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

Mor nodded. "It's a long story, but I used to work as a doctor for various kinds of supernaturals. During my time as a doctor, I did some research into various medical treatments. I actually have a couple of options, or would if I had the proper materials. The ideal solution is a compound I developed that basically supercharges the already advanced metabolism of werecreatures, causing them to heal at an accelerated pace when transforming. Essentially, they transform into an uninjured version of themselves, for flesh wounds at least. Gives them the equivalent of an intense caffeine high for a few hours as well."

Mor sighed regretfully. "Unfortunately, the medicine denatures quickly, so it can't be prepared in advance. It reverts to an inert substance within a few hours. Worse, the plants I extract the ingredients from aren't in season here, and I haven't managed to get them growing in my greenhouse. Special ordering them will take a few days, if I rush the order. In the mean time, I can use a special thread with silver filaments for stitches. It won't exactly be comfortable, but it inhibits the transformation enough that if she goes human, she won't pop her stitches out and start bleeding everywhere. They'll last long enough that I can get what I need to more permanently treat her."

Taryn nodded along listening. They were only a few minutes from the highway, and that would lead them back to Dr. Mor's refuge. She tried to focus, but Nina's whimpers continued to distract her. When her whimper cut off in a snort Taryn adjusted her rearview mirror to check on Nina, and almost swerved into oncoming traffic.

"Dr. Mor, you may want to think up a new plan!" Taryn groaned, getting back into her lane and checking over her shoulder, "Or we are going to have a bleeding girl in the back seat very soon!"


Katerina could barely lift her head off the seat and she tried and failed to here what Drew was saying. Her ears rang and her nose was filled with the stench of blood. She tried to see if any of her body would move and felt her spine crack from unuse -and then crack again.

And the crack turned into a tremor that ran through her body and alerted every last nerve what was going to happen next.

Mor looked back to see the wolf starting to twist unsettlingly. "Oh hell." Excessive stress or pain can force a transformation. It's usually the other way around, but it can happen this way rarely. Mor wasn't sure what to do.

Mor was feeling desperate. "Is anyone looking at us right now?" When Taryn said there wasn't, Mor undid his seat belt, took a deep breath, then awkwardly climbed between the front seats, trying not to shove Taryn too much. He had to be back there to apply pressure on the wound when she transformed. I'm glad I thought to tape it on, so it will stay on for longer during the transformation, but there's no way it will stay on when she's in her much skinnier human form.

Nina twisted as her spine crackled and the first bones started to break. She clamped her muzzle shut, refusing to show any more weakness as the Change took over. Drew was suddenly there, putting pressure on the wound and Nina shut her eyes, thankful she couldn't blush as a wolf. This Change felt elaborately long, stretching out longer than any other. She wondered if her injured state was causing it, or fear of having the stranger see her naked. These thoughts swirled around as every bone in her body broke exaggeratingly slow and rehealed itself into position. Her fur started to shrink back into her skin even before all her bones had settled.

With a weird burst her fur shrank back rapidly and the last of her bones fell into place, leaving the young wolf in her human body. Immediately she started shivering, hating that this form was always so cold. She'd question Drew later as to why she Changed when injured, especially since she was naturally a wolf and her weakened state shouldn't have been able to Change at all.

She put one of her hands over Drew's as she sat up, applying the same pressure he was, and spoke in an husky voice "I can do this now Drew, thank you."

She noticed the blush filling his cheeks and did her best to ignore it, unashamed of her cloth-less state. She threw a look of daggers at the girl driving, happy that she hadn't looked back yet. Friends were one thing. She wasn't fond of flaunting her body for any strangers.

She added more pressure to the wound and it flamed up, causing fire through her entire side, "Mat' vsekh ogney , chto bolit!"

Her throat felt dry, and her accent skewed when she spoke, like she had scraped her vocal box across gravel. She cleared it, but the odd tone remained and she gulped down air, hoping the pain coursing through her would lessen.

"Who's the girl, Mor?" Nina asked, her voice low and commanding, getting straight to the point.

Mor coughed and handed Nina his jacket so she had a semblance of warmth and decency. "Nina, this is Taryn, the girl you saw earlier. Taryn, Nina. Your turn. What on earth happened back there?"

"Katerina," Nina corrected, glaring down Taryn through her rear-view mirror, "You can call me as Katerina."

She turned her eyes to Drew, and they softened, "Thank you for the first aid."

His last question begged more answers than she had herself and as the confusion flashed across her eyes she saw Drew register it before she even spoke, "I don't know. I thought I was perfectly hidden."


"Well you weren't," Taryn cut in, being careful not to look back a second time in case the werewolf was glaring at her again.

Taryn ignored any more of the werewolf's quips and turned her attention on Dr. Mor who was returning to his seat in the front, "I warned you it was coming. We shouldn't have gone back to her place."


"I just got attacked by a psycho," Katerina leaned forward between the two front seats, the jacket covering her decently enough, "Let's not play secrets here."

When no one immediately responded she let out a low, threatening growl, "Crazy man with a knife found me in a bush, dragged me out and pounced. I'm alive because I"m a werewolf, and I STILLmade it out, just. Your turn girl! Why did you take Drew there...no wait..."

Nina went over Taryn words again, "You KNEW this could happen? You took him knowing the psycho was out there? Dlya yebat' pol'zy! Am I wrong? Drew how could you?"

Before they could say anything she cut them both off, "That is the most reckless plan I've ever heard. You..Taryn...did it not occur to you to not encourage this man? And Dr. Drew Mor, how could you leave, without telling me? Thank bozhestvo I came."

She blew out her breath and fell back into her seat muttering, "Good thing he found me before you."

Mor sighed and rubbed the spot between his eyes. It wasn't as simple as Nina made it out to be, and in hindsight he should have clued in to Taryn's nervousness being more than just thoughts about Jess. He had also picked up on her phrasing. That said, he didn't enjoy the way Nina seemed to be getting possessive over him. Still, she had a point. "You're right, I should have said something. I apologise. When I saw you drawing so calmly, you seemed more relaxed than I'd seen you before, and didn't want to disturb you. Normally I would have expected you to notice me coming out; the door to my office was visible from where you were sitting. Instead I left a note with Miss Jones, who I suppose I never occurred to you to check with," he finished wryly.

Mor glanced over at Taryn. "I thought that would be sufficient because I wasn't aware of any immediate danger. In the future, Miss Taryn, if you suspect that a course of action is dangerous, I expect you to tell me about it." Nina was right. If she hadn't followed them, it was very possible that whoever had attacked her would have run into the two of them instead. However he was finding out, there was a strong chance the attacker would have recognised Taryn as... whatever she was, and gone for the kill. Perhaps he would have bided his time with a witness there, but somehow Mor got the feeling that he would have been disposed of instead. Unlike Nina, he had no particular strengths as a combatant. He had once tried to learn staff fighting when he was younger; he had to pull out when another kid broke his nose.

Mor sighed. "Now, if you suspected someone could be there or it might be dangerous, why didn't you say something?"

Taryn chewed on her bottom lip, merging into the right lane to and a few extra seconds before she had to inevitably answer, "When I found out Jess...died...I went to her apartment and tore the place apart. I found the laptop, and spent all night looking through it. In the morning, someone came in. I didn't see his face or anything. I hid in the closest until he left."

"How did he not look in the closest but he found me in a bush?"

Taryn nodded, "I have the power to become shadows. I left the closest open and hid in plain sight so he wouldn't look too closely. I'm not even sure it was the same guy. He wasn't looking for me or Jess, just something. I don't know, okay? I just knew when we were going back that there was a chance he'd show up again. I didn't think a serial killer would show up for Katerina."


"A serial killer!" Nina eyes widened, unsure what serial meant but knowing that anything followed with 'killer' was nothing good. She looked over at Drew with worry and anger, "She's joking right?"

Mor felt like kicking himself. Of course she wouldn't be following local news. "Unfortunately, she's not kidding."

Mor sat in thought for a moment. "Hm... let me see if I can sum up. Over the last few weeks, there's been a unusual increase in the number of murders in the Toronto area. Miss Taryn here was friends with a girl named Jess, a dryad living in the city." A little unusual, honestly. Perhaps related to her sending Taryn to me? "On the surface there isn't anything connecting the victims, but Jess figured out that all of the victims were supernatural; werewolves, vampires, and the like. Jess herself was one of the victims. Apparently Taryn found some of her documents that contained her findings, though it's extremely cryptic in nature. There was also apparently a note telling her to find me." Also a name for something or someone I've never heard of, but that doesn't seem terribly relevant, unless it turns out that's the name of the murderer or something. "We were going to Jess' apartment to make sure we actually had all of the documents, since this is going to be a tricky enough puzzle without also missing pieces. We didn't find anything, so either we have them all, or, more worryingly, this mystery intruder may have some."

After he finished his summary, he looked at Taryn. "I apologise if you wanted to keep any of this secret, but Nina has earned my trust, and I'm sure you'd agree getting attacked makes her involved with this."

Nina snorted, "Attacked or not, I'm in."

She paused for a few seconds, staring out the window, "When we get back to the Refuge I need to talk to you alone Mor. Then I'd like to speak with Taryn."

She didn't leave room for argument, her tone finalizing it. They drove in silence until they reached the refuge and Nina jumped out of the still rolling car, striding towards the trees, "Drew, meet in your cabin. That office is small."

Once she was in the privacy of the of the trees she took off in a run, letting Drew's jacket billow around her. She retraced her steps back to where her clothes were, dressing quickly. She slipped his jacket back over her tank, letting it fall around her small frame. Once she was fully dressed she made her way back, jogging up to Drew's cabin and knocking lightly on his door. Her side was on fire, and with her adrenaline fading she was beginning to shiver and a few tears prickled the corners of her eyes.

"Drew..." Nina leaned her head on the door, willing him to hurry up, her shoulders beginning to shake with the weight of the day.

Mor made sure that Taryn was alright on her own for now, then left her in the library area of the Main lodge. He told Miss Jones to direct her to the mess hall if she got hungry before he returned, then set off for his cabin. He got out his medical kit so he could more properly bandage Nina when she got there, and started boiling water, both for tea and so he could properly clean the wound in her side.

He heard a knock at the door, and opened it to find a Nina on the verge of tears. Shaking faintly, she looked about ready to collapse, and blood was starting to ooze from around her hand and into her shirt. He paled. "Good lord, you ran here didn't you? I know we need to talk, but there's no sense hurting yourself to make it happen faster. Here, come inside and we'll get that cleaned up."

"He had a knife," she choked, taking his arm and his help inside, "Drew, he wanted to hurt me."

She sniffled back the tears, still shaking as she followed his lead, feeling the warm blood slowly oozing past the fabric and between her fingers. She shouldn't have run; she must have stretched out the wound and started the bleeding once more. And even with her inhuman healing rate, this wound would still take a few days before it fully healed. If she kept opening it though, it would take much longer. And the last thing she needed was a infected wound too.

"I n-need to sit," she mumbled, aware that she was falling apart in front of him and unable to hold herself together much longer.

Mor quickly pulled one of his stools closer for Nina to sit on. "Easy there. It's alright, we can take care of this now. No one is going to hurt you here." Once she was seated, he got her to lift her shirt enough for him to see the wound, which he started to clean with a cloth dampened by the hot water. He did his best to ignore her hiss of discomfort whenever he brushed over the open wound. That part had to be cleaned as well, though he tried to be gentle as possible. Now that immediate danger had passed, he had time to examine the wound a little more closely. It was a long, narrow gash that passed between her ribs. One end was considerably more shallow, showing where she had probably jerked away at the last second; any deeper and it would have hit her lung. Worse, a slight burn around the wound said it had been made with a silver knife.

Mor straightened. "Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that the wound is clean and should heal up regardless of what we do, so long as you take it easy and don't exert yourself too much. The bad news is that the guy that attacked you used a silver knife. Luckily, unlike bullets that tend to leave bits of silver in the wound, this will just hurt more than most cuts, and it will leave a wicked scar if we don't treat it a specific way. Do you want to talk about treatment options, or... whatever it is you wanted to talk about earlier?"

Nina pulled her shirt back down, swallowing the sting as the fabric rubbed the wound, "I'll be fine, but thank you for cleaning it..."

She wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for days. She felt like running till there was no more breath in her lungs and her muscles were on fire. Or hide so deep in the ground no one could see the white of her hair. But instead she was here with Drew, wiping away tears angrily.

"What were you thinking? Ne ochevidno, nichego!" She lashed out, louder than she meant to be, "How could you leave with some stranger? What the hell?!"

She cut off his answer, "How can I protect you when you're running into the first sign of danger? You promised! You promised to be careful, and keep me involved. Vy glupyy rebenok! You could of died! Had he found you...you...how...after that, that place," she spat the word, unable to mouth Belua, "How the hell could you do that to me?"

Mor winced, knowing she had a point. Looking back, he really had jumped into this. "I'm... I'm sorry. I should have told you. I should have trusted you to be able to handle this, instead of thinking you had dealt with enough. I should have followed the spirit of my promise to not meddle with the supernatural world instead of just the letter."

He folded his arms, beginning to assert himself a bit. His training urged him to be gentle, but getting shouted at after he'd done everything he could to save her life was starting to hurt. "But still, I've never been the type of person that can turn away when someone needs my help. Not to mention that I was apparently involved in this whether I knew about it or not. This dryad, Jess, sent Taryn to me specifically. Apparently before she was murdered, she was trying to seek me out to give me a message. All I know about it is a name, Oriaen. I couldn't just abandon her."

"Of course you couldn't!" Nina barked back, and again wished she could take it back. Why was she so loud? But now that she had started she couldn't shut it off, like a broken tap her words kept running, "All you men have these stupid thoughts with women in distress. Do any of you think about your family? What could have happened if you died? You are following a paper - a thin lead, with no knowing that this girl can be trusted."

She crossed her arms over her chest, ashamed of the tears falling freely down her cheeks, "Who the hell is Or...Obr...that Oberon dude anyways? And why am I chertov crying!"

And with that she fell apart, her tears becoming sobs and she tipped off balance. Nina hit the floor on her hip and pushed back until she felt the corner of the room against her back. Pulling her knees up to her face, she buried her head until her sobs were muted, feeling her emotions swirl in her head so viciously she wanted to throw up. She was frightened by the attack, and scared for Drew, and angry that she was left out, and in pain, and happy they were alive, and bewildered that she had Changed without warning...and...and...an absolute wreck.

Mor couldn't say anything to that. He simply knelt beside Nina and held her head and shoulders as she cried out the pain and fear and memories that were tormenting her.

She sobbed and sobbed until her cried turned to hiccups and her eyes burnt. She left her head resting on her knees as her shoulder calmed and her stomach unclenched and she could peer around with blurry golden eyes.

"Next time, no matter how bezmyatezhnyy I look, you come to me instead of leaving a note."

She smiled into her knees, even though she was crying. Her English was flowing better by the day. Her accent seemed heavier after crying, but Drew didn't seem to take notice of it. She wiped the last of her tears on her jeans and blinked the blurriness away. Katerina turned her piercing golden eyes on Drew, but they were soft and sad when they looked upon her friend.

"You're all I got. Remember that next time you want to run off without me. I'll let him stab me again with that knife before I let him near of you."

Mor laughed softly. "Lying on the ground, just been stabbed, and you still manage to be commanding. You've got to teach me how to do that sometime." He looked her in the eyes. "Together. From now on, if either of us in trouble, we go into it together."

Mor glanced at the red spots on her shirt; when Nina had pulled it down, it wasn't angled quite the same as when she came in. "Now, would you let me actually treat that cut now? It's the least I can do, and it could save you an uncomfortable few days."

Nina jutted out her bottom lip in a pout but she pushed herself off the ground using the wall for balance and moved back over to the sideways stool, moving it upright and sitting nicely on it, "I'll try not to bite your head off."

She gave a soft, wincing smile as she rolled her shirt up once more. As Drew attended to the wound, she asked him to fill her in on everything Taryn had told him, hoping to gain some insight before she met the new girl.

Mor shook his head as he lifted the shirt. He had just cleaned it. Nina could be so impatient. "I don't know much, to be honest. Today is the first time we've spoken, after all," he admitted ruefully. He explained what she had said during their initial meeting, and offered a few observations of his own. "She seems to be somewhat timid in nature, probably related to her ability to 'become shadow,' as she puts it." I'm not entirely sure what she is yet, but that narrows it down, somewhat. We'll have to see if she develops or possesses any other abilities, he mused. "For what it's worth, I believe her story. So far she's been an utterly terrible at hiding her intentions so far. I suppose it's possible she's being obvious to make other lies seem more plausible, but I think that's getting a tad paranoid."

Mor finished cleaning the wound. He raised a finger. "Now, we've got a couple of options here. The simplest would be just to bandage it up and wait for it to heal. That will take about a week to fully heal, but it will leave a nasty scar and you won't be able to be very active or it'll open itself up again. Shifting into a wolf would be entirely out of the question." He held up a second finger. "Option two would be some basic stitching. This would keep the wound shut better so you can be more active, and it'll reduce scarring. Transforming is even worse with this option though. It runs the risk of the thread being forced out and actually taking some of your side out with it."

A third finger was raised. "The third treatment is one that..." It occurred to Mor that the details of how he discovered the treatment would probably bother her. "...Well, basically I use a silvered thread instead of the usual material for stitches. This will let you transform, though it will feel extremely uncomfortable to do so, and it will itch the rest of the time. Scarring will be worse too."

Mor smiled. "Of course, there's a sort of super option that I can have ready in a few days. A kind of medicine that will jumpstart your metabolism, letting you heal completely the next time you transform. Also give you the equivalent of an intense sugar rush, but that's temporary. Until that's ready though, you'll have to make do with one of the other treatments. What do you think?"

"No stitches," Nina scrunched her nose at the idea of any medical equipment piercing her skin and let Drew fill in the blanks at her request, "I can go without Changing for a bit. Just bandage it up and it'll heal. Maybe I'll get a cool scar for my effort."

Bozhestvo knows I have enough, she thought with a small smirk.

"Once your done here, can we go meet this new friend of yours. I'd like to talk. I know you don't think she is a liar, but instincts tell me we are missing something here."

~~

When he returned the coast was clear; no wolf to be found. The blood had dried into the dirt and it wasn't too hard to mask it by throwing dirt over all of it, hiding the crime scene...if there was one. He searched for a body too, but found none. It didn't bother him though. The young werewolf could have found a hole to hide in while they died. And if she lived? He didn't muse over the idea, sure of himself that he had pierced an organ when he stabbed her. As for his own injuries, he had done his best to clean and bandage them, but his ankle could take weeks to heal properly. Stupid wolf.

Mor did as Nina requested, carefully bandaging the wound. Now that he had the time, he could make the bandage neater, more comfortable, and less likely to fall off if she moved too suddenly. "Ideally we should be changing the bandage once a day until it stops bleeding completely. That should take a few days, but nothing you can't handle I'm sure."

Mor finished up, then led them outside to the lodge. "I know what you mean. I don't think she's lied per se, but there's something she's not telling us." Maybe it's just something she doesn't realise is important, but we need to pull it out anyway.

They walked into the lodge and were redirected to the cafeteria after Miss Jones told them Taryn had left for supper. The cafeteria was buzzing when they entered, not busy with people but the room was alive with chatter from a group sitting in the corner, and the kitchen was loud with the sizzling of supper. While Drew looked for Taryn, Katerina could not help herself but go to the counter and greet Aras in Russian, beaming widely at him.

"You hurt?" he asked, pointing at the blood stain on her shirt.

Nina blushed, covering it with her arm, "Just a minor scratch. Forgot to change."

It felt nice to hear another accent after the day she had and she picked up a conversation with Aras as he cooked, motioning for Drew to find Taryn without her. Her conversation ended as she ordered supper and he told her he'd send a cook out when it was ready. They were between meals, and it would be at least five minutes before another plate was prepared.

"Make one for Drew too please," Nina piped up as an afterthought, "I haven't seen him eat today."

After that she wove her way through the tables, catching sight of Drew's blonde hair and Taryn's dark head. Taryn was playing with her vegetables on her plate, looking tired and confused. As Nina approached she looked up, her expression calm but her eyes wild with worry, "So what is it you want of me?"

"Hello to you too," Nina murmured annoyed already and took a seat beside Mor, "I just had questions. Drew filled me in on what he knew, but there are holes in your theory."

"Oh yeah," Taryn rolled her eyes, "And you think I'm withholding information. I don't know anything more than you do. I told Dr. Mor everything, like Jess asked me to. I'm not doing this because I want to. I'm doing it as a favor for my dead friend."

"It isn't the stuff Jess gave that is hard to swallow."

"Than what is?"

Nina pulled her phone out of her purse. While they were in the lodge she had slipped Drew's jacket off and left it on one of the chairs. On their way out she spotted her purse near the door and realized she must have forgotten it at some point yesterday. She didn't ask, but assumed Drew had brought it in to deliver it to her, or Miss Jones had come and left it there. Nevertheless she had it slung over her shoulder now, and she pulled out her translating app, typing away furiously so that she could get her message across.

"A few things. Starting with how you as-sum-e the same man that came to Jess' place is the cereal killer. And don't you find it cure-i-us that both times you show up to the apartment someone else came looking."

Taryn gave her an odd look and shot a quick gaze at Drew, who seemed to be intent on looking elsewhere. Nina knew her english was choppy at times, and in front of this stranger she didn't feel the ease like she did around Derek or Drew. She swallowed her growing dislike of the child as Taryn retorted "I never assumed, but after you got attacked it made more sense than-"

"More sense than, say, a friend of Jess' finding me and per-see-ving me as a threat? He never gave his name, but he sure knew I was a werewolf. He called me a 'wolf girl'. The in...in-for-mat-on Jess had, she had names, ages, and more that hasn't been uncovered. If she could find him, so could he."

Nina turned towards Drew, hoping he could help her as she continued to struggle with her words coming from the app in her hands, "I haven't heard about the killings on the news. Which means he has not been up front with killing them to prove some message. Even you said they seemed to be a large number of deaths, all un-real-ted except the one fact-or: supernaturals. So why would a cereal killer with enough skill to make deaths seem like random killings or sue-ice-ide-s not know my name?" She turned towards Taryn. "Because it wasn't the cereal killer. He was sloppy. He had no plan to kill me. He'd have had a better chance to shoot me in the bush, or follow me back here, but instead he pulled me out of that bush."

~

"So whoever the mystery intruder was, he wasn't the serial killer," Taryn summed up, starting to follow the gist of Nina's logic, "Look I honestly only know as much as both of you. I haven't had the time to speculate. This isn't my area of knowledge. All I know is that if that wasn't the serial killer, than we have another dangerous man in the city. Is it...possible that he killed Jess?"

~~

Nina shook her head, "No that was your mass murderer. Jess got too close, and he dealt with her. This man is on a mission, he knows what he is doing and how to be e...eff...efficient. This second man seems to be more involved with Jess herself. Possibly from her past."

A cook came out with a large tray piled with three plates. One plate carried chicken, rice, and a small salad for Drew. The second plate was made up of an assortment of meat, mostly chicken, some leftover bacon from breakfast, and a thick slab of ribs. The last plate was split up of rice and salad. Nina took the tray with a bright smile, sending her compliments to the chef. She handed Drew his plate and dug into the rice, talking between mouthfuls.

"What's your take on this Drew?"

Mor sat quietly a moment longer, thoroughly chewing his salad. His brow furrowed in thought, he spoke softly. "I think we're still missing pieces, because this doesn't add up. Or rather, it might, but I don't like where it's going. First, we have this man the breaks into Jess' apartment, apparently looking for something. Then this mystery attacker who may or may not be the same person shows up outside the same apartment. Clearly hostile to supernaturals, clearly unafraid to get in a fight with one; clearly not the careful murderer that has hidden their tracks so well. They would have just shot Nina, or more wisely waited for a better time and place, rather than risk themselves in a straight fight like that.

"The question I jump to is 'why was he there?' I think the most likely explanation is that he was looking for the same thing as in the earlier incident. Is that the documents we have? What makes them so important? Worse, I think this points to an organisation of some sort. There weren't any reports of burglaries in the area, so it's unlikely that he took anything the first time. If he left empty handed, either he thought they weren't there at all, or he thought someone had already taken them. In other words, he thought there wasn't anything left to find. But then he goes back. If he's angry enough to get into a knife fight with a werewolf, he's there against his will. It seems like he was told to go back by a superior of some sort."

Mor sighed. "Either this man is working with the serial killer, or they're independent, but there's an unusual amount of attention around Jess in both cases. And honestly, I find the latter possibility more disturbing. I can only think of one organisation with a working knowledge of the supernatural, a relatively wide influence, and a callous attitude to so-called 'sub-humans'." Mor glanced at Nina meaningfully, eyebrow raised.