"You've got …a monster in your brain?" Felix was skeptical. The superhuman speed most certainly proved that she was telling the truth, but her intentions were still unknown. More importantly, how had she known he wasn't human?

"I do. And right about now, I bet you're wondering how I knew you weren't human?" Valentine's voice was still cheery. Felix inwardly cringed. Something about her tone was unnatural. Obviously, this bubbliness was an act. However, the purpose of this act was still unknown to him.

"Is it that obvious?" He asked, taking a step back. She noticed. Her smile faltered, and her scowl returned. The immediate personality change was even more unnerving.

"Ugh, This isn't working. Look, I don't bite. You smell different than humans. Not like animals. I'm not really sure how to explain what you smell like, but if I had to say it in the most basic terms possible, You smell a bit like …ice? Yeah, salty ice. People smell like salt and you smell like ice." Valentine tapped her chin as she spoke and then glanced at Felix to see his reaction. His confused and slightly concerned stare was much like one she'd give to someone who'd just spouted utter nonsense.

"Um, okay. I'm ...just going to leave now. You're right, but you don't seem to know any more about this than me. Good night, and uh, I hope whatever it is you're doing works out for you. Nice meeting you." Felix said, scratching the back of his neck. He began to walk around her, making certain to keep distance between himself and her. Her scowl intensified as he skirted around her, but she made no move to stop him or follow him. She just stood there, watching him as he walked past her. He began to walk down the hill, calming down the farther away from her he got.

Now that he was away from Valentine, Felix decided to get to Paul's house as fast as possible. So, he turned to the south and took off running. As he ran, Felix couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. He turned to look behind him, but saw no one. But he could smell them. Was it the girl from before? Likely. She didn't seem hostile, but her glare was still fresh in his memory.

Once more, he looked behind him, but failed to see her. He knew his nerves were still in bad shape, so he decided to write it off as a baseless concern. He then fully focused on running, and the surrounding area simply blurred around him.

"This must be what a car feels like." Felix muttered to himself as he ran. He then realized that cars are not living beings, and thus could not have feelings. He flushed with embarrassment and poured on more speed, those same blurs becoming even harder to detect. And so he continued, leaping over the odd rock and sidestepping a loose root or vine as he ran.

Less than a minute later, Felix found himself at the front gate of Paul's apartment complex. He stopped for a second to consider just how quickly he'd reached here. Felix assumed this trip would take him at least an hour, but in reality his estimation put his travel time at a mere five minutes. Just how fast was this monster?!

Not that it would really matter in the long run, as he didn't intend to stay in this form long enough for it to matter. After taking another second to marvel at his physical abilities, Felix decided that it would be best not to buzz in, as said system had a camera function that took a picture of the guest. The gate was only ten feet high, and thanks to his new strength, he effortlessly vaulted over the gate.

He travelled across the parking lot and up the stairs to Paul's third floor apartment in the blink of an eye. Felix wrapped his knuckles against the door heavily. No one would have been able to sleep through something like that. In fact, Felix could pick up movement and complaining from the other apartments on the third floor. He heard grunting and movement in Paul's room, and before a minute had passed, Paul had come to the door. Paul Baleman was two hundred and ten centimeters tall and was quite muscular for his age. He was of African American descent, and his hair was short and curly. Right now, he was barely awake when he answered the door.

"It's five in the morning, what do you-...!" Paul's words caught in his throat when he saw Felix, who smiled at his friend.

"What the hell happened to you!?"

"A lot. Can I come in?"

"Of course!" Paul moved aside instantly, and Felix went inside, careful to shut the door behind him.

"All right. I'm… not quite sure how to explain what's happened to me. Do you believe in monsters, Paul?"

"Uh, I never really cared if they existed or not, ya know? I mean, there are plenty of people who are into that kind of thing, but I never cared enough to learn about them."

"I didn't either, not until a few hours ago. Basically, Myra and I went up to a cabin for our winter vacation. And, uh, we were attacked by a monster. It calls itself a Wendigo."

"Wait, wait, wait. You went up with Myra. Where is she?" Paul's question was inevitable, and even as that may be, Felix was still struggling to answer it.

"She… she tried to fight the Wendigo. It kill… kill-... killed her. She's dead, Paul. I saw it with my own eyes." Felix's voice started out stoic, but slowly crumbled as he continued to speak. Finally, by the time he reached the end of his answer, his voice was little more than a whisper. Paul sat in frozen shock, the death of his friend still simmering on his mind at the surface level. He had known Felix long enough to know that he was telling the truth. Both waited there in silence, mentally begging the other to end it with a speech.

"Myra's actually dead?" Paul spoke up. His voice was flat. Not quite hollow like Felix's, but it was rather close. His question was simple, but so brutal that Felix could barely muster a nod. With a deep breath, Felix resolved himself to continue.

"After the Wendigo killed her, I killed it and burned the cabin down, but it escaped and killed me just before it died."

"Are you a ghost?"

'No. For some reason, I came back. And so did that Wendigo. We… are sharing a body now. I don't know how it happened, and neither does it. That really sounds crazy, but it's all true. I mean, look at me! I'm six inches taller than before! I'm thinner!"

"I believe you, Felix. So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to find a way to reverse whatever this is. I'm really sorry to involve you in this, but I didn't know who to go to. Will you help me?"

There was a silence after Felix's question. Paul knew Felix wouldn't lie about something like this, but what he was saying was just flat out insane. Felix had been his friend for a long time, and had helped him through many tough times. So, that made it only fair to support him through this one. Even if it sounded, and likely was, insane.

"Of course I will." Felix released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He then cracked a smile, but quickly stopped when he realized what he was doing.

"Well, first thing's first. You need new clothes." Paul's statement was met with a nod from Felix. After quickly discovering Felix still couldn't fit into any of Paul's clothes, They drove over to Felix's apartment. While he could have run there, and back before the car could even get them halfway, he decided to use the drive time to talk more about what happened. He explained that strange world, which Felix assumed was a dream or mental illusion of sorts. Now, he took a quick shower and changed into a similar outfit.

That prickling feeling from before, the feeling of being watched became present once more. As soon as anxiety dug into his nerves again, the doorbell rang. Paul and Felix froze.

"Who could that be?" Paul whispered to Felix, who put a finger to his lips and shook his head. While Paul couldn't have known this, Felix's superior senses heard his whisper as if it was spoken at normal volume. The doorbell rang again. And again. And again. The ringing was deafening to Felix, who winced with each sound.

Suddenly, the ringing stopped. And immediately afterwards, the living room window exploded, glass shards blasting around the room like buckshot. Something, or someone heavy flew through the wall, slamming into the kitchen floor with a thud, and grunting with pain and cratering the concrete floor upon impact.

Paul tried to look at what had come through the window, but Felix immediately pushed him down and away from whoever had come through the window. With a quick gesture, Felix ordered Paul to hide in his bedroom. He obliged and scampered into the room as quietly as he could.

Felix looked in the kitchen, and his eyes widened at what he saw. A person had been thrown through his window. He'd already known, due to his sense of smell, and the fact that they grunted when they hit the floor. That person was laying in a twisted heap, their arms and legs bent at an unnatural angle. Small cuts dotted their face where they had presumably hit the glass. They wore a cheap three piece suit and had a moderately expensive haircut. In their right hand, was a now broken handgun. The crunching of glass alerted Felix to the intrusion of another person, and he spun around ready to defend himself, but instead found himself flat on his back just a few inches away from the mangled corpse.

Valentine pinned Felix to the ground as a gunshot rang out behind them. The bullet flew over them harmlessly and decimated a glass that had been left out on Felix's drying rack. As the broken glass fell, Felix observed a man that was dressed similarly to the dead person. In the same split second that Felix saw the man, Valentine jumped up and rushed the man. He never knew what hit him. One second, he was trying to kill two non-humans, and a tenth of a second later his ribs shattered and his spine snapped as he was literally folded in half by Valentine's punch.

Felix lay motionless, staring at Valentine in a daze. The aforementioned young woman came back over to him as the other residents of the apartments began to stir thanks to the commotion.

"We need to go." Was all Valentine said as she knocked on the bedroom door. Paul came out of the room a few seconds later, and stopped in his tracks upon observing the horrific scene that was Felix's living room. Felix was up on his feet now, and he looked around the room. He sighed and turned to Valentine, who was waiting by the window, tapping her foot anxiously.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on? I mean, you can't seriously expect me to just go to an undisclosed location with you after you literally kill two men right in front of me." Felix's voice was tired and angry. Angry that his house had been destroyed and angry that he'd had to see more people get killed. Valentine grunted and nodded, seeing his point.

"Yeah, remember when I said I could smell you? You left, rudely, I might add, before I could tell you that not only is there at least one more of us in this very city, but that some strange men had also been trying to kill me for quite some time now."

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry." Felix muttered as she jumped through the window.

"It's fine. We really need to go before more of them show up." With that, Valentine sprinted away, invisible to Paul and a blur to Felix. Surely enough apartment doors began to open, and people began to investigate. Within a minute or so, they would find Felix's apartment and call the police.

Before leaving the apartment, Felix grabbed his wallet from his bedside table. While he was there, he also grabbed his photo of Myra. He took it out of the frame, and left the same way Valentine did. Paul had already gone outside and gotten in his car. Felix got in next to him, and they drove off in the same direction Valentine had gone. After a few minutes of driving, a police cruiser flew past them. Felix closed his eyes and sighed. After a few seconds of processing the most recent incident again, he chuckled to himself.

Despite how he got it, Felix had a lead.