Full Moon Strays Ch. 02

This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere. It contains heterosexual and lesbian sexual activity.

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The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead (or just confused) is entirely coincidental. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or in total, without the author's permission.

This story takes place in the entirely fictional city of Springfield, California, so don't go looking for it on a map. And in my little fictional world, there are no unwanted pregnancies or STD's, except as plot driving devices. The author encourages the practice of safe-sex. Finally, as the name implies, this is part of an ongoing series. It would benefit the reader greatly to examine the earlier stories for background information and descriptions.

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"C'mon, keep your eyes up. Don't react to the hands! No, you're telegraphing!" Red growled.

Jane was incredibly frustrated. Once declared healthy, Tarloh and Red decided it was time for Jane to start her training. Jane wasn't sure how exactly she was drafted into this group, but she had acknowledged that she didn't have anywhere else to go. So Jane was playing by the house rules, and that meant learning self-defense, stealth, and "other skills," which Jane didn't inquire about too much.

Red had taken the younger woman aside for the second straight day and began trying to get Jane's feet, fists and hair all coordinated. While a number of people initially found the idea of "living hair" to be silly, Red had quickly realized the potential. Jane's hair had become as strong as steel and was able to stretch to lengths of thirty feet. She seemed to be able to manipulate eight groupings of hair, so Talia had suggested creating eight distinct braids. This had actually done wonders for Jane's control, and she found herself with twelve limbs at her disposal. And she was able to lift tremendous amounts of weight with her new hair appendages . . . the total amount was still to be determined. But for all her potential, Jane was moving around like someone with two left feet and a broken leg. She was trying as hard as she could, and desperately wanted Red not to give up on her, but she seemed to be failing at everything.

Red was conducting a drill where she would approach Jane and try and lightly tag her by touching Jane's side. All Jane had to do was keep Red away, and Jane was failing miserably. She kept trying to run, periodically pushing blindly away with her miscellaneous extremities. She tried anticipating which direction Red was going to go, but the lycanthrope always seemed one step ahead of her.

Jane hadn't seen Red's "other" form until the previous day. When Red morphed, her shoulder's broadened, her breasts seemed to shrink a little bit, her legs bent backward at the knee, her hands grew claws, her skin grew a thin layer of reddish fur and her head became that of a great cat. Quite frankly, she scared the shit out of Jane. But when training, that was the form Red always took.

Jane whipped her head around and extended her braids until they were ten feet in length, using them much like a series of giant weed-whackers. But Red quickly ducked underneath, lunged forward and lightly tagged Jane on the side.

Jane wanted to cry, but she quelled the tears. Her hands were trembling and she hung her head in shame. Then, she felt a soft hand underneath her chin, lifting her face.

"Don't stress," Red said, morphing back to human form and trying to show the girl some support. "I've been doing this for twenty years. You've been doing it for two days, and you're still recovering a bit. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"But I couldn't . . . I couldn't stop you," Jane whispered, her voice reflecting her internal pain. "I can never stop them . . . you . . . Can I go now?" Jane dejectedly headed to the showers as Talia wandered over.

Talia wrapped her arm around Red's shoulders and watch their young friend walk away. "Well, that went well."

"I . . . I don't know how else to train her, but she's so afraid of everything," Red muttered.

"I know. I was just teasing. She really wants to please everybody, particularly you. She doesn't like feeling useless," the dark-skinned beauty pointed out. Jane had actually been doing much better the last few days. While she still kept a safe distance from most people, she let them approach without freaking out and she occasionally engaged in conversations. But mostly, she just seemed to want to listen.

"She's been here what? A week and a half now? What's she expecting?"

"Maybe she doesn't know what to expect. She's kind of been 'just reacting' since she got here. Considering what she's been through, I think she's doing pretty well. Well enough that I thought that I might take her topside tonight . . . you know, bring some of the girls along. You don't need many for the scavenging party, do you?"

"No, just me, Tarloh and two of the gruesome threesome," Red chuckled, using her pet name for Michael, Mindy and Matthew. "Actually, I'll probably take Patrick too. Maybe Johan as well. If you're taking Anya, I'll need someone else stealthy, and a shadow demon will do nicely." Red looked towards the showers. She bit her lip for a moment. "Could you make sure she's okay?"

"Why don't you go ask her?" Talia asked.

"I've got a few things to do . . . finalize a list of targets . . . and she seems a little too fragile for someone with my people-skills to be talking to," Red said, heading over to Tarloh.

"You don't fool me for a minute," Talia said under her breath, then went to get the girls.

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A few hours later . . .

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"God, I forgot how much I liked pizza," Mindy said, running her hands over her stomach. Down in the Den, they did have access to more basic foods but lacked the finer things. Pizza definitely counted as a finer thing.

"Where did you get the money?" Jane asked. It hadn't occurred to her to ask how the Strays managed to survive, as none of them seemed to have jobs.

Talia wrapped her arm around Jane's shoulders, happy she didn't tense up. "We . . . not everything we do is strictly . . . legal," she said. "We steal a lot of what we need to survive, or we scavenge what we can. A lot of the non-lycanthropes donate plasma, which brings in some money, while others work odd jobs whenever they can. Everything in the Den is communal property . . . everyone works for the common good."

"Our dinner tonight was sponsored by a drug-dealer over on Canal Street," Anya said.

"You deal drugs?!?" Jane asked, somewhat shocked.

"No, I stole his wallet," Anya grinned. "It's a pretty common way for me to contribute, and I get a kick out of fucking with anyone who's trying to peddle cocaine to high-school kids."

Jane still looked uncomfortable, and everyone picked up on it. "Listen," Mindy said, "I know it's probably hard. Stealing is wrong . . . that's what everyone is taught. But most of us could never hold full-time jobs or wouldn't want to. Keeping the streets safe from some genuinely evil beings is a job-and-a-half of work by itself."

"Who . . . who do you steal from?"

"Criminals, when we can help it," Anya said.

"And WalMart," Mindy piped in.

"Didn't I just say that?"

"And there are some normal people who know about us and donate stuff. And we usually have enough meat after each hunt to last at least a month," Talia said, licking her chops.

"Hunt?" Jane was curious.

"Yeah," Mindy said gleefully. "Every full moon, the lycanthropes go hunting in the woods and mountains east of town. Deer . . . pheasant . . . wild turkey . . . rabbit . . . wild pig if we're lucky."

"You . . . eat it . . . raw?" Jane said, feeling the pizza in her stomach backing up.

"Of course," Talia said. "We ARE animals Jane. Admittedly, I prefer a good barbecue when in human form but as a wolf . . ." She almost began salivating. "Anyway, we only eat a little for ourselves and bring the rest back for the pack."

"I just LOVE it when you guys get back from a hunt," Anya said wickedly. "Everyone is so randy afterwards!"

"You are such a slut!" Mindy said, laughing and hugging her friend.

"Oh, like you're so innocent," Anya shot back. "I heard you and Arthur last night."

"That was fun," Mindy said unabashedly. She glanced sideways at Talia, who was giving her a "shut up" look while glancing at Jane. The newest member of the group had grown pale when the subject of sex got brought up, and she had fallen another step or two behind the rest.

"I'm sorry," Talia said. "We won't talk about this if it makes you uncomfortable."

Anya looked confused, as did Mindy, but both were smart enough to realize that there was something they didn't know and they yielded to Talia on the issue.

"No . . . it . . . it's okay," Jane said. "You . . . you should . . ."

"Are you a virgin?" Anya asked, not thinking about it. After all, it was a particularly reasonable question . . . for most people.

Jane started to sob. "Nuh . . . no," she whimpered. Talia moved to wrap her arms around the girl, having to fend off Jane's living braids for a moment until Jane got them under control.

"There, there sweetie," she crooned.

"I'm sorry," Anya said, not sure what was going on.

Talia flashed her a smile. It wasn't Anya's fault, and sex was one of the hot Hispanic's favorite topics and hobbies. "Did you want to talk about it?" she asked Jane.

But Jane wasn't in the building, so to speak. She was thinking back to her own "sexual" experiences. "Touching . . . squirming . . . punching . . . hurting," she muttered. "Lies . . . flesh pressing down on me . . . favors . . . sticky stuff on my hand . . . I don't feel anything . . . hollow."

"Calm down," Talia said, watching the poor girl's mind breaking before her. She motioned to an alley, and the four women moved into it, Talia pulling Jane along. The girl was obviously agitated, her hair periodically whipping out in random directions. She stopped rambling and just sobbed into Talia's shoulder.

"Why can't I feel anything?" Jane practically whimpered. "Why am I empty inside?"

"Jane . . . you need to confront this. You need to tell me what you're afraid of. And you can tell Mindy and Anya . . . you don't need to go through this alone," Talia whispered, stroking that living hair.

Jane looked around at the small group of women . . . her friends. There was no judgement in their eyes . . . no condemnation of her weakness. There was just compassion. She didn't recognize it at first, since it was something she wasn't used to seeing, but it was there. She opened her mouth.

"Can we go back home?" she asked plaintively.

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A little while later . . .

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"It's about time," Red mumbled as she and the rest of the scavenging crew stumbled into the Den.

"Stop complaining," Tarloh told her. "It was a damn good haul!"

"One frickin' security guard and we get denied those medical supplies." She sighed. "I'll . . . I'll go back up tomorrow. I'll find a way to get what Arthur needs."

It was Tarloh's turn to sigh. No matter how good a job Red did, in her mind it wasn't good enough. "Fine. We may have to just buy it. We'll see how much cash we've got and I'll get it to you by the evening."

Red hated spending the pack's limited funds on something she should have been able to acquire, but there were some things they couldn't wait on. She dropped her bundles off at the main table so that Tarloh and some of the others could start checking it off their lists. Red held onto a small package that had a different destination.

While out, Red had noticed a couple human girls shopping at one of those superstores. One of them had been about Jane's size, and she was wearing a cute little set of designer jeans and a blue sweater. She was still feeling bad about how things had gone with Jane, so Red had inquired as to the girl's measurements (which had been a bizarre conversation), and had "procured" a similar ensemble and a long leather trenchcoat for the young woman. Red convinced herself that it was because it would be getting colder soon.

She noticed Jane sitting with the girls she had gone topside with and Arthur seemed to have joined them. The entire group looked a little somber.

"Hey. I hope I'm not intruding," Red said as she approached.

"Nah, that's okay," Talia said. She peaked out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Jane's eyes had immediately been drawn to Red's face, and they remained there until Red caught her staring.

"Okay," Red replied, unconvinced. But she needed to give her gift . . . donation before she chickened out. 'I wish I was better at this,' she thought. "Hey Jane," she started, "I . . . I figured you didn't have a lot of clothes that actually fit, so I picked you up some stuff." There was a brief awkward moment where Red wasn't sure if she was supposed to hand Jane the package or unwrap it for her. She opted for the former.

Jane took the packages while avoiding making direct eye contact. "Uhm . . . thank you," she murmured. Everything was actually wrapped up in a single piece of brown paper with the consistency of a grocery sack. She was as careful opening the package as she would have handling fine porcelain. As each piece of clothing came into view, she touched it and pressed it against her face.

Red couldn't take her eyes off of Jane. The girl almost looked like she had just been given the key to the Kingdom of Heaven instead of some stolen garments.

Jane looked up with glistening eyes. "Thuh . . . thank you." These weren't hand-me-downs or surplus. "Why?"

Red was getting more and more curious. She knew the girl had been through hell, but . . . "Don't tell me no one had given you a gift before?!?" 'I guess it is a gift after all,' she thought.

With little warning, Jane was on her feet, her arms and hair braids wrapped around Red as the younger girl gave a hug that drove the air from her lungs. And Jane was crying again. Red had no idea what to do, so she just held the quivering girl in her arms and let her cry on her shoulder. Red and Talia locked eyes, and Red gave a 'What the hell should I do?' look. Talia just shrugged, which earned her a helpless stare.

Talia figured it was time to say something. "Jane, we look after our own down here. We won't let anyone hurt you . . ."

"I . . . I've heard that . . . buh . . . before," Jane sniffled. "It's what people say right before they . . . they . . . do something bad to you."

Red was out of her element, but she wasn't without feelings. She held Jane gently and actually kissed the girl on the top of the head. She wasn't sure why. She also wasn't sure why Jane had decided to cling to her of all people. After all, Talia had definitely been nicer to her.

Talia felt a little warm inside as she watched Red act with tenderness. 'You make people feel safe,' she thought of her old friend. 'Jane needs that.' Then out loud, "Jane, you and I have already talked about this, but you need to talk to the others. You can't let this eat you up inside."

Jane just stood there for a moment, then finally began to release Red from her grip. Talia was reading Red's face, and didn't think the woman necessarily wanted to be released. Then Jane sat down next to Red's feet. "What . . . what do you want me to do?" she asked, looking first at Talia then up at Red.

The red-haired beauty sat down next to her young friend. "Tell us everything . . . from the beginning."

"Start with something decent," Talia suggested. "Tell us about your father."

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An hour later . . .

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Talia and Red had known a bit what to expect, though Red was hearing it straight from the horse's mouth for the first time. The rest of the small crew was able to feel disgust and outrage for the first time. But Talia noticed that the words got easier for Jane as she talked and she was able to meet her friends' gazes more often. From being molested by her stepfather through the Hollywood scouts, pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, the porn movie, the used car salesman and the decrepit landlord, those few anxious listeners bit their tongues. And the entire time, Jane stayed close to Red.

Jane was emotionally exhausted after related her story, and she allowed Red to help her back to her temporary sleeping quarters. The rest of the group stayed behind, talking carefully for a while about what they had learned.

"That explains a lot," Arthur said. "I wish you'd told me," he said to Talia.

"I couldn't. I figured it would be better if she told people. Only Red and I knew, and I had to tell Red so she wouldn't push Jane too hard."

"I know, but I still wish you'd told me," he said, standing to his feet and helping Mindy to hers. "It's frustrating. I can heal the body, but the mind is still a mystery to me."

"So what can we do?" Mindy asked tentatively.

"Just wait," Talia said. "Be patient, but don't coddle her. She really wants to belong and she NEEDS to belong, and we can't do that if we don't let her participate."

"So, did I miss anything?" Tarloh asked, approaching the group.

Talia smiled, hugged him and pressed her face against that massive chest. "I'll tell you about it later." She looked up at the big man fondly. "Right now, I think I just need to let off a little steam."

"Hmm," Mindy groaned, "that sounds like a great idea." She grabbed Arthur by the arm. "So, who's up for a little 'four-play'?"

Arthur shook his head. "Actually, that sounds like a pretty good idea." 'Wait,' he thought. 'We're missing someone. Where the heck did Anya go? Oh well.' He shrugged the thought off as the four of them jumped down onto the tracks and headed a little ways down. All of them, when confronted with someone who saw physical contact as being synonymous with pain, needed to remind themselves that it could be pleasure. Then, they would stand a better chance of convincing Jane.

Once safely out of sight, Talia turned and jumped onto Tarloh, wrapping her long dark legs around his waist, grinding her hips against him while she kissed him. Mindy was nuzzling Arthur's neck while he gripped her firm behind. She sucked on his earlobe, actually relishing the taste of his sweat as she worked her way down his neck, up his chin before finally reaching his generous lips. Her tongue glided into his mouth and touched his tongue, caressing that slight divot down the middle. His breath smelled faintly of barbecue . . . a little bit sweet . . . a little bit tangy. So she devoured it, breathing it in and mixing his breath with the air in her lungs. She wanted him inside of her in every conceivable way.

Next to them, there were no such pseudo-romantic niceties. Tarloh's pant's were down around his ankles while Talia's were nowhere to be seen, and he had all eleven inches buried in her tight tunnel. She was gripping his broad shoulders and spurring him in the ass with her heels, emitting low guttural noises when she bottomed out on his seemingly endless cock. She knew how much raw power Tarloh possessed and that he could fuck her standing up all night long if need be. And that might be what she required, just to get her mind out of dark places.

Since she was supporting her own weight, Tarloh let his hands grasp her perky little breasts, kneading them and cupping them and toying with her stiff nipples. He wondered why tits were so appealing to men, but most of them tended to turn into mindless drooling zombies when they saw a nice pair . . . or a semi-nice pair . . . hell, if they were attached to a woman who was still alive. Of course, having a dick that was almost a foot long had a similar affect on women, so he thought that it all worked itself out in the great scheme of things. And once he got inside a woman, he usually was able to get them to say or do just about anything. He kind of wanted for her to talk dirty, but no one seemed all that chatty. He wondered what Jane had said that made them so desperate for physical release.