Blood and Beasts

Chapter 31

***Trigger Warning***

***Racist language***

It was nearing another full moon, which made Cara nervous because she knew she wouldn't see Daniel during that time when the moon was it's fullest. She worried whether he would make it back at all, despite how strong and willful he'd proven himself to be. Logan had finally decided on something they could try to cure Daniel with. He was a cautious man and had been weary to try anything that didn't seem logical (which unfortunately excluded most "cures" that had been written about in common mythos), but he had settled on a very precise form of wolfsbane.

"These herbs were grown very high up in the Caucasus Mountains in Russia," Logan explained to Cara as he steeped the tea in the kitchen. "According to my sources it is devilishly tricky to get the conditions just right, find the exact soil, protect them from the elements, and they must be harvested during the new moon. I had to go through a very old contact of mine, who knew a man in Russia who knew someone that had done work with this other man whose been trying to grow the herbs in these conditions, and believe me getting it shipped back here was no easy task." This was true. Logan had sent her on a four-hour drive to meet the man who was holding the package for them. "All of this has been with the intent to help those with Lycanthropy, however they have had no success with the poor souls over there."

"So why are we going through all this if they've had no success?" Cara asked, indignantly. Logan patiently held up his one good hand.

"I doubt they had a subject like Daniel." He turned to her with a gentle smile. "I wish I could guarantee this would work. Odds are it probably won't, but I think it's worth a shot, and that's really the best we can do for this poor man." Logan gestured for her to take the kettle and cup he had laid out. "Let it steep for a while longer, a half an hour. Pour him one full cup and make sure he drinks it all, but slowly. This stuff is toxic and would likely make a normal man very ill, so don't be too alarmed if he has a bad reaction to it. If it doesn't cure him, I very much doubt it will kill him."

"Do you want to come down and watch how this goes?" Cara asked. Logan shook his head.

"I'm feeling a bit tired, I think I best lay down for a bit. You come get me when you have news though." Cara nodded and picked up the kettle and cup, as well as a bag of supplies she had grabbed during her trip out of town, and went down to see Daniel. They had started the kettle as soon as they saw the werewolf begin to change, and now Daniel was fully returned to his human form. He had wrapped his waist up with the tattered remains of one of the blankets in the cell. Cara tried to bring him new blankets often since the wolf made a point of ripping them up. She passed him a fresh one from the pile she'd brought earlier in the morning.

"Thanks, Cara," he said with a grin, and secured that one around his waist as well. "What's this you're bringing me today?" She set the kettle and cup down by the bars and took a seat in her chair, pulling it up close to the cell.

"That is tea, brewing with wolfsbane, that special type I told you Logan was tracking down."

"And it's suppose to cure me?" Daniel asked trying to sound skeptical, but Cara heard the hopeful eagerness.

"We can't be sure, but there's a small chance," Cara said, not wanting to bring his hopes up just to crush them. Not to get her own hopes up either.

"Well then..." Daniel said, reaching for the kettle. Cara put her hand out to stop him.

"Not just yet, Logan says it needs to steep for a half hour."

"Oh, so what should we do in the mean time?" Daniel asked, eagerness still in his voice. Cara hoped it was the same desire she had, to spend a little time together. She held up the bag she'd carried down and pulled out the newly purchased electric razor.