Blood and Beasts

Chapter 29

Autumn had taken over the northern landscape that surrounded the cottage. It was October and nearly two months had passed since Jack and Gregory had been taken, nearly two months that Bethany, Andie and their host of contacts had been hunting the Imperial Cult, and nearly two months since Cara had met Daniel.

Not much had changed in Daniel's situation in that time, unfortunately, but there were a few improvements. He changed back to a human with more ease, managing to do so nearly every day and remaining a human for much longer now. Cara was sure to take advantage of that time, talking, filling him in on all that had happened in the world over the years. She told him about the presidents that had filed through the oval office, the bad, the good, and the truly horrendous. She told him about the end to the Cold War and the wall coming down. She told him about 9/11 and the un-winnable war on terror that followed. She told him about with musicians that had died: David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson (she also shared with him the scandals on the latter). Cara also played music for him on a cheap CD player she had picked up, along with some CDs, on one of her rare runs out to the super centre. She tried to catch him up on the eras he'd missed, trying to share with him the rise of hip-hop and rap, the boy bands and pop stars, and most importantly in her mind, the grunge music of the 90s. She played Nirvana for him, and told him the tragedy of Kirk Cobain's death.

"Not many have made it out alive in recent decades," Daniel said as he listened to Cara's stories while "Come as you are" played in the background.

"Not many of the good ones, no," Cara agreed. "We still have two Beatles though."

"Thank the lord for small mercies." They laughed. They laughed quite a bit together Cara found, despite the shitty situation they found themselves in. The bars between them were a constant reminder of reality, but after a little time spent talking, that seemed to fade away, if only for a little while. She would look at him and hear his voice and not even see the bars there, just his kind face.

Until the wolf reasserted control.

Cara feared that she would lose him again for a couple weeks as the new moon passed and that light in the night sky grew stronger, but she didn't. She could see the struggle as Daniel fought to remain human, but he did manage it. They didn't have a way to permanently cure him yet, despite all of Logan's readings (Cara worried he was running out of steam, the ability to focus on the words in front of him shrinking each day), but Daniel was fighting hard and regaining control over his own body. It wasn't perfect by a long stretch, but it gave Cara hope.

Hope was something she greatly lacked when she turned her mind towards anything else. She hadn't been able to get in touch with Jack again, couldn't even summon up a vague image of him. It felt like he was slipping away. And what could she do about it? She had abandoned her daily meditations by the water, they frustrated more than calmed her now. Instead she had changed her routine to include a walk down the dirt road that wrapped through the trees from the end of their driveway. She would make the short trek past five other houses on the street (all spaced far apart and hidden from direct sight by a thicket of trees). All these homes backed onto a small inlet of the lake; she would curve around the bend past them and then cut into a trail just before the dirt road turned to concrete, and follow that through the thicket of trees, trying to separate herself from civilization. Sometimes she passed by other people, but after a brief smile or "good morning" they went on their way.

She was not so lucky on this particular morning. As Cara approached the fifth and final house on her path, the one that sat more or less directly across the small lake from the one they'd claimed as their own, she saw a bright red Mercedes pulling out of the driveway and slowing to a stop across her path. The woman driving looked heavily middle-aged despite the thick amounts of make-up she wore to hide this. Her hair was dyed a fake and unnatural blonde, but it was styled out with elegant flow. She flashed a wide and polished smile at Cara upon seeing her, eyes popping slightly.