Midnight Solstice

Chapter 20

Picture: The Morgynstein Experiment Werewolves
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Jane and I ran outside to the court yard faster than I thought I could ever run. By the time we got there, Brynn, Adeline, and Andi were back and doing their best to fight off the giant beasts that surrounded them. They must have came back when they realized Katerina wasn't with them.
I guess Katerina's gravity was working weirdly because every once and a while, a wolf would go flying feet away from her. Hunter must be somewhere around here, trying to put a block over the area. But that was the least of my worries. The big black wolf had Katerina on the ground and she struggled to keep its teeth away from her. I ran over to her, dodging the wolves flying past me.
   I pushed the black wolf off of her and helped her stand up. I didn't have time to see if she was okay, because the black creature began running at us. I kicked it away once it was close enough and sent a punch to its muzzle. It growled and moved away. I took that as an opportunity to go for its heart. I ran forward and wrapped my arms around its back, pulling it up enough to break its back, and then I reached into the animal and pulled its heart right out of its chest. I watched as the light left the wolf's eyes and I knew it was dead.
   The heart in my hand shrunk to a human size, since the wolves were humans (or whatever Michael turned them into to) until they turn into these creatures. My hand was coated in a layer of blood, similar to that of the ground when it receives its blanket of snow in the winter; you can't see the specific features, but you can tell what it is.
  "ALEC WATCH OUT!" Katerina shouted. I turned to find the white colored wolf running towards me. I wasn't fast enough and it pushed me to the ground. I fought against the mouth of the beast but I couldn't get away. A couple of kicks and punches into the thick flesh of the animal later, the white wolf disappeared in a blur and Katerina appeared above me. She pulled me to my feet. The wolf came back with a big roar.
   Katerina pushed it away with her gravity. The wolf was trying to move, but it couldn't. It crumpled to the ground and whined. At first, I thought Jane was using her gift on it, but she was no where to be found. No bodies were on the ground, except for two wolves, one of which must have been killed by someone else, so she wasn't dead or anything. She must have went to go get help. I hope she went to go get help at least. I turned my attention back to the white wolf.
   The wolf looked almost...flatter to me. It continued to flatten as the seconds went by. Everything happened so fast, but in the moment, it was like watching a film in slow motion. I heard the crack of the bones and the squishing of the organs and arteries before the dark colored eyes popped out and blood began pouring onto the cobblestone ground. The white color of the fur turned red and the intestines of the animal spilled onto the pools of blood and the once large beast was just a flat sheet of roadkill on the ground, like an animal in a cartoon after it gets run over by an idiotic truck driver. Only this wolf was real, and wouldn't just pop back up as if nothing happened.
   "What did I do?" Katerina asked quietly, her voice was raspy and tears with a red tinge poured from her red eyes down to the edge of her chin. I didn't have time to question that because the chocolate brown wolf jumped at her with its claws out. I couldn't move fast enough. It slashed its long claws right through her upper arm, three making deep lacerations. She screamed in pain. It was just about to bite her but I jumped in front of her just in time for it to bite me instead. I didn't feel it at first, and I kept moving until I felt the all too familiar feeling of my hand moving through flesh and grabbing the heart before ripping it out once more, stopping the wolf from slashing me up anymore than it already had.
   The pain from the lacerations and bite settled in, and I fell to the ground. Katerina screamed and fell to her knees next to me.
  "Alec! Alec no! Stay with me! Look at me, hey, hey, Alec! Talk to me!" I caressed her face with my hand and wiped away her tears.
  "Don't cry..." I said weakly.
  "You can't leave me...Alec, please don't go!" She sobbed.
   "I'll stay as long as I can..." I watched her big red eyes turn blue and she bit into her wrist, causing her blood to roll down her arm quickly.
   "Drink." She ordered. I was so weak that I couldn't resist the urge I had within me. I grabbed her wrist and drank. The taste of her blood was like the finest wine, the kind that you always yearn for, but can never have. An overwhelming feeling of pleasure rushed over me as I moaned into her wrist. In that moment, I could feel every inch of Katerina's presence fall over me like a waterfall. I knew she felt the same pleasure as I did.
  "That's a smart trick Katerina, I wonder where you picked that one up." I heard a man's voice say. I let go of Katerina's wrist (believe me, I didn't want to) and looked over to the source of the voice. My vision was blurry, but I could make out that the figure was Michael Morgynstein and there was another man next to him. He was the one that spoke.
  "Shut up, Hunter!" My angel hissed.
  "Oh please Katerina, you know that won't save him." He responded. I noticed that Brynn, Andi, Adeline, Felix, Demetri, Jane, and the Masters stood behind us and growled at them. It's about time that they showed up. The remaining wolves were now all surrounding the other two men and growled back.
   "But you can have the cure for the bite if you wish." Michael said with a smirk.
   "Just leave him alone!" My angel cried.
    "Katerina...shhhh...." I whispered, trying to sooth her.
   "You know he'll die if he doesn't get the cure. I have it right here." He took a syringe that was filled with a light pink liquid and threw it to the ground in front of us.
   "Consider this a gift. After all, your birthday is coming up in the next few months, isn't it Katerina?"
   "What do you want?" Aro asked him calmly. I could tell that he was more afraid that he let on.
   "I just wanted to give you all a message in person. I didn't know if Alec informed you of my little message from before. But I have another message. You see these wolves here? I control them, I tell them what to do. I ordered them to attack poor Alec here, and I ordered them to watch my old warehouse and inform me of anyone lurking there after I left. And I control some witches and some fae as well. I'm warning you now, if you don't heed my commands, I will retaliate. Don't come after me unless I tell you too, and don't try to figure out my secrets before I tell you them. Are we understood?"
   "Who do you think you are?! You can't just come here and attack the Volturi and threaten us without any consequences!" Caius shouted, enraged by his statement.
   "But I just did and nothing happened, dear Caius."
   "Why are you here?" Katerina shouted at him.
  "I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page, and to level the playing field."
   "I want you both to leave and take those mutts of yours with you! I never want to see you again!" Her tears flowed freely, but her words sounded strong and fierce which was enough to scare Michael a bit.
   "I can't believe you would talk to your own father like that." He told her with fake shock lacing his voice. My vision continued to blur and my body began to ache even worse as mind boggling pain ripped through me like electricity through a power line.
   "If you ever loved me, you would leave now and never come back here!" I didn't need to see anything to tell that Katerina directed that to Hunter specifically. I couldn't see anything except for Katerina right now anyway, but I'm glad that she used her past relationship with Hunter against them.
   "We'll go. But you better act quick, he doesn't have much longer." Hunter told her quickly, with a hint of humor in his tone. I watched as the two blurs retreated, followed by the burry shapes of the wolves. And then everyone crowded around me.
   "What do we do?" Aro asked Katerina. She growled at him.
   "We aren't doing anything! I am going to help Alec! You, you, and you..." I could just make out her pointer finger pointing to each of the masters. "Stay back there. Felix, Demetri, hold his arms. Andi, Adeline, and Brynn, you guys hold his legs down. Jane, you go get Afton."
   "There is no way I'm leaving Alec!" She shouted, appearing on the other side of me.
   "Okay...I...I'll go get him now." Adeline said in a shaky voice. She quickly ran away.
   "You guys are going to have to hold him down no matter how badly he screams. I don't know how badly this is going to hurt him." They all went to their positions, but Jane switched with Felix so she could be next to me. I heard the sound of her flicking the end of the needle.
  "Wait! You can't just stick that in him! We don't know if that's even the real cure or not!" Caius shouted.
   "Well, would you rather me wait for Afton to get here so that he can do a freaking diagnosis on Alec and tell me what's in here?! I know that's it's the cure, and I know that Alec is dying and if we don't put this serum in him he may not make it! So I suggest you shut your trap and let me figure this out! I'm half in charge of this mission and I'm calling the shots, got it?!" She shouted quickly.
   "Do it Katerina, and make it quick, he doesn't have much longer." Marcus told her.
  "Katerina, I have to tell you something..." I choked out.
   "We don't have time...get ready..."
    "Katerina, it's important...I love you more...than I have ever loved anyone. You are my mate...it's always been you..." She tried to hold back her sob as more tears fell to the blood soaked pavement.
  "Alec, I love you more than you'll ever know." She leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. "Get ready, okay, I'm sorry but this is going to hurt you."
  "Now that I know you love me, I'll be ready for anything." I closed my eyes and tried to escape the pain already running through every bone in my body.
   "Hold him still." My angel said and she rolled up my sleeve. I felt the cold tip of the needle press against my skin.
   "Will this work?" Jane asked Katerina. The worry in her voice would have been enough to bring tears to my eyes but I could barely move, let alone open my eyes.
   "It better." The needle went into my arm and as soon as all of that pink liquid was in my body, the pain I began experiencing worsened. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. It was worse than the wolf bite, worse than going through the vampire change, and worse than burning at the stake all those years ago. I screamed and cried out from the pain.
   I screamed at the top of my lungs. I could just feel the serum working its way through my body. From the middle of my arm where the serum entered me, to my shoulders and chest, all down my arms and legs, and through my head and caressing my brain so carefully, that every pin prick I felt sent more waves of pain rushing through me down through my fingers and toes.
  "I'm sorry Alec, I'm so sorry!" Katerina cried and she threw her body over mine. I wanted so badly to comfort her, and to tell her everything was going to be okay. But I couldn't do anything but scream, and it was better that the others hold my limbs down so that I don't flail around or find away to kill myself because I wanted to end the excruciating pain that I felt right now. Pretty soon, I felt the pain decreasing and my body slipping away, as if I were going into a deep sleep. I heard the chorus of sobs from Katerina and Jane fill the air as I slipped into oblivion. 
   No, I didn't go to hell. No, I didn't go to heaven. But, I fell into a deep darkness that consumed me. It was peaceful. I could rest here forever if I wanted to, but I knew that something was missing; someone was missing.
   Katerina! Where's Katerina, why isn't she here? Am I dead?! No, I can't be dead! Katerina gave me that cure for the wolf bite! Didn't it work?! I needed to get back to Katerina! And Jane too! They both need me! I didn't like it when they were crying over me! How do I wake up?! I want to wake up right now!!
    Maybe this was my own personal hell. I guess this is what happens to people after they die. I don't know what else to say. I guess I'm dead. But I didn't want to die! I needed to get back to Katerina. I just feel so connected to her, especially since I drank her blood. I guess that is the fae charm in her blood.
    Well since I'm stuck in this darkness forever, I guess I can elaborate on the whole "fae charm" aspect of her blood. Basically, there are certain chemicals in fae blood that cause certain parts in a vampire's brain to turn on; for the lack of a better phrase, when that vampire drinks fae blood. Those parts of the brain release hormones and what not, that cause the vampire to feel as if they need to do anything for that fae. Us vampires call it "fae charm." It feels kind of like getting buzzed from alcohol but wears off eventually. With Katerina's blood, it feels different. I feel more connected to her than just wanting to do things for her. Of course I want to do things for her; she's my mate! But I really feel her  in me. It's like her presence fills me up to the brim. Drinking her blood was also more pleasurable than anything I've ever experienced. I wonder why she made me drink her blood. If I get out of this, I'll have to ask her.
Maybe I'm not dead! Maybe I'm feeling this way because I'm alive! I need to be alive! I need to be with her! I need to be with Jane too, and to make sure that Caleb doesn't hurt her. I don't think he will, but you never know.
   I just want to leave this deafening silence and blind darkness! I thought this place was peaceful; but it turned into an evil place of madness inside of my mind. I don't want to be here forever! Just let me go!
   It felt like decades before I finally could feel my body again. I didn't hurt badly anymore, at least as badly as before. I had to fight to open my eyes, but I did. The bright lights of the room blinded me for a moment. Once everything came into focus, I felt the smoothness of the silk bed sheets beneath me and a lump leaning against me.
I slowly turned my head to find burgundy curls spread out across my chest. I knew that it was Katerina who was curled up next to me. Her breathing and heart beat was even, which told me she was asleep, and her scent filled me up with the dizzy lightheaded feeling that it always did. She soon stirred in her sleep and picked up her head. Her eyes began to water when hers met mine.
"Alec..." She said in a quiet voice. "I'm so sorry.." Katerina threw arms around me and started sobbing.
"It's okay." I told her. "Nothing that happened is your fault."
I could barely recognize my own voice. It sounded so weak and scratchy, probably because I was screaming so much. I slowly moved my arms to wrap around her. There was minimal pain involved in moving, but I could bare it if it meant that it would comfort her.
"You've been out for over a week! I thought you were dead!"
"I thought I was too." She sniffed.
"Are you okay now?"
"You tell me, I'm the one who's been out for over a week."
"Your scratches healed when I gave you my blood, but the bite is still being a little bit stubborn. That's going to hurt more than the scratches, but it should be better within a couple of days according to Afton."
   "Why did you give me your blood?"
    "I figured blood would help you to stay strong for a little bit longer. I wanted to keep you alive as long as I possibly could. Since I specialized in the element of Earth, my blood also has a healing agent in it that helped the less fatal wounds to heal." I hesitated before I spoke again.
   "Why did it feel so good? I've never felt anything like that before in my entire life."
   "There are two reasons. One being the bond we have, and two being that my blood is freaky so instead of it just causing you to "fall under my spell" or whatever you want to call it, it also stimulates the pleasure part of the brain. It also ensures that the said vampire does what I want. The other fae can't do that; its just me, but I wouldn't do that to you or anything unless it was absolutely necessary."
   "Did you feel that too?" She nodded.
    "Yeah, it was so weird. I enjoyed it more than I probably should have..." Katerina admitted as her cheeks turned bright red. We were silent for a moment.
"Are you okay?"
"I am now that I know you are alive and that I'm not just hugging your corpse." She laughed sadly. "The cat hasn't left since we brought you in here." She pointed to Houdini who was sitting at the end of the bed, looking at me curiously with his odd colored eyes. He trotted over to me and sniffed my face. He walked on my chest and laid himself down next to Katerina's head. He was a lot bigger than he was before, so he covered from the top of my chest to the middle of my stomach.
Houdini and I have bonded since he first got here all of those months ago. After a while, he started circulating between my room and Katerina's. I guess that means he likes me; I don't mind though, I like him too.
"He's definitely our cat." Katerina said, stroking Houdini's fur. He began to purr loudly.
"Speaking of us..."
"Did you really mean it?" She said quickly.
"Mean what?"
"Mean that you loved me?" She looked up at me with her beautiful eyes and batted her eyelashes in such a way that made my head spin. I don't know if she realized what she was doing to me. I sighed.
"Of course I did. And did you mean that you loved me?" She sat up and propped herself up on her elbow, resting on hand on my chest. She gave me "the look" and rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I did. But you said more to me than that. You said that we were mates. I've been trying to get someone to tell me what that means, but no one would. So what's a mate? Is that like a buddy or friend or something?"
"Not exactly. The word mate is short for soul mate. In the vampire context, it's your other half; the person you are supposed to spend the rest of your immortal life with." She was quiet for a moment.
"Wow, Alec..."
"But there is more that I need to tell you. The night that we figured out that you and I had a bond, Marcus saw the mate bond between us as well. I didn't want to say anything to you about it because I didn't want to force you into anything you didn't want and I just couldn't bring myself to tell you until I was sure about how you felt about me. But I didn't know if I was going to make it, so that didn't happen obviously."
"But all of this time, I have been so focused on making you fall in love with me because I didn't want to say something and ruin the good thing that we have. But I didn't realize that I was going to be the one to fall in love with you first."
She put her hand to the side of my face, cupping my cheek. Her big blue eyes stared straight into my soul. Our faces were just centimeters apart. Her lips met mine and sparks flew. When I closed my eyes, it was almost as if my senses were overly sensitive, and I felt every touch and every movement.
Our lips moved in perfect synchronization with each other and I knew that this felt so right, and so good. I never wanted it to end. But eventually it had to. She pulled away and hugged her knees to her chest. She rested her forehead on her knees. I sat up as best as I could.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked her. No response. "Katerina..."
"What happens now?" I heard her say. She didn't move from her position though.
"What do you want to happen?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
"I don't want you to get hurt again. And what I want is going to get you hurt." She cried. I rubbed her back.
"If you are worried about your father, don't be. He can't hurt me now, the only way he could is if he took you away from me."
"He already has Alec! I don't want to risk losing you again!"
"That doesn't matter right now. Tell me what you want."
"But..."
"Tell me." She sighed in defeat.
"I want to be with you Alec! But..."
"Don't but  me. I have plenty of enemies that would love to come over here and kill you to hurt me, and that scares me more than anything. But the thought of being without you for any longer hurts me too."
"Are you trying to guilt trip me?" She asked lifting her head up.
"Nope, I'm just saying."
"Are you really?"
"Yes, and I do want to be with you too, so consider it done."
"But what if..."
"Katerina, do you want to be with me?"
"Yes, I already said that."
"And I want to be with you. Is that okay?"
"Is this your way of asking me out?" Her frown turned into a smile.
"If that's what they are calling that nowadays, then yes." She giggled.
"You are so cute sometimes..."
"I am not cute! Especially not right now after I got mauled by ugly fuzzy things."
"Hey, if I am going to be your girlfriend, you are going to have to deal with me calling you cute." I chuckled.
"My girlfriend...I like the sound of that."
"If you weren't hurt right now, I would smack you for that. I wish you weren't hurt at all." She stretched her legs out and carefully leaned into me, resting her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer to me.
"What do you think he'll say?" Katerina asked me once we got settled.
"Who?"
"Aro, when he figures out we're together."
    "So we're officially  together?"
    "Yes, just answer the question."
"I think he will be very happy for us."
"And if he isn't?"
"I don't see why he wouldn't be, but if he isn't, he will just have to deal with it." She smiled.
"This is so weird. It's not a bad weird or anything, but it's just a different kind of weird you know? Like I can believe this is happening weird."
"Yeah, pinch me I must be dreaming." She laughed softly and I felt her body relax into mine. This was just too perfect. I mean her and I getting together, not the circumstances in which it happened because of. When her breathing evened, I knew that she was asleep again. I'm glad one of us can rest.
   It was then that I realized that we were in my room. I looked around to find that everything was as it was when I left it this morning, except for the lamp that was broken in the corner. That was probably because of Jane. She had quite a temper when bad things happened. Oh well, it can be replaced.
   There is going to be a lot to talk about when people realize that I'm better. Michael hinted to Aro about his message to us about the fun house, so I am going to have to be very careful when Aro asks about that.
   I have a feeling that this was just the clam before the storm. If he didn't intend to kill us this time, who knows what he's going to throw at us when he does. I know that I'm going to need to tell Alucard all about this. But at the same time, I feel like I shouldn't because if we do, Aro may figure out about the flash drive. All of this thinking is giving me a headache, literally.
   Just then, I heard light knocking on the door. Lorne entered quietly and shut the door behind him.
   "Hey Lorne, guess what?" He raised an eyebrow and walked over to the bed. He sat down on Katerina's side. "She's my girlfriend." 
   "Are you delirious?" He asked me.
    "I don't think so."
     "How many fingers am I holding up?"
     "Four and a thumb." He sighed and smiled.
     "Aw...you're even starting to talk like her! She gives me that response every time! Congrats bud!"
   "Uncle Lorne chill out. I knew you saw this happen already..." Katerina said sleepily as she sat up.
   "Actually I didn't. My visions have been only been half right lately." That was true. When he had that vision a few months ago about my burst of courage and that I made a mistake that would drive Katerina and I apart, I accidentally spilled her lemonade on her shirt and she left for two minutes to change it. Of course the burst of courage was right but the other part was a little off.
   "It's okay, I'm sure it has something to do with Hunter's weird blocky thing or something. I don't think it's your fault." He smiled.
   "Aw, you sure do know how to make a man feel better." He turned to me. "You are one lucky man to get such a sweet girl. Aleczander Jonathan Volturi, you better take good care of my niece." I stared at him dumbfounded.
   "How did you know my middle name?" I questioned.
   "A magician never reveals his secrets..."
   "Uncle Lorne!"
    "What? Why accidentally see someone tell someone something I can use against them and not act on it? Especially when that someone is now dating your niece?" I was about to speak when I heard another knock.
   "It's open!" Katerina shouted.
    "You know, for someone so quiet, you can shout awful loud." I told her as Jayden and Gracie walked in. 
   "Hey! You're not dead!" Jayden ran over to my side of the bed and threw his arms around me. A surprise yelp of pain came out of me and he backed up, his eyes wide with fear and sadness.
   "No buddy, it's alright. I just hurt a little is all." It was just a little at this point. I guess Katerina distracted me from my pain. It made sense. Her beauty was a distraction in itself.
   "Are you sure? You look like crap." Gracie told me. Her and Jayden came a little closer.
   "Yeah, it's just a few scratches and a bite." For the first time, I looked down at my wounds. Scars like the one on my back were scattered down my arms, and two were on my legs, but those weren't very big, at least from what I could see through the rips. Note to self, change clothing later. There was a big bite mark on my right upper arm. It put the vampire bites that I've gotten over the centuries to shame.
   "It was worse than that. Whatever the cure was altered your physical makeup." Katerina informed me.
   "Altered it how?" I asked.
  "Afton knows the specifics but from what he told me, you are now immune to werewolf saliva and can cry."
   "I can cry?"
    "Yeah, apparently when Kat injected the serum into your system, tears of blood came out of your eyeballs." Gracie said, flipping her long dark hair.
  "Gracie!" Katerina hissed. She shrugged.
  "You were going to sugar coat it but he's a man that needs straight up answers."
   "Don't worry, it happens to me too and Kat as well. It's a common symptom of the serums in vampires."
   "And I'm immune to werewolf saliva as well?"
   "Yes, whatever was in the cure for the bite made it so that you could fight off the infection." Jayden told me. "I made sure to talk to Afton at least once a day about you so that I was up to date on everything that was going on with you."
   "Thanks little dude." I held my hand out for what is called a "fist bump" which he liked to do often. His fist bumped mine and we "blew it up" as he called it. This public school stuff is really getting to him.
   "I'm just looking out bro."
    "Bro? Where did you learn that word? Last time I checked, you still lived under a rock." Gracie told him, punching his arm lightly.
   "Oh, I learned that one from Jake."
    "Whose Jake?" Katerina asked.
    "Jake is a friend of mine from school." Jayden said.
    "I'm so glad you guys are making friends."
     "Hey, Jay said that he was his friend, not mine." Gracie stuck her tongue out Katerina who did the same back.
   "Aw, you're giving me nicknames already?" Jayden asked her and hugged her tight to him. She patted his back awkwardly. It was funny because she still towered over him.
   "Sure...whatever floats your boat dude."
   "Well nicknames definitely float my boat Gracie-Bear."
   "Gracie-Bear?"
    "Yeah, cause your fierce like a grizzly bear, but your name is Gracie."
   "That sounds like the name of a Care Bear." Katerina whispered to me loudly, causing Lorne and I to laugh.
   "Hey, he wasn't kidding when he said I was fierce you know!"
   "Yeah yeah, I know how fierce you are miss I'm-afraid-of-thunderstorms-and-flickering -lights."
   "Ha ha, miss I've-been-flirting-with-Alec-the -past-few-months-and-haven't-done-anything -about-it."
   "Aw, you've been flirting with me, how cute." I said to Katerina, planting a kiss on her lips.
  "Ewwwww..." Chorused the children.
   "Aw grow up you two, pretty soon you two will be kissing like there's no tomorrow." Lorne told them, laughing as he did so. I wonder if he saw anything about the two of them in the future. The two looked at each other as they let go from their hug.
   "Ewwwww..." They said again, giving each other weird looks.
   "I'm glad you finally gained some guts Alec, but that's just gross." Jayden told me.
   "Ditto." Gracie agreed, causing us all to laugh.
   I don't know how any of this happened, or how I got blessed by meeting these weird yet totally amazing people, but all I know is, these guys were like family to me now, and there was no way in hell I was going to let Michael Morgynstein and his pack of mutts ruin this for me!