i'm not sure how to word this concisely enough for the subject line, but here's what i am looking for:

as part of my oc's backstory, a love interest goes missing. assumed dead but comes back, changed somehow. transformed, experimented on, undead - something.

the obvious options here are werewolf or vampire type transformation. zombie, even. i would really like to branch out and learn about options that are less oversaturated.

hoping to find some recs to broaden my horizons for fleshing out this history.