Track 146 | MOONLIGHT by Ariana Grande

“I think I jinxed it, huh?”

“What part?”

“I said you never leave.” Baekhyun sighed anxiously. “But here you are, leaving.”

Haoran was talking to Mei, on his phone. His girl heeded his advice not to go out in public. The vampire council might have spies tailing her and he thought that it was best that she kept herself hidden away. Despite not being able to see her physically, it didn’t stop him from saying words that would have been better said had she been standing in front of him.

Contrary to Mei’s obedience, Baekhyun was stubborn. He wanted to send off Rara and just for precaution, he asked Suho and D.O to accompany him to the airport just so he has company, in case someone attempts to attack him.

“I’m leaving Korea. Not you.” Rara replied with a smile. Baekhyun smiled back but her answer obviously did not show enough proof that she’ll be back, making all that worry surface and manifest itself on his face. Noticing his wobbly stature, Rara unlatched her backpack and took out her box of metallic color pencils. For a moment, she just stared at the pencils, then she picked the one in the color of Flesh, the one she commonly used for skin. Compared to other color pencils, it seemed that this one was overused, as its length was smaller compared to the others.

“Here.” Rara handed the Flesh color pencil to Baekhyun. “This is enough assurance that I’ll come back. Aside from knowing that one color pencil is missing inside my case, I use this color a lot. I would feel very inadequate about not having it.” Baekhyun took the color pencil and examined it, like it was a piece of jewelry. He knew Rara’s art materials were one of her most prized possessions. It was probably the only other entity in this world that made her melt, besides him. “You alone are enough reason to come back but you’ll have me sprinting back to you because you also have that in your hands.” Rara said, also watching the color pencil like it was going to disappear or break any time.

“Please do take care of yourself, Baek.” She urged. “And that color pencil.” She added, laughing a little.

“Right back at you.” He said, playfully tapping the color pencil on her forehead.

“Then, I’ll be off.”

Baekhyun hugged her the way you close your fist upon feeling anger; slowly and tightly. “Come back.” He urged silently. “I love you.” He whispered in her ear before pulling away.

Rara smiled and held his hand, the one holding her colored pencil. “I love you.”

Upon arriving in Italy, Haoran chose to stay with Rara at a hotel. He could have chosen to stay in his designated room at the castle of Aima Lamia, but he wanted company and it seems that Rara wanted the same thing too. So they chose a two-bedroom suite and lied down, did random stuff to entertain themselves, until the sun peeked through the curtains of the huge glass curtains of the hotel.

It was early in the morning, barely six, when they both left the hotel. They took a cab to the castle and without a word; they entered the massive double doors and walked to the topmost floor, at the Cruor hall, where the vampire council awaited.

When they were given entrance, Haejung was fast to approach them with the same fake, unamused smile plastered on her face. The rest of the council remained seated at their respective thrones at the stage. Both Luhan and Tao had unpleasant expressions on their faces; Tao more than Luhan.

“Well if it isn’t the supposed power couple.” She said to both of them slyly. “How have you guys been, hm?”

While Haoran seemed to be anguished by that question, Rara hopped in and said, “We’re fine, thank you.” Haoran’s eyes were quick to look at Rara, a little bit surprised by her swift and simple reply, which caused him to be taken aback; Haejung was someone you didn’t answer as soon as her question came out or someone whom you give plain replies.

And that was it; there was something in Rara’s straightforwardness that ticked off the nerves of the head of the council. “I see that, because I heard both of you have been venturing secretly to see your Romeo and Juliet.” She responded in a vile tone.

“Assuming we are characters from the aforementioned Shakespearean literature, what are you gonna do?” Rara raised an eyebrow. “Kill us?”

Haejung chuckled darkly. “My, what insolence, child. But no.” She said quickly. “That would be too easy.” She said, as if the idea of murdering the two vampires before her bored her to death.

Before Rara could retort, Haoran spoke up and asked, “What did that traitor Byul tell you exactly?”

In a flash, Bora appeared beside Haejung. “Oh, Haoran. Give my little sister some credit. We told you we were coming.” She said, seemingly apologetic.

“So that what was she meant by ‘we’, huh? Her and the lot of you coming for us?” Rara snapped.

“Her?” Bora guffawed. “Byul excluded. That stupid girl does not see the bright future that Aima Lamia holds for her.” She said with a grimace.

Then, why’d she hint ‘we are coming’ when...Rara gasped. If Byul wasn’t included when she said ‘we’, that means she wasn’t the one playing with them.

It means Byul had swapped souls with Bora. And that would make sense of their warning about their arrival.

But how long has Bora been inside Byul’s body?

How did she even get ahold of Byul?

Rara fell silent for a while, which was indicative of her understanding of the situation. “Ah, smart girl. You figured it out, huh?” Haejung remarked with an amused smile.

“Since when was Byul not herself?” Rara asked. “Did Byul swap souls with you on her own accord?” She added.

“That’s none of your concern, sweetheart.” Bora batted her eyelashes, feeling as though she needed affection from Rara. “But I do have uncanny ways of getting through my beloved soul-swapping sister.”

“So she’s innocent?” Haoran asked furiously.

“And dumb. Quite frankly.” Haejung yawned. “Byul has made more than acquaintances of you two, hm? Would you like to see what your dear friend has become?” For a moment, fear spread across Rara’s heart. She was afraid of what they had done to Byul. She could have just been a normal teenager who wanted to travel to places but since she frequently dropped by at Haoran’s and developed a friendship with the housemates, this practically meant associating herself with the enemies or targets of the vampire council—not that she wasn’t a potential target; Bora’s eyes had been on her sister for quite some time.

“Guard, bring the kid in.”

At the back of the stage, a faint echo of footsteps could be heard. A tall man surfaced along with a familiar figure; his hands were enclosed tightly around his companion’s wrist. It was then Rara realized the companion was Byul. She looked exhausted, like she had been running for a long, long time. It’s as though she forced her eyes open for the past 24 hours. For a vampire to look like a college student who’s been losing sleep is quite a feat; vampires don’t need sleep, and yet here was Byul, looking like someone twisted her body out until the last drop of energy. She had a loose ponytail and her hair stuck out in weird places. She wore a jacket over a tank top with leggings and sleeves of her jacket was rolled onto her elbows, and that was when Rara noticed there were odd marks on her arms; like the ones you get when you get scalded by something hot.

Then she realized the man holding her was the guard that starred in one of her mom’s bedtime stories, when she and Chanyeol were still kids. It wasn’t a pleasant one though, she used that tale to scare the siblings out of their wits, just for little vampire Rara to not cause trouble for the rest of the night and for little wolf Chanyeol to fall asleep early.

“Be on your best behavior, Rara,” Ahreum would say. “or the Aima’s Guard will come and scorch your skin with hot steam. Ilhoon chooses no one.”

The head guard was someone with air manipulation, and he knew how to produce steam that was so hot, it could leave marks on your skin. “What the hell did you do to Byul...?” Rara muttered under her breath, feeling anger seep in her heart seeing marks on Byul’s arms.

“Something that’s going to be done to anyone who thinks hiding secrets for the both of you is acceptable.” Bora said firmly.

Rara’s expression suddenly turned dark. “That’s your sister!” She hissed. “Have you got no sense of family?!”

Haejung sighed and crossed her arms. “Wrongdoings are still wrongdoings. The rules do not exempt family. It knows no ties.”

“Then I recognize no hierarchy in the vampire community as well.” Haejung’s expression darkened at Rara’s dangerous tone. They both looked at each other for a moment, then Rara started to walk past both Haejung and Bora. She heard Haoran call out her name but she kept stomping her feet until she was face to face with the head guard of the vampire council. Having strong faith in the abilities of Ilhoon, Haejung and Bora merely turned their heads a little bit to Rara’s direction, just to get a glimpse of whatever was going to unfold.

“Hello, Rara-ssi. Descendant of the exceptional Jaehyun, sole heiress of the four flames of the Ignis clan.” Ilhoon said calmly. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you too, Ilhoon-ssi.” Rara muttered. “Can you do me a favor and release my friend Byul?” Byul’s tired eyes landed on Rara for a while, as if she was trying to get a better vision of the person standing in front of the guard that held her captive.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Rara. You are not entitled to order me.”

“You leave me no choice.” Rara hissed as she grasped Ilhoon wrist, attempting to unclasp it. Immediately, Ilhoon caught Rara’s wrist with his free hand but before he could inflict pain through hot, blazing steam, Rara burst into flames and disappeared. For a second, everyone was quiet, then the fire bender appeared from behind the head guard, she swiftly took ahold of Byul’s arm and sent a strong kick straight Ilhoon’s back, sending him flying to the other side, making him let go of Byul.

Rara put Byul’s arm around her shoulder for support. Out of the corner of Rara’s eye, she saw Ilhoon charging towards her. She kept eye contact with him, and she smirked as she slammed her palm on the floor. Black flames blasted from the floor, forming some kind of compartment and before he knew it, Ilhoon was enclosed inside a cage made of black flames. Black flames were known to be the most powerful—they were inextinguishable and only the fire wielders who could control such flame can reduce it back to nothing.

“Don’t move now, kind Sir. The black flames are not the friendliest type of fire.” Rara warned, as Ilhoon eyed her angrily.

“Remarkable.” Haejung slowly clapped her hands, staring at the cage with awe. “You have become quite accustomed to your abilities now, darling.”

Rara merely looked at her, clearly unfazed by Haejung’s compliment. She mumbled something at Byul and proceeded to lower her knees. Byul obliged and climbed on Rara’s back, wrapping her arms around Rara’s shoulders. Rara put her hands under her thighs and piggybacked Byul. She walked back to where she was standing, right next to Haoran.

Bora breathed deeply at the sight