213. When One Door Closes

Warning: language, nudity and some violence

Bridgeport, present day...

Devon was convinced he was having a mild heart attack. Dianne Morris, his boss for the last eight years, had just announced Killer Albums was closing its doors.

“I’m sorry, Devon. If there was a way to save the company…” Dianne said, but Devon wasn’t listening, he was already thinking about what he’d say to Eloise and Blake.

He felt blindsided. And all the clichés in the world people use to express their bewilderment.

He’d given almost decade of his life to Killer Albums, signed on more artists than all the other talent agents, raked in more performance awards too. He’d poured his heart and soul into his work, believing if he worked harder and produced results, Dianne would eventually make him partner. But now he had nothing to show for his loyalty and commitment.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. He had the new house he’d just bought even after Eloise had warned him not be impulsive. He’d used up all his savings, thinking he could make it all back soon if he just signed on more artists and made solid albums.

Yes, looking back he should have listened to Eloise and waited. It wasn’t a buyers’ market, but he’d grown impatient, he wanted Blake to have a home. Something he and Leigh had never truly had, he wanted his son to have a yard to run around in whenever he came home from school, and he wanted Eloise to finally start that organic garden she’d been talking about since they’d started dating.

“I understand this is all sudden, it feels like the end of the road, but it doesn’t have to be. Look at it as an opportunity to redefine yourself…” Dianne placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as she led him out of her spacious office.

Devon snorted at the remark. He knew she meant well, but he could do without her platitudes right now.

He went back to his cubicle to collect his stuff.

The mood in the open plan office was depressing, Robin was bawling her eyes out at her desk, and Jane looked subdued as she went about her business of packing up her stuff. The rest of his colleagues looked as numb as Devon felt.

He sat at his desk and began deleting his personal e-mails. When he was done he absently reached for one of the boxes; aside from his son's drawings and the few awards lining his desk, he didn’t really have much to pack up and he was glad. As much as he’d loved his job he’d never made his cubicle his home.

As Devon left the building ten minutes later he couldn’t help but marvel at how eight years could fit into such a small box.

At the parking lot he called Eloise. Not to break the news to her, but just to hear her voice. He was disappointed when he got her voice-mail…

The light knock on the door pulled Eloise's attention away from the paperwork in front of her. She looked up and smiled broadly when she saw James, the elderly security guard, leaning on the doorjamb.

"Working late again Ms. Eloise?"

Eloise nodded her head and rubbed her itchy eyes. She was exhausted and would kill for an eight hour sleep. She'd been pulling late nights over the past two weeks, trying to get the quarterly report on the plant in Twinbrook ready for the board meeting this coming Friday.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee or one of those fizzy drinks you youngsters love?"

"Thanks, James, but I’m almost done here,” Eloise replied with a smile. 

The old man didn’t look like he believed her, but he left anyway, reluctantly though when she shooed him away with a promise to take him out for coffee one of the days.

Alone again Eloise tried to return her attention to the paperwork, but her focus had been broken.

With a tired sigh she gathered all the documents on her desk and filed them away. 

She gave her office a once over, making sure she hadn’t left out any confidential files.

Satisfied that everything was in its right place, she grabbed her handbag and headed for the door.

She was waiting for the elevator to take her down to the basement parking lot when a wave of unease washed over her.

She looked around the foyer, and was vaguely relieved to see she was alone, but the strange feeling of being watched didn’t go away.

The elevator doors finally opened and Eloise cautiously looked around the foyer once more, making sure she truly was alone, before she stepped inside.

A minute later she was in the basement parking lot, it was deserted around this time of the evening, but that wasn’t unusual since most people knocked off at 5 pm.

She’d just unlocked her car and dumped her handbag on the passenger seat when she tensed up again. A low growling sound, very much like a bark, rumbled deep from her chest as she sniffed the air.

A familiar scent teased her senses, but for the life of her she couldn’t place it. It was there in her subconscious, but she couldn’t remember where she knew it from, and the longer she tried to focus on the scent, the more frustrated she got.

She hunkered down on all fours and began sniffing the ground, she was about to track the scent when she remembered there were cameras  placed strategically around the parking bay, a mugging incident a few years back had forced the higher-ups to step up security. And the last thing she wanted was to be caught on camera doing strange things.

She straightened up from the ground and just as she was about to fix her dress, the source of the strange scent made himself known, she couldn’t see him, but she could feel him behind her.

Normally her body would give her some sort of warning when she was about to transform, but not this time.

The change took her completely by surprise.

And it wasn’t the good kind.

Without pausing to think, she turned around and hurled herself straight at him the same instant he decided to throw his weight on her.

The sickening sound of bones splintering sliced through the air as his foot collided with her jaw. 

Eloise let out a pained howl as she hit the ground. She was convinced all the bones in her body were broken, but she didn’t give herself time to check.

Driven by instinct and adrenaline, she was on her feet once more.

But before she could lunge at him again and rip out his throat he put up his hands in surrender. “I don’t want to fight you!”

To an outsider looking in, he would have sounded like a wounded wolf, but Eloise heard his human voice clearly in her mind, it was gruff, like sandpaper on wood, not an unpleasant sound, but unsettling to hear so loudly in her head.

 "You sneak up on me in a deserted parking lot but you don’t want to fight me, what the fuck do you want then?” Eloise planted the angry question in his head.

For a moment he looked remorseful, but she refused to let her guard down, she didn’t doubt for a second that the moment she did, he’d pounce on her like the predator he is.

“I just want to talk, I need your help,” he replied, holding her gaze.

“I don’t believe I can be of any help to you, I don’t belong to a pack!” Eloise matched his stare as she began circling him.

“That’s exactly why I need you.”

Eloise stopped pacing then to process his words.

“Please, I realize I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have left you after I changed you, but-"

He didn’t get to finish his plea; all the bets were off now. Eloise lunged at him with a rage so potent she thought it would consume them both.

For an intense minute or two only their loud snarls filled the air as they engaged in a feral fight, trying to rip each other’s throats.

Eloise had never learned to fight, she never had to for obvious reasons, but she held her own for a while and she grew more confident in her ability to defend herself, but just when she thought she had the upper hand, he flipped her over and pinned her down.

“For a city sleeker you’re quite feisty, aren’t you?” he growled in her ear. 

She detected a hint of admiration and pride in his voice and it made her angrier. She didn’t think he had any right to feel anything other than shame for what he’d done to her.

“Get off me, you rabid dog!” She tried to push him off with her all her strength, but his weight crushed her down like a ton of cement.

“Not until you promise to be a good little doggy,” he grinned down at her, baring his canine teeth.

“Fuck you,” Eloise cried and punched at his chest over and over, trying to get some sort of reaction from him, but he gave her none. In fact he just towered over her and took her abuse.

Spent at last, Eloise lay back on the ground and stared at the ceiling. She felt the pressure on her chest melt, and she turned onto her side just in time to see him transform back to his human form, shocking her out of her head; he was as naked as newborn baby and her experience with naked men was limited to Devon and a college boyfriend.

He held out his hand to help her up from the ground.

Eloise averted her eyes from his interesting body parts as she took his hand; she was surprised by how gentle his grip was.

“Your turn,” he grinned at her, showing off a set of straight teeth.

“No!” Eloise barked at him. There was no way she’d transform in front of him. No way in hell he’d see her naked.

“Oh come on, underneath all that fur, you are as naked as I am, so really, no need to be shy around me, I’ve already seen what you have to offer.”

“You prick!” She tried to slap him, but he quickly caught her hand.

“Bad doggy!” he laughed, wagging his finger at her.

Eloise ignored him and picked up her shredded clothes from the ground before she made a dash for her car with as much dignity as she could muster.

Her passenger door opened suddenly and she banged her head on the steering wheel, wishing she could kick herself for not locking the doors as soon as she was inside, she usually did.

“That’s very smart of you, driving home in that state; imagine if you got pulled over, how would you explain that?” He said pointing at her.

 Eloise wasn’t sure though if he was referring to her being naked, or her being in her other form.

 “You have a point,” she grudgingly agreed with him.

“Ten points for Cruz, she agrees with me!” He fist pumped the air and made a cheering sound, causing Eloise to laugh, and just for that brief moment they could have easily been mistaken for friends just sharing a few laughs in her car if he wasn’t naked and she didn’t look like something out of a scary movie.

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Eloise’s anger was back full force, forcing her into stony silence.

  

 “I’m Cruz Desai by the way, the guy who went apeshit on you at the beach not so long ago.” He held out his hand for a handshake, trying to break the sudden tension filling up the car. But Eloise didn’t take it.

“Eight months ago,” she said.

“What?” Cruz sounded confused.

“Eight months ago, that’s how long it’s been since you bit me,” Eloise explained, she kept her eyes away from him, she didn’t want to look at him and be confronted with how gifted he is in the nether regions.

“I’m sorry,” Cruz tried to reach for her hand, but she pulled away before he could.

“You’re not sorry, so stop…”  she didn’t get to finish her rant, the sound of her cell phone shrieking in her bag pulled them back to reality, to the other world where she had a husband and a kid, and lots of friends who loved her regardless of what she’d become.

Eloise looked around her trying to locate her bag; she found it at Cruz’s feet. She guessed he must have dropped it there when he came in.

She was about to reach for it when she stopped, for two reasons. One, it was very close to the naked Cruz, and she didn’t want to have any contact with him, and two even if she did answer her phone, whoever was on the other end would only hear growling sounds.

“You need to get that,” Cruz glanced at her.

Eloise just nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” he told her and when she still didn’t say anything, he quietly let himself out of her car.

Eloise listened to his footsteps fade away, and when she was sure she was completely alone, she closed her eyes and mentally willed herself to transform.

In a matter of seconds, she could swear she was dying when her body literally unraveled right around her.

But as quickly as she’d felt the blinding pain, it was gone, and only extreme fatigue remained in its place. 

Her phone rang again, she knew it’s Devon from the caller tune. She reached for her hand bag, pulled out the cellphone and burst into tears. She couldn’t deal with him right now, but she knew he’d keep phoning if she kept ignoring his calls. 

As soon as the phone stopped ringing, she accessed the message feature  and sent him a brief text, “sorry, can’t talk, in a meeting.”

She hit the send button before she could change her mind about her little white lie. She’d tell him everything, just as soon as she’d figured it all out.

She called Leigh after that; her best friend picked up on her third try, and as soon as she heard her voice, Eloise burst into tears again.

“El? What’s going on?” Leigh asked on her end, she sounded worried, panicky even.

“I need you. Please come and get me, I’m at my work’s parking lot,” she managed to say through her sobs.

“I’m on my way.” Leigh told her.

“And please bring me some clothes,” Eloise added before they hung up.

Cruz was back ten minutes later, still naked. And Eloise was vaguely disappointed; she’d kind of hoped he’d rustle up something, even a plastic bag, just to cover himself.

She let out an irritated sigh when he dumped her bag in the backseat and slipped in beside her.

“My best friend will be here soon, you need to go,” she told him in a quiet voice.

“I have to see you again, please. I need your help,” Cruz ignored her statement.

“Fuck you, you made me into this and left me to figure out all this shit by myself. For weeks I was a mess because of you, I lied to my family, lied to Devon and my kid, I’m not going down that road again because of you!” There was a lot of anger in her voice this time around.

“I’m sorry.” Cruz hung his head shamefully.

“Get out and take your sorry with you, I don’t need it, and I certainly don’t need you!”

 “Our talk is inevitable,” he growled under his breath before he slipped out of the car and vanished into the night…