When I finally looked up, I was surrounded again, but this time by friendly faces.

The first face I saw was Junior. Gradually, more came into focus; Benito Cruz and other neighborhood half-vampires, Mo’Lock and a gang of ghouls, including Emek. They all stood there staring at the injured freak I was. Luckily, due to all the excitement, I was no longer high.

Benito stepped up and helped me to my feet. “Man, you look fucked up, dude!”

I said thanks, but it came out more like “franks.” The wolf throat didn’t want to cooperate and I wished I was human again. As soon as the thought entered my brain, I felt my body begin to transform. With a crowd of gang-banging, semi-turned vampires and a few dozen L.A. ghouls watching, I went from total dog-boy to an upright half-man/half-wolf with a snout and fur-covered body. My clothes were completely gone, but my holster and gun had managed to hang on.

One of Benito’s boys named Julio started laughing. “Dude, I think you looked better before!”

Everybody yucked it up at my expense until Mo’Lock came to my side and looked at me with an unreadable expression. The crowd milled around the grassy park. Nobody moved. The excitement was over. I didn’t understand what the assembly was about. Something was up, and I has a sinking feeling I was the main attraction.

Mo’Lock stood over my wounded, furry body and took me by the shoulders. “Cal, how are you? How do you feel?”

“I feel like a guy who just turned into a fucking werewolf,” I said, not altogether thrilled with the prospect of what I saw developing around me. The ghouls and vampires were watching me closely and I didn’t like it. They were looking for something.

“A floodgate has been opened, Cal. We’re all sure of it—we can all feel it.” Mo’Lock gestured to his compatriots.

“So, what’s that got to do with me?” I pushed him off me.

“You’re part of it now, Cal. You’re one of us.”

“The fuck I am,” I said.

I broke away from the group, feeling their eyes following me as I walked to the edge of the water to wash my wounds and drink. I had to resist the urge to lick myself, which only pissed me off more. At the stream’s edge I got down on all fours and sniffed the water, then lapped up a few tonguefuls.

“There is a rash of unnatural incidents occurring all over the city. Emek was correct. Something big is happening.” Mo’Lock came up behind me. “Cal, the city needs you.”

I craned my head around. “Who’re you, Jimmy Olsen?”

I went back to drinking like a dog. The taste of the water was foul, dead, like there was more in it than just the rot of the city.

I should’ve seen it coming. Of course he wasn’t dead. That would be too easy. I leapt up on my haunches, but it was too late. Dave came flying at me from the water, wailing like a freaking banshee.