Chapter 49

-Chase-

“Dante!“

I was too far away to do anything. I was standing on the rooftop where I’d climbed to get rid of the sharpshooters, and I could only watch as that bastard aimed his shotgun at my love and shot him. I didn’t think anything of it. Dante had been shot so many times, but nothing could penetrate his fur and skin. I thought he was just fine. I believed he was just fine.

But then he growled in pain… and fell.

“Dante!!“

My heart froze at the sight of him falling on the ground, his limbs twitching like he was dying. It was the longest second in my entire life as I was forced to watch that son of a bitch shooting at him again, and I wasn’t anywhere near them.

If Aaliyah hadn’t been there with me, I would’ve died, shot by the enemy we were surrounded by. I was unable to look away from Dante, who was growing stiff. And silent. The fear I felt was too overwhelming, and I was unable to even move.

“Take him!”

I lifted my gaze up and saw Killian ordering his men to go get Dante. To take him away from me.

“Chase…” I heard Roe’s warning voice inside my head, but all I could acknowledge was that bastard. “You’ll kill us all.”

I barely heard his voice over the sound of his magic surrounding me. I knew I wasn’t able to control it all, but I didn’t care. I was so angry.

So goddamn angry.

What I did blinded me and everyone else in the base. I didn’t even need to aim because of the size of the blast I called down upon them. What I did to that troll back when we tried to get Ben’s house back was nothing compared to the amount of energy I was using now.

I really would’ve killed us all if Roe hadn’t controlled me. I could feel him right beside me. That was all I could feel. The blast turned me blind and deaf, and my entire body had gone completely numb. All there was left was Roe’s consciousness inside me.

“Dante’s not dead, you know…”

“I don’t care! That bastard shot him!”

“You really need some anger management lessons,” Roe sighed. “We’ve talked about this already. You shouldn’t use my power so recklessly. Your body can’t handle it.”

“Where is Dante?! Can you see him? I can’t see anything!”

He sighed again. “You zapped yourself unconscious. But I do like what you’ve done with the place. There’s something eerily beautiful in massive craters…”

“ROE!” my anger was already leaking over. “Where the fuck is Dante?!”

“Fine, see for yourself…”

I could suddenly see the sky above me. The ground was incredibly hot, and for a moment, I thought everything was on fire – including myself. My entire skin felt like it was bubbling off. I ignored it and forced myself to roll over to see where Dante was. Moving was so unbelievably painful, but I needed to find him… My love… I peered over the edge of the roof, my heart racing in my chest.

He was there, still lying on the ground where he’d fallen. But everything behind him was gone. The crumbling wall, the tower, the swarm of soldiers, even Killian… Gone. Blasted out of existence.

“Dante,” I whispered, pushing myself up on my feet.

Roe appeared next to me and helped me up.

“They’re making a run for it,” Roe noted, but I only glanced at the speeding vehicles that tried to get out of the burning base.

Well, not all of them. The soldiers were getting back up on their feet, groggily searching for us in a confused manner. I spotted Aaliyah and Roscoe on the other side of the roof. The blast had knocked them down as well, but now they were getting back up on their feet.

And the fight continued.

“We need to get Dante to safety,” I told Roe as the first gunshots echoed in the air.

“I can’t teleport right now – thanks to you,” he snorted.

He did seem extremely exhausted.

“We need to get down to him,” I said, trying to find a ladder.

Suddenly, the building under our feet started letting out miserable creaks and cracking sounds. I hadn’t even realized the walls of the sturdy building were gone as well.

“Quickly,” Roe said, gesturing for me to follow him to the other side.

That side of the base was completely fine, and there was a way down – a fire escape. Aaliyah and Roscoe joined us on our way down.

“Could’ve given us a warning,” she told me.

“I was upset,” I told her hastily.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I started running. Or at least I tried. My feet gave in, and I would’ve tripped if Roe hadn’t yanked me back up from the back of my jacket.

“Your body is running on borrowed energy,” he told me.

I looked down at my hands. It was the first time I noticed the blisters and cuts all over my skin.

“Whatever,” I breathed out and tried to start running again, but the damn soldiers had spotted us!

We had to retreat behind the corner when they started shooting at us.

“We need to get to Dante!” I hissed at no one.

“Let us deal with them,” Aaliyah said, her eyes red and thirsty for blood.

She and Roscoe vanished, and a second later, the shower of bullets slowed down, and stopped as the horrified shouts of dying men replaced it.

“Now!” I told Roe after peering behind the corner.

There was a big truck lying on its side right in front of us, and we reached to it before the next batch of soldiers spotted us. This was getting ridiculous! We were still way too far away from Dante, and now I couldn’t even see him!

The vampire duo returned to us, covered in blood.

“Can you see Dante?”

“They’re trying to move him into a big container,” Aaliyah told me hastily. “And Chase – Killian is still alive. He’s unharmed.”

“How?!” I growled, trying to reach for Roe’s magic, but it was all empty. I couldn’t feel it anywhere. “Fuck! How is he alive?!”

“He must’ve dodged it,” Roe said, looking just as angry as I felt.

“Hello,” I heard a tired voice, and turned around to see Zane. He had cuts all over his body, but otherwise, he seemed fine. “Nice blast,” he told me.

“They’re taking Dante away and Roe and I can’t use magic,” I told him briefly.

“And who’s fault is that?” Roe murmured.

“Not the time!” I hissed at him and turned to look at Zane. He didn’t have his weapons. “Ideas?”

“A few,” he said, trying to peer behind the truck, but retreated back when it got riddled with bullets. He grabbed a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin off and threw it over the truck. He waited for a second or two, and after the blast, he took a look at the destruction he’d caused.

And then he threw another grenade.

“There, now I’m all out of ideas,” he told me.

“Fuck…” I hissed, carefully looking behind the truck. There were still too many of them… And there was a group that was trying to sneak closer on our left, using the debris and burning vehicles as their cover. A few seconds, and they’d get us in their sights.

My hasty thoughts were interrupted when the building behind us started making louder noises. But this time it sounded like something big was trying to get out.

Something big did get out.

“They have a fucking tank?!” Roe growled at the sight of that massive thing that forced its way through the wall, making the building shake and crumble even more.

“Small correction,” Roscoe smirked. “We have a fucking tank.”

“Denzel!” Aaliyah breathed out when Roscoe’s twin emerged from the building, walking casually next to the tank like he was walking a dog.

The soldiers didn’t seem to understand the situation since they barely gave a second look at the tank. Not until it tried to run them over.

“The blast must’ve set them free,” I sighed in relief. “Tell them to go straight to Dante! They can’t have him!”

Roscoe left and joined his brother. The soldiers were now focusing on the tank, so we were able to push past the truck. We got so far that I could see the container where they were pulling Dante! But we had to stop again when Killian spotted us.

“Stop them!” he ordered his men, who turned their guns at us. “Get the beast out of here!”

“NO!” I yelled, but Roe pulled me behind a big piece of broken wall when they started shooting at us.

“Give me a second, I can almost use my magic – do not drain it!” he told me sternly.

Yes… I could feel the magic returning, but it was too little… Too slow… They had managed to get Dante inside the container, and I could hear them closing the door.

I turned to look at the tank that was still approaching Dante’s cage, but suddenly, it stopped. I could see something glimmering in front of it. Something magical.

“Is that a shield?” I asked Roe, who turned to take a look.

“It is…” he muttered, turning his head around. “They have a magic user, too,” he added with a dark voice.

“Do you think…?” I muttered, realizing now why Killian was still alive. “Do they have warlocks?”

Roe’s eyes were jumping all over the place as he tried to locate the source of their power. “Not a warlock. I can’t feel anyone close. They must have something else they’re using. An item…”

It didn’t matter what it was. The tank was now fully stopped. Its engine was roaring as it tried to push forward, but couldn’t.

“Does this mean we can’t get past the shield?” I asked, starting to feel panicked.

If they got away with Dante…

“Roscoe! Can you get past that shield?” Aaliyah yelled.

I carefully got closer to see Roscoe sneaking closer to the front of the tank, his brother keeping watch so no one could snipe him. My heart froze all over again when Roscoe’s hand briefly touched something solid before he had to fall back behind the tank.

“We need to find the source,” I said hastily.

“I can’t find it!” Roe yelled in frustration. “I still can’t even teleport!”

“Is there any way we can get past the shield?” Aaliyah asked, looking at Zane. “Where’s your weapons?”

“Empty,” he said apologetically. “I’m sure they’re now expecting bazookas too.”

I stood up to look over the crumbled wall, peeking my head around it just for a second. They were already backing up a truck to Dante’s cage…

I sat back down to dodge the bullets, trying to think…

“The tank?” I suggested.

“It’ll blow itself up if the shield is too strong,” Zane muttered.

“It is too strong. It’s smaller now, and packed with power,” Roe said.

“We need to do something!” I hissed.

“We need to find the source!”

“How?!”

Something exploded right behind our cover, sending us all flying on our knees. The rubble rained down on us, and when I turned to look at the wall… There was not much of it left. Another explosion would kill us.

“We need to do something,” I whispered. “I won’t lose him.”

A massive roar echoed in the air, followed by the sounds of machine guns and painful, panicky yells. I hurried up on my feet to see what was going on behind the shield and nearly started crying from relief.

“Baby…” I whispered as I watched my beautiful Eru slashing her way through the armed men.

“Smart kitty,” Roe laughed. “They didn’t expect something so small I suppose.”

“But we still can’t get in!” Aaliyah shouted.

She was right. Even with Eru inside, we couldn’t follow her. We were still powerless unless she accidentally broke the source, whatever it was. But she did a very good job at chasing away the driver of Dante’s truck.

“She’s buying us more time!” I said and started running to the tank. It was our only hope. I reached it unharmed, though there was still some paying attention to us, and not the demon cat among them. “Do you know how to use this?” I asked Roscoe and Denzel when I stopped in front of them.

“No.”

“I do,” Zane said as he stopped next to me.

“Obviously,” I said, and watched him climb inside the tank. “We need to find a weak spot or something. Eru can’t fight them all on her own.”

“Gotcha,” Zane said.

“It’s very strong,” Roscoe told me.

“I know,” I breathed out and turned to look at Denzel. “Did you hear anything useful while you were captured?”

“Sorry,” he shook his head. “I was out most of the time…”

“Out of the way, please,” Zane’s voice came from inside the tank, and we quickly retreated from it as it started moving.

I turned to look at the shield and saw Killian staring at me. He was furious. We had definitely ruined their plans, but he still had Dante. He was still going to win if we couldn’t do anything. I turned to look for Eru. She was prowling around the vehicle Dante was in, covering from the soldiers who were too afraid to go near her. Yet.

Stalemate.

“Right,” Roe said, appearing behind me. “Let’s see if we can poke a hole in that shield.”

He lifted his hand, and I could feel his magic surrounding us. It was far from his full power, but at least we weren’t completely powerless anymore. He shot a simple fireball at the shield, which flashed brightly from the impact, the fire vanishing without making a dent.

“Hmm…” Roe uttered, gathering more power.

This time it wasn’t fire that he threw at the shield. It was pure energy, a beam coming from his hand. The shield easily blocked it, but Roe kept feeding the beam more power. And more… And more… I had to take a few steps away when the air turned hot from the sheer power he was holding. But it was running out, fast.

“Let’s see…” he muttered, making the beam smaller in size, but still just as powerful. He focused it all on one tiny spot that couldn’t be larger than a coin. That much power in such a small area would’ve burned through anything, at least everything manmade. “Zane… Get ready to shoot at that exact spot.”

The tank backed away and aimed at the shield, following Roe’s instructions.

“The rest of you might want to find cover,” Roe muttered, and we did as he said.

His power was draining really fast now. It was only a matter of seconds… I turned to see the look on Killian’s face. It warmed my heart.

And then I heard a crack. It was just loud enough to be heard over the battle.

“Now!”

I was still watching Killian when the tank fired at the shield. I could see him reaching for something hanging on his neck. I could see how much he hated my guts. He hated me almost as much as I hated him.

And when the shield came down, he vanished. I couldn’t tell if the shield vanished because he vanished, but I didn’t really care. We could finally rescue Dante!

None of us wasted a second to launch our own attack against the rest of the soldiers. I didn’t take part in it since I was in too much of a hurry to get to Dante. I dodged everything that came my way, keeping my eyes on the vehicle Eru was still guarding.

To my annoyance, the cage was locked tight, and since it wasn’t made of manmade materials, I knew there was absolutely no way of getting in without the keys. I turned around and tried to spot someone who looked like he could have the keys, but I feared only Killian had them.

And he was long gone.

I couldn’t even see inside the cage…

“Roe! I can’t get him out!” I yelled.

He didn’t reply to me, and when I turned around to look for him, I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“He’s injured,” Roe told me, and I turned to look at the cage again. He was already inside.

“How bad is it?” I asked, my heart racing even faster.

“I don’t think he’s in danger, but his back is… Not good.”

“My baby…” I whispered, trying to yank the door open in desperation, but it didn’t budge. “Can you teleport him out of here?”

“If only you hadn’t burned all the energy…” he replied.

I leaned my head against the cage. “Can you at least teleport me in?” I asked quietly.

A second later, he appeared next to me, and took my hand. Another second later I was inside the cage with only a few candles floating around to give us light.

“Dante…” I whispered, kneeling next to his head. “It’s all right, baby… I’m here now.”

I had no idea if he was conscious or not. At least his eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily. His fur was covered in liquids, and I could tell most of it was his blood – by the smell of it.

“Everything is all right,” I told him again, caressing his cheek. “I’m not letting anyone take you away from me.”

“I’ll take him out of here as soon as I have enough power,” Roe promised. “It shouldn’t take long.”

“Good,” I muttered, touching Dante’s bloodied paws. They were twice the size of my head. “Then we go after that bastard who hurt my baby,” I spoke behind my gritted teeth.

“As you wish,” Roe bowed his head at me.

-Killian-

So close… I almost had that fucking mutt! I already had it loaded up!

I took a deep breath, waiting for any news from the base they’d destroyed. I was so angry. After all the preparations, after all the work I’d done… Destroyed. The entire base. Most of my men were gone as well.

“A small setback,” my grandfather said, patting my shoulder. “Now we know who they are. We have their faces, so it’ll be easy to find their names.”

“We almost had that mutt! How can you be so calm?!” I yelled at his face.

“These things happen!” he said with a smile like it was milk that had been spilled, not the blood of half of my men. “We’ll find him – my people are already searching for their information. And now we know what we’re up against! This was a test run, after all!”

“We could already have that mutt!”

“But we don’t,” he said sternly. “They were stronger than us this time. We didn’t think far enough, and that is our own fault. Next time we’ll be prepared, but now it’s pointless to waste our energy on what could be and focus on what will be.”

I glared at him, but I was finally calming down. A minor setback. Nothing more. It was just so goddamn hard to accept.

I went to sit down behind the small desk in the corner of our safe room and turned my attention to the wall of monitors that were showing live footage of the base. The base was only a mile away from where we were hiding.

Their small group were retreating, heading to the woods where their portal was. How could such a fucking small group wipe us out so completely? By the looks of it, they all were still alive and kicking!

I suffocated a sigh and turned my back on the monitors. How could so many things go wrong…? The snipers on the hills, the guy with a rocket launcher, the warlock who blew up half of the base, the vampires that escaped and stole our tank, and where the fuck did that cat come from??

“Sir?”

I turned to look at the necromancers.

“Let’s wait for a bit,” I told them.

“Yes, sir,” their leader nodded, checking his lantern again.

“Are you sure you can handle such a tremendous task?” my grandfather asked in curiosity.

“Oh, don’t worry,” their leader said with a wave of his hand. “We’re doing mass resurrections for armies all the time.”

“Impressive.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to glare at my laptop, and the clear picture that was showing on the screen.

“Are you sure that’s him?” I asked Grandpa.

“Oh, that is him, all right. That’s the person who killed doctor Gray.”

I nodded slowly, taking in every single little detail on that bastard’s face.