“Suji,” Leo growled, glaring at the youngest original, “how could you let him out?”

“He promised he would save N,” she yelled back, trying to defend her decision, “he promised not to hurt anyone.”

“And we’re sure he said that last time, too,” Ken scoffed, “but look how that turned out.”

In the blink of an eye, Leo and Ken found themselves pined against the wall on the other side of the room with Shin’s hands wrapped around their throats. Both vampires gasped in shock before starting to claw at the hands around their necks. Everyone stood, gasping in surprise and fear.

Shin just smiled, enjoying their struggle until Bora came into the room.

“Big Sis,” Shin cheered, letting Leo and Ken drop to the floor, “I missed you. You haven’t come to visit me in years.”

“We will talk about this later,” Bora hissed at Suji who looked away, clearly angry with the older for disapproving of Shin’s freedom.

“Don’t ignore me, Bora,” Shin said, his cheerful tone vanishing, “Not when we haven’t seen each other in so long. I thought you believed in family. Well, aren’t I family? Or am I just some rat mother took in?”

“You’re family,” Bora replied, her own voice void of emotion, “but that doesn’t change what you’ve done. How do you expect me to treat you when you’ve killed so many people? Like you’re a king? Like you haven’t done something wrong?”

“You kept me locked in a box,” Shin replied, slowly making his way over to her. Luhan and N both tensed, ready to put themselves between the siblings should the younger make a move to attack. Everyone else stayed perfectly still, unsure of what to do. Should they attack? Or trust Bora to handle the situation?

“And what else were we to do?” Jiwook asked, appearing at Bora’s side.

“I can see that this will get us nowhere,” Shin sighed dramatically, “so I propose a deal. My freedom for your dear N’s life. Do you agree, Bora? Or would you rather watch him die?”

“If it means you being free, I’d rather watch him die,” she replied. Even though he knew why she said it, N couldn’t help feeling a bit hurt by her words. He knew his life wasn’t worth the death and suffering of countless others, but to hear Bora say as much stung.

“So cold, big sis,” the hybrid laughed, “no wonder that human boy left you.” Luhan noticed the pained look that flashed in Bora’s eyes. Now wasn’t the time to ask, but he made a note of it for later.

“That has nothing to do with anything,” Bora hissed, “now go back to your box, Shin, or I will put you there myself.”

“Too bad that neither is going to happen,” Shin chortled darkly, “you see, I’m free now. And I’m not going back. If you want to put me back in that box, feel free to try. But I have no problem killing you, Bora.” Shin locked eyes with Suji before letting out a sigh, “but I did promise our dear little sister I would save your pet. Suji, I will only do this for you. As thanks for letting me free once more.”

Shin appeared behind N, pulling the younger’s head back. Shin sliced his wrist open with his own teeth before stuffing his arm into N’s mouth. N tried to get free, but Shin was too strong and soon enough N had enough hybrid blood forced down his throat to heal him from his werewolf bite. It was only then Shin pulled away, letting N fall forewords as he hurried to get away.

“See you around,” Shin laughed before running through one of the living room windows. Glass shattered and pieces flew everywhere. Several of the werewolves and vampires in the room let out yelps of surprise, but Bora just stood there in silence.

“Bora,” Suji opened to say something, anything, but the older just raised her hand to silently shush her. Without a word, Bora walked over to the younger and stood there for a moment, looking Suji right in the eye. Everyone winced a second later at the sound of Bora slapping Suji across the face.

“We will discuss this later,” Bora said, “for now, I need to figure out how we are going to deal with this……problem.” Saying nothing else, Bora left the room with Jiwook close behind her. Luhan watched her go and was reminded of how the original had behaved when he first met her.

Luhan hadn’t realized until then how Bora had changed. She’d been warming up to him and his brothers. She’d even started smiling a bit in class. But now, with the threat of her youngest brother looming over their heads, she’d reverted to the old Bora. She was once more the cold, heartless vampire queen who looked at the world with disinterest.

“How could you?” Leo hissed, his words shattering the silence that had fallen over the room. Even without knowing who he was looking at, everyone knew the words he had spoken were aimed at Suji.

“I had to save N,” she tried to defend herself, “I thought he had changed. He still might have, we don’t know yet.”

“I hope you can still say that to the next group of people he hurts,” Ken growled, appearing in front of the older girl, “because I refuse to help clean up your mess when he snaps. This is your problem, not mine. You should be the one trying to find a solution, not Bora.”

“Any and all deaths he causes are on your head,” Leo told her before leaving the room. Ken flashed his fangs at Suji, silently warning her that she would live to regret her choice, before leaving himself.

“You shouldn’t have done it, Suji,” N sighed, standing and wiping the blood from his lips. He spat on the floor, trying to get the horrible taste of Shin’s blood out of his mouth.

“But you would have died,” she yelled. Tears streamed down her face out of frustration and hurt. None of her family or friends supported her decision to free Shin and it hurt her. How could Bora and Jiwook condemn their brother?  Why couldn’t they see the good in him like she could?”

“My life isn’t worth the damage he can bring,” N frowned, “Leo is right, this is on your head, Suji. Every life he takes from now on is just as much your fault as it is his.” N then left the room, hoping to find where Bora had slunk off to.

He knew she felt the same as Leo and Ken. She knew that cleaning up this mess should be Suji’s job. Yet Bora’s heart would no doubt get in the way and she’d take responsibility for everything. She’d done just that when Ken lost his family. He’d asked who let Shin free a couple months after being turned. Even though the blame fell to Suji for asking Shin to be let out, Bora had lied, claiming it was all her.

Hearing that, Ken had flown into a violent rage. He’d sworn to kill Bora one day and for the next three years he had hated the older vampire. More than once N and Leo had watched Ken attempt to kill Bora, watched as each attempt was met with utter failure. With every failed attempt, Ken had gotten increasingly angry and frustrated until he’d decided to leave the group. He’d sworn that he could never stay in the same group as the woman who caused the death of his family.

That was where N drew the line. He had known Ken couldn’t survive on his own back then. He could now, but at the time he lacked enough control and experience. Knowing that the younger would be dead within a year if he left, N had explained that it was Suji’s request, her pleas, that got Shin free. Bora’s only fault in the matter was that she loved Suji too much to deny her such a request. Ken had still considered leaving for a while, but he had forgiven Bora. After all, he knew the feeling of being unable to say no to a sibling.

Now, N knew she would do the same thing. Take the blame for Shin’s actions even though it belonged to Suji. She just wanted to protect the younger from the hate and resentment that she rightfully deserved.

A/N: so Shin’s free and no one knows his next move. *evil grin* well, I do. And you’ll just have to wait to find out…..or, you can re-read past chapters and see if I’ve left any clues about what Shin’s planning to do (I know there’s at least one in the past couple of chapters). Thank you lovely subscriber and dear readers, you guys are awesome! And please comment if you have time ‘cuz seeing that even one of you have left a comment is one of the best parts of my day (no lie. I get all happy and start grinning like a crazy person every time I see that I have a new comment). Next week is Halloween which just so happens to by my favorite holiday. So, to celebrate, I’m going to be posting a special chapter next week. Keep an eye out for it!