Hellbound With You (WN)

Everyone was shocked at the sudden appearance of Ezekiel's majestic wings, unable to believe what they were seeing. Those pair of long and powerful flight mechanisms were flapping elegantly in the air, maintaining Ezekiel's position without any trouble. It seemingly felt that every slow upward and downward stroke was deliberate. Each fluttering of shiny inky black feather drove everyone looking to being dumbstruck in awe.

Kyle and Lucas were so shocked they were momentarily distracted from the fight – which was not something vampires of their calibre would ever do. But this just went to show how stunned they were with the current on-goings of their very own vampire prince. W-what was going on? Wings? My brother had wings? Since when?! How in the world… what the hell was going on?!

Even Lucas who was a close and loyal follower of the prince had absolutely no inkling of this part that apparently His Highness had concealed within himself. And conceal it well, he certainly did!

Because he was being distracted, Kyle nearly got slashed by one of the summoned demons that they were fighting. And if it were not for Lucas coming to Kyle's aid in blocking the demon's move, that would prove to be a fatal blow to the young vampire prince.

"Kyle! Concentrate!" Lucas roared at the young prince and Kyle could only flush in embarrassment and obey. He knew better from all the trainings he had been having, that distractions could very well mean the end of one's life in a battle. Knowing that he could not further afford anymore moments of distraction against this monster he and Lucas were facing. Or else, he might really die – and perhaps even implicate his partner to lose his own life as well.

Letting out a small but spirited grunt, Kyle resolutely shifted his eyes away from his brother who now was looking nowhere near vampire-like as the rest of them are. Kyle determined in his heart that he must – no, he will – survive this battle so he could question the hell out of his brother on not only this matter on what the hell was he exactly, but also on other various things he was sure to be still hiding from him.

At ground level

Alicia and Lilith who were also staring up in the air at where Ezekiel was hovering, remained frozen looking at the magnificent dark wings spreading out before them. Lilith could be seen to have her mouth partially hanging open due to the shock of seeing a vampire suddenly sprouting wings. What was this?! Was sprouting wings now similar to mushrooms sprouting after the rain?! Lilith felt as if the world views she had held onto for so long are being challenged greatly at this sight that it made her head spin.

Disbelief was clearly evident in Alicia's eyes, but she did not look to be as shocked as the other that was beside her. Instead, there was a deep look of realization that had sparked in her eyes, as if she had now finally found the answer to the puzzle that she had been unable to solve all this time, right until now. And from the look in her eyes, it seemed as if she was able to unravel and decipher that elusive answer from looking at this unbelievable scene that had unfolded in front of her.

Zeke's body blazed with staggering power. They could not see his expression from where they were since his back was facing them. But at that moment, goosebumps prickled and covered their skin just by looking at his shockingly large, formidable, and ebony wings, making him look like he was one of those awe-inspiring fallen angels who had emerged from the depths of hell itself.

Zeres smiled at the sight of Zeke's black wings that had finally grew from his back. It was working. He could almost not control his glee as it seemed that his plan was at long last taking shape! The real Ezekiel had finally showed up.

While everyone who were watching from the ground were still frozen shock due to utter disbelief, Zeres had already called forth another pair of demons from the underworld. But before the ninth demon could fully step out and materialize from the depths of the black vortex, it unexpectedly closed, and the vortex somehow reversed its original functions and ended up swallowing the ninth demon back to God knows where – one would have to assume it was back to the underworld. However, at that moment, no one was in the right frame of mind to bother about where the scourge ended up at. It could be sent out into the furthest reach of the universe for all they cared. Right now, what was of upmost importance was to stop the escalating of the chaos that Zeres was trying to hasten upon them all.

The next thing Zeres knew; the earth shook mightily, and he was viciously shoved and pinned down to the ground. The impact was so strong that it literally created a small crater, as if a decently sized meteorite had recently struck in the area. Blood spurted out like a small fountain from Zeres' mouth.

When he came to his senses a couple seconds later, he realized that Zeke's hand was outstretched, and his fingers were tightly curled around his neck – tight enough that he could feel the pressure and power exerted, but yet still not enough to completely cut off his breathing nor snap his head off to kill him right on the spot. This not only did not faze or throw Zeres off at all, but to one's consternation, those nearby enough could actually see Zeres who kept on smiling. His eyes were brilliantly offset on his face, blazing with nothing but an intensity that is clearly emitting a dangerous thrill despite the severity of his own situation at hand.

However, his smile eventually faded after a short few minutes after seeing that nothing had changed in Ezekiel's eyes. It was like a frigid wasteland, devoid of any living emotions whatsoever. If Zeres had hoped for something to flicker and come to life with the actions that he had been pushing with, he was to be sorely disappointed in the reactions – more aptly the lack of them – in the face of this vampire ice prince. They were dark bloody red and colder than any forms of ice, but this were still not the eyes he had wanted nor expected to see gazing at him from this familiar face.