A/N: Maybe I confused some of you when I said "werewolves" at the end of chapter one. I meant werewolf, as in one, unless I decide to add more later on just for kicks and giggles. For the moment, though, there shall only remain one werewolf.
izzygirlxp – Splendiferous. I like that word! As for Cabby stomping on Skinner's foot, um… girlfriend intuition? BTW, you are, like the fastest reviewer ever! You reviewed about six minutes after I posted!
Lily Bengal – You are a big meanie! You shouldn't be so mean, because I know where you live, and I have tigers!
Remy, Bongo & Brak: Growl… [Translation: Run for your life Lily!]
Mrs. Mina Harker – Not all things end happily. Cabby's blind, but at least she's still alive.
Mwpp-lover – Ah, the Marauders! "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" Hehehe!
funyun – Sorry, but taking off Davis' face doesn't fit in my plans. Besides, he'd only give Jekyll more of a hard time while he was trying to fix it.
schizomaniax – Yup, Dorian is bitter. He doesn't like being dead, and, in a sense, homeless.
Crystal Nox – Look at you! You've got an account! [And a rather successful fic, might I add?] Glad you're happy! I'm here to please!
Chasten-chan – The tearing-the-skin-off thing weirded me out. Ugh.
morph – Y'know, I half-expected Jason Flemyng's voice to come out of the Van Helsing version of Mr. Hyde, but only half. So, you've got a foreshadowing feeling. Hm… we'll see if you're right or not.
Lady Moon3 – Huh? A half vampire married to Legolas? What the heck are you talking about?
elven-emma – As much as I love Hugh Jackman [and that's a LOT] he's not going to be in this fic. I'll leave that stuff for you. XD
Disclaimer: This will be the last one of these you see for a while. But, you guessed it, I own the young man from the alley, whose name and the like we will learn later.
Dr. Jekyll finally emerged from the other room where he'd been tending to their new guest. "He'll be fine," he said. "He suffered a few mild lacerations, but appears otherwise unharmed."
"We need to talk to him," Tom said. "To figure out where that thing went."
"There will be time for that later, Agent Sawyer," Jekyll said sternly. "Our young friend needs his rest. He's been through a lot. We should leave him be for now."
Tom scowled but nevertheless, did as the doctor bid and left. Cabrilyn, staff in hand, using it to tell her if anything was blocking her path, fell in step beside the young American. "Something troubling you, Sawyer?" She asked.
He scoffed. "What would make you say that?"
"Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm dense. I can tell," Cabrilyn said. "There is something bothering you. It's in the way you act, the way you speak. It goes a little deeper than Dorian and his sarcasm, doesn't it?"
Tom stopped in his tracks and stared at the blind woman before him. She was right – his ill feelings went deeper than Dorian. On some level, they went to her and Skinner, and Mina and Jekyll. He felt a little rejected. He understood now why Quatermain had always thrown himself in harm's way – to escape the aloneness. That's why he had done what he had done last night. Dorian's remarks had merely been the proverbial straw to break the camel's back. After a moment, he could stand just staring a Cabrilyn no longer. He turned and, with all the haste he could muster, strode away.
Cabrilyn sighed. Tom would have to work out his feelings on his own. It was not something she could help.
He could see it all happening. The claws… the teeth… he watched it all, unable to stop it. Then came the sun, doing what he could not. The monster roared and retreated, not to be seen again until the next full moon…
A thunderous crash jolted him to wakefulness. He jerked upright, throwing the covers from him. It took him a moment to gain his bearings after such a rude awakening. Now he remembered, the attack in the alley, the stranger who had brought him here, and the doctor that had tended his wounds. Now, what had made that noise? He looked around. The room was furnished with carved redwood furniture – expensive to say the least. Near the doorway he found an upturned table, and someone was crouched nearby with their back to him, hastily picking up the pieces of a broken vase.
"Excuse me," the young man said. The stranger leapt up in surprise, dropping the pottery pieces and nearly tripping over the table. The young man froze in fear – the intruder had neither head nor arms.
"Davis!" Someone called from the hallway – the doctor. "Are you terrorizing my patient? Get out of there." Jekyll reached through the door and ushered Davis from the room. After a moment, he poked his head back in the door. "I'm terribly sorry about him." He soon laid eyes on the table and the shattered remains of the vase. "Oh dear. Dorian is not going to like that."
"Wh… what was that…?" The young man stuttered.
"What was…? Oh, Davis. Yes, well, he's… um, he's invisible," Jekyll said, and even as he did he knew the young man would not believe him. It was a pretty farfetched notion to anyone who had not spent the last few months with Skinner, or Davis. "I'll explain later," the doctor reassured. "Now, are you feeling up to telling us about the creature?"
The young man gulped. "Us? Are there any more invisible people?"
Jekyll couldn't help but smile at the young man. "Only one more."
Skinner at least had the decency to wear greasepaint on his face for their meeting with the young man. Davis adamantly refused to do so. No one was exactly sure why. Skinner, of course, had volunteered to paint Davis since he refused to dawn the greasepaint, but he had been refused and Davis was allowed to show up at the meeting au natural. The young stranger seemed a little less wary of him now after seeing him once anyway.
"I suppose we should get started," Tom said as the League and their guest settled in their seats. "So… where should we start?"
"I would settle for an introduction," Mina said, motioning to their young visitor.
The young man cleared his throat nervously. "Erm… right. My name's Otto Calhan." He had a tinge of Cockney in his voice – he was from Skinner's neck of the woods. The League surveyed Otto carefully. He was young, perhaps a couple of years younger than Tom. His dark, black-brown hair was unkempt and long. He seemed to have a naturally scruffy look about him. Otto seemed a little uncomfortable under their gazes. "And you are…?" He asked.
Introductions were made, and young Otto seemed a little more comfortable now that he at least knew whose company he was in. Now, though, the conversation was about to take a rather uncomfortable turn. "Otto," Tom said, knowing he was treading into a touchy subject. "I need to ask you about the attack in the alley."
Otto's green eyes widened and he looked suddenly frightened. He chewed his lower lip nervously.
"What exactly happened?" Mina beckoned.
"Alice," he said in a small voice. "She was walking home. That monster came from the rooftop, and chased her to the alley. I tried to stop it, really I did, but it was too strong. It tore her to pieces… she barely had time to scream. Then the sun started to come up and the monster just left…" he stopped and swallowed hard. "That's it."
"Do you have any idea what that thing was?" Mina asked.
Otto looked at the vampiress. "Aside from a heartless monster?" He asked bitterly.
"It was a werewolf," she stated. Otto looked her strait in the eye, his face conveying not the slightest hint of emotion. Something about Mina seemed almost otherworldly to him, and he wasn't sure he liked it. Mina merely raised a brow and turned away from the young man's stare.
"You knew this young woman?" Nemo said, referring to the girl in the alley.
"Yes," Otto replied somberly, looking from Mina to the captain. "She was my sister."
A/N: You can all start pitying Otto now. I know this one is short, but I'm suffering from mild writer's block. [Which is not good this early in the story!] Anyway, it'll get interesting after this.