Addison's Fur-Right Night

Story by Stormcatcher on SoFurry

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This is an older piece that I did for a good friend of mine a few years back. The writing style is a bit rough, and it's extremely long--so fair warning for anyone not into text-intensive stories. All characters are copyrighted by me except for Addison, who is copyrighted by his player. This story is used here with his permission.

ADDISON'S FUR-RIGHT NIGHT

By Stormcatcher

Addison the raccoon wrapped his flying scarf around his neck and let the ends of it dangle down his back, letting them flap idly in the evening breeze. Sighing inwardly, he shifted the canvas bag he had slung over his back from his right shoulder to his left as he looked up at the sky and watched the clouds drift their way across the full moon overhead, as the stars shone brightly. 'If nothing else', he thought to himself, 'it's a perfect night for Halloween.' A cool, crisp October wind ruffled his thick, bottlebrush tail as he plodded along the country dirt road, his boots sounding heavy on the ground and sending up little eddies of dust with each step. His costume was fairly simple: he was dressed as a biplane pilot. Hard plastic goggles were pushed up onto his forehead, and a flight cap covered his head except for his pointed ears. A flying scarf was wrapped around his neck, and a faded, weather-beaten bomber jacket covered his upper body. He wore a striped woolen turtleneck underneath that, with his little bit of a paunch-belly sticking out a tiny bit over his belt. Thick pilot's pants covered his legs, complete with the little bumps out to the sides of his hips, and his heavy lace-up boots came up halfway below his knee. His footwear was relatively comfortable, but after tromping around in the things for the last two hours, his footpads were finally beginning to feel dull pain. The fact that he had to walk fairly quickly just to keep up with his taller walking companion didn't help matters much.

Spazz the wolf loped along easily at Addison's side, his longer legs purposefully ambling at a slower pace to try to make things easier on his shorter buddy. Almost never at a loss for energy, the big redneck excuse for a lupine wore his traditional shit-eating grin and an absolutely hideous costume. Seemingly in direct contrast to Addison's neat, clean outfit, the hickwolf had decided to dress as a member of the undead this year. He'd rubbed a weird sort of makeup base all over his head, neck, and arms---a powdery, greasy-looking grayish-white gunk that gave his fur a fairly matted-down, sickly look. He'd rubbed some black base paint under and slightly around his eyes to make them look more hollow, stuck some specially-designed contact lenses in his eyes to make them look lifeless, and had worn a particularly battered set of overalls with several rips and tears in them, complete with fake "blood" spattered liberally all over. Hard rubber special effects prop pieces held in place by a sturdy adhesive gave the illusion of bones and part of his ribcage showing through his skin, but perhaps the most gruesome touch of all was the disturbing addition the wolf had been inspired to make the day before. He'd decided his ensemble would look more convincing if he had chunks of raw meat and perhaps some pig intestines attached to him, and had gone to the local butcher shop the day before for just such items. Upon hearing his idea, the butcher had been more than willing to contribute, cheerily donating some older meat that had been predestined for the garbage anyway. To keep it from being too messy, the wolf had frozen most of it in pre-arranged shapes the night before, then had dribbled the stuff with red and black food coloring to make it look more gruesome. Finally, he'd attached it all to himself with a combination of adhesive, strands of dental floss, and even a bit of the old faithful redneck standby-duct tape. The result was something right out of a George Romero nightmare.

Addison glanced sideways at his friend and stifled a snicker as he reconsidered the night's events. The pair had spent a majority of the evening with two young charges from the local orphanage, taking them trick-or-treating as well as trying to do some fundraising for the place with loose-change donation boxes. The widow Chalmers, sweet older vixen that she was, had been hoping for a way to come up with some funds to offset the costs of some repairs that the orphanage badly needed, and several of the local good-old boys had shown a rare selflessness in their willingness to assist. Despite the long bout of walking the evening had required, it had been fairly fruitful; the little kit and rabbit that had accompanied the wolf and raccoon had been cute as buttons in their respective fireman and Indian costumes, and even as their adorable little smiles encouraged folks to open their doors and their wallets, Spazz's gruesome costume garnered cheers of approval from local teens and other kids, and horrified looks of disgust from the adults. Nevertheless, candy was often proffered, as well, and the two orphans went back to the orphanage that night with some fun memories and two hefty bags of candy. Spazz had offered to help some of the local men with the repairs whenever they were scheduled to be made, and this gesture in combination with the money he and Addison were able to get from the trick-or-treating effort, made for a happy reception from the widow indeed. She had been determined that the two of them would not go home empty-handed for all their work, so she had loaded them down with several jars of fruit preserves that she'd made herself, as well as some sweet pickles, sausages, and cheeses. Addison hadn't been expecting all the extra booty and was delighted with her gesture of kindness, though he would've happily done it for free. The stuff was getting a bit heavy, though, and the raccoon was ready for a break from the lugging and the walking.

"Hey, Spazz!" he called, panting slightly as he took an extra hurried step or two to catch up with his friend. "How much farther do we have to go? My feet are killing me."

The wolf merely grinned and closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the cool evening wind in his face as he rumbled, "Not too much farther, darlin'. Just over this here hill n' mebbe 'bout a half-mile down, n' we'll be home. I took this here shortcut dozens a' times."

"Yeah? Well, given how you bubbas measure distance, 'just over this here hill' could be anywhere from a couple hundred feet to a few miles!" Addison grunted, giving the wolf a grudging smirk. "And speaking of 'bubbas', why the hell couldn't we have taken that hunk's truck to do all this running around? We probably would've finished up in half the time, and we could've been home drinking beer and jerking each other off, right about now." He reached over to give the wolf's burly arm a good-natured nudge with his hand, winking up at his friend.

Spazz winked back, giving the ringtail's ass a playful slap in return. "'Cause he needed it to haul the other kids, ya rascal. Haulin' twenty orphans 'round trick-or-treatin' without some kinda transpo is askin' fer disaster, knowhutImean?" he grinned, running the last words together Earnest P. Worrell-style. Then his voice took on a lower, more husky-nasty tone as he grinned lecherously over to his ringtailed friend, "'Sides, ah reckon he plans ta make it up to ya somehow fer bein' such a sweetheart n' helpin' us out with the kids, t'night. An' if ah know Bubba, he'll prolly start out by shovin' a couple a' them country-mechanic-kitty inches up yer tight lil' boodyhole."

Addison moaned softly, the corners of his mouth curling upward in goofy delight at the thought. The cougar in question had taken a shine to Addison early on when he'd first approached he and the wolf for assistance with the orphans the week before, and after the not-so-subtle innuendoes had been passed, the cat made it clear that he wanted to get better acquainted with the more carnal parts of the raccoon and wolf after the evening's festivities were done. The feline and Spazz had been fuck-buddies for quite some time, and Addison had come into town to visit the hickwolf after far too many months had elapsed without him doing so. The thought of both males taking turns using his snug rear orifice while he screamed for more made Addison ignore his aching feet for a moment, and he shivered needfully. Sidling closer to Spazz, the horny raccoon reached out and clasped his friend's groin, rubbing the wolf's covered cock with sleazy, lustful suggestion.

"Ooh! Ahhh...can't we get started a little prematurely...?" he asked Spazz, his voice edging up just a tad in hope. He sucked inward on his breath as he felt the wolf's own shaft begin to slide out and forward, the randy wolf almost always ready to give assistance to a needy mouth or ass. "Y'know, it's a pretty quiet-looking country road, and there doesn't seem to be much likelihood of anybody stumbling upon us..." he murmured, glancing around a bit as he spoke. "And Lord knows, it's dark enough." He laughed a bit as he clicked on his flashlight, then silhouetted his own face in it's beam and gave the wolf a lusty wink.

Spazz merely chuckled deeply as he grinned down at his friend, his icy blues sparkling mischievously as they almost always did. Responding in his usual casual style, the wolf swept up the shorter raccoon in his arms and pulled him close, latching his muzzle onto Addison's in a warm, heated kiss with plenty of tongue. Sighing happily into the wolf's lips, the flashlight beams of both crossed over each other as the held each other tightly, the wolf rubbing his tenting dungarees against Addison's own bulge. Moving his fingers with their usual deft skill, the wolf knew exactly where to press under Addison's tail to get it hiked needfully, and the raccoon groaned as he slid his hand up to massage the wolf's burly chest, shimmying his rump firmly back against the wolf's rubbing digit. "Awww, FUCK, Spazzy, you know how that gets me going," he breathed.

"Ah sure do, darlin'...and ah don't got no doubts whatsoever in yer sweet lil' muzzle's 'bility ta drain m' balls dry." the wolf chuckled, smiling warmly down at his friend as he hugged him tight. "But ah reckon we best get back t' the house so's that horny cat can have hisself a turn, too. 'Sides, if we keep 'im waitin' too long, the beer's liable to git warm! Don't want that, do ya?" he winked.

"Shit, no!" Addison breathed, the thought of warm beer possibly the only thing that made the raccoon reconsider sucking off his friend right then and there. "Well, hell, let's get hoofin'. If there's two things I'm not gonna let happen tonight, it's limp cocks and warm beer," he laughed.

Spazz nodded in agreement, then resumed walking, picking up the pace a bit. The makings of a broken-down wooden fence began to form on the roadside to their right, and the raccoon flashed his beam of battery-powered light around idly, looking about at the remnants of dry leaves hanging from the trees as the breeze stirred them restlessly like thousands of little lost souls. They seemed to whisper in the moonlight as they brushed against each other and blew in little whirling eddies around his feet, and the raccoon gave a little smile and shiver-a fairly spooky setting, even for something natural. He felt something squish lightly between his palm and the flashlight, and he peered inquisitively at it. Sure enough, it was a bit of the spoiling meat from Spazz's costume.

"Ewww," he grimaced. Picking it off his palm with some disdain, he murmured to Spazz, "Hey, goofus, I got some of your gunk on me."

The wolf turned to face him, on shaggy brow uplifted. "Ya did?" he inquired. "Hell, babydoll, ya didn't even get m' cock out n' spurtin'. How'd ya manage to do that?"

Addison rolled his eyes and smacked the wolf's arm playfully. "Not your sperm gunk..." he laughed. "Your fake guts gunk! Hey, we're done trick-or-treating, so why don't you ditch all that nastiness off yourself? It looks totally gross...." Craning his neck forward, he took an experimental sniff or two, then wrinkled his nose in disgust, pinching his nostrils shut with thumb and forefinger. "And it's starting to smell nasty, to boot."

Spazz laughed and ruffled his friend's neckfur. "So stand downwind, darlin'!" he smirked. "That's what most folks claim they haveta do with me anyways. Plus, ah promised Bubba that he could get a coupla' snapshots of us in costume 'fore we get all nekkid n' nasty with each other. Ya don't wanna disappoint 'im, do ya?" he leered.

"'Course not," Addison murmured, his words slightly distracted by the view of something coming up on his right as they walked. "But on the other hand, I don't think we'd make for a very photogenic trio if I'm puking my guts out because of your costume's smell."

Squinting his eyes a bit, his eyes picked out what looked to be a house sitting forlornly off to itself a bit away from the road. It was fairly big, looking to be at least two or maybe three stories, and somewhat simple in design. Something about it made it appear that it couldn't quite make up it's mind whether it wanted to be a Victorian dwelling, or a more simple colonial-style home. Two circled towers were at either end, with a higher, pointed gable in the middle. The atypical wrap-around verandah graced it on both upper and lower levels, and there were plenty of smaller circular windows and stained glass borders to add variety to the more stodgy-looking square panes that decorated the upper stories---but these were fairly small, and only still intact because their size and distance from the ground made them less likely targets for rocks hurled by teenagers. Most of the windows on the lower level were cracked or shattered completely. There wasn't a lot of gingerbreading around the edges or gables, but it looked to have been quite stately in its day. Now, it merely appeared neglected. The paint was badly peeled all over and in some spots, the bare wood showed through, and a few shingles hung desolately from one hinge as the wind banged them against the house. There were even a few holes visible in the parts of the roof, the wood and shingling around them sagging ponderously below.

Addison frowned deeply as he saw the severe state of disrepair of the whole place, the 'coon not being much of a restoration fur, but nevertheless hating to see something once so grand slowly deteriorating. He slowed down in spite of himself, staring at the broken-down place with morbid fascination. As he studied one of the gutters that hung down loose from the second story, he jumped a bit as a light appeared in the window of the corner room. He stopped in his tracks and stared at it, trying to figure out what it could be. The illumination was not steady, and seemed to flicker, as if it were the product of a candle, or perhaps a torch. He watched it intently as it moved around the room, then zipped into the room next door. It waited...wavered...faded for a moment...then finally went out, though whether it had been extinguished or simply had moved into the interior of the house, he couldn't tell.

Spazz, meanwhile, had been rumbling something to the raccoon, and hadn't even noticed Addison's absence until he was quite a few steps ahead. Looking to either side of himself, he, too, stopped, asking aloud, "Hey, where'd ya go?" Peering behind himself, he saw Addison staring the place, as though in a temporary trance. Stepping back to join his friend, he laid a hand on the raccoon's shoulder, making him jump yet again and let out a little yelp of surprise.

"Yeow! Darn it, Spazz, don't sneak up on me like that!" he mumbled to the wolf.

Spazz laughed. "Honeychile, I coulda snuck up on ya and slapped m' dick through yer ass n' outta yer brain by the time you woulda noticed me! Whatcha starin' at, anyways?"

Addison pointed at the supposedly empty house. "That house up there. Did you just see that up on the second story?"

Spazz blinked, then stared up at the place. "See what, sugar?"

"That light up there!" Addison said, pointing up at the second story. "I could have sworn I just saw some kind of light moving around in the corner room, up there. It moved into the room next door, then it vanished." He blinked, then looked over and up at the wolf. "Who lives there, anyway?"

Spazz snorted, trying to pick out what the raccoon had seen. "Nobody but rats, roaches, n' bats, far as I know, darlin'," he drawled. "That there's the ol' Bramblett mansion. It wuz built by a fambly that had some money 'round these parts a lil' b'fore the Civil War."

"Woooow!" Addison gushed, his black-masked eyes widening a bit as he stared back at the place. "Geez, I thought it looked old, but if it goes back before 1865, I'm amazed it's still standing!"

Spazz nodded evenly. "Well, they built 'em to last, back then....Didn't just toss 'em up with spit n' spackle, like they do, now. Hell, they ain't nobody lived there since... Hooo! Well, since way before I wuz a pup, far as I can tell. The Histor'cal Society's done tried to restore it half a dozen times, but ever time they's got some workmen in there, stuff starts goin' wrong, n' now, they've done purty much gave up on it."

Addison's ears perked sharply at that, and he gave Spazz a look of interest. "'Stuff'?" he asked the wolf. "What kinda 'stuff' went wrong?"

Spazz shrugged. "Awwwww....nothin' big, really... Coupla' tools came up missin', one fella took a tumble down some stairs n' broke his arm, 'nother 'un dang near accidentally sawed his leg off when his handheld radial blade went nuts... Y'know, the kinda stuff ya expect ta happen when yer workin' onna haunted house." He shot the raccoon a sly grin, one brow edging down darkly to give Addison a look that hopefully inspired the heebie-jeebies.

Addison felt the fur on the back of his neck tingle, indeed. Raising his eyebrows in surprise, he gasped, "Hu-Haunted? You mean someone died in there, or something?"

Spazz scratched the back of his neck idly and shrugged. "Well, folks don't rightly know. Nobody died or got killed there as far as the records can tell, but then, this here's the south!" he winked. "Stuff has a way of getting left outta the books if folks want it to bad enough. The fella that had the place built fer his fambly was some kinda Colonel in the confederate army, I think."

"Really? Whoa," Addison murmured, staring at the house again. He slid his hands into his coat pockets and murmured, "That's one thing I will say for you folks down here, you sure try to keep historical places up an al---...HEY! There it goes again!" he yelled, pointing at the house. Sure enough, the light was back, but this time, on the lower floor, a few rooms down from the main entrance. Addison watched the light sway and flicker through the place as he clapped a hand to Spazz's arm, and he looked at the wolf with wide eyes. "Didja see it that time?"

Spazz frowned deeply, craning his neck closer as he stared at the place. "Didn't see a thang, hon," he rumbled to the raccoon. Jerking his head sideways, his ghoulishly made-up face leered at his friend as he curled his fingerclaws in mock menace at him. "Ooooh! Ya don't reckon it wuz a GHOST, do ya?" he grinned, tongue lolling.

Addison glowered at the wolf for a moment and said, "Oh, don't be silly! Besides, it was a perfectly normal looking light. If it really was supernatural, it would've had a more funky, unnatural glow to it," he murmured, looking back at the house. "At least, I guess it would."

Spazz dropped the fake horror face, then peered back at the house, as well. "Hunh. What kinda light wuz it? Flashlight?"

Addison shook his head. "Naw, it was more like a torch or something. It flickered, like a flame."

Spazz smirked, grinning at the 'coon again. "'Flame', hunh? No wonder ya saw it! It wuz tryin' ta merge with yours!"

Addison grunted in temporary anger and smacked the wolf's arm again. "I do NOT flame!" he snapped indignantly. The pair staired at the house again for another minute or two, and finally, Addison peered nervously over at the wolf. "You sure you didn't see anything?"

Spazz recognized the tinge of discomfort in the raccoon's voice, and kept his answer earnest. "No, darlin', ah didn't. But if you say ya did, then I reckon that's good enough fer me." The wolf shrugged, then stepped towards the house, and Addison had to realize which direction the wolf was headed before he dashed after him and slapped two panicked handpaws onto the wolf's right arm, stopping him.

"WAIT!" he gasped. "Spazz, what the hell are you doing?"

The wolf gave Addison a blank look. "Ah'm goin' to check it out, ya lovable goofus. Whadja think I was gonna do?"

Addison gaped at his friend, and didn't let go of his arm. "Well, shit, don't do THAT! Ahh... I mean, it's .... It's probably just some stupid kids poking around in there, trying to give themselves a scare. I m-mean, you know...it IS Halloween, and kids like to sneak around where they know they shouldn't." He tried to keep the slightly unnerved look out of his tone, but he couldn't help sounding a touch frightened. The wolf had been looking directly at the house the second time, and if he didn't see anything whereas the raccoon himself had.... Well, then, what did that imply?

Spazz nodded firmly, his face looking oddly somber as he patted Addison's paw. "Yeah, hon, ah do. Ah used ta be the same way, and I kinda still am... 'cept I know better'n to go pokin' around a place that's as old n' condemned as that, 'cause that's a mighty good way ta get hurt. If they is kids in thar, then I'm a' gonna go flush 'em out fer their own good. They don't need t' be in that place nohow, it's dangerous."

"Did I say kids?" Addison blinked, his voice even more nervous as he slapped a fake smile onto his mug. "Heck, Spazz, I didn't mean kids... Wh-...what I meant to say w-was.... Well, maybe it's a squatter. Y'know, a hobo? Ahhh....y'know, just lookin' for a place to crash for the night?" He patted Spazz's arm, suddenly for whatever unknown reason determined to try to dissuade the wolf from going inside the place. He gave Spazz's arm another tug towards the road and said, "C-...C'mon, Spazz, seriously, it's probably nothing. In fact, now that I look at it, I think the moonlight was just playing tricks on my eyes."

Spazz smiled kindly at his friend, but he carefully but firmly displaced the raccoon's handpaws from his arms as he rumbled, "Well, sugarpop, if'n that's the case, he or she don't need to be stayin' in a rickety ol' house fulla mice n' shit when they's plenty a' churches n' shelters downtown that'll take 'em in fer the night, n' make sure they gits fed. 'Sides, hon, if they's tryin' to sleep there, they might be drunk, n' if they try t' start a fire to keep warm, the whole place'll prolly go up. An' I ain't about ta have that on m' conscience," he winked.

Addison rolled his eyes and waved his arms a bit. "Well, fine, then. Let's go back to town or to your house and we'll call the police. That's what they're there for, right? Let them handle it."

Spazz grunted and shook his head firmly, turning and starting back towards the house again. "Naw, them boys's prolly got more t'handle t'night than they can shake a stick at, it bein' Halloween n' all. An' darlin', ah ain't tryin' t' play 'hero', here, alright?" he grinned, smiling over at the raccoon. "Ah'm just gonna poke m' head inside the place n' see if they's anybody around. If ya ain't comf'table in goin' with me, ya can wait right here. I ain't gonna be two minutes, tops."

"NO!" Addison cried out. The sound was so full of feeling that the wolf paused again, giving the raccoon a curious look. Whatever it was, the wolf realized, it had his friend badly spooked. He grinned more sharply and thought of teasing the 'coon about it, but one look at Addison's face changed his mind.

"Yer really weirded out by this, ain'tcha, hon?" he rumbled gently to him.

Addison lowered one brow, then gazed down at the ground, shuffling a booted foot. "I am not!" he muttered half-heartedly. Spazz continued to stare at him for a minute or two, his face gentle as the raccoon shifted his gaze around without looking the wolf in the eyes. Finally, his shoulders slumped a little, and he muttered, "Oohhh, all right, so maybe I am. I've just... kinda got a bad feeling about the place." he grumped. Then he looked back up at Spazz and asked, "C'mon, Spazz, I mean....it's Halloween night, you know? Full moon outside?" he said, jerking his head upward towards the bright harvest moon. "And well... Spooky-looking old house? And a light that I could see, but you couldn't? Don't you think that's a little strange?"

The wolf cocked his head a bit, then nodded. "Yeah, darlin', ah do, kinda... But then--" He paused for a moment, frowning, then blinked, staring towards the house again, squinting this time. Then he shook his head and sighed, putting one of his palms to his face as he grunted in mild agitation.

Addison looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Spazz rumbled to him, "Shit, ah just remembered...! No wonder ah didn't see that glow th' first time...I still got these here goofy-assed contact lenses in m' peepers. They's kinda opaque ta make m' eyes look more zombie-fied, an' between th' dark n' this here cool breeze, m' nightvision's all fucked up. No wonder ah cain't see shit. Hang on a sec." He slid what looked to be a small plastic case out of one of his pockets, then opened it. Carefully, he put a pinkie finger up to one of his eyes, carefully removing the specialized contact lens from it, then depositing it into the case and the waiting saline solution inside. He did the same with his other eye, blinked rapidly, then put the other lens into the case as well and closed it, slipping it back into his pocket as he looked at the house again. "There, tha's better! Ah can see lots clearer now that ah got them thangs out. Mebbe ah'll catch them crazy lights you was talkin' about, this time."

The raccoon fidgeted noticeably, his hands touching together in a nervous way. "W-well...still, maybe it was just my imagination. Maybe I just saw the moon reflecting off one of the broken windowpanes on the place." His heart sank a bit as he realized how cowardly he was probably sounding, and he shot the wolf a look that was both embarrassed and forlorn.

Spazz smiled and gave Addy's shoulder a loving squeeze, smiling gently at him. "Alright, hon, look-it's your call. If you really don't want me ta check it out, ah won't...but ah don't like t' think of somebody in thar getting hurt while we 'tail it back to mah place to call the cops, y'know?"

Addison's frowned, trying to come up with some reason why they should wait-but the more rational side of his brain kicked in, and he had to admit, the wolf had a point. The longer they waited, the greater a chance of a mishap occurring, depending on what was going on inside the place. With a sigh of resignation that seemed to tremble in to his very bones, he stepped after the wolf, then in front of him, giving the redneck wolf's sleeve a tug.

"Dammit," he muttered. "I hate it when you make sense, Moon-Pie brain. Come on, let's get this over with. How the hell do you get me into these things, anyway?"

Spazz stepped forward to stand next to the raccoon's side as he slipped an arm around him and squeezed him warmly, not missing a beat. "'Cause you got a heart o' gold and a ass o' steel, an' the only thing ya love more'n ridin' cock is helpin' folks out!" he said, as he gave the raccoon's head a lick.

Addison grimaced in a good way as the wolf's warm drool slathered across his cheek, and he swiped some of it off with his sleeve as he looked up at his friend and grinned, blushing. "Well..... yeah..." he grinned sheepishly.

Ultimately, Spazz had ended up being the one to go in first, and he didn't seem to mind. Entry wasn't difficult, given that the old oak door was almost off its hinges. Sidling in nose first, the wolf's icy blue peepers swept over the initial entry room, his big ears perked sharply upward to pick out the slightest bit of sound...but other than some leaves stirring on the floor from where they had blown in through the empty windows, there wasn't a peep from anywhere. The wolf noted that although everything looked as broken-down and dust-covered as he would've expected, the place had a general air of non-disturbance about it... and the moment he stepped fully into the place, he realized that he had been seriously off in his initial assumption of kids or squatters. As he slowly looked about, the place spoke to his subconscious with nothing but desolation. The furniture, what precious little that he saw immediately, anyway, was ravaged and broken to the point of being non-functional. The wolf noted with sadness that any nicer pieces, if there had been any, had probably long since been pilfered by vandals.

He noted with vague surprise that there were light switches on the walls, but then realized that this had probably been the last attempt someone may have made to try to modernize the place-and these had obviously not been used in several decades. The floorboards of the place creaked ominously with each tentative step he took, and from the way the wood shifted and bowed upwards in spots, he figured that it would be fairly easy to step on a weak spot and end up with a foot through the floor. There were several holes in the floor already, from what he could tell. Amazingly enough, however, the steps to the second floor were still largely intact-although they were severely rickety-looking and askew. He swept his flashlight over the place, frowning deeply, then came all the way into the room, giving Addison's handpaw a warm squeeze as he rumbled to him in a low voice, "Mind yer step, Addy. This here floor's done seen better days!"

Whiskers quivering nervously, Addison stepped in behind Spazz, his eyes almost saucer-big as they looked about, their wideness made even more acute-looking with the natural black robber's mask of fur around them. The raccoon winced as he eyed the floor and almost felt the wood sink in at his step, and he whispered to Spazz, "Whooo! I feel whatcha mean... Spazz, are you sure it's safe to walk on it?"

The wolf shrugged, never taking his eyes from the floor as he stepped slowly to the center of the room. He looked somewhat uncertain, but replied, "Well....it's holdin' me up okay enough s'far, an' I'm a heckuva lot heavier n' you, hon. Here, set yer goody sack down here by th' door. We shore don't need the extra weight hangin' on us."

Addison carefully picked his way in after the wolf, nodding as he unhooked his bag from his shoulder and laid it carefully down by the door. Spazz did the same thing as Addison glanced warily around and tried to keep his knees from shaking, mostly from the cold, he told himself...though he knew what it really was that had his nerves on edge. "Okay, where should we look first?"

Spazz frowned again as he shone his flashlight around some more, and Addison clicked his on, as well, the two beams flicking forlornly around the dusty, cobweb-enshrouded gloom. "Good question. This here place looks a lot bigger on th' inside then it does on th' outside. Didja say that ya thought that light was on the first floor, too?"

Addison nodded. "Yep. I think I saw it just on the other side of that wall, in fact," he whispered, pointing to the far wall in the adjacent room. Perhaps a parlor at one time, some delicately striped wallpaper hung in shredding strips down the walls, and a doorway without a door led into the next room.

Spazz nodded and began to head for the doorway very carefully, selecting his steps as he crisscrossed the aged floor, each step groaning hollowly and setting Addison's teeth on edge with the sound. The quiet of the place seemed to amplify the noise, and he found himself sticking very close to the wolf, his nervous gaze especially riveted to the staircase, as though he expected a horrible ghoul to swoop down it at any moment.

The wolf peered over his shoulder at the raccoon and grinned. "Ya wanna wait in here while I check it out?" he whisper-rumbled to him.

"Hell, no!" Addison frowned, shaking his head firmly. "I'm sticking to you like glue till we get outta here!"

Spazz nodded in assent, then stepped into the doorway, shining his light all over as he swiveled his head around carefully, following the beam. Addison waited behind him, firmly clutching the wolf's hand, and scarcely daring to breathe....but after a few minutes, the wolf shrugged, turning back to him. "Nothin'."

Addison blinked, some of the fear sliding out of his face as he whispered back in disbelief, "Nothing?"

Spazz shook his head, gesturing into the room with an arm. "See fer yerself, darlin'. No burnin' wood, no lanterns....no flashlights."

Addison stepped forward as Spazz stepped aside, and flicked around his flashlight beam, frowning a bit. Sure enough, the room was empty-not even any furniture. The walls were bare, and only a few leaves dotted the floor. The raccoon's brows furrowed with puzzlement and concern, and he looked back and up at Spazz earnestly. "Spazz, I know what I saw. You prolly think I'm nuts, but..."

The wolf shook his head firmly, patting his friend's shoulder. "If ya say ya saw it, hon, I b'lieve ya," he smiled as he whispered to him. "Didja say that ya saw the light first upstairs?"

Addison nodded. "Towards the front left-hand corner. That way," he whispered, pointing towards the stairs.

Spazz nodded and turned his beam towards the rickety stairs, looking doubtful. "Hmmm. Them stairs look purty weak...I reckon I could git up 'em, but ah wonder if there's another set of 'em somewheres else in here..."

Addison sighed softly and shook his head, then picked his way past Spazz as he headed for the stairs in a sudden, inexplicable attack of bravado (or, as he thought to himself, just the desire to get the hell out of here). Patting Spazz's side, he whispered, "Don't sweat it. I'll go."

Spazz lifted his brows, looking mildly surprised. "Ya sure?"

Addison nodded. "Yeah. I'm feeling pretty silly about this whole thing, now, and I need to prove it to myself that there's nobody in here."

Spazz rubbed his chin, looking uncertain. "Well...alrighty, then."

Addison started up the stairs, his eyes fastened to his feet as he made sure that the wood wouldn't give way suddenly. It didn't-but he realized that he was going to have to be extra careful, since the stuff creaked dangerously. Glancing over at the wolf, he whispered, "I'm just gonna look in that upstairs room. If I don't find anything, I'm coming straight back down here and we're getting outta this dump."

Spazz nodded and gave a tail wag or two in understanding, grinning. "Ah'm a'gonna check 'round downstairs a bit more. You mind yer step, now, y'hear? An' if ya see anythin', gimmee a holler."

Addison shivered a bit and shone his flashlight up the stairs into the darkness beyond, asking himself if he was crazy for doing this. " Buddy, if I find something nasty, they're gonna hear me yelling in the next state."

The wolf waited for Addison to reach the top of the stairs safely, then he headed towards the back part of the house. The raccoon waited a few moments, just listening to his friend's steps retreat, and he smirked. Man, if there IS anybody in here, they'll hear him coming from all over the house, he thought. Spazz's big, booted feet were anything but subtle. Finding the sound reassuring somehow, the raccoon shone his light towards the corner of the house that he was heading for, and slowly made his way towards it, his eyes nervously peering all about for signs of anything amiss. So intent was he on keeping his guard up in front of him, he didn't notice the soft, bluish hue that began to illuminate the air behind him from one of the side rooms....or the face that began to coalesce in the gloomy darkness that watched him go.

The further Addison went towards the corner of the house, the more at ease he became, slowly convincing himself that the light he had seen was only in his imagination. The other rooms he passed on his way towards the corner room were as boring as the room next to the parlor had been. One had nothing but a rusted-out antique bed frame, another had a dilapidated set of bureau drawers whose bottoms had long since rotted out. Some rags were scattered here and there-remnants of old clothes from hoboes or perhaps the leftovers from teenagers sneaking into the place to vandalize or screw around. There were also more leaves and other debris from the outside, and at least one moldy, moth-eaten mattress that had springs poking through the top side of it.

Addison moved a bit less cautiously as he finally stepped into the corner room, thinking that he'd find little more than a mouse or two and more leaves...but oddly enough, he found himself in for a pleasant surprise. Apparently, this room was once the makeshift reading room, and he saw what appeared to be a turn-of-the-century easy chair in the middle of the place, so dust-covered and rusty that it seemed petrified in place onto the floor. In addition to the chair were about five sets of wooden bookshelves. All were fairly short, having only four shelves apiece-but the spaces between them were wide, since presumably when they were made, there were no such things as paperbacks.

A loopy grin of discovery and pure rapture slipped across Addison's jaw, and he walked over to one of the shelves slowly, as in a daze. Laying his hand on one of the few dusty old tomes remaining-there appeared to be only a scant 100 or so left, he noted wistfully, from amongst what was probably well over one thousand originally-he brushed some of the dust off of it, then jerked his hand back in an alarmed yelp as a good-sized spider scuttled from behind it and threatened to crawl up his arm. The arachnid zipped down the side of the book and onto and underneath the shelf below, and Addison watched it go with a half-uneasy, half-reproachful stare. Spiders really gave him the creeps, especially if they were bigger than a quarter in size. He waited to see if it would come back, decided that it wouldn't, and carefully took the book off the shelf, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. Carefully, he opened it, sliding through the first few pages with his finger, and he looked dismayed when the first few pages literally crumbled to dust at his touch. Apparently, the book had been sitting partially open, and the first few pages had gotten the worst exposure to time and the elements. The rest of them, though, fared a bit better...and although they were extremely yellowed and crinkled with age, he found that he could just barely make out the words on them if he shone his flashlight closely enough.

'Cool', he thought. 'It looks like some kind of journal or manual written about ground attack techniques! Geez, this thing's ancient,' he thought, flipping the book's cover forward onto his thumb for a moment. It promptly split up the spine of it more than halfway, but didn't fall off, and he tried to make out what the title was and who wrote it. No such luck---the writing was far too faded, and the book appeared lightly charred, as though having been burnt on the front once. Shrugging, he carefully laid it down onto the shelf again and went for another, his face alight with a grin of joy. The raccoon was a sucker for reading, and although he figured that most of the books here were about war and fighting techniques, he found them fascinating nonetheless, and began to lose track of time.

'Living history books', he thought to himself in awe as he perused a title that gave ideas on how to survive while on field maneuvers. 'Amazing! This one tells you how to catch, kill, and prepare forest game. Ick, imagine me trying to eat one of my non-morph cousins,' he thought. 'Hey, here's one on firearms and popular weaponry of the Civil War era! Aaaaaand......one on emancipation-era politics! Damn, I'll bet good ol' Lincoln really had to go toe-to-toe with some of the South's finest debaters to get his voice heard about this......Ooh, and here's one on military uniforms according to rank, confederate-style. Mmmm. Bet some of those Civil War men looked damn SEXY in those...'

Addison didn't really feel himself moving towards the chair, and although he felt his asscheeks placing themselves onto it's dusty surface, causing a small multitude of cinch bugs and other crawlies to crawl down the side of it, he didn't notice them. He barely even acknowledged the spring that dug into his butt as he leafed through page after page. The thing that finally got his attention was the cold draft that was wafting through the room. Looking up and shivering a little, he wrapped his arms around himself and slipped off the chair, heading for the window. If it was open or completely broken out, he realized that he was going to be out of luck, since its frame had probably warped beyond repair and would refuse to close...but he thought he'd take a look and try it, anyway. When he got within five steps of it, however, he stopped short, staring at it. 'Hunh. That's funny... it's not broken at all,' he thought to himself. 'Probably the only window in the place that isn't.' Then he squinted at it and looked closer, then frowned. 'Shit. And it's closed! Then where the hell is that crazy draft coming fro---'

Suddenly, Addison noticed that the light in the room had changed somehow. There seemed to be a light bluish cast against the floor and lower walls, almost like a reflection off a body of water-and it seemed to be coming on strongest from behind him. Blinking, he shone his flashlight against the wall, thinking that his battery was going dead...but it wasn't the flashlight, at all. Slowly, the raccoon's heartbeat began to speed up, until it was thumping heavily through his chest. He swallowed hard, then closed his hand in a death grip around his flashlight, the rubber ridges of the handle imprinting themselves into his furry palm as he felt the fur on the back of his neck begin to prickle and stand up of it's own volition. Then he heard something coming from behind, and just to his left. It was a wet and squishy sound, mildly nauseating to the stomach to hear... although it died down briefly into shiver-inducing droplets spattering against the wooden floor. He tried to will his feet to move and they stubbornly refused-probably something to do with the cold, tingly icicles that seemed to be grating their way through every nerve in his body. But his head still moved... and he found it turning slowly towards the source of that noise even as it was replaced with a low, whispering sound. It was the hollowest-sounding, chilling, echoing moan the raccoon had ever heard, and it was right in his face.

"Beeeaaaaauuuuuuuu......"

His head facing the left wall fully, now, Addison saw what appeared to be some sort of apparition trying to make it's way through the wall towards him. He made out what appeared to be a male face of some sort, though it was so twisted with agony and longing that it was hard for him to make out all the individual features. It swam in a blue puddle against the wall, as though made out of liquid-but those black, frigid eyes were staring straight at him, locked with his own. Even as he watched, Addison saw a smaller puddle form next to the face, and from it, fingers began to emerge, their glowing phosphorescence dribbling bluish ichor onto the floor as they reached out towards him, shivering with the same cold that wracked the raccoon's spine.

Addison thought his eyes were going to pop out of his skull, they widened so much...and he literally felt every hair on his body raise up on end, and his mouth dropped open helplessly. Trying to scream, nothing came out of his mouth but a cracked, dry-sounding whimper...and in the end, the book he had been holding saved him. Slipping from his paralyzed grip, it fell towards the floor, and in doing so bounced off his right boot. The slight pain seemed to shock his nervous system out of it's terror-frozen state, and a loud, ripping scream tore itself from the raccoon's throat. As the sound filled the air, the apparition looked back at him with equal shock and dismay, and it's own ghostly mouth gaped into a yawn of panic, again ringing forth with that same word-only this time, almost as loud as Addison's scream:

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Addison finally found his feet to be un-frozen, and he didn't waste a moment. Mere seconds before that ghostly hand touched his face, the raccoon whirled and dashed for the door, at this point not caring if he stepped through the floor and fell through to the basement. He couldn't tell which noise was his heartbeat and which were his footfalls on the floor as he pounded down the hallway and fled for the stairs, yelling the whole time.

"SPAZZ!! SPAZZ, HELP ME!!!! GHOOOOOOST! IT'S A FUCKI-"

The raccoon had reached the top of the stairs in record time, and needless to say, his screaming brought Spazz running from the rear of the house on the first floor, his big feet stomping hard onto the floor and actually causing his feet to plunge through in some cases, causing him to curse vehemently as he pulled it free. This slowed him down somewhat, but he got to the doorway just behind the stairwell just in time to hear a splintering crash as the startled raccoon hit the third step down from the top of the stairwell too hard and too fast. The step splintered beneath his feet, and the wolf saw his friend plummet towards the floor.

"ADDY!" he hollered. Not knowing what else to do, the wolf dove towards Addison's falling body, hoping to either catch him or-at the very least-help break his fall. Several pieces of wood pelted onto his back and shoulders, but as it turned out, he dove too soon. The wolf's large body went sprawling as Addison thumped heavily down slightly on top of him, and he barely heard the huge "WHOOOOOPHHHH!" that burst from his friend's lungs as the wolf got the wind knocked out of himself. Spazz's vision swam a little, then he felt himself fading into unconsciousness as Addison rolled to a stop on top of him.

The raccoon grunted, then coughed several times, a huge cloud of dust having kicked up around them both. Dull pain throbbed through his right leg and back, and as he slowly came to his senses, he thought he felt something dribbling down his leg. From the pieces of splintered wood around him, he blearily decided that it was probably a piece of wood that tore through his pilot's pants and cut him a good one on his shin. He waved some of the dust out of his face, coughing some more, and then a mild panic overtook him as he felt Spazz's inert body underneath and somewhat next to him. A different kind of terror overtook his mind as he frantically felt over Spazz's body, the raccoon worried that the wolf might have broken something in his zeal to help him---or worse. He pawed his way up to Spazz's neck, then breathed a sigh of relief as he felt his friend's pulse, which was still strong. Blinking upwards through the dust and gloom, he saw the broken edge of the staircase and figured that in actuality, he'd only fallen about six feet or so. He vowed to give his friend a more thorough examination as soon as he got his own wind back...and for a few surreal seconds, he wondered what it was that had caused him to bolt down the stairs in such a panic in the first place. Once the dust cleared, though, he got a rather potent reminder.

There, hovering above him roughly ten feet in the air and facing down to stare at him, was the glowing, translucent form of the ghost he'd seen in the library. This time, though, it was much more defined in it's form. Dressed in eerily glowing Confederate soldier garb, the apparition was clearly that of a bear-and a fairly large one, at that. Appearing to have a height of roughly 7' tall, the bear floated over the raccoon and cast a pall of renewed fright into him, but this time, there was no escape. Addison's legs were still too weak from the shock for him to get up yet, and the cut on his leg didn't help matters. The pain was nothing, though, compared to the pure, paralyzing fright he felt as the ghost drifted lower and nearer to him. Every strand of fur on his body felt on end with the crackle of fear, and he found that he couldn't even spare the energy to scream or close his eyes. Shivering all over, his eyes stared up widely at the ghost, his black-furred robber's mask around them almost anime-like in their exaggeration.

The ghost wavered a bit, but then righted himself, floating down through the air to land silently on his glowing, booted feet, and as it lowered it's face down to peer at Addison closely, the raccoon blinked in amazement. He realized several things as he stared into the ghost-ursine's face. One, the bear had a rather full-looking, brushy beard that the ringtail hadn't noticed before. Two, he was broad-bodied, with a burly chest and very muscled arms, both hanging over a somewhat bulging belly-a bit like Addison's, only bigger. Now that he thought about it, the bear struck him as sort of an ursine version of Santa Claus, only taller and maybe a bit stronger. Finally, Addison realized that there wasn't a trace of malevolence in that broad, warm face. Despite his ghostly body, the bear's expression exuded kindness, concern, and a bit of a disconcerting sense of puzzlement and sadness as he stared into the raccoon's eyes. Brushing his bluish, thick-fingered hand down the side of the raccoon's cheek and passing through them somewhat, he looked more sorrowful than ever, and when he spoke, his echoing voice sounded vaguely hurt.

"Beau...?" he murmured to Addison. "Beau.... Sweetheart, why'd you run from me? Don't you... don't you recognize me, anymore?" The bear patted his glowing chest with both hands and gave Addison a hopeful smile that, in spite of his aches and pains, absolutely warmed his heart, and if there was any additional fear that he felt at the ghost's touch, it vanished completely. "It's me! Your ol' Colonel-bear, Nathan!"

Addison blinked blankly up at the apparition, and he watched the bear try to take his hand into his own ghostly, gloved one, trying to rub Addison's fingers but passing through them with each swipe. Looking dismayed but undeterred, the bear rumbled in his odd, surreal-sounding voice, "Thunderation, but ya took off down them stairs like all the hounds of hell was at yer feet!" Addison noted vaguely the light drawl in the ursine's echoing voice, though it wasn't anywhere nearly as thick as Spazz's. "Are you all right? Ya took quite a spill."

Addison stared at the ghost dumbly, honestly beyond words for what felt like the first time in his life. He just sat there for what felt like five minutes, though it couldn't have been that long-and finally, he was able to mumble, "Wood splinter cut me up a little...kinda bruised... Ribs are kinda hurting..."

The ghost blinked, then looked more closely at Addison, his hollow-looking eyes staring intently at the raccoon's middle for a few moments. Finally, he shook his glowing head, a light grin spreading across his features. "Well...don't look like ya broke nothin', so that's a good thing....but Jeezus, Beau, I cain't hardly believe that yer still alive. How the heck didja do it? I didn't never think I'd see ya again!"

Addison blinked at him. "Nothing's broken? How can you tell?"

The ghost grinned at him. "I can see through thangs, both livin' and non-livin', if I want to. Prolly kinda like yer lookin' through me, right now," he beamed.

Addison's jaw hung open for a second or two. "Wow, just like a superhero with X-ray vision!"

The ghost looked mildly confused, cocking his head at him as his eyes assumed a puzzled look. "Hunh?"

The raccoon waved off an explanation with his hand, grunting in pain as he slowly and carefully pulled himself onto his knees, then shakily up onto his feet. The ghost looked as though he wanted to help, but knew that if he tried, it wouldn't do any good. The smile on his face never fading, he murmured to Addison, "Beau, darlin', ya look as handsome as ever. Lordy, talk about a sight fer sore, undead eyes! I thought I'd lost ya forever." As the raccoon moved up and out of the way, Spazz's body became more visible. The ghostly bruin looked over at the wolf, puzzled again. "Say, who's yer friend?" he echoed.

Wincing a tad, Addison gave Spazz a closer once-over, his face carefully scrutinizing the wolf all over. "This is my pal Spazz. I'm really worried about him, I sort of landed on him when I fell." He glanced up at the bear with trepidation, but also hope. "Ahhh....would you mind looking over his insides like you did mine? I'm real worried that he might have broken something, or worse."

The bear blinked over at Spazz. "Well, I'D say there's somethin' wrong with him! Look at 'im, his guts is hangin' out all over the place," he bear rumbled, gesturing at the wolf.

Addison shook his head, rolling his eyes a bit again at Spazz's costume. "No, no. Those aren't HIS guts. He's wearing a costume, sort of, for Halloween. He'd wanted to dress himself up as a...a, ahh... y'know, a zombie," he said to the bear, blushing hotly as he spoke. He hoped inwardly that the bear wouldn't be offended at this, and luckily, the bruin didn't appear to be, though his look at Addison was fairly blank. Addison blinked back at him, then began to pick the clumps of meat off his friend as he rolled him over carefully, straining a bit to do so. "Okay, maybe what I just said didn't make a whole lotta sense-but could you please look him over anyway?"

The bear nodded, looking the wolf over carefully from head to toe. Finally, he shook his bearded head, murmuring hollowly, "Hmmmm... nope, ah reckon he looks right as rain... And I ain't surprised, this fella's a big 'un. Almost as big as I am, 'specially in the pecker department!" At this, the bear laughed heartily, his gut trembling with mirth as the raccoon gave him a slightly dazed look. The bear looked almost embarrassed about what he had just said, and he waved off Addison's look with a gloved hand. "Awww, don't pay me no nevermind, hon, I was just joshin' with ya. Well... kinda, anyway," he snickered. Then the bear's grin faded a bit, and his expression darkened somewhat as his brows furrowed inward, as though a nasty thought had just occurred to him. "Saaaaaaaaaay, now.... You and him ain't... y'know....foolin' around on me long-term, are ya?" he rumbled eerily, as he squinted his eyes at the raccoon.

Addison sighed and shook his head firmly, dreading where this conversation was going. He'd fully noticed the bear referring to him with someone else's name, and judging from the ursine's outfit, the raccoon had already begun to put the bear's story together-but he still had yet to make the connection with Addison's attire, and the raccoon somehow knew that telling the truth would probably sadden the big ghost again...but he also knew that not telling him the truth would be cruel, so he decided to go for it.

Clearing his throat a bit, he said to the Colonel, "He and I have fooled around before, but as for our relationship status---we're strictly just friends," he said. Then, as he winced inwardly, he made himself look the ghost directly into the eyes as he asked, "And not to seem rude, but may I ask why you keep calling me 'Beau'?"

The bear looked at the raccoon like Addison had a giant fish coming out of his mouth. "Hunh? Why, watcha talkin' about, hon? Did that fall injure yer noggin', somehow?" he chuckled, his face half-mirthful, half-uneasy. Then he sobered up a little, bringing up one glowing leg and resting his elbow onto his knee. "D'ya think you might have...y'know, amnesia? Folks forget stuff sometimes, if they get conked a good 'un on the head."

Addison sighed heavily, but shook his head firmly. "I almost wish that were the case, sir, but I promise you-I'm not Beau. My name's Addison Walker, and I was born in 1975."

The bear's eyes clouded a bit, as though trying to process this. "1975....?" he breathed. "But....but I thought that.... I mean, you... ya look just like...."

Addison ignored the ghost for just a moment as he gently tapped Spazz's cheek, his brows furrowed in concern as he got closer to the wolf's face. "Spazz...?" he mumured urgently. "C'mon, Spazzy, wake up. I know you're all right, you've had hangovers that've been worse than the spill you just took!" He took Spazz's big hand in his own and rubbed it a little, then finally carefully opened the wolf's eye with his thumb and forefinger. This finally seemed to do the trick, as the big lupine male shivered, then coughed once and lightly batted Addison's handpaw away.

"Unnnhhh....!" Spazz moaned. "Addy, cutitout... Dang, what happened...?" he murmured, peering around vaguely with puzzled eyes. He lifted his head a little and looked at Addison, rumbling, "Feels like a load a' bricks got dumped on m' chest!"

Addison smiled a little, feeling immensely relieved to see the wolf conscious again. "Not bricks, just 'coon!" he winked. "You okay? Nothing feels broken, right?" he asked, as he tried to help the wolf get up.

Spazz shook his head slowly, giving Addison's hand a squeeze, but he didn't get up immediately. "Yeh, I'm alright, ah think, just sore as all hell..." The wolf looked up, then, and saw the large, glowing form of the ghostly bear behind Addison, and his eyes widened considerably, his voice low and incredulous as he whispered to the raccoon with an uneasy voice, "Holy shit... Reckon ah musta busted m' head a good 'un on the way down, though. Ah think ah'm seein' thangs...!"

Addison grinned a bit and patted the wolf's arm gently. "Nope. That really is an honest-to-goodness ghost you see, sittin' over there....but don't freak, he seems to be a nice enough fella."

Spazz blinked at the ghost, then peered slowly at Addison. "Ya sure? Ah ain't never heard of no 'good' ghosts, unless ya wanna count that lil' 'Casper' fella that looks like a big ol' blop a' floatin' spunk..."

Addison laughed. "Definitely not 'Casper'. A bit more like 'Gentle Ben', really," he giggled.

Spazz gave his friend an slightly uneasy grin back as he waved at the ghost with one hand, and the Colonel gave a half-nod back. The apparition looked noticeably sad, though, sitting on the floor with his legs sprawled out in front of him as he rested his hands in his lap, looking forlornly down at the floor. Apparently, the ghost had also begun to put two and two together, and realized that Addison was telling the truth about his identity.

Generally the open-minded one to begin with, Spazz seemed to be getting over his initial shock fairly quickly. Tales of the supernatural and ghosts in particular had always been a favorite subject of interest with the hickwolf, and now that he had proof of their existence right in front of him, he was beginning to find the experience rather interesting. The wolf stared at the ghost blankly for a minute or two, then held up the back of his hand to his muzzle and whispered to Addison, "Y'know, he shore is wearin' a long face, even fer a dead fella. What's wrong with 'im?"

Addison glanced at the ghost, then nodded back to Spazz, the raccoon feeling a pang of sadness as well at the situation. "I think he thought that I was his long-lost lover, Spazz. He kept calling me 'Beau', for some reason, so I guess he thought I was him."

The wolf perked his ears at that, but nodded in understanding. Grunting softly, he got to his feet and rumble-whispered to the 'coon, "Well, let's not just sit here takin' wild guesses, darlin'. Let's ask 'im!"

Taking a few steps closer to the bear, Spazz grinned what he hoped was his usual friendly shit-eater of a trademark smile and rumbled to him, "Howdy, sir. Gee, it shore is an honor ta meet a gent that was from our boys' side, back in th' war!" he beamed. "Mah name's Spazz, if Addy ain't done told ya . Pleased ta meetcha."

The ghost looked up at the wolf and gave him a small but very sad smile, which faded quickly. "Charmed, I'm sure, son. I'm Colonel Nathan Bramblett---or rather, I was," he murmured, staring down into his lap again.

Addison licked his lips nervously and looked at Spazz, then took a step towards the ghost as well, folding his hands together to keep them from jittering. "Ahh... Colonel Nathan, sir---" he began, "...I was just mentioning to Spazz how you'd mistaken me for this 'Beau' gentleman. If you don't mind us asking, I take it that he was.... someone you knew, before you died?"

The bear nodded miserably and planted his head in the palms of his hands as he pulled his knees up to prop his elbows on them. "That he was," he sighed, the sound sending chills up the wolf's and raccoon's spines. The haunted, weary sound echoed softly and mirrored the ghost's facial emotions, and Addison had to dig his fingerclaws into his palms for a moment to keep the fur on the back of his neck from rising again. The bear looked sadly up at them, his hollow eyes alternating between them both as he explained slowly, "Beau was my... that is to say, he and I were...." He lowered a big gloved finger to the floor to draw idle circles on the wood as he tried to find the right words, then continued. "Well.... We was 'close', if ya know what I'm sayin'.... And from the aura I'm readin' from you fellers, I reckon y'all know what I'm talkin' about," he rumbled. He paused, then looked meaningfully at them both again, asking hesitantly, "Unnnhh.... Y'all...DO generally kinda prefer the, uhhh...company of other men...right?"

Spazz and Addison exchanged knowing grins, and slipped their arms about each other as Addison giggled and nodded to the ghost. "We're queer as three-dollar bills, sir!" Then, realizing abruptly that the Colonel probably was familiar with $3 bills, given the time frame he hailed from, he added hastily, "No offense."

Spazz nodded, too. "Verified rump rangers, sir," he beamed toothily. "An' might ah add, it's mighty good ta know that we had us some representatives of our kind on the Confederate side in the war."

The bear gave a small grin back, though he looked mildly confused at some of the terminology tossed around by the pair. "Thank you, Spazz, you're very kind." Then he sighed heavily and said to Addison, "And Addison---my humble apologies for mistaking you for Beau. You have to understand, it's been a very, very long time...and the two of you do look frighteningly similar to me."

Addison quickly shook his head and held up his hand. "Oh, please don't feel bad, Colonel. I'm actually quite flattered. And this Beau fellow is darned lucky, because I think you're very handsome!" he smiled earnestly.

This seemed to brighten the Colonel's countenance a bit, and he stood up, smiling warmly at the pair. "Well, thankya. I reckon yer quite the attractive pair, yourselves," he rumbled. Lifting a brow hopefully, he murmured to them, "Would y'all care ta see what m' Beau looked like?" Both wolf and raccoon nodded vigorously.

The Colonel reached into one of his back pockets and pulled out a very simplistic-looking, extremely weather-beaten wallet that glowed with the same translucence that the bear did. Opening it, he removed a picture that was very wrinkled around all the edges and yellowed with time. It had obviously been handled often, and despite it's age, something about the Colonel's ghostly energy must have preserved it somehow, because the face in the picture was still fairly clear to the eye.

Addison peered eagerly, then gasped. Sure enough, the likeness was uncanny. The image of the raccoon in the picture was almost exactly like him, with the obvious exceptions of the 'coon's military uniform and a small goatee and moustache on his face. "Whoa..." he goggled. "Damn, Nathan, no wonder you thought I was him."

Spazz peered over Addison's shoulder and whistled low. "Spittin' image of ya, hon, 'cept fer that lil' bit o' face fuzz," he grinned.

The bear nodded, smiling a bit. "Indeedy it is. The resemblance is remarkable," he murmured, looking at the picture with longing in his eyes. "I had enlisted in the army not too long after my wife passed away, because after her death, I hadn't felt like I'd had anything left to lose. Beau and I met by happenstance in Virginia just before the war started, and after it had begun, I found out that he was to be stationed here in Georgia with a separate brigade. We got to know each other better, became very close friends, and... and then..." He paused, his face clouded with the agony of memory and feelings not easily described. "Something just...changed, between us, and our bond deepened...and we knew that it wasn't just friendship, anymore. Naturally enough, I made every excuse to sneak away to be with him that I could...." Wincing a bit, the bear closed his eyes and shuddered. "He was the reason why I built the estate here, in fact. I was truly hoping that once the war was over, I could...perhaps convince him stay on here as a hired hand, of sorts, so we could remain close. The last I heard of him, he'd been wounded on the battlefield, and was apparently delirious in his camp's medical tent, calling for me...but I was in Chattanooga at the time, trying to help Lee and the others hold down the fort while Sherman's boys headed for Atlanta."

The bear paused again, then took a bandanna from his back pocket and laid his forehead against it, and though he tried not to, Addison thought that he could hear the bear stifle a sniffle and a few tears from the corners of his aged eyes. Then he inhaled deeply, eyes tightly shut, and stuffed the bandanna back into the pocket from which it came, putting the photo back into the wallet and tucking it away into the other pocket. "I miss him so.... And I just can't rest until I know for sure what happened to him," he moaned to the pair, spreading his hands miserably apart in a helpless shrug.

Addison's eyes were arched upward in sheer pity, and his mouth hung open in amazement. "Jeez, that is so SAD!" he breathed. He glanced over at Spazz, who seemed equally somber-but also, for some weird reason, deep in thought. Looking back at the bear, the raccoon murmured, "We're deeply sorry, Colonel. I wish there was something we could do to help."

The bear smiled softly at Addison. "I thank ye," he said quietly. "But I'm thinking that perhaps this is just my fate for not loving Beau enough to be with him for life." He sighed wearily, shaking his head sadly. "Surely, though, you both can understand....we were both in the military! If we had declared our feelings for each other, surely we would have been discharged---and we were both far too proud of our southern heritage to let that happen..."

Spazz nodded firmly. "We understand, sir. The military's still kinda stanky when it comes to such thangs, nowadays."

The Colonel frowned, and shook his head a little. "Apparently, some things never change."

Addison's heart went out to the bear, and were it not for the fact that he knew he'd pass right through him, he wanted to give him a hug. Spazz, however, still looked deeply thoughtful, his shaggy brows knitted firmly together. The raccoon looked over at him and asked, "What're you noodling around in your gourd over there, Spazz?"

Spazz glanced at Addison, winking somberly. Then he looked at the Colonel and rumbled, "Sir---you say you don't think ya can rest till ya find out what happened ta Beau?"

The bear nodded firmly. "Alas, I'm sure he's long since passed away, like me...but if I could just know the circumstances... perhaps see if he has any descendants hereabouts. I'm wondering if he survived the war, and if so, if he married and had children."

Addison nodded in understanding. "What was his last name, sir?"

"Stanton," the Colonel said.

"'Stanton'..." Addison repeated. "Hmmm. That sounds traceable enough, wouldn't you say, Spazz?"

The wolf nodded. "Ah reckon it does. We could check it out at the local county records office or the library, and I wanna say that I know some folks 'round here with that last name. Ah could ask around," he offered.

"Hey, that'd be great," Addison chimed in. "Maybe we can even find out where he was buried."

The bear's head swiveled back and forth between the two, his hollow pupils shining with hope for the first time in a long time. "You boys'd do that for me?" he rumbled.

Spazz's big, fluffy tail beat the air behind him with several stiff, steady wags, and his cheerful grin shone brightly. "Shore we would, sir. It'd be an honor to help a fellow Rebel!" he winked.

The bear whooped for joy, throwing up his arms in elation. "Awwwww, boys, THANK ya! Y'all don't know how much it means to me, helping an ol' coot out like myself."

Addison grinned, happy to see the bear so pleased. Then, a thought occurred to him. "Say---Colonel, not to bring back unpleasant memories, but do you remember anything about the, ahh...circumstances of your passing?"

The bear shook his head, looking uncertain. "When I got close to dying, Addison, 'most everything became a blur. I remember getting mighty sick, because I was pining so hard fer Beau that I didn't want to eat... An' for a big boy like me, that's saying something," he chuckled, patting his belly a little. Then he looked thoughtful for a moment, staring into space. "Come to think of it, lying in my bed in my bedroom's the last thing I remember for a long time, before I woke up.... And then I noticed that folks weren't speaking to me anymore when I spoke to them, and acted like they couldn't see me. I think the final clue came when I fell through a wall when I tried to brace my hand up against it."

Spazz studied the bear's face carefully, his own brows furrowed up in such a look of concentration that Addison began to wonder if his friend was contracting a headache. "Colonel---didja say that ya remembered whar it was that Beau was stationed before he died?" he rumbled.

The bear lifted a brow and looked at the wolf quizzically. "It was very close to here, if my memory serves me right---just the next county over, in Jefferson. I want to say that the original site is somewhere near the Embry farm, though that probably wouldn't help you much. I doubt that the Embrys are still around."

Spazz's grin, however, began to edge upward in excitement, and he rumbled back, "As a matter o' fact, they is. Prolly a couple a' generations down the road, mindja, but the fambly name ain't changed a lick. In fact, if ah 'member correctly, they's a cemetery just across the way from their main pasture, an ah'll bet y'all a big ol' mess o' grits n' Waffle House 'Scattered, Smothered, n' Covered' that Beau's prolly buried somewhere in thar!"

Addison's own grin was growing wider, too, noting that the wolf was obviously onto something. "You really think his body could be there, Spazz?"

Spazz grinned. "Anythin's possible, darlin'," he rumbled, winking to his friend. Then he turned back to the bear and asked, "Colonel Nate-you wouldn't happen ta have anythin' about the house here that once belonged ta Beau that's still purty much intact, wouldja?"

The Colonel looked more puzzled than ever, but he nodded in the affirmative. "I managed to keep one of his military dress uniforms upstairs in my old bedroom closet, hidden behind some of my own clothes. It was the only memento of him I had, besides his picture in my wallet."

The hickwolf's eyes lit up like he'd just been told he'd won the lottery, after hearing that. "Serious? Is it still there, sir?"

The Colonel nodded. "It's in pretty awful shape, but somehow, it hasn't disintegrated, yet. Why?"

Spazz gave Addison's shoulder a nudge. "Addy---sugar, you reckon you could dig it outta there if I gave ya a boost to the second story landin'?"

Addison looked more puzzled than ever, but nodded, shrugging. "I guess so, if the Colonel goes with me to show me where it is. Why?"

The wolf kept grinning. "Well...it might not be nothin' but a wild hair up m' ass, but ah wanna try it, anyways. Let's git that sucker outta mothballs."

Addison was able to get the uniform with little trouble, with the Colonel's guidance, and a few minutes later, the puzzled spectre and raccoon stood watching Spazz hold the outfit up in his arms as he began to sniff every inch of it all over with his nose. It was badly tattered, all right, with plenty of moth holes, rips, and buttons rusted with age---but it was still more or less in one dilapidated piece. The bear looked from the outfit, to the wolf, then over to Addison in puzzlement, but after a couple seconds of watching his friend sniff, the raccoon's eyebrows and bandit mask shot towards the ceiling in sudden amazement as understanding finally dawned on him. "Spazz!" he gasped. "Don't even tell me that you're trying to pick up a scent on that thing!"

The wolf nodded once, firmly, his nose whiffling and sniffing all over the garb as he rumbled to him, "That's 'zactly what ah'm a' tryin' ta do, sugarpop."

The Colonel stifled a chuckle in spite of himself, but Addison was even more animated. He threw his arms up into the air, protesting. "Spazzy, that's NUTS. The thing's over a century old, fer chrissakes!"

Spazz smirked at the raccoon and waggled a finger playfully at him, chiding. "Now, now, darlin'. Never underestimate the power of a wolfer's pecker or nose," he winked.

It took the wolf less than five minutes worth of sniffing before his big grin turned towards the Colonel, looking to him for verification as he laid a pointing index finger onto the garment and rumbled, "Ah can smell his sweat, sir....and somethin' like gunpowder, too, an'..." He took another snorting sniff or two, then arched a brow at the bear, "....somethin' kinda like...vanilla n' some kinda spices?"

Colonel Nathan's jaw slacked in amazement, then broke into a smile shivering with excitement. "Y-...YES! That's exactly the scent of the cologne he used to wear!"

Spazz's ears zinged up at that. "That's all ah needed to know, hon," he grinned. He tugged at Addison's hand and rumbled, "C'mon, darlin', let's us git back to mah place n' ask Bubba if we can borry his truck."

Addison looked at the wolf like he was crazy, but shrugged and nodded, turning back to look at the Colonel. "Nathan? You coming with?"

The bear shook his head sadly. "I'd like to, boys, but unfortunately, I can't leave the house and grounds. When I try, it's like I hit an invisible brick wall of some kind."

Spazz rubbed his chin whiskers. "Gotta stay on yer hauntin' grounds, hunh?" he rumbled. Then he nodded. "Alrighty, then--you bear with us, pun intended, n' we'll be back as fast as we can."

The pair hurried on to Spazz's house, where Bubba was already waiting. The cat had plunked himself in front of the TV and had been watching a horror movie in his underwear, making it that much more difficult for 'coon and wolf to tear themselves back to the task at hand. The cat was also disappointed when they said they had an errand to run, but had willingly let them use his truck on the condition that they bought beer on the way back. They made the requested stop for brew at a convenience store, and then were rapidly making their way for the Embry farm and Jefferson county.

Addison gave Spazz a sideways glance and said, "I'm still not sure I get it... Are you hoping to follow that scent you got off the uniform to Beau's grave? What are we gonna do if we find it?" Then a slightly shocked look passed over his features, followed up quickly by a shivering look of revulsion. "Ahhh....we're not gonna....dig it up, are we?"

Spazz's face squinched up a bit in concentration, and he rumbled, "Ah ain't got quite that far in m' plan makin', hon, but if we find it, that may be our only choice. We cain't get the Colonel over thar 'cause he's bound to his house, so the only way we might be able ta fix it is ta get Beau's body over ta him!"

Addison shuddered harder, then let out a little moan as he clutched his stomach, growing mildly nauseous at the very idea. "Ugh. Spazzer, no offense, but not only does that sound major-league gross, but wouldn't it be illegal to do that?"

Spazz flapped a hand at him. "First of all...if we do end up diggin' it up, ah'll do it," he winked at the raccoon, making Addison breathe a heavy sigh of relief. "Second-offhand, darlin', diggin' up dead folks ain't my idea o' fun, niether, but ah'd say this qualifies as an emergency, wouldn't you?" His face was grim above the steering wheel as the truck churned down the road, and he finished by adding, "'sides, hon, it ain't like we're keepin' the dang thing. Soon's we reunite 'em and hopefully help 'em get their eternal rest, I'll put Beau's body six feet under again."

Addison still looked a little doubtful, but he wanted to help the Colonel as badly as Spazz did. He stared out the window on the passenger's side of the truck as it barreled down the road, trying to calm his nervously-beating heart...but finally, he couldn't resist edging out one more nagging question. "Hey, Spazz...? What if-... what if we get there and can't find anything?"

Spazz looked determined as he gripped the steering wheel tight and urged the truck on a little faster. "If that's the case, we'll haveta hope that doin' some diggin' around in town might turn up some info about Beau an' his fambly. Mebbe that'll be enough to put the Colonel's spirit at ease."

Addison nodded. "I sure hope so."

The duo reached the county line in a little under twenty minutes, and immediately decided to split up. Spazz decided to take the area designated as the original military campsite, hoping his nose could lead him closer to the missing raccoon's spirit. Addison agreed to scour the graveyard to see if he could find any trace of Beauregard's grave. He tried to make his offer out to not sound like a big deal, but inwardly, he was shivering with unease. Creeping around a cemetery during the witching hour on a full-moon Halloween night was not exactly his idea of a good time, but he was determined not to let his fear get the better of him.

Taking a deep breath, the raccoon climbed over the relatively short fence around the graveyard, then dropped to the ground, his eyes staring wide all around him for the first signs of movement from anything other than himself. Forcing himself to concentrate on the tombstones, he read name after name, stepping carefully over the dirt road winding between the rows. Luckily, the burial ground was not gigantic, and there were perhaps a little over one hundred graves. The raccoon hoped to be done searching by the time Spazz got back.

Ultimately, though, the hickwolf was the one who ended up hitting paydirt. Keeping his shoulders hunched over and his head low, the big lupine loped all over the area where he thought the campsite might have been, and the whole time, the scent that had been so firmly implanted in his mind seemed to dance from place to place, but never more than a taunting shadow of itself. Each time, the odor seemed to faint that the wolf almost had to wonder if his own nose was playing tricks on him. The wolf retraced his steps for a good twenty-five minutes, and then finally hung his head low and let out a heavy sigh. It didn't look like anything was going to pan out, so very reluctantly, he decided to make his way back to the graveyard to see if Addison had found anything.

His boots heavy with the feel of defeat, the wolf had taken a few steps towards the burial site when the scent reared up so strongly between his feet that he literally took a hopping half-step back, gawking at the ground in amazement. The scent flooded his nostrils, and he dropped to his knees and used his big hands to start digging into the damp ground. Sweat dribbling from his brow, the wolf tore out chunks of dirt, digging with the lunacy of a criminal attempting to burrow his way out of prison. Slowly, he also felt the hackles on the back of his neck raise, as though a sudden chill were sliding it's way up his spine. It was similar to the feeling he'd initially felt after seeing the Colonel for the first time, and it only made him believe he was even closer to unearthing something, literally. His teeth tightly gritted, he tore out another chunk of dirt, and then felt something flick sharply across one of his claws. Stopping, he squinted his eyes and used his nightvision, searching intently...and sure enough, he found a little lump of what felt like metal, caked with dirt and rusted with the passage of time. His heart thumping as though it were going to burst through his chest, the wolf sniffed it. Sure enough, it reeked of vanilla.

Wide-eyed, Spazz looked down at the ground in front of him and whispered with dry lips, "Beauregard....?"

A hazy, vaguely-outlined form shimmered into view literally around his feet, and the wolf jumped out of the hole he'd dug, feeling the chill of the spirit's presence wrap around them for a moment. The wolf shuddered heartily, but peered closer still. As the ghost's form manifested itself, he was able to make out the looks of the body. It was a Confederate soldier, all right, and it appeared to be about Addison's size. The big, bushy, ring-tailed ghostly tail lay quivering atop the figure as it lay face-down on the ground, and one hand lay outstretched towards the county line, the other tucked underneath it's face. Kneeling down on one knee, he licked his chops nervously, but tried to plant a reassuring smile on his face as he rested his arms on his upraised knee.

"Beau... can ya hear me?" he murmured softly. "Are ya all right?"

The raccoon's head jerked up at that, looking at Spazz with a startled expression. His eyes looked at him through the atypical robber's mask, and he frantically wiped at them with gloved hands, his surprise followed up by embarrassment.

"Oh!" he gasped. "Forgive me, sir, I didn't see you standing there. Goodness, I... I must've tripped and hit my head on something... Are you our new Lieutenant?" Immediately, the raccoon got to his feet with a grunt and gave the wolf a snappy salute, his eyes staring resolutely forward. "I apologize for my clumsiness, sir. It won't happen again."

Spazz stared at the apparition, half-smirking, but also a little bit saddened. Apparently, Beau's spirit had not been roving like the Colonel's, and unlike the bear, the raccoon did not yet realize that he was dead. The wolf decided to try to break it to him gently.

"At ease, darlin'!" he rumbled. "No offense, hon, but do ah look like a military officer ta you?"

Beauregard glanced up at him, relaxing his arm as he said hesitantly, "Well...you're not dressed as one, no---but we have some officers that dress in civilian clothing occasionally on spy missions..." At that moment, the raccoon began to look around more fully, and he immediately noticed that something was wrong. "Hey! Where is everyone?" he murmured, glancing about frantically. "Damn, the whole CAMP is gone...! Where the hell....?"

The raccoon whipped his hat off his head and scratched his head, looking understandably confused. "I realize that I might've passed out for a little while, and I've had some blood loss thanks to that damn bullet wound I've been nursing...but I couldn't have been out for THAT lo--..."

"Listen, Beau---" the wolf rumbled, "Mah name's Spazz. Ah been sent by Colonel Nathan Bramblett to come getcha. He wants to see ya bad, 'cause he's missed ya a lot."

"Nathan...?" the raccoon breathed, his eyes lighting up in joy at the mention of the name. "Oh, thank GOD he's still alive! Is he all right? He wasn't injured in Chattanooga, was he?"

Spazz shook his head. "No, sugar, he wudn't...but I think there's a few thangs ah need ta explain to ya on the way back. You wanna foller me, please? I'll fill ya in as we go."

Looking mystified but agreeable enough, the ghost nodded.

A little while later, the odd pair picked their way towards the cemetery gates, where Addison was waiting. He turned to watch Spazz coming up the walk, and his eyes widened almost comically as he saw Beauregard's ghostly form following from behind.

"You FOUND him..." Addison gasped. "Way to go, Spazz! The Colonel's gonna be jazzed."

Beauregard grinned a bit sheepishly at Addison and waved, then stared brazenly at the live raccoon as he got nearer, looking astonished. The two faced off and compared bodies, and the likenesses were startling, indeed. Beauregard broke the silence first with a nervous chuckle.

"Well! You must be Addison, my virtual twin," he smiled. "Very nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Addison grinned. "Wow, forgive my stare, but you really DO look just like me, and vice versa. Put a fake 'stache and goatee on me, and we'd be indistinguishable." Then he glanced at Spazz and noticed the wolf's unusually grim expression, and it seemed to cut off the raccoon's cheerful tomfoolery at the source. Realizing that something was up, he murmured to Spazz, "Uh, oh.... What's wrong?" Then he looked back at Beauregard, who also looked serious. Addison cleared his throat a little, feeling awkward.

"Okay.... Sooooo.... how much of all this has Spazz explained to you, Beau?" he asked quietly.

The ghost raccoon sighed, shrugging a bit and giving a weary but good-natured grin. "Well...pretty much everything, although I might have missed some highlights because I'm still reeling from the fact that I'm dead," he chuckled. Then he lowered his voice and looked at Addison nervously. "Is it... is it really after the year 2000, now?"

Addison nodded slowly. "Yes, it is. And I'm sorry for your passing, and for all this getting thrown at you at once...but Spazz and I think that the reason why you and the Colonel can't rest is because you never got to tell each other that you loved one another so much, one last time."

Beauregard nodded slowly, looking back and forth at each of them. "So, you both know about us," he murmured.

Spazz nodded, grinning a tiny bit. "Yeah, but don't let it put ya off none, dumplin'. We like other fellers, too."

Beauregard blinked in surprise at that, staring at both of them in shock. "Really? Spazz, you didn't tell me that after we met," Then he lost his surprised look and replaced it almost immediately with one of lecherous playfulness. "My, you two fellas had better be grateful that I can't touch you, then, because if I could, you'd BOTH be in trouble!" he laughed.

Addison blinked, and Spazz laughed heartily. "Looks like he IS yer spittin' image, hon, in more ways n' one."

Addison smirked a bit and nodded, but then got serious again. "Listen, it's really getting late---we'd better get you back to the Colonel, Beau." Then, a thought hit him. "Oh, shit. Beau, do you know if you can even leave this area?"

Beauregard shrugged. "I have no idea. Spazz kind of just resurrected my spirit a few minutes ago, so this is the first I've been 'up and about', so to speak, since my death."

Spazz looked thoughtfully at the ghost, then over at Addison. "Say, darlin', didja find anythin' in the cemetery?"

Addison looked mildly uncomfortable, staring at Beau with a bit of nervousness. "Well...actually, I did---but to be honest, it may not be too easy for you to hear, Beauregard."

Beauregard shrugged his hands. "Addison, what could be worse than finding out that one has died and become a ghost?"

Addison flinched a bit, and said hesitantly, "Discovering your own grave, and that of your lover."

Beauregard blinked, then looked over Addison's shoulder to the tombstones beyond.

"Hmmm... They've got the Colonel's and my body in there, eh?" he murmured, rubbing his chin a bit. "Are we at least adjacent to each other, I'd hope?"

Addison contemplated lying, but a look at Beauregard's hopeful face kept him honest. He shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not, Beau. I'm sorry... You're actually a couple rows apart. The Colonel was buried next to his.... Ahhh...you know, his..." He found himself fidgeting on his feet, unable to complete the sentence. Spazz was also cringing, knowing what Addison had been about to say.

Beau looked at them both, then calmly looked over at Addison and finished the sentence for him. "'Wife.' Was that the word you were dancing around?" he murmured.

Blushing horribly, Addison shuffled his feet and nodded.

Beauregard shrugged a bit, and gave Addison a kind smile. "No need to be ashamed. Nathan was a fairly prominent military figure in these parts, so it stands to reason that they would have wanted to give him what they probably thought was the most dignified burial possible---and it's hard to do that if the officer in question died without ever having gotten married." He shook his head a bit and chuckled softly, looking down at the ground for a moment. "It's funny, really. I'd known about his wife and her passing from the very start, and I don't think it was ever Nathan's or my intention to have taken her place. I know he loved her dearly, in his own way, and I respected that..." Then he slowly looked up at the raccoon and wolf, and despite his eerie glow, his eyes seemed to shine briefly with a proud light as he said to them firmly, "...but I love him, too, and I know that he felt the same about me. And now, I just want to hold him one more time and tell him that I still love him. I never stopped."

"We don't doubt that, hon," Spazz rumbled. "We're just wonderin' how we're gonna get you two sweeties back together so you can finally get yer rest."

Addison nodded in agreement, looking over his shoulder at the cemetery. "Hmm. I can't believe I'm even suggesting this, but we could always try digging Beau up and seeing if we can bury him next to the Colonel..."

Beauregard considered that, but finally shook his head, as did Spazz. "Somehow, that doesn't seem right," the soldier said to the raccoon. "I still consider graveyards to be somewhat sacred, and even if Nathan himself didn't object, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable with an arrangement like that."

Spazz added, "Besides, hon, that'd take too long---and the sun'd be up way before we could finish."

Addison frowned a bit and scratched his own chin, glancing thoughtfully over at the other two figures. "Say, Spazz, how did you find Beau, in the first place? Did you find his body?"

Spazz shook his head and held up the button. Beauregard smirked ruefully as he looked at it, murmuring to them both, "Imagine! Over one hundred years lying in some grave that I wasn't even aware of, and that button is all that's left of me!"

Addison murmured, "Well, probably not ALL...but it was enough to tie your spirit to, at any rate." Then a thought occurred to him. "Say, the Colonel thinks that he died in his bedroom...do you two suppose that in this case, it's not so much where the bodies are buried, but WHERE they died that's the common link?"

"Sounds dang likely," Spazz rumbled, glancing over towards the truck. "...but ah reckon they's only one way to find out." Holding up the rusted button in his finger claws, he winked over to Beauregard. "You up fer takin' a lil' trip ta meet up with yer honey bear, darlin'?"

The ghostly raccoon grinned widely. "I've only been waiting for over a hundred years for it!"

The trio lucked out; Beau's ride back to Nathan's manor was uneventful, though he was understandably anxious to see his beloved bear again. Addison and Spazz were not terribly surprised to see the glowing form of the bear out on the front porch of the place, awaiting their return. Beauregard levitated out of the back of the truck and hit the ground float-running before Spazz even brought it to a full stop, running at the ghostly ursine with tears of joy steaming down his face and arms outspread. Nathan looked equally overjoyed, hunched partially over with his arms held wide as well, and a grin shining as warm as the sun stretched across his face.

Addison and Spazz stepped out of the truck and followed slowly, both smiling as they witnessed the reunion.

"Awwwwww!" Addison grinned, a little tear welling up in the corner of one eye. He brushed it away with a finger as he grinned over at his taller wolf buddy. "Ain't that just the sweetest thi---"

Spazz's face, however, went from glee to shock, his eyes widening as he grimaced slightly. "What th' fuck...?" he rumbled.

Addison blinked at him, confused. The wolf grunted and nodded his head forward at the undead pair, who also looked dismayed. Their reunion had been disrupted by the fact that they were apparently unable to hug. Beau had run directly through the bear's image after he'd dashed headlong up the steps, and though Nathan shivered a little as though he'd been aware of his lover passing through him, neither made actual contact. The ghost raccoon stopped in his tracks, slowly swiveling around to face his partner with a look of pure disbelief on his face, and the Colonel looked just as upset. They stared at each other for several seconds, then feebly made a few swipes at each other's outstretched hands.

Addison's heart sank in his chest. "Ohhh, NO!" he groaned. "What the hell's going on?"

Spazz looked downright disgruntled, stepping up towards the two ghosts and looking at both of them expectantly. "No offense, fellers, but is this supposed ta be some kinda twisted-ass joke?"

Beau's mouth hung open, but Nathan answered for both of them. "Do you see either of us laughing?" he glowered at the wolf, then looking back at Beau. "Beau, what... why is this? Why can't I touch you?" The poor ursine looked heartbroken, and Beauregard looked equally distraught.

"I don't know!" he cried, the ghastly tears of joy on his face threatening to become tears of anguish. "Dammit, it's not FAIR! I'm finally here with you, and I can't even FEEL you?" He whirled his gaze to the wolf and living raccoon, his eyes wide with panic and hope. "My body... Maybe it's got something to do with my body still being back at the graveyard. How fast d'you both think we can get back there and dig it up?" he blurted, looking the wolf and other raccoon with needy desperation in his eyes.

Addison shook his head woefully. "We've been over that already, remember?" he frowned. You're here, so the problem isn't physically-related, I don't think...it's gotta be something else..." His bandit mask furrowing in concentration, he rubbed his chin and stared at the disconsolate apparitions, his mind reeling as he tried to think of a course of action. Spazz, however, seemed defeated. He sat on the top step of the porch and sagged his face forward into his hands, rubbing his eyes miserably. Beau and the Colonel were heartbreaking to behold as Addison stared at them, their need to touch each other fairly oozing from every glowing pore on their spirit-bodies. The living raccoon thought so hard that for a moment or two, he was afraid he was going to break into a migraine headache, but slowly, a sliver of an idea began to form itself in his mind.

Pacing back and forth a little, his stare never leaving the twosome, he murmured to them, "Colonel, correct me if I'm wrong---but it IS possible for ghosts to touch material objects sometimes, isn't it?"

The bear stared blankly back at Addison for a moment, but finally nodded. "Well...yes, I think so... I remember sometimes when I passed under the chandelier that used to be in the entry hall that it'd shimmy a little bit, like there was a breeze blowing through... and a couple times I was able to open up my picture album, 'cause there was someone in there I desperately wanted to look at...." he murmured, looking sadly back over at Beauregard. His ghostly lover looked forlornly back at him, a tearfully sad little grin on his face.

Addison latched onto that statement heavily. "Okay! So, we know it IS possible for you two to touch stuff, theoretically....so now, the question is 'how'?"

Beau nudged his cap backward on his pate and scratched his head, his other hand planted on his translucent hip. "It just doesn't make sense! We're both ghosts...we should be able to interact with each other somehow, for pity's sake."

Spazz glanced sideways and up at Addison curiously, one shaggy brow perked, wondering where his friend was going with all of this. The raccoon gave him a solemn wink, then murmured to the shimmering pair, "Don't give up yet, Beau. Let's keep going on this... Hmmm..." He paused a moment, then pointed at the Colonel. "Nathan, you said that you thought you'd never rest until you either found out what happened to Beau, or got to see him again somehow and tell him how much you loved him, right?"

The bear nodded solemnly. "It's true. And I do---I always have," he rumbled, looking over at Beau wistfully.

Beauregard smiled back and made a kissing motion at him. "Goes double for me, you big teddy bear," he said.

Addison smiled, then continued. "All right... so the Colonel got his wish, so maybe that means that there's something YOU want that you haven't told us about, Beau. Can you think of what that might be?" he asked, pointing at his ghostly twin.

The spook raccoon, looked down for a moment, thinking. Finally, he glanced back up at the three and shook his head slowly, murmuring hollowly, "Actually, I can't think of a thing, Addison. I thought that just seeing his handsome self again would do the trick, but I'm not sure what else we cou--..." Then he stopped short, his eyes widening. He looked sheepish, a ghostly image of a blush of embarrassment coming into his features, and a self-conscious grin sliding across his see-through muzzle as he giggled at something, covering his mouth for a moment with both gloved hands. "Oh...! Oh, my... Now that I think about it, I....uhhh...guess there IS one... not-so-little thing that I'd always wanted to do..."

He gave Nathan a coy look, smirking from ear to ear, but the bear looked back at him dumbly. Addison looked a bit puzzled, too, looking at Beau.

"Well, heck, pal, don't keep us in suspense," he live raccoon chuckled. "What is it?"

"Well... I'd always really, REALLY wanted us to... you know..." he began, shuffling a booted foot shyly along the porch floorboards. Then he giggled again, shaking his head rampantly. "Cripes, I can't say it out loud, but HE knows what it is," he smirked, pointing at the bear.

Colonel Nathan furrowed down one brow for a moment, looking puzzled...but then his eyes went wide again and he understood what his ghost partner was alluding to. "Oh. OHHH! Ahhh... yes, that's true-we.... Never quite had the opportunity to do...that," he winked, snickering deeply over at the wolf and raccoon.

Spazz looked back and forth between the two, suddenly catching on, as well. He leered playfully at them, then nudged Addison with a booted foot. "'Fuck'," he rumbled to his friend, the big wolf, as usual, never adverse to using dirty words. "He means they ain't never gotten ta fuck each other, dumplin'," he chuckled.

Addison gaped at Spazz, then at the ghosts. Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave them a flat look of disbelief as he demanded of them, "You're kidding me. You ARE both kidding me, aren't you?" He stared at them some more, watching them exchange shy glances and grins. "Holy shit, you're NOT kidding," he breathed, looking shocked.

Nathan looked over at Addison, grinning. "Addison, you have to keep in mind...the era Beau and I were from had different standards for what was acceptable social interaction," he winked. "Beau and I spent a lot of time together cuddling and kissing, and sometimes out in the field, we'd be lucky enough to have some brief moments together fondling each other's.... ahem..." He paused, coughing into his hand a bit in self-consciousness, then continued, "....ahhh....you know, genital area... but even though we'd both considered trying that kind of intercourse, we never got the opportunity. There was never enough time."

Addison rolled his masked eyes heavily, then planted his hands on his hips. "Well, shit, there's your problem. You two can't rest because you've never gotten to express your love ultimately to each other like that. You boys need yourselves a good, hard, gasp-inducing, sweaty-browed, curse-word-muttering, filthy-talk-filled, cum-spewing fuck!"

He looked at the ghosts proudly, savoring the mildly shocked, yet intrigued looks on their faces as Spazz smirked at them, as well. He stood and clapped Addison on the shoulder with a beefy hand, winking at him. "Couldn't'a put it better m'self, darlin'," he drawled.

"Ahhh...have we forgotten something important, here?" Beau said, stepping closer to the Colonel and jabbing through the bear's belly with a finger.

Addison shook his head firmly. "I haven't forgotten-and I hate to tell you this, but I think that the basis for THAT problem is all in your transparent heads," he said. The two spectres looked at Addison indignantly, but Addy didn't back down. "No offense, guys, but you said it, yourselves. That sort of thing was risky, back then, especially for military men. And actually doing it, well... that's pretty 'out there' for you both. It's understandable why you two might be a little gun-shy about it, so to speak."

The bear looked longingly at Beauregard, then back over to Addison, his voice low, but firm. "So...how do we get over that uneasiness?"

Addison shrugged. "Simple. You both just have to make up your minds that you want it more than anything. Think of it as that expression of love and desire that you never got to show each other, and it's been on hold for over 100 years, now... but this time, there's no one to stop either of you!" he beamed. "Doesn't that make you both just wanna grab each other, tear off each other's clothes, and just... just rut with each other?" he grinned recklessly.

Beauregard shuddered, looking over at his beloved bear, and he stepped up to him and put his hands out, stretching his fingers apart. Nathan did the same, and this time, there seemed to be some initial contact made; their digits seemed to glow more brightly in the places that they touched, and an odd sound like static resonated softly from where their fingertips met...but then they began to slip through each other again.

Addison shook his head. "You're both still feeling a little unsure of yourselves...but then, it looks like you actually touched, for a second, there. Try to remember what you were feeling just now, and magnify it. Really get yourselves worked up over it."

The ghostly pair nodded to him, then kept trying...with much the same results. "I can... I can....feel you..." Beau breathed to the bear, who nodded.

"I can feel you, too!" Nathan grinned. "It's...kind of a strain on m' mind, but I can do it if I concentrate hard enough."

Spazz nodded in encouragement, and Addison said, "Good! Keep it up, both of you," Then he looked up at Spazz, murmuring, "Spazz? You got any suggestions for 'em?"

The wolf grinned from ear to ear in an expression that was devilment personified, and he laid a hand smack on Addison's ass firmly enough to make the raccoon wobble a bit.

"You bet yer cute, sweet, tight lil' cum-drinkin' ass I do, sugarpop," he drawled to his friend. "Ah say....let's let 'em learn from the masters."

Nathan's brows furrowed. "'Masters'?"

Beau's brow furrowed, too, but in a different, more lustful kind of way. "'Cum-drinking'...ass?" he murmured, smirking nervously. Still, he slid a gloved hand down his front to adjust his crotch a bit, as his ghostly cock began to nudge slightly around in his groin in interest. "Oooh, that....that sounds so delightfully... filthy," he grinned.

Addison smiled his own big version of that shit-eating grin back up at Spazz, and clamped a hand warmly onto the wolf's crotch, spreading his fingers to give the ghosts an idea of how much the wolf had going on, down there. Spazz grunted and closed his eyes a bit, rocking his hips gently forward a few times into Addison's grip as the raccoon looked over at them and smiled, saying in a husky voice, "Like that, eh? Well, keep watching. It's gonna get a whole lot filthier!"

Spazz's leering, lustful grin was so wide that it almost seemed capable of splitting his head apart at the jawline. He responded to Addison's grope by lowering his head and latching his muzzle onto the side of Addison's neck without bearing down, as his long tongue lashed through his teeth and slathered down his friend's neckfur with drool. Addison sighed happily and gave a loopy grin to the ghosts as he rubbed the almost always horny wolf's covered cock steadily towards full erection, and when the wolf shoved his hand down the back of the raccoon's pants and slid a finger under his tail to finger his pucker, the ringtail gasped audibly and let his eyes slide shut, shivering wantonly against that digit as his tail hitched high. He opened his eyes halfway to look up at the wolf with an open-mouthed, needful expression on his face, and the wolf removed his maw from the raccoon's neck and grinned at the two spirits, jerking his shaggy head towards the entrance of the house.

"Let's us take this here show inside, hey, gents?" he rumbled, as he leaned towards Addison and swept him up into his arms and propped him lightly over his shoulder, making the raccoon giggle. He patted Addison's bottom firmly with one hand and carried him inside, and the ghosts, after exchanging quick grins of mischief, followed them inside.

Spazz kicked the door shut once they were all in, then set Addison back onto his feet again, and the raccoon wasted no time wriggling out of his jacket, scarf, and sweater. He took off his pilot goggles as well, then knelt onto his knees in front of the wolf as he caressed his friend's groin. Spazz grinned down at him with mixed affection and lust, reaching his fingers down to flick his finger claws lightly against the raccoon's dark, stiff nipples. Addison gasped again, then lifted his head high and sucked air tightly through clenched teeth in his arousal, clasping the wolf's shins firmly as he moaned, "Dammit, Spazzy, you know that's one of my hot spots."

Spazz chuckled. "Yeah, darlin', ONE of 'em," he winked. "Reckon all the cool air in here's makin' them thangs inta bullets."

Addison grinned, licking his lips as he went for Spazz's belt buckle and zipper. "Looks like my nips aren't the only things that are erect, down here," he smirked. The sharp noise of the wolf's pants unzipping seemed to echo softly through the place as the ringtail glanced over at the ghosts, his grin pure sleaze. "Know what I just love about wolf cocks, you two? Their staying power!" he smirked, as he tugged down the hickwolf's underwear and hauled out his cock. "The goddamn things can get hard, ooze pre-cum literally for hours, and then fuck the bejeezus out of you and spurt you full of cum, but they still stay hard in you even after their knots get shoved up your hole and tie with you tight," he beamed. Carefully sliding a hand down the length of Spazz's shaft, the raccoon made his shaggy-furred friend groan softly as he pumped him, and sure enough, the thick droplets of pre that had collected at the wolf's piss slit were already trickling down towards his shaft as Addison's hand caught them. He spread that warm, pungent moisture down the wolf's cock with his palm and fingers, sniffing happily at the scent, then turned his head sideways so the ghosts could see the wolf's length. Spazz was pretty decently hung; he had almost thirteen inches worth of cock, with an extra inch or so of knot-and as he licked the length of that already slightly moistened shaft, he saw with satisfaction that Beauregard's and Nathan's pants were both starting to tent.

Spazz was enjoying his friend's attentions on his member thoroughly, his big, fluffy tail wagging slowly behind himself as he rubbed Addison's head encouragingly with his hand. "Awww, yeah, babydoll, give that sucker a good goin' over with that hot lil' tongue a' yours!" he moaned, sliding his eyes half open as he leered over at the ghostly pair. He, too, noticed the condition of their groins, and he chuckled softly. "Hey, you two-if'n y'all gotta let some thangs out fer some air, we shore as hell won't mind."

Beau heard the wolf, but was still goggling at Spazz's cock as Addison's tongue slathered it down with warm saliva. "Holy shit, that's a big cock...!" he breathed, fingering his own firm prick through his pants.

Nathan nodded in agreement, the burly bear coming over to his ghostly partner and lowering his head to try to lick at Beau's ears. He found that his tongue actually made contact on some of the passes, making Beau shiver in pleasure. Lowering his deep voice to a husky whisper, he murmured to the raccoon, "It sure is...why don't you see if you can give these handsome gentlemen a peek at mine?" he winked.

Beau looked up at the bear and nodded, smirking. "I'll sure try!" Concentrating hard, his brows furrowed, the shorter ghost slid his hand down the Colonel's belly, feeling the material of his uniform as his fingers made sporadic contact with his lover's form. Rubbing the bear's bulging groin, he found that he was able to find and take hold of the ursine's pants and unbutton the crotch, then slowly pull them down, causing the bear to breathe a sigh of relief as the raccoon released his cock. Beau carefully removed Nathan's cock from his pants, hefting it forward in his hand and encircling it with his fingers as he beamed happily up at the bear, then over at the living raccoon and wolf.

"Hey, I did it!" he beamed proudly, waggling his lover's prick at the wolf and raccoon. Spazz and Addison paused for a moment to look over at the bear's erection, and they grinned at Nathan's lidded expression of bliss as Beau's fingers milked his piece. Slowly pumping Spazz's dribbling shaft and glans with his hand, Addison looked at Nathan's crotch with amazement.

"Ho-lee shit!" Spazz breathed deeply, his ears perking sharply as he checked out the bear's erection. "Addy, check that sucker out."

Addison nodded between lappings, his own eyes wide. "It's not quite as long as yours, Spazzer, but damn, it's got a nice girth to it!"

Beau giggled over at Addison, nodding to him as he stroked. "Ain't it a beauty?" he grinned. "Made my jaw hurt something fierce the first few times I went down on him, but now I can deep-throat it, no problem."

Nathan shivered and growled low, thumping a heavy, gloved hand down onto his lover's head-or trying to, at least. It took him two or three tries, but finally, his fingers stopped slipping through the air inside the outline of Beau's head and laid warmly on the ghost raccoon's noggin, and the raccoon froze a bit, afraid to move for fear of dislodging them. Encircling his thick shaft with his thumb and forefinger, he rumbled to his partner, "Let's not tell 'em... let's SHOW 'em," he smirked.

Beau nodded only slightly, panting softly as the ghostly cock waggled in his own transparent face. "Feed me that thing, daddy-bear!" he begged.

Addison cheered the pair on inwardly, and as the bear carefully slid his cock into Beau's eager mouth, the ringtail noticed that the Colonel's cock was also uncircumcised. As Beau's eyes slid shut and Nathan's prick slid slowly into his maw, Addison saw the bulbous head of the bear's thick 10-incher slide all the way out of the shaft's skin, exposing itself like a leering eye. Fuck, no wonder it looked so thick, he thought to himself. The bear's cock seemed to bob up, then droop a little, alternatively, as Beau tried to keep his concentration up long enough to service his lover. Occasionally it slipped down past the inside of Beau's chin, but the raccoon would usually re-position his muzzle and soon have it back over his tongue, and as he began to bob his head up and down on it, the bear's foreskin began to nudge gently back and forth as the ghost raccoon's muzzle tip began to nudge lightly into the bear's heavy-looking balls. Nathan groaned louder as he lay his other hand on Beau's head, softly nudging his hips forward and back as he began to facefuck his beloved. Addison had never seen an uncircumcised cock get a blowjob while it was still visible, and watching the Colonel's prick slide in and out of Beau's see-through skull made the raccoon's own pants tent painfully even as his pucker hitched with lust.

"Fuckin' hot..." he groaned around Spazz's cock. The wolf agreed with a vigorous nod of his head, but then he noticed Addison's wince of pain as the raccoon's prick pulsed against the thick material of his pilot's pants. Chuckling, he took his dick away from the raccoon long enough to move his hand down to Addison's zipper. He undid the fly and let Addison's own cock spill forward, and it flopped out heavily as it flung a drop or two of thick pre onto the floor. "Mmmmnnn...! Thanks, Spazz, it was getting a little tight, in there," he grinned up at him.

The wolf winked, taking Addison's cock in hand and stroking it softly. "Welcome, hon. Say, that tight lil' cornhole o' yours hollerin' fer some pluggin' yet?"

Addison moaned softly and grabbed Spazz's fingers, pumping into them gently as he returned the favor that the wolf's cock had done to his own palms earlier. Squishing his length through the wolf's warm palm, he nodded up at him, giggling. "When is it not?" he asked.

The wolf glanced over at the bear, whose lips were pursed in the bliss of getting his first blowjob in well over a century, and from his mate, no less. Nathan slid one eye partially open at Spazz's mention of tail hole, and the wolf decided to give the bear's concentration further aid.

"Stand up fer a sec, babydoll!" he rumbled to Addison. "Let's see that purty lil' rear pie-hole!"

Nodding, Addison got to his feet and happily let Spazz help him disrobe, and soon, he stood fully nude in the cool expanse of the room, his fur quivering more from excitement than the cold. Gripping his erection firmly, the raccoon watched Beau continue to suck the Colonel as Spazztic fingered Addison's nipples warmly with his finger claws. As before, the raccoon hissed air through his teeth as his prick quivered in his grasp, and he turned to face the wolf as Spazz lowered his muzzle to suck his friend's firm nips. Replacing his hand around Addison's cock, the wolf began to prime it firmly again, making Addison throw his arm around the back of the wolf's shaggy head as his upper body wiggled against him. The wolf squatted down on one knee so he could slide his other arm around Addison's side and rump, and the qoon's tail flagged readily as his index finger tugged open his cleft gently and began to circle a pre-covered finger around the circumference of his friend's warm, dark-colored pucker. Keeping his eyes closed and his mouth working on the qoon's nipples, alternating from one to the other, the wolf fought the urge to snicker as he pressed his finger at the entrance to Addison's rear. With firm but careful insistence, that digit finally slid past the raccoon's natural resistance and warmly into the qoon's inner channel, making him throw his head back and let out an open-mouthed, guttural-sounding groan of arousal. His rump pushed back needfully on his lupine friend's digit, concealing it from view up to the knuckle, as his cock squirted several dollops of thick pre onto Spazz's leg.

The living raccoon and wolf couldn't see what was going on with the ghosts, but the more the Colonel watched the pair, the harder his cock became. Soon, it was standing rigidly out from his body, and Beau found that it was filling his transparent muzzle with warmth and even pre with each thrust as he sucked it hungrily. Beau was lost in bliss, but after several minutes of suckling, he noticed something. Opening his eyes with surprise, he slid off the Colonel's cock carefully, taking it in his hand and stroking it as he looked up at him and murmured in almost a whisper, "I... I could taste you, just then. I felt your pre running down my throat, and into my gut."

The bear gave him a sharp look at first, as though to say, 'Why'd ya stop?'-but when his lover's words hit home, his own eyes widened in surprise. "I felt every swipe of your tongue and your mouth all around me," he rumbled deeply.

Beauregard looked up at him with dazed but obvious joy, and then blinked. Patting his arms lightly, he looked at them as the Colonel's cock jutted at his face. "Holy shit... I think I can feel my clothes!"

Letting out a soft growl of lust, Nathan lowered his head to kiss his lover passionately, and Beau moaned as he met his kiss with equal fervor. Sliding his hand around Nathan's neck, he clung to him as Nathan finally cuddled him in his arms, rubbing his erection into and slightly through his front as he held him tight. They stayed locked together like that for several minutes, until finally, Nathan tugged his head back and winked at Beau, rumbling, "Well, if you can feel 'em...then you can take 'em off!"

Beau nodded eagerly, and began to do just that. His rampant speed caused a tearing sound to come from his shoulder as he ripped a few seams in his jacket, but he flung the ghostly garment aside, and it vanished as soon as it hit the floor. The rest of his clothes followed, and soon, he was completely nude except for his hat. His fingers trembling, he moved to help Nathan disrobe, the bear just as eager as he quickly lost his own clothes. His belly shivered lightly under his thick fur as it bobbled lightly over his waistline, partially overshadowing his cock, and he was about to set his boots aside when Beau clapped a hand onto his arm and shook his head wildly, looking mildly feral. "Put 'em back on!" he growled. "You know how much I get off on sucking you when I feel those things under my fingers."

Smirking widely, the bear nodded, hopping on one foot as he shoved his big footpaws back into his boots. Wearing nothing but the footgear and hat, he rubbed his thick cock warmly against Beauregard's own cock, which was about the same size as Addison's. The sound of the two cocks rubbing together slowly became audible from the pre sliding from both their piss slits, and soon, the soft, squishy sound mirrored the noise from Addison's muzzle as he pumped his head forward and back onto Spazz's pulsing cock. His drool-dampened nipples making him hungry for lupine dick again, he had dropped to his knees and was working his own prick with his hand as he sucked Spazz off with adeptness, his tail still hitched as his pucker shivered with every mouthful of wolf prick. Spazz's musk was driving the raccoon crazy, and his tail hole was secreting his own aroused scent into the air. As the smell wafted over to the ghost duo, they found that they could smell it, too, and both their cocks quivered rigidly at the scent. Thunderstruck, they again paused in their actions and blinked at each other, both realizing simultaneously that they were reacting to it. Then they peered over at the wolf and ringtail, and had Spazz's eyes not peeped open as he lolled his head back and forth from the pleasure of Addison's skilled mouth around his cock, he might not have noticed their look. Tapping the raccoon's shoulder lightly, he nodded over to them when Addison looked up at him, a puzzled and semi-annoyed look on his face as his drool streamed from one corner of his mouth in a strand down to the wolf's cock. "What?" he whispered.

Then he, too, looked back at the ghosts, one brow upraised. "Something wrong, you two?"

Beau's muzzle quirked in amusement and glee as he said to Addison in a low voice, "Nate and I can smell the musk coming from you both! And we seem to be able to touch each other fully, now, too."

Addison beamed, grinning widely as he held Spazz's cock. "Seriously? And hey, I see you were both able to get your clothes off." He gave the bear and other raccoon the once-over again, marveling at both the size of the Colonel's cock and the similarities of Beau's body and cock to his own. "Hot damn. You two are one helluva sexy pair."

"Goes double for YOU two!" Beau laughed, the spirit beside himself with joy. He grinned happily, then glanced sideways at his ursine lover's thick erection, then curiously over at Addison. "Hmm... I bet your ass is as tight as mine, too."

Addison chuckled, shaking his head. "Doubt that. Yours has done without cock for over a century, while mine got dick-rammed just the night before last," he winked. Beau half-grinned, but he was giving Addison an odd, steady look that the raccoon found puzzling at first...but after he stared back at him a few moments, he understood. His mirth changed to shock, and his eyes widened again....but then almost immediately, his face split into a tentative but highly sleazy grin, one brow perking upward. "Oh, my GOD. You're not thinking what I..."

Beau grinned just as naughtily, and nodded firmly to him, jerking his head sideways to the table in the adjoining room. It was old and had water and mildew spots all over it, but it was also made of thick, hard oak, and looked like it would be able to support Addison's weight well. "That's exactly what I'm thinking," he winked at his double, his own brows wrinkling together in devious intent.

Giggling giddily, Addison nodded, padding over towards the table. "Oh, shit, we've gotta try it." he said. Crawling carefully up onto the table, Addison looked around it uncertainly at first, wiggling his rump hard on it to test it. It wiggled a little, but basically held firm, and he nodded, looking relieved and reassured. "Oh, yeah, this thing can handle it, easy." Leering over at Beau, he crooked a finger at him in a lascivious manner, growling huskily at him, "Get over here, stud."

Spazz and Nathan watched the pair with interest, both big alpha males stroking their cocks idly as they watched the raccoons plot. The wolf shrugged at the bear, and then wandered into the room after them, the Colonel bringing up the rear. Beau smirked at them both and waited for them to join him and Addison, then he looked at the raccoon and winked. "You ready?"

Addison took a deep breath and nodded, looking excited, but also a little nervous. "Ready as I'll ever be. Go for it."

Beauregard nodded back, grinning reassuringly at his twin as he patted Addison's belly. Then he took a deep breath of his own, closed his eyes, and concentrated intently as he placed his hands together in front of him, fingers together as though in prayer. Finally, he opened them again, and carefully crawled up onto the table with Addison, moving directly into the raccoon's body. His form carefully merged with Addison's, causing the ringtail to shiver a little all over...then he was done, and his image could just barely be made out against the backdrop of Addison's form. Beau blinked up at the bear and wolf, then smirked as he murmured aloud, "Addy? How do you feel? I'm not too cold inside you, am I?"

Nathan's jowls dropped open and he looked uncomfortable, and his maw dropped open in a moment of distinct unease. Spazz grinned broadly, though, the wolf recognizing what the ring-tailed pair were up to, and he stepped up next to the bear and tried to slip an arm around Nathan's shoulders. Surprisingly enough, he found that he could touch the bear's ghostly form with ease. He patted Nathan's back warmly, then gave him a knowing wink to calm him. Glancing back and forth between the "merged" raccoons and the wolf, the bear's brows furrowed in concern, but he finally nodded reluctantly.

Addison looked around as though gauging his body's reaction to being joined with Beau's ghostly form, and finally, he giggled. "Actually, it feels really neat." he beamed. "Kinda...tingly and cool, all over. Hey, is that another raccoon cock I spy?" he murmured, sliding a hand down to take his own cock-and Beau's, by default-into his grip, stroking them both warmly together as he moaned softly. "Ooh... nice prick you got there, buddy!" Addison smirked, shivering a bit in bliss as he felt Beau's cock throb in his grip along with his own length.

Beau grunted and lolled his head to the side a bit, his face contrasting with Addison's as he sighed happily, eyes closed. "Your hand feels damn good down there, too," he moaned. "Only one thing I can think of that might feel even better." With that, he and Addison both looked up and over at the bear, who stood watching the pair. Nathan had finally begun to relax, one corner of his muzzle quirking up a bit in a half-grin as he watched them with one big hand wrapped around his shaft, jerking it idly. He grunted softly as Spazz leered mischievously at the splayed pair and stepped behind the Colonel, placing his hands firmly on the ghostly bear's ass and pushing him forward. The bear stumbled forward a step or two, then mock-scowled back at Spazz with a toothy grin and a smack to the wolf's leg.

Nathan ambled over to the table and up to the merged raccoons on it, and Beau and Addison both grinned up at him and raised their melded legs a bit, their tails flopping down over the side of it as their puckers winked greedily up at the ursine. Beau's was perfectly lined up with Addison's, and they were virtually indistinguishable from each other as the spit and pre from Spazz made those tightly-folded rim tissues gleam. Nudging the head of the his cock firmly against said pucker, and the bear shuddered all over in anticipation, taking their legs into his grip and laying them gently up onto his shoulders. Patting them warmly, he took a deep, burly breath, and Beau's eyes widened a bit as he felt the pressure from his lover's cock. He gulped and swallowed hard, his head slightly disjointed from Addison's as he flicked his gaze unsteadily sideways at his living friend. Addison winked warmly back at him, murmuring, "It only hurts for the first minute or so, Beau-but after that, you're gonna love every second. Just try to relax, okay?"

Beau nodded nervously, and Spazz put his forefinger and thumb around the hilt of the bear's shaft, his other arm sliding lower onto the ursine's lower back and rump to encourage him. "Take it nice n' slow, hon...but give 'em both every inch o' that beautiful fuckmeat," he wolf rumbled, lolling his tongue out of his muzzle a bit, his features wild with eagerness for the bear.

Nathan pressed his lips tightly together as he pushed, and finally, he breached the raccoons' joined opening, his thick meat squishing forward into their passageways as his face drew up in a tight grimace of pain at first, but then slowly relaxed into an open-mouthed gape of wordless ecstasy, the bear's whole big body shuddering as his cock moved forward inch by inch into the twosome. "NGGH.... Ohhh... Oh, dear....GOD....!" he gasped haltingly, the words blurting out through his slack jaw as he clamped his hands tight around the raccoons' legs. His swaying balls thumped lightly against his inner thighs as he reeled in pleasure at the powerful clenching around his cockhead and upper shaft as he slid himself home, and he and reared his head back in a mixed expression of shock and bliss. Spazz grinned tightly as his eyes remained riveted on that slowly disappearing cock, and his own prick quivered by association. The wolf could well remember his first time topping a willing fur, and it was a feeling like no other-but he could only imagine how that would feel after a century of abstinence.

Addison's face was giddy with pleasure, his grin loopy and brows arched upward as he felt Nathan slide in, and he burbled in a low voice, "Goddamn, that's fat... Shit, it's stretching me so nice...." Despite his own pleasure, he thought to quirk an eye open and sideways at Beau. "B-..Beau..?" he whispered, starting to pant a little. "You okay...? You're... awful....q-quiet, over there..."

Beau's mouth was clenched shut in pain the first few moments of the Colonel's entrance, and his eyes clenched tightly shut as his lover pried his ass open with his cock for the first time...but as the bear began to slide deeper and he felt Nathan's glans bump into his prostate, his jaw relaxed and his eyes trembled open, and his muzzle's expression switched from grimace to wonder. A tear of pain had trickled from the corner of his eye previously, and as it slid down his furred cheek, the bear stopped, not so dazed in his arousal that he forgot to check his lover's comfort level. When he saw the tear, he froze, stopping his entry short.

"B-..Beau... say something," he rumbled, his brows furrowing. He gave the raccoons' right leg a twitch with his hand as he held his position, worry edging into his voice. "You all right?"

Spazz frowned, too, his stiff cock rubbing against the bear's thigh as he blinked at his two raccoon friends. "Beauregard?" he rumbled.

Beau didn't keep them waiting. Opening his eyes, he glanced sideways at Addison, who looked back at him with a small grin. Then he looked up at Spazz, and finally at the Colonel, who actually seemed to sweat with ghostly perspiration from his glowing forehead as he looked nervously at him. His mouth quirked and quivered, but his eyes were calm and direct as he looked directly up into his lover's eyes. Separating his right arm briefly from Addison's, he clapped it up onto the Colonel's fingers from where the bear held his leg.

"ALL of it...!" he breathed to Nathan, his eyes pleading.

Nathan's jaw set firmly, and he pushed himself in the rest of the way with a grunt, his big balls thumping into the raccoons' shared asshole with decisiveness. Addison's grin got only wider, and he slipped his arm around the slightly-displaced Beau's shoulder as the other raccoon's ghostly head flopped back and up, his mouth pursed in sheer pleasure as every inch of his body quivered. Spazz's own cock lurched at the display, and he hugged the bear's shoulders tight as he rumbled, "Fuck, YEAH, darlin', give 'em that big, honkin' di-MMMPH!"

The wolf's words were sharply cut off by Nathan's bearded muzzle, as he swung his head around to clamp his mouth onto the wolf's, loosening his hand from the raccoons' left legs to clap it to the back of Spazz's head. His face a grimace of pleasure, the bear's brows furrowed and a muffled roar of bliss so intense shook itself into Spazz's muzzle that it vibrated him down to his boots. His eyes goggled for a moment, confused...but then he recovered quickly, his own arm coming up behind Nathan's head to embrace it just as fully. He closed his eyes and lip locked with the ghost firmly, his tongue entwining with the passionate ursine's as he drank in the bear's scent. Smelling of gunpowder, leather, and the masculine scent of bear, the wolf found himself painfully hard again as he kissed Nathan deeply. The bear kept his own tongue plunged deeply into Spazz's maw, and the wolf ran his finger claws through the ursine's beard as the big bruin began to fuck his two charges more earnestly, withdrawing slowly, then sliding forward again. That gloriously wet, sloppy sound of a fat cock covered with spit and pre began to fill the air as the big bear slowly increased his tempo, and soon, Spazz found himself in control of the kiss as the Colonel's hands slipped from around the wolf to clamp onto the raccoons' legs as he held them firmly against himself for dear life. Every ounce of his concentration was centered around his prick ramming into those joined holes, and his brows arched upward in helpless bliss as the wolf's long, warm tongue enslaved his own. Spazz's cock bumped heavily along the bear's upper thigh as the ursine pistoned in and out of the pair, and the scent from the wolf's musk was making him near delirious.

Addison, meanwhile, was also having a grand time. Keeping his gaze alternating slowly between Beau and the Colonel, the raccoon's eyes were partially lidded in bliss as his body hitched with the bear's thrustings...but that sly, sleazy grin of bliss never left his face. Panting softly, he watched Beauregard's head loll around on the table, the other raccoon unable to keep himself still as his lover fucked him deeply. Moaning almost non-stop, the ghostly fellow was only able to flick his gloved fingers over his nipples, and Addison's-making Addison's breath hitch in ecstasy. Beau actually seemed to hear this as he smirked sideways at his twin, his own breath coming out of his muzzle even harder than Addison's, and he managed to stammer in a low voice, "L-...like that... d-do you... Addy....?"

"I fucking love having my nipples toyed with," the living raccoon growled, as he leered back at his spirit friend. Reaching down, he took his cock (and again, by default, Beau's) into his hand and began to masturbate, the flecks of his pre spurting lightly into the air as the ghost inside and next to him squirmed and squealed. Spazz moved away from the Colonel's side and stepped over next to the pair, lowering his shaggy head to fasten his muzzle onto their right nipples. With his ass being filled repeatedly with warm bear cock, his own prick being stimulated by Addison's warm hand, and his nipples getting slathered with warm, tingly wolf saliva, Beau threw back his head and arched his body in ultimate bliss, yowling to the ceiling in lust. He was so loud that Nathan practically had to stop thrusting to cover his ears. The ghostly raccoon calmed down after two minutes or so, but the bear squeezed his shins tightly and puffed down to him with labored breath, "Hunh-holy....sh-shit, lover....put somethin' inside yer pie hole b-...before you... g-give us all a h-..headache!"

Beau somehow managed to hear his lover, and with a glassy-eyed look of lust, he whipped his head around to stare at the wolf's swaying cock, the gleaming red flesh of it reflected in the ghost's eyes for a moment or two. Grabbing it with the need of a starving man who's just spotted a gloriously made delicatessen sandwich, he tugged Spazz forward with surprising strength. Spazz nearly yelped in slight pain, but his surprise quickly gave way to delight when Beau's mouth wrapped around his cock and sucked it into his head up to the very hilt, lipping his knot as the wolf's glans bobbled visibly back near where the raccoon's throat should be. Reflexively, the wolf growled and gripped Beau's head tight, forcing him down onto his cock as hard as he could. Addison's own lidded eyes widened a bit as he saw this, but Nathan paid it little mind as he thrusted even more firmly into the pair. "Yer tight holes...f-feel...so...good...." he moaned to them in a deep voice.

Addison tried to speak, glancing over at Beau with concern as the wolf began to fuck the horny little ghost's head with a vengeance, his teeth bared the whole time. However, he felt Nathan give his left foot a meaningful squeeze, and as he glanced up as the heaving, sweating ghost grizzly, the bear winked at him between gasps, then patted his leg. "D-..Don't worry 'bout Beau...." he puffed to the living raccoon. "He ...unggh... loves to get face-fucked! U-..used ta... beg me to....nnghh... f-..face rape him all the time..."

Addison gave a little half moan at that, as Nathan's fat uncut cock drove him closer and closer to an orgasm. He could feel Beau's cock throbbing in his grip as he stimulated both him and himself, and as he looked more closely at his ghostly twin's head, he realized that Nathan wasn't lying. The muffled groans that burbled out from around Spazz's cock were those of pure satisfaction, and he had slapped both his gloved hands onto the wolf's hips, gripping them tight and urging him to abuse his muzzle with his huge, moistened dick. The wolf was only too happy to oblige, and he kept the little ghost's throat busy keeping up with his pre as his pulsing member oozed the stuff down into Beau's gullet almost steadily.

Just as Addison felt he was enjoying the view of his three friends in action the most, he heard Nathan begin to pant and grunt harder than he had been as he rocked himself back and forth into the raccoons, and he felt the bear's balls begin to tighten as they smacked into his ass. Oh, shit, he thought inwardly with a wild grin, looks like ol' Colonel bear's gonna shoot his load, first! Sure enough, Nathan's eyes began to roll up into the back of his head, making him look even more dead than before, if that was possible. He never slowed down for a second, though, and he grunted through bared teeth, "NNGHH.... G-...gents, I'm.... g-gonna cum...."

Addison's hole tightened around the Colonel's dick, as did Beauregard's by default. Addison breathed in deep, hitching breaths, his face looking as delirious as Beau's with the pleasure he was feeling. The bear lifted his face high and gave one more shove with his hips, then his big balls lurched and the two raccoons felt their holes get doused in burst after burst of warm, thick ursine cum. As Nathan roared loud enough to shake the ceiling of the room, Beau's face scrunched up into a grimace of pleasure as he, too, clamped down around his lover's thick cock. His muffled yelp of bliss shivered Spazz's balls to their very core, and the big wolf grunted and took a staggering half-step as the greedy little ghost's mouth sucked his cock down to his knot and threatened not to let go. He was close, too, but not nearly as close as his companions....and Nathan, obviously needing this, slammed a heavy, balled fist down onto the table as his hairy sac continued to empty spunk into the merged duo with enough pure volume to make Addison's eyes cross a bit. Barely able to lift his shuddering face, he looked down at his own belly, then nervously up at the bear. "MMMNNFFF...! Ahh... N-..Nathan...?" he stammered.

Spazz stared at the bear, too, between moans, watching the bear sweat and curse in the heavenly throes of release. Beau had stopped sucking the wolf's cock and was just keeping his head locked onto it, hollering around it as the bear's balls kept up the flood. Luckily, the bear must have heard Addison's low plea, and with teeth still clenched, he managed to pull his cum-covered prick out of the pair, splattering a few spurts of the messy white gunk against their legs and onto the floor. Yanking it up with one gloved hand, the bear thumped forward against the table, looking justifiably fatigued as his balls finally emptied out the last of his spunk onto the raccoons' bellies. As he panted and puffed like a steam train pulling into the station, Beau carefully slid his ball-battered chin and mouth off of Spazz's cock, letting his right hand take his place. He gave the wolf's shaft a light squeeze, then winked up at him with a look that seemed to say 'I'm not done with this sucker yet...but just lemmee catch my breath!' Spazz grinned tightly at him and winked back, then slid a meaty palm down the two raccoons' bellies, lifting a furry brow in fascination. "Goddamn, that's one helluva big ol' mess o' spunk..." he breathed in a low rumble.

Addison nodded firmly in agreement with that, giving off a little gasp as he shifted his weight a little and felt a light stream of bear semen trickle from his and Beau's pucker. "Feels like a friggin' dam broke in there, just about..." he murmured, peering at his stomach, then up at Nathan in awe. The bear blushed heavily at this, and he murmured with an apologetic half-grin, "H-..heh, heh! Sorry about that, you two...Guess my balls got a bit carried away, after all this time."

Beau looked up at the bear, his face flushed with sweat, but a look of pure affection on his face as his upper body rose up out of Addison and his legs separated from his living friend long enough to dangle down to the floor for a moment. Taking the bear's sides in his arms, he hugged Nathan tightly, and the Colonel nudged his muzzle up to meet his own as they kissed tenderly. Spazz and Addison watched without saying a word, both grinning warmly at the pair. As the pair broke the kiss, though, the living raccoon and wolf noticed them looking off to the right and into the next room, blinking a bit. Then they noticed Nathan and Beau bringing up their forearms to shield their eyes from something, both looking away as though being exposed to something bright. "Damn, that's rough on the eyes," Beauregard breathed in a low whisper.

Addison frowned, then sat upright and nudged himself sideways a bit so he could sit next to Beau. He followed their gaze into the next room, feeling puzzled, then looked back at them. "Hey, what's up, you two? You both okay?"

Nathan nodded at them both, grinning happily without showing teeth as Beau said to them, "Looks like your hunch was right on the money, Addison. There's this gloriously bright and beautiful glowing mass in the next room-kinda looks like a portal made of pure light." He glanced at his two living friends, then murmured, "I take it, you guys can't see it?"

Spazz and Addison both shook their heads, and the wolf shrugged. "Nope...but then, we ain't the one's who been waitin' fer it," he grinned, as his big, fluffy tail wagged happily for them both.

Nathan took Beau's hands into his own and looked into his lover's eyes again, rumbling to him, "So, how did that feel, lover? Did you like having me inside you, like that?"

Beau nodded earnestly. "I sure did... But if you'd been any thicker than you are, I think I would've been in trouble!" he chuckled, his eyes widening temporarily at the thought.

The bear laughed. "Sweetheart, nothing can threaten to stretch an ass out of proportion like a wolf's knot!" he winked.

Addison sat up and cocked his head at the bear, smirking slyly. "Know that from experience, do we, Nathan?" he giggled, nudging the ursine playfully with his elbow.

Nathan laughed. "Not on your life!" he said to the raccoon. "I've seen a non-morph pair of foxes get locked together, and that's as close to a knot as I want to get, if we're talking about penetrating MY big ass."

Addison looked temporarily smug, in a sleazy kind of way as he murmured to them, "Really? Gee, that's too bad, you don't know what you're missing."

Beau kept a brow quirked at Addison, but he still stared at Spazz's knot in wonder, and Nathan read that insatiable look of curiosity on his lover's face as clearly as if it were typed out on paper. A slow, devilish grin spreading on his big, bearded countenance, he wordlessly stepped over to the wolf and took the lupine's erection in his big hand, tugging the wolf around the table to stand between the coons' legs. Beau blinked in surprise, but didn't struggle when Addison grinned happily and laid his arm around and onto Beau's chest, pulling him gently back down into himself as the bear aimed the wolf's big cock for the raccoons' tailholes, then carefully pushed it in, his other hand massaging the wolf's ass-cleft warmly with a finger as he watched the trio. Spazz's head reared back a little and his jaw dropped open a bit as he felt the warm grip around his cock from the bear's hand give way to the even warmer and firmer grip of the merged raccoon holes, their insides already well slicked-down with bear cum. He groaned hard enough to make his fur shudder all over as his cock squished slowly into the pair, and Beau's head thumped backwards onto the table as he, too, gasped in bliss. Addison barely managed to keep his head propped up just a little, shivering in pleasure even as his twin was, but he was enjoying the look on Beau's face too much to lay himself back down. Nathan grinned tightly as he carefully pushed the wolf's prick all the way in up to his knot point, then rumbled softly into the wolf's ear as he kissed his friend warmly on the cheek, "Show my lover what an alpha wolf's knot feels like, you crazy wolf."

As usual, Spazz needed little encouragement, and as he slowly began to piston himself in and out of his two raccoon friends. Despite his knot, the wolf's cockhead was quite blunt and humanoid, and his extra inch or so began to push firmly into Beau's and Addison's prostate glands, making Addison squeal with delight and Beau moan with a pleasure that was just as intense as when the bear was filling him full, only minutes earlier. The bear himself shivered with lust as the scene and again took his own thick cock into his hand, idly toying with his length as it stiffened up slightly at the smell of sweat and cum in the air.

Beau's eyes rolled in his head as the wolf plunged his cock into his ass again and again, and glancing over at Nathan and seeing the big bear's cock flare back into complete hardness again made him writhe. Gasping, he pointed at Addison's head, then at his lover's cock. Nathan grinned and gave him an almost imperceptible nod as he moved closer to Addison, whose head way lying back onto the table and groaning in pleasure to the ceiling. His eyes closed, the raccoon didn't know what the bear was up to until he felt the Colonel's hand latch onto the far side of his head and turn it to face his crotch. Puzzled, he opened his eyes and was faced with several inches of foreskin covered, ghostly ursine cock, and Nathan nudged his moistened glans against Addison's lips in a firm, no-nonsense manner. Addison licked his lips greedily, then gripped the hilt of the bear's cock with his thumb and forefinger as he slid that warm, sweaty length into his mouth and towards the back of his throat, his eyes lidding and his moan vibrating that meat solidly as he did so. Nathan moaned heartily as well, and began to rock his length slowly into and out of Addison's maw as the horny raccoon devoured it.

Spazz was panting like a wild man as he watched the action, and as his cock got wetter and louder as he hammered it home inside the pair, he grasped the merged raccoons' cocks and began to masturbate them, flinging tiny droplets of the pair's pre-come everywhere. Beau gasped loudly, his body hitching upward as the wolf grinned sleazily and began to massage the raccoons' ballsac with a beefy palm. Beau slapped his side of the table with his gloved palm, and his groaning, panting cries began to fill the room as his sphincter muscles clenched spasmodically around the wolf's thick meat and massaged it wonderfully all over. Spazz found himself actually having to concentrate a little to keep his grip on the duo's cock, since the thick sheen of pre dribbling down the sides of them made keeping hold of them difficult. Soon enough, however, the wolf felt Beau's balls tightening in his rubbing grip, and the ghostly raccoon thumped his head back against the table firmly as his hands scrabbled to get a grip on something. "Sp-... Spaaazz," he warned, "I... I'm gonna... c-..cum..."

Spazz growled ferally, his nose wrinkling in lust as he fucked the pair harder than ever. Keeping his grip on their cock, the wolf snarled to Beau, "GIVE it to me, hon. Lemmee see that thick, ropy white shit!"

Hollering out his release and with Addison doing much the same, though in a more muffled manner due to his mouthful of bear cock, Beau arched his back and did just that. Thick strands of off-white semen flung themselves from the raccoons' piss slits, splattering themselves all over the pair's combined stomach. Flecks of it dappled Beau's nose and muzzle, as well as the back of the Colonel's hand as he held Addison's head in place, and a little on Addison's neck. The tight, firm clench of Beau and Addison's anal rings around Spazz's cock was just what the wolf needed to force his own climax, and as his own balls spasmed against their hole, the wolf threw back his shaggy head and howled vociferously, again rattling the ceiling as his knot shuddered and began to swell, pushing outward against the inside of the raccoons' inner walls as it sealed them off tight. His own spunk painted that inner chamber in thorough, runny strands over and over again, and his fingers got laced with the raccoons' cum as it spurted from atop them.

Nathan managed to keep his eyes open as he surveyed the scene, grunting softly as he hitched his hips forward and back against Addison's mouth. He avoided going as rampantly as Spazz had with Beau, but Addison was handling the bear's big cock with expert skill, slathering it down with his warm tongue and swallowing every drop of cum that came his way. He felt his own balls quivering, about to make him come yet again...but he took a few seconds to caress Addison's head affectionately as he looked fondly over at Beau. He could still sense the warm glow of the portal of light behind him and in the next room as it beckoned to him and his mate, and as his teeth gritted and his eyes drew tightly together as his cum began to shoot through his shaft and flood the inside of Addison's mouth, he wondered what sex would be like in the afterlife-or if there would be something even better.

Addison drained the lustful bear's balls dry, his hand reaching out to grip the bear's leg to keep that burgeoning cock planted warmly in his mouth. The raccoon's throat burbled lightly as he drank down Nathan's cum, nuzzling his nose into the ursine's crotch to savor the bear's scent. By this time, the brunt of Spazz's climax was starting to pass, and the wolf's head had flopped forward, his long, lanky black tophair hanging down in strings over the raccoons' merged stomachs. He panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath, and his knot was flared up into full size, as his cock trickled a non-stop dribbling of cum inside his two friends for what felt like the following five minutes. Beau's and Addison's cocks slowed in their shooting as well, but by this time, their stomachs looked like the top side of a frost-it-yourself frozen pastry. The wolf stopped jerking them off as their cum dripped from his fingers, and he managed to pant up to the ghost, "H-...hey, Beau... y'all right?"

Nathan stared at his lover, waiting for his response, and so did Addison-after he'd slowly slid off the Colonel's cock and licked it clean. Beau's head remained lolled back on the table for several minutes, but finally, he raised his head a little and grinned around at them, giggling. "Feels like I got an orange up my ass, all right....but y'all know what? It feels pretty fuckin' good!" he smirked. Winking at the wolf, he looked over at Nathan and asked, "Hey, lover-bear. Can we take Spazzy's knot with us when we leave?"

In spite of his panting, the Colonel facepalmed and shook with laugher.

The last forty minutes of the foursome's time together was spent largely making small talk as the raccoons waited out the time it took Spazz's knot to diminish back down to it's normal size, after the tie was complete. Addison and Spazz helped their ghostly friends clean up a bit, and the wolf chuckled deeply to them, "Cain't have y'all sayin' 'Howdy' ta St. Peter lookin' like ya just crawled outta a porno flick."

The two ghosts chuckled warmly at that, and after the living raccoon and wolf had gotten dressed again, they hugged their ghostly friends goodbye.

"Y'all know that we'll never really be able to thank you enough," Beau murmured to his live twin as he hugged Addison tight. "You two are tops, in our book."

Addison giggled, patting Beau's back warmly. Then he pulled back and winked at the other raccoon. "Wrong. Spazz is the top, I'm the bottom," he laughed. "But I getcha!"

Spazz grinned at the joke, then gave Nathan's hand a squeeze as the bear returned the gesture. Then the bear hugged Addison farewell as Beau snuggled with Spazz.

"We shore are gonna miss y'all," Spazz rumbled to them both, as Addison nodded in agreement.

"Goes double for us, my Confederate brother!" Nathan beamed at him. "Oh, Spazz... could I speak to you in private for just a second?"

The wolf looked at the bear curiously, but nodded. The two raccoons waited as Nathan and the wolf stepped over to the far corner of the room, and the bear whispered into the wolf's ear. Spazz blinked in surprised, then lifted a hand and waved it in the air at the bear as he shook his head, as though declining something. The bear planted his hands on his hips firmly, though, giving Spazz a stubborn look, and ultimately, the wolf sighed a bit and shrugged, and finally nodded. The bear looked pleased and the pair hugged firmly, and then came back over to the waiting pair as Nathan looked into the light, then down at his mate, tenderly. "Ready to go, Beauregard?"

Beau nodded firmly, his eyes shining as he took the bear's hand. "Always, as long as you're with me," He turned to wave goodbye to Spazz and Addison, smiling warmly. "'Bye, you two. And thanks for everything!"

Colonel Nathan gave them both a snappy military salute, then a warm smile. Addison and Spazztic waved goodbye, and watched the ghostly pair step towards the spot in the next room where they said the portal stood. The glowing figures glanced back at them one more time, then turned to face one another as they pressed their muzzles together to kiss. Taking each other's hand, they then stepped into the space occupied by the portal and vanished.

Addison sighed happily, grinning up at the wolf. "Ain't happy endings grand?"

Spazz nodded idly, smirking at his friend, then turning his gaze back towards the shattered staircase and the second floor again. "They is at that, hon... but I don't reckon this is all quite over, just yet."

Addison quirked his ears at that, then followed the wolf's gaze. He scratched his head in puzzlement, then murmured, "Whatcha mean by that?"

Spazz winked at him. "That stuff that the Colonel was whisperin' ta me about over in the corner, there?" he rumbled, pointing at the spot where he and the bear had stood. "He said somethin' about wantin' ta repay us fer our kindness. Lemmee ask ya somethin', sugar...the room that he took ya to ta fetch Beau's uniform-wuz it the one with an antique-lookin' bedframe in it?"

Addison looked surprised, then nodded. "Yeah, it was. Why? Has he got something stashed up there?"

Spazz nodded. "He shore does. Said it wuz under th' bed, inside some kinda carryin' case thingie."

Addison looked intrigued. "Seriously? Well, if you wanna give me one more boost, I'll go check it out."

Spazz nodded, then couldn't resist. He cocked up a furry brow and murmured to him, "Sure ya don't mind goin' alone, sugarpop? They might be s'more ghosties up thar."

Addison rolled his eyes and started for the broken stairwell. "Well, if they're as sexy and sweet as the two we just met, I'm gonna have 'em throw me on that bed and you're gonna hear some groaning of the distinctly un-ghostly kind." he smirked.

Spazz boosted Addison to the second story again, and the raccoon had little trouble finding the carrying case in question. It was indeed under the bed, in a leather bound case that was as close to a briefcase as the Civil War era would have allowed. It was a bit heavy, and he found that he had to use both hands to carry it. Lugging it back to the stairway, he lowered it down to the wolf, who took it and set it aside so he could help Addison back down again. The raccoon moved to meet the wolf's hands, then hesitated, looking back over his shoulder towards the Colonel's bedroom.

"Say, Spazz...do you think we should go ahead and take Beauregard's extra dress uniform, too? If we leave it here, some teenager or hobo is liable to steal it or trash it."

The wolf looked doubtful for a moment, but finally shrugged and nodded. "We might as well, ah reckon. It prolly won't survive th' trip back to mah place, but if'n it does, I got me a buddy what runs a historical museum at one of th' state parks near Atlanta that would prolly love ta put it on display."

The raccoon nodded and fetched the uniform, and carefully brought it back to the wolf, who then helped him back down to the ground floor. Addison dusted off the seat of his pants, then looked at the two items in wonder, particularly the carrying case.

"Geez, I'm amazed no one ever found it, as many people that have probably been tromping through this house," he murmured to Spazz.

The wolf nodded, as he scrutinized the case carefully. "Tell me 'bout it, hon. Hmm.... They's two lil' padlock-lookin' thingies on th' outside, but they's so rusted that I can prolly git 'em open with a screwdriver and a hammer. C'mon, let's git back ta my place n' ah'll pry 'er open."

The two collected the case and the two gunny sacks full of fruit preserves and other goodies, then headed back to Spazz's house, where they found Bubba the cougar mechanic sprawled out on the couch and snoring loudly. Like any true redneck, however, he stirred awake when he heard the clank of the beer bottles in their cases being set down on top of the table, and he sat up and yawned toothily, stretching. "Well, hol-lee shit, look who decided t' come back t' home base n' give their long-sufferin' buddy his much-needed brewski!" he rumbled, his voice a tad sarcastic. He grinned at them nonetheless as he got up to hug them both, then he caught the time on the clock on the wall. "SHIT! It's dang near 3AM. Where the hell've you two been?" Then he frowned sharply as he sniffed the air in general around the two of them, then nudged his nose at Addison's chest, then into Spazz's right hand, as he picked it up to drag it to his nose. He sniffed Spazz's palm thoroughly, then dropped it, giving the pair a surly look. "Dammit, ah KNEW ah smelled cum," he growled, his ears laying back on his head. "So help me, if you two done gone n' spurted all yer spoo without givin' me n' mah pecker some action after ah waited fer yer shaggy asses all night, ah'm a' gonna..."

Spazz chuckled deeply and cut the feline's words off neatly by laying a finger claw onto his friend's lips. "Darlin', 'fore ya give us a verbal reamin' out, y'need to listen ta what happened to us."

Addison grinned at Bubba, nodding in agreement as he doled out a beer to each of them, then popped the top off one for himself. Hoisting it up a little, he winked mischievously at the cat and added, "And believe us, hunker, it's a doozy."

The cat's anger softened into puzzlement, but also like most good rednecks, as soon as the beer touched his throat, he found his mood greatly improved. He sat and listened to the pair as they recited the story of the night's events, and by the time Spazz and Addison were finished, both twelve-packs were nearly gone.

Bubba scratched his head in amazement and wonder, looking back and forth between the two of them. "If'n ah didn't like y'all s'much, I'd done think ya both went outta yer minds."

Spazz looked vaguely defensive. "Sugar, if we're s' nuts, how d'ya reckon we found that thar case?" he rumbled, jerking his head towards Nathan's briefcase.

"Hey, speaking of such," Addison remarked, getting up to walk over to the item, "...can we crack this thing open, now? I'm dying of curiosity."

Spazz nodded, standing up to join Addison as he finished off the last of his beer. "Hell, yeah! Let's see what's inside this sucker." He fetched his hammer and chisel, and as the cat and raccoon looked eagerly over his shoulder, he had the case unlocked with two fairly easy blows with his tools. Laying it down onto the tabletop carefully, he eased it open...then goggled at what lay inside. Bubba and Addison strained their necks a little to peek closer as well, and they looked equally shocked.

Sitting inside the case were a few of the Colonel's personal Civil War items. There were two flintlock pistols, a standard-issue dagger, and even a few medals that had been awarded to him. What shocked the trio the most, however, was the overall state of the items. It was clear to see that the medals had probably been worn only once, and the pistols themselves looked like they had never been used...and every item in the box looked completely pristine in condition. No mildew, no rust or blemishes...in fact, the only hint that time had passed came from the lining inside the case, itself. It was frayed and worn, and just barely intact...but the metal on the items gleamed.

"But... but that's impossible...!" Bubba breathed, his eyes widening as he looked at the stuff. "Those guns oughtta be rusted chunks a' metal, by now."

Spazz nodded in agreement, but couldn't help glancing sideways at the cat, smirking in a bit of self-satisfaction. "Yeh, hon, but ghosts ain't s'posed ta exist either, now, is they?" he chuckled.

Bubba stuck his tongue out at the wolf, but grinned a bit nonetheless. "Don't reckon it matters, no-how... but ya know who'd give Satan hisself a blowjob fer goodies like that?" he rumbled, nodding his head at the case.

Spazz grinned. "If yer thinkin' 'bout Jeremiah up in Atlanta at the relics museum, ah'm already way ahead of ya, darlin'."

Addison looked curiously up at the pair, after goggling at the guns and medals a little longer. "How much would this Jeremiah give us for something like this, you guys?"

Spazz stroked his whiskers a moment, looking thoughtfully at them. "Well.... Even if the stuff wudn't as purty as it looks now, he prolly woulda given us a thousand or so...but with 'em lookin' this good, an' once he's convinced they ain't fakes..." He tapped his chin in thought, then shrugged. "Ah really cain't say fer sure, but we may be talkin' five digits worth."

Addison looked impressed. "THAT much?" he grinned. "Whoa! Not bad for a couple hours work."

Bubba scowled at them both, but in a playful manner as his big tail flicked restlessly behind himself. He looked back and forth at the two of them and rumbled, "Ah dunno what pisses me off more, th' fact that you boys is gonna get some money outta all this, or the fact that y'all got ta screw around with them ghosts." He crossed his arms over his chest and leered at them, then chuckled. "Wuz they hot n' sexy, and did they blow a lotta cum at y'all?"

Addison shook his head in mild disbelief as he thought back on the evening. "Let's just say...that we definitely got 'slimed', good and proper!" he snickered, grinning over at Spazz.

Bubba quirked his muzzle to the side a bit. "Unh, hunh!" he rumbled. "An' ah s'pose that now you two're both too pooped ta pop, now, aint'cha?"

The wolf and raccoon looked at the cougar, then back to each other, then back over to Bubba again. Finally, with his usual lewd grin, the wolf reached over and tugged down the cat's underwear, exposing his sheath. Pointing to it, he grinned back at Addison and rumbled, "Private Walker? This here soldier's got him an obstruction of th' spunk variety lodged down in his deelybobbers, n' as a specialist in that sorta thang, ah order you ta use yer common military techniques with yer muzzle and/or yer posterior ta remove it." He gave the raccoon a dirty wink, then straightened his back ramrod-stiff as he gave his shorter friend a sharp military salute. "Do ya think yer capable of takin' on this misson, son?"

Addison giggled a bit, then straightened his own back and returned Spazz's salute smartly, his grin alight with mischief. "Yes, SIR!" he grinned.

END