Chapter 13

-Chase-

I was so angry that I could barely contain myself. After Aaliyah dropped me off, promising me we would find those fucking bastards, I entered the shop. I was not stable enough to go home yet. Eru quickly followed me before I could close the door, meowing quietly when I stopped to a halt, squeezing my bag in one hand.

I wanted to start breaking things. I put the bag away before the urge could get the best of me since the cocktails I had in there would probably wipe out the entire block if I threw it on the wall.

This was supposed to be over by now. They were supposed to be dead by now. And Dante was supposed to be free… I wasn’t sure if I could live with this failure. How was I supposed to go to him and look him in the eye, knowing that I was unable to grant his wish to return to his normal life? Knowing that, because I was too late, so many of us were still held captive and tortured to death?

It was not over. I knew humans well enough to know they wouldn’t stop. They were doing those experiments to make money, and they knew they were sitting on a goldmine. They already had a new place somewhere, most likely far away from here, where they were continuing their work.

And we had absolutely no leads left. Lena was the only person tied to that place I knew of, and Aaliyah couldn’t give us any more details. The only person who could help us was Dante, and I did not want to make him talk about that place.

I went to sit down on the couch where I had first found Dante, trying to calm down. Eru jumped on my lap, looking miserable and giving me short, concerned meows. I petted her lightly.

“This was supposed to be over tonight,” I told her. “I’m so glad I didn’t tell Dante about this… He’d be disappointed…”

I sure as hell was disappointed in myself. I should’ve guessed they would move their operations elsewhere the second Dante had escaped. I should’ve gone straight to them the day I found him lying on this couch… I could’ve saved them all and put a stop to that madness…

Now it was too late.

“What is this…?”

I gritted my teeth together and took a deep breath when the air in front of me started twisting and turning. The center of the twirl turned black, and the whole thing quickly expanded to cover up half of the shop. In seconds, a tall, dark figure emerged from within the void.

Lord Roeruiz. My master.

“You’ve been acting recklessly, boy,” the figure chuckled as he phased into being.

“Screw you,” I muttered, crossing arms over my chest. “Why are you here? I don’t need your lecture right now.”

He snapped his fingers, and a handful of candles appeared out of thin air to float around us, illuminating his impressive physique from his massive hooves all the way up to his spiraling, black horns that were pointing back from his temples.

“What? Aren’t you going to offer a cup of coffee to your guest?” he asked.

“This is a tea shop, Roe,” I reminded him.

“Sassy. I don’t think I’ve deserved it, though,” he said, turning his freakishly white face towards me, his black eyes studying me carefully. There once was a time when the seven-foot devil with massive, black mane, bull-like feet, and buffed upper body scared the crap out of me whenever he squinted his eyes at me, but those days were long gone.

I let out a deep sigh, shaking my head. “There’s some shit going on that’s gotten me in a foul mood,” I explained.

He breathed out heavily, turning his eyes towards the ceiling. “I know,” he said slowly, almost mocking me. “I’ve been watching you.”

“Then you know what’s going on.”

He lowered his gaze and stepped closer to me, the floor nearly shaking under his weight. “Yes, I do… I know you’ve been neglecting your duties because of a street dog.”

“He’s not a street dog!” I hissed at him, standing up so fast that Eru hissed at me when she landed on the floor.

“Really?” Roe snorted, turning his attention back to the ceiling. “I’ll have to go see it for myself,” he added, looking at me when the air around him started twirling again.

“You leave him alone!” I said angrily, but he was gone in a blink of an eye. “Dammit!“

I rushed to grab my bag and ran out the door with Eru at my tail. I hurried up the stairs to my apartment and used magic to unlock it – I didn’t have time to waste on finding the keys. Once inside I ran up the stairs and practically bolted through Dante’s door.

Roe was already there, leaning over Dante who was still asleep.

“What are you doing?” I hissed as quietly as I could and tried to pull the demon away, but the nearly-five-hundred-pound being barely flinched at my attempt.

“What an insignificant being,” Roe spoke, pressing his big hand on Dante’s chest. I watched in horror as his long black claws pressed against Dante’s skin.

“Don’t you dare hurt him!” I said angrily, but he ignored me.

“So, there’s something wrong with him?” he spoke, moving his hand to Dante’s stomach.

I watched his claws for a moment, but he seemed to be careful not to wound him, so I relaxed a bit. “We don’t know what’s wrong with him exactly, but his wolf form is all kinds of wrong.”

“Hmm…”

“Do you… Do you have any idea what could cause it?” I asked.

He shook his head a little and pulled his hand away. “It’s not anything magical. I can’t sense anything out of the ordinary. His werewolf mridi is working normally.”

I let out a sigh after hearing that. “I was hoping that it was the magic behind the transformation that was screwed up. You know, making him transform into the wrong form.”

“It’s the form that has changed, not his ability. I think your alchemist friend is a better fit to determine why this happened,” Roe said, stepping away from Dante. “But I’m not here to play a doctor. I’m not even going to scold you for using my magic so recklessly.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked, crossing arms over my chest.

He smiled, his whole demeanor changing rapidly. He lifted his hand, twirling his fingers into a fist when he summoned something. Then, he opened the hand and I saw a hvjerdnir stone resting on his palm. My hvjerdnir stone.

“You killed again,” he chuckled, sounding pleased with me.

I grabbed the stone from him and marched out of the room. I really didn’t want to have this conversation now. I managed to get all the way down into my living room before he appeared in front of me.

“We should celebrate!” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder to stop me from escaping. “It was your third murder!”

“Yes, I killed her, but there’s nothing to celebrate!” I snapped at him.

He started laughing. “Really now? You once said you’re not going to kill anyone, yet here we are.”

“I was naive,” I muttered, pushing his hand back and turned to look out the window. “I’ve never killed for the fun of it.”

“Yet,” he said with a low voice, placing his hands on my shoulders. “It only gets easier, and easier, and easier,” he muttered in my ear.

“They all deserved it,” I muttered.

He laughed again. “A rapist, a murderer, and a torturer… You are truly making the world a better place,” he spoke with sarcasm oozing from his words.

“They all deserved it,” I repeated angrily.

“Yes… They did, but what about the next victim? Or the last victim? What do you think happens when that shiny stone of yours has twelve souls in it, hmm? That last one will seem like no big deal.”

“I will never kill innocent people!” I told him, stepping away from him to face him. “Never, you hear me?!”

“You were ready to kill tonight,” he chuckled, stepping right in front of me. “And you did not care who was going to get in your way.”

I stared up at him without saying a word. I was getting angry again, but I knew if I tried to object, he would only laugh at my face. When I didn’t speak, he grabbed my hand, the one I was squeezing the stone with, and lifted it up so I could see it.

“If you were truly innocent, you wouldn’t be collecting the souls. You are not innocent, Chase Cooper. I took you as my mridien because I could see the darkness in you. You felt good when you saw that woman die. You can say whatever you want, but don’t act surprised when you collect the final soul without feeling a thing.”

I stared at the stone in my hand for a moment, before I lifted my eyes to meet his black ones. He used to be just like me a long time ago. A human. He collected the souls and became Ardrion demon, master of mridi.

“Was it easy for you?” I asked. “To kill all those people?”

He chuckled when he leaned in to whisper in my ear, “I loved it in the end.”

I turned to look away from him. The stone suddenly felt like it was burning my hand even though it wasn’t hot. He let go of me and stepped back.

“If you really want to prove me wrong, you need to be more careful. As I said, killing people will only become easier, and if you can’t keep that temper of yours under control… well…” he trailed off.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said quietly, looking out the window.

“At least you still care,” Roe said. “There’s a lot of good in you as well.”

“I really can’t tell if you’re happy that I’m turning evil or happy that I’m still not evil,” I said, turning to look at him.

He spread his arms and laughed. “What can I say? I’m a complicated demon. All I really care about is getting more hvjerdnir stones from you.”

“I’ll go look for more soon,” I promised.

“Good. I’ll be watching you,” he said before he vanished into thin air. I could hear a light thump when that happened, and I saw a small pouch on the floor, exactly where Roe had been standing.

I went to pick it up, and I opened it carefully. There was light-brown powder in it, and when I took a sniff, I could immediately tell what it was. It was an extremely expensive mix of rare herbs with healing abilities. I had never found any of the three herbs that were in it, and I only knew two people who were selling them. I smiled at the pouch and closed it, putting it carefully in my pocket.

“Thanks,” I whispered, knowing that Roe was still watching me.

*****

I was feeling a bit better the next morning when I woke up and went to take a quick shower. I was eager to see if Roe’s powder would help Dante, which distracted me from thinking about what happened last night. The utter failure we faced.

It took me a moment to find the right recipe for this particular mix since me and my usual customers couldn’t afford it, making it useless to have in my everyday spellbook. I was glad to see that it took only two hours and forty-two minutes to make and that it would last six days in the fridge before going bad.

The shop had everything I needed for the potion so I went to grab everything I needed before returning home. While the potion was slowly boiling on the stove, I made breakfast and fired up my laptop to check the news.

My heart dropped when I saw the front page.

“Dr. Lena Gray has gone missing…” I whispered with a frown. “What…?”

I quickly read the article with my heart racing in my chest. People thought Lena was missing. Not dead. The article went on and on about Dante’s kidnap, and speculating that the same people had also kidnapped Lena. Apparently, people at the hospital where she worked had gotten worried when she didn’t show up at work, but when her friend had gone to check up on her, she couldn’t find her.

I leaned back in my chair, feeling confused. I had painted her entire entrance hall red, but that wasn’t mentioned in the article, even though investigators had been in her house after that. Someone had cleaned up my mess.

And I had a feeling it was not anyone on my side.

I suddenly heard noises coming from upstairs, so I quickly shut down the laptop and got up. When I walked into the entrance hall, I saw Dante stepping out of his room, wearing the college pants and hoodie I had given him.

“Good morning,” I smiled at him. “I’m making breakfast – I’ll bring it to you.”

“Actually…” he mumbled, tousling his long hair, “I’m kind of tired of staying in bed all the time…”

“Oh? But that’s good! I’ll set the table in the kitchen,” I told him, and he nodded, making his way to the stairs.

I quickly made sure there wasn’t anything he shouldn’t see in the kitchen, before going to grab plates for us.

“Is bacon and eggs okay?” I asked when Dante joined me in the kitchen.

“Yeah, sounds great,” he said and sat down at the table.

“I’m guessing you’re feeling better now?” I spoke while grabbing the eggs from the fridge.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry for being such a baby during the past couple of days.”

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for,” I told him gently. “You’ve been through so much shit lately.”

“Thanks for taking care of me,” he said quietly, and when I turned to look at him, he gave me a smile. “I wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”

I could feel my own smile spreading slowly across my face. “You’re welcome,” I said, before turning my gaze back at the eggs, but the rest of my senses were focusing on him. I couldn’t stop smiling…

“What’s that smell?” he asked.

“What smell?”

“You’re making potions again, right?”

I turned to look at him just in time to see him getting up and walking to me. He peered at the potion that was on the stove, right next to the pan of eggs.

“You’re… making them in a kettle?” he asked.

“Uhh, yes?” I chuckled.

“That’s… so disappointing,” he said, and after I asked why, he continued, “I thought you’d use a cauldron.”

I smirked at his words. “Cauldrons are a bit inconvenient.”

“But there’s nothing magical about stainless steel…” he muttered.

“Is it going to make things worse if I tell you I got that kettle from IKEA?” I asked.

“Yes,” he nodded.

I laughed lightly at his words, feeling happy that he was getting curious. When I took a better look at him, he seemed… livelier. He wasn’t that pale anymore, and his eyes had a spark in them now.

“That’s actually for you,” I told him, ripping my eyes off him. “I got some heavy-duty healing herbs for you.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. My master dropped by last night, and–”

“Wait, what?”

I glanced at him and saw a deep frown on his face. “You were asleep. He wanted to know how I was doing and made me promise that I’ll go find him more hvjerdnir stones soon.”

He was silent for a long time, just staring at me with a frown. Just when I was about to ask if that was a problem, he said, “He didn’t care to come and introduce himself?”

I decided not to tell him that Roe had been in his room. “We actually talked about you. He said whatever it is that’s causing your transformation go all wonky, it’s not a magical issue. Your ability to transform is working as intended, but the form itself has changed. Like you have the right phone number, but the person answering it isn’t.”

“Wonky?” Dante repeated, leaning against the counter next to me. “I think we’re past wonky.”

I snorted at him in amusement. “Anyway, he gave me this mix. It’s a lot stronger than the herbs I have, so I’m hopeful that it will help you heal much faster,” I told him.

“If I can be helped at all…” he mumbled, and I placed my hand on his arm.

“What did we talk about thoughts like that, hmm?”

He took a deep breath and his expression grew softer. “Sorry. Tell him that I’m grateful for his help,” he said.

“I will,” I smiled at him, moving my hand up and down on his arm for a moment before I forced myself to move it away and focus on our breakfast. I was so unbelievably aware of his closeness that it was hard to make sure I didn’t burn the food… “This is almost done – you can go sit down.”

Part of me wished that he didn’t move away, but he did. I turned to look at his back when he returned to the table and sat down. Our eyes met so I gave him a smile before grabbing the pan from the stove.

“I hope you’re hungry,” I said while piling the eggs and bacon on his plate.

“I am – thanks,” he smiled at me.

No matter how good it had felt to see Lena die…

“You’re welcome,” I said, patting his shoulder.

…that smile Dante gave me felt much, much better.