Time. He needed time, Nereus thought as he put on the clothes they had given him at the lab. He returned to the room where three men bustled around test tubes and strange machinery. "So, where are you at?"
One of the three men - little more than a boy, in fact - lifted his face from the microscope he was bent over and placed his black-rimmed glasses on his nose. Then he pushed back the brown hair that had fallen over his forehead. Finally, when Nereus was beginning to think about grabbing him by the lab coat and shaking him, he spoke. "We managed to get a twenty-four hour window before the subject's death, this way it will be possible to inject an antidote that will nullify the poison."
"And where does the antidote stand?"
The man shifted uneasily. "We haven't managed to produce it yet."
Nereus' lips stretched, exposing his white teeth. A short growl of disappointment escaped from the clenched jaws. "How much longer is this going to take?"
"I don't know..."
"With the antidote, will it be possible to carry out the treatment several times?"
"Perhaps... over time... but we are not sure: the accumulation of toxins could prove equally lethal..."
Nereus zeroed in on the distance between them in a flash and grabbed the biologist by the lab coat, lifting him off the ground. "You are making no progress!" he told him in a snarl, bringing his face closer to the young man's.
"We are...doing...as...possible."
"It is not enough!" And his hand let go.
The young man massaged his neck.
"You have one week."
"But..."
"I advise you not to waste time arguing," growled Nereus as he exited the shed.
***
The last few days had been tough. And even harder they must have been for Alex, Michael thought. Catapulted into a world alien to her, she had found herself embroiled in a war that was not her own. And he had had no time to help her in this transition. He wanted to reassure her, to assure her that it would not always be like this. For that very reason he had booked a table for that evening in a restaurant in Oldgrove with good but unsophisticated Italian food: he wanted Alex to feel comfortable and finally be able to relax a little.
He took one last look in the mirror, fixing his hair, then walked out of his room. He felt like it was their first date, and indeed, in some ways it was: they had never dated. They had never done anything a normal couple usually does. But they weren't a normal couple, he thought. Not that he minded, but he didn't know if Alex felt the same way. Arriving at his door he knocked.
Alex was wearing low-rise jeans and a tight ultramarine blue jumper. His hair was loose in a wide curly mane. On seeing him she smiled at him. He smiled back and when she stepped forward he kissed her.
The restaurant was small and intimate. The table Michael had booked overlooked the restaurant's inner garden.
Alex sat down on the cushioned bench and looked at the plants illuminated by spotlights planted on the ground that made their bright green colour stand out against the background of the night. Then she turned to Michael, catching him looking at her. "A date," he said.
He smiled. "Do you think it's too late?"
"I never had a date."
"Are you kidding me?"
She shrugged her shoulders. There had been guys she'd had sex with - the ones she didn't beat up during dates - but none she'd ever gone out with. Unless a sandwich or a slice of pizza could be considered dating. "I've never been interested in those things." After a pause she added: "Never get familiar with the enemy." And she tried to play it down by smiling.
"Of course, I don't think it would be easy for them after being defeated by you. And anyway I'm glad I'm the first, so you won't have any precedents to compare with and I won't disfigure."
Alex laughed. "You're doing great."
"Good! Then after dinner will you allow me to invite you for a walk along the river?"
"Maybe."
The dinner was more than plentiful, the food exquisite. Funny anecdotes were told between bites, and Alex did not stop laughing for a moment. Michael looked at her happily, reveling in her beauty and the feeling of familiarity and lightness he was breathing in.
The walk along the riverbank took place in the moonlight. They were walking hand in hand when Alex stopped and raised his face to meet Michael's eyes. "Tell me what it feels like to be a werewolf."
Michael raised his eyes to the night star, then brought them to her face. "Freedom. A sense of belonging to nature and to the world itself. The senses are amplified, every detail takes on great importance. When I run as a wolf in a forest I feel part of it, I am part of it and of the night that is my mother."
Alex could read the joy, the elation, the exhilaration that pervaded him. "Why do you talk like that about the night? You can also transform during the day."
"But the night covers us, protects us - always. Its shadows hide our nature from the eyes of humans and, above all, from those who want to kill us. At night we can howl at the stars, run over hills, roll in the grass. No one pays attention to us at night. We are just one shadow among many, one animal among many."
Carried away by his words, she seemed to smell earth and grass, animals, something wild. The air filled with electricity. Alex reached out towards Michael and he leaned towards her. Their mouths joined in a soft kiss that tasted of forest and night air. Michael embraced her and pulled her to him. He felt her soft body under his fingers and against his chest. His attraction to her grew as his heartbeat increased. Alex's smell, fresh and delicate, intoxicated him, and the almost full moon made his instincts even more pressing. The kiss became more passionate and sensual.
When their lips finally parted, they were both breathing heavily. His eyes filled with desire and hers with passion.
"Do you mind if our romantic date ends here?" he asked her in a rough voice.
"Not if there is a sequel."
The road back to the villa seemed a long one, even though the car was speeding past the speed limit. Their hands resumed searching and brushing against each other as they reached Michael's room. Then their clothes hit the floor in a path leading to the large bed. Their bodies landed on the mattress already entwined, then the world outside that room was forgotten.