Animal Urges-Chapter 4

[axeslade]

Chapter 4

London-New Year's Eve, 1969-10:00 PM

Mandy slowly broke away from Jack's embrace, feeling the hair on her arms shoot straight up. Someone was watching her. Not like this was unusual, as hostess of the Sombrero she got plenty of offers, but this was different. Whoever this was wasn't looking for a one night stand.
She turned her head, pretending to snuggle up to Jack so she could watch. It was a man with somewhat curly, short blonde hair in an awful sheepskin coat and silly flower print dress. Yet soemthing about him made her uneasy. It took a moment to find it, and then all her breath got sucked away. Those eyes. They were special in their colour, a kind of stormy blue, but their depth. There was something different in the way he looked at her, some sort of spark she couldn't quite indentify.
Before Mandy could gather her senses, he was standing by her.
"Do you jive?"
For some reason she found a grin creeping over her face and nodded.

She was never quite sure how it happened, but before the New Year came in they were in her bedroom. She began wondering if she had judged him wrong during that time on the dance floor, if he reallly was one of her. He was passionatly violent in a way no other man had been before. The way he used his hands, his mouth...oh god his mouth. She couldn't recall having climaxed so hard and long with any of the other strangers she bedded on a regular basis. It was almost enough to make her forget what had happened five months ago, something she hadn't been able to put out of her mind for a moment. Giving them up had been so hard, but she knew she had to do it. There was no way she could take care of them on her own and make money at the same time without danger of getting caught somehow. Thank God Lou had been open about the whole thing, had put her usual sense of humor into things. 'If they misbehave I'll just give 'em a flea bath'.
Brian propped himself up on one arm, running a finger decliately down her stomach.
"Mandy...that is your name, right?"
"Yeah..."
He grinned, kissing her.
"You were a great shag, really..." 'but I have an early meeting' Mandy thought bitterly. All of them had something to go to in the morning, no matter how special they were.
"And I was wondering...could I see you again?"
She sat up, stunned. He sighed when he saw her expression.
"Right, you're too great a gal to go out with a weirdo like me. I should be leaving..." he stood up and she grabbed his arm, pulling him back.
"No! I was just a little shocked, that's all. Of course I'd like to see you again."
He grinned, kissing her.
"Great. I'll come by Friday night?"
Mandy shook her head. The full moon, she couldn't risk losing a guy like this so soon.
"Wednesday would be better."
He smiled.
"All right. Eight?"
"Sure."
"Well, if I don't get back soon my family's going to freak. See ya."
"See ya" she sat back on the bed, watching until he left. Then she jumped down, slipping into a thin robe and walking outside. She wandered out into the street, waiting until she was sure no one would see her. Then, she dropped the robe, closing her eyes and focusing on the wonderful wild feeling Brian had invoked in her. Her fingers cracked loudly, nails growing half an inch. The fur covered her skin with a warm heat and she barely noticed the pain in her stomach and face as they changed. Then, she ran out into the moonlight, howling for the pure joy of being loved.

London-October 10, 1970 2:00 AM

Her relationship with Brian was strangely blissful. He quickly told her that what he really wanted in life was to be a musician, a famous one. That he had hit on her because of her ties to the Sombrero, thinking she could get him gigs. But of course he loved her. He hadn't known what kind of girl she was then. He'd just thought of her as a bang, he knew better now.
They were married within six months.
Things started to get awkward then. It was easy to make excuses not to sleep over at your boyfriend or fiance's, but it was impossible to figure out a way of leaving her husband once a month. So she settled for resisting the change until she was sure he was asleep, even if that took hours of silent agony. Then she would sneak into the bathroom, changing quickly and then curling up at his feet until she felt him stirring. This was hell too, she wanted to run wild in the streets but she didn't want him to get suspicious. The wolf in her often asked why she loved him so, but as a human she knew. He was smart, funny, unique, tender. Everything she'd wanted in a man and thought she would never get. And he understood everything about her, or at least everything she told. He had told her at the beginning it would be an 'open' marriage, that if she wanted to sleep with birds she could, but that in the end they would always come back to each other.
Things were going fine for the first two months. And then the night he got drunk. He woke up to take a piss, not seeing she wasn't in the bed. Mandy heard him walking towards the bathroom halfway through the change. God no.
He walked in without noticing a thing, and Mandy thought she was safe as he walked back towards the door. But then her stomach seized alarmingly and she roared. Brian turned in shock, ripping back the shower curtain. He backed away as he saw Mandy's half wolf-half human face.
"Man, how strong was that vodka?"
"Bri-" but she couldn't say anymore, because then her mouth changed completely. She fearfully stepped out of the tub, walking over to him. He knelt down, putting a hand out. She sniffed it without thinking, then nuzzled her nose into his palm. Brian shuddered.
"Well, this explains a lot. The times I've woken up alone, the wet dog smell..." he sighed.
"I won't leave you Mandy. You mean too much to me."
She stared in shock. He smiled sadly.
"We'll find a way to make it work, luv. Now, go out and do whatever it is you do."
She smiled a wolfish grin and ran out, gleefully fighting with the street dogs and killing stray cats. Brian knew what she was and wanted to stay! He really was different!

Just how 'different' was proved a month later. The day before the full moon, Brian walked into the bedroom shortly after they'd finished making love with his hands behind his back.
"Mand?"
She looked up as he walked out of the bathroom.
"Hey luv. What is it?"
"Tomorrow's the full moon, right?"
"Right."
"Well...I..." he sighed, sitting on the bed.
"Look, I don't know what you might do if say I got stoned and tried to screw you and then you changed. I can't take that risk."
"But you said you wouldn't-"
"I'm not leaving Mand" he kissed her gently, then put out his hands, holding a chain. She stared at him.
"What..."
He gently wrapped the chain around her neck.
"It's for the best luv, I promise."
She shook her head, crying.
"Brian, don't do this. I'll be miserable like this."
"And what will you be if we split?"
She swallowed, lowering her head to let him finish. Then he yanked on one end of the chain, wrapping it around the bed post. He knelt down, petting her hair.
"I love you Mandy, you have to know that. I'm doing this for your own good. I don't know that you won't get out and kill someone without meaning to some day. You understand that, don't you luv?"
She nodded listlessly, watching him walk out. He saw her a few times the next day, then told her he was going to a party shortly before nightfall. When the moon rose, she growled and snapped at the pain which was intensified due to her restricted moment. Then, she curled up whimpering and crying until Brian came home the next morning, when he found his naked wife sobbing painfully. He took her hands, unclasping the chain and helping her sit on the bed.
"It'l be okay Mand, you'll get used to it."
She laid back passively, letting him screw her while she thought about what he'd said. How could anyone get used to being chained down just for being themselves?