Invocation
Holding the candelabra carefully ahead of me, I padded slowly, languorously, through the near-midnight room. Amid the constantly shifting chiaroscuro of flickering candle flames and shivering shadows that flitted around the huge space, I felt a thrill...
Found Time
"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." --Marcel Proust,_À la recherche du temps perdu_ "Right on time, Zachary. Please come in." The great crimson dragon welcomed the young Akita...
Collar 4 -- Need to Talk
I passed my forepaws over my face briefly, trying to regain my wits, then settled them in my lap. The events of the past week, not to mention the past hour or so, were taking a toll. I couldn't blame it on lack of sleep; I'd been sleeping like a happy...
A Sweet Lesson
----------------------------------------------- # A Sweet Lesson _(This one's just for you, my favorite little 'coon!)_ No one could ever get a description of him, short of the words _black, brown, raccoon,_ and _fast,_ apart from an entire...
Expiration Date, Part 2
Neville stood aside as he welcomed me into his home. I knew from other conversations that he had inherited the modest house from his parents (who had passed some years ago), and he had apologized long in advance for how badly he had "let the place...
Grace
Somewhere beyond the lonely cabin, deeper in the woods, the woeful cry of the wild wolves thrilled upon the chill night air. Within the one-room space, lit only by the small fire in the hearth, the gray-furred fox listened with a fascinated...
Collar 5 -- Protection
This story has been deleted in order to comply with the AUP changes of May 2021.
Bound, Part 2
Snarls of frustrated voices outside the library preceded a perfunctory knock and the sharp, noisy banging of the door crashing open. Three furs burst in, their words incoherent as they cast angry glances around the darkened library. From my relaxing...
Blowback
_"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL DID YOU DO?!"_ The well-dressed wolverine, breathing carefully through his aristocratic nose in long, deep draughts, kept his muzzle clamped shut so that the scream that his mind had so carefully constructed did not,...
Artisanry
We stayed in the kitchen long enough to tend to the mugs and accoutrements that Lightwing had brought outside, then padded our way back through the dining hall, past the living room, and out the front doors. Back in the sunshine, I quickly reoriented...
Our First Noel
As the calendar rolled inexorably toward what those in the United States refer to as "the holiday season," I found myself anticipating it - for the first time in years - with joy instead of dread. It's a time of year when every breath taken seems to...
Impossible Things
_For Seth Drake, who made me rise to the challenge_ I looked up at the moon, my human skin itching and crawling, wanting to subsume itself into my true form. I forced it aside. I have had to wait for this night, this particular moon, to do what I...