Chapter Twenty-Six

Deep inside the cavern, Darwin found himself lost in a world that made no sense…he was struggling to keep up.

Steve had managed to get a message through to Teddy and it was believed that the communication was understood.

After a long discussion with Steve and Shawn, it was decided that Darwin would remain in the underworld only long enough for him to experience what he never had on Earth. The decision wasn’t made lightly. He would must return to New Haven to destroy the key and there was very little time to spare.

Darwin lay next to the person he thought he would never see again; never have a chance with. Now he ran his fingers through the ridges of muscles on his back, pushing his way through the coating of fur that was spreading up and down his spine and across his upper back.

He stopped and closed his eyes, feeling himself drift into a restless slumber.

“Why did you stop?” Steve asked with his face still turned away.

“I didn’t want to keep you up.”

“I’m up, trust me.”

The cavern was dead for a moment as both chose their words. The bed was large, covered in thick fur hides that made wanting to get up very challenging. Darwin found himself again tracing the ridges and dancing his digits in the wolf hair that was killing him.

“Steve, maybe I should stay.”

Steve quickly spun around, ending his mild back massage but he had to look Darwin in the eyes. “You can’t. I won’t let you throw away your life.”

“We’ve denied ourselves for years! Finally, we are who we are! I can’t go back now,” he confessed, placing his hand on Steve’s heart and began a new trace.

“Dar…the world needs you. It’s not your time!” Steve said.

“It wasn’t yours, either.”

It was true, how could Steve deny it. He hadn’t killed himself; he was murdered and made to look like a suicide. Not knowing what to say, he kicked a leg out from the heavy furs in a tantrum.

“I’m still a werewolf Steve, no matter what happens with the fucking gate. One way or another, I’ll die at some point and be right back here, so why fight it?”

“I know, but you must put things right in the real world. Our fate was cast long ago, my end is near. You won’t like what I’m becoming. I can feel it moving through me like a parasite. If you thought the wolf was evil, this is something else. Even now I can feel it inside of me…growing, robbing me of who I was.”

“Who you are! You’re still that person!” Darwin insisted.

“I want to kill you,” Steve quietly announced. “You have no idea how hard it is to fight the thought, it’s not the wolf—it’s me now.”

“Then do it!” Darwin glared into his lover’s watering eyes, “Kill me. If you truly hate me, then kill me!”

“I don’t hate you!” Steve broke down.

“Then what is it?”

“It makes me want to hurt you, and soon I will.” He sobbed. “No one will be safe from me.”

“Doesn’t love conquer all?” Darwin asked bluntly. “Well, I love you Steve Cardwen!”

Steve wept with a torrent of tears leaking from his eyes, “I love…”

In one unifying seizure, Steve’s abs contracted and he sat up with his skin glistening in sweat. He gasped and ached, unable to talk or breathe before his back cracked and flailed into the bed and back up again. Steve screamed in pain briefly before returning to silence. Frantically, he rolled from the furs and crashed into a wooden chest on the floor. He looked to Darwin with his eyes phasing from human to wolf, his chest spasmed, growing thick with fur and helping to mask his waning humanity.

Shawn ran through the wall towards Steve, knowing he was frightened he was about to disappear forever. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to his knees.

“Stay with me man!” Shawn begged as he moved his hands to Steve’s head, which was now growing a set of pointed ears.

“Shawn, what is it?” Darwin asked in a panic.

“Stay back! This might not work.” Shawn looked into Steve’s fading eyes and began to speak.

“Cum luna plena est

“ego sum cordis puri

“quem ego diligo cum

“i innocens sum

“Malum finem pugnabo”

A moment later, Steve’s episode began to subside and his body began to revert to a more human appearance. Steve still howled in pain as his joints snapped and reformed. His transformation was not like the rest. He was being punished. What had happened was a sign of what was to come.

“You did good man; bring it back. Remember how I taught you.” Shawn still held on to Steve’s face as the frightened young man continued his slide back into humanity.

“It fucking hurts!” Steve chattered through his fangs.

“I know, just focus on your rock, what does that rock say about you. It says you are strong and unmovable. Like the rock you cannot be changed.” Shawn continued helping Steve, guiding him away from his cliff.

“What did you say to him?” Darwin asked.

“An old chant, a friend taught it to me. Wards off the pain for a while,” Shawn said.

Again silence returned to the cavern. The bones and cartilage in Steve’s body settled. Soon a worn out, muscular body drenched in sweat was on his knees with his head hung low. When he finally looked up, Steve opened his mouth which now had a set of dripping canines. A thick patch of hair ran between his pecs and he was all round, bigger in size.

“I was gone that time,” he spat through his fangs.

“This was your worst episode yet. We’re going to have to reinforce you if we want to hold off the change,” Shawn replied, getting up off the ground. “I’ll prepare for the hunt.”

“Why does it happen?” Darwin asked as he cautiously got off the bed and approached Steve.

“You should stay away from him,” Shawn said, stopping at the portal in the wall. “My trigger is my daughter, I can’t think about her too much or they’ll get me faster. Whatever Steve was thinking, it was the one thing that he can’t think about. It’s his pain, it will be his trigger. It almost was.”

Shawn left the room leaving Darwin and Steve alone. Darwin sat on the edge of the bed looking at Steve who was still sitting in the corner like a rabid dog. The two said nothing for awhile, only Steve’s panting could be heard.

“You better leave,” he growled.

“Steve—”

“Go!” he demanded.

Darwin, heeding the warning, grabbed a robe and passed through the wall into the next chamber. He knew Steve wasn’t lying. He was going to kill him and a small part of him wanted to die by Steve’s hands. It was what Shawn had said that he found most troubling.

“So, that’s it? We’re done?” Darwin asked Shawn, who was gathering chain link nets and jars filled with black snake like objects.

Shawn said as a matter of fact, “For now. If you two dabble anymore than you already have we’ll lose him. Our only chance now is to catch an imp and drain it; that might restore Steve for awhile.”

“You’re saying I’m responsible for his change?”

Shawn dropped the chain netting hard and looked at the naïve visitor. “Steve never elaborated what pained him most. I know he had it bad. I figured in time he would tell me, but it doesn’t take an expert to see that it’s you. He’s resentful for life on Earth without you, the pain and torture he experienced because of you. I warned him before he took you in to his bedroom-I thought it might be dangerous.”

“I said I loved him. He tried to say he loved me. So, I can never be with him ever again?” Darwin began to tremble.

Shawn looked down upon the small person knowing the pain he was feeling. “That’s how they torture you; that one thing that you can never have. We all have it, somewhere deep inside us. If you love him you have to let him go.”

“I could kill myself; then he would be free from me!”

“It doesn’t work that way. You’d only end up here, and eventually you’d become like him. Even if you could die his pain of not having you would still exist, every time he thought about you, he’d slide a bit more. There’s nothing we can do to stop it, only slow it down.” Shawn again began filling his rucksack.

“What’s the plan? How can I help?”

“The essence of an imp can restore his condition. Unfortunately, it only works a couple of times. Steve has already taken it twice so I’m not sure if a third time will work. The underworld is filled with strange creatures and they all have magical qualities. There might be other things that could help him, but I’ve only known the imp.”

“What’s an imp?”

“Small sources of concentrated evil. They secrete them. Sentient shit. Hunting them can be dangerous. If the imp gets on your skin the infection will accelerate, the fever drives you to your pain. The other danger is a master is usually near by. If we get discovered by one of them it’s all over,” Shawn finished, shaking a jar with the black snake before placing it inside his sack.

“How did you learn about it?” Darwin asked, intrigued.

Shawn threw his bag over his shoulder. “Another one who lives here; she practiced the dark arts on Earth. She’s the one who taught me about the chant and imps. She found her way to the underworld centuries ago through a gate. She’s a witch, but she’s a human, never marked by them. She’s become a master at hiding and manipulation of the environment. I don’t think they’ve even realized she’s here. Of course, she’s not infected so they’d have a harder time finding her. That makes a big difference. Once they learn of you, they come in waves. Getting away is very difficult.”

“How do they become aware of you?”

“Our minds become tuned to their frequency. At least that’s how I’ve come to understand it. As the infection continues to spread, your brain becomes eidetic to what they want. Like a beacon, they become aware of you, even if you haven’t completely changed.”

“Could Steve have been wired in during his-episode?” Darwin asked.

“Almost certainly. The only way we can help him now is to slow and reverse the process. That will buy him some time.”

“I want to help,” Darwin insisted.

“You’re a good friend,” Shawn said tapping his fingers against Darwin’s small cheek bone. “You will help…but be warned, you may be alive but I think an imp can turn you just as easily as Steve or I. Watch yourself.”