Author note: I’d like to say what I said in my main account for I was super late (approximately, twenty days):

I live in a third world country, Yemen, which means we rarely get full electricity, clean water regularly, and Internet twenty four seven. I didn’t have Internet for over eight days and when it came back, it kept glitching and acting funny. This chapter had been made today in between breaks and time periods where I could use my phone. So, I’m sorry for the late.

We will be falling back to our old routine, every update will be posted within a week’s time. Thank you for understanding and I’m yet again sorry for the late :(

So, for that, here’s a longer chapter :D

The party; I noticed, was the typical teenage party I saw a few times while going back home from school; those exact same parties I was never invited to. The house itself was large, two stories; with wide balconies. It was the typical house for the spoiled, rich kids; and I wasn’t judging. I’ve always wanted to know what it’d feel like to live in luxurious surroundings and indoor spaces, but I think every middle class (and struggling class) people want to experience the richness the world could provide them too, so I wasn’t that special.

The house didn’t make me feel less of an intruder, though.

It was stuffy, in a sense, with over-b teens squabbling around, stumbling over each other because they’re drunk out of their wits. The air was suffocating and sweltering hot, and I could already feel the sweaty bodies brushing against mine, even though I was still standing outside, searching around for something to hate. Well, it was what I did better; looking for things to despise so that my hate could be legitimate.

Sometimes, I don’t know why I do these things to myself.

From around me, the boys were taking a look around them as well, half of their shoulders tense. I’m guessing some of the boys weren’t fans of partying too. My magic reacted inside of me, begging me to use it and expose those who don’t like partying. My magic, typically, gets bored after not being used in over eight hours, like a human entity that can actually sense emotions. Of course, I ignored it.

“Welp, this party is .” I finally said after so many minutes just standing in front of the house, sensing for a brewing storm that would either explode or not. The boys turned toward me instantly; hearing my small sound despite the muffled music coming from the house. All of their eyes were somewhat bored and careless; nonchalant in a way, wherein Baekhyun’s eyes were simply afire.

“Stop the prejudice,” came his scoffed reply, the balls of warm fire that are his eyes, looking down at me like I’m an enigma. One that caused him annoyance, at least. “We just arrived here.”

I blatantly rolled my eyes, ignoring him with a swift twist of my head. It seemed that his words - or his voice in specific - brought the boys out of their hallow-minds and made them move forward toward the house, Chanyeol’s ears perking like an elf to hear more of the booming yet slightly obscure music coming through the house. The only reason I even payed attention to the gesture of his ears was because they looked funny yet cute, which oddly fitted the boy’s charm in spite of his large body width.

“C’mon, stay close to me,” My magic hummed in delight at Sehun’s voice close to me, and I looked sideways at him in the same time his shoulder brushed with mine. “No one would bother you if they saw you with me.”

That statement of his made me snort, although there was a small smile slowly etching across my face.

“You’re Mr. Popular in school, aren’t you? The guy everyone likes and respects, the formidable jock, and stereotypical bad boy?”

There came a smile across Sehun’s lips at my words, and both my magic and I reacted to it positively. Sehun looked like he was slowly getting used to my presence, bringing down some of his high walls, and allowing me to see past his mask of indifference. It brought an eruption of ease within me; that realization that I mattered to him, and I found out that I liked being involved in a part of someone, of being allowed entrance to one’s heart, of simply being worthy enough. Maybe my joy wasn’t because I was allowed in by someone, maybe because it was simply Sehun, my twin, the person whom I thought my relationship with was crumbled without repair.

Yeah, maybe it was because it was Sehun.

“No,” Sehun gave a snort similar to mine, but his was attractive still, while mine had been ugly. “That’s Baekhyun Hyung.”

I couldn’t help but smile more.

I looked past Sehun’s impressive body - that could easily tower mine even though I was tall myself - towards the boy of our conversation. He was talking with Kyungsoo quietly, sulking for some reason. Whereas Kyungsoo’s whole demeanor was calm and quiet in itself, Baekhyun looked troubled, some heavy things in his mind. I tilted my head, in fact, he always appeared like he had something on his mind.

“What’s his deal though?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders towards the elder boy. I mean, I could know his deal with magic, but if I were in that position, I’d hate for someone to sneak into my privacy like that. “Why does he act in the way he does?”

“You want to know, don’t you?” Sehun shook his head apologetically. “I’m sorry, it’s not my place to say anything regarding him and his actions. You can ask—“

“I’m pretty sure he’s not the person to answer questions easily.” I said with another careless shrug. I wasn’t that interested in knowing his deal, so I wasn’t going to dig it up; but if someone was willing to tell me, that was fine too. “Besides, I don’t care, it’s just fleeting curiosity. I’m not that interested to know.”

“Sure.” Sehun’s tone was mocking, amused, and he even nudged my shoulder with his. I blinked my eyes up, my hand gliding over the front doors of the house and then sliding away as Sehun and I entered through.

“Are you mocking me?”

Sehun’s small brown eyes went unfocused for a minute, staring up ahead at the grinding bodies of the two es on the dance floor amidst the amused and obnoxious screams around the house. People gave Sehun’s friends fleeting yet heart-eyed stares, recognizing them instantly. I could see a few girls (and boys) thinking about how they could snatch the most popular boys’ attention, and couldn’t help but snort. Others, who weren’t that interested enough in my companions; were crowding over the large kitchen, where there is every kind of drink possible thrown between possessive hands.

Honestly, parties were revolting and I don’t understand how someone sane could enjoy being in such suffocating place, both personally and physically.

Sehun’s arm came circling around my shoulders, protectively pulling me towards him when a massive guy came hurling towards me, laughing obliviously and absolutely unaware of the bodies he was knocking down in his way.

“Before meeting you, I didn’t think you and I would be similar. But you are, similar to me that is. I know you’re feeling defensive just because I discovered your little intrusive curiosity. I just.. want you to know that it’s fine to want to know things about him, he needs it anyway.”

What?

“He needs it?” I repeated, blinking my eyes. Honestly, what was Sehun even talking about? His arm was too heavy and too warm around my body; and the spot started to itch, begging me for release. As you can tell, I’m not a skin-to-skin contact type of person. It made me shiver.

“A person, someone to be curious enough about him to see through his walls.”

I didn’t say anything, because sometimes you just don’t know what to say regarding someone. I know what type of a person Baekhyun is, for I could long ago be able to see past people’s masks. I knew werewolves had keen eyes too, both inner ones and outside ones. However, something surprised me in Sehun’s words, like, I didn’t think someone else would notice Baekhyun hid things quite well. But that was a mistake from my part, I shouldn’t underestimate people regarding anything just because I have magic to aid me and they don’t. Sehun was Baekhyun’s friend for a long time too, he was bound to discover things about him.

“I’ll get a drink, you want some?”

“Is it wise to drink alcohol?” I retaliated, finally walking out of his half embrace. He didn’t mind. “Will father be alright with it?”

“He wouldn’t know, and Hana, you can call him Dad. He is your dad too, not just your father.”

Maybe it was just Sehun again, maybe he was too perceptive for his own good. He knew and noticed things that people typically didn’t.

I only nodded in response, sealing my lips shut not to say anything in sarcasm because I knew Sehun was being genuine. I watched him leave to get himself something to drink, and possibly drag something for me too; taking half of the crowd with him - consisting of eager people - I watched his poised back, pristine long legs, and wide shoulders, and smiled a little. My twin was such a handsome person, and how he responded to his beauty was prideful. He was incredibly modest about it.

I stopped watching his direction like a creep after he disappeared through the bodies, and let my eyes wander around me. It seemed that Sehun’s friends were gone too, they probably left in the midst of my conversation with him, which left me with a relieved smile. It meant Baekhyun didn’t know we were talking about him.

My wandering eyes caught a familiar back with a familiar golden-like hair with orange specks, and instantly I straightened. The boy was of medium height, like Baekhyun’s length, and had sharp and narrow cheekbones. In his hand, there was a slice of pizza he was cheerfully eating, a tick resembling a foxy smile to his lips. I found my legs drawn to him, walking toward him with a small tilt to my head, eyebrows furrowing.

“You eat food.” Came my unamused, disturbed inquiry, a question in my eyes. The boy, Jongdae, the cute vampire I had been introduced to by himself, shifted around so that he could appraise me, his eyes wide and wondrous.

“Excuse me?”

“Food,” I sighed, “You eat food too.”

“Oh, hey,” The ticks in the corner of his cat mouth upturned even more if that was possible, and he presented me with a bright smile that could fool any unsuspecting prey into his trap of charms and innocence. However, at this point, I couldn’t help but think everything about this vampire was genuine. “You’re the new girl that came with Sehun and overturned the entire school hierarchy. Of course I eat food, what else should I eat?”

“Are you sure you want me to answer that?” I raised my eyebrows, easily able to read the shock and confusion in his eyes, confusion I knew would be slowly wiped out of his face if he knew what I knew.

“Um, sure?” He answered unsurely, his eyes flying around from his pizza, his fingers that wrapped around it; to my eyes, trying to understand if his answer would provoke something dangerous out of me. He looked scared then, for a small millisecond, but his fear was pushed back by logic, logic I couldn’t really ridicule because I knew where he was coming from. However, I had sweet, sweet satisfaction with crushing that logic of his down.

“You’re supposed to be drinking blood, and that food disgusts you.” I pointed at the pizza he was holding down, and he followed my stare with a gulp. “You’re either a really old vampire that had gained endurance for food with his years of living, or a new-wedged hybrid. Seeing that you’re walking around a dogs’ area, and eating their food, I’d say a new hybrid. They are always this stupid.”

Why was I exposing myself to him like that? Well, I knew he needed some kind of help, even though he wouldn’t admit it himself. New vampires were always reckless, in a sense, thinking they could conquer the world with their newly found powers and strengths. But I didn’t find such reclusiveness in Jongdae, he was just.. scared, cautious, and trying hard to hide himself.

I shouldn’t care, for I was going to be in the werewolf’s side from now on, because of my Father and twin, even though in history, vampires were mages’ allies throughout the years. I could ignore all of what I know considering Jongdae didn’t know all of this because he is knew, but something in my magic abhorred leaving the boy alone, stumbling through life and probably causing himself death, because of his association with the werewolves. My magic couldn’t care less about anyone, normally, but leaving Jongdae alone didn’t sit right with it.

Secretly; it didn’t sit right with me too.

“You think no one will find out?” I continued to say, a serious expression settling on my face. Jongdae looked terrified, the pizza laid forgotten in his hands. “You smell odd too, like someone trying to hide inside a flower shop, very peculiar and suspicious. Even I can sense it; and I’m human.”

Jongdae gulped forcefully, and I caught on to the bobbing movement of his Adam apple going up and down. His pupils were shaking in terror and for a small, twinkling period of time, I was ashamed of myself, for causing such scare to the boy, but he needed to know that in telling him this, I was exposing myself, which meant I was ultimately trusting him not to rattle me out. Now, I was willing to wait for him to trust me too.

“Don’t look so terrified.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m in hiding just as much as you are; I won’t tell on you, but I’m very curious, why did you choose here of all places? An area for werewolves? I didn’t think you to be much of an idiot.”

Finally, he broke out of his patronized fear, and put down his pizza on a random table, so he could clutch my arm tightly.

“Lower your voice,” he hissed, pulling my head down so that we could whisper to each other secretly. “They can hear you!”

“They have a high range radar with their hearing abilities, I admit, but they can’t hear such tiny noise that I make in the midst of this booming music. Don’t worry, they won’t hear us.”

He let me go of me because of my words, and I started to exaggeratedly rub my arm to guilt-trip him into thinking he had a harsh grip, which he truly did have, just hadn’t used on me at all. As I did what I did, a guilty look flashed in his eyes, a genuine one, but it was gone as soon as I noticed, replacing it was an expression of utter disinterest.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing, really.” I shrugged again, this time with a smile on my face. “I don’t care enough to be a tittle tattle, but I’m curious. Why are you here of all places? You’re a hybrid, you’re strong. You can live everywhere you want. Why are you hiding, in here nonetheless?”

“Don’t you think you’re assuming too early that I’d just tell you everything?” He answered, placing his hands away inside the pockets of his jeans. “I don’t know you, and frankly, I don’t think it’d be wise to do so.”

Okay. So maybe he wasn’t as stupid as I thought him to be.

“It would be unwise to leave. I can help you.”

“Why do you think I need help?” He gave me a harsh look, eyes flashing with well-concealed anger that I could detect because of my magic, helping me unravel this boy. “From you, not to mention?”

“We can make an alliance.” Jongdae’s shoulders stiffened at my words and I realized that he, indeed, knew about the normal alliance mages and vampires had through history. My words seemed to give him an idea of what kind of a person I’m. “You’re the only creature I could learn to trust, and you I.”

“.. you’re a mage, aren’t you?” He muttered, higher than I thought he’d, since just seconds ago we were whispering in fear someone would hear us. Hearing him say my title so loudly brought a thump to my chest; my heart pounding in sudden fear.

“Shush! Don’t just say it out loud!”

“It doesn’t feel so safe when someone else speaks of your identity out loud, huh?” He sounded smug when saying that, a tender, small flash of red sparkling in his eyes. The spark was gone as soon as it came though, alerting no one of his oddity aside me, which I already know of. I wanted to roll my eyes in annoyance, but I knew he had every right to what he did, and ended up sighing.

“You’re right, I risked your identity. I’m sorry, won’t happen again.”

His smugness didn’t fade away; not for a while; and I stood beside him, looking around the crowd and working my magic to search for anything that I need to be wary of. Fortunately, there was no one and nothing odd or dangerous around us, aside the variety of creatures (most of whom were werewolves). The lights were dimming, flashing with oranges, purples, and reds around, the songs reverberating through the walls, wild and disturbing. Neither Jongdae and I spoke anything, and after a while, I reached for his unfinished pizza and started to eat it. My action brought his eyes to me, and when I met them, they flashed a soft red.

It seemed that now that we know of each other’s identity, he didn’t need to use excessive energy to hide his true self.

“Say, when did you exactly appear in this city?” He asked me, all of a sudden, a question that startled me.

“That’s an odd question. Why?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

“You don’t know what happened?” His tone came as if I was an absolute idiot, and secretly; I felt as if I was just that. Shaking my head, I scratched my left eyebrow.

“What happened?”

“Two weeks and a few days ago,” he explained easily, quickly, and I listened with perked ears, my heartbeats instantly flashing around my chest, seeming to know what was coming before my listening ears. “There came a beam of light from our forest; small enough not to be detected outside this city, and big enough to call out for every single supernatural in this area. It caused a craze, and nobody knew of its source. It happened because of you, right?” Jongdae peeked down at me cautiously, and I narrowed my eyes. “When did you come here? You came to school just yesterday, but I’m ready to swear you had been here for over two weeks now, no?”

I knew what he was hinting at, it was very easy to know actually. Mages are creatures of nature, where they were born in will always remain as where they’ll belong, the land calling out for them. I was born a mage here, in this city; with my dad, which meant I was originally connected to this place than the place my mother took me, even if my powers only came to me recently when I was growing up.

The light that Jongdae was talking about must mean that the place is celebrating their mage’s return, considering we (mages) are rare creatures, unlike wolves and vampires, who can easily change others by a bite. Mages were also strong, sacred, and intensely prided for using magic with a click of their fingers. The light Jongdae must be talking about is the forest welcoming back its mage.

Me.

“Do you know what this—“ Jongdae’s question was interrupted not by me, but by a very annoyed voice that could easily prickle the hair of my skin.

“Yo, Jong, why are you talking to Sehun’s twin?”

The two of us turned around to face a hazy eyed Baekhyun whose hands were buried into his midnight hair, ruffling around and probably trying to yank the blur away from his vision. I furrowed my eyebrows, taking a more intense look on him. His legs were swaying sideways and he didn’t seem to have a solid grip on reality. His lips were fallen apart and his breath was timid, gruff, and unbalanced. What the hell? He was far from the graceful Baekhyun that I came to know through the days.

His eyes settled on my face and they narrowed dangerously, a small smirk lighting up his face.

“You,” He didn’t bother hide his distaste, or whatever it is that he was feeling, and Jongdae stared between us with wide eyes. I just rolled my eyes.

“Baekhyun.” I called back, giving him a small, mocking bow at his direction.

“Yes, me, Baekhyun the great,” Baekhyun pointed at himself languidly, dangerously tipping to the side like he was going to fall. Unconsciously of me, I flickered a finger towards him and my magic instantly moved towards him, steadying him. He was so drunk that he didn’t even notice anything. My heart started to poun