Hellbound Heart

"Sir, I think we should take another route." A man in black suddenly swirled and blocked Elijah's path.

They were on their way to meet with Zeres and they only needed to cross this city and they would finally reach their rendezvous point. According to the message they had received not long ago from Zeres, the prince should be in the forest around this time. So, they absolutely could not stall anymore!

"Move, Lio." Elijah said nonchalantly.

"But Your Highness...!! This part of the street is really dirty. Let's take another route instead. We're going to be late so we should take this â€""

Elijah craned his head to the side to look at what Lio was blocking with his large and bulky body. But Lio matched his speed and still managed to block his view.

Narrowing his gaze, Elijah craned his head to the other side. Again, Lio blocked him.

"Haha..." Lio forced a nervous laugh. "Oh, come on Your Highness... we really don't have time to play around like this. Zeres had reminded us that we should hurry â€""

"Relax Lio. Whether we get there early or not, nothing will change."

Lio blinked. "Huh? What does that even mean?"

The prince's hand landed on his shoulder. And with just one touch, the bulky and massive guy froze while Elijah casually walked past him.

Upon seeing the desperate looking girl holding a flyer with a picture of a dog on it, Elijah paused.

"Good grief..." Lio groaned and could only follow after him. He had tried to not let this prince see that girl right there because he knew what this prince would do! Damn... he could already tell they were definitely going to look for the freaking missing dog first! This prince would always do this kind of sh*t that he could never ever understand!

"I'll help look for the missing dog, Your Highness." He could only propose as he sighed internally. He must not let this prince go astray or he would be damned once that woman interrogates him of what really happened! "So, you go ahead before me and â€""

"I don't think she's looking for a missing dog." Elijah cut him off and he began to approach the girl, causing Lio to slap his large palms over his face before dragging them down exasperatedly. 'Here we go again, damn it! Why in the freaking world is this prince like this?! Can't he just act like the cold-blooded man that he usually is?' Lio could only yell within his own mind, knowing that he could no longer do anything to drag the prince out of this. Not until the problem with the animal was solved!

"Why are you crying?" the vampire prince asked the girl. His tone was gentle and coaxing. She was a young lady with a really pretty face but the type that had the resting bitch face.

"I'm not crying. I'm just begging." She replied straightforwardly. Before Elijah could speak again, the girl eyed him from head to toe. Not in a dumbfounded and lustful kind of manner though. The girl did not seem to be fazed by the prince's almost unreal look. "Are you rich, Mister? You are, right? You definitely are, right?" She looked closely at him, her eyes moving over his clothes and his bearing.

"No. I'm actually poor." Elijah replied blankly.

"Liar â€""

"Yes, he's very poor! So don't waste your time, pretty girl." Lio butted in. "This man here only spends money on animals. Now let's go, Sir!" Lio grabbed the prince's arm and began to drag him away when the girl jumped onto Elijah's feet and hugged both his legs.

"Then please save the dogs!" she cried. "Please adopt them! They're all going to die, sir. They're going to get euthanized today, Sir because no one's adopting them! Please save them! They're a bunch of lovely and beautiful babies! Please, I'm sure you'll love them once you've adopted them! Please, handsome, sir!"

Elijah's aura darkened, causing the girl to suddenly swallow in fear.

Slowly, she looked up and met his devilish eyes. She had never seen eyes like his before. It was like she just saw a vision of hell in there.

"What did you say? Euthanize?" he asked with a shrill voice.

The girl forced herself to nod and spoke despite all the chills that were strongly gripping her. "Y-yes... s-sir. It's... the rules and..."

"Bring me there. Now!"

The girl scrambled to stand and as though the fear had been long forgotten, she grabbed the man's hand and dragged him away, leaving Lio standing there uselessly. His sharp jaws might as well be on the ground now. "For the love of... are you crazy?! What are you doing? Letting a girl drag you away?! We have a mission here! We're not here to rescue those damned pesky animals!!! Do you really only care about animals? How about me? How about my life?!! Your Highness!!!!"

But his yell only caused people around him to look at him like he was crazy. "Goddamn it!!!" the bulky man huffed as he could only follow after his prince.

...

Meanwhile, Elle strategically hid herself behind a tree trunk to rest a little. She had been running for a long while now yet she still did not seem to be reaching the town Iryz had told her about.

She was not sure if Zeres was chasing after her. There was still no sign of a pursuer. Did Iryz manage to stop him back there?

Elle shook her head, refusing to be too optimistic. Zeres was a silver-haired witch and he could be on par with Alexander. He might even be chasing after her now without being detected. So she must continue running and bear with it a little.

But just as she was about to move, a waft of cold breeze blew past and the leaves rustled above and around her. Her heartbeat raced. Wait... had her pursuer already caught up?! Lord... this could not be! That was just too fast!

Swallowing, Elle did not dare turn around to look behind her. She knew better now that one wrong move from her might end up being a fatal move for her. So she only moved her eyeballs to the side.

Shock instantly filled her eyes at what she saw. S-snow?!