Once the movie had ended everyone kind of napped around for a while until the sun fell. Varin woke the group with a whisper, and Opal got up from underneath the blanket, and checked to make sure she didn’t slobber all over Dante. She did, and Dante had first noticed it halfway through the movie, but he didn’t mind. Opal gently shook Dante awake, as Varin finished checking the blinds for the last time. Dante went and stood by the door. All too eager to give up on his destiny. He thought it was cool that he and Opal had ended up together, in this really weird way, but he also saw that Opal Sanchez was probably going to be dead very soon, and if he stayed a part of this nonsense any longer, he would end up the same way.

  Opal and Varin each prepared their own niceties, and cleared their throats for that last goodbye when Shallow sent a slime-coated lunchbox whistling towards Dante’s head.

  Dante rubbed at the back of his head, more so out of a foretold pain from the argument he knew was about to start, as Shallow bellowed out, “THAT GRUB WILL GET YOU THROUGH THIS NIGHT. AFTER THAT YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN.”

  Opal, quickly realizing the gravity of the situation, bought a bucket of popcorn and went all in on the weird squid creature. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she forced Dante to continue on this death march, but she was more than happy to watch He Who Dwells take a swing at it. A little bit of her was really hoping that he’d tag along for the wedding. If the Senior Vampire Syndicate Leader still held Opal in his favor the wedding would be in the Botanical Gardens of Hooster Hotel and then they’d honeymoon in hell. Dante, wanting no part in the final half of that equation, swore off the first, and prepared a staunch, hermetically sealed Defense of Normalcy that he fortified twice over before finally releasing, confident that Shallow’s slimy offenses wouldn’t dare break through it.

  Shallow, having had little practice for logical argument, as he was more used to just obliterating his opposition, was aware of his deficiency, and let Dante push the advance with his impenetrable barrier, and once he’d made way and set foot on solid ground, Shallow let loose a prepared ambush, appealing to Dante out of love.

  “YOUNG WOLF, AS YOU HAVE COME TO KNOW, I HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A VERY LONG TIME. I’VE SEEN FIELDS BECOME CITIES, CITIES BECOME RUINS, AND RUINS BECOME FIELDS. IN EACH OF THEIR STORIES WERE CHOICES. DECISIONS. PATHS THAT PEOPLE WENT DOWN THAT GAVE WAY FOR THE REST OF HISTORY, AND WHEN THOSE PEOPLE RUBBED THEIR BRUISES, WORKED THE LAND, AND GREW FRUIT FROM THOSE FIELDS, IT WAS ONLY A FEW AMONG THEM THAT SAW PAST THE COMPLACENCY OF THEIR HARVESTS, AND SPIED A PATH TOWARDS A CITY. AND OF THOSE FEW, ONLY ONE OF THEM, UNBEKNOWNST TO ALL, WOULD BE WALKING THE PATH THAT LED TO BEING ITS KING. AND IT ALWAYS COMES DOWN TO A JUST A FEW IMPORTANT CHOICES. THE REST FALLS WHERE IT MAY. YOUNG WOLF, I BELIEVE YOU ARE STANDING AT THAT CROSSROADS TODAY, AND YOU HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT PATH TO PICK.”

  Dante rubbed at his chin, considering all of the different factors. Everything that was happening that day was absolutely spectacular, and there were so many coincidences. His meeting with Opal, the granting of his 8 month long private fantasy, but it was all done in the worst way. Now that he had reunited with Opal, he could only enjoy their relationship for the rest of his very short life. Evil stuff indeed, but maybe it would all work out. Maybe this is what was supposed to happen.

  After having rubbed his chin raw, he came to a resolution and put his hand on the door handle.

  “Opal it’s been great seeing you again, but— “

  What Shallow said next, he said because he loved Dante. And love is all there was to it. Shallow psychically cleared his throat to sound it off,

  “YOUNG WOLF. DANTE. YOU’VE GROWN SO MUCH YOU KNOW. WE’VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR 16 YEARS, 4 MONTHS, 13 DAYS, AND 1 WONDERFUL HOUR. YES, I STILL KEEP TRACK, AND NO, IT’S NOT BECAUSE I’M STILL ‘COUNTING THE SECONDS UNTIL I’M RID OF YOU’. APOLOGIES, BY THE WAY. IT’S BECAUSE SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY THOSE HATED SECONDS TURNED INTO CHERISHED MOMENTS AS I’VE SEEN YOU BECOME THE YOUNG MAN I KNOW YOU WANT TO BE. IN THESE MOMENTS, I’VE SEEN YOU WIN. IN THESE MOMENTS, I’VE SEEN YOU FAIL, BUT NEVER, IN ALL OUR YEARS TOGETHER, HAVE I SEEN YOU PULL ONE SINGULAR BITCH.”

  Shallow made note to turn the front of his fishbowl to Opal. He had managed to find his sharpie and sticky notes amidst the chaos, and sensing that Dante was bound to try and pussyfoot his way out of this nonsense, drew a crude surprised face to show Opal once he revealed his trap card.

  Dante, trying to keep his cool, stuttered out, “Shallow, you know—“

  Shallow, leaned his bowl towards Opal, the eyebrows of his macabre rendition of a surprised face now in full bloom, “ALL I KNOW IS HE GETS ABSOLUTELY ZERO BITCHES OPAL.”

  “Have you forgotten Mich—“

  “MICHELLE HARBINGER WAS A SWEET YOUNG LADY. YOU REALLY FUCKED THAT ONE UP DANTE.” Shallow moved freely around the room now, having gotten everyone’s attention. “MADE QUICK WORK OF IT TOO. AND EVEN IF YOU’D LIKE TO LIE AND CLAIM THAT SHE POPPED YER CHERRY, I’VE SEEN A RATHER STARK LACK OF THE FEMALE IN YOUR PROXIMITY EVER SINCE.

  “Well—“

  “AND HERE YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL, WELL-PUT-TOGETHER YOUNG WOMAN QUITE LITERALLY THROWING HERSELF AT YOU. ARE YOU INSANE?”

  Opal thanked He Who Dwells for the compliment and tried to let it outweigh the pain of that jab, no matter how true.

  “OF COURSE, OPAL. GOOD LUCK WITH THIS FUCKIN’ GUY. LOVE HIM BUT HE’S CRAZY. FOOL’S CRAZY.”

  Dante went to interject, “I’m not that bad.”

  “NOT THAT BAD?” Shallow swashed his tentacles around in sheer amazement, “OPAL, HOW WELL HAVE YOU GOTTEN TO KNOW YOUR HUSBAND?”

  Opal put a hand on her hip, beginning to grow annoyed at everyone pointing out the obvious. “Still working on that.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “NO, THIS IS EXCELLENT. YOU SHOULD ASK HIM HIS FAVORITE NUMBER SOMETIME— “

  “Dude. Come on.”

  “IT IS DONE ONLY OUT OF LOVE, YOUNG WOLF.” Shallow held up a single tentacle, preemptively shushing Opal before she could get the nerve to ask and tasked a few tendrils more with re-locating his sticky notes and sharpie. They each accepted the mission in their own time, having come to term with the risks, and set out to find the treasured valuables. After much searching, many fruitless days, and about four and a half war crimes they unearthed their bounty, and began the long journey back to their host to present them to him. They had only heard rumors of what he dared to do once he obtained the sticky notes and sharpie, and would stay up late at night, each curl of their tendrils and flex of their suction cups forming themselves into their own pigeon language, as they’d rest around their nightly campfire, eager to get back home and see what he actually aimed to do with the paraphernalia.

  Once they returned with their precious cargo, they presented them to Ye Ol’ He Who Dwells, and he after his initial thanks he sent them back out. He thought a blue sharpie would produce a much stronger effect, and so they left again to go retrieve that along with some orange sticky notes for a nice backdrop. Once all of the ingredients were gathered, they left He Who Dwells to his crafting, and soon enough all the tentacles stood back in awe as they watched the fruits of their labor grow into the withered sketch of a half-assed smiley face.

  Shallow presented his new face to the group, it’s cheeky smile exuding a warmth sharpie and sticky notes had no business possessing.

  “SO, YOUNG WOLF, UNLESS YOU BELIEVE ANOTHER FAIR, YOUNG LADY IS GOING TO MATERIALIZE ON THIS COUCH, I THINK YOU OUGHTA SEE THIS THROUGH TO ITS CONCLUSION. LEST YOU DIE THE SHALLOW DEATH OF A VIR—“

  “Alright, alright, we’re leaving.” Dante finally making good headway towards surrendering to his destiny, rushed the three of them out, much to Shallow’s delight. Shallow made sure to tell him to get word back if he ended up needing more help, and Shallow would be more than happy to lend a tentacle.

  Opal, trying her hardest to hide her happiness, stayed a few steps behind Varin on their way back to the car, keeping pace with Dante. She tried to keep his spirits as high as they could be, considering the entire universe seemed to be conspiring against him, and tried to tell him about all of the coolest spots to see in Jaxon City.

  Dante, now good and tired of the bullshit, wanted absolutely nothing to do with Jaxon City. He had spent so much time here avoiding it, even to the chagrin of the few friends that he did make in his time here at Riverdon University. He didn’t care for its perpetual downpour of neon, its around the clock busyness, or its skyline of ever growing concrete. He only kept up with it, so much as to keep an eye on a wolf that edged the property line. So, he certainly didn’t care about Opal’s really quite exquisite presentation she was putting on for the Huxon Hotel. She was putting a decent amount of elbow grease into it too, seeing as how that was going to be there first stop. She watched Dante’s face with a growing anxiety as it remained in stoic indifference to all that she told him. Her favorite part, which was the underground pool reserved for their ilk, didn’t seem to dazzle him in the slightest.

  And so, when they reached the car, she climbed into the backseat with Dante, and thought it might be best to take his mind off it all. As Varin pulled out of the parking garage and headed towards the freeway, Opal tried to think of the perfect topic to help her husband feel more…at ease.

  “So, what do you usually get up to for fun?”

  Dante sat there. Even though this was their first day of meeting each other again, she made acquaintances with Shallow, and rediscovered his lycanthropy, he wasn’t sure if he should reveal just how nerdy he really was. If she really got him going, he could pollute the entire road trip with his latest escapades in his D&D escapades, his rampant comic collection, or his extensive knowledge of warhammer 40k. He decided to play it relatively safe.

  “I still game a decent bit.”

  Opal’s eyes shot her eyes up in surprise.

  “My brother loves…loved gaming. He built a pretty crazy pc for it. I used to love watching him. What kind of games do you play?”

  Big question for Dante. He played pc too, mainly because the selection of games was completely unmatched, and he was a big fan of titles most wouldn’t hear about, but still. He wanted to see if she did.

  “Ever heard of Rain World?”

  Opal shook her head. “Nope. Tell me about it.”

  Dante scratched at his chin, “It’s like…a platformer. Like Mario right, but it’s in this world that functions like an actual ecosystem. Cool game. You should definitely check it out.”

  Opal nodded, “Sounds cool. I’ve definitely got memories of some super mario game up in here somewhere.”

  Dante wondered if he should ask, and thought up a million reasons not to, before chucking them all away and squeezing the trigger.

  “You said your brother did like gaming? He passed?”

  Opal nodded and looked out the window, “Yeah. He’s gone now. I think you would’ve liked him.”

  Dante readjusted himself in his seat, wanting to push further, but thought better of it, and decided to sidetrack. “What did you like watching him play the most?”

  Dante watched as Opal thought it over, he tracked her eyes and swore he could see her going each game in a list, considering it deeply, before chucking it altogether and doing the same thing to the next game. After a long and dutiful search, he could recognize in her eyes that she had come across her answer, and awaited it with glee.

  “Probably Skyrim. Ever play it?”

  Dante’s jaw almost hit the floor. Nowadays, he spent more time modding his Skyrim rather than playing it, but it was a pretty solid pick, and he’d probably still be playing it into old age.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I’ve fucking played Skyrim. It’s one of the greatest games ever!”

  “Yeah,” Opal giggled, “We thought so too.”

  And they chatted like that, long into the night. The both of them having become enraptured in the sharing of their own little stories, and they were growing to like each other so much they were just on the cusp of crafting their first inside joke. One that even Varin wouldn’t be privy to, as he kept his eyes locked on the road ahead of him. Upon continuing on this road any further, they would eventually hit the I-98 which would take them all the way through the mountains, where that oh so pesky glow was now shining, bright and proud, and a Jaxon City awaited them, every promise and every failure and every hope and every bittersweet dream that they’d put on the back burner. All of it wrapped in plastic, adorned in steel, and propped up with concrete before being presented in the wispy, vapor-dream smoke of neon. What was going to become an absolute downpour once they reached Jaxon City, was at the current moment just a few rain drops that bounced off the windshield of Opal’s All Black Escapade.

  Friday, we'll be taking a closer look at some of our not so friendly characters with Chapter Eleven: A Played Hand