Viktoria's Secret #13

Woman: Erieye
Flowers: Wikimedia - Dornenwolf
Cactus: Wikimedia - C T Johansson

Tim was fussing about again.  He wanted to be helpful as Viktoria's monthly transformation was approaching.  Truth be told, Viktoria liked to have him around. Not only because he could help get her into a compatible environment if she ended up aquatic: she just liked to have him around.  More than that, really.  She'd fallen in love with him and was pretty sure he loved her too despite her monthly transformations.

This time, the transformation was late, very late.  It wasn't until well past midnight before the pair of them began to wonder whether it was over with.  Had the curse run it's course?  Tim voiced it first.

"Uh, Vikki?" he started hesitantly.  "Do you suppose ..."
"No," she shook her head.  "It can't be.  The old witch said I'd regret it every month."
"But every other time I've been with you ..."
"It's late," she finished with a worried tone in her voice.  "Very late."
"Can I get anything for you?" he asked for what Viktoria thought must be the hundredth time.

Viktoria, by this late hour,was beginning to feel somewhat hungry.  She hustled Tim of to get Chinese food from around the corner.  Then she started to pace.  She needed something and it was somewhere nearby.  She caught herself.  She was never driven by odd compulsions like this.  Clearly, this was part of the transformation.  It needed something ... something she didn't have sitting in the kitchen.  She tried to resist the urge to find whatever it was.  Maybe if she prevented one transformation, it would stop the sequence.  After five minutes, the compulsion was so strong that she was beginning to get a migraine.  She hadn't had migraines since her early teens.  

Ten minutes was all that she could take before the pain in her head and the urge to find whatever the transformation needed was too strong.  As she got up, her headache faded.  She opened all the cupboards, the stove and even the fridge but nothing struck her as important.  Closing everything up, she wandered to the dining nook.  She moved things around half-heartedly and then wandered to her bedroom.  On the way, she passed the balcony door.  There was something strange about her cactus.  It seemed greener than she'd ever seen it before.  She hesitantly approached it  and reached to touch one of the spines.

Her world began to spin and twist.  When she her head stopped spinning, she found she'd turned around somehow.  She tried to turn back to her cactus and found that she was stuck in place.  She could twist her waist well enough but her hips and legs were immobile.  Looking down she discovered why.  From the waist down, she and her cactus had merged.  She drew her finger along the dividing line.  Below, she was cool, waxy and green and definitely part of the cactus.  Above she could feel her skin and it felt normal.

Tim chose that moment to re-enter the apartment.  He wandered in carrying a bag of food.  It smelled delicious and Viktoria called out to him.  He joined her by the balcony door.

"So this month, you're a cactus," he said sadly.
"So it seems," Viktoria, having gone through a year of these transformations, no longer felt hurt just disgust at the old witch.  She hoped she suffered as she was making her suffer someday for a trivial transgression of some sort.

Tim quickly got some bowls and split up their snack.  He had to help Viktoria by holding up her plate whenever she wanted to eat something.  The stiffness and the green cactus skin was slowly spreading upward.  About half an hour later, Viktoria was covered to the base of her breasts.  There, the transformation paused for several long minutes.  Both began to wonder whether she was finished when she began to feel itchy spots on her tummy and breasts.  Quickly guiding Tim to them, she had him scratch until the itch subsided.  On the last one, Tim quickly withdrew is hand.

"You're growing spines," he stated, rubbing the tip of one finger.

Sure enough, over the next few minutes, Viktoria sprout clusters of long stiff spines from her body and breasts.  There would be no cuddling this weekend, she noted to herself sadly unless Tim was a much tougher man than anyone she'd ever dated before.

Again the transformation paused.  Several minutes went by without changes until greenish streaks began flowing up her arms.  Soon, her arms were covered by the green skin but this time, she retained the ability to move her arms albeit somewhat slowly.  A patch of furry spines began to develop at each wrist.  Soon, her hands fused into a greenish bud that quickly expanded into huge purple cactus flowers with a heady aroma.

Just then, the sun began to peek over the horizon and the eastern window overlooking the balcony began to brighten.  Viktoria felt it's warmth on her back.

"Tim, be a dear, and pull back the curtains.  I think I need some sun."