Ryker
"Morning Apollo…" Ema patted his head gently and lifted him off the bed. "I've gained more weight again…" Apollo looked at Ema sorrowfully yet he could sense something was different with her body maybe the rumours that dogs could predict people were going to have fits an hour before they do is true. He couldn't tell what was different but he could tell there was a disturbance in her stomach area. He barked his usual 'good morning' before trotted into the next room.
"Did you get his details for me?" Ema asked Phoenix as she followed Apollo. "I might have found some help for you and Klavier honey." He knew she would know somebody who knew a cure. She lifted Apollo on to the computer desk and dialled the phone number.
"Hello this is Dr Ryker for Queens Medical Centre speaking." The voice came in a very cooperate manor.
"Um…hello are you Adam Ryker by any chance?" Ema asked.
"Yes why? Do I know you?" The voice seemed to get a little more accusatory.
"Do you remember a girl called Ema Skye, she was an American who studied with you in England?"
"Ema is that you? I thought you lived in America! How are you?" The man suddenly seemed cheery. "I heard you go out with a famous lawyer and your sister goes out with a rock star."
"That's right. I'm not feeling very good. Do you still work with genetic mutations?" Ema asked as she clutched Apollo's paw nervously.
"Yes." Came the blunt reply.
"Both my and my sister's partners have been genetically mutated. I can't give you the details over the phone and it's…complicated." She kissed Apollo's nose and smiled at his cute puppy eyes.
"You mean they've been turned into animals. It's been on the news for the last 24 hours here in England." He softened his voice. "So how can I help you?"
"Whereabouts in England are you?" She asked.
"Nottingham." The reply was fast.
"I need you to help us change them back."
"Ema, I know how much you want my help but how can you get the guys into England without them being thrown in quarantine?"
"What about if I used Klavier's private jet instead of going on a commercial aeroplane?" She looked at Apollo's confused face.
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They had managed to get the guys into England without being stopped. Lana had come with Ema and Klavier while Phoenix, Lana's daughters, Pearl and Trucy were flying over on the next available flight.
"Brr… its cold here compared to the U.S." Lana shuddered as she hugged Klavier tight to her chest.
"Adam said he'd pick us up." Ema picked up Apollo and held him in front of her face. "Adam was a good friend of mine when I studied here. He studied how viruses could change shape and he would be very interested in a case like yours and Klavier's. He could decipher the stuff in the folder for us too."
The man pulled up in a black, slightly damaged Ford. Even though it was summer he was wearing a full uniform and a thin jacket.
"Wow Ema you look beautiful and tanned" The man introduced himself.
"Thanks, Adam. It's the joy of living in a hot country." Her attitude had reverted back to the way it was before she went out with Apollo.
"Nice to see you haven't changed." The man laughed. "You must be Lana…Ema's sister right?"
"Yes and despite what you think, my sister has changed quite a lot since she went out with her partner." The older of the two Skye sisters growled.
"Ok…it's a pleasure anyway." He kissed her hand and Klavier jealously swished at him and caught his hand as he backed away.
"Stay away from my girlfriend! Herr Adam!" He hissed.
"Klavier!" Apollo barked "he's here to help!"
"Sorry…"
"Um, sorry…" Ema smiled bashfully. "This is Apollo; he's an attorney and the drummer for our band." The puppy sat at the sound of his partner's voice. Apollo met eyes with Adam, the man seemed to bear a grudge against him and he could feel how tense the doctor was. "Apollo is my partner and…and he can change…"
"What do you mean?" The doctor's eyes burned with curiosity and disbelief.
"A werewolf that's what we mean." Lana's eyes met Ema's; she knew something about Ema and Adam that neither Apollo nor Klavier knew. "This is Klavier, the rock star fop as Ema calls him."
"We also have a folder. It contains a list of others who were changed like Apollo." Ema dropped Apollo's briefcase beside her to pick Apollo back up. She had hastily thrown the folder on top of all the papers that were already in there and collected Lana and Klavier. It had been a long nine hour flight to get to England.
"I will take a look at it when we get back to the hospital; you must forgive me. I'm still working and my daughter is still in her crèche." The doctor opened the back seat of his car.
"You have a kid?" Ema climbed in first.
"She's my sister's kid. My sister fell pregnant just before you returned to America; she didn't want her so I took her in and raised her as my own."
"That's sweet. I have kids myself and with your career it must be hard to care for her." Lana held Klavier tight as she climbed in after her sister and Apollo.
"Really how many? And what do you do for a living?" Ryker started the car.
"I have two. I work with Klavier and my sister."
They remained silent as they reached the hospital.
"Animals aren't normally allowed in a hospital, I already got entrance for these two. I'll take you up to my department." 'The department' was a simple laboratory at the top of the hospital. "I'll need to run some blood tests on them both."
"Why?" Ema asked as she took her seat.
"Well, if one of them can change shape then that means they may not have perfect blood inside of them." Ryker rubbed the bridge of his nose and then the length of his styled hair before pushing some glasses on his face.
"What does that mean in English?" Unlike her science nut for a sister Lana didn't understand what science was about. Apollo's mind suddenly clicked into action and he leapt on the desk and sat in front of the blank word document on the computer screen.
It means that something our bodies naturally produce may trigger our bodies to change like they do.
"Damn, you're smart." Adam patted Apollo's head. "That's exactly right." As Apollo went to leap of the table he sensed something with Lana. Her stomach had the same disturbance as Ema's yet the signals of it seemed weaker. Could Ema be…pregnant? The thought shot through Apollo's mind.
"If what you're telling us is true then surely Apollo must have impure puppy blood. Right?"
"That's the theory, has Klavier changed too?" Ryker readied a needle and Apollo's whole body turned rigid – he was terrified of them.
"No, but Klavier only turned into the kitten yesterday." Lana watched as Apollo leapt of the table terrified by the needle.
"Alright." Klavier had given blood with no restraint yet Apollo was the polar opposite. Ema had to wrestle the squirming puppy down and hold him close to her.
"You have reservations in the hotel across the main road just past the university; tell them you are being cared for by the Queens Med." Ryker took one last look as Ema left the room. He had once (long ago) longed to be in the same position as the human Apollo is. He once longed to be the one Ema wanted to spend her life with. "I'll be working all night if you need me!" He called down the corridor.
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Night had soon fallen and Ema had left to take a call from the Wright's at the reception of the hotel.
"Hey, Herr Puppy. What's the matter?" Klavier desperately tried to claw the duvet to climb up. Apollo helped him.
"You know how dogs can tell when people are sick." He looked at the daunting hospital building.
"Ja, do you think Ema's ill?" The kitten sat beside the puppy and looked at the dusty coloured night sky.
"Well…no. Obviously Lana's pregnant." Klavier's eyes widened as he heard it.
"How'd you know?"
"She told me, she doesn't know how to tell Ema yet though." Apollo noticed that the dusty cloud drifted like a thick blanket. "It's yours…"
"Ja. So what's the matter?"
"I can sense the same thing in Ema's tummy as I can in Lana's. Lana's isn't as strong to me but it seems clearer."
"So what? Maybe it's that way with all women." Klavier suggested.
"I thought so too, but the woman pilot on the plane was suffering with her back and the lady at the reception had a slight ear problem but neither of them had the same thing as Lana and Ema." Apollo stuttered the last words. "S-so I t-think Ema's p-p-pregnant."
"Are you sure?" Klavier would sit and chat with his best friend over an alcoholic drink of some kind if he was human.
"I don't know. I might ask Ryker if I change into a werewolf tonight."
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They had settled to sleep quickly and Apollo could feel somewhere that that night and the following day were going to be different. Ema's hand rested carefully over his puppy bodies' chest and he lay with his head on her stomach.
"I'll ask Ryker and then Lana...one of them should be able to help me." Apollo slumbered on her chest and he was sure his sensitive ears could hear another's heart beat.
Meanwhile at the airport (where it was still bright and sunny) Phoenix and the girls he was chaperoning waited for their call to be announced. Lana's daughters were screaming about missing their mummy and her 'rock star'. He watched the queue begin to form at the gate.
"Daddy, those are the men who came to our school." Trucy whispered.