Chapter 54

-Dante-

I felt so goddamn good as I listened in to the werewolf couple screaming and shouting and banging their fists against the walls of my cage where Roe had dropped them. It wasn’t them that made me feel that way – it was the knowledge that we were getting really close to Killian.

True, we didn’t know if they actually knew his location, but they knew something. Maybe enough for us to put the pieces together. And my god, showing Killian I wasn’t afraid of him anymore had been even better. I knew he would see the recording one way or another.

“Could they just stop already?” Chase sighed next to me.

“Let’s give them a moment,” I told him.

I was hoping the couple would burn their energy against the cage to make Aaliyah’s job to see their memories easier. We didn’t have much time, but they’d been banging at the door for almost an hour now. They had to wear themselves out soon. Besides, Aaliyah needed a little more time to prepare for the mind reading. Invading their minds wasn’t the same as checking my memories since I’d let her do it, while these guys would fight against it with everything they had.

“We can’t wait forever, love,” Chase reminded me. “They already know what we did, and they got a clear view of our faces.”

“I know,” I only said.

It was just a matter of time before Killian would find us. I knew that. He had already found Aaliyah’s home, so he’d definitely locate this place as well. Ben had placed protections against intruders, but it was ill advised to underestimate Killian.

Though… If Killian came to us, things would get much more straightforward.

It didn’t take long before Aaliyah returned to us with Zane. She listened to the ruckus for a moment before turning her attention to us.

“I am ready to begin.”

Chase and I nodded. The banging never quieted down, so it was time for Plan B.

“Ben? You’re up,” I told the old man, who approached us with a small pouch.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t come down to this,” he said quietly. “It’s very tricky to get the right dose.”

We all glanced at the pouch he was holding. It contained a powder mix of ground herbs that together caused the person ingesting – or inhaling – it to become nice and cooperative. I did feel a little dirty for using tricks like that, especially after spending six months in that lab where they used all kinds of drugs on me.

But time was of the essence, and we had given the couple enough time to help us willingly.

“Do it,” I told Ben, who approached the ventilation grill.

“Might want to step back in case some of it falls on this side.”

We retreated further away, and Ben put a very old gas mask on his face. Seeing that really rubbed me the wrong way – again because of the rotten memories – and I almost felt bad for the werewolf couple.

Little by little, Ben poured the substance into the small hole, being careful not to spill it. At first, there was no change in the couple’s behavior, but a few moments later, I noticed their movements slowing down.

And then…

“Oh, you fucking pieces of shit!” the man shouted with a strengthless voice.

“Let us out! You can’t do this to us!” the woman begged.

“We only want your memories, then you are free to go,” I told them.

Unsurprisingly, they didn’t believe me. I also had the feeling Killian had threatened to have them killed if they ever let someone get their memories, but that wasn’t going to be a problem for them.

Killian’s days were already over.

After the couple fell silent, we approached the door again. Aaliyah was the only one who could safely step into the cage, so after we opened the door and made sure the werewolves weren’t going to attack us, the rest of us retreated away from it. Ben went as far as to step outside of the laboratory in case the wolves would try to attack.

Aaliyah hoisted my sire over her shoulder and carried him to the chair, dropping him on it before closing the cage again. Roe, Chase, Zane and I were ready to make our move if the werewolf tried anything, but he looked like he was barely able to even sit.

“Let’s see now…” Aaliyah muttered, leaning over him.

They both became completely immobile. The rest of us stared at them in silence, waiting impatiently… And it was a hell of a long wait. Nothing happened in a long time, and even I started feeling restless. Chase was agitated as hell, sighing constantly and shifting his weight. It was starting to rub on me, but finally Aaliyah stood up.

And she smiled.

“Found it.”

I could almost taste Killian’s blood…

To make sure we had all the information we needed, Aaliyah read the female wolf’s mind too, but she apparently had nothing to do with Killian and his lab. We stuffed them both back into the cage since none of us were in a hurry to deal with them and climbed upstairs to find a map. Arthyzn joined us there to hear what we’d found.

“Tell us everything you saw,” I spoke to Aaliyah while she was studying the maps.

“You are not his only victim,” she began. “He’s bitten dozens of people over the years. That house he lives in? That was a gift from Lena – they’ve been paying for his living for years.”

“How long has this been going on?” I asked. “How long did Lena work in that place?”

“Long before you even met her,” Aaliyah said grimly.

“She always spoke about finding the key to immortality…” I mumbled.

“You were her side project – and immortality isn’t the only thing she was searching for. She wanted to harness all our powers,” Aaliyah explained. “This guy, Ronald, knew a lot.”

I shook my head in irritation. At least Lena was dead now.

“What else did you find?”

“Their location,” she said, pressing her index finger on the map. “Right here.”

The area around her finger was completely deserted. I couldn’t see roads or anything. The perfect hiding spot in the wilderness.

“That’s not far away from home,” Chase said, pointing at another location. I assumed it was his home. “Three hours of driving at most.”

“So, we know where they are,” Roe said. “Now what?”

“You do nothing until I have tried to contact Donovan,” Arthyzn said sternly. “Kidnapping them caused enough disturbance as it is.”

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t your party,” I told him. “We gather our allies and we go straight to them.”

“Would you at least let me try to reach out to Donovan?” Arthyzn asked.

“How?” I asked. “You said you don’t have a way. Unless you lied to us.”

“I did not lie!” he snapped at me. “I have other ways – slow ways.”

“Then feel free to use them, but we can’t wait for his reply,” I told him. The demon huffed and puffed for a moment while I turned my back on him. “You can do whatever you want, but we really don’t have time. They have our faces, and I’m sure they will soon have our names. We need to attack now.”

“Now?!” Arthyzn said. “Do you have any idea how powerful they are? Taylors are not stupid, and they definitely aren’t weak!”

“Neither are we,” I told him calmly. “I know we can’t just walk in this time. Not alone. And I’m hoping we aren’t alone?” I turned to speak to my friends.

“They had the nerve to attack me and my family in our sleep,” Aaliyah said through gritted teeth. “And we are not letting our kind fall in their hands ever again. I know strong warriors who are willing to help us bring that place down once and for all!”

“Thank you.” I nodded to her.

“I know where we can get some new, fun weapons,” Zane said. “Bon and Chels have been working on a lot crazier things than just rocks.”

“I also may have a few strings I can pull, yes,” Ben said with a nod.

“I’ll just call Mom and Dad,” Chase snickered. “They’re getting bored.”

“Thank you all,” I said again. “Tell them they have until tomorrow evening to decide if they are willing to help us.”

“And then?”

“We attack the day after tomorrow,” I said, turning to look at the map again. “We’ll end this once and for all.”

*****

I couldn’t sleep that night. I stared out the window, listening in to Chase’s steady breathing. We didn’t really have a plan yet, so I was trying to come up with ideas to present to the others in the morning. We all had agreed we needed a goodnight’s sleep before making actual plans.

The house was quiet. I assumed everyone was asleep, or at least trying to fall asleep. Asking them all to help me take down Taylors was a lot, so I was grateful they were still willing to stand by my side. They were risking their lives. Though it wasn’t all just for me. I wasn’t the only victim. I was sure that sick lab was still running at full speed. They were still conducting their experiments on people like me. Maybe they were even trying to create another Rassawolf. Maybe they had succeeded with it.

With anger rising inside me, I got out of the bed without waking up Chase. I got dressed in silence, and then I headed down to Ben’s lab. The werewolves were sleeping soundly in my cage. I made sure the two heavy doors of the lab were closed and locked before I returned to the cage and opened it.

The werewolf couple sprung up on their feet and glared at me angrily, ready to attack me.

“How could you do it?” I asked my sire. Ronald.

“Do what?!” he growled at me.

“You worked with those sick bastards for years,” I said, trying to contain my rage. “You helped them to use your own kind as lab rats.”

“I don’t care what they did,” he spat at me.

I wanted to rip him to shreds at that very moment, but something else caught my attention. The lady werewolf. I could see a flicker in her eyes as she took a short glance at her boyfriend. Interesting…

“You don’t care that they kidnapped us, mutilated us, pumped us full of drugs and chemicals to see what makes us tick? You don’t care that they forced us to lie on their tables while they dissected us like dead animals?” I spoke, keeping a close eye on the female.

She was now staring at Ronald without giving a damn about me. Ronald only glared at me while trying to look for a way to escape at the same time.

“Of course you don’t,” I finally said. “Because you got paid to help them.”

“Help who?” the woman breathed out with an angry frown.

“Humans,” I said, while Ronald finally remembered she was there.

“He’s lying!” he told her angrily.

“He’s lying?” the woman repeated in disbelief. “You already said you didn’t care what they did!”

“Did you know the human scientists paid him to turn people into werewolves so they could turn those poor bastards into mutants?” I asked, throwing more fuel into the flames.

“What do you want?!” Ronald yelled in my face.

“Right now, I want to watch you suffer. Because of you, they turned me into a monster. I can no longer control myself. If I turn, I won’t stop until everyone around me is dead. Everyone I love is now constantly in danger. You did that to me. You helped them to do that to me.”

“I will fucking kill you,” the woman growled to Ronald.

She probably would have if I hadn’t stopped her. I came down here to find some kind of closure, or at least to learn why my sire did what he did, but the answer was obvious: he sold his kind for a big amount of money. But apparently, I had stumbled upon something better.

“We may still need him,” I told her, pulling her out of the cage.

“Tell me what’s going on,” she ordered as I closed the cage, leaving Ronald to yell profanities after us.

“Sure. What’s your name?”

“Samantha. Sam,” she said, turning to glare at the cage. “If I’d known…” she growled, trailing off.

“Well, Sam, your boyfriend is a douchebag,” I said shortly, leading her upstairs. “You hungry?”

“Not really, no.”

Since I wasn’t even a little bit tired, I told Sam a lot about what her dear male friend had been up to over the years. We were sitting at the kitchen table, talking quietly so the people sleeping on the couches didn’t get disturbed. The longer she listened, the angrier she became. I was sure she’d use the first opportunity to end Ronald’s existence.

It was somehow therapeutic to talk about the lab and see her rage grow. I didn’t even know her, but this was the very first time I was able to have a conversation with another werewolf, my kin.

“So you’re a monster now?” she asked when I stopped talking.

“We are trying to find a cure for me, but we don’t even know if it exists,” I told her.

“This explains so many things…” Sam said. “He’d vanish for hours, claiming he had suddenly wanted to go for a run. But he never wanted to go for a run with me.”

“We are putting an end to their sick experiments,” I told her. “We will make sure no one will fall in their hands ever again.”

“Good,” she said, taking a better look at me. “You need help with that?”

“I could use all the help I can get,” I replied. “But why would you want to help us?”

“Because I have friends that have gone missing over the years,” she spoke with anger in her eyes.

*****

Roe teleported Sam to her home early in the morning. No one questioned my decision to trust her, especially since Aaliyah hadn’t found anything to tie her to Killian. She told us she’d rile up her friends and family, and would come for our aid as soon as we needed. I was grateful for that. I was also curious to meet other werewolves. I would need their help to figure out my new life after this was all over.

A few hours later, after a big breakfast, we sat down in the living room, gathering around the map again. We still didn’t know who would join our forces, so all we could do was to come up with a simplified plan.

Our discussion got interrupted pretty soon. Someone knocked on the front door.

“I don’t know that smell,” I immediately said, and neither did Aaliyah.

“You don’t think Killian would start his attack on us by knocking on the door?” Ben asked carefully as we all stood up, ready for anything.

“Arthyzn? Let me in.”

But I knew that voice. Somehow, I still remembered it. Maybe because it was so similar to Killian’s.

Arthyzn hurried to the door and opened it.

“Donovan?” the demon whispered in shock. “How did you…?”

“Later,” the man said, stepping in.

I could feel the shock and disbelief in the air as we all stared at Donovan Taylor, the man everyone thought was dead. Our clearly reluctant ally.

“What do you want?” Chase was the first to ask in a hostile voice.

Donovan, looking so much like his son, glanced at us all with a hint of disgust in his eyes. Then he turned his attention to me.

“You found the base,” he said, and suddenly I wanted to rip his heart out just because he reminded me of Killian so much. “Where is it?”

“Don’t tell me the greatest hunter of our time never figured out the location on his own?” Chase asked, crossing arms over his chest.

“I’m not a mind reader,” Donovan said in an unpleasant voice. “Where is it?”

“How did you find us?” I asked.

“That’s because of me. I told you I have ways to contact him,” Arthyzn said, and then turned to Donovan. “I wasn’t sure if you’d get my message, though.”

“I did. Where is the base?” Donovan asked for the third time, obviously losing his patience.

“Why don’t we sit down and talk?” Ben asked carefully. “We are on the same side here, right?”

Donovan gave me such a dirty look that I knew he’d come after me once we were done with Killian.

“You can’t take them down by yourself,” I told him. “We already have plans of our own, so whatever you’re going to do may be too late tomorrow.”

“You need to stay out of my way,” he spat at me.

“No. Either you stay out of our way, or we can work together. I know you want to bring down your family and their entire legacy, but can you do that alone?” I asked.

He didn’t reply to me, but I could tell he was considering the option I gave him.

“I know you hate me. I know you’d rather kill me right now, but I think we should work together. You know things we don’t, and I have a small army. I see us working together as a win-win situation.”

“What kind of army?” he asked sharply.

“A small one, but full of those your son is exploiting. And they are angry,” I said.

“I’m listening,” he said after a short pause.

“Good,” I said, gesturing for him to join us in the living room.

Part of me believed Donovan would take a hike right after we told him where the base was located, but he surprised us all by staying. He treated us all in a hostile manner, but none of us liked having him around either, so we were even. I guessed his hate towards his family was much more greater than his hatred towards us supernaturals. And that was saying a lot.

But the thing that really surprised me was him sharing his knowledge without making a fuss about it. He gave us information on what kind of weapons and methods his family often used, giving us at least some kind of picture of what to be prepared for.

“They’re using magic?” I frowned when he told us about it.

He nodded shortly. “My father will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and he doesn’t share my hatred towards your kind.”

“That’s a surprise,” I snorted.

“It shouldn’t be. Your kind is a gold mine to him,” Donovan said, turning his attention to the map. “You can use portals all you want, but if you open one too close to the base, they will know about it. They have detectors for magic. They know how to prevent you from using it, and don’t think you’re too powerful for them,” he said, turning to look at Roe. “They have strong enough devices to capture even beings like you, and cut you off from your magical powers.”

Roe snorted in annoyance. “I’ve encountered those kinds of things before. They better hope their gadgets are strong enough.”

“Trust me, they are,” Donovan said. “Get too cocky, and your ass is grass.”

“So, if we use portals, how far do we have to make them?” I asked to keep us on the right track.

“Several miles. I’d prefer twenty miles, but that, too, comes with a cost,” Donovan said. “They will have cameras everywhere, so they will know you’re coming.”

“So might as well open the portal as close as we can, then?” Chase spoke.

“Suit yourself – the outcome will be the same.”

There was a small debate over the location of the portal, but I had something else on my mind.

“Your son had a shotgun,” I said after we had established that the best place to put the portal was right next to their front door. “He shot something at me, and I couldn’t move anymore.”

“That has belonged to my family for as long as the Rassawolves have existed,” Donovan said. “It is powerful enough to penetrate your hide and is used to shoot tranquilizers.”

“Thought so. That’s going to be a problem,” I said.

“There is an antidote for the tranquilizer they use, but it has to be shot with that same gun, unless someone wants to volunteer feeding it to you,” he spoke, looking around.

“I’m a warlock,” Chase snorted. “I can make him eat it.”

“Then it has to be done fast before he goes unconscious.”

The way he spoke was really getting on my nerves, but it couldn’t be helped. At least he was sharing his knowledge, and I was doing my best to remember that.

“They will also have necromancers to revive their dead soldiers, so be prepared to kill them twice,” Donovan continued. “How small is this army of yours?”

“We don’t know yet,” I said truthfully. “We are still waiting for their decision. We have contacted vampires, werewolves, pixies and dwarves – people who have helped me to survive this long.”

He rubbed his chin. “They are well equipped to deal with all of you. And they know you’re coming.”

“You can leave if you don’t like the odds,” Chase snorted.

“Perhaps I will,” Donovan said. “But since you’re going to ruin my plans anyway…”

“Thanks,” I said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

At least he was helping us.

…For now.