[Yixing]

"C'mon, I'll be fine."

"I am not going to let you partake in this insane training!" Stomping her feet, she glared murderously at the three boys whose faces were about as innocent as a thief caught red-handed. "I am not going to let you get hurt, oppa!"

"I'll be alright, have you forgotten that I can heal myself?"

"Even so, I'm not relenting." Her eyes softened, hands unfolding and dropping to her sides.

"Sera..."

"I can't, oppa." The three boys backed away as Jongdae motioned for his friends to do so, perhaps sensing that we needed a moment.

"Why not? Didn't I say that I'll be fin–"

"I can't lose you again."

Her words struck my heart and all the rebutting words that I had prepared vanished into thin air.

"I can't."

She turned away, and I was about to extend a hand towards her when a bolt of lightning flashed directly in the distance between her and I.

Heat grazed my fingertips and I yelped, attracting her attention and she spun around instantly.

"Oppa!" She screamed, throwing herself at me, her hands clutching my slightly burnt fingertips. Immense worry flooded her orbs and for a moment, I almost agreed to her request, to not participate in the boys' seemingly insane training.

"KIM JONGDAE!"

"Oops, looks like we're in trouble." Jongdae grinned, his shoulders shrugged. "Shall we begin our training then, Sera-sshi?"

"Oh?" I heard knuckles being cracked as a dangerous aura emanated from beside me, and Sera's side profile stepped into my peripheral vision. "It's not going to be training, my lovely oppas.

It's personal now."

[Sera]

Desperately pushing out my murderous aura in a bid to frighten the audacious beagles, I scowled as deep as I could and lowered my voice to that of a bellow. At times like these, I swear I could give Sehun-oppa a run for his princely money.

Suppressing the superiority in me, I willed myself to calm down for the sight of Yixing-oppa's burnt fingertips kept surfacing in my mind, disabling my conscious effort to maintain my composure; rendering my will to not fly at them and rip their throats out.

Calm down, Sera, calm down. They're your brothers, they're just here to train you. Don't take this personal–

Bull. They mean business.

My fingers relaxed, yet I kept my body tense and poised, ready to defend myself should the three of them decide to come at me. My eyes kept them in my field of vision, waiting for them to strike.

“There's no need to be so uptight, dear sister. We ain't going to teach you how to fight physically, that will be Zitao’s job. So relax your body. You’ll need to be comfortable.” Baekhyun-oppa wiggled his fingers, a face of innocence.

"How do I know you won't attack me if I let my guard down..." I eyed them, tone in disbelief. "How would I know I can trust you to stay still too...?"

"It's all your fault, Kim Jongdae!" Chanyeol-oppa wailed, his long arms brushing past Baekhyun-oppa to punch Jongdae-oppa on the arm. "Now she hates us!"

Seeing how the tallest beagle buried his face in his hands in remorse (hopefully), I softened and reluctantly relaxed myself.

"Happy now?"

"Very." Baekhyun-oppa smiled, but it soon disappeared as the atmosphere changed to that of seriousness and I knew the training had begun.

Giving Yixing-oppa a side glance, my eyes darted to his fingertips and a wave of relief washed over me as I noticed that they have returned to normal. The boy must have healed them.

Someone cleared his throat and I snapped my head to him, giving him all my attention like a good student should.

“Now, the key of our training is to grasp the weakness of your opponent. Vampires with destructive powers, vampires like us, have a source where we draw our power from. This source is called the core."

The eldest of the three explained, his arms folded across his chest, his face the epitome of seriousness. Seeing him like this is a rare sight and I would know better than to cross him, for I know not of the consequences.

"The core is, some might say, a vampire's most important part of the body. It is both our source of strength and it is, unfortunately, also our area of weakness. So in fights, one should find the core, attack it, and the vampire is weakened. And in some cases, powerless."

I nodded, my mind whirring as it tried to absorb the information and a question surfaced. “But how do I find the core? And I suppose that each vampire’s core is positioned differently…?”

“Bingo!” Baekhyun-oppa smiled, and I reckon that any girl (except me, of course) who saw that would melt and be a puddle of sweet liquid. Sheesh, no wonder the fangirls at school never decrease.

“We all have cores situated at different parts of our bodies. It could be our heart, lungs, stomach, and the list goes on.” I must have a flabbergasted expression on my face for the three boys could barely keep their faces straight, and even Yixing-oppa’s lips were trembling.

“Guys… You’re not helping by laughing at me you know.”

"I'm sorry." Baekhyun-oppa suppressed his grin, his seriousness trying to push through. "Alright, back to business."

Jongdae-oppa prodded his shoulder, and Baekhyun-oppa gestured for him to take over.

“Okay, so as nobles, our cores are a little special — they are protected by strong barriers. Normal vampires don't have those barriers, so that's another difference between us and them," He winked, and I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Besides our blood lineage, that is."

Ignoring his sassiness, I griped. “Then how do I defeat you when your core is being protected?”

“You don’t need to defeat us. Aren’t we allies?” Chanyeol-oppa plastered a innocent look over his face and I felt the urge to slap that expression off his face. “We're here to teach you to find cores, not defeating us y'know.”

The three of them exchanged smirks and even Yixing-oppa shot them a knowing smile.

Boys ganging up on a girl eh. Fine.

Just you wait, beagles. Just you wait.

"We're going to start!" Chanyeol-oppa waved, as he tilted his head from side to side. "Remember to concentrate in order to find out cores. Make full use of your senses; recall Kris-hyung and Suho-hyung's lesson."

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