When the coven met again that night at the Voltera, the Lord was seething.

“We still have not discovered the powers of the Legend. What has taken so long? Must one of us be destroyed by their power before we strike?”

No one dared answer her.

“Their powers,” she repeated. “We must find a way to leech them, invert them, weaken them.” Her voice rose to a thundering roar. “You have all failed! And for failure, there is a price!”

She waved her hands over the crowd. Each coven member doubled over. They moaned and writhed in pain. After a few moments the Lord gestured again. The wailing ceased.

“We cannot afford failure,” the Lord whispered. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Lord,” the group chanted.

“Very well then.” The Lord turned her attention and asked the coven. “Where is the men that we’ve send tonight? Are they here?”

One of the coven stepped forward, “They’ve been killed, my Lord.”

Now only silence lingered in the air. It was unexpected outcomes that supposed to be heard by the Lord. She was totally lost for words. The plan was getting out of the way.

The soft click of the shoe hitting the marble floor echoed the Voltera as the Lord walked toward the member. “What do you mean that they’ve been killed?”

“There was a young woman around 20s entered the house while they were looking for The Thorn of the Black Rose and killed them with a weapon. Some kind of scimitar or–”

“What did you say?” the leader interrupted. “Scimitar?”

“Yes, my Lord.” The member bowed his head.

 “Are you sure she used scimitar?” the Lord asked.

The member nodded his head.

This is getting interesting, she thought. So the rumours is true. There is Yoo family survived in the attack of the Hall of Guardian. I thought that I’ve killed the entire generation of the prestigious Guardian family.

As much as she remembered, only the Yoo family used scimitar as their weapon to defend their Master. However, the Lord was so sure that she killed the youngest daughter of Yoo family at the cliff soon after her coven killed Jung Nam. It was undeniable that Mina does resembled the late Master, however, it did not mean that she was the one that the Lord looking for.

Or maybe Mina was the one that the Lord looking for.

If not then why was she there to protect Mina?

Early assumption or suspicious was very dangerous especially for unclarified information. After the last incident that sacrificed their own member, she realized that even she herself as the leader of the Vampires should took more precaution actions to make the next move or else more and more members will be killed because of her arrogant actions. She knew she need more members for the hunt of the Legend this time and not by declining their number.

The Lord pulled an object from beneath her robe. A red satin ribbon with a knot tied in the middle. “We will call on the power of our members to aid us, but everyone’s continued diligence is crucial to the mission.” She paused. “Step forward, our respectable masquerade.”

The black wavy hair woman, covering herself with a long, hooded black robe over her lean, wearing a skirt made of coloured scarves sewn together in a patchwork pattern moved toward the altar.

She was none other than woman that disguised herself into the tarot reader that met Mina, Sana and Dahyun at Ilsan Lake Park.

“Tell me, my chosen member, what is your discovery for finding the Master?”

“I’ve found another two Masters at the park.”

“Sounds interesting.” The Lord paused. “So there are Masters lingering around the area. Do you remember their face?”

The masquerade shook her head. “But I can assure you that they are living nearby the park,” she answered. “And one of them spoke with a Japanese accent.”

“There’s hope for us yet,” the Lord declared.

“But Lord,” the masquerade paused for a while before continued. “Why don’t you let your granddaughter to handle the girl? Does she knows about your plan?”

“Who?” the Lord asked. “You mean Chaeyoung?”

The masquerade nodded with no confidence without looking at the Lord’s eyes. Based on her position, she did not have any right to question the plan of their highest Lord. However, contrary with their expectation, the Lord laughed dryly.

“We haven't so sure whether Mina is the Master or not. Besides, there’s no need for Chaeyoung to know this. She’s too naive for this plan. She won’t agree if I ask for her help either,” she paused and burnt the silk ribbon in the crucible before continued. “However, when the person or the time is right I’m going to make Mina fall in love with Chaeyoung and take her heart. And then I’m the one who’ll going to destroy her.”

The stark smell of bleach was overwhelming. Mina scrunched her eyes at the bright light that was sipping through her closed eyelids. She felt powerless and heavy. She could not move her hand, her head or her body.

She slowly started blinking, desperately trying to open her eyes and see what was around her.

Where am I?

As blinding light slowly subsided she could take a look around her surroundings. Mina was at the hospital.

The room was pristine clean and gloomy. Typical hospital bed, IV and monitors beeping. The walls were a soft blue colour and the linens were whitish. The place looked nothing like a room where a patient should be monitored to get better. A room of high chance a patient could be discharged in any soon depends on her recovery speed.

She could not remember how she got here but she knew for sure that someone sent her here.

“You’re finally wake up,” a recognized voice immediately caught Mina’s attention. Slowly she blinked her eyes twice with the hope that her vision became clearer.

“Where am I? How do I get here? I– Ahh!” Harsh pain struck her temple as she tried to lift up from the bed.

“Hey, take it easy,” Chaeyoung immediately caught her just in case she lose her balance. “You’re in the hospital right now. You were unconscious when you’ve been sent here last night.”

“I’ve been sent? What do you mean?” with full of curiosity Mina stared at Chaeyoung. As far as she remember, she was not in the hospital last night.

She was at home. Her home.

She was with Jeongyeon.

“I asked the nurse who was in charge last night. Someone sent you here. She claimed that she found you unconscious when you were discovered last night,” Chaeyoung explained.

She? Mina thought. She must be Jeongyeon.

Chaeyoung pulled the visitor chair nearby and settled down. Gently Chaeyoung caressed Mina’s hand and grabbed her every single finger. “Mina,” she stared right through Mina’s eyes. “What happened last night? How do you end up here in the hospital?”

“I–” Mina was in dilemma to tell Chaeyoung. How will Mina going to explain? There was two men intruded her house and she got slammed on her face. Jeongyeon appeared from nowhere and fight with the men. Her weapon appeared from her jacket and slashed them into half.

What if Chaeyoung asked who Jeongyeon is or where does the men go? How she wanted to explain that the men were Vampires and Jeongyeon blew them into ashes last night?

She’ll thought I’ve been hallucinated by the drugs, Mina thought. She won’t believe me anyway if I told her.

Mina tried to dig out any logical excuses that sound acceptable if she told Chaeyoung.

Because of her chaos thought, the pain in her temples again, leaving Mina in great pain. She squinted her eyes and rubbed her temples with the hope that the pain will go away. Chaeyoung immediately her panic button as she saw the girl in front of her left out almost whispering yelp of ache. She immediately stood up and was about to call for help from the hospital staff but stopped as Mina grabbed her hand.

“It’s okay, Chaeyoung.” Mina stared her with her glassy eyes. “I’m okay. It’s just a sharp pain but it’s fading away.”

“Are you sure?” Chaeyoung asked. “Maybe I should call for doctor for further examination.”

Mina refused her suggestions, stating that it was only a mere sting. However, after Chaeyoung confronted and pleaded her, finally Mina changed her mind and allowed the doctor to come.

Chaeyoung did not take minutes to return back with another person followed her behind.

So this was the doctor, Mina assumed.

The doctor entered in white coat, his black hair cut clean with the length shorter than his point finger. He was biracial looking – more towards Caucasian genes with a little bit aura of Korean – with large brown eyes, neatly lined in black. He had the lithe movement of an athlete and the easy smile of one visiting a dear friend. Mina sat up a little higher as requested by the doctor to get a better look.

“I’m going to check your eyes, Mina-ssi.” He spoke with an American accent and took out a flashlight from his coat. Mina nodded and sat still like a chair, waiting for the expected action from the man. The doctor put a shine of light into her eyes, automatically constricting the muscles of her eyes. He did not take a long time to examine before he shifted and flashed to the other side of her eyes. Right before Mina getting used to the light, the doctor switched off the light and put it back into his pocket.

“Do you feel any pain around your head, Mina-ssi?” the doctor asked as he took out the chart right below Mina’s white stainless steel hospital bed.

“Just now,” Mina responded. “But it only at this side of my temples,” she said, pointing her throbbing temples with her finger.

“I see,” the doctor scrabbled the chart before put it back to its origin position. “You should be alright, Mina-ssi. The pain comes back because you move or think too much. You should take a deep rest. If there is no other symptom appears, you can discharge soon after I fill in the form.”

“Glad to hear that. Thank you, doctor.” Chaeyoung turned her body and faced Mina before she tailed the doctor from behind. “I’ll follow him. Are you okay if I leave you here alone?”

Mina replied with slight nod and smiled. “I’m okay. Go on,” she gestured her hand and shooed Chaeyoung.

It was the great news that Mina hoped for. She could not imagine to stay for a night or two in the hospital. Chaeyoung supposed to be with Grandma Son at the countryside in the hour like this until the end of summer.

Mina was confused. How did she end up in the hospital? Why Chaeyoung knew about her location but not herself?

Why didn’t I alert that I was admitted in the hospital last night?

While waiting for Chaeyoung, Mina lie in the curtained cubical examining the polystyrene tiled ceiling. There was nothing else to look at. She could hear moans from an adjacent bed and that at least made her glad for the curtains, it meant she didn't have to engage with whoever it was, to show any sympathy she didn't felt.

It did not meant that she did not kept any empathy to the patient, however, she was struggling to understand the reason why Jeon