5. Pohjoisen Taivaan Alla. (Beneath Northern Sky.)
The Montana summer is warm but short. The forest was full of life, birdsong, and different smells, but Nicholas and Elias barely noticed as they drove along the road, which was not in terribly good shape due to the recent rains.
They had a rental car, and the road was bumpy and muddy. They had to drive slowly as the road was also winding, narrow, and frankly challenging to drive up the mountainside. The village of Marrok, the settlement, was on top of the mountain, or it wasn't an official mountain, but either way, they were driving along a narrow forest path with more ups than downs.
They didn't know the road well enough to know if there was an easier route to get there, but eventually, they arrived at the village of Marrok. On the way, there had been quite a bit of cursing, at times, from both of them as the road had been challenging to drive on. Elias wondered what condition the car would be in if they would have to pay for it, and Nick chuckled. He could buy this car then. He had the money, but Elias was always so polite sometimes.
They were now driving along a paved road, a wider road, and there were several houses, even some kind of small shop, a bar, and some other shops, but they didn't know Marrok's name other than he was called Marrok, some sort of title it was. So now they would have to start looking for this mysterious werewolf.
"Okay, now we just have to find out where Marrok lives and what he looks like," Nicholas said irritably.
There was no palace or grand building in the village, nothing that glowed because it was home to a leader, a boss. Nick and Elias, well, their house was splendid, and there was no doubt they were powerful beings. Sometimes, they just wanted to show off their power, and owning a big, showy building was an excellent way to do it. But the Marrok didn't seem to be the same.
The vampires parked the car and started walking. This seemed to be the center of this settlement, some kind of square or meeting place.
"Let's ask that guy," Elias said, pointing to a young blond-haired boy leaning against the wall with a bored look on his face.
The boy was tall, surfer-looking, leaning against the wall as if waiting for someone. He was a cross between Chris Brown, the vet, Heath Ledger, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Elias approached the boy and asked, "Excuse me, do you know where Marrok is?" Elias asked.
The boy raised one eyebrow questioningly and looked at the vampire from head to toe with almost contempt. His gaze was filled with contempt, as if vampires were something he would not tolerate, and somehow, the boy's expression told him he saw vampires as beasts with no self-control whatsoever. Beasts that could be killed, and Elias wished Marrok would be a little more tolerant than this guy.
"What do you want with Marrok?" The boy replied lazily.
His voice was calm, but something in the boy told him that this was much more than he was pretending, that his seemingly calm demeanor was just an act, and Nick knew this was a werewolf, yet quite dominant. He felt his own wolf's side coming more to the surface, and he let it happen, as it would now be beneficial to try to be more wolf than vampire.
Nick remembered Haley. Sometimes, he would miss this, but Haley had been Hope's mother, a hybrid like him and only in love with Elias. They had had a tempestuous one-night affair, and Hope resulted from it. But he didn't regret that night. He had felt a connection with Haley, making him want that connection with others like Camille and Caroline.
But he was then no savior for either of them. Camille didn't die like in the series. She married Vincent Griffiths, lived a human life, and died at just over 70 from cancer. Vincent killed himself shortly after, and Nick had been at Camille's funeral. And Caroline, well, they were like two ships that met at night, but Caroline loved Stefan, and Nick walked away. He never kept in touch with Caroline again.
"We need Marrok's help. Our friend is in trouble, and we would like to ask if Marrok has any men we can borrow," Nicholas replied politely, though his nerves were on the verge of breaking.
He let his werewolf side come out more now. The boy's eyebrows furrowed as he sensed Nick's werewolf side and looked closer. This was a hybrid, after all, not just a bloodsucker.
"So where can we find Marrok?" Elias inquired.
He kept his voice polite, but there were slight signs of annoyance at this judgmental, young werewolf.
Since Bran's son Charles had told him they had guests coming, two vampires had been driving down the road to their village, Bran had wondered what the fuck the vampires were coming here to do. Bran didn't appreciate vampires, and he had to keep everyone safe, so he went to meet the vampires.
He waited in the central square while the vampires drove a rental car that was a little beat up from the drive. Bran's friend had guided the vampires to drive the harder route, and the wild werewolves had kept Bran up to date on how the vampires' journey had gone. Apparently, they'd had something important enough to drive all the way out here. Usually, when they guided guests down that route, two out of three would turn around and then not come looking for the Marrok. That was the whole point of the operation, a sort of test to see if the thing was really important, and apparently, these two now had.
The boy looked at Elias momentarily and said: "I'm Bran Cornick, aka Marrok, but I'm dying to know why two vampires are asking me for help."
His expression was still judgmental, as if he were so much above men. Elias began to wonder if this was going to work out at all. He was an old creature, but wasn't quite judgmental and arrogant. At least Elias hoped he was better. Bran sighed. He waited for a response and looked at Elias for a moment.
Nicholas replied: "I am not just a vampire; I am a hybrid, half werewolf, and that is why I am asking for your help. If you are Marrok, I have no patience for such an arrogant attitude at the moment, and I am beginning to doubt if you are any good or if all the stories were just a fairy tale and you are just an arrogant boy."
Nick's voice was tight, and a clear irritation was already audible. He was impatient by nature. Not nearly as calm as Elias, but not as brash as in the show.
Marrok looked for a moment and drew out his Marrok power.
"Do you believe me now?" He said dangerously.
Marrok's power felt like an electrical charge in the air. Nick felt his wolf half react and recognized Bran as stronger. He didn't look Bran in the eye but avoided his gaze, making Bran perk up again as he noticed Nick's wolf half better and became pretty damn curious about this, he had never met a hybrid like this, and this was an interesting case. The wolf called to him, and he let his wolf, Marrok, make the connection.
"Excellent. If I may introduce myself, I am Nicholas Michaelson, the original vampire hybrid, and here is my brother Elias, the original vampire. If you've watched the show, yes, it's about us, but it's not all remotely true. It's inspired by us, the characters' names, etc, but the story didn't go that way. As you can see, we are alive. We didn't sacrifice ourselves." said Nicholas.
"Now that the introductions are done, can we get down to business?" Bran stated.
Nicholas said, "Briefly, a doctor who hates me, us because, well, I killed his family or relatives in retaliation for his grandfather torturing me, he's after me, and he's a psychiatrist. He had kidnapped a woman from Finland, brainwashed her, fucking drugged her badly, and sent her to my door to kill me. Well, we decided to deprogram and got to know this woman. She had undergone cosmetic surgery to rejuvenate. She had been officially killed. Her whole life was ruined. We were helping her to her feet when she was kidnapped on her way to the kiosk. We tracked her from New Orleans to here, and now we know where she is."
Elias and Nicholas briefly explained the whole chain of events to Marrok and told him about the bragging janitor at the bar.
"If you or any of your men want to come and listen to the fucking janitor bragging and telling his stories. There's no obligation of secrecy in institutions like that, apparently." Nick said.
Bran said. "First, we hunt, and then I'll decide if and to what extent I'll help you. I want to get to know your wolf. He's already accepted me, but I want to see that you're really half-wolf and not wearing your wolf half just for looks. I want to see how you hunt and work in a pack, if you're really a wolf, or if this is just a trick."
Nicholas looked at his brother suspiciously and said reluctantly. "All right, all right, when and where? Yes, I am a wolf, but my wolf side was bound for centuries, so I'm not as comfortable with that side of me as I am with my vampire side. "
Bran looked at Nicholas momentarily and said: "Midnight here in the square, and then we'll leave. Yes, you can learn to be a wolf. You just need to find your wolf's side, your instinct, and what it feels like to be a wolf. If you don't feel it, then there is a ritual to get your wolf out of you completely, and you're just a vampire, but I doubt you want that, especially not after tonight when I show you what it's like to be a wolf."
"All right," Nicholas said. He now decided to give it a try, and he certainly didn't want to get rid of the wolf, anyway. It gave too good a power. Just the mere bite of him was fatal to vampires, and it was a good way to hold power, to be the strongest. And if the wolf were gone, there would be no more venom, and he wouldn't be so scary anymore.
The vampires left momentarily to find something to eat, just food, no blood this time. The restaurant had tasty home cooking, and the men appreciated good food. Food didn't always have to be gourmet or expensive as long as it was delicious and filling. They ate food, too. They didn't live on blood alone, another nice rumor that had been fun to start and had protected them when they had eaten the same food as everyone else.
They waited until midnight, and Nicholas turned into a wolf in the forest. The transformation was painful. Not all the bones were broken, but they were dislocated, and the muscles grew. It was hard. The skin changed, the hair grew, and his whole anatomy changed. Nick was used to the pain; it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever been through.
The biggest problem was that he was a control freak, and now he had to let his wolf take over. But Bran wanted to meet and see and also evaluate his wolf, so he went with the flow and gave his wolf a free hand to be in charge. This was new to him, too. All the wolf's feelings, instincts, senses. Thoughts even. He could hear his wolf's thoughts, even converse with him, but he now let the wolf run wild and didn't try to chat with it anymore.
After the transformation, Nicholas jogged into the clearing and found 12 other wolves waiting. One of the wolves was small but dominant, a marrok, and Nick's wolf accepted Marrok's leadership outright. There were wolves of many sizes, and all were males. Nick knew instinctively that the female wolves were the ones being protected, and he, the stranger, was a threat to the females, and therefore, there were no females here.
The wolves were of a surprisingly different color. The wolves would sniff each other for a while and then go off into the woods to hunt moose or whatever game they could find. This was also a trial by fire, a way to get Nicholas to show his wolf to Bran and a chance for Bran to get to know and evaluate Nicholas' wolf. He wanted to ensure that Nick's wolf had a personality and wasn't just Nick in wolf form.
After all, this kind of vampire hybrid was entirely new to him, and he really had no idea what kind of wolf it would be. Nicholas's wolf was a grey, long-haired, handsome, rather smug, self-absorbed individual. This wolf was also cunning and surprisingly lazy. The wolf was also very tidy and knew how to bide his time. It took a while for the hunting song to catch on with this wolf, and it showed what it could do.
Nicholas was utterly new to this pack hunt; he had not held a wolf on display for years, and considering he had been tied up for a thousand years, he was amazed at all the instincts and sensations the wolf awakened in him.
It was this very wolf that drove the hybrid to rescue Mimi. The wolf saw the woman as one of his pack. The wolf did not see Mimi as a mate but as a weak member of the pack and as a female. The very thing that needed to be protected and protected hard. All the instincts, both the wolf's and Nick's own instincts, drove him to protect and help Mimi. She needed it. Nicholas had had countless female relationships over the centuries, but his wolf had been awake for thirty years and had yet to accept anyone but Mimi.
Bran noticed this and was left wondering, if they rescued this girl/woman, would his place be with the vampire brothers after all? Bran also got the feeling of protecting and saving Mimi. It came through so clearly in Nick's wolf that Bran couldn't help but let the need to protect be. It was such an instinct in wolves that it was terrible to try to fight it. It was such an innate thing.
Elias explained how Mimi's former life had been destroyed, and she had nothing to return to. A few relatives might still be alive, but there had been little contact, and once her death had been adequately reported in the papers, Mimi had decided to start afresh in America. Mimi had said that her voice was different. No one would recognize her. And she had nowhere to go back to.
All night, Bran studied the wolves in the pack, checking that the hierarchy was working properly, and was surprised at how easily the hybrid wolf slipped into the pack and didn't immediately start challenging everyone. But the wolf was said to be lazy and selfish, not wanting to mess himself up but waiting for the deer to be brought down and then eating a clean leg or flank, not interfering with the internal organs and getting blood on himself. This wolf liked to catch rabbits and ate several and gave one to the Marrok when he came closer. He accepted this as his leader.
At six in the morning, the sun began to rise, and the wolves gathered back in the forest to turn back into humans. The transformation back was just as hard, and Nick sat for a while and felt his wolf curl up to sleep contentedly. It had enjoyed the night very much, and Nick had enjoyed it too.
He hadn't always been hidden, but the wolf had let him experience and be part of it, too. He reflected on all these feelings as he got his form changed. Nicholas was sweaty when he was done and dressed in the clothes Elias brought without saying a word.
Bran came up to Nick and said: "Your wolf is all right, lazy and selfish, a bit self-absorbed too, but I guess that's what you are. Keep your wolf out now and then. As you can see, he appreciates it very much, and maybe he wouldn't be so fussy if he got to do it more often and found there's nothing wrong with getting a bit dirty when you eat."
Then Bran just waved his hand for the men to get in the car. He said, " Now let's go over to my house and have a little chat and see what we do next."
They drove in silence along the forest road to a house a short distance from the others. The house was large and three stories high, with a large porch with a handsome old swing. This was like all the other houses around here. There was nothing big or showy about it. So Bran didn't really advertise his status, but somehow, it was part of the nature of this mysterious werewolf leader. Wolves were naturally timid animals, and werewolves were probably not always as power-hungry as vampires.
They went into the house and Bran asked, "Do you drink coffee or tea? There's cake, biscuits, sandwiches. You must be hungry anyway, shapeshifting is hard work, and it burns calories, so eat up."
"Coffee's fine, and thank you. I'll eat. That was a great experience. I know you have reservations about vampires, but I swear we mean you or any of your wolves no harm," Nick replied.
They sat at a large table in the kitchen that could seat at least 12 people. Elias sipped his coffee, ate his sandwich, and watched Bran. It looked as if he was lost in his thoughts, and Elias knew Bran was talking to his pack. He had heard of the pack and knew of telepathic communication within the pack, but he didn't know if Nick was aware and could hear Bran.
Bran said: "We'll wait for a couple of guys, and then we can start thinking about your rescue mission. Your wolf, Nick, has accepted me as his Alpha, and he considers this woman, Mimi, to be a member of his pack. It's sort of my duty to at least listen to you and see where and how I can be of help."
He looked at Elias and said, " Yes, I talk telepathically with the pack. In fact, I can talk to all the wolves I have contact with, and I can tell you there are a hell of a lot of wolves in North America, and they have a lot of questions."
Elias laughed. He could only imagine how difficult Bran must have been at times.
The vampires looked at each other, and Elias thought to himself, "Sure, we Michaelsons have always and forever, but it's always our family bond, a bond that won't be broken. A bond that binds us closer than anything else in the world. But if the werewolf family is their pack."
Bran looked at the vampire searchingly for a moment and said: "The pack is our family, and Nick is now part of my pack, and so are you. I have telepathic abilities when it comes to communication between packs, so I've already given the outline to Adam and Samuel. Ah, here they come. Even though you're not a wolf, I can hear your thoughts, but you're part of Nick's family and part of my pack. My pack also includes humans and other creatures."
The door opened, and a tall, handsome man with dark hair walked in. He was strong and muscular, with dark brown eyes and jet-black hair. He was a dangerous and powerful man. This was a dominant wolf, but this one had not been on a night hunt.
He walked like a panther and looked through Nick and Elias with one look that showed he was a dominant male. This was the alpha. The pack leader and the way the man looked at Bran, Nick got the distinct impression that the relationship between the two was not like other wolves.
There was bad blood here, and unpleasant experiences, but this alpha knew his place and didn't bother to challenge Bran. Somehow, Nick sensed that the man didn't see Bran as worth the trouble.
Nick felt his wolf accepted the dark-haired man as alpha and wasn't about to stand up to him. The dark man nodded to both of them and said curtly, "Good morning, Bran."
Then he sat down. He looked relaxed, but Nick could see that the man was tuned like a bow and wouldn't need much when he exploded. The man didn't look at Bran, and somehow he felt a sense of duty. Why he was here, not to Bran directly, but maybe to Mimi. Somewhere who needed saving, somehow the man gave off a vibe that he was a defender, a rescuer, a provider. He was the alpha.
The other man was tall, blond, and friendly-looking. He was young-looking, not as young as Bran, but 25 at the most. This man was a healer, and Nick could see that clearly. This was obviously a doctor. But the vampire sensed that this was a much older creature than his appearance suggested. He suspected that this was almost as old as Bran. He wasn't ugly either, and he was a little more plain-looking. He had very kind, bright green eyes. He had a calm, reliable air about him.
Bran said: "Allow me to introduce Samuel, my son. He's a doctor and you're right, we're only about twenty years apart in age. Samuel and I were once human and let's just say my relatives made us werewolves. Whether we're the very first, I don't know, but we're old and strong, we have our ways, and our problems unfortunately. Time and the passing of it sometimes get to us too, as you can understand."
Samuel smiled and said, " Don't mind my father. He is sometimes very emotional about the passage of time, but yes, it does. Experiences and memories accumulate, and everything affects everything. I am very interested in this enemy of yours, the psychiatrist. I have heard rumors that some people study rage and brainwashing. Well, we wolves have a temperament, and some are a bit more explosive than others."
Samuel glanced meaningfully at Adam. Adam Hauptmann was Chicago's alpha. Nicholas and Elias introduced themselves and explained again.
Elias finally said, " This man hunts us, well hunts and hunts as his grandfather in his time imprisoned Nick and just did some rage experiments, tried to get the blood lust going hard, and when Nick escaped, he swore he would kill every one of his relatives but always leave one child alive so that the family could continue and his vengeance would be felt for a long time. "
Adam said, " Oh, that wasn't the plot from the second series?"
Nick smiled and said, " Yeah, kind of, but the writers always take liberties and change things. But I can be vindictive when I want to be. "
The men talked for a while and went through all sorts of scenarios. They wondered why Mimi. What was so special and strange about this was that Samuel said he could carefully go through Mimi. He listed a number of procedures and tests he wanted to do on Mimi, but he was also very interested in the facility and wanted to have a large-scale attack on it so that they could get the data and everything.
But Bran said, "First, we're going to look a little bit more closely at where we're going, and that's where we need the information."