A Day In the Woods Chapt 6 by Cybrgigolo

Taking care of Jessica wasn’t terribly hard. She slept the rest of the night and all through the next day. Susan stayed the night to give Paul a chance to get some sleep. She changed her bandages and in so doing saw something that she had become accustomed to. As deep as the wound was it was healing remarkably fast. The ointment that Doctor Crane provided helped with infection setting in but had nothing to do with the speed in which Jessica was healing. Susan knew that the ritual had taken its desired effect; Jessica was now officially one of them. When Paul woke the next morning Susan told him when her bandages needed to be changed next. She had also started Jessica on an IV to help keep her hydrated; she knew she would sleep most of, if not all of, the day. Susan told Paul when the next IV needed to be administrated and then gave him a hug and a kiss and congratulated him. “I need to go home and get some rest myself.” She said. “Call me or Tommy if you need some help with anything. Give us all a call when she finally comes around too … regardless of what time.” Paul agreed and Susan left for home.Eliot had prepared for the worse the night before. He had brought a change of clothes with him. He stopped at a rest room near the parking area of the woods to get cleaned up. The blood had soaked through his shirt and he quickly washed up in the bathroom sink. He changed his pants and shirt and then put the blood soaked clothes into the bag he had the others in. He checked his watch and had enough time to get across town to meet Beth. As he walked out of the rest room he was confronted by a security guard doing his rounds. The guard asked him why he was there so late. Eliot quickly came up with the idea that he was doing a light jog and brought a change of clothes as he had a date and didn’t want to go all the way home and then back this direction again. Eliot’s face was flushed from hurriedly getting ready and the guard looked at the bag and bought the story. He had told Eliot that sometimes drunks sometimes use the rest rooms there. Eliot definitely didn’t have the look of someone on drugs or alcohol. He tossed the bag in the back seat and left, checking his rear view to make sure the guard wasn’t following him. The guard went into the bathroom to look around none the less. Everything looked fine. As he was starting to leave he noticed what looked like a drop of blood on the floor, a drop that Eliot had failed to clean up in his hurried rush.

Eliot pulled into the lot of the restaurant. It was a nice, quiet, out of the way place where you can sit and have a conversation, as well as dinner. As Eliot walked in Beth was sitting there waiting for him. He looked at her, she hadn’t changed much since the last time he saw her. Dressed professionally as she always was, shoulder length dark red hair, the same green eyes he fell for originally and was still in reasonably good shape for someone nearing fifty. Beth stared at Eliot as well. She had much the same thoughts. Eliot had aged well and hadn’t changed since she last saw him, maybe a little more grey at the sides; that just gave him that Sean Connery dashing good look thing she thought. She stood and Eliot went to shake her hand. Beth smirked at him, “What, no hug for an old friend?” Eliot smiled and hugged Beth. The young lady at the door smiled and walked them to their table. The waiter came over and asked them what they wanted for a drink then left.

As they looked over the menu they exchanged the normal chit chat of two people that knew each other but then again didn’t. How have things been going? Are you seeing anyone? What are you doing for work these days? Eliot knew Beth wouldn’t be seeing anyone as she had been consumed by her work for a number of years. Beth also knew that Eliot would be working some meaningless job as usual doing work that a student or someone just graduating should be doing that is trying to prove them self. The waiter brought their drinks back and asked what they would have for dinner. Beth ordered a rib eye, medium rare. Eliot smiled, an inside joke as he knew Jessica would soon be craving rare meat and he thought it interesting even though Beth had always eaten her steak that way; until now though it didn’t have the same meaning. After the waiter left Beth asked him what was so entertaining about her choice for dinner. Eliot shrugged it off, “It was just something that reminded me of something earlier.”

Beth didn’t waste much time and asked Eliot what Doctor Crane needed help with. Eliot took a deep breath and considered his words before speaking. He told her about the difficulty he was having with a couple conceiving and the recent discovery of the sperm lack of movement. Even that he said isn’t the whole problem. He had tried injecting sperm directly into the egg and it still wouldn’t become fertilized. Beth found it interesting and suggested several things, including using sperm from another donor. That was when Eliot told her he had tried that but the egg still remained unfertilized. Now he had Beth’s full attention and she was starting to become a little more intrigued. That was why he said he needed her help. Not only because of her experience in this field but also because she had access to better test equipment, equipment that he would never have access to considering his resume. Beth smiled, “Ohhhh … so it’s not just me you want but my toys as well.” Eliot was a little lost for words when Beth said, “That’s ok, when did you want me to have a look at all this?” Eliot said the sooner the better and Beth asked if he was doing anything on Sunday.

Eliot knew she was definitely interested or Beth would have never given up her Sunday. It was the only day she really had off. Beth had quickly covered saying that it was about the only free time she had and that they would have full access to the lab and whatever they needed without having to work around someone else. Eliot said that would be fine and would see her Sunday morning. The two ate dinner and Beth tried to probe Eliot for more information, but he was unwilling to give her much more information keeping her intrigued. As dinner finished and they got ready to leave, Eliot gave Beth a kiss on the cheek as they left, “See you Sunday at 8.” As Eliot got in his car he called Mike telling him of the good news and when they were to meet. He also told him that he hadn’t told Beth any of the real details yet and he would see where that goes when they meet on Sunday.

Paul took care of Jessica the rest of Saturday. Eliot stopped by in the afternoon to check on her progress and to also take a blood sample. Just as Susan knew though so did Eliot, no test was needed to prove she had accepted the change well. At ten that night Jessica finally woke. Her neck and shoulder were sore and felt as if it burned. She sat up and the blood rushed to her head. Her body was sore from lying that long and as she stood to her feet she almost passed out before steadying herself. She went to take a step and noticed the IV in her arm. She took the needle and pulled it from her arm and then stumbled towards the bathroom. She had to pee worse than she could recently remember. She sat down on the toilet and she started to urinate, she could smell her own urine. She never really remembered doing that before. The sound it made seemed louder than before as well. She never really paid it much attention before but now it seemed more pronounced.

When she finished she stood and noticed a trail of blood running down her arm from the IV as she walked out of the bathroom. She brought her arm to her mouth and licked. The taste of her own blood was salty on her tongue. It excited all of her senses. She suddenly realized how hungry she was and what she was hungry for. The more she thought about it the hungrier she became. She licked at her arm again, this time sucking some blood from her arm. It tasted so good she thought to herself. The smell of the blood filled her nostrils. Then as she stood there she felt her blood starting to burn. It felt as if her whole body was on fire. Her skin started to itch every where. As she scratched it excited her even more. She felt her body starting to contort. Her legs got weak and she dropped to her hands and knees. Paul was upstairs and cocked his head to one side. He could hear movement from downstairs and quickly made his way down.

As he walked into the spare room there was Jessica on the floor. Obviously having difficulty making the change for the first time and he wasn’t sure what had caused it either. He wasn’t sure what he could do to help. Quickly he ran to the phone and called Mike and Jean. They told him they would be right over. As Paul walked back into the room, there was Jessica on the floor, completely transformed. Her coat was shaggy and he knew it would fill out more completely in the week to come. She looked at Paul, growling huskily. The look in her eye told Paul that the Jessica he knew was buried deep inside and it was the wolf that was now in front of him. He slowly backed up not wanting to startle Jessica. As he did she slowly approached. The hair on her back stood up as she continued to growl. Paul grabbed the door handle and started to close the door. As he did Jessica jumped towards him and Paul slammed the door shut.

He could hear as Jessica hit the door and then barked and growled at the door. He could her claws digging at the door as Mike and Jean came in. he told them quickly what had happened and he didn’t know why. “It doesn’t matter right now.” Mike said. “She needs to eat right now.” Mike and Jean had both brought with them a large steak. They handed them to Paul and told him to give them to Jessica. Slowly he opened the door and again Jessica crouched ready to pounce. She stopped as she sniffed the air, smelling the blood and the raw flesh. Paul tossed the steaks to her feet and she grabbed them, going to a corner of the room before eating her treat. Mike and Jean told Paul to get undressed as they did the same. They said she needed to get calm and would only do so with her own. They waited for Jessica to finish her meal before entering so as she didn’t feel threatened and have to defend her meal.