Herodias knew the process of rebirth better than she knew the cage she was stuffed in for thousands of years. She had gone through it only once, but it was such a lengthy process that it committed itself to her memory, much to her dismay. As she stood in the open forest, looking for signs that God may be listening to her, she opened her palm. She waited several minutes longer in case He decided to show up and actually talk to her without avoiding her. When it was clear that He was too much of a coward, she started to chant. 

She thought of everything bad that had happened to her since God decided to lock her up. Fighting that stupid daughter of the first Fallen Angel and the First Demon for her entire life. Every single time people would praise God, take one look at her and cast her away. How every single thing that she did was ruined by Him. She was ignored for far too long. The one person that loved her ended up being the one responsible for her downfall. Herodias thought about how much she loved him, how much she gave up for him... Too long ago were the days she could be forgiving.

The black ball of light danced in her palm, the only thing that illuminated the entire field. It had grown darker as she began to chant, the sky resembling the night. Was it God's response? Or had she been chanting for that long? Her energy didn't feel too drained, but she couldn't be sure. It was more than possible that instead of weakening her to pure exhaustion, the Nephaelem had managed to somehow make her stronger. The light in Herodias's hand stayed until she was certain. When nothing else happened, she realised it was her own power emiting from her. That was the final straw. She had given enough time for God to respond to her threats. She her hand into the ground, the ball of light scattered over the field and into every nook and cranny of Seoul. She held her arms out and her head high. Very slowly, she crumbled into black dust and drifted into the wind.

SinB was quiet the entire journey back to the bunker. Yugyeom and Bam Bam tried their best to tell her that it wasn't her fault. They needed to pee, so it was theirs.

"Yeah, but he's my cousin. I can't... I should have..."

"No, no. Seriously, it wasn't your fault," Bam Bam said and put his arm around her. 

She continued to sulk until she eventually drifted off to sleep. Bam Bam turned to Yugyeom. "This day started off so well."

"There was nothing we could do. Besides, he did offer help. He just didn't want to go with her."

Bam Bam looked back at SinB's sleeping face. The moonlight illuminated her face, highlighting her angelic glow around her. Under the darkness, she seemed to look more calm, more like her non human side. It was easier to believe that she was part Angel looking at her in that lighting. She looked so peaceful, yet so hurt. "I've said it before, I'll say it again... Angels are ," he said. "I mean, clearly that boy had inherited more Angelic whatever BS, and he's the only one to turn down the offer. You know why?"

"Because Angels ar-"

"Because Angels, my friend, are ," Bam Bam cut off Yugyeom, obviously proud of himself. "Demons are more trustworthy than those guys. At least with them, you'll either be surprised when they do something that is unexpected, or you're right about their intentions. Angels? ."

Yugyeom laughed at Bam Bam, but looked nervoursly at the heavens. He didn't know how Angel Radio worked, but he had no doubt that they could potentially have heard everything Bam Bam was saying, and he really wasn't in the mood for being smoted today. 

They continued driving in silence, SinB's soft snoring the only thing filling it. Bam Bam had started to dose off as well, leaving Yugyeom alone in the waking world, gathering his thoughts. He thought of the day when he was accepted into the group of Hunters, the happiest day in his life after a long time. He'd been hunting alone for some time now, his last partner bitten by a vampire and begged Yugyeom to kill him before he could turn. It was a peaceful day, when he came across Jaebum, Jinyoung, Jackson, Mark and Bam Bam. 

He remembered when he put out an alert to all hunters, and the four of them came to him in his desperation. He'd been hunting a wraith, a ghost like creature that pretended to be recently deceased loved ones before killing their prey. Problem was: he was new. No one was there to teach him the ropes. Together with the other four, they managed to kill the damn creature. They separated for a while after that. When Yugyeom met Youngjae, the two hunted together for a while before running across the other four when they were on the same case. After it was done, the five of them grouped together, accepting the two newbies as one of their own. It was the happiest moment in Yugyeom's life.  

Up ahead, he saw multiple police cars blocking the road. Confused, he slowed to a stop and checked that the other two were still asleep. Yugyeom got out of the car and approached the cars and saw that there had been an accident. He looked and there were no policemen around. 

There was nothing inside the crumpled metal that was a car, but to the side he saw two figures. One was a woman heavily pregnant in the arms of the man. Both were bleeding, the woman from her head and the man from his hands and back. Yugyeom jogged up to them. 

The man looked up in surprise. "Oh thank god, you have to call the ambulance for help," he looked down at his partner. "My wife... She... She's in pain or labour or..." He broke down. 

"I'll call the hospital. It'll be alright, I promise!" Yugyeom said, taking his phone out to dial the hospital. He bent down as he waited for someone to pick up, taking out a tissue to help stop her bleeding from her head. It seemed a deep gash, but he had no other way to help her. The phone continued to ring out until it reached the dial tone. Yugyeom yelled in frustration and redialled the number. He looked back to the couple. 

"It's okay. Jagi... It's okay, it'll be fine," the man cried to his wife. He cradled her in his arms. Yugyeom put a finger under her nose. Her breathing was shallow. Her eyelids fluttered to him, dazed. Sweat plastered her black hair to her paling skin, which was heating up. 

"Out of nowhere. Out of nowhere," the man whispered as he cried, rocking his wife back and forth. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw several people emerge in front of him, watching. Without paying attention, he yelled out, "Hey! Need a little help here!" No one moved to help the couple. Yugyeom got angry after several minutes of being monitored. He stood up and got ready to yell, but stopped when he saw their faces. The unnaturally bright moonlight gave them harsh dark shadows. Squinting his eyes, he realised that the shadows were black veins webbing over their faces, intensifying each second.

The woman made a small noise which triggered the crowd around them. Several tilted their heads in the direction. When she coughed, three of them discovered them and ran to them, screaming a war cry. Yugyeom's heart raced, immediately moving to protect the couple. He moved in front of the man and whispered for him to carry his wife to his car several metres away. When he didn't listen, Yugyeom turned and picked him up, his wife weak in his arms as she stood. He pointed in the direction of his car and yelled at them to run. When they rushed away, Yugyeom got his gun ready to shoot the three creatures. He looked back to the car and saw Bam Bam running toward them, SinB on his heels. He looked at the man and his wife.

"My friends are on their way, they'll get you to safety," Yugyeom said, before rising and taking aim at the person closest to him. She was a small child, barely a teenager. Even in the dark, he could tell her face was once upon a time an innocent little girl who was probably obsessed with unicorns. That innocence and childishness had been tainted with the black veins webbing their way all over her skin. He couldn't find it in himself to shoot her even as she approached him with dead eyes. The others around her continued their way to Yugyeom, and he aimed away from the little girl to one of the policemen. Without hesitation, he shot at him. Everything around Yugyeom started to slow down as it dawned on him that he just shot a law enforcer, possibly killing him. As the man stumbled backward, fear sliced through his heart. Fear at being like the monsters he'd been trained to hunt. But the policeman quickly recovered, the fear of being a monster being replaced with fear of facing a monster instead. 

The policeman shook off being shot like he'd just been tickled by invisible dust. His eyes grew darker as he quickened his pace toward Yugyeom, who decided to run away. Not very chivalrous of him, but he didn't know these creatures. He'd never seen them, didn't know how to kill them. The bullets in his gun were regular ones, the salt pellets and iron all in the boot of his car. The possibility of nothing being able to kill them crossed his mind, and he shuddered the thoughts away. He pumped his legs faster, willing himself to run to the car without the others catching up. But it wasn't enough; it seemed that the faster he ran the more of them surrounded him. 

Yugyeom decided to shoot more to possibly startle them. When he turned around, a female, was closing in on him. He shot her without hesitation, the noise jarring, straight in her chest. It didn't deter her as she continued gaining speed and running toward him. He fired more shots toward her and those around her, moving backward to his car at a brisk speed. The people didn't flinch; they kept advancing and somehow avoided getting shot. When he finally realised that they were unable to be killed, he shot aimlessly, more focused on keeping the couple safe.

"Yugyeom!" He heard someone call behind him. He turned around and saw that his friends had met him, SinB helping the couple get to the car. 

"Help them!" Yugyeom shouted, pointing his gun to the little girl. He swallowed his horror at shooting a child, but once he realised that she was beyond him saving her, it became easier to shoot her. He aimed directly at her chest and fired. The girl didn't stumble as her anger intensified. She let out a horrible cry like a banshee, a war cry that was followed by those around her.

Yugyeom stumbled backward, and looked to the car where the other four were waiting for him. He breathed a rattling breath and ran to them, tripping and rolling along the way. Cursing, he got back up and swatted and kicked away a person who grasped at his leg. He was so close to the car, but so were the others. He may be near safety, but he was going to tarnish it because he was leading the others to them. 

"Bam Bam! SinB! Open the door now!" He shouted at them. His legs burned and sweat provided the only coolin sensation all over his body. He pushed himself harder, his chest tightening. If only he could get through this pain. He desperately wanted to stop and catch his breath. The car door opened in front of him and he willed himself to go faster. Ignoring his screaming muscles and the stars that dotted his vision, he raced to his car. The airconditioning that rushed out filled him with hope. I'm going to make it, he thought.

He made it. Yugyeom somersaulted into the car, his head slamming onto the handbreak. He rolled and his forhead hit the gear and he let out a cry of pain. Stars danced in his vision. Someone put their hands around his shoulders and moved him into a sitting position. He heard the car door slam shut and the locks click. He somehow managed to jam his key into the ignition, but stopped for a while to fully comprehend his movements. He felt like he was going to throw up.

Bam Bam had had enough. He climbed over to the front of the car and carried Yugyeom to the passenger seat as best he could without opening the car doors. He looked back at SinB, who was doing her best to comfort the pregnant woman and her distressed husband.

"Don't worry, it's going to be okay. We'll get you to the hospital, you'll be safe there," she said, trying her best to keep her voice calm.

The man shook his head. Shakily he said, "They just... They just turned feral... What is it, what is it?!"

Bam Bam turned away and stared at the steering wheel. Yugyeom was still dazed and getting paler. Now there were three people to care for. The people from outside prowled around the car. He turned back to the dashboard and the time caught his eye. It took him a while to process it, not yet being used to the 24 hour time format that he had set it to as a prank. 15:08 it blinked in green. That meant 3:08pm. Early afternoon, the time that the sun was highest, especially in July, the middle month of summer. Yet outside was dark as night.

Ignoring the cries of the couple and the pleading of SinB to hurry up to get to the hospital, Bam Bam looked outside beyong the people. It was impossible to spot if you weren't looking for it, the blackness blending in to the darkness of the afternoon. But he still managed to watch as it grew closer and closer, black upon black dancing toward them in a tango of death. It tumbled and flattened the buildings and trees that crossed it. Before he could fully process it, the black smoke poured over the car, swallowing the people outside and the car itself.

Officer Ok Taecyeon trekked across the deserted area. He could have sworn that a few moments ago there were people here. But then again, he could've sworn that it was nighttime in the middle of the afternoon. When he came across the Toyota Yaris, he peered inside, where he thought he saw the people run to. It was empty, not even a print in the seats.

Something in the corner of his eye moved swiftly. The hairs at the back of his neck stood up as he reached a tentative hand to his gun. He looked at his surroundings and moved behind the Yaris where he heard someone crying. He edged closer and jumped into view, his gun aimed forward. Taecyeon dropped his arm when he saw two people laying on the blood stained road. The man stared ahead. His mouth was open and there was a gash on his forhead. Next to him was a woman with blood coming from . They lay together, a tangled cuddle as if they couldn't bear to be apart. A flash of gold on the man's hand was met with an identicle band on the woman's. Husband and wife even as death tried to part them. 

In between the two was a lump of cloth that moved around. Taecyeon moved hesitantly toward it. He had an idea to what it was, but he was still on edge about it. It was too strange that a child was born and was laying in the middle of its dead parents. He couldn't even begin to imagine how it must have happened. He got the stranged feeling of evil as he neared the lump, his right land crept toward the cross around his neck. He touched the necklace while his left hand uncovered the cloth. His suspicion was confirmed as he unveiled the child, bloodied but not crying, staring straight into Taecyeon's eyes. 

Taecyeon moved to pick up the baby despite his heart screaming at him to leave the child alone. Despite whispers creeping into his head that the child was an evil worse than the Devil himself. Logic ruled over; no one should leave an orphan alone. Just as he was about to carry the baby into his arms, something grasped his arm tightly. He flinched and slowly looked up in horror to the owner of the hand that held him. 

The woman's face was hauntingly dead. Her eyes had no light in them left, it was impossible for her to be alive. "Not Stephanie... Not Steph...Her... name... Tiff...Tiffany," the baby's mother croaked. Taecyeon stared into her eyes and nodded while he watched the mother die. Gingerly, he lifted Tiffany into his arms and observed her. He looked back at the parents as he stepped away, in case they decided to come back from the dead again and tell him more information about their child. The baby didn't squirm in his arms, instead she continued to stare into him. 

He moved to his car and tried his best to fit her in the backseat without causing damage during the ride. He quickly made a makeshift, albeit horrible, baby seat and nestled her in. Slowly, he drove to his grandmother's house. She'd know how to care for the child until he took her to Child Protection Services. It didn't occur to him until he was an hour away from the scene to call for backup or to look at the identity of the child's parents.

I'M BACK!!! Pray for my grades, I really need this. Ughhh, It feels good to finally go back through my chapters and just redo them all. Yeah, I used to have a ton of chapters with like a rough idea on how to do them and now looking back through them... They're pretty bad, but I promise to go back to the regular posting again!! Maybe not weekly, depending on what I'm doing though... Oh my goodness, I've missed this. The only sense of responsibility I'll have for a while. Thank god. This is how I remember what date it is. 

I really hope that you have had a good few months. And that you have had a good existence. And good luck. Oh my Gods, I love being back on the internet, they had to change the password so I wouldn't use it and I have been having a ing ball ever since I got it back. Love it. Bye! Until next week!