SPELLBOUND

"I will stay," Evie said as she gently smiled. However, Gavriel could see the pain and sorrow reflected in her eyes as she gazed at him. He understood her and the reason behind that look in her eyes very well. It was a look borne from her thoughts that they would be separated from each other very soon.

He grabbed her wrists – though desperately, he was still gentle with her – and his jaws clenched tightly. Then he shook his head, his eyes intense. "I will never leave you behind, Evie." He told her straight and firm. The tone he used indicated that there was no one – not even Evie herself – could change his mind. "No matter what happens, I am going to take you with me, do you understand?" Evie could tell from the tone he used that he was dead serious and there would be no further discussion on this matter anymore.

Evie nibbled the inside her of her lip nervously. She remembered how Zolan had looked at her before he left, and she understood his point of view on asking her to convince Gavriel on his suggestion to be carried out. She really understood and could not blame Zolan. Focusing back on Gavriel, the dangerous and desperate look in Gavriel's eyes made the corners of her eyes heat up. He had heard about what was at stake and yet he did not even seem to faintly consider the idea of leaving her behind and not taking her along with him.

"But Gavriel… if you take me along, what will happen to this city?" Evie's voice became pained. Evie was not ignorant about these kinds of things. She knew that Zolan was right, if Gavriel left and took her along with him too, everyone in this city would face the wrath of the emperor. She had heard and read many war stories in the past and these things do happen. The suffering and torture those left behind would truly be unimaginable. And she could not, in good faith put these good and blameless folks through this nightmare.

"The vampire emperor will punish everyone in this city for harboring and aiding you all this while. And… he will surely torture them. I can't… I can't bear for such a thing to happen to all those innocent people, Gavriel… not when I can do something to ensure that it would not happen. This place… I already love this place, Gavriel… I don't want it to fall into ruins. More than the place, it is the people here! We can't just abandon them after they took us in. And… and you don't need to sacrifice anyone anymore. Leave this to me, I am confident I can make everyone believe our fabricated story. Trust me Gavriel, my father adores me to bits. He will believe anything I will say. And like what Zolan said, the emperor will not have any other choice but to believe my words as well. He wouldn't dare displease my father because he still needs him." Evie tried to convince Gavriel with her impassioned speech, her large expressive eyes sparkling with emotion.

Gavriel sulked a little before pulling away from her and turned his back as he raked his hand through his hair, messing it up a little. His aura was starting to fluctuate with his emotions and was becoming dangerously uncontrollable. He gave a heavy and frustrated sigh.

"Evie… you don't understand how dangerous Lorcan is. He will harm you once he gets his hands on you! And if you stay back, I can almost guarantee that he will!" Gavriel's voice was angry. Though Evie fully understood that his anger was not pointed at herself but towards everything else that was working against their situation right at this moment.

"He won't. He still needs my father's aid to go against you. Remember?" Evie calmly reminded Gavriel in the hopes of reducing his ire.

"He will hold you as hostage to control your father Evie, I know that bastard and the way he works. He will do that! And I'm not going to let that happen! My god, how could you expect me to let you do something so dangerous like this? How could you expect me to leave without you?" Gavriel's voice was so aggrieved that it caused Evie to go silent.

Silence reigned between them for a long while until Evie finally spoke.

"Then… are you going to sacrifice everyone?" she asked him softly. She knew that such a compassionate person like him could never do such a thing. Gavriel was not a heartless monster to abandon the people who had helped him.

"No." he said. His voice now sounded like it belonged to a tyrant king. His eyes began to turn blood red and bluish aura leaked out from him. "I will fight. You will take the children and women and lead them to go hide in the dungeon. I'll kill the dragon and Lorcan."

Evie's lips parted in shock. A violent shiver ran down her spine and she could not help but hug herself.

Seeing her reaction, Gavriel struggled to make his voice less menacing. He knew what she was afraid of. "Don't worry, I will never kill your father. I will do everything to keep him alive. Since I cannot harm him, my only choice is to kill the dragon."

"No!" Evie suddenly yelled. She did not know why but the scene in her dream suddenly flashed in her eyes. Was this the decision that would lead to the dream she had? The image of herself calling for Gavriel while Dacria was on fire horrified her. "No. You're not going to fight the dragon, Gavriel!" she raised her voice as she grabbed at his shirt.

Thinking that Evie was just scared because she thought that he could not defeat the dragon, Gavriel pulled her into his embrace and whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, love. I was able to kill a dragon once. So don't worry, I will be fine and come out victorious. I pro –"

"No!" she cut him off as she struggled to pull away. "You can't. I can't let you do that. You will leave! I will sta –"

All of a sudden, Gavriel sealed her mouth with his and kissed her hard until Evie could not speak any more and she stopped struggling.

When he pulled away, Evie was crying. She just felt like she needed to stop him. Stopping him and sending him away will be the only way to stop her dream from coming true. She needed to get him to understand and go along with the plan Zolan suggested.

"Please…" her voice came out weak, pleading.