They were coming and Lu Han felt that it was the right time for everything to come to light. He gathered everyone around in a circle, first thing in the morning, and asked for the truth from Hae Ri and Chanyeol. Likewise, he revealed everything he knew from the Park Couple. They had to share all the information that they know so as to figure out what is going on.

“Why are my parents involved in this?” Chanyeol demanded.

Baekhyun and Lay looked at Lu Han intently. Lu Han replied softly,

“Let’s wait until your parents get here alright? It will be best for…”

But Chanyeol was not listening, his eyes widened in surprise as he spotted two figures approaching from behind Lu Han.

“Umma! Appa!”

He stood up, his mouth agape. He ran towards his parents and gave them a warm embrace.  As he knew his parents possessed powerful magic, he had not been too worried about them after knowing about the war but seeing them safe and sound and right here with him relieved him immensely. When they pulled back from the hug, Mr Park’s originally emotional expression turned back to his usual stoic one whereas Mrs Park had tears in her eyes.

“There is no time to waste, the situation out there is horrible…we need to talk,” Mr Park said firmly, joining in the circle and demanding everyone’s attention.

“Appa, what is going on?” Chanyeol asked.

“Son,” Yoon Hwan began and Mrs Park took both of Chanyeol’s hands, intertwining her fingers with his.

“Your mother and I are the Keepers.”

Chanyeol frowned. Lu Han had told him about them before.

“18 years ago, I was part of the NSA,” Yoon Hwan continued.

“Jong Hun and I were partners. At that time, there were a series of mysterious deaths – corpses which were completely bloodless were found. It was a major and very secretive case. If the masses were to find out about such a situation, they would freak out. Jong Hun and I tracked the trails and we unknowingly entered the vampire’s lair. I was bitten by an old vampire, whom I found out later was Savant, a member of the elder council. I wasn’t converted into a vampire but my bloodline was cursed. From then on, I had to fulfil my responsibility as a Keeper, to ensure peace between the humans and the vampires. I had to ensure that harmony could be achieved and with that all Keepers are gifted with strong magical abilities. To fulfil my duty, the very first step would be to ensure that the royals’ identities would not be revealed and that is why I left NSA and joined Lamia, to take care of the remaining descendants of the Byun and Lu family,” he explained.

“Your bloodline was cursed…that means I am a Keeper too? Then why did you send me back to the NSA?” Chanyeol demanded. He was becoming very agitated.

“Yes, the lady that I choose to mate with and our children, the members of our family will have to bear this fate…The moment you were born, your mother and I were given an Order. We were made to send you to the NSA when you turned 3 years old. We knew that someday you would return but we did not know when. We only know that when you come back to us, the war would soon begin,” Yoon Hwan said.

“An Order?” Chanyeol questioned.

“It is like a Geis, from Irish mythology. Whoever is given an Order has to fulfil whatever the Order requires of them. However, the person who is given an Order can never speak about the Order. If he tries to do so, he’ll fall into slumber and any memories of him trying to tell anyone about it will be erased,” Lu Han spoke up.

“Yes. However, with the Unlocking of the gates of Savant’s entrapment, the war has begun and our Order is fulfilled. We are no longer bound by it,” Yoon Hwan finished.

Mrs Park gave Chanyeol’s hands a squeeze but he remained deep in thought, stunned.

“The Bloodsuckers are overwhelming the NSA’s defence…We need to get all of you to Savant right –“Yoon Hwan continued but was interrupted by Hae Ri.

“What does the NSA have anything to do with this?!” She cried.

The Park Couple exchanged gazes. Mr Park remained silent and Mrs Park began gently,

“Hae Ri, there are a lot of things that you still do not understand…Now is not the time to question everything, we do not have time for this.”

“No,” Hae Ri replied firmly.

“All of you have kept enough things from us. We need to know the truth.”

Mrs Park sighed. Hae Ri is right. Mr Park spoke up carefully,

Chanyeol requested to be left alone. He sat against the trunk of a tree, his usual spot for the past few days and stared into space. The rest were discussing what they should do next. The Park Couple asserted that they should hurry to Savant but Hae Ri protested, saying that she had to go back to the NSA and find out the truth. Eventually, the rest agreed. It will be risky but finding out more about the Order on Jong Hun and the situation from the humans’ side will be beneficial information. Security will be tight and they have to be very careful. Their main objective is to get to Savant after all and they cannot be annihilated before that.

Chanyeol was in turmoil. He could finally understand how Hae Ri must have felt when she found out that she was half vampire. The burden of duty: hers as a member of the royal vampire family who has the ability to stop the war and his, a Keeper who has to bring back peace. The anger towards the elder council: executing her mother and causing her father’s death, depriving her of parental love and for him, separating his parents and him for most of his life, depriving him from the same love. Chanyeol just felt so mind-blown. He was never truly angry at his parents for leaving him all alone at NSA. They had told him that he had a duty to accomplish, the one that he had never found out what it was and now it seems like his parents did not know what it was either. It was a lie, a white lie to be exact, a lie to get him through the times when they were not beside him. In a way he was glad about the way his parents had handled the whole situation. Abandoning a three year old child to learn to grow up all by himself was not easy. But because they had told him of his duty, the trust and respect he had for his parents at such a young age turned into motivation to accomplish what he has to do. He would not have expected the mischievous young Chanyeol to grow up into an independent and capable young man that Chief had said he was now. Chanyeol pondered for awhile. It seemed like many things that have happened to them and the incidents that they have encountered were all planned. There was no such thing as coincidences. They have to be more careful from now on.

Hae Ri walked towards Chanyeol but she hesitated once she could see him clearly. The scent of his blood was overwhelmingly tempting but Hae Ri suppressed the urge to bite him. Though she was still in the process of staying away from him, after listening to what his parents have just told him and seeing that look on his face, she just could not leave him alone. She quietly took a seat beside him, leaning her back against the trunk as well. They stayed silent for a couple of minutes, just enjoying being near each other again.

“Are you…alright?” Hae Ri asked tentatively.

There was a moment of silence.

“So you’re finally willing to talk to me again?” Chanyeol asked back. He turned and look at Hae Ri straight in the eyes. His eyes were slightly red but there were no signs of tears. Hae Ri looked away and replied,

“I wasn’t not 'willing to talk to you'…” she replied softly, knowing that it was a blatant lie.

“I just didn’t want to hurt you,” she whispered.

Images of Hae Ri going on a rampage right after the Unblock was conducted flashed through Chanyeol’s mind and he felt goosebumps all over his body. He controlled his breathing, trying to calm his racing heart.

“It’s alright. She’s still Hae Ri, my Hae Ri,” he chanted to himself.

“You will never hurt me,” Chanyeol stated.

Hae Ri’s body jerked in surprise and she looked into Chanyeol’s large eyes. What she saw in his bright orbs made her feel very guilty. She saw sincerity.

“Of course…No matter how much of a monster I become, I would never ever hurt Chanyeol. He is my best friend. He is my…” Hae Ri’s thoughts trailed off as Chanyeol suddenly hugged her.

Chanyeol’s consciousness was screaming out at him to not be stupid but his arms just automatically went around Hae Ri. His heart was racing so fast that he thought that it was going to catapult out his chest because his natural protective mechanism did not want him to get hurt but when his arms touched her bare skin, nothing happened. Everything feels exactly the same way it did when he hugged her before. His heart would not stop racing but now it was not because of fear. He had her in his arms again.

“I miss you, Nature Girl,” he mumbled into her ear.

She tightened the hug and mumbled back into his large ear,

“I miss you too, Fire Boy.”

YAYY! Finally a chapter up! hehe haven't been very productive for the past few days :P

Thank you aktf-shell for subscribing :D