Author's Note: Time for another time. This time, we meet the mysterious Mr. Windsor while the "curious as a cat" original character Luke Conrad gets himself into trouble.

Enjoy!

Tess looked around the vastly decorative living room where Mr. Conrad and her were sitting, waiting for Mr. Windsor. In her hands sat a tiny pink-colored china teacup that contained lukewarm tea inside. Tess took another sip of the tea while continuing to gaze. She noticed that her partner was jotting down notes his small notepad.

Wait, is he trying to record every little single detail for the daily briefing later? Tess scoffed at her partner's motives, What a stupid move. Mr. Conrad, you shouldn't raise any suspicions, especially in this kind of setting.

The brunette sighed as she placed the elegant teacup down on the wooden table before her. All the sudden, she heard someone clearing their throat to signal for attention. Tess looked up and noticed that it was Curt Windsor, dressed in a classic black business suit and wearing simple black slippers.

The older male detective also took notice of Windsor's entrance and hastily raced up to the billionaire, sticking out one of his hands to greet Mr. Windsor. "It is nice to meet you, Mr. Windsor," the salt and pepper haired man greeted with a smile, "My name is Detective Luke Conrad, I am with the New York Police Department. This is my partner, Detective Tess Vargas. You are probably thinking why in the hell did the police department show up here! We are clueless as you as we don't know either why we are here. But, our boss thinks you might know anything about the dead jogger's case in Riverside Park that happened recently. Do you know about it?"

Before he could answer the anxious detective's question, Mr. Winsor motioned to the eager detective to sit down on the couch while the older man sat down in his favorite chair. He stared at the two detectives with an emotionless face.

"I don't know much details myself, except what is on the news. Care to fill me in with the details?"

Eager as he was, Luke Conrad began to flip through his notes to fully report on the case. While he was skimming through his writings, Curt took out a box of cigars from a brass box in the middle of the wooden table and a simple lighter from one of his jacket's pockets. He offered a cigar to the detectives before placing one gingerly in his mouth. Both Luke and Tess refused his offer as the stern man lit his cigar and began to inhale the tobacco.

"Let's see," the older detective began as he tore his eyes from the book to face the businessman, "A young woman, who was in his mid to late 20s, was found slain in Riverside Park. The cause of death is unknown but there was a lot of blood, deep claw marks, and a series of puncture marks near her heart. My boss thinks that you might have a connection to this attack. We are here to see if it's true or not. Is it?"

Mr. Windsor slowly exhaled the cigar's smoke as he pondered over the details of the detective's report.

"Who is your boss?"

Luke looked at Tess as she answered his question simply, "Assistant District Attorney Gabe Lowen."

Tess' eyes wandered up to glance at the billionaire's face tensing up at that name. At that moment, she could recognize that maybe Mr. Windsor had some sort of a connection to this new beast attack. She kept on looking at him to see if his face could reveal any more clues.

"I don't know about this latest attack in Riverside Park," the brown-haired man smoothly spoke with a slightly bitter tone, "I don't know how Mr. Lowen thinks that I play some sort of role in this. But, I am not involved. Case closed. Do you have any more questions?"

The tall brunette nodded a simple "no" with a bland face. However, her partner seemed that he didn't get his answer thoroughly answered. The petite detective instead starting to look at his notes in order to try to further dig into Windsor's "supposed" connection.

"No, no, no! I have many more questions for you, Mr. Windsor. You see, I did a little digging into your past last night after work. I found out that you, Curt Windsor, was involved with a government research project named Muirfield that was developing a cross-species DNA formula that could transform humans into monsters. You gave them a ton of money in the early days of the project until you and the project manager had a quarrel about something. There were also some publically released internal reports from some government agency that said you also were injected with this cross-species DNA and was able to transform into a beast-like creature.

You cannot hide behind these facts anymore! Maybe it was YOU who attacked that defenseless jogger! It was YOU who transformed into a murderous beast just to kill innocent people. Is that the truth, Mr. Windsor? Hmmm?"

Shock filled his partner's eyes as Tess raced to place her hands on top of his, motioning for Conrad to stop his allegations before it was too late. She looked at the detective's blue eyes before mouthing "No more, please" with pleading eyes. Luke took the hint and became silence as he looked on to see how Curt would react. By the look of things, it didn't go too well as the millionaire's face became red and his breathing became irregular. The air around them was filled with such emotions as rage and anger. It was at the same time that Tess could sense that something was changing inside of him as his anger swelled up. She tried to pinpoint as the tall detective searched the older man's face for answers.

His eyes! She silently gasped with worried eyes, They are turning colors. Is he turning... into... a beast? We have to get out of here before it gets too dangerous.

"How. Dare. You!" The millionaire fumed as his anger encapsulated him, "How dare you accuse me of a crime that I simply didn't do. How dare you use my past history to compare to my actions of today. This is why I had to hide from people like you who accuse me of wrongdoings that I didn't do because I was assorted with the wrong crowd back in my youth.

I. Want. You. To. Leave. Now!"

Tess took the hint as she started to gather her belongings. She tugged Luke's hand to motion that they couldn't stall and ask any more questions; it was really time to leave or something bad would happen. But, the salt-and-pepper haired man resisted Tess' recommendation as he refused to leave. Luke stubbornly refused Tess' touch as he stared at the enraged billionaire standing in front of him.

"Are you angry that I am telling the truth, a truth that you don't want to admit. You have hidden in your mansion far too long. It's time that the public and the Police Department know your secrets. How about you share one right now; Did you really kill that jogger?"

Tess couldn't take this anymore. She couldn't just let her partner banter the billionaire far enough until he beasted out. She angrily turned and boldly told Luke, "I know you want to play the part of the hero that saves the city and gets some credit from Gabe. I get that. But, now is not that time. If you continue to be so bold and rattle on with the allegations, you will be in a dangerous position where you will get seriously hurt. Let's go, NOW!"

"No, I will not go. I need to know the truth. This isn't about my pride or getting some recognition from the police department! It's about getting justice for that poor woman. I am not going until he spills the beans."

However, it was too late. While the two detectives were arguing with each other, Mr. Windsor began to show signs that he was transforming into something different. His appearance changed as he had claws sprouting from the ends of his fingers, patches of fur at random places throughout his body, discoloration on certain parts of his skin, gnarly teeth sticking out from his mouth, and a twisted, disfigured face. But, his piercing yellow eyes were what got Tess' attention when she spun around to look at him.

"Shit, Luke. We need to get out RIGHT NOW!"

Tess didn't hesitate any further as she began to run to the nearest door without Luke. Her partner gasped at the transformed creature in front of him. He had heard about these "beast" creatures before in briefings and from the mouths of his colleagues working on past beast-related cases. But, he never experienced seeing one in real life until now. It was magnificent yet frightening at the same time.

"Oh my god, it's one of those beast-creatures! I have to get pictures of this guy for evidence."

The petite man took out his cell phone and placed the camera a few feet away from the now-transformed Curt Winsor. The beast took notice that he was going to become a side-show attraction for some goofball detective. The creature swung his claws at Luke, successfully knocking his cell phone out of his hand and onto the floor. The beast continued his attack as he now aimed his claws at the salt-and-pepper haired detective. His claws gnashed at the detective's flesh. as blood began to seep from the wounds.

"Uuuuh, what are you doing to me? Can't you control your actions or are you guys truly animals without any humanity?"

Luke gaped at the monster as he laced his arms around the section of his body that was badly wounded. Feeling woozy and weak from the increasing amount of pain, the detective began to crumple to the floor. His partner, who was watching the attack from a safe distance near a doorway, quickly ran up to the detective and bent down.

"I told you if you got too far, it would become dangerous. Now look at you! Ugh!" Tess sighed, trying to think up a solution. "Listen to me carefully and you better stick with my plan." She eyed him vigorously to make sure he was following along each word she was saying. The injured detective just nodded for her to continue on.

"On the count of three, we are going to run to the nearest exit quietly and quickly so that the creature in front of us won't notice our escape. We need to leave this mansion immediately and find Gabe. Do you copy that?"

Luke just nodded, preparing himself for the mad dash away from the hideous creature by propping himself up with his legs and squeezing Tess' hand to let her know that she was in charge.

"Ok, ready?" The brunette woman whispered as she checked one last time that it was safe to flee.

"One...

Two...

THREE!"

As the woman detective finished her countdown, the two scrambled across the room to the exit that would lead them to the front door. They didn't look back as their concentration was more focused towards the things in front of them rather than the back. Also, emotions like fear and panic flooded the pair's minds as they tried to leave hastily, fearing for their lives over caring for the now-transformed Curt who was starting to calm down.

Within minutes, Tess and her injured reached the front door. She checked her surroundings to make sure that Curt wasn't following them. When she didn't see signs of him, she sighed a sigh of relief as she grabbed the handle and turned it hastily.

"How are you doing?" the taller detective asked her partner as she led him out of the place.

"I am doing fine. Just the area where he attacked me hurts a lot."

"We need to get you out of here and get you bandaged immediately. Hopefully, it isn't a deep wound or we have to go the doctor. I might have to think up a story about how you got hurt. In the meantime, let's find a place to hide and call Gabe to pick us up."

Tess gently guided Luke to a spot behind a nearby water fountain where anyone, especially Curt, couldn't see them. They were safe for now. Tess took this opportunity to whip out her phone and start calling the person who could get them out of this area, not noticing a pair of figures coming down the stairwell behind the two detectives.