We were all truly and utterly shocked at that moment, that it even takes us – all three geniuses and one less than genius of us – to processed the information.

"Umm, okay, I think this is a combo breaker," Mikey says, breaking the silence. "But I really forgot all about Azazel. Who is it?"

The rest of us put on our desperate face. Mikey's head can be really thick sometime. But since his intuitions never fail us, I guess it's quite a fair trade.

Right, Azazel. Well, I'm quite sure you all know about Lucifer, right? The fallen angel, the first demon? Yeah, that’s him. He was the one who created us Vampires, the children of the night, to avenge him. By creating us and let us roam the world, he made sure that humans – the source of his downfall – will never be safe and forever be haunted by our presence.

Azazel, however, is another case. She's the second fallen angel. The reason Azazel fell from her position, much like Lucifer, is because she fell in love with a human. And Azazel was deeply in love, so much that she was genuinely scared that the man she loved and his offspring will not be able to survive because we will kill them – which we most probably will. So she stood against us.

What Azazel feared turned into reality. The man he loved was attacked, and he died along with his son. There was nothing that Azazel can do about it. His newborn daughter, however, survived. And Azazel, grieved by loss, swore that she will do whatever she can so the little girl can survive. She shed her wing and molded into the newborn baby, granting her the power of a demon, and the natural resistance to vampires. She has no scent, and hence untraceable by any vampires. Her eyes and voices are hypnotizing, and her mind is a dangerous maze. Her skin will automatically burn any vampires that came in contact with them. And on top of everything, her blood is poisonous. Any vampire who accidentally drinks her blood, even just one drops of it, will die.

The daughter did die, out of old age. But Azazel's spirit lived on. Once in a while, a new Azazel will be born. And when that happened, all of us vampires will race to get hold of her. Why? Well it started out a few centuries ago, back when all four Clans are still at war with each other.

Then suddenly, a vampire from the Ruby Clan rise. He’s not even the Clan’s Leader, just a Royal Family member. But somehow, he managed to conquer the Leaders of all four Clans and united all of them under his reign as the first Monarch.

There was old myth that he managed to do all of that because he has Azazel’s power at his disposal.

And that’s why ever since then, all vampire will race to capture Azazel. So they can have her power at their disposal, and they can eliminate any vampires who stand in their way.

(Killing a vampire is a hard work, you know. We did make it looks like an easy work earlier on, but it's because they were low-ranked and we're the Crown Princes. The higher a vampire rank, the harder it would be to killed them)

"Wait a minute," Mikey said. "So you're basically saying that that girl is Azazel?"

"No wonder she managed to escape us twice," I mused.

Max was grinning. "I know there's something's wrong with her. I knew it!"

"But…something's off," Matt furrowed his eyebrow. "If she really is Azazel, how can Mark and that…whoever that is can touch her without getting burned, or something?"

He then pointed at me and exclaimed, "If she really is Azazel, he shouldn’t be this alive and well!"

"…And why is that?"

"Oh come on, you practically hogged her for quite some amount of time. And you freaking kissed her. In the lips."

Vincent's mouth was wide open, and even Max and Mikey looked at me like I'm crazy.

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"What? I kissed her, so what?" I said defensively. "I mean, she was practically asking to be ravished with that scaredy-cat pleading look!"

***

"…I'll take that as a compliment," she mutters lowly in between her heavy breathes.

Marcus chuckles, the side of her face. "It really is, princess."

***

"Besides, you guys slept with girls all the time. Don't play innocent," I retorted, and the three just shrugged their shoulder.

"We're not kissing them, hyung. Not on the lips," Mikey pointed out. Smartass.

You see, a kiss does meant a whole lot more in our custom than in humans, especially the one in the lips. Although vampires are free to sleep or do whatever they want with anybody, but a kiss in the lips should be reserved only for the one you truly love, the one that will be your mate, to be done in front of the clan leader to consummate our bond.

And I kissed you back then. In the lips, no less.

Luckily, Vincent cleared his throat right when my mind started to replay the taste of your lips on mine. "I think I can explain."

We all looked at him expectantly

"After centuries, the line has weakened. She can’t use her power unless she realized who she is and what she can do. Right now, I think all she has is the untraceable scent.”

"So she hasn't been awaken and trained," Max mused. "Means it would be very easy to capture her right now, and used her later."

"Exactly. That is why the Councils are so eager on catching her, especially after we managed to pick up a faint trace of her presence. It never happened before, and they believed this means she’s on her most vulnerable right now. Their best trackers are currently searching for her, albeit with much difficulty.”

“The good news is, it's very likely that she will create an even larger crack inside the Councils, since each Clan will try to get hold of her.”

"No matter how big the crack is, if we don’t get her before them, we wouldn't be able to do anything," Matt sighed. "We need to find her. Asap."

"But how? She escaped us, twice," Mikey reminded him. "And Vincent hyung said she has untraceable scent and even their best trackers are having difficulty finding her.”

"Ah, but thanks to this idiot right here, we have a chance," Vincent said, pointing at me.

"What do you mean idiot, you . I'm a genius, mind you."

Ignoring me, Vincent continued on. "Thanks to his impulsive act, we may actually have a shot on finding her. Try tracking her, Mark."

I stared at him in disbelief. I mean, I never was the best tracker in the group – that task belong solely to Mikey with his hunting instinct. However, his expressions said that he'd make me do it even if I won't, so I tried.

Surprisingly, I did manage to pick up your trace.

My astonishment must have been evident in my face, because Max immediately caught on.

"You did it?" he asked in disbelief. "You found her trace?"

"Yeah… she just reached her house. It’s about half an hour run from here." I turned to Vincent. "How come I can track her?"

"Well, one, you guys already had contact with her, hence you have better understanding about her and what you’re actually looking for,” Vincent explained. “Especially since according to your story, you did come in direct contact with her for quite a long time.”

"Two, well, you did kissed her."

Silence.

"And what does that got to do with anything?" Mikey asked. This time, I'm glad he did.

Vincent face palmed in desperation as Max patted him in the back.

"Well you see," Max said. "There's this old myth that Azazel's weakness is love. After all she did, I wasn't actually surprised to found out about this."

"And our stupid Marcus," Vincent said, "Kissed her."

Matt finally catches on. "And since her weakness is love, Marcus’s kiss – a symbol of love in our custom – has weakened her. I supposed that’s why you guys managed to pick up her presence. Her power weakens that night after the kiss.”

Frowning, Max adds, “That doesn’t explains why it was very easy for Marcus to tracks her while the Council’s trackers are having difficulty.”

“Unless…” he turned to Vincent, astonished. “That myth is true?”

“What myth?” Mikey asked, puzzled. Praise the Lord for Mikey. Without him, I would’ve looked like a total idiot. I’m not interested at old myths, okay? It’s not my fault!

“There’s another myth,” Vincent said. “That a long time ago, an Azazel fell for a vampire. They sealed their love with a kiss, creating a special bond between the two. The vampire then became not only immune to her power, but she also lent him her power.”

“Making him the first Monarch in our history.”

Mikey stared in disbelief. “So it’s true? That our first King got to his position because he had Azazel’s power in his disposal?”

“But the story said that he caught her by force,” Matt says lowly. “Not that she lent it to him willingly.”

“Well, he can’t have his people know that he’s actually in love with our enemy, right?” Vincent asked matter-of-factly. “And it will also make him less of a legend.”

“True,” Max shrugs his shoulder. “We have always known him as Ahn Chilhyun the Conqueror, the first Monarch and the first vampire ever to beat Azazel – even to the point of making her his weapon. His reputation will be totally different if we knew that she was his lover.”

“So... did you guys see what I’m saying here?” Vincent asked.

“Marcus’s kiss triggered the bond between him and the Azazel.”

"And if Marcus could actually make her responds… if she reciprocates his feelings..."

“She will be his, and the reign will be ours.”