The Cold Forest Ch. 05

With that, the woman placed the necklace in his hand.

"I don't know where you got your hand on that Mara demon or how you bound her to you, but I will warn you against doing anything like that in the future."

She waved her hand and the basement door was open the immobile Tanha levitated out of there. She stopped just few feet away from them.

"Since you are bound to him, you must have known what it would mean if anything happens to him. So, it would be wise if you protect him."

With that the woman again waved her hand and the bindings around Tanha's body left her.

The ringing of his phone broke his chain of thought; he picked up the phone, unlocked it, and tapped on the notification. It was a message from his friend Henry, which read:

'Sorry bro, a bit of change in plan. Will be there tomorrow not today.'

Again, a heavy exhale left his mouth; Henry would be here tomorrow. He was still unsure how was going to explain about his situation, and how he would tell him about Tanha. In fact, Erik wasn't sure whether he should tell him anything at all.

After getting himself dressed, he walked out his bedroom and entered the kitchen. The wall between the drawing room and kitchen was still broken; there was also a huge crater inside his bedroom.

He knew he would need to repair all this damage.

-

A pudgy man wearing a white apron was rushing through the corridors of a huge building. He had a balding head with each side of his head covered with white patches of hair.

He reached a brown wooden door and without wasting time he rushed inside it.

"Sir...Mr. Oblonsky..."

Mr. Oblonsky was going through the files that were on his table and paused to look at the man.

"What is it, Mr. Kosovo?"

"Number 242. His vitals are critical; he is barely alive. I would suggest against the experiment."

"Oh...Karim. Don't worry, Mr. Kosovo, just start the experiment."

"But sir, he is not fit enough for this experiment. Even a healthy human being has not survived it."

Mr. Oblonsky released a hearty laugh at the scientist comment.

"Don't worry, Mr. Kosovo; he has what it takes to survive this experiment."

"But the Reports."

"Mr. Kosovo, as I said, he has what it takes to survive the experiment."

The man dressed in white coat stopped himself from speaking and after thinking for a minute he spoke again.

"Can I ask what that is?"

Again Mr. Oblonsky released a hearty laugh at the scientist's question and spoke:

"A passion for Revenge!"

Chapter 38: An invitation

Since it was early morning Erik choose to walk toward the college instead of taking the old pickup truck.

He started his early walk still lost in thought. The bomb that was dropped upon him was something beyond he had ever imagined.

'Vidar' was the name of the spirit who possessed him. Something which was strange since he had believed all these things that were happening around him might have something to do with him turning into a werewolf or something like that. But if he believed what Heli said, then a curse was placed upon him, which was why a spirit had taken a possession over him.

The curse had twisted a part of his soul which was now being controlled by that spirit.

'Being a werewolf would have been a less of a burden I guess.' But where did I get this curse from?

All his thoughts would come to the same question. What was the origin of the curse? Because in any story, if you are bitten by a werewolf then you turn into a werewolf. But instead of turning into a werewolf, he got this weird curse placed upon him.

He had also noticed the drastic change in Tanha's behaviour toward him.

After getting dressed he had walked inside the kitchen expecting Tanha to be preparing breakfast for him, but she was sitting on the dining table reading a history book. History was his grandfather's favourite subject; in his lifetime, he had collected many books about the subject.

She raised her head and looked at him; if looks could kill, then he would be dead within the moment she looked at him.

The only thing he could see in her eyes was disgust and anger toward him. She had been behaving like this toward him since they came back from the forest. It appeared like she was barely restraining herself from attacking him.

He wanted to ask her, but didn't dare to, the reason for her behaviour. He just walked toward the fridge got some snacks and left the house immediately.

A honk of a car broke his chain of thought, and he looked toward his right side; it was a red sports car. He looked at the driver's seat and Hannah Ruth was seated there. Their eyes met for a moment; her eyes were widened and a variety of emotions flashed on her face.

He proceeded forward, as did she. She drove her car inside the campus, but he could still feel her eyes looking at him.

He followed his routine schedule for the rest of the day, one lecture after another. But whenever he would be sharing a class with her, he would feel her eyes constantly staring at his back.

Once the day was over, he decided to quickly walk out of the class but was stopped by a blond-haired woman.

"Hey, you are Erik, right?"

The girl had pixy cut hair and a small nose on her face. He recognized her as a member of the group that surrounds Hannah. So instead of making any comments he just nodded his head.

"Here."

She handed him a small paper which he took deliberately, he looked inside it there was nothing except an address. At the bottom of the address there was a line:

'Be there at 8:00 tonight.'

He looked up to ask the girl what does it meant but she was already gone.

He threw the paper into dustbin and walked back home. He already had many problems in his life; he didn't have time to play these kind of games.

He spent rest of the day repairing the broken furniture in the living room Tanha was still seating on the dining table reading the history book.

She hadn't talked to him yet and would often send daggers toward him. He kept working on the furniture till evening.

Even after dusk Tanha hadn't moved from where she was seated, so he knew he wouldn't be getting any dinner if he didn't start cooking now.

After placing all the tools inside the garage, he took a quick shower and started cooking. He wasn't sure whether Tanha would eat or not so he prepared for both of them.

Once he brought the dinner to the table he also arranged a plate for her. She again gave him the same look of anger but after a few tense moments she looked down at the food and started to eat.

He did the same and after eating his dinner, he started to clean the kitchen and did the dishes. At that time, his phone started to ring.

He looked at the display; it read 'Private Number'. This triggered hundreds of doubts and questions inside his mind. But after one full ring he answered it.

"Come outside.

That was all the person said and from the voice it appeared to be a woman.

He wasn't sure who could it be but a honking sound triggered an immediate reaction from him.

"Tanha, I am not sure who it is, but you should hide yourself."

Tanha just looked at his face, stared for few moments and started to read the book again.

Again, the same honk was heard.

'Shit!'

He rushed out of the house while cursing inside his mind.

The same red sport car was standing outside his house which he had seen Hannah driving this morning.

He walked closer to the car the window on the driver side the glass came down.

'Damn!'

He could barely hold himself from shouting that word loudly. Hannah was seated behind the wheel. But that wasn't what caused such a strong reaction from him; it was the way she had readied herself.

It was like she had spent rest of the day after college inside a beauty parlour. Her dark hairs were straight behind her back. She had applied eyeliner, dark lipstick and thick layer of makeup.

She was wearing an expensive yet very skimpy party dress.

"What time is it?"

"Huh??"

Instead of saying anything, now she turned her head toward him and looked at his face. Erik ruffled around his clothes but in rush of coming out of house he had forgotten his phone inside his house.

"Past 9, I guess." He spoke while making his best guess.

"And?"

Now he was getting really confused with the way Hannah was behaving.

"And?" He repeated her word.

She took a deep inhale and closed her eyes it was like she was doing her best to control her Anger.

"Look, Hannah I have things to do so I hope you understand."

With that he took few steps back he wasn't sure what that spirit might have done to get him on this presumptuous princess's radar but he didn't want to drag himself along with her.

"Ahhh..."

Hannah released an angry shriek and got out of the car rush toward him with intent to attack him but stopped in midway.

She walked few steps back and pressed her back against her car. She took a few deep breaths and looked at him while controlling her anger.

"Okay, fine come on, finish your thing and then we will go."

Erik wasn't sure what the hell was going on and why this girl was so hell bent on taking him with her. But he wasn't interested in this shit he turned back and started to walk back toward his house.

He heard her high heels clicking behind him; he turned around to find her just two feet behind him and following him. She also stopped and started to look around with a bored expression on her face.

He kept staring at her,

"What? You don't expect me to wait here, right?"

Erik was lost; he couldn't believe the behaviour of this woman. She was literally invading his property.

He turned back and was about to start his walk but a sudden realization stopped him.

'What about Tanha?'

Yes, the demoness was inside his house seating on dining table reading some history book. He turned around,

"What do you want?"

"Come with me."

"Where?"

The expression on her face became that of anger she was barely controlling herself; seconds turned into minute, but there was no reply from her.

"Okay, fine, let's go."

With that he started to walk toward her car.

He set himself in the passenger seat and within few seconds the car was going toward the town.

With next ten minute of silent ride the car stopped at a huge villa. He immediately realized that the place was the same that was mentioned on the small paper that was delivered to him by that pixy blond-haired girl.

The gate opened automatically and she drove the car inside the Villa. Instead of stopping the car at the front she kept driving the car through a small patch of lawn and stopped in the backyard of the Villa.

He could see a beautiful lighting was arranged in the centre of the backyard. There was a small wooden table which had plenty of food arranged on it, with candles illuminating the area. He also noticed some kind of romantic music was playing in the background.

Erik was beyond shock he wasn't sure what to think of all of this. It was like he was on some kind of romantic date.

He turned toward Hannah who opened the door and walked out of her car. Erik wasn't sure what do so he followed the lead.

Hannah walked few steps toward the dinner table, he followed her but she suddenly stopped and turned around both of them were standing face to face.

He was failing to read her facial expressions. The silence was kind of uncomfortable for him so he decided to ask her what was going on but before he could utter a word, he felt a sense of uneasiness.

His instinct started to blare sirens but before he could react he felt someone holding him from behind and throwing him across the backyard. His flight was stopped by the fencing that was surrounding the Villa.

While he wasn't injured, he was beyond shock, he gathered himself up and looked toward Hannah. Who was being hold by a pale skinned man; he had tattoos covering his face.

He had his one hand wrapped around Hannah while his other hand was pressed against her mouth.

It took him few moments to take grasp of the situation; they were under attack and if he had to guess, the attacker was some kind of supernatural being, because of the way all the things had just happened.

If it wasn't for his 'Super Strength' he would have been injured badly. With determination, he rushed toward the attacker.

The man noticed him and with a bored look threw Hannah to the side and made a fist with his right hand and lazily threw a punch to counter Erik's punch, which was already in the air and about to land on the attacker's face.

Both the fists collided with each other, and a blood-curdling scream left the attacker's mouth. His hand was mangled badly, and his body was skyrocketing backward.

Even after witnessing his 'Super Strength' in the past, it was still a surreal experience for him to see a mature male flying like a ball with just a punch from him.

He walked toward Hannah who now had expressions of fear replaced by shock. She looked at Erik and suddenly her eyes widened; Erik noticed the change in her face and turned around only to have his chest being swiped by sharp knives, like extended nails of their attacker.

The attacker's face and clothes had dark blood on it, and the badly-mangled hand was already healing. At the same time, his nails on the other hand were a half-foot long, and as sharp as knives, which he had just used to damage Erik's chest.

The expression on their attacker's face changed immediately; the creepy smile from his face was gone.

He kept looking at Erik's chest which was exposed due to the front side of his shirt being shredded from the attacker's swipe.

Erik also looked down. While his shirt was torn there wasn't even a single drop of blood on his chest; it was the same as before. He also hadn't felt any pain like his chest was being torn apart. The only thing he felt was being scratched by a sharp object!

Before he could react, the man moved quickly and pulled out a glass bottle from his pocket and broke it on Erik's face. While it didn't hurt him, the purple gas that came out of it immediately entered his nostrils.

Erik felt a cold sensation taking over his mind; he felt darkness descending on him. Erik saw the same creepy smile on the man's face while he was looking at shell-shocked Hannah.

That was last thing Erik saw before darkness took over his consciousness.