Under the dark night sky at Mt. Shia, a group of 8 people were getting ready to set off for another mission. It was silent and only the bustling winds and the clicking of the blades could be heard.

“Jieun, you’ve been summoned to the council room immediately.” The black panther forest guardian said halting in front of her.

Jieun looked surprised at first; she was about to leave for Shanghai with Kris and his team to rid it of reported rogues.

            “did they tell you why?” Kris asked his brows furrowed slightly. He didn’t much like sudden change of plans but he also can’t say anything since the order was from the council.

            “no, they also said that you can leave without Jieun.” The panther said, bowing slightly before sauntering away.

Jieun stared confused at the retreating animal before turning to face her teammates. Kris frowned, again, not liking this at all. he didn’t know why but somehow he did not want Jieun away.

            “I guess I’ll be skipping this mission with you guys.”

            “you’re not even sure what they want, maybe they’ll let you follow after?” Lay said fixing his whip blades around his waist.

            “I don’t think so.” Jieun said pondering as to why she’d been summoned just before she set out for a mission. “anyway, you guys better go I’ll try to get you a message after the meeting. Good luck.”

            “good luck to you too, Jieun.” Krystal said and gave her a short hug before opening a portal and entered it followed by the rest of Kris’ team.

Kris turned around to Jieun before stepping through. He pondered for a while what he would say. He half thought to ask her to call him and tell him what they would ask of her but then decided against it.

            “be careful whatever it is they may ask you to do.” He said seriously and Jieun gave him a nod before disappearing through the portal.

Jieun stayed there and waited for the portal to vanish before briskly walking towards the council room. Her footsteps echoed along the corridors, as the palace seemed empty. Majority of the junior teams have now set off to their respective missions 2 days after the autumn ball and most haven’t gotten back yet. Even the senior mage and majae have been out too.

Upon reaching the familiar oak double doors, Jieun slowly knocked and opened the door.

            “you called for me, sir?” Jieun gave a bow and walked towards the table. She was half surprised to see Sulli, Suho, Sungjong, and Sehun already seated there. Funny enough she thought it was amusing to have 4 people all with “s” as the first letter to their names.

            “ah yes, Jieun, please take a seat.” Leeteuk looked up from his papers and motioned Jieun to an empty seat beside Suho. She walked over to it and sat. Suho gave her a confused look, which meant he also had no idea why this particular group was called over.

Leeteuk cleared his throat before speaking.

            “going straight to the point, I need you five to go to the west coast.” He said.

            “west coast, sir?” Suho spoke.

            “yes, there has been a series of…unexplainable events there lately and I need you to go and investigate.” He said and handed them each a file.

            “what kind of events?” Suho asked again.

Jieun read the file and it seemed like there were 5 attacks on teenage boys happening all over the coast. No deaths but all 5 were left bleeding on their ears nose and eyes and were left partially blind and completely deaf.

            “you see, every medical examiners are baffled as to what caused it but we have one theory although it might be unlikely but we cannot rule it out.” He said putting his hands together and resting his chin on it.

            “you think this might be one of the supernatural?” Jieun asked. Leeteuk nodded.

            “yes. A banshee.”

There was silence as all 5 of them stared at their superior. Baffled, Suho opened his mouth multiple times before he could finally speak.

            “a banshee? But, sir, they are harmless. They only wail when a person is about to die.” Suho argued. Leeteuk gave Suho a look that quite confused Jieun, yes it is true they are harmless, but the look Leeteuk gave was a mixture of disapproval and pity.

            “yes and that’s why I said it is unlikely, but to cause a damage like that, a banshee is the only thing possible so you can’t rule it out.”

Suho and Jieun looked at each other.

            “but , there could have been other causes, a drug or some high frequency waves around the area?” Sungjong raised the point.

            “all victims were attacked in very different places, and police had already searched the every nook and cranny of each crime scene and found none.”

            “no witnesses?” Sehun asked looking up from the file.

            “none.” Leeteuk sighed. “although there’s one thing in common among the five. They are all known…”

            “bullies.” Jieun finished reaching the last page of her file.

            “yes, so it can be assumed the one who did this might be one of the bullied, or has been bullied or knows someone that had been bullied.” Leeteuk explained further.

            “we will attend to this immediately, sir.” Suho made to stand but Leeteuk raised his hand to stop him.

            “further instructions before you go.” He said then turned around. “Taeyeon-ah, is it ready?”

Taeyeon entered the room from a back door that only members of the council used and walked in with a tray with 3 vials on it. Each of the vials had liquid the color of gold swirling inside and handed one to Suho, Sungjong and Sehun.

            “all five of you will go undercover at Portland High. Suho and Jieun will go as interns while Sehun, Sulli and Sungjong will be senior students.” Leeteuk said.

            “now as you will need to be there during the day, you boys will need to drink that.” Taeyeon said pointing at the vials. “that potion will make your body clock stop, meaning it will stay fixed on the asia region.”

            “how long will the potion last?” Suho asked.

            “about two weeks, although I’d rather hope you will finish your mission early.” Taeyeon smiled then gestured for the boys to drink.

All three started to unscrew the caps with Jieun and Sulli watching them. Sehun and Sungjong watch Suho tentatively and when he drank his both followed almost instantly. After a big swallow, they all started coughing and gagging.

            “you can’t expect to taste good, now can you?” Taeyeon gave a small laugh before walking out of the room.

            “it is disgusting.” Sungjong whined from under his breath.

            “remember, be inconspicuous.” Leeteuk reminded them and looked at Suho. “you can ask your friend if she can give you some help with this too.” He added before finally leaving the room.

All five stood and gave a short bow as Leeteuk left. Jieun then turned to Suho.

            “what does he mean ‘friend’?” she asked following the other three out of the room.

            “I will tell you later. We need to settle down first.” He said in a low voice. Jieun didn’t like it but she nodded.

            “I got all we need to get into the school.” Sulli said waving a bunch of folders at Suho and Jieun.

            “good.” Suho looked at his watch.” It’s about 11pm now so it’s around 9 there. We better get moving.”

All five of them stood in a line as Jieun raised her hand and created a portal. All of them went through one by one and into a roomy apartment.

            “Leeteuk oppa slipped the address of this place in my folder, we will be staying here as we investigate.” She said answering Sehun and Sungjong’s questioning looks.

They both nodded then looked at each other. Then suddenly Sungjong’s hand punched the air.

            “I call dibs on first choice of rooms!” he yelled and ran off. Sehun ran quickly at his heels running after Sungjong.

            “Hey! No fair!”

Suho sighed and shook his heads.

            “kids.”

Sulli looked at Jieun and giggled.

            “I’m gonna go look around.” Sulli said in innocent excitement before dashing off.

Jieun walked over to the black leather couches in the middle of the room and flopped down. Suho’s gaze wandered out the window.

            “you know it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen the sun.” he said reminiscently.

            “and how does it feel?”

He pursed his lips.

            “Surprisingly, not much different that the night, just brighter.” He chuckled and leaned back.

Jieun smiled and looked at her folder again.

            “so, care to explain everything to me now?” she asked and Suho sighed again.

            “well, one reason they put me into this mission is that they know of my friendship with a banshee.” He started. Jieun’s brows shot up.

            “are we allowed-?” Suho cut her off.

            “we’re not forbidden but also not encouraged to form friendships like this, even human relations are strictly for professional reasons only.” He shifted in his seat and looked at Jieun. “but my friendship with this banshee was just by accident.”

            “what do you mean accident?” Jieun looked at him with slight incredulity.

            “we met during 9/11. Most mage and majae were working full time helping rescue survivors at night while banshees, well you know what they do. Normal humans won’t hear their wails only the ones that are about to die but we, us, can hear them although just a bit more that a whisper. We see them they see us but we just try to ignore each other.” Suho clasped both his hands together and leaned forward as he continued his story. “magical creatures as they are they are still prone to deaths, they don’t have any other special abilities other than their wails, it’s what they’re born to do. This particular banshee almost got crush by falling debris but I managed to pull her out of the way, but she twisted her ankle so I brought her to the paramedics that were on standby. So that was it.”

After hearing his cousin’s story, Jieun was slightly relieved and surprised that it wasn’t what she expected it to be. A little less of a big deal that what she had forseen.

            “sooo, anything romantic going on?” she asked in a teasing tone.

Suho howled with laughter.

            “no, definitely nothing like that. It’s just friendship.”

            “are you sure about that?” Jieun eyed her cousin intensely.

            “of course I’m sure and don’t you look at me like that.” Jieun laughed when she was sure her cousin was telling her the truth.

            “Fine, fine, now we better go and start this.” She stood up. “where is this friend of yours anyway?”

Suho expression suddenly darkened.

            “would you believe me if I tell you she’s the clinic nurse at East Coast High?”

Jieun’s jaw dropped.

Fukoshima, Japan

Yonghwa and his team now positioned themselves in their proper places as they try to corner the siren once again. With wax in the ears on every mage, they communicated through sign language. Hyosung stood by Minhyuk, far away from Jonghyun and the latter also did not make any moves to get closer to the maja. After the scolding he got from his mother at the ball, he decided not to have another of it.

Jungshin, who was at the top of the tallest tree, signed that the siren was coming. The night was very windy and the howls of the wind and the gushing of the water from the river were all that could be heard and. Hyosung’s ears perked; she could hear the siren’s song now and motioned for Minhyuk to get ready. This time Yonghwa and Jonghyun bared their fangs preparing for the attack.

After a few tense minutes, the beautiful figure of the siren appeared. She looked normal to the humans but to the guardians, none of them could fail to see the green, slit pupils sirens have. She began her procession to the river slowly, Yonghwa almost cussed when he saw the three men following dazedly behind her. If they attacked her, she could use the humans as her shield. If he asks Hyosung to use her magic, the siren will notice it and might escape. This definitely complicates everything.

The siren was nearing the water’s edge and this was the best change they could ever get and the only chance for them to safely get the humans from harm’s way.

As soon as the siren’s feet touched the river’s edge, Yonghwa gave the signal for them to move. Jungshin and Jonghyun ran with their inhuman speed and tackled the siren to the ground. She screeched, the green slits becoming fiery red. Minhyuk and Yonghwa arrived to help the two restrain the creature leaving Hyosung to deal with the humans. The siren was thrashing, her legs transforming into something that looked like sharkskin. She managed to kick Jungshin on the head and the latter almost lost his consciousness. If she did that to a human, he would probably die almost instantly. With a growl, Jungshin bared his teeth and gagged her and the other managed to put on the metal cuff imbued with magic.

All four of them took out the wax they stuck in their ears.

            “we finally got her after months of tracking her down.” Minhyuk panted wiping sweat from his brow.

            “about time too, if we didn’t catch her this week, Leeteuk hyung would’ve killed us.” Jonghyun added.

            “it could be worse.” Jungshin grinned at him. “your mom would get you.” They laughed but Jonghyun frowned at them.

Yonghwa started to look around the thick clump of trees.

            “hey, where’s Hyosung?” he asked seeing the 3 men lying unconscious on the ground.

Jonghyun’s head snapped up and squinted slightly searching for the maja. Yonghwa raised his head and sniffed, there was a faint trace of the maja in the air and something…exotic.

            “guys! Do you hear that?!” Jungshin said in a panicked voice.

The other three hushed in silence and listened. The echoing sound of music reached their ears. Then the siren on the ground started to laugh maniacally. Every face paled as they listened to the music.

There were two of them.

Worse, they did not anticipate the second one.

            “! It’s a siron!” Jonghyun growled in anger and ran to the direction of the music.

            “Jonghyun!” Yonghwa yelled but Jonghyun was already at a considerable distance. “Jungshin stay here. Minhyuk come with me.”

They reached the opening of the river and saw, to their horror; Hyosung was already waist deep into the water her eyes fixed on the siron that was entrancing her.

The male creature saw the and hi gleaming, green eyes glistened in triumph as he dived dragging the maja with him.

            “!” Jonghyun ran and dived into the cold water.

Minhyun started to cuss looking out to the horizon. It was almost sunrise.

            “this is bad.” He said clenching his fists as both he and Yonghwa darted after their teammate.

            “stay here, use the stone to contact Mt. Shia, we need to get there before it’s too late.” Yonghwa ordered diving into the river.

Underwater, Jonghyun and the siron were doing a tug-of-war with Hyosung, each pulling either side of her arm. Jonghyun’s fangs were bared and the siron hissed underwater slightly breaking its hypnotizing song. Jonghyun knew if he let go Hyosung would be dragged too far where it would be too late to save her.

The siron suddenly let go of Hyosung’s arm and attacked Jonghyun grabbing his neck, cutting his already diminishing air supply. The siron had his advantage in water but Jonghyun was smart. Curling his middle finger he punched it hard onto the siron’s throat paralyzing its vocal chords. As soon as his music stopped, Jonghyun saw Hyosung started to wake and gasp for air. He knew he had to act fast. He took out the dagger on his leg and with all his might it into the siron’s chest, directly into its heart. Its hands froze on Jonghyun’s neck and croaked before its grip loosened and melted into the water.

Already starting to lose his consciousness, Jonghyun managed to grab Hyosung’s wrist and started to swim back up. But the siron had already dragged them so deep his lungs burned for air. He started to lose of what remained of his strength. As his eyes started to shut, he felt his wrist being grabbed and fighting to open his eyes, he saw Yonghwa pulling them up as fast as he could.

            “Hyosung!, Jonghyun!” Minhyuk yelled running towards them. Jungshin had also just arrived dragging the still-gagged siren with him.

Jonghyun was on all fours gasping for air and coughing the water from his lungs out and Yonghwa beside him also doing the same. Jonghyun’s gaze fell on the unconscious maja who was being resuscitated by Minhyuk. But he saw Minhyuk was doing little to no progress at all. With a surge of panic, he scrambled towards Hyosung and pushed Minhyuk away.

Pinching her nose and opening , he forced air into her lungs. 3 times he blew air before he started pumping her chest 5 times. He repeated this thrice more and the third time he pumped her chest Yonghwa tried to push him away.

            “stop it! you’re doing it too hard you’ll break her ribs!” he yelled trying to pull Jonghyun away but the latter shoved his hand away and continued pumping.

At his fifth attempt to force air into her lungs, Hyosung jerked and cough out water and started to breathe in heavily. The vampires all sighed in relief. She managed to roll on her stomach, still trying hard to breathe, her eyes reddening with the effort.

She looked up and met Jonghyun’s concerned eyes.

            “you ok?” he asked panting and put a hand on her shoulder.

            “thank…you.” She said hoarsely.

He stared at her and suddenly without knowing why, pulled her into a hug.

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hi guys! i wanted to know what you think about me setting up some couples..do you like it? anyway the Jonghyun and Hyosung couple is just a random choice for me..hihi leave a comment..:)