Virus of the Heart
POV: Alexandra
I looked at Apollo confused, “What do you mean virus? I thought you knew about this disease already. Why would Aphrodite need to come down? Wouldn’t that be under your purview?” He threw his head back and laughed and knocked his hand into my back, “This normally would be under my duties but this is a different type of virus. This one hurts the heart which is Aphrodite’s specialty.” Just as he said that a purple orb appeared in the room and he proclaimed, “Speak of the Goddess.” She appeared next to Apollo and smiled at me, “My child, how are you doing?” I shrugged, “I mean, I could have a deadly disease but I’m otherwise well.” Apollo shook his head, “You can’t die from that disease, child. You are touched by us so your immune system would not allow it. That being said, it is definitely best if you stay put so you don’t give it to anyone else if you have it.” Aphrodite looked around the room, “Speaking of, I need to have a look at the men here.” She walked over to Ronan and placed her two index fingers on his temples then closed her eyes. She shook her head and she looked at Apollo, this one is well. Apollo nodded, “One down, four more to go.” She walked over to Lucien and smiled down at him, “I hope it isn't you. That would be tragic.” She repeated the action on him and she let out a relieved sigh, “Oh thank All Mighty. It isn’t him either.” She walked up to Doc and repeated the action then proclaimed that it wasn’t him. Derek was next, she smiled at him, “I doubt it is you since I can see you love her very much but in a different way. Like a sister.” She repeated with Derek and again he was not who she was looking for. She then walked up to Garrett and again repeated the action and opened her eyes and stared at him, “Apollo, it is this one.” Apollo stepped forward and stared down at Garrett, “Are you obsessed with Alexandra?” Garrett was looking up at Apollo defiantly, acting like he wasn’t going to answer the question he had just asked. Derek stepped next to Apollo, “Mr. Apollo?” Apollo whipped his head at Derek, “What is it, son?” Derek looked at Garrett, “He is my brother and I can answer that question for you. The answer is yes.” Apollo grunted, “I need him to be restrained. He has been poisoned.”
At that Derek and Lucien took Garrett and held him down in the chair that I had vacated. Apollo reached into his breast pocket of his white three piece suit and pulled out a vial. He crammed the vial to Garrett’s lips and forced him to drink the vial. After that he stepped back and straightened himself up, “If I were not immortal, that would have been exhausting. Thank you gentlemen.” Lucien turned to him, “Would it be okay if we knew what that was about exactly?” Apollo nodded, “Yeah, so All Mighty informed us there was movement on the Loki front. We knew he was just lying in wait ready to strike against Alexandra again. The opportunity arose when Garrett was here with Alexandra and he was an easy target since he was in love with Rayla Ligidew. Loki possessed her and slipped him his poison in his ale. This made sure that when he saw Alexandra, he would become so obsessed with her that he would kidnap her for Loki. We came down here partly to stop that from happening.” Derek looked at Garrett, who was hunched over and passed out, and had a sigh of relief, “It honestly felt so weird that he would turn away from Rayla so quickly. He was so in love with her that he was angry that she was placed in the Queen competition. He would also never disrespect the King by actively trying to flirt with the lady he knew the King loved. He has the highest respect for His Majesty.”
Apollo clapped Derek on the shoulder, “Well he should be good as new when he wakes up. It is unfortunate the young man doesn’t have a bed in here yet. He looks awfully uncomfortable.” I looked at the tent door and wondered if the witches had shown up yet. I heard a portal open up just outside of the room and I muttered to myself, “Well, that is probably them.” Whisperia poked her head in, “He’s not here, Ness but our darling girl is. You want to say hello?” I heard Vanessa talk to someone else, “It looks like there is a warning here so you cannot come in, my love. You could probably help seek out Mordred for us so we know what needs to be done.” Talon could be heard, “Okay, my love.” I shouted out to him, “Uncle Talon, ask Mordred about Lucy as well. He’ll know what you are talking about.” Talon shouted back, “Okay, Alexandra! My prayers are with you that none of you in there are infected. I’ll be going now!” Derek shifted on his feet and I knew he hated that he couldn’t spend more time with the man he considered his mentor. I walked over and gave him a warm hug, “Relax, Derek. I know that he would want you to stay where you need to be and get better.”
Vanessa and Whisperia walked into the room and Vanessa nodded at Derek, “His main worries were the two of you. Of course he is worried for everyone else but Alexandra being his niece and Derek is someone he holds dearly as a nephew. By the way, I had to talk your parents out of coming. I am likely going to send Nystasia back since we don’t know how this would affect a fae and we really don’t want that diplomatic nightmare. House Batiste is in charge of her well-being so it would be especially bad for us.” Lucien nodded, “I almost forgot she was here. We need to know that she hasn’t gone near the medical tent the last day or two. Right Doc?” Doc nodded, “You are right, Your Majesty. I don’t remember seeing her since a few days ago when she was here with Alexandra.” I nodded as well, “You are correct, she has been following around Baltiliard. I think she has a crush on her so they have been spending every waking hour with each other.” Derek added, “She can be found in the mess tent.” Vanessa looked at me, “We will send her home. You mentioned Lucy. Your father spoke of her to your mother and I so I do know her situation. Is she being discharged?” I nodded, “Later on today, I was going to have her go with Mordred.” She shook her head, “I will use Lucy as an excuse to send Nystasia back. We can tell her that her job is to keep the child entertained at Blackwood so she will stay put.” I smiled at her, “Yes that is a good idea. I wasn’t sure about Mordred taking care of a small sweet child like Lucy. Unfortunately, she will be down since her friend was the one we found to be infected.” Whisperia spoke up, “I will go look in on the infected child to see what I can do for her.” Vanessa looked at the tent opening, “You will need to seal this room and the child’s room.” She then looked over at Garrett, “Is he okay?” Apollo stepped next to him and Aphrodite stood by his side, “He was poisoned by Loki, we took care of it.” Vanessa sighed, “Never a dull moment around you, Alexandra.”
I pursed my lips, “Hey, it’s not my fault people want to use the power they gave me.” I pointed over my shoulder at my soul parents. We all looked back at the God and Goddess and they both shrugged and Apollo spoke, “Some would call your powers a gift.” I sighed, “Not when it puts others at risk or puts me in the crosshairs.” Apollo argued back, “Your powers may be the key to healing everyone that gets infected.” I widened my eyes at him, “What do you mean?” Aphrodite elbowed him in the side, “You know you cannot affect the path of the semi-mortals. You will get bitched at by Brigit.” He shrugged, “She doesn’t scare me.” She glared at him, “You should be afraid of our Father.” He winced at the mention of All Mighty, I imagined that He would not delve out light punishments to his children. I sighed, “You don’t have to tell me, I think I can get the gist of it.” He stepped towards me and placed his hand on my shoulder, “We can start the study today. It just won’t be where I had pictured it to be.” He looked over at Whisperia, “That one can also follow these teachings to help you continue on when you aren’t confined in this room. She is a calm one that focuses her mind constantly and completely.” He turned to her, “You are a witch?” She nodded, “Yes, my lord Apollo. I actually worship you so it is truly an honor to meet you.” She bowed at him and he smiled, “I thought I recognized your energy. You will be perfect to help Alexandra in her destined task. Will you do it?” She bowed again, “Of course, my lord.” He nodded, “Alright, so we first need to set up a corner of the room.”
He pushed the cart to the corner and placed a few rune stones around the bowl that Doc brought in. Doc was carefully observing this action. He walked over and placed some of the medicinal herbs on the spot. He came up to the bottle of pills and shook it at me, “What are these?” I walked over to him and said, “You gave me nivek root as an ingredient. It isn’t possible for us to use that here so Mordred found the earth equivalent of that root that was less dangerous.” Aphrodite sighed, “Your father forgets that semi-mortals and humans cannot ingest certain things. We would be able to handle nivek root without a problem.” Apollo smiled at me apologetically, “Sorry, my daughter, I forget. I will have to send my thanks to Mordred for rescuing her from that fate.” I shook my head, “It was first Doc that caught it.” I waved my hand at Doc and Apollo nodded at him, “Thank you sir.” Doc shrugged, “It is a law that we cannot give that to anyone. We would honestly have to thank Lucien’s grandfather. Sadly, he is not around for that.” Apollo gave Aphrodite a thoughtful look and she nodded, “I will relay to Hades to send that message up to where he is located.” They smiled at each other then looked at Lucien as Aphrodite said, “My thanks to your ancestor then.” Apollo turned back to his work and when he finally had everything set up exactly how he wanted it, he waved at the workspace, “This will need to be set up the same way every time when you are out in the field that I will specify to you when you get out of here.” He allowed Whisperia and me to take a look at the workspace. She stared at it for a while before she looked at Apollo, “And there is a process beyond that?” He nodded, “You two shall be my apprentices for a time. Listen carefully to my instructions and we can help her fulfill her destiny.”
