Pure Heart

A figure bundled up in dark winter clothes plowed his way through the thick layer of snow.

He pulled down his mask, gazing at the distance. Across the misty horizon was civilization. Subtle twinkling lights and few visible buildings stood. "About a mile away." He calculated the distance between him and his target place.

While fixing his mask back to his already frosty face, a big black shadow leapt past him. It alerted him. He looked around cautiously but all he could sense was endless tundra.

"What is a vampire doing in Tromso?" Chan turned around to see a man with slicked back platinum hair. He was dressed too formal from head to toe.

He wore a black suit, sharp-looking, and well-fitted. Exactly the opposite of what a person should wear on where they're standing. That was something that made him a bit nervous. It's not that he wasn't also under-dressed by only wearing a thin shirt underneath his padded jacket.

The wolf beside the man wasn't the reason why Chan's bothered. Unlike him, whose black clothes almost turned white because of the blizzard, the man in front of him had no speck of snow whatsoever.

When the man smiled, it was a little bit magical. His insides churned at the sight.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Go look elsewhere. What you seek is not here." his british accent made him sound polite and prim. However, the wolf beside him snarled at the vampire.

"Now now," the man walked right above the snow. Blocking Chan's view of the wolf. "Don't go killing my friend with your stare." he smiled sweetly. Cringe.

Chan sighed. He looked around and heightened his senses. There were a couple hundred people in the city. A few were supernatural beings as well. "What are you doing here?"

The man fixed his collar and patted his right thigh with his hand twice. The wolf stood at his side, lowering itself for the man. Chan wondered how the hell will he sit down without crumpling that dashing suit. His query was answered when the man sat sideways.

"Someone has sent me to find you. If you please," suit guy scooted upwards.

"No way in hell will I ride a wolf."

'I'd rather get dismembered'

"Yeah yeah. Shut up." suit guy smiled. "You can hear him."

"Heightened senses. And please close your mind will you? Your thoughts are annoying." the wolf growled beneath its belly but he did what he was told.

"Misha, you let your thoughts out loose again." the wolf whined as an apology.

"Very well. Follow me, in whichever way you can."

-

After they shot through the blizzard, Chann pretty much looked like an oversized marshmallow. Snow coated his body from head to toe.

They stopped at a bar. 'Døden'ㅡthe sign read: meaning 'Death'.

"Couldn't be more subtle?" suit guy who was actually named Clyde gave him a smile.

"You know Old Norse?"

"Old Norse is easy. Try learning Chinese." suit guy (Chan would prefer calling him that) chuckled. "Oh, no. That wasn't a joke but, thanks." Chan removed his coat, hanging it near a heater. The water dripped down on a metal bucket beneath the coat rack. He proceeded inside the charmingly old-fashioned bar. Chan expected a very unrealistic setting but the place looked plain but real.

Illuminated only by the age-speckled bar lights, the bar curves into the room, dark in the barely lit room. Through the windows, trickles the sallow light of street-lamps. Somehow enough for the room to be well-lit.

The cabinet behind the counter was tiny but well-stocked with a variety of alcoholic drinks. Velvet chair lined up near the walls. Vinyl records and a few frames of abstract paintings hung at a small expanse of the wall.

The place seemed difficult to find. But when you do find it, you'll surely visit often.

Clyde ushered him to a bar stool. He was obviously the only customer there.

"The place is temporarily private." Chan glanced at Clyde who noticed his silent question.

"What can I get you tonight?"

"Just coffee, please." Clyde nodded politely and fixed up his order.

"So," Chan's voice trailed off as he stood up and walked about the place. "Where's your partner?" Misha (the wolf) disappeared as soon as they stepped in the building. "He's patrolling." Clyde replied nonchalantly.

"Okay. When do I get to talk to your boss?"

Clyde stopped and glanced at him for a second before going back to churning the coffee beans.

"The boss won't be back until tomorrow." That's the hard part. In Tromso, you can't tell if it's really 'tomorrow'. They're in the season where it's 3 months of winter without the sun.

Chan didn't argue. He can't complain about the slightest things if he were to talk to Clyde's boss. He's got to keep his chances high.

"Would you show me your workplace instead?" Chan sat back down in his seat. Clyde settled the coffee in front of the vampire, bowing after he did so.

"It would be a pleasure."

-

"What's he doing in Norway?!" Seungmin's voice bellowed around the house. "The kids are sleeping. Settle down." Woojin hushed him.

"Bet he's trying to get some help from his connections." Woong said. He twirled a pen between his fingers.

"That's what worries me," Seungmin slumped on his chair.

"His connections are not good people." Woojin continued. Woong stayed quiet. Even he was convinced.

"You guys have any idea where he is in Norway?"

"Tromso." Woojin muttered. "He knows someone powerful from there."

"You mean someone dangerous!" Seungmin gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Okay okay. Let's not jump to conclusions," Woong tried to calm down his fellow witch. "Actually, that person is dangerous."

Woong blinked twice and threw the pen he was playing with, it landed in the drawer that opened and closed by his will. He plopped beside Seungmin at the sofa, gathering his hands together. "Okay, well, then let's jump to conclusions." he said.

"Who's this powerful person he knows? And how did you know about him?" Seungmin questioned.

"I'm not always in the mansion," Woojin looked far out the window. "I liked to go places. And Chan, he knew a lot of interesting places. Interesting," he saw how Seungmin raised an eyebrow at him through his peripheral vision. "And kinda dangerous people." he cautiously continued.

"Nothing bad has happened so far."

"But something did happen." the witch edged him. "Of course, it wasn't always 'hi nice to meet you i'm fine thank you and you goodbye'. We had a few scuffles."

Some nights, the two would arrive at the mansion with a few cuts and bruises. Their torn and dirty clothes are disposed of for no tracesㅡSeungmin recalled. Little do they know, he was lurking around the stairs giving them a death glare through his spell Chan almost noticed he was there.

"So you had date nights with Chan without the rest of us knowing?"

"You knew."

Seungmin guessed that Woojin would take the hint. He's the only one with a functioning brain cell within the g