29th Night

After crashing on the wall rather vehemently, Eona heard Rouen let out a string of curses just as soon as he fell on the floor, but she was too pre-occupied with what was happening to her to pay him any attention. Where did her unnatural strength come from? It couldn't be just because of the adrenaline, could it? With her hands gripping the sheets like it was her own lifeline, like a little kid who got lost in the middle of nowhere, she sat on the bed and looked around her. She hoped to see someone or even something that could have helped her fend off the vampire prince from her, but there was nothing. Only an empty room which may be fully furnished but has not been lived in for a while.

She could feel her heart thumping inside her chest like it was hardly crashing into the walls of her rib cage. When she caught sight of her figure reflected on the glass wall due to the faint moonlight, she almost screamed in fright because, instead of seeing her own self, she saw another person in her place. Someone who was sitting just the way she does on the bed and who was wearing the same clothes as her. The person on her reflection is staring right back at her. For a while, her thoughts were unfathomable, since somehow the girl in the reflection was her, but at the same time she could feel that she wasn't.

The girl looked exactly like her but her features were enhanced in a way that it made her look ethereal, like a being who was not from this world. A vampire perhaps, she isn't sure, but that was the closest being Eona could think of while looking at the girl staring back at her from the other side of the glass. The color of the girl's hair, which appeared to be longer than hers, is the complete opposite of her white-blonde hair. It was as black as the moonless night sky but appeared to be a dark hue of midnight blue under the moonlight. And her eyes… god, her eyes – their color was a beautiful dark red that glistened every now and then like a red ruby stone shining in the dark.

Eona continued staring at the figure who was staring right back at her as if she, too, was studying her in silence. But what she saw in those beautiful red orbs made her feel all the horrors and nightmares the world has to offer and it suffocated her. It made it hard for her to breathe because of the pressure her stare holds. The girl's beautiful dark red eyes housed great anger and malice in them and she didn't bother herself to hide it.

Eona remained unmoving in her place though her breathing started to become uneven. She just remained staring at the girl on the glass wall as if her own reflection had taken a soul of its own. She tried not to blink, afraid that the girl would disappear if she did so. What she didn't expect was that the girl in her reflection smiled at her. But the gesture she made was nowhere near friendly. It was the kind of smile that carries all the rage and malevolence she held within for so long with a promise that she was going to see it all unfold. It was sinister.

Her mouth moved though Eona did not hear a word she spoke. But the words she read directly on her lips made chills she had never felt before run down her spine and it stayed there.

"Your… death… will be… my… awakening."

Before a gasp could escape her lips, she immediately covered her own mouth with her hand. Even though the girl disappeared when she blinked, she knew she was not seeing things. There was another being in the room aside from her and Rouen.

On the other hand, before Rouen could even think of what happened to him within those mere seconds, he started to feel his body being tightly bound by something the naked eye can't see. It was like an invisible chain tying him down on the floor while it rendered all his supernatural strength useless. The marks of the severance which subsided when he confined himself in the cell of four seasons rapidly appeared on his body like calligraphs of a forgotten language being engraved into his own skin. The runes only slowed down to where it stopped before and continued at its own usual pace afterwards. The process made his whole body go numb with the excruciating pain that accompanied it, as if the symbols that appeared on his skin were being carved by a burning knife. The pain he felt on the first night couldn't be compared to what he is feeling tonight because back then they had Kaien and the rest to help them with the process. Cold sweat started to appear on his forehead while his own blood was now starting to seep right out of his pores.

He gritted his teeth and his breath became labored. His chest burns more than the rest of his body, as if his heart is being immersed in the deepest pits of hell. For a moment, he even thought of tearing his own heart out to ease himself from his sufferings, but a little later, he found himself kneeling on the floor on all fours while his fingers dug into the tiled floor of the room. He hissed as the severance made him start to lose control of his own body, making his senses go into overdrive. His hearing ability heightened to the point that he could hear every sound being made within a kilometer radius at once, particularly Eona's heartbeat, which sounded like a drum being hit hard. All those coherent sounds made his head pulsate painfully like it was being hammered continuously. While his eyesight blurs and blackens alternately, the color of his eyes rapidly changes from his usual aquamarines, the one owned by his vampire blood, to a complete gold, the one that belonged to his wolf blood, then to that of the hybrid that he was born to be, a mix of those two colors. His pupils turned to slits and his eyes glistened in the dark, showing the predator that he naturally was. His gums throbbed painfully while his brain cells told him to sink his now lengthened fangs into the neck of the girl on the bed, the same girl whose blood he had been craving for since god knows what.

"Rouen…"

Amidst his present predicament, he looked around. He couldn't have been mistaken. That was the voice of his friend, Sin. At first he thought the pain was already causing hallucinations in his mind, but when he did not answer, he heard Sin calling out to him again.

"Rouen!"

He winced. "What?" He asked, his voice full of annoyance. It isn't actually fun to have a telepathic conversation while he feels like something is pounding on his head.

"Damn you! How can you cage me in Aceldama along with the rest of the old folks? You should have at least brought me along with you before you had the Astral Gates closed!"

He almost laughed at what Sin said, but his situation forbade him from doing so. Besides, he was not in the right state of mind when he escaped. So, of course, he wouldn't have been able to take other things into consideration aside from what his blood urges him to do. Hunting for his main prey, which was Eona.

"With you being able to contact me now, I guess you finally made it out."

"After much effort, yes."

"So what's the problem?"

"What's the problem? I found out Eona was missing and almost half of the passengers of the train she was supposed to be on were found dead!"

"At least Eona is not one of them."

Sin completely ignored what he said. "You have something to do with it, haven't you?"

For a moment, Rouen did not say a word. "We were just playing."

"Playing?! Maybe for a vampire, yes, you did. But that is not something a normal human being would want to partake in. Did you taunt her by using the lives of other people to the point that she broke?"

"She cooperated nonetheless. Hence, why half of them are still alive."

"Am I supposed to celebrate that you left half of them alive? Fuck you! You know how thin the balance was between us and the naturals! Because of what you did, things have gotten more complicated!"

Despite the pain he was suffering, he chuckled at that. It is not an everyday occurrence that Sin ignores their status and cusses him like a normal friend should.

"Where have you taken Eona? I swear if you hurt her, I will kill you myself."

Growing up as a single child, Rouen knew Sin had grown fond of Eona. He noticed it during the first time Sin had interacted with her back in the kingdom. He may be a flirt but he had treated the girl differently. While Sin sees him like the brother he never had, he treats Eona like the younger sister he wished to have. But before Rouen could answer, an abrupt scream escaped his mouth at the sudden onslaught of pain which made his head feel like it was being cracked into two and his chest being split open. He knew Sin had heard him because his friend cursed yet again before their connection had been cut off. He feels like something is burning him alive, like he is being crucified in place and his blood that was running inside his veins is ablaze.

But while he was busy trying to nullify all the searing pain he was suffering due to the severance with the strength he had as a vampire, Eona's terrified scream pierced his eardrums, which added to his affliction. It was then that a sweet and fragrant scent came off of Eona in waves. It was something that had now become too familiar to him and it enticed the predator in him which almost drove him to madness. He glanced towards her direction and his eyes grew wide at what he saw. She was holding the side of her neck which was now bleeding profusely with a shaking hand while the other was gripping the sheets tightly like her life depended on it. The white satin sheets of the bed were now marred with the color of her blood and the strong scent of it completely inundated the room. The beast in him showed great desire for what was in front of him and it took his all to control himself because he knew he'd kill her the moment he touched her.

He could clearly see her suffering from something other than the bleeding mark on her neck. And while the filigree lines of a seal that is pulsating like molten lava was taking its time to complete itself on the side of her neck, Eona looked like she was fighting for control over her own body, like someone was trying to take over. When she screamed in agony for the second time with tears now threatening to fall from her eyes, it made Rouen flinch. He didn't know he still had some sanity left to feel her pain.

Rouen couldn't help himself but just stare at Eona, whose violet eyes that are now almost red are starting to glisten like she wasn't human at all and her used to be white blonde hair is now starting to turn black. The sight made him remember about the night when she was attacked in her sleep by a Night Walker because that was the first time he saw her physically change. Something a natural, a human being like her, shouldn't be able to do without the influence of a being who lives in the shadows like them. Her body is forcefully being taken over by another being and she is on the losing end.

He sat up and leaned on the wall, but the simple movement made him groan. It was like he was being stabbed from every direction, inside and out, and he couldn't even do anything to stop it. He cursed just above his breath before focusing back his attention on Eona who was now crouching on the bed.

"Eona?"

She never paid him a glance. She was too distracted by the pain she was suffering to pay him any attention. But when he focused his eyes on her, he thought he saw a silhouette of someone else instead of Eona herself. Before he knew it, his body already moved faster than he could think. In a blink, he already had her pinned on the bed, him straddling her waist, his hands restraining hers on either side of her head.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, emphasizing every word while his voice held a threat within.

She struggled only for him to tighten his hold on her. She glared, but the second his eyes met hers, he forgot that he, too, was suffering. The advertency that gleamed in her eyes reflected the recognition in his. It was like his world had stopped in an instant. A feeling that was completely foreign to him settled in his heart and he unknowingly embraced it. For the first time, after all these tiring centuries that he existed, he felt at peace, like he was finally home. But before he could gather his thoughts of what was happening, a calling which he could not ignore suddenly echoed in his mind.

"Gold Blood."

He froze. It was like Aelvien had taken hold of his blood, his entire being, using only those two words.

"Monarch," he acknowledged, though his eyes remained looking at the girl completely restrained below him.

"Drain the girl of her blood."

"W-what?"

"And you are not to give her your blood in return."

Rouen's face darkened. At first he thought he heard him wrong, but then came a harsh realization that he didn't when Aelvien didn't take back his words. Instead, the Monarch waited for him to comply in silence.

Anger flared in his eyes. "Are you fucking commanding me to kill her?!"

It is taking his all to control himself and not follow what his instinct had been pushing him to do. Rouen knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself once he'd had a taste of her luscious blood, especially when his instinct as a vampire is more active than his rationality. Hence, he planted himself on the other side of the room as much as he could. But now he just had to receive an order to kill her while she was bleeding under him?

Aelvien knew that his order was too unfair to both of them, but it had to be done. It would temporarily prevent the completion of the seal on Eona's neck along with the repercussions that come along with it once completed, but it will also erase the memories of the one who will ingest Eona's blood in their system while she is being drained in that state. Rouen will forget everything regarding the incident itself, what was his part in it and the happenings prior to it. Aelvien couldn't tell how many memories would be taken away from Rouen, but he was certain that he would forget everything that happened between them.

"This is my order to you," Aelvien told the prince with finality.

Rouen knew at that moment, his will had been completely bound to follow. "As you had ordered, Monarch."

Upon accepting the order given to him, he tightened his hold on her even more and he was certain her wrist would have a bruise when the morning came. His body and mind were at odds, but he could not do anything to stop himself because of the influence of the order he received. The moment his blood had recognized that Aelvien's blood was much higher than his, he was already doomed and he wouldn't be able to stop what was about to happen without the interference of another being.

"Sin…"

He was hoping that while he was under the influence of the order he received, he would be able to reach Sin through telepathy because he was Eona's last hope of survival. Fear accompanied Rouen's voice because, by now, it was already taking everything in him to defer what he was about to do, especially when his prey was right underneath him. For a vampire, going against an order takes a toll on one's body and, for him, it was equivalent to suffering from pain which he never once felt before. The effects of the severance couldn't even be compared to it. It's like he is being drowned to die only to awaken and be drowned again. A continuous and unending tribulation.

"Sin… I have been ordered to kill Eona."

His breath started to become uneven as he gritted his teeth in pain. Forget the pain he is suffering from the severance, him defying an order given by the Monarch even just for a second is pure torture itself. It was then that Sin responded to him.

"An order? Who would have the power to…" he paused. "Shit!" Sin then cursed when he realized who it was that issued the order. "But why?"

"We don't have much time to spare. Come here as fast as you can."

"Where?"

"The villa."

Sin growled. "Villa? In the forest? But I am fucking miles away from there right now!" He said as hopelessness accompanied his voice because he knew how grave Eona's situation was in Rouen's hands.

"Do what it is that you have to if it means saving her."

Sin said that he is miles away from the villa, but if he used his speed as a vampire, it would take him less than twenty minutes to get to where they are. Would Eona be able to last that long under his hands?

While Rouen was trying to stop himself from doing what he had been ordered to do, Eona, who was underneath him, blinked and was surprised at the situation she found herself in. When she realized Rouen, whose fangs were on full display, had her pinned on the bed, her heart erratically beat inside her chest in a way that she could even hear it. What happened? She felt like she blanked out for a few seconds and could not remember what took place within that short amount of time. When she caught sight of Rouen's glazed eyes, she could tell that he was having a telepathic conversation with someone else, but she did not bother to wait for him to be done. Maybe because it was an innate ability of a human being to sense a threat, since she could feel that danger was near and Rouen himself was it.

While he was being distracted, Eona used that opportunity to flail and escape from his grip, but considering his nature, Rouen outspeeded her without much effort, even before she could get out of bed. Before she could flee, he immediately took hold of her feet and pulled her back towards him. She tried to fight him off, to pry away his hands holding her, but his grip was just too strong.

"Let go of me, Rouen!"

He did not retort to that. Instead, he sat up and pulled her along with him. In just a matter of seconds, he had caged her in his arms.

Eona began to panic when he pushed her hair to the side and leaned in. No. It was going to be like what happened on the first night of the severance again and she never wanted a repeat of it because the pain she felt back then literally reminded her of dying again and again. She tried to fight him off but it was all in vain. When she felt his lips above the seal that was bleeding, she gasped and gripped onto his shirt tightly. She shivered at what he did. The act was intimate but her fear overwhelmed every feeling she had towards him at that moment because she knew what was about to happen. He'd be taking her blood without her consent and, through experience, she knew it was painful. Not a second later, Rouen's tongue glided at the side of her neck to take the blood leaking from the seal, but then he whispered.

"Forgive me."

Before Eona was even able to say another word, his fangs pierced her skin deep into her flesh with a deafening crunch. She screamed and struggled in his arms because of the sudden pain, but Rouen immediately covered her mouth with his hand, muffling her voice, while he continued to suck her blood out as if he had been thirsting for it for a long time. He restrained her using his other hand and even when her strength had started to be drained from her along with her blood, he still kept her securely in place, inside his embrace.

Rouen had to hug her tightly in his arms while he drank her blood because Eona tried to struggle, wounding her even more because she did so with his fangs still embedded in her flesh, but it didn't take that long before he felt her surrender. When her blood ran through his tongue down to his throat, he couldn't have hated himself more than he hated himself at that moment because, despite everything, his nature as a vampire cannot deny that her blood was the best out of everything he had ever tasted. As if it exists solely for him to monopolize and the truth behind that now lies deeply in his being.

He was ready to condemn Aelvien for doing this to them, but the longer he continued to consume her blood, the more something was taken away from him until he could not remember what it was – the feelings he had before, the memories of it and everything he just came to realize, nothing remained. Not even the memory of Aelvien, who had ordered him to do what he was doing, and also not the fact that the woman whose blood he was draining was Eona herself.

Unwanted tears escaped his eyes while he was still sucking her blood. A sudden feeling of loss overwhelmed his entire being, as if he had just lost something important though his fangs remained buried in the crook of her neck. He felt like he'd been sent to heaven only to be pushed back down to hell and he didn't even know why. Her warm blood continued flowing directly to his mouth. He couldn't tell how long had passed but when the phoenix finally exited his body, taking along with it the marks of the severance, he finally gained back his rationality and decided to stop. It didn't even cross his mind that he was finally done with the severance and that his blood as a hybrid had been fully awakened.

For a while, they remained in that position – him hugging her so closely while sitting on the edge of the bed and her resting her head on his shoulder while she was sitting right there in front of him. He blinked. It was then that he noticed the tears coming out of his own eyes. When he heard the very weak beating of her heart, he pulled away from her though he still held her close in his arms. In fact, he supported her lying form in his lap. He looked down on her barely breathing form and his eyes grew wide when he recognized who his bloody victim was.

"E-Eona?" Oh god! It was her he was drinking blood from?

Rouen's hands started to shake because he was now witnessing the result of what he did and something in him broke into a thousand shards. He raised his hand with the intention of caressing her face, but he withdrew and clenched it instead. What happened? Did he lose himself during the severance? Why couldn't he remember anything?!

With the moonlight shining through the glass wall, the blood that painted his lips could be clearly seen. It was Eona's own blood but that was the least of her worries. In fact, she somehow felt at peace. The excruciating pain she experienced a few moments ago is starting to subside though coldness is enveloping her body in place of it.

With eyesight clouded by her own unshed tears, she could see his melancholic expression. He was crying silently as he held her hand in his trembling one while the other supported her body close to him and it tugged something in her heart. She blinked, but even that simple gesture felt like a chore to her. She wondered why she couldn't hate him. Instead, she was being pulled by him. Like moth to a flame, she's enamored by him.

"Don't cry."

Rouen stared at her, his eyes full of remorse, regret and something else he himself didn't know. Her hair has now gone back to its usual white blonde color and the reds in her violet irises are completely gone. The seal on the side of her neck had stopped progressing and it now only glowed softly like it didn't make her life miserable at all.

"I'm not crying."

A faint smile curved on her lips. "You are."

He bit his lip. His fangs had now receded and were easily hidden behind his upper lip. His lips moved but he stopped himself before he could even say anything because of the sudden lump in his throat. What is wrong with him? And what's with all these swirling emotions inside him? Why does looking at Eona bring sadness so overwhelming that he just wants to cry in grief?

When she started to close her eyes, he panicked. "Please… Don't close your eyes."

"But I feel t-tired, R-Rouen…"

He flinched. Her words felt like lashes to him. "Please, just hang on for a while. Sin is coming here to help."

"I just need to… rest…"

Rouen had never once in his life felt so helpless, aside from when it concerned Eona. He knew what was coming and he couldn't even do anything to stop it. He knew she'd be dead before he could even take her to the nearest hospital using his speed as a vampire and, in her weakened state, she wouldn't survive the force of teleportation if he used it. He won't be of any help either, because something is stopping him from giving her his blood. No matter what he thinks, Eona will still end up dead.

It was a little while later when her heart beat slowed down until it completely came to a halt and, even with Rouen's heightened hearing, he could no longer hear the soft thump of her heart. His body rocked while he sobbed and when he couldn't hold it in anymore, Rouen screamed with such grief and gave out a painful cry as he hugged her tightly into his embrace.

Sin and the rest were already nearby when Rouen screamed in despair. Something has happened and Sin is already expecting for the worse, especially when they were welcomed with the intense smell of blood upon their arrival. Without a word, he jumped from the garden towards Rouen's room with Caius, Mihai and Kaien following from behind. If worse came to worse, they only had to make sure that they would be able to execute their plan.

They landed on the terrace on the first floor without a sound and they entered Rouen's room without asking for permission. It was eerily quiet but the sight that greeted them made them stop in their tracks. There, on one side of the bed, sat Rouen, who ignored their existence while Eona lay unmoving in his arms, two glaring bite marks on the side of her neck where the seal was. Both of them were bloody, but Sin's mind solely focused on finding out one thing. He tried to look for a sign of life in Eona – a slight movement, the sound of a pulse or a thump of her heart, but there was nothing. She is dead.

Sin's eyes blazed in anger and his forest greens glistened. The Alliance knew about the train incident and they were aware that Eona had gone missing from there. If they find out she has been killed, the Alliance will surely investigate what happened and will take that chance to retaliate. A war between two races might occur and it was all because of what the prince did while his instincts as a vampire were being affected by the severance.

"Mihai, we don't have much time."

Mihai nodded before he carefully threaded towards the prince, who became hostile at the sound of his footsteps.

"Come any closer and I will end you, Mihai."

Instead of stopping, he took another step forward. It was then that Rouen moved so fast he almost did not see him coming. The moment he left Eona on the bed, Mihai saw Kaien moving in the background to get Eona. That was the only time they needed.

"Astrid, prepare to transport!"

Astrid, who appeared from the terrace, held out her hand towards Kaien. A magic circle appeared where he stood with Eona, and when it faded, it took them both away from that place. When Rouen realized what had happened, it was already too late and Mihai took that opportunity to knock him down with a chop at the back of his head while he was distracted. Within a few seconds, Rouen fell on the ground unconscious.

"Wrap up everything," Mihai ordered the sentinels, who nodded. "We are going back to Aceldama tonight."