SPELLBOUND

But Gavrael felt no regret. He wanted this power. He needed this power especially now, to stop that event from happening. It was all to keep her alive. It does not matter that she fears him or never wants to come close to him ever again after this. Because all that matters to him now was to ensure that nightmare never repeats itself.

That moment he heard the truth, he had already decided what he was going to do. And nothing would change his mind now. Not even Evie herself.

With a mask of unfeeling eyes, Gavrael continued walking closer, waiting for Evie to step back. Somehow, he could not help but remember the first time he met her in the forest, fearing him and running away from him. He knew that after what she saw today, it was only natural for her to cower from him in terror and see him as a monster.

But the closer he gets to her, the harder his grip on his sword becomes. Because Evie did not even make a single move. Was she so terrified until she was frozen to even move now?

When he finally reached her, he fixed her a cold and piercing gaze.

"Did Claudius taught you how to leave my barrier? Huh? Evie?" He interrogated her roughly. His voice held no warmth at all as it fell as shards of icicles on her ears.

"Yes…" she replied, surprising Gavrael. He thought she would not even be able to make a single word out to respond to him. "I asked him to help me leave."

Gavrael sneered at her response. "Why? So, you could escape from me?" he narrowed his eyes.

"No. So I could get to you." Evie answered back stubbornly, as she looked right into his face in challenge, not showing any fear.

Gavrael was silenced as his eyes widened, not expecting that to be her answer. But all too soon, his eyes turned hard again.

"Is this so you could pester me to train you –"

"This is all so I could stay with you and keep you by my side." She cut him off and Gavrael was once again frozen in surprise. Why? Did she not see all those bodies lying about that he had slaughtered? Was she not supposed to be terrified? He was thrown a little off balance and a little confused. However, he did not allow that to show on the outside.

An ironic smile bloomed on his face.

"I wonder what Gavriel did to you… for you to become this brave and uncharacteristically tough, Evie. Or is this a result of you living like a vampire now?" he questioned. His voice was somehow calm but there was displeasure and anger obviously flashing in his eyes. "I can't believe my fearful little butterfly has grown to such a fearless phoenix that even the sight of slaughtered bodies doesn't even faze you anymore and the slaughterer right before you don't even make you scared anymore –"

"Don't get me wrong… I am scared." She cut him off blandly. "Terrified of what you are capable of doing now. But…"

She paused before suddenly lunging forward and hugging him. Her hands circling his waist were wrapped around him so tight. "I know it's not you who did that, it's your magic. Your dark magic is making you want bloodshed, Gav." She spoke softly, that only he could hear her words.

Gavrael barked out a laugh. "So… Claudius even told you about this too, huh?" His jaws worked.

"Yes. He's told me everything." Without letting go of his waist, Evie tilted her head up to look at him. "I came because I want to help you control your dark magic."

Gavrael's eyes narrowed. "If Claudius did speak to you, I am certain he would have told you that there's no way to overcome this, Evie." His voice sounded neutral. But Evie could detect that it held a tinge of bitterness in it, and she was certain that Gavrael too felt unreconciled about this fact. It was just that he had given up on himself as Claudius had said there was no way around this. Hearing that made her all the more determined to help him overcome this.

"Yes, he did say that. But I've found a way that we can try." She hugged him again, burying her face into his chest. "I found a way Gav, so please… can you cooperate with me? Let me help you, please." Her words were muffled as she pressed her face further into his sculpted chest. However, to Gavrael, every single word spoken was as clear as crystal.

The way her fingers grasped his clothes so tight made Gavrael's entire being weaken. He could feel her desperation and no matter how he told himself not to agree, his traitorous body moved on its own and he found his head nodding in agreement to her.

"That's a nod, right?!" Evie exclaimed, glad as she did not expect him to agree so easily and simply.

"It wasn't." he denied.

"You can't fool me. That was a nod!" Evie let out a joyful smile that even lifted the darkness and gloom in him.

"That was not…" For some reason, Gavrael could not continue what he was going to say. Then he suddenly clenched his jaws and let out an irritable groan. "Fine, fine! You're right." he grumbled out in frustration and Evie let out a relieved sigh as she laughed lightly.

She then immediately grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her, leaving the bloodiness and gore behind them. She did not mind that his hands were still covered in blood. All she wanted was to pull him away from this depressing scene. The sooner they get down to fixing this, the sooner they could avoid this from happening again.

The three young men and the other people at the corner of the courtyard were all silent, not wanting to drag any attention to themselves in case the lord's anger was ignited again. They were ever so grateful for that beautiful young lady to stop the senseless killing, though they do not know who she was. Some of them even venerated her in their hearts as a goddess – a silver-haired, golden-eyed goddess. A goddess that had saved their lives!

"Alright, now come with me." She began to drag him off the courtyard and Gavrael just felt his body already moving along with her against his will. 

Gavrael had felt it not once but quite a few times since he had found her. That his body sometimes just moved as though it was under someone else's control whenever Evie was involved. And now, it is happening again, and he knew he could not do anything about it.

Gritting his teeth, Gavrael could do nothing but look at her helplessly as she dragged him along the corridors. His gaze then fell to their entwined hands and when he saw his blood-stained hand being held by her pure and frail looking little hand, he felt his heart twist in pain and then sink. The view of how contrasting his bloody red and dirty hands compared to her clean and pure ones were like heaven and hell. He started to feel like he wasn't worthy to touch her with his filthy hands anymore.

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A/N: Don't forget to vote spellbounders, if we stay #1 this whole month in golden ranking, i will give 10 chapters mass release this november 1.

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