Oh mercy, will it overcome us

The secondary forms of were-creatures gently called to their human sides, sometimes with the sing-song delicateness of the way a butterfly lands on a perch, and at other times the urge to indulge in animalistic desires and instincts was less gossamer, and instead a sort of wave of red washes over you until you cannot remember what it feels like to have arms, legs, and a voice and you simply must appease your animalistic inner nature. Were there different kinds of desire, like this, for different species of were? Bethel knew her own instincts in a furiously strong way; the desire to shift into her reptilian skin always came on slowly. It slithered its way into her speech, her movements, and into the way her eyes dilated and changed based on the form of prey in her path. This was incredibly inconvenient at times, and so the woman often chose solitude instead of the company of others who might make a perfectly satisfying snack. Smaller were-animals such as felines, foxes... Bethel chose to avoid them when she was having trouble resisting her wild side â€" quite literally as well as figuratively. Although she had purchased a talisman to make her transitions easier, the woman had not frequented her reptilian skin as often as she would have liked, as of late. The transitions had become harder as the weather grew colder; who knew the anaconda in her would look to the sky and the setting, nearly winter sun with such distaste? In order to taste the freedom that her lack of legs often offered her, Bethel had given into this rotten desire to feel her scales and let herself act as purely as nature would allow.

Hunting had been simple, and less tiresome than the anaconda would have liked. It generally took quite the meal to sate her, and to make her feel safer around many other individuals. Occasionally, she indulged in delicacies such as homeless men or those who preyed on weak women who stood on the street corners late at night. But this time, Bethel had savored the taste of both. Predator, homeless, and simple animals had fed the beast that had lived inside of her for too long, caged and angry. The bars of the cage had been rattling for far too long, and the snake was desperately unhinging it's jaw for the taste of freedom and an independence from human life that this city so often deprived it of.

The park had been ample territory to digest, but as the night grew on the woman began to think it might be better if she sought a different kind of solitary. She hadn't truly thought out what this change might be like, and therefore her escape plan from her reptilian self hardly existed. The journey home, or at least near to the building she had an apartment in would be long and filled with stretches of sidewalk that was not covered by the trees or taller buildings that would shield her from human eyes; or otherwise. It had felt wonderful and freeing at best to be able to transport herself through the streets in her scales, but it had come time to cross a fairly busy street. While she had looked briefly one direction, the woman, as animals often do, slipped into the road fairly unnoticed as her beige scales blended in with the flat light of the night. It was hardly fair to say she should have noticed the car blazing towards her.

The smell of the rubber in the tires was the first indication to Bethel that there was danger. Generally, her strength and size provided all the protection she would need but against this urban disaster mobile? The reptile was prey to its weight that throttled over her body and sent her reeling farther than her target, her body curling spastically around itself as a snakes so often does when hurt.

If only she hadn't had her meal earlier, as the scent of the rotting flesh of the animals(Humans? Vampires? The mind of the snake couldn't comprehend) inside the urban predator was evident before the doors of the car might open or if the car even stopped. But then again... Who wouldn't notice the body of an incredibly large fantastical snake in the road nearest their vehicle which had the snake been properly working, - she could have swallowed it whole.

Bethel Mercy Ayer -- were-anaconda -- played by auree