SPELLBOUND

"Gav… I … I think this is enough." Her voice was weakening. But there were still no signs of Gavriel giving up and stopping his feasting. Panic began to swell in Evie's heart. She was getting really dizzy. She could somehow tell that it was only a little more she could withstand before her life would be in danger. And Gavriel could not seem to hear her, at all.

Oh, no… this is bad. She had to do something… to wake him up… to stop him… but her body… her mind…

Weakly, Evie hugged his head closely to her bosom. She did not know why she did that when it was more logical to try and push him away, but she could not think straight anymore. And then, her lips weakly whispered as her dazed mind was floating off. "Gavriel… I love you."

The moment those words left Evie's lips, something seemed to hit Gavriel like a wrecking ball and he was forced to be awakened from the addictive haze of pleasure he was indulging himself in.

At that precious moment, he heard her small voice echoing at the back of his mind and then Evie's face filled his vision. He started to feel the beginnings of panic forming when she began to feel her becoming limp in his arms. However, his hazy mind could not quite catch up on why he would be feeling that panic yet.

Protest shook his body at the realization of what was going on soon enough. The pleasure that was consuming him, gripping him, rocked his entire being at the same time. And the deadly battle started.

His monster growled in objection as his power overpowered his rational side the moment he attempted to stop. His mind was in chaos, a battlefield of emotions, pleasure, fear and more.

Gavriel heard her weak voice again, "Gav", she could not even complete calling out his name anymore. The fear rose from deep within him, overpowering the heady pleasure of her divine blood. Why? Why did her blood had to be this delicious?

His monster was not willing to let go. His desire for Evie's blood was beyond reason. It would kill just

A burning pain throbbed deep in Gavriel's chest. The image of that young girl he had killed long ago, her dead body lying on his feet, flashed so vividly before his eyes once again. He was staring at it like he was back at that very moment again.

He fell to his knees and his trembling hands reached out to brush the hair of that young innocent stranger he had just killed. Though unintentional, it was still his hands that were stained with her blood.

As he blinked repeatedly to get his sight in focus, what welcomed him made him roar out in fury and everything burst out of control. What he was looking at, what was being burned into his mind, was not the dead girl's face but Evie's face. And she was lying there dead.

The world seemed to break apart and Gavriel screamed out Evie's name – over and over – jerking wildly as though he had just awakened from a terrifying nightmare.

"Evie!!!"

His agonized voice echoed inside the dungeon, shaking the very walls. And the next thing Gavriel knew, he was kneeling on the ground, gasping, trembling, and feeling something warm moving ever so slightly in his arms.

His eyes were still filled with terror as he held Evie close to him. His body was filled with nothing but utter fear that he was still trembling. Afraid to death to move and pull away to see her, to confirm what he was terrified of happening, for fear that he had truly killed her.

He wanted to call out her name again, but he just could not make his lips move nor his throat push out a sound. His fear was too great that he could not even calm down to check and feel for the presence of her heartbeats. His body and mind felt broken. But eventually, with stupendous effort his hands moved from her shoulders and pushed her back ever so gently.

The moment he looked down at her face, time seemed to have stopped for him. She was looking back at him, smiling faintly. And though her eyes were still heavy lidded and dazed with dizziness, he knew she could see him.

Frozen still, Gavriel watched her as her hand reached out and touched his jaw, feather light but very real. "See?" she said, still smiling. "I knew you could do it... I…"

She looked like she had something more to say but her hand fell back into her lap tiredly and her eyes fluttered gently as it closed.

Gavriel initially got flustered and panicked but as he felt her steady breathing, he calmed down and realised she seemed to be asleep.

Relief came shining in his eyes as if he had finally seen the sun's rays after the endless darkness and he hugged her to him. He could not believe he had managed to break free of his madness and yet, did not end up killing her. It was unbelievable because he fought back too, back then in the past, but he did not win and could not change a thing. But this time, he did, even though this was the toughest internal battle he had ever gone through in his life yet.

He knew he only succeeded all because of her.

Hugging her again, and kissing her head, Gavriel rose while cradling her close to him – this precious treasure of his. He could see his monster finally locked in and back inside the cage where it belonged, keeping himself fully chained now and tamed. But his eyes were still burning as he stared back at him.