Boris Mayhem's green eyes gleamed eagerly as the knife wound began to repair itself and fur sprouted all over Joe's body.
Joe moaned and turned his head back and forth as his nose and mouth began to elongate. His moans became screams as his feet and hands seemingly ripped back and claws began to appear. The screams became growls and his eyes began to grow and his ears faded from sight as pointed gray and black ears began to form at the top of his head.
Mayhem slammed the metal box shut before Joe's transformation had completed itself. Slowly, Joe's normal features returned and the fur vanished. Lying before Mayhem was a healthy teenage boy in mild shock with a four-inch scar along his abdomen.
Mayhem took his clipboard and sat down. Almost fifteen minutes later, he stood up and took the box holding the moon rock and exited the cell. When he returned he brought with him a sheet that he used to cover up the naked youth.
Joe, having had a few minutes to come to his senses looked up at Mayhem. "You quit before I transformed fully," he said. "Why?"
"Interesting," Mayhem noted. "You obviously retain your sense of recognition up to a certain point. I will have to find out at what point in your transformation that changes." He reached for the clipboard in the chair and wrote his observation down before looking back at Joe.
"In answer to your question you are chained in a manner not suitable to your wolf form," Mayhem answered. "I don't wish to cause you any unnecessary pain or damage."
"You don't want to cause me any pain!" Joe erupted, his blue eyes wide. "Just what did you think stabbing me would cause? A tickle?!"
"I said unnecessary," Mayhem reminded Joe. "I can't gauge your healing if you aren't wounded," he explained in a voice that made Joe feel like a child. The cell phone at Mayhem's waist went off and he left the cell and locked it before hurrying up the basement stairs before answering.
Joe kicked at the sheet until it was just below his waist then leaned up and looked at his belly. The only evidence he had been stabbed and nearly died was a scar that would either fade over the next week or vanish completely if Mayhem forced another transformation on him.
Joe lay back on the bed and blinked his eyes. Would this be his life from now on? Intense pain and near death followed by a brief respite through a supernatural cure to evaluate his injury only to have to repeat the experience? Maybe he would be lucky like Craig and actually die. At least then there would be no more fearing what he had become.
The basement door banged open and Mayhem raced back down the steps and to Joe's cell. Without a word he unlocked it and approached Joe holding a hypodermic.
"What's that?" demanded Joe, frightened. Wasn't he even going to be given a little while to recuperate? Mayhem looked angry and annoyed. Who had been on the phone, Joe wondered? Had they been found? Was he going to be rescued? Mayhem never answered Joe's question. He put a moist cotton ball on Joe's arm and then applied the needle. Mayhem was already working on releasing Joe when his eyes closed.
Mayhem lifted Joe letting the sheet fall to the floor. He put Joe in a fireman's carry and hauled him up the steps, through the kitchen ,and out the back door to a beat-up blue Chevy van.
He laid Joe in the van then returned to the house. He took a box and filled it with his research and placed the metal box with the moon rock on top then lugged it to the van. Returning to the house again, he leashed Fang and Goria and loaded them into the back with Joe. They sniffed of him once then lay down beside him. Mayhem shut the back of the van and started back inside to collect more research but froze midway. He looked down the hill and spotted two police cars and a van coming toward them.
Abandoning the rest of his research, Mayhem returned to the van and climbed behind the wheel. He started up then pulled out of the drive and drove a quarter of a mile before pulling off the road behind some overgrown bushes. He killed the motor then waited silently while the queue moved steadily closer.
He saw Frank's face as he drove by only feet away. It was pale, but hard, and his mouth was set in a grim line. Mayhem heaved a relieved sigh. For some reason Mayhem was most grateful he was not meeting Joe's brother face to face ever again. Even with all he had faced in his life, the thought of a meeting with Frank after what he had done to Joe was an extremely terrifying one.
Mayhem gave an involuntary shiver as he started the van and pulled back onto the road. Keeping his speed at the limit, he left the side road and pulled back onto the main drag, feeling good because he had predicted this could happen and had already arranged for another place to stay and conduct his experiments in peace.
Joe moaned and turned his head back and forth as his nose and mouth began to elongate. His moans became screams as his feet and hands seemingly ripped back and claws began to appear. The screams became growls and his eyes began to grow and his ears faded from sight as pointed gray and black ears began to form at the top of his head.
Mayhem slammed the metal box shut before Joe's transformation had completed itself. Slowly, Joe's normal features returned and the fur vanished. Lying before Mayhem was a healthy teenage boy in mild shock with a four-inch scar along his abdomen.
Mayhem took his clipboard and sat down. Almost fifteen minutes later, he stood up and took the box holding the moon rock and exited the cell. When he returned he brought with him a sheet that he used to cover up the naked youth.
Joe, having had a few minutes to come to his senses looked up at Mayhem. "You quit before I transformed fully," he said. "Why?"
"Interesting," Mayhem noted. "You obviously retain your sense of recognition up to a certain point. I will have to find out at what point in your transformation that changes." He reached for the clipboard in the chair and wrote his observation down before looking back at Joe.
"In answer to your question you are chained in a manner not suitable to your wolf form," Mayhem answered. "I don't wish to cause you any unnecessary pain or damage."
"You don't want to cause me any pain!" Joe erupted, his blue eyes wide. "Just what did you think stabbing me would cause? A tickle?!"
"I said unnecessary," Mayhem reminded Joe. "I can't gauge your healing if you aren't wounded," he explained in a voice that made Joe feel like a child. The cell phone at Mayhem's waist went off and he left the cell and locked it before hurrying up the basement stairs before answering.
Joe kicked at the sheet until it was just below his waist then leaned up and looked at his belly. The only evidence he had been stabbed and nearly died was a scar that would either fade over the next week or vanish completely if Mayhem forced another transformation on him.
Joe lay back on the bed and blinked his eyes. Would this be his life from now on? Intense pain and near death followed by a brief respite through a supernatural cure to evaluate his injury only to have to repeat the experience? Maybe he would be lucky like Craig and actually die. At least then there would be no more fearing what he had become.
The basement door banged open and Mayhem raced back down the steps and to Joe's cell. Without a word he unlocked it and approached Joe holding a hypodermic.
"What's that?" demanded Joe, frightened. Wasn't he even going to be given a little while to recuperate? Mayhem looked angry and annoyed. Who had been on the phone, Joe wondered? Had they been found? Was he going to be rescued? Mayhem never answered Joe's question. He put a moist cotton ball on Joe's arm and then applied the needle. Mayhem was already working on releasing Joe when his eyes closed.
Mayhem lifted Joe letting the sheet fall to the floor. He put Joe in a fireman's carry and hauled him up the steps, through the kitchen ,and out the back door to a beat-up blue Chevy van.
He laid Joe in the van then returned to the house. He took a box and filled it with his research and placed the metal box with the moon rock on top then lugged it to the van. Returning to the house again, he leashed Fang and Goria and loaded them into the back with Joe. They sniffed of him once then lay down beside him. Mayhem shut the back of the van and started back inside to collect more research but froze midway. He looked down the hill and spotted two police cars and a van coming toward them.
Abandoning the rest of his research, Mayhem returned to the van and climbed behind the wheel. He started up then pulled out of the drive and drove a quarter of a mile before pulling off the road behind some overgrown bushes. He killed the motor then waited silently while the queue moved steadily closer.
He saw Frank's face as he drove by only feet away. It was pale, but hard, and his mouth was set in a grim line. Mayhem heaved a relieved sigh. For some reason Mayhem was most grateful he was not meeting Joe's brother face to face ever again. Even with all he had faced in his life, the thought of a meeting with Frank after what he had done to Joe was an extremely terrifying one.
Mayhem gave an involuntary shiver as he started the van and pulled back onto the road. Keeping his speed at the limit, he left the side road and pulled back onto the main drag, feeling good because he had predicted this could happen and had already arranged for another place to stay and conduct his experiments in peace.