The Beautiful Monster

Chapter 228  The fight (1)

Elias glanced over at Melina, thinking back to the fight that they already had with Alaric. Maybe if Helena hadn't been there, they could've taken Alaric down, but he couldn't confirm that now.

Who knew what would've happened? Maybe they would've gotten lucky and beaten him, or maybe Alaric would've destroyed all of them.

"We have a chance. If we can find out where Alaric is, maybe we can get the jump on him and catch him off guard,"

Elias explained. He wasn't sure if that plan would totally work, but it gave them a chance. That was all they needed. They could turn a chance into a victory.

Lily turned to Melina.

"I didn't think that you would ever face him again. Last time… you were a mess," she said with a soft tone to her voice.

Melina lowered her eyes slightly as she nodded.

"I was, but I'm stronger now. I can take him," she replied before looking over at me. "With Elias' help."

Elias realized how much of a personal mission this was for Melina. Alaric had scarred her, taking away someone incredibly important to her.

She was on the path of revenge, and this was her way of finding closure for the loss that she experienced.

He wasn't sure if killing Alaric would help her with her grief, but he was sure that it would benefit her in some way.

Melina had dealt with Alaric longer than Elias, but Alaric was quickly making himself a personal issue to Elias as well. Even hearing Alaric mention Alyssa made anger flare through him.

 He knew that Alaric had the means to seriously hurt Alyssa or even kill her. That kept him awake at night. He wanted to do everything that he could to eliminate that possibility from ever happening.

"We need to do this," Elias said with a nod. They both needed Alaric to be dead before they could find peace in their lives.

Alaric would never stop trying to make their lives hell until he was dead. Truthfully, the entire world would benefit from Alaric being dead.

Lily looked between the two with a smile.

"I'd be happy to help you. Shall we get started?" she asked them.

Elias didn't waste any time. He nodded and stood from the table, feeling his adrenaline spike. They were moving onto the next step. Soon, they would figure out where Alaric was, and then they had to make their move.

*********

Everyone huddled in the RV once Lily combined various ingredients for her spell with a mortar and pestle and one quick errand was made to pick up one more piece for the spell.

Before they knew it, they were ready. They converted the pull out couch back to the table that it originally was, clearing away the blankets, cushions, and pillows.

"Here is the map you wanted," Scott said as he laid out a detailed map of Colorado, which was the state that they had traveled all the way to since their trip began.

They were all a long way from home, but maybe they had a chance to go back home soon if everything worked out how they were supposed to.

"Thank you," Lily said with a polite smile. She continued to crush a red powder in the mortar.

"We're really doing this," Scott sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at the others, waiting for someone to tell him otherwise.

"It's the best move," Tyler replied as he shrugged. "We can't keep running forever. Eventually, he'll catch us anyway."

Elias nodded, glad that most of the group agreed with his plan. They needed to take a risk, and they were too far in now to go back.

He wasn't going to send Lily home after she came all this way and already started preparing the spell. They were doing this, whether Scott was ready for it or not.

"Let's do this," he said as he turned to Lily. He felt Alyssa's hand slip in his, prompting him to squeeze her hand in a comforting manner. Having her there by his side helped his nerves.

Lily looked over at Melina.

"Ready?" she asked with a small smile. "You should learn this spell. It'll come in handy."

Melina nodded.

"I'm ready," she said as she moved to Lily's side to observe closely.

Lily picked up a handful of the red powder and held it above the map of Colorado, speaking Latin as she closed her eyes.

Elias held his breath as he waited for Lily to finish her incantation. He hoped that Alaric was even in the state of Colorado. Since they were in Colorado, he just figured that Alaric had to be there too.

If he wasn't, the spell would fail. Then, they would have to either wait for Alaric to come to Colorado or track down what state he was in. He didn't like either of those options.

When Lily finished her incantation, she let go of the powder, letting it fall onto the map. Instead of spreading everywhere, the powder formed a small circle in one place on the map.

Elias leaned closer, seeing that the small circle was around a tiny town called Crowley. He breathed in deeply, realizing that wasn't too far from where they were at. There was maybe an hour of distance between them and Alaric.

"He's close," he replied. He didn't know if he liked how close they were or not. They could drop in on Alaric as soon as they wanted to since he was so close, but Alaric could do the same thing to them too. It was all about who made the first move.

Lily stepped back, placing her hand on Melina's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Melina drew in a steadying breath and nodded.

"I'm okay. Thank you for helping," she said before taking Lily's hands. "Now, you need to leave.

us.

Take a vacation for a week and let us deal with this. I don't want Alaric finding out that you helped