Hellbound Heart

Before anyone could say anything, Abi heard Alice calling for her, so she left, leaving Elle and Alicia alone together in the room.

The silence was heavy for a long while and somehow, Elle could tell Alicia must be weighing her options on whether she should answer that question or not. Elle could feel that the topic was something hard even for Alicia. So she just looked down and waited patiently. She did not want to pressure Alicia at all to answer her.

"Elijah…" Elle started in a soft voice. "He told me his story. On why he hated Sebastian so much. He said that it was Prince Ezekiel who had driven his mother insane until she… she killed herself. And then… he told me Prince Ezekiel had tried to drive him insane too. All because Prince Ezekiel couldn't accept that Elijah was the one the prophetess saw in her vision to be king of vampires one day."

Slowly, Elle looked up at Alicia. "Abi had told me about Prince Ezekiel. So, I am in doubt of Elijah's story. I don't know anything… it was Elijah who told me that Sebastian had been locked in a dungeon for… for seven hundred years. I just want to know… something."

Elle's voice trembled a little with emotion when Alicia reached out and touched her hand gently.

"I can't say anything about Elijah's story because my husband and I never had the chance to talk about him." Alicia said. "But… about Sebastian being locked in the dungeon… that was true."

Elle's eyes circled wide. "F-for seven… hundred years?!" she stammered as her heart quaked. Unable to even fathom how it was possible for someone to be imprisoned that long.

When Alicia nodded with sadness in her eyes, Elle's heart squeezed so hard within her. Her throat ached so bitterly that she could not speak. How… why…

She wanted to deny it. She wanted to not believe that it was true. That it was just an exaggerated story. But now that Alicia was confirming it personally, her heart was like a glass cracking nonstop. She could not even imagine why someone would get locked up for such a long period of time.

"Sebastian was a teenager when he was first put into the dungeon." Alicia continued. Her gaze remained trained on the window. "He didn't age while he was in there until his release ten years ago."

"W-why?" Elle's voice croaked. "Why must he suffer like that? Why was he even locked up for that long? Why didn't Alexander or his other family members let him out?" Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears as her throat felt swollen from the emotions she was trying to suppress.

Alicia stared at her. She had seen it in Elle's eyes ever since the first time she saw her. This lady loves Sebastian. She could tell from the first sight of her that she was the one who had brought life and light back into Sebastian's eyes. She believed that this lady was Sebastian's salvation.

Knowing Sebastian, Alicia knew that he could never tell his story to anyone. Not even to Elle. Perhaps, one day, but with all the damage inflicted onto Sebastian, Alicia doubted he could open up to her any time soon, or at all. She understood that his past was just something too hellish and heartbreaking that she could see where he was coming from and would not even blame him one bit if he wanted to keep it a secret even from the most important person in his life. If she was in his shoes, she was not even sure if she could ever talk about any of it. To speak of those memories and relive that trauma once again.

However, Alicia had been in Izabelle's shoes before. And Alicia believes that Elle must know, even if it was only a little of it. She must know at least a little of his past so she could understand Sebastian more. She also believes that if Izabelle knows, she would be able to sympathize more and help him. Alicia believes Izabelle has the power to support and hold Sebastian together. She believes that Izabelle could embrace all of Sebastian's broken pieces and darkness. She just had the gut feeling that this young lady could.

Izabelle must know now. She could not be kept in the dark anymore, especially now that Elijah had started to make his move in feeding her stories that she believed were certainly twisted and skewed to his own point of view.

Alicia knew that she could not count on Sebastian right now. Even if she could talk to him about it, Alicia felt that Sebastian would not be able to do it. Not just yet. She was the only one who could tell Elle right now.

"Long ago, my husband, Sebastian, and their two sisters were imprisoned by a deranged witch queen." Alicia's hand on her lap clenched into tight balls. "They were used as… subjects for that witch's experiment. For years… they… my husband and Sebastian were… physically, emotionally, and sexually assaulted…"

Elle immediately remembered Sebastian's rules, his reactions when he was being touched and kissed. She remembered the monster he had told her about and her heart and entire being shivered uncontrollably.

"Even after the experiment was finally completed… Sebastian was being left with that witch queen. That deranged monster didn't let them go and wanted to have Sebastian all for herself. My husband, Prince Ezekiel had an awakening and with his tremendous power, he had managed to end their misery and had killed the witch. But because of that same tremendous power, my husband was put into grave danger. Sebastian had sacrificed himself to save him. It resulted in him losing his… sanity. Ezekiel had to lock Sebastian in the dungeon to prevent him from wreaking havoc and destroying everything. My husband had tried everything to find a way to release Sebastian from his madness. Sadly, it had taken a long time… seven hundred years to be exact…" Alicia sighed and looked up sorrowfully at Elle.

Silent tears fell from Elle's eyes as Alicia trailed off.

___

Dear Hellbounders;

I would like to say thank you to all of you for supporting me in this golden tickets event. I'm sorry I cannot up the update for HH this month because I've been sickly this past weeks and also I am set to end Spellbound S1 this month. But by January, I should be able to focus on HH again.

As for this GT event. If we win top 1, I will be giving 10 chapters mass release and a valentines special chapters focused on Zeke and Alicia. Plus a surprise reward that is a secret for now. ^^

Again, thank you so much guys for your continous love and support.

<3 kazzen