A week had passed since that night that Mina and Momo had found Chaeyoung. They were still in Seoul, having caught wind that Sana had been spotted in Korea. However, they hadn’t done much searching for her. The biggest vampire population was in fact not in Seoul, but in Busan. But they weren’t even sure if she would be there.

        At the Hunters headquarters in Seoul, Mina and Momo were put on a team lead by a woman named Park Jihyo and her partner Im Nayeon.

        “Looks like we’ll be heading to Busan tomorrow,” Jihyo said as she entered the office the team of four had been assigned to. Nayeon looked up from her laptop, a frown on her lips.

        “Do we even have any leads? The vampire activity in Busan has been really… quiet lately. Only four or five people have gone missing in the last two months. We don’t even know if those disappearances have anything to do with vampires,” Nayeon said, her gaze once again focused on her laptop.

        “Weren’t all the missing people female?” Momo asked. She had looked over the notes on Busan and had found it odd that only women had gone missing in the last two months. Their bodies had never turned up, so it was concluded that they might have been enslaved by the vampires.

        “Yes. And another girl went missing two nights ago. She disappeared before her shift at a bar was over. A couple people said she left willingly with a man. But they asked her co-workers and they said she would never do anything like that. I’m not calling them liars, but maybe they didn’t know her as much as they thought they did,” Jihyo said. She set the case file down and Momo immediately reached for it.

        She opened the folder and flipped through the pages before finally staring down at a recent picture of the victim. She was a beautiful girl, pale skin, plump lips, short black hair. A tattoo s up her neck in a design that Momo couldn’t quite make out from the angle of the photo.

        “She doesn’t keep in contact with her family. So far all we know she was just sick of her job and friends and took off to start somewhere else. But, the same could be said for any of those girls who went missing. None of them are close to their families, they either lived on their own or with friends. They had ty jobs, at bars or clubs. It could be our vampire targets a specific kind of girl. They’re smart. Do their research first. Then, when the time is right, they strike.”

        Momo frowned. The girls had similar situation to her own, back when she had been bitten by Sana. Could this really be the work of Sana?

        Mina took the folder from Momo’s hand and flipped back to the front page.

        “Lee Eunju,” Mina said under her breath. Her eyes skimmed the page before flipping to the next. Her lips turned down in a frown and she shook her head. “I don’t think it’s the work of Sana. She doesn’t do much planning. She does only target women, but I don’t know. This feels different.”

        “Maybe,” Momo said, not completely convinced.

        “Well, we will find out soon enough, won’t we?” Jihyo said, her brows raised.

        The sky was dark and it was about midnight when they arrived in Busan. Jihyo and Nayeon had already gone to bed, but Mina had dragged Momo outside, wanting to take a look around the city before they had to begin working on the case.

        Momo watched as Mina headed towards the pier. A smile came to her lips as Mina threw her head back and her arms out towards the sky.

        “It’s so beautiful here,” Mina said, agape in a huge grin. She breathed in the ocean air and then spun around to look back at Momo. She ran towards the girl and grabbed hold of her hands. Momo’s eyes opened wide in surprise at the gesture. “Momo, look at the stars! They’re so bright – and the moon, too!”

        Momo followed Mina’s gaze upwards. She was right. The stars were big and bright, like diamonds glittering in the sky. With a sigh of contentment, Mina looked away from the stars and examined Momo. The other girl’s mouth had opened slightly as she gaze up at the sky in awe, Mina let out a giggle and Momo looked back at her.

        “What?” Momo asked as Mina shook her head.

        “It’s nothing,” Mina replied. “You just look so different tonight.”

        “What do you mean?”

        “I don’t know. You don’t look so serious… It’s nice.”

        Momo frowned and started to pull her hands free from Mina’s grip, but the other girl held on tighter.

        “Do you ever think you will stop hating me for being what I am?”

        “I don’t hate you, Mina,” Momo said.

        “Fine. Do you ever think you won’t be disgusted by me? Will you ever think of me as something more than just a mere…. Monster? Can’t I be just a person? Someone like you...”

        Momo tilted her head in confusion. It was true, she had seen Mina as a monster in the beginning. And maybe now, just a little bit, in the back of her mind she knew Mina was still a monster. A blood- vampire who fed on human beings. But Mina wasn’t so different from a normal person either. She laughed and she cried, just like everyone else.

        “Mina, you will always be different,” Momo said softly, her heart aching as Mina’s face fell. She didn’t want to hurt her, but she didn’t know what else to say. “But, I don’t think I would change you. You being a vampire isn’t your fault. I know that. It’s just hard for me to see past that. I’m sorry.”

        Mina let out a bitter laugh, a sound so foreign to Momo’s ears. She let go of Momo’s hands and took a step back.

        “When we go back to Japan, I will ask that you be assigned to work with someone else,” Mina said, her eyes narrowing towards her feet. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around your partner. I think you are better suited to work with someone else.” Mina looked up to meet Momo’s gaze, surprised to see tears in the older girls eyes. “I thought we were similar. Because you were bitten too. But I was wrong.”

        “No. Mina, I don’t want to work with someone else,” Momo argued, surprising herself with her words. She was doubly surprised when she blinked and a tear started to roll down her cheek. She wiped it away with her shirt sleeve. “I can’t get over you being a vampire. And despite what happened in Tokyo… I trust you. I know you would never hurt anyone on purpose.” She reached out for Mina and pulled her into her arms. “I don’t want to work with anyone else.” She took a step back, her arms lifting so her hands could rest on Mina’s shoulders. “We’re going to find Sana. We’re going to punish her for her crimes and then we’re going to move on to the next case. Together. Okay?”

        Mina only nodded her head, not trusting her voice to speak.

        Momo smiled at last, her hands sliding down Mina’s arms. “Let’s go over to the beach. I haven’t played in the sand in such a long time.” She started down the pier and towards the beach without looking back to see if Mina would follow, because she was certain that she would.