The intertwined wolves began growling at Marcia, who began sweating. The beasts slowly separated from each other and advanced toward the window. Marcia put one hand on the tree branch to steady herself and the other reached toward her backpack and pulled out a glittering pistol. Marcia was no fool.
The enormous black wolf leapt first. Marcia aimed and fired. A dart shot forth and plunged into the beast's chest. Undaunted, the wolf advanced. She shot a second dart, which landed near the first. While the black wolf staggered, the yellow one strode forth. Marcia neatly emptied two darts into its left flank. Both beasts took a few uncertain steps before collapsing into a pile of furry limbs onto the carpet.
Marcia leapt onto the windowsill and deftly hauled herself into Blake's room. She rolled the two wolves off each other and took out her cell phone and dialed Robert Jordan's number at the office.
"Hello Rusty. The case has definitely gotten more interesting. Mrs. Atwell's son is a definite werewolf, and it looks like he's been increasing his pack. The condition is spread sexually--those infected transform into larger-than-average wolves with anthropoid body structures. Oh, and Rusty? That animal tranq did the trick. Now, if you've added just the right tincture of silver solute--Oh good, it's happening now. I'll call you back."
She pocketed the phone and smiled as the wolves reverted back to human form. The tincture was just right. The gold wolf tossed and turned as its fur thinned and the animal seemed to almost implode. The black wolf made less movement as the fur seemed to swirl back into its skin. The beasts' bodies grew pinker and pinker, not to mention thin and taut. Marcia looked at Blake's naked body in surprise. His nerdy features--the receding chin, gaunt face, and meek expression--had changed utterly into a picture of rude health--a strong chin, full face and strong cheekbones and an expression arrogant even in repose. What's more, his once scrawny body had put on a good deal of muscle, though remaining slender and lithe. A new dusting of golden hairs ran from his collar bone, down through his pectorals, down to his belly-button and beyond to the pubes.
Marcia looked at Tommy. She sighed and put on surgical gloves, bent down, and examined his body. The extra muscle and hair she'd seen had grown even more accented. She looked at the picture Mrs.Atwell had given her and whistled. Compared to the innocent-looking boy in the picture, the slumbering naked man on the floor was powerfully built and almost obscenely hairy for someone only 18 years old. The expression on his coarse, wide-pored, bewhiskered face was predatory even when sleeping. Hair was all over his body, with an especially thick matting on his back and a tangled, wild riot of pubes. His ears were pointed at the tips, and his eyebrows met in the middle. His feet and hands were extremely long and hairy, and his penis seemed to have its base attached, which made it look slightly akin to a canine's. Its tip was unusually reddish, and the outside layers of skin were very thick.
She stood up, took off the gloves, and examined the boy's cast-off belongings. Inside his jeans she found his wallet, which contained a business card for "Dr. Carmen Lobis-Homen". When examining Tommy's cell phone, she found a listing for "Dr.LH". She picked up her own phone and dialed.
"Hello Rusty. This case is really getting odd. The werewolves changed back after being tranqued, but their human forms were left slightly more feral. In Tommy Atwell's case, it seems that his human form grows slightly more beastial every time he changes. If the changes aren't stopped he'll probably mutate into some sort of wolf creature. It looks like he's been in contact with a doctor named Carmen Lobis-Homen. I want you to dig up everything you can find on her and call me back."
Marcia hung up and removed a tiny little black dot from her backpack. She put her glove back on and reached toward Tommy's rear. She parted his hair-blanketed cheeks and reached within until she affixed the adhesive dot up his asshole. Having properly affixed the miniature tracking device, she placed a tiny bug on Tommy's jeans, gathered up her belongings, climbed out the window, shimmied down the tree until she was at an angle that allowed her to see in the window with her angled spyglass but not be seen, and the waited for the naked teens to awaken. She saw her phone ring silently and picked it up.
"Hello Rusty" she whispered. "Whadayou got?"
"Interesting stuff Marcia. Dr.Lobis-Homen is not only a leading Spanish geneticist but also an enviromental activist and a noted academic authority on the occult. More importantly she was invited to New York to take part in a hush-hush project involving the city zoo: 'Project Lupus.'"
"I remember that--they thought they could replenish the numbers of wolves in the zoo by genetically converting stray dogs into wolves instead of capturing wolves from the wild."
"Yep. The project was Dr.Lobis-Homen's brainchild. But the city revoked its funding when they learned the good doctor's wolf research had included experimenting...with a human embryo."
"Ah..."
"And guess who spear-headed the effort to get her fired and blackballed? Mr. Richard Atwell: a leading member of the New York city council--"
"--And father to Tommy. Well, Rusty, it looks like we'll have to pay the good doctor a visit after we finish tracking wolf-boy. You know, if we play our cards right, we could squeeze a lot of money out of those Atwells...I'm sure they'd hate to have their son's activities make the tabloids. Wait--I have to go now--I think our boys are waking up."
Marcia lifted her spyglass to her eye and began peeping.