-Dante-

It was hard for me to get excited about this new lead. I just... I didn't deserve anything from Chase anymore, and now he was willing to drive me all the way to meet this old man. Hell, he was even going to book us a hotel because the drive was so long, and I had no way of repaying him.

I couldn't stop thinking about what I did to him. His wounds were healing, but the guilt was eating me up. He nearly died. He was bleeding to death, and the only reason he was still alive was the lucky fact that he had happened to make some extra potions for me. I couldn't shake the horrible feeling that we wouldn't be so lucky next time, and I would finally end up killing him.

And he acted like it wasn't a big deal... He was way too kind to me, and I found it difficult to accept his help, even if there might be a chance that I'd be cured. I didn't deserve it.

He wouldn't listen when I tried to explain it to him. He just threatened to drug me and drag me to the old man and ignored my attempts to object. What could I do? Nothing. I gave up trying, and the guilt in me only grew worse since I couldn't help but feel happy that he still insisted on helping me. I was happy that he didn't throw me out. I hated myself for giving up. I hated myself for not walking out the door and vanishing from his life.

After the phone call with Aaliyah, Chase asked me to go to the shop and put up a sign that said they wouldn't be open for a few days due to short staff, and to see if Eru wanted to come back home. The cat had followed me, but as soon as she realized her now-sleeping human was injured, she threw a massive fit, chasing me out of the living room in her rage. I had never seen a cat so angry and I was grateful that she didn't transform into her true form.

Since she didn't allow me to step a foot in the room, I retreated into the kitchen and started cleaning the bloody mess as quietly as I could. It wasn't easy to clean it up. His carpet and one of the cushioned chairs were ruined forever, no matter how hard I tried to scrub them clean.

Once there wasn't anything else I could do about the kitchen, I sat down to wait for Chase to wake up. I was tired, my injured arm was aching even though the wound was healing pretty well and I had a massive headache. I couldn't even think about sleeping.

I still heard Killian's laugh in my head. I hated that man so much... I hated Lena and every single one of those who had anything to do with that sick place. I hated them for what they did to me, for what they had turned me into. And I hated the person I once was. I hated the man who married the pretty girl, thinking he was in love with her. Was I ever in love with her? Or was I in love with the idea of her?

I turned to look towards the living room. What if I had never run away from Chase...? How much different would my life be now? Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. Nothing good came out of it. Now all I had left was that tiny hope that I'd be cured.

Chase said he had grown fond of me...

But he shouldn't have.

*****

"What? No! It's too soon!" I exclaimed later that day after hearing what Chase had decided.

"The sooner, the better," he said calmly, petting Eru who was lying on his lap and staring at me in anger since I had dared to enter the living room.

"You need to rest – you're not well enough to drive for four hundred miles!"

"All I need is a good night's sleep. I'll be fine tomorrow morning," he continued with that calm tone of his.

"We can wait for a few more days," I said, trying to reason with him, but he shook his head.

"No – we're leaving tomorrow morning," he said. "I'm feeling much better already, and I only slept for a few hours. Imagine what eight hours would do."

"It's too much," I said. "I can't make you do that."

"You're not making me do anything," he snorted. "I do exactly as I please."

I rubbed my temples, leaning back in the chair I was sitting. "Why are you so stubborn...?"

"I'm just determined," he said, holding his head up high.

I let out a deep sigh. "I know you want to help, but you have to take care of yourself as well."

"I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me," he said with a smile.

"I can't..." I muttered, looking down at my hands. "I attacked you. I hurt you. I don't deserve your help anymore. I don't deserve anything from you."

Chase let out a deep sigh but didn't say a word at first. I carefully peered at him, but he wasn't looking at me. "I get it," he then started. "I understand why you feel like it was your fault, and why you can't let it go. I do. I'd be horrified as well if I were in your shoes. But tell me, do you want to kill me now?"

"What? Of course not!"

"See? Then why are you blaming yourself for what that thing did to me? What it did was out of your control. Even if you were present, it wasn't you. Even if it was you, it wasn't you – it was someone else. Someone you happen to turn into because of those shitty people."

I listened quietly while he spoke, but my guilt wouldn't let me agree with him. Not entirely.

"I do not blame you," he nearly whispered. "When I look at you, I don't see that beast that attacked me. I see a victim, an innocent man who has no control over what's going on. I see a man who needs my help and help you I will."

I gritted my teeth together and looked down again. Then, I nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said gently. "Don't let the guilt eat you up. There was nothing you could have done, but there is something we can do. We can go to that man and ask for his help, the sooner the better."

I thought about his words, and even though I wanted him to rest for a few more days, I still nodded. "Sure... Tomorrow morning then?"

He was right. The sooner the better.

"Yes. We better start packing," he said and tried to get up, but his feet weren't strong enough to carry his weight just yet. "Or maybe later," he then sighed.

"You really need to rest," I said.

"Yeah..." he agreed, lying back down on the couch. "But we are leaving tomorrow."

"Sure, sure..." I muttered. Part of me still wanted to object, but...

A bigger part of me was glad, and I hated myself for that, too.

*****

I was scared to go to sleep that night, but apparently, I had nothing to be afraid of. Chase made some changes with my potion, resulting in me passing out only a minute after drinking it. I slept through the night without waking up even once, nor did I remember having any dreams or nightmares.

The next morning arrived cold and rainy, and I was surprised to see how energetic Chase was while we got ready to leave. His wounds were almost gone when he showed them to me, which was hard to fathom. Magic was hard to fathom...

"I told you I'll be fine in a few days," he smirked while packing what was left of the salve in a satchel that contained my potions and different kinds of ingredients for new ones.

"I still don't think you should be sitting in a car for hours," I said.

"Oh, shush already," he said.

I shook my head and closed my mouth. He took his bag and walked past me, patting my arm on his way to the front door. My bag was lying at my feet, so I grabbed it with a heavy heart and followed him.

Chase was already at the door, picking up Eru's container. The cat was glaring at me in it and started growling quietly when I stopped next to them.

"This is going to be a fun ride," I muttered.

"Don't be like that," Chase smiled at me. "You'll get to see the world and the hotel I booked is amazing."

It was at that moment when I realized something. "They'll ask for my identification at the hotel," I said, my heart skipping a beat.

"Uh-huh," Chase said, fishing something out of his pocket. "And here's your ID."

I took the card from him, staring at the picture in it. It was me, but the information was way off.

"Dante Collins...?" I read the name out loud. "Fake ID. Really?"

"You don't like the name?" he asked, snapping his fingers over the card.

The name looked like it was melting, and then rearranged itself into a new name. King. Dante King.

"That's a bit too much, don't you think?" I noted, but he just smiled and turned his back on me. "Why do you even need the shop if it's this easy for you to alter the reality? Can't you just make money?" I asked.

"One, conjured items won't last long so people would start noticing if money and other things keep disappearing, which leads to number two, we are not under any circumstances to let humans know we exist, which takes us to number three which is our own government that will throw us in jail if we break that rule. Unless the hunters get to us first," he explained.

"Oh – I didn't know that," I said, putting the card in my pocket.

I followed him out the door, pulling my hood up while he was locking the door. We walked to his car in silence, and even though the weather wasn't great, I enjoyed being outside. I was sure I wouldn't stop enjoying it anytime soon.

I stole a glimpse of Chase when we got to his car. He put his own bag and Eru in the backseat before carefully placing the satchel on the floor behind his seat. He seemed to be in a great mood, and I had to admit, his cheerfulness was slowly rubbing off on me.

"Should I drive?" I asked, but he just raised his eyebrows at me before sitting behind the wheel. "I know how to drive," I said after opening my door.

"Just get in," he said.

I shook my head but did as he said. "I just don't want you to strain yourself, that's all. Not because of me."

"I'll be careful," he promised. "Now I'm too excited to hold still. We are finally making progress!"

"It's just a news clip from seven decades ago..." I muttered, and he let out a dramatic sigh while starting the car.

"Still the best clue we have," he noted.

"Maybe the guy is dead already," I said.

"In that case, I'll just steal his notes," Chase said absentmindedly while focusing on driving the car out of the parking lot. "Let's just go there and see what happens, okay? Think of this as a vacation."

"Which you paid for, and all I've done is try to kill you. Twice."

"Shush."

I sighed and leaned back in my seat, crossing my arms over my chest. I turned to look out the window, watching the city pass us by while Chase navigated towards the highway. We were both silent for a while until it was getting on my nerves and I had to think of something to say. I looked around in the car, trying to come up with a topic, and my eyes landed on Eru, who was still squinting her eyes at me.

"I don't think Eru will ever like me," I said.

"Just give her time. She's not good with strangers. And you're a werewolf, so..."

I somehow managed to stop myself from adding that she hated me for trying to kill him twice. Instead, a question popped in my mind. "You said you tamed her? How do you tame a demon?"

Chase immediately smiled – at his memories, no doubt. "It wasn't easy. I was sixteen when I entered the warlock society. My parents threw me a huge ceremony and the whole coven was invited. I had so much fun... And, of course, the party ended with me summoning my master for the first time as is the custom. It was Roeruiz who decided to take me under his wing – you have no idea how jealous some of the other warlocks were. Not everyone gets a master right away."

"I'd like to meet him one day," I said – I was not in a hurry to meet a demon overlord or anything, but I figured it was the polite thing to say.

"Maybe," he chuckled. "Anyway. Roe took me to Njizrski where he showed me his fortress and laid out the rules, and once the formalities were over, I was tasked to find myself a companion. So off I go into the forest of Njizrski with food and water to last for three days, and the hunt began. I had several options to choose from, but when I found Eru on the second day, I knew she was the one. It took me a little over a week to catch her, and a few more days to get her back to the fortress, and I can assure you, I came close to death more than once during that time."

"You had to do it all alone?" I frowned.

"I had to show I was worth it," he shrugged. "I had to get my own food and survive using only magic – not easy when it was the first time I was using real magic."

"But that's dangerous!"

"Which is why only those with true potential get masters," he said like it was no big deal. "Once I returned to Roe with Eru, the three of us finished the ritual by sharing our blood, binding ourselves to one another. After that began my enormous task to earn Eru's trust, but now we are inseparable."

"Don't you have... some kind of... You said you have a government? What kind of government lets people do such dangerous things? Don't you have laws or regulations against those kinds of things?"

Chase looked at me for a moment with pity and amusement in his eyes. "Oh, honey..." he spoke with a condescending tone, so I slouched deeper into my seat.

"It would make sense..." I muttered.

"Our society doesn't work like the one humans have," he said, focusing on the road again. "We have our jobs and laws and celebrations, but our most important goal is to stay hidden. That's basically all our leaders care about, and maintaining peace is a massive task since there are tons of supernaturals breaking the rules."

"That I can believe," I said, thinking about Chase's abilities. He could easily start making money out of thin air, and I had the feeling that not everyone shared his morals. Hell, if the old me had the ability to summon a big pile of money, I definitely would've done it. Well... All I had to do was call my dad...

For the next few hours, Chase told me a lot more about his society. Our society. It sounded pretty similar to the one I grew up in, but with a supernatural touch.

I kept an eye on his condition, but he didn't seem to get tired. When I asked him about it, he told me he was feeling just fine but needed to stretch his legs soon, so we stopped to grab a bite half an hour later. Once he was ready to continue, I tried to suggest that I'd drive, but he ignored me again.

"You are so stubborn! I am more than capable of driving!" I told him after getting in the car.

"I love driving, so shush," he smirked.

I shook my head, and I couldn't stop a smile from forming on my lips. But as soon as it happened, my mood dropped immediately. He noticed it.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"It's stupid..." I muttered, but he insisted that I tell him what was on my mind, so I continued, "I tried to imagine what my life would've been like if I..."

"If you what?"

"If I hadn't run away..." I said quietly. "From you."

"O-Oh," he said, and turned to look away from me, pushing his hair behind his ear.

"Sorry... I have no idea why I was thinking about it. It's nothing – I'm sorry..." I hurried to say, hoping I hadn't made things awkward between us. It was so inconsiderate of me to bring up our past relationship – especially since it was me who ran off. "It wasn't even working out between us, so..."

I realized that I was only making things worse, so I shut my mouth in frustration.

"It's fine," he said, starting the car again. "I understand perfectly."

"You... do...?"

"Yeah – because then you wouldn't have met that bitch," he said quietly.

"Uh... yeah, exactly..." I mumbled.

I did make things awkward between us. Why did I open my mouth?

We were quiet for a long time while he drove. The silence lasted so long it was getting hard to break it anymore. It lasted so long that if I said something now it would've been obvious that I opened my mouth just to break it. If only I knew what to say...

I tried to picture that life. I wouldn't have met Lena. I wouldn't have been bitten. I wouldn't be in this mess... But would I still be this person or that douchebag I once was? Would I have appreciated the relationship with Chase...?

"It won't change anything," I breathed out. "Unless you can turn back time, it doesn't matter what I did, because there's no way to change a damn thing."

"Sadly, I don't have such power," he said quietly.

"Thought so," I muttered.

"But there's still hope for the future," he said.

"What kind of future could I possibly have?" I asked.

"A good one," he replied.

"In therapy," I snorted.

"You will have an amazing future," he said with a smile. "I know you're shaken right now – even scared of yourself – but everything will be all right. I'll make sure of it."

"You are doing way too much for me," I said, feeling guilty again.

"We've been through this already," he groaned. "I want to help."

"Okay, okay, I won't start with that again," I said.

"Good."

"But seriously–"

"Shush!"