Calling to Her

Hannah looked out the window of the small house onto the vast Kansas prairie. She decided to get some air and walked out into the night. There was no need to bring the oil lamp as the light of the full moon illuminated the whole land. Hannah took a deep breath of the cool night air, knowing that it was going to be another long night all alone. She despised being alone and always dreaded the night of the full moons. The approach of the full moon always meant that her husband Andrew would be gone, leaving early the day with claims that he was going hunting. He would not return for two days, sometimes more. He would always return with some meat, enough to get by for a few days. When asked why he would hunt for more than a day, he always stated he traveled to hunt, finding better game farther from their home. The meat he brought back was always good and she never had to go hungry but she still hated being left alone, as she had been for every full moon during the eight months they had been married. She let out a sigh and returned to the house, going to bed with the only thing to break up the silence of the prairie to be the howl of a solitary wolf in the distance.

The full moon did not just affect Hannah with her loneliness. On the morning after the full moons, many of the farmers in the area would go into their fields and find parts of their herds of livestock missing. There would be no signs of the missing animal, only blood where it was taken from. The talk went among those in the small town that the blood meant that it probably wasn't a local thief stealing. They believed it was some sort of large animal. Some suggested a bear, but there weren't any in the area, others said it was a coyote but one had not been spotted nearby in a long time; besides it did not seem like a coyote would do that. Several of the townspeople came to the conclusion that a pack of wolves was in the area and carrying off animals to take back. This did not make sense to the old timers around though. It had been over 20 years prior that several men had gotten together and hunted the wolves out of the area. A wolf had not been seen for miles since then, as the surviving pack roamed away from the area. The folks who swore it was a wolf claimed they were right because they would hear the howl of a wolf every full moon night coming from the farms where animals would go missing.

Andrew and Hannah heard the gossip about the mystery wolf every time they would go into town. This month however they were in town a little later than normal, with the full moon out the next night. They listened to the folks in the general store say the usual things about counting their animals before the night came and to keep their rifles loaded in case the wolf showed up. The young couple did their usual lip service of agreeing to what their neighbors said as they paid for their goods and carried them to their wagon. No matter what, Andrew and Hannah were not worried; none of their few animals ever went missing.

Andrew drove the wagon back towards the small farm as Hannah sat beside him. They were quite for the most part, unusual for them as they talked most times on their way home. Hannah was not in a talking mood, her mind focused on the fact that at any moment her husband would be talking off on another long hunt. After many silent minutes, she finally felt the need to speak up.

"Andrew darling, do you believe there are wolves around us?"

Andrew replied, "I would say, dear wife, it is very possible that anything could happen, even wolves in this area. But no, I do not believe it. All the old folks say they ran them out years ago. Why, do you believe it?"

"Sometimes," Hannah replied, "when you leave to hunt, I hear a lone wolf howling in the distance."

"You do," he asked.

She said "Well not sometimes. Every time you are gone. Every full moon I hear that wolf, and I can swear he is calling to me."

Andrew put his hand on his wife's hand resting on the seat of the wagon. "I would not dwell on the thought too much dear. I am sure that it is in your imagination."

Hannah wanted to tell him it was not something she thought up, it was real to her. She wanted to tell him even more she did not want him to hunt tonight. But she told him nothing. Instead she sat quietly for the rest of the ride home.

The next day went on, Andrew preparing to leave for his hunt. He had spent most of it saying he had waited too long as the full moon would come at night and he did not have much time to get to the grounds he wanted to hunt at. It did not help that a sudden tree falling resulted in the need for him to repair a small hole in their roof, keeping him busy until the afternoon. With the roof having a basic repair that would work until he could get the needed supplies, he hastily gathered his gear and hurried to the door. After watching all she could, Hannah finally spoke up and made herself heard.

"Stay here tonight. You can get an early start in the morning and go nearby to hunt."

Andrew's reply was swift. "No, I must be going now. I have to hurry to reach my camp tonight."

"You do not have to go," Hannah protested. "You can stay here with me and I will make sure you have a nice hot meal to take with you in the morning."

The plea fell of deaf ears. Andrew was hurrying out the door as the sun hung low in the sky, only offering a quick goodbye with the promise to return in a couple days as he was shutting the door. Hannah stood alone in the house with only her emotions keeping her company.

That night, after cleanup from the meal eaten alone, Hannah looked out the window like she did every night she was alone. She felt cramped inside the small house even though she was alone, so she decided to take a walk in the field next to the house to get some air and some open space. With the full moon out, she went without a light. She had not planned to stray far from the house anyway. She walked in the cool night air, clad in her normal light pink dress and black boots, the plain outfit of a pioneer woman. The cold did not bother her; her mind was too wrapped up in her feelings and thoughts. Why did her husband always leave for the full moon? Was that a sign he may leave one day and stay gone longer? Would he leave one day and never return? She could feel the wave of sadness start to wash over her and did not like it.

Hannah soon turned to make the long walk back to the house for another long sleepless night alone in the bed. Before she took the first step in the direction of home, she was stopped by a familiar sound she swore was calling to her. She once again heard the howl of the lone wolf, but this time it seemed closer than usual. Because of the nearness, she could hear it much clearer and now was positive it was calling her to come closer. The waves of sadness and loneliness were suddenly put in the back of her head and even though she did not realize it, she had started to walk towards the call.

Hannah walked across the field, her feet carrying her closer and closer towards the wolf's call. She did not think why she was doing it and did not know what exactly the howl was telling her. She went further and further across the field, the howl of the wolf getting closer and closer. Soon she stopped, feeling that the wolf was telling her to stop; he was there. She looked around, but saw nobody in the empty moon-lit field. She was confused, not knowing what had called her or where they were. She stood there until she felt a presence behind her, and turned to a sight that she could have never come up with in her imagination.

Where the wolf she thought she heard was supposed to be, there was a massive beast towering over her. It had to be 8 feet tall and its features were clear enough under the light of the full moon for Hannah to see it was no wolf, or at least not her picture of the wolf. It stood on its hind legs like a man does. It carried itself like it was a man, but was larger and more muscular than any man Hannah had ever seen in her life. The beast was covered in dark black fur all over its unclothed body and had the face of a wolf. It simply stood there staring down at Hannah, who was frozen not in fear but by a force she could not understand.

The creature bent down to get a closer look at Hannah. She could feel its warm breath on her and could tell that not only was it looking her over but it seemed to be smelling her as well, almost as if it recognized her. She stood with a look of curiosity on her face as the creature seemed to show that it was going to cause her no harm. Soon, however, a scent must have triggered something in the beast as it opened its mouth to expose a set of large, pointed teeth that were soon clamped down onto poor, frozen Hannah's right wrist!

Hannah stood there for a moment, frozen and not understanding what happened. When her senses returned to her, her wrist flinched and the creature released his bite. She looked down and saw blood coming from the wound and staining the sleeve of her dress, and started to back away. The beast kept staring at her and did not make a move. The wave of fear finally rushing over her, Hannah took off running away from the horrible creature as fast as her legs could carry her. She ran and ran, not pausing to check to see if the creature followed even though that is what she expected. When she tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground, she finally looked back only to see no signs of the beast, nor had she heard it running after her. She believed it was hiding nearby because she felt the strange sensation she was being watched from some unknown point. She got up, lost from the way she took off running and walked in a random direction until she could hopefully find a landmark she recognized.

Hannah soon found a stream and remembered she should treat the bite wound she nearly forgot about due to her terror. She looked back down at her sleeve and saw the bloodstain and the holes left by the creatures. As she knelt down at the stream, she managed to work one of the fingers of her other hand into one of the bite holes and tore the sleeve open enough to expose the wound, or at least where it should be. To her shock, the wound was completely healed. There was not even a trace of scabbing or blood on her skin. The only thing visible on her flesh was a series of small scars where the creature's teeth had gone into her arm. Hannah knelt there confused; surely it was not possible the wound could heal that fast. She felt she could not have run long enough for it to even stop bleeding. Her mind raced at all the things that could have caused this but all thoughts were stopped by a bright light reflected in the water.

Hannah stood up, and looked at the source of the light. It was the moon, full and big as it was all those lonely nights. Staring up at it had brought on all those lonely feelings, but now, by this remote stream, she suddenly felt that it was providing her with companionship. She stood there for who knows how long, as looking up at the moon made time seem to stop in Hannah's mind. The light from the moon bathing her brought her a sense of calm that she had only ever felt on the nights her husband was at home with her. That sense of calm filled her with a warmness that brought her some sort of inner peace.

That warm sensation was soon replaced with a burning hot feeling and the realization that somehow, that bath of moonlight was causing Hannah to start some sort of transformation. She felt a great pain deep inside of her as she did not know what was going on, but could tell that on the inside she was somehow changing. She felt on the inside that her bones were starting to change shape, but did not know how this was possible. Inside of her boots, she felt that her feet were starting to feel cramped in there and felt there were several sharp points trying to poke their way through the boot. It felt like her hair was growing as well, as soon the strap that kept it tied back snapped and her brown hair fell down, seemingly longer than it normally was. Hannah looked down at her hands and saw to her shock that her fingernails were now much longer and now pointed, and to her horror that her hands appeared to be covered in a brown fur the same color as her hair. She fell down to the ground and looked at her reflection in the water of the stream. She swore that some of the brown fur growing faster on her hands was now appearing on her face. When she opened her mouth in shock, she saw in terror that her teeth were now much larger and pointed like that of a wolf. "What is happening to me!" Hannah exclaimed in complete horror.

She got back to her feet and felt that her whole body was growing. Her dress was starting to feel tight on her, constricting her expanding chest and back. She could feel that not only was she getting taller but that her muscles were growing as well. The burning sensation inside of her got more intense as the transformation continued. She felt her feet finally burst through her boots and stepped out of the remains. She lifted up her dress enough to get a look at her feet, which she could now see were well over twice the size of what they had used to be but now had long claws where her toenails had been. They, along with the portions of her legs she could see, had also started to grow the brown fur. Her shock was soon replaced with the continuing pain and burning from her body still growing. It was getting harder to breathe because of her dress, as her chest had continued to grow to the point it was restricted. She could also feel herself getting stronger, as her muscles were growing. Soon the muscles in her arms had expanded enough that the sleeves of her dress ripped open to accommodate her large biceps. Hannah struggled to breathe and realized she had to get her dress off. Unable to just take it off, she grabbed it with her powerful furry hands and with little effort, pulled the dress until it ripped completely apart and fell to the ground at her feet.

Hannah stepped out of the tattered remains of her dress. She stood there in the moonlight bare-breasted, only clad in her petticoat. The metamorphosis was not complete, however, as she could still feel herself growing. The muscles in her upper body and legs continued to grow and expand, as she felt herself still getting stronger and stronger. Her chest still continued to grow as well and she still felt herself getting taller. All over her body she felt fur growing. The long nails on her hands had been replaced with claws as well. Next she felt her body producing some sort of growth at the base of her spine. She could not figure out what it was, but she could tell whatever it was it was growing fast and growing fur. The answer to what it was was soon found out when it tore a hole into her petticoat and out from the hole came a hair-covered tail, like one you would see on a wolf.

Hannah fell on all fours to the ground once again, looking at herself in the reflection of the stream again. The brown fur now covered her completely transformed body and she watched in horror as the features of her face began to contort. Her brow became more prominent as her nose and mouth began to grow and become elongated. Her ears were much larger now and her eyes began to narrow. Her whole face was covered in fur now and to her horror she realized that her face she was looking at was identical to that of the creature that had bitten her.

With that horrifying realization she felt that her physical transformation was complete. With that, she stood up to get a full view of what the change had done to her body. She looked in the water to see she was almost identical in appearance to the creature she had encountered. The difference she noticed first was that her fur was brown, whereas the beast had been covered in a black hair that seemed somehow familiar to Hannah. She also noticed that while she was much taller and muscular than she had been, the first creature had been larger than she was now. It was also built of a more powerful muscle while her body was full of feminine curves and a large set of breasts. She concluded that the first creature was probably a male. She was still very large, probably 7 feet tall and built with large muscles. For some reason, she was pleased looking at the curves she now had. Only the petticoat clung to her otherwise unclothed body but was now much smaller and tighter on her expanded frame, helping to provide more attention to her new curves and larger hips. Hannah was confused at what happened on the outside, but was completely thrown off guard when the internal transformation took place.

Inside of her mind, Hannah soon realized she was not alone. A presence lurked in her head, and as Hannah looked at her body she noticed it had begun to move around without her controlling it. Hannah struggled to regain control, but her arms and legs were moving under this new power. Hannah realized that inside of her mind was a creature like the one that attacked her. She struggled to keep this creature from taking over, but it was no use as she was not able to overpower it. The force of the creature was too strong for her to manage and it soon had complete control of Hannah's body while all she could do was look through her eyes at what the creature would do. Finally in control, the creature let out a loud howl at the moon, signaling it was finally done with the transformation.

The creature soon began to run towards the woodland and crashed through the trees. Hannah watched from inside her own mind as it made its way through the woods running at the speed only a wolf could reach. As the creature ran, Hannah's petticoat became torn and dirty going through the brush amongst the trees. Hannah could not tell where the creature was going nor could she tell what it wanted. No matter how hard she tried, she could not break through to the creature's mental presence and tell what it was thinking. She just had to watch.

She thought the creature was using its sense of smell to find something. Hannah could smell something far off too, but she did not know what. Whatever it was, she felt she should not be able to smell it from where she was, and soon began to believe that her sense of smell was improving to the level of a wolf's. She felt the same about her hearing as she was now hearing things that were nowhere near. Her vision was also sharper. She felt that with each passing moment, she was becoming more and more wolf-like. She began to think that the creature that attacked her was some sort of wolf-man, and that the one that had taken over her body was some sort of wolf-lady. She was confident it was behaving somewhat like a wolf, as during the run across the land the creature would change between running on two legs like a person and on all four like a wolf. Hannah did not realize it at the time, but the creature hungered for blood and flesh exactly like a wolf.

Soon the creature stopped running, as it had acquired the scent of what exactly it was looking for, which Hannah still did not know. It got down on all fours and slowly moved amongst the trees, as quietly as possible. Hannah could swear it was stalking something. Soon, in a clearing in the woods, Hannah could see what the creature had been searching for. There stood a deer grazing in the moonlight. It must have been an old one whose great sense of hearing was long gone because it could not hear the creature stalking it. Hannah wished that she could yell out to warn the deer to run, get far away from there. Sadly she had no control of her own mouth now that the creature was in complete control. She could only watch as the creature, with remarkable speed, ran from the woods straight at the deer and went straight for its throat. With one swift bite, the old deer breathed its last and fell to the ground. Hannah watched the creature tear it apart, eating the flesh and drinking the blood. She was upset, not wanting to watch and hating the brutal way the poor deer had to go down. At the same time, however, she felt that it was absolutely necessary and that devouring the deer had to be done in that way. Whenever the creature ingested any of the deer's blood, she felt a sensation inside of her that brought her a mixture of calmness and nourishment. She could not explain it in words other than thinking that it truly meant she was turning into a wolf.