“Alex, it’s perfectly understandable.”
“No, it’s not. I can’t fly, Mish! The wings won’t open. I just stood there on the balcony a crying mess. I tried…I tried so hard…but I couldn’t. The sirens faded away. What if…what if the person died?”
“Even if, it wouldn’t be your fault…”
“And it’s not anyone else’s fault what happened to me!” Alex shouted. “You protected me from it. I love you for it. But enough is enough. I gotta do this…” Alex made to rise and Michelle made to steady and relax her.
“Don’t touch me!” Alex shrieked. A sound of hysterical panic as she instinctively pulled away. Her face echoed the sentiment. Shocked at the shrillness of her own voice. “Oh my God, I’m sorry…” Alex’s face scrunched as emotion poured out of her, slumping back down. “What the hell is wrong with me…”
“Nothing…” Michelle answered, careful not to touch her. “You just learned about this. You have to give yourself time. You’re just not ready…”
“I have to be! This won’t ever go away. I am not some victim. I’m better than that, dammit! I have to help people…I have to…I can’t…” Alex broke down and buried her face in her hands, screaming into them, sobbing so hard the words she used were nonsense to Michelle.
“Alex, you also have to help yourself. It’s not selfish. Powers or no powers. You can’t just brush this aside for the greater good. You need to be ok. Somehow. Someway. I swear I will do anything to help you. Just tell me what you need…”
Alex succumbed to sobs and leaned forward to curl into Michelle’s lap. Michelle held her as she cried, planting soft kisses along the side of Alex’s hair as her own tears fell.
The demon was gone. The sky was clear, but the damage still lingered. What Alex needed was someone that truly loved her. Someone that wouldn’t merely tell her things would be ok. Someone that would just hold her.
Sometimes sorrow was so great words weren’t necessary. Michelle knew, or thought she knew, the best way to begin healing Alex. She ignored the repeatedly buzzing phone in her pocket. Alex needed her. She needed Dante too. She needed to see him. The memory of her attack had returned, but not of the man she had loved. Surely, it was best to reintroduce them. As hard as it was to see Alex so distraught, the good news was their biggest obstacle was gone. There was no need to hide anything from her anymore. Michelle felt in her bones that Dante could help. He couldn’t erase the past, but he could help her see the future with more clarity, strength and love. But that would be a job for later.
Chapter Forty-Four
Bittersweet Memory
Melina charged into the house. He was here. She raged at him, bellowing, before finding him in his bedroom, calmly looking out at the city. She leapt on top of him, screaming.
“How could you do this to me?”
“I had to.”
She flung him against the wall so hard that an indent of his body was left.
“It was the only way to…” she heaved a kick to his head that belted him against the wall. “Save you all.”
“Fight back!” she screamed, pounding into his face with fist after fist. “I can’t stop!”
Dante held his hands by his side, taking hit after hit.
“Alejandro, Goddammit! Protect yourself!” she cried frantically, gripping him by the shirt collar, cracking his skull with a headbutt.
“No…” Dante replied, a glob of blood seeping out of his mouth.
Melina screamed again, through fear and panic. Tears welled in her eyes as she pulled Dante to the floor, straddling him, holding his throat with one hand. “Don’t let me do this...! Stop me…!” she said, shaking with tears. “Please!”
But she brought her fist down. Again and again.
“Alejandro! You’ve gotta kill me or you’ll die!”
Dante hung his head back, his eyes barely open. The carpet underneath them both was soaked with his blood. Melina gripped him by the throat and squeezed. The lacerations on his face and neck oozed more crimson as she held on.
“Fight…please…” Melina sobbed through squinted eyes. She couldn’t look at him…what she was doing to him. Saliva dropped from her mouth as she gnashed her teeth. She tried to release her grip, but her body wouldn’t comply.
Dante reached up and gently touched her cheek speaking heavily through bulging, bloody eyes, “You were always my first love. I’m glad it was you.”
Suddenly, Melina’s grip slackened. She had control over her body again. After a few seconds to recover and make sure she was in full control, she looked over Dante, who stared back at her. His eyes were lifeless. His body still.
Melina touched his face, his body. A strange sound like a sick moan escaped her. The truth becoming evident. She kept repeating the word no as if that would make things better, and she would find out he wasn’t gone and she hadn’t done what she now knew she had. She picked him up by the torso and held him, scrunching her eyes and screaming. The window shattered with the force of her scream and shredded her skin with bits of glass. Not even that could break through her agony. Dante had done something she never in her wildest nightmares thought he would do. He used the Go Deo to set them free. They would never be bothered by Julian again. He had also used her to exit this world. His ultimate sacrifice and her ultimate betrayal. She would have to live with that for eternity.
*
Alex burst awake when a pulsing pain hit the left side of her chest. A
