Chapter 11
Whispered Classifications
The group of men approached somewhat warily, Wolf could tell. Their footsteps were furtive, shuffling. They came within several feet of his cage and stood behind him. Wolf was unable to control his instinctive reaction to raise his hackles, but he continued to make no further moves as he lay still on the tile floor.
They whispered amongst themselves but it was clearly audible to Wolf's sensitive ears. He absorbed their words silently, for now.
"Hans, what do you think?" whispered one.
"See for yourself, Brother Peter. It sleeps still. The drug was strong but it must have ingested more than we planned" the one called Hans replied. Wolf smiled inwardly. Evidently they were unaware of the legendary metabolism (and therefore, appetite) of a half-wolf.
Wolf didn't know it, but that very metabolism had likely saved his life, cleansing his body of the toxins far faster than an ordinary man.
"Still, we must be wary. We don't know what other devil spawned tricks it has. When it wakes, we must be on our guard" Hans continued, as though reciting a lesson to the ignorant.
"There's no need to warn us further" another voice hissed. "Poor Clement has the scars to show for that oversight" Wolf could hear the smile in this man's words as he spoke. No doubt it was this Clement whose blood was still dried on Wolf's lower lip. He licked the blood, remembering the scent and taste of that one in particular.
"I still feel we are pre-judging this creature. We need to study it from a scientific perspective, collect the facts first" piped yet another, much younger man.
"Judging is what we do, young Frederick!" scolded Brother Peter. "We have God's mandate, we need no scientists to study this thing. Imagine if word got out to the wider community. The damn thing would no doubt end up on Oprah"
The other priests laughed at the thought.
"No, we shall keep it hidden here, and safe from the world, until we have asked our questions and it's answers have satisfied us."
"What about outside involvement, from our own brethren in Europe and such?" asked Frederick, not put off.
"Not yet, not yet. We need to be sure of what we have first. I've no wish to appear a fool in front of Our Grace, without all the information. Besides, they'd just whip it off to some faraway hidey hole and none of us would ever get a look at it again. We've gone to considerable risk in capturing this creature. I'll not give it up just yet!" said Peter.
"Besides, young Connor should be back from the city any moment now. He has your scientific results no doubt. We have been blessed to have such valuable contacts who had the equipment we needed and the respect to stay silent when we bid them." continued Brother Peter.
Wolf tried to sort the information he had gleaned from the men's conversation. Many of the words had no meaning. He did not understand the terms "demon", nor "God's mandate". He did know Oprah, though how she fit into his current predicament he had no clue whatsoever. Nonetheless, he correctly interpreted the tone of the conversation. They didn't like him, they were afraid of him, they thought he was a menace to society. These concepts he had had to deal with all his life in one way or another. Yet even in the 9 kingdoms where he had lived, he had never been punished for doing nothing, his jail time had been as a direct result of doing something bad (well, naughty anyway). Of course he was always the first to be accused of something, but he had no idea what he had done to these men. A chill ran down his spine as he wondered if perhaps he had done something, unawares as he often was during moon-time. But no, surely he would have had some clue if he really had done damage, and these men, though confident in their outward manner, held doubts. He could hear it in their voices.
As he lay thinking, he became aware of yet another person approaching from outside the building. This person entered in a rush, striding briskly to join the others.
"Connor, how went your mission, son?" greeted the one called Brother Peter.
"Ah, you won't believe what I have here!" answered the newcomer, as a rustling of papers and plastic filled the room.
The priests stood and studied the results in silence. They had done their "scientific" work well. They had trundled their unconcious captive through various church sponsored medical facilities that night, cajoling, bribing and threatening sleepy technicians as required.
Blood samples taken from the unconcious creature had shown some unexplainable readings. Though none of the brothers were trained, they were able to interpret several important findings, the most impressive being a study of the creatures' DNA. The technician who had handed the results to Connor had expressed doubts over the sample, believing it contaminated. The brothers knew otherwise. The DNA was clearly not that of a human being, rather it seemed composed of a mixture of both human and another species. The technician had been unable to determine exactly which species, but had hinted that it was likely of canine origin, perhaps a dog. Indeed, thought the priests.
The blood also showed very high levels of the male hormone testosterone which was known to indicate a person prone to violence. The iron levels were very high and levels of various vitamins lower, indicating a diet high in meat and less of vegetation.
The hair sample plucked from Wolf's tail was unmistakely that of a wolf. The priests muttered exiteably to themselves at this revelation. It was not a birth abberation then, but a real tail from another species. As they stood examining the bits of paper, Connor revealed with a flourish his trump card, his great revelation. Out from the satchel came the x-rays and he held them up to the light from the stained glass windows. They group was silent, stunned.
Firstly, the base of the spine clearly showed the attachment of the tail. Where an ordinary man's spine ended in the coccix, or tailbone, the vertebrae of this creature continued, gradually tapering off to the tip. Amazing as this seemed to the priests, the skull x-ray really shocked them. Clearly visible in the creature's upper jaw were two fangs, each about an inche long and razor sharp. They were postioned above and slightly in front of the demon's normal canine or insisor teeth, out of view behind the gum but easily able to descend when it felt the need for them. The men couldn't work out the exact mechanism that allowed the teeth to bare, but that was no matter, since poor Clement had unwittingly provided just the evidence they needed to prove the unnaturalness of the creature.
The men digested the news, each lost in his own thoughts. Connor was ecstatic. No more doubts over his account now! Finally, the young priest Frederick asked the question that made Wolf's breath catch in his throat.
"So, Connor, did you see the girl yet?"
"Actually I did. I had found out from her neighbours that someone had called an ambulance for her. I was going to ring round the hospitals, but she found me unexpectedly, followed me into the church" Connor replied. Wolf listened so hard he started sweating.
"She found you? How?" said Brother Peter, immediately concerned.
"I, I don't quite know. Maybe she was aware a bit that night, more than we thought. She had seen me before, of course, in the park. Maybe she recognized me and went to the first church she knew of that was nearby. It was just bad luck that she saw me there"
"What did she do?"
"She demanded to know what we had done to the demon. I didn't tell her anything of course. Then she got violent with me and threatened me not to hurt him. She is clearly under this creatures' sway still. She acted like she loved the thing" Connor shuddered at the thought, remembering the images from the park.
"The guard threw her out, then, but perhaps one of us should go back and pick her up?"
Connor had stepped closer to the cage and Wolf could now smell Virginia strongly on him, freshly. This, coupled with the news that she had been sickened, in hospital and was now wandering the city alone without him brought sudden tears to Wolf's eyes and a small sob escaped him as he reflexively curled into a foetal position. The priests had heard him now, and he covered his head with his hands as they, and their questions, approached him.