The Beautiful Monster

"Okay," he breathed out, hearing her mutter Latin beneath her breath. He really needed to learn Latin. He distinctly remembered his parents trying to give him lessons, but he had never been interested in learning. He should've given it another chance.

Melina stopped talking and set the lighter down on the bed. She placed her hand on Elias' shoulder, steadying herself as she brought the end of the needle to the top of the black line on his neck. She dug in slightly, a faint sizzling noise sounding.

Elias gritted his teeth, grunting in pain at the burning sensation. He closed his eyes, trying to fight through the sensation as Melina slowly dragged the needle across his skin. He knew that it would hurt, but it felt like his skin was on fire.

Melina tightened her grip on Elias' shoulder, keeping him still as he tried to shift.

"Stop moving," she said as she continued moving the needle. The skin left behind was scarred, but it was better than him still being marked.

Elias gripped the pillow tightly, wishing that this would hurry up and be over with. He didn't know how much longer he could take this.

How could one little needle cause so much pain? It was like the mark didn't want to be removed, holding tight to his skin.

"Almost done," Melina told him, digging in a little deeper to remove any remnants of the mark on his skin. She put the needle up before standing up with a sigh. "Okay, it's gone."

Elias grimaced and sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, which felt burning hot.

"Ouch," he said pointedly as he turned to look at Melina.

Melina shrugged sheepishly.

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"I told you that it wouldn't feel good," she reminded him.

Elias sat down on the edge of the bed.

"So, that's it? I'm not connected to him anymore?" he asked her. He wanted to be as far away from Alaric as possible, and he meant that mentally as well as physically.

After all of this was over, he didn't even want to think about Alaric ever again because he had been on Elias' mind ever since this whole situation started.

Melina shook her head as she moved to sit beside him.

"You're free. Let's keep it that way," she said.

Elias sighed, hoping that Alaric couldn't get to him again. He wanted his sleep and his mind to be free.

"It was so fast. So easy," he said as he shook his head. He hoped that he could handle this. He didn't want to take his group down with him because he wasn't vigilant enough.

"We really have to start looking out for each other," Melina told him with a serious expression on her face.

"If they isolate us, they'll win. I know we've spent years apart, but I believe that we're stronger together."

Elias met her gaze, letting her words soak in. He knew that she was right. They had come this far and splitting apart would be the worst thing to do right now. They could only get to their strongest point together.

"I know. We have to try harder," he replied. He was willing to put in the work. He wanted to survive. He wanted the world to survive.

"We should stay on the road for a little while. I don't want anyone catching up to us," Melina said before standing up and grabbing her bag. She then reached out and grabbed her lighter before tossing it to him. "You need to practice."

Elias caught the lighter and nodded. When Melina opened the bedroom door and disappeared through it, he flicked the lighter on, watching the flame dance in front of his eyes.

He felt like the flame. Small. Weak. He had to be bigger, stronger. He had to be as much of a threat as Alaric was.

Clenching his jaw, Elias focused on the flame, watching it flare up. He held the power, making the flame burn brighter.

That was what he had to do. He had a feeling that he didn't have much time to do it, but he was going to put his all into his training.

He had no other choice because Alaric was on the move. If he could take over Elias' mind, there was no telling just how much damage he could do to the rest of the world.

********

Elias, Melina, Scott, and Alyssa joined together in the main section of the RV to have a discussion.

One was clearly needed because the threat that they were facing was becoming even more prominent.

This wasn't some trip. They were running for their lives now.

"Does he have any known weaknesses? Anything?" Elias asked them, hoping that they could figure out some weak spot of Alaric's.

Otherwise, he was going to be nearly impossible to defeat. Every being had to have some sort of weak spot. That was nature, but what if Alaric defied the laws of nature?

That thought made Elias' chest grow tight, but he breathed through the sensation, focusing on the conversation instead. He couldn't freak out.

That wasn't going to help anyone. What would help was brainstorming a way to take Alaric down before he killed every single one of them.

"Not a lot is known about demons," Scott commented with a shrug. "But they can be killed."

"There's one thing that kills everything," Melina spoke up, lifting her eyes to Elias as they sat across from each other.

"What?" Elias questioned her, leaning forward slightly.

"Fire," Melina said. "It's the most destructive force."

"You have your fire ability. You can use it to defeat him!" Alyssa told Elias as she nudged his shoulder. She had a hopeful look on her face.

Elias felt terrible crushing her hope, but he had to. He had to face facts, and the fact of the matter was that he wasn't powerful enough to take down Alaric.

"I'm not strong enough," he said as he shook his head.. "He would outpower me."