Blood and Beasts

Chapter 19

Lycanthropy was not an easy topic to find information on. Rather, it was an extremely easy topic to find information on, but not reliable information. All Cara had really been taught in her education on the supernatural was that there was no cure for lycanthropy and a silver bullet to the heart was the way to go. But she had also been taught that after a werewolf had transformed completely during a full moon, their human side was gone forever, and that had turned out to be bullshit.

Andie had left to meet up with Bethany and search for Jack and Gregory. Cara had wanted to go too, she wanted to know that Jack was okay, to bring him to safety, but that couldn't be her role at this point. She had made her choice to save the werewolf's life and now he was her responsibility. She couldn't abandon him, and knew Jack wouldn't want her to either. There was a chance that the Imperial Cult's interest in the werewolf and Jack's disappearance were connected too; it was a stretch, but the Cult were making bold moves quickly, and she hoped that if she could figure that out, maybe she could help Jack too.

The best she could do for the time being was spend her days at the lakeside cottage scouring the Internet for likely sources of info on lycanthropy. She always spent the noon hour down in the cellar though, waiting for the transformation. It had only taken her a couple days to understand the pattern, that when the sun was highest in the sky the werewolf had a brief window where he could transform back into a man. She noticed also that as the moon was waning, his time as a man increased. The most he had managed at this point was fifteen minutes, and though each time he transformed he seemed disoriented and pained, it was enough to start learning a bit more about him.

The man's name was Daniel, and although he looked to be the same age as Cara, he said he was born in 1967, making him in his fifties. He told Cara he had been bitten when he was just sixteen, so Cara was willing to bet that the werewolf blood was slowing down the aging process for him. It was a tough blow explaining to Daniel that he'd lost all those years. There was a lot for him to wrap his head around. His parents would be in their late seventies, if they were still alive. His sister would be older than he remembered his parents being, maybe married with kids of her own. And all of them would have spent their entire lives never knowing what happened to him. He had cried a lot, thinking through all of that. Cara had wanted to hold his hand, but knew it wasn't safe. The change happened swiftly sometimes and the wolf had a mind of its own.

Cara was researching the best that she could for possible cures. There were some common ones (most involving wolfs bane in some kind of concoction) that other hunters had told her were bullshit, but she figured they were the safest place to start. Other methods were more extreme, like injecting liquid silver into the bloodstream. Cara figured with something like this it was best to start small and build from there. There was one theory she had come across a few times that said if the werewolf that had bitten him was killed than that would break the curse. Cara doubted that it would be so simple, especially since werewolves were a dying breed and the one that bit Daniel was likely dead already, but still she figured it was best to cover all the bases. More than that, Cara was interested to hear Daniel's full story, she wanted to know more of where he came from.

And on the day before the new moon she got her opportunity. Daniel transformed well before midday and said he didn't feel as rough as normal. Cara passed him a blanket to cover himself. She had tried giving him clothes, but the werewolf seemed insistent on tearing them off.

"Did you transform back to a human everyday in the forest as well?" Cara asked.

"No, not often. That dog was the last time I remember changing back, and before that..." Daniel shook his head, wrapping the blanket around his waist. "There were points, more so in the early years where I changed back often, and for longer periods, but it got too hard. There was this family once. I..." He trailed off, shutting his eyes tight. "The wolf got stronger over time. There are little bits I remember through the wolf's eyes too, but not much. God so much time I missed."

"So why are you changing back now?" Cara asked, digging into the question that had been hounding her for days.

"I don't know," Daniel admitting slowly. "Maybe out of necessity. I'm worried its only because the wolf is allowing it, a kind of self-preservation thing. The times I would come back to myself in the forest were times I wandered too close to civilization. It's like the wolf needed a jolt of my thoughts to know it should leave or risk being hunted."

"None of that sounds like the werewolves I've encountered. They're much closer to some kind of rabid animal, not thinking with much sense, just killing whatever's in their path." Daniel shrugged.

"Despite my current state of being, I don't really know much about werewolves, minus a book from my school library and the Lon Chaney movie (frankly I think he had it a bit better)." Cara snorted a laugh, nodding vigorously. "And of course, from the one werewolf I actually had an encounter with." Daniel held up his right arm to show her the bite marks scarred into his forearm. Every other wound Cara had seen Daniel sustain (the multiple bullet wounds) had healed completely now and left no scars, but this one shimmered clearly.

"I wanted to ask you, Daniel, if you could tell me exactly how all that happened. Everything from when you were bit, until the werewolf took over completely." Daniel didn't seem eager to relive all of that.

"You think it will help find a cure?"

"I think there's a chance it could."

"Do you really think there could be a cure?" Daniel had been reluctant to consider the idea. This was the first he had asked about it, and Cara could hear the desperate hope behind his words. He had such a kind face, gentle eyes and that soft smile on his lips. She wanted to reassure him that everything would be okay, but she couldn't lie to him either.

"I really hope there is," she managed to say. "It would be nice for there to be a little good in this world." He nodded, taking her meaning, and then began his story.