Chapter 132 - A Good Boy

Chapters might be a little oddly timed, this week. I'm off to visit family tomorrow and driving all day, so I probably will not be able to get one out to you tomorrow, although I'll try! :) There's only a couple of chapters left in this one, though. After that, I'll be taking a brief break from Cameron to work on the end of an SF novel, which I'll share (the whole book!) with you over the next couple of weeks. Then, we'll be back to the third book in Castle's story in the new year! - Kevin

White light exploded from my hands, so bright I had to close my eyes against it. It washed over Cerberus, me, and everything else around us. I could feel the spell working as I poured more mana into the casting. My magic stabbed deep, striking against the curse embedded at the core of Cerberus's being, but it wasn’t going to give up without a battle.

This wasn't like cleansing the humans who'd been bitten but not yet transformed. Removing this curse was worlds more complex. It had sunk roots deep into Cerberus's body. In a real way, it had reshaped him, become a part of him. The Cleanse spell tore at those roots, ripping them out one by one. Cerberus convulsed beneath my hands as the casting slowly worked its way through his system, reshaping him back to whatever he’d been before.

My mana plummeted. I felt the steady, ongoing drain as the spell kept pulling more power. I gave it everything I had, pouring my entire Will into breaking this curse.

The light reached a blinding crescendo, and then… It stopped. As the spell ended, I felt the bits of my magic chasing the final threads of the curse, rushing down invisible trails from Cerberus to each of the people who’d been infected by him or his progeny. One by one, the spell burned the curse out of them, too. I’d done it! If what I was feeling was correct, even the already transformed were reverting back to their true forms.

The white light faded. I opened my eyes, gasping for breath, feeling lightheaded from mana depletion. I looked down to see what all that effort had wrought. What lay beneath my hands was not a werewolf.

It was a dog. Cerberus had become a large golden retriever. His fur was matted and dirty, but the breed was unmistakable. He looked up at me with big, brown eyes and gave a weak wag of his tail.

“I had a hunch,” I told him. “Things you said, they told me a little about your origin story. This was your form when magic arrived, wasn’t it? Your owner was killed by something, and you couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t save him, right? Then, somehow, you became touched by magic. It turned you into a werewolf.

“My big question, though, is whether you’re still a danger to everyone,” I went on. Even a casual glance told me that Cerberus was still tier eight, even in this form. That much magical strength meant he was deadly to most people. “You hurt a lot of people, you know. You and your pack killed humans. Many humans.”

A voice sounded in my head. Did not mean to.

I shook my head, startled, then looked down at the dog, who was still staring up at my face. “Was that you?”

Cerberus nodded. Cannot still speak, but mind still strong. Found can talk this way.

A telepathic dog. I wasn’t sure if I ought to be impressed or terrified, but I was leaning toward the former. “What about it, then? If you can talk to me, you understand what I’m saying. You killed many humans. Why?”

Didn’t mean. Cerberus’s tail sank low. Was trying to help. Save humans, make stronger so survive. But had so much rage all times. Rage gone now.

Damn, was he telling the truth, or not? How could I tell? I stared into his eyes while he spoke into my mind, trying to look through them like they were windows to see what was hidden behind them.

What was I supposed to do with him now? If I let him loose, let him run free, would he become a hazard to others again? If he was telling the truth, then it was the curse driving him to do all the terrible things he had. It made sense, in a way. If the Event’s magic was trying to bend itself to human perception of the way magic was ‘supposed’ to be, then the curse forcing Cerberus to act like a movie werewolf made sense. It was sort of like the goblins, which we were pretty sure used to be squirrels. They certainly didn’t act like squirrels anymore.

If that was true for Cerberus as well, then nothing he’d done was truly his fault. He’d been acting under the influence of the curse, the same as his victims. Now that he was freed from it, he ought to revert back to who he was before.

Except that wasn’t precisely what had happened. Instead, he’d kept all the crystals he’d managed to acquire. Tier eight was powerful. There were only a handful of humans in the greater Boston area who could hope to stand against Cerberus, even without his werewolf form.

I had a few choices available. I could release him and tell him to go far away and never come back. I could capture him and bring him with me, but I knew in my heart that others would demand he be put to death. Alex would likely be among them. He’d been furious, back at Harvard, and I doubted his temper had cooled much since.

Or, I could kill him. In some ways, that would be the smart thing to do. It would end the threat entirely. It’s the call Alex would make.

It didn’t feel like the right call, though. Just a few moments ago, I’d had Cerberus dead to rights. I could have blasted him with Lightning again and finished things then, without bothering to cast Cleanse at all. There had to be a middle road, something I could do that would allow me to keep an eye on the dog while still letting him live.

You should end me, Cerberus thought at me.

I stared at him in shock. “Can you read my mind, too?”

No. Is obvious. Can see on face. Cerberus thought. Cerberus alone now. No pack. No human. No hope. Only pain and guilt. End it.

My lips narrowed to the thinnest line. That firmed up the feelings I’d already had. “No, I don’t think I will.”

End pain! Please?

I shook my head and sank down on my haunches, placing both hands on his shoulders. “Cerberus, you were as much a victim here as anyone else. I can’t read your mind, but I can see that in your eyes and hear it in the thoughts you send me. I can’t kill you for something you didn’t intend to do. We need another path, and I have an idea.”

What?

“It’s going to require a little trust from both of us. Can I trust you, if you give me a promise?”

Can! Cerberus is good boy!

God, it was like talking to a child! Alex wouldn’t hear that, though. He’d just kill the dog and be done with it. I…couldn’t. It wasn’t in me to do that, or allow someone else to.

“There are islands, just off the shore. There’s one I was looking at as a possible home base for myself,” I told him.

It was true. I’d visited the islands a few days back, before everything got werewolf-crazy. The few humans who’d been on the harbor islands when the Event hit had either managed to get off the islands or died there. All of them were controlled by packs of monsters, now. My rough plan was to go out to one and take it over as a base of operations. Georges Island was my main pick. It was a small island that was taken up almost entirely by an old Civil War era fort.

The place was completely overrun with goblins now, but I figured that shouldn’t be a major barrier to me. With backup from Cerberus, it would be even easier.

If I could trust him. If I could rely on him to stay there, even if I wasn’t present.

“We’d have to fight goblins to clear the place out,” I warned.

Cerberus hate green skins. Hurt Cerberus.

“And then I’d need you to promise me you will stay there unless I say it’s okay to leave,” I added. “That’s non-negotiable. If I can’t trust you to stay when I say stay, this won’t work. If you leave the island without my permission, I’ll have to hunt you down. I really, really don’t want to have to do that.”

Cerberus good at stay. Is good boy! He cocked his head sideways. Wait. Is this right? You want to be Cerberus’s new person?

I shrugged and chuckled. “I guess, in a way. Although as smart as you are, I don’t think it would be a typical human and dog relationship. But yeah, I’ll be your person, if you keep your word and follow my directions.”

Cerberus do.

I nodded and stood back up. We were about halfway there. I needed to get Cerberus out to the island without him being spotted by too many folks. If I suddenly started running around with a tier eight pet dog with golden fur, it would take anyone with two brain cells about three seconds to figure out who it was. I could easily see some folks taking it onto themselves to go after Cerberus for vengeance.

“For now, I need you to run from this place. Go fast, go quietly, and get yourself to the ocean. Wait near the water. I’ll find you there and take you to your new home, all right?

Cerberus can do. Will not leave Cerberus, yes?

“I won’t leave you, don’t worry. I have to tie things up here. Then, I’ll come for you.” The last thing I could do was leave him be. By allowing him to live, I was taking responsibility for him and everything he did from here on out. If he went wild and killed someone, that would be on me.

Cerberus goes, then. Will be good boy.

“I know you will,” I told him. I prayed I was right, but deep down, I truly felt this was the only course of action that made sense. “You are a good boy.”

It felt deeply wrong to just kill him. But I couldn’t simply release him, either. This way, I made sure he wasn’t a threat to others without murdering him.

Cerberus took off, bolting away toward the east with the same speed he’d displayed as a werewolf. I shook my head as I watched him go. That was going to take some getting used to…! Cerberus was special, though, maybe even unique. I felt good about this.

Still, ‘I let him go’ wasn’t going to fly with Alex, even after Marion reverted to her human form. Maybe she could talk him out of his vengeance kick, but I couldn’t guarantee that. I needed something to convince Alex that Cerberus was gone forever.