Chapter 21 - Research Time

It had already been 4 weeks and Irvin still hadn’t contacted Zadkiel. Mark was also ready to let Zadkiel live the rest of his life like he wanted to. He also tried to contact Irvin but his phone was always out of reach. There was no sign of him. He offered Zadkiel to contact his father to ask about Irvin but Zadkiel’s ego didn’t let him do this. He said that if Irvin doesn’t want to be found then he wouldn’t try because he wasn’t that desperate.

He was sitting behind the bleachers thinking about the reasons that could’ve ended up in Irvin ditching him but he could come up with none. He wouldn’t admit to anyone that he was missing his mate and he could feel the pain of being rejected in his entire body.

“I’ve been looking for you for an hour now.” Abel’s voice pulled him out of the thoughts.

“Maybe I didn’t want to be found,” Zadkiel murmured, still gazing at the grass and playing with it.

“Why?” Abel plopped down beside him.

“Last night I had a very weird dream.” The raven-haired guy was still in his own mind.

“What was it?” Abel leaned back on his palms. Zadkiel did the same before turning his head to his friend.

“You do know I get weird dreams right? Like the one, I saw before John got selected for the football team? I had a beautiful one before I met Irvin. I told you about the dark one I had a week ago where I was lost in mountains? And now Irvin has gone missing. I just think they tell me something from the future because last night I saw a really weird dream.” Zadkiel explained it to him but saying it out loud made him realize that he made no sense.

“Actually, I should shut up. Voicing my thoughts makes me think I’ve gone crazy.” Zadkiel chuckled, sitting up.

“You know what mate. I’m a friend of a person whose eyes glow and who have super human abilities. I don’t think anything is crazy for me now. Just say it.” Abel insisted, sitting up as well. Zadkiel thought about it for a while before he agreed.

“I saw two figures. I don’t know who they were but I knew them. They were talking to Irvin and it seemed like Irvin was in some kind of cage.” Zadkiel thought about it.

“You knew them but you don’t know who they were?” Abel looked at him weirdly.

“Yeah, like you know in dreams you know a person, then you wake up and you’re like who the fuck was that?” Zadkiel glanced at him hopefully and Abel gave a small nod.

“It wasn’t like that though. When I woke up, I still like to know those two figures but it’s just I can’t put a finger on who they are.” He sighed, knowing that he was sounding like a mad guy. Abel ignored the fact that his friend was sounding crazy.

“What were they talking about?” He asked the raven-haired guy.

“Me,” Zadkiel mumbled, lost in thoughts.

“What were they saying?” Abel frowned at him.

“I don’t know. I just know they were talking about me. I couldn’t hear them though.” Zadkiel rubbed his face. Maybe this dream meant nothing and he was actually going crazy because he is missing Irvin badly.

“Well… that is crazy. Maybe, it’s just a dream.” Abel spoke hesitantly because the dream was really weird.

“Yeah. Maybe.” Zadkiel murmured, struggling to get up.

“Let’s go inside.” He extended his hand to his friend who grabbed it and stood.

“You don’t wanna talk about Irvin?” Abel asked as he was now at Zadkiel’s level and they both started moving their legs towards the building.

“No.” Zadkiel shortly replied, not wanting to even touch that topic. Abel shook his head at that but didn’t argue.

“Okay, what about me? You still want to take me with you?” Abel tried to bring Zadkiel back on the topic.

“Irvin hasn’t come back as you can see. So, I think we both are staying here.” Zadkiel kept heading towards the building and Abel was right beside him.

“And if he comes back tomorrow to take you?” He asked, trying to keep up with Zadkiel’s pace.

“Then he has a proper explanation to give.” Zadkiel stepped inside the building and headed straight for the bathroom. Abel followed him there.

Zadkiel stood before the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Abel didn’t question him or try to disturb him. He just locked his eyes on his best friend who looked in a kind of distress.

Zadkiel flipped the faucet open and stood back to sneak a glance at his reflection one more time. He had sweat running down his forehead, eyes were droopy, lips chapped and skin looked dry. He looked like he was about to die in days.

He rolled up his sleeves and cupped his hands. He filled his cupped hands and splashed the water on his face. He did it three times and then dipped down his head to fill his mouth with water. He sloshed it around his mouth before spitting it out. He closed the faucet and looked up again in the mirror at a better reflection of himself.

He extended his hand to grab the towel but a hand wrapped around his wrist. He looked towards Abel who was looking down at Zadkiel’s arm, frowning. Zadkiel followed his eye line and understood that Abel was staring at the bluish mark on his arm.

“You do drugs?” Abel’s tone was harsh and demanding. Zadkiel was taken aback by this accuse.

“Excuse me?” Zadkiel snatched his arm back from his grip.

“Zadkiel, this mark is of injecting drugs, isn’t it? You said no mark stays on your body so you must take it daily for it to stay on your skin.” Abel knew what Zadkiel went through daily but he still didn’t approve of this. This was just a way of killing himself.

“Are you mad? I don’t do drugs.” Zadkiel rolled his eyes and grabbed a towel to dry his face. As he was wiping his face dry, Abel spoke again.

“Is it heroin? Huh?” He pressed, resting his hand on Zadkiel’s shoulder. He just wanted his friend to be safe so, he turned soft with him. Anything to keep him away from hurting himself.

“It’s aconite. I use it to control my demonic side. Father gave it to me years ago.” Zadkiel threw the towel back in its place and rolled down his sleeves. He stormed out of the bathroom angrily and didn’t look back at Abel.

‧̍̊˙˚˙ᵕ꒳ᵕ˙˚˙ ˙˚˙ᵕ꒳ᵕ˙˚˙‧̍̊

Aconite. Abel had heard this name before. He didn’t know where but somewhere. He needed to do a little research on it so, he made his way into the small computer lab on the school side of the building at 3 in the morning.

He knew if he got caught there, he’d face a severe penalty but he didn’t care. He knew he had to search for it. He thought it might be a lead to understand what Zadkiel actually is.

He shut the lab door and sat in the second cabin. He turned on the computer, looking around to make sure he was alone. He wouldn’t deny that he was scared. He was shaking but things had to be done.

Once the computer was turned on, he opened the browser to search but he heard a distant sound of shoes’ sole making sound on the wooden floor. It was intensifying by passing second which meant someone was heading this way. He was pretty visible through the glass door and windows of the lab. The computer screen was also glowing the whole room in white light and it was enough to draw attention inside the room.

He turned the monitor screen off and got off his chair. He squatted down behind a cabin and pulled a chair in front of him to hide. Now, the only light inside the room was from outside the room, from a dim hallway bulb.

The sound of the wood creaking and the shoes smacking against the floor was now pretty audible. It was very close now. He held in his breath, peeking from behind the chair to the window from where the hallway was visible.

He saw a sister pass the hall, flashing light inside the rooms and then she flashed his torch inside the lab. Abel dipped down. His heart was drumming against his chest. He broke out a sweat. His breaths were urgent. He had an idea what would happen if he got caught here so he wasn’t looking up to it.

When the sound became distant again. He slowly moved the chair and stretched his neck to take a look outside the window. It was clear.

He stood up and went to the computer he had turned on. He pressed the button and the monitor lit up, showing the searching page of the browser. He typed the words whispering each letter.

“A. C. O. N. I. T. E.” He pressed the enter button.

The screen loaded for a few seconds, taking way too long. Once he thought that the internet had broken down and he was about to go and restart it, the results showed up on the screen. He sat back down on the chair. His eyes moved along the lines of words displayed on the screen. He read those lines in a whisper.

Aconitum is also known as aconite, monkshood, wolf's-bane, leopard's bane, mouse bane, women's bane, devil's helmet, queen of poisons, or blue rocket, is a flowering plant, belongs to the family of Ranunculaceae.

He read it two to three times to understand what it meant but nothing caught his attention. Maybe he was just being too dizzy with sleep. He sat back and took a deep breath before reading it again.

Monkshood, wolf’s-bane, leopard’s band, mouse bane, women’s bane, devil’s helmet, queen of poisons, blue rocket.

Wolf’s-bane

That’s it.. That’s the name he had heard before in some kind of a movie related to werewolves.

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