Chapter 2 

 

Deep within the silence of the dead of the night, far from civilization and the blind callow eyes of the mortal humans, a silent black shadow stalk its prey. Brown eyes watch with dark predatory intent and focus as the predator focus on its helpless unsuspecting prey. 

 

The helpless and completely unaware rabbit sniff the damp forest earth in search of food. 

 

The rain had been generous this year, the grass was lush and green and the rabbits were fat, juicy and plenty. No creature was likely to starve this season, not that his kind would ever starve, not when they no longer depended on nature's hunt as they once had long ago. No, these current times were all about convenience and as little effort as possible, thanks to the ingenuity and unlimited potential and imagination of the mortal human race that he and his own protected from the evil that lurks in the shadows of the night. One phone call and some money and his own would have all the food they would ever need. 

 

It had for so long amazed and somewhat amused him that a race with such inventiveness and a thriving thirst for knowledge were so, by their own fear-driven will, blind to the evils that lurk in their world that they had long ago shrug off as figments of the imaginations and myths. A fear-driven relentless denial that made them such easy prey for the damned; deep down the mortal race did remember, did see, what lay beneath the icing that was their world but it was their refusal to believe that there was something bigger, stronger than them left in the world. That was was something to fear in the dark, despite their delusional denials. 

 

Regardless of their selective blindness, they had created a world of convenient comforts for themselves and the immortal races but even though in many ways, modern times were good for his kind, Yunho long desperately for the days of old when his soul wasn't so heavily burden, when his mind wasn't weighed down by the insanity and darkness that was so close to claiming him, one of the strongest and eldest of their kind. 

 

He hungers, as did all unmated immortal kind, so for the blood and flesh of mortal kind that was the greatest temptation and gravest taboo for his kind. The tasting of the flesh of mortals, draining a mortal life away, came with the highest of prices, which most believe was the damnation of the soul, that was for those who believe that immortals possess souls, to begin with. With that first kill and taste of a mortal's death comes the irreversible release of the unquenchable maddening thirst that every immortal carried within. With the taste of death, the man within loses his inner battle and his beast consumed him forever, devouring all traces of the humanity within. Muscles ripple silently beneath raven black pelt that shimmer with the light of the silvery pale moon above as he tense, ready to pounce on his prey. There was no better feeling he knew then the thrill of the hunt, the scent of fear filling his nose and fresh blood from the still warm prey spilling into his muzzle. Although rabbits were a supply of food and gave a somewhat, if only brief, respite from the need to hunt, preferably much larger prey, it did nothing to soothe the restlessness and the untamed wildness of the beast that he carried within him. 

 

In the days of old, his kind had hunted much larger game. Deer, bear, mountain lion, even water buffalo, all of which had been plentiful; that was before the human race had conquered the earth like a plague. In the days of old the hunt had done more to soothe his restlessness and his beast but now nothing seemed to give him any lasting sense of peace or contentment. 

 

Yunho had grown too wary of life. He had lived long and in recent years his reasons for continuing on, without the comfort of a wolf mate, were fleeting. He lives to protect his people and the mortals from the damned but it seems such a futile effort, growing more so with each passing year. The number of Lycan females and Lycan young born was decreasing with every passing year, as it had been increasingly so for centuries, more and more of the immortals were embracing the curse and becoming the damned. 

 

If it kept going as it was then mankind would be left alone against the worst plague the earth would ever know, the damned, whose number grew with each passing year. With each immortal that became a damned meant one more number to the damned and one less of the protecting immortal kind. 

 

Maybe the time of the immortal races was coming to an end. 

 

At the thought which never fails to stir such impotent rage within him Yunho pounce, the small helpless creature standing no chance against his superhuman strength, speed, agility and senses that rival all other predators of nature. There was only one other creature on the planet that could match the capabilities of his kind and that was not the mortals but an ancient race, just like his, the vampires. 

 

As warm blood touch his tongue, the primitive part of him, his beast that grew stronger every day as his control grew weaker like the ocean's constant battering against the cliffs that continue to crumble with each wave, burn and scream for a much more satisfying prey. 

 

For human prey but the laws were absolute. No hunting mortals; the only exception was if the kill was approved by the high council made up of both immortal races, created after the war had ended. The only sanctioned kills were those who were a threat to their people and their way of life. Most sanctioned kills were those of the two races who had stopped fighting the darkness they all carried within and had surrender to it, to the bloodlust. Once an immortal tasted human blood, it was an unquenchable and undeniable addiction; there was no coming back from that. They became the damned that constantly hunger for fresh human blood. The young damned were like wild savage animals, it was only after centuries that they recover some semblance of intelligent creatures, of their previous selves in that they talk and show some semblance of control. 

 

There was only one salvation for the immortals; their destined mate, the one born to soothe the beast and bloodlust within and bring hope and light into their dark lives, driving back the darkness and taming the beast within but with females of both immortal races becoming fewer and fewer in number, it was unlikely that Yunho would ever find his true wolf mate, his salvation. Such was the truth for so many of the remaining immortals struggling to remain strong against their beast and hunger. 

 

Sadly, it wasn't as it was written in mortal legends and stories; both Lycan and vampire kind alike weren't created or turn from mortal kind, they were born of their own kind. Every mortal throughout their history that had tried to be turned had died a short agonizing death within a day of being infected. 

 

It was whispered among the immortal kind that the few offspring being born, especially females, was a punishment from the moon goddess, the mother of the two immortal races of the night. It was said that with the mortals ruling the day, the children of the goddess, of the moon, would have the night. The night was their world, the darkness kept their secrets and for a short time allow them to run free and wild as they had once done before the human race had so completely conquered the world and soon the mortals would have the night also, as the two immortal races were rapidly fading into extinction and with hope waning, more and more immortals were turning to the ways of the damned and more and more of them were dying, most taking their own lives rather than become that which they hunted. 

 

Yunho looks up at the moon with deep tormenting sadness that ran right down into him, possessing his darkening encumbered soul, the blood from the kill he still held in his mouth ran down his thick fur muzzle. Yunho closes his eyes and silently pray to the moon goddess to help them, for soon he fears that it would be too late for either of her sired races, for even he had long run out of reasons to hope. 

 

The sun was threatening the night sky by the time Yunho return to his manor from his hunt. After he had satisfied his beast's hunger for still-warm raw flesh with his kill, eight plump rabbits, Yunho had then ventured into the city to hunt something different, something far larger and far more deadly. 

 

He had killed no less than three damned this night, two fallen Lycans and a fallen vampire but he hadn't been in time to save five mortal women the damned had hunted. Four mortal women had been kill by the group of two Lycan damned who had been feasting upon their still warm flesh and the lone fallen vampire damned had drained the fifth of her life's blood. 

 

After he had set fire to the bodies of the damned to hide the evidence of their existence, Yunho had then seen to the bodies of the women's; even though it was easier to dispose of the bodies by means that they would never be discovered, he respected the mortal's rituals for their dead. Instead of destroying the bodies, Yunho chose instead to hide their true cause of death and leave them somewhere they would likely to eventually be discovered, mostly after the elements and nature had made it impossible for their true cause of death to be determined. 

 

The half-eaten body of four women Yunho had placed deep in the forests, off a hiking trail that wouldn't likely be used until the weather change. When they are finally found, the condition of their body would be attributed to the elements and wild animals. He was regretful that he was forced to prolong the suffering of the mortal woman's loved ones but they would eventually be found and laid to rest and the last one, with whisper words of regret, Yunho had slit and thrown her into the flowing stream that ran through the park near the university campus. It wouldn't be long before her body was discovered. 

 

It surprises him and gave him a dying ember of hope that an innocent mortal's death still had some effect on him. It was evident that there may still be enough of him left, despite the growing strength of the feral beast within him, that was saddened and angry at the loss of life, especially that of delicate mortal women who had been helpless to defend themselves against the maliciousness of the stronger, faster, immortal damned. 

 

In his wolf form, Yunho silently and lithely jumps the story-high solid white stone wall that surrounded the manor, his home, and sanctuary. The one place he didn't have to constantly guard himself. 

 

His wolf form was that of a sheer black wolf that was easily eight times the size of the largest wolf of nature. There was no other color that detectable in his pelt but in the light of the sun his pelt gave off a slight brownish tint that otherwise went unnoticed. His eyes, even though their shape changes into the more circular shape of the wolf, his natural color remain a brown. 

 

The eyes of his mom. 

 

There was a part of him that yearns for the lush green damp earth of the land he had been born upon, the land now called by the name North Korea. 

 

It had been centuries though since he had called the island land home, the place from which his parents rule all of the Lycan kind. A part of him had been sorry to leave, so many centuries before but the time had come in which his beast had been unable to be leash by his dad's right of rule. Yunho had been born to be an alpha, a king and it was common knowledge that two alphas couldn't remain under the same roof, not even family, for long before the compulsion to fight to establish utter dominance over the other overruled the bonds of blood and so, Yunho had left for the new world in which he had brought together a pack to call his own. 

 

His parents had understood, after all, it was the way of their kind. They hadn't been thrilled when a century later his much younger sister, his only sibling, had decided to follow him, to join his pack but she had done so for two reasons. 

 

Firstly, his sister Jessica loves her brother and wanted some freedom of her own from their royal parents and secondly, one of Yunho's most trusted and skill brother's in arms whom of which had been given the title as his general, his beta, had claim the Lycan princess as his wolf mate. 

 

Donghae had been reluctant to leave his alpha, friend, and brother, for the sake of life in the royal court but for her, he would have. Fortunately, Jessica hadn't asked it of him, instead, she had gone with him to a new life away from the Lycan royal court. 

 

Yunho's closest and most trusted friends and brothers were his betas, his seconds in command so to speak. In the beginning, there had been four in his inner must trust circle, Donghae, Jessica's wolf mate, Changmin, Changwook, and Jaejoong. 

 

Now only three remain as Jaejoong had, centuries before, become too close to losing control of his beast, the risk of him falling and becoming a damned had been great. He had given up any and all hope that he would find his wolf mate in time to save his soul. Rather than fall to his beast and become one of the damned which they hunted, Jaejoong had instead taken on an impossible mission, a suicide mission, from which he had never return. He had chosen an honorable death rather than betray and endanger his brother, his alpha, and pack. 

 

His name was remembered with reverence and honor. Jaejoong had served his alpha, his pack, and kind with unwavering loyalty and honor. Many damned had fallen by his skill hand before his death. 

 

There were two things Yunho remember most clearly about his former first beta. The first was that Jaejoong had been his most trusted and closest friend and confidant, serving him with brotherly love and unwavering loyalty without question. He had protected and served his pack and alpha, his family with all his might and valor and the second was his wolf form. Jaejoong had been the only Lycan Yunho had ever known in all his existence whose wolf form had had a pelt of pure snow white, without a single blemish. In the snow, the wolf had been completely invisible, except for his dark brown eyes, eyes that had been almost black against the sheer white of his pelt. Jaejoong had been his closest brother, trusted like no other. Jaejoong had known him better than he had known himself, he had never been able to fool or lie to Jaejoong and no one had felt Jaejoong's loss greater than Yunho had. There were still days that Yunho mourn his honor lost brother. It was mostly for Jaejoong and the sacrifice he had made in his end that had kept Yunho going for so long. 

 

Yunho forces his thoughts away from his lost beta, his brother. He made sure to remember his brother throughout the eternity of time but it still hurt him so much to linger too long on those memories. His loss was still as strong in Yunho today as it was in the year he had disappeared to go to his honorable death. 

 

Donghae, Changwook and Changmin everyday endeavored to be just like their fallen brother had been, to be worthy of his example. 

 

After Jaejoong's disappearance, Yunho had name Donghae Jaejoong's successor as his first beta. Donghae was his brother-in-law as his sister had married Donghae only a month after they had realized that they were mates. As it usually went in the Lycan world, that had been taking it slow. 

 

Donghae was just as loyal and dedicated in his duty and to his alpha as Jaejoong had been but despite how hard he tried, Donghae just couldn't be as serious and business-like fulltime as Jaejoong had been. When he had to be serious and focus, Donghae was the very shadow of Jaejoong but when he didn't need to be, Donghae was funny and lively. He was happy; he had every reason to be. He was the only one from the beta and alpha who had found his wolf mate. 

 

Donghae had short red hair. Strangely he had been born with blond hair but it had changed over the centuries until it had become a vibrant red; some said that the blood of his kills had stained his hair so many times that the goddess had surrendered and will it red rather than persist in keeping the blond he had been born with. 

 

Immortals had a lot of time to fill and it amused Yunho that in-spite of all the differences between the mortals and the immortals, there were still so many similarities between them. Immortals were still people. 

 

Donghae was tall, not as bulkily or as broad in the shoulder as Yunho himself or Changwook but he was broader across the shoulders than Changmin whose figure was the tall and slimmest of all. Donghae's wolf form was the same shade as his hair, red on his back, head, tail and down his sides to his hock, the elbow of the wolf form. The rest of his pelt was black from his belly and flank to his paws, to his chest and up to the underside of his jaw. His color was strongest in wolf form around his brown eyes where the shade darkens to almost a blazing crimson brown. Changwook was his second beta and almost as serious and grave as Jaejoong had been. He was the closer of the two unmated beta to falling into damnation. There hadn't been joy in his friend since that fleeting moment when he had heard the news that Donghae had found his mate in the Lycan princess. He was a fierce warrior; there was none other than Yunho himself who was better with a blade or at physical combat. He had big round brown eyes. His brownish black hair in which he kept short and wavy. Changwook's wolf form was that of a brown wolf and Changmin, the youngest of the four of them still had a trace of hope for his mate within him. There was still a spark of life left within him. He was able to smile once in a while and he requires the respite of the hunt only slightly more than half that the rest of them did. He was the one that talks the most, who still whine about life from time to time and still brought a new joke into the walls of the manor every now and then. 

 

None of them minded though as these days it was uplifting, encouraging, that the youngest of them still wanted to live the life he had. Changmin had at least a few more centuries before he reaches the point of despair that the rest of them linger further and further within. 

 

Changmin had long brown hair that was usually tied back in a ponytail at the base of his neck, that when he was in his wolf form made him strongly resemble an Australian Dingo, especially since his belly, leg, paw and the underside of his tail were pure white. 

 

Of course, Changmin was teased and taunted frequently about the resemblance. As of late, in the last few decades, the jokes had taken on the theme of eating stolen babies. No one meant any disrespect to the mother in the Australian outback who had lost a child but boys would be boys. The immortal kind was hardly any different. 

 

Yunho was grateful for his betas and wasn't blind to the fact that Changwook especially was holding on mainly because he didn't want to let Yunho down. Donghae and Changmin did what they could to keep both his and Changwook's hopes up but it had long been a futile effort. 

 

With a heavy, burden sigh, Yunho looks up at his manor. The house was his by the laws of both the immortal and mortal worlds. This was his land, his territory and none could dispute the fact. The manor was dark and old by mortal standards but its upkeep was minimally consistent and inside and outside it looks as it did when it was first built; only the immortals knew that he was the one who had built it over three hundred years ago. The mortals believe that it had been his ancestor who had done so. 

 

The manor stood five stories high with two levels of basement and easily cover eight thousand feet which made it roomy enough for his pack. He, of course, had the master bedroom on the top floor with the large balcony that overlooks the surrounding forests and mountains. The manor rested on flat land by a cliff that was a sheer drop of one hundred feet. The wall that surrounded the manor hadn't been run across the cliff face as his kind were immortal, most immortals would survive the fall. 

 

In fact, some of his pack mostly the younger males enjoy the thrill of running down it in their wolf forms. There was a deep river beneath that cushion their fall; a mortal attempting the feet would surely fall to their death or break their bodies on the surface of the water and drown. 

 

He and his pack had solitude and isolation here, no mortals came here unless they were beckoned or lost. 

 

This was home, this was where he found what little peace there was left for him in this world and this is where his pack resided. He fought for them, they were his family, his pack and he took his responsibility as alpha as seriously as all else. It was his responsibility to keep them safe, to assure they had food to eat and a shelter over their heads and it was his responsibility to keep order by any means necessary. 

 

Lycan kind had behavior traits exactly like that of their mortal counterparts. Males and females alike were competitive, territorial and often aggressive. It was the alpha's job to maintain leadership and control and that was accomplished by fear, respect and clearly establish dominance but his kind were more than aggressive fighting animals, like the mortal wolf, they were loyal to no end to each other, they share everything they had and took care of their mates, young and elderly. Family, the pack, was the most important thing. Undying loyalty to one's mate, a sense of community embedded into their very cores and an unmatchable intuition. They love their freedom and understood that that freedom came with responsibility and that was no truer than it was for the alpha. 

 

They were Lycan, half wolf, half human; although there was the occasional dispute, they live in harmony, they live together. The loyalty to one's pack and mate was unbreakable and could survive the greatest, darkest, trials. 

 

Life and loyalty to the pack and to one's mate until either death or damnation then nothing matter but one's own survival and hunger. 

 

Yunho shook his head to free himself of his roaming thoughts and reach deep within him for what his people call the life magic. Calling it to the surface, Yunho felt a flicker of a moment in which warmth enwrapped him for but a heartbeat, it felt like being submerged in warm water, he stood upright in his human form. 

 

The magic that allows them to change didn't extend to clothing or any other accessory worn. This was one of the reasons why modesty wasn't so important to his race but at times it did cause a problem or two. Most of the time those problems didn't include the cold as immortal kind were able to maintain their body temperature unless of course, the temperatures were extreme. 

 

Maybe if he was in the middle of a snowstorm on the southern icecaps for a day, the cold would affect him Yunho was the only one of his pack that hunted alone, although maybe that was because he had ordered it so. Sometimes he would take one of his beta's with him but otherwise, unless there was a reason not too, he hunted alone. 

 

He didn't really care anymore if he didn't come back but he sure as hell care if another of his pack didn't. 

 

Yunho sighs deeply, tolerantly but didn't turn as he senses the air shift behind him. He knew when his own approach and quickly acted to leash his beast against the urge to attack the being who had approached him unannounced from behind. 

 

"The beast in you is sliding deeper into the shadow." His younger sister Jessica said sadly, knowingly, as she steps out of the shadow of the wall behind him and threw him a pair of his diamond blue Calvin Klein jeans. Modesty may not have been important but no sibling wish to see all which one's mate did. 

 

"I can sense it." 

 

"Jessica, I'm..." 

 

"Don't say you are fine!" Jessica snap warningly, concern lacing her tone, diluting her anger just a little, "By the goddess, don't you dare lie to me!" 

 

Yunho sigh once again, this time for patience as he slid into the jeans, pulling them up before he turns around to face his sister. 

 

Unlike him, Jessica had long light brown hair, big dark brown almond-shaped eyes, and tanned skin, that somehow still look milky white in the sunlight and had a temper and stubborn will that could strike fear into the hearts of the gods themselves. 

 

Jessica's long light brown hair, that had the slightest tint of golden streaks through it when she was in the sunlight, ran down her back to brush her waist. She was a full head shorter than him and was delicate in a way that only a female and a princess could be. 

 

In her wolf form which was three full sizes smaller than Yunho's own because she was female was light brown. In the sunlight, Jessica's pelt was a magnificent layer of shimmering gold and light brown. 

 

Jessica had had the rare gift of finding her mate long before her beast had sway over her so she didn't know what it was to struggle with the wild untamed beast within. She was as stubborn as the day was long and always got her way, whether it was from their parents, her mate Donghae or Yunho himself. 

 

Jessica also had a gift for seeing things others didn't, knowing what others couldn't. She wasn't psychic but her intuition was stronger than that of any other Yunho had ever known and he had known many in his long centuries. He had never been able to fool her or hide anything from her, at least not for very long. 

 

It was only his rivaling force of will and stubborn streak that kept her from knowing every secret Yunho had ever had. 

 

At Yunho's silence to her outburst, Jessica visibly softens, becoming as serious and as sad as one slipping into death, "You shouldn't be hunting alone. Not with how close to losing control you are. One drop of human lifeblood or one piece of human flesh and you are gone forever Yunho Oppa. The pack needs you too much for you to keep taking these foolish risks." 

 

Yunho suppresses a warning growl even though they both knew he would never harm her. No Lycan male would ever harm a female, immortal or not. They were too precious, too cherish, which was why even the strongest, fiercest males of the Lycan kind were ruled by their females whether she was his mate or not. 

 

Many times, Yunho had seen his own dad, the king and supreme alpha of the immortal Lycan kind, willingly bow to his mom's slightest whim, maybe it was because of her immovable will and strength but Yunho was willing to bet that it was because he loves her so much, even after five millennia. 

 

Jessica was every bit as strong and as stubborn as their mom but she was also just as loving, caring, overprotective and she worried constantly about those she cares about. 

 

Yunho knew that Jessica saw it as her duty, her place as his loving sister to care for him as their mom had as she cares and saw to her mate as a loving wife. She wanted to assure him that he remembers that he was love and worried about so that he may be stronger in his fight against his beast. 

 

Yunho looks into her eyes with strength and authority in his own and answers her in a firm tone, "You know as well as any other that I would never do anything to endanger the pack or you." 

 

Jessica closes her eyes, bow her head and shook it back and forth in a solemn disbelieving gesture, "I sense your weariness as clearly as I sense your raging beast that draws evermore closer and closer to the surface. You need to hold on so your mate can find you." 

 

Yunho knew his expression became downright skeptical but he could do nothing about it, "You know as well as I that I have no mate to come. I will die by my own hand and the time is coming Jessica. You need to cease your belief that there is hope for me. The best you can hope for me is a quick death without causality." 

 

Fierce will and fury flash like a solar flash in the sparkling eyes of his sister. Her fists clench tightly and her teeth snap together as she took a defiant step forward and glare sternly up into his eyes. 

 

Yunho waited patiently for her reaction, not concern by whatever was to come. He was one of the few that didn't fear his sister's fury, especially when it was center on something he couldn't change. He was going to fall to his beast soon enough, he could no sooner stop the sun from rising; he had already accepted that he wouldn't last the decade, much less the century. 

 

He would be fortunate to last the year. 

 

"If you will not remain strong for me or the pack!" Jessica growl, through her teeth, fire in her dark brown eyes. For too long she had been watching him draw closer to damnation and she fears greatly that she and the pack wouldn't have Yunho as their alpha for too much longer. 

 

As much as Jessica love and believe in her mate, she didn't want to see him as alpha. As the mate of the Lycan princess and Yunho's second in command, Donghae would be the pack's alpha if Yunho was lost but no one wanted that, not even Donghae. Her brother was the true alpha. 

 

"Then do it for the mate you will leave behind, alone and defenseless to face her own beast and loneliness without you! You will condemn a female of a dying race to her death at a time when new life is so desperately needed! You are stronger than a mere rogue, damn it! Remember that, Oppa!" And with a huff of barely control fury, Yunho watch his fiery sister whirl on her heel and stalk away from him, worry and fear drenching her scent as thoroughly as her anger. 

 

Jessica was doing what she thought best, she didn't and couldn't understand his struggle and he loves her for her caring sisterly way. He didn't worry for his sister's sake after he was gone; Jessica would be kept safe by her mate and by the pack. He didn't fear for her now when she had her mate. 

 

Something he would never know. 

 

Yuri woke up feeling disorientated and detach from reality. 

 

She had known it was a dream but it had felt so real. She had never had a dream so vivid or emotionally disconcerting. Her heart was still racing and her breathing was shallow and rapid, she was panting like she had just run a mile unprepared. 

 

Yuri slowly sat up in her single bed, realizing that the blue cotton sheet was wrapped around her in such a disheveled way that she knew she had been tossing and turning restlessly. Her pillow wasn't on the bed or on the floor anywhere around her. It took a minute of visibly searching the room to locate it. 

 

It was in her doorless closest, sitting on top of her black Converse Chuck Taylor all star low sneaker. Her muddy sneakers. 

 

Just great. All Yuri wanted to do was go back to sleep and deal with everything another day. 

 

It was bad enough that she felt so tired because she had had such a distressing dream about being chased through the woods by a black shadow that she hadn't been able to see with the full moon overhead but now she had to wash her only pillowcase on top of it. 

 

After a brief glance at her bedside table clock, Yuri threw her upper body back down onto the bed and pulled her sheet up over her head with a long deep groan. 

 

Great, it got even better. Her alarm hadn't gone off over an hour ago and she had slept in. She had no classes today but she was late in meeting the girls for breakfast before they spent the day studying for their approaching midterms in the next two weeks. 

 

If this was how the day was starting, just what was the day going to be like? 

 

Yuri arrives at the dainty little café on campus that did the best breakfast, at a student's prices, just as the girls were leaving. They gave her slightly affectionate but mainly annoy looks, they had been her friends forever, they knew her well so Yuri had brought her breakfast and had eaten it on the way while Yoona had carried her backpack with her textbooks and notebook inside, ready to do some serious studying. 

 

Her breakfast had been rice, fried mini pork cutlet in sauce and cabbage salad. 

 

Her three best friends, all of which were as different as black was too white, but they all love and were loyal to each other to no end, were all she had except for her brother but Yuri refuse to think about him now. It hurts too much, all she wanted to do was spend some time with the girls, even if that time was spent studying. 

 

First, there was Seo Joohyun who looks so much like her that they could have been blood sisters. Seohyun had long mid-back black hair although Yuri had the same length of hair hers were light brown. Both of their almond-shaped eyes were shades of brown; while Yuri's own was a darker brown. They were also the same in height but Seohyun was slimmer, however, Yuri had more in the chest department than Seohyun did. 

 

Yuri dismisses the fact when Seohyun voice it by insisting that she was just a late bloomer, that she still had some filling out to do. 

 

Yuri loves Seohyun for that; she was a tad insecure about her slim figure. 

 

Seohyun was the happiest person on the planet and was just as enthusiastic about studying and school as Yuri was but they all help each other through that. Seohyun was kind, generous and ambitious to no end, she wanted to be a famous singer and she had the voice to accomplish it. Seohyun was the kind of outgoing person who had the determination to go after anything she wanted and was sure to get it. 

 

Taeyeon was almost the exact opposite of Seohyun. Taeyeon was a few feet shorter then Yuri and was almost as slim and girl-like but that was where the resemblance ended. Taeyeon had long mid-shoulder golden blonde hair. Her big semi-circle eye color was brown and she was always dressed like a sweet little Catholic girl. She was shy and quiet with just a tad of social-inadequacy but that came from a lifetime of being so much more intelligent than most other people. Taeyeon had a mind that was so sharp and brilliant that several prestigious universities had almost gone to war over to have her attend their institution but Taeyeon was as loving and as loyal a friend as anyone else. 

 

When the other girls had all decided that they should go to the same university, Taeyeon hadn't hesitated. She had the potential to be great, change-the-world kind of great and could have gone anywhere, to the very best schools but to reassure them she had assured them that she knew what she was doing. 

 

She didn't need to go to the best schools to change the world. 

 

Taeyeon could do anything and be anyone she wanted to be and she had chosen family. They all love her for that. It would have been so hard to watch her go knowing they would have only seen her once or twice a year but they would have endured it if it had been what Taeyeon had really wanted but what Taeyeon had really wanted had been her friends; ones Yuri knew Taeyeon wouldn't give up for anything and Yoona, well if there was ever anyone to call Taeyeon's opposite, it was Yoona. Yoona wasn't smart like Taeyeon, no one was or had a model figure and flawless beauty like Seohyun but Yoona had her own beauty. She was the most loyal, loving, protective and out-spoken person Yuri had ever known. She was the same in height as Seohyun and was a tomboy to boot. 

 

Yuri had once heard someone describe Yoona as Him Yoona. She had to admit, the description did fit. Yoona was tall with long slender legs, again something she had heard and her long mid-back brown hair was usually put down. Her almond-shaped eyes were a dark brown color. Yoona was fearless, relentless and physically skillful. She was competent in three martial arts, never hesitated to protect or stand up for a friend. 

 

They were all the best of friends, despite their differences, as close as any sisters could ever be. They had been together for far longer than they could ever remember and they plan to remain closed for the rest of their lives, "Come on, Yuri." 

 

Yuri blink, pulling herself from her thoughts to realize that the three girls were standing on the steps of the library, looking back at her, waiting for her. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't realized that they had reached the library already. 

 

With a wide happy grin, Yuri hurried up the stairs after them. Studying was boring but spending time with her friends was worth anything. 

 

No matter what happens, no matter what life threw at them, they would always have each other. They were sisters and nothing would ever change that. Yuri wouldn't lefty it, not for anything. 

 

Yuri couldn't believe that she was running late. Again. It was the second time in one day. Her curfew at the dorm had passed five hours ago. 

 

It wasn't that she couldn't get back into the dorm; she had her student ID on her. She had learned not to leave it behind in her first few months at Korea University. The problem was that the doors would be lock for the night and the only way in now was to buzz the RA who would insist on seeing her student ID and then Yuri knew she had have to endure the tiresome lecture, that was exactly the same every time, word for word, all the way up to her dorm room. The RA was a busy-body with an inflated sense of importance. 

 

Yuri swore that if her RA ever met the president of the united states she would be telling him exactly what she thought he was doing wrong and how to do it better, in other words, her way. 

 

It was dark and midnight wasn't far off. Yuri didn't like going through the park at night, especially so late at night. It wasn't safe or smart for someone like her to attempt fate. She wasn't so conceited that she thought herself beautiful or anything but she wasn't a fool either, she owns a mirror and since hitting mid-high school had always had some male attention. She was no Seohyun or Yoona, who was usually the center of male attention and for that she was glad but that said attention wasn't always, if ever, a good thing. It made it dangerous for her to be out alone late at night; her slim size made her an easy target. 

 

She should have asked Yoona to walk her home but she hadn't like the idea of Yoona being the one to walk home alone; Yoona may have been able to take care of herself a lot of time but she wasn't some female Superman. So Yuri had bid her friend's goodnight and had left them, heading back to the dorm through the park alone. Stupid for her own personal safety but at least she didn't have to worry about her friends. 

 

As dangerous as it was for her to be out late at night alone in the city, Yuri loves the night and moon; she would stare at the moon for hours, from her bedroom window, she had for as long as she could remember. The night and moon soothed her somehow, like an enduring promise made long ago that had yet to be fulfilled; she had never been able to explain it, not even to herself. 

 

Pulling her black snap front patch pocket velvet jacket tighter around her, Yuri nudges her backpack higher onto her shoulder and kept on walking with her head down and her pace hurried. The last thing she needed was to be noticed. She was grateful that it was a cold winter night so she could cover up without standing out. The cold also kept others inside. She had a black Isla cable scarf wrap around her neck and a charcoal grey knit faux fur pom beanie pull down over her head which kept her brownish black strands conceal and her jacket did a great job of hiding her slim and often refer to, to her great embarrassment, as the figure of a goddess figure hidden. 

 

The girls and she had spent most of the day and evening in the library studying. Taeyeon had suggested at sunset to call it quits but the rest of them had reluctantly disagreed, stating that they needed to study a bit more and of course Taeyeon had stayed even though the three of them had no doubt that Taeyeon could ace all her exams, blindfolded and with both of her hands tied behind her back. 

 

Yuri herself had wanted to agree with Taeyeon but she, however, had to study a lot more. She couldn't fail any of her midterms. They had eventually become so immersed in their studies that they hadn't noticed how late it was growing until the announcement over the PA system that the library would be closing in eighteen minutes, effectively alerting them to the lateness of the hour. 

 

Yuri didn't like to admit it but she wasn't so great at the college stuff but she did try. She studied hard and did her best to maintain her grades. Unlike in high school, in which she hadn't applied herself, she now had the drive she had been lacking in her early teenage years. She wanted to graduate and find her place in the world, even though she still felt as if she didn't belong to it. 

 

All her life, Yuri had felt as if there was something waiting for her as if she didn't belong where she was. It was a strange sense of purpose and waiting for something to happen and it had made her teenage years harder but now she was trying her best to overcome it and forget it. To move past it and find her place in life, a place where she fit and was happy. 

 

For a long time in her teenage years Yuri had almost been convince that it was destiny that was calling out to her, that she had been born for more than the average boring life she was leading but now she likes her life and she wanted to feel content and at peace in it and for the first time in her life, she was beginning to feel just that. 

 

Yuri had her three best friends whom she loved as sisters and she was even dating, although all the guys she had dated in the last three years had been jerks or losers. It had been three years since she had gone on more than five dates with a single guy and even longer before she had gone beyond second base with any of them. 

 

Seohyun, Taeyeon, and Yoona kept trying to set her up out of love and concern but it never works out with the guys they did set her up with. 

 

Why Yuri hadn't a clue. Most of the guys had been good decent guys, a few she could have call gentlemanly but still, she hadn't been able to make the relationships last or even progress but her friends were always there when things didn't work out, whether she needed them or not, just as she was there for them. 

 

They were all the family she had except for her younger brother but she never got to see him, especially not these days while she was at the university. Their parents had died in a plane crash when Yuri had turn seventeen. With no immediate family, Jaehyuk had been sent to live with a distant uncle in New York while she had moved in with Seohyun for the last eight months before she had turn eighteen. Their distant uncle had only been able to take one of them in and while Yuri loves her brother very much, every time she went to see him she didn't fail to see the sadness in his eyes seeing her brought to her brother. Exactly what causes Jaehyuk's sadness when he saw her she didn't know but she suspected that she reminded Jaehyuk of just what the both of them had lost. 

 

At least they both had been given what their parents had endeavored so hard to give them both, money for their education. The airline had paid out a large sum that they had label compensation and they had had their parent's money that had been left to them. All the sum was enough to put them both through university and most of the leftover money had gone to their uncle to help support Jaehyuk. 

 

Yuri had only kept a little to kick-start her savings. When she graduated, Yuri intended to get her own place in which she could offer Jaehyuk a home until he turns eighteen. That was if he wanted it. 

 

Yuri's heart swells with sadness at the thought of her brother and their lost parents. They had been a happy and close family until everything had fallen apart. Her mom had been the perfect mom, the kind that had tuck her into bed, no matter how old she had gotten she had check on her every night before her parents had gone to bed, had fuss over her when she had been sick, had kick her out the door when she had made a fuss over going to school and she had loved both of her children as deeply as a mother could ever and she made sure they knew it. Her dad had loved his children no less than his wife but he had been the one who had grounded them when they had done something wrong, had taught them to play sports, had built them a fort slash cubby house when they had wanted one and when she had reached high school, her dad had been the one to chase away and/or threaten any boy who had shown any interest in her in the name of protecting his little girl. 

 

They were gone and Yuri misses them with all her heart but she had forced herself to keep on living. It was what her parents would have wanted her to do; she wasn't happy now but one day she would be, when she had accomplished her dream of having a home of her own and maybe for her brother, too. 

 

Tears had filled her eyes but Yuri refuse to let them fall. She had cried enough to last a lifetime; she needed to be strong and assertive now. Focus. She needed to live her life and do whatever she could to make Jaehyuk's better. Holding back the tears until their threat was gone Yuri drew in a deep calming breath and turn her focus back to the footpath beneath her feet. 

 

That was when Yuri once again became aware of her surroundings; that was when she heard it. 

 

A twig snaps somewhere close by. 

 

Yuri's head snaps up and she hastily scans her surroundings. She was walking along the lit footpath but other than that, all around her was darkness. There was a full moon overhead but while standing in the light of the overhead light post as she was didn't help visibility. While she stood in the light, dense darkness swells around her. 

 

Other than the wind rustling the leaves in the trees, there was no movement that she could see but still, that didn't mean anything. 

 

Fear swells to life within her, her heart hammering in her ear and her stomach came alive with nervous butterflies. The hair on the back of her neck stood to attention and the feeling that she was being watched was so overwhelming that it was an effort to keep breathing. There was danger close by, she could sense it like some people could sense a coming storm before it ever shows on the horizon. 

 

Yuri focuses everything she had on the darkness and silence around her. Damn it. She should have been keeping a vigilant watch on her surroundings instead of daydreaming. 

 

Suddenly, Yuri sense something in the darkness, her alerted instincts alerting her to the fact that she wasn't alone, that she wasn't only being watched but she was being hunted. She had always trusted her instincts and she had learned long ago not to ignore them, they kept her safe and out of danger. She couldn't explain it but her instincts were rarely wrong. 

 

Yuri looks up and around her but there was nothing but darkness. 

 

Drawing in a deep breath Yuri step forward until she was out of the circle of light from the light above but she was careful to remain on the footpath. The last thing she needed to do was stray from the footpath that was the usual way through the park. As long as she was on the footpath then there was always the chance that someone may come along who could help her. 

 

It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust but once they did Yuri hastily scan the seemingly deserted park, her keen eyes searching the deep shadows around her and the tree line. The tree line was far enough away to prevent anyone jumping out at her but close enough for her to still be wary of. She saw nothing but her senses were insistent, they were screaming at her. 

 

Yuri listen intently as she tense, her ear straining, ready to run like the wind if she saw someone or something but again she could see nothing. She had always been a great runner. She didn't run track or anything, mostly she had run to school in the mornings because as a teenager she had loved her sleep so much that she had overslept more often than not. Still, she had yet to meet anyone who could outrun her, a talent that had saved her in the past. She was also able to run at a faster pace longer than anyone else she knew. 

 

Again, a talent that she had perfect from all those years of doing the mad dash to school. She's run like the wind but she had still always been late and constantly gotten detention because of it. 

 

Cold laughter suddenly broke the dark silence, laughter so chillingly malicious that it sent shivers up her spine. Her instincts were now screaming at her to get out of there as fast as she could, that she was in grave danger and she was about to heed her instincts when she heard a noise come from the bushes at her back. 

 

Yuri whirl around, her instincts now screaming at her that she was surrounded, trap. Something she couldn't stand. 

 

Yuri had always needed to be free, to feel free. She didn't like the feeling of being trap even in the smallest of senses. In fact, sitting in her lectures was torture for her. Her eyes were always going to the exits to assure that they were still clear in case she had to make a run for it. The only way she ever manages to study was either in her own space in her dorm, at the window or in the huge library that footsteps easily echo within, even when it wasn't deserted. 

 

She, however, felt the most at home when she was either running or alone in the night, someplace deserted and safe, with a full moon above her. That had always brought feelings of peace to her but right now Yuri felt anything but peaceful. Dropping her bag from her shoulder, Yuri moves back into the middle of the footpath directly beneath the light post and scan the terrain and darkness around her for the owner of the voice but she couldn't focus on him or on the direction from which it had come from or more terrifyingly, on them. 

 

What was going on? Why couldn't she find the owner of the voice? No one had ever been able to hide from her, not even in a pitch black room; her senses had at least always been able to tell her which direction the danger was coming from. 

 

Something was really wrong and she was in grave danger. Her senses were clueless and her instincts scream at her to run; only she didn't know in which direction to run. For all, she knew she could end up running straight to them. 

 

"Oh, the little girl is scared." A menacing darkly amused voice laugh from behind her. 

 

Yuri gasp and whirl around to see a man standing there with a menacing smirk on his pouty lips and with almond-shaped eyes so black that they couldn't possibly belong to a human. Her eyes quickly scan him. He was huge. At least seven feet tall and as bulky as a tree trunk, the kind that seems to reach the sky. His skin was a deadly pale white, even with the long brown hair that frames his heart-shaped face and his teeth were...it almost looks as if he had fangs but that wasn't possible was it? Surely, she was imagining things due to her fear and the adrenaline flooding her system. 

 

Yuri couldn't help herself, she retreated a step from him. He just seems to radiate danger that promises her death, "Who are you?!" Yuri demanded, forcing her voice to remain steady and not tremble. What was going on? She was never this afraid that her senses screamed at her that this was no ordinary man, that he was someone who was a great danger to her. 

 

She had to get out of there immediately. 

 

Yuri took another few steps back and gasp in surprise when she steps back into a solid frame. She spun around and gasp at the sight of a second man who looks similar to the other with pale skin, black eyes, built like a rhino and fang-like teeth. Only this one had green hair. 

 

Yuri back away from him, turning around halfway so that she could keep both of them in sight. 

 

Who were these monstrous whackos and what did they want from her? 

 

It was hard to focus on what was happening around her when inside she was overwhelmed with dread and fear. Her heart was beating so fast that the sound was like that of a hummingbird's wing and her hands and arms had gone cold, despite the heavy layers she wore and she knew it wasn't due to the cold and her stomach felt as if it was full of butterflies that were made of ice. She was either going to be sick or faint. 

 

Maybe both. 

 

The two pale strangers watch her retreat from them with darkly anticipating smirks on their pale white lips, watching her as if she were a tasty treat they couldn't wait to savor. It was so weird, she had never seen a man look at her like that before, they weren't watching her with lustful hunger; rather they just look really hungry. What kind of trouble had she gotten herself into? 

 

"What do you think, Yoongi?" The second asks the other, casual dark amusement evident in his tone, he might as well be commenting on the weather that he found mildly interesting, "Should we kill her now or have ourselves some fun first?" 

 

Yuri's eyes grew wide at his words and her fear became full-fledged terror as she turns her attention to the first and watches him scan her from head to toe, studying her while clearly thinking the question over. 

 

"She is a gorgeous little thing." 

 

Yuri slips her backpack from her shoulder little by little until the strap was in her hand and she tenses; her intention was to use her backpack as a weapon against them so that she would have a chance to run. It wasn't much, she only had one heavy textbook in it but the backpack was all she had. 

 

There was no one there to save her, there never was when a person needed it, such was the way of life; she had to save herself. She had to live because if she dies then her brother wouldn't recover from so much loss, the loss of his entire family. He was barely hanging on as it was; it may sadden him to see her but he still loves her. She was his sister, the last of his real family. 

 

Yuri was about to spring into action when suddenly someone grabs her from behind in a painful steel-hard grip, gripping onto her arms so tightly that she knew he will leave dark bruises. As she cried out in startled pain, Yuri found herself being pulled back against a cold chest so hard that the air was knock out from her lungs. 

 

Was the guy wearing body armor or was he just made of steel? Yuri found the thought crossing her perplex mind, in some corner of which she realizes that she may have just been out of it a little bit; lost touch with reality kind of thing. 

 

As Yuri struggles to breathe, she struggles against the third that held her but she knew it was no use, he was far too strong. 

 

Stronger than any normal man; he didn't seem to notice her efforts to struggle at all. 

 

Were they on drugs? Was that why they were like this? Pale and so strong? She didn't know much about drugs but there were those that made some people pale and physically stronger or something, right? 

 

Yuri looks down at the hand that held her so brutally and notice that it was as pale as the flesh of the other two. All at once Yuri knew that they were serious. They were going to kill her and they were going to do it without hesitation or mercy and she didn't even know why. 

 

"Please no?" Yuri whimper helplessly, tears once again flooding her eyes. She knew that they really do intend to kill her and there was nothing that she could do about it. There were three of them and they were so strong. 

 

The three of them laugh with evil anticipating pleasure at her desperate plea, they even seem to be enjoying her obvious state of terror and her helpless pathetic pleas. 

 

So this was her fate; to be killed by these three men in the park at night. 

 

No. Every survival instinct and every bit of courage, rage, and determination that she possess rose up in her like a storm of furious will. She had never given up before and she wasn't about to start now. She had been on her own and she had survived ever since her parents had died. It wasn't going to end like this. 

 

Acting fast and without warning and clearly catching them off guard, Yuri drop to her knees, effectively slipping out of her jacket that the man held and slip free from the man's hold. She then quickly rolls away from him. She had intended to jump to her feet and run, to find someplace safe but before she could get to her feet, she senses one of the men move to stand over her. 

 

The tall pale man moves before Yuri could react. He was suddenly beside her, pushing her down into the icy hard surface of the pavement. He then, she didn't even know which of the three it was, ruthlessly and with greater inhuman strength, pull her hands behind her back and held them with an unbreakable grip above her head. 

 

The three men were laughing with dark pleasure and hungry anticipation. They were enjoying this and their anticipation of what they were going to do next was exciting them. 

 

"My, she's a feisty one." The man at her back laugh, the one who was restraining her. 

 

What did they want from her? 

 

Yuri struggles against him but he held her even more tightly, squeezing her flesh so hard that she cried out in pain even louder than before. If she survives this she will be cover with large angry bruises. Hell, if his hold on her tighten anymore, he was going to break some bones. 

 

Sensing movement above her, Yuri became aware of the other two men on their feet looming over her. The one who was holding her while keeping her restrained on the ground with one hand, roughly pull off her beanie and scarf, freeing her long brownish black hair and revealing her neck and shoulders. 

 

"Well, cutie." The man said excitedly, as he the hair from her oval-shaped face, almost tenderly, so he had an unobstructed view of her face, "It's time to say goodnight." 

 

Yuri could do nothing as the large pale man above her slowly lower his bared fangs, she couldn't wrap her mind around it, towards her bared neck. She didn't know who in the hell he was or what in the hell he was but she knew that she was in really deep trouble with no chance of getting out of it on her own. 

 

Why, oh why, had she stay at the library so late? Yuri thought about her brother, what her death would do to him and she heard a sob escape her parted pink plump lips. Poor Jaehyuk, he had already lost so much. 

 

Yuri closes her eyes and prays to heavens for a miracle. 

 

'Please, someone help me?' 

 

Yunho scans the park, his eyes seeing through the darkness as if it were daylight. He had momentarily lost the scent as those he hunted had moved downwind and too many of the damned had passed through the park. Parks and exercise paths like running, bike, even nature paths were often popular hunting groups for the damned. There were always straggling mortals that were running late and thought to take the short route through a deserted area where predators laid in wait or exercise alone during the evening or dawn hours. 

 

Now Yunho turns to his other senses. 

 

For the last hour, Yunho had been hunting as he did almost every night for any of the damned. Unlike the uncurse of the immortal races, the damned prefer to dwell in human cities which provided them with an abundance of human prey and did better to hide their tracks and kills. 

 

In small towns, the people who went missing were, for the most part, reported missing almost immediately. 

 

This made hunting the damned more time consuming but not more difficult. His race had almost been created to hunt and kill, even the damned that was made up of his own kind by half. It was a very rare event that he fails to find and kill his prey, damned or otherwise. In fact, it was rare these days that he had to shift form to hunt and kill. 

 

A few hundred meters to his right, Yunho heard menacing male laughter and knew it was the damned he had been looking for. It seems that they had found some prey of their own. 

 

Doubting that he would need to shift forms to deal with these damned, Yunho turn on his heel and ran with the superhuman speed of his race in the direction of the laughter. 

 

Another great advantage of hunting the damned in this day and age was that they were cocky, reckless, stupid and had become lazy. Only the eldest and most experiences of the damned gave him any challenge anymore and even then it had been centuries since he had had a real challenge. 

 

Yunho had become so bored with his routine as of late that he virtually hunger for a challenge this night, even if it meant his life. 

 

Yunho had long since become fed up with this life that death, in whichever form, was welcome upon him. 

 

It wasn't as if he had anything to live for these days. His people were dying, his duty of fighting the damned was becoming more pointless by the year and he had so long ago given up the hope that he would ever find his mate. 

 

Yuri scream as a sharp hot piercing pain pulsated through her as the monster of a man bit deep into the flesh of . She could hear him slurping as he greedily drank and her blood as the other two laugh and bounce around them impatiently. He drank liked her blood was the sweetest tasting thing he had ever drink, not daring to spill a single drop of the liquid that kept her alive. 

 

The other two seem to be waiting for their turn and they weren't waiting patiently. 

 

Everything in her mind told her that she was wrong but Yuri couldn't deny what was happening to her right before her eyes. Despite every ounce of logic within her telling her that she was wrong, that she wasn't being attacked by vampires but it was the only thing that fits all the evidence. How they were so strong, fast and as pale as death and their long gleaming pointed fangs. Not to mention that they were drinking her blood like it was water from the fountain of youth. 

 

"It's my turn!" One of the other two whines, as he impatiently bounces back and forth from foot to foot, "You drain the last one remember?!" 

 

The one drinking from her raise his head from and snarl like a furious feral animal at the impatient one, "And I will drain this one if I want, too! Now shut up and let me feed unless you want to take her place!" 

 

Yuri blink up at him, feeling numb and disorientated. Despite everything, she couldn't help but be amused at how childish and immature they were. They were behaving exactly like every other guy she knew. 

 

Were the vampires immortal? Just how old were they? 

 

Laughter fills her ears, feminine laughter and Yuri found herself oddly wondering who it was that was laughing. Was there a female with them? She hadn't seen one but with the way they had surrounded her so quickly, there could have been a dozen vampires around her and she wouldn't have known it until they chose to show themselves. 

 

Yuri watches as the vampire on top of her turn his attention back to her, fury in his soulless black eyes and he said through a heavy warning hiss, "Stop laughing!" 

 

It wasn't until then that Yuri realizes that she was the one laughing. She couldn't help herself; the situation was so ridiculous. She couldn't stop herself from laughing, even though a part of her mind was telling her that she was losing it. 

 

Enrage that she was still laughing at him, the vampire raises his hand with the clear intention of striking her and Yuri found herself frozen in horror in the space of a heartbeat, finally able to obey and then the vampire feeding on her was gone. 

 

Yuri blinks in confusion as she found herself staring up into empty air as the vampire and his weight disappear in less time than it took for her to blink. 

 

Even the playful and impatient laughter of the other two vampires was gone. 

 

Perplex and realizing that she was free to do so, Yuri raise her head and gasp silently in shock incomprehension. What the...? 

 

Rising up onto her elbows and ignoring the sharp throbbing pain from her neck in favor of watching what was happening before her, Yuri's eyes grew impossibly wide at the sight before her. 

 

A tall man, not as tall or as bulky as the vampire who had been drinking her blood, dress in a navy recycled wool toggle coat, was standing between her and her three attackers. He had his back to her so all she could tell about him was that his hair was black. 

 

The vampire or whatever the hell he was, was crouching on the ground between the new arrival and her other two pale attackers, both of whom were hunch over battle-ready like the vampires in old movies. All three were baring their pointed fang-like teeth and snarling menacingly at the tall man. 

 

Who was this dark stranger? Was he with them or was he there to help her? He had pulled the vampire off of her or at least that's what it seems like had happened. It had happened way too fast for her eyes to see or her mind to comprehend. 

 

Did he know what they were? 

 

Yunho ignores the young woman that the damned had been feeding on for now. Even though the scent of her blood fills the air, swirling around him like temptation, he knew the injury wasn't fatal. His beast was stirring, ravenous, with the scent of fresh warm blood in the air. His beast wanted him to kill the three damned and then finish off their meal, to savour the intoxicating taste of human flesh and lifeblood but Yunho ignore it and force it down, leashing his beast so to speak, as he had always done but it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the beast that was growing stronger and more persistent within him with each passing month. Soon it would only be weeks and finally, he would be battling against everything that he was in an effort to hold on. He was close to the edge; he had run out of time to find his mate as his beast was becoming too strong within him. He had realized three years ago that when he drew too close to the edge when he became a threat to his pack, he would end his life by his own hand. He would rather die than become what he hunted, to risk harming his own people or the mortals he had for so long protected. 

 

Yunho forces his thoughts away from the fate that awaited him. He was hunting now. He had to be sharp if he wanted to kill all three damned and save the mortal female. He had been too late to save five mortal women the night before but this one he could, would save. 

 

His end was coming quickly but he was determined to carry out his duty, killing the damned and saving the innocence until the very end. 

 

Yunho considers the three damned, calculating, his well trained and experienced eyes sizing them up. He would start with the one he had pulled from the victim. He was the biggest of the three that most likely made him the superior, he uses the term lightly when it came to the lower ranking damned, of the three. 

 

The damned were much younger than him, maybe only five or six hundred years between the three of them. They hadn't realized his presence until he had revealed himself to save the mortal woman; a more experience damned would never have left themselves so vulnerably open to attack. Not only did they have to watch out for those that hunted them but also for other hunting packs of their kind. There was no honor, no allegiance between the damned, at least not in the masses, out of fear they were somewhat loyal to their king, the strongest and oldest of the damned, another pack of hunting damned would just as likely kill the three damned and take their prey for themselves. 

 

Behind him, Yunho could hear the mortal woman breathing frantically but shallowly; in the back of his mind, he wonders if she was going to faint. Such a behavioral trait was once common among mortal females but in recent times mortal women had become stronger in their will, their character, and nature. Or maybe they had merely realized their true strength, by whatever cause, mortal women were no longer seen as the delicate useless creatures they had once been considered as. They did the work of men, earn their own way into the world, had choices and equality. 

 

In fact, the time of the world of men had long since past in the world of mortals. To Yunho's eyes, he was beginning to realize that it wasn't men who truly had sway over the world anymore. 

 

Yunho forcibly pulls his focus from her and the changes of women in the mortal world. As for the mortal woman he had yet to catch her scent except for the almost overpowering odor of fresh human blood. He could hear her heartbeat; the rhythm was frantic and its beats were strong. She would live, even though the air was taunting him with the promise of hot fresh blood. 

 

The damned hadn't been feeding long; she would live, maybe even without medical assistance. 

 

"How dare you, Lycan!" The damned who had been feeding when Yunho had intervened roar furiously, through his fangs, his black eyes blazing with black fury. 

 

Yunho resisted the urge to shake his head in disgust at them. They were young and a disgrace to the immortal kind. The older of the damned and immortal kind knew him on sight or scent, whatever the case may have been. They would have known his age and power in his blood even if they hadn't known him. As the prince of his kind and one of the last of the ancients of the immortal races, his abilities were above those of most of the immortals. Outside of the immortal royal families and their courts, there were very few ancients left. They had all succumb to their beasts or to the darkness but then again, there were very few immortals left, period. The immortal races were one the crusts of extinction. If something didn't change soon the immortal races wouldn't last the next half millennia. 

 

"You will die for interfering!" Another of the damned hiss, crouching with perfect stable balance as he sways back and forth as only an immortal could. A mortal would have fallen flat on their face should they have attempted it as the damned vampire was. 

 

Yunho merely glares darkly at them, just daring them to attack him. He knew they would. The young lack the patience and control; they tended to be impulsive and cocky. So he waited, silently, patiently. Ready for when they dare to attack him and there it was. Yunho saw it as clear as day. All the young made the mistake of betraying the telltale signs of preparing to attack; the twitch of the check, the narrowing of the eyes, the tensing of their legs and the expanding of their fingers. An ability of both immortal races was that they could turn their fingernails into claws, with a mere thought, that could tear through cars like tissue paper. 

 

The damned were preparing to do just that with the intention of tearing into his flesh. 

 

The damned who had been feeding, the dominant of the three, gave a vicious snarling roar and lung at him. Yunho allows a small grin of dark deadly anticipation to take hold of his heart-shaped lips as the damned approach at the speed of sound with his fangs bared and his claw-like nails extended like daggers. 

 

Yunho waited until the absolute last possible moment before he, with speed that was beyond these damned, threw his upper body to the right and out of the way of the attack of the damned. At the same time, Yunho brought his arm up and wrap it around the throat of the attacking damned when he would have otherwise flown straight pass him.

 

Using his superior strength, Yunho hauls the damned he had captured backward against him while he will his fingernails to extend into claws on his left hand. With a powerful upwards, the sharp claws pierce the flesh and bone of the damned of his back until he pierces the heart from behind, severing the spinal cord in the same motion. 

 

There were only two ways to kill an immortal, three if he included sun exposure for the vampire but they had to be in the high sun for several minutes before they were weakened and burn to death, that was either decapitation or injuring the heart until it could no longer continue to beat and so that it couldn't regenerate. For one who was trained and had the know-how, it wasn't too difficult. 

 

Yunho was a Lycan which meant that he could take the form of a wolf, a large one, bigger than the typical size of a mortal car or the form of a human. He was strongest in his wolf form. He was also able to call upon minute changes in his human form, such as turn his fingernails into the claws of his wolf form. 

 

Yunho felt the life fade from the damned he held and wretch his hand from the back of the damned and allow the body to fall limply to the ground at his feet. His hand was drench and dripping with the black blood of the damned vampire. 

 

Unlike mortal myths, vampire nor Lycan's turn to ashes when they die. The vampire or the damned would burst into flame if in the sun for too long but that require several minutes of direct midday or afternoon sunlight exposure. It was rare for one to remain in the light of day for that long; mainly it was the most efficient way for a vampire to commit suicide. 

 

Yunho turns his attention back to the remaining two damned who now possess the appropriate level of trepidation and wariness in their black eyes. All three damned were vampires which were fortunate. An untrain unaware vampire was easier to kill than a damned Lycan as they tended to make a much greater racket. 

 

They were going to run, Yunho could see it in their black eyes and he couldn't allow that. Every damned he came across was his to dispose of. He couldn't let one live if he had a choice in the matter. 

 

With a mere thought, Yunho will his claws to retract and return to human fingernails. He reaches inside his coat with his right unbloodied hand and pulls out a small silver dagger. Silver was another human myth, it didn't cause any harm to an immortal but it was used because it was a strong and long-lasting metal. 

 

The two remaining damned took a fearful retreating step from him. They could take a hundred retreating steps from him, they would never escape him. He had their scent now and even though a scent could be masked, they didn't have the time nor the know-how to do so. 

 

"Who are you?" The smaller of the two remaining damned ask. 

 

Yunho looks into the dark eyes of the damned and not for the first time wonder if there was truly anything left of his former self within him. He had always wonder but had never ask. They wouldn't have given him a truthful answer anyway but tonight Yunho would answer them. 

 

"I'm the scourge of the damned." Yunho tightens his told on his dagger, "I'm your death." And with those words, Yunho started before they had the chance to even attempt to flee. With deadly accurate aim, Yunho threw the dagger at the smaller of the two with less than all his strength and charge at the other. No mortal had the strength to pierce the flesh of an immortal, vampire, Lycan or damned alike and neither could any weapon the mortals could forge. The only reason a weapon like daggers and swords were effective was because of the immortal superhuman hand that held them and the force and strength with which they were wielded. 

 

With an agonize horrified cry, the smaller fell to the ground with the silver dagger protruding from his chest, embedded to the hilt. It had pierced the center of his heart. 

 

With a fearful cry the remaining damned scream for his life and shrank back even as Yunho took hold of his head in both hands and violently snap his neck and continuing until, with a spray of black blood that Yunho expertly avoided, the head came completely detach from the body. 

 

Yunho kicks the headless body so that it landed next to the body of the other fallen damned. Dropping the head into the lap of its previous owner, he then pulls his dagger from the chest of the other damned and with a flick of his wrist wipe it clean on the damned's light pink garment-dyed cotton short sleeve shirt. 

 

Behind him, the innocent mortal female whimper in terror but Yunho had one more thing he had to do before he could see her. 

 

He fought like a fierce warrior from some supernatural horror movie. Yuri couldn't move. All she could do was stare into the back of the dark stranger who had just kill all three of the vampires in a matter of seconds. She hadn't even seen his face yet. The vampires hadn't stood a chance. He had moved so fast that she hadn't been able to even see him move. He was so skillful and fast that none of the vampires had been able to lay a hand on him. Yuri watches helplessly, motionlessly, as the dark stranger, who had just saved her life, pick up the body of the one who had been drinking her blood and threw the body on top of the bodies of the other two. She hadn't been able to see how he had killed them and she was trying very hard not to look at the bodies but he had done so without fault. 

 

He moves with such silent stealth, agility, and grace that he didn't seem human. He made no sound when he move and he shows such strength and speed. He moves the bodies with a single hand with such ease as if they were merely hollow foam dummies. 

 

A metallic click pierces the silence and a moment later flames leaped into life from where the bodies of the three vampires had been piled. 

 

It took Yuri another long moment before she realizes that he was burning the bodies. She could feel the warmth of the dancing flames on her cold face. It wasn't until then that she realizes that she was still laying on the icy pavement with her scarf gone and her quartz pink lace-up shoulder tee shirt pull to the side while her own blood continues to trickle from the two puncture wounds in her neck. 

 

Slowly while never taking her eyes from the dark stranger, Yuri timidly rose to her feet, unable to remain on the ground a moment longer. If this dark stranger was a threat to her, she was damn sure going to at least try to make a run for it even though she knew after all she had seen that she wasn't going to make it far. She would be lucky to make it five steps before he caught her. 

 

Sensing as well as hearing the rustling of clothing, the mortal woman rises to her feet, Yunho sighs heavily. Now it was time to face another terrified traumatized victim. If he had any luck at all, she will be in shock and wouldn't remember anything in the morning. 

 

At least he didn't have to watch this one die or worse have to put her out of her misery himself. He always knew when a victim could be helped and when it was more merciful to end their suffering rather than let them live their last few agonizing hours in a hospital surrounded by doctors unable to save them but futilely trying regardless. 

 

It was never any easier to face the victims, whether they live or not. 

 

With another heavy sigh and the need to get it over with as soon as possible, Yunho slowly turns to face her and his eyes grew wide. His breath caught in his throat and his heart was pounding loudly in his ear. For the first time in centuries, he felt something, other than his beast, stir within him. 

 

Before him was the most beautiful woman Yunho had ever seen in all his millennia, mortal or immortal. She stood there with her gorgeous sparkling dark brown and wide eyes staring at him like angels did in mortal legends. It felt as if she were staring straight through him, into his tatter tarnish wreck of a soul and seeing him for everything that he was. Her hair moves slowly in the wind around her. Artificial light from above her seem to float like still liquid on her and gave the illusion that her flawless slightly tanned skin was glowing celestially. She was so petite, so small and tiny, even drape in layers to keep her warm from the winter cold, that she was the most fragile looking creature he had seen outside of a cradle. 

 

Yunho couldn't breathe, couldn't think, he couldn't even remember his own name. She had somehow captured him in that one look just by her presence. There was nothing else in the world but her. Instincts he hadn't known in so many centuries flare to life inside of him like a supernova. They were so strong and so many that he couldn't even put a name to one of them. 

 

What was happening to him? 

 

Yunho took an unsteady step towards her, needing to find out more. Needing to feel more. For so long he hadn't felt anything outside of the hunt and his hunger; with one look upon her more emotions than he could remember ever feeling came to life within him. 

 

As he moves towards her, Yunho watch as her eyes grew wide with fear and she shrank back from him. 

 

Yunho immediately but slowly raises his hands in a non-threatening comforting gesture as if he were surrendering to her. The last thing he wishes was for her to fear him, to retreat from him. He wanted her to stay, to remain with him for always. He wanted to protect and shield her from the danger of the world. He wanted to lay his kill at her feet, the most submissive act of his race. It was something a male-only did for his mate. It was a sign of complete and utter submission. 

 

Yunho couldn't understand. Why did he have an almost choking need to protect this mortal woman? He had seen so many mortal women, even women of his own kind, kill before his eyes, never had he kill one intentionally by his own hand unless it was for a merciful death or a damned female, that were extremely rare or that one mistake so long ago and it had stop affecting him long ago. For nearly a thousand years he had been numb by all the death, even the death of those close to him but he had to protect this one; he had to keep her safe. No matter what it cost him. 

 

"It's alright, miss." Yunho told her, his voice as soothing and as calm as he could make it, "I mean you no harm." She was hesitant, terrified. It seems beyond her to even utter a sound. He needed her to speak to him, to assure him that she wasn't gravely harmed even though his senses told him she wasn't. 

 

The wind shifted direction and the scent of human blood filled his nostrils, only this time it didn't stir the beast within him as it had always done. This time the beast scream at him to take away her pain instead of taking her life's blood and eating her still-warm flesh. 

 

"You are injured," Yunho told her, taking a slow exaggerated step towards her as he indicated at where blood still flows from her tiny body. 

 

Fear flash in her eyes once again but she made no move to retreat from him. Yunho took this as a positive sign, "May I see?" He asks as he took yet another slow over-exaggerated step towards her, "I promise. I only wish to help you. I will not harm you." 

 

Yuri knew she should run, that she should get as far away from the dark stranger who had just slain three vampires without breaking a sweat but for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to leave him. There was something about him that calls her to him and it wasn't just that he was the most handsome man, or whatever, she had ever seen in her entire life. It was something deeper, something much more primal and carnal. 

 

The dark stranger had hair darker than the dead of night, locks of his blacker than black hair caress his forehead and frame his eyes from above. He had brown eyes that she could have drowned in. He was tall and broad in a way that wasn't overly so but she knew by her own sight that he was far stronger than he seems. Beneath his blue soft wash yarn dye oxford shirt, he had to at the very least be soundly muscle. His legs were those of a runner, steady and long. With his handsome face, steadily built body, lithe stride and fluid grace, this was a being that was, without any doubt, hell on the female population of the earth. 

 

He was walking towards her so slowly, so carefully, that he seems afraid that one sudden move would startle her and frighten her into bolting like some panicky flighty rabbit. If only she had the coherency to tell him that she couldn't run even though she wanted, too. Her mind and instincts scream at her too, but her mind had lost communication with her body and to top it off there was something about him that made her not want to run. That made her want to stay. 

 

Yuri gasp silently as he closes the last step of space separating them and he was there. His intoxicating scent fills her senses and the world started to spin around her. He smelt of blood, the deep woods and of raw . Jesus. As if she wasn't attracted to him enough which was ludicrous in the current situation but she was, now his smell had hit her like some concentrated form of potent pheromones. 

 

That settled it. She had completely lost it. 

 

Her scent was the most intoxicating thing Yunho had ever known and he had been around the females of his kind when they had been in heat since he was born all those centuries ago. She smelt so sweet and enticing that his mouth was filled with saliva. Her scent was a creamy, almost caramel sweet blend of vanilla and amber which unfolds underneath a lunar veil of jasmine, violets, and lily of the valley and delicate top notes of orchard fruits and crisp green foliage all mix into one, her scent was everything pure in this world, everything he was unworthy of. 

 

Yunho wanted to taste her so badly that he feared he would soon start drooling but it wasn't her blood or her raw flesh that he hungers for. He wanted to taste her skin, , her . He wanted to taste every inch of her, to know and possess and brand every inch of her as his. 

 

Her scent made him think of a field full of flowers and wild passionate out-of-control mating and it was forevermore imprinted into his memory. He would always know her scent now, even if all the worlds scents were pulled together in one place, he would always know hers, always be able to follow it to her. 

 

What's more, his libido suddenly flares to life with a passionate fury he had never known. He wanted her spread wet and willingly beneath him more than he had ever wanted anything in his long immortal life. He wanted her, all of her. Everything that she was. He wanted to lay his kill at her feet; he wanted to run free through the woods with her, to hear her laughter. He wanted her to stay with him forever but Yunho forces all of that away for the moment. She was hurt, bleeding and right now taking away her pain, healing her injury was more important to him than his own life, even more, important than his family and pack. 

 

"Don't move," Yunho commanded her gently, as he leans down over her and took a gentle but firm hold of her shoulder to keep her still. The scent of her blood overpower him but again he didn't want to drain her life's blood, he only wanted a taste, to only take as much as she could safely give so that he would know her taste, so her taste would always be as deeply embedded in his memory as her scent now was. 

 

Yunho lowers his mouth to her neck where the two fangs of the now decease damned had punctured the delicate soft flesh of her neck. Two steady streams of blood which flow from her torn puncture flesh trickled down her shoulder and disappear beneath her shirt. 

 

Violent urges, also such as which Yunho had never known, flare within him. He wanted to bring back the bastard that had bitten her and kill him again in the slowest, most painful way that he was capable of inflicting but he couldn't, not even he, the Lycan prince, could restore life once taken; so he would settle for healing the wound inflicted, for taking away her pain. Yunho force down the violent urges and instead slowly caress the wound with his tongue. 

 

Unlike the vampires, his kind had the added ability of healing saliva. her wounds, they would heal at an accelerated rate. The healing could take as little as a matter of seconds, minutes and sometimes hours. It depended on the severity of the injury and the amount of saliva given. 

 

The moment the taste of her hit his tongue, the taste of her blood and flesh, Yunho knew without a doubt in him. He knew it to the deepest depths of his soul; he knew it was surely as he knew anything else. 

 

Beneath his tongue Yunho felt the two puncture wounds in her soft flesh close and seal themselves, the streams of blood no longer flowing. 

 

This small young and innocent mortal, and he knew she was mortal without doubt, her taste, her scent, her heartbeat, everything supported and prove the fact, was his destined soulmate. His wolf mate. This was the woman who could soothe the beast within him, who could bring light and hope to him. 

 

This mortal woman was his one chance at salvation.

 

---

N/A: I know a lot of you guys must be confuse considering Jessica doesn't have tanned skin but white flawless skin but I decided to make Jessica have tanned skin from her Weibo post back in the days. 

- butt3rflyl0v3r ♡