Our friend told us that our description of the device the vampires are using for the eclipse was a little confusing. So we drew a picture of it to explain it better.

Hopefully this helps. :)

The wooden target completely incinerated and collapsed to the floor in a charred heap. Its attacker only giggled at the sight.

“You seem very cheerful today,” Baekhyun told Chanyeol, smirking. “Like, more than your usual cheerful self.”

Chanyeol shrugged, grinning widely. “’Tis the season,” he remarked as he threw another fireball at the line of targets.

Baekhyun pursed his lips. “You were thinking about Mary Sue, weren’t you?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chanyeol said innocently.

Baekhyun just raised his eyebrows at him in a don’t-play-dumb-with-me expression.

Chanyeol sighed. “Alright, I was thinking about her. But she’s the Chosen One,” he defended. “I should be thinking about her well being.”

“You were thinking about more than just her well being,” Baekhyun quipped.

They both snickered and Chanyeol shot down another target. Then Baekhyun’s face fell into a more serious expression.

“It’s dangerous, you know,” he said solemnly. “Getting involved like that.”

“Getting involved?” Chanyeol repeated. “We’re all sworn to protect her, I have to get involved.”

Baekhyun sighed pointedly. “You know what I mean. If you let your emotions get in the way—“

“I’m not going to,” Chanyeol interrupted.

“Then if we fail?” The question hung in the air for a moment. Chanyeol kept his eyes focused on the targets in front of him, and Baekhyun kept his own worried gaze on Chanyeol. “You would blame yourself. Wouldn’t you?”

Chanyeol’s jaw tensed, and he still refused to look at his friend. Baekhyun looked away, sighing.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt,” he murmured softly. “If we fail.”

Chanyeol swallowed. “Then we won’t fail.” He obliterated the remaining few targets with a final sweep of flames. Then he turned and strode away, leaving the other Hunter standing in a reverie.

Knock knock.

Tao looked up from the object in his hands to see Xiu Min standing in the doorway with a timid expression.

“Hey,” he said with a small smile.

Tao returned it. “Hi.”

Xiu Min took that as a welcome and came in to sit beside Tao on the bed. His eyes glanced over what Tao had been staring at—an old, folded picture of his parents and himself, soft and worn at the edges and the crease.

“How are you?” he asked quietly. He knew Tao had been training harder than ever after coming face to face with the vampire who had killed his parents for the first time since it had happened.

Tao smiled meekly. “Alright,” he answered.

Xiu Min nodded. “How has training Mary Sue been going?” he asked, mostly just to change the subject.

The other thought for a moment. “Better,” he said. “She’s been improving over the past week or so. A lot more willing, too, since she…” He trailed off briefly. “Since we apologized.” His eyebrows drew together as he stared back at the picture in his hands.

Xiu Min hesitated. “Sorry that I told her,” he mumbled apologetically. “It was probably really intrusive, I know, and inappropriate—“

“Thank you,” Tao said, smiling at him weakly but earnestly. Xiu Min relaxed at that. “I think I would have hated you for it before,” Tao admitted. “But…Mary Sue and I understand each other better now that she knows, so thank you.”

The other Hunter smiled. “Well, you also understand where she was coming from now that you have a grasp on your power,” he remarked.

Tao breathed out a short laugh. “It helps,” he concurred.

“And the apocalypse is just a couple weeks away,” Xiu Min added. “Looks like you got it just in time.”

He nudged him, and they both shared a smile.

“Lay? Can I ask you something?”

The healer glanced up briefly from the shopping list. “Sure, what’s up?”

Kris hesitated and sighed a little. “When you first got your powers,” he ventured, “what was it like?”

Lay laughed a little at the question. “What do you mean, what was it like?” he said.

“I mean, what happened?” Kris replied.

“Well,” Lay began matter-of-factly, perusing the produce. “When I was a kid, maybe fifteen, I was mugged by some idiot thugs and I took a knife to the gut. Stumbled around for a bit after that until I realized I felt fine, and looked down to find I wasn’t bleeding anymore. You couldn’t even tell I was stabbed.” He grabbed a ginger root and tossed it into the shopping basket.

Kris pondered the story a little before asking, “Did you feel anything?”

“You mean besides the immense pain of having a knife shoved into you?” Lay raised his eyebrows at the other. “What is this about?”

Kris looked down at the floor self-consciously. “I’m the only one left,” he mumbled lowly.

Lay considered him for a second. “Since when has this ever mattered?” he remarked. “You never cared this much about it before.”

The blond gulped. “Since the apocalypse was just a couple weeks away,” he said. “And everyone just started getting their powers recently. Sehun and Baekhyun both discovered theirs not very long ago,” Kris recounted. “Then Tao realized his own had also manifested, and now Chanyeol.” He looked at Lay, a bit worried and crestfallen. “I’m the only one of us who hasn’t unlocked it.”

“That’s not true,” Lay said, trying to console him a bit. “What about…?”

Kris shook his head. “I’m not so sure about him,” he answered. “He hasn’t ever talked about it.”

“Probably because he hasn’t discovered his either,” Lay said.

“I don’t know.” Kris shoved his hands in his pockets as Lay stopped to scrutinize a bundle of herbs. “He’s not really open about much. If he had it, do you think he would even tell us about it?”

Lay shrugged. When he noticed that Kris still seemed unsure and apprehensive he sighed. “Look, when I got my power, it was a life-or-death situation,” he explained. “In fact, a lot of us unlocked them at a moment when we really needed it.”

“So you’re saying I never needed it before?” Kris said, grumbling.

“All I’m saying is when you do discover your power,” Lay said, grinning reassuringly, “it’ll be just in time.”

Kris rolled his eyes, but he smiled a little as Lay turned and continued down the aisle.

“How can you read that?” Sehun muttered, partly in distaste and partly in admiration.

“Huh?” Luhan looked up from the old text. “Oh, I learned it when I was younger,” he said a bit absent-mindedly.

“Really?” Sehun peered over his shoulder at the words that made no sense to him. “Where?”

Luhan chuckled softly. “I had a teacher.”

The younger nodded in comprehension and sat on the arm of the chair, hovering over the other. It was silent for a moment as Luhan scanned the text.

“Can you teach me something?” Sehun asked, breaking the silence again.

Luhan smiled. “What do you want to know?”

The other shrugged. “I don’t care, anything.” He looked at Luhan. “Something pretty.”

“Alright.” The older thought for a few seconds and smiled up at Sehun again. “Mi amice te amo,” he recited.

“Mi amice…” Sehun repeated, experimentally shaping his mouth to the foreign words.

“Te amo,” Luhan finished for him.

“Mi amice te amo,” Sehun said. He thought it sounded much better when Luhan said it. Like music. “What does that mean?” he asked eagerly.

Luhan’s eyes sparkled as he smiled at Sehun. “It means,” he answered, “’I—‘”

He was cut off by the sudden appearance of black smoke, which brought with it a noisy Kai, intruding on his and Sehun’s conversation.

“How’s the research coming?” he asked. “Do you know anything about the ritual yet? How they’re going to use Mary Sue’s blood?” He picked up a spherical object from a nearby desk and started tossing it up and down and glanced at Luhan and Sehun, who were both staring at him pointedly. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “Were you two having a moment? Should I leave?”

Sehun huffed and rolled his eyes, and Luhan just turned his attention back to the tome he was reading.

“I haven’t found anything that could help us yet,” Luhan said. “So far, it’s just been about the conditions needed for the device to work and a little bit about the prophecy. Nothing we don’t yet already know.”

Luhan turned his eyes back to the book and became silent after that.

Kai tossed the object up and down looking contemplative. “So I was thinking,” he trailed. “Do you guys wonder what Kris’s power will be?”

“I don’t think it’s for us to speculate about,” Sehun replied, eyeing Kai carefully to make sure he didn’t break anything valuable.

Kai laughed airily through his teeth. “Aren’t you at least curious about it? I bet it’s something really cool. I mean, his talisman is a dragon, so it’s gotta be awesome.” He glanced at Sehun, who wasn’t trying to hide his annoyance. “At least, you know,” he shrugged a shoulder in his direction. “More powerful than a breeze.”

Sehun sent a sharp gust of wind toward Kai, effectively knocking the object out of his hands and onto the floor. Kai gave him a look that was a mixture of incredulousness and amusement. He was always so ing amused.

Sehun had expected Luhan to scold him for that, but he seemed too engrossed in his reading at the moment, his eyes darting quickly across the pages.

Kai smirked at Sehun. “Careful there,” he said. “Wouldn’t want you messing up my hair.”

Sehun huffed.

“But it’s not my hair you want to mess up, is it?” Kai winked suggestively.

“I could kill you right now if I wanted to,” Sehun spat.

“Woah, isn’t that a bit much?” Kai retorted. “I mean, maybe if you could shoot flames like Chanyeol, or electrocute me like Chen. Hell, even Xiumin could freeze me to death. But wind?” He cocked his head to the side. “That’s kind of an empty threat.”

Sehun was about to retort, when Kai cut him off.

“What’s Luhan’s power?” His eyes, full of taunting excitement, focused on Luhan, who was still ignoring the argument going on around him. “He’s always been so mysterious about it,” Kai said. “But I know he has it.”

“That’s not any of your business,” Sehun spat defensively.

“Ooh-hoo, sensitive,” Kai taunted. “You know, when it comes to Luhan, you’re a bit…” He raised his eyebrows challengingly. “Touchy.”

Sehun narrowed his eyes at the other, who smirked and his lips back.

“What were you guys doing before I came in here, huh?” he asked, glancing back and forth between the two.

“Guys, shut up,” Luhan ordered, effectively ending the argument. “I’ve found something.”

Kai and Sehun looked at each other, reflecting each other’s curious and slightly concerned looks.

“What is it?” Sehun asked.

“It’s the ritual,” Luhan answered. “For it to work, they need Mary Sue’s blood,” he stated. “All of it.” He stared up at the other two. “If they get her in time for the eclipse,” he began. “They’re going to kill her during the ritual.”

The other two stared back at Luhan, mirroring each other’s shocked expressions.

“What?!”