Hellbound With You

Alex's gaze flew to Zeres' face, eyes narrowed with suspicion as his heart thudded in his chest. Alex clenched his fists but kept his face and tone neutral, as if those words bore no weight.

"Don't fabricate things, witch. The king would never look for me," Alex replied, seemingly unbothered. Alex knew that there was no way his father would ever look for him. He was the black sheep of the family, a waste of space and time. But even so, a small light of hope flickered inside of him. Even though his brain knew for a fact that he was nothing in his father's eyes, Alex still wasn't able to crush that hope that maybe his father did care, that maybe his father was actually looking for him. And he hated himself for it. He hated the fact that he couldn't seem to stop himself from hoping. He loathed himself for giving his father this kind of control over him, hated the fact that even after what his family had put him through, he still wanted their acceptance.

Silence enveloped the small room. It was obvious that young Alex wasn't pleased with what Zeres said.

"Well, it's not my problem if you don't believe me," Zeres simply shrugged.

But, young Abigail looked like she didn't like the news Zeres had brought, causing Alex to feel surprised when he saw that look on Abigail's face.

Young Alex stared at her, with the thought that he was probably just reading too much into her expression, but the longer he observed her sad face, the more he wanted to see her smile.

"I am not going back even if that's true," he mumbled, his eyes never leaving her face, waiting for the reaction she would show upon hearing him.

The girl's eyes slightly widened as she looked up at him. Her bright eyes glimmered and he could tell that what he said made her happy. A small smile was about to form on young Alex's face when suddenly, a ball of silver light passed by between them in a whoosh!

Young Alex immediately looked at Zeres and the two halflings continued their glaring competition.

"Okay. You two stay here for a bit and let your wounds heal. I'll go make some food for us," Young Abigail said and she left the room, leaving the two wounded halflings by themselves.

The two were quiet for a long while until Zeres spoke. "Are you here to befriend Abigail so that you can use her? Is that what you're after, bloodsucker?"

Young Alex simply glanced at him. He didn't say anything and just leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and completely ignoring the silver-haired young man next to him.

Zeres' veins popped in annoyance. How could this little half-vampire ignore him like this?!

"I am warning you. Don't even think about betraying her. Hmmm, on second thought, if you want to turn into ash, please be my guest and do so," Zeres continued, giving Alex a smug smirk.

Even then, young Alex just remained quiet, seemingly not paying Zeres any attention at all.

"Tch! What a boring bloodsucker!" the half-witch mumbled, obviously displeased.

Time was quick to pass by. Abigail had come back with three bowls of soup and everyone ate in silence. The rest of the day was spent inside the house with Abigail cleaning and prepping the food that they gathered, and the two wounded halflings resting in the room. There was no further conversation between the two.

Zeres' wound eventually healed by the time the sun dropped below the horizon to be replaced by the moon. Unfortunately for Zeres, he needed to leave again. He was visibly upset that he had to leave, but he had no choice.

"Once everything settles down at my end. I am going to stay here, too, Abigail," he suddenly declared, glaring at Alex with obvious jealousy, before he finally left.

Young Abi sighed and sat on the bench outside the wooden house, her eyes looking out into the forest where Zeres had disappeared into.

"I wish I could help Zeres," Abi said, causing the young man next to her to crease his brows.

"Is he in big trouble?"

"Mm. Zeres said he had to stay with his queen mother to protect her from the witch hunters. It seems that even the witch queen is being targeted. It must be hard for him."

Alex didn't say a word. He knew about the witches' situation. He knew that Zeres had to go at night because nighttime was the vampires' favorite time to attack because they were stronger at night than during the day.

In the palace, young Alex had seen many of the witches become slaves. In fact, he knew about the vampire royal family's plan to catch the witch queen or any of the rare silver-haired witches. They had been trying for years and they still hadn't managed to catch a single silver-haired witch, which made Alex think that the witches were equally powerful to be able to evade the grasp of his ruthless father, who didn't care for anything or anyone but himself.

"I'm certain he can manage, especially since he's the witch queen's son. I'm sure they will be just fine," Alex could only say and his words were enough to make the girl smile.

"Mm, that's right. Zeres is strong in his own way, too," she replied.

She stretched her arms out and looked up at the starry night sky. Young Alex followed her gaze and the two of them just sat in comfortable silence, just staring at the sky.

"The sky is really beautiful tonight," young Abi mumbled as she looked at Alex.

"Yeah. I never thought the sky could be this beautiful."

Young Abigail smiled at him. "You just need to gaze up at the sky sometimes when you're alone, Alexander. You will see that the sky is always beautiful."

He averted his gaze from her and a slight smile curved on his lips. "I have been doing that often Abigail, gazing up at the stars every time I'm alone, wondering if there is a place out there for me. It has never looked this beautiful to me, though… it used to look dark, empty and even the stars looked dull…" His smile faded. "I think the sky became beautiful because I'm gazing at it next to you."