Chapter Three: The Incident

Daniel never needed to transform again until he was twenty-five years old, when an unfortunate incident occurred. He had a girlfriend his own age named Brooke, who he had met in college, a normal girl and very beautiful. They loved each other very much. So much so that they were already beginning to make plans for the future despite being so young. Since Daniel was already working with his father and had become independent, he was willing to live with her and once asked her to move into his apartment with him. She did not accept at first, thinking that perhaps they would have to slow down their relationship a little, despite future plans. It was one thing to plan, and another to begin to carry out the plans, she said. There would be time for everything. Of course, she didn't know that Daniel was a lycanthrope, and he was waiting for the right moment to tell her, hoping she would take it in the best way and not reject him, appealing to the love and trust they had until that moment.

They loved going together to the movies, to the theater, to walks and, from time to time, to spend the weekends in a cabin in the woods on the outskirts of the city, which belonged to Daniel's family. It was their favorite place to be together and enjoy their privacy, while they dreamed in their own way of a future they believed would be wonderful.

One of those weekends, after walking through the woods, when they returned to the cabin they made love like never before, loving each other wildly, perhaps as a harbinger of what would happen that night and that they would never have suspected. A farewell on a tragic night.

After making love, they fell fast asleep. Daniel woke up half an hour later feeling a little warm, despite being deep in the woods and the night was cool. He got up, went into the bathroom and began to shower. It would take about ten minutes before he came out, and when he did, the scene he witnessed was horrible: a grayish-white bulge was on top of Brooke, who had her head to the side looking in his direction with eyes shot with terror and anguish at the same time. Her lips moved slightly, but Daniel could see that they said “help me”. At that moment the bulge above her lifted and Daniel could see her face: a hideous face, with red eyes and large fangs dripping blood. She faced him and let out a kind of terrifying scream as she walked slowly past Brooke and toward him. Daniel felt a shiver go through his entire body and immediately the fear turned into terror. His senses were put on alert and without knowing how or when he was transformed. Before the creature could get to him, it hit her hard, throwing her against the back wall, immediately jumping onto the bed and charging forward. The creature, with supernatural agility, jumped over him and quickly stood on his shoulders, ready to claw at his neck and rip off his head, but Daniel took his legs and squeezing them hard, ripped them deeply with his nails, causing the creature let out a cry of pain; he immediately pulled her forcefully over him and again threw her against the wall, making it creak. Nimbly he went on top of her and managed to grab her by the neck, squeezing hard in order to destroy her throat. By this time Brooke had managed to sit up on the bed and gave a low moan of help. Listening to her, Daniel was distracted for a moment, turning to see her and that was the opportunity the creature was waiting for, who, releasing the arm that was squeezing his neck and launching a strong blow to Daniel's neck, opened a wound that made him loosen in his tightening and, lowering his arm a little, the creature took the opportunity to free itself, jumping on him again and nailing a violent bite to the wound. Daniel cried out in pain and grabbed her head again with both hands, pulling her away from his neck. He saw the creature's eyes meet his own and for an instant felt his strength drain from him. The creature put its hands on Daniel's arms and began to squeeze hard as well. Daniel thought about squeezing harder to shatter his attacker's head, but the pain in his arms wouldn't let him. He finally had to release it, feeling faint, and the creature with a quick movement jumped over him and fell on the bed, behind Brooke, whom she held tight and jumped with her through the open window. Daniel summoned all his strength and tried to go after them but he couldn't, falling exhausted to the floor. He began to feel a sharp pain throughout his body and cried out in fury and frustration at the same time, looking at the roof of the cabin. Little by little, everything around him grew darker, until he plunged into complete darkness.

Almost at dawn, Christopher dreamily felt knocking at his window. He woke up with a start and then saw Dansk standing in front of him on the balcony. He got up and went over there.

“What's going on?” He asked once he opened the window still sleepy.

“Zander's favorite wife, Kira, came home tonight with a new girl for him, reneging on orders not to hunt alone. She says she found her in the woods.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“I think she's your nephew Dan's girlfriend.”

Christopher looked at his interlocutor, confused.

“How do you know it's her?”

“I think I saw them together once. You must locate your nephew and ask him where he is, and if he is with her. If he is at home or in the cabin in the woods.”

“They were just spending the weekend at Darius's cabin, for God's sake...”

Christopher quickly went to get dressed. Ten minutes later, and having tried unsuccessfully to call Dan on his cell phone, they were driving to the cabin.

“We're getting old,” Dansk said next to him in the passenger seat. “In another time we would have been faster running, or in my case, flying.”

Christopher giggled.

“Yes, we’re no longer the same.”

“I hope I'm wrong and it's not that girl.”

“I hope so too, old friend. I hope so too.”

An hour later they arrived at the cabin. Off to the side they could see Daniel's Porsche Cayenne truck, and Christopher parked his car next to it. They went out and looked around for a few seconds, inspecting, then continued to the porch. Christopher knocked on the door.

“I'll check the surroundings,” Dansk said, and immediately went around one of the sides of the cabin.

Christopher knocked on the door again, waiting. A few seconds later he heard Dansk calling him from the back of the cabin and went to meet him.

“Here,” Dansk yelled at him as he passed the open window of the main room. He was inside. Christopher rushed in and saw him next to Daniel, who was shivering non-stop, apparently with a very high fever.

“I was right,” Dansk said. “There was a very strong fight here, and apparently she bit him.”

“Did she bite him? But if she bit him, how is it possible that he didn't die?”

“Her intention was to transmit her poison to him, not suck his blood. She's not stupid; she knows that his blood would kill her... again, but now definitely... Well, you understand me...”

“Damn!” Christopher exclaimed. “We have to take him to my house so I can attend to him, although I don't think I can do much for him.”

“Good. Let's go. I'll help you.”

With Dansk's help, Christopher took Daniel home, where he set up a bed in his lab so he could care for him. He was thinking about what he would say to Darius and how what had happened would affect the peace agreement with the vampires.