S E V E N T E E N
Third Day

"WE HAVE TO start moving if we want to get there before the end of the third day. Addison does not have much time left to spare."

An hour after I had finally awoken from my 'slumber', Wilhelm had finally deemed me ready enough to return to traveling. Currently, he held out a mug of warm milk, gently passing it over to me as I took the cup gratefully. I took a whiff of the liquid, lightly blowing on the surface just to make sure that I would not accidentally burn my tongue when I take a sip.

"You are just as insane as that past life of hers if you think I'm going to let her go in this state." Dimitri flared up, eyebrows crinkled as he folded his arms stubbornly across his chest.

"Hey!" I shouted out in protest, seeing how insulting Lola indirectly meant insulting me, but the brothers took no heed.

"Wilhelm is right, Dimitri. If Addison is to complete this quest in time, she needs to set out now to find the golden chalice. We do not have much time left to spare on such dilly dally." Calvin frowned. "You will just have to trust that Fabian and I will take good care of her."

"Rest assured, brother, Addison will not be harmed under our care." From his place on the cushioned chair, Fabian slowly sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. "She will be fine."

"But-" Dimitri tried to protest but was swiftly cut off when Wilhelm shot him a glare. With a long defeated sigh, he walked back towards me, perching himself on the edge of my bed before taking my hands in his own cold ones. Though I could not feel the varying temperature, I could still feel goosebumps rising on my skin when we touched.

"We will leave you two alone." Minnie smiled, making her way in between the spirits of war and conquest before slipping her arm in to loop with theirs. "Come on, boys."

The two immortals barely even made a single sound of protest as they got dragged out, with Calvin throwing us one last look before he disappeared through the door. As they left, Fabian got to his feet, dusting whatever imaginary dirt off of his pristine suit before he walked towards the door as well. With one hand on the handle, he was just about ready to shut the door behind him on the way out before he turned to look at us.

"Addison, be ready in fifteen minutes. Calvin and I will be in the sitting room," he said.

I barely even made out a nod before he turned away, slamming the door shut behind him. His actions reminded me greatly of our first encounter and the way he had acted back then was still a picture perfect reflection of the way he acted now. Some things never change.

When I turned back to face Dimitri, I could tell that though his body was here with me, his mind was obviously not. He seemed to be existing in another realm so very far away, his fingers mindlessly drawing random shapes into the palm of my hand as I smiled without even trying to. Gently, I placed the now empty cup onto the bedside table before carefully examining Dimitri.

"What is it?"

"Huh?" He asked, finally looking up to meet me in the eye.

"What is it that is on your mind, Dimitri? You looked as though you were in an entirely different world." I clarified, shifting my body so that I could see him better without having to crane my neck all the way.

"Honestly, I don't want you to go. It's not safe. Besides, there is absolutely no need for you to go and risk your... life for this goblet. Calvin and Fabian will be able to manage it themselves perfectly well."

"I understand that you are worried for me, Dee, but I can't just let Fabian and Calvin risk their own lives for me. The church is a holy ground and that could mean that there are angels there. They will need all the help that they can get if their powers were muted. Also, finding the goblet it to save my life. How selfish and irresponsible I would be to try and wiggle my way out of this situation like that and push the responsibility to someone else."

"I've said it once before and I am not afraid to say it again. Addison, I can't lose you. Not again after I've finally gotten you back to my side."

Dimitri's silver gray eyes bore into my soul, his gaze as hard as the metal that his irises had an uncanny resemblance to. His words made it feel as though a single bell had just chimed within me, a string of words that had once tumbled out of his mouth in the form of Cassiel ringing in my mind. I could still remember that first time he had said that sentence all too well. After all, it was a part of my most haunting nightmares.

"And you won't lose me. Calvin and Fabian are perfectly capable of taking care of me. I am not some sort of burden and we will be back before the next sundown. That way, you will not have to worry about me tumbling over in another past life fit." I clasped Dimitri's hands tightly, pressing them against my heart as if willing him to understand. "I will be alright. And in no time at all, I will be with you again. You'll see."

"It's the third day, Addison." Gently, Dimitri pulled a single hand out of my grasp to comb a strand of stray golden blonde hair away from my face. He cupped my cheek, allowing me to rest in his hand for a second there before he slowly withdrew his hand. "It is only going to get progressively harder for you to stay in the material world-to stay human."

"Maybe I don't want to be human anymore. After all, we are the weakest form there is. We aren't as strong as the gods, not as sinful as angels and demons, and yet, we destroy everything that is in our path. Humans, no matter how much they have evolved over the thousands of years, we are ultimately still... savages."

I could tell that Dimitri was at a loss for words. His eyes were wide and round, simply staring at me with eyebrows raised dramatically. With lips slightly parted, I could barely even see the lift of his shoulders as he took in a breath of air. Thankfully for him, he never did have to answer to the statement I had just preached. The clock chimed throughout the entire castle, ringing through the halls as I instinctively turned to look at the door to and out of my room.

"We should go," I said, nodding my head at the door. "We shouldn't keep them waiting for us all the time. It's becoming a rude habit of ours."

Wordlessly, I began to untangle myself from the duvet, peeling away the sheets of fabric before my feet finally touched the ground. Dimitri was by my side immediately, a hand to my waist to hold me in place and ensure that I wasn't about to topple onto the ground face first. I shot him a grateful smile, desperately trying to ignore the rapid fluttering of my heart and the thundering wings of butterflies in my stomach due to the continuous close proximity I was in with Dimitri. As best as I could, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind, concentrating hard on walking since I had lost slight feeling in my legs from the time I've spent in the bed weak and drained of energy and life.

Fortunately, we made our way towards the sitting room just in time to see the rest of the group just beginning to sit down. Calvin and Fabian seemed to be in a heated conversation, their voices raised as they gestured wildly. On the other hand, Wilhelm was perched elegantly on the couch, a finger to his temple as he rested his elbow on the arm rest. His other hand was waving in the air as if gesturing for people to walk on by. It was only when we had entered the room had I realized that he was once again using magic to read the journal in which we had found in Ida's coffin.

"You sure took your own sweet time." Minnie got up with a chirp, a glint sparkling in the corner of her eye as she took a quick glance at Dimitri's hand which was still rested on the curve of my waist. She did not comment any further about that, simply taking me into her arms as she supported me to the nearest seat.

"Yeah, I could barely even feel my legs after that little episode."

"You are an absolutely horrible liar," Minnie grumbled softly under her breath, carefully helping me down onto an armchair as I shot her a cheesy smile. The second she caught my cheeky grin, she rolled her large doe eyes before shaking her head. "Remind me to interrogate you about this later on when we aren't pressed for time."

Keeping the grin on my face, I shook my head slowly. As discreetly as I could, I made a zipping motion right at my lips to signify that my lips were sealed. Upon that action, Minnie raised a single arched eyebrow, poised to perfection as she shot me a deadpanned expression.

Though I had not felt the need to say it out loud to my friends, having Minnie by my side through it all was undoubtedly one of the greatest reliefs they could ever offer me. Without having such a gracious pillar of support with me, I doubt I could even stand through all that I had encountered and will eventually encounter. It was nice to have a little simplicity in such a chaotic lifestyle to ground ourselves back to our axis.

"So, what have you got?" Dimitri's voice was the factor that pulled both Minnie and me out of our little imaginary bubble, turning our attention back to the four brothers as Wilhelm groaned dejectedly. Fabian and Calvin torn away from each other, attentiveness shifted to Dimitri instead as they each took a seat.

"We have already plotted out the optimum spot to teleport to. Any further after that and our magical strength would be reduced to simple spells, just enough for protection when there need be. We will land a couple of blocks away from the entrance of the underground catacombs and trek our way from there. Fabian has already copied a map of the church's underground tunnels and it should be able to lead us straight to our prize." Calvin explained the plan in great detail, going on to take out the map to show us where the chalice was located.

Right in the center of the labyrinth-like area was a single 'x' marked down on the parchment. The map seemed to be straight out of a pirate movie, marking down where the treasure was hidden. Seeing that alone made me slightly jittery with nerves.

"While they are off doing that, you and I will be stuck here brewing you a potion." Wilhelm piped in, eyes tearing away from the pages of the journal to shoot Dimitri a quick glance. "I found a piece that has the ability to grant demons temporary access to holy grounds such as churches and even Heaven. That should be able to get you through to the other side for a short while."

"We'll all be busy, it seems," Dimitri commented under his breath.

"Time stops for no one, after all." With the palms of my hands pressed to the armrests of my seat, I pushed myself back onto my two feet, a determined and grim smile spreading over my features. It stretched at my lips painfully, reminding me just how forced my faux positivity was. "We can do this. Once we've retrieved the golden chalice, we will meet you guys back here before plotting a way to get into Heaven without being spotted."

"Sounds like a plan." Fabian nodded his head once in agreement. "If everyone is clear on their part, we best be off. Like Addison said, time stops for no one."

With that as parting words for everybody, Fabian crossed the room within seconds, taking one of my hands in his own. I shivered slightly upon contact, desperately resisting the natural urge to jerk backward due to my body's method of disagreement. Calvin made his way over as well, taking my free hand in his before looking right over my head at Fabian. The dark-haired brother nodded once before a puff of black and white smoke began to curl around us.

Like tendrils, I could feel the two brothers' magic beginning to seep into the pores of my skin. It curled and merged, forming a little bubble that surrounded us as the world in front of me began to blur. The last I saw of Hell at that moment was Minnie, Dimitri, and Wilhelm's worried faces all staring right at us, probably their way of bidding a silent goodbye.

Even as their faces melted away into a flurry of colors before finally dissolving into a monotonous gray, I could still see Dimitri's rich metallic eyes fixated on my own blue-green ones. Though words were not spoken, I understood his message fairly well for he had already implied it time and time again back when we were alone. I could not hear his voice but the clip of his lips moving to form words would soon be the force that keeps me determined to pull through this next hurdle.

"Stay safe."

This is the end of the Friday the 13th update special here on Wattpad's version of [Courting Death]. Be sure to check out the newly published chapters (21,22 & 23) on Radish Fiction as well! Also, here on Wattpad, [Lucius] also has one new chapter out for reading. Hope you enjoyed these update events and do let me know if you would like more of these in the future. Thank you for reading.

xx aurora