Stuck on You

Day Three

Today was it. Finally.

Finally.

He was almost too giddy to act normally, but he kept it all in. He waited so long for this and all his planning and careful preparation was finally going to pay off.

He wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his plans now. Not when he was so close.

"So, has anyone seen a naked person wandering around lately?" He asked Irene the moment she walked out of the little diner. She sighed at the question and shook her head.

"No, nothing. I asked if they had any security tapes from around that time and they don't even have cameras!" Irene threw her hands up in frustration.

"What kind of business doesn't have security cameras in this day and age?"She asked, her voice colored with exasperation.

"This one, apparently?" He shrugged.

"What do they do if there's a crime?" She muttered. "You know what, never mind. How did your search go? Please tell me you found somewhere who saw something. Please."

He did. Several people, in fact. They all recognized him pretty easily. But they wouldn't be a problem, he wouldn't allow anything to be a problem today.

"No, nothing. It seems like this town is deeply against having any security cameras anywhere," he joked, making Irene sigh again.

"I thought we'd finally have something with the footprints, but this is utter bullshit."

"I know what you mean," he said. "And... maybe we need to rethink what we're doing here."

"Rethink it? How?" Irene glanced over to him as they walked down the quiet street.

"We're here. And we have proof there's a werewolf somewhere in town, even if we don't know where exactly."

"That's assuming the werewolf hasn't left by now," Irene said with a raised eyebrow.

"Assuming that my suggestion might be a waste of time, but..."

"You want to go out there in the forest." It wasn't a question. Irene stopped walking and turned to him.

"Yes," he said. "We might spend the night in a forest and just freeze our asses off, or we might encounter this werewolf and end this."

Irene remained quiet as she looked toward the trees peeking out in the distance above the buildings. He could push, he thought. He was tempted to. But he remained silent and let her think.

"If we just stay out there all night and freeze our asses off for no reason, you are so buying me a whole meal at that fancy Indian place."

She turned back to him and poked him in the chest for emphasis, "Got it?"

"I got it, I got it," he laughed, gently taking her hand in his. "I promise you that if nothing happens I'll buy you the most expensive thing on the menu."

"It'll be a date," he grinned down at her.

"A date, huh? We'll see," Irene smirked and pulled her hand free. She gave him a little pat on the cheek and walked away in the direction of the forest.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head. A smile clung to his lips as he followed her.

They walked through the woods, between the endless sea of trees and the night, ever creeping closer.

His skin was on fire. His bones felt like ice. His clothes felt much too heavy and much too irritating on his body. He wanted to strip then and there, to pull off the offending fabrics.

Irene's scent danced around him, mixing with the pine and wind. He breathed it in, savoring the pleasantly warm tingle that spread through his body.

"Somewhere around here might be good to hide and wait for this werewolf that may or may not show," she said, pointing at a small moss-covered cave entrance. Though calling it a cave seemed generous.

He leaned over to look inside. It was dark and damp and there wasn't much space in there at all.

Perfect.

He glanced up at the sky. The hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He could feel the moon calling to him. It was a dull, quiet melody that he couldn't quite hear yet.

But it was getting louder. And he couldn't wait to answer its call.

"Here should be fine," he told her and pulled the hanging moss curtains out of the way for her.

Irene didn't move. She stared at his face with a frown.

"Something wrong?" He asked with a chuckle, letting the moss fall back into place.

"Your eyes..." Irene whispered.

"What about them? You gonna tell me they're beautiful and ask me for my number?"

She didn't answer, her frown getting deeper still. She took a small step back.

"Your eyes are..." She gulped. It was very slight, but he could see her shiver.

He smiled.

"My eyes are what?" He asked, taking a step closer. She took another step back.

His skin prickled and burned, almost unbearably so. But he only smiled at her.

"Glowing," she said.

Moonlight filled the little clearing they were standing in. And as the full moon emerged, his smile twisted. The whites of his eyes turned black and his whole body lit up with excruciating pain.

He felt his bones break and twist and grow. His muscles tore themselves apart and regrew just as quickly.

As his body grew and expanded, his skin started to tear. He reached up to claw it and rip it away in pieces to reveal the skin underneath. His nails falling right off of his fingers in the process with the bloody skin.

The pain in his fingers almost becoming too much as the claws tore their way out through his flesh.

He screamed up at the full moon. The once human voice transforming into a howl that seemed to fill the whole forest.

He looked down at Irene, who now looked twice as small to him. His breath was heavy and even in this form his body still screamed from the lingering echoes of pain.

He spat his human teeth out to the ground and grinned to reveal the set of very sharp looking ones.

Irene hadn't moved an inch. She stood there, completely frozen as she watched him transform into a monster before her eyes.

Her eyes were wide, mouth hanging open. He wasn't sure if it was from the pure shock of it or if there was a silent scream trapped on her lips.

Maybe both.

"You... it was you all along, wasn't it?" She asked, her voice shaking as much as she was.

"Yes," he answered, no longer sounding human at all.

That was all she needed, it seemed. Irene turned and ran without looking back.

He howled to the moon, answering its sweet melody and ran after Irene.

She didn't get very far before he pounced on her and sank his teeth into her shoulder.

Mine. All mine.