A/N: so, guess who’s birthday it is today? Yep, I’m now a 21 year old! And every time I think “I’m 21” I start singing the opening of “Fire” by 2NE1 lolz

In the week following Shin’s release, all thirteen vampires were absent from school. And it wasn’t just school, either. The werewolves had made a point of stopping by the mansion every day after school, hoping to find their friends. Every day greeted them with nothing but an empty house. Not even a clue about where they were could be found.

Luhan growled lightly as he sat in class, listening to his classmates’ gossip about what could have happened to them. He’d heard everything, from Bora was pregnant with N’s baby to Leo killed a guy and the family fled into the night to escape the cops. Luhan had even overheard the teachers discussing the same rumors, trying to figure out which was true.

Now that had really disgusted the werewolf. Students gossiped all the time about fellow students. But for the teachers to do the same thing? It just seemed wrong and unprofessional to the blond werewolf.

“I’m sick of this,” Chanyeol sighed, his normal grin long gone. Without Ken around to talk to, the taller werewolf had gotten pretty darn depressing to be around most of the time. Luhan couldn’t blame him, he was even worse without Bora and N.

And they weren’t the only ones in their pack feeing miserable.

Sehun was getting increasingly moody without Jina. Suho and Lay tried to keep everyone’s spirits up, but you could tell that they missed having Leo around. Baekhyun’s cheerfulness had taken a hit without Suji to laugh and joke with. Chen and Kai weren’t much better without Hanbi and Ravi to make their classes more entertaining. Tao had a pout frozen on his face every time he was reminded of Gayun’s absence in the classroom (how that friendship had formed was a mystery to everyone). Xiumin kept avoiding his own class, feeling lonely without Jiwook’s presence and Nara’s friendly chatter. D.O and Kris were quieter during class then normal without Hyuk to talk to.

There wasn’t a single werewolf who wasn’t affected by the lack of vampires and the rest of the school seemed to notice it. The female students didn’t bother them as much with their fangirling and the boys just gave them space. Even the teachers seemed to be leaving them alone more often, not bothering them when they didn’t pay attention in class or answered a question wrong.

“Did you hear about the girl they found behind the coffee shop?” Luhan’s ears perked up at this new piece of gossip. Could this explain where Bora and the others were? Or maybe what Shin was doing?

“Yeah,” another girl gasped, “the news said had been ripped out. Isn’t she, like, the second girl this week?”

“And they just found another this morning,” a boy joined the conversation, “I heard about it on the radio on the drive here. They found the body of some guy shredded in front of this pizza place. Whatever did it really mangled him, too. The cops have to ID him by his DNA ‘cuz his face is, like, gone.”

“Scary,” the first girl shuttered. Luhan couldn’t agree more.

“Shin?” Tao asked, biting his lower lip out of nervousness. If Bora and the others were gone, then Shin was free to do whatever he wanted.

Free to kill anyone and leave their body were anyone could see.

Luhan didn’t think Bora would just leave, not with Shin around. But in a way he didn’t think that mattered. Shin was a hybrid. Bora wasn’t. If he wanted to kill a bunch of people, then Luhan didn’t think Bora could do much to stop him. She might be the vampire queen, but there were some things even a queen couldn’t do.

When school finally ended, Tao was quick to tell the others of the murder victims. Everyone else had already heard, making a point of how scared their human classmates seemed. Murder generally did scare people, especially when three brutal murders had taken place only days after each other. But there was something different about this set of murders. It was the humans just knew it wasn’t a regular human killing these people.

Some instinctual part of them knew that it was a real monster, not a human monster, taking lives.

“I think its Shin,” Kai frowned, “who else would be doing this? Maybe he’s killed the others and now he can do whatever he wants.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Baekhyun growled, “N, Leo and the other turned vampires wouldn’t die that easily. And it’s almost impossible to kill Bora, Jiwook and Suji.”

“Well if they aren’t dead, why aren’t they doing anything to stop him?” Kai countered.

“Because they can’t stop him,” Kris sighed, “not without help. Remember that witch Leo and Ken mentioned? The one who cast the spell sealing Shin away in the first place? Maybe they need her descendant’s help to seal him away again.” Everyone paused, thinking over the alpha’s words.

“Maybe your right,” Xiumin nodded, “that would explain why we can’t find them. Maybe Suji broke the spell when she let him out and they have to have it recast?”

It seemed logical. Very logical in fact. Luhan suddenly felt bad for ever thinking that Bora would have left Shin to do as he pleased. He should have known she’d come up with a plan to deal with her brother. Maybe he was wrong about the queen not being able to do anything.

The group of werewolves continued their walk home in silence. They had hope now that their friends could solve their Shin problem. If they talked about it anymore, then they might find a reason to lose that hope.

Everything was fine until they heard a body drop to the ground.

Looking around, Sehun was the first to see Shin standing across the street with the body of a young girl at his feet. His face was smeared with blood and his out of date clothing was stained with crimson stains both old and new.

“Well would you look here,” Shin smiled, revealing his fangs, “I’ve been looking for you twelve all day. This cute little thing here did a great job keeping me entertained until you came along, though.” Shin kicked the girl’s body in the ribs, sending her flying out into the street. The girl stayed silent, confirming that Shin had indeed killed her, taking the life of another innocent person. His fourth victim.

Kris and Suho moved to the front of the group, pushing the others behind them. As the alphas of their pack, they had a responsibility to their brothers to protect them. As brothers, they couldn’t live with themselves if something happened to their brothers. If Shin was going to do anything, he’d have to get through them first.

The act just seemed to amuse Shin more as his grin grew. Did the werewolves really think they could stop him from getting what he wanted? Shin laughed, enjoying how the twelve flinched away with every step he took in their direction. No, they couldn’t stop him no matter how hard they tried.

And with that thought he rushed forewords.

A/N: so, who hates me right now for doing this *points at chapter* to EXO? I’d love to say something right now, but whatever I say might spoil the next chapter and I can’t have that *evil grin*. Thank you readers, both subscribed and not. Please leave a comment if you have the time to do so.