It had been a strange week. If Kira had any ounce of humor left, she would have found this whole situation amusing. What an odd bunch they were. She was fine physically, Baekhyun had made sure of that, but Kira was drained emotionally. Every night, she was terrorized with nightmares of Xiumin, images of him as a monster under Yue’s mercy flooded her mind and she would scream herself awake. No one left her alone after that. Chanyeol or Baekhyun would always be with her while Suho and Jongin took turn to patrol around the abandoned house.

They had moved to the safe house on the edge of town that their parents had left for Jongin, to wait for Sehun's return, not wishing to put anyone’s else in danger. The teenagers were lost and afraid, but Suho quickly took charge. He briefed everyone about what he knew about Yue, although he suspected Xiumin had been keeping a lot from them. Suho was very troubled by the fact that Yue knew so much about Xiumin without any of them discovering her. Hence he had taken it upon himself to take care of the humans, for he was sure that Yue won’t be leaving them alone even after sealing that contract with Xiumin. Yue's pride was too strong, and this fact had made her predictable. Kira knew, the other reason why Suho was keeping such a close eye on them, for he was afraid that they would go after Yue on their own.

While Sehun was quick to defy Xiumin’s order, Suho was seriously contemplating it. He understood his hyung well after all, and Suho was afraid that Xiumin warned them away from Yue because she was indeed someone to be feared. Suho had declared that Chanyeol was lucky, to escape unscathed after making an enemy of her, for she was weakened by performing the contract and that Xiumin had used his last moments of consciousness to buy them time to escape.

There was a grim determination in Chanyeol’s eyes constantly. Chanyeol was going to go against Xiumin’s wishes as well. He knew better than to ask Kira to stay out of it, instead he fully encouraged Kira to return to training in order to arm herself better before the inevitable. He was less inclined however, regarding Baekhyun and Jongin. The latter had yet to master his wolf self and Baekhyun was after all, just human. Their friends were stubborn though, especially Baekhyun. He refused to be left out of it, not when all of them were not fully recovered. He won’t be in the fight, but he wanted to be close enough, just in case anyone needed medical attention.

Jongin was terrified of his wolf self, Kira had found out on one of the nights that she couldn’t sleep. She didn’t want to wake Chanyeol, who was sharing a room with her. Instead, Kira found herself looking outside the window at the night sky. It had not snow since that day she woke up in Baekhyun’s house. She heard voices, and Kira quickly traced them to their werewolf friend and Suho having a conversation on the porch. It had just occurred to Kira, that Jongin had never had the chance to meet a supernatural creature that he could talk to, one that the lone wolf could honestly confided in about how frightened he was at becoming a monster.

Suho was nothing but kind. He told the young wolf that there was a time, when he feared the same thing, he was utterly horrified at becoming a monster. Before Xiumin had found him, before the hyung had not told him of an alternative, he had tried to commit suicide in order to not harm innocent human lives. As strong and menacing as they were, they were not fearless. While Suho was terrified of harming humans, Sehun feared losing control, Luhan was afraid of his own powers and Xiumin was always worrying about not being strong enough to protect them all.   

What gave them courage, was each other. They knew that whatever happened, they could fall on each other.

“Of course, Xiumin Hyung had unbelievable faith in us. He saw the light in us when all we could see was darkness. He told us that what we are, is not who we are. Our fears are essentially what is keeping us from turning into monsters.” Suho recalled with a faint smile.

Jongin took time to absorb the vampire’s words. “You are lucky, to have found a leader like him. A vampire that detest darkness.”

“We are lucky… Yes. But I am not sure if it’s the same for him. We aren’t the easiest clan to manage and we had gotten into a lot of trouble before. What I am trying to tell you, young wolf, is that you are not alone. Your friends, stood unquestionably by your side after knowing what you are. They know who you are will never change, even with a full moon. They are... your pack.”

“And I will protect them… at all cost.” Jongin turned to the vampire. “Will you forgive me… if it meant killing your brother?”

Suho paused, but only a second. “I will kill himself if I had to. If he did something he will regret, even if we did save him after, it would be a fate worse than death for this Hyung.”

Hearing that of course, did not helped Kira with her nightmares. She made everyone promised, at the first opportunity, that they were not to harm the shadows, that Yue was their target. It was obvious from Suho’s face that he disagreed, but he said nothing and Kira was grateful for that. It was after all, not the time to fight among themselves, they had to be ready for Yue, upon Sehun’s return.

The day came sooner than expected. For Suho was right, Yue was not one to hide from them. Jongin had picked up their approaching scent in the forest and ran straight for the house to warn them all.

“Your other friend has not returned!” Baekhyun’s face was pale. He was no longer wary of being in the same room as Suho.

Suho nodded. “Sehun must have a reason for not returning yet. There’s no way he needed so long to track Luhan. Perhaps it’s good that they are not here, I don’t think I can stomach watching Sehun go against Xiumin. Let’s go through this again, our target is not the shadows, but Yue. Destroy her and free them.”

“Keep each other safe.” Chanyeol muttered as Kira reached out to squeeze his hand.

“They are here.” Jongin struggled to keep the panic out from his voice as he turned to face the forest. Baekhyun wished them good luck as he hugged all of them including Suho, as they walked out of the abandoned house to meet Yue and her shadows. He would be staying hidden in the house, for his safety. 

It was like living her nightmares, when Kira saw Yue. For behind her, standing between the forceful berserker and the cunning kitsune, was Xiumin. There were no signs of recognition in his eyes as the two groups sized each other up. His eyes were purple and dead. The vampire was fully under Yue’s magic.

When Yue approached, Kira understood instantly why she had come for them. For on the left of her beautiful face, was an ugly large burn scar. It was Chanyeol’s doing. It did confirmed their suspicion however, like all supernatural creatures, Yue was weak against fire.

Suho took a step forward before them and stared hard at Yue. “Return my brother, and I will let you walk away.”

The caster of dark magic laughed humorlessly. “My dear Suho, you are a funny one. You have replaced your clan with humans and expect me to be afraid of you? I am not fond of killing supernatural creatures like yourself, blessed with such extraordinary powers. Nor am I bothered with getting my hands dirty with all these redundant humans. Hand me that tall boy, and I will be on my way.”

Kira paled as she saw Yue gestured towards Chanyeol. She was only after him today, and if Chanyeol was shocked by the news, his face did not show it.

“I am sorry Yue. You aren’t my type. Call me superficial but that ugly scar is kind of a turn off.” Her brother answered in a deadpanned tone.

Yue snarled at his words as she turned to her shadows. “Kill the boy. Kill them all.”

The second those instructions left her lips, everyone went into movement. Jongin went straight for the berserker, being the only one that matched it's strength. Suho sent a large pulse of water blasting towards the kitsune, so that the wet fox could not use its powers without hurting itself. He then went straight for Xiumin to pin him down, but Xiumin was too quick for Suho.

He dodged Suho easily, casually freezing the blast of water thrown towards him, without even looking at his former brother. Xiu