Chapter 43: Chapter 43

REBIRTH

Kitee, North Karelia, Finland

Nostori stared at the dungeon wall. He was chained against a wall. His arms were raised above him. He was bare was the waist up. There were a dozen or so other men in this situation.

He banged his head against the wall. Last night the Cult had taken away all of his belongings that he had with him. He wasn't worried about anything expect for one: his wand. He'd kill to have it back.

Nostori watched as four Cult members push in a man and put him back up against the wall. He knew what was coming next. The Cult walked over to him and unchained him.

He landed on the floor with a crash. One of the Cult members kicked him in the stomach. It hurt and he cursed.

"On your feet, boy," the Cult member commended.

Nostori wanted to say something but he didn't dare. He got on his feet, allowed them to put him in chains, and shove him out the room.

He was shoved in front on a tub on water. Konsta walked over into the room and stood behind Nostori. Both of them stared at each other.

A middle aged Cult member stood in front Nostori. "Now, all you have to do is answer our questions and you won't get hurt. Failure to do so, you will get hurt. Understand?"

Nostori didn't move. He really didn't want to do this.

"Name?" the Cult member demanded.

Before Nostori could answer, he was under water.

Two hours later Nostori was back against the wall. He couldn't catch his breath. Water filled his lungs. It took all he had in him to cough it up. However, he had somehow kept his mouth shut and didn't tell the Cult of Ajatar everything. But he had paid dearly for it.

At least he didn't tell them about Arctica.

!

Aku stared off into the early morning sun. Aatu had gone out in search of food, but Aku knew that he really had gone off to find out how bad the damage was. The wolves below were already starting their early morning routine. Elis had already yelled at three people, but there were also voice that Aku did not recognize. Had the Pack really changed all that much?

They all seemed to be talking about something though. They seemed to be trying and actually saving wolves from the witches and wizards. Apparently, a lot of the local wolves were fleeing to Russia, only to be ambushed at the border. The whole thing was actually surprising to Aku. Had he really been out of the loop for that long?

He really was kind of tempted to test Aatu's magic and go downstairs. If they really couldn't see him, what would the harm be? If they did see him, they would probably kill him on sight. He wasn't sure if they would blame him for Annabel's death, but he was pretty sure they would not be overly pleased.

Someone was laughing outside the door. It sounded like a woman and there was a male talking. Aku held his breath. They weren't going to come in, were they?

The doorknob was rattling. Great, just great…They sounded like a couple and he did not want to have to watch what they were going to do. There had to be a way to get them out of here.

Aku's eyes darted around the room. There was actually a lot of thing that he could use, but they would probably all cause a lot of harm to either the wolves or the house. He was not to hurt the house. The house had been nice to him.

"Elis!"

Aku held his breath as Markus's voice rang out from somewhere deep within the house.

The laughing outside the door stopped. Aku could have sworn that he heard the female sigh.

Footsteps grew heavier outside the door.

"We've got a situation, possibly another battle near the border. A Pack has turned on the witches and wizards and the human cops have been alerted," Markus said.

Eelis sighed. Aku could almost picture him running his hand over his rough face. "We're never make it time."

"I know," Markus muttered. "If only the human police wasn't going to get involved. There's this officer, a Deven Aro, who has been snooping around. If anyone is going to get close to us, it's going to be him. He's in charge of the homicide unit."

"Homicide unit?" the female asked.

"There's been a few humans turn up dead, no reasoning behind their deaths, no marks on their bodies," Markus went on. "They're trying to keep it undercover. I only know about it because I overheard two of the Hunters talking about it."

"They didn't see you, did they?" Eelis asked, his voice hard.

"No, I wouldn't be standing now if they had, would I?"

"I don't like this," the female whispered. "I thought everything was going to be better."

"It's going to be okay, Ovikki," Eelis said, his voice surprising gentle. Huh, Aku didn't know he could actually have a heart.

"No, it's not," Ovikki snapped. "Humans are dying and now this man is involved. They are going to find us and when they do, they are going to kill us."

Silence followed her words.

"See, you don't even try and deny it."

Aku blinked. He really hoped she wasn't right. It would just be downright cruel for all of this to happen now. He really believed with Aatu's return that everything was going to be okay, everything was going to fall into place and this would all be over within a matter of hours. Aatu was supposed to be the fixer and it really didn't seem like one person alone could fix anything.

"We'd better go and figure out a plan," Eelis muttered. "If Deven Aro comes snooping around, we need to make sure he doesn't find anything."

"What about the wolves?" Markus asked.

"We can't save them all," Eelis said, his words low. He sounded so defeated. "We'd never make it anyway."

Aku couldn't believe that they were actually giving up on saving lives! It was just so unthinkable to him, but he supposed that Eelis did have a point. There was no way they would reach the Russian border in time.

Aku tried to think if he had heard of any humans being killed. There was always a murder that made the news every once in awhile, but it was always so far away from here. He hadn't heard anything, but that could also mean it was being kept under wraps.

"We had better go wake the others up and tell them what's going on," Markus said, breaking the silence. "We're going to have to come up with some kind of a plan."

"I heard that more and more wolves are talking about running," Ovikki said as their footsteps turned away from the door. "A lot of them are from right here. I've been telling them about all the risks, but they seem to think it's safer."

Aku wished her could hear what the others were saying, but they were too far away. He mentally cursed his weak human ears. Something was also telling him that now was not the time to test Aatu's powers.

Humans were dying…Humans were being killed…It had to be magic if they police couldn't figure it out, but then, they were always messing things up. His one and only run in with them had not ended well.

Humans were dying…Now, there was something that could not be kept under wraps for long.

"What are you doing?"

Aku's head jerked up as Aatu walked back in, carrying two bags. "Are you trying to kill the floor?"

"No, I was just thinking about the humans who are being killed."

Aatu slowly lowered the bags onto the floor. "Oh."

Aku felt his eyes narrow. "Are you telling me you knew about this and didn't tell me?"

"Well, you are the one who doesn't remember what they were doing," Aatu pointed out as he opened a sandwich. "I thought it would be best if you didn't know."

Aku came closer to Aatu. "Are you saying that you think I did this?"

Aatu looked down at Aku with big, unblinking eyes. "No, I don't, at least not anymore. I saw one of the bodies and there was no way that you could have done it. Don't look at me like that. I had to look at you, simply because you have a blank space in our mind."

"You could have warned me."

"And if you did do it, it would given you a chance to hide the evidence."

Aku took a sandwich. "What about the boy?"

Aatu looked lazily over at Aku. "What about him?"

"Did you find him?"

"So, now there was a boy for sure?" Aatu paused. "It seems like you are starting to remember more. Maybe you'll be able to give me more details soon."

"Or I could just go out and help you track him down," Aku offered. However, the look that Aatu gave him told him that was not in the cards.

"It's just not safe for you to go out. You've probably Bitten someone and I just can't risk you doing it again."

Aku sighed. Maybe he wouldn't tell Aatu about the wolves at the border. Aatu seemed to enjoy withholding information from Aku, so why couldn't it work the other way as well? No, not telling Aatu would be bad. Aatu was a true Alpha, a leader, one that others would actually listen to.

"Aatu-"

A scream cut Aku off. The scream didn't sound human or animal. The scream quickly turned to a moan, like that out of a zombie movie. Every little hair on Aku's body stood up as they rushed over to the window. Whatever that thing was, it had to be close.

There, out near the forest it stood. Aku could not make out what it was. It was standing on two feet, just staring into the woods. Its long hair blew out behind it, a dark cape behind an otherwise grey body.

"What the hell?" Aku muttered as it disappeared into the forest.