I'm Coming Home Chpt 49
"It seems as though he's refusing the invitation." Sultan Mehmed's servants were preparing for another meal and Radar had the dubious task of delivering the message to Alecta….although as the minutes ticked past, Alecta seemed to fade and her real identity of Anat came closer to the surface.
In anger, she kicked a chair clear across the room, 'I will hunt him down like a dog. He will die again."
Hotch and her other teammates flinched; they had never seen this side of her come out. Sure they had watched her take a whole bar full of Russians nearly hostage while they questioned them. But she hadn't snapped; her temper hadn't even flared even the slightest. If that scene had been in a movie the sound effects would have sounded sort of like mimicked thunder.
"Again?" Reid ventured to ask.
"Yes. Our kind doesn't stay dead for long. It's a bloody vicious cycle….he'll stay gone for a few centuries…there will be others in his place though, no question about it. Then, just when the world begins to miss him enough and question whatever happened to the old boy, he'll pop back in like business as usual. The issue then becomes he will come looking for my head on a pike. Luckily for all of you, you will be long gone by then; generations will have passed. Your great-great-great grandchildren will be but a distant memory; though I will have seen them all at some point."
And here she nearly choked up, barely able to keep her composure; although she was turning more and more into her old war goddess self, there were still glimpses of the mortal that once shared the body that peeked out from underneath it all.
"Lex, what's wrong?' Emily asked carefully.
"This damned useless mortal heart; it'll be the death of me one day. I'm entirely too sentimental for my own good. At least that's what everyone tells me." Sucking it up as if remembering she is supposed to be some fierce warrior, 'No matter. He will die. I don't care if he comes to dinner with us or not. Nobody refuses me and gets away with it."
One of the sultan's messengers came into the room quietly and carefully to personally deliver a message to her. Whatever the message had been it put a devious smile on her face, so it had to be good. She turned to the man and thanked him quietly; with that the man left the room as quietly as he entered.
Alecta turned to her friends and informed them that she too would likely miss dinner because she had to go hunting.
"But darling, they are fixing your favorite dishes." Selim sounded more put out than the others.
"And you are all free to enjoy it…and the entertainment. But, Ares…."
Raphael suddenly appeared from out of thin air it seemed…and how does one of their kind seem to be out of breath.
"Speak old man…"
Raphael bent over, resting his hands on his knees, taking a deep breath, "Ares…coming here…."
"When?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suddenly the sound of doors being blown off of their hinges assailed everyone's ears.
"So much for the fucking door bell. That bastard ruins another palace for me and death will be the least of his troubles. You lot stay here, stay down. Raphael…."
The other angel merely nodded his head in understanding. Alecta walked out of the room to do battle with her old foe. She didn't have to go more than a few feet; Ares was coming to look for her.
"One of us is going to die today old woman."
"You first!"
With that they began throwing furniture and anything else at one another that wasn't nailed down using their capabilities to make things fly through the air. When they ran out of chairs, tables, and all of those other things, they began hurling fireballs. They were hurling them everywhere, willy-nilly, not really aiming, and just praying they landed a few good shots; there were shots that hit some of the lovely carved pillars, the tile work on the walls….
Alecta's team mates were of course insanely interested in seeing what was going on; so much so that Raphael had to pull Reid back down to the ground or he would have had his head taken clean off by one of Ares' rogue shots. Seeing this, Alecta seethed, she practically growled in anger. She began hurling her flames at Ares in more rapid fire succession; he was barely able to get a shot in edgewise. Suddenly, from out of no freaking where, Sofie comes skipping down the hall to find her mother.
"Mommy?" the little girl was astounded at what she was seeing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ares saw his chance and hurled a blast of flames, Raphael was narrowly able to grab the little girl and shield her with his wings before the fire got to her.
Alecta, or Anat as she was becoming, had seen enough. Closing in on Ares within mere inches, Alecta grinned at him, a wicked gleam in her eye only momentarily. She held her arms out to him. A peace offering? Ares was suspicious to say the least and began to back pedal.
"What are you up to Anat? It isn't like you to throw in the towel so soon."
"Just having a thought; perhaps we should pool our forces. This is stupid. We'll be here all day."
"I don't know…."
"Come on Ares. Two war gods are better than one any day of the week. And not knowing what we will face when the sun comes up…I like the odds better if we were to join forces."
Ares stopped to consider things carefully.
"Surely he isn't dumb enough to fall for this." Reid whispered carefully.
"Reid, shut up! It might not work, but we'll never know if you're over here calling him out on it." Morgan shot back.
Reid scrunched up his face in response; Emily, JJ, and Will could only shake their heads.
"I swear, my love…all I want is to make sure the two of us come out on top. When this silly little war is over we can go back to killing each other, leveling cities until your heart's content.' Winking she added, 'For old time's sake."
"Well, you make a valid point; there's no telling what will happen tomorrow. I do want to kill you as bad as you want to kill me….but the only way to make sure that happens is to make sure that we both survive the coming battle in one piece."
Alecta had to try her hardest to contain her excitement; like Reid, she couldn't believe Ares would be so stupid as to fall for this.
"Besides, look at it like this. After the battle, many will be dead; the remainders will be caught out looking for someone to lead them. War is good business it seems these days. If we didn't kill each other after the coming days, think of what we could achieve if we joined forces on the regular. Besides, you never could resist before…." With that Alecta dropped her clothes.
A smile a mile wide split Ares handsome face, 'Now that is an offer that nobody could refuse."
Hotch's blood nearly boiled in his veins when he thought of what he was witnessing; it was only Raphael's steady hand on his shoulder and wink from the being that kept him from leaping up to stop the proceedings. With the look that he received from Raphael, he understood that Alecta was up to something; of course the look in her eye as she had left the room earlier should have been a dead give-away to him, but he was so out of sorts.
Ares stepped into the firm embrace of Alecta's arms as she rested her head against his chest. Too late, he realized his folly. He began to feel the heat. He could not remove himself from her grip; it was as though her arms had welded themselves around him like an iron cage….she would not let him go. The others that remained hidden watched with a mixture of fascination and some fear or horror.
There was smoke that began to generate from the hugging couple in front of them. Ares began to burn, Alecta began to glow red, slowly as the temperature between them rose. In a matter of moments, all that was left of Ares was a pile of ashes. Alecta was left standing there, her arms open, screaming in agony, reminiscent of a banshee. Out of nowhere, Michael came running through the room with a blanket in hand, using his momentum and weight to knock her into the deep fountain that was in the room. The water began to boil as she hit it. Michael surfaced quickly and climbed out, waiting for Alecta. It was mere seconds before she made her way to the surface; her hair was hanging in long straight, wet strands down her body concealing her nudity. Michael reached out to yank a drape down from a doorway to cover her in.
Breathing heavily, 'Thank you my friend." Michael merely nodded and swept her off of her feet.
With a grin on his face, Selim stepped forward and swept Ares remains into an urn, laughing, seemingly pleased with the outcome.
Coming into the area, the sultan looked around, 'I hope that she is finished destroying our palace for one day."
Selim shrugged and handed the urn to the sultan, 'Add this to the collection." With that he walked out of the room complaining of being hungry enough to take down a rhino. Michael in the meantime had carried Alecta to her room to get her seen to and be redressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even though Alecta seemed to be in one piece when she made it down to dinner, something still seemed off about her. Will was the one to ask Raphael what seemed to be the problem.
"She burned too hot. In her wish to see the deed of killing Ares come to pass, she nearly did herself in. There aren't many of us that have that particular power and fewer of us still that can use it to that extent. Most of us that can use it don't burn that hot or that fast. Her temperature rose to quickly and to such an extent….now she is almost wiped out; although with a little rest she should be right as rain by sunrise. The best thing I can liken it to is when your dear boy, Henry, had that terrible fever a couple of years ago. Even once the fever broke and began fading, young Master Henry was still weak from illness. It's much the same for her right now."
"You know about Henry's fever?"
"Dear man, we know about most everything that happens in the world of your kind."
With that Raphael turned back to the meal while the others sat and talked, ate, or clapped along to the music that was being played.
"She's not even dancin'," one of Alexander's men were heard to say, 'I thought music was her thing."
Selim looked at the man and shook his head, signaling that Alecta had been pushed as far as she could go tonight.
"Lucky for us he took that pot-shot at the kid." Another reveler was heard to remark.
At that Alecta shot up from her seat, slamming her fist on the table causing many of the dishes and utensils around her to rattle, 'Would you like me to send you to meet him?", her skin again taking on a red glow.
"Sit down girl; you'll only wear yourself out further if you keep this up." Michael grabbed her arm which was still quite warm to the touch, almost scorching actually, and yanked her back down into her seat. Afterwards he fanned his hand in front of his face, blowing on his palm to cool it off.
Rossi and the others sort of chuckled at Michael's actions. Alecta got up from the table and began to pace; it seemed as though she couldn't sit still. Hotch got up to follow her.
"Lex, what's wrong?"
"It's been ages since I had to do that…fry one of my own kind; the last time he and I got into it, we buried two cities due to our hatred and anger at each other. This time he took a shot at my kid. I'm just a little amped up. After this, things will only get worse. I couldn't sit still. I…." With that she turned and walked quickly away. At first Hotch didn't follow her; he figured she might just need her space to clear her mind as much as she could. He stood there watching down the hall in the direction that she went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You've learned how to read her rather quickly for one of your kind." Selim's voice caused Hotch to jump slightly.
"After the day she's had, I figured she just needed some time to get herself together."
"And how!"
"Where has she gone?"
"Not to worry; she is still on palace grounds. She has gone to find some peace. The thoughts in her head were overtaking her. It happens to us all the time. Over the millennia, we've seen so many wars, friends dying, crazy things going on….and sometimes it all gets too much. Even among our kind, there is a limit to how much you can take. Give her a little time. If she doesn't come back in a few minutes I'll take you to see her myself." With that the man pushed off of the wall that he had been leaning against and walked back into the dining hall, followed by Hotch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fifteen minutes had passed and Alecta still wasn't back yet; Hotch hadn't touched his dinner much. What he had eaten of it was wonderful, but his mind was elsewhere. Selim kept staring at Hotch until they made eye contact. Once they made the eye contact, Selim nodded his head in the direction of the door to the room. He intended to fulfill his promise to show Hotch where Alecta had gone.
They made their way down the many halls of Topkapi palace and reached a room with a closed door. Hotch could hear a voice…singing….it was wonderful. He lifted a questioning brow at Selim.
"That's Bilal, the Muezzin you met earlier. He's been calling Muslims to prayer for centuries, even though they have no clue just how old he really is. But he also knows a lot of the songs of the people, from centuries past…some of them meant to give comfort in desperate times. Her mind and heart must be heavy if she has come to him. She will not talk to the rest of us."
Selim quietly opened the door and he and Hotch watched from the back of the room. Bilal was sitting on an elevated platform; the strained notes from a forgotten folk song passing his lips. Alecta had been standing, her eyes shut, listening; tears were streaking down her face. It didn't take much longer and she collapsed to the floor, lying on her back, eyes not opening….as if she was in a deep sleep. She stretched her arms out to either side of her.
Looking at where she was at on the floor, Hotch could see shadowy impressions of where her wings were in repose.
"It must be getting good. Look." Selim got Hotch's attention.
As they looked around the room they could see visions, like earlier in the gallery. They saw what looked to be survivors of a death camp; that was confirmed when Hotch saw the sign for Auschwitz…he saw the hopeless looking living skeletons waiting for liberation. There were visions that Hotch didn't recognize, although some of them looked like the battle at Thermopylae…Hotch thought he recognized the uniforms of the Spartans, and more to the point, he recognized the Persians, the very same Persians that were currently helping them prepare for a battle. Soon they saw a more ancient battle; the people were wearing little more than simple tunics and had Bronze Age weaponry.
There were so many visions that were coming into the room; they were the things that were trapped in Alecta's head that she never spoke about other than in passing. She had never brought herself to speak of these things she saw; only when it was necessary to make a historical point. But, at the time nobody knew where her information was coming from; they had no idea that she was speaking from first-hand knowledge. She always knew a friend that had studied these things or had studied about it herself, reading the information in some long forgotten book in a rare collection somewhere.
Selim tapped Hotch on the shoulder, letting him know they should go and leave her in peace; as they turned to go Alecta spoke to them from her position on the floor.
"I know you're both there. My eyes don't have to be open. Hotch wears a distinctive cologne. It's quite nice actually. And Selim, after centuries of being together, you think I wouldn't be able to find you in a roomful of men?"
"Sorry Alecta…we didn't want to disturb you. But, Master Aaron wanted to make sure you were doing a little better."
Still lying on the floor, 'Everything is just roses. I just had to cremate one of our kind, the world is ending….there's global warming, or so I'm told…bull shit by the way…..Everything is freaking awesome."
"I see that your sarcasm is back,' turning to Hotch, Selim continued. "She'll be right as rain come morning."
"If I'm allowed any sleep whatsoever."
"Why wouldn't you be?"
"Wait for it….." Alecta started a count-down; when she got to one, there was a rumble heard all over the palace. The upper levels of the palace walls facing the Bosphorus Strait had been struck.
"What the hell was that?" Hotch asked worriedly.
"Text message. Bilal, go…get to safety."
Alecta held out her hand, Selim grasped it, helping her up. As she stood she made her way through the palace, being met by some of the usual suspects.
"Oona, if you wouldn't mind…see that the men send a sufficient reply. They disrupted my meditations."
Oona bowed quietly and made her way to the battlements to make the order happen. This began a chain of bombings between the two sides that lasted for four hours; one side being led by Alecta and her kind, the other side being led by Dracula and whatever demons and turn coats he could bring to his side. All the while Alecta was under the impression that everyone that was under her care was safely out of harm's way. During the bombing, Alecta had made her way through the palace to talk with some of her men; they needed to put together a contingency that could ride out at a moment's notice and put down any minor skirmish until the larger battle began just after dawn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oona went up to the battlements, walking over to the soldiers at the cannons, telling them to give a sufficient answer to Dracula and his people across the strait. Several of the cannons were aimed straight at the palace on the opposite side of the strait. The men calmly waited for the order to fire, at which time they let loose with a volley of cannon fire that tore down a sizeable chunk of the defensive wall of Rumelihisarı castle. Dracula's men returned fire; and on it went.
Meanwhile, Alecta and Selim were meeting with the sultan and some of his men, along with Hotch and the rest of her team in the room that was being used as the sultan's private library. This room, like the one in the other palace had a large map that had been created on the floor. Selim and Alecta circled the map several times, carefully studying it. Raphael and Michael were coming in giving them information about what was going down thus far; Alecta wasn't happy about most of what she heard.
"We need to get to Hagia Sophia. Some of the citizens are there now trying to defend it….Christians and Muslims alike….." She slammed her fist down on a small table that was just to her left. "They will need more weaponry and ammunition if they are to even make a good showing…having a small contingency aid them wouldn't hurt."
Selim grumbled, "Getting to Sophia is the trick. We would have to make it to the entrance to the catacombs; that alone would be dicey. Never mind revealing the entrance itself. We would be wide open for an attack most of the way; especially if we took this route." He said, tracing the route with his staff.
"We must get to Sophia. Winning isn't a guarantee. But if we do not save Sophia the city will surely fall then."
Michael had, in the meantime, left the room and Radar came in, an idea brewing in his head.
"I can get you to Sophia…"
"That's great if you're only taking a few of us. But we need a larger contingency…"
"We grab a few guns and some bullets, I zip you there to deposit the ammo, and zip you back. That will buy us some extra time to come up with a better idea."
Alecta still looked as though she didn't care for the idea; Selim looked as though he was actually thinking it over.
"He makes a point old girl. If we can at least get a little extra ammo to the people already there, it will give them a sign that they will be taken care of properly soon enough. It will keep their moral up at least for the moment…."
"Fine. I don't like it. But you're right."
Selim and Radar looked at each other, shocked, through raised eyebrows; she has almost never admitted that someone else could actually be right.
"Are you two coming with me? I need a couple of men for some heavy lifting."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It seemed like no time at all before Radar, Selim, and Alecta were ready to do what they had set out to do. Radar helped them gather everything together that they would take with them, and they vanished; it was almost like they were teleporting to the Hagia Sophia in some way. Once there, they took some time to hand out fresh weapons and ammunition to the people defending it, receiving blessings as they went, also they passed out a few of their own.
After nearly twenty-five minutes of passing out what they could to help until further efforts could be made, Alecta and Selim gathered with Radar so he could transport them back to Topkapi Palace. He got them as close as he could which was just inside the palace defense wall. They had a moment where they traded a fast hug and handshakes; happy that Radar's plan had worked to perfection.
Nearly.
As they stood there, taking a moment to be thankful that they had pulled this trip off, an arrow came sailing through the air, striking Radar in the back, sending him toppling over, face first onto the stone pavers of the courtyard. He yelled out in agony as he was struck down.
Selim and Alecta turned quickly to see what happened to their friend and watched as he went down.
"Grab him!' Alecta ordered. She and Selim each grabbed an arm and all but dragged Radar back farther into the protection of the palace. They were under heavy arrow fire; Alecta shot out a wing to try and give Radar as much coverage as she could, Selim held up his shield to cover himself as well as to offer a little more coverage to Radar.
"Come, come. Hurry. Be quick…" the sultan and one of his men were holding the door to the main hall of the palace open. Just as soon as the three comrades made it inside, the doors were slammed shut. There was much excitement among those that gathered to find out what was wrong. Mac had charged forward to see if he could help from a medical standpoint. Alecta and the sultan were arguing over some trivial point….
"We've got larger issues…" Selim was holding up the arrow that had pierced their friend; Mac had applied pressure to the wound allowing Selim to remove the projectile.
"What could be worse than what is already…?" Alecta turned to look at Selim finally, seeing him holding the arrow. She grabbed it, having seen Selim smell the tip. She touched her tongue carefully to the tip, doing her best to avoid Radar's blood. She made a face almost like she had eaten a lemon.
"Poison!"
"Then there's bound to be an antidote…' Reid, bless his heart, was trying to sound hopeful.
"It's not that kind of poison. It's meant to kill. There is no antidote."
"No. No. No. This cannot be…."Alecta grew more infuriated as the seconds ticked by.
"What cannot be?" JJ asked.
Before anyone present could answer JJ, a shout from the battlements rang out for all to hear. It was the desperate call of a member of the garrison.
"NEPHILIM!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post AN: So that is chapter 49…I'm sure that it could have gone on a little bit longer, but in all honesty I think I need some time to come up with some awesome action for the next chapter…..want to make sure it's at least up to par with the rest of my work. :D And, besides I have been working on this chapter for quite some time….I was honestly ready to put this one to bed….I need to give attention to one of my other stories…. But hopefully after I have worked on one of them for a few days, it will help me brew some fresh ideas for this one….we shall see….