Hellbound Heart

Background music: Derek Fiechter's Masquerade of the ghosts and Alex Roe's Dance of the blood.

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Elle almost stumbled because of what Elijah had just whispered to her. But thank God he was smooth enough to prevent that from happening and gracefully managed to continue their dance as if nothing had happened at all.

She was just thankful that the upper half of her face was covered with her phoenix wing inspired mask right now or else everyone would be audience to how embarrassed she was for almost tripping while dancing. Oh lord… she truly needed to keep her presence of mind running at full force! She could not believe she almost fell for what he just said! This man was really amazing to be able to talk so believably like that! To think that he even managed to send shivers down her spine was truly a feat in itself. Elijah could really pass as one of the world's best actors!

Forcing out a soft chuckle, Elle decided to play along his skit to perfection. "Vampires, hmm…" she paused for a moment to achieve what she hoped was a believable contemplation on her part. "I think I won't mind catching a glimpse of a real one. As long as he is not out for my blood."

For a moment, Elle saw an interesting complexity flash past his eyes. She was focused on his eyes just because she really could not stand how creepily beautiful his mask was up close.

"What will you do if I tell you that this place that you thought is a perfect paradise is actually hiding a deep dark secret?"

"Well, every place always has that, does it not? There is truly no place that is perfect – just the illusion that makes it seem so. Just like us… places have their own dark sides too."

A low and throaty chuckle came from him. "That's true," he admitted. And then, his voice and gaze became serious again. "So, you're saying that you have your own dark side…? I'm curious to know because you're too bright that one wouldn't believe that you have even a spot of darkness in you."

It was Elle's turn to smile. "Even the bright moon has a dark side, Prince Elijah."

"But I don't think you're a moon, my lady. You're much brighter than that."

Elle blinked and he continued. "You're more of a sun. And the sun doesn't have any dark sides. It is the source of light."

Speechless, Elle almost gasped at his words but she stopped herself and laughed quietly. "You're unexpectedly smooth, Prince Elijah."

"Unexpected…" he echoed, sounding curious. "Now I'm curious to know what you had been expecting."

"I'm just… my first impression of you is that talking to you would be awkward. But it seems that I was wrong. You felt friendlier than I had thought you would be. And I'm truly relieved for that matter."

"Did any of my family members made you feel awkward?" he asked her in a kind tone.

"Oh, no! Not at all!" Elle said without hesitation, "In fact, I enjoyed chatting with each one of them. It's just that my conversation with the other men in the family weren't like what we're having right now. I think it's because my conversation with them, except for Alexander, had usually been serious – formal I should say. I was honestly expecting you to be kind of serious as well, as this is our very first meeting." She beamed at him. She had wanted to let him know she was truly glad he was comfortable with joking around with her and did not need to remain so serious. If he was, Elle was afraid that she might be so tensed up right now, especially with that creepy mask of his and the incredibly uncanny atmosphere.

She made a turn and when she was close to him, she nearly gasped because he seemed to have reduced the distance between them. Before she could take a step back to maintain their earlier distance, Elle was frozen still at the dark whisper she heard. "What if I tell you that our conversation had never been a joke and was always serious since the very beginning?"

The words he said had Elle unable to respond. Something in his voice just made her feel like wanting to push herself as far away from him as possible. But… this man was just acting again, right? It must be! There was no way their conversation was serious! Only a child would think it was!

Taking a silent breath to regain her composure, Elle forced out another laugh. "You almost got me there. You are such a hell of an actor, Prince Elijah. Color me impressed."

"Then do you want to hear a secret, my lady?" he asked as though he did not hear what she had just said. And the pace of her heartbeat only increased at that statement. She also started to wonder why the music was not ending yet. A waltz like this should have long ended already and yet… it still seemed to be dragging on? Was this only because she was starting to feel nervous? And what secret was he going to disclose?

She feigned curiosity even though at the moment, all she wanted was nothing else but for the music to finally stop in order for this dance to end. She wanted to turn and look around at Lucas, because she really wanted to know if the music was really that long and was not just her imagination. But she was afraid that Lucas might notice she was uncomfortable and would step in to stop the dance – which was the height of rudeness in such a situation. And a scandal was the last thing she wanted being pegged to her name. So, as long as he was not trying to cross her limit, she would rather endure this strange and seemingly extended dance.

With her heart in her throat and doing her best to keep her composure, Elle nodded at him. "Of course." Was all she said, and he bent a little closer again to whisper into her ear.

Her heartbeat was pounding so loudly now that she felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest. And she did not know why she was suddenly whispering desperately 'help, please stop the music, stop this dance…' within herself.

"Here's the secret, my lady…" came his voice and Elle unconsciously held her breath. "You are –"

Then something pulled at her. But she swore she did not feel any hands touching her. It was like an invisible force that had removed her from Elijah's hold and made her do a single spin before spreading her arms out to her sides, as if to finally make a bow as thanks for the dance.

A familiar large hand grabbed her free hand and pulled her away.