-Chase-

It was a bit of a struggle to get Dante into his cage, but everything worked out in the end. A short moment later, I sat down behind the computer in the lounge with Roe, who had arrived to save my ass just in time, and turned on the cameras so I could see how Dante was doing.

"Chase? Could you remove your shirt, please?" Ben asked as he joined me, carrying a big, old briefcase with him.

I did as he asked without taking my eyes off Dante for longer than a second. I was still absolutely furious, so talking didn't seem like a great idea.

"Can you move your arm?"

I glanced at the three, deep wounds on my upper arm, and nodded. "Just a scratch..."

"Right..." Ben muttered as he hurried to press a towel on the wounds. "I have a healing salve here–"

"I don't care! Just do it!" I hissed, failing to hold my tongue. "Sorry... Just fix it..." I added with a kinder tone.

Then, I turned to glare at Frank, that fucking idiot mentor of mine. He was still standing at the top of the stairs, his face pale with a spooked expression.

"Why are you here?" I asked, making him snap out of it.

"You didn't answer my calls," he said, walking towards me. "I thought you were dead."

"How did you get here?" I asked, wanting to strangle the man.

"Since you didn't pick up, I teleported into your home. I searched for you, but all I found was that," he said, pointing at the open portal that led into my living room.

"You had no right to barge into my home!" I yelled, losing my temper again.

"I thought you were dead!" he yelled back at me, stopping in front of me.

"You know I won't let anything happen to him," Roe snapped at him – he, too, was pissed at my teacher.

Frank didn't reply to us. He stopped to look at the monitors too, his expression turning sour. I turned my attention back to Dante, who was finally calming down. The second screen was showing the lab, and my mood dropped even more.

"I'm sorry about your equipment," I muttered to Ben.

The lab was fucked.

"Don't worry about it," the old man said while applying the salve on my arm, stopping the bleeding. And the pain. I had barely even noticed it before. "I've been working with these patients for long enough to know to always have spare everything."

"I'll try to fix them later," Roe sighed.

"Thank you."

"So," I turned to look at Frank. "I'm alive, so you can leave now before you cause any more trouble. As you can see, I have a sick werewolf in my hands, and I don't have time for the shop right now."

He snorted at me, fishing his phone from his pocket.

"That's not a werewolf," he repeated.

"He is a werewolf."

"It is true," Ben joined the conversation. "It is a rare type of sickness that is causing this transformation – a cancer of some kind."

Frank glanced at him but returned back to fiddle with his phone. "That is not a sickness."

We all stared at him, but he ignored us. I had to use a moment to really let his words sink in. And the tone he'd used.

"You..." I began, my heart suddenly racing in my chest, unable to believe what his words could mean. "You know what's causing this?"

He didn't answer me. Instead, he pressed the phone on his ear, silencing me when I tried to ask him again.

"Hey, Gus! How are you?" Frank spoke to whoever this Gus was, laughing cheerily. "Yeah, long time no see! How's things? Uh-huh, and how's the wife and kids? That's great... Hey, listen... Do you remember Gavin? Yeah! And that story he told us years ago...? Yeah, that's the one!"

Frank's laughter died away as he leaned closer to the screens. "I'm having that same problem right now."

I didn't even breathe so I could hear the reply coming from the other end. I leaned even closer to his phone, but no one said anything, not at first, anyway.

"You... are...?"

"Uh-huh," Frank muttered. "But hey! How about you and I go grab some beers, for old times sake?"

"Sure! When are you free?" the person, Gus, asked.

"How about today?"

"I'll be home later tonight."

"Great! Just tell me when and where!" Frank said cheerily.

"I'll text you."

When he ended the call, I hit him on the arm. "What the fuck?!"

"Careful now! I'm not that young anymore!" he protested, putting the phone away.

"Answer his question," Roe spoke demandingly, looking impatient as hell.

Frank let out a deep sigh and turned his attention back to Dante. "I don't know much, but Gus does. He's a conspiracy theory nut, always digging up the weirdest shit... Where did you find him?" He pointed at Dante.

"He broke into the shop," I said shortly. "But what the hell was that all about? You just dropped a bomb like that on us but all you're thinking about is beer?!"

"Like I said, he's a conspiracy theorist, and an extremely paranoid one at that. Beer is a code word for information," Frank explained.

"But... Why would you need a code word for that...?" I asked. "Dante's not in danger, right?"

Frank sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know much, but that thing..." he trailed off, staring at Dante. "I need a beer," he added, getting up from his seat. "And you need to tell me how exactly you got yourself into this mess."

The story of Dante had grown quite long by now, so it took me a good while to fill him in. He refused to answer any more of my questions until I had told him absolutely everything that had been going on from how I found Dante in our shop to fighting caraggas in Njizirski.

"And now we may have found a way to make him turn back to human," I concluded.

Frank sat in silence for a very long time, sipping the beer Ben had gotten him. His expression was blank as he stared at sleeping Dante, who still wasn't showing any signs of turning back to human.

As I waited for his reaction, I wished with all my might that he would now tell me he knew exactly what was going on, and how to cure Dante, but that didn't happen, obviously.

"So... They've all died?" Frank finally asked Ben with a quiet tone.

"Yes," Ben nodded with sadness on his face. "If there's anything you can tell us, please, we are running out of time."

"I don't know much. I've only heard a story Gavin, an old drinking buddy of mine, told me years ago. He ran into one and barely survived to tell the tale. Gus will know more."

"How do you know that?" I asked, my hope fading by the second.

"Because he always knows more! That's his thing!" Frank said with a big smile. "Like I said, he's into all kinds of weird stuff, and this whole thing sure is all kinds of weird."

"You said he's not a werewolf," Roe pointed out. "You do know something."

"To be honest, I didn't believe any of it," Frank sighed, turning his attention back to Dante. "I was there when Gavin told his story, whispering the words over a big pint of beer. He was scared, that poor bastard. It wasn't a recent thing either, so I assumed the years had shrouded his memories, but the fear was still there. And my god, I understand that fear now."

"What happened?" I asked, trying not to sound too impatient.

"He'd been walking home, can't remember why he was in a forest, but there, he walked in on a butt naked man. He couldn't tell what the man had been doing, but the second he spotted Gavin, he started walking straight towards him. Gavin said he knew the man had no good intentions, as if he could sense evil in him, so he ran. The man followed."

Frank stopped to finish his beer in one go, and again he peered at Dante. "He transformed into that being. When Gavin described it to us, I didn't believe him for a second. I'd never heard of anything like it. There's plenty of shapeshifters, but I'd never heard of anything like that."

"Well, he wasn't lying," I muttered, looking at Dante as well. "They're real, and they're all dying."

"What I've learned is that they can't control the shapeshift," Ben muttered with a frown. "Something must've triggered his transformation. Maybe he thought Gavin was a threat?"

"Who knows," Frank shrugged. "His transformation slowed him down just enough for Gavin to escape to the nearest road, where he was nearly hit by a truck. Gavin swore that truck saved his life by coming in between them. He saw a glimpse of that man in the forest, right next to the road, but he stopped following him."

"You still didn't answer the question," Roe said, and Frank sighed.

"The man had a tattoo, a symbol of some kind of a wolf. Gavin was able to draw it, and Gus looked into it. I don't know if he's found more by now, but last I heard – and this was years ago – he found four people with that same symbol. Murdered people. John Does all of them. No names, no social security numbers, nothing. The first victim was murdered almost thirty years before the last one, and they were found in different parts of the country. No one had linked the murders together, but Gus was sure they were connected."

"Dante doesn't have a tattoo," I muttered. "And I should know."

Frank stared at me for a short second, before he sighed. "Of course you're banging him..."

"He's a great man," I said, the anger returning to me. "Better than anyone else."

"Sure, sure," Frank said, and changed the subject. "But the story gets darker. One of the victims was later found guilty of raping a woman. DNA test proved that, but the guy was already dead at that point. Soon after being born, that child vanished without a trace, taken from the stroller in their backyard."

"And that's relevant because...?" Roe asked in annoyance.

"That child was found twenty years later, hundreds of miles away from his home," Frank told him. "Dead. All grown up with that same symbol on his chest."

We all stayed silent for a moment. I started feeling sicker the longer I thought about his words.

"Oh God..." Ben breathed out with wide eyes.

"What?" we all asked at the same time.

"One of my patients was also conceived during a sexual assault," he murmured in shock. "And when we went to visit the dwarven elders... He saw a silhouette of a man in the dream. A symbol glowing on his chest. We thought nothing of it. We thought it had nothing to do with our case..."

"We didn't get anything like that," I said, thinking about the dream Dante and I had. "Why didn't the elders show that to us?"

"Those spirits do not know everything. They can only pull memories from the dreamer's past, and show memories from other people's dreams in case they believe it's relevant. You saw how Dante was made. That woman you mentioned, his ex-wife, was not part of it," Frank said.

"Part of what?" Roe frowned.

"Are you saying we're dealing with a secret society?" Ben whispered.

"Gus believes so," Frank nodded. "He didn't have any proof that these dead people were the same as Dante because they were all found in their human forms, but..."

"We need to go see this Gus immediately," Roe said, but I shook my head.

"I'm not going anywhere before Dante changes back."

We all turned to look at the monitors, but Dante was still asleep.

"We'll have to wait for Gus first too," Frank said.

Roe let out an impatient sigh, but went to sit down on the couch. I watched Dante closely. He had curled up in the middle of the cold floor, unaware of everything we just learned. I wanted to go to him... My need to hold him in my arms was growing by the second as the words of my mentor were swirling in my head.

"You said Dante isn't a werewolf," I muttered.

"No, he's not," Frank said slowly. "They have a name."

I turned to look at him. "What?"

Frank shook his head. "I can't believe that drunk bastard was right all along..."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Gus found one more thing. An old piece of text with a description of a beast like that." Frank said, nodding his head towards the screens. "Your wolf is called Rassawolf."

-Killian-

I parked my car under the trees near the park I drove two hours to get to. I turned off the engine, letting out a deep sigh. I didn't want to be there. I hated myself for still fearing that man... After all these years, I couldn't say no. Not to him.

I was too early, so I sat there, watching the people passing by, the key still in the ignition. I still had the opportunity to just leave. I wanted to, but I didn't find the courage to start the engine again.

When I ran out of time, I finally pulled the key out, and exited the car. I took my time locking the doors before I started walking through the park, searching for the cafeteria I was supposed to meet him. I followed the signs, trying not to let the dread I was feeling show on my face.

The cafeteria suddenly appeared behind the bushes, and I stopped. There was a bench nearby, and a man dressed in a white shirt and beige khakis sitting on it, resting his hands on the top of his cane. He had a cheery smile on his face, but it didn't make me feel easier.

He hadn't spotted me yet. My last chance to walk away.

I didn't.

"Grandpa," I called out as I approached him.

"Killian! It's so nice to see you!" The man smiled, getting up from the bench to give me a hug.

I tensed up, trying not to picture a knife in his hand, ready to puncture my lungs as I hugged him back.

"It sure has," I said, forcing a smile when I let go of him as quickly as possible.

"So? How have you been?" he asked while sitting back down, gesturing to me to do the same.

"Just working..." I muttered.

"Just working?" he repeated, and when I didn't continue, he dropped his fake smile. "All right, straight to business, then. Where is it now?"

"How did you find out about it?" I asked with a frown.

"I've always kept an eye on you. You are my only grandchild, after all. You didn't answer my question."

"I don't know where it is."

"How did it escape? You know what they can do."

"We didn't know what we were dealing with. The whole thing was an accident," I said, avoiding his gaze. "My boss was trying to find the key to immortality, and–"

"Bullshit," he interrupted me. "She knew about the program. You told her."

"Then, why am I here if you already know everything?" I asked, feeling angry. The years away from him seemed to have grown me stronger as a person, and I didn't fear him like I used to. I had fought real monsters, after all.

And he had no right to speak about Lena.

"I'm here because I want it. I need it to restart the program."

That was enough for me. I stood up, my anger leaking suddenly over. "You are not getting it. My father–"

"Your father ruined our legacy!" he hissed at me, making sure no one could hear him. "He ruined the entire program! He ruined our family!"

"That monster doesn't belong in this world. My father did right slaughtering them all, and I will make sure that mutt dies before you can get your hands on it," I hissed back, and turned to walk away.

He was silent for a moment. I thought about my dead father who had spent his entire life destroying what our ancestors once created. Grandfather saw it as our legacy, but my father knew better. I knew better.

"How is she?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Your boss. That pretty lady, Lena Gray."

My footsteps grew shorter. "She's dead," I replied, the pain in my heart nearly suffocating me.

"You know, I can help you with that. You are missing her soul, correct?"

I stopped.

"...Correct."

He didn't reply to me right away, but I heard his footsteps coming closer. When he stopped next to me, I looked at him, unable to not listen to what he had to say.

"Ask yourself which is more important to you, Lena, or that mutt?" he spoke, and I could tell by the sound of his voice that he knew he had already won. "I need that wolf."

"What would you do with it? It's the only one in the world," I muttered.

"Wrong," he chuckled, and I turned to look at him. "I have two females. I only need one male to restart the breeding program."

"Why don't you just make one?" I asked, but my determination was already crumbling.

"You think I haven't tried? To find the right human, to find the right werewolf... Kidnapping people isn't as easy as it used to be three hundred years ago. But she was successful! She found the right combination!" he spoke in a whisper.

"And she's dead because of it," I muttered.

"Not for long. Together, we can find them both: her soul, and the wolf. But we must hurry before the wolf perishes."

I was unable to reply to him right away. My father's hard work... He had hunted down every single one of them, making sure grandfather couldn't get his hands on them...

But Lena... my useless men hadn't found any more clues of her whereabouts. If my grandfather was able to keep such a close eye on me that he knew all about that fucking mutt... He'd probably be able to find the bastard who murdered Lena, too.

"Fine..." I breathed out. "But I won't join your little cult."

And I definitely wasn't going to promise I wouldn't kill that mutt the second we found it.