Chapter 57

-Dante-

I was in so much pain that I didn’t even want to open my eyes. The headache was the worst. Turning into that beast had really gotten rough. It was so bad I was surprised that I was even conscious. It was so bad that I didn’t even notice the rest of the horrible sensations my body was trying to tell me about.

Without moving a muscle, I waited for Chase to notice I was awake. I couldn’t wait to feel his cool fingers on my body. It always helped. And he had either painkillers or potions for me. He’d make the pain go away.

“Chase…?” I whispered, hoping he was close enough to hear me.

He wasn’t… I tried to find his scent, but… but…

No… No, no, no… What I smelled around me… It was not home. It was… It was…!

I forced myself to look around, but the unnaturally bright lights hurt my eyes. It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing. I was in a cage, but not in my own. The walls were black, made of the same material as was my own, but this one was bigger, and there were massive pillars in the corners, chains hanging off them and tying me to my place in the middle of it all.

This place… It couldn’t be… But those smells. It was so familiar…

And then I remembered what had happened. We were under attack, and I turned…

I understood perfectly where I was. But I didn’t want to believe it.

“No!” I growled, trying to move, but my hands and feet were tied. The pillars didn’t even let out a creak, no matter how hard I pulled.

I was back in my hell. I was back in that fucking laboratory. How? What happened? Why…? Where was Chase? What did they do to my friends? What did they do to my love?!

The beast was trying to emerge, but something stopped it from taking control. I was so angry and afraid… Normally I would have already lost control over our body, but now it wouldn’t start. What was going on? Why couldn’t I transform?

And why was I back here? How did Killian get me? How was he able to capture me? And where was Chase! What happened to him?!

This had to be a nightmare…

“You’re awake.”

My heart froze when I heard that voice. The door opened, and as I watched, Killian stepped in slowly, giving me a victorious glance.

We never made it to safety…

“You’re looking good, mutt,” Killian snorted at me. “But where is that confidence now, huh? Where are your friends? You promised to bring them with you.”

“What did you do to them?!” I yelled at his face.

“Such a brave mutt…” he said, clearly hating the fact that I wasn’t as weak-minded as I used to be.

“What did you do?” I shouted again.

“I killed them all,” he said, crossing his arms. “Every single one of them.”

No…

“Don’t believe me? Doesn’t matter. They’re dead. All of them. And I personally made sure that warlock friend of yours suffered before dying.”

Chase… No…

“You’re lying!” I growled, fighting against the chains.

“Am I now?” He said with a mean smile. “You’ll see.”

No… Chase… He couldn’t be… There was no way… He was still alive! He had to be!

“You’ll see…” Killian repeated. “But now I think it’s time we continue where we left off.”

I suddenly felt weak again when he grabbed something from outside the room. My leash. It was the same one. I still remembered it clearly. I still remembered the fear I always got filed with whenever I even saw it. And he took his taser.

“I missed you so much, my dear little mutt,” he said as he stepped in front of me, jabbing the taser between my ribs.

It was too much. The pain…

*****

The next time I came to, my head was hurting even more. So did my entire body. I had the feeling Killian had taken all his anger out on me after I passed out. My body was strong, but I could still feel his fury all over me. Even swallowing hurt at that moment.

I opened my eyes slowly. The bright lights were still there, still blinding me. Someone spoke next to me, but I hardly understood a word he said. I didn’t know him, but he reminded me of Bernard. He leaned over me in a white lab coat, holding a scalpel in his hand.

“… I’m making an incision on his left arm, using silver…”

Oh God… This was the very same hell I escaped from once before. I tried to look away, but I quickly learned that moving even a little made me dizzy and sick. The world started twisting and turning all around me, so I closed my eyes. It didn’t help. I still wanted to throw up.

It was clear they had pumped me full of drugs again. I didn’t have the strength to lift my hand. Or a finger. And the pain was driving me out of my mind. I wanted to pass out just to get away from it. I needed the unconsciousness. I needed it more than ever.

But I had no time for that! I needed to know what happened to Chase! I needed to get the fuck out of here. I needed to go find him! I needed to see he was all right!

“This brings back memories,” Killian spoke next to me, and when I didn’t reply, he hit me hard on the face. “Oh, I’m sorry, were you asleep?”

I looked up at his black eyes. He smiled down at me.

“Remember that time you basically disemboweled me?” he asked, taking the scalpel from the scientist before pushing him out of the way. “I still haven’t forgiven you.”

He pressed the scalpel on my throat and started pulling it across my chest, then down my stomach. I could hardly feel that pain in the middle of all the other pain.

“I’m going to make you regret everything,” Killian told me, unable to hide his seething anger any longer. “You don’t know anything about pain. Yet.”

“Sir…” the scientist murmured. “I need to finish my job…”

“Then finish it,” Killian barked at him, throwing the scalpel in the corner before turning his attention back to me. “I’ll just have to wait for my turn,” he told me, and left.

This had to be a nightmare… I looked away when the scientist went to get a new scalpel, ignored my bleeding torso, and started cutting my arm.

Chase… Please…

I endured whatever they did to me. Most of the time I tried to ignore it. My mind refused to believe this was real. It was just a nightmare. I’d wake up any second now, and Chase would be right there, ready to soothe me down with his soft voice and sweet words.

But if this wasn’t a nightmare… He had to be alive. He was coming to save me. He was. I refused to believe someone like Killian could’ve killed him. There was no way… Roe wouldn’t have let that happen. That crazy demon would’ve ended Killian’s entire existence if he so much as looked at Chase wrong.

Chase was alive. He was coming to save me.

He was coming for me.

He’d save me…

I just had to endure… I was not alone, after all. Why the beast hadn’t woken up yet scared me, but he was there. I could feel him prowling inside me, waiting for his opportunity… I tried my hardest to let him out. If only I could turn, the beast would tear the entire base down. No matter what drugs they had used on me to keep me from turning, it would find its way out. It was just a matter of time.

But I didn’t need that because Chase was coming for me, and I knew he was pissed.

Once the scientist was done with me, Killian returned. I could tell he was tempted to continue torturing me, but ended up putting the leash on me instead. He yanked my collar hard, making me fall down because the chains around my ankles wouldn’t let me move my feet more than a few inches at a time. I hit my head on the floor because my hands were securely tied on my waist. The chains were pretty pointless as I was so incredibly weak because of the drugs. I still couldn’t even see clearly.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Killian said, kicking me until I was back on my feet. Even that was nearly impossible… “I want you to meet someone.”

I didn’t care. I was too busy trying to find a way out of that place. I had never been in there, so I had no idea what door led to where, but one thing was sure: this place was much bigger than the one they kept me in.

There were a bunch of guards following us the entire time, guns at ready. Killian had the old shotgun hanging off his back. They were afraid I was able to break free. Good. But it also meant it’d be harder for me to escape. But I would find a way out.

We finally stopped behind two big doors at the end of a long hallway in third floor. Killian knocked, and after getting the permission to enter, the guards pushed the doors open. I tried to stay in balance when Killian yanked my leash again.

“Ah! There he is!”

I didn’t know the middle-aged man who smiled at the sight of me. He was sitting behind a massive desk in the gray, cold, dimly lit room that had one wall filled with monitors. He stood up when the guards closed the doors after us.

“What a specimen,” the man said, stopping to take a good look at me a few feet away. “Young and powerful.”

“I’ll rip your throat out too,” I growled at him, but he only laughed.

“A wild one,” he said. “You’ll be tamed soon. My grandson here would just love to have you as his guard dog.”

“You will never tame me,” I said, again trying to pull my chains apart, but in vain.

“It’s a ritual, so I’m afraid there’s not much you can do about it,” the man said. “Of course, you will perform other tasks for us as well.”

I did not like the sound of that.

“I have two females, you see,” he continued, taking a step closer to us. “It is easier to breed your kind than make your kind. It’ll be slow at first, but in time, we will be back in business.”

I wanted to gag. I’d known this was exactly what they’d make me do if they ever got their hands on me, but to see him talk about it so casually made me want to throw up all over again.

“You sick fuck,” I hissed at him. “You won’t get away with this. We won’t let you!“

“We?” he repeated in amusement. “You think you and your little friends have a chance against us? Killian? I thought you already shared the news?”

“I did. It didn’t believe me.”

“Your friends are dead,” the old man said. “No one is coming to save you. You are mine now. You will make me rich. You will keep breeding until the day you die, and our legacy will be restored!”

“Legacy…” I muttered, the word giving me an idea. “How’s your son?”

“My son?” the man said with a frown. “Donovan? That useless cunt is long gone now. Died the way he lived: as an embarrassment.”

“Hmmh…” I uttered and started looking around.

I enjoyed the silence in the room. Soon, the old man broke it.

“What about Donovan?”

“Nothing…” I said, but Killian yanked my chains, forcing me down on my knees.

“What do you know about my father?!” he yelled at my face.

I slowly turned to look up at him. “He’s not as dead as you think he is,” I smiled at him.

“He’s lying!” the old man shouted at Killian, who was staring at me in disbelief. “Donovan would’ve killed him the second he escaped! He’s just trying to get under our skin!”

“Am I lying though? I could’ve sworn I met Donovan just a few days ago,” I spoke, almost laughing at their expressions.

“You have no right to talk about my father! You have no right to say that name out loud!” Killian hissed at me, pure rage shining in his eyes. “If you mention him ever again, I will slaughter you!”

I snorted at him. “Would he be proud of his son if he saw what you’re doing?” I asked him.

Something flickered in his eyes. For a moment, I thought he’d actually kill me. Or at least try to.

“Killian! Don’t listen to him!” The old man grunted, walking to us. “I don’t know where he got that name, but he is lying. Donovan is dead!”

Huh… Interesting… I didn’t expect these kinds of reactions from either of them. The old man was clearly afraid of his son, while Killian… He seemed proud of his father. This information was probably something I had no use for, but it was nice to see how upset they both got. It warmed my heart.

But it was mostly the old man’s fear that did that. That meant Donovan was an actual threat to him. If it was true… If my friends were dead, there was still Donovan. He’d kill me, too. He’d let me out of my misery before these sick freaks could use me. He’d let me go to Chase, wherever he was.

If he was dead, which I still didn’t believe, not even for a second.

“Show him the video!”

The monitors turned to life. A short moment later, the video started playing on all of them. There was no sound. I didn’t recognize the surroundings, but I knew the figure appearing in the distance. It was Chase running towards the camera, and my heart started racing.

Why did they want to show me this…? I knew why, I just refused to believe it.

In the video, Killian suddenly appeared in the corner. He was walking towards Chase, who still kept running at him. What was he doing?? Why wasn’t he running the fuck out of there?? Where was Roe?? He’d promised to keep him safe!

As I watched, feeling weak and helpless, Killian lifted his hand, holding a gun. Only a second later, the recoil shook his body six times, and Chase stopped. Six spots of red appeared on his white shirt.

And he fell.

“No!” I screamed, fighting against the chains as hard as I could.

“I told you I killed him,” Killian chuckled smugly. “They all shared the same fate.”

“NO!“

Whatever it was that had held the beast under control couldn’t withstand the power of us both at the same time. My transformation finally started. I welcomed the pain because I knew these bastards had made a big mistake. They’d die now. I’d tear them apart.

My Chase… Our Chase… Our beloved one… Even the beast was filled with rage after seeing him fall. It was taking control over me rapidly, and my body grew. The chains couldn’t stand against our body. This would be over in seconds.

“Keep him under control,” the old man said in a bored tone.

I was going to rip him apart first! No! It was Killian who murdered our love! He needed to die first!

“The dose wasn’t enough!” Killian yelled at him.

“Now we know. Put him back into his cage before he breaks anything!”

I turned to glare at Killian. I wanted to see him try to take us anywhere! He gave us an ugly glare and lifted his hand. There was something in it. A stone of some kind. A big one.

The last of the chains broke off, and we launched at him, but when we blinked, he was gone. So was the room we were just in. We slid to a halt, staring at the black cage in confusion. Where did he go?? He needed to die! We wanted his blood; we wanted his heart!

He killed our Chase…

Chase…

“As you can see, we are more than capable of handling you this time,” Killian spoke in the corner of the room. When we looked up, he wasn’t there. Just a small box. “This handy teleporter, for instance. No matter what you do, there is no escape. This entire facility was built to keep you in, and we all are equipped to deal with you.”

We let out our mightiest growl as a response.

“Of course, we don’t need magic after I have tamed you. Then you’ll do whatever I say like a mindless beast you are.”

Oh, how we hated him… We had never hated anyone like we hated that fucking son of a bitch! We would find a way to rip his heart out. We would. We were strong. Stronger than he could ever imagine. He’d die for what he did!

“I’ll see you later, mutt.”

Silence fell into the cage, but we were still filled with anger and rage. We attacked the door, trying to tear it apart, but we couldn’t even make a dent. We tried. We tried…

My heart was bleeding. I still refused to believe my Chase was gone. He couldn’t be… He was not dead! He was not…!

He was…

I let the beast consume me. And this time, I wasn’t going to return. He could have our body. I didn’t need it anymore. I had lost everything… My love was gone…

Gone…