Hyunjin reached one of the entrances of Samcheong Park and stared into the dark sky before stepping in. Her eyes focused on the full moon, the embodiment of her Goddess, her guardian and guiding force. But the clouds were high and dense, not letting it show through at its brightest.

She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath through her nose, searching for the smell she knew too well. And there it was. It was faint, but she could track it.

Opening her eyes, feeling them adapt to the darkness of the night, she sprinted forward. With the scent becoming more vivid as she reached deeper into the woods, now mixed with a stronger smell of grass and dirt, Hyunjin halted and listened. The faint rustle of leaves, the hurried steps coming from somewhere not too far to her right. The sound and scent were clearer as she rushed through the trees.

He could probably feel Hyunjin's scent as well by now, but he stopped. Hyunjin couldn’t hear more steps, but the smell only got stronger.

But now... there was another scent. One Hyunjin didn’t know.

Her feet darted out of place. She couldn’t be too late, she couldn’t let anyone get hurt, or worse. She was near. He was so close, just behind those trees.

Hyunjin stopped on her tracks behind a wide tree. Her eyes widened at the girl holding two curved blades, too long to be knives, and too short to be swords. The one on her right hand faced upwards, and the one on her left faced backwards, her fingers gripping so hard on the handles it had turned her knuckles white. Her eyes were open and alert, and her eyebrows knitted together as she took small steps around, her eyes trying to face everywhere at the same time.

What was a slayer doing there?

A sudden rattle came from the branches and leaves above. Before thinking, Hyunjin took her gun out, feeling the coldness of the moon stone engraved on its handle against her hot palm. She came out from her hiding spot and lunged forward, just in time to stop the vampire from jumping on the girl. Her body collapsed against his, the both falling to the ground, tumbling and rolling around. Hyunjin jumped on her feet, but he was fast to do so as well.

His eyes gleamed red in the darkness of the night, and his fangs peeked through his dropped chin.

“Aren’t you one of my kind?” he asked. “You should know better than to mess with your comrades’ dinners, Miss. That’s just rude.”

Hyunjin didn’t answer. Instead, she charged forward again, faster than he would ever anticipate. She grabbed on his arm and twirled him around, his back hitting the ground with a loud thud, and pressed on his neck with her combat boots.

“No. I’m not one of your kind,” Hyunjin spat, pointing her gun at him.

He irked an eyebrow and let out a dry chuckle, mixed with a cough from how Hyunjin pressed harder on his neck. “Doesn’t matter if you kill me. My mission’s already done.”

Hyunjin widened her eyes. She gritted her teeth, feeling her own fangs prickling on her lower lip, and was about to pull the trigger when she heard steps behind her. She turned, just in time to dodge one of the girl’s blades from above. One second after, her left blade sunk into the vampire’s chest before he could even stand up.

She pulled her blade up with a loud slash, and his body dried in a few seconds, the flesh turning into ash and blending into the ground underneath.

“You just took my hunt,” Hyunjin said.

The girl faced Hyunjin, and she took a second to properly look at the slayer’s face. At her clenched jaw, at her eyes that looked into hers as if she wanted to kill her too. She took a step forward, swinging her blade again, and Hyunjin jumped back, frowning at her.

“Seriously? I just saved you.”

She ignored her and swung her blades. Hyunjin dodged again, sighing.

“I didn’t ask for help,” the girl said, her voice so deep Hyunjin thought someone else talked instead of her. “Aren’t you a vampire?”

“Yes, and?”

The girl stopped, the frown creasing her forehead.

Steps. Hyunjin heard steps approaching. With a bigger impulse, she jumped upwards, landing smoothly on a high branch, squatting and hiding between the leaves.

Two more girls appeared. “Heejin!” one of them said. “Did you... did you kill him?”

Hyunjin squinted, moving as little as possible, but trying to peek through the foliage. Heejin, the slayer she had just fought, looked back, at the remains of the dead vampire, then back at her companions. “Yes.”

The other girl, the tallest, with a high ponytail, sighed. “Good job. We didn’t find anything else. It was just this one, right?”

Hyunjin gulped. She should run, but for some reason, her feet were glued to the tree.

“Yes, just this one. He was hunting alone.”

Hyunjin’s eyes went huge.

“Okay, let’s call it a day.” She led the way, followed by the other girl and Heejin.

A couple steps ahead, Heejin stopped and looked up, right in her direction. Hyunjin gripped on the branches, as if Heejin could spot her, but that was impossible.

Heejin faced ahead and rushed behind them, the sound of their steps growing distant as the seconds ticked.

It felt like too long since Hyunjin had last breathed. She stayed frozen in place, giving it enough time until it was safe for her to go down and go back home. Her job there was done, even though that Heejin girl stole her prey.

—

She opened the door and took off her boots.

“I’m home,” she said, taking off her leather jacket and leaving it on the hanger by the entrance.

Hyunjin dropped her body to the couch, throwing her head back and staring at the ceiling.

It shouldn’t matter if Heejin reported her or not. But Hyunjin couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was the logical thing to do, since they were slayers. It’s their job to kill vampires. Then, why did Heejin hide the fact that she was also there? Because Hyunjin saved her? Was it her way to say thank you, or that they were even, though she most certainly hated Hyunjin just because she existed?

A weight on the couch beside her made Hyunjin look down.

“Hi there, Selene.” She petted the black Scottish Fold's head. “Where’s Diana?”

Selene meowed, rubbing her head against Hyunjin’s hand. She smiled, grabbing and pulling her to her chest, kissing her head and squeezing her between her arms. Selene thrashed, letting out a sound between a meow and a hiss before biting Hyunjin's hand. Hyunjin laughed, letting her go. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. You’re just so cute.”

The cat jumped down the couch and ran to the kitchen, probably to eat or drink water.

Hyunjin sighed, wishing the weird events of that night would leave her mind. It was pointless, really, thinking about it. So instead, she stood up and moved to sit at her piano at the corner of the living room, facing the big glass window through which the dark sky could be seen.

Hyunjin lifted the fall board and let her fingers hover above the keys, wondering what she should play. Since she couldn’t properly see the moon or even the stars that night, she decided to close her eyes instead, letting her fingers play on the keys on their own. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was what she chose to play, her way to connect with the moon. It was one of the songs that she knew so well, she didn’t need to look at the keys to play it anymore.

She was about to reach the third and hardest movement of the song when her phone rang. She opened her eyes and groaned. She should have left it on silent.

“Hyunjin,” the voice in the other side said, and she noticed the urgency. “You should come to the precinct.”

“What? It’s almost eleven, why do I need to go there now?”

“There’s this girl... I think she might have been transformed.”

“What?!” Hyunjin closed her eyes and took her hand to her face, massaging her temples. “Are you absolutely sure she’s been transformed?”

“It’s the same as that guy from a few months ago. She said someone attacked her a couple hours ago when she was going back home and she doesn’t remember anything, like whoever attacked her, put her to sleep. She has a bite mark on her arm, and when I offered a hot chocolate, she threw up that same instant.”

“Oh, for the love of the moon.” She sighed, running her hand through her face. “Bring her here.”

---

A/N: I am so excited to finally be posting this story! I've been working on it since May this year, and it was such an amazing journey to write this story. Thank you for reading and taking an interest in it, I hope you love it just as much as I loved writing it! ♥️

Some new characters will make their first appearance in the next chapter!

New chapter every three days, follow me on Twitter, @itzloonatic, so you won't miss the updates! ^-^