Arius entered the forest in search for his wife that left him behind. He was feeling sulky as he stomps a little harder on the grasses along the way. His wife always go off without him. She should take him anywhere!

As he walks a little farther in, he immediately smelled the scent of Eleanor that brought back the smile on his face but it didn't last long as he sensed that something was quite off. It's too quiet..and a faint scent of blood in the air backed up his assumption.

"Eleanor!" He unconsciously shouted her name in his head as he hurried to find her. He bumped into Caelen who was holding a bloodied head of a bear on his left hand and a sword on the other.

"Where the hell did you take Eleanor?" Arius asked him, his teeth gnashed and grabbed Caelen's collar.

"We got separated, I thought she returned." Caelen answered him in a confused tone.

"Fuck. Get out of my way then." Arius cursed as he let go of his collar and pushed him aside.

He tried to trace the faint scent of Eleanor despite being a bit dizzy because of the smell of blood earlier. He reached a hidden, narrow entrance and without any hesitation he entered there.

He scout the area using his eyes; speedy as a falcon and sharp like that of an eagle's. As he searched around, he saw his wife lying body rested in a big trunk of an acacia tree.

"Ellie!" He bended down on his knees and check on her. She's unconscious. Her glowing, youthful face was now pale like the snow last winter. An arrow was stuck on her arm.

Arius gnashed his teeth and veins popped on his forehead in anger. Who dared to touch his wife? They must not value their lives.

He tried to tap her face in attempt to wake her up but no avail. The blood flowing from Eleanor made Arius more dizzy. The aroma was too strong and sweet that he was tempted to take a bite.

He gulped.

Arius had an inner conflict. He must be losing his mind! He tried to calm himself but it seems harder than he initially thought.

Sweet.. Tasty..

While getting back and forth between his unconscious and conscious state of mind, his fangs showed up as his eyes turned like a blood moon. He slowly leaned towards Eleanor's neck..

"Urgh.." Bite marks were left oh his right arm and thick blood oozes from it. No matter what animalistic desire he has, he can never hurt Eleanor. He might be a monster but not to his wife.

***

While drinking at the party, Eilif sensed something wrong. A strong savory scent danced around the tip of his nose. Animal blood wasn't this flavorful. Just as he was leaving from the backdoor, he saw Duke Caelen Hale from a distance near the opening of the woods where hunting takes place. For some reason, something is telling him to backtrack the Duke's route.

As he go deeper into the place, the smell became more stronger. A trudge a bit and found Arius on his bended knee on the ground with his back facing his direction. His sharp eyes has widen when he also spotted a bloodied Eleanor on his friend's arms. He didn't waste any more time and came running towards them.

"What the hell happened?!" He also squatted down to check. Arius' unfocused eyes was the first to catch his attention next to his mouth with dried blood on it.

"Get Mr. Andrev and tell him to bring Athanasius here."

"What?" He asked, baffled.

"Now!" Arius' voice roared and echoed around the whole place that even birds hiding on the trees got disturbed and flew away.

In a haste, he ran as fast as he could, trying twice as hard than his normal speed. When he finally found Mr. Andrev, he quickly composed himself and in a calm demeanor, whispered something to him.

A hint of worry could be seen in Mr. Andrev's eyes but still nodded to him.

"Understood." When Mr. Andrev left, he rushes back to where the couple were.

He saw the Arius hugging his wife tightly, with a darkened face and a clenched jaw. He was putting a pressure on her wound using his coat.

"Arius.." He called him in a serious manner, far from his usual jolly, carefree self.

When Arius looked up to him, he was taken aback. His bloody colored eyes bore on him as if he was looking deep through his soul.

Based on what he saw so far, half an hour probably passed since Eleanor got attacked. The arrow wound was too deep and for some reason, it bleeds a lot. At this point, a frail body like hers would be put in danger if she loses any more blood.

He bit his pinky finger just hard enough to draw a drop of blood and then bended down to smeared it on the ground and chant the phrase, "Tempus mora".

A strong gust of wind came as if sweeping everything away. The trees shook violently making leaves fall. Everything and everyone has fallen into trance and slowly, the time came to stop. This scene was like a photograph, a moment frozen in time.

Eilif's ability is to stop time but only for a short while. For now, he can only freeze it at five minutes maximum and it can only affect those that are within his one kilometer radius. It wasn't easy to reach to this point. He spent centuries mastering his skill so he can adjust how long he was able to stop time. Only Barclays' are an exception to his ability because they have an inborn skill to have a shield against a few abilities from other vampires.

"As the time is frozen, the bleeding of your wife would also at least stop for five minutes. Should we just go and run?" He stood up and looked to Arius.

"No, we would have to stop every five minutes to use your skill and there's waiting time for you to be able to use it again. It might put my wife in more danger. She needs immediate care."

As they were talking, a portal hole popped out of nowhere and Athanasius along with Mr. Andrev who immediately froze when his feet stepped onto the ground as result of the area being under Eilif's skill.

"Transport us to our manor, Athanasius. Eilif, as soon as we get out of here, tell Mr. Andrev to immediately fetch Sera." Arius ordered them as he stood up while carrying Eleanor.

"Understood." He answered.

Their attention went to Athanasius, he's still a kid compared to other vampires and when you compared him to a normal human but he can already use his ability to teleport with ease. Athanasius stood in the middle of them and snapped his fingers thrice and a portal appeared again. Once they entered, it would precisely take them to Athanasius' chosen coordinates.

"Go." Athanasius said to them nonchalantly as he held on to the hem of the shirt of the still frozen Mr. Andrev.

Arius and Eleanor were the first to go and he went right in after them while Athanasius and Mr. Andrev immediately followed.

"I hope it's not a serious wound, or Arius would turn the whole world upside down looking for the ones responsible for all of this." He muttered.

***

Meanwhile, in the dark, ruined castle hidden somewhere, a secret meeting took place.

"What did you do?!" A man fuming in anger suddenly barged in through the door.

"I killed two birds in one stone. The only way to hurt Arius is to destroy those special to him and I hated the guts of his wife."

A woman with a beautiful, black, curly hair that reaches her slender waist said to the mysterious man as she was sitting in her customized chair near by the window of the old castle's drawing room.

"Don't lay your hands on her again or I'll forget that this partnership ever happened and put a stake straight to your heart."

Hearing this, the woman's composure was ruined. She immediately turned her head to face him showing her fangs with her glowing golden eyes full of anger.

"How dare a mere human threatened me?!"

The man smirked and said, "Then try me."

After saying this, he turned around to take his leave and the woman was left in there, throwing a fit of anger.

"Just you wait, I'll kill all of you and Arius would soon be mine!"