Chapter 1

As I climbed out of my old Volkswagen van, which I had affectionately named "Poss", I could not help but wonder why my employer had asked me to stop by after hours. I didn't mind really since my evening would typically be just me sitting by the television, cuddling with my chihuahua, Angel. Still, Dr. Stevens' voice had been filled with an anxiousness that had begun to rub off on me. I actually enjoyed working for the scientist and felt he was on his way to greatness. I hoped that I could ride along with him on that trip.

As I entered into the lab, the howls, barks, and meows of the lab animals greeted me as usual. Nothing seemed amiss there at least and I smiled warmly into each cage, completely in love with each animal despite the scientist's warning not to get too attached. I knew he ran experiments on them, but tried to not let it bother me too much — I had to have a job to exist and at least I knew with me tending them, the animals were handled exquisitely; I treated each with as much care as if they were my own children. I especially loved the cats. There were two of them, a male and female, that Doc was planning on breeding soon to create more for experiments down the road.

I stepped closer to the dog kennels and grinned at Macy as she whined in greeting. The bitch was about to have her puppies at any day and I found myself hoping they'd survive this time. The last batch had all been stillborn and it had actually crushed me more than it had their canine mother. As I reached into the cage to pet the black Rottweiler, my cell phone began to buzz, startling me. It was a text message from the scientist telling me to open the cabinet that rested near the center of the lab. I opened it as requested, filled with curiosity, and saw a small box that had not been there earlier on the shelves among the chemicals and vials. Pulling the item in question out of the cabinet, I saw a note on a sticky on top in the scientist's handwriting with my name on it.

"Julia - Get this out of the lab ASAP. Get it to safety. Do not open no matter what! — Doc"

I cradled the box within my hands, curious but well-behaved. I knew that if it were some odd experiment of Dr. Stevens' I would not want to disobey him. I tucked it into my left jacket pocket and went to visit the cats before leaving. I had to tell Jinx (the male, a ginger colored cat) and Sasha (the female, cream-colored) goodbye before leaving to try and figure out what the scientist wanted me to do exactly. But as I opened Sasha's cage, my jacket caught on the edge, which had always been a problem, tearing the pocket. I cursed loudly at the action as it was my favorite jacket and watched in mute horror as the box fell from my pocket, landing upon the tile below, lid flying off.

I leaned down, as curious as a cat, when a small crystalline object in the shape of a cut diamond and size of a lemon rolled out and began to glow with a soft blue light. The light grew until I had to shield my eyes and once again the cats and dogs began to go crazy with noise from being afraid and/or startled at the brightness.

But then I heard nothing but silence.

I scooped the object into the box, tucking the lid back on and putting it into my jacket's good pocket. As I turned around to see if I could calm the cats, I blinked in shock. A female human with cream-colored hair stared back at me. What the hell? I would have asked her why she had been hiding in the cat's cage as it was large enough for someone to hunch inside, but she was completely naked!

"Jul—ee--aaaa?" Her voice was soft, sweet and it sounded as if the young woman had never spoken before; almost as if she were testing out her vocal chords for the first time.

"Jul—ee—aa?" She repeated, bright blue eyes darting to the right and then left, fear masked upon her pretty face. I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her, pulling her from the cage. How did she know my name? As we exited the cage, my eye caught movement in the kennel across from her and I gasped when a large ebony-skinned man looked back at me, the upper half of his cloth-less body bursting with muscle. I gaped at him as he stared back in fear and confusion.

What was happening?

When an equally dark-skinned woman stood and whimpered in fear, her large breasts swaying as she glanced around the lab, it dawned on me what was going on. I turned back to the jacket-covered, cream-haired woman.

"Sasha?" I felt silly asking her the question, but had to know. When she nodded, I gasped. I felt a tingling sensation race up my spine as I understood that somehow the object in the box within my pocket had transformed the cats and dogs in the lab into ... humans.

"Whaaa happening to me?" I did not get a chance to answer as the cage door beside her was forced open, the door bouncing off of the hinges and a man, also without a spot of clothing upon his body, stepped out of Jinx's cage. The man's hair was ginger-colored and I knew immediately that it was Jinx transformed into human form.

"Ju-Jul-" He began, touching his throat and then whimpered, obviously terrified of what had happened to him. I knew I had to figure out how to make them go back to animal form. I could not let them wander the streets as it would be like sending a child out into the front lines of a war. I went to the unopened kennels and began to open the cage door for the two that used to be dogs. Once I did that I looked in the hamper to find a couple of lab coats as I had just the one jacket that was now being worn by Sasha. I scooped three white coats into my arms, ignoring the fact that one was slightly stained with something red, and handed each to the new humans.

But they just stared at the objects.

"Put them on." I helped Macy into hers and stared down at her very round belly, remembering she was pregnant and near ready to pop. That was all I needed now was for her to go into labor. Flustered and shaking, I helped Jinx and the male dog-turned-human, cleverly named Spike, into the lab coats, making sure they were covered enough to exit the building.

When Spike stepped closer to Jinx, he began to growl. I shook my head and grimaced at the sound.

"Spike! Although it's natural for you to think you are enemies with Jinx, now is not the time for that. We've got to go!" I pushed at them, herding the four new humans to the back door, pressing my thumb into the seal after we had exited to lock it. As I helped the four into my old van, praying under my breath it would start, I shook my head in awe. Four animals disguised as humans were sitting with me, in the darkness, completely silent from fear and shock. I sighed in relief when the engine turned and we were soon on the way to my small apartment not far from the lab. I was proud of Spike and Macy — not once did they stick their heads out of the window.

Once I managed to sneak them all upstairs and into my apartment, I had to lock Angel in the bedroom as she had begun to bark shrilly at the strangers. Their actions were varied: Jinx began to hiss; Sasha trembled in fear, stepping quickly upon the couch; Spike began to growl; and Macy whimpered in confusion and worry, cradling her swollen belly protectively. Once they had all relaxed and Angel was tucked away out of their sight, I began to take stock of the situation. I touched the pocket that held the box and wondered how Dr. Stevens had figured out how to create a device that could alter genes instantly. If they could turn humans into animals, could it somehow be reversed? Was it permanent?

My head was still spinning when Spike began to whine, stepping closer to me with a troubled look upon his dark face. His black eyes held mine and I wondered if he would hurt me. He certain was large — standing nearly six feet and weighing at least 260 pounds, he seemed to be pure muscle; definitely a force to be reckoned with!

"Ju-ju, Spike go potty." He tossed back the words that I had said to him time and again when I had taken him out to relieve his dog self in the bushes behind the lab. It took all the control I had not to laugh at how silly it sounded coming from such a large, intimidating man's mouth. I stifled my grin and nodded in understanding.

"I want all of you to follow me." I waved the four to their feet and patiently led them to the hall bathroom nearby. It took a few moments to explain the process of using the toilet and flushing, but I felt they had a good grasp of it once I was done. In fact, when Spike began to lift up his leg, I knew he understood and I quickly shuffled the other three out of the small room and back to the larger living area so he could do his business with some privacy.

"Julla?" Jinx queried clumsily and I turned to face the ginger-haired one-time male cat. "What happen us? Why we talk like you? Why we look like you? Huuu-man?" I was about to form my words when it hit me — he was an incredibly handsome man. Too bad he was not really a human man. His face was comely, his eyes almond-shaped, his long hair flowed brilliantly around his head — he could have been a male model for how attractive he was. I gulped and forced myself not to stare at his bare chest where the lab coat was unbuttoned.

"I think Dr. Stevens created something to make you human, Jinx." I felt the weight of what had been done and felt as if I were going to collapse at the sheer thought of it. Four animals had been turned into living, breathing humans!

"H-hungry." Macy spoke for the first time, something other than a whimper, and I nodded in her direction. She was eating for more than herself, so I sympathized and pulled out my cell phone. After I had ordered a couple of large pizzas with extra meat, I knew we had some time to wait. Would it be up to me to teach them how to be human?

How? I thought perhaps the first order of business (after being shown how to relieve themselves) would be clothing and I asked them to wait while I went into my bedroom to retrieve clothes for them all.

As I dug around in my drawers and closet, ignoring Angel as she yapped near my feet alternating with growling softly at the door, I was glad my ex-boyfriend Charles had left some of his clothes behind. I had wanted to shred them, but for some reason had kept them tucked away in the closet. Perhaps I still cared for the man, but he certainly had done all he could to destroy any love I had for him with his cheating ways.

"Ah-ha." I stated mildly as I pulled out the box that had Charles' old clothes. But then I frowned. He had been a fairly average-sized man and while they would work for Jinx, Spike would require something larger. I pulled an XL t-shirt and knew it wouldn't be good enough, but did not know what else to use and carried the load to the living room, dumping it on the coffee table between the four of them.

I helped assort each clothing item to the right person and blushed furiously as they began to dress, each unaware of the blatant nudity, only intent and focused on getting themselves dressed. My eyes lingered a little too long on Jinx's backside; his butt cheeks were rounded and perfect and I thought perhaps I was going to drool like a dog if I did not look away. Once they were dressed, (with Spike's shirt and pants ripping at the sleeves and calves and fitting like a doll's clothing on a man's body) I felt better and hid the lab coats along with any unused clothing in the bedroom. Soon the knock of the pizza delivery person was heard and again I had to stifle a grin when Spike began to growl and Macy let out a "bark" noise before she caught herself.

When I opened the door to retrieve the pizza, I was shocked to see two men instead, guns out and trained upon me. They pushed their way inside and then froze when they saw I was not alone. But with the guns still up, they snarled, "Where's the gem?" At first I had no clue what they were asking until I realized they were talking about the item in the box. Clearly they had ill-intent and I decided I would not give up Dr. Stevens' hard work to someone whom I did not even know.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." I lied, forcing myself to keep my expression perplexed.

"Lying bitch!" When one of the men backhanded me with his gun, I felt a sharp pain in my lip and tasted the tang of blood. That was all it took though before Spike actually went flying to the man who had hit me, his teeth bared as he growled angrily deep within his large chest.

"Stop! No, Spike!" I cried out to the large black-skinned man, not wanting him to get hurt in any way. He froze and stepped beside me and I watched both men, now terrified of the big man, run out of the door and away. Relieved, I closed the door and sat on the coffee table, my legs wobbly from the confrontation. I had to get the box to safety. Without my new watchdog of sorts, I knew I was vulnerable and eventually they'd get it from me.

I was uncertain of how to do that though. I knew they probably had the scientist in their grasp so I couldn't call anyone. FBI? CIA? NSA?

"Bad men hurt Julla." Jinx stepped to me, sitting at my feet, keeping his hands on my knees as he stared up into my eyes. I gulped and decided I liked his touch a little too much. I had to keep convincing myself he was an animal; his yellow eyes with just a slight hint of the slitted pupils served to remind me well.

"Yes, they wanted that which had made you human. We cannot let them have it. You understand?" He nodded at my words and smiled, sharp teeth showing under the lips.

"I understand." The cat-man seemed almost proud of himself and I smiled back at him. When we heard another knock on the door, I was instantly on my feet and prepared to fight back. But it was just the pizza guy.

It turned out that both cats and dogs in human form loved pizza.

"Mmmmm! Me like!" Macy moaned in delight as she grasped another slice, nibbling on the edge of the pie as she slid it into her mouth. Spike smiled at her fondly and I wondered if he knew he was going to be a father soon. I eyed Macy's large belly and wondered if they'd come out puppies or humans. And then I had a terrible thought. What if in being transformed into human it had hurt or killed her offspring?