SPELLBOUND

The first to emerge from the doorway was Samuel. Everyone's eyes were trained intensely at that spot, all excited and at the same time apprehensive of what might come through it. As Samuel lifted his head upon exiting, he saw everyone looking at him in alarm as his eyes were red and he looked as if he had just barely escaped with his life from something – and that something was one which is dangerous. What the hell! Did the princess fail and now the prince was after Samuel?

"What's wrong?" The men asked but Samuel could not even bring himself to speak as of yet. It could be seen that he was trying his hardest to control himself, his hunger.

"The princess… what happened to –" Zolan froze and could not finish his statement as right at that moment, everyone began to smell an indescribably mouth-watering sweet scent that wafter over to them. That scent alone caused every single one present there to freeze and lose all rational thought or questions they had running through their minds.

It was as if they were suddenly put under a powerful spell, and the men's eyes became red – barring none. This scent… this scent was something none of them ever smelled before in their lifetime. This was a scent of a blood one would willingly die for just to have a single taste. Where – no, who – was the source of this heavenly blood?

As the men's mind began to be taken over by that spellbinding scent, it suddenly became even stronger and their instincts took over them. They had never – in their long lives – experienced something like this before. Most of them had experienced being taken over by their hunger before, but this was an entirely different experience. Most importantly was because they were not hungry at all. They were sated and were not supposed to be tempted to this point no matter how fragrant the scent of the blood was. But this particular scent was just impossible! Never have they ever thought that something such as this existed in this world.

When Gavriel finally emerged from the secret door, what welcomed him were

Gavriel's eyes widened. His mind and body was still overwhelmed with worry and he was fully sated that he had not considered what would be the effect to his men once they caught the scent of Evie's blood.

His hand immediately flew to Evie's neck, covering her wound with his palm even though it was not bleeding anymore.

He bared his fangs in warning and his dark aura leaked out of his body in waves. This was all he could do at the moment. He needed to wake his men up from this wildness induced by the mere scent of his wife's blood! Then he also needed to do something to treat his wife. Her life might still be in danger from too much loss of blood even though she was still breathing now!

"Men!!!" his voice thundered inside the room.

Like a zap of lightning that pierced through their fog laden minds, Zolan and Samuel were the first to snap out of their stupor. Thanks to not only the extremely menacing voice but the deadly aura that followed which seemed strong enough to suffocate them all to death. Their survival instincts somehow overpowered the hunger they felt driving them.

"Y-your Highness!" Zolan spoke, lifting his arm to cover his nose at the realization that the scent was wafting over from the Princess. She was the source?! Just how and why does this princess, of all humans, have such kind of blood?!

But that was not what surprised Zolan the most. Just how did His Highness managed to stop himself from draining her dry when he had already a taste of such a magnificent sample of blood? Zolan clenched his fists, his sharp nails piercing into his palms and drew blood to clear his mind, as he realized he was salivating.

His gaze fell to Gavriel and he was thankful that the prince looked so terrifying right now. He was in fact the only reason why the others who were unable to snap out from the spell-like effect of the princess' blood were still rooted at their spot. Their instincts could clearly sense the immense danger which was warning them that they would surely die if they dared move a single step closer to that blood source.

"I need someone to treat my wife. I believe she has lost too much blood." Gavriel said, panic was obvious in his voice.

"I think we should do something about the Princess' scent first, Your Highness. Her scent is too strong, it's driving us mad." Zolan said apologetically while retreating a couple of steps. Samuel had already pulled the others out of the library.

Just as Zolan said those, Gavriel's eyes lit up into a flaming blue as he sensed more vampires approaching the library.

"Damn. This is bad. Please go back inside the secret door! Her scent will attract the vampires here! They'll lose their mind if... now, please! I will do something about this, just wait inside!"

Zolan quickly went to the shelf and Gavriel could only turn around and return inside. The door closed and the maddening scent was gone. Though the remnant of her scent was still lingering in the air, it was not that hard on the rest of them anymore.

"Heavens… just what the hell was that?!" Zolan felt his knees weakened and he grabbed on the shelves to prevent himself from collapsing embarrassingly in front of the others. He could not believe that it was not just the prince they needed to hide but now, also the princess?! Why the hell must the princess possess such a dangerous characteristic as well?

"These two will be the death of me." He muttered and he sighed and rolled his eyes, stepping out of the library.