Hellbound With You

The rogue vampires were indeed strange. Their eyes were not as red as normal vampires. They were a lighter red in color, almost orange, which was absolutely unusual. There had never seen vampires with such pale red eyes before.

Their skin was also very strange. They were as pale as a vampire's but something was off. Their veins were visibly bulging out and their color was dark gray, as if their blood was black. It made Abi shiver just looking at them.

But the worst thing was that they didn't seem to understand what Zeke was doing, as if they had no thoughts of their own and were only acting on the orders they were given.

None of them responded to Zeke's words. None of them trembled in fear at the sight of them. Maybe they weren't sent there to spy on them after all if they couldn't even understand what was being said.

Zeke scratched his nape and turned to Alex.

"I think you better leave these creatures to me, Alex. Take this witch with you and go back first," Zeke said. "Use this witch's power to hide your whereabouts, just in case these things are after you and not the witc –"

Before Zeke could even finish his words, the rogue vampires started to attack, causing Zeke to turn his full attention to the horde. A group of them came at him at once and he caught the first vampire who reached him by the face and slammed him on the ground with just one hand. He was strong enough that he created a dent on the ground with the vampire's face and the dust rose up around them. He then punched the next one in the face and the vampire flew backwards towards a tree trunk. He rolled to the side and caught the arm of the next vampire and flipped him to the ground before smashing his foot on its face.

Alex just sighed, itching to fight as well but he had a more important mission to accomplish. He needed to get Abigail and the witch away from here to safety. "Get inside, Abigail," he told her and Abi immediately nodded and did as he asked.

Once she was inside, Alex walked towards the witch, picked her up and put her on the backseat, tying her securely before he sat on the driver's seat.

Abi's eyes were on Zeke. She could see that Zeke was not losing at all despite the fact that he was outnumbered. It looked like there were about thirty rogue vampires, maybe more. It almost looked like that scene she saw when Alex fought with the rogue vampires alone in that castle. However, she could tell that Alicia was right. These vampires seemed stronger than the ones Alex fought which was unheard of because the sun was out, shining so brightly.

She saw that not one of the rogue vampires was able to touch Zeke but she was still worried because there were too many of them and Zeke wasn't an immortal.

"Will he be alright?" Abi asked Alex, sounding very worried. But Alex just smirked as he glanced at Zeke and started the car.

"Don't worry about that man, Abigail. I am the only one who can kill him," Alex answered confidently and with that, he put his foot on the pedal and left without even looking back at Zeke.

"Witch…" Alex called out. "Activate the spell or I will kill you right now," he threatened, his voice cold and menacing.

But Alicia didn't listen so Alex stopped the car and brought out a dagger. Alex's eyes burned fiery gold as he gazed at her with real warning and danger, freezing Alicia.

Still, she didn't give in. "You don't care if you die? Don't be such a martyr. I wonder what will happen to the witches if their next queen dies," he uttered as he lifted the dagger.

Alicia closed her eyes and finally, she chanted the spell.

Once they felt that the spell was cast, Alex put down the dagger. "Nice acting, witch," Alex told her and Abi let out a deep sigh.

She felt so tense being in this situation. Alex and Alicia's so-called acting felt so real that she actually thought for a second that Alex was actually going to hurt Alicia to make her obey.

"A-alicia… are you okay? Shouldn't we take care of her wounds first, Alex?" Abi asked Alex with a worried look on her face.

"Once we reach the palace, Abigail. We'll get there soon," Alex responded.

"But –"

"It's okay, Abigail. I'm fine." Alicia smiled at her to reassure Abigail but she looked like she was suffering.

Abi was a little hesitant because the last time they traveled, it took hours.

"I'm faster and a better driver than Zeke, Abigail." He smirked and once Abi looked out the windows, her jaw could only fall. It seemed that his speed when they last traveled here was the snail version and she was now getting the bullet train version.

"Those vampires… they looked strange..." Abi then uttered with a frown.

"That's right. I never saw a vampire like them in my entire life," Alex replied. Abi and Alicia were surprised. If Alex, who had lived for thousands of years, had never encountered anything like them before, did that mean those vampires were a new kind of species?

"Abigail," Alicia butted in. "Did you hear their heartbeats?"

Her question made Abi fall speechless. Her brows creased as she thought about it. She did hear it, their heartbeats but…

She shook her head.

"I don't know," she answered. "I heard them but it confused me. It's like… I couldn't figure it out because their heartbeats are so messed up. It's just different from vampires' or witches' or humans'," she explained, confused as well.

Alex pulled his brows into a knot. That was quite intriguing, he thought, and then something seemed to pop in his head, causing him to smile a smile filled with malice.

"It seems those creatures are not natural. I am certain they didn't exist in this world before. Meaning, they were created in this modern age," Alex said.

Alicia and Abi looked at him with surprise.

"Are you saying someone created these vampires?"