II

                Jonghyun’s words have been echoing in Taemin’s head for the past three days, and he does not appreciate it. To show how much he doesn’t appreciate it, he shoots dangerously close to the tiger-monster’s foot, causing it to screech and run away. A small girl is left there whimpering.

                “You’re safe now,” Taemin says quietly. She doesn’t respond, looking far too traumatized to do so. Taemin helps her to her feet, and advises she get inside as soon as possible. “Avoid the streets during a full moon.” She nods, and Taemin watches her scamper off to a safer place.

                The rest of the night is rather uneventful. Taemin doesn’t have to kill anything, but he scares a few other monsters into the shadows, away from the throngs of people partying in ignorant bliss. Eventually, while wandering around, he stumbles upon Sehun, who is ripping a bear-person’s arm out of its socket in a dark alley.

                “Sorry,” Sehun grunts, gesturing at the gruesome scene before diving out of the way of the bear’s other claws. “This guy was trying to kill three people and things got kind of out of hand.” It’s funny, really, to watch a giant monster get pulverized by someone like Sehun. He’s not small, Sehun isn’t, but he’s definitely on the leaner side.

                “You might as well kill it now,” Taemin says, trying not to sound too amused.

                “I don’t like killing people,” Sehun says, but his hand is on his gun as he circles the beast.

                Taemin doesn’t consider the monster a person right now, but doesn’t bother to argue. “You took its arm off already. Whoever that is is gonna be mad when they change back.”

                Sehun manages to flip the bear over his shoulder and study the mess as it lays unmoving, strange-colored blood gushing out everywhere. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m gonna ask Suho, though. He’ll know what to do.” And with that, Sehun walks away from the bloody disaster left all over the pavement, and Taemin follows, having nothing better to do until moonset.

                -

                As the sun’s first rays pierce the night sky, Taemin finally finds Kai. Despite working with him every full moon night, Taemin never seems to be able to find Kai during their hunts. This thought had him leave Sehun with Suho and walk around the now-quiet streets until he happened upon the elusive hunter.

                Before Taemin can even get out a word of greeting, Kai speaks. “Something’s bothering you.” It’s a statement, not a question. “Ever since a few days ago, something’s been bothering you.”

                “Weird dreams. No sleep. Bad mood,” Taemin answers shortly, plopping down next to his friend.

                Kai glances at him just a little bit longer than someone who believed that answer might. “Right.” He goes back to what he was doing, organizing his bag, before he hands Taemin a USB stick. “Just be careful, then.”

                Taemin rolls the stick between his fingers, knowing that it contains a rather detailed report of the night, courtesy of another hunter, Xiumin. “You don’t need to tell me that,” Taemin says, standing and cracking his neck.

                Kai snorts, but he’s smiling. “Don’t tell me what to do. I’m the boss here.”

                “Yeah, yeah, I’m still older than you,” Taemin says dismissively before Kai jumps at him and puts him in a headlock.

                -

                “Mr. Lee Taemin?” a nurse asks, peering into the waiting room. Taemin drops the incredibly pointless magazine he had been half-reading and follows her out of the waiting area. “Your other friends are already here. They’re all in a very good mood today,” the nurse says, and Taemin stares at her warily until he realizes that this is the same nurse who brought him a blanket and hot chocolate a few months ago when he last fell asleep at the advanced care center. He feels something in between fondness and fear at her memory of him.

                The nurse brings him to Jinki’s room, even though Taemin has the place memorized like the back of his hand. He hasn’t been in a little more than a month, but there was a time when he nearly lived here, and it was not very long ago.

                Before the nurse can open the door, it flies open, revealing the ecstatic face of one of Taemin’s friends. “Taemin!” Minho says excitedly. “Guys, Taemin’s here!”

                “Hey!” Kibum calls, rushing to the door and nearly crashing into Minho in the process. “I’m glad you made it. That makes all four of us!” Kibum and Minho each take one of Taemin’s arms and pull him into the room. Taemin can’t help but shake his head and smile at their antics. It has been much too long since he has seen his friends.

                As soon as Taemin is brought into the room, he is enthusiastically greeted by his bedridden friend. “Hey,” Taemin whispers as he kneels down at Jinki’s bedside. “How are you doing?”

                “The doctor says I’m doing better. I’ve been walking a little bit, but they won’t let me much.” Jinki smiles wryly. “But that’s enough about me. How are you? I haven’t seen you in over a month.”

                “I’ve been good. The usual.” For a brief moment, Taemin considers telling Jinki about his dreams, and then quickly decides against it when he notices how pale his friend is. “When’s the last time a doctor – not a nurse – came in and saw you? You look...”

                “Don’t worry about it!” Jinki says brightly before descending into a flurry of violent coughs. Taemin pales significantly. “I just told you not to worry.”

                “I’m sorry.”

                “Don’t be sorry, either. You can’t spend all your time being sorry. Taemin, you’ve got things to do. Minho told me about the hunting you’re doing. It sounds really dangerous, but I’m still proud. Alright?” Jinki grabs Taemin’s hand and smiles up at him. “I’m always proud.”

                “Thanks.”

                The next few hours are spent pleasantly, the group of friends laughing and goofing off like they used to. When Jinki gets tired, they prepare to leave, and Taemin reluctantly gathers his things.

                His footsteps are much heavier than Kibum’s, he notices. They emphasize how empty the halls are and give them a foreboding feel, despite the work that has been done to brighten them up with yellow paint and colorful floor tiles. It’s almost as if the sounds strip off pretentions and reveal this place for what it really is:

A place people come to die.

                Taemin shakes his head and decides not to think about it much. He doesn’t need to mourn excessively.

                He’s been mourning since the very beginning really; mourning is not the most correct term, as Jinki is not dead, but it is highly accurate for describing Taemin’s feelings. There’s a certain part of him – a rather large part, in fact – that has died since the accident. There’s a certain part of everyone that has died. Unlike the others, Taemin doesn’t bother to resurrect himself. He knows he will never be the same. 

                He wonders if he should bother visiting Jinki more regularly or if he should hole himself up in his apartment indefinitely. Both options hurt terribly, but there aren’t any other options, the way he sees it. Jinki, one of these days, is going to die.  

                “He’s not really doing better, is he?” Taemin asks, his expression dark.

                Kibum sighs. “Well, you can’t really expect him to be, can you? You know what happened; his lung hasn’t made a full recovery. The way I see it, we’re lucky he hasn’t gotten any worse.” Taemin looks away, and Kibum frowns at how quickly the atmosphere has gone sour. He decides to change the subject. “You’re still getting your checks, right?” When Taemin nods curtly, Kibum laughs and continues. “I swear, this compensation money will never run out. I guess it’s for the best, then. You still haven’t got a job, and it looks like Jinki’s costs will stay about the same.”

                “Yeah.”

                “Lee Taemin, don’t you dare be short with me. You know that I’m right.”

                “You’re always right,” Taemin says dismissively, turning to leave. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

                Kibum crosses his arms and shakes his head as he watches Taemin’s back shrink in the distance.

                -

                “Fancy meeting you here.” Taemin thinks that if he can just walk fast enough, he won’t have to face the man walking towards him.

                He can’t walk fast enough, of course.

                Jonghyun grabs him by the shoulder and whips him around, giving him an appraising glance. “You’re not scared of me, are you?”

                “No,” Taemin says curtly. “I’m just busy.”

                “You just left that assisted living place. You’re not busy.”

                “I have a meeting with Kai,” Taemin lies smoothly. “That’s why I left. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late.”

                “I’ll walk with you.” Jonghyun slips his hands into his pockets as he falls into step beside Taemin. “I’d kind of like to meet Kai myself. I think it’d be interesting to see the man who killed one of my best operatives four months ago.”

                “You can’t hurt him.”

                “I wouldn’t try. On a full moon night, I’m dangerous, and I’m not weak on any other day, but we’re talking about someone – a normal person – who can take on a beast during the full moon. Doubt I could put a scratch on him.” Taemin nods. “In fact,” Jonghyun says, looking Taemin up and down. “I’d say he’s more dangerous than I am period. What do you think about that?”

                “Kai has the discipline to keep his danger from hurting people.”

                “He’s a hunter. He kills for a living.”

                “He’s a hunter, but he’s a good one.”

                “Aren’t you full of contradictions today?”

                “I’m not,” Taemin insists, quickly growing more impatient. “Kai stops normal people from getting hurt by freaks like you who can’t control themselves. There may be something off about him, but he does five times as much good every full moon as you’ll ever do.” Jonghyun smirks, but stays quiet. Taemin rolls his eyes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

                -  

                The dreams are growing more and more frequent – they’re more vivid as well. Originally, Taemin could only see what was happening. Now, his skin itches when he wakes up, like something is trying to escape from beneath it. It scares him into not sleeping, and he begins to understand how people get addicted to coffee. He gets withdrawals now. His hands shake. It’s unpleasant.

                They’re not even dreams, really; dreams sound like hope and promise and escape and Taemin feels nothing but smothering when he roams the realm of the insentient. Rather than being freeing, his dreams close in on him like a cage, their deadly vice-grip clamping ever faster around his existence, very much like the body growing limp in his arms from last night–

                Taemin, with great difficulty, wills his hands to stop shaking.

                -

                His hands still shake when Kai hands him his gun for the night. He needs to stop them, or else he’ll be a lousy shot, and someone else could get hurt. But his skin is on fire, and nothing can seem to quench it. His hands seem to be shaking in anticipation of something, but whatever the thing is, Taemin wants it to go away, never to return.

                “What do you want to do after this?” Taemin blinks at the unexpected question. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he nearly forgot that Kai is still next to him.

                “After what?”

                “After this,” Kai says, waving his hands around, gesturing to all the other hunters who are milling around with their equipment. “You don’t get paid like the rest of the gang. I can take you on, but I get the feeling that this is just something you do, not something you particularly want to do, you know?”

                Taemin scratches his head. “I don’t know.”

                Kai shoves his hands in his pockets, and looks up instead of looking Taemin in the face. “I want to dance. I want to find a way to do it professionally. And when I have kids, I’m going to teach them to dance, too.”

                “Why don’t you just do that now?”

                “Because right now, people are still being exposed to whatever causes the monster gene mutation. I feel kinda obligated, you know? Not everyone can do this, and I can, so…” Kai trails off, looking rather wistfully off into the distance. “Well, it’s not a big deal. It’s just that we’ve never talked about it before.”

                Taemin wants to say something, but he’s not sure he even has dreams anymore. So instead, he stands up, says, “There’s not much to talk about,” and walks off into the dusk just before moonrise.

                Taemin leaves his motorcycle behind, too agitated to drive properly. He knows tonight will be an unproductive night, so he wanders the streets nearly aimlessly, both hoping and not hoping that he’ll run into something. He’s too angry to talk to people and too disoriented to fight. Something has been off about him all day, something more than usual. Unwilling to do anything else, he walks on, ignoring all the confused glances he gets from passers-by.

                As he goes on, the dizziness he had attributed to lack of sleep is becoming more and more pronounced. The itch persists, running from his spine and spreading to all his nerves, setting them on fire, and no amount of scratching seems to help. He grips his spinning and pounding head and groans in a voice that is not his own.

                Something is very wrong.

                Taemin can feel the muscles in his back ripping apart; a liquid – it must be blood, or maybe sweat – is running down his body in tiny rivers in an agonizingly slow way. He holds his hands in front of his face only to watch the nails grow sharper and the palms grow wider. Just as he is about to collapse from hyperventilating, the lack of properly absorbed oxygen clouding his vision, he hears a roar coming from somewhere, and everything goes black.