Chapter 24: Scratching the Surface

Caution: Blood and gore and body horror. Also If you're interested, I listened to this spooky music while writing the chapter, so feel free to listen while you read because I think it fits well hahaha.

Seungcheol stepped forward, very carefully, keeping his eyes on Woozi. Beneath his foot, fluids slushed around his shoe. It was too dark to see what exactly he had stepped in, but bile began to rise in his throat nonetheless.

Woozi looked at him with wide, red eyes, his pupil thinned into a slit like a feral cat. He crouched and backed away from the light of the candle a bit, opening his mouth in a warning manner. His expression was that of a wild animal… As if despite the fact that he was looking straight at him, Woozi was unable to recognize his face.

“B-be careful Seungcheol-” Jeonghan whispered, grabbing him by the sleeve with trembling fingertips.

Seungcheol nodded. When he stepped forward again, Woozi hissed, a spray of blood whipping from the long, forked tongue that emerged past his fangs. He crouched high on the tips of his toes, and the claws on his hands, swaying back and forth like a snake, prepared to strike.

Seungcheol gulped, feeling himself grow dizzy with nausea. “Woozi?” He spoke, almost at a whisper.

Woozi responded with a high pitched snarl as Seungcheol inched forward, reacting horridly. His skin lifted from flesh, morphing black. It formed together like mutant scales, fluttering wildly.

…He hardly looked like Woozi at all anymore.

“Woozi? I-I know you’re there… It’s me, it’s Seungcheol…”

Seungcheol stepped forward again, extending a hand out carefully. He fell backwards with a yelp of pain almost immediately, as Woozi had struck his claws deep into his arm.

He landed against the floor, paying little mind to the warm, wet feeling seeping into his pants. For the sake of not vomiting, he should just pretend it was water…. Really thick water.

He held the lash against his arm with his other hand, gaze frozen forward, locked onto the cold red eyes that stared back at him.

Jeonghan had moved up the steps a good distance away, grasping the hand rail. “Seungcheol, he’s not… He can’t hear you. That’s not Woozi, it can’t be.”

“No, no, it is.. he’s, he’s just scared... I think.”

“It’s dangerous…” Jeonghan whispered, as if to avoid offending the demon.

Seungcheol lifted himself off the floor slowly. “he’s not an It… That’s Woozi. He’s our friend, Jeonghan.” He stepped forward again, keeping his eyes on the demon. “Woozi… we’re friends. I won’t hurt you, see?”

He crouched down to eye-level, trying to appear less threatening. Woozi’s mouth widened and narrowed menacingly, a rattling sound vibrated throughout the room, at the shake of his tail… Past the darkness, Seungcheol could see it’s shadow. Much, much longer than he remembered.

“Woozi…I know, you’re scared… You just don’t understand what’s happening, right? I’m going to help you, okay? Do you… do you understand?”

He took very subtle steps, approaching closer, so that Woozi might not notice it. The words seemed to blow past the demon silently. Still, he stared, not so much at him, but into him… As if he were looking through blind eyes.

“You’re okay now… I’m here.”

He kept inching closer, until Seungcheol was crouched right in front of him, staring into shaken eyes. From afar his skin had looked bloody… but close up, Seungcheol could see that most of the red was imprinted in his skin, a million spots of crimson stains… What the hell were these? Not only his irises were red, but also the whites of his eyes. Still, Woozi stared.

Carefully, Seungcheol waved a hand before him, but he received no response… Was he… really blind?

He swallowed quietly, lifting his arms. Woozi responded to the feeling of a presence around him with a startled hiss, attempting to retreat backwards.

Seungcheol held him still by wrapping his arms tightly around him.

The demon struggled violently, whipping his tail, clawing at his back, digging his fangs into the flesh of Seungcheol’s neck in a frantic attempt to escape the boys hold.

“Seungcheol!” Jeonghan ran forward to help, panicked.

“It’s okay!” he yelped, arms trembling as they hugged Woozi tighter. He brought his voice down, trying his best to steady himself. “It’s… it’s okay.”

He brought one hand up to Woozi’s head, feeling the demon’s body tense and freeze as his fingers twined between strands of pink hair, running against his scalp soothingly, holding him close despite the sting of thick fangs penetrating deep in his skin. He pet him softly in an attempt to soothe him, despite his own fears persisting. “It’s okay Woozi… I’m here now. You don’t have to be scared…”

Woozi was shaking. Seungcheol felt his breath on his neck come in panicked puffs of shallow air. But slowly… he felt him begin to relax in his arms. Seungcheol cradled the back of his head in his palm, his thumb in circles against the nape of his neck, feeling the sharp points of scaled skin smooth down beneath his fingers.

The fangs in his neck retreated painfully slow, shortening in the demon’s mouth until they were back to canines. His claws retracted soon after, no longer shredding the skin of his back, but gripping tightly against him, almost desperately.

Jeonghan watched wide-eyed as the changes occurred. The red of his skin was fading, the rustling of black scales settling back into the soft, pale demon that they knew.

panicked, red eyes, cascaded to a deep brown, before collapsing shut.

As Woozi lost consciousness, Seungcheol held his head against his chest, feeling the pattering of his heart thump painfully between them.

Seungcheol looked back at Jeonghan with a disheveled expression, blood dripping from his neck and back from open wounds, as Woozi slept peacefully against him.

He stood up despite this, cradling the demon in his bloodied arms. “Let’s get out of here…”

Jeonghan stepped out of the way, allowing Seungcheol to pass him. He leaned against the railing before his legs could give up on him, clutching his shirt against his chest.

What… what the hell was that? Was that really Woozi?

He was just about to follow Seungcheol up, sparing the massacre of the room a final dreaded glance, until he spotted the doll.

He stepped forward carefully against the concrete floor, cringing at the sloshing of carnage beneath his feet. He picked it up by an arm, staring into it concernedly…

A nervous feeling ran through him at the prospect of leaving it behind… although it was a disgusting little thing, Jeonghan could practically feel the energy radiating from it…. And the many pins that were sticking out of it left a sour feeling in him.

Jeonghan slipped the doll into the pocket of his hoodie, before following Seungcheol up the stairs.

~

The car ride back held a heavy silence between them. Besides the whistling sounds of wind brushing past the car, and Woozi’s gentle snoring, neither of them spoke a word. Neither of them knew what to say after all that, honestly. Seungcheol peeked down at Woozi, brushing out the clotted blood that stuck to his bangs with his own blood-stained fingertips.

“I’ll heal you when we get home…” Jeonghan spoke softly, staring forward at the road.

Seungcheol hummed in agreement, eyes laid anxiously on the demon.

When they arrived at the house, Seungcheol carried Woozi towards his bedroom, feeling slightly dizzy. In the bright light of their home, the situation was much more clear… Woozi was absolutely drenched in blood; although, Seungcheol really had to wonder who’s blood it was. Because despite being drenched with it, not a single wound was visible.

He sighed. This was… really too much for him to handle.

He the tap of the bathtub, warm but not hot. As the water filled, he kept Woozi on his lap, stripping him of the few pieces of tattered clothing clinging to his body. He looked off as he pulled down his underwear to his ankles, cringing with guilt. In any other situation, stripping the boy down might have been a bit more exciting… But not like this.

He pulled off his own shirt and sweater, shutting off the tap and lifting Woozi into the water. The moment he submerged, the clear water fogged up in clouds of pink, until nothing beneath the surface was visible. Seungcheol grabbed the shower head and a hand-full of soap, starting at Woozi’s hair and working down, until there was nothing left but a subtle pink stain against his skin.

Seungcheol gulped, tracing his finger along the demon’s neck.

The spot where his collar once was, was empty. There was no trace of it left. Nothing but smooth skin. Really, what the hell happened?

He drained the bathtub once, using the shower head to give him a final rinse. With the water gone, and the layer of blood slipping through the drain, Seungcheol felt his cheeks grow hot, averting his eyes as he lifted Woozi up, wrapping the boy in a towel.

Seungcheol laid him on his bed and smothered the demon in warm blankets, before crouching down on the floor, feeling his legs grow weak.

A quiet knock came at the door. “Hey, Seungcheol? I brought the first aid.”

Jeonghan entered the room, looking at Woozi with a cautious glance, before joining his friend at the side of the bed.

He looked Seungcheol over, swallowing. His back and arm were seriously shredded… it was going to take a lot more than an enchanted slab of aloe vera to fix him this time.

Jeonghan got to work calmly, starting on his arm where the blood flow was heaviest. He began on a mixture of disinfectant and healing ingredients; dandelion flower, witch hazel, barberry, and marigold, grinding them together in a ceramic mortar. Once the consistency was that of a paste, He applied a generous amount to the slashes. Seungcheol’s face contorted a bit, but he didn’t cry out… Although, he imagined it must be painful.

Jeonghan coughed, peeking up at the bed. “Do you think… he’s going to remember this when he wakes up?”

“I don’t know.”

He set down the concoction, holding Seungcheol’s arm above his heart. “Do you think he’s okay now? I mean he looks normal, but…”

Seungcheol sighed. “I don’t know, Jeonghan.”

He stopped, feeling a hit of guilt at the broken pitch of Seungcheol’s voice. his hand hovered over the tattered arm in a circular motion as he muttered a brief incantation to finalize the spell. The mush along his arms flattened and formed into the shapes of the claw marks, absorbing into the skin and disappearing past the wounds. The flow of blood held against the cut now, as if frozen by time.

He wrapped it up with medical bandage, taping the end in place.

“This is my fault, isn’t it?” Seungcheol muttered.

Jeonghan peered up at him with a concerned expression, running a gentle hand along the skin of his neck, avoiding the penetration wounds. “Why would you think that?”

“I felt stupid and went down to the basement… If I had just stayed with him, then this wouldn’t have…” Seungcheol bit his lip, staring at the floor. “Why am I always the reason he’s getting hurt?”

Jeonghan applied a small amount of his concoction to the fang marks on his neck, smiling. “If I told you it is your fault, would it make you feel any better?”

“What?” Seungcheol pouted. “You’re supposed to reassure me...”

“Who says?” he scoffed, setting the bowl down again. “Seungcheol, no matter what anybody says about you, more than anyone else, I know what kind of a person you are. You’re a big, soft-hearted dummy. You never wanted this to happen… I know that. That’s what matters.”

He completed the incantation again, covering the punctures with a patch bandage, patting it against his skin.

“I just, I feel like everyone is always taking bullets for me… I can’t handle it anymore.”

Jeonghan ruffled Seungcheol’s hair assuring;y, moving to face his back. “You’re right. We’ve taken hell-fire for your sake.”

“What? Jeonghan…” Seungcheol whined.

“And you know what?”

“...”

“It might be your fault that people are targeting us… but I don’t blame you. If I did, I would have moved out a long time ago. I’m still here because I care about you. It's better that we do this together, you know? And I'm sure Woozi feels the same way.”

Seungcheol scoffed. “Even after what happened to him today?…”

“We don’t know what happened to him… So, I guess you’re just going to have to ask him yourself in the when he wakes up, aren’t you?”

Seungcheol shivered at the sting of fingers against the raw flesh of his back. He gulped, glancing over at the bed. “Are we going to be okay, Jeonghan?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are we ever going to get back to normal? Not that I wanna get rid of Woozi, but I just… I wish we could just be normal together. You me and Woozi; without all the problems, and the secrets, and the danger.”

Jeonghan smiled, rummaging through his supplies. “I feel like normal is a pretty malleable term, Seungcheol. For some people, normal is a wife and two kids, roast turkey dinners every Sunday, and working nine to five office jobs.” He chuckled, rummaging through the first aid kit for tools. “For us.. maybe normal is being stalked by black-magic users, summoning demons, and running from death on a weekly basis.”

Seungcheol felt Jeonghan’s hand land against his shoulder, patting comfortably.

“I don’t know about you… But, I wouldn’t sacrifice what we have now for any amount of ‘normal’ in the world.”

“Really?”

Jeonghan chuckled. “Really.” He handed a cloth forward to Seungcheol. “Now here, bite onto this… I’m afraid your back needs stitches.

…

~

“No…” Jihoon struggled violently, feeling his arms contorting behind him with the snap of a bone.

The darkness loomed towards him, buzzing like static. It held a doll in one hand, and a long needle in the other.

Jihoon turned away with a cry. “S-stop!”

The darkness came closer, close enough that Jihoon could feel it’s breath brush his forehead. He shivered in disgust, staring into the doll in it’s hand. The needle closed in slowly.

“No… please…”

He writhed in it’s grasp.

“You can’t!” Jihoon shot forward, gasping in short, panicked breaths, as he stared wide-eyed at Seungcheol, holding tightly onto his arm.

Seungcheol stared back at him in surprise, hand’s held up defensively. “Are.. are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?”

“Seungcheol?”

“Yeah, it’s me… How do you feel?”

“I…” He pulled his hands away, staring at Seungcheol’s bandaged arm with furrowed brows. “You’re injured?”

Seungcheol looked a bit abashed, holding his other hand over his arm. “It’s fine, it’s nothing… Jeonghan already healed me up.”

“He already…What? What happened to your arm?”

“You don’t remember?”

Jihoon’s chest thumped nervously, bringing his palm up, resting it hard against his forehead as he strained to recall.

“Woozi, yesterday… we were working on figuring out your abilities, do you remember that?” He leaned forward, expression serious.

“Yeah, I remember....”

Seungcheol went silent for a moment, contemplating. “Do you remember what happened after that?”

He remembered, just… There were so many gaps. His memory came in flashbacks, fading in and out of crumbling consciousness, as if specific chunks of it had been ripped out of a film reel, and taped back together without care. His head hurt as he tried to remember.

“I… I don’t know.” He breathed, looking back up at Seungcheol. “I feel strange.”

The humans eyes seemed to shake at his words, anxiously flickering over his stature. “Strange how?”

He spoke quietly, staring down. “I feel like... I’ve forgotten something really important.”

Seungcheol bit at his lip as he tried to think, staring into the mix of confused and jittery the demon’s eyes seemed to convey. “Okay, well… Let’s try to figure it out. What’s the earliest thing you can remember?”

“I think… I remember passing out...” He shut his eyes, straining to think back. He remembered waking with pain in his lungs, gasping, as if he’d emerged from water after holding his breath for a long time. He’d been suspended in the air, in a dark room. Then he heard…

“I…” Woozi faltered forward, feeling lightheaded suddenly. He opened his eyes slowly after a moment, staring into the spot on Seungcheol’s chest where he had landed.

“Woozi? Are you okay?” He held him back buy the shoulders to look at him, expressing worry in the frantic hand that came up to cup his cheek. “Do you feel sick?”

He picked himself up, holding his palm against his head. “I… I feel fine, just… I have a headache.”

There was an uncomfortable sensation lingering throughout his whole body. Pain which pulsed, and faded, over and over again. Though he couldn’t place exactly why he felt this way, or where the pain was coming from.

Seungcheol gulped, inspecting his body for wounds. “I don’t see anything. Maybe, uh, you should have something to eat. You’ve been out for a while, you must be hungry.”

He held a hand against his stomach curiously… “But, I feel full.”

Seungcheol frowned. “Then, how about you try getting up? Stretch your legs out a bit.”

The demon nodded, scooting over to the edge of the bed carefully. He felt the spikes in his skin pinch with every movement. As he came to his feet, he staggered forward, gripping onto the bed-side table for stability.

“S-Seungcheol, I can’t.”

The human came beside him with lightening speed, wrapping an arm around him. Jihoon had expected him to simply support him, but in an instance his body was hoisted off the ground. Jihoon’s head spun, struggling to regain his balance as he lied vertically in Seungcheol’s arms, staring up. “God.. What the are you doing?”

Seungcheol chuckled. “You’re tired, I’ll just be your legs for now, okay?”

He rolled his eyes, too dazed to put up much of a fight. When they entered into the livingroom, Seungcheol placed him on the couch carefully.

Jeonghan jumped up from the dining-room table when he spotted him, rushing over. “Woozi? You’re awake?” He kneeled in front of him in a panic, checking his body over for any kind of wound. “How do you feel?”

“Like absolute , but what else is new?”

“Do you… remember what happened?”

The demon shook his head.

Jeonghan shared a knowing glance with Seungcheol. “You don’t remember anything?”

“I don’t know, I just… I feel strange. Everything is fuzzy.”

He got up off the floor with a hum, turning towards the dining-room table he’d been sitting at before. “I picked something up in the building where we found you… Maybe it will help jog your memory.”

The demon glanced up curiously when Jeonghan returned.

“Does this look familiar?”

Jihoon’s breath hitched, clutching at his own head with rough hands, feeling a moan of pain catch in his throat.

Seungcheol rushed to his side in a panic. “What’s happening, are you okay?”

At the sight of the doll, he felt the film reel in his head tear apart bit by bit, taping together, repairing itself in a flashing replay of horrid memories. He remembered everything in a painful instant, and suddenly he felt sick. So, so sick.

His stomach lurched, his body stung, and Jihoon felt absolutely dreaded now that he remembered why.

“What’s wrong? Woozi?”

He shoved Seungcheol away and snatched the doll from Jeonghan’s hands. Grabbing with clumsy, trembling fingers, he began to pry the needles out of it, crying out as the sharp sensations within him tore away from his flesh. One by one, until every single needle was tossed to the floor, and that pulsing pain ceased.

A buzzing noise that Jihoon hadn’t been aware of subsided, leaving nothing but hard breathing and sniffles to fill the silence.

Seungcheol spoke up after a moment, wide-eyed. “What the hell was that about?”

He held the doll carefully in his hand, wiping his sleeve across wet eyes. “It’s a ing voodoo doll.”

Jeonghan choked. “Wh-what? Are you serious?”

“Yeah… And, , I remember now.” He shut his eyes with a stressed breath of air. “Most of it, at least.”

Seungcheol stared into him with panic, clutching at his arm subconsciously. “What do you remember?”

“One thing very important… The guy who kidnapped me was trying to use me as a lure, but… When he found out I was a demon he tried to torture answers out of me instead.”

“, Woozi.” Seungcheol grimaced.

He scoffed. “That’s not the worst of it. He talked to himself a lot, and apparently… Well, I think he’s not the only one out there. There might be a whole posse of black magic s out to get you.”

The two fell silent as they took this in, speechless.

“Did you manage to get the first one at least?” Jihoon looked up at Jeonghan with a frown. “I lost consciousness during the torture I think, so my memories kind of hazy...”

“You passed out? You don’t remember anything after that.”

“Yeah…”

Seungcheol stared at his arm, memories of a gore-stained monster flooding his mind. “What about after you passed out? Did you hear anything? Or…”

He shrugged. “Nothing.” Turning his eyes to the doll in his lap, Jihoon felt a tinge of fear light within him again. “But… I did have a strange dream.”

“What was it about?” Jeonghan leaned in, anxious.

“I couldn’t see anything… except for this doll, and a black figure. And I, I just. I don’t know what happened, honestly. It was Weird.” He bit at his lip with a frown. It was too strange, right? To have a dream about eating someone…

Seungcheol lifted a hand up to his shoulder, patting him gently. “What happened exactly?”

He looked up at his charge with round eyes, soft and gentle, with an underlying sense of fear behind them. “I just, I swallowed it. After that, I can’t recall anything.”

His hand wavered, stomach churning.

He… ... Did Woozi actually eat that guy?

~

“Brother, have you returned with your status report on the whereabouts of D.O?” His leader approached, pulling off his hood to reveal kind, smiling eyes.

The boy kneeled down before him on the red carpet below, upholding utmost respect. His hood lay low over his face, shadowing a pained expression. “Yes leader… I have.”

“And?” He reached down, lifting the boys chin up, and running his thumb gently against his cheek.

The boy gulped, staring up as his hood slipped from his forehead. “I… I don’t know how to say this, but brother D.O. is dead.”

The grip against his face tensed slightly. “Dead?”

“Yes, dear leader… I went to his shelter to see if he would be there. The room was trashed and drenched in blood. I did a spell to confirm, and… It was indeed the blood of D.O.”

He hummed. “I see. And I suppose you checked his life signal as well?”

“Yes, dear leader. It’s completely silent.”

His leader’s other hand came up slowly, holding his face cupped between his hands as he smiled down. “Has the cause of death been confirmed?”

He glanced to the side. “No… D.O. had not reported anything before his death. Whatever happened, it was likely due to his own carelessness. But, taking his current mission into consideration, I have a strong feeling that Choi Seungcheol may be involved.”

“You think that boy killed him?” He questioned, brushing the boys bangs away from his forehead in a caring motion.

“I don’t know… There was no evidence to suggest that boy had been there, but it is the most likely scenario.”

He shivered as the hand which caressed his face began to trail down, scraping gently against the nape of his neck.

“So, what you’re saying is… We don’t know anything?” His smile so quickly began to turn sour, as the gentle hand at his neck tightened, pulling the boy off his knees with a strength that felt inhuman. In the calmness of his face, it was clear that this was hardly an challenge for him.

The boy choked, gasping, hands hovering desperately around the grip at his neck, not daring to pry it away. “Y-yes”

“And knowing that D.O. is dead means that Choi Seungcheol outpowered him. He could have gotten information from him before his death, brother. That boy could know everything, he could be plotting to expose us this very moment. Is that right?”

The boy responded by gagging, his face contorting painfully as the strain on his esophagus tightened further.

“I see.”

He dropped the boy to the floor, watching without a change in expression as he gasped, struggling to regain his stance before his leader. He scrambled to his knees, bowing again. “I-I promise, leader. I won’t allow that to happen. I’ll make it my personal mission to silence him.”

His leader raised an eyebrow. “You’ll do it alone?”

“I know I will not fail like my brother before me. I’ll finish his mission and get the book back as well. You can entrust me with this, dear leader.”

“Yes, I trust you. However; I also trusted D.O., and he betrayed us.” He hummed, his thumb in thought. “I don’t want you to do this alone. Inform brother S. of the mission, I expect you two to work together.”

“Yes, Leader…”

He leaned in, smiling with a calm expression. “Do not fail me. The time of harvest is nearing, and we cannot allow anything to prevent us from picking the crop. Do you understand me?”

He nodded, staring up. “Yes, dear Leader. We won’t let you down.”

“Good.” He smirked, turning away, and pulling his hood back up over his head. He walked towards a table lined with pages. Of plans, dates, photographs. They all pointed towards the date of the upcoming harvest… When their true mission would be fulfilled.

He leaned on the table with a sigh. Why was it always this Seungcheol boy who managed to kick a dent in their plans? Was this still just dumb luck and natural heroism on the boy’s part? For s sake, he was starting to truly regret not erasing him earlier. He should have known this would happen.

If this time around their plans to stop him failed… He would surely have to step in and finish the job himself.

A/N: IM DONE PREPARING FOR UNIVERSITY AH sorry about such a long wait for an update :((( I've been doing a lot to prepare so it's been HECTIC. I'm heading to China this month, so I havn't had much time up until now to write, but I really hope I'll be able to write more while I'm there hahaha. Thanks for reading!