Mariska ^
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The Dark Magic
My heart dropped.
Everything seemed to have slowed down the moment those words left her mouth. I don't have a wolf? What the hell does that make me?
"Why not?" My voice cracked.
She said there was very little she couldn't do, why on earth did this have to fall within that 'little.' I can't live without my wolf, what on earth would I be without her?
"I don't deal with dark magic." She simply said.
She rose from her seat and searched about her drawers until she found a notepad.
"Okay. Lead me to the nearest dark witch." I wasn't going to sit here and do nothing. I had to get my wolf back.
She moved over to another drawer where she pulled out a pen.
"Elijah dear, it doesn't work like that with dark magic. With dark magic, only the one who did the spell can undo the spell." She sat beside me again.
"How am I supposed to find her?"
"That I can help with."
She closed her eyes, placing her hand back on my head and chanted, she opened her eyes after a while and began scribbling down an address. She handed me the notepad to read it.
"Russia?" I yell, "How the hell am I going to get to Russia?"
"Alexander." Isaiah offered.
I suppose he would have or know someone with an aeroplane but did I want to involve him on this mission? All I had to do was go down to Russia speak to this witch and get my wolf back, doesn't seem like something I would need his help with.
He goes on many trips I assume, we could just look at this as the same thing.
"What? I'm not telling him about any of this."
"Why not? He deserves to know." Natalia said.
"He deserves happiness. He deserves a Luna. I cannot be the Luna of a Pack with no wolf! What will he say? Will he still even want me? I've put him through so much. So many stupid things we could've avoided had I listened to him. I can't put him through this too. He doesn't deserve all of this." I sigh.
I know I didn't choose for any of these things to happen but I did play a part. Had I just moved in with him the day I had returned I would've been safe. He wouldn't have been distracted and he might have been able to move me before the bullet hit. I was a fool.
His Pack is getting weaker by the day without me, I can't stay away from him or them for much longer. Not having a wolf is just another problem I really don't need.
The quicker and sooner I find the witch, the sooner I get my wolf back and the sooner we can finally put all this nonsense behind us.
"He's your mate, Elijah. Nothing you do could make him care any less about you." Natalia said.
"We're not telling him. I'll ask Nate he's an Alpha. He probably has a private jet."
"So you're running again?" She raised a judgemental brow.
Running?
"What? I'm not running." I say quickly.
"You're getting on a private jet to Russia. That's a fourteen-hour flight to a different country, a different continent. Nobody even knows where you'll be. You might as well be running again."
"That's â"
Isaiah interrupted me,
"Exactly what it'll look like." He chimes.
"But... I'm not, you can tell them. I need to do this alone."
After a few more words Isaiah and I made our way home. When we arrived everything was packed and already sent to The Howlers. I found everyone â besides Alex and Nate â in the living room.
"I have something to tell you all." I practically whispered.
"What, Eli?" My mom's eyes were as big as saucers.
She hasn't been alright. Any little thing concerning any of her kids gets her into panic mode. I feel completely at fault and I know I am.
I guess the only thing that makes me feel better is that Isaiah isn't an oddity to them anymore. Sure, he was locked up at The Howlers for goodness knows what but for the time he wasn't my parents reached out.
Even though Isaiah had said he doesn't care much for their acceptance I can tell it lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. Off my parents' too.
"I'm going to Russia. Just for a day or two."
"What?" Alex grits, walking in with Nate beside him.
"What for? Elijah can you understand you woke up a few days ago and you're already going to the bloody Howlers. Now you're telling me you're going to Russia too? No." My mom said exasperated.
"Mom! I need to. None of you will understand. But I need to go."
I looked at Nathaniel, "Can I use your private jet? Please."
Alex growled, "You'll use mine. You'll go with me."
"No. Please, no. I'll go with Elisha, Nate and Nat simply because they know the land and the witch."
I hope he understood, I didn't need to complicate things any more than they already were. I just wanted to be in and out of there.
"Nat? Who's Nat?" My father intervened.
"My mother," Nate said.
My father looked me in the eyes, "Is this important to you?"
"Yes. I really need to do this."
"Okay."
The bang of the front door got my attention, I looked up to see that Alexander had left. Nathaniel was shaking his head slightly and I knew he wasn't impressed with my antics again - only this time, it wasn't.
I excused myself and followed Alexander, "Alex."
He was sat on the porch steps, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. He didn't acknowledge my presence at all and I know he had heard me.
"Please don't be upset, it's a really quick trip. Most of it will be spent in the air."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Elijah, I was so close," He gestured with his fingers, "So close to losing you and now you want to run off on adventures without me?"
I could tell he was hurt and it crushed my spirit, this was not supposed to happen.
"I don't want to put you through any more. I've done so much, I've caused so much damage. I just want to stop it all."
I've been so reliant on others since I awoke, I needed to find my feet. I needed to feel like I could do things again, this wasn't even a dangerous mission. I wasn't going to find Ivan - I was just going to find my wolf.
"I'm still coming back to you." I whispered when he didn't respond, "There's not a wolf alive I would rather return to. I will return, Alexander. Think of it as my first trip as your Luna."
That brought the slightest ghost of a smile to appear on his handsome face, "Your first and last one without me."
I laughed, "Okay."
* * *
As soon as we landed in Chelyabinsk, Russia Natalia and Nathaniel started rattling off in Russian. It was amusing to hear the back and forth. It constantly sounds as though Nate was being scolded.
You could see the faint smile on Natalia's face, she was obviously happy to be back home.
It was freezing, I always thought the war movies were being dramatic when there would be frozen bodies outside but feeling the cold whip of the air. I genuinely understood why they would have frozen bodies, it literally felt as though if you stayed out here long enough you would freeze.
"Okay," She turned to me, "I'll lead you to her. Then you and Nathaniel will enter. Nathaniel will be there in case she only speaks Russian and if she tries to do the wrong spell."
"Why don't you just go in with us?"
"Mariska and I aren't on the best terms." She shrugs.
Natalia quietly leads us threw the streets of Chelyabinsk and as she does I take it all in. It's a beautiful country. I occasionally hold on to my sister's arm, I often get tired of standing and almost topple over. I think my legs are still adjusting.
I'm not sure how long we have been walking but my legs can't do it any longer. They shake as I move and this doesn't go unnoticed by Nathaniel.
"Come onto my back." I oblige without the slightest complaint.
"Why don't we just get a car?" Elisha rolls her eyes.
I wanted to double over in laughter, she was slouched and dragging her feet. Anyone could tell she was exhausted with all this walking and I couldn't blame her.
"Traffic here is horrid. I remember that vividly." Nat says.
I would've still preferred a car, if I'm not driving them I don't object to them.
"Were you born here?" I whisper in Nathaniel's ear.
"In Russia, yes. But not Chelyabinsk. I was born in Moscow."
"When did you move to South Africa?"
He hitches me higher, preventing me from slipping. My jacket was making it hard to stay in place.
"I'm not sure. Maybe eight."
I wondered if that was when Natalia had decided it's time to go after the Russo's, by the time Nate was eight all his half-brothers were already born.
"Do you miss it here?"
"A little."
"We're here." She says.
Nathaniel holds me tighter as he walks us towards the door. He knocks and the door opens itself. I look back at my sister and mouth 'I'll link you' in order to calm her nerves.
Or was it to calm mine?
"Mikhail Gorbachev." Mariska smiles.
I'm guessing it's her, she's the only person here. The shop looks more like a spice shop. There are trinkets everywhere and powders and liquids in small bottles all in different colours. All labelled neatly and placed neatly, she is not behind the counter but off to the side sweeping.
"Who's this on your back?" She doesn't raise her head.
"Don't act like you don't know who she is. You hexed her." He spits.
She laughs wildly, "I hex a lot of people, Gorbachev. How am I to know which one she is out of the lot." She shrugs, continuing to whistle a tune as she sweeps.
"You sent a henchman to shoot her, she lost her wolf."
She admires me, "This is Elijah Vilakazi? Oh, honey, you're gorgeous. How did Alexander Russo land up with you,"
She continues to stare at me and I feel utterly uncomfortable, "Sorry about the coma being that long, that was a mistake on my part." She says it as if it's normal as if it's okay to put people in comas.
"I never saw her, Gorbachev. I just do as Ivan says. No questions asked. You know how it goes." She tilts her head, "I know your mother's out there. How is she?"
"This isn't about us." He hisses, "Just unhex her."
"Mikhail, you insult me. You know that's not how things work here. Ivan would kill us all." She shakes her head while cackling as though she belonged in an asylum.
She looks directly at me, "I can't bring your wolf back, deary. Not now anyway." She shrugs.
"What can you do?" I query.
She smiles wickedly, "Put her down, Gorbachev."
He shakes his head, "So you can zap away with her? I think not." He scoffs, arms tightening on my legs.
So that's why he's done nothing but tighten his hold on me ever since we stepped foot in here. I don't blame him, she seems like a crazy lady.
Her eyes dart all over the place and she moves about extremely quickly and can't stand still. She can't even have a second of silence. Ever since we've been in here she's been whistling the same tune in a loop. When she's done speaking she picks up where she left off.
"No matter." She said something in Russian and snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, I was no longer on Nathaniel's back.