It was pitch black, not the kind she had befriended as a companion to the prince of the darkness. This void, it was far from being welcoming. The foreign cold nurturing in its womb was biting on her skin, making its bleakness seep deep into her veins.

She could hear rats scuttling away from her, their small feet hastily attempting to get out of the predator's way that was busy dragging her lifeless figure to some unknown place

All struggle had left her body. Her throat felt sore from crying too much. Her fingers, laced with a mixture of dried blood and mud, were twitching due to the exertion she had put them through. Her assaulter had put a cloth over her head, rendering her unable to see her surroundings. Caged away in the back of a vehicle, bound, blindfolded, no way to witness the rotation of the sun and the moon, she had eventually lost the track of time. All her connections from the world outside were cut, until the night Felix finally decided to acknowledge her presence by pulling her out of that small space to guide her to some unknown place.

Unlike his initial impression, he wasn't much interested in talking to her during their trip. He refused to answer her. No matter how much she tried rupturing his ear drums with her screaming, he didn't say anything in return. She was expecting him to hit her for being too loud but contrary to her beliefs, he didn't hurt a single hair on her head. He had just left her to herself.

If she could look at him, she'd have been able to guess his reaction better. Her best shot at it was that he seemed trouble as if he were trapped in some deep thought.

Her constant yelling was eventually cut short when a series of contractions started hitting her out of nowhere. It began a few hours into their venture, slow and a few in numbers. The interval between each contraction wasn't drawing shorter and they weren't too severe in intensity either. Throughout her strenuous journey, she kept telling herself that these were mere false contractions yet the constant reassuring wasn't enough to stop the crimson liquid flowing out of her eyes.

"Ugh!"

The train of her thoughts came to a sudden halt as she almost missed a step while walking blindfolded. If it hadn't been for Felix tightening his hold on her, she'd have gone spiraling down the stairs.

He had one hand on the small of her back, the other gripping her elbow to usher her in the direction he desired. Although engulfed in haziness, her brain hadn't failed to register how he was deliberately trying to avoid making contact with her skin. The only time he had touched her bare flesh was when he was in the process of abducting her.

"Felix."

Just as she finished calling out his name in her hoarse voice, a sharp intake of breathe reached her ears, making her furrow her eyebrows.

'Why has he turned so silent?'

He hadn't replied to her call but his footsteps had turned urgent, driving her to walk fast as well.

"I can't walk anymore, Felix."

No answer.

His lack of response was turning her more and more fierce in her approach.

"Felix!"

"Would you stop calling my name already?"

Before she could comprehend what had happened, the vampire had gripped both of her arms in his big hands swirling her around to make her face him. They were close, only her heavily pregnant belly separating them. She could hear him breathing heavily. His cold breath, coming out in short pants was fanning the exposed skin above her clavicles, inciting a shiver out of her surprised lips.

He was cold, colder than Ares.

'What's with him?'

Giving in to her brimming curiosity, she lifted her hand to take off the cloth covering her face, her hand pausing midway as soon as her gaze fell upon his face.

His features were no longer concealed in the darkness of a hood. His silver shoulder length hair did a poor job at hiding his defined features from her awestruck eyes. His facial bones appeared as if the angels had carved them with their own hands. He had a jawline that could put diamonds to shame in regards of sharpness. His jaw was ticking due to how hard he was clenching it. The hollow of his cheeks was adding a contrast to his otherwise pale appearance, making his cheekbones appear higher. His lips unlike most vampires did not have a tinge of blood red in them; instead they were tinted with a shade of rosy pink.

Travelling all over his face, her stare eventually locked onto his eyes, a beautiful set of frosty silver.

'How can someone so evil possess such bewitching beauty?'

Slowly small crimson dots started dancing in the depth of his irises as a frown settled on his face.

"What are you looking at?"

In a flash, the cloth crumpled in her fist was again put on her head to obstruct her view before he started walking again, making her trail behind him silently. He had broken her trance with his sudden movement.

After a few minutes, she heard an iron door rotating around its hinges, creating a loud creak. The cloth on her head was pulled back abruptly followed by a small nudge on her shoulder, ushering her inside the cell in front of her.

"Ah!"

Another contraction hit her as soon as she stepped foot into the cell causing her to arch forward with pain.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Felix's hand come forward in an attempt to hold her in case she dropped to the ground. When she didn't take it, he clenched it into a fist before pulling it back.

Soon, clinking of metal was resonating through the empty walls as he locked the door behind her, confining her inside the small cell. If they hadn't met under such circumstances, she'd have definitely asked him about the royals and their obsession with underground prisons in their fancy castles.

"Aren't you going to kill me?"

Her back was still turned to him as she let those words out through clenched teeth.

"Not until he arrives."

The crazed sarcastic persona he had going on when he showed up before her had disappeared altogether.

"Arrives where?"

"Where it all started- Romania."

Turning her head sideways, she gave him a firm look, trying to appear as courageous as possible while uttering her next words,

"And what happens when he comes back?"

There was a moment of silence following her question. His frosty gaze was still fixated on her but his mouth remained mum for another one or two second before he finally parted his lips

"The filth he implanted in you will be sacrificed right before his eyes."

She knew he was talking about her child.

"Why? What has he ever done to you?"

Her tone had taken a more agitated turn by now.

"The throne is for no coward."

"All these centuries, all this suffering, all this waiting... for what? A mere throne???"

Whirling around abruptly, she was now facing him. Her scarlet eyes glaring holes into his head as only silver bars kept them apart from each other.

"For survival."

It wasn't the barely audible whisper that made her eyes turn back to their normal greyish blue color. It was the emptiness that slipped into his tone.

'Why does he sound like that?'

Daring to step a bit closer, she looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"What has Ares ever done to you?"

"He stole what's mine."

"A throne?"

Slowly, the vampire lifted his hand to wrap his long slender fingers around the silver bars. The metal had instantly started burning his flesh engulfing the whole room in its suffocating hold.

"He stole my only chance at survival."

Her attention shifted from his burning hand to his face as soon as he spoke those words. She found his gaze zeroed in on her swollen belly before sliding up to meet her eyes for a small second.

There was an unsaid emotion burning in those breathtaking irises.

He didn't give her a chance to reply. The moment she opened her mouth to talk, he sped out of there leaving her there staring wide eyed at the ground.

"What the hunter takes, the hunter shall return."

'Deborah knew Cyrus had a hand in helping the hunter, that's why Cyrus was so keen on getting rid of her. She must've cast the same curse on Cyrus' lineage as well. Taking blood from Cyrus would've been difficult but taking the blood of her own nephew, Ruth's son, would be be way easier.'

Slowly, she lifted her trembling hand to touch the place where Felix had burnt his hand. Her fingers had come back wet with blood.

'Just like I wasn't Ares' original beloved, Ares wasn't mine either.'

She clenched her eyes shut as soon as she licked his blood from the tip of his finger,

"My original beloved was... Felix."