Hellbound Heart

"As a reward for you willingly coming here, I'm ready to answer any questions from you, regarding yourself." Elijah continued in a generous tone.

Elle wanted to roll her eyes but instead, took a deep breath and spoke while maintaining her invisibility. Even if he knew where she was, she would rather remain invisible to him than let him see her physically.

"And how would I even know if your answers wouldn't be just another fabricated truth?" she asked, her voice laced with obvious doubt and suspicion.

"There is no reason for me to lie to you at this point, Princess," Elijah said, his tone smooth and confident. "And don't worry, I'm sure you'd feel it yourself if what you're hearing is the truth or not."

Elle paused for a moment, weighing her options. She knew that she had to find out what Elijah wanted from her, but at the same time, she could not simply trust his words just like that. "What do you want from me?" she finally asked after a heavy sigh.

"Good question. But..." he took what felt like a calculated pause. "...that's the question that I'm going to answer last, Princess."

Elijah's evasiveness with that question left her with another surge of unease. But she forced herself to remain calm at least outwardly. She needed to dig out as much information from him as she possibly could.

"Why are you wearing your mask now? Or are you an imposter and that's why you're hiding your face?" Elle wasn't sure why, but she had a niggling feeling that there was something off about Elijah - about this person who seemed to be Elijah, but yet is not. She was certain it was him based on his physique, voice, and that mask but... why was it that she felt like something was different about him? Was this really Elijah? "Are you really Elijah?" Elle finally blurted out, not able to hold it back. The man fell silent.

"That's not a question regarding yourself, Izabelle," he responded, causing Elle to clench her fists in frustration. She wanted answers, but she knew in that one answer from him that this man was not someone she could even force to just answer or even nag. He just felt like bad news and her instincts were screaming at her to be cautious when dealing with this person before her.

"Snow has told me that I will find the truth if I follow him. This means that you're going to be the one who would be providing me with the truth that I seek, is it not?" Though Elle was invisible and there was a chance that this man could not see her, she still pointed at him.

"Correct." he nodded sagely.

"Then tell me. What do you know about me?" Elle's voice was firm.

"I know everything about you," the man replied vaguely, moving to lean against the rectangular table-like object in the center of the altar. "I also know that you have the heart of the last pureblooded werewolf beating within your chest right now."

As she absorbed his words, Elle could not help but feel like she was suddenly in a nightmare. A nightmare that has no ending in sight. And her heart trembled within her.

He turned to face Elle as he continued. "Your heart is the last of its kind, Izabelle. And that's what makes that heart of yours special. There are no others like it and there never will be another that could be replicated to be the same."

Elle felt a shiver run down her spine as Elijah's words sank in. She had always known that her heart was different. That it was somehow special. But to hear it described as the last of its kind was something else entirely. Suddenly, Elle was struck with a recollection of Zeres' words when he had spoken about her heart a few hours ago. Her emotions began to stir within her as her eyes burned fiercely. "So, you're after my heart too? Do you want to take it away from me because it's not really mine?" she asked. Though she was trying to keep calm, even to her own ears, Elle could detect the fear and bitterness that tinged her tone as she spoke.

Elijah shook his head. "No, that heart belongs to you, Princess. It's destined to be yours," he replied.

Elle was surprised by his response. She had not been expecting those words to fall from his lips. "Destined to be mine? Do you have any proof of that? Because what I was told was that this heart was meant for someone else. That the man who gave me this heart had stolen it from its rightful owner."

"The rightful owner of that heart, Alyssa, died seven hundred years ago, Izabelle," Elijah informed her.

For a moment, she could not speak. Her mind was reeling with the implications of what he had just said. Seven hundred years ago. It was a span of time that was difficult to comprehend, a distant era of history that seemed mythical. She could not even fathom being alive for a hundred years, much less seven hundred.

"Seven hundred years..." she whispered, her voice barely audible. "That's...that's a really long time."

Her heart suddenly pounded hard within her chest at the realization that dawned on her out of the blue. Alyssa had died seven hundred years ago! Yet here was her heart, beating within her chest. It was a miracle, an anomaly that defied all explanation.

She looked at him, her eyes wide with wonder and confusion. "Then how come...how come it's still here?" she asked, her voice stammering a little. "How did this heart even survive all these years?"

"The heart is special, not only because it is the last pure werewolf's heart, but also because it has been infused with forbidden spells. In the past, a certain witch and a half-demon attempted to revive Alyssa by using the half-demon's blood as a sacrifice for the forbidden spell, but the attempt was unsuccessful."