DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy!

A/N: Hello, friends! This fic is going to be a Halloween-inspired ficlet to celebrate the upcoming season. Last year I did vampires, this year I'm tackling werewolves. I hope you like it!

Howl

Chapter One: Bad Moon Rising

The late September moon was high in the night's sky when Finn finally emerged from an intense Booty Camp practice that had continued late into the evening. As far as Nationals was concerned, the stakes were higher than ever before as Mr. Schuester pushed them as hard as he could in order to perfect their dancing moves. It might have only been two weeks at this point, but Finn was already worn out after having to balance football, glee club and his new after school job at Burt's shop. He looked up at the vibrant full moon hanging overhead and closed his eyes against the light fall wind that cooled his sweaty brow. He hadn't trained this hard since summer football camp and allowed himself a moment of rest while answering his ringing cell phone. He smiled as he picked up the call; seeing Rachel's name flashing on the caller ID instantly brightened his mood.

"Hey babe," he said with affection in his tone as he pulled out the keys to his truck.

"How was practice? Have you mastered The Widowmaker yet?"

"Not yet, but I'm almost there. It takes a lot of practice to move these giant limbs where I want them to go," he muttered with annoyance. He was still bent up over being the team's weakest link in regards to dancing, and vowed to improve his dance skills no matter what the cost. He wanted that national title so bad he could almost taste it, and if it meant a few extra late night dancing drills, he would suffer through it all.

Her cheery laugh immediately lifted him from his sour mood. "Well, I'm sure you're doing great. You're so talented Finn, and I'm proud of you and your determination to succeed at this monumental task. I know how much it means to the team."

It was a good thing he was alone, since he could feel his cheeks burning from her high praise. Rachel always knew how to console him, even during the most trivial of problems. "As long as you're proud baby, I know I'm doing something right."

They shared a small giggle while he finally made it to his truck at the far end of the parking lot. He heard a noise coming from the brush around the lot, and he peeked over his shoulder to see some shaking coming from the trees. Shrugging it off as the wind, he went to go open the door of his truck when the keys slipped right out of his hand, dropping onto the dark pavement where there was no light to aide him in his search.

"Rachel, I have to call you back. I dropped my keys and I need to use my phone as a flashlight."

"Ok, just be careful, and text me when you get home," she scolded lightly.

"No problem, babe. Love you."

"I love you too, Finn. See ya." He quickly ended the phone call and dropped to his knees with his cell phone so he could search around the area. The noise from behind him was steadily increasing, but when he turned around there was no more movement coming from the trees. He sighed and returned to his task. When his hands finally grasped around the keys he could hear a low, steady growl seeping into the parking lot from somewhere close by. He shrugged off the noise, thinking it was a stray dog as he got back to his feet and wiped the dirt off of his knees. Straightening himself out, he was about to turn back towards his car when he saw something that would be ingrained in his memory forever.

It was a set of crimson red eyes that were staring at him from across the pavement. The glowing red eyes started to approach him slowly as he stood in the parking lot and tried to process what was going on.

It was an animal; that he was definitely sure of. What kind of animal, he couldn't be sure, since it was as big as a bear but had all the features of a dog. It's teeth were bared in an open snarl and liberal amounts of drool was dripping down from the large, moonlit canines. It's growl was progressively getting louder and more vicious as the instinct to run only grew stronger.

He let out a short scream of surprise when the animal lunged at him, catching him off guard as it sunk it's fangs into Finn's shoulder. Finn hit the ground and there was blood everywhere as the animal began to attack him mercilessly. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before as the animal ripped him apart like shreds of paper. For a moment, Finn thought he was going to die as the animal continued snarling and biting him in anyplace he could. When he saw a bright white light in front of his eyes, that's when he knew it was it; he was about to die.

"Hey! Get back!" A loud, blaring horn blew right in Finn's ear as a car pulled up, hitting the animal and forcing it off of Finn's bloody body with a loud whine. He blinked a few times against the light in his eyes but the pain in his body was too much, and he remembered little after that before everything went dark.

"Finn? Finn?"

He could hear his name being called, but he was blinded from the intense light that was shining right in his face as he strained to open his eyes. For some reason, his room was so noisy he could barely stand it, and he fought against his own muscles as he lifted his hands to his ears to cover them and block the noise. It was a simple beep, but to Finn it was as painful as getting yelled at right in the ear.

"Ugh, make it stop," he moaned, his voice hoarse from disuse.

"Make what stop, honey?" His mother's normally soft voice sounded as loud as a jet engine and he pressed his hands to his ears even harder to cancel out the sound. The beeping noises around him only intensified until he thought his ears were going to start bleeding. He still refused to open up his eyes against the light.

"The beeping!" He yelled, finally opening his eyes and staring at the crowd of people surrounding his bed. Five pairs of eyes were staring at him like he was crazy, and when he removed his hands from his ears the only noise he could hear were the faint beeps from the machinery that surrounded the room.

He shook his head and all the discomfort from before was gone. That was definitely odd.

"Are you okay, honey?" His mother's voice was shaky and he could tell instantly that she was upset. "You've been asleep for almost a week."

"A week?" He asked, shocked, and the adults in the room all nodded their heads.

"Yes, Finn, you lost a significant amount of blood. Your wounds have been healing nicely though." He nodded, lost in his own thoughts as he inhaled deeply and almost sneezed. It smelled horrible in this room! In fact, there were so many scents in his nose at the moment he couldn't even recognize some of them. Sniffing again, he wrinkled his brow in confusion and wondered if there was now something wrong with his nose as well. First he was hearing things, now he was smelling things. . .maybe something had happened to him after that attack.

"Finn," Burt stepped forward with Kurt at his side and he spotted Rachel in the far corner of the room, staring at him with unshed tears in her eyes. "This is your doctor, Doctor Drake, and he has some questions for you about the night you were attacked."

The doctor stepped forward and Finn immediately felt wary of this person as he approached the bed, checking his vitals and pulse before testing his blood pressure. There were still a million different scents running through his nose but when the Doctor was close enough he took a deep sniff and almost gagged. He didn't know what was wrong with his sense of smell, but all he could smell was blood and death, covering every inch of this man. He didn't even know blood had a smell or how he could sense it, but it was there. He wanted out of this hospital right away. It was definitely messing with his head.

"So Finn, tell me as much as you can about the animal that attacked you."

He caught eye contact with Rachel and she nodded her head, encouraging him to continue. "Well, I don't remember a lot. It was really dark."

"Just try, Finn. Hopefully with your help we can capture this animal so he can't hurt anyone else. You were extremely lucky your teacher found you when he did or else you might not have made it."

He looked over at his family for confirmation and they agreed with the doctor while Kurt stepped forward. "Mr. Schue left practice late and found you in the parking lot. He brought you here and called us afterwards."

"Listen," Finn said. "All I remember was that the animal was huge. It looked like a dog, but it couldn't have been, it was the size of a bear or something." He took a deep breath, tried to ignore the different scents that entered his sensitive nose, and continued. "I think it was, like, a wolf."

Burt and his mother shared a skeptical look. "Finn, wolves haven't been seen around this part of Ohio for decades. Animal Control was called and they're hunting the animal down. That's all that matters now." His mother's voice was still shaking and he could almost swear that he could hear her heart pounding, but he was fooling himself as the doctor pulled her out into the hallway. Burt and Kurt followed them, leaving Finn inside the room alone with Rachel. She had been completely silent since the moment he'd woken up, but now that they were alone she launched herself across the room so she could be at his side and placed a simple kiss on his forehead before he pulled her in for a hug. He must have squeezed her too hard because she yelped in surprise before pulling away.

"Hey, I love you too, but don't bruise a rib," she joked while she pushed the sweaty hair away from his forehead. He grabbed her hand softly and kissed it, thankful that she was there in the middle of all this chaos. "How are you feeling?" She asked genuinely as she looked down at him with concern lining her features.

"Weird," he admitted. "Very weird." He could have sworn that he had pulled her in for a hug as gently as possible but she had reacted like he was squeezing her to death. Add that to the noises he was hearing and his over-sensitive nose and he was starting to get concerned.

"How so?"

"I don't know, I can't explain it. I just don't feel like myself." He wanted to explain, but there was something nearby that was distracting him so badly he couldn't focus. One of his neighbors must have been hard of hearing, because the TV next door was so loud he could hear the scores for the baseball game being announced like it was happening right there in his room with him. He shrugged it off and tried to explain what was happening to his girlfriend. "Everything is just really sensitive; my eyes, my ears, even my nose. I don't like it."

Rachel shrugged as she helped him fluff up his pillows. "Maybe it's just a bad reaction from the anesthesia. You'll be fine in a few days."

"I hope so." The noise from the TV was becoming unbearable to Finn as he struggled to block out the sound. "Rachel, can you ask whoever is watching the baseball game to lower their TV? I can't concentrate." She shot him a momentary look of confusion before she left the room, and a moment later the rest of his family returned, relaying the news that he could return home after one final night of observation.

They all gave him hugs before leaving, and Rachel came back in a moment later so she could get a ride home from his family. He could no longer hear the annoying TV, but he could tell that there was something that Rachel was hiding from him as she leaned over to kiss him goodbye. He inhaled deeply and marveled at the scent that was coming from Rachel's skin. It was flowery and bright, like a sunny spring day. He could almost lose himself in her scent but as quick as it came it was gone, and Rachel looked worried as she left his hospital room for the night.

When all of his guests had left he fell into an uneasy sleep, where malicious red eyes continued to track him down, no mater how fast he ran.

Finn returned to school a few days after he was released from the hospital, and the doctors were happily surprised with how quickly Finn had healed from his wounds. He was still having problems with his hearing and his sense of smell, but he was learning to deal with it as the days went by. In fact, besides the problems with his nose and ears, he felt better than he'd ever felt before. Sometimes it felt like he was bursting with unstoppable energy and felt as strong as an ox. Plus he was starting to get a little better at dance practice, so he couldn't really complain. At least now he knew by second period what they were serving for lunch. Even Mr. Schue started to praise him on his growing agility, which canceled out the fact that Mr. Schue's breath smelled like pure tuna even hours after eating.

It was the Thursday after he had gotten out of the hospital, and he had been living with his strange new problems for over a week when Rachel decided to sit in on their daily dance rehearsal. Normally, Rachel practiced on her own, but she wanted to see Finn's progress and even he was excited to show her his new moves. Sure, he still wasn't the most light-footed person on the team, but he was definitely improving, little by little.

"Alright guys, today we're going to be perfecting The Widowmaker, which we all know is the most complicated dance move in show choir. Mike and I have been pushing you pretty hard, so now we want to see the progress that you've been making. Guys first. Step on up."

Kurt, Puck, Blaine and Finn all stepped forward and got in line on the stage, spreading out and checking the area around them so they didn't fall on anything. Before the rest of the guys were ready, Finn suddenly got an overwhelming burst of energy, and the normal nervous energy he felt before dancing evaporated entirely as his vision sharpened and his senses heightened. His already powerful sense of smell was even more intense and he was pretty sure he could hear everyone on the stage breathing, even though he knew it was impossible. When Mr. Schue turned on the music he didn't hesitate for a second before starting the complicated dance move, allowing his body to move for him without hesitation as his muscled complied. His body was a blur as he executed it to perfection while the entire glee club looked on in shock.

A few weeks ago he could barely step to the beat of the music correctly. Now he had just perfected the most complicated move in show choir, without any error. He squirmed under everyone's intense stares as he shuffled back on forth on his feet, feeling awkward as his senses grew sharper than ever before. He saw Puck lean over to whisper something in Quinn's ear and even though he knew it was impossible to hear what was being said at that distance, he could still make out every word, as clear as day.

"When did Frankenteen morph into a ballerina?" Puck asked while Quinn snickered under her breath. It sounded to him like she was guffawing right in her ear, and he rubbed his hands over his eyes when the lights on stage suddenly became too bright for him to stand. With everyone's eyes still on him, Finn felt the overwhelming urge to run away, as far as his legs would take him. The urge was so strong he started to walk backwards, off the stage.

"I've never seen you move like that before, buddy, You must have been practicing really hard." Mr. Schuester said, impressed, but Finn could barely focus on the praise. His sense of smell became too strong to ignore as the urge to escape only became stronger. "Finn, is something wrong?" Mr. Schuester asked him with worry lacing his tone while his head filled with a pressure he had never felt before. Clutching his head, he mumbled "I'm fine," before exiting the stage through the back doors and away from all the prying eyes in the group. When he removed his hands from his eyes, his vision was back to the way it was before, but he was still brimming with a kind of energy that just wouldn't dissipate. His muscles ached for release. He wanted to just. . .run.

"Finn?" He could hear Rachel's voice echo through the halls and when he turned around, she was staring at him with both concern and worry written all over her face. She approached him slowly, and he met her halfway, pulling her close and taking a deep inhale of her beautiful scent. He didn't know why, but the smell of her calmed him down instantly, and he never wanted to let her go.

But he had to loosen his grip on her as she pulled away, and she looked into his eyes with a severity that he couldn't ignore. "What is it babe?" He asked, cupping her face in his hands while she closed her eyes and paused before elaborating.

"I don't know, Finn. I'm worried about you."

He tried to shrug it off, even though he was just as worried. "Rachel, it's been a week since I've been out of the hospital. I'm fine."

"No you're not!" She insisted, and he could almost hear her heart pick up speed as she stood there flustered."You were attacked by an animal Finn, and ever since then there has been some weird things going on with you." He had tried to ignore his strange new skills before now in order to maintain some kind of normalcy, but now that Rachel had noticed he could no longer feign indifference. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

He could feel his emotions start to build up, and the instinct to run was becoming too strong to ignore. "Babe, I told you already, I'm fine. The doctors wouldn't have let me leave the hospital if there was something still wrong with me." She didn't look convinced.

"Remember the night you woke up in the hospital? And you complained that your neighbor's TV was too loud? Well I ran through your corridor like a crazy person, trying to find the one TV that was playing a baseball game and guess what Finn? The room was about eight doors down, and the sound on the TV was barely audible. I double checked the rooms on my way back, and that was the only TV playing baseball. How could you have heard something so low that was so far away?"

He shrugged his shoulders, unable to answer the question himself. That night the TV had been loud enough to deafen him, when in reality it was all the way down the corridor. He knew that weird things had been happening to him, but whenever he tried to rationalize it he came up empty, so he was just trying to ignore it. Now that Rachel was standing here and demanding an answer, he could feel what little control he had over his emotions snap like taut rubber bands, and didn't even notice a low growl escape his mouth from somewhere deep in his throat.

"I don't know, Rachel! Just leave me alone!" Rachel stepped back from him, putting a few paces in-between them and he could smell her fear in the air. Wait, smell her fear? What the hell was going on with his nose?

He instantly felt bad for snapping at her, but the tenuous hold he had on his emotions was slipping, fast. He never wanted Rachel to be afraid of him, but the closer he came, the more distance she tried to put between them. She was acting like she was scared of him and he didn't like it. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I don't know what's been going on with me but I can try to explain."

"Finn," she interrupted him, pointing at his face while her skin went pale from the shock. "Your eyes are glowing red."

As soon as those words left her lips Finn was immediately transported back to the parking lot on that horrible night last month, when the huge animal was staring him down with his red, murderous eyes under the full moon. The animal that was as big as a bear, but looked like the big bad wolf.

The animal with the glowing red eyes.

He could hear his own heart pounding like it was a jackhammer next to his ear, and the smell of Rachel's fear permeated the air as all of his instincts were telling him to escape. He reached out to Rachel for some consolation, but her fear only increased more as he finally gave into instinct and ran away from the tense situation.

Without another word, he bolted from the school and started to run as soon as he felt the cool autumn wind on his face. With the wind whipping through his hair he felt free, and he gave into his instincts as his legs pumped his body faster and faster through the night. The streets passed by him in a blur, and he didn't even break a sweat as he continued to run with no destination.

When he finally snapped out of the trance he had fallen into while running, the half moon was already high in the night sky. He stared up at it like it had the answers to all of his problems, but unfortunately he was left in the dark all alone, without even his belongings that he had left at school. He knew it was probably getting late, but there were too many thoughts on his mind. He could handle the weird sense of smell and the crazy hearing, but now he was dancing like he was Mike Chang and scaring his girlfriend with his creepy eyes. He had no idea what was happening to him, but he knew it had to have something to do with the animal that attacked him. It was a wolf; it had to have been. The thought was heavy on his mind as he made his way home.

By the time he made it back to his house, the lights were off and Kurt's SUV was parked in the driveway. He tried to tiptoe into his house as quietly as possible, but his mother must have had amazing hearing as well, because she called out his name as soon as he entered the kitchen.

He started to panic as the footsteps came closer, and when he caught his reflection in the dining room mirror, he had to stop himself from screaming.

His eyes were still glowing red, and seeing it up close was a shock to him as he took in the rest of his appearance. His hair was standing up in a million different directions and contrasted drastically against the red of his eyes.

That wasn't the worst part, though.

What was really freaking him out at the moment wasn't his glowing eyes or super hearing or mega smell. No. It was the sharp canine-like teeth that pointed down below his lips, making him look like a strange kind of monster. He lifted up his lip and touched the point of his teeth with his tongue, hissing when he felt exactly how sharp they were.

He was looking into a mirror and a monster was staring back at him.

He couldn't let his mother see this.

When she entered the dining room area and spotted Finn by the mirror, he quickly pushed past her, so fast that she couldn't see his face at all. How would he be able to explain this to his parents if he couldn't even explain it to himself?

"Finn? What's the meaning of this? Where have you been all night? It's almost midnight!" He ignored her as he took the stairs two-at-a-time in hopes of escaping his mother's questions.

"Nothing, Mom. I was just out."

"Out?" Carole repeated, incredulous. "Finn, Mr. Schue called before, extremely concerned about you. Rachel has been tying up my phone line all night looking for you. Kurt said you were acting weird at rehearsal. You never hide things from me Finn, so I want to know what's so important that you can't be honest with me."

He could feel her words dig into him, leaving him feeling raw and guilty, but at the moment he couldn't worry about his mother's feelings, he had other more important things to worry about. He ignored her once more and entered his room, slamming the door shut without saying another word to his mom. He immediately went to the mirror in his bedroom and started analyzing his face. He was beginning to panic and with every passing second, his body continued to change. When he looked down at his hands he noticed his nails lengthening into claws. Looking back up at his reflection elicited a true shout from him, when he noticed his ears stretching up into points, like an elf. It felt like his body was pulling him into a million directions and the pain was almost unbearable.

"Finn," he could hear Burt's loud, authoritarian voice echo through the room and his panic increased a hundred-fold. "Finn, I know I'm not your father, but this is my house and you will open this door right now or else there will be consequences."

"Maybe he's on drugs," he heard his mother whisper to her husband through the solid wooden doors. He knew he wasn't supposed to hear that, but he responded to it anyway.

"I'm not on drugs!" He yelled, practically snarling, and all was silent for a few moments.

"Finn, honey," normally his mother's voice had the power to calm him down but right now he felt the exact opposite as his body continued to change in front of his eyes. His head hurt and he had the overwhelming instinct to run again. When he was running, the outside world didn't even exist. "We just want to know that you're okay. You haven't been acting like yourself and we're worried. Now please open the door."

"I can't," he moaned as he stared at his ever-changing reflection. He didn't even look like himself anymore, he looked like some strange hybrid that nightmares were made of.

"Finn, if you don't open this door in three seconds, I'm breaking it down!" Burt yelled. His heart started pounding as he thought about his parent's reaction. They would disown him! Their son was a freak!

"One!" He approached the door but still refused to open it, looking in the mirror once more and shuddering at his monstrous appearance.

"Two!" He closed his eyes as he imagined the screams and took a deep breath in preparation.

"Three!" Finn finally opened his door and waited for the yelling to commence as he took shallow breaths. When he didn't hear his parents wailing in horror, he opened his eyes and saw the disappointment on Carole and Burt's faces.

"Was that so difficult?" Burt asked, and Finn looked down at his hands to see that his fingernails were no longer the heinous claws that they'd been. He felt his teeth with his tongue and they were back to normal too.

Burt clapped a hand on Finn's shoulder. "Listen buddy, I know being a teenager isn't easy. Your body is constantly changing and there are an infinite amount of decisions that need to be made. We can't always be there to tell you what to do, but we expect you to make the right choices for yourself."

Finn sighed, thankful that it had been some sort of strange nightmare. "I'm sorry about before, guys, but i'm not on drugs though. I just needed some time to unwind."

His mother laughed nervously. "We never said you were, sweetheart."

"We left some dinner in a tupperware container on top of the microwave. Get something to eat and then get ready for bed. You've got a big game to get ready for this weekend and you need your rest." He sighed when he thought about the game on Saturday, and his already busy schedule was stretched way too thin for him to keep track of everything. The pressure was almost too much, but this was what he wanted for his senior year. He couldn't back out of his responsibilities now.

"Thanks Mom, thanks Burt." He hugged his mother and kissed her goodnight before he finally re-entered his room and closed the door behind him. He still didn't know what was happening with him, but now that he was alone again he went right back into the bathroom and saw his eyes glowing red once more, almost pulsing to the beat of his own heart. He thought of what his step-father had just told him and scoffed bitterly at his tainted reflection.

"I'm no teenager," he said to himself as the glowing red eyes stared right back at him. "I'm a monster."

. . . . . . . . . . .

Until next time. . .Don't Stop, Reviewing!

Merci mille fois, mes amis!