Amanda woke with a start, her body instantly alert and aware. Rising up on her forearms, she peered at the clock-radio on the night stand. It was three in the morning. Sighing, she sank bank down on her pillow, burying her face in the soft, surface. She hated when this happened. Just enough time had elapsed that she felt somewhat refreshed and now she'd be wide awake for the rest of the night.
Grumbling under her breath, she considered her options. She could stay in bed, hoping against hope that sleep would come again. There was novel on the floor that she could read or, she could go downstairs and start cleaning up from the boys' party. The last option, while the most practical, was the least palatable. As she contemplated her next move, a shiver ran over her and she reached down for the blanket, pulling it up around her bare shoulders.
Moonlight was streaming in the bedroom window which meant the rain had finally stopped. Frowning, she wondered why the blinds weren't drawn. Lee was almost fanatical about that, which was strange since he didn't like sleeping in total darkness. Earlier in their relationship, she'd tried to convince him that illumination from the moon or a streetlight would brighten the bedroom and make him more comfortable, but he wouldn't listen. The blinds had to be drawn and the bathroom light on. After a few heated arguments, she had decided it wasn't worth it. To be sure, the blind blocked some of the air flow from the window that she liked to have cracked open, but it was a small concession, and if made Lee happy, well then...She could put up with it. Everyone had their little idiosyncrasies, herself included.
The added warmth of the blanket was helping her relax and she decided to give sleep another try. Closing her eyes, she drifted along, letting her mind wander where it would. Last night had been amazing. No, not the boys' party, though that had been fun—the amazing part was the mind-blowing sex she'd had with Lee. Her husband had always been an excellent lover but last night... Mmm... He'd surpassed himself. Employing a little light bondage had excited her beyond compare and Lee's acting had certainly contributed as well. Chuckling softly, she recalled the roles he'd tried to play: a pirate, Dracula, and even a wolf!
His last impersonation had been the best. In fact, she'd almost thought Lee had looked wolfish as he'd reared up over her. Of course, it was all just a product of her imagination, brought on by her own arousal, the holiday and a trick of the moonlight, but still... She felt herself becoming aroused by the memory.
Lee had looked so wild. His eyes had been alert and piercing, raking over her naked body like she was his next meal. Deep growls had emitted from his throat and his musculature had been so crisply defined. He must have really been flexing, to create that sculpted effect, she mused.
Stirring restless, she wondered if he was totally worn out from his performance or if possibly, with a little encouragement, he might be `up' to another show. A wicked smile played over her lips as she planned a seduction scene in her head. A few well place kisses around his jaw and ear, followed by teasing fingers trailing down his stomach should just about do the trick.
Rolling over, she looked at her husband and ... A SCREAM PIERECED THE NIGHT
A... a dog... a big grey dog... no—make that a big grey wolf... was beside her! She scrambled out of bed, the sheets tangled around her legs. As she stumbled backward, the wolf lifted its head, then bounded to the floor staring at her. Its hazel eyes seemed to bore right through her and suddenly she was incredibly conscious of her naked body. Pulling at the sheet, she tried to cover herself and the wolf growled. She opened her mouth to scream again but the animal leapt forward, knocking her to the ground. As her head hit the wall, she summoned her last bit of strength and screamed out one word before darkness over took her. "Lee!"
*****
Lee paced back and forth across the bedroom, nervously glancing at the door. He wasn't sure if Dotty was at home or not. If she was, Amanda's scream had been loud enough that the older woman would have heard it. The fact that no one was pounding on the bedroom door, demanding admittance, led him to believe she hadn't returned from her date yet. Of course, knowing Dotty, she might have heard the scream and attributed a sexual meaning to it. Lee shook his head. His mother-in-law was like no other; incredibly modern and aware in some areas yet frighteningly naive in others.
It was her naivety that had allowed Amanda to work as a spy for over four years without being discovered by her family. Some of the stories they'd fed the older woman had been utterly preposterous, but she'd always accepted them. He hoped her unquestioning belief in their stories continued for many years to come because there were still a few secrets that Dotty wasn't privy to and, with any luck, she never would be.
Actually, he'd hope to keep Amanda in the dark about certain issues as well but... That was out of his hands now. Their night of passion had caused him to forget to shut the blinds and now his secret was out. It was probably for the best. She would have become suspicious and found out eventually, but he'd kept postponing the unpleasant conversation. When Billy pressed him about the issue, he'd always say that the timing would be better the following month or possibly after the next case...
With a sigh he stared at his wife were she lay on the floor. She'd bumped her head against the wall but after checking as best he could, decided her unconscious state was due to shock rather than an actual brain injury. He'd managed to pull the sheet around her naked body and now had to wait patiently until she woke up. Secretly, he hoped she'd stay out until sunrise—it would be so much easier to explain things to her then—but the chances of that happening were slim.
Resigned to having an extremely difficult conversation with his wife, he lay down beside her, curling his body around hers to provide extra warmth. He rested his chin in his hands... Oops, make that on his paws, and waited.
*****
Amanda stirred and moaned. Oh, but she was stiff and her head ached... Why was she on the floor? Frowning, she tried to recall what had happened. She'd been in bed with Lee and thinking about initiating a little romp... Hmm... But after that?
Warmth was emanating from something beside her. Probably Lee. Reaching over, her hand brushed against his soft hair, then trailed downward, in search of his shoulder. More hair... and more hair... What? Lee's hair didn't extend that far! Her eyes snapped open. She glanced to the left and gasped.
"Oh my gosh!" Sitting up, Amanda flattened herself against the wall. It all came rushing back to her. A wolf was in her bedroom! Frantically she looked around but Lee was nowhere in sight. Terror gripped her. Her mouth was dry and she felt her eyes widen...
"Amanda—don't be scared. It's me. Lee."
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as she stared at the talking wolf in front of her. "Oh my gosh!" It was all she could think of to say.
The wolf kept talking. "I...I know this is hard for you to believe but... I... I'm a werewolf."
A little bubble of hysterical laughter burst from Amanda's lips. "I'm going insane or having the world's most vivid dream or hallucinating. I wonder if someone spiked the punch at the party..." Her eyes were fixated on the wolf as she muttered to herself.
"You're not insane, or dreaming. It's really me, inside a wolf's body."
Amanda shook her head, a half smile playing over her lips. "No...Oh, no. I get it. This is some weird trick that the guys at the Agency are playing on me. Francine is paying me back for dumping all that paper work on her last month... or Beaman and Leatherneck are testing out some new communication device..." She peered around the room for a hidden camera then stared at the wolf, looking for a collar fitted with a transmitter-receiver. None was evident but that didn't mean anything. Electronic devices could be incredibly small and secreted almost anywhere.
"Amanda it's not a trick. The wolf you see before you is me, Lee, your husband. I've been hiding this awful secret from you all these years."
Snorting, she started to get up, but a paw was placed on her leg. The paw was heavy and large, with very long, sharp claws. Slowly, she sat back down, her eyes glued on the beast before her.
"You have to hear me out. As crazy as it sounds, I'm really a werewolf. Quite a few years ago, before we met, I became involved in something called the Lycan Experiment. The government was working on genetic manipulation, trying to find ways to increase the efficiency of its soldiers and agents. They wanted to make us stronger and faster, with increased sensory perception and more efficient recuperative powers. I volunteered to be one of the test subjects. For the most part it worked but there were a few side effects. Turning into a werewolf every full moon was one of them."
The wolf quit talking and looked at her expectantly. Amanda blinked once, twice then looked away. Shaking her head, she stared at her wedding photo hanging on the wall across the room. It was nice picture. They were holding hands. Her head rested on his shoulder. Lee looked so good in that picture, his hazel eyes seeming to look right at her from out of the photo.
Lee, a werewolf? It was ridiculous... wasn't it? Out of the corner of her eye, she checked out the wolf again. Its eyes looked just like Lee's... No! Firmly, she told herself that she didn't believe in werewolves. She stared at the wedding picture again. Her husband was an incredibly handsome, ordinary man. Well, not exactly ordinary, but... Against her will, something about the wolf drew her gaze back. It was looking at her so sincerely, so hopefully, with the same `little boy lost' look that her husband sometimes had... "Lee?"
A silly grin appeared on the wolf's face. It stood, tail wagging and licked her face, then nuzzled her neck enthusiastically causing her to fall backwards. The wolf kept sniffing and licking away and Amanda struggled to keep the sheet wrapped around her body. This wolf was certainly acting like Lee! "Hey! Enough of that!" She shoved its shaggy head away, as it tried to push the sheet down and lick her breast. "You might be my husband, but when you're in wolf form this is just... wrong."
"Aw, Amanda." The wolf complained as she rebuffed his advances.
"I'm sorry, Lee, but your an animal and I—"
"You're not the first woman to tell me that you know." He seemed to leer at her and laugh, if a wolf could indeed do that.
"Will you be serious. This is... It's just... It's...Well... It's weird, that's what it is!" Amanda fumbled to find the words needed to explain her feelings at this new revelation. She'd taken vows for better or for worse, but this really was beyond anything she'd ever expected!
"I know and I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I never knew how, so Billy and I just made sure I was unavailable when it was a full moon."
"Billy knows about this?"
"Of course. He's the section chief. He knows about all the agents special abilities."
"Oh..." Amanda wondered if Billy really knew everything—there were a few skeletons in her closet as well... Lee continued talking, so she temporarily abandoned that uncomfortable train of thought.
"Yeah, Billy usually says I'm on a special assignment and locks me in one of the detention or quarantine rooms--whichever is free—and then says it's a `need to know' situation. No one questions anything they might hear. The system has worked great so far, but tonight we got careless. I really wanted to be here for the boys and since it was rainy, we thought it would be safe. If actual moonlight doesn't touch me, I can usually control it and don't totally transform but we got carried away and I didn't close the blinds...I never planned on you finding out this way." Lee hung his head sheepishly and Amanda tentatively reached out to comfort him by scratching behind his ears.
"It's okay. I was bound to find out one day, and there really is no easy way to break this kind of news." Lee's hind leg began to thump up and down as she scratched his neck. Amanda laughed. "You like that, don't you."
"Mmm... If I roll over, will you give me a belly rub?" He dropped to his side and flipped over, looking at her hopefully, his tongue lolling out of the corner of his mouth.
Amanda rolled her eyes. Even as an animal, he was incorrigible. Maybe this new side of him wasn't such a surprise after all! As her fingers played through the soft fur on his stomach, she considered the situation. She had a little revelation of her own. It had been weighing heavily on her mind for quite some time. Perhaps this was the opening she'd been waiting for.
"Lee?"
"Hmm?" His eyes were half shut as he enjoyed the feel of her hand stroking his belly.
"I have a little secret of my own that I need to tell you."
"What's that?" He rolled over and stood up, looking at her expectantly.
"Well...you never met my father, and you might have noticed that there are no pictures of him."
"Yeah, I always wondered about that."
"There's a good reason. You see...Daddy couldn't be photographed. He was a vampire."
"A what?"
"A vampire—and I'm half vampire."
"Amanda—there's no need to make up..." He paused, narrowed his eyes, and cocked his head to the side. "You know... I think I believe you."
""You do?" Amanda was shocked by his calm acceptance.
"Yeah, I really do. A few years back, we were on a stakeout and I had this weird dream that we were having sex in the car and, just as you climaxed, you turned into a vampire and bit me. After I woke up, there was this sore spot on my neck and I never could figure out where it came from."
Amanda felt herself flush in embarrassment. "Lee, that wasn't totally a dream. We did have sex in the car and I got a bit over excited and bit you. The venom can affect people different ways and obviously it fogged your memory a bit, making you think it was a dream."
"Oh... Well, that explains it. But... " His furry brow furrowed. "You've gotten `carried away' before and never bit."
Wincing, Amanda realized it was time to `fess up. "Actually, I've bit you several times, but you never remember. And I do try to control myself. It's worse when I'm ovulating and really fertile so I try to avoid sex then, but sometimes you can be quite...persuasive. Then I just can't help myself and have to take a nibble. You're quite tasty, you know."
Lee sat back on his haunches. "I guess that explains why I feel sort of drug out some mornings after we've had sex. I just thought I was getting old and you wore me out."
"I try and make you eat breakfast or at least drink some juice the next morning, to help build you back up again." Amanda knew she sounded a bit defensive but it wasn't totally her fault. If he wasn't such an animal in bed... She giggled when she realized how true that was.
"So, you drink my blood sometimes but... You aren't out... er... `drinking' from other men are you?"
"Oh no! I'm only half vampire. Blood is just a little treat now and then. Regular food usually suffices. Really, I'm just as normal as you are... Except, I guess that's not saying much now is it?"
Lee rolled his wolfish eyes. "What did Joe say about all of this?"
"He didn't find out until the marriage was almost over and then it was just one more excuse for him to stay away. He wasn't comfortable around me anymore."
"You mean, you never got `carried away' with him?"
"No. Joe never excited me the way you do." Amanda smirked as she saw Lee's ears perk up at this bit of news and noted his tail wagging.
"So all those stories about vampire having an uncontrollable thirst for blood are false?" Amanda nodded. "What about the garlic and being afraid of the light and turning into bats—"
"They're all just old wives tales."
"What about wooden stakes?"
"Unfortunately, that parts true. It's what did Daddy in. We were out camping and he tripped and fell on his weenie roasting stick and `poof' he was gone. There was nothing left but a pile of ashes." Her voice broke at the memory.
"Amanda, I...I'm sorry. That was such a... unusual... way to go."
She nodded and blinked back tears. "After that, Mother and I dedicated ourselves to teaching everyone about camping safety. That's why we're so involved in Junior Trailblazers. No son of mine will die on a weenie stick, if I can help it."
"So the boys...?"
"They're quarter vampires and, if we ever have any children, they will be too."
"And half werewolf, if these genes transfer to a new generation." Lee added thoughtfully.
"Wow—I wonder what they might be like."
He shrugged his furry shoulders then yawned. "I'm sorry, Amanda but maintaining this form really wears me out. Why don't we hop into bed and try to get some more sleep. The sun won't be up for at least another hour—that's when I'll turn back into a human."
"Yeah, I'm a bit tired and overwhelmed too. I'm glad tomorrow's Saturday. The boys will be over at Joe and Carries' so we can talk this out a bit more." Amanda wandered over to the bed and straightened the covers, then climbed in. Lee hopped on top of the bed and curled up beside her.
"Goodnight Amanda, sleep well."
"You too... and Lee?"
"Hmm?"
"Happy Hallowe'en, Sweetheart."
"Happy Hallowe'en, Amanda."
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.