#spirittamer!virgil

[silvery-vixen]

The Coldness of Siberian nights

Summary: When Dr. Logan Berrie got sent to Siberia to research flora and fauna of the harsh russian taiga, he did not expect his whole world to change. Seems like none of his knowledge had prepared him for what he would find here.

Warnings: Gore, Violence, soft swearing

I am not a native english speaker, so I apologize in advance for possible grammar and vocab mistakes.

Word count: 1547

Chapter 1

Dr. Logan Berrie, best in his field of expertise at the Exeter University, did not believe in monsters, ghosts and frights of the night.  Neither did he think that all those legends or myths that people told each other were at all true.

Sure most of the old tales had some kind of moral core or deeper meaning to them that justified the pure abstrusity of their content, but his entire life he had been fairly certain, that there was no way creatures like ghouls, vampires or werewolves could actually exist.

Talking animals, flying carpets or brooms, magic and fairies. None of these things were something he would concern himself with, for as a scientist he only believed in, or rather trusted two things: the scientific evidence on his desk or in his labor and himself.

But somehow he had just started to question the latter. 

Because, if there was no way that those creatures existed, why did he find himself sitting in the snow of the harsh siberian forest, rescued from a glibbery creature, which he couldn't quite get a grasp on, by a giant black wolf, that certainly exceeded the heights and strength and intelligence of any normal siberian wolf?

In fact, the animal held the size of a bear, but it's facial features and anatomy clearly pointed it out to be a wolf. A male siberian wolf.

And just now it stood on top of whatever was left of the unknown creature, that had attacked the scientist earlier, blood and gore smeared into its fur and entrails scattered beneath it's giant paws, staring at Logan with soft curiosity in it's... His glistening lilac eyes.

Logan felt his breath falter and his heart rate jumped to unhealthy heights, when the wolf slowly started to approach him.

In a panicked frenzy he tried crawling backwards, out of the reach of the animals giant fangs, while he desperately looked for his bear rifle.

God he was too young to die. He still had to finish so much research! Write some scientific papers! 

Nonononono!

He just finished his dissertation, got the doctors degree. He was not finished with this world yet!

The wolf didn't stop. He slowly took one step after the other to bridge the distance between themselves and the panicking scientist.

Logan's clumsy, numb fingers brushed through ice cold snow, branches and half rotten leaves, But the early taigan nightfall had already covered the land with its shady blanket and the condensed water on Logans glasses, that had slowly rearranged its molecules to form ice crystals, worsened his sight even more.

Where was his rifle?

He must have dropped it somewhere around here. It had to be here!

The air that escaped his lips turned to thick clouds of vapor in front of his face and even glittered softly in the moonlight, as if it turned to ice as soon as it left the warmth of the doctors body.

The temperature had dropped drastically with the disappearance of the sun. But Logan didn't even notice.

Those lilac eyes that were directed at him sent an awkward feeling through his body. It was a mixture of pure fear and a weird calmness that took hold of his limbs. He suddenly felt the need to sit still and just wait for the beast to reach him, because it would be okay.

Except clearly it wouldn't.

He would be eaten alive, ripped to shreds like that thing earlier. (He could still hear the creatures screeching echoing between the cedar trees) and he fought with all his minds strength against this numbness in his body that took over his mind.

Again Logan looked around for anything that could help him (at this point he didn't even care what it was as long as it was pointy and/or deadly in any other way), when his eyes suddenly got caught by the reflection of the moon on the barrel of his rifle only a few feet away and he pushed himself up in one desperately fluid motion, jumped over to the weapon, grabbed it and swirled around to point it at…. Nothing.

The wolf was gone. 

Vanished without a trace, safe his paw prints in the snow.

The cold and the stress had exhausted him and the walk back to the relative safety of his Jeep had felt like a marathon run.

Now, back in the warmth of the log cabin that his university had rented for him in the outskirts of a small russian town, he didn't have the strength to think over today's events, he couldn't even read a book.

After he forced down a hot cup of tea and some slices of the hard, dark russian bread, he went straight to bed.

Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe it all had been just a dream.

But of course it wasn't.

When Logan woke up the next day his body hurt in places, he didn't even know existed.

His fingers felt as if they had been under high pressure. A side effect of a near frostbite, he was sure. And he had various scratches and smaller wounds on his limbs that needed treatment.

A look in the mirror showed several more bruises and some cuts from when the slimy monster… no not monster. There was no such thing as a monster… the creature … had initially attacked, before the wolf had shown up.

His hair was a mess and dirt and parts of leaves and branches sticked out of it but nothing a shower couldn't mend.

He took his normal clothes, in which he had slept in, off and threw them into the litter, without giving them a second glance. They were shredded and bloodstained and beyond repair.

His thermoisolating coat and trousers were damaged as well. Maybe he could repair them, but he would probably just have to buy new clothes. 

The fabric couldn't guarantee a sufficient thermal isolation with all these holes in it and here in this unforgiving part of the world, a good isolation could decide on life or death.

After his shower and a forced down breakfast of one slice of bread with some cheese, he decided to make good use of the limited daylight here in the northern hemisphere and go shopping for new clothes first, before deciding or thinking about anything else. Especially about yesterday evening.

First things first, second things second, right?

Logan turned his Jeep into the parking lot of a small shop that sold outdoor clothing amongst other things and got out of the car with shaky knees.

During the drive here the dark trees in the distance and the reflection of sun rays on the snow had reminded him of the terror that he had felt the night before.

But to his own surprise, the fearful thoughts weren't directed at the giant, clearly not normal wolf, but at the other thing.

The thing that had more limbs than a normal mammal should have, with slimy skin that seemed clearly impractical for living in the harsh russian taiga, due to the fact that it should freeze. That thing that didn't even care about any of these points and still had wandered around the forest attacking people.

What the hell was that thing?!

The doorbell chimed a little too joyously, when he entered the store and he was immediately greeted by a very happy man in light blue, that distracted him from his thoughts about whether or not he should go back to examine the remains of the body.

"Hi! Hello there! Welcome to Patton's practical store! If you need something, just let me know and I'll be all there for you!"

The cheery guy beamed at Logan before his smile slightly faltered, when he sighted the scratches all over the scientists face.

"Oh my, what happened to you?!"

Before Logan could even think about answering that question, the man, probably Patton, had taken his hand and towed him into a small room in the back of the store, where he placed him on a soft light brown couch with way too many pillows and put a cup of hot green tea on the coffee table in front of the scientist.

"Thank you, but that was really not necessary", 

Logan weakly announced, when the man put a bowl full of at least 7 different sorts of cookies next to his cup.

"You poor thing got all bruised up! Did you have an accident? Do you need a doctor? I have never seen you here before. Are you on vacation?"

"N...no! No I'm fine. Thank you.. erm..?"

"Patton! I'm Patton! You can call me Pat!"

"Well thank you, Patton, but I am fine. Really. I just need some… clothing. Isolation clothes against the cold. For an excursion. You see I'm a biochemist. I explore the flora and fauna of the area."

Patton's expression changed. Just very slightly, very subtly, but it did. 

A hint of caution and concern now accompanied the shallow joy in his light blue eyes.

"So you have been to the forest lately, then?"

He asked, still smiling, while taking a cookie himself, trying to look nonchalant, but in Logan's opinion clearly failing.

 The scientist furrowed his brows. Something about the store owners reaction seemed off.

[silvery-vixen]

The Coldness of Siberian Nights pt2

Warnings: soft swearing, food, underground bunker nothing really bad.  Summary: Basically Patton has something to hide and Logans Log House has an underground laboratory. Word Count: 2015 A good day to meet new People

Patton had proven himself very helpful by figuring out Logan's Size and form perfectly, so in no time the scientist had new clothes to wear in the forest. 

But the odd feeling, that the happy man was hiding something just wouldn't leave him alone.

Maybe he was just paranoid after yesterday's near death experience, but somehow he doubted it.

In fact Logan didn't even feel like he was under the effects of shock anymore. The researcher inside him had taken control over his thoughts and now he was focused on being prepared for his next encounter with wolf and/or slimy creature.  Because he would definitely go out there again and find out what this thing was.

But first he would have to get back home, which was proving itself to be more difficult than one would think. Patton had decided that Logan would stay for lunch/brunch/late second breakfast and apparently there was no possibility to change his mind and get out of this.

So now Logan was sitting at the kitchen table in the apartment right above the store and stared in a mixture of awkwardness and silent awe at the huge mountain of spaghetti on his plate.

Apparently Patton was an excellent cook. But he also was a very chattery person and wouldn't stop talking for the love of it, or asking questions about Logan's life and work.

"You are american then? That's so cool! Me too! I mean what are the odds?"

Logan just smiled at that and slightly nodded. He had already figured out, that Patton had to be from the states. His heavy accent highly indicated so and on the ledge of the fireplace stood various framed fotos, some of which showed a younger Patton with three other men in front of different well known american landmarks.

"But… you're working at the university then? In England?"

"Yes, that is correct. I am currently employed at the University of Exeter."

"Watcha doing all the way up in Russia then?"

The man was constantly grinning, his dark blond curls falling into his light blue eyes, somehow highlighting the freckles on his cheeks.

Logan sighed softly. He really wanted to go home to prepare himself for a field trip into the forest, but he knew that the social thing to do, as well as the best thing for him right now, was to stay and to answer the questions. 

Especially when the guy had cooked lunch for him.

"My research is…"  He tried hard to think of a way to explain what he was doing, so Patton would be able to understand it and finally finished his sentence with: 

"Basically I am examining whether or not the pH value of the ground influences the occurrence of rare fauna."

Patton blinked at him with a confused expression.

"So you… do what exactly?"

Another soft sigh escaped the scientists lips.  He really wanted to be elsewhere right now.  In his lab for example.  Or in the forest with his bear rifle, searching for that slimy thing.

Logan slightly re-adjusted his glasses to collect himself, before answering.

"I collect samples of the ground, different plants and examine the animals in the area."

Again the expression in the store owners eyes seemed to falter a bit into suspiciousness, but before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and a man entered the room.

He was relatively short and seemed light weighted, but the well defined muscles of his arms were visible, even through the baggy fabric of his violet hoodie.

His hair was a chaotic brown and purple mess with bangs that fell deep into his eyes.  He was wearing ripped dark jeans, slightly worn out converse sneakers in black to complete the angsty dark look and had his left hand shoved into the hoodies front pocket. His right hand lifted up to take of his headphones.

"Hey Pat, I'm ba-"

When the newcomers eyes fell on Logan, both of them froze in place.

Logan felt his heart shortly stop, just to beat even faster afterwards, as if it wanted to make up for the lost beat.

The man's eyes, that Logan hadn't been able to see before, because they were covered by hair, were framed with dark eyeshadow, that only enhanced the brightness of his glistening lilac irises.

Lilac irises, that the biochemist had seen before.

Was that even possible? What was going on here? How should he react? What was the logical thing to do? Did logic even matter anymore?

I need answers!

Logan opened his mouth to say something, but Patton reacted quicker.

"Ah you're home early! Dr. Berrie this is Virgil. Virgil, this is Dr. Logan Berrie. A … bio.. chemist? From Amerika!"

Logan nodded softly.

"Yes that is correct. However…"

"Ok cool. Nice to meet ya doc. I have work to do. Seeya."

And with that the dark man disappeared up a staircase into the attic.  The door fell shut with a loud bang, leaving Logan and Patton in an awkward silence, before the latter quickly picked up the conversation with an apologetic grin.

"Ah I'm sorry. He's shy. He'll warm up…He's a bit frosty" 

The man grinned even brighter.  

"Get it? Warm up? Because we are in Siberia? And he's frosty? Because of the ice?"

The scientist could only blink at him in soft bewilderment. He was too startled to even respond.  Not just because of the sudden disappearence of the third person in the room, but even more so, because of the sentence, the light blue one had just phrased. Puns were and always had been the lowest form of humour to him. And that one was particularly bad.

"Wasn't one of my best. I admit it. Buuuut no need to be so cold about it!"

"I think it is time for me to return to my research. I have taken advantage of your hospitality way too long already. Thank you for the meal, it was much appreciated."

With that Logan got up, took the bag with his new clothes and left. He had things to do. And issues to address. And purple haired men to figure out.

------

"Why was he here?!"

Virgil hissed in a mixture of panic and rage. "Pat you can't just invite everyone in! We are in a very sensible position right now! What if he were to capture you? He's a scientist! You cannot trust scientists!"

"Whoa there! Someone's all heated up! I think you need to cool down again, kiddo."

Patton grinned, completely ignoring the weight of the situation.

"This is not the time for temperature puns!! Seriously! What if he was one of them?!"

The man in light blue slightly frowned.

"He is not. He's a good man. And you said it yourself. He was completely shocked, when the ghoul attacked him. He didn't expect it. He didn't know. And he still doesn't."

Virgil calmed down a little, pinching the back of his nose with two fingers, trying to control his breathing. Finally he looked up again.

"Ok. So you invited him in to find out, what he knows? Not just because you love having people here?"

Patton grinned sheepishly and the darker man thought, that the truth probably lied somewhere in between those motives. His cousin/self proclaimed father did feel lonely quite easily and the doc was the perfect opportunity to chatter. No harm had come from it yet, but the rest was to be seen.

"You know Pat, that is why I said we should move back home to America. We are in dangerous territory here. Just let all of this be Remy's problem. It's not our war."

But the other just shook his head.

"We are family, Virge. We don't leave people behind."

Virgil sighed. Deep down he agreed, but the animalistic instinct to just run was becoming overwhelming from time to time.

"Yeah. You're right. Sorry."

------

The log house Logan was currently residing in was rented to his university by the russian government itself. That was, because the property was a bit special.

The house was bigger than it looked from the outside.  Apparently it had been a laboratory of the Akademgorodok University back in the 70ies and had been used to do secret experiments on animals back then. (Logan had read something about genetic manipulation on dogs to make them stronger and more durable, but he didn't know any more about it, than that the experiments had been stopped by the government. Since then this place had been abandoned.) So the basement was basically a huge lab.

It was stretching further than the house itself and even had an escape tunnel in the furthest part, that led into the nearby forest.

But for Logan's purpose, the front part of the lab had been enough. He didn't need the dissection tables and the huge cages in the back. Or the electronic devices, that he couldn't even identify.

(The researchers seemed to have left the place rather quickly back then, only taking their notes and research papers, but leaving everything else behind.)

All he had needed was a place to chemically examine different components of soil and plants and sometimes small dead animals like lizards, or their excrements. He had set up his personal work space with his own chemicals, instruments and devices that he had brought with him and had just ignored, that there was more to this place.

But that was, when he just had to make smaller experiments to test samples for compounds.  Now, that he had a whole new unknown slimy creature to investigate, maybe the dissection tables would be of use.

They were the only logical place to put dead remains, after all. And after what the wolf had done to it, the thing was definitely dead. 

Even now he still heard it screeching…

With a low sigh Logan turned on the lights in the back room of the basement. The neon rays flickered to life to send their cold unfeeling light over metallic objects all over the place. The biochemist had been in here only once before, when he first moved here three weeks ago.  And that only because he liked to make himself aware of his surroundings.  He liked to know what he was sleeping on top of.

But now he actually stepped into the room and touched things. He emptied one of the tables of all the tools that laid scattered around and put them into one of the smaller metallic containers. Maybe he could use some of them? The scalpels were probably dull by now, but most of the clamps and tongs seemed fine.

Then he used some laboratory sanitizer and wiped the table clean. This would be his workspace in here.

In the end he needed the whole day to clean and reorganize the laboratory.

All those cobwebs and all the dust that had gathered here for nearly 50 years were hard to get rid of, and then he still had to sort out the useless tools, replace them with his own and toss them into one of the bigger containers at the back wall of the room.

Surprisingly enough, the vents still worked and he had to replace only one light bulb in the dissection lamp. The lab was in astonishingly good shape. But it still took a lot of time to set everything up. When Logan finally walked back into his living room, the fire that he had started this morning had gone out and the sun was gone. Darkness had laid itself over Siberia once again. (Not very surprising, considering, that Siberian winters consisted to 70% of night.) For a few seconds he seriously considered going out despite the darkness to get the corpse, but then he discarded this thought within the blink of an eye, when it occurred to him, that there could be more specimen than just the one that had died. And maybe he wouldn’t have as much luck this time. He should at least wait for the sunrise. But then he would go to the core of all this.