The Cold Forest Ch. 04

"Already accepting the other one in the story, Sis?"

Minerva was first confused at her sister's comment but her cheeks turned red when she remembered telling her sister about all that had happened.

"Look, Sis," Marie set on the bed beside her sister and took her sister's hand in her hand and spoke. "I have already packed everything. If we start moving now, within a few hours we would be out of this country.

Think practically, Sis, Oblonsky doesn't know about Erik and Tanha, and once he gets news of us leaving the town he wouldn't even want to come here."

"I know, Sis, you are strong. And the demoness is also strong for her kind. But Erik...he is just a human. One misfired bullet or misfired spell and he would be gone. You have seen the destruction that happened last night. If it wasn't for that demoness, what would have happened?"

"All of them were better than any of Oblonsky's men we have ever faced and what about them using something that could trigger so much pain in our body. We will be down without putting up a fight."

"While last night would have been a surprise for them, I don't think this Tanha could do that again. They will be a lot more prepared now. And while I don't think Erik would like this decision, either, that's what is best for him."

"Then let's take him with us," Minerva spoke enthusiastically.

"Sis, do you think he would be able to survive? Where we are going even our own survival is hanging by a thread, and you also want him to drag into this? Look, I know you care for him but it would be best if you move on. It would be painful for a bit but then he would also move on with his life."

That was the end of their argument; and while Minerva no longer objected to them leaving the town, she wasn't in any shape to drive.

So, first, Marie dropped Erik's truck back at his home. Then she drew their car out of the town. Since then, she had been driving the car to get out of that country.

'Now, that I think about it, how could a Mara demon wreak such havoc? That kind of destruction would require an Average Demon. But then, this Tanha was a unique one. Maybe she is some kind of hybrid. That would explain the strange energy that was within her body.'

With those kinds of thoughts she drove out of the country of Estonia.

-

Mr. Oblonsky was sitting inside his office while going through some photographs on his desktop; he was already informed about the witches leaving the town and he was furious about the scenes he was seeing in the photos. Someone knocked on the door.

"Yes."

A doctor entered his office.

"Dr. Anderson, what's their status?"

"Mr. Oblonsky, Mr. Rudy is no more."

Mr. Oblonsky let a deep exhale; he looked back at the doctor prompting him to continue.

"Before dying he was conscious for a few seconds..."

"And?" asked Mr. Oblonsky.

"He just said one word..."

"Dr. Anderson, you know I don't have a whole day so just fucking spill the beans!"Mr. Oblonsky berated the doctor while barely controlling his anger.

"Vampire. " He just said, 'Vampire.'"

The expression on Mr. Oblonsky's face changed into that of confusion which immediately turned into anger.

"That little bitch!"

He cursed loudly and looked back at the doctor. "What about Karim?"

"He is still in a coma and none of his body parts are responding. His heartbeat is very slow; his body has gone through extreme duress and burnt badly. It's his sheer will that is still keeping him alive!"

Mr. Oblonsky shook his head, "You can go, Dr. Anderson, but keep me updated about his situation."

"Yes, Sir!" With that, the doctor left the office.

"That little bitch will pay for this." With that, Mr. Oblonsky picked up his phone and dialed a number.

After a few rings, the phone was answered by a woman.

"Can I speak with Sir Vincent?"

After hearing the answer from the opposite side he spoke again.

"Just tell him I know where that half-blood bitch is."

Suddenly, he heard a commotion on the other side. A raspy male voice now spoke from the other side.

"Sir Vincent, I am Oblonsky speaking. It's a pleasure to be having a conversation with you," he said while clenching his teeth.

If it was in his hand he would have killed this blood sucker's entire race a long time ago, but he knew how to play smart.

"Sir, I happen to know where that bitch is."

The man on the other side spoke just one word in his no-nonsense voice.

"She is in 'Old Town'. But you should be careful since Constantine had left Russia yesterday so he could be there too."

There was no answer from the other side, but Mr. Oblonsky knew his work was done. He put the receiver down.

He took a phone out of his pocket and dialed another number.

"Hello, Mr. Kosovo."

The person on the other side also greeted him.

"What is the status?"

After hearing the answer from the other side, the expression on Mr. Oblonsky's face turned gloomy.

"That would sum up to 241 deaths."

The person on the other side apologized to Mr. Oblonsky.

"No need to stop the project now. It's our five decades of hard work and the last remaining dream project of our once-great country. 'The Project White Bear' must reach its completion and I think I have found the next subject for the experiment."

After saying that, he hung up the phone. He then took the receiver off his landline in his hand and dialed a number.

"Dr. Anderson, could you arrange Mr. Karim's mobile medical facilities so we could airlift him? I know about his fragile health, Dr. Anderson. Just do what I say."

Chapter 25: The Full Moon

It was a grand terrain. In the dark of the night, the only visible thing was the full moon.

It was a strange moon with brown shades on it. An even stranger thing was the moon`s size; it was covering one-third of the sky.

There were two huge mountains in the centre of the terrain. A lone figure was walking towards the mountains. Under the light of the moon, the figure was visible enough to be recognized as a woman from her feminine curves.

The woman was wearing a white tunic and a purple cloak. The beauty and color of the clothes was a royal status symbol in ancient Greece.

She came closer to the mountains; when she was just a few meters away from the mountains, the mountain on the left side started to shake. It was like it was being lifted off the ground.

On the mountain, two huge orbs like eyes opened themselves right below the mountain peak. The mountain peak that was above the two eye-like orbs cracked open, revealing wolf-like ears.

After a few earth-shattering movements from the mountain, it was clear to see that it wasn't a mountain but it was a wolf-like creature.

The creature was as tall as the mountain it was standing beside.

It had brown fur which was sparkling under the moonlight. An aura of power and strength was visible around it; it was a peculiar sight to see!

"I asked you for one thing. Did you do it?"

The question was asked in a booming sound, but the mouth of the creature was still closed. Yet, its voice was coming from all directions.

"It's about the man?"

"Yes. Is he dead now?"The voice of the creature was booming throughout the terrain.

"No."

"Why not?"

The sound was heard with even more thunder.

"Because he didn't turn."

"I don't care; I just want him dead."

With that, the creature again set back while resting beside the mountain. The entire 'Terrain' was shaking with its movements.

The woman turned her back and started to walk back and she was about to leave the 'Terrain' but again she heard the booming voice of the creature.

"Theodora, kill him quickly if you know what is good for you!" After the creature said that, everything became silent.

-

Erik drew his pickup truck to the campus, still shocked after the drawing-room incident; he helped Tanha a bit to clear the stones and pebbles. Then he left to attend his lectures at the campus.

Shock wasn't word enough to describe the state of his mind when he saw the entire wall that was between his kitchen and drawing room shattered to pieces from his small punch.

It was a good thing he and his grandfather had done interior renovation last year or the impact could have damaged the entire house.

He entered the gates of the campus and parked his old pickup truck in the parking lot while still lost in his world, a world that was shaken due to the events that had happened in the past few days!

He found the woman with whom he had gone on a date was a witch; she had a twin sister who was also a witch. They were being hunted by some hunters, but he somehow happened to save them without having any memories of those events. Also, he didn't have a memory of a few sexual encounters that he had with her. And above all, he also had some kind of super-strength!

All this information was scaring him. As a child, he always imagined himself getting some superpowers and becoming a superhero as they did in those books, but as an adult, he knew how peculiar his situation was.

There were some supernatural creatures, some professional hunters, some multinational corporations...and he was stuck in the middle of all of this.

He tried to calm his mind and decided to focus on the present. When he entered the parking lot, he felt the sensation of being watched. He didn't feel any emotion with the gaze that was placed on him but he knew someone was watching him.

He tried to look around discreetly but didn't see anyone except a black sports car that was immediately driven off of the campus. He couldn't see the driver of the car, nor had he seen any passengers inside, but something within him told him that he was seen by whoever was in that car.

He knew only a few rich people in the town could afford such a fancy car, but who could it be?

The question was still ringing inside his mind when he entered the classroom. He suddenly felt a spike in emotion; again, he looked discreetly to notice it was a girl.

She was surrounded by other beautiful girls. Hannah Ruth, the heiress of the Ruth family. She immediately averted her gaze. He felt anger and hatred masked with excitement directed toward him. He couldn't remember what he might have done to invoke the ire of the princess.

A broken vision appeared before him, it was more like an image. It was a woman. To be accurate, it was Hannah Ruth. Her face had ecstasy written on it while lying on the floor. A severe headache hit him, shattering his vision. A hiss of pain left his mouth. He tried to divert his mind from its current thought process.

Being in pain, he didn't notice the fact that he had somehow read another person's emotions. He tried to ignore all the thoughts about his current situation while paying attention in class.

He was seated away from all the others during lunch. Again he noticed a spike in emotion. He took a glance and it was Hannah entering the mess hall. Their eyes met for a brief second. There was anger and hatred, filled with disgust, fueled by excitement. He was again hit with pain in his head. He knew something was wrong with him.

'Should I visit the hospital? Then what about the super-strength? What if they find something in my blood?'

The thought of going to the hospital had occurred a few times, but every time he dropped the idea. He wasn't sure if the people involved in the events knew about him or not, but until he was prompted, he wouldn't kick a hornet's nest.

He didn't have the resources to survive the ramifications if he somehow wronged those who held the strings. An image of the brown-haired and brown-eyed woman came to his mind: CEO of Leos, Int.

The company's field of work was genetics, shipping, manufacturing, cosmetics. It has many subsidiary companies. There wasn't any industry in which Leos, Int. wasn't involved on the world stage. The company was like a huge empire that was spread across the globe. That was the reason why their government approached 'Leos, Int.' to do investments in the Old Town.

'What role might she have in this incident? Was she also involved in it?'Those kinds of questions kept troubling him the whole day.

After lunch, he started to feel weird. He felt an ache within his chest. The ache was slowly increasing and spreading through his body. Once the classes were over he was quick to drive his truck out of the campus. It was late; only a few hours before the evening; the strange, creepy feeling was irritating him.

He stopped at a small restaurant just a few meters from his campus. He sat at the table that was far from the backside of the restaurant. He gulped down a glass of water that was on that table. He was feeling uncomfortable; the headache was making it worse. He asked the waitress for a coffee

After giving an order to the waitress he was going through news on his phone. Since the incident at the storage building, he was following the news every hour to see where the investigation was going. The thing that surprised him was the representative of "Leos, Int." claiming it was an 'accident'.

He was extremely confused with the statement. While the company would have hidden any kind of mistake that was done by them, why were they hiding this?

'Is there something I am not seeing here or were those men sent by someone from this company?'

The vibration of his phone broke his chain of thought. He unlocked his phone and clicked on the notification. It was a text message from his friend Henry:

"Bro, I will be back tomorrow and I got my hand on some awesome things."

'I hope this time it's something fake!'

"Excuse me, young man?"

He raised his head and looked at an old man wearing normal clothes standing before him, holding a cane in his hand.

"Yes?"

"Can I sit here?" the old man asked while indicating a seat in front of him. Erik looked at the empty seat before him and just nodded his head. "Thank you, young man, for letting me seat with you, and I can leave if I am disturbing you." While he was old, his words were firm.

"That's fine, no need to thank me, and you can sit here, sir."

"Oh, it seems like my age is catching up with my manners. My name is Stefan Constantine and I mean I don't want to disturb you."

"No, that's fine, Mr. Constantine," he replied politely.

The waitress arrived with his coffee; he took a few sips from his cup while the elderly man started to read a newspaper that was there.

"Pardon me, if I am overstepping my boundaries. Isn't your wife with you?"

He was letting the effect of the coffee soothe his mind when the old man asked such a weird question. Of course, the old man was overstepping his boundaries but after spending his entire life with his grandfather, he didn't want to say so to this old man's face, so he just replied politely:

"No, actually I am single," he gave as his short reply and again started to drink his coffee.

"Oh, young people nowadays. When I was your age I was happily married and had two children."

Erik wasn't sure how to reply to the old man's comment, but before he could speak the old man continue talking.

"Again, pardon this old goose's rambling, but all a father like me wants is for his children to get a life partner and have beautiful children so the old man can spoil them rotten."

Erik still wasn't sure about what to say so he just kept drinking his coffee.

He looked at the clock on the wall

"I am sorry but I think I should..."

"Of course, of course."The old man nodded in understanding.

Erik left the café while thinking, 'Well, that was a strange old man!'

-

'Well, that's an odd young man!' was the thought of Mr. Constantine, while he saw Erik leaving the cafe and driving away in his old pickup truck. In that brief moment, his old eyes had seen many things in that young man, but one thing caught his eyes. It was something he had only seen once in the past.

'Fate is a cruel mistress!' With that thought, the old man walked out of the cafe.

-

Erik found his house empty; Tanha wasn't there. He went into his bathroom and started to have a shower. He spent an hour inside the shower, and the burning sensation deep within his chest started to relax.

He walked out of the bathroom, while a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked in the full-length mirror that was in his bedroom. He could see a slight change in his physique; he could see a lot more muscle definition in his bulky body.

It appeared more chiseled like it was carved out of stone and he also noticed his hair had grown a lot in the past few days and appeared a lot redder.

It was like it was shining, with red coloring. He felt the burning in his chest returning, and he also felt a wave of headache hitting his skull. The headache was extremely painful. Slowly he felt the pain dominating all his senses; the pain was worse than anything he had ever felt in the past.

Gradually the pain became unbearable; he fell on his knees while clenching his head in pain. After a few minutes of this intense struggle, he was lying on his bedroom floor naked and unconscious.

The sun sank below the horizon. The evening turned into the night. The distant howling of wolves could be heard. Noises of insects also started to become prominent.

Suddenly Erik's eyes were open. He screamed in agony. Erik felt the burning sensation that he had felt before returned, but thousands of times stronger and spreading across his body. The pain was unbearable, he started to scratch his skin with his nails, and blood started to spill from the scratches.

The moonlight landed on his body, the pain was multiplied by it. His mind was under extreme duress. It was cracking under the pressure. His hand turned into a fist that landed on his bedroom floor.

The old tiles were shattered and a huge spider-crater was formed on the floor. His thrashing became more violent, his back hit the window with such a force that it broke the grill and he fell out of it. He landed on a few stones which shattered from the impact of his body.

He was rolling on the floor while screaming like a wounded beast. Except for the forest and a dark shadow hidden within it, there was no one to witness his animalistic agony.

Again his hand turned into a fist that landed on the tree that was near him. The impact shattered the sturdy bark of the tree. The entire tree landed with a loud thud. His mind cracked at the agony and he lost consciousness. Silence fell throughout the forest.

The shadow that was lurking in the forest observed the fallen man. Except for his fast breathing, there were no changes in his body. The shadow immediately left to report Erik's condition...a condition which appeared to be unchanged on the full moon night!

After an hour or two, Erik's eyes were open. He looked at his body and then his head turned toward the Moon, a thin smile spread across his mouth. He stood up on his legs. The expression on his face changed, it was replaced by that of anger. He sprinted, running toward the city, nude.

He stopped before a house; the house was built in Victorian style. He tried to open the house but it was locked. With a single kick, the door was blown. He entered the house; his nostrils were hit with the familiar flowery scent, and there was also another scent of soil.

He moved past the drawing-room and entered a room that had an excess of flowery scent. He looked in the room, in the hope to find the owner of the scent but she was nowhere to be seen. Anger came back, turned into rage. His right hand made a fist that landed on the wall of the room.

Debris and chunks of the wall were strewn in the opposite direction. The entire house shook with the impact; gradually the entire wall impacted with his fist came down.

He wasn't done yet; another fist landed on another wall with the same loud THUD; that wall also came down.

The anger was still there, but suddenly his nostrils were hit with a scent of a stranger. He rushed toward the forest while following the scent of an intruder who was roaming in his territory.