Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

Tina looked quickly back and forth between the two of them. Shock closed Daniel’s throat, preventing him from saying anything. It had been bad enough when Paul turned up at his flat, having survived a broken back by being made into a vampire, but Daniel had seen the young Frankenstein woman crush Nigel’s heart with a single blow. It couldn’t be him . . . but Daniel wanted so badly for at least one of his friends to have survived what happened in that cellar.

Nigel’s air of aristocratic grace was gone. He seemed to crouch as much as stand, as though just waiting to launch himself at some unseen enemy. Instead of his usual elegant suit he wore a black leather motorcycle jacket over distressed jeans and heavy boots. His once immaculate hair had grown out long and shaggy, and his features seemed leaner and sharper. He smiled easily at Daniel, but his cool, steady gaze had nothing of friendship in it.

“Hello, Daniel,” said Nigel. “Miss me?”

“What happened to you?” said Daniel. His voice sounded harsh, even to him. “I saw you die!”

“And now I’m back,” said Nigel. “I thought you’d be pleased.”

“Daniel!” Tina said sharply. “Who is he?”

“This is my old friend Nigel,” Daniel said steadily. “We started out in the police together. He was with me in the Frankenstein chop shop when it all went to hell. This new look really isn’t you, Nigel. Did you join the Hell’s Angels?”

“No,” said Nigel. “Something worse.”

“I was so sure you died,” said Daniel.

“Not the first time a girl broke my heart,” said Nigel. “I got over it.”

“She’s dead now,” said Daniel. “I killed her at the Frankenstein gathering.”

“I suppose I should express my gratitude,” said Nigel.

“I didn’t do it for you,” said Daniel. “I did it because it was necessary.”

“You always were a Boy Scout,” said Nigel. “I would have tracked her down myself, but I’ve been busy.”

There was something off about the way Nigel was speaking. As though he was only saying the things he thought Daniel expected him to say, so he could get them out of the way and move on to something more important.

“How did you survive?” said Daniel.

“Are you really so surprised?” said Nigel. “Paul beat the odds as well . . . until he sought you out. He really should have known better.”

“You know what happened to Paul?” said Daniel.

“Word gets around,” said Nigel. “We need to talk.”

“Fine,” said Daniel. “There’s a bar not far from here . . . ”

“No,” said Nigel. “I don’t do that anymore.”

Daniel looked at him sharply. The old friend he remembered would never have turned down the chance for a drink. Nigel spent half his life in bars, boring people rigid with his family’s extensive knowledge of fine wines.

“You’ve changed,” said Daniel.

“You have no idea,” said Nigel. “They made Paul into a vampire—but they made me into a werewolf.”

Daniel remembered Paul talking about Nigel, saying He’s with someone else now. We don’t talk. Nigel took Daniel’s silence for disbelief, and held his left hand up before him. Thick gray fur swept over the hand as vicious claws appeared. There was no sense of pain or struggle; it was more like one image being replaced by another. As the human gave way to the wolf. Nigel clawed slowly at the air between them, reminding Daniel of what he could do, if he chose.

Tina stirred dangerously at Daniel’s side, and he dropped a hand onto her arm to hold her in place. Nigel glanced at Tina and his mouth twitched in something that might have been a smile, before dismissing her contemptuously and turning back to Daniel. And that disturbed Daniel more than anything, because the Nigel he remembered had always been a gentleman of the old school.

“You were right, Nigel,” said Daniel. “We do need to talk.”

“And we have so much to talk about,” said Nigel. “Something’s going on but you don’t know what it is, do you, Daniel?”

His hand was suddenly normal again, and he let it drop back to his side. As though he’d just shown Daniel a gun he hadn’t had to use.

“I thought you needed a full moon to change?” said Daniel.

“You always did watch too many movies,” said Nigel. “We can turn wolf whenever we want to, and we do.”

“What does it feel like?” said Daniel.

“Humans walk through the world like they’re dreaming,” said Nigel. “Deaf and blind to all its wonders. Becoming a wolf is like waking up, and coming fully alive.”

“So you enjoy being a wolf?” said Tina.

He looked at her properly for the first time. “Surprisingly, no.” He turned back to Daniel. “Remember all the petty rules and regulations we hated so much, when we were training to be policemen? Being part of the pack is actually worse. I cannot disobey any order an alpha male gives me, and as a newcomer I’m right at the bottom of the heap. And on top of all that, I’m constantly at the mercy of my animal side, driven by the needs and instincts of the beast.”

“Can’t you just leave?” said Daniel.

“The moon would follow me wherever I went.”

“What happened to you, after the chop shop?”