TEMNNY FOREST.

CHAPTER TWELVE— NIKOLAI POV.

It's been four days now and we were still in Khabarovsk. We were meant to leave two days after Karina offered to join us but she was having a hard time convincing her mother so she could leave. I had seen her within those days and told her I could try convincing her mother and if that doesn't work, compelling her seems to be the next option and she wouldn't remember a thing till we come back from saving humans but no, Karina Agafonov was a stubborn and headstrong woman who didn't want the help of lycans, all she said was she could convince her mother and we should give her enough time.

"Nikolai, what are you doing?" I heard Ivan mindlink to me.

Instantly I responded back and he told me to meet him outside of our house. I stood up from the sofa which I laid on and was about to step out when Abramov's voice stopped me.

"Where are you off to?" He asked as he stared at me with his black obsidian eyes.

I scrunched up my brows in confusion, "Ivan called me out, I thought you were with him?"

He shook his head in declination before telling me to go on ahead. Immediately I turned my back to him, I made a face of annoyance. I was annoyed at the fact that I couldn't move freely around the house anymore or even leave the house without my brother asking where I was going.

I got out of the house and saw my brother standing out in a black cargo pants and a gray top, his features standing out which made him glow under the sun. I wonder why he doesn't have anyone he could call an erasthai. I sighed and then walked closer to him. He noticed me and just nodded his head in regards before walking into the town streets.

I was walking in the streets of Khabarovsk with my brother, Ivan. People stared at us as we walked, I was absolutely sure they were looking at Ivan. He was a special creature and a sight to behold, ladies flocked around us. . . Most especially Ivan who didn't seem bothered by them, it was like he didn't notice them at all.

Ivan and I walked in silence as more people gathered on the streets and whispered to each other. The ladies who had flocked around us had left when there was no response from us. I turned to face Ivan and asked him where we were going but he didn't give a reply but just continued walking.

I looked at the direction we were heading to and it was where the fog portal was to the main Khabarovsk. I was confused as to why we were headed there and wanted to ask Ivan why we were heading towards there but I knew that he wasn't going to reply.

We were both walking towards the fog in silence and he suddenly stopped two meters away from the portal and then he broke the silence, "Do you know why we are here?" He asked.

I shook my head. Ivan sighed softly before entering towards the fog. It didn't take a moment before I followed him, not quite long— I was in the forest named Temnny with my brother.

Asking Ivan once more, "What are we doing here?" I asked him.

Ivan faced me, "Do you know the name of this place?" He asked.

I nodded my head in affirmation, "Yes I do, it's the Temnny Forest."

He nodded his head in response and told me to look around the forest. I did as he asked and Ivan began to speak,

"This forest was where all the Lycans creatures with the humans and witches stayed, it was our home but we had to abandon it and create another place to live for peace and harmony to reign in the land of humans."

I looked to my brother and asked him why he was telling me all this since all what he was saying happened millions of years ago.

He smiled at me and continued walking around the forest. I remembered where I had seen Karina for the first time, her mark was still there and I could vividly remember what was about to occur if I hadn't stopped her.

If she had gone ahead with her plan, I wouldn't have known a stubborn, headstrong woman. If I hadn't left my home that day, she might have been no more.

"Where's your head at this couple of days?" I heard Ivan mindlink to me.

I looked at him and apologized for my absent mindedness and we continued walking in silence. The forest was where the dead bodies of the humans laid after they had been gruesomely murdered by the werewolves. I really wonder why he came in here. We moved towards the ruins of the old town Khabarovsk, it was still the same as when we left it.

Ivan sighed quietly, "Nikolai, it was a dead end. There was no single person who had any idea on what was happening and it's getting more rampant."

I was about to respond then I sensed someone coming. I already knew who it was by her smell and the way she was trying to be discreet about it. I admit she was really good at hiding.

"Now you can come out of your hiding, Karina." I heard Ivan say.

I wasn't shocked when he spoke, all my thoughts were just jumbled up with exactly where she was hiding. I looked around the forest and in between trees, trying to locate her but it was to no avail. Not quite long, I heard her mutter some cruel words before coming out of her hiding spot, sticks and leaves were stuck in her hair and in her clothes which made me burst out into laughter.

She sneered at me, "What are you laughing at?" She asked me, trying to look scary.

Karina's face was actually cold and scary but it didn't move me at all. She stalked towards us like a robot and stopped when she got closer to my brother and I and tried to look persuasive but I could see it all, underneath that hard girl exterior of hers, there was actually a softie hidden within.

"What were you trying to do by sneaking up on us, you thought we wouldn't catch you?"I asked as I looked at her face which was etched with a frown.

She ignored me and looked at my brother, "what do you mean by it's a dead end?" She asked him.

I wasn't shocked that she ignored me, I was hurt at the fact that she did. Karina has been really messing with my head and heart.

My brother replied, telling her the exact same thing he had explained to us before. She seemed deep in thought and then faced Ivan, "The offer you provided the last time I was at your house, is it still available?" She asked.

Ivan's face showed no reaction, it was like a mask that could not be removed. I knew we were still waiting for her to convince her mom and all, if we had not… we could have left since but Ivan said it wouldn't be bad taking her with us, at least she could protect herself. Abramov and Volkov thought of it to be a bad decision but they couldn't argue with Ivan. I chuckled to myself as I remembered when Ivan said we should hold on for Karina, Abramov and Volkov were displeased by the information and it was shown on their faces.

"What are you smiling at?" I heard little miss Karina say to me.

A question popped up in my head and I asked, "why do you despise me… I haven't done anything to cause you harm nor anybody in this town, so why?"

Karina's hard face exterior crumbled, just for a moment before placing her facade back on. She stumbled on her words as she spoke fast, "Stop asking stupid questions and just leave." She replied, stuttering with her words.

I looked around the Temny Forest and saw that Ivan was no longer with me and Karina. I took a step towards her, thinking she would step back but she surprised me, staying rooted on her spot and unwavering.

I asked again why she disliked me because I haven't done anything to make her despise me. I waited for a while, there was no response coming from her mouth.

I bent down closer to her ear as I nibbled on it, my canines piercing on it a bit making her gasp lowly as she tried to push me away, I grasped her hands in mine as I stared down at her, her brows arched up.

"Get away from me." She said, but she wasn't trying to leave me.

I told her I wasn't going to until she answered my question, her face squeezed up as she began to speak. I found her reply very funny and I just shook my head at her. She struggled against me, she was strong but she wasn't a match against a lycan.

My thoughts had been going back to the time when she came to the house for the first time, the tingles I got within me— her smell was of a sweet and nutty scent of vanilla. I breathed it in as I got so close to her, her head on the same level with my chest.

I looked down at her and bent down to her level as I stared into her eyes. I heard her take in a large shaky breath as she stared back at me, "You have such beautiful eyes." I said to her,

My hands unintentionally, on its own accord, caressed her soft skin. Shockingly, Karina still did not move an inch from me… it was as if we were both stuck in time nor could we pull away from each other.

Gravity pulled us closer to each other, my gaze fell to her lips which were soft and inviting and my head dipped down a little. My eyes kept flickering back and forth between her eyes and her lips— I was about to place my lips on hers when I heard footsteps, my brother's.

Not a second later, Karina pushed me aside. I looked at her and saw that her face was red. I looked at the intruder who spoiled my moment and saw Abramov with Antonov, they were both walking towards me.

Bellowing out in annoyance, my brother's head turned towards me, irritation etched on their faces. I looked towards Karina who stared daggers at my brother with her slit eyes. Her mask was back on.

I asked them, "What are you both doing here?"

Antonov shrugged his shoulders in response and pointed his head towards Abramov who was not looking at me, his gaze was on Karina who matched his look back. The one thing Abramov hates is when you stare back at him, it's disrespectful to him as he usually says and with what was happening, I knew something was going to happen if I didn't step in.

Grunting in frustration, I went towards Karina and stood in front of her, facing my brother who gave me a quizzical look. . . Abramov smiled before walking away, but not before telling me to come back to town.

"I will meet you at home in a few minutes." I said to him, Abramov paused and turned back with a questioning look, he was pretty much asking for me to follow him now but I couldn't do that. . . I had to speak with Karina about— I just have to speak with her.

I turned to face back and there were only leaves on the floor, Karina was no longer standing at my back. I heard my brother grumble in excitement.

"She left a while ago so you should also be on your way. . . In Fact, let's both go together." Irritation coursed through my body as I, Abramov, and Antonov walked home together.

I was about to step into the fog when Abramov stopped me, "I can see what's happening, Nikolai." He said to me.

I didn't respond back to him since I was utterly confused with what he was saying so I just stayed beside him waiting for him to say something , Antonov nowhere to be seen.

"A shadow, a myth, it's purpose;

Deceit.

One, unfeeling, unreal the other, a pawn to their bidding.

An end is all that is to come, of what one thinks he feels for one.

Pain so real and wounds unforeseen;

Frail and sick with no disease;

For it is a shadow, a myth;

The love you seek."

My brows scrunched up in confusion, Abramov words were difficult to understand but I didn't bother asking him to explain what he said. Abramov sighed deeply before going into the fog and I did the same also.

****

UNKNOWN PERSON POV.

A witch, barely fourteen years old, stood in the forest, watching, staring at the smoldering ruins of what used to be her home. She had watched as her parents were dragged inside and locked, and burned, had watched as the same brutality had happened to all the others, all her friends, her home, all her life.

"Humans, lycans and werewolves."

The word tasted as vile on her tongue as the creatures themselves, her hatred for them growing with each passing moment, each death.

“Make them pay for what they did, make them pay for killing my loved ones, my family and friend's… I'm going to kill them all. . ."

The thought kept ringing in her head, her being overwhelming her, defining her, “They'll pay with their blood and tears as they watch their loved one perish before they do."

The angry little witch sliced her palm, blood spilling out— and made a mark on one of the trees in the Temny Forest. Her last words,

"I'm coming back for you all here and when I do, no one will be left alive." She said before vanishing into the dark thin air, rage saturating the air in her wake.