Ryan's free hand was massaging his crotch in anticipation of the fun he was going to have when he heard a cough and a gruff voice whisper behind him.
"Hmphf, uh, Ryan, don't turn around yet, please. Promise you won't freak?"
Ryan nodded his head wondering who or what was behind. His little soldier was standing attention ready to dive into action, as the voice was obviously male. It had to be someone who knew Ryan, and it did sound kind of familiar, but different too.
"Ryan, let me tell you what happened to me, and then you can turn around. I was with Sei searching the house, and we split up..."
"Mike, is that you? Your voice sounds so I asked different," Ryan said starting to slowly turn.
"No, don't turn, Ryan. You don't know the half of it, the voice is the least of my changes. Now just stand there and listen, I have to prepare you for what you're going to see." Mike sighed a growly sigh, and continued in his gruff voice, "I went into this suite of rooms, and there was a basket with a napkin covering it. I was feeling a bit peckish, so I walked over to the basket, and reached for it. A hand slapped mine, and I jumped backward. I swear I had been alone in the room, but now there was the girl there and she grabbed the basket. She was dressed kind of old fashioned in a blue skirt with a red poncho. I asked her where she came from, and she answered home. Then she said, "You cannot have any, the goodies are for my grandmother. I'm taking a shortcut." She turned and dashed through one of the doors, and closed it behind her.
"Of course, I followed her. The room turned out to be a big bedroom with a four-poster bed and a fireplace, and no other exits, not even a window. The fireplace had a roaring fire going which illuminated the windowless room. I closed the door carefully behind me, as I figured the girl was hiding in there. I searched the room looking under the bed, and even under the covers. I crawled up on the bed and lifted the comforter, when I heard a knock on the door. I sat there in bed with the covers in my lap, and said, "Come in." I figured it was you or Sei, but instead it was the little girl I'd seen earlier.
"I have no idea how she had gotten passed me or out of the room, maybe there was a secret panel or something. She said, "Grandmother, may I come in?"
"I answered, "Do I look like your grandmother, kid?" She closed the door behind her and came up to the bed.
"She said, "My what big eyes you have, grandmother!"
"The weird thing is that when she said it everything seemed to get brighter, like I could see in the dark. I couldn't resist responding like the fairy tale, so I said, "The better to see you with, my dear."
"She took a step closer and said, "Grandmother, what a big nose you have!"
"Now my nose isn't that big, or at least it wasn't, but I played along, "The better to smell you with, my dear, " I said and I swear I saw my nose thrust outward into a snout.
"Then all the smells rushed at me at once. I could smell so much more than I had before. I could smell the girl, the apple pie, roast beef and cheddar cheese sandwich with lettuce in her basket. It was creepy. I raised my hands and felt my snout. I looked accusingly at the girl and said, "What have you done to me?"
"She just seemed to be trapped in a script and said, "Grandmother, what big ears you have!"
"We went through the whole Red Riding Hood schtick through "What big teeth you've got," and then I said, "The better to eat you with, my dear!" I leapt from the bed to scare the kid, and I scared myself. My shadow on the wall reflected by the fire wasn't vaguely human. That little red riding hood brat had changed me into a werewolf."
"A werewolf? Come on, Mike, there's no such thing," Ryan said and he turned and his jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide, "Uuuhh??!"