The werewolf meets the ex

Apollo still had no idea what was causing him to feel tense. He knew his bracelet responded to lies but this wasn't a lie he was responding to. He sat and watched his slumbering soon-to-be fiancée for a while before carefully sliding the door of his wardrobe open and lifting several articles of clothing from it (Ema had packed them in case they found a cure for Apollo while in England). He left them on the hangers and closed the bathroom door as gently as he could.

The blood red eyes pierced through his mind as he stared at his reflection. He was so confused, so insecure, so…he wasn't sure what else he was. He pulled the hooded jacket over his head, noting that it still fit him almost perfectly. He pulled the hood and it shadowed his face. He pulled a pair of black jeans up his legs, taking pride of the fact that they had a red pattern. His unfathomable love for the colour would never fade. He pulled the pair of leather gloves from his pocket and pulled them over his claws.

"My shoes won't fit…" He mumbled softly to himself. He crept over to the bedside table and slid the second key card from the pile – Klavier and Lana's room before hastily stuffing the second one into his pocket. He made sure to make as little noise as he could as he trotted softly to the next room. He slid the key into the lock and waited for the light to flicker. As he pushed against the door he heard a hiss.

"Leave!" The source of the hiss snarled.

"Klavier is that you? It's me Apollo." The werewolf whispered softly.

"Herr Puppy?" Klavier meowed a little too loud as he squirmed out from the duvets.

"Shush…" He watched as Lana squirmed in the bed, mumbled something and then slept once more. "That was close; I need to borrow your bike boots…"

"Sure…they're by the door." Apollo groped blindly until he felt the boots. "Where are you going?"

"Hospital." Apollo daren't prise the door open anymore as he pulled the boots through the tiny gap.

"Herr Puppy can I come?" Klavier fell from the edge of the bed. He quickly composed himself and ran to the werewolf.

"We need a piece of paper and a pen so we can tell the girls where we've gone." He eased his muscular paws into the boots – they fitted a lot better than his own.

"Here…" The German kitten dropped a piece of paper and a pen in front of the wolf. "I got it from that pile over there." He tore it in half and wrote the same message on both halves.

Gone to the hospital. Apollo and Klavier.

They carefully placed one piece of paper in each of the girls' rooms. The werewolf then held his smaller best friend and wondered into the dark streets. The cars rushed past on the road again.

"Herr Puppy, we don't have time to wait…" Klavier meowed.

"I know…" He held the kitten closer as he leapt on top of the nearest car. He then used the next few cars' roofs as stepping stones. "How's that?"

"Gott! You could have gotten us killed!" The kitten felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. He then felt a strange tingling sensation growing in his head. Apollo watched in awe as the kitten fainted momentarily and stood up again as a proud tiger.

"Awesome! What happened?" The tiger shook himself back to reality. "I just had the most amazing adrenaline rush and I seem taller again!"

"You can speak human again! You changed just like I did I think it might have something to do with your adrenaline rush." Apollo growled. "We have a problem, how are we going to get to Ryker?"

"You got any English change?" Klavier asked.

"I have a five pound note. Why?" Apollo reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled note.

"Go inside and ask the receptionist for Herr Ryker's number." The tiger sat by the pay phone. "Then go to the café or something to get a drink for us."

"Klavier, it's 5 in the morning. Why would the café still be open?" Apollo spun to look where the café was. To his shock it was still open. "I'll take that back. See you in a minute."

"Excuse me." The hooded werewolf got the attention of the young receptionist. "Could you give me the number for a Dr Ryker please? He's taking care of some special friends of mine."

"I guess so." She squiggled the number on a piece of paper. "Would you like me to ring him for you?"

"No thank you." He took the small paper from her hand. He then made his way to the café and bought two bottles of cola getting him some change. The hospital sure seemed different in colour to Apollo.

"Alright now what?" Apollo dropped the cola bottles by Klavier.

"Dial the number on this pay phone and get him to come out!" Damn that was so obvious Apollo thought. He dialled the number.

"Ryker's office, how can I help you?" The voice yawned sleepily.

"Hi, you know your two special transformation animals…"

"Yes. Mr Justice and Mr Gavin?"

"Remember how they can change shape?"

"Uh-huh."

"We're outside. Klavier can change. He's a tiger and I'm a werewolf. We need you to help get us in to your office." Apollo opened the cola while he waited for Ryker to reply.

"Alright, give me a second." The line went dead.

The professor stumbled out the hospital doors.

"Oh lord." He almost fainted at the blood red wolf eyes piercing him. "Apollo Justice right?"

"Yeah, it's a pleasure to finally be able to talk to you." He held out the gloved claw.

"How can you possibly change? All my tests…"

"Let's not talk about that now." Klavier cut in. "We should wait for the girls for that."

"You can talk Mr Gavin?"

"Yeah, shouldn't he?" Apollo looked at the professor cynically.

"I'm not sure." He took a second to register his shock and compose himself. "What are you here for?"

"I need to ask you some questions but can we go inside?"

"Of course, follow me." Adam led them around the back of the building and through a staff entrance to the hospital.

"So what can I help you with?" Adam took his seat at his desk. Apollo sat on the examination table and Klavier in the chair opposite Ryker.

"I need to ask you some questions about animals." Apollo growled softly.

"Animals? You mean like dogs and stuff?"

"Yeah. Is it true they can sense when people are sick? Dogs I mean."

"Yes why?"

"What about if a woman is pregnant?" Apollo removed the jacket.

"I'm not sure about that, but I don't see why not." Adam wondered thoughtfully.

"Well what if; I – the puppy form of me that is – could sense the same thing in a woman I know is pregnant as I can in a different woman?"

"How do you mean? Do you mean you can sense there's something identical in the two women's bodies? That's quite common." Adam was trying to make sense of what the werewolf was asking.

"But I can't sense it in any other woman's body. Just the pregnant one and the other one." Apollo barked. "Before you answer will you swear you won't tell anyone else about this conversation, sensing people's sicknesses is kinda disturbing…" Klavier listened with interest to the conversation.

"Alright. Well…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ema woke in shock as she groped violently at the empty space in the bed beside her.

"Apollo!" She screamed brightening the room with the bedside lamp. She saw the note laying beside the lamp. "Gone hospital… Oh no what if Ryker tells him!" She grabbed her coat, forgetting to get changed out of her pyjamas and hastily threw on a pair of shoes. She figured Apollo had taken the keys off the sideboard and ran to her sister's door.

"Go away!" Came the grumpy reply.

"Lana! Wake up! It's me Ema! Let me in please! It's an emergency!" The door opened at her last call.

"What is it?"

"Klavier and Apollo have gone to the hospital! What happens if Ryker tells Apollo before I get chance to?" Ema cried.

"That's impossible Klavier is…" Lana pulled back the duvet. "Crap let's go!" Lana threw her coat and shoes on, grabbed the two spare keys on the desk and ran after her sister to the hospital.

"Can you tell me how to get to Doctor Ryker's office?" Ema gasped out of breath.

"Of course, go in the lift to the tenth floor, turn left then left again and go right to the end." The receptionist replied.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Apollo!" Ema cried as she burst through the door running into the werewolf's arms. "I wondered where you'd gone!"

"Klavier?" Lana looked curiously at the large cat purring in the chair.

"The one and only mien Liebe!" He purred contently.

"So you can change too." Ema pulled herself onto the examination table beside Apollo. He could tell she was no longer afraid of what he had become.

"Klavier's change is caused by an adrenaline rush; he changed as soon as he got one." Apollo told Ryker. "What can you tell us about our blood?"

"I'll start with the easy bit – that's you Klavier." Ryker turned to the tiger and Lana wrapped around his neck. "Would you like a chair Miss Skye?"

"No thanks."

"Well the kitten blood you were injected with isn't pure. It was tainted with some kind of virus that doesn't affect humans. This means a chemical your body naturally produces – like adrenaline – can trigger the change so you become capable of speech and larger." Ryker flipped the folder Ema had given him open. "From what I can decipher of this, you two are both part of some kind of experiment to make genetically enhanced animals from humans. So whoever is doing this is injecting victims with tainted blood so they can act like a human and talk but be an animal."

"So what's the hard bit?" Ema growled her eyes flaring with a faint glimmer of excitement.

"That would be Apollo…" Ryker fiddled with his glasses. "Apollo was injected with pure puppy blood so he shouldn't change and yet he looks and acts like the ultimate hybrid between the dog and a human. I don't have the foggiest idea why though."

"It has something to do with my bracelet and me getting tense. My bracelet glowed the first time this happened to me but I don't know what this is." Apollo tapped the tight fitting bracelet.

"Hm, if you can find out why your bracelet does that then you may be able to control when you can change. It might be a valuable asset."

"Ryker you haven't told me why you bear a grudge against me by the way." Apollo growled suddenly.

"Grudge? I don't bear a grudge against you."

"Herr Professor I wouldn't bother lying to him. He has a talent for making liars reveal the truth." The tiger growled.

"It's because of something you have that he doesn't." Ema cut in.

"What are you on about?" Apollo asked.

"You have something I can't have but I longed for so much in the past."

"Look, Apollo. I really didn't wan to tell you this. When I was here I was caught doing something that could have got me kicked of my course where I was studying. I managed to bribe most of the people who caught me except for Adam. I went out with him – which was what he asked for."
"It didn't work out Apollo. We only dated for two days and we never kissed or anything. Even after that I longed for Ema to fall in love with me." Adam sighed. "I'm jealous of you because you're the one she loves. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too Apollo, I should have told you before we got here." Ema hugged herself into the soft fur of Apollo's chest.

"It's fine. I love you Ema so I can always forgive you."