A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"Ha!" Katya barked a laugh in response to Erik's provocation, while finally taking her fist away. "You know I could still fold you into a pretzel right now, right? Might just have to expend a tiny bit of effort."

Amused, Erik grinned at her while he shook his arms to stop their trembling. "Sure, right now, but what about after I reach the third rank?"

Katya crossed her arms again while returning his grin, "You'd have to reach the third rank first, boy!"

She raised an eyebrow and stared at him tauntingly, "How young are you even? Do you know that the youngest Councillor is forty years old? And that's not even mentioning that old monster Vlad, who's past the two hundred mark already! Meanwhile, our match is set for the next time we meet. Do you intend to disappear for ten years!?"

Lightning sparked between their eyes as they stared at each other with playful fighting intent.

Then, Erik returned a taunt of his own, "You know, now I'm just starting to wonder how old you are, Katya. Are you afraid I won't claim you before you become an old spinster? Well, d0n't worry. I'll have you warm my bed before long."

Instantly, Katya's eyes started spitting fire. "You…!" she growled furiously while taking a threatening step closer to Erik. But to her surprise, Erik stood his ground, and just continued smirking at her.

"Seems like you've lost the first match, Katya," Erik taunted, pointing to the fact she'd lost her cool.

Katya blinked, before suddenly taking a step back and starting to laugh. It was a deep, rumbling laugh, that didn't fit her beautiful image, but only made her more interesting to Erik.

"Fine, you got me good, boy!" she exclaimed jokingly. "But don't forget I beat you up pretty bad back in London, so at most this makes us even!"

Erik chuckled mysteriously, "That's true, but have you ever heard about 'the rule of three'? You beat me once, now we're even, and according to that rule, I, as the protagonist, am fated to win our third and final contest."

Katya's eyes widened and she nearly did a spit-take at his arrogance. "You arrogant little shit! You are no more some kind of protagonist than I am!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Inwardly, Erik chuckled as he thought to himself, 'Well, I am fated to save the world or whatever, according to Audumla, so I'd make a pretty good candidate for protagonist status.'

Yet, before he could respond to her, another deep, rumbling laugh interrupted their back-and-forth. It was the same laugh as Katya's, suddenly causing Erik to wonder which parent they got that from.

Dimitri stepped off the boat, becoming visible, as he laughed loudly. "I cannot believe it!" he began, in a Slavic accent that was notably stronger than Katya's. "The big strong Sestra I knew would have already made sure my friend here was eating food from straw for next few weeks."

"But here you are, joking around instead!" he continued jovially. "Don't tell me my Katya is pervert who loves the younger boys?!"

At first, when Dimitri appeared, Katya lost her trail of thought because of the relief that appeared in her eyes. But as her little brother continued talking, her face became stormier. Her eyes closed, her brows twitched, and her nose wrinkled. Her irritation was quickly rising.

"Dim-Dim, you little shit!" she snarled, before grabbing him by the collar, and dragging him over to her. Dimitri laughed awkwardly and didn't resist. Instead, he started talking to her in a language that Erik didn't recognize. It was obviously Slavic in origin, but he didn't know enough about it to determine a country.

Whatever he said, however, Katya clearly wasn't impressed, because the next few minutes were filled with Dimitri's pleas for mercy, as Katya taught her little brother a lesson.

Meanwhile, Emma, Astrid, and Emily, all joined their husband on shore, together with Seraphina. Once there, they all looked wryly at the sibling violence taking place in front of them.

Seraphina, however, actually focused Erik. She looked at him strangely. "When the hell did you and my boss get so close?" she asked incredulously, ignoring the fighting.

Erik shrugged and chuckled, "I guess we just hit it off."

Unsurprisingly, Seraphina was unsatisfied with that answer, but didn't continue asking about it. Instead, she snorted and focused on the beatdown Dimitri was getting from his sister.

Of course, Katya didn't use her real strength, and as a second-rank werebear, Dimitri's endurance was extremely high. He even managed to fight back a little. It was obviously not the first time this happened.

"I guess this is how they show love?" Erik quipped as he watched Katya lay down the law with an amused smirk.

Next to him, Astrid grinned, "I approve!" while casually punching Erik's shoulder, causing him to chuckle, and everyone else to roll their eyes.

Finally, Dimitri was on the ground with Katya's foot firmly planted on his chest as he waved his arms around. He was still speaking in their mother tongue, but he was clearly waving the white flag.

Having secured his submission, Katya snorted contently, before taking her foot of his chest, and offering her slightly bruised brother a hand in getting up.

After taking her hand, Dimitri was forcefully pulled into a tight hug, which he quickly returned. A few more emotion filled words were exchanged, before the hug ended, and the pair turned their attention back to Erik and the others.

"So… Dim-Dim, huh?" Erik smirked at the younger of the two siblings.

Dimitri chuckled awkwardly as he straightened out his scuffed clothing, and dusted himself off. "Da… Please do not copy, yes? Is Sestra exclusive."

Erik chuckled and nodded, "Sure."

Meanwhile, Katya walked up to Erik, and grabbed his shoulder, before looking at him with sincerity. "Thank you, Erik. You don't know what a relief it is to have my brother back…" She fell silent, only for her sincerity to transform into a vicious grin, "And having the chance to finally strike back at the snake bitch."

"It's not like I did it out of the goodness of my heart," he grinned back at her. "I'll be looking forward to our fight… and ordering you to kowtow for every time you've called me boy."

Katya's grip on his shoulder tightened, but he didn't flinch. Instead, they now stared at each other for moment, with gazes full of fighting intent. "You know, I could just detain you for a week," she grinned a little playfully.

Erik chuckled, full of confidence, "You could, but you won't. You want to see if I can actually do it."

Katya smirked, but didn't say anything. Instead, she tacitly agreed, by released his shoulder, and turning to Seraphina instead.

Erik was surprised when he noticed Seraphina looking at Katya like she was a loyal puppy waiting for praise. He wondered what Katya had done to earn such commitment from Seraphina in the last year, because he was sure the vampire didn't have that look in her eyes back then.

But, before Katya could say anything, her eyes snapped towards the horizon with alarm.