Primal Instinct Pt. 01

It was a snow leopard, a female by the looks of it. Thick pale smoky-grey fur, with rosettes of darker grey mottling its pelt, a long tail almost the same length as its body curled around its feet while it sat looking at him, but it was the eyes that caught his attention and stopped him in his tracks. The eyes were a striking blue colour with a surrounding circle of grey, full of curiosity and intelligence. He had looked into these eyes before, but this was impossible.

Cain was still looking through the scope; he was dazed and utterly confused. It was a product of science fiction, not reality.

The leopard did not move; it just sat there and stared at him.

He lowered his rifle. He could do nothing at this point but stare into those eyes. He felt a little weak in the legs and needed to sit down, but he continued to stand and stare.

He gave a slight frown, and hesitantly he asked, "Arianrhod?"

The leopard's ears twitched, and then it rose.

Cain stepped back in an involuntary action, then stopped.

The leopard ambled towards him, her massive paws making no noise in the soft dust covering the floor.

"This is impossible!" Cain whispered to himself, "This isn't happening! I'm going to wake up in my cabin, and it will all have been a dream caused by some bad mushroom I picked."

His legs completely gave up this time, and he sat down quite hard on a small rock formation that jutted out behind him.

Sitting there, just staring ahead, the leopard he now completely believes is Arianrhod walks right up to him and sits on her haunches about 2 feet away. In his seated position, she is precisely the height where he is gazing into those eyes. Now he realises why he couldn't place her face into a culture or a creed; it's because there wasn't one.

Arianrhod was a Metamorph. But Metamorphs were a myth?!. A story to keep children close to home.

After what felt like a few hours but was mere minutes, in reality, Cain asked, "Can you become human so we can talk about what happened yesterday?"

The leopard's head bent sadly towards the floor; the answer was evident in that one action.

"So when you said you could only be in that form for a short amount of time, that is what you meant? You could only stay in human form briefly?"

She now lifted her head again and regained her eye contact. Cain took that to be a reply in the affirmative.

Cain looked at her sadly; he had hoped that he could have seen her again. He had felt there was something special about her, more than just the perfect body or the incredible sex they shared the day before. He had felt a deeper connection to her that he hadn't had with another woman previously.

There were so many questions that he felt were never going to get answered.

Why was she here?

How was she here?

Why did she stalk him?

Did she live in this cavern?

What was this place?

Instead, all he could muster was, "I have to leave. I'm not qualified to deal with shit like this."

He rose from his seated position, gave Arianrhod one last longing look before he turned on his heel, picked up his gear and left, not looking back. Cain felt empty. He came looking for Arianrhod, looking for answers, but all he got was a lot more questions and something that didn't even seem real.

Cain walked back up the passageways, through the magical cavern and back out beyond the waterfall. The sun had already turned mid-afternoon, and the icy floor was now just damp leaves. He trudged up the pathway leading back to the forest and the cabin.

Shutting the cabin's door, Cain dropped everything where he stood and went to lie on the bed. He tried to make some sense of the last few hours, but the previous 24 hours had changed everything he thought he knew about this area and the animal kingdom in general. Now he was in the world of the supernatural and folklore. He was aware of the mythology from ancient history where Gods could shapeshift into beasts or even insects to help or even deceive humanity. Well, he sure felt deceived at this moment in time.

Should he ask the local people at the café in the nearby small town? Cain instantly decided against such a thing as not to put Arianrhod in any sort of danger from superstitious people.

Arianrhod! He could still feel her skin under his hands, her body in his arms, her taste in his mouth. Nobody had ever made him feel so alive or so turned on. In his mind, he could see her eyes boring into his, those beautiful blue eyes with the grey outline, and now, those same eyes that he just stared at but in a snow leopard. He was just finding this whole scenario very difficult to deal with at this moment in time.

He had already decided that it was time to go back home to the city on his way back to the cabin. He knew no surprises were waiting for him there, just the busy roads and subways, coffee shops and supermarkets. The subways would be full of daily commuters, and the place where cats and dogs are exacly what they are meant to be.

He would spend the day doing menial repairs and securing the area; he wasn't sure when he would return here again.

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

Cain was pottering about in his apartment, which was located in a quiet part of Merriford. It was about 8 miles up the main road from Broderton. After the disaster, many people who lost someone in the mining accident moved to Merriford to distance themselves from daily memories. It allowed Cain to heal properly, but his mother had stayed in Broderton, not wanting to leave his father's grave unattended. She visited it every day until only a week before she died of pneumonia four years ago. He had her buried with his father, just as she wanted.

It had been five months since he had been to the cabin. Still, he had a friend, Jack, who would do a drive past once a month just to check the perimeter and make sure everything was sound, so hearing his mobile ring and seeing his name on the screen didn't seem odd apart from he had only rung to check-in only two weeks ago.

"Hello?" Cain answered.

"Hey, mate, sorry to disturb you," Jack replied.

"That's okay; I wasn't busy. What's up?" Cain queried.

"I think there has been a break-in at the cabin, the door was open. I had a quick look, and someone has certainly been sleeping there. I've secured it for now, but I think you need to come and take a look."

Damn, thought Cain, I really could do without this.

"Thanks for letting me know Jack, I will make my way there first thing tomorrow; hopefully, it's just the local kids messing around again. There isn't anything there for anyone to steal, just some personal bits and pieces."

"Do you want me to meet you there in the morning?" Jack asked.

"Nah, it's good, mate, I'll be fine. I'll get some things together; it may do me good to hang around there for a bit anyway, give the cabin a lick of paint ready for Summer. Thanks again for ringing."

"No problem, anytime. If you need anything? Just let me know." and with that, Jack rang off.

Cain sighed. He was a lot more positive on the phone to Jack than he was feeling inside. The last time the cabin had been broken into, it almost got burnt down. Since then, no combustible liquids were ever stored there when he wasn't at the place. Any spare fuel or spirits went home with him. Many of the cabins in the area had installed LPG as a fuel source, but Cain much preferred the old way of using logs or coals to heat and cook, plus it was far more authentic in such a setting.

I will have to pop to the stores for supplies; he thought, best get myself moving before they close for the evening.

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

Cain was cursing while loading up the pickup; he could have done most of this last night. Instead, he was getting soaked to the skin because he didn't check the weather forecast. He was losing his touch being in town for too long and maybe ready to be back at the cabin. Securing the industrial-sized pots of paint in the rear of the pickup, he was finally ready to leave.

Driving up to the forest, unwanted memories from five months ago invaded his mind. He had tried not to dwell on the events that transpired on the previous visit to the cabin. The first week he was home, Arianrhod didn't venture far from his thoughts; that magical time at the cavern had left both a wonderful and painful imprint on his mind. What had happened the next day, however, had left him completely distraught. He had hoped to have discovered Arianrhod safe and sound, where he could have asked for her story, he could have got to know her. Instead, he had found Arianrhod but not in the way he had hoped, and it had floored him.

Turning up the driveway to the cabin, he wondered what he would find when he arrived and if there was any structural damage.

Cain pulled up outside the door and noticed the damage that indicated the break-in, he also saw the crude repair that Jack had done, but that was dangling there. This means whoever had broken in before had been back since yesterday. He got out of the pickup and went to the lockbox at the rear of the cab; he unlocked it, pushed back the roll-top and removed his rifle. Grabbing a handful of ammo, he loaded it and put the rest in his jacket pocket, then headed to the cabin door.

He stood to the side of the doorway from the window and slowly pushed open the door. Nothing happened when it opened; he heard no movement or voices. He carefully walked through the door with his rifle ready and, before completely entering, did a quick visual recon.

Everything seemed to be where it should be, but it did look like someone had been sleeping in the bed and had been wearing his clothes. There also seemed to be animal carcasses dotted around, which did nothing for the aroma inside. This was indeed a curious sight.

Walking into the room, he looked around all the areas that someone could be hiding. There weren't many places, but there was under the bed, in the utility closet, around the corner where the cabin was an L shaped into the kitchen area. That's when he saw her, crouching in the corner - Arianrhod, in human form.

Cain almost dropped his rifle in shock. "What the hell?" is all he could muster as he stood there rooted to the spot, his eyes wide open. "You were the last person I expected to see here," he exclaimed.

Arianrhod was initially terrified when she heard the vehicle pull up outside, not knowing who it was that could find her here. The day before, a man with a not too pleasant smell had come in and locked her in. She had hidden in the corner, and he had not seen her there. She could hear him outside talking to someone when he left, but there was nobody else there. Now, with her fight or flight senses activated, she was in the same position again. This time, however, she recognised the scent. It could only belong to one person and, at this time, the only person she wanted to see.

Leaping to her feet, she ran towards Cain, clasped herself to him and sobbed.

Cain was taken aback by this display of affection, especially as she was in leopard form the last time, and he just walked away from her. She was dressed in one of his overshirts, and it was huge on her tiny frame, but there was something else. She was obviously pregnant.

Putting his arm around her, he led her to the bed and sat her on it. He then went to close the door and put his rifle away. She looked very lost sat on the bed, and he started to feel pangs of guilt for not coming back before today to check on things.

He came back over and sat on the bed next to her. Cain wasn't great at moral support or consoling people who were upset; it was awkward for him.

"What are you doing here?" he gently asked her.

"I need a place to be safe," she replied. "When beings like me are in this condition, there is a small chance that the offspring will be human. This is one of these times. We can only procreate with humans as we were once human. Normally our offspring would be born as cubs and will live their lives in animal form."

Cain just listened and looked at the floor. Then after a moment, he looked at her with a look of realisation and asked, "So this is my child you are carrying?"

"Yes, it is," Arianrhod confirmed.

"And it will be a Metamorph like you?" he continued?

"It is possible," she replied. "but it is also possible it will be completely human. This is why I am happy you have returned. I can only hold this form now because I am carrying a human child and not cubs. But only until a few days after the birth where I will return to my normal form."

Arianrhod continued her story.

"I used to be human many years ago. I tripped and fell onto a jagged rock while gathering food in the forest. As I lay there bleeding, a creature appeared to me. I cannot remember what the creature was as I could not see properly in my weakened state. It bit me on the leg, I assumed it would try and eat me before I had passed on, instead it lay next to me. After a while, I began to feel sleepy; I thought I was dying right there on the forest floor. Then there was darkness."

Cain sat on the bed and took in every word; it was like being a part of some fictional fantasy.

Arianrhod resumed.

"I do not know how long I had been on that floor when I woke; it only seemed like moments, but I was covered in leaves so that it may have been a day or so. What I did notice was that I had no pain. The injury had almost healed. I did not understand this; I should have been dead. I then remembered the creature, that it bit me. The bite mark was still there, but this was also healing. I felt healthier than I had done in many years. I looked around for the animal, but it was nowhere to be seen."

She pulled the shirt from her leg and showed Cain the scar that still remained from the bite.

"I went home to my family and told them what had happened. They laughed at me and ridiculed me for the story I was telling them, even though I showed them the injury and bite. They said that I was bitten by a rabid fox and hallucinated, never injured as badly as I thought. A few days after I had fully healed, I started to notice a difference in myself. I felt wilder, and I did not want to eat foraged foods. I wanted to eat meat, nothing more. I collected my bow and went to see if I could catch a rabbit. Wandering through the trees, I could feel my heart rushing, but I could also hear noises in the forest that I had not heard before. It was like I could hear the mouse scratching underground or the squirrel jumping from branch to branch. I could also smell different scents. These were strange sensations for me. Then came the pain..."

Cain could see this was a difficult memory for her, and she had stopped to steady her emotions.

After a minute or two, she continued.

"It was the first time I had ever felt such pain and itching. My whole body felt like it was aflame. First came the fur, from every part of my body; I was writhing in agonising contortions on the floor and had no idea why this was happening. Thankfully it was a rapid change from human to the beast; the pain did not last long. I was so terrified that I ran. I ran for a long time until I collapsed exhausted on the side of the mountain. I was confused as to what had happened to me. Why I was now a beast instead of a woman?"

"What happened to you after that?" Cain asked.

Silent tears began to roll down Arianrhod's face as she continued telling her tale.

"I eventually found my way back through the forest to my family home; I had never ventured so far before. I walked up to the house, but my mother saw me coming, she screamed and called for my brothers. They ran out of the house, saw me walking towards it, and threw stones and logs at me. Initially, I was confused and hurt; why were they doing this? But then realised that they did not see their daughter, their sister, all they saw was a beast to be feared. It was then I realised I could never go home again, so I ran and found myself at the clearing by the falls; I discovered the caves beyond the cavern and made my home there."

"How long ago did this happen to you?" Cain queried

"I am not sure, but it has been many, many years, and I have watched changes happening that are beyond my knowledge. My family home and the village it was in no longer exists. Everybody I knew and loved has gone."

"Where was your village?"

"It was right here," she replied, "this cabin is almost right where the blacksmiths' hut was."

"My father built this cabin a few years after he bought the land; there was nothing here but an old foundation. Those stones were used to build the foundation of this cabin", Cain explained. "But this is impossible, this cabin was built over fifty years ago, and you can't be any older than thirty years old."

Arianrhod smiled sadly, "When you are a creature such as I, age is irrelevant. This is the age I was when I was bitten and how I have been ever since. I will age no further. Our history in the area spans thousands of years, long before man made this place his home. Mostly our men turn into wolves and females into felines of many different kinds. Our men can retain human form indefinitely and change at will, and often became shamanic healers of the tribes of old."

"Look, I'm here for a few days," Cain said, "We have plenty of time to talk and see how we go on from here. This has been a lot for me to take in, and I need to process all this information."

What he didn't say out loud was that he was scared to death with all this information. Arianrhod would give birth to a child and return to snow leopard form, leaving him to bring up the child by the sounds of where the conversation was leading. His child.

He also wanted to discover what had happened to the village that Arianrhod claimed was here and where she was originally from.

"I'm going to empty the car and get us some food, then let's see what the day brings."

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

Arianrhod sat on the bed; it had been a long time since she had spoken to someone about her life, she was exhausted from remembering such difficult times. It had been many decades since she had last seen her family, but the pain was still very raw. She was usually alone in her life, only travelling further from her home when looking for a mate. It had never been difficult to attract a mate, and she knew that her alluring form was quite irresistible to the male form.

What she hadn't expected here was the lingering depths of feeling from this particular male. From the beginning, she had been captivated by him. He had gentle eyes, and his sexual prowess was like nothing she had encountered from the quick liaisons in the past. Now she had been sat with him for the past few hours and felt like a human woman for the first time in a very long time. She had forgotten what that felt like.

For now, though, she laid on the bed, and her eyes closed as she fell into a slumber brought on by this afternoon's emotional turmoil.

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

Emptying the car, Cain brought what he needed into the house; he noticed Arianrhod asleep on the bed and placed a blanket over her. Looking down, all he could think was how lost she looked and how incredibly beautiful she was. The shock of discovering that she was a Metamorph didn't last long, concern had replaced it on how he would be able to look after a child. This was not just any child, but one that could change form. So even if he considered adoption so the child could have an everyday family life, the possibility of transitioning to a creature made that consideration impossible.

As he unpacked and placed the paint and additional fuel in the storehouse, he rang Jack.

"Hi Jack, sorry to bother you, it's Cain, I have a couple of questions about the location that the cabin is sitting on here." Cain began, "I've been talking to a local, they said that there used to be a village on this spot; in fact, I remember Dad saying that he used stones from an old foundation that was already on the land when he bought it to build the base for this cabin. Do you know anything about it?"