As soon as I put the safety pin back into my bag and swung it over my shoulders, Bom went up to me and began to wipe some of her blood from her finger tip on the arms of my shirt.

I felt a little uncomfortable as she did so, I mean, hey, who ever gets vampire blood smeared on their clothes?

Bom did the same to her own clothes and swiped the cut closed with her tongue.

I felt a slight tingle ripple down my back at her weird way of healing her wound; I guess it's a vampire thing that I wouldn't understand.

"Kris, you go up there," Bom pointed upwards, probably to the direction of the mountain, "Camp is already set up, so you should go and watch after it. Let's go, _________."

"Okay, Bom," I agreed. The words came out a little slower, and my voice a bit more shaky than I had expected. I turned to face EXO and the remaining girls one more, but hopefully not the last, time. "Good luck."

"Not like we'll need any, but thanks, anyway!" Minzy chimed and waved to Bom and I.

"You guys just practice while I'm gone, okay?" Bom said to them, lifting me up bridal-style.

"Will do!" they chorused before she nodded.

I buried my face into Bom's shoulder before she began running.

Feeling the wind gushing across my face, I wonder how the scent of her blood could mask my own scent when we were rushing at such a high speed.

Still, if vampires can smell it, then I guess it's worth it.

---------

After about two minutes of following the trail Bom left, Tao returned to the group. "All I can smell is Bom's blood. __________'s scent is gone." he informed.

The rest of the group nodded in understanding.

"So what do we do tomorrow?" Minzy asked Tao, referring to her coven.

"You girls will have to hide together, since the newborns will only be expecting the eleven of us to fight them-"

"Yah, we are NOT hiding from a battle." CL interjected sharply and firmly folded her arms across her chest.

Tao rolled his eyes. "Let me finish, Chaerin."

She scoffed, and he took it as a signal to continue.

"Anyway, the four of you will be hiding together until we begin to fight. When we throw the first few kills, that's when you girls come in with your powers and such."

The girls nodded, determined to finally use their powers on vampires other than themselves.

"Lay," Tao beckoned.

Lay shot his head up from staring at the ground. "Yeah?"

"You'll be up in one of those branches," Tao pointed up to the surrounding trees, "So you can have a good view to use your illusions on the newborns."

"Okay..."

"Don't be so soft!" Dara snapped, causing Lay to jump a little. "We all have a job to do, and we shouldn't be afraid of some stupid newborns!"

She curled her fingers towards the palm of her hand in anger, causing some earth to emerge from the ground and twist upwards, into a slim spike, to her hip level.

"Dara." CL commanded, cupping her hand on Dara's shoulder, "Calm down. The last thing we want to do is to scare the guys right before the fight, got it?"

Dara sighed and obliged. She released her power, and the earth merged back into the ground.

"Good." CL said and turned to face Lay, "Lay, even though Dara didn't have to blow up at you, she's right. You can't be unconfident with your powers. You have more strength than you know, got that?"

Lay gulped and nodded.

"Okay, let's practice, people!" CL announced, and, just like that, the vampires began sparring with each other.

----------

After what felt like a few minutes, Bom began to slow down. As she did so, I began to feel a sudden biting cold against my skin.

I shivered and crossed my arms and began to rub my forearms. "..." I muttered, observing the mist escaping my lips.

"Kris has some jackets and stuff, don't you worry." Bom reminded.

In front was a blue, medium-sized tent, and a pile of sticks and wood, arranged in a way similar to a campfire.

Just then Kris emerged from the tent, not shivering one bit.

I felt my lips begin to harden, making me press them together and slide my tongue over them to warm them up.

"Oh, thanks, Bom," Kris said, making his way over to me. "Come on, I have jackets for you."

I nodded and turned to face Bom. "Thanks, Bom."

"No worries," she replied and turned her head to face the pile of wood. She stretched her arm out, allowing fire to lash out for a short moment. The fire began to dance on the wood as she turned her attention back to Kris and I. "I'll see you later. Use this fire well."

"Thank you, Bom." Kris responded before Bom disappeared.

I stared at the fire, feeling the heat radiating from the flames warming my freezing body.

Why oh why does it so much to be a human?

"Hey..." Kris murmured in my ear, sliding his arms around my body.

My insides instantly melted at his touch and voice. I couldn't get enough of him.

"You're cold. Let's go inside and get some warm clothes, okay?"

I nodded. "Y-y-y-yes p-p-please..."

Kris chuckled and lead me towards the tent. "The girls got you a sleeping bag and whatnot, while the coven got you lots of warm clothes."

I stepped inside the tent and sat down onto the sleeping bag. "I can s-see that," I continued to shiver and rub my arms. "What about the fire? Do you have a lighter in case it burns out?"

"Of course I do. I don't know which vampire who doesn't carry a lighter around with them."

I rolled my eyes. "Psh, whatever."

I think that these guys would do such a thing because of, well, Cold Ones. I wonder if they were carrying lighters at that baseball game a few months ago...

Kris handed me a white hoodie that had a picture of a can of Pepsi printed on the front, and a blue coat with a few lepoard prints here and there.

Just looking at them made me feel warm already.

I reached out for them with shaking and frozen hands. When I just touched them, I found myself having a hard time grasping them because it was so cold.

I guess I wasn't used to this kind of temperature because I had been living in one of the hottest parts of Australia for the past 17 years.

"Here, do you want me to help you put them on?" he offered.

I rapidly shook my head. "N-no thanks. I can do it."

After a few minutes, I managed to get the thick jackets on me, instantly feeling warmth spread across my torso and arms.

"Can we go outside to the fire? I want to warm my hands." I said.

"Okay, let's go."

Kris took my hand and lead me out of the tent. "God, ________, your hand is freezing!"

I only looked at him in disbelief. "NO, you really think so? Because I'm a vampire that can resist the cold and everything!" I replied sarcastically, a little bit too harsh for that matter.

I instantly regretted snapping at Kris. He's done so much for me, but, in return, I just give him attitude.

What the hell was wrong with me? "S-...I-I'm sorry, Kris..." I apologised quietly.

He sat down in front of the fire and pulled me into his arms. "It's okay," he chuckled, "I'm kind of used to it, and I know that you don't mean it, even though you're used to your attitude being like that."

I sighed in relief. Good thing he understood that it wasn't my intention to hurt him in any way.

I reached out to position my hands in front of the fire and began to feel the heat weaving its way into my hands again.

While that was happening, I felt Kris rest his chin on my left shoulder and begin to kiss the side of my face.

I closed my eyes, my hands still outstretched, as he began trailing his kisses down my cheek, leaving a tingling sensation on my skin wherever his lips touched.

He eventually made his way down to my neck and continued to kiss there, making my heart pound even faster against my chest.

"Are you doing this to distract me from what's going to happen tomorrow?" I asked him hazily.

"I'm not going to stop until you relax and have some faith in them." he mumbled against my neck.

"Fine..."

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yay for another filler chapter OTL but I'm trying to build things up, you know? It's not good to go straight to the action without the build-up!!

Okay, I know I come up with stupid excuses, but as much as I hate to break it to you, school is starting again, so updates will be slow OTLTOTLTOTLTOTLTOTL about once or twice a week T_T I hope you guys understand, since this is my last year of school T__________T

anyway, thank you to all who commented on the filler chapter, it means a lot to me, even though it was a stupid filler chapter, I'm still glad to find that you guys like it!

chapter 42 will be up some time next week (and believe me, it'll have less filler-ish stuff in it), I promise!

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