-Dante-
I shouldn't have kissed Chase. That was so shitty of me... Had I not caused enough damage already? We had just found out I was going to die, and I kissed him. What kind of a scumbag does that to another person? And the worst part was that I liked it... His soft lips... But I did it for the wrong reasons. Selfish reasons. I didn't even stop to think what it would do to him. All I could think of was me and my need for comfort, and he was there, showing me kindness I didn't even deserve.
My guilt grew worse when he kissed me back, but at the same time... I was happy. I was incredibly happy. It wasn't an ordinary kiss, not even close. There really was something going on between us. The signs he had given me hadn't been just my imagination. I could almost feel how much he'd been hiding from me, and how much he wanted from me, but the guilt was casting dark shadows on that moment. I was a dead man. I had nothing left to give.
But he knew that. He must've known that when he kissed me back, and the fact that he didn't seem to regret anything gave me hope. He was willing to take that chance with me, so the least I could do was to not give up on him, just like he asked.
I didn't share his confidence about finding the cure, and I still wanted to go find Lena and Killian and do what I could to stop them with the little time I had left, but after kissing him, even allowing it to happen again, I had to do my best to stay alive.
Besides, I really didn't want to die, and the way he kept touching me whenever I was within his reach painted me a picture of a better future – the kind of future I'd be a fool to miss out on.
As my final attempt to change Chase's mind, I asked him if Mr. Heist could tell us everything he remembered about his research so we didn't have to go to the lab, but he shook his head.
"I need to know everything. Every single detail. He can't possibly remember it all after spending decades studying the disease."
"But what if the trolls have destroyed everything?"
He didn't reply to me. He clearly refused to think about that possibility.
So, when the morning arrived, we ate a hasty breakfast and left the small hotel room, Eru growling at me whenever I got too close to her carrier. As we walked through the busy reception and my breathing grew shorter by having so many people close to me, I felt Chase's calming touch on my back. I focused only on him until we reached his car, but it wasn't until I got in and closed the door that the nauseousness started to fade.
"You are getting anxious already," Chase muttered, giving me a worried look.
"I'll be fine," I replied shortly.
"Are you sure you don't want to go home? My friends and I can handle this," he said – for the hundredth time.
"I'm not Princess Snowflake," I told him. "I'm a werewolf."
"A sick werewolf," he noted.
"I'm not sitting this one out. You are already risking your life for me just by letting me stay with you."
He let out a small sigh and started the car without another word. Of course, I was worried as well. I was supposed to turn into that beast on purpose, and I had no way of controlling it. I could foresee a million things that could go wrong, but I had to do something.
At least we had a bunch of plans to contain me in case things went south.
Mr. Heist's house didn't seem as threatening as it did yesterday, but I still felt uneasy seeing it. Chase parked the car and was about to get out when he noticed I hadn't even unbuckled my seatbelt yet. The front door opened, and Mr. Heist stepped outside to greet us, but I still couldn't move.
"Are you ready?" he asked quietly.
"Am I doing the right thing? What if I kill someone?" I asked.
"You know how I feel about taking you with us, but that has nothing to do with the beast. I'm not scared of it. It's just a beast. Just a very angry beast."
I snorted in amusement without meaning to and peered at him carefully. "You will make sure I don't hurt anyone, right?"
"Of course," he smiled and leaned closer, placing his hand on mine. "You really have nothing to worry about. We're not a bunch of princess snowflakes either."
I looked down at his hand, hoping I could enjoy that little gesture of affection, but I was once again overtaken by guilt. For a short moment, I thought about pulling my hand away, but it was way too late for that. And... I didn't want to. Instead, I took his hand in mine and smiled at him, hoping he couldn't see how scared I was about what was happening between us.
If only I wasn't going to die...
But that was why we were here: to do our best to stop it from happening. As I looked at Chase in his icy eyes, I felt more determined. Still scared shitless, though, but I was determined when we got out of the car.
"I feel like I should try to stop you from going," Mr. Heist spoke.
"Don't bother – I'm terrible at taking advice," Chase spoke as he grabbed Eru's container from the backseat and walked up to him. I followed him at a much slower pace, trying my best to think of Mr. Heist as a normal old man, not as a scientist.
"No one else has dared to step a foot in that place," Mr. Heist continued with a warning tone.
"Like I'd be scared of a bunch of trolls," Chase replied.
"You seem to have an unhealthy amount of self-confidence," he sighed and peered at the container. "You brought a cat?"
"My companion," Chase said and looked into the cage. "The finest beast of Njizrski."
"So... not a cat?" Mr. Heist said, and now he was impressed.
"Not a cat," Chase nodded and turned to look at me when I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "You good?" he asked gently.
"Peachy," I mumbled and climbed up the steps.
Mr. Heist gave me a curious look, but I had to turn away. I didn't like him staring at me like that. I wanted to think that he simply wanted to hear my story, but I had the feeling he saw me as a new, interesting test subject. The whole idea of getting his lab back made me nauseous. Chase talked only about the notes, but I knew that once he got his hands on them, he would need to start experimenting on me to actually find the cure.
"Dante?"
I looked up when I heard Chase's quiet voice, and realized that Mr. Heist was already inside, waiting for us to follow him.
"I'm fine," I muttered. "Let's get this over with."
"Hey..." he whispered when I tried to walk past him, placing his hand on my chest to stop me. "I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise," he spoke soothingly.
"I know," I replied.
The inside of the house didn't look much more welcoming than the outside. It was an old house with old furniture, and I didn't spot any personal items. No pictures, no decorations, just worn-down bookshelves with more empty space than books. Only the living room seemed to have curtains, and I assumed they were only to keep the sunlight from hitting the TV screen. There was only one carpet, though it looked more like a ball of yarn after a cat was done playing with it.
"I love what you've done with the place," Chase spoke.
"I lost my home to the trolls," Mr. Heist snapped. "My whole life. This..." he trailed off for a moment, looking around the cold living room, "This is just a place to sleep."
"So that's why you're not actually stopping us from going," Chase guessed.
"No one helped me after the incident," Mr. Heist scoffed. "If you kids are mad enough to try to chase away the trolls, I'll gladly give you a ride."
"Well then, we better get to it," Chase said, placing Eru's container on the ground and grabbed a sharpie from his pocket. "I guess you don't mind if I place a portal into one of the doorways?"
"Be my guest."
Chase nodded and walked to the closest doorway – the one leading back to the entrance hall. I stepped closer to watch as he started drawing the runes. I now understood why didn't trust strangers to give him the coordinates for new portals. The first rune he drew consisted of three ellipses that seemed to cross each other in no particular order, and five or six lines that formed something that looked a bit like a kanji character. He drew seven of them in all kinds of different shapes and forms, some being much more complicated than the others – one had almost twenty tiny lines inside six boxes and circles – but he drew them all with such confidence and haste that I knew this wasn't the first time he had made them.
"The more precise the portal has to be, the more lines there are," Chase explained, even though I didn't say a word. "This portal opens up inside the doorway in my kitchen. I could've just opened it in the middle of the entrance hall so the coordinates wouldn't need to be extremely detailed, but since you're watching..." he trailed off, giving me a playful wink.
"Show-off," I chuckled quietly.
He smirked while putting the sharpie away. "This is the switch," he said, pointing at one of the runes that were on the wall, while the rest of them were inside the posts, facing each other. He touched it and the dark-blue portal appeared without letting a sound.
"It opens just like that?" I asked.
"Try it," he said.
I hesitated for a moment before I touched the rune. The portal vanished, making me feel somehow uncomfortable. Magic. I still wasn't used to it.
"I thought you had to be a... miridien to use it?"
"Mridien," he corrected. "And no. If the runes are there, all you need to do is to flip the switch, so to speak."
I tried it a couple of times, feeling like a little kid who just discovered how lights work. Then, I retreated, leaving the portal open. "So... now we get the others?"
"Yup," Chase said, took my hand in his and led me through the portal. It was weird. I didn't feel anything when I walked through the blue mass. It was like walking through the air even though it looked so different. "No... Goddamnit," Chase sighed quietly once we were standing in the entrance hall.
"What?" I asked, and turned to look at what he was looking at.
"It's not exactly inside the frames..." Chase muttered, pointing at the left side that was only half an inch outside of the doorposts. I could see a glimpse of the kitchen through that tiny gap.
"Does it matter?" I asked.
"No... but you were watching," he mumbled. "It was supposed to be perfect."
"To me, it's perfect," I told him when I realized he really wanted to show off his skills.
"You're so sweet," he chuckled. "Okay – let's forget my vanity for now. I'll go get the others. You should wait here."
I nodded and watched him leave the apartment before I strolled over to the window. He walked down the stairs and approached the shop, vanishing from my view. I could hear him open the door just below me. A few moments later I saw Aaliyah and a young man I didn't know. He seemed... colorful. His sweater was basically a rainbow, and his pink shoes were practically radiating. And his hair was red. Ferrari red.
I retreated back to the portal when Chase opened the door, letting his friends in. Aaliyah gave me a smile and a small nod, which I returned. Then I peered at the rainbow-guy.
"This is my best friend, Zane," Chase spoke and turned to look at me.
"Hello," I said, feeling a bit wary of him.
"You must be Dante," Zane said with a surprisingly calm voice. "I'm glad to finally meet you."
"I'm sorry I broke my promise and told him about you..." Chase said timidly. "I needed his help, and–"
"It's fine," I interrupted him. "I trust your judgment."
Chase didn't look like he believed me but nodded anyway. "All right...We should get going - the old man is already waiting for us," he said and gestured his friends to follow him.
I wasn't sure how to feel with the two of them there, but Chase trusted them, so I tried to trust them too. At least I had already met Aaliyah, and Zane was such a small guy and reminded me of Chase, so I wasn't technically afraid of them, but I wasn't comfortable either.
Chase took my hand in his again just before we stepped through the portal. I wasn't sure if he thought that I was afraid of it or if he just wanted to hold my hand, but I was grateful. Trying to stay calm with strangers around me and trying not to think about what we were set out to do was more than enough to deal with, so this whole idea of traveling hundreds of miles in the blink of an eye was getting too much.
For a short moment, I wanted to step back through the portal, go hide under my bed and wait until the coast was clear.
Mr. Heist greeted the newcomers, looking a bit wary of them as well.
"All right – we're all here," Chase said, turning his attention to the old man. "Tell us everything we need to know about the lab."
*****
Staying calm was getting increasingly hard for me. We were all in Mr. Heist's old van, traveling through a big, wild forest. I was sitting at the back with Chase next to me, and I probably would've been freaking out if he wasn't whispering soothing things in my ear.
The plan to get the lab back was surprisingly simple: chase the trolls away or kill them all. The only thing we needed actual plans for was me. Chase had turned the back of the van into a portal to Njizrski in case I decided to attack them instead of the trolls. Thankfully, Aaliyah could easily outrun me and was strong enough to fight back, so she was in charge of making sure I'd stay away from Chase, Zane, and Mr. Heist.
"It's not too late to back out," Chase murmured.
I turned to look at a small bag I was holding. A gift from Aaliyah. "No – I have to learn to live with it. We can use it. It can help us."
Chase sighed and made me look at him. "You don't have to learn anything. I will get rid of it, and you'll go back to normal. All I need is to see his notes."
"You know it won't be that easy," I told him. "He didn't find the cure. All we're going to find are things that won't help."
"You promised not to give up on me," he whispered.
"I'm here, aren't I?" I whispered back.
He smiled and leaned closer. I could almost feel the warmth of his lips on mine, but all of a sudden, Mr. Heist stopped the car. Chase sighed silently and turned to look at the old man.
"This is the place," he informed us.
The already tense atmosphere turned restless at the same time when he turned off the engine. I tried to look outside but nothing prompted my interest.
"There..." Mr. Heist said, pointing over the steering wheel.
There was a gap between the trees, revealing a steep gorge right in front of us. When I looked closer, I could see faint outlines of a few buildings nearly hidden among the trees on the other side of it.
"That's the lab?" Aaliyah asked.
"That's my home," Mr. Heist said with a sad voice.
"Can't we get any closer?" Chase asked.
"That side belongs to the trolls now. Besides, this is the best place to be if we want to keep an eye on your werewolf."
Chase looked at the bag I was holding, then at me. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I can be," I mumbled, and stood up.
We gathered outside the van, all facing the gorge. None of us spoke in a short while. All I could hear was the wind in the trees. I stared at the buildings, wondering if this really was worth it. We were risking our lives for... for what?
I looked at Aaliyah, then at Zane. Those two had absolutely no reason to help me. The trolls were dangerous enough for what I understood, and on top of that, I couldn't control myself. They were risking their lives for nothing.
But did I say anything? No. Maybe I did have some hope left. Maybe I did believe we could find the cure if we just got our hands on those notes, but in order to do so, we needed all the help we could get.
Even from the beast.
"I'll see you on the other side," I said, but before I could take a step, Chase stopped me, pulling me into a kiss that tasted like fear.
"You better not get hurt," he whispered after pulling away.
"You better not let me hurt you," I replied, and after he nodded, I walked past him without looking back – I feared I'd lose the little confidence in what I was about to do if I didn't get moving.
Climbing down the steep, rocky side of the gorge was surprisingly easy. I had to be careful with each step I took, but the narrow valley came closer faster than I thought. My senses were on overdrive as I tried to keep an eye on my surroundings. Apparently, it wasn't easy to spot the trolls in the middle of the trees. Chase had shown me pictures of what they looked like – big, boulder-like beings with massive limbs and small heads, but their spotted, green skin made them blend in with the trees almost too perfectly. They weren't smart, but lazy enough to wait until their prey was right in front of them before they attacked, giving the victim only a second or two to realize they were already dead.
And they ate anything and everything with no self-control.
Once I had nearly reached the bottom, the stench hit me. I could smell death all around me, and see more deserted bones than I could count. I knew I wasn't alone anymore. I knew I had at least three sets of eyes watching me.
That was it. I stopped and opened the bag, never taking my eyes off the trees.
Not until I could feel the cold glass against my fingers. I immediately felt nauseous and shaky, but I had expected it. I couldn't afford to let my fear control me. Not now. I needed to do this, so I threw the bag away and took a short glimpse of the syringe I was holding.
Adrenalin.
"Bring it," I said, stabbing the needle into my arm.