“Look who’s here.”

Luhan turned back. He wasn’t the slightest surprised to see who was hiding in the shadows. Nevertheless, Luhan gripped hard onto his weapon, twin blades that he put under his sleeves. Even though the Fallen were superior to the shadow creatures, there were a few exceptions. Kai being one of them.

“It’s good to see you again, Luhan,” Kai stepped out of the shadow, wearing only comfortable pants and ed shirt. His hair was messy and he looked bored. Typical Kai, Luhan noted. “I can’t say the same to you, Kai. I’d rather not see you anymore.”

“Come on, don’t be so mean. I was going to let you slip away unnoticed if you’d chat with me for a while,” Kai chuckled. Luhan was left unimpressed. “Won’t you go back and tell Sehun’s brother like the good puppy you are, Jongin?”

Kai stopped laughing. He didn’t like it when Luhan called him by his real name. And moreover, he hated it when someone mentioned Sehun’s brother. “Speaking about Sehun, how’s my little cousin? Still playing the good guy for humans?”

“It’s none of your business,” Luhan hissed, ready to strike. He didn’t enjoy talking with Kai, even though they used to be best friends. “Get the out of here, Jongin, I’m not fighting you today.”

For a second, Kai looked tempted. He wanted to challenge Luhan. They had never fought before, but they knew each other’s weakness and strength from countless of battles together. “I just want to know about Sehun. I have never seen him since the night he left our house.”

“And he has no intention of coming back there,” Luhan added on, his face grim. Kai smirked, “You used to be full of smiles. What’s with the tough façade? Others may think of you as a lion, but you’re no more than a kitten to me.” Luhan stiffened, but he did nothing.

“Are you still in love with my cousin?”

That was the last straw of Luhan’s patience. He charged at Kai with lightning speed. Kai barely avoided his punch, but couldn’t avoid the slash on his cheeks caused by Luhan’s blade. Kai muttered a curse under his breath and grabbed whatever he could from his surrounding and swung it to Luhan’s directions.

“What’s wrong, Jongin? You fight like an amateur,” Luhan coldly said. Kai jumped back and wiped the blood from his cheeks and grinned, “So it’s true, you are still in love with Sehun. You became the Fallen, not because you succumb to your darkest desire. It’s for Sehun…”

There was a pained look in Luhan’s eyes. Kai noticed how hurt Luhan looked when he mentioned Luhan’s feelings. “Oh, dearest friend, why do you have to do that? Why do you want to be the Fallen? Haven’t you always loathed these ruthless hunters, you once said? Has your love for Sehun blinded you?”

There was unmistakably mockery in Kai’s question. But what Kai said was the truth. And the truth hurts. Luhan stopped charging at Kai and slumped back, like a defeated soldier. Kai continued on, “You’re not completely a Fallen, are you, Luhan? You still have a lot of emotions you can’t get rid of, no matter how hard you try.” Another stab on the heart.

“Why do you try so hard, Luhan? You know Sehun will never look at you,” Kai added, looking straight at Luhan. Luhan in a deep breath, recollecting his courage and glared at Kai. “Send my regards to Sehun’s brother, Jongin. I hope I will never meet you again.”

Kai chuckled and watched as Luhan disappeared from his sight. “That fool of a friend. So easy to wreck.”

***

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Hana repeated, taking baby steps to her class, “What if something bothers me again?” Sehun told her he wouldn’t be there to save her anymore. She would die if something tried to kill her like last times. Hana shivered at the thought of dying.

“Hana, have you heard?” Miyoung asked excitedly. They had the same morning class this time. “We are going for market sourcing this time. The teacher announced this around ten minutes ago.”

Hana pushed away her anxiety and blinked back at Miyoung, seemingly unaware of her surrounding, “Ah… what did you say?”

“I say… let’s sneak out during the market sourcing later,” Miyoung explained and smiled cutely. Hana titled her head and walked with Miyoung to the bus. The teacher was explaining about what they should do later on, and when to come back. “I heard there was this fortune teller around the area we’re going to. She’s quite famous.”

“Okay,” was all Hana said. She totally blanked out to my surrounding. She was only listening to half of what Miyoung said.

Fifteen minutes later, Miyoung and Hana were running away from the class’ group and on our own. They were panting hard and laughing at the same time for being able to run away. The teacher might, or might not be looking for them, but it wasn’t like they cared.

“Where do you want to go?” Hana asked Miyoung and she led her to this building with peeled off paints and broken placard. “I want to get my fortune told. The famous lady is here. In level four. So we have to go up.” Hana worriedly looked at her, but nodded nonetheless.

“What do you want to know?” Hana asked Miyoung curiously. Miyoung chuckled as if it was a silly question, “About my love life, of course. With Hyunseung-oppa.”

“Look at this girl,” Hana flicked her friend’s forehead, “Is that all you think about? Love?” Miyoung, being the frank and straight person she was responded, “Because I am in love, that’s why. You won’t know what it feels like until you’re in love, yourself.”

“Whatever, girl, just get going,” Hana rolled her eyes and walked behind Miyoung. “We are here.”

Hana looked up. It wasn’t anything fancy. No eccentric tent, no herbal scent or weird animal stuff on the walls. The room was very plain. Too plain, in fact. There were only two chairs, facing each other. A sign ‘CLOSE THE DOOR WHEN YOU COME IN’ was placed on the door.

“Err, Young-ah, you want to go in first?” Hana asked, unsure. Miyoung shook her head and pushed Hana inside the room and closed the door. She could hear Miyoung’s giggle from outside and a shout, ‘Good luck!’

Hana turned back and sighed, but almost jumped on the spot because a young woman, with cat-like eyes suddenly stood near the chair. Hana let out a yelp and almost kicked the other chair. The young woman was tall, and very beautiful. Her smile was bewitching as she mentioned Hana to sit down.

“Welcome,” She sat down and looked straight at Hana, “My name is Yoon Ji. I assume you are here to get your fortune read?” Hana titled her head. She wasn’t exactly fond of fortune telling, but she nodded anyway. Yoonji seemed to notice her lie and smiled even wider.

“Can I get your full name, please?” Yoonji sat cross-legged, folding her hands in front of her chest. She looked more like a con-actress than a fortuneteller. She was far too pretty and too poised to be a fortuneteller. “I only need your full name and nothing else.”

“Hana,” And she furrowed her eyebrows, “Jung Hana.”

“Interesting,” Her eyes lit up like a cat’s. For a split second, she looked more like a cat than a human, as her eyes narrowed onto slits, and Hana gasped. “No, no, no,” Yoonji reassured, “Don’t be scared of me. Calm down. I am not going to harm you. But before that, I need you to listen to me to the very end. Can you do that?”

Hana was a bit scared, but she nodded.

“Good, very good.” Yoonji smiled again, “You have a choice ahead of you. If you choose the right one, you will have a very high position. You can become a Queen if you want.”

Hana nervously laughed. She couldn’t believe in Yoonji’s words at all. As soon as this all ended, she would walk out of the room and never come back anymore.

“But there’s a high possibility you’d choose the wrong decision, Dear.”

Yoonji furrowed her eyebrows in concentration and read further, trying to relate the different scenes playing in her head, “You have very bad luck with men. The type of guys you’d attract is the worst of all. There will be a lot of them. You have to be careful with whom you’re with.”

“And most important of all,” Yoonji in a deep breath, “You will fall for the wrong person.” Hana snickered to herself. Typical answers; you’d fall for the wrong person. How wrong could that person be? Nevertheless Yoonji continued, “Your heart will be shattered trying to fix his broken one.”

“I think that’s enough,” Having heard enough of her non-sense, Hana stood up. “I will pay right now and walk out of this door.”

“You promise to listen to the very end,” Yoonji looked up, her eyes looked different under the sunlight. Hana shook her head, “I can’t put up with this fortune telling anymore. I’m sorry, but I will have to stop you here.”

“Your doomsday is near, My Dear,” Yoonji looked almost sympathetic.

“That’s enough. How much is this?” Hana hissed and took out her wallet. She didn’t want to be here any longer. The air felt suffocating. Hearing Yoonji talk was like hearing the tragic story of her life. She didn’t want that. Yoonji pulled Hana down by her hand, “This is why I want you to sit down until the very end. I want you to pay me in the right way.”

There was a bad feeling about this.

“What exactly is the right way?” Hana furrowed her eyebrows together, trying to prey away her hands from Yoonji’s grip, but her hand was surprisingly strong for such a petite girl.

“I want you to pay with your blood, of course!” Yoonji exclaimed and Hana suddenly paled down. “Not a lot of it. Just a mouthful bite would be enough.” Hana stared at Yoonji. She didn’t look so pretty anymore. Her eyes were popping out, her lips watery. Her skin also changed a bit, and her nails…

“Ouch!” Hana yelped when Yoonji’s nails pricked deep into her wrist. “Yoonji-ssi, please let go!”

Yoonji didn’t listen. Her eyes were focused on the blood, oozing out from Hana’s wrist with such freshness. The smell was so appetizing. watered even more. Just the mere scent of Hana’s blood sent tingles to Yoonji’s stomach. She opened her lips and took Hana’s wrist into . Just one bite…

“I told you they’d come after you,” Sehun’s cold voice greeted her. He cut off Yoonji’s hand with ease. Hana screamed. “See what a mess you made?” Sehun stuck his sword onto Yoonji’s chest. “Rip off a piece of clothe and wrap it around your wrist.”

Yoonji’s hand was still wriggling, holding onto Hana’s wrist after being cut off. Hana used all her strength to pull it off of her and yelled at Sehun, “What the hell is she?!”

“A witch,” Sehun grunted as he pulled his sword from Yoonji’s body, revealing her black blood that splattered all around like waterfall. Hana watched in horror as Sehun kicked the dead girl to the floor and stepped on Yoonji’s body. “Don’t watch it, they will turn to stone in a few minutes after they die.”

Sehun ripped off a piece of clothe from his grey robe and quickly tied it around Hana’s wrist. “You are lucky the injury is not vital.”

Tears escaped from Hana’s eyes without her knowing. She was scared. That woman almost bit her, for God’s sake! Never had she imagined she would encounter all these life-threatening creatures in her life. She was terrified, and Sehun understood.

“Don’t cry,” Sehun reminded her, harshly. “This is nothing compared to what awaits you. You have to be strong enough to survive this world. Unless you’d rather die, of course.”

Hana looked at Sehun’s shining sword, and shook her head immediately. Her sobbing became louder.

“Now be a good girl and listen to me. Pack up your things. You’re coming with me now.”

A/N: So, finally, a beginning point to something...