C4 Chapter 4

“Nick…”, Lilith started, trying to get his hand off hers.

“Wait, I need to talk to you”.

“What about? There’s nothing for us to talk about”.

“I want you to stop avoiding me, Lil. I know you’re uncomfortable because of what I said two weeks ago but I’m not going to force you to be with me if you don’t want to. My feelings may not be welcome but that’s what they are, my feelings. I don’t want us to grow apart because of something so trivial. I want us to still remain friends. Would that be fine with you?”.

Lilith looked down at their connected hands and smiled. “Sure. I was afraid you didn’t want to be friends anymore. Plus, I was ashamed after I ran away like such an idiot”.

Nick grinned, “I thought it was cute actually”.

Lilith rolled her eyes, “Please don’t lie to me”.

Nick smiled again. “Casey told me you two were looking for someone to occupy your empty room?”.

“Yeah, it’s been empty since Selena transferred. You’re the Vice Student Body President. Can’t you find out if there’s someone that’s looking for a dorm room”.

Selena Castillo was their third roommate who had transferred back to the college in her state after her father and brother died in a car crash. Lilith had seen the tragedy beforehand but she was too reluctant to tell her because she was sure she wouldn’t be believed and she wasn’t even sure if her vision was right or accurate. But it was and Selena’s family had passed away without so much as an attempt to help on her part. She felt very miserable afterwards especially when she found out that Selena had dropped out of school completely at the beginning of their sophomore year to take care of her bereaved mother.

“I’m sure there’s someone, you just have to ask around. Posting only on the online school board isn’t going to cut it. Right, I heard there’s a party at Liam Morris’ apartment. Are you coming?”.

“A party? I wouldn’t be caught dead at one of those. I would just feel depressed and uncomfortable all through. But I heard Casey talk about it so I think she’s probably going to attend”.

Before Nick could complain, Casey came bouncing towards them. “We should get to class soon. It’ll be starting in about twenty minutes”.

Lilith nodded and waved bye to Nick as Casey linked their hands. They’d only walked a few steps away from him when Casey asked,” Did he confess to you again? Did you say yes this time? You’d better have said yes”.

“He told me to forget about it and we should just remain friends, which I s exactly what I want”.

“That’s a shame”.

“Oh, please”.

***######***

Mikhail transformed into a huge black wolf and let out a loud howl as he and the members of the pack ran deep into the woods to attack the troublemaking rogue werewolves that had severely injured some young wolves who had gone out to hunt. The air was filled with the sounds of howling and tearing of flesh as the thick scent of blood filled the air. Some werewolves transformed back into their human form to use their abilities and soon the woods that was filled with healthy, growing forestry was soon in disarray.

Mikhail could feel himself weakening and he knew that very soon, his abilities would halt and so he fought even harder so it would end before his abilities would become useless. He saw his half brother rush in front of an even bigger wolf and getting slashed deeply in the shoulder, and he winced slightly before running towards them and sending a bolt of lightning in their direction. The wolf narrowly avoided it with the lightning scorching off the fur on his forearm and he pounced in Mikhail’s direction and tried to slash at him with his claws and then a gunshot was heard. The werewolf battling Mikhail dropped to the ground groaning and whimpering and there was a steaming hole in his back. Then they saw a group of humans running towards them heavily armored with guns and heavy machinery and we’re firing at them.

Mikhail whose strength was failing already signaled for the pack members to retreat from the area to avoid being seriously injured or even killed. As they ran back to their meeting point they could hear the resounding noise of gunshots, loud whimpering and the heavy falls of the fleeing wolves who couldn’t escape in time. Mikhail angrily wanted to fling a fireball in the direction of the shooting humans but he was stopped by Kevin, his right hand who yelled at him amidst the roaring of gunshots to focus on getting the pack to safety.

The people shooting were members of a large group of humans whose sole purpose of coming together were to hunt and kill wolves and they took advantage of the loud fights between werewolves to murder as many as they could possibly could.

“What the hell was that?”, Mikhail shouted, when they had gotten to a safe place and all those who went with them were being accounted for.

“I wouldn’t know. It seemed like they were aware of the infighting and not just passing by or they wouldn’t have so much ammunition on them”, Kevin said, breathing heavily as another member of the pack came to report to him. “And we’re all accounted for with no serious injuries except your brother who’s sporting an injured shoulder”.

Mikhail groaned painfully as a sharp pain coursed through his head and he staggered slightly.

His brother turned to him, “Are you okay? You don’t look so good. Were you hit?”, He asked reaching for Mikhail.

Mikhail shrugged his hand off, “I’m good, don’t worry about me. It seems that group of rogues were killed off by the hunters and if they keep moving, it won’t be long until they find us”.

Kevin furrowed his brows in concern. He knew quite well that Mikhail was changing the topic and there was something wrong with him but he also knew that he didn’t get along with his step-brother so he didn’t expose or question him. “Let’s get out of here and head back to the alpha’s residence to regroup and get medical assistance”.

The group chorused affirmative and then turned back into werewolves and raced out of the woods. When they got back to Mikhail’s luxurious town house, He rushed back into his room to see if swallowing a bunch of painkillers would help while he waited for his powers to resume function. Kevin warned the others to not disturb them and arranged for two trusted persons to guard the door to prevent eavesdroppers from prying into their conversations and hurried after Mikhail.

He pushed the door open just as Mikhail was downing a handful of painkillers. He ran towards him and grabbing his hand, he told him, “You do realize that we die from drug overdose, right?”.

Mikhail grunted and sat back down on the comfortable, leather upholstered chair with a loud sigh.

“Are you affected by the bug too? You’ve been displaying familiar symptoms. We’ve been friends for almost twenty years, I should know if you’re unwell”.

“So what if I am? I can’t exactly announce it to the pack. What do you think would happen if they found out?”.

“Mikhail, you’re the strongest member of the pack right now and from what we’ve gathered, the stronger the wolf is, the worse the symptoms. I think you need to be admitted and quarantined so you can be helped”.

“I can’t do that…If it is found out that I’m affected by the Ability Halt I won’t be able to continue leading the pack and I can’t do that because my…”,Mikhail stopped when he heard the door creak slightly.

They exchanged a glance and Kevin asked, “Who is it?”.

“Oh, I was wondering where you two were. Dr. Higgins called and he seemed to have important news to share”, Nick told them as he entered the room with a nice smile. “Don’t worry, I didn’t hear anything”.