It seemed like years before Michael finally fell to the ground. I stared in shock at him as he stared in shock at nothing in particular. There was a moment that, in my delirious state, reminded me of a roadrunner cartoon where someone fell of a cliff and just floated in the air for a while first. When he finally fell, he fell right on top of me, of course, his fangs dangerously close to my throat. I didn't have the strength to call out for help, but apparently I didn't need to. He was rolled off of me almost immediately, revealing a wild-eyes Alex. He had evidently torn his shirt to make his arm a makeshift sling. He'd done a fair job too.

"About time you showed up," I said in a truly valiant effort at humor. He smiled.

"Yes, yes we're all very glad to see you. Now get us out of here before the rest of them descend on us in a fit of hungry rage," Asmodeus said irritably. Alex rolled his eyes, but gently pulled the IV out of my arm. 

"Can you stand?" he asked gently.

"Probably not, but I can sure as hell try," I responded. There was an unbearable amount of pity in his eyes. I must have looked absolutely terrible. I managed to swing my legs and use the momentum to get myself into a sitting position. I stood up, but found that that was not going to be an option. My legs collapsed and my vision went dark, a million tiny black dots blocking everything out. I felt Alex catch me and set me back on the chair.

"Okay. You're okay. I'm going to go free Asmodeus, and then I'll help you out okay?" All I could do was nod vaguely. My vision was returning. I saw Alex go over to Asmodeus. They had a brief conversation that I probably would have been able to hear if not for the odd sensation of cotton in my ears. This was especially weird in that there was no actual cotton there. After a moment, Alex bent down and did something to the ground. Then he stood up and Asmodeus stepped past him and into the light. He looked the same as he always did, which was mildly infuriating. How dare he look so good when I probably looked like a hag that had been living under a bridge for a year. He smirked slightly, and I remembered that he could read my thoughts. Dammit. There was a screech from the doorway. Alex and Asmodeus whirled around while I sat there staring dumbly at Emmaline, whose expression was somewhere in between pain and anger.

"Michael!" She cried. I expected her to go straight for us, but she didn't. Instead, she went right to his side and began cradling him in her arms. It reminded me of what I had done with Luca, and I suddenly felt very sorry for her. "You killed him!" She sobbed. Neither I, nor Alex it seemed, knew quite what to say to that.

"We're leaving," I said firmly. "Try to stop us and we'll kill you too." I didn't like the way my voice sounded. So cold and empty. Lifeless. Emmaline didn't even glance at us as we walked right out the door, me being supported by Alex.

Turns out we were in an abandoned warehouse. Every once and a while we came across another vampire, but they simply ignored us and walked towards the room where their leader lay dead.

"Why aren't they attacking us?" I whispered to Asmodeus.

"They're in mourning. Emmaline is their leader now, and it seems she is so full of grief that she can't be bothered to give the order. Vampires mate for life you know. She's probably been with Michael for hundreds of years," he responded. I didn't know how to respond. We had killed her mate. They may have been monsters, but, on some level, killing anything is wrong. Maybe we were just as bad as them. I didn't say any of this out loud of course. I didn't want to make Alex feel any worse than he already did. He was staring at his hands in shock, and seemed to be walking purely on instinct.

"It's okay. You did what you had to do. You saved our lives," I said quietly as we finally found the exit. It was dark outside, so at least half a day had passed. Maybe more. Alex just nodded mutely. I'm not sure he even really heard me. We stumbled along blindly for a while, Alex holding me up, even as I could feel him trembling from the effort.

"Stop," I said finally when I knew he was on the verge of collapse. He didn't so much stop, but rather fell, me on top of him. I managed to roll away at his cry of pain. I had landed on his arm. Asmodeus had also stopped walking, although he looked annoyed. 

"What is it?" he asked impatiently. I closed my eyes and took a calming breath.

"We need to figure things out. Currently, we have no car, no money, Alex has a broken arm, I can barely stand, and we have no idea where we are," I croaked. It was a lot of words and I didn't remember the last time I had had any form of hydration. 

"Of course I know where we are. The road is that way," Asmodeus said, choosing to focus on that of all things.

"So what?" Alex said, sounding so hopeless that I had to fight the urge to hug him. "I can't carry Luna all the way to California. We need to find a hospital." Asmodeus looked at me distastefully, and I would have felt offended if I wasn't so focused on staying awake.

"No hospital," I breathed. Alex looked at me in surprise and perhaps a little frustration.

"Now is not the time to be all heroic," he scolded.

"The cops. If I check into a hospital it'll be easy for them to find me. I have to make it to LA," I explained, desperation evident in my voice. "You don't have to come with me. You can go home and say I kidnapped you," I added. I hoped he would stay, but it had to be his choice.

"Of course I'm coming with you, but we have no way to get there." I smiled at the lack of hesitation. It warmed me from the inside out, but he was right. The car was wrecked, and we had no idea where we were. My thoughts swirled as I finally landed on a course of action. 

"Do either of you know how to get back to the car?" I asked. 

"I was a bit preoccupied," Asmodeus responded defensively.

"I can get us there. Why?" Alex offered. 

"Once we get there we can get back to the gas station. I'm sure they have maps there. We can also spend the night there. There's food. Water too. I'm sure we'll all feel better after some rest." I was assuring myself as much as I was assuring them. Alex looked doubtful, but Asmodeus was quick to jump to my side.

"Quite right. You'll need your rest for tomorrow," he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"What?" I asked, feeling a mixture of exasperation and nervousness.

"Tomorrow I'm going to teach you real magic," he said, a slight smile creeping onto his face.

"As opposed to what?" Alex asked.

"The magic you've been doing, Luna, while effective, requires spoken words at the very least. It's not true magic. Some would even call it dark magic." I had always thought of dark magic as sacrificing children to Satan, but I supposed that a lot of the spells in the book did involve blood. It worried me to realize that I didn't particularly care. The magic felt good. It felt right. Why did I need this other magic when the supposed 'dark magic' worked just fine. It's not like I was hurting anyone.

Alex, seemingly realizing that I wasn't going to respond, did it for me. "So what is this other form of magic then?"

"Natural magic. The magic of the elements. Water, earth, air, and fire are the main branches, but there are a ton of subcategories, all of them powerful in their own way. Maybe it was the blood loss, but I couldn't resist.

"So I'm going to become the Avatar?" Alex giggled. He actually giggled. It was kind of a cute sound. All light and happy and--. Sorry. Getting distracted.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Asmodeus asked.

"Nothing," I said, sobering up. "Let's just get to the gas station. We'll figure everything else out from there."

Happy Thursday everybody. I know this chapter wasn't particularly exciting, but things will pick back up pretty soon. 

xoxo

-Sierra <3