Hellbound With You (WN)

Alicia's eyes were wide with disbelief. It felt quite surreal that she didn't know how to react. Did they really, finally found it?! They have been travelling for so long, combing through different continents, visiting cavern after cavern, only to be disappointed and let down time and again. It somehow didn't feel quite real that they finally managed to track down the ever-elusive cavern. Alicia's initial thought was to burst out in joy, but for some reason, the joy wasn't there.

"But there is a problem Kiel needs to deal with first and foremost before we can head over and get to attack the cavern." Zeres continued.

"A-attack? There are rogue vampires there too?"

"Yes. Apparently, that place is where they had set up their headquarters. We must clear the place before bringing you there. We needed back up."

Alicia frowned. It was hard for her to believe that they needed a back-up against a group of rogue vampires. These vampires and Zeres that she travels with are not your everyday run-of-the-mill ordinary vampires or witch. To be fair, they are as far from ordinary as can be. Ezekiel alone could deal with thousands and Zeres can ignite countless rouge vampires in one go. Not to mention the added strength of Lucas and Kyle. Their group was invincible and yet Ezekiel had left to ensure that they had sufficient back-up?

She was about to shake her head when a solemn thought popped into her head. Wait… could it be that there was another enemy who was like Dinah, or God-forbid, someone even stronger than her!? This thought that had seemed so random, was now making more sense as in her mind, it was the only plausible reason Alicia could come up with the reason why they needed to fetch more people as back-ups. But who was this enemy? Just where did they come from?

With wide eyes, Alicia stared at Zeres as if she was waiting for him to suddenly burst out laughing and finally tell her that he was just kidding. But the man was serious, and she couldn't see even a hint that he was lying. His words rang clearly with the truth.

"So, let me get this straight. Are you saying that we have a new enemy right now?" she finally managed to ask after arranging her thoughts, and when he nodded, Alicia frowned even harder. "Who are they? Don't tell me it's another immortal." Alicia could feel her skin crawl as she asked that last question. She remembered that many of them barely survived with the incident of the last immortal getting on their case. Riev's face also appeared in her head which she tried to immediately erase in her thoughts.

"I still don't know but Kiel left to fetch the vampire prophetess over and probably, Alexander as well. I'm sorry but I cannot say any more on this yet, Alicia. Kiel still have yet to explain the details to me properly. He just told us to wait for him here. He should be arriving back here tomorrow morning."

Alicia's gaze remained locked onto his. At first, her gaze seemed to hold nothing more than a disbelieving inquiry, but as it continued to hold on, he realized that she was attempting her hardest to read him.

Zeres casually collected the now empty food tray and with a small smile, he said, "So we'll just hang around here for the rest of the day."

He turned to leave the room, holding the tray in his hand when Alicia reached out and grabbed a fistful of his cloak, causing Zeres to halt mid step. "Hold on… Make sure you come back here after leaving the things in the kitchen. I still have many questions for you."

"I will be back soon." He replied and disappeared as soon as she let go of his cloak.

For some reason, unease had suddenly gripped her insides. The worse thing was she knew Zeres wasn't lying. And yet she could not feel the gladness and relief she was supposed to be feeling now that they finally found what they were looking for. And even if there was indeed an immortal enemy, it shouldn't be enough to make her feel like this. Right? They have with them three immortals on their side, plus there's Ezekiel too. There was absolutely no need for these uneasy feelings to bubble out. So why was her instincts screaming bloody murder at her?

Alicia took a deep breath and then shook her head as though by doing so, she could ease those feelings that had started to overwhelm her. Forcing herself to believe that perhaps, she had weakened emotionally as well and that was why she was having this seemingly exaggerated emotional reaction.

"Why don't you come out of the room and take a nice stroll outside? Anyway, time is what we have at the moment. We have a day and a night to spare." Zeres suggested as soon as he was back.

Staring at him again, Alicia shook her head. "Nope. I don't want to waste any strength left in me. I had better sit and rest in the room here all day to preserve whatever little strength I have left."

"You're right…" Zeres walked towards the window and stood there. His gaze focused on the mountain ranges towering across the thick forest, while Alicia's gaze remained locked on him. He could feel her eyes boring into his back, observing him intently.

"What happened last night?" she finally asked.

"Hm?" he looked at her over his shoulder. "I already answered tha –"

"Yes. You and Ezekiel ventured out last night and found the cavern. But I'm curious… did something happen to you last night?"

"Nothing much, I just fought against a horde of undead vampires." He shrugged. Alicia's eyes twitched slightly but she eventually eased back against the headboard and sighed.

"I don't know. Somehow you feel… different…" she muttered, not realizing she had said it out loud until Zeres' expression changed. "Uh… I meant… well, you're talking to me again. You're even smiling again."

He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm just… glad we finally found the cavern."

"Oh, right." Alicia nodded in agreement. Of course, that could be the reason why he seemed to be his usual self again. But…

"By the way," Zeres broke off and her attention was pulled from her own thoughts back to him. "Would you like to do the honours of cutting my hair?"