N wasn’t stupid.

The leader of VIXX knew that if EXO had another option, they wouldn’t have called him. If they could help it, he wouldn’t be looking across the table at Jung Hyorin as he waited for her to sign the demon contract on the table before her. Why? Because Hyorin was their precious, beautiful daughter that they loved with all their hearts and they wanted to be the ones to protect her, not some third party.

But here they were, sitting at the kitchen table in Bang Yong Guk’s boarding house as they waited for Hyorin to sign the demon contract sitting in front of her. Once she signed her name onto the paper, he and his brothers belonged to her for as long as she lived. Well, that was assuming she didn’t burn the contract, thus setting them free, once whoever was after her was gone.

N was bit torn about that truthfully.

On one hand, it would be good to serve a master again. With a master to protect, his life had a purpose. He wasn’t floating about the world, traveling from place to place with no destination or reason for being. At the same time, he kind of liked the freedom he had without a master. Given, that might have come from his last contract being so controlling and evil, but it was still nice living his own life for his own sake. To varying degrees, he knew his five brothers agreed with him.

“It’s ok,” Bang Yong Guk smiled at Hyorin, “you can burn the contract after the people hunting you are gone. But for now you need the guarantied protection it offers.”

N glanced over at the man before quickly averting his eyes. Yong Guk should have been his master. That’s how things were originally supposed to play out. But instead, someone else got the contract before his parents could sign it. That person – well, people – had ordered VIXX to kill the people meant to be their masters – Yong Guk’s mother and father. By sheer luck, Yong Guk had survived the attack that killed his parents.

Several years later, Yong Guk hadn’t completely forgiven the six demons. Against their will or not, they had still taken the lives of his parents, leaving him an orphan. And not just any orphan, but the type who grew up in one of those horrible orphanages you hear about on the news.

“I just don’t understand it,” she replied, “every time I’m in danger, they’ll know? How?”

“It’s the power of the contract,” N explained before Yong Guk could open his mouth, “it’s really old magic, older than any of us. If the contract says we’ll know when you’re in danger, then we’ll know. If it says we’ll follow your every command, then we will. That’s just how it works.” She looked at Yong Guk, asking if that was true, and the older nodded, trusting N to be right since he had no idea himself.

Hyorin nodded, too scared of the six demons to look up at them. Slowly, hesitantly, she signed her name.

All six demons felt a wave of energy surge through their bodies. Everyone watched as the contract started to glow, the edges slowly turning black as though an invisible flame was being run along it. The rest of the paper changed from white to brown, gaining an aged look that would make one believe it to be years older than it really was. Once both changes had completed, the glow faded away leaved the room in silence.

“Why don’t you go unpack your things,” Yong Guk smiled at the young girl, “and take a nap. I’m sure you’re feeling a little jetlagged and the time difference must be messing you up.”

“Alright,” she nodded before rushing out of the room, leaving the six demons and lone human alone.

“She doesn’t seem to happy right now,” Ken sighed.

“She’s scared,” Hongbin shrugged, “you’d feel that way too if someone was coming after you.”

“I’m going to have to enroll her in school,” Yong Guk told them, “and at least one of you will have to enroll with her. Hyorin needs someone with her at all times.”

“I’ll go,” Hyuk volunteered, “I can pass for a high school student easiest.”

“You sure, Hyukkie?” N turned to the youngest.

“I’m sure, hyung,” Hyuk nodded, “I can blend in easiest so I should be the one to go with her.”

“Does she know anything about us?” Ravi asked, “Did EXO tell her anything?”

“Not really,” Yong Guk shrugged, “they never really saw a reason since you’d never met her before today.”

“What kind of powers does she have?” Ken asked, “Kris mentioned she had powers.”

“She has the same powers that EXO had,” Yong Guk replied, “the question is what powers can she access.”

“What powers can she access?” Ken asked again.

“She has limited telekinesis,” Yong Guk listed, “meaning she can only lift really small or light things like lamps or plates. She can teleport small distances so long as she knows what she’s teleporting to. And by small distances I mean the distance between here and the kitchen. Oh, and Kris just started helping her fly a few months ago. She can’t get very high for very long, only a few inches, but it’s better than nothing.”

“So nothing that will be of much use in a fight,” N frowned slightly.

“That just means you’ll have to work harder to make up for that,” Yong Guk shrugged.

Upstairs, Hyorin sat down on the bed in her uncle Daehyun and Youngjae’s old room. Every time she’d come to visit Yong Guk with her parents, this had been the room she’d slept in. Now, it was going to be her room for however long she had to stay here. Don’t get her wrong, she knew why she was here and she was happy to see Yong Guk, but she wanted to be home with her parents.

In a few days, she’d also be at a new school and have to make new friends. Not that she had many of those in the first place, but she’d had at least a couple of people she could talk to and do things with. Now she had to start all over.

“It’s not fair,” she sighed, “why do they have to be hunting me?” her powers weren’t even that good. As far as anyone knew, she had the ability to use all twelve powers that her fathers could use. However, having the ability and actually being able to do it were to very different things.

With another sigh, she fall back and looked up at the ceiling, trying to find the answer to her question between the painted stars.

A/N: 'cuz i (apparently) have nothing better to do than write and plan stuff for my stories (please don't tell my science concepts teacher i said that), i've made a floor plan of the boarding house.  if you guys want to see them, just say so in the comments and i'll post 'em.