Thank you very much for the comments  Grayle!

I bumped this topic back up to let you know that I have resumed working on this novel. Chapter 2 will be posted in a few days!

OK, here's the second chapter of the story:

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Chapter Two

It was a simple 3x5 picture. To the common person, it would mean nothing.
But for Jake Powell, seeing this picture nailed to the door of his third floor apartment, was enough to stop him dead in his tracks.
Because this wasn’t just a simple photograph to him.
This was a picture of Jake.
As a werewolf.

Jake knew it was him in the picture, for he remembered wearing the same dark blue T-shirt and blue jeans the last time he had changed over a week ago. What he didn’t know was how someone was able to capture this photo, find out where he lived, and then place it on his front door.
Within seconds, Jake had pulled the picture off the door and looked around frantically. His mind began to race as he wondered who could’ve left the photo on the door. He doubted that anyone in the building was behind the act.  One of the reasons he liked living in this apartment was that just about everyone pretty much kept to themselves. Nobody got into each other’s business and that was how Jake liked it.
But someone knew enough about Jake’s business to post his portrait on the front door. And even though anyone else seeing this photo could care less about some dude in a wolf’s mask running the streets, for Jake it was enough to make him a nervous wreck.

"How long has this been there?" Jake thought to himself as he stared at the image.
When he turned the photo around, he noticed there was a message written on the back.
The message read: "Nice night for a stroll, huh, Jake?!! I know who you are and what you become!! You have a date with destiny!! I'll be in touch, wolfman!!"
As Jake read these words, he could feel his blood beginning to boil.
In the seven-plus years since he became a werewolf, he had done the best he could to keep his condition under wraps. He'd always been careful to not let anyone see him as a werewolf, especially during the nights of the full moon. He went through countless chains and locks. He had locked doors and boarded windows. He even drove himself out of town so he could roam free in the woods and out of harm's way.
But somehow, Jake had let his guard down. Maybe he was too focused on trying to save that woman’s life the other night. Maybe he let his primal instincts cloud his logic. Maybe it was both. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter. Someone was able to capture him in action and then post the evidence at his front door.
Needless to say, Jake was pissed.

"Who wrote this?!� Jake said in a gruff voice as he crumpled up the picture in his left hand. His anger began to stir up something inside him as claws extended from his fingers, punching small holes into the photo. Short strands of brown fur began to bristle along his hands and arms. The back of Jake's grey shirt started to rip as he could feel his 5-11 inch frame growing.
Turning into...
"Mr. Powell! What are you doing?!"
The old woman's shrill voice snapped Jake back into humanity. He immediately turned his back to his door as Mrs. Nash, the landlady, emerged from her apartment several doors down. As she approached him, Jake didn’t say a word as he alertly placed his arms behind him so as to not reveal anything to her.
“I said, what are you doing?� Mrs. Nash said as she walked closer.
"Uh... sorry, Mrs. Nash!" Jake said as his voice returned to his normal tone. He could feel the fur and claws recede back into his skin as he calmed down. "I was just reading some mail, and got some... disturbing news."
Mrs. Nash grumbled as she swayed back and forth to see what Jake was hiding behind his back. Out of everyone in the apartment building, she was the only person who wanted to know about everyone else, especially Jake. Clad in a bright orange floral dress with her grey hair tied up in a bun, the landlady stood barely five feet tall. But, she was so short and stocky, Jake always thought that she went up to his waist.
"Hmm… whatever, Mr. Powell!� she replied. “Just remember that your rent is due next week, OK? No excuses!"
"Right, next week. I won't forget," Jake said.
"And next time your friends come over, tell them to please use the doorbell!" Mrs. Nash said as she waddled from side to side. "All that knocking and banging was enough to wake the dead!"
"Friends?" Jake asked.
"Yes," Mrs. Nash said. "Someone came by your door a couple hours ago. He banged on the door for who knows how long and left. I guess he had something to show you!"
"Oh, you mean this?" Jake said.
His arms and hands were back to normal now, so he was able to unwrap the crumpled photo and showed it to the landlady.
"It was just some costume he wanted to show me. As you can see, it was nothing to talk about."
"Hmm… whatever."
As Mrs. Nash walked back to her apartment, Jake leaned against his door as he waited for her to leave.
"And the next time you need to have something fixed, don't wait until the last minute!" She yelled, her voice shrieking so loudly that it echoed across the hall. "You know it took me all day last week just to find someone to repair your broken window? Do you understand, Mr. Powell?"
"Yes, ma'am," Jake said. "Um... have a good night."
"Hmm!" Mrs. Nash said as she closed her door.
Jake rolled his eyes as he turned around. He quickly went inside his apartment and locked the door.
"That was close!" Jake said as he rested his head and back against the door. "Another minute and I would've changed right in front of her! I've got to control these rages! That's the last thing I need right now!!"
Still clutching the picture in his left hand, Jake again looked at the message on the back.
"I know who you are and what you become!" Jake said as he read those words out loud. As he slid himself down to the floor, he turned the photo back around and he stared at his alter ego for a few moments.
“Why me?� Jake said with a sigh. “And… what is this thing about a date with destiny?!"

About twenty blocks away from the apartment building, two police detectives made their way down a grassy embankment. After walking down several steps, they came to a stop  as they reached their destination. At the bottom of the embankment laid a decapitated woman sprawled along an area of broken concrete, blotches of asphalt and weeds.
“Geez!� Dave Smith said as the seasoned veteran surveyed the grisly crime scene. “Good thing I didn’t eat anything before we got the call.“
Tom Pierce, his young partner, nodded his head in agreement as he took a few steps closer towards the headless corpse. “Looks like they did a real number on her,� Pierce said.
As Pierce knelt over the body, he could see that the damage was extensive. Not only was her head missing, but parts of her arms were gone as well, as if they were ripped from her body. Aside from a sheer black blouse, which was draped halfway along her shoulders, she was naked and covered in blood. Her torso was also ravaged as her ribcage, intestines and stomach were exposed in the night air.
It wasn’t a pretty sight for these homicide detectives to look at. What made it worse was the fact that they had seen this display before.
“Judging by the way she looks, especially with the markings along what’s… left of her body,  this looks like the same M.O. as the others.“ Pierce said as he stood back up.
“This makes, what, eight victims that have been mauled like this?“ Smith said with a heavy sigh.
“Yeah, and three right around this area the past three nights.“
“Great. So we got ourselves another sick a-- serial killer, eh?“
“Either that, or someone’s letting some sort of animal loose along the city,“ Pierce replied as he walked back to his partner.
“Damn!“ Smith said as he shook his head. “I’m too old for cases like this.“
“You’re too old for a lot of things!“ Pierce shot back.
“Shut up!“
As the two detectives left the crime scene so that the forensics unit can resume their work, a pair of glowing yellow eyes surveyed things from overhead.  Kneeling against a large tree at the top of the embankment, the werewolf was able to listen in on every word of the cops’ conversation. Dodging just enough to avoid being spotted, the beast saw Smith and Pierce make their way back up the hill as they got back into their vehicle. Once the dark blue sports coupe had pulled away, the creature emerged from its hiding spot and took off on two legs.
After darting through several alleys and crossing through a school playground, the werewolf slowed to a stop along a black vehicle parked behind a small store not far from the freeway entrance. Once there, the beast leaned against the side door of the car and closed its eyes as it willed the transformation to begin. Even though it would be much simpler to remain a wolf, it knew that it needed to change back to its human form. It needed to remain in the background and to not draw too much attention. Especially with the cops poking around. 
Besides, he had an appointment to keep.

For several hours, Jake Powell sat atop his bed, his left hand still clutching that photo he found nailed to the door.  As he continued to stare at the image, a shot of his lupine self caught in mid-stride, he reflected  back on the events that had led to this now incriminating picture.
At the time, or at least up to the moment that his mind shut down, his only focus was to prevent that woman from becoming another victim of a senseless crime. He never thought that someone would take a picture of him in action. All Jake was just trying to do was be a hero, albeit a reluctant one. Now, he was beginning to regret it.
With the image burned into his head, Jake turned the picture over and read the note again.
"Who could've wrote this?" he said as he went over the message on the back. "Who did I tick off enough to not only know who I am but to blackmail me with the picture?"
Then, a thought came into his mind. An idea on who might've been responsible.
"It couldn't be... them, could it?"
Jake looked again at the message, this time he stared at the handwriting. It looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it.
"No... it can't be!" he said, shaking his head. "I haven't seen… them since Nashville a few years ago! No… if it was them, they would've had me by now!"
Right now, it didn't matter who left the photo. Jake knew he had only one option: get the hell out of town. It’s not like he hasn’t done this before. He’s been moving from big city to small town for years. He had been living in Detroit for over a year and was starting to like it here. But he couldn't risk the chance of sticking around and getting caught, especially since whoever left the photo knew where he lived.
After rubbing his right hand over his short brown hair, Jake looked at the clock on his dresser, which read 11:47 p.m. He realized that he had done enough thinking for one night and it was time to get some sleep. He needed to get an early start on leaving town anyway. Tomorrow would be the first night of the full moon.

As Jake turned out the light in his apartment, two men stood on the roof of an abandoned building across the street from Jake's place on the third floor. These were the same two guys who have been camped at the same location off and on for the past week. Dressed in the same black attire --jumpsuits and combat boots, with long trench coats and ball caps to complete the look--  the twosome perfectly blended themselves against the darkened skyline.
As the man with the salt-and-pepper goatee and the ponytail took pictures with a sophisticated digital camera with a telephoto lens, his clean-shaven partner watched the light in Jake’s apartment go out through a pair of binoculars.
"Damn it Doc!" the man with the binoculars said. "He turned off the light! He must be going to sleep. Now what?"
"Now Travis," Doc said as he brought down the camera to his chest. "We move on to the next step!"
As Doc removed his cap and wiped the sweat off his head, he knelt down beside a small briefcase that was next to him and placed the camera inside. Once he placed his ball cap back on, Doc then pulled out an envelope with several 3x5 photos of Jake. The photos were all taken during the evening and showed Jake looking at the picture the two men had left on his door earlier.
He pulled one picture from the group and put the others back into the envelope. After putting the remaining photos in the briefcase, Doc pulled out a black marker from the briefcase and began to write on the back of the picture.
Travis, meanwhile, removed his cap as he pulled the binoculars strap over his head. The  young man stood 6-4 and had the build of a football player with thick, muscular arms and legs supporting his physique. He also had dark red hair, cut in a military style buzz. Doc, on the other hand, was a bit shorter, standing at about 5-11 with a more slender build.
"Are you sure that we need him?� Travis asked as he put the cap back on his head.
“What are you talking about?" Doc said, his eyes focused squarely on the note he was writing.
“I mean, are you sure that he’s the one?“ Travis said as he walked over to where Doc was standing. “He has been… away for quite a while, you know?“
“You’re only saying that because you… think you’re more suited for the task!“
“You’re damn right! I’m more ready for this than he’ll ever be!â€� Travis roared.  “Come on, Doc, you know what he’s about! And how he screwed all of us over back in Nashville!“
“That’s enough, Travis!“ Doc snapped. “I’m quite aware of what he’s about, as you put it! More than you could ever imagine! But you and I both know that he’s the only one… destined for what lies ahead.“
Travis sighed in disgust. “Fine, fine. Jake‘s the one.� he said. “But, are you sure he's ready for what we're about to do?"
"I'm positive," Doc said as he finished writing the note. "You saw what he did last week. Our young wolf just needs a little... push in the right direction."
"Yeah, but..."
"Trust me!! He'll be ready!"
Travis grumbled as he shook his head. ". OK, OK! Whatever you say!"
"So..." Doc said. "Up for a little fun?"
"Always!" Travis replied with a smile.
"Good!" Doc said as he handed the picture over to Travis and looked at his watch. "It's almost midnight. We're going to wait until Jake is sound asleep and then we're going to put the next step into motion."
The young man read the note and smiled again.
"Cool!!" Travis said.

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TO BE CONTINUED…

Very interesting development, MarkOne.

  I like the intrigue and mystery you've added to the story, along with the dialogue, though the character development is just a little lower than I was expecting. Even so, the visual descriptions of the settings helped greatly. I appreciated the confrontation with the landlady and the crime scene, as well as the internal musings of Jake.

  I did notice some conflicts in tense structure that stumbled my reading a little, but what really got to me was the amount of exclamation marks. It's an easy trap in which to fall prey. Exclamation marks should be used very rarely. I understand that many of the statements made were stern or emotionally charged, but describing the feelings or manner of the statement instead of resorting to punctuation may serve your purposes more effectively.

  You may also want to be careful with your dialogue. Some of it, especially with the landlady and the stalkers, feels a little shallow and stereotypical. You may want to explore other subjects or ways of saying what they are trying to say, merely for variety or originality if nothing else. Again, just a thought.

  With that being said, you've set some very interesting pieces on the board, and have placed them in strategic positions. I look forward to finding out many aspects of the tale as it progresses, including the identity of the werewolf watching the police detectives, the identity of the serial mauler, the past history with Jake and the stalkers, but above all I'm interested in finding out what they have in store for Jake.

  Keep it coming, MarkOne!

cool and keep it coming.

awsome man keep it coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey this is great keep it up, add something else to make his life hell, like oh idont know... a girl!