One Plus Two Equals... - 25

"What the hell!"

Duane flinched. Half-awake, he hadn't protested when Julyan said he wanted to check his wounds to make certain they weren't infected. It wasn't until Julyan cut the tape on his shoulder that he realized it was not a good idea. In fact it was, as he was quickly discovering, a very bad idea.

"It's impossible. This…" Julyan touched where the wound had been. "This is impossible. It's gone."

"I heal fast?" Duane gave a self-deprecating smile, trying to make light of things.

"No. No one can heal that fast." Julyan pulled off the bandaging over the side wound, ignoring Duane's hiss of pain when the tape ripped free of his skin. When he saw no indication there had been any damage there, he stared at Duane then backed slowly away from him. "Would you care to explain this?" He bit his lip hard, his eyes flicking to Duane's face and then away. "Can you explain it in a way that makes any kind of sense?"

"Makes sense to who, you or me?"

"Me, you idiot." Julyan spat out.

"Now, now. No name calling, Juls."

For a second Julyan smiled at being called 'Juls' before shaking his head. "Julyan to you, at least until I find out what's going on."

Duane pushed up into a sitting position, leaning against the headboard. "I wish there was a way to explain which wouldn't make you run from me as fast and as far as possible," he said quietly.

"Try me."

"How much do you know of mythology and the stories of shape shifting?"

Something in the tone of Duane's voice and the look on his face kept Julyan from laughing in derision at what he thought Duane was implying. Instead he said, "I've seen movies about were-wolves, of course, but that's about it."

"That's a start, I suppose. Myths speak of humans who can change shapes to become many things, predominately animals, of course, but also transformations into other humans. Generally those take the form of a male becoming female or vice versa but in a very few cases the change is from male to male." Duane touched his shoulder. "Often, in fact almost always, one of the benefits of being a shifter is the ability to heal rapidly. After all, when it comes down to it, wouldn't you try to destroy someone if you saw them turn into a wolf or a lion, or what have you? Because of that, they have to heal quickly so any wounds they receive don't kill them if they have to shift into their human form. Make sense?"

Julyan nodded slowly. "On some level, yes, it does. If, and it's a big 'if', I were to believe you, what animal do you turn into?"