While the frightened diners scrambled for the exit, overturning the tables in their haste to
reach the door, I watched Kelly prowl around the now empty restaurant, an idea forming in
my mind. Her change had clearly been intoxicating for her, and I wanted to experience
something similar. But I didn't want to become a werewolf - and nor, if I was honest, did I
particularly wish to become a full animal, as she had.
As Kelly began to nose around amongst the spilled food and broken crockery, I realised
what I wanted to become. After all, we were in a restaurant, and restaurant kitchens are
notorious for attracting one particular type of animal. Quietly, I whispered to myself, "I
wish that every time Kelly growls, I would transform partially into a wererat. By the time
she growls for the tenth time, I will have transformed completely into my humanoid rat
form."
When I finished speaking, I felt the ring tingle slightly upon my finger. Uncertain if the
wish was working, but keen to try it out, I looked over to my date. She had found a half-
eaten steak amongs the spilled food and was... well, wolfing it down.
"Hey, Kelly!" I called to her. At the sound of my voice, she raised her head and growled
quizzically at me.
Almost immediately, I felt my wish take effect. A strange tingling sensation washed over
me, and my face began to itch. Running my tongue around my mouth, I found that my
front teeth had grown in size. My vision blurred for a second, and when I turned to look at
my reflection in the window, and found that my eyes had changed in colour, becoming a
very dark brown, almost black.
I turned back to Kelly, who was looking at me uncertainly. "That's great. Do it again!" I
called. WIth a puzzled air, she growled again, and I felt the second change take place.
This time, I felt my front teeth lengthening further, and my remaining teeth becoming
sharper. My fingernails extended into short claws, and I could feel my toenails changing in
the same way. "And again," I shouted, my voice sounding harsher.
Still puzzled, Kelly growled again. As she did so, my claws lengthened, and my upper lip
began to prickle as whiskers forced their way through the skin. I could feel my ears
stretching and moving up the sides of my head, as if someone were pulling on the tips.
This time, my transformation must have been visible to Kelly, as she raised her hackles,
and barked twice sharply in surprise.
Almost immediately, I felt the fourth and fifth changes hit me. Coarse brown hairs began
to sprout on the backs of my hands, then across my chest, and my face swelled into a
short muzzle. There was a pause of a second or so, and then I felt the hair begin to grow
again, this time across my entire body. My forehead retreated and my upper lip split in two
as my front teeth began to protrude from my mouth.
Turning again to look at my reflection in the window, I saw that I now had a pair of long,
yellowish incisors, exactly like a rat's, jutting down over my bottom lip, which had receded
to expose them. My eyes were almost completely black, with very little of the whites
showing. The rest of my face was a mixture of human and animal features, with a
medium-sized muzzle, and longish, pointed ears, covered in fine brown hairs.
I turned back to Kelly. She must have guessed what I had wished for, because she growled
again, experimentally.
With the sixth change, my body began to reshape itself. New muscles swelled beneath my
skin, although I did not change in stature. If anything, I could feel myself becoming
thinner, as every spare ounce of fat was burned away. Tearing open my shirt with a long
clawed hand, I saw that the contours of my ribs were clearly visible beneath the coat of
brown fur that now covered my entire body.
I glanced back at Kelly. She had lowered her hackles, and was wagging her tail slowly from
side to side. Looking directly into my eyes, she growled again, softly.
Instantly, I felt my feet beginning to lengthen, bursting open my sneakers and forcing me
to alter my balance, as if I were standing on tiptoe. My thighs swelled, stretching the fabric
of my jeans. Kelly growled again, with increasing excitement.
This time, I could feel the changes sweeping up my spine. My back arched, forcing me into
a half-hunched posture. As the remnants of my shirt fell away from me, I realised that I
was no longer able to stand upright. Strangest of all, I felt the waistband of my jeans
tighten uncomfortably, and I realised that the base of my spine was beginning to bulge
outwards, straining the rear seam.
Kelly must have realised what was happening, because I saw her looking at me strangely. If
wolves could grin, I could swear she was grinning now. "Hey, not yet!" I tried to say,
tugging at my belt. But my new front teeth made it difficult to shape the words, and in any
case, my voice must have changed more than I had realised, because all that came out was
an inarticulate screeching noise. Kelly growled, seductively.
Immediately, I felt my spine lengthen again, forcing me to hunch over still further, my
hands dangling beside my knees. I screeched again, this time in pain, as the bulge in the
back of my jeans swelled outwards, before the seam came apart under the pressure. I
could feel something slithering through the hole, then a strange weight on my back, as I
felt the sensation of the cool air hitting a part of my body I hadn't had before.
Turning around, I found that a thick, muscular tail, like that of a rat, had sprouted from
the base of my spine. The skin there was naked and pink, apart from a few sparse white
hairs. Experimentally, I twitched it from side to side.
I turned back. Kelly was still grinning at me. Focusing my attention on my new lips and
teeth, I summoned all of my concentration and, in a voice more animal than human,
managed to ask, "Grrrrrowl again. Last time now."
Kelly obliged, and with the tenth change, my transformation completed itself. My face
extended into a long rat's snout, and the fur on my head grew out to meet my hair, which
was now no more than a spiky mane running down the back of my neck. The fur on my
back and thighs also coarsened and thickened, and my tail grew to its full length, swelling
out behind me. By now, it must have been nearly six feet long.
Kicking off what remained of my shoes, I stepped forwards to face Kelly, feeling the tip of
my tail slither across the floor as I did so. If anyone had looked into the restaurant at that
minute, they would have seen a wiry, semi-humanoid ratman, who looked equally capable
of walking on all fours as standing upright, dressed only in the tattered remants of a pair
of jeans.
A large female wolf was looking at him from across the room, wagging her tail excitedly. I
turned to Kelly and grinned, further exposing my long front teeth.