Control

Chapter 17

"Hey... Hey, stay with us. Don't close your eyes." Demetri lifted me and carried me back into the house. Our attempt at handling the enemy on the property had failed.

Jane closed the door behind us and Demetri carried me into the living space and laid me on the sofa. "Will he be okay?" I heard her question.

I was struggling to keep my eyes open and found it hard to speak. It felt like darkness was pulling me under and my body was in the worst pain I had ever felt. A sickening reminder of being burned alive.

"Alec..." Sophia's voice broke through the void I was drowning in. My eyes locked on her tearful ones before fluttering closed. "Alec!"

"We're losing him!" Demetri yelled to someone.

"Help him... you have to help him..." Jane's voice cracked. "Please save my brother..."

Then silence.

I couldn't hear them anymore. I felt like I was falling deeper into pain and darkness. Death was welcoming me into its hellish embrace. I would not imagine I would be welcomed anywhere else but Hell. Not after losing my powers as a witch. Why would it ever be Hermes coming to greet me and welcome me? Memories flooded back from my life as a human. Flashes of every horrible moment mix with every beautiful moment. Visions of her. My past lover. Every sweet and tender moment in her embrace.

"Alec. Alec, you have to wake up." I heard a voice I had not heard in a long time. My eyes focused in on a figure I had not seen in many years.

"Hermes?"

He was a vision of beauty. He had his long dark hair pulled partly back out of his dark eyes that looked black. His complexion was a light tan and he was slender built. I noticed that he was dressed in a black suit. He dressed differently from how I had seen him dress in the past. He gave me a gentle smile and gently pulled me to him and held me close to him. "Everything is going to be okay." He whispered. "It isn't your time to go. I need you to wake up. You have to stop what is happening. My students are suffering. I am counting on you to save them."

I looked up into his dark eyes. They held such sincerity. "How are you here? I lost my powers. I turned into this thing..."

"It does not matter what you were turned into. You will always be my student. I have never left your side and I never will." Hermes replied to me. "It's time for you to wake up."

"Wait..."

Hermes kissed my forehead and then took my hand and brought my fingers to his warm lips and tenderly kissed them. "Good luck." He let me go and pushed me into a welcoming warmth.

"Hermes!" I shouted his name and bolted up breathing heavily. I blinked my eyes rapidly adjusting to the bright lights in the living room. I looked around and saw the others watching me.

"You saw the Messenger God? The God of Travel..." Mamie asked.

I swallowed hard and let out a pained breath. "Y-yes..."

"Alec?" Sophia said my name and took my hand in hers. 

I looked at my hand in hers. It was the same one the god had kissed. "I'm okay," I whispered. "I am sorry I messed up."

"Don't be sorry. We did not expect that would happen or that it was laced with anything that could harm a Vampire." Aro chimed in. "I am just glad you're alive."

"How long was I out for?"

"Seven hours." Leo was leaning on the doorframe to the hallway.

"Seven hours?" I knitted my brows together at the sound of the lost time. It did not feel like I had been out that long. 

"At least it wasn't any longer than that." Renesmee sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table.

"What did Hermes say?" Mamie took the topic back to the god.

I slightly licked my lips which felt dry. "He said it wasn't time for me to die yet." I recounted all that the god had said to me and what had happened with him.

"Wait..." Demetri arched a brow in surprise. "He kissed you?"

"You make it sound like it was on the mouth." I scowled.

A cheeky grin played on his lips. "Might as well had been."

I took the throw pillow I had been lying on and threw it at him knocking him in the head.

He only laughed.

Renesmee muffled a laugh.

"Now now. Let's not get him too worked up. It took a lot to heal him. We don't need him falling back into that state." Mamie pulled my shirt away to look at the area where I had been stabbed. It was bandaged up and still hurt to touch. If it had been a normal attack I would not be struggling to heal. It only added to my worry. "It is good you have Hermes blessing." She said to me.

"He is worried for all his students... Even with them having his blessing and protection they are still suffering. It is as if he feels powerless to help them. This has even a god in fear..." My eyes looked from my wound to the woman's optics.

Her eyes looked tired and full of worry. "It just means we have to fight with everything we have in us and stop what is going on. No matter the cost." She sat back from me and got up. "I will change the dressing for that in the morning. For now, we should all get some rest. We have a busy day ahead of us."

"We have to rethink our plans. We can do that in the morning after we have rested." Andy joined her aunt and hugged her arm. "Thank you for saving him."

"Yes, thank you." I slowly eased myself up off the sofa. I noticed my blood stained the old fabric and I frowned. "I am so sorry. I can pay to have someone clean it."

Sophia shook her head. "We can clean it up. Don't worry." She moved over to Mamie and hugged her. "Thank you... thank you." Her voice cracked. I knew she was crying. Her shoulders shook and she hid her face in the woman's neck.

Mamie let go of Andy to hug Sophia. Andy gently rubbed Sophia's back and looked over at me frowning. "You don't have to thank me. I like Alec. I wasn't about to let him die." She kissed the top of Sophia's head. "He's a good man. I'd like to see you marry him one day." She eyed me. "That's a hint."

"I... yes ma'am." I half smiled. I took a few cautious steps over to Sophia and gently took her into my arms.

"Marcus and I will take watch." Aro chimes in. "The rest of you go get some rest."

"Jasper and I can take watch closer to dawn." Demetri offered.

"Yes. You two also need to get some rest." Jasper helped Renesmee to her feet from where she had been sitting on the floor.

"Of course. Rest well all of you." Aro gave us a nod and moved his chess piece on the chessboard. "Check."