Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“This is Sarah Hatoff reporting live at the Okay city hospital where Officer Knight and his best friend Greg the dog have just been emitted following an explosion caused by Petey—the world's most evilest cat.”

The lights of the hospital beamed viscously onto them as they were taken to the emergency room. Pain coated Greg’s body and everything, including the nurses around him, sounded muffled. Over to his left lay Knight, his head covered in bandages and mostly unmoving.

He could tell the nurses were preparing for something but in his hazy mind he couldn't discern what it was. And the medication being injected to his leg made him feel like he was gonna pass out any moment but, before he fell unconscious he could vaguely see Knight nodding his head to something the nurse said.

Whatever it was gave Greg the most dreadful feeling.

His head felt groggy, his teeth were burning, and his stomach has never felt so empty, like he’s been starving for days on end.

The hospital room he was currently in was dark and empty. The windows had their blinds turned down and the heart monitor seemed like the only sound in the room short of his breathing. But, he could hear some people outside having a heated discussion about something. Hungry. That thought pounded in his head non stop.

Greg looked around noticing something odd, when he lifted his leg it felt heavier than normal. That confusion led to shock and fear as he noticed that his leg was now a human arm. Panic started taking over his entire body as he recklessly threw off the covers and seeing the rest of the body below only made it worse.

In the midst of his panic Greg didn’t notice the door to his room being opened and a nurse calling his name. What he did notice was the sent… It was delicious—like a home cooked meal that brings you back to your childhood. His body went on auto pilot turning to the aroma, craving its source.

Nurse Lady had opened the door to check on Greg, making sure the equipment was working fine and that his head wasn’t having any bad reaction to the transfer. When she saw that he was awake, she happily greeted him.

“Greg, I see that you’re up. How are you?” She got no initial response other than the dog-headed man’s ear twitching. That was until his head snapped to her a blank look on his face, a look that made him seem—far away.

He suddenly lunged at her, or well tried to as the machines he was attached to stunted his movements along with the guard rails being in the way caused him to fall on the floor; IV and heart monitor being ripped out.

Nurse Lady went over to his flailing form to try and help him up and she was suddenly grabbed. She was pulled down harshly as Greg opened his mouth readying a bite, she screamed and flung herself back causing the hybrid to stumble and land back on the floor, growling, shivering, and staring at the floor.

Shocked but undeterred, she approached again trying to get his attention. “Greg? Greg, can you hear me?”

She inched closer trying not to startle him—he was having a panic attack and she didn’t want to make it worse. Laying a comforting hand on his shoulder caused him to flinch, then calm. “That’s it, breath… everything’s gonna be okay." Slow pats on his back and soft reassurances seemed to be enough to calm the dog down.

“Let me help you back to bed. I know this is scary and you may be confused but let me explain."

With his breathing slowing down she began to explain what had happened. Starting with Petey, the bomb, Knight and himself being brought to the emergency room and finally the hardest part… the surgery and Knight’s sacrifice.

Greg held still—soaking it all in—pain filling his body at the mention of Knight. Staring at Knight’s hands he could see and feel them twitch sluggishly as his brain tried to get used to this new body, but all he could think about was the smell Nurse Lady was emitting right next to him. Questions racing through his head: What is that smell? Why does she smell like that? Why am I so hungry?

As these thoughts rumbled in his brain Nurse Lady offered to get him some food. With a simple nod of his head she was off and he was left alone with his thoughts for the time being.

He tried to calm his breathing and tried moving his hands with little success. With little else to do he flung himself back on his back and stared up at the ceiling. Counting the tiles helped him focus on his breathing as it was at least some kind of distraction from the current situation. Thankfully it was one that he didn’t have to maintain for long as Nurse Lady came back with a plate of food.

Setting the food on a table and helping Greg shift back against the pillow. She then rolled a table in place and sat down on the bed intending to help him eat. As he ate she began slowly running through what was going to happen through the next several weeks to a couple months. Check ups, therapy, physical therapy, getting him a tutor in sign language as his vocal cords barely survived the surgery along with talking to Chief about his job and calling Alice about all this.

As she spoke she helped shovel food into his mouth, it was tasteless, unfilling, and he was grateful because he didn’t think he could lean down without getting stuck.

After his meal was finished Nurse Lady moved the table to the side and informed him that he would be able to get visitors as early as tomorrow. After some more monitoring to make sure the surgery wouldn’t have any post-surgery complications.

Though in all likelihood he will but suck here for a few days or maybe even a month considering… well, the obvious. And as she finished her explanation she walked to the window, grabbing the cord for the blinds.

“How about we get some sunlight in here, hm?” She was about half way when she heard a pained yelp from Greg. And as she whipped around to see what was wrong—she saw it.

Thick steam billowed out of the hybrid’s head and hands as he started to flail and bark in pain.

Chapter Text

Nurse Lady immediately rushed over to help with Greg’s boiling and charring skin, calling for additional help.

“What happened here?!” A doctor shouted over the barks and wails

Quickly raising her voice to answer the doctor, Nurse Lady responds as she retrieves a fire extinguisher “His head and hands started smoking, boiling, and charring!”

“Do you see what caused this?!”

“No, I was opening the blinds!”

As the doctor and nurses tried to restrain and put the smoke out; Greg managed to rip the covers over himself and the smoke immediately ceased.

Noticing this sudden change, the doctor called for someone to close the blinds. And as the blinds went down the doctor studied his patient. Looking to see if there was still smoke or if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Tentatively, he examined the dog searching for any heat that would indicate that the reaction was still taking place. Yet there was none, just a dog with a man’s body hiding under the covers.

Pulling back the covers he saw the burned skin and called for the nurses to ready him for burn treatment. And as they did this everyone in the room had one question on their mind. What happened?

It took a bit, but now Greg lay once again on his back in his hospital bed. This time however, he also has bandages not just around his neck but on his head and hands too. He also had a new round of tests to go through—nearly bursting into flames would incite that sort of worry from his doctors.

The test didn’t reveal much; he seemed as normal as a dog-headed man could be other than his new aversion to sunlight. And it also guaranteed he’d be here for longer, at least there’d be people who would talk to him. Not like he could respond but it was nice to listen. It also, thankfully, didn’t inhibit his ability to have visitors which he was grateful for.

Alice hasn’t answered any of the hospital's calls—she must be taking what happened pretty hard, too. He can probably ask the Chief to check on her when he visits today. Which he was excited about. Greg could finally be able to see another familiar face. He hasn’t seen him since he and Knight went out on patrol.

Speaking of familiar faces, Nurse Lady came through the door with lunch. Along with that delicious smell that all the doctors and nurses seem to be carrying—must be something on their clothes, he’ll just ask later.

“Hey Greg,” She greeted chipperly “got you some lunch and got a call from the chief that he’s on his way over.” She smiled as she set down the tray. Greg happily wiggles his hips as if he still had a tail, happy that Chief would be here soon.

Nurse Lady pulled out her phone and handed it to him, the phone already opened on some note taking app, as she asked. ”How are you feeling right now?”

After a bit of fumbling with the keys he slowly types out his answer and hands it back to her—”Tired hungry”.

“Well, that makes sense considering the toll the procedure must be taking on you.” She helped steady him as he shoved his face into the bland food. After he finished she gathered up the plate and checked his vitals, everything seemed normal, except his pulse—it was noticeably slower than yesterday. She made a note of that for the doctor as she walked through the door almost bumping into someone when she opened the door.

“Oh, hi Chief Bailey, here to see Greg?” She asked as if she didn’t already know.

“W-well yeah G-Genie, come to see how my officers are doing, though if you’re their nurse they must be doing great.” She giggled at his little stutter and his compliment as he began to blush his heart beat picking up the pace from what Greg could hear but what caught his attention was the chief’s smell—it was the same as the doctors and nurses. Greg’s curiosity of the smell only grew as he stared at him.

“Well I’ll let you two get to it then, hm?” Nurse Lady said with a little smirk.

“Right, s-see you later Genie.” The chief waved after her as she fully exited the room.

And when the chief turned to look at his officers all he saw was… Greg, alone, waving at him with a smile. A confused frown started forming on his face as he looked the hybrid up and down. Chief slowly made his way over to Greg’s bed as he muttered his name in a confused voice. Greg kept up his smile as the chief hesitantly laid his hand on the dog’s arm as if to check what he was seeing was real.

When the chief looked in Greg’s eyes, his own starting to shimmer with unshed tears, he asked “Is.. Is this Knight’s?” The hybrid's smile couldn’t hold at the unfinished question as he nodded his head, whimpering out an apology.

Greg watched as Chief grabbed the side bars of the bed, his arms shaking. He held himself there with his eyes closed and his jaw clenched as his breathing quickened. Then he looked at Greg with fury, pain, sorrow, and determination—with tears rolling down his cheeks—his voice seethed through his teeth.

“We’re gonna get that cat., and make sure he stays locked up for good!”

The hybrid nodded with a hardened gaze. He understood the chief’s pain, their friend was taken from them and they would get justice for what that cat did.

The chief started to calm himself slowly, taking deep breaths to focus. With a final exhale through his nose he said “You… you recover, I’ll assign an officer to protect you in case Petey tries to make a move. And I’ll track that mangy cat down myself.”

Chapter Text

It’s been two months now, but to Greg it felt like a blur. A number of things have been discovered about the unexpected after effects the surgery had on him. The first of which was his new diet which now entirely consisted of blood. How that was discovered is something he still can’t fully recall, but he thinks it has something to do with him sucking on his IV bag. Regardless, his new diet helped him find out what that scent that’s been on everyone has been—blood. It had haunted him for days, everywhere he went that scent had been present. It took him until he ripped open his IV that he realized where the scent was coming from and what it was.

His increased strength was another discovery, along with needing to learn how to control that new strength. The amount of things he’s broken in addition to the finger-shaped dents he’s left on doorknobs has been a clear indication. And the strength tests had to be halted because they ran out of weights.

The final piece of knowledge gained about his physiology was his speed. As he acclimated to his body, the increase to his speed became more apparent. On his treadmill tests he clocked an average of 80mph. Which, while impressive, wasn’t even his top speed as that has still yet to be determined.

On the recovery side of things, Greg has been making astounding progress from his physical therapy to his sign language. He’s completely caught up and he’ll be able to go back to work real soon. Which he finds great because, despite the best efforts of the chief and the rest of the police force, Petey is still running free committing crimes left and right. He’s been using giant robots and other contraptions to prevent himself from being caught and at night it’s like he vanishes, no trace of either him or his robots.

Another person who’s vanished is Alice, she wasn’t at home. Neither was anything else as it seems—she packed everything and left. When the chief delivered the news, the only thing left was his ball. It was the only thing left in the house when he arrived—that and a “for sale” sign out front.

So, he needed a new place and fortunately there happened to be one just outside of the city. It was small on the outside and looked like a human-sized dog house, it had a big yard and backyard. But, the best part was the inside—it was huge, even Chief questioned why no one had bought it for the price it had. He also questioned how it was bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Despite the bad things that had happened to him, he was feeling optimistic. He had a house—that was cold and empty. He still had his job—that now he would be working alone and exclusively at night. He has friends—who he was friends with because they were all friends of Knight. And he had a clear purpose, to take down Petey.

Tonight would be his first night back at the precinct, first he’d go talk to Chief and get his assignment then he would go out to look for Petey.

As he stepped into the precinct the first thing he noticed was the stares from the night shift and those going home for the day. He smiled and waved as he walked to the chief’s office. No one waved back, they just kept staring at him in a way he couldn’t quite discern at that moment. Greg decided to ignore it as he opened the chief’s door to greet him.

“There you are, Greg” Chief greeted kindly as Greg signed a simple “Hello” back.

“Alright, first things first, here’s your badge, your side arm, and you already know your assignment. Now go out there and catch Petey the cat!” With a quick salute Greg grabbed his gear and went out the door. Passing by the stares of his coworkers he set off to find Petey.

Half way into the night and his patrol was going fine, he stopped a mugging and a domestic dispute along with some drunkards trying to get in a car. But, he hadn’t yet seen or gotten a whiff of Petey. And he’s combed half the city, his speed on foot—he hasn't gotten a driver’s license yet—along his night vision would at least ensure he could get the rest of the city searched before dawn.

He sighed as he bit into his bag of pig’s blood, draining it seconds. His eyes swept through the street looking for any detail from the building he was on top of. Then he spotted it, a lone kitten dragging a box down the sidewalk.

Greg stuffed his bag in his pocket as he leaped from one building to the other across the street. Then he hopped down into the ally, landing on his feet with a hard thud. He side-stepped out of the alley and in front of the kitten. The kitten was small, young probably around 5 to 7, he had orange fur with black stripes—he was a tabby—and the box he was dragging behind him had ‘Free Kitty’ penned with black marker on the side.

The kitten looked up at him in awe, then in his high pitched voice he cheered “Dog Man!” Greg smiled as he took out his police badge and his phone, typing out a question for the kitten. “Hello, I’m Officer Greg. Where are your parents?” With a smile still on his face the kitten answered back “I’m Li’l Petey and I’m looking for my Papa right now, can you help me find him Mr. Greg?”

Of course he would help him—it was his job after all—and with a nod, he picked up Li’l Petey and gave him a quick sniff—the kitten giggled at his cold nose—to track down his parent’s scent. Then he carried him all the way back to the police station to report the lost kitten and add searching for his “Papa” onto what he needed to do for the night.

When Greg walked into the precinct he looked over to see the chief’s office light still on, he must be working late. Which is fortunate because he can talk to the chief about searching for Li’l Petey’s father now rather than tomorrow.

Opening Chief Clarence Bailey’s office reveals him—slumped over paper work on his desk—trying to stay awake. Greg barked to get his attention and he jolted up looking at what startled him, seeing Greg with an orange kitten in his arms.

Greg sets Li’l Petey down and signs to the chief “Hey, Chief. I found this kitten wandering the streets looking for his father, can I leave him here while I go search for him?”

The chief looked at him thinking then he proposed a different course of action. “Greg, we don't have the stuff to set up the kid for the night,” Chief looks at his clock. “and it's almost sunrise… how about you take him home with you while I send some officers to look for his dad today.” Then the chief looked down at Li’l Petey and asked him “Could you tell me where you live and your dad’s name and what he looks like so we can find him?”

After Chief got all the info he could from the kitten about his home and his dad, the duo of cat and dog set off for Greg’s home. And when Clarence thought about it he couldn’t help but think about how familiar the kitten looked.

Chapter Text

*KA-BOOM!*

The sound of the explosion rang in Petey’s ears as he made his escape. Finally, he was rid of that stupid cop and his weakling dog. Of course he knew that idiot would try to disarm the bomb himself—bet he thought that one of the external wires would do it too.

Now that those pains in the neck are gone, he can finally take over this stupid city. But first, he’ll need to build a couple of robots to help him get the cash and materials he needs.

“Petey! Stop right there! This is the police!” Shouted Chief as he and some of his officers nearly surrounded the cat. “Aww, but why would I do that?” Petey said in a mocking tone “Especially when I have this!” Petey pushed a button from a small remote in his hand and a large multi-armed robot came from the sky, landing and performing a spin that knocked all the officers on their backs with its arms, allowing Petey to make a getaway.

Jumping on the robot’s back he jeered “HAW! HAW! HAW!” as flames burst from the robot’s feet carrying them off. Along with the bags of money he had stolen from the bank.

“Petey! Put the weapon down now and surrender!” Came the booming voice of the chief through a megaphone towards Petey.

Petey put on a thinking face for just a moment, though his mind was already made up. “Nah.” Petey then whipped the glue gun at them and blasted, coating them in a swiftly hardening resin, rooting them in place. He then casually walked back over to the spider-like dump truck being filled with metal parts by his multi-armed robots.

Shots fired at Petey, as he was robbing an electronics store. He spun gracefully, dodging the bullets as he flicked a switch on the white orb he had in his hand—and tossed it into the center of cops firing at him. The orb let out a wave that disoriented and confused the officers, making them unable to safely aim at him, forcing them to stop completely or risk hitting an innocent.

With the bag over his shoulder Petey activated his jet-pack and flew off, snatching up the orb on his way and back to his secret lab.

Petey sat in the cockpit of a giant mechanical butterfly with a massive claw dangling from its center—a massive amount of timber in its grip. He ignored the angry voice of the chief trying to order him to land and release the lumber as he pulled a few levers. The claw being drawn up close to the body of the machine as he ascended.

With a gentle push of the controls, he flew off.

Petey sat in his lab pouring over blueprints and plans—he was not happy. He needed to drain the powerplant however, he also needed to drain the water from several water towers from around the city, while also draining the gas from every gas station in Okay City. He had too many things he needed to do for his plan and he couldn’t try to do them one at a time. Eventually one of them would be prevented and his plan would be halted for who knows how long.

He needed a way to get all of them done at once—but how? He couldn’t just have robots do it, he would have to manage all of them at once and with that many operations going on it would be impossible, even for a genius like him. So, Petey thought about it, and thought about, and thought about it. When it suddenly came to him—he needed a partner, someone who could handle using his machines without breaking them, someone who could outsmart the cops just as easily, someone who wouldn’t screw up his plans, someone he can trust.

He needed another Petey!

He zoomed off to his computer, hopping on a swivel chair as he rolled to his desk, and started typing. Petey wasn’t as fluent in biology as he was in robotics and he needed a second Petey now. Which makes buying a cloning machine the obvious choice—with a quick purchase the machine was on its way.

Petey heard his doorbell ring while he was working on yet again another contraption to deal with those annoying cops. He rushed over to the peephole, peering out to see a crate with a label that said “Cloning Machine" on it.

Flinging the door open he picked up the box and set it inside of his lab and when the mailman asked him to sign for it—he just shot him with a bubble gun. As if he’d ever leave a paper trail.

Setting down the machine and un-packing it, he saw it in all its glory—tall with a lot of pointless buttons on the side. Petey pulled out the instruction and began following the steps to make his clone.

1. Turn on the machine
2. Open the DNA hatch
3. Insert a piece of DNA
4. Close the DNA hatch
5. Press the ‘GO!’ button

Pressing the ’GO! button’ cause the machine to start playing a bunch of flashy sounds and shaking like a broken washing machine. Then, after a bit, the machine settled down and a soft *ding~* was heard. Finally, with one whisker down he now had his new clone—all he had to do was open the door and they could start his plan together.

Opening the door caused a wall of smoke to come barreling out and when he looked inside he saw …nothing, until a small voice made him look down.

“Hi, I’m Li’l Petey, are you my Papa?”

A little orange kitten stood in the cloning machine where his clone is supposed to be. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. Thinking he did something wrong, he raced over to the instruction, picked them up and looked at them front to back. And on the back laid a single instruction.

1. Wait 14-16 years for the clone to grow into an adult

Petey’s eye twitched at that, especially since there was plenty of room on the front for that to be printed. Taking a large breath in and large breath out he began thinking of different ways he could go through with his plan without a clone.

Then he felt a little poke at his leg, looking down he saw the kitten again “Are you my Papa?” he asked happily.

…Right, he had a child clone to deal with now.

It’s been a few days and Petey laid in bed unable to sleep again, his stomach twisted and burned with the weight of what he had done. He had put the kitten into a box and dropped him off at a park, telling him that they were gonna play hide n’ seek and he was the seeker. Then, he left …just walked home.

He felt like the world was crumbling down around him—and he couldn’t take it anymore. He got up and dashed from his room down into his lab and began to build. The robot had a simple purpose—to find Li’l Petey. And after a few hours of work it was done, his 80-Hexotron Droidformigon was finished powered on and ready to find Li’l Petey.

“Alright 80-HD, I need you to find my clone.” The robot gave a simple thumbs up and scanned Petey, then scanned the whole city in mere seconds and began walking in a direction.

Hours of walking had led them to some dumb looking dog-themed house outside of the city. Petey grumbled an irritated growl as he began picking the lock on the door. While he did this he began thinking of what he would do next after he got the kitten back—taking him home was the obvious first thing but, then what?

Petey was suddenly startled by a loud crash behind him, pieces of metal and glass hitting his back. Dropping his tools and spinning around he saw what had happened. 80-HD lay slumped in the walkway completely smashed as a dog-headed man stood, facing away from Petey, in the crater left in 80-HD’s body.

Petey backed up into the door as the dog-headed man’s head turned to him, stepping out of what was left of 80-HD slowly, as if he was going to stalk up to him. Then, in a blur Petey was pinned even harder against the door with a loud bang.

He looked at the dog’s face and he recognized them. It was the same dog that had helped arrest him so many times before, the same dog he had blown up with the cop two months ago.

The hybrid let out a feral growl as he stared Petey dead in the eyes, rage boiling in him along with something else. His teeth were large, long, and sharp; he opened his maw further and lunged.

Chapter Text

The door he was pinning the cat to suddenly opened when Greg was in the middle of lunging at him to… to do something. Causing them both to fall into his house and causing his snout to be mashed into the floor. Li’l Petey of course being the culprit—being woken up by the loud crash outside and seeing Dog Man not in bed went to go check it out himself—looked at them and a wide open smile spread onto his face as he exclaimed. “Dog Man! You found my Papa!”

Greg sat up confused looking between Lil’ Petey and Petey, noticing their similarities. From their black-striped orange fur to the little tilt of their ears, even their little noses were the same. He now felt a little foolish for not realizing it sooner, to be fair he was having so much fun with Li’l Petey to notice or process the connection. Li’l Petey was just so happy, nice, and brought so much life to his home—how could he ever think that he and Petey were related.

But now, this gives Greg a few questions, the primary one being ‘how can this sweet little kitten be Petey’s son?’ He’ll have to stuff that thought away for later, right now he needs to deal with Petey.

Getting up, he grabbed Petey and dragged him over to the couch. Tossing him on the couch and forcing a grin onto his face. He gave Lil’ Petey a double thumbs up in confirmation even while Petey was looking at him with a baffled expression.

Li’l Petey’s smile turned questioning as he asked “Oh, why were you and Papa on the ground when I opened the door and what was that loud noise?” Thinking of a quick excuse Greg signed “I tripped into him and we fell.”

“Oh, Okay!” The kitten’s smile made its way back onto his face as he turned to Petey and scampered up to him. “Papa, I’m so glad you’re here, Dog Man is so nice, and he’s so fun, and cool, and he can play piano, and he can talk with his hands!” As Li’l Petey continued to ramble on about how great living with “Dog Man” was Petey just stared at him with a blank expression.

Petey suddenly reached his arms out, picking up the chattering kitten and cradled him tightly against his chest. He pressed his face to the top of Li’l Petey’s head, in between his little ears; Greg could hear him whisper to the kitten in a soft voice.

“I’m sorry.”

Greg could’ve thought that he imagined it if not for Li’l Petey’s babbling ceasing. The kitten looked up to Petey with hope filled eyes. “It’s okay Papa, I forgive you.” The only response he got was a tightening hold as the older cat stared at the floor—his eyes seemed far away.

In the morning Greg was already up making eggs, bacon, and toast for his “guests”—it was some of the things he needed to get for Li’l Petey to take care of him for the time being. Though, now it seemed like that time was coming to a close. Petey needed to go to jail and that meant that the kitten would have to go to a relative or be handed over to CPS.

Greg shamefully didn’t like either option, he wanted Li’l Petey to stay. But, he had to do his job. He also needed to find out how Petey treats the kid. Speak and he shall appear, Greg hears the soft thuds of his paws on the floor while he grabs something for the two cats to drink—along with his own dinner.

He turned and looked at the older cat, who was peering around him and into his fridge with a quizzical look. “Why is your fridge full of blood bags?” With an irritated snort Greg signed to him “My dietary requirements have changed since You blew me up.”

Petey responded with sarcasm and an eye roll “So, what? You’re a vampire now?”

“He is!” came the cheerful voice of Li’l Petey while he sped to his chair. “He’s a supa-cool-vampire-supa-cop!”

Smiling at the kitten’s excitement, Greg sets down a cup next to the kitten’s breakfast watching as he devours the meal with gusto, while Petey eats with a thoughtful expression. Greg could hear him mumble about things “making sense” while he took out a pack and began drinking from it; he could feel Petey’s eyes on him.

Finishing his dinner the hybrid pulled out his phone to start texting Chief. He couldn’t take Petey to jail himself but he could get the chief to send some officers to his house to get the cat.

“Texting your boss?” the voice of said cat caused him to look up. "Of course,” he signed back. “I gotta let him know that the city’s most dangerous criminal is in my house so that he can send you to jail.”

“You’re sending Papa away?” came the sad little voice of Li’l Petey and Greg froze. Right, Li’l Petey, He… He's gotta find out if Petey has any family that could take him. Turning to the older cat, the dog tried to stealthily sign to him the question only for Petey to cut him off already knowing what the dog was going to ask. “No, I don’t have any relatives that could take him while I’m in jail.” and to Greg’s displeasure a mischievous smile started to creep onto his face as he tapped his fingers in a villainous way. “But, perhaps we could work something out?”

Greg already didn’t like where this was going.

Chapter Text

Greg wasn’t sure how he was convinced to do this, but at least he was able to twist it to make the “deal” lean more in his favor—if you could call it that.

Li’l Petey could stay with Greg and Petey would also stay with Greg but only under house arrest. Greg got Petey under surveillance, Petey got to stay out of prison, and Li’l Petey gets to live with his Papa and Dog Man at the same time, everyone wins.

If you asked Greg how he felt about the arrangement he would say that it was… suboptimal.

If you asked Petey, he’d scowl at and not respond.

And if you’d asked Li’l Petey he’d say it was near perfect.

With that, the hybrid now was setting up the spare room for the cat, with some help from Li’l Petey of course. While Petey stayed downstairs repairing 80-HD from the damages Greg inflicted on it.

Explaining to Li’l Petey how the robot got so broken from just tripping was Greg’s greatest challenge yet. Though he could tell that the kitten didn’t fully believe him.

Regardless, he now had two cats to look over in addition to his own back. The thought of Petey attempting to shred the curtains to incinerate him did cross his mind, along with the cat attempting to escape with the kitten when he wasn’t here. The ankle monitor the older cat now sported was, in all honesty, only a deterrent as Greg could only guess how long it would take for Petey to disassemble and reprogram it. He should probably go check on him.

After giving Li’l Petey some paper, crayons, tape, and telling him to decorate, the hybrid went down to go look to see what Petey was doing.

From the top of the stairs Greg could see Petey welding pieces of the robot together, a tool he had gotten from Petey’s “Secret Lab”; how everyone missed the giant sign makes him wonder how curiosity never led anyone to finding the cats. Something to be said about hiding in plain sight he supposed.

“I know you’re there mutt, what do you want?” came the grumpy voice of the cat imploring Greg to get closer. Moving around the robot to be in Petey’s sightline he signed to him.

“Just making sure you’re not trying to escape by attaching weapons to it.”

“Oh, did you bring some weapons from my lab to do that?” Petey responded with irritated sarcasm.

“No, but I’m sure you could make new ones.”

“Glad you think so highly of my ingenious mind, however I can’t create weapons out of nothing, in case you hadn’t noticed."

Before this turned into an argument Greg went to go check the time, it was dusk, he’ll need to get ready for work. Turning back to Petey the hybrid signed “I’ll be heading out for work, don’t try to escape or leave the house.” An eye roll was his only response. Going back upstairs to say goodbye to Li’l Petey and getting his gear he just needed to wait till the sun was below the horizon.

The whispers from his coworkers have grown again tonight it seems, they’re barely hiding it now. He just needs to breathe, not let it bother him, and do his job. The chief is sending him to deal with a noise complaint at an apartment, apparently their neighbor has been raving and ranting about hunting something and the caller was worried that his neighbor would get violent with his own family.

Knocking on the door Greg waited for the occupant to answer. He might have to knock louder because of the shouting he could hear from inside. A harder knock silenced the voice and footsteps could be heard approaching the door. A middle aged man opened the door and looked at him in anger, Greg could also see a presumed wife standing and a teen daughter on their couch—the place reeked of garlic. The man’s anger turned to shock then fear as he stared at his fangs and the shouting returned.

“YOU!” The man started stumbling back over to a wardrobe opening it and pulling out a filled glass bottle and a crucifix. “YOU ARE THE UNHOLY ABOMINATION THAT SEEKS TO RAVAGE THESE LANDS AND INFECT EVERYONE WITH YOUR FOUL OFFSPRING!” He thrust the crucifix in the hybrid’s direction, rage flaring, as he approached. “MAY THE LIGHT TORCH WHAT’S LEFT OF YOUR FOUL SOUL AND SEND YOU BACK DOWN TO THE UNDERWORLD!” He splashes Greg, with what he hopes is just water, and the hybrid stands there with a deadpan expression at the crazed man.

The dog then looked over to the other members of the home. The wife looked ashamed at what was happening and the daughter looked utterly embarrassed by her father’s behavior.

He took a deep breath and entered the apartment. He grabbed the man by the collar who, at this point, looks shocked and terrified. He holds him to the side as he approaches the wife and daughter, taking out his phone and typing out some questions for them.

Showing them the phone revealed the first question. “Are you two okay, did he get physical? Your neighbors feared that he was getting violent with you two.”

The wife responded with embarrassment. “Yes, we’re fine Officer, my husband just gets very loud with what he believes; as you can see.”

“Don’t speak with it! It’s trying to poison your mind so you become its thrall!” Ignoring the man’s nonsense, Greg shows them his phone again. “Can you please give me your wrists so I can track your scent. If you need to call the police I want to be able to find you quickly” They nod and show him their wrists, he takes a sniff of both—filing their scents away for later. He shows the wife one last message before dropping the man and leaving “Let your husband know that he’s getting a warning, and I hope that you two have a safe night.”

“Yes, of course, thank you Officer.”

Greg left the residence wiping his face and feeling perturbed. It was not the first time he was called an abomination but it was the first time someone assaulted him over it. He’ll need to wash his head just in case it wasn’t water in that bottle. But for now he still had the rest of the night to patrol.

Returning home Greg found Petey asleep on the couch and 80-HD fully repaired sitting next to the coffee table, making his way upstairs to check on Li’l Petey. He found him in Petey’s room, where the walls and his bed had been covered in crayon drawings. The kitten had fallen asleep mid drawing on Petey’s bed. Greg smiled as he moved the work to the side so that it wouldn’t get crushed and tucked the kitten into bed.

Greg then made his way to his own room across the hall. He got undressed and laid in bed, closing his eyes. His dreams were filled with hunger, pain, blood, ice, and the need to devour everything that moved.

Greg did not wake up the next night.

Chapter Text

Petey, at the insistence of Li’l Petey, called the hospital for Dog Man who at this point hadn’t woken up for two and a half days. The chief also came over after finding out that Greg still hadn’t woken up.

As predicted Clarence jumped at blaming Petey for whatever was happening to Greg, this was denied and they proceeded to go back and forth on it until Nurse Lady arrived.

“How long has he been asleep?” Nurse Lady inquired

“About sixty-two hours.” Petey replied

Nurse Lady continued to check on the hybrid. He was unmoving, not even breathing could be felt from him. His body was ice cold and the only sign of life from him was his eyes, they’re flicking sporadically as if trying to track something.

She was at a loss, his eyes showed life but the rest of his body seemed dead. “He has been drinking blood right, he didn’t eat anything else?”

“Yes, he has at least two blood bags a night, I don’t know if he has any more or if he eats anything weird while he’s out since I’m stuck here.” Petey replied bitterly.

“Is Dog Man gonna be okay, is he sick?" Asked Li’l Petey worried that his friend was ill.

All heads turned to the kitten and Nurse Lady spoke “We’re not sure yet Sweetie, we’ll have to wait until it’s night before we can bring him to the hospital.”

“Great while you all do that, I’m going back to sleep.” Petey walked out of the room and went into his.

“It’s not even four.” Clarence stated incredulously.

“Yes, and I’m still tired, so shut up while you take the mutt to the hospital.” The older cat called back with irritation.

With a sigh, Nurse Lady went back to checking on Greg only to notice that he was staring right at her.

Only a little startled, she quietly asked “Hello, Greg? Can you hear me?”

Greg suddenly sat up, turned, and got out of bed with a blank look on his face. He marched straight past everyone and made his way out of the room.

Following him, the two humans and little kitten saw the hybrid go down the stairs and into the kitchen. They watched as he wretched open the fridge and took out two blood bags, sinking his fangs into them he drained both near instantly.

He then turned around and walked straight up to Li’l Petey, picking him up and with long strides he took him over to the couch and sat down with the kitten in his lap.

He held the kitten close and stared at nothing. Li’l Petey tried to get his attention but nothing seemed to work, no names or baps from his little paws caused any reaction. Greg just continued to sit and stare straight ahead.

Six hours…

Six hours Greg sat—staring at nothing—with Li’l Petey in his lap. By now Petey had woken up, Clarence had to leave, Nurse Lady also had to leave but promised to come back after work to check on him again, and Li’l Petey had been drawing comics for almost five hours.

Petey stood in front of the dog poking and prodding various parts of his head snickering to himself as he did so. Until Greg’s eyes flicked upwards, locking on to his.

“Oh, are you finally out of dream land, mutt?” Petey mocked.

Greg’s arms suddenly shot towards Petey, grabbing his face. “Hey! What are you doing, let go!” Greg’s hands held firm against Petey’s attempts to dislodge himself from the dog’s hold, not releasing the cat as he continued to stare into his eyes.

He held him there for a moment… then smiled; fangs on full display. He let go of the older cat and lifted Li’l Petey off his lap and set him down on the seat next to him. The hybrid then got up, still smiling, and walked back upstairs. The sound of his room’s door closing could be heard after a bit.

“Papa, why is Dog Man acting so weird?” Concern filled the voice of Li’l Petey as he asked his father the question.

Petey stood there shocked and confused by what had just transpired “I don’t know,” his gaze then hardened “something is definitely wrong with that dog. Come on, we can build something to figure it out, it shouldn't be too hard.”

“Yay!” The kitten excitedly cheered as the two cats got to work on constructing a device to diagnose him.

After a bit of fiddling with the parts they had on hand the two cats managed to make a bio-scanner and sense Petey has been reading up on biology he’ll have no trouble discerning what’s going on.

Sneaking up to the hybrid’s room they slid in near silently and approached the dog. After turning on the scanner and getting Greg’s readings they snuck back down stairs to review their findings.

Chapter Text

From these readings it’s clear that the dog has numerous physical oddities most of which have already been cataloged. But, what’s a new discovery and his most interesting change—in Petey’s opinion—is his blood. His blood cells have mutated considerably, even down to their function.

The cells are larger and have a hole in their center, that hole also has the addition of having a ring of serrated protrusions. And from Petey’s observations it’s clear that the blood in Greg’s body no longer transports oxygen but instead converts other blood cells into his own. How Greg’s blood manages to achieve this conversion is something Petey has yet to figure out. But, what he has figured out is the process and the reason behind it.

The mutated cell captures ordinary blood cells in its center and holds it there with the protrusions and starts the conversion process. After the blood cell develops its own center it gets released and starts expanding. Once it fully expands its conversion is complete and it goes about performing the same process.

The reason for this being done at all is because Greg’s skeleton has completely stopped producing blood cells—Petey hypothesizes that this halting of blood production is done to prevent rejection from either the head or the body. Petey is also trying to figure out how his body is supposed to circulate oxygen or fight off infections. The latter of which being of particular interest considering that his circulatory system can be accessed directly from his fangs.

Which gives Petey two interesting questions; one ‘can he breathe through his fangs?’ and two ‘can he eject blood from his fangs?’ There are valves in his gums, at the base of the fangs, that prevent blood from leaving but could they be opened to push blood out? And if so could the hybrid inject his blood into another body and overtake their circulatory system? Or would it be eradicated as any foreign infection? And if not… how long would it take for a full conversion to take place and how would that affect the rest of the organism’s biology?

Unfortunately none of these questions fully answer what’s currently happening to the dog; Petey will also have to experiment on that last question. That could lead him to figuring it out and Petey was sure his strange behavior could be due to his blood.

Greg did wake up around two hours after going back to sleep and while making dinner for the two cats he noticed that they were giving him odd looks. One curious and the other concerned. While setting the meals in front of the cats Li’l Petey spoke up.

“Dog Man, are you okay?”

Greg thought it was an odd question as he signed his answer. “Yes, I feel great. Why do you ask?”

Li’l Petey shuffled in his seat and Petey answered before the younger cat could voice his concern. “Because you’ve been in a coma for nearly three days, and when you did get up you were acting like a zombie.” Ignoring the cat’s sarcasm he reassured Li’l Petey that he was fine. And checked the time on his phone for when… wait… no… no he must have gotten the date confused that’s all, he wouldn’t have missed work for three whole nights in a row; he would’ve noticed.

Whatever, he needs to get to work soon. The sun should be about half way past the horizon. Grabbing two blood bags—he was sure there were more in the fridge—one for breakfast and one for his lunch, he went upstairs to get ready for work.

Greg got to work on time and he made his way to the chief’s office. Entering he was astonished by the chief jumping out of his chair and making his way to him, asking if he was alright. The dog wondered why he was so concerned about him all of the sudden. And when he “voiced” this the chief looked at him like he said something weird.

“What do you mean “Why am I so concerned?” Greg, you've been unconscious for like three days.”

“Are you sure?” Greg signed back not really believing him.

“Yes, I went over to your house and you were basically dead in your bed. Petey even called Nurse Lady over to check on you.”

“Well, I’m fine now so what do you want me to do tonight?”

“No, you are not working.” came the sharp reply from the chief “What you are going to do is go to the hospital so that Nurse Lady can give you another examination.”

Shoving the dog out the door Clarence pushed Greg into a cop car and drove him to the hospital.

Apparently he had been asleep for three days and the amount of tests Greg had to go through reminded him of his last time in the hospital. They were testing nearly everything and he was very bored. At least Nurse Lady was here to keep him company and to explain what they’re looking for among other things.

“Yes, Petey was the one who called when you hadn’t woken up.” Nurse Lady recited when he asked how she knew he was unconscious. Greg didn’t want to believe her, he doubts Petey cares even a little about what’s happening to him. It must have been Li’l Petey, either he called or he got Petey to call. That first option doesn't make sense, their voices are clearly different and Nurse Lady wouldn’t confuse them, but how would that little kitten convince that grumpy cat to call the hospital for him.

Chapter Text

Seeing a cage of rats on his living room coffee table was not something Greg expected when he got home from the hospital. But, with both Petey and Li’l Petey under the same roof he could have guessed they’d do something while he was away.

How they obtained a bunch of rats will be the first thing he’ll ask them. The second will be why they have them. Because, as far as the dog knew, they didn’t eat rats. Though Petey injecting them with… something is probably an indication that the rats aren’t for eating.

“What are you doing to those rats and where did you even get them?” Greg signed to him.

Petey’s retort was brief “It’s not like I don’t have a robot that can fly, also none of your business.”

“Are they stolen?”

“Typically you adopt animals. I thought you of all people would know that, mutt.”

Greg scowled at the cat, signing more aggressively “What are you doing to the rats.”

Petey side-eyed him with disinterest “I’m seeing if your blood-mutation is contagious.”

That confused the dog and he gave the cat a confused look. Petey sighed. “I don’t have the time to explain and you don’t have the brain cells to comprehend."

The dog snarled at the response before signing back “And how exactly did you get my blood?”

“I stuck a needle in you when you weren't looking, duh.” Petey stated sarcastically.

“I would’ve noticed if you did.”

“Sure mister three day coma, anyway Li’l Petey has something he wants to show you. So, how about you stop bothering me and go find out what it is.”

Greg huffed at the cat’s sarcasm but also grinned as his hips shook back and forth; his phantom tail wagging. And made his way upstairs to go look for the little kitten.

He found the little bundle of orange joy in his room, coloring on some paper in between two large piles of paper. The kitten looked up when he heard the hybrid come in. He smiled happily, gathering up a bunch of the paper and ran over to him.

“Dog Man, look what I made! I made lots of comics to help you feel better!” The kitten then started rambling on about the comics he made for the dog, showing him all the little drawings and stories he made while the hybrid was out working.

After reading some of them Greg noticed a trend with all the comics the kitten had made; himself, 80-HD, the kitten, and Petey all working together fighting “bad guys”. In addition to Petey and himself being best friends. As if that would ever happen.

All things he would expect of the kitten. And out of all the comics that were made one of them stood out to him. A comic where he bites both Li’l Petey and Petey then his house turns into a giant castle, and he and Petey get married.

Greg didn’t know how to feel about that one—nor was he going to touch that subject—but one thing is for certain, the kid has a… wishful imagination. But what concerned him was why Li’l Petey would think about the hybrid biting him. He would never do that! Also the amount of blood spewing from the stick figure cats seemed a bit excessive.

“They all look fantastic. But, why am I biting you and your Papa in this one?” he signed to the little kitten then pointed to the comic in his hand.

Li’l Petey responded happily. “So, we can be vampires just like you, and then we could stay a family forever!” Li’l Petey’s eyes sparkled as he spoke overjoyed with the idea of them staying together. Something Greg didn’t have the heart to tell him that it probably wouldn’t happen, especially with Petey being the city's most infamous criminal.

He just smiles and gives him a non-committal hum

Greg stays there for a while reading all of the comics that Li’l Petey’s made for him. The only reason he had to stop was because he got hungry and it was time for him to go to bed.

It’s been approximately eight hours since the injection and the rats have yet to display any changes. Petey will have to record them throughout the night for any signs of change but right now he has to make dinner for himself and his kitten. Dropping a piece of meat for the rats he went off to prepare dinner.

After dinner, which consisted of spaghetti and Li’l Petey asking all of the questions; Petey answered all of them, he helped Li’l Petey get ready for bed then went to set up a camera for the rats before going to bed himself.

And as he was setting up the camera he noticed something. The rats had not eaten and were just laying there lethargically. This is what he had been waiting for—a change in behavior. Petey went over to the fridge and poured a cup of blood and set it in the rat’s cage. They went after it ravenously, the cup was empty in forty two seconds. He smiled, now for the next test.

He picked up one of the rats and made his way to the front door—and opened it.

The last remaining rays of the day showered over the rat and it began to smoke along with squealing in pain.

So, that’s one question answered and now he had an avenue to perform more experiments to solve other mysteries. Closing the door and setting the rat back into the cage. Petey began to plan.

First order of business, find out what happened the days leading up to that mutt’s comatose state.

Chapter Text

Dusk had been a mess, waking up to a commotion caused him to leap out of bed and rush downstairs. Only to see Li’l Petey being held away from Petey’s rats as one of them had almost bitten him. He’ll have to tell Petey to get rid of them if they were going to cause harm to the kitten.

Then all through dusk he had to endure Petey bombarding him with questions about where he’s been, who he talked to, what things he has been around, and what things he has touched.

It was getting annoying.

Going back to work wasn’t much better as the whole office smelled like garlic, he also noticed that a bunch of the officers now sported cross-necklaces.

Greg decided to ignore the weirdness of his coworkers and catch up on all his paper work.

It seems that his co-workers have a biological need to stare and whisper about him. They haven’t stopped since he walked through the door and they think he can’t hear them. ‘Monster’ is the word they’re using the most frequently when referring to him a close second is ‘Vampire’. They’ve also been talking about that guy, from his last call, who’s been publicly raving about him for the past couple days. He hasn’t gotten a call from the wife or daughter which could be a good thing. Though he might check on them again—just in case.

Speaking of cases, there has been a lack of cases or incidents since Petey was put under house arrest. The chief even said there was a sixty percent decrease in crime, which made Greg realize just how much trouble Petey causes. This decline is what has given him the time to catch up on his paperwork. It also gives him time to deal with other crimes he hadn’t had the time to look into.

Like this new case about a pet store that had been broken into recently and a bunch of rats had been stolen. Greg wonders who could have done that.

Greg also has to figure out where all the stuff Petey stole during his crime spree has been stored. Some where hidden in his lab probably, unless he has some place else to store it all.

Greg made his way over to Petey’s lab to search and during his search he found a variety of inventions built by the cat. From a giant vacuum to a ray gun with a heart design. There’s also dozens of blueprints for machines, some of them seemed very unrealistic like sentient robot clones and a spray that animates things.

Eventually Greg did find a hidden trapdoor that led to a space beneath the basement—or at least he thinks it’s beneath the basement. And inside he found an odd assortment of items. A ukulele, a pistol with a half-empty magazine, and a picture of a female calico cat holding… Li’l Petey?

Questions started to flood Greg’s head. Who is that cat? Why hasn’t Li’l Petey or Petey mentioned her? Was she Li’l Petey’s mom? Who would marry Petey of all cats, much less have a kid with him? Where is she now? Is she even alive?

Silencing his thoughts Greg resolved that he’ll just have to ask Petey about the cat when he gets home. But right now it seems like the stolen materials aren't here; he’ll have to search elsewhere or ask Petey himself even though the cat probably won’t answer him.

Maybe… maybe Li’l Petey knows.

Li’l Petey didn't know.

In fact Li’l Petey knew very little of his home other than it was “Papa’s Supa Secret Lab”. Which was concerning, unless Li’l Petey didn’t normally live there. He didn’t live with his mom because, according to him, he didn’t have one. So where did Li’l Petey live, relatives? As far as Greg knew Petey didn’t have any relatives; Li’l Petey also didn’t know if he had any relatives.

Greg ultimately had to ask Petey, even though he knew the cat would either give him vague blunt responses or refuse to answer him at all. But, he has to try.

“He’s a clone, you dumb dog.”

Zero surprise was felt from the hybrid, hearing the older cat’s blunt response to his query. And now that that question has been answered he realizes just how similar their little quirks are. Though now he’ll have to tell Petey what made him ask about Li’l Petey’s non-existent mother.

“I found a space under your lab that had a photo of a female cat holding who I thought was Li’l Petey.”

Petey’s eyes widened at that revelation and he grabbed him by the shirt and asked, with the most serious and threatening face he’s ever seen from the cat, “Was there a ukulele there too?”

After the hybrid nodded, Petey demanded that Greg go back there and get that picture and his mother’s ukulele or he’d atomize him.

Greg could tell he was being followed while on his way to Petey’s lab. He could smell their blood really easily and they’ve been following him for almost three blocks now. He’ll have to confront them now or risk them following him home.

Sliding into an alley and jumping from one wall to the next he made it onto the roof of one of the buildings. His stalkers looked confused when they lost him when he turned into the alley. There were two of them, both human-males wearing dark clothing. Greg leaped from the roof to the ground behind them.

The two men jumped when they heard him land behind them and they also backed up when they saw his fangs reflect moonlight in the dark, then turned back and ran.

He dashed after them, catching both before they even made it two steps. Picking both men up by their shirts he glared at them hoping the message would come across ‘Why are you following me?’ Instead they screamed and one of them pulled out something and threw it at his face.

The object bounced off harmlessly and the men’s fear doubled when he gave them an unimpressed look. Growling he shoved both of them into the ground and quickly cuffed them both before turning them around chest up. He then pulled out his phone and typed the question for them.

“Why are you following me?”

Their responses were immediate “We won’t tell you anything, Blood-Sucker!”

“You’re not getting anything out of us you soulless freak!”

Exhaling at their fury Greg decided to just bring them in. He picked up the …garlic? one of them threw at him and dragged them both to the precinct kicking and screaming.

He’ll have to get Petey’s stuff later.

Chapter Text

Li’l Petey stood next to the coffee table in Dog Man’s house coloring another one of his comics, this one depicting his papa making supa rats that fight crime with Dog Man. He’s making this to cheer his papa up; he seems grumpy from Dog Man not knowing the answers to all his questions. He also looked worried about the stuff he asked Dog Man to get from our house. Papa said it was one of grandma’s stuff.

Papa is working on his rats right now and is supa focused! Which means that he and 80-HD have lots of time to make his Papa comic books and some comics for Dog Man too!

Li’l Petey wonders when Dog Man will turn him and his papa into vampires, like him. He can just imagine it. Him, his papa, 80-HD, and Dog Man all flying through the night sky with their cool supa vampire powers and saving the day like supa heroes!

Greg came home really early in the morning, just before the sun rose, like always. Both Petey and Li’l Petey came downstairs to greet him.

Petey was not happy. Evidence of this can be seen when he lifted the hybrid up by the throat, straddling him, and ineffectively strangled him—fully knowing he couldn’t.

The dog left his mother’s ukulele and her photo at his lab and his explanation as to why he had to only made the cat more annoyed. Like he cared about some random idiots that the dog could’ve just thrown across the city if he thought they were a threat. And he most certainly didn’t care that the dog was worried about how they could’ve posed a threat to him and his son, not in the slightest.

So here Petey sat glaring at the dog while he grumbled to himself about how incompetent the hybrid was.

Meanwhile, said dog was reading the comics that Li’l Petey had made for him, enjoying every one too. He was also trying to ignore the death glare the older cat was sending him. After all, it wasn’t his fault that those men were following him.

“You know that look won’t make me get your stuff back faster right?” Greg’s bored expression while he signed spoke volumes about how much he enjoyed the cat’s stare.

Petey only intensified his glare and got up from the couch and headed upstairs presumably to check on his rats that he still hasn’t gotten rid of citing that he was making excellent progress with them. Which only made Greg want them gone even more.

The rats skittered round the cage doing nothing at all as they waited for their next meal. They have become restless and Petey had to make a new cage for them because they ripped through the bars of the last one.

Petey watched them with a critical eye, anticipating the next change. And he wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

He could see nubs on the rats' backs. One could mistake them for shoulder blades if they were blind—which Petey is not.

In real-time he could see the nubs starting to form joints and membranes. Little wings would soon be fully grown in a few hours if not half a day. Petey wonders how long until the dog starts growing them or if he already has and hasn’t yet noticed. A sneaky pat on the back should tell Petey all he needs to know.

It’s clear that the rats’ small size accelerates their mutations, he’ll have to figure out the scaling of it but he will be able to know exactly what changes the dog will go through and approximately when he goes through them.

Oh, the plans he can make with this information.

Greg was strolling through the streets to Petey’s lab, he could get there faster but the cat had been pestering him. So, he thought he might as well take it slow just to spite him.

Though he can’t say he hated it when the cat started making biscuits on his back, for some reason, prompting Li’l Petey to do the same; almost made him forget to go out at all if Petey hadn’t ceased and “reminded” him to do it.

That mixed with all the questions he’s been getting from the cat made it abundantly clear to Greg that the cat was planning something. He just needed to stamp it out before he could actually achieve any- smoke!

He could smell the stench of smoke, hear the crackle of flames, and hear a crowd of people cheering for destruction. Turning the corner, he saw it.

Petey’s lab, the entire building was engulfed in flames and a crowd of people were out front, all enraptured by a man he recognized giving a speech.

A man holding a torch.

Chapter Text

“Tonight!” The man with the torch yelled, brandishing a revolver as he spoke to the crowd, his voice filled with righteous fury. “We have burned the vile beast’s nest! We have found none of its victims so we must believe it has another! We will seek it out, we will set it a blaze, and purge the monster from our city! This beast has sought to prey upon our homes, our families, even our children! It seeks to take them into the night and rip their souls from their innocent bodies! It will turn them into soulless monsters with its dark influence and turn them against us!”

“If we allow this beast to continue to walk freely it will not stop until it has claimed every life in this city! It will not stop until the streets are covered in our blood! It will not stop until there is nothing left of our home! We must rise up and destroy it before it can claim more lives! Tonight! We march on the streets of Okay City and drive this beast out of hiding and force it into the light! We will not let this monster destroy our home!”

A cheer chorus among the mob and Greg radioed for backup hoping to quell this before it turns into a riot and somebody gets shot. He also radioed the fire department, the longer the lab burned the more of a risk it posed to the rest of the city. For now he’ll have to wait for backup and keep watch on the crowd, especially their leader.

When backup arrived the mob had moved nearly two blocks from what remained of Petey’s flame-engulfed lab. Greg and the rest of the officers swarmed the crowd and started making arrests. Greg himself aimed for their leader who most definitely was the one to set the fire. And upon being noticed by said leader the man charged at him, revolver raised as he screamed “Die you blood-sucking beast!” and fired off several rounds.

Greg dodged the first three with ease, the fourth nicked him, but the fifth and sixth landed in his chest due the much closer proximity. He dropped to the ground. They burned! They burned so much! It’s like his chest was on fire and that fire was trying to seep throughout his entire body and tear him apart from the inside out! He couldn’t concentrate on what was happening anymore, he was in too much pain!

He started zoning out, his ears ringed but he could hear the man reloading a new clip, he had to do something; what are the other officers doing?! Why aren't the other officers helping him?!

As Greg tried to wretch himself up he could hear something ripping and it felt like the collar of his shirt started choking him. Suddenly the man and everyone else was knocked back by Greg’s roar of pain as wings burst from his back soaked in blood. Blood that quickly slithered its way into his back right where the leathery wings exploded from.

With one mighty flap Greg was rocketed into the sky way above the tops of the surrounding buildings. His wings then opened stopping his ascent and his eyes zeroed in on the crowd below.

His chest burned! He needs to get these bullets out! He needs…

…

H–h-he needs

…

He… needs

Blood!!!

Now!!!

The hybrid swooped down at the mob of people and police officers trying to grab someone—anyone! He needed them, needed to have them, needed to feed!

Officers in the crowd along with other citizens started to fire at him—doesn't matter.

He could hear them scream every time he got close to snatching one of them up. Again and again he swooped down onto the feast below him. But they're firing at him! He could get more of those things in him and then he would burn even more! He needs to flee, he needs to go home where…

Where he had… Blood. 

Fresh Blood, New Blood.

Greg shot off towards his home, wings beating hard and fast. He made it, in nearly no time at all.

He burst through his door and his eyes scanned through the living room until he spotted it. A tall, black-striped, orange tabby who looked absolutely startled; head turned in his direction.

He lunged, he needed him, needed what he had, needed his blood!

A table breaking, a scream, a shout. Paws and claws fruitlessly trying to push him off—it doesn't matter. He sinks his fang into the thrashing body beneath him and drinks. And with every rush of red life that was taken from the cat—clearer his head became; clear enough to hear the high pitched scream coming from the stairs.

“PAPA!!”

Everything shattered, everything froze. His eyes staggered, twisting to the voice he knew and loved so much. Only to see the little kitten on the stairs, his eyes filled with tears spilling out, as he ran up the stairs in fear.

No.

NO!

He looked down at the cat he was just draining. He was pale, pale and so empty.

No, no he could fix this! He could fix this!

He just needed to give some of it back!

No! He needs to give all of it back! NOW!

Once again his fangs pierced the tom and he started to push.

Jets and jets of red shot back into the cat, blood gushing out of the wound passed Greg’s teeth. He could do this, he could fix him! Petey will be mad and Li’l Petey will forgive him and everything will be okay!

He pushed and he pushed, filling the cat back up with what he had so heartlessly taken.

He’s not a monster, right? He’s not.

…

Right?

Chapter Text

The vampire sat there gripping his knees and staring down at the tabby he killed attacked. He was waiting for him to get back up and yell at him for being stupid. He tried to ignore the crying he could hear from upstairs. Crying that was, much like the bullets that had been pushed out of his chest, were tearing him apart.

He just needed to wait. Wait for Petey to get back up. And once he does he can apologize and tell Lil’ Petey that everything is okay.

A car just parked outside his house. He forgot to close the door, though it probably wouldn’t anyway the lock was probably smashed, thankfully the sun still has a few hours till it rises.

Greg gets up to see who it is and sees a police cruiser and Chief exiting the driver’s side. He’s rushing to the door, probably heard from the other officers about what happened and is here to fire him.

When Clarence gets to the door he surprises the hybrid with his concern. “Greg what happened? I was told you got shot, grew wings, and attacked people. What happened and are you okay?”

Greg stood there a little shocked but his face still reflected immense grief, he shook his head as he made his way back to Petey’s body, the cries from upstairs had lessened but he could still hear whimpering. He really should go check on Li’l Petey but now that Chief was here he should probably send him instead; the little kitten wouldn’t want to see the monster that attacked his father.

Clarence could see Petey on the floor, his body unmoving. And Greg sitting next to him staring. “Greg, did you do this?” Clarence didn’t really need to be told as he could see the bite marks on the cat’s neck and the blood surrounding them. But he needed to hear Greg confirm it himself.

The dog simply nodded shallowly. And they both sit there in the quiet, waiting for Greg to elaborate on what happened earlier that night while the chief kept sneaking glances at the two new appendages that the dog was now sporting.

Solemnly Clarence started, “Greg, you know I’ll have to take you in for this.”

Greg nodded, “Could you go check on Li’l Petey first? He saw me, saw what I did and he’s still crying.” The hybrid signed sluggishly, trying not to cry. “Okay, I’ll check on him then bring both of you to the station and I’ll have to call cp- WHAT THE!!” Standing and startled at the cold stare being directed at him by… Petey.

“Touch my son …and you die.” The cold tone of the cat sent shivers through both men’s spines and coated them in a bit of dread and fear.

Lifting himself up Petey began the process of cracking everything in him from his ankles to his neck. Then he looked at Greg with fury, “Would you like to explain yourself mutt?”

“I wasn’t thinking straight.” A quick sign to the angry cat

“Elaborate.” The cat's patience started off thin.

“When I was going to your lab there was a mob of people outside of it burning it down,” Petey’s anger turned to shock, bewilderment, and sorrow then back to anger. Greg kept going, “And one of them shot me and it burned like the sun. It hurt so much I couldn’t think anymore then before I realized it, I-I was home and you…” Greg’s signing slowed near the end of his explanation.

Petey stared at him then his eyes pivoted up “And those?” referring to the appendages. The cat was already formulating a theory as to what had happened. 

The chief was the one to respond this time. “Some of the officers that were there said they sprouted from him after he got shot.”

Petey then pointed out the obvious. “So then why aren't you bleeding or in pain right now, I know you don’t wear a bullet-proof vest so why aren’t you bleeding?” The dog then looked for something on the ground, finding it and then signing before showing what was in his hand, even while his hand sizzled.

“They came out, I think during or after I drank you.” Greg's nervousness was clear by his body language and Greg was becoming even less calm the longer they didn’t really address what he had done to Petey. It looked like Petey seemed to not care that the dog had bitten him. 

Greg was one-hundred percent certain the cat was absolutely furious about it but was just waiting to strangle him later.

Snatching the bullets from the hybrid’s hand Petey inspected them carefully—analyzing each one. “These are made of silver.”

“Are you sure?” Clarence questioned.

“Yes I’m sure, I’ve stolen plenty of it so I know what to look for.” Clarence only frowned at this blatant admittance of crime though he shouldn’t be surprised—It’s Petey. He’s never cared about getting caught before.

Petey then stood there for a moment before pressing one of them to Greg’s face. The dog yelped, falling backwards onto his couch and causing the bullet to fall back onto the floor.

“Petey! What was that for!” Clarence came to the dog’s defense, stepping between the two.

“That’s for biting me and making my son cry,” The cat stated plainly. “Now if you two dolts don’t mind, I’m going to make sure my kitten is alright after witnessing his father getting mauled.” Passing by the two of them Petey made his way upstairs to show Li’l Petey that he was alright.

Pulling out his phone Clarence turned towards the door. “Yeah you do that, I’m gonna call Nurse Lady over to make sure you’re both alright while I figure out the rest of this mess.”

Greg followed behind Petey, he had to apologize to the little kitten. Maybe everything would be alright. Petey seemed perfectly fine after all, and he just needed to bring Li’l Petey’s smile back and then everything would be perfect.

Chapter Text

Outside of Petey’s and Li’l Petey’s room the older cat softly opened the door to see the kitten on the bed face down on the pillow, arms covering his face. Looking like he’s calming down from crying.

Approaching the bed Petey sat down next to his son and the kitten’s reaction was immediate. Swiftly propping himself up on his elbows he turned to look at what had caused a dip in the bed.

He saw Petey, his Papa, and he brightened up instantly though not completely. The kitten shot into his Papa’s arms and started to ball again, messily trying to explain why he was crying and asking if he was alright.

“Hey, it’s okay my little pumpkin I’m fine,” Petey soothed while patting his son’s back. “Besides I barely felt anything anyways and someone wants to say sorry for scaring you.”

The kitten’s face turned up, snotty. “*Sniff*, Really?”

“Really.”

Greg shuffled behind the older cat, nervous. He didn’t know where to start the apology. Should he explain himself or should he say sorry first.

Luckily he didn’t have to choose as the kitten effectively decided for him.

“What happened, Dog Man, why did you hurt Papa?”

Lifting his hands to respond, he explained. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, I was supa hungry and I didn’t realize what I was doing. I’m really sorry for scaring you Pup.”

“But why did you eat Papa?” The kitten sniffled.

“Because your Papa is the tastiest cat around,” That got some giggles from the kitten. “And don’t worry because I gave it all back so he’s going to be fine.”

Li’l Petey thought for a moment before a thought occurred to him, one he voiced without second thought. “So, does this mean Papa’s gonna become a vampire like you, since you bite him?”

Right… that. He just needed to affirm that his father wasn’t going to become like him. Besides, what are the chances that he could afflict others with his condition? A simple explanation of how his condition worked would surely ease the kitten's worries.

“Yes, I’m gonna be a vampire just like him.”

Petey on the other hand decided to tell the kitten the exact opposite. And started to go into detail about how his body would progress from healthy cat to fanged stalker of the night. All the while Greg looked at him in bafflement. The dog very much wanted to pull the cat out of the room to have him explain what he’s talking about. Especially when the older feline started using biological terms; terms that sound like he’s speaking in moon runes.

The hybrid then started feeling stupid when Li’l Petey understood it perfectly and started asking questions with even more terms he didn’t understand. Thankfully he was able to tune back in when the kitten asked the inevitable.

“Can I be a vampire now too?”

A resounding “No.” from both dog and cat caused the kitten to pout a little. His following “Please”s were met with the same rejection. Then all his “Why?”s had to be meticulously addressed with surgical precision—which Petey handled.

“Why?”

“Because your body is prepubescent and I don’t know, or am willing to test, what will happen to you.”

“Why?”

“Because, I haven't tested his blood on anyone of your biological age; also because I love you so I won’t be experimenting on you.”

“Why?”

“Because there were no prepubescent rats at the pet store.”

“Why?”

“Because the male rats were neutered."

“Wh-”

Greg shoved both his hands over the cats’ mouths to prevent this line of questioning from going any further. He also made a suggestion that thankfully Petey agreed to.

Going back to bed—even though it was going to be morning soon anyway.

Nurse Lady had shown up, she had the same bag of medical tools that she brought with her the last time she was called to his house. And she was currently checking Greg, from head to toe. Petey would be next despite his protests.

“Well, the bullet wounds have healed nearly completely, and the exit wounds from your wings look about to be healed.” She summarized before grabbing some gauze and started to wrap them around the base of the dog’s wings. “I’m gonna patch both up to prevent possible infection and give you some lotion for your wings so they don’t dry out; they’ll be tender for a while so don’t use them too much.”

Greg didn’t think that would be a problem, they felt like jelly and he was having trouble remembering how he used them in the first place. So, he just nodded.

Petey, on the recliner next to the couch, sat with his arms folded knowing his turn was soon to be next. Because apparently having all of his blood being sucked out and pumped back in was a “cause for alarm” or whatever nonsense the woman was spewing. He was perfectly fine and soon would be even better if his experiments with the rats were any indication.

Not like that information would change her mind. In fact telling her that might open him up to a million medical tests by her and her fellow medical practitioners at the hospital—something he was not keen on experiencing.

Looking at the bullets in his paw, he wonders when they’ll start to hurt him. Or if he can build an immunity to them or the sun.

His pondering was interrupted by Nurse Lady’s approach—it is time.

“Alright let’s take a look at that neck bite.”

Grumbling Petey exposed his neck, no point in making this take longer than it needs to be.

The sting of disinfection was dull, far less than what was normal. And Petey suddenly wonders how much of his own blood was pumped into his body and how much of it was Greg’s. That information would be very helpful to him. After all, it would give him a good estimation on when certain changes would occur.

He’ll just have to wait.

“Alright and… we’re done!” Nurse Lady exclaimed while she finished patching the older cat’s neck. “And in light of how often you seem to get yourself into trouble, Greg, I think I’ll be making regular visits from now on.” She smiled

Petey snorted in annoyance while Greg gave her a thumbs up, always happy to have company. He then got up and said “Great you can leave now,” the cat turned to the dog, “and you can finally put a shirt back on.”

Greg rolled his eyes at the cat’s blatant rudeness before it turned to a scowl when the feline smiled mischievously.

“Oh, and you better hurry. Li’l Petey's in your room with a pair of scissors I gave him.”

Petey’s grin started growing more as he revealed what he had done.

“And told him to make sure all your shirts could fit your wings.”

Greg bolted up stairs to stop the kitten and on his way he could hear the cat laughing.

“HAW! HAW! HAW!”