The canyon floor was cool, its shade and moist air making it almost chilly here despite the sudden drop in the sea breeze coming from the shore behind her.

The noise from the few families and kids playing hooky who had decided to take advantage of the warm October weekday by going to the beach also seemed almost to disappear.

Even just a few hundred yards up the canyon, the sense of isolation, peace and timelessness was enveloping. She pulled her sweatshirt from around her waist and put it on over her slightly damp swimsuit.

That and the skirt she had pulled on before she left the beach were enough to protect her from the chill, and now that she had found a path out of the shallow stream, she was able to keep her bare feet from getting too cold. She pushed the wisps of long, red hair that had escaped from her braid out of her green eyes, and continued climbing up the canyon.

She was quite pleased with herself that she had decided to leave the beach and explore this unknown territory alone, with no idea of where the path led to or what she would find. She didn't get out of the city very often, especially not since she had begun her unusual course of studies with Raban, once her college psych professor and now...well, if she were to believe him (and she didn't, at least not all the time) now he was her guru, her spiritual guide. Hell might as well admit it...she was his apprentice in (lord, how she hated even saying the word to herself) Magick. Big "M", "k" at the end. Booga booga. Well, she had come up here to avoid thinking about all this shit. And what better place, since Raban had told her that until she was "ready" (whatever that meant) she should avoid leaving the city, and most especially that she mustn't go up the coast past Sunset. "There are...'things' (Raban was a master at meaningful pauses and spoken quotes) in the wilderness up there that could...cause you difficulties.

They probably wouldn't bother you in a crowd, but it is best to play it safe. If you must go to the beach to work on that surfer girl tan, go south. And don't go alone.” Well, she needed a little rebellion in her life, and figured that twenty miles up Highway 1 would do it, but the happy tourists made the beach seem too tame. Thus, her little walk in the "woods.” Even this was pretty pathetic, by her old standards. She was used to real wilderness, and just the other side of PCH didn't really qualify. But it was quiet enough and isolated enough for her to at least relax for a while. It would do.

After walking for about a half an hour, she found that the brush on the trail was thick enough to prevent a bare-footed girl in a skirt from getting through comfortably. She found a big rock overlooking the stream, and curled up on it to rest for a few minutes before heading back toward her beach towel, her car, and eventually, her newly weird life.

She lost track of the time, but the sun angle had changed only a little on the cliff wall when she was startled out of her reverie by a quiet splashing around the bend upstream from her perch. For a moment she froze, heart pounding, as she waited to see what would appear, afraid Raban's vague predictions were about to come true. When a very normal looking guy rounded the curve, his eyes on his footing, not even noticing she was there, she sighed in relief. As he came closer, she studied him. He was tall and slim, dressed in a khaki long-sleeved shirt, open at the neck, and denim cut-offs. He, too, was barefoot.

She shifted on the rock, and he looked up quickly at the noise and met her eyes. His eyes were grey, set deep in a conventionally handsome, friendly-looking face. He smiled. "Hi! You startled me.” "Sorry, I didn't mean to," she said, smiling back. "I was kind of lost in thinking and I guess I forgot how to talk for a minute.” He laughed, climbing the bank toward her. "I have the same problem, when I hike up here for too long. Nice getting away from the city, isn't it?” "Yeah, it's great, even if we are only about a mile from the highway.

It feels farther.” He leaned against the rock and looked up at her. "Well, it's farther than you'd think from civilization here. The park service pretty much leaves this area alone, and a lot of wild things have learned to live in the little spaces that people miss.

Until the developers show up, of course.” She frowned at that. "They're not actually considering developing up here, are they?” He grinned wolfishly. "Well, they were. They're not so keen on it anymore, though. Accidents, I guess.” "Good!” She laughed. "Yeah," he said, "the city has eaten enough land around here. But humans never know when to stop.” "I guess that's how we are, no limits. I'm glad, though, that there are a few of us like you who try to take care of the rest of nature.” He looked at her for a moment. "It's nice to meet a kindred spirit. Want me to show you a little more of the canyon?” She looked at the changing sun angle and shook her head. "Maybe some other time I've really got to get back.” "Too bad”. Let me walk you back, then. It's the least I can do.” He reached up to help her off the rock. She jumped down, and started heading back down the trail. She turned her head to look at him, and saw something swinging, fast, toward her head. Then she saw nothing.

Consciousness came back slowly. First, she was aware of her body, that her head hurt, that her arms felt numb, her jaw ached, and her movement was restricted. Then, she noticed sounds - a rushing in her ears that was replaced by noise, at first indecipherable, eventually resolving into loud industrial rock music. At last, she opened her eyes. The blurriness took a minute to clear, and then she found herself looking at a large, plain, dimly lit room.

The walls and floor were rough planking, with only one large rug in the centre. There were no windows, and what light there was came from candles on the floors and rough tables and from a fire in a large rock fireplace in one wall. An open door in the wall opposite her was open, the space beyond it dark. The music was coming from that direction. All this she took in without really processing the information. It was a while before she became able to question her situation, to remember who she was, where she had last been, and to really become aware of her condition. As soon as she woke up fully, though, the numbness that had blanketed her thinking was blasted away by a raging, panicky fear.

She was standing upright, bare feet on the rough boards, and her hands were suspended over her head.

When she jerked back her head to look up, she was rewarded with a stabbing pain in her head for moving too fast and the sight of her hands manacled with steel cuffs and chained to the wall with a massive eye bolt. Pulling on the cuffs produced no result other than pain in her arms and some clanking. Panicked, she screamed, only to realize that the pain in her jaws was the result of a gag which was strapped into her mouth, with a large bulb which tasted like leather between her teeth and holding her tongue down. Trying to push the gag out was about as successful as her earlier attempts at freeing herself. She did a quick survey of the rest of her body. Mercifully, her clothes were all still intact, and nothing else hurt much, except for some stiffness in her legs. She wondered how long she had been there, unconscious.

Obviously, the man she had met had brought her here. Frantically trying to reason out her situation, she concluded that having manacles bolted to one's wall wasn't usual behaviour for a mugger, or even a garden variety rapist. She obviously couldn't talk her way out of this one, at least not unless he removed the gag. The best she could hope for was that he would finish with her and let her go. She clung to that thought.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, afraid, for something, anything, to happen, she heard movement in the room beyond, and a man's voice, singing along with NIN. Suddenly she wished that the waiting would continue, since every possibility she could come up with for what would happen next was worse, much worse, than being chained to a wall. But the nightmare, when it came, was more horrible than anything she could have dreamed up. When he finally entered the room, he barely glanced at her, though she willed him to notice her silent pleading. He moved to the fire and began to unbutton his shirt, talking quietly, almost to himself more than to her. "It's been a long, long time since I indulged myself like this. I try to maintain a low profile, like most of my kind, and I try to satisfy my peculiar wants with music, and video, and memories. But I really couldn't pass this up." He laughed, and approached her, shedding his shirt and draping it over a nearby table. "A baby mage, all alone, wandering into my territory. I thought it was a trap, it had to be. No one ever accused your kind of being stupid - greedy, vicious and egocentric, yes, but not stupid. But there you were, right where I sensed you would be, no one else around, no safeguards, no clue that I was anything but some bumbling eco-idiot

hiker.

No, I couldn't pass that up.” He looked into her face, saw the confusion there. "Gods, you still don't have a clue, do you? No training at all, then, just enough magick to make you stink of it to anything even half aware, and not enough to save yourself from it." Laughing, his eyes glittering with pleasure, he unbuttoned his shorts. "It would be criminal to reject a gift like you. I'll never get an opportunity like this again." Naked, he moved to face her, staring into her terrified eyes. "Oh, baby face,” he crooned, stroking her cheek, "you were made for this. I needed you, and you came. And I'll show you so much before we're through.” He moved away, pacing restlessly about the room. "It's going to be so hard to go slowly, to give you the time you deserve. I already want you so much that I can't even take the time to play with you like this-" He held his arms out and faced her, showing her his naked, muscular body, and erect, long, cock. "No, it's already starting. Watch carefully, love. You may never get another chance to see this.” He laughed, low in his throat. She looked at his eyes, which seemed brighter than before. She whimpered behind the gag as his laughter changed, deepened into something like a growl. "Sorry I ruined the show by stripping," he said gruffly. "But I get so sick of buying new clothes. So much tidier this way." And his body began to change, mutating into something monstrous as he stared into her eyes with his own now turning a hot yellow. He growled and moaned, the sounds growing more and more bestial. Eventually, she turned from the sight in horror and nausea. Unable to bring herself to close her eyes for fear he would be upon her without her noticing, she instead watched the shadow the firelight threw on the rough floor as it grew taller, more inhuman with each moment. She was crying in terror, the tears fouling her face, running under her gag and into her nose, making it harder to breathe as she gasped in shallow, panting breaths. Her moans and his horrible noises merged with the dark music, making an unholy symphony in the close, hot room. At last, the shadow seemed to stop shifting, although the flickering firelight made her unsure.

She turned, slowly, to look, and gave a muffled shriek at the sight. He was huge, at least eight feet tall, towering above her. Through her terror, the thought came, fuzzily, that he must be some sort of werewolf, although his unnatural form was really neither human nor wolf like. He was still upright, on two huge legs with large foot-shaped paws, and his arms still looked functional, although each finger was now tipped with a long, ragged claw. He was covered with fur the same black that his hair had been, but his mad-looking eyes were now a blazing yellow and slit, like an animal's. His...muzzle was shorter than a wolf's in relation to the rest of his huge head but the teeth...oh, God, look anywhere else, she thought. Except there, she laughed hysterically to herself, turning away from his monstrously huge fully erect phallus, which curved up against his belly, but not before she saw the evidence of his arousal dripping from the red tip. When he spoke, his voice was gravely and bestial, but still comprehensible. "Shy?” he growled. "Well, you really haven't gotten much of a chance to know me. Shall I tell you about myself?” Somehow the idea of human speech emerging from such a monster was the worst horror of all (so far, her treacherous brain reminded her) and she nearly blacked out again.

A few seconds later she recovered to find him standing close to her, reaching for her face. She screamed around the gag and reared back, away from his clawed hand, hitting her bruised head hard enough on the wall to bring more tears to her eyes. He grunted his laughter and grabbed her head, cupping it in his huge paw, the claw on his thumb biting into her chin as he pulled her around to look at him. "You've probably already guessed, astute little mage that you are, that I'm a garou, a werewolf. What you may not know, given your inadequate training," he continued in a mock lecturing tone, "is how much we garou loathe your kind." He gripped her arm with his other hand, and tore through her sleeve, drawing blood, to emphasize his point.

She moaned. "Some of us tolerate humans, some work with them or even mate with them. But my clan frowns on that. I was taught that the only good human was hamburger. Which left me with few outlets for my...unfortunate desires. To put it bluntly," and he rubbed his monstrous cock against her chest, "humans turn me on. And unfortunately for you, my little mage, the reek of tainted human magick that surrounds you turns me on even more. But I've managed to reconcile my needs with my nature. If hunting humans pleases the wolf, and fucking them pleases the man, then why not do both? I've never had the pleasure of hunting such delicious prey before, though, my love. And I intend to savour it.

She moaned and pleaded with him with her eyes above the gag. "No, little one. The gag stays in. You may not know much, but even an untrained mage might get creative enough in the heat of ...passion to stumble upon something potent enough to cause trouble. Ordinarily I'd enjoy listening to you plead, and beg, and scream, but I'm afraid this time I can't take the risk. Even for the pleasure of shoving this" -- he grabbed his cock -- "down your pretty throat. But don't worry. We'll find other ways to have fun.” He let go of her face and put his hand on her other arm. Slowly, watching her avidly with glowing eyes, he drew his claws down her arms, shredding her sleeves and leaving deep scratches in her flesh, stopping with his hands resting gently on her shoulders. She screamed in pain and fright. "Shh, baby." He whispered gutturally. "This is just the beginning." His claws moved down her torso, ripping both shirt and bathing suit from her, and leaving her bleeding from her collarbone down her sides to her waist.

He tore the shreds of her clothing aside, baring her breasts to his gaze. He looked at her full breasts and found her usually hidden secret - small iridescent rings through pierced nipples. He gave a groan of pleasure and surprise and looked up into her face, moaning, "you little slut, I guess you're not such a stranger to these games after all. Although you've probably never played for keeps before, have you baby?" Amazingly she found that through the haze of panic and pain she could actually feel embarrassment and anger. That this ...monster should know about her private wants, the things she had done for her lovers and for herself, enraged her. He laughed at her _expression and her little growl of rebellion against him...and then he hooked two claws into the rings and pulled, gently. Almost immediately, her long conditioned responses began to betray her. Her already partially erect nipples became hard and her head tilted back, just slightly. She managed to stifle her moans for a few moments more until the tugging became more cruel and he added the stimulus of his other claws biting into the globes of her full breasts. As she finally lost her battle against the noises welling up in her throat, she sent out a frantic prayer that he would interpret her moans and gasps as pain alone. She lost that battle too. "Oh, yes, love, yes, come with me, I'll take your pain and your pleasure and make them the same, yes, you'll give it all to me, won't you, little mage?” He groaned and bent to lean his huge shaggy head against the wall next to hers, as he dropped one hand to her waist and ripped the skirt and the rest of her bathing suit from her ass and between her legs. He made no effort to keep his claws from tearing at the tender flesh on her hips, ass and thighs, but the pain/pleasure in her nipples had begun the transformation in her from terrified, angry victim to unwilling conspirator in her own destruction. Her body, now turned traitor, joined with the parts of her that had always taken pain and fear and made them her own, and overwhelmed the part of her that still desperately wanted to live.

Her moan of surrender sent her partner in this death dance over the edge. Growling and whining deep in his throat, all words deserting him now, he used his clawed hands to rake at her inner thighs as he cupped her ass and shoved her body roughly upwards, the unfinished boards at her back tearing her skin. Blood ran down her uplifted thighs into the cleft between her legs, as he deepened the wounds he had made. He lowered his muzzle and bit savagely at her breasts, nipping and drawing more blood. Control had left her, and she found herself, feeling the stinging, burning and stabbing pains, thrusting her breasts at his mouth, begging with her body for him to mutilate her more. She wrapped her legs around him, feeling the blood lubricate her cunt as her own juices began to flow to help, to open the way to the monstrous invader he was shoving her down upon. The huge cock ripped her open as it entered her, providing more blood to ease its way as it slammed into her. Hers cream was loud even through the gag, even through the tears and snot that clogged her throat. Her sweat and his own musky wetness combined with the blood on their skins, matting his fur, stinging in her cuts and scratches and bites. He began to fuck her, savagely, and she knew from how deep the pain was at each thrust that he was ripping her up beyond repair, and all she felt was a deep satisfaction that he was using her, remaking her to better fit him, to better please him. He slobbered all over her now ripped and bleeding breasts, and with a howl, he took her breast in his teeth and bit almost through it. She howled and sobbed and moaned -- and offered her body to him for more.

She felt herself growing weaker even as the pleasure began to spiral upwards. He thrust harder, impaling her, filling what now felt less like her cunt and more like a raw hole into her belly. As she began to shriek her climax, he howled his. As the peak of pleasure and agony tore at her body and her soul, he nuzzled her throat with his mouth. "I'll always remember you, love.” He groaned, and ripped out her throat.

The End