"Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been 6 weeks since my last confession."

Peter could feel a cold tingle wash over him, as if some icy, cold tendrils were slowly caressing his head. He shifted his gaze from the floor to the eyes of Father Michael. The coldness washed over his brain suddenly retreated.

"Father, I have sinned. I." Peter faltered "I've used the Gift again."

Peter could barely make out Father Michael's compassionate smile through the welling of tears.

"Peter, it is no sin to use the Gift. It is a gift from God. Cherish it."

"No, you don't understand," Peter began, and suddenly felt the same icy cold tendrils touch his face again, "I've. used it." Peter felt tears welling up again, but he fought them back and softly, shamefully whispered ".kill."

During the pause that seemed to go on for minutes, Peter could feel the cold tendrils invade his skull and dance through his mind. Father Michael spoke, "Peter, neither I nor any person on Earth can grant you absolution from this. It is a mortal sin, Peter."

"But I loved her," Peter blurted, "I never wanted to use the Gift like that," Peter felt a hot tear stream down his cheek at those words. "I never wanted this `Gift' and I wish He would take it back! If I never had the gift I would never have done it!"

Peter's anger reached a fever pitch. He lashed out with his Gift, and found a source of warmth for him to seize. This body was cooler than the one he had taken the previous night. In his mind he could feel every part of the body. He could feel all of its limbs, every sinew, every muscle, every nerve, every bone. It wasn't the soft, youthful body of his lover; it was the frail, almost gaunt form of the man sitting across from him in the confessional. Peter could feel the weakness in Father Michael's bones and muscles, and could feel how easy it could be to rend them.

The icy fingers that danced along Peter's mind suddenly plunged deep into his brain. They surprised him, and cut a numbing swath through his mind. Peter stopped, confused, unsure and afraid. In this state, his anger was just a bad memory.

"The Lord works in mysterious ways, my son", came the soothing response from Father Michael, "I can't pretend to understand it, and I don't think either of us should question it. You must be strong, Peter. You must be in order to save your soul."

"I." Peter sobbed "I can't."

"Peter," Father Michael softly exhorted, "tell me what happened."

Peter felt no resistance to the request. He wanted more than anything to forget the events from the last night had ever occurred. He wanted erase every memory of them, but he went on. "She was so beautiful last night." Peter began.

A knock on the door surprised Peter.

Peter didn't have to be told who it was. Not only did he recognize the voice, but he could feel Jennifer's heat in his mind's eye. He could feel every bit of her before he even walked over to open the door. Jennifer stood there in the cool spring breeze, her hair blowing gently in the wind. They stared at each other longingly for a second before locking in a lover's embrace. Peter could feel his own tongue caressing Jennifer's through the Gift's embrace of Jennifer's body. The feelings he felt through her body were electrifying.

Jennifer was the first person Peter had ever used the Gift to this extent with. He had always been afraid to feel exactly what others felt, to take in all the sensations and feel their bodies in ways even they themselves were oblivious. He felt he genuinely loved her, and being able to feel her body in this way made him even closer to her.

"I truly loved her, Father." Peter continued, ignoring the icy fingers as they playfully danced and floated through his mind, "the Gift made our love stronger. I.I don't now why it happened.." Peter placed his head in his cupped hands before him and sobbed. "I thought that when we made love, with the Gift, it would be the most wondrous experience of my life." he continued.

"Come here, you" Peter laughed playfully as he grabbed Jennifer's torso from behind, placing his arms just below her breasts. He softly worked his lips up the back of her neck, kissing as he went. Just to feel her touch underneath his skin was exhilarating, but to feel himself caressing her through her own body was rapture.

As he caressed Jennifer's soft and supple stomach, a thought occurred to Peter, one he had had before, and never wanted to have again. He had before tried to refuse to even entertain the concept, but it was just so enticing.

Peter gripped Jennifer's body even tighter with his Gift. He could now feel her body stronger and more completely than his own. As Peter softly caressed her abdomen, he twisted with his mind. Jennifer shuddered as he stroked her belly, which had suddenly become very sensitive.

"Oh, Peter," she softly moaned. Peter, excited and a bit surprised by the results of his effort, pushed harder with his mind and felt Jennifer's flesh under his fingers swell and move. He trembled in ecstasy as he felt her body change, from without and from within. Three small pairs of lumps had formed on her belly, each bearing a sensitive teat.

Jennifer's hands joined his, investigating why her body had become so sensitive there. She gasped as she felt her new teats, rising out of her formerly flat stomach. "My God! What's happening, Peter?"

Peter's mind's eye could feel a drastic change in Jennifer's warmth. His Gift tasted something new, something even more pleasurable. The pleasures of sexual union had given way to the even more seductive emotions of horror that Peter could feel emanating from his lover. They flavored the pleasure of their union more than simple touch alone could ever do.

"You are becoming more beautiful" Peter whispered into Jennifer's ear. Jennifer tried to push away, but Peter held her close to him. "Oh, you will be so, so beautiful, " Peter found himself saying. Jennifer gripped his arms with her trembling hands and tried to pry Peter's arms away from her body. Peter once again exerted his control over her body. He twisted again with the Gift and felt the hands pushing against his locked arms change. Peter could feel her fingers begin to stiffen and shrink. The tips became hardened and black and started to fuse together. The pleasure Peter derived from every moment of the transformation he caused in Jennifer's hands was sweetened with the sensation of horror that rocked her.

Jennifer screamed at the sight of her hands shriveling. The fingers had fused into a pair of bony protrusions. Her hands were now pig's hooves. "Peter, what's happening to me?!?" She cried, "Oh my God, what's happening?!?"

Peter didn't answer. Instead he focused his Gift again, concentrated on her rump, pushing into his groin, and forced. He felt a small tendril of flesh erupt from her and press into his groin. Peter released his lover slightly, and exulted in her pig-like tail tickling the hair on his stomach as it twitched in fear.

Jennifer seized the opportunity to push herself away from Peter. She swiveled to oppose her lover, with her tear-stained face, staring into his eyes. "What's happening?" she wailed.

Peter smiled at her lovingly and gently brushed a tear from her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"You are being remade into an image of beauty." Peter said soothingly as he moved toward her.

Jennifer screamed "Stay away from meeeeeeeeeee!" Peter clutched her tightly with his Gift and her human scream dissolved into a porcine squeal. Peter could feel the tip of her nose push up and expand into a pig's snout. Peter gripped his squealing lover with his arms and they fell together onto the bed.

Peter pushed his penis into Jennifer's vagina and exalted in the dual ecstasy of it. He could feel himself from her as their flesh touched when he entered. With every stroke, Peter could feel her teats rub against his belly and give him yet another ribbon of delectation. With his marvelous creature beneath him, he climaxed.

Peter sobbed as he stared at the bed. The crumpled, deformed body on it was no longer that of his lover. Peter stared at the naked creature with a sense of longing and a sickening welling of revulsion for what he had made. He placed a trembling hand on her face and seized her once again in the grip of his Gift.

"Morgan", Detective Carson smiled at the gaunt old man before him, "what brings you out of your cave at this time of day?"

"Larry, I wanted to give you the information on your Jane Doe personally", the coroner replied, holding a thick manila folder for Carson to see, "I don't blame you if you don't believe a word I'm about say. Hell, I don't even believe it myself, and I did the examination!"

Detective Carson shrugged, and the coroner continued, as calmly as he possibly could "There are no artificial prosthetics of any kind on this body."

Carson's mouth dropped.

Th coroner continued, dropping a photograph and an x-ray image on Carson's desk, "The tail is real. It has bones in it, as you can see form this x-ray and is connected to the spinal chord." The man removed a quartet of photos from the folder in his arms and placed them on the desk. "The hooves, as well. They're real."

Morgan paused. "The face is the strangest of all. Larry, when you brought it in, this body had no facial features. It wasn't a latex mask, Larry, it was skin!"

Carter picked up the picture Morgan had just dropped on the desk and examined it. It showed the face of a woman, but the skin of her face was unbroken. There were no lips or any evidence the woman ever had a nose, there was an uninterrupted expanse of skin. Where her eyes should have been there was a pair of shallow indentations. Carter shivered and placed the picture back on the desk.

"The oddest thing is that she died of asphyxiation. She was choked to death with her own skin! We found evidence of lipstick and Certs inside her mouth and she had eaten pizza just 2 hours before she died. I can't explain it, Larry. None of it makes sense." Morgan paused. "We did get a dental impression and there was semen in her vagina. It's something that can be worked with."

Morgan glanced at the gun and then stared into the eyes of the man that would have the unenviable job of finding out what happened to this woman.

". and now until the hour of our death. Amen."

"Fr. Michael, Fr. Michael, come quickly, There's been an accident!" came the voice of Fr. McGuiness to jar Fr. Michael from praying the Rosary. Atonement for his own sins could wait.

"Fr. Michael," puffed the younger man, as he ran to the elder, "Peter Lawson. in front of the church. there's been an accident. come quickly."

The old priest felt the mental tendrils extend and taste the anguish of Fr. McGuinness. He cut them off before they could enjoy it. He wasn't about to sin again so quickly.

Fr. Michael recognized the battered body in the street as Peter's. His mental fingers probed the mind of the corpse lying in front of the smashed taxicab, but there was nothing there to probe. Instead they wandered aimlessly, sipping the nectar of distress in the others standing before him.

"Fetch oil, Fr. James," Fr. Michael said to the man to his right, "Last Rites must be performed. We must pray for the repose of he soul."

Fr. Michael looked at the face of the boy who had seen Peter leap in front of the car. `One this young should not have to know of things like this,' Fr. Michael said to himself. He walked over to the young man and set his mind toward comforting him, sheltering him from the pain. Another part of his mind simply reveled in it.