Minki’s POV

    I walked through the doors of the crowded club with a sigh. It was much busier than I had expected, for a Monday. I was only there so I could tell Hyunsoo that I had checked the clubs, without lying.

    I shoved both hands in the pockets of my leather jacket and used my elbows to force my way through the crowd. With bored eyes I scanned the crowd. My interest was piqued by a group of familiar faces pushing their way through the crowd as well. I followed them subtly, hoping that I would gain some insight as to why a group of shifters would be in this peaceful town.

    I bobbed and moved to the rhythm of the song, trying to blend in with the other patrons. The group stopped and separated two people who seemed to be a little too into the song. The girl had her back to me, but I was able to tell it was one of the twins. Hongbin had a slightly dazed look on his face, and I could see a small bead of red forming on his lower lip.

    The group began to rush out the back door. It wasn’t until they began to move that I noticed something was amiss. As the girl with her back to me was pulled out the door she looked back. I saw her hazel eyes twinkle with a mischievous glint. Her lips were slightly parted and smeared with blood. The look on her face changed to terrified recognition as her eyes locked with mine. I froze with shock. My mouth hung open as the door gently closed behind them.

    I sped home and placed a call to Hyunsoo. She was less than pleased when she answered, “Do you know what time it?” She demanded, following was a less alarming yawn.

    I glanced over at a clock and read off the time, “Yes, 12:35am, but this is kind of important.”

    She sighed and I heard her sit up in bed. “It had better be,” she mumbled, “What is it?”

    “I think I found them.” Up until now I had hesitated to tell her. I knew Hyunsoo would have no doubt at all that they should each be destroyed. With two confirmed shifters, and three vampires, I knew I would need more help. “The three vampires. You were right, they were at a club.”

    “So? What’s so difficult about that? Follow them, and steak them.”    

    “They aren’t alone.” I answered

    “What do you mean they aren’t alone. My informant only told me that there were three vampires.” I could hear her agitation in her voice.

    “Not other vampires. They are in relationships.”    

    I heard a thump as her feet hit the floor. She was angry, “Brides?”

    I chuckled trying to easy the attention. “I’m not sure they always feed off of them, and not brides, more like grooms.”

    I heard Hyunsoo’s fist collide with something, “Grooms are harder, but it’s usually easy enough to separate a human bride or groom from their vamp.”

    “That’s another part.” I paused trying to carefully word my next statement. “I’m not sure that the grooms are human.”

    I heard silence from the other end of the phone. I couldn’t even hear her breathing. “Uh, Hyunsoo? Are you still there?”

    “What do you mean that you aren’t sure they are human.” I didn’t answer, thinking the question was rhetorical. “If you don’t know, the find out.” She paused, “and the call me.”

    “Uh, wait.” I stopped her from ending the call. “Do you know of any way to confirm that they are a shifter without seeing them shift?”

    She exhaled frustrated. “I’m going to be sending you a pendant. The pendant will grow warmer the closer you are to a shifter.” Without warning I heard a click and heard the tone indicating that our call had ended.

Haewon’s POV

    The six of us were in the attic around the koi pond. Soyoung was crying. Hongbin was trying his best to calm her, while Miyoung paced back and forth behind her angrily yelling at her. Wonsik sat, but kept his eyes trained on Miyoung. He seemed unsure if he wanted to calm her down or support her rampage. Hakyeon rocked the hammock gently. I sat with my elbows on my knees. I bent forward so that my head was resting in my hands.

    With all the noise I was unable to think, “Quiet!” I yelled drawing everyone’s attention. “All of you, sit.” They didn’t move. “Now!” They all rushed to take a seat. “Thank you.” I stood and began to pace. “We just need to think this through. It is very likely that Minki now knows what we are. I feel that the safest thing for everyone, would be if we left town.”

    “No.” Miyoung looked up defiantly. “We can be happy here. If we leave we are giving up.”

    “Haewon is right.” This came from Hakyeon. I was shocked that he agreed, and a little hurt. “You need to go, you will be the safest if you leave. If he hurts any of you, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

    “But they will come after you next.” I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest. “We should all leave.”

    Hakyeon shook his head and stood. “No, that’s why I need to stay. You can’t take the boys and head off to a new town.” He turned to Wonsik and Hongbin. “Take them to our home town. The agreement with the hunters is that they will not hunt in the town, and that we will not harm humans.” He reached out and gently ran his hands up my arms. “I will stay behind and when they approach the house to ask about you. I’ll be able to lead them in another direction.”

    I stepped back out of his reach and shook my head. I was starting to get angry. “We are better as a group. I say we all stay or we all go.”

    I looked at the others for support. The only one disagreeing was Hakyeon. He sighed, “Fine, but I am not letting you out of my sight.”  Glanced at him confused. “You are staying here. I’ll sleep in the attic or on the couch, but you.” He motioned to Miyoung and Soyoung, “none of you, will be going anywhere unescorted.”

    Miyoung was unphased by the news, and Soyoung still had tears streaming down her face. Not wanting to start another argument I agreed.

As we were getting ready for bed I pulled Soyoung aside. We were both dressed in borrowed sweats, and large T-shirts.  “What happened?”

Soyoung sniffled again and wiped at her eyes, “I’m not sure. I, uh, just got hungry, I guess.”

“Didn’t you eat before we left?” She nodded, “then why were you hungry? Have you been snacking?”

“No, I promise.” She shook her head vigorously. “It’s the first time I’ve fed off of someone in at least 50 years.” Her tears began to fall silently. “I don’t know what got into me. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Was there anything odd going on before you got hungry? Did you smell or see blood.”

“Nothing. I wasn’t hungry until I saw Hongbin. At first it was easy enough to think of other things, but when he leaned over to start talking to me, I could really smell him. I tried ignoring it, but something snapped and I just had to have a taste.”

I paused taking it all in. “Are you still hungry?”

“No. It’s funny they few drops I got from Binnie was enough to satisfy me. The cravings are gone completely.”

“Try not to think about it too much tonight. Sleep well.” I gave her a hug and sent her off to Hongbin’s room.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Miyoung was right though. They do taste gross.”