Jaejoong immediately recognized the owner of the voice.

"Damn it, Yabu!" he roared in anger at the Finder.

Yabu was in his pigeon form and was flying in a circle over their bed! He angrily grabbed the Finder.

"Do you want to die?!" he threatened as he unleashed his talons from his fingers. "If you still want to live, you are going to shut up and leave immediately!"

"But...But..." Yabu squeaked as he turned his eyes to Dara. "The Andarayad ordered me to tell her immediately if something happens or there's movement in Midnight!"

"What happened, Yabu?" Dara asked gently.

Jaejoong let out a long sigh. Their lovemaking scene kept getting interrupted by unwanted commercials! He wanted to punch or kill someone just to release the tension in his body. Cold water could not help him now.

"The Dark Council ordered a death warrant for Jaejoong!" blurted Yabu.

Yabu's words chilled all the raging passions inside Jaejoong.

"What?" Midnight Corp. would only release death warrants when one of its employees had broken a very important rule or had become uncontrollable. But in Jaejoong's case, a death warrant could have been issued because his real employment status had been discovered. The Award Committee overseeing the transition of a new department head often looked into the paperwork needed. They could have found out that his employment contract was fake!

"Why did they do that?" Dara was alarmed.

"Because it was reported that Jaejoong never really did issue a challenge to Prince Bumsoo. That he didn't kill Prince Bumsoo to get his position as head of the Snow Demon Department."

Jaejoong grimaced. He couldn't deny that.

"Those reasons are not enough for them to send a death warrant!" protested Dara.

"That report made it appear that Jaejoong had lost his mind. That he had turned into a monster, just like what Lightside and Midnight had predicted when he was born."

"Who the f-" Jaejoong realized he couldn't curse while Dara was with him.

"Who made that report?" he snarled.

"A yuki-onna made that report. And according to my sources, she testified under oath that she saw you lost your mind and was laughing while killing Prince Bumsoo. According to her report, you are now on your way to Midnight Corp. to kill every demon in sight. Everyone is afraid of you after what you had just done to Prince Bumsoo," Yabu said with emphasis before continuing, "so, they have sent a team to kill you first before you reach Midnight headquarters."

"Dam...Aaargh! What is Tiffany doing?" Jaejoong blurted in frustrated anger.

Dara remained silent. In deep thought.

"Prince Teddy will lead the team of hunters after you, Jaejoong. The other two are Count Kush and Duke Xin," Yabu added.

Jaejoong's jaw dropped. Prince Teddy was a member of the Dark Council, and the other two were generals of the twelve legions. All three were known for being sadistic and great warriors! They were among the best fighters of Midnight and could fight Lightside's Archangels on equal footing.

"The Dark Council wanted to be sure that you would die," Yabu commented.

Dara turned to Jaejoong.

"We need to leave this place at once, Jaejoong. If those demon hunters find you here, the whole village will be destroyed. Everyone would either be killed or turned into minions."

"We? You are coming with me?" This surprised him.

"I can't just leave you or allow you to be killed by those demons," she looked distraught, "and your life is important to the Siesmyres...and to me."

Dara had every reason to protect him. He was important to the survival of the Siesmyres. But at the same time, this truth also caused him pain. He was only important to her because of what he could do, not because she cared for him. He set aside such thoughts and yearnings. He must not fool himself into believing that Dara would ever see him as more than a tool to be used to further her cause and the Siesmyres' welfare.

He should be logical and unemotional. He should start thinking about how he could save himself and use whoever or whatever to remain alive.

"Dara, could you defeat any of those three?"

"Who said anything about fighting them? What we need to do is find Tiffany, drag her in front of the Dark Council and make her retract her stupid report! Once we find her, I can do things to her that will make her tell the truth," she said vehemently, "and I could also stand as your witness since I saw and heard everything."

"The death warrant had already been issued. I would be attacked and killed before I could even get in front of the Dark Council." And if Dara remained with him, she would also be killed by the hunters. He climbed out of bed and started putting on his clothes. "You can't come with me, Dara," he said firmly. "If you really want to help me, find Tifanny. As long as you are not with me, no harm would come to you and you could seek an audience with the Dark Council."

"What are you planning, Jaejoong?" her voice had a worried tone.

He smiled.

"I am going to run! I don't know how long I could outrun them, but hopefully, I would be able to gain you enough time to find Tiffany and convince the Dark Council that I have not become a monster."

"That is reckless!" she blurted.

"Yes it is. But it's the best plan I could think of right now."

"What if you fail and they caught up to you?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Then I would need to transform into this monster that everyone is so afraid of so I could defeat all of them!"

"No! You keep yourself hidden, Jaejoong, until I have convinced the Dark Council to retract the death warrant," ordered Dara. It was an order that silently warned Jaejoong of dangerous consequences if he disobeyed.

He sighed.

The Siesmyre race was composed of several hundred clans. Among these clans, a hundred Siesmyres were chosen to become part of the Finder Unit. Only Siesmyres with the ability to survive in polluted places were accepted in the unit. They also needed to have qualities like courage, an adventurous spirit and absolute loyalty to the Siesmyre and the Andaryad. The tests a Siesmyre had to go through in order to become part of the unit were hard and dangerous. It was designed so that only the best among the Siesmyres would succeed.

A Finder's job entailed a lot of danger. They had to go to every part of the world, including highly polluted areas in order to find information and things needed by the Elders, the Andaryad and the ordinary Siesmyres. Some even had to secretly breach the security defenses of Lightside and Midnight in order to attain vital information.

When a Finder finally decided to retire, he would first make sure that another young Siesmyre would be ready to take over his place in the unit because the one hundred members of the unit had to be strictly maintained. It was considered an essential number.

Ninety-nine members of the Finder Unit were now meticulously scanning the four directions of the globe including the realms of Lightside and Midnight as per order of the Andaryad in search of Tiffany. One of them, Yabu, was given a special assignment by Dara. Yabu had to remain with Jaejoong as the latter had started hiding from the demon hunters. Dara also instructed Yabu to help out Jaejoong in whatever capacity he could to keep the latter alive and hidden.

Jaejoong needed to remain alive until Dara could make things right and have the death warrant lifted.

Standing on the highest branc