FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Wolf on the Lawn

Halloween is a funny thing. Humans go out into the streets in the dark, dressed as monster or heroes. Thier offspring dance from house to house in packs usually watched by a single adult, looking for candy and sweets to stuff into their faces. It's an amusing little ritual that they do each year, and I enjoy watching from the shadows, or even in plain sight.

Normally the sight of a large and hideous wolf such as myself would drive any human away, screaming. That draws the attention of local authorities, and I have specific instructions not to interfere with humans... too much. Those were the terms I was given when I, a wolf with no pack, was discovered by this so-called New Inquisition. I don't know how they found me, but they made it clear that they were watching me and I needed to stay out of sight if I wanted to continue my solitary life style.

Now this could have been avoided entirely by finding a pack and joining them, but I always preferred to be alone. Pack life just never suited me. Having to care for others, in general, didn't suit me. So I spent years out in the Appalachian mountains alone, not even mingling with humans if I could. It had been decades since I've walked among humans in their form. The last time was only because I had to. It's too frail, and the lack of fur made them looked like they were wearing rubber suits. Kinky.

Like I said though, their little rituals can be amusing, and Halloween was one of the few times I could go out in public. If I positioned my self correctly, I just looked like some lawn ornament. I could spend an entire night sitting on someone's lawn and just watch them go by and chuckle internally at their silliness.

I was going to do that this year, just like always. I had a house I liked to go to. The couple that lived there, the Colson family always decorated their house, but then they left for the week. I don't know where they went, only that it left their lawn open for me to settle down on. The people of this town, of which I never cared to learn the name of, had grown accustomed to the sight of me each Halloween.

Parents who, when they were younger and spent the nights out looking for sugar and saw me, brought their children to see the 'life-like' wolf. They were even so bold as to pet me and comment about how real I looked. Only if they knew the truth. Only on Halloween.

This year was different, however. I used to watch and wait for the couple to leave before I would swiftly and quietly go to their lawn an hour before sundown, but years of doing this let me get careless. Last year I had gone hunting before hand and missed the couple leaving. I assumed they were gone, which they were, and sat down on their lawn.

I assumed the same thing this year.

An hour before sundown, like every year before, I went out. I didn't miss them leaving due to hunting. I simply assumed they were gone and had spent the day sleeping.

I snuck out of the woods. The house was only a few streets from the edge of the forest and still visible from the tree line, so it wasn't hard to avoid being seen even though I was a massive, three hundred pound wolf skulking across town. Human eyes were easy to trick and avoid.

The house was decorated just like it was every year with tombstones and cob webs to simulate a graveyard. I felt a tinge of warmness at seeing it. It felt like a little piece of home to me. I had definitely marked every part of the outside of the house with my scent. Even if it was only once a year, I highly doubt any animal capable of smelling didn't come even close. Good thing the couple didn't own any pets, of they would have run away. Nothing quite as potent as the markings of a male, solitary werewolf.

The night started off just like any other. It began with a trickle of people, those that I recognized from before who liked to go out before the streets got crowded. They walked by, some like to pet me. I admit I enjoy being pet. Something about having someone else get that itch for me was just so good. There were a few new faces. They always stopped to admire me, take their pictures and selfies before moving on. I wonder how many times I've appeared on this Facebook and Twitter I've heard so much about. A real werewolf, mistaken for a decoration.

As the day gave way to night, more people came out in their costumes. Children dressed up in all kinds of ridiculous get-ups and even the adults sometimes joined in as well. The streets became just as busy as their roads during the middle of the day. They were loud as well. I'm sure that if I was out in the woods, miles away and up winds, I would know that this was town was here. Humans were horrible at knowing hiding their presence. It's a wonder they managed to become the dominant species on Earth.

I wasn't jealous of them. I lived my life in peace, and as you can see, I have incorporated them into my life. Though I did see myself as superior to them. I was hiding in plain sight.

"He's so soft." A little girl in a princess dress, complete with a tiara, said excitedly to her father as she ran her hands over my head and down my back. "And he smells," She giggled and wiped her hands of her father's jeans.

I did my best to stay still. I slowed my breathing down and stared straight ahead at a light post to avoid having my eyes move around. I blinked when I needed to, but slow enough that it seemed like I was just a well-made machine that was made to imitate blinking.

"Alright," The father said, someone that had been bringing his children by for the past few years. He brought his daughter last year. The year before it was what I assumed was his son. Why his son wasn't here this year was anyone's guess. Faces came and went. There used to be this elderly man who would take his grandchildren out on Halloween. Haven't seen him in a few years.

The father took his daughter and left. Others came by and eventually left. The traffic began to die down a little past midnight as the children grew tired and their goodie bags were too heavy, laden with whatever confectionaries they could get their strange racoon like hands on.

I would wait a few more hours until I was sure that they were gone. That was the plan until the door to the house that was supposed to be empty opened up.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, instead just shuddering slightly as if there was a slight overvoltage, or something. I had lived my entire life in the woods, only picking up small bits about the human culture here and there.

"Funny." A voice said, and I heard the wooden porch squeak as someone stepped onto the lawn. "I never bought a giant mechanical wolf." The man sat down next to me, resting his arm on my back. His fingers thrummed across my shoulder blades.

I didn't know what to do at that moment, so I did exactly what every deer I ever hunted did, I froze up. Froze up solid.

"It took me a few years to realize what was happening." He said calmly and leaned against me. "My wife and I would come back, and people would talk about our really good Halloween decorations. We were confused. We did no better than anyone else. Then I began to see the pictures of our lawn on the internet and here you are, a wolf that has been waltzing into our yard each year for really no reason. No reason that I can think of." He paused for a moment. "In short, gigs up. I know what you are."

I finally moved. I cocked my head and looked at the man with an eye. He was the person who lived here. It was the husband. I only knew him as Mr. Colson.

He gave me a smile. "What would the New Inquisition think if they knew you had been doing this."

I growled and he stuck up his hands. "Hey now! Don't start jumping to conclusions on me. I appreciate living. It was just a thought. You've been doing this for a while, and I've known for a few years. If that's any consolation."

Part of me wanted to do nothing more than rip the man a new one. I tolerated humans because they were amusing and of no threat to me. This human was upsetting the natural order of things. I couldn't help however. He knew things that most humans were ignorant of. That meant that he had connections and killing him was too risky.

"I actually don't mind what you're doing here." He was a bold one. He rested his head on my rear haunch and closed his eyes as if he was going to take a nap with me as his pillow. "You're good for the children. I guess they love to pet the big bad wolf and you aren't hurting anyone. Just figured that it was the right time to let your know that this hasn't been your big secret for as long as you thought."

He was cocky too.

"Now you're probably wondering how I know this all." He fluttered his hand above his head, eyes still closed. "Believe it or not, but my son is a werewolf. He was sick as a child. Almost died if it weren't for a werewolf which owed me" He chuckled. "Now he's married. To another werewolf. One that he made himself for much of the same reason. Just got back from the wedding not long ago. The wife is still there as well."

He talked like that for a while. He was older. If my observations of humans were accurate, I'd say he was mid fifty's. I guess older humans like to talk about their lives. He spoke more about his son, his own job at the local auto shop and the economy and for some reason I was inclined to listen.

I had been in seclusion most of my life. Wandering the woods of North America since the beginning of the last century, avoiding direct contact with both humans and my kin, only to break that rule on occasion. They were out there, other werewolves, but there was always a mutual understanding between werewolves that didn't know each other. Nothing would happen if neither side initiated. I had grown accustomed to the constant depravation of contact, accepted it as part of my life and never realized just how lonely I was.

This man, the physical contact, the way he spoke to me more like an old friend than some unwanted guest bumming on his lawn, I couldn't describe just how much I appreciated the gesture. How I missed it.

"Heads up." The man said and waved down the road. "Just don't move. There's a few stragglers coming by."

"Hello Mr. Colson." They were females. I could smell them now as the light breeze shifted, bringing their scent to my nose. I stayed still while Mr. Colson got up to greet them."

"Hello Susan. Hello Margaret. How are you two ladies doing tonight?"

"Just seeing all of the decorations and costumes," Susan replied.

Margaret then said, "Especially that wolf you have there."

I might have tensed when I was mentioned, but if I did, they didn't notice.

"That ol' thing?" Mr. Colson patted my back.

"It looks so real." They approached and now I could see them when they got under the light of the light post. They must have been in their twenties. Susan got the closest. "You mind if I touch it."

That annoyed me. I previously didn't mind people petting me, it was soothing, but that was when I was here by choice. I would have gone back to my den about an hour ago by now, but I couldn't. Made me feel like some attraction.

"Sure." Mr. Colson nodded.

Susan reached out and touched me. Her hands barely pressed down, more just grazing along the top of my fur. Margaret was perfectly happy to watch from a distance. Perhaps I appeared to real for her comfort.

There was a silence as the girl petted me for a minute before Margaret broke the silence.

"You must have just gotten back from the wedding."

Mr. Colson nodded. "Yeah. The wife is still over there in Texas. She's due back at the end of the week."

"Is Kyle going to be coming home?"

Susan turned back on her friend. "You can't still be crushing on him. He's married."

"Maybe he's bi and wouldn't mind someone else on the side."

"Margy!" Susan looked back at Mr. Colson. "I'm sorry, Mr. Colson."

He smiled and waved it off. "It's fine. I've heard all the banter. You should hear my wife and both of your mothers when they overrun the house for their book club."

The two giggled. Human females were strange, especially when they weren't full grown.

"We should get going." Susan pulled on Margaret's shirt. "It's getting late. Thank you Mr. Colson." Margaret eventually let her be led off and Mr. Colson waved them off.

"Nice girls," He turned back to me and stretched his back, popping several joints. "Want to head inside where we won't be bothered?"

My ears perked. Inside was a strange term to me since the closest thing to 'inside' for me was my den which was under the roots of fallen tree.

"Yeah, thought so." He walked up his porch and held open the door for me.

My legs were asleep, but I welcomed the pins as blood rushed back into my paws when I got up. I lumbered up the steps that loudly protested to my weight. I could feel a draft of warm air that smelled of something sweet waft over me when I stood in front of the open portal into this man's own den. It was a lot of trust he was putting in me, inviting me to his place of sleep. I never would have let anyone into my den. One was most vulnerable when they were sleeping. There was no way to defend myself.

Now this man was going to have me as his guest.

"Scared?" He mocked me. It felt like he was mocking me even though I'm sure that he didn't mean it maliciously.

I snorted at him and raised my tail and walked into the dark hole.

Mr. Colson closed the door behind me and flipped a switch that turned on the lights.

I was in the kitchen. I knew what a kitchen was. They didn't change all that much over the years. I could see dirty dishes stacked in the sink and there was a container of takeout on the small round table.

"Let's head over to the living room. It's a bit tight in here." He squeezed by me and led the way down a narrow hall that I could barely fit down. My fur, on both sides was scraping along the wall.

The living room was a little bigger with just a television and a couch which Mr. Colson took up residence on while I sat on the sizeable open spot between the couch and television.

"Still a bit tight, but better than being outside."

I didn't agree. The air didn't feel right inside a human house. It was all so close in here. I could feel the walls closing in on me. If there was a danger, I could assure you that I was not going to be taking a door. I was going to make my own door.

"There we go," He said. "With only me here, it get's kind of quite around." He gave a pause and looked at me. "I suppose it's still quiet with you unable to speak and all. Then again, I'm talking more now than ever."

He went off again on another tangent for nearly two hours. Again, I was resigned to listen and enjoy the company. I forgot about the claustrophobia I had been feeling previously. Then suddenly without warning, he grew solemn. His up attitude died off as if it had just jumped off a cliff and he grew silent.

"I had hoped Kyle would find happiness." He had been sipping on a beer that was left over on a small sidetable. He now held it firmly in his hands, focussing on it. "I didn't care that he was gay. Brady is a great guy, he and Kyle got along well and I don't think that I'd be able to separate them if I wanted to. They're practically joined at the hips." He chuckled, but it was a sad one that sounded forced in an attempt to cheer himself up. It failed, and I found myself inching closer to him, resting my head on the couch cushion next to him as he talked more.

He sighed and scratched behind one of my ears and my tail wagged. That seemed to help make him feel better.

I don't know why I felt sad for this man. When he was sad, I was sad. When he was happy, I felt happy. I barely knew him and yet he was suddenly the most important human in my life. Shut up. I know that he was the only human in my life.

"And of course, at the time, the Inquisition was on its desperate last legs. They were hell bent on making everyone bleed on their way out. Then they found Kyle and Brady. In short, shit went down and Brady was hurt bad. His entire way of life was changed. He struggled and really tried to tough it out like he always did. However he broke down and so I made the suggestion. Shortly after my son did the deed." The can crackled as the fists clenched around it. The small amount of beer still left leaked out onto the ground. "Now his life will never be the same. One small action years ago has continue to echo even today. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision. I know it sounds bad, but one can't help but wonder at times."

More silence. His petting continued.

"I'm sorry for breaking that out on you." He perked a little more. "Just needed to get it off my chest. My wife doesn't know. Don't know how I managed that and I hope she never knows that her son that she nurtured and raised is a werewolf. We're old enough and Kyle is young, enough that we might not live long enough for her to really take notice that he's going to stop aging soon. A bit morbid, I know, but there are secrets that should die and never spread beyond the few originals that knew it. I don't think you'll tell anyone."

I didn't have anyone to tell. I did feel honored to be trusted with this man's biggest secret.

Mr. Colson looked at his watch. "It's starting to get late and I'm not as young as I used to be." He groaned and got up. "You're welcome to stay here, but I'm not sure you'll like being stuck in here all day since neither of us want the attention that you'd bring if you were spotted."

He let me back out and I went back to my den where I fell asleep for most of the day.

The rest of the day was spent just wandering. I couldn't get that man out of my mind. I really did enjoy just listening to him talk. I wanted to go back, but whenever I got near to civilization again, the sound of cars drove me back into the woods. So I waited until nightfall.

I didn't go to him. He came to me. He didn't have to worry about hiding. He was just a elderly man taking an evening walk in the woods.

I smelled him long before he found me.

The eagerness of this man to seek me out just to talk astounded me because he wasted no time. The man didn't bat an eye when he slid down the moderate slope under the tree that was my home.

I lifted my head from off my paw and resisted an urge to wag my tail. I didn't want to show that I was happy. I had an image to uphold even if it was obvious I wasn't going to fool this human.

"Nice little place you have here," Mr. Colson said and found a small patch of dirt to sit down on. "You could put a fireplace there, a table here, a couch in the corner with a television to finish it off." The man chuckled and I gave a huff, through my nose. I liked it just how it was, barren with a few straggling roots here and there.

He rolled his eyes. "I once knew a wolf like you. The one that saved my son's life. Met him some twenty-five years ago in Istanbul of all places."

Oh, boy. Storytime.

--

I was actually part of the Inquisition at the time. Now don't get all flustered on me. I wasn't in it to kill the big bad wolf or anything. It was a job. A well paying one at that. The hazard pay alone could feed a family of four, especially for field agents.

I was a field agent. Not a hunter, or a scout, but a stalker. I was specialized in finding wolves that didn't want to be found. A good stalker could find a wolf anywhere in the world whether it was out in the forests of Canada to the urban metropolis of Tokyo, there are ways to find a wolf for every scenario.

Now, I was proud of my job. I wasn't the best, but I was no slouch either. No offense, but a rookie would have been able to find you. You have tracks all over and anyone with a, half decent nose and a mind for what to look for would be able to pick out your scent markings all over the place. Seriously, lay off the asparagus, it's bad when a human can smell your scent.

Anyways. I was given an assignment. There was word that a lone wolf had set up shop in Istanbul. Normally a lone wolf was no threat, but one of the directors was going to be visiting that city for business in a month. In short, the wolf had to go and before one can get to a wolf, we had to find him first.

I was given the mission of locating and tagging the wolf before hunters could come in and either kill him or drive him away. Usually it ends with the wolf just leaving before it gets violent. You guys have a good knack for knowing when you're being hunted. And to prove that point, it wasn't two days after I arrived and started placing scent traps to lure him out that I myself started to notice something.

You werewolves are easier to track than you think. Place a small dab of scent markings here and there and just sit back, you guys come right to us eventually, visiting every single marking in the entire city, allowing me to know who's just a normal human and who is not. Worked everytime and it wasn't long before I had my target, a larger man with darker, olive skin and a head full of black carpet hair, not unlike your fur that you have.

Well, this one quickly learned that he was being hunted, or something was up. He stopped coming to the scent traps the second day which was impressive. It usually took a week before it was learned that the new markings aren't a rival wolf. No, he stopped showing up at the traps and the next thing I know, I see him at the cafe the next morning. He was watching me. I won't forget those eyes, brown with a hint of yellow at the edges. He knew exactly who I was.

I didn't need to panic. Istanbul isn't known for its quiet evenings with a stroll down the streets. There's a constant bustle of people at all hours of the clock. As long as I didn't let myself get secluded, there was nothing that the wolf could do. He knew he was tracked. I already had photos of him. I just needed to send them off. This he knew as well and I never got to mail those pictures.

He got to me in my hotel. I thought that it was crowded enough. There was always a stream of people up and down the hallways, but I never thought of wolves as being capable climbers because he came right through the window that I had left open. I nearly shit myself and I assure you that if that had happened today, at my age, I would.

"I don't appreciate the Inquisition tracking me," He said. I thought that I could detect the hint of New England accent, but I wasn't focusing on that at the time. I was more worried with what he intended to do with me. I had no weapon and even if I did, we were told that if we were ever confronted with a werewolf, never to fight, but to try and find other ways to escape. "I'm here for scarcely a week and you've all but infested the place."

He stared at me just as intensely as at the cafe. I could barely move except to shiver in fear.

"Oh relax," He snorted. "I wouldn't be talking to you if I was going to kill you. I just want the photos and your assurance that you're going to leave and tell your overlords that they don't have to worry about me. Been chased by the Inquisition enough to know that it's not a good idea to start killing off their scouts. Plus, we can be civilized here, even if this human form is rather puny and frail." He raised up his arms as looked at them in disgust before slapping them back down to his sides.

"The photos." Not my brightest moment. It was all I could manage to say.

"Yes." He did seem surprisingly patient with me. "Hand them over." He extended a hand.

I didn't have a choice. I gave them to him and he tore them up with his big meaty hands and threw them on the ground, not caring to put the scraps in the trash can that was right next to him.

"There," He smiled and wiped his hands on each other. "Now that's over, there's still the matter of you."

"Me!" I exclaimed and stuck my hands up a bit. "I won't tell them. They won't know any better."

"Men lie. Wolves lie. We all lie," He shrugged. "I need guarantees. How can you convince me that you won't give me up?"

My mind raced. I was being given a chance. Not many in my field of work got to boast that, and those that did often did so at the price of others. This was the mother of all get-out-of-jail-free cards. I just needed to know how to use it right.

"Well?"

I don't know why it crossed my mind. It wasn't a hot topic at the time, but I had heard rumors that werewolves were sexual deviants. There were all kinds of rumors that went around ranging from plausible to outright impossible and yet this one came to mind and somehow behooved me to speak.

"I'll let you do anything you want with me tonight. Uhm. As payment." Regret instantly hit me, but I knew there was no take backs and by the way his eyebrow raised up, I knew that even if I could take it back, he'd stop me.

"Oh?" He licked his lower lip. "Anything?"

No going back now. "Anything."

"Not what I was expecting, but who am I turn that down," He seemed rather flattered that I had given him permission to do this. "No I must warn you... You'll be sore for some time."

It didn't start right there. It was the middle of the day. Too hot, even with the air conditioning on. He left, saying that he would return once night fell. I had a half a mind to run, but he would expect that. I was stuck here with my poor choice of words.

He came by shortly after I had eaten dinner. This time he used the door.

Now, I didn't know what I expected when he spent no time turning into a werewolf. I guess that I was just expecting him to stay a human because you don't really think about having sex with a very feral like wolf that weighs more than you. Just not natural in my book.

The night was long for me. He took full advantage of the offer I had so horribly made and left me that night as a wreck in a spoiled room. I spent the next day just showering and doing my best to regain any dignity I could. It was horrible.

I guess the wolf knew that he had taken advantage of me and for some reason he felt sorry for me and came by again.

I thought that he was here for round two and so I begged for him to leave me alone. Actually brought me to tears. Then again, he surprised me by doing his best to comfort me. Told me that he didn't get to spend much time with others, human or not and that he left a build up of tension just release. Ended up promising that he would owe me for this.

I kept my end of the bargain. I told the Inquisition that the werewolf had left, which was not a lie. Either he was good at hiding, or he had finished whatever business he had because he vanished soon after.

After that, I was called back to the states. Then life went on. I continued my job in the Inquisition and ended up meeting my wife on one of my missions in Midwest United States. We married a year after meeting and I applied for a desk job and I got it.

Soon after, we had out child, Kyle, but he was borning prematurely by seven weeks. There were complications even after he spent weeks in incubation and close monitoring. He turned into a sickly child with a weakened immune system. We still loved him, he was our child, what parent wouldn't love their child. Sickness and all.

He was in the hospital almost as much as he was out and it was becoming more and more clear that he wouldn't make it past childhood. I was in denial the entire time, looking and looking for years for something and then he came back when it seemed like it was the end.

Kyle was suffering from a major lung infection combined with a blood infection as well. The doctors said that he would not survive this time and told me and the wife to prepare for the inevitable.

It was just outside of the hospital when he came to me. I didn't recognize him at first, it had been so many years and the event was hardly close to the front of my thoughts.

When he introduced himself to me again, I lashed out. I yelled, creating a scene. I thought that he was here to mock me, the Inquisition agent being bested again by a werewolf. I feel so guilty about that now. He was there to make due on what he owed me.

He was there to save my son's life. I don't know how he knew so much about the situation of my family, but I don't care. He just explained that he had waited until there was no other option.

I took his offer and without revealing the true nature of it, I gave it to my son. He was too young to really recognize the impact of this and the future implication, but all he knew was that he wouldn't die.

Now he's a strapping young man with someone he loves in his life. I may worry about what this entails for the rest of his life. There's always someone out there hunting for werewolves. There's way more than the Inquisition out there. But, I feel better now about it. I just needed to talk about it.

--

Mr. Colson looked over at me. It had been a few hours now, but he didn't seem to intend to leave. "Now I wonder what a werewolf is doing back in my life all these years later after nothing from the packs. When I first saw you on the social media, I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at. I thought that it was just a prank or someone had put a lawn decoration that they couldn't fit on their own lawn. Lot's of possibilities."

I listened, my ears perked intently.

"So I just ignored it at first. Then the next year you appear again and again. Then it struck me. The black fur, those eyes that pierce into the soul. I have a bad habit of forgetting faces after some time."

My tail wagged.

"It's good to see you again."

And it was good to see him again.