Pictures were covering the surface of the table as royal blue eyes were scanning every black and white content coating the wood, water lining right by her eyelids; the sight of her belated lover was becoming too much to bare as it added to the pain of constantly thinking about him.

One hour passed since she was locked up in that interrogation room with Himchan as her brother was thrown out for reason of distraction. Just as he promised her, he was just on the other side of the glass, watching her with a broken heart.

She was forced into looking at one picture. Her eyes couldn’t look away as the horror settled inside the pit of her stomach, creating nausea as it rumbled and left her with heaviness dropping on her chest.

Despite the dim light in the room, she could clearly see the dead body lying on the ground with a hole in its chest as the heart was lying barely inches away from the upper body.

“Do you really think I would rip his heart out of his chest? Do you really think I’m a monster to do something like this?”

“I don’t know what to think, dear. You are the only person people saw. Nobody else was with him except you.”

“I didn’t do it. I would never hurt him.”

“Maybe you didn’t do it but it doesn’t mean that you didn’t cause this to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you hired a butcher to kill the man.”

“And why do you even care?! The last time I checked, you hated both our guts! From the way you treated us, you should be celebrating his death not cause damage!” Her body trembled just like her voice, overwhelmed by the wave of emotions that were hitting her, gush after gush.

She finally took it upon herself to throw the picture away, aiming right into the man’s face just as her tears descended down upon her cheeks.

“I did celebrate. I danced right over his grave with a bottle of champagne.”

“You monster.”

If only her wrath could pierce a whole right through his skull, she would be free. Instead, she was stuck with her tormentor as he dug his fingers deeper into her wounds, enlarging the puddle of blood into waterfalls with the sound of despair rushing its course as it fell over the edge.

If only her wrists were free from the cold metal cuffs, she would’ve flipped the table over and jump right on him, strangling him as no heart was housed in his chest.

“Noona?”

Her imagination suddenly having blown out in proportion, the calming voice of her brother brought her back to reality.

She turned her head towards the door and saw the worrisome look in Yongguk’s eyes, slowly easing up her anger. She exhaled quietly and leaned back against the chair while the two cops confronted each other. “The Sergeant allowed me to talk to her. Get out.”

“I am the one interrogating her! You get out!”

“You are torturing her. She doesn’t need this right now. She’s been through enough.”

“Don’t be soft. Family or not, she’s still a criminal.”

“Get the out Himchan.”

Grumbling low curses, the man followed the forced instruction and walked out, his last sight being wet blue eyes. Once the door slammed closed and both siblings were left alone, Yongguk took a seat on the other side of the table, facing Sora. Silence filled both of them until Yongguk broke it by gathering all the laid out pictures into a pile and turning them over, taking away all imagery.

A small smile graced her lips at the thoughtful gesture, her gaze now landing on the wooden surface.

Pushing the photos aside, he stretched out his arms and gently took a hold of hers, gathering her attention within the space between them.

“Noona, I know this is difficult for you, but do it for him at least. For Seungho.”

“I-I can’t. It’s too damn hard, Yongguk. Please, don’t ask me again. I just c-can’t.”

“They will still harass you if you don’t say what happened. Just go slowly, one step at a time.”

She sighed in defeat. She leaned back, pulling away from her brother’s hold and brought up her legs against her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees.

Another silence swept its way inside the four walls, embracing them with a small shivering wind.

“Maybe this could help…”

From the inside pocket of his jacket, he pulled out a small velvet box. This quickly caught her attention. He slid the object across the table towards her, leaving the lid close for her to pick up. The tension rose, vibrating through her bones as she solely stared at the box. Her heart squeezed so tight, it could’ve swallowed itself into oblivion; her lungs stopped breathing the moment she laid hands on the velvet and opened the box. “W-where did you find t-this?”

“On him. He had it in his pants pocket… Is that an engagement ring?”

She hastily nodded her head, her eyes once again overwhelmed with tears. She stifled the cries coming out of while looking at the ring. “Can I keep it?”

“It’s yours, isn’t it?” A soft smile appeared on her brother’s face. Quickly rubbing her tears, she took off the jewelry from its confines and delicately placed it on her finger.

“When did he propose?”

She stopped playing with the ring, lifting her head up to look at him. That one morose gaze gave him the answer.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“We went out that night to release a little bit of the stress we had during that week… I should’ve just said ‘yes’ when he asked me if I wanted to stay home instead… If we stayed in, he’d still be a-alive today-”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is.”

“You didn’t do anything, except deciding to go out.”

“And it killed him! Staying home would’ve prevented him to get murdered. I lost him… He’s go-one and this time, he’s never coming back…” That’s when the sudden realization over the past months had hit her. “It’s all over…”

The strength of the water broke the dam.

She suddenly broke down into tears; her hands over , she muffled her cries as she hid her face between the space of her chest and legs, her forehead resting on her knees.

Yongguk got up from his chair, bringing his seat next to her as he sat back down and wrapped his arms around his sister, hugging her for comfort. The sight and the sound were getting to him, twisting his stomach into guilt and sadness. It reached his eyes as his own tears were trapped in the corners, threatening to fall.

From there, several minutes have passed with just her voice echoing within the small suffocating room.

Though loud when it started, the sound slowly faded away leaving her heavy breathing to replace the shaking of her vocal chords.

Yongguk looked down to see that his sister had fallen asleep in his arms. As he carefully gazed at her, he could see the dark bags under her eyes, showing the lack of sleep; her face alone could show the exhaustion that enveloped her, from the pale skin tone.

He gently pecked the top of her head and took her in his arms before walking out of the small room.

As there was no bed in the main area of the station, he led her to one of the present benches while asking for a supplies of blankets to one of the other cops; he was ignoring the raging complaints of his partner as his mind was more focused on Sora than on the angry man.

Once the seat was ready with two blankets – one serving as a pillow – he gently laid her down, careful with his motion so she would stay asleep. He covered her with the other sheet and made sure that the main office was to stay quiet for the time being.

The moment he backed away from the sleeping body, noises were coming from the entrance of the building. Appearing out of nowhere the white wolf was running towards Yongguk, followed by an angry officer right behind.

The moment the animal spotted Himchan, his snarl unmasked his teeth and barked at the man; he jumped from fear and quickly backed away with curses slipping off his tongue.

“No pets in the station Yongguk. Get rid of him.”

Another bark set off the Sergeant of the office a few steps back, taken by surprise by the sudden outburst of the wolf; with everybody fidgeting in their steps, the little one went by the bench and sat down, as if he was guarding Sora with his life.

It did not stop the officers. They were still on the fence about the intruder’s presence as they tried to find a way to peacefully get the dog out.

Just as one of them marched forward, the wolf reacted badly. Once again, he showed his teeth, threatening his surrounding.

Because he had finally realized who that wolf really was, Yongguk intervened, warning his co-workers. “Don’t provoke him or he’ll attack. Just let him be. As long as nobody approaches her, he’ll stay out of your way.” Everybody did as he told, finally leaving the wolf and his sister alone. He crouched down and gently caressed the dog’s head, his fingers slipping through the white fur.

Having remembrance of when it was a little puppy, the cop let a smile appear at the corner of his lips, feeling worriless about the wolf.

“Take good care of her, okay? She needs you.”

A few hours ago

He watched her walk away by her brother’s side while he had a body over his shoulder.

The blood in his teeth was aching his gums, an after effect of having bitten into the malicious creature that was knocked out.

As he was on his own, he sniffed around the apartment, carefully taking in the aura that had resided in this home for too long. Once he was done, he ran out of this house with the door closing right behind him as he was headed towards the exit, rushing back to his owner.

He ran, leaving the people on the streets to watch with surprised expressions the solitary race of a wolf.

The strength in his muscles, the rapidity in his steps, he made it back to the witch while she was on her porch, patiently waiting for her pet to come back.

The old lady got up from her seat and walked back in the house, the dog following her. Once they were inside, she kept up her pace until they were in the attic, the mystical taking over the ornaments and the vibe of the room.

The woman made it to the center, a small round table clothed as it held on its surface an old looking golden bowl along with an athame laying right next to it.

She picked it up and gently called out to the wolf. “Come here Caleb, let me see what you saw.” She crouched down to reach his eye level and stretched out the knife towards him. “Cry my wolf, cry.” As she placed the dagger right under his sparkled blue eye, tears were rolling down and touched the metal. The witch got back up on her feet and turned towards the golden bowl, starting an incantation while picking out Bat Guano, spilling it over the watered bowl to identify the wolf’s eyes.

“Mirror of life, mirror so sure,

In your reflection all is pure.

Behind your glass let nothing hide,

Reveal the truth that lurks inside.” ^(spell)

Smoke ignited from the contact the added elements created; within the space inside the vessel, tears dropped from the athame and straight onto the wet ingredient, giving the witch the answer she has been waiting for the past eighty-days. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most evilest of them all~ I know you are out there, so just reveal yourself.”

The reflection appearing on the surface of the water showed the mask walking aside the demon hunter. She recognized one and knew from watching the other that her spell demonstrated who the snake was.

“If he is missing from the underworld, that means he is right here and has been since his brother appeared. She is in more danger than I thought.” She turned to the wolf noticing the paleness in his eyes while he was lying down at her feet. She looked back into the water and saw her familiar attacking the cop; the dog was hurt.

“Let me get you some water to wash out this demon’s blood, my dear.”

From the attic, they were down in the kitchen just as she poured water in his bowl, giving him the chance to freshen up, cleansing the pain away.

“Now go back out and find her. Protect her from the prince. Nothing has to derail; she has to survive until the 100^th day.”

Back at the police station, Sora was finally waking up after at least two hours of sleep. She felt something heavy on her but disregarded it; she wasn’t back into the real world yet, thinking that the physical heaviness weighing her body down was simply the body of her beloved cuddling with her.

Only when she felt something wet on her cheek did she finally open her eyes. The weight was suddenly gone and she was now facing the wolf looking at her with calmness in his flashing blue irises. She sighed out of a broken heart and slowly sat up; the new space open, Caleb jumped on the bench, sitting right next to her.

She rubbed her eyes open and ran her fingers through her disheveled hair. Through the motion, she felt something on her finger and was abruptly thrown off with the memory of the engagement ring. She stared at the piece of jewelry, loving how elegant and delicate it looked; despite how she received it, she couldn’t stop thinking about the words Seungho had constantly repeated to her, insisting on how she needed something just as elegant in her life, something that was valuable in money but as well as in the riches of their lasting relationship.

Lost in her thoughts, she was pulled back when she felt a presence next to her. She turned her head to the side and was welcomed with a gentle smile from her brother, inviting her to drink some water.

“How about I take you home so you can rest?”

She nodded as her reply and was helped with Yongguk taking her to his car, Caleb still on their tails.

The ride back to her apartment was a quiet one. While she was staring out the window as the rainbow of colors from the sunset appeared in the sky, Yongguk adventured himself in his thoughts; through the review mirror, he could see the wolf staring right back at him, the blueness just popping out in contrast to the pitch white snow fur of the animal. He could still see the crescent on his forehead though it was only in his mind, still haunted with his past years playing in his brain.

Why was he back and what purpose did he have to stick by his sister’s side?

He felt that something wasn’t right.

He needed to know and make sure for his own sake.

Trouble was rising and he couldn’t stay out of it.

He knew what he had to do once he dropped his sister off and made sure that she was back in the safety of her own house.

‘The witch will have to tell me what is going on. I might as well prepare myself for a fight…’