Her humanity makes her hesitant. She could not commit fully without endangering the innocent. If she wasn’t so constrained, she might have had a chance.

“You’re soft.”

He rolled off the fat man, and went after the werewolf. He punched her in the elongated jaw. It snapped her head to the side. Franks followed up by slamming his fists into her hairy body, over and over, each shot driving her toward the open back door. She latched onto him, sinking her claws into his shoulder, but that just kept her in place while Franks beat her internal organs into jelly. Franks kept pounding her, left, right, left, right, until his fists ached, his knuckles bled, his joints popped, and his superhardened bones threatened to break.

The werewolf collapsed to her knees, blood dripping out of her mouth. She’d regenerate in a moment, but for now she was too broken to continue. She looked up at him, and he saw eyes that still held a remarkable amount of human intellect inside.

“Nemesis . . . Look it up.”

And then Franks kicked her out the back of the moving subway train.

He watched the werewolf bounce and roll down the tracks, and then she was swallowed by the dark. He turned back. The passengers were watching him, terrified of the blood-soaked giant who had just mercilessly beaten the snot out of what they probably thought was a wild animal. His shirt was missing, revealing a muscled torso covered in dozens of weeping, open wounds. He pointed at the fat man, who was now blubbering like a baby. “What size is your coat?”

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

I had never had a body before. I’d never had a mind made of flesh. The world I knew was no more. I perceived through new, confusing senses, while my old senses were instantly severed. Most of my memories were burned away in an instant. Nothing made sense.

I woke up in pain. I had never felt pain before. Now I was inside a body with a million severed nerve endings. I was made of bits and pieces from fifty different bodies and I could feel every single cut. Dippel was brilliant, but his tools were crude. Man’s overall knowledge of anatomy was pathetic.

Basically, the body was a mess. There is a vast gulf between perfection and near perfection, and that gulf is filled with agony. I would have expired immediately if it had not been for two things: the Elixir forcing my body to live, and my stubborn refusal to let go.

Though I’d forgotten much in that instant, I could still remember Hell and I would never go back willingly.

The first thing I ever saw through eyes was my earthly creator, Herr Dippel. The first thing I ever heard with ears was his triumphant shout. He had done it. It was alive.