Chapter 37: Chapter 37

The witch's domain is like a maze. Tall hedges keep blocking my path, making it difficult to remember where I’ve been. Now, I’m starting to wonder if rushing off and leaving Doctor Kusher behind isn’t such a good idea.

“Lady Gabriella,” speaking of the witch doctor, is incomparable. The doctor rushes to me. His glasses almost fall from his nose as he runs. He sighs and leans forward. His hands support his body as he rests them on his knees. “Good. I finally caught up to you.” He says this before fixing his posture. “Let’s go, lady.”

“Wait. Stop.” I planted my heels on the ground to stop him from taking me away. “The wolf.”

“We’ll protect you from it and I’ll call Lord Tyrelle back.” He assures me.

“You don’t understand. I need to go and see the wolf.” Insist.

Doctor Kusher pauses to stare at me like I must have lost my head. He studies my eyes. “Do you know that wolf?”

“I-I have a feeling that I do.” A feeling. It’s the only thing that I have to say. But is it really the truth or is it just because I am hoping that it’s him? Either way, I am not sure if it is enough to convince Doctor Kusher to let me see the wolf.

“Let’s go.” He says, which comes as a shock to me. I wanted to ask him why, but I bit my tongue to keep myself from speaking. I don’t want to give him a reason to change his mind.

I follow the witch doctor through a series of paths that I hadn’t noticed before when I first came here. “You went past the salt boundaries, which prevents one from the enchantment of the garden." Doctor Kusher explains like he's rin my head.” Doctor Kusher explains like he heads my mind. “This was once the domain of some of the most powerful witches who used to live here. He despises the wolves before and casts a spell to make anyone who ventures to lose their way. As you can see, the magic is still here and still so strong that we have to put up a salt barrier.”

“If this place still has a spell, then why do your people still live here?” I can’t help but ask as I continue to follow him, no longer bothering to memorize the path taken.

“We live in a village of wolves. And although there’s been a mutual agreement of peace, some of the witches want a more secure domain for us to incase they try to cross our family.”

“So it’s like added security?”

“Yes,” Doctor Kusher agrees with a nod as we finally come to a stop in front of an old wooden shed. There is moss forming on the corrugated and rusted roof.

“This seems like a place for food storage. Please don’t tell me that you store your food here.” I eye the rusted roof in disgust.

The doctor chuckles. “Don’t worry. We do not. Instead, we use this to keep our supplies.”

“Supplies of what?” I ask, but instead of answering my question, he simply smiles and opens the door. A ferocious growl comes from inside, and Doctor Kusher automatically stands before me to hide me from the wolf.

I peer over his shoulder to look at the wolf. The girls were right. The wolf is massive. It’s even bigger than Tyrelle's, even as it lays there on the ground. Its fur is as black as a raven’s and it addresses us with unwelcoming eyes that mirror pain at the same time.

Its eyes. They’re the same mesmerizing color as Al’s. And when our gazes met, the wolf stopped growling, and it only seemed to keep its focus on me in recognition.

My heart raced. I don’t know whether it is in relief or joy, I can’t tell. My main focus at the moment is the wolf before me.

“Al,” I whisper the name as I see the wolf’s ears flutter in recognition. “Al,” I repeated, coming out of the protection of Doctor Kusher. “It’s you, right?”

“My lady.” Doctor Kusher tries to stop me, but I hold up a hand to stop him as I continue to carefully approach the wolf.

As I approach, Aelfric, in his wolf form, continues to stare at me. I reached out a hand to him, not afraid that he would bite it off. Al closes the distance and rubs his head on my outstretched hand once my hand is a little too close. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until I shrank to the ground next to Al.

“So this is where you were all this time.”I tried to joke, which earned a playful glint in Aelfric's eyes. But the gesture made him wince. “Al? Al, what’s wrong with you?” I caught his head just as it fell to the ground, and I laid it there gently as it was heavy. I turn to Doctor Kusher and notice that he’s carefully moving closer. “What’s wrong with him?”

I moved aside as I let Doctor Kusher take a closer look at Al. Al didn’t seem thrilled about the idea and kept making warning growls at the doctor. But after resting my hand on the side of his face, he seemed to relax. “His wounds got an infection.” There’s a cloud of sympathy and curiosity when the doctor looks at Al’s face. “This is quite troubling. I had never seen a werewolf get one before.”

“And why is that?” I was thinking along the lines that Aelfric might be poisoned for him to end up this way.

“Werewolves rarely need a witch’s assistant when it comes to external injuries because their genes allow them to heal fast. Have you not wondered why Lord Tyrelle barely suffers any injuries despite recent attacks?” I’m rendered speechless because I know that what he is saying is the truth. “His situation is rather odd.”

I glance at Al before returning my gaze to him. “But can you help him?”

Doctor Kusher sits back. “The hybrid is considered an enemy to the pack, especially with the recent events in the hospital. But if you personally command me to help, then I have no choice but to comply.” The way that he said it made me suspicious, so I decided to ask him.

“There’s another ‘but’, isn’t there?”

He nods. “Yes, considering that he is a half-vampire, some of the ingredients in the medicine might only make things worse for him. And I can’t exclude those as well, because they are necessary for the medicine to work.”

Worry sweeps my face as I turn to see Al breathing heavily as he sleeps. The slight twitching of his eyes and front paw gives away that he is in pain. “Can’t you do something?” I ask the doctor once more. “Maybe you can make a new one.”

“Making one is complicated. It needs research and blood testing. But there is another way if you wish to help him.” When Doctor Kusher regarded me with his eyes, I immediately knew what he expected of me to do.

“You want me to use my magic, right?”

“Only if you wish to help him. I will guide you through the process.” He assured me, as if he could read the jittery nerves coursing all over my body.

I turn to Al as if I were seeing him for the first time. I know that there were occasions when I used to wish that Al was gone from my life, which is why I am beginning to question myself when my heart decided for me. Nonetheless, I've decided that I'll think about it in the future.

“Yes,” I say to doctor Kusher, my eyes as sure as my determination to save the hybrid. “Please, teach me.”

The doctor gives me a nod before looking down at Al. “The magic that you have is all about your emotions. If you do not have the heart to help him, then it won’t work. You have to be sure that you do. So I ask you again, are you certain that you wish to help him?” I give him a firm nod as my answer. “Very well.” He says and gestures for me to come closer. When I arrived at his side, he gestures for me to press my hand on Al’s body.

As I did, a soft whimper came from him, which made me draw my hand back.

“Keep it firm. You cannot heal him if you withdraw.”

“But it hurts him.”

“It will just be temporary.” He assures me, which convinces me to try again. I placed my hand over the infected wound. The sickly blackened tissue on the infected area is nauseating to the touch, but I ignore it. “Now, I want you to picture in your head how you want to remove the infection.”

“Remove the infection?” I give him a confused look. “How am I going to do that?”

“It’s up to you. The more important thing is how your magic is going to take shape to heal him. You can imagine operating him on the spot with your mind.”

I wince at his suggestion. “You say my magic is going to take shape based on my imagination. Does that mean that I should picture anything as long as the method coincides with the purpose?”

The doctor blinks and then smiles. “My lady, you have a natural understanding to the arts. And yes, that is exactly right.”

I ignore the small ounce of pride that I feel when I hear the compliment and focus on Al instead.

What was it about the stories that my father used to tell? About how the old doctors used to cut or burn flesh to treat the infection? Burn.

I picture a fire at the back of my mind. A fire that only eats bacteria and rotting flesh. My hand starts to burn as the image in my head grows stronger until it actually appears in real life. Fire emerges from my hand, but even as my hand rests inside of the fire, it does not burn me or Al. My panic dies down when I realize that.

“Using fire to remove the infection. That’s a very clever move.” The doctor comments when the fire finishes its job and dies down.

“Now what?” I turn to him.

“Normally, you can leave it at that since the wound on werewolves is supposed to heal at this time. But with him, I guess that you can drive it further and close the wound for him. Do the same thing, but this time, create an image in your mind of how the wound is supposed to close.”

I breathed out. The back of my head is throbbing for some reason. Maybe it is because of the continuous use of my imagination and bringing it to life, or maybe it is somehow related to my magic. I can’t say for certain. But I need to imagine him closing his wounds before the pain clouds the image in my brain.

I imagine the tissue in the wounds forming together. Binding and stopping the bleeding before closing it fully with the skin and fur. When the image begins to take form in real life, I can feel it getting sucked out of my head to manifest the healing on Al’s belly. I feel Al flinching under my touch as magic does its job to heal him.

I grit and hold my breath long enough until the wound closes before I collapse face-first onto Al’s soft black fur.

“Lady Gabriella!” doctor Kusher called out, but the pain in my head was too intense for me to stay conscious for long. Without meaning to, I dozed off.