There was a young man there. I couldn’t see him, but I could guess it was a guy because of his voice. It was soft and sweet and bewitching. Beautiful. As if it could erase the sins of my hunts.

“Good evening.”

I could only blink. The last note had barely ended that the guy was suddenly in front of me, his face round and happy, a wide smile on his lips. He looked like nothing was ever wrong in his life. His eyes were dark and sweet and innocent… until I noticed they had slipped down to my torso, where my shirt had a low enough collar that it revealed my tattoo.

.

“The Black Hawk. I see.”

He sat next to me, in the snow, as I looked at him with a mix of fascination and disdain. ing humans. I was considering killing and eating him although part of me was refusing the thought completely.

“Your eyes are pretty. They’re glowing. Say, how do you clean your preys like that? They look… eaten. Do you actually eat them?”

I was seriously considering eating the guy, but he chuckled and got up, brushing off the snow that was on him. His was wet. No wonder. He smiled at me, all happy and round and beaming.

“Anyway, I need to get going. You’re not answering my questions anyway and I can feel I’m bothering you. See ya!”

I didn’t have time to say anything. He was already gone.

Well .

**

Bullies should be killed and eaten so that they don’t bully the weaker humans. Weaker humans weren’t fun to eat anyway, might as well let them live.

It was with that thought in mind that my blades sang as I jumped down a building, landing directly on a bully, the blades digging deep into the guy’s back. I had chosen two daggers that night. Good stuff. I had already had my prey of the night, but it had been a small woman, not nearly enough to make me full. So I had decided to go around and I had found three bullies and one bullied. Well, two bullies, now. Two bullies walking back, absolutely terrified as I looked at them, unveiling white fangs, icy blue eyes glowing and staring at them with hunger. I could kill those as well. But they were running away and they were definitely not worth the trouble, so I ignored the bullied and started eating.

“Good evening.”

I recognized the voice, but I didn’t say anything. My stomach had priority over my curiosity. It took ten minutes before I was full, having eaten half of the guy, not bothered to finish the rest. I got up, cleaning my blades, sheathing them.

The young man was still there, round and happy, smiling at me. He had watched me eat a human being in front of him and he didn’t even seem disturbed by that. It made me wonder if he had really been the bullied.

“Who are you?” I asked, wary but also fascinated by how happy he looked. A human who didn’t fear a hunter… that was the first time it happened. Other humans had witnessed my deeds before. None of them had lived to tell the tale, since they had tried fleeing and alerting the cops. I was a younger hunter back then, so I had killed them to make sure they wouldn’t say anything. I had eventually learned that the police didn’t believe in the supernatural. That was perfect.

But this guy was different. He just smiled at my question, chuckling. “Youngjae,” he said, his voice soft and sweet. “What about you?”

“Jaebum.”

I mentally facepalmed. Why the had I told him my name? He just smiled, however, yet again, and he approached me, gently wiping some blood that was still on my lips. His touch was electrifying. I was petrified.

“You’re not human…” he said, looking a bit thoughtful. “Shadow spirit?”

“You know my kind?” I couldn’t help but ask, surprised.

“Of course.”

He didn’t say anything else, but it didn’t prevent me from feeling… weird. I couldn’t describe how peculiar it was to be with this guy. He was all sweet and cheerful… and I was an assassin. A hunter. A shadow spirit.

“Why are you talking to me?” I asked, honestly curious about this. Such a sweetheart shouldn’t be around a guy like me. As much as I had considered eating him, the world would be dark without his smile.

“Because you seem lonely.”

I moved back a little, speechless. Lonely…? I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like I actually needed to say anything anyway. Youngjae smiled at me and we stayed there, not moving, for a while, until I suggested going on the rooftops to avoid the cops that would probably show up at some point. He accepted and so I took him in my arms and jumped, using my natural strength, landing softly on the roof from which I had jumped earlier.

We went to another one that was further away to make sure we wouldn’t be found and, standing there, we looked at the moon for several minutes.

The silence was beautiful despite the sound of cars down on the streets. I could hear them clearly, but I was focused on Youngjae’s breathing. It was slow and calm, peaceful. I could even hear his heartbeat. I could fall asleep to that sound.

But I wouldn’t fall asleep to it. Not when Youngjae’s breathing got deeper, stronger, and he chuckled very softly before he smiled at me, and my world lit up in beauty and happiness.

“Thank you,” he just said, and I looked away to avoid him noticing that my eyes had gotten much brighter, a sign of peacefulness that I refused admitting he was the one causing.