Crissa's Mate

Chapter Fifteen

"Please . . . go on," Brad asked him, hoarsely, more calmly.

"Well, the life we have here with the wolves is . . . an ancient one. I and your professor both know this. The curse had not returned to people of the forests for many generations. Some say two hundred years or more. But now, here in my part of the world it has returned. You see? It's alive again."

Crissa gripped Brad's arm in a panic at hearing these words. Knowing that she was about to learn of her worst fears was overwhelming.

"My own lovely daughter is a victim," Horst said starkly and with tears in his eyes. "As are others in the village. She is our Lara most days of each month. And then . . . for four or five nights around the full moon, she leaves us. To be with . . . them."

Crissa could feel her heart beating harder.

"Both the wolves . . . and . . . the others. They are known in former times as the varkolak. They were called this generations ago in the villages of Romania, Hungary and Poland. Many believed that they were only legends . . . but, well you see. And now they have come to these forests at the edge of my country."

The name varkolak, interpreted to mean "werewolves" or "lycans," was not familiar to the four researchers. Though the nighmarish myths were renown, it was a name none of them had ever heard before.

"Most here want to kill the wolves now," Horst continued, sadly. "But others, like me, Jannick, Helga and many of our neighbors, have loved ones out there. With them in their packs each month. We cannot wish harm upon them."

"God! Amazing . . ." Josh expressed under his breath.

"We feel a great loss for them . . . but also . . . love and sympathy. And still great fear." 

Crissa nodded at this word. Horst was looking down at the floor now, in his own thoughts.

"We are afraid," he continued. "But must still support them. You see, the varkolak are beasts. Wolves by nature. But they also have inside them . . . a man or a woman."

The group remained silent. It was as if they all were sharing the same nightmare.

At that point, there came a loud knock on the front door of the lobby. It caused everyone to jump.

"Open. It's me. Dekker!"

Horst got up and quickly moved to the door. He unlocked and opened it slightly, looking out into the bright night cautiously. Satisfied there was no additional threat, he opened the door and let the professor in, still gripping his rifle in one hand.

"I was able to follow them in the moonlight . . . as they moved along the paths. Back to the dens," he said excitedly and out of breath. "One large male turned and charged at me . . . but I didn't shoot. I wasn't sure if it might not be . . ."

He stopped and looked at the group sitting calmly. It was obvious some meeting of importance had taken place in his absence. Some revelations of the truth by Horst.

"Well, I wasn't sure if it were a wolf or . . . I'm sure you've briefed them all by now . . . about this. Right Horst?"

"Yes," the tortured man said, somewhat defeatedly. "I have told them of the varkolak  here. And their ties to the moon."

"Well then," the professor nodded. "I guess you all can understand my reluctance to shoot."

"Damn right!"  Brad shouted out uncontrollably. "From what we just learned, it could have been Julie or Dave!"

"Precisely, young man," the professor said condescendingly. He then set the rifle against the wall and moved closer to the group.

"As you all have witnessed, and dramatically here tonight . . . we are now studying one of the world's rarest and least understood transmutational phenomena."

"Well that's all great and wonderful professor," Brad continued. "But I'd like to see my friends again sometime soon . . . so we can get on a goddamned plane and leave this hellish place!"

The professor just smiled to himself, showing once again his cavalier attitudes about science over ethics. 

"And just what am I going to tell David's mother . . .  when we get back to Alaska, Professor? That she should stock up on whole goats for him to eat once a month?"

The professor now carefully withheld his amusement at Brad's gallows humor. He instead seemed strangely energized by what had shockingly transpired that night.

"Professor . . . Brad's . . . and all of our concerns are real," Josh weighed in. "Assuming what Horst has told us is indeed true. If this . . . physical  anomaly is  the state of affairs here . . . and Julie and David can find their way back to us . . . How are we going to explain this transmutation? Or deal with it in any rational way when we return?"

"Don't any of you realize the significance of all this?" The professor seemed perplexed at their outrage. "The contributions to knowledge these two researches will provided to the world?"

"Jesus Professor!  This is a goddamned emergency!"  Brad continued. " Don't you see that? Two university students have been horrifically abducted . . . possibly even devoured  by wild wolves. That  is the story here! We must bring in the authorities . . . to search for them. Tonight!"

"No," Horst intervened sternly. "Just like Lara, . . .when she was bitten near the river. She had a feverish night. Then, when the moon became full its second night, she left us. As she does still each month."

A now familiar chill ran up Crissa's back.

"But she always returns," he added, looking nce more at the door. "She lives in both worlds now. Just as your friends will. It is sadly the way of this legend. The way of the varkolak."

Again, there was a deep silence in the large room. So quiet was it that somewhere, off in the distant forest, the faint howling of wolves could be heard---celebrating their nightly communion with the elements.

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