Little Bad Wolf Ch. 17

I'm not sure what time it is when I wake up, but it's dark outside. I'm not sure what happened after I fell asleep, but I'm not actively covered in any sexual fluids, so presumably, I was cleaned off in some manner. I find myself sandwiched in a big naked pile. Flint is behind me, Sophie and Scarlett in front of me. It's pleasant, comfy... and honestly a bit on the warm side to sleep.

That's not what woke me, though. I'm unbelievably thirsty. Trying to find the best way to not wake everyone, I shimmy downwards and crawl out through the bottom of the sheets and hop to the ground. Warm as I am, I decide to forgo clothes at the moment.

I trod down the stairs and walk to the kitchen, half expecting mystery granny to stick her head out at any moment, but all is calm. I fill up a tall glass of water and down it, twice. I suppose I did, um, release a lot of fluids earlier, so it makes sense I'd be so thirsty.

I take a moment to just look out the window into the dark, very much glad I'm in here and not out there. With a yawn and a stretch, I go back and ascend the stairs to rejoin my family in bed. When I come back to the bedroom, I find the door closed. Odd, since I don't remember closing it, but think little of it.

It's when I open it that the hairs on the back of my neck shoot straight up. I find myself staring down a long hallway, not dissimilar to the one I'm in. Eyes bugging, I look around to make sure I'm at the right room. Which is kind of stupid anyway, because none of the other doors lead to mysterious hallways. But no, I'm right where the master bedroom should be.

In an attempt at non-traditional problem solving, I close my eyes for a long moment and open them again, hoping everything would be back to normal. When that doesn't work, I shut the door. I turn around and lean against it as if my weight is going to keep whatever weirdness is going on from getting me. After a series of deep breaths, I turn around and open it again. Nope, still a hallway.

Feeling more panicked, I want to run and grab Flint and Scarlett, so they can protect me and explain what's happening. Humans always seem to understand things that shouldn't make sense. That's not an option right now, because the universe has turned them into a hallway.

After a few more attempts at closing the door, some more nervous pacing, and a fair amount of whining, I finally decide to investigate closer. I open the door and step into the new hallway. Two things are immediately disconcerting as I start to examine my surroundings. One, that it's weirdly cold in this hall, and two, it's really long. Too long. It looks like the rest of the house, but it extends too far to be part of the house. If you walk down it, you should be somewhere above the yard.

Deciding again that this is too weird, I back up but bump into the door. Which again, I didn't close, but closed it is, right behind me. And it won't open. The knob won't budge and the door won't move, no matter how hard I turn or pull. Not even in the normal way. It doesn't rattle or shake in response to my attempts. It's almost like it's not a door at all, as if it's just part of the wall, carved to look like a door.

I spend some further time panicking before I finally give up on getting through the door. I begrudgingly turn to face down the hall. I don't want to go down it, but I don't have anything else I can do. And it's cold in here. If I walk, at least maybe I'll warm up a little.

It's dark, but not so dark I can't see. Which is odd, because there are no windows. Or doors, now that I realize it. Just painted walls in the style of the rest of the house. There are light fixtures in the ceiling, but they don't appear to be on. Nor are there switches for them. The hallway doesn't go forever though, it reaches a turn somewhere out past where it should be in the house. I decide I'll go that far at least, and see what's around the corner.

When I get there, I'm greeted with another, even longer hallway. Even worse, the floor is now wet. Don't care for that. The carpet has this damp, squishy feeling. Which is entirely unnecessary towards making me feel intensely uncomfortable because I'm already there.

With no further options, knowing that the door is still basically not a door, I press on. It's cold, the floor feels like mud, and I'm still naked. And now the walls start to peel. As I go on, the top layer of the drywall that makes up the walls seems to be coming apart, with strips of it seeming to peel from up near the ceiling and dangling in my path. I push them away as I proceed, to keep them from striking me in the face. I said before that I was glad I'm not stuck out in the woods, but this is certainly replicating the feeling.

Just as the surreality of my situation starts to sink in, it takes the opportunity to get weirder. It was not enough that I'm cold, naked, and walking on a damp floor with bits of the walls hanging in my face. Now the floor becomes uneven, the ground ahead of me starts to slope up and down, twisting left and right, all in no discernable pattern. The walls and ceiling warp with it, twisting around to follow the rolling floor, looking still like the tattered walls of the house but bent in ways that would seem impossible for ordinary construction.

The walls become even more damaged as well. Paper and wood from the walls hang in my way more heavily, but also break off and litter the twisting ground in my path. The damage to the walls does not, however, show any sign of escape through them. The pieces coming free from them leave no openings to see or pass through.

The curving hall feels like it goes forever. I don't know how long I've wandered through here, my ability to gauge the time feels as abstracted as everything else. I'm freezing, my teeth are chattering, my fingers and toes are numb, my feet are wet, and there's all this garbage hitting me and getting in my way as I go. I don't want to admit it, but I'm on the verge of tears from confusion and fear.

I'm getting pushed past my ability to cope when another turn in the hall reveals what appears to be another door at the end of it, complete with light peeking out from the bottom. At this point, I don't care where it goes, as long as it's somewhere other than here. I start to sprint forward, nearly tripping over the debris on the floor, but that doesn't slow me.

No, what slows me is the roar. I think it's a roar. It sounds like the report of some animal, but it also sounds so unnatural. Like dragging a brick across a road, heard over the sound of a tea kettle starting to whistle. Somehow both low and high pitched at the same time. It's followed by a low rumbling of the same kind of sound. And it seems to be coming from right beside me.

Well not -right- beside me, there's a wall right beside me. Yet it felt close enough that I could feel the vibration of the sound in the chest cavity as if it's right on the other side of that wall.

I stop and take slow breaths until I'm reasonably sure it's gone, or at least not paying attention to me, and resume heading for the door, hopefully my exodus. I tiptoe as fast as I can without making excess noise until I'm finally there. I grab the knob and feel nearly euphoric when it actually turns.

I'm less euphoric when the doorway doesn't lead me back home. I pass into a dark, circular room, with only scant moonlight coming from a few windows. The ceiling is low, the floor earthen, and the whole place has a musty, damp smell. I severely don't want to be here, but I guess it's technically better than the hall. At least outside seems to exist again, the space I'm in no longer feels unnervingly impossible.

There's a large round object situated in the center of the room, which I have trouble making out in the dark. I assume it to be a table at first, but it has an odd shape, bulging at the sides. Upon approach, it seems strangely dark on top until I realize it has no top. It's a big, hollow bowl.

I don't know what it's for and I don't care, but it leaves me uncomfortable. I decide it's time to find a way out that doesn't lead back down the hallway, and start pacing around the walls in the dark, looking for another door.

Right when I think I've found one, the room floods with light. I'm used to human electrical lights coming on all at once. Doing it with candles is a new one. I couldn't see them in the dark, but they cover the room, in various stages of melt, and they all seem to ignite at once, sans any sort of means for that to actually happen.

"You aren't Flint," a woman's voice announces from across the room.

She sounds quite cross at this fact. Hard for me to disagree, I wish Flint was here too. She sounds oddly familiar, too.

I spin around to see an attractive middle-aged woman with dark hair sitting on the opposite side of that bowl in the center. Which I can now quite clearly see is less 'bowl' and more 'cauldron'. She looks familiar too, but I'm not quite placing it. My hands quickly fly to cover my crotch as I feel a newfound awareness of my nakedness.

"I agree, I am not Flint," I agree.

I think I preferred this place in the dark. The walls and ceiling are covered with hanging objects ranging from creepy to gross. Arrangements of small bones, tied bundles of rotting... something, bird's feet, something I hope is not a hand, among others.

"The question is -why- are you not Flint?" she demands of me.

She stands up quickly and irately, the movement tossing her chair back. It also somehow causes all the candles to flare. Don't care for that. Panicking and not understanding what she's acting, I try to fashion a response.

"Well, I mean, he's a big tall guy. And he's human. I'm a wolf and significantly-" I stammer out before I'm interrupted.

"It was one simple task, Acorn," she shouts.

Why does she know me? And Flint? My ears fold flat and my tail sinks between my legs.

"I tried to be nice. Just fill the bottle like a good dog and give it to me, but you apparently can't tell your cock from someone else's!" she snaps, some of the candles flaring again.

My eyes widen in horror as what she's saying rings familiar. Every hair on my body stands straight up.

"...Granny?!" my face contorts in confusion.

"A little slow to put it together, but I guess that's to be expected," she sighs.

"You're... young... er. But how?!" I ask. "And... you're not really Scarlett's grandmother, are you?!"

"Figure that one out all on your own?" she steps around the side of the cauldron, towards me.

I backpedal as she advances on me, given very little room to work with. I start reaching back behind me for what, in the darkness, I was pretty sure was a door. What my fingers touch, however, is something warm and fleshy. I wince in what I'll describe at this point as 'horrified disappointment'. I don't want to look back to see what it is, but I do.

It's not a mass of tentacles or anything awful like that, though. It's just a person, standing naked in the doorway.

...It's Birch.

I wasn't happy to see him the last time when Flint nearly blew his head off, and I'm not now. I almost don't recognize him. He looks haggard, emaciated. Sickly, wrinkly, skin and bones, with tattered fur on his ears and tail, and eyes sunken back and vacant. His penis and testicles are also shriveled and shrunken. Which would be funny except for all the horror.

For a moment, I think he's dead, his corpse just propped up in the doorway. Until he grabs my arm. He tries to hold me in place, staring at me with a blank, empty expression.

"Youth is wasted on the young," she says, "They can't be trusted with it."

I look back at her, then to Birch again, then once again to her. There's a bit in my stomach as I realize what's happened.

"You're a witch!" I cry out, "You've... you've sucked the life out of..."

She gives a loud groan and a roll of her eyes, "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

Starting to grasp the danger I'm in, I thrash my arm and break free from Birch. Not that hard, considering the condition he's in. Figuring the creepy hallway was better than being turned into a husk, like him, I dash to the door I came through and throw it wide open.

I'm greeted, not with the long, twisted hallway, but a view out into the woods. I almost rush out, but stop dead a moment before. I can't quite make out a large chunk of the details directly in front of me, not because it's too dark, but because there's a blind spot, like my eyes are playing a trick. A trick I've seen before. If I needed any further confirmation, I hear a much clearer repeat of that rumbling roar I heard in the hallway. That -thing- is out there.

"I wouldn't go that way if I were you, dearie," the witch says, echoing her manner of speaking from when she pretended to be the grandmother.

I push the door closed, but it seems to speed up on its own, and slam with much more force than I gave it. I try to run in the opposite direction from her and Birch, hoping to make it to a window and clamber out. I only make it a couple of paces before my feet and legs go entirely numb and feel heavy like lead. My face promptly arrives at the earthen floor a moment later.

"Are you quite finished?" she sighs, annoyed.

"I won't let you suck the life out of me!" I scream at her, baring my teeth.

I try to get to my feet, whatever she did to me still making them numb and unresponsive. She laughs... no, cackles at me as I struggle. I try to keep it together, holding back tears, wishing this was just a nightmare.

"I'm not interested in your energy," she assures me in a way that makes me feel even less assured, "I've taken what I can from a number of you scrawny forest creatures, and unfortunately I've reached the limits. The returns are quite diminishing."

"Then what do you want?" I trip a little bit, but finally, stand as the feeling starts to return to my legs.

"I need someone with a fair bit more vitality than you can offer," she explains, "and if you'd done as I asked, I'd have it, and we wouldn't have to have this little confrontation."

I swallow, "You mean the cum bottle?"

Her eyes narrow, "Yes, Acorn. Did you think I wanted semen just for some creepy collection?"

My eyes immediately dart to the various creepy and gross things hanging all around the room, including the one that I'm now pretty sure is a hand, "Not at the time, but-"

"Nevermind that!" she growls, "I didn't need yours. Why would I need to summon some effeminate dog to sleepwalk its way here?!"

"What does this have to do with effeminate... oh," my ears droop, "You mean me."

She takes a deep breath and a long sigh, "I'm upset that you did not deliver, and this is a setback, but I'm willing to give you another chance. Instead of harvesting your skin for parchment and your organs for ingredients. Bring me some of his semen, and we can put this unfortunate misunderstanding behind us."

"You... want to bring Flint here to suck the life out of him?!" my mouth drops open and I cover it.

Her eye twitches, "Yes. Since you apparently need everything spelled out for you in exhaustive detail."

"But I can't do that!" I shout in horror, "Flint's my... he's-"

"He's fucking the woman of your dreams, Acorn," she crosses her arms, "humiliating and cuckolding you every single day."

My ears fold back and my skin flushes, "What? That's not..."

"Not true? Can't even deny it, can you? You know it would be a lie," she says.

"It isn't like that! You don't understand me and Flint!" I shout in anger, "How do you know about us at all?"

"You're not the only one with sharp ears," she walks up closer to me, "My associate outside -we'll leave his name a little mystery since it wouldn't be wise to share something of that power - he sees and hears a lot, even if you don't see him. Your little circle of rocks does nothing to stop him from watching. I understand you make the most impressively girlish sounds."

I glare at her, "I won't let you hurt my humans."

"You're not one of them. Never will be. Just listen to your words," she slowly walks around me, and I turn to follow her, not wanting her behind my back, "'Your humans'. You're their pet and you know it. But it doesn't have to be that way. You could be the one with the power. Scarlett could be -your- pet. You could have her anytime you like, and she'd just beg for it."

"It's not... I mean I don't..." part of me thinks she's using her magic to flood my head with thoughts of Scarlett and me. I'm fairly certain it's just my own mind though.

"I bet she's got a tight little pussy. Probably just feverishly hot. Imagine being properly equipped to make it yours," she stands far too close and reaches down to grab me.

I look down with the intent to bat her wicked hands away but pause in shock when I see the truly huge cock in her hand. My cock. I remind myself that this is some trick of hers, but the truth of it is that I can even feel it. It's already rigid and hard, nearly throbbing as her fingers wrap around the shaft and slowly slide up and down. It's dizzying to see it on me, even putting Flint to shame.

"Would you like that?" she whispers breathily while she squeezes it tighter.

"This isn't real!" I shut my eyes and try to control my breathing.

"No... but it could be. All you need to do is give him to me, and I can give her... and this... to you," she taunts me with another squeeze of my cock, before letting go.

When I open my eyes again, my cock is back to normal, hanging flaccid between my legs. My head is racing as I catch my breath.

I open my mouth again and again to say something, but words fail me. I want to tell her that I'd still never do anything to hurt them, but I'm so dizzy and overwhelmed with it all.

She lightly presses the tip of her index finger to my lips, "Shh, shh... just think on it. I know you'll come to the right decision."

Her voice becomes more serious, and deeper, "But just remember, a few rocks won't stop me forever. I will get what I want sooner or later, even without your help. And I don't think you'll like it if I have to do things the hard way. Neither will my friend outside."

My chest tightens in horror at her implication, but I can only be pushed so far. Something snaps and my instincts take over. Tears spill from my eyes and in what I realize is probably a bad idea, even at the time, I lash out at her. However, my hand reaching towards her only manages to catch a few strands of her hair in my fingers before the world is uprooted beneath me and I feel like I'm falling away. Up and down become vague concepts and the world becomes a blurry haze. Darkness fills my vision like a fog.

When the world starts to make sense again, I'm on the ground in the middle of the woods. I'm still naked, curled up in a ball, and freezing. I don't know how long I've been laying here, but it's still dark out.

I slowly get up, shivering as the skin pressed against my arms and legs becomes exposed to the cold air. I don't know where I am, but the forest was once my home, and I'm not about to concede to being lost. A wolf lost in the woods. Absurd.

As I walk, it does reinforce how much I've come to love my new home, because I'm absolutely miserable. I cling to myself, trying to keep as much heat as possible as I try to make heads or tails of my surroundings. How far did she take me?

Several times I think I start to recognize where I am, but to no avail. I try to maintain a straight line to keep from going in circles, and finally get some hope when I hear the sound of water. If I can find a stream, I'm sure I can follow it to somewhere I know. Quickly after I hear it, though, it fades, only to return again after a few moments and disappear again.

I follow the intermittent sound as best I can, but there seems to be no pattern to when it shows up and doesn't. My focus on sounds instead of what's in front of me leads me to nearly trip over a rock. Upon closer inspection, it's one of many, set intentionally in a long line in both directions. It's not unlike the ones at home, but any hope that I'd ended up back at the house is quickly dashed. Our stones are in a circle around the house. I'm still deep in the woods, and these seem to be in a straight line. Or a much larger circle.