The Beautiful Monster

"Are you insane?" Alyssa snapped as Elias continued to drag her down the sidewalk away from the bar.

She planted her feet and yanked her hand away, stumbling back and nearly falling on the sidewalk.

She maintained her balance and glared at him. "You can\'t just drag me away from my friends."

"The guy pressuring you was your friend?" Elias asked with a displeased look on his face.

He looked like he had a lot to say, but he steeled his jaw and merely crossed his arms over his chest.

Alyssa rolled her eyes at him. Of course, he would make some huge deal over something not even worth talking about.

She needed him to back off because he wasn\'t her boyfriend anymore.. He couldn\'t be possessive or jealous toward her.

He gave up the ability to be that way a long time ago.

"You pressured me to leave when I didn\'t want to!" she told him.

Elias\' face fell a little when she said that. He glanced away from her, sighing.

"I\'m sorry, okay? He just wouldn\'t stop," he murmured, looking bothered.

Alyssa felt the flames of her annoyance start to die down slightly as she watched him.

She didn\'t understand how he could care so much for her and still hurt her so much.

She needed information because her feelings had been so hard to sort through lately.

"Why are you here?" she asked him, wondering why he came into the bar in the first place. Unless he was stalking her and saw what was happening with Micah.

Elias looked up and down the sidewalk with night as their backdrop. He rubbed the back of his neck, seeming on edge now.

"I\'m worried about you," he admitted as he moved to sit down on a nearby bench. He stared down at his black boots, his eyes darkening.

Alyssa gave him a confused look, feeling nervousness fill her. That didn\'t sound good.

"Why? Is something going on?" she asked him, moving to stand in front of him.

Elias looked up at her with a frown. He glanced at the spot on the bench next to him and then back up at her.

Alyssa sighed and moved to sit next to him, keeping a few inches of distance between them.

"A while ago, there was some… family drama. I had this huge fight with Scott. We made some threats, and he left pretty pissed off," Elias told her.

"Okay," Alyssa said, nodding for him to continue.

"Well, evidently, he\'s been missing for a while. He completely fell off the grid. No one knows where he\'s at or what he\'s up to.

I just have a bad feeling," Elias admitted to her. "Scott always feels like he has to win. He has to have the final say, and I don\'t think our fight ended when he stormed out."

Alyssa took his words in, letting them go round and round in her head as she pondered on them.

If she could think of anyone that would probably attack her, it would be Scott because she knew how odd he was.

If he wanted to get back at Elias, she was a good target, but they had also been broken up for a while.

"Why would he attack me now?" she asked. "Wouldn\'t he attack someone actually close to you?"

Elias almost looked a little stung by her words.

"Well… he still had a feeling that I still loved you. Everyone knows that I still do," he told her.

"Who is everyone?" Alyssa asked him. She felt like she was on the outside trying to look in, but the window was fogged up. He needed to provide some clarity for her.

"My family," Elias replied, looking down at the concrete.

Alyssa sighed and leaned back against the bench, taking a moment to process everything.

There was new information coming at her from all sides, and she didn\'t even know what to ask about first. She decided to pick the craziest topic.

"So, Scott is a vampire? But if he wanted to hurt you, why didn\'t he kill me?" she asked him, layering on another question that confused her.

Elias kept staring at the ground, avoiding her eyes.

"I don\'t know. He can be unpredictable. Maybe it was a warning," he replied.

"You didn\'t answer my first question," Alyssa told him. When he remained quiet, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled until he was facing her. "Is Scott a vampire?"

Elias glanced down at her hand tangled in his shirt before looking up into her eyes. They were close. Closer than they had been in years.

"Yes," he breathed out.

Alyssa stared at him for a second, feeling her heart start to uncontrollably race when she realized how close she had pulled him.

She swallowed hard before letting him go and leaning back. She didn\'t need to be that close to him.

"Okay. Vampire cousin. Does your family know what he is?" Alyssa asked him, trying to fit more pieces together so that she had somewhat of a full picture.

Elias rested his elbows on his knees, seeming tense.

"Elias," Alyssa said, making him look over at her. "I think I deserve to know."

Elias sighed and nodded.

"I know… I know. I\'m just not supposed to tell anyone this stuff. It\'s highly forbidden," he explained to her.

"I\'m not going to rat you out or anything. I just need to know what I\'m up against," Alyssa said in a gentler voice.

She could tell that he was conflicted, but she had to push him. Maybe if they talked about this, they could work through this issue together.

Elias angled his body so that he faced her.

"My family knows what he is because they\'re…supernatural beings too," Elias said, having to force out the last part.

Alyssa kept her eyes from widening. She didn\'t want to spook him or anything because she had more questions to act.

In fact, she had a huge question to ask him. Her heart was racing just thinking about it, but she didn\'t feel afraid. Just curious.