The room smelt of straw and…coconut cream pies. Apollo's eyes were heavy, sticky with sleep. He tried to focus his mind on the night before. I was attacked…by a large dog…a… Apollo couldn't focus after that when his sensitive nose focused on the coconut pie scent.

"Papa! Papa! He's up!" The voice was young and shrill.

Apollo's eyes fluttered open and a sharp pain flooded his neck. He could feel the coarse, rough straw digging into his body and yet it was comfy and stopped him from focusing on his neck. Apollo noticed his eyesight was more keen, almost as keen as his perceptive sight. His body felt longer, and his face seemed buried amongst the straw. He tried to lift his hand to his face but yelped as, instead of a human hand, there was a large, red, wolf paw. His eyes widened and he yelped his managed to force his eyes to glance down and see a long red snout.

"Oh my god…NO!" The word 'no' came out as a wolf like howl.

-x-x-

"Ah, Miss Skye. Good afternoon, is it your lunch?" The middle aged man behind the counter was always careful to refer to his regulars by name – detective Ema Skye and her elder sister Lana were amongst many.

"No, just taking a break from the scene. A banana milkshake and a coconut cream pie please."
"Haha honestly my dear, you should be working now but that will be five dollars."

"Thank you Mr Monroe." She replied.

"Papa! Papa!" The small puppy ran to the man. "Papa! He's up!" Simon could hear and understand the pup but to the other people in the busy shop the dog was barking.

"Aw what a cutie! Is she yours?" Ema could see the small grey puppy.

"No, no I'm looking after her for someone." He tapped her gently. "Go on sweetie, I'll be in soon. Is this to go Ema?"

"Please." She soon left clutching the small bag with her snack and drink.

-x-x-

This smells like…Old man Monroe's cake shop… Apollo had settled but the pain forced him to lay his head back down. Suddenly he was faced by a lopsided puppy face.

"Hi!"

"Uh…hey…" Apollo growled softly.

"Apollo you're up." The middle aged man was kneeling by Apollo's face. "How do you feel?"

"In pain…where am I? What happened?"

"Ah um…well…would you like the good or the bad news?"

"Good." Apollo stated.

"Well, I got you here quick enough. You know who I am and where you are, yes?"
"Simon Monroe…I'm inside Monroe's cake shop?"

"Right well. You were attacked and your bracelet stolen."

"My…!?"

"It means you can't change back into your real form."

"Stuck as a blasted Dracowolf great! I'm gonna get shot or caught before the end of the day." Apollo whined.

A Dracowolf was a legendary wolf beast. Powerful beasts that were much bigger than a regular wolf and had dragon like wings on their backs. The Dracowolf could hide those wings to look like a regular dog, they were able to speak the tongue of humans and animals and used 'anchors' – usually jewellery such as Apollo's bracelet to keep themselves tied to their human forms. The king of their kind was the red Dracowolf – the colour Apollo was, the rarest and most unique. All Dracowolf can alter their wolf shape to look almost human – a werewolf – in fact that was where the legend began.

"Here, get that down your gullet and shut it for a minute." Ah, good o' Simon… Apollo forgot his manners as he threw his snout into the coconut pie and gobbled it down. As he finished the last mouthful Simon threw a cloth at his head. "Excuse me while I deal with a customer…"

"Huh? Oh sure…go ahead I'll be fine." Apollo stood on his hind legs and his body soon adjusted to give him a werewolf form. He wiped his face clean then looked at the very tiny grey Dracowolf by his foot. "Well hey there Shorty." Apollo got back down onto his 4 legs.

"My names not Shorty! It's Jessica!" She spoke it in perfect Dracowolvian – a series of sounds that a dog could produce. She twitched and seemed hyper.

"All right then, what old man Monroe feeding you? Coffee?"

"Coffee? What's that?" She twitched again.

"Coffee, my dear girl makes you hyper."

"Hyper?"

"You don't know much do you?" He chuckled. "Anyway I'm Apollo and I'm gonna call you Twitch."

"Twitch? My name's Jessica!"

"Yeah, but you're always twitching." he replied, again in his native tongue. Apollo felt a twinge of pain in his neck and paw. He limped over to the nearby mirror. His neck was covered in blood soaked bandage and his paw was bleeding from the pad.

"I see you've met little Jessica." Simon chuckled.

"Who Twitchy here?" Apollo signalled with his injured paw. "She's cute. Didn't know you took in strays."

"Her parents rejected her because she was born in Dracowolf form." He snapped.

"Ah, I see. A rare occurrence." Apollo turned back to the man. "Who else was attacked last night?"

"Four other people. Two were the other side of the city, another was that rocker called Klavier and some doctor from a clinic."

"Klavier?! Is he ok?"
"I don't know my boy. I haven't seen anything in the paper so I assume so." Simon looked at the state of the straw, covered in pinkish dry blood. "So what are you going to do now? I'll do some hunting for your bracelet of course."

"Thanks. I guess I wonder the city. You've got us Dracowolves pretty well protected – making out we're stray dogs and bailing us out when we need it. I'll be fine out there."

"Alright."

"Although I could use…one favour."

"Which is?"

"Is detective Skye calling back?"

"Yeah in about ten minutes."

"Cool, can I stick around until then? Find out where she's working?" The man nodded his response.

"Remember not to talk human to them…you are a mutant to them."

"I know."

"She's working on the riverboat moored by the river. Her sister and a few other officers are there. There was a murder on there if I recall." Simon lead Apollo through the back of the shop to reach the back door. "Watch yourself, alright kiddo."

"I will. Contact me if you find it." Apollo paced out into the smelly back alley. The sunlight warmed his fur and as he shook himself and disguised his wings upon his back, he paced out towards the park.

-x-x-

Ema took a final sip from the coffee cup as she approached the murder scene. Nothing like hot coffee and Snackoos. She could see her sister waving in the distance from the other bank.

"Ema! Come here!" She called.

"I'm coming!" Ema was afraid of the water, afraid of the riverboat where the murder was committed and she was scared that someone or something had attacked Klavier. More importantly, she had received the shocking news that Apollo – her secret crush and best friend had gone missing. Probably receiving the same grisly fate as Klavier – only worst – Klavier was still alive, Apollo was probably…she couldn't stomach thinking it.

She went to run towards the river…

-x-x-

Apollo was in the park. She was there, dressed in white lab coat and all. Apollo knew she would at least look at this form of him, he could check she was ok. His keen hearing could trace her sister's voice, beckoning her and he could see her clearly. He must have blinked because the next event was unexpected.

-x-x-

She was terrified of water. She'd fallen through frozen ice as a kid and it was her mother who saved her – only to die of hypothermia a few days later. Ema held herself responsible for her mother's death and was reduced to nothing when confronted with water or ice.

She didn't react when the mysterious person grabbed her by the waist and threw her into the river. She froze, air bubbles filling her lungs and she spluttered water as she sunk to the bottom.
"Ema!!" Lana ran to the bank. "Ema!!"

Ema!!! Apollo's mind was reeling. Grr I can't watch my friend die. I have to save her! Apollo tensed the muscles in his back legs and sprang forward into the fast flowing river. His eyes were less effective but his oversensitive nose could trace her familiar scent. She was almost at the bottom, she had passed out or just stopped breathing and closed her eyes. He grabbed the fabric of her coat and shirt between his teeth and pulled up with all his strength.

The current and the added weight of Ema (which wasn't much) along with his damaged paw made it harder to pull her back to the surface. He managed and with the help of Lana got her back on shore. He sniffed her skin and studied it closely to see a sign of consciousness. He stood away and watched in horrified awe as her sister tried to rouse her while the ambulance came.