It was hard to put into words just how annoyed Helios was with Dante. Over the past few days, he had poured all his effort into developing that damned immortality serum. All just to show Dante how serious he was about the whole thing.
He'd slept less so he could devote more time to the project. He'd worked on the serum with laser focus. Not once had he tested it on humans. No one had to suffer for it. That was what he wanted, wasn't it?
So why was Dante acting as if Helios was still there? As if he were still standing in that room?
Since that night when Dante had leaned against him, Dante had been cold.
So his feelings had been a lie? Fine! Helios didn't need him! He had been ready to open himself to Dante. But if that damned meathead was backing out now, so be it!
But why bother at all, if he didn't want it anymore? Helios had risked everything for this serum. Everything. He had tortured, killed, and pushed himself to his limits!
He had shown Dante who he really was. Had given him a glimpse of what drove him—and Dante recoiled. Not once had he looked at Helios with anything but indifference. He hadn't tried to touch him or kiss him. Nothing. As if all interest had evaporated the moment he witnessed Helios's torture!
It hurt.
Emotionally, he had probably never been wounded so deeply as by Dante.
And yet he'd grown accustomed to that muscle-bound guy. Maybe he'd even felt a spark of affection for him. Just a small one.
Irritated, Helios grabbed the bottle of his special anesthetic and loaded several syringes.
He just didn't get it.
Why go to all that effort to open yourself up to someone? Why bother with these damned interpersonal relationships at all?! It had been so hard for him. Every step, every little gesture—everything seemed wasted. He'd worried over how Dante would react, tried to get close—only to end up alone in the cold void.
In all this mess, Helios wondered if he was losing his mind. Why did Dante's opinion matter so much?
Because he was the last person Helios could still trust? Because he might never be able to open up to anyone else if Dante walked away?
At the thought, he felt strangely empty.
Still, he straightened his back and focused on what lay ahead. He couldn't falter now; he was so close to his goal. After all, he had created the serum for his own purposes, too.
Fatigue was wearing on him. He had only gone to bed in the late afternoon, but his efforts had paid off.
Perhaps he finally held the means to immortality in his hands. At the very least, he had succeeded in making a rat more resilient. If that had worked, he would surely be able to render that damned rat named Belladonna immortal as well.
He double-checked that the vial was properly corked and packed it so it couldn't be damaged. Alongside it went an ampoule labeled "PX-209" and the small, old vial marked "PL-021." He still hadn't discovered exactly what was inside that little bottle, but it seemed connected to immortality. He'd administered only a single drop to the rat, and it appeared to have helped in some way.
Whether it was down to his optimized formula or simply the dosage, Helios couldn't say—and there was no way left to investigate further. He added several other compounds to the immortality serum; every vial was tightly sealed. Now he only had to ensure nothing got broken.
He had drawn on everything he had and refined some of his own emergency formulations. He'd even created a serum from Dante's cells. With it, he would stabilize Belladonna—and perhaps achieve his desired effect: that Dante's cells would overtake the body's own cells like a damned virus.
His research had drifted into the realm of a bioweapon.
Well—so long as it wasn't contagious, everything would be fine. Probably.
Helios checked the contents of his case one more time before closing it with a sigh. His heart was pounding. It wouldn't be long now before he finally had Belladonna in his grasp.
He slipped into clothes that would allow him to move freely. Instead of a shirt, he chose a tight black turtleneck sweater; in place of his usual suit trousers, a pair of jeans; and rather than his leather shoes, a sleek pair of sneakers. They weren't fully broken in, but they still felt comfortable—and he'd be able to run better in them than in his dress shoes.
As Spider had already warned: Belladonna was damned fast. An assassin.
He cast one last glance at the mirror—pale features, dark circles under his eyes, the determined spark in his pupils—then grabbed his coat, slipped it on, and tucked the syringes of his anesthetic into the inside pocket. He'd deliberately left the poison behind this time; Belladonna was meant to stay alive.
With his case in hand, he finally looked over at Dante, who was tying his boots. They had remained silent since their argument. But tonight, Helios would have to swallow both his anger and his doubt. It was literally a matter of survival. Without communication, at least Helios wouldn't make it through the evening.
"Ready?" Helios asked Dante.
Dante nodded. He looked at him with a questioning expression, his face betraying nothing of his thoughts.
"The serum?"
Helios sighed. "Let's just hope it works."
Dante regarded him resignedly. "There's no second chance?"
"No," Helios said firmly. His gaze met Dante's. "Don't forget who you're dealing with. I've thrown everything I had into creating this serum. It will work."
Helios paused briefly before continuing. "Just trust me," he added softly. He opened the door without waiting for Dante's reply. The heavy footsteps behind him told him that Dante was following—and that was what mattered.
He seemed to have decided to see this through with him.
___
"'And he'll really come?' Helios asked doubtfully.
Before him, an office building loomed in the night darkness. A few windows still glowed with light. It was fairly large, but nowhere near the size of Aeternum Pharmaceuticals. It was already late, and Helios had taken the evening off specifically to make sure everything went according to plan. This was an important night, and he adamantly refused to let anything get in his way.
Tonight was the night he would have his revenge. And thanks to Belladonna, he would make a damned big leap forward on his deal with Dante. Even if he still had no idea how to extract an antidote from Belladonna's cells—after all, he hadn't managed that with Dante yet, either.
But Helios didn't worry about that. Belladonna would remain alive long enough. In the best-case scenario, he'd have an immortal test subject and plenty of time to try every approach. Besides, he had time—and confidence in his own abilities. It would work. In its current version, the serum was perfect.
"He will," Spider said. He grabbed Helios's wrist to check his watch. "If you hurry, you'll still have enough time to hide."
Irritated, Helios yanked his arm free from Spider's grip. Belladonna's mission was to capture the company's accountant and squeeze some information out of him.
Belladonna would be pretty busy, and hopefully she'd only notice them too late. It was their chance—and Spider had indeed chosen a day when their odds were best.
"Third floor, you said?" Helios confirmed again.
They'd gone over all the key details. Still, their rendezvous had been so spontaneous that Helios found himself wishing for more time. He had no idea how the building was laid out. Thanks to Spider, he roughly knew where the stairs, elevators, and emergency exits were.
It was completely different from Soley. There, they'd scouted everything out and Helios had had enough time to devise a plan. But here, he felt almost naked. He wasn't one for spontaneity, and he'd been so consumed by the development of the immortality serum that he hadn't had time to plan how they would best capture Belladonna.
He felt a knot in his stomach thinking about how badly things could go without proper preparation. Helios looked at Dante, who was studying the building and listening to them.
If Dante were to die even once, it would all be over. Helios would do anything to get his hands on Belladonna—and no trick was too low for him to use to overpower her. He had to succeed. If they failed to subdue Belladonna, they wouldn't get another chance anytime soon. If they got one at all.
He was more than aware that Dante's death could mean his own.
"Exactly," Spider replied. "Did you bring the formula?"
"Dante, give him the case," Helios said.
He kept his eyes fixed on the building, his mind racing for a plan. But nothing he came up with was any good. He sighed quietly and turned back to Spider. It was a shame he couldn't help capture Belladonna.
Dante stepped over to Spider and handed him a rattling case. "Careful—heavy."
Spider took it, shooting Helios a puzzled glance. "Is this… all of it?"
"It is. Inside are all the ampoules of 'PX-114' and 'ATP-087,' plus their formulas. Enjoy—I don't need them." Helios waved him off. "Besides, you helped secure all of this. It wouldn't be fair if you didn't get something."
He turned back to the building. There really wasn't much time left before Belladonna arrived. They just had to hide well enough that the accountant wouldn't notice them. Anything could go wrong and ruin the whole plan.
Before he could take a step, Spider grabbed his wrist.
"Helios, wait."
"What is it? You said we hardly have any time left," Helios said sharply. Why the hell was Spider holding him back when he knew how tight their schedule was?
He looked at Spider, only to meet a worried expression. "Take care of yourself," Spider said seriously. Helios raised an eyebrow.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not your only source of income. Why the sudden concern?"
"Because I worry about you," Spider said earnestly. He ruffled Helios's hair even more. Helios smoothed it back down and shot the assassin an annoyed look. Spider just gave him a genuine smile—more sincere than Helios had ever seen on him. "Just watch yourself, okay?"
"If you're so worried, come with me and help catch this bastard," Helios said.
Spider sighed. "You know I can't go. If the guild finds out I sold out one of our own, I'm dead."
"Alright then," Helios said as he turned back around. "Talk to you in a few days. I've got a rat to catch."
"Belladonna specializes in close combat. He primarily uses knives, like I do. But he's a lot… more chaotic. Seriously, watch yourselves. He's not an easy opponent."
Helios grinned, freeing his hand from Spider's grip. "And that warning from the great Spider. Don't worry—I've prepared some fun surprises for him. He's going to have the time of his life."
"You won't get close enough to jab him with a syringe," Spider warned, his expression serious. "Damn it! Look after him, Dante, you hear me?!"
"That's my job," Dante said as he stepped toward Helios.
Helios gave him a smile and slipped through the door. Dante followed immediately. Helios closed the door quietly behind them, and they were enveloped by the silence of the dark building. They crept along the sparsely lit corridors, avoiding the few guards patrolling the halls.
The security measures in this building were an absolute joke—nothing like what Helios was used to.
Eventually, they reached the third floor, where the accountant was located. Before they could move on, Dante stopped him.
"Do you have a plan? If so, you'd better tell me now," he said quietly.
"I'm thinking of putting the accountant to sleep," Helios whispered. "That way he can't cause any chaos, and Belladonna will be distracted."
"Or he just bolts when he realizes something's wrong," Dante countered.
"We could also hide and wait for Belladonna to kill the accountant," Helios suggested. "Then you could shoot him from a safe distance."
"No. No deaths," Dante said firmly.
Of course the moral crusader would say that, Helios thought, rolling his eyes—well aware Dante could see him do it.
"Do you have a plan?" Helios asked again.
Dante leaned into the hallway, surveying the situation. Unlike the ground floor, this level was fairly well lit—apparently so the accountant could finish his overtime. Helios knew that kind of lighting all too well: when he worked late, the building was lit only along the routes he would take later.
"Do you have any of your sleep bombs?" Dante asked in a low voice.
"No," Helios replied. "We're dealing with an assassin. Belladonna would never fall for that. He's too fast."
"But you have anesthetic?"
Helios tapped the inside pocket of his coat. "Yes—for if we get close enough."
"Anything else useful?" Dante asked.
"Only the serum and a few things to bind him."
"For example?"
"Handcuffs and a rope, plus something to shut his damned mouth."
Helios also carried his scalpel, a knife, and a sleep bomb he'd detonate if Belladonna got too close. He'd rather go to sleep alongside Belladonna than let him kill him. But he wouldn't tell Dante about that bomb. It was his last line of defense.
Dante sighed. "So we don't have much after all."
"No. It's also my first fight against an assassin. I thought about what might help, but most of it would only hinder us, so I decided not to drag unnecessary weight along."
Dante nodded. "Hmm, maybe that's for the best," he said thoughtfully before falling silent.
Helios was growing impatient—what was Dante thinking so long about?! They needed to find a hiding spot. They had no idea from which direction Belladonna would come. The guy was unpredictable. It wouldn't even surprise Helios if Belladonna simply strolled in through the main entrance.
"We should hurry—Belladonna could be here any moment," Helios hissed, glancing at his watch. Time was running out.
"We have no choice but to hide under one of the desks. Best to put the accountant to sleep right away, and you stay hidden until I call you," Dante said.
The image of Dante, with his size and bulk, hiding under a desk amused Helios more than the situation warranted. He really was too tired to indulge such ridiculous visions.
Focus…
"And what if he kills you?" Helios asked.
"Then you stay hidden."
"Dante," Helios said sternly, grabbing his immortal guardian's muscular forearm and giving him a look that brooked no argument. "We have to capture him tonight. There's no other option. Understand?"
Dante nodded. "I'll do my best," he promised. "You have the serum in case I need to hurt him more than planned?"
"It's all in the case. The ampoules are labeled. So if he knocks me out, you have to give him the meds, okay?"
Helios meant it seriously. It wasn't unlikely that Belladonna could knock him out or even kill him. Dante shot him a more-than-shocked look.
"You want me to give him the meds?!" he asked louder than the situation allowed.
Helios reacted in an instant, pressing both hands over Dante's mouth. His heart pounded in his throat. This couldn't be happening—they'd slipped in silently, bypassed every guard, and now Dante was about to ruin their successful break-in by shouting about what I'd said?!
"Psst!" Helios hissed, alarmed. "Only in case I can't do it myself!"
"I've never done anything like that!" Dante complained, his voice muffled beneath Helios's hands but still too loud, so Helios kept his grip where it was. "I can dress and stitch wounds, sure. I can even slam a syringe into muscle—but into a vein?!"
"That's not even half as hard as you're making it!" Helios whispered fiercely.
He exhaled slowly. Perhaps he should have had Dante practice these things instead of handing over his notes just to keep him busy. Dante still looked utterly shocked—his expression was almost comical. They'd broken into a damned building to catch an assassin, to strip Dante of his immortality, and this giant of a man was afraid he'd fail at giving someone an IV?
"You can do it," Helios murmured confidently. Dante gave him a doubtful glance.
A soft laugh escaped Helios before he could stop it. He suddenly remembered how scared his immortal guard was, when it came to syringes. It felt so good—and so strange. The past few months had worn him down; Davis's death had weighed heavily on him. Now, thanks to Dante, it wouldn't be long before he got his revenge.
A smile toyed at his lips. "Thanks, Dante. I trust you—we'll catch this bastard. Besides, I don't plan on letting Belladonna catch me, so don't worry."
Dante looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then sighed. "You have to stay hidden. I'll handle the rest," he said. "Promise me you'll stick to that—not run off on your own again."
Helios nodded and finally removed his hands from Dante's mouth. "Promise," he whispered.
Dante's gaze held Helios's as if he were caught in its gravity. Had those reddish-brown eyes always been that beautiful? Unconsciously, Helios reached out to Dante's cheek—then froze. What was he doing? Damn, he was way too sleep-deprived. There was no time for this!
"Helios, I…" Dante began.
Helios withdrew his hand. "We should hide before the bastard shows up," he said.
Just as he turned back to the corridor, someone jeered.
"Well? What do you plan to do with the guy you were going to hide from?" came a voice from behind them.
A cold shiver ran down Helios's spine. He would recognize that voice anywhere! Nausea churned in his gut and rage flared hot through his veins, coiling in his stomach. Davis's death crashed back into his mind as vividly as the day he lost him forever.
"Belladonna!" he growled, spinning around.
The assassin stood casually in the hallway behind them, not a worry in the world, wearing an arrogant grin.