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Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 56: That Which Defies Explanation (While She Was Away Part Two)

Day 163 continued

Late that evening Lurie and Sorren did take my mind off of the horrible outing I had had with Sir Ram that day. You see Tauren and Sorren had bought a strap on device that um, lets females experience what it is like to be a male complete with simulated equipment. That night Sorren and Lurie reversed sexual roles. Instead of being penetrated, the coyote girl was the one doing the penetrating.

I seem to recall that Lurie felt the entire roll reversal was quite eye opening and very enjoyable. For Sorren and myself it was just painful. But the 'yote girl made it up to us.

(I will leave that to your imagination.)

Another week went by without a word from my mistress. Lurie and Sorren did hear from Tauren that he was having a good time and that he would be back the following Monday. So it would be just Sorren, Lurie and myself for a few days longer. But that weekend I would also find myself preoccupied:

Day 174

"Alex you, Minka and Arthur take this block. Prim, Lee and myself will take the next block." The otter lady said to us.

"What about Cody and Milo?" The hedgehog-boy asked.

"Milo's father is driving them around in another neighborhood." The rabbit-girl said.

"Good luck you guys, but remember we are going to raise more than you!" The panda-girl said as professor Love drove away.

"We will see about that!" Minka said to her friend.

"Hmm, not much of a neighborhood- very remote and isolated." Arthur said thinking out-loud.

"Say it, just say it, we are in the country." The monkey-girl exclaimed.

"Really what was your first clue?" I asked.

"The houses are really spread out from each other."

"Well regardless, I promised that I would make it up to the professor for the 'Cody Incident' by assisting you two with your fundraiser. So let's try that house over there." I said pointing to a rather large two level yellow farmhouse that looked quite old.

"I love the large porch, the white columns and 'A' frame roof." Minka said.

"Wow, that is a very large house." Arthur said pulling out his cube. "Hmm... this particular design was popular 200 years ago."

"You mean that thing is two hundred years old?! It is well maintained for its age." I said as we made our way to the front door.

Minka rang the doorbell while we waited for someone to answer. There was a long pause before a bald headed man in a red shirt and tan pants answered. He appeared to be in his fifties and looked like the world had beat him up good really good.

"Yes?"

"Good morning sir! I am Arthur Speedwell and this is Minka Mallow and Alex Winter."

"How are you sir?" Minka said to the disheveled man who didn't respond to our question- he seemed to be in a daze. "Yeah.... right my classmates and I are selling cookies to raise funds for a trip to the Space Museum in World Four."

The man still had no reaction.

"Could we interest you in a ordering a couple of boxes? We have chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter and oatmeal to name a few." Arthur said.

"Sir are you ok?" I asked. No sooner had I said that, the door closed on the man knocking him forward. He turned around to try to open it. The handle would turn but the door would not move.

Minka, Arthur and I forgot our sales pitches and rushed to his aid. We pushed and pushed on the front door before it finally opened again. We fell inside the house and onto the floor of what would be the common area only that family had modified it.

"Thank you for your help." The man said standing. "But I don't think I or my family can afford to help you with your trip."

(Whoa, what is going on here?)

I helped Arthur and Minka up from the floor as we stood up and looked around. We realized that the family had been living in the common area of their house- mattress and blankets were lined up side by side and the rest of the house had been closed off.

"Sir?" Arthur said to the man as his family approached us.

"Mr. Fox."

"Is everything ok? It appears that you and your family seem to be in some sort of distress." The hedgehog-boy said politely.

The man looked down at the floor as though he had so much more to say, but was too tired to say it. I stared at his wife who was wearing a blue shirt and black blazer and grey pants and his daughter who was wearing a white shirt and shorts as they approached us.

"Mr. Fox is there anything we can do to help?" I asked the family.

"We wish you could, but I don't think there is anything anyone can do." Mrs. Fox said wistfully.

"We are sorry we wasted your time, Bye!" Minka said leading Arthur and myself away.

"That was beyond weird why would a family confine themselves to just one room of their house?" I asked as we started to walking to the next house.

"Isn't it obvious Mr. Winter?" The hedgehog-boy said to me.

"What is obvious?" I asked.

"That family living in one room, walling off the rest of the house- the terrified looks on their faces. This has all the signs of a classic haunting!" Minka exclaimed.

"Serious mysterious!" Arthur shouted.

"Come on children there are no such things as ghosts. When you die you either go to the good or bad place there is no in-between."

(I should know.)

"Are you so sure Mr. Alex?" The monkey girl said making a creepy face at me. "This would be a great opportunity to do some ghost hunting!"

"To what end?" I asked the furry children.

"Yeah, we could do some sleuthing and see if their haunting is real or something else!" The hedgehog-boy added.

"I think we should continue on with our fundraiser, you two no more talk of ghost hunting."

We moved on to the next house and then the next taking orders for cookies for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. During that time Arthur and Minka were fixated on the Fox family and their apparent ghost problem. The two just kept talking about, it and talking about it. Arthur thought that it would be a great opportunity to add to their ever increasing database on hauntings.

When professor Love picked us up, the two told Prim and Lee what we had seen.

"Wow, that is so weird." The rabbit-girl said.

"Is it weirder than the shadow people you saw at the cemetery last fall?" The panda-girl asked.

(Shadow people?!)

"Even weirder! The family had walled off the rest of the house and was living in the common area!" Minka said to her best friends.

Professor Love dropped me off at Castle Wundgaore before driving the beastial children home. I got a sense from the conversations that Minka and Arthur had been on ghost hunts before and something told me that they weren't going to let this issue rest.

That evening....

"There you are Camin! I have been looking all over for you! Why are you camping out in the park?" The brown rabbit asked the grey hare startling him.

"Haim!" How did you find?- you are not supposed to be here! Its getting dark!"

"But I am. I have been looking all over for you Camin." The brown rabbit said blushing.

"Why?" The grey hare asked his would be stalker.

"I had to tell you something, something that was very hard for me to admit." The brown rabbit said continuing to blush as the evening proceeded to turn into night.

"Yes?" The grey hare asked.

"I, I developed feelings for you. I have had them since the day we met and I became smitten. For the longest time I have denied them, refused to act on them but as I got to know you I realized that I could not deny them any longer."

"I have had the same feelings for you too since that day too Haim. But you shouldn't be here! That thing- that creature is still out there the one responsible for the disappearances!" The grey hare said to admirer.

"If that creature is so dangerous then why are you camping out here by yourself?" Haim said staring at Camin's well hidden tent and cache of supplies- so secluded and isolated in the town's park. Then at the grey hare's magnificent physique. He had always marveled at his flat stomach, and trim frame- not an ounce of fat on him, and then there was the fur- so soft to the touch.

Haim realized that he loved the adorable grey hare; he then ran to hug Camin.

"Haim?"

"It's you Camin isn't it?"

"Haim?"

"You have lycanthropy." The brown rabbit said confronting his crush.

Camin looked at the fading daylight and then at the brown rabbit hugging him.

"Haim, how long have you known?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out. The mysterious disappearances since you came to town, you living alone, our dates always being during the day of afternoon and you are never around during the evening or at night especially during a full moon."

The grey hare hugged the smaller male back. As he did Haim could feel Camin's heart beating very fast. He also was starting to get very warm.

"Haim, you shouldn't be here. It is not safe."

"I don't care Camin. I want to be with you forever and always."

"I do too Haim." Camin said kissing the brown rabbit on his forehead. "But tonight is not a good night."

"Indeed it is, I want to watch you change. You can even change me if you like and we can be two lycanthropes roaming the world together. I don't care as long as I can be with you- I want to be one with you."

"No you don't understand." The grey hare said groaning while within his lover's embrace. "The creature... the thing I am becoming I can't control it!"

Camin gently pushed his brown rabbit to the side as he removed his clothing and fell to the ground.

"Camin! What are you saying?!" The brown rabbit rushed to the side of his boyfriend who increasingly started moaning and groaning in pain.

"I love you too but now is not the time for this! Haim, for the sake of your life run!"

"What do you mean?!"

"Haim, it has a personality of its own! It takes over *GAAHH* during the transformation! You are not safe! Please my love run!"

The brown rabbit finally understood what his lover had been trying to tell him. He started to run, but was knocked down and pounced on by the now transforming grey hare who stopped moaning and groaning and started growling!

"Camin! Camin!" Haim screamed.

"It is too late little bunny." A very low and demonic sounding voice said creeping past Camin's lips.

"Camin please fight it, come back to me!" The brown rabbit squeaked from beneath the transforming grey hare.

"Camin is not available at the moment little bunny, but I am."

The thing Camin had become, forced the terrified brown rabbit to watch as it made itself a little more comfortable:

Camin's grey fur darkened to a deep black and grew down his arms, legs and shoulders forming a thick mane around his neck. His paws elongated growing sharp claws at their tips. Camin's bones cracked, reshaped and reformed from rabbit to werewolf.

Haim nearly soiled himself as Camin's emerging wereform continued to take shape- a long poofy tail taking the place of the former hare's short one. The brown rabbit watched in horror as his lover's face reformed from rabbit to wolf- his snout elongating forming sharp teeth and his long ears retracting to form short stocky ones. It was also around the same time that his penis encased itself within a sheath and his testicles grew fuller and rounder.

Haim soon realized that he was pinned under a fully emerged werewolf as the full moon finished rising in the sky. The creature's fur was as black as the night.

"There, much better." The were-creature hissed.

"Camin, I know you are in there somewhere." The brown rabbit said trembling. "I just wanted you to know that, that, I love you."

_"Aw, I love you too." The werewolf said. "Especially with a side of fish!" _

***CHOMP!!!!****

"Eeew gross!!" Lurie shrieked.

"Oh that is so nasty!!" I shouted at the viewscreen.

"What's the problem?!" Sorren interjected.

The 'yote girl and myself turned to look at the goofy dragon.

"Haim wanted to be one with his lover Camin and now he is- just not in the way he had imagined." The dragon giggled.

"SORREN!!" Lurie and I shouted in unison.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Come in its open!" Lurie said.

"Hi! Can Alex come out and play?" A monkey-girl tee-heed.

"So this is where you are these days." The hedgehog-boy said greeting me.

"You know it took us a while to figure out exactly where you live in the castle- it is quite big and rather lovely." Minka said grinning at me.

"Little ones what are you doing here?!" I asked getting up from the sectional to greet them while Lurie and Sorren continued to watch their movie.

"Well Mr. Alex...." Arthur started to say.

"We contacted the Fox family and they agreed to let us investigate their house this evening in order to determine what is going on over there." The monkey-girl said to me.

I was floored.

"Do your parents know about this?!"

"Actually mine know that I am staying at Minka's for the night." Arthur readily admitted.

"And mine are out of town!" The monkey-girl said to me.

"So who is looking after you two?!" I asked dumb-stricken.

"Does that means you are interested in a little ghost hunting with us 'little ones' Mr. Winter?" The hedgehog-boy asked me.

"Hey squirt! Who is at the door?" Lurie asked.

"Two of professor Love's students. They have invited me on one of their so called ghost hunts at a old farmhouse we saw earlier today. I think I better go just to make sure they stay out of trouble."

Sorren and Lurie looked at each other and then me.

"Ghost hunting huh?" Lurie said. "Ok. Just be back by morning."

"Oh and don't catch anything that you can't throw back!" The dragon giggled. "Especially werewolves."

(Given my history with werewolves, that was not the funniest in the slightest.)

I stared at the furry children and then the view screen where were-Camin was devouring Haim while wishing he had a side of fish to go with his meal. Damn, and the movie was starting to get good too.

And so I went upstairs, changed into a white shirt with cargo pants roughly matching what the two cubs were wearing.

"You might want to bring a pillow as well. We will be spending the night." The monkey-girl said to me.

"Alright. I will accompany you on this little ghost hunt if only to keep you adventuresome cubs safe." I said as I followed the two outside the entrance of the castle to an awaiting red van. "What is that?"

"That is our ride silly!" The monkey-girl said to me as we climbed in.

"Alex, we would like you to meet Flo." Arthur said introducing me to a twenty something orangutan. Who was about five years older than me and fourteen years older than the cubs.

"Uh, nice to meet you ma'am." I said.

"Charmed- for sure."

"Flo is our sitter. She also runs tech."

(Really?!)

"Is this the virgin you spoke of?" She asked the two cubs.

"Yuppers! He doesn't believe! Not one bit!" Minka said ecstatically.

"Wow, ignorance is pure bliss." She said. "Shall we get going? From the sound of it that family is in need of some answers."

It seemed like Minka, Arthur and Flo had this down to a science. What seems even more surprising was that the three appeared to be veterans at this.

"So exactly how long have you three been ghost hunting?" I asked while we took the twenty minute drive to the Fox's farm house on the outskirts of World One.

"Since we were about eight." Arthur calmly told me.

"Arthur and Minka live close to each other." Flo said to me.

"I became interested in the paranormal when my family moved into our house and discovered that it wasn't exactly uninhabited if you know what I mean. Fortunately the ghost there was very friendly and tolerant of us." The monkey-girl said.

"From that event, Minka became aware of the paranormal." Flo said. "During that time she also met Arthur who helped her research the house. Together they found out that the ghost was of an old woman, the previous owner of the house who had passed away some years back. But she loved the house so much that even death couldn't keep her away so she stuck around."

"Really?!" I asked.

"Mr. Alex here is such a skeptic!" Minka sneered. "Don't worry Mr. Winter- you stick with us you will see things that will challenge your ideology, rock your world and shake your beliefs to the very core."

"Really? Ok cubs enlighten me."

We arrived at the Fox's farmhouse around 10 PM. Upon our arrival Arthur knocked on the door of the farmhouse. It was quickly answered by Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox and their teenage daughter Lilly who were awaiting our arrival.

"Greetings Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox and Ms. Fox." The hedgehog-boy said greeting our clients for the night.

"Three beastials and a human? Is that all?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, that is my team. This is my partner Minka, our tech specialist Flo and Alex. He is our intern." Arthur said.

(Intern?!)

"Can you help us?" Mrs. Fox asked.

"We do hope so Mrs. Fox." The monkey-girl said.

"With your permission we would like to set up our equipment in your house to observe and study your routine activities with the hope that we can document what is happening here." Flo said to the family.

"Based on our findings we can determine if there is indeed a haunting occurring, who or what is doing it, whether they are friendly or malevolent and if it is the latter how to deal with it." Arthur said.

"We want you to go about your normal routine as if we weren't here." Minka added.

"So Mr. Fox how long have you and your family lived here?" I asked starting the interview with the ghost hunter's clients.

Meanwhile Flo departed to set up surveillance in the red van. She left Minka and Arthur some probes to deploy in each room of the farmhouse which would link up with Arthur's cube and the tech in the van to record visual and audio happenings in the house.

I was most impressed with the Fox family. They did not seem to care that their paranormal investigators were beastials.

(Or were they that desperate?!)

"We have lived in this house for about five months." Mr. Fox started. "I am a long haul driver moving freight between the five cities. After a long day I just want to get away from it all, the traffic and the crowds so I wanted something away from the congestion that is why we chose this farmhouse on the outskirts of the city." The fifty year old man said.

The family looked like they were middle class one of the very few that could make a decent salary and have a comfortable living under the High Evolutionary's reign. Mrs. Fox was a librarian and their daughter attended a local high school.

"So how long after moving in did the weird stuff start happening?" Minka asked the family.

"Almost immediately." Mrs. Slaughter stated we started seeing shadows out of the corner of our eyes. When you turned your head, there wasn't anything there. We would also hear weird voices at all times of the day. Especially when anyone was alone by themselves."

"Anything specific?" Arthur asked.

"Help, help us. Other times it would be moaning like someone or something was in pain and still other times growling." The black haired woman said.

"Was your last house haunted?" Minka asked.

"No." Was the immediate answer.

"Have you or any of your family ever dabbled in the occult?" Arthur asked.

"No." Mrs. Fox answered.

"How long did you live at your previous house?" I asked the family.

"Six years." The daughter said to me. "It was a blessing compared to this one.

"Anything else you can think of?" Minka asked.

"There was also other weird stuff- pictures that were turned upside down, frames that wouldn't stay right side up." Lilly added.

"House keys suddenly disappearing and then reappear days later." Mr. Fox added. "Doors opening and closing as if they had a mind of their own."

"Then one night about three months ago we were in the master bedroom watching a movie on the hub when we saw it."

"Saw what?" I asked Mrs. Fox.

"A clump of black smoke gingerly moving across the bedroom floor. At first I thought it was a rat. You know how some of these houses are. But we all saw it clearly! It moved across the floor and out the bedroom door as if it was minding its own business." The woman said.

(That is messed up.)

"The incidents just kept happening and happening. We ended up retreating to the main room here and walling ourselves off from the rest of the house." Mrs. Slaughter said.

"Can you help us? We have our life savings invested here and can't afford to leave." Mr. Fox said grabbing Arthur's paws.

The hedgehog-boy nodded. "We will give it our best shot."

"Do you mind if we spend the night here with you?" Minka asked the family.

After hearing the family description of their so called haunting. I was starting to get uneasy although I didn't sense anything. The looks on the family's faces when we encountered them earlier today- they were definitely fearful of something.

Minka and I picked up the probes and started to deploy them in each room of the house starting in the great room. As soon as Minka or I placed the triangle like device down on a table, counter or chair, Arthur would activate it and Flo would confirm the device was recording sound and video.

We then moved on to backyard which gave me the creeps for some reason, then the kitchen of the rustic old house. For something two hundred plus years old, it was remarkably well maintained nice white cabinets, complemented by a counter and chairs. From there we made our way past the family's barrier to the living room and then the study.

"Look at all those books!" I exclaimed.

"Very retro." Arthur added.

"I think we should bed down in there." Minka said grinning. It gives a great view of the living room.

From there we went upstairs and deployed probes in each of the bedrooms and the family's abandoned bathroom. Just off of the bathroom were stairs leading to the attic.

"We should head up there next." The hedgehog-boy said.

Carefully, I followed Minka and Arthur up the stairs to the very top of the house. The attic was a typical attic- trunks full of old clothing, keep sakes and other memorabilia some of it belonged to the Foxes. Others were abandoned items from the previous owners I observed as I opened a trunk while Minka and Arthur deployed a probe.

"Well if that don't beat all!" Minka said excitedly.

"Alex come take a look at this!" Arthur said ordering me to his side.

I closed the trunk I was rummaging to join the cubs. They were looking at their shadows on the wall from the ceiling light.

"Alex what do you see?" The hedgehog-boy asked me.

"Just our shadows." I replied.

"You don't notice something strange about them?" Minka asked me growing ever increasingly excited.

"Let's see there is yours Minka, Arthur's, mine and.... and.... and...." My eyes grew wide.

There was a fourth shadow! It was taller than ours and humanoid like but never the less it was there!

"Mr. Winter do you have an explanation for this?" Arthur said turning to me.

"There has to be a logical explanation." I said moving back and forth under the ceiling light.

In fact we all did our- shadows changing and moving on the wall. But the forth shadow remained the same like it was studying us!

"So what is your explanation Mr. Alex?" Minka said confronting me.

"Um, um, um."

"We are not alone! I don't know about you, but I think this place is haunted!" The monkey-girl said pulling on my arm.

"Flo are you recording this?!" Arthur said contacting her on his cube.

"You betcha!" The female orangutan said.

"Incident number one, fourth shadow on the attic wall. It appears to be humanoid and several feet taller than us."

"Wow!!!" I said as the two cubs pulled me downstairs.

We next proceeded back to the study to set up our sleeping bundles. But after what I had just seen who could actually sleep?

"I think we should set up in the corner of the room facing the entrance." I said nervously. "If there is something watching us I don't want to be caught off guard."

"Why Mr. Winter is that a possible shift in your beliefs about the paranormal?" The monkey-girl asked grinning at me.

"I don't know." I said to the furry children. I have never experienced anything like that before.

"If it makes you feel better. You can sleep between us." Arthur said reassuring me. "We will protect you."

It was then that we heard a scream from Lilly the Fox's daughter.

"Where did that come from?!" I said startled.

"That was the first floor bathroom." Arthur said grabbing me and Minka.

We ran to the the bathroom which was just off of the kitchen where we found Mr and Mrs. Fox pointing.

"In there!"

I followed Arthur and Minka into the moderate sized room. That was where we found Lilly who had been preparing for bed. She had been showering when something spooked her- badly.

"What do you see?" Minka asked eagerly.

"A perfect specimen of an adolescent female human- slim tummy, hips are rounding and beginning to take shape, budding mammary glands. I think they are almost large enough to hold a stylus and pubic hair is starting to grow covering the genitals." The hedgehog-boy said studying our client's daughter.

"Quite interesting. I wonder if I will have those features when I am her age?" Minka asked.

"Children if you are finished admiring our client, can we focus?!" I said to the two before I looked at the naked teenager. Arthur and Minka were right she was filling out rather nicely in all the right places.

"I don't see anything wrong here- not in the slightest." The hedgehog-boy asked.

"Not me! That!" The teenager said pointing to the fogged bathroom mirror.

We turned around to see spelled out in the steam of the mirror was a message:

YOU WILL DIE!!!

(I don't believe it.)

"Well that is something you don't see every day." Minka said calmly "It looks like what ever is here is malevolent."

No sooner had the monkey-girl made that statement more text was drawn into the steam on the mirror:

SOMEDAY....

"Hmm.... this one is playful." Arthur said studying the stenciling. "Flo are you receiving this?!"

"I copy." The orangutan said.

"Incident number two mysterious writing in the bathroom mirror."

"Lilly is this the first time something like this has happened?" I asked as I gave the naked teen a towel.

She nodded.

"Okay we will add this to our evidence pool. You and your family continue with what you were doing." Minka said pulling Arthur and myself back to the study.

We sat for the next hour reviewing the evidence.

"So far what we have collected has indicated that there is paranormal activity taking place here wouldn't you agree Mr. Winter?"

I looked at the hedgehog-boy.

"Yes there is something definitely taking place. What it is I do not know." I said quietly.

"So far the evidence doesn't suggest that they are hostile." Minka said trying to reassure me.

"Arthur! Do you copy?"

"Yes Flo, what is it?"

"In all the excitement you forgot to deploy in the basement." The little ones cub-sitter pointed out.

Minka and I looked at the last triangular probe.

"She's right." I said.

"Ok let's go! Where is the entrance to the basement?!" The monkey-girl said excitedly.

Slowly we made our way to the basement of the two hundred year old farmhouse.

Like the attic it had also been used for storage. The basement was a dusty old room that ran the entire length of the farmhouse. It had a few storage lockers neatly placed against the wall as well as a vintage record player in the corner.

"What is that thing?" Minka said studying it.

"It does look interesting." Arthur added.

"Oh that? You two are so young. It is a record player it is a device for playing music. The were quite prevalent on my world before being replaced with newer technology."

"On your world?" The hedgehog-boy said looking at me. "Hmm...."

"I mean on Counter Earth!" I said flailing my arms back-peddling.

"Hmm...." Arthur said studying me again as the record player started playing.

I placed the triangular probe on a old trunk.

"Arthur!"

"Right." He said. The ghost hunter linked up the probe with his cube. "Flo please tell me you are getting this?"

"I have visual and audio." The orangutan said.

"Wow that thing is playing without a needle!" I said studying the player. "Or any power for that matter."

I continued to study the player and the table it was mounted on. I then turned to look at the length of the basement and where the record player had been placed in relation to it.

"Hey guys check this out!"

Arthur and Minka soon joined me.

"I think this room was used for dancing."

"The floor is wooden and does seem to run the length of the entire room!" Minka said gleefully.

"I think at one time or another parties were held here." I said to the two cubs.

Minka and Arthur didn't respond. Their gazes were locked on to the far side of the basement as a black puddle of something goo or tar, pooled on to the wooden floor. If that wasn't bad enough something started rising from the puddle- a dark black humanoid shape. What's worse, It started making its way toward us.

The black goo like entity appeared to be petite so it had to have been female. Whatever it was, it wasn't happy to see us; we could just make out a big frown on its face as it continued to approach! Arthur, Minka and I were frozen in our tracks- transfixed as we watched this black- thing move toward us.

You Know This Is Going To Be Continued....

Next Week:

The Ghost Hunters attempt to continue their investigation.