The year was 1972 and Alexei was making an urgent travel to the city of Vladivostok, the second largest Russian fishing and shipping port located in the Russian Far East. Throughout the trans-Siberian train journey, Alexei's mind was at an unrest, contemplating and calculating the many probable worst case scenarios that could possibly happen during this perilous mission.
This was his first time visiting this foreign city in an unfamiliar country but it wasn't his first time hearing the name Vladivostok, for his mother, Maria had mentioned this place on numerous occasions especially when she was recounting her past memories of how she had first encountered his father, Gavril before they both fled from Russia and came to settle down in the far southern regions of Austria.
Alexei's mother Maria was born into a faithfully devoted but impoverished family who lived in a simple village called Amursk, located on the left bank of the Amur River in the Russian federal territory of Khabarovsk Krai. Her father was a charcoal burner by profession and would frequently travel into nearby villages and other towns or further into the city to sell hardwood lump charcoals especially during the autumn and winter seasons. Often, he would be gone for weeks, leaving the household to be solely managed by her mother. Born third in a family of eight siblings, Maria was rather different from the rest of her brothers and sisters for she was more intrigued to learn how to read and write rather than doing daily household chores like cooking, sewing and washing or venturing out into the nearby woods to gather firewood, hunt for rabbits or to pluck herbs and berries.
She was so captivated by the scriptural writings of the holy bible that she would often have many inquisitive questions to ask the priest who would sometimes come to the village to give communion and anointing to a number of families. When she reached the age of fifteen years old, she started to have recurrent visions of heavenly beings which resembled that of angels and saints imparting prophetic or divine messages to her while on other occasions, she would have frightful premonitions especially involving malevolent supernatural beings. There was a particular premonition which kept recurring in her night dreams, a gruesome scene where a gigantic and malicious creature that looked like a werewolf chased after her on one claggy night and the premonition ended with her tripping and falling to the ground and the werebeast charging towards her before spatters of red blood and diabolical screams violently awoke her from her sleep.
She had shared all of her visions and premonitions with the elderly priest who would diligently frequent their home, Fr. Mikhail Leonid who was also a seasoned exorcist and one who has had numerous confrontations with various kinds of supernatural beings. The old yet sagacious priest sensed that Maria had a unique ability and a valuable gift which she could wield for the good benefit of others. One day, he had a long conversation with Maria's mother who was terribly anxious about her daughter's future and after much deliberation, she concurred with Fr. Mikhail's suggestion to have Maria enrolled in a women's convent in Vladivostok where she could begin her studies in theology and possibly embrace her divine calling to be a teaching nun who would later devote her life to educating the children at the orphanages.
Through the strong recommendation of Fr. Mikhail, the Mother Superior at Marfo-Mariinsky Women's Monastery or otherwise known as the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy was prepared to accept Maria as a novice. While Maria began her intended pursuit of a life of piety in a religious order, at the very same time, more than six hundred kilometers north-east of Vladivostok, a different circumstance was unfolding in a place called Anik Mountain or 'Gora Anik', one of the highest peaks in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range.
The prevalence of Lycanthropy was believed to have first emerged in certain regions of Europe beginning the 15th century and continued to widely spread throughout the continent in the 17th and 18th century before its incidences began to decline due to the massive movements by anti-supernaturalism groups who hunted and persecuted individuals who were accused or suspected of being vampires, werewolves or witches.
In Russia, the werewolf was known as 'Volkdlak' meaning 'one who has wolf fur' in Old Russian translation and was believed to be related to a hybrid species of humans known as Cynocephali who were characterized as men having the head of a canid, either that of a jackal or dog. One of the earliest and well known attestations of the existence of a dog-headed man or a Cynocephalus was the historical legend of the life of St Christopher the Christ Bearer during the early 3rd century. Believed to have been born in the Marmaritae tribe from the Cyrenaica region, St Christopher was reported to be enormous in size, almost gigantic with the head of a canine instead of a man and because of his unfavorable physical appearance, he was called Reprobus meaning rejected or outcast.
A German bishop and poet named Walter von Speyer from the 10th century depicted St Christopher as a Cynocephalus who barked and ate human flesh but converted from his animalistic behavior after having a divine encounter with Jesus Christ who came to him in the form of a little child, requesting St Christopher to help him cross a dangerous river. Upon his conversion, he was healed and rewarded the physical appearance of a normal man.
As the years went by, the world of Lycanthropes evolved from a feral state to a more organized society with distinguishing social structures dividing the strongest from the least fit Lycans, granting hierarchical ranking to the most accomplished in battles and to members who have had the most kills during hunts. Werewolves generally have four distinctive ranks – the Alpha is the highest ranking werewolf being the strongest leader and most important member; born with naturally dominant genes. An Alpha can be challenged to a brutal fight by other members of the pack and the loser of the combat will either be slaughtered by the champion or be banished from the pack. Second in command is the Beta who instructs the pack in the absence of the Alpha. Every Alpha selects their own Beta to work in partnership with them. If an Alpha dies or loses a hierarchical battle, the elected Beta also loses its position in the pack. Then comes the third in ranking who is called the Gamma. Similar to a military general, the Gamma's role is to train the other members of the pack to be Pack Warriors who are skillful in strategized ambush tactics and defensive combats. Finally at the bottom of the ranking, is the Omega. These breed of Lycanthropes are thought to be servants or errand runners and are considered the weakest of the species, often scorned and exploited by the other ranks especially the Alphas.
Alexei's father Gavril was an Omega, born out of an illicit relationship between one of the most powerful Alpha elders named Bratumil Chryzant with a female Omega only known as Miladena Miroslaw. This ill-favored affair brought about much dissension and loathing among the Alphas and the Omegas most especially between Bratumil's Luna consort or otherwise female Alpha partner, Zorah and Miladena the servant Omega. Zorah was maddened with Gavril's birth as she felt that his existence threatened the future prospects of her son Lel and his position as the next young leader to be elected into the Lycan High Council.
Finding that Bratumil seemed more affectionate and adoring of Gavril, Zorah in her brimming jealousy cruelly punished Miladena by separating her from her son and imprisoning her in a cavernous wet cave where Zorah herself would execute severe admonishments upon Miladena by means of scourging, declawing or savagely extracting all of her fangs and canine molars one by one. Gavril never once got to see his mother but could only hear the voice of her horrific howls and screams in the night. He was kept enslaved in the lair's underground dungeons and given very little food and water for nourishment.
Without Zorah's knowledge, Bratumil would send his elected Beta, Boleslav and his Beta female partner, Velika to watch over and protect Gavril against Zorah's frequent enraged outbursts. It was a shameful state indeed as Bratumil realized that despite his outward dominance over the werewolf kingdom, in truth he was disgracefully fearful of Zorah as she was greatly influential with certain members of the Lycan High Council and also considered highly reputable among the other Alpha males and females.
Years passed and Gavril under the tutelage and training of Boleslav grew up to be a rather robust and deft fighter. His physique was tremendously muscular and his movements were amazingly agile and swift. Boleslav was astounded by Gavril's entire transformation from a puny, weak werewolf litter into this well-built Lycanthrope warrior and what was even more astonishing was that ironically, he was far bigger than most of the young Alphas of the similar age, even bigger than Lel for that matter. In the depths of his heart, Boleslav grew extremely fond of Gavril as he admired Gavril's resilience and eagerness to learn and better himself. Despite knowing that he was the son of Bratumil yet Gavril never once exhibited arrogance or self-entitlement unlike his obnoxious half-brother Lel. Not having an offspring of their own, Boleslav and Velika looked after Gavril as their own son.
Gavril was a simple and dignified young werewolf who was quite wisdomful for his years and made very few requests, one being the opportunity to see his mother again. Velika would sometimes sneak him into the cave where his mother was held while Boleslav would keep the guards distracted. Every meeting with his mother was a sorrowful moment for him, for the years of vicious torturing had severely deteriorated her to the point that she was no longer recognizable to him.
There were thick iron shackles wrapped around her neck, forearms and hind legs to prevent her from escaping or fighting back. All of her once beautiful and lustrous werewolf fur had been brutally plucked out, exposing patches of pale, bruised epidermis. Her dehydrated skin hung over her bones like a rubbery layer of melted latex over a skeleton frame. Her face was haggard and shrunken; her mouth dilated and dry revealed severely inflamed and infected gums due to the festering wounds from the forceful extraction of her fangs and molars. Whenever he came to see her, she would be unconscious most of the time with her pupils rolled up and only the white of her eyes showing yet always, he would hear sounds of gentle whispers coming from her lips; whispers of his name over and over again… Gavril... Gavril…Gavril.
Within the lair's underground dungeon, Gavril was kept chained and his shackles were only removed in the presence of Boleslav or any other commanding Lycanthrope. Occasionally, he would have unwelcomed visits from Zorah and Lel who were suspicious of Boleslav's activities with him but they both knew that they could not lay a claw on him for by doing so, they would only be sabotaging Lel's chances of taking over Bratumil's chair in the Lycan High Council.
It was a rather strange night at Mount Anik for the full moon above was incredibly sizeable and of such close proximity than anyone would feel like they could almost caress its mystifying surface with the tip of their fingers. The outer surroundings of the lair were more foggy than usual and the temperatures within seemed rather humid. Boleslav was in Gavril's dungeon serving him a meal of a freshly slaughtered Siberian musk deer. Almost at the finish of his portion, Gavril stood up and made a rather serious request to Boleslav, a request to approach the Lycan High Council with a proposition. Hearing Gavril speaking in this manner stunned Boleslav but he somehow anticipated that this day would eventually arrive however he didn't expect it to be so soon as he wasn't entirely certain that Gavril was ready to face what was to come. Boleslav obliged and went to approach one of the high council elders by the name of Arron, another forefather of the Lycanthrope kingdom who became legendary alongside Bratumil for his audacious act of waging war against vampires and defeating them, earning his respectable placement at the high council's Conferring Table, which was the key committee involved in the Lycanthrope kingdom's decision making process.
After hours of waiting, Boleslav returned hastily to Gavril's dungeon and urged him to quickly prepare himself for an audience with the high council members. Still bound in chains, Gavril was led to face the werewolf elders who gathered in the high council's meeting arena called the Halls of Deliberation. Arron leading the council, stood up and asked Gavril what proposition he wished to bring to the council's attention. In a valorous tone, Gavril made a bold wager, challenging Lel to a fierce some combat of which if he should win, then he and his mother should be set free but if defeated, then he would remain a slave in the dungeons and pledged his services to Lel when he ascends the high council. Arron was puzzled with the simplicity of Gavril's request and quizzed him further, "Gavril, illegitimate son, born to the outcast Omega, Melinda, who has been banished into punishment for her wayward behavior….do you make this request with the intention of gaining freedom for yourself and your unworthy mother or is this a request driven by your ulterior motive to claim Bratumil's chair at the high council table??..."
Arron's thunderous voice echoed through the halls and its passages but Gavril was unperturbed by his sarcastically insinuative question. Without the slightest ounce of fear, Gavril replied in a loud voice, "I have no interest in positions or titles! I leave that to those of you who have been consumed by the craze for power! To me, a council of elders who knowingly punishes the innocent while cowardly concealing the truth behind their arbitrary rules and false pretenses are nothing more than a council of egocentric fools and maniacs who champion guilty scoundrels!!" Gavril's forthright answer appalled the members of the council causing an uproar and angry murmurs among the audience of werewolves who were present.
Arron was taken aback by Gavril's response but secretly admired this young lycanthrope's boldness in wanting to stand up for himself and his mother's dignity. Zorah was delighted with all the commotion that was taking place for she exuberantly felt that this was her golden opportunity to bring Lel into the limelight and at the same time cast Gavril and his mother Melinda whom she had deep repugnance for into ignominy. Throughout the ruckus, with arms tightly crossed and head held down, Bratumil kept absolute silence, fearing that his distinguished reputation in the high council would be tarnished and his allegiance to the other Alphas further questioned if he should arise to uphold his unacknowledged son, Gavril and his former inamorata, Miladena, whom he still secretly still loved.
With a shrieking and monstrous howl, Arron brought all the ruckus and murmurings to a complete halt and the halls came to be still in pin-drop silence. In a commanding tone, Arron began to speak, "So be it!… I, then as the forefather and supreme leader of this administrative council accept your proposition, Gavril son of the outcast Melinda, to allow a duel between you and Lel, son of Bratumil. However, in accordance with our primeval werebeast traditions, the battle's victor has absolute entitlement to do whatsoever he pleases with the defeated opponent, be it to be exiled or to be put to the death…"
Hearing Arron's concurrence with his straightforward request, Gavril stretched forth his forearms towards Boleslav, indicating to his faithful werewolf mentor to remove the shackles from his arms and feet. While Boleslav unfastened the iron chains, he looked deep into Gavril's eyes and said, "It has been a great privilege to have witnessed you grow into the admirable young Lycanthrope you are today… Even though you are not of my very own flesh and blood, yet I could not have asked for anything better from the gods than the honor of looking after you, my dear boy…" Gavril being overwhelmed with gratitude and affection, embraced Boleslav tightly for the longest time.
"Remember to fight with your heart and instincts… be swift and never let your guard down!" advised Boleslav for one last time before ushering Gavril to an elevated podium called the Death of Howls, located at the very center of the Halls of Deliberation. As Gavril slowly marched up the granite laid steps towards the inner circle of the podium, his body began to transfigure into a formidable, well-built werewolf with glistening silver-grey fur, black razor-sharp claws and bold eyes which glowed like fiery purple sapphires. Lel was already in the inner circle, awaiting Gavril's arrival in his sizeable sleek black lycanthrope form with gleaming red eyes.
Snickering all to himself, in his smug interior Lel thought, "Aww…what a waste of time this is indeed… My exquisite fighting skills are squandered away in the likes of this pathetic duel against this lowly and unworthy half-brother of mine… I hope mother knows what she's getting me into…" Despite the overconfident persona projected by him, one could still perceive that there was a deep sense of fear and insecurity in Lel's heart. Coming to be face to face with Gavril was most certainly intimidating for him let alone the thought of being terribly defeated at the hands of a low ranking werewolf aroused even greater feelings of animosity within him.
At the mark of Arron's roaring howl, the combat between them fiercely commenced with Gavril's agility, speed and tactful fighting skills being unsurpassed by Lel's rigid counter-attack moves. Laceration after laceration and bite wound after bite wound surfaced on Lel's severely injured body. He could barely stand steady on his hind legs and in his precariousness, made clumsy strikes in the air, barely landing a single scratch on Gavril. Zorah became increasingly agitated with the direction the duel was heading. In her impatience and impetuousness, she carelessly blurted out, "Aaarrggh!! Why isn't the poison working yet?? He should've been dead by now!!" Not realizing that Boleslav who was lingering nearby overheard her frustrated lamenting.
Boleslav made haste to Gavril's underground dungeon and sniffed the leftover musk deer meat which he had earlier served to Gavril. It was just as he had feared. The inner fatty portions of its flesh released a faint scent of silver nitrate which were probably injected into the meat in small doses. Boleslav couldn't believe how careless he was to have left the slaughtered musk deer with the dungeon guards before serving it Gavril and he was even more disappointed in himself for not being sharp enough in detecting the smell of the poison earlier on. The fatty layers in a musk deer's meat are highly oleaginous and therefore thick enough to conceal the smell of any poisonous chemicals have been administered in miniscule volumes. Boleslav sprinted to the fighting podium to warn Gavril of Zorah's deplorable plot.
At the podium's inner ring, the odds of the fight were greatly in favor of Gavril as Lel seemed to be incapacitated but circumstances quickly took a sudden turn when Gavril began to feel nauseated and his heart started pounding erratically. His vision terribly blurred and plagued by heavy dizzy spells, he tottered in his steps. Slumping to his knees, his mouth began frothing as he spewed out chunks of digested meat and blood. His pounding heart felt like it could explode at any given moment. "What on earth is happening to me?! What is this peculiar stinging pain that has completely invaded my senses??" Gavril thought to himself while trying to grapple with the excruciating pangs that rapidly inflicted his entire body.
Silver nitrate is an inorganic chemical compound which is exceedingly poisonous to werewolves especially when orally ingested even in the tiniest of amounts. Once consumed, it causes the rapid hemolysis of red blood cells and rupturing of blood vessels which in turn lead to death by profuse bleeding. Silver nitrate is also externally harmful to a werewolf as it causes burns and scalding upon touch.
From a distance, hidden in the shadows, Zorah grinned in sadistic satisfaction for this was the golden moment that she was waiting for. Shameless and remorseless of her dirty tactics, she shouted to Lel instigating him to quickly finish off Gavril. Lel even though being quite disorientated, forced himself to rise up and began to repeatedly strike Gavril with his sharp claws to immobilize him so that he could render the final fatal blow that would most definitely end Gavril's life.
Boleslav knew he had to intervene at once to stop the inequitable duel. He was aware that the action he was about to take could trigger great dissonance between the Betas and the Alphas for there's never been known of a Beta who would retaliate against an Alpha in order to defend and protect a mere Omega weakling but his love for Gavril superseded all these political sentiments and so, he boldly yelled to Arron and Bratumil to stop the fight as he threw the poison tainted musk deer meat in front of them. He further related of how he overheard Zorah inadvertently admitting that she had placed the poison into the meat with the premeditated intention of murdering Gavril. Arron, Bratumil and the other council members were appalled with Boleslav's seemingly absurd accusations.
While a great ruckus broke out among the Alphas and the Betas that were present, Lel had already seized Gavril by the throat, embedding his curved black claws into his flesh. He was about to rip out Gavril's heart from his rib cage but before doing so, he leaned into Gavril and whispered into his ear, "You see…your kind will always be pathetic and weak, always at the losing end… you are all meant to be trampled upon by those of us who are far more superior by natural order and after I am done ripping your heart to shreds, I shall do the same with your whore of a mother!" Lel's provocative words echoed in Gavril's ears forcefully jolting an awakening in his sub-consciousness. A radical change took place within him; his purple sapphire eyes flared akin to violet flames. His muscles began to immensely augment with protruding bluish veins creeping all over his body. Streams of the silver nitrate began to excrete out of his pores, vacating his bloodstream.
Terror struck Lel for he underestimated Gavril's endurance and will power. Before he could back away Gavril plunged his fist full of claws through Lel's abdomen and clenched unto his lower spinal cord. Gavril had reached the brim of his patience, having endured enough of Lel and Zorah's nonsensical abuses while suppressing his anger towards his indifferent and cowardly father, Bratumil. Just as he was about to end Lel's life by snapping his vertebras, Zorah lunged at Gavril from behind, shoving him away from Lel with her biting and clawing. At that moment, out of the sheer instinct for self-preservation, Gavril grabbed Zorah by the skull and tore her apart from head to toe, splattering particles of her flesh and blood all over Lel who later tumbled off the podium with a large, open abdominal wound.
Chaos broke out in the Halls of Deliberation. Boleslav hurried and helped Gavril get out of the halls, rushing him to the cave where his mother was held. They both sensed that her life was now in grave danger after what Gavril had done but tragedy strikes at the most unpredictable of times. Inside the dark and wet cave, a gruesome scene was presented before them. Still bound in heavy chains and shackles, Miladena's head hung severed from her feeble body which laid lifeless on the cave floor, soaking in a pool of blood and Bratumil's dead remains lying beside hers, all pale and petrified. Evidently, while everyone was engrossed in the fight between Lel and Gavril, Zorah secretly sneaked into the cave and beheaded Miladena, intentionally leaving her body in this horrific state for Gavril to find. After hearing that Gavril may have been poisoned, Bratumil who left the council's bench to release Miladena was devastated to find her dead in such a horrendous condition. Consumed with guilt and sorrow, he resorted to taking his own life by eating the left over deer meat that was tainted with silver nitrate which slowly yet eventually stopped his heart. Bratumil had lost the will to live, thinking that both his beloved inamorata and his illegitimate son could no longer be saved.
Immense and unspeakable grief flooded Gavril's heart. The gruesome scene before him was just too much for him to comprehend. With a wailing howl, he fell on his knees with his hands clenching his head as he faced the ground and his uncontrollable tears came gushing forth. It deeply pained Boleslav to see Gavril like this but there was no time to spare for grieving. Boleslav firmly urged Gavril to compose himself while helping him up from the ground. Breaking open a vial of methylene blue antidote which he had found in Zorah's chambers, Boleslav poured the medicinal concoction into Gavril's mouth as a measure to counter the poisonous effects of the silver nitrate. Handing Gavril a small leather bag that carried an ancient family journal that contained crucial historical details of Gavril's mixed Alpha-Omega lineage, he rushed Gavril to leave the lair immediately before the entire Lycanthrope kingdom across the region came to hear of Zorah's killing and begin hunting down Gavril.
Hesitantly, Gavril made his escape from Mount Anik, badly injured and running aimlessly in the south-west direction, coincidentally towards the port city known as Vladivostok…
While all these events were taking precedence, Maria was going through her own predicaments at the women's convent. Her frequent sharing of her recurring visions and premonitions with the Mother Superior was not well received by her fellow novices as well as the other senior nuns. After numerous instances where she would make predictions prior to an incidence taking place and after the collection of testimonies from a number of sisters who claimed they had witnessed the presence of a supernatural being of light in the chapel whenever Maria was present there praying, she began to be known in the convent as a mystic. Maria was very determined in her prayer life, giving priority to attending masses daily. On many occasions she had wondered, why she continued to receive repeated premonitions of a vicious werebeast attacking her when she so fervently recited the rosary and novena prayers. Little did she know that her chosen path would lead her to play a major role in Gavril's future destiny.
As usual the nights at the women's monastery were quiet and uneventful but that particular night felt rather different to Maria, as though some great calamity was about to transpire. She kept pacing back and forth in her dormitory room, holding tightly a little bible and a rosary in her hands. It was an hour passed midnight and she found herself struggling to court restful sleep. Feeling ill at ease, she made her way to the courtyard, hoping that she could relax herself after a couple of rounds strolling about though the sisters highly discouraged anyone from walking outside alone in the courtyard, especially in the late hours of the night.
Suddenly from behind the overgrown bushes near the convent's tall iron fences, she heard sounds of leaves rustling and the low grunting of what seemed to be the groaning of an injured animal. Slowly approaching the overflowing shrubs, she gently peeped passed the leaves while cautiously observing her footing so as to not startle whatever creature that may be trying to hide itself among the greenery.
Focusing hard to look into the shadows with only a dimmed street lamp lighting the surroundings of the convent, Maria was shocked to see what looked like a tall, muscular man with long wavy hair, covered with patches of wet fur lying half-conscious between the bushes and thickly grown grass. He was breathing heavily as though he had been running non-stop for days and his body had many wounds and scratches. Maria's heart was overcome with pity for this injured stranger and without thinking twice, she pushed through the bushes to go to his aid but got the fright of her life when the strange man suddenly got on all his four limbs and growled at her aggressively.
His purplish glowing eyes expressed much anger and aggression but as soon as his sight met with Maria's gentle yet frightened pair of soft almond brown eyes, he began to calm down. He could sense that she wasn't intending to cause any harm to him. Maria herself found it rather bizarre that even though she was terribly afraid of him yet she never once screamed or yelled for help. Though he looked somewhat monstrous to her yet she felt that there was something warm and endearing about him, something about his disposition that was both appealing and compelling. As he was about to collapse to the ground, Maria rushed to his side and held him from falling. "Oh dear! What happened to you?! You're so very badly injured!" but the stranger was too exhausted to even reply her. "Please let me help you inside… the gardener's storehouse is not far from here…you could rest there where no one would disturb you…uugghh…my name is Maria Svatoslav… what is yours?" she nervously asked him as she struggled to support his heavy gigantic frame. "I am Gavril Miroslaw…thank you Maria for your kindness, I'm grateful to have met you…" answered Gavril while grunting in pain.
After Maria led him into the gardener's storehouse, he collapsed out of exhaustion onto the piles of gunny sacks filled with soil and manure. Leaving him to rest, she rushed out to get some warm blankets, towels, antiseptic ointments and a pail of hot water to treat his wounds. While attending to his injuries, she could see that there was something unusual about him. Sharp fangs seemed to be jutting out from beneath his lips; his finger nails were elongated like thick, curved claws; his long wavy hair seemed darkish-gray in color and more unusual was that his serious injuries seemed to have healed almost instantaneously.
He was running a rather high fever and as she gently dabbed his forehead with a wet towel, he began to mumble in his unconsciousness, possibly experiencing a nightmare. His arms and legs began to twitch violently as though he was fighting a battle in his sleep and then all of a sudden, he got up in a haste and yelled to Maria, "You must leave at once!… Because of me, your life could be very well in danger!... Call out to all those who live here with you, warn them to leave this place immediately!" and in a state of delirium he asked her, "Where am I now?? What is this place called??" Maria who was confused with what he was rambling on about answered, "You are in a gardener's storehouse in a women's convent…the Marfo-Mariinsky Women's Monastery in Vladivostok…"
Hearing Maria say the words 'convent' and 'monastery' shocked Gavril. In bewilderment he thought out aloud, "How is this possible??... I being a werewolf am able to enter these holy grounds without being affected??" he had forgotten that Maria was right beside him attentively listening to each and every word he was saying. "I believe that any creature that is pure and contrite of heart can enter God's sanctuary on holy grounds without being admonished by God… I sense that you have neither harmed or killed a human nor consumed any human flesh throughout your life as a werebeast and for this, the Lord finds you innocent in his sight..." Hearing Maria speak with such wisdom and intellectual clarity stunned Gavril. "Are you not afraid of me even after knowing of what kind of a ghastly creature I am?"…he asked her in a mellow voice. "Sometimes, compared to most beasts and creatures, it is humans that resort not only to do much evil but also to allow evil to flourish despite the morals and virtues that have been taught unto them."
All of the words spoken by Maria brought much needed comfort and relief to Gavril. The longer they conversed, the fonder he grew of her and she too of him. Everything seemed tranquil and at ease until suddenly the howling and snarling of werewolves could be heard outside the convent, drawing nearer and nearer to its main gates and fences. Gavril forced himself to get up but he hadn't yet recovered enough to change into his complete Lycanthrope form. Grabbing Maria by the waist, he carried her and swiftly ran to the entrance of her dormitory and urged her to quickly go in and remain inside together with the sisters, making sure all the grills and doors were secure and locked from the inside. Maria was increasingly hesitant to leave his side but she knew that she couldn't conceivably do anything to stop the werewolves from attacking.
Knowing very well that they could not enter into holy grounds because of their malevolent nature, the werewolves threw bottles of Molotov cocktails to start a raging fire within the convent's compound, a sinister action to drive out the humans who were hiding inside. Amidst the blazing flames, Gavril stood still in the middle of the courtyard, guarding the entrance of the dormitory while Maria anxiously kept a watch of him from the second floor of her dormitory hallway.
Thick choking smoke enveloped the entire monastery forcing many of the sisters and some of the convent's caretakers to take flight from the dormitories but Gavril was undeterred by the acrid smell of the smoke, in fact his sharp sense of smell detected another poignant odor permeating through the fumes, one he was all too familiar with. His eyes stared acutely towards the convent's main gates, focusing on another pair of gleaming red eyes on the other side of the gates, staring right back at him through the steel pickets. The creature on the other side began to thrash the main gates in rhythmic strikes until the gates' railings fell over. Standing on the outskirts of the convent, unable to enter, was Lel glaring at Gavril with a menacing expression, still very foully bitter from his defeat to Gavril at the lair.
In order to intimidate the occupants at the convent to panic and scatter, Lel brought about chaos by howling and growling, signaling to his henchmen to do the same. Out of fear of the werewolves and the blazing fires, the sisters ran out of the dormitory right into the trap of the werebeasts. Gavril went to great efforts to rescue the nuns by wiping out most of Lel's henchmen but unfortunately he couldn't save all of them as some sisters especially the elderly ones had already been severely injured from being savagely bitten. While Gavril was busy bringing the rescued nuns to safety at a nearby church, Lel was chasing after the convent's Mother Superior who in her advanced age could not possibly out run a werewolf. Lel had a particularly sadistic liking for tormenting the religious for he absolutely despised and loathed the idea of a God who is merciful and abundantly kind.
Cornered with nowhere to escape, the Mother Superior began to frantically pray while her hands holding a rosary shook violently out of fear of the werewolf that was gradually closing in on her. The more she raised her voice in prayer, the more Lel began to snigger in amusement. As he jumped to pounce his prey, Maria unexpectedly appeared carrying a shovel. Before Lel could bite the Mother Superior, Maria forcibly hit him on the head, throwing him off his attack. Lel fell hard, slewing across the muddy ground. Maria gestured to her Mother Superior to run and hide at the nearby church while she stood guard in anticipation of warding off any surprise attacks.
The random change in the wind's direction had caused great inconvenience as now the smoke from the fires were engulfing Maria, clouding her sight and causing her to cough uncontrollably. In her distracted state, she didn't realize that Lel had gotten up from the beating and was furiously charging towards her through the wafting smog. He instantly disarmed her, throwing the shovel which she was holding far out of sight. In her quick thinking, using her right leg, Maria kicked the slimy mud beneath her foot onto Lel's snarling face and ran for her life but Lel pursued her like a madden wild dog. Running aimlessly, she tripped over a rock and crashed to the ground, twisting her ankle. Barely able to stand up, she struggled to push herself away from Lel's direction.
Just as it was revealed in her premonition, charging out of the spiraling fumes came Lel, with his blood-thirsty, demonic red eyes and salivating long snout, revealing his razor sharp fangs and teeth. Closing her eyes tightly and praying, she surrendered to her fate, thinking that this was the end for her. As Lel pounced to sink his grisly teeth into her flesh, Gavril intercepted him; piercing his fangs into Lel's left ribs, crushing his bones and brutally shaking him like a rag doll before hurling him aside.
Slowly Maria got onto her wobbly feet, coming face to face with Gavril's true beastly appearance as a fully transformed Lycanthrope. Delicately moving towards Maria, so as to not startle her, Gavril said, "Now you know of my true form… half human, half animal…our kind has been the scorn of mankind for centuries…I can understand if you should feel utterly repulsed with who I truly am…" Eyes filled with tears, Maria ran to Gavril and caught him in her tender embrace, hugging him so very tightly as she buried her face into his furry broad chest. Turning to him and gazing deep into his purple sapphire eyes, she said in a loving voice, "I don't care what you are for it is your gentleness and chivalrous heart that has captivated mine… and I wish to know and love this heart all the days of my life, that is if you are willing to accept the love of a mere mortal like me…"
Gavril was deeply touched with Maria's boldness in expressing her love for him. He embraced her tighter than ever for all his life he had rarely received the joy of experiencing unconditional love except for that given by his former mentor Boleslav and his wife, Velika. Maria knew what loving a werewolf would cost her for she would never be able to see her father, mother and siblings again as they greatly despised the very existence of these dark supernatural beings. Holding each other's hands firmly, they journeyed together, leaving Russia and after travelling to numerous destinations, they finally came to live in Austria's Carinthian region.
Their days were filled with abundant love, understanding and kindness and their lives were made even richer in happiness with the birth of their beloved and only son Alexei. For reasons strange and unknown, the happiest and most wonderful days of one's life very often happen to be days short-lived and quick to pass… The effects of the silver nitrate poisoning never really disappeared from Gavril's body but as the years progressed by, it only weakened his heart until one mournful day, Maria found him lying motionless on his bed with no pulse beating through his veins…
Despite being severely wounded, Lel on the other hand was unfairly fortunate to live out his years as the leader of his Lycanthrope pack. He may have recovered well from all his prior injuries but his fragile, over-inflated ego continued to feel the humiliating sting of being trounced twice by Gavril, something he would never forget for as long as Alexei remained alive…
~ Love to be real, must cost, it must hurt and it must empty us of self ~
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta