Chapter Three:
Author: Virgo
Rating: R
Genre: Humour, fantasy, adventure
Pairings (This chapter) Kyusung (eventually) Kyuhae cuteness. Yewon and Amtoria (Yes there is a name for it)

Word count: Holy shisus! 24k.

Warnings: LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGG. Well this chapter was murder!! It just would not end. I had the basic plot going and then it just got out of hand and went all over the place and I...*facepalm*
I'm going on hiatus for a while. So this might be the last posting of FITR for now. But I'll update again with Battle of the Bulge (if I can remember where I was going with that plot)

The Wellingtons

<<< Jihyun
I'm with you...

I'm standin' on the bridge
I'm waitin' in the dark
I thought that you'd be here by now
There's nothing but the rain
No footsteps on the ground
I'm listening but there's no sound

I shook Ji-Hyun’s hand, her palm just as soft and as delicate as I had expected but also really cold. I stare at her with wide eyes, scanning over her pale, almost bloodless features, rosy lipstick, rich dark hair and she was beautiful, almost supernaturally beautiful.

She wore a long white doctor’s coat over a slimming blue dress and I figured that she had been the Doctor Wellington, Top had referred to.

Anyone else might’ve have considered the reason for her hand being so cold was because she was worked long hours in the hospital but I am suspicious enough to think that she might just be a Vampire.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Wellington, my name is Yesung” I say politely, releasing her hand shortly after.

“Please, call me Ji-Hyun. And it’s nice to meet you Yesung” she smiles pleasantly, her eyes drift toward Amber’s still form, “Still hasn’t woken up I see. Are you family?”

“No he’s not.” Kyuhyun informs her before he sends a glare at me, “How did you even get in here without anyone seeing you? Visiting hours…”

“Kyuhyun” Ji-hyun chastises briefly, her tone stopping Kyuhyun from continuing. I want to laugh but her gaze falls on me, “I apologize for my son’s rudeness. However he does have a point. Visiting hours are over and at this moment in this kind of emergency that right is available to only to family members” She gives me a look that said ‘That’s the rules, I’m sorry’

“But, but, I’m not causing any trouble!” I insist, “It’s just, she’s one of my first close friends here and when I heard the news I couldn’t…I had to come!”

“You’re new in town aren’t you?”

I nod. “Hm and it’s like 5 am. And yet you still came to see her?” I nod again, this time even more determined to stay.

JiHyun smiles, “Well that’s very sweet of you and, I guess you can stay. But this is just between us okay” she gives me a cutesy wink much to the distaste of her son, who looks like he just had a bunch of lemons shoved down his throat.

“Thank you very much Mrs…JiHyun” I correct her name quickly at the sharp look she gave me.

“You are most welcome.” She turns to look at Kyuhyun and then smiles back at me, “At least someone in this room has manners”

Kyuhyun scoffs, “He may have you all buttered up with his act but he’s not getting in my good graces for being adorable.”

Oh my God! He thinks I’m adorable!?

…Wait…

I didn’t hear right, did I?

(Replays scene in head)

OH My Shisus! He called me adorable!

I scoff mentally.

Like I would ever touch that guy with a ten foot pole. He sickens me. However I was flattered….

…and grinning like a school girl on the inside….

“Is Amber going to be alright?” I ask once I’ve got my thoughts cleared of all things Kyuhyun.

Jihyun approaches Amber’s bedside, “She’s doing great actually. It’s probably going to take a few more hours before she wakes up but I’m watching her closely for any complications”

Complications?

Top had said the grims were in mating season and were taking the souls of girls. How did they not manage to kill her on the spot then? It was morbid thought but it was something that mattered to the situation. Who had stopped the grim from completely draining the life out of her?

Maybe it was Top? He did say he was always looking over me. Maybe he saw her after she left and kept an eye on her just until she got home. Is that why he was so insistent that we go hunting for the grim? He probably knew she was going to be okay because he saved her, right? So why did he act as if her life hadn’t mattered? Saying that she was dead when she…clearly and thankfully was not.

“…so much hate towards him?” I tuned back into their conversation in time to hear Jihyun ask.

Kyuhyun folds his arms and I realize he’s wearing scrubs. Did he help Jihyun out at the hospital? Is that why he’s here at -o-clock in the morning?

“He’s the oritalis” the boy spits the word as if it’s on the tip of his tongue.

Jihyun’s expression softens and I can tell that Kyuhyun is even more troubled by this than he was when she was mad. His eyes dart around the room as if trying to escape Jihyun as she came closer.

“I think someone’s just a little jealous” she says after she had wrapped motherly arms around Kyuhyun, placing an adoring kiss to the tip of his nose, “My poor baby” she pouts, making frowny faces at him.

Kyuhyun looks murderous but he is also flushing a bright red.

 His glare strikes me but the scene is too cute for me to be afraid of his deadly look and I cover my mouth to shield the grin I’m wearing.

“Mom!” he actually whines, like a little kid embarrassed to be hugging his mommy in front of his friends…well in this case his enemy.

Jihyun pulls away slowly, moving to ruffle Kyuhyun’s hair,

“He’s always wanted to be the Oakville oritalis” she informs me.

“Mom!” he slaps at her hand, but she’s already withdrawn it.

“I have not...” he begins to tell me but Jihyun continues,

“Ever since he was like…10 I think and he learned of the prophecy he was trying to prepare himself and oh, I have pictures, you must come and see them sometime” she looks so excited that I do not dare say no. It’s so easy the way she accepts me as the oritalis, as if she was anxious to be instant friends.

“Jihyun!” Kyuhyun barked in outrage, “I don’t want him in my….”

The look Jihyun flashes Kyuhyun can cut a rock and make it bleed.

“What did you call me?” she asks slowly, drawing each word out deliberately as if Kyuhyun had called her a rather than her given name.

Kyuhyun gulps, and bows his head,

“Sorry mom. I meant to say mom”

Jihyun’s long neck straightens as she seems to ponder something, then she lowers her gaze back to Kyuhyun,

“Honey, I know it’s hard accepting that you aren’t the oritalis, but that doesn’t mean you disrespect whoever is chosen. It just makes you act like a spoilt child and it’s not very cute” her words are soft but I know they effect Kyuhyun because his posture stiffens.

“And it gives you absolutely no right to undermine me as your mother either. I swear, you get more and more like Gackt everyday” she throws her hands up in the air as if asking ‘why me God!?’

Kyuhyun’s shoulders shiver a little and I wonder if he’s crying but when he looks up again he has an amused smile,

“Didn’t you tell me I should be more like him?”

“You were eight and he was supposed to be a role model. Now he’s…”

“Gackt” Kyuhyun smirks

Jihyun returns with a smirk of her own, looking very y.

She rolls her eyes, “Now why did you come to see me again?”

Kyuhyun shrugs, “Two more dead girls were found”

Jihyun gasps, “And you wait now to tell me!?”

The half vampire shrugs again, kicking the tiles, “I forgot. Besides they’re dead already it’s not like there’s anything you can do”

Jihyun gives me a look over her shoulder, “You seem to get distract quite easily around certain people”

“Mom please!” Kyuhyun barks in disgust and I quickly try to put two and two together.

Oh I see!

Smirking devilishly I say, “Is it true, Kyuhyun? Do I distract you?”

Jihyun turns fully in my direction even as Kyuhyun scowls fiercely at me.

“Wanna flash him a little action and find out” she suggests ersely and I stare at her as if she shouldn’t even exist. No one’s mom is that cool.

“Mom! God! What is with you?”

Jihyun doesn’t bother to answer him, turning on her tall heels smoothly she walks toward the door,

“This looks like a case of grims mating” she informs Kyuhyun, then spares glance at me. I nod to confirm that I know most of what is going on.

“I suspected that. I’m working on a plan”

She looks as if Kyuhyun had said just what she wanted to hear. “Maybe you and Yesung can work on it together?”

Before Kyuhyun can stammer two words ou,t she opens the door wider and blows a kiss at Kyuhyun.

“And remember Yesung, this is our secret” she waves a finger between us before vanishing out of the door.

There is a sudden silence as the door closes. Kyuhyun moves to leave but as soon as he pops the door open Jihyun, who is still outside of it, glares at him.

So much him being kind of pleasant to me the other day, now he can’t wait to get away from me.

So what?

He still thinks I’m adorable.

“You can help him with the grims” she demands, hands on hips.

“I don’t want to! He hardly knows what he’s doing! I can do this on my own” he tries to force his way past her but Jihyun doesn’t budge and it’s funny how her skinny, yet tall, frame in the doorway blocks Kyuhyun’s from leaving.

“Stop being so stubborn. You can help him and he can help you. Oakville needs all the protectors it can get, not just one”

“He’s practically useless, mom. He…”

“HEY!” I shout abruptly, offended at being called useless. Both their eyes are trained on me and I shrink a little under their beautiful gazes. “I, I can summon a fireball”

Jihyun smiles encouragingly at me, as if to say ‘Thats nice, sweetie’

Kyuhyun scoffs, “Oh great, and the grims will just use you like a matchstick to light their pots before throwing you it”

Jihyun makes a funny noise in the back of . “Honey, don’t be silly, we all know grim’s don’t use pots”

“Whatever, mom. I’m still not working with him”

Jihyun pushes him harshly enough that he skids on the tiles until he’s farther inside the room.

She is kind of badass. If I wasn’t into I would…well, I would wish she had a because yeah…I like those.

…you are so pathethic

Shut up conscience! I thought I distracted you!

Those comics were like pg-13.

Dammit!

That’s what you get for being cheap.

Kyuhyun is staring at me coldly when I finally snap back into reality.

“You are so clueless” he hisses, looking terribly disgusted at being in my presence. I just fold my arms, planning to stay right here with Amber even if that meant skipping school, so if he had a problem with it then he should just leave.

“Where’s your new guardian?”

“I don’t have to answer that” I reply haughtily, turning away to walk towards Amber’s bedside. I spot a small chair in close range and I immediately occupy it. Kyuhyun does not answer back in return, instead I hear him moving about the room idly, obviously thinking over the situation.

I sigh, fiddling with my thumbs nervously.

Maybe I should help? I mean, if I wasn’t here with Amber now, I would probably be out searching for those grims with Top. The prospect of going on my first mission did excite me a little…I really wanted to use a fireball on one of them. Should I really be considering aiding Kyuhyun when I know fully well that Top and I can handle this on our own?

My guardian was pretty badass.

I cast tiny glances at Kyuhyun and he thankfully has his back to me. He looks really good in the blue scrubs, and he definitely carries himself with confidence

Hm..

So he had wanted to be the Oritalis that badly, huh?

I smirked, feeling triumphant and proud of the fact that it had chosen me. Then I remembered how sullen he had looked back in the woods when Hyukjae had dismissed him by calling him a half-breed and just now when Jihyun had admitted that he had wanted to become the Oritalis he had looked so betrayed. I kind of felt sorry for him.

I sigh heavily. My conflicting thoughts making me weary.

“He-I don’t know where Top is” I left the statement short and to the point, hoping to just place a starter for a possible conversation.

Fingers crossed that he replies back without venom in his tone.

“Hm. Did-did your dad drive you here then?” he doesn’t turn around and I’m sort of thankful he didn’t because I would not have wanted him to see the relieved look on my face when he actually replied.

“Uh-no. I think Top might’ve sent me here though”

This time he really did turn around.

“How?” he raises an eyebrow, “If he didn’t come here with you then how is it that you arrived in this room, by yourself?”

I scratch at the back of my head, shrugging helplessly.

“I dunno. It’s, I thought that was like one his magic tricks for something”

“No, guardians don’t have the skill or power to just send someone off to a different place. They either have to transport you themselves, usually by wrapping their wings around you or by flying. Either way, they come with you”

I shrug again.

“I really have…” I didn’t want to look anymore useless or naïve in his eyes so I just recalled to him what had happened. Top wings had encircled me and I just kept trying to break his hold, wanting to get to Amber.

Kyuhyun scowls then laughs bitterly.

“Well, it sounds like you might’ve teleported here. Congratulations”

Teleported?

But…

How?

“How?” I inquire rather loudly. Kyuhyun scolds me with a sharp look, “Sorry. I just-it’s so awesome to hear that I might have tapped into my powers on my own without anyone’s help. OH MY GOD! I did it! I teleported!”

There’s no proof but Kyuhyun had suggested it and it sounded like proof enough for me BECAUSE HELL YES! YEAH! I stand up and punch the air enthusiastically.

“I should do it again!” Kyuhyun’s protests fall on deaf ears as I block him out and try and concentrate on being near Hyukjae. Maybe, just maybe if I tried hard enough I would teleport straight to him.

When I open my eyes again I’m staring into the hateful eyes of the half-Vampire.

“You done making an out of yourself?” he inquires seriously.  I don’t answer because right now I’m truly and honestly disappointed in myself.

Kyuhyun sighs, “Look, in order to teleport you need like, a ton load of training. It’s not easy to bend the elements of the magical world of travel to suit your physical body. Maybe you just managed to tap into it on a fluke because you strongly wanted to see Amber…”

But I strongly want to see Hyukjae too!

I pout, sinking back into the chair.

The silence between us stretches longer than it previously had but I don’t even notice it, too busy concentrating on what went wrong with my teleportation stunt.

I glance up at the sound of Kyuhyun’s soft, informative voice.

“She’s going to be okay you know? The grims didn’t have the chance to pull her soul before someone intervened. She’s very lucky to still be alive. We’ve had 6 cases so far, 5 of them dead. I think…”

“Now isn’t this heartwarming”

I jump to my feet, a bit startled at the sound of Top’s heavy tone interrupting us. He smirks evilly at Kyuhyun.

“This is your boyfriend? I thought you were ing that wolf cub?”

Well…

I don’t even want to look at Kyuhyun, my eyes wide and unseeing as I blush from head to toe.

That jerk!

“A Hybrid? Really? Yesung I thought you better taste. I prefer the wolf”

“Who the do you think you are?” Kyuhyun snarls, stepping boldly into Top’s personal space. He is a little taller than my guardian but Top doesn’t look the least bit bothered by this. God, can he be cockier?

Top looks Kyuhyun up and down before stepping aside to come towards me.

“I see you have some uses after all. That little premature teleporting trick was pretty impressive.”

He might be a downright bastard but he’s still my guardian and his praises did make me feel all tingly like a little teacher’s pet.

“Jungsoo is going to be sleeping in today” he states, “He might’ve woken up while I was there and I had to…ensure that he did not panic like a wussy after realizing you were not home”

I gape at the audacity of this !

“The !? Is he okay?”

“Calm your , grandma; he’s going to be fine. Now, we have to get started on this immediately”

“But Amber…”

“She’ll be fine. Now let’s go and don’t you think about pulling another stunt like this morning or I’ll track you down and rip you a new hole”

It’s not like it worked the second time I tried.

“Are you tracking the grims?” Kyuhyun asks, stepping a few long strides until he was at my side. Top ignores him. He glances back at the closed door and then immediately launches his silver wings, keeping them small and bent in the tiny room.

“Hey! I asked…”

“Why is this halfbreed talking to me?” Top questions me earnestly.

Kyuhyun rears back as if he’d been slapped but is quick to recover before scuffing up Top’s collar, hauling my guardian off his feet.

Top just looks bored.

“Kyuhyun, just put him down. He’s just being an ” Like he usually is.

As much as I was enjoying Kyuhyun’s display of strength I really did not want Top to hurt him. Not that I doubted Kyuhyun’s strength, it was just that I did not want him getting into an immature fight with my guardian.

“Release me” Top spoke softly but the tone he used was rather insistent.

“No” Kyuhyun snarls, “It’s ers like you who abuse and look down on halfbreeds, you guardians who are supposed know better are just like all those other ing animals out there”

“You mean the same group of animals you are a part of? Just because you are in the lower ranks of the food chain doesn’t make me have to sympathize with you. Yes I am a guardian and I will protect you if you were in danger but don’t expect any special treatment” Top reaches out and shoves hard at Kyuhyun’s shoulder.  I think I might’ve heard a bone snap and Kyuhyun drops Top in order to check his shoulder.

“The hell is wrong with you?” I push Top roughly. I go to Kyuhyun’s side but the other boy steps away from me. “Just go away” he hisses impatiently.

I just stand there for a minute, looking like a complete idiot with my hand stretched out to help and feeling all too rejected. Scowling a little, I don’t argue back, pitying him because yeah, I know how sensitive he was about the halfbreed thing.

Was it so bad being a halfbreed?

I can’t ponder on it any longer than that because Top’s wings seal themselves around me and the place goes black.

The half-vampire stood alone in the room, his only company at the moment being his jumbled thoughts and the unconscious female. He did not feel vexed anymore, no sort of anger directed at the guardian.

He simply felt disappointed. Disappointed in the Supernatural society with their ranks and status’, tearing down the lives of good people all because of mildly tainted blood that ran through their veins. Meanwhile this prejudice builds egos and cocky spite in purebloods.

And Guardians, who were supposed to be above all the discrimination, even they had their biases.

Those bastards.

He could curse at them mentally, even lash out and abuse objects around him, just to vent his anger but he held back, refusing to give in to their taunts. He would show them all. Rise above and make himself known as a fierce, determined and just fighter for his family sake as well as everyone like him who might be suffering.

As of now he had bigger issues to deal with.

Those grims were going to be quite the handful and although it pains him to admit it, he would’ve liked Yesung’s help. But now he banished the thought, knowing that if even managed to request Yesung’s aid then the other boy’s guardian would probably expect him to follow his orders and Kyuhyun was nobodies lackey.

He would do this his way. Nickchun and Jaejoong would probably help as well but they were rather busy nowadays as they were training to be a part of the Agency in their spare time.

However, having a team of boys to help him would not do much good.

These grims were only targeting females, probably just sniffing out anyone with a X chromosome as their victim. They were working in pairs it seems and if Kyuhyun was right then Top and Yesung would have no luck bringing them down. Those idiots would have to find a way to track the grims all the way to the nest and strike during their mating ritual.

Grims were especially hard to track because they left no trail and tended to disappear quickly if they didn’t have any interest in you. No matter how bad that Guardian wants to play, it all comes back to the matter that he’s going to need a strategy rather than just brute force.

The door creaked open, and Kyuhyun smelled Victoria before he saw her. She paused in her entry the moment she saw him, her slippers making a hard squeaky sound against the tile as she stops.

“Kyuhyun? I didn’t…I didn’t expect you to be in here?”

Kyuhyun smiles mentally. Of course she didn’t. She was probably too focused on getting to Amber’s room rather than looking out for anyone else’s scent. Victoria enters the room, closing the door softly behind her. Her large, brown eyes roam over Amber’s prone form on the bed, a frown etched so deep into her face that she develops a series of ceases, making her look overwhelmed with worry.

“She’s fine” Kyuhyun informs her, taking in Victoria’s red draw-string shorts that barely covered most of her thighs and the large wide-neck t-shirt that hung off her shoulders to reveal her pale flesh and a long neck. She wore her hair loose and it was a tangled mess. She looked like she had just woken up apparently.

“I can’t believe you guys didn’t call me. I had to hear it from Hyoyeon!”

She’s already at Amber’s bedside, her right hand hovering over Amber’s torso as if she wants to touch her but isn’t sure where to start or if she should. Eventually she pulls her hand back, biting her lip nervously as she scans Amber’s body with her eyes.

Sometimes Kyuhyun envies Victoria.

Heck, sometimes he envies Hyoyeon.

Hyoyeon was a half breed but she wasn’t quick to anger like Kyuhyun was. She was more subtle with her reactions to persons who mocked their kind. After everything she went through in her past she still managed to appear stronger than Kyuhyun.

 He wished he had her patience.

Victoria was a simple Shifter. Not a powerful werewolf, not a hybrid werecat, not even a Vampire, not a shape-shifter who took on the shapes of others, or even a majestic object shifter, someone who shaped different objects to be something else.

She was just a plain old Teta-Shifter, someone who could grow 3 times their average height and shrink themselves to the size of an ant. But no matter how insignificant many others thought her gifts were Victoria was proud to be shifter nonetheless and she was a pureblood Teta-shifter so that also counted for some respect.

She practiced gymnastics, using her shifting ability to her advantage while enhancing it by shaping her human body into a weapon. She was the queen of flexibility and could drop a single werewolf with just a few sharp well aimed high kicks.

“Why are you even visiting Amber?” she asked him but her eyes were glued to Amber’s still form. Kyuhyun smirked to himself, wasn’t he the one who was supposed to be asking her that?

“I was talking to mom in here and that Yesung guy had been here” he shrugs, not bothering to explain in detail. “What’s your excuse?”

“Hm.” She hummed as if she hadn’t been listening to anything he had said too lost in her own thoughts.

“Why are you here? I thought you hated Amber?” Kyuhyun repeated, just to hear what she had to say. He didn’t know what the big dramatics between Victoria and Amber were all about but he had always suspected that Victoria might return her feelings on some level. She just might be developing a crush on Amber. How ironic?

He sighed, ‘Girls’

“I don’t hate her” she snapped, glaring at Kyuhyun over her shoulder before turning back to Amber. “She’s annoying, but, but I don’t ‘hate’ her”

“Hm. So she’s a friend then?”

Victoria fully turns to face him, looking like the pouty like sister she is. “I don’t know” she sounds so pathetic. Kyuhyun frowns at her.

“What’s so difficult about it? It’s either you like her or you don’t like her”

Victoria groans, “It’s not that easy, grr, you and Jaejoong are so, ergh!”

“Lesbians” Kyuhyun sighs back.

“I’m not-“ Kyuhyun stops her from completing her denial with a raised eyebrow. She rolls her eyes, “Fine. But-but I don’t love Amber” she huffs.

“You don’t have to love her. A little lust is all it takes”

She glares at him, folding her arms over her chest.

A deep inhale comes from behind her and they both freeze, holding each other’s wide eyed gaze.

“S’okay. I k-know you only want me for my body”

Victoria swirls around in surprise. Kyuhyun walks swiftly toward the bed. Amber is trying to smile at Victoria but Kyuhyun can tell it hurts from the way she grimaces.

“Amber! How-how do you feel? Are you alright? Well…” Victoria looks Amber up and down, “Well of course you aren’t alright, but-but you know what I mean! Are you in pain…”

“Vicky, Vicky” Amber tries to raise her voice to cut off Victoria’s babbling but unfortunately the strain proves to be too much and she starts coughing. “W-water” she gasps between the dry coughs.

Victoria shoots a demanding look at Kyuhyun.

He rolls his eyes but fetches the water from a little glass jug on her bedside table, pouring it into one of the many small plastic cups available.

His mother was always so prepared.

After Amber has had her fill, she tosses her head from left to right a little woozily and Kyuhyun can tell she’s still drowsy.

“Kyuhyun? What’s wrong with her?” Victoria asks, her hands the top of Amber’s forehead, smoothing away the long bangs. Kyuhyun doesn’t answer her, choosing instead to try and get Amber to speak.

“Amber? Amber, what’s the matter?”

The tomboy’s eyes are clenched shut and she grints her teeth.

“T-tell, tell Yesung…Hyyukjae-he-he needs his help. He’s trapped-at, at the Empire. Wants to…come, home”

She turns in their direction, reaching out blinding and managing to grab Kyuhyun’s hand.

Her voice is now a whisper, “He saved me. Please. Please, just get him out of there”

Victoria goes to say something when Amber’s eyes snap open.

“Please Kyuhyun!”

Her eyes drift upwards to Victoria, “Hi babes” and right after that her eyelids droop and her breathing evens out in a quiet sleep.

Victoria’s eyes snap to him,

“What happened to Hyukjae?”

Kyuhyun is staring at Amber, lost in thought. There was no way he was going anywhere near Yesung or his Guardian, but he couldn’t just ignore her request. Amber had sounded so desperate, almost pleading, something he was sure the other girl had never done much in her life.

“Hm. He got fired, apparently.”

His sister’s eyes go wide, “Fired?” Victoria is a smart girl, so she puts two and two together rather quickly, “Wait, you mean he’s not Yesung’s guardian anymore?” Kyuhyun had informed his siblings of what had happened the previous day in the forest and they’d all been surprised to discover that Yesung was the Oritalis and that Hyukjae was supposed to be his guardian.

“Yup. Don’t ask me for details, I don’t know” he remembers Yesung giving him some half-assed tale but he cannot recall exactly what the other boy had said. Anyways, even if he did want to fulfill Amber’s wishes he had no idea where to start. Hyukjae could be anywhere.

“He saved her then. So where is he?”

“How am I supposed to know? It’s not like Amber gave me much to go on” he scowls. “I have to go help mom” he turns to leave but Victoria stops him by grabbing his biceps.

“Kyuhyun, will you at least try? I mean, if not for Amber then for me” she flashes him big puppy eyes and Kyuhyun could only sigh. He gently tugs his arm from her grasp.

“I’ll- I’ll see what I can do” he promises, “But don’t hold me to it”

She smiles brightly, “Thanks”

“Don’t thank me yet” he strolls off toward the door and Victoria turns back to Amber. With a hand around the doorknob he pauses, “Are you going to school?”

He glances over his shoulder but Victoria doesn’t seem to have heard him. He can clearly see that she has Amber’s hand in her grasp, rubbing her fingers over the girl’s knuckles.

He snorts, “Not love my ”

Kyuhyun closes the door behind him.

He could go and help his mother, school being the farthest thing from his mind, or, he could try and figure out where Hyukjae might be. If the other boy was trapped at the Empire then rescuing him was out of the question. There was no way for Kyuhyun to even try and enter that place. For starters, he had no idea where it was.

However, if Hyukjae was somewhere in Oakville, and injured then maybe, just maybe he’d be able to track him down.

‘And when I find him I could rub it in Yesung’s face’ the half-vampire thought deviously.

There was only person he could ask for help and it pained him viciously to even consider such a thing. But he was willing to try.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Kyuhyun told his mother that he had to leave early to do something important.

“But honey I asked you to come in with me because I needed your help. Where are you going? Are you planning to attend school? Did you and the Oritalis come up with a plan? Is he going with you?...”

Kyuhyun had had to cut her off before she gave him a headache with all her 21 questions. There was only one way to escape her suspicious gaze and that was to lie.

And he had better lie convincingly.

“The oritalis left with his guardian to-to plot on his own but I have to…meet up with them…” he trails off when her eyes narrowed further. Sometimes he was sure Jihyun had some sort of empathic powers. Her nostrils flared a little as she sniffed the air around him. Her eyes grew wide,

“Toria is here? Where is she?”  

Kyuhyun sighed inwardly; glad to have Jihyun focused on someone else.

“She is visiting Amber. It’s a wonder you didn’t smell her when she first arrived”

Jihyun shook her head, “These mortals are driving me crazy today”

Kyuhyun smiled softly, “Even more than usual?”

“Yes actually. And the parents of these girls have been bawling their eyes out and there’s all this thumping in my head from every racing heartbeat I can hear. I just had to tune them all out”

She flips a few strands of her hair back over her shoulder. If she had not sound so weary no one would ever be able to tell just by looking at her how stressed she was.

His mother was perfection, her vampiric traits stunning. Although she appeared flawless he knew just how easily she would burn in sharp sunlight, crisping her beautiful skin to ash in a matter of seconds.

Which is why they lived in Oakville. La-Dev was a sanctuary to Gackt and Jihyun’s ancestors, one of many located all over the world. This place was perfect for them because of the almost lack of bright penetrating rays of sun.

Kyuhyun, being half-vampire, was safe to be in the sun’s harsh glare, he could bear it enough so that he could stand in it for more than a couple of minutes. But he didn’t test his luck.

Jihyun had been the certified Doctor of Oakville for as long as Kyuhyun could remember. He had always admired her work at the hospital, aiding mortals to survive even though she really didn’t have too. He also knew of the hardships that came with working around bleeding humans, making this place a self-torture zone for Vampires.

Jihyun had a strong will and dedication to her purpose here at the hospital. She’s developed immunity to the stench of blood, to the call of feeding on mortals unlike Gackt who had little to no control around humans most of the time nowadays.

His father was a superior pureblood Vampire and had the typical arrogance that went along with the title. However, he loved his children, despite their bloodline but he refused to allow humans to walk all over him.

Jihyun doesn’t let him leave the house as much as he used too, especially after he tried to eat the server at one of the restaurants they loved to visit. Gackt had explained that he only attacked the man because he had been outright flirting with Jihyun right in front of him and Kyuhyun had nodded in understanding. No one messed with a Vampire’s mate.

Now that he was older Kyuhyun liked to help out Jihyun at the hospital as much as he could. And since the smell of blood did not affect him as much either, the job was easy to stick with.

His mother finally sends him on his way and he sulks as he recalls just where he had been heading. He strips out of the scrubs, folding them neatly and placing them into a cupboard since they weren’t dirty. He slips into his jeans, the plain t-shirt that he had on under the scrubs will have to do for now.

Striding toward the hospital parking lot he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his car keys. He disables the alarm, the Buggatti chirping at the command.

Climbing inside he pauses with his hands on the wheel. If he goes to Baliene at this time, then he’d be able to find a young wolf just before they went to school. However, the fact of the matter was that he knew how much Wolves hated Vampires and no matter that he was asking for help only to save someone, they would still be reluctant to trust him.

He sighs.

It was the only immediate option if he wanted to find Hyukjae in Oakville. It would be so easy for him to just go to school and wait for Amber to inform Yesung rather than venturing off on his own.  This wasn’t his job. Hyukjae wasn’t even a friend.

The words the guardian had spat at him the last time they had met came back to haunt his thoughts and Kyuhyun clenched his fists.

He could just leave the boy to suffer…

Or…

Or he could try to look for him and if he succeeds then Hyukjae would owe him one. He would have to acknowledge that a half-breed had saved his life.

Kyuhyun scowled. He wasn’t doing this for Amber or Victoria; he was doing this to prove that he as the better man. He would rescue Hyukjae and use that as leverage to get favors from him. Then he’d find and destroy the grims all on his owns, proving once more that this Oritalis was a fool unworthy of the title.

The entire drive to Baliene he has to stop himself from turning the car around. It’s not that he’s scared but the more he thinks about what he’s doing, the more he tries to convince himself that it’s stupid and unnecessary. He should be focusing on the grims! He did not need to put himself on the line to help Hyukjae, what had the other man ever done for him, except insult his bloodline.

He should just leave Hyukjae to suffer. Being the better man would come when he defeated the grims. He doesn’t need to go through all this e just to free Hyukjae.

Amber would be mad at him but he and the girl weren’t friends so that wouldn’t matter. However, Victoria would probably pester him until he at least makes an attempt. So he decides that he would visit Baliene, and try to convince a young wolf to aid him, if that didn’t work then he’d tell Victoria that he at least tried.

He parks the Bugatti in a small groove in the road. There is an entrance to the woods about a few feet away and this is the only space that is sufficient enough for him to park in. He doesn’t like leaving his vehicle out here and hopes to return quickly. The Oakville sun is nowhere to be seen, so the place is still pretty dim.

Kyuhyun spots the road beyond the entrance, knowing that he’d have to walk at least 20 minutes before he sees Baliene. He’s only been there once when Gackt had taken him to attend a treaty meeting with the Baliene elders but he’s confident that he remembers the path well enough.

35 minutes later he’s stuck in the middle of the forest surrounded by trees, the place is hideously muddy, speaking of rain that must’ve fallen, and he’s beyond annoyed with himself that he even bothered to do this. Checking his watch he sees that the time is 7:05, much later than he had expected. The woods are dead silent except for the rustling of leaves and it’s rather dark and gloomy and depressing.

Huffing in frustration he eyes the trees; he had ventured off the path accidentally and now had no clue where to go. He should’ve marked the trees but he was too self-assured, cocky that he knew the way.

‘No wonder you weren’t chosen as the Oritalis. You’re an idiot’

He groans in irritation, slapping a hand to his forehead. Before he could formulate another plan he catches the sharp whiff of a wolf on the breeze just before he’s tackled into the mud. He shoves the large animal off but it’s persistent and comes at him again. Kyuhyun leaps to his feet, groaning inwardly at the feel of cold mud all over his skin. He sidesteps out of the wolf’s way allowing it to go right past him.

“Wait! Wait!” he yells at it, holding up his hands. This makes the wolf pause and gives Kyuhyun time to assess it. The wolf is a fluff of light brown fur, large in build but not as large as they usually are. It was newly transformed wolf, probably just a trainee. With that thought he snaps his head around, looking for the Alpha that was probably out also. The trainee wolf growls, charging forward at him and Kyuhyun picks up the strong heartbeat but also the fear that is coursing through its blood.

The wolf was frightened by him. Hm. It’s probably on its own. Then he starts to question why a young, obviously amateur wolf was out this early anyway? The poor thing probably hadn’t even faced a Vampire or any other creature for that matter on its own.

So where was the Alpha?

“Stop! Wait” this time when he sidesteps the wolf it rounds on him with its right paw, trying to strike him desperately.

“Would you hold on a second?” Kyuhyun yells at it. “I’m not going to hurt you!”

The wolf keeps coming at him until finally it manages to shove Kyuhyun face down in the dirt. The Vampire raises his head and growls, spitting out the mud and grimacing at the taste and feel of it.

The wolf hesitates, which is something that they don’t normally do and it gives Kyuhyun the opportunity to flip it off of his body. It lands easily on its side and before it can get to its feet, Kyuhyun had used his strength to lift it, almost as if it didn’t weigh the same as a small car, and then he tosses the wolf directly into a tree. It thumps against the bark, snapping it and the tree bends a little.

Kyuhyun hadn’t meant to hurt it but the stupid thing wouldn’t listen!

He watches as it makes little whimpers that distantly turn into groans as it transforms back into its human form. Kyuhyun is not startled when it turns out to be just a kid. The young boy is probably just a year younger than Kyuhyun with a light tan and shaggy brown hair. He cannot see the boy’s face since he had his head buried in his arms and is still in pain.

Kyuhyun can see a large bruise forming on the boy’s tanned back and it makes him cringe a little.

The boy’s head snaps up and Kyuhyun finds himself under the hateful gaze of hazel eyes,

“What are you waiting for?” the young boy snarls, baring his human teeth in feral way. Kyuhyun can tell he’s trying to be brave but from the way his lower lip is shaking the Vampire is able to assess the boy is very much still frightened for his life.

“Where is your Alpha?” he asks, the question had been stuck in mind ever since he discovered that the young wolf was alone.

The boy looks around subtly, but he never loses his snarl,

“He’s coming! And when he gets here…”

Kyuhyun senses the raised heartbeat. It obvious the boy is lying and trying to bluff his way out of the situation.

“Why didn’t you just call for the others telepathically?” The boy doesn’t answer, his gaze turning to stare at the ground. He finally sits up, rubbing at his back.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for school instead of playing big bad forest protector?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
It's a damn cold night
I'm tryin' to figure out this life
Won't you take me by the hand?

DONGHAE'S POV

Donghae had been terrified when he had sniffed the air only be overwhelmed by the scent of a Vampire. His wolf form had been curled into the base of a tree, tucked away in sleep when he felt his nasal senses tingling. He had not wanted to go after it; he was after all just a newbie and never had faced one on his own.

Rain had abandoned him to guard duty, the Alpha using this as punishment for his rejection. This hour of day was usually patrolled by the Elder Alphas but Rain had volunteered Donghae to take over.

Donghae tries to telepathically summon his fellow wolves but it’s a complete waste of time. His link with the others is weak at this stage and because Rain is a bastard and a ert the other man has failed to teach Donghae how to open the link fully. Besides, no one else would even be in their wolf forms this early unless they were on patrol.

He pats the pocket of his jeans lightly with the tip of his paw, feeling for his cellphone. It becomes evident pretty soon that he’s also managed to leave that at home.

For a while he tramples around, hoping the Vampire would just go away but it draws closer.

‘What’s it doing so close to the border?’ he wonders.  It smelled a bit funny too, not all like a Vampire should.

Although Rain had sent him off to patrol the woods, Donghae had refused to go any further than the borderline of Baliene. He had thought it would be safer to just lie low until his patrol time was up.

He was still holding back yawns at having to get up so early. 

Motivating himself to stop being such a he decided to go after it. If he managed to bring it down on his own he would have bragging rights for the next 4 months. None of the other newbies had ever killed a Vampire or any other creature at that, so if by some of luck that he toughened up enough to face this one and won then he’d be seen as a warrior.

The idea itself had been enough to make him feel brave but when he finally got into it with the Vampire his terror had returned. It was just a teenager but it had incredible strength which made Donghae a little frightful.

The Vampire was talking to him, telling him to wait and stop but Donghae just wanted it to leave. It didn’t matter that it appeared to not want to hurt him; it was going against the treaty and needed to get off their land.

By the time he got thrown into the tree Donghae was pretty sure he was going to die. He turned back into his human form almost instantly; unable to keep his wolf body as the pain that was coursing through him made him weak enough to break the connection.

The boy was asking a string of questions that made Donghae fidgety. The Vampire seemed merely curious but Donghae had been taught not to trust them.

“Why are you here, Vampire?” he asked, ignoring whatever question the boy had just asked.

The Vampire wiped some of the mud from his pale face, looking annoyed. Donghae smiled to himself, happy that he was able to ruin the other boy’s appearance.

‘Faggotty Vamps’ he cussed as he watched the Vampire grimace at the dirt.

“I-I came to request your help”

Donghae his head, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of him…again. Did this Vampire just ask for his help?

Was the sky falling?

Were the great Gods of the earth rising up to impregnate the female population?

“My help? Why me?” Oh my God was this something that only I could do? Was that the reason he was all alone in the woods? Had he been searching for me? But why…

The Vampire snorts “Don’t look so excited. It wasn’t my idea to ask you, I would’ve asked any wolf but you seem to be the closest at the moment”

Well that was buzzkill.

So much for feeling important.

Donghae’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you want help with?” he’s back to being suspicious, the man was after all a Vampire, however there was still something wrong with his scent but he definitely had some sort of Vampirism in him.

“I need to track a guardian”

Donghae’s mind becomes a mind field of thoughts and assumptions. He braces hand against the broken tree and tries to stand up. The pain is bad but it’s not unbearable. A pair of cold hands is suddenly on his flesh and he stands up straighter, inching away from the touch.

“It’s okay. I’m just trying to help” the Vampire explains, one of his arms wrapping around Donghae’s waist and pulling the younger boy into his side.

Donghae flushes a little, the proximity between them is gone and as much as the man seems to be friendly he is still the enemy. However, unlike Donghae had been taught, this Vampire had a cool touch, not freezing cold and lifeless like he assumed.

“If you wanted to help, you shouldn’t have thrown me into a tree in the first place”

“Sorry about that, but your claws were digging into my back and I just wanted you to stop with the attacks”

The Vampire lifts Donghae’s left arm, draping it over his tall shoulders, allowing them to be pressed more deeply side by side. The taller boy does not seem concerned that Donghae’s .

“So about helping me…”

“A guardian? I thought they lived at the Empire? I mean- How am I supposed to help you track it?” Donghae wanted to say that he was not so good, but didn’t want the Vampire to think any less of him.

“I think he’s in Oakville still, and may be injured, and I know wolves have a stronger sense of smell than Vampires so I was hoping one of you would help me”

Donghae shifts to look up, raising an eyebrow at the other man.

“Why would you even care?” a thought comes to him, “Is he like your boyfriend or something?”

That would explain why the other boy didn’t seem to care that Donghae was . Maybe he was used to having men all over him. Donghae groans inwardly. He managed to escape Rain but how would he outrun a gay erted Vampire.

“No” the boy said sharply, probably surprised that Donghae would even hint at such a thing.

“Why do you assume I’m gay?”

Donghae shrugs slightly, clenching his teeth at the jolt of fiery pain that comes from his back.

“Why else would you be here in our section of the woods. It’s a suicide mission for any creature, so I just assumed that this boy had to be very important to you for you to be risking your life for him”

He realizes that the Vampire seems to be leading him away from the border.

“What are you doing? I did not agree to go with you!?” he barks, trying to push the guy off.

“Well I need your help and you seem like a nice enough wolf. So yeah, you’re coming with me”

Donghae protests, “But I don’t even know how to track this guy….”

The Vampire stops walking and looks at him. Donghae shrinks under the golden irises whose piercing gaze is now focused intently on him. Despite being around hot, gorgeous, hot-blooded, well-built young men all his life, Donghae can’t help but find this pale, undead, slim and irritating Vampire sort of…attractive.

“You’re doggie nose works right?”

Feeling offended at being referred to as a dog, Donghae scowls, not bothering to answer. Kyuhyun must have taken this as a yes because he resumes walking, pulling Donghae along with him. The pace they are moving at makes him feel the rigidity of muscles in his back but it does not hurt as much as it previously had.

“How am I supposed to track him, anyway?” he asks when the silence between them becomes unbearable.

“Is there something specific you require? Do you have to sniff something of his?”

Donghae scowls again because the other boy sounds a bit too smug and he can tell a Scooby doo reference is not far away.

“Yes actually. I do. It would definitely make things easier. But I can’t help you now…I have school…”

The Vampire pauses again, this time he removes his arm from Donghae’s shoulder, pivoting the boy to face him. “Please. I am a prideful man and I would cut off my own arm before I beg a wolf but just…please, just, help me with this, for my sister, okay?”

From the awkward tilt of the taller boy’s lips, and the unsure look in his beautiful eyes, Donghae can tell it took a lot for him to ‘beg’ him for his help. He sighs. He’s always been a er for aiding others, his mother said he had a big heart but helping a Vampire had never seemed likely to him.

“Fine. Yes, just get me something of his and I’ll try”

The Vampire doesn’t look pleased, neither does he look happy, but does give a small nod, his eyes telling Donghae that he was grateful.

They wander around the forest for about 5 more minutes before Donghae realizes that the Vampire has no sense of direction. He questions him about it.

“I, uh, I don’t know this part of the woods all that well but don’t worry, we’ll…”

Donghae shifts back into his wolf form, struggling to bear the transformation.  The transition is slower and the pain of slipping into the wolf’s body is more excruciating that it usually is however he manages to complete it. He can tell the Vampire has tensed up, ready for a fight but Donghae doesn’t bother explaining.

He indicates for the boy to get on him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me”

The boy makes a spectacle of not wanting to climb on Donghae since he’s afraid he’d hurt the boy’s injuries farther. Donghae would tell him that he heals faster in his wolf form but the Vampire is taking too long. His concerns for Donghae’s injuries are sweet but rather irrelevant at the moment.

Finally the Vampire straddles him.

“You know I usually introduce myself before I climb on top of someone”

Luckily no one can see if he’s blushing while in this form so Donghae doesn’t have to worry about his human reaction to the other boy’s words.  He takes off through the woods.

“I drove here. At least try to lead us back to where I parked” The boy demanded.

If Donghae hadn’t been the one who had volunteered for the Vampire to ride him in the first place he would’ve tossed the boy off.

He manages to track the vehicle easily just by sniffing the air for traces of the Vampire’s scent. The Vampire climbs off of him and Donghae immediately tries to shift back.

By the time he’s back in his human body he realizes that he’s once again but this time in the middle of the road. His injuries are mostly healed thanks to his wolf’s fast healing and so he’s able to move around freely without aid.

The car is as luxurious as Donghae had thought it would be. It was a sleek black but glistening with a silver pearlescent undertone. His friend Changmin loved cars and Donghae knew a little about them but he couldn’t figure out what model it was. The windows are tinted black, making the interior barely visible from the outside. Most of all, the car just reeked of money.

Money which this guy obviously seemed to have enough of.

“You wouldn’t have some clothes for me would you?” he asks shyly.

The Vampire takes in Donghae’s body and it’s not unusual for him to be around men, especially when you’re in a wolf pack but the way the Vampire’s cold eyes are raking over him makes him feel like a ty airhead on display at a strip club.

“Well my seats are covered with plastic, so I would allow you to seat on them for now, Besides I’m covered in dirt from head to toe, so you can say we’re both a little too dirty to be sitting in my car but it’s one of those things I can overlook for now”

The Vampire turns toward the car.

“My name is Kyuhyun by the way”

Kyuhyun?

Hm. “I’m Donghae”

Well at least they weren’t strangers anymore.

“Well, Donghae, are you ready for me to give you a ride this time?”

When the young wolf had finally given in, Kyuhyun did not know whether to be upset or ecstatic.

On the good side he would at least be able to go forward with his plan to try and find Hyukjae.

On the bad side, he was now in the company of his wolf. Not just any wolf, but a young pack member whose elder’s would probably try and track him down shortly after discovering he was missing. Kyuhyun quickly tried to remedy this problem by allowing Donghae to use his phone in order to call his parents and inform them of some lie that would cover up for him being gone.

He hadn’t paid attention to what Donghae had told them, his mind had zeroed in on the fact that he might’ve just befriended a wolf…a creature that was trained from the beginning to hunt and kill his family if they ever stepped foot on Baliene’s land.

But did Kyuhyun really want this wolf around him for the day? God knows how long it would take for them to find Hyukjae and it wouldn’t be Kyuhyun’s fault if he slipped up and accidentally called Donghae a mutt or some other degrading dog reference.

Donghae ends the call.

“Should I make a U-turn and take you back home?” he asks, wondering if the kid’s parents hadn’t believed the lie. Maybe it was faith, maybe a Vampire and a wolf weren’t meant to work together…

Donghae slumps back into the seat comfortably, sighing pleasantly.

“Nope. They actually believed me” he chuckles softly, “This is going to be so cool. We’re like an unlikely duo on a mission”

Kyuhyun snorts, “Yeah, I’m Batman and you’re Scooby doo. Together we’ll bring down Dr. Evil”

“I see the Scooby doo comparisons have already started” Donghae huffs in annoyance.

Kyuhyun doesn’t bother replying to that, instead launching into an explanation of what little details he has about the situation.

“So wait? You don’t even know if this guy is in Oakville? Why would you practically beg a wolf for help if you were operating under a theory?”

“First of all. I didn’t beg you…” You did say please, he scolds himself, “I had an idea and I went with it and you were…nice….enough to tag along with me”

He doesn’t look at the kid but he can sense his bemused gaze,

“That’s not how I remember it”

“Well you were probably too busy freezing your nuts off instead of comprehending reality”

Since Kyuhyun has nothing of Hyukjae’s for Donghae to sniff, he decided to break into the boy’s house. Kyuhyun of course knew where the boy lived since he had had the opportunity to visit him once for a school project they were working on.

He doesn’t inform Donghae of this plan and when he pulls over a few blocks from Hyukjae’s driveway. Donghae would have to make a run for it, his be damned.

“What noway! Why didn’t you just pull into his driveway?!”

“I don’t want his neighbors to be suspicious” Kyuhyun tries to reason with him.

“And you think they won’t notice a boy running in their streets?”

Kyuhyun knows Donghae is right. It’s getting late and mostly everyone is probably up and getting ready for work or on their way.

He reaches into the backseat, searching around for anything they could use. He hands Donghae the windscreen sun shield, indicating for the boy to wrap it around himself.

Donghae protests but Kyuhyun ignores him, checking the streets for any signs of activity.

“When I say run, you follow me, okay?”

There is no one in sight for the next couple of minutes and Kyuhyun orders, “Run”, opening his door and hurrying outside. He closes it behind him, checking to make sure Donghae is following before running towards Hyukjae’s house.

He suggests that they go around the back to prevent the neighbors from spotting Donghae’s even though the boy is now wearing the sun shades around his waist. They arrive at the back of the house without error and Donghae is looking at him expectantly, as if he’s waiting for Kyuhyun to take out a key and unlock the door.

Kyuhyun suspects the door in front of them is the back entrance to the laundry room or something but he’s rather uncaring as he slams a solid kick into it, sending the door itself flying off its hinges.

“The !” Donghae hisses, keeping his voice low, “Why don’t you just go around ringing a bell, I’m sure that’ll make enough noise for the police to detect!” he glances around nervously, sniffing at the air. Kyuhyun rolls his eyes and enters the house. Donghae reluctantly follows him inside.

“And why would you have to kick the door in? Won’t this guardian person be pissed?”

Kyuhyun sighs, “Why do you care? He’s my friend” he says haughtily, lying through his teeth with a scowl on his face.

Donghae backs off with the questions about the door.

They are in a back storage room of sorts but there isn’t much to see, other than a couple of old board games and…shemale ?

“Your friend has…weird tastes?”

The Vampire stares at the cover of one of the DVD cases, smirking a little when he thinks of all the teasing he’s going to give Hyukjae…if they found him.

“Aren’t your bits and pieces frozen blue yet?” Kyuhyun inquired nosily. He spots a closet as soon as they exit the room and heads toward it.

“I don’t think my bits and pieces are any of your concern” Donghae replies heatedly.

“Don’t you need them for the continuation of over population in Baliene? Or are you not planning to breed your cousins like all the others doing?”

Kyuhyun is taken off guard by the punch that slams into the back of his head. The blow causes him to hit his forehead on the closet door and causes his head to throb.

That son of seemed to have put all of his wolf strength into that solid punch.

The anger that spikes through him is quick and he whirls around with little to no control on his snarl or the way he bares his fangs. They slide down almost fluidly, an automatic response to the rage in his veins. Donghae looks like he’s on the verge of turning back into a wolf and the two have locked each other with fierce glares.

Kyuhyun feels rather silly after a couple of seconds. His fangs retract themselves instinctively as he calms.

“Sorry” he says, figuring that he must’ve crossed the line and it was his own fault if it had driven Donghae to the point where he had to hit him. The ache in his head would soon dull, and if they didn’t find Hyukjae by the time this morning was gone he’d be rid of Donghae. The two would path ways and never see each other again.

He’ll just to keep his tongue in-check until then. He scowls just thinking about it.

“Can you say that again? I wanna remember this moment for as long as I live”

Kyuhyun ignores him, slamming the closet door open before raiding inside. His hands make contact with clothing material and he tosses a couple of items to the ground.

“Take your pick” he says, moving forward down the short hallway. He can hear Donghae riffling through the pile behind him.

Kyuhyun opens the first door to his left. If Hyukjae was home then he’d be rid of Donghae even faster than necessary.

By the time Donghae is dressed, Kyuhyun and his vampire speed have explored the entire house. When he goes to find Donghae he sees the other boy in front of a mirror, the wolf is wearing ski pants, a grey vest with a denim jacket over it.

He raises an eyebrow,

“It’s still a little too early for Halloween, wolf”

Donghae snaps around, a huge grin on his face,

“Aren’t they cute?” he indicates to the flashy neon blue and green pants. Kyuhyun swallows back a heap of vomit at the horrible sight of its colorful pattern, he covers in his eyes. “Gah, could they be any more hideous”

“He’s your boyfriend. I just assumed it was regular gay guy clothes”

Kyuhyun was beginning to have suspicions that Hyukjae really might be gay. Amber could just be his faghag. He lowers his hands from his eyes.

“Did you purposefully pick the gayest pants in the closet?”

Donghae looks down at them, shrugging adorably.

“Do they make my look big?” he teased, turning to the side to flash his . There appeared to be padding in the back of the pants and yes, they made his look gigantic.

Kyuhyun doesn’t respond, he’s rather ashamed of himself for thinking the other boy was adorable.

Donghae might be a cute little wolf but Kyuhyun was by no means attracted to him. But maybe, just maybe they could be friends…maybe…

“Stop joking around. Did you even try to pick up his scent?”

The wolf stops his goofing off immediately, almost as if he had previously forgotten why he was here in the first place. He makes a show of sniffing at the air deeply; Kyuhyun places his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes at the wolf. Donghae makes a couple more dramatic sniffs, his eyes widening comically when he sees that Kyuhyun is glaring at him. He blushes beneath his tan.

“Well ah…this is quite embarrassing…”

“You can’t track him can you?” Kyuhyun folds his arms, a throb starting to pound in his temples as he eyes the useless excuse for a wolf.

 Donghae scratches the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly,

“Of-of course I can. I can his scent picked up already; it’s just that he’s…not home?”

“I ALREADY KNEW THAT!” Kyuhyun barks in frustration, he cools off soon after, pinching the bridge of his nose. He ignores Donghae, moving toward the storage room. He plans to leave, deserting the wolf to find his own way home.

At least Victoria will know he tried. He would tell her what he had planned to do and she’d believe him because he practically stunk of Donghae’s wet dog odor.

“Hey, I can still help…” Donghae calls after him. When they arrive back outside, Kyuhyun lifts the broken door, lining it back up in the doorway. Hyukjae’s neighborhood seemed pleasant enough and hopefully no one would try to break in…again.

“Go home, Wolf” is all Kyuhyun says to Donghae, his eyes forward as they move in the direction of where he had parked the Bugatti. It’s 8:45 on the dot when he checks his watch and the Oakville sun is as far up as it’s going to be, the entire area is fairly lit with its dull rays.

“I’m sorry, but I…”

“I said go home. I don’t have any use for such a novice. I thought you at least capable of certain wolf traits but you, you ” Kyuhyun flushes slightly at his choice of words, it’s rather humiliating that that was all he had managed to come with. Donghae seems to find it funny, an amused smile forming on his lips.

“I ?”

Kyuhyun glares him but has to look away because in daylight the ski pants are even more an eyesore and they hurt to look at directly. These pants could cause a Vampire to combust into flames as soon as they saw the bright colors.

“Listen, I can still try to pick up his scent…”

“How? Am I supposed to drive you around town so that you can stick your nose out the window and sniff the air as we drive by?”

“No I just need to…” this time Donghae stops himself, his head swiveling around dramatically so that he was now trned away from the Vampire. Kyuhyun watches as Donghae scans the neighbor ahead of him and then turning to his left, looking at the trees.  A deep inhale follows and the next thing Kyuhyun knew Donghae was climbing the wire fence that sealed off the woods from the community.

“I smell him” is all the warning he gives as he struggles to get over the fence.

Kyuhyun pounds a fist into it, causing the wire to tremble wildly, sending Donghae head first over the other side.

“oww!” he shouts.

Kyuhyun sneaks a glance around the area but no one is out and about so he decides to use his powers. He jumps energetically into the air, his body slicing through gravity to leap all the way over the high fence in one clean, acrobatic move. He lands on his feet, a few inches away from Donghae.

“Show off” Donghae mutters, rubbing his head.

“Quickly Scooby, track the scent, like a good boy”

Unlike previously Donghae seems to find this taunt funny because he laughs it off, snorting mockingly before dashing to his right. Kyuhyun is quick to follow.

Even in his human form, Donghae is fast but Kyuhyun is faster, his speed doubled by both his Vampire side and his other hybrid bloodline. Donghae shifts into his wolf form, trying to take charge of their pace and lead the way instead of having Kyuhyun 4 steps in front him.

They are zigzagging through the woods like crazy, just cutting by trees and trying not skid on the muddy area. It’s almost exhilarating and freeing, the moment when they turn away from tracking Hyukja’s scent to being a race. Kyuhyun could easily beat Donghae if he tried but he likes the feeling of running side by side with the wolf. They’ve only been running 10 minutes when Kyuhyun picks up on the heavy scent of blood.

He doesn’t react to it as some of Hyukjae’s close friends would. His stomach doesn’t tighten in knots, he doesn’t feel nervous or terrified of what he might find, all he feels is anxiety. There’s no stench of death so Hyukjae must not be dead, however, the blood does not have the rich, alluring scent that all Guardian’s possess and Kyuhyun has to remind himself that Hyukjae isn’t a pureblood guardian, just one of those human recruits who had the opportunity to be receive the gift of becoming a Guardian.

‘And he has the nerve to call me a halfblood?’ Kyuhyun thinks nastily. He still harbors some despise for Hyukjae but not because of what he had said but because of whom he had said it in front of.

He remembers thinking late that night that Yesung would now think less of him and to have the Oritalis looking down on him with pity was something that made Kyuhyun’s gut clench with hatred and shame.

“There! Against that tree!” Kyuhyun realizes that Donghae is now in his human form and is standing opposite him. The other boy is pointing in a direction and Kyuhyun’s eyes follow to see where it leads.

The person lying limp against the tree could not be Hyukjae.

Kyuhyun could see that the person had bright short white hair, which was matted with blood at his temples. The person was lying on the roots of the tree, their body curled in the fetal position and there were two large openings in the back of the person’s shirt.

The wolf had wondered over to the body and was now studying it closely. Donghae was bouncing on his heels, a smile on his face as if he wanted a treat.

“He looks really banged up” he says, the smile shrinking a little. He stoops, his right hand reaching out to push hair from the person’s face.

Kyuhyun watches as Donghae’s face softens, staring sweetly at the individual,

“Face like an angel…” he whispers but Kyuhyun catches it with his super hearing. He moves forward and the person is most definitely Hyukjae.

His smell is unfamiliar, probably covered by the fact that he had been at Empire for almost 24 hours. Another thing that Kyuhyun notices is that Hyukjae’s rocking the blonde hair, when and why did he change the color? It suits though, casting an angelic glow around his head. Kyuhyun agrees with Donghae that it makes him look softer, like a sleeping fairytale prince… or princess.

‘Makes you look gayer too’ he thinks nastily, almost envious of the boy’s new hair. It is only ruined by the blood which just makes him look all the more alluring to weak hearted maidens who would rush to his aid.

He snorts. ‘No weak hearted maidens out here. Just a werewolf’

“This is the person you’ve been looking for right?” Donghae’s question, snaps Kyuhyun out of his thoughts. The vampire takes in Hyukjae’s appearance, there’s no outright injuries a part from the blood in his hair and he’s still breathing shallowly. Hyukjae is wearing a camouflage green t-shirt wit with words ‘er Punch’ written on it in bold black letters. He’s wearing jeans that are torn at the side but there’s little to no blood to show that he might’ve been attacked.

“Yup that’s him”

Kyuhyun uses his foot to push the unconscious boy onto his back and Donghae makes a displeased noise, slapping Kyuhyun’s foot away from Hyukjae.

“What are you doing?”

The Vampire doesn’t have time to answer because Hyukjae is groaning in pain.

“Reave ‘e alone…” the wounded boy mutters brokenly.

“You heard the man” a new voice intrudes on them. Donghae gapes at the newcomer but Kyuhyun continues to face Hyukjae. He has only heard that voice once today for the first time and already it made his blood boil.

“Kyuhyun?” And of course that other idiot would be here too.

“You know them?” Donghae asks softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Take me somewhere new
I

don't know who you are
But I'm, I'm with you
I'm with you


“You know them?”

I hear what the boy whispers to Kyuhyun but it doesn’t register to me because the scene I’m witnessing is all too crazy to be true. At first I thought I been imagining things when me and Top first appeared here but once the visual sinks in I was just left to stare wide eyed at them.

Kyuhyun, Mister almighty Vampire and serious-to-the-bone , was in the woods, with a man and they were both studying Hyukjae’s prone form with thoughtful expressions on their faces.

This is so unexpected.

Top and I had had no luck in tracking down the grims and we’ve been practically fishing for clues almost all morning. He was even more unbearable than usual today and I felt antsy around him, wanting to be over with this ‘mission’ and back to Amber’s bedside.

We had just been about to go to another location in Oakville when I had come up with the idea to try and teleport to Hyukjae again. This time I had concentrated so hard on Hyukjae, almost begging my conscience desperately to take me to him. There was a familiar blank, dullness to the darkness that clouded my mind and the last thing I felt was Top grabbing my arm.

We ended up back in the woods and I wanted to leap with joy, because yeah, I did it again!

But then I had looked straight ahead and spotted two figures standing above a lump of something. Top had chased towards them and I had no choice but to follow.

Thus we met Kyuhyun and the boy as well as…

“HYUKJAE!”  I squeaked out in choked up surprise. His face was contorted in pain and his hair was blonder than I remembered but it was still Hyukjae!

“OH MY GOD! You-“ I stare at Kyuhyun, then back at Hyukjae, “You, why are you here?”

I don’t wait for Kyuhyun to answer, choosing to drop on my knees beside Hyukjae, cradling his head in my arms. My eyes roam over his body for injuries but there are none that are too obvious except for the bloody spot that has matted strands of his hair to his forehead.

“Amber woke up. She told me he was injured…” Kyuhyun admits stiffly, as if he felt he didn’t owe me an explanation.

Amber had woken up? Then she was alright! But how, how did she know about Hyukjae being injured?

“Hey I remember you!” an unfamiliar voice cried. I turn away from Hyukjae to see the tanned boy, staring at me with wide knowing eyes. My head snaps back a little as I take in his face, a memory trying to piece itself together.

“You’re that wolf!” I gasp, and then look from him to Kyuhyun, wondering what the Vampire was doing with a wolf, wolf.

A wolf who looked about one year younger than him.

Well Kyuhyun was a Vampire so anybody he dates would probably be like years younger than him…

And the wolf was …and Kyuhyun was covered with dry mud, looking disheveled…

Oh God, don’t tell me their ing?

“I asked him to help me. I needed someone who could smell Hyukjae from a far and if he was in Oakville then there was only one group of…”

“Yes, yes, we get it. You seduced this poor, hideous wolf to be your hound dog. Just don’t breed him full of pups. God knows we have enough hybrids” Top scoffs, in his tone.

“I’m not hideous…”

The wolf stops talking just as Kyuhyun slams Top up against a tree.

“I don’t know what your problem is, but don’t with me, or my friends”

You mean this wolf is his friend!? I look back at the wolf just in time to see him sigh almost affectionately at the half-vampire.

 Kyuhyun doesn’t allow Top to reply smugly, throwing the Guardian like a discarded ball. I watch with wide eyes as Top hits the ground hard, landing on his back before rolling over to brace himself on in a kneeling position.

The Vampire hisses at him, I see fangs and cling to Hyukjae tighter, he moans in pain but I do not dare release him. I’m afraid if I don’t I’d probably do something stupid, like try to run between them and end up getting slapped all the way to Mexico. Top looks ready to kill and Kyuhyun is practically daring my Guardian to try his patience.

“Stop it! Both of you are wasting time!” the werewolf runs between them, his bouncing with firm drops and I stare at it with envy.

He touches Kyuhyun like a lover, pulling the Vampire’s biceps. Kyuhyun’s fangs disappear, his mouth set in small scowl aimed at Top even as he allows the wolf to lead him back over to where me and Hyukjae are.  I realize I’m staring at them with a bitter heart and quickly look away.

Maybe they’ve been lovers for a long time.

I mean, I’ve known Kyuhyun for like a day now and he’s never…well, I wasn’t his ‘friend’ now was I?

“So I’m your friend huh?” I hear the wolf ask coyly, as if he didn’t expect Kyuhyun to say that.

“Will you two stop flirting, Hyukjae needs to go to the hospital” I demand their attention, trying to break up whatever moment they were having.

“I didn’t see you protesting so much for Hyukjae’s wellbeing when your Guardian was about to attack me”

Suddenly Top appears behind Kyuhyun with his wings open, the shadow they form over us is unsettling and they make the wings look devilish rather than angelic.

“I should attack the living hell of you, you half breed” Top punches Kyuhyun in the jaw. I can tell it was a hard one too from the way Kyuhyun’s eyes bulge but the Vampire isn’t a weakling because he doesn’t immediately face plants into the ground from the blow.

“You hit like a ” he mocks, even as he spits out a small, drool ball of blood. He digs his fingers into Top’s wings, purposely ripping out silver feathers. Top growls and the feathers harden up instantly, turning into the silver blades I know them to be.

“Would you two stop it?” I bark at them, using my most intimidating voice.

“Yeah, I mean, I thought Werewolves and Vampires were the real enemies but it turns out that the two of you need to form a treaty of your own” the wolf smiles at me, seeming to think I could smile back at the little joke he made.

I don’t.

I get the reference but I also get that this boy is trying to steal my thunder.

“Now, Top, what’s wrong with Hyukjae?”

Kyuhyun moves away from Top, going to stand near his little wolfy.

“I’m not sure. I wasn’t informed by the Empire that he would be…returning to Oakville…”

The Vampire snorts, “You call this returning? If he did come back to Oakville he did so by force and someone didn’t seem to like that”

“How do we know that you and your little doggy toy didn’t do the damage and were planning to leave him here?”

This time the wolf boldly steps into Top’s face,

“You know, for all the big and mighty you think you are, all you sound like is an envious who has nothing better to do with his time than try to make people feel worthless. Newsflash , no one cares about what you have to say”

Wow…if this boy wasn’t and trying to act all friendly with my…Kyuhyun…

I pout.

I don’t want Kyuhyun.

“Well if my opinions don’t matter then why are you talking to me?”

“Top! Stop being an for once and tell me what the is going on!”

Top doesn’t answer me, choosing instead to curl his wings around his body, vanishing into thin air before our eyes.

I throw my hands up in frustration. That son of a !

“That guardian is in need of a serious wake up call. He’s rude, annoying…”

“Yes, yes, I know all of this already. Now, how did you two know where to find Hyukjae?” Kyuhyun’s question is aimed at me and I realize that without all the commotion from Top that I’m now trapped in the woods with him and his wolf friend.

“I teleported here” I answer, not bothering to look up at him. Hyukjae is a bit pale and cold to the touch, however he is still breathing and it’s not heavy or labored so I suspect he is okay for now. I wonder how long he has been outside for…

“But how? I saw you try to do again this morning but it didn’t work? Why would it work now?”

Shrugging I voice my thoughts, “Maybe he was at the Empire and only recently landed back here?”

Kyuhyun shook his head, “That can’t be…Amber, Amber said he saved her life last night and if he’s been injured and trapped in Oakville all this time then you should’ve been able to teleport to him once your concentration and need to see him was strong enough”

“Maybe, maybe I gave up too easily? I’m not sure! All we can do is take him to the hospital…”

“He doesn’t need to go to the hospital, his vitals are fine, he is breathing on his own and his wounds appear to be healing” The way Kyuhyun says it, it’s as if he has already ran a whole lot of tests on Hyukjae. When I glance up at them, the wolf is giving Kyuhyun this admiring look that sickens me.

“How did you know that?” the wolf asks, almost in disbelief.

Kyuhyun shrugs, “I’m a Vampire. I checked his heartbeat with my sensitive hearing, his blood isn’t rushing with panic, his breathing is a bit off balance but nothing to worry about and the smell of blood is getting weaker, quickly being replaced by the scent of freshly produced skin. The wound is covering itself…”

If the werewolf looks anymore smitten he was going to launch himself into Kyuhyun’s lap and start riding him right in front of me. I find it hard to breathe myself because, wow, Kyuhyun had sounded really y and all Doctor-like when he was giving his analysis.

“I’m sure your mom would be proud” I comment without thinking. Kyuhyun’s gaze snaps towards me and I try not to look intimidated by it. However, he smiles softly,

“You think?”

All I can do is nod.

The smile does wonders to his face, making it all the more striking.

“The names Donghae” the wolf’s hand is shoved in my face, blocking my view of Kyuhyun.

Not only is he but this er is also impolite!

Who cares if he introduced himself?

“Jongwoon” I tell him and I accept the hand because I am the bigger man.

Only my friends call me Yesung!

“You can call him Yesung” Kyuhyun informs Donghae, who looks confused and asks, “Why?”

“How dare you give out permission without my consent? It’s my name and I’ll tell it to those I want to”

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes, “Would you shut up. It’s going to be weird if he hears everyone else call you Yesung”

“You plan to have him around for that long?” I ask before I can stop myself.

The Vampire looks at Donghae, offering a hand, “Well we do make a good team”

Donghae stares at it with wide eyes for a moment before shaking it happily.

Well !

He never offered to shake my hand!

“Hm. Isn’t this weird?” Kyuhyun said airily, as if talking to no one in particular.

“Isn’t what weird?” Donghae and I ask in perfect unison. I glance at him briefly, he smiles at me but I look away stubbornly.

Kyuhyun indicates to the far left of us but all I see is trees. I shrug at him, not understanding what he’s trying to imply.

“If he had continued that way, which was probably the direction he was likely trying to go in, then he would’ve popped out at…”

“At Cain Den” Donghae chimes in. He clear has a better sense of direction and the names of places than I do but I recognize the name of venue as the one me and my dad live on.

“So, so he was heading towards my house?”

Kyuhyun nods, “It would seem so”

“But why didn’t he just pop up there like he usually does?” What do Guardian’s even call that thing they do with their wings and disappearing? Was it called Teleporting too?

I stare at Hyukjae. Kyuhyun was right, the bleeding was stopping but the questions still remained.

Why was he all the way out here?

What happened to him?

Why was he blonde?

Kyuhyun carries Hyukjae, taking off with a speed that was both unnatural and awesome. Donghae transformed into the wolf and I backed off, a bit scared that I was left alone with him and he had reverted into to his animal form. I walk ahead of him, well; it’s more of brisk walk.

When I hear thunderous running behind me I pick up pace and start running, trying to escape him.

“Kyuhyun!” I yell for the Vampire.

A pig-like squeal escapes me as I’m butted off the ground by wolf’s large head. I manage to land on its back, clinging to the fur with clenched fists as it takes off at a neck breaking speed.

By the time we arrive on Cane Den’s lane I’m pretty sure I’m suffering from whiplash and that I a couple of my organs have now lodged themselves in my rectum.

“This way, Donghae, come on quickly” Kyuhyun signals and Donghae doesn’t wait for my ‘I’m okay’ before he’s taking off again. Luckily my house comes into view and Donghae skids to a halt in front of it.

I will never ride a wolf again!

The moment when Hyukjae wakes up is not as dramatic and epic as I thought it would be.

It takes place 20 minutes or so after we settle him down on the sofa in the living room. Kyuhyun had removed Hyukjae’s shoes, tossing them outside as if they weren’t worth anything.

My dad is still asleep, thanks to Top’s spell and I check on him just to make sure nothing had backfired and that he wasn’t in some coma now.

There are several missed calls on the phone, possibly from the station. Kyuhyun doesn’t ask my permission before he’s raiding my room for clothes to fit Donghae. I get irritated at this and make loud protests, uncaring if Jungsoo wakes up or not. Kyuhyun deliberately ignores me while Donghae watches from the sideline, biting his lips nervously.

In the end Donghae ends up showering and dressing himself in one of my new jeans (I refuse to let him wear my old ones because I feel much more connected with them) and one of my Linkin Park t-shirts. I ask if Kyuhyun wants to shower too, I was trying to be courteous and he was a caked in dry mud. He refused.

That punk.

I’m in the middle of a conversation with my dad’s boss when Hyukjae promptly sits up in the couch as if in shock.

His wide eyes take in his surroundings before landing on me. I am a bit frozen as those familiar blue eyes rake over my body and then suddenly he’s hugging me.

“Yesung!”

The phone falls from my hand and I’m a bit too shocked to hug back at first but then when I finally do wrap my arms around his skinny torso I find that I don’t want to let go.

He shouldn’t even be hugging me.

I was the one who sent him away.

I was the one who ruined his life here in Oakville…

“It’s okay” he pulls back and I moan pitifully at the loss of him in my arms. “It’s okay” he repeats, a bright smile on his face.

“I heard you. I heard you and it’s all okay now”

“Wha?... What do you mean…?”

Hyukjae giggles, actually giggles, “I heard you, you said all these emotional stuffs and I, I knew I had forgiven you and I just wanted to come back. I saw Amber and she looked so lost, so desperate and she’s never looked that way before and, and I couldn’t stay there, I couldn’t just allow them to keep me hostage when, when my heart was in Oakville”

When his heart was in Oakville? He’s only known me a day?!

Someone clears their throat loudly.

I pivot myself to see Kyuhyun with his arms folded, giving us a stink eye.

Hyukjae pushes me aside like yesterday’s news and goes to engulf Kyuhyun in his arms,

“I’ve never been so happy to see that face in all my life” Hyukjae pulls back and grins. Kyuhyun makes a disgusted face, trying to push Hyukjae away from him. My previous guardian doesn’t seem to notice and instead begins to swirl Kyuhyun around the room merrily.

“The is the matter with you Hyukjae?” Kyuhyun cusses, shoving the other boy off.

I’m beginning to wonder the same thing.

Hyukjae just laughs, “I’m just so happy to BE BACK!”

He encounters Donghae and plants a kiss on his nose. “Hello new friend!”

Donghae, who looks a bit stunned, is hauled into a bone crushing hug.

“Nice to meet you” the wolf is painfully polite.

“The names Hyukjae”

“Guardian, why the are you acting like this?!” The Vampire yells, tugging Hyukjae away from Donghae.

I scowl at his obvious jealousy. What makes this Donghae person so…so, wonderful that a heartless, bastard like Kyuhyun is smitten with him?

“It’s the pills, Yoochun gave me. He said-he said…I would be a little woozy but I feel GREAT!”

Hyukjae collapses but luckily does not hit the ground hard because Donghae is quick enough to prevent him from completely dropping like a sack of potatoes. I rush towards them, trying to pull Hyukjae into my arms but the Guardian stirs just as I was about to.

“God, I swear I’m going to kill Yoochun” the chirpiness is gone, replaced by the dry humor that I was beginning to get accustom to that first day.

“Hyukjae? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’ll, I’ll be fine. Just need to stop my eyes from pulsating”

“Well then, this happy reunion does not involve me anymore. Donghae, I will be leaving now”

“Nice to see you again” Hyukjae comments, raising his head to stare at Kyuhyun. The Vampire doesn’t respond, just nods at Hyukjae before turning his gaze toward Donghae.

“Let’s go”

Donghae mumbles an ‘Okay’, scrabbling to follow after Kyuhyun.

“It was great meeting you both” he says politely, a small smile on his lips.

“Sorry about the kiss” Hyukjae states sheepishly.

Donghae’s tan does not hide the redness flooding his face,

“It wasn’t really a kiss; it was more of a peck…on my nose”

“Peck, kiss…whatever, I still defiled your face”

“Well your lips were under the influence. I seemed to be the only one to get a kiss, so I’ll count it as one for good luck”

“Hm. Really? Well…”

“Oh for God’s sake” Kyuhyun tugged Donghae’s arm, practically shoving the boy out the door.

He glares at me as if this was all my fault and I glare right back because I’ll be damned if I let him bully me in my own home.

‘He already did bully you remember? He gave Donghae you’re clothes’

‘Oh you conscience’

“You know I’m sorry right?” Hyukjae speaks up, lifting his body off of me and trying to stand on his own. I help him up; keeping most of his body weight leaned on me.

Kyuhyun looks scandalized, “About Donghae? He isn’t my….”

“No, no, not about that, about…about what I said to you the last time we…yeah, I’m sorry. I did not mean to act all high and mighty and try to look down on you because of your bloodline. Yesung sending me away has taught me that bloodlines mean everything to those cocky bastards in the Empire. They were so quick to replace me because they thought being human made me unreliable and weak. They had given me a chance to prove myself but yet at the first sign of complaint they were ready to pull me out. They lacked faith in me because of what I have running in my veins and I felt so ashamed for taunting you like that because now I knew exactly where I stood with them and, and it , really, it bad, but, but I overcame it and I, I just want to say that, that I’m your side”

I snap my head around to look at Kyuhyun’s expression to those heartfelt words. He looks just as flabbergasted as I previously felt. Then his face softened and he cracked the tiniest smiles, just a simple tilt to the side of his mouth but it was enough to change his general facial expression.

“On my side huh? That doesn’t make us friends you know”

My face morphs quickly into a sullen shock.

However, Hyukjae laughs,

“I would’ve thought you were going insane if you even suggested it, ”

Kyuhyun smirks, “See you around, dips” he sends a knowing look at me and exits. I round on Hyukjae, wondering just what the hell had transpired and how the hell I managed to miss the underline meanings.

“Bye you guys!”

I turn back to the doorway, Donghae’s grinning face has popped itself back in for a quick peek and a he is waving excitedly.

Hyukjae and I watch as Kyuhyun hauls the other boy away the doorway, I can clearly hear the Vampire scolding the boy,

“I already made my dramatic exit. You’re ruining it!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm looking for a place
I'm searching for a face
Is anybody here I know?
'Cause nothing's going right
And everything's a mess
And no one likes to be alone

The day concludes with a visit from Amber.

Yes, Amber.

“How the did you manage to get out of the hospital?” I ask, staring at her in shock, she still looks pale and although her body is upright it doesn’t mean I don’t notice how wobbly she is.

“ that! Where’ Hyukjae!?”

“How, how did you know…”

“Kyuhyun told Vicky and she told me”

It’s only then that I notice Victoria and Hyoyeon behind her. Both of them are standing as close to the front door as possible, as if they couldn’t wait to leave. I wave politely at them, getting a return wave from Victoria and a friendly nod from Hyoyeon.

“Yesung. How are you?” Victoria finally moves away from the doorway. I see the exchanged looks that she and Hyoyeon send at each other but chose to ignore them in favor of giving her a hug. She smells very nice and I may have sniffed loudly because Amber is suddenly tugging me off of Victoria.

Where does this girl find her strength!?

“Ease up on my girl” is all she says. The next thing I know she has an arm wrapped around me, hugging me tighter than I had hugged Victoria.

Amber unwinds herself from around me, moving to stand near Victoria. “I’m sorry” she mutters, looking at the ceiling. Victoria nudges her side and Amber clears , “I’m sorry, for, for picking a fight with you and breaking into your room”

“You picked a fight with Yesung? Did he try to steal your pudding cup, you greedy ”

Amber launches pass me and if life was a cartoon there would be rainbows and hearts shooting out of her as she leaps onto Hyukjae, causing the man to tilt off balanced and send the both of them sprawling on the ground.

“Don’t you EVER…” I hear Amber beginning to threaten him just before she begins planting kisses on his face.

I turn to Victoria, “So you and Amber….”

“We’re not dating” she states matter-of-factly, but she has a fond gaze trained on the adorable duo.

“But you are friends, right?”

Victoria doesn’t have the chance to answer because Hyoyeon is calling her name. I realize that Amber has stopped her affectionate attack on Hyukjae, her eyes are now on Victoria’s retreating figure.

“Vicky?” she pouts.

Hyoyeon nods at me once more, and then turns to leave.

“I’ll see you guys at school” Victoria says, giving us all a wave. Her gaze lingers on Amber for a while but all she does is smile, leaving soon after.

Hyukjae makes a funny sound in the back of his throat, giving Amber a y look.

“Spill” he demands crossly.

Amber shrugs, “Nothing to spill. She was there at the hospital when I woke up…” the tomboy’s eyes get a little hazy and there’s a goofy smile forming on her lips as she loses herself in the memory.

Hyukjae scrunches up his face at Amber’s love stuck aura, he looks at me and I make a ‘gag me’ gesture.

“I leave you for one day and already you and Victoria shack up”

“Well I might have to stop hanging around you since you tend to me whenever I try to chat with Vicky”

“Girl, you need a to be ed”

“I have more that you and Yesung combined”

I gape at her,

“Oh please. If I wasn’t so sure you and Hyukjae slept together I would think you’ve never even seen a real ”

Amber gasps, hitting Hyukjae on the arm, “You told him we slept together.” She turns back to me, “It was ONE time. And he was at least good looking back then”

“Liar! You totally molested me in my sleep for your own selfish needs”

“You were begging for my ” she shoots back.

“God, will you stop already. You have no ” he turns to me, “She doesn’t have a , no matter how much she wants one”

As I listen to them banter again I realize just how much they belonged together, not necessarily in a relationship but as each other’s support.

I felt ten times worse for being the reason for Hyukjae getting taken away from her. If only…

“Aww, Hyukkie. He’s sulking” is all the warning I get before they tag team me with a double hug.

Hyukjae kisses me left cheek while Amber and nibbles on the other.

“Who’s up for a ? I almost got killed and now I’m all ”

I lean more on Hyukjae, trying to get away from her.

“Yesung doesn’t want any of what you have to offer” Hyukjae retorts, pulling me into a hug.

She begins to bump and grind on my . “That’s right Hyukjae, you hold him still while I get it in…”

“Yesung, what’s going on?”

Of course Jungsoo will pick this exact moment to wake up. Talk about catching your son in a compromising position.

I convince Jungsoo to let Hyukjae and Amber sleep over and he only agrees when I promised him I would leave the bedroom door open.

Hyukjae informs us of how he was able to break away from the Empire. He had had enough of their irrational treatment and had asked to be sent back. Of course they refused but Hyukjae had already had a back-up just in case. Through Yoochun’s two way water mirror, basically a cauldron of water that acted as a mirror so that you could see whomever you desire. Hyukjae had witnessed me and Amber’s discussion in my bedroom and after hearing my pleading to the Empire had been motivated even further to get back to Oakville.

His mentor, Yoochun, had aided him in descending from the Empire without raising the Pureblooded Guardians awareness. Yoochun was a mad scientist slash sorcerer and he provided Hyukjae with low key transportation device that would succeed in giving Hyukjae a one way ticket back to Oakville.

When he arrived back in Oakville late the previous night, his initial plan had been to go to my house but then he had sensed something wrong and quickly stuck to his instincts. This led him to Amber and he had been forced to use his powers to help, alerting the Empire of his deceit.

They had summoned him back forcefully and he had spent the early morning in a prison cell.

Yoochun had come to him, telling Hyukjae that if he really wanted to be with his friends once more that’d he have to give up his wings.

“My wings have been my biggest accomplishments, of course I refused at first, but, but then when I thought of you” he faces Amber, “All alone on the cold concrete street, I started wondering if the grim had come back, if you were alright and, I, I just needed to know but Yoochun didn’t have the water mirror with him, so all I could do was speculate and I became more paranoid as the seconds ticked by and, and then I just wanted to go home. Oakville is my home. I’ve only been living here a year now but it’s been more of a home to be than the Empire will probably ever be. And so, we a heavy heart, I sobbed because I would dearly miss Yoochun and my wings but I did it. I gave them up and was able to free fall from the Empire, landing in Oakville as a mortal. I was pretty banged up but Yoochun had shoved a couple of healing pills in my pocket before I gave up my wings so I just took them and waited for them to kick in, unfortunately they didn’t kick in whatsoever, so my walk to Yesung’s house turned into me falling unconscious in the wood”

By the end of the night there was still no sign of Top and I slept pretty ing good.

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