Alec lead us up the stairs and stopped at the first door we came to.
"He may be a little... angsty," he warned "The pain isn't helping."
No shit... also the fact that you shot him and tried to end the world probably didn't do much to help.
Alec pushed the door open and immediately I ducked as an object flew towards us from inside and smashed against the wall. Whatever it was had been glass by the look of it.
"What the hell is going on?" Victoria asked, looking at Alec with wide eyes.
"He hasn't exactly forgiven me for shooting him," Alec replied "That was his water glass. It's a good thing he hasn't had dinner yet, or it would be a knife stuck in the wall."
Yeah, because that makes me feel so much better...
Alec then led the way inside the room where I saw Will Jackson laying on a bed that was facing the door. I noticed two things then, the bed was the only furniture in the room, and Will was shirtless. A large bandage covered his abdomen, and I could see the blood that had seeped through. He looked paler than usual, the smell of decay told me that the wound was most likely infected.
Shit, he was not looking too good...
Alec gently closed the door behind us when we entered, and turned around to face Will.
"We need to talk," he said.
Will sat up in the bed and sighed heavily "This better be important..." he muttered, sounding more annoyed then anything "What's the bloody audience for?"
"They say that they can help with..."
"With this?"
I watched as Will slowly pulled off the bandages and revealed his wound, a bullet hole about two inches across, the blood had pooled below it and spread around the wound covering it dark red liquid. I felt my fangs itch as I smelt the blood. This version of Will was human.
Fuck. I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain in my gums.
"Definitely infected," Victoria said as she made her way over to Will "We need to get that fixed now."
"No! No! I'm fine!" Will snapped, pushing himself back into the pillows "It's just a bullet wound. It'll heal soon enough..."
"Bullshit!" Alec said angrily "You got shot in the stomach! You're definitely infected, Will... we need to remove the bullet."
"Fine," Will growled as he realised that arguing wouldn't make any difference "Let's get this over with."
Victoria grabbed the edge of the covers and tugged them off him, Will winced at the movement.
"Easy there," Michael said as he joined her "Can you get the bullet out?"
"This isn't my first rodeo Michael," Victoria replied "I've patched up worse."
Like when Jekyll shot Alec...
She then held her hand just over the wound and closed her eyes, her brow furrowed in concentration. Her hands glowed blue as she worked, and a moment later there was a sickening gurgle coming from inside the hole, then a pop as the bullet flew out into her hand.
She opened her eyes and tossed it to Alec, who caught it and held it in between his fingers.
"Now what?" he asked "There are some medical supplies here..."
"We won't be needing that," Michael said holding his hand out over the wound. A bright white light shone through his fingers, illuminating the whole area. I had a sudden urge to cover my eyes, but I watched as Will's flesh meshed back together until the wound was no longer visible, apart from the small pool of blood that was left. Sweet sticky blood.
"What the fuck are you?" Alec asked, looking at Michael with wide eyes.
"I'm an Angel," he replied simply.
"An Angel?" Will asked suddenly sitting upright "Like, Jesus? God? All that crap?"
Michael chuckled "Yes."
"You can't be." Alec said softly.
"And, why not?" Michael asked, curious.
"Because if heaven and hell, angels and God were all real, then it would mean that you simply don't care that the world ended,"Alec replied "You're a hypocrite if you are really an angel."
Michael said nothing, he just frowned at Alec, his annoyance evident. Alec ignored him and focused his attention on Will. I couldn't get over how different he was from my Alec.
"Are you ok?" he asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Will responded harshly "Why are you asking?"
"Because I'm worried about you," Alec replied "Is that so hard to believe?"
"Alec, a few days ago I was watching you destroy everything in sight," Will replied "I just... don't know if I can trust you anymore."
There was a tense silence. Everyone stared at Will, waiting for Alec to defend himself. When he didn't, Will scoffed.
"Typical," he spat "You can't even admit that what you did was wrong, can you?"
"That doesn't give you the right to judge me," Alec replied coldly "Or to blame me for what happened."
Will snorted again "Right, because God fobid someone tells you the bloody truth about what you are."
Silence reigned once again. I knew exactly how Alec felt. The guilt of my own actions had haunted me every bloody day of my life, it weighed me down, made me feel worthless. I couldn't stop blaming myself for what Kaicius had done, all the women he had killed. All the people I had willingly allowed Dracula to poison with his curse...
"Don't you think I feel bad that things ended up this way?" Alec asked, "I never wanted any of this to happen."
"Then why the hell did you push me away?" Will asked "I could have helped you, Alec..."
Alec looked at him, his brimming with tears "You couldn't have helped me," he replied "You can't save someone who has already lost their humanity."
At those words, Alec broke down and I had to stop myself from running to him to comfort him.
"Come here," Will murmured, slowly getting out of the bed and walking around so that he was standing next to Alec. Will wrapped his arms awkwardly around Alec's shoulders, letting him lean his head onto his shoulder "You have not lost your humanity. There are still parts of you that are capable of good."
Alec sobbed into Will's t-shirt, holding onto him tightly. His breathing grew shaky as he started shaking uncontrollably. I glanced at Victoria, who looked like she didn't really know how to react to all this. Michael took a step forward but froze in place when Alec raised his head and looked right at him.
"Sorry, Angel Boy," he said "If I offended you, I apologize."
"I don't take it personally," Michael replied "Just be grateful that I'm not as volatile as most of my brothers. You would have been a plie ash before you could finish your first insult against my father."
"Maybe you guys should introduce yourselves," Will said glancing at Micheal "You saved my life, but I have no idea who you are."
"Well, I'm the Archangel Michael," Michael explained "Victoria here is an incrediblely accomplished witch, and Kian is a vampire. We, uh, don't exactly belong in this universe."
"Yeah, I still can't get my head around that part," Alec added "How exactly are you here on this world then?"
"A shared dream," Victoria replied "Apart from Michael, we are should be sharing the bodies of the versions of us that live in this world."
"Except we're not," I pointed out "This is my own body, same for you."
"Because the versions of you from this world either don't exist, or have died," Michael replied "We can't stay here much longer, we need to find the world where we stop the apocalypse."
"Your telling me that somewhere else none of this, the apocalypse, ever happens?" Alec asked.
"That's what we need to find out," Michael replied "So far, it seems that with you alive or dead the apocalypse still happens, which makes Lilith's intervention much more suspicious."
He wasn't wrong...
"Unless Lilith just wanted to take Alec out of the equation," I said "Alec is connected with all this somehow, with Lucifer too... it was his blood that Will used to release him from hell."
The blood spell would have connected Alec and Lucifer, but what is the bond was broken when Alec died? I could have sworn that Lilith whispered something to Alec before she disappeared.
"Hang on, you're saying that in your world I release Lucifer from hell?" Will asked, a frown appearing on his face "No. Why would I do that?"
"Well, that version of you was evil and batshit crazy," I replied, earning myself a reproching look from Michael.
"Whatever the reason," Michael continued, changing the subject "Lilith is obviously planning something."
"Well, whatever it is, we have to find a way to stop Lucifer first," Victoria added, "Or this won't be the only world that gets destroyed."
"That's a cheery thought," Alec said "Do you guys have a plan?"
"My brother is smart," Michael went on "But, he's unpredictable. Lilith is ten times worse, but I can't see them working on this together. They would have laid traps and wrong turns at every possible point. I'm pretty sure that Lilith would have worked out where Lucifer is by now, and she'll be working on a way to trap him."
"So, what do we do?" I asked, "Can we track Lilith down?"
"Unfortunately I can, yes," Michael answered "Which means we have to split up again. You and Victoria have to go on, I'll wake up and then head back to Heaven. We're going to need their help."
"Is splitting up a good idea?" Victoria said, we might need you in the next world."
"No," Michael admitted "It is, however our best chance. I trust that you two can finish the job."
"Of course, we can," I smiled as I pulled Michael into a hug. The angel had really grown on me.
"We can't come with you, can we?" Will asked.
"I'm afraid not," Victoria replied "Sorry, but you belong in this world, we don't."
"Probably for the best," Alec said "We have Dylan to look after. Just promise me one thing... don't let the other worlds become like this one. One apocalypse is enough."
I nodded and then followed Victoria's lead as she and then Michael sat on the floor.
"Yeah," I replied looking at him and Will both standing there happy. My heart hurt as I imagined it being me and Alec. My Alec "Take care of him, Will. He's a keeper."
"I will" Will promised, smiling at Alec and taking his hand gently in his, leaning down and kissing his cheek.
"How do we do this, then?" I said, looking back at Victoria.
"We close our eyes," she replied "And hope for the best."