Earlier that day:
The young Damien was standing in front of a large heavy solid cherry wood desk with an imposing looking man frowning at him from across it. "Master Damien, you know better than to ask. We can't interfere and the current Mayor likely couldn't even remember what the original agreement between your family and the were-creatures of Moon Lake was even about. You are more talented than your father who first established the treatise and idea of creating a sanctuary for were-kind a mere few hundred years ago...And you have a duty... You're not going to take no for an answer are you?"
Damien smirks, "Of course not. Dad always said if I believed something I had to see it through..."
The severe looking man rubs his eyes with a sigh, "You know also that I can't stop you and with the Master visiting his sister in Russia... Very well, young Master. However, I will repeat the warning you and I both know MUST be said. Under NO circumstances are you allowed to shape-change while you are out of this household. You will appear and act human and you will NOT reveal your true species to anyone. NOT EVEN the were community. I will remind you that not even dragons are immune to everything."
Damien sighs, he's heard this speech more time than he could ever care to count, "James, I know you mean well but I could recite my father's warnings in my sleep. I just have to do this. Besides, you're a werewolf and Dad trusts you."
James growls, "That's different." He leans back with a sigh, "Fair enough, Young Master. Please be careful."
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At the hospital:
While Julie and Arthur were standing there, another knock came on Julie's door signaled the arrival of another party. He was a young, dark haired boy about Eric's age, maybe a year younger, by Julie's estimate. He was cute but had somewhat unsettling steel grey eyes. In his arms, he carried some books and papers. His smile when he noticed Julie was awake and had a visitor while genuine did little to settle the strange sense of unease that seemed to follow him. He sets the books and papers down carefully on a rolling table to one side of Julie's bed, "Sorry if I'm interrupting. I was asked to bring these by. It's various homework assignments and stuff from school. We're all pretty worried and mess you but the teachers thought maybe if you had something else to think about, it would make the time go by faster." This surprised Julie almost as much as her romantic visitor, it seemed the entire school had heard to some degree. "Well, it started more as a suggestion by some of us students, but - the teachers didn't like some of the reading material we WERE gonna bring you." He winks, "I think James* sneaked a few of his comics in though."
Julie couldn't suppress a smile at hearing how everyone was rooting for her and wanted her to get well. She still didn't fully understand what exactly had happened or was happening to her or why Eric wasn't able to visit more often; but knowing so many people were behind her and concerned about her well being did help to alleviate some of the loneliness that she was feeling. "Thanks, I..I'm sorry but I don't think I remember who you are though..." Julie blushed, feeling a little embarrassed that she couldn't place the boy.
The boy looked away with an embarrassed look of his own, "Sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I don't think we had more than a class together. I'm Damien Astrophel."
Julie blinked. The first name meant nothing to her but she was familiar with the last one. According to her Moon Lake history classes, the Astrophel family was the primary source of the land that had been bought to create the town of Moon Lake. "Oh - I didn't ... I didn't realize any of the Astrophel family was still around?"
Arthur was equally impressed but was remaining silent, eyeing the new boy with some degree of suspicion while wondering if he was here for the same reason.
Damien chuckles and nods, "Yeah, we get that a lot. We try not to make much of a scene. I had to beg my dad for weeks to even let me start attending public school." He offers his hand to Julie, "Nice to meet formally meet you, Julie Stovall." His smile was disarming, despite the fear she felt every time she meet his eyes, and she offered her own albeit somewhat weakly.
Damien took it gently and shook it.
Julie jerked her hand back with a yelp.
Arthur immediately rushed toward the bedside, "Julie are you okay? What happened?" He put himself between Julie's bed and the backing off young man almost instinctively.
Damien rubs his hand, "Must have been static electricity from rubbing against the papers and stuff."
Arthur turned to say something but Julie interrupted, "It's okay... it just surprised me... That's all." She did not mention how it made her heart flutter protective and interested THE most popular were-mere and THE bachelor of the century was acting toward her. She couldn't help but admire how he stood, framed with the window behind him, the morning sun shining behind him seeming to suffuse his aura with a comforting light.
Arthur looked back at Julie and blushed as he realized what he did and looks at her. She seemed almost like an angel, her hair arrayed around her gleaming in the sun so beautifully, "Um, Julie, there is something I've been wanting to tell you..."
Damien quietly slipped out of the room with a smile, thinking to himself, 'She'll be okay. This worked out better than I thought. With him there, just took a little jolt to realign things. It's funny, weres are so interesting. Like humans, they try to explain even the unexplainable with theories and science but they never forget that somethings are just fact. The were-fox's Bond. The true-love sight of the were-meres. All unexplainable but facts. A magic all nature's own. But even so, sometimes to fix the unexplainable - you need something else than just science and medicine. It won't cure the damage that's happened to her brain, but I have feeling they already have that part handled as long as they remember to give her something to address the rapid were-based regeneration so she doesn't regenerate while they're trying to operate!' He chuckled a little to himself and headed back toward the outskirts of town with a bitter-sweet smile, doubting anyone would even remember he had been there.
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*James Wyatt, a normal boy in Julie's classes from a family with several were-otters who has a super-hero fascination and likes to draw 'super-were' comics.