-Zelo's POV-

I felt a shiver go down my spine and my head went spinning. “Are you sure you saw right?” My voice shaky. “I even tried to make it disappear, but it was impossible. It’s magic Zelo. Dark magic.” His eyes looked desperate. “But that night I noticed that he wasn’t sleeping well. He was fidgeting in his sleep and would have mini spasms here and there. He was mumbling things under his breath, but I couldn’t understand him. I didn’t release the spell because I didn’t want him to sneak off or do anything crazy.” Youngjae was now holding his knees, he looked like he was going to break down.

Why is everyone breaking down all of a sudden? Could it mean…? Oh no! The thing I saw when we were crossing the bridge…it can’t have anything to do with that? I have to talk to Jayde.

“Don’t tell anyone else Jae.” I quickly said. “It’ll break us apart.” I said. He nodded in understanding. “And we have to have unity in order to win this war.” I urged. “Tell Jayde, but when no one is around or even at earshot. Maybe only Kris. But other than that absolutely no one can know. I want to be around too though, when you discuss it.” I said. “But for now let’s just act normal.” Youngjae said, grasping on with ease.

I smiled and stood up holding my hand out for him to take, helping him up to his feet. “Thanks.” He thanked, forcing a smile. “Let’s go join the others.” I said. “And if they ask what we were talking about, then we talked about a plan on how to get the DM back, but we ended with no conclusion.” Jae instructed. I nodded in agreement.

“What are you going?” I asked casually, as we walked up to Daehyun and Himchan, who looked like they were cutting something. “We’re cutting um…What looks like to be nuts…” Himchan said without much confidence. “Are you sure? They look really big.” Youngjae said studying one of the uncut ‘nuts’. Himchan shrugged. “Jayde said they’re edible.” He said. “So, we’re just cutting them up so that they can actually go I our mouths.”

“Where’s Uppie?” I asked seeing that he wasn’t with them. “He’s over there.” Dae answered, pointing to the body that laid spread out on the ground. “Is he sleeping?” Youngjae questioned. “Yeah.” Himchan sighed shaking his head. “Where’s TaeTae?” Min asked innocently, skipping over to us. “He’s sleeping in my sleeping bag with Bang.” I answered. He frowned. “I’m bored.” He said.

“Youngjae!” he perked seeing the mage. “Yes?” The said person responded. “Do you want to…play with me?” Min asked pretending to act shy, making him look even cuter than he already was.

“Sure. What do you want to play?” Youngjae asked. Min thought for a bit, furrowing his brow as if it were a serious question. “We~…can play tag! And Zelo can play with us too!” He answered. “Tag?” Jae asked a bit unsure. The vamwolf nodded enthusiastically.

“I don’t know, you gave an unfair advantage.” Youngjae said. “I’ll go slow.” Min promised. Youngjae shook his head, chuckling lightly. “What?” Daehyun spoke up. “Shoot!” Himchan cursed, blood was dripping down his hand as he accidentally cut himself.

“Channie got a oo!” Min announced. “Want me to clean that up for you?” Youngjae offered. “I’m fine. I can get it. It’s just a little bit of blood.” Himchan said standing up. Blood? Uh-oh…my mind automatically went to Bang. I looked back over at Yongguk and what I saw was not very pleasing.

His nose started twitching crazily as he slowly rose to his feet. “Himchan…You might want to run.” I warned my eyes never leaving the New Born. “Wh-…” Himchan froze. Bang looked up, revealing his bloodshot eyes and already extended teeth. A deep growl hummed from within him. “Himchan, run!” I yelled, but before he could make half a step Yongguk ran to him in an instant, pinning the younger down.

“Bang!” I yelled in fright. “Hey stop!” Min ran to him, but Yongguk was two steps ahead of him and grabbed Min’s arm, swinging him viciously, throwing hi. But the hybrid landed easily on his feet and jumped on top of Bang’s back, turning into a grown wolf. “Isn’t Min weak during the day?” I asked Youngjae who nodded.

Himchan took the chance to escape but Yongguk grabbed his ankle and yanked him down harshly. “Bang…” he growled in much pain. Min bit into Yongguk’s shoulder, earning a slight groan of pain from the new Born. Bang grabbed one of his hind legs and bent it all the way back until a crack was heard, before throwing him to the side.

Min howled in much agony. “Min!” Jae cried, running to the injured wolf. At that moment Jongup woke up. “What is all that…Yah! Bang Yongguk! What do you think you’re doing?!” he shouted, seeing all that was going on, but the vampire Bang ignored him.

Jongup stood to his feet and made a few movements before water was rushed at Bang. Himchan choked at the sudden rush of water that also hit him, while Bang growled in frustration, soaked. He fiercely turned around and stalked towards the younger. Jongup slowly backed up.

I raised an eyebrow at this. He was stalling time, waiting for Min’s leg to heal. Jae looked at me knowing exactly what I was thinking. He shook his head. “It’s taking a long time to heal itself. It completely snapped.” He informed. “Himchan this is your chance to use your fire on him.” Daehyun said. But the elder shook his head. “That’ll kill him.” He said. I was getting panicked. This wasn’t good at all.

It looked as if Bang was about to pounce on Jongup, when suddenly a nut was thrown at his head by Himchan. The vampire looked agitated by this, and without any warning he grabbed Jongup and ran back to Himchan pinning them both down. “Yongguk stop!” Himchan screamed.

“I have to get Tae.” I whispered in realization, running towards my sleeping bag.

“Tae! Tae!” I yelled trying to wake him up, praying he’d be up by the time I got to him. “Tae! Wake up please! Ta-,” I was suddenly cut off by a hand encircling around my throat.

I was then turned around and lifted up off my feet. I was now looking down into Yongguk’s red eyes that pierced right through me. “Tae!” I said weakly. His grip tightened with every second. I was quickly losing oxygen and the injured side of my neck was starting to hurt again, the pain sharp.

I struggled to get a word out as my eyes slowly began to roll back. “Y-Yong-Y-o-guk…Y…” It was no use. Yongguk narrowed his eyes at me tossing me to the side as if I weren’t worth his energy.

My back hit hard against the tree as I landed harshly on the ground. I gasped, wheezing for air. I coughed viciously, a drop of blood falling from my lip. “Yongguk no!” I heard someone scream. I weakly looked up a tear streaming down my cheek. Bang leaned in and a long strand down Himchan’s neck, before slightly grazing his flesh with his teeth. My tears raced down my cheek.

Yong-guk.” I breathed. I stumbled quickly on my feet. “Stop…” I called weakly. “He’s your friend.” I cried, still not loud enough for a soul to even hear. Bang fully extended his fangs. He was ready. I closed my eyes shut tight gathering all of my energy, my arms automatically extending out. “Yongguk NOO!!” I screamed, feeling my arms stiffen. More tears streamed down my cheek as I heard nothing else but a slight gasp. It’s working.

I slowly opened my eyes, tears still spilling out of them. Yongguk was still, his body trembling trying to fight my power. “I’m sorry.” Bang and I spoke at the same time. Part of me was in him, and I hated it. I was controlling him, against his will.

I moved my hands slightly, forcing him to sit up. Youngjae took this chance to run over to Tae and wake him.

I shifted my left hand back, forcing Bang to stand to his feet. He looked as if he were crying, but it was me who was crying. I never wanted to do this…especially not to my friends or loved ones.

Everyone stared at me stunned. “Don’t look at me!!” Bang and I both cried as I forced him to take steps backwards. Jongup quickly got the memo and hopped to his feet helping the stunned and scarred Himchan to his feet.

Once Yongguk was far enough I forced him on his knees, my heart breaking. It was a terrible feeling. I made eye contact with Youngjae and Tae (who was now in his regular vampire form) looking back at me, indicating that Tae was ready. I nodded, waiting for Tae to get in position before I finally released my power from Bang.

Yongguk immediately returned to his New Born state, angrier than before, but Tae easily pinned him down and dealt with him. He bent down whispering something in his ear, as Lee had done before. Yongguk let out an agonizing cry before blacking out.

I instantly buckled onto my knees crying in pain. Though my throat and neck hurt terribly, my heart ached even more. I bawled into my hands unable to control myself. Youngjae knelt down beside me, pulling me into him, gently rubbing my back in an attempt to calm me. It was a terrible feeling, reaching into him, reaching into another being with a soul and controlling them. It was icky, it was so wrong, it was horrific! I felt dirty! I felt…I felt like I needed to be disowned and thrown in with the DM! I felt like a villain.

I sobbed wildly into Youngjae’s chest. “I don’t ever want to do that again! I don’t ever want to do that again! I don’t ever want to do that again!” I cried over and over. “I never wanted to do it!” I sobbed. “I’m a terrible person Youngjae. I need to…I need to be punished.” I bawled. “No…Zelo.” Youngjae spoke calmly. “I need to die!” I bellowed.

“No~ Zelo. No…no…no.” Youngjae said holding me even tighter. “You don’t need to die Zelo. You did nothing wrong.” Youngjae said. “You don’t understand. To even have a power like this is disgusting. And to…use it…is-is even worse. Anyone with a soul would never do that. But…I used it.” I cried.

“Anyone without a soul, though, would not use that power and let their friend die.” Youngjae said in my ear almost coldly to get his point across. “But you didn’t kill anyone Zelo. You are a good person.” He smiled warmly in my ear, with that my eye lids suddenly closed shut.

-

The next thing I knew, I was waking up to a silent sky. I felt exhausted. What happened? I thought to myself while rubbing my eye lazily. I looked around to see that I had fallen asleep on Youngjae’s chest. Youngjae was asleep as well. I looked around, observing my surroundings, everyone was asleep.

Yongguk was out cold, Tae and Min slept close together (both in their normal human-like/Vampire form) next to Bang. Himchan and Jongup were in their same spots from before. They slept close to each other, Jongup laid their (asleep) protectively besides Himchan who still looked shaken. Daehyun slept right in front of his tent, looking worn out.

They all must be exhausted from the event from earlier. The thought made me shiver as I tried to erase the feeling from what I did to Yongguk. I pulled my knees up to my chest. I don’t ever want to do that ever again.

“Man. What’s this? Did I miss naptime/” I heard Kris’ voice. I quickly looked up to see that the others had finally returned. Lee raised an eyebrow observing the scene carefully. “He did something, didn’t he?” The vampire concluded. “It wasn’t his fault!” I quickly defended, hopping to my feet.

Lee held up his hands as if to surrender. “I know Princess. I’m just asking, gee.” He said. “Sorry.” I apologized, rubbing the back of my neck, a little embarrassed at my sudden outburst. “You’re still sensitive about the incident?” Jayde assumed. She obviously knew what happened. I nodded. She just smiled slightly. “You did well.” She assured me. All I could do was smile weakly.

“What happened?” Lee asked indifferently, hovering over Yongguk. “Was he hungry?” he questioned. “Um…well, he was fine earlier, but then Himchan accidentally cut himself and was bleeding and then Yongguk went out of control.” I explained. “Was Tae and Min able to stop him?” Lee asked now looking at me.

I was honestly scared to tell him what happened to Min. I was unsure of how he would react, he really does care for them a lot. “Um…Tae was asleep…” I said. But that wasn’t good enough. The vampire waited for me to go on. “So Min tried to stop him…but Bang ended up breaking his leg…but he’s healed now!” I quickly inputted the last part. Lee just growled under his breath.

I was a little surprised. I thought he was going to wake up Bang and tear him into shreds, but I guess he understood and Min wasn’t severely hurt, his bone was still able to heal itself. “When Tae woke up he was able to pin Bang down and…put him to sleep.” I finished not wanting to go into detail. The vampire nodded, somewhat pleased. “Well…he’s not going to be his ‘normal self when he wakes up. He’ll still be hungry. Looks like we’re going hunting again.” Lee said without much energy.

“We have to leave soon so make it quick.” Jayde said. “Yes ma’am.” Lee said lackluster. He picked Bang up and threw him over his shoulder and left the camp.

“Did you guys see anything?” I asked once the two were gone. Jasmine just nodded silently, sitting down her legs crossed. “We only saw a goblins’ nest. They looked as if they were mining or building something. They also had a lot of dwarves as slaves. They were obviously part of the DM, they all had the symbol marked on them. Even the dwarves did too.” Kris paused for a moment as if to recap on what he had seen. “But theirs’s were marked a different color. Usually the symbol is a blackish-bluish color. But theirs’s was orange.” He said.

“What does that mean?” I asked, assuming that there was some kind of meaning. “It means that they’re slaves by force and the DM owns them. They capture a group, kidnap them or whatever and brand them with that, it almost works as a tracker as well. If they are not doing as told it will somehow torture them. Either by burning or messing with their head.” Jayde explained.

For some reason I felt relieved by that information. I have to tell Jae that. At the thought something else came to mind. “Oh…Jayde!” I quickly jumped. She just raised an eyebrow and waved me over.

“Yeah?” She said once I was close enough for a one on one talk. “I saw something when we were crossing the bridge.” I said in a hushed tone. She looked at me confused. “You did?” She asked. I was a bit thrown off. Did she not know? But I quickly nodded. She seemed a bit hesitant. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “I don’t know if I should know, I didn’t see it.” She said. Sh-She didn’t know? “But you know everything Jayde.” I urged. “I know almost everything. There are some things I can’t see.” She reminded.

“I think you should know.” I said. She shook her head. “That’s probably why I saw it. To tell you.” I insisted. “It’s meant to be. I’m not supposed to see it.” She said. “Jayde, it’s important. It’s about the war. It’s about us.” I nearly begged, clinging onto her arm. She stiffened a little, before finally giving in. “What is it?” She said with not much emotion.

“Well, it wasn’t quite clear, like I saw different scenes flash right after the other, before I could gain any clear information. It happened really fast.” I quickly began. Jayde nodded listening closely.

“There were quick scenes of someone doing something sneaky, but I couldn’t see or even grasp an idea of who it could be or what it was. They weren’t good things though. And finally it all added up and led to a little longer scene of everyone just fed up and done. Everyone was just mad at each other and arguing viciously. You weren’t there though…” I said slowly. Jayde just nodded thinking and waiting for me to go on. “I thought about it and reflected on it…and then I realized what it meant. We can prevent this…” I said.

Jayde looked at me, studying me closely. I really didn’t want to believe it, but I felt so strongly in my gut that I was right. “There’s someone spying on us Jayde…or there’s a traitor among us.” I finally said. Jayde’s eyes widened. “I didn’t see that.” She quickly said almost in panic.

“Well…well maybe I’m wrong. You did say some visions I may have are false and may mess with me. Right?” I asked. She nodded, “let’s hope so, but we need to be careful just in case.” She said. I nodded. She seemed to be debating with herself. “What is it?” I asked. “I don’t want to keep secrets from the others, but I don’t want them to be suspicious of each other.” She said more to herself.

“Don’t.” I quickly said. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “It’ll be best. It’s not like anyone can find out.” I said. She sighed but nodded. “Yeah, we’ll…do that…” was all she said, and that concluded our conversation as we casually walked our separate ways. It really helped talking to Jayde, but something was strange and she knew it too. She didn’t see my vision, nor did she see the traitor.

I looked to see that Youngjae was already up, dusting himself off. “Youngjae!” I said quickly running up to him. “Hey~…” he said yawning and stretching. “I think I have good news.” I quickly told him. He looked at me confused, blinking a few times.

“Did we win the war?” he asked yawning a little more. “No…not yet Jae.” I said chuckling a little, he looked adorable like a little kid. “It’s about Daehyun.” I said quietly. He stopped stretching and looked at me. “What is it?” he asked with a glimpse of hope. “What color is the mark on his shoulder blade?” I asked. He thought for a bit, recalling the memory. “Purple.” He said.

I was completely thrown off guard. “Not a bluish black or Orange?” I tried again. He slowly shook his head, unsure of where I was coming from. “It was light purple Zelo.” He said. I stood there defeated. Light purple? How can this be? Light…purple? Not light orange or light blue…but light purple. But what does that mean? No! It can’t! Could it be that Daehyun is the traitor?