On any other night, she was as all knew her to be. The blue shika doe, her mate the great Wesker, the one all treasured. But on certain nights, when the sky was clear, when the constellation Lupus was in full view, shining starlight upon the doe, she was not herself. No longer was she a doe...she was a demon...

Those nights, Kaoori would steal away from Wesker. She knew about the curse that was bestowed upon certain deer, though only through word of mouth. Those whose herd made a bloodoath with wolf tribes, those who let the most beautiful young does be sacrificed to the wolf gods so that the rest of the herd would be spared...those who disobeyed the pact were cursed on nights like these.

One of Kaoori's ancestors was selected for the ritual, but instead the doe fled, and breaking the oath she damned herself as well as her descendants to the Lupine curse.

This night, Kaoori's teeth grew sharp. Her eyes went black. Her hooves turned to paws. Her body arched and reshaped.

She let out a howl that chilled the souls of the deer around. They thought their Forest was safe. They were wrong...dead wrong...

There were old fairytales that mothers would tell their fawns to make them sleep through the night. The legends told were of wolves that hunted little fawns in the night who stayed up past their bedtimes. The does always thought the old stories were made-up, but this night...

A young fawn wandered off for a drink of water. He left the safety of his mother and found himself alone at the Pond. Bending down, he lapped water, and when he looked at his reflection, he saw a second shadow behind him.

It was too late to run.

The snarling wolf-doe caught him in her jaws, sinking her fangs into his back until it popped. The fawn cried out in sheer agony, but once the deed was done, he no longer felt his body. His legs went limp and dangled below him, his face slunk, his eyes closed, he drew his last breath.

The wolf-doe dropped him, and staring up to the constellation, she let out a howl.

And just like that, she turned back into a doe. Dizzy, she nearly lost her footing. She went to the waterside to cool her throat, and it was here she saw the fawn dead in the water. Frightened, Kaoori would flee to her mate's side, though never telling him what had happened.

Each night that Lupus was visible, the wolf gods would claim another young deer. The curse did not only affect those who were transformed, but it was a curse for all deer. For in the morning, a mother would awake to find her child missing...

...And she would know...that the night wolves in the story had taken her child away.