Chapter 4

"What?" He reached up to brush the hair away from his face, then started to roll to his knees, only to stop when his hand trapped his hair against the ground and yanked on it painfully. "What the hell?" He gathered up a mass of hair in his hand, and then looked at her. "What..."

She pressed back against the wall, fear and uncertainty filling her face. "That ... that is you? Isn't it? What ... what happened?"

"Yeah, it's me. I don't --" He stared at his hand, flexing the fingers, staring at the extra joint that has appeared on the end of his now impossibly long fingers. "What the hell?" As he asked the question, razor-sharp claws slid out of his finger tips. "What the fuck is going on here?"

Her eyes widened more, and her shoulders pressed hard against the wall. "oh my god ... claws ... and ... hair ... and ... you, um, you need to ... to get to a mirror. I don't understand what ... what happened here. What ... what you are. But there are the claws and ... and those are fangs ... and your eyes ... oh god, your eyes..."

Gabriel stared at her. "You're ... glowing. And ... so's my plant. What the hell?"

Pandora looked down at herself. "No ... no I'm not. Um ... how do you feel?"

"Um ... fine. Just a little sore. And I'm starving." He started to stand, and swayed. "Whoa. And dizzy."

She stepped towards him, then hurriedly back. "Starving?" she asked, going even paler. "Um ... Gabriel, you have ... claws. And fangs. Um ... wh ... what are you starving for?"

"Um ... pizza? Or a steak would be good." He looked at her. "I wouldn't hurt you."

She closed her eyes, her face suffused with guilt. She stayed that way for a moment before opening her eyes and nodding. "I know. I'm sorry, that was stupid. I just ... it was a shock. But I know you won't hurt me. I trust you," she said, finally coming to kneel beside him. She reached out, hesitantly stroking the mass of long, silky curls, and the hair seemed to reach out and wrap itself around her hand, coiling caressingly up her arm. She gasped and pulled back. "Hey, stop that!"

Gabriel stared at her arm. "I'm not doing it! Oh, weird ... I can feel it where it's touching you."

Pandora jumped back, shoving it off of her with her other hand. "Oookay, that's ... creepy. Sorry, but... OFF damn it! Get off me!" she swatted at a persistent curl which had come up and was draping itself over her breasts.

"That's ... weird."

"Yeah ... I'm going to get the scissors here in a ... ah, that's better." The hair, obviously realizing she was serious, flipped itself away from her, coiling into a neat, loose braid down his back. "Maybe it's trainable," she said, as she helped him up. And up. And up. He found himself looking down on her from about six inches of extra height. Then his pants fell off.

Gabriel says, haltingly, "Is it me, or ... or am I taller? Or did you get shorter?"

"I haven't changed. But you..." she shook her head. "You've just gotta see for yourself," she finished weakly, as she helped him to the bathroom.

Gabriel stared at himself in the mirror. "My god. Are 'ose 'angs?" he said, probing his teeth experimentally with his tongue.

Pandora looked at him for a minute, then giggled, shaking her head. "Yes, those are fangs. See why I was worried? You're sure you don't have some irresistible desire to ... ah ... tear my throat out, drink my blood, and feast upon my living flesh?" she asked, lightly, but there was still a touch of nervous fear belying the casualness of her words.

Gabriel shook his head. "No. If I was going to eat you, it'd be in a different sense ... and you rather liked it, as I recall."

Pandora blushed, looking down. "Well ... I mean ... they are fangs. And your eyes ... like ... like a cat, or a snake..." she looked back up at him, her own eyes going dreamy as she stared at his face. "They're so beautiful," she murmured. "You're beautiful ... even the hair ... so soft. I..." She shook herself, blinking and stepping back. "You said you were hungry? Want me to order a pizza?"

"Or two. I'm starving." He looked down at himself. "I guess that's not surprising, though."

"You've ... changed a lot," she admitted. "Um ... are you sure you don't know what's going on? I mean ... any hint?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No. I don't have a clue." He looked at himself in the mirror, and sagged suddenly. "Oh, god. Oh, my god. What am I going to do? I can't go out like this..."

She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it. "It's okay. It'll be okay. It'll just take ... some thinking about. But it'll be okay."

"How?" He looked at her, wide-eyed. "I can't go to work like this!"

Pandora hugged him, laying her head on his chest. "It's okay," she repeated. "Come on ... come sit down, and we'll talk about it. We'll work it out. Come on into the living room, and I'll order you some food."

Gabriel stared at her, on the edge of shock. "O -- okay."

Pandora kissed his chest, then led him into the living room, to the couch. She kissed him and went for the laptop on the desk, ordering two large pizzas with everything from Pizza Hut's online menu before returning to him. She sat down beside him and reached out, taking his hand in both of hers and kissing it. "It's going to be okay," she said. "I was ... a bit freaked, but I'm thinking more clearly now..." Her fingers caressed his hand, rubbing in gentle little circles. "And it's not that bad. You're tall and thin ... but not impossibly so. The ears ... well, the hair'll help there. The eyes ... I don't know. Contacts maybe. I hate to cover them though, they're so ... so..." She stopped, looking hurriedly away, and dropped his hand. "Honey, I ... I need you to put some clothes on. Please."

Gabriel nodded sadly. "I understand. I look like a freak."

Pandora stared at him, shocked, then shook her head rapidly. "No! Oh god no, that's not it at all!"

"It's not?"

She reached up, cupping his cheek in her hand, and her breath caught in her throat. "No," she whispered hoarsely. "You're ... so beautiful. You ... you were gorgeous to start with, but now ... your skin, your hair ... oh god, those eyes..." She closed her own eyes tightly. "I can't think with you naked! Not right now, I just can't, all I want to do is ... is touch you, kiss you ... ohhhhh..."

"You ... you really like it?"

Pandora licked her lips and nodded. "It's ... oh please Gabriel! I mean it, I can't think, and we need to ... to figure out what to do." Her hands drifted back to him, though, and began rubbing up and down his arm.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes, slightly, as he realized that he had an aura as well, and it was reaching out to hers. Little tendrils of her aura kept pushing his away, for the most part, but occasionally they would twine around his aura. With a bit of concentration, he managed to pull his aura back, holding it close to his body. "Is that better?"

"Oooooh..." She blinked. "Oh yeah, lots," she said, her voice full of relief. "Wow, that was ... kind of scary," she admitted softly. "Like ... I was about to totally lose control of myself. I ... put some clothes on anyway, please?" She looked at him pleadingly. "I ... I'm a little ... shaken up here."

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. So am I." He frowned. "Er. I don't think I can. I mean, I'm not sure anything will fit me ... well, I think I've got a pair of bicycle pants in my drawer, and maybe I've got a robe..."

"Shorts and a robe are fine. Just ... something. You're way, way too distracting like that."

"Then we're even." He looked at her for a moment. "You know, you really don't look at all like your description online."

She smiled at him. "You're so sweet! I didn't want to attract any attention, but I didn't want to lie, either. So I just ... stayed scrupulously honest, without listing any real positives. Everybody knows that people exaggerate their looks in those things, so I figured if I was realistic, what they'd actually picture would be some horrible Neanderthal woman, and no one would bother me, or treat me like a freak. It worked, too. Now kindly go put clothes on before I hurt myself raping you, 'k?"

Gabriel laughed. "Okay. But for the record," he said as he walked back into his bedroom, "you're neither overweight nor average to plain."

"According to the charts, I'm overweight," she called after him. "But I kinda like the way it's distributed, so I don't give a damn. As for plain ... Well, I am. There's nothing dramatic about me. Don't get me wrong," she said, leaning on the door frame, watching him dress. "I think I'm pretty ... I'm not big on false modesty or anything like that, and I don't have low self-esteem or anything ... but I'm not anything unusual. Brown hair, green eyes. The thing that gets me the most attention is my body, and ... that doesn't last, you know? Not for anyone who doesn't just obsess about it their entire life, and I'd rather live than worry about if I might gain five pounds, or if my boobs are drooping, or if that's cellulite in my ass." As she spoke, though, her expression changed, growing more withdrawn, a worried frown tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Gabriel pulled on the shorts, then tugged on a robe that now came barely to his thighs. "Nothing dramatic about you? Well, aside from your mind, and a body that looks airbrushed, I guess you're right."

Pandora smiled at him, eyes sparkling. "So sweet," she murmured. "I'm glad you like it." She blushed, looking away for a moment. "I ... um ... never really cared before, what someone thought of my body. It's ... an unusual experience. Kind of frightening, actually." She straightened, squaring her shoulders resolutely, and reached out, smoothing his robe. "That's better. I can live with this, I think. For a little while." She slid her arm around his waist and fell silent as they returned to the couch.

Gabriel said, softly, "What am I going to do?" He stared out across his living room, becoming aware for the first time of the softly glowing lines joining the living things in his house. "Oh, nifty. That's cool."

She sighed, looking at him solemnly. "Well, you could become a male model. Women are going to be all over you," she said, an odd tone to her voice. "I don't think you realize how ... how you look now. You're ... irresistable. Anything you want that any straight woman can give you ... it's yours."

Gabriel frowned for a moment, then pulled his aura back again. "Sorry. I have to keep concentrating, or it reaches out for you again."

"What does? 'It' reaches out? Reaches out how?"

"Huh? Oh, my aura. It keeps reaching out for yours ... did you know that your aura is as pretty as the rest of you?" He looked around the room. "This is so cool ... ooh, I have mice," he said, noticing the glowing forms in one wall.

She pulled her feet up onto the couch. "Mice?! What ... okay. Aura. Okay, I know what an aura is. So you can see them, then? And yours is like ... like the hair, trying to touch me? Okay ... so? I can't see that that would do anything..."

"Well, most of the time your aura tries to push mine away, but every so often they wrap around each other ... I think that's what's distracting you so much. Maybe it's like being petted all over?" He looked at a softly glowing line across the room and held his hand out, and a strand stretched over to him, as if the line had been made up of several rubber bands and he'd pulled one out. "Can you see that?"

She shook her head, frowning. "No."

"Oh." He sounded slightly disappointed. "It's nifty."