I am able to upload another chapter due to a three day weekend, Hooray! This is a short chapter but an important one. Enjoy!
Previously on "Beauty and the Beast"...
"J.T Forbes, meet the mysterious man I found in the park today," Tess cheerfully announced as she took a couple steps to the right. She encouraged the mysterious man to come a bit forward by grabbing one of his wrists and pulled him forward. As soon as the man came into J.T.'s view, the professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the guy in front of him in total shock.
"Holy shit, THAT is indeed Vincent Keller."
Tess rose an eyebrow at J.T. to remind him that the person in front him may look like Vincent Keller but he has no memory of him. J.T. took the hint as formed an "Oh, that's right" expression with his lips. He scurried towards the mysterious man and stuck out a hand, "I am very sorry for my rudeness. Let me start again. My name is J.T. Forbes. Nice to meet you..." He trailed off in hopes that the guy would response with a name.
"Nice to meet you. I don't know what to really call myself. I been wandering around the streets for quite a while without a name. As far as I can remember, which isn't far back I think," the leaner man spoke as he shook J.T.'s hand, "In fact, I want someone to tell me who I am. But, I don't know who to really trust. This woman is the first person who I talked to who isn't a scientist or an agent."
"Well, you can trust us. We will not hurt you, I promise," Tess reassured, "We don't mean any harm, we are trying to find someone too. How about you sit down on the couch over there and tell us all what you know." The detective put on a genuine smile as she lead the stranger to the couch and sat down a short distance from the guy on a bar stool. J.T. followed, opting to sit on a cushioned chair nearby the two.
The buzz-cut hairstyle fellow sat down as he felt that the woman's words were truly authentic. She was right, the two of them didn't seem like the type to hurt him. Or even try to use him as a pet-monkey in a gilded cage like all those scientist did. Maybe he could find out his identity and freedom with the detective as he knew she had access to a ton of resources. "Maybe, it is beneficial if I open my tale to these guys," the middle-aged guy pondered, "This chick nearby can surely help me."
He scratched the back of his head as he started his tale, "I don't remember much as I been going in and out of conscious. As far back as I remember, I been locked up in this top-secret laboratory with a bunch of agents and scientists who work for an agency that, I think, is called Muirfield." The mentioned of that agency's names sent shockwaves through J.T. and Tess. The two exchanged worried looks as they continued to listen to the man's story.
"I was always living in a cage that was the size of a partial bathroom. I rarely got out but got three square meals everyday. I recall that a different set of scientists came to run various tests on me periodically throughout the day," the bass voice spoke.
"What kind of tests did they run?" J.T. inquired.
"They ran, ummm..." the stranger faltered, wondering if he could REALLY trust these people. He barely knew them but he was going to spill the beans and let these two know all about his secrets!
He didn't know what do!
He paused for a minute to reflect on the situation, closing his eyes to concentrate. After a while, the mysterious man sitting on the couch came to a solution and open his eyes to look at the two pair of eyes staring back at him. He professed with a skeptical tone, "Look, you guys are great. But, I don't think I can trust you completely to tell this humiliating secret I have. The scientist believed it. However, I think a normal person wouldn't believe me. It's pretty crazy!"
Tess laughed a little, "Trust me, big guy. I am a detective on a police force, I have seen pretty crazy things from time to time. I don't think your secret will be even remotely crazy." Tess reassured the man across from her with a slight smile. What more could they lose or gain if the guy told them of his secret? What was he afraid of them? J.T. and her being Muirfield spies and they were there to take him away, back to the secret laboratory?
Fat chance.
The man turned his eyes on J.T. and posed the same question, "How about you?" J.T. began to sweat nervously as the man's eyes bore into his own soul, trying to find out the truth. The stout man with glasses started to blabber on, "Well, you see... Like Tess said, we have seen crazy things. I am a professor slash scientist at one of the local universities. Even some of my colleagues' compositions in well-respected journals are INSANE! Let me tell you about my colleague Mike. He wrote an article in the "Journal of Science" about how monkeys could turn into bird-like creatures by altering their DNA at birth. Absurd, right?" J.T. continued to murmur, hoping that the man who looks like his best friend would take the bait. Because J.T. knew already, based on what the man previously said about the experiments and the lab, that this stranger was actually the person they been looking for. He was just waiting for the guy to trust them.
In spite of that, the man didn't fall for J.T.'s trick. Instead, he was the exact opposite! While J.T. and Tess was talking about how this guy could trust them with his little secret, he was examining their heart rate and how much they were perspiring to see if they could actually tell the truth. The tall brunette police detective passed with flying colors as her heart was calm, she didn't sweat, and he sensed that what she was saying was true. However, the sparsely haired man with the balbo was the exact opposite. As soon as expressed his opinions, the stranger noticed that around the side of J.T.'s round face that there were beads of sweat that was starting to pour out from the skin. Also, the chubby man's heart beat began to climb upwards at every word he said.
He had enough of the situation and knew what to do. The physically fit man stood up and informed the couple of his plans, "It's been nice knowing you guys. But, I have to go. I know you want me to stay and chat more about my life however, the point-blank truth is that I can't trust you. Thank you for being so kind and hospitable." The man began to walk to the door as a perplexed Tess questioned his intentions, "What are you going to do now? Surely, you don't have an identity or a place to call home." He turned to look at the hazel-eyed woman and replied back, "I am going to go back to the park to see if I can find anything about my identity there." While talking, he didn't notice the plump professor ran in front of him, using his body to block this stranger from leaving.
"You got to be kidding," J.T. laughed anxiously, "You don't have anywhere to go, right? Why don't you stay here with me. I have plenty of space." Tess looked at his face with the expression of "Hey, didn't you promise I could sleep with you for the time being? Where am I going to sleep?". J.T. ignored his girlfriend's expression as he grabbed onto the other guy's wrists, trying to prevent him from going even more.
"I had enough with this annoying man," the irritated stranger mentally spoke in a harsh tone, "He is too noisy, too bossy, and starting to get on my nerves!"
The guy glared at the man before his eyes turned bright yellow, his face became contorted and shape-shifted like an animal, and his fingernails became longer with his hands starting to be covered with fur-like material. "Get out of my way," he snarled sharply at J.T. with his pointy canines. With a deep breath, the unknown person calmed down as he returned to his ordinary self. He looked around and noticed the J.T. and Tess displayed a mixed expression of shocked and fright with eyes wide open and mouths slightly ajar. He knew at that moment that he should get out of there as soon as possible.
The man searched around and noticed that there were a few windows by the sofa. He hastily ran to a window, turned the latches, slid it open, and jumped out without looking back.
The remaining two beings just stared at the now-opened windows as they couldn't believe what happened. Without moving her head, Tess muttered, "Do you see that, J.T.?" The pudgy man acknowledged, "Yes, I did. That is most definitely Vincent! I am 100% about it."