Five days had passed since Brina and Hannah left Klagenfurt city and the ambience at Lavera's Fashion & Design boutique was vacant and still with the odor of dried, desiccated blood and flesh still lingering in the upper floor hallway. Heavy stomping could be heard of a creature walking up the wooden stairs to Hannah's abandoned bedroom. It was Lel, who had arrived in search of his son Tomir who had been missing for days without any news from him. After randomly probing all the popular entertainment outlets and red-light joints that Tomir would usually frequent, his scent led Lel to this empty old boutique at Alter Platz square.
Immense fury and rage consumed Lel as he entered Hannah's bedroom to find the unrecognizable remains of what was once his son, all splattered across the walls and floor. He paced furiously up and down the room, replaying in his mind scenes of what could've transpired between Alexei and Tomir. All Lel could find of his demised son was the red ruby-golden ring which he proudly presented to Tomir as a reward for making his first human killing. The ring was intact with Tomir's ripped off finger and attached claw still in it. The very idea of Alexei not only having defeated Tomir but of murdering him in such a horrific manner drove Lel completely mad with rage. In a disgruntled murmur, he said to himself, "This halfling bastard! For all these years, he's been deliberately targeting my sons, one after the other, to affront me!... I should have killed this son of a rabid dog and his tramp of a mother long ago!"
Lel pummeled the brick walls of the room to the point a colossal, wide crack began to radiate across the entire room's concrete structure. As gases of hot vapor were profusely fuming out of his hideous werewolf snout, Lel's attention became sidetracked as his eyes caught what seemed like some sort of writings on one of the walls, just beneath the cracks that had appeared. Approaching the wall, the writings which were written in blood, read, "What began with One Alpha, will soon end with One Omega." Lel knew exactly what this message meant and he knew where precisely Alexei was going…to the place where the conflict first began…Mount Anik.
For a long time, Alexei had wanted to travel to his mother's birth place, Amursk village, which was now a rather developed town. His reasons for wanting to visit this town was not only driven by the interest of wanting to know more about his mother's family background and origins but also to see a good old friend of his whom he hasn't meet for years after he had left the Catholic Christian missionaries initiative to pursue his own calling to hunt down malevolent werewolves and to save the ingenuous humans who had fallen prey to the werewolf's curse.
Fr. Dimitri Leonid was a young teacher who had a great desire to bring basic education to the illiterate and impoverished members of the community. He volunteered his services with the Christian missionaries during the early 1970s, about the same time Alexei had joined the missionaries as well and that is how their chance acquaintance developed into strong friendship. Even though Fr. Dimitri was the grand-nephew of Fr. Mikhail Leonid, the humble exorcist priest who had rendered his pastoral care to the people of Amursk but the thought of embracing a life in priesthood had never crossed his mind until he witnessed a gruesome supernatural battle while he was in London between two burly werewolves. It was Alexei in his Lycanthrope form fighting off another werebeast who almost killed and devoured a drunk ex-soldier which was Niklaus.
Watching Alexei battle another one of his kind to death, just to save a mere human stranger changed Fr. Dimitri's perception entirely on the reality that evil in its supernatural form does truly exist and that for the longest time, the devil has deceived the world into thinking that God doesn't exist and that even true goodness is not strong enough to overcome evil. Helping Alexei to rescue Niklaus that night before the rest of the missionary members arrived to assist with the medical aid, created a fervent desire in Fr. Dimitri to become a priest and hence that's who he has become now.
Meeting him at the small chapel in the town, Alexei shared all that had occurred before his arrival here in Amursk to Fr. Dimitri in the confessional, of how he had to take the lives of certain Lycanthropes in order to save the lives of many humans. Sitting in front of the crucifix and tabernacle inside the chapel, Alexei felt as though a big burden had been lifted off his shoulders. Being a creature born out of supernatural circumstances himself, he was quite accustomed to seeing the apparitions of heavenly beings such as angels throughout his life. His favorite holy image in the chapel was an old painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was hanging beside a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Reflecting on the character of Christ, he was drawn to the similarities found in him. Here was Jesus, half God and half man; who had done tremendous good deeds and wondrous miracles, yet was awfully misunderstood even after He had courageously sacrificed his life to save mankind. This is exactly how Alexei had felt throughout his lifetime as a Lycanthrope – rejected, misunderstood and unjustly treated.
As he sat contemplating on what would take place when he sets foot into Lel's lair of origin at Mount Anik, Fr. Dimitri approached him to ask him an important favor. Seating himself beside Alexei, he started relating of how he had encountered a young woman who had fallen into a deep coma after supposedly being attacked by a werewolf but strangely there were no injuries or scratch marks on her body but only bruises around her neck, seemingly from the werewolf's coarsened grip. He said he noticed something rather peculiar about her skin. Not only was it extremely pale but her veins seemed to be intermittently throbbing in numerous shades of blue. Whenever he began praying upon or anointing her with holy oil, the throbbing would increase in tremendous frequency, making her veins look like they were fluttering beneath her skin and a strange kind of vapor would emit from her mouth. "I have the feeling, this isn't the first time she has had a werebeast encounter…" Fr. Dimitri remarked in a serious tone. Puzzled, Alexei asked in return, "What makes you say that?..."
"Well…while anointing her palms, I couldn't help but notice there was butterfly tattoo on her right wrist and a similar but rather disfigured and hideous looking butterfly scar which seems to have been forcefully carved by a claw into her left wrist… most likely the doing of a terribly sadistic werewolf, I must say…" added Fr. Dimitri as he was removing his stole.
Alexei jumped from the pew and grabbed Fr. Dimitri by the shoulders and abruptly asked, "Tell me! Is this young woman's name Kaleena…Kaleena Dementy?!" Fr. Dimitri was very surprised. "Why yes! That's her!... how do you know of her??" he asked. Alexei related to him that she was one of the women whom he had rescued from the clutches of the Lycanthropes at Vladivostok and how she in return, had saved him from drowning in the sea. Upon hearing all of this, Fr. Dimitri was utterly astonished. He was convinced that this was no mere coincidence but the unfolding works of a high power that good may undo what evil has done.
At once Fr. Dimitri brought Alexei to Kaleena's simple home in Amursk town. Apparently Kaleena's parents and her younger sister had died a couple of years ago after succumbing to severe tuberculosis and since then she has been looked after by her aged uncle, Božidar. According to Božidar's account, when Kaleena was eighteen years old, she had travelled to Vladivostok following a friend of hers by the name of Agneza, who claimed that there was abundant work opportunities at the shipping and fishing port for both of them. Kaleena was uncontactable for more than two months after she had left, causing much anxiety and worry for her family. Her mother who was the first in the family to have contracted the tuberculosis after frequenting the wet market had worsened in her condition. It was for her mother's sake that Kaleena agreed to travel to Vladivostok to work, hoping that she could save some money to pay for the increasing medical expenses.
Božidar shared that one day when she finally had returned, she narrated to them of how she was captured and enslaved by a ruthless pack of werewolves and how she was also rescued by another werewolf who fought chivalrously to save her life and the lives of the other women who were kidnapped alongside her but hardly three days after she had returned, Kaleena fell ill and went in to a coma after being visited by a strange woman. Since then, for almost ten years now, Kaleena has been slumbering in unconsciousness, awaiting the day when she would be awoken again.
Hearing about what had happened to Kaleena terribly grieved Alexei. As he watched her lying motionless on her bed, he wept bitterly while grasping her right hand and pressing it onto his bowed forehead. Determined to find out what had actually transpired between Kaleena and the mysterious woman, Alexei asked Božidar permission if he and Fr. Dimitri could spend some moments in private with Kaleena for which Božidar humbly obliged.
After Božidar had vacated the room and closed the door behind him, Alexei asked Fr. Dimitri to hold Kaleena's right hand index finger just above Alexei's mouth while he used his werewolf claw to pierce into her fingertip, causing a small drop of her blood to trickle into his mouth. It was a supernatural faculty possessed by all Lycanthropes – the special ability to be able to read the past memories of any human or creature by merely consuming a single drop of their blood. However, this process of memory extraction is only viable if the blood that is used is still fairly fresh or in a liquefied state. Once the blood becomes coagulated and dried out as a result of severe desiccation possibly due to years of aging, then the process will fail.
Almost falling into a trans-like state, Alexei's eyes glowed like flaming amber as his mind delved into a trail of Kaleena's past experiences. From his vision he ascertained that the strange women who visited Kaleena was in fact Lel's vengeful Luna consort, Verene who after having sipped the blood that oozed out of both the heads of Dusan and Jaka in order to retrieve their memories, had seen Kaleena in her visions and all that had transpired leading to their deaths. Verene apparently went on a revenge spree and began tracking down all the girls who had been rescued by Alexei on that night, attempting to kill them off one by one while leaving Lel to handle Alexei when the right time arrived.
Verene unfortunately did manage to murder some of the women while many others were untraceable to her and her henchmen. She however reserved a targeted animosity for Kaleena seeing that she attempted to kill Dusan by strangling him with her chains…
It is a most forbidden practice even in the Lycanthrope underworld to feed the blood of a deceased werewolf to any human or animal for the transmutation that ensues may potentially create a creature far more dangerous than a werewolf. It would require great power and control on the part of the one who administers the blood to be able to subdue the menacing creature to obey their commands by mingling a miniscule amount of their own blood with the blood of the deceased werewolf first before dispensing the concoction.
Normally the trans-mutative process in these sort of cases progress quite rapidly but extraordinarily for all these years, Kaleena has been resiliently fighting the transformation that has been taking place inside her body. Fr. Dimitri and Alexei both concurred that her body is tremendously weakening and may reach a breaking-point where she will either subconsciously give in to the transmutation or she will die trying to continue fighting the changes.
"Can't your blood cure her, Alexei?...like how you did with so many others?" asked Fr. Dimitri in an anxious voice. Alexei gave out a deep sigh and said, "No human has ever lived after being forced to consume the blood of a dead werewolf… and the ones that did survive had completely lost their humanity, never being able to revert into human form again…" The only way to undo this great evil doing was to administer a vial of his blood to Kaleena immediately after Verene has been killed. Handing a vial of his blood to Fr. Dimitri, Alexei spoke to him in a serious tone, "We only have one chance at this… never take your eyes off of her… you will know when it happens and it will be swift… when you see the signs within her, dispense my blood to her at once…" Fr. Dimitri nodded as he placed the vial with Alexei's blood into his shirt pocket.
With that, Alexei made his way, three-hundred and thirty kilometers south towards 'Gora Anik.'
Snow was about to set in the mountain ranges of Sikhote-Alin, with temperatures at Mount Anik reaching as low as minus seven degrees Celsius. Lel was readily anticipating for Alexei's ambush at the lair, positioning all his werewolf henchmen at the mount's entrance and below, guarding the underground dungeons and cavernous caves. Hours passed and the snowy winds began to increase in velocity, intermittently beating against the rocky structure of the mount's passageway. The Lycanthropes residing at the lair could sense that there was something different about this night compared to the many nights that have passed on before. Some of them with struck with tremendous free as they felt as though the day of retribution had finally crept upon them.
As Lel kept attentive watch on the lair grounds, Verene was sitting comfortably and leisurely in her chambers, rummaging through the personal belongings of the women and girls she had hunted down and murdered by her henchmen. Watches, pendants, earrings and bracelets were some of the many items she had ordered her henchmen to bring in return as proof of their successful slaughtering binge. Preoccupied with admiring the beauty of the shining jewelry on herself, she didn't realize that Alexei was already in her chambers, watching menacingly from the shadows of a dark corner. Knowing that Lel would have the forefront and underground dungeons of the mount heavily guarded, Alexei penetrated the lair by laboriously swimming through the subterranean lake waters located in one of the many underground caves which Lel's henchmen had overlooked when changing shifts. Sneaking into the lower-level dungeons, he administered vials of his blood to all the human captives who were still alive. Dousing himself with the decaying remains of the already dead captives, he camouflaged his scent from being detectable by Lel's henchmen.
As Verene was smirking and adoring herself in the mirror, to her horror she caught the sight of a pair of eyes akin to glowing amber, staring at her with a murderous intent from the darkness. Before she could even open her mouth to scream, Alexei had already pounced forward and grabbed her by the throat with his clawed right thumb squashing her vocal chords. Lifting her up in the air with one arm, Alexei said unto her, "Now you will know what it feels like to be mercilessly hunted and murdered, just as how you had ordered to be done to those innocent girls…" Making a single slash with the claw on his thumb, Alexei squeezed the blood out of Verene's neck, causing her to scream in a disgruntled voice.
The moment this happened, Kaleena's body began to violently convulse and her hands and legs contorted in unusual positions. Božidar started to panic as he was afraid that she could break bones with her vehement contorting. The throbbing in her navy blue veins intensified and fumes of vapor began exuding profusely from her mouth. Fr. Dimitri knew that the time had arrived for him to dispense Alexei's blood to her. With no time to waste, Fr. Dimitri signaled to Božidar to hold down Kaleena as he broke the vial and dripped Alexei's blood into her mouth forcing her to swallow each drop. In an instant, her convulsions ceased and the bluish shades in the veins slowly started to disappear. Her pale skin returned to its healthy tinge and the rosy blush on her cheeks were as pink as ever.
Hearing Verene's scream echoing from her chambers, Lel sprinted to her aid but he had reach her bedroom, she had already died from choking and drowning in her own blood. While Lel's attention was deviated by this incident, Alexei ran back to the underground dungeons and released all the human prisoners. One by one, he systematically took down Lel's henchmen, beginning from the underground caves leading to the dungeons, right up to the werewolf guard at the main grounds of the lair. One thing that greatly disappointed him was that the halls and chambers that housed the high council members were all empty without a trace left behind. Out of fear of Alexei and the hidden prophecy regarding his immense power to change the very order of the Lycanthropes, the elders had cowardly escaped, leaving Mount Anik to seek asylum with other werebeast allies.
When every single werewolf Pack Warrior and Gamma commander had been exterminated, the time had arrived for Lel to face Alexei, a one on one combat that will determine the fate of the kingdom of werewolves and the survival of mankind…
And so it commenced, the most gruesome and rampant combat ever seen between two formidable opponents with Alexei initiating the attacks on Lel. Being a werewolf elder, though he was bulky and strong, Lel struggled immensely to keep up with Alexei's speed and stealth. They both took grievous strikes from each other, landing extremely bloody and severe lacerations on one another. Exhausted and gasping for breath, Lel crouched down on his hind legs in a resting stance. Both his eyes were bulging and swollen, and streams of blood kept pouring out from the sides of his rib cage. He knew that all his energy was already spent and that he had no chance of defeating Alexei.
Also exhausted and panting, Alexei stood firm on his hind legs with minimal lacerations and only scratches on his forearm and thighs. Even though he was so close to ending the decades of the Lycanthropes' evil doings with the killing of Lel but he remained vigilant and focused as to not allow over-confidence to govern his judgment. There's a quote by a German, 18th century poet named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe regarding the despicable character of cowardliness and it says, "The coward only threatens when he is safe."
And so it was with Lel. Knowing that his odds for triumph were utterly none, Lel in his cravenness had hid a blade made from silver under the layers of undulating thick, black fur on his back. He began to throw conceited remarks towards Alexei. "Haahaahaahaa!....haahhaah!... Do you seriously think you can vanquish me?!... not even your lowly and deplorable father could defeat me… Come now, young halfling…besides, what could you possibly know about leading a kingdom of Lycanthropes when you have no influence whatsoever…. but…if you should choose to join hands with me… I could coerce even the elders to be in favor of your authority…Just imagine! With your power and my aptitude, what great deeds we could accomplish in this world... What say you young Alexei??... Make a pact with me now and perhaps you may live to see another full moon bloom!!"
Hearing his words only disgusted Alexei and he yelled in reply, "One who shakes hands with a coward is no better than one who sells his dignity for comfort!!" Lunging to render his final fatal blow on Lel, he hadn't anticipated a sharp blade would pierce through his heart. Looking shocked and caught off guard, Alexei observed a sinister smirk on Lel's face, the kind of smirk only a deceitful creature would have thinking that its evil plans have played out victoriously but Alexei had already made up his mind long ago, that even if he such perish from this life, he would not accommodate death until he has vanquished Lel from the face of the earth.
Catching and grasping tight Lel's blade filled hand with his left forearm, Alexei punched through Lel's chest with his right fist and clenched his pounding heart with his five claws. With just one forceful squeeze, Alexei burst Lel's heart causing a fountain of blood to explode out of Lel's chest. Lel fell down hard, like a block of wood falling flat onto the ground; his blood drenched body was barely able to move. Though he was agonized by the excruciating pain, Alexei gave out a sigh of relief. After all these many years, he felt like a great cloud of gloom and darkness had completely vacated from his life. He was so tempted to pull out the sharp blade from his heart but he knew that by doing so it would only cause him to bleed out more quickly but he needed to remain alive for just a little while longer as his work was far from being finished.
Slowly dragging Lel down to the underground cave with strenuous effort, Alexei tied a large rock bolder to him using the steel chains from the dungeons and pushed Lel into the subterranean lake, watching him sink to its dark depths. Alexei had to leave the lair immediately before the other allies of Lel came to find out about his death. Exiting the mouth of Mount Anik, Alexei detonated the rocky entrance of the lair, causing its structure to collapse and completely seal off the lair from the outside world. Tremors from the blast shook the snowy blankets on the mountain causing avalanche to further enclose the lair deep within the mountain walls.
Alexei lay flat on the snow, his gaze following the movements of the snowflakes that gracefully spiraled down from the sky onto his bearded face. As his heart beat began to slow down, his eyes began to blur and drowsiness seemed to be aiding him into a deep slumber. Just before his eyes came to close, he saw a great brightness radiating towards him.
Three luminous supernatural beings were sitting close to him – his mother Maria, his father Gavril and another that resembled an angel with widely spread wings, carrying a sheathed sword beside its waist. Alexei felt his mother's tender touch on his cheek and as he closed his eyes, he heard a sweet voice saying, "Not yet, my son… Your time in this earthly realm has not yet come to pass…" Listening to the voice's echo slowly fade away, Alexei drifted into a deep state of unconsciousness.
A week had passed since Kaleena awoke from her coma yet her recovery was rather delayed. This wasn't a surprise as having had the poisonous blood of a dead werewolf circulating in her bloodstream for ten long years would surely tamper with the normal functionality of a human's vital organs. Though she was able to move about on her own but she was quite dependent on using a walking stick as she had partially lost her vision on her left eye causing her to view things and people in a foggy image but her right eye was as sharp as ever.
Sitting outside of her home on a miniature wooden stool, attending to her garden planted with edelweiss flowers, Kaleena heard a familiar voice speaking to her, "You know…they say the white color of the edelweiss flower symbolizes purity and innocence…do you agree?" Peering hard to see who it was who was speaking, her sight was hindered by the tall bushes of flowers and the bright shine of the early morning sun. In her nervousness she replied, "You seem to know quite a bit about the edelweiss… perhaps you could come here and tell me more about it…"
Hearing the cracking of the dry leaves as the stranger took one step at a time, coming closer and closer, Kaleena's heart started to pulsate faster and her hands gripped tightly to her walking stick, in readiness to strike if the person approaching should intend to cause her harm. Finally reaching her, the stranger crouched down and said, "But of course Miss Kaleena Dementy…after all, the edelweiss is my favorite flower…" Now having the stranger close at eye's view, she could see clearly who it was.
Kaleena's eyes gleamed in delightfulness as sparkling tears came trickling down her cheek. Alexei embraced her tightly as she placed her head on his chest and said, "You finally came…I thought you had forgotten about me…" Stroking her long shiny black hair, Alexei replied, "I may forget myself and all other things in this world…but I will never once ever forget about you…"
Tugging onto his shirt, she said in a worried voice, "I was so worried! I thought you may have been killed!"
With a broad and a relieved smile on his face, Alexei replied, "At one point, I thought I would have died, but I suppose God has given me another purpose to continue living…" Then placing both his hands on Kaleena's rosy cheeks, he said, "After all, I am the Omega who defeated the Alpha…"
Alexei and Kaleena had a fulfilling life ahead of them and as always, the war between good and evil will continue on but for now, mankind can enjoy a period of peace as long as the 'defender of mankind' stands between them and the realm of Lycanthropes.
~ The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man ~
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn