This chapter is dedicated to @Sacogun! Thank you so much for the supergift!
“And the very first step for them to do is to slaughter us all. All the royal vampires except himself, of course. I have learned about their plans earlier, so I plotted our escape. But my siblings were too weak to endure after all the long years of being imprisoned. And Seb had it way worse than any of us. His situation was so bad that he couldn’t even get up. And with my miserable powers back then, it truly was not possible for any of us to be able to escape successfully. But I eventually found a way. My siblings told me to go alone. They were all aware that I was the only who would manage to escape with that plan that I had hatched. Left without a choice, I did exactly what they told me to, promising them that I would be coming back for them soon.”
His grip on her wrist tightened as he shut his eyes closed again, seemingly lost in his memories. He only looked up and spoke again after a long time of silence. But Alicia patiently waited for him to speak. “Before mother died years ago in the hands of that witch, she had told me to go to a certain place. So I went there… many things happened… I was pursued for I don’t know how long. Forced to the brink of death. I didn’t reach the place that my mother had wanted me to go. Because something in me had awakened. My demonic powers, something I didn’t know I even possessed had somehow awakened. It was then that it all started. I became invincible. I rushed back to the Black Forest to save my family. But…”
The heavy and dark aura oozed from him in an instant, turning the entire living room ominous and suffocating.
Panic instantly gripped Alicia’s heart. But the very first thing she did was to touch his face, caressing his cheek as gently as she could instead of trying to pull as far as she could away from him.
Her touch seemed to do something to him. The heavy and suffocating atmosphere seemed to break, and he took in a silent breath and the air around them cleared. It was as if he had sucked in every bit of what had come out of him and locked them securely within him again, leaving nothing behind. As if the outburst had never happened at all.
And he looked like the usual ever so calm and collected Ezekiel again.
“I was too late.” He continued. “They did welcome me… but it was with their cold, stiff and dead bodies. I made that vow at that moment while looking at my sibling’s bodies.” His voice was so cold and detached that if Alicia did not know better, she would think he was talking about someone else that he was not acquainted with. ~
But the corner of his mouth twisted up after that and Alicia felt her heart shuddered hard again. “Then I came at them and slaughtered them all. Like the very deserving animals they were.” The smiled faded. “I had literally gone mad. I made my father watch as I killed his mistress before his very eyes using the cruellest way possible. And I didn’t stop there. I killed countless innocent others in the midst of my madness. I blamed them all for being bystanders who did not do anything to help. My powers just kept increasing, uncontrollable, like I am sucking all the darkness from hell. I had a feeling then that I would soon be overcome by my tremendous powers, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care what happens next as long as I could destroy everything… and everyone…”
Silence reigned after that. It took them both a while to realize that Alicia was already sitting in his lap and hugging him tight, wrapping her arms around his neck in her attempt to comfort him. Alicia stiffened at the realization and her heart began to race. A little afraid once again that he would not like her comfort and push her away. To her shocked surprise, his hands slowly came up and curled around her waist and back and pulled her closer to his hard body.
“It seems this helped me stay in control without trying too hard.” He whispered and that made her shiver a little in a good way. “If I had known, I should’ve spared myself from all those taxing internal battles. Because right now, it’s amazing how calm you feel. You were a violent storm wreaking havoc before this. I hope this isn’t just the eye of the storm though. Or I’d be damned again in the next few minutes.”
“Are you saying you don’t hate this? Me hugging you and touching you?” Alicia whispered out her question, not knowing why she was even whispering.
“You don’t remind me of that woman, Alicia. Not even close. If you do, I couldn’t even make myself kiss you no matter how seductive you are.” He told her seriously.
She pulled away in an instant, wide-eyed, but not forgetting to keep her hand on his bare neck and maintain skin contact with him.
“Then why…”
He stared deep into her eyes. “Taking you isn’t a part of my plan, Alicia.”
She just stared back at him, holding his gaze. But despite the lack of words, she knew that he understood the begging in her eyes for him to explain that to her.
“I don’t want to do anything that might end up hurting you.” he sighed out and said that helplessly.
Her frown deepened. “But you said you know a way to -“
“I don’t want you to form any more physical or emotional attachment to me. Because… I’d be gone soon. And I won’t be coming back.”
“W-what? Are you going to kill yourself?!!” she jumped up and exclaimed, eyes rounded in shock.
Thankfully, he shook his head, smiling as if he found what she had just said to be quite funny.
“No, Alicia. I don’t have a plan to follow in Alex’s footsteps. I’m just leaving.” His response was so cryptic that Alicia scrunched her brows.
“Where?” she asked pointedly.
“To where I belong..”