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[b][u][center]Capers at the Cottage[/center][/u][/b]

[b][u][center]Part 1[/center][/u][/b]

[b][u][center]For dreamkeeperwolf[/center][/u][/b]

[b][u][center]By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

The world was no longer a kind and happy place. Specter, quite honestly, wasn’t sure that it ever had been, but that was what the anthros in charge wanted people to think.

He looked out his window from where he sat on his bed, legs curled up tight and his knees against his chest. From there, through the gap in the curtain, he could just make out the furred males and females walking down the streets. Snowy streets, these days, but dressed for fall, their fur protecting them from the elements in a way that no human could entirely enjoy. He shivered just looking at them, hardly believing that they were going out and about in short-sleeve shirts and…and rather revealing clothes…

He whipped his head away, not wanting to tempt fate. If one of the anthros looked through the window and saw his eyes gleaming in the dark, there was a distinct possibility that they might…

[i]Keep careful, keep hidden. Keep careful, keep hidden.[/i]

That was what Katie had always told him. His girlfriend was better at that than he was, and had always been the one to keep a ready eye on the anthros. Not out of hate, but more knowing that as the species of furred folk continued to grow, humans were diminishing. It was…well, it was hard to be entirely hopeful for the future when the number of humans in the world were legitimately less by the year.

[i]Ten percent,[/i] Specter thought, pulling his legs tighter to his chest. [i]Ten percent difference now…[/i]

And to think that just ten years ago, when he’d still been a kid, there’d barely been any more than a percent of the world population taken up by the anthro species. Now, they contributed to nearly 45% of the world population, something that conventional wisdom held to be impossible, particularly with the lack of a high birth rate. It wasn’t as if the furred creatures had more kids at a time than humans did, or bred more frequently, or grew up faster.

Of course, conventional wisdom did not take into account magic, something that both he and his girlfriend, Katie, had both seen firsthand.

It had been one of the rare times that an anthro had been caught and charged for it, and the one time that he had seen just how it worked. He and Katie had just finished a meal at a local café, and had come around the corner to find a fox [i]fucking[/i] a human woman in an alley. She had been screaming, at first, then moaning…and then transforming.

By the time that they had finished, the damage was done, and a vixen walked out of the alley on the fox’s arm, no longer upset, and all but fawning over the larger male. It would have been a crime that never went reported, were it not for the fact that he and Katie had both filmed it on their phones from different angles. It went straight to court, and despite having amazing lawyers on the anthro side, the fox had been charged not only with rape, but ‘murder of identity’, a new crime that had only just been put through for that moment.

The appeal had struck down the judge’s decision, admittedly, but it had set the world into an uproar. Humans were horrified at the thought of anthros going out and just turning them into more anthros, and more, were terrified of what it did to those that were caught. It was nearly impossible to prove that such an act was unwilling, considering that even the vixen for that court case had begged for her fox, saying that she was happy as she was, that she didn’t want to be human again.

These days, it wasn’t quite ‘legal’ for the anthros to continue that, but at the very least, they seemed to be a little more circumspect about it. The population shift had changed in the last year, only growing by 3% for the anthros rather than the leaps and bounds that it had been before, and most of the transformations that were discovered were followed up with a contract that showed that the ‘former human’ had been very willing in what had happened to them. Very few, if any, ended up paying any sort of penalty.

And despite all kinds of research being done and promises by the various human-supporting scientists in the world, there was no real way for the transformed people to be turned back. The anthros were very secretive about what kind of chemicals or whatever did the transformation, and Specter was constantly terrified of what would happen if someone happened to look at him and decide that they wanted him to be…well, anything non-human.

The only people that were safe these days were other humans, and it was hard to gather together when they could attract the attention of other species. He’d become a shut-in, not even seeing his girlfriend for nearly a month. She’d gone to Japan, and while she’d come back last week, she’d been hiding out, too. At least, as far as he knew.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Specter jumped, looking down at the nightstand by his bed. The landline hadn’t rung for nearly two weeks, which meant two things. One, that the telemarketers had written him off as a lost cause – something for which he was grateful – and two, that someone that still had his number thought that it was worth trying to give him a ring. Considering how few people he knew had this number, he lunged for the phone.

Tap, tap, tap.

“[i]Hey, Spec. That you?[/i]”

That was Jamie, his cousin. One of the people that he genuinely trusted, and someone that he hadn’t heard from in far to long. Tap tap tap.

“[i]Oh, thank god. I was worried that I’d dialed the wrong number for a second.[/i]”

Specter smiled, continuing to tap out his responses. As a mute, it had become necessary for him, his friends, and everyone that he talked to outside of the in-person stuff to know morse code. It was the only way to talk over the phone when he couldn’t actually bring himself to speak. He tapped out a bit more.

[i]What is going on? What is happening?[/i]

“[i]Oh, just things. Look, cousin. Remember the Cottage?[/i]”

Did he remember? The cottage was the place that he, Jamie, and Ollow had all gone as kids, all hanging out there with their families, getting into bits of trouble in nature in the way that kids did. As they had grown up, it had become a thing that they did on their own, sometimes bringing their friends, sometimes alone, but always with the three of them at the core of it all. He tapped the phone a few times.

“[i]Okay, good. I’m going up there again. Me and Ollow, and our girlfriends. You want in?[/i]”

[i]Now? When it is this dangerous?[/i]

“[i]Better than when it’s more dangerous. And it’s out of the way, away from all the packs here in the city.[/i]”

That much was true. The cottage was all the way out in the middle of nowhere, well out of the usual vacation spots, where nobody else would bother them. He knew for a fact that it was somewhere that no anthros ever turned up, because even that last time they went – two years before the courts caught wind of what the transformations were – nobody had followed them. It had been just the three of them then.

The three of them with their girlfriends, though…

[i]Are you sure we can trust them all?[/i]

“[i]We’re all on the same side.[/i]”

[i]Are you SURE?[/i]

“[i]Spec, it’s me. It’s Jamie. I’m sure. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.[/i]”

He breathed out slowly, trying to think positive. Jamie had always been good to him. Always. There’d never been a bad moment, and considering that he had been mute for…well, god knows how long, now, he had a hard enough time getting through life. The fact that he was barely taller than four feet made it worse, attracting bullies and more across the spectrum. Jamie had been one of the few good things in his life besides Katie.

[i]I will be there.[/i]

“[i]Do you need a ride?[/i]”

[i]I will be fine. Katie can drive.[/i]

“[i]See you there. Tomorrow.[/i]”

Click.

And just like that, the call was over. He stared at the handset for a moment, then put it back down. He told himself that there was no cabal of anthros that were listening in on phone calls like that, no way that they would know that he was going out to the middle of nowhere where only his family would be there to protect him. Told himself that he was safe.

He wished that he could entirely believe it.

[i]It’s not like I’m a prize.[/i]

No, but there were those in the anthro community that he would bet would be after him for exposing him. He knew that Katie had received some threats at one point, and he would bet that she’d filtered out those that had been sent to him, at the same time. He lowered his head against his knees, huffing out what air was still in his lungs in a whimper.

[i]What are we going to do?[/i]

Well, for now, what he should do was get in touch with her. He’d volunteered both of them to go, and that was a little rude of him. Yet…

Yet, at the same time, it almost felt like the right thing to do. He blinked. He usually wasn’t the sort of person to just give in like that; normally, he had to check things, and yet, this time he’d just jumped on it. Something was a little odd there.

But he was already reaching for the phone, ready to dial her. He’d have to think about that later.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Ring ring.

Just when he was sure that it was going to go to voicemail, Katie finally picked up. The soft, slightly throaty tones that he loved hearing filled his ears as she answered.

“[i]Hello?[/i]”

[i]It’s me again,[/i] he tapped out.

“[i]Oh, hi, hon. How are you doing?[/i]”

So casual, so simple. It was a little bit of fresh air, something that pulled him back down to earth and away from the anxiety and slight depression that was always on the edge of things. He tapped back to her.

[i]I am alright. I have been invited to a vacation with Ollow and Jamie. Would you like to come along?[/i]

“[i]A vacation? Now?[/i]”

[i]Yes. Out in the Cottage.[/i]

“[i]The one that you told me about?[/i]”

[i]Yes.[/i]

“[i]Sure. Tell me when to pick you up and I’ll be right there.[/i]”

[i]Eight AM tomorrow morning.[/i]

“[i]I’ll be there. See you soon, dear.[/i]”

Click.

He hung up this time, and as he laid down, ready to wait the night away, he realized something else.

She had just gone with it, too. No questions, no moments of paranoia like he was used to sharing with her. Just implicit trust. It was…almost too easy.

He closed his eyes. He could talk with her about it in the morning.

#

That was the plan, but they were off like a shot, with him wordlessly pointing out the directions and otherwise unable to speak while they were driving. Katie made it difficult for him to talk by revving the engine, and while she was always apologizing for it, it meant that it was very hard for him to get a tap in edgewise that would actually be heard between them.

And it also meant that they arrived at the Cottage without any real discussion of her lack of worries. Uncharacteristic lack of worry, for that matter.

As soon as they pulled up to the wooded Cottage, it was clear why it had a capital ‘C’ to the term. It was two-stories tall, something that would have loomed quite nicely in the middle of nowhere if it wasn’t for the vast, snow-covered pine trees that were all over the place. They loomed, instead, dropping snow here and there in drifts that made the otherwise flat grounds look rather hilly. Here and there, piles of firewood were kept safe from the drifts by large tarps, and the air itself was crackly and crisp.

Two other cars were already parked by the metal gates that marked the entrance to the Cottage grounds, and his cousins were waiting there. Katie pulled up beside them, and they both stepped out.

Jamie and Ollow were the same as ever. Jamie was the older of the two brothers, standing at six-foot-three and obviously the biggest man in the group. The way that he grinned was as familiar as ever, a broad smile that wrapped itself all the way around his head, or so it seemed. There were times when it almost seemed like he couldn’t stop smiling, what with the way that he greeted the world with a laugh all the time. Those that had seen Jamie stop smiling, though, usually regretted it, because it meant that the rather protective side of the elder Halfsong male was coming out with a vengeance.

Ollow, on the other hand, was more laid back. Two inches shorter than his older brother, he had long hair that regularly bobbed around, mostly from the metal tunes that he kept humming to himself. Even as the two brothers approached for a greeting, he was humming and bopping a tune, bobbing his head. His broad shoulders pushed at the edge of the cheap coat he wore, making him look a little more worse-off than he actually was. Hell, he’d probably be the one that was footing the bill for supplies this time.

“Hey, cousin. Been too long.”

Jamie pulled him into a hug, and he tentatively hugged the big man back. Ollow joined in from the side, a more wordless hum of a hug, something that was a bit tighter, but not uncomfortably so. Specter enjoyed that; the tightness and the lack of forced conversation had always helped the mute when he had grown up with them.

The hug lasted for a few seconds before they broke it unanimously, and Jamie, of course, was the one to ask the obvious question.

“Mind introducing your girlfriend?”

Specter held up a finger to ask them to wait, rooting around in his pockets until he found what he was looking for. Pen and paper were the constant of someone that couldn’t speak, and he was no exception. He dragged his pen across the notebook paper, then turned it around for them to read.

[i]This is Katie, my girlfriend. You remember her, Jamie; you helped save her and me from some assholes one time.[/i]

“Oh, right. Yeah. I, uh, kinda forgot that you were still together.”

That was fair. He had never been able to hold onto a girlfriend for long in the past. Most of them started drifting off when they realized that he was as quiet as he was permanently, that they had to get used to the fact that they were dating a tiny, tiny man, and…

Well, it was not like Katie was the sort of woman most people would have expected someone like him to be with, was she?

Nearly the same height as Jamie, short by a fraction of an inch, Katie was the sort of woman that you thought of when you heard the word ‘bombshell.’ She was beautiful, with long, thick locks of hair, and she looked like someone that could both bust down a boardroom and make a home that nobody could help but be envious of. She was the sort of woman that would be on the cover of magazines, the sort of woman that had everything.

And she had picked the mini-mute as her boyfriend. Not the way that life typically went.

Katie chuckled as Jamie admitted his forgetfulness, shaking her head.

“No worries. I was in Japan for a while. At least you didn’t accuse me of boyfriend-hunting over there.”

“Heh, not that you’d find someone better than my cousin,” Jamie said.

“Loyalty. Rare trait in a man.”

“I do what I can.”

“You do a lot.”

She patted Jamie on the shoulder, giving Ollow a bit of a silent stare. The metal-head returned it. They’d never exactly been on ‘bad’ terms, but they’d never been on particularly good ones, either. It was something of a pity, really. He would have liked both his cousins to get along with her.

Then it came time for Jamie and Ollow to introduce their partners. Jamie brought Victoria over, a young woman that was about a head shorter than the giant that was Jamie. She had a kindly sort of smile, but had that sort of glint in her eyes that he had seen in some of the real go-getters in school. She was the sort of woman that ran things when she was given the chance and –

“Mmmm…”

And apparently had a button on the back of her neck where, if Jamie gave her a little stroke, she all but melted into his arms. She nuzzled up to him almost like a puppy, giving him a kiss on the cheek without any other words.

Ollow, on the other hand, called Lilla over, who was carrying no less than three spice cases under her arms. She chuckled, nodding down at them.

“Yes, I will be doing the cooking this weekend. Yes, I’m good at it. No, you can’t help.”

“[i]It’s the Eye of the Tiger –[/i]”

“No, hon, no.” She chuckled, giving Ollow a playful push before shoving one of the cases into his arms. “Help me get this shit into the kitchen.”

The two music lovers, arguing the differences between rock and roll and proper metal, were soon in a heated but happy discussion. Jamie had already unlocked the gate, and everyone started the walk up the drive to the Cottage proper. Specter reached for the luggage in the back of Katie’s car, but she had already grabbed it, pulling it all behind her and nodding for him to take the lead.

“Come on. Show me where we’re staying this time.”

[i]This time?[/i] he asked via the notebook.

“There’s so many rooms. Come on.”

She looked like she wanted to have some private time, something that he had seen in her eyes more than once. In addition to all the other wonderful things about Katie, she also had quite the active, ahem, drive, and that meant that they had had regular bits of fun before her trip to Japan. He was all but sure that she wanted to try something new today, and the idea of doing that after so many weeks of nothing else…

Should have been rather intriguing and enticing, but he felt off about it. Maybe it was just because his cousins were there with their girlfriends, too, but he felt like there was something a bit wrong here, something that he couldn’t quite untangle.

But that was something that they could discuss in private.

The Cottage was a few hundred feet from the gates, giving plenty of room for the grounds. He joined his cousins on the patio, where they had already unlocked the door and were just waiting for him. As soon as they stepped inside, the alarm system gave them the little beep of warning, and Ollow ran down the hall to disarm it. Jamie shook his head.

“My airhead brother,” he muttered.

“Metal-head, thanks,” Lilla said. “Now, where’s the kitchen?”

“Down the hall, third room on the right.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, Spec. You need anything?”

Specter just nodded towards the stairs that led to the bedrooms, and Jamie gave him a knowing look. He blushed, looking down and away.

“Heh, you two have fun. We’ll stick down here for a while.”

That wasn’t what he had been trying to say, but he was more than happy for the quiet to talk. He tried to take the luggage from Katie when she joined him, but she just pulled it along with her up the stairs. She always spoiled him, doing so much more of the work than he really needed her to do.

Admittedly, it was nice to have someone that was willing to give him that sort of break, but it was like the opposite of what the rest of the world did. She did this and made him feel…feel small, but usually in a good way. When it wasn’t good, though, it really wasn’t good.

This was one of the milder ones, as if she didn’t think that he could take care of it, and by extension, her stuff. He put that to the side, though, following her upstairs. Their room was the last one at the end of the hall, meaning that nobody would come near them when they were sleeping, or sneak by in the middle of the night. They had their privacy.

She entered first, pushed the suitcases up against the wall, and then sat down on the bed. As she rubbed the sheets out and got all the wrinkles cleared, he shut the door behind them and pulled out his notepad. Just as he was starting to write something, though, she waved her hand at him. He looked up –

And then, her eyes glowed.

[i]What…[/i]

He barely had a chance to start questioning it before the glow overwhelmed him, slowly pouring through his head. It was like a summer’s heat in winter, creating a hazy, steaming fog through his thoughts that made it harder to find them, or even to realize that they were there. He groaned, slumping forward as he stared at his girlfriend’s glowing eyes. Katie smiled at him, curling her finger and calling him to the bed. He came, sitting down on the mattress beside her.

“Lovely. I didn’t think that would work.”

“…”

“And still as silent as ever…”

She shook her head, looking at him with some sort of pity that he didn’t entirely understand. Then again, in this moment, he wasn’t sure that he understood anything quite the way that he would have liked to. Instead, he just stared happily, dumbly at her, feeling like the glow was giving him everything that he needed at that moment.

She stroked his head, leaning him against her chest. Her breasts felt warm against the side of his face, and she leaned down, kissing his forehead, the side of his head, the tip of his ear. It was all soft, gentle, comforting.

Just like her.

Just like…

He couldn’t think clearly enough to compare it to anything, so he just took it, enjoying it as her hand rubbed down his side. She reached around his waist, rubbing along the front of his pants the way that she had done at a movie theater more than once, teasing and half-threatening to pull his cock free.

He throbbed slightly down there, but didn’t actually get what he wanted. She pulled her hand away at the last second, shaking her head.

“Dear. You need to help me with something.”

“…”

“I need you to do me some serious favors right now. It’s going to be hard, and it’s going to be scary, but I need you to do this for me, okay?”

Specter slowly nodded. Something was intruding on the calm that he had been keeping in his head with the glow, but the glow was strong enough to keep it from getting out of hand. Instead, he just looked up at her, keeping himself happy with that slow glimmer of light that filled his head.

“In my bag, there are five little idols. I want you to give them to your cousins and their girlfriends, and keep one for yourself. Make sure that you give them the ones that feel right, okay?”

“…”

“Oh…”

She leaned down, kissing him and stroking his face. He wished that he could speak in that moment. It almost felt like it was something that he should do. Why, he didn’t know, but she looked so sad, and yet happy, the two feelings contrasting with one another.

“I promise, this will make sense later. I promise.”

“…”

“Just make sure that you give them the idols, and then I’ll tell you what you need to do next. Okay? Just make sure that they think that it’s a gift from me and you, and that’s it. Tell them it’s…it’s something that I picked up in Japan.”

He found himself nodding, and the glow intensified, and then here was nothing.

#

“A wolf?”

Specter had been half-aware of the world up until that point, and he blinked as he realized that he was holding out a little wolf figurine to his older cousin. It felt right, yes, but there was still something a little bit odd about doing it in the first place.

Yet, he didn’t stop himself. He nodded as he held out the little wolf figurine – idol, something told him in the back of his head – and he held the same one out to Victoria. The two of them cocked their heads at the little things, turning them this way and that, but despite their confusion, they obviously seemed to like them.

[i]Where did I…[/i]

It was a gift. Right. A gift from him and Katie, something that Katie had picked up in Japan. The information came to him suddenly and forcefully, and he wasn’t entirely sure why it had come like that, but it did. He stared down at the idols with his older cousin and Victoria, only to jerk back to the moment when Jamie spoke up again.

“Heh, she better have brought one back for you.”

Specter realized that Katie had. He’d already handed out Ollow’s and Lilla’s idols – and he vaguely remembered that they’d been very happy to receive them, with Ollow getting a simple housecat and Lilla getting a snow leopard – but he had kept one more for himself. He reached into his back pocket and pulled it out.

It was an ocelot, something that felt oddly fitting, considering his smaller size and stature. He smiled a little bit, running his thumb along the wood, and then slowly pocketed it again as Jamie nodded his head.

“I think that you got the best one, honestly.”

[i]Did you want it?[/i] Specter asked, writing down the message on his notebook.

“No, no, I’m just thinking that it fits you best.” Jamie chuckled. “And the wolf works with us. Pack, right hun?”

“Pack,” Victoria agreed.

“Yeah…”

They looked at each other with mushy, loving eyes, and Specter realized that there might be more bumping and grinding going on tonight than he had expected. He blushed, ducking his head and waving his goodbyes, heading back to the stairs. He was feeling…odd. Just a bit off, a bit not himself. He didn’t know what was happening, but he felt that Katie might have more of an answer for him. Maybe he should talk with her before he did anything else.

He went back to their room, opening the door without knocking. Something flickered at the edge of his vision, something that almost looked…furred? He stopped in place, Katie turned to face him. There was a hint of a snarl before –

Glow.

“Walk with me, dear. Walk with me.”

And in the glow, he did as he was told.

#

He ‘woke’ when they were in the snowy paths of the forest, making their way along wooded paths and through the winter wonderland that the area outside the Cottage became during the cold months. He groaned silently, rubbing his head as the fuzzy feeling around the edges of his mind finally started to fade.

“Sorry, dear. We needed to get out of the cottage for a while. So stuffy.”

“…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything soon.”

He wasn’t sure that there was an explanation, not for holes in his consciousness of this size. For that matter, he didn’t know what in the hell had just happened to him to take him from the Cottage to the woodlands around it. Katie had said that they needed to go for a walk, and so, they had gone for a walk. That was all that he knew.

She was still walking, for that matter, her boots crunching in the snow. Something was wrong, though. It felt so normal, but something was not quite right. He rubbed his head, trying to sort it out as he pulled his coat a little tighter around his middle.

It only occurred to him when they finally stopped walking what it was. He wore a jacket, and Katie did not. As a matter of fact, she barely wore a simple t-shirt and jeans to go with her boots…and she wasn’t shivering.

He took a step back, only for her to grab him by the shoulder.

“Don’t run…please…”

Snap, snap-snap. Morse code in finger snaps, clicking.

[i]You are one of them.[/i]

“I – yes, I am, but this is different.”

[i]What do you want?[/i]

“…”

[i]You want to change us.[/i]

“Yes, but there’s a good reason. I promise.”

There was no good reason for changing. He didn’t want to change, and he knew that his cousins were not interested in leaving their humanity behind. He didn’t know the girls yet, but he was fairly sure that they weren’t here to lose their humanity to some random anthro. Specter managed to get his hand free, but…but it was too late.

Though Katie still looked like herself, three tails had sprouted from behind her, slowly slithering through the air and making their way around him. They formed a net behind him, keeping him from pulling away, and making sure that he was looking nowhere but straight at her face.

“I promise, there’s a good reason for this,” she said again, shaking her head. “Just work with me. I promise, it’ll be better than just running away.”

[i]You lied to me.[/i]

“I lied to everyone. I’m sorry. But things are going to change. Not just for you, but for everyone. If I just let it happen – stop, please, just stop!”

He was fighting with everything he had, trying to break free of her tail grip, trying to slide out of her reach. Everything that his meager form had, he put into trying to break free of her tails.

He almost managed it before she leaned in, gripping his head. She thumbed his eyes open, looking straight into them, and her eyes glowed once more. This time, the glow was bright enough that he was left all but paralyzed, staring up at her as he whimpered silently, trying to keep hold of himself and what he needed to do.

Specter managed to last for perhaps a full minute before the glow consumed his thoughts once more, dragging him down to that happy, glowing place that could only obey the kitsune woman before him.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…”

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: A young man named Specter lives in a world that is increasingly becoming more anthro, and in a scarier way. Invited to a cabin for some time away from the world, among other humans, and goes there with his girlfriend. Weird things start to happen…

Tags: No Sex, Fondling, Hypnosis, M/F, Tails, Series, Impending Transformation, Anthro, Human, Kitsune, Rape, Corruption,