Dead Winter

Prologue



    The wind howled across the prairie. As Deputy Foster rode into the wind he

cursed under his breath. Such a bitter blast of air could only come from

the devil himself, the lawman thought. It was a cold current that signaled

the start of an early winter. The deputy thought that by morning the

prairie and the town of Cattle’s Rest would be covered in frost. Even as he

was bundled against the cold air his exposed face bore the brunt of the

wind. It stung like needles being raked across his flesh. The sun was

sinking below the horizon and caused the chill to deepen.. The lawman rode

out into a frigid, bleak grassland. Sometimes he hated his job. At his side

rode a cowboy who didn’t seem bothered by the cold.

    “Odd fucking bastard,” Foster thought. The man had ridden into town as part

of a cattle drive. Which was not uncommon around this time of year. From

spring to autumn the cattlemen drove their herds across the Ghost Plains to

the city of New Houston. There the cows were put on a rail and sent off to

be sold at auction. Whatever they bought was driven back this way, which

was where the town he was a duly appointed deputy came into play. Cattle’s

Rest had come into being as a series of ranches for the cowboys and their

herd to shelter for the winter. The ranchers turned a tidy profit from

this. That profit, in turn, caused most, though not all, of the town to be

far more wealthy and upscale than the average frontier settlement.

    Right now, Foster could give a good god damn less about the cowboys or

their money. He would rather be back in town at the saloon. One female came

to his mind and caused a stir in his groin. She was, as far as he was

concerned, an uppity bitch who needed to be shown the proper place of a

female.

    “Hell, after I get these assholes taken care of, I think I’ll pay her a

visit whether she wants it or not.” The thought made him smile broadly as

he approached the rest of the riders and the herd. The stink of cattle was

almost enough to wipe the grin off his face. \

    “Alright, which of you lot is leading this herd?” he asked. His eyes swept

over the riders and one of the men clucked and urged his robotic horse

forward.

    “That would be me, deputy.” The voice turned Foster’s blood to ice and

obliterated his smile. There was something unnatural about that voice. He

tried to get a good look at the rider. The cowboy was slim, tall and his

face was obscured by a wide brimmed hat. What the hat didn’t conceal

reminded Foster of a reptile. This wasn’t unusual in New Texas as humanoid

snakes, rabbits, lizards and a few other creatures existed alongside

regular humans. Something about this reptile put the lawman on edge..

    “We would like to know where we may stay, and how much it will cost.” The

rider spoke. The words came out in something like a hiss. Foster felt like

those words were slithering along his skin and into his brain. He swallowed

and without thinking put a hand on his revolver.

    “Well, Johnson's place has room for a herd this size. They offer a fair

deal for lodging and an even fairer deal if you do work through the winter.

You can find them about two miles from town.” Foster was wary as the

strange rider moved closer to him. Suddenly the wind didn’t feel like the

coldest thing out on the plains. Sweat formed along his skin and his mouth

went dry.

    “That sounds superb.” The cowboy said. The hissing speech of the man made

Foster’s skin crawl. The rider lifted his head and Foster’s breath stuck in

his throat like tar. The snake-like head which looked at him under that

wide brimmed hat had no eyes. There were  only hollow sockets. Where eyes

should have been were only pale, thin white flames that danced in a void of

black. Suddenly a gun was pressed to his temple.

    Foster was no gunslinger, but neither was he a slouch when it came to gunplay.

The revolver against his head, however, had just seemed to materialize.The cold

metal was pressed against his temple. The frozen air had chilled the weapon and

it burned like ice against his skin. The last thing through the deputy’s mind,

other than the bullet, was wondering just what unholy abomination was loose on

the earth.



Chapter 1

I

    Bonnie Valentine stood in front of a full length mirror and huffed. The

female rabbit was holding a dress by the hanger across her naked body. She

frowned and tossed it on the bed and then grabbed another one and lay it

across her. Everything she had was not the latest fashion from New Houston

but she was not one who cared about those kinds of trends.  She sighed and

tossed that dress on the bed and then looked at the clothes for a moment.

    “Maybe I’m overthinking this,” she said. It was spoken only to herself as

she lived alone. Shaking her head she turned to face the mirror to get a

good look at herself. Sparkling sapphire eyes traced over the curves of her

full figured body. Her hands soon began to follow her eyes. Starting at her

neck they ran them down to her breasts. She lifted her breasts and grinned.

Her chest was more than a handful for most men. Bonnie let them go and

gravity pulled them down with a bounce that was pleasing to the eye. Her

hands ran along her wais and her hips next.

    The rabbit was tall. Known as a “Grand Lop” her species were native to the

plains, prairies and foothills of the territory the humans called New

Texas. But even among her kind she had a towering height. She was easily

the height of most men, and there were few who stood taller than she did.

With a full, curvaceous figure she was a sight to behold. The fur on her

body was mostly black and shimmered in the electric lamp light of her room.

Sleek and soft it was broken by a patch of white that ran from her muzzle

down to her crotch in a swimsuit pattern. Bonnie turned and grinned seeing

the white underside of her otherwise black tail. What caught the eye of

most people, when they weren’t staring at her figure, was the twin

half-starburst pattern around her bright blue eyes. She was in her early

thirties but had the body of someone ten years younger.

    “Mm, I still have it,” she said. “Now if only I can get that man to

notice.” She turned back to the clothes on the bed and shook her head.

“None of this is going to do for today.” She stepped into the modest

walk-in closet, taking the clothes from the bed with her, and began her

search for something to wear all over again. It was still early and from

her window she could see the frost shimmering in the morning sun. A voice

over the radio droned out a weather report for the region. 

    Cattle’s Rest was connected to the Wire. The Wire was a source of

electronic communication and enabled two way radio, picture and moving

picture transmissions. The town was, however, far enough away from the

Source that they could only afford transmissions three times a day. Once in

the morning, again in the afternoon and finally around evening. The radio

was how most people in town connected to the Wire. Although some were able

to afford, or provide, more complex receivers for recorded videos. Up until

three years ago Bonnie made her living by making moving pictures. As with

most things in life, there were two sides to every coin. She was a star in

what was known as Blue Pictures. There was no fine way to explain what she

used to do. Bonnie had been a woman who got paid money to be filmed having

sex. She had once been a whore, and a well paid one at that.

    For just over a decade she made her living doing that work and even now, if

she went to any large settlement she was known by those who indulged in

those kinds of films. Even out in the frontier it was a past, and a

reputation, she could not escape. It was one of the reasons her stomach was

filled with butterflies as she stepped in front of the mirror again. This

time she was fully clothed. A simple long sleeved blue blouse which

fastened at the neck. The matching skirt helped to complement the two tone

color of her fur and her sapphire eyes. Satisfied with her look she grabbed

a pair of shoes made for digitigrade feet and headed for the door. The

shoes were similar to a style of women’s boots that covered the ankle and

would protect the soft padding of her toes and foot. Bonnie paused for a

moment to look at herself in the small mirror attached to the mudroom.

    The town was getting ready to hold their annual winter dance and community

meal. The lop had every intention of asking one particular human male in

town to accompany her to the dance. She had known him practically from the

first day she moved into town. Her arrival had drawn some attention due to

her looks and the novelty of being a new resident. More attention had been

drawn when she walked out of the mayor’s office with the deed for the

rundown saloon at the center of town. Some men recognized her and soon the

rumors were spreading. Cattle’s Rest only had about three hundred residents

and gossip could spread like wildfire.

    But among these town folks who were whispering and stirring the rumor mill

one man had stepped up. He had cut right through the bullshit. Christopher

Panzer was his name. He was taller than Bonnie and had been the first to

welcome her. He had also been the one to hear her plans for the old saloon.

Chris had been her go to man for work that needed to be done. He had been

the man she relied on to get materials and workers for the job. Over the

months it took to rebuild and refit the ramshackled building Chris had

never given an indication he knew who she had been.

    The human man had always been polite and professional. When they weren’t

busy working on updating the saloon Bonnie found him easy to talk to. By

the time the work was finished he had to have known about her past. There

was never a time, however, that Christopher ever brought it up. The more

time she spent with him the more she wanted to be with him. A deep longing

was stirred in her soul to be with him. She wanted to belong to him and

wanted him to belong to her. It was a foolish thought, but one that never

went away.

    Despite her former profession, romance was not something Bonnie had much

skill in. Her past life did not lend itself to forming deep, romantic

bonds. And ever since she had left what few times she had tried to date

ended in failure. The men which had caught her eyes had either been fans,

or simply knew of her. They only had one thing on their minds, however. All

of them, to a fault, only wanted to see what it was like to bed a famous

whore. When she didn’t give into their desires they were quick to leave,

and not without insult either. It was part of why she had looked for a

place like Cattle’s Rest to move to. 

    She had never made a move on Chris. Her intentions towards him had always

been a secret thing. Or, at the very least she tried to keep them hidden.

Many nights had been spent with her fingers between her legs and his name

on her lips. Even now just thinking about him caused her loins to dampen

slightly, her thighs pressed together and her nipples to harden. Bonnie

took a deep breath to control herself and stepped out into the main floor

of her saloon.

II.