«Hurry, hurry!» literally shouted his essence, weary from the Spell, although outwardly he did not show his impatience, remaining completely motionless in the center of the pentagram on the floor.
As if not noticing him, the master began to monotonously cast spells, moving from place to place, from figure to figurine, from drawing to drawing, stopping where he needed to perform the rite.
Gradually, Kanny felt a sweet languor slowly seize him, as if someone with an invisible hand hugged him, and then penetrated inside. The reality of what was happening began to slowly slip away from his consciousness, the smells began to dissolve and mix with each other, and the picture of the environment became more and more blurred. For some reason, the master’s words were getting louder, and his voice was getting sharper and rougher, as if everything he said caused him an extreme degree of irritation. From somewhere in the room, other wolf people began to appear, just like Kanny. They bared their teeth at him or maliciously, like hyenas, laughed in his face, splashing on him their saliva.
As usual, the werewolf was terrified with all this, but he knew he had to do his best to remain calm and not react to anything. An unbearable itch filled his whole body, as if every cell of his skin suddenly turned into a separate living being and began to live its own independent life.
«It’s close, it’s close!» this was the last thought in his mind before Kanny, as if in a dream, suddenly saw two teenagers approaching the house and, crying out in unbearable pain, fell unconscious.
* * *
Small, plump, bearded, cut like a hedgehog, with gray prickly piercing eyes, a master, he is Alex, he is Uncle Sasha for some villagers in those very rare cases when he still had to see them, he is a hereditary sorcerer, he is… although his last title, as well as other names, nicknames, ranks and the like, were not intended for a wide range of people – he saw as Kanny fell unconscious with the last spell, and thought:
«Weakling! He again could not withstand it to the end!»
At that moment, the bell rang, and suddenly someone knocked loudly on the door of the house.
The sorcerer even flinched in surprise.
«It’s impossible!» he thought, and with undisguised anger looked at the werewolf, who, at that moment, had already gone through the whole process and acquired a human form, to which the master did not feel anything but contempt. There was not the slightest trace of his former fear, which on an instinctive level aroused in him in front of the huge wolf.
Meanwhile, the knocking on the door continued.
Hurrying out into the corridor, Alex came to the exit and looked through the eyepiece of the surveillance camera to see who dared to disturb him at such a late hour in the middle of the forest. To his surprise, he saw two teenagers near the house, a girl and a guy, looking around in fear.
«Oh! Come on! And what should I do now?» the sorcerer thought irritably.
However, he knew that if he did not open, in their desperate situation, these two would look for a way to get into the house. Therefore, opening the inner door, he rudely asked:
«Who’s there?»
«Praise God!» the girl exclaimed.
«Forgive us, please, we got lost,» the guy said.
«Let us in for the night… please!» the girl asked in a pleading voice, as if she would burst into tears.
«Beasts!» the sorcerer thought angrily, and said out loud as calmly as possible:
«Wait for a moment.»
* * *
There became silence behind the door.
«He is not really pleased with our arrival, judging by his tone,» Andrey remarked.
«It doesn’t matter, as long as he lets us in,» Lera answered, chilly rubbing her cold shoulders.
«I think he will, but… I don’t really like all this.»
«Come on. It’s better than spending the night in a tree anyway.»
«It’s clear. But where is he from? I didn’t hear anything from any of the villagers that there was a forester’s house here, they crawled all the way across here. Moreover, it is quite large, not just a hut, but a whole cottage. How in the world did he get such a house like this unnoticed?»
«Maybe we’ve gone so far that it’s not their territory anymore?»
«Hmm, I don’t think so. We need to ask Uncle Venya. He is an experienced hunter. He spent all his life here and should know everything. He certainly explored every single place in the district. If, of course, we stay alive.»
«What are you talking about?» with fear asked Lera.
«Yes, be quiet,» her brother snapped. «I hope this isn’t the damned place he once talked about.»
«What place?»
«Doesn’t matter. One day I’ll tell you, but now… whatever may happen let it happen. It is strange that no light can be seen in the windows. How then did we see the illuminated window? I saw it clearly.»
«Maybe he turned it off?»
«I thought so too, but now, in theory, he should have turned it on again, but look, there is no light.»
«Yes, indeed. It’s strange.»
«I also thought that the moon could be reflected in the window, but no, all the windows are tightly closed with wooden shutters.»
«Perhaps he closed them before we arrived.»
«I don’t know, Lera, I don’t know. I have some bad feelings. I’m already seriously thinking that maybe we’d be better off staying in the tree.»
«Yeah, ok, stop it. Everything will be fine.»
«Let’s see. Now there is nowhere to go. We do not come back, do we?»
* * *
Alex entered the kitchen, took a mug, poured cold water into it, and going into the room where the ceremony was performed, he approached a naked man lying in the middle of the room and splashed him with cold water in his face.
The werewolf woke up and jumped to his feet, showing bewilderment with his whole appearance. However, although he was pitiful, and even more so, in his naked form, it was impossible not to notice that he was perfectly built and obviously very well developed and strong physically. His muscles played under smooth skin, under which not a single gram of excess fat was visible.
«Follow me,» the master ordered authoritatively, glancing at his muscular body with an envious look.
Silently following him, Kanny approached the front door.
«Look!» the sorcerer ordered, pointing to the screen.
«Who are these?» with fear asked werewolf.
«That’s what I wanted to ask you,» Alex said with a promising threat in his voice.
