FSE

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"Fuck, what the hell is this." Jean rubbed his eyes, trying his best not to get sick at the taste of bile on the air and the copper scent of blood. It reeked, flooding his senses as he rocked back on his heels and fought the urge to take a step back.

"Just what you see." The officer stood well away from the scene, he looked as if he were about to be sick as well, his cheeks flushed a bit as he tried his best to breathe through his nose instead of his mouth. Boy wasn't thinking right if he was doing that. "Vixen I think, not sure who."

"Not that you can tell." Jean forced himself to look back down on the scene, his lips curling back in disgust.

Someone had gutted her, from just about the loins all the way up to her chin in a brutal stroke that made him want to gag all over again. The face was a red ruin, a close range shot had ruined all of her features, but the red fur and white tipped tail were enough to give them a hint on species. The anthros had that going for them, when the humans showed up he had never been able to ID them until prints came back. With the anthros he could at least tell what species they were and run that against the data base to find out who was missing. Sometimes, he didn't know if he was relieved or not that he'd been stuck on the 'Fur Force', or Anthro Response Team, with the rest of the wash outs and castaways. In some ways, it was easier to deal with as crimes against the anthros were remarkably low, or rather they were rarely reported. In other ways, it was more brutal when he did see it.

He crouched down and let the ME get pictures as he looked at the ruin of the little thing. She had been pretty, most foxes were, he knew that. They were always slight framed and gentle looking, that's what made it so heart breaking that they were so often sitting across from him in the room reporting what had been done to them. It was no worse than humans did to each other, but with them... it made him think of his dog. Their faces were so vulnerable and gentle looking. It affected him the same way as when child crime came through, as if he couldn't stop placing the innocence of an animal on their strangely mobile features. And now this, the third anthro in the last six months to show up like this, the fifth victim. The other two had been human.

"Do we have anything at all?" He asked quietly, staring at the small white socked paw that was stretched out, her fingers curled up gingerly as if she were waiting to have it held. "Tracks? A witness? Anything at all?"

"Same as the rest." The ME looked as weary as he did, or perhaps it was because he was a bloodhound, his long features and wrinkles made him strange appearing and sorrowful. "Human rutting scent, I can tell it from here."

"And no fucking semen." Jean growled out to himself, rubbing his hand roughly through his grey and brown peppered hair. "They need to let you put your findings into evidence."

The dog wuffed a laugh, a bitter sound, and one that he couldn't even share at the moment. The Anthro Response Team was a mixture of human and anthro, they were quite good at their job, especially the predators. Except, the law hadn't caught up to them yet. The courts refused to find scent admissible in the court because humans couldn't tell one scent from another. They could believe dogs alright, but anthros had political interests that the courts argued skewed the results based on their beliefs. It was in Washington now, eventually it would come down this way and Jean only hoped it was before this all went too far. A serial killer, on his watch. It made him want to snarl, but all he could do was feel the weight of the world hanging over him as he stood up with a pop in his back and a wince at how sore he'd become in the last few years.

"Get the pictures and get her taken care of, I'm going to go look around. Maybe the perp managed to leave something behind." It was a dim hope, one he couldn't even muster a real belief in as he moved away.

Forty-eight years old, he had a shield, but it was an empty promise to him. It was given because he was the only human with rank willing to work with this squad, no other reason at all. It was a crime to persecute someone that was gay, the law said so, but that didn't mean it had stopped. They had just become a bit more careful about what they did and how they did it. Now, he was piddling away his last years on the force doing a joke job, his work always under the microscope, waiting for him to fuck himself out of a pension and retirement. He was too damn tired to care anymore, tired of the small minded people he worked for, tired of trying and failing, tired of seeing violence and death, tired of life. Nights like tonight made him that tired.

The Medical Examiner watched him go, the bloodhounds long features following the aging human before he reached out and took the tarnished coin from the little vixen's paw. He could smell the magic there, the last burst of her life spent on the thing, it was already withering and rusting as he turned it in his fingers. A mardi gras coin, a token, one of millions that had flooded through New Orleans to those that just glanced at it. Only he saw the twisted snake burned into the front, the strange viper features looking menacingly out at the world as it twined around hemlock. Blood was smeared over the front, but not the blood of the victim. It was human blood. She had managed to draw blood on her attacker after all. It was still warm, and somewhere out there, in the dark, one of the lord stalked. Waiting, watching, with only vengeance on his mind.

~ ~ * ~ ~

He tasted blood on his tongue, it was sticky on his hands so that the flies buzzed and the mosquitoes lurked around him. Arnaud dropped down into a crouch, his eyes flicking over the swamp water and grimaced before plunging his hands in to wash off the blood. The vixen had been a fighter, it had made the act too messy for his tastes, he never enjoyed it messy when they were alive. He hated taking the animals, they were all fighters at the end and it made him kill before he wanted them dead. A warm body was a warm body, but he preferred to fuck the living. He growled softly to himself, the need was still there under the surface, building and making it impossible to ignore, it should have been satiated after tonight. It was always quiet after a kill, but this one was all wrong, it hadn't stilled anything inside of him. It had just given it the briefest silence.

I need to stop with the animals. He looked down at the dark water in front of him, stepping back with a wince at his back as it stretched wrong. The cut she'd given him was shallow, but it still hurt and opened up a whole new set of problems.

His DNA was left at the scene, there was little chance that he'd managed to clean it all up, which meant that the cops would have it. He wasn't on file, they wouldn't get a hit, but if they ever caught him the evidence would be there and waiting to condemn him. He growled to himself and stood up with his eyes flicking around the dark swamp, his lantern cast light over his drying clothes. No one would believe it had been him without real proof, they wouldn't even entertain it. He had enough money through his trust fund that he walked the better circles, not quite enough money to be able to behave like this with impunity, but still, there was enough that he had the ear of enough influential people that he had faith that as long as he kept the evidence away from the cops, even if they suspected him they could do little about it in the end.

The young man tilted his head backwards and sighed out before making his way to his small camp. In the distance, he could see other lantern lights and bonfires as the campers enjoyed their quiet evening. He had already padded through the area, so many young women, many of which caught his eyes. He should have taken a human tonight, they were easier game and he at least enjoyed them. The anthros always turned so... bestial that it took away from the ritual of the act. The only reason he went after them at all was because it was easier to get them alone, they had less protection surrounding them and the cops didn't quite care as much. Of they'd investigate, but if he had killed all human women there would be an all out man hunt, but not now. Not yet. And by the time there was he would leave, he had no desire to be caught, not until it was... perfect.

As Arnaud made his way to his tent, he heard something scraping along the branches, he tilted his head slightly and furrowed his brow, picking up his feet a bit higher to get to his camper. This was a camping site, but it was also filled with all the creatures of the damned swamp. People liked it because they could fish and hunt, or simply go out on boats, or pretend to be the sorts of people that lived in huts and shacks out here. Where they enjoyed that idea of poverty he didn't know, he preferred his elegant camper and the air conditioning that was already humming along. He'd take the drugs the doctor's gave him, the ones meant to calm him down, and hopefully ignore the unsettling frustration that was lurking under his thoughts and threatening to burst free.

The scraping noise grew louder as he approached his camper, wiping off the last of the water from the swamp. As he reached for his clothing that hung from the branch, he saw something moving in the darkness. Instinct, and a life time of living in lower Louisiana, stayed his hand and kept him from smacking the thing out of the way. In the dim light, something uncoiled itself slowly with a dry hissing sound as a truly monstrous form began to uncircle from the width of the branch. A broad body slipped from the branch while a wedge shaped head swung towards him, the light caught the flickering tongue perfectly as the snake began to slide away form the main portion of the trunk in the smooth eerie movement of any serpent.

"FUCK!" Arnaud jumped back as the thing jerked it's head forward, paling as he grasped the sheer size of the thing. "Jesus fucking christ!"

It was larger than his upper leg, and he had no idea how long it might be, it was truly terrifying as he realized that the entire length was coiled up around the tree from the base all the way to the branch and loops of it's body hung down over the edge of the branch. He forgot his clothes, the monster could have him, it was easily large enough that it could have swallowed down his arm without thinking about it, maybe even his head! He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where he'd put his belt and knife to take care of the thing.

"Ahh nah cher, don't ya be thinkin' anyt'ing o' that pantheon." An amused voice spoke up behind him, a lazy drawl that was thick with a cajun accent. "Judgment! Ta!"

Arnaud swung around with his lips curled up, keeping one eye on the snake as the speaker stepped forward without even so much as a glance at him. He'd been expecting one of the ragamuffin coons that lived out this way, the sort that always smelled like their own stink and swamp water, but what greeted him was wholly inhuman. At first he thought it was an antelope, one with larger horns than normal, but as the creature's face caught the light he realized that he was entirely mistaken. The deer like creature was taller than any antelope,granted part of that was due to the fact that his horns swept up above his head nearly two feet high. His black and white face looked eerily like a skull as he approached the hanging snake with a smile on the broad strange muzzle.

"The fuck are you doing in my site?" Arnaud snapped, annoyed he'd been caught nearly fleeing the snake.

The stranger reached out towards the massive snake unafraid, his hand lifted palm up as if completely at ease with the unnatural large head that leaned out and brushed a large tongue along the fingers. The creature looked absurd, not even wearing modern clothes, most cajuns at least tried for that, but not this fellow. He wore a pair of loose strange pants, a leather looking vest over his bare white and tan belly. The pants were of the old sort, buttoned without a zipper, each button caught he light strangely, just like the accoutrements on his throat. He wore a choker, bones and metal that looked like copper, rooster feathers curled down along the points of the choker, curling along his bare chest, while more feathers and bones hung from cuffs on his ears and horns as well. He looked unnatural and strange, with pouches swaying from his waist as he if had never heard of pockets or a wallet.

"Mais, to make the faire la misere." The stranger responded, holding still as the snake slipped from the tree, sliding along his palm. "Ahh, to make trouble, dat be the English eh?"

"Get the fuck out of here." Arnaud snorted in disgust, he hated the swamp folks out here, he knew that some anthros were this way too, but it seemed they were just as weird as the rest of them.

"Non." The stranger murmured, letting the snake coil up along his wrist slowly. "Ah been waitin', not often de zeerahb critter gets my attention. Mostly, bullies, oui? Bad boys." The words were spoken slowly, as if trying to make sure Arnaud understood. "Dey do t'ings ta get mah attention, but not zeerahb. Disgusting. You? Ya still smellin' like her blood, eh? Ya not clean it up?"

The words were strange and the accent so thick that it was almost impossible to understand what was being said without picking through each and every word. As he spoke, the snake moved up higher, sliding from the tree with a scrape of scale on bark as it transferred its hold, showing the length of the so large form. He wasn't thinking about how creepy it was that he stranger was handling the snake, he felt cold fear at the mention of blood and 'her'. He understood that well enough. His eyes narrowed and he took a step back from the creature.

"What are you talking about? Blood!" He snorted a bit. "Get out of here before I call the police!"

"Nah, ya won't be doin' dat, p'tit boug." The creature began to run his fingers along the snakes back. "Ya got blood on ya, smellin' it. Yer notta couyon, no one is so stupid as to get caught like dat."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He insisted, balling up his fingers and looking frantically for a weapon. "And even if you really did sense that, why the fuck aren't you calling the cops yourself? Fucking coon."

"Defante vixen, t'is her right to vengence, p'tit boug. Dey humans? Ahh dey not so good at vengence, no' fer our kind." The creature lifted his head, the skull pattern looking eerie in the darkness as the snake twisted around his chest, caressing over him. "Creole? Me? I'm vengence. Justice."

"You're insane, that's what you are." Arnaud saw the knife, it was right down near the steps of his camper, still in the sheath.

"Non, never dat." The snake twisted around him, it was disgusting looking, the creature's massive form coiled along the beast's body as the eyes caught the light. The reptilian gaze flared bright pale purple, almost glowing in the darkness, reflecting the light back towards the boy. "She be cryin' fer it, her blood. Only dat would bring Judgment to ya." He ran his fingers under the snake as the oryx stepped forward, his eyes brilliant and strange. "An' blood be answerin' blood here. Yer blood. Come to ol' Creole, Ah been waitin' fer a hundred years fer one of ya, one needin' ta die."

_He's a fucking lunatic. _The young man reached down, lunging for his knife as there was a sudden violent hiss erupting beside him.

It hit him like a train, slamming against his shoulder and side and throwing him to the ground while his fingers tried to wrap around the blade. It was slippery feeling in his grip, impossible to keep a hold of as something dark twisted from the night, something darker with flaring golden eyes. Arnaud ripped the knife out of his sheath and rolled onto his back as a ghostly laugh echoed around him and another shadow came from the darkness. Creatures were long lean jaw,s strange legs and curling tails danced around him. Their eyes flashed purple, green and gold, wildly flashing this way and that as they gamboled and jumped, snarled and dodged in closer, evading his clumsy attempts with his blade. Creole stood beyond them, the snake was glowing, an eerie green that gave the creature a demonic look in the darkness.

One of the shadows lunged forward, snarling out and snapping it's jaws down against his leg. He didn't feel the bite or pain, only pressure before another snapped out and another. They clamped their strange maws around him as he struck out against them, his panic growing as a yank drew him away from the safety of his camper. The shadowy beasts were tearing him away from safety, twisting him around as something with gold eyes lunged for his chest. There was a moment of pain and pressure, and then he was being dragged over the ground at a rapid pace, his lips unable to open to scream as the edge of the swamp rapidly approached.

~ ~ * ~ ~

The sunlight that filtered through the swamp made Arnaud squint his eyes to try and see the man who was crouched in front of the fire. Smoke was billowing up in the sky, it filled his lungs until he was choking on it whenever the wind blew the right direction. The oryx looked unreal and strange crouched beside the fire, his features almost ethereal as he tended the flames, poking at them roughly to get them to surge up again. In the light, his vest was a bright purple with gold buttons, his pants some sort of leather that was worn from years of use. Every movement made the various bones and beads clatter together lightly, bumping this way and that as he worked silently. Arnaud was left staring at the beast through a line of mesh wire that separated him from the other creature. His eyes refused to focus properly, they were strangely blurred around the edges, making the creature look as if he could see the light filtering through the form.

The snake was hanging from the tree nearby, there was no escaping the sight of the long looped body that was a brilliant emerald green. The snake, at least, was obviously a bit more substantial from where it was hanging, the eyes impartial as it watched the oryx in the muck and mud. Arnaud shifted, his body aching painfully as he tried to stand up. His joints hurt, they hurt so badly that he could barely move without feeling a stab of pain. He couldn't remember what had happened once he'd gotten here, he'd been dragged through the swamp by creatures that were little more than shadows, but after that he had only the vague memory of the creature that called itself Creole building up a fire to light the darkness and flashes of gold, purple and green all mixed together. And pain, he could recall pain like nothing he had ever experienced before. He groaned, the sound came out ragged and strange as he tried to get up, his hands moving down to push up., but they didn't work the way he wanted them too.

"Ya awake, cher?" Creole murmured, his head turning to one side as if he were actually curious about if he'd woken up or not.

Arnaud glared at his captor, trying to open both eyes, but the moment he did he felt a wave of dizziness and closed them again. His arms wouldn't move down, he tried to push himself up, but he felt a strange ache at how he was positioning them.

"Don't ya worry now." The oryx stood up, and Arnaud realized that there was a body next to the fire. Not a human one, but a duck was splayed open and feathers were everywhere, some of them braided into the strands that hung down from his sweeping horns. "Tcah! Ya not sorted it out yet?"

Arnaud glared at the beast and opened his mouth to snarl at a response, and the moment he parted his maw, a rough angry hiss spilled out in response. It wasn't a normal sounding hiss, certainly not one that could be mistaken for anything that should have come out of a human. He snapped open both eyes and was disoriented again by his vision, but this time he realized that a good portion of that was because something jutted right out along his line of sight. A flat yellow beak was set right in front of her face, broad enough that both eyes could see it and created a disorienting effect. He let out another sound, a rasping quack as he jerked backwards and stumbled, his toes catching on the cage. Wings flashed into view as he swung his arms out, the long tips battered and caught against the sides of the too small cage and he stared down at himself.

His body was feathered all over, he stood on two bright orange webbed feet, each toe was now tipped with a thick black law instead of a neat nail. His hands were lost, though he could almost feel them as he tried to flex his fingers this way and that. They were curled strangely, the long fingers tucked towards his body so that they could be folded neatly against his side. His aching joints gave him a flash of a memory, one filled with fire and pain as he had screamed, of blood being smeared along his face, marking him before he had begun to change. His mind flinched away from the memory of pain and terror, leaving him staring over the flat beak as the oryx loomed over him with a smile on his long skull patterned features. The sun was visible behind him, not simply framing him, but he could actually see the sun shining through his insubstantial features.

"Ah've spent too long not bein' able ta touch, ta eat, ta be... alive." He spoke softly, his large hand reaching to grab the top of the cage. "Waitin' fer someone like you. Ya got blood an' lives spilled all over you. Lives an' years, that's why Ah need an' Ah'll take 'em from you."

As Arnaud was hauled up, he got a good look at himself, at least, a better look at the body that was cast the ground next to the fire. He could barely recall that duck, but he could recall the blood and feathers being spilled over him as he changed. His head jerked around in horror, seeing that there was insult added to injury for what the creature had done. The duck next to the fire was a mallard, he knew enough about ducks to identify that common species, and he could see his own feathers in the same mallard pattern, but not a male. There was nothing so bold and eye catching to his....her feathers. The patterned brown and white and tan that ran over the feathers shouted that she hadn't been simply changed into a duck, she'd been changed into the duck he'd used. A hen, a female duck. The horror was rising as she stared back at herself, anger and humiliation warring with one another.

_This can't be happening, it can't be happening! _ She thought frantically, batting her wings as the cage shifted under his grip. She lunged at his fingers, letting out an angry hissing sound.

"Do no' worry, Cherie, ya won't be stuck like this fer long." His word were hardly comforting, especially not when she was staring at his faded strange appearance. He wasn't natural, he wasn't real, he wasn't mortal.

Arnaud threw her weight against the cage bars again as it was lifted up, the entire world swinging around wildly as she beat her wings to try and keep her balance. Her webbed feet weren't enough, they were awkward feeling under her and the toes kept slipping into the gapes of the chicken wire and twisting painfully when she nearly tripped over them. The world was strangely altered, it was bulged strangely, every motion drew her eyes more swiftly than it ever had before, the colors were altered, brighter in some cases, duller in other cases, and all of it strangely two sided as she had to twist her head about. The oryx gave the cage a shake, crashing her against a bar before she was lifted up higher in the air, almost at a level with his dark eyes. She could see through him, through his eyes and to the other side.

_What is he? _ It was a terrified question as the cage was hung up from a branch, the same branch Judgment, the snake, was twisted around.

"Ahhhh do not worry, Cherie." The creature murmured, his thick fingers ran along the outer edges of the wire cage, making it sway again. "Ya wonder why Ah didn't keep ya in ah...human body, non? When Ah need ya blood, not much blood in dere eh? Ducks hardly got enough ta fill a cup."

He laughed at the last comment, amused with himself as she bristled behind the bars. Arnaud snapped out, her beak clattered against the edges of the cage in an attempt to catch the fingers, not that it did any good, she had no teeth. Just the tough bill that harmlessly bounced away as her feathers puffed up. It was a strange sensation feeling them lifting up along the line of her spine, trailing down along the edges of her wings as they bristled out.

"Human body? Dey bring da cops, oui? All over, askin' questions, fishin' and huntin' fer what happened. Can leave ya fer the gators, eh? Nah, they'll always be leavin' left overs. World bein' too small anymore fer that." He drawled out as he stepped away to the circle drawn out in the muck and mud. "A duck? Nobody be findin' feathers an' callin' the police. An' Judgement do love a sinner."

The former man shuddered and jumped backwards, throwing her weight against the swaying cage while the orxy dropped down and pulled out a blade. His fingers weren't substantial, they were fading, she could see through them plainly as they held the blade. The snake was all too real, though, it hung on the tree with the strange copper eyes focused on her, anticipating the meal to come. Her feathers flattened and she edged towards the furthest corner of the cage, her breathing coming in panting bursts. He was going to kill her, he was actually going to snuff out her life in the middle of a god forsaken swamp that stank of old mud and sewage. The blade was drawn down, dragging in the center as the creature squatted down. His hooves didn't make an impression at all, only the blade did.

_It's not going to end like this! _ Arnaud threw her weight forward, a desperate move that crashed against the bars, bowing them outwards as she did so.

The snake hissed out again, the tongue flicked out with a curl towards her, but she ignored the spike of raw terror that movement caused her. She threw herself against the cage again, hammering against it, bashing her head hard enough that stars erupted in her vision and the thing rattled again and she let out an undignified quacking sound. Another and another, she threw her weight against it, battering it with her wings as the branch drooped down lower. It wasn't her struggles that were bringing the cage down closer to the ground, it was the snake that was uncurling and she let out an angry hiss and rammed forward again. The moment she did, her beak caught the front of wire and bruised, but the cage rattled free.

For one moment she hung in midair, her wings trying to stretch open in the cramped confines instinctively and then the world exploded around her. She hit the corner of the cage before it burst open, releasing her onto the muck and mud with a wet splattering sound. The snake struck down towards her, Creole was moving to catch her and she erupted into instinctive rush of movement towards the one thing that gave her freedom. Her flat webbed feet slapped against the mud, feeling a hand close down near her tail and yank before she beat her wings frantically. Pain erupted along her ass where the feathers were grabbed and torn free, but she lurched up into the sky for a brief few beats, crashing into the water in front of her.

The moment her feet touched it, she skidded and began to paddle frantically, feeling the throbbing right along the curve of her ass as she lunged further into the water. She was shocked she didn't sink, but it was brief when she remembered what she was now. She twisted her head back, looking at a small bald patch on her tail where the tan feathers had been ripped free, making her flinch. Beyond her, the snake was sliding rapidly across the mud, spilling towards the water rapidly as the oryx stood up. His eyes weren't angry, they were almost.... Sad as she paddled faster, throwing her weight into the movements as she heard the snake slipping into the water.

"Do you think ta find mercy in da swamp, cher?" He called after her , the splash of the water and the snake pushing her terror on as she broke forward, sweeping her wings down. Anything was better than that... thing, anything.

~ ~ * ~ ~

Arnaud had lived his life in this area, she knew the swamp well when she was going by boat or taking some of the paths near the forested parks, but she had always had GPS with her in those cases. Or at least was looking at it from a higher point of view. As a duck, she had to figure it out as best she could, and was always.... Always looking behind her for Judgment. She swam until she was so tired that she could barely think, fueled by fear and the knowledge that she was going to end up slaughtered like a piece of meat if she was caught. Eventually she came to a break in the swamp, a bit of hard land that she could crawl out onto, one without a hint of gator tracks to warn her off. She panted as she climbed out, her beak opened up with her narrow tongue hanging out. Her wings drooped down, too much effort to lift them up as she mud made wet sounds under her webbed feet.

As soon as she reached the top of the little hill she let out a sigh of pure relief. It was one of the small pools that made up a part of the swamp, and it was one that was host to waterfowl by the dozens. At least two herons were picking their way about, some gulls were walking about, hopping and squawking loudly and, most importantly, there was a group of six ducks that were swimming in the pool, sifting about for food. Mallards. She was safe. She saw at least one female hidden away in a group of rushes, tucked safely beneath them while the gaudily marked males foraged. If the snake did find her here, he'd have the distraction of other ducks. It was as good a hiding spot as any.

She made her way to a spot just out of view of the main part of the water way and dropped to her stomach and chest, her legs tucked beneath her. Her heaving breath began to steady as she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on recovering. Her eyes flicked shut and she just concentrated on recovering herself as best she could. Her wings drooped and touched the ground, resting there. She had to make her next move. She could get out of here, make a bolt to get out of the swamp. Whatever the ghost, or spirit had done, it surely couldn't last forever. It had to come to an end, somehow, she just had to figure out how long it would last. And be out of the swamp by then. As a duck, she could float, she could swim, albeit still in danger. As a human, she'd never get out of here unless she happened to find a boat out here to rescue her.

"AAACK" She let out explosively as something rounded, but hard, pinched the back of her neck feathers and yanked roughly. Arnaud leapt upwards, hissing out and nearly cracked herself against the duck that suddenly stepped over onto her back.

She flapped her wings and twisted her head back, striking out at him to try and drive him back as she lunged up to her feet and toppled the drake off her. She hissed back at him violently, bristling as he righted himself and switched his tail back and forth a few times. Instead of being deterred, he got up and lunged for her again, snapping at her neck while he tried to use his chest to push her back down. She let out an angry noise, wriggling out from beneath him with her wings flapping before she nearly crashed into another duck that was advancing on her. They were all there, the males were out of the little pool they had been foraging in and she found herself staring at a converged group of them as the male that had awoken her tried to shove her back down to the ground with a lunge forward.

Her wings splayed out and her chest hit the ground as the weight shoved her back down and the beak snapped down against the back of her neck and yanked harder. The feathers were drawn taut as she tried to lunge back up, but another duck was already struggling to push up over her as she let out a terrified hiss. They were everywhere, the strange push of bodies, the snap of beaks as she tried to struggle back up onto her webbed feet. She gave a blind lunge up, her wings sweeping out and cracking one of them as she ran forward in a desperate bid for freedom. She managed to get out from under one of the ducks, and then another, leaping forward with her eyes bulging as another one tried to step up onto her side as she was battered about.

There was a burst of feathers and suddenly she saw the female that she had seen hiding lunge up into the air with a frantic pumping her wings. The males barely paid her any mind as they chased her in her awkward waddle across the marsh land, giving her no piece as she did her best to dodge out from beneath their attempts to grab her. She barely got half a dozen feet before another one lunged up and onto her back, shoving her back down with a brutal push of his chest over her wings, his weight holding her down as he clamped down on her neck and yanked it roughly about, another one tried to scrabble up and onto her back so there was a loud burst of savage hisses and sounds as the pair started to battle on top of her, their wings battering at her where she was pinned.

She twisted away again, struggling out from under her with renewed terror. They weren't just bullying her, there was little doubt what they were going to try and do to her. There was no way she was going to end up pinned and raped by ducks! She launched herself up in a desperate bid for freedom as the drakes started fighting with one another, her wings pumped heavily to try and get into the air, but it wasn't working. The moment she tried to lunge up to escape, another one of the drakes caught and dragged her back, pinning her down roughly as she writhed and twisted angrily. He was heavier, thicker along the chest as she was pinned down and his beak closed around the back of her neck, shoving her down hard enough that she couldn't get her feet up, they were splayed out as he stepped onto her back with one heavy webbed foot and curled the claws down to bite at the skin beneath her feathers.

She heard the drakes still fighting, but none came to rescue her, or try to fight for her this time. The drake kept her pushed down as his tail and ass curled down beneath her and began to grind along the soft feathers that hid her cloaca. She let out a startled sound, she tried to tuck down her tail to hide herself, she pinned herself flat to the ground to try and keep herself covered, and he only pushed her down harder and ground himself this way and that. Something scraped over her feathers, shoving forward hard enough that she let out a loud cry, rough and animalistic as something jabbed right up against the tender opening. It pushed up and over roughly, slipping higher in the air with a rough push before the tail shifted back down again, rubbing this way and that.

She dug her webbed toes against the ground, her eyes wide and terrified, the heat building up beneath her feathers as there was a sudden shove upwards and the thick girth shoved right up against her swollen opening. Her shriek was muffled into a hiss as the shaft plunged into her body, twisting and curling as it pried her brutally open. Her walls stretched and clamped down around him as she writhed and struggled to get free, but he only pushed down harder, driving the twisting cock into her body. It wasn't stopping, her walls were forced open continually wider, the tip turning and wedging into her body, forcing itself into the narrow passage as the duck's tail bobbed against her own and his wings flapped a few times. It hurt, tears sprung to her eyes as she felt the sting and nauseating pain of being stuffed too full in a body that wasn't prepared for it.

Her walls clamped down tightly, trying to stop him from pushing in any further, the contractions rippling around the shaft as the drake kept shoving himself inwards, the tip dragging and scraping inside of her. The moment it pulled back, something hard and stiff scraped through her and made her hiss out. His beak shoved her head down harder as the rough jabbing drives rolled through her, prying and navigating their way through the most intimate parts of her body with short brutal strokes aimed at pushing more and more into her. Her hips were shoved up into the air, barely able to keep herself braced as he wedged himself in deeper, ignoring her protests and struggles in favor of his own pleasure. She could feel the slimy wetness oozing into her, dribbling from the tip only to be dragged back by the barbs that rasped through her.

One of the other ducks hit against her side, clattering and fighting with the male on her back, but that only made it worse as the hips jerked back and the coiled length drew backwards, ripping through her body and raking the rasping barbs nearly all the way out of her before he frantically drove forward again. Her beak was shoved into the mud, the filth coating it as she tried to get her feet under her, yet again, the movement halted when the drake began to fuck her hard, faster. His dick twisting and curling inside of her, pulsing and dragging through places she had never had in her life. Arnaud's wings beat against the damp ground, desperately trying to find a way free as the shaft pulsed inside of her, jerking pumping movements as the tail started to quiver back and forth against her own.

Another foot pushed against her, another male was clambering towards her as she let out an angry sound, her feathers flattened back as every twitch, every movement, found new places to plunge into her body. The barbs were raking through her, dragging along her body as if they were scrubbing her out with a burning rush of pain. The male was driving into her, his feet clutched against her back as he pushed forward harder and she could feel the hot flesh of his genital slit grinding against her own as there was a sudden spike of pressure and pain. She could barely breathe as the weight pushed down, added with another drake trying to climb on top of her, she could only twitch and flip her wings weakly as the tip pushed past a part of her body that was trying to deny him access against all possible hope.

When the drake managed to pierce as deep as he could go his shaft began to pulse inside of her, throbbing and quivering, she felt the pumping twitches latch the barbs in place inside of her. Something hot and sticky erupted from his cock and splattered inside of her, coating parts of her body that she had never possessed as she was held down. The sperm rich cum erupted deeper and deeper, pouring into her and leaking into every crevice that it could find, breeding her as if she were little more than an animal. Arnaud wanted to sob out in horror and terror as pump after pump emptied inside of her aching abused passage, flushing in deep inside of her to try and make a play for her eggs. It felt like an eternity before the drake yanked roughly backwards and pulled off her back. His cock dragging free in a messy slimy rush, a final rake of the barbs that made the former man let out a rasping sound of protest.

She tried to lunge up to her feet again, she pushed herself up with a few weak steps, but another drake was already slamming her back down, others were trying to get on top of her, shoving and angrily hissing and quacking at each other as their beaks battled to be the ones to grab her neck. Arnaud's terror mounted as she flapped her wings, lunging forward to half fall in the still pool, her beak shoved brutally down into the water as the next 'suitor' forced her tail up and twisted his own beneath it, already probing against her swollen sore vent, trying to find the opening. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't fight free as he kept her beak shoved down, she could only shudder in pain as his tip plunged into her body and began to thread the twisted shaft deeper and deeper into her unwilling form. And it began all over again.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"And you're sure that he was here? How long ago?" Jean Castille fought to keep the eagerness of his face as the group of college kids yammered all their own time stamps and commentary.

They had him. They finally had him. There was blood along the edge of the swamp, the shirt was torn and had blood as well along the front. Their killer had been here, and he had left everything behind. The camper was already open and in the middle of being searched, there were uniforms everywhere and he was standing here taking statements. He only felt the faintest pant of embarrassment at being given the job, but the moment they'd gotten the call his squad had been put in the back seat of the investigation. Like anything else of importance, those who had untarnished records and the chance to advance were the ones that had arrived and taken things in hand. It used to bother him when he'd still cared about any of the politics and the hope of advancement, but he knew it was simply the way of the world. He didn't have to like it, just survive it.

"I dunno, I haven't seen him since that fellow was with him." One of them spoke dubiously, a sandy haired lad that looked worried. "One of the anthros was out here, I dunno who, but they were talking. I saw them when I was coming down to the trailer and thought it was weird that an anthro and human were here..."

"What sort? Predator? Prey? Did you get a good look?" Jean tried not to press, but he could smell victory in the making.

"Looked like a deer or antelope, something with horns." The kid lifted his fingers to try and show what he meant. "Really tall. That's really all I saw from the distance. But I guess they could have gone off together?"

"Anderson!" Jean turned his head to his second in command. "I want you to keep asking questions, I'm going to go and see if we can get some of the bloodhounds out."

It only took a few minutes to get their roles switched, but Jean felt like it was an eternity. There was every chance that the damned kid was out there right now with his next victim, they had to get out there, they had to find him. Arnaud MacKenzie, the heir to a fortune in the airline industry, and they had found evidence all over his damned camp ground that he had been the one to kill the poor vixen that they'd found. Her blood was at the edge of the swamp, his clothes had blood on them, torn parts where she had struggled. It was a scandal the likes of which that would destroy the family if it got out in the open, and Jean had every intention of making sure that it did hit the news. That it hit the world. That it wouldn't be slipped beneath the cracks somehow, no matter what it took.

He had never imagined they would catch a break this big, but reports of screams and the sound of a struggle had brought the police here where they had found everything. There was nothing to indicate who had been taken or how, but it didn't take a genius to see that he was going to kill again. They had to find him, no matter the cost. His eyes slid towards the man that had come to take the case from him, a youngster that had just recently gotten into plain clothes. He looked like brass all the way down to his hair cut. Impeccably dressed and standing stiff, cautiously discussing what course to take. He wanted the kid to be hauled in, but his concern wasn't just for stopping the killings, it was on what would happen if he screwed up. His shiny badge, his chance to advance, he weighed it all against what he was going to do. He wouldn't call out a manhunt, he wouldn't risk the family's good name with that, no. He had to go carefully.

Let them go carefully. _ Jean tucked his hands into his pockets and walked down along the line of the swamp, his eyes flicking out at the darkening wildlands, the darkening water as evening came. _That doesn't mean I have to follow suit. This has to be stopped, at all costs. Whoever that poor anthro is, if she's still alive, she needs to be saved.

_ _

As he let his feet take him towards the main road, his mind already on the dogs he'd have to haul in and if he could get them by the people in charge, a shadow flitted beside him. For a moment he thought it was a trick of the light, a car going behind him, a passing flashlight, and then it was gone. He dismissed it as he reached the parked cars and swung the door open to reach for the radio, but the feeling of being watched remained.

_ _