He was terrifying! His handsome face with fine, naturally tanned features was pale and distorted by fury. As for his body, it was so tense that he seemed taller and more imposing. The bitter wind made his hair fly in his face. He looked like... I didn't have a clear idea, but certainly not a human. My reflection hit me hard and I really realized that the man standing in front of me was not entirely one.

An underlying powerful and violent aura was emerging from him, hardly contained. I then realized that I was seeing him as he was for the first time. He had dropped the mask and, to put it mildly, he was intimidating. After the shock, I refused to be impressed and before fear could take over my courage, decided to fight back.

- 'You're repeating yourself. I suggested it first before you blew me off!' I said bravely, while I glared at him and straightened myself up with all my height. 'But that's all I ask! Which question do you want to answer first?'

He made a sort of inarticulate sound, to which the wind seemed to respond by increasing its strength. It's like it's reacting to his mood. That's when he tried to grab my arm. I dodged, moved to the left and took the opportunity to go around him and keep moving forward with a fast pace, which quickly turned into a race. I didn't think he would hurt me, at least not intentionally, but I wasn't going to bet my future on it either. I didn't really know him after all and he seemed to have serious anger management problems.

By the time I got to the street where we were parked, the wind had stopped as suddenly as it had appeared, and Jude had disappeared. Strangely enough, this did not reassure me. Once in front of the car, I had to stop to look for my damn keys, when a shadow came out of an adjacent alley and approached me cautiously, as if not to frighten me.

- 'Where are you going?' he asked me with his usual disdainful voice.

I guess by the sound of his voice, he had calmed down. A brief glance at his apparent look, which had become "normal" again, confirmed my deduction. I stopped rummaging around feverishly and randomly in my bag, to put it on the hood of the car and resume a more organized search, in the light of the streetlight, ignoring him royally.

Nevertheless, unable to concentrate, I pushed the bag back with a growl of frustration and crossed Jude's eyes as he watched me from the other side of the hood.

- 'What exactly was that?' I asked him in a trembling voice, instead of answering his question.

- 'That, as you say, was the reaction of a metamorph pushed to the edge,' he replied as he tried to control his voice without much success. 'What the hell were you doing, telling him everything? Have you become suicidal or something?'

- 'Not suicidal... desperate! At the time, I thought it was a good idea. Anyway, I didn't have many other options and I didn't tell him everything,' I replied in an offended tone.

- 'No, it's true, you're right, nothing very interesting! I...'

- 'Oh no,' I exclaimed angry. 'Don't give me the "I told you so" trick! After all, your sacrosanct secret is safe, so what's the problem? I had a feeling you wouldn't be happy, but that didn't mean you had to play the exterminating angel. You scared the shit out of me,' I breathed.

I saw his gaze soften for a second, only to finally regain its cold and arrogant expression.

- 'You're not expecting me to apologize, are you? Your behavior would have driven anyone crazy,' he roared in a dangerously low voice as he walked around the car to get closer to me. 'So I ask again, where do you think you're going?'

- 'Home,' I replied defensively. 'I have to change and make sure I don't have any messages waiting for me. Moreover, it's a place like any other for our little discussion,' I told him, victorious, as I opened the car.

- 'Oh yes, of course, very clever!' he grunted as he glared at me, again. 'Don't you think that's where "Columbo" will go first? He seemed to me to be more of a tenacious type and not a trusting guy. He'll have you watched, unless he does it himself. Not to mention, it's the perfect place for an ambush. It's stupid and above all far too dangerous.'

He shook his head and hissed between his teeth with an exasperated look, as if he was talking to a child.

- 'Of course I thought about it, but it would also be a great opportunity to finally know who is behind this whole thing,' I replied in bad faith.

His reasoning was logical and I was so upset that I didn't think about it that I had instinctively shut down. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right, but his smirk made me realize that I hadn't fooled anyone.

As I was about to open my mouth, I heard a kind of shrill whistle followed by a brief metallic sound, before I found myself violently pinned down by ninety kilos of leather metamorph. I grunted at the shock of the impact and already tried to free myself, when with a single movement, Jude got up and dragged me with him. He turned me around, then pushed me hard with one hand into the palm of my back.

- 'Run!'

I stumbled, grabbed the car as best I could and hesitated a split second... one too many. A new whistle sounded, followed by the sound of a new metallic impact, and I felt Jude pushing me again.

- 'Run, damn it! Get the hell out of here!'

I heard him make a muffled growl, but resisted the urge to look to his side and finally made a run for it. I hesitated for a moment to look around to see how he was doing, when a new detonation prompted me to resume my run without looking back.

I was running randomly through streets and alleys that were getting more and more sinister, without really paying attention where I was going. Anyway, I could have walked in circles for hours without even realizing it because this moonless night made all the buildings look the same to me.

I had the strange feeling that time stopped. This particular moment, when everything seems to be happening at a crazy speed, but as if in slow motion. I continued running like an automaton with the unpleasant and disturbing feeling of hearing footsteps behind me, without being able to figure out if they were real or not. I hoped it was Jude following me, but what remained of reason whispered to me that it was unlikely. He wouldn't have just followed me and risked worrying me, he would have just joined me.

After a while, my body gave up on me and I was forced to slow down. I hid behind smelly dumpsters to catch my breath and try to determine where I was. Running around like that without a goal was not a long-term solution.

I crouched down and tried to slow my jerky breathing. I may not have been a great sportswoman, but I usually had more energy than that. Once I recovered, I attempted to figure out through all the means at my disposal if I was still being pursued and especially by whom... or by what? I mean, it was such a crazy situation, it could have been anyone. We had never even seen them yet. Looks like we were being chased by phantom hunters. Considering my current luck, it seemed feasible. But what could they possibly want with me damn it?

Shaking my head out of frustration, I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, to reproduce the state of communion achieved thanks to Jude. I tried to open my mind to external perceptions, not without a certain apprehension, lost in the middle of the city, without knowing what to expect.

I couldn't stop my body from shaking and my brain was out of work, and why was I doing that? It's not as if it would be of any use to me. In fact, I didn't even know exactly what it was. What exactly was I picking up, emotions or thoughts? And from whom? Animals, shapeshifters, humans? I crouched down and took my head in my hands. I was drifting away. I had to calm down and find Jude. Without him, I had no control over anything. It was too new for me and it would certainly be more useful than what I was doing, which obviously was not leading to anything.

Although I "felt" something. Like a kind of presence on the edge of my mind, a kind of soft white heat that smelled like milk and fur. It was really strange, because I didn't smell with my nose, but with my mind. Intrigued, I went to the source of this feeling and tried to send a soothing aura around me. I didn't have to go very far and discovered what I was looking for under a pile of old rags and abandoned boxes when I went around the next dumpster. It was a mother mouse and her babies. I remained under the spell for a moment, then tried to make it mentally understand that I didn't want to hurt them, before replacing the rags as I had found them.

All right, it was not helpful in this case, but this experience had at least had the advantage of putting my head together again and gave me a new perspective. I tried again to detect any possible traps, but in a more conventional way this time, and simply ventured to take a discreet look around.

Detecting nothing suspicious, I set out to carefully retrace my steps, hoping to meet Jude on my way. His absence was starting to worry me and I felt the panic growing. After going round in circles to no avail, I stopped in the shade of a porch and tried to calm myself. When I smelled it... a faint smell of blood and a " warm breeze " sensation that seemed familiar in all this strangeness. I hesitated for a moment and walked silently alongside the walls.

The track led me to a small, shabby electrical room with a broken door covered with obscene graffiti. The pungent smell of urine took hold of my throat, but was quickly replaced by the smell of blood, which became stronger as I cautiously approached the small building. It was so intrusive, in fact, that it overshadowed everything, even the familiar sensation that had brought me here. My head kept screaming it was a trap! While another part of my brain knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had to open this door. I was torn between these two compulsions, completely lost.

It was then that the rain began to pour, soaking me quickly to the bones. I rushed to the door, now with almost only one thought in my mind: to protect myself from the flood. After all, if they really wanted to capture me or eliminate me, they probably would have already done so. So I pushed the door and prepared to pull it back immediately behind me, when my gaze fell on an indistinct shape lying on the ground. I instinctively stood against the left wall, out of breath and with wide eyes.

Despite the light now filtering through the half-opened door, it was too dark for me to clearly see what was in front of me. I tried to calm down and approached cautiously. I took a few steps towards the centre of the room, when a ray of light, coming from one of the streetlights, fell right in front of me on the dark elongated shape.

It was Jude! I instantly found myself kneeling next to him, with my heart throbbing and tears in my eyes, without any memory of having moved. I looked at his frightfully motionless body and prayed to see his chest rise. Losing precious time unnecessarily, I braved my initial reluctance and tried to determine by clumsy movements if he was still alive. Shit! I didn't know anything about first aid, but the blood on my jeans was not a good thing.

An intense but short-lived relief invaded me when I finally detected a pulse and a semblance of breathing. He was still alive, but for how long? I was helpless there, twisting my hands without knowing what to do; but why didn't he heal? Since his injuries did not kill him on the spot, he should normally already be recovering. No matter how long I waited, looking for the slightest sign of improvement, nothing happened. It was then that his own words came back to me, as well as his worried look of the moment.

"... beyond a certain amount of damage, the accelerated healing capacity we have is no longer sufficient. »

No, no, no, no, that wasn't possible! I had to do something, but what? I was there, shaking in all directions, panicked, when I heard a weak moaning sound. I hurried back to him and stuck my ear to his mouth.

- 'It will be all right,' I whispered to him in a voice knotted with anguish, as I stroked his hair.

I knew very well that was not true. How could it be all right? We were in a deserted area, without a soul living around and no way to call for help. My cell phone was left in my bag next to the car and Jude had... Maybe he had his own? I felt a hint of hope reborn and began to stand up to look for it, when his weak hand held me by the arm.

- 'You have to... remove... the bullets,' he murmured so weakly that I hoped I had heard wrong.

- 'Wha... what...?' I stuttered as I began to search his pockets feverishly. 'I'll find your cell phone and call 911. It will be all right, you will see,' I reassured myself in a trembling voice as I held back my tears.

He tried again to move his hand to reach mine, but it seemed to require too much effort.

- 'No time... can't heal if you... if you don't remove the bullets...'

- 'But I can't do that here! And with what... my fingers?' I choked.

- 'Yes,' he said in a breath that ended in a kind of moan that did not bode well.

- 'Shit!'

I had got up and was pacing around with my head in my hands. I couldn't do that?! I was going to kill him! Either way, if I didn't do anything, he was dead, as the blood puddle that was widening under him was telling. I forced myself to get closer, and knelt down again at his side. I took a deep trembling breath and tried to determine where the wounds were located. It seemed like hours when I finally found three.

The entry wounds were all located at the back of his body, one below the left shoulder blade, another in the right side of his abdomen and the last, and most disturbing, in his thigh very close to the femoral artery. Even I, who knew nothing about medicine, knew that you could bleed to death in a few minutes if this artery was affected. How was I going to remove the bullet without damaging it further? Everything in due course. If I could already remove the first two without killing him, there would still be time to worry about it then.

I had already had trouble putting him on his side to find his wounds, now I had to put him on his stomach. I couldn't afford to fail. I set out to turn him over as gently as possible, while encouraging him. Nevertheless, he could not hold back a growl of pain and I tensed up for a moment. I waited a few seconds for his breathing to calm down, then began to take off his jacket and shirt and tried to spare him as much pain as possible. Seeing that it was a lost cause for the shirt, I tore it up, then with shaky hands and my heart pounding, I positioned myself above the first wound.

I tried not to think of anything, nor the smell of the increasingly suffocating blood, nor the feeling of my fingers digging through the flesh into the muscles and tendons, and especially not the disgusting wet noise that resulted from it! It was especially Jude's increasingly difficult breathing, as well as his tense face, that informed me that he was in a lot of pain. " Let him pass out, let him pass out" I prayed in vain. He was conscious during the whole time it took me to remove the first two bullets.

- 'Go ahead. It will be fine,' he said in a slightly firmer voice when he felt my hesitation.

- 'It's very close to your femoral artery. If I cut it while removing the bullet... you'll bleed to death. Well, if you have any left,' I joked in a voice as dull as my smile.

- 'Take it off in one go. Once it is removed, my body will heal the damage,' he said, closing his eyes with a tired look.

I didn't take the time to think about what I was doing and plunged my fingers into the wound. I felt him stiffen and the muscle in his thigh contracted, bringing the projectile closer to his artery. I grabbed it and began to pull it up when I simultaneously felt the vessel tearing and the wound filling with blood at an unimaginable speed. Panicked, I pulled my fingers out with a sharp motion and threw the bullet away before trying to contain the flow of blood by compressing the wound with both my hands.

- 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' I chanted as I watched the blood flow ever so fast through my fingers.

I got up so I could apply more pressure to the wound and press it down with all my weight. I took the opportunity to take a look at his face and was not reassured at all. He was barely breathing and his features had taken a disturbing shade of grey. It wasn't all right at all, but what more could I do? With growing despair, I turned my attention back to his leg. Was it my imagination or was the blood flowing slower? I didn't dare take my hands off yet to check. What if I'm mistaken?

After a few minutes, I finally dared to ease the pressure on his thigh and realize that the wound was far from healed, but almost no longer bled. I looked at the other two wounds and found that, if not healed, they were at least closed. The only good thing was that I didn't have to worry about any infection, that was better than nothing. It was only then that I relaxed and found myself sitting completely dazed near Jude's head. When the adrenaline eased and after all the stress and effort I had needed to keep him alive left, my hands and arms started to shake. Suddenly, I became aware of the cold and sticky sensation that was slowly rising up my legs. At the sight of the half clotted blood in which I was sitting, I was taken with a terrible gag, which I nevertheless managed to suppress.

Once my nausea was over, I took a few minutes to relax and stop my shivers and straightened myself up. The day was about to rise. I noticed then that we were in a very vulnerable position in this cramped room, without a hiding place and where the door was not even completely closed. I rushed to remedy this and let my eyes get used to the darkness.

I checked Jude's condition for the umpteenth time and tried to wake him up, without success. I remembered that the best way for a shape-shifter to regenerate was through sleep. But this was a rather bad timing. These guys could come back anytime and I had nothing to defend us. In a desperate attempt, I sat between Jude and the door, my legs stretched out, my feet leaning on the door to keep it closed. Finally, overwhelmed by exhaustion, I fell asleep.