd had an unpleasant few moments as
her Wolfen body eliminated the alcohol or drugs they'd been sodden with.
"I'll have to eat here more often . . . " she decided.

Just before pulling her shirt back on, her chest heaved, she belched, and
then spat out a belt buckle, a pocketknife, and a handful of loose change.
Pulling the shirt back on, she shouldered Greg's knapsack and walked once
more out the door. In the back of her mind, the psychic life-essence of this
latest victim was tucked gently into place.


Later on, Sonja sat at a table at the campus Burger King, eating a Whopper.
It tasted good, even though it was hardly even a snack to one of her
physical needs. But then, she only ate human food for the taste and to seem
"normal" anyway.

What would she do now? she wondered. Head back to the wilderness? She would
have to, she surmised. She'd been here in the city for far too long. What
would happen when the hunger came again? For all she knew, the police could
be out looking for her vanished victim even now.

That was a drawback to being a Wolfen in this day and age, Sonja reflected.
If you wanted to eat a proper meal, something you could actually
enjoy--something _intelligent_--it caused all sorts of trouble. Human
civilization was one of the worst things to happen to the Wolfen in a long,
long time.

Sonja at last got up, threw her trash away, and walked back to the city bus
stop. She would return to her hotel room and stay the night there, then take
the next available transportation out of town.

Tired from the day's hunt, Sonja fell asleep as soon as her head hit the
pillow.


Greg wondered where he was. His last recollection was of being crammed into
a huge lupine maw and unceremoniously swallowed. Screaming, he'd plopped
into a narrow and confined open space that could only be a giant stomach,
and it had contracted in on him, and he'd lost consciousness.

Now, he was in the midst of a vast plain of grey, ethereal, roiling clouds,
and he didn't know what to make of it. "Where am I?" he asked. The words
echoed back in his ears. "Where am I? Where am I? Where am I . . . "

"What is this place . . . ?" Some of the clouds parted suddenly, and a
forestscape was spread out before him. As there didn't seem to be anything
better to do, Greg walked into it. "Is this Heaven?" he wondered. "Or the
other place, for that matter?"

As he walked into the open field, Greg noticed that he could see the ground
through himself. Unlike everything else here, he was transparent. "Am I not
really here at all? Am I a ghost?"

"You shouldn't ask so many questions," a voice said from beside him.

Greg looked down to see a little girl standing there. She seemed to be about
six or seven, and had short blonde hair. She wore a pink, frilly dress, and
was also transparent. "Who are you?"

"My name is Megan," the girl said. "Hi!"

"Uh . . . " This was getting entirely too surreal for Greg. "Hi. Uhm . . .
where are we?"

"I don't know," Megan said. "Have you seen my mommy?"

"Um, I don't think so . . . "

"I haven't seen her. Ever since the car wreck." She looked sad. "Maybe
mommy's dead. Or maybe I am." She didn't cry; Greg got the sense that she'd
already done a lot of crying, and had no more tears left.

"Maybe we both are," Greg agreed. "Do you remember anything since the
wreck?"

"After, you mean? Sorta." Megan screwed up her face in concentration. "There
was this man and this woman, and they dragged us out of the car. And then
the woman came and hugged me real close, and it got real warm and dark. And
then I woke up here."

"Where is here?" Greg asked.

"I dunno," Megan said. "But it's real weird. Lookee." She pointed across the
field, and Greg watched.

The field was full of young . . . well, wolftaurs, was the only way to
describe them. They were perhaps about the size of a large Great Pyrenees or
Saint Bernard dog, and were frolicking like children. There were larger
wolftaurs there, too, watching them. As Greg looked on, one of them stood
up, shimmered, and changed into a human woman. Greg noticed that it was the
same woman as the one who had . . . eaten him. "Is that the woman who pulled
you out of the car?" he asked.

"Yeah! She's come and talked to me sometimes since then. She's real nice.
And that's the man. I don't like him!" Megan pointed to a man who walked
into the clearing, past the woman, and flickered into a wolftaur himself.
The woman walked past some bushes and was soon gone to view.

The smaller wolftaurs seemed to be playing some kind of strange game now.
They were chasing one another, tackling each other . . . but then when two
fell together, only one got up. Greg watched closely, and was startled to
see the hindquarters of one 'taur hanging out of the mouth of one of the
others, which then tilted its head back as if to swallow.

But it didn't swallow, not really. In fact, a couple of moments later, it
released the other 'taur, and they started chasing each other around again.
Greg shook his head. "What are they doing?"

"I dunno. I've tried talking to them, but they never see me. It's just the
same thing, over and over again. Look at this." Megan pointed. The wolftaur
who had been the man Megan had told her about had been watching them, and
had walked over next to one of the other adult 'taurs--this one obviously
female, from the breasts hanging from its chest. The male 'taur lay down
next to her, and kissed her on the lips. Then his mouth swung open wider,
and he started taking her head full into his mouth. And he didn't stop
there. Gradually, opening wider and swallowing every so often, he moved his
mouth down over her human chest, then around her more lupine portion. She
didn't seem to be struggling . . . if anything, she was enjoying it. Her
tail was wagging slightly. None of the other Wolfen seemed to behave as if
this was unusual . . . in fact, one other pair began to do it themselves
(but with the female swallowing the male, in this case).

Greg couldn't take his eyes away from this display. It seemed disgusting,
yet somehow . . . enthralling. What was going on here?

As the male wolftaur's jaws moved closer to the she-taur's hindquarters, he
lifted his head up and tilted it back. The she-taur suddenly began to
struggle, trying to pull back out, but she couldn't--she was too far in. The
he-taur tilted his head further back, swallowed--and she disappeared. Greg
could see the squirming outline of the struggling 'taur as it slid through
the he-taur's humanoid torso and down into its belly.

One of the other she-taurs had noticed this, and jumped up, her lupine
muzzle showing an expression of shock. She turned to run, but the first
he-taur leaped and tackled her to the ground. She shrank into the form of a
normal wolf and tried to scamper off, but the he-taur grabbed her with one
hand, stuffed her into his maw, and swallowed.

By now, the female wolftaur who had been swallowing another male wolftaur
had seen this, and had opened her mouth to let her partner begin to
withdraw. But now the rogue who had swallowed two already stepped over to
her and grasped the hindquarters of the male 'taur she had started to
swallow--and began to push. The she-taur couldn't do anything about it--she
already had most of her partner down her throat and could scarcely move.
Before either of them knew it, she had completely swallowed the male 'taur.
And the other male 'taur had begun to swallow her.

"It always happens like this," Megan said. "I can't figure out why." Greg
was too distracted to say anything.

By now the younger 'taurs had noticed what was going on. Some of them were
screaming, others had run off into the brush. The wolftaur completed his
meal just as the girl who Greg had recognized re-entered the clearing.

The girl looked aghast, and she shimmered into her wolftauran form. She
barked something accusingly; the other simply laughed and advanced on her,
snatching up a young 'taur who had gotten too close, opening his maw (Greg
got a good view down it; it seemed to be a whole lot larger open than when
it was closed) and tossing it down. His throat muscles gripped it tightly,
and the last thing that was visible was the fear on its face before it went
down.

The she-wolftaur looked more aghast, and then, realizing there was nothing
she could do, turned and loped from the clearing. The he-taur started to
follow, but its belly was too swollen from its meal to move very fast, so it
settled for grabbing a couple more of the small 'taurs and swallowing them
instead.

Then the scene faded, leaving Greg and Megan standing there, and Greg
wondering exactly what it was that he'd just witnessed.


Sonja woke up slowly. She'd had the dream again--the dream of when Mikhail
had betrayed her, betrayed the whole tribe. How could he have done it? What
could have led him to do it? All she knew was that of all their tribe, she
alone had escaped being devoured and imprisoned by him.

She'd fled around the world to try to escape him, but he'd come after her.
That she knew from the time she'd intervened at that unfortunate car wreck.
A girl and her mother had been severely injured and trapped inside the
burning form of their car. Abandoning her human guise, Sonja had gone and
ripped it open, dragging the girl free and then going back to get the
mother.

But when she'd gotten there, she found no other than Mikhail had gotten
there first. He held the broken yet still alive body of the woman in his
arms. "Why, hello, Sonja," he'd said. "It is so nice to see you again . . .
"

Trying to keep a level temper, she'd moved forward to take the unconscious
woman from Mikhail's arms. But Mikhail had stepped back, changed to his
Wolfen form, and placed the woman on his tongue. Before she could do
anything about it, the woman had begun her trip down into his hungry belly.
"The same thing I will do to you," Mikhail said. "But not now. I would be .
. . disturbed. And I would like to have more time to enjoy my meal." Sirens
were sounding in the distance as emergency vehicles came near. "Dos
vedanya." With a sardonic smile, Mikhail was in his human form once more and
then was gone.

Sonja had moved back to the side of the road where the semiconscious little
girl lay. Even with the abrasions and bruises, she was still adorable, and
reminded her in some ways of the young whom she'd lost the last time she'd
seen Mikhail.

"I won't let you go through life without a mother," she'd decided. "I
can't." She picked up the young girl, embraced her. "Forgive me." Swallowed
her.

She'd talked to the little girl since then, in the back of her mind.
Comforted her, embraced her, told her that everything would be all right.
She didn't know if Megan believed her, but at least Sonja knew that she
would be safe from the world. Sonja had considered birthing her as a Wolfen,
but it didn't feel right. Not while her mother was kept within Mikhail. If
she could somehow free her, free the others . . . but that wasn't likely.
Mikhail was so much stronger than she was . . .

"This is true," the accented, cultured voice of her enemy said. "And I shall
now prove it."

Sonja sat straight up in bed as the bedroom light came on. Mikhail was
standing right there before her in his darkly handsome human guise, his eyes
flashing. "You have pined long enough for your friends. Come and be reunited
with them."

"Why are you doing this?" Sonja asked. "Isn't being what you are enough? Why
did you have to devour the rest of the tribe? Without their permission, it
was an abomination, a perversion of the ways we all follow!"

"Why?" Mikhail echoed. "Control, my dear Sonja. While their spirits rest
inside me, I control them. I can do unto them whatever I wish, and they have
very little power to contest my will. As you will soon find out."

Sonja shivered. "No! I won't--I'll fight you."

"I don't think so," Mikhail said. His eyes bored into hers, and she felt her
resistance beginning to wane. "Another benefit of keeping their spirits in
me is the power I am able to draw from them. Which gives me an additional
measure of control. Come here to me . . . "

"No!" Sonja cried as her body betrayed her. She slowly got up and crawled
toward Mikhail and the certain doom that awaited her. "No, it's not right!
You can't!"

"I can and will." Sonja came to the end of the bed and stood before him,
eyes never wavering from his no matter how hard she tried. "Mmm . . . I like
your human form. Did I ever tell you that? I think eating you this way is
going to be the most fun of all."

"If you're going to do it, then do it," Sonja said. "Don't keep me waiting."

"What a delightful sense of humor you have," Mikhail said. "But first, I
think, something else." His face moved closer to hers, and their lips
brushed, his hand moving down to caress her rounded breasts as their mouths
connected.

Despite all her efforts, Sonja felt herself responding intensely to
Mikhail's touch. With a feeling of horror, Sonja realized that he could even
control this part of her, too.

"You bastard . . . " Sonja thought. "I'll have my revenge on you yet . . . "

Mikhail removed his lips from hers long enough to say, "I doubt that
sincerely, my dear."

Everything seemed to fade away, after that, and Sonja wasn't quite sure what
happened then. But the next thing she knew, she was lying on her chest on a
thick, wide mattress of wolfen tongue. Her breasts were firm and peaked, an
electric tingle passing through them at the warmth and softness they were
touching. As full awareness returned to her, Mikhail's head tilted backward,
and she began to slide down into his throat. "No!" Sonja cried, realizing
what was happening. "No! You can't do this! It's not right!"

But despite anything she could do, she slid gradually back down his tongue,
and her legs were gripped tightly by the warm, damp flesh of his throat. He
swallowed again, and she slid in up to her waist, and then to her busom.
Just a couple of more swallows, and the last thing she saw before darkness
enclosed her was Mikhail's teeth silhouetted against the light from the
hotel room fixture.


Just as Greg had thought he'd gotten used to this strange place, it all
disappeared again, and everything had started shaking. The roiling clouds
turned black, and thunder rolled. "What's happening?" Megan screamed. "I'm
scared!"

"Just hold onto me," Greg said, holding her tightly. "Everything's going to
be all right." I hope.

The shaking and rumbling grew to a crescendo pitch, and then, just as
suddenly, it was gone. But now everything was subtly different. The texture
of the clouds had changed, and their motion was different. "What's happened
now?" Greg wondered.

"I don't know," Megan said. "It's never done like this before."

Greg looked around, again trying to find some sign of where they were. He
knew that he had been . . . eaten whole by that girl-turned-wolf. That had
clearly been no dream. Ever since then, he'd been wandering around in this
misty limbo, seeing strange things, all of them related in some way to that
very same girl. Surely this couldn't be heaven . . .

Just then, a scream split the air. "Behind you!" Megan yelled, pointing.
Greg turned.

There was a naked woman chained up against a huge boulder, being menaced by
a rather large wolftaur. As he watched, the 'taur traced a claw down between
her breasts, drawing a trail of blood. "It took me years to find you," the
'taur said. "But now I have eternity to make you pay for them." He laughed
coldly.

"That's the woman who--" He broke off as the 'taur placed his lupine
forepaws to either side of the woman's head, positioning himself over her.
"He can't be planning to--" The woman's scream made it quite clear that he
was.

Greg knew that he couldn't let this happen. Even if that woman had swallowed
him whole and digested his body, he still couldn't stand by and watch this.
Taking a deep breath, he ran up behind the Wolfen and planted a vicious kick
in the nether regions beneath his tail and slightly forward. It had the
desired effect, as Mikhail howled in pain and rolled off the woman. He
glared at the woman, then at Greg. "I'll be back," he said. "And I'll see to
it that you both suffer for this." He disappeared.

Greg turned his attention to the woman. "Are you all--" He broke off as the
rock and the chains disappeared, the long scratch closed, and clothes
appeared over the woman's body. "--right?" Greg finished, more from momentum
than any other reason.

"You rescued me," the woman said. "I attacked you, ate you--and yet you
still saved me."

"Maybe I just have this thing for dumb animals," Greg retorted. "Besides, it
seemed like the only way I could find out just what the hell is going on
here."

The woman looked down. "You may not like what I have to tell you."

"Let's start with your name, perhaps?" Greg suggested. "And who and what you
are."

"Very well. My name is Sonja, and I am a Wolfen."

"What's that?" Megan asked. "Is that like those big wolves in the clearing
who were eating each other?"

"You saw that?" Sonja asked. "But how? Ah, wait. I must have been dreaming.
Yes, those creatures were Wolfen."

"What's with this eating thing?" Greg asked. "You ate me, but obviously I'm
still alive. I just don't know where . . . "

"That is what happens when a Wolfen takes a human as a meal," Sonja
explained. "The body is digested, but the spirit is kept, filed away in the
back of the Wolfen's mind, from which it can later be reborn in a new Wolfen
body.

"So . . . we're in your mind right now?" Greg asked.

"Unfortunately, no . . . " Sonja sighed and looked at the mist between her
feet. "We're in his mind. Mikhail's, the one who was trying to ravage me.
You see, a long, long time ago, he broke one of our most sacred taboos."

"Do tell," Greg said. "Eating all the other Wolfen in that dreamscene,
right?"

"That is correct. You see, it is not wrong for us to . . . eat each other,
as long as the other is willing. The young practice it, but they do not go
all the way for they are not yet mature enough to bear children. Likewise,
the adult Wolfen will do the same, regurgitating or not swallowing unless
both are in agreement. It's a very personal thing, in fact . . . if you
allow yourself to be digested, you are in fact saying that you would like to
have that other Wolfen for your next mother or father--and the converse is
true if you are willing to eat and digest the other. Doing it against the
other's will is one of the worst crimes one can commit."

Megan sat blankly through this lecture on Wolfen biology, understanding
enough to ask, "So . . . you ate me . . . because you wanted to be my
mommy?"

Sonja reached over and hugged the young girl. "In a sense. Your real mommy
is around here somewhere, in Mikhail's mind."

"In Mikhail's mind?" Greg asked.

"Yes . . . that's what I was trying to say. He finally caught up with me. He
was much too powerful for me to handle--I couldn't resist him. And so here I
am."

"Wait . . . you said that we could be reborn in Wolfen bodies?" Greg asked.
"So we could get out of here?"

"We could . . . but only if Mikhail were to pass us on to a female Wolfen
through mating with her. And I fear that Mikhail would be more likely to
devour a female Wolfen than mate with her. He's a most sadistic creature,
who never should have been made a Wolfen."

Greg sighed. "So it looks like we're stuck," he said. "Are you certain
there's no other way out of this?"

Sonja sighed. "If I were stronger, I might challenge him in a psychic
contest of wills for control of his body. But Mikhail has always been
stronger, especially with all the spirits his mind now contains. There's no
way I could win--unless . . . "

"Unless?" Greg asked.

"You were my most recent meal, as I was Mikhail's . . . " Sonja said, deep
in thought. "Therefore, parts of our bodies are still flowing in Mikhail's
bloodstream. So, if we combined our energies and drew on those parts of our
own bodies . . . we might have a chance at defeating Mikhail!"

"All right," Greg said. "What do we have to do?"

"I'll show you." Sonja gestured, and great crags of rock rose out of the
mist around her and Greg. Megan was separated from them by the walls.

"How did you do that?" Greg asked.

"We're inside Mikhail's mind," Sonja reminded him. "Anything we want can
become real here . . . as long as Mikhail isn't making it otherwise. And
thanks to your unexpected attack, he'll be recovering for the next hour or
so."

"Um . . . okay. So, how do we . . . ?" The rest of the words just sort of
froze in Greg's mouth, for when he looked up, he noticed that Sonja was
stark naked. And so was he. "What do you--wait. You want me to have sex with
you?"

Sonja smiled and nodded. "The symbolism will help our mental energies
combine. Besides . . . it'll be fun."

Greg shrugged and grinned. "The sacrifices I make . . . very well." He
walked across to her and they embraced, and the passion began.


Greg soon found that the best thing about making love mentally was the
perfect control it afforded. Not to mention the opportunity to have
multiple, sustained orgasms if he so desired. In addition, Sonja wasn't that
bad of a partner. Part of it might have been their mental environs, but she
certainly had a hell of a body.

Greg suddenly felt a bit dazed and drowsy. Perhas it was from the lovemaking
experience--he'd never done it THIS way before. As he was leaning against
her, he barely noticed how she suddenly seemed to change, to grow more
furry. He looked up at her, saw her lupiform mouth opening . . . and
opening. Before he knew it, her tongue was caressing him, contouring itself
to his body. It was warm and moist, and it felt wonderful. Then everything
suddenly seemed to grow dark and warm, and Greg let himself drift away.


The craggy walls around her crumbled away, and Sonja stood alone in the
midst of the dreamscape. She was naked, but this didn't bother her; there
was nobody around to see it. Even Megan had disappeared, shifted to another
part of Mikhail's mind. Sonja was alone.

And then a nearby drift of mist transformed itself, coalesced into the shape
of a Wolfen. Mikhail had returned.

"So, you think to make yourself stronger through a merge, strong enough to
defeat me?" Mikhail laughed. "You have no chance. You may be able to draw
upon your two spirits, but I can draw on all the rest!" Mikhail laughed,
shifting to Wolfen form and growing larger. "I think I'll crush you like a
bug!"

Sonja matched him, size for size, adopting her own Wolfen form. "I don't
think so. You've had your fun long enough, Mikhail." She pounced forward,
and the fight was on.

They fought hard, attacking each other with all their might. What might seem
to an onlooker like physical combat was actually only symbolic of the mental
struggle for domination that they fought. Sonja held her own for a long
time, but at last she weakened. With one final blow, Mikhail knocked her
unconscious.

"Bitch," Mikhail muttered. "I'll see to it that you can never fight me
again." He opened his mouth wide, leaned over Sonja's supine form, and
quickly engulfed her. As his mental form swallowed, he prepared to eliminate
Sonja, to convert her lifeforce into pure mental energy.

But then shafts of ruby light began to shoot out of his body. "Wh--what's
happening?!" Mikhail gasped as he doubled over in pain.

The areas of light grew wider, spreading across Mikhail's body. "You thought
that by swallowing me, you could digest and eliminate me," Sonja's voice
said from inside his mental body. "You were wrong." The ruby area covered
Mikhail's mental body, and his physical body began to writhe, to change.

"No!" Mikhail gasped. "This cannot be happening!"

"There are some things even you don't know about being wolfen, Mikhail,"
Sonja said, as his body reshaped itself into hers. "I guess I'm just lucky
enough to be able to take advantage of that."


Sonja's hotel bed sagged under her lupine form--after the exhausting change
she'd just put her body through, she didn't have the strength left to change
to human form. Changing gender was not something that Wolfen often did--the
physical effects were simply too draining. She hoped that nobody came to
clean the room before she could regain her energy.

While she rested, Sonja turned her attention inward, sorting through the
cluttered mental space, full of the people and Wolfen whom Mikhail had
amassed over the years. There were thousands upon thousands of them . . .
people who had been eaten by Wolfen who had been eaten by Mikhail. It was
kind of sad, actually . . . most of them would probably never see the light
of day again The world could never support that many Wolfen. But many of
them would never know or care . . . they slept and dreamed within the dark
recesses of her soul. With no reason to be wakened, they would probably
continue to dream until the end of time. It was a kinder fate than most
ordinary humans would receive.

Sonja was looking for specific people and Wolfen. Friends from ages past who
Mikhail had devoured without warning--it was great to be able to talk to
them again--and those from more recent times. Greg Dodgwick, Megan, and her
mother. It was simple enough to gather those three together, and let herself
appear among them.

"I take it we were successful?" Greg asked.

Sonja nodded. "Mikhail . . . is no more."

"Did you kill him?" Megan asked, wide-eyed.

"His mental energies are completely dissipated," Sonja replied. "It's only
what he deserved for what he's done over the years. Perhaps now we Wolfen
can return to what we once were as a species."

Megan's mother spoke up. "What happens to us now?"

"You'll be reborn, as Wolfen."

"As Wolfen?" Megan's mother asked. "You mean, like you?"

Sonja nodded.

"But what if we don't want to--to have to eat people like that?" she asked.
"I--I just don't think I could go through with it. It's not--it's not
right."

Sonja shrugged. "Then you can come back to me, and I'll take you into me
again. You won't have to eat anyone else; you can stay with me forever." She
smiled. "But I don't think you'll have any trouble. It's all a matter of
adapting to it. Isn't it less cruel to eat as the Wolfen do, letting your
meal live within you for as long as you do, than it is to eat dead meat and
necessitate all the killing of cows and pigs and other animals?"

Megan's mother still looked uncertain. "If you say so . . . "

Greg chuckled. "I'm willing to give it a shot. So, how do we do this, then?
What happens?"

"Are you ready, then?" Sonja asked.

The three nodded uncertainly. "As we'll ever be, I guess," Megan's mother
said.

"Good," Sonja said. Everything faded to black.


The young Slavic woman stepped down into the stairwell as the bus slid to a
halt. "You sure about this, Miss?" the bus driver asked. "Ain't nothin' but
forests for miles around."

"I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern." Sonja stepped out of the bus and
watched it as it rolled away into the distance. When it was out of sight,
she turned away from the road and began walking. The forest was a lush
green, and Sonja could already smell the creek that ran through it at some
point nearby. A few hours of hiking would bring her to the perfect spot to
raise her litter, she was sure of that. Not long from now, there would be
six more Wolfen in the world, and soon more than that.

It would be fun, having children again, at least for the few months or so
she would have with them before their memories began to return and they
regained the personalities they'd had before. Greg, Megan, her mother, and
three of the Wolfen whom Mikhail had taken on that first dreadful day. It
would be wonderful to have their company again.

Sonja hiked deeper into the woods . . .

THE END


Author's Notes:

And there you have it . . . the other tale of the Wolfen.  If I get much
positive feedback, I might be moved to write more.  I can imagine Wolfen
being useful in other scenarios, such as, perhaps, space colonization.

Though I don't mention it directly in the story, I could see Sonja as being
a daughter or grand-daughter of Astra from the original _She-Wolf_ story.
Wolfen live a long time.


(This story is copyright 1995 by Throat Wolf. Permission is granted for this
one electronic distribution and archival, but not for distribution by any
other means, including CD-ROM.)