Wow got it up a lot sooner than expected.

That sounded dirty didn't it. Damn this story.

It was like the world had stopped spinning.

Chanyeol couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Mary Sue strapped to the top of that device. He watched in horror as the same thought passed through his mind over and over again.

He had failed.

And now the girl he had sworn to protect was bleeding and lifeless, hanging limp against the ancient stone slabs, and battles between Hunters and vampires had already begun to spread out on the surface. But, as if he was wearing blinders, Chanyeol could only focus on Mary Sue.

He stumbled over to her before he was aware that he was moving. He didn’t dare move her from the slab, but he did cradle her head, her chestnut auburn ebony blonde hair cascading all around it.

Chanyeol felt a hand grip his shoulder. “Come on,” said Baekhyun’s gentle voice as Lay came up on the other side of Mary Sue.

“You have to heal her,” Chanyeol pled through gritted teeth.

“I can’t,” Lay said remorsefully. “I can’t bring her back to life.”

“You have to!”

“Chanyeol.”

He broke down into sobs, unable to see straight anymore. Baekhyun and Lay could only look sadly upon the scene, completely at a loss for what to do.

“Don’t cry,” he heard someone say. Ga In stepped toward them, her dark eyes locked onto Chanyeol. “It doesn’t suit you. Dry your eyes,” she said sweetly.

Chanyeol glared at her, his hatred for her suddenly tangible and thick. This was the vampire who ultimately dealt the killing blow, who performed the ritual and made the sacrifice and took Mary Sue’s life from her.

Ga In stopped her predatory pacing. “Oh, I see,” she mused, her eyes alight with realization. “This is much more than mourning lost hope.” She smiled, her teeth and eyes glimmering in the red light. “This Hunter has allowed himself to become overly attached to the Chosen One. What a dangerous affair.”

“You will pay for this,” he growled. “What she felt, you will feel a thousand times worse.”

She looked amused. “Will you be the one to do it?” she asked him. “Will you seek vengeance for your…little lamb?”

He glared at her darkly. “I won’t be satisfied until you’ve suffered the pains of Hell.”

The vampire took a step back. She was still smiling, and it made Chanyeol’s blood boil. “Best hurry,” she said. “The prophecy is already in motion. Our plans have begun. If you want to kill me,” her eyes flashed, “it’ll have to be tonight. Because after tonight, you won’t be the Hunters anymore. You and your kind will all be hunted.”

With a final twitch of her lips, she took off in the direction of a wide expanse of field, leaving the three Hunters gazing after her.

With a twinge of resolve, Chanyeol stood.

“Where are you going?” Lay demanded.

“What do you think?” Chanyeol answered, removing his talisman from around his neck. “I’m going after her.” He placed it over Mary Sue reverently.

“What, are you crazy?”

“Make sure nothing happens to her,” he ordered, and set off in the same direction Ga In had disappeared in.

The other two Hunters gaped at him in disbelief. They knew they couldn’t hold him back. He had already made up his mind and it wouldn’t be changed.

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun called.

The fire-wielder turned back to face him. Baekhyun’s expression was full of barely concealed emotions. He was trying to hide them, but Chanyeol could see right through him. He tried to give him a confident smile.

“Come back,” Baekhyun said. His jaw quivered slightly. “Alive.”

Chanyeol nodded and turned away from him. He took off sprinting toward the field, his heart pumping and adrenaline rushing, high on bloodlust and driven by vengeance. Ga In would find out just how wrathful he was.

Amber gazed out at the grand expanse before her, watching as vampires crawled across the surface and their comparatively meek group of Hunters fought against them. After the eclipse had happened, and the ritual had halted it in its tracks, chaos broke out all around them, and Amber knew she had to find high ground if she was going to be of any use. So she climbed to the top of a hill and kept her eyes on the look out for any vampires who looked especially threatening to her allies.

From her viewpoint, she could see most of what was happening. She had seen Chanyeol darting off toward a field to the west; to the north, a storm was rapidly forming, but she was clueless as to where it had come from; and she saw the device clearly, with Mary Sue lying atop it, a stark contrast of white and red, and Baekhyun, Lay, and Xiumin all in the fray around it, trying to fend off the vampires who could no longer resist the fragrance of the Chosen One’s blood.

She drew an arrow back in her bow and followed a particular vampire with it, tense and still, her breath manifesting in fog before her face. The second she saw it lunge toward Xiumin, she let the arrow fly, and it struck the vampire in the heart. The vampire turned to dust, and Xiumin noticed her and gave her a nod of gratitude.

She continued like this, focusing on those vampires who were clambering toward Mary Sue. She wouldn’t let them devour her friend’s body. She wouldn’t allow them the pleasure.

“Well,” cooed a dark voice behind her. She felt a shiver run down her spine, and she knew it wasn’t from the winter air. “What have we here?”

She slowly turned herself and met the gaze of one vampire she recognized too well. “Se7en,” she whispered, his name becoming a tangible fog as she uttered it.

“You remember me,” he sighed. “I’m so glad, my lovely flower.” He grinned, and his expression appeared oddly genuine, but Amber only felt chills from it. “Because I just couldn’t forget you,” he growled.

In one quick motion, Amber shot an arrow at the predator, but he evaded it completely. He was immediately in front of her in the next moment. Se7en tore the bow from her grasp and threw it away in the snow.

“You have no idea how happy I am,” he lulled, her cheek with the back of his hand. “That there is nothing in the way of me enjoying your sweet nectar, my beautiful flower.”

Amber’s breath hitched, and she suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable. In a last ditch effort, she whipped a blade from some hidden sheath somewhere and attacked the vampire. He drew back in response, suddenly looking very displeased.

“This isn’t how a lady should be acting, now is it?” he scorned.

Amber scoffed at him. “I’m no lady,” she retorted.

His expression darkened. “Very well then,” he growled. “I won’t hold back.”

Amber readied her stance, as the vampire prepared himself to pounce. Her heart was thundering out of her chest, but she wasn’t about to just give herself up. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Kris felt nothing but the rush of freezing air past his face as he plunged downward. He hadn’t been thinking at all when he’d done it. All he knew at that moment was watching as Tao tumbled over the edge in the arms of that vampire, and without hesitation, Kris dove after him. He didn’t have any plans, his mind was completely blank except for one thing: he needed to get to Tao.

Tao was within his reach now, and Kris willed himself to fall faster. He reached his hands out and grasped the other Hunter’s shirt, pulling their bodies together. As soon as he had a grip on the other, Kris zoomed toward the horizon, and suddenly he realized they weren’t hurdling to the ground any more. Instead, they were travelling parallel to it.

Regaining his composure—or about as much of it as he could at the moment, because he pretty much almost died—Kris eased them upward again and hovered above the edge of the drop-off they had just fallen from.

Tao had his arms wrapped around Kris’s neck, and he was staring incredulously into the face of the other, as if he was still trying to wrap his mind around what just happened.

“You,” he breathed. “You’re flying.”

Kris gazed at Tao’s shocked expression. “Yeah,” he laughed nervously, still trying to grasp the situation himself.

“I can’t believe…” Tao fumbled for words.

“Me either,” Kris replied. “I’m just as surprised as you are right now.”

He watched Tao’s expression change, as he slowly comprehended the meaning of that statement. “What? You mean you didn’t know when you jumped off the cliff?!” Tao yelled. “What was your plan? To die in each other’s arms? You could have gone and helped the others! You shouldn’t have—“

Kris only tightened his arms around the other’s waist, quelling the yelling. Tao blinked away, averting his gaze suddenly, but unable to escape Kris’s grasp on him, because they were still floating in midair. Realizing this, Kris lowered them to the ground.

He cleared his throat and stepped back from the time controller. “You’re right, we should…” He pointed a thumb in the other direction. “We should go help.”

The two Hunters ran to join the fray.

Dark clouds churned above them, crackling with electricity, and freezing wind and rain whipped around them as Sehun, Suho and Chen threw everything they had at the six vampires they were fighting. They were all soaked and panting, but they fought on. Even if it meant pushing themselves until they dropped from the exhaustion, they wouldn’t stop until every vampire was dead. They weren’t about the let the vampire apocalypse actually threaten their precious world.

Suho lashed a sharp whip of water that struck Rain clear across the face, forcing his head to turn. He slowly faced the Hunter, snarling angrily.

“What’s wrong, Rain?” Suho taunted. “I thought this was your element. You don’t mind getting a little wet, do you?”

The vampire merely growled in response and lunged for him, and the two rolled around grappling on the ground. Suho kicked Rain off of him and recovered, sending another wave of water at another of Rain’s allies as he rushed toward him.

Sehun was alternating between shooting slicing gusts of wind and hand-to-hand combat, trying to dodge the blows and keep enough distance from the enemies to keep a handle on the storm. His attention was divided between ranges as he attempted to keep alert enough to fend off the vampires who attacked while remaining aware of Chen and Suho.

It was quite taxing on his abilities, and he was momentarily jarred from this when he found himself slammed and pinned against the rough, damp base of a tall tree.

He only struggled against the vampire for a moment before shoving him off, his attention now focused on the single foe. He would go back to controlling the storm once he had finished off this one.

“Woah there, Sparky,” mocked one vampire as Chen’s crackling bolt of lightning barely missed him. “A little over eager there, aren’t we?”

Chen gritted his teeth and directed another stream of electricity. “Why wouldn’t I be eager to kill you?” he spat.

“Come on,” the vampire retorted. “Why do we have to kill each other? We could be great together. I could be the Thunder to your lightning!” He grinned as if he’d said something humorous and clever. “We would make a great team.”

“Sorry,” Chen remarked, “but I don’t team up with vampires.” His bolt of lighting struck the tree just behind his opponent, and a loud cracking sound echoed throughout the area.

The vampire was quick enough to clear the area as the massive tree fell. But then Chen noticed Sehun, engaged with another vampire and unaware of the immediate danger he was in standing in the growing shadow of the tumbling trunk.

“Sehun!” he cried, trying to warn the young Hunter, but he was too distracted by his entanglement. He watched as Sehun, straddling the vampire on the ground, stabbed his adversary through the heart, and suddenly he was straddling nothing but a pile of dust.

“Sehun!” Chen cried again, and this time Sehun heard him, but there wasn’t enough time for him to react to the tree that was now upon him, falling too rapidly for him to move out of the way.

Chen cringed, looking away from the scene, not wanting to witness what he knew was about to happen.

Sehun held his breath as he waited for the impact, but it never came. He tentatively opened his eyes, not knowing what to expect, but he wasn’t expecting this.

The tree hovered right above him. It had never landed. He didn’t know what could possibly have stopped it until he averted his gaze and saw an incredible sight just on the edge of their artificial storm.

Luhan stood there with his arms raised and his eyes wide, an expression of a deer caught in headlights. He nodded at Sehun, who rolled out from beneath the tree trunk so Luhan could let it fall. Chen looked extremely relieved and Suho was just as surprised and pleased as Sehun. They all shared a smile, but there was no time for pleasantries, and they fell back into fighting stances to face the remaining vampires.

Jonghyun glared at the vampire in front of him as hard as he could. “Did you come back to finish me off?” he spat. Key gave him a weird sidelong glance, which he ignored.

An amused and dark chuckle rumbled from TOP. “I’d hate to see your blood go to waste,” he said through a grin. His eyes alighted on Key then, and Jonghyun tensed at the gesture. “Who’s your friend?” he questioned.

His tone was oddly conversational, but Jonghyun wasn’t about to let his guard down. His guard was so up, it was about to burst.

Jonghyun had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean. He was still kind of fuzzy, and these narrations were making less and less sense to him.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Key said. “But could we please move this along?”

TOP’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Eager, are we?” He ran his tongue along his lower lip.

“I’m a bit pressed for time,” Key hissed. “And I could do without the unnecessary banter.”

“Very well,” TOP purred. He raised his eyebrows. “We’ll make it quick.” He tilted his neck, and Jonghyun could hear it crack.

A wave of dizziness suddenly overcame Jonghyun, and he felt like he was falling as the world spun around him. Everything blurred, and he fell forever. He caught a glimpse of TOP staring wide-eyed before he bolted away. He heard Key’s voice, frantic and laced with worry.

“Jonghyun… You’ve been bitten!”

The words echoed in his mind and swirled around in his vision with everything else. He was hot, blazing hot. His throat was full of sand. He heard a violent shrieking, and it occurred to him that he was the one screaming. And pain. Pain jolted through his veins. Nothing else existed anymore.

Tao figured they had found the plot when they came across the chaotic scene full of battles, vampires and Hunters all attacking each other. He and Kris made their way to the area where vampires were literally swarming, thinking that would be a good place to be if they wanted to help as much as they could.

They made quick work of the swarm, Tao darting among bodies and stabbing them through their chests before they could even react and Kris doing the same, until they reached the center of it all, where Lay and Baekhyun and Xiu Min were fighting to keep the vampires away from—

Tao’s heart caught in his throat. Mary Sue was dead on the stone and the Hunters were all trying to keep the vampires from finishing her off. He rushed toward them, kneeling beside Lay, whose attention was still mostly focused on Mary Sue.

“Can you heal her?” he demanded, hoping beyond hope that all hope wasn’t lost.

Lay solemnly shook his head. “I can’t bring the dead back to life,” he said.

Tao’s heart sunk.

“We could’ve prevented this,” he said bitterly.

“We can’t think like that,” Lay argued. “It isn’t worth it and it won’t help anything.”

“But we could have stopped it,” Tao snapped.

“What do you want me to say?” the healer demanded. “It’s not like we can just turn back time.”

Tao’s eyes widened. Turn back time.

“Move,” he ordered, pushing Lay away from Mary Sue and the device and stepping back from it himself.

“Tao, what’re you…?”

He focused his dark eyes intently on the large stone edifice, concentrating as hard as he could. “This isn’t over yet,” he growled.

For a moment, it seemed as though nothing was happening. But then the blood that had trickled down the slabs and into the runes began to flow upward. Lay’s eyes widened in awe and shock as everything immediately surrounding the device and Mary Sue started to return to the state it was previously in, the large pillar of light reversing the effect of the ritual on the eclipse and the slabs rotating in the opposite direction and the life flowing back into Mary Sue.

Nobody could believe it when they saw it. Mary Sue was coming back to life.

Chanyeol chased after the clan leader, fury and adrenaline streaming through his veins. His eyes were locked on the vampire, and he wasn’t letting her out of his sight. She didn’t seem to want him to lose her, though. He heard her eerily musical laughter ring out across the open sky above them. The eclipse hung overhead, reminding Chanyeol why he was doing this.

Ga In reached the center of the field and stopped running. She turned to face Chanyeol, a sadistic grin spread across her face. He halted a few yards from her. The golden prairie grass swayed around their waists, tinted red by the bloody expanse of the sky.

“You have lost, Hunter,” she sang. “Your hope is lost now. Your precious lamb is dead, and there isn’t a thing you can do now.”

Chanyeol clenched his jaw, his fists, anything that could clench, he clenched it. “That’s not true,” he said. “At least I can avenge her death.”

Ga In threw her head back in laughter. “You believe you can kill me?” She eyed him and tilted her head. “Where’s your talisman, darling?”

He bared his teeth at the vampire. “I don’t need it to defeat you,” he spat. “You will die in holy fire, and burn in Hell for eternity.”

“Fire,” she echoed. “Do you expect the sun to come back out and burn me?” She laughed again. “The sun won’t be back out for a long time, my love.”

Chanyeol let a grin emerge on his face. “I won’t be needing the sun,” he informed.

Ga In’s eyebrows rose, as if she was asking, “Oh?”

Then, Chanyeol sent two streams of flame from his hands in either direction and encircled the two of them in a ring of fire. He watched the vampire’s expression become shocked, then distressed, then furious.

He smirked at her. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Can’t take the heat?”

Ga In shrieked angrily and lunged for Chanyeol. He barely had any time to react before she was on him. He fell hard on the ground, and she held him down, baring her teeth menacingly. He struggled beneath her, but she was incredibly strong. Stronger than any vampire he had ever faced before. He was unable to prevent her hands from creeping up to his throat and clamping down.

“I would have simply drank your blood,” she hissed at him. “Your death would have been quick and painless. Even pleasurable.” She lowered her face down to his ear so that he could hear every word. “But now, Hunter, you have awoken my wrath. I won’t let you escape this prison you’ve created around us,” she growled. “You are going to feel every slow and painful second of this.”

She squeezed her porcelain hands tightly around his throat, cutting off his breath. He was fading quickly. The heat from the fire surrounded them, oppressing them, and Ga In watched the light slowly leave his eyes. The last thing Chanyeol heard before he died was Mary Sue’s voice screaming his name. He smiled. She must be waiting in Heaven for him.

As soon as you awoke, you took a gasping breath of air and your eyes shot open. A few of the Hunters surrounded you, all of their eyes wide as they stared. You could only pant as you stared back at them.

You sat up quickly, noticing when something fell onto your lap. It was Chanyeol’s Phoenix Talisman. You tried to make sense of everything that was happening.

Then it all came rushing back to you. Jonghyun’s kidnapping, the ritual, the eclipse, dying. And Chanyeol’s face was the last thing you saw.

You glanced around. He wasn’t there.

“Where’s Chanyeol?” you demanded.

The Hunters seemed to be startled by your voice. None of them answered.

“Where is he?” you demanded.

Baekhyun stepped forward and you looked to him for answers. “He went after Ga In,” he said softly. “To avenge you.”

Your eyes widened and you immediately jumped down from the stone slabs, no longer stuck in the restraints. You clutched the talisman. You could still feel Chanyeol’s energy in it, and you sprinted off before any of the Hunters could stop you, following its pull to a wide open field.

The entire world looked like it was on fire. The sky was red and the dry field was ablaze, vampires crawling across the surface, no longer under the threat of being destroyed by the sun, and you thought surely this was what Hell must be like.

Your heart pounded and you panted as you raced to reach Chanyeol in time, but when you came upon the edge of the field, you could do nothing but stand there, unable to pass the wall of flame.

A high-pitched scream stopped you dead in your tracks. You were certain it had come from Ga In, and it sounded like a shriek of immense pain and fury. She was probably being burned to death by Chanyeol’s fire right now.

You were scared for him. Now that you were closer, you could certainly feel his presence through the Phoenix Talisman, but it was beginning to fade, pulsating before it was too faint for you to recognize it anymore.

You gasped in fear. “Chanyeol!” you screamed, hoping he would hear you and answer your call and know you were alive, so he would try to live as well. You needed him to try to survive.

But you couldn’t feel him anymore. His presence was gone, out of your reach, and the hellfire in front of you began to spread rapidly, growing taller and more powerful as the only person who had been controlling it slipped away, leaving it to its own devices.

You knelt to the ground, sobbing, as the world was illuminated around you.

Amber didn’t notice it until it had already begun to take effect. The sky was lightening from a deep red to its seasonal grey, tinged with pink and gold.

She had taken quite a beating from her struggle with Se7en, but she still had managed to keep his fangs away from her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

She had just been cornered too. He was on top of her, and she was pinned to the snowy ground fighting to get free, when the world was illuminated and the smell of ashes started infiltrating her nostrils. Se7en’s eyes were wide with fear as he realized what was happening, and Amber could only gape at the sight as every exposed bit of his skin became grey and ashy, ribbons of smoke rising up into the air.

She watched, slightly horrified, as the vampire was reduced to a screaming pile of ashes that were blown away on the wind.

Amber breathed out a sigh of relief from the breath she had been holding and tried to slow her heart rate. She turned over in the snow to look out over the landscape from her high vantage point on the hill.

There were similar scenes taking place, scattered piles of ashes being swept around and smudging the snow, as vampires fell victim to the sun’s rays and Hunters stopped fighting them to witness the phenomena.

The storm in the clearing had calmed quickly, the clouds now dissipating, but Amber noticed another giant dark cloud of smoke had begun encroaching on the area.

There was a field on fire, and people had started to gather on the edge of it. She stood and started making her way down the hill to join them. There was probably something important happening.

You stood at the edge of the burning field, clutching the Phoenix Talisman in your hand and sobbing hysterically. The Hunters had begun gathering around you, all gazing at the field, the warmth of the flames brushing their faces. Lay stood beside you and hugged an arm around your shoulders.

“Y-you have to bring him back,” you pleaded between sobs. “Please!”

He could only look at you somberly, pain and regret and empathy etched all over his features. “I can’t,” he sighed. “I wish I could, but… I can’t bring back the dead.”

You turned your face back to the ground, unable to quell your frantic sobs. Lay took his arm from your shoulders, knowing that nothing he could possibly do would offer you any comfort.

Then the Hunters started chanting. It was a strange Gregorian-sounding chant that you didn’t understand. It grew in volume, and you brought your head up to watch as they all lifted their faces to the sun and crossed their hands over their chests. It was strange and unfamiliar to you, but you somehow felt that this gesture was something that uniquely belonged to the Hunters. It was a show of reverence. Of respect to a fallen brother.

When they finished the chant, Kai dropped to his knees. Lay and Luhan immediately followed suit, and you watched as gradually the rest of the Hunters matched the action until every one of them was kneeling, raising one hand splayed to the sky.

Deeply moved, you fell to your own knees in the snow. There was a stark contrast between the frozen ground beneath you and the warmth radiating from Chanyeol’s field fire. One last tear rolled down your cheek and landed upon the Phoenix Talisman in your hand.

You didn’t see the shimmer of light shine across the talisman.

But the next moment, you did feel something. It was faint, but it was surely there. Like the shadow of a heartbeat. You felt it grow stronger. Instinctively, you turned your head toward the blazing field. The others noticed your sudden change in disposition and gazed in that direction as well.

The feeling was so strong now, you felt almost overwhelmed by it. Everybody stared in anticipation at the wall of fire. And finally, the impossible happened.

Chanyeol emerged triumphantly from the wall of fire, alive and completely unscathed. His bewildered expression landed on you, and you couldn’t contain yourself any longer. The two of you ran to each other and embraced tightly. You looked into each other’s eyes, both unable to stop the tears from falling, nor the smiles from gracing your features. Neither of you spoke, because there was no need. You both knew what had happened.

It was a miracle.

Jonghyun opened his eyes. The room around him was hazy with grey light. He sat up in the bed he was lying in and looked around him. It was unfamiliar, but comfortable and warm. He a bedside lamp. The yellow light illuminated Key, who was curled up in an armchair. He stirred awake, squinting his eyes at the sudden brightness, and noticed Jonghyun.

He smiled. “You’re awake,” he said groggily.

“What day is it?” Jonghyun asked softly.

Key looked at the clock by the lamp, and Jonghyun did too. It was a little after seven in the morning.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” Key answered.

So Jonghyun had been sleeping for more than a day, then. He wondered what could have happened since then. “Is everyone okay?” he asked.

Key nodded. “Everybody’s fine.”

Jonghyun hesitated. “Am I… okay?”

Key only smiled, and without speaking, took Jonghyun by the hand and led him out of the room. They climbed a long flight of spirally stairs, and it wasn’t until they reached the top when Jonghyun finally realized where they were. They emerged in the bell tower of the Hunters’ church. Key led him around to the east side of the huge brass bell and stopped, gazing out at the expanse before them.

Jonghyun waited, unsure of what he was supposed to be looking at. The sky slowly became pink then, and a few rays of golden light burst dramatically through the trees.

Sunrise.

To Jonghyun’s relief, he wasn’t bursting into flame either, nor did his skin turn to ash. He only felt warmth. He felt so alive. He turned to look at Key then, and Jonghyun felt like this couldn’t possibly be any more perfect.

Then it started snowing. A light dust of pure white, cascading down and falling upon everything like tiny diamonds.

It’s snowing because the world knows I love you, he thought. It didn’t actually make any sense, but Jonghyun’s mind was still a little fuzzy from before.

Key looked at him strangely then. “Huh?”

…

Did Jonghyun say that out loud? That’s embarrassing. He tried to brush it off like it was nothing, like maybe Key had heard wrong or something, so to diffuse the situation, he just looked at Key with an innocent expression.

“What?”