Moonlit Destiny

Chapter 2: Glimpses of the Unknown

The 24-hour lab was a hive of activity, even at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am. Lena flashed her press badge at the sleepy-eyed receptionist and made a beeline for the bank of microscopes, the strange fur sample clutched tightly in her hand.

She'd called in a favor with an old college friend who worked the night shift, a brilliant but eccentric geneticist named Dr. Felix Novak. If anyone could shed light on the nature of the sample, it was Felix.

"Lena!" Felix's voice boomed across the lab, far too chipper for the early hour. He bounded over to her, his shock of white-blond hair standing on end, his lab coat flapping around his lanky frame. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company at this fine hour?"

Lena managed a wan smile, holding up the evidence bag. "I need your expertise, Felix. I've got a sample here that I'm hoping you can analyze."

Felix's ice-blue eyes lit up behind his wire-rimmed glasses, his curiosity piqued. "Intriguing! Let's have a look, shall we?"

He led her over to an empty workstation, snapping on a pair of latex gloves with practiced ease. Lena handed over the bag, watching intently as Felix extracted the tuft of fur with a pair of tweezers, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Hmm...unusual texture for mammalian fur," he murmured, more to himself than to Lena. "The color, the coarseness...it's like nothing I've seen before."

"Can you run some tests on it?" Lena asked, trying to keep the eagerness from her voice. "DNA analysis, microscopic imaging, anything that might give us a clue as to what it came from?"

Felix cast her a sidelong glance, a knowing smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "This wouldn't have anything to do with those grisly animal attacks that have been all over the news, would it? The ones you've been chasing after like a bloodhound on a scent?"

Lena shifted uncomfortably, suddenly fascinated by a spot on the tile floor. "It...might be related, yes. But I can't say too much, not until I have more evidence."

Felix held up a hand, his expression softening. "Say no more. You know I'm always happy to help a friend in need. Give me a few hours, and I'll see what I can uncover."

Lena let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, relief washing over her. "Thanks, Felix. I owe you one."

"More than one, by my count," Felix said with a wink. "But who's keeping score? Now go, get some coffee or something. You look like death warmed over."

Lena flipped him a good-natured middle finger, but took his advice, wandering off in search of caffeine while Felix got to work.

Three cups of terrible vending machine coffee later, Lena found herself hunched over a computer terminal, her eyes straining as she scrolled through endless news reports and academic articles. She'd been combing through every scrap of information she could find on animal attacks, cryptozoology, and mythological creatures, hoping to find some shred of credibility amidst the sensationalism and pseudoscience.

Most of it was the usual tabloid fare—grainy photos of supposed Bigfoot sightings, rambling accounts of alien abductions, and the like. But a few articles stood out, whispering of something more substantial lurking beneath the surface.

A series of brutal killings in the Black Forest of Germany, dating back to the 1700s. Eyewitness accounts of a massive, wolf-like creature walking upright, with eerily human eyes. The attacks had stopped abruptly after a group of villagers claimed to have tracked down and killed the beast, but no body was ever found.

A rash of livestock mutilations in rural Montana in the 1980s, the carcasses savaged by an unknown predator. Local Native American tribes had whispered of skinwalkers, shapeshifting witches who could take on the form of animals. The case had gone cold, the truth buried beneath layers of myth and superstition.