Another's Demise

A little more than kind

Alara

"Are you sure about this, Lara, I'm all for risks but this seems even out of my realm of chaos?" Mel's voice rang down the phone as I tightened the loose laces of my boots.

I felt the heaviness of last night, of seeing him after so long, whatever happened between us I had to shove aside.

Especially when I could see it all unravel before me.

I stared at the message on my screen, encrypted meticulously, from someone who clearly knew that I would be able to decipher it.

"Yes I'm sure."

"We should tell Echo-" Mel began a tightness to her voice, that was misplaced, Mel was never nervous, never overcome by emotions as fickle as fear.

But there was something wrong, a rift between us as she grappled with her loyalty to Cameron and her friendship with me.

I won't make you choose.

I had whispered to her, tears in my eyes weeks after everything had happened.

"I know, hon"

Her comforting words, her choice not to abandon me had solidified everything between us. Melanie Strata was not a woman to be meddled with but she was a formidable confidant.

"Echo will tell Cameron," I justified.

"And, you already told him that you suspect your father, I thought, you-" she stopped herself, the hitch in her breath so subtle I shouldn't have heard it.

"There's nothing there Mel, I'm sorry. I just, I just needed him to look into my father as someone I trust with this information."

"But not with the fact that you have gotten an encrypted message from Lord knows who."

There was an ache in my heart as I did a once over on the motel room, making sure I hadn't left behind any evidence of my stay. The room was under a fake name, and paid in cash, but people talked, I hoped I had looked disinterested enough not to raise any flags.

"I- told you didn't I-" I winced, as the door creaked, the whisper of dawn on the horizon, a blinding sunrise, seeping onto the balcony.

"Yes, but you haven't even told me what the message says you just said that you were meeting this phantom," she seethed the word as though she had already conjured hatred for this faceless figure, "Without anyone there with you."

"Which is why I called you, you still have access to the Grayson jet right?"

"Yes," she paused, "You want me to fly out to Italy, to help you be reckless?"

"Come on Mel," I pleaded, "Don't tell me it doesn't get your blood rushing, secret rendezvous, ambushes?" I tried, a lilt in my voice, matching the sly smile making its way onto my face, "Just like old times?"

She laughed a rippling sound that filled the cavity in my chest, a warmth spreading through me, as I made my way into the reception, nodding slightly to the receptionist, who I slipped my key to.

She took it wordlessly, not even so much as acknowledging my existence, something that I was grateful for.

"Old times, like smashing up your forced wedding, or beating you in the ring old times?"

"Both?" I let out a raspy laugh, "It will be fun."

"There's a bounty on your head Lara, this is most likely a set up." Mel reasoned, but I could hear the purr of her bike, the flick of the ignition, and the bite of wind, as she revved the engine.

"You're already on your way," I smiled into the orange splashed sky, a heat that welcomed me, dancing across my flushed cheeks, from the cold of the night before.

"Of course I am, I'm not going to let you get killed."

"And don't tell Leo-" but before I could finish the sentence Mel cut through.

"Oh God no, if I tell him I'm never leaving the country."

"Super protective? Leo?" another chuckle rippled though me.

"Yeah, I don't blame him, the Vipers are a mess, half of these pricks, went with Grayson's Father," she bristled at his name, and I took in a sharp breath, "And no one will associate with us other than Wolfsbane."

"Owen and Kara are ok right?"

"They're respected in the Underworld, they'll be fine, even we'll be fine, it's the Mortellos that are-"

Theo's words from the night prior crashed into me. He was in hiding all because of our father.

His father.

That painful voice in my mind corrected, as I shoved my hands into my pockets. I scraped the keys looped together, finger pressing against the sharp edge of the multitool attached to it.

It looked inconspicuous enough, hidden behind a leather cover, but it would be enough.

"How are you getting there-"

The only response she needed was the scrapping of the double edged tool, the shove of metal into an ignition and the whirring sound of the car starting.

"Whose damn car have you just stolen?"

"Does it matter?" I countered, a grin of my face as I gripped the steering wheel, and floored the accelerator.

"The old Alara would have never-" I know she didn't mean it to cut through me, but my smile faltered.

"The old Alara, wouldn't have survived this." And then to myself in the lowest of whispers, "The Blood Queen, is all that's left."

"Sure, but Alara has to be there for my wedding," she countered and though there was humour in her voice, I knew that Mel was serious about the comment.

"She will, I'm not missing it for the world. But first, meet me at the location I sent you."

"Recklessness is my thing you know Lara," I could hear the grin in her voice, "But I'll let you have it this once. Because you called me and didn't just rush in their on your own."

"I may be reckless but I'm not an idiot. This message was made specifically for me, that means that whoever sent it knows something I need to know."