The Beautiful Monster

"Elias!" Alyssa's voice echoed throughout Elias' head over and over again until his eyes opened.

He was back in the hotel room, panting and sweating in bed once again as another nightmare ravaged his sleep.

He felt Alyssa's hands on him, and he automatically flinched away, remembering how her corpse grabbed him.

"Elias, it's me!" Alyssa said, frowning at him.

Elias drew in a deep breath through his nose, calming himself as he stared at her. She was real.

The nightmare was just another nightmare, or was it? It seemed so real, and he remembered every single detail of it. Alaric had reached out to him somehow.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," he said, knowing that he had freaked Alyssa out once again.

He was tired of having these nightmares that kept growing worse and worse. He couldn't even find peace in his sleep.

"It's okay. What happened?" Alyssa asked him, looking worried as she stroked her fingers through his hair.

"Alaric talked to me through my dream," Elias told her. He knew how crazy that sounded, but it was the truth. It wasn't a normal nightmare. He wished that it was.

Alyssa stared at him in shock.

"How could he do that?" she asked him.

Elias didn't know the answer to that, but he had a feeling maybe Melina might know. Things had been going so well for the past two days. Now, things were bad again.

If Alaric could reach him through his dreams, he could possibly be close to them. That meant that they needed to move now.

"I have to tell Melina," he said, standing up from the bed. He took Alyssa's hand and whisked her out of the room, preparing to give everyone a very unwanted wake up call.

*********

Elias banged on both motel room doors that the rest of the group were behind. He looked all around as he stood outside with Alyssa, feeling wary.

What if something knocked him down earlier? He didn't feel safe here any longer. He was actually looking forward to getting back on the RV.

Tyler opened the door to the room that he and Melina were staying in.

"What's going on?" he asked, already seeming alert.

"I think we need to leave," Elias said. He didn't want to stand there and explain right now. He wanted to get on the RV and go.

Tyler didn't even question Elias. He nodded.

"I'll get our things and head to the RV. Meet you there," he said before disappearing back into the motel room.

Elias grabbed Alyssa's hand just as Scott threw open his door.

"Get your things. We're leaving," Elias told him before leading Alyssa away from the motel and to the RV. He waited for the others since Tyler had the key.

"It'll be okay. We'll be away from here soon," Alyssa said as she grabbed his arm, pulling herself close to his side.

Elias nodded as he looked over at her.

"I'm just confused… and nervous," he admitted. There were a lot of questions left unanswered, and he hoped that Melina could clear things up for him.

He turned when he heard the others hurrying toward him with their things.

"What's going on?" Melina asked, looking like she had just woken up. Some of her dark hair was loose from her braid, and her eyes were slightly red.

"I'll tell you on the RV," Elias replied as he moved out of the way so that Tyler could unlock the side door.

He immediately climbed into the RV once the door was open, tossing his things in a corner. He waited for everyone to pile in and for the RV to start moving before he spoke. "I had another nightmare."

Melina narrowed her eyes in confusion as she sat next to Alyssa on the sofa.

"I didn't," she replied.

"I think it was meant for me. Alaric used it to talk to me," Elias explained.

"You talked to Alaric?" Scott asked. Even he looked alarmed.

Elias nodded as he paced slightly between them. He hardly even knew where to start. The nightmare seemed like a fever dream at that point.

"He basically wants to take over humankind, let the supernatural reign free. He'll control what's left behind after everyone tries to kill each other," he replied as he shook his head. He couldn't let his nightmares come true because everyone that he cared about would be dead.

"Yeah, we knew he was up to no good," Scott said from one of the lounge chairs. "What else?"

"He's ready to fight us," Elias said as he turned to look at Melina. "He's not scared."

"I didn't expect him to be. We'll have to prove him wrong," Melina replied as she rose to her feet.

"He said that he'll see us soon," Elias added, which was probably one of the most anxiety-inducing things that Alaric had said. How soon? Was Alaric right around the corner, or did he just say that to make Elias nervous?

"Might want to step on the gas, Tyler," Scott sighed as he shook his head. "We're screwed."

"No, we're not. He's just trying to scare us," Melina said pointedly. She looked over at Elias. "He made a connection with you somehow. That was the only way he could've gotten into your dreams."

"A connection? How could he do that?" Elias asked. He didn't like the thought of having a connection to Alaric. If he could get rid of it, he would do so.

"There are multiple ways. Did anything weird happen before you went to bed?" Melina asked him as she eyed him.

Elias' thoughts immediately shifted to when he fell outside before bed. That had to be it. Somehow, that had to be connected to Alaric and the nightmare, but he didn't know how.

"I think something knocked me down outside of my room before I went to bed. I don't know what happened.

I felt something weird on my neck, and then I fell and was dizzy," Elias explained to Melina, hoping that she could somehow make sense of it.