Few days before...

The vampire submerged his pounding head into the river. It was the only way he could stop feeling it all, the thirst for blood, the predator’s instinct, the urge to kill. Few minutes later, he surfaced again with an inaudible gasp. It was slightly better now, maybe he could delay hunting another day.

Looking at his surroundings with his blood red eyes, he could sense no signs of life. Even small animals knew to avoid his kind, even though he had not hunt one for a long time. It’s hard going back to animals when you had a taste of euphoria that comes only with human blood. He worked alone now, it has been harder to hunt, especially since he prevented himself from hunting the weak, the young and the old. Luhan was not completely without principles after all, he believed in giving his prey a fair chance. Still, this had been good for his diet. If he feed too regularly, he feels his telekinesis slipping away from him. And he couldn’t have that despite everything. It was strange really, that his powers were psychic but he has such weak control over his own mind. That he was afraid of his own mind.

At that thought, Luhan thought about Xiumin. His first true friend, his brother, and the one that had always had such strong faith that Luhan could abstain from human blood. But Xiumin wouldn’t know what he felt; Xiumin’s power was frost, he would feel numb most all of the time. Not Luhan though, the stronger his telekinesis, the more sensitive he was to all the physical beings around. He could sense everything, and he could feel everything, at times it terrified him. Furthermore, when everything and everyone was amplified, the more aware he was of a human in the vicinity, the more thirst he felt. There was one, of course, there was one of them that understood him best, feeling the same sensitivity to the air, to scent. But he was luckier, humans don’t usually walk around bleeding, do they?

Speaking of life forms, Luhan’s head turn towards the direction of the sunset. He was no longer alone. He could feel someone approaching him fast, a speed only possible of an experienced vampire. Luhan remained calm, sitting by the river bank. He contemplated submerging himself into the water, to remain undetected but his curiosity got the better of him, so he waited for the approaching creature. Even if he hasn’t fed for a while, Luhan trusted in his own abilities enough to not fear the unknown. If it’s one thing he appreciated about Kris, was his cool confidence. Only by remaining calm, can one gain the upper hand.

A figure surfaced from behind the trees and Luhan’s eyes widened as he recognized the silhouette. He had not anticipated the appearance of the very boy that had just crossed his mind. That would explain the speed and the fact that he had come so near before Luhan felt him. Sehun glided easily through the air and landed beside him. His hazel brown eyes locked with Luhan’s red pupils.

“Luhan Hyung.” The boy with power of wind greeted, with his usual emotionless face.

Luhan looked at him intently, still taken aback by the sudden appearance of the youngest.

“Sehun… not that I am not glad to see you, but you wouldn’t have come for me without a reason. What is wrong?”

A grim expression appeared on Sehun’s face. He had not forgotten the harsh words he threw at Luhan when he decided to leave them to find his own path. Sehun was the last to join them, and had looked up to all three older vampires like real brothers. He was terribly upset at Luhan’s change of mind, especially since Luhan was the one that found him.

Taking a deep breath to organize his thoughts, Sehun spoke the words that Luhan had dreaded the moment he saw his old friend. For that could only be one reason, why Sehun would look for him. There would only be one reason for Sehun to leave their brothers behind to seek help from the one that left them behind.

“It’s Xiumin Hyung. We lost him to Yue.”

The red eyed vampire listened in silence as Sehun caught him up with what happened in the six months since he had last saw his Xiumin Hyung. They knew very little of Yue, given that Xiumin had always warned them to stay away from casters of dark magic. It was their one rule, under Xiumin, was to never lose yourself to the darkness.

Xiumin believed they could be better than that, to be above pride, envy. wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed. He refused to engage in any other dealings with other supernatural creatures unless it was necessary to protect his brothers. Luhan couldn’t agree with those ideologies, but he respected Xiumin’s determination. And now, what would happen to his Hyung under Yue’s control? 

Rising to his feet, Luhan started to pace. There was very little he understood about magic. After all, they are not true supernatural creatures; like the werewolves, vampires are merely cursed beings. The fact that they could possessed such extraordinary abilities was unheard of till Xiumin explored abstinence.  And that was exactly what had attracted Yue’s attention.

Shadow magic… what had Xiumin told him about Yue’s shadow magic? The sacrifice of one’s free will to tap into the darkest of magic to grant one’s desire? Xiumin had not elaborate, he didn’t want to tempt his brothers. He did mention however; the contract was permanent unless Yue released it. To think that Xiumin would make the contract for a human was almost sad. Yet so predictable for him. His strong minded Hyung had a weakness after all.

“We have to be careful with dark magic,” Luhan placed a hand on Sehun’s shoulder. The pale vampire had been tense since they had met. “We have to learn everything we can before we go after Yue.”

Sehun’s eyes lit up, at once revealing his young age. “You will help?”

“Xiumin is my brother. I owe him too much to give him away to Yue without a fight. You and Suho may feel obligated to follow his last orders, but I answered to no one now.” Luhan smiled drily. Out of all of them, he was the closest to their Hyung as he was the first one to follow Xiumin. Luhan knew him best and Luhan was their second in command. Even if Luhan was no longer the same person he was when Xiumin had found him, that relationship, those memories would stay with Luhan forever.

“Besides, maybe it was meant to be. My departure from the clan. I wouldn’t have met him if I wasn’t on my self-exile years ago.”

“Who?” Sehun looked at him in confusion.

“An all-knowing ancient creature. The healing unicorn.”

“Unicorns? You know where to find one? I thought unicorns stay away from darkness?”

“He will help. He owes me.”

It would have been a long journey, that would take days even with the supernatural speed of the vampires. But with Sehun’s air bending, he could carry them way a lot faster to their destination. Of