Chapter 12

Misato stood in shock.

"You think…you're connected to that monster?"

"I don't know how," Shinji said, "but I think I am, somehow. No…I know I'm connected. I've been having dreams, Misato; been having 'em ever since I moved to this town. In the dreams, I'm running through the streets of L.A. I'm running fast, past street lights and sign posts. All of a sudden, I'll leap up into the air and land on the roof of a seven-story building. The past couple of nights, the dreams have been getting more real, and more frightening. I'll wake up smelling blood."

"Blood?" Misato repeated.

"Yeah, blood," Shinji said, "And even scarier is this: it smelled good. The smell made my mouth water. And just this morning, I woke up in the nude, when I remember falling into bed still wearing my jeans."

"Well, what if you took them off in the middle of the night?" Misato asked.

"I'd remember doing it," Shinji said, shaking his head, "I don't remember anything past falling into bed last night after I started feeling ill."

"Nothing?"

"Just the dream again," Shinji answered, "Only last night, it felt much more real than it ever had before. I remember that now. I could actually feel the air rushing by my face. I also remember seeing this cul-de-sac in my dream. While I was there, I could feel myself being watched… It's freaking me out."

"You're not the only one," Misato said, leading Shinji up to his bedroom, "Try to get some rest, okay? I'll stay with you—,"

"No!" Shinji interrupted, "No, Misato. I want you to, but no. If I am somehow connected to that beast, I don't want to risk you getting hurt. Stay away from me at night until we sort this thing out."

"That will be hard," Misato said, her tone very worried, "How about just a quick one before I leave you for the night?"

"To let me apologize?"

"If that's the way you want it, master Shinji," Misato said, her voice now a seductive whisper. Then, she embraced Shinji passionately and kissed him.

Shinji and Misato had a round of passionate, almost desperate sex. Shinji held out for as long as he could, trying to extend his closeness with Misato since he knew he'd be sleeping alone. Finally, of course, Shinji came, covering Misato's face in his seed. After the two of them caught their breath, Shinji looked at Misato and said:

"When you go over to your room, I want you to lock the entrances to your room so I can't get in. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Misato said reluctantly, "but I still wish you'd let me stay with you. If there is something going on, I want to know what it is so I can help you."

"I know you do, pet," Shinji said fondly, "That's one of the things that I love the most about you. You're so willing to help, not just me, but everyone else as well. But if I'm connected to this thing; if it's following me or if…God help me…if it's me that's this beast, I would be devastated if I helped it harm you. Promise me that you will lock me out of your room."

Misato nodded. Then, she gave Shinji one more searing, passionate kiss and went through the bathroom. Shinji heard the door's lock click and knew that his love was safely separated from him. Shinji walked out onto his balcony and laid down on one of his lounge chairs. He stared at the stars, wondering what was going to happen to him.

Shinji caught a glimpse of the moon, still as full and luminous as it had been the night before. Suddenly, his troubles didn't seem as important as they had a few moments ago. He stretched his shoulders, suddenly feeling cramped in his own skin. Shinji scratched viciously at the back of his head.

My whole body itches all of a sudden! Shinji thought fitfully, My skin feels rough…scaly. Wait…I'm getting hairy! The hair on my arms is getting thicker, and I know that it's no trick of the light! Oh, god… It's me… I'm the werewolf!

Shinji tried to cry out, but all that escaped his throat was a wailing, wolfish howl. Shinji put his hands up in front of his eyes. What he saw were not the hands that had, only a few minutes ago, been caressing his lover's body. What he saw were two large, hairy, paw-like hands that had long, sharp talons for nails. He put these claws up to his face and felt it.

Shinji didn't recognize himself. His face, normally a flat-ish, regular face with handsome human features, was now elongated into a canine muzzle. Shinji felt two tall, cone-shaped ears on the top of his head. After touching his face, Shinji began to overcome some of the initial shock of his startling transformation. He became more in-touch with his new, werewolf senses.

What's that? Shinji thought, listening hard, It sounds like a fan blowing. No, the sound keeps alternating between two pitches. It's…breathing! I can hear Misato breathing while she's sleeping in her room. My eyes have gotten better, too. I can still see each line in the bark of the oak tree in the yard, and it's pitch dark out here!

Shinji's nose twitched. Shinji raised his head and swiveled it around like a radar dish, sniffing hard. There was something in the air, and it smelled good.

What is that? Shinji wondered, It smells like…Rei! That's her perfume. I remember her scent from when we had sex. I wonder if I can track her by her scent? Hmm… First, I need to get off of this balcony. My arms and legs feel much stronger; maybe I can climb up onto the roof.

Shinji squatted down and tensed his legs, preparing to spring. A second later, he released the pressure of his powerful leg muscles. This massive surge of jump power propelled Shinji's seven-and-a-half foot tall, 350 pound form up and over the eaves of Misato's house and landed up squarely up on the shingles of the roof. Shinji lowered himself onto all fours and used his new claws for gripping power.

I'd better be careful about these shingles, Shinji thought, Misato will kill me if I tear her roof up.

So Shinji, with the utmost care and as much finesse as he could wrangle, crawled his way up to the top edge of the house roof and stood straddling the top. Shinji threw his head back and drew in a deep nose-full of the night air. It smelled so sweet and delicious to him. Shinji smelled so many scents; many were alien to him, but there were one or two that he recognized.

He smelled the chlorine of the swimming pool in the yard below him. He smelled the familiar, thick smell of diesel truck exhaust, and he smelled (actually smelled) the heat coming off of the tar on the road. Shinji picked and sorted carefully through all of the mass of smells until he found the one he was looking for: Rei. Shinji slowly rotated on the spot, trying to find his direction.

…There she is, Shinji thought. Then, he crouched down, preparing to leap again. Shinji sprang from Misato's roof and landed on the pavement with a muffled thump.

Shinji began to trot along upright on his hind legs, but began to stumble as he over-balanced. Shinji put his front limbs down onto the ground and settled into a gorilla-like gallop. Ungainly as he looked, Shinji felt that this was the fastest way that he could move over land and started to increase the rate of his lope, still following his nose. Shinji's nose led him to a light-blue ranch house approximately two blocks from Misato's, where the scent of Rei's perfume dead-ended.

So, this is Rei's place, Shinji thought, It's nice. I wonder what her parents do for a living. Wait, there's another smell. I've never smelled it before… Wait…yes, I have.

Images flashed through Shinji's mind. His brain rapidly blasted through each sense memory until he came to the one that matched the scent that he was picking up. He saw a man with dark-colored, almost lifeless-looking eyes with a scruffy, unshaven face and long, messy hair. This man had just been near him recently, Shinji had smelled him then.

Kaji.

The hackles on the back of Shinji's broad neck rose at the thought of this man being anywhere near Rei's house. Shinji didn't know how much stealth he could accommodate as a werewolf, but he certainly didn't want Rei or her family to hear or see him as a monster. The damage to their friendship might be irreparable. Shinji lowered himself to the ground and crept along on his belly underneath the windows, still following Kaji's scent.

After several long, slow minutes, Shinji reached the backside of the house, where he re-acquired the scent of Rei's perfume. The sweet smell seemed to be pouring out of a window that was open much wider than he considered wise in a big city's suburbs; especially if the neighborhood was as bad after dark as Misato said it was. The next thing that Shinji noticed was that Kaji's scent was trailing up and into Rei's window.

He broke into her room, Shinji thought, enraged, I'll kill him.

Shinji poked his head over the sill of the window and peered into Rei's room. Immediately, he saw something was wrong. Rei was lying on the floor, seemingly asleep. Shinji wondered why she was on the floor when she was only a few feet from her bed. The next thing Shinji sensed was another smell; one that was familiar to him, and yet alien all at the same time: blood. Something was, indeed, very wrong.

Shinji listened hard. He could hardly hear Rei's breathing. Even though she was asleep, he had been able to hear Misato's breathing through the walls of her house. Rei's breathing was faint, and even fainter was her heartbeat. She was dying; bleeding to death, and Shinji's werewolf frame was too large to fit through her window. Shinji, desperate and frustrated, could see only one option: tear out her window frame and part of the wall, causing large amounts of damage and noise.

I have no choice, Shinji thought taking a hold of the window frame and preparing to pull, Rei's dying. I won't let her die.

"It's sad, isn't it?"

Shinji turned around with a snarl. Standing behind him was Kaji. Shinji wondered why he hadn't heard, seen or sensed him approach in any other manner. Kaji wore a cunning smile on his face, as well as a tattered set of shop coveralls. Shinji narrowed his eyes at the man, raising his hackles and growling in what he hoped was a threatening way.

"Hmm, empty intimidation," Kaji said, shaking his head, "Sorry. Been there, done that, got nowhere; just like you. Wondering how I knew your weakness for her?"

Shinji continued to glare.

"I could smell you on her," Kaji said, "Oh, yes; your scent was all over her sweet flesh. I almost wish I hadn't had to rip her open. She's a pretty one. Did you have a good time with her?"

With a howl of rage, Shinji pounced at Kaji, intending to rip him to pieces. Kaji danced to one side, easily evading Shinji. Kaji stood laughing at Shinji.

"Still just a pup, aren't you boy?" he said, "You don't even have control over your transformations yet. Not like I do."

With a growl and a snarl, Kaji's human form tore asunder and revealed a werewolf with grizzled, black fur. This made Shinji think that Kaji had been around for much longer as a werewolf, as his own coat was still relatively sleek in coloration.

"Now, have you figured out how to talk, or are you still that much of an infant?" Kaji mocked. To any human that might have been listening, Kaji's words would have only sounded like so many grunts, snarls, and barks, but Shinji understood him perfectly.

"I wonder," Shinji inquired, "Did you have a reason for hurting Rei?"

"She was close to you, Ikari," Kaji replied, "That makes her an ideal candidate to show you how easy it is to act like a true werewolf."

"By doing what? Murdering an innocent girl?"

"If you only knew how many 'innocent girls' I've slaughtered over my hundred and fifty years of life," Kaji said, "But you…you're an anomaly, even among our kind. I've sired many pups over my life. Each bite I gave that didn't tear someone's throat out gave me another pup. But that's just it; they were all sired by my venom. You weren't sired by venom, though…were you?"

"If you mean, 'was I bitten by a monster like you', then the answer's no," Shinji replied.

"Then you're a bornling," Kaji said with vicious excitement, "That makes you quite the rarity, indeed."

"I'm a what?"

"A bornling, you foolish boy! One who was born one of us!" Kaji snarled, "But you're still a rarity, even among bornlings."

"Because…a bornling…transforms for their whole life from birth," Shinji said, clarity dawning on him.

"Now you're catching on, boy," Kaji said with an evil, wolfish smile, "But you're new. I only sensed you for the first time last night. I scoped you out earlier this morning, memorized all of the scents around your house. Who knows? I might find my way back there later on to have a taste of that delicious-looking woman you live with. What's her name, again?"

"You expect me to tell you?" Shinji growled defensively.

"Not really," Kaji said indifferently, "Her name doesn't matter. After all: that which we call a woman, by any other name, will taste as sweet."

Shinji growled, preparing to throw himself at Kaji again. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

"This girl, Rei," he said, "Did you bite her?"

"Curious how it's done, are you?" Kaji asked, "Want to learn how to start siring your own pups? Or are you merely curious as to how you rip a throat out?"

"A bit of both, I suppose," Shinji said, trying to smooth-talk Kaji into telling him if Rei was bitten, and therefore envenomated.

"You're still a bit young to go around biting people, so how about I teach you something more useful?" Kaji asked.

"Such as?"

"How to manipulate your form at night," Kaji replied, "It usually takes a werewolf a fortnight's worth of transformations before he learns for himself how, but you look like a bright boy, and I've always wanted a protégé. It all boils down to concentration. You've got to be able to look at the moon and resist the call of the wolf within you. After you've transformed, all you have to do is concentrate on the soft, human side of yourself. I actually like to stay a wolf at night. I like the feeling of power that being a beast gives me. It's a rush."

"So, all I have to do is concentrate on my humanity," Shinji repeated, "That sounds easy enough."

Shinji closed his eyes and concentrated on what he knew he looked like when he looked in the mirror. Shinji felt his skin shifting and his insides churning. He knew that he was changing, but he didn't remember his transformation being so uncomfortable. Shinji opened his eyes and looked down at his pale, hairless, perfectly human hands.