Hellbound Heart

At the top of the hill, Elijah was sitting leisurely on a rock with his legs crossed and looking down at the road far below. One arm was crossed over his knee while the other, he was using it to lazily rest his face on his knuckles. The way he was observing the things happening down below was as though he were watching some interesting but light TV drama.

"H-he's looking at you." Mike broke the silence. "Are you sure about this, Your Highness? What if Prince Sebastian ends up coming after us?"

"No, he won't." Elijah replied with nonchalance. However, there was a hint of confidence in his tone as though he was very sure that what Mike was afraid of would not happen.

"I don't know about that. Can't you see he's super angry right now?" Mike's tone wavered a little as he could feel Prince Sebastian's heavy gaze and the pressure exerted even all the way here. He shivered at the thought of Prince Sebastian's mad rage.

"Not angry enough." Elijah only shook his head rather playfully, not taking Mike's concern to heart.

Mike sighed, shaking his head. "I still believe he'd come at us once he's done slaughtering everyone else. You do know he could still take all those rogues down on his own, right?"

Elijah glanced at Mike like the man had said something really stupid.

"Don't you dare f**king insult the power of a Reign, you big idiot." Elijah said in a neutral yet scary voice. And his words only confused Mike. Bloody Mary... was he actually defending his enemy now? I really cannot understand this man sometimes!!!

"Though his other powers are gone, and he's now, well... a little tamed, his vampiric prowess as a Reign has always been there." Elijah continued.

Mike scratched the back of his neck. "So, you believed before you even dispatched those rogues that they'd end up getting destroyed by Prince Sebastian...?"

"If he chooses to fight... that is. But Sunshine's there. He might choose flight over fight."

"Really? Prince Sebastian would even consider running away?! I don't think that's possible, Your Highness." Mike laughed awkwardly. Never had he heard of Prince Sebastian running away from a fight. Chances are even higher for him to run towards a fight rather than away from one!

"Perhaps before, that might have been impossible. But now, he's changed. I don't think he'd let her see him slaughter those men."

Mike's lips formed an 'o' but then, his brows creased with confusion once again. "What would we do if he chose to run away, then?" he asked, still looking more and more confused.

Elijah tilted his head and returned the question to Mike. "What do you think?"

"We'll chase after them? Since well, our goal is actually to stop them from reaching Alexander's territory and especially the Black Forest." Mike tried guessing as he scratched his head, knowing that he was just throwing out guesses.

A mysterious smile graced Elijah's handsome face as he shook his head ever so slightly.

Mike gawked in surprise. "What?! No... you're just kidding right..." he let out a short awkward laugh.

"There's no way you're just going to stay still and watch them escape, right? You've waited for so long and planned so meticulously... only to let this opportunity slip away just like that?" Mike continued, reasoning out for himself. "By the way, Your Highness... there's still one thing I can't quite understand. Why did you wait for such a long time before taking actions against Prince Sebastian? I believe that there were a lot of opportunities before this as well. And during those times, I believe that Prince Sebastian isn't as dangerous as he is right now."

"What made you think that Sebastian's more dangerous now?" Elijah glanced at him, an elegant brow arched up in question while one corner of his lips curled up minutely.

"Well... just look at how he always seems to be on edge lately. It feels like the moment he manages to get his hands on you, he'd turn right around and torture you nice and slow until you are just begging for death. He used to not react this intensely at all no matter how you had provoked him." Mike pointed out the points that he felt were key in arguing his case.

Another soft smile flashed across Elijah's lips. "That's where you are wrong. Sebastian's at his weakest state right now. Weakest, Mike. Desperate... state..." The last two words were a whisper when it came out of Elijah's lips. "It wouldn't be fun at all if I actually came at him seriously before he was brought to a state like this, wouldn't it? It would be one hell of a boring game, don't you think so, Mike?" Turning around, Elijah looked back down the hill where Sebastian was before a twisted grin flashed quickly across his face, full of meaning but one that Mike could not decipher no matter how he thought about it.

"Er... I think so, Your Highness." Mike agreed to his Lord's statement. That was all he could respond with.

The atmosphere very quickly became heavier, reeking with something so strong that it was enough to make any oblivious passerby feel a chill crawl over their skin.

"P-prince Elijah..." Mike could no longer stop himself from breaking the heavy silence. He was literally sweating where he stood. "I think they're about to escape! I think you should do something now before they..." Mike trailed off as Elijah finally rose from his sitting position.

Taking a steady step up, Elijah stood on top of the stone he had been initially sitting on and shoved one of his hands into his coat pocket. His long dark coat was fluttering about, dancing in the soft breeze that blew in from behind him.

His grey eyes that were warm, relaxed and nonchalant earlier, suddenly turned cold, so cold that the temperature of the very air around him dropped significantly. "I had waited so long for this... Sebastian..." He uttered in a sibilant manner, meeting Sebastian's gaze from far down the road. "It's time... it's time for the real game to begin... I can't wait... I can't wait to watch you suffer slowly and finally lose your mind... It's time for you to pay... for everything."