Hellbound Heart

Elle could hear nothing but a very loud and piercing ringing in her ears as she looked up at Sebastian. He was on top of her, covering her with his body as she was pinned to the car seat. She was confused for a few seconds and looked around to figure out what was happening. But suddenly something caught her eyes.

Blood. Bright red blood.

His forehead was covered with blood, flowing and dripping down onto her face.

Elle was momentarily paralyzed due to shock, but her eyes drifted to look over his shoulder. The car's roof was pressed against his back.

Before Elle could even start to recover from the shock, her vision was suddenly blocked. He had pulled her and pressed her face against his chest.

And then loud sounds echoed around them again. There were screeching sounds of metal being ripped apart.

When he finally pulled away from her, Elle only saw the dark starry sky above them. The roof of the car was completely gone. She was still lying on the car's seat and Sebastian... his eyes had already turned blood red. His fangs were out and he was blazing with darkness and fury.

She knew in that instant that anger was consuming him fully.

Elle tried her best to get her bearings, but her body and her speech only failed her. What in the world had happened? The last she remembered was her falling asleep after listening to him telling her to rest. What had happened between then and now? She wanted to believe that it was only an accident, but with the way that Sebastian was behaving, there was no way it could be that simple and straightforward.

"Lucas..."

Elle could not help the shiver that overtook her at the hardness of Sebastian's voice, or was it the unsettling and suffocating aura he was exuding right now? She could no longer tell. All she knew right now was that Sebastian was at the verge of doing something... dangerous. His red eyes, the overwhelming dark and dangerous aura that had enveloped him just screamed to her that he was about to totally lose it.

"Your Highness." Lucas was instantly next to them, he too had blood smeared on his face. But there were no more wounds. Elle thought that it was either the blood was not his, or that he had wounds but their speedy vampiric recovery capabilities had kicked in and healed him almost immediately.

"Take Izabelle away." The order Sebastian gave out had caused Elle to jerk out of her own contemplation and look up at him, wide eyed. He was sending her away with Lucas? But where to? And what about him?

"No, Prince Sebastian." Lucas' response came as a shock to Elle, and even perhaps to Sebastian himself too. She had never heard this man or any of the men who were working under Sebastian, ever said 'no' to their Lord before. "You're not going to go after them –" Lucas had even gone on to tell Sebastian what he should not do, but was quickly cut off.

"Shut up, Lucas." Sebastian hissed out agitatedly. His tone reverberated with warning and was filled with lethal danger. "They are not going to let me bring Iza to the Black Forest. So, there's only one thing that needs to be done. I'll fight and hold all of them back as long as possible, while you bring Iza there. Do you understand?"

"No!" Elle finally managed to speak. "We're not going to leave you here all by yourself, Sebastian! We will go there... all of us, together."

Turning to look at her, he cupped her face and pressed his forehead against hers. "Listen, Iza. You'll only get hurt if we all go together. I can't risk having you get caught in the middle when I am fighting them off! Do you understand me? I am just barely keeping you from getting hurt just now. I need you to go before me. That's the only way I can keep you from getting harmed –"

"But Seb –"

"No buts now, Iza. Go! I'll catch up even before you know it."

"This could be a bad move, Your Highness. What if they're just trying to separate you from the Princess?" Lucas butted in, voicing out his concern. His statement caused Sebastian to whip his head towards him and look at him in silence for a couple of seconds.

"I think we should go together..." Elle agreed with Lucas. She really did not like Sebastian's plan. Something about it was making her feel so uneasy. She wanted the three of them to go together. He must not be left behind! She did not want to get separated from him again because she knew that there was always nothing good that happened whenever they were apart.

However, Elle found herself being pushed against Lucas.

She was about to protest when she saw men - vampires - appearing one after another. Their eyes flashing a bloody red in the dark. Those creepy and somehow bloodthirsty red eyes seemed to multiply and surround them very quickly that Elle could not help but shudder in fear.

There was only one thing that came to Elle's mind at that moment. Rouges. The rogue vampires. She had read about them in one of the books in the library. She had also heard from Rion during one of their earlier conversations that they still existed to this day and they were powerful. More powerful than the non-rouges because these vampires were law-breakers who were still drinking human blood - direct from the source.

Uncertainty and a little fear crept through Elle's heart. Though she knew Sebastian was powerful, and a vampire royal ... there were just too many of them against him alone!

Elle looked at Sebastian but he was not even looking at the rogues before them. His gaze was turned away from them and looking somewhere else. He seemed to be focusing on the top of a hill across them.

Something dark reeked from Sebastian's body as he uttered through clenched teeth. "E-LI-JAH..."