The Cold Forest Ch. 03

On that day he swore that he would only visit his grave after those witches were dead.

Just like his boss, it was also a personal mission for Karim! That was the reason why he was so eager to end this.

Three Hunters came out of the building, moving swiftly, never taking their eyes of the fallen witch.

All of them were dressed in black military-grade gear. They were wearing high-quality bulletproof vests. Each of them had an advanced assault rifle in their hands.

Their stance clearly showed what highly-trained and experienced personnel they were.

Their movement was synchronized; while one in the centre was pointing his assault rifle toward the witch, the other two were looking around for any kind of ambush. It was clear that their target was down, but all of them had read the record that their boss had on these witches, especially this one.

Not only was her magic strong, she had an affinity toward natural flora and could control trees and plants, could use them to attack her enemies. That was the reason why they waited until she was far enough from the tall trees.

The hunters reached the witch.

"INCOMING!!!"

That was all the warning they got before all of them felt pain shooting through their body. The first Hunter turned to see where their attacker was coming from but he could already see a big man was standing behind him and the next moment his neck was twisted back.

The other two started to open fire toward their attacker but he was already moving and using the dead body as a shield. He got closer to the second Hunter, lifted him by the neck and placed his body between him and the third Hunter, who had opened fire on the attacker, so after taking a few shots the second Hunter was dead.

He threw the first body that he had in one hand towards the third hunter. While the Hunter was unbalanced the man rushed him. He lifted the third hunter and turned in the direction of the building; a sniper shot that was aimed at the attacker pierced through the third hunter's chest.

All of this happened in a second or two. The sniper was fast to shoot the attacker, but the attacker used the body of the hunters as a meat shield to stop the sniper bullets from hitting him.

"What the hell is that?"

After reading past mission reports Karim felt he was very prepared. He had done all the research about the witches and their powers and planned extensively to take them down. But he didn't know there was another supernatural.

"I am not sure, but it looks like a Vampire. Though the distance is not that much, his reaction toward our snipers is a lot faster than any Vampire I have ever fought with. Let me get in my Baby." With that answer, Rudy moved toward the backside of the building.

The bodies that the unknown attacker was using as a shield against the sniper were torn and mangled. While Karim and Rudy were trying to identify their attacker and find a way to take him down, the attacker threw both the bodies in two directions at the building.

Both the bodies hit windows that the snipers were using and broke through them. The snipers were fast to move from their position, but their sniper rifles and stands were trashed due to the impact of the bodies.

"What should we do now?" asked Bobby, while holding a tablet, which was showing the status of the Box. It was at Zero.

Karim pressed his finger on his ear and spoke "Quasi, why don't you take your Baby for a ride now?"

-

"Master, are you okay?"

Erik turned to his side to see Tanha, who was using the darkness to hide herself, standing beside him, still trembling from the residual pain that she was experiencing.

"Tanha, go and get her sister out from there."

"What about you, Master?"

"DO WHAT I SAY."

Though Tanha wasn't in any kind of binding to follow his command, she knew the look she was seeing on his face. She had seen it before.

After she passed out from the pain without putting up even a small fight, she knew how dangerous these people were. So, without wasting a second, she started to move, while hiding herself in shadows once more.

She started to look for a way to enter the building. There was a door on the back of the building but it was locked from inside. She moved a few feet away from the door and released raw magic on it, which blew the doors apart. She entered the building and started to search for the other witch.

Erik was looking down at the unconscious Minerva, when he suddenly heard the sound of roaring, like some kind of car engine. But the sound was a lot heavier than a normal car.

With a cracking sound, the iron doors of the storage building were open.

A huge vehicle was standing behind the doors, making a heavy sound. It was like an armoured XUV, but it was a lot bigger than any XUV.

Again, the vehicle's engine roared and the vehicle rushed toward him. Before he could do anything, the huge gun that was mounted above the vehicle started to open fire, sending heavy bullets his way.

The vehicle was like a mini tank, but its speed was way better than any tank.

Rudy had personally modified this one; it was his idea after their fight with a werewolf pack in Siberia.

He wanted to shoot this damned thing into pieces, so he was a bit disappointed when the creature lifted the dead body of the dead hunter and used it, still in its armour, to protect himself from the mini gun assault.

But he wasn't entirely disappointed; the distance between them wasn't much and even if he escaped, the witch would be crushed under his 'Baby'.

As the vehicle got closer to him, the mini gun's shots were going above his head, so the intruder tossed aside the dead body, which was shredded to pieces after taking assault from the mini gun.

At that moment, Rudy could see he wasn't moving from his position. He gunned the vehicle at him at full speed, not just to hit him, but to kill the witch also.

Karim and his men were seeing this from the building. They knew how powerful this vehicle was; it was specifically designed to fight against strong foes. They could see the vehicle was upon him, and even if he escaped at the last moment, the witch would be crushed under it.

When the vehicle was fifteen feet away, the mini gun ran out of ammo. Though the vehicle had many other weapon systems in it, Rudy just wanted to crush this damned creature under his 'Baby'.

The man fell on his knee. He was in a position like he was holding some kind of invisible shield to protect himself from the impact that was about to happen.

But what happened next shocked all of them. Since he was kneeling with one foot while another foot was bent forward, he tilted his upper body forward so the front of the vehicle hit directly on his left shoulder. Instead of being thrown away or crushed under it, he ducked his left hand under the bonnet while his right hand upon its bonnet lifted the rushing vehicle on his shoulder from the front, and he stood up. All of this happened in less than a second; after lifting the vehicle from the front, he twisted his upper body and used the momentum of the vehicle to throw it toward the building.

All of this happened so fast, Karim and his men were shocked. The vehicle was like a miniature version of a tank. It was specially designed to face this kind of enemy. It was designed to use against creatures that were physically stronger or who worked in numbers. They had even used it thrice in their other supernatural hunting missions in Russia.

It would take more than three werewolves to turn it up, due to the engine, heavy armour and heavy weapons. It was fast, but still a heavy vehicle.

On their second mission with the vehicle Rudy crushed two werewolf brothers under it. Karim knew how powerful its impact was.

Not even a werebear could survive the impact, let alone a vampire.

So, they were not prepared when the vehicle that should have crushed the intruder was thrown toward them like a football.

It didn't take long to impact the building, and due to the ammo, that was there in the building and in the vehicle, along with the fuel that was in the vehicle, with a loud BOOM! the vehicle leveled more than half of the building. The hunters that were there tried to escape but didn't succeed.

It was a huge blast; the shocks and sound that it created impacted the remaining building also.

"Erik, oh my god what happened?" Minerva was trying to understand the situation. She could see the building where her sister might have been was blown from the front and burning. Erik came closer to her hug her tight. He was holding her while kneeling before her. Minerva wasn't sure what might have happened here.

"Why are you in middle of this? Didn't I ask you not to..." Suddenly Erik`s face turned toward the burning building, so she also looked where he was looking. She wasn't a sensor but even she felt the negative emotion that was coming from there. She didn't recognize who it was, but there was a man, badly burned, holding a bazooka on his shoulder, and it was aimed at them.

"Erik! NO!" Her reaction was fast; she tried to cast her magic but nothing worked. All she got was small pains in random parts of her body.

Erik was quick; he hugged her tightly, while shielding her with his body.

She knew if the rocket hit them, both would be dead even if he used his body to shield her. But she felt a hum...within her heart!

She looked at his face, in his eyes; there wasn't fear of what was about to happen but contentment of holding her.

She closed her eyes; a variety of memories passed before her, triggering a multitude of emotions but a certain emotion was all above the rest.

Though the noise of the burning building was heavy in the air, she could hear the sound of a rocket being fired.

She opened her eyes and spoke to him while looking into his eyes: "YOURS!!!"

Everything around them turned bright, due to the blast of the rocket. She could feel the rise in the heat and it was like everything was moving in slow-motion. She closed her eyes again to avoid seeing him blown to bits and burned with her, and resigned herself to their fate.

Chapter 20: What are you?

After entering the building Tanha started to search for the other witch; there were very few rooms. She opened the door of the first one, and it was empty except for a few weapons. There was nothing else. She opened the next one and the witch was bound and unconscious.

She was tempted to end her but she knew Erik wanted to save her and if he found it was she who had killed this witch, things would turn ugly.

So, she didn't give in to the temptation to kill the witch, and quickly unbound her, instead.

When she was still unsure what to do now, she heard the sound of some heavy vehicle moving from the front side of the building, and also heard heavy gunfire. This gun was making noise louder than the others these Hunters were using before.

As the witch had told her and Erik different things these people use to hunt supernatural beings, she knew Erik was strong, but she wasn't sure if he could survive such a weapon.

She rushed out of the building while taking the unconscious witch with her. She came around the building while still hiding in shadows. Though she wanted to save this witch because Erik wanted to save them, her priority was Erik.

For her, Erik`s life was as important as her own!

So, her heart was crushed when she saw a powerful vehicle was about to trample Erik. The distance between them wasn't much, but she knew she couldn't reach him now.

But what she saw next turned her hopelessness into shock, and then into fear!

Not only was he able to take the impact of the vehicle but he lifted it and then threw it toward the building like it was some toy.

She wasn't sure what to think about it. Though an average demon could perform such a feat with half of their power, it was beyond explanation when a normal human did such a thing!

She knew after harvesting him a few times that he wasn't a normal human at all but he wasn't a magical being either. 'What are you?' was the last thing she had on her mind before the vehicle combusted itself, after impacting with the front side of the building.

She and the unconscious witch were both thrown a few feet away from the building, due to the blast.

She wasn't hurt but she moved towards the witch, who was conscious now.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I am Tanha, Master Erik`s servant. We came here to save you."

Before the witch could say anything else, Tanha felt extremely negative emotion directed toward Erik.

She turned and looked toward the burning building a half-burned man was holding some kind of weapon and aiming it at Erik.

She could feel extreme blood lust coming from him. When she saw, Erik was trying to protect the witch from whatever this weapon was about to do, instead of running, she knew she had to do something. She immediately gathered as much raw power as she could and threw it toward the man like a ball of energy.

She was fast but wasn't fast enough to stop the man from firing the weapon.

-

It was Karim`s 57^th Mission. His boss had told them they should wait for the local help and then plan their mission accordingly. But Karim was in a hurry to end this mission.

After the success of doing so many missions against the werewolf packs they hunted in Russia in their last mission, he was confident enough in himself and in his team's ability to take down two witches. With the weapon and their experience, his confidence wasn't misplaced.

After his team member got the first witch from the club, he knew there wouldn't be any problem taking down the other one. Still, he didn't take his enemy lightly. He planned extensively to make sure there wasn't a chance for failure.

His men had assault rifles. Two remained behind as snipers. Even Rudy`s assault vehicle was ready to be used. All of his men were on high alert. All of them had different types of weapons on them and weapons were placed in several parts of the building so they could be utilized if need be.

Their boss had also given him The Box. It was a strange device; his boss didn't tell him much about it. The only thing he was told was, 'The more magic a creature has, the more pain they will feel!'

After its successful use on the first witch, he knew it worked.

When the second witch also fell under the effect of The Box, he knew it was a victory. However, the mission wasn't yet over, and he and his man were still on high alert.

When one of his men was about to touch the fallen witch, he caught a movement behind the trees. At first, he taught the witch was using her magic to move the trees to attack his men, but instead a shadow moved out of the trees.

It was dark, so he wasn't sure who or what it was, but from the speed, his guess was a supernatural.

He tried to warn his men, but one man was already dead, while the other two were fast enough in their reaction they opened fire on the attacker. But he used the first dead body as a shield and took the other two, using them all as a larger shield to stop the snipers from hitting him.

His doubt was confirmed; it was a vampire. No normal human could move that fast. When he threw dead bodies towards the snipers, he knew his guess was right. Vampires are good at sensing emotions; that`s why he could predict where the snipers were.

Though he had arrived today in 'Old Town' he knew from the records that there was no vampire in this town. If such a vampire was living here, one that had so much power, he knew his boss would have warned them about it.

So, he sent Rudy with his assault vehicle to fight this vampire. Though vampires are fast, they are not strong enough to survive the mini gun, and if the vampire somehow dodged the mini gun, he would not survive impact with the vehicle, because of the silver that was used as raw material in making of the vehicle's body and armor.

He had the shock of his life when the creature took the impact from the vehicle, then lifted it and threw it toward the building.

All this happened very fast. He was quick to run from the front of the building, but the blast from the collision was too strong. When turned around he could see half of his men melting from the blast, while the remaining men were burning in the fire. Half of his own body was also burnt.

He felt pain, extreme pain, then anger, which turned into rage. Instead of escaping from there, he went to the last room and got a bazooka. He wasn't worried about himself; the only thing that he wanted was to kill that bastard who did this to him and his team.

All he wanted was revenge!

He went to the front of the building that was still burning and instead of aiming for the man, he aimed at the witch. He never knew what the reason might be, but the man wanted to save that witch.

He pulled the trigger but at the same time he felt even more extreme pain; some strange power hit him and he felt his body being ripped apart.

-

Marie was confused and scared when she woke up near a burning building and the first person she saw was a demoness.

If her sister had summoned some demoness from hell to help her, then that was something she could understand, but she said she was Erik`s servant, which was something hard to believe. But before she could inquire further, the demoness looked toward the burning building, which prompted her to do so.

She could see a half-burned man was holding some kind of rocket launcher. She looked where the man was aiming, and it was at her sister Minerva. Who was in bad shape, tired and worn out? Marie saw Minerva try to use her magic to defend herself but it didn't work.

Erik who was beside her, held her tightly while shielding her with his body.

Marie had never liked Erik and after going on a date with him, her sister was shaken in a way she had never been before. A strong woman had been turned into an emotional wreck by a single encounter. After seeing her sister's situation, she started to outright hate him. Because of her hatred, she always ignored Erik`s good qualities. But today it was something she could not ignore; it wasn't just her sister who was developing feelings for him, but the fire was on both sides.

She felt weird, some sort of jealousy. She had dated many people of both genders, but she had never met someone who would put their life on the line to protect her.

She immediately shook those thoughts away; she knew it wasn't time for that.

He had a big body and looked stronger than a normal human, but she knew both of them would be dead if the rocket hit him.

She gathered all the magic that she could, and cast it on the earth; a big chunk of the ground, which looked like a boulder, came out from the soil a few feet behind Erik and took the primary impact of the rocket.

The blast from the resulting explosion threw stones and rock around them. Some of the burning stones hit Erik on the back, which injured him, though it wasn't really much damage.

-

Minerva opened her eyes; she could see they were both alive. She saw Erik was still looking down at her with a smile on his face.

She didn't know what to say. He closed his eyes and fell beside her, unconscious. She straightened herself and looked at him.

His shirt was mostly burnt away, so his back was exposed, which had a few wounds and scratches.

Her logical mind knew it wasn't anything dangerous, but her heart didn't understand. Tears started to flow from her eyes; it was still painful to call upon her magic. But still, she gathered as much magic as she could and poured all of it into his wound, casting a healing spell.

The drain on her magic was heavy; her sight was getting dimmer due to the tears and the loss of magic but she didn't dare stop. She didn't care about herself; she just kept pouring her magic on him.

When Marie and Tanha came to them, they could see both Erik and Minerva were unconscious. Slowly, magic flowed out of her into Erik`s back, which wasn't doing anything since his back was completely healed.