Hyungsik hadn’t needed long to locate them thanks to Jisung’s tip. With the human’s name, he had found her address fairly quickly.

The sky was turning dark as the sun set. Streetlamps illuminated the quiet neighborhood. He walked closer to the building, feeling traces of light magic in the air.

Since Hyungsik knew that he would alert them both to his presence if he came too close, he stayed at a distance and observed from afar. This way, none of them would sense any danger. They’d be in blissful obliviousness to him stalking them, and that would allow him to strike when they least expected it. He planned on using their biggest weakness against them and he was sure to win.

Baëkhyun and Minji were early when they arrived at the nightclub. The Halloween party that took place tonight had drawn in lots of people who were dressed up more or less fittingly to the occasion. The club was a popular place and getting tickets had been difficult for Minji, but Jisoo had gotten lucky and saved two for Minji and Baëkhyun. Jisoo would come a bit later and bring a group of friends to party together.

The nightclub consisted of several large halls. One of them contained a bar and seating areas where Minji and Baëkhyun planned to get drinks to start off the night. The furniture, walls, and floors were completely black and illuminated by ruby lights on the ceiling. Halloween decorations covered the tables and the bar.

Minji excitedly led Baëkhyun to one of the tables at the side of the hall where they would be a bit farther away from the other humans. She knew that he didn’t like them. His expression turned sour whenever one came too close or dared to touch him. He was drawing attention with his looks as was normally the case, but this time, the same applied to her. Minji had put effort into her costume and it was noticed. The only thing that annoyed her a bit was the chain on her face. She had no idea how he wore that kind of thing every single day. It drove her crazy.

They sat down, and Baëkhyun smirked when he saw her pulling at it. He cupped her face with his hands, leaning his forehead against hers. “What are you doing, sugar? Leave it be,” he chuckled. “You’re messing it up.”

“I’m not used to being a demon. Don’t blame me,” she replied cheekily.

“Do you need some help, huh?” he mumbled while he rearranged the chain so it wasn’t askew anymore. “Now it’s better.”

“Didn’t know you were such a perfectionist,” she teased.

“Says the one who took half an hour to fix my braids,” he countered, raising his eyebrows. “You’re one to talk, sugar.”

“You totally loved it, though. You even told me to do it again!”

He put his chin on his hand and watched her, a pout on his lips. “No. I don’t recall that.”

“Baëkhyun, I swear. Don’t play that card now.” His mocking grin demanded to be wiped off his face, and she already knew how.

“Well, I’m not surprised your memory is that bad… how old are you again?” she asked.

“Minji, how would I know?”

“You don’t even know??” she gaped at him.

“Demons don’t care about their age. We just stop counting when we reach one hundred, I guess.”

She found that so weird that she began to laugh, her brown eyes sparkling cheerfully. “You sure are strange.”

“Special,” he corrected smugly.

“Mhm, yeah. That too,” she smiled. “Hyunnie, would you do me a favor?” Her sweet as honey voice and the use of that dreaded pet name were telltale signs to him that she was about to make him do something annoying.

The demon sighed deeply. “Tell me what it is,” he grumbled.

“Can you get us something to drink at the bar, please?” she asked, batting her lashes at him and giving the sweetest smile she could muster (which probably looked unfitting given her current outfit and make-up).

“Why?” he whined. “I don’t want to.”

“I said please,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, so?”

“Ugh, you are one stubborn man,” she muttered. “Okay, so how about this: If you get drinks for us, then I’ll make a strawberry shortcake for you tomorrow. Sound good?”

He paused after hearing that and looked as if he was contemplating it, but he didn’t agree yet.

“It’ll be all yours, okay? You can eat the entire thing alone,” she added.

He grinned, looking satisfied with that. “Deal,” he replied. “What kind of drink do you want, sugar?”

“I don’t know, surprise me,” she said. He got up and walked towards the bar, dodging several drunk humans along the way.

While she waited for him, Minji looked around for a bit, watching the other people nearby. It seemed that some witches were present among the humans, and she also saw the glowing red eyes of a vampire in the crowd, but other than that, she spotted no supernatural beings. Perhaps they preferred the other two halls where the dancefloors were, or they just hated Halloween in general and stayed away.

She leaned back and let her eyes move over the crowd. A smile bloomed on her lips when she realized how easy it had been to get him to change his mind with the promise of cake. He was a demon with very weird preferences. And thankfully, she knew how to use them against him when he was stubborn. She hadn’t made cake in a while and looked forward to that since she enjoyed baking.

When she noticed someone walking up to her, she turned her head only to come face to face with a stranger. She figured he had mistaken her for someone else, but he didn’t move away. And she soon found out what his intentions were.

“Are you here alone?” he asked, smirking confidently. He was human, and apparently the obnoxious type of person. Just great.

“No,” she said repellently, not gracing him with her attention. She kept her eyes fixed on the wall opposite her and didn’t budge from her seat at the table, but the guy wasn’t deterred.

“It looks that way. I could keep you company,” he said persistently and inched closer, making her snap her head around abruptly. Icily glaring at him, she swatted his hand away when he tried to touch her.

“No, thank you. I advise you to leave before you piss off my boyfriend,” she warned him. “He tends to be violent with people like you.”

“Are you playing hard to get?” the guy insisted. “I’m sure you dressed up like this because you’re looking for company.”

“Leave me alone!” she hissed. She despised men like him who didn’t know what no meant, and she would make sure to show him exactly that. She was no longer the defenseless woman that she had been before. Much had changed since she’d broken up with Dongmin. A human wouldn’t scare her anymore. After all, she had fought demons and all kinds of supernatural creatures when she’d been hunting with Tao. The skills she had learned were valuable and she would use them when needed.

Therefore, she considered summoning her magic to scare the jerk. Teaching him a lesson sounded like a good idea. Hopefully would keep him from pestering other women too.

“Come on, don’t be such a bore,” he grumbled, slowly losing his patience. Simultaneously, her irritation grew and grew. She curled her lips in distaste. Some of her light magic gathered in her palm.

But in the end, someone else was faster. Furious demonic magic surged behind her, the kind she was very familiar with.

“What do you think you’re doing, human?” Baëkhyun’s steely voice snapped as he put himself between her and the stranger. He stood with his back to her, but she knew even without seeing his face that his eyes were bloodred.

“I warned you,” Minji smirked, not intending to hold the demon back in any way. That idiot had asked for trouble when he hadn’t listened to her, so now he had to deal with the aftermath.

“W-Who are you?” the guy stuttered, taking a step back and realizing that he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

“Why would I tell a filthy human my name?” Baëkhyun growled lowly, staring him down. “I should kill you for pestering her.”

“K-Kill?” the stranger echoed horrified. The magical pressure building around him weighed on his body. Since he couldn’t explain the strange sensation, it made him panic. “I-Isn't that a bit much? L-Look, I was just… talking to her,” he scrambled to explain himself.

“Murder seems like an adequate punishment,” Baëkhyun’s sharp voice said. He was completely serious about this, his ruthlessness terrifying the man.

He decided not to stick around for longer, his heels and vanished into the crowd. Baëkhyun annoyedly clicked his tongue, considering to follow him since he’d easily catch him, but he left him be when Minji tugged at his jacket. Finally turning to her, he was surprised to see an actual smile on her lips.

“You gave him a run for his money,” she giggled. “Really scary. For a moment I thought you wanted to kill him for real.”

“I was planning to murder him,” Baëkhyun deadpanned, keeping the steely and slightly bloodthirsty glint in his eyes.

“O-Oh. Well… That’s… not very surprising, now that I think about it,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I had it under control, though. You didn’t have to interfere.”

“I can’t have you dirty your pretty hands with filth like him,” he grumbled and sighed, his anger fading. “He’s gone now, at least.”

He put down the drinks he got for them on the table and sat beside her, keeping his arm around her body so she could lean into him.

“Thank you for getting us something to drink,” she smiled and tried her cocktail, liking its fruity taste. It was a bloody red color, the glass decorated with little pumpkins, and even the straw was Halloween-themed, having orange and black stripes. “Can I try yours too?” she asked, curiously eyeing his neon-green drink.

“Go ahead,” he answered and pushed it over. She took the glass and nipped at the liquid, noting that it contained vodka.

“Not bad,” she grinned, but before she could try more, he’d already taken the glass from her hands.

“That’s all you’re getting, sugar. I don’t want to babysit you again when you get drunk,” he said mockingly. “And I’m sure you don’t want to embarrass yourself like that another time.”

“Why? What did I do last time?” she asked, dipping her head in his direction. He gently traced the apple of her cheek with his fingers, smirking as he recalled the day at the beach. That she didn’t even remember what had happened only proved to him that she was bad at handling alcohol and shouldn’t have too much of it.

“Let me think… you did a lot, I don’t even know where to start,” he teased.

“Baëkhyun!” she complained poutily. “Just tell me.”

“If you ask nicely, I might,” he replied, his smirk being nothing but evil. “Why don’t you beg for it?”

She gritted her teeth, much too stubborn to actually do that. “No, I won’t.”

“Too bad, then you won’t ever find out what you did,” he continued to . “But keep in mind that everybody saw how you made a fool of yourself.”

Her cheeks flushed. Could he for once not make fun of her? “I want to know!”

It was easy to see that he wouldn’t change his mind about this, so she decided to change her approach. “Hyunnie?” she asked and pouted at him while he groaned at the hated nickname. “I’m going to be very sad if you don’t tell me. My heart is going to break! Do you want that to happen, huh?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

She inched closer to him and rested her hand on his chest, lightly tugging at the lapel of his jacket. “If you’re mean to me, then I might just ask someone else to accompany me next time I go to a party.”

That finally got his attention, but his reaction was different than what she’d expected. “You don’t mean that,” he smirked confidently, breathing a soft kiss in the exposed skin of her neck. “Because I know that I’ve wrapped you around my finger.”

She gaped at him, falling open. “It’s true, sugar,” he drawled. “No point in denying it.”

Oozing confidence, he smirked at her. She didn’t know what to say to that because he was right. She was just too proud to admit it. So much for her plan to make him spill… like this, she would never find out...

She crossed her arms. “That’s so mean of you,” she mumbled. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“If you beg, I will,” he reminded her and slyly raised his eyebrows when she didn’t answer. “I’m waiting,” he added.

“Tao would have treated me nicer,” she blurted before she thought twice about her words. Baëkhyun’s eye color changed from blue to red in a second.

“Why would you bring that hunter up now?” he muttered. The anger and jealousy he felt didn’t stay hidden from her. It came crash