Neris and Taemi sat together on the roof of the school, slurping their drinks before their first class started. Taemi had wanted to see the fuss about the new café that had just opened, and Neris suggested drinking somewhere quiet – mostly to get away from the wolves, though she’d never tell that to Taemi.

As they sat on a wooden bench, staring towards the P.E. field, Neris gave a heavy sigh and flopped backwards onto the wood.

“Just wondering,” she began, playing with the straw of her frappuccino absent-mindedly, “how big is my fanclub?”

Taemi gave a small puff as she rolled her hands around her cup. “Decently big, why?”

“Because last night Himchan kinda-sorta-not-really-but-it-sounded-like-it confessed he has feelings for me.” Neris declared. “At least, that’s the impression I got, and he wasn’t exactly being coy about it either.”

“He told you he liked you?” Taemi repeated excitedly. “Wait, last night? What was he doing at your house last night?”

“It’s nothing like that, you ert,” she rolled her eyes.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Taemi teased.

“Oh my god, nothing happened,” Neris laughed, sitting up. “He just came over to return a book I lent him.”

“He came over late at night just to return a book?” She clucked her tongue in disbelief. “Who does that?”

“Kim Himchan, apparently.”

Taemi glanced at her watch, and gave a tiny groan as she stood up. “Come on; homeroom’s gonna start soon. But don’t think you can get out of talking to me about this.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Neris snarked.

|||

“You know, for someone you claim has confessed to you, Himchan didn’t even try to look at you during class.” Taemi panted as the pair jogged side by side during P.E. class. “Maybe he’s sad because you rejected him. Wait, did you even reject him?”

“No, because he didn’t really confess,” Neris remarked, her breathing significantly steadier than her friend’s.

“That’s what I figured. I mean, Yongguk was looking at you more than Himchan was, so it couldn’t be that he was mad that you rejected his friend.” Taemi went on. “Oh my god, you don’t think Yongguk likes you too, do you?”

“Yongguk definitely doesn’t have any romantic feelings for me whatsoever,” Neris snorted at the thought.

“Good,” Taemi nodded, her eyes widening as she realized she had spoken aloud.

“Oh my god, you like Yongguk, don’t you?” Neris interrogated. “You like the strong, silent type, don’t you?”

“What? No,” Taemi shook her head, but the reddening of her cheeks betrayed her lie.

“Uh huh,” Neris chuckled. “Don’t think you can fool me, missy.”

As they neared the bend of the track, they could see two male figures standing on the other side of the chain-link fence that separated the school grounds from the outside world.

“Looks like the Sinseonghan Gyocha boys are here,” Taemi rolled her eyes as they jogged. “Those prep school boys have no respect for learning, and they’re paying so much money to go to that school.”

Sinseonghan Gyocha. Divine Crossing. What a pretentious name for a prep school.

“Do they skip school to come here often?” Neris wondered, seeing their burgundy blazers clearer as they neared, but not their faces.

“Mmhm,” Taemi nodded, twisted in a displeased grimace. “They apparently think it’s cool to come ‘slumming’ and check out the girls.”

Neris only caught a glimpse of their faces as she and Taemi rounded the bend, but something about them struck her as familiar. She turned around, jogging backwards, to look at them once more to see if she could pinpoint why they seemed familiar.

It only took a second to see their faces clearly for her to realize, and Neris spun forward with a small squeak.

“What?” Taemi wondered. “Do you know them?”

“Something like that,” Neris cringed, feeling two sets of eyes digging into her back.

The two male students weren’t just any prep school students. Their crisp uniforms successfully hid their true selves from the rest of the world, but Neris couldn’t be fooled.

Junhyung and Yoseob – two of the hunters – weren’t skipping class to check out the girls of Bonghwa Eondeog High School.

They were there to keep watch on its supernatural students. Neris included.

|||

Yongguk had slipped Neris a note during their history class. Taemi had noticed and had surreptitiously taken a peek at its contents when Neris read it.

We need to talk. After school. Main building roof.

Neris could only shrug when Taemi threw her a questioning look, but the pursed lips Taemi was wearing told Neris she’d have to tell her friend everything about the impending conversation. Well, as much as she could without revealing anything she shouldn’t.

When Neris arrived at their designated meeting spot, she found Yongguk standing alone with his back facing her. His posture made him look to be every bit of the Alpha that he was.

“You summoned me,” Neris spoke, just a hint of cynicism to her voice.

“I understand Himchan came to visit you last night,” Yongukk turned around, facing her with a stern expression.

“He was,” she confirmed. “Which reminds me, you owe me for causing me to get my front door fixed. Twice.”

“I’ll reimburse you.” He agreed. “As long as you don’t lead Himchan on.”

Neris cocked her head to the side. “What are you talking about?”

“Himchan wasn’t the only one to read the bestiary.” Yongguk informed her. “A relationship with a siren is bound to be difficult; that’s what was written. Himchan has already started to develop feelings for you. It’s my request that you don’t encourage him.”

“I’ve already dated a werewolf. He tried to kill me twice before we even started dating, and after we broke up he pursued the ex-girlfriend of his Alpha.” Neris told him flatly. “The heart of a werewolf is wild and fickle, and I have no intention of trying to be in Himchan’s. So, there’s no need to worry.”

Yongguk studied her, trying to see if she was being truthful. “Good. That’s all I ask.”

“Speaking of people you want me to stay away from, the hunters were outside the school this morning. I saw them during P.E. class.”

Yongguk tensed at this news. “I know; I saw them. They come periodically to keep an eye on us, though in reality we should be the one keeping our eyes on them. After all, we’ve never attacked them first; we’ve only defended ourselves.”

“Mmm,” Neris hummed, nodding in agreement. “I’ve noticed they get a little trigger happy with their crossbows.”

“They get trigger happy with all of their weapons,” Yongguk cracked a small grin, the mood slightly lifted as they disparaged the hunters.

“By the way,” Neris changed the subject once again. “What’s your policy on dating humans?”

“Why do you ask?”

She shrugged, “Just curious. You know my desk partner, Taemi? Well, the two of you have faces that complement each other. If you were a couple, you’d look really good together. Just an observation.”

Neris couldn’t help the small smirk from crossing her lips as Yongguk stared at her

“If I haven’t blown your mind too badly, I need to borrow one of your wolves. My bestiary is severely lacking information on your specific breed. Who would you suggest?”

|||

Youngjae sat uncomfortable in the passenger seat of Neris’ car.

“You know, you don’t have to help me,” Neris reminded him. “You can always leave. Of course, you’d be disappointing your Alpha if you do, since he so graciously loaned you to me for today.”

Youngjae huffed, his shoulders relaxing only slightly. “I’m only going to do what I promised. You decided not to become part of our pack – that’s your decision, fine – but I don’t want you to think you can be overly friendly with any of us without being one of us.”

“Overly friendly?” Neris repeated. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re implying.”

“I’m sure you do.”

Neris wondered how open the pack was with each other. Had Himchan told all of them that he had visited her the previous night? Had Yongguk announced that he didn’t want Himchan to link himself romantically with Neris? Good lord, did they not have the concept of ‘too much information’?

She shook her head to clear it of the intruding thoughts as she turned the corner onto the street where she lived, and both she and Youngjae pursed their lips at the sight of the young man standing on her front lawn.

“So you go from stalking people at their school to stalking them to their house,” Neris marveled as she and Youngjae exited her car. “You know, that’s more than just a little creepy.”

“Yoseob and Junhyung were just making sure you were keeping up with your end of the bargain to remain neutral,” Hyunseung informed her, his eyes flickering over to the werewolf by her side. “Though, it doesn’t look like you are.”

Neris rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I’m only using him for his brain. Though, now that I think about it, you being here might be a good thing. My bestiary is also sorely deficient of information about a certain kind of hunter. What do you say? Play nice for a little bit while bragging about your people and all their talents?”

Hyunseung gave the offer some consideration, his eyes scanning the two in front of him. “Fine, but on one condition. I get to speak first.”

“I was asked first,” Youngjae countered, forgetting his earlier reluctance in a heartbeat.

“We’ll flip a coin, you s,” Neris muttered, brushing past the two to unlock her front door.

|||

Remarkably, they had made it through the entire informative session without anything being broken or upended. That wasn’t to say that there weren’t sharp words traded between the two males, but it was a bloodless confrontation.

Youngjae was the first to leave. Once his part was done, he saw no reason to remain in the company of a hunter and happily made his way back to his pack. That left Neris alone with Hyunseung.

“You know, you really need to be careful around the wolves,” he informed her, interrupting the information sharing.

Neris laughed softly, “I heard the same thing about hunters.”

“The Men of the Samjok-o aren’t hunters; I’ve told you a dozen times,” he corrected. “We keep the balance. We only make a move if we feel that balance is being disturbed; overblown population, unwarranted or conspicuous killings, things like that. We don’t hunt for the fun of it or because we have an ingrained hatred of the supernatural.”

“Says the friend of the guy who fired an arrow at my head,” Neris muttered.

“He wasn’t actually going to hit you.” Hyunseung gave a small laugh.

“How could he know what my reflexes are like?” She wondered, levelling a challenging stare at him. “Besides, you also shot a wolfsbane laced arrow at the youngest wolf. What wrong did he commit?”

“An obvious killing.” Hyunseung spoke tonelessly. “It wasn’t a human, but it was an animal that certainly couldn’t have been taken down by a normal wolf. It would’ve raised too many questions had it been found by the wrong people. Besides, it’s not like we were actually planning on letting him die. It was just a warning.”

“It was yellow wolfsbane,” Neris argued, “the deadliest strain of wolfsbane there is.”

“We would’ve helped once we saw he’d learned his lesson.”

“Look,” Neris held up her hands, signaling the end of the conversation. “I appreciate you telling me to be careful, but I am more than capable of taking care of myself.”

“Let’s hope so,” he conceded. “Since your kind is so rare around these parts, and the fact that you’ve decided to be a neutral party, it’s like there’s an extra element of balance around here.”

“Like an emissary, you mean?” Neris quirked an eyebrow.

“Emissary,” he rolled the word on his tongue. “Yeah, I like that. Regardless, I’d hate for one of the wolves to lose their cool and ruin it.”

“It’s not the wolves’ temper you have to worry about getting out of control,” she replied grimly. “But I appreciate your concern nonetheless.” 

For the bestiary entry regarding information on Greek-originated werewolves, please click here. For Asia-originated werewolves, click here