Kai wanted to punch himself after he teleported himself inside his mansion. What had happened to his confident self? How could he have acted so cowardly and teleported himself out of that clinic simply because Yixin had smiled at him?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a scream. The color from his face drained when he realized that the scream was coming from the throne room. There was no doubt that his brother was responsible for this, and that made him wonder if someone had accidentally offended his older brother again.

He headed toward the throne room. Yes, he wasn’t going to deny that he was a bit scared of his brother’s wrath, but he was curious as to who the unlucky demon was. Not only that, but he needed something that could make him forget about the day’s events.

The two guards that stood in front the door bowed to him when they saw him approaching. One of the guards pushed the door open for him. 

In the middle of the room, there was a guard whipping a demon who was lying down on the polished marble floor. The demon’s clothes were torn because of the whipping, and blood started to ooze out from the demon’s body.

It made him wonder what this demon had done to his brother.

“Oh, you’re back.”

He turned around. His brother was sitting on his throne with an emotionless expression on his face.

“How is your injury?”

Kai looked at Suho with a shocked expression on his face and wondered how Suho knew that he was injured.

“Well, aren’t you going to answer my question?”

“A healer… Found me… She patched the wound… But Hyung… How did you know about this?”

“You don’t have to worry about searching for the demon that stabbed you. As you can see, I’ve already started punishing him,” Suho replied. Kai’s question was left unanswered.

“Wha…” Kai turned his head toward the demon. It never occurred to him that this demon was the one who had stabbed him last night, because he didn’t get to see the demon’s face properly, since it was very dark. Now that explained why this demon looked familiar.

“You can leave now. I’ll deal with him,” Suho said to the guard.

“Yes, my lord.”

The guard bowed his head before he walked out from the room.

“I will not forgive anyone who tries to hurt my brother.” Suho snapped his finger.

A scream echoed throughout the room after that. Kai could only watched in horror as the demon began to burn by the fire. Suho snapped his finger again, and the fire stopped.

Kai wasn’t able to take his eyes away from the burned body. The demon was still breathing, but not for long. He knew why Suho didn’t burn this demon into ashes. His brother still wanted to torture this demon by letting him die in pain from of the wound.

He gulped when his brother got up from the throne. He could only stand there, waiting for his brother to come to him no matter how scared he was. Although his brother was very strict toward him, he never raised his hand on him. However, yesterday’s events may have changed that.

“You should be more careful next time.”

“Ye… Yes… Hyung.”

“Guards!”

Two guards entered the room.

“Guards, throw this demon in the forest.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Kai released the breath that he himself hadn’t realized that he’d been holding after his brother walked out.

“Wow… What happened in here?”

Kai turned his head toward the voice. Kyungsoo was leaning against the wall as he watched the guards carry the body out from the room.

“D.O-hyung, when did you come back?”

“Chen and I came back this morning. We stopped at one of the restaurants to eat breakfast before coming back when that demon told his friends about how he’d managed to stab you and leave you to die. We managed to corner him after he left the restaurant. He told us where the street he left you was at. I brought him back while Chen went to the street. However, Chen didn’t manage to find you on the street,” Kyungsoo explained. “Where did you go after he stabbed you?”

“After he stabbed me, I was planning to teleport myself to our healer. However, my power went haywire and took me to a clinic. I out after that and only woke up this morning.”

Yixin’s face and smile suddenly popped into Kai’s mind.

Why did she suddenly appear in my mind?

“Do you know how worried we were when Chen came back alone?”

Kyungsoo’s question interrupted his thoughts.

“We? Who else was worried about me?”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Suho-hyung. Who else would worry about you if not your own brother?”

Kai looked down at the floor dejectedly.

“I thought he was angry at me for failing him again.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. He was the one who took care of Kai’s needs since his and Suho’s parents had died when Kai was still a small boy and Suho was too busy assisting the deceased lord. Thus, he knew that Kai yearned for his brother’s affection.

“He wasn’t angry at you, Kai-ah. He was already in bad mood when I brought that demon back with me. It just worsened his mood after he heard that you were injured and left on the street to die. You don’t have to worry about it. Your brother needs some time to cool down his temper.”

“I hope that you’re right, Hyung.”

Kyungsoo squeezed Kai’s shoulder. “Go get some rest now. Don’t forget that you’re injured.”

“Ok, Hyung.”

Kyungsoo walked out from the room. He didn’t immediately go back to his room despite the fact that his mate was waiting for him. Instead, he went to Suho’s study room where he knew Suho would be. Although he’d just come back today, he could see that there was something bothering Suho and that something was the cause of Suho’s bad mood this morning.

This made him curious about what had happened after he had gone to the human realm for a week. It would be useless to ask Kai about this, since Suho was seldom willing to share with Kai, which was the reason that he wanted to ask Suho directly. He just hoped that Suho would tell him.

Suho was pouring whiskey into a glass when the door suddenly burst open. 

“Drinking whiskey this early in the morning?”

“Don’t you know that you’re suppose to knock the door before coming in?”

“I’m sorry for my rudeness, my lord. I was scared that you wouldn’t answer if I knocked the door.”

“This is one of the things that I like about you. You’re always honest.” Suho gulped down the whiskey in one go. He poured the whiskey again.

“Is there something that’s been bothering you, my lord?”

Suho laughed softly. “What made you think that?”

“I’ve been working under you for a century, thus I can read you like the back of my hand. Aside from that, you’re drinking whiskey at this hour.”

“Is there a rule saying that I cannot drink whiskey at this hour?”

“Of course you can drink it anytime, my lord. However, my lord, don’t you think that you’ll feel at ease if you’re sharing your problems with someone?”

Suho let out another laugh.

“Maybe I spoke too soon by saying that I like your honesty. I’m fine, D.O. Nothing is bothering me. It just that…”

“What for? So you can ask your comrades to hunt me down for slapping you? I wonder what your comrades would think if they know that their demon lord was slapped by a witch.”

“For first time in my life, I met a person who doesn’t fear me at all.”

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows. There is a person who doesn’t fear Suho-hyung?

“And who is that person, my lord?”

Suho put down the glass on the desk. “That’s what I want to know, too.”

Kristina frowned with her arms folded across her chest. Why did her superior ask her to meet him in his office if he was going to ignore her afterwards to talk to someone else on the phone? And judging by the smile on his lips, there was no doubt the person on the line was Chanmi.

“I’ll see you tonight, Channie. Bye.”

Minseok ended the call. Just the thought of having dinner with Chanmi at night made the smile on his lips grow bigger.

“Are you going to have dinner date with Chanmi-ssi tonight?” Kristina grinned teasingly.

“Do you know how rude it is to listen to others people’s conversations?”

“You were talking too loud, and I was bored waiting for you to finish your call.” Kristina leaned closer. “You still haven’t answered my question. Are you and Chanmi-ssi going out for date tonight?”

“It’s not a date! It’s just an ordinary dinner between two friends who want to catch up with each other. That’s all.” Minseok quickly denied it.

Do you think I’m blind and didn’t see the blush on your cheeks? And I also can read your feelings right now. That part was left unsaid by Kristina, since she knew that she was just wasting her energy talking about Minseok’s feeling toward Chanmi.

Minseok would keep denying it because he didn’t know about her empath power, since she’d never disclosed it to her superior and her teammates. She didn’t mean to hide it. It’s just that it irritated her when people started acting cautiously around her. 

“So why are you asking me to come here? Do you want to catch up with me, too? Well, I’m very healthy and still kicking demons .” Kristina decided to change the subject.

“When’re you going to change?”

“I was born this way.”

Minseok shook his head. He took out a brown file from his drawer before handing it to Kristina.

“What is this?”

“Read it. The higher up managed to get the new lord and his few trusted men’s information.”

Kristina opened the file’s cover. The first thing she saw was a picture of the demon that followed her that day.

He looks so hot in this picture… Wait a minute... Is there something wrong with you, Kristina? How can you think that? He’s a demon! Get a grip on yourself!

“What’s wrong?” Minseok asked when he saw Kristina gripping the file.

“Nothing, Ge.”

Kristina continued reading the demon’s information.

So I was right after all. He is indeed the new demon lord.

Name: Suho Kim

Age: 150 years old

Basic information: He is the nephew of the previous demon lord.

Tsk… His name is Suho? Does he even know what the meaning of his name is? Kristina flipped the pages.

Name: Kim Kai

Age: 112 years old

Basic information: Suho’s younger brother.

Name: Do Kyungsoo

Age: 117 years old

Basic information: Suho’s second in command.

Name: Kim Jongdae

Age: 120 years old

Basic Information: Kyungsoo’s mate.

“Why is there so little information on them? Only their names and ages. What about their personalities and powers?” Kristina closed the file before she handed it back to Minseok.

“Our spy already tried his hardest to get this information for us. From what I heard, the new lord has tightened their security because there’s a rebellious group trying to overthrow him.”

“I see. So why are you showing me this? Are we going to do something about them?”

“I already gave your information to the higher up, but the higher up didn’t want to involve themselves with the murder of the previous lord. They don’t want to cause a war and put the weaker creatures and humans in danger. They will let the demons settle this matter by themselves.”

“I understand.”

Maybe it was good thing that the higher up didn’t involve themselves with this matter, although Kristina was a bit disappointed with the decision. It would be better for her if she didn’t get involved with Suho. She needed to just get on with her life.

“That’s why I wanted you to try and avoid them if you ever encountered them.”

Should I tell Minseok-ge that I’ve encountered Lord Suho a few times? No… I better keep this a secret. I don’t want to get scolded again.

“Yes, Ge. I’ll be more careful. Will that be all? Can I be excused now?”

“There is one more thing that I need to tell you.”

Kristina frowned, wondering when she could leave this office. She started to feel hungry, since she hadn’t had breakfast this morning. She’d woken up late today, and Yixin hadn’t come back last night.

“What it is, Ge?”

“We’ve received a report from one of the villages. A few people have gone missing after entering the forest. The village head gathered his men to search for them, and guess what they found.”

Kristina’s eyes brightened up. “A demon?”

Minseok laughed. “Sort of. They only found a mutilated body with a few limbs missing. Thus, I want you go to that forest and investigate this matter.”

“Ge, do I have to go? It may be because of a wild animal,” Kristina whined. Although she loved to fight demons, she didn’t feel like going inside the forest today.

“I know that, but there’s still a chance that there’s a demon responsible for this case. I don’t want anyone to lose their life. If you’re too scared to go, take someone with you.”

“I’m not scared!”

“If that’s the case, I don’t want to hear any more complaints coming from you.”

Kristina scoffed. “Fine. Can I be excused now?”

“Yes, you can. Please be careful. You know how reckless you can be.”

Kristina rolled her eyes. However, she didn’t bother to argue back with Minseok.

“Yes, Ge.”

She stepped out from the office. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. It was just eleven o’clock in the morning, which meant that she had lot of time before it turned dark.

She’d better go to the forest today and get this over with. She wasn’t scared. After all working as demon hunter meant needing to be brave at all times. However, her senses were telling her that something was going to happen, and she didn’t know what.

Still, she didn’t have a choice, since she didn’t want her superior to know that she was scared. She just hoped that for once her senses were wrong and that she was thinking too much.

Beta-ed by rmzcharizard

Author's note: There is a new hints pairings inside this chapter. Can guess who?

Enjoy!