"It seems like our targets met the dangerous mercenary group, Dreamcatcher."

Enzo looked at the many footprints on the ground and he assumed they were from their targets along with the mercenary group. "Are they still alive?"

"Seems like it, since the tracker spell is still leading me into the forest and we haven't found a body yet. Don’t know how far they got through."

Enzo angrily sighed. "We would have been able to catch up to them if you made the spell faster."

"And destroy our only way to find the four? Not a chance. Now quit your complaining and follow me. The tracking spell is telling me they went that way." She then walked towards the forest. "Jeez, I feel like the only one that wants to get these women."

Enzo’s fist tightened, wanting to kill his partner, but remembered that he needed her if they were to find those four women. His grip loosened and with a heavy sigh, followed Raven back into the forest.
 

Yongsun took a bite of the bread she was given for the night. It had been a day and a half since they left the mercenary town. She was surprised when they weren’t being chased by the group, but assumed that they would attack soon. The question now was when?

The sound of laughter caused the ex-guard to stare up from her food to see her three friends chatting and laughing with one another, and that made her smile softly. She was specifically looking at the brunette vampire who sat next to her. Ever since Byulyi saved her, the ex-guard promised herself to be nicer to the vampire which she had kept. Ever since Yongsun gave Byulyi a chance, the two started to bond quite nicely, with both accepting each other's differences and not allowing those things to hinder their friendship.

"I don't understand why having undercover names and a team name is important."

Byulyi gasped, pretending to be offended by what Wheein had just said. "Cause, Wheein, undercover names are cool, but I guess if you don't want to use one, it's fine. But we can't skip having a team name. That one is really important if we don't want people to address us as the four criminals anymore"

Wheein crossed her arms. "I guess a group name would be good, though I don't know what we would go by."

"That we can figure out later. We should use one that's silly as our name, like belly button."

"Bellybutton isn't silly," Hyejin said with a disgusted face as she couldn't believe the taller woman would suggest that as their team name.

"That's why we need to find something sillier to use instead."

Hyejin and Wheein rolled their eyes. "Okay, so the team name is for later, but undercover name wise, I think I'm sticking with my name. Jungwhee isn't as good of a name to hide as."

Hyejin pet the top of her friend’s head. "I would have to agree with you on this. Jungwhee doesn’t seem nearly as cool as Moonbyul."

"Wow, never thought I'd have the witch, Hyejin, on my side and Wheein, you know you don't have to change your name order. You can use an entirely different one, like Solar."

"Or like me, since I think I'm gonna go with Hwasa as my undercover name."

Wheein raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I don’t know it just came to me and it sounds much nicer than Hyejin, so I’m gonna use it."

"But I like Hyejin," Wheein said with her puppy eyes.

"It's just a cover name, Wheepup,” Byulyi claimed as she pulled Wheein to a side hug. “You can call her Hyejin all you want while it's just the four of us around."

"Can I still call her Hyejin around your friend?"

Byulyi shook her head. "I think it's best to use undercover names around him. The less he knows about you guys, the better."

"Speaking about your friend, are we close?" Yongsun spoke, finally including herself in the conversation.

"Yeah, it's actually really close from where we are, in that direction." The vampire agreed and pointed in a direction where her friend is located.

Yongsun raised an eyebrow. "If we were so close, then why did we make a camp here and not go to his place?"

"Cause we're being chased by Dreamcatcher if you remember and I don't want him to get mixed up in this."

"Wouldn't he be anyway if he lends us a map?" Hyejin questioned.

"No, he’s more like helping us unknowingly like all the other people who gave us items without knowing the big bounty on us. It’s just a coincidence that he’s a friend of mine.”

Yongsun rolled her eyes, not surprised by her reply. "I think we should go get some rest."

Byulyi stretched. "I agree, let me just pour water onto the campfire." But before Byulyi could get up from the spot she was sitting in, rocks shot out from the ground and latched onto the vampire's limbs. Trapping her and quickly soon the others. "Frick, they found us."

There was rustling in the bushes near them which soon revealed to be the red-hair bartender. "Sure did."

"How did you find us?" Hyejin questioned as she tried to free her limbs but to no avail.

"Oh, it was quite simple when you have werewolves and a scent for them to pick up on from the room you rented."

Hyejin mentally slapped herself in the face for forgetting about that.

"Well, we’re not gonna let you kidnap us without a fight!" Wheein yelled as she went to transform into her beastly werewolf form. Easily breaking off the rocky shackles that proved to be difficult for her human form.

Both Solar and Byulyi were in awe by their small friend's transformation. Wheein is easily seen as the shorter member compared to the other three but towered them greatly in her beastly form. With her being double the size of the Byulyi, who was considered the tallest member. The blonde wolf howled into the night and bared her fangs to the red-haired sorceress, who was surprised by the creature in front of her.

"Bora!" Minji yelled as the blonde werewolf charged at her. Readying herself to use one of her magic spells, but luckily didn’t need to as she saw her attacker get forcefully pinned to the ground by a beastly brown-furred werewolf.

As Wheein made herself a distraction, Hyejin looked around to find her book and wand nearby and went to reach for them.

The sound of footsteps came from behind Minji, so she turned back to find her samurai friend, Yubin, running towards her. "Are you okay Jiu?"

"Yeah, it’s a good thing you two are here."

“You know we always got your back." Yubin looked around the area until she noticed something. “Uhh, Jiu, what is the girl with the book doing?”

“Huh?” Minji went to see what her friend meant and saw that one of her prisoners, was about to cast a spell. "NO!" The vampire rushed towards the witch, but it was too late, as everything around her, including herself, slowed to a stop.

As time stopped, Hyejin went to cast another spell to break the rock, that was binding her to the ground and ran towards Solar and Byulyi. She used the same spell to break the two's shackles and cast another to unfreeze Solar.

"What kind of magic was that?" The older woman questioned.

"A freezing spell, but only temporarily, so we have to act fast. You go grab Byul and I'll unfreeze Wheein."

"Why not unfreeze Byulyi instead of me? She’s must stronger and faster as I am."

"I’m not gonna unfreeze Byul. I doubt she’s going to allow us to run to her friend’s house."

“You’re right. Good thinking there.” Solar complimented and went to pick up Byul as Hyejin ran towards her werewolf friend.

Hyejin pointed her wand at Wheein and cast the unfreezing spell. The werewolf was relieved to be able to move again and pushed the other wolf off her. She transformed back into her human form and looked at Hyejin. "Was not expecting that."

Hyejin pat the top of Wheein’s head. "I don’t think any of us were expecting that. Now let's get going before the magic wears off." The raven-haired woman extended her hand for Wheein to take, to which the werewolf gladly did and they ran towards Solar who was patiently waiting for them as she held onto a time-frozen Byulyi.

"Why is Byulyi still frozen?" Wheein questioned as she pointed at the vampire.

"Cause we’re going to Byul's friend’s house and I don’t want her to stop us."

"Smart." Was the only thing the werewolf said before the three ran off towards the direction the vampire pointed at before and hoped it would lead them to the friend Byulyi talked about.
 

Sandeul was sleeping peacefully in the night until a loud knock rudely interrupted his sleep. Thinking it was just the wind, he tried to go back to sleep, but another loud knock and the faint calling of his name proved his suspicion wrong. He assumed the sound came from downstairs and became confused about who it could've been as he wasn't expecting any visitors.

"It sounds like it’s coming from downstairs," Sandeul said to himself as he got up from the bed. He wondered who it could have been as he wasn’t expecting any visitors. "Only one way to find out." he grabbed his bow and arrow and walked down the stairs to the front door.

He peaked out the window where the intruders wouldn't see him and spotted four people. One was knocking on the door, another stood by watching the person knock, and one person looked to be carrying their friend wrapped around their arm. Sandeul tilted his head at that, as he wondered what was the reason, but assumed they faced some witch or wizard. Another knock and he decided to open the door.

Sandeul slowly unlocked the door and stepped a few feet apart from the door. “The door is unlocked, come in,” he said as he readied his bow and arrow. The door slowly creaked opened to reveal four women, one of them he knew very well. “Byulyi?”

"She can't really say anything, you know, with her being frozen and all." The woman with long raven hair said as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Let me just unfreeze her.” Hyejin then pulled out her wand and said, “Viografikó chrónou.” Which unfroze the vampire.

"What the hell were you thinking? I told you to not come here. Now Sandeul could be in danger."

"Wait, what trouble did you get yourself into since the last time we saw each other?"

Byulyi froze for a second, then chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, you know the usual."

"I didn't know you usually become a criminal of kingdoms and get chased by the most dangerous mercenaries and possibly some guy who got you trouble with the kingdom," Yongsun said which earned her a glare from Byul, but it didn’t last for too long.

"Moon Byulyi, you did what!?!"

"L-look I can explain."

"Yeah, you do. What have you been up to during the two years we were apart?"

“I would love to tell you, but right now doesn’t seem like a good time. We need to leave, but before we do, do you have a map we can use?”

“I do, but can you at least tell me something? Like, have you been drinking anything?”

"No, I haven't been drinking blood. Now give me the map."

Sandeul rolled his eyes, but as promised went in the kitchen and came back with a map in one hand and a blood pouch in another. "See. How hard was that?"

"Very difficult." Byulyi saw the blood pouch on Sandeul's hand. "What's that for?"

"For you to drink of course."

"Oh, no. I am not drinking that.” Byulyi chided. “You know what happens if I drink that and we're in a rush to get out of here."

"Then use it as a way to fight them."

"No, that is not an option."

“Why don’t you drink the dang blood pouch? Are you cursed or something?” Hyejin asked. Byulyi looked at three women in front of her and quickly looked away. Although she did not say anything, Hyejin knew her suspicion was correct. "Then I guess we have no choice, but to stay here."

"What? No, we don't."

"I agree with Hye- I mean Hwasa," Yongsun said, remembering she had to use code names around Byulyi's friend. "The only way we were able to escape before was because they came in a small group and underestimated us, so Wheepup was able to distract them while Hwasa used her magic, but I doubt we'll able to do that again if we leave. Especially if they have to bring their whole group."

"So, what does me going berserk have to do about us staying in this house and risk the safety of my friend?"

"Well, we need one more element of surprise if we want to escape."

Byulyi then understood Solar's plan. "This better work then or your all dead and I can't have that on my conscious."

"Trust me, it will work."
 

Gahyeon watched the flames of the campfire, hoping for the return of her soon. Her wish came true when the sound of rustling was heard nearby, revealing Minji, Bora, Yubin, and a horse.

"Yay, you guys came back! I was getting worried for a minute there."

"Where're the four criminals?" Siyeon said as she tried to look at the captured horse for any of the four criminals.

"Let me guess," Yoohyeon said as she stood up. "We underestimated them again, and you guys got your handed to you."

"No need to be aggressive, cause they didn't want you to come along Yoohyeon," Handong said as she went to check the three for any injuries to heal back up.

Yoohyeon looked at their cleric, offended at what she just said to her. Her tail dropped, and she grumpily sat back down on her spot next to Gahyeon.

"We underestimated them, but only got frozen instead of a fist to the face." Minji looked at Yoohyeon's reaction and wasn't surprised to see the silver wolf offended at her now. "However, we later tracked them down and saw that they went to hide in a house."

"Then why didn't you went to get them?"

"Cause that house might be full of traps. We came back to gather the whole group if that's the case.

Yoohyeon's tail wagged fast at the mention of being included and stood back up quickly. "Then let's get going."

Minji laughed. "Of course."

"And this time we'll be prepared," Yubin added in. "Since we know their werewolf is small and isn't as strong, their witch is only strong with her book, and the vampire isn't all too powerful since she hasn't drunk anything for god knows how long."

"What about the short raven-haired woman? She has a higher bounty than the three combined."

"There are only two options for that. She was either a guard for the king and only had a high bounty for treason or she's actually a threat and we have to keep our guard up around her."

"Or she's a powerful ex guard," Bora added.

"Or that. Either way, we know some weaknesses about them and can use that to our advantage."

"Good observation Yubin," Minji said patting the samurai's back. "Now let's get us some criminals!" The six cheered along with their leader.
 

Byulyi sat still as her old-time friend, Sandeul, restrained her with metal chains and Hwasa casting a weakening spell, so the vampire couldn't easily break them when she goes berserk.

"Why did you stop Solar and Wheepup from coming down?" Byulyi questioned as Sandeul handed her three blood pouches. Then she looked at her friend, confused. "Why do I need three of these?"

"Because we need Wheepup to smell if any danger is nearby and unfortunately, she doesn't like to be by herself," Hyejin said as she made sure the shackles wouldn't be broken so easily.

"And you need three, cause you need to be strong when those mercenaries come over. I also don't know the next time you'll drink again, so hopefully, it would last you a few weeks before you starve again."

Byul rolled her eyes but knew he was right. After everything seemed okay on their end, they went up the stairs.

"Good luck up there," Byulyi said.

"Thanks, Good luck down here," Hyejin replied before she left the basement.

Once the vampire was by herself, she looked at the three blood pouches and was hesitant to drink one. She was always reminded of the first time she turned into a vampire and how it changed her life for the worse. She cautiously grabbed a pouch and as she looked at it, she thought she could faintly hear the screams of her victims. She shook her head, making the voices slowly disappear. "I had no control over my curse back then, so I shouldn't beat myself up because of it now. Not when my friends need me to drink these. Here goes nothing." She then bites into the pouch, satisfying her thirst.

Yongsun sat on a chair, checking the map Sandeul gave her as she watched as Wheein stare out the window. She was disappointed when she was told that she had to stay up here, so the werewolf wouldn't be alone, but understood why and did what she was told. The sound of the basement door opening caught her and Wheein's attention. Hyejin took a seat next to Wheein while Sandeul took a seat next to Yongsun on a separate chair of his own.

"Now while we wait for those mercenaries to come here, why don't we get to know each other. My name is Sandeul."

"Solar. Bleach blonde is Wheepup and the one that isn't blonde is Hwasa."

Wheein crossed her arms."It's actually Wheein, not Wheepup."

"Ah, I see you're using code names. Smart, the less I know about you the better."

"That's exactly what Byul said," Hyejin said. Understanding that the two are most defiantly friends.

With introductions finished, Yongsun decided that now was a good time to ask important questions she knew she wasn't gonna get from the vampire. "Speaking of Byul. How and when did you two become close and when and why did you two split?"

"Of course she wouldn't say anything about me. Probably wanting to be seen as mysterious as always." Sandeul laughed, but Yongsun noticed that he sounded hurt through that dry laugh."We met when we were kids and I helped her escaped from our town when they tried to kill her. We started to bond while we tried to find a place to call home. As you can see I found a place I could call home, but it wasn't for her, so we split."

Yongsun raised an eyebrow. "Why was the town trying to kill her?"

There was silence in the room. The man seemed to be contemplating if he should tell these three the story as to why. Instead, he just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. That's something Byulyi should say, not me. All I can say was that it was on the day she became a vampire." Sandeul thought he had said too much with the last part, but wanted them to get an udea what happened in case Byulyi does decide tells them. In that case, hopefully, his hint would make the three not too surprised about what she had done. He now wanted to change the subject. "So have you guys been traveling for a long time?"

Hyejin shook her head. "No, I think it's been about a week since we ran away as a group."

"I see, want to tell me about your week of adventure while we wait?"

"Sure." Hyejin then told the man about their experiences while Wheein slept on the witch's shoulder and Yongsun stared blankly at the map. She realized there was so many things she doesn't know about Byulyi from her seemingly dark past to her favorite color and yet, it didn't stop her from being drawn to the vampire. She couldn't really explain why she felt that way or maybe she did but didn't want to address as it would reveal something about herself. Something she thought she could never feel. She shook that thought away, as it was already distracting her.

Hyejin noticed the uneasiness in Yongsun. "Is everything alright Solar?"

"Y-yeah. I was just wondering why some vampires, like Byul, could go on a berserk rampage while some can drink blood just fine."

"Well, to give you a term, Byulyi is a cursed vampire and the only ways I know on how a vampire can become cursed is if they unwillingly drink from a vampire's blood or the vampire turning them was murdered by someone else or by them."

"Either one of those sound terrible," Yongsun said as she felt sick at the thought of Byulyi becoming cursed because of either one of those options. She assumed Byulyi must have been terrified during her turn. "Do you know how long do these rampages last?"

"Depends how much she drank. She should have drunk all three of the blood pouches, so it'll take three hours until becomes her normal self again."

Sandeul peaked around the room and found the other two women asleep, using each other as support. He smiled looking at the two and turned his attention back at Solar. "You seem to care about Byul."

A faint blush ran across Yongsun's face, so the woman turned away in order for Byulyi's friend to not see. "Well, we all have to trust each other if we want to make it out of this mess alive. "

"That sounds about right, but that's somethings Byulyi isn't really good at." Sandeul chuckled. "But it's nice knowing that she's giving it a try at least. Also glad that there are people out there keeping an eye on her and trying to keep her out of trouble."

Now it was Yongsun's turn to laugh. "Sorry to disappoint, but we haven't kept her out of trouble at all."

"That's why I said try."

The two laughed at that, but their laughs were cut short when Wheein called for their attention. "I smell something."

"Can you smell how many?"

"Around seven people I think."

"Okay guys, get ready for a fight," Yongsun said as she went to reach for her sword. "Hwasa stay close to Sandeul, Wheein you stay near me."

Hyejin and Wheein did what they were told with Hyejin standing beside Sandeul and Wheein standing behind the ex guard.

Yongsun went to open the door but was surprised to find no one. She looked out the door to find nothing.

"I smell smoke," Wheein said.

Yongsun went to sniff the air as well and the smell of smoke was very evident. "Do you think they're trying to burn down the house?"

"No, it was just used as a distraction" Someone from behind the four as they cast a spell that shot out a fireball at them.

Yongsun along with the others were able to move away from the flames just in time. However, when Yongsun stepped outside the door to dodged the flying fireball, she got immediately got pinned to the ground by a silver werewolf, dropping her sword. Wheein transformed into her beastly wolf form and shoved the silver wolf off of the ex-guard, but got pushed by another wolf with navy blue fur.

"Wheein!" Hyejin yelled as she went to cast a spell, but dropped her book as she was pushed forcefully from the side.

Minji went to pick up the fallen book. "Looking for this?" The woman said with a smirk and Hyejin never knew she would find someone other than Byulyi that she wanted to punch in the face. The red haired vampire handed the book to Handong and looked around the room to find the human and werewolf pinned on the ground by Yoohyeon and Siyeon and the witch trapped in Bora's grasp. She was surprised to see that Moonbyul was nowhere in sight, with some random man taking her place as he was restrained by Yubin. Minji walked over to the long raven-haired woman, with fire in her hand. "Where's the vampire?"

"In the basement," Hyejin said, hoping that her sounding frightened would be convincing enough to try and lower down their guard.

It seemed to have worked as the flame on Minji's hand died out. "Show me."

Hyejin led Minji and Bora to the basement door. Minji walked in first and was confused when she saw Moonbyul chained and in a corner. Suddenly she was shoved further into the basement and was instantly jumped on by the vampire. Sharpened fangs and red glowing eyes made Minji's suspicion about Moonbyul being cursed correct and of the few things she was proven wrong on, she was hoping that would be one of them.

"Jiu!" Bora yelled and let go of Hwasa as she rushed to Minji's side. Transforming into her beastly wolf form to fight off the cursed vampire.

Hyejin took this opportunity to run back upstairs and close the door. She hoped Byulyi's strong enough to fight a werewolf and a powerful sorcerer.

"Hey, where's Sua and Jiu?" Handong asked.

"With Moonbyul of course," Hyejin said as she ran towards Handong. The cleric was surprised by the woman's action that she couldn't react fast enough to stop the witch from taking back her book. "Hah," Hyejin yelled and was about to cast a spell, but the door behind her exploded into flames.

"My house!" Sandeul screamed.

"Gahyeon!" Yubin yelled. "Sua and Jiu need that doorway to get out there!"

"I wasn't trying to aim for the door. I was trying to aim at the other witch."

"You can't explode me!" Hyejin yelled when she got her composure. She felt very hot from behind and looked to find the door had caught on fire and spreading fast. "Oh no." She then quickly stood up and ran into the kitchen where there was hopefully a backdoor she could escape from.

"Hey, get back here!" Gahyeon yelled and was about to go after her when Handong stopped her.

"Forget her, we have to get out of here!"

Yoohyeon transformed back to a human. "Jiu is still in the basement," Yoohyeon spoke.

"She has Bora," Handong replied.

"Bora isn't as strong as me," Yoohyeon said as she got up and ran towards the door to kick it open. She couldn't live with herself if something bad happens to Jiu. Sure the vampire could handle herself, but she wanted to be sure that her friend had a more suitable person by her side.

"That was easy." Yongsun thought to herself. She then heard someone call her name and turned her head to find Hyejin. She turned her head to look at Wheein who seemed to know what the ex guard was thinking.

"Don't worry about me, just go."

With the okay, Yongsun got up and ran out the door to meet up with Hyejin.

"Yoohyeon, you idiot, you just let the target get away," Handong yelled, she then took a deep breath, to calm herself down. "It doesn't matter, the rest of us should get out and wait for them."

The three agreed and followed Handong outside where they met Hyejin who cast a time-frozen spell. Hyejin fell but was able to save herself with her knee. She was exhausted from casting the magic twice now and using the unfreezing spell multiple times plus the two she used on Wheein and Sandeul.

Once unfrozen, she thanked her friend, then looked around to find someone missing. "Where's Solar?"

"Right here." Yongsun came out of a bush from afar and ran towards the three.

"Moonbyul is still inside," Sandeul said as he looked at his burning house with saddened eyes.

"I'll go in there and help Byul, you three stay here and hide, in case those four become unfrozen."

"No, we should come with. That sorceress is strong." Hyejin said as she tried to get back up but fell. Luckily Wheein was able to catch her before she fell on her face.

"You are in no position to fight, just leave this to Solar."

"Let me come with," Sandeul said.

"No, you stay here and keep an eye on those two."

"But you might need back up."

"I'll be fine. I won't hear the end of it from, Moonbyul if anything happens to you."

As much as Sandeul wanted to disagree, something in the ex guard made him, begrudgingly agree to stay. As he watched Solar enter the burning house he called home and thought about how lucky his friend was to have someone like Solar. He smirked remembering when Byul said she would never make a friend during her adventure to find a place to call home, but here she was with not only one, but three. Turns out people can change in two years.
 

Minji knelt down as she was recovering from a wound she received across her stomach by the vampire in front of her. The rampaging vampire throwing a beastly werewolf Bora onto the wall next to her, causing the wolf to cry out in pain. "You basted I'll make you regret doing that." She then tried again to cast out a fire spell to surround the vampire, but like the other two times, the cursed vampire ran threw it, ignoring all burns all over her body as she was able to quickly heal them right after, and went to attack the sorceress again.

Minji was luckily able to dodge a fatal attack at her neck. Never in her years of being a mercenary has she had this much trouble fighting someone. Not even cursed vampires were this difficult. The vampire did immense damage even when shackled with weakening spells, to which the sorceress wondered about the cursed vampire's true strength with those spells shackling her power. This is the first time in such a long time that Minji thought she was gonna die.

She went to cast her rocky shackles on the cursed vampire again, making sure her whole feet were trapped in the ground and went to grab her unconscious werewolf. A sudden explosion from upstairs shocked her as she wondered what was going on. She then smelled smoke and realized there was a fire and quickly tried to get out, but Bora's beastly werewolf form made it difficult for her to get out immediately.

Minji was near the stairs and about to go up the first step when Byul broke all her restraints and ran towards the two. The sorceress knew she wasn't gonna be fast enough to get up the stairs to escape, so she threw her friend as far as she could, which wasn't as far as she hoped, and took the full force of the cursed vampire as she pounced on her.

Moonbyul went to bite her neck, but Minji used her arm to block her from doing so and screamed in pain. She felt a sharp pain on her right side and saw that one of Byul's hand was stabbing into it. Another hand of the cursed vampire went for her face, but the sorceress was able to use her left hand to stop the attack. However, the vampire went to crush the hand, causing it to bleed, with her fingernails digging into the skin and cracking the bones inside.

Yoohyeon entered the basement to see Bora on the bottom of the stairs, unconscious. Her blood was boiling now just looking at her friend hurt and was then alerted by the sound of screaming who she knew very well who it belonged. "Jiu!?!" Yoohyeon yelled as she turned into her beastly wolf form and ripped the cursed vampire off her screaming friend. "Get away from her!"

"Yoohyeon?" Minji weakly said. She was losing consciousness from the loss of blood from her arm, hand, and side, but couldn't allow herself to pass out right now with the smell of smoke becoming stronger. She weakly got up and went to grab Bora. Screaming in pain as she had to use her crushed hand to get the werewolf wrapped around her shoulder. "Thanks for the save, but don't forget we need her alive."

"Then let's hope vampires can regrow organs when ripped out."

Minji wasn't going to argue with the silver wolf. She needed to get her and Bora out of this first, then she'll scold Yoohyeon if she killed the vampire. Going up the stairs was proven to be very diffucult to get up when you're carrying a large werewolf with your side bleeding out, but she finally was able to get up the stairs. Fire spreading around her, but thankfully as a powerful sorceress, she was able to move the flames to the side as she made her path to the front door. However, she couldn't leave as someone blocked her only escape.

"Well, are you going to kill me?"

"No. I'm not here for you."

Minji chuckled. "You know if you let me leave, I won't stop hunting you."

"I don't care. You can hunt me all you want, but I will clear my name before you turn me in."

"Clear your name?" Minji was confused. What criminal would try to clear their name? All of a sudden the pain on her side proved to be too much and she collapsed. She felt arms wrap around her and noticed that she along with Bora were being carried out. "Why are you helping us?"

"Cause I said I wasn't going to kill you, so I'm saving you instead."

Those words made Minji have this new found respect for this woman. These four proved to be more interesting than any criminal they hunted. She wondered if it was really worth it to capture them. She was then placed far enough away from the house. "Thanks, stranger."

"Call me Solar. You two stay here and rest, I'll be back."

"Are you going back in the burning fire?"

"I have to. My friend is in there."

"You might get stuck in there."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"You sure are something, Solar. Glad I didn't capture you. Give me your hand." She raised her broken hand for the raven-haired woman to take and winced a bit when she did. Heat started to form under her hand and the ex guard quickly retracted her hand from the pain. "Sorry, I just gave you a small fire spell in order to move the flames, but that's about it, so don't think about burning me when your done saving your friend."

"I... thank you," Solar said as she felt the heat left her hand. For some odd reason, the heat felt familiar, but had no recollection of it, so she pushed it aside and got up to leave, but heard her name being called by the tired sorceress.

"I know it might be too much, but can you also save my friend as well?"

Solar was hesitant to answer but agreed to it and for a second she saw the sorceress smile before she left. She hoped she was doing the right thing. Yongsun rushed back in the burning building and just like the last time she was inside, she felt a hint of deja vu, like she had been through this before, but couldn't remember exactly what. Ignoring something that was probably hidden from her past memories, she pressed on and later found the entrance to the basement covered in fire. She shielded her eyes from the fire. "Okay, let's see if this will work," Solar said to herself and with her newfound magic from Jiu, was able to move the fire aside with ease. She was amazed that she was able to move it but quickly shook her head, remembering that she needed to save Byul first.

Entering the basement she was stunned to find the silver wolf and Byul heaving. The curse starting to fade as the vampire's eyes faded glowing red to brown eyes. She rushed to her friend's side and saw many scratch marks on her shirt, but no wounds. "Come on Byul, let's get out of here before we're burned alive."

Byulyi felt like she was about to pass out, until someone with a sweet scent came near her. Making her feel reenegized, just by the smell. She looked up to notice it was none other than Solar and as much as her instinct for the ex guard's blood was strong, her will to fight it was stronger. Finding something to distract her nature, she noticed the silver wolf who attacked her unconcious. "What about her?"

Solar looked at the now passed out wolf. "Her too. Can you stand?"

"Yeah." Byul stood up and the two went to Yoohyeon's side to help her out the building as fast as possible. However, their only exit was blocked by large flames. ", we're blocked out."

"Not for long." Solar used her magic again to move tye fire again, which surprised the vampire.

"I thought you were a magicless human? How did you learn to do that?"

"Long story, which I'll tell you after we get out, okay?"

"Oh, you better." The two got out and placed the passed out werewolf next to her other friends. "Hey, thanks for coming back and saving us. I don't think I would have made it if you didn't show up."

Yongsun smiled softly. "You saved me before, so I thought I'd return the favor."

"I guess that calls us even?"

"I guess so. Though I do hope that doesn't stop you from saving me."

"Never. I'd always come to your aid." Byulyi said, mirroring Yongsun face with a soft smile of her own.

"Same."

The two intimately looked at each other. Like something between the two changed. Their moment was cut short however when they were threatened by a sword pointed at them. The two if them raising their hand in surrender.

"Stay where you are." A woman with midlength brown hair said as she pointed her katana at them.

"Maybe we should have left before they got unfrozen."

"That would've been a smarter idea."

"Let them go Dami." Jiu said as she was getting healed by Handong.

"What, but two of our targets are right here."

"I can see that." Minji then looked at Solar, then back at Dami. "But they saved the three of us, so let them go."

Yubin looked at Minji in disbelief. She thought her leader lost her mind, but no matter how crazy she was, she followed orders anyway and lowered her sword.

"Think of this as repayment for saving our asses. Now go, before I change my mind."

"Thank you." Yongsun grabbed Byulyi's hand and they ran off into the forest.

"Are we at least gonna go after them?"

Minji watched as the two ran off. "We are, I just think it would be rude to capture the people who saved you. We're mercenaries with a code, not savages, so we can be patient."

"Should we do something about this fire, I totally didn't start?" Gahyeon nervously chuckled.

"Of course! We can't let a forest fire happen. Someone find a lake, so I can hose this out."
 

When Solar rushed in the building, the three ran inside Sandeul's barn to hide. After a while of hiding with no one talking, Wheein couldn't take it anymore and broke the silence. "Do you think Solar will be okay?" Wheein asked Hyejin.

"Of course she will, she's strong for a human."

"And she'll have Byulyi with her," Sandeul added.

"I guess you two are right." Wheein smiled, thinking the two would be just fine, and she was overreacting. Her smile went away when she noticed Sandeul's saddened face and remembered that his house was burning. "Hey, Sandeul, I just want to say that I'm sorry about your house?"

"It's all right Wheein, you didn't burn it and I knew about the risk when I went to help you guys out, so don't beat yourself for it too much."

"But it's your house and no one should have their home taken away from them."

"I promise it's all right. I can always fix it up with the animals I have in here."

"If you say so."

While Sandeul and Wheein talked amongst each other, Hyejin walked around the barn they were hiding in. Some animals were asleep while some were woken up by the creaky door the three of them entered through. Many animals were inside, like pigs, cows, and one horse. "I don't think you could fit all five of us on your back, so you can stay here and relax."

Her attention was averted from the horse by the sound of mooing. She turned to look at what seemed to be a mother cow as her calf was drinking from her utter and wondered what life would have been like to be a barn animal. Probably not well since there was a chance you would become someone's lunch. The mother cow mooed at her, so she mooed right back and the two went to go into a chat with Hyejin, not understanding a single thing. Her action seemed to have been noticed by the other two as they laughed. "Why are you laughing? Mama moo over here wanted to talk."

"Betsey is a talker. Wait, did you just say Mama moo?"

"Yeah, I didn't know her name, and she moos a lot so..."

"That's a silly name for a cow Hwasa." A light bulb then went off in Wheein's head. "A silly enough name to use as our team name!"

"What? No, we are not using Mamamoo as our team name. It's ridiculous."

"Exactly, it's perfect."

Sandeul chuckled at the two's conversation. "Seems like Byul made you go searching for silly name hunting."

"Did you guys have one for the two of you?"

"No, just Byulyi and Sandeul."

Hyejin groaned. "You two were boring as kids, why did Byulyi have to change."

Everyone laughed at that. Their laughing was cut short when the door of the barn opened, revealing the two other members.

"Byulyi! Solar! You guys are okay!" Wheein yelled as she and Hyejin rushed towards the two into a big embrace.

"Of course we're okay, No fire can stop a strong vampire like me."

"I can't believe I was worried about this narcissistic vampire," Hyejin said through tears.

"Awww, I missed you too Hyejin." Byulyi looked up at her friend who smiled at her. She pulled herself from the hugs and walked towards her friend with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry about your house. I know how much you loved it."

"It's alright. You know I'm willing to burn my house again if it meant you would be safe after."

Byulyi chuckled. "I know, but I hope we don't have to do it a third time."

"Wait, your one arson crime was because you burned your friend's house?"

"Yeah, who knew alcohol creates more fire."

"I want to know how you came to that assumption, but right now we got to leave before the mercenaries decide to chase after us again."

"Right, that sounds like a good idea. Sandeul you should come with too. You need to go into hiding until it's safe."

"Don't worry, I was planning to," Sandeul said as he went to follow the four women out the barn. Hoping his animals will be okay while he's gone. Maybe his hideout town will have some nice person willing to help some guy.

"Oh, Byulyi I think I found the perfect name for our team."

"Tell it to us then Wheepup."

"Mamamoo."

Both Byulyi and Solar laughed at that. "How did you come to a name like that?"

"Hwasa called a cow Mama moo."

"Makes sense. I think we found a winner for our team name."

"I don't know about that you two."

"Come on Solar. Imagine people saying to beware of the four criminals named Mamamoo. Those people won't take us seriously no matter how high our bounty is and then bam, we show them whose boss and walk out with a far more gold in our pockets."

Yongsun rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. "Of course this is all some ploy to get more coins, but being able to have the upper hand when the enemy's guard is down is a good idea. Fine, our team name can be Mamamoo."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah."

Wheein and Byul cheered. Hyejin wondered what she had done to be the reason why their name is Mamamoo. Solar was busy admiring Byulyi's smile which Sandeul seemed to have noticed. Though he kept it to himself as he wondered how long it would take for those two to notice their feelings for one another.
 

"I wonder why they burned this house down?" Enzo said as he walked towards the burning house in front of him.

"Do you think they're trying to hide their tracks?"

Enzo touched the burnt materials to get a vision of what had transpired here. After seeing the event that had taken place, he stood up. "I doubt it. I believe they had a run in with the infamous Dreamcatcher."

Raven cursed under her breath. If the mercenary group captures their targets, their effort will be for nothing. She couldn't allow this, no matter what. She looked around the area to find a barn and to be sure her suspicions were correct she went inside and was glad to find a horse. "I hope your owner doesn't mind me borrowing you."
 

Byulyi, Yongsun, Wheein, Hyejin, and Sandeul stood in the forest next to the town. The area was a good place for Sandeul to hide in until his house was rebuilt. This is where they'll say their goodbyes to him in case anyone knows about the four's bounty and associate him with them.

"I guess this is where we part ways, huh, Byulyi?" Sandeul said as he looked into the town.

"Sadly it is, but it's hopefully temporary."

Sandeul chuckled and pulled his old and close friend in a tight embrace like this could be their last encounter with each other. "You be safe out there and the next time you visit, make sure you aren't running from anyone dangerous, okay?"

Byulyi returned the hug as she chuckled. "I'll make sure there are no dangerous people the next time I visit."

They pulled away, and the four waved farewell to Sandeul as he walked towards the town.

Once he was out of view, Wheein went to ask an important question. "So how are we gonna quickly get to our destination with no horses?"

"Well, there's a simple answer for a simple question."

Yongsun looked at the vampire suspiciously. "And what would that be?"

The smirk on Byul's face made the other three uneasy. And they were right to be, cause now they were being chased by a mob from the town with two stolen horses.

"Why did I agree to this?!?" Yongsun yelled as she hid her face on Byul's back.

"Cause I'm rubbing off on you guys!" Byulyi said with a laugh. Clearly having fun.

"That's not a good thing!"

"Sure it is! Woo hoo!"

Yongsun screamed as she clung to Byulyi's waist. Hyejin and Wheein's screams right beside her and even though she was terrified, she would be lying if she wasn't having a bit of fun. Maybe the vampire was right. She was rubbing off on her and for some odd reason, she somehow didn't seem to mind that at all.

Uhhh, I'm sorry for this chapter being long, but there was no way I couldn't shorten it without giving you guys a 2000 worded chapter for the first part 😭 and I thought that would be ridiculous since you guys probably waited for this chapter for a while now. I promise I was writing it with a bit of procrastinating. I had it finished a few days ago, but changed almost the entire thing when editing it, so I apologize. Hopefully, this long chapter with some moonsun and wheesa moments will make up for the two month wait.

I hope you all are doing well and staying safe, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.