Chapter 2 Relearning Control

"Again, Gabriel!" said an old man, looking down at him.

Gabriel looked up at the shadow of a man, wondering if he really was standing there.

"You've suffered worse, boy! Get on your feet!"

Realizing his father was right, Gabriel rolled to his side and struggled to his feet, even as the fur on his arms rippled in and out and blood was constantly splashing on the floor.

"Dr. Achak, I've never seen anything like this before," whispered Faith, her voice sounding loud in Gabriel's sensitive ears.

"The subject seems to be regaining some control over his body, despite being in the middle of the transformation," mused Dr. Achak. "How interesting. Could it be from the initial virus? Or does he simply have an incredibly high pain tolerance? Repeat the process of taking a sample and administering additional doses of the serum until the change is complete, and then notify me of the results. If anything else out of the ordinary occurs, let me know."

"Yes, Dr. Achak," said Faith, turning to a cabinet to take out several more empty syringes and then turning to retrieve more werewolf serum.

The doctor watched Gabriel a few more seconds before turning and leaving the room. Shaking his head, Gabriel saw his face was bleeding from the blood splattering on the glass he leaned against. His eye had regrown and his vision was restored, but the wolf inside of him had woken up. And it was hungry!

Clarence returned with a paper with the blood results just before Faith reached for the door to the cage.

"Do you think that wise? He's changed more, which means he will be more of a threat to your health this time," cautioned Clarence with a worried look.

Faith looked as if she were about to respond in a derogatory manner, but Gabriel's paper-thin patience to resist attacking her tore, and he lunged at the door.

"Perhaps you are right," she murmured distastefully, frowning at the slobber and blood on the door.

"I understand you were a great warrior before you were turned," said Clarence, staring at the paper in his hand. "But there are so few of us left after the war…"

"Do not be so spineless, Clarence," she spat, turning to grab a long metal tool that looked like a robot arm.

Gabriel fought for control over the wolf, trying to communicate the need to use tactics he understood, but all it cared about was getting to her body in order to rip it apart. In fact, imagining the way the flesh would tear calmed the wolf enough Gabriel was almost able to take over, but then Faith was there. She had taken opportunity of his hesitation, during his mental battle, to fling the door open and to use the robotic arm to grab him around the neck and immobilize him.

All the gains he had made were gone as the wolf took control, snarling and struggling to get to her to rip her apart. He gave up, receding even further as the wolf raged at her for stabbing it with the empty syringe.

"Clarence, please take this and hand me more of the serum," said Faith calmly, holding the blood-filled syringe behind her.

Clarence nodded quickly, setting the paper down and grabbing up the serum syringe to trade with her.

"Gabriel, are you really going to lose to a mere animal?" spat the voice of his father, disgust dripping in the voice.

Gabriel remembered the fight when his father had said those words. He was in the training pit outside of the city they called home, in the deep dark of the night, and he was losing to a giant dog. The creature had two lower jaws and couldn't stop slobbering, but that didn't stop it from trying to tear him apart with its sharp teeth.

"Pull yourself together and kill that thing! You are a Crusader! What are you going to do when you go up against a real monster? Roll over and let it tear your throat out?"

Gabriel's eyes snapped to focus on the syringe of green serum Faith was lowering towards his arm, and he screamed/howled, "No!"

As everything slowed down, he saw her eyes widen slightly in surprise, and the wolf retracted to allow him control. It wanted carnage and destruction, and Gabriel was willing to comply as long as he did it. Ignoring the metal arm that was holding him down, Gabriel knocked the vampire's arm to the side and kicked out with his back feet, knocking her down.

Before the wolf could rush back to gain control, he lunged for the door, and managed to get past the terrified Clarence who jumped out of the way. Knowing Faith was doubtless right behind him, he kicked out the table that held the numerous syringes into her way. Hearing a slight grunt from her, he didn't hesitate long enough to see what damage he might had caused, and instead grabbed the door and ripped it open.

An alarm started to wail all around him, and the wolf almost had him cringing in pain, but Gabriel ignored the feel of blood trickling down his face from the rippling fur. He knew he would heal, charging as fast down the hall as he could. He had to get out of this hell hole before the doctor returned or those two vampires managed to catch him.

Dodging and weaving, he was able to avoid capture until the light of day caught his attention and he dived for it.

"Faith, I am disappointed in you," came Dr. Achak's voice behind him as Gabriel paused to catch his breath.

He was standing in a sunbeam from an open skylight twenty feet above him. The room he was standing in was a parking garage housing a large van-like vehicle and a military-style helicopter.

"I was in the process of administering the next dose of serum when he kicked my feet out from under me," said Faith, turning to Clarence and adding, "Grab the paper so I can see the results of the most recent blood test."

Clarence nodded quickly and scrambled around before disappearing in his haste to do as she bid.

"You were using the arm?" asked Dr. Achak, raising an eyebrow as he circled Gabriel just outside of his reach from the sun spot.

"Yes. It was deemed too unsafe after his partial change to attempt the procedure without it," she said, leaving off that it was Clarence's idea to use the arm.

"How interesting."

Gabriel fought against the rage and feeling of betrayal the wolf was focusing at him to look around and judge his options. He had no chance to escape, unless… His eyes traveled up to study the broken window above him.

"Faith," warned Dr. Achak, noticing Gabriel's eyes, but the female vampire had no time to respond to the warning as Gabriel crouched and jumped with all the rage and strength the wolf would give him.

His claws scraped against the edge of the glass, breaking off a large chunk as he tried to find purchase, and he landed in a heap on the concrete. The glass he clutched in his hand had cut all the way to bone, and he found he couldn't let go of the glass because his tendons had been cut. The pain in his hand was negligible from the pain the serum caused him, so he shook his hand to dislodge the glass before jumping again.

This time he was able to grab the edge of the frame with his good hand and managed to climb to the roof of the building, glancing back down briefly to see Dr. Achak picking up the glass carefully and then look up at him, before he turned to run.

There was a wolf inside of him that was a monster. It wanted nothing more than to hunt and kill, to tear the flesh apart and consume it in large bloody chunks. Gabriel had other ideas though, and that disagreement caused the wolf to fight him. It clawed at his insides, threatening to tear him apart from the inside to force him to do as it wanted, but Gabriel had to find out what had happened to Xun.

Was the boy alright? What had happened to get him here, caught by these monsters?

Shaking his head to clear it of the cobwebs in his head, Gabriel stumbled and almost ran into a tree. Pausing to glance up at the darkening sky, he knew he had little time before the vampires would be after him, to fetch him for more experimentation. He had to keep going! Fighting the urge to howl from deep within him, he was off again; running.

XxxxX

"Here are the results from the sample of blood obtained from the shard of glass," said Clarence, handing Dr. Achak the paper.

The blood was hyper-nutritious for them, which fascinated the doctor for a moment, but then he noticed the virus from before was still there, fighting the wolf serum. It seemed to have gotten stronger. How interesting.