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*Bez Soznaniya Krasa* Mistik Refuge (BurningWillows & Georgie_Leech)

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She had caught a small break with the witch. After lengthily confirming she was a indeed a supernatural, the witch opened up. The supernatural community was larger in Toronto than Nina had expected. Katerina explained her reason for meeting, how Mor had a refuge and he wanted to help those that needed it. The witch, Melanie, wanted to know more about the Refuge, skeptical about its purpose. Nina assured her it was exactly as it was called, a Refuge. It was a little cut of relaxation away from Toronto...

"Somewhere where supernaturals can be themselves, with out worrying about hiding their nature's."

"But you said there are humans there?"

"Only because Drew needs the money to keep his facility running. Once he has the clientele he is looking for, there won't be a need for humans to come by."

She mused over it, staring out the window of the pub. Nina took the chance to look around the room, her eyes locking onto the bartender. He seemed to be watching her from the corner of his eye, pretending to be busy with washing down the counters but always keeping his body towards the two girls.

"I might know a few," Melanie finally piped up, reurning her attention to Nina, "But I want to do my own research on this place, before spreading the word. I trust you being a werewolf, but being as I've never seen you around here before I can't completely trust your word."

"Trust Derek's," Nina replied, "He knows me."

Melanie nodded, "I'll make some calls. I can make no promises though."

Nina thanked her, and they talked a little longer about the community. When Melanie left Nina moved to a spot at the bar, smiling at the bartender as she dialed Mor's number into her phone and clicked call.
 
Mor gave a start when Miss Jones shook him from his brief sleep. "Um, yeah, Dr. Mor? The new girl is on the line? Says she's, uh, found some potential clients, or something. I can tell her you're, you know, busy though, if you like?" She looked at him expectantly.

Mor yawned. "Thank you, Miss Jones. I'll be there shortly." He was a little puzzled by her disappointed look, but made no particular note of it. Stretching, he set the book on the fireplace mantel and went to the phone at the front desk. Remaining standing, he picked up the receiver. "Good afternoon, Dr. Mor speaking. This is Miss- er, Nina?" He stifled another yawn as he spoke.
 
"You are even oddly polite even on the phone," Nina laughed, feeling a little more at ease talking to him, "I have updates."

She waited for Mor to reply than continued, "I met a girl who knows, erm, potential clients. She is going to contact you if she has any extra questions, and tell others to do the same. I also have a website being built for you. I know you never asked me to, but I thought maybe it could help draw in clients as well. Still tracking down my last contact and then I'm done for the day. I'm meeting a car dealer later today, and I'm hoping to get a car as soon as possible. Is everything okay there?"
 
Mor was surprised. Just like that, and Nina was finding potential clients. He had known the supernatural community was insular, but this... I would never have guessed that just being a supernatural creature would have made it that much easier to gain their trust. Maybe she'd been making efforts to connect with them before this, or maybe she has a contact who has.

"That's fantastic news! I'm glad to hear things are going smoothly. And a new website sounds like a fantastic idea. I'm sure you've found someone who can set it up far better than my amateur efforts." Mor struggled to hold another yawn in. "Everything's fine on my end. Nothing to concern yourself with. I hope the last meeting goes smoothly."
 
"I hope so too," Nina mumbled, eyeing the bartender, "Any other work you want me to do in Toronto? After today's appointments I'm kind of done everything you gave me."

Because you're too efficient, her thoughts added snidely, You finished work that should've taken weeks in a day.
 
Mor was caught off-guard. He wasn't sure what else he could have Nina do. "Um, honestly you've managed more than I could have ever expected in a day. I'm afraid I don't have any other work for you, at least not immediately. If you like I could stop by town later and bring you here after the last appointment. Let you explore the grounds, get a little more familiar with Mistik. Of course I will drop you off back in the city wherever you need after."
 
She agreed to getting picked up around six, giving her two hours. She called the car dealer and rescheduled to the day after tomorrow, and then sat quietly at the bar. After a few minutes the bartender came over, a fake smile plastered on his face.

"Can I get you anything?"

She breathed in heavily, trying to puzzle him out by scent. He didn't smell like another wolf, or a vampyre. Witches and warlocks had no distinct smell, but this man did, although it was very faint. It almost smelt like...ash.

"Half-demon," she muttered, low enough that only he heard, and then spoke louder, "Could I just get some water?"

He nodded, turning away from her, "You new around these parts?"

Nina looked around to see if anyone else was listening. Being as it was still the middle of the day there were few people. One sat on the opposite sid of the bar, staring into his drink, while two drunk men tried to play billards in the far corner of the pub. A waitress walked around slowly, wiping down tables and cleaning up drinks.

"Yeah, I'm new."

"How are you liking Toronto?"

"My community is, rezoniruyushchiy...vibrant."

He paused, but tried to cover it up with a cough and continued moving behind the counter, "Toronto is full of vibrant people, right you are."

She smiled as he set her drink down, "Thank you."

She took a sip and had to fight the urge to spit it out. The water stung her mouth like hell, and it felt like her tongue was on fire. She forced it down her throat, burning her as it went. One sniff of her drink and she cursed herself. Derek had warned her about wolfsbane. Blinking back tears she unsteadily put the glass down and stood up. Her vision was off and she looked her the red glaring lights of an exit sign. Seeing one, she followed it half blind, her stomach curling in itself with pain. She reached the door and pushed, but instead of finding herself back on the street, she was in a long hallway instead.

"Wrong way little wolf," the bartender was behind her, his voice sounding annoyed.
 
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Nina shook her head to try and clear the dizziness. The wolfsbane may have hurt going down her throat, but it was handicapping her now. If the bartender took a swing she wasn’t sure she could deflect it.

“What is your problem?” she growled, her Russian accent making it hard to understand her words.

He grabbed her by the elbow and pushed her farther into the hallway, “You’re in my pub, so I could ask you the same thing.”

“Instead you give me wolfsbane,” she barked, wrenching her arm from him, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Wouldn’t have taken long, bloody wolf,” he snapped, “This is my pub, not your feeding ground!”

I think he has vamps mixed up with wolves. We don’t kill, or even need to feed.

“I’m leaving than,” she snapped back, “Wanna let me go in one piece, or are you going to try another dirty trick and drag my body out of here?”

He moved out of the way slightly, so that she could walk back through the pub. She stopped, however, inches beside him, and spoke without turning her head.

“I actually came here to talk to you, but obviously Derek didn’t know the pub was off limits to werewolves. I’ll make sure to pass the news along.”

He seemed to freeze, recognizing the name. Derek wasn’t any form of authority, or held any position to take authority –he was just very popular. He made frequent visits from New York to Toronto, and had gained a wide reputation. The contacts he had given her knew him well, and trusted his word. She knew others in the community had a respect and love for him too. He was a social butterfly, always making friends.

The look in the bartenders eyes told her he knew all this too, and damning himself to Derek would be a hurtful blow to his pub. As far as Nina knew she was the only werewolf residing in Toronto, but that didn’t mean other species would turn away from the bar when Derek did.

“Bitch,” he swore as she leaned against the door back into the bar.

She turned and smiled at him, showing off her dazzling white teeth before disappearing through the door. She didn’t look back to see if he was following, and she kept her eyes from straying to the other customers. Once outside, she found a bench a few stores down and waited for Drew there, trying to clear her fogyish brain. She sent a text to Derek about the pub, as well as that the vampyre was a dull lead. Derek could do with the information as he pleased; she didn’t really care about what happened to it, as long as she didn’t have to step foot in there again.

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Taryn stood in the shower for what felt like hours. Not crying, just staring at the tiled wall in a daze. The lukewarm water cascaded down her bare back, but she hardly noticed it. Jess’ computer was lying outside the bathroom, on her bed. What the hell am I supposed to do with this information?

Well, she knew one thing. She needed to track down this Dr. Mor person. She had left the flyer in Jess’ apartment, and there was no way she’d go back now. She hoped there would be something online, giving her a phone number, or an email address.

Finally she stepped out of her bathroom, wrapped in a cozy pink towel. She moved to the kitchen, fixing herself a sandwich, than plunked herself in front of her flat screen T.V and turned on cartoons. She wasn’t paying attention to them, but the noise was soothing as her thoughts tripped over themselves again and again, trying to come up with a plan.

Jess was dead. There was a killer out there making his next move, and somehow Jess was involved. She was here for Dr. Mor. Does that make him involved too?

I need a drink! she moaned, wishing there was alcohol in her apartment. She had to settle for coffee though, which still helped the numbing buzz spreading through her. After two cups she got dressed in plain black jeans and a purple t-shirt, donning well-worn sneakers. Curling back on the couch with her own laptop, she let Jess’ computer sit beside her as she pulled up google on her screen.

There were no social media ties to whoever Dr. Mor was. She automatically placed him as older, probably in his thirties of forties. She didn’t know a single person under thirty that didn’t have a twitter account.

There were a bunch of dead ends, and one hopeful link. It connected to a site, called mistikrefuge.ca, but the whole site was empty except for a large white header on the black screen that wrote ‘Mistik Refuge’ in bold letters, and a paragraph underneath it.

Site is currently under construction, and will be up by the end of this week. This site is for Mistik Refuge, a facility outside of Toronto for those looking for a nature escape. The owner and founder, Dr. Mor, would like to apologize for any inconvenience with the site being down. If you are looking to contact Dr. Mor at Mistik Refuge, please use the following phone number or email address. Thank you.
​

Taryn pulled out her phone and dialed in the phone number. A friendly female voice answered, and with a few subtle questions she learned there were openings to see Dr. Mor by tomorrow. She scheduled an appointment at noon, trying to keep her identity vague. No one could know what she was up to until she met this elusive doctor.
 
Mor drove into town in his old Civic. It was nothing flashy, but Mor always made sure to have it checked regularly. In his view, a car was a means of getting from Point A to Point B, and that wasn't served by a car breaking down. He had enough saved away that he could afford to have preventative maintenance done, rather than waiting for things to fall apart.

As Mor approached the bar they had agreed to meet at, he found Nina a few doors down on a bench. He had never put much stock in the stereotype of the drunk Russian, but he had to admit Nina certainly fit the bill. She was wobbling where she sat, muttering angrily to herself, looking rather lost and confused. He slowly pulled up, set the car in park, and got out; she didn't seem to notice.

He cleared his throat as he opened the side door. "Hello, Nina." His voice betrayed his faint disbelief. "I think it's a good thing we arranged this before hand. Are you quite alright?"
 
"Glupyy barmen, so svoyey glupoy litso, i yego krovavoy pabe! Eto vlagalishche dolzhen poyti i umeret' v adu. Mudak davat' narkotiki menya, dazhe ne davaya mne vozmozhnost' vyskazat'sya. Rasistskiye ublyudok." Nina muttered under her breath in a huff as she stumbled to a car. Sitting on the bench she had started to believe the wolfbane was out of her system, but the minute she stood her blurry vision came back, and she became light headed and disoriented. If she was in any right state of mind she'd march back into that pub and teach that man a thing or two about werewolves tempers. Instead, she sat in Mor's passengers seat with her arms crossed, ranting on in Russian.

"Chert, chto chelovek. Davat' narkotiki mne, chto ya nekotoryye otsenka."
 
Mor started driving while the young werewolf mumbled and slurred her way through something in Russian. When she paused for a moment, he interjected. "I take it from the state your in the last appointment didn't go so well? What happened?"
 
Nina blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings. It was easy for her, in her anger, to forget those around her couldn't speak Russian. But Drew couldn't, and his questioning look told her she needed to explain.

"Bartender spiked my drink with wolfsbane. Wanted to make a message out of me. Everything is sideways, and my vision is blurry."
 
Mor glanced at Nina through the rear-view mirror. "Well, you've certainly got the dizziness for it. Based on the fact that you're not expelling everything you ate today I assume you mean the werewolf-specific kind? Otherwise we'll need to take you to the hospital. Immediately."

He took the next exit onto the 401. "If you do mean the Aconitum veneficius supernum, you're in luck actually. I happen to know a remedy for that one. It tastes terrible, and you'll feel very... unpleasant, for about five minutes, but it would save the hours the hours it will take for it to work its way out of your system normally."
 
Nina nodded, trying to keep her stomach from twisting any tighter. The bumps on the road were going to make her expel everything she ate. So she closed her eyes, muttered something about resting until they got the remedy, and tried to focus on nothing but her breathing. Soon enough her eyelids were getting heavier and her breathing slowed as she dozed off.

Standing down an empty hall, the walls washed in plain white that burns the back of her retinas. This is wrong, she thought, and her words trigger something dark, the hallway filling with the sounds of screams and shrieks from hundreds of people. Blood spatters up and down the walls from invisible sources, foul smells wrap Nina up in a cocoon until she can't breath through the stench. Everything seems to pull at her, touch her and tug, devour her than spit her out. She closes her eyes, her scream lost in the sea of others, falling to her knees...

Something slaps her face, cutting her scream short. She blinks, looking at the grass in front of her. Letting her hands fall forward, she feels the grass. Something shiny is just between her hands, hidden by a few stems. She touches it and pulls away as the sticky, warm substance coats the tip of her finger. Blood. Blood? Nina falls back as the blood spreads from her finger to her hand, covering her skin in the dark red, travelling up her arm. Devouring her. Everything must be devoured. She screams, clawing at the dirt as the blood covers her body. A sea of blood. Blood in the halls. Blood wherever she runs. Now she is running. Running as fast as her bare feet will take her down the empty halls. And behind her a sea of blood roars with the screams of its fallen, rushing to meet her and take her in too.

Must run. Must keep running forever. Never stop. Nina screams as high as her voice will allow, the blood smacking into her back and sprawling her below. Her screams echo around her as she writhes in pain...

A voice woke her, yelling over the echoing screams. Someone was shaking her arm. She jolted forward, stopped by some cord holding her against her seat from her shoulder to her waist. A seatbelt. She was in Mor's car. Still is.

Beads of sweat dripped down her face as she turned her groggy eyes towards him, seeing the panic on his face. Does he hear the screams too? Why are they still here?
 
Mor could see it as Nina's breathing slowed and she drifted off, but he didn't think she was in any danger. She looked to be falling asleep, not fainting, so he decided on Mistik Refuge over the hospital. She didn't look to be in serious danger, and if it turned out she wasn't genuinely poisoned, the hospital would raise too many uncomfortable questions about her symptoms. To say nothing about how Nina most likely didn't have any of the paperwork she'd need; it's not like wolves issued birth certificates, regardless of nation. She might have forged documents somewhere, but he certainly didn't have them.

When they made it back to Mistik, he tried to wake Nina by gently shaking her shoulder. She immediately bolted upright and started screaming, straining against her seatbelt. Damn, she must have been having a nightmare. "Nina? Nina! It's okay! You're safe right now. We've made it back safely, you're in no danger." Mor was desperately trying to calm her down. I hope the panic doesn't make her transform; I've seen stress force the change on her before. With the wolfsbane still in her, that could get really messy, really quick.
 
She heard a male voice talking to her, and for a split second she fell into a memory of her time in the asylum, however brief. The doctor...Dr. Demsky...who was more a monster than her, was grabbing her, tying her down to slice her open. Nina screamed harder, wrenching away from his grasp. She fell to her side and hit something. A wall maybe, or a railing? She felt glass and smack it with the palms of her hand, feeling it bend. His hands went to grab her again and she flailed helplessly, her eyesight useless, her senses failing her. He was going to cut her...he was going to destroy her.

Something hard slapped her in her face, shutting her down. Her scream cut off and her whole body slumped in her seat. She didn't dare open her eyes, breathing heavily through her nose as her surroundings came back to her. She was in a car...with Drew. Dr. Demsky was a nightmare, nothing more.

She tried to moan, but her voice cracked and came out as a chuff. She could feel with her tongue the sharpness of her teeth, that while they were naturally sharper than humans had grown slightly longer. The hair on the back of her neck was raised high and she didn't notice till now but the back of her hands felt oddly hairy. In her panic her body had turned towards her last defense: Change. She thanked her luck Mor caught her before that happened. Sweat dribbled down her face as her hair fell around her face to hide her shame.

"S-sorry," she muttered, not daring to look up, "I got...out of hand."

~~

He was too typical. Always got to work at the same time, 8:01 am, and leaving by six. He never left with coworkers, perfering to leave out a back door and cut through the alley behind his work to his car a half block away. The only problem was he worked in a busy area, and there was almost always a person watching. Too risky.

Turn your attention to his home life. He lived alone, which wasn't uncommon in the supernatural community. He always went straight home after work and stayed there till work the next morning. He only left his house on weekends, to visit friends or go to a work BBQ. It wasn't important though. He was home on weekday nights, and wouldn't be missed till 8:02 am the next morning. It didn't take much to break into his apartment building and wait down the hall, jumping him as he tried to open his door. It took more effort to hold the young half-demon down, but he was efficient after all. And it helped that the demon's only power was his power of Sight. Looking through walls wasn't going to help against an attacker. Soon he was unconscious on the ground.

As a serial killer, this would be a glorious moment. A chance to go slow and savor every moment, detailing every injury to their untimely death. Instead, he went to work throwing the half-demon in a bathtub full of hot water, careful to take the man's clothes off first and toss them in the laundry. Once the unconscious man was lying comfortably, he pulled the toaster from the kitchen, plugged it in, and grabbed both hands of the man, making him hold it as he let it go into the water. When the police found him, it would have all the evidence of a suicide. The supernatural community was good at destroying evidence from the other deaths, but it also meant they were on to his game. They knew he was after supernaturals. So he would fry the half-demon, and the only traces left would be that of a dead man.
 
Mor could hardly believe he had actually slapped her. He had to do something to shock Nina back to reality and away from her nightmare, but violence rarely came easy to him. I guess I panicked when I saw fur starting to sprout.

Mor gently put a hand on her shoulder. "It's understandable. You've had an extremely rough time of it lately, and the wolfsbane wasn't helping at all. The stuff messes with you; dizziness, hallucinations, loosens inhibitions... I'm glad you were able to hold out as long as you did. No one was hurt, and that's all that matters, okay?

"Speaking of which, let's see about getting you that cure." Mor got out of the car and went over to the garden and green house. Using a couple of rubber gloves that he kept in his pocket (Mor had gotten into the habit of having gloves on hand long ago), he quickly gathered an assortment of leaves and petals from a variety of flowering plants. He'd have to mix them inside; he still had various chemistry apparatuses from his previous work in a drawer in his office.
 
Nina waited a few minutes inside the car, intent on lagging behind. She could chalk it up to the wolfbane, saying she was slow but truely she was just pouting. She had acted immature and out of line in front of Drew, endangering both of them.

When she felt enough time had passed she slowly climbed out and slammed the door shut as she shuffled around the front of the car, following Drew's path up towards his greenhouse. She wasn't sure what he was thinking of making, but she wasn't going to argue either if it helped.

Anything to bring back my senses, she thought, letting a soft growl escape her lips.
 
Mor looked back at the slightly swaying Nina and debated on whether she needed assistance making it inside. On the one hand, I don't want her falling over. On the other hand, her prideful nature must be having a hard enough time with her current weakness without making particular note of it. Better to pretend I didn't notice, unless she actually falls. Having gathered all the components for his cure (being careful not to damage the plants in the process), he turned to the main lodge. That said, the stairs would be a bad idea; if she does fall, she could badly hurt herself and take me with her.

Mor held the door open for Nina. "It won't take me long to prepare this," he explained. "While you're waiting, have a seat in the lounge area. Unless you'd prefer to wait outside?" he added as an afterthought.
 
She looked around in a daze, obviously confused, "Uh...outside I guess."

She didn't know why she wanted to stay outdoors, when the idea of a chair sounded wonderful. Maybe it was the chirping birds or the sharp intake of fresh air every time she took a gulp. While Mor dashed inside she let her eyes close and her body relax, trying to ignore everything but the sounds around her. As long as she didn't move, she was sure she wouldn't fall over until he came back. That was...if she could keep her balance.

Nina fell back with a sudden whoosh, landing hard on her back. She didn't stir, or even try to move from her position to get comfortable. She just continued to listen to the birds, her eyes blinking open now and then to look up at the bright sky. It's getting worse, she thought, Can't even keep my balance with my eyes close. I hope Drew knows what he's doing.
 
"Alright then. I won't be long." Mor wasted no time in taking the stairs down to his office. Almost compulsively organised, he had no trouble locating the box with his old equipment. Nothing fancy, but then he really only needed the Bunsen burner to boil a flask of water with two of the flowers. Really, it was more tea than medicine. The rest would be either shredded or pulped and added to the tea. The wolfsbane has been in her system long enough that I can't use the actual antidote. Besides, I doubt I could get the right compounds outside of a proper lab. This should block the neuroreceptors the wolfsbane is messing with though, giving her werewolf-enhanced metabolism a chance to process the other toxin.

When the tea was all mixed and ready, he rinsed out a water bottle he had used the day before and poured the concoction into it. Taking the stairs two at a time, he rushed out to give it to Nina, who he found lying on the ground just off to the side of the door, breathing gently. I was definitely right to not let her take the stairs. Seeing that her eyes were still open, he cleared his throat. "Here, you'll need to drink this," he said, handing her the bottle. "It will taste terrible, and you'll have a splitting headache for about five minutes, but you'll feel better afterward. All of it, mind. Careful, it's still a little hot."
 
She ignored his cautions and down it in one go, enjoying the strong burn as the hot liquid seared the back of her throat. The pain was a momentary relief from her dizziness, but all too soon her headache was back and it had grown stronger. She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her bare arms around them, letting her knees cradle her head.

"It hurts," she barked through the numbing headache, "How...much longer?"

The forest was right behind her and she ached to run to it, to drop down and Change and for a moment forget the annoying headache. Yes her Changes were harder, but they were only momentary. This headache felt never ending.
 
Mor was torn between laughing at the amazing expression on Nina's face and sympathy for the obvious pain. It's like the mother of all hangovers. It won't last long, but as long as that stuff is in her system, it will dilate her blood vessels, particularly those in her brain. With the increased heart rate, she'll feel every pulse. Fortunately it breaks down relatively quickly, so the migraine won't last long. Really, she's doing most of the work; it just gets it out of her brain so her liver can do the hard work.

I'm still not entirely sure what it is about werewolf brains that makes them vulnerable to Aconitum veneficius supernum. The fact that both human- and wolf- base werewolves are affected, and no other supernatural creatures or people are, is evidence that it's something specific to werewolves. How curious that a naturally poisonous plant Genus should become so specific. I wonder if was a deliberate change; if someone or a group of someone's bred it to be werewolf-specific. Perhaps during the witch hunts, or even earlier. It would certainly be useful if so; poison a well, wipe out only the werewolves, and the regular humans don't even notice. It would be easy to then round up the sick, or even kill if the dose was high enough...

Mor shook himself out of his musings as Nina began looking more alert and less in pain. "There we are. I know that felt terrible, but it shouldn't have any lasting effects. Feeling more clear headed?"
 
She rubbed her head as she got to her feet, "Feel like I could use a run. Next time I see that bartender, remind me to hit him...hard."

As the last of her side effects faded and she finally felt her senses coming back she added, "Thanks for helping."

She eyed the forest again, then shrugged off the ache crawling under her skin. She needed to focus on helping more, not running through the trees chasing rabbits and squirrels. Even if they both tasted amazing...
 
Mor glanced at the sun, still relatively high in the sky. "Well, it might cut into tour time, but it's not like there's much to show you at this point. You could go for a run if you wanted. The trail is fairly level, though I'm sure you wouldn't have much trouble if it wasn't, eh?

"In fact..." Mor glanced around to see if anyone was listening, then decided on caution anyway. "Make sure you stick to the trail though. We back onto a nature preserve, so it's relatively easy to get lost where there aren't any people around.

"It's your call though. Tour, running, or running."
 
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