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80|Staged
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2024-10-29 19:42:56~Elijah~
Leaving Henry to watch over Tauri, Nolani and I went back to Grayson’s residence to get Rory and Alipato out of there.
I was ready to tear that house down, prepared to end anyone who would stand against the woman I love and me, but when we got there, Rory was already stepping out of the door. Physically, she was unharmed. However, when our eyes locked, I knew for a fact that something had changed within her. I can’t put a finger on it yet, and I’m unsure if I want to see the depth of this change in her.
“Hey.” I stepped onto the threshold, meeting her midway through the porch.
She smiled, weary and willful. Despite this, she allowed me to gather her in my arms, murmuring a weak “hi,” against my chest, looping her arms we
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Hellbound: The Last Tribute 81|Focus
~Elijah~It was midday. The sun was up, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted in the air as I stepped out of my office.In the kitchen, Rory stood in front of the coffee machine, gazing at the glass window facing the Vitale estate forest. She still had my shirt on. She liked wearing my shirt in her sleep. It looks like an oversized shirt on her.“Hey.” I shrouded my arms around her from behind, burying my face in her hair.She turned, curled her arms around my shoulder, and planted her lips on mine. It was a gentle kiss, one that we always share every morning.“Hi.” She smiled. The familiar glint in her eyes was back.My eyes traipse across her face
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 82|You Can Ask Me
~Elijah~After cleaning up, I fed Rory a late lunch of ramen, her request. As I watch her finish her food, I dread asking her what truly happened last night, but we have to talk about a lot of things, including Tauri, and about her mom.“You can ask me,” Rory said, without lifting her gaze from the steaming bowl of noodles. We sat across from each other at the breakfast bar. I had a cup of untouched coffee in front of me while he sipped her orange juice. “I killed him. Start from there.”I reached for my cup of coffee, took a sip, and laid out my questions. I don’t follow whatever script I’ve written before. Her love for me didn’t change; I’m sure of that.“How did you know who he really was? The magic he used was a s
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 83|Losing Me
~Rory~Dark clouds loomed over Salvatore Hills. It was an ordinary day, gloomy and melancholy. It’s as if the sky was also mourning my death.Concealed in the tree line bordering Salvatore Hills cemetery, Elijah tightened his hold on my hand.“My love.”I threw him a sideways glance, smiling. “I’m good, Elijah.”He kept asking me how I’ve been doing since yesterday, worried about how his plans would affect me. Staging my death was the easy part; staying dead was the hardest.With my heightened senses, it breaks my heart to see my friends cry while surrounding a casket with a Jane Doe’s body in it. Elijah used his persuasion abilities
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 84|Lira
~Rory~“Stop staring at me like that,” I groaned, keeping my eyes focused on Elijah’s private jet window.Yes. He has his private jet, not one, but two. It shouldn’t surprise me anymore. He lived a longer life than most people. He had a lot of spare time to make money. Being the supernatural being that he is, with his abilities, he could’ve just taken advantage of every situation presented to him, but he didn’t. Elijah actually owns legal businesses with employees and all.He uses different names, of course, but still, his honesty is refreshing. And the fact that he was never boastful about it only adds to my admiration for him.He looked away, sipping his glass of whiskey.We are seated si
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 85|Downside
~Rory~Elijah draped an arm over my shoulder, tucking me on his side, preventing me from attacking Iz.Iz raised a perfectly plucked brow, but I kept my hard gaze on her, waiting for her to mumble a smartass remark.My eyes were glowing. I could feel the rage coursing through my veins. This must be the side effect of whatever Agata did to me. I have very little control over my emotions these days, which is so unlike me.“What room are they keeping Loren?” Elijah threw a question at Iz.“Room 11,” she said, tipping her head to the elevator hoistway. “Alfonso instructed all guests to be placed at level 5.”Elijah’s body went rigid. “He
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 86|Mom Likes You
~Rory~Obviously, the in-and-out plan is not plausible because of my miscalculation. Jumping back up where we came from was not possible anymore.We are four floors underground, and each level is swarming with vampires hungry for our blood.Looking up, the elevator hoistway door opened one by one. My bullet greeted each head that peeked into the opening. One bullet, one head.Elijah fought the vampires who emerged from the fourth level in hand to hand combat. When he was done, he pulled the gun from my waistband and started firing. If I foresaw this from happening, I would’ve brought the assault rifle I stockpiled for killing vampires and werewolves.I cursed as my beretta’s hammer hit its last bullet.
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 87|More Than
~Rory~My muscles begged for a breather, and my lungs pleaded for rest, but as they say, there was no rest for the wicked. If we take a moment to breathe, we’d be dead in a beat. In the afterlife, we could have the rest we needed. But we won’t go down that easily.The stench of blood wafts in the air.Elijah was yet to recover from his injuries, but he didn’t slow down. We fought harder than our enemies because we had a lot at stake. They were merely following orders while we were fighting for our survival.Five vampires down, five more to go. They pushed us back into the corner with nowhere to run. In the middle of the chaos, Loren took a blow on her shoulder. She’s now leaning on the wall for support. Elijah's and I’s clothes were drenched
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 88|Best Course
~Rory~‘Aurora…’It has been three days since we buried Loren’s body in the Vitale estate, but I can’t force myself to read the letter we took from her pocket. It was the same letter she shoved in my pocket in her cell.We can’t give her a proper funeral since we have no way of staging her death-like what we did with Andrew and me. How could I forgive myself for bringing such pain to her? Loren might not be the sweetest mother, but she never made me feel any less loved.She was a victim, and I am the reason she was inserted into this chaotic battle between supernatural beings.We burned down club Lira before leaving New York after killing every vampire on the premises. Including Iz. Elijah
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Hellbound: The Last Tribute 101|A Lost Hero
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Hellbound: The Last Tribute 100|Epilogue 2
~Elijah~Henry sighed. “Can you at least pretend that you’re listening to what I’m saying?”We are on our way back from inspecting the western border of Sapiro. The peace in the kingdom was monotonous, but boring is better than war. Last month, there was a conflict between the Lockwood pack of the west woodland and the Riverstone pack of the northern woodland. Alpha Lockwood believed that the members of the Riverstone packs were crossing the border to hunt for food. And Alpha Riverstone was throwing the same accusation towards the Lockwood pack. They could hunt in each other’s territory, but they had to ask for permission from the other pack.We did an investigation, and it turned out that Alpha Lockwood’s firstborn son had been sneaking out to meet Alpha Riverstone’s youngest daughter in secret. Both teenage wolves were afraid their parents would disagree with their blooming romance. They recently found out they were mates.Lockwood and Riverstone had a century-long rivalry. And it w
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 99|Epilogue 1
~Rory~For weeks, I’ve been dreaming of a boy with gray eyes, dark brown curls, and a snooty smirk. He was playing on the beach, sitting on the sand. His trousers were wet from the waves hitting his leg on the side, hands and toes were covered in sand... his cheeks too. He kept rubbing the back of his hands on his cheeks, leaving traces of wet sand there.He looked up and met my eyes, smiling brightly. Those gray eyes twinkled as his eyes narrowed to slits. He dropped the shells he was playing with and raised those tiny hands, opening and closing, asking to be picked up. When I didn’t, his lips quivered, eyes widened as a saucer, clouded with tears. His cry was so loud that I woke up from my sleep, discovering I was alone in our bed.Looking on Elijah’s side, a red rose lay on his pillow, weighing down a paper folded in half.The sun hasn’t risen yet, but he told me he’d be out the entire day to check the western border of Sapiro, accompanied by Henry.I reached for the rose, sniffing
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 98|Endgame
~Rory~ I refused to live in the castle. It was aesthetically beautiful but a constant reminder of what I lost when I stepped inside its vicinity. The council disagreed with my choice, but Elijah was adamant about giving me what I wanted. We compromised on building our home close to the castle. Surrounded by trees in the clearing ten minutes away from the citadel, they turned it into a keep, a fortress, yet I got to design how our house would look like. It was inspired by Elijah’s estate in Salvatore hills. The place where Elijah and I had been the happiest. I am happy to be with him, truly, and I could never ask for more. But life as royalty was not as glamorous as I thought it would be. As the crowned princess, responsibilities weighed upon my shoulder even in my sleep. It’s different from working a nine-to-five job where day-offs and holidays are offered. In fact, rest has become a foreign word in this household. Elijah was always out. He spends more time with his council, meeting
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 97|Rest In Peace
~Rory~The moment my eyes fluttered open and saw the familiar gray ceiling of Elijah’s room, tears brimmed in my eyes.I feel the same old me, but not. The fear in my chest deepened as the seconds ticked by. I’m alive. Jace’s plan worked.I pushed myself from the bed, hearing footsteps echoing through the hallway. Not a second later, Elijah barged into his room, hair disheveled and eyes wide with worry and relief in equal measure.“Rory…” he breathed out, eyes clouding as he ran to my side.“Elijah…” I buried my face in his chest as he cradled my body, murmuring how grateful he was that I was alive, worried, and much he loved me.Words are not enough to voice out my happiness. My throat was tight, with emotions storming inside me.We are alive, Elijah and I. We survived the ritual and that damn prophecy.“Cara mia,” Elijah cupped my face, leaning to press his lips against mine.His kiss did it if his touch wasn’t enough to convince me how alive we were. The familiar taste of him. The
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 96|Silver Eyes
~Elijah~“Do you want to have children?” Rory asked, glancing up at me with those big brown eyes. Her cheeks were flushed from our previous coupling, hair wild from my tugging and pulling. The warmth of her naked body entangled with mine was heaven under the silk sheets.“Children?” I repeated my thumb, drawing circles on the small of her back. “Plural?”She hummed a yes, circling the crown of my nipple. She knew it was my tickle spot, but she loved tickling me. I caught her fingers and playfully bit them.“Yeah.” She giggled, squirming. “Being an only child is sometimes lonely.”I honestly wouldn’t know. I didn’t actually have a normal childhood. King Emilian was kind and did everything to give me what a child my age must have. But circumstances didn’t allow him to be a father like he did with Greco and Orme. He was forced to take me out of Lira to protect me.I relished the way she talked about the future. A glow in her eyes only appears when she doesn’t worry about the prophecy or
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 95|A Backup Plan
~Rory~Tayen and Jace were just leaving with reinforcements when we arrived at Salvatore Hills. After bringing them up-to-date on what happened with Elijah, we had to devise a new plan in under ten minutes.They were keeping Elijah on the estate’s west side ruins. It was the highest part of the land and the best spot to see the eclipse at its peak.Even if Henry, Tayen, and Nolani knew this place like the back of their hands, planning this attack was difficult. We cannot be overconfident with the advantage we have.Jace and Henry did a quick sweep of the area, taking details on the number of the enemies waiting for us to come. Meca was with them. She was Agata’s witch friend and Greco’s mistress. Our best guess is that she’s the reason Greco was able to survive the Lycan venom he attained two thousand years ago. She has grown stronger, is what Henry told us. She also cast the warding in Greco’s room; hence, the witch we have to unbind Elijah from.About thirty vampires were guarding t
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 94|It’s Ironic
~Rory~“What do you mean he was taken?” I threw my hands in the air.After Elijah vanished from my grasp, I called Henry, Nolani, and Ali into Greco’s room.I told Ali what had happened after he left. There wasn’t so much to tell, anyway. He literally just disappeared, as if he suddenly harnessed Ali’s disappearing act and did the trick on me.We’ve turned the room inside out. Nolani and Henry went to the other quarters to see if there was a witch’s hex bag or any clue that might lead us to where Elijah went but came out bereft of answers.“It’s the only explanation I have right now,” Ali murmured dejectedly. The three of them looked tired and shaken. They have been in the heart of the war, and Elijah’s disappearance clearly imposes a toll on their morale.“But how can someone as powerful as Elijah be taken with no trace?” I asked, desperate to know where he was.We’ve completed the mate bond, but I can’t feel him or reach him. Our bond was supposed to be stronger than ever, which mea
Hellbound: The Last Tribute 93|The Only Way
~Rory~Something is happening to me. There was an unfamiliar, simmering energy inside me.Like a spring suddenly appeared somewhere in my core, an endless energy flow blossoming into a beautiful sensation that enticed my body to wake up from a deep sleep.It was exhilarating.“Open your eyes, cara mia,” Elijah’s melodic voice floated in my thoughts. “Please… come back to me... I love you.”I searched for the will to do as he asked. His pain was excruciating. He was in agony, and I wanted to ease his torment away.Forcing my body to move, I squeezed my eyelids and obliged them to part. The bright light blinded me. The war’s outcry brought me back to where, how, and why I felt so much pain in my body. Greco. Recollection of what happened before I lost consciousness flooded my brain.Like an image that suddenly made sense, my pupils adjusted to focus on the man holding me.Elijah smiled down at me. His eyes were wild with a mixture of emotions, cheeks drenched with tears and crimson liqu
