Hellbound Heart

Even the falling leaves seemed to freeze in air for a few moments as Elle's world screeched to a halt.

But the moment she realized who was before her, everything resumed and she sucked in a breath. Alexander was smiling at her. It was a smile filled with pride and something a lot more.

"Simply incredible." He murmured and Elle realized that his hand was grabbing at the muzzle of her gun. Wait... did she manage to...

"Too bad you didn't land a perfect shot." He added before flashing her a mischievous grin. Looking at that familiar expression, Elle was so speechless that she sagged and bent over, facing the ground.

The adrenaline left her and now she felt like all the energy in her body was suddenly drained out of her. Weakness and lightheadedness then swarmed her, before she suddenly felt her eyelids become so damned heavy. That only made it more difficult for her to fight.

"Though I would like you to know..." Alexander trailed off when she went limp without warning and immediately squatted before her, hands outstretched to catch her in case she fell directly to the ground. "Izabelle?"

Quickly grabbing her shoulders and checking on her, Alex sighed and picked her unresponsive figure into his arms.

When he arrived at the meeting spot where everyone was waiting, Abi ran over to him even before he had stopped. Her expression was damned worried.

Alicia immediately checked on her and when she ruled that Elle had just passed out, they sighed out in obvious relief. Without wasting any more time, everyone had a tacit agreement and brought her back to the house and tucked her into bed.

The trio then gathered just outside Elle's room to finally listen to Alex's findings and to get a good grasp and know everything that happened during his hunt.

"Elle can literally conceal herself." Alexander stated without fanfare as he knew everyone was impatient and could not wait to know more. Leaning back against the wooden wall, he let out a long drawn out exhale. "No... to be more precise, she can make herself completely invisible. This is not a sleight of hand or some magic trick. This is as real as it gets."

Abi's eyes widened hearing the conclusion from her husband. She knew Alex would not joke or play around on matters of importance such as this. That only meant that Elle has some really impressive powers hidden within her!

"And the best part is, she doesn't even know she is or can do it." Alexander continued. "I am certain she's not even aware that she's actually invisible while she's hiding. Honestly, the reason why I managed to catch her was because she got wounded. I followed the scent of her blood and guess what I saw? Just her gun, floating in the air and aimed at me." An amazed smile tugged at the corner of Alex's lips. "When I grabbed it and touched her at the same time, she immediately became visible. It's such an interesting and amazing ability, isn't it? In the many long years I've been around, this is something I haven't seen before."

"As far as I can tell, witches don't have that type of invisibility spell too." Alicia said, her expression filled with interest now. "Considering that Elle isn't even aware of it, it means that this might not even be a spell since she didn't even need to chant any words or do anything. Somehow, it's just happening out of her control...?" Her eyes narrowed as she pondered on it a little more. "It's as if her ability is coming out when she needs it..."

"That's what I thought too." Alex nodded. "There's no better explanation about it than what you have just said. At least for now."

"So... just what is our Elle?" Abi hesitantly asked. "That's definitely magic and witches are the only ones who can wield magic aside from the halflings and me... Does this mean the theory that Elle is a witch is a fact now?"

Alicia shook her head. "No. We're not that certain yet. I don't think Elle is a witch. I've told you before, Abi... she's different. My initial theory is that she's a new hybrid that never appeared before, like a half-witch, half-vampire or maybe part of a combination of the three races... but I feel less confident about that now. I still feel like there's something completely different about Elle."

"Werewolves..." Alexander said. "Long ago, they too, existed. Everyone had believed they'd been completely annihilated and none of their kind had survived to this day. But... perhaps someone did manage to survive."

"So, Elle could be partly a werewolf...?" Abi was in disbelief, her eyes blinking as she tried to take that in.

"Of course, we're not sure about that yet, my love." Alex told her. "I had been thinking about it... somehow expecting it actually. That she'd suddenly shapeshift or something. This is why I had tried to push her quite hard. I had believed that if she's a werewolf or part werewolf, then she should be able to shapeshift. Or at the very least, she might be forced to show any signs that she was one. If that really turns out to be the case, I wanted that to happen now. While we're at least still here to help her to accept her reality and help her not to panic and get overwhelmed. It could be bad if she found out about all her abilities while she was alone or while she might be in the enemy's reach. But, that did not happen..." Alex sighed. "Maybe my theory is wrong. The ability she showed isn't something a werewolf or part werewolf possesses. I've met quite a few werewolves in the past. And I'm quite sure that none of them can make themselves invisible."

"I've been thinking that..." Alicia stared into Abi and Alex's eyes. "What if... the other part of her is a completely different race we've never known? One that we're not aware of...?"