Could Bora have been more foolish?

Honestly, the original didn’t think so.

When she’d taken a look at Shin’s coffin, she found the wooden box smashed beyond repair. And even if she could get it fixed, the sealing spell that was meant to hold Shin in was broken. The oldest original had almost given up all hope then. She’d been convinced that they would never be able to seal the hybrid away again and he’d just wander the world for the rest of eternity, a trail of death left in his wake.

“What about Alexandria?”

N’s question had snapped her back into the correct state of mind and given her a plan of action that she could only hope worked.

Alexandria descended from the witch who cast the sealing spell in the first place. She had her family’s spell book with the sealing spell, too. So long as Bora could get her hands on another coffin, they could lock Shin away again. This time for eternity.

The only problem was finding Alexandria.

The witch had apparently felt the seal breaking and had known what it meant; The original hybrid was free once again. Knowing that Shin would probably try to kill her at some point, ending her bloodline and preventing Bora from using it to seal him away again, she’d gone into hiding. Even with the vast array of connections Bora and the other vampires in her family had, no one could find her.

With no other option, Bora had packed everyone up and shipped them off all around the world. With thirteen vampires searching in different places, she was sure they could find Alexandria within a few days. A week tops. She knew that Shin would probably cause a fair bit of damage in that time frame, but she couldn’t help it. They needed a witch to seal him away and the only witch who could help them do it was MIA.

In hind sight, Bora knew she should have left someone behind to watch over EXO. Or she could have taken them along. Twelve more people looking couldn’t hurt, especially if those people were werewolves. But she had left them, trusting that they could look after themselves, not thinking that Shin would try anything as bold as attacking them.

Oh, how wrong she was.

A week after leaving South Korea, after Shin was freed, she got word of two things. One that pleased her to no end, and one that angered her so much the people around her had backed away in fear. The good news was that Leo had found Alexandria in London and was already headed home with her. The bad news was that Shin had attacked EXO. Well, attacked wasn’t the right word for what he had done.

No, that was just what the newspaper headline said. High School Students Survive Bloody Attack; Twelve High School Students Attacked By Same Criminal Responsible For Four Other Deaths. But Bora could read between the lines.

Shin had attacked them, but hadn’t killed them. This was either him messing with her, trying to send a message, or he was trying to create hybrids again. He’d tried with humans and failed. He’d tried with vampires and failed. Was he trying with werewolves now? Bora hoped to whatever higher power there was that this was just a warning. 

In her unbeating heart she knew it wasn’t.

Upon returning to South Korea, Bora wasted no time in arriving at the house EXO called home. She knew everyone else had heard about the attack and would be there as soon as they arrived back home. She hadn’t even gotten through the front gate when Leo and N stopped her, matching frowns on their faces.

“He turned them,” N explained, “he forced them to drink his blood, he killed them, and they woke up as hybrids. I don’t know how it worked or why, but I’m kind of glad it did.” Bora nodded in understanding. While Shin getting what he wanted wasn’t a good thing, EXO still being alive was a very good thing.

“How are they?” she asked.

“Angry,” Leo replied, “with us for leaving and Shin for doing this to them. It’s worse because their emotions are heightened. They don’t have full control over it yet, so they keep lashing out. They’ve said a lot of things they don’t really mean and it’s starting to get a bit annoying.” Bora nodded. A side effect of being a vampire – or half vampire as the case may be – was the heightened emotions. It took time to get control over them and EXO hadn’t gotten that time yet. Thankfully she had learned to control herself, as had Leo and N or things would really be a mess.

“Suji has locked herself away in the mansion,” N explained, “she got here yesterday and saw them. I think she’s realized that this is her fault. She feels guilty.” Bora nodded once more. She felt awful for her sister, but her sympathy only went so far when Suji’s actions had gotten their friends hurt.

“Bora!” Luhan yelled, suddenly throwing open the door and rushing to her side at vampire speed. He threw his arms around her, nuzzling his face against her neck as a content smile formed on his face. Bora blinked, her cheeks heating slightly. It had been a long time since someone had done something like this to her. Even N didn’t get this hands-on with her and he’d loved her for several thousand years. Leo watched with a knowing look on his face while N silently fumed.

“Give her some room,” N growled lightly, annoyed to see the werewolf – correction, hybrid – getting so close to the original. Heightened emotions on not, there was only so much N could forgive. Luhan cuddling with Bora wasn’t one of those things.

Luhan quickly pulled away, blushing in embarrassment over his actions. He hadn’t meant to do what he’d done, to hug and cuddle Bora like that. It was just that he’d smelled her scent and couldn’t control how happy he was to see her again. Hopefully she blamed it on his heightened emotions because he’d die of embarrassment if she figured out he loved her.

Wait, no. liked. He liked Bora. He had no idea where that other L word came from.

Oh, the blond was most defiantly not enjoying these new heightened emotions.

Sehun watched the exchange from the doorway and almost laughed before he remembered that he was in the same position a few days prior. When Jina had come back with Leo, he’d been so happy he’d almost kissed her. Jina had brushed if off as emotion overload, but he knew Leo hadn’t. The black haired vampire hadn’t said anything, but Sehun got the feeling that Leo was keeping a very close eye on him. Especially when Jina was in the room.

It took a few days for everyone else to arrive, but soon everyone was gathered in the living room of EXO’s home. The topic of discussion was simple: how do we seal Shin away again?

“We could kill him,” Kris suggested, no love in his – now unbeating – heart for the original hybrid.

“No,” Bora frowned, “You can weaken a witch by turning someone in their bloodline, like their mother, into a vampire, cutting their tie to magic. What do you think will happen by killing an original?” she was met with silence. “I have no idea either, no originals have ever died, but I don’t think we want to find out. Shin has to be sealed away, not killed.”

“So how do we do that?” Kai asked, “he needs to stay locked up this time. No one can ever be able to free him again.” Suji hung her head, yet again being reminded that this was her fault. Four innocent people were dead and EXO had been turned into hybrids. All because of her.

“I have something,” Alexandria said, pulling out her family’s spell book, “but it’s going to take some work.”

A/N: aww, Luhan’s so cute when his emotions are on overload. And poor Sehun hasn’t realized he’d got a crush on Jina. I wonder, what does happen when you kill an original? Maybe we’ll find out. Or maybe we won’t. Thanks my dear readers for, ya know, reading this. Comments are always loved (and always replied to) so leave one if you have the time!