You’re standing in the middle of a field, wind slashing your skin with cold, whip-like touches; you’re not moving, just staring intently at something in the distance. You realize that you’re dreaming, then, and breathe out slowly, everything around you suddenly becoming very odd and bizarre. The grass is too green, the sky is to bleak, and the wind feels unfamiliar.

You tilt your head to the side when you notice some movement in the corner of your eye, and you hold your breath when you see an Astomi standing a few meters away from you. This time it’s a little girl with dark, black hair and piercing eyes; all the Astomis you’ve met have similar, penetrating gazes. The girl isn’t different. Her eyes are like melted gold, and just like any other Astomi, she has no mouth.

You frown at her questioningly, opening your mouth to ask what’s happening, but she points at the ground before you can do that. You look down and your eyes widen at the sight of blood splattered on the ground right under your feet.

You wake up silently, but with your heart hammering in your chest.

*

“What do we do?” Kyungsoo asks, his serious face on. You, Luhan, Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen, Min and Yixing are staring at Kai very intently and everyone is feeling a bit tense; the last time you saw an Astomi, they were warning you about a demon that you were about to meet.

Kai’s hand is resting on his chin. He sighs, brows furrowed in focus.

“Baek, Chen, you go walk around the city. See if anything’s off. Don’t go wandering around on your own, always keep each other close. Report if you see or hear anything weird. Yixing and Luhan, go to the school, tell Tao what’s happening, and make sure Heejin and Minjoon get home safe,” he says and looks at you. “You put up wards on their houses, right?”

“Yeah,” you nod. “They’re safe.”

“Okay. Go call Siwon, tell him we might have a big company. Tell Eun not to move from her house, too, just in case. Luhan, tell Kris, Amber and Sulli what’s happening. Once all of you are done, come back here; we shouldn’t split.”

“What about the Jungs?” Kyungsoo asks. “What if the Mabeob people are coming back for them?”

“I’ll go keep an eye on them,” Min says.

“You can’t go alone,” Xiumin protests. He glances at Kyungsoo and the boy nods before Xiumin can even ask for help. The two of them look at Kai and he agrees with a quick nod as well. A few minutes later, they’re all gone, and you’re left alone with Kai.

“I’ll call Taemin,” he tells you and goes upstairs to find his phone. You call Siwon during that time and shoot a quick text to Eun. You don’t usually warn all your friends and family about what’s happening, but you haven’t had any serious trouble in town in a while; you feel a bit out of practice. Not to mention, you’ve got more people to protect now. That also means that you have more people who make you vulnerable.

Siwon is telling you something on the other side of your phone, but all you can think of is the Jungs, and Heejin. Minjoon, too. What if someone uses them against you one day? That’s a possibility, right? It’s never happened before, but now that there’s more humans in the pack, it can all get pretty messy at some point.

“Dal.”

You snap out of your thoughts.

“Sorry,” you say to Siwon, “you were saying?”

“When was the last time you saw Father?”

You think back to the last time you talked to the guy and squint a little, letting out a loud ‘uuuh’. “A few weeks ago. He told me he has some personal business to take care of and won’t be back in a while. Why? Do you think we might need him?”

“I’m asking out of curiosity.”

You’d send him a suspicious look if he was there with you. “You don’t get curious about these things, Siwon. Why are you asking about Father all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing.”

You’ve know Siwon your whole life, and you don’t recall him ever lying to you. Not really. He kept some truth away from you when he found it necessary, but he never lied to you, so you can’t really tell if what he’s saying right now is true or not. It sounds weird. It sounds like he’s keeping something away from you again and you don’t like it. “Siwon, you know what happens when you keep secrets–“

“I’m not keeping a secret, Dal. End of discussion. I’m going now; stay in touch.”

And with that, he disconnects. You withdraw the phone from your ear to look at the screen with an expression of worry on your face.

“Rude,” Kai comments, entering the living room after probably listening into the conversation.

“I don’t get him,” you inform him.

“Does anyone actually get him?” Kai wonders out loud, walking past you and to the kitchen.

“He asked me–“

“I know, I heard,” Kai says, looking at you over his shoulder. “Coffee?”

*

“I don’t think anyone is coming tonight,” Taemin says, yawning around a cup of warm milk. His eyes are half-lidded and he’s barely staying awake; he looks like a hen falling asleep. He’s even swaying a little. “No one on their right mind would attack this late at night.”

“It’s ten pm,” Kyungsoo deadpans.

“We mortals sleep at these hours,” Taemin replies, yawning again.

“We mortals stayed up all night watching a TV show again, didn’t we?” Min asks, smirking a little. Someone snorts in the kitchen. Taemin raises his finger, as if to make a point, and yawns before speaking up again. His eyes are completely teary right now.

“Correction, I only stayed up ‘till seven in the morning,” he says, his head tilting to the side. You’re sitting on the couch next to him, so if he decides to drop that milk, it’ll end up on your lap. Or your face. You don’t know which option is worse. Kyungsoo shakes his head at Taemin and stands up to go to the kitchen; he smiles at you tightly as he walks past you.

You stare at the TV, not really listening to what they’re saying on the news. It’s on mute. You found out some time ago that Kai likes to keep it on just because it makes him feel more grounded sometimes. When you’re figuring out how to take care of mystical creatures, people around you are living their normal, regular lives without knowing about magic; that keeps him focused. You once laughed at him for being a total cliché – a hero hiding in the dark, helping people out when they need it without them knowing that he’s doing that – but you found that incredibly noble. No matter how stupid it sounded.

You hear some whispering, so you turn your head around to peek at the kitchen. Kyungsoo and Kai are standing next to each other, face to face, both hunched a little, and they’re both staring at each other with sharp, serious eyes. You can’t hear what they’re talking about, but it seems weirdly intimate and grim at the same time. Kyungsoo raises his brows questioningly at his friend, Kai rolls his eyes, nods (albeit a bit forced) and Kyungsoo shoots him a sassy smile. Kai claps him on the shoulder and walks past him, heading for the kitchen.

Kyungsoo comes back to the living room a few seconds later carrying snacks, and he does it just in time to grab the mug of milk that’s slipping out of Taemin’s grasp. The boy yells and wakes up with a startle, and it’s only thanks to Kyungsoo’s reflexes that he doesn’t knock the mug out of Kyungsoo’s grip. You, Min and Xiumin turn into a mess of giggles, and Tao appears out of nowhere when he hears you laughing, demanding you tell him what’s so funny.

*

Kyungsoo bites into an apple with some truly ferocious force. Kai looks at him with disgust and shoves at him lightly. They’re sitting on the top of an old apartment building, looking down at the city and at the people walking around there.

“You want some?” Kyungsoo asks, offering him some of his apple.

“No, thanks,” Kai groans. His phone starts ringing; he pulls it out in record time, doesn’t look at the screen before picking up. “Hello?”

“Something entered the city,” you tell him on the other side of the phone. Kai can hear wind and you’re gasping a little, probably running to your car. “A few somethings.”

“Where?” Kai asks, standing up. Kyungsoo abandons his apple and stands up as well, his eyes flashing blue as he looks around to spot the threat.

“Northeast,” you say. “I’ll see you.”

“There,” Kyungsoo says loudly, elbowing Kai and pointing at something in the distance. Kai disconnects the call and puts his phone back in the pocket of his leather jacket; he turns on his werewolf vision, allowing his eyes to flash red, and looks to where Kyungsoo is pointing.

A woman is running down the street and there are three guys chasing her like crazy. The woman looks tired and she’s definitely crying as she’s literally screaming her way downtown, shoving people to the side, panicked and scared.

“Okay, we’re up,” Kai says, and he heads left, to where the woman is heading. Kyungsoo follows shortly and they jump from the apartment building to another, then down the ladder in record time. Then, following the woman’s screams, they run down the alley, and it’s quite tricky since it’s really downhill. Kai’s legs, even though he’s a werewolf, seem to have some trouble with keeping up.

He hears the woman’s cut-off shout. He turns sharp right, into a thinner alley, and jumps out onto a playground. All the kids playing there have long scattered, and Kai can see some of them running away, because right in the middle of the playground there’s a woman bleeding, and a man pinning her to the ground while also yanking at her hair.

“You’re one troublesome–“ he begins to say, but he doesn’t finish, because Kai punches him in the face.

The man flies and only stops when he hits the nearest slide. The plastic bends under his weight and under the force of Kai’s punch, and the guy hits his head hard enough to lose consciousness, at least for a while. The woman is looking up at Kai now, her eyes all over the place, and only now they can see how battered and bruised she is. Kai hears a yell; the woman gasps at something she sees behind Kai’s back. He ducks before the second bad guy can hit him, and the second he sees his fat arm next to his head, he grabs it and throws the man over his shoulder. He practically hammers him into the sand, and it scatters around like an angry cloud.

Kai looks behind his back to see that Kyungsoo has knocked the third guy out; he still has his leg raised up in the air, and Kai supposes his feet is where the guy’s face used to be. He quickly crouches down to see if the woman is alright, and she yells a little when he does.

“It’s okay,” he says, “we’re gonna help you.”

“Kai!” Kyungsoo screams, and a second after that, Kai hears a swish of air. An arrow flies right next to his head, missing him by a mere inch, and hits something on Kai’s left; he turns, wide-eyed, to see the fourth man standing right next to him, with an arrow in his shoulder. The arrow is not enough to stop him, and he’s built like a brick, so the only thing it actually does is make the man lose his momentum (because judging from his position, he was going to smash Kai’s head into pieces). Kai punches him in the stomach, jumps back when the man takes a swing at him, and Kyungsoo finishes him off by punching the man in the nose. Blood spurts out of it and the man staggers back, confused.

A loud snap of fingers is heard and the man drops onto the ground, unconscious.

Taking a quick look around, Kai spots Seon on the rooftop of an apartment block on his right; she was the one to fire the arrow. Then he hears your heartbeat and turns to see your worried eyes scanning his face.

“You okay?” you ask. You were the one to knock the man out with a snap of your fingers. Kai nods and looks at Seon, raising his hand in thanks at her. She disappears from his sight, probably to get off that rooftop and join you all here.

The woman is shaking and on the ground, looking up at you all like you’re the bad guys. She’s in shock.

“Calm down,” you say, crouching down next to her and trying to look as comforting and non-hostile as you can. She lets out a very panicked, desperate, cut-off gasp, and crawls away from you while shaking her head. Her forearms are covered in tiny cuts and bruises, there’s a big wound on her abdomen, and she stinks of sweat and adrenaline; she probably hasn’t slept in days. “We’ll help you. Please calm down.”

“We’re gonna have company in a second, Dal,” Kai informs you. He stands by your side. “Cops.”

You glance up at him. Then you look around, trying to see how many people have seen this whole thing, and wondering how the hell you’re gonna explain that at the police station, if it comes to this.

You look at the woman. “I’m sorry,” you say, and snap your fingers at her.

She drops onto the ground, letting out another gasp before her breathing goes normal. Kai picks her up without a problem; you look at the three man scattered around the playground. Seon shows up by the one of the blocks and you wave at her to hurry up.

“My jeep is right there,” you inform. You all quickly make your way through the alley, passing a few people on your way. Seon catches up to you, gasping slightly, a bow in her hand. Kai looks down at her.

“Not suspicious at all,” he notes.

“I just saved your furry ,” Seon shoots back.

“Point,” Kyungsoo says.

“How did you even get here so fast?” you mutter. Seon doesn't hear the question. With people giving you strange looks and a dog barking behind you, you finally make it to the jeep and put the woman inside. Just as you’re pulling out of the parking lot, a police cruiser drives past you, and you take a deep breath.

“Call Kris,” you say to Kyungsoo.

*

“Done,” Junsu says, looking up at the four of you. Daehyun is standing behind him and he looks slightly worried about this whole ordeal; there’s an unconscious woman lying on their dinner table and Junsu just finished healing her wounds. “Her abdomen wound was deep; she should rest now. And sleep it off.”

“I’m not sure you can sleep off a monster attack,” Daehyun says.

“We don’t know if it was a monster,” Kai tells him. “The men chasing her were human.”

“And they don’t remember a thing,” Kyungsoo says all of a sudden. You all turn to him with similar, confused faces. Kyungsoo is staring at his phone, his face illuminated with its light. He looks up. “Kris texted. He says the men are as confused as ever about where they are; they don’t remember a thing, and it’s sincere.”

“Did they ID them?” Seon asks.

“All four of them are from Seoul. Normal guys. One of them works in an office, the other two know each other from the gym, and the fourth one is a social worker.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Kai mutters.

The woman stirs in her slumber. You all glance at her; Junsu makes a face.

“She shouldn’t be waking up so soon,” he says. The woman says something, but it’s not possible to make out. “I’ll give her some painkillers, alright? And put her to sleep for a while longer.”

Kai and you nod in unison. Junso goes to the bathroom in search of the things he needs, and Daehyun looks up at you in worry.

“Do you guys need help?” he asks.

“We’re good,” Kai assures. “Thanks.”

“Krystal could make sure that these guys aren’t lying,” he says. “People can learn how to lie with their heartbeat intact. Krystal can make sure.”

“That’s actually quite a good idea,” Seon says. Daehyun glances at her. This is the first time they’ve actually met each other, so he’s a bit intimidated. There’s just so much leather. She also has a bow. He’s just condemned to a life with attractive people, isn’t he? “Krystal is the mind-reading one, right?”

“Did your research, I see,” Kai says gruffly. Seon shrugs.

“Keep your enemies close, right?” Kyungsoo says bitterly, scoffing. Seon tenses. Nobody reacts.

“It’s not that,” Seon whispers, clenching her fists. Junsu chooses that moment to come back with a syringe, and he slows down as he approaches, looking around at all the grim faces.

“Has she died?” he asks, wrongly assuming that your faces mean just that and runs towards the woman, completely panicked. Daehyun laughs at him and you crack a smile. Seon turns on her heels.

“Call me if you need help,” she says, her voice harsh.

“Seon,” Kai calls, whipping his head around. Their eyes meet. “Thanks for that arrow.”

She doesn’t reply, nor does she react in any way, but Kai can see a flash of pride and gratitude in her eyes, and that’s enough for him. He turns to send Kyungsoo a glare.

“What?” Kyungsoo asks. “She shot me once.”

“And now she shoots the bad guys so that they don’t kill us,” Kai replies.

“He wouldn’t have killed you,” Kyungsoo points out.

“Still.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds, tension in the air. You clap your hands at them.

“Please, don’t argue about that now,” you say. “We have more important things to take care of. First of all, these guys are obviously human, but the second they crossed the city border, I felt them. And that doesn’t happen when normal people enter the city, that only happens when something magical does.”

“Not to mention the fact that the guy Seon shot appeared out of nowhere,” Kai adds. “I should’ve heard him.”

“That’s true,” Kyungsoo says, glancing at you. “You weren’t there in time to see it, probably, but he did appear out of thin air.”

“Freaky,” Daehyun says. Junsu is done injecting the painkillers into the woman’s veins, but it’d actually be much easier for you if she woke up and told you what happened to her.

You stare at the woman. Then Kai looks at Daehyun. “Where’s Krystal?”

*

“They’re confused,” Krystal says. You’re all staring at the four men who attacked you, and who are currently handcuffed to chairs at the police station. Changmin, Heechul and two other guys are writing down their testimonies. “And hungry.”

“I’ll order them some pizza,” Kris says. “Think we could call Siwon down here so he could tell us if they’re not cursed, or something?” he asks you.

“Sure, I’ll call him,” you promise. “I wonder if this has something to do with Mabeob.”

Your heart aches automatically at the memory of that masked mage guy and at the possibility of him being your dad. You clench your jaw as you stare at the four men, and Kai takes your hand suddenly.

“Don’t assume just yet,” he reminds you.

*

Siwon doesn’t find anything on the men. No curse, no weird spell, nothing. And they seem more and more confused about why they’re being held up in a police station.

“I can only keep them here for twenty four hours,” Maeng tells you. “We don’t have proof that they’ve done anything wrong except for your testimony, so I can’t keep them here.”

“We get that,” you say begrudgingly. “Someone should keep an eye on them.”

“I will,” Kris says, appearing at your side, wearing regular clothes instead of his police uniform that he had on a few minutes ago. “I’ll ask Luhan to come with me.”

“Okay,” you nod. “Keep in touch.”

“Sure.”

Maeng and Kris walk away from you. You turn towards Kai, Kyungsoo, Krystal and Daehyun (who tagged along) and you sigh.

“So we’ve got squat,” you sum up.

“If the guy Seon shot could show up out of nowhere, it means there was magic involved,” Kyungsoo says. “You think he teleported?”

“No, that was different,” Kai says. “Didn’t feel like he teleported. It was more like…what Daehyun does with objects. He showed up out of nowhere, without fireworks or whiffs of energy.”

“Like this?” Daehyun asks. You glance at him to see him holding up a police badge and a huge grin on his face. You all either laugh or roll your eyes, and a second later, Maeng screams “Where’s my badge?!” from his office.

*

The woman you saved wakes up a few hours after you go back to Kai’s loft. Pretty much everyone is in the room, including the Jungs, and the first thing she says is, “Sori”.

Then she sits up gasping, and looks around very panicked.

“Calm down,” you say, raising your arms a little, as if trying to tame a wild animal. Kai enters the bedroom, having ran up here after hearing the woman wake up. “You’re safe now.”

The woman looks around. She takes in Kai’s room, her heart hammering in her chest. After a few moments of calming herself down, she looks at her arms in confusion. Then she touches her stomach and lets out a shaky breath after discovering that it’s healed.

“Our friend healed you,” you inform her.

“My daughter,” the woman gasps out. You frown; Kai glances at you in confusion. She looks up at you, tears visible in her eyes. “My little girl, they took her.”

You open your mouth in surprise. “Who took her?”

The woman clenches her fists around the blanket on top of her and a shudder runs down her spine as she replies, “Werewolves.”

One of you has recently asked me about Krishan on my ask.fm. I already told you that I will write about them, but sadly, it might take a while XD There's some Krishan in chapter 60, 61 and 62 but it's brief. So I'M GONNA TAKE THIS CHANCE TO ADVERTISE this fic of mine that is Krishan. Maybe it'll fill your Krishan craving while I get to write that RALF Krishan chapter XD I totally didn't think of sending you the link on ask.fm lol

As for this chapter: fasten your seatbelts and prepare for a longer drive because we're staring a chaptered arc :)