Chapter 11

-Dante-

The second we stepped out of the door, I stopped moving. I could hear Chase locking the door behind us, but I didn’t walk down the stairs even when he did. I just… I was outside. It was both scary and exciting to be standing there in the darkness, taking in the fresh air and seeing the vast sky above me.

“Dante?”

Chase was already standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at me with a worried frown.

“Sorry,” I muttered, shaking my head a little before following him down. “Being outside is just…”

He smiled and carefully wrapped his arm around mine. “We’re not in a hurry if you want to go for a small walk?”

I shook my head again. “We should go see that friend of yours so we can get it over with,” I muttered, even though his offer was tempting.

“Well, we can walk as slowly as possible – my car is parked there,” he said, pointing at a small parking lot across the street.

“That… sounds good,” I said, peering at him. 

He was standing right next to me, still holding onto my arm. I was surprised to notice that I didn’t actually mind him doing that. I thought I wouldn’t be able to be anywhere near him after he took the blood sample, but I guess his plan to make the situation as comfortable as possible for me had worked better than either of us could’ve hoped.

I enjoyed every second of our short walk to the car. Seeing the stars and feeling the chilly air on my skin had never been so exhilarating to me. There were so many things I always took for granted, never truly appreciating anything I had.

“Was that person really me?” I muttered when we stopped by his car – a small, gray Nissan – and peered at Chase who was still hugging my arm. “That person I was before I got bitten, I mean.”

“It’s hard to believe. You’re nothing like the guy I used to know, but I’m not surprised after everything you’ve been through,” Chase spoke. “But you weren’t a bad person – just a bit entitled.”

I chuckled, thinking about the time when I threw a big cup of hot coffee on the wall when the barista forgot I didn’t want whipped cream on it. “Understatement…”

He smiled and let go of my arm to unlock the doors. “I’d be happy to get to know you better this time,” he said quietly.

“Me too,” I nodded, and hurried to add, “I mean, I’d like to know you better, too. That whole warlock thing, and… and the potions, and…” I trailed off, feeling weird all of a sudden. Flustered.

His smile grew wider. “Lucky for you, I’m the best person to ask about the warlock thing,” he said before sitting behind the wheel.

I just stood there for a second, until I managed to get a grip and sat down next to him.

It took us about fifteen minutes to get to Aaliyah’s, and I spent the entire time looking out the window, watching the city. There wasn’t much talking going on, but the silence was comfortable, at least for me. I felt surprisingly calm even though we were going to find out what was wrong with me – if the alchemist was able to give us any answers, that is.

The fact that I was able to let Chase take the blood sample had given me strength. I mean, I wasn’t as messed up as I thought. Maybe there was still hope for me. Maybe I would be able to move on after all, and that was what I desperately needed. I was free, but I hadn’t won yet. They weren’t winning either – I wasn’t deadly scared of humans like they hoped I was, not all of them.

“Warlocks are humans, right?” I asked, turning to look at Chase.

“Yeah – well those of us who aren’t real warlocks,” he explained.

“I’m a bit confused about that,” I said. “You’re using magic – how does that not make you a real warlock?”

“It’s, uh, translation problem,” he said. “There’s this Njizrski word, mridi, which basically means the ability to control reality. We would say it’s magic. The demons born in Njizrski all have that ability, so they are called mridira, wielders of mridi, but we would call them warlocks in our language. I can only use their magic because I’ve earned my master’s favor, so I am a mridien, user of mridi. Well, it’s actually waster of mridi, but again, it translates as a warlock in our language.”

I just blinked when he stopped speaking. He gave me an apologetic smile.

“Short version is that I am a user of their ability, while my master is the original wielder of the ability, but in our language, we’re all warlocks.”

“Thanks for the short version,” I said with a chuckle. “But… if you become a wielder of the magic, do you stop being human?”

“Yes, because I would need to die and be born again as an Ardrion demon,” he explained. “There’s a spell for it, but it requires me to collect thirteen souls to power it up, so…”

“So… you would have to kill thirteen people to become a real warlock?” I muttered.

“Uh-huh,” he nodded.

“Doesn’t sound like a good deal, to be honest,” I noted.

“Yeah, most of us won’t even consider it, and the success rate isn’t exactly ideal. Three out of ten won’t survive the process, you see,” he said.

“I see,” I muttered while he stopped the car at the side of the road.

“We’re here,” he smiled. “We can continue this conversation once we get back home,” he added, before getting out of the car. I followed him outside, trying to picture the lowlife who could actually kill thirteen people in order to become a demon.

I joined him at the other side of the car, and he nudged his head towards a small apartment building. I kept my head down, even though I didn’t see anyone out on the streets and there were lights only in a handful of windows, even though we were surrounded by a bunch of buildings. The smallest of them, like the one we were approaching, had only three stories, and they all seemed to be in a bad shape.

We reached the door and Chase pressed the buzzer, and only a short moment later, the door opened. He stepped in with me right behind him, heading towards the stairs. It wasn’t until then that I started feeling nervous. Chase turned to give me a reassuring smile when we climbed up the stairs to the second floor.

“Let’s see what she can tell us,” he said, knocking on one of the three doors.

The door opened almost immediately, and a young, African American woman peered at us for a second. Her frizzy hair was pulled back with a crimson-red headband, and her lips were painted with the same color. She was short and curvy, dressed casually in a black hoodie and blue jeans, and when her dark eyes met mine, I thought I’d feel intimidated, but no.

“Chase,” she burst into a smile and hugged him. “It’s been a while.”

“Too long,” he spoke, letting go of her. “I’m sorry the first thing I do is ask for a favor, but I had no one else to turn to.”

“Please – I would be offended if I wasn’t the first person you contacted when you need our skills. Come in,” she said, gesturing us to follow her.

Her home was small and neatly organized. The living room was right in front of us, and the walls were covered with shelves that were filled with all kinds of things one would assume a vampire alchemist to have. Vials, books, skulls, a lot of ingredients I had seen in Chase’s shop, fascinating wooden statues, even a few cauldrons. There were several wooden trunks on the floor, but otherwise, the room was just like any other living room with a big couch, TV, a desk for a computer…

“So – why did you call me?” Aaliyah asked, peering at me. “And I don’t think you and I have met yet.”

“This is Dante,” Chase said, stepping closer to her, pulling a small, leather pouch out of his bag. “I need to know what’s in this,” he said, handing it to her.

She opened the bag and picked up my blood sample from it. “Looks like blood to me,” she said, raising her eyebrow at him.

“Duh,” Chase snorted. “I need more details.”

She shrugged lightly and popped the vial open, carefully sniffing it. “Werewolf blood.”

“More details,” Chase repeated.

She turned her attention back to me, sniffing the air harder, clearly taking in my scent. “His blood,” she said.

“More,” Chase only said.

“All right,” she said with a curious expression on her face. “Is your boy here in trouble?”

“Don’t know yet,” Chase sighed, looking at me. “I’ll explain after you’ve checked out the blood – I’m not giving you any hints.”

She let out a short chuckle. “A challenge, eh? Come – I have my equipment in my study.”

The room she led us into was kind of a shock to me. It was a mix of an old alchemy lab I had seen in fantasy movies and a modern science lab, and the latter was giving me anxiety. It reminded me of Lena’s facility… There was a long line of desks lining the walls, and a sturdy-looking, metallic table in the middle of the floor. I couldn’t even look at it.

“Chase… I…” I kept my head down, taking a few steps back until I was standing outside. Chase followed me quickly, gently taking my hands in his.

“It’s all right – we can wait here,” he said soothingly, trying to make me look at him, but I couldn’t.

The table… It looked so much like the one they had in their lab… The one I was tied to day after day after day…

“Is everything all right?” Aaliyah asked worriedly.

“We’ll wait here – you do you your thing,” Chase spoke quietly.

“All right…” I heard her mumble before she walked away from us.

“I can’t…” I tried to speak, but I forgot all the words.

“You are safe with me, okay?” Chase whispered, moving so close to me I could feel his warmth. He carefully moved his hands on my shoulders. “Nothing can hurt you.”

I did my best to believe in his words… I really did, but the memories wouldn’t leave me alone. Chase moved his hand slowly up on my neck, and I let him hug me. It became easier to keep it together when I rested my head on his shoulder.

“No one is going to hurt you ever again” Chase whispered. “That bitch can’t touch you ever again.”

I wished he was right.

Almost an hour later, Aaliyah stepped out of her study. Chase and I were sitting on the couch, and I was feeling much calmer again, but when I saw her, my stomach dropped.

“All right, I better start getting some answers,” she said when she stopped in front of us. “This sample is all over the place – there’s so much stuff in his blood that I can hardly even call it blood.”

Chase gave me a short look, like making sure I was all right, before standing up. “What do you mean?”

“For one – why is he so heavily drugged? I found traces of michilac, bravjev–”

“He’s been through a lot, okay? I’ve been making him potions to help him stay calm,” Chase hurried to explain.

“Regular humans would be in a coma for several months if they had that much stuff in their system,” Aaliyah said, peering at me. “I would say I’m surprised that he’s still walking, but…”

“Yes?” Chase asked when she sighed, shaking her head.

“There’s something wrong with his blood,” she said quietly. “But you already knew that since you called me.”

“Do you have any idea what it is?” Chase asked. “What’s causing it? How did it happen?”

“I had no idea what I was even looking at,” she said apologetically. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this, and I know blood.”

Chase sighed in frustration and walked to the window, rubbing his temples.

“How did you find out there’s something off with your blood?” Aaliyah asked me.

I grit my teeth together, looking away. I didn’t want to talk about it with a stranger, but staying silent wasn’t going to help us at all.

“When I change… I don’t turn into a wolf. I turn into a monster,” I spoke quietly.

“What…?” she breathed out. “What kind of monster?”

I was glad that Chase was the one to describe that horrible form to her. She listened in silence, her well-maintained eyebrows in a permanent frown. When Chase stopped talking, she turned to look at me.

“Has it always been like that?”

“No – it has happened three times now. The first time happened a week ago,” I told her.

“And your form was normal until then?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmh…” she uttered, biting her nail absentmindedly. “So… something must’ve caused it to change…”

“Can you figure out what’s causing it?” Chase asked. “We need to find a cure for it.”

“I need much more time, and a bigger blood sample,” she said, sounding determined. “But I need to know exactly what happened to him. Maybe I can pinpoint the moment this mutation occurred if I read his memories.”

“W-What?” I shot up in my seat.

“Oh – us vampires can read minds and memories,” Aaliyah explained. “It’s not painful or anything, and you won’t notice a thing.”

“No… I… It’s…” I stammered, feeling anxious again. Chase returned to me and knelt down in front of me.

“I know you feel uneasy about it, but we can trust her,” he spoke, placing his hand on mine. “It might help.”

I was about to start hyperventilating, so I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. A memory popped in my head. It was the vampire girl who tried to escape, only to get shot. She was probably still down there, waiting for death… Those vile people would never even consider working with one of us, and I truly doubted any vampire would be willing to help them.

I opened my eyes again and saw Chase. And I nodded.

Then, I turned to look at Aaliyah. “I must warn you, what you’re about to see may be highly disturbing.”

“I’ve seen a lot of disturbing things in my life,” she said. “But I’ll be careful.”

I nodded and turned to look at Chase again. “Sit with me?” I asked quietly, and he moved next to me on the couch. He took my hand in his, while Aaliyah took his place on the floor.

“Am I going to see what you see?” I asked quietly.

“No,” she said softly with a kind smile. “Are those memories the reason why you need such heavy potions?”

“Yes.”

“I see. I’ll try to be quick, but you won’t notice a thing. Just look me in the eyes,” she told me.

I felt uneasy to have her so close, staring at me in the eyes, but knowing that we were going to have some answers gave me strength. That, and Chase’s warm hand…

The seconds passed as I stared at her. Her eyelids were twitching, and I wondered if it was because of what she saw, or if it was normal. I was so glad that I didn’t have to see what she was looking at…

She suddenly closed her eyes and got up from the floor, taking a few, hasty steps away from me, before turning to look at me with horror and disgust on her face.

“Aaliyah?”

“They… They… Oh my Lord… I think I’m going to be sick…” she muttered and walked out of the entire apartment.

Chase looked at me with a worried frown. “Are you all right?”

“I didn’t see a thing,” I told him.

“What did they do to you?” Chase whispered, touching my cheek. “I knew it was bad, but that…” he trailed off, turning to look at the still-open front door.

“Bad things…” I muttered, just as when Aaliyah returned, closing the door behind her. She walked back to me, knelt down, and placed her hand carefully on mine.

“I will find out what they did to you,” she said with an angry voice. “I will help you guys find a cure. And I will kill those sons of bitches who did this to you and all those others.”

“Thank you,” was all I managed to say.

She stood up again. “I’ll need a new blood sample – I used everything you gave to me.”

“That’s going to be a problem,” Chase said.

Aaliyah turned to look at me. “Would you be willing to let me hypnotize you? That way we can take a new sample and you won’t even notice it.”

I just nodded without hesitation. I was getting exhausted and I couldn’t even consider being conscious while she took a sample. But she needed it, so there was no point for me to say no.

She really wasn’t wasting any time. She went to get her syringe and some vials, while Chase helped me get my hoodie off. The nervousness was again rearing its ugly head, but I tried not to think about it or let it take control over me.

Once Aaliyah returned to us, holding a small bag in her hands, Chase got up and took it from her. It was similar to the one Chase had for his syringe… I started to feel much worse now…

“I’ll do it,” Chase said quietly, and she nodded, turning to look at me.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Sure…” I sighed, watching her lean in front of me.

“Look at me in the eyes again,” she said softly.

I nodded and did just that. I started feeling drowsy immediately, while my body seemed to be losing strength, and–

“Good,” Aaliyah smiled and stood up again. “That went well.”

“W-What?” I muttered in confusion, turning to look at Chase who was pressing a tissue against the inside of my arm. “You… It’s… What?”

“It’s already done. I got plenty of blood to work with,” she smiled at me, taking the bag back from Chase.

I was not sure what to think about hypnosis at that moment. It happened way too fast and way too easily…

“We should go home now,” Chase spoke while I put the hoodie back on. “This has been an exhausting night for you.”

I couldn’t help but agree. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep myself together anymore. I felt weak and tired and insecure and anxious and I just wanted to hide in my room.

Aaliyah promised to call Chase as soon as she had something to report and followed us to the front door, where we exchanged our goodbyes.

“They aren’t getting away with this,” Aaliyah told me. “I enjoyed watching you destroy that place, Dante.”

I stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “I’m not proud of what I did, but I had no control over myself at that moment, so… It was their own fault.”

“They got what they deserved,” she said.

“I guess,” I mumbled, before stepping out of the door.

“Call me,” Chase told her before he followed me.

I walked down the stairs but stopped when the door behind us was closed. Chase stopped next to me, placing his hand on my back.

“You all right?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know…”

“You must be tired,” he muttered, moving his hand up and down on my back. “A lot happened today, but you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“I guess…”

“Should we go home?” he asked, but instead of answering to him, I turned around and hugged him, resting my head on his shoulder. I could feel his hand at the back of my neck, and his comforting touch calmed my soul.