A few hours earlier…

“It seems like Bloodmoon’s alpha has been switched”

The Tribunal secretary informed the rest of the members, reading slowly from a piece of paper, “The clan council are investigating his death. They said it has something to do with the alpha’s grandson, one of his relative”

“His only relative”, Hyunseong corrected the old wizard.

He himself had met the alpha many times, since Kyu Hyun was the only representative from the Bloodmoon clan who attended Tribunal meetings. The man was one of those rare past-generation werewolves whom you could still reason with.

There were a total of eight werewolves, eight vampries, four wizards and four shapeshifted in the Tribunal. The eight werewolves all came from different clans, only the largest ones were represented since there were too many out there. Out of the eight vampires, five used to be from Scared (including Hyunseong himself), and the other three were considered strays since their vampire estates only had three to five households. Sacred was the single largest Vampire estate, residing almost a hundred families. Thus, they also held the highest membership rate in the Vampire Council.

“They also suspected Sacred involvement in the case. Because they have some small dispute just 2 days before the alpha is murdered”

“As if a vampire could sneak in that cave and do anything”, Hyunseong denied the second theory right off the bat, “If he is murdered, the culprit is within his own clan”

The other wolves around the room gave him a pointed looks, to which the youngest simply ignored them. Due to blatant distaste between the vampire and werewolf members, someone “neutral” was appointed into the chairman post, Mr. Gandalf. He was supposed to be the mediator in case any dispute happened, though the wizard was too intimidated to be useful. Nonetheless, the rest of them were quite pleased that the man was almost invisible during discussions. They would rather have fewer words thrown around.

“Also, isn’t the grandson very young? Why would a baby want to kill his own parents”, a vampire on his right commented, “Kyu Hyun said the Bloodmoon council has always been against the peace treaty. They could have overthrown him then put the blame on the kid”

“Nice drama you are writing there”, a werewolf across the table snorted, “A true werewolf would never harm his own kind for any reason. We have tight bonds”

“That’s what you think”, the vampire on his left snorted back, “Vampires can’t come into werewolves’ territory and no other kind can. The murderer is obviously an insider. And whether it’s the clan council or the grandson, your statement still becomes invalid”

“Don’t talk down on me bloodsuckers!”, a werewolf slammed the stone table, threatening “I can snap your neck right now with one hand”

“Maybe someone should go and investigate?”, another shape shifter suggested timidly, though almost nobody heard him over the mess of shouting and insults around the room.

The room fell into its usual state of healthy quarrels. After an hour, someone finally remembered Mr. Gandalf’s existent and looked at him for a decision. The wizard shifted on his seat uncomfortably, startled by the sudden attention on him.

“Well… How about.. Hyunseong?”

“What?”, the youngest choked, “me?”

Why must it always be him?

The vampires on his sides nodded, as if there was nothing wrong with sending a young son to the enemy’s base alone, “You pay Sacred and Bloodmoon a visit and see what they are doing”

“I suppose you won’t send a werewolf. We can’t be trusted anyway”, a werewolf smirked, resting back on his chair, “Good luck going there then”

Hyunseong let out an annoyed sigh, though he couldn’t ignore the wizards and shape shifters’s pleading look. They clearly did not want to be sent to Bloodmoon. As the youngest member, Hyunseong was always bullied to do almost everything.

Maybe it was about time he retired from this burdensome job.

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“They still haven’t come back?”

Youngmin asked General Lee , the defense commander. The old vampire just shook his head.

Hyun Suk and the troop he took along did not manage to return the previous night. Youngmin went to the gate again as soon as the sun came down today, but it had been 3 hours and there was still no sign of his father. The blonde tried to calm the folks down, saying there was no danger signal fired, so the missing vampires were most probably just hiding somewhere or moving slowly.

Of course, Youngmin actually felt like his inside was on fire. Even Kwangmin’s comforting words and hugs did not make him feel better. He knew his father was wise and Key’s team was all excellently trained. Nevertheless, he could not help but get nervous.

The blonde twin found it strange why his father, as a leader, would decide to come out to investigate by himself. The man had always been secretive and he had left in such urgency that Youngmin did not manage to ask anything. Definitely, he would make sure to dig out the reason once the old man came back.

Kwangmin had been really anxious as well. The boy kept pacing back and forth in front of the forest wall even though Youngmin did not want him anywhere near to the battle field. He wished he could force the younger to go back inside the castle. Unfortunately, Youngmin always gave in as soon as the brunette started to use his pleading voice.

 “Kwangmin!”

Minwoo walked up to the said twin, a scowl on his face, “I told you to take the blood packs yesterday! How could you forget? The two packs are still untouched in the fridge”

“Sorry, I forgot”, the younger twin scratched his head innocently, taking the drink from his butler.

Youngmin saw the scene, puzzling.

“Didn’t he take one yesterday though?”, thought Youngmin. The elder had made sure to remind Kwangmin and saw him drinking one last night before bed time.  

Nonetheless, the blonde didn’t press on the matter, since Minwoo seemed to be in a horribly foul mood.

Ever since the Sacred lord and his elder brother left the castle, the butler had been sitting on fire. He tried to contact Donghyun many times but failed. Should a war broke out, he and the werewolf would be on two opposite sides of the battle, and probably that would be the end for their relationship.

Without saying out loud, Youngmin actually felt sympathetic towards Minwoo and his bad choice of a boyfriend. He wished the best for his friend, but no matter how happy the butler was with Donghyun, the two of them had no stable future.

Such a shame.

“I see the Lord! I see him”

Young snapped out of his thought right away as one of the soldier shouted on alert. Commander Lee immediately went up the watch tower, following by Youngmin. Indeed, from 300 meters away, he could spot his father rushing back towards the castle, Key following right behind him.

“Let’s open the gate”

Youngmin said, about the shout out the order, but the commander stopped him.

“Please wait, young master. The Lord hasn’t given the safe sign yet. They may be followed”

Youngmin was about to refute, but almost instantly the air started filling with those wolves’ foul smelling odor.

The soldiers were immediately up to their feet, ready for orders.

“If you don’t hear my signal, do not open the gate”

Youngmin bit his lips, recalling his father’s words.

The wolves were obviously dangerous, but how could he just leave those vampires out there to fight alone? He could see from that distance clearly how his father’s face was redder than usual, how panicked Key was and how they were all covered with sun burns. The troop was exhausted. They would be no match against those opponents. They needed help.

“There are about thirty”, Commander Lee muttered, closing his eyes to focus on the approaching sounds of paws hitting the ground.

“We can handle that much”, Youngmin said with finality, “If the wolves have come this close, they will attack our wall sooner or later. Open the gate now, and get the archers ready!”

The general did not argue further, immediately relay the order.

If only they could buy enough time, Hyun Suk and his troop could get inside the defense before they got caught. Things would be much easier this way, because no m