Primal Instinct Pt. 01

Introduction to this two-part story. It begins in the Fantasy genre and was initially intended as a stand-alone, but I couldn't bring a definitive ending. It felt lacking and unfinished, and after taking the advice of one of the editors, I decided to keep it as a continuation and do a crossover of genres. The second part of this tale will be written as a Horror rather than Fantasy. One story spanning two separate genres. I hope it works out as well as it does in my mind.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy it. I am still new to writing, this being only my second ever attempt.

PRIMAL INSTINCT - Part One

It had been snowing all afternoon, and the clouds were low. It was the first fall of winter, and it seemed to have arrived with a vengeance. Cain felt he had no option but to give up for the day. It was pointless trying to hunt for deer when you could barely see through the whiteout. Trudging home, he felt a little unnerved, and his inner senses were on edge, he felt as if he was being followed. Cain continued walking steadily forward, not wanting to look behind him, fighting the urge to run.

The cabin was only a few hundred feet away, and he would be able to make it before his fight or flight instinct took hold. On opening the door, he finally allowed himself to turn around and look behind him. Nothing. Just an empty forest. Cain laughed; his mind was playing tricks on him again. Of course, there was nothing; there never was.

Inside the cabin was a welcoming warmth; the fire was still glowing enough to rekindle. Cain placed a few small pieces of wood on top to slowly feed the flames while looking around for what he had in the kitchen to feed himself. He spotted the rabbit he snared yesterday, which will go well with some of the wild mushrooms he had picked this morning. If this snow continues, Cain will have a much harder time finding food. He began to skin the rabbit carefully, not wanting to tear the hide. Starting at the back feet, he quickly cut around them and worked his way around and lengthwise down the body until reaching the head. Taking the rabbit from its hook, he placed it on the work surface, removed the head and feet, and set the fur to one side. He quickly gutted it, then took the innards, head and feet outside to the back of the property, leaving them on a log for whatever critter lucky to pass.

Walking back around to the door, he felt it again, that prickling feeling on the back of the neck, the feeling of being watched. Once again, he looked out into the dense woodlands, peering through the snowflakes, yet he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Re-entering the cabin and closing the door, this time, he went to the window and looked out, trying his hardest to focus through the heavy layer of dust on the pane. There was something out there. He could feel it. He had a keen sixth sense, honed from all his years of hunting and living in the tail end of nowhere.

Then a quick movement caught his peripheral vision. He turned his head towards it. Was that a shadow he saw next to his old pickup truck? He watched for a few more minutes, but soon decided it was pointless.

Turning away from the window and convincing himself that his eyes were playing tricks on him, he went back to prepare his dinner. After butchering the rabbit and wrapping a few pieces up for tomorrow, he threw three seasoned chunks into the frying pan hanging over the now blazing fire and lowered the chains until the meat started to sizzle and soon the aroma of cooked rabbit filled the cabin. He quickly prepared and threw in the mushrooms and a bit of butter towards the end, a few minutes later, it was ready to eat. Eating directly from the pan, he savoured the flavours as his mind drifted to the failed hunting trip for today. He had hoped to have been able to catch that roe deer he had seen a few days before, she would last him a good week before needing to go out again, and he did like a nice bit of venison. Never mind, he would try again tomorrow.

Throwing the now-empty pan in the sink, he quickly washed away the food residue, but not scrubbing, for fear of losing the conditioning built up over the years. He hung it back on the chains over the fire, pulled them back to the highest position, and it was ready for the next feast, which with luck would be some roe deer.

Standing in the main room and looking around, Cain reminisced. The cabin was one left to him by his father. He had been killed in a mining accident a few years back, and it had taken the lives of over a dozen men from the small town community of Broderton a few miles East of the cabin. His mother had never been one for the wilderness, so it was only ever Cain and his father who came here every second weekend throughout the year. It was here that he learnt to handle both the gun and bow. His father taught him to catch his dinner and to forage for vegetables, fungi and herbs. If you didn't hunt, trap or forage your food in the mountains, you didn't eat. They never brought anything with them apart from some dried beans and condiments.

He glanced at the memories that covered the walls, various skins from his first kills, a few cleaned skulls of rabbit, deer and squirrel. There were some very impressive antlers over the door that his father had taken from a stag he caught only a couple of years before he died. He was incredibly proud of that kill, and they ate well for over a week. Some photos of himself and his father were on the mantelpiece, one rather poignant one from when he was given his first real hunting rifle for his 13th birthday. Against the far wall was the bed he built with his own hands from an old birch tree that had fallen just behind the cabin a few years back during a rather impressive storm. It was much sturdier than the old camp bed upon which he used to sleep. The cabin was somewhere he always felt comfortable and had recently stayed for more extended periods each time. This time he had already been here ten days with no plan on returning home anytime soon.

Cain wasn't your average entrepreneur; he caught a lucky break towards the end of the 1990s with a good business model, and over six months, his internet-based luxury vacation company was soaring. He made a point of marketing his website to attract the myriad of tech companies that had appeared over that time and benefited greatly from it. By the year 2000, the company was taking in an easy seven figures every month in revenue. In 2002, due to a stockbroker friend's foresight, he noticed that the tide was turning. He sold his business to a larger holiday company and made a handsome profit from it, not much longer after that, there was a market crash. The "dot com bubble" had burst. He no longer needed to work and lived quite comfortably from the monthly income brought in from a few choice investments.

He had never found anyone with whom he wanted to make a lifetime commitment, so he was still single at the age of 51. At 6 foot 2 inches in height, Cain was the prime personification of a man with a healthy weight and a slim but fairly muscular physique which he kept in reasonable condition by following a quick but gruelling morning fitness regime. Sporting a military-style cut to his dark hair, he found it was easy to self-manage, so had not felt the need to change it since the vanity of his youth. He was incredibly handsome with gentle deep blue eyes the colour of the mountain lakes, a corona of amber flecks encircled the pupils, adding warmth and kindness. A chiselled jawline with a trace of unshaved shadow and a bashful but alluring smile hinted at the inner sensitivity often missing from an alpha male like Cain.

He had never been short of female attention, but he was looking for that special companion, and thus far, she had eluded him. There had been one or two that had got close to being the one. A girl he had gone through high school with had come back into his life about six months before he became successful. Zoe was exciting, a girl of action. She liked similar things to him and was looking for a way to leave Broderton behind. Sadly, this small-town girl got the taste of the big city and the money that came with it. She became materialistic, selfish and greedy in a very short space of time and would be out with friends shopping and dining daily. Cain was ready to end this toxic relationship when she did him the favour of running off with a wealthy hedge fund manager. He wasn't very good at finishing relationships, so this action of Zoe's did him a great favour. After that, he became very suspicious of female attention.

The night was now drawing in, so he tended the fire, made sure no logs could roll off during the night, checked the lock on the door and turned down the light.

Laying in his bed, Cain thought he could hear snuffling outside the door, claws clipping on the small porch. It was probably a fox, he thought, coming to look for extras after finding the remains of the rabbit left on the log, and with that, he drifted to sleep.

--------X--------

Cain was awake early the following day, ready to resume the hunt, hoping to bring home that beautiful roe deer. He had already checked the weather conditions, and they looked favourable, at least for now, but could change with each passing hour in these mountains. Dressed in his favourite camo hunting jacket, with deep pockets to carry extra ammunition without needing an additional backpack, he left the cabin and took the well-travelled path into the forest.

The air was crisp, and the leaves crunched underfoot where the morning dew had frozen before the sun had fully risen. As he traversed along the track to where he last saw the deer, he began to realise that the forest was eerily quiet. Usually, it would be a cacophony of noise; insects, birds, rodents, but today it was silent. All he could hear was his footsteps on the frosty floor. Stopping, he breathed a little shallower and listened. He couldn't hear anything, but something had undoubtedly spooked the natives. Continuing on his way, he became more in tune with his surroundings, and then that recognisable prickle started on the back of his neck, that feeling that unseen eyes were watching him, following him, hunting him!

He stopped again, turned and looked behind him. Nothing there! This time though, he readied his gun. He would not be caught off-guard.

As he moved deeper into the forest, the trees became denser, and the canopy blocked out more of the sun. The floor became damper and softer; the snow wasn't thick here because of the heavy cover above. Cain decided on a whim to take a less travelled route through the forest, not so well known but led to a small lake with a waterfall that hid a little-known cave system. Following the path down the side of the mountain, he could hear the distant whisper of the cascading water. It was a magical place that never failed to capture him each time he saw it.

--------X--------

It was approaching noon when he finally arrived at the waterfall. The sun was high and was dappling through the canopy. The beauty of this setting was never lost on him; it was a magical place with myths and legends attached to it. Stories of witches and ancient shamanic circles that Cain had heard about as a child but paid no attention to. There was almost an ethereal glow here that didn't exist elsewhere in the forest.

He was sure that this is where most of the local fauna came to drink, so he searched around for a good spot downwind that he could sit and wait. He was convinced that the deer would come here, and as there was only one way into this glen, he was in prime position to keep watch.

Cain sat just behind a hawthorn bush for about 45 minutes, watching the path to the watering hole when his periphery was triggered. He moved his eyes to look, and he swore he saw a glimpse of something, the shadow of a tail disappearing behind the waterfall.

He tensed!

What was that?

Was it a dog?

He didn't think so. It seemed too big to be a dog. However, his curiosity was piqued, he rose from his hiding spot, stretched his tightened muscles, and walked towards the side of the waterhole where he had seen the skulking figure enter the cave system.

As he approached, he looked to the ground. The tracks were significant; this was definitely not a dog; this looked more like a big cat, the paw prints were large and defined. Cain checked his gun. He wanted to be prepared for whatever he found behind that curtain of water; this area was not known for big cats. He took a couple of deep breaths to ready himself and walked through.

His eyes took a moment to adjust to the gloom. There was an ethereal light here too due to the trailing fronds and the waterfall across the entrance; it added a muted glow to the cavern. Initially, looking around, he didn't see anything untoward until he noticed a dark mound in front of him. He could see no recognisable features, to begin with, but it seemed to be moving. Raising his gun, he tried to focus on what he couldn't quite make out using the night vision sight. Then as he peered through the sights, the mound began to transform. As it rose from the shadows, it seemed to be changing shape, becoming more recognisable as a human form. Cain's mouth fell open.

Slowly, he moved his face away from the weapon to see better what was now in his visual viewpoint. He was transfixed by the vision in front of him and also somewhat confused about it. Standing there was a beautiful, lithe woman, snow-white hair hanging around her face and shoulders damp and wild. She was completely naked and did not attempt to cover herself. She seemed to just appear from nowhere.

"Hello", Cain spoke gently, "Where did you just come from?"

In any stretch of the imagination, he should be terrified of what had just transpired, but he wasn't.

The woman did not reply; she just looked at him, her eyes fixing his with a dominant glare.

Her body was incredible; he couldn't help but look. Her skin was pale and smooth. Her breasts were ample, plump with perfect pert nipples. As his eyes travelled down her nakedness, he watched the rivulets of water work their way down to the light hair that covered her womanhood, and he could slightly see a glimpse of the pink flesh that caused his desires to start taking hold. He felt movement in his trousers and the blood starting to engorge him. In an involuntary action, he licked his lips and felt his pulse quicken. Still, she never moved.

There was something quite primal about this girl in front of him.

Where did she come from?

Who was she?

How was she just stood there naked in front of him?

He tried to talk to her again. "I'm Cain," he said, "What's your name?"

She took a step towards him. Then another. Her movements were very feline in motion. She didn't reply, but her look had changed. She was curious; this man who stood in front of her was not afraid of her. She could smell something on him, something she desired.

Cain took a step back, unsure what to think; this was so far out of anything he had to deal with in his life that he just wasn't sure what to do. He removed his jacket and tried to offer it to her, but she just looked at it. She carried on coming forward, her hips snaked, and her breasts swung slightly. Cain was getting extremely uncomfortable in his trousers. This woman exuded confidence in her grace, either oblivious or uncaring of how her nakedness affected him.

She was now right next to him; he could smell the earthiness and the natural sweetness of her body. It was intoxicating. Her pheromones were engulfing him, and he wanted to run his hands down that sleek, perfect figure. She brought her face in towards him and started sniffing his neck. Well, this was new, he thought to himself. He almost thought he heard a slight growl in her throat.

Cain went to open his mouth to talk, but the woman placed the tips of her fingers on his lips, "Ssshhhh," she said, "Do not speak."

"My name is Arianrhod," she continued, "I do not have long in this form."

What does she mean in this form? Cain wondered, does she mean naked?

"I am sure my appearance surprises you, but you already know this place is full of magic and mystery. You have always known this. I am just one part of the hidden magic that this forest has to offer."

This whole scenario made no sense at all, but he was captivated by her. She had him completely under her spell and almost felt powerless within his mind. All Cain knew in himself was that, initially, there was nobody here with him and then there was, that the woman in front of him was someone that he desired with every fibre of his being at this moment in time. It was unlike him to feel so vulnerable as he did.

She now had pressed herself against him, rubbing her face on his. She grabbed at his clothes and urged him to remove them. At this moment in time, Cain felt there was nothing he wouldn't do for this woman. He quickly removed his shirt and t-shirt and threw them to the floor. Her hands started stroking his chest, and he swore that she purred.

He was now rushing to undo his belt, fumbled with his jeans button and let them fall down his legs to the floor. The relief was instant as he had become pretty uncomfortable inside those restrictive pants, finally pushing down his shorts and standing there to attention. Arianrhod was now already working her hands down his torso, and she was not wasting much time at all.

He tentatively lifted his arm to touch her; he wasn't sure if she'd let him. Placing a hand on her hip, he slowly caressed her body, curving the waist and side of her chest. She felt incredible and was very responsive to his touch, and she slinked herself against him with subtle moans of contentment.

She moved her hands towards his expectant erection, wound her hand around it and cupped his balls. He gasped at the initial touch; it had been some time since he had been intimate with anyone. She caressed them gently and then grabbed his solid manhood. This is the hardest he can ever remember being, the attraction he had for this strange woman who was seducing him inside this cave was like nothing he had ever experienced. It almost felt like a form of witchcraft.

The sun began to peep through the cave entrance shimmering via the waterfall and creating a kaleidoscopic display within the cavern, adding to the magical feel of the place. With the cave being less dismal, he could see a little better. A small stream fed by the fall trickled its way along the right side, heading to the back of the cavern and the cave system beyond, and a little further up the back was the prize he had been searching for the last couple of days. The roe deer carcass had been dragged there by whatever he had seen entering here earlier, but he had no care about that at this moment in time. To the left, a sizeable mossy area was a little crushed like something significant had been sleeping upon it. It was here Arianrhod now guided him to, she pointed for him to lay down, and he did as she commanded.

Standing next to him, she looked down approvingly, and Cain could now see the moist pinkness between her legs. He reached out and stroked her thigh, and she responded by slightly opening them for him, reaching up higher, he felt the heat coming from her. Pulling her closer towards him, he rose onto his knees and stroked the soft hair covering her pubic area. She flinched a little but didn't move away.

Kneeling next to him, Arianrhod brought up her hands and held his face, she studied it intensely, and he felt that she was trying to look into his soul. Bringing his face closer, she gently kissed him for the first time. Her face was enigmatic, she was strikingly beautiful, but there was no real emotion in her features. She spoke more with her eyes than her face; they were a very pale blue with a ring of grey, her pupils were not round but slightly elliptic. They seemed more cat-like than human, but they were entrancing. Cain thought that it might have been because she suffered from a form of albinism, what with the white hair on the head and pubic area, but whatever it was, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon.