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The Queer Case of Dr. Stevens; or, The Abominable Mr. Hardy by Wakboth

• * * The study was a tall and narrow room with tall and narrow windows, flanked by brown curtains. It was a neat, well-ordered room, where the young, buxom blonde rabbit, laboriously typing by a side table, looked somehow out of place. Truth to be told, Hester Bonney also felt out of place here. An orphan from the streets of Edinburgh, she'd been taken in and raised by an elderly clergyman, Reverend Greengrass, who had known her parents. When the Reverend himself had died, Hester had been left adrift. Gathering what little money she had, she'd travelled south to London, seeking her fortune there. London had swallowed Hester up, just as it swallowed thousands of hopeful girls every day. She had in quick succession lost her money and what remained from her virginity, drifting from one petty job to another. Slowly Hester had come to realize that she was sinking; soon, if she couldn't somehow turn her fortunes around, she'd be reduced to selling her body to survive. Her chance had come unexpectedly. One night, she'd been sitting at the Salvation Army mission, tiredly reading one of the worn Bibles before going to bed, when Dr. Jacqueline Stevens, a noted philanthropist who funded numerous charities, had noticed her. The doctor was a tall, narrow, brown-furred jackal lady in her thirties, with an ill-defined aura of nervousness around her. She had asked Hester about her past, listening with keen interest as the rabbit told the sad story of her life and failed dreams. In the end, Dr. Stevens had told Hester that she needed a literate young woman as a research assistant and secretary; would the rabbit be interested? Hester had immediately agreed, and she had left the East End that night in doctor's carriage. Yes, she had a lot to be thankful for, Hester thought as she tried to find the letter "Q" on the keyboard, but there were a few things in her new job that she didn't like. Such as this damned new-fangled Remington machine that Dr. Stevens had bought, apparently out of sheer curiosity, and which she expected Hester to use; the rabbit was slowly getting a hang on typing, but she had her hands full with the doctor's normal correspondence; she hadn't been able to even start with the laboratory notes! She was certain this was going to be a passing fad; writing with a pen was so much easier and quicker. The experiments she didn't mind; they were often boring but rarely unpleasant, and at times they could be very nice... Hester stopped typing for a moment and flexed her aching fingers, her mind drifting back to yesterday's experiment. *** Dr. Stevens' laboratory was located in the old building behind her house that was also part of her property; years ago, it had housed the surgery of the former owner of the house. These days, the building was fairly neglected and stood empty except for a couple of rooms in the first floor. One of these was dedicated to her chemical research, with one corner furnished as a kind of a den, where the doctor could make herself tea and relax a bit while her chemicals were brewing; Hester had visited the room only a few times, and didn't find it very interesting at all. The other room, however, was a different matter. It was the former lecture room, with a small, well-lit stage at the front surrounded by benches rising in tiers towards the dark corners. Today, there was an old leather chair placed on the stage, with two buckets of water on the floor next to it, and a steaming tea kettle and some weird-looking contraptions on the table behind the chair. Dr. Stevens was already waiting for her, dressed in the usual white laboratory coat over her dress, holding a clipboard before her as if it was some kind of a shield. "Thank you for being so prompt, Hester," she said, flashing a tense smile at the rabbit. "Today, I'd like to do some more tests about the electrical conductance and impedance of your body. If you would be as kind as to, ah, remove your clothes and sit down?" Hester nodded and started undressing; despite her rather strict upbringing, she was anything but shy about her body, and had been often reprimanded for dressing improperly by the Reverend. Besides, wasn't stripping down the usual thing to do when you went to see a doctor? The way her employer followed closely Hester's every movement as she took off her blouse and undershirt, revealing her large, softly furred breasts had been a bit disconcerting at first, but she'd grown used to it. As she pulled her lacy knickers down, there was a clatter from behind her, and Hester turned to look over her shoulder. "Oh, it's nothing, silly me, I just dropped this," the jackal said with a blush on her face and quickly picked her clipboard up. Now completely naked, the rabbit sat down in the chair; the old, cracked leather felt cool against her bottom and back. "Right, good," Dr. Stevens said and walked over to Hester. "Please put these on," she said, offering the rabbit a pair of leather bracers and a small cap made from leather straps, all with long copper wires hanging from them. "Are you sure this is safe, madam?" Hester asked, wrinkling her nose as she studied the things. "I'm sure you know what you're doing and all, but isn't this electricity the same thing as lightning?" "Do not worry, Hester," the jackal explained. "I'm using low-tension direct current; this is an entirely different thing, and completely safe. You won't feel a thing." Hester wasn't quite convinced, but she wasn't going to start arguing with her employer on a matter like this where the doctor clearly knew more than she did. So she slipped the bracers around her wrists and put the cap onto her head; the ear-holes hadn't been made for a rabbit, but she managed to put it on well enough. "Good, good," the other woman said, pouring some hot water from the kettle into one of the buckets. "Now, if you would just put your left foot in warm water, here, and your right foot in cold water..." Hester did as she was told, feeling more than a little silly sitting there bare naked, with wires attached to her head and arms, and her feet in buckets. "I don't see what this has to do with anything," she said. "Oh, it's very important," Dr. Stevens told her. "This way I can, ah, measure the conductance through each of your leg, and study the differences. Oh, I almost forgot!" she said and took something from behind Hester, showing it to the rabbit. It was a smooth metal rod - steel by the look of it - about ten inches long and about an inch thick, with a slight bulge at one end; a rubber-covered wire led from the other end to one of the machines on the table. To Hester, it looked suspiciously like a steel cock. "This is, ah, an anodic metallo-probe," the jackal explained. "I, um, need it to measure the harmonic currents passing through your body. Are you ready? This may feel a bit uncomfortable at first, but I assure you it will pass." She did something to the probe, and a low hum rose from it. "Go ahead, madam," Hester said, sounding more confident than she felt and gripping the hand rests of the chair tightly. To her relief, there was no shock when the metal rod touched her fur; rather, there was a low, almost pleasant vibration. "First, I'll have to chart the pattern of the currents through your body," the jackal said, moving the vibrating tip of the rod across Hester's chest, up her throat, around her mouth and down her neck again. As she worked, Hester started relaxing; this obviously wasn't like the time she'd spent a very boring hour lying on the table while the doctor took precise physiognomic measurements of every curve, nook and cranny of her body. Having your nipples pinched by steel callipers wasn't nearly as much fun as one might have thought! As Dr. Stevens moved the probe back to her front, Hester felt her nipples hardening in reaction to the rod passing across her bounteous bosom; she'd always had rather sensitive breasts. She hoped her employer took it as a result of the cool air in the auditorium, instead of having anything to do with her experiment. While the experiment progressed, Hester was becoming more and more aroused; the insistent vibrations from the probe as it moved up and down her stomach and thighs felt almost like soft caresses, especially now as the steel rod had warmed up a bit. "Is this going to take much longer?" the rabbit asked, trying to keep her voice calm as the probe passed, once again, across her pubes, sending strange shivers of pleasure into her slowly moistening pussy. "Oh, a few minutes more," the doctor answered, her voice cracking a bit. "I'm picking up some very interesting current loops in your abdominal and inguinal area; clear proof that the temperature difference at your feet is affecting the impedance of your body." Hester nodded and closed her eyes as the buzzing steel tip moved down, brushing the hood of her clitoris and making her shudder. The probing was concentrating in the area of her lower belly and groin now, with occasional forays to her inner thighs; she bit her lip to keep from moaning aloud as she felt the rod pass across her quim. "Are you feeling uncomfortable?" she heard Dr. Stevens ask; not trusting her voice to remain even, Hester shook her head quickly. The feelings of pleasure were growing rapidly; she was breathing faster now, and she could feel beads of sweat trickling down across the fur of her face and chest. The probe tip moved back up and swirled around her clitoris a few times, before touching the slick little nub directly. Hester felt her every muscle tighten as her orgasm washed over her; she had to bite her tongue hard to keep from making any noise that might have alerted Dr. Stevens to what had happened. The probing continued for a while longer, making the rabbit shudder with the pleasurable aftershocks of her climax. Finally, it was over. "Thank you," Dr. Stevens said in a hoarse voice, putting the probe away and wiping her brow with the back of her hand. "You've been most helpful today, Hester. You may get dressed again," she said, offering the rabbit a towel to dry her feet with. *** Of all the rooms in her house, Jacqueline thought, she enjoyed her laboratory the best; the real laboratory, not the old auditorium where she "experimented" with Hester. One end of it had been furnished as a cosy den, with a chintz armchair standing in front of the fireplace, a few shelves full of her favourite books, both fact and fiction, and a tea setting she'd inherited from her maiden aunt along with most of her wealth; she often relaxed here, basking in the warmth of the fire and reading poetry while she drank tea. The rest of the room was quite different, with a bare flagstone floor and tall cabinets full of chemicals and medicines. In the middle of the floor was a large table laden with chemist's equipment: precision balances and mixing bowls, retorts and Erlenmeyer flasks, distillation coils and measuring spoons and test tubes and more. Here, she had laboured for many years, seeking to subdue her inner demons by the power of science! Jacqueline had known since her teenage years that her interest in the body of her own sex went beyond the admirable sisterly love and even aesthetic fascination; there was no denying the strange urges she'd felt, or her dreams where her female friends had such important roles to play. When she had finally realized that ignoring these Sapphic desires was not going to make them go away, Jacqueline had dedicated herself to the medical science in the hopes of finding a cure to her lesbian tendencies, or at least a way to suppress them temporarily. Initially, her research had progressed very slowly, but after she had inherited a considerable fortune from her aunt, the widow of a prominent brewer, Jacqueline had been able to dedicate her whole attention to her task. She had combined the most modern advances in chemistry and psychology with the lore of alchemists and the theory of the four temperaments, until she'd rediscovered a certain compound that had supposedly been used by the medieval witches in their transformations. If her research had been successful, the elixir, when taken, would sequester and separate the dark, male-leaning part of her soul from the purely feminine part; that, Jacqueline was reasonably sure, would take away her unnatural lusts and allow her to finally live a life without guilt and worry. There were dangers to it, of course; some of the ingredients of the elixir were quite poisonous on their own, and the process of producing it was long and complex, full of delicate stages where things could wrong with disastrous results. The final difficulty was that the elixir was highly unstable, and would lose potency in a few minutes after mixing; through many tests and much work, Jacqueline had managed to combine the ingredients in two compounds, each stable on their own, which could be easily mixed to produce the elixir. Her hands shaking slightly, she closed and sealed an envelope, labelled "Only to be opened after my death; J. Stevens, MD"; it contained an abbreviated account on her work and the reasons for it, so that if she died as a result of a mistake, her death would not remain a mystery or be taken as a suicide. Placing the envelope on the mantelpiece of the fireplace, Jacqueline walked over to the laboratory table. Carefully, Jacqueline poured a measured amount of ruby-red, oily liquid into a measuring glass. Then, with her hands shaking, she took a folded piece of paper containing a precisely weighed amount of white salt, and shook the powder into the elixir. Immediately, the liquid started fizzing and steaming, and turned into deep purple, then slowly faded into pale aqua. "This is it," she muttered. "The culmination of all of my work!" Lifting the glass to her muzzle, Jacqueline emptied it with a single long draught. For a moment, she felt nothing; then a horrible, tearing agony filled her. Moaning, she stumbled back, dropping the glass to the floor where it shattered. Eyes watering from the pain that shot through her whole body, she gasped for breath, feeling her clothes tighten and tear, the laces of her corset snapping loudly. When the jackal's eyes cleared again, she was standing naked, the shreds of her clothes strewn on the floor around her. Her mind was reeling with strange thoughts and feelings racing through it, and her body felt different: taller, stronger, and somehow differently shaped. Looking down, she saw large hands and well-muscled arms; a broad chest with no sign of breasts, all covered by short fur that was charcoal black instead of drab brown; and below that, beneath the flat, hard stomach... "I'm a man," he said, his deep voice full of amazement. Jacqueline - no, Jack - took a few tentative steps, trying to get used to his new form. How men could walk with these things swinging and dangling between their legs, he wondered, clumsily making his way over to the armchair at the other end of the room. Clearly, the experiment had had unexpected results. Whether it had been a dismal failure or an amazing success was an entirely different matter, Jack thought, studying his new body with an appreciative eye. Jacqueline had tried to change herself, and she'd certainly succeeded in that! And after all, while lusting after women was unnatural and shameful in a woman, it was certainly natural in a man... The loss of breasts did not bother him, Jack thought, lazily tweaking a nipple between his fingertips; a fat lot of good they had done to Jacqueline, anyway. What he had gained was far more interesting! As a physician, Jacqueline had of course been familiar with male anatomy, but her lack of interest in the opposite sex meant she'd never studied these particular parts closely. His penis was a smooth, ebony rod some six inches long, at first soft and easily bent, but it hardened quickly as Jack toyed with it, rapidly gaining both length and girth. "Nice," he mumbled, turning his attention to his scrotum. It was covered with short fuzz of a fur, almost like black velvet, and surprisingly sensitive; a small squeeze on the heavy balls inside made Jack gasp. Having little basis for comparisons, Jack nevertheless felt quite satisfied with his new equipment; he could hardly wait to try them out with some of the women Jacqueline had secretly lusted after. Like that delectable rabbit she'd hired as her secretary, for example... Jack leaned back in his chair, thinking about Hester and the things he wanted to do to her. As he ran his fantasy scenarios in his mind, his erection returned, larger and harder than before. Without thinking, he grasped his cock and started to slowly pump his hand up and down its length, while his other hand fondled his balls. It took only a few moments before pale, pearly liquid started leaking from the tip of his prick; imagining that it was Hester's tongue as the rabbit kneeled between his legs, he started spreading it around his cockhead with his fingers. "Yes, suck it... ohh..." Jack moaned, eyes closed as he quickened the pace of his masturbation. He could feel his scrotum clenching and the muscles of his abdomen tightening as he jacked his cock faster and faster, small droplets of his precum spattering onto his thighs and stomach. Then the first male orgasm of his existence hit him; with a growl, he came, shooting long strands of canine spunk. Most of it landed on the carpet, but some splattered onto his legs and hand. Panting slightly, Jack opened his eyes and lifted his semen-stained hand to his nose. The smell wasn't bad, and out of sheer curiosity, he licked his hand clean; the taste left more to be desired. Well, he intended other people to taste it, anyway. He sat in the chair for some more time, playing with his softening cock and thinking about the glorious future ahead of him. Wine, song and women filled his mind with expectation; especially the women! It would be expensive, but it would be worth it, Jack thought. He'd have to set up a separate account for himself; it wouldn't do for a handsome man like him to sign his cheques as Dr. Jacqueline Stevens. Which reminded him; he would need a name, as well. "Jack Stevens? Too obvious," he mused aloud, still idly fingering his prick. To his surprise and delight, it was growing hard again. A mischievous grin spread on his face, his teeth shining in his black face. "Jack Hardy?" he said, tasting the name. "Yes, that's me. Jacqueline Stevens and Jack Hardy, a perfect match! And never shall the twain meet!" Grinning, he got up and sauntered back to the laboratory, amused by the way his rigid cock bounced as he walked. "Yes, my dear Jacqueline, you're going to arrange a few things for your ever-loving cousin Jack," the jackal laughed as he mixed another dose of the elixir. *** About a week after the electrical experiment, Dr. Stevens approached Hester in the evening. She seemed to be unusually tense and nervous, and Hester wondered if she'd done something her employer might not approve. Not recalling anything that Dr. Stevens could have known about, the rabbit relaxed and settled to hear what the doctor's business was. "Hester, I know you have a free night tomorrow," the jackal begun. "I'm in, ah, a bit of a bind, you see," she continued; Hester could have sworn she was actually squirming. "And, ah, if you could help me I would be very grateful." This struck Hester as strange; Dr. Stevens was always very polite with her and the other servants, but her orders were orders despite how they were phrased. Now, the jackal was asking for her help! "Oh, I'd be glad to help you, madam," she said smoothly, hoping that the jackal wasn't going to suggest another series of tests on her free night. Sighing, Dr. Stevens looked straight at Hester, a look of embarrassment on her face. "My younger cousin, one Mr. Hardy, is coming to London, and he has asked me to show him around the town. But, ah, I'm not very familiar with the places he would likely find of interest; I really don't think he'd enjoy a tour of the mission stations in Whitechapel, or visiting the Museum of Anatomy at St. Mary's. So, I was wondering, if you'd be as kind as to, ah, serve as a companion to him? He's a very nice young man, really; I assure you he'll behave quite properly!" Hester chewed her lip; this was completely unexpected! The idea of getting to guide a young gentleman through the theatres and restaurants of London was intriguing; on the other hand, he was the doctor's cousin, and Hester didn't want to do anything to risk her job. "It would please me very much, madam," she said, resigning herself to a somewhat dull night out. "Where and when shall I meet Mr. Hardy?" "Oh, he'll arrive here tomorrow night, at around six o'clock," Dr. Stevens said, her relief evident in her voice. "I can't say how thankful I am, Hester; I really don't know what I'd have done if you had said no! I'll make sure you will get an extra night off in compensation," she promised. *** The next night, Hester was standing in front of her dressing table, considering which pin should go with her scarf, when the maids, Annie and Mary, burst into her room. "Is it true you're going out with the doctor's cousin?" Mary, a bright-eyed young rat asked, sounding breathless. Hester frowned slightly. "I'm not "going out" with Mr. Hardy, Mary," she said, putting the silver pin back and admiring her image in the mirror. "Dr. Stevens merely asked me to show her cousin a bit of the city, and I agreed. There's certainly nothing more to it! Besides," she said with a small sigh, "I expect him to be a shy, well-behaved young man who wouldn't even dream of anything untoward." "You mean you haven't seen him?" Annie asked, sounding incredulous. "I mean-" Mary elbowed the sheep girl, interrupting her girl quickly. "Oh, I believe you'll be quite right, Hester," she said, winking at Annie behind Hester's back. "I hope you won't be too bored on your night out!" The maids followed Hester out of her room and down the stairs into the hall, tittering and giggling all the way like naughty schoolgirls. Hester was about to stop and ask them what they found so funny, when she noticed the jackal standing in front of the fireplace, and stopped dead in her tracks. He was tall and handsome, with broad shoulders and narrow hips, dressed in an immaculately cut evening dress and holding a silver-handled cane in his black hand. The black-furred head, as dark as the cloth of his jacket, that rose from the snow-white ring of his shirt collar reminded Hester of the basalt busts of the Egyptian kings she'd seen in British Museum. The jackal turned slightly, fixing the gaze of his coal-black eyes onto Hester, and the rabbit felt her ears flushing red. Surely, this magnificent young god couldn't possibly be the cousin of her staid employer! "Mr H-hardy?" Hester asked, unable to keep a squeak out of her voice. "Jack Hardy, at your service," the jackal said with a slight bow; his voice was deep and warm, and made shivers run down Hester's spine. She felt her nipples harden, and blessed her luck at choosing a jacket whose embroidered front kept the signs of her sudden arousal from showing. "Hester Bonney," she managed to say in her normal voice as Hardy offered her his arm. "I'm the secretary of your cousin. I- I say! You're, ah, err..." "I'm not what you expected, Hester?" he asked, leading her down the front steps to the street, where a hansom cab was waiting. "That's all right," Hardy said as Hester tried to stammer out something that wouldn't insult either him or her employer. "You're not what I'd have expected from my cousin's secretary, either. Come; I don't want to lose a minute!" *** It was a remarkable night for Hester. She found herself swept off her feet by the charming, rakish Mr. Hardy. He bought her champagne, and danced with her at the Savoy Bar; he told her risqué jokes at the dinner and laughed with her when she blushed at them, and demanded that she call him Jack. "I've been living too long cooped up," he told Hester as they walked out from the theatre where they'd watched a rather raucous comedy. "I've recently come into some money, and I want to enjoy myself, at least for a while." Hester nodded, pressing closer to the jackal as they pushed through the crowds. "I understand you perfectly, Jack," she said. "Life is to be embraced, not avoided; we should enjoy the good parts when we can, because who knows when everything changes again?" "You have hidden depths, I see," Jack said, hailing a cab by swinging his cane. "That is to be expected, of course; I have my own secrets as well. Even such a conscientious, prudish do-gooder as my inestimable cousin Jacqueline has her own mysteries and secrets. Oh, you'd be surprised if you knew some of the things I know about her..." Jack helped Hester up into the cab and hopped in after her. He gave the driver an address in Soho, then glanced at Hester. "Or do you wish to return home straight away?" he asked with a small grin. Hester shook her head, a coquettish smile playing on her lips. "I think people should practice what they preach," she said. "Tonight, I will embrace what the life offers me; who knows what tomorrow brings?" Jack burst into laughter at this, slapping his thigh. "Oh, you're precious, Hester. So be it! Driver, to Soho we go!" *** Jack's apartment was located on the second floor of a rather shabby-looking building; the area wasn't exactly respectable, and Hester said as much as she stepped down from the cab. "You're absolutely correct, my dear," Jack said, holding the door open for her to enter. "But I've had enough of respectability; I'd rather try something different for a while. No doubt I'll eventually grow bored with this kind of a bohemian lifestyle, and return to the streets that my cousin would consider more suitable for me." The hallway was dimly lit, but not nearly as worn-looking as the outside of the building, and the heavy door of Jack's apartment was well polished and had a new lock in it. Entering, Hester was surprised to find herself in what looked like a scene from the "Thousand and One Nights": the walls were hung with red and yellow curtains, and the floor was covered by thick carpets. "Do you like my place?" Jack asked, taking Hester's coat and hanging it next to his own opera cloak; despite his light tone, she thought he was anxious to hear her opinion. The rabbit considered her answer carefully. "It suits you very well," she said and blushed slightly. "When I saw you standing in the doctor's hall, you reminded me of the Pharaohs; you looked so handsome and arrogant." "A very flattering comparison," Jack said, placing his hands on her shoulders and pressing himself against her back; Hester felt his erection poking against her bottom. "And you, my dear, look perfect for the part of my concubine," he said, running his tongue down the edge of her ear until the rabbit shivered. Hester felt strangely helpless as the jackal stripped her down with sure hands, opening every button and clasp with skill and patience that, in her experience, few men had, especially men who so obviously lusted after her body. He picked the naked rabbit easily in his arms, and carried her to the bed, almost throwing Hester down to the soft pillows. "I want to see your cunt," Jack said, devouring Hester with his eyes, his gaze making the rabbit feel hot and cold all over. "Let me see how you play with yourself," he ordered her as he started undressing himself. Blushing, Hester obliged him, spreading her legs and running her hands down her body, to the wet fur of her crotch. Slowly, she ran a finger up and down the cleft of her pussy, caressing the insides of her thighs with her other hand. Brushing her clit on the upstroke, the rabbit drew a small breath; it felt so good! Wanting to prolong the sensations, she moved away from it and returned to toying and probing her labia. The jackal was now standing naked before her, his magnificent body dark as night and his ebony cock standing proudly upright from his loins. "Does this please you?" Hester asked, spreading her pussy lips with her fingers to reveal the slick, pink flesh to his eyes. Jack's eyes flashed, and instead of answering, he got down to all fours on the bed and moved between her thighs. His breath felt hot against her sex as the jackal nuzzled Hester's crotch with his pointed nose. "I've wanted to do this for so long," he muttered, making Hester look at him bemusedly. Then he started lapping at her cunt, and the rabbit forgot what he'd said. He ate her out slowly but hungrily, his long canine tongue running along the length of her pussy and circling the hot nub of her clit, tantalizingly close but never quite touching. Hester was soon panting and moaning with pleasure, grasping the bedclothes in her hands and rolling her head back and forth. "Yes... yess! Oh please, please... Aaah!" When Jack lifted his face from her crotch, his muzzle wet with her juices, Hester wanted to cry; she was so close! "That was the appetizers; now onto the main course," the jackal said with a grin and pushed himself onto her, the blunt head of his cock poking once against her sensitive clit before sliding smoothly into her dripping wet depths. Jack fucked her fast and hard, almost roughly, his large body heavy on Hester's chest as he kissed and licked her face; she could taste her own tangy juices on his lips. Brought so close to her climax by Jack's oral attentions, the rabbit quickly reached an orgasm; her pussy clutched at Jack's cock as it glided in and out of her. The sensation only made Jack increase his pace, his hips smacking loudly against her crotch as he pounded her rabbit cunt. "Oh! Oh god! Jack, aaaah!" Hester cried as she felt his cock starting to throb and twitch inside her. Snarling, he covered her mouth with his own, pushing his tongue deep into her; with a few, almost violent thrusts, he came into her, squeezing her shoulders hard. *** Hester returned home well after midnight, quietly slipping in through the servants' entry so as to not wake up the doctor or the butler, Mr. Creek. She was practically floating, her pussy still deliciously sore from Jack's fucking and her mind whirling with memories of the night. After sex, Jack had again been his charming, suave self, joking and chatting with her as they lay side by side on his bed. "Here's a little gift for you, Hester," he had said, taking a small black case from his night stand and opening it; inside, on the red velvet, were a pair of beautiful silver earrings. "Take it," Jack had told her when she had hesitated. "They deserve someone beautiful to wear them. Besides, I doubt my dear cousin remembers to grant you another free night." Jack's guess proved correct; Dr. Stevens, when Hester saw her again next afternoon, seemed unusually absent-minded and uninterested in whether her cousin had enjoyed his night or what he and Hester had been doing. She offered her another stack of letters to various charities before vanishing back into her laboratory, leaving Hester to daydream as she typed. The maids were more curious, and they pestered Hester with their prying questions until the butler told them to stop. "You're not behaving properly, girls," the otter said, looking sternly at them. "Mr. Hardy would be shocked to hear you suggesting that he might have taken any liberties with Miss Bonney, and I am sure she feels the same way!" Hester nodded quickly, although she couldn't help but think that the otter looked suspicious when he spoke of her. *** Over the next weeks, Hester found her life changing. Dr. Stevens paid less and less attention to her and to the rest of her servants, drifting from room to room and spending hours at a time in her laboratory, not touching the food that was brought to her. She'd even stopped her experiments with Hester; truth to be told, the rabbit didn't miss them. At the same time, Jack was taking up more and more of Hester's free time; she spent most of her nights about the town in the jackal's company, moving from theatre to music-hall to bar. These nights invariably ended with them going to Jack's apartment, where he fucked her again and again. Something about Jack bothered Hester, though. He was showing no signs of boring with the bohemian life, quite the opposite; his tastes for entertainment seemed to be turning towards coarser and more licentious forms, and he was becoming bolder and rougher with sex, making her do things like sucking him off in the cab. Hester could hear Jack's voice in her ears, telling her to catch and swallow every drop of his semen; or would she enjoy sitting in the theatre, his seed staining her face and clothes? She still blushed, remembering the look the driver had given to her as she'd gotten off the cab, and Jack's answering smirk. Most of the time, however, he was still the charming rake who had swept Hester off her feet, and he could still make her howl with laughter or squeal with pleasure when he wanted. And so she ignored the signs of moral degeneration, telling herself that they would pass. Then, one foggy night, everything came crashing down for her. *** They were returning to Jack's apartment from a vaudeville theatre; the jackal had been in a particularly raucous mood the whole night, laughing and howling and trying to playfully grope Hester. "I have something special for you tonight," he said with a sly grin, as he led Hester up the stairs to his apartment. "Close your eyes; I don't want to spoil the surprise," Jack told her. Obediently closing her eyes, Hester stepped into Jack's apartment. The stale air made her wrinkle her nose; the sweet smell of some incense could barely mask the smells of wine, sweat and sex. He hadn't been cleaning up for a while, the rabbit thought. And what was that musty, musky scent? "You can look now, Hester my dear," Jack said. As she opened her eyes, she saw a naked vixen sitting on the bed, looking as surprised as Hester was. She was clearly a prostitute; her hair was a bit too red, even for a fox, and there was an odd, cowed look in her eyes that made Hester's skin crawl. "Hester, this is Helen; Helen, Hester," Jack said, introducing them with mocking solemnity. "Jack, what do you mean? Why is she here?" Hester asked, as the jackal quickly undressed, scattering his clothes carelessly on the carpeted floor. "Isn't that obvious, my dear?" Jack said, pulling down his pants to reveal his erect prick. "Tell me, Hester, why do I have such big hands?" he asked, turning towards the flustered rabbit, a predatory grin on his face. "I-I don't understand," she stammered. Jack sighed and rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "So that I can better hold onto you, of course!" he told her with a wild laugh and, grasping Hester by her shoulders, tossed her onto the bed, next to the scared-looking vixen. "Now, why do I have such big ears," he continued, walking towards the bed. "Your turn, Helen!" "S-so you can better hear us?" the vixen hazarded. "Very good, Helen! And why do I have such a magnificent, marvellous, big cock, what do you think?" When neither woman spoke, Jack answered his own question. "So I can better fuck you two, of course! Now, which one should I do first?" "Jack, what is going on?" Hester asked, both worried for him and afraid for herself. "This isn't like you at all!" "That's what you think, my bonnie bunny," he said, pushing Helen onto her back and spreading her legs. "Doesn't this look... unh! Familiar at all?" Jack asked, thrusting his cock into the vixen's waiting pussy. Hester felt her face flush red as she watched her black jackal lover starting to fuck the passively lying vixen. She felt terribly humiliated and betrayed by Jack's callousness, but at the same time, she was turned on by what she saw. "She's, ngh, not as good a lay as, hnff, you are, Hester," Jack told her, grinning lewdly. "You're so much better and tighter... I love the way your cunt grips my cock as I fuck you..." Moaning slightly, Hester rubbed her thighs together; she could feel herself getting wet against her will. Biting her lip, she started to massage her breasts through the cloth of her blouse, imagining that it was her and not the vixen whore that Jack was fucking. "Tell me, Hester," the jackal panted, "What do you, ah, want me to do with, uhh, her? I'll fuck her as if she was you... ahhh! And you can watch..." The rabbit's ears were burning; she had had sex with Jack many times now, but this was something new and terribly, awfully exciting for her. "L-lift her legs up," Hester said, lifting her skirts so that she could reach her pussy. "Then fuck her slowly..." Jack grinned and did so, folding the vixen almost in two and making her gasp with his every thrust. "Is that all, Hester?" he asked, watching the rabbit play with herself, dipping first one, then two fingers in her quim. "Here you have another body to play with, and that is all you can think of asking!" Jack said with a wicked smile that transformed his handsome face into a devilish mask. "I'm disappointed in you, Hester! Don't you ever... mmmh... want to do things you know you, ah! would regret afterwards? Well, here... rrrh... is your chance. I'll do anything to her, if you want..." Hester shivered; she thought about her darkest desires, the things that only appeared in those dreams bordering on nightmares. For a second, she wanted to give in to temptation, to make Jack bite and beat and bruise the vixen, to punish her for not being Hester. Then she caught the vixen's eyes, and saw the quiet terror in them. A wave of shame washed over Hester. It could have been her, she thought. If Dr. Stevens hadn't taken her under her wing, would Jack have been doing the same thing to her, while some other woman watched? "Jack, stop," she said, her voice shaky but determined. "Let her go; the poor girl's terrified!" The jackal looked at her, a strange red gleam in his eyes. "What do you care? She's a whore; she gets paid for this." "That doesn't make it any better," Hester said and stood up, straightening her skirts. "I'm here willingly, because I love you... or so I thought... but she's here only for the money. Please, let her go!" Jack pulled himself out from the fox and turned towards Hester. "Let her go, you say? Let me have my way with you, then, and I will let her go. Is this what you want?" Hester nodded mutely; she was afraid of what Jack might do, but she knew that she could never look herself in the mirror again if she let him torment the poor girl any more. "Then it's settled," Jack said, walking towards Hester. "Helen, you're free to go. Take the bracelet you find on the table; I had intended it for Hester, here, but it's yours now. She'll have to do with the coins, like any common whore." "I'm no whore," Hester protested, momentarily unafraid of Jack as her temper flared. "You aren't?" the jackal said, driving her back towards the bed, while the vixen made her escape. "What difference does it make if the silver's minted in coins or made into jewels? All of you women are whores; only the form of payment differs." Jack pushed Hester down to the bed, face down. Without bothering to undress her, he simply lifted her skirts, revealing her shapely bottom and the puffy lips of her pussy to his eyes. "Please, Jack, you don't have to do this..." she said, feeling him grope her buttocks roughly. "No, I don't. But I want to," the jackal said, and with a single, hard thrust, hilted himself in Hester's pussy, making the rabbit gasp. He fucked her harshly from behind, smacking her butt with one hand and pulling her head back by her ears with the other. If Hester hadn't been wet and loosened from her masturbation earlier, it would have been painful; even so, it wasn't comfortable. Jack growled and snarled like an animal, paying no attention to anything but his own pleasure, his long cock bumping painfully against her cervix as he pounded into her. Thankfully, it didn't take long; grunting and howling, the jackal pulled out of Hester and came all over her bottom and thighs, spattering her clothes with his seed. "Get out of here," he growled, dragging yelping Hester to the door by her ears. He pushed her roughly out into the hallway, and contemptuously tossed some coins at her feet. "Take your payment, whore," Jack sneered. Her eyes swimming with tears, Hester rushed down the stairs, ignoring the coins and the jackal's howling laughter. *** Hester's mood did not improve over the next few weeks. She didn't see Jack again, avoiding places where they had gone together, and pawned away all the gifts he had given to her, except for the first pair of earrings; those she kept, as a reminder of the old Jack she'd fallen for. The changes that had taken place in Dr. Stevens did not help. She no longer secluding herself in her laboratory, but neither she was back to her old self. The jackal was even more neat and precise than before, almost painfully so; she stalked the house, looking for any signs of laziness or untidiness, until the servants didn't dare to relax even for a moment. She hovered over Hester as the rabbit struggled with the typewriter, making her so nervous that her typing slowed to a crawl as she tried to find where each letter was on the keyboard. To Hester's further aggravation, the doctor insisted that she dress in a more conservative fashion and wear her hair in a tight bun, much like the jackal herself. It was an attempt that was doomed to failure from the start; with Hester's body, nothing but an Arabian burnoose could have satisfied the increasingly strict requirements of Dr. Stevens', and the rabbit had to endure several cold lectures about the importance of proper dressing to public morality and, by extension, to the health of the public body, the British Empire and the whole of the Western civilisation. In short, Dr. Stevens' household had turned into a cold, grim place, and Hester was starting to think that, now that she had the money from Jack's gifts, perhaps it was a time for her to try her luck in a new place. *** Late one evening, the house was silent with Hester as the only one still up. Mr. Creek, the butler, had taken the cook, Mrs. Bulmers, to the Tea Ball of the West End Temperance Society, a pastime which even Dr. Stevens couldn't find anything wrong with. Mary and Annie, the two maids, were fast asleep, tired after another day of frantically polishing and cleaning the house that was already shining clean. As for the doctor herself, she was still working; Hester could see the lights were still on in the laboratory building when she looked out from her window. As she watched, she saw the door opening. In the light flowing out into the foggy night, Hester could see a dark, crumpled form on the threshold. Suddenly afraid that something had happened to the doctor, Hester picked up a lamp and hurried downstairs. It was Dr. Stevens, just as Hester had feared; she was dressed in black, oversized men's clothes, her front and face bloodied. "Hester..." she said in a weak voice, as the rabbit kneeled worriedly down next to her. "Take me... my laboratory... bandages... key's in my pocket..." Hester swallowed, looking nervously around her. Over the last weeks newspapers had been talking about an audacious burglar, called the Black Gent, who had been breaking into houses through the roofs and upper-story windows, stealing money and jewels and groping sleeping women. Hester had dismissed the reports as nonsense, but now, seeing her employer bleeding and bruised on her doorstep, the stories were sounding much more reasonable. Trying not to hurt the doctor any further, Hester half-dragged, half-carried the unconscious jackal to the laboratory. She marvelled at how light the doctor seemed; it was as if she'd somehow become hollow inside. Placing the jackal as comfortably as she could on the carpeted floor, Hester started undressing her bloodstained clothes. This was the first time she'd seen her employer naked, and she felt both curious and embarrassed as she revealed the doctor's lean brown body. Somehow, she looked strangely familiar, and Hester blushed hard as she felt the first stirrings of lust. Trying to suppress the feeling, the rabbit cleaned and bandaged Jacqueline's injuries the best she could, using medical supplies from the cabinets. She had cuts on her arms and a nasty gash on the right side of her chest, just beneath her breast. As Hester worked, Jacqueline started stirring again, opening her eyes. "It is Jack... he's growing stronger..." she moaned, startling Hester. "I tried to resist... filthy, filthy desires... Don't you touch me!" Jacqueline screamed suddenly, trying to squirm away from Hester before falling limp again. "He's coming... this wasn't what I meant, oh no..." Hester didn't want to leave the jackal alone, especially since she seemed to be raving. But she had to contact the authorities, and tell them about this; if Jack had attacked his cousin, like it seemed, his moral degeneration had obviously gone much farther than when Hester had last seen him. Who knows; he might even have been the Black Gent! "You'll be safe here, madam," Hester said, standing up. "I'll lock the doors; he won't get in to you." As the rabbit started to close the door, she heard Jacqueline starting to laugh hysterically. "Too late, too late! Jack's already in here... there's no place to run to..." Her laughter turned into a scream that made Hester's blood run cold. The door was thrown open from inside, knocking Hester back. Standing in the doorway was Jack, completely naked except for some strips of gauze still hanging around his arms, his face contorted in a crazed grimace and his cock erect and hard. The rabbit screamed and tried to scramble away, but Jack was too quick for her. Jack dragged Hester into the laboratory; there was no sign of Jacqueline. "I'm going to do things to you, horrible things," the jackal said, drooling horribly as he swept the tea service to the floor from the table and threw Hester onto it. "And you're going to love it..." Pinning the rabbit's arms down with a single hand, he pushed her legs apart and tore her skirt, revealing Hester's gently furred sex. Snarling, the jackal forced himself onto her, his hot cock, already slick with precum, poking at the rabbit's crotch; with his both hands occupied and Hester struggling, he was having a hard time finding the right place. "Stop struggling, you little whore," he panted. "You know you want it!" Hester merely doubled her efforts to break free, squirming and trying to get out from beneath Jack. The struggle went on for a few more moments, before Jack suddenly started growling and frantically thrusting with his hips; the feeling of his cock sliding against Hester's sex had been too much. With one final snarl, he came, jetting his canine come across her belly. Jack's features started shifting and blurring; his fur faded from glossy black to brown, and his muscles seemed to flow under his skin. Before Hester's disbelieving eyes, Jack Hardy shrunk back into Dr. Jacqueline Stevens, who collapsed to the floor. "Wh-what is going on?" Hester asked, her mind reeling. What she had just seen was not, could not, be possible, yet it had happened! Jacqueline didn't answer; she was crawling away from the rabbit, weeping and whimpering. Hester collected her scattered wits. The key to her assailant's unnatural transformation had to be here, in her laboratory. But where to start? She opened some of the books at random, but they were useless to her; many were written in German or Latin, and the rest were full of scientific terms she couldn't recognize. One slim, well-read looking volume proved to be a collection of the poems of Sappho, translated into English; Hester felt her cheeks blush as she read the poem fragments scribbled in the marginals in the handwriting of her employer. Looking around, she noticed a sealed envelope on mantelpiece. Ignoring the orders to not open the letter, Hester cracked the seal and looked at the notes. She immediately realized that she had discovered what she had sought for, her eyes widening as she read on. She accosted Jacqueline in the corner of the study, where the jackal was cowering. "I read your own confession," Hester said. "I know why you did everything you did, but it still doesn't make sense to me. Didn't you ever stop to think that maybe you could have just asked me?" Jacqueline looked up at Hester, confused. "Asked? But... but... I couldn't! It would have been an awful, unnatural, shameful thing! And you're so beautiful... what if you'd said no? Oh God, how you must hate me!" Hester felt uncomfortable watching the teary-eyed jackal. Certainly, Jacqueline had been foolish and irresponsible, but she had only wanted to be able to love someone, without feeling guilty about it. As for the jackal's feelings towards her, Hester found them confusing but not so bad as Jacqueline herself seemed to think. "I don't hate you," she said, crouching next to Jacqueline. "I don't think you could help yourself, once you turned into Jack. But you can't do that again; what if you hurt someone the next time?" "I can't help it," Jacqueline said, sounding miserable. "I thought it would help if I could fulfil my... my desires... as Jack, but it doesn't work like that! No matter how much sex I have as a man, I can't stop thinking about what it would be like to have sex with you as a woman!" Hester swallowed. Maybe it was the way she saw Jack in Jacqueline's every feature, now that she knew they were the same person, but she couldn't help wondering about the same thing. "Maybe you should try it," she suggested. "I could... help you. To experiment, you see." Jacqueline looked at the rabbit as if unable to believe what she was hearing. "You... you would?" Hester nodded, and leaned closer, giving the startled jackal a kiss. Kissing her was just like kissing Jack, she thought. "This is my first time doing this, so I may not be very good," Hester warned, moving in between the jackal's legs. The sight of her sex, nestled in the brown fur of Jacqueline's groin, was strangely exciting, and Hester found her reservations fading. Pushing closer, she gave Jacqueline's swollen labia an experimental lick. Trying to make up for her lack of skill with enthusiasm, she probed the folds of the jackal's pussy with her lips and tongue, sucking here, nibbling there. She shouldn't have worried about it, Hester realized; almost as soon as she started, Jacqueline began moaning and panting, shifting her hips as the rabbit licked at her cunt. "Oh yes! Yesss..." Something about Jacqueline's voice sounded strange to Hester. Lifting her face from the jackal's sopping sex for a moment, she saw to her considerable alarm that Jacqueline's fur was starting to turn black again. Jack was breaking out! Before Hester could back away, Jacqueline had wrapped her legs around the rabbit, grappling her with more strength than she would have expected from the jackal. Her voice warbled strangely, rising and falling as she moaned. The slick, pink flesh before Hester's eyes blackened rapidly. Jacqueline's clitoris started swelling and lengthening, while the rest of her sex underwent strange, flickering transformations. She tried to break away, but strong hands, too large for Jacqueline and too small for Jack grasped her head. Gently but inexorably, they pushed her face back to the groin of the jackal. "Please... don't stop," Jacqueline said, her voice a strange contralto. "I want you, Hester..." Hester was rather shocked by the changes happening before and beneath her; instead of being either a man or a woman, Jacqueline was now some kind of a hermaphrodite, with both what appeared to be a cock and a cunt. At least she had now something more familiar to work with, the rabbit thought as she started licking the smooth black shaft of the jackal's incongruous cock, her fingers moving back and forth in her vagina. Apparently, the stimulation of both her male and female parts was cumulative, because Jacqueline started screaming and bucking her hips hard after only a few moments. I wonder what happens when she comes, Hester thought, slipping the softly tapering tip of the jackal's clit-cock into her mouth. "Ooohhh! Aahhh! Yess, yes, oh yessss!" The dark-skinned prick twitched in the rabbit's mouth as Jacqueline came; instead of semen, Hester got a gush of the jackal's musky-tasting love juices, while her pussy drooled more of the same onto the rabbit's hand. After her climax, Jacqueline's transformation quickly reversed itself, but not fully. She had shrunk back to her original size, but her fur was now clearly darker, and her clitoris remained hugely enlarged, almost the size of her thumb. It was as if Jack had become part of Jacqueline's body as well as soul, Hester thought as the jackal caressed her ears, breathless after her exertions. "I didn't imagine it could be so good," Jacqueline muttered dreamily. "Thank you, Hester... I have no idea how I could ever repay you..." The gleam in her eyes as she studied Hester's body belied her words, as the rabbit soon learned, much to her pleasure! *** The unreasonable moralistic fervour that had gripped Dr. Jacqueline Stevens passed as quickly as it had started, and her household returned to its old much to the relief of her servants who could once again relax for a bit, not having to fear that their mistress would jump at them for the slightest of mistakes. Dr. Stevens explained the change in her fur colour as a side effect of a series of experiments, initially promising but ultimately not worth the risks. She didn't give up research entirely, but shifted her attention more towards charity work, starting a free clinic for the poor women; an act that earned her the admiration and respect of all her colleagues. Hester stayed with Jacqueline for a few months more, intimately helping the jackal with her further experiments. In the end, she decided not to stay, despite Jacqueline's entreaties; Hester explained that she wished to see more of the world, and seek new opportunities, and the doctor eventually agreed. As a parting gesture of goodwill, she paid for Hester's matriculation to Miss Flaybottom's Finishing School for Young Women, an act which had far-reaching effects for Hester's future. The Black Gent vanished as mysteriously as he had appeared; following an anonymous tip, the police discovered his hideout in Soho, with much of the stolen loot scattered about the apartment. Various burglars used his name to enhance their mystique over the next decade, but none managed to live up to the deeds of the original one. **** * * * As usual, many thanks to Greg Panovich for inspirational artwork and helpful suggestions and advice!