Hellbound With You (WN)

Thie chapter is dedicated to @_Basia_! Thank you so much for the supergift!

Zeres had rushed over and just reached the building where Zeke was residing in when Alex suddenly showed up, stopping him from going further in.

"Yo White Dragon! Been a while! How have you been?" Alex was grinning as he draped his arm around Zeres' shoulders.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" he was taken aback at seeing Alex in front of Zeke's place.

"What. You're not happy to see me?" Alex arched one of his brows at Zeres and the silver-haired man only shook his head.

"I'm sorry but I need to go. I'm in a rush." Zeres attempted to remove Alex's arm from his shoulders, but the man did not even budge an inch, causing Zeres to frown at him. Why was Alex stopping him from going in?

"Are you going in there to go check on Alicia?" Alex bent his head next to his and spoke in a low voice.

Alex's whisper made his eyes widen. How did Alexander know about Alicia? Did Kiel tell him about her?

"You don't need to go there anymore. Don't worry, Zeke's keeping her from disappearing." The shock that came over Zeres' face upon hearing these words worsened. What had Zeke done?

"How… How come you know about all of this, Alexander?" Zeres asked, eyes still widening. He had just had a nightmare where Alicia had reached her time limit in her spirit form, and had disappeared for good now. It shocked and scared him to his very core, causing him to be jolted awake from his deep sleep. He could never accept it if Alicia was indeed gone.

"I have my own source of information I can't disclose to you, you know that right. But listen here…" Alex's face was serious now. "Be rest assured I know exactly what's going on with her. Alicia won't disappear as long as she does not get physically separated from Zeke." He explained the gist of it to Zeres to reassure the man that Alicia was in no danger of disappearing right at the moment.

Zeres' frown became deeper. "Explain to me in detail Alexander, or I'll go to Kiel myself right now." Zeres eyes were flashing with a threatening light and Alex knew that if he did not tell the man what he wanted to know, he would definitely barge in and cause a ruckus right now.

"Zeke's using his demonic powers to keep her here. He had returned her back into her physical form because that's the only way to keep her here for now. Due to that, her physical body now only has the strength of a normal human being, though. I know I don't need to explain to you anymore, but I'm sorry. I can't let you get past me, Zeres."

"Why?" Zeres voice was rumbling low as he asked Alex that. He sensed that many strong vampires were milling around in the vicinity. They were all here to guard someone. And that someone was no other than Kiel. But why? When did Kiel needed guards – like in ever? And to think that Alexander is here too to guard him? What on earth was happening? There must be something else that Alex was not telling him.

Bending over, Alex whispered in Zeres' ear. "I know you see all these people here. That's because Zeke's pretty vulnerable right now. Keeping Alicia from disappearing requires a hell lot of his power. What he's doing right now was something unthinkable after all. Since he's basically keeping someone dead, alive. And if someone were to come and attack him now, there's no way he could fight back properly, since Alicia is with him too."

For a long while, Zeres did not speak. He just stood there quietly after hearing Alex's statement.

"And you're not going to let me near him because I am a threat to Kiel's life right now. Is that right?" Zeres eventually broke the silence and Alex held his gaze in a rare serious manner.

"Yes." There was no hesitation in Alex's voice. "You're a witch and I know the issues between Zeke and the witches. I don't intend to take sides between Zeke and you but… if Zeke comes at you when you're the one in a vulnerable state and couldn't fight back, I would also do the same thing for you. I would definitely stop him."

Zeres did not talk back and just stared hard at Alexander. His impassive face did not show what was going on in that mind of his.

"Don't worry about Alicia. I can assure you that she'll be alright as long as you don't go in there and attack Zeke. And if you think about it positively, this will buy you more time to find that book. And isn't that a good thing to you?"

A small disbelieving smile tugged at Zeres' lips when Alex mentioned that.

"I can't believe you know about this too. Was Kiel the one who told you this?"

"Nope. It's not Zeke. Told you, I have my own sources. And they are very reliable." Alex said in a serious tone but winked at Zeres.

"Fine…" Zeres breathed out, giving up on his intention of barging into Zeke's place. "You can take your hands off me now, Alexander. As long as Alicia's alright, I am not going to do anything. But I am holding you to this…" he ended with a veiled warning to Alex.

Alex's gaze seemed to search his face before nodding and letting go of him. "Good. I can guarantee it."

"Before I go back, do you happen to know if there's a time limit for Kiel to keep Alicia here?" Zeres was calm now. If the person talking to him now was not Alexander, he would have already bolted inside Kiel's house even if he had to fight off all these vampires around.

But it was Alexander this time, and he knew that he just… trusted him.

"Ten days to be exact." Alex said. "So you have less than ten days left to find that book. You think you can make it?"

"So you also know that the book I am looking for will really be able to save Alicia?"

"Yep." Alex's simple confirmation was enough for Zeres.

Another stretch of silence reigned between them. Zeres really wanted to know what or who was Alexander's source of information to become this certain about things. He was itching to ask, but he just had a hunch that the man would not tell him about it no matter how he asked.

"By the way Zeres you, idiot," Alex raised a brow at him as he called him names. "How could you not come visit your niece and nephew?"

Those words made Zeres stilled, and he could not answer Alex's question.

"You're going to come for their baby shower, or I'll come drag your ass over, do you hear me?" Alex grumpily said when Zeres turned around to leave.

However, after taking a few steps, Zeres halted and spoke without turning back to Alex. "When? The baby shower, I mean."

Alex grinned. "Next week."

"If I can find the book before that, I will come." He replied before he disappeared, leaving the obvious opposite unsaid.