"Are you certain about this?" Pryce asked.
Roman looked up at the scientist. Pryce looked old, yes, but somehow more alive, more happy, then he had ever seen him. Ever since he had decided that there was room in his life for more than science, he had steadily grown more content. Only last week, he had performed a small drum concert for his friends. Roman had been quite impressed. The man certainly was a genius.
"I have said this before, but let me make it absolutely clear to you. After the procedure is done, there is no going back. It took me a long time to develop this process that would work even after you so carelessly aborted the first one. But the same rules still apply: Once you're done, you will be completely human and there is no going back. So, let me ask you one more time, are you certain this is what you want?"
Roman looked over at Peter, who smiled at him reassuringly. The first streaks of grey were showing in the werewolf's hair. Roman contemplated a world without him. A world where he watched Peter wither away and die. A world where he went on without him, eternally young, eternally unchanging. The thought was unbearable. There was not a trace of doubt in his mind.
He nodded at Pryce, then lay back down on the bed. He closed his eyes and envisioned being human.
They thought of mortality held no terror for him, only comfort. He would live one life time and he would make it count. He would be the best husband and father it was in his possibility to be.
You do not define me, he thought fervently at his upir side, in his mind forever represented by the face of his mother. I define who I am.
