The van was silent except for the clanking of their special forces gear as the vehicle went over uneven terrain. Baekhyun pushed his visor up, welcoming the release of pressure around his temples. In the distance, he could see the smoke rising haphazardly into the dark night. They were drawing closer to Nuenamire, and a looming sense of dread was churning in his stomach. Everyone seemed to be on edge. Everyone, that is, except for one individual.

   “Hey!” said Jongdae, rather cheerily. He had sat up from his seat in front of Baekhyun and started tapping him on the shoulder, “Hey!”

   “What?” Baekhyun asked, feeling a little annoyed by the sudden interaction.

   “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” laughed Jongdae. He had an unusually happy laugh, “You feeling alright?”

   Baekhyun couldn’t share his new partner’s jolly mood. He turned away and continued to look out of the window, letting the uncomfortable twisting feeling that was forming in his stomach spread across his body. It was weird to be working without Chanyeol. He didn’t really want to be here.

   “Lighten up, it’s not the end of the world!” chimed Jongdae.

   Baekhyun turned back around, this time glaring, “Look, I’m really not in the mood to talk.”

   Jongdae was unperturbed though, “Chanyeol will be fine.”

   “How do you know about Chanyeol?” asked Baekhyun, feeling caught off-guard.

   “Oh, I know everything!” laughed Jongdae. He had such a high pitched laughter and he was unusually loud too. Almost too loud, “Well, not in the omniscient god type of way, of course. Because you know, no one can be god but god himself, doh. I do know things though. I know that you joined the HLV almost eight years ago with Chanyeol. I know that he’s been your partner for the better part of six years, I heard you guys are meant to be pretty strong and I know that he’s in the hospital  getting rehabilitation.” 

   As he was talking, Jongdae continued to lean forward, punctuating each point with a flourish of hand gestures.

   Baekhyun pulled back a little put off by Jongdae’s distinct lack of personal space. 

   “Oh, and I also know about the whole half-demon thing!” finished Jongdae, with a wink, “Don’t worry! You’re secret’s safe with me, of course. That is unless you want everyone to know, I don’t know dude, that’s totally your prerogative.”

   “You need to back off,” warned Baekhyun, glaring at Jongdae, “Who gave you the right to look into my file?”

   “Oh come on, we’re partners now! Let’s have some fun! I don’t care if you’re half-demon! It’s been such a long time since I’ve been on a mission with a partner, let alone a whole team! Just look around, there are people everywhere! Isn’t that amazing?!”

   The other members in the van gave Jongdae strange looks but again, Jongdae was unperturbed. It was odd, though Baekhyun. Jongdae seemed to be genuinely happy even with the context of where they were headed, but despite being overwhelmingly up close and personal, it didn’t seem like he meant any harm.

   “So it’s true?” asked Baekhyun cautiously, “You don’t have a partner?”

   “Nope! Since early on, they said I didn’t need a partner, it’s always so lonely,” Jongdae replied with a small pout, “I think the longest stretch I went was two years and the only person from the HLV I saw was the CC. Can you imagine that? Only seeing his face despite being a part of a huge organisation. Oh my god, sometimes I just wanted to kill myself.” Jongdae feigned a gun to his temple, blowing his brains out in a dramatic fashion, “Sometimes the CC would let me have a team when I’ve led missions, but I’ve still never had a real partner, so I’m really excited to be here! We should be friends, Baekhyun.”

   “How old are you?” asked Baekhyun, perplexed at his seemingly childish mentality.

   “Maybe five, maybe fifty?” quipped Jongdae, shrugging, “Unless age actually means anything.”

   “You’re kind of weird,” muttered Baekhyun, pulling away but he couldn’t help but feel a little better. If anything, Jongdae had calmed his nerves, “But whatever.”

   “Just promise me, we can be friends,” asked Jongdae, suddenly calmer. He hesitated for a moment before adding, “Even after you see me fight.”

   Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that?”

   “They always seem to leave in the end.”

   “Leave?” asked Baekhyun with a frown. It was an odd thing to say, “What do you mean by that?”

   “Dunno,” replied Jongdae with a shrug. He turned back around and sat back down in his seat, “Said they’re scared of me or something.”

   On a cliff’s edge a few miles away from Nuenamire stood Sehun and Junmyeon, surveying the fringes of the Outskirts. Behind them was a group of hostile looking men, guarding the duo. Sehun’s usual stoic expression was no different as he watched the HLV convoy of three vans and two trucks bomb up the dirt pathway towards the burnt-out district of Nuenamire. They left a trail of dust billowing up in the wind that followed them like a ghost chasing the living.

   Junmyeon smirked, “Humans. They’re always so predictable. They just have to get involved with everything.”

   Sehun didn’t say anything. He kept his hands in his pockets and watched while Junmyeon continued talking. It’d been like that ever since he met him, Junmyeon enjoyed rambling for long stretches at a time without interruption.

   “They sent spies into our city, like we weren’t expecting them. We made sure to make an example of them,” chuckled Junmyeon, running a hand through his coifed black hair, the silver cufflinks glimmering in the sunset, “We’ll send them back almost as good as new.”

   Sehun tried to ignore the bile rising in his throat, he wasn’t sure he liked the macabre implication.

   Junmyeon continued, surveying Nuenamire in the distance, “The demon king is a fool to torch his own people. You don’t gain loyalty by spreading fear in their hearts. What a foolish man.”

   “So the demons are behind this?” asked Sehun.

   “Of course,” said Junmyeon with a scoff, “He’s testing his power and his alliance with the werewolves. He is restless, Sehunnie, he will not want to fail twice.”

   “How do you know this, hyung?”

   Junmyeon smiled, it was that knowing smile that he always had plastered on his face. Sehun had seen it so many times since that night they met in the bar three weeks ago.

   “It’s like a game of chess, Sehunnie. You have to know what’s going on in the world to make the next move,” remarked Junmyeon, turning to give the younger boy a smirk, “The demon king asked for my help, but I declined. I told him I didn’t want any more trouble for my people, but we will be waiting on the sidelines for them to cripple each other before we take our rightful place at the top. We are not losing again, not under my watch.”

   From within his pocket, Sehun’s phone vibrated again. He put his hand against the fabric of his pocket, willing for it to be quiet. He knew it was Luhan calling again. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell Luhan where he was, it was that he didn’t want to mention Junmyeon’s name. Luhan had been open with his disapproval at the start, but Sehun continued to go out in secret, not wanting to worsen the situation at home.

   The phone stopped vibrating once more and Sehun felt himself breathe a sigh of relief. He hated being on such tense terms with Luhan, but he was a grown man, he should be allowed to hang out with whoever he wanted. Junmyeon gave him much more freedom than Luhan ever had, and Junmyeon let him see things he’d never imagined. Junmyeon had even taken Sehun to see the City of Ell’ris, the vampire city up north, a place that Sehun had lived briefly. It was so different from his memories. The City of Ell’ris was glorious and luxurious, matching Junmyeon’s entire demeanour. Sehun wanted to live there but not without Luhan. Luhan deserved a rest after the struggles of looking after them both for the last decade.

   “You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?” came Junmyeon’s voice, breaking Sehun out of his thoughts, “How are things back home?” he asked, eyeing Sehun from the side, “Have you spoken to Luhan yet?”