Once upon a time...

            Well...

            Too many years ago to be remembered, lived a man; a man who was a Demon-in-disguise. He was the first of his kind to walk upon the Earth and the Shadow. After him were many others; the vampires, the wolves, the Faeries and the rest to follow as he spoke. He was respected for his power, the lonely years were long and he was tired.

            Until a woman walked into his life and turned it upside down. A woman who made him toss and turn around. Even in his sleep he dreamed of her. Her name was beautiful and so was she. And he was smitten right from the very start. She was a caring soul like no other. This woman harbored no judgement towards his unusual ways of living.

            Deep, deep they fell in love. Together they went through everything. For him, there was no other. For her, he was his only safe haven.

            One day he went away for days. And the wife waited patiently in their home. But strangers came at night and barged in uninvited. The next morning, she was no more. The news of her death spread like wildfire. Into her husband's ear. And as he came back, he knelt onto the floor of her dried blood and cried. For the very first time in his life, heart broken to million pieces. Insanity consumed him. And he fell into a deep slumber. His last words were made a song for his Children the Demons.

            For they knew he would come back.

            He would come back when the time was right.

            I blinked to regain my sanity. To make sure I wouldn't faint. The way in was easy. The way out had been bloody. My blade was soaked in blood. I had killed many guards, and the werewolf Elders were hot in my tails. They were chasing me like tomorrow wouldn't come. For this one young werewolf I had in my hand.

            How many hours had I been inside this clan? They had a long, underground chamber, and I thought I had run for too long. This werewolf prisoner wasn't helping. Since he was young, probably still a teenager, he kept on crying and whining. I couldn't stand the sound of him sobbing when I was fighting for my life to be out of this cursed place.

            “Can you shut the up?!” I yelled at him, and he clamped his hand over his mouth. At least it was quiet now. I had the tendencies to get terrible headache when I heard loud noises. I groaned in frustration. I wished I had stolen a teleportation ability. Things would have been easier. But 'easy' never happened. No matter what, life always forced us to take on the difficult path instead.

***

            “You... always manage to pick up an unconventional setting, don't you?”

            I cleaned up the blood on my body. I was injured here and there, and Jinki had been angry. But the wounds closed in easily since they were minor injuries. The werewolf was tied onto the cave's wall. But this was not just any rock cave. This was an ice cave. The reflections of our past. A welcome gathering for our future.

            It was cold. But we were not human. We could handle low temperatures better than we handled high pressure.

            “He would love it,” Jinki smiled at me and threw me the wet towel. “He's always loved frost, and cold. Now clean up your face, and get ready. Your clothes are placed in the box over there. Bring the vampire girl here. Baekhyun will handle the rest.”

            I stopped on track and turned back to meet Jinki's unyielding gaze. Now that he mentioned it, I didn't see Baekhyun at all. There were only several servants from our clans attending this Ritual, because Jinki intended to keep it a secret until it was done. The servants were the few chosen ones who had served him while he was alive.

            I wanted to ask about Baekhyun so badly, but it wasn't appropriate at the moment. My own personal feelings couldn't get entangled with the clan's necessities. I shook my head and tried to get my head straight. My clothes were scattered all around. Just what exactly... did I have to wear... to look like a dead woman.

            Tonight I came, not as myself, but as Seo Joo Ri, the dead woman he loved so much...

            Tonight I would sacrifice my heart. I would repay my debt with my freedom. I didn't know who he was, what he would look like, how he would be. It truly felt like I was a woman off to an arranged marriage by a father. I didn't have the choice. But unlike them, I whole-heartedly embraced my calling. Human had it good. Their marriage lasted half a century, given that they wouldn't divorce until they died. I wouldn't call this a marriage, but this was something similar. And it would last a lifetime.

            “My Lady?”

            I turned over as one of the maids called me with the most curious eyes I had ever seen. I was spacing out for who knew how long. My thoughts were all over the place and I didn't even have the mood to eat and drink. They had placed water and white rice in front of me, and now that I saw it, I sighed dejectedly and asked the maid, “Do you have alcohols? Anything strong?”

            And she was tempted, as I could tell, to slap some sense into me. I wanted her to do so.

            “Alcohols, do you have them here?” I persisted like a little child. The maid opened , but then closed them again. She wanted to say something, but instead, she turned back and brought me back a glass of red wine. So much for asking for a strong alcohol. Perhaps a bit of Delirium would help. But Jinki never allowed any kind of drugs to enter my body. He'd always taught me that our bodies were our sacred sanctuary. Never to be harmed.

            The red wine was... bitter. I didn't like bitter things, but when I was extremely anxious, the bitterness somehow calmed me down, and that was what I liked about alcohols. I wasn't happy. I was mad. I was depressed as hell. I couldn't think straight. And worst of all, the Ritual was happening in less than an hour, and I was growing more and more... scared.

            I was scared of many things, actually. I wasn't as strong as everyone perceived me to be. I managed to fool Jinki for years. Even Baekhyun, the man I allowed to be closest to me, didn't know that deep down inside, I was scared of mostly everything. I could be pretty bipolar at times, and he got used to it. But he didn't know why, or what exactly triggered this personality of mine. I could be rash, but also careful. At times, my decision was made in hurry. Another time, I was being too careful that in the end, I couldn't decide on anything.

            I supposed when you had lived for far too long – though for the Shadows, one hundred year old was probably nothing – you allowed yourself to be consumed by madness. Time could be a formidable enemy. Most of us went insane with immortality. Some obsessed over it. Like humans. But they didn't know that after centuries of living, it could get pretty lonely, no matter who you were with.

            I didn't know why I was thinking so much at the moment. Was it the alcohol's effect, or the Ritual's... I choked on the drink and finally set it down, knowing that if I had too much of it, I wouldn't be able to continue the Blood Rituals.

            If you said that I had a strong sense of duty, trust me, I didn't. I was probably a rebellious little . But this one favor, I did, not for the clan itself, but for myself as well. I took the weight of a debt very, very seriously. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have lived until today.

            I looked through the choices of dress and picked up a white satin. It wasn't like I fancy the femininity it displayed. I had actually heard from Jinki that both our Lord and his wife, Joo Ri liked the color black. I decided to go against it.

            There was no need for makeup. I had a perfect red color for my lips. I was born with a pouty lips, Jinki said. He'd seen me when I was a child, he would know. My eyes were a drowning oceanic blue, and sometimes, when I felt a certain emotional rush, it turned a bit purplish. Right now, my eyes were a clear distinction of blue and purple. I had an oval face shape, and thin bangs that covered my forehead. My hair was let down to the waist, wavy with curly edges. I had been told I was beautiful, but the late Joo Ri was beautiful, as well.

            She had the color of gold for her eyes, like a lioness, though she was completely fragile and easily scared. She couldn't fight, and was entirely dependent on her husband. She was said to emit the warmth, the sunshine of the spring, and that she was a bubbly, cheerful character. She was beloved by the whole clan, and everyone mourned her death even until today.

            I guessed I was the complete opposite. Jinki bluntly told me that our faces were the only things alike. The rest were too different. She was the light, and I, the dark. She was happy, and I was angry. She was a Gemini, and I... also acted like a Gemini, but still, she was the yang and I was the yin. We seemed to live in a completely different world. Besides, I always had this image of a 'cold, cruel' villain. She was not.

            Jinki was ready by the altar. It was my first time seeing him in black suits. He looked dashing. He stood in front of an icy stalactite, his hands ready with the bottle of Faeries' blood. Miyoung was half awake, but was too weak to move. The werewolf boy was too scared to even react and move. I noticed the only thing missing from the Circle.

            His body. His Majesty's body wasn't there. But...

            “Come here,” Jinki held out his other hand. I threw him a doubtful look and held onto his hand which were colder than ice. I was in a daze because everything just seemed surreal. Tonight was the night... I wanted to run away all of a sudden. But... my feet were stuck on the ground. The sound of my beating heart now concealed everything else, and I couldn't hear anything at all.

            .

            , indeed.

            'Don't be weak like your parents', Jinki once told me. And my reply to him was, 'Don't worry. I wasn't planning to'. Ah, curse this trembling feet. Curse this indecisiveness. Curse this weakness of mine.

            “W...here is the body?” I softly asked, but only because I was too weak to speak. Jinki held onto my hand tightly, and I held back tighter as a source of strength to me.

             “Ah, he's coming,” Jinki looked beyond me and I slowly turned back, too afraid. “Don't be too surprised, My Dear Student.”

            To say I was surprised was.. an understatement. Baekhyun was being carried carefully by two male servants, as he was completely unconscious. Surprise was... not... God, my eyes widened as they carried him to the altar, near to Jinki and me. It took me a few minutes to look at his closed eyes, and to look at Jinki's careful expression that I finally realized what they were plotting.

            I got back to reality and launched at Jinki with all my strength. He doubled over and hauled me to the floor. I fought back by kneeling him as hard as I could, only to realize that whatever fight I tried to put on him... would always end up being useless. He was stronger than me, much more experienced, and worst of all, he was my teacher. He knew my antiques, he could predict every moves I made. And I really did try hard... But there was something about the word 'effort' itself that explained about the failure even before it began.

            “What are you trying to do?!” I screamed and choked when he harshly pinned me down. “What did you do to him!!”

            “Stop fighting, it's useless to waste your energy,” Jinki calmly retorted. He had expected my reaction. I glared at him and kicked even harder. “This arrangement is only temporary until we find his original body. Then Baekhyun will be free. No harms done.” He said it so easily. Like Baekhyun didn't matter at all. Was he trying to torture me for being so foolish? Perhaps. But this wasn't fair at all.

            “What did you do to him?!” I was still screaming because I was so, so mad. “What will happen to him while you are using his body as a container for another soul? Won't he die?!” Jinki pinned me harder and I groaned in pain. “What will happen to Baekhyun's conscience?!” He looked at me smartly. “Wait.” I finally got it. The end of their bargain. Whatever it was. “You promised him something, didn't you? That's why he agreed.”

            Jinki let me go and stood up, dusting off the invisible dirt from his expensive suit. I jumped back on my knee, but stopped trying to choke him with my bare hands. Instead, I waited for explanation, knowing that whatever he wanted to say would be unreasonable.

            “Baekhyun won't die. They will live in the same body until a certain amount of time. After that, his survival depends entirely on the strength of his mind, and the will to live. Of course, if we find our Lord's original body, it wouldn't happen,” Jinki smiled, and there was suddenly something so cynical about that smile. “We all want the best for everyone. And for that to happen, you have to cooperate like a good girl you are.”

            “I am not a good girl,” I spat angrily, specifically pointing out the word 'not' so that this dumb of a teacher would understand what I was saying.

            “We all know you are. Now come,” Jinki repeated, “Do not waste our time. The morning will come if we keep this petty argument. Then the next thousand years we would all live in regret because of your decision.”     

            Petty? He said, petty?!! I wanted to scream my head off, but Jinki quickly added on,

            “You would have to pay off your debt, no matter what. Your feelings for this boy... was an abomination of law. You can't pay him back by the mere price of your soul.”

            I couldn't...

            I exploded... then I lost. It was always like that. The sweet, sweet Jinki could be a smart sharp mouth when he wanted to be. I would never win an argument against him.

            “Baekhyun won't die, you say?” I repeated what he told me. Jinki nodded,

            “He won't die. I will bet myself on that. Besides, he wants to do this. I offered him a good deal.”

            I apologized, Baekhyun. I had hurt you too many times. I wasn't worthy of your interest. I couldn't even keep you safe from his reach. I apologized, Baekhyun. I was too weak and selfish. I had a debt to repay. And it bounded me since my parents sealed the deal with them. My feelings for you... weren't as sincere as I thought they were. So...

            Forgive me...