“Where are you going?” Mari asked in a surprised tone as Lu Han suddenly stood up in the middle of their conversation.

“J-just…” Lu Han tried to explain but he was unfocussed as he tried to tune in to the telepathy channel in his mind and speak to Mari at the same time.

“To the washroom,” he finally said. He stumbled out of the room. Mari was shocked by his pale demeanour and widened eyes. She knew that something was amiss and her instincts told her to follow him.

Lu Han started to run and he shouted in his mind, his panic rising as he could feel their telepathic connection with Lay fading away,

After serving her table of customers, Hae Ri sneaked to the back and sprinted all the way to their meeting point. She panted a little when she arrived before Baekhyun and Lu Han. Baekhyun looked at her worriedly. Physical exertions are considered nothing for vampires. However, it was a fact that they had not tasted any blood for more than a week and considering all the stress and lethargy Hae Ri had gone through, it must have taken a toll on her human side. The fact that the Block on Hae Ri’s heart had not been completely unsealed had also been on his mind.

Lu Han’s eyes glowed red as he sniffed for Lay’s scent. It was weird because it seemed like his scent was coming from all directions. Furthermore Lay had completely been cut off from their telepathy channel. It was going to be tough to find him. Lu Han turned towards his companions. He noticed the concern in Baekhyun’s eyes as he stared at Hae Ri.

“Okay, let’s split up. I’ll go this way and the both of you can go the other way,” Lu Han said.

He nodded at Baekhyun and the latter nodded gratefully back at him. Baekhyun wanted to stay with Hae Ri.

“Where’s…Chan…” Hae Ri began but stopped herself before she finished her question.

Her two male companions glanced at her.

“Oh, he should be somewhere near the action. We can always count on him,” Lu Han replied positively.

Though he did not know what was going on between Chanyeol and Hae Ri, he knew that Chanyeol is a responsible man and could always be depended on. Baekhyun bit his lip. Chanyeol had been acting weirdly and he did not feel the reassurance that Lu Han had. Even so, for Hae Ri’s sake, he decided to keep mum. He did not want her to worry unnecessarily. They already had a lot on their hands.

With that, they went their separate ways.

With nervous hearts, Hae Ri and Baekhyun ran down the corridor to seek Lay. The air around them was thick and dense. Breathing was not easy and the lights seem to be brighter than usual. They ran and ran but it seemed as if they were running in a circle. They could not run out of this maze. The corridors seemed never-ending. Baekhyun nudged Hae Ri and she turned to where he was pointing. They were right beside their rooms again. Hae Ri gasped. Baekhyun’s eyebrows knitted together as he considered their situation.

“This feels like…” he thought to himself.

“Guys, we’re in an illusion,” Lu Han confirmed through telepathy.

“Illusion…?” Hae Ri questioned.

Being stuck in this never-ending corridor…It made sense now. They were not really running in the correct path but Hae Ri felt a chill ran down her spine.

“Does this mean that we are facing an illusionist?” she considered. It was something she had never faced before and the unknown brought along with it certain fear.

Baekhyun’s fangs emerged. With the sharp tip of his fang, he cut himself deeply. Pain spread across his hand and he started to dissipate. As part of his royal training, he had learnt how to counter various sorts of attacks by vampires who were blessed with abilities. To wake yourself from an illusion, you had to inflict pain on yourself. The sensation would release you from the illusionist’s grip.

“Stop right there!” a bunch of hostesses appeared in their path.

Baekhyun pulled Hae Ri behind him, his hand clutching protectively onto her arm.

“Where do you think you are going?” one of the hostesses stepped forward and questioned with her arms crossed.

Baekhyun scowled at them and displayed his fangs tauntingly. It did not matter that their covers were blown. They could tell that most of the people working in the lotus club were vampires and since they were already at this stage, they had probably walked into a lion’s lair. There was a strong fragrance of fresh blood that could not help but ignite Baekhyun and Hae Ri’s bloodlust. Hae Ri immediately thought back to the scent she detected when she was talking to Chanyeol and though she was held back by Baekhyun, she retorted firmly,

“And what are all of you doing here?”

The hostess smirked and some of her fellow hostesses chuckled.

“Of course…even the elite soldiers among the humans could not detect us, why would you royals be able to do so? Well…I guess that we can tell you now…since you are about to die,” the hostess sneered.

Upon hearing her last words, Hae Ri and Baekhyun got into a defensive stance.

“Do you think she’s the illusionist?” Baekhyun sent Hae Ri a telepathy.

“I don’t think so. From experience, we don’t usually meet the queen-bee so early,” Hae Ri replied him calmly.

“We were having fun with the soldiers here,” the hostess began and her fangs emerged.

“Blood, we were feeding on them,” she smirked.

Hae Ri’s eyes widened.

“Of course not enough for them to die, that would be trouble. We feed on them just enough to satisfy our cravings and for them to feel satisfied with our exhilaration. A win-win situation I would say. Of course, with our disguise now, it is easy to do so, even in this place which is filled with soldiers,” she ended.

The duo was flabbergasted. They did not know that so much was going on under wraps and there were a lot more things they were still confused about.

The rich aroma of blood in the air suddenly turned stale. An unpleasant and slightly pungent stench filled the air. Hae Ri could hear muffled screams – male screams. She felt goosebumps all over. The reek became stronger and more intensified. Hae Ri clenched her fists.

“We have to hurry,” she telepathized.

“Madame must have given the call. Extermination has begun,” another hostess commented.

“This time, it is us Bloodsuckers, who will win!” the hostess announced while throwing her arms wide open.

“Bloodsuckers?” Baekhyun questioned, his eyes glowed red and he changed his stance to an aggressive one.

“Oh,” the hostess broke into a self-indulgent laugh and continued,

“You haven’t seen us like this before, haven’t you? Just like how the humans have upgraded themselves with weapons and even recruiting the help of the good vampires, we, Bloodsuckers, have also tried to undo the curse Savant had placed on us.”

“Curse…?” Hae Ri asked Baekhyun via telepathy.

“Savant forced their bloodlust to manifest through their outer appearance. That’s why they looked vicious and barbaric. They used to look like us,” Baekhyun quickly explained.

“But of course, this piece of art that you see now,” she touched her face gently with the back of her palm. The hostess was very pretty – deep set eyes, straight nose and a cherry lip.

“is all because of an illusion,” she finished with a tone full of hatred. Her face twisted with anger and her eyes shone with vengeance.

“This is how we look like now,” she stated. Her face, along with the other hostesses’ faces started to sag and wrinkle. The smooth white skin from before became rough and droopy. When the change was completed, all of them looked like grandmothers.

“We could only undo abit of the curse but if we could get rid of all of you. Someday we will have enough power to return to how we were like before and we will rule the world!” the hostess growled in a much deeper voice than before, her deep tone reverberated along the corridor. She leaned her head forward menacingly with her eyes widened creepily. Saliva could also be seen dripping off her yellow teeth.

Hae Ri raced forward and held the hostess in a headlock. At that moment, Baekhyun blinded all the hostesses with his light beam. Hae Ri raised her knees and attacked the hostess’ abdomen several times. She was angered by the hostess’ condescension and taunting. The hostess coughed up blood but once her vision was back, she threw her back towards the floor and brought Hae Ri down with her.

Before the hostesses could regain their vision, Baekhyun had already impaled them with falling light sabers. His head spun and he held onto the wall for support. They were in luck because none of the hostesses had special abilities. The queen-bee must have sent the small little ones to sacrifice themselves so as to buy them time. The sudden fall caused Hae Ri to blank out for a few moments but it was enough for the hostess tp grab her neck and raise her up. Hae Ri resisted against the strangling and her legs kicked around aimlessly. The hostess smirked. Hae Ri raised her arm before her and unclenched her fists. The moment her fingers spread out, brambles shot out from her palm and pierced through the hostess from various directions. The hostess groaned and fell to the floor, lifeless. Baekhyun caught Hae Ri and though her vision blurred, she shrugged him off and rushed forward. They were running out of time.

After running for awhile, they came across many rooms. The stench was at its peak and the duo felt their concentration faltering due to the overwhelming smell. Hae Ri opened the door to the nearest room and she saw a man lying on the bed, shirtless and motionless. His chest was against the bed and his face was slightly hidden but she could recognize him anywhere. It was their supervisor and he was dead. Hae Ri examined the bruises on his neck – they were the effects of overly frequent vampire bites. The skin did not have time to heal before it was torn open again. The Bloodsuckers were not lying. Hae Ri noticed that the corpse had turned slightly purple – vampire venom. They did not have time to him dry; they had simply killed him off. The Bloodsuckers were feeling pressured as well.

Baekhyun rushed into the room and said,

“All the other rooms have corpses as well. The soldiers are really being exterminated, let’s hurry!”

Lu Han thought that his head was going to burst. He had navigated through the corridors simply with his sense of smell. However, the overpowering reek had been obstructing his abilities and to block it out and only focus on Lay’s scent was taking a toll on him. Lu Han stumbled along the route, with his mind not wholly there. He still had not realised that Mari was following him from behind. She had begun to cry, fear taking control of her emotions. She had seen how Lu Han had gotten rid of the hostesses so easily, so mercilessly. She had seen what he truly was, a being unlike who she was. However, her legs would not stop moving. Something was silently beckoning her to follow him and she felt the tattoo on the back of her right shoulder starting to heat up.

Lu Han heard some sounds coming from a room just in front. He could detect Lay’s scent, the Madame’s scent and even Chanyeol’s. Without further ado, he rushed into the room but was rooted to the floor upon seeing what was before him:

Lay was unconscious while Madame was injecting venom into him. The most shocking fact was that Chanyeol was simply standing there watching the whole scene before him without doing anything.  

A much longer update this time round :D 

Okay, so I got shortlisted for Medical school and I had to prepare my portfolio and get my recommendation letters and stuff all of a sudden >< That's why it took some time before this chapter could be up :x

So, to make up for the waiting, I shall share with you guys some pretty pictures which fans photoshopped:

How would Chanyeol look like if he was a girl?

*credits go to 'Idol Ranking Chart'*

HAHAHAHA ok it gets kind of creepy :X

and cutie-pie baekhyun to end things off:

*credits go to Kiss the Radio cr. Yellow Chick (and EXOFFICIAL twitter account)*