“Come back! Kwang…

….Come back!”

Kwangmin jolted awake from his slumber, knocking over the load of clothes and blankets on top of him.

“Oops!..”

The brunette let out a yelp, realizing his mistake almost immediately. He clumsily pulled the cover back to shield his sensitive skin from the brightness surrounding.

“Hey, easy. Easy.”

Jeongmin and Onew, the two wizards who helped him escaped the werewolves the previous night, came to the rescue right away and rearranged the mess.

He felt much better after taking a nap, letting his body gradually recovered from the fatigue after being exposed under sunlight.

“You okay?”, asked Jeongmin.

“Yes, much better”, replied the brunette, “But I really need to get back to the castle … My brother is worried”

Kwangmin sighed, pressing a hand against his chest, trying to ease the uneasy feeling. He did not know how Youngmin managed to do it, but there was no mistake that itvwas the elder’s calls he had been hearing. The desperation and worry in his voice made Kwangmin’s heart ache with longing.

He really wished he could fly back to his twin’s side that very moment.

“You can’t leave now”, said Onew firmly, “The sun is still high up. We should wait at least 3 hours”

Kwangmin just nodded wordlessly, knowing the wizard was right. He used to have no idea how toxic the sun was to his kind. However, after the burns he experienced this morning, he had to think twice about going out there at this hour. Even after the two kind wizards had closed all the windows, his eyes would not stop watering, too used to only seeing things in darkness or gentle moonlight.

“I’m fine, Youngmin…”

The brunette twin mumbled the thought, hoping it could reach his elder brother, “I will be back real soon”

------------------------------------------------

"What the..."

As Minwoo returned to Sacred, he got a shock at the commotion happening inside the castle. It was as if the night had fallen and a huge crowd was gathering at the basement, ready for prayer time. However, instead of casual civilian attires, the soldiers were in their battle capes. Some of them were checking their weapons, while the others just sat down, waiting for command.

It was as if they were getting ready for war.

“Key hyung!”, called Minwoo, easily spotting the elder’s colorful hairdo among the mass of people.

The king’s first knight turned back, eyes widening at the tattered sight of the young butler, “Minnie. Did you just go out? Are you crazy?..”

“I’m okay hyung”, Minwoo answered with a non-answer, wanting to quickly move on to matters that were far more important than his temporary burns.

“Why is everyone in battle outfit? I thought the Lord only wanted a few soldiers to come along?”

Key frown, not liking how his concerns were disregarded. However, the feline boy decided to let it go seeing how serious Minwoo's expression was. 

“Yeah, that’s what he said last night…but General Lee believes the wolves won’t return the young master easily and suggested that we bring a larger force. Also, too many people requested to go, so we-”

Before the knight could finish, he suddenly found himself talking to a blank wall and Minwoo had already made his way up the stairway, heading towards his master’s room.

“Minwoo!! Where are you going?... Aish this brat”, cursed Key as his younger brother disappeared behind the flight of stairs.

Knock knock..

Minwoo opened the door to the young lord’s chamber, not totally surprised to find the blonde already awake.

The said boy was sitting at his desk, biting onto his nails impatiently. It was barely 4pm and the sun would not come down any sooner no matter how much he prayed for it.

“Youngmin, the soldiers are preparing for a full-scale battle. Are you aware?”

Youngmin looked up at the question, not showing the least interest in the piece of news as he answered, “Well I’m not surprised…I would have asked father to bring more people if there aren’t too many coming”

Minwoo was about to persuade the blonde to recall the order, but the elder twin was the faster to speak, “Did you went out?”

Words stuck in his throat, Minwoo tried not to flinch at the sharp tone.

“You went to meet him, didn’t you?”

Knowing there was no use denying the truth, he nodded, “I want to ask him about yesterday, and persuade their side to release Kwangmin before we have to take any drastic measure”

“And?”, Youngmin’s voice was stable, though his eyes could not hide the nervousness, “What did he say?”

Minwoo swallowed, not knowing how to best explain the situation to the young lord,

“He…Youngmin. Actually, they don’t have him.”

“…”

“…Pardon?”, asked Youngmin, dumbfounded.

Minwoo could sense the storm of emotion in the blonde’s mind, “…Well, I said: They did not capture Kwangmin”

Youngmin looked at the slightly older vampire, incredulous, “I see. That’s what he told you. And you believe him?”

“I know him well, Youngmin”, defended the butler, “I can tell when he lies and when he doesn’t”

Youngmin let out a dry laugh, “Oh yes, you think… He didn’t tell you anything when he was going to kidnap Kwangmin, did he?”

“He said he has no time to-”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT HE SAID!”

Youngmin raised his voice, not letting Minwoo finished his explanation, “Let's have this clear: They set up a trap to separate me and Kwangmin. Now Kwangmin has disappeared. And you still believe that they did nothing to him?”

“I… I mean…”, stuttered the butler, flustered by Youngmin’s outburst.

“Are you sure you are not letting your personal feeling hinders your judgement?”, Youngmin stood up, facing Minwoo directly, "Whose side are you on?"

Minwoo quickly looked down, holding back the tears in his eyes.

“..There is no need to ask that question, young master”, the butler bowed, “My entire family has always been serving the Lord for generations. I would never betray you, nor Kwangmin”

Sighing, Youngmin sat back down, massaging his temples with both hands.

It was not his character to be harsh on someone. He should have more control over himself, but the worry was torturing him, making him more impatient, more unforgiving, and more like the self he hated to be.

“I’m sorry Minwoo”, mumbled the young lord, after a long silence, “I didn’t mean to raise my voice at you”.

The male servant shook his head, “You have every right to scold me”

“Minwoo..”, frown Youngmin, “You went out there to look for Kwangmin, despite the deadly sunlight. I should not have doubted your intention…”

The butler wanted to feel happy, but his face fell at Youngmin’s next words.

“-However… I can’t trust Donghyun, no matter what you say”, the vampire prince said with finality, “We will meet those wolves and decide then whether they are worth negotiating”

------------------------------------------------

“Do you just grind powder all days? Don’t you need to practise your magic?”

Kwangmin asked randomly, trying to start a conversation as he lied down on Jeongmin's bed, having nothing to do.

Jeongmin laughed at the younger’s question, “Magic is just a language that wizards happen to understand while others can’t. So no, we don’t spend days reciting nonsense”.

The blonde continued grinding the brownish powder, which looked like it could not get any finer already. Kwangmin bet the boy felt just as bored as himself.

“Mom has a small clinic in old town and Onew hyung works there. That’s why I help him prepare this powder everyday, for the patients”, said the elder boy.

“Why?”, Kwangmin raised an eyebrow in confusion, not that the other could see his expression anyway, “Can’t you just read the spell and cure them like what you did with me?”

“Well. We can’t let them know that we can use magic”, the wizard boy explained, “Human is afraid of people doing things they can’t. They deem wizards to be evil. If they know we practise wizardry, they will even burn us alive.”

Jeongmin sighed, his voice losing the cheerfulness for the first time since Kwangmin met him, “...That's also the reason why we have to live here, at the border of the forest, far away from t