Jae sat curled up in the vampire’s cave that she couldn’t leave. The young human girl stretched out her legs, curled her toes, and winced at the pain that shot up her leg from her wounded leg. Sighing, she curled back up and tried to sleep in the unfamiliar place that she had been stuck in for an unknown period of time. Her gauge of night and day had been ruined by the infinitely dark cave. Honestly, it was only unfamiliar because she didn’t have her pack with her. She’s fallen asleep in random places before but she had never slept without her pack. She shivered as a freezing cold drop of water landed on her bare skin.

Suddenly, warmth covered her body. She looked up to see Suho placing a rawhide over her.

“We use this when some of us are too anemic to survive the day even if we go into torpor. It’s very warm, right?” He smiled kindly at her. “You’ll get back to your pack soon. I’m sure they’re looking for you.”

She nodded slowly. “Thank you…”

He patted her hair soothingly. Jae closed her eyes and fell asleep at his comforting touch. Suho smiled gently at her sleeping form. He knew she hadn’t been very well rested. It’s to be expected when staying in this cold prison. He uncovered her leg to check her wounded leg. It was healing slowly; not surprising considering the condition it was in when he had found her. As quietly as possible, he wrapped her legs back up under the rawhide and went to find some of the rest of the pack.

“Suho…we need a new plan. At this rate, we won’t survive this winter,” Kris informed. Suho sighed, knowing Kris was right.

“Not to mention keeping that human here is posing a huge risk for us. The wolves will probably sniff her out sooner or later. From the way she acts when she’s alone, she’s never been away from her pack and probably grew up with them. I’m sure they wouldn’t just leave her be like this,” D.O informed as the one who had been taking care of her injury.

“There’s no way we can fight off against a wolf pack in our current state!” Baekhyun panicked. “Get rid of her!”

“Why get rid of something we can use?” Chen suggested.

“What?” Kris questioned as Suho stared at Chen with wide eyes. The younger vampire just shrugged.

“I mean if the kid means so much to them, they’d probably be willing to get us some food to last us for at least another month and we give her back to them safe and sound.”

“You’re suggesting we…use her as hostage?” Suho clarified.

“Good idea, Chen. That’s what we’ll do,” Kris decided. Suho opened his mouth to oppose but then closed it when he realized there wasn’t anything he could say. What was he going to say? No? For what? For a puny human girl’s fragile feelings?

No.

“D.O, take one of her bandages and place it somewhere close to the cave. We’ll take turns scouting for the appearance of wolves,” Suho commanded.

He had his whole colony to worry about.

~

EunMi sighed as she checked the tree again for any signs of Sungjong. She was getting extremely worried. Sure, there have been times that he underestimated how long he’d be gone, but it’s been over a week since what he said he’d be gone for.

With nothing else she could do, she turned to go to her lab. Her research had been progressing as expected. But she just wasn’t into it anymore. To say she was worried about her werewolf was an understatement. It’s not that she wasn’t concerned for his safety but he was her only wild demon connection. And a smart one at that.

They had met by chance during one of research collections right outside of the barrier.

“Why are you collecting water in a jar? Don’t you humans have like…water being pumped through your civilization?”

EunMi screamed loudly at the sudden voice that came out of nowhere. Just as she turned to run, someone jumped right in front of her and covered , glaring straight into her eyes.

“I asked you a question and you scream? How rude. I’ll eat you if you don’t shut your annoying mouth, human,” he scoffed in irritation, as if her screaming was such a surprising reaction. “No screaming.”

She could only nod slowly before he let her go, allowing her to finally take a deep breath. Realizing he asked her a question, she answered softly, “I’m…doing research?”

“Research? Like…scoping out territory?”

“No…like…umm…trying to learn about…these animals.”

“That’s a weird thing to do.”

“Are you a werewolf?”

“Yes, is that a problem?”

“…are you going to eat me?”

“Only if you scream again. That was very painful for my ears. They’re very sensitive.”

“Why?”

“Know your enemies,” he said with a shrug.

“You want to learn about humans?!” EunMi gasped in surprise.

“Yes, and I get the feeling you want to learn about demons.”

“Definitely!”

“Good.”

“My name is EunMi.”

“Sungjong.”

“This is so amazing! I can’t believe how lucky I am! I’ve always wanted to learn more about demons but I don’t know any familiars and that’s the closest we can get to demons without getting killed!”

He smirked. “Trust me. It’s not luck.”

EunMi later learned that he’d been watching her for a while and had already known that she would have taken the bait to this partnership for learning. He had been an invaluable resource.

She was worried but there was nothing she could do. It was too dangerous to go outside of the Wall for humans. She’d know. She’s done it enough times. But she always had an after that time.

“You know something that is probably useful to me.”

EunMi gasped. That voice. Kira the fox. The canid smirked as her feet dangled from the edge of the building she was sitting on. Sungjong had told her about the fox. She was smart. Very smart. And dangerous.

“I’ve seen you gazing at that tree quite often. What are you looking for?” Kira questioned as she jumped off the building. Just before she hit the ground, a blast of fire from her feet soften her landing, leaving a scorch mark where she stood.

“…that’s public property you’re ruining.”

“Put it on my tab,” Kira shrugged nonchalantly. “So what are you looking for, human? Or perhaps I should ask…who?”

~

‘What am I doing here?’

She’s lost it. Su the runt Stymphalian was in the most social, rambunctious place that she had ever been. With a human boy no less.

“SuMi!”

With a yelp, she was yanked away from the crowd of people about to run her over.

“Be careful,” chuckled Henry.

“Why am I here?” Su whined as she picked herself up from Henry’s hold. “It’s loud…and there’s so many people this close…and…”

“Just relax! Have fun!” Henry laughed as he pulled her to their seats. “You’ve never been to a music show before, right?”

Su sighed as she took her seat next to him. It wasn’t that she didn’t like music or even that she didn’t like busy places like this. It was the fear of being caught. It was dangerous enough as a demon refugee hiding from the humans, but with this new information she got, her life might be in danger now. She shouldn’t be out in public like this. Glancing at the human boy next to her, she became curious about his background. Where was his family? Was he ever in danger like she was? Probably not. Humans were safe in this little ball of theirs.

Henry turned and blinked at SuMi. He smiled at her. His smile was sweet like the fruits she loved to eat so much. She offered a little smile back at him.

Maybe just this once.

Just tonight she’ll enjoy herself without worrying about hiding or surviving.

That’s what she decided.

That was her mistake.

Her eyes widened in horror at the next singer that came on.

She strutted on stage confidently, flipping her hair before taking the mic with authority. Her smile shined brightly like an angel as her eyes shimmered like stars in the sky. The dress she wore accentuated all of her curves. Her voice resonated sweetly in everyone’s ears.

Except Su’s.

No.

In her eyes rang the voice of a demon.

Of course no one else knew.

That was her charm.

That was what it meant to be a siren.

And that siren was staring straight at her.

~

“Where is Sunggyu?” Jihye growled out in irritation. “He is supposed to be resting still.”

All the conscious werewolves in the room would avert their eyes. The lone caretaker was losing her patience with all of these idiotic meat heads. Her supplies are running low and Seungho had gone and disappeared on her. Useless tengu.

“I swear, that flapping bird only shows up to cause trouble,” she muttered under her breath as she searched for her (constantly) missing patient. “SUNGGYU! GET YOUR BACK HERE!”

Sunggyu watched from behind a tree as Jihye passed by his hiding place. When he was sure she was gone, he let out the breath he was holding and transformed into his full wolf form to catch up with the rest of his pack. Jihye might not be the most powerful of all demons but she is very…persuasive. With one last shiver, he continued jogging through the woods in search of the part of his pack that had gone to hunt food for the injured.

It didn’t take long for him to sniff out the trail to them. Like satellite dishes, his ears rotated every which way to hone in on familiar voices when he could no longer pinpoint their exact route by scent anymore. They must have gone back and forth through this area since their scents were overpowering but all over the place.

“L, stay left. Woohyun, follow Hoya’s lead going right.”

“Found them,” Sunggyu whispered to himself as he heard Dongwoo giving out commands in his absence. He waited for the hunt to end before showing himself. The amount of concentration needed to conduct a hunt was high enough that appearing unannounced could ruin the coordination and timing. Once they took down the large doe, Sunggyu revealed himself.

“Sunggyu! Should you be up and walking around like that?!” Woohyun called out immediately at the appearance of their wounded leader.

“We don’t have time for that. I’ve been immobilized for long enough.”

“…though I don’t think that’s for you to decide,” Woohyun mumbled under his breath earning him a glare from Sunggyu.

“Hoya, take that deer back to Jihye’s place. The rest of you, spread the word to the other demons in the forest,” Sunggyu commanded with authority.

“Spread the word?” Dongwoo questioned as Sunggyu marched forward, preparing to do his part.

She should have just ran when the bodyguards informed her that she had been the lucky audience member to get a backstage tour of the music program.

But then she saw the ultimatum she was given by the threatening looks they gave Henry.

She may be weak but she wasn’t going to be responsible for the death of an innocent human being.

felt parched as she entered her room.

“Welcome, little runt.”

“Siren,” Su greeted plainly.

“Is that any way to greet the famous Ailee?” chuckled the charming singer.

“What do you want from me?”

Instantly, there was a blade by Su’s neck, causing the Stymphalian to quiver with fear as she stood froze under the red glint of the siren.

“W-Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” Ailee laughed.

“They’re coming!” Chanyeol announced as he ran back into the cave to get their two leaders.

Kris grabbed Jae roughly by the bicep and dragged her with him. She screamed in surprise at suddenly being manhandled.

“Chanyeol, guard our injured. The rest of you, scatter around the woods. Make yourself scarce and don’t let those dogs sniff you out,” Kris commanded as he continued pulling Jae much faster than her legs allowed.

“This is war.”

=====================================================================

Boo cliffhanger~

~Kira :3