Crissa's Mate

Chapter Twenty-Nine

When David and Crissa entered the lodge, the group was standing around the sofa in the dining area where Julie was now sitting up. She seemed to be the center of attention. As the two approached, they could see she was talking to Mary while everyone listened. The fact that she held the blanket up to her neck told Crissa the girl had regained some of her feminine modesty, and was at least now partly recovered from her unprecedented ordeal.

"So are you ready to go back to the States?" Brad asked her, obviously testing the water with her willingness to depart.

"God . . . is it time to go back already?" She rubbed her eyes and tried to comb her disheveled hair with her fingertips. "Seems like I've slept through a lot, huh?"

"Can you remember much of being . . . out there? " Josh asked her.

At that moment she looked over at David standing next to Crissa.

"Yes. I do remember. A lot of it," she said. "Kinda hard to forget that whole experience. Some of it was scary . . . and some . . . just amazingly beautiful. It's hard to let go of it now."

Everyone listened intently to this. Was she referring to the transformation or to her mate?

David just nodded his head, quietly. Understanding intrinsically what she meant by the "amazing" comment—obviously an experience incomprehensible to the others.

"What did you think of it all, Dave?" Julie asked him, to the surprise the others. "You were out there, too. We ran  together. Hunted  together. We killed a deer together."

Crissa just looked down at the floor in apprehension. She knew revealing this image of him killing another animal, to eat it, would have before disturbed David, though she also knew it must have been true for them—to survive.

He was reticent to speak, but finally did.

 "You're right, Julie. There is something there. Though I can't explain it. It just brings us nearer, I don't know . . . to nature, I suppose. And yes, it's hard to walk away from it."

Julie then looked around the room. She seemed to be searching for someone else. It was obvious to everyone who that night be—most logically, her former mate from the forest. A male who would now be called a varkolak  by the villagers—and like Julie, somehow back now, humanly transformed. She stood up and wrapped the blanket tighter around her. She seemed restless. Wanting to go and look outside.

"Come on, Julie." Crissa added, "Let's go up and get you a bath . . . dressed for breakfast. You must be pretty tired of that blanket."

No one refused the suggestion, as it was obviously to help Julie re-acclimate to her former self. To bring her back into the sphere of her more human habits.

At that instant, there was a loud knock on the door of the lodge. Horst, who had been standing behind the group, and quietly monitoring Julie's recovery, went toward the entrance to answer it. As he walked across the wooden floor, everyone quietly waited to see who the visitor might be. He unlatched the heavy door and peered out, listening for a moment to someone standing just outside the group's view.

As if reluctantly, Horst then opened the door fully and allowed the figure of a young male to inter. Julie began to walk, then ran toward him. The two stood facing each other speechlessly—all within everyone's view. The young man, who had been earlier identified as Andreas by Jannick,  was handsome but shabbily dressed. He wore a small domestic cap and the soiled clothing of a farmer or laborer in the fields. He was also taller than her, and muscular—his hair fair like his fellow villagers, Lara's and Jannick.

The eyes of the two remained transfixed and did not leave each other.

As shocked as everyone was to see this unexpected development, Crissa was relieved by the youth's presence, as it confirmed to her what David had earlier confided—that he and Julie had not become mates under the full moon. But it had occured with another, as was now obvious. The young man, clearly Julie's mate, now appeared before her. Both silently stood in everyone's presence, seeing each other for the first time in their human form.

It was a touching moment when the two reached out and joined hands, oblivious to all in the room. All were speechless until Dr. Dekker walked up closer to them.

"Is this who you were with these past days and nights, Julie?" He asked coldly.

"Yes,"  she said innocently, still not taking her eyes off the young man's face.

"What is your name?"  The professor asked the youth in clumsy German.

"Andreas," he confirmed, holding his warn cap now in his hands.

The professor continued, directing a request now to Horst in English and for all to hear.

"Please tell this young man . . . he must leave now. Julie has to prepare to depart with us."

Horst was somber, and reluctant to do so. But he finally complied, telling Julie's mate the professor's directive. The young man did not look at him. He only paused a moment longer in Julie's presence, reached up to touch her lips tenderly, then turned and left for the door.

Everyone was stunned by the simplicity and affection transmitted between the two. It was a memorable an ineffable moment for everyone in the room.

"So," the professor expressed, breaking the silence. "I would like you all to have a hearty breakfast this morning and begin your packing. We will prepare to leave by midday. The two vans will be here in the early afternoon to take us back to Berlin."

No one moved, the least of whom was Julie, who remained looking distantly at the closed door. Crissa felt tremendous empathy for her, as her own heart had been affected by fate and the power of attraction. Only in Julie's case, it was occurring amid two separate worlds. Was Crissa  herself capable of feeling this eventually with David, she wondered? It would become a  serious question she would not soon cease to labor over.

There was a stunning cruelness about the professor's words and actions which everyone now loathed. It was made increasingly evident by his taking of Julie  forcibly by the arm.

"Don't you have any ideas, young lady . . . that you will remain here," she shouted "We are not leaving you behind. No matter how your feelings . . . and body . . . have changed since we came here. As the coordinator of this research project, I have an obligation to get all of us  back. You will just have to forget about your little wolf-boy, Andreas out there."

Though all were shocked and offended by Dr. Dekker's words and inhumane treatement of Julie, it was David who stepped forward angrily to confront him.

"Who do you think you are!"  He shouted. "You have no idea how this girl feels now. About this entire nightmare you have brought on all of us."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"I know what Julie feels inside about . . . this change," he said calmly."It's something we must both adapt to now. And we will each have to now survive . . . in two  worlds, no longer one."

Everyone silently applauded David for his courage and insolence toward the professor.

Dr. Dekker faced him back angrily, but sensing the atmosphere in the room was toxic and against him, he remained silent. He released Julie's arm and walked away, in the direction of the kitchen, where Horst rushed to join him, obviously trying to keep a tentative peace in his premises.

Crissa immediately went to Julie' side and led her up the stairs and into their shared room. There, she ran the shower water to insure it was hot, and selected some clothing out of Julie's suitcase for her to wear.

As Julie removed the blanket covering her body, Crissa could now more sympathetically  see the filth, scratches and light bruises on her. All were evidence of the girl's transition back from being at one with nature. Even her gamey odor was now more tolerated by Crissa, as she led her into the warm bathroom where Julie would diligently remove the scent of days and nights of animal survival—and now obviously, what was also animal love.

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