Hellbound With You (WN)

The palace's interrogation room was located on the level just above the deepest, darkest part of the palace's underground dungeon. This area reeked from all the spells and enchantments that were placed all over the cave-like room. The vampires somehow managed to have a witch cast a spell in this particular room so that no other witches could see what was going on inside it.

Witches were loyal creatures. They would rather kill themselves than betray their kind, especially their queen. That was why it was almost impossible for vampires to force any of them to speak or do something that might hurt their kind.

They managed to make a witch cast a spell on this place simply because that witch was said to have grown up in the castle. The story was that she was only a newborn baby when she was left at the palace steps and one of the princes claimed her. The young witch didn't know about her kind and therefore harbored no such loyalty to them. Besides, the prince treated her well and she never had any reason to complain. When she grew a bit stronger, the king at the time had asked her to cast a spell on that place and she did as he asked simply to please the prince, her master. This was a tale from thousands of years ago and until now, no one ever found out what had happened to this witch who had grown up among the vampires.

So knowing that the other witches wouldn't be able to eavesdrop, the interrogator didn't hold back. Torture had always been the tried and tested way to make someone speak but even with that, they were not sure if they would be able to get anything out of this witch. After all, she was mad enough to replace her heart with someone else's just to infiltrate the royal vampire family. But they all needed to find out why. Did she do this voluntarily or was she forced? Why did she go through all that? What was her goal? What was their ultimate goal?

Her loud, harrowing screams echoed inside the dungeon piercing everyone's ears until they almost bled.

Zeke lifted his hand to stop the soldier from whipping her while Alex just leaned against the wall, watching her closely.

Zeke pinched her chin to make her look at him as he spoke. "Woman,do you really not want to live anymore? If you answer my question, I will let you go. That's a promise and you should already know vampires don't break their promises."

But the witch smiled. "And you know that witches will never betray our kind."

Alex smirked with their witty exchange. He glanced at Zeke, waiting to see if this witty witch could outsmart him.

"Our kind…" he echoed. "But are you certain you're still one of them? Your heart is a vampire's heart, remember?"

The witch's eyes widened for a moment and she fell silent.

"Can't you hear it? Your heart no longer beats like a witch's? How can you claim you're a witch when your heart beats like a vampire?" he asked her as his gaze intensified. "You're no longer one of them, woman. You're part vampire now, whether you accept it or not."

Zeke's words seemed to be affecting her. He was attacking her psychologically and he wasn't giving her a moment to think about it.

"If you return to your coven once you achieve your goal, do you think other witches will still accept you? A witch with a vampire's heart? You are just a pawn, woman. Someone who is easily discarded after you've served your purpose.

I will presume that you are a young vampire-witch who was groomed to impersonate my sister. You followed her, observed her, until you became her. That's how you fooled everyone here, even her own family. Of course, you did your best to do as they asked because you were a nobody. A weak witch with barely any powers. They sure knew how to pick their pawns, didn't they?" Zeke paused as he let his words sink in. He didn't know her background of course, but he knew how to read people. He knew what made them tick and what made them the way they were and he used that knowledge against her now.

"If you return as a failure, they will easily turn their back on you. You will no longer be called a witch but you're not a vampire either. The witches might even mistake you as a vampire and kill you. But If you listen to me and make a deal with me, I will not let that happen to you. I will keep you alive." Zeke continued, hypnotizing her with his reasoning.

The woman looked like she was considering his proposal. Everything he said hit her like a hammer and a slight feeling of doubt crept into her heart.

"I will give you ten seconds to decide. If you say no at the count of ten, then say your farewell to the dust now."

Zeke didn't waste a moment and he started counting.

"Ten, nine, eight…" Zeke counted loudly.

"Three… two… o –"

"Deal!!" the woman yelled, causing Zeke's lips to slightly curve up. Alex's expression was unfathomable but on the inside, he felt quite impressed. 'As expected of this man,' Alex thought.

"Good," Zeke uttered as he straightened up. "Now answer my questions and I will let you go freely and live with the vampires if you want. I will send an order to all vampires to not hurt you as long as you don't attack anyone. Are we clear?"

"Yes, clear as glass."

"So? Who is the one behind this? Who killed Mira? And who transferred her heart to you?"

The woman swallowed as she looked up into Zeke's eyes.

"It was the witch queen," she answered. "She is the one behind all this."

Hearing her answer, Zeke's face didn't change as he stared at her.