Chapter 21

-Dante-

I couldn’t remember much about the fight. My memories were vague, blurry pictures of bloodied faces of the trolls, but then I got wounded. I snapped out of it and for a moment, I thought I had died. Apparently, the beast thought so too since I was able to gain control over it. That nauseating feeling of having a sharp blade deep in my guts… It got even worse when that troll ripped me wide open…

And then, I heard Chase’s angry voice. I looked up at him, but suddenly there was this… what the hell was it? A massive column of bright light? Lightning? Whatever it was, when it came down from the sky, I thought we were done for. When it hit the ground, it became so unbelievably hot that I could smell my own fur burning. The bright light nearly blinded me, but once it was gone and I could see again, there was a hole in the ground, the edge only a few feet away from me. The blast had melted the rock where it hit and the troll was gone, but for a moment, I could see a thin veil of red mist in the air.

But then I saw Chase lying on the ground. I forgot all about the troll and the wound and the hole in the ground as I struggled to get up on my feet in a hurry. The transformation started, making it ten times harder for me to move, but I needed to get to Chase. Aaliyah beat me to it, and the worry on her face gave me anxiety.

I stumbled to a halt right next to his immobile body and knelt down. I was too scared to lift him up, no matter how much I wanted to. He was pale, his eyes moving rapidly behind his closed eyelids, and there was steam coming out of his body. His skin was hot under my touch – way hotter than a human body should be. I asked the vampire what happened, but she didn’t seem to have any answers.

It took us way too long to wake him up. The fear was nearly suffocating me as I tried to shake him awake, and when he finally did, I almost fainted from relief. He seemed completely fine, but I was still horrified.

When he rushed to take a look at my stomach, I suddenly remembered that I was bleeding to death, but when I saw the wound I… I was embarrassed. It was merely a flesh wound! Was it really that small? I could’ve sworn the wound had been much, much worse than that. I mean, it was bad, at least ten inches long but still just a flesh wound. Probably not even enough to kill a human.

I could’ve sworn the spear had impaled me… It certainly had felt like it.

When we started walking back, the wound was aching, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I was really tired and walking through the small forest was quite a task, but we finally got to the road. The pain on my side was getting worse and my clothes were covered in my own blood, so I was glad when Chase cleaned it and patched me up.

But… it didn’t seem to be enough… The wound was bad so of course it would hurt, but…

The pain was slowly spreading throughout my entire body on that side as we walked to the lab, but I pretended everything was fine. I didn’t want to be seen as a whiny bitch – I was pathetic enough with my fear of humans – but it sure was draining my strength. By the time we stepped into the destroyed house, the world was slowly spinning around me. I kept telling myself that I just needed to rest, that’s all.

But soon, I couldn’t continue ignoring it anymore. My legs were shaking as we walked down the stairs into the basement. When Chase hugged me in his despair, his touch caused more pain and I slowly started to understand that something was wrong, but I didn’t have an opportunity to speak when we were presented the spectacle that was the moving house.

When it stopped moving and Mr. Heist invited us to his home, Chase let go of me, taking away the only support I had left. I hadn’t even realized how weak I was. I hit my knee when I fell on the dirty slush, barely able to stay conscious due to the sudden, painful movement.

“Dante?” Chase’s voice was filled with worry, and I felt his hand on my shoulder.

“Something’s wrong… The wound…” I muttered, suddenly drenched in cold sweat.

“What do you mean?” Chase asked so fast that I hardly understood what he said.

“It hurts… Bad…” I managed to spit out. It felt like my entire body was burning…

I could feel him push my shirt out of the way, and by the sound of his sharp gasp, I could tell something was wrong indeed.

“You’re bleeding hard,” he muttered. “Help me get him inside.”

I didn’t know who was it that helped Chase to get me up from the floor, but since I was barely conscious, I didn’t care. I slipped a few times on the wet ground, but then I could hear the wooden floor under my boots, and the air turned much more pleasant to smell.

For a short moment, I wasn’t aware of what was going on, not until I was suddenly lying on my back on a soft couch. I had to keep my eyes closed to fight off the need to vomit, but I was still listening in to the worried conversation around me.

“What’s going on? Why is he bleeding so much?”

“His wound was really bad before the shapeshift – I saw it.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“It looked fine afterward!”

“He can’t heal! How many times do I have to say it?!”

“There’s no time for this! Take my bag – there’s a lot of stuff to stop the bleeding.”

I guess I fell unconscious for a moment. At least I couldn’t remember what was said or done during the next couple of moments. Then, his voice brought me back.

“Dante? Can you hear me? Dante?” Somehow, I managed to open my eyes and saw Chase hovering over me. “You need to drink this,” he said softly, holding a glass of the familiar liquid in his hand.

He helped me to drink it, and the last thing I saw was his gentle, but worried smile.

*****

I was slowly regaining consciousness. I didn’t even understand it at first, but eventually, I started to register things around me. Warm blankets, quiet sounds of a burning fireplace, that nice, calm feeling the potion always caused… Chase’s scent right next to me…

“Chase…?”

“I’m here,” he murmured immediately, and I could feel the cushions shift under me when he leaned closer. His cool hand felt heavenly on my burning skin.

I forced my eyes open and the first thing I saw was him. “What’s… going on?” I breathed out, feeling extremely tired and strengthless.

“You scared the shit out of me, but everything is fine now,” he said reassuringly. “The wound was much deeper than we thought.”

“And now?” I asked, not really able to make big sentences yet.

“It’s healing,” he said, his smile having a surprised hint to it. “I think it was healing already – that’s why we didn’t realize how bad it was – but I guess all that movement caused it to start opening.”

It took me a moment to understand the words he said, almost like there was blockage between my ears and head, but when the words finally sunk in, I put my thumb up. “Cool.”

He laughed lightly and brushed my hair back. It felt nice. “You’re so out of it,” he muttered, his laugh fading, leaving a smile behind. “You’re healing. You’re getting better,” he whispered with a happy look in his eyes.

“Cool,” I repeated with a drowsy nod. I felt like I was drunk. Massively drunk.

“You should go back to sleep – your body is taking every bit of energy you have to fix that wound,” he told me, but I didn’t want to.

“I’m fine,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment. “I want to see the lab… Such a fuss about it… “

“You’ll get to see it once you’re feeling better,” he promised.

I opened my eyes again to see his smile. Seeing it made me feel better, both physically and mentally. I lifted my hand up, feeling like it weighed a ton, and brushed his cheek with my fingers. His smile grew even wider, and I felt a little bit stronger. Then, without saying a word, he leaned in, his soft lips gently touching mine, sending a wave of new kind of warmth through my body. Way too soon, he pulled away.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. “Does it hurt?”

“Not really,” I said, acting all brave, but then remembered I got into this mess because I had been acting brave. “Well… It hurts a bit…”

“A bit?” he raised his eyebrows at me.

“I can tolerate it, but I’m not getting up anytime soon,” I said truthfully. “But my head is starting to work, so there’s that,” I added, still a bit groggily but at least the drunken feeling was vanishing now.

“That’s good,” he said quietly, and then fell silent for a moment, before he continued, “I should’ve made sure you’re all right. All I could think was the lab, and… I didn’t even check your wound properly…”

“I thought I was fine,” I told him sternly. “The wound looked fine. You couldn’t have known even if you had spent half an hour staring at it.”

He shook his head and was clearly going to argue back, but I put my finger on his lips.

“Don’t…” I whispered. He sighed and gave me a sad look, but I refused to let him dwell in it. I turned to look around and frowned at the room we were in. “What is this place?” I asked with wide eyes. I was surprised to see how dark it was already. The only light seemed to be coming from a massive fireplace close by.

“Benjy’s home,” Chase said and looked around as well.

The house was nothing I had seen before.

The whole place seemed to be just one big, round room, a combined living room, kitchen, dining area, and small library. The big windows were so high above the floor that I doubted I was tall enough to see outside. It didn’t really matter since the walls were covered with such tall bookcases that I wouldn’t have been able to look outside anyway because of them.

The weirdest part was how the room was divided into sections. The entire floor was on three different levels, the lowest part being the area Chase and I were in: the round living room area. There were two couches on each side of that level, and a table between them. The fireplace in the wall right in front of us was clearly the center of the house. It was almost big enough for me to stand inside and wide enough for me to have a friend to accompany me.

When I turned to look away from the fireplace, I saw two steps leading up to the second level, which was basically just a hallway going around the living room, connecting all the sections. The front door was on that level as well, locating at the opposite of the fireplace. There were two sets of staircases on both sides of it, the one on the right leading up and the other one down.

The highest points of the room were located on both sides of the door, but around one foot above the hallway. The kitchen and the dining area were on the right platform, and the left one looked like a lounge of some sort. The windows in that area came down much lower, giving a nice view outside. When I pushed myself upwards, I could see a small glass door and a wild-looking garden behind it.

“This is not what I expected,” I breathed out. “It looks awesome.”

“It sure does,” Chase said with a nod.

“Have you seen the lab yet?” I asked.

He shook his head. “That would’ve required me to leave your side,” he said softly.

I forgot how words worked when he said that. I was again filled with warmth that had nothing to do with the temperature. I could only look at him, unable to believe this was actually happening, whatever it was. Why would he give someone like me a chance…?

I didn’t dare to ask about it. I looked at the hand that had been resting on my chest for a while now. Then, after a short hesitation, I placed mine on top of it. He intertwined our fingers and smiled at me.

“We’ll go take a look in the morning, once you’ve regained your strength,” he said.

I nodded, and then realized the silence in the room. “Where is everyone?”

“Asleep,” he said, pointing upstairs. “It’s… It’s three in the morning, I think.”

“What? How?”

“You’ll have to ask a scientist,” he chuckled.

“Have you slept?” I asked after noticing the tired lines around his eyes. He shook his head. “You need to rest as well!”

“I needed to keep a close eye on you,” he said with a shrug.

“You went through a lot today,” I tried to say, but he tried to shush me. “Chase.”

“How was I supposed to get any sleep after you crashed like that?” he asked quietly, squeezing my hand. “Huh?”

He did have a point, but… “You fell. I still don’t understand why or what happened, but I know you should be resting too.”

“I simply used too much magic – nothing to worry about,” he said reassuringly.

“You fainted. There was steam coming out of you!” I exclaimed. “Your body was practically boiling – that’s something to worry about.”

“Magical overload does that,” he shrugged, “I’m fine, believe me. The potion I’ve been drinking has fixed the damages already.”

“Damages?“

“Let’s just try to get some sleep now,” he said, clearly trying to move on from the topic.

I let out a deep sigh and watched him get up from the couch, turning to look at the one on the other side of the living room area. There were a pillow and a blanket waiting for him, but suddenly, I felt cold again.

“Stay with me,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

He turned to smile at me. “I’m not going anywhere – I’ll be sleeping right there.”

I took his hand, pulling it gently. “No… Stay here with me.”

His smile grew even brighter. “All right, but we need to make more room,” he said, leaning over me to carefully grab the back pillows of the couch. Even the slight movement caused by the loss of support send nasty waves of pain through my side, but I had expected it. Chase put the cushions away while I clumsily moved closer to the backrest, and then went to get his blanket and pillow.

It felt surprisingly nice when he lay down next to me, turning on his side so he could rest his head on my shoulder. He peered up at me with a smile, pulling the covers over us, being careful with every move he made. When he was done, he gave me a short kiss, placed his hand on my chest, and took a deep, content breath.

“Goodnight,” he whispered.

“Goodnight,” I murmured.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep while he was sleeping right next to me, using my shoulder as his pillow. I was so full of such good emotions that I didn’t even want to fall asleep. I focused on his scent, his gentle fingers caressing my chest, his warmth… his steady breathing… his calming heartbeat…

Obviously, I fell asleep. I woke up when I felt something tickling my chin and neck. I half-consciously moved my hand, trying to get rid of whatever it was that disturbed me, only to find out it was someone else’s hand.

Now, who could it be…?

I opened my eyes and saw an apologetic smirk on Chase’s face. He was sitting right next to me, his lower half covered with a blanket. He pulled his hand away before he spoke, “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Good morning,” I muttered, and began stretching my body, but half a second later I remembered why it was a bad idea. The pain jolted through me, waking me up better than any alarm clock would.

“Careful now,” Chase said, his smile fading.

I let out a groan and watched him push away the covers to see my stomach. He gave me a reassuring look when he began peeling off the thick layer of bandages. It was drenched in the healing salve, and thankfully, not that much blood.

“Looking good,” he said, leaning to grab a small bag from the table. He fished out a pair of rubber gloves before inspecting the wound more thoroughly. “Much better. You’re healing quite fast now.”

“I am?” I said, trying to see the wound but I would’ve needed to use my torn abs to do so.

“Not as fast as you should, but this is amazing already,” he said while wiping off excess salve with a towel. “Your bones aren’t sticking out that bad either… Roe’s mix really helps.”

“I’d like to thank him personally,” I said.

“Too bad I don’t want to see him right now,” he muttered, and I could sense a hint of anger in his voice.

“Why not?” I asked, taking a better look at his face.

“He’s annoying and has no idea what he’s talking about,” he muttered, and finally looked at me, conjuring a smile back on his face. “You must be hungry.”

He didn’t give me any time to reply. He was already up on his feet, walking towards the steps that led to the upper levels. I watched him go, wondering if I should ask what was going on between him and his master, but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

For now.

“What time is it?” I asked, peering out of the windows but all I could see was the clear sky.

“Around noon,” Chase replied in the kitchen. “You slept for eighteen hours.”

“What?” I mumbled.

“You certainly needed it. Now you need some food and maybe a shower if you’re strong enough to get up.”

I slowly started pushing myself upwards to see what would happen. I felt much better already, and even though sitting up wasn’t a fun thing to do at that moment, I didn’t lay back down. I really needed to take that shower. I – and the entire couch – was covered in dirt and blood. I didn’t even have any clothes on. Only my underwear. I also needed to use the toilet.

“I’m sorry I made you sleep next to me,” I said.

“Why?”

“This smell is so bad…” I muttered, but he just laughed.

“I got used to it during the night. Besides, it’s not that bad. My sense of smell isn’t even half as good as yours.”

I really needed to get away from the couch. I moved my legs over the edge of it, already gathering the strength to get up on my feet, but then Chase noticed what I was doing.

“Don’t even think about it!”

He ran back down to me, but I refused to stay still a second longer. “Give me a hand, will you?”

“But–”

“Just help me up – I’m not a child. I need to use the toilet. There is a toilet here, right?”

“Yeah – it’s upstairs,” Chase said, nodding his head towards the front door.

“Give me a hand,” I repeated, and he – reluctantly – helped me up.

I felt so much better than yesterday. Walking didn’t feel bad at all, although my side was still aching. It just didn’t compare to the agony I had been in the day before. I was careful as we climbed to the second floor, and I stopped to take a breather so I wouldn’t ruin anything for the second time. And to take a look around.

The outer wall of the room was round, just like downstairs, but the other two were straight. There was one door on the wall I was facing, and another two on the one on my right. Chase pointed at the one in front of us.

“That’s the bathroom. Aaliyah is at the hotel getting our stuff and checking us out as we speak, so you’ll get clean clothes once she returns. There are clean towels though if you want to freshen up.”

“I’d love that,” I groaned in happiness.

“Just don’t strain yourself,” Chase said.

“I won’t.”

The bathroom was quite big and oddly shaped with the outer wall being round, but all I cared about washing myself. I took my sweet time standing under the shower. It took me a while to question how they got running water in a house that moved. Or electricity for that matter. With magic?

There was a rack for towels next to the door, so once I was done, I picked one that looked and smelled clean. I wasn’t surprised to see Chase waiting for me right outside when I stepped out, wearing nothing but the towel.

“Much better,” he said with an approving nod.

“I want to see the lab now,” I told him.

He took a deep breath, looking like he wanted to object, but he surprised me when he nodded.

“Just a quick look – then you have to eat something,” he added sternly.

I agreed to that. “I probably can’t step inside it anyway…”

Walking down was a bit harder than going up, mainly because of my wobbly knees. I was running out of strength, but I managed to get all the way down to the basement floor. The room we landed in was small and had a big, massive door right in front of us. It looked like a door to a bomb shelter. It had eight big latches as a locking mechanism, each of them as thick as my wrists.

Behind the door, I could see a small hallway. Maybe five feet long. And another big door with eight latches.

Suddenly, I couldn’t move a step closer to the hallway.

Neither of the doors had any way to be opened from the inside. That place was for me. For my kind. And the worst part was that I could see it at the very back of the basement.

The cage. My cage.

“I can’t,” I whispered, looking away from it all.

“Let’s get back upstairs,” Chase spoke with a soothing voice, leading me to the staircase. “Your breakfast is ready – you must be starving…”

I appreciated his efforts to take my mind off the thing I just saw, but even his calming words couldn’t erase the swarming nauseousness that was spreading through my body.

Especially when Killian started laughing inside my head once again.