Author's Note: Hey, everybody. So, it seems like I won’t be able to finish this fic before Christmas like I have originally planned. Writer’s block along with my lack of motivation has been taking a toll on my efforts. I do really hope to finish it before the end of this year, though. Since it's the season of giving, I didn’t want to leave you guys without an update for this week. Here’s a sneak preview of what Chapter 21 has in store. Again, I cannot say thank you enough to all those who have subscribed and left lovely comments for this fic! It means a lot to me, and I promise to write a satisfying last two chapters. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! ^^

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Yerin asked, tone filled with doubt, as she held the hem of her shirt up to give Eunha better access to her wound.

After Yerin made her declaration of undergoing an attack on Virgo tonight, she was relieved when Eunha expressed her agreement on the decision. She was further pleased to find that her dear friend was able to formulate an antidote that could ease the pain. Though the antidote was not able to rid of the toxin entirely, Yerin was glad that she no longer had to keep taking those ‘painkillers’ that did bupkis for her health.

“It better,” Eunha replied, applying the honey-thick paste over the older girl’s open sore. “Otherwise, I just used up my entire supply of pixie dust for nothing.” She waited for the magical mixture to solidify like dried up glue, indicating that it was working. In a blink of an eye, the gooey, holographic concoction became one with Yerin’s skin. Eunha released a breath of relief. “Good. It seems to be effective.”

Eunha removed her gloves, prompting Yerin to stare down at the side of her abdomen. The paste appeared to take the form of a second skin on her body. It wasn’t long until Yerin could feel the aches that caused discomfort on her organs begin to dissipate. She laid a gentle hand on her wound.

“It’s working,” Yerin breathed out, a gigantic smile on her face. “My powers are still obsolete. But, at least, I could move around without flinching from the sharp pangs.”

“Thankfully, you weren’t totally reliant on your powers even before the injury,” Eunha commented, placing her hands on her hips as she stared back at her work. “And, it’s a good thing you’re basically a pro in the realm of vampire self-defense techniques.”

Pulling down her white t-shirt, Yerin hopped off from the examination table and proceeded to do several high kicks and jabs. There wasn't even the tiniest bit of pain.

“Gomawo, Eunha-ya,” Yerin thanked her best friend as she enveloped the shorter girl with a hug.

“It’s no big deal,” Eunha, pretending to be blasé, shrugged it off. Upon releasing the hug, her heart ached when she saw Yerin’s cheerful smile. There was no doubt that Eunha intensified in rage after seeing those pictures of Sowon and Yuju in their most vulnerable state. But, even with Yerin no longer suffering from physical pain, there was still a chance that her dear friend might not make it out alive. “Remember that the effects should last up to twelve hours, so we must complete the mission quickly. The sooner we do, the sooner you get to repay me.” With a sly smile, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

“Repay you?” Yerin asked, eyes looking at the younger girl in confusion. She sat back up on the table.

“Yes, repay me,” Eunha simply repeated her sentiment before gracefully heaving herself up on the table to sit next to Yerin. She reached into her pocket to retrieve a folded piece of paper and began to open it. “Though I'm immensely glad that the mixture worked, it did require me to use a hefty amount of my supplies. Supplies that weren't easily obtained or cheap either. That’s why I want you to take a nice trip to the black market, so you could restock my inventory.”

“Eunha-ya, you know that I hate going to the black market,” Yerin replied, baffled at the girl’s request.

“Oh, come on,” Eunha urged her friend supportively, giving Yerin a playfully nudge with her elbow. “It's the least you can do for me after I created a miracle worker of an antidote.” She scooted closer to Yerin and began to read off the grocery list of supplies. “I just need two pints of werewolf saliva, a jar of pixie dust, a bag of Phoenix feathers, several locks of fur from a Yeti. Now, this one is important. Don't let the sellers try to scam you into buying Bigfoot fur, instead. I don't care what anyone says, Yetis and Bigfoots are two different types of species. Anyways…”

Knock. Knock.

Eunha paused at the sound of a knock at the laboratory’s door. The doorknob slowly turned and opened to reveal SinB on the other side.

“SinB-ah!” Yerin called out to her girlfriend with much enthusiasm. “Good news! Eunha’s antidote worked!” She excitedly hopped off the table to walk closer to the younger girl. “Look.” Yerin lifted up her shirt to show the glittery film that now protected her wound. She glanced at SinB with wide, hopeful eyes to see her reaction. A tight-lip smile was all that SinB offered. “Sure, I don't have my powers, but that doesn't make me powerless,” she reassured, letting go of her shirt. Feeling the tense vibes that SinB was sending, Yerin’s demeanor couldn't help but lose some of its splendor.

“Eunha-unnie,” SinB solemnly addressed the older girl who was blatantly staring at them, “is it okay if Yerin and I could speak in private?”

“I honestly don't see the use of it,” Eunha brashly admitted. “It's not like I don't know what you want to discuss about with Yerin.”

“Eunha-ya,” Yerin stopped the honest girl before the atmosphere grew even more fretful. “Please.”

“Fine,” Eunha huffed as she picked herself off the table in a stubborn fashion. “I'll go upstairs where I'm sure my presence will be appreciated.” With arms crossed, she glided past the pair and exited out of the room.

Yerin and SinB were left alone in the lab with its bright light fixtures hanging above them. Though Yerin was aware that something was bothering SinB, she couldn't help but take note of how utterly beautiful her girlfriend looked in her everyday attire with minimal, if no, makeup.

“How is Sowon-ssi, by the way?” Yerin broke the silence in the much too quiet space.

While Eunha patched Yerin up, SinB stayed in the living room, providing solace for her downhearted friend. SinB hated to see Sowon, who was typically lively and optimistic, become so depressed after learning that her privacy was taken away.

“Sowon-unnie is still a bit shaken, but she’s coping with it better than I would have,” SinB responded somberly, eyes looking anywhere but at Yerin. “She went upstairs to check up on Yuju.” SinB started to fidget with her hands nervously.

“Judging by how you’re avoiding any eye contact with me, I suppose you want to try to convince me not to fight tonight,” Yerin gesticulated before grabbing her blue and white varsity jacket on the table and putting it on.

“I may have stayed quiet in the living room,” SinB began, placing her hands behind her back as she switched from looking at the ground to staring at Yerin’s warm eyes, “but, inside my heart burst. Because I couldn’t stand the thought of you being hurt by Virgo again. Because I knew that you would do whatever it takes to stop Virgo even if that means sacrificing yourself. Because I don’t want to lose you after we just had our first date!” SinB stood there, aware that tears streamed down her face, but could care less about hiding them. “Yerin-ah,” SinB pleaded, voice wavering, “you don’t have to do this for me.”

Yerin stood silently in thought. She took a step closer, so that there was only a small gap of space between their bodies. Heat radiated from one another.

“I’m not doing this only for you, SinB-ah,” Yerin spoke, tone immersed with tenderness. “I’m doing this for Sowon-ssi, Yuju-ssi, Yoon Bora, my Oppa, and any other person out there who was victimized by Virgo. As a Sisters of the Night member, it is my job to protect anyone and everyone from supernatural beings who are trying to disrupt an already frightening world. Now, I’m not saying that I’m picking my job over you. But, during my first year as a vampire and before I became a full fledged Sister, I lived in panic. I had to continuously find ways to restrain my blood cravings, so I wouldn’t harm others. I hid in the shadows and went about the world like a nomad. I became severely depressed, even inflicting self-harm in a desperate attempt to feel the sweet release of death...I was scared. But, then the Sisters found me and because of them I was able to finally find a purpose to live, to breathe. And, as the years went by, I was able to find happiness. I was able to find you, SinB-ah.” Yerin placed her hand on the younger girl’s cheek, brushing the tears away. “I don’t know what the future holds. All I know is that I want you and I to be together. If that means having to kill Virgo tonight, despite being void of my powers, then I’ll do it.”

“No,” SinB said, earning a slight frown from Yerin. “We will do it. Together. I want to kill him. You want to kill him. Let’s get that bastard together.”

The older girl’s demeanor slowly lit up as she realized what SinB was alluding to. A small smile took shape on Yerin’s lips which blossomed into a beautiful eye smile. That eye smile which never failed to make SinB’s heart race. That eye smile which assured her that things were going to be okay. That eye smile which made her feel anxious yet calm all at the same time…

With all the passion in the world, SinB brought her arms around the older girl and kissed her deeply. In that blissful moment, it felt like time stood still.

Yerin was taken by surprise. But, as she felt SinB’s heavenly soft lips coaxing her to return the kiss, an unexpected heartbeat reverberated from her chest, sending her to overdrive. Yerin settled her hands along the curve of SinB’s hips, pressing their bodies even more closer than they already were. She picked up the younger girl and placed her on top of the examination table. Following suit, Yerin hovered over SinB as she proceeded to place soft, butterfly kisses on her neck, eliciting a melodious moan. Yerin paused to glance at SinB, only to find that there was a mischievous glint in her eyes. The next thing Yerin knew, she was flipped over so that SinB was now straddling her, completely in control. Another heartbeat. Another tell-tale sign that SinB was the only one who could drive her absolutely crazy.

Between kisses, SinB removed Yerin’s jacket, throwing it on the ground, followed by her own coat. She slid her hand underneath Yerin’s shirt and could feel goosebumps emerging on her girlfriend’s skin. Pleased, the corner of twitched into a smirk as her hands freely roamed around the toned body. Her smirked deepened when she heard, not a cry of pain, but a gentle, satisfying whimper escape from the older girl’s mouth.

Wanting to please her girlfriend even more, SinB removed a hand away from Yerin’s shirt and began playing with the zipper of the older girl’s black, skinny jeans. Truth be told, SinB has never went “all the way” with a past flame before. But, at that particular moment, she felt daring. The zipper was more than halfway down when suddenly…

“Omo!”

“SinB-ah?! Yerin-ssi?!”

“Umji-ya, cover your eyes!”

“Damn, I just sanitized that table.”

Like a teenage couple getting caught in the act by their parents, Yerin and SinB hurriedly scrambled off the table, grabbing their clothes off the ground along the way. Yerin adjusted her shirt while SinB pushed her disheveled hair away from her eyes. Both of their cheeks were flushed as they stood guiltily, trying to catch they their breath.

“My, my, my, SinB-ssi,” Eunha sing-songed, highly amused. “When you said that you wanted privacy with Yerin-ah, I didn’t know that this little escapade was what you had in mind.”

“Yah, SinB!” Sowon’s motherly tone resurfaced to give the younger girl a scolding. “Are you forgetting that there’s children in our midst?” She motioned to Umji staring shyly at the ground and Yuju whose eyebrows knitted at the nonsensical remark. “Now, I have to explain to them about the birds and the bees. Heaven knows that the subject doesn’t get teached well enough in school!”

“Eunha-unnie! Sowon-ah! You guys are overreacting,” SinB tried to calm the group down before she dies of embarrassment. “And, besides this whole ordeal could have been avoided if someone just knocked instead of all of you barging in.”

“But, we did knocked,” Yuju attested.

“Several times,” Umji softly added, eyes too shy to look at directly at the couple.

SinB’s face became even more red after hearing that factoid. Were she and Yerin really that concentrated on each other to be completely oblivious of any outside noise? It was confounding, yet kind of...sweet?

Yerin cleared and stood a bit taller, getting everyone’s attention. “As flustering it was for us and for you all, I think it’s best if we could all be mature about this and move on. Now, what were you four going to tell SinB and me?”

“First of all, mianhae for the interruption,” Yuju apologized earnestly. “Sowon-unnie had her ear against the door to check for any sounds. But, all she heard was heavy breathing. We thought that something bad might have happened, so we decided to just open the door. And, boy, were we wrong.” Yuju grimaced at the thought of SinB and Yerin making out ferociously.

“But, like you suggested, Yerin-ssi, that’s all in the past,” Sowon quickly chimed in before the mood increased with awkwardness. “What we originally wanted to say was that Yuju and I are willing to help you guys out again.” SinB and Yerin’s eyes both went wide in pleasant surprise. “Eunha-ssi put some of that magical, pixie paste on my wound, so it’s feeling much better now.”

“And, I’m not going to let those pictures get the best of me,” Yuju said before reaching for Umji’s hand.

“Neither am I,” Sowon confidently attested, eyes shining brightly as she looked directly at Yerin.

“Kamsahamnida,” Yerin humbly thanked Yuju and Sowon before giving each a respectful, ninety degree bow. “Your consideration of this matter and for the Sisters of the Night is greatly appreciated and will be rewarded.”

“Aww, you don’t have to reward us,” Yuju said modestly.

“We’re just doing what any good person would do,” Sowon relayed her own self-effacing attitude. “But, if you still want to reward us in the end, I wouldn’t mind the answer key to my trigonometry final.” Yuju immediately swatted Sowon’s arm.

“I’ll see what I can do, Sowon-ssi,” Yerin replied with an amused smile. “Well, now that we’re all on the same page, I suppose it’s best we start getting the stakes and garlic ready. Any last remarks before we disperse?”

“I was going to wait to say this,” Eunha spoke up, eyes fluttering, “but since you insisted ever so graciously…Your zipper is down, Yerin-ah.”