Crissa's Mate

Chapter Sixteen

The Professor, recognizing the group's anger and dismay at what had befallen their friends and colleagues, spoke emphatically.

"I want you all to just go back to your rooms while the power is still off and wait-out the night. It's certainly not safe outside. From what Horst has told you . . . and he knows with great experience, the three of them will be alright. They'll return to us after several days. This coincides with our plans to fly back to the States and Canada."

No one said anything of the glaring questions which remained about that return, and the consequential condition of their associates."

Brad was the first to move or speak.

"Come on, Crissa. There's nothing more to learn here. We must all recover from the shock of this."

He defiantly stood in front of the professor and took her by the hand, leading her with his flashlight up the dark stairway to the rooms. Once they were back inside Crissa's room, he shut the door and locked it.

"I know you're super upset by all this, Crissa," he said quietly. "I am too. It's all like some bad dream we just can't wake from. But as I told you, I'll do what I can to protect us."

Crissa had thrown herself onto her bed. She curled up into a fetal position, but still looked at her companion in the glow of his flashlight.

"Thanx, Brad," she said, barely audibly. "I just never knew this trip would become such a horror. For all of us."

"Try to relax now. Morning is near in an hour or two. You'll feel better when you see sunlight."

Crissa just nodded her head while she watched him lay back on Julie's bed. He then switched off his flashlight, bringing total darkness to the small room.

For a long time, it was quiet, while neither Brad nor Crissa slept. But it was a chilling moment when the faint cry of wolves could be heard approaching the hotel. Both listened in their beds as the sound became more distinct and near. When the howling was perceived to be right outside the walls down stairs, Brad turned on his light again and stood up.

"Brad? What are you doing?"

"Go back to sleep, Crissa. I'm going up on the roof. To see what's happening out there."

"How could I sleep on this night, Brad? They're out there now.

"I know. I just want to see. They seem to be few only."

He checked his knife strapped to his leg, and directed his flashlight toward the door.

"Brad . . . Don't leave me. I'm going with you . . ."

"Well come on then. You know it's safe up there."

The two unlocked the door and headed down the hall to the stairs leading to the roof exit. When they climbed the steep steps, they could hear the howling of several wolves below much louder. Soon Brad opened the small door and they stepped out into the rooftop in the bright moonlight. The ambiance of a full moon illuminated the entire village below, the clouds and mountains in the distance.

Stepping carefully to the edge and looking down, the two witnessed the presence of three robust gray wolves near the walls of the lodge. They appeared to be two large males and a female. One by one they put their heads back and noses to the sky. They howled simultaneously bringing a numbing chill the Crissa, causing her skin to crawl.

As the two stood closer and looked down, the three wolves appeared to have spotted them above. There was an eerie moment when wolves and humans stared at each other in complete silence. The wolves then changed their howl to a short series of barks, as if attempting some alteration of communication.

Brad and Crissa were mesmerized by this surprising acknowledgement of their presence. They waited, unmoving and silent for what would happen next.

Following the barking, one of the males, together with the female, left their position. They turned, trotted and then ran, back toward the forest. This left the one lone male still sitting up and staring at them silently. An incredibly eerie feeling came over Brad and Crissa simultaneously. For they each priavately perceived the three wolves may have included the transformed Julie, David and perhaps another male from the village—all undoubtedly attempting to make contact with their human counterparts.

To Crissa, while staring down at the lone male—still making uncanny and direct eye contact with her, she felt dizzied by the realization that she could be looking directly at David in his transformed entity as a varkolak.

"Oh my God," Crissa whispered. It's him, Brad. . . It's David!"

Brad was frozen and said nothing. He just stared back, in disbelief.

Suddenly, Crissa could not stay silent any longer. Her emotional connection to David, still strong and hopeful, came out of her boldly and instinctively. The sheer patience and attention of the wolf below spoke a universe to her in its silence and staring. It spoke of who, and what he now was.

"David . . . David we are waiting for you!" She called out. To come back to us!" 

At that moment, the large wolf, appearing strong and agile, stood back on all four feet and turned toward the mountains. Brad and Crissa watched as it leaped into the air and hit the ground in a full burst of energy. Running at full speed back to its newly formed comrades.

"My God . . . It was him!" she said excitedly, hugging Brad in a flurry of emotion. "Couldn't you tell it was both of them? Julie too? To give us some assurance they are alive and well?"

"Yes, Crissa. As crazy as it sounds . . . I felt the same. If Horst hadn't told us of their condition after the attack . . . this curse. . . I wouldn't be saying so. Jesus! Have we all lost or goddamned minds here?"

"He looked right at me, Brad!  He told me in his own way.  In his . . . animal way.  What he feels for me . . . God, Brad . . . I could sense it!   I feel so . . ."

"Loved?   Save all that, Crissa. We have to see David return as the David I know. And I'm not leaving this god-forsaken place until that happens, OK?"

She remained silent yet hopeful--just as Lara was seen again in the flesh and human. That David and Julie would soon return to them in this way, buoyed back up Crissa's assaulted and dampened spirits.

The two descended the stairway, and quietly returned to Crissa's room. For now, neither wished to tell the others of their most phenomenal encounter.

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