Hellbound Heart

Elle's lips parted and her jaw dropped.

But then, everything came flashing through her mind like a film reel that was playing at high speed. Different scenes popped up, lending weight to the claim of what Sebastian had just told her. What Elijah had told her, everything that she saw while at the masquerade party, the mind boggling cracks on their bathroom wall, Sebastian catching up to her with impossible speed even when she had a head start, and those strange changes in his pupils...

Elle had initially brushed all those bizarre things off her mind and convinced herself that they were nothing more than her seeing things due to tiredness and stress, and perhaps her usual habit of thinking too much.

However, with Sebastian telling her directly as it was, and looking back at the many instances that had been hard to explain, she could no longer tell herself that it was all only in her imagination. Now, even her logic could not even deny it anymore. In fact, if she plugged in the reasoning where Sebastian was a vampire, then every single thing that she had been finding confusing or almost impossible, was now perfectly explainable. It fell so perfectly into place that Elle felt it was as though a jigsaw puzzle had found its missing pieces and had it all placed back in the proper places.

"Va-vampire...?" she uttered almost inaudibly. The only thing moving as she continued to stare at him were her lips, and her faltering eyes. It was not as though she had never heard of this word before. But... she had never, in her wildest dreams, ever thought it would come up in a discussion between herself and her husband. Her mind suddenly felt sluggish as she tried to consolidate the fact that her husband, Sebastian Reign, was telling her that he is a vampire.

He nodded and when she just froze, he carefully and gently took her hand and brought it to his face. Cupping her palms on his slightly cooled cheek, he whispered to her, "Don't be scared... I'm not going to suck your blood or hurt you. You know that, right?" he asked her as he started planting light kisses over the back of her knuckles. "There is nothing for you to be worried about, baby. I promise you that. You believe me, right? Izabelle?"

His eyes were so intense as he stared into hers that in that dizzying, mind-numbing moment, the pleading look in his eyes was what pulled her out of the paralyzing trance. She then started to notice how gently he seemed to be holding her, how light his kisses on her hand were and how calm and warm his expression and aura seemed to be. Everything was the complete opposite of how his eyes looked right now. She could almost see the desperate emotions swirling violently in his eyes as he stared at her through the strands of those dark hair that hung over his eyes.

"Answer me, Iza... tell me... tell me that I don't terrify you. Tell me, baby..." his voice dropped so low it sounded so gently hoarse and deep. And Elle could also tell how much he wanted her to say those words. That she did not fear him.

Elle lifted her hands. Her fingers were slightly trembling, but she did not stop until they slowly landed on his face.

She stilled for a long while, not retracting her hand, just watching him like she was lost and did not know what to do or say or feel. Until her thumb moved in a small circular motion and caressed his cheek.

There was only one thing that she was certain about at this moment. And that was, she was not as terrified as she thought she ought to be at the fact that he was a vampire. She remembered the night when they met and it was still vivid to her how she felt and thought that he was dangerous and terrifying. Yet even then, she had never felt that kind of fear strong enough to make her run away from him, screaming bloody murder.

It was incredible and unsettling how she was feeling the same at this moment too. Her body was instinctively reacting just how some normal person would most probably react from learning about things this insane. But her heart... it was as if her heart was not capable of fearing this man at all. The fear was not there and only seemed to exist in her head.

Before she could even make a sound to respond, Sebastian broke the heavy silence once again. "It's fine if you're scared right now..." he covered her hand over his face, "... I'll prove to you that there is nothing you need to be scared about, now that you know I am a vampire, Izabelle."

He pulled her back into his embrace and wrapped her tightly against him as he continued whispering gentle reassurances into her ears. Whispers that slowly dissolved every tenseness in Elle's body and had made her shut her eyes in glad surrender.

The next time she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a beautiful reddish hue of the sky. Blinking slowly, she watched the beautiful sky until she realized that she was cradled in someone's arms.

Her eyes widened with a start and found that she was still in Sebastian's arms and they were... still... on that very same bench they had sat on last night! Lord, they had slept out here?! Wait, did he even sleep?!

"W-why are we..." she trailed off, forgetting her words at the sight of his gorgeous face being kissed by the soft morning sun rays.

"I didn't want you to wake you up when you finally relaxed and fell asleep." he replied, causing Elle's lips to involuntary hang slightly open.

"Did... did you even get any sleep at all?" Elle asked, a little worried.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips and Elle had to bite her lip not to groan and curse him for being so unfairly handsome.

"Vampires don't really need that much sleep, Izabelle."

That statement had her turning still. Wait... that was right... last night...!