"My mother said she was from the human empire. The vampires caught her and brought her in Ervas. Women are forced to bear children. If they can't, they'll be sold off as slaves to the palace. The vampires also come to Ervas every three years to pick young ladies and men to be sold. When we reach fourteen years old, we were sold off and ended up here. The three of us have been serving here in this castle and serving the Duke for four years now."

Evie felt her blood boil within her veins. She had never thought something as appalling as this was even happening, much less encouraged and practiced state wide. No wonder Zolan had warned her to prepare herself mentally about the situations of humans in this place. This was just unacceptable!

"Is Ervas being guarded by vampires?" Evie asked again after a long moment of fighting for calm.

"Yes, milady. The town is guarded and that's why none of us can leave voluntarily and that is also why we have never seen what the outside of the town looked like until the vampires came to pick us to be sold."

"How dare they treat humans like livestock!" Evie could no longer stop herself from exploding – damn her conduct and ladylike manners – and she hissed those words out angrily.

The maids were surprised at her outburst and at the fury blazing from her eyes. In fact, Evie felt even angrier that the maids looked confused at why she was this angry. The fact was that these girls did not even seem to realise that they were not meant to be the vampire's livestock – nor anyone's livestock for that matter.

After her bath, Evie's thoughts were filled with nothing but the information she had found out from her maids. She was still so angry that she did not even realise that her maids were already gone until she felt a familiar overbearing presence behind her as she stood by the window overlooking the city, trying to locate the possible direction where the town of Ervas was.

"I hope you are not thinking about calling your dragon to help you escape from me, Evie." A deep, familiar, and alluring voice rumbled near her and echoed inside the room and Evie jerked her head to look over her shoulder. And there he was standing there, the very man she was waiting for. His dark hair was damp. It seems he had just had his own bath and was currently looking incredibly handsome as usual. The only difference was in his eyes which were so fierce and wicked and cold.

"I am not going to escape." Evie huffed and he slowly approached her. His movement was as graceful as she remembered and the closer he came while fixing those intense gaze on her, Evie could not help but feel her heart beat faster.

When he stopped before her, his presence felt incredibly overbearing.

"Really?" his voice turned into a hoarse whisper. He was exuding that intense tension again that made Evie step back only to find that she was already trapped between him and the wall behind her. When did she back herself into the wall?! She did not even realise that had happened.

She could only lift her face and bravely meet his fierce gaze straight on. "Yes. I will promise to stay with you as long as you want. However, in exchange…"

Evie trailed off when he suddenly smirked. That very same smirk that she always found was as seductive as sin nearly made her catch her breath. But she furrowed her brows at him in the end because she felt as though he did not quite believe the words that she said.

His smile faded and his gaze became icy and sharp, making Evie feel the chills again. He was as hot as fire just a while ago and now cold as glacier again. This man was going to driving her insane with his extreme mood swings!

"Promise…" he uttered the word like he hated it, "I don't want you saying that word again. This is a warning, Evie. If I hear that word from you ever again…" he trailed off and his hand reached out and threaded his fingers through her hair, "there will be consequences you have to bear, understand?"

Her eyes narrowed and then she glared at him. She could not help it. She could not believe he was threatening her in everything she does and even say.

"I wonder why you seem to hate that word so much." She still tried to stay calm.

"I only hate it if it's you who is saying it."

Evie immediately felt a painful pang hit her in the heart at his words. "Hah," she could not help but scoff, and a tinge of anger also rose within her. And even though she knew this was not the Gavriel she had married, she still could not help but feel angry because he was treating her this way. "Fine… but I can't promise my tongue wont slip." She even emphasized the word 'promise' as if to taunt him.

And suddenly, he pinned her against the wall, his wicked eyes raging as he gripped her shoulders hard.

"Don't provoke me, Evie." He hissed with gritted teeth.

"What." Evie lifted her face and glared at him in defiance. Maybe because she had felt hurt therefore, she wanted to hurt him as well. "Are you going to hurt me? Just because I mentioned a freaking word you hate? Aren't you acting like a child now, My Lord?"

The fiery devil-blue eyes flared brightly, and she saw hurt flashing in them for a moment. Then all of a sudden, she experienced that strange feeling again before her vision turned black. The next moment she felt herself falling backwards.

And the next thing she knew, she was already on the bed, and he was looming over her, looking down at her as his strong hands pinned her hands against the soft bed.

Evie's eyes were wide with shock as she looked up at him.

____

A/N: If we stay rank 1 in golden ranking until an hour before weekly reset, i will give bunos chapters again next monday. So don't forget to cast your Golden Tickets for our Evie and Gav. ^^

P.s. Hellbound With You regular updates has resumed. See you there as well guys.