...I feel like I had something to say...hm...-shrug-

Kris seems to have a knack for getting caught in strangely ual situations with vampires...

“Leader Ga In.” The two vampires who brought you from the chamber with the device both knelt down ceremoniously before standing again.

Ga In looked very intrigued by your sudden appearance in the lair. “What’s this?” she breathed, her voice high and melodic.

TOP smirked. “The Chosen One decided to pay us a visit,” he answered.

“She wandered in like a mouse in a trap,” remarked the other.

Ga In chuckled in delight. Her eyes were alight with amusement as she gracefully strode up to you. She reached out a hand to lightly your hair, and you flinched away from it. “Where’s you protection, Chosen One?” she taunted you.

You wished you hadn’t decided to leave the talisman behind. You didn’t want Chanyeol to follow you before and stop you, but now you really wished he could find you. You hoped the others had gotten away and found help.

“What should we do with her?” TOP asked.

Ga In withdrew her hand, eyes darkening. “We need her blood for the ritual.”

“Without the Hunter’s talisman protecting her,” the other vampire said, “we can kill her and drain it tonight.”

Ga In’s eyes flashed and she glanced between the two vampires on either side of you. “And risk either one of you losing control at the scent of her blood and consuming her entirely? No.” She looked back at you, her gaze boring into yours intensely. “We’ll keep her alive until the eclipse. She no longer has the connection with the Hunter that would lead him here. Put her in a cell,” she said decisively, waving a hand and turning away.

The other two nodded and turned you away to leave the chamber.

“Oh, and TOP?” Ga In turned around to address the tall vampire.

“Yes, Leader Ga In,” he answered.

“I know it’s tempting,” she told him, “but try to control yourself. Her blood only works if it’s pure.”

He nodded stiffly and they began to lead you away from the throne.

But before you got very far, she called out again, “Max!”

The other vampire who had been holding you turned to her expectantly.

“Make sure he doesn’t lose control,” she ordered.

Max bowed to her and you were taken to a small holding cell, much like the one you and Donghae had been trapped in the last time you were here. You had expected they would leave you there alone, but instead the two vampires stayed inside the cell with you.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” you asked them, with just a hint of defiance in your voice.

TOP chuckled darkly. “We aren’t taking any chances this time,” he growled. “I’m not taking my eyes off of you until the eclipse.”

You pouted and sat on the ground with a sigh.

“Besides,” he continued lowly. “You smell far too delicious. I’d like to enjoy your sweet perfume before we have to kill you.”

Well, things just got a lot creepier for you. You tried to keep quiet then and ignore the two vampires.

“You’ve been with the Hunters,” Max said.

You kept ignoring him.

“How are they?” he asked you.

You scrunched up your eyebrows in confusion, but didn’t answer him. Why was he asking you this?

He chuckled. “I’ve been meaning to get back in touch with an old friend of mine,” he said.

You didn’t know what he was going on about, but just the tone he was using was enough to make you feel uneasy.

“But I don’t think he would be very happy to see me,” he sighed, just dramatically enough to seem like he was faking his sorrow. “Tell me, Chosen One,” Max addressed you again. “Does he still hold a grudge against me?”

You had no idea what he was talking about.

“Is he still obsessed with finding me and killing me with his own hands?” he asked, a sadistic grin spreading across his face. “Does he still writhe in his sleep, while his nightmares are plagued with that night?”

You suddenly turned to him, confused and somewhat annoyed. “Who are you even asking me about?” Honestly, how could he expect you to know when he only said he.

Max laughed darkly, his grin growing wider so that his sharp teeth were almost fully visible. “Tao,” he growled.

Your eyes widened. Could this be the vampire who killed Tao’s parents?

“Tell me,” he said, staring at you intently, his eyes burning with intensity.

“Tell you what?” you demanded.

“Tell me he’s still driven by the thought of revenge,” he said. “Tell me he still pushes himself to exhaustion when he trains. Tell me,” he leaned forward, “about the Hunter I created.”

“Enough of this,” TOP interrupted, and Max’s expression darkened. He glanced at the other vampire, who you noticed had pressed himself against the wall opposite you and was pointedly looking away.

Max’s eyebrows drew together at the sight of him. “TOP,” he warned. “Control yourself.”

TOP swallowed, visibly tense. He turned quickly, his eyes locking onto you, and you could see his pupils were heavily dilated. Max slowly stepped forward, trying to block you from his view, but TOP still kept his gaze fixed on you. “You want her too,” he said softly.

“But I have far more self control than you do,” Max responded.

“Can you smell it?” TOP nearly whispered. “The blood of the Chosen One, like sweet nectar. The fragrance is so strong, I can nearly…” He his lips sensually. “…taste it.”

He was on you in an instant, having bypassed Max and pinned you up against the brick wall, his teeth grazing the base of your throat. “Just a taste…” he growled.

Fire was the next thing you saw. A wall of fire before your eyes, the heat hitting your face. TOP tore himself away from you. When the blaze cleared away, you could see his singed face, contorted with fury as he stared at the source of the flame.

Chanyeol was standing there, furious and panting heavily, along with Kai, Tao and Kris.

Your heart leapt at the sight of them. You hoped this meant the others had gotten away safely and gone to the Hunters for help.

TOP bolted from the room. Chanyeol ran to follow, but Kai held him back.

“Let’s get Mary Sue out of here,” he said, and Chanyeol tore his eyes away from the direction TOP had run. He and Kai took hold of you and you felt that familiar rushing sensation as you teleported from the vampires’ lair.

Tao stood frozen, shocked and unmoving, watching as Kris fought with the vampire before him. He had recognized him immediately, from the moment they appeared in that room. For years, Tao had been searching for this vampire, imagined countless ways he would kill him when he finally found him. He fought him in his dreams every night, and prepared himself for it every day. But now that this vampire was finally before him, Tao found that he couldn’t move.

Even when Max had pinned Kris to the wall, Tao remained frozen. The feeling was all too familiar.

Max grinned at Tao as he held Kris in place. “You should probably hurry up and fight me,” he said. “He will be back with reinforcements.” He nodded his head toward the door, which the other vampire had escaped through.

Tao could only stare back at him.

“Or do you intend to make this a repeat of what happened that night?” the vampire growled.

Kris looked back and forth between the other two, confusion and a bit of fear in his eyes. “Tao,” he grunted, trying to get the other to snap out of this trance he seemed to be in.

“You couldn’t fight me then either,” Max continued, eyes boring into Tao’s. “You stood there and watched silently, paralyzed by fear, as I drank the life from your parents.” He smirked sadistically.

Tao felt his anger flare up inside him at the mention of his parents. He inhaled deeply, his eyes becoming daggers pointed in the direction of the vampire. “I will fight you,” he said with resolve. “But not tonight. Not now.”

The vampire laughed darkly. “And your friend here.” He turned his face toward Kris, and they were inches apart. “Do you intend to do nothing as I drink his blood too?” Max grazed his lips along Kris’s jaw, inhaling deeply as he did so.

Tao noticed Kris gulp in fear, but he still didn’t move. He knew Max couldn’t bite Kris as long as he wore his Dragon Talisman. Max was only doing this to get to Tao, to taunt him and get under his skin. He wanted a reaction.

Then, Max slid his tongue slowly up Kris’s neck, and finally Tao reacted. Without letting another second pass, he tore Kris from the vampire’s grasp too fast for either of them to react, and bolted from the cell and the lair altogether.

Tao had wanted so badly to fight Max then. After waiting so long to exact his revenge, it was just within his grasp. But he couldn’t fight him then. Not like that, not with Kris there. He would fight him alone. Another time.

Tao smirked. He had all the time in the world.

“What were you thinking?” Chanyeol demanded the moment you were safely in the Hunters’ headquarters.

“Better question,” Kai interrupted. “Where did those flames come from?”

Chanyeol shot a glare at Kai, who seemed extremely excited and amused as ever, before turning back to you.

“I gave you this to protect you,” he said firmly, holding up the Phoenix Talisman, which was now glowing a bright orange. “Why would you just leave it behind?”

You could only stare sheepishly at him.

“Dude, seriously?” Kai pressed. “Fire? So awesome! I can’t even—“

“And deliberately putting yourself in danger like that? Not only did you forget the talisman, but you just walked right into their lair? What possessed you—“

“And you just did it without even thinking about it!” Kai laughed, clapping a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Do you mind?” Chanyeol snapped.

“Fine.” Kai removed his hand from his shoulder. “But we will talk about this,” he said as he headed for the door. “You’re not off the hook yet!”

When you were alone, Chanyeol sighed and faced you again. He seemed to have calmed down a little now that Kai was out of the room.

“Why, Mary Sue?” he asked you, his voice much softer than before.

You just wanted to prove that you didn’t need him to constantly protect you. Well, you royally screwed that one up, didn’t you?

You sighed. “I found the device,” you said eventually.

Chanyeol looked a little taken aback. “You what?”

“The device,” you repeated. “The one they’re going to use for the eclipse. I found it.”

He blinked. Twice.

“Really?”

You nodded. “It’s this big… stone… thing,” you described, using your hands to illustrate. “And it’s got all these…symbols carved into it. It’s kinda round…”

“You shouldn’t have risked your life just to find the device,” Chanyeol sighed. “The information is valuable, but you’re far more so.”

You nodded, blushing. “I found out something else,” you said then, looking up into his wide, brown eyes.

He returned your gaze with a questioning look.

“I know what they need from me,” you elaborated. “To make the machine work, they need my blood. There’s something special about it, because they said that it’s…pure.”

Before you could say anything else, Chanyeol had pulled you into a tight hug. You were a little shocked by this, but you tentatively wrapped your arms around him.

“Just don’t put yourself in danger like that ever again,” he whispered into your hair. “If something ever happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”

You nodded, tears beginning to well up, and he released you. Then he hung his talisman around your neck, just as you were joined by Jonghyun, Key, and Amber, who had been led into the room by Kai.

As you hugged your friends and assured them you were okay, Kai raised his eyebrows at Chanyeol.

“Let’s talk about that power of yours,” he said.

You found Tao in the training room. Just where you thought he would be. He was panting heavily and drenched in sweat, even though he and Kris had gotten back just a few minutes ago. You sighed, still not really wanting to go through with this. He hadn’t noticed you yet, you could still turn back.

No, Mary Sue, let’s have a little maturity.

You walked directly up to Tao in the middle of the room and cleared your throat to get his attention. He immediately stopped what he was doing and looked up at you curiously.

“H-hi,” you said awkwardly. It was kind of weird talking to him after you’ve been avoiding him for so long.

He nodded at you. “Hi,” he said.

You smiled a little bit, hoping it would diffuse the tension between you two. He just continued to look at you though. Why can’t he smile back at you just this once?

“I wanted to apologize,” you finally said. You looked at him to gauge his reaction, but his expression didn’t change, so you continued. “For quitting on you and refusing to train. You were right. I wasn’t prepared to defend myself,” you said. “I’m still not.”

Tao considered your apology for a moment. He then nodded and said, “I’m sorry too.” He sighed and scratched his head. “I should have listened to you when you said the training wasn’t working for you. Sorry for pushing you like that.”

You smiled again, a bit more at ease. Maybe Tao wasn’t so bad. “Xiumin told me,” you said hesitantly. “A-about your parents.” You stood completely still for a moment, afraid that he might lash out at your for bringing up his past, which you probably weren’t even supposed to know about.

Instead, he sighed resignedly and sat down. You cautiously lowered yourself to sit beside him.

“I’ve been training for almost ten years,” he said. “Fighting vampires, perfecting my skills in combat, all so that when I face him, I can be prepared.” He turned to look at you. “I had the opportunity to fight him tonight. I could have killed him. But I didn’t.”

“Why not?” you asked.

He exhaled slowly. “I didn’t feel prepared enough,” he said softly. “Because you shouldn’t rush into something like that without being prepared.”

You bit your lip tentatively. “So what you’re saying is that it was stupid to go looking for the vampires’ lair?” you asked.

He nodded. “It was stupid.”

You pouted, a bit miffed that he just called you stupid. But then he did something you never expected him to. He smiled at you.

“I would have done the same thing,” he told you.

You couldn’t help but smile back. “You would?” Somehow, knowing this made you feel more of a kinship with Tao.

He nodded again. “But I wouldn’t have left my talisman behind,” he said. “That was stupid, Mary Sue.”

You chuckled at that, and he joined in, and you suddenly realized that that was the first time he had said your name without any kind of spite or irritation.

“This was still the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

You smiled up at Chanyeol and giggled. “Is this like the first year you’ve ever celebrated your birthday?”

He just gave one enthusiastic nod. “Yep.”

Your face fell at that, but he just grinned wider.

“See you tomorrow,” you said a little awkwardly, and started to turn back to your house to climb the vine to your bedroom.

“See you then,” he replied.

You wished you both could have said more. You felt like there were so many things left unsaid between you. You considered this for a moment as you held the talisman between your fingers. Then a thought occurred to you.

“How did you know I left it behind?” you asked, staring up at Chanyeol. He gave you a questioning look. “The talisman. I mean, I know the connection would have been cut off, but I left it in my room, and when you rescued me you had it.”

Chanyeol let out a short breath of a laugh. “I found it in your room. How else would I have had it?”

“But…” That didn’t really answer your question fully.

“I snuck into your room the same way you always do,” Chanyeol explained. “I just climbed the vine.” He grinned at you as if he hadn’t just admitted something strange.

“You…” You trailed off.

He laughed. “You really need a better security system, Mary Sue.”

You blinked at him.

“What?!”