Chapter 28

-Chase-

Since there was nothing I could do to help with translating that rotten book, and my parents didn’t need anything for now, I stayed with Dante on the couch. He didn’t seem anxious about us having so many guests, but he was wary of them.

I felt guilty for not spending enough time with him. He had been asleep most of the time, yes, but as Ben said, werewolves could sense the presence of their loved ones even when they weren’t awake. I hoped I was one of the loved ones now… At least a liked one?

That was another thing I felt bad about. Dante was giving me the green light and instead of seizing the opportunity, I was running around two different realms, chasing books that no one could read anymore.

If only his condition wasn’t lethal… I wasn’t afraid of the beast he turned into. It didn’t bother me at all. I could deal with being chased around the house. I didn’t even mind that he occasionally tried to kill me. I could live with a situation like that.

But it was killing him.

I hugged him tighter, resting my head against his shoulder. We had been silent for a while now, sitting side by side on the couch, listening in to the conversation the others were having about the book. He leaned his head against mine, taking in a deep breath, making me smile as he relaxed little by little.

I turned to look towards the lounge where the rest were still fighting over who got to take a better look at the book. I was glad they all wanted to help, but they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I wanted answers now. Every second wasted gave me anxiety. There was not enough time… What if we should be focusing on how to prevent Dante’s death or at least slow down the disease, but instead we were wasting our precious time on finding a cure that didn’t exist?

I fought off the massive urge to go find Ben so we could start discussing how to proceed with the treatment. Dante was now up and feeling much better, but it would be incredibly cruel to shove him straight into the lab and start with our own experiments.

A loud grumble interrupted my thoughts. Well, as a sound, it wasn’t that loud but taken the fact that it was Dante’s stomach that made it, it was pretty demanding.

“Are you hungry again?” I smirked. It had been only two hours since he ate.

“I…” he mumbled, looking ashamed. “I’m fine.”

“Hunger is a good thing,” I told him, kissing his cheek. “Your body is burning through energy to fix things. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. It means you’re getting your strength back. You already slept enough, now you need food. Lots and lots of food.” His stomach growled again. I placed my hand on it, enjoying the fact that it wasn’t just skin and bones I could feel under the fabric. “Come – you should eat.”

He ate everything I put under his nose. He wolfed down four slices of bread with towering toppings, six boiled eggs, two apples and a full carton of juice before he started slowing down. I had a big box of cupcakes for our guests, so I ended up giving two of them to Dante. Gone. In a blink of an eye.

“Wow,” I muttered with a smirk while he was licking his fingers. “I guess the second breakfast is now a thing in this household.”

“Sorry…” he muttered, but I leaned in to give him a hug.

“Don’t apologize. This is a good thing – like I said, your body needs fuel,” I told him reassuringly.

He didn’t have the time to reply to me when the front door opened. Ben and King Gregor stepped in, but they both stopped to a halt when they saw our guests.

“Oh, I’m sorry – we didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” Ben said and started retreating back into the hallway. “We’ll just come back later.”

“No, wait, do you need something?” I asked, standing up again. It was his house, after all.

“Oh, we were just coming to check the plumbing, but we can do that later,” King Gregor said with a wave of his hand.

“It’s fine – you can come to do your thing. Don’t let us slow you down.”

The maintenance crew had been there for a few days now, and there still was a lot to do before they could finally go home, so it didn’t feel right to tell them to come back later.

“If you’re sure…?”

“Definitely,” I said, and turned to look at Dante. “We could go for a walk in the meantime?”

His eyes lit up immediately. Again, I felt bad for him. He had been locked up for six months, and even after his escape, he hadn’t been outside that much. That was about to change now, I promised him that.

It was a warm, but windy day. Dante used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he stopped just outside the door to look around the yard. The wind brushed through his overgrown hair, and I had to stop to admire the handsome man that was slowly emerging underneath all that terror and torture. He took in the scents, sniffing the air for the longest time, clearly enjoying being outside. For a moment, I forgot the trouble we were in, and my heart was filled with peace.

He then turned to look at me, and a relaxed smile appeared on his lips. “This place looks… great,” he spoke and walked to me.

I glanced over the gorge. “Too bad we burned half of the place,” I chuckled.

“And the smell is…” he wrinkled his nose.

“We tried to bury the trolls as deep as we could,” I told him as we started making our way around King Gregor’s trucks and trailers that were parked close to the house.

Dante stopped again when the moving part of the house came into our view. The walls were made of dark stone, and the roof was flat, making the building seem like a medieval watchtower instead of a home. There were no details, no decorations or anything else that would be interesting to look at.

“It looks so… gloomy,” Dante said quietly.

“I guess they cared only about efficiency,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “Come, let’s go check out the forest.”

We didn’t talk much while we wandered around the forest behind the house. There was still plenty of shit left behind by the trolls, but nature was slowly taking back the land and hiding the evidence such as their nests, pathways, defiled shrubbery and the countless animal bones.

We stayed close to the house in case Dante got too tired, but he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go back inside. Eventually, we ended up standing on a small cliff that overlooked the gorge. I could see the house further away on our left, a lot lower than where we stood. I hadn’t even realized how far we had walked.

“It looks so peaceful,” Dante murmured. “From this angle, you can’t even see the burned areas.”

“Or all that troll shit,” I agreed, making him laugh – people complaining about dog poop should’ve seen this place…

“Chase…” he then breathed out, turning to look at me. “I want you to know how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me, and–”

“Shush,” I said gently, stepping right in front of him. “I care about you. I care about you a lot.”

He gave me a warm smile and placed his hand on my back. “I care about you too and it terrifies me…”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Except for my death,” he said, his smile long gone.

“I’m not letting you die,” I told him once again, placing my hands on his chest. “You hear me?”

He stared at me with sad eyes for a long time, but then, he nodded. “You’re so stubborn that I have no choice but to believe you,” he chuckled.

“Good. I’m not losing you again. I made a big mistake letting you run away from me, but not this time,” I told him quietly.

“I’m not leaving this time,” he whispered. “I never should’ve left.”

I smiled at him, got up on my toes and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly against his chest as he kissed me back and making me feel like he was never going to let me go.

*****

We returned back to the house an hour later, but Dante stopped outside without following me to the front door. I turned to look at him, about to ask what was wrong, but he was clearly listening to something.

“What is it?”

“Someone’s fighting,” he said, looking uncomfortable.

“Who? Where?”

“Inside,” he nodded towards the house.

I took in a deep breath, pursing my lips together. “Could you excuse me for a moment?” I asked, before stomping through the old part of the house and all the way to the basement. There, I could hear the loud voices, so I yanked the door open, ready to start strangling people.

“It is spelled przdad! With a d!“

“No! It’s spelled with a c, you idiot! Przcad!“

“How do you get c, you maf gazou!“

“Njur zik gravh, as grtz rah!“

“What the fuck are you doing?!” I yelled when I saw the two male demons, Roe and Paraz, in their true forms, shaking their mallets at each other in the middle of the house. It seemed like they were seconds away from a full-blown duel.

“Fighting over grammar rules,” Izha said, her arms crossed over her chest. “It’s przcah, you nhrans.”

“Przcad is a tree, przcah means worm,” Mom said with a heavy sigh, pointing at the book. “And there’s no way of telling which one this recipe needs, so this argument is pointless.”

“How about more coffee, hmm?” Ben asked in the kitchen, lifting the big pot in the air. “There’s still some cupcakes left.”

“I wouldn’t mind another cupcake,” Paraz said, his hostile demeanor changing drastically.

“Fine, but just a small cup or I can’t sleep tonight,” Roe said, and together they stomped into the kitchen.

I let out a heavy sigh and turned around to get Dante, but he was already standing by the door.

“Is… everything all right?” he asked.

“Yeah – they were just being annoying,” I told him soothingly.

He carefully peered at the demons while he walked to me. I took his hand in mine when he stopped next to me, and asked if he wanted to go get some rest upstairs.

“No… I have to get used to this,” he muttered.

Before I could say anything, my mom approached us, glancing at Dante with a careful look on her face.

“I’d like to have a word with you if that’s all right?” she asked quietly.

I turned to look at Dante, who nodded after a short moment of hesitation.

“Thank you,” Mom smiled. “I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable.”

Dante shook his head. “I’m… fine.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder before turning to look at Mom, knowing she didn’t have any good news. “So… let’s hear it.”

Mom sighed, rubbing her temples. “You weren’t lying. It’s not going to be easy to translate it. The handwriting is nearly impossible to read… The book isn’t even in good shape.”

I held back my own sigh, trying to stay positive for Dante’s sake. “So… That’s it?”

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “According to Roe, that book is pretty well known among those who are interested in blood magic, although there aren’t too many people who wish to waste their time on such archaic practice.”

“How is that supposed to help us?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Doesn’t that make you wonder how can a book that no one can read be so famous? Or how your master knew about the purification spell?”

I stopped to stare at her. She did have a good point.

“Someone can read it,” I said.

“Now you’re using your head,” Mom said. “But no – I don’t think anyone can read that book. My guess is that the book you have is a copy. A bad copy. In the old times, the only way to copy books was by hand. I obviously don’t have anything to back up my theory, but…”

“It makes sense,” I said, feeling that damned hope rising inside me. “Do you know where we should start looking for another copy?”

“I have a few ideas, but I want to make sure you understand that blood magic is unreliable at best, and there’s plenty of new spells and potions that get the job done more efficiently.”

“If you happen to know a potion that can cure Dante’s disease, I’m all ears,” I told her, and when she didn’t reply, I continued, “Ben has studied this sickness most of his long life, and never found a cure. I am not failing like he did.”

Mom nodded slowly, clearly biting her tongue. “Then I will do my best to find another copy if there is one.”

“I’m surprised that you’re helping me,” I said truthfully. “After everything…”

She let out a deep breath and smiled. “I’m not happy with some of the decisions you’ve made in life, but when my only child asks for my help, you can bet your ass I’ll be there.”

For some reason, that made me feel much better. We had never really talked about what happened between us, me dropping out of college and them throwing me out because of it, so it was reassuring to know I could still ask for their help.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said quietly.

“Anytime,” she smiled. “How about some coffee?”

I nodded, but instead of joining the rest in the kitchen, Dante and I went to sit on the couch on the bottom level. Mom brought us the coffee and some cupcakes and conjured another couch out of thin air so she could sit down in front of us.

She talked about her plans to find another version of the book and told about her old academic friends who were probably able to help, but then King Gregor joined us.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asked, and with Dante’s approval, he sat down next to my mom. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I understood that you’re in a nasty predicament?”

“You could say so,” Dante sighed, keeping his eyes on his cup.

“Sounds like you could use the aid of our Elders,” the king continued, and I shot up in my seat.

“Is it possible?” I asked with wide eyes. “I thought that outsiders were banned from visiting them?”

“Well, I don’t count you as outsiders, and I am still a king,” the dwarf said with a smile. “I can pull some strings to get you a private session. I mean, if you’re interested, but it seems like you definitely are.”

“Yes, I’d do anything to have that chance,” I said, cursing myself for not even thinking about that option.

“Wait, what? What Elders?” Dante asked.

“Their Elders are spirits that live on this mountain – if you sleep with them, they might appear in your dreams and offer their aid,” I explained hastily.

“Uhm… sleep with them?” Dante repeated.

I stared at him for a second. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

King Gregor started laughing, and when he stopped, he took a deep breath. “We have a sacred mountain. On top of it, our ancestors build a house for the Elder spirits to live. There are three statues, one for each of them, and if you sleep in the middle of them, they might appear in your dream, just like young Chase here said. But they won’t help you if they deem you unworthy, and their advice may be tricky to understand. There’s even a possibility that they might not help you with your disease but something else that’s bothering you.”

“I’ll take anything they can give,” I said.

“All right, I’ll see how fast I can get you a session,” King Gregor said with a smile.

“Thank you so much. This means a lot to us,” I told him.

“Don’t thank me yet. They may not want to help,” he reminded me.

“Because we’re outsiders?” Dante spoke.

“They don’t mind helping outsiders – it’s our rule since everyone and their mother wanted a session and, in the end, we had a big riot in our hands when thousands and thousands tried to get up to the mountain.”

“So… how do I know if I’m worthy of their help?” Dante asked.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to go ask them,” King Gregor replied.

-Killian-

I couldn’t understand how Lena was able to work with these people. They were a bunch of braindead morons. All of them! How hard could it be to find one stupid little warlock? We didn’t have much to go on, that was true, but still!

The only one that hadn’t failed me yet was the leader of the necromancers, Mr. Haynes.

We had a good picture of the van, but without the license plates, it was hard to find but Mr. Haynes had pointed out another crucial information. The pictures we had showed five individuals. Three of them never fully showed their faces to the camera, so we didn’t know how they looked like. Two of them did look at the camera, but because they were vampires, the pictures came out blurry, and the people in them unrecognizable.

We had been too focused on the people in them that we overlooked a tiny detail in the shots.

There was a cat with them. That tiny feline was blending in with the shadows quite well, so I never even noticed it until Mr. Haynes pointed it out, and even then, it was hard to tell if it was an actual cat or just a rock.

I knew warlocks had companions, and although we couldn’t even say what color this cat was, it still narrowed down our search. A warlock, an old van, a long jacket, at least two vampires and a cat. And the mutt was involved.

We were one step closer to finding Lena’s soul.

I sat down behind my computer, placing a hand on my aching side. The pain was still there, eating up my patience. I wanted that mutt back by any means necessary. I would make it suffer for it did to me, and I already had a long list of things I wanted to try…

I glanced through my emails, and was about to click them away, but then… One of the names I saw made me break into a cold sweat and for a moment, I could only stare at the message, hoping it would go away. It didn’t. Slowly, I clicked it open.

You found one, didn’t you?

I let out a shaky breath and pulled the keyboard closer.

Yes, sir.