Chapter 6

Lincoln's POV

The pain stinging on my chest woke me up. I blinked at the dim fluorescent light on the ceiling and jolted when I felt hands on me—only to find that my wrists and ankles were strapped on the metal frame of the bed.

“Who are you?” I rasped, my throat dry. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m trying to help you,” answered the man who had a bunch of bloodied gauze on his hands. He lifted his head and offered me a slight smile. His skin was smooth, and his face structure strong. He looked like a middle-aged man, but there was something in his eyes that made me think that he was older than he looked. “I’m Maximillian Marth. We’re going to make great things together.”

My forehead creased. “Should I know you? And can you get your hands off me?”

He raised his hands in the air, and I saw what he worked on. There were three long deep gashes on my chest, about half-inch thick. With the way my flesh looked like it was clawed by not anything human, I could tell that it hurt. I was surprised that it was clean and free from blood. But why couldn’t I remember getting it?

“Why am I strapped to this thing? Let me go!” I wrestled with my restraints, but it refused to budge.

“Trust me, this is the safest option for now,” Maximillian answered.

I gave up, feeling short of breath. My body felt hot, like I had a terrible fever. The stinging on my chest increased. It felt like there were thousands of needles puncturing the area. “Who are you again?”

But then, memories started to crash to me. Animals with wild, dangerous eyes and covered in dark fur. And—

“Where’s that girl?!” I demanded. My eyes frantically looked around for the redheaded woman. “What the hell is happening?!”

“It’s alright,” said Maximillian with a tone of comfort. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Nothing is fine! What the hell did I see back in my apartment?! There were huge animals. GIANT DOGS!”

“Not giant dogs,” he said like he was a teacher educating a student who got the wrong answer. “What you saw were werewolves.”

“Werewolves?” I scoffed. “What the hell did you inject me with? What kind of drug was that? Was I hallucinating?! AM I hallucinating?”

Speaking of injecting, Maximillian pulled a huge syringe from a metal cart. He did not even hesitate to puncture it on my arm, right where a vein was. “No, what you saw was real. You are going to be like one of them. Just so we wait.”

“What? What nonsense is this?!” I tried to pull at the straps once more. This had to be a strange nightmare. I needed to wake up. There was no way in hell this was all real. Was someone playing a prank on me? When I get my hands on them…

“It’s all going to be fine. You are merely fulfilling your destiny.” He pulled the syringe out, full of my blood.

“Listen, I think you have the wrong guy.”

Maximillian released a light chuckle. “You are the RIGHT guy.”

“It’s not possible. I’m a normal person! Is this because I’m an underground fighter? Is this some sort of experiment?” My mind suddenly went to those movies I saw wherein people tried to create mutant humans of some sort. “I’m not even that great!”

I could feel sweat starting to stream from my scalp. The muscles of my body felt like they were expanding. And it was so warm… so hot. Everything was burning, and I fought on my bounds.

Maximillian gave me a wary look. “It’s best if you calm down. Take a few deep breaths.”

“What do you want?” I asked. “I have money. How much do you need?”

“It’s not money that I need. What I need is you,” he said and squirted some of my blood in one of those fragile glasses that you see in science labs.

I watched as it stained the clear liquid red, then morphed into something pulsating, like it had a life of its own.

“What the hell is that?” the fear in my voice was unmistakable. What kind of business did I get myself involved with?

Maximillian started to laugh; the menace in it was mixed with pride and joy, filling this small room.

“You have to listen to me. You have the wrong guy!”

“You haven’t even heard what I have to say. You’re the one who should listen.” He started to list something on a clipboard and began to rattle something about werewolves and fairies—then vampires, warlocks, and wizards, and named a few more creatures I only heard about in myth and movies.

My blood was boiling, coursing through my veins like it was racing. My brain started to throb, and my vision blurred as I tried to blink against the light. Every time my eyes closed, I could see the redhead girl.

“Where is she?” I breathed, cutting off the story about how I descended from some supernatural creatures.

“Who?” Maximillian asked. “Oh, you mean Ruby? She’s gone.”

“Ruby,” I said her name, thinking that she would show up.

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Maximillian smiled down at me. He patted my shoulder like he was a proud father. “You are the miracle child that would save the race of werewolves.”

“It’s not possible,” I called after him when he started to move towards the computer desk. “I am an orphan. My parents died in a car accident. They were ordinary people! I have no known relatives. I’m a human. Not—not… not—“

“Werewolf?” he suggested with a grin. “We’ll see about that.”

Suddenly, there were harsh knocks on the door. Maximillian sighed. “I told her to let it go,” he muttered as he strode towards the door. But before he could reach it, it broke into pieces—the door wholly removed from the hinges.

It threw Maximillian on the floor, shielding his face. Then there was a massive animal in the doorway, its whole being folding to fit through the opening.

Every cell in my body screamed as I saw its mouth filled with large sharp teeth.

This was what he had been telling me about.

It was not a dream at all.

It was a werewolf.