"Remember. Whatever happens, don't offend him." Youngbae managed to whisper in Candy's ear before they found themselves face to face with him again. Maybe Jiyong would be true to his words and give her a chance, he hoped. What else could he hold on to at this point?

"Step away from her, hyung." He heard and reluctantly did as he was told, leaving her alone facing his vampire friend.

As soon as she saw him –alone this time, his slaves watching the scene from behind his armchair, leaning on it like ornaments-, Candy had to fight the urge to punch the sick grin off his vile face.

"I must admit," the vampire started, eyeing her from top to bottom "of all the bratty scum hyung could have brought here, I was expecting worse. Now I wonder how you'd look dressed like an actual girl."

Neither Youngbae nor Candy flinched at the taunt as the demons and the wolf giggled like it was the best joke in the world, the succubus showing off their generous curves as they moved around their master while scanning the mortal girl's silhouette with a content smirk.

"I suppose by now, you know everyone's true identity here. Youngbae told me we could trust you with that. But I told him I never trusted anyone. And there's no way I could trust a human who knows I'm a vampire. So it's up to you now to convince me why I should let you go with my secret."

As he rested his chin on the back of his fingers, now waiting, the room became dead silent. Although it was now Candy's turn to talk, she didn't say a word, her eyes locked on Jiyong's.

"Ca-"

"Don't help her." He cut Youngbae's attempt off dryly. "Let her talk."

The older vampire gulped, mentally begging his girlfriend –surely paralyzed by fear- to say something, anything, to defend herself. Still, not a sound escaped her lips as they remained sealed. Jiyong sighed, slightly irritated.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Her name's Candy." His friend answered after another silent which made Jiyong glare at him.

"I told you to shut up!"

At these words, Seungri gladly bit the vampire's throat so hard the latter gasped, paralyzed and breathless.

"Candy, could a take a step forward for me?" the younger asked and the human did as she was told like a lifeless doll, the circle of empty space surrounding them both getting larger as the succubus left their master's side as well. "Listen." He started in a gentler tone. "I know this is scary for you. But you got to at least try. Unless—" he said and narrowed his eyes, staring at her fearless ones. "Maybe when you heard of me, you thought I would get you what your boyfriend refuses to give you. Immortality, power, eternal youth..." he said, presenting his own handsome face, his sharp fangs pointing out. "Is that what you came for? To join us?"

Again, the Candy girl didn't answer. Running out of patience, he abruptly grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. From his corner of his eyes, Jiyong watched Youngbae who had flinched but then remained where he was, powerless.

"Don't push your luck, little girl." He told her in a low, menacing tone, holding her so tight her arm could break any minute. "I may be a man of patience but one thing your retarded brain should be able to process is that when you're stuck in a room full of monsters, the least you can do is answer what you're asked."

"What did you do as a human?"

At the sound of her voice, which they heard for the first time, the monsters went quiet.

"Of all the lies you told everyone, what did you do" she repeated, "what did you really do before Youngbae saved you?"

With a wry smile, Jiyong let go of her hand and crossed his legs, relaxed again.

"So you're curious about it too now, huh? Everyone is. Well, basically, of all the things you might have heard about me tonight... Everything is true. I am the worst monster you could have ever met at this party tonight."

"I don't believe you." Candy said and crossed her arms defiantly under the cape she was wearing. "People say you change your story all the time. Like the scar for example," she said pointing at the dark line next to his right eye. "Anybody can get a scar and say what they want about how they got it. So maybe everything is true. Or maybe nothing is true and you made it all up to make everyone think you're hot stuff when really, you're just a lucky bastard with no balls." 

At these words, everyone, including the succubus, shivered. However, Jiyong's smirk grew wider as he stood up for the first time since the conversation began and walked closer to Candy and forcefully raised her chin with one hand to make her look him in the eyes.

"You will believe me when I tell you about the last time such pretty eyes looked at me this way. You're gonna love it. It's also about how I got that scar." He said very closed to her lips.

With these words, he let go of her and snapped his fingers to call one of his s as she gladly stepped forward, ready to play the little story.

"We were the same age at that time. Little thought she was too hot for creepers like me," he narrated and the demon happily shook her hips, walking around and ignoring her beloved master as he turned around, forming a circle around her. "So I decided to give her a lesson. Once upon a time, there was a sweet little family with mommy, daddy, little girl and their doggy." He went on and the demon played all the characters one by one as the audience chuckled. "They had a cute tidy house. And you could tell by the smiles on their portraits how far away and safe from this rotten hell that is reality they had raised their child. It was perfect. Someone needed to wake them up. That someone was me."

As the demon kept enjoying playing humans, looking so happy and ingenuous she was almost credible, the vampire went closer to Candy and kept his eyes locked on her as he continued:

"It wasn't hard to get rid of the dog. Little fluffy was soaked in his own blood before his first bark. I hung him from his leash to the ceiling like a lampoon. When I was in, I found those fat- parents snoring in front of the TV. Typical. I knew I had to get rid of the dad first. So I shot him in the head with just one bullet. It woke up the mother who screamed when she saw my mask."

At these words, the devil female screamed and ran off towards the bedroom door. Seungri took over to play Jiyong's part.

"She ran away and tried to escape through the kitchen door. She didn't know I had locked every exit. She was a fighter, so it was a little hard to bring her by the hair back to the living-room." He described and Youngbae and Candy watched as the female struggled between Seungri's hands as he brought her back to the center of the room. "I had to beat some sense into her." The other demons laughed when their actress hissed at Seungri and the teenager stepped back in fear, deciding to skip that part of the script. "In the end, she let me tie her up and wait patiently on the couch next to her husband. She looked so attractive, shaking and crying through her gag," he said and took out a small dagger shaped like a crucifix for only Candy to see, which was Seungri's cue to clear the stage "I stabbed her times and times again but made sure she stayed alive until I bring her daughter."

At that part, he turned around and slowly walked towards his female partner who remained quiet and waiting, her own tail wrapped around her hands for the play, until Jiyong took her by the throat and jabbed the silver dagger in her glowing flesh, making her yell in genuine pain so loudly and inhumanely, Candy covered her ears with the collar of the cape as Youngbae just turned his head away in disgust. When Jiyong was done, the demon could barely move, sobbing quietly, dust and ashes leaking from her wounds as he turned to Candy again.

"Then I went upstairs. She was sleeping like an angel. Her room was so cute, with all her medals, her diplomas... She played the piano and won a riding competition last summer. Lots of friends in her school, and good grades too. And the collage she did of her and her best friend when they were eight and ended up with pink glitter everywhere on their faces. So adorable. Her name was Julia." He said, savoring her name like a piece of candy as he watched the girl's reactions. Truly, you could tell he was having a blast, reliving it all.

As Seungri went back to his master's victim, the wounded succubus shook her head violently, unwilling to play anymore. This excited the teenager even more as he did as he was told:

"I put a hand on Julia's mouth and pulled her from her bed and to the living-room so she could see for herself what I had done to her parents. She was a pretty girl. And oh, the yelling, the spasms, the ugly sobs when she realized it wasn't a dream, that I had awoken her from the dream she had been put in ever since she was born." As Seungri's claws dug into the demon's wounds to make her squeal, he looked around, searching for applause, his eyes glowing with delight. "It was like watching someone's birth. In fact, I was so I couldn't wait anymore and pulled up her white gown to make sure the mother could see everything. I pushed her on the couch and made them look at each other as I took the girl from behind." Now face to face with another succubus, both demons cried in each other's face as they knew if they tried to help each other, it would be the end of them both. "That was the family portrait I had been looking for. Daddy dead, mommy dying and the daughter watching their agony as I her to oblivion. When the mom finally died, I turned the girl around. She ripped my mask off but it didn't matter anymore." He said, pointing at the scratch mark Candy had asked about. "I took my big knife and stabbed her right in the chest."

This time, as both Seungri and the demon were tightly entwined, standing behind his protégé, Jiyong held his slender hand and fingers straight as an arrow before he plunged them sharply through Seungri's and the demon's chests, pulling out an ashy heart that kept beating until he crushed it in his fist. With a last sigh, the succubus expired and dissolved in a cloud of ashes as Seungri kept gasping for breath, covering the gigantic hole in his ribcage with his paws.

"Too bad I was too young and frenzied to think of a good catchphrase back then. So I just looked in her eyes." He said and wrapped an arm around the younger's waist, his other hand supporting his head, still steaming from his hot blood. "Throughout the night, she had been scared, hurt, defenseless, begging for mercy. The last expression on her face was sheer pain. But her eyes—" he whispered. "they were more eloquent than me. They said: 'I'm not going quietly into the night. I'm taking you with me.' So I finally said: "Good night, sweet princess.""

He finally let go of Seungri who collapsed, panting and laughing from the shock as the wound on his torso started to close up already. Jiyong did a final bow to his audience who cheered at him, terrified and proud of their so young yet so cruel master.

"Any other question, my lady?" Jiyong asked coldly as Seungri and the others hurriedly cleaned the blood and ashes at his feet.

"Yes. Are you sorry for what you did?"

"Candy, please. Please, stop." Youngbae begged and took her by the hand. "Let us go, Jiyong. She got the point. Let her go!"

"Why? She asked a question. You want to know if I feel bad for what I did?" he asked, tilting his head as if he was trying to be sure. "For doing what I want? For teaching what the world above us has taught me? For eating instead of letting it eat me? The hell I'm sorry for that. If I were to do this again, I would do it. And I would take you with me, Miss Smart mouth." He said as he rubbed her cheek with his hand covered in Seungri's and the demon's blood.

"Good. Because then I don't have to be sorry either for what I'm about to do."

As Jiyong frowned in confusion, the door suddenly opened and Daesung burst in with wide crazy eyes.

"Guys! The crypt is on fire! We gotta get out!"

"How's that possible?" Youngbae asked. "We made sure to keep the torches outside!"

"The torches--" Daesung answered and hesitated as if he couldn't believe his own words. "They are moving by themselves. They are coming for you, Jiyong! They are screaming your name!"

He then hurriedly went outside to join the others. However, before any of the monsters in the room could move, a curtain of bright fire blocked their only way out as smoke quickly filled the room and the flames started the walls, making the demons whale in despair. Youngbae rushed towards the human, covering with his hands. However, she nonchalantly pushed them away, to his surprise. All eyes Jiyong who just stood there and stared at the human girl, whose eyes –he noticed- had just changed color.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

Candy smiled as she pulled Youngbae's hand, bringing him closer to him.

"Justice."

With this last word, she took the black cape wrapped around her shoulders and covered herself and Youngbae as the fire filled the rooms with, it seems, human voices screaming in pain and anger.

The light and the heat were so strong Jiyong couldn't distinguish any of the silhouettes around him. Now completely alone, he turned around and watched his throne burn. Fine, he would die standing. Living a life of rage and destruction, it suited him to end up consumed in the belly of a dragon. He chuckled for himself. A dragon, just like his name. He was born under the sign of the dragon, too. It was just perfect. As the flames started eating away his flesh, he thought he saw something approaching him through the inferno. It was white and graceful, like a swan, with a red spot in the middle. Suddenly, he felt a sharp sting in his heart and the pain in his whole body, waking up from the curse, became unbearable. It was the girl, the human girl, now just in her white stained shirt. As the spirit planted the stake deeper and deeper in his heart, her blood red eyes kept staring calmly at his and then whispered softly:

"Party's over."

He looked at the fair maid as she patiently waited for him to expire. When he realized it was finally going to be over and she gave him the gift of freeing his soul for good, although the pain was now driving him mad and he couldn't stop yelling, a strange peace was now overwhelming him. In the last seconds of his existence, for the first and last time, gratitude had made him fall in love.