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                It was

movie worthy, and likely more than the original book ever let onto. However,

unlike some depictions of similar characters on television and in the movies,

he was standing there stark naked. Clothing was designed to fit a certain

frame, and his suit was, by all appearances, custom crafted for his slight

stature. It seemed a shame that he was so quick to trash it.

                Having

nothing from his former body to judge this one by, except for the bare

essentials, it was hard to say if he had grown in all proportions or not. He

was certainly well endowed from the oversized muscles on his upper arms to the

rather impressive organ between his legs.  If had had been carrying the latter in his

pants prior to the transformation, he would have had to have had it folded

three times.

                "Whoa!"

                Edward

shook his head. It was indeed an impressive sight, though not equal to his best

form. Something told him to keep that a secret for now. Maybe it was simply the

exaggerated Hollywood persona that Hyde had been given, for certainly the movie

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman

had taken him to his fullest potential and beyond. This was right up there with

the latter, if not quite so overblown.

                "I echo

Maggie's sentiments. That is very impressive. And I see nothing of the werewolf

features showing up."

                "A poor

trade off in the long run. The side effects have proven troublesome over the

years. Had I known the results of my experimentation would have led me to where

I am today, I would never have done it. During some moments of great despair I remember

the day of my purported death, and wish it had been real."

                "But

why? All that life and you regret living it?"

                He

looked at Edward instead of to Maggie. "You are older. Do you understand?"

                Edward

shrugged. "I haven't been in the position to make experienced judgments like

that for as long as you might think. My transformation was retarded by the

presence of silver in my body from an accident when I was little. Maggie has

been able to change for longer than I have, so even together we have no basis

nor time span to make any rogue judgments on you or what you have done."

                "I see.

You are honest; a rare trait today. Lies are easier to slip out, but harder to

swallow when the time comes to reclaim them."

                "Yes, I

think that is true."

                "You

see, it's foreseeable that I could live forever like this. It has become a slow

death for me. "

                Maggie's

eyebrows furrowed. "A long life can be looked at as a slow death, but it seems

a bit morbid to me."

                "You

are young yet and full of life. Even your relatives, being old and yet not as

old as I, seem to have a certain spark left in their existence. What you see

here before you is nothing more than a parlor trick. While I have my routines,

they too have grown moldy and bland. I long for the days when this body could tear

and rend to its heart's content."

                His

manner of speech was fairly normal, but his eyes were wild and his muscles

rippled like pythons under his skin. It was obvious that the body and the mind

were running on two separate circuits.  And despite his advanced age in his normal

body, this one appeared to be much younger, albeit larger and more twisted.

Both of the weres were thinking the same thought and that was how much damage

he could still do in that modified werewolf body.

                "Yeah,

but you look like you're pretty spry yourself!" she said, hoping to humor him

with some flattery.

                "In

this form, most definitely. But that is a potential problem you see. This form

and my normal form are linked, just as they are within you. But my forms have

divided more strongly, and it has taken me decades to perfect control over this

one. "

                "And

that's a problem how?"

                He

smiled; a horrendous expression on a horrendous face. "Because this one has

stopped aging. When my other body dies, if it dies, then I will revert to this

form permanently."

                "Oh. I

can see where that might be a problem."

                "Do

you? I hardly think so. I am very much afraid that when my human self dies, my

mind will do with it, leaving behind the instinctive emotions for this form to

operate with. "

                Maggie

nudged Edward. "Why do I get the feeling this is some freakish Hulk episode?"

                "Shhh!

Be respectful. He has done nothing to deserve derision," he said quietly.

                "And

this form has excellent hearing, as I 'm sure you are aware. There is no need,

nay, no point in whispering. I am what I am; the product of stupid tinkering

with something I did not understand."

                "So

what do you do now?"

                "Do

young lady? I get up in the morning, go about my routine and in the evening

return to bed. It is the routine of nightly nightmares that keep me sane, for

they remind me of all of the horrible things I have done in the past. Things I

have no desire to repeat."

                "Could

you tell us about some of them?"

                "They

are not tales fit for young ears such as you have sitting on the side of your

head."

                Maggie

was used to the derision she received from her looks. "Look mister, I've been

raped, nearly murdered, I've chased this lunk cross country in Russia, been

through gun fights with silver bullets, and I've seen as much in the past few

months to match whatever you have seen on a reduced but equal scale. So don't

tell me what my ears have or have not heard!"

                 Stevenson looked to Edward who merely nodded.

The hulking beast twisted up his mouth in a sick grin.

                "All

that in one so young," he said admiringly. "There are many tales you can tell

me I see, so we must go about having some time together. "

                "Well,

we are only here by accident, and we are without passports. The sooner we leave

the country the better off we will be."

                "Nonsense,"

his deep voice boomed. "No one comes here to my home so no one will ever know

of your presence, and it's not illegal until someone actually finds out. What

better place to stay than here with me?"

                Edward

could think of quite a few places really.

                Maggie

was all for it. "Could we really? This place looks pretty neat with all the old

stuff you've got laying about. I think I could get into staying with you for a

little while." She looked to Edward for verification.

                "I

thought we were heading for a wedding. Are you sure you want to delay that?"

                "Will

you still marry me in three or four days hence?"

                "Yes."

                "Then a

little delay will hardly matter, now will it?"

                "As you

wish."

                She

gave him the eye. "Don't pull that Princess Bride shit on me. If you want to

leave on schedule, just say so."

                "No. I

am curious as you are. And the fact is, we are here now, so what better time is

there?"

                "That's

what I was thinking too. Everyone else can have their hotel rooms. I'd much

rather take up our counterpart up on his offer."

                "So is

it settled then?" asked their host.

                "I

guess so. I am with Maggie on this, but I still have some reservations."

                "You

would be foolish if you didn't. Shall I show you to your room?"

                "Uh,

just like you are?"

                He

looked down and sneered. "Do you have qualms about nudity, or is it just my

less than subtle form and the blatant display of it."

                "A

little of the latter."

                In

response, the body contorted until it had reduced itself to sixth of its mass,

leaving a small nude old man standing there, a little disoriented. "Sorry, I

haven't done a full change in a long time. I never want to push my luck. Allow

me a moment to pull out some new clothing, and I'll make tea. I'm afraid I

don't have much to eat, but I could break into the box of pastries I bought

earlier. On the other hand, there is a quiet little restaurant down the street.

It isn't fancy but the food is acceptable."

                "No

worries. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

                "Excellent!

I shall return in a few moments." He strode from the room, his narrow shrunken

butt a humorous sight after their recent dealings with his alter ego.

                "He

looks like a balloon someone let the air out of after a week of being

inflated."

                "Shh!

Mags, you are incorrigible!"

                She was

giggling. "It's true and you know it."

                "Maybe,

but it doesn't need to be said. And remember, he can probably still hear us, so

keep your thoughts to yourself!"

                She put

her hand on his arm. He heard her voice in his head. "Is this better?"

                "Yes. But let's not make a habit of this.

Consider it to be the emergency channel for necessary usage only."

                "Got it. If things get crazy we'll have a way

of communicating incognito."

                Their

host entered the room fully dressed, if more simply than before. "Thank you for

waiting. I don't often act so wantonly, but I haven't had a chance to show off

in so long I couldn't resist in just letting loose a little bit."

                "Understandable,"

said Maggie. "I like to cut loose whenever I can."

                "Do it

while you can fully enjoy my dear. A time will come when it won't have the same

satisfaction it once did."

                Edward

was fighting down his curiosity. It was getting the better of him. "What sort

of things did you do in your heyday?"

                "Glorious

things my boy! Terrible things! Things so bad that I left jolly old England for

years."

                "And

went where?"

                "Does

no one pay attention to their history anymore? 

I went to your country. I had met this wonderful woman; married with

children, but I found that those little details didn't dissuade me. I arrived

in your New York City and traveled across the country to San Francisco."

                "That's

quite the distance."

                "It

was. I made sure to allude to the fact that I was quite ill on that trip, and

that I arrived at my destination weakened and decrepit. Of course the latter

was a real ailment, as you will see."

                Maggie

tilted her head, catching that what was said was not necessarily what had been

going on. "But?"

                "It was

only a cover. The fact was, my transformations took a lot out of my normal

form. Feeding the alter-ego version of me became a gruesome chore. I took;

rather, he took to murdering, and then raping, and on a few occasions the

wholesale slaughtering of innocent people. I had fought down those urges for

the most part when I was my unaltered self; but Hyde, if you'd like to call him

that; he was totally without remorse."

                "So you

made it look like you were too frail and weak to have committed murder. From

the difference in body size and strength, I could see that being a convincing

act."

                "It

wasn't anything that required any thespian skills. Mentally I was sick, and

physically I was nauseated from the things I knew he had done. I looked

terrible."

                "So

what kinds of things did you do?"

                "You

are a morbid little thing, aren't you?"

                "Sure!

I have a fascination for the finer...details of a story."

                Stevenson

looked to Edward. "Would such things be appropriate?"

                "Do as

you see fit. Maggie is answering honestly when she says she has been through a

lot. She is no coward, and we have been through hell and back already. A little

story telling will hardly scandalize us."

                "As you

wish. But since I have so many, and many of them are blurry in my head, I will

regale you with just one. It is not nice, but it will give you some insight

into what I had created."

                "You

are aware, of course, of your American Indians. They were not liked by the new

owners of your country, much like my people were despised by the British. I'm

afraid that made them easy targets for me. After all, unless the red men took

vengeance on their own, who was going to come to their defense?"

                Edward

shifted nervously in his chair. He didn't like hurting people unless they went

out of their way to make themselves a potential threat. He certainly didn't

condone hurting innocents.

                When no

one replied their host continued. "I slipped off the train during one of its

stops to shoot the great herds of your buffalo. Wouldn't it have been a sight

for me to wade through those great beasts and hurdle them through the air? I

might have too, if I had wanted to risk losing my secret to that train full of

obnoxious twits. I instead made off to the north, assuming I would find a

village somewhere near this extensive source of food. Of course, for me, I had

different tastes at the time, and they were far from pleasant."

His face was a sad frown.

                "I

found what I was looking for within a few miles of walking; a loose encampment

of Indians going about their business. Back then, you see, the transformation

had to be anger induced. All that talk of taking a potion every time I wanted

to change is poppycock. But I did need to have a spark to set off the

transformation. Much like this Hulk character someone dreamed up and that you

have already alluded to, there needed to be a catalyst to motivate the change."

                "At

first the Indians just sort of stared at me like I was crazy. I was hot and

dusty, skinny and white. I don't know if they were torn between pity and hatred

or simply thought I had lost my mind. One of the warriors however, felt that my

presence was uncalled for, so he knocked an arrow to his bow and fired off a

shot. It never touched my skin. My alter ego was holding it in his hamhand,

snapping it between his fingers like it was a splinter."

                The

Indians went from mild amusement and irritation to immediate panic. In a split

second their intruder had gone from a wimpy white man to a hulking creature

straight from the pits of hell. It was where I learned my first Indian word; atahsaia.

I found out later that this term originated with different native peoples from

farther south, but that the tales still lived on in other tribes."

                Edward

ran the word over his tongue. "Atahsaia. I can't say that I've ever heard of it."

                "Oh,

it's an apt description, once I arrived in San Francisco and could find someone to

tell me its meaning. Atahsaia was an old legendary demon that killed and ate

people. It makes you wonder, doesn't it; how far back in time our kind go?"

                "So

think this creature they thought you were was something more than a legend?"

                "Legends

must start with some kernel of truth my friend. To them, and maybe even to this

day, that legend came to life. I don't think anyone survived to tell the story,

but I was a little more reckless back then. I might have left a survivor or

two. Certainly I alone, in all my magnificence, would have been fine material for such a legend, don't you

think?"

                "Indeed,

though I think that your normal werewolf form would have been sufficient."

                "Perhaps,

perhaps. I think that my present form is much more suitable for instilling fear

in others. For one, it feeds off of fear.  But emotion alone cannot power it. It must

kill and maim and destroy. What better way than to generate everything you need

 by being as terrible as you can possibly

be? Make them run - flee - scatter!"

                Maggie

was looking a little nervous right about now. "So then, do you or do you not

control it?"

                "I

thought I made that clear. I control it only so long as I live. When I die, I

fear it will resurrect and take over in that form. If it does, then I feel that

humanity is doomed."

                "I

could see where that might be a bad thing."

                "I

hardly think you do child. I killed indiscriminately in that form. My book did

little justice to my bad side, for while your audiences of today are sick and

jaded, my people were still somewhat refined. To go into the horrible details

would have gotten me banished.  It was in

part the reason I left my home. The woman I followed was as good an excuse as

any for leaving. I could hardly tell anyone the truth. Here in the America's I

had the opportunity to exercise my Hyde-side with virtual impunity. It wasn't a

good choice, in retrospect, though I hardly know what else I could have done.

You see in feeding him, it made me weaker. I had literally separated our two

halfs into different beings. I assume you have some small idea of how that

works."

                "Yes, I

think we do. I still have a bullet in my brain that caused a lot of damage and

made me do the same."

                "Silver?"

                "Yes."

                "Extraordinary.

Those rings have more power than I was led to believe."

                Maggie was

going to blurt out about the metal powder but Edward touched her hand and she

heard his admonition. "Don't say a thing

please."

                "They

have unique abilities, that much is true," he answered.

                "Yes,

they do.  It is a wonder that they have

no effect of regular humans.  But then,

what makes us different is what makes us powerful. "

                Maggie growled

a little. "Bullshit. What makes anyone special is what is inside. I would have

thought you would have realized that from the effort you have put into taming

your savage side."

                "Wise

words young lady, but not what I meant. I was referring to the physical

structure of our makeup. We have something extraordinary inside us that other

folks do not have. Why do you think that some many werewolves have ruled,

taught, sculpted, invented and created? We are smarter, wiser, stronger..."

                "More

egotistical?"

                He

turned a little sour. "I say. That's a bit uncalled for, don't you think? Do

you not feel it inside you?"

                "I know

that I'm special. But I know that there are two things that support that; who I

am inside and this man right here, who makes up my other half. I like being what

I am, don't get me wrong, but when I was able to give up murdering just to eat,

I was so terribly happy there are o words to describe it. Does that mean I won't

kill again? Of course not, for we have this bad habit of running into people

who need a little killing. But for me to have my life simply revolving around just

that? No. That would be criminally negligent. At some point I do want to be

normal. I want to live, just like you do, in peace and quiet away from trouble."

                "Well

said, well said. But maybe we are not so dissimilar. After all, you may

re-evaluate your words in another hundred or so years and see if they still

ring true."

                "OK,

fine. You have age where I don't. But I still think I'm right."

                "Then

do your best to follow such a path. Mine led me astray on more than one occasion.

Like those poor Indians.  Tearing and

rending them was such joy. As horrible as it sounds, such a feeling cannot and

has never been reproduced within this body. To hold so much anger and feel so

much joy at destruction is not something the average person could ever weather in

their puny, toneless forms. The disparity alone is enough to tear your soul

apart, and yet here I am."

                "Those

poor natives didn't have a chance. The braves came at me and I waded into the

fray like a farmer reaping wheat for harvest. I enjoyed the battle very much,

though it was over far too quickly for my tastes. Those who still lived would

remain where they were until their injuries sapped the life from them. That

left the women and the children. "

                There

was a slight leer on his face.

                "My

alter ego had an affinity for torture. There is something satisfying about

tormenting the weak and the innocent. The fear literally oozes from their

pores. And when you shred their simple garments and your next move is quite obvious,

you can imagine the looks on their faces. Ramming my..."

                Edward

cut him off. "I think we get the idea. I know of those urges all too well. They

are not something to be proud of."

                "Not be

proud of? Suit yourself. I may not be proud of what I did, but the ecstasy of

that thrill is a feeling that matches only the high from injecting drugs. It is

something you want more and more of. And because I knew where that would lead

me, I resisted. But know full well that I did it because I know better. But

that feeling is far more interesting that going about everyday like a little

old man stuck in his routines."

                Maggie was

a little irritated. "I have never engaged in the wholesale slaughter of

anyone. I killed criminals; those who stalked me to hurt me. We have killed freaks and

murderers, and even then I am not always comfortable looking back on it all. But

I do what I do to survive, not to get my jollies killing and molesting people

who did me no harm. Your alter ego is bad Mr. Stevenson. I will not say evil,

for I don't think such a thing exists. But what you did so long ago loosed

something terrible; more terrible than it ever was to begin with."

                "Mags!"

                "No, it's

fine. She is only saying the same things I have argued with myself over the

years. I cannot undo what I did so long ago. I have just tried my best to be

better. Can a man do any more than that?"

                "I

suppose you've done what you can. But what about when you die? Have you made

any preparations for that eventuality?"

                "Like

what my dear? I merely hope that my mind goes completely, for I could not live trapped

inside that body when it is consumed by rage and lust. Despite my fond remembrances,

and the thrill they give me, think of it as one of your roller-coasters. It

might have been fun when you were young , and equally fond to look back on, but

not something you would want to do in your decrepitude." There were a few tears escaping his eyes.

                Maggie started

to throw out another retort. Edward squeezed her arm. "He's getting emotional. Let it drop. I don't think we need him changing

back. I prefer him just the way he is."

                "Alright. But I'm not sure I

like him anymore."

                "What? He has been polite and

open with us. So far we haven't told him a damn thing about ourselves. So I say you just hush

and quit being judgmental. You know how much you hate that in others."

                She clammed up. He was right

and she hated to admit it. But he leaned over and kissed her, and for some

reason that made it all better.

                "Thanks!"

                "You're

welcome. I think maybe you need a little stress relief yourself."

                She gripped

his hand tightly and thought of what she believed would help. He felt a rise in

his pants that he fought down. He pushed back with his own ideas. Their mingling ideas

met somewhere in the middle. They both seemed happy with the possibilities. Edward smiled and thought back to her.

  "Later."

                He received

a sigh for an answer.

                All the

while their host was looking at them oddly. "I say, you do both look a little,

uhh, how do I say this? There seems to be a distinct age difference between

you. Would you care to explain a few of my nagging questions?"

                Maggie

cuddled up to her future husband. "Ask away. It looks like we have plenty of

time."

                The old

man frowned sadly. "Speak for yourself. I have less time than I once did."

                So the

two went into the task of answering his questions, such as they were, which at

times seemed very insightful, and other times merely prying. Hey answered them

to the best of their ability, but always with their hands locked together. Neither

one wished to slip out something important, just in case that information were

to prove to be their undoing. Friendly or not, this man had shown that he was

dangerous. There was no need to make the matter any worse than it might already

become.