Author's Note: Dear Reader, I submit this story for publication, not that I expect a single person to believe it's true in any aspect, but because I must write it down to sort out the events that it relates, if only for my own sanity. It is for my own therapy that I write, not for your enjoyment. Comment on it as you see fit - it is of no concern to me. -Darios. 10/12/84

Update (2012/04/18): F-m and non-consensual tags were added for Part 3. The unfortunate assault is very brief and I apologize if it's offensive, but it is what it is. –Darios

Update (2012/05/02): Please continue to support me and other author's by offering comments. Thanks


Part One

It's been two months since I last saw Lucy, but she is never far from my thoughts. At times she's all that I can think of; her beautiful face, the light olive tone of her skin, her dark brown hair, sometimes concealing her deep brown eyes behind the curls. I think of how she looked when her hair fell across her face like that; so erotic, so mysterious. Mysterious would not begin to describe Lucy.

How I loved her. Love her, I should say, for I will never stop loving her. Yet, my heart aches at the knowledge that I can never have her, nor even be near her, ever again. Sometimes, though, when my heart is heavy, as it is now, I begin to think that the death that would come from being close to her, from holding her in my arms again, would be welcome.

Of all the women in the world, I had to fall in love with a serial killer.

It was just this past June of 1984 that my friend Jeremy and I had packed up our belongings at the frat house we occupied on the campus of the University of Minnesota, and headed back to our hometown of Trevor, Wisconsin. I say friend, but Jeremy was beginning to rub me the wrong way. Sometimes I just couldn't stand him, and I'd begun to think of ways that I could ditch him before classes began again in the fall.

He had these big plans to tour around the country during the summer and had tried repeatedly to rope me into going with him. There was no way in hell that I was going to be stuck in a car with that guy for three months! All the way home from Minnesota he worked on me, and the more he badgered me, the more I concluded that, after all of these years, I really did hate the son-of-a-bitch.

A week after we settled in at our respective parents houses, he was gone. There were some terse words exchanged between us before he drove off, and I remember thinking what a great precursor that had been to blowing him off in the fall.

I didn't hear anything from him until he reached New Orleans in mid-July. It sounded like he was having a good time and planned on touring through the marshlands and bayous the following week. I'm not really sure why he called; maybe he was beginning to feel a little lonely.

A few days later he called again, the connection was really poor, though, and it was quite difficult to hear what he was saying. I made out that he had gotten arrested in some little town named Melony on Highway 90, and needed money wired to him right away. There was some shouting in the background and then the connection was broken before I could get any further details. I waited by my phone to see if he would call back, but after some time I gave up and went about my business.

Trevor, Wisconsin is not the most exciting place on the map, unless you're really into cornfields and cow shit. I brewed over Jeremy's call for three days and then, on a whim, decided to take a little drive. Okay, 1200 miles is more than a little drive, but I figured with the interstates I could be down there in two days if I drove eleven or twelve hours a day. What the hell; Jeremy was an asshole, but he'd been a good friend when we were growing up. If he was in real trouble I guess I owed it to him to help him out.

Knowing Jeremy was a Type 2 diabetic, I stopped by his mom's house and picked up a couple boxes of lancets, just in case he had used his up. I was glad she wasn't home and that they still left their back door unlocked because I really didn't want to worry her over what would probably amount to nothing. It was just Jeremy's typical screw-up mentality manifesting itself again.

Louisiana in July was quite a bit hotter than Wisconsin. Holy crap was it hot! And with all of that water around, it was humid as well. I had cruised quite a ways along Highway 90 and hadn't come across any towns named Melony. In fact, it wasn't on any maps and a highway patrolman I asked was sure he had never heard of it. I was getting a little concerned that maybe Jeremy had gotten the name of the town wrong, and was even more concerned that he was in serious trouble.

I stayed overnight at some broken down roach hotel in the middle of what I had decided was Nowhere. Sitting out on the screened in porch after sunset, I happened to strike up a conversation with an old hag who had come out to smoke a cigarette and to catch the same elusive breeze I was hoping for. I smiled at the thought of the old woman wearing a witch's hat and holding an old tattered broom.

She turned out to be quite a historian though, not surprising given her 200 years on this earth. Yes, that's an exaggeration. But her knowledge of the area was incredible and I wondered if she'd been a history teacher at some point in her long life. Listening to her describe the rich past of the Mississippi River delta was like being there myself, such was the vivid details of her musings. The conversation was lively until I mentioned Melony and then the old woman's mind drifted off some place far away. She pulled her wrap around her shoulders a little tighter and hugged herself.

"You go-ona back to that Wisconsin place you bin talkin' 'bout boy," she said suddenly, getting up from her chair with the aid of her walking stick. "Not nothin' fo you in Melonya 'ceptin' fo trouble." I noticed how she spoke the word, pronouncing it as Meh-LONE-ia.

I followed her around to the front of the hotel, trying to pry more information out of her. Finally, she looked at me and simply said, "Twenta mile west, dirt road by St. Augustive." The old woman stopped to look into the moonlit sky and I followed her gaze. The moon was in what is referred to as its waning gibbous stage, the full moon having passed several days ago. It was still plenty bright and lit up the sparse grass of the hotel's front yard. The old woman shuffled through the open front door of the hotel shaking her head. "Nothin' but trouble, you hear me boy?"

Never being one to take anyone's advice, I set out just after breakfast the next morning to search for the church and the cutoff. The day promised to be another scorcher, or maybe just another day if you were from Louisiana. The Cypress trees whizzed by, most standing in overgrown patches of swamp, as I sped down the highway. An old white structure caught the corner of my eye and I slammed on the brakes. Backing up, I saw the wilted remains of a once proud church. Beside it was a dirt road, heading south into the swamp.

Carefully, I drove along the narrow old road. The dirt path was not much higher than the swamps that closed in on either side of it, and in places it failed in its attempt to provide a dry lane to travel on. Had Jeremy gone down this road, and if so, why? What would possess anyone to turn down this road in the first place? But Jeremy was the kind of person that would stop and turn down a random road in the middle of nowhere just to see where it went. He had the genes of a true explorer but, sadly, not the sense of direction to go along with those genes. He would quite often get hopelessly lost and waste away a day trying to find his way to a place where a straight road would've taken him in the first place. I had to get my mind off of those infuriating memories, or I would've just turned around and headed back to Wisconsin without him.

I was beginning to think the old woman had sent me on a wild goose chase as the road wound through the swamp. I even grinned, thinking how amused she must be now, knowing she had had some fun with the 'Northern Boy', as she had called me several times the previous evening. Seeing fresh tracks in the mud from time to time was the only thing that kept me going. The road began to gain elevation and as I rounded a wide curve in the road a small town appeared. I stopped my car and stared in what I can only describe as disbelief. What in the hell was a town doing back here in the swamps? Talk about remote! I hadn't seen any signs, was this even Melony? Or Melonya, as the hag had called it?

There were a few people out and about, mostly walking, some sitting on benches near one of the dozen or so store fronts. A few children were jumping on and off a raised porch in front of one of the stores until a woman came to the door and shooed them away. The kids ran across the street to a playground and jumped on a small squeaky merry-go-round, sending them all into a noisy spin.

The park seemed to be central to the town, and as I watched the kids playing I saw two of the girls jump off the spinning wheel and run to what looked like a pillory! The stocks were set among a few tall trees and now I could see that there were several styles of pillories there, along with some poles jutting vertically from the grassy expanse. Laughing and carrying on, one of the girls sat down on a narrow wooden block, stretched her legs out in front of her, and placed her ankles in the lower portion of the stock. The second girl began to lower the top half of the old wood frame to entrap her friend's ankles when their heads turned in the direction of one of the stores on the other side of the Commons.

A man had come out onto the front steps of a leather works shop and had called out something to the girls. They quickly ran back to rejoin the other children, who were now occupying three of the six swings further away from me. One of the boys jumped off of his swing in a long arc, landing smoothly on his feet. He stood and gazed across the park, in my direction.

It seemed that all activity had stopped and I realized that every person in sight was looking my way. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought that it was likely very few strangers were ever seen in this town, and they were probably assuming I was lost. I took my foot off of the brake and slowly drove into the main square, parking in front of the general store where the kids had first been playing. The woman had disappeared inside, leaving the front door open. Looking around, I saw all of the shop doors were open.

The inside of the store was dimly lit and I went to the refrigerator section to retrieve a Coke. The woman tried to look as though she was busy with something, but I could see she was watching me closely.

"Hi," I said as I approached the counter, grabbing a couple of bags of Cheetos and some gum on the way.

The woman didn't speak, but moved slowly towards her register.

"I was wondering if this is Melonya? Have I found the right place?"

The expression on the woman's face was hard to read, but it looked like a mix of surprise and...what, suspicion? Back here in the swamps, I guess both emotions would be warranted. Who the hell was I, anyway? Some stranger actually looking for this tiny town?

"Yes sir, Melonya. You've heard of the town?" She reached out to accept my credit card, placed in the carbon imprinter, and noisily pulled the handle forward and back to make a copy of the card information. She looked at my credit card and turned it over to look at the back.

"May I see your ID, sir?"

I pulled my wallet out and handed her my driver's license. "Actually I was looking for a friend of mine that may have come through here earlier in the week. He's a little taller than me, sort of shaggy brown hair? He was driving a black Ford Thunderbird." I wiped the sweat off of my brow with my sleeve and wondered why they didn't have the air-conditioning cranked up.

The woman looked up at me as she examined my license, not acknowledging my question about Jeremy. "One moment please, sir," was her only response.

I watched as she walked to the back of the store and spoke to someone I couldn't see. I heard an old door swing on its rusty hinges and the sound of footsteps running away from the store.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, hoping to get out of there and have a better look around the town.

"It's nothing, sir, I apologize for the inconvenience. It's just that this is not a valid ID and I've been given explicit instructions to follow in the event that something like this ever happened."

Thinking back now, I have to laugh at what I must have looked like standing there with my mouth agape. The woman's statement seemed so structured, as if she was reading it off of a card. Had she memorized that line? I was more than a little confused over her statement, though.

I put my hand out for my license, "Not valid? I don't understand. Let me see my..."

"I'll take that, Marie," a voice called out as a man stepped through the front door. I looked over to see that the man was short and rather husky. He wore a uniform that passed as a lawman, but of what force could not be discerned. The gun in his holster was really the only thing I needed to see to tell me he was a cop.

The cop took the license from the woman and examined it. Then it occurred to me, I was going to go down to the County offices to get my license renewed, and had forgotten all about it! Shit, the damn license was expired and I had driven all the way down here with it!

"Would you come with me, Mr...Donelli? We'll get this cleared up in no time, I'm sure." The cop put his hand on my arm and turned me towards the door. Several minutes later I was being ushered into a small police station and to my dismay, directly into an iron barred cell positioned in the corner of the office area.

The cop went behind his desk and took some paperwork out of his drawer just as two men and a woman came through the front door. They looked at me suspiciously as they passed and then stood close to the cop's desk. A discussion followed that I can only describe as tense. I could feel it in the air.

"It's too soon," I overheard one of the men say.

"I agree, what would we do with him?" the woman asked in a hushed voice.

"He'll be fine here, we won't find anyone else for her, you know that," the cop said, glancing my way and then motioned for the others to hunker down closer to him. The rest of the conversation was muted but I could see the cop working on the paper work while looking at my expired license.

After the little meeting broke up and I was alone again with the cop, he came over to the cell and asked me to remove my belt and shoes and to empty my pockets.

"What the hell is this? My license is expired, big deal. It's not a federal crime." I handed my belt out through the bars and then the contents of my pockets. I stepped on the heels of my shoes to remove them and then nudged them through the bars with my toes.

"Turn around please, Mr. Donelli," the cop said as he removed a pair of handcuffs from a pouch on his belt. I felt the cuff close around my wrist and resisted a little when the man pulled my arm back. He had a pretty good hold on me, though, and the adjoining cuff went quickly around my other wrist.

"Well, that's where you're wrong, son," the cop said as he unlocked the cell and led me out.

"Those good ole' boys up in Warshington keep on a comin' up wit new and exciting laws to protect us innocent citizens. It seems it is a federal crime to use an expired ID to identify yourself."

"But I didn't know it had expired!" I protested, keeping the fact that I did know to myself. I was led out of the office and through a door into the rear section of the little police station where there was a short hallway lined with cells. These cells had three solid walls, but the front walls were a grid of iron bars.

"I know, I know, this is merely a technicality, but still, I have to do some things by the book and this is one of them. So you'll just be our guest until this whole thing can be cleared up. Here we go." The cop unlocked a cell door and ushered me inside. "Back up, please."

I backed up against the door and the cop removed the cuffs. I stood and rubbed my wrists as I watched him stroll back to his office. I shook the bars, certain that nothing in this old building could be that sturdy, but found the bars were still quite solid. I wasn't going anywhere.

I must have fallen asleep for several hours because when I awoke it was beginning to get dark inside the jail. A tray of food had been placed on the floor of my cell where a slot near the floor accommodated its insertion. Someone had thought to make me a bologna sandwich, and next to it on the tray was a bag of Cheetos, which were probably mine, and what looked like the Coke I had tried to buy. Great, I was buying my own prison food. I was starved though, and scarfed it down with no complaints.

Noises outside attracted my attention and I tried to look out of the little window near the ceiling on the back wall of the cell. It was pretty high up and even on tiptoes I couldn't see too much. I grabbed a hold of the bars and pulled myself up. What I saw defied any sense of logic I ever knew.

Crossing the unkempt lawn on the side of the police station was a young woman who looked to be about nineteen or twenty years old, holding a leash. On the other end of that leash was a drop-dead gorgeous woman, naked, cuffed at her wrists and ankles, and collared. Her wrist cuffs were joined behind her back and a short length of chain connected her ankle cuffs.

As they came closer I could hear that they were having a discussion, albeit a rather terse one.

"I want to be in my cage, Veronica," the nude brown haired woman said as she pulled the younger woman in the direction of the jail.

"But Lucy, we have a guest. It might be better if you stay at my house for the night."

"You know I can't, Mistress. I would never endanger you or your family like that. It's out of the question. You know I need to be locked up at night when it's this close to my time. You'd be safer with the stranger in your house. Besides, I'm still feeling rather sick from the other night."

The woman holding the leash was not giving up easily and she tried to plant her feet in the damp soil. "Your time has passed, Lucy. We can care for you better at home. Please, don't drag me around like this, listen to your mistress."

"You can punish me tomorrow, Veronica, but I will not stay at your house, or anyone else's either. I love you all too much to risk it."

The two disappeared from my line of sight and then I heard a noise in the hallway to my left. I moved to the front of the cell and peered through the bars the best I could. I caught sight of the naked woman, Lucy, entering an open cell, followed by the young lady, Veronica. Veronica emerged a moment later with the leash in her hand and slowly closed the cell door. The locking mechanism clicked loudly and echoed down the short hallway.

"Tomorrow you stay with us, or with Emilie," Veronica said, her hand reaching through the bars. I saw the woman lean against the bars, one of them running vertically between her breasts as they stuck out into the hallway. Veronica stroked the woman's hair with obvious affection.

"Good night then, our dearest pet," the young woman said as she withdrew her hand, tracing it along the angled jawline of the naked woman. When it reached her lips, Lucy kissed her fingers and said, "Goodnight Mistress."

I settled back onto my cot and pondered what I had just witnessed. What the hell had I just witnessed? The love between these two was so obvious. My mind tried to work out the relationship, but...the adult had called the younger woman Mistress and the woman had called Lucy 'our dearest pet'. Our? Not 'my' but 'our". That the young lady had been leading the naked woman by a leash was truly bizarre, too. Sure, I'd seen some things like this in magazines, but in real life? Even for a sexually active college kid, I was sort of stunned by what I'd seen.

An hour passed. No sound came from the far end of the hallway. The silence was almost too much to bear and my curiosity was making it impossible to sit there any longer without speaking.

"Hello?" I called out, but received no answer.

"Lucy, right? Are you okay? What's going on with you? Why are you naked?"

My questions were greeted with silence. I settled back onto my cot and lay down. She had no reason to talk to me, and I guess she was just exercising her right to remain silent. I hadn't seen the cop in some time and no one had bothered to turn the lights on in the cell area. As far as I knew, we were alone in the little jail. The only light came from the moon, its rays shining brightly through the little window high upon the wall. Finally the excitement of the joint became too much for me and I fell off to sleep.

It must have been several hours later that I was awoken by a god-awful howl outside the jail. I jumped up off of the cot and pressed my back against the bars at the front of the cell and stared at the little window. Whatever it was could surely not fit through that window. What the hell kind of animals do they even have in Louisiana?

I heard movement behind me and I whipped around, spooked like crazy. What the fuck? Was that thing inside the jail and not outside like I had thought? I saw a shadow at the end of the hallway near Lucy's cell and then detected movement. Another noise to my right startled me and I slunk back against the wall just as two dark shapes moved past the open front of my cell.

Son of a bitch, it was the old hag! I recognized her long black hair and the light shawl over her shoulders that she'd been wearing the previous evening. The other shape had the hunkered down look of the cop. I moved silently towards the front of the cell and watched as the two met up with whoever was already at Lucy's cell.

I about jumped out of my skin when a scream filled the air.

"Lusineh, easy girl," the hag said softly.

"My stomach hurts so badly, sister." The voice must have been Lucy's.

"I know, I know," the hag responded softly. "You couldn't know the meat was tainted. It'll pass, just hold on."

I heard more moaning and then another muffled scream, a hand or something being used to stifle it. This was followed by gasping breaths from inside the cell and quiet words of comfort by the cop, on his knees outside the cell.

"It's my cycle still," I heard Lucy whisper, the sounds in the small jail carrying well in the still night air. "I feel it now, it's still strong."

"Just a little while longer, maybe a day or two, and your time will pass," the hag said as she reached through the bars with both hands. The light was dim, but I could make out the three persons outside Lucy's cage now.

"Thank you, sister," Lucy whispered. "Thank you, Master." A moment of silence followed, and then I heard her whisper, "You're too kind to me." And then, "I love you, Veronica. I love you all. Go now, I think the worst has passed for tonight. I'm really feeling better now, honestly." Her voice was shaky, like she was still in some sort of pain and trying to repress it.

"Go on home, Roni," the cop said. "We'll stay for a while longer."

The other shadow must've been the girl, Veronica. I heard the door at the far end of the hall open and then close as the young girl departed.

"You go on back to your family too, Henri, I'll stay with her."

I slipped back to my cot and quietly lay down before the cop came back my way. I heard him stop outside my cell and heard no other sound for a long time. He was obviously standing there looking in at me. Finally I heard movement and then heard the door to the front of the police station open and then close.

I lay there, bathed in sweat, my heart beating so hard I could feel the blood pulsing in my veins.

"I hear him, sister. Is he near?" I heard Lucy whisper, a quiet desperation in her voice.

"Shhh, my dearest friend. Quiet yourself now. He is near, but safe from you. Try to rest."

I never heard the hag leave, but when I awoke in the morning the jail was quiet.

I scrambled off my cot and pressed against the bars, looking down the short hallway towards the cell the woman had occupied the previous night. The cell door was open. I looked the other way and called out for the cop.

"Officer! Hello! Anyone?"

After a few minutes I heard keys jangling and then the door to the office opened and the cop came through. "Good morning, Mr. Donelli. How did you sleep?"

"I slept like crap! Now, can you please let me out of here?"

The cop withdrew his revolver and pointed it in my direction as he inserted an old skeleton key into the lock on my cell door. "Sure, we'll just be goin' down the hall to the little boy's room and then you're coming right back here. You give me any trouble and this will be your last day on God's green earth, c'est compris'?"

I didn't know what that meant but I knew he had a gun leveled at me and I understood the rest of the sentence, so I stood back and allowed him to open the door.

After relieving myself I was directed back to my cell and confined once again.

"Hey, sheriff, don't I get to make a call?" I called out at his back as he headed towards to his office.

He turned and said, "If and when I arrest you then, yes, you will have that right. Until then, no."

"But if I'm not under arrest, let me out of here!"

"I have the authority under the Security Act of 1972 to hold you for as long as it takes to verify your true identity." He reached out for the door handle.

"Well, fucking make the call then!" I tried not to let the desperation in my voice be so obvious, but failed.

The cop turned on his heels and approached my cell. I backed up a little when I saw that he had removed his nightstick from his belt.

"Listen here, son, you watch your language or I'll make you regret it. Believe it or not, there's still an old law on the books in this parish that says a person can be jailed for 60 days for cussing. And my name is Officer Rousseau, a little respect will go a long way here."

My situation was rapidly deteriorating and I knew it. The full weight of my predicament was beginning to impress itself upon me. I was locked in the jail of some backwater town that wasn't even on the map and no one knew I was here. I leaned against the bars and felt a little lightheaded. No one knew I was here. Why hadn't I called my mom since I'd left home? God, was I that stupid?

No, I was just some college kid from Wisconsin who thought he was free to do whatever he wanted. Not a thought of anyone else's feelings, not a thought at all that my parents might actually care that I was okay.

Well I wasn't okay, and I had only myself to blame. I sat down on the bunk and leaned back against the wall. And what of Jeremy? Had he sat in this same cell? I had to ask the cop about him, but I thought it best to work on developing some rapport with the man first. He had no reason to tell me anything.

It was a long hot day in the cell, and I was relieved when the sun began to set and was blessed with a cool breeze through the small window high up on the wall. I heard the door open and looked towards the front of my cell to see the cop, Henri, with a woman next to him. She held a large platter in her hands and I immediately caught a whiff of something wonderful.

"I'm sorry this ain't much, young man, but I'm a thinkin' it's a might better than anything Henri could whip up for you."

Officer Rousseau opened the cell door and the woman set the platter down on the cot beside me and removed the cloth covering it. My eyes went wide at the assortment of meats, potatoes, and veggies laid out on the plate.

"Oh my God, thank you so much!" The food looked delicious, and I was so damn hungry! I remembered my manners and thanked her again.

I was left alone to eat as the light began to fade in the cellblock. I looked up and saw that it wasn't a matter of someone turning on the lights because there were no lights to turn on.

About an hour later I heard the door at the other end of the hall open and I leaned over to look. It was that naked woman again, accompanied by the young woman, Veronica. What in the hell?!!

The two spoke quietly for some time, Veronica again caressing Lucy's hair, and to my amazement, holding her around her bare waist and lovingly stroking her waist and ass. Lucy's face pressed between two of the vertical bars and I saw that her eyes were closed even though the two were still in quiet conversation.

"You won't need to come back tonight, mon cherie," Lucy said. "I can already feel that my time has passed."

"Then come home with me," the girl urged. "Momma has your room all ready."

"Must we go through this every month, mai gardien?" Lucy reached her slender arm through the bars and tussled the girl's short brown hair.

"Hey! You cut that out!" The girl pulled back and then reached through with both hands in an attempt to tickle the naked prisoner.

Veronica looked my way and saw that I was watching them and then looked back at Lucy. They both settled down and started to whisper before the young woman finally reached in and held the back of Lucy's head and gave her a peck on the cheek before leaving through the back door.

A few minutes passed before I spoke. "Lucy, right?" I called out. "I'm Darios."

Again, my appeal for conversation was met with silence. I leaned back against the wall and thought about the events of the previous evening and of what I had seen just now.

"Hello Darios." Her words came to me softly, her voice low, sexy, I guess. "How do you do?"

"Well, I guess I've been better."

I heard some rustling and looked out of the front of my cage to see Lucy pressed up against the bars of her cell. Her breasts jutted out from between the bars, her nipples standing erect. Her bare foot stepped onto the lowest horizontal bar and her slender leg bent outward into the hallway at the knee.

"I heard you broke some law or something. That's unfortunate. It's hard to keep up with them all isn't it?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "But this was really stupid, and all my fault. I forgot to renew my license before I came down here."

"You're a hunter?" she blurted out.

I sensed a strain in her voice, like surprise, or was it fear?

"No, no, for my car, you know...my drivers license?"

"Oh, um, yeah, of course." I thought I heard a little giggle come from her, but I wasn't sure.

We stood looking at each other through the bars of our cells for a moment, and then I had to ask, "Why are you naked?"

"I'm always naked. It's natural for me, I guess. I don't know how to explain it, but after all of these years it just feels right."

"So you're a nudist," I stated, wondering what she meant by 'all these years'. The woman was not that much older than me, maybe a few years but not much beyond that. Had she been a nudist since birth?

It took a moment, and then she said, "Yes, exactly. I'm a nudist."

I decided to press my luck and asked, "Do you mind telling me why you're in here?"

My question was met with silence and I knew I had gone too far. Damn it! I had her talking and then I fucking blew it!

I looked down towards her cell and saw that she had retreated from the bars and I did the same, sitting again on the cot and leaning back against the wall.

I was startled when I heard her voice again. "I've killed people, Darios, and I'll kill you too if I get the chance."

Lucy's revelation kept me awake for hours that night. She had killed people? Who? Why? Jeremy's last call cycled through my head over and over. He said he'd been arrested here, and now I'd been arrested here. What the hell had happened to him? Before I had been worried, mainly because of his diabetes, but now, with a professed murderess four cells away, my concern was at an entirely different level.

I slept fitfully, maybe not wanting to fall into a deep sleep. Maybe not trusting the old locks on this cage I was trapped in.

The next morning when I awoke the heat of the day was already making its oppression known inside the open windowed jail. I heard keys jangling and then the door opened to admit Officer Rousseau.

"Good morning, Darios, you're sort of a late sleeper aren't you?" he asked as he turned the key in the lock of my cell door.

"Good morning, sir," I replied, remembering our previous conversation and also trying to be less confrontational with the man. There was still the matter of why I had taken this ill planned trip to address. I had to find out about my friend, and soon.

I was led down the hall to the latrine and then, afterwards, rather than turning back towards my cell, I was led out the back door.

"It's too hot in there, don't you think? You can join Lucy in our outdoor confinement area." The cop stopped to relock the back door to the cellblock and then leaned towards me. In almost a whisper he said, "I think she likes you, but let me warn you about her..."

"Yeah, she's a killer, right?" I cut him off.

Henri looked at me and I saw a flash of anger cross his face and I instantly regretted speaking out. With some restraint evident in his voice, he said, "She told you? I guess she must like you, then." He held my arm firmly and led me away from the little cinderblock jailhouse.

Looking off towards the Commons area, I saw the brown haired woman standing in the stocks. They had somehow gotten her positioning wrong, though, and had placed her in the vertical stocks facing away from the structure. This meant that her face looked skyward and her still naked body arched backward so that the front of her body faced away from the vertical beam. Her wrists were trapped within the holes meant for them, and as we came closer I could see that her ankles were well secured in the wooden beams near the ground.

"Listen, son. Don't be too quick to judge her. It's a mental disorder that she cannot control. It's why we, as a town, have decided to keep her here with us, under our protection. There's nothing any of those government brain tinklers can do for her, and we don't hand our problems off to them anyways. Here we go." The cop directed me towards one of the horizontal pillories that rested on the ground and pointed down to indicate that I was to sit.

I tripped on an exposed root from a neighboring Swamp Ash as I was distracted by the sight of Lucy, restrained in the pillory, the entire front of her gorgeous body exposed and vulnerable. Henri steadied me and shot me a glance that told me to watch myself and I obeyed, sitting on a small wooden block and placing my feet in the lower half of the stocks. The cop closed the top half of the frame over my ankles and slid a lock through the matching eyelets to secure it in place. He stepped over my outstretched legs towards Lucy, his hand touching her taut stomach and then rising up to cup her breast.

Not even processing the fact that I was locked in some medieval pillory, I looked up in disbelief as the lawman groped the bound woman's breasts and squeezed them roughly. But that disbelief was nothing compared to what I felt when I heard Lucy say, "Thank you sir!"

"You want it girl? You know I brought Darios out to cool off with you, don't you? Certainly you wouldn't want it with him here."

"Yes please, sir. The outsider can see, I don't mind. I need it, sir. Please."

The cop grabbed a handful of her brown curls and pulled her head back. "You're such a pain slut aren't you, woman? Say it. Tell me what a slut you are."

Lucy struggled, trying to free her head from the man's grasp. "I'll kill you, you son-of-a-bitch, when I get outta..."

The cop pulled back on her head with one hand and lifted her an inch higher in the stocks by pulling upward on her right breast.

"Yes!" Lucy cried out. "I'm a slut! I'm your slut, master! Now please! Don't chance it, sir!"

At this point my cock began to respond. Fucking shit! She needed what? Whatever it was, the cop was not giving it to her because he'd released his grip and had taken a couple of steps back towards the police station.

"Henri! Sir! Please, master," there was real desperation in her voice now. I heard a strangled moan from the woman as she began to struggle in her bondage. "Don't! Don't leave me like this! Damn you master! I need it! You know I need it."

Officer Rousseau turned back and lifted his arm towards the far end of the pillory's upper cross beam. When his hand came down it held a leather flogger.

"How many?" he asked, as he dangled the thick leather tails over her breasts and wiggled the handle. Lucy squirmed and raised her hips the best she could, pressing her pubic bone upward. Henri cupped her pussy and then ran his fingers through the light covering of brown curls, pulling gently.

"Don't play this game with me, Henri." The woman's voice was raspy, but then more quietly, as if she was straining to maintain her composure, she said, "Please...just begin, I'll tell you when it's enough. After that, you may stop when it pleases you."

The cop took a step back and swung the flogger down across Lucy's breasts so hard the resulting sound made me jump. In a practiced swing, the flogger came horizontally across her straining stomach and then quickly back the other way.

"Thank you!" Lucy cried out. "More! Quickly! I feel it coming! It's close, Henri darling!" The words came out in frantic bursts between breaths.

Henri began to flog the naked woman in earnest. No part of her body was ignored for the next five minutes. Lucy was soon crying out in pain, her screams echoing across the Commons. I saw several people come out of their stores and look our way. An elderly woman came out of her house, nestled among a cluster of Swamp Ash, and sat in a rocker on her porch.

Lucy's screams became more desperate and I couldn't take it, "Stop it! Stop! You're really hurting her!" I yelled.

The cops arm stopped in mid swing. I heard Lucy gasping for breath, a mantra of sorts coming from her lips. It sounded like, "Thank you master, thank you master..." over and over.

Officer Rousseau stepped forward and looked down into Lucy's face. "Your friend here thinks you've had enough. Is he right?"

Lucy stopped her mantra and took several deep breaths while the cop wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"No, sir, but soon. I'm almost there, sir."

"Continue then?"

"Yes please."

The cop looked at me and shrugged as his arm came back and brought the flogger around so that the leather thongs wrapped behind Lucy and cracked against her buttocks. The flogging continued until Lucy finally shouted out that it was enough. Still, the cop continued to redden her flesh, searching for those few places that were still her natural color. Lucy struggled against the ancient wooden frame and thanked the man for his attentions.

When he was done, both were wet with sweat. Henri came close to Lucy and kissed her forehead as he hung the flogger on the hook he had taken it from.

"You okay now, girl?" he asked as he gently moved the sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes and wiped away the moisture from her forehead. I couldn't help but to observe the naked woman, bound in such a harsh manner before me. Her muscles were firm and her body soaked with sweat, moisture trickling down her body, forming rivulets between her pert breasts and across her tanned, smooth stomach. The well-toned muscles of her thighs glistened in the noonday heat.

"Yes sir, thank you, sir. May I have water?"

"Of course," he bent down and opened a cooler near the foot of the pillory and looked up at me, "Water?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied, and caught the plastic bottle he tossed in my direction.

Henri stood and held the water bottle over Lucy's lips and let a little stream flow into her mouth. She nodded and he proceeded to pour the remainder over her head and down the olive toned flesh of her chest and tightly stretched abdomen.

"I'll check on y'all in a couple of hours."

And with that, the cop strode off across the open grass towards his office.


Part Two (added: 2012/04/09)

The beating that had taken place, not four feet way from me as I sat secured in place by the ancient ankle stocks, stunned me. My attempt at halting the abuse had been unsuccessful as the young woman being flogged, having been given a choice, had asked for the beating to continue. Was her guilt so great that she felt it necessary to be continually beaten for it? Having never killed anyone, I had no idea the weight of that guilt, but I imagined it was a heavy load to bear. But was her constant state of nudity and the beatings the right way to go about making amends?

And what of the little references to 'her time' and her need to be 'settled'? What the hell was that all about? I assumed her 'time' referred to her monthly cycle, yes, I even heard someone mention that the first night. Did she kill when she was having her period? That thought brought a smirk to my face for some reason, maybe because it just seemed so ludicrous! I'd had girlfriends who were a royal pain in the ass while on their cycle, but this...this would really take the cake. But I was getting the feeling that when Lucy felt the urge to kill she used the beatings to settle herself down. What must that feeling be like? I couldn't imagine, but for her to know when those urges were surfacing told me it was something tangible that she was acutely aware of.

It took me several minutes to speak. "Are you okay, Lucy?"

"Yes, thank you sir."

A million questions flew through my mind, but asking them was an entirely different thing. I was hesitant to open my mouth, to inquire into the purpose of what I had just witnessed. The beautiful woman bound next to me was like an abstract mosaic. Little pieces of this picture seemed to be made up of parts from two different sources.

Just now, her voice had been so calm, so sweet. Yet, not fifteen minutes ago, she had threatened to kill Officer Rousseau. My god, was the woman schizophrenic, or suffering from multiple personalities? It might be one explanation for what I'd been witnessing, a logical one anyways.

"It's a lot nicer out here, isn't it Darios?" The question jerked me out of the whirlpool of my thoughts, taking me by surprise with its content. "I mean, those cells can get so hot during the day, and a breeze can be felt out here every so often."

Are we having a normal conversation after what I'd just seen her go through? I looked up at her and replied, "Yes, I think I just felt a breeze, or was it one of those big bugs just flapping its wings as it flew by."

Somehow this comment caught her just right and she began to giggle. "Yes, sometimes several will fly by at one time and cause quite a wind!" We laughed together.

"Please forgive us for what you just saw, sir. I'm sure it was a surprise for you, it's just...it's just that I needed...oh, Darios...it's hard to explain it to an outsider."

I sensed sadness in her voice, maybe even frustration, and several minutes of silence passed before Lucy said, "I get so restless that I need the floggings to settle me down. Believe it or not, if the restlessness is not contained I could break this wooden frame quite easily. And that is the last thing I want to happen, believe me, I don't want to be free ever again."

"You're kidding me," I said, not really hearing the last part of her statement as I tugged at the heavy wood of the cross beam that covered my ankles. "These beams may be old, but they're heavy and solid."

I saw Lucy's fingers moving and then pointing. "See that stump over there?"

I looked to see the remains of what looked like a vertical pillory, broken off about a foot above the ground.

"They let me go too long before settling me and I broke that frame. I don't remember doing it, or killing poor Clive, but I did. It was horrible, and I begged them to kill me. But they didn't. They won't kill me, Darios, no matter how much I deserve it. And I do deserve it, have no doubt."

"Why do you kill, though?" I asked, hoping I was not overstepping again. "Is it really a mental problem like the sheriff told me?"

"Is that what he said?" Lucy laughed. "A mental problem? If only it was that simple! I'm cursed. Just as my mother was cursed and her mother before her. There's a curse on the Avakian name that will never be lifted. But the curse ends with me because I will never bear a child, I refuse to subject my offspring to this hell."

I pondered her admission for a moment, wondering what she meant by a curse. Surely no one believes that curses have any real power! Curse or no, the need to know what happened to Jeremy was now overwhelming and I couldn't help but to broach the subject.

"I have to ask you something Lucy, and I'm really sorry to have to ask it, but, did you kill my friend?"

"Your friend?" Lucy strained to look down at me but was unable to see me due to my position near her feet. "Darios! Please...who is this friend? Why would you think I killed him?"

"His name is Jeremy, and he called me a week ago and said he'd been arrested in this town. He needed help. I never heard anything from him again, so I came down here to look for him."

"Oh no! Oh no! He was your friend? I'm so sorry!" Lucy began to cry, her sobs echoing across the Commons. Several people began to run our way from different directions.

"What is it? What's wrong, Lucy?" a woman with long black hair tied into a pony tail asked as she held Lucy's head and smoothed her hair. "She's burning up, get more water Jack." She held out her hand until the man from the leather goods store handed her a fresh bottle from the cooler. The woman cupped her hand and allowed the water to cascade over it and onto Lucy's head, then dribbled some into her mouth.

"I killed his friend. It was that kid from the other night, the tainted one."

"Shhh, Lusineh, don't speak of it," another woman said quietly as she moved to block my view of Lucy's head. "That boy is not dead. We were able to save him."

"What? You were?"

"Excuse me," I called out. "Is my friend okay or not? Where is he?"

The man from the leather shop stepped over and looked down at me. He shook his head and sort of laughed, nodding back towards Lucy he said, "Don't listen to her when she gets like this. Your friend went too close to the swamp and a big ol' gator got to him. We were able to find him and get him to the hospital in time."

"Where, what hospital?"

"Officer Rousseau can answer your questions, I'm sure. That is not our affair." The man returned his focus to Lucy and the others that were helping her. I noticed the care in which they treated the naked woman, while none of them hesitated to touch her bare flesh, it seemed that they did so with such gentleness. In my mind, their attention to the murderess was at odds with the crimes she admitted to have committed against them. Other than the beating the cop had given her earlier, the naked woman seemed to be treated with such loving affection, even while bound naked in a medieval pillory.

Lucy's stocks were opened and the three women held her tightly while helping her turn around so that she was facing the correct way. Jack and another man stood by the stocks and lowered the heavy beams to once again capture her limbs between them. The black haired woman snapped the locks shut and placed the key atop the cross beam of the pillory.

"Do you need to be calmed further, Lucy?" Jack asked as his hand went to the flogger hanging from its hook.

"No sir, thank you for offering though. The young ones will be along shortly and I'll be fine until then."

The group of villagers hovered close to Lucy's head, leaning in to talk to her quietly while caressing her hair and shoulders. I watched as the black haired woman's hand absently roamed further down her torso, caressing Lucy's bare back. It wasn't overtly sexual but I felt my cock harden at the sight of the loving touch. The discussion ended and the group moved off, heading back to whence they came.

I sat in silence and watched Lucy, standing bent over now, her hands and head sticking out of the front of the pillory in the manner that they were meant to.

The redness had lessened from her earlier flogging and to be honest it was difficult to tear my gaze from her captured body. In this position her breasts hung freely below her bent over torso. They were certainly lovely breasts with large nipples that protruded out stiffly as if the attention of the villagers had been stimulating after all. But as a part of the overall package, Lucy was stunningly beautiful, made more so by the thin sheen of perspiration that glistened on her well toned muscles.

"I can't expect you to ever forgive me, Darios. I'm so, so, sorry." Lucy said, her head now able to turn enough to look back at me.

I blushed as she surely saw me ogling her. "For what?" I asked. "You heard them, it was an alligator, not you."

"There's no alligators in this part of the swamp," Lucy spit, venom in her voice.

Lucy stood with her head down for several minutes and then looked over at me.

"I remember something now, he's tall and has longer hair than you, right? Sort of dark, and a thin mustache?"

"Yeah, that's sounds like him." I sat up a little straighter but then had to support my weight with my hands because sitting on that hard little block of wood was beginning to make my ass really, really, sore. "What do you remember?"

"I only remember seeing him, sort of in a haze, like what you might call tunnel vision. I remember attacking him, Darios. I think I remember it, yes, but then...something was wrong and I felt funny. It wasn't right. I don't remember killing him, but then I never do."

"He's probably in the hospital, just like they said."

"I hope so," Lucy said as her head hung down from the hole it was captured in.

I sat, and she stood, in silence for a couple of hours, each submerged in our own thoughts. Officer Rousseau came to check on us as promised and brought some food. He picked up on Lucy's sullen mood but was unable to get her to tell him what the problem was. He fed her slowly, and then gave us both more water before heading out into the town.

The temperature was certainly cooler than in the cellblock, but Lucy and I were both experiencing our own doses of hell as a trade off. I'm not sure if the little block I was sitting on was meant to be so torturous, but it felt like I was sitting on pins and needles. Maybe because I couldn't stand to circulate the blood, I don't know, but the pain was becoming intolerable. The thought of being locked in the pillory had not really been at the forefront of my thoughts (with a gorgeous naked woman bound right next to me) but it was now. I was beginning to think that sweating away half my body fat in the cell might not be so bad after all.

Meanwhile, I could see Lucy begin to rock back and forth slowly putting her weight on her legs alternately and then together. The stock was low enough that it forced her to be either in a crouch or standing bent over with her legs straight and her shapely ass high in the air.

I heard some noise coming from the trees near the road leading into town and a few minutes later a couple dozen kids came around the corner. They left the road and headed across the grass, straight for us. They were all carrying schoolbooks and wore backpacks that seemed to be loaded as well.

"Okay, that's close enough guys," one of the young men said, as he pointed off towards the general store. All of the younger children broke off and headed off towards the area of the general store and the houses beyond, a few looked back at Lucy and me with interest.

The remainder of the students approached us, putting their books and packs down a few feet away. The kids looked to be of various ages, some possibly seniors in high school, while at least two seemed to be older, maybe in college.

"So how's our favorite whore, today?" the boy who appeared to be the oldest asked as his hand roamed Lucy's bare sweaty back. His attentions didn't stop there, though, as his hand roamed down to her ass and roughly massaged her flesh, cupping her ass and kneading it.

"I'm very well, thank you young master," Lucy responded.

"Who are you kids?" I asked. "You shouldn't be over here, should you?"

The girl that appeared to be the youngest of the bunch kicked me in the side, surprising the shit out of me, and embarrassing me by making me grunt. "Shut up outsider. We're all of age, so mind your own business."

"It's okay, Darios, as she says, they are all of age and are allowed to help settle me," Lucy said.

I looked up to see Veronica move to Lucy's head and cup her chin, lifting it slightly to give her a passionate kiss on her lips. "How are you, whore? Been having fun today?"

"Yes mistress!" Lucy said enthusiastically. "Have you met Mr. Donelli? He's been excellent company for me today."

Veronica grabbed Lucy's hair and twisted her head to the side so she looked up into the young woman's face. "Don't get too friendly with the outsider, slut," she hissed, and then let her head fall free.

"No mistress," Lucy said. She looked around at the youngsters surrounding her and then back at Veronica. "Who will you choose to settle me today, Mistress? I'm ready. Can it be Gabriel? He strikes quite hard and I feel I need that today."

"It is my right to choose, Lusineh Avakian," Veronica said with authority, "and I choose Paulette." The young woman turned and unhooked a long thick cane from the front of the pillory that Lucy was held captive in. From my position behind her I had not seen the cane hanging there and was surprised when Veronica handed it to a sliver of a girl, standing off to the side, blushing.

"Roni!" Lucy gasped. "Paulie is the weakest of you all and has never been chosen! She will not settle me today, mistress!"

I looked at the faces of the young people around us and saw a little bit of fear in a few of them. Two of the younger looking teens even took a step or two backward.

"Sophie, Gerard, do not retreat. Never retreat!" Veronica reprimanded the two. "You must learn to control her if you wish to survive. Paulette, you are choosen, you will settle the slut today or we will all pay the price. Step forward and begin."

The young woman stepped up and then moved to Lucy's side. She lifted the cane and brought it down against the flesh on Lucy's upper thigh causing a sort of dull thud to be heard.

"Oh God, Roni! She will not do it today, mistress!" Lucy moaned, struggling now against the pillory beams, shaking the entire structure. "I feel it rising! Please, I'm begging you...before it's too late!"

"Silence, whore!" Veronica shouted, causing everyone to take a step back. I would've stepped back too, had I been able to.

Veronica stepped next to Paulette and put her arm around the young lady's shoulder. She leaned in and very quietly and calmly said, "You love your parents, don't you?"

"Yes, Roni, of course."

"And how about your little sister, Marie? Do you love her?"

"Y...yes, you know I do."

"And how about our little pet, here. Would you like me to kill her today?" I saw the girl's hand go to her belt where it rested on the heel of a knife handle. A sheath, maybe eight inches long, hung from her belt. "Would you be the one responsible for finally ending her life? For failing to settle her and allowing her to break free, to kill your loved ones? "

Paulette turned to look at Veronica, her eyes wide, "No! No of course not! I would never want to hurt Lusineh."

"Then strike her hard!" Veronica said a little louder. "She's begging you for it because she loves you as well, and does not want the murderer inside of her to take over. Settle her down!"

Veronica stood back as the cane whooshed the short distance to the back of Lucy's captured leg.

Smack! The sound of the strike filled the afternoon air, followed quickly by a grunt from the bound woman.

Smack! Another hard strike against the tanned flesh.

"Thank you, Paulie!" Lucy cried out, her voice strained as she tried desperately to not appear to be in pain.

The caning continued, Veronica and the others offering the girl encouragements while verbally abusing the bound woman. After what seemed an eternity Lucy began screaming out that it was sufficient.

"Don't stop yet," Veronica advised, "Here, let me show you a few places to strike that will be quite painful. This will help make sure she is settled." She pointed to a spot on the inside of Lucy's knee and watched as Paulette delivered several hard blows to the flesh there. Lucy bucked and cried out, but the process was repeated on the back of the other knee, too.

"And here," Veronica pointed to a spot near Lucy's underarm, and then guided Paulette into a position that she could lift the cane at an odd angle and deliver a couple of blows. Each strike elicited a response from the woman held helpless in the pillory.

"Okay, now offer the usual comfort. You have done this before." Veronica took the cane from the girl and then stepped back to allow Paulette to go to Lucy's head and smooth her hair and stroke her cheek.

"Are you okay, whore?" Paulette asked, her voice trembling slightly, the emotions of what she had just done still affecting her.

Lucy lifted her head and kissed Paulette's fingers as they touched her lips. "Yes, young Mistress, thank you. And thank you for attending to my needs, you did a fine job."

At this praise, Paulette beamed brightly and kissed Lucy on the cheek, a huge smile on her lips.

The other young people stepped forward to touch Lucy's face and head. The boy, Gerard, looked at the others and then slid his hand around so that it went under Lucy to her hanging breast. I saw his fingers toy with her nipple and then heard him yelp as Verionica struck his arm with the cane.

"Do you wish to be excused from this service?"

Gerard rubbed his arm and shook his head. "No, I wanna serve like everyone else."

"Then don't let me catch you doing that again. You know there can be no sexual contact until you're twenty-one. You can wait another two years, can't you?"

"Yes, but...but Gabriel..."

"What Gabriel did was not sexual in nature, you must learn the difference."

I thought back to when the group had first arrived and the way in which Gabriel had touched Lucy's back and then gripped her ass. No, that had not been sexual, it had been to show dominance.

"Besides," Veronica continued, "You know Gab's birthday is this week. He's as good as twenty-one already."

The youngsters picked up their packs and books and left Lucy and me to continue serving our time in the stocks. The sun was behind the trees now, and the air was getting cooler. We passed the time talking and laughing. Lucy had a wonderful sense of humor and was quite knowledgeable on a wide variety of topics. She questioned me in depth about Wisconsin and my life on campus in Minnesota and seemed to be genuinely interested in my life and my coursework in Forestry. She found it interesting that I was studying to become a Forest Service botanist when I graduated, and said she shared my love of the outdoors.

Later that evening, while back in my cell eating another delicious meal prepared by the woman, Mrs. Devereux, Officer Rousseau stopped by and told me that he had just returned from the city. While he had been there he had checked in on Jeremy on my behalf. He handed me a piece of paper, a photocopy actually, that showed that one Jeremy Jenkins had been released from the hospital at 8:33am that morning.

"I learned from one of the cops at the hospital that your friend asked for directions to Highway 55, north. It appears that he's heading home. That's good news right?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you for checking." That was good news, and a great relief to me to know Jeremy was really okay after all, and heading home.

He turned to leave, but I called out, "Mr. Rousseau! What about me? When can I leave?"

"I put in a call from town and hope to hear back by tomorrow. These things take time, son. We can all see you're not a danger, and tomorrow you'll have a lot more freedom to move around. I'll set you up with some work to do to pass the time."

"Okay, well, thanks I guess." I finished my supper and left the tray near the cutout in the bars. I looked down the hallway towards the cell that Lucy usually occupied and saw that the door was open. Lucy did not come back to the jail that night.

The following morning I was awake at dawn, having slept more soundly than previous nights. Whether it was due to the fatigue I had felt after being released from the pillory or from not having to worry that a murderer was only a few cells away, I didn't know. But I knew I very much wanted to spend time with Lucy again, and while not wishing to spend more time in the stocks, if that's where she was I wanted to be there, too. I would gladly sit on that little block of hell to spend the day with her.

"Officer Rouseau!" I called out. "May I use the restroom please?"

Some sounds came from the office end of the hallway and then I heard the keys jingling together as one was turned in the lock. The door opened and the black-haired woman that ran to Lucy's aid the previous day entered the cell area.

"Mornin', Mr. Donelli," the woman said as she stopped in front of my cell, keys in her hand. "Henri had business to attend to today and asked that I watch over you. Will you give me trouble?"

Trouble? Like what? Escape? And go where? I noticed Officer Rousseau's gun belt around the woman's waist, the black handle of the revolver visible.

"No, I won't give you any trouble. I just need to go to the bathroom right now, and then you can bring me right back here."

Her hand went to the lock and seconds later she was holding the door open for me.

"Actually, if ya don't mind, I was a-hopin' to bring you to the house for breakfast and then to help Lucy at my neighbor's house."

"Help Lucy?" That got my attention.

"Here you go; I'll be in the office. Meet me there when you've finished." The woman held her hand out like an usher, directing me into the small restroom.

It seemed I was being given a rather longer leash today for some reason. The thought occurred to me to make a break for it, but to be honest; the thought of seeing Lucy again was way more desirable than my own freedom. Besides, this whole license thing was going to be cleared up legally, why make things worse for myself by becoming a fugitive? That would be sort of stupid.

A few minutes later I was following the woman across the Commons towards some houses on the far side. The pillories were unoccupied, and I sort of hoped they would remain that way.

"Oh, I'm Martine Rousseau, by the way."

I reached out to shake the hand she offered me. "Darios Donelli," I replied.

"Yeah, I know," she said, a grin on her face.

I blushed. "Hey, is it my imagination or is everyone around here French?"

"Well, not everyone, but most are of French descent." The woman altered her course to walk across the grass towards a two-story brick house. "Do you know your history, Mr. Donelli?"

"It's not my strong suit," I admitted.

Martine held the door open and allowed me to enter her home. It was very pleasant inside and rather cooler that outside. "The French explored this region of the country long before anyone else settled here. This here town is one of the oldest colonial towns in the country. It was one of the original outposts left from Robert DeSalle's expedition in 1682."

"Really?" Now that was an interesting factoid.

"Yes," she ushered me to the table and I sat down. "There's been a French presence here ever since."

"Wow," I replied. 1682? Really? Like most Americans, I knew little of the history of my own country, but I knew the pilgrims settled in Massachusetts around 1620, and of course the Revolution began around 1775. What happened between those events was a mystery to me, but apparently the French were poking around down here.

"It was mainly a military presence for many years, but civilians began to come across; traders, business men, ya know, and soon their families." Martine set a plate down with a small portion of scrambled eggs and two sausage links on it, and I thanked her.

"In 1774 the Avakians immigrated here with a shipload of political dissidents eager to get away from the troubles after the death of King Louis XV. Rumors even linked the death of the King to the Avakians, but that was all just talk because it got around pretty fast that he had died of smallpox."

Martine sat across from me and looked at me intently as I ate. "Lucy's grandmother, Elisabeta, was pregnant on that voyage and gave birth to Lucy's mother, Melonya, soon after the ship landed on the coast."

I put my fork down and looked at the black-haired woman. She seemed to be pretty intelligent, but what the hell was she talking about? Lucy's mother could not have been born in 1774. Even my shitty math skills were better than that.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rousseau, that doesn't add up. It must have been," I rolled the numbers around in my head, "like her mother's great-great-grandmother, or someone like that."

"We know our history in this here town, Mr. Donelli." The woman got up and picked up my plate and returned it to the kitchen. "Come with me now, we'll put you to work." She walked to the far end of the kitchen and held the screen door open and I followed her out.

A narrow path led through the swamp and we placed our feet carefully to avoid slipping into the muck on either side. I was glad Lucy had told me that there were no alligators in this part of the swamp or I would've been freaking out. I heard some talking up ahead and saw the old hag standing near a little wood hut. As we got closer I saw that the hut was bigger than I thought and I guess you could call it a house.

"Hi, Irena!" Martine called out as we rounded the last little bend in the trail.

The hag turned and looked and then smiled. "Martine, how wonderful to see you, dear!"

The old woman held her arms out and waited for my guide to step forward and embrace her. Irena looked around Martine and saw me walk up the slight grade to stand a short distance away.

"Aack! The Northern Boy! What's he a-doing here?"

"He's going to help Lucy get this garden box filled up for Emilie."

"No, I meant in Melonya. He shoulda been turned away, you know that!" the old woman hissed.

Martine leaned closer to Irena and spoke quietly, but I still managed to hear her say, "The others decided to keep him for her."

"Does she know?"

"Shhh, I think she suspects."

Just then Lucy came around the corner of the house and I couldn't help but to notice the smile appear on her face when she saw me. I pretty much forgot what the women were talking about once I saw Lucy. Naked as always, my new nudist friend was caked with mud from the knees down and just plain dirty from the knees up. She raised her hand and waved. The woman still wore the brown leather collar around her neck and matching cuffs around her slender wrists and ankles, the bondage gear somehow adding to her allure.

"Hi, Darios!" she said as the shovel in her hand fell to the ground and she ran the short distance and surprised me with a hug. Without thinking, my arm went around her and held her like I would normally hold a person hugging me, but when my hand felt her bare flesh I pulled it away.

"Lucy!" Irena spat.

Lucy looked over at the old woman and said, "I'm sorry, sister, it's just that...well, I like Darios. We spent all day together yesterday in the park."

"You get ona back to work now woman, take the Northern Boy with you and show him what needs to be done."

"Yes, Mistress, come on Darios, it's just over here." Lucy grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back of the house. When we rounded the corner I saw a large wooden frame set into the ground that Lucy had been working in. Off a little ways in the swamp was a large hill of solid ground that looked to be dug up, and I soon learned that Lucy had been digging earth from the hill and carrying it over to the box, filling it with the fertile soil.

We toiled together for a couple of hours, my cock remaining hard the entire time as I watched Lucy straining with her end of the cloth stretcher we used to transport the soil from the hill to the garden. Her naked flesh glistened with perspiration, her well-toned muscles flexing and straining from the loads. The dirt smeared across her flesh somehow made her seem even more sexy, and I struggled to take my eyes off her as every sinew in her arms, neck, and thighs stood out, her firm full breasts moving slightly from side to side as she lifted, the nipples hard and prominent.

My gaze drifted down across her flat stomach, with just a hint of an athlete's six-pack on show, to the fuzz of pubic hair, matted by the sweat dripping off it. As we took a break between loads, she arched her back to relieve the strain and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her dirty forearm. I knew I had never seen, and probably never would see, a more erotic image in my life.

She looked at me with a wide open, innocent smile, and I know I blushed like a schoolboy caught staring at the teacher, which was pretty much what had happened, and to cover my embarrassment I suggested we take smaller loads, as if that was what I was thinking about. She insisted it wasn't too heavy for her and when we resumed our work we continued to load the stretcher full to overloaded each time. After awhile I was wishing we could take smaller loads as I became the one who was found to be slacking, not her. I was amazed, really, at her strength and stamina. She was certainly no stranger to manual labor.

Another hour passed before Irena announced a break, and we paused to rest in the shade of the house while sipping on water. Lucy leaned back on her elbows and let her head fall back so that her long curly brown hair touched the grass behind her. Her knees were up, legs spread widely, unconsciously offering me an unrestricted view of her sex. There was not an iota of modesty about the woman and I knew at that moment I was in the presence of a true nudist. Being naked was so normal for Lucy that the thought of covering herself in any way did not even enter her mind.

Wanting to avoid being caught ogling her again, I decided on conversation. "That woman, Martine, told me your mother was born in 1774. That can't be right?"

Lucy looked over at me and searched my eyes for something before saying, "Yes, she was correct."

"But..."

"It's the curse, Darios." She lay back on the grassy hill; hands cupped under her head, elbows back, and looked up into the sky through the canopy of leaves overhead. "Not only is my family line condemned to be murderers, but our lives are to be long. A hundred and fifty years is not out of the question, maybe longer. Imagine the torment if I were to be imprisoned for life?"

I lay back next to her and looked up through the same opening in the Swamp Ash at the blue sky beyond. A hundred and fifty years? No friggin' way. This was impossible to believe.

"This may shock you, but I'm ninety years old right now. Irena was born three days before me. It's why I call her sister, as she's my oldest and dearest friend. My mother was one hundred and twenty years old when I was born."

I rolled onto my side and looked at her. She was simply looking up into the sky, no facial expression to indicate that she was telling me anything other than the truth.

"I...I don't understand, Lucy. This seems so impossible!" I gasped.

"Yes, I know, for an outsider it's impossible to fathom. But, you see, I've lived here all of my life, with these people, my extended family. I've seen them all grow up from infants." She closed her eyes for a moment and I watched her, soaking up the pure beauty of her dirty face. Then barely a whisper, she added, "I've killed them, too, my own friends, my own keepers. The only family I will ever have, I've murdered them."

Lucy reached over and held my arm, pulling my hand onto her chest.

"Feel my heavy heart beat, Darios, as I remember those I have killed. The curse tortures me with these memories, and I pray that my friends will kill me." She held my wrist securely and moved it down so that my hand covered her breast, the firmness of it pressed against my palm.

"But you see, I have been with them since they were infants, and to kill me would be like killing their own family, too. They know the curse that is upon me, and they understand the monthly insanity that drives me to murder. They learn from an early age to help contain my deadly urges."

"The settlings?" I asked, the feel of her breast so wonderful beneath my hand, her nipple responding to my hot touch.

Lucy looked over at me. "Yes, the settlings. Only through harsh punishment can I be calmed. Only when the pain is great and the humiliation of their words stinging my ears can I resist becoming the unearthly demon that destroys without conscience."

"You two!" Irena called out as she rounded the corner of the house. "Back to work so we can get that soil in the box today." As she approached, she spat out, "Remove your hand, young man! No one may touch Lusineh in such a manner before her nadir day!"

I jerked my hand away and sat up. "I'm sorry, I..."

"Back to work, now!" the old woman hissed, removing the flogger from her belt. "Lusineh, you know better."

"I apologize, Irena. Please flog me if I have displeased you."

"I would enjoy that, my friend, but time is short and you have another two feet of soil to carry over."

We returned to our labors, but I continued asking about her past, not really knowing if what I was hearing was fact or fiction. But just to hear Lucy speak was soothing, and it kept my mind from the pain I was feeling in my back and shoulders from the labor.

It seemed that the curse had been placed on Lucy's ancestors by Gypsies in the year 1630 in their native country of Moldavia. The country underwent radical changes under the rule of Micheal the Brave that changed the face of the Moldavian society. Count Avakian and his wife, the Countess Ileana Avakian, were besieged by the Gypsies who had placed the curse upon them, forcing them to abandon their estate and escape to the Schwarzwald, the Black Forest, in Germany. Hunted like animals for a hundred years, the family made their way to France where, over time, they managed to work their way into the French aristocracy. It was during these years that Lucy's grandmother, Elisebeta, was born.

But the curse continued to haunt her ancestors and each month new murders were reported, and suspicions began to surround the family. Then in May of 1774, King Louis XV was found dead, and, most likely due to political maneuvering, all indications pointed to the Avakians. In the dead of night, the family escaped the continent aboard a Great Ship destined for the new world.

I listened to Lucy's story and could not imagine that it was in any way true, but the way in which she related it to me seemed to indicate that at least she believed it to be so. There was no hesitation in her delivery, no tone or inflection that gave away her lies. And why would a person go to the trouble of fabricating such an elaborate fantasy? Unless she truly was unstable or a pathological liar.

As we spread out and chopped into pieces the remaining dirt clots, Irena came down the little hill and stood upon the frame, watching as we chopped at the rich soil.

"That be good enough," she announced.

Martine Rousseau stood next to the old woman, her hand beckoning me out of the garden box. I dusted myself off and followed her back down the trail to her house where I was given a towel and shown to the shower. Where Lucy was taken I don't know.

I truly looked forward to returning to my cell, if only to sort through the tales I had been told throughout the day. Separating fact from fiction might be a good place to start, but to me, the entire revelation seemed to be fiction. How was I to believe such a tale as the one my beautiful friend related to me?

It was not possible to believe a word, yet impossible to deny that I did believe her. Was my heart guiding my brain now? Somewhere in the back of my head there was a little voice telling me that I could not be feeling this way about the woman after knowing her for only four days. But that little voice was barely heard over the thumping of my heart when I thought of Lucy. That heart beat was heavy, just as the beat I felt when Lucy held my hand upon her heart, for in these few short days I had come to feel her pain, her desperation, her love.

Lucy was no killer. I had never met such a warm and caring human being. Thoughts of my friend filled my head as I drifted off to sleep that night, and were the first thoughts to enter my mind when I awoke the following day.

The next morning I lay on my cot, thinking about some things that had been said the previous day. Some questions were answered while others were created. First, the reason for the verbal abuse Lucy endured while being flogged and caned seemed to be that the humiliation helped to settle her down. Odd, but apparently necessary.

Secondly, if this whole wild tale was to be believed, the loving care Lucy received from the villagers was due to her being present throughout their entire lives. Each person in the village had grown up with Lucy, each knowing that to turn her in to the authorities would condemn her to a long life in prison. And it seemed that they were trained to settle her from an early age.

My questions revolved around things said by Irena and Martine. First, Martine said I was being kept for Lucy. Kept? For what purpose? As a mate? That didn't figure because she avowed to never have children lest the curse be continued. Kept as company? She had an entire village, albeit a small one, to keep her company. Maybe being an outsider had something to do with it. It was possible that she was just plain bored with their company! There was no denying the interest she displayed while listening to me ramble on about Wisconsin, of all places.

Second, I was scolded for touching Lucy with what may have been construed as a sexual touch and told she could not be touched like that until her nadir day. I thought about that word for a while; nadir. If I remembered correctly, nadir was like the opposite of zenith or apex. So if something, like a wave for instance, had its high point, it also had its low point. What was Lucy's low point? When was Lucy's low point?

A broad smile crossed my face. Would I be permitted to touch Lucy in a sexual manner on her nadir day? The smile would not leave my lips as I thought of that prospect. Oh God! To hold Lucy close to me, to caress her and bring comfort to her for even a short time...to kiss her...to make love to her...

The keys jingling in the lock brought me out of my sexual fantasies and I quickly sat up on the cot. Officer Rousseau walked up to the bars and we exchanged greetings as he opened the door and led me out.

On the way to the latrine he informed me that verification had been made with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation as to my identity and that paperwork was being mailed to allow me to apply for an absentee license. I smiled and thanked the man, knowing full well I would not have left the village now if he had handed me my car keys and told me to go. Besides falling head over heels in love with the town murderess, the mystery surrounding Miss Lusineh Avakian had a grip on me that I could not shake.

To leave now was simply out of the question.

When I emerged from the restroom, Henri led me out the back door where he pointed off towards the commons. I saw Lucy and Irena there, sitting in the shade.

"Go ona up there and join the work crew, son," he said.

Oh boy, more back breaking sod busting? The sight of Lucy standing up and looking my way added a spring to my step as I walked across the moist ground towards the Commons.

As I approached, Irena stood and led us towards the far side of the little park and down a dirt road into the swamp. I noticed the flogger hanging from a loop in her belt and wondered if the woman went anywhere without it.

Small cottages dotted the forest on either side of the road wherever the land rose in elevation high enough to support a structure. At one such cottage we turned in and waited while Irena walked inside, unannounced. When she reappeared a young woman, maybe in her thirties, was by her side, a baby in her arms. She handed the baby to Irena and stepped down to embrace Lucy.

"Thank you so much for helping me with this, Lucy. Marc won't be back from Pearl Harbor for another week and a half and my supply is almost gone." She looked over Lucy's shoulder at me, suspicion obvious in her face. She turned and quickly retrieved her baby from the hag.

"Oh, Jacqueline, this is Mr. Donelli, he's been a-staying over with Henri until a little legal issue is cleared up," Irena said as she ushered me closer.

The woman took a step backward and Irena chuckled. "Don't be worried Jackie, Darios is a-learnin' our ways rather quickly, isn't he Lucy?"

"Yes, sister," Lucy said quickly while hooking a hand through my arm and snuggling up to me a little.

Jackie held the door open and Irena led us back to a small kitchen where plates had been set out with an assortment of breakfast foods on them. Lucy and I sat and ate while Irena played with the baby and Jackie stood by the counter and watched us. I noticed that her hand was only inches away from her knife set and assumed that she could not trust an outsider like as me with such ease, especially with her baby nearby. Who could blame her really?

Once breakfast was finished, we were led out the back door to a dilapidated old shed. Lucy helped Jackie pull a long canoe with short outriggers out onto the grass and then down the slight incline to the water's edge. Irena stepped into the canoe and told us to pull her out into the swamp.

As Lucy and I pulled the canoe along with us, walking knee deep in the swamp, Irena explained that the DuPray's property ran some half a mile straight back from their house and that a large grove of dead hardwood provided them, and most of their neighbors, with much needed fire wood. We would spend the day toting the wood back to the house so that it could be later chopped into firewood.

We found the grove and set about pulling dried pieces of wood down from where they had fallen amongst the other limbs, preventing them from reaching the wet surface below. The work was hard, and the day hot as always. I noticed Lucy's muscle tone again and marveled at how she seemed to transform with exertion.

Her body was incredibly sensual regardless of what she was doing, but as we walked to the cottage earlier in the day I noticed how soft she appeared, how rounded the curves of her waist, how mellow the tone of her arms and legs. But now...her muscles rippled with the strain of the work and each muscle was pronounced, almost in the way that a body builder would appear after working each muscle group in preparation for a meet. Not that she in any way resembled those Amazons that displayed themselves in that manner, but her body seemed to somehow change as we worked. The three small circular birthmarks on her hip seemed to darken as well. I had to remember to ask her about those later if I got the chance.

We had broken for lunch and then returned to our soggy endeavors, making our fifth trip into the swamp to retrieve yet another load of the precious wood. Irena sat in the canoe and pointed out the good wood and held onto the loads on either side of her, piled atop the outriggers of the small dugout. I had just placed another long piece on top when I saw Lucy tugging at a solid branch that didn't look to me to have separated from the tree.

As she pulled, I sensed movement to my right, off to the far side of the canoe, and saw that by pulling on that one branch Lucy was causing a small group of tall rotted trees to topple towards us. A quick calculation of the tree heights told me that the two closest trees would most likely hit the canoe, and Irena.

"Lucy!" I shouted. "Stop! Don't pull that branch!"

I launched myself towards Irena, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her down flat into the bottom of the boat just as the old trees crashed down upon us. The impact crushed the boat, breaking it in half, and pushing me down into the murky water. Pain exploded across my back and I heard Irena cry out in pain.

Seconds later I heard a wail of grief come from Lucy as she realized what had happened.

"Irena!" she screamed. "Irena! Oh God in heaven! No! What have I done!?"

I felt the tree being lifted off of me and realized that Lucy had flung the heavy trunk away as though it was a little branch.

"No, no, no! Sister!" Lucy was beside herself.

I lifted myself off of the old woman and saw that I had effectively shielded her body from harm, but her left wrist had not made it into the safety of the canoe and was most likely broken. Her other hand had immediately gone to her belt, though, and was removing the flogger.

She held it up to me and cried out, "Settle her, Darios!"

"What?" I replied. Looking at the old woman and then up at Lucy.

"Quickly, boy, before her emotions overcome her and she kills us all!"

I took the flogger from the woman's hand and bent over to grab her under the arms to hoist her further up into the longest end of the damaged canoe. I turned on Lucy and almost shit my pants as she stood with her fists clenched in her hair, pulling, and crying out in agony. Her howl of pain filled the thick air of the swamp, her eyes wide in terror.

From somewhere inside my head I pictured Veronica, holding the young girl, Paulette, close and calmly saying, "Would you be the one responsible for finally ending her life? For failing to settle her and allowing her to break free?" I would not be that person!

I stepped forward and brought the flogger down hard across Lucy's back, and then again even harder. I remembered the way in which Henri had flogged her that day in the park, and brought the flogger across, striking Lucy hard against her ass.

"You fucking whore!" I bellowed. "Pick up the front of that boat and fucking pull your sister out of here!" The flogger came down and I winced as it struck her breast. I'm not really sure where that tone of voice came from, or those words for that matter, but I shouted it out as if my life depended on it. For all I knew, it did.

"Thank you, Master!" Lucy cried out. "Harder, Master!" She seemed to have snapped out of her rage and had taken a couple of steps towards the canoe. "Oh God, Darios! Please!"

Veronica's lesson to her young charge flashed through my head, "She's begging you for it because she loves you as well, and does not want the murderer inside of her to take over. Settle her down!"

"You filthy slut!" the words came awkwardly from my mouth. "Pull, damn you!" I brought the flogger back and put everything I had into a harsh stroke across her shoulder. She cried out but I let fly with an equally hard stroke across her rib cage.

"Thank you, Master!!" she cried out again as she stooped to grab a hold of the front end of the broken canoe. She stepped forward, pulling the canoe with her, and I moved quickly to a position directly behind her so that I could continue laying blows upon her naked flesh. Each movement of my arm resulted in a corresponding strip of angry red flesh somewhere on Lucy's body.

"Faster, bitch!" the flogger falling fast and hard across her back. The fear and adrenaline flowing through my system must have kept me from thinking about what I was actually doing, for I never imagined I was capable of abusing a person such as I was.

As we approached the DuPray house I saw Jacqueline come out of the back door.

"Run!" I yelled. "Get your baby and run, Jackie!" I brought the flogger across, the thick leather strands wrapping around Lucy's reddened torso to land somewhere on her chest.

Jackie fled inside her house and I assume she grabbed the kid and fled out the front door. Moments later three men came running around from the side of the house, shot guns in their hands, as they quickly surveyed the scene. One of the men caught my arm as it was coming down, preventing the next blow from landing.

"It's okay, friend. You have settled her!" he shouted out as the other two men raced to the canoe to lift Irena out.

I collapsed in pain on the ground beside the canoe, feeling someone crawl beside me. I looked down to see that it was Lucy; her head snuggled against my chest, her arms holding me tightly against her.

"Thank you, Master," she cooed.



Part 3 (added: 2012/04/18)

There were voices somewhere out in the swamp. I stayed still, a sense of fear griping me like I had never felt before. I can honestly say that I was terrified. What were they saying? Something about...Lucy...settling her...the outsider...

There she was! She rose out of murky swamp, naked, water cascading off of her as she stood, strands of plant life clinging to her flesh here and there, her eyes wide in horror. I followed her line of sight back to the elderly woman lying in the crushed boat behind me.

A thick fog had come out of nowhere and floated just above the water, filtering up through the trees, concealing us from one another. I heard breathing...oh God! Where was Lucy? The breathing was close now, behind me! I turned, searching in the fog with my arms outstretched. A blood-curdling scream came from beside me and I whipped my head around to see a large wolf in the canoe, its powerful jaws closing upon Irena's weathered old neck. Then a deadly silence as the menacing beast, blood dripping from its mouth, turned towards me and growled.

I screamed!

"Darios! Wake up, please!!"

I opened my eyes and saw a woman standing over me, her hand on my shoulder, reassuring me that everything was okay. My breathing was heavy and I could tell I was dripping sweat.

"You're okay, you're okay, shhh."

My thoughts flashed to...my dream...and I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh shit, I just had a...man, what a bizarre dream!"

Officer Rousseau was leaning against a door frame, watching me. "Hey, how're you feeling, son?" He held out his hand and when I took it, he helped me to sit up.

"Wow, where am I?" The room we were in appeared to be someone's bedroom, yet there were some indications that it might be a clinic by the assortment of towels and equipment on top of one of the tables.

"This is Annette Molyneux, our local sawbones," Henri said with a huge smile.

The blond doctor gave the cop a shove on his arm. "You shut up!" she protested.

Henri laughed and helped me up to my feet. "Can you walk? Are you okay?"

Before I could answer, Lucy burst into the room and ran to me, her arms out. "Master! Oh god, Darios, I'm so glad you're okay!" I found myself in her warm embrace in an instant, this time my arms went around her to hold her close. She felt so wonderful, so comforting, and oh, so feminine.

She started to cry, burying her head into my shoulder. "You saved her life, Master. You saved Irena." Her tears continued to flow as she held me closely against her.

"Now, now, Lucy," Henri said as I felt his hand come between Lucy and me. Knowing what he meant, I immediately released my hold on the beautiful woman and allowed the man to separate us. Lucy stood back and wiped her tears away, her eyes never leaving mine. There was a great need in those beautiful brown eyes, a need to be held, a need to be loved. My heart ached with the desire to fill those needs.

"How's Irena, is she okay?" I asked, not wanting, but needing, to break the connection with Lucy. Everyone was filtering out of the house and onto the small wooden porch out front and we followed.

"Martine has driven her to the next town over to have that wrist x-rayed," Henri said as he held the screen door open for me to pass. "She's shaken up, but alive, thanks to you." His large hand clapped me on the back as I passed by.

The three men who had come to our aid were sitting on the steps leading down to the front walk, and they stood when the front door opened. Several other people from the town were milling about near the dirt road and conversations stopped as we emerged from the house.

"Damn, kid!" said the man who had stopped me from flogging Lucy as we came ashore earlier. His hand came out and I shook it, and then I shook the hands of the other two men.

"We all owe you a huge debt, I'm not sure we can ever repay you."

"What ever you need, friend," one of the other men said, "Any time, you call on me."

I heard clapping coming from the road, as the men and women there saw me coming down the stairs. I must say my ego was bigger than all outdoors at that moment, but I tried not to let it show. What had I done? I had whipped a poor woman and forced her to tug a broken up boat with an old lady in it a couple hundred yards? Oh yeah, I was really proud of that.

Turning to look for Lucy, I saw her standing with the doctor and Jackie DuPray, baby in her arm, resting against her hip. Lucy was showing off the markings the thick leather tails of the flogger had left on her flesh as if they were her most prized possession. Dr. Molyneux was examining the lash marks and she glanced up at me with a look...I don't know...I expected it to be rage, but it seemed to be a look of pure lust! It was damn sexy, I know that, and it made me blush. Her fingers touched the red welts that had risen on Lucy's back and she looked at me again, a hint of a smile still on her lips.

I had to turn away. Besides, I was surrounded by people suddenly wanting to shake my hand.

My back was still in some pain due to being struck by that tree and I asked Henri if he could please take me back to the jail to get some rest. But honestly, I just wanted to get away from all of the attention. Considering what I had just been through, I just needed some quiet time to settle myself down. Oh shit, I needed to be settled! And the dream...the dream was bothering me and I had to think about it. I just needed to think.

Henri led me not to the jail, but to his house. There was a spare room in the back, off of the kitchen, and I was told I would be staying with them until it was time for me to go home. I thanked them and lay down on the soft mattress, falling asleep almost instantly.

The dreams came quickly though, and I soon found myself running through the swamp, water splashing around as my feet churned in the soft muck under foot. There was something behind me, something dangerous, something gaining on me no matter how fast my legs moved. Something, or someone, who was going to kill me. Images of Irena, lying in the boat with her throat ripped out, blood everywhere, flashed before me and the turbulence of my flight, combined with the terror, woke me from the nightmare.

I sat up and looked around, breathing heavily, sweat stinging my eyes. I lay back and looked at the ceiling, afraid now to go back to sleep.

Okay. Was I to believe that Lucy was a werewolf or not!? Damn it to fucking hell! Could it possibly be true? All of these little tidbits of information seemed to point that way, but it was too incredible, and I shook my head from side to side, knowing... damn it, that that was stupid. Fucking stupid, I'd say. Real fucking stupid! I laughed and wiped the sweat from my forehead and stared at the ceiling. Real fucking stupid.

Oh man, this whole ordeal down here in the swamps...these people...these crazy back water fucking people...I laughed at myself again. They may be superstitious, they may believe in werewolves, in vampires for all I knew, maybe even voodoo, yeah, I've even seen movies about the people down here with their voodoo rituals, but I knew better. Damn right! We didn't believe in that shit in Wisconsin. Life was so fucking simple in fucking Wisconsin.

A smile graced my lips as my thoughts flicked this way and that thinking about werewolves, voodoo, spells, curses, the heat, this amazing little lost town and its amazingly crazy people. What a story! I knew that sooner or later I would have to write it all down, maybe write a book about it. Yeah, that would be sweet! I pictured book signings and the New York Times with my face on the cover. Number One Best Seller! Darios Donelli, author. Tales of the Delta...no...The Werewolf of Melonya...maybe...Bondage She-Wolf...okay, now we're getting closer. I didn't know it, but I had already drifted off to sleep.

The following days I was on light duty due to my back. Henri told me to just stay in bed and relax, or sit around the house, but I wanted more than anything to be with Lucy. We worked together each day, the pattern being the same; the host providing us with our food and water for the day while we did some sort of manual labor around their house or business.

It was apparent that Lucy thoroughly enjoyed helping the people of the little village, and equally apparent that everyone knew and loved the naked inmate. I learned that this guy, Clive, who Lucy had killed, had been the husband of the general store owner, Marie. When we spent the day repairing her back steps and pulling the weeds out from around the parameter of the little store, Marie showed the same compassion towards Lucy that everyone else did. There seemed to be no animosity over the fact that her husband's murderer was there in her store.

There was one change in the routine, however, and that was when we first approached Marie, Lucy had sunk to her knees and bent forward until her forehead touched the ground, her arms out straight in front of her.

Marie had come up to us and stood, looking down on Lucy, and said, "We're good, Lucy."

Lucy jumped up and the two hugged, and our day went on from there. This routine was repeated at four or five other houses we worked at during the following week. I assumed it meant that Lucy had killed someone close to them as well, a friend or a relative maybe.

My standing in the community had also progressed from being the outsider to being a friend. Everyone knew my name, and I was addressed as sir, or friend, or by Mr. Donelli. Even the kids called me sir, and Veronica and the other young adults hung around with us as we worked. It seemed that care for Lucy had fallen to me all of a sudden, as Irena spent very little time in the village, and Veronica spent most of the day at the local Community College. I even had Irena's flogger looped through my belt at all times. Luckily it wasn't needed again.

I learned that Irena was Lucy's official tender, or guardian. Veronica, the woman's grand-daughter, had been trained from an early age to take over that position in the event that Irena was not available. Lately, with Irena becoming frailer, Veronica had taken over the bulk of the guardianship duties.

There was no doubt now that Lucy and I were becoming quite close. I questioned her about her nadir day and was rewarded with a wide smile and a special twinkle in her eyes.

"It's soon, Darios! I can't wait! Will you still be here? Tell me you won't leave before my day!" she begged.

"No, I won't leave, I promise."

Lucy took my hand and led me around to the back of the house we were at that day and pushed me up against the wall, pinning me there with her incredible strength, her lips closing onto mine, her tongue pressing its way through. There was an animal on the loose here, but it was no murdering wolf! We kissed and held each other, my body responding instantly, my needs as urgent as hers. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted her so badly! The feel of her nakedness, now so tempting, took over my brain as my hands roamed her body.

Lucy's breathing was heavy but she suddenly pushed herself away from me. "Oh God, Darios! It's been so long since I've desired any man as much as I do you right now!" She turned away, her hands going between her thighs, not to her pussy, but to her thighs below it, where she pressed her legs together to capture her hands. Her arms pressed inwards, squeezing her breasts together between them.

The woman's eyes were clamped shut, her head coming back. "We can't!" she moaned, opening her eyes now to look at me, the look of desire in those brown eyes calling me to take her on the ground right where we stood. "Not yet."

"That rope there, bind my wrists behind me and take me to Doc Moly's, quickly!" She leaned forward, head down, her hands still trapped between her thighs.

I ran to retrieve the rope and bound her as she asked, then looped a finger through the d-ring at the front of her brown leather collar and led her to the Doctor's house. Later, when Lucy was led out, I saw that a shiny silver chastity belt encircled her slender waist, a rigid strap looping down between her legs, a wide silver shield there, making it impossible to access her sex.

Doctor Molyneux smiled when she saw me and asked how my back was feeling. She thanked me for bringing Lucy over and handed me the key to the chastity belt. "You keep this in a safe place, Darios, and don't give in to the pitiful begging you'll be hearing the next few days. She must be celibate until her day."

"Yes, ma'am," I promised.

As we walked away I asked Lucy what that was all about, and she told me I would soon see.

Things took a bizarre turn after that chastity belt went on. The villagers, anyone over the age of 21 at least, seemed to become intent on one thing - arousing Lucy. Henri enlightened me one night as I walked with him around the main square and down a few of the roads, checking in with the more elderly citizens to make sure they were okay.

"You see, son," he nearly always referred to me as son, and I didn't mind, "Lucy's nadir day is in two days, on the exact day of the new moon."

I glanced up to see just a tiny sliver of the moon remaining in the night sky. The new moon... when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, and is not visible at all.

"Not only can Lucy not become pregnant on that day, as it occurs prior to any hint of ovulation, but her lust will not bring out the murderer inside of her. It's the one day she can be overcome with lust, to love, to express herself, to be truly free of the curse that tortures her...the one day."

"Wow," was all I could muster in reply, but the implications were astounding. And it explained the attitude of the villagers. If her nadir day was to be her only day of release from the curse, her friends were intent on making it as special as they could. The attention she was receiving was a build-up to that day, a sort of communal foreplay I suppose.

We found ourselves back at Henri's house and as he held the door open he said, "You'll get to see it, son, but you'll have to go into it with an open mind."

I looked at the man, a little confused about what he had just said and I guess my expression conveyed that as he continued, "I think I know how you feel about Lucy, but you have to take into account that one man or woman will not sate her on her day. She'll have many partners, and the 'event'," he made air-quotes with his fingers, "will pretty much turn into an orgy."

He sat down in his favorite chair near the fan and lit his pipe, the fragrance drifting around the room. "Having the privilege of living with Lucy, of being allowed to survive near Lucy, makes us all value life each day. Lucy's nadir day has become our nadir day, a celebration of life, lust, and love."

Henri looked at me, the seriousness of his features quelling any ideas I had of laughing. Life, lust, and love? I think the man just told me this town goes frikkin' berserk on the night of the new moon and the people engage in one huge orgy. These back woods crazy fucking people!

"No outsider has ever been a part of this, until now. And that's only because Lucy has requested that you be present." He reached up and turned off the light and the room went black except for the glow of his pipe.

"I see." I didn't see, but I had a feeling I soon would.

It was Friday, the day before Lucy's special day. I was told my job for the day was to assist two men from the town, Jerome and Louis, in preparing for the next day's activities. Shorty after breakfast, Jerome stopped by the Rousseau's to pick me up and we drove off down a side road in his rusty old pick-up truck. A mile or so into the swamp we picked up Louis at his little shack and the three of us rode in relative silence another four miles.

The trees rising out of the swamp seemed to thicken, pressing in on the road on both sides. It was impossible to see beyond fifteen yards in any direction. Suddenly I blinked as sunlight flooded the cab of the truck and I looked up to see we had entered a huge clearing, a large white house stood directly in front of us. Of all of the structures I had seen since coming here, this was by far the largest and most elegant - truly a mansion.

Stopping in front of the building, we climbed out of the truck and began to unload supplies from the cargo bed. I learned that the festivities would be held out here the next evening. I learned many things from Louis and Jerome that day as we cleaned the mansion together.

One of the more interesting tidbits of information concerned the naming of the town, Melonya. Having heard Louis mention Lucy's mother, I commented that her name was the same as the name of town and that it surely was not a coincidence. Louis glanced at Jerome and received a slight nod before he proceeded to tell me the story.

The year was 1790. As a result of the Treaty of Paris worked out at the end of the Seven Years War, Spain had taken possession of much of the region to the west of the town. The town was quite large at that time and was referred to as Nouveau Narbonne, a name nobody but the French Administrator liked, and was generally called Narbo by the inhabitants. It was a thriving community, home to explorers, merchants, and a small outpost of French military personnel.

But life in Narbo had its dangers, the most ominous being the Spanish garrison some ten short miles to the west. One hot summer night the alarm was sounded as a small band of Spaniards swept into town intent on killing as many of the French swine as they could. Many of the French families on the west side of town were butchered while they slept.

Lucy's mother, Melonya, had been arrested on suspicion of murdering one of the French soldiers assigned to the village, and was being held in the stockade awaiting trial. Not to have her daughter killed with no means of protecting herself, Elisabeta slipped into the stockade amidst the commotion and freed her. Not two minutes later, the elder Avakian lay dying on the ground, the victim of a Spanish musket ball. She had been seen by several villagers attempting to pull the Administrator out of harm's way, but neither of them survived the attack.

Tales of the events that followed are varied, but they all agree on the fact that Melonya Avakian unleashed her fury upon the Spanish attackers and, at dawn's break; no Spaniard was left alive within a five-mile radius of Narbo. The villagers were stunned! And they were very frightened.

Rumors concerning the Avakians had filtered into the village over the years as more people arrived from the Old World, but were never given any credence by the community. Talk of the curse was fodder for scary stories told around the campfires at night, but no sane person believed the curse to be true.

But now, it was a reality. It was quickly understood, however, that curse or no curse, Melonya Avakian had saved the lives of two-thirds of the population of Nouveau Narbonne that night. In the days that followed, Melonya surrendered herself to the military authorities and begged to be imprisoned for the safety of the villagers.

It soon became obvious that the Spanish authorities had declared the area off limits and Narbo was never again attacked. The young murderess became somewhat of a local legend and, with the Administrator deceased; it wasn't long before the name of the town was changed to Melonya in her honor.

The sound of an engine being revved out in the forest interrupted Louis' story and we turned to look out one of the upstairs windows. We all jumped as a loud shot rang out and then laughed as we realized the approaching vehicle had backfired.

"That would be Annie, my wife," Jerome chuckled. "Let's go ona downstairs."

We headed down and out the front door of the mansion just as a battered old Plymouth grumbled up to the steps. The engine continued to rumble and chug a full thirty seconds after the ignition had been turned off and the petite black-haired woman had stepped out to give her husband a hug and kiss.

The young woman looked over at Louis and said, "You all should get going. Paula's still with Lucy and is waiting for you to get there. You know how hot she gets when she's with couples." She gave Louis a wink and a nice smile.

"Do I ever," Louis said as he motioned for me to follow him and we quickly joined Jerome in the cab of the truck. Annie leaned in to get one more kiss from her husband and then turned to enter the mansion, apparently to take up the work we were leaving behind.

After we had entered the thick overgrowth of Swamp Ash, Jerome said, "It was Melonya who figured out the loop hole in the curse."

I looked over at the man driving the truck, "What loophole?"

"The curse states that she couldn't find peace unless she was punished. Her kin thought this meant imprisonment but it never did anything to bring them peace. Quite by accident, Melonya found that physical abuse seemed to calm her murderous ways."

"The settlings?" I asked.

"Exactly," Jerome replied. He steered the old truck around a huge pothole in the road and then continued, "One of the guards at the stockade was a cruel old son-of-a- bitch, and when Melonya's blood began to boil she began to get crazy, threatening to kill the man. The guy took it upon himself to use his flogger on her. It was quite a beating, mixed with his normal verbal abuse, but suddenly Melonya found that she no longer had the desire to kill the man. By beating her he had given her peace."

"Not long after that," Louis cut in, "Melonya discovered that humiliation also served as punishment and refused to wear clothes as a method of subjecting herself to continuous humiliation."

"I don't think that works for Lucy though, does it?" I asked, while somewhere in the back of my head I was still thinking that this was all fucking nuts, and was just a great way to persuade a beautiful woman to walk around naked. I had no complaints about that, though!

Louis shook his head, "No, she's totally used to it."

"She's never worn clothes," Jerome said as he pulled the car off the road onto the grass of the Commons area in the center of the town.

We all looked out the window to see Lucy; naked of course, tied spread eagled between the two upright poles near the pillories. A woman stood behind her, her arms wrapped around the bound murderess, her head nestled on her shoulder. Lucy suddenly began to struggle against her bondage as the woman's hands moved in front and her head pressed in against her neck.

As we approached on foot, I could see that the woman was caressing Lucy's breasts while she kissed her neck and shoulders.

"Oh God, Paula!" Lucy moaned, "That feels so good!" Lucy's head went back and her hands grabbed onto the ropes that pulled her wrists towards the polls.

Louis put his hand out to indicate that I should stop and he softly stepped up to Lucy before her head came back down. His arms went around her and pulled his wife closer, sandwiching Lucy between them.

Lucy's head whipped down. "Oh fuck! Louis!" The bound woman thrust her pelvis outward. "Stroke me Louis! Oh God! Get your fingers in there...can you do it? Try, please!" Lucy's hips ground against the man as his wife continued to massage her breasts and pinch her nipples.

"You know I can't, you fucking little cunt," Louis said as he smothered Lucy with a kiss. "We brought someone with us, whore. Maybe his fingers are thin enough to get under the shield."

Lucy's head swung around, her eyes wild with arousal. A very low moan escaped her throat when she saw me. "Darios..." The emotion in that one word nearly caused my already erect cock to convulse.

"You can't have him, slut," Paula whispered into Lucy's ear. "I think I'm going to fuck him right here on the ground in front of you. God, Lucy, look at his pants. He's ready for me. You'd like that wouldn't you...you'd like me to fuck him right here for you. I'll do it, you know, just so that you know what you're missing, what you can't have."

Lucy lurched, "No Paula!" she cried out. "He's mine! He was saved for me!"

Paula laughed, "For you? Saved for you?" She groped Lucy's breasts roughly in her hands, squeezing them and pulling them painfully out to the sides. "You know Marc is to be yours this month, not this...this outsider."

"But...but later..." Lucy was gasping for air as she struggled against Paula and Louis, "later he'll be mine!"

"Maybe..." Louis said just before he and his wife suddenly backed away from the bound woman.

Lucy cried out, "No! Don't stop!"

"You want this man?" Louis asked, seeing the reaction on Lucy's face, the longing, the desire.

Louis turned and whispered in my ear, "Pretend you're touching her, move your hands close to her body but don't touch her. She'll be able to feel your warmth."

I hesitated a little, a bit shy to be doing anything like that in front of these people, but I stepped forward and moved my hands towards Lucy's naked flesh. Desperation radiated from her, in her eyes, in the way she strained against the ropes pulling her spread eagle between the two poles. My hands were close to her now and I felt the heat of her and the look in her eyes told me she felt mine. My hands passed inches from her breasts, down her stomach, and around her hips. Lucy's eyes followed the movement, her body straining outward in an attempt to make contact with my hands as they moved.

"Touch me...please Master..." Lucy moaned. "Please...oh god, please..."

I leaned in, close to her ear, and whispered, "I'll touch you tomorrow, slut, and when I do...you'll cum for me...you'll cum hard."

Where those words came from, I still don't know. It surprised me that I had actually said something like that, but Lucy's reaction surprised me even more. The woman suddenly stood statue still, limbs fully tensed against the ropes, her eyes fixed on me in surprise, her mouth caught agape.

Her eyes widened further and then quickly closed tight as her head went down, turning to the side to nestle against her outstretched arm. Her body twisted away from me, her left leg pulling against the rope binding her to the pole. A low moan came from deep within her throat as she strained against the ropes and appeared to have an orgasm.

"Holy shit!" Paula gasped.

Jerome moved in and took Lucy in his arms, his left hand moving down her back to cup her lovely ass, holding her firmly and pulling her up to him, her feet leaving the ground, as his right hand rose to grasp her hair and pull her head back.

"You filthy little whore," he growled in her ear. "You're going to get fucked tomorrow like never before."

Lucy fought to pull her head forward, her eyes focused on the mouth before her that she strained to kiss, but Jerome's grip on her hair was tight. He allowed her some movement, to inch closer to him, and he opened his mouth as if he was going to kiss her but then released his grip and stepped back.

Lucy stood again, sucked in a deep breath, and looked up at him, a smile gracing her lips. "And how about you, my little friend, will you be fucking me tomorrow?"

Jerome reached over with both hands and took Lucy's nipples in his fingers and pinched down hard. "I am. I'm going to fuck you, and I'm going to be one of the last," he pinched even harder and Lucy went up on her toes to try and get away from his grip, "because when I fuck you I want you to be totally exhausted. I want you to be used up like the old whore you are," Lucy moaned and bucked against her bondage, "unable to resist me as I fuck you however I want."

Lucy's smile widened, "I'll be saving something special for you, boy."

Jerome released his grip and smiled back, "I'm sure you will."

I slept very little that night as images of Lucy, bound and spread eagle between the two poles filled my mind. When Jerome and I left the Commons, Paula and Louis had remained with Lucy. We sat in the truck for a moment and saw Gabriel and his father, Roger, approaching from the far side of the Commons. Jerome told me that both Gabriel and Veronica had turned twenty-one during the past two weeks and this would be their first full nadir day. Because of this, the entire tradition would be played out, with Veronica playing a special role.

Nothing more was said about this as we pulled away and went to get a large mobile barbeque pit that was hooked to the back of the pick-up and pulled slowly out to the mansion.

I rolled over on the bed and looked out through the small window into the blackness of the night. The new moon was upon us. Lucy was free of the curse for an entire day. Where was she now? What was she doing? Surely she was still not bound to the poles in the Commons. I was tempted to sneak out the back door and go see, but if I were caught it might damage the level of trust that I had built up with Henri.

Lucy. Oh god, Lucy. Who was this woman? I rolled over again onto my back and starred up at the ceiling of the little room. She was a killer. I thought about that. A killer, a murderer, yet...she didn't seem to be the type of person who could kill anyone. Surely the town's people accepted her as a murderer, confined her, punished her, loved her...

My heart pounded in my chest. I loved her. I wanted to be with her, to hold her close to me, to tell her everything would be okay.

Everything I'd learned about Lucy, her family, her history, fit into this bizarre story. Why had they even told me all of this? Weren't they afraid I'd tell someone when I left? Weren't they concerned that the town would be swamped with reporters, even if they were only from the Enquirer? Having a woman in town that was constantly naked, collared and cuffed, beaten and humiliated, would be quite a headline. And the nadir day? Oh shit, that would make for some real sensational headlines!

A thought that had been in the back of my head, but I had refused to acknowledge, finally made it to the front of my head. It was not a thought I wanted to have. I remembered the urgent meeting in Henri's office on the first day I had come to town, as I stood in the little cell and strained to hear the conversation between Henri, Jerome, and Annette Molyneux.

Jerome had said it was too soon, to which the doctor had asked what they would do with me? Henri had argued that they wouldn't find anyone else for her.

Wouldn't find anyone else for her? 'Her' was obviously Lucy. For her to do what with...or what to?

Then there was Martine's conversation with Irena when she said the others had decided to keep me for her. I had wondered at the time if I was being kept as a mate or a friend?

Fucking shit! My head spun as if I were drunk. Too many questions, too many emotions pulling me this way and then that way. The thought that I was being kept in this town until the next full moon was the thought that I was trying to avoid. The thought that this was all real and Lucy was a...shit, that Lucy was actually a werewolf...it scared me. Was I being kept here to be her next meal? Maybe that was why they didn't care how much I knew about their special resident.

Jeremy had happened through here at just the wrong time, during the full moon. The fact that he was diabetic had probably saved his life. His blood was tainted. I wished I could call him, to find out what had happened to him. What if I ran now? What if I snuck out the back door and made a run for the main road?

That wasn't going to happen, though. There was no way in hell that I was leaving before the nadir day was over. I smiled and my cock got hard once again. No way in hell! I had at least a week to get the fuck out of there before the next full moon. I'd promised Lucy I wouldn't leave before her day, and I'd keep that promise. But after that...well it would probably be best if I split.

My eyes closed but sleep never came. The thought of leaving Lucy churned my stomach and my thoughts. I had to leave sooner or later; I had to return to college in another month. Finally, as the nadir day sun filtered into my room, I drifted off to sleep.

Hours later consciousness returned, or so I thought. The heat in the room was stifling, and thoughts of Wisconsin filled my mind. It was probably cool there, even in July, probably 70 degrees. I went to roll over, to face the window, but my body seemed to be heavy. I couldn't move.

Ha! I was still asleep! I laughed and tried to roll over again, to wake myself. No, there was something holding me down! Something wispy brushed against my legs and I felt the bed move, something pressing down upon it on either side of my knees.

My eyes flew open and I looked up to see Emilie Devereux kneeling over me. She wore one of the light floral dresses she seemed to prefer, and looked so sexy in.

"Good morning, Master Darios," she cooed as she bent her arms and lowered her head to kiss me on the forehead.

I struggled to lift my arms and I heard a giggle come from my side. It was Doctor Moly, her skirt down around her ankles and her fingers working the last button of her blouse. Seconds later she stood naked next to the bed. She was a beautiful woman, I knew that already, but...the sight of her naked, a fully mature and confident woman; I was unprepared for the sight of her splendid body.

"What...what's going on? What are you doing here?" I implored. I pulled at my arms and then looked down to see that several coils of rope had been wrapped tightly around my arms from my wrists to my elbows and tied off somewhere under the bed. Lack of mobility below the waist assured me that my legs had been similarly bound. A quick glance down my chest verified that the sheet had been removed and I lay on top of the bed, naked. The sight of Annette's body had caused my cock to harden, and I felt heat radiate from my face and neck as I blushed.

"Shhh, Master, just relax," Emilie whispered in my ear as she nibbled on it and kissed me there.

Naked now, Annette took Emilie's place on the bed and lowered herself so that her crotch rubbed against my penis. She ground herself against me and I shook my head.

"No! What are you doing?" I asked, pulling harder against the ropes. I looked over to see the floral dress fall to the floor as Emilie returned to the side of the bed and knelt beside me.

"You're our final duty call today," Emilie said. "We're here to settle you." A broad smile flashed across her face as her hand came up and caressed my chest. I groaned aloud as Annette continued to grind against me. Emilie reached down and wrapped her fingers around my shaft, lifting my cock up before slipping a condom over it. She held my cock upright so that Annette could lower herself onto me.

Lucy! They were going to ruin everything! I'd be spent and wouldn't be able to make love to Lucy later. What time was it? Oh god! I couldn't let them do this to me! I struggled harder, attempting to knock Annette off of me, really trying now to free myself from the ropes that held me tightly to the bed.

"Woo-ha!" Annette cried out as she rode me like a bucking bronco, her arms waving around above her head, her full luscious breasts just a-swaying and a-bouncing away, her long straight black hair tossing this way and that. Clearly the woman was enjoying herself, and the sight just did it for me as I exploded inside of her.

"Damn it!" I shouted out. "Damn it! Why did you do that!!" I was furious! "Why!!?"

"Get off him!" Emilie shouted as she pushed at the doctor.

'It's too late for that', I thought.

But as Annette fell off of me, Emilie pounced onto the bed, straddling my body, facing towards my feet. I felt the condom slide off and then her lips on my penis and the warmth of her mouth as she sucked my member in. Her tongue massaged my soft cock, cleaning, licking, arousing. Damn it! Arousing me again until I was fully hard, and then not stopping!

I looked down to see her legs spread wide straddling my chest, her cleanly shaven pussy totally exposed to me. The sensations her mouth was producing were unbelievable and I was surprised to find myself fighting another climax. I mean, really surprised! This had all taken place in about ten minutes and I still felt like I hadn't even fully woken up yet.

"Don't worry, young Master," Annette purred, her face close to mine on the pillow as her hand reached up and caressed Emilie's bare ass, inches from my face. "You'll be fine, I promise." She kissed my cheek and continued to kiss my face and then my shoulder.

The doctor's face came back up next to mine and she whispered, "Watch this." Her hand came up and then sharply down onto Emilie's bare ass. Emilie lurched and we heard a shriek and a garbled, "ouch!" Annette smiled at me and began to slap the exposed ass on both sides with some force, the resulting action causing her mouth to do some odd things to my cock, at times forcing me fully down her throat.

Okay, that did it...damn it! I spurted again! Son-of-a-bitch!

Annette leaned over and gave Emilie's ass a big hug and began to kiss it. I felt the mouth come off of my cock and heard a large intake of air before feeling the warmth of her mouth again as she cleaned me off.

The doctor gave Emilie one more kiss and then turned to begin dressing. "That should be good, Em. Come on, we've got to help Roni and Gabe get ready, it's almost time."

Emilie crawled off of me and I felt tugging at the ropes that held my legs and feet. The doc came over and began to loosen the ropes at my sides as Emilie pulled on her dress and stepped into her shoes.

"Really, Darios, you'll thank us later. We know what we're doing." Annette leaned down and kissed my forehead and joined Emilie at the door. They both blew me a kiss and I lay my head back and sighed as the door closed behind them.

I hoped they really did know what they were doing, because I knew Lucy was really looking forward to being with me and I certainly didn't want to disappoint her. Not today, or ever.

Standing in front of the fan, I agonized over what to do. I'd been raped, as weird as it sounded, in the back room of the town cop's house. It was really embarrassing, in fact, humiliating. I was no scrawny kid, shit, I'm 6'1" and, at the time, all of 185 pounds, but these two women fucking tied me down and raped me.

I'm sure lots of guys fantasize about something like this happening, hell, I'll admit that I'd even thought about it. How erotic, how...how very arousing the thought had been. And under different circumstances, maybe I would have enjoyed it and gotten a big kick out of it.

But not that day of all days! I'd been so excited about the day ahead, and now I felt really depressed. Not so much because I'd been violated by Emilie and Annette; they were fucking gorgeous, but because I was so worried that I would let Lucy down.

There was a knock on my door and I opened it to see Henri standing there.

"Are you ready to go, son?" he asked.

He stood there patiently, observing me. Martine came up behind her husband and placed her hand on his left shoulder and her chin on his right shoulder, looking over at me, too.

"Did you have a visit from the duty team? Is that it?" she asked, sensing my mood.

I turned away, really upset now, my emotions rising to the surface. Damn it. I saw Martine walk to the bed and pick up a couple pieces of rope from the floor. She turned towards me and I sank to the bed, sitting on the edge, head in hands.

"Listen," she said as she sat next to me, her hands in her lap, "you planned on participating today, didn't you?" Martine had a soft voice, but it felt like silk on my ears at that moment.

"Everyone knows how excited Lucy is that you're still here. We all assumed you would be helping us with Lucy on her day." I could sense her eyes searching my face. I did plan on participating, without a doubt. That's what made Annette's and Emilie's actions so infuriating.

"Of course," I replied. "Yes, I was going to participate if I was allowed to."

Martine's hand touched my thigh but was quickly brought back into her own lap. "You've met Jackie DuPray, haven't you?" I nodded that I had. "Her husband, Marc, just arrived last night from Hawaii to spend this day with Lucy. He's a Marine assigned to the new carrier, USS Carl Vinson."

The woman turned so that she faced me, and I looked up at her, seeing the concern in her face and the kindness in her eyes, her hand went back to rest on my knee.

"Today is very special to him because it's his turn to act out the part of Count Stephan, opposite Lucy, who will portray her ancestor, the Countess Ileana Avakian. He'll be the first to make love to her tonight, with all of the tenderness a man can give a woman. Annette and Emilie would have normally settled him, but Jackie assured us that she would be taking care of those duties this morning." Martine's lips could not help but curl into a smile as she thought about the lust that must have filled the DuPray home that morning.

I knew at that moment that ancient traditions were being played out in this little town that defied any logic that 'normal' people could conceive of. I was still an outsider, trying desperately to grasp even a little bit of what the people of this town did for Lusineh Avakian, daughter of Melonya Avakian, and quite probably...a werewolf.

"Really?" I asked. "Marc would have sex on the day he's to be with Lucy?"

Martine stood and lowered her hand for me to take. "Sure, he's young, like you. It's important that he not be too...excited, shall we say?"

I took the hand that was offered me and stood, noting that Henri had already left my room and then heard his car door creak open outside.

"You're all nuts!" I blurted out and then turned beet red. Martine's face had this weird look of surprise on it and I fought the urge to laugh, instead, giving her a line that I liked to use whenever possible: "Did I say that out loud?" and then covered my mouth with my hand in mock embarrassment.

There was a second's pause before she laughed, getting my joke, and hugging me around the shoulders as we headed out the door to join Henri.

Martine stopped, and asked, "You do have Lucy's key, don't you?"

I felt my pants pocket from the outside and felt the outline of the key that fit into Lucy's chastity belt, and nodded.

We traveled slowly out to the mansion and, as we emerged from the clog of trees and entered the clearing, I noticed the party was already in full swing. It seemed that everyone in town was there, sprawled out across the grassy property the mansion stood on. A huge billow of gray smoke rose off to my right as Gabriel's father, Roger, opened the barbeque pit and turned some meat that was roasting on the grill.

Henri backed his car up along the edge of the grass to join all of the other vehicles, all in a semi-circle; their front ends pointing inward toward the house. We walked up and joined the line of friends and neighbors with their plates, waiting to get to the food tables. Looking around, I noticed that most of the people wore very bright, colorful, clothes. Most wore bandanas on their heads, the women's ear-rings were large hoops for the most part.

Gypsies!

The food was fantastic, and an hour later I was half lying on my side, stuffed, like most of the other people around me. During this entire time I had not seen Lucy, and as the daylight began to wane, I sensed an excitement growing amongst the town folks. The only indication that Lucy was there was that Veronica had come to me and asked for her key.

A noise drew my attention to the far side of the mansion and I saw a tractor pulling a large hay covered wagon to a point near the road leading back to town. A man jumped off and I waved as I recognized Louis.

Everyone began to stand, and I stood with them. The wagon was a signal it seemed, for I saw no other reason to stand. This scenario had been played out in this town for so long everyone instinctively knew when things were going to happen.

The noise all but died as the great white doors at the front of the mansion opened. Lucy and Marc DuPray walked out onto the porch and surveyed the assembled villagers. Lucy was dressed! She wore an extravagant gown, it's lower half forming an immense circle around her feet, the waist pulled in tight to give her an hourglass look, and her breasts nicely nestled in the cups of the built-in bra. Her face had been whitened and her beautiful brown curls had been pulled up into a beehive above her head. Sparkling brightly around her head was a jewel-encrusted tiara.

Marc held her hand out at about shoulder height as he led his Countess down the stairs. He was dressed in a suit, the collar stiff and rising to either side of his neck. A gold chain encircled his neck that clipped to the corners of a long black cape that hung down his back. A glint of light reflected off the hand that held Lucy's and as they got closer I saw a huge signet ring upon his finger.

Trailing the couple were Veronica and a girl I recognized as Mirela, Gabriel's twenty-three year old sister. Together, they held the edges of Lucy's dress to keep it off of the ground. The crowd opened up for them as they made their way through, the procession stopping in front of Irena.

There was a lot of murmuring now, and it appeared that something unexpected was taking place. Irena's hand went up and the noise died.

"My dearest friends," her frail voice rose from the center of the circle of people, "I have lived a long and happy life, thanks to you." Many of the people in the crowd looked at each other with puzzled looks. "But I feel my time is very short now. The honor of being the guardian of the Avakian legacy will come to an end today." I heard gasps come from all around me, the entire crowd suddenly kneeling.

Veronica stepped forward and hugged her grandmother.

"I pass the stewardship to Veronica, a much stronger and more capable person than I am now. I have passed down the legend to her, and she will hold it close to her heart for many years to come. Please remember, my dearest friends, that the Avakian legend has not been passed down for generations by the Avakians," the elderly woman looked around her at her friends and neighbors.

"No, it's the story passed down by our ancestors," she hugged her grand-daughter again, "the Miklos. It was our ancestor, Lenuta Miklos, who witnessed the events of that dark night centuries ago. It was our clan who aided the Avakians, helping them to escape Moldavia, and staying by their sides for generations. We are a witness to the despicable curse, wrongly placed upon a noble family. Tonight some of you will witness the truth, as the Miklos know it to be."

Irena lifted her hand high above her head, the dagger and belt held tightly in her bony fingers.

"I transfer the power of life or death to you, Veronica Miklos. May you judge wisely." She handed the dagger to Veronica and Lucy threw herself at the girl's feet.

"Kill me now, Mistress!" she cried out. "I beg you!"

Veronica knelt and hugged Lucy. "I cannot kill you, Lusineh, for I love you too much. We will live together, as our ancestors have done. We will survive, with the help of our friends, as our ancestors have survived."

The crowd stood as one and pressed in against the trio in a mass hug.

"Let the night begin!" Veronica yelled out.

This was met with a roar of approval from the villagers but a voice shouted above the others.

"Wait! Wait! Hold on a minute!" It was Marc DuPray. "Quite, please. Where's Mr. Donelli?"

The crowd around me parted as Marc approached. I saw that he was removing the cape from around his shoulders and the signet ring from his finger. He held them out and said, "Mr. Donelli, had you not been here, my Jackie and little Maria would be dead, along with countless others. I can't ever repay you for settling Lucy that day and protecting my family, so I relinquish my right to play the Count and give that honor to you." He handed me the costume.

"Marc!" Jackie cried out as she came up next to him, "You've come all this way, it's your time."

The Marine held his wife and kissed the top of her head. "This is the way it's going to be, Jackie, I've made my decision."

Stunned, I reached out and took the objects, along with Lucy's key, and shook the hand that he offered. A collective gasp came from the crowd before all hell broke loose and hands were clapping both Marc and me on our backs.

Lucy stepped forward and pulled Marc against her, kissing him passionately on the lips. "You'll be third, right?" He nodded. "You'll not be disappointed." She smiled and turned to take my arm and lead me towards the mansion.

I looked to see that all of the younger children were being led by a cadre of adults to the hay wagon, and when they had all climbed aboard, the tractor started up and headed back towards the town.

Lucy tugged at my arm. "You'll have better things to look at in just a few minutes, my Count."



Part 4 (added: 2012/05/02)

Lucy and I entered the mansion, followed by Veronica and Mirela. The noise of the crowd diminished with each step as we ascended the long curved stairway to the master bedroom. What seemed like hundreds of candles lit the interior of the mansion, casting eerie shadows upon the walls.

I expected the two girls to drop off and return to the others, but they hung with us all of the way into the bedroom. Four large candles dimly illuminated the room, each candle burning with four wicks aflame. A huge four-poster bed filled one end of the room, with two dressers against the wall, a closet, and five mirrors! Whoever had lived in this house had apparently been somewhat vain.

There were faint sounds of movement just outside the walls of the room and I wondered what the others were doing. Were they using the other rooms to satisfy their own lustful longings? Henri had told me that the towns' people used this day as their nadir day as well, so that idea was not too farfetched.

Lucy's hand was moist and I felt a slight tremble as she guided me towards the closet. With a motion of her hand, Veronica was at my side, reaching up to unclip the cape that hung off of my shoulders. I moved to brush her hand aside, but she brushed mine instead.

"We know the motions, sir," she said quietly, "you do not. We will act out the legend exactly as the original participants did; we only ask that you allow us to do this."

Gently chastised, I put my hands down and let Veronica remove the cape and hang it in the closet. She stepped back to me and began to unbutton my shirt.

"I am the Gypsy girl, Lenuta Miklos, your servant. My companion is Rosa Janisla, of the Janisla clan. She is Ileana's personal servant." My shirt was removed and I tensed as Veronica unbuttoned my jeans and began to lower them. I looked over to see that Mirela had loosened the strings of Lucy's corset and had begun to pull the strings through the eyelets. The bottom portion of the dress had been removed and Lucy stood naked, except for the silver chastity belt, from the waist down.

My cock responded and I moved to cover myself.

"You will please the Mistress this evening, Count Stephan," Veronica said with a sly smile, as she helped me step out of the pants. She slipped her hand into the pocket and handed me the key to Lucy's belt before she placed the pants in the closet. My hands covered my erection and I felt very naked standing there in front of the young woman.

"May I stay with you, Mistress?" Mirela asked Lucy.

"Oh, Rosa," Lucy gasped, "What would your father say? No, dear, I'm afraid that would not be allowed."

"My father sleeps off the feast you prepared for the clans, Mistress, he'll not know."

"I don't think that..."

'Rosa' pouted and stood with her arms crossed. "You promised you would teach me the ways of love making, Mistress. Would this not be a perfect opportunity to further my education? Besides, I am almost of legal age."

A little more quietly, Lucy bent down and said, "Almost? You have just fifteen years of life to you; besides, the Count has just returned from a two month journey, I will not share my bed with you this night." She cupped Rosa's chin and kissed her forehead.

"May I be chained to your bedpost, Mistress? I will not enter your bed, only let me observe." Rosa stood to take the combs out of Lucy's hair to allow its bulk to fall about her shoulders.

"I would be agreeable to that, only do not disturb us, girl!"

I looked around for Veronica but it appeared she had already left the room. Lucy had gone to the dresser and opened a drawer, sorting through items within it until she found what she was looking for. She approached Rosa with a silver ring and opened it to fit it around the young woman's neck. A four-foot chain attached to the ring slid through Lucy's hand until she grasped the end and wound it around the bedpost, hooking a metal clasp through the last link to hold the chain in place.

Lucy's hand went out for me and I took it in mine.

"Come darling, I have waited in chastity for your return." Her hand tightened around mine, leading me to the bed. "I am quite anxious to feel you near me..." she stood at the side of the large bed with her legs spread and her hands up behind her head, holding her hair up a little bit... "to feel you inside of me...". There was a hint of desperation in her voice that I knew was not merely a part of this role-play we were involved in.

I took a split second to mentally thank Annette and Emilie for 'settling me' earlier in the day, because the sight of Lucy standing there waiting for me to remove that chastity belt very well might have made me cum already. A more sensual sight I had never witnessed, nor have I seen since. The candle light cast ever moving shadows, enhancing the curves of her flesh, her muscle tone soft and rounded, the contours making her look so beautiful, so inviting.

The key turned in its little hole and the chastity belt fell away, dropping from my hand onto the floor beside me. I stepped forward and held Lucy firmly, pulling her close to me, our lips touching softly at first, but then engaging with the pent up lust of the last couple of weeks.

We lay back onto the bed, Lucy under me, and her legs went around my torso, pulling me against her with some force. I pushed forward with my legs, propelling our intertwined bodies into the center of the bed, bouncing slightly as we landed. Lucy moaned and reached up under the pillow to retrieve a condom that had been placed there. In seconds the skin had been rolled down over my own and I positioned myself to enter her.

Our kisses increased in intensity, only occasionally breaking for air, as Lucy clung to my back and pulled me towards her with desperation. Thoughts of driving my cock fully into her flashed through my mind, but somewhere...a thought made me hesitate, it was Martine, earlier in my room, her velvet voice telling me that Marc would've made love to Lucy tonight with all the tenderness a man could give a woman.

I pulled myself up slightly, allowing our frantic kiss to be broken. Lucy looked up at me, her eyes filled with lust and her eyebrows up in question. I lowered my head close to her ear and whispered, "I told you yesterday that I would touch you today, and when I did you would cum for me." The tip of my cock touched the folds of her labia and Lucy suddenly inhaled deeply. Pressing forward gently, I entered her and felt her fingers digging into the flesh of my shoulders as she gripped me tightly. Her head pressed against mine and I felt her pressing forward as if in a sit-up crunch.

"Cum for me now, Lusineh." Slowly, with all of the tension I could direct to my penis, I pressed forward until I was fully engulfed by the warmth of her body.

"Oh God!!" Lucy cried out as her breathing became suddenly raspy and she clenched my body as she climaxed. She cried out again as I held myself rigid inside of her, pushing forward and up slightly to rub my pubis firmly against hers, allowing her to grind against me as the orgasm continued to assault her senses. My face was next to hers and I felt wetness on my cheek as her emotions overcame her.

With her orgasm subsiding, we began to make love slowly, a gentle rhythm being established and maintained, in a way relaxing the tension that we had both experienced. Our mouths met in playful kisses and her hands roamed my body from my butt to my head, feeling my muscles strain as I moved against her.

Our limbs became intertwined and I leaned to the side to roll Lucy over on top of me. Her hands pressed against my chest as she began to rock herself atop my cock. My hands went up to hold her breasts, to fulfill the weeks of longing I had endured at the thought of touching them, of feeling their firmness, of pinching her stiff nipples!

I gripped the little brown nubs firmly and squeezed. Lucy's head went back, her brown curls flowing down her back, and her hands came up to support her head. She cried out as a second orgasm crashed upon her, her hips moving more rapidly now to grind against me, to further her pleasure.

We returned to that frantic state of arousal as the sounds of our pleasure filled the room. I heard other noises, slight at first, but then more intense. While still rocking in Lucy's embrace, I managed to lift my head and glance to the foot of the bed where Mirela was chained.

The young woman was naked! Her eyes were closed and it was obvious she was masturbating herself to an orgasm, coinciding with her Mistress' above her on the bed.

Lucy cried out again as she leaned back to increase the tension of my cock within her. The position felt so damn good! I held her hips, instantly forgetting Mirela, as my cock convulsed and my seed filled the condom. Continuing to cum, I pressed my butt upward, intent on giving Lucy every inch of pleasure that I had to offer.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The loud pounding on the door startled me, and Lucy shrieked, turning to look behind her.

"Rosa! Are you in there?" a man shouted through the door. "Rosa!" More pounding, and then the door burst open. Lucy cried out and fell off of me, pulling a sheet around her naked body as Roger, Gabriel, and several other people crowded into the room.

"Papa!" Mirela cried out.

The anger on Roger's face was obvious. "What are you doing? Why are you naked?" His glance shifted to Lucy and me, his fists clenching. "What are you doing to my Rosa, you high class bitch?!"

"They...they raped me Papa!" Mirela cried out. "Oh Papa, they had their way with me, and then they chained me here."

What?!! What the fuck was she talking about? I looked at the Mirela, wondering why she would say that. She had stripped herself...she had been fingering herself, I saw her!

Then I remembered that this was the way things had occurred over three hundred years ago on that night. This was the legend as handed down by Irena's ancestors, but how? If only the Count and Countess were in the room with Rosa, who was it that witnessed what the girl had done? Who, other than the Avakian's, knew she was lying to cover her own wanton actions, to escape her father's wrath? This was a little confusing, and to tell the truth, with the group of angry 'Gypsies' standing in front of me I didn't give the inconsistency any more thought.

Gabriel and his mother, Lilian, ran to Rosa while Roger took a large wooden club that was handed to him by one of the men standing behind him. The look in his eyes made me back up against the sturdy oak headboard and begin to wonder how far they played out these little fantasies. I was pretty scared, and I wrapped my arms around Lucy, protecting her.

Gabriel lifted Mirela and passed her, still naked, to one of the men who carried her from the room. Lilian looked at us and pointed her finger our way.

"You will pay for this, you Moldavian scum!"

"Curse them, Dumitra!" someone behind her shouted. Others joined in, calling out for the woman to curse us. "Curse them!"

"It's not true!" I blurted out, not remembering I was role-playing and didn't know the lines. "She...she asked to be...we didn't..."

"Silence Avakian!" Dumitra growled, as her hands went out to her sides and she stepped towards us. The entire group moving forward with her as she lifted her hands in the air and shouted,

"From this day until the end of time

A curse be upon the Avakian line

As moons wax and wane

At full dost your blood boil, your mind insane

The Beast you shall transform

No option to reform

No serenity shall you enjoy

Lest punishment be employed

Long in life, condemned to strife

Hunted shall you be, never to be free"

Her arms came down and Roger shouted out, "Take them!"

The mob was upon us and we were dragged from the bed, naked. As we were hauled towards the door I was distracted slightly by a movement to my right. I looked over to see the closet door close slightly, Veronica standing behind it, peering out in fear.

The witness! Lenuta Miklos! She'd been in the room the entire time!

I was pulled roughly from the room by several of the men. I looked back to see Roger and Gabriel holding Lucy between them and then forcing her back towards the bed. Marc pressed past me and entered the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

That's the last time I saw Lucy that night.

I had lost all sense of time. The major partying had all but died out. Earlier, sounds of people screaming and yelling in the mansion could be heard. It may have been Lucy, but quite often people would come running out of the building, still yelling, and I could see it wasn't her. Chaos was the word that kept coming to mind as I watched the citizens of Melonya around me.

It turned out to be a beautiful night for being outside. Not too hot, a slight breeze kept the bugs away. Earlier, it hadn't been quite as dark as the headlights of the cars parked around the perimeter of the grassy expanse had been turned on, flimsy cloths of different colors hung over them to give a muted glow to the area. Now, with the majority of the cars gone, the darkness hid the intertwined shapes dispersed randomly across the plush grass, sometimes only the sounds of passion were heard with no apparent source to be seen.

I shared a large blanket, spread upon the ground, with Jack and his wife, and Louis. After some time, two of the shapes off to our left near the cars, arose and headed towards us. As they came closer I saw that it was Henri and Paula, Louis's wife.

Louis reached up and took Paula's hand and pulled her down into his lap.

"Hey, babe." He kissed her and then asked, "You took it easy on the old guy didn't you?"

"What the hell you a talkin' 'bout, boy? It was me that took it easy ona her," Henri said, as he sank down next to me and gave me a look like he was going to die. Every one laughed as Louis and Paula continued to make out. Henri later confided to me that they had only been chatting about Louis' up coming birthday and making some plans.

"Who's seen Martine?" Henri asked, peering out into the darkness.

"She was called in about half an hour ago," Louis said. "If you hadn't been off having your way with my woman you woulda known that, old man."

Another shape approached our group from the direction of the mansion. "Hey guys," Emilie Devereux said as she sank down next to me and put her arm around my shoulder.

"How are you doing, Darios? You okay?"

The look in her eyes told me she was really asking me if I was okay with what she and Annette had done to me the previous day. I remembered the day that Lucy and I had worked at Marie's house and Lucy had submitted herself at Marie's feet, and I repeated Marie's response, "We're good, Emilie."

The woman smiled widely, delighted that I would use those words, and hugged me.

"Oh, Henri, I think Lucy is about done with Martine," Emilie said. "She should be out here any time now."

"Great," Henri replied, "We'll be gettin' on soon I hope. Any idea who's next? She should be sated soon, I would think!"

The woman giggled, "The only one left up there is Jerome."

"Oh, fuck," Louis said. "Good luck to her tonight." He shook his head and held Paula close to him. "He's going to give the old girl a rough ride, I just know it."

"She'll be okay," Emilie said, "Annie and I were just with her, and she's still got some life left to her, and you know Martine will just want to cuddle for awhile." The woman put her head on my shoulder and then looked up at me. "She'll want you with her after Jerome, Darios. You'll go to her, won't you?"

Looking at the faces of the people round me, I saw nothing but slight nods as they all seemed to agree that I should go. "Um, sure." I hadn't considered that, and was just hanging around, waiting on Henri to take me back to his place. "Sure, I'll go in if you think I should."

"She'll be exhausted, son," Henri said. "You just stay with her out here until she's ready to come back into town. There's food in the kitchen, but there's no power out here, so you'll have to use the fireplace to cook. Lucy knows what to do. Veronica and Irena will be around, too."

Emilie took my hand and placed her head close to my ear. "Annette's in Lucy's room and was really hoping you'd come up there," she whispered.

"Huh? She does?"

The woman was already standing and pulling me upward to my feet. Something about Emilie and Annette...they were both rather dominant, and I was getting the impression they were a couple. I didn't know much about that type of relationship, but I always thought one would be dominant and one submissive. Maybe that wasn't always the case, though.

As we walked up the steps to the front door, I questioned Emilie, "I thought Martine and Lucy were in her room?"

Emilie guided me up the grand staircase towards the upper floor. "No, no, that's the Countess' chambers," she said quietly. We waved at Jerome as we passed him, relaxing on a velvet-covered couch in the hallway outside the chamber, and then turned down a hallway. In the candlelight I noticed what appeared to be two pictures hanging on the left wall with curtains over them. Emilie noticed my curiosity and put her finger up to her lips to make sure I remained quiet.

She led me to the curtain and split the seam in the middle with her finger. I peered in and saw the interior of the Countess' chamber, Martine and Lucy naked on the bed holding each other and talking quietly. Lucy laughed about something and suddenly rolled over to straddle the cop's beautiful wife. Lucy's breasts hung inches above Martine's head and the woman lifted herself onto her elbows to nibble at the stiff nipples above her. Lucy arched her back and lowered her body against Martine's raised thigh, rubbing her sex into the soft flesh that was held there for her.

I looked around the interior again, seeing the mirrors and realized I was looking through one of them! Backing away I felt a blush spread across my cheeks and down my neck.

"We were being watched, too?" I whispered. The muted noises I had heard outside the room earlier had been people moving around the outside perimeter of the room to look in through the mirrors!

Emilie nodded. "Don't worry, you were fantastic!" the woman gushed, as she pulled me away and carefully re-adjusted the short curtains. "Someone always watches while the first person is in the room because that's when the tradition is played out. The family who portrays the Janisla clan always watches, and this time it was really special because it was Gabe's first time to see the truth. There were a few people at each of the windows to observe the tradition; I was on the other side with Annie."

I was speechless, stunned, dumbfounded...embarrassed...relieved...yes, relieved that no one had dropped that little bit of information on me before I had gone into the room with Lucy. I would have been too nervous to do anything. Luckily I had been so focused on Lucy that I had totally forgotten about Mirela.

The woman pulled me away from the curtain and across the hall. "This is Lucy's room," she said as turned the knob and opened door.

What the room looked like, I can't relate, because upon entering the room I saw only one thing: Annette Molyneux suspended, naked and spread eagle, by ropes around her wrists tied off to hooks mounted in the ceiling, and ropes around her ankles tied off to eyelets screwed into the floor. She was gagged by a large black ball, her long black hair tied into a severe ponytail, and small round weights swinging freely from clips tightly pinching her nipples.

She watched me as I entered the room. It was the same look she gave me while she was examining Lucy's welts on that day I was forced to flog her. It was a serious look, one of unbridled lust.

I felt Emilie's hands around my arm, guiding me towards a trunk at the foot of the bed pushed up against the far wall. I felt as though this was all some sort of bizarre dream, much like many of the other dreams I had had since stumbling into this little town. I don't think I had fully recovered yet from the shock of knowing Lucy and I had been observed as we made love, and now...I looked back at Annette Molyneux...oh god, she was so beautiful.

My guide opened the top of the old footlocker to reveal a large assortment of crops, floggers, and honestly, a bunch of stuff I had no idea what use they could be put to.

"I'm not strong enough to give her what she wants, Master," Emilie said as she dug around and finally withdrew a thick rattan cane and handed it to me.

"She always says I quit too soon because I don't really want to hurt her. Maybe it's true. But you..." her voice trailed off. "We've all seen what you can do."

"But..." I was speechless. She had brought me there to cane Annette? Holy shit! I looked back at the bound woman again. Dear lord, she was fucking gorgeous! And waiting for me to cane her...I didn't think I could do it.

"Please!" Emilie begged, sensing my hesitiation, "please do this for us, Master Darios."

Taking a step towards Annette, I asked, "Are you sure about this?" It appeared to me that the doctor was shaking her head, no. She was saying something, but the gag was doing its job very well in preventing her words from being expressed.

Emilie stood on her toes so she could whisper in my ear, "We're role playing, Darios. As usual, this is her idea, but I'm never very good at it. With you here...and being an outsider and all, you're the perfect person to help us."

Turning so that Annette couldn't see my lips, I whispered, "She doesn't look like she wants to do it."

Emilie peeked around at her friend, and whispered back, "She really gets into this role-playing thing, Master Darios, and I bet she really is a little bit scared, I know I would be. But it makes her super horny to protest and struggle," she looked at Annette again, "God, just look at her!"

I could feel the woman's excitement as her hand squeezed my arm and I felt her breast pressed up against me. There was something in her eyes, a sparkle that told me this was arousing her, something that told me that they needed me to do this for them.

With the cane in hand I stepped towards Annette. Her eyes widened and I saw her look up at the ropes looped through the thick leather cuffs around her wrists as she began to struggle.

She was trying to reach the knots that were just out of reach. Emilie had done a good job at tying her. I walked around her, and saw Emilie settle in on the bed to watch. That made me a little nervous and I almost asked her to leave, but decided she probably had a fantasy to live out here as well. These two women were something else all right. Holy crap!

I thought of every bondage magazine I'd ever seen, all three of them, and thought about what the hell I was going to do. I knew suspense was a big part of it, so I stood behind the bound woman and remained silent for a long time. My ploy worked as the woman stopped her useless struggles with the knots and tried to twist her body around to see where I was. Failing to see me, she began to really pull against her bondage, pulling hard at her ankles and then looking up to use her fingers to get at the knots again.

The sounds coming from her gagged mouth seemed to gain in volume. Oh man, was she living this fantasy out or what? She was playing this to the hilt, looking over towards Emilie to see if her reactions were pleasing her friend. Not surprisingly, Emilie already had her hand down the front of her shorts. Oh shit! I adjusted my erection as thoughts of flogging Lucy filtered through my mind. I remembered being terrified at the time, but later...in my room, well, those same memories elicited a different emotion. Seeing Lucy later, with the welts I was responsible for administering, unexpectantly seemed to arouse me, too.

Okay, I had to do it sooner or later. The cane sounded pretty damn scary as it swooshed through the air. It appeared that Annette thought so too, as she tried to move away from me. That was pretty silly, because, obviously she was held firmly in place. I had never held a cane, but had seen its use up close and personal as Paulette used it for the first time on Lucy.

I could do this!

The sound it made when it struck Annie's ass seemed to be correct. It wasn't that dull thud, but a sharp snap. SNAP! Oh yeah, that sounded right, and each strike caused Annette to cry out in pain. I was doing it! Each stroke left a thin red line where it landed. The cane swished through the air over and over, not always landing correctly, but those that did caused sharp squeals to be heard through Annette's gag.

Stopping for a moment to allow the woman to calm down a little, I walked around to her front to remove the little clamps that held the weights. She cried out as I removed them and for a moment I thought she was trying to tell me to leave them on, but I was planning on using the cane on her breasts next, and didn't want them to get in the way.

Her breasts were so firm and luscious, and with her bound as she was, I really saw no reason why I shouldn't squeeze them a little bit, massage them with my hands, maybe tug on her nipples while I was at it. Man, her breasts were nice!

I stepped back and began to tap the tops on those gorgeous breasts, and Annie shook her head, no, as she closed her eyes. The tears streaming down her cheeks brought streaks of dark eyeliner down with them, leaving dark lines where they ran. I began to use the cane on the front of her legs, moving closer and closer to the dark patch of trimmed hair between her legs. This really made her dance in an attempt to avoid the punishment I was dishing out.

"Oh fuck!" Emilie moaned from the bed as her fingers groped her pussy. Her shorts were unbuttoned and unzipped now, to accommodate both her hands attending to her needs. Her body thrashed to the side and she squeezed her legs together, trapping her fingers inside of her, as the orgasm overtook her. I had to stop and watch; Annette's cries suddenly dying down as she, too, understood what was happening to her friend.

The cane fell to the floor as I stepped behind Annette, bringing my hands up the sides of her sweaty body to her breasts. Caressing them gently, I felt the lines rising where the cane had struck them. My right hand drifted down her tightly stretched torso to her pussy. I tugged at the thin strip of hair and felt her grind her ass into my crotch.

"You like that, huh?" I whispered in her ear as my fingers explored inward towards her sex. The light covering of hair was wet, but that might have been from the sweat that dripped down from her belly. No, when my fingers touched the flesh of her pussy, they felt the wetness that was there.

My fingers slipped easily inside the folds of her hot flesh, spreading her labia wide and exploring the moist flesh within. Cupping her pussy now, I rubbed her mound, massaging her roughly, dipping my fingers into her and rubbing her juices on her flesh as they withdrew.

Annie's breathing changed and heat seemed to radiate from her as she worked her hips in a dance timed to correspond with the movements of my fingers. A cry from the bed startled us both, as it appeared that Emilie had brought herself off again, and whether from my attentions or the sight of her friend, Annette cried out through the gag as she joined her in orgasm.

I continued to gently stroke her, while holding her close with my other hand to take the pressure off of her arms. I felt arms coming around me from behind as Emilie hugged me.

"Thank you," she cooed, as the side of her head pressed up against my back. "I can take it from here." I felt kisses on my back and then she withdrew. "You should go see if Lucy is finished with Jerome. I don't want her to be alone too long.

I turned to say okay, but Emilie reached up and gave me a peck on the cheek before pushing me towards the door. I looked back to see her blow me a kiss as I closed the door behind me.

I think I had just figured out who the dominant one was in their relationship.

It was close to noon when I finally stirred from my slumbers. The soft glow from one burning candle revealed that I was the room's sole occupant. I felt the bed next to me where Lucy had slept to feel her warmth, but found none.

What a night! Fuck that, what a week! The past few days had been utterly mind blowing. I couldn't imagine living like these people did, but to them it was natural. Most of them had grown up in this environment, and probably thought nothing of it. What Henri had said the other night about living with Lucy had been rolling around in my mind quite a bit.

If you lived in a town that had a real, honest to God, werewolf living in it, what would you do? This werewolf didn't just happen by and start eating your family members. If that were the case you'd call the cops, or the State Police, or someone, and track the fucker down and kill it. There'd be, like, a massive wolf hunt or something.

But what if you grew up with the werewolf? Your parents knew the beast, your grand- parents knew the beasts' parents. You knew the story, the legend, the history of the wolf and you loved the changeling like you loved your own sister. What would you do?

You'd do what the people of Melonya did every day.

They had something in this town that was supernatural, and they protected it, maybe, with their lives. I wished I could verify that Jeremy had really made it out alive. For all I knew he was buried out there in the swamp someplace, or what was left him was. For all I knew he was laid to rest at the bottom of that garden box I helped Lucy fill with soil.

From somewhere outside the room there came the sound of something breaking, and voices. It sounded like an argument, and I eased out of bed to find my clothes in the closet.

Dressed, I stood outside the room and looked down over the railing into the main foyer of the mansion. The voices came from downstairs, probably back in the kitchen. I descended the stairs slowly to hear them better, while trying not to let them hear me.

"You can't keep him now, Roni!" It was Lucy, her voice filled with anger.

"Just 'cause you're a-sleepin' with him don't mean nothin', Lusineh." I heard Irena say. "You've got to eat. It's been a-three months now."

"Shut up!" Lucy barked.

"The committee has decided," Veronica shouted back. "Three weeks ago, it's already been decided."

"That last boy nearly killed you, you're still weak from that," Irena cut in. "You need something substantial, and soon."

"We can find someone else...let me run, I can find someone!" Lucy's voice had lost its anger and seemed filled with desperation now.

"No!" Veronica shouted.

"Quiet girl," Irena hissed.

"You know how dangerous that would be, Lucy," Veronica continued. "Where would you find someone else? Alba? West Lake? What do think the reaction would be to one of their folk being dragged off into the swamp? You remember what we went through last year when you ran?"

There was silence in the house. She ran last year? I could only assume she had killed someone in a neighboring town and all hell had broken loose.

"I can't take him..."

"When it's time you won't know the difference."

"But I'll know afterwards, and my heart will turn to stone. I'm telling you this, Veronica, my heart will be solid stone and you'll not know me, nor console me, because I'll have a dead heart."

"Please don't say that," Veronica implored.

"Stay firm, girl," Irena scolded, "Lusineh will not feel this way once she's eaten. It's always this way, you need to remember...remember Clive. She said she was dead to us then, but it passed."

The next step I took caused a tiny creak, and I froze in place.

"Quiet!" Lucy said instantly, "He's coming down."

Shit, I had barely heard it myself, but since I was busted I descended the remaining stairs and walked across the large marble floored foyer and back into the kitchen.

Lucy was standing against a long wooden table, her arms crossed under her breasts, while Irena stood near the crackling fire in the hearth, and Veronica swept up the broken remains of what looked like a coffee cup.

"Good morning, Count Stephan," Irena said as I entered the kitchen, her lips were raised in a forced smile. "How did you sleep?"

I looked at Lucy and noticed she was looking down, unable to make eye contact with me. There was something different about her, a slouch, a tiredness. Well, that wouldn't be at all surprising given what she had been through the previous night!

"Really well," I responded, moving close to Lucy and putting my arm around her. "I didn't hear you get up, it's amazing you can even move."

"Lusineh has an inner strength that might surprise you," Irena said as she used a hot pad to remove a coffee pot from the hearth.

"No, I wouldn't be surprised by that at all. Thanks," I said as I accepted a cup of coffee.

We chatted while breakfast was made, but I noticed how withdrawn Lucy had become. I could totally understand how exhausted she must have been, but there was more to it than that. The discussion I had overheard was the obvious reason for the chilly atmosphere in the kitchen.

Later, we lay in bed holding one another as if it were our last day together, because for all we knew it was. We cuddled, just as we had several hours previously when I had arrived at the Countess' chamber just as Jerome was leaving. He had laid his hand on my shoulder and simply said, "Thanks, man."

Thanks? I hadn't understood what he meant at the time, but after stripping off my clothes and slipping into the bed, I found Lucy to be crying quietly under the covers.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" I had asked, careful not to touch her in a sexual way until I determined the reason for her tears.

"They're all so wonderful, Darios," and her sobs became heavier. "I don't deserve their kindness; I don't deserve them at all."

"Shhh," I had whispered to her as I moved closer, snuggling up behind her, my arm around her, holding her hand on the other side of her body. "They think you do, sweetie. They think you do."

We lay quietly for several minutes before I heard Lucy's breathing change as she fell off to sleep.

Now, she looked over at me. "You need to get you out of Melonya, Darios," she whispered. "You need to leave soon."

"I don't want to leave you yet, Lucy. I still have some time, don't I?"

She looked up at me, her brown eyes searching mine, examining me, probing. "Time?"

"Yes," I kissed her forehead, "Time before the full moon, time before you change."

She hugged me closely, her head on my chest. I could feel the wetness of her tears as they dripped off her cheeks. "You know?" she whispered.

"I guess I've figured it out, Lucy. You can't be in this town for a month and not catch on. It's just a matter of believing, and after everything I've seen and heard I find it hard not to believe." Even though no one had ever come out and said, point blank, that Lucy was a werewolf, the inferences were there. My suspicions as to the reasons I had been told the legend had been confirmed, as well. I was not meant to ever leave this town alive.

"They'll try to keep you here. If you act suspiciously, Henri will find a reason to lock you up. We have to figure out a way to get you out, but it won't be easy. For now, though, let's try to enjoy what's left of our time together."

Lucy swung her leg across me and then slid her body over mine until she lay on top of me. Reaching over to the basin on the side table, she handed me a condom.

"Can't risk it, do you mind?"

"Not at all."

After making love that morning¸ Lucy's spirits improved. The smile on her face brightened my entire world. The days that followed were the happiest time of my life, as it seemed every moment we spent together was a gift we gave each other. Henri's words were spot on, being allowed to live and survive near Lucy made me value life every day. We relaxed at the mansion for two more days before heading back into town and resuming our normal routine.

Our daily schedule for the next two weeks returned to what it had been during the days preceding Lucy's day, with one obvious deviation. Veronica, Jerome, and, or, Henri monitored our every move. They tried to make it seem that they were just sort of hanging around, but their motives were obvious to me now. Lucy told me they were three of the five committee members that governed her existence, Jack and Annette being the other two. Veronica, having taken over the Guardianship from Irena, and Henri were the only permanent members, while the others rotated yearly with other town folks.

The work seemed harder, spending nearly a week loading dirt into the back of Jerome's pick-up and then filling in pot-holes on the dozen's of little roads leading from the center of town out into the swamp. The network of roads seemed to go nowhere, interconnecting in a weird matrix that seemed like a web woven by a drunken spider. If not for Lucy, and whoever was chaperoning us at the time, I would've never found my way back to the town.

Still, Lucy and I had plenty of time to think and talk. Plans were made and discarded. Heading out into the swamp on my own was not an option. I would certainly get lost, and if I got turned around and headed east I would definitely encounter alligator infested waters. Even finding the nearest town was a stretch, and Lucy's objections to attempting it made it clear that the option was off the table.

As the full moon approached, Lucy began to be confined each night in the jailhouse again. I remained at the Rousseau's until I made a huge blunder. I had stepped out one night to see if there was a breeze near the front of the house, and upon seeing Henri's car, remembered I had left a pair of mucky shoes in the back seat from earlier in the day. When I opened the door the familiar screech of rusted hinges filled the still night air.

"And what might you be a-doin´ out here, son?"

I jumped. "Oh, shit man, you scared me!" I bent into the back and retrieved the shoes. "Um, just getting my shoes so I could clean them off."

"Uh-huh, I see." The cop leaned in and removed the keys from the ignition and pocketed them. I hadn't thought of it, but Henri always left his keys in the ignition! Shit, I could've been miles away already! I kicked myself mentally. What a fucking dumb-ass!

The following day I told Lucy about my fuck-up and she mentioned that my car was parked down a road that came out of the swamp behind the jail. If I could get to my keys, maybe I could get away with my own car.

Two days later, as we were all in the jailhouse using the restroom, an opportunity arose for me to search Henri's desk. The keys were in the bottom right drawer, along with some crumpled up forms. A quick glance at the paperwork revealed an application for a replacement license with my name on the top but nothing else filled in. Henri never sent away for my new license like he said he had. He probably never contacted anyone on my behalf. My thoughts jumped instantly to Jeremy and hoped the cop hadn't been lying about him, too.

Angry, I looked in his middle desk drawer for a pen, but only found a box of crayons. Okay, that was weird, but there were no pens or pencils, so I opened the box to find one reddish pink crayon. I prefer blue, but reddish pink would do in a pinch.

Flipping the application over I wrote:

Henri,

I love Lucy enough to be her next meal, but too much to let her live with it.
Sorry if this screws up your plans, but I'm out of here.

Darios

I crumpled the paper and threw it back in the drawer, spotted my expired license amongst some other junk, and pocketed it.

As Lucy and I had discussed, I quickly removed the ignition key from the key ring, leaving all of the other keys where they were. If Henri were to look in the drawer it would appear that all of the keys were still there.

I was so nervous the rest of the day I thought I would puke. Initially I thought it was because I had taken the items, and feared being caught with them. But as the day went on I realized it was because, with the key in my pocket, those may have been the last hours I was to spend with Lucy.

Throughout the day, Lucy began to become more agitated as well. Was she feeling the same nervousness I was? She began to talk back to Henri, even pushing him out of her way once.

That did it. With a wave of his hand, Veronica was at his side and the two of them guided the naked woman towards the Commons. Henri had my arm clenched in his other hand, and pulled me along with them. Lucy struggled against them as we came closer to the pillories.

It was very hard for me to see Lucy trapped in the pillories once again; even harder to sit there in the ankle stocks while Veronica removed the flogger from the hook. The realization finally struck me that the change in Lucy's demeanor was not wholly due to my imminent departure, but because of the full moon slowly rising in the evening sky.

"Solid fucking stone, Veronica," Lucy growled, as she kicked at Henri while he tried to get her feet into the ankle stocks of the vertical pillory.

The flogger came down hard against Lucy's thigh. "Submit, Lucy. Let Henri take care of your feet."

Lucy lifted her leg quickly and planted it firmly against Henri's upper chest and pushed him over. His head hit the ground hard and I heard him grunt from the pain.

"Damn you, woman, I'll fucking..."

Lucy's scream cut him off as Veronica's hand brought the flogger down hard across her bare back.

I couldn't watch this. "Lusineh!" I shouted out with authority, desperate to stop this escalation in violence. "Submit! Do as your Mistress says, now!"

"Yes, Master."

As the saying goes, the silence was deafening. I don't recall even hearing the family of Acadian Warblers that nested in the nearby Ash tree; their explosive "peet-sah" calls heard so often was like muzak in the Commons.

Lucy stood still, her feet positioned on the blocks that allowed the wooden beams to be closed properly around her ankles. My lover's head hung down from the hole through which it was secured, her chin resting on the old wood of the cross beam, her beautiful brown curls cascading towards the ground below her.

Veronica's hand remained motionless at its highest point as she was preparing to deliver the next punishing lash, while Henri sat on the ground, his arms behind him for support. All eyes were on Lucy as she stood motionless, silent.

Finally, Roni's arm came down slowly as she pointed towards the ankle stocks with the flogger. Henri quietly crawled forward and secured the beams and pocketed the key.

Veronica approached Lucy and put her arms around her.

"Leave me be, Miklos," Lucy said without lifting her head. "Just leave me be."

The young woman kissed Lucy's shoulder and then nodded towards Henri. The two of them walked off towards the road that led to Jerome's cottage. I leaned back on my elbows so I could see past the Swamp Ash and saw Annette waiting for them on the street in front of Jack's leather store. The three of them talked for a moment and then continued on into the woods.

"This is not good, Master."

She was right. I was going nowhere now that I was locked in the damned stocks! I remember her telling me, on that first day we suffered out there together, that she could easily break the stocks if she weren't settled.

"Lucy, you said that you broke out of these once, maybe you could do it again."

"No, Master, if I got myself worked up enough to do that, you would not survive."

"Are you sure?"

"Darios, I wouldn't know what I was doing at that point and would have no control over myself, my hunger is too great now. Please don't ask to see the beast." The desperation in her voice was heavy. "I never want you to see the beast, because...it may very well be the last thing you see."

We remained silent for a moment. I looked around at the houses visible from the Commons and noticed something I hadn't seen before. All of the windows and doors were heavily shuttered!

"Lucy!" I whispered. "The houses, all of the windows, they're..."

"They're closed to me on this night, dearest." She looked up at the moon and groaned. "Oh God, Darios, they're leaving us out here together. No one will open their doors or windows for any reason until morning." A low wail came from her throat as her breathing deepened.

"No! Oh God, no! Don't punish me any more like this! What have I done to be so cursed?"

I jumped as that wail burst out of her lungs as a scream.

It was happening! With the moon glowing brightly overhead, I could see Lucy clearly. Her once soft and shapely figure was slowly transforming into the muscled form I had seen while she was hard at work. It would, no doubt, go beyond what I had previously seen, though, to become something I could not ever imagine.

"Whatever happens, Lucy, don't blame yourself," I shouted, almost resigned now to my fate.

"I love you, Darios!" she shouted back

"I love you, too, Lusineh!"

A loud crack filled the night air, and I knew my life was over.


Part 5 (added: 2012/05/22)

"NO! Oh please, no," Lucy cried out in agony. "Sorry! I'm so sorry, Darios!"

The shadows cast from the huge Ash tree behind us partially blocked the moonlight, but I could see well enough to notice Lucy's flesh was darkening. Another loud crack from the pillory next to me echoed across the Commons followed by another wail of grief.

Suddenly Lucy began to groan, and it was obvious she was struggling feverously to push and pull at the ancient wooden structure that held her.

"I'm...going to...break...this while I...while I'm still aware." The gravelly voice was unfamiliar to me. CRACK! The main vertical beam splintered at the bottom. "I...will try to...Eeeeiii!, Oh God, I'll try to..." CRACK! "run as far...as far away as I can."

The shape of the naked body beside me was changing quickly. The darkened torso seemed to be expanding, while the ankles and wrists narrowed. The narrowing allowed Lucy to step out of the ankle stocks that held her, and she used this freedom to plant her feet and push against the splintered vertical beam. It took only seconds after that for the beam to snap, sending splinters of wood sailing through the air like tiny darts.

Scared out of my mind, I leaned back, away from the woman as she turned the other way. That action may have saved my life, as the solid trunk of the beam swung past the spot I had just occupied! There was a loud crash right behind me and chunks of wood struck my back and littered the ground around me. When I looked back, Lucy was gone, the battered remains of the stocks that held her head and wrists scattered near the base of the tree.

My head whipped around, searching for her, and then I spotted a shape disappearing between the general store and Annette's house.

"Holy Shit!" a voice said from beside me, nearly stopping my heart. It was Henri.

"Fuck, man!" I shouted, as I grabbed the cop by the collar and pulled at him. "You son-of-a-bitch!"

"Easy, son!" he said, his hands working the lock securing the ankle stocks.

"What? You're not going to feed me to your wolf?" I continued to grasp his collar in my fist.

"Darios! We're letting you go!" Veronica said in a hushed voice as she knelt down next to me. "We're over-riding the committee, and letting you go."

"What? Why?"

"You settled her with your voice, Darios," Irena said from behind me. I turned to see her hugging against the tree as if it might provide some protection. "No one has ever had that effect on an Avakian before."

"I can't be responsible for allowing her to kill you," Veronica said as she replaced her knife in its scabbard. "I'm not sure she would ever forgive me, or if I could even forgive myself."

Once my ankles were free, Henri helped me to my feet. "We've got to get to the jail, we might be safe there."

"What about your house? It's closer," I suggested.

"Martine won't open the door."

"Are you..."

"She won't!" Irena spat. "There's no time to argue! Let's go!"

"But, Lucy said she'd run as far away as she could!" I whispered.

"Listen, boy," Irena said as she grabbed the sleeve of my shirt. "Lucy can a-smell us right now. She can a-hear the blood a-pumpin' through our veins. Four of us, out here in the open?! The sound of it is deafening to her. That she's not a-ripping us apart right now is a miracle."

I could feel the old woman shaking with fear, and looking at the others, I could see them peering into the darkness in search of death.

Slowly at first, but then at a full run, we bolted towards the jailhouse. A growl from behind us caused Veronica to look back and then stumble. Henri grabbed her under her arm as he ran past and just dragged her the remaining thirty feet to the back door of the jailhouse.

Once inside, Irena slammed the door shut and then cried out as something powerful hit the door from the outside, sending the old woman back against the opposite wall. She immediately launched herself against the door again, leaning into it to keep it shut. Henri ran to help her.

"Go see if the office door is unlocked, Darios!" Henri shouted, his breathing labored from the run across the Commons.

I sprinted to the end of the short hallway but found that the door was locked.

"Shit, we're trapped!"

The wolf prowled outside the little building. We could hear its growls near the door and then along the side of the jailhouse, filtering in through the little windows at the back of each cell.

"These cells are all locked, Henri!" Veronica shouted in panic.

"I know! I know! I locked them so the kid wouldn't be able to hide in one. And now we're fucked." The door rocked on its hinges as the wolf pounced on it from the other side.

I came up and leaned against the door with both hands, digging my heels in for support. "We can wait her out, can't we? She'll change back when the sun comes up, right?"

"She'll become more desperate soon, boy," Irena said, as she pulled at the bars of the cell door closest to us, willing it to open. "She's still not completely changed and there may still be some part of her that's resisting the urge. But soon she'll not know the human part of her at all. The smell of fresh meat will be too overpowering and there'll be no stopping her."

"Irena," Henri called back over his shoulder, "the end cell up there by the office...that door doesn't always lock correctly. Go see..."

Irena was already moving down the dark hallway. I looked back and saw the door swing open just as Lucy hit the door I was leaning against. The force was incredible and for a second I thought she was coming through. If it had been just me there we'd all have been dead, but Henri was quite strong and we held our ground.

"You and Roni stay in the cell and hold the door open!" Henri shouted back into the darkness to Irena. "We'll hold out here as long as we can, but if she gets through we'll be coming back there."

BAM!! The door bounced back at us. I was knocked back momentarily but regained my footing and leaned into the door again. BAM!! I looked at the old hinges and wondered how much more they could take.

BAM!! The old door cracked down the middle sending splinters inwards.

"GO!!" Henri grabbed me by the shirt collar and nearly tossed me the distance to the end cell. I stumbled to my feet and fell into the cell, followed quickly by Henri. He pulled the cell door closed.

"Crap! The locking mechanism's jammed inside the door. It won't even stay closed by itself!" He was digging at the edge of the door with his fingers trying to spring the latch free.

A loud crashing sound at the other end of the hallway drew everyone's attention as a very large brown wolf stepped through the fractured remains of the door. In that instant, as it was still illuminated by the full moon outside, I saw its red eyes glowing, observing us cowering there in the darkness. It crept slowly towards us, the sound of its breathing the only sound in the jail, because certainly none of us were breathing. A menacing growl filled the little building as it approached our cell.

In the dim light I saw the wolf as it stood outside the cell looking in at us. Even transformed into a werewolf, Lucy was beautiful! My god, what a magnificent beast she was! Her thick brown hair looked so luxurious, her body firm and strong. Every muscle reeked of strength, the three little spots on her rump looking like jewelry upon her flesh where her hair thinned slightly.

"Get out, Lusineh!" I shouted, pointing at the door. "It's me, Darios, you have to stay outside!"

The wolf looked into the cell, its head tilting as if to see who had spoken. Did she understand me? Did she recognize my voice? She was close so now, and Henri had to release his grip on the bars and take a step back. I saw the unlocked door inch open a crack and wondered if Lucy saw it, too.

"Go now! Out!" Again, I pointed towards the door.

A low growl reverberated within the small space before the Beast turned and walked slowly towards the door. Once she was outside we all began to breathe again.

"That won't work next time," Henri said.

"How far away is my car?"

"It's right behind us, about twenty yards away," Henri said as he worked on the door latch again, "But unless you know how to hotwire, it's no good to us."

"I have the key," I said, holding it up so he could see it.

Henri smiled, "Nicely done, son. But how can we get to it? We need a diversion."

There was silence in the jail, but the sound of Lucy prowling outside filtered in to us. We stood there, thinking.

"I'll distract my sister while you all a-get away," Irena said from the darkness at the back of the cell.

"Grandma! How would you do that?"

"You leave that to me, girl, I can manage her."

"You can not!" Veronica protested.

"Silence!" Irena came forward to the front of the cell and looked at Henri. "We're all dead, you know that don't you, Henri?"

Henri stopped his work on the door and looked up at Irena. "Yeah, we're dead. I was just a-hopin' I could..."

"We won't outlast her, she'll soon be too strong. I'll go to her, I'll give her what she needs."

Veronica leaned into her grand-mother and cried out, "No, grandma! You can't! You know what that'll do to her. How will she live with that?"

"In the top drawer of my dresser is the doctor's letter that will explain that I've only a few months left to live, if that. He found something a-goin' on in my heart when I went in to get my wrist fixed up. I wouldn't survive an operation, and will start to have problems wit' it pretty soon. I don't want to live like that."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?!" Veronica was in tears now, and Henri moved in to put his arm around her.

"It was too hard to say it out loud..."

The growling outside the jail grew louder and we could hear Lucy prowling. Now there were sounds of the wolf trying to enter the jail through the front door.

Henri saw that Irena's solution may be the only hope for survival and whispered, "I think this may be our chance. With her in front, the building will shield us from her line of sight."

We moved quietly towards the back door. Henri stopped and held Irena, "You sure about this, Irena?"

The old woman that I had called a hag when I first laid eyes on her looked at us, tears in her eyes and said, "Yes."

She stepped towards the door, straightening up with a sense of new-found strength. "It will be my privilege to feed Lusineh Avakian on this night. I will be with my sister, always. Tell her that. Tell her how much I love her and that I will always be with her. Tell her when the moon is full; I'll be there with her to comfort her."

Veronica buried her head in Irena's chest and sobbed. The old woman kissed the top of her head and pushed her into Henri's arms. "You git on now, I'll be a-waitin' for you all on the other side." By that I knew she wasn't talking about any place on this earth.

We were all out the door at once, Irena heading towards the front, while Henri, Roni, and I headed around the back towards the swamp.

The sound of a low growl filtered thought the air, followed by a muffled cry. Irena was dead.

We made it to my car seconds later and were pulling out of the hidden road seconds after that. As we passed the far end of the jail heading towards the road out of Melonya, we looked over to see the wolf, its head down towards the dark shape on the ground. Irena's arms were up, holding its head, and then fell away limply to the sides as the wolf lifted its head to look up at us as we sped past.

I tore up that little dirt rode as I sped towards the main road, not wanting to think of what I had just seen. It was a horrible image I might never get out of my mind, but have always found comfort in knowing that Irena sacrificed herself for someone she loved, and to someone she loved.

I dropped Henri and Veronica off at a hotel about twenty miles away and headed towards the main highway. I didn't want to leave Lucy, but knew staying was not an option either. It tore me up inside, and the drive back to Wisconsin was a solitary and painful one.

It's been two months now since I last saw Lucy, but she is never far from my thoughts. At times she's all that I can think of; her beautiful face, the light olive tone of her skin, her dark brown hair, sometimes concealing her deep brown eyes behind the curls. I think of how she looked when her hair fell across her face like that; so erotic, so mysterious. Mysterious would not begin to describe Lucy.

How I loved her. Love her, I should say, for I will never stop loving her. Yet, my heart aches at the knowledge that I can never have her, nor even be near her, ever again. Sometimes, though, when my heart is heavy, as it is now, I begin to think that the death that would come from being close to her, from holding her in my arms again, would be welcome.

Of all the women in the world, I had to fall in love with a werewolf.

The End


Epilogue

04/03/2012

Dear Reader,

The proceeding account was written two months after my return to Wisconsin. I began to write with the intention of mailing it to an adult magazine for publication, but as the details of my experience flowed onto the paper, the efforts morphed into something unexpectedly complex. The emotions I had previously suppressed began to overwhelm me, causing a sense of loss and depression I cannot adequately describe for you.

Struggling to complete the text, I became a recluse in my dorm room, not attending classes or socializing with friends. I could no longer bear the thought of life without my Lucy. My thoughts were drawn to her, to Melonya, to the experiences that had so changed my life. The notion of carrying on as if it had never happened was ludicrous.

As if a tether were wrapped around my heart, tugging me south, a desperate need to return to Lucy found me en route a week after writing the words, 'The End'. I took nothing except my new license, the money in my wallet, and the clothes I wore. I don't remember the drive, if and where I ate, whether I stopped to rest or drove through the night. Nothing about the drive comes to mind until I rounded the bend in the rutted dirt road and entered the little town hidden deep within the Louisiana swamp.

My car rolled to a stop in the exact location I had stopped upon my first entrance. Not a soul was to be seen this time, however. My heart sank as I wondered what had become of the citizens of this closely-knit community. I looked out over the Commons to the huge Swamp Ash and noticed a newly constructed pillory standing where the old ones had been broken off. The entire area had been re-graded and adorned with brightly colored flowers. A marble headstone rose from the center of the flower garden, the name inscribed thereon known to me already.

I remembered Irena's final words and felt that same lump clogging my throat.

"Tell her how much I love her and that I will always be with her. Tell her that when the moon is full, I'll be there with her to comfort her."

The pillory was where Lucy suffered the most each month, and for her dearest friend to be close by might lend some small comfort to her in her time of need.

As before, I proceeded slowly along the road, skirting the Commons and drifting quietly to a stop in front of Marie's general store. The door was open. The door was always open. There was no need for security in this town; never had been, never would be.

A noise to my left attracted my attention as two kids ran from behind Jack's leather goods shop. It was the Reinard twins, Joey and Heather. Little Joey looked my way and stumbled to the ground, causing Heather to stop and laugh at him. She stopped laughing when she followed his gaze, and then the two of them ran off towards their house, yelling something I couldn't make out.

At the noise, several people peered out of their houses and shops, and I realized I was not alone in the town after all. The twins backed out of their house as their father, Jack, came through the door and looked my way. He said something to Joey, and the boy mounted his bike and tore off down the road heading towards the mansion. Jack waved, a smile on his face that was visible from across the Commons. He began to walk my way and I headed out onto the grass to intercept him.

"Darios!" he called out as we neared one another. "God! It's great to see you!"

We shook hands and he clapped me on the shoulder. "I've sent Joey to get the others, they're at the mansion, painting."

"And Lucy? Is she okay? Where is she?"

Jack's smile widened, "She's out there, they'll bring her back." The man had yet to release my hand; his joy at seeing me seemed so genuine, but suddenly his expression turned serious and he released my hand.

"Um, Darios, I um...I'm sorry about what we tried to..." It was obvious his initial response to seeing me superseded any guilt he may have been feeling over his part in leaving me to die in the Commons a few months earlier. But now it was something he had to deal with.

After making it back to my parent's house in Trevor, and finding out that Jeremy had, in fact, made it home safely, there was plenty of time to dwell on the actions of the town folk of Melonya. At first I was angry, obviously, because they had tried to kill me. My thoughts returned to the questions that plagued me at the time: what would you do if you lived with Lucy? To what lengths would you go to ensure her survival, as well as your own? Kidnapping and murder?

I was in no position to answer that question, as what I thought, and the decisions they had to make, were not even on the same plane of existence. When I thought about it, leaving me to my fate that night would've been the right thing to do for Lucy's sake. They knew the effect depriving her of the much-needed meal would have on her. Yet, they knew the devastating effect that allowing her to consume me would have on her, too. It could not have been an easy decision to make.

The resolution to the debate in my mind had been settled when my car stopped at the edge of town and I took in the sight of Irena's grave. I forgave them.

Not responding to Jack's awkward apology, I turned and walked to the bed of flowers, barely able to lift my head sufficiently to read the words on the gravestone. My heart was heavy; as I was sure Lucy's was when she looked at it. The events of that night flooded my mind, and I sank to my knees to remember the sacrifice the old woman had made. I especially remembered her resolve and the honor she felt at going to Lucy, both to distract her and to satisfy her hunger.

How long I knelt there, consumed by my memories, I don't know. I only remember feeling a warmth beside me and looking over to see Lucy, kneeling beside me, silently waiting for me to return to the present.

We fell into each other's arms and hugged. It was then that I noticed that we were not alone and a very large crowd of people had quietly come up to surround us. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I rose to shake hands and embrace the friends that had come to greet me.

I stayed a few days with Lucy and Veronica at the newly painted mansion. Lucy's nadir day had just passed, but I learned from Henri that there was no excitement in Lucy since I had left Melonya. They'd all been worried that the combination of losing Irena, and me, and Lucy's age were a maelstrom that could not be navigated. Her initial rage at what had occurred that night was inconsolable, but Veronica's strength as her guardian prevailed, and life had slowly returned to some vestige of normality. Still, it was obvious that Lucy had taken it hard.

Now, with her Darios returned, and in her bed, a spark of life returned to the changeling that delighted everyone in town. That I promised to return as often as my school schedule would allow, brought a permanent smile to her face as well.

And so it went for the remainder of the school year and into the summer. My senior year of college was to be spent at the University of Minnesota, Duluth campus, though. Being at the far northeastern tip of the state, the drive to Louisiana became too time consuming and on a lark, Lucy and Veronica agreed to come north, to Minnesota, to live with me.

It was certainly a wild time, as Lucy could still not bear to wear clothes and my close friends, both male and female, had to get used to "that naked woman" I lived with. We rented a large house not far from campus that seemed to become the place to hang out.

My friends were cool with Lucy's nudity. Well, the guys would be of course, but the women, although taken aback at first, and maybe a little jealous that their boyfriends were obviously ogling her, were soon won over by Lucy's charm. Besides, Lucy's devotion to me, and mine to her, was obvious.

My friends were also surprised to learn of my sudden interest in BDSM. It was impossible to hide the whip and cane marks on Lucy's flesh as the first month passed. Besides, Lucy decided she enjoyed referring to me as 'Master', and had begun to use the word exclusively. After our fetish was 'revealed', I bought a new collar and cuff set for Lucy, which she wore with pride. This relationship opened a new world to us as we began to explore the variety of ways we could amuse ourselves, while keeping Lucy settled during those critical times.

Veronica left us to our own fantasies as she found love with one of the guys in my Biology class that came over with the study group from time to time. It turned out that he was originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and had selected the U of M because of its excellent Forestry program.

Something I hadn't considered when asking Lucy to move north turned out to be such a blessing to us all. The reason for the change in campus locations was, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the topography of northern Minnesota, its close proximity to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness; over a million square miles of wilderness mostly protected within the Superior National Forest. Much of the work done in my Forestry studies was conducted in the BWCA, the southern tip of which lay just north of Duluth.

During Thanksgiving break, we drove north for two hours to the small town of Ely, Minnesota. Ely is the Mecca of camping and adventure outfitters for the BWCA, and it was there that I found a small, hand-written, advertisement on a bulletin board for cabin leases at a location called Brown's Lake. It was another half an hour's drive to the cabin, but what we found there was worth the drive.

The cabins were very secluded, in fact, the owners didn't even live on the property and, seeing there were only three cabins, I asked how much it would cost to rent all three. The price was affordable and I secured a lease for the entire site. With the full moon approaching, I was relieved we would finally have a place for Lucy to run.

Additional research into the area provided a great sense of relief, as we discovered that hunting wolves in the National Forest had been banned since 1970, and in 1974, the Endangered Species Act was enacted, providing additional protection to the wolf population outside of the Forest.

The months that followed were happy ones for us. Lucy and Veronica spent at least one week a month at the cabins, sometimes more if they wished. I joined them when I could.

The Forest provided abundant food for my favorite werewolf as it was home to herds of elk, moose, and white-tailed deer. After the first month's hunt, Lucy's health was restored and her body tone was even more impressive than when I had first laid eyes on her.

During December of that year, while dining at a small café in Ely, we overheard some trek guides talking about sightings of a large brown wolf running with a timber wolf pack. We smiled as quite a little argument started up over this topic, as one of the guides asserted that the gray timber wolves would surely not allow a solitary outsider into their pack. Others argued that wolves were much more social than that, and the brown wolf would be allowed to join them.

Little did they know that the brown wolf sat two booths away from them!

I've often thought about that discussion and compared it to my own acceptance into the community of Melonya, years ago.

Quite by accident, I can assure you, I discovered that I could interact with Lucy in her wolfen form. It was late one night and she still hadn't returned from her hunt, so I walked out to the porch of the cabin to listen for sounds of the pack she ran with. It was just after the New Year, and a recent snowstorm had dropped four feet of snow across the region. The snow and the cold certainly did not affect my wolf, but I was concerned nonetheless.

As I looked out towards the north, a sound behind me froze me in place. It was a low growl, eerily joined by several other growls. Turning my head very slowly, I saw Lucy standing there between the cabin door and myself. Her teeth were bared, blood dripping from them and down her chin, small pieces of meat - most likely deer - still hanging from her hair.

The pack of timber wolves, sensing a human, began to creep forward slowly; their heads and bodies low as if they were ready to spring on me. Lucy turned on them and growled, menacing, positioning herself between them and me. The pack cowered; moving off a distance before turning to look back, and then sprinting off into the woods.

Lucy lay down at my feet and began to lick the fur of her front paws. I ran inside to get her blanket and prepared to cover her, for it was only a matter of time until she reverted to her lovely, naked, and tremendously cold, self.

Lucy returned directly to the cabin each month after that, and I waited outside for her, gaining confidence with each month that she wouldn't harm me.

A month later, my landlord in Duluth died, and we were forced to find a new house to rent. While packing up my things, Lucy came across the story I had written, and forgotten about, regarding my time in Melonya. After she stopped crying, she stood up and told me I should write a book about it, just as I had said I would. I told her that was crazy, that I was no writer. But, she kept after me, and in 1989 I published my book, "Blood Lust".

We watched in amazement as the book rose in popularity, hitting the NY Times Best Seller list on its third week of sales, and topping it the next week. What followed would take too much of your valuable time to relate, but my writing career soon replaced my Forestry career.

The income from that book, and the next four I wrote as a series, all best-sellers, provided income I could have never imagined. We decided to return to Melonya, and have lived there ever since.

But with us, came change. Fucking electricity, for one thing. I contracted with a company to tear out the old single wire that supplied power to a handful of businesses and residences and to bury updated electrical cables along the road into town. Every household that wanted power was connected to the new supply line. The concept of air conditioning was also introduced to the residents, and then the mansion was wired.

We lived at the mansion, and I had a fifteen foot tall chain-link fence constructed around the acreage, hidden in the swamp so it was not seen from either the mansion or the town. It was easy to stock this area with an abundance of wildlife to provide Lucy with an enjoyable hunt every month.

With the introduction of the Internet, Lucy and I spent hours web-surfing for our entertainment. About a year ago we came across this website, and my darling wife - oops, I failed to mention that! - finally convinced me to post our story for your amusement.

While thinking about what pen name I would use, Lucy laughed and reminded me of the first night we spent together upon my return to Melonya, years ago. Her excitement as we entered her bedroom was so evident that I nervously scanned the room for a flogger in case she got too carried away. My fears were heightened when she actually said, "I am so hungry for you!"

Our love making that night ended as the sun rose the next morning, but the comment stuck with us during the months and years that followed. Quite often, when Lucy would snuggle up in anticipation of lovemaking she would repeat those words, and I would say, "Okay Miss Hungry, let's feed you." I took to repeating the phrase as well, and became 'Mr. Hungry' to her.

We hope you enjoyed our story!

Darios and Lusineh Avakian Donelli