It was a few months after solving the problem in the mine that Circe talked to Merlin. In that time, she had not encountered anything special, just the typical muggers, thieves, and rapists. So, to tell the truth, Circe was getting bored. She was very glad to hear from her old friend.

“Circe, I have something that might interest you. A town near Los Angeles has had some rather strange murders over the past few months, with the latest occurring a few days ago. All the bodies have been torn apart and partially eaten, as though a wild animal attacked them. It couldn’t have been an animal because experts informed my source that there is no animal in the area that would tear a person apart like that. An old student of mine works in the coroner’s office there, so you will be able to get in and examine the bodies. When you get there you will need to ask for James Richards. He is somewhat telepathic, so he will know when you get there.”

“So the local police are only treating these deaths as animal attacks. I am glad to help. I’ll go as soon as I can. Thanks for letting me know.”

Circe finished talking and got a few things together. She decided to take a plane this trip because it would be hard to fly or teleport there unnoticed since it was a larger town very close to a very large city. Since she was going to California, she did pack a few skimpy outfits, and not just because of the warm weather. She wasn’t sure what type of person was being killed. She figured that in order to find the killer, she might need to fit the part of a victim. She knew that in larger cities, the easiest victims were women who worked the streets. But she needed to get all the information she could first. She had an idea that whoever was committing these crimes had left plenty of clues, and Circe had a major advantage over the police, she knew what she was looking for, and it definitely was not an animal. After making sure she had everything she would need, she called a cab and went to the airport. She caught the first flight to Los Angeles, and followed map directions to where she was going after renting a convertible. She chose that type of car to take advantage of the wonderful weather along the coast. Circe pulled into a restaurant just inside the city limits and ate before asking for more specific directions. While there, she noticed a very disheveled man sitting in the corner of the restaurant. Focusing on him, she felt guilt and fear emanating from him. She tried to reach deeper but she couldn’t, probably due to the fact he had been drinking. She decided to go over and talk to him, hoping he was not too drunk to be coherent.

“Excuse me, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.” Circe pressed on his mind to make him more willing to open up to her.

“I suppose you can. I’m not as drunk as I want to be yet.”

“First, let me say I don’t mean to pry or seem nosey, but you looked like you need someone to talk to. What has gotten you into such a condition.” She used a minor charm spell to make him trust her, the alcohol he drank made it hard to read his mind, but it made him more susceptible to the spell. She didn’t like doing this very much, but she had the feeling he knew something, though she wasn’t sure if the feeling came from intuition, her powers, or a combination of both. Because of this feeling, she was determined to find out everything she could from this man.

“Well thanks for your concern. I suppose it might do me some good to get this off my chest. Can’t go to the police, they wouldn’t believe me, would probably slap me in the loony bin. You’re not from around here so you probably don’t know what’s been happening the past few months. There have been some horrible deaths. Cops say it was a wild animal like a cougar or a bear that did it. I know better. It was a monster. I saw it as plain as day. There was a full moon, so there was plenty of light. It was tearing someone apart and,” he gulped as if to keep from vomiting, “eating them. I watched for a few minutes, I couldn’t move. I was terrified. Then the thing turned and looked at me. I ran. I feel bad that I couldn’t help the person, but I’m scared it will come after me. As I said, I can’t go to the police. Who would believe me?”

Circe listened and just nodded. “I believe you saw something, but because I wasn’t there I couldn’t tell you what. Can you describe this creature since you said you saw it clearly.”

“It was easily eight or nine feet tall. It had long sharp nails and fangs. Its nose was long and shaped like the muzzle of a dog. It was covered in long silvery hair. I think the most frightening thing about this monster was its eyes, they looked so human.” The man shuddered in fear while recalling what he saw.

“Okay. I definitely agree, you can’t go to the police. I think you should go home and try to get some sleep.” Circe then cast a spell over the man to remove the memories of that night and of their conversation. She then replaced the events of that night, so he would only remember getting drunk, going home, and passing out.

After watching the man leave, Circe checked the time and saw that it wasn’t too early to meet James, it was about eight. She followed the directions she was given and arrived there within a few minutes. She walked in and asked the receptionist for James Richards. As she was speaking she mentally projected the same thought. A few minutes later a tall thin young man walked in and asked Circe to follow him.

“Hello Circe, Merlin told me you would be coming.” James spoke to her mentally so nobody else would hear what they were talking about. “I asked him to send someone. I disagree with the police about what killed these people, but I am not knowledgeable enough to know what did do this.”

“Well, I will need to look at the bodies. All I can say right now is that I will tell you what I can, if anything at all. You and I have an advantage, we know that in this world there are things that regular humans believe to be myths and fairy tales. We are perfect examples of such things. I have done some traveling and have learned things that even the oldest people in Atlantis don’t know because of their reclusive lives. Well, let’s get to work, maybe I’ll find something on the bodies, after that I’ll need to go see where the bodies were found.” Circe also replied mentally, deciding that anything said about the bodies that was in argument with the police would be communicated this way, especially since she didn’t know who would be listening or watching.

They then went into what looked like an operating room, except the people on the operating tables were already dead. James pointed to the farthest table and stated that the body was the most recent, and that the first four bodies had already been buried. Circe saw that the five victims on the tables were both male and females, whoever was doing this obviously did not have a preference. Circe shook her head when she realized one of the victims was no more than fifteen years old, she figured the girl was probably a run-away. She went to the table that was pointed out and saw that the victim did indeed look as though it was attacked by an animal. The markings on the throat were obviously made by large sharp teeth. Teeth or claws also made all other markings on the body, to the untrained eyes it would appear as though an animal had done this. Looking closely Circe realized she had seen this type of mauling somewhere before. She thought she had seen it in one of the books in the Atlantis library while still in Athena’s classes. She closed her eyes blocked out all other thoughts and tried to contact her friend. Athena responded, though she did sound a little upset at first. When Circe explained what was going on Athena quickly understood the urgency and forgave the interruption. After hearing the request, Athena told her she would be able to help and she knew exactly what book Circe would have read it in. She also would be teleporting the book to Circe’s car, after getting a full mental picture of the car and its location. Circe finished talking to her old friend and teacher, and then as she was examining the other bodies she explained what she had found out.

“Hang on one second,” she said as she got to the last body, “ this one wasn’t killed by the same thing. Look closely at the base of the skull, a gun killed her. The body was eaten after she was already dead.”

“You’re right, everybody was so enthralled by the mauling of the body no one thought to look closer to see if there was any other possible cause of death. I’ll have to let the police know after we finish here.” James looked over the body again, a lot closer this time; to make sure there wasn’t any other clues missed.

James placed a call to the police explaining to them what was found on the last body. They told him they would look into it further and thanked him for the information. After finishing the last few things at the morgue, Circe and James went to the location the last body was found at. Circe looked closely at the area and found a few hairs and whiskers the police missed. She put them into a small envelope and put them in her pocket to examine further later. She also found a footprint in the dirt that wasn’t obliterated by the police and others who had walked through the area earlier. She examined it closely and found it to match the claw marks on the bodies and also discovered that it was somewhat humanoid though the size was considerably larger than the average human foot. She asked James if he had a camera with him, and since his job required it he did. She took photos of the footprint and then she looked up and noticed scratches in the brick wall. She took photos of those also, then told her companion that she had yet to find a hotel.

“Well, there are a couple of them here in town. I think the best one would be the one right off the beach. It has a gorgeous view and has a pool and weight room. It’s a first class hotel.” He offered to go with her there to show her the way.

“Sounds good to me. Since I will want to go over the things we found, I would appreciate you coming with me. I need to look in the book I was sent to see what they have about this sort of thing. Lets get going, I’ve been either flying or in a car for most of the day, so needless to say I could use a shower.”

They got into the car and he directed her to a beautiful, five-story hotel. She went in and got a suite and they went to the room and got settled. After spreading their finds on the table, Circe got out the book that Athena sent her. The book was about unusual and mythological creatures. Circe looked through it and found a chapter about animal attack deaths, and those creatures that would kill a person in a way that could be mistaken for animal attacks. Reading the chapter, she found what she was looking for. Before she could be certain though, she needed to compare the things she collected to the descriptions and pictures in the book. The pictures of the footprint and scratch matched, and so did the whiskers and hairs.

“Well, I think I know what type of creature we are dealing with. It is a lycanthrope, though I am not sure if it is a were-wolf or a werecat. Even harder than figuring out which it is will be finding the person who is this creature, especially since it doesn’t go after any particular type of person. If this creature had a pattern it would be easy to set a trap, so to speak. Have all the killings been occurring in a small area or all over the place?” Circe closed the book and gathered everything up and put it into her spare bag.

“Well, the bodies have all been found within a five-mile square. The place I showed you earlier is on the edge of that area. How are you so sure of what this thing is? Besides I thought that these creatures didn’t exist.” James was shocked at her findings and admitted it.

“I am sure. Look at that claw mark and that footprint and tell me if a person possibly made it. As for them not supposed to exist, Merlin himself was thought to be a myth so that should tell you that things aren’t always make-believe because someone says it’s just a story.”

“I apologize for my disbelief, I was raised in a small town in Iowa, and sometimes I still have a hard time getting past those beliefs I was raised with, in spite of all I’ve seen. Now that we know what we are dealing with, what do we do to find it?” James really wanted to help her solve this situation.

“Since there is a full moon for two more nights, we will have to act fast. I need a map of the area where the bodies were found. I do have a small measure of precognition so I will be able to get a rough idea of where to look. I hope we are able to find the person before they change form, because I want to find out how they were turned and if there is any way to solve the problem without killing them. I will have to teleport to Atlantis to retrieve some silver bullets in case that is not possible. A silver bullet through the heart is the only way to kill a werebeast. I sincerely hope that is not necessary.”

James then left to help the police with the case they had discovered while examining the one body. Circe focused her thoughts on her mother and asked her if the blacksmith there worked with silver and if he could make silver bullets. She told her what was going on, and was told that the metal worker there could indeed make what she requested. Circe finished the conversation with her mother by asking her to speak to the blacksmith for her and used the phone to let James know what her plans were. She then called the desk to let them know she was not to be disturbed till evening and to take any messages, to be held till then. She also told them that a young man would be by later with an envelope for her, she told them that when it was received to slide it under the door.

She decided to teleport straight to her parent’s house and arrived there quickly, startling Bobbie with her sudden arrival.

“Circe, what are you doing here? I thought you were researching a case in California for Merlin. Not that I’m not glad to see you.” She said all in a rush, while giving her friend a hug hello.

“I’m glad to see you too Bobbie. Where’s mom and dad? How has everything been going for you with the training?” Circe sat while she spoke with her friend.

“Well, your mom went to speak with the blacksmith like you asked her to. Your dad is working his turn at the library. My classes are going great, Athena says that in psychic testing I’m the second best student she’s ever had. You know whom the best one is, but then there are things now that you could teach her. Is there anything I can possibly help you with?” Bobbie was enthusiastic about her new life in Atlantis.

“There’s only one thing you can help me with this time, and that would be to return this book to Athena for me. This case is going to be a physical test, I’m dealing with a lycanthrope, and since the only thing you can do really well right now is psychic, I’m afraid you’d be in danger. Thank you, and tell Athena I said hello. I’d better go find mom and get back, I’m definitely under a time limit with this one.”

After finishing talking to Bobbie, Circe left the book with her and went to meet her mom at the blacksmith’s. She found her mom waiting there.

“Hello dear, he’s making what you asked for right now. He should be done very soon, he started immediately after I told him what they were for.”

As her mom finished speaking, the blacksmith walked out with six silver bullets resting in the palm of his hand, in the other was a gun.

“Circe, your mother didn’t tell me whether or not you had a gun to use these with, so I thought that if you needed it you could use mine for as long as you need to. I only had time to make six bullets so use them wisely.” He handed her both the gun and the bullets, and after wishing her luck went back to work.

“Circe, are you really going to use that thing?” Her mother pointed in disgust at the gun and the bullets.

“Mother, I really hope not, but I may not have a choice. I will not allow anyone else to be killed by this creature. I have to go now, there is two more nights on the full moon and I do not want to lose any time.” She hugged her mother and vanished, reappearing inside her car in the parking lot of the hotel.

She went inside and asked at the desk if she had any messages. They told her nobody had called, but the package she was expecting had arrived and was waiting her room like she had requested. She thanked them and went up to her room, picking up the envelope on the way in the door. She made sure the door was locked before getting started. Since it was only noon she still had some time before the sun went down. She pulled out the map and focused on it. She kept coming back to the exact same spot repeatedly, so she decided to start her search there later that evening.

She meditated until about six, and then took the map and went to dinner. By the time she finished eating it was sunset and time to go to the place marked on the map. She got there and waited, watching for anything suspicious. After about a half an hour, a man walked by. Circe staggered at the strength of the emotions flowing from his mind. At the front of them was guilt. She pushed a little into his mind as she followed about a block behind him. She was surprised at what else she saw in his head. She saw blood, anger, fear, and pain, both physical and mental. She followed for about an hour before she lost him. She looked up and saw the moon was rising. She kept looking for him until the moon set but never found him. Fortunately she had gotten a good look inside his head before he had gotten away and had seen where he lived. She went there and knocked on the door. The man from the previous night answered the door. He looked ragged and tired. Fear and guilt emanated from him so powerfully that Circe actually had to buffer her own mind to prevent herself from being hurt by his emotions.

“Can I help you miss?” His voice was weary, yet sounded intelligent.

“Yes, I was the woman following you last night.” She got right to the point since there wasn’t any time to waste.

“What do you want from me?!” His voice started to take a panicked edge.

“I know what’s happening to you. I want to help. I think you want to be helped but you can’t exactly go to the police with the story.” She projected thoughts of calm and trust so he would believe what she was telling him.

“I suppose you’re right. Please come in.” He showed her into his living room and motioned her to sit as he sat in a chair opposite her. He sat there looking at her for a few minutes before his story literally spilled from him.

“I suppose you want to know everything that has happened. Well first my name is Dennis. I am a scientist studying the chemical causes behind the mental form of lycanthropy, in particular the wolf version. In my studies I was trying to compare the various chemicals in the brains of a wolf, a normal human and a human with the disease. I thought I had found a cure and decided to try it on myself to be sure it was safe, if it wasn’t the only person hurt would be me, right. Wrong. It caused me to turn into a werewolf. That was a few months ago. The first time I changed I was able to keep myself locked inside my lab. But the next time it happened I tore the door and lock apart. Now that you’ve heard my story, do you think you can help? Do you even believe me? I suppose it really doesn’t matter, but I want to stop the killing of all these innocent people.”

“I believe you,” she startled him by speaking to him without using her voice, “for you see I am no ordinary person. I am what most people would consider a witch. That is how I was able to find you. I want to help you, but first I must see this mixture that caused you to change in the first place. Maybe from it we will be able to make an antidote.” She had the gun hidden in her handbag; she did not want him to see it for fear he would panic if he thought she would kill him.

He showed her to the basement, which is where he kept his laboratory. He then showed her the door and lock he had busted, the door was three-inch thick steel. She then knew that she would need to get the formula and take him to Atlantis to get help there. She got the vial with the mixture in it and told him that they would need to go to see someone in order to have a better chance of finding the antidote.

“We won’t be going by any standard transportation, so brace yourself.” She then took his hands and focused on the same place she had taken Bobbie and others.

“Follow me,” she told him as she started walking to the department of science near the library, “while here the moon cycles will have no effect on you because of the massive amounts of magic in this area. At least that is what I have been led to believe. If we can’t find an antidote for the lycanthropy, you may have to remain here permanently.”

“I will do whatever it takes to keep from killing people. The only problem is my sister, she would wonder where I went.” He followed, looking around in amazement and curiosity.

“We can figure that out when the time comes. That would be the easiest problem to solve. Well, here we are.” She opened the door and walked into a room filled with notebooks, books and folders. She approached the young woman sitting at one of the desks covered with writing materials. “Hello Allie, is Lionel in, I need his help, it’s an emergency.”

“He’s in the lab downstairs. What is so urgent Circe, though it must be important, you haven’t been in here since the time you had to deal with the case in England three years ago.” Allie walked them down to the door to the lab.

“I’ll tell you when we’re done Allie. Thanks for showing us where to go.” As they opened the door they saw a short young man standing and looking into a microscope. “Lionel, hello.”

The man jumped when Circe spoke. He had been so into whatever was under the microscope, he didn’t hear the door open.

“Jeez, Circe, you know that when I’m in here I get really into whatever I am doing. Next time please knock so I don’t jump out of my skin like just now. Now my friend, what are you here for? You don’t come to see me unless you need my help.”

“Sorry to startle you Lionel, but you are right, we need your help. What do you know about lycanthropy and the different definitions for it?” They took a seat near the table.

“Well, one form is the mental condition, where the ill person thinks he or she is a wolf or some other animal, though a wolf is the most common. The other form is the one in all the stories, in which a person truly changes form and becomes a werewolf or other such creature. Now why would you ask me such a question, though knowing your past experiences I wouldn’t be certain enough to say werewolves don’t exist. Heck, you’ve encountered vampires before.”

“Vampires!?” Dennis nearly knocked over his chair when he heard that said. He would probably have fainted except for all that was happening to him already. “They really exist? I had trouble believing what happened to me, now you’re telling me vampires are real. This has been one hell of a time these past few months.”

After being told the situation, Lionel drew some of Dennis’s blood and took some normal human blood out of cold storage to compare the two. He also took the sample of serum from Circe to see if he could create an antidote for it

“Well, so far so good. I can see what the serum changed in his blood; however, it will take me a while longer to see if I can develop an antidote for his condition. I want you to go get some wolfsbane and garlic from the druid garden.” Lionel thought for a second, “Hey, you better add some wild rose petal to that, and if you can think of anything else that might help, grab it while you’re there. Dennis can stay here and help me. By the way, you were partially right, the moon cycle will not effect him here, but that only is for for a short time. After that the moonlight or whatever it is that effects the changes will reassert control because his body will have adjusted to the magic. So by bringing him here, you haven’t saved him but you have bought him some time to search for an antidote.”

“I’m sorry to hear that it isn’t an option for him to stay here, but I am glad we have more time to work with. I’ll get what you request, and be back as soon as I can. I will also check with Athena and one or two of the other elders and see if there is some sort of magical cure for the problem.” She walked out the door and started towards the city hall building to speak with some of the older, more knowledgeable mages to see if there was anything they could do to help. She figured on getting the items from the garden last to make sure they are fresh when brought back to the lab.

At the door of the city hall she was greeted by the guard and asked for Athena. She was then shown into the sitting room. Athena arrived within a few minutes.

“Hello again Athena, thank you for the book, but I need to ask a few more questions. Can you tell me if there are any magical cures for lycanthropy? Lionel and I are trying to work in the lab to see if there are any conventional cures, but I want to cover all the possible solutions for this problem. I was able to find the person and right now he is helping Lionel with the blood work and such in the lab. The man is a scientist.”

“I see. Unfortunately I do not know of any magical cures for this problem. I think that you are doing all you can. I must warn you though, if you are not able to find a suitable solution to this problem then you may have to kill this man. It isn’t really a very good option, but it must be done. Either cure him or kill him, otherwise many more people could die.” Athena wasn’t happy but she was very serious, she didn’t like the idea of anyone dying but it was the matter of letting one man live and have dozens die or kill one man to save many. “I sincerely hope you and Lionel are able to solve the problem before it comes to that.”

“Athena my friend, I know what must be done, and I don’t like it either, but I will do what is necessary. Thank you for helping.” Circe rose and hugged her friend before leaving.

She walked to a small building in the center of the garden where she found one of the druids. She was shown to all the plants she needed samples of and collected them in a small basket the druid gave her. She returned to the lab and gave the basket to Lionel.

“Good Circe, now we need to try and see if a combination will have any effect. I don’t know if it will work or not. All we can do is try and see. Unfortunately it might very well trigger the change so when we do try it we will have to lock him into one of the cells down here.”

Lionel went to work right after saying that. He ground up the herbs into a paste. Then he used a syringe and extracted the liquid aspects of the paste. He walked Dennis to the steel and iron reinforced cells down the hall from the lab. Lionel injected the mixture into Dennis’s arm and locked him in the cell.

“Now we wait and see.” Lionel and Circe walked back to the lab and used a special crystal to monitor the cell. After about fifteen minutes, Dennis started to thrash around inside the cell. His bones stretched and grew, his nose lengthened, and huge fangs grew in his mouth. As they watched through the crystal, the man’s body transformed before their eyes, changing from man to half animal. The monster he became was easily nine feet tall and looked terrifying. But the change didn’t stop there. The half beast body started to shrink. It collapsed to all four limbs and the hands and feet shrank into wolf’s paws. When the transformation was finally complete in the cell where the man had been not ten minutes before was a silver wolf.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that to happen. I thought it might cause him to change to the werewolf but I didn’t think it would cause this transformation. Come with me, I need to inject a crystal under his skin and draw some blood to examine.” Lionel stared in amazement into the crystal as he spoke. He led Circe back to the lab to retrieve some equipment he would need before going into the cell. “Have a paralyzation spell ready in case he tries to attack us when we do this. His body has turned completely to a wolf, and his mind probably has done the same.”

They walked into the cell but the wolf only looked at them. When Lionel tried to get close to the animal it tried to hide in the corner instead of attacking. Circe tried to scan the creature’s mind to see if it was going to be aggressive. She saw that his mind was totally animal except that something told it that people were not to be attacked even if cornered. The only thought in its head was to run. Lionel was able to inject the crystal and draw blood. They returned to the lab where he looked at the blood, comparing it to the two previous samples. The DNA from the blood no longer had any trace of human in it but it still had trace elements of the concoction he had given Dennis before he changed.

“Well, he is now a wolf instead of a werewolf. We will need to talk to some of the elders to decide what to do with the creature and about his family, he did say he had a sister. Circe, can you arrange a meeting with Athena and the others?”

“That will be no trouble, Athena already knew about the situation in the first place. She will be glad that I didn’t need to use the silver bullets.” Circe then went back to the mansion and arranged a meeting where they would discuss the future of the animal in the cell.

The next day they had decided that Circe would release the wolf into the wild, where it would be monitored by the crystal that was underneath its skin. She would then proceed to the home where she would arrange for it to burn down after which she would contact his family and tell them he died in the fire. Circe herself decided that she would care of those arrangements, the others merely agreed with her. She then informed everyone she was going on a nice vacation in a tropical place, and they were not to call her for help for at least a month.