I don't own anything. (My new idiot-proof disclaimer.)

Lycanthrope

-Chapter One: First Bite

"Well this is pretty much what I expected on my birthday," Shinji Ikari commented as he walked along the streets of Tokyo-3. A cold wind blew suddenly and made him tug his thin jacket closer to his shivering body. It wasn't really anyone's fault that he was walking home from NERV alone at midnight on a cloudy, windy night. Misato had been forced to finish some paperwork after the synch test and Asuka had gone to Hikari's house, which was a great deal closer to the NERV building. Shinji glanced at the sky and watched as the brilliant full moon broke through the thick clouds for just a second. "Oh wow." For a moment the grungy streets of Tokyo-3 fell away and the beauty of the pale disk in the sky awed Shinji. The moment didn't last long and the clouds swept in quickly. A young couple brushed past him and Shinji heard the man talking.

"It's going to start raining any second now," he commented.

"Let's hurry then," the woman answered. Thunder crashed overhead and Shinji felt raindrops begin to pelt his head.

"Just perfect," he groaned with a sigh. The rainstorm picked up in ferocity and Shinji continued on his way. Lightning flashed and Shinji heard a low growl to his right. He turned and looked down an alleyway to see a pair of glowing golden eyes coming towards him. Lightning flashed again and illuminated a massive shaggy beast. "Nice doggy," Shinji croaked as he backed away. 'Nice doggy?' Shinji's mind shrieked. The animal growled again and began to advance. Shinji turned and tried to run, but the beast slammed into his back and brought him crashing to the ground.

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"Open fire!" Sergeant Marvin Lee sprinted towards the Third Child and opened fire with his Beretta. The other Section-2 agents also began to advance while firing. The giant animal on top of the Third Child turned and growled at them viciously as the 9mm jacketed hollow points slapped into its pelt.

"It's not going down!" someone screamed.

"The head!" Marvin yelled. He swung his Beretta around and emptied what was left in his clip into the beast's head and neck. It howled angrily and scampered off. Marvin quickly knelt next to the Third Child. His white school shirt was torn and bloodied. "Call in an emergency team," Marin ordered as he peeled back the white material and found the wound. It was a deep bite mark where the shoulder met the neck. Marvin reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a white hanker chief. He pressed it against the wound and watched it quickly turned red. "Hurry up! The kid is going to bleed out soon."

"Did you see that?" one of the other Section-2 agents asked as he knelt down. "I emptied two clips into the monster and it ran away."

"I want everyone paying attention!" Marvin ordered. "That thing might come back." In the distance Marvin heard a lone howl break the normal background noise.

"Fucking werewolf," one of the men muttered.

"It was the wind," Marvin barked.

"And what was that thing?" the man demanded hysterically.

"A dog," Marvin growled. "Stay focused!" A different kind of howl swelled and an ambulance screeched to a halt. The medics climbed out and opened the back doors so they could pulled out a gurney. 'Well they're fast,' Marvin thought. Of course the medics would have to be seeing as how the young man on the ground was one of the few people able to pilot an Eva.

"What happened?" one of the men demanded.

"He was attacked," Marvin said, his hand still pressed tightly to the boy's neck.

"What was it?" the second medic demanded.

"A dog of some kind," Marvin said tensely. "Maybe a wolf."

"There aren't any wolves in Japan," one of the men said. They stood on either side of the Third Child. "Keep pressure on the wound. On three."

"One. . .two. . .three," the two men lifted the thin young man and laid him on the gurney. The first medic placed his hand over Marvin's and the agent was able to pull away. "Let's get going! He isn't going to last much longer."

"Climb in the back," one of the medics said as they pushed the gurney into the back of the ambulance. One of the medics climbed in and Marvin quickly followed.

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"Misato!" Misato Katsuragi looked up in surprise as the door to her office banged open.

"What's wrong Ritsuko?"

"Shinji's been attacked," Ritsuko Akagi explained. "He's on his way to the hospital." Misato flew to her feet and grabbed her red jacket.

"What do you mean he was attacked?" she demanded as she muscled Ritsuko out of the door and towards the elevator.

"I don't know," Ritsuko said. "The man on the phone mentioned an animal, but I don't know anything else."

"Where the hell was Section-2 during the attack?" Misato demanded as she pushed Ritsuko into the elevator and hit the button for the parking garage level.

"They're the reason that Shinji isn't dead," Ritsuko said. "The head agent accompanied Shinji to the hospital. We can meet him there." The rest of the elevator ride was in silence until the doors finally opened and Misato rushed to her car. 'I made him walk home alone at midnight,' she thought wildly. 'What the hell was I thinking?'

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Marvin looked around the hospital waiting room and loosened his tie. He had already been there for half an hour waiting for any news of the Third Child's condition. The door slammed open and Marvin turned to see two of his superiors storm through the door. He shot out of his seat and saluted. "At ease," Major Katsuragi snapped. "How is he doing?"

"The doctors are still trying to stop the bleeding and close the wound ma'am," Marvin explained. "However, he is expected to make a full recovery."

"Do the doctors know what attacked him?" Doctor Akagi demanded.

"They believe that the attacking animal was a canine," Marvin said. "They aren't sure exactly what kind of canine it was though."

"You were on the scene right?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yes ma'am," Marvin said.

"What did you see?" Ritsuko asked. "In your opinion."

"The Third Child was simply walking down the street," Marvin began as he sat down in his seat and rolled up the sleeves of his white button down shirt. "He paused and looked down an alleyway. Whatever was down the alley made him turn and run. The next moment a massive. . ." he paused a tried to find the right word, ". . .beast bounded out of the alleyway and pounced on the Third Child as he attempted to flee. My men and I moved forward at that time and began firing."

"What were you shooting?" Misato asked.

"We were all firing 9mm rounds," Marvin said, touching the Beretta holstered under his left arm. "Some of the men had full metal jacket rounds, but I was shooting jacketed hollow points. I emptied a clip into the animal and it barely flinched. The other men will give you similar reports ma'am." The door to the emergency rooms opened and a young blond man walked out.

"I'm Doctor Sable," he said calmly. "The young man you brought in is in stable condition. We have managed to stop bleeding, but he has a very high fever."

"Did you check for diseases?" Marvin asked, beating both Ritsuko and Misato.

"We sent a blood sample to the lab," Doctor Sable explained. "It will be tested for everything from AIDS to rabies."

"When can we see him?" Misato asked.

"Not until his blood test comes back," the doctor explained. "We have no idea why he has a fever." Marvin picked up his jacket and tugged a case of cigarettes from one of the pockets. Maybe it was just him, but when doctors didn't know what was going on he got nervous. "No smoking sir." Marvin glared and shoved the box back into his jacket.

"When will the blood tests be back?" Misato asked.

"Tomorrow," Doctor Sable said. "But he is stable, so you should try not to worry."

"Now I'm worried," Marvin said lowly. "Should I stay here ma'am?"

"Yes," Misato said.

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Shinji jerked awake and moaned in pain. He felt like his whole body was on fire. "So hot," he moaned as his body contorted wildly in pain. "Why is it so hot?" Outside Shinji could here rain pelting his window. He stumbled out of his bed and felt his stomach lurch. He felt a sharp tug at his chest and a loud flat tone filled the room as the leads from heart monitor were pulled from his chest. He struggled with the IV needle in the back of his hand and finally ripped it out with a yelp of pain. The only thought that filled his head was the need to get away from this room and the unbearable heat.

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Nadia Summers looked into another empty room and sighed. "Damn it kid, where are you?"

"I wish I knew," the Section-2 agent beside her said. "And I would appreciate it if you would stay behind me ma'am."

"Relax. I really doubt that he was kidnapped," Nadia said. "Now would you put that thing away?" The man ignored her and kept his handgun gripped tightly in his hand. "Whatever," she said in defeat. Nadia opened another door and sighed as it revealed a room with only an older man hooked up to a life support machine. 'Why did they make me look for this kid?' she wondered angrily. 'It's not like I've ever met him before, or even seen him for Christ's sake.' All she knew was what the other nurse's had told her. They had said that he was rather cute with a slender build, a mop of dark brown hair, and bright blue eyes.

"What's up there?" the Section-2 agent asked, nodding towards a stairway.

"It leads to the helicopter pad on the roof," Nadia said. "That door shouldn't be open." She started forward, but the man stopped her.

"I will go first," he said simply as he started up the stairs slowly with his handgun up and ready.

"Whatever," Nadia said again as she started up the stairs after him. The Section-2 agents shoved the partially closed door open and swept the area with his gun.

"There he is," the man said in relief. Nadia pushed past him and stared at the young man. He was standing completely nude with his back turned towards them. A length of bloodstained white bandages lay at his feet and Nadia gasped when she saw the raggedly torn skin at the base of his neck. He turned and stared at them with glowing saffron-colored eyes.

"It's so hot," he said quietly. Even in the cold rain Nadia could see that he was flushed. "Why is it so hot?"

"Okay Third Child," the Section-2 agent said as he holstered his gun and stepped forward. "Let's go inside. The doctors can help you."

"Stay back!" the young man snarled suddenly. His golden eyes flashed and his lips drew back to show long, glistening fangs. He took and unsteady step back and his legs collapsed from under him. Nadia rushed forward before the Section-2 agent could say anything. She reached down and grabbed the Third Child by the arm to turn him over, but pain rushed through her hand. She jerked back and cursed.

"What's wrong?" the agent asked.

"He's so hot that I can't even touch him," Nadia said. The agent reached and pressed his knuckles against the boy's shoulder. He cursed and pulled his hand back. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio.

"This is Marvin," he said. "Get a stretcher to the helicopter pad now!" He stood up and pulled off his suit jacket so he could drape it around the boy's shoulders.

"Did he have fangs and golden eyes a minute ago?" Nadia asked.

"Yes he did," Marvin said.

"Is that his normal eye color?" Nadia asked.

"That's not a normal eye color for a human," Marvin said.

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Misato watched as the elevator doors opened and two medics with Shinji on a stretcher rushed past her. She turned and watched as Marvin walked out. "What happened?"

"Unknown ma'am," Marvin said. "Miss Summers and I found the Third Child on the roof. He was complaining of being extremely hot. In fact he was so hot to the touch that neither of us could move him inside." He looked around the room and seemed to want to add something. "At the time he had golden eyes, fangs, and displayed extreme hostility." Misato stared at the man. Section-2 agents were not fools. They were trained to report exactly what they saw.

"Could his eyes have been caused by glare from a light?" she asked after a moment.

"No ma'am," Marvin said. "And that still doesn't explained why he had fangs."

"I'll bring it up with Ritsuko," Misato said finally. "Stand guard outside of the Shinji's room."

"Yes ma'am," Marvin said before following after the medics with Shinji. It really wasn't fair for him. He was probably cold and miserable, but Misato didn't exactly know what else to do at the moment. She reached into her pocket and fumbled for her cell phone. She found it and punched it Ritsuko's number. The doctor picked up before the first ring was even over.

"Hello?"

"Ritsuko," Misato said. "Shinji woke up."

"What?" Ritsuko asked. "What happened?"

"He wandered up to the roof," Misato said. "Marvin Lee and a nurse found him. They said that he was too hot to the touch." She paused and considered adding what else Marvin had said.

"Marvin's the agent from the hospital, right?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yeah," Misato said, "green eyes, short black hair, and a scar on his eyebrow."

"Right," Ritsuko said. "Is there anything else?"

"Lee said that Shinji had golden eyes and fangs when they found him," Misato said. "He also mentioned that Shinji was extremely hostile."

"I see," Ritsuko said, her voice unreadable. "Tell one of the doctors to call me as soon as the blood tests come back."

"Alright," Misato said.

"You should get some sleep too," Ritsuko added. "It's almost three in the mourning."

"You're right," Misato said tiredly.

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Shinobu Hyasaka stared at her microscope and rubbed her eyes. "Hey Kagome?"

"Yeah?" the other doctor asked.

"Take a look at this," Shinobu said, turning her microscope's eyepiece around for Kagome to see. The other woman peered inside.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Its blood from one of the Eva pilots," Shinobu explained. "Does that look like human blood?"

"Partially," Kagome said. "I've never seen anything like this before."

-End

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-Author's notes. I'm just working on getting most of the grammatical mistakes out, so don't looks for new rants.