The Titans were silent as they transported Adonis to the police station, ignoring his protests and their own simmering fear. Adonis and Beast Boy had a rivalry, ever since they'd both become werebeasts after the incident with the chemicals. After he'd gone after Raven. Beast Boy was always a little salty when it came to Adonis and Adonis, well, there was no one he wouldn't tell of what a pathetic animal Beast Boy was. Granted, the dramatics were turned up and he was bleeding, but most of the cops didn't bat an eye when Adonis mouthed off about the green Titan being a monster. Some of them, though, noticed that he was sporting a bite from something big. They noticed the lack of the changeling as custody was transferred. And the Titans pretended they didn't notice them noticing. They themselves were only just now starting to catch on, though what to do about it was a different can of worms. First they took care of the obvious, getting Adonis to prison, as a group. Then, as a group, they went out somewhere quiet. Not back to the Tower; they wouldn't be going home for a while. But away from prying eyes and inquisitive ears.

"What the hell was that," snapped Robin, pressing a forearm into the bark of a tree in the forest that was just half a mile or so away from the prison. He leaned his forehead against his arm and scowled. "You can't tell me something's not wrong."

"Beast Boy's freaked out before, but never like that," agreed Raven, keeping her hood up to, hopefully, conceal how truly disturbed she felt.

"But what could it be? Has friend Beast Boy been exposed to chemicals again? When could that have happened?"

Starfire clasped her hands tightly, looking first to Robin for comfort he couldn't give, then to Cyborg. His face was passive and metallic, his eye glowing red and his circuitry shining with cyan light. But his human side was chiseled. Cyborg was upset. Deeply. He pulled up Beast Boy's vital signs on his arm, pressing a few buttons and reviewing them.

"It's not like with the chemicals," he said, his brow tensing. "Man, I don't know what to do with this data. There's nothing here that's unusual for a fight except his low temperature. But it's winter; it makes sense that he'd just be cold. Without a core temperature I can't know."

"What's the alternative then," shot Raven. "That Beast Boy's just turned into a monster overnight? For no reason?"

"I don't believe that for a second," Cyborg's composure snapped and he yelled. "The little man's not like that. Something's happened to him, something we don't know about."

"We need to run tests," concluded Robin, straightening and turning to face them. "I don't care what he wants, acting the way he is he's a danger to society. We shouldn't even let him be out there alone. We should've gone after him."

"You going to tell him that?"

It was a challenge. Raven looked Robin square in the face and he stared back, hard, unyielding.

"If I have to," he said it with conviction, jutting out his chin. "And I'll hold him down myself if I have to. I don't care about his feelings; something needs to be done about this."

"Robin, he's still our friend," chided Starfire. "Perhaps there is a gentler way we might go about this? Surely Beast Boy is as scared as we are."

"Yes…" Raven confirmed, inhaling and tilting her head. "I sense fear from him. But there's more. It's like his emotions are on fire. Robin's right, we can't leave him alone. We need to find out what's going on now."

"I'll go," said Cyborg, abruptly. He put his arm down and gave them all a determined look. "He's my best friend. I'll go. I'll bring him back for the tests."

Beast Boy landed in an alley way, away from the crowds, away, even, from the stragglers and restaurant employees taking out the garbage. In a place where no one could see, next to some club where the base was thrumming through the walls. It seemed… right that he should come here. That this was the right place for him to be. Shifting back into his human form, he leaned heavily on a brick wall. Pressed his palms and back into the frigid stone, leaned his skull into it. His chest was tight; it was hard to breathe, and every breath sent a small cloud of fog into the air. It was a cloud too, just water vapor, a transient thing. It dissipated before the next one could stream from his lips. In his gut something molten was churning but in his limbs he felt a leaden cold. In his head pain was screaming as he rejected the idea the something else was putting into his mind. The idea that what had just happened was natural. Desirable even. He licked the blood from his teeth and closed his eyes, savoring it. How good it tasted, how hungry it made him feel. And he was so hungry. His body wanted more but Beast Boy knew that was bad. That he'd just bitten into a person and that was bad.

Pain seared across his skull like someone was tightening bands around his bone and he rotated, facing the wall. Pressing his palms to either side of his head, he slammed his forehead into the brick. A new pain blossomed on impact, a pain like clarity. It dislodged the parasitic presence from his thoughts and, just for a moment, he was Beast Boy. He did it again, hearing the crack as his skull made contact, and again, basked in the purity of his solitude. On the third try he made himself dizzy. Coupled with his intense hunger, the weakness in his body, it was too much for him and he slid down. Kneeling before the wall, still pressing his hands into it as if he could stabilize his reeling reality. He squeezed his eyes shut and at their corners tears were glinting. Then he felt something new, something like what a bird feels for north. A magnetism. It got closer.

"Hello, Beast Boy of the Titans."

He opened his eyes and turned his head to the mouth of the alley. Let his hands slide off the wall and hang limply by his sides. She was there, with her oval face and long brown hair. Her eyes that were shining like the moon.

"Letha," he breathed, remembering.

And with that memory came others. Then the rage. He stood and moved to her, grabbing her arms roughly and giving her a shake. So hard her hair oscillated around her shoulders.

"What did you do to me," he demanded in a low, dangerous voice. She smiled and tilted her head. "What did you do!"

"It's started," she answered cryptically. "Hasn't it? You can feel him inside you: the Horned God."

Her words seemed to echo and he felt this… pressure, inside his chest. And the hunger, making him lightheaded. He let go of her and pressed a hand over one amber eye. He was panting now, his heart hammering, and on his skin, despite the cold, a sheen of sweat was starting to glisten. Letha took his other hand in both of hers. Brought it up to her lips reverently.

"You came back here on purpose, to be with us," she told him. "Come inside, out of the cold."

She pulled on his hand and, without any sort of struggle, Beast Boy felt his body go with her. Her presence was like a narcotic, and not in a good way. He felt disoriented and dizzy, hot and cold at the same time. But his body followed her. Around the corner and into the club. The music was pounding, but like a siren, loud then quiet then deafening. It was on his skin, pulling his hairs up, on his arms and on the back of his neck. Shivers down his spine, even though it was warmer inside. There were bodies there, but they weren't dancing like before. Just standing there, waiting for him. The lights flashed blue and red around them. Letha took him to the center of the room. Then she released his hand and moved behind him, grasping the zipper of his uniform. Slowly she pulled it down, exposing his back, which erected into gooseflesh. Beast Boy shuddered, but found he couldn't resist. The something in his mind had taken control of his body and it was letting her undress him. Helping her, stepping out of the uniform and into the cloths he'd left behind just a few days ago. Dark jeans and a purple T-shirt. Purple jacket.

"You don't belong to them anymore," Letha said, coming around to face him. "You shouldn't wear their uniform. We are the Children of Herne and you belong with us now."

"What did you do?"

He asked the question again, but this time just as a whisper. Even inside he still felt… so cold. His stomach gurgled and he closed his eyes. His chest still hadn't loosened up and he panted. Letha put her hands on his shoulders, bringing her warmth close to him. Her scent, like lavender.

"What's happening to me?"

"You are the Horned God," she answered simply. "The fusion of animal and man. You are becoming what you always were. Not a Titan, but a god. You take what you want."

She moved in closer to him and pressed her lips to his. He stiffened, smelling her flesh, feeling her heat. A desire that was very much not human welled up inside him and his breath caught in his throat. His eyes snapped open and he willed his body to move away. Inside his head the presence was screaming, but Beast Boy took a step back. She smiled coyly, following, running her hands through his hair.

"It's okay," Letha soothed. "Don't be scared. Just let it happen. I can be whoever you want me to be. I'll give you whatever you want."

Beast Boy thought his pulse was racing but, with a sinking horror, he realized that it wasn't his pulse that was pounding in his ears. It was hers. His amber gaze moved to her neck and he let out a shuddering breath. He wanted her, but not in the way a man wants a woman. She noticed his eyes and her grin widened. Her hand went to her shirt collar and she pulled it down to her shoulder, exposing the moon-bright flesh above her collar bone. Twisted her neck to stretch the muscles there. Her hair fell across her skin and she brushed it aside, letting her fingers linger on the hollows of her neck and collar bone.

"Is this what you want," she asked, giving him a sideways look. "Take it. You are my god. Take it and become my god."

Beast Boy felt the hunger, the need to give into her, boil inside him. It distorted his reality, visual inputs swimming in the flashing lights, and as he watched Letha became… different. Her hair and eyes darkened, her face became round, a sharp widow's peak emerged. She became Raven and his desire for her ignited. And the something else, the someone else in his mind, was screaming at him. For a moment he tried to listen to what it was saying and in that moment he lost himself. He grabbed her by the shoulders again and pressed his face into her exposed flesh. Inhaling her scent, not just lavender, but meat. He was starving, going out of his mind, and here she was just offering it to him. Offering everything he wanted- had wanted, for what felt like an eternity. He pressed his lips into the pulse on her neck, then peeled them away from his teeth.

"Bad time?"

Cyborg's voice shocked him back to reality and Beast Boy looked over his shoulder. For a moment the room spun, then his world came into focus around his best friend. His expression was grave and his arms were folded. In the dark his circuitry glowed cyan and his eye was like a laser through the dense club air. Beast Boy felt shame under that gaze, a discomfort in his stomach and a heat in his face. Roughly, he released Letha, who was looking like herself again, turning fully and scowling. His breaths were shallow and his chest heaved as if he'd just preformed some extreme athletic feat.

"Yeah," he shot back coarsely. "You mind?"

"You know what man, I do. I mind." Beast Boy ran his tongue over his front teeth and Cyborg pressed the moment. "What's with you? Do you even know what you did to Adonis?"

"Of course I know. Dude deserved it. Why are you freaking out; he's fine."

"He's not fine and you're out of control."

Letha came up behind Beast Boy, reached around his middle, and slid her hands suggestively up his abdomen and chest. Possessively. She took his earlobe between her teeth and bit down hard enough to send a shiver of pain down his spine. Beast Boy shuddered, leaning back into her. He closed his eyes and let the thing inside him speak.

"Maybe that's what I like."

"Don't even joke like that."

"What if I'm not joking? What if I'm sick of playing nice with the bad guys? Of getting pushed around all the time."

"B," Cyborg sighed heavily, unfolding his arms. "No one is pushing you around. It's you. Something's happened to you. We've all noticed- we're worried! Can't you at least understand that?"

There was a note in Cyborg's deep voice, a high note, a pleading note. It cut through the fog in Beast Boy's mind and reached him. The real him, the one out of control. He tugged free from Letha's grip and stood with his hands balled into fists. Nostrils flared, gaze downcast. Inside the voice was insisting that their concern was unfounded, that they had no reason to worry because everything was how it was supposed to be. But truth be told, he was worried too. Inside this body, Beast Boy was worried. He couldn't eat vegetables anymore and, for the first time in a long time, he'd tasted blood. Something was happening to him, something he couldn't control. It didn't matter what the voice said, they were right to be worried. Cyborg sensed his silence.

"Robin thinks you're dangerous," he said in a low voice. Beast Boy visibly flinched. "Are you?"

He looked up sharply, into Cyborg's intense stare, and what Cyborg saw chilled his bones. It was fear. Beast Boy's lips parted and his eyes were wide. Letha reached out to him again but he shrugged her off. The tendons in his neck strained and he licked his lips, thoughtful. Inside his skull a pressure was building, the veins constricting as he fought the presence that kept insisting that everything was okay. He didn't feel okay. He didn't like what was happening. He wanted it to stop. In his nose a capillary ruptured and blood welled to the surface. Leaked from his right nostril and ran over his lips. It caught the flashing light, black and shining. Cyborg opened a compartment in his arm and offered Beast Boy a tissue. He accepted it after a moment of considering and pressed it to his nose.

"Come back with me," Cyborg pressed, holding out an arm. "We'll run some blood work. That's all. Come back with me to the Tower and we'll just do a little blood work."

Beast Boy swallowed and nodded, dropping his gaze. It was warm in the club, but on the exposed flesh of his neck Cyborg could see gooseflesh. He took a step towards Cyborg, then another, and on the third Cyborg put a welcoming arm around his shoulders. Letha tucked her chin and gave the pair a simmering look, but she said nothing. All around them the bodies, which had not been dancing the entire exchange, parted. Wordlessly the pair exited, out into the cold, and into the T-Car. They didn't speak further on the way back to the Tower.

"They're out there," said Beast Boy, quietly, timidly, when the T-Car came to a stop in the garage. "Aren't they."

Cyborg looked over at him, sliding his eyes without turning his head. Beast Boy had his elbow propped on the door and his head in his palm. He wasn't looking at anything in particular, just out the window, past the cement and steel. Into a world of his own imagining. His fangs poked over his lips and his eyes, now an undeniable shade of amber, were smoldering. Anger and fear behind a placid display. Cyborg rolled his lips, looked forward, and then turned fully towards his best friend. Put an arm around the seat.

"Yeah," he confirmed, bobbing his head. "Yeah, they're waiting for you. They're worried."

"I don't want to see them." It was a statement, something that didn't leave room for argument. His eyes drifted downward, to the dashboard. "I don't want to see anybody. I'm going to my room."

"Garfield," Cyborg sighed. "We need to at least do blood work. Maybe more."

"So take your sample and do blood work. Do what you have to. Just-" his voice cracked and he pulled his face from his hand, then ran his fingers through his hair. "Don't make me go in there. I don't want to go in there."

There was a moment of silence between them. Cyborg looked intently at Beast Boy and Beast Boy looked intently at the dashboard. The cybernetic eye in his head told the Titan that his friend was cold, that his body temperature was low but not so low as to be concerning. It told him that his heart rate was up, that despite his relaxed demeanor the heart inside his chest was pounding. He could even make out tension in the muscles connecting his neck to his spine, tension which registered as warm spots in the infrared. But his human eye could see the fear, the downturned lips and the dilated pupils. It was obvious now that something was wrong- had been wrong. That those weirdos in the club had done something the other night. Now the only question was what, and through how much discomfort they were going to put Beast Boy in order to find out.

"I'm not going in there," reiterated Beast Boy, tucking his chin and looking even more intently forward. "So take your sample here. You've got a vial; you've always got a vial. How much do you need?"

"Not much," Cyborg said, frowning. He opened a compartment on his forearm and pulled out a Petri dish he kept for emergencies. "Just enough to cover the bottom. But I don't have a syringe."

Beast Boy lifted his right hand and inspected his nails. They looked… longer than usual, the elongated keratin curling in on itself into delicate points. Had they always done that? He tended to wear gloves, keep them covered up, and Cyborg didn't go out of his way to look at his friend's nails. Now, though, he couldn't help but look at them. Arching like a cat's. Wordlessly, he brought the point of his thumb nail to the pad of his pointer finger. Pressed until the flesh went pale, then until a red liquid welled to the surface. Brilliantly red, like rubies. He lifted his gaze to Cyborg for the first time since they'd gotten in the car, then held out his hand. Let the blood run off his fingertip and drip into the dish. One drop, then another, like the ticking of a clock. Until Cyborg signaled him that it was enough and put the lid on the Petri dish. Beast Boy put his finger in his mouth, exited the car, and went to his room without another word. Cyborg felt a weight crush his very human heart as he watched before he, too, got out of the car.

"So where is he," demanded Robin the moment Cyborg entered the infirmary. "Did you get him."

"Little man wanted to go to his room," shrugged Cyborg, trying to play off how disturbed he felt. "Something weird is definitely going on. I tracked him to this club where they were playing music but no one was dancing. It had to have been the same place he went before; they'd changed him back into his street cloths. And there was this gal- she was all over him-"

"Friend Cyborg," Starfire interrupted, holding out a hand. "Please, were we not going to do some of the blood work? How can this be accomplished if Beast Boy is in his room?"

"He gave me a sample."

"He… what," it was Raven's turn to speak, incredulously, from over by the bed. She knew exactly what she'd heard, but wanted Cyborg to confirm it.

"He used his nails. Right there in the T-Car, right in front of me. Man, I don't know, I've never seen anything like it."

"First things first," said Robin, calmly this time, keeping himself composed even as alarm bells went off in his head. "What does the blood work say? Can you tell if his genetic structure has become unstable again?"

Cyborg moved to the computer, uncovered the Petri dish, and slid it into a receptacle. A little arm extended, pulling up a microliter of the blood, rotated, and injected the sample into a larger machine. There was a loading bar on the screen, then tables and graphs popped up. Cyborg looked at the data thoughtfully, frowning and working the keyboard.

"His testosterone is really high, which could be why he's been so aggressive. And he looks… malnourished."

"He hasn't been eating," Raven ratted on him in a heartbeat. "Last time I saw him try he claimed the tofu was bad, but when I tried it it was fine. That was two days ago."

"His white blood cell count is up too…" mused Cyborg, leaning forward. "This looks like some kind of infection, but he doesn't have a fever. If anything he's running cold. None of this answers why!"

His voice went up and shocked the room into stillness for a few seconds. Cyborg ran a hand over his bald head, then down the back of his neck. Sighed heavily through his nose.

"Little man's not gonna like it," he said flatly. "But it can't be helped. Something is definitely up and I need a more detailed scan to know what."

"Why didn't you just bring him here in the first place," chastised Robin.

"You kiddin'? It was a miracle I got him out of that club, let alone a blood sample. He's itching for a fight and I don't want to give him one."

"We cannot just do nothing," insisted Starfire. "Will Beast Boy not come here willingly? It is for his own health and safety."

"Whatever it is, he doesn't want us nosing about in it. Now I do have something, a tranquilizer I developed after the Beast incident, but it's intravenous. Someone will have to hold him down while I inject it."

"Stop," Raven snapped, taking a step towards the group. "What are we talking about here? Tranquilizing Beast Boy? This isn't something he asked for; he's not acting like this because he wants to."

"You've seen what he's been like," Robin shot back, folding his arms. "You got a better idea?"

"I'll go," she said after a moment of considering. "I'm the only one who can hold him down without hurting him, if it comes to that. I will go ask him to come for some scans and if he resists, I will persuade him. I will call if I need help."