“Even those who are brave should not lurk in the dark for too long. They might not like what they see when their eyes adjust to the shadows.”
(CH1 SPOILERS AHEAD)
Tainted Beasts is an AU that takes place in chapter 2 after the trial of Wolfgang’s murder. A new motive is announced just the next day in which all the ultimates have to do is avoid little exotic animals that Tozu “lost” after they “broke out of their cage”. The day goes by with Damon being all moody over the trial, and Ulysses and Toshiko end up getting small wounds from Tozu’s pets, Ulysses being scratched on the cheek and Toshiko being bit on her wrist. At first it’s no big deal, but that night Damon and Kai both wake up to loud hooting and screeching and find Ulysses has become a wereowl…or a mutant owl. Whatever you want, either way he became an owl hybrid and runs off. Toshiko turned too, now a red panda mutant/hybrid, and Tozu explains the full motive.
Their true motive is to avoid being bit or scratched by his animals since their fangs and claws are coated in a venom that spreads through the bloodstream of a human. Once an infected person is exposed to a rare chemical in the air that Tozu releases at dawn, said infected person transforms into an animal hybrid until the chemicals stop spreading through the air, which Tozu releases a purifier that shocks the chemicals and transforms the hybrids back at sunrise. How is this a motive? Well in order to get the antidote that reverses the changes, someone must kill, whether it’s a friend of an infected who can’t bear to see them in pain or an animalistic state at night, or an infected who wants nothing more than to be fully human again.
Over the next days in the killing game, more and more people get infected, becoming “Tainted” (As in tainted by the curse of the night and tainted by the venom in their bloodstream). Seven people eventually become Tainted, leaving the other seven to figure out how to deal with them at night and not have to kill to stop the nightly changes
I’m really excited to share more about this AU with you guys it’s one of my new favorites
