Despite Cara's effort everyday to make contact with Jack, it became more and more of an impossibility. Sometimes she could get a flash of his face, a horrified grisly flash, and then he was gone. It was as if he kept moving further away from this world, and this thought frightened Cara immensely. Cara and Logan talked often about what they could do for him. They had passed the information on to Bethany, well Logan had. Even in the next room, even though her voice was a bare muffle on the phone, Cara could hear Bethany's cries of anguish. Her boy was suffering worse than could be imagined, and really what could any of them do about it? Cara would continue trying to reach out to him, Logan would continue his research, Bethany and Andie would continue their hunt for the Imperial Cult, and Jack would continue to suffer until they found a way to save him.

Cara sat outside the cage, watching the werewolf snarl in the corner. It was the day after the full moon, she was hoping for a change, hoping that something would go right. And with a smile on her face, she watched as the beast turned back to the man. The claws and teeth retracted back, the bones shrank and popped into their normal locations, the fur fell off in matted clumps. Then she could see his grey eyes instead of the deadly yellow ones.

"Hi Daniel, it's good to see you," she said moving closer to the edge of the cage. "I was starting to worry you wouldn't come back this time."

"I was starting to think the same thing," Daniel said, stretching his body out with a groan. "But I saw you. Even through the wolf's eyes I saw you. And I knew I had to come back." Cara smiled to him, and moved her hand through the bars to pass him a glass of water. As he took it their fingers grazed each other's for a moment, the first real human contact Daniel had experienced in a great many years. Then she passed him a thin blanket so that he could cover himself. She tried not to focus too much on his naked body, it didn't seem right when he had no choice in the matter.

"Thank you," he said. "But the wolf will simply tear this apart when I change back."

Cara shrugged, "We've got lots here." Daniel wrapped the blanket around his lap and then drank the rest of the water. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Surprisingly, like myself," Daniel said. "My head is clear, at least for the moment." She was happy to hear this; it was improvement, if only slight.

"There's someone here, upstairs, that I'd like you to meet. He's been trying to find a way to help you, and he's been very eager to meet you." Daniel nodded, intrigued. He'd seen Andie briefly when they first found him, but thus far his only interaction had been with Cara. She left the basement, never taking her eyes off Daniel until she was up the stairs, and then tracked down Logan in his bedroom. He was having a rough day. The pain was growing more intense and tightening around his chest, and the medicine he had was becoming less effective. The edema in his arm was getting worse too, with his arm bubbling out in size. He now required a sling to support the extra weight. Cara had wondered if he should be in a hospital, but Logan had quickly shot down that idea.

"I'm dying," he said. "That's not changing, no matter what we do, but I can't do anything to help anyone while stuck in a hospital bed." Cara had nodded, but in her heart she wondered if she should take him to get help regardless. It was not an easy thing seeing someone fade away. She thought of the flashes of Jack, trapped somewhere unknowable. He was fading too. They both were.

But Logan had strength in reserve to come and meet Daniel. Cara had to help him immensely as they shuffled from Logan's bedroom on the first floor to the pantry. He moved very slowly now, and the stairs were nearly impossible as the muscles weakened in his legs, but Cara supported him each step and they made it down to Daniel's sad excuse for a room.

Daniel gave Logan a timid smile from the floor of the cage as the aging, sickly man took a seat in Cara's chair, gazing at him. Cara stood by Logan, glancing between the two as they stared in silence. A curious look was growing on Logan's face, as Daniel shifted uncomfortably.

"Hi," Daniel eventually said, in an awkward attempt at normal social convention. Still it was a while longer until Logan spoke back. Cara worried that something wasn't processing right for him, but as it turned out, there was simply a lot more than she realized running through his mind.

"You look very different than the last time I saw you," Logan said softly, slowly.

"Yes, I imagine the wolf is a pretty nasty sight," Daniel said, hints of embarrassment in his voice.

"That's not what I mean," Logan said, looking intently at Daniel, still needing to confirm what he thought. The hair on his head was shaggy and in knots, and an unkempt beard covered most of his face, but Logan still saw past that. "We've met before, when I was young."

Cara was caught by surprise; certain Logan's mind was starting to go soft. Daniel stiffened up and edged closer to the bars, looking more intently at the older man. Yes both of them had changed greatly, but both saw each other as they had that night in 1983. New memories cleared in Daniel's mind, and Logan recounted a story of one of his early hunts.

Logan and his older brother, Gregory, had been following a messy trail through a couple cities. Fortunately it had been animals up to that point, pets, some local wild life; a brutal sight but no human had been on the receiving end of the werewolf yet. Logan and Gregory were both very young then at twenty-six and twenty-nine, both out of the army, but now learning about the horrid things lurking on their home turf.

Gregory's wife and child were dead a year at that point, and though vampires had been their main focus up to this point, others, with more experience, had taught them about the different creatures out there. This was their first werewolf hunt, and they didn't yet have the larger perspective to see that this werewolf was an anomaly amongst its kind. Maybe this was a good thing, allowing them to pursue without added fear.

They were closing in on it one night; the tracks were fresh. Given more years of experience they would have avoided going after it at night, but as they saw things at the time, the beast was moving into more populated areas and it wouldn't be long until it found a person. Better them than a civilian they figured. They were brash and self-sacrificing then, willing to give up their lives in a moment if they could save another. Pragmatism came with age.

The path of the wolf crossed over streets and through neighbourhoods, but it wasn't careless. The path was calculated, that of a true wolf, not a beastly human. It led along a small ravine, through sewer tunnels, which they moved through slowly, with military caution. They couldn't be sure if the wolf knew it was being followed, but it was safer to assume it did. The ravine spilled out into a small bramble of trees at the end of a park, and it was on the cusp of those trees that Logan and Gregory heard the first screams.

They moved quickly through the trees, guns at the ready, soon coming upon the first of the dead boys, one arm pulled out at the shoulder, guts making an impressionist painting on the boy's chest. They heard the growls of the beast and more terrified screams up ahead. Another voice was silenced with a crunch, while the other cry moved further away. Logan found two more bodies, the face of one slashed beyond recognition, the other missing so much of their neck it was a wonder the head was still attached at all. Gregory ran now, toward the sounds of the beast as it chased down the last boy. His screams were silenced and the wolf began a howl of victory. That's when Gregory shot, halting the dreaded howl. He was still a distance away when he fired (and with a pistol no less) but Gregory's aim was spot on. The silver bullet pierced the werewolf through its spine and into its lung. Logan caught up to Gregory by this point and watched as the werewolf flopped onto the ground, twisting itself to see the shooter. Its legs wouldn't work anymore, as the bullet probably paralyzed it, but it still tried to stretch out its claws to Gregory as he walked closer. The wolf tried to roar at Gregory but all it managed was a weak squeak and a spray of blood.

Gregory shot it once more through the heart, and the wolf fell still. Logan observed as its body shrivelled inward. He expected to see it turn back to a human, but the opposite seemed to happen. It took on more of the qualities of an actual wolf, its joints locking in animalistic hunches. Whoever found this body would think: wolf, a large deformed wolf, but a wolf nonetheless. Gregory placed his gun in the hand of the last boy the wolf had killed. The authorities could rationalize some story with this kid playing the hero and shooting the wolf to protect his friends and then shooting it once more as it tore out his throat. A horrible freak incident for the community, but one that was over now.

At least that's what the news could say, what the police could say, but not Logan and Gregory, not yet. They knew they would have to stick around for a little while and make sure they hadn't missed anything, that no one had been bitten along the wolf's trail. They found a place to hole up for the night, and then the next day they passed by the park to watch from a distance with the rest of the crowd as the bodies of the boys were removed from the woods, and eventually the body of the wolf as well. There were gasps from the crowd at the sight of this giant grey wolf, the hands of old ladies held the crucifixes around their necks tight.

Logan kept his eyes peeled for anything or anyone out of place. He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for, but trusted his instincts that it would pop out if there was something to be found. Yet nothing seemed out of the ordinary for this out of the ordinary situation. Only one kid caught Logan's eye as he rode his bike through the park, steering well clear of the crowd. Logan couldn't quite figure out what seemed off about that, except that he would expect a kid that age to eagerly check out what all this excitement was about, still there was nothing inherently wrong with being disinterested or having some place to be.

Logan and Gregory's next stop was the city's hospital. They went in under the guise of Park Rangers; trying to determine which area this wolf had come from. They lied their asses off, getting through various barriers with simple fake I.D.s in hand, asking if anyone had come through in the past couple of days with bite marks to be treated. The nurses showed them the records of a girl who had been attacked by an aggressive Rottweiler, and a man who had drunkenly tried to pet a raccoon. Logan and Gregory moved on with sighs of relief. It didn't appear that anyone else had been attacked, and the werewolf had been killed. They dared to hope that the situation was contained.

They left the city, with the intention to keep an eye on the local papers around the time of the next full moon. If they had missed anything, the indications would start to appear then, and leave them with another month before the full transformation. Unfortunately the papers did bring them back to that city. Dogs were found torn to pieces, hearts missing. They travelled back and tried to determine what it was they missed.

A needle in a haystack was an analogy that would have made their task seem easy. If someone had been bit, they had avoided any medical attention. There was no record to follow; it could have been anyone in that city with a population over one hundred thousand. Still Logan figured out some plan of attack. It was a slim chance, but he checked the libraries. Sure enough, someone had been checking out any book to do with werewolves and lycanthropy. Logan asked the librarian if she could give him a call (at his motel room) when a certain book was returned, and when he did get that call he found a name on the checkout card. The same name that was on all the other werewolf books returned that day: Daniel Hayman.

Even with a name, it took Logan some work to track down Daniel. In the modern age they now lived in, it would have been a simple matter of typing the name into Google and following the Facebook page that came up, but back in the eighties it was a little tougher. Going through the phonebook he was able to narrow things down to just three names, though none of them were Daniel, which led him to consider that Daniel was still just a kid. He went back and looked at the records of the four boys who were killed that night. All had gone to the same high school, so it was worth considering there had been a fifth that night, one that had gotten away, but not entirely unscathed.

Logan and Gregory scoped out the high school from a distance, sitting in their car, listening to AC/DC (Gregory's choice as driver). Logan recognized the boy as soon as he saw him coming out the front doors. It was the kid from the park that had been biking through. He would check the school's yearbook later to confirm, but in that moment he already knew this boy was Daniel. He walked apart from the other kids with a twitchy anxiety in his eyes, wearing long sleeves on what was turning into a very hot day. It wasn't enough to condemn the kid over, but it was enough to put him on their radar.

They continued to follow Daniel from a distance over the next week, making sure he didn't do anything harmful. Then came the day of the full moon. Logan and Gregory had been debating for days now what to do about the kid. If he was a werewolf, they had to kill him before he hurt anyone else, Gregory said, before he ripped his family to pieces. Logan begged him to wait; they had to be certain before they did anything so drastic. Then Daniel did something they had not anticipated. He left his house in the evening before sundown and began to bike away. They followed him the whole way, as he led them to a forest north of the city.

Logan and Gregory went in, knowing full well that if this child began to turn, then they had to kill him. The darkness and the full moon came upon them all swiftly. They heard the roars of the beast in the forest and went toward them. They found the tree Daniel had chained himself to, chains now broken to pieces. Logan's heart broke for the child, who had clearly tried so hard to protect the world from this beast.

Then the wolf snuck up on Gregory. Gregory was lightning quick to fire on the wolf. It wasn't a fatal shot, only clipping the werewolf's shoulder, but it was enough to slow the beast's attack. One large claw extended out to Gregory and sliced into his chest. It wasn't deep enough to kill him, but he would carry those scars until his death.

Logan shot at the wolf before it could dive onto Gregory and finish the attack. His bullet went through the stomach of the werewolf, and the creature, with a grunt, stumbled and ran off further into the forest. Logan went to check on his brother to make sure he was going to be alright.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch. Now go after the damn thing!" Logan did as his big brother said, following the werewolf Daniel carefully through the trees.

"I found the werewolf staggering by a thin stream," Logan said. "It was deeply wounded from the first two bullets. It looked at me, and then I shot him once more through the heart." Cara and Daniel looked at each other confused. Logan noticed and gave them both a smirk. "At least that's what I told Gregory. I did find you by the stream," he said addressing Daniel. "But you weren't a werewolf anymore. You were you, as I see you now." Daniel's face furrowed, Cara's too in disbelief.

"But that was the night of the full moon," Cara said. "His first full moon. That's impossible." Logan shrugged.

"Lots in this world seems impossible. But then you see it with your own eyes. I saw this sixteen-year-old boy, standing by the stream, naked, two bullet wounds in him, staring at me. He didn't say anything and I didn't either, and then he fell to his knees and collapsed forward. I couldn't say what compelled my actions in the moment, but thinking back, I suppose I just didn't have it in me to shoot a helpless boy, someone who was a victim in all this evil as much as anyone.

"I fired once into the air and then left. I wanted to do more for him, but knew I couldn't. If Gregory found out he was still breathing, he would stagger over and finish the job himself. Instead I told Gregory the lie, and helped him out of the forest. We left the city and didn't look back. If Gregory ever suspected my lie he never said, and I never spoke of the truth." Logan finished with a sigh, the heavy curves of his face revealed his guilt. He locked eyes with Daniel. "I'm so sorry I didn't do more to help you then. All this is on me. Anyone you may have hurt, its my fault, not yours."

Daniel didn't have words to follow with, but Cara had a question.

"Do you remember this Daniel? Changing back that night."

"Not...exactly. Hearing the story, I can see it. But it's not a clear memory, closer to a dream. But that's what other moments over the years felt like. It's all just...vague around the edges." Daniel shook his head, the strain of humanity starting to hit him. "Perhaps things would have been better if you'd killed me. Perhaps you still should." Logan's eyes dropped to the floor, downcast.

"No that's bullshit," Cara said with a ferocity that startled both of them. "Logan, you taught me that saving people is what we do, so long as there's a chance we can."

"Cara, I'm just a threat," Daniel said morosely. "I've hurt people. I don't want to again."

"That's bullshit too. Were we listening to the same story?" Daniel looked puzzled. "You changed back to a human during a full moon. You've already broken the rules about what's possible." She knelt down to look Daniel in the eyes, his handsome grey eyes. "I'm not done fighting for you. And neither is Logan, right?" She looked back at the older man, who beamed back at his girl.

"Never," he said with some of his past vigour. She looked back to Daniel, and then struck by an urge to hold his hand, extended hers into the cage. He looked tentatively at her, nervous that the beast would take this opportunity, but then he steeled his will. The wolf would not win today. He reached out and held her hand. Cara squeezed tight.

"We can beat this, all of this," Cara said, and truly believed it.