Hellbound With You (WN)

He was like a cunning and heartless chess master. And it was as if he was born into this world purely to be an almighty peace keeper. He was stone hearted and emotionless, all because he had such a heavy responsibility to bear on his shoulders.

That was how Alicia had viewed him all this time. But it all changed on the day when she saw his real face. The day she watched him kill off her fellow witches in that memory that was passed on to her… that day when she saw the way he had mercilessly killed them all...

She could never look at him the same way again.

At first, Alicia had told herself not to jump to her own conclusions because something was just weird about the memories that she had inherited. Most especially the fact that a lot of things seemed to be purposely erased. And it was just so unsettling when she noticed on how nothing was ever shown about the reason why Ezekiel even slaughtered so many witches. Also, the way the memories seemed to have put that subtle emphasis on how vicious and coldblooded way that he had carried out that massacre had her wondering even further.

In fact, Alicia had tried her best to find the missing memories. Because at first, she just couldn't believe what Ezekiel had actually done in the past.

However, she failed to find anything and then she later on realized that no matter how much she try to reason it out, she knew that nothing would ever change the fact that Ezekiel had slaughtered not only dozens but hundreds or even thousands of witches at that time.

No matter the reason behind why he came after the witches, he had still killed them off... in cold blood and without an ounce of mercy. Nothing would ever change that.

And the thing that caused her heart to shiver was that he even vowed that he would annihilate all the witches from the face of the earth.

Alicia had seen that part with her own two eyes, so vividly that it was ingrained into her mind. The utter and deeply rooted hatred in his eyes was even so hauntingly clear and Alicia knew that his vow… he was definitely going to make it happen at all cost once his memories returns.

Alicia had seen how much the witches futilely fought for their lives and failed.

And because the witches just could not stop Ezekiel, a witch queen had given her life to erase his memories. That was the only way to save the witches from his wrath.

Then Alicia had heard that queen's voice – the queen who had erased Ezekiel's memories – when she died.

When Alicia heard that queen's message, she then started to realize why the memories only showed the most terrible of the things that Ezekiel had done and there was not even a glimpse of the reason why behind it. All of that was done for the explicit reason in wanting to warn the future witch queens to beware of him. So that they will treat him as the absolute enemy, the greatest threat in existence to the witches. Because once the curse is broken and he recalls his memories and remembers everything again, he would definitely execute all that he had vowed and work to finish what he had started a long time ago. He would then stop at nothing to slaughter the witches once again and annihilate them until not a single one of them is left.

And that outcome is something that Alicia would never, ever allow.

No matter in the event when she somehow discovered the real reason and it was actually something understandable on his part, Alicia thought that nothing might change. To her, what Ezekiel did to her fellow witches in past was unforgivable. And she couldn't help but fear him as well.

Ezekiel was also so much stronger now. If his memories were to be returned to him anytime soon and he comes after the witches again, they would definitely not be able to stand even a minute chance to stand up to him. Even with them having Zeres fighting on their side, that still might not even be enough to stop him at all.

And now, Alicia was in an even more difficult position because she had found out that there was really a possibility that Ezekiel's curse – the curse that erased his memories – will not last forever.

The voice had told her that Ezekiel might one day break the curse. And the reason was because Ezekiel himself was not just a normal vampire. He was a being that was so powerful that a strong curse might not be able to bind him forever.

But the voice had said that if the curse managed to remain unbroken for as long as seven hundred years, then the curse would be able to last forever and have no chance of being broken - ever. And no matter how strong he would grow, no matter how formidable his powers would become, as long as the seven hundred years mark has passed, he would never ever be able to break it.

The biggest shock to her was that Alicia had only recently found out that this year itself marks the exact time that the seven hundredth year would be completed since that curse was being cast on Ezekiel. And there was actually still two months left before the deadline of that seven hundred years was up!

That was why she had come rushing over here urgently after all those months she had spent to decipher the message she received from that queen. She was almost a hundred percent certain that her calculations were correct and that there were still only a little less than two months left.

If Ezekiel was not able to break the curse within this coming two months, then everything would be totally fine. However, if he ever shows even the smallest sign that he was about to break the curse… then…