When You Wish Upon an Eldritch Star

The back of the room looked more like I expected, considering the items on my list and the nature of what happened to Lana and her room. It was dark, the only light coming from large white candles set onto wooden pedestals that came out of the wall. They dripped wax onto the floor beneath them, forming tiny little stalagmites. The place was full of secret wisdom and knowledge better left alone, danger seeping from the spines of the yellow paged books. For all that, the place was surprisingly tidy, sealed plastic containers fronted with neat little cursive script labels.

"Now, what can I do for you?" She asked me, drawing my attention away from the room and back to her, where I noticed a distinct change in her appearance.

Her hair was the same length but, instead of brunette she had striations of dirty silver and dark brown. And it was messy, fluffy clumps spilling around each other in clean-but-unkempt waves. Her choker had transformed from fabric to a similarly colored collar of fur as her hair, the shakespearean ruff went all the way around her neck and part of her shoulders. Just beneath that cloak were darker black claws that hooked around each other and swept back into a swishing cloak that went down to her knees.

No. Not a cloak. Wings.

Her ears were covered in the same velvety material of her wings, only they were filled with the softest fuzz in the universe, a safe haven from this trying world, decadent like spun sugar and twice as sweet against the skin. My fingers itched with the thought of tasting that forbidden fruit.

She was also completely naked.

And totally unconcerned by that fact.

What is up with women walking around nude in my life, all of a sudden? Not that I'm complaining. It's just strange is all.

I held out the list, conserving my words under the demands of some long-buried survival instinct that was doing it's best to keep me alive.

And sane.

She plucked the list from my fingers, moving faster than my eyes could track. Humming to herself, she scanned down the list mentally ticking off items as she went. "Shouldn't be a problem. Won't take more than two shakes of a griffon's tail." Then she was off, grabbing a brown paper bag and literally skipping from container to container as she gathered the reagents Lana would need for her ritual. Her gait was peculiar, her foot preceding her lower leg with her body following some time after.

Probably due to her ankle being in the wrong spot and the long claws on her feet.

Humming and mumbling to herself, she went about her work and I stayed the hell out of her way. Watching her move was like magic itself, and before I knew it she was done and standing behind the counter. The wood there was pitted and charred in many places and there was a splotch that glowed with an angry red light.

"What do I owe you?" I inquired as she folded the opening to the bag closed.

Her fluffy ears twitched and I could feel her eyes on my face as I refused to meet her gaze. "...You must really like this girl if you're willing to go this far for her."

I rubbed at the back of my neck awkwardly.

She's making more out of it than it really is.

"I mean... Not really. She doesn't deserve what happened to her. I'd help out pretty much anyone if they were in this kind of trouble."

The woman looked at me carefully for a moment. Then a surprised smile slowly bloomed across her lips and her cloak ruffled down her back. "You truly mean that, don't you Mitchell Donovan?"

I startled at her use of my name, the way it floated from her lips vibrated through my core.

Did I even tell her my name? Who, or what, is she?

She inhaled deeply, her eyes fluttering as if aroused. "Selflessness. In this day and age? If you weren't already marked, I'd think about making you mine. In fact..." Her eyes flashed a color I did not have a name for, existing somewhere between a ray of light and the shared laughter of a pair of lovers. "No. No no no. Not worth it. But don't forget about me later, do you hear?" The smile she presented showed off her teeth, which had far too long incisors for my peace of mind. She offered up the nondescript brown paper bag and I snatched it, running from the store as quick as my legs could take me.

What the fuck have you gotten yourself into Mitchell? And are you going to make it out alive?

Our abode was silent when I arrived. There was a pall hanging over it that urged me to be quiet. I gingerly tiptoed my way towards Lana's room. Peeking around the door, her room was empty.

My brow furrowed in confusion. I went back to the kitchen and left the reagents on the table. After that, I went to my room to take a break and read a book after the unexpectedly harrowing shopping trip. I entered my room, stripped out of my jeans, and was halfway into my comfy pajama pants when I noticed that there was someone in my bed. Lana was curled up into a nearly perfect circle, still completely naked. The tail that I noticed earlier was longer, and the small section of the darker underside I could see was developing some strange oval ridges. Her spine seemed too prominent on her back, and her shoulder blades didn't look quite right. The bone there appeared thick but somehow flexible, bending with the even motion of her breaths. And a feathery wave moved the skin just above her buttocks, like a baby pressing a hand against the wall of its mother's belly. It was both fascinating and deeply off-putting.

"I thought you were gonna clean up your room?" I asked, my brain acting on impulse before I could catch it, one leg through the correct hole of my pajamas. Caught in the middle, I unbalanced and was forced to hop on one leg before I could safely don the other leg of the soft pants.

Her eyes snapped open and she immediately picked up the threads of my question. "I did. And then I got tired and came here to take a nap." The sclera of her eyes had darkened to almost black which actually accented her impossibly blue irises. "Want to join me?" she teased, holding her arms out wide, her tail doing the same.

"I think I'll go read on the couch, if it's all the same to you?" I wasn't sure, but I thought I caught a hint of disappointment before it transformed into an overblown scowl.

She snapped her fingers and her tail reached up and performed a similar motion. "Phooey. Well, let me know if you change your mind."

I gave her what I hoped to be a reassuring smile. "Okay then. Get some more rest." Turning away from her, I was already thinking about making a meal for myself and my book.

Some hamburgers sound good. Or maybe spaghetti... I'll go with that. Less effort. Then I have that homework assignment that's due Thursday. Maybe I won't get to read as much as I want after-

Her tail unfurled, elongating in an elastic stretch and grabbed my ass. The sucker at the tip latched on and she stopped me from leaving. "Mitchell, something... Something's happening..." Her voice came out strained, like she was muscling her way through a barrier of some kind.

I rushed to her side, kneeling and taking her hand in mine. Her tail writhed and curled around my wrists, the small suckers kissing my flesh absentmindedly as she restrained me to her. Her eyes were wild, her brow furrowed as her jaw opened and closed in a silent scream.

"I'm here. I'm here Lana. We will get you through this. It's going to be okay," I promised her.

Although I have very little to say about making that happen. Two weeks ago I would've thought something like this to be impossible.

The change was centered on her forehead, the cool blue skin and bone there rippling like a pebble had been dropped in a pond. The ripples spread wide, pausing for a moment in a small oval, before traveling in reverse back to a singular point. It cycled between the two states until it collapsed into a dark black dot. The dot grew lines above and below it, splitting that space in two.

My uneasiness grew, my instincts warning me that danger was coming and I should immediately leave. I leaned back but her tail tightened on me possessively as she threw her head back, her spine bending into an inhuman arch. The black line splitting her forehead cracked open, revealing black sclera and a pale blue iris. Lana's new vertically oriented eye darted around before latching onto me.

"Oh, Mitch. You're a good man. Too good. It makes me want to keep you." Her flexible tail tightened, reeling me into my bed and her arms. The too-slick flesh closed around me and that scent that would linger on my mind for hours after I'd left her swirled up around me in an encompassing cloud.

"Lana... You're scaring me." Although I said it, the more time I spent in her arms like this the more natural it felt. The fear was fading. And that in itself scared me. Unbeknownst to me, my own eyes were changing, the sclera darkening from a white to a grey as my green eyes shifted toward teal.

My words seemed to startle Lana out of whatever trance she'd fallen into and she released me as if stunned. I stumbled out of bed, the places where she'd touched me tingling with her absence, aching to return to her embrace. It wasn't until I made it to the kitchen that I wiggled uncomfortably in my shirt.

Were my nipples always this sensitive?

Later that night, I knocked on the door of my room.

Which feels increasingly like her room, considering the time she's spending in there.

There was no response so I went in. The air was indolent with her presence, as if I was intruding upon the home of a dangerous animal that'd marked their territory. Peeking around, I gave a sad smile at the only place she could be. From the darkness of a cave made out of my extra large comforter, a single blue iris opened wide, glowing with a soft blue luminescence. Her eyes had further changed throughout the day, now supporting an additional colored ring around the normal human one. Two more eyes began to glow just beneath the first, all three of them focused on me.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I don't know what came over me," she apologized.

"It's fine," I said, not entirely truthful, but wanting to reassure her anyway. "I made some dinner if you're hungry."

"I'm not. But thank you for taking care of me." Her hand peaked out from under the cover and gestured for me to come closer. The pigment of her skin had shifted to a rich teal and her fingernails were the same color as her eyes, blue with a black outline.

Creeping closer, my eyes darted around the room, trying to find the source of a smell that seemed to fill the room, landing somewhere in between sea spray and the tang of ozone. Her tail had grown long enough that it was able to sneak down the side of the bed I couldn't see and surprise me by pushing me in the back. Like a spider opening its trapdoor, there was a flash of her skin before the darkness enfolded me. I couldn't tell if it was the enclosed space or what, but she seemed bigger to me, her body curling around mine possessively.

"Silly Mitch. You should know better than to do that," she teased.

"Are you okay Lana? You seem... different."

"I'm fine. Well... besides the obvious. But I'm figuring that out."

"How's the ritual coming?"

"... The ritual. Right. I've... I've run into some setbacks. I think you might need to go pick up some additional reagents."

"Okay. That's fine. The shopkeeper kind of scares me though."

Lana's arms and tail tightened around me for a moment, and I would've sworn I heard an animalistic growl. "Did she touch you?"

"...No."

Maybe it was just her stomach?

"You sure you're not hungry?" I asked.

Loosening slightly, she took the edge of my ear in her teeth, pinching it gently like it was her favorite toy. The rumbling noise continued to resound in the small space.

My voice when I spoke came out thin and fearful. "I'm gonna go eat dinner." I attempted to extricate myself, both from her clutches and out from under the comforter which somehow remained cool despite the two bodies beneath it.

The growl immediately cut off and she relaxed her grip fractionally, but not enough for me to escape. I started to panic, my movements becoming more frantic by the moment.

Then she licked me in the back of the neck.

It took a moment to register.

And when it did, it was such a strange sensation that it short circuited the panic.

Pleased with the result, she did it again. The coolness of her breath mixed with the saliva to create a tickling sensation that slipped beneath my defenses like the resulting giggle managed to bubble from my chest. That one little thing was all it took for the nature of the situation to change. It was no longer scary to be in the darkness with her.

It was silly.

And she could tell.

And I knew she could tell.

"Lana," I warned her. "You know I'm ticklish, I confided that to you. Don't you dare use that against me now."

"Too late."

"No no no no no..." My rejections dissolved into laughter as her fingers pinched and teased at my sides. She pushed and prodded me, delighting in the sounds that I made for her. For my part I wiggled and shifted and turned, but the escape I sought proved too elusive. She continued to play with me until my chest ached for lack of breath and it became painful. Sensing the shift, Lana eased up. Sometime during the scuffle she ended up with her body curled over me. I couldn't see due to the darkness of the blanket, only the soft glow of her eyes on me. My heart beat faster.

But from fear or excitement, even I did not know.

I swallowed heavily and fought to catch my breath. "Okay. Whew. Okay, Lana. You've had your fun. Time to let me up."

Her arms shifted around me and I could feel the comforter press against either side of my neck as her hair dangled down to glance across my forehead and temples. "What if I said noooo?" she teased. Leaning in close she inhaled against my vulnerable throat.

I was suddenly intensely aware of my erection pressing against the inside of my boxers.

"... Then we would need to have a talk about boundaries. Just because this is happening doesn't mean you get to be an asshole." My compromising situation made me lash out a little more sternly than otherwise.

She reeled back as if slapped. "No. I thought... You were enjoying... I know you were..."

"It's fine. But I'm hungry," I deflected, trying to move to the edge of the bed but she pinned my shoulder down.

Before I knew what she was going to do, she pulled up my shirt and my sensitive nipple was introduced to her chilled segmented tongue. I couldn't stop the gasp that issued forth, one part astonishment, twelve parts impossible arousing sensations. Then I was free, rising from the bed, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

"Don't-" She started and then stopped.

I paused, halfway to the door as I waited for her to finish.

"Don't let anyone else touch you. I don't know what I'd do if they did."

I nodded, something inside urging me to agree to her odd request.

Then I left.

I ate my food, not watching anything. Not reading anything. Not really planning anything. I was searching for my sense of normalcy that seemed to be getting further and further away as Lana sank deeper into her accident. Cleaning up my dishes, I stared listlessly at my hands for a long minute.

For two days I hovered on an ethereal threshold, resisting the urge to enter my room and see Lana again. On the third day I woke up and heard noises coming from inside her bedroom where the ritual had gone awry. I poked my head into mine, stealing away a change of clothes from my closet, uncertain when I would get another chance. Lana had tidied up, there were no clothes on the floor and the bed was neatly made. The moment I stepped inside, my nostrils were teased by her scent, tantalizing me to go see her. As I finished drawing a fresh shirt over my head, I noticed the hand-written note lying in the middle of my bed. The neat curls of her handwriting outlining a new set of improbable ingredients to acquire. Things like, wyvern tears and the memory of a summer day.

Which can only mean one thing.

I returned to the store, list in hand, mentally fortified for the strangeness to come.

Or so I tell myself.

"You again?" The shopkeeper asked with a smile as she effortlessly hopped over the checkout counter. "Couldn't get enough of me?"

"I have another list of reagents. Please and thank you."

I followed her to the employee's only door where she paused, peaking back at me to examine me with her peripherals. "You seem to be coming along nicely. How's your keeper- I mean, your friend doing?"

"She seems to be getting worse and the changes are accelerating. I also... I think it's affecting her mind."

This time I watched as her disguise faded away into her more bestial and- attractive?- form. I shook my head as if to clear the fog from it.

What is wrong with me? Must be fumes from all the candles and incense Lana was burning.

While I was distracted, the shopkeeper stepped in close and tilted my chin up to meet her eyes. They burned with an internal fire and I could feel my pulse beat heavy in my neck.

"Is she mistreating you? Torturing you? Debasing you?" The questions felt ridiculous on the surface but she asked them with such conviction.

I shook my head. "No. Nothing like that. She just seems more... pushy? No... That's not the right word. Insistent. Confident. She's not shy about letting me know what she wants. Her timidness is gone."

"Good." She released me and snapped her fingers, holding her hand open expectantly.

I held out the list. She took it and quickly skimmed the items.

"Interesting." Bouncing between the shelves, her tufted ears rotated this way and that as she moved around. Talking mostly to herself she continued her earlier thought. "I'd like to think I'm a better judge of character than that. I also wouldn't expect her patron to..." Whatever she was saying was muffled as she leaned over a cluster of vials to ruffle through the ones on the back of the deep shelf.

Patron...? Is Lana a sculptor or something?

"Anyway, it's good to know that things are going well for her."

I furrowed my brow. "They're not. Didn't you hear what I was saying? She keeps getting worse."

"Is that so?" the bat-woman asked, hardly sounding surprised.

"Yes. She changes more and more each day. Who knows how different she'll look- and act," I muttered that bit to myself. "- when I get home?"

"Does it bother you?" She blinked slowly, her lashes rising ponderously as if under an enormous weight. "The way she looks?"

Something about her eyes made it impossible for me to even contemplate lying to her. "I mean... it's certainly unique, isn't it?"

"Hmmm?" She made a noncommittal sound.

It forced me to elaborate. "I mean it's striking. And I guess it gets the blood pumping. There's a sleekness to it, like that of a predator. And her eyes. I've never seen anything so blue." Just imagining her made my heart pound in my chest.

She licked her teeth exposing her long incisors. "Too sweet. Too sweet by far." Her wings fluttered along her back and her ears folded back before slowly raising again to display the fluffy white insides.

There was a question on my mind but I hesitated to ask. Looking away, I forced myself to go for it. "Do you think this ritual is going to help with her..." I trailed off, unable to finish.

"Go on," she prompted, her nose wrinkling with curiosity.

For as long as I could, I pretended I couldn't hear her, focusing on a jar that seemed to be filled with a single yellow eye, slitted and darting around the room. As if recognizing my attention, it turned to look at me. I shuddered and turned back to the shopkeeper. My voice came out a barely audible whisper. "Is her personality going to go back to what it was? Do you think it's going to work?"