Neris enjoyed the solitude as she jogged through the woods of Bonghwa Eondeog. She had often gone for a run through Beacon Hills preserve, both alone and with her P.E. class. There was something relaxing about nature that calmed her inner monster.

During the end of the first half of her junior year, Neris had been Summoned to the Underworld by its ruler, Hades. Sirens were both creatures of the underworld and of the sea, and could be Summoned by either Hades or Poseidon for any reason the god deemed worthy. Neris had an intense desire to protect her friends and those she considered needing saving from the supernatural entities that threatened them.

Hades had given her a choice: to accept the Strophalos – a symbol more commonly known as Hecate's wheel – or not. Neris had accepted, despite the consequences. The mark branded on her skin, one of three she had been given, granted her limited power over the elements and basic telekinesis. But it would also cost Neris her sanity if she wasn’t careful.

If she used the abilities too freely and too rashly, it would backfire on her. If she allowed the power to burrow too deeply into her being, she would lose what made her a siren and would instead turn into a creature of vengeance. She would truly be a monster then.

She didn’t use the abilities; she only needed to truly use them one time, when her pack was fighting against a Nogitsune – a void spirit. There might be a time when she’d have to use them again, though Neris doubted it. She had made the decision impulsively and suffered for it. Now, she covered the useless mark on her right wrist with a leather cuff seared with a triskelion to remind her of home.

Though, there were times she was grateful for the mark. One of the side effects was an unconscious heightening of her reflexes. Without knowing why, Neris pulled back as she was about to run past a tree. Milliseconds later, an arrow embedded deeply into the trunk.

Her head whipped in the direction it had come from, and saw a young man with the face of a cherub. She could only assume he looked younger than he was, because he was holding a reloaded crossbow like an expert.

“Excuse me,” Neris was indignant, even in that situation. “You could have killed me!”

“If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have missed,” the boy protested, a lazy smile coming across his lips.

“And what kind of self-respecting hunter shoots to miss, huh?” She folded her arms across her chest, staring him down.

“One who doesn’t want to kill his target before he questions her,” was the reply, and he grabbed a hand-held radio from his waist. “I’ve found the girl; she’s in section E12.”

“Of course,” Neris muttered. “There are more of you.”

Within minutes, he was joined by five others, each armed. All of them, Neris concluded unhappily, were attractive.

“What the hell is in the water here?” She mumbled. “First the wolves and now the hunters. Is there anyone in this town who doesn’t look like they belong in a magazine?”

“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” one of the new hunters spoke, stepping forward. “About the wolves, not the magazine.”

Neris studied him; he seemed to be the leader, judging from the way the others fell naturally in ranks behind him. He had a handsome face, with a strong jaw and large eyes, with slight puffiness underneath them.

“Let me save you the trouble, shall I?” Neris suggested. “No, I’m not part of their pack. I have no intentions nor desire to change that. No, I’m not a werewolf. I’m not going to deny that I’m not human, however I haven’t done anything to justify you killing me. All I want is to be left alone. I don’t want any part of your business, the wolves business, or anything involving the supernatural in any way.”

She was grasping at straws. She could keep her knowledge of the werewolves from her mom; she could hide the fact that she had inadvertently helped one. But once she got embroiled with the hunters, it would all fall to pieces. There would be no salvaging her plan at that point, and she truly would have to wait until college to see her friends again.

“You’re…surprisingly honest,” the leader remarked.

“What’s the point in lying? I’m not very good at acting human, anyways.” Neris informed him. “Now, can I go?”

“No,” he replied.

“Dammit,” Neris cursed under her breath.

“You could’ve just stopped at telling us you weren’t a werewolf or part of their pack,” he explained. “But you admitted to being inhuman.”

“Double dammit,” She groaned.

“So, out with it,” another boy, one with a rounder face and small, almond eyes, goaded her. “What are you?”

“Oh, no,” Neris laughed derisively. “We are not having story time in the middle of the woods when I’m sweaty and half dressed,” she gestured to her sports bra and running shorts.

“Aw, but that takes the fun out of it,” the almond-eyed boy teased.

“Junhyung, cut it out,” the leader warned, turning to Neris. “Fine, we do this on your terms.”

“As it should be,” Neris agreed.

|||

Once she was dressed in fresh clothing, Neris ventured downstairs to her living room to face six expectant hunters.

“So, do you want anything to eat? Drink?” Neris asked, attempting to break the tension.

“We’re not here to socialize,” the leader, whose name she had learned was Doojoon, informed her.

“Well sorry for trying to be nice,” Neris huffed, only to be met with the unamused faces of the hunters. “Fine, fine. You want to know what I am. First, tell me how much you know about Greek mythology.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Junhyung, the almond-eyed boy, questioned.

“Because it’ll tell me how much I need to explain to you.” She replied, give another loud puff of aggravation. “Whatever, I’ll just give you the full run down. I’m a siren; we were created from the nymph handmaidens of the goddess Persephone that were punished when they lost her to the god of the Underworld. We have three forms: the sea form in which we have a tail kind of like a mermaid’s, our human form, and our ‘harpy’ form, which is a level above our avian form.” She explained, air-quoting the word harpy. “And before you ask: yes, mermaids do exist. They’re a distant cousin of our kind, but they're pretty much extinct now.”

“Avian form,” Hyunseung, the second oldest hunter, repeated. “So, you have wings, I assume.”

Neris nodded, pulling out her wings that matched the color of her silvery-gold hair.

“Wow, you’re like an angel,” the youngest hunter, Dongwoon, was amazed.

“I’m nothing like an angel, sorry,” Neris admitted, pulling her wings back into her body. “So, there you have it. Now you know what I am, and now you can leave me alone, right?”

The hunters looked among themselves, as if silently discussing their next move. It was all pointless, however, as her door was once again thrown open by the wolves. All six of them walked in, all in human form and thankfully fully clothes, each wearing varying degrees of anger on their faces.

“You didn’t want to be part of our pack; that I can respect,” Yongguk seethed. “But teaming up with the hunters behind our back? I can’t forgive that.”

“I haven’t teamed up with anyone!” Neris protested loudly. “And did you really need to destroy my door again?!”

“At least we were invited, Yongguk,” Doojoon spoke softly as he stood, his fellow hunters mimicking his actions. “We didn’t burst in unannounced causing destruction like a bunch of animals.”

“You aren’t helping at all,” Neris told him coldly. She turned back to Yongguk, “Look, I had an arrow fired at me in the forest by these guys. I let my mouth get ahead of me and accidentally admitted I wasn’t human. They weren’t going to let me go without knowing what I was. So, I brought them back here to tell them, because if I’m going to ask leniency from hunters, I’m going to do it fully dressed in the comfort of my own home where I can defend myself if necessary. Understand?”

“You need to speak slowly, Neris,” Kikwang drawled, obviously the snarky one of the hunters. “Their tiny beast brains can’t handle long sentences.”

That was what got a reaction out of one wolf in particular. Junhong, the youngest and most easily antagonized of the pack. He ran towards Kikwang, but was easily deflected by Junhyung. Once a member of their pack was harmed, the rest sprang into action.

Neris groaned heavily in despair. Twelve guys – twelve attractive guys – were currently fighting in her living room. Any interest she would normally have in this situation was nonexistent as she worried about the damage they could inflict. There would be no way to hide it from her mother at that point.

“Will you guys cut it out?!” She roared, her voice carrying over the cacophony. “This house is Switzerland, goddammit!”

All twelve stopped, staring at Neris with wide eyes.