Chapter 27

-Dante-

All of a sudden, I couldn’t sleep. It was around six the next morning that I woke up and couldn’t even close my eyes anymore. I didn’t need to. I felt energetic. I really wanted to get out of bed, but there was a small problem.

Chase had a very tight hold of me even though he was fast asleep. His head was resting on my shoulder and arm wrapped around my chest, so there was no way I could leave without waking him up. And he definitely needed the rest. I hadn’t seen him rest enough ever since we arrived here, and I was worried.

I touched his hand gently, turning my body towards him. He shifted a little as well but continued sleeping. I hesitated for a moment before touching his earrings, moving my finger slowly while listening to the tiny sounds they made. He had started wearing gold instead of silver because of me… Something in that thought made me… happy.

I thought about Roeruiz’s words, and the horrible, empty feeling I had gotten when he asked me to leave with him. To leave Chase. I hadn’t had enough time to think about my feelings, but now, as I watched him sleep, it felt right to be next to him. It felt more than right.

Although, it wasn’t a surprise. When we first met in college, we hit it off right away. Of course, I was different back then, so full of shit and thinking I was a gift from gods, but what I felt for Chase was genuine. I cursed myself for ruining that… But now I had a second chance, and I was not going to screw it up.

It really helped to know that Roeruiz was keeping a close eye on me. I wasn’t sure if he was able to stop me every single time I got out of hand, but I really wished he was. He seemed pretty determined on protecting Chase, after all. I hadn’t told Chase about his master’s fake plan to take me away because he seemed to be mad enough as it was because of the ring.

I sighed and peered at a small box on the desk by the window. I wasn’t quite sure what Roeruiz meant when he told me to use the ring and deal with my inner demons. Chase had been too angry to explain anything and made me promise I wouldn’t use it on my own. It seemed like a miraculous ring, and I could already see how useful it was. I was curious to know if it could calm me down when the transformation was about to start. That would be so great. I had the feeling we’d get the answer sooner rather than later.

Because I was probably going to need it in the morning.

Chase’s parents were coming to visit, and I was done hiding in the room.

Chase suddenly moved in his sleep, mumbling something very quietly and gaining my full attention. As I watched him, the peacefulness inside me grew stronger. His determination to find a cure for me was really starting to rub off on me. There had to be one, right? We just had to find it, like he said, and the book he got did sound like exactly what we needed. If only we could read it…

It took a few hours before Chase started waking up. I spent most of that time staring at him like a creep, coaching myself into believing that I would survive. We would find the cure. There was no way we could fail. And for some reason, I actually believed it. I felt strong enough to believe it.

“Good morning…” Chase murmured when he realized I was awake. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did, but I think I’ve had enough of sleeping,” I told him.

“Hmmh?” he breathed out and stared at me for a moment. “You do look much better,” he said, pushing himself to sit up.

He moved my covers down to see my stomach, and I glanced at it as well. There was only a big scar left of the attack.

“I think it’s healed now,” Chase said, touching my skin with his warm fingers and giving me a smile. “But this scar might take quite some time to vanish.”

“I don’t mind,” I said, carefully pressing the area with my own hand. “It’s not hurting anymore.”

“You need to take it easy for a few more days,” he mumbled absentmindedly while checking my arm. “These are finally healed too,” he said, looking excited.

“No more holes in me?” I chuckled.

“No more holes,” he said gently. “I’m so glad you’ve started healing again. I was worried you lost that ability for good.”

“Same,” I said, trying to see the shoulder where I got shot when I escaped that lab of horrors. I had feared the old wounds opened when I transformed, like they always did, but nope. Not this time, apparently. Thank God…

Chase was silent for a moment, caressing my arm and shoulder gently. He was only wearing boxers, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from traveling down on his slim figure. What a scary, tiny creature he was… His unevenly cut hair was a mess and he had a drowsy look in his eyes, and seeing him like that made me forget that this wasn’t just one of the lazy mornings we used to share back in the day.

I gathered some courage to place my hand on his knee, caressing it a little. His smile grew wider just before he leaned in to give me a kiss. At that moment, the idea of leaving him felt impossible.

“So… Your parents, huh?” I muttered after he pulled back.

He let out a heavy sigh. “Mom knows a lot about old dialects. She should be able to help.”

“Why such a long face?” I asked.

“Well, they did kick me out of the house,” he said. “We’ve patched things up after that, but… I don’t know… It still feels odd to be around them.”

“Right,” I nodded.

He was silent for a while, clearly deep in his thoughts. But then, he spoke, “They got me Frank as my mentor… I didn’t have a say in the matter.”

“Has he treated you badly” I frowned, pushing myself to sit up as well.

“No… That would’ve required him to actually remember I was there,” he snorted. “No, sorry… I’m making it sound worse than it was… He’s a drunk, so beer was more important to him than teaching me. That’s why I still set things on fire.”

“Roeruiz said something about that yesterday,” I muttered. “That no one saw your potential.”

He suddenly gave me a weird smile while rolling his eyes at the same time. “Oh, Roe is a whole ‘nother thing.”

“He seems to care about you,” I noted.

“He does, in his own, self-centered way,” he said. “I don’t think he’s used to caring about others. It makes him mad.”

“He said he lost his previous apprentice too soon, and that he’s not letting it happen again.”

Chase nodded slowly. “Freak accident. I heard she fell in lava.”

“That’s… not what I expected,” I said slowly in shock.

“Yeah…” he trailed off and looked at the clock. “You hungry? We still have a few hours before my parents arrive so you should go take a shower and eat. I can bring you some books to read if you don’t feel like sleeping anymore.”

“I… I’d actually like to meet your parents. I’m so sick and tired of staying in this freaking room,” I told him.

“But… you’re not good with strangers,” he reminded me.

“Just… Let me use the ring. I can’t stay in this room a second longer,” I said.

“I don’t know about the ring, but sure, you can join us if you’re up for it.”

“Thanks,” I sighed in relief.

*****

The way Chase often described his parents had given me the image of fierce warriors, so I was pretty disappointed when the couple stepping through the portal looked like any other two people in their late fifties. With glasses. Chase’s mom had a perm. His dad was wearing tweed.

Of course, it was better this way, but still… I couldn’t imagine them fighting monsters for fun. They looked like accountants, for crying out loud!

“Mom – Dad,” Chase went to greet them to the portal, while I stayed behind on the couch, holding the ring in my fist. Chase had given me permission to use it but honestly, seeing his parents didn’t make me feel threatened at all.

“How are you doing, sweetheart?” his mom asked, hugging him with one hand while planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Just great,” Chase said shortly and took her bag so she could take her jacket off.

They exchanged more pleasantries and I couldn’t help but notice that Chase wasn’t acting like himself around his parents. He was being too polite. I also noticed that even though his parents did glance at me in curiosity a few times, neither of them made an attempt to introduce themselves to me. Did Chase tell them to do that? Either that or they were just very rude people.

However, I was actually glad about them keeping their distance. I had gotten pretty used to new faces in this madness we were in, but maybe it was for the best to be cautious. I didn’t want to turn into the monster now. That would’ve been rude.

“So, you had a book you wanted me to see?” Mrs. Cooper asked once they were done with their greetings.

“Yes – it’s here,” Chase said, gesturing them to follow him to the lounge. “It’s not going to be easy to translate it.”

“Your father’s handwriting is terrible… How hard can it be to – oh.” They stopped to stare at the open book. “I see…”

“Can you read it?” Chase asked while his mother leaned closer to the book, pushing her glasses upwards on her nose.

“Well… Kind of? This word here is… Neminhe?”

“There’s a blood purification spell I need,” Chase said quietly. “Can you tell which one it is?”

“I’m going to need some time…” she muttered, sitting down at the table.

“How much time?” Chase asked, but his mother glanced at him shortly and without giving him a reply, she asked if there was any coffee.

It was clear that the task wasn’t an easy one. Chase went to make coffee for them while his parents started studying the book, mumbling about the words and trying to guess if the author was drunk while writing it.

I let out a silent sigh and looked away. I had tried so hard not to get excited about the book, but I had to admit, my hopes were suddenly crushed. I had the feeling this wasn’t going to work, that the book was useless to us. No… Worse… That it had the cure, but we would never be able to translate it.

Once they had big cups of coffee under their noses, Chase came to me and sat down on the couch.

“It’ll work,” he said, but I had the feeling he was mostly trying to convince himself.

I took his hand in mine and earned a small smile from him. “Let’s hope so,” I said and turned to look at his parents just in time to see the air behind them starting to twitch. “What the…?”

“Oh no!” Chase gasped a second before someone – or something – appeared out of thin air.

“What is this?” a deep female voice spoke, and the massive, blue-skinned figure with big spiral horns, long tail, and big hooves leaned over Mrs. Cooper’s shoulder. She looked like she had escaped from the Bible!

“Oh, Izha – we’re trying to translate this book my son found,” Mrs. Cooper said way too naturally, while I sat there with a pounding heart.

“Dante – it’s fine,” Chase said hastily, taking both my hands into his, squeezing them tight. “That’s just my mom’s master.”

“That’s… That’s… huh?” I stammered, trying to stay calm. Demons! Chase said they were demons, but that was an actual demon!

“It’s fine, everything is fine,” Chase said soothingly. “Do you need the ring?”

I was about to shake my head, but all of a sudden, another one appeared. A bigger one!

“For fuck’s sake!” Chase hissed, and when I blinked, the red stone was right in front of my face. I quickly forgot what happened, but I could still hear Chase’s angry voice coming from somewhere. “Could you not appear out of nowhere without a warning?! And in your true forms!“

I just stared at the stone, unable to even blink. The voices became mere static in the background. I hardly even noticed it. Not until someone spoke my name.

I tried to reply, but my body wasn’t responding. It felt like it weighed a ton.

“The demons you saw are friendly,” he spoke. He… Chase. “You don’t have to worry about them at all, okay? They’re not going to hurt you. They’re here to help us.”

The stone was suddenly much further away, and my body felt a lot lighter.

“They’re here to help us, okay?”

This time I was able to nod. I think. The stone moved a bit further away.

“Are you all right?” he asked, and I nodded. “Are you sure?”

“I… Yeah…” I breathed out, still unable to take my eyes off the stone, even though I could see a blurry image of Chase right behind it.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” Chase said, hiding the stone from me, making me snap awake.

I looked up at him, feeling like I had been deep underwater just now. It took me a long time to get my head back up and running.

“You all right?” he asked again.

“I think so… That is one trippy ring,” I muttered, making him laugh a bit.

“That’s how you’re supposed to use it. It’s kind of like hypnosis,” Chase explained, and I nodded, carefully peering at the lounge.

The demons were gone, but there were two new humans surrounding the table: a man and a woman around their fifties, who looked more like the fierce warriors I thought I’d be meeting today with their harsh expressions and toned bodies.

“When you said demons… That’s not what I pictured,” I admitted.

“I should’ve told you about them sooner, but I thought there was no hurry. They are sorry. They didn’t know about you.”

“It’s… it’s all right,” I said, looking away from them. “What about the book?”

He shrugged and let out a small sigh before turning to look at them. “Let’s hope for the best.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

I tried not to jump this time when the air started twisting again right next to us. Roeruiz emerged out of thin air, his arms already crossed over his chest. He was wearing the same clothes as before and had an annoyed expression on his narrow face.

“Roe.” Oh, Chase was mad. I could tell by the way he spoke his master’s name. “Why did you give the ring to Dante without my permission?”

He was very mad.

“Because I’m a generous person,” Roeruiz said, looking at Chase without caring about his anger.

“You didn’t even explain how to use it! He could’ve gotten himself killed!”

Roeruiz stared at him with disbelief in his eyes. “That ring is perfectly safe.”

“People have died using it!”

Roeruiz let out a deep sigh, rolling his eyes. “Are you kidding me? There’s only been a handful of people who’ve died because of it. Sick people. Old people.”

“Dante is sick! And it doesn’t matter. You went behind my back!” Chase hissed.

“I wanted to meet him without your interference.”

“And why the hell would you do that? You know he’s not well!”

“And you’re not doing him any favors by treating him like a weak child,” Roeruiz replied, losing a bit of his cool. “He’s a man with a killer inside him. The longer you keep him in your bubble wrap, the harder it will become for him to stand on his own feet. I visited him behind your back to personally see how he’s doing, and in my honest opinion, things went well last night.”

He turned to look at me, expecting me to speak, and so did Chase. “Well, yeah, kind of,” I shrugged a bit timidly. I had turned, but after the first shock, I was fine.

“See?” he said, turning to look at Chase again. “You don’t have to keep him locked up and hidden away. He needs to learn how to deal with himself and his fears. He needs to face his demons. And you need to give him more room because he’s stronger than you give him credit for.”

“He’s still sick,” Chase said stubbornly, and Roeruiz sighed, raising his hands in the air as a sign of giving up.

“Fine – I’ll just bring more bubble wrap next time,” he said, and marched to the lounge to greet the others.

Chase stared after him, and I could tell he was thinking about his words. He even seemed a bit guilty. Then, he carefully peered at me, his arms tightly wrapped around himself. “Is he right? Am I being too protective?” he asked quietly.

“Honestly? I’ve been passed out for the past couple of days,” I said, patting the spot next to me. “I don’t really have opinions in the matter.”

He slowly sat down next to me, but he didn’t look at me. “I just want to protect you.”

“And I’m forever grateful for that,” I said, leaning closer to him. “But I’m feeling much better now. Way better than yesterday, so maybe we should listen to his advice.”

He was silent for a moment, before admitting, “He does have a point…”

I placed my arm over his shoulders and pulled him against me. “I am really glad that you’re protecting me,” I said quietly.

“But enough is enough,” he sighed with a short nod and turned to look at me. “You do seem to be doing much better now,” he added, touching my cheek gently.

“Thanks… I… I feel better,” I said slowly.

“And you will be fully healed. No more monster,” Chase added, giving me a smile.

“What the fuck kind of language is this supposed to be?!“

We both glanced at Roeruiz who had just understood our problem.

“I just hope it’s not taking too long,” I murmured.