The Beautiful Monster

"Take a guess," Elias merely said as he lowered his eyes to the table.

Alyssa didn't know why he was so timid. She supposed that part of him wanted to tell her and part of him didn't. If her safety was on the line, she needed to know.

"I don't know. I mean… the only thing that I can think of that has fangs is a vampire," she said with a scoff. That was impossible, though. Those didn't even exist.

Elias didn't say anything.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes as she leaned closer to him.

"Wait. Are you saying that I was attacked by a vampire the other night?" she asked him quietly.

She felt her heart start to race as she pondered on the possibility. Vampires couldn't possibly be real. Wouldn't there be more evidence or something?

Elias finally looked up at her and nodded.

Alyssa sunk back into her seat out of disbelief, shaking her head.

That didn't make any sense. Why would a vampire track her and try to bite her in such a public place? It was risky.

"I don't understand. Did it want to kill me or drink my blood or something?" she asked him, trying to get some sort of answer for why the other night happened in the first place.

Elias scratched at the back of his neck as he sighed.

"The intentions aren't the greatest. I don't think they were trying to kill you, though," he explained to her.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes slightly as she stared at him. It seemed to her like he wasn't telling her everything that he knew, which bothered her.

How could he still keep her in the dark after all this happened? Plus, he was the one watching over her and barging his way back into her life.

"Why did you really approach me, Elias?" she asked him. "And why have you been watching me?"

Elias leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I can't tell you everything, Alyssa. This stuff is… sensitive," he replied.

Alyssa scoffed at him.

"Sensitive? I'm in danger!" she said.

Elias looked torn. His face started to soften, and he started to say something, but another person came into Alyssa's view.

"Elias! It's been so long," a tall, slim redhead cooed as she strutted up to Elias' side.

She wore a white blouse tucked into a black skirt with black sunglasses on.

Alyssa stared up at her in confusion, watching the redhead hug Elias, which was basically pressing his face against her chest.

She felt a prickle of anger crackle through her at the sight. Who was this girl?

"Stella," Elias said as he pulled back from the redhead. "What are you doing here?"

"Came into town for a little visit. I heard you were around, Mr. Business Man," Stella purred as she stroked her fingers through his hair.

Alyssa gritted her teeth slightly, feeling purposely ignored. Stella wasn't even looking at her, putting all of her focus on Elias.

She knew that she had no right to feel jealous or anything. Her relationship with Elias was over. If he wanted to get with this touchy girl, he could.

"I should go," she said as she grabbed her things.

"Alyssa, wait," Elias said, trying to lean away from Stella to look at Alyssa.

"You guys catch up," Alyssa replied, not even looking their way. She hurriedly walked away, tossing her half-eaten muffin away since she didn't feel hungry any longer.

She wished that she had gotten more information from Elias this morning, but that didn't work out.

She walked past the front of the coffee shop to head back to her apartment.

Her eyes shifted to the side to peer through the window, seeing that Stella had taken her seat.

Elias and she were talking animatedly, and Alyssa felt worse than she had in a long time.

It seemed like Elias was right back to work when it came to breaking her heart.

**********

The next day after her shift, Alyssa decided to talk to an old friend. After what happened yesterday at the coffee shop with Elias and Stella, along with every other disastrous thing that had happened to her, Alyssa really needed some advice.

She grabbed her phone and walked out of the hospital to sit on a small bench outside. The sun was steadily setting behind her, casting shadows all around her.

She glanced around warily, but there were still plenty of people roaming around the hospital grounds and she could still see the hospital entrance. She felt alright enough to make a quick call.

Alyssa tapped on the familiar contact before bringing the phone to her ear, listening to it ring and ring until a crackling noise sounded over the phone.

"Hello?" a familiar voice spoke.

"Hey, Zoe," Alyssa said with a small smile.

"Hey! How's it going?" Zoe asked, sounding cheerful.

Over the course of eight years, Alyssa only got to see Zoe three times when Zoe came to visit and when she went to Zoe and Cole's destination wedding in Hawaii.

However, they did keep in contact through texting and phone calls. Zoe's friendship was one that Alyssa didn't ever want to lose.

"It's… going," Alyssa said with a sheepish laugh. She had so much to tell Zoe.

"What happened?" Zoe asked, her voice turning more serious.

"I ran into Elias the other day," Alyssa said, hearing Zoe audibly gasp.

"Shut up. What did he say?" Zoe asked.

Alyssa paused. There were some things that she didn't want to bring up. Elias' behavior was strange, and she still wanted to figure out why.

Now, she was supposedly dealing with vampires too. She didn't know which problem to try to handle first.

"He said that he believed leaving was the best thing for me," Alyssa replied.

Zoe scoffed over the phone.

"Sounds like a liar," she muttered.

"He might be. I still have a lot of questions," Alyssa admitted.

"Can you get into contact with him?" Zoe asked her.