“Nice guy,” Taehyung remarked as he and Jimin watched Hoseok fade off into the blackness. “Bit of a diva at times, but goddammit I love that idiot.”

Jimin was too tired to try to juggle another one of Taehyung’s mood swings, so he kept quiet and didn’t ask where they were going as the younger man started up the car and drove off. A few minutes later, they were pulling up to a roadside diner, the electric glow of its neon “open” sign falling on their dashboard as Taehyung cut the engine.

“Let’s get something to eat,” suggested the younger man. “I’m starving.”

Jimin realized that his companion probably hadn’t eaten anything all day, and suddenly felt guilty about the unopened packet of animal crackers in his pocket. Once they were seated at a sticky table that Jimin was sure violated at least half the book of healthcode standards, the older man offered to pay for their meals but was quickly shot down.

“My treat,” insisted Taehyung. “I wasn’t quite stupid enough to give Jung Hoseok all of my money.” He winked. “And… I know I kind of roped you into this whole mess, so it’s the least I can do to buy you some mediocre food.”

“It’s not really your fault,” consoled Jimin as he studied the menu. “I’m the one who was born with the power to see and track monsters, right?”

Taehyung laughed, but his face turned somber and serious after a moment.

“Yeah - but Hoseok is right; they’re not all monsters,” murmured Taehyung. “And stupid ing me, I came to your house and tried to force you to help me track down some of the worst ones…”

“Hey, there’s still time for me to back out,” taunted Jimin.

Taehyung’s head snapped up to look at the older man with frantic, worried eyes.

“You’re not gonna help me anymore?” he choked.

“Of course I’m still going to help you, you idiot,” Jimin giggled.

He didn’t know why, but Jimin found that he had grown rather fond of the wild-haired, scatterbrained young man sitting opposite him. Taehyung could be unpredictable and immature, but it was all part of his passion for both his life and his work, and that was an attitude that Jimin could respect.

The two men ordered their food, and a few minutes later, several platefuls of steaming, aromatic meats, eggs, and fruits were brought to their dingy table. The food was greasy and heavy, but it was exactly what Jimin needed after such an exhausting, long day. He dug in, and Taehyung followed suit. The diner apparently served mainly breakfast-style dishes, and although it was getting close to eight-thirty at night, neither man seemed to care as they each ate ravenously for several minutes.

✧✧✧

“D’you wanna look for the hellhounds tonight?” Taehyung asked suddenly as he took a break from sampling the dish in front of him.

Jimin swallowed his own mouthful of food before answering.

“I dunno. Not really, I guess.” He took another bite of food, and continued to talk around it. “I’m really tired, you know?”

“I understand,” Taehyung nodded. “It’s only fair that you get some rest. You probably didn’t sleep much last night.”

Indeed, Jimin had not, and the effects of his restless night were starting to catch up with him. His head felt foggy as he shoved another spoonful of fruit salad into his mouth, enjoying the burst of sweetness as it his his tongue.

Suddenly, something sharp and painful zapped through Jimin’s brain. It was another one of the nearly invisible threads that now tugged constantly at his consciousness - yet there was something different and overpowering about this one.

“Ahh!”

Jimin shouted as he grabbed at his head, and Taehyung moved closer to whisper in his ear as the other late-night patrons murmured and stirred around the diner.

“What is is?” the younger man worried. “Jimin, are you okay?”

Jimin felt very certain that this new lead belonged to the hellhounds, and he discovered that Taehyung had been absolutely right - they did feel incredibly, almost frighteningly powerful. His thoughts swirled as he started to experience the same shortness of breath he had when confronted by one of the beasts the previous night. He struggled through the agony to provide a response, his head and neck pounding as he spit out the words.

“Ugh. Yeah,” he mumbled. “But I think I found your hellhounds.”

✧✧✧

Although they had only finished about half the food, Taehyung immediately slammed a fistful of money down on the table, grabbed Jimin by the arm, and pulled him out of the diner and back into the car. The young man’s excitement was palpable, and he was practically buzzing as he keyed the ignition.

“Where to, oh mighty Sensor?” Taehyung tittered.

“Take a left out of the parking lot,” ordered Jimin. “They’re not very far.”

Jimin was tired, but there was no chance he was going to be sleeping anytime soon with the malicious electricity that was currently radiating through skull, so he thought they might as well finish the job while he had a clear trail. As they drove through the countryside - Jimin directing Taehyung as the filaments in his mind twisted and pulled - the throbbing subsided to more of a dull ache, which Jimin found manageable, although it was unpleasant.

Eventually, they ended up back in the gravel parking lot that Taehyung had taken them to visit earlier, and the younger man said that they would have to get out of the car and continue on foot. Jimin navigated the dense trees for several dozen minutes, the orange-haired man trailing not far behind as the former felt himself getting closer and closer to the source of the tether that compelled him to move forward.

Taehyung lagged slightly behind, fiddling with devices and wires as he got tangled up in something that looked like a helmet out of a science fiction movie - complete with a large, metallic antenna sticking out its top.

“Are you going monster hunting, or trying to protect your mind from the aliens?” Jimin teased over his shoulder.

“Ha-ha,” Taehyung mocked. “Very funny. For your information, this is very sensitive recording equipment that will hopefully be able to pick up some growls or barks or whatever kind of noises these things make. That’s my ticket to a hefty payment and a job well done.”

He pulled out a video recorder, and promptly dropped it on the ground. The younger man swore as he picked the machine up, and brushed it off.

“Right. Sensitive equipment,” Jimin mumbled.

He pushed through the trees to emerge into an overgrown meadow, and Taehyung came stumbling out behind him a moment later. The air was still and crisp around him, and it was several seconds before either of them spoke.

“We’re here,” announced Jimin.

✧✧✧

The two young men gazed up to see a towering, dilapidated mansion sitting smack in the middle of the forest. Its shutters were weathered and torn off their hinges, and the wooden paneling peeled off in strips. The whole thing looked like a classic horror-movie-style haunted house, and Jimin realized that it was also incredibly out of place in the inconspicuous little forest off the side of the highway, absolutely nowhere near any other houses.

“What the hell is this doing here?” he wondered as he took a step toward the ruined building.

“There is a very good chance that this is all an illusion,” explained Taehyung. “If this is really the place, then that probably means the house is a portal that the hellhounds are using to get through to our plane of existence. At least, that’s the currently accepted theory to explain how they get into this world.”

Jimin was usually interested in hearing Taehyung talk cryptozoology, but he had slightly more pressing matters on his mind as the pair of them approached the deteriorated house.

“I thought you said you couldn’t see this stuff?” he accused the younger man. “You can really see the house?”

“Oh, the house is very real.” Taehyung tapped on the bottom step that led up the large door to confirm this, and a soft thump echoed through the empty meadow. “All so-called ‘paranormal’ entities are really just a specific type of energy that can only get picked up on under certain circumstances.”

He hopped up several of the stairs, and Jimin followed cautiously, testing each step before giving it his full weight.

“For example, Sensors are very good at picking up that energy, whereas the rest of us…” Taehyung cut his hand flatly through the air, suggesting that most people did not possess the same ability. “But recording devices and the like can be very helpful in letting us sample at least some of the energy, which is why you get a lot of blurry videos of ghosts and stuff circulating the internet. And remember the banshee scream I showed you? If you heard one in real life, it’d probably sound a thousand times worse to you, because your ears can pick up pieces of the energy that my equipment can’t.”

“But how does that make this house - or portal or whatever - ‘real?’” pressed Jimin.

“Because it’s made up of so much of that energy that for all intents and purposes, it truly does exist in our world,” Taehyung explained. “It’s a manifestation - an illusion in the sense that builders didn’t come here and erect a mansion in the middle of the goddamn forest; rather it’s a portal created by the dogs. But it’s one that can be interacted with - even by people like me, who don’t have any sort of special knack for this kinda stuff.”

The two men reached the front porch, and paused for a moment so Taehyung could finish.

“Mind you, this is all just speculation and theories,” chuckled Taehyung. “But, like I said, almost everything is grounded in at least some truth.”

Jimin guessed that that all made sense, though he was still amazed by the perfectly clichéed little haunted-looking house in front of them. He half expected a family of bats to burst out the front door as Taehyung reached for the handle.

“Remember: I told you that it takes a powerful Sensor to follow a powerful trail,” reiterated Taehyung quietly. “But for the hellhounds and their portal, having that much power has to cost you somewhere - and in this case it’s in the subtlety department. Thank goodness it’s deep in the forest, right? God forbid some poor bastard stumbles across this place on their evening walk.”

Jimin didn’t think that possibility was particularly likely, but he was proved wrong almost instantly when a voice sounded from somewhere behind them.