Chapter 5

-Dante-

I couldn’t sleep much that night. The couch was very uncomfortable, and my shoulder made things much worse. Every time I tried to move the pain got so bad I was seeing stars for a while. I was hungry and cold since my clothes were still damp, but at least I had fresh water to drink now.

It was a little before sunrise when I finally fell asleep out of exhaustion, but too soon, I was startled awake by loud sounds. On top of the hostile voice, seeing the unfamiliar surroundings almost sent me into panic, but my head started working by the time I turned around to see a young man, who was pointing at me with a baseball bat.

I almost didn’t recognize Chase. He had always liked to dress colorfully when we were dating, but now his appearance was much more… polished. Back then, his hair was black and much longer, but now it was short except for the bangs that were left long on the left side of his face. He used to have only one earring on his right ear, but now he had several of them, and still none in the left one. Back then, he wasn’t as skinny as he was now, and I remembered him looking much younger in the past. He was supposed to be twenty-three years old now, but he looked older than that. And he looked tired. I guess the years hadn’t treated him well either.

But his eyes were the same. Ice-blue ones. They were so light in color that I sometimes wondered if he was wearing contact lenses or something. It always seemed unnatural to me. Of course, later I found out there was much more unnatural about him than I ever could’ve thought.

A warlock.

I felt ashamed while I lay on his bed, watching him get ready to remove the bullet. I had completely freaked out when I found out he was a warlock, meddling with demons and all kinds of dark stuff. I never believed in magic or werewolves or any of the supernatural stuff, so when he proved he could use magic… I flipped. I called him all kinds of names and ran off to drink myself unconscious. We never spoke after that. I never even saw him after that. I stayed far away from him and this entire city he lived in.

To think he still was willing to help me… I suddenly realized how shitty it was for me to return here and beg for his aid after how I treated him.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered in shame, “for what I did.”

“Let’s not worry about it now,” he spoke, and his soft voice was surprisingly effective in calming me down.

“No… I was a complete asshole to you. I regret everything I said,” I told him sincerely.

“Hmmh…” he uttered while placing a towel under my arm.

“Can you… forgive me?” I asked hesitantly.

“I’m about to pull a bullet out of you. I think we’re already past this conversation,” he said sternly, but then gave me a smile. “Besides, this is going to hurt you a lot more than your words hurt me back then.”

“I can take it,” I said.

He chuckled lightly and grabbed his first aid kit. “It seems like my potion helped.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. I felt much calmer now. The pain was fading fast, and I didn’t feel like I was about to have a heart attack from fear.

“It did. Tasted like shit, though.”

“I’ll make sure the next one tastes better,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Potions rarely do, though…”

“Potions, huh…” I breathed out. “Never thought I’d drink one willingly… What was in it?”

“I made it take the pain away and calm you down – you were scared out of your mind…”

I nodded slowly. “Explains why I’m not dying from panic anymore…”

He gave me a sympathetic look. “You are safe here. Whatever happened to you, it’s over now.”

“Thanks,” I said, but I couldn’t believe in his words. Killian would come after me if he survived, but I refused to think about it now. The potion may be keeping me calm, but I doubted it would work if I started thinking about the danger I was still in.

“I’m curious to hear how you got turned into a werewolf,” Chase said all of a sudden while pulling a pair of white latex gloves on.

“I’ll tell you once I’m not about to pass out from pain,” I said, looking at my mutilated shoulder – it was a mistake. I turned to look away when my stomach turned upside down.

“Well, we better remove the bullet right away so you can start healing. I’ll have to pull it out with my magic, but I’ll do it fast. Are you ready?” he asked.

I peered at my shoulder and let out a deep sigh. “I doubt it’ll hurt half as much as it did when I was shot. Go ahead.”

“I have bad news for you,” he muttered apologetically, before moving his hand over the wound. I didn’t have time to ask what he meant by that. “Three… two…”

He didn’t finish the count down, but I hardly noticed it since all of a sudden, I felt like someone ripped the whole damn arm off.

“I got it out. Hang in there,” Chase hurried to tell me when I yelled in pure agony. Again, I was on the verge of passing out. How was it possible it hurt so fucking much? I could feel cold liquid being poured on the wound. “This should help…”

Thankfully, it did. Whatever it was, it helped. Chase cleaned the wound the best he could before applying some kind of ointment that smelled so strong it burned in my nostrils. Then, he wrapped bandages around the wound, and by the time he was done, the pain was much easier to bear.

“It’s badly infected, that’s why it hurts so much, but it should start healing now,” he told me. “But I don’t understand why your body isn’t healing. I get that the bullet didn’t let the wound close, but all these bruises and cuts… They look old. Especially this one…”

He touched the skin close to the wound Bernard had made over and over again with a silver knife. I gritted my teeth together and turned away from Chase. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t even want to remember that place, let alone relive all those horrors by talking about what they did to me.

“All right,” he sighed when I didn’t reply. “You need food. I’ll go make you something to eat.”

He got up from the bed, and I turned to look after him as he walked to the door.

“You deserve an explanation, but I can’t… Not yet…” I said quietly.

He turned to look at me. “It’s something bad, right?”

I nodded shortly, before turning to look out of the only window in the room. All I could see was the cloudy sky. It looked like it was about to start raining again.

“I’ll go get you something to eat. We can talk later when you’re ready.”

I could hear him leave the room, but I didn’t turn my eyes away from the window. The bed under me was soft and warm. The air was dusty, but it couldn’t hide the scent of the garden. I was exhausted and sleepy, but I still got up from the bed so I could open the window.

The wind brushed my face gently, and I froze to stare at the garden. It was almost unreal… I really got away from the place. I was free… No more pain, no more experiments, no more… any of it. I wasn’t their guinea pig anymore.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, hiding my face behind my hands. Suddenly, I was trembling in the wave of emotions that hit me all at once.

It took a while before I managed to get a grip on myself. When I finally looked up, I could smell food. Vegetables, potatoes and chicken. I was reminded of how hungry I was when my stomach growled loudly. I was so hungry it hurt. The smell of chicken was almost too much for my mental health, and I nearly broke down again.

I tried to be patient while the smell was growing stronger, but eventually, I heard Chase coming back to me.

“You should be lying down,” he noted when he stepped in with a tray.

“I needed to get some fresh air…” I muttered, keeping my eyes on the tray when he gave it to me. Chicken soup. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had chicken soup. Or soup in general. “My lord, this looks so good…”

“I’m a terrible cook, in case you’ve forgotten,” he said as I grabbed the spoon.

“Trust me…” I breathed out partly in a chuckle but couldn’t bring myself to finish that sentence.

He didn’t urge me to continue, so I ate the first spoonful. Food… Actual, decent food… It tasted better than anything I’d ever had. It was almost too hot, but I didn’t care as I started wolfing it down. Chase had a worried look on his face as he watched me eat, but he didn’t ask any questions.

I was finished in record time, and even though I was uncomfortably full, part of me still wanted more.

“You must’ve been starving,” Chase said quietly after I placed the bowl back on the tray. “I’m sorry for the small portion, but I don’t think you should be eating a lot in one go.”

“You’re probably right,” I said, looking at the last drop in my bowl.

“You know what? I’ll go visit the store and bring you some fruits or berries to eat,” he said, stood up, but then let out a deep sigh. “I was supposed to open the shop at eleven…”

“What time is it?”

“It’s way past noon already…” he muttered, staring at his wristwatch.

“You should go there,” I told him. “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me, and I can leave if you–”

“No – you’re staying here,” he said sternly. “You said you had nowhere to go.”

“I really have no one else to turn to,” I sighed. “I don’t know anyone else who could help me, and I can’t go to my family…”

He studied me carefully but nodded eventually. “Then you’re staying here. I’ll go open the shop, and in the meantime, you can sleep. We’re closing at five, and after that, I’ll go visit the grocery store.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” I said, feeling grateful, “but I don’t have any money…”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Oh, I almost forgot you need clean clothes…”

He vanished for a moment, and when he returned, he brought a dark-green T-shirt and a pair of gray pants with him.

“I have no idea who these belong to, but my clothes are probably too small for you,” he said, laying the clothes on the bed. “Don’t worry, I’ve washed them.”

“How do you not know whose clothes you have?” I asked, grabbing the T-shirt.

He let out a nervous chuckle and ruffled his hair. “I get lonely… a lot…” he muttered, turning a bit red on the cheeks.

“Oh…” I muttered. “So… these belong to a fuckbuddy of yours?”

“I’m sorry,” he hurried to say in embarrassment, trying to take the clothes back. “You’re right – I’ll go find something else.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” I said, holding onto the shirt. “You washed them, that’s enough.”

He looked a bit lost but let me have the clothes. I turned my attention back to the shirt, and almost pulled it on me, but something moved in my memories. “You know what? I think this is mine.”

“What?” he frowned.

“Yeah – I’m pretty sure this is mine,” I said, studying the green fabric. “I left in a hurry back then…”

“Oh, that explains why no one ever wanted them back.”

“Yeah…” I breathed out, thinking about the time I was dating him. “I’m so sorry I left like that…”

“Bygones be bygones,” he said quietly.

“Thank you for helping me, even though you have no reason to even speak to me. I’ll… explain everything… at some point…” I muttered. “I just want you to know how grateful I am for this.”

“Dante…” he said hesitantly, sitting down on the bed. “When you and I were together… I only did it because you were hot, and you had money. I deserved everything you said.”

I stared at him for a moment. “T-That’s irrelevant. I said some pretty mean things to you, and–”

“I stole over two hundred from you,” he interrupted me, looking down at his hands. “For weed.”

“O-Oh… I… didn’t know that,” I muttered while the image of our relationship was slowly being destroyed in my mind.

“You were… kind of a dick… so… I thought you deserved it,” he muttered. “I’m sorry. I was stupid… But, as you can see, I deserved what you said to me.”

“Honestly? I don’t really care. I know I deserved a lot of things, and… right now I’m just grateful to have clean clothes to wear and food in me. And an actual bed to sleep on…” I told him truthfully. “Also, that potion you made me was a lifesaver.”

“It was just a little something to reduce the pain and help you stay calm.”

“Trust me… I’m going to need that,” I muttered. “I feel nice and numb right now, but…”

“The effects will last for hours. I’ll be back home long before it starts to wear off,” he said while standing up. “Try to get some sleep. I’ll be back in six hours.”

I nodded and watched him get up. He hesitated for a moment, before he turned to look at me again.

“I always thought that I was just a phase to you. That is why I never took our relationship seriously. I heard you got married to a girl from your college, so congratul–”

“Don’t,” I said sharply. “I hope she’s dead.”

I scared myself a bit for saying such things, but when he mentioned her, I was suddenly filled with anger. I was so angry that my hands were shaking, so I wrung them together, trying to calm down.

“The plot thickens…” Chase whispered. “Try to get some rest. I’ll be back around six.”

I nodded in silence, still staring at my shaky hands as he walked out the door, leaving me alone.