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Daniel Cain hadn't been suffering from Lycanthropy for very long – only a couple of months. It had been yet another major change in his life, thrust upon him without warning. He'd signed up for trying to bring the dead back to life, so why was he even that surprised by supernatural things being real?
It was just one thing after another. He'd just barely managed to get some kind of stable grasp on his new life, raising the dead with Herbert West... whom he'd become far more entangled with than he'd ever imagined possible.
The previous year, Herbert had gone through a change on his own. A misadventure which involved them robbing some samples from a blood bank had resulted in an encounter with a Vampire. A Vampire that had taken a liking to Herbert's flavor profile, for some reason... maybe it was the lingering traces of re-agent in his system that had added some kind of spice.
So Herbert was a Vampire now, and he'd adjusted pretty well considering his already strange sleep schedule and eating habits. However, it had not been without it's struggles, and in his own way Dan had tried to be supportive. Through all of the crazy blood theft, biting incidents, weird shadow powers and experimenting with hypnosis; he tried to be a good partner to Herbert.
Which is why it was so infuriating that Herbert seemed to be more concerned with studying him than with being supportive while his life was – once again – completely upheaved.
West was stood nearby, tape recorder running, notebook and pen in hand, just... watching. Every couple of minutes, the changes Dan was suffering would seep in, along with a new wave of pain. Instead of offering any words of encouragement, Herbert would just ask clinical questions.
“The spasms are about 3 minutes apart...” West murmured, writing his notes diligently, sounding entirely calm and unmoved by his partner's suffering. “How would you describe the pain, and where is it strongest?”
“Damn it, West! Stop treating me like a woman having labour contractions!” Dan cringed and groaned as another wave of pain hit him, the sound of his crunching bones ringing in his elongating ears.
“To be fair, there are several similarities- “
“STOP! Just stop! Just stop!” Dan cried in frustration from his position curled up on the floor. He was burning up and the floor felt cool – but he couldn't even begin to get close to comfortable. “You could at least pretend to give a shit about me. Didn't I support you when you were bitten?”
At last, these words seemed to give Herbert pause. He looked up from his notebook, his expression still calm, but there was the tiniest hint of confusion.
“Well what do you want me to say, Daniel? You already know that you're going to be alright...”
“But it doesn't feel like it right now! I feel like I'm dying!” More pain, more crunching bones. His jaws and teeth lengthening was making it difficult to talk. “You could reassure me...! Care about my pain!”
Bedside manner was not Herbert's strength by any means; in fact he could appear down right cold most of the time. However: just because he was scientifically curious about the nature of Lycanthropy, that didn't mean that he didn't care about Dan. Cain's eyes in particular spoke of his fear and sadness, and though Herbert would never admit it aloud – it bothered him to see Dan in such a state. It bothered him a lot, actually.
“You're going to be alright, Dan. Whatever transpires tonight, I'm going to be right here with you. I'll keep you safe and out of trouble.”
Dan heard Herbert's words, and actually did feel some comfort in spite of everything. Even if West was horrible at trying to be supportive, he at least could be counted on to do whatever he put his mind to.
“Thank you...” was all Cain could sigh, as if letting out a breath he'd been holding. His focus was on trying to breathe while his pain worsened.
Herbert was quiet as he observed Dan's continuing transformation. Cain probably only had a short time before he was... no longer lucid. They'd taken some steps to keep the situation contained to their humble abode – via some shackles around Dan's ankles. His desire to roam and hunt for food in the night was troublesome, for obvious reasons, and previous attempts to keep the wolf man restrained had proven ineffective.
Herbert had suggested renting a cabin out in the woods, where there was less risk of encounters with other people. Dan had insisted on trying to 'make things work' at home, using the logic that remaining in a familiar place would help him to feel more calm. While Herbert very much disagreed with the idea, he chose to respect the patient's right to decide their location. Even though he was certain that the plan was doomed to fail, he was going to do his best to keep his partner from rampaging and/or destroying most of their property.
The transformation suddenly picked up speed, as it always did once the moon had fully risen into the sky. It was brutal, but thankfully quick as it finished re-arranging Daniel's bones and muscle tissue. He screamed in agony, his cries quickly morphing into bestial noises as his vocal chords changed. A warped skeletal structure, with oddly twisted but canid limbs, hands and feet with claws, his body covered in fur.
The greatest concern for Herbert was the loss of higher brain functions – at least in terms of human cognitive thought. However, he was quite interested to find out just how much human reasoning skills and problem solving was retained post-transformation. In the weeks leading up to Dan's most recent change, West had obtained some dog and toddler's toys... for the purpose of testing a transformed Dan.
Unfortunately, the werewolf Daniel didn't have the longest attention span. Much like an excitable dog, any new stimuli needed to be investigated. It left Herbert wondering if he actually needed to read up on dog training techniques. The whole thing just felt nonsensical.
With the transformation completed, the werewolf Dan slowly rose up from the floor, stretching his limbs as the discomfort faded. His arms and legs were oddly elongated, enabling him to easily move while upright, or down on all fours. His figure, while muscular, was still lean in shape, with a long muzzle. The fur covering most of his body was reddish brown in colour, with black along the back of his neck, on his muzzle, and at the end of his limbs. He was a strange looking wolf man - almost fox like.
“Dan?” Cain turned to look at West, his ears perked up, curious at first but seeming to recognize him as a friend.
Herbert tried to engage Dan with one of the dog toys. A rubber one, with a squeaker, made to look like a box of Chinese takeaway. At first, Dan was excited to play, and chomped at the toy with reckless abandon, shaking his head as if to tear it to pieces. Herbert took notes and tried to ignore the annoying squeaking sounds. For all of 30 minutes, there was relative peace.
Unfortunately, when food was not forthcoming, Dan lost interest in playing with toys, and took to pacing around, glancing at potential exits and whining. The shackles seemed to be keeping him contained, but he was fighting them with escalating persistence.
“You're hungry. Of course.” Herbert at last set the notebook down and brought out the crux of his containment plan. He'd purchased some meats and fish that he was certain would sate Dan's cravings and keep him from wanting to roam around.
He laid out his offerings on the table: a boneless beef steak, a whole salmon filet, a pair of chicken breasts, and a slab of bacon. He had a proverbial smorgasbord of carnivorous delights before him. Surely, one or all of these would be enough to satisfy the wolf man's appetite for the evening.
Dan sniffed at the offerings, nibbling a bit of the salmon, but seeming otherwise uninterested. Herbert stood nearby, with a deepening frown as he watched. How could this be? He was complaining about being hungry, yet he wouldn't eat!
“Oh, I'm sorry. Would you prefer some Mutton? Rabbit? Shell fish?” West asked snidely as Dan went back to pulling at his restraints and vocally complaining.
Dan pulled against the shackles, whining loudly as he tried to get to the back door. Herbert pushed back against the wolf man's chest in an attempt to get him to give up. He tried distraction with the food, or with the toys, but was ignored. The only thing Dan cared about was getting outside – and when he wasn't able to get free of the chains, he resorted to another tactic: howling.
Or it would be howling, if Daniel Cain was a garden variety werewolf. The noise he made was more of a growl that grew into a roar or a bark. It was loud and obnoxious and strange. To Herbert's sensitive ears, it was incredibly irritating. First Dan ignores the perfectly good food, and now he's throwing a temper tantrum?
“Screaming will not get you what you want.”
Unfortunately, Cain had yet another tactic; one that West often employed against him. He sat and stared at the vampire with his big, dark eyes, pleading without words. For someone so newly canine, he certainly had this technique perfected already.
“Behave yourself, and maybe you can go outside for a few minutes” the vampire sighed, as he went about fashioning one of the leg shackles into a weird leash of sorts.
Normally, he would be unmoved by such antics – but it was Dan. He couldn't help but think back to when he was adjusting to his new vampiric diet, and got a bit carried away. Daniel had been trying his best to reassure him, even though the man himself was obviously barely holding it together. If anything, he'd been more upset than West at the time. Dan was worth the effort.
“We can go outside for a short time. But we are staying in the back yard. Understand?”
Dan looked at Herbert with his stupidly large eyes, before turning his gaze anxiously back towards the door. He didn't understand a word, and Herbert knew it. This was all an exercise in patience, and... restraint. Two kinds of restraint, if a wolf man could even be restrained without violence or a heavy dosage of tranquilizer; he still wasn't so sure about that.
Dan spent a bit of time wandering the backyard, sniffing around for any interesting new smells, not that he wouldn't have detected them while in human form. He insisted on scent marking in a few places, which Herbert reluctantly had to assist with. In lieu of having Daniel running about naked, he'd convinced him to keep his pajama pants on – he now had to remove them to prevent Dan from pissing in them.
Once the werewolf seemed satisfied with his marking of his territory, his vampiric companion attempted to coax him back into the house. He could only risk going outside because their yard was obscured by trees and bushes; from the road and from neighbouring yards. Going any further was out of the question – which he couldn't exactly explain to Dan while he was tugging at the makeshift leash.
“No, Dan. We're going back inside now. No roaming, we agreed.”
Dan seemed to have caught the scent of something that he was quite insistent on investigating, pulling so hard on the chain in Herbert's hands that the little man was beginning to dig a rut into the ground just to keep in place. They were having a supernatural tug-o-war and neither was backing down.
Until the old chain finally gave up, it's weak link breaking, sending Herbert falling backward onto his ass, while Dan bolted off on all fours. In spite of his coloration, he vanished into the brush easily.
“Damn it!” Herbert cursed as he scrambled to his feet, tossing the useless chain aside. “Dan! You get back here! ...Daniel!”
Nope, he was gone.
West sighed. He was not a runner – not that he could have caught up with him on foot if he was. Harnessing his (still novice level) magic, he melded with the shadows, traversing through them in the direction that Cain had run off in. Through the darkness, he was able to move much faster; hopefully fast enough to catch Dan before he caused a problem that was too big to fix.
---
Pickman and Darkmore were long streets that reached out into more wooded areas on the edge of Arkham, ending with the until-recently abandoned mortuary and adjoining ancient graveyard with it's dusty old crypts. Even the houses there were all old buildings; the area had a reputation for being spooky, but it really wasn't that bad. The more spaced out location was well suited to residents who liked things a little quieter.
Ironically, the area had recently received a sudden spike in activity on Halloween night, the only time of year that the Arkham populace wasn't as put off by the place, and instead desired it's olden, haunted New England aesthetics.
A small group of young women were walking to their homes in the remote neighbourhood, enjoying the crisp autumn air. They were chatting about their studies, their jobs, their aspirations, their weekend plans... Not one of them was feeling the least bit concerned for their safety after the sun had set. Arkham was a safe city.
Snap
Something in the bushes was moving alongside the group, it's eyes just peering over the top of the brush.
The women broke out of their carefree chatter, focusing on whatever was following them. It matched their pace, it's steps deliberate and only moving when they did.
They debated anxiously about what this could be – a raccoon or a fox? No, it was far too big. Could it be a bear? It was rare for them to appear in the area, but not unheard of. What should they do? Do they keep moving, or stand their ground, or what?
Eventually, the line of hedges and brush came to an end, and instead of remaining hidden, the creature stepped out onto the sidewalk. The group froze in fear, not knowing what to do.
The street lamps were spaced far enough apart that the spot where the beast stood was poorly lit, with only a dark form and reflective eyes being visible. It was large and furred, with long limbs that almost seemed ill suited to the rest of it's body. Sharp teeth slicked by saliva glistened in the dark as the creature could be heard panting.
Then, it stood up on it's hind legs, easily towering over the lot of them. It was definitely a bear. It had to be.
The women all screamed in terror, expecting that they were about to be mauled to death.
It was then that Herbert appeared, as if by magic, and hopped up to grab Dan by the scruff of his neck, pulling him back down onto all fours. Daniel yelped in surprise, and huddled down like a chastised pet with his tail between his legs, pointed ears flattening back against his head.
“Wait, wait, wait! It's alright! You're not in any danger!” West called out to the women, who regarded him less like a savior and more like a predator of a different kind. “It's just my dog. My big, stupid dog...”
This explanation wasn't that hard to believe, since West was obviously one of the two weirdos that had recently moved into the old funeral home at the end of the street. The pair of men were shut ins, but at least one of the girls had seen the bespectacled little creep skulking around before. This incident had not helped to bolster his reputation with the neighbours, who regarded him suspiciously even on a good day. Still, he avoided a potential disaster.
Tugging on the werewolf's scruff again, the vampire began leading his 'pet' back in the direction of home while the women went in the opposite direction, muttering among themselves about how strange the encounter was. Of course the freaky little man would have an equally bizarre choice in house pet.
Said little man could barely wait to get out of earshot before he voiced his disapproval.
“What exactly was your plan, there? Ask one of them out to a steak dinner?” Herbert growled through gritted fangs as they walked, caught between his want to keep their natures covert and his attempts to be patient with Dan. “At least you're a creature of habit: always thinking with your- “
Dan barked and pulled away from Herbert's grip, darting off into the woods again and leaving the startled vampire with a fistful of fur. Cursing, Herbert strode to catch up with Daniel, moving through the brush as it scratched his skin and got caught on his clothing.
“Damn it! Dan! What are you doing now?!” he called as he saw the wolf's form had stopped running up ahead.
Coming up to Daniel, Herbert found his friend chewing on a fallen tree branch as if the wood was some flavorful roast bone. All of the complaints about hunger, and Dan was attempting to eat food for termites. It was making him wonder at Cain's loss of cognitive function when he shape shifted. Was he not able to recognize food any longer?
“Come on, Cain. You'll get splinters in your gums. Drop it.”
Herbert attempted to take the branch away from Daniel, but the werewolf was stubborn and kept his jaws tightly clenched. West pulled a bit harder, and Cain held fast, bracing his long limbs in place in order to hold his ground. The two had a brief tug-o-war with the branch, when suddenly Dan let go of his end, sending Herbert falling onto his backside. The ground was damp with what he hoped was just the recently fallen rain.
“You did that on purpose!” the vampire glared – or rather, pouted – at the werewolf, who was looking quite amused. Like a dog that was excited to play, bouncing around with tail wagging. Unfortunately, his partner was one of the only people in the world who had no concept of what playing was.
When Herbert didn't immediately seem keen on going for round two, Dan took the branch in his mouth, and bounced a bit again as if to encourage the vampire to try and take it. Herbert was unimpressed.
So, Dan took his branch and darted off further through the wooded area – which was bad, since the more populous parts of Arkham were on the other side. Somehow, having a branch clenched in his teeth wasn't slowing him down any.
Herbert was still not willing to literally run after Daniel; and the shadows only got him so far. Once they were no longer on the outskirts of the city, there was much more abundant light, leaving the novice vampire without the strength to traverse through the darkness. He had no choice, he had to run. Or use a brisk walk, perhaps.
“If he's run off to chase women again, I swear that I'm going to neuter him...!”
---
Dan was following his nose, having caught a very enticing scent in the air: Food. He dragged his branch with him, determined to keep it close.
The late hour meant less traffic on the roads, especially on the out lying regions of Arkham. On these out skirts, just outside of the wooded area, was a cheap fried chicken restaurant; the only business about with the lights still on.
The extremely tasty smell was radiating from this building. There was a large garbage dumpster at the back, which was the side facing the woods. Sure, he could go digging around in there, but he preferred his meals fresh – and his mate would yell at him if he found him climbing in the trash again.
However, the back doors had no visible handles on them. Dan tried pushing on them, scratching at them. They didn't budge.
In a momentary stroke of canine genius, Dan stood outside the doors and called out, hoping to be given some food from inside.
There were two teenagers currently working the closing shift in the restaurant. One of them opened the back door, wanting to find out what that strange and obnoxious noise was, and immediately felt their soul leaving their body as they laid eyes on the creature waiting outside. Dan could barely take a step forward to start the friendly dog routine before the door slammed shut in his face.
Whining unhappily, the werewolf poked around, looking for another way in. The vent for the kitchen exhaust fans were spewing out the smells of cooking oil and fried meats: so he tried there. Climbing up onto the garbage dumpster, Dan wrenched at the vent covering until he got it to bend, creating an opening he could stick his snout into.
The smells were stronger in the vent, and it compelled him to push his head in deeper. But even in his current state, he could figure out that climbing into the building through the vent was not possible. However, when he tried to move back, he found himself unable to do so. His scruffy mane of a sort was too much for the small gap of the vent cover, trapping him in place.
---
Herbert was able to follow the sounds of struggling and whining to find Daniel with his face stuck into the back of a building, flailing his elongated limbs about. The sight was quite cartoonish. It was a fried chicken place he'd chosen to break into – of course. Dan's cravings for fatty meats had been a problem since he was bitten.
“How did you even manage to do this?” Herbert grumbled rhetorically as he assessed the situation, engaging in damage control triage. Firstly: was he seen?
Yes, of course he had been. He needed to keep the staff from calling the police, or animal control. If authorities showed up, things would get astronomically worse.
Herbert hurried around to the front of the building, rapidly knocking on the glass door. Thankfully, the teenagers inside assumed that he was fleeing from the beast and let him in without asking questions.
He saw only two staff in total – a number that he could manage. The first one let him in, while the second was still lingering behind a counter top fearfully. West engaged in damage control as he saw the door man pick up the telephone.
“Wait a moment” he demanded, trying to filter the annoyance out of his voice as he spoke. “You don't need to call the police – you're not in any danger. It's just my dog. He's an exotic breed.”
Unfortunately, the two teenagers didn't seem convinced that the canine who could stand on it's hind legs was just a dog. Of course, he got a pair of kids that hadn't actually fried their logic centers with illicit substances. He might have to use his mesmerism skills after all. Not ideal.
“Well regardless, he's not a threat, alright? He's just gotten stuck – do you have a screwdriver?”
“I dunno if we should be doing this, man... I should call my Manager at least...” the first teen said, still with the phone in hand. He began to dial.
In a brief moment of panic, Herbert held his hand out, stating, “Don't do that!”
Without really intending to, the vampire began to compel the confused kids into listening to his demands. The first teen put the phone back on the hook, a glazed look in their eyes, as they waited for further instruction.
“What do we do, then?”
The second teen stopped hiding behind the counter, the psychic compulsion having pushed their fear from their mind, at least for the time being.
“You can trust me: I'm a Doctor” Herbert assured the pair, already feeling a drain on his energy just from laying these simple compulsions. “I need a step ladder and a Phillips head, please.”
The pair didn't argue and brought him what he'd asked for, even standing in the back doorway and watching as he removed the damaged vent cover and unstuck Dan's head. Dan had been sitting there, whimpering like a trapped dog – having freedom of movement again sent him tumbling off of the garbage dumpster that he had been perched upon. However, he seemed pretty happy once he was back on his feet, tail wagging once more.
The werewolf made a beeline for the open door, briefly startling the two curious shift workers as he pushed past them and went about sampling the leftover food items of the day. Mains, sides, appetizers and desserts... even the condiments were not spared.
Herbert wasn't exactly quick about pulling Daniel away from his feasting, and the teens didn't want to risk going near the beast.
“You can't just help yourself! Stop that!” West growled as tugged at the handful of scruff he got his hands onto. It was like Dan's long hair was translated into his wolf form – for all the good that pulling on it did.
Cain was pained to be separated from a tray of crunchy, green-brown patties – Herbert knew that it was impractical to fight him the entire way back home. However, now that he'd found 'food' that Dan wanted to consume, the solution should be simple.
Grabbing a bucket shaped carton, the vampire concocted his 'Werewolf Lure': french fries, boneless chicken pieces, the weird green things; then adding some cheese and pouring a pot of hot gravy over all of it. He smelled it, shuddered, and made a disgusted face. It should get the job done.
“What even are those?” he asked rhetorically as Dan finally took his nose out of the tray of mystery patties and paid attention to Herbert again.
“Those are our new Vegetarian burger patties” one of the teens replied, seeming to want to be helpful. “They're made of tofu and shredded vegetables.”
“Of course...” West sighed, glaring at his transformed partner with disapproval, but still leading him to the exit. “All of that fresh food at home, and you ignore it in favour of this ultra processed, imitation meat. Come on, come get your nice big bucket of heart disease...”
Once he had Dan out of the building, Herbert momentarily placed his focus back onto the teenagers, setting them with a commanding gaze.
“Listen closely. A black bear came out of the woods and ate up the food while you hid inside of the walk-in refrigerator. Someone forgot to put a cassette into the CCTV's recorder. We were never here. Understood?”
The teens nodded obediently, and Herbert at last allowed to door to swing closed. Fatigue weighed heavily on him then, making his limbs feel like they were made of lead, and he could feel a headache coming on. He'd been chasing Dan and he still needed to feed himself. There would be time enough for that once they were finally in a secure location again, but the walk home was going to be an unpleasant slog.
“Home. Now.”
West's tone made Cain's ears droop, and he looked like a scolded dog while he walked alongside the vampire back towards Pickman and Darkmore – back toward Home. He could tell that Herbert was stressed out and upset with him. This made him glad that he hadn't attempted to take some of the apple pies from the food place as well, or the little man may have finally exploded.
The walk back to the mortuary was peaceful, quiet... but Dan could tell that Herbert was exhausted, lacking in the energy to even stay angry. Dan was dutifully dragging his new tree branch along – he hadn't forgotten it – but thought perhaps that he could carry more.
In a move that Herbert could not have predicted, the werewolf set down his branch, and then crouched down to maneuver his way between the vampire's legs before standing again. Said vampire almost dropped the bucket of food in the confusion(not that it would have made much difference to the beast who intended to consume it's contents), but then found himself with a mount. It was incredibly awkward, but... he was secretly pleased at not having to walk any further.
Dan picked up his branch again and set off at a much quicker pace, while Herbert held onto his scruff, mane... whatever it was. The experience wasn't that different from riding a pony – a skinny, more wobbly, occasionally bounding sort of pony.
Without having to slow down for West's lethargic pace, they arrived back home in just minutes, and Herbert was almost inclined to let go of all of his frustrations from the evening. He dismounted from Dan's back and went into the house via the rear door, setting the bucket of fried food on the kitchen table.
Dan insisted on bringing his new tree branch into the house, and Herbert was too tired to argue about it any further. He just tried to contain the damage as the branch was dragged in, it's spindling arms knocking things over and scratching at the old wallpaper.
“You're definitely going to be cleaning that up in the morning.”
With his branch now placed in the living room, Dan went right to the bucket of food and began chowing down, tail wagging almost violently enough to whip his partner. Herbert just watched quietly, letting out a breath as he removed his coat and went to update his notebook with his new findings.
“Slow down. You'll make yourself sick; that will be another mess of yours that I have to remedy...”
Herbert wanted nothing more than to go to bed, but he needed sustenance of his own before sleep was an option. When hunger became strong enough, it clouded his mind, and even made him a bit feral himself. It was a challenge to balance his vampirism with his career, and his personal projects, but fortunately there was a source of food always available. One that he had to babysit for 3 nights a month, but still... not all blood suckers were so lucky.
He could see Dan's cardiovascular system with his vampiric sight – it was impossible not to when he was so hungry. His mouth watered, and he bared his fangs... but when he tried to bite Dan on the neck, all he got was a mouthful of hair. He spent the next several minutes spitting out fur that had adhered to the inside of his mouth, and wedged in between his teeth while Dan remained oblivious.
Dan finished off his dinner, licking the remains of gravy from his chops. It was then that he noticed West's predicament and dutifully made his way to the bedroom, where he climbed up onto the bed and laid on his back, throat exposed. As if he'd been trained to do so.
Herbert was surprised at the intuition Cain displayed – he'd have to make a note of it.
The second attempt at a bite was more successful, and at last Herbert was able to quench his thirst. Dan's blood tasted every bit as junk food infused as expected: high in sodium and sugar, elevated lipid levels. It was more delicious than it had any right to be, and instantly West felt a sense of guilt at enjoying it's taste.
As with any feeding, the vampire's fangs made precise incisions, his saliva keeping the blood from clotting immediately, and what budding psychic abilities he possessed dulled any sensation of pain. Instead of discomfort, both parties were awash with a sensation of euphoria; something that often resulted in more intimate activities.
However, when Herbert drew back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Dan cautiously moved his nose to sniff at the vampire's crotch. West very pointedly pushed him away, giving a firm 'No' in response.
Herbert then rolled over to go to sleep, although it always felt strange to sleep at night since his transition. Dan still wanted to cuddle, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and snuggling up to him.
“It's a good thing that it's such a cold evening, or your fur would make me sweat...”
---
Both men slept soundly until late the next morning.
Dan was slower to wake than Herbert was, groggily fighting to open his eyes while West was already slipping out of bed. Cain groaned and blindly felt the spot next to him, searching the cooling sheets for the body he'd been clinging on to.
The events of the previous night were a blur, only remaining in his memory as fleeting images, faint sounds, and lingering smells. Like a dream that he couldn't hold on to. He could remember the sight of Herbert's disapproving face, some cute girls carrying textbooks, and... the smell of fry grease. The flavor of something rich and meaty lingered on his tongue.
It wasn't until he sat up that Dan realized how bloated and uncomfortable he felt. He groaned again.
“God, I hope that I didn't eat another half-rotten rabbit...” he muttered, untangling from the blankets and dragging himself to the bathroom. Of course, Herbert had heard him.
“Nothing as lean as a rabbit. You glutted yourself on deep fried delights, smothered in gravy... I think that most of it was 'vegetarian chicken'.”
Dan made more noises of pain from within the restroom; he'd probably be occupying it for a while.
“Why didn't you stop me?” he asked, making it sound like such a simple task to perform.
“Daniel” Herbert stood outside of the door, his tone becoming the one he used while 'gently' chastising his partner – which wasn't all that gentle by most people's standards. “I spent the evening chasing after you, keeping you from being exposed, and you would only cooperate once you had the oily junk food that you were so desperately craving.”
Another groan. West continued.
“Could I have been more forceful? Yes. However I was attempting to keep you under control without having to cause you undue distress... Perhaps it wasn't the best decision. You are gaining weight, you know.”
“Thanks, that's just what I need to hear right now...” Dan sighed, telling himself that this was just Herbert's way of showing concern. The little man was just a bit prickly about it. “At least tell me that I didn't hurt anyone.”
“No harm done, aside from getting mud all over my pants and frightening some co-eds.” Herbert had a thought occur to him then. An idea. “Perhaps... we should explore vegetarian meat alternatives for full moons. You seem to like them for some reason.”
“Fried tofu is kinda nice... but don't mention food to me for a while. Ugh...”
“Alright. I take it you're skipping breakfast then? Do you need to take a day off?”
“No to breakfast, but I'll be alright. I just need a few more minutes...”
This was becoming part of their routine each month, and with each full moon night, they learned a bit more about Lycanthropy as a condition. Herbert had noted the over all symptoms and processes of the disease, but was also finding that there was a lot of individual variance. If only there were other subjects that he could observe to see just how much variation there was from patient to patient.
Regardless, he would continue to be there for Daniel while he dealt with this new condition – and perhaps even learn a bit more about being supportive in doing so. There wasn't any harm in acquiring new skills. Dan was worth it.