Transmitted

File 7

Aradia screamed. This was madness, ludicrous, insanity. People didn't change into... Into... 

"You're a freaking werewolf!" Aradia screamed, hysterical. She scrambled off the sofa and made a beeline for the door, before she got there however her path was blocked by Lupo, now in human form again, minus his clothes. 

"I'm sorry." he said again "I never meant for this to happen." he took her gently by the shoulders and led her back into the house, but steered her away from the living room and up a flight of stairs instead. Was he going to kill her? Was that why he'd removed his clothes? To keep them from getting bloody? But no... They'd fallen off him when he'd turned into... Into ... That... 

"What are you going to do to me?" Aradia quavered, sobbing like a child. Lupo sighed 

"You needn't be so scared, I'm not going to hurt you, you're the same as me you know." he said patiently, and pushed her into a bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him 

"I'm not! What are you talking about?" Aradia wailed "you're mad!" she backed away from him and nearly tripped into the shower. It was twice the size of a normal shower, and had jets all the way around and down the walls. All the better to wash the blood off my dear... the thought came unbidden to her mind. She trembled. He followed her in  

"Why do you think your doctor wanted to kill you?" he asked reasonably, tugging at her clothes. Was he stripping her? Oh god, what if he was going to eat her? The idiotic flush of heat she felt at that was instantly crushed by fear 

"B-because she was insane, obviously." Aradia blurted, allowing him to remove the rest of her clothes. If she was going to die anyway she may as well just let him do it quickly. Maybe it would hurt less. 

"She was, but she wasn't wrong, you're a werewolf, just like me..." he bit his lip and regarded her critically for a moment "well, ok, not exactly like me... you're a little bit prettier." 

She stared at him incredulously for a moment. As much as for the compliment (which was a terrible lie, but she couldn't fault him for telling it) as for the truth he was telling her; she was a werewolf...? Hadn't her nails been too long and too sharp in the doctor's clinic? Hadn't she used those nails to rip the belts off her legs? She looked down at her nails. They looked perfectly normal now, except there was dried blood under them. Hadn't she been unnaturally strong? She'd thought it was just adrenaline but surely it couldn't explain how she'd torn thick leather belts as if they were tissue paper... And why had she blacked out and ended up somewhere else? Could she have... changed and not remembered it later? The doctor's accomplices' talk of the moon and power suddenly made sense in the context of werewolves. Oh God... 

"If I am..." she mumbled weakly "then... How do I... How...?" she gave up and looked to Lupo for help. He smiled at her - the first genuine smile of the night. "Well, I certainly have a lot to teach you, but first, let's get you clean, ok? I don't like blood on my sheets, they're mulberry silk." with that, he turned on the shower. 

"Are they black..?" Aradia muttered, under her breath. He heard her 

"Yes, how did you guess?" he said with a devilish smile, and as the hot water washed away the gore of the night, he leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. Aradia groaned 

"I knew it... I knew this would happen if I found you again..." she complained. Lupo laughed and pulled her against his chest 

"Of course you did, that's why you looked for me isn't it?" he didn't wait for her reply, and kissed her again.  

Well. This wasn't exactly how she'd expected him to take responsibility for his actions, but it was a start at least.