Hellbound Heart

Letting the cold water fall onto his head, Sebastian stood like a sculpted statue under the shower. His head was hanging down listlessly as he braced his powerful arms against the tiled wall.

His mind was filled with nothing but her. His Izabelle. His still missing wife.

He saw her everywhere in their room and when he entered the bathroom, he saw her there too. His mind projected her figure sitting there in the tub. And now she was there right before him, looking up at him with her innocent but fierce eyes as he jailed her between his body and this very wall.

And when he reached out to caress her face, she smiled and then disappeared. Leaving him alone and clenching his fists, pressing his forehead against the cold hard wall.

Striding out of the bathroom with a gloomy face, he returned to their bed. He did not even bother buttoning his shirt before he fell back onto the bed. The back of his palm covering his eyes.

A long silence passed without him moving a muscle.

Then a wicked smile tugged at the corner of his lips. When... when had she become this important to him? When had she become his everything... even the very air that he breathed?

Since he found her to be gone, he felt as though he could no longer breathe well anymore. No, it was like there was no more air for him to breathe. He felt strangled, suffocated. Sinking to the bottom of the deepest ocean where air did not seem to exist. He had been stuck underwater ever since and he knew that no one could pull him out of this but her.

Her beautiful face, those clear blue eyes, that fiery red hair, her bright smile, her voice uttering his name... they were everywhere. Everywhere. Taunting him, teasing him, beckoning to him.

He already knew the extent of his desire for her. He already knew how much he wanted her. But this... he had not seen this coming. He did not think that he would find himself hanging on by a thread like this and already at the brink of insanity.

Now he knew that he did not only crazily desire and wanted her more than anything else in this world. He needed her. He f**king needed her. She was the air that he needed to stay alive!

He rose from the bed and slowly buttoned up his shirt. And then he started dressing up in an all-black getup as impeccably and regal as always. He stared at himself in the mirror as he pulled on his gloves.

"Like I promised... I will search for you even if I have to turn the entire world upside down. I'm afraid you might hate me for this... but baby, I don't care anymore. I just need you back with me. Safe and secure, here in my arms. I don't care whether you hate my method or not. I don't care if you fear me anymore." A dangerous gleam blazed in his eyes. And then a cold and heartless smile curved up on his handsome face. "I was a fool to think that all I need to do is to do better – to be as human as I possibly could. I was a fool to think that I can keep you if I try not to behave like the monster that I am."

Picking up her ponytail scrunchie once again, he shut his eyes closed as he inhaled her scent. Though he already knew her scent, he committed it to memory once again, wanting to make sure that there would be zero chance that he would mistake it for any others. "Make sure you're alright when I find you, Iza..." he whispered and when he opened his eyes, they were dark red – like the blood of the dead.

The door made a light sound as it was pushed open, but Sebastian did not even bother to turn his head. He had no interest in looking at who was at the door. All his interest in everything else had somehow faded and paled after the event of his wife going missing. The only thing that could rouse his interest was any news concerning Izabelle.

"Your Highness," Lucas greeted, "There's some news from Alexander."

Sebastian stilled but he did not react as wildly as Lucas was expecting him to, from how he had noticed the prince's desperate efforts for the past few days. He quietly and slowly twisted a red scrunchie around his wrist instead and then covered it with his black sleeves.

Feeling the suffocating atmosphere within the room, Lucas hurriedly continued his report. "Alexander said that they're making progress. It seems that they were still having trouble pinpointing the exact location of where she is."

"So they have already found a place..." Sebastian uttered in an emotionless voice.

"Yes, Your –"

"Where?" Sebastian cut Lucas off, just wanting to know where it was.

"Alexander didn't tell me the details, Your Highness. But he wanted you to stay put until they found the exact location –" Lucas broke off as Sebastian started to leave the room. "Prince Sebastian, where are you going?"

"To the Black Forest." His short reply stunned Lucas so much that his mouth hung open.

Lucas's eyes widened. Was this real? Did he somehow hear it wrongly? Sebastian was going to the Black Forest even though he knew that the witches were back in there?

"It's obvious Alexander is trying to hide her location from me. Guess I need to go there myself to get the information from him myself." Sebastian said flatly as he continued moving forward to leave the castle.

"Your Highness, Alexander just didn't want you to wreak havoc in a large place. That is why he had insisted on pinpointing the exact location first before letting you know... to at least minimize the unnecessary –" Lucas hurriedly tried to explain.

"I know." Sebastian smirked and then he was gone - just like that. Leaving Lucas scrambling to call Alexander. Because he had a feeling that Sebastian did not care about anything else now. He looked like he would not even care if he burned an entire city just to find his wife. That was something they could not possibly allow to happen!