Mino clasped his hands tightly upon the surface of the table. His mind was spinning and it was just too hard to think of anything at the moment. To say the least, it was because this situation was utterly insane. 

The others who had filled in the chairs at the table were also at a complete loss. Life had been so normal, so ordinary. It was as if the control they maintained for years was snatched from them within just a few days and it was all due to a mention of a single person.

“I know it was her voice.” Mino finally breaks the silence in the room of Seungyoon’s home. The same voice that haunted him so many years ago was now back. “I heard it clearly.” There was no way he could forget it. He had been in denial but he wasn’t stupid.

“Does that mean she’s back?” Jinwoo questioned softly. That possibility had never crossed their minds. The Society cut off all means for it to happen.

“We need to wait until Taehyun gets here.” Seungyoon sent the youngest out to see if the Society had noticed. 

“There’s no way they would know. She isn’t careless enough to get caught.” Seunghoon reasons from where he sat. Like the others, he wasn’t fond of the woman that tore their lives to shreds. His eyes land on the young man across from him. The one that suffered the most was Mino. “Your eyes are glowing.”

Mino’s head snapped upward and found that those words were directed towards him. 

“Taehyun is here.” Seungyoon announced and all temporary subjects are pushed aside as they await the news.

Taehyun appears and hesitates on sharing what he had learned.

“Well?” Seungyoon urged him.

“The Society isn’t aware. They haven’t heard from her.” He revealed the bleak news.

She left death in her wake – this town was finally spared when she was dealing with her sentence somewhere far away and for a long time – that’s what Seungyoon believed. 

“Let’s think this through. You wake up and find yourself in the alleyway, the crime scene.” Seungyoon begins, allowing his mind to organize through the mess. 

“It’s her. She’s bringing him there.” Taehyun figures. He had been thinking about the situation long and hard. “The murders are happening right in Mino’s neighborhood and…alleyways seem to be her favorite, even in the past.”

“I should have caught her scent.” Mino stated mindlessly. 

“She could be controlling someone else. She wasn’t fond of doing things herself.” Seungyoon provided a reasonable explanation. “She may not have changed up her methods at all. If she wants to capture your attention, she’s going to carry out acts that are familiar to you.”

Mino remains quiet. The memories of his past flashes in and out, taking turns to eat away at his rationality. Or whatever that is left of it.

Keeping his attention on Mino, Seunghoon prevented himself from calling out his glowing red eyes once more. The man was struggling. 

When will she leave him alone?

When will she let him do something as normal as live?

“Stay here tonight.” Seungyoon suggested softly. “We all will.”

Standing to his feet, Mino refuses to let this continue. “That’s not happening. Succumbing to fear will make her happy and I’m a disappointer.” Though Mino tried to find some sort of humor in all of this disorder, he didn’t feel all too comforted by it. “I’m going home.”

***

This was an awful way to wake up. Mino hated the burning in his throat and it never failed to put him in a sour mood that would plague him for the rest of the day like weights at his ankles. Dragging himself out of bed, he moved into the kitchen to pull the cool blood bags out from the fridge to quench the badgering thirst.

He ripped the corner of the bag with his teeth and allowed the liquid to flow into his mouth and down his throat. While drinking, a certain scent kept interfering with his breakfast. Finishing the last gulp, Mino wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

His eyes shifted over to his front door. 

It was Haneul.

From his spot, he could hear her shuffling about in her own home. Preparing for a new day ahead of her. 

Why was the craving so much stronger today?

He hadn’t seen her since the day Jiyong came to the apartment. He figured it was best to keep to himself for the time-being. He had things to figure out. Like why he would go to sleep in his bed and wake up in that damn alleyway far from his apartment. 

Tossing the empty blood bag into the trashcan, Mino froze. Glancing back, he found other emptied clear plastics sitting at the bottom of the trash. There was something strange about it – he opened his refrigerator and counted the full blood bags inside. The numbers weren’t adding up. It’s impossible for him to have