The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 54: Florence

-Florence’s P.O.V-

It was the last blow that finally killed Amoretti. He had already been weakened and that last shot took it all from him. I was unaware of exactly where I’d shot him, but it was enough to save Kyle.

 There I stood, in a halo of light but looking nothing like an angel. Darkness crept in on me, but the light illuminated the six bodies around me. Four were dead, the other two barely alive. Or so I’d thought.

 Kyle rose, stumbling to his four paws and staring at me in surprise. My hands shook. I’d just killed someone. I had been responsible for another human being’s death. It took a toll on me, and I collapsed against the metal shipping container at my back, breathing heavily. I could sense the silent ‘thank you’ from the wolf. He was grateful that I’d saved his life.

 He took a step towards me and shuddered. One more step and another body wracking shiver. With a horrifying realization, I knew that he was trying to shift. Something was stopping him. His eyes were filled with horror.

 He couldn’t shift. He was stuck in animal form.

 In that moment I witnessed one of the most painful things in my life. I watched Kyle’s life fall apart. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. From my vantage point, looking straight into his eyes, I watched his soul break.

 For most of his life – though I had been involved with it for a short time, I knew this much – he had both feared and hated his animal form. He couldn’t control it, it was unstoppable. It had ruined his life from his young years. He had accidentally infected his sister, infected me and finally, infected himself with anger. His beast was controlled by his emotions, and even they were hard to restrain for Kyle. He was unstable, it was obvious.

 The only thing keeping him from tipping over the edge was his humanity. Hell, it helped me too. I couldn’t possibly be a complete monster if I was still human; if I could still shift back. I was normal, for a while at least.  It was something to keep me anchored with, I still had a human life with a human family. I was still Florence Gray.

 But Kyle, he had that no more. By my understanding, nothing should be able to stop a change. Not even exhaustion or extreme injury. That being said, I wasn’t sure if Kyle would ever be able to shift back. He had lost his human side, his humanity. He had also lost his sister. It was the first time that he’d known for sure what happened to her. She’d been killed in cold blood. That knowledge had ripped him apart emotionally too.

 His eyes held a deep sadness that brought tears to my eyes. Despair plagued him, clear in his actions as he froze. He didn’t know what to do. What could he do? He was helpless. He had become what hunters feared most: a rogue wolf without humanity…even worse, a rogue wolf that was – technically speaking – no longer human.

 He brushed past me with speed, and I heard his thrumming paws hurry across the concrete. With a smash, what I assumed was broken glass tinkled to the floor. With my hearing it sounded like the light patter of rain.

 Kyle was gone. He had fled, but where to? He couldn’t go back to his apartment, he couldn’t even return to Banff. It wasn’t possible when he was in animal form. He would be seen as a danger to the town, they would hurt him. His only chance was to flee and hope that nobody pursued. He had gone wild, literally. I don't think that my imagination had conjured up that sound - the sorrowful baying of a wolf at the moon.

 I was pulled from my reverie by a groan from beside me. My thoughts of Kyle were pushed to the back of my mind as I knelt beside Jonathon. He rolled onto his side, groaning and staring blindly at me. He was in pain. Should I help him?