Kris his lips before furrowing his eyebrows again. “It’s not really nice to keep doing that with your eyebrows. I won’t hurt you or anything.” Kyle assured as he let out a soft sigh. Kris eyed the spirit in front of him. He had brown hair, with round eyes. He was well-built but not the hardcore muscular type. He had white milky skin and he looked like he was in his twenties. He was a little bit shorter compared to Kris. “What are you doing here?” Kris asked him as he could only let out another sigh. “I don’t know either,” Kyle shrugged his shoulders before Kris could feel himself pity for the spirit before him.

“I come back every now and then to make sure she’s alright. But it turns out it’ll never work out because she ends up crying every time she sees me.” Kyle smiled bitterly before Kris gulped. “I don’t even know why I keep coming back even though I know it’ll hurt her.”

“I know I’m freaking you out, but I just needed someone to let it out to. Just like how she easily let it out to you because she’s tired of being alone.”

“W-What about Brian?” he asked as Kyle could only let out a soft chuckle. “This is all I can tell you for now. I’ll come by again just to see you, Kris. Will you be here again so I can meet you?” Kyle asked as Kris pressed his lips together. “It’s alright if you don’t want t-“

“I’ll be here.” Kris cut him off before Kyle could let out a warm smile. “I’ll see you another time then Kris. Meanwhile, get some rest and good luck for training tomorrow. Just know that trainings won’t be as easy now.” With that being said, Kyle disappeared, leaving Kris with wide eyes. “I seriously need to know how the hell he knows these things.” Kris muttered under his breath before turning around to meet Chen along with Sehun staring at him with wide eyes as they just came out to the balcony. “Geez, what the hell?” Kris cursed as he took a step back. “Who were you talking to?” Chen asked as Kris shrugged his shoulders before shoving his hands into his pocket to brush past the two to get inside the house.

“You know, one day you’re going to have to tell them all about what happened. They’re curious.” Yunho said softly as he brushed Hae Jung’s hair to one side of her shoulders. They were sitting high up on one of the trees in the forest away from the mansion. Or house you could call it. She just wanted to get away and since Yunho came back for a few days without telling anyone but her, he wanted to make sure they were doing alright. He had also told her that the boys don’t need to return to college anymore as it would be dangerous. The people in the Carrion Clan seem to be more aggressive than they were before. It was too risky.

“Well you could say the same to Brian. Everyone is always interested in knowing my side of the story because I’m a girl. If I was a guy, they couldn’t care less.” She snapped at the older vampire as he chuckled softly. “The least you can do is lighten up. I have a feeling these boys are something more than that.”

“I can feel that too.” Hae Jung muttered softly as she remembered how determined they were to help one another take out vampires that were out to get them once. “Once you open up to them, and you let them all know about your past.. You can create a strong bond with them. And with that being said, you ca-“

“I don’t want to get attached.” she instantly cut him off even though she wanted to let them know about her past. “You know what will happen from there. You know damn well.”

He patted her back before he slung an arm over her shoulder. “As you wish.”

The next morning came by quick and Hae Jung had just gotten back home. The moment she came in through the door, heads darted at her direction as she raised an eyebrow. “Where were you all night?” Brian asked as she closed the door behind her, ignoring the stares she got from the boys in the room. “No where important.” Was all she said before she headed up to her room.

A few weeks have passed and finally most of them showed progress in their balance and mind control on water. They were once back at the lake for the last time before they proceeded on to another skill Hae Jung and Brian had upon their sleeves. Kris was looking at her the whole time as she could feel someone looking at her but she brushed it off. He tried to look deep inside her even though he was a distance away from her. Tao nudged Kris by his arm and Kris diverted his eyes away from her. “What?” Tao scoffed before he glanced to where Kris was looking at a moment ago. “You like her already?” Tao asked as Kris smacked the younger boy at the head.

“I don’t, I just..” Kris softened his voice at the end before Tao understood what he meant. “Don’t worry, I get you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, she seems..interesting. Different, in a way. It’s like she’s a book with millions of secrets ready to be revealed to you. It’s like, you don’t know what she’ll do next but you’re so into knowing what she’ll do.” Tao said monotonously as he stole a quick glance at the girl they were talking about. They gazed over to Hae Jung where she let out a heavy breath before attempting to teach Lay to balance himself on the water again. She grabbed onto his arm before he could fall into the water for the umpteenth time of the day. “Alright, you’ll have to practice this on your own at your free time. We have other things to do today.” Hae Jung told Lay as he nodded his head.

Just then Celestial let out a soft growl and Brian caught on immediately what his tigress was trying to signal. “Hae Jung,” Brian whispered as she understood quickly. Within a second they were gone, leaving the twelve of them by themselves. “Guys, where did they go?” Kai asked as some of them looked around. They couldn’t feel the presence of two of their trainers anymore. They were alone by the lake. “Get ready,” Kris informed as everyone shot a look at him.

“We’re not alone.” Kris whispered as some of them clenched their fists.

“Why hello there.” A vampire spoke up the moment he suddenly appeared in front of Kris. Kris jerked backwards as he tried to dash out a punch at the vampire’s face but he was too slow. The vampire disappeared. He had dark brown hair along with matching eye color to go along with it. The twelve of them decided to form a circle, some facing the lake and some facing the trees in front of them. Just then five vampires appeared in the middle of their circle, causing all of them to turn around and back away. “You should never stick together this close.” One of them spoke up as the twelve dispersed from one another to take on the five vampires.

“Oops, too slow.” One vampire said as he dodged Tao’s attack by jumping up high to reach a tree branch. He swung around once before letting go of the tree branch to land on the ground. “Who’s next?” he taunted as Xiumin formed ice spikes to pierce them through the vampire’s body but it was no use. The vampires were too fast for them. “If we want to beat them, we’ll have to work together!” Kai shouted as they nodded their heads. Without wasting a second, at least four of them gathered to take on one vampire.

Kai teleported behind the vampire to kick him at his back, sending him towards Suho who created a strong wave to pull the vampire inside the lake. “Xiumin! Now!” Suho shouted as Xiumin dashed towards the surface of the water as he tried to balance himself on the water. “”Hurry Xiumin!” a few boys shouted at him but he was trying his best. “I’m trying!” Xiumin cried as suddenly the whole surface of the lake was frozen. “Let’s move on to the next one!” Suho shouted before they tried to take on the other vampire. “W-Wait..” Xiumin called out causing four boys to look back at him. Xiumin got off the surface of the lake as suddenly smoke could be seen rising up from where he was standing a moment ago.

A hole was formed on the surface of frozen water. The vampire climbed out of the hole before smirking at the four boys who thought they managed to kill him. “Didn’t think you guys would get rid of me so easy, would you?”

“.” Chen hissed before he wiped the blood at his wrist after being cut by the vampire with his weapon. “Sorry, was I too hard on you?” The vampire questioned, cocking an eyebrow. Baekhyun created a light ball with his hand and threw it at the vampire. It managed to stick on the vampire’s shirt and explode the moment it came in contact with the vampire. “Yes!” Baekhyun cheered but his celebration was too soon. Baekhyun was soon pinned on the ground by the vampire he had hit earlier. “You’re pretty quick on celebrating.” The vampire hissed before D.O. pulled the vampire off Baekhyun by summoning vines to pull the vampire away.

The vampire easily smirked before he cut off the vines away without even using his hands. D.O.'s eyes widened as he took a step back, trying to summon the vines again but it was pointless. Within a second, D.O. was tied up with vines that were on his side a moment ago. Kris flew towards the vampire controlling the vines and managed to grab a hold of his shirt. Kris lifted him up high in the sky to drop him down but his next move took him by surprise. The vampire easily elbowed Kris before turning Kris around to push him down from the sky.

Kris’s back came in contact with rocks on the ground. The rocks had cut into Kris’s skin before Kris let out a soft cry for help. Sehun tried all he can to create a wind strong enough to push off the vampire on Kris. The vampire crashed into a few trees before getting back up on his feet. “I must say, you guys are pretty good for newborns.”

“Shut up!” Chanyeol shouted as he tossed a fireball at the vampire that had just insulted him. “I believe I can’t.” the vampire smirked before dodging his attacks that came by pretty slow. Tao froze time and Chanyeol managed to toss a number of fireballs at the vampire. Soon time was resumed and the vampire disappeared. “Where the hell?!” Chanyeol shouted but Tao shot a glare at him. “Forget him! We need to help the others!”

Luhan used his mind to pick up a huge rock to fling it at the vampire opposite him. “Ah, so you have the power of telekinesis.” Luhan’s eyes widened but was easily replaced with a glare. Chen tried to strike lighting at the vampire that had just said a few words to Luhan but there was no effect. The lightning was going strike on the vampire but nothing happened. It vanished into thin air before it reached him. “Sadly to say, your powers are nothing to me.” The vampire smirked before pushing the two away with his mind. Luhan and Chen flew across the forest before crashing into a few trees.

“We’ve seen enough, bring them back at once place.” One vampire whispered to the other as they tried to gather all twelve of them back at once spot. “I dare you to chase me.” The vampire taunted a few of them that easily succeeded as the few of them started to chase him into the woods. The five vampires managed to get all twelve of them to meet up in the middle of the forest.

“What the heck?” Sehun let out the moment he met the faces of the rest of s along with the five vampires that tried to kill them. “It’s a trap!” Lay shouted as they were all too slow the moment five of the vampires crouched down to the ground to place their hands on it. Slowly the boys sunk into the soil and they couldn’t do anything about it. It was like quicksand to them even though it was hard soil.

“Who are you guys and what are you trying to do with us?!” Suho shouted as the five vampires didn’t say anything. The twelve newborns couldn’t even do anything, their hands were in the soil. “Allow us, to introduce ourselves.” The taller one smiled before he stood up. The rest of them stood up and he began with his own little introduction. “I’m Siwon. The one over there is Kyuhyun. The one behind me is Ryeowook. On Ryeowook’s left is Dong Hae, and beside Dong Hae is Eunhyuk.”

“Where are the other two?” Dong Hae whispered to Eunhyuk who shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea. Cenentric should be able to send a signal to Celestial that we’re done.”

“Wait,” Chanyeol called out as he realized Brian and Hae Jung were gone throughout their whole battle with these five experienced vampires. “Where are Hae Jung and Brian?!” he raised his voice as some of them felt betrayed. Out of nowhere, Hae Jung and Brian appeared at the scene. Instead of helping the boys out of the ground, they walked towards Siwon. “Wait!”

“Don’t go near him!”

“He tried to kill us a moment ago!”

They tried to warn the two but they couldn’t care less. There was no way in hell the five of them would hurt Brian or Hae Jung. The boys felt dumbfounded the moment Siwon smiled at both Brian and Hae Jung. Were they in this together? “So how are they?” Hae Jung asked as Siwon nodded approvingly. “They’re good. They’re much stronger compared to newborns I’ve seen on the Carrion Clan. But they can be stronger.”

Siwon along with the other four vampires were what they call, Praecipuus. Meaning, they’re half-blood brothers that could combine their energy together to create a big blow. Just like how they managed to make twelve people sink into the ground. It was because they combined their powers in the soil, thus linking their energy with one another. There were actually ten of them, the other five got killed during the war. It was a very tragic thing as the remaining five blamed themselves for the death of their brothers.

 “What’s going on?” Tao asked as the others were curious as well but they thought it would be a good idea to keep their mouths sealed. However, Tao’s question was left unanswered as no one answered him. “They need more training, that’s for sure.” Eunhyuk added in as he slung an arm over Hae Jung’s shoulder. “Wow, we would’ve never thought of that.” She shrugged his arm off before he pouted a little. “Years of being with your and you’re still a brat.” He muttered under his breath before she smacked him at his head. Sure Eunhyuk was much older, but he behaves like a child sometimes.

“But overall?” Brian asked as the five glanced at the twelve boys still in the ground. “I’ll tell you one thing,” Kyuhyun had a finger out as he made his way towards Hae Jung. “They have spirit, heart and determination.” Brian smiled a little as he nodded his head. “I suggest you train them on their speed and body balance. Remember that training we did on you?”

“The one with the rocks and on the mountain?” she questioned as the seven of them smiled at the great memories they’ve shared with one another before the war. “Yeah..when..when they were still alive with us.” Ryeowook gulped as Hae Jung took in a deep breath. “Thank you guys for being here. I hear you guys still have duties to complete back at Ethenal.”

“Yeah, we should probably get going now.” Siwon nodded before signaling the rest to follow him. “Uh,guys?”Brian called out, stopping the five from walking any further. “Oh yeah, right.” Dong Hae noticed that the twelve boys were still deep in the ground. The five of them crouched to the ground to place their hands on top of it. The twelve felt like a great force was pushing them out and they were free from the ground. “Sorry about that, if we didn’t do that you guys would’ve gone berserk.” Siwon apologized before giving a slight salute to Brian.

“We need an explanation.” Suho voiced out as the rest agreed instantly. “Those were our seniors.” Brian smiled at them as the anger in their face was gone. “Let’s have you guys cured before we carry on with our session.” It didn’t take that long to cure all of them as some of their injuries were cured because their body developments were coming along better than expected. Now they didn’t ask that many questions anymore, but they will when they get back to the house. “Was that our test or something?” Tao asked as Hae Jung hummed agreement. “Then why couldn’t the two of you just test us yourselves? Why use someone else?” Xiumin questioned as Hae Jung let out a heavy sigh before turning around to face the boys.

“If you were to fight against us, you will hold back because you know us. We’re your trainers so that’s why you will hold back.” She held up a hand when she realized D.O. was going to say something, making him close his mouth. “And don’t even dare say you won’t hold back because knowing newborns like you, you guys will definitely hold back fighting against the people you know.”

“Another thing is, you didn’t know them. When you don’t know someone, you take them as your enemy. And when someone is your enemy, yo-“

“You fight with all your might, doing your best to kill them before they kill you..or the one you love..” Brian whispered that part softly as he cut Hae Jung off. She nodded her head before looking back at the boy who asked her that question. “Understand now?”

“Here, we’re going to practice your balance. As a vampire, there will be times where you’ll be fighting among another vampire at a high place. And having balance is one of the things you should master.” The boys nodded their heads as they gulped looking down from the peak of the mountain. “Now follow my actions.” Hae Jung whispered as the boys looked closely. Hae Jung lifted up her right leg, raised two hands in the air. She made it look so simple to balance herself on a mountain. Mind them, if they were to lose their balance, they would fall off the mountain just like that.

“Close your eyes, and do what I’m doing. Slowly, try to bend your left leg that’s supporting you. From time to time, try to switch legs without stumbling. It will seem hard at first but when you’re used to it, it’ll come in a lot handy during your battles.” All the boys were struggling but they managed to pull through. Some nearly lost their balance but Hae Jung or Brian would help balance them so they wouldn’t fall off. Chanyeol tried to switch his left leg with his right when he accidentally slipped on a rock. He fell backwards and off the edge when Brian managed to grab onto his hand in time.

“Idiot, you should’ve been more careful.” Brian whispered as Chanyeol whimpered a little after glancing down to where he would fall down onto if Brian hadn’t catch him in time. The other boys couldn’t hear anything as Brian had shielded them with a force bubble the prevented them from hearing anything. Brian swiftly pulled Chanyeol up and told him to sit somewhere else first as he was excused from the training for a while. After a moment, Hae Jung noticed Chanyeol was gone. “Where did he go?” she whispered as Brian pointed at the tree that was all the way at the bottom of the mountain. “What on earth is he doing down there?”

“He must’ve felt disappointed because he nearly fell off the edge.” Hae Jung let out a heavy sigh before Brian nudged her shoulder a little. “You should talk to him, you’re the best when it comes to motivational speaking.” He grinned before she rolled her eyes at him. “C’mon, at least try. We’re stuck with these boys for a few years, maybe even for a few decades. If you don’t open up now, we’ll never get to work with them.”

“You know what? I’ll make with you a deal.” She smirked before she came closer towards Brian.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Brian smiled before she raised an eyebrow. “Let’s have a night. One night where all of us talk. We’ll listen to them tell us about their past and then we’ll tell ours.”

“We?” she repeated as she blinked at Brian. Not once would he tell anyone about his past, especially newborns. “You can go ahead, I’m not telling them.” She shrugged her shoulders as she turned around. “Either you tell them, or I will.” Her eyes shot open before she turned to glare at him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me, Hae Jung.”

“Brian, I swear I’ll rip your head off.”

“Do it, I’d like to see you try. You know I need you and you need me.” He smiled before crossing his arms in front of his chest. She let out a frustrated sigh before taking a step back. “Fine, I’ll tell them.” He grinned like an idiot before making his way towards her. “Only when I’m ready to tell them. Until then, I’ll just try my best to be less..cold?”

“Well, if you’re taking things slow.. it’s better than not moving at all.” Brian smiled before he nudged her to go to Chanyeol.