507 Isolated*

As she let out a sigh, warm and strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind her. She felt Alex's face rested at the blade of her shoulder and silently hugged her. And that was enough to soothe Abi's troubled heart.

"Better?" his gorgeous deep voice echoed softly in her ear. Before she knew it, she turned and hugged him back.

"Hmm," she mumbled against his chest when a knock pulled their attention towards the door.

Kai emerged from the door. "The witch queen said we're leaving in an hour."

…

In the courtyard, the elite vampires were already gathered.

"I can't believe all of us finally gathered like this again," Riev was grinning. There was excitement and thrill in his eyes as he looked at all the other vampires. "Haha, look at them. Everyone is way too serious."

"Isn't this your fault?" Raven replied as he leaned against the pillar. His hands folded across his chest while Riev was squatting on the floor.

"Hey. Don't blame your almighty subordinate like that." Riev looked up, his lips twisted.

Raven's lashes dropped to glance at him. "Your story is ridiculously exaggerated. Now they look tensed because they think they can't afford to relax at all," Raven's glare at Riev turned sharp. "Did you forget that most of them never engaged in this type of battle yet?"

Riev eyes wandered, avoiding Raven's gaze. The elite vampires were all trained by Ezekiel and Alex, so they have been considered as the strongest army. However, in the past hundreds of years, the vampires never engaged in any big and serious battles because the era of wars had long ended for them. This battle would be the first for most of them. They were thrilled, but at the same time, they were too tensed. And the main reason was because of Riev's over the top story.

"Y-you heard my made-up story?" Riev stammered as he stood. "Haha," he forced a laugh, but when Raven's expression didn't change, Riev cleared his throat and scratched his head. "Don't worry, boss, I will now go and clarify everything."

The man dashed away, and after a short while, the tensed soldiers gladly loosened up.

However, a minute didn't even pass, and a voice made the soldiers' immediately tensed up once again. Though this time, even Riev reacted the same.

"Your story isn't actually exaggerated, Riev," Alicia said. "You guys might really end up fighting a dragon."

"Haha, don't scare us like that witch prin- I mean, queen." Riev replied, grinning. "That immortal woman is not that powerful. The powerful one is her countless minions."

Alicia looked at him and Riev's smile slowly faded. "D-don't tell me… that woman could turn into a dragon?!" Riev suddenly exclaimed. None of the elite vampires knew about Zeres yet, so their reaction was understandable. Alicia wanted these men to be prepared because she didn't want them to be overwhelmed like what happened back in that Ziggurat.

"We don't know if that woman really is as powerless as she looked. But there is someone like Alexander under her control," her voice saddened. "He might transform into a dragon, and if that happens, we will have to fight him."

Everyone fell silent, speechless. 

"So I want everyone to be prepared enough," Alicia added, and then her expression changed as she looked at them all. "But don't falter. We have Alexander on our side. And not just him…" she smiled. "We will fight together."

Alex and Abigail had just arrived, but they too heard Alicia's statement. Abi had a look of admiration as she gazed at Alicia. She was indeed an amazing queen, and Abi was glad that Alicia had become their ally. 

A slight smirk just curved on Alex's face while the elite vampires' eyes lit up as if a fire started to burn inside their hearts.

…

At sunset, the group had arrived at their destination. They regrouped deep within the rainforest of an isolated island somewhere in the north.

When they climbed and reached the top of a certain mountain, they were fascinated with what they saw, especially Abigail. They saw a series of plateaus rise up around 1500 feet from the surrounding terrain like tabletops. The plateaus would undoubtedly look like islands in the sky if one looked from above.

The place was like a lost world. But despite its mystical appearance, the place that was isolated atop the plateaus was almost desolate and lonely. There was nothing but rocks everywhere, and the sky was gloomy, as though a fierce storm was about to come.

Abi's unease worsened. Her gaze was focused on Alex as the man spoke with the elite vampires. Alex was so serious that Abi didn't want to disrupt his intense concentration. This was the first time Alex acted all serious like this. She remembered how carefree and excited Alex was at times like this, but today, he was different. And he just looked even cooler than ever before.

"Are you okay?" Alicia's voice pulled Abi back to the present, and Abi dragged her gaze from Alex to the queen next to her. "Do you have something you want to tell your husband?"

It seemed Alicia had been observing her for a while now. "Abigail, I know something is boggling you. If you can't tell your husband, you can tell me. Maybe, I can help." Alicia added. 

Abi swallowed. The weight in her chest had turned so heavy she felt she was going to burst anytime soon. And now that Alicia had asked her, she could no longer hide her fear.

"Alicia…" Abi bit her lips. "I… I had a dream last night."