“You should go, if you insist doing this, things won’t end well.” Sanghyuk said.

Hongbin looked at everyone once again, Jonghyun was still giving him that angered stare, as well as Sanghyuk, but not Ahyoung; the girl was looking at him with a mixture of sadness, disappointment and fear. He hated that expression, that’s why he just snorted and turned around to go away.

He didn’t care about what Sanghyuk said to him or that he had to face Jonghyun in a fight, it was Ahyoung’s stare what broke him. Hongbin never meant to put such an expression on the girl’s face. He wanted to be the source of her happiness and her smiles but what he made was just the opposite.

With each step he took, his anger and sadness grew more and more. He not only made Ahyoung feel terrible but he was also rejected. He wouldn’t mind if he was rejected just because she didn’t like him, but to lose against Jonghyun once again was something he couldn’t handle.

Ahyoung and Jonghyun, just the sole thought of it made him sick. The expression Ahyoung made after she couldn’t swear she wasn’t in love with Jonghyun was driving him insane, along with that fond smile she shown when she was saying his cousin was now a better person.

Hongbin sighed heavily and stopped, he realized he walked to one of the gardens that were in the back of the school, he then leaned on one of the trees. The bell that announced the end of the break rang, but Hongbin wasn’t in the mood to go back to the classroom, not only because he wouldn’t stand those boring lessons but because he didn’t want to face Ahyoung again, at least not that day.

He closed his eyes and let the cold breeze cool him down a bit, even when he knew that his rage wouldn’t fade away just like that.

“It’s weird to see you in such distress.”

Hongbin opened his eyes and separated from the tree in order to look to its upper part, he could now see her, she was nonchalantly sitting on a branch, he didn’t noticed her before, he realized he was too immersed in his thoughts to even sense her energy. The boy snorted and turned around in order to go away.

“So you got rejected by a human girl? That must hurt.” The girl mocked him.

Hongbin stopped and clenched his fists, he was aware that she enjoyed getting in people’s nerves and that if he answered her he would be falling in her game, but that day he wasn’t thinking that straight either.

“I don’t want to hear that from the one who keeps getting rejected by Jonghyun over and over.” He retorted venomously.

Hongbin turned to look at the girl again, he expected to see her angered expression but she wasn’t showing that at all, instead, she was smirking.

“I see you also have this side of you. Under that nice and kind mask you show everyone, there’s actually the true nature of a demon, full of rage and hatred.” She answered with a melodic and dangerous voice.

“What do you want Tiffany?” Hongbin asked now a bit annoyed.

“You.” Tiffany simply answered.

Hongbin frowned and tilted his head a bit, then chuckled and crossed his arms.

“The hell are you talking about now?”

Tiffany jumped from the branch and walked towards Hongbin.

“I said, I want you.” The girl said with a little smile.

Hongbin kept his gaze on her, Tiffany wasn’t joking but he also knew that girl was dangerous in all senses, so he had to be careful.

“What for?”

“If I tell you then you’ll have to join me, otherwise, I’ll have to kill you.” Tiffany answered with false innocence.

“Not interested.”

“What if I told you that it could help you obtain what you want?”

Hongbin narrowed his eyes to her.

“And what is that?”

“Ahyoung.”

The boy snorted and looked away for a moment, he then rubbed his temples and looked at her again.

“Listen, I’m not in the mood for this right now.” He said annoyed. “I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve with this but I’m not in.”

Hongbin turned around again and started to walk away, decided to not listen further, until some words were said.

“You could also bring Jonghyun down.”

Hongbin stopped again. Why would Tiffany want that? If Jonghyun was brought down then she’d as well. Why would she offer him such a thing?

“I see I finally caught your attention.” Tiffany finished.

“Just out of curiosity.” He turned around again and faced her. “Why would you offer me something like that? You wouldn’t benefit at all from Jonghyun’s downfall.”

Tiffany smirked again and denied with her head.

“Jonghyun is just one of the options I have to obtain what I want, I don’t lose anything if he’s out.” Tiffany started to explain. “Actually, Jonghyun is just the easiest way for me to succeed, that’s why I stick with that plan.”

Hongbin frowned again, it seemed that Tiffany wasn’t as dangerous as everyone thought, she was way more dangerous.

“What is it that you want to achieve?”

“You don’t have to know that.” Tiffany answered fixing his clothes, then looked at him in the eyes. “All you have to think about is that I can give you the chance to finally get rid of Jonghyun, with him out of the way, Ahyoung will for sure go to you, that’s a win-win for you, isn’t it?”

Hongbin was aware that he was falling deeper and deeper in Tiffany’s game, he was falling for the devil’s words and the temptation was hard to get over of. He knew the moment he agreed to something like that there wouldn’t be a turn back.

“And how do you intend to give me that chance?”

Tiffany smiled, she knew Hongbin had already fallen for her words, he was already stepping into the dark side.

“I want to stop the so called ‘new order’.”

“By yourself? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Hongbin chuckled.

“Well, if I have you, that may be possible.”

“Keep dreaming girl, us against the leaders? That’s a bad joke.”

Tiffany sighed and tilted her head.

“I can assure you that in some months all that you know will crumble down. I’m being nice and giving you a place in this move, though if you don’t want to take it, there’s nothing more I can do, I can recruit someone else to relay on.” Tiffany walked pass by him, she stopped after some steps and spoke again. “This is your last chance, if you want to join me and take back what’s yours then follow me and I’ll let you know all the details.”

Hongbin could hear her going away. He was confused. He knew he couldn’t trust Tiffany, he’d be a fool if he did. But what the girl said had sense, and she sounded so confident that he wouldn’t be surprised that she already had everything planned out.

Actually it was going to be just a relationship of mutual interests, he didn’t have to trust her, in fact, she never mentioned that word, ‘trust’. It was just a matter of alliance for mutual benefits. Tiffany would have what she wants and he would as well.

>> “This is your last chance, if you want to join me and take back what’s yours the follow me and I’ll let you know all the details.”

Those last words from Tiffany resounded again in his head, tempting him, dragging him to her.

So he took a decision, even if that meant he’d be cursed for the rest of his life, even if he probably would regret it later.

He’ll join Tiffany.

Hongbin turned around and he couldn’t see Tiffany anymore, he quickly walked in the direction he heard her go and just when he passed the wall that divided the garden from the rest of the school, he heard a voice behind him.

“I knew you’d come.”

Hongbin turned around to see Tiffany leaning on the wall with crossed arms and a smirk.

“Were you that sure that even waited for me here?” The boy asked.

Tiffany walked to him and put a hand over his cheek.

“My intuition never fails.” She answered with a mischievous tone. “So, shall we go now?”

Tiffany then took her hand off him and turned around to the left side, Hongbin followed her with the eyes to then walk behind her.

Hongbin didn’t know where she was taking him, but he couldn’t care less, even if that was a trap or something like that, he didn’t have anything to lose anyway.

“Now that I agreed to ally with you, can you tell me how are you supposed to stop the new order?”

“Bringing down the powerful families.” Tiffany answered like it was nothing.

“But we’re also from powerful families.”

“And that’s why we’re making alliances. You have nothing to worry about, now that you’re one of us.”

Hongbin stopped and frowned.

“Us?” He asked confused.

Tiffany walked some more steps until she was in front of a door, she turned to see Hongbin and smiled to him.

“You really didn’t think it’d be just the two of us, right?”

Tiffany opened the door and signaled for him to go inside. A bit unsure, Hongbin walked to her and went inside the classroom, the girl also entered the place after him and closed the door. They were inside one of the classrooms used for storage.

“I can’t believe you did manage to make him our ally.”

Hongbin recognized that voice and turned to the direction from where it came. The other boy, who was standing beside the closed window, lifted a hand greeting him.

“Yo Hongbin, nice to have you here.”

“Wonshik.” Hongbin just answered.

“Hey come on, what’s with that cold greeting?” The vampire asked with false sadness.

Hongbin should’ve expected it, it was well known Wonshik was after Sojin’s position and the leadership of the vampire realm and if Tiffany wanted to stop the new order, Wonshik wanted to stop it even more than her. It was a powerful and threatening alliance, two of the craziest and most dangerous people he knew were now working together.

Even when it was expected for them to work together to achieve what they wanted, at the same time it was completely unexpected. After all, Tiffany was a demon who thought was above everyone else and labeled the other races as inferior; meanwhile Wonshik didn’t actually get along with anyone, he manipulated people by fear. To think those two would agree to work together was something almost unbelievable.

An unnatural alliance, something that wasn’t supposed to happen, the worst possible scenario for everyone.

>> “I can assure you that in some months all that you know will crumble down.”

Well it weren’t some months, all that I knew has crumbled down right now. The boy thought in irony.

“Hey Tiffany, you sure he can be useful? He doesn’t seem that reliable to me.”

Hongbin didn’t recognize that female voice so he turned to the other side, where a girl of brown hair and bangs was looking at him, sitting over one of the desks at the other end of the classroom. He could sense she was an assassin, though her eyes were what caught his attention; that color, honey like almost golden eyes; very resembling to the ones of someone he knew.

“Relax Sunny, I’m sure he will be really helpful.” Tiffany answered.

“He looks like a lost child.” Wonshik pointed out.

“Hey, I’m here, you know?” Hongbin said with annoyance.

“There he is.” Wonshik smiled and started walking towards him, once by his side, he put a hand over his shoulder. “That new facet of yours suits you better.”

Hongbin frowned, Tiffany also said something like that before, about the ‘new side’ of him, thinking about it, he actually never behaved in such a way, he always shown a smile and liked to be a nice person, but those new feelings and attitude didn’t feel bad either. Maybe Tiffany was right and his demon true nature, which he used to hate on others, was finally showing up.

“If you keep recruiting High Statuses our plan won’t work out.” Sunny told Tiffany.

“He’s the last High Status, after all, the rest would never ally with us.” The demon explained while sitting on one of the chairs.

“Wait, you said we’d bring down the powerful families, by that you meant, all of them?” Hongbin asked Tiffany.

“It’s obvious, otherwise this won’t work out.”

Hongbin frowned and looked down, even when he was hurt and furious, that didn’t meant he wanted to do something against Ahyoung.

Just as if Tiffany read his mind, she suddenly spoke up.

“If you’re worrying about your precious Ahyoung, just remember that she didn’t even stop to think about what you’d be feeling, she chose Jonghyun over you, even after all that you did for her. She doesn’t deserve your kindness, don’t you think so?”

Hongbin just denied with his head, trying to get rid of both, Tiffany’s voice and his thoughts.

“However, if despite that you still care about her, then just think it like this. Even if Ahyoung will be hurt by us, in the end she can be comforted by you, protected by you, that’d give you a better chance to win over her heart.” Tiffany continued to tempt him. “She may suffer a bit, but all of it will be worthy when you two are finally together when all of this ends.”

After those words, Hongbin was completely drowned in the dark side, the doubts he still had were overshadowed by what Tiffany was offering him. She was right, he had to think ahead of everything, it didn’t matter what he had to do if in the end that meant he and Ahyoung would be together.

Tiffany was able to see the sudden determination that was shown in Hongbin’s eyes and she smiled. The boy was finally one of them and his resolution was firm.

“So, I assume you’re with us, right?” Tiffany asked him.

Hongbin sighed heavily and turned to see her, Tiffany’s eyes were shining with excitement and expectation. He knew it, he was signing a contract with the devil.

“Yes, I’m in.” He firmly answered.

“Good.” Wonshik said, making all of them look at him. “Now that we have more backups, let’s start with the plan, shall we?”

“Don’t act as if you’re the leader Wonshik.” Sunny said getting off the desk and approaching them.

“Even if you say so, you’re attending my call, aren’t you?” Wonshik answered with a mocking tone.

With almost inhuman speed, Sunny threw Wonshik a dagger which the vampire managed to dodge.

“Don’t test me Wonshik.” The girl threatened.

“I’d love to do it Sunny.” Wonshik smirked.

Sunny was about to run to him but Hongbin was the one to speak up.

“Stop you both, you look like idiots fighting against each other.”

Wonshik and Sunny now looked at him with anger, though Hongbin remained impassive. Tiffany then laughed and clapped, making all of them look at her.

“You all are really an entertainment.” She stopped clapping and stood from her chair. “I’m sure we all will have a lot of fun together.”

A/N: New chapter is up! Sorry for the delay ^^' Soooooo, new alliances start to build up, we're getting to the exciting part y'all n.n

As always, thank you so so much for reading, and your patience, comments are appreciated ^^ stay safe and have a beautiful day <3