Curse of the Werewench
By
Amethyst

Brooklyn goes out to celebrate with a friend and gets more than he bargained for when he meets Jeri.
 
Disclaimer: This is all Rosey Redd's fault, she put the idea in my head. This isn't related to Roberta ME's story. I actually wrote it and put it on my Patreon last week. Be warned: This was written while I was still half asleep and not thinking clearly so the humor and stuff may be a little weird. Thanks to Rosey Redd for the idea, help with editing, and the teaser image.

It was a cold, dark, and spooky October night, lit only by the full moon and the brightly colored lights of the Red-light District when my life was forever changed. My friend, Bill ‘the Bulldozer’ Brinks, had insisted on celebrating now that midterms were done and our football team, the Black Lake College Beavers, had won a game against our arch-rivals, the Mistbay College Moose. With our five-game winning streak, it was a good time to be a Beaver.

So, as a result, my pal was half-dragging me into a part of town that I wasn’t all that familiar with to celebrate. “C’mon, Dude!” ‘Dozer said, slapping me on the back as if that might propel me forward faster.

Yeah, my friends all called me ‘Dude’ since my name is Brooklyn Jerkins and the nicknames with that moniker were either pretty feminine or some derivatives of my last name, none of which were really ideal. Why don’t I use my middle name? Well, because that’s just as bad. Brooklyn Ashley is such a girl’s name, even if my parents swear that it’s gender-neutral. Maybe my parents were attempting to get me to man up or they were just terrible at naming children, I’m going to assume the latter. My little sister was named Hunter Jaime, so maybe they’re just equal opportunity sadists.

“This is the Red-light District. I’m not paying for sex, there are plenty of willing girls on campus,” I argued.

“Nah, Dude,” ‘Dozer said reassuringly. “We won’t need to pay nothin’. I heard from a couple of friends that some girls hang around here just to get laid. They’ll do anything for a good fuck.”

“I’m not so sure about…” I began before someone blocked our path.

Some Vincent Price looking motherfucker had stepped right in front of us wearing some kind of black leather outfit and thick collar with metal plates all over it, a whip hanging from his hip and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder that was making suspicious clinking sounds. I was about to tell him that Halloween wasn’t until next week when ‘Dozer said, “Sorry, old dude, but whatever it is you’re into, we’re straight.”

“Beware!” the old man cautioned us. “You know not what horrors of the night await you in…”

‘Dozer pushed the strange old geezer aside and kept pulling me along as he threw over his shoulder, “We’re not interested in switching teams, go find someone else.”

“Do not let them bite you!” the man’s voice called out in one last warning as we hurried away.

We hadn’t been sitting in a bar for very long before we saw a literal pack of hot women enter the bar. It was a good thing too because it was starting to feel like a sausage party with almost thirty guys in the bar and like two women. One of those was the bartender and another seemed to be with one of the guys. There were half a dozen of them, each one unnaturally gorgeous and wearing clothes that showed off their assets: Damn near illegally short miniskirts or skintight shorts, high heels that made their legs look amazing, midriff-baring tops that barely covered their ample breasts, and it didn’t take a genius to see that not one of them was wearing a bra from the way that their nipples were showing.

For a moment they seemed to stop and sniff the air before their eyes locked on some guy or another and they started walking, no stalking, toward the men that their eyes were locked upon. One was coming our way, her walk suggestive, sensual, and stalking like a panther. She was a gorgeous blonde with long hair, maybe five foot four with strange golden eyes, full red lips, massive double Ds, and a waspish waist that tapered down into wide sensual hips and long shapely legs that would be the envy of any supermodel.

She sashayed her way over to us, giving me plenty of time to take her in before looking me right in the eyes and saying, “Hi there, I’m Jeri.” Her voice was husky, not in a manly fashion but smoky, sensual, and almost feral in a way. Just having that gorgeous creature so close to me, seeing the lust and hunger in her golden eyes as she looked into mine, and the way that she bit her lower lip with canines that seemed longer and sharper than normal as her chest heaved, straining her top, had me instantly hard. “You wanna fuck?”

Did I ever! I had never met a woman so beautiful and sexual, not to mention so forward. “Oh God, yes,” I mumbled, barely aware of my friend slapping me on the back as Jeri took my hand and led me away. She didn’t lead me far, just to the alley behind the bar where she shoved me against the wall, her strength surprising for such a small woman. I mean, I’m like a foot taller than her and a linebacker for my college football team.

Right there in the alley, she started stripping off her clothes and then unzipping my pants to free my painfully hard cock. “R-right here?” I asked uncertainly, looking around.

“Yes, don’t you find the thought of someone catching us... someone watching us, exciting?” she replied huskily as she wasted no time practically throwing me down onto a wooden pallet on the ground and climbing atop me, a flurry of frantic kisses landing upon me as she rubbed her hot sex against my cock. She was dripping wet, near delirious with desire as she took me inside herself and began to ride me like I was a wild stallion.

Her sharp nails pierced my skin as she ground herself into me with each thrust. Or rather each attempt to thrust. Whenever I tried to move she would dig her nails in and hold me down, a low growl of warning in her throat as she made it clear that it was she who was in charge. She was so needy and wanton that she didn’t even give me the time to put on one of the condoms in my pocket.

It was the most incredible sex of my life. I don’t know how long she rode me like that but I came like never before and she just kept going, keeping me hard until finally, she started screaming out in ecstasy, almost a howl as her muscles clenched around my cock bringing me to release once again. As I exploded and she was still in the midst of her own pleasure she kissed me hard in raw passion, a love bite to my neck that would have been painful if my brain hadn’t been otherwise occupied at the moment.

“Mmmm…. that was… great.” Jeri was breathing heavily and gazing down and me in post-orgasmic bliss. She smiled dreamily and I barely had the time to notice the blood on her lips as she licked them when her eyes went wide as she stared at my neck in horror, “No… I bit you.”

“Just a little hickey, it’s nothing to worry about,” I said shrugging it off.

“I… I’m so sorry, I lost control of myself… I,” she said huskily, tears in her golden eyes as she pushed off of me to stand up and quickly get dressed. My cum was dripping from between her legs and she seemed to notice that as well and muttered darkly, “Just great.”

“I was going to use a condom,” I said weakly, producing one from my pocket after zipping up my jeans. “You were kind of in a hurry though.”

“This is my fault; I need to control myself better but I’m still so new to all of this. I need to take you to meet the others, they aren’t going to be happy about this.” Jeri announced despondently.

“So what? So you gave me a hickey and I came inside you. The hickey is no big deal, I’m clean, and there’s like the day after pills, right? Wait, are you clean?” I asked confused about what she was so upset about.

“I’m… it’s complicated. We need to go meet the others. Sofia can explain better than me,” she said pulling me along and again showing me that she was much stronger than she looked.

I was getting a little concerned now, she was acting weird, so I pulled my hand away. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“I’m sorry, you don’t have a choice,” Jeri said sadly, her hand a blur as it moved toward me. The last thing that I remembered before blacking out was her punching me.

I awoke to raised voices but the only one that I recognized was Jeri’s. “But you can’t lock me in here! I’m getting horny again, I need it!”

“You obviously have no control over yourself during the change yet. Until you get some it is not safe to let you out, you know the rules, Jeri. You should have stayed with the others, you will remain a neophyte for now and tonight will teach you the consequences of losing control. Now clean up and, once you are in your cell, work on your control and pray that you are not with child,” another woman chastised in a sultry yet angry voice with a faint European accent. “Samantha, Bobbi, go help her clean up and then ensure that she is in her cell so she cannot leave.”

I opened my eyes to see that I was in some sort of dungeon and not the fun kind either. I was in one of several stone cells with iron bars and an iron-barred door secured tightly with thick chains and a padlock. It would seem that I was a prisoner. I was also buck-ass naked, but at least I was in a comfortable bed. I saw two other gorgeous women leading Jeri away and another watching me.

She was a raven-haired beauty with olive skin, large breasts, penetrating golden eyes, and long wavy black hair. Like her accent, her clothing looked like something out of eastern Europe, maybe Balkan, or from one of the nomadic peoples that traveled in caravans throughout Europe. She wore a strapless white top with a lot of ruffles that exposed both her midriff and slender sun-kissed shoulders. She was also barefoot at the moment but had accessorized with golden hoop earrings and a belt of gold coins over a dark red skirt that hung suggestively off her hips and went all the way to the floor.

She was frightening and alluring at the same time and I was glad when her eyes left me to examine something in her hand that looked suspiciously like my wallet. “Brooklyn Ashley Jerkins,” she said thoughtfully. “You do not look like a Brooklyn Ashley, well, at least not yet. My name is Sofia. I must apologize for your current situation but we cannot allow you to roam the streets until the full moon has set tomorrow night.”

“The full moon is tonight, lady,” I snapped.

“A common misconception,” she corrected with a shrug. “The moon is full for three nights, not one. We are currently on the second night. Jeri bit you in a moment of weakness but she has only been one of us for a couple of months and is still adapting to the change. We thought that she was ready to be allowed out but she still needs more time. I will have a meal brought to you and tomorrow when we are all thinking more clearly, I will explain to you our curse, one that you will share once the full moon rises tomorrow night. I… I must go, I have needs to see to.”

She was looking at me like a steak dinner but quickly turned away and fled through the door behind her. Soon I was brought a meal on a serving tray that was slid through a space beneath the door of the cell. It seemed like the kind of food that you’d find in a pub, a plastic basket of fries and a cheeseburger with a bottle of beer. At least it wasn’t gruel and water, so it seemed that they were trying to make my stay somewhat comfortable.

Soon Jeri was brought back, as naked as I was, and seemingly cleaned up, and put in cell one over from my own. She didn’t look happy and at first, she practically rubbed herself against the bars of her cell as she tried vainly to get to me with an empty cell between us. Then she collapsed onto her bed and started to unabashedly masturbate, screaming out a few times in pleasure before finally starting to cry, whimper, and repeat over and over, “It’s not enough.” Eventually, she collapsed and seemed to give up before her breathing steadied as she fell asleep. I didn’t sleep for quite some time.

“Wake up, Brooklyn, we have some breakfast for you,” an unfamiliar voice called. I opened my eyes and it took me a moment to remember what had happened last night and where I was now. There was a tray of bacon, sausages, eggs, and pancakes sitting at the cell door with a bottle of orange juice. Sofia was standing there on the other side of the cell door watching me and I risked a glance toward the cell where Jeri had been placed the night before. She was no longer there, but in her place was a naked man not much older than me with a slight build and short hair somewhere between blonde and light brown who was eating morosely from a tray similar to my own.

I was about to turn my attention back to Sofia when the other man turned and gave me a despairing look. “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled barely loud enough for me to hear before looking away.

Nothing more was said as I ate in silence. Once I was finished though Sofia began to speak. “As I said last night, Brooklyn, we are under a curse and now you are as well. When the full moon is out you will transform.”

“What, like a werewolf or something?” I asked in disbelief. These people were fucking crazy, there were no such things as curses or werewolves.

“No, Brooklyn, not a werewolf, a werewench. Tonight, when the full moon rises you will change into a beautiful busty woman, faster and stronger than mere mortals, with no modesty or inhibitions, little self-control, and an insatiable hunger for… cock.” She spoke with a serious tone, pausing dramatically before practically gasping out that last word.

“Okay, the joke is over, you can let me go now. It was all very funny, did ‘Dozer put you up to this?”

“I am afraid this is no joke, young Brooklyn. Three hundred years ago I was a handsome young lord and rather full of myself. I insulted a witch by naming her a slattern and she cursed me. When the moon was full or I was overcome with powerful emotions I changed into what I had accused her of being. If I bit a man and drew blood during the act of intercourse, the curse spread to them as well,” she said solemnly.

“Okay, one problem with that, it’s daylight and you’re still a chick,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Nice touch putting a naked guy in Jeri’s cell before I woke up though.”

Sofia shook her head sadly. “I speak the truth, as you shall discover tonight. Over time, we found that the curse can be controlled to some degree. We can will ourselves to change and stay in our female forms at other times than just the full moon or when deeply emotional. The urges can be controlled to some degree, though controlling the urges is much easier during daylight. Should you get with child though, the change will become permanent, you shall be stuck in that form for all eternity, and the curse will be passed on to any male children that you bear when they reach adulthood. So, you see, we cannot risk allowing you or Jerry to leave here until you can control yourselves and the curse.”

“And where is here?” I asked fishing for information in the hopes that I could escape from these obvious nutjobs.

“We own a business where those of us who wish it and who have shown enough control over themselves can dance and remove our clothes for money. You are in the basement, where we conduct other business to satisfy our urges in private and train our neophytes,” she said carefully. She likely realized that I didn’t believe her so she merely shrugged. “Rest well, you will need it tonight.”

I was wondering just what she meant by that when she stopped on the way out the door to give the other cell occupant a long hard look. “And as for you, Jerry, it would seem that you were fortunate last night. Remember this lesson, lest you wish to become your other self permanently and fight those urges for eternity.”

Once she was gone through the door to the hallway beyond the dungeon I turned to Jerry. “So, I suppose this is where you try to convince me she’s telling the truth?”

“Why would I? You’re not going to believe it until it happens to you, I didn’t,” he said bitterly.

“Oh, c’mon. Nothing? No adding to the lore? No telling me that we can only be killed by silver or something?” I taunted.

“That’s just stupid. We don’t really get sick or anything in our wench forms, and those stuck permanently like Sofia don’t age, but we can still die in most of the ways that normal people do, in accidents and such. And there are Monster Hunters who hunt down people like us,” Jerry provided.

Well, that explained the guy and his ‘warning’. “Let me guess one of them is this crazy old codger with a leather fetish who kinda looks like Vincent Price. I have to hand it to you, this joke is elaborate.”

“Nah, he’s not one of them. The Monster Hunters will usually muzzle us and keep us around awhile for entertainment before killing us. I mean, we’re oversexed and they’re mostly a bunch of hermits, do the math. That old guy is mostly harmless, he’s some kind of religious nut and he tries to ‘save’ some of us with silver chastity belts while we’re asleep after laying with a man,” my captive companion conceded.

“I would have guessed trying to kill you with silver dildos,” I said with a roll of my eyes. This was getting ridiculous. “Let me guess, they burn.”

“Nope, just prevent us from getting laid, which drives us crazy seeing as how horny we get. I’m told that they really chafe though.”

“Of course they do,” I grumbled as I went back to my bed to lay down. It seemed like they were going to take this bad joke right until night fell so I figured that I might as well get comfortable.

It was sometime after we had been served dinner in our cells that Jerry began screaming. It was just as I noticed his scream going from masculine to very feminine that my world exploded in pain. It felt like every bone in my body was being broken and my insides shifted around but soon that was eclipsed by the pain in my crotch. I clutched at my cock, blinded by pain as it seemed to get smaller and smaller by the second, and then there was nothing.

Sometime during my episode, I had fallen to the floor and I tried to get up, my arms shaking as they felt like jelly trying to support my weight. Weight? There was some heavy unfamiliar weight pulling down at my chest and I felt something large and fleshy brush against my arm but I didn’t just feel it in my arm, there was a sensation in my chest as well. I quickly got up into a sitting position, only to find that something felt different, not just the large weight shifting on my chest, but the disturbing lack of it between my legs. In horror I looked downward, or rather, I tried to.

A curtain of long wavy copper hair kept getting in my eyes and I tried to pull it away from me, only to realize that it was connected to my head. I was starting to freak out a little now, especially when I managed to finally push that hair aside and saw a huge pair of breasts blocking my view. Well, they were huge to me since I wasn’t used to having any there at all. Those were a lot more than a handful, and my hands were so small, delicate, and feminine now. Not only that but they were tipped with long claw-like nails.

“H-holy back pain, Batman,” I sputtered in shock as I reached around the large globes on my chest and down between my legs, fearing what I might find, or rather what I might not. My cock and balls were gone, replaced by a warm and very wet slit and I had just enough time to feel an incredible pleasure rush through me as I accidentally brushed the little nub there before fainting.

I was awoken by someone forcing open my mouth and shoving something inside. I started to panic and I felt two sets of hands holding me down as something was secured behind my head. I tried to speak, but I found that difficult with my mouth full, so I opened my eyes and saw Sofia standing over me as the two other women holding me down let go. “I apologize, Brooklyn. We just needed to ensure that you could not bite anyone when we allow you to sate yourself. We do this with all neophytes until they learn some measure of control.”

I was in a haze, barely comprehending her words as I looked around frantically and saw that Jeri was looking at me sadly and still naked, save for the ball gag in her mouth that likely matched my own as she was led from her cell and out into the hallway beyond the dungeon. I was dimly aware of something being put around my neck, a collar maybe?

It was so hard to think, I was aflame with desire and I couldn’t focus on anything but the need building up inside me. My nipples were painfully hard and I could feel the warmth of the juices dripping from my wet sex as they ran down my bare thighs. I had this aching need for something, a void in my loins, and a desperate need to fill it that was getting more and more intense with each passing breath.

It was like I was starving, and yet I couldn’t place quite what I was hungry for. The women pulling me to my feet were gorgeous but they didn’t have what I wanted, what I desperately needed. I knew that on a primal level and so I allowed them to lead me away, hoping they were leading me to something to sate my ardent hunger. I was led from the dungeon and into a hallway with a bunch of doors and one was opened to a bedroom that looked like something you would find in a brothel.

I wasn’t paying attention to the décor though. Nor was I paying any attention to my escort any longer. No, what had my attention was the naked man on the bed or rather the raging hard-on that he was sporting as he saw us enter the room. It was as if choirs of angels sang as I realized that that was what I so desperately needed to fill the seemingly voracious void between my legs, to sate my unquenchable carnal appetite.

I was barely aware of a familiar voice saying, “Kinky,” as I lunged desperately forward, only to be stopped short by the chain attached to my collar, held in Sofia’s firm grip.

“No glove, no love,” one of the others whispered, somehow managing to penetrate my thoughts. Oooh, penetration sounded so good right now. I fought desperately against the pull of the chain, trying to get to what I needed so very badly as the one who had whispered tossed a small packet toward the cock… err man on the bed, quickly instructing him, “Put it on.”

He quickly did so and as soon as he had and I felt the pull of the chain slacken, I pounced. I made my way across the room and onto the bed to immediately impale myself upon the engorged cock and eagerly ride him as I desperately sought my pleasure. Oh, yes! This was what I needed! This filled that void and made me feel complete!

What followed was not making love, I don’t think I’m capable of that because it requires thought, tenderness, and affection. No, this was raw frantic animalistic sex, only instinct fueling me as I filled myself and the emptiness inside me with his hot pumping erection. He smelled so wonderful; I wanted to kiss, nibble, and lick him but the gag prevented it and my higher brain functions weren’t working enough to think about taking it off.

At one point he tried to change our position, but I let out a low growl and held him fast to the bed, digging my claws in so that he knew he was mine, not the other way around. Mine! My mate! After that, he let me have my way and I continued to fuck him hard until I came like a freight train. It was delicious and magnificent and it wasn’t until my fourth orgasm finished consuming me like a supernova that my head started to clear from the tingles of satisfaction that ran through me.

I came back to myself, the desperate need reduced to a dull ache for the moment as I sensed the cock inside me going flaccid. Oh my God, what had I just done? I had completely lost control and I… fucked a man. I was a girl and I fucked a man. And even now I could feel the desire slowly building to want to do it again. I sat there atop the man that I had just unthinkingly used for my own pleasure and I could feel the tears stinging my eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked and I looked up to see a far too familiar face. It was ‘Dozer. Oh my God, I would never be able to face him as myself again after this. I wanted to throw up.

I tried to hold back the tears, the sobs that I could feel building up in my chest as I got off of him, his cock slipping out from inside me. I was glad that the ball gag prevented me from speaking as it would have given away my upset as I sat on the edge of the bed. Sofia’s voice came from the doorway. “I should have introduced you before, but Brooklyn was very eager it seems. She is new here, she only came to us last night. I thought you might know her since you were asking around about someone with her name.”

“Uh... no, not that I didn’t enjoy her company, but I haven’t seen her before in my life. I was kind of surprised that you brought her here instead of that Jeri chick I was asking for. The Brooklyn that I’ve been looking for is a dude. I haven’t heard from him since he left the bar with Jeri last night,” ‘Dozer replied with concern.

“Yes, well, Jeri was with another customer. I asked her while you and Brooklyn here were getting to know one another and she hasn’t seen the man that you described since last night when they parted ways. She never even got his name. I thought that you might be looking for two different people with the name and the description you gave of your friend. Brooklyn would be an odd name for a man. The only one by that name that any of us met last night is the person you see before you now,” Sofia smoothly lied as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, thanks anyway,” ‘Dozer replied with a sigh. “If he doesn’t show up in a day or two I’ll talk to the police. Why is Brooklyn wearing a collar, a leash, and a gag though? Not that I’m complaining, it’s kind of hot.”

“Well, as you saw, she is very enthusiastic and a bit of a nymphomaniac, the poor girl. Many of our clients prefer discretion and until she is properly trained we cannot have her giving someone a hickey or something while in the throes of passion. What would their wives or girlfriends say?” she explained with an enigmatic smile before taking my leash in hand and leading me out of the room and back to the ‘dungeon’.

I was trying to glare at her the whole time but for some reason, I felt anxious at the prospect of pissing her off. Once we were finally back in my cell I gave her a long questioning look as I tried to ask around the ball gag, “Why?”

“I am the Alpha Wench and I care for the needs of my pack. You needed to see for yourself why it isn’t a good idea for you to contact your family or friends. On the full moon, or when you lose your temper or get upset, this is what you will become and the hunger cares not if it’s a friend attached to the cock that might make things awkward for you. This is who and what you are now, you must accept that and leave your old life behind while you learn to control yourself and the curse,” she explained sadly as she removed the leash and the gag.

“Alpha Wench? Is that why I feel so timid toward you since I changed?” I asked uncertainly.

“Indeed,” the Alpha Wench replied with a grim nod. “We are creatures of instinct when in our female forms. The need to hunt, mate, and procreate are powerful in us and since we have no inhibitions we have a difficult time resisting those instincts. You are fortunate you know, to retain your sense of self in that form. Only those of us with a strong will can do so, some do not, they are dominated by their female aspect when in that form and neither form is aware of the other except for hazy memories. As you are now, a mere neophyte, you would be a danger to yourself and those you care about.”

As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. As long as I had this curse, even if I did get some control over it, I would never be able to live a normal life right now, maybe not ever. Knowing what I knew now, I would never be able to face my family or friends again. I could never face ‘Dozer again, that was for certain. I needed to get used to this, to who and what I was now. And that thought, and the fact that I could actually focus on something besides my desire, made me realize that I was much shorter in this form. Sofia had been a good foot shorter than me before and I was having to look up to look her in the eye.

Sofia seemed to sense my confusion. “I will have a mirror brought in so you can see what you look like, Brooklyn. You should have an hour or two before the hunger starts to become too much to handle. We will have people checking on you and Jeri every hour and a half, and to take you to sate your desire.”

She was as good as her word. Someone brought in a floor-length mirror soon after she left and I was stunned by what I saw there. There was no resemblance to my male self at all. Before I had been masculine and handsome with dark brown eyes and strawberry blond hair. I had also been six foot four and really muscular, I had needed to be since I was a linebacker and that’s a physically demanding position.

I appeared to be eighteen or so, skirting the line between a college girl and jailbait, but I definitely didn’t look twenty-one anymore. I was guessing that I was short given how much taller than me the other girls seemed, maybe five feet even. Diminutive in height and not so much in the chest. When I looked in the mirror though it wasn’t my new tits that caught my attention first but rather my face. Bright and lush copper waves of hair fell down to my waist, framing a gorgeous feminine face with a flawless pale complexion, thinly arched copper eyebrows, high cheekbones, small rounded chin, delicate nose, full pouty lips, and my piercing eyes were bright gold, like every other werewench that I had seen so far.

Then there were the twins, you couldn’t miss those. Firm milky white breasts that looked somewhere in the D or double D range that stood proudly upon my chest with large pink areolae and nipples standing at attention. I’d have to be careful with those, I was liable to poke someone’s eye out.

My neck was long and slender, set atop similarly slender shoulders. My waist was as waspish and slim as Jeri’s and the other girls’ and my limbs seemed long for my size, especially my shapely legs. All covered with soft milky white skin with nary a blemish or hair. And, oh God, those hips. They were so wide, and there was enough space between my legs to direct traffic through beneath that little tuft of copper pubic hair. Seriously, I could probably fit my whole fist in there. Between the thighs, not… oh damn, you know what I meant.

Damn, that got me thinking of other things that could go in there and I was dripping wet down there. I had been staring at myself in the mirror for quite a while by that point and the desperate desire within me was starting to make it difficult enough to think without me adding fuel to the flames. Not that looking at myself in the mirror was turning me on, I felt nothing for what I saw, the only stirrings of desire had come when I thought of taking something between my legs. No, I knew what it was that I needed and I found myself blushing in shame.

“Well damn, I’m boned. Both literally and figuratively,” I said with a sigh as I gazed at my current reflection. Holy shit, was that my voice? I sounded like one of those girls who work on those phone sex lines, not that I ever called those or anything. It was a bit high but at the same time sultry and dripping with what sounded like liquid honey would sound like if it had just been having sex. Well, this was going to suck, but probably not anytime soon what with them gagging me and all to prevent coitus bitus.

Several times throughout the night someone would come in, replace my ball gag and leash, and lead me off to ‘my room’ where a man was waiting. Once I had my needs satisfied, I was returned to my cell until it was time to do it again. Eventually, I awoke the next morning in my familiar male body but it all felt empty somehow.

After breakfast, I was brought my phone by request. I called my family, ‘Dozer, the college, and everyone else important in my former life to tell them that I was going off to live in a monastery. Mostly it was leaving voicemail messages so at least it wasn’t too awkward. ‘Dozer tried to convince me to come back but I told him that I had to find myself. That much was true, going back to what used to be my life was just too painful a thought, it wasn’t my life anymore and never would be again. I was cursed and needed to learn to live with it, maybe in time, I could even enjoy it.

After I was done, we killed my phone and sim card and Sofia promised to talk to a ‘friend’ of hers in public records about creating a second identity for my wench form. I guess that they had that kind of stuff down by now. We decided to keep my name mostly the same and just change my last name to my mother’s maiden name. Then I asked the others to dispose of the belongings that I had on me when they first brought me in. They wouldn’t do me any good now, I wasn’t that person anymore. I am Brooklyn Ashley Peters now, and I am a werewench.

It was a bright and sunny afternoon in Miami Beach. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was a pleasant 78°F with wind from the southeast and some truly epic surfing conditions. Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with this story.

No, this story takes place in Pennsylvania, where it was a dark and stormy night. Yes, I do know how cliché that is, but we can’t all be surfing in Miami and getting a nice tan, can we? The sky was dark, thunder boomed, and flashes of lightning highlighted the dark and dreary castle where our protagonist awaits. Yes, there are castles in Pennsylvania, I did my research, so can we please stop nitpicking and get to the story?

Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, deep within the castle, Dr. Frank N. Stein laughed maniacally as thunder boomed once more and he looked upon his creation and screamed in excitement, “It’s alive! It’s aliiiiiive!!!” No, I am not plagiarizing Mary Shelley. This is a homage, I tell you, a homage!

Frank looked down upon the hulking behemoth that he had brought to life, noting the steady rise and fall of its chest. It had taken him ages to piece together that massive, manly body from the corpses of football players. The brains had been too damaged for his purposes though, so he had to find one of those elsewhere, but it wasn’t like whatever cadaver it came from was going to miss it. Besides this was for Science, and there was no greater cause.

His creation’s eyes, one green and one blue, fluttered open and Frank quickly covered another maniacal laugh before it could manifest. He couldn’t have the creature think he was laughing at him after all since it could probably snap him in half. The creature grunted, steel manacles snapped as if they were made from cheap plastic, and then the creature sat up on the operating table.

Frank coaxed the creature to his feet and watched with pride as the behemoth took its first steps. Everything was going perfectly, better than he had ever dreamed. That is until his creation saw the mirror. When the patchwork giant saw its reflection, it screamed in existential horror at what it saw looking back.

For the next two weeks, Frank was very put out. Try as he might, he hadn’t been able to get Frank Jr. to speak to him. If he was going to show off his creation to the world, he needed to be able to show that it at least possessed a modicum of intelligence, and being able to converse would show just how great Frank Jr. was. He could not figure out why his creation would not speak though, he knew that he possessed vocal cords, he had installed them himself.

Frank Jr. would not speak though. He wouldn’t even go on a proper monstrous rampage, which was a huge disappointment since Frank had spent so much money insuring the castle. No, Frank Jr. just sat in the lab and sulked.

Frank was at his wit’s end. Finally, he sat down beside his gargantuan creation and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Then it spoke. The word was quiet and more than a little moody sounding, but Frank Jr. said, “Nothin’.”

For over another week, that was all that Frank got from his creation. He would try to figure out what was wrong, and Frank Jr. would reply with, “Nothin’.”

Finally, things came to a head as his creation became more and more depressed and moody as time passed. “Come on, Junior, did I do something to make you upset?”

“If you don’t know what you did wrong, I’m not going to tell you,” his creation said as he turned away to sulk once more.

He had done something wrong? Whatever it was, Frank just couldn’t see it. “I gave you life! I gave you a body that any man would envy!” he snapped, allowing his frustration with his creation to show.

“Yes!” Frank Jr. snapped back with teary eyes as he began to sob. “Y-you gave me a m-man’s body, b-but my… brain is a w-woman’s!” The poor creature broke down as her entire existence of three weeks in that hideous male shell and being called Frank Jr. became too much for her to bear.

That was when Frank realized that he had really screwed up. Maybe he shouldn’t have bought the brain on eBay. He sat down, put his arm around his colossal creation, and awkwardly patted her on the back. “There, there. We’ll get through this together. So… Frankie… how do you feel about a vacation? We can hit the beach, catch some waves, and… maybe I can dig up some beach bunnies to make you a new body you’ll be happy with.”

 
I am Woman
By
Amethyst

Dr. Jason Nesbit has been tasked with finding a cure to TG-003. Will he succeed, or join the horde of unmen?
 
Disclaimer: I was hoping to do another Werewench story for Halloween this year but work has kept me too busy. So, instead, I wrote this short that was inspired by Dot and Jaci's actions. Be warned: This was written while I was sleep-deprived and not thinking clearly so the humor and stuff may be a little weird.

October 5th, 2025

To whoever is reading this journal, I am Dr. Jason Nesbit, a virologist. I have been tasked with finding a cure, or at the very least an inoculation, for TG-003. Called Super-cooties by some, TG-003 appeared two years ago in Asia as a mutation of a viral treatment method that was being developed for transgendered women to have a complete transition through viral gene modification.

Despite efforts to contain the virus, TG-003 spread quickly, becoming a global pandemic within five months. It only affects males and less than two percent of the male population has exhibited any form of immunity. It is spread through contact with bodily fluids and 28 days after infection the transformation process is complete, leaving the infected as a teenage girl anatomically, biologically, and mentally. They are young women in every sense of the word, despite what noted author J.R Knowling and other TERFs may say.

Elderly men and those with compromised immune systems have a 50 percent death rate; their bodies just can’t handle the strain of the transformation. During my studies, I have been trying to learn more about them. Most post-transformative cases seem to remember their old lives, they just don’t care. They appear to travel in cliques and are obsessed with cute boys, shopping, and talking on their cell phones, and they seldom leave their cliques.

This virus has been disastrous. Two-thirds of the male population either have been infected or are now post-transformative and the effect on the economy has been profound. Not only has it affected the workforce and government negatively but the fashion and makeup industries, the malls, and high schools can’t keep up with the demand. If a cure is not found, mankind may soon face extinction.

October 14th, 2025

I went to the mall today, strictly for research purposes of course. It is simply the easiest place to encounter the infected and the transformed. There was a BoGo sale at Victoria’s Secret and it was just the bait that I was looking for. The dwindling number of cute boys worked in my favor as one of them, a very pretty redhead named Joni, took an interest in me. Interacting with her and gaining her trust should help further my research.

I may have become infected, only time will tell. It took a good two hours of snogging with Joni, but I was willing to take one for the team… for research purposes. Not because I want to be a girl or anything, I just feel that monitoring my illness will help me, or whoever takes over for me, to find a vaccine. Note to self: Delete the browsing history on my laptop.

October 22nd, 2025

I was indeed infected. My skin is much softer, and I can already see the changes in my face and body. Finally, my dream will come true. My dream of finding a vaccine, of course. Joni has taken me under her wing, and I have managed to infiltrate her clique. During the days, I go shopping and hang out at the mall with them and in the evenings, we talk on the phone as I study blood and tissue samples and try possible vaccines on rats. I may need more rats soon though. Ewwww, I hate rats.

November 16th, 2025

Dear Diary,

I found the cutest miniskirt at the mall today. It’ll go great with the frosted pink crop top I bought yesterday. I’m gonna look totes adorbs. Sorry that I haven’t written anything in a while. I’ve just been so busy hanging out with Joni and the girls. They’ve been teaching me so much and we’re like, totally besties.

I’m still totally looking for a cure though and I’m getting my BFFs to help. I mean, how are we gonna find cute boys if they all turn into girls? There would only be geeks and nerds left and making out with one of them would be social suicide. I can’t allow that to happen. The cute boys must be saved.

Talk to you later Diary,

Love Jade

I removed the cover from the mirror and took a long look. Almost immediately that familiar tingling rushed through me like every single nerve ending was being tickled and teased all at once. When the tingling finally faded, Nichole was looking back at me. She looked just like she had that night that we had first met. “It’s good to see you again, I love you and I’ve missed you so much,” I said to her, just as I had every Halloween night for the past five years before covering the mirror once again and getting dressed in the Cinderella costume that I had bought for this year.

Halloween had always been Nikki’s favorite time of year, every year she used to go all out on her costume. I had lost her on Halloween too. Six years ago we had been driving home from a party when our car was t-boned by a drunk, driving one of those super-sized pickup trucks. If only I had been driving instead of her, I could have died in her place and she could have gone on with her life. She deserved to live. She was kind, funny, intelligent, and always thinking of others before herself. I had never been that kind of person until I had met her and I often wondered what I could have ever done to deserve her, and for the past six years, I had wondered what I had done to deserve having her so cruelly taken from me.

Even now I tried to be the kind of person she would be proud of, but her death had crushed me. I was a ghost of the man I used to be, and I had vowed that I would do anything for just one last night with her. I had been willing to give anything a try to get what I was after and even went on message boards online that talked about magic. That was where I met Lillian, the pretty and lonely young woman who sold me the mirror nearly a year after Nikki’s death. She claimed that a witch had enchanted the mirror for her a long time ago, but I hadn’t believed her at the time. All that I had known was that she said that it could let me see my precious Nikki again. She told me about the mirror and that for one night each year I could use it to see her again looking just as she did when we met.

She said that the mirror was not without its dangers; that I could grow to hate her or find that I couldn’t live without her. I could never see the first happening and as for the second, well, I had felt that I already couldn’t live without her. My only hope had been that I could have that one more night with her. She warned me that if I didn’t look in the mirror again before midnight of the same night to change back that I would be stuck in Nikki’s body forever, never aging and having to look at her face whenever I saw my reflection for all eternity.

For those first few years, my only joy came on that one night of the year that I could use the mirror. That one night that I could see her face again, touch her skin, and tell her the words that I never got to say near enough while she was still with me. It was no longer enough. She should live on, not this sad hollow man who lived for one night a year in the body of his lost love. She could move on with her life and be happy, I was sure of it. Lillian was right, I couldn’t live without her, I couldn’t live without being her.

A knock at the door interrupted my musings while I was in the bathroom finishing my makeup. I double-checked that I had done a good job on it, I had been practicing for a while now, and then I put on the glass slippers and adjusted the tiara before saying to the young woman in the bathroom mirror, “Thanks for seeing me through this Nikki, I’ll never forget you.”

I made my way to the door where Lillian was waiting and smiling at me. “Hey… Nikki. Are you ready to have some fun?” There was concern in her eyes and she was giving me a chance to back out, and what she was really asking me was, ‘Are you sure that you want to do this?’ She knew how hard this decision could be after all.

“Of course I’m ready sweetheart, Halloween is my favorite night of the year. Let’s go have some fun, unlike Cinderella, I don’t have to be home by midnight after all.” I wasn’t worried and I had no doubts that this was what I wanted. Lillian and I could be happy together and Nikki would live on, just as Lillian had. I would find someone in need to sell the mirror to tomorrow.

It all began last Halloween night in my previous life. I guess I probably have nine of them now, so I probably shouldn’t complain, but not a day goes by where I don’t think of that night; what it cost me, and what I gained. I was at a party in one of the bars on campus that night and I had been drinking far too much. Back then I was one of your typical alpha-male type college guys; six foot four, good looking with blond hair and deep brown eyes, in great shape, there for a sports scholarship, and the only muscle I wasn’t very good at using was the one in my head. So as you can probably imagine, being far too drunk left me with several brain cells too few when Natalia strode into my life.

Natalia was (and still is) quite probably the most beautiful woman I had ever met, or ever will meet and I was attracted to her from the first moment I laid eyes on her in that sexy little black witch outfit and hat. She looked to be in her early twenties with auburn hair halfway down her back, bright blue eyes, a pretty face with full pouting lips, long shapely legs, a firm round ass, and a great double D rack. I knew from the moment I first saw her that I just had to have her.

I walked up to where she was standing at the bar, quickly sidling up beside her. “Hey there I’m Kody, can I buy you a drink?”

“No thanks, you’re not really my type,” she replied, barely even glancing in my direction. Her gaze seemed to be fixed on a pretty brunette down the bar.

I should have dropped it there, but I’ve mentioned I wasn’t really all that bright then right? Well that combined with both the judicious amount of alcohol I’d already consumed and the raging boner I was sporting in my briefs meant that my brain wasn’t really pulling its fair share of resources right then. So I pushed my luck. Finally, I got her to reluctantly talk to me by pouring on the old Kody Williams charm. She of course saw right through me, but I didn’t know that at the time.

Her name was Natalia and we went to the same college, though she lived off campus, and she was majoring in psychology with a minor in Women’s studies. I actually laughed at that and made some really stupid comments. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it went something like this I think. “Women’s studies, who actually needs that? I mean, it’s not like women are too complex right? You’re emotional when you’re on the rag, you love shopping, and in the end you’re all just looking for the right guy to settle down and have kids with. Sure you’re giving off this total lesbo vibe, but that’s just a phase, all you really need is one good guy to show you how it’s done right.”

She looked me over and asked, “And you think that you’re that guy?” I didn’t know it at the time, I just thought I was finally making some headway, but she was really pissed off at me.

That was when I sealed the deal, groping her ass and giving it a good squeeze as I replied with a grin, “Why don’t we go to your place and find out?”

Natalia’s place was well off campus, it wasn’t even in town, a large two story house secluded in the woods at the edge of town. Apparently her mother was very well off and bought the place for her when she decided to leave home to go to college. I wasn’t sure why she couldn’t have gotten a place closer to campus, but Natalia said that she enjoyed the privacy. As we stepped out of her car, a black late model corvette, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. It was dark, the full moon clouded over and a deep fog seemed to roll out of nowhere and cling to us as we walked from the car to the front door.

The moment we had stepped inside and the door clicked shut behind us Natalia turned to me with a look on her face that terrified me. It wasn’t just the anger in her eyes, or even the fact that she was suddenly glowing a bright violet color, no what scared me most was that very satisfied smile that she wore. I tried to turn for the door, but I was frozen, unable to move. “Wha…” I started to blurt out, but with a mere wave of her hand I was silenced.

Her voice was cold as she spoke. “Three transgressions you have committed against me this night, Kody Williams. First, you treated me like some sort of sex object, only around for your pleasure and personal gratification. Secondly, you were dismissive of both my gender and sexual preference. But the last is the one that sealed the deal, you were overly familiar. I could have forgiven one, or even two such transgressions, but three is the magic number. Now it is time for you to be taught a lesson, for each of the three an appropriate punishment. You wanted a sex object? Well now you will be mine. You callously dismissed my gender and sexuality, so you will share them. And as for getting overly familiar… well I have been thinking about making one.”

I was engulfed in wave after wave of violet light and I screamed out in agony as my body was reformed. I seemed to shrink, becoming even smaller than Natalia herself. Bones cracked and shifted, my muscles burned and ached, and it felt like my insides were being torn apart and rearranged. Finally she seemed satisfied and I collapsed to the floor in a heap, barely able to catch my breath and my heart beating wildly. That was when I felt something firm and unyielding tightening around my neck.

“Come,” she ordered, and much to my surprise I got to my feet and followed her to what appeared to be her bedroom. She had me strip off my clothes and stand in front of the long floor-length mirror set up in one corner and I stared at the girl reflected there. She was easily Natalia’s equal in beauty, if a little exotic. Dressed only in a black studded leather collar with a large ring in front, she had long wavy black hair with a pair of cat ears poking out from the top, large green feline eyes that seemed tilted ever so slightly, and a long black tail swishing behind her. Other than those features, her claw-like fingernails, pronounced canines poking out from her pouty lips, and a tendency to stand on the balls of her feet she had the shape of an attractive woman; a pretty face, perky breasts nearly as large as Natalia’s, a slender waist, well rounded hips and ass with long slender legs, and she seemed to move with a natural grace.

“Well we can’t call you Kody now can we?” the witch told me with a satisfied smile at my terrified expression being reflected in the mirror. “Your name will now be Katherine Williams, but I think I’ll call you Kitty for short. You are bound to me by my magic, my will, and the collar you now wear. That collar will never come off, so you had best get used to your new situation my pet.”

As time passed I did get used to it and we spent much of our time together. At first I had tried to rebel a lot, but there wasn’t much I could really do since I couldn’t get far away from her without feeling an unbearable need to be at her side. When I rebelled I was properly punished, but when I was good and tried to make her happy I would be allowed to share her bed so she could teach me how to properly pleasure a female body and how it felt to be on the receiving end of that same pleasure. When we went out or to school she would cast a glamour on me so I looked like a more normal girl. She had somehow magically created a new identity for me and ‘Katherine’ was in all of her classes. We were roommates, study-buddies, lovers, Mistress and familiar, and much more, and the more I got to know her and my new self, the more I actually liked both of us and the strange yet complete relationship we shared.

I thought about that with a smile as I primped myself in the mirror, getting my hair just right and giving the raven-haired beauty in the crimson sheath dress and matching stiletto heels in the mirror a wink as my tail twitched behind me. I reached up to touch my collar with a smile as I looked forward to going out without wearing a glamour, it was after all the only night of the year that I could really get away with it.

“Here Kitty Kitty Kitty,” my Witch called teasingly. “We’re going to be late for the party.”

“I’m coming oh Mistress,” I teased back and padded my way toward the door where Natalia, dressed in the same sexy witch costume as the year before, hooked the leash onto my collar to complete my ‘costume’ for the night.

“Well let’s get going then,” she replied, pulling on the leash to bring me into a passionate and loving kiss. “Let’s have some fun.” I was both looking forward to and dreading this Halloween night as I reflected on my bad behavior last year, but I was a different person then and I had learned from experience. It wasn’t me I was really worried about, it was the guys, all those jerks like I used to be trying to get into our panties and ruining what should be a fun evening together. I tried to push that thought aside as we climbed into the car and idly wondered what might happen tonight if any of them got overly familiar.

Note: This is not the Halloween story that I had planned. That story will likely be much longer, and being sick all last week killed any time that I had to work on it. I knew I wasn't going to finish it in time for the contest and then this idea hit me this morning and I managed to finish it just in time. I've really gotta stop these last-minute one day rushes for contests.

Every rapid, labored breath puffed visibly before me in the cold October air before the tiny clouds dissolved into mist against my already damp skin as I ran as fast as I could. I was sweating, my modest chest heaved, and I could barely gather air into my already burning lungs. My legs burned too, from the unaccustomed effort of running so hard and so long through unfamiliar and uneven terrain.

Far too briefly, the only sounds were my own labored breathing in the crunch of Autumn leaves beneath my nylon-clad feet. I had already abandoned my new shoes. I had bought them and the dress I was wearing just for this date, but the heels would have been impractical while running through the woods and I valued my life far more. Getting away from the others took priority.

The hoot of a nearby owl damn near caused my already racing heart to leap out of my chest and I could hear the jeers and the hateful slurs of my pursuers once again. A chill, from terror rather than the cold, slithered down my spine as I heard Derek’s voice call out, “What’s the matter, tranny?! Afraid?!”

They were getting closer! They probably would have caught me by now if they hadn’t given me a head start, to stoke my fear. I still had a lead though, so I needed to make the most of it and hurry. The highway shouldn’t be far away, I just hoped that I was going in the right direction and that I could flag down help there, someone who might be more sympathetic than Derek and his friends.

Their shouted jeers and promises of a violent end spurred me onward, even as brush and low branches tore at my dress and my flesh, leaving sharp pain and thin trails of crimson in their wake. Fear clutched at my heart as something sailed past my head and crashed into a tree ahead of me. Fuck! That had come far too close to hitting me for comfort. I guess the school quarterback wasn’t too brain-damaged to still realize that he was really good at throwing things and the light of the full moon above gave him plenty of light to see and aim as his pals cheered him on.

How did things end up like this? Things were supposed to be better here, Mom and Dad promised that things would be better here after the bullying I had received at my last school. A new town and a new school, I could have a fresh start. That was what they said when they sent me to live with my aunt’s family. After two years on hormones, I passed well enough that I didn’t have to worry about anyone clocking me, especially since I had a medical excuse to get out of gym class. Only one year left before I graduated so I would be fine unless I did something monumentally stupid.

Guess what I did. Go on, guess. That’s right, something monumentally stupid. Derek, the high school quarterback and one of the most popular guys at school, had just broken up with his girlfriend and he asked me out. Me, of all people. I should have known something was wrong.

Why the fuck did I have to say yes?! I’m not even attracted to guys! It was just… he asked me, and it felt nice to be acknowledged as the girl I was inside, a pretty girl. I just wanted to feel… normal for once in my life. So, I said yes. My cousin, Claire, had even helped me find the perfect outfit, making me think that after two months she was finally starting to warm up to me. Fucking stupid, Amber!

After dinner, Derek told me we were going to a party. What he didn’t tell me was that it was out in the middle of the woods, and I was the guest of honor. By the time I discovered that surprise, I was out alone in the woods with him and his friends, and the only way home was finding someone sympathetic to drive me home or a very long walk.

An hour earlier…

We stepped out of Derek’s car to the sound of music playing on someone’s stereo in the distance. I took another look at my date and couldn’t help wondering whether I should rethink this. He seemed nice enough during dinner, but I couldn’t be sure if that was just an act to try to get into my pants or if he really was that nice. I didn’t know him that well, just what I had heard from Claire and some of the other girls at school, mostly that he was hot.

Derek was the stereotypical jock; tall, muscular, handsome, and if I were a normal girl, my heart would probably be fluttering just having him reach out to take my hand like he was currently doing. I felt nothing though, no attraction to him at all, not that I would be interested in doing anything if there was attraction. I didn’t want to even think about sex until I had the right plumbing, and getting turned on while I still had that thing between my legs felt gross and made me want to throw up.

There were already three other vehicles parked on the lonely access road and the music got louder as we made our way through the trees. It wasn’t long before we got to the clearing, where I could see three other members of the football team there, including Claire’s boyfriend, Brent. He was one of the team’s running backs, the smallest of the four guys present but still much bigger than me, and he had dusky skin with dark hair and eyes. He was a bit of an asshole, and I was pretty sure he was only dating Claire because she put out. I overheard her talking with him one night before going to meet up with him while Aunt Nora and Uncle Bill were out.

Claire, on the other hand, was just dating him, and putting out, to be part of the popular crowd, like being one of the prettiest girls at school wasn’t enough. She was a year younger than me, barely sixteen, but utterly gorgeous. Five foot six with large breasts and an hourglass figure, long and naturally wavy strawberry blonde hair, and bright emerald eyes set in a pretty face with a delicate nose and full, pouty lips. She was wearing a sexy, pleated black miniskirt with a white blouse, a pair of sneakers, and a pink and white zip-up hoodie to ward off the evening chill.

I was so fucking jealous of her sometimes. I hadn’t gotten on the blockers until I was almost fifteen and the hormones a year later, and by then, testosterone had done enough damage. I could manage the cute side of average with makeup and effort, but I had dull brown hair and eyes and b-cup breasts that needed a pushup bra to give me a half-decent figure. Even in this nice black minidress, I probably only managed to look nice rather than sexy, and I was a whole year older than her. It just wasn’t fair.

The other two guys here were Ramon, a tall and muscular Latino guy with a buzzcut, and John, a huge guy of African descent who didn’t talk much. The pair were called the Two Towers at school and were the bane of defensive lines for every other football team in the division, or at least, that was what people said. The three guys were drinking cans of beer around a campfire and Claire sat in Brent’s lap like he owned her. A chill crawled down my spine as I realized that Claire and I were the only girls here.

“Hey, guys, I’m here, and I brought the guest of honor,” Derek announced as we joined the others at the fire. Ramon passed him a beer, which he immediately popped open and began to chug as I sent a suspicious glance toward my cousin. Claire wouldn’t even look me in the eye. I had a bad feeling about this.

“G-guest of honor?” I stammered, not liking where this was going at all.

“Hell yeah,” Derek said as he turned a grin on me that had me stiffening in fear. “Oh, first things first, we need to tell you the story about this place, the story of The Ghost of Tremont Woods. You see, Andrew, years ago, right here in these very woods, a girl disappeared on a cold October night when the moon was full, a night just like tonight.”

I locked up in fear, wide eyes turning to my cousin as Derek wrapped one muscular arm firmly around my waist, ensuring I couldn’t run off, and began to tell his tale. It wasn’t the start of the story that froze me in fear though, it was one word. Andrew. My dead name.

My cousin just smirked at me as she picked up telling the tale. “You see, Cuz, on that night, all those years ago, there was a gathering just like this one. A bunch of friends and one of the friends was something unnatural. Her friends brought her out here to chase her through the woods, scare her, and try to teach her the error of her ways. Some people say there was an accident. Others say she was murdered. Whatever happened though, the girl was never seen or heard from again. They say that her ghost haunts these woods on nights just like tonight.”

“And now, it’s your turn, Andrew. When Claire told us about you, I knew that we needed to help you,” Derek said as he tightened his hold on my waist and smiled down at me. The look in his eyes wasn’t the look of someone who wanted to help someone, there was hate in those cold, blue eyes.

So now, here I am, scared shitless and running for my life through a dark and creepy forest in the middle of the night. Except for my heavy breathing, and Derek and his pals crashing behind me and occasionally yelling threats to spur me onward, everything was eerily quiet, like the world around us was holding its breath. With each hurried step I took, the night air seemed to get ever colder, and the frost of my breath was thicker and hanging in the air. A cold mist settled upon the ground, seeming to drift in from out of nowhere, shrouding the ground and everything below my thighs and making every step more dangerous.

I pushed harder, making myself move faster, as fast as I could, even as my lungs protested every searing breath and my legs ached from the unaccustomed effort. A shadow, parting from another shadow just ahead of me prompted a scream that tore at my burning lungs. It was Brent, he had managed to get ahead of me and cut me off.

I turned on my heel without thinking, the motion sending a sharp pain through my ankle and causing me to scream once again as I crashed to the damp and cold ground. The air was knocked out of me as I hit, ending my scream and making me need to take a painful breath. I needed air! The mist surrounded me, and it was thick and cold enough to cause a chill in my throat and burning lungs as I breathed it in, and it clung to me as if trying to drag me downward.

“Don’t just lie here, stupid,” I chastised myself as I tried to pull myself from the mist-shrouded ground. “Get up!” Shakily, I staggered to my feet, every bruise and abrasion protesting the effort as much as my aching legs and heaving lungs. Searing agony tore through my left ankle as I tried to put weight on it and my heart hammered in my chest at the thought of getting caught.

Desperate to get away and put some distance between myself and these psychopaths, I hissed at the pain and forced myself to keep moving, limping along as fast as I could manage, pain blurring my vision with every step. If I lived through this shit, I was going to have a long talk with my aunt and uncle about Claire. Shit, they were closing in on me now, I could hear their taunting getting closer with every pain-inducing step.

Another vicious stab of pain lancing through my ankle, as I stepped on an unseen obstacle, sent me to the ground once again. I got back up, even if it was only to my hands and knees this time, and crawled through the now freezing mist, numb hands clawing at the cold ground to drag myself onward as I heaved in lungfuls of freezing mist one by one until what little forward progress I was making was halted by a pair of legs blocking my retreat. Above me, Derek stood with a manic look in his eyes that sent a chill through me that was colder than this freezing mist.

I was certain that I was going to die then as the quarterback taunted, “Who do we have here? What’s your name? C’mon, tranny, tell us who you really are. Maybe if you’re convincing, we’ll let you go.”

I could see the lie in his eyes. Whatever sick fate they had in store for me, nothing would deter them from it. “My name is Amber, asshole,” I told him firmly, looking dead into those hateful eyes. “If I was going to die or be beaten to a pulp anyway, then I wasn’t going to give him the fucking satisfaction. I would be myself to the end.

“C-come on, Derek. The plan was just to scare him and leave him out here to get home on his own,” Claire protested, her voice shaky as she watched. “Let’s get out of here, guys. It’s getting cold and this fog is creepy.”

Derek wasn’t having it. “Get him up, guys. I’ll finish this quick so we can get out of this fucking freaky forest.”

Even as the Twin Towers hauled me to my feet and held me in place, Derek reached into his jacket. My attempts to break free from their iron grip were unsuccessful, as were my attempts to back away when I saw the blade of a hunting knife gleaming in the moonlight. And then I screamed as his hand thrust the weapon forward.

Claire’s scream echoed my own, but I didn’t feel any pain as the knife stopped short and I slumped in the grip of the two massive football players, who let go of me. My legs wouldn’t hold my weight, they had gone weak and my ankle was fucked so I fell to the ground. Where my scream had been one of utter terror, Claire’s was furious and tinged with fear. “What the fuck, Derek?! You asshole!”

“Now let him get home on his own,” Derek replied with a confident smirk as he and his pals laughed at me. “If I ever see you pretending to be a girl at school again, tranny, me and the guys will have to beat some sense into you.”

Fuck! I clenched my fists in impotent rage as tears streamed down my cheeks. Those assholes were really going to leave me here in the middle of the woods. And Clair was just going to let them do it. I’d be lucky if I could find my way to the highway by morning, let alone the town, and with my ankle fucked up, even that was unlikely. I couldn’t even call for help because I had stupidly left my phone and purse in Derek’s car. Maybe they were hoping I really would die out here.

Still, I tried to get up, even if it was only to spit in his fucking face before he left. I got to my knees, even though my legs and arms were shaking with fear as they started to walk away, Derek twirling the knife in his hands. Claire went with them, looking over her shoulder at me. For a brief instant, she looked concerned, but that quickly disappeared, and she glared at me as if this whole fucking thing was my fault when she had outed me to these assholes and went along with this. The bitch even took me shopping and made me think that she actually gave a shit about me.

Tears of frustration and betrayal stung my eyes as I got unsteadily to my feet, making everything fuzzy. Maybe I was just seeing things too, because it almost looked like the mist was moving, coalescing into something eerie and unnatural. It almost looked like there was a person in that mist, hints of a girl close to my age. The girl in the mist turned her head toward me, her eyes glowing with a malevolent crimson light that made my knees go weak and sent me back down to the ground, recoiling in terror.

The figure disappeared, fading into the mist as quickly as it had appeared, and an instant later, the thick carpeting of mist went from just very cold to bitterly freezing. It roiled and undulated, seeming to thicken further as it rose and clung to the retreating backs of Claire and the asshole football players. Claire screamed as Brent vanished out of sight, the asshole screaming as well as he was dragged into the mist.

The entity in the mist cut through it like a shark through water, freezing vapor churning in its wake, and the first time that I heard John’s voice was his scream, as he too was dragged downward and away, followed quickly by Ramon, leaving only my bitch of a cousin screaming in terror as Derek brandished his hunting knife and swung around as if he somehow expected me to be responsible for whatever was happening.

No, I was just as locked in abject terror as they were. Even if I wasn’t, there was no way that I could have dragged off three big guys in the span of a minute or two if I was healthy, let alone with a busted ankle. Under the moonlight, the blade of Derek’s knife glinted in the dark with every move he made. He was panicking and, even from thirty feet away, I could see his head darting around as he panicked. “Who’s out there?! Show yourself!” he called into the night, his breath frosting with every exhale.

The churning appeared again from the depths of the mists as a chilling voice rang out around us. It sounded feminine, but at the same time like frost and dry autumn leaves crunching under someone’s boots and a howling wind. “The guilty will perish!” At those words, I found myself backing away through the freezing mist, as quickly as I could while on my ass, until I backed into a tree.

The roiling entity carved a path through the mist straight toward Derek, who was still shouting and ineffectually brandishing his knife until he was dragged down into the mist and his shouts became screams of terror echoing through the woods. Claire tried to run, but she too was dragged down, though her screams ended more abruptly than those that came before. Then, the wake of the creature in the mist headed right for me and I screamed, closing my eyes against what I was sure was to come as my heart was tremoring like an earthquake in my chest.

I was about to die. Seconds passed, then minutes as my scream faded from my raw throat. I felt the mist churning around me, so cold now that my teeth were chattering and my whole body was shaking. Yet I was not dragged away. Something colder than the grave caressed my cheek, and that unnatural, feminine voice whispered in my ear like a frozen wind. “You are not guilty. The other is, but the life growing inside her is not.”

Confusion broke through the utter fright that had me firm within its grip and I opened my eyes to see the form of the young ethereal woman, standing in the mist before me, her hand reaching for my chest and then inside. The freezing hand was the coldest thing that I ever felt, putting the freezing mist around me to shame and I thought that it would stop my heart there and then. With it came a lancing agony, as if my very soul was on fire, burning away the cold as I screamed, and everything went black.

I awoke with a splitting headache, but the mist seemed to be gone, and the night was clear with the full moon high in the sky above. When I experimentally moved my injured ankle there was surprisingly no pain there. Lucky me because everything else felt downright weird. Not in a bad way. My body felt weirdly different, but at the same time more comfortable than I can ever remember. Well, except for that massive bump on the back of my head. It throbbed every time I shifted my head.

I tried to get up, but a dizzy spell made me take it slow. I had to turn onto my side, which pinched one of my breasts painfully, and then push myself up slowly. It was then that I noticed the pink and white sleeves adorning my arms. This was not what I was wearing before. My hands, as they braced against the leaf-covered ground, looked wrong too. They were smaller, more feminine, and adorned with pink nail polish that matched the color of the sleeves. My heart skipped a beat, before beginning to race in confusion and a little fear.

It was strange, every movement of my body felt different and yet familiar at the same time. What happened? I remembered that ghost, or whatever it was, coming at me through the mist, closing my eyes, and feeling it touch me. It said something too, and then there was pain, and I blacked out. Yet I also had this faint memory of being pulled into the mist and hitting my head. This was making my headache worse.

Cautiously, I got to my feet and took a look around. And that was when I noticed the bodies. Derek, Brent, John, and Ramon, were all unmoving in death, their eyes wide, and looks of horror were etched into their faces. There was another person slumped against a tree. It was only when I got there for a closer look that I recognized who I was looking at and a scream tore through my throat.

That was me. And if that was me, who the fuck was I now. The answer was obvious as I looked down at myself and the clothes I was wearing. Seeing my cousin’s purse (or was it mine?) on the ground nearby, I snatched it up and rooted around inside of it for my/her compact. As soon as I got it out and opened, and at a decent enough angle to see my reflection by just moonlight, my fears were confirmed. Somehow, I was Claire now.

The ghost’s words were fuzzy and hard to remember, I think it said something about being guilty? That I wasn’t but she was? Then there was that agony, like my soul was being ripped out of my body. Did it switch us somehow? Was that actually Claire, dead against that tree over there, instead of me? And if so, why?

I flopped back down to the ground, purse in hand, and took out the phone inside. I needed to call the police. I had no idea what the hell I was going to tell them, or even where I was, but I did hit my head and just woke up, so maybe I should start there. I wasn’t sure which finger Claire used for her fingerprint lock, but I managed to get it right the first time, almost by reflex. As soon as I had it opened, I called 911.

“911, what is your emergency?” a woman’s voice answered almost immediately.

“H-hello?” I squeaked out in reply, as I nervously looked around me, half-afraid that the freezing mist would reappear at any time. That was when the stress and fear of that night finally caught up with me and tears started to stream down my face. “I… I fell and hit my head and when I woke up the people I was with were all… They’re not moving or breathing, I think they might be dead.”

That began a long and awkward phone call as I sat there in the middle of the woods with only my hoodie for warmth. I had to remember to give her Claire’s information instead of mine, but I found that I was able to recall those things easier than I feared. I guess Claire’s memories were still stored in this body’s brain somewhere and I could recall them if I thought about it, but my own memories seemed clearer and more real to me somehow, though those seemed to be a bit scrambled as well, especially those before I started my transition.

I had plenty of time to try to dredge up memories since it was over an hour and a half before the police were able to track me down using the phone. That entire time, Hannah, the 911 lady, stayed on the line with me. I was glad to have someone to talk to, because every time I heard something, or saw a shadow shift in the moonlight, terror gripped my heart. I may have screamed a couple of times too, but each time Hannah managed to keep me calm.

The police were suspicious when they arrived, but then, I was the only survivor that night in Tremont Woods. There wasn’t a mark on anyone though, other than some minor scrapes and bruises, the nasty bump on my head, and Amber’s sprained ankle, nothing that pointed toward violent deaths. I ended up giving them the same story that I told Hannah, mostly things that had happened from Claire’s point of view, but without telling them that she had set me up.

I simply told them that my boyfriend had brought me out here for a party with some friends and my cousin, that Derek was being a jerk to Amber and she ran off into the woods and hurt her ankle, and that the last thing I remembered before falling and hitting my head was this creepy fog rolling in and the screams of my friends. I did have to end up telling them how Derek was being a jerk though. For that, I mostly used the truth as well, that he had been Amber’s date tonight, and he found out she was trans and bullied and threatened her.

In the end, it was determined that they all died from fright. If my parents noticed that I changed after that night, they probably attributed it to Amber’s death, I grieved her and myself for a while after all. With Claire’s memories available, it wasn’t too hard being convincing for her parents, though I decided that I was going to be my own version of Claire from then on. Things aren’t working out too bad on that front and I think I can be genuinely happy with this new life in time. I have a nice body, no dysphoria, and I might not even mind having periods, whenever I get one.

There are a few bad things of course. Morning sickness sucks, and my parents hit the roof when they found out that I was pregnant at sixteen. I am grounded for, like, life. Or until they cool off and get used to the idea of being grandparents. Too bad I'm serving the time without really committing the crime, but I think that’s why the ghost switched us that night and I’m kind of looking forward to being a mom. Sure, it's going to be difficult balancing everything since I still have almost two full school years until I graduate, and the thought of being a parent is terrifying at times, but I’m trying to be a better version of Claire, and the Claire I want to be is going to be a great mom.

This might be my only child after all, unless I decide to have another less traditionally. This may be Claire’s body, but it’s my mind driving it, and I’m still not attracted to boys, so I guess this version of Claire is also going to be a lesbian. Overall, I like where my life is going though.

I miss my/Amber’s parents sometimes, but they’re still my uncle and aunt, and we talk and visit often. We’ve gotten pretty close since Amber’s death, though we’re all still grieving in our own ways. While I do want to enjoy my new lease on life, I don’t want to get so lost in it that I forget where I came from.

I think that if my baby is a girl, I’m going to name her Amber. If it’s a boy, it’ll be Andrew. If they decide at some point that their birth sex and name are wrong, then I’ll do everything I can to support them. It’s still months before the baby is born though and parenthood, and all the fears and responsibility that go along with it, is a scary story for another time.