The Beautiful Monster

Elias didn\'t like being toyed with. He had lost so much sleep over this, and he had to leave behind his own life to deal with Alaric. If they fought tonight, he wanted this all to come to an end finally.

He didn\'t know how much longer he could take all of this because this wasn\'t living! This was torture. It was a nightmare while awake.

"Tyler, pick up the pace," Elias called to him. They couldn\'t be lagging behind, especially if Alaric had his followers on them as well.

They had to disappear once again until the followers picked up their trail again. He didn\'t know how they found them so fast. It was getting irritating.

"Got it," Tyler replied, putting more weight on the gas pedal to edge the RV faster down the highway.

Elias breathed in deeply, trying to prepare himself for what could possibly come next. He knew that he would eventually have to face Alaric, but he hadn\'t been prepared for that to happen tonight. Then again, he probably would\'ve never felt fully prepared to fight Alaric.

"Do you think he\'ll bring the witch in to right with him?" he asked Melina. It was bad enough that they had to fight a demon, but now a witch was also in the mix.

Melina shook her head with a frown.

"I have no idea. I hope not. A witch and a demon are a powerful combination," she said as she raised her eyebrows at him.

Elias glanced away, lowering his eyes to the floor. Even if he was both of those things, he didn\'t think that he was more powerful than a demon and a witch partnership.

He had only just unlocked his powers. It would take time for them to fully mature, and that was time that he obviously didn\'t have.

"We have to be more powerful," he replied.

Before Melina could reply, one of the RV\'s tires suddenly popped. The RV swerved from the impact, skidding between the lanes.

Elias immediately reached for Alyssa, pinning her to the sofa to keep her from being thrown around.

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, bracing for impact as Tyler pulled the wheel to try to straighten them out.

Melina and Scott held onto their chairs, their bodies tensing.

"I got it! I got it," Tyler called out as he straightened the RV out and let it roll to a stop on the side of the highway.

He let out a heavy breath, steadying himself before turning to check on everyone. "You guys okay?"

Elias nodded as he stepped back from Alyssa, looking down at her and checking her over for injuries.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, reaching out to rub her arms in a comforting manner. She looked shaken up, but he couldn\'t blame her. He felt the same way.

He couldn\'t believe that their tire randomly popped. Of course, it had to happen at the worst time possible. It was just their luck.

Alyssa breathed in and out deeply, calming herself as she nodded.

"I thought we were going to crash," she admitted, glancing down at her shaky hands. "It happened so fast."

Melina walked closer to Tyler, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck.

"I\'m so glad you have good reflexes," she sighed in relief.

Tyler smiled a little, leaning his head against hers.

"It was what I was trained to do," he reminded her.

Elias gently helped Alyssa to her feet, a sigh soon breaking from him. Now, they only had three tires intact.

He didn\'t even think that they had been going fast enough on four tires.

"We have a spare tire, right?" he asked Tyler. The last thing that he wanted right now was to be stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. They would be even more vulnerable than before.

"Yeah, it\'s in the back," Tyler said before peering at his mirrors. "I don\'t see anyone behind us. I think we\'re good."

Elias hoped that he was right. That didn\'t mean that Alaric was close, but maybe they had a little bit of time to spare. They couldn\'t travel on three tires.

They had to replace the blown one before they could continue running for their lives. He nudged Scott.

"Let\'s help him get the RV back up and running," he said. He didn\'t want Tyler to deal with the tire alone. Things would go faster if he had a little help.

Scott nodded and stood up, heading to the side door of the RV to leave.

"I\'m guessing you two want to come too," Elias commented, watching Alyssa and Melina prepare to follow.

Melina gave Elias a pointed look before following Scott outside.

Elias expected that response. It wasn\'t that he thought that they couldn\'t help, but only so many people could work on one tire at a time.

Even he would just be standing there while Tyler took over. Besides, it was no fun standing on the side of the highway in the dark anyway.

"Let\'s be quick about this," he said before motioning for Alyssa to follow him. They were dead in the water right now, and sharks were coming.

*******

Darkness flooded the area as the group lingered on the side of the highway. Woods surrounded them on either side, chirps and buzzes sounding in the air.

The only light they had was from the moon up above and a single flashlight that they found in the RV. Tyler and Elias crouched near the blown tire, inspecting it closely.

"Do you think it was a nail or some sharp metal piece that we ran over?" Elias questioned Tyler.

Admittedly, he wasn\'t much of a car buff. He didn\'t know a lot about car repairs. He just had one of his assistants take his car to the shop routinely to avoid any issues.

Tyler scratched the back of his head, looking confused.

"Scott, move the light over here more," he said, motioning to the tattered remains of the tire.

"Woah.. That doesn\'t look good," Scott said as he shifted the flashlight beam.