The time's just approaching 10pm by the time I put a final fullstop on my report.
Enough time to get back to Jesse's apartment, I think.
I put all the equipment back in their positions, tidy up, and put my petri dish back into the incubator. I would have to check on it again in twelve hours. I lock up the lab with my special access key card and proceed down the hall to the stairs.
Until a sudden squealing sound stops me in my tracks.
My first instinct is to run away but I don't. I was given special access to enter the faculty building this late and if anything was amiss in any way, I'd be in serious trouble. The noise didn't sound threatening- something like a rat in pain. I have to check it out.
I follow the direction I heard the noise come from and deduce that it had to have come from a nearby supplies closet. I go over and gently open the door. At first, the darkness is overwhelming so I see nothing but then the hallway light streams through and I'm able to make out a figure.
A very familiar 5ft11' frame, transfixed, with piercing blue-green eyes and jet black hair, all very familiar. I am able to recognize my childhood bestfriend at first glance but then, I take a second look and nothing seems recognizable again.
His hands are bloodied, so is the line around his mouth. There is a dead rat on the floor. I see long nails, sharp teeth, hair everywhere. A certain kindergarten rhyme comes to mind.
It's a big, bad werewolf you see... Run away before you become its next meal.
My heart pounds in my chest and I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out. In the blink of an eye, Asher is directly in front of me, his hand over my mouth.
"Don't make a ruckus" he says through his teeth and closes the door behind me. "When I let go of you, you're not allowed to scream or run away, capisce?"
I would have bit him but for the blood on his hands. I nod.
Slowly, he takes off his hand. As he's doing this, my hands are already behind me, reaching for the door handle. As I open the door, it makes a small creaking sound which Asher notices. He uses his other hand to slam the door shut then grabs my hand and spins me around so that his back is against the door and I'm the one in the middle of the room.
"I hadn't even let go of you yet. You really suck at following instructions, don't you?" He crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "Why do you want to run away so badly?"
"You're a werewolf" I say, trying my best not to sound terrified.
I heard fear drives their natural instincts.
"So?" He asks defiantly.
Noah was right. There were werewolves living among us. Eating and drinking with us. Schooling and working with us. Being normal like they were one of us, only for them to turn back to those filthy creatures at night. I suddenly wonder how many I talk to, laugh with, are actually werewolves in disguise. Wolves in sheep clothing.
"Can I go? I promise I won't tell anyone" I say
"I know you won't" he replies with the same defiant tone.
It ticks me off but my fear overwhelms my irritation. For the first time in my life, I'm willing to grovel in front of Asher.
"So why can't I go? Please, I'm really not comfortable being here"
"Oh" he smirks and takes a step forward. "Do I frighten you?"
He seems to be enjoying this. Why is he enjoying this?
"Yes, you do" I take a step back. "Happy to hear that?"
"Confused, actually" his lips tilt downwards. "I understand shock. I loved the shock and purer terror on your face. But to be actually scared? You shouldn't be. Is this your first time of seeing a wolf form in real life?"
"Of course it is. I didn't even know some of your kind survived and even had the audacity to evolve somehow and live undetected among us. I assumed, as with the rest of Krystal City, that we killed all of you off during the war"
Asher's lips tilt down even further. "What's all this talk about 'my kind' and grouping yourself among the humans? I mean, yes, we've had to adapt to regular human culture to blend in and it may be blurry to identify yourself sometimes but never forget your ancestry, Eloise, and more importantly, never talk about your ancestry with such disgust on your face. I mean, maybe it's permitted when you're among humans, for the sake of your own safety, but it's just the two of us here. You can talk safely"
"Talk safely about what? And I've not forgotten my ancestry- I come from a very long line of humans, thank you very much"
"Really, El, stop with it. There's nobody you have to convince here" his tone is dead flat.
"Convince that what?"
"That you don't have werewolf blood"
"But I don't"
"You do" Asher insists. "I can smell it on you. And I've been smelling it on you since the day I could smell werewolf blood"
I chuckle mirthlessly and shake my head. "Then your sense of smell is very faulty. I think I would know if I was a... If I was like you"
"I know of some werewolves who didn't know who they were until they found out or someone found them out. A lot of werewolf parents don't tell their children about their real origin for their own safety and that's understandable for werewolves trying to blend in in the suburbs where literally everyone else is human. But I expected you to know where you're coming from. I mean, we grew up together. Everyone in our neighbourhood was a werewolf- it's something we all knew but never acknowledged because, well, what if you were wrong and you'd just exposed yourself- and your family by extension- to a human?"
I'm getting fed up. I'm also getting scared.
"Asher, I'm a human and I grew up in a human neighbourhood and perhaps, your family were the only werewolves. Or maybe, maybe, everyone else were werewolves. But my family? We're humans. We are the humans you guys feared"
"Honey, you grew up in Aberfield. Aberfield was -still is- the number one werewolf settlement in Krystal City. Or have you forgotten your history of werewolves so soon?"
I haven't. Aberfield was the main werewolf settlement. It said so right there in chapter three, section 3.4, of the history of werewolves textbook.
'Now, the werewolves had scattered themselves all over Krystal City, but their permanent settlement remained in Aberfield, the small town on the outskirts from which they had first migrated into Krystal City... '
"Still, humans live in Aberfield" I say frantically.
"I don't disagree. But you're a werewolf. I can smell it"
"Probably rubbed off on me after being around you guys for so long"
Asher sighs and pinches his forehead. "You know what, we can stay here and argue all night or I could prove to you who you are right here at the faculty"
"How?" I ask
Asher hesitates for a second, as though reconsidering his offer but deciding to continue. "Follow me"
He turns and is about to open the door but pauses. "Oh, right, still in wolf form"
He takes a deep breath and just like that, he's transformed back into the human Asher I know.
"Okay, let's go" he opens the door and step out. I hesitate for a second before following him.
"Leaving the dead rat there?" I ask, slightly serious, slightly teasing.
"I'll clean myself up when I'm done with you" he replies.
"How did you even get into faculty?"
"Special access key card"
"Wow, didn't know they handed that to just anyone now"
"If by 'anyone' you mean one of their top students who is currently working on a project for the government, then yes, they do hand it to just about anyone"
I roll my eyes. It's easier to challenge this Asher.
"So what were you doing here? Or are you just using your special privilege to help exterminate the school?"
Asher smiles tightly. "I was working on said government project when I got a craving. It's a full moon so cravings are more frequent and harder to ignore. I hunted down the rat, decided to have my meal in the supplies closet, you walked in, I told you the truth about yourself, you refused to accept it and now, I'm about to prove you wrong"
"I'm not a werewolf" I maintain and Asher raises his hands in mock surrender.
"I'm not going to argue any further. The machine will do the convincing"
"What machine?" I ask
Asher smiles. "You'll see" he pauses. "Also, it's a top secret government project so keep shush about it, will ya?"
We get to the bioengineering lab and Asher uses his key card to unlock it.
"This is what you get when you're the best in the class: you get to work exciting projects with your professor" he goes over to the sink and cleans his hands thoroughly before wearing gloves.
"Plus, before you start faulting things, the functionality is down and has proved to be 99.99% effective. The main thing we're working on now is the design; it's meant to be portable and stylish and um, right now it uses a blood sample but we're trying to adapt it to take cheek swab samples"
"What is this thing?" I ask "And more important, how is it relevant right now?"
Asher gets a key from under a flower pot and moves over and unlocks a cabinet. He brings out a clunky looking device that has two vials attached to it.
"This is a werewolf identifier" he replies simply. "Does as the name implies"
My heart skips a beat. "Requested by the government?"
"Fully requested and funded by the government, fully worked on by Professor Ridges and I"
"So you're working on a project to identify your fellow creatures? Isn't that some sort of betrayal?"
Asher shrugs. "Anything to fit in with the humans. I'm watching my own back first"
"I thought it'd be more like your pack before your back"
"I don't have a pack. No werewolf does right now" as he talks, he opens cabinet after cabinet, bringing out an unused syringe and needle, a rope, some cotton wool and rubbing alcohol and a vial of blood. "I need to look out for myself. I already took a really huge risk deciding to unlock my werewolf abilities so now, I'm extra vulnerable. I'm only lucky that you were the one that caught me this night; so imagine being offered a chance to work on one of the most important projects Krystal City has seen, aged eighteen, and you turn it down. Seems suspicious, no? Why wouldn't I want to work on something that can potentially find those vile, disgusting creatures so that we can end them? Especially now with the recent farm attack everyone's pining on them?"
He comes over to me with the things he needs to take my blood sample.
"Why did you decide to unlock your werewolf abilities knowing the risks involved?" I ask as he ties my hand and looks for a suitable vein.
"For the 0.01% chance that you're actually human, I'm not going to risk telling you that"
"So you think you could be wrong" I say triumphantly
"I think if you knew I was wrong, you wouldn't be here, alone with a werewolf, allowing me take your blood"
He carefully pokes the needle into my skin and the blood flows out. Once he's collected enough, he removes the needle and cleans the site up with the cotton wool.
"So, what I'm going to see use this sample and explain how the machine works" he raises up the vial of blood he brought out before unscrewing one of the vials on the machine and replacing it with the sample. "I know I called it a werewolf identifier but that's oversimplifying it. It's actually a DNA identifier, and it can identify the DNA of about 50 species right now, werewolf included. The blood I just put in is that of a pig's. I want to show that it's not just saying 'werewolf' to everything and see," he points at the screen where the word 'pig' was displayed in green, "it works. And now, for yours"
He unscrews the other vial, puts a bit of my sample in it and fixes it back into the machine. "Moment of truth"
I wait with bated breath but it only takes a second. Just a second and my whole world crashes before my eyes. My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket and I can only imagine it to be Jesse, calling to ask where I am. To ask whether I'll disappoint him again. But I can't pick up the phone, I can't explain myself to him. I can't move. My eyes can't look away from the machine and my ears can't tune out its beeps.
Werewolf, written in all caps, with three exclamation marks, displayed in red.
Asher turns away from the machine and looks at me. I expect him to look at me gloatingly: he was right. But he doesn't. He looks at me with something like pity, like he'd wished he'd been proven wrong.
"Eloise Puvalo, you're a werewolf".