370 Now or never

Alex's vision was blurry red. He couldn't feel anything. His body and mind were numb and his heart was filled with nothing but pure darkness.

His body craved blood, destruction and chaos. He just wanted to kill. He was like a mindless creature created just to kill and destroy, to bring calamity to the world. And he couldn't get enough. His body wanted more blood.

His lips curved up the moment the creature in his grip actually tried to fight against him. This kind of futile resistance only made him want to play more with his resisting prey, simply because everyone he killed just kept running away and never tried to fight back. That was simply too boring. It was definitely more entertaining when they at least tried to fight back, even if it was utterly useless.

The demons inside that drove him seemed to like this. It licked its lips in anticipation, as if it couldn't wait to devour this little insect caught in his web. It had been a very, very long time since he had met a resisting prey, one that was strong enough to actually survive the first blow. Even then, he knew that his power exceeded this prey's powers a hundredfold. This one didn't just succumb and refused to accept his inevitable death. Why? Wouldn't it be easier and less painful if it just closed its eyes and died? Did it want to suffer?

With a wicked smirk, he slowly tightened his grip around its neck, giving his prey the time to struggle more and fight against him with all it had.

When his grip was about to break through his prey's spell, he decided to give it a moment to run away. It had been a while since he had a good game of tag. Maybe they would even get to play hide and seek. Those were the games his demons desired to play. Indeed, those were the most fun games to them.

His body was about to move, to throw his prey to the ground when he felt another insect cling onto his back and it made him pause for a second.

Before he could turn around to deal with it, his numbed body registered that this new prey was emitting a warmth that he could actually feel. Its arms were wrapped around his waist, heating him up like nothing he had ever felt before. His consciousness could see and feel nothing but that burning sensation. And all of the sudden, his body refused to move.

He felt like he had been immobilised by a burning chain that set his body on fire. It was as if he was under a strong spell, one that didn't have any defences against.

He stayed still, unmoving for a long while. His consciousness that was buried deeply in the pit of darkness started to awaken, reaching out to the warm light that had appeared on the surface. He felt like he was swimming upwards, kicking his legs to take him closer to the light. It was curious. Where was it coming from? Why was it so bright? Why was it calling out to him?

But then, the prey in his hand cast an even more powerful spell to escape his grip which immediately broke the spell, or whatever it was that held him frozen. It triggered him and his eyes saw red again. His entire being was swallowed by the darkness yet again and the bright light within him was overwhelmed by it. Its light slowly faded to a small flicker, barely noticeable.

The witch was thrown away like a ragdoll. It happened like lightning but the witch managed to protect herself before her back crashed against a large tree. The impact was minimized but her body still hit the tree with a crack and she fell with a thud to the ground.

Abi flinched, hoping that the witch survived that attack. However, she didn't have time to ponder on whether the witch was still alive. There was something a bit more important at the moment, like how to stop her husband's rampage.

Abi turned her attention back to Alex. Her arms tightened around his waist but her hopes plummeted when she noticed that her hug didn't seem to affect him, let alone stop him. He used to immediately react when she embraced him. His coldness and darkness used to instantly disappear whenever she did this but it didn't seem to be working this time around.

"Alex… please…" she begged, speaking clearly so that he could hear her voice. Abi clenched him tighter as she kept calling out his name.

Alex's hands then moved and landed on the hands wrapped around his waist. He didn't have time to deal with this one. He was too focused on playing with the more powerful prey. His eyes never left his prey. A menacing smile curved on his lips as his eyes blazed, anticipating the game that was about to begin.

He grabbed the arms that were wrapped around him and moved them away from him. His grip was tight and it hurt her but she didn't have the time to feel the pain.

Abi started to panic. What should she do? He was too strong.

The moment he pulled her hands off her, Alex disappeared from in front of her. It was as if she was invisible to him. It was like he didn't really notice or care that she was there. Abi quickly looked around to see where he went and she saw him appear before the witch.

However, the witch was quick to escape, almost teleporting a few meters back from where Alex had appeared.

Abi watched him smile menacingly as he walked closer to the witch. He really looked like someone else, like a stranger, like somebody she didn't know. This wasn't the Alex that she knew. He was like the most ruthless villain who was about to crush his prey. He walked slowly towards the witch, who was panting from his attacks. It seemed she was wounded because of the impact and Abi could see the marks of Alex's hand around her neck. She could also tell that she was running out of strength. She had used many strong spells in a short period of time and it seemed that it had drained her. Abi didn't know how much longer this witch would be able to evade Alex or defend herself against his attacks.

She needed to do something but what? What could she do to stop Alex?

Seeing Alex close in on the witch, Abi immediately moved. She didn't think anymore and let her instincts kick in. She knew that Alex would kill the silver-haired witch once he caught her again because Alex was showing that wicked, menacing smile of his, one that said that this game was over.

Abi didn't know how she ran so fast. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline rush, or maybe something else but she didn't worry about that. In what seemed like no time, she was standing before the witch, her arms raised in a defensive position, defending the witch from Alex.

She had to stop him now. She had to bring him back now. It was now or never.

Her eyes blazed with unwavering will. She looked like a fierce, little fragile warrior, waiting for the god of war to come to her and face her. She was like a little white rabbit standing in the lion's way. She wasn't going to let him harm this witch. She still needed this woman's help. They needed to survive this so that they could find out how to bring Alex's memories back!

Abi locked eyes with him and then she ran towards him, planning to place a kiss right on his lips. She thought that if the hug didn't work, maybe a kiss would. That was the more powerful drug she thought she could use to sedate him.

As she got closer, everything seemed to have turned into slow motion.

The world ceased to exist, fading into nothingness, and all she could see was him. Her Alex was standing there and she was so close to reaching him. After seeing what truly happened the night he left, she felt like she had been separated from him for too long. Remembering those images, those scenes, Abi just wanted to kiss him, to hug him and shower him with all the love she felt for him in her heart.

However, the dreamy moment shattered like mirrors breaking into a million pieces.

Because Alex's hand gripped her neck just before she could touch him.