Chapter 1

 

The sun is about to rise in just a few hours. A silver-haired woman is pacing in the living room with a nervous expression. Her eyes keep glancing at the clock on the wall. She could not help but frown. “Where is she?” She asked the younger woman wearing the short-green dress; sitting comfortably on the sofa. She simply shrugs her shoulders as her eyes never left her phone. But the respond is not what the eldest wanted to hear. She approaches her and snatches the phone away.

 

 

“Joy, I’m asking you, where the hell is she?” She asked once again, in a more serious tone.

 

 

“Jeez, I don’t know. She never tells me anything. I didn’t even notice she was gone earlier.” Joy answered honestly.

 

 

“She’ll be back soon.” Another woman in the room spoke. Her name is Yeri. Taeyeon, the eldest, sighs heavily. With the daytime almost approaching, it is dangerous for vampires to be outside. Unless the vampire wanted to die so badly. “Well, if she doesn’t come back before sunrise-.” Before she can even finish her sentence, the door opens and a familiar figure step inside. Everyone in the room turn their attention towards her; one in particular with a concern expression.

 

 

“I’m home.” Wendy tiredly announced. She was not tired, of course. It was just her tone. Taeyeon immediately approaches her. She looks at the eldest with a straight face. “Where have you been?” Taeyeon asked. Wendy did not answer the question. Of course, her sire demanded a respond. So, she asks again. “I said, where have you been?”

 

 

Wendy sighs as she took off the leather jacket. “Chill, I went to feed.” She replied. Taeyeon’s eyebrows raised. “May I ask who exactly?” She questioned.

 

 

“Just some random dude. There’s nothing to worry about.” Wendy is about to walk away but Taeyeon would not let her go off that easily. Not until she knows what happened. “That random dude.” She grabbed Wendy’s arm. “Is not random anymore if you fed on him.” Wendy tries to pull herself away but Taeyeon is far stronger than her. She cannot simply step-away from her even if she wanted to. She looks at Taeyeon. “He was a traveller and just arrived in town when I found him. He had a flat tire so I made up some lies to lure him somewhere far from the humans. I fed on him and wiped his memories.” She explained. But that explanation alone is still not enough.

 

 

“Did you…” Wendy knows what Taeyeon had in mind. She scoffs. “He’s fine. I didn’t kill him.” Once she feels Taeyeon’s grip has loosen up, she pulls her arm away with an annoyed expression. The eldest sighs. “Look, I was just worried, okay? You didn’t tell me or any of your sisters that you went out. You have to remember that we have rules here. We-.”

 

 

“Can’t kill humans. I know. You already told me that a hundred times. You don’t need to repeat yourself.” Wendy goes to the stairs leading down to the under-ground floor of the house. “I’m fine on my own.” She glanced at Taeyeon one last time before going downstairs. The eldest looks at her until she is completely gone from her sight.

 

 

“Well, that’s it for tonight’s drama.” Joy spoke. She stands up and headed downstairs too. Yeri quietly follows her from behind; giving Taeyeon a pat on the back before leaving. The eldest stands alone in the room. She looks at the clock once more before finally going down as well to join with the rest. Now that the sunrise is coming, the vampire family will now sleep. Although it sounds cliche, but vampires do need their rest. Besides, it is better for the nightly monsters to not meet the other monsters living during the day, especially the werewolves.

 

**

 

The bird chirps as the sun rises high on the blue sky. It is not cold as usual. The locals are enjoying the rare sunshine weather. Irene is already out of bed about half-an hour ago. But she stays inside her bedroom to finishes up the last few pages of the book she was reading last night. She can hear the sound of cluttering inside the kitchen; she guesses that Sunny must be up early and busying herself to cook breakfast. As she turns to the last page, the door opens, revealing a black-haired woman coming inside with a huge, adorable smile on her face. It is none other than her best-friend, Seulgi.

 

 

“Morning!” Seulgi greeted and hops herself onto the bed next to Irene, earning a laughter from the older one. “Good morning. You look happy.” She said upon seeing the bright expression of her best friend. Of course, Seulgi has always been a cheery person. But she looks happier today. Seulgi giggles.

 

 

“Well, last night was the full moon. I was running through the forest until sunrise. I even jumped across the waterfall! It was such a great-night.” She explained. Yes, Kang Seulgi is a werewolf. Unlike the werewolves portray in the movies and novels, the shape-shifters actually love the full-moon. Their strength and speed are incredibly enhanced. Hence, they are stronger and faster than ever. Not even the vampires dare to go against them during the full-moons.

 

 

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying your night.” Irene smiled. Seulgi notices the eyebags. She quickly takes a closer look at it. She feels worried. “Did you get any sleep?” She asked. Irene parts to say that she is fine. But she cannot lie to her best-friend. She knew very well; Seulgi catches up on her lies very easily. That is a ‘childhood’ friend for you.

 

 

“I did sleep…for about two hours. I keep waking up and…I just couldn’t close my eyes afterwards.” Irene gets up from her bed to put the book on her desk. Seulgi looks at her with a concern expression. “Are you still getting those nightmares?” She asked. Irene remains silent for a minute or so before she answers the question. “Those nightmares never left.” She sadly smiled. Seulgi immediately stands on her feet to hug her. The two enjoy each other’s comfort in silence.

 

 

“I wish I could’ve done something.” Seulgi felt apologetic. Irene shook her head with a smile. “Hey, Sunny is working up on something to help with my nightmares. I’ll be okay.” She heads to the window where a wilted flower pot is situated. She raises her hand and her eyes turn into golden coloured. As the orange-like dust emerges from her palm, the wilted flower becomes fresh and alive again. She smiles as she sees the flower is doing well.

 

 

Vampires. Werewolves. Warlocks. Bae Irene, she is a warlock. She is gifted with magical powers ever since she was born. Although, they now called themselves as Sorcerers due to troublesome events that led warlocks being somewhat a controversial name. But they prove to be as strong as they are rumoured to be.

 

 

After cleaning and dressing up, both Irene and Seulgi headed to the kitchen. They are welcomed by the sight of Sunny serving freshly cooked bacons onto a plate as the brunette sitting on the table is enjoying her breakfast. “American-style breakfast?” Irene raised her eyebrow. The brunette looks at her and smile. Her eyes shaped like the crescent moons. “I’ve been dying to have crispy bacons.” She spoke.

 

 

“Of course, you never paid for any of the grocery, Fany.” Sunny rolled her eyes as she focused on cooking more bacon on the hot skillet. Fany or Tiffany just chuckles at the response. She is the same as Seulgi. A werewolf. She is also the current leader of the clan and a Legacy. Funny how someone as beautiful and elegant looking is a far superior wolf than those males in the clan. Rumour has it that she has so much pent-up anger inside of her, that is why she wins every fight so easily. But honestly, she just has a good-leadership.

 

 

Irene takes a seat and Seulgi is sitting next to her. They begin having breakfast together as they enjoy conversations. The wolf-pup brags about her success of jumping across the waterfall in which Tiffany feels proud of. For the werewolves of Seulgi’s age, it is not an easy thing to do since she just transformed a few years ago. She is still getting use to her newly found strength and speed. During mid-conversation, Irene puts down her fork and looks at Sunny.

 

 

“I need more sleeping-potions. I ran out of it.” She told her. Sunny puts the mug down gently on the table. “I just brewed some for you last week.” She raised her eyebrow.

 

 

“I-I know. I’ve been taking more…since I couldn’t sleep well.” Irene stated her reason. She can see the eldest sighs heavily.

 

 

“Irene, you do know those potions can be dangerous if you take it too much.” Sunny concernedly said. “The ones I’ve brewed for you were already strong enough to take down a whole- werewolf. No offense.” She looked at Tiffany and Seulgi. But the two are fine with it. “If I make it any stronger, it can harm you…permanently.”

 

 

“I know, Sunny. I just…I’m trying, okay?” Irene said as she lowered her head. Tiffany sees how troubled Irene looks. She lightly kicks Sunny’s leg under the table. The brunette looks at her in disbelief as Tiffany pretends as if nothing happened. She smiles at the woman sitting opposite to her. “Sunny will do her best.” She spoke. Irene glances at Tiffany and nods. She finishes up the last remaining food on her plate and heads back to her room. Seulgi follows her soon after, leaving the two adults alone.

 

 

“You can’t keep comforting her, Fany. You know how dangerous those potions are. She can get an overdosed and hurt herself.” Sunny said.

 

 

“Sometimes, comfort works better than spells.” Tiffany smiled and got up to clean the table. “She’s maybe immortal. But at the end of the day, she’s still a fragile young woman.” She said before heading to the sink to washes the dirty dishes. Sunny sighs heavily. Ever since the incident that happened around 23 years ago, Irene has been sick. Although she is showing progresses, she is still not doing okay. Sunny could not help but feel clueless on how to help her.

 

 

Her thoughts are disturbed when her phone rings. She looks at the screen to see a familiar number. She answers the call. “Hello?” She listens as the caller inform an alarming news. She stands up with a frown. “We’ll be there.” She ended the distressing call. Tiffany approaches her.

 

 

“What is it?” She asked. Sunny looks at her. “They found a dead body.”

 

 

**

 

 

Sunny and Tiffany left the house not long after hearing the news. They ride on Tiffany’s truck to the deepest part of the forest. Once they parked in a hidden spot, they go on by foot to the location given to them. It did not take long for them to arrive at the place. They can see two people examining the corpse on the side of the river. “Jackson, Amber.” Sunny called as they approached them. Both of them turn around and make way for Tiffany to check on the dead body.

 

 

“What happened?” Sunny asked Amber, the red-haired woman.

 

 

“We were doing our daily patrol when we found him. You told me that the guest that was supposed to check in at your inn yesterday never arrived. I assumed it must be him.” Amber answered. Sunny looks over the body and hovers down to look for his wallet. When she did find it, she checks the ID. It is indeed the man that booked a room at her inn. She knew something went wrong when Irene could not reach him last night.

 

 

“Anything?” Sunny asked Tiffany. The alpha wolf tries to pick-up any familiar scent on the body. But so far, there is nothing. There is no scent at all but his rotting body and the river’s sands. “Whoever did this,” She turns the head slightly to the side to look at the huge purple-reddish mark on his skin. “Is certainly not vampires or werewolves. It could be those Demons.” The information shocks the rest.

 

“There haven’t been any sightings of Demons for the last 23 years. It’s impossible.” Jackson said.

 

 

“You’re right. We won the war and wiped out all those blood- Demons. But that doesn’t mean…that wicked clan will stop trying.” Sunny sighed heavily. “We need to see her.”

 

 

**

 

“I hate History.” Seulgi groaned. The lecture has been going on for an hour now and the dear old-lady gave them a fifteen-minute break to freshen up. Well, the students know she only did that to get her Wednesday free chocolate gelato at the cafeteria. That woman is crazy of the soft-served dessert. “I can’t understand how you can do these stuffs…repetitively. Like, 20…years of studying the same things over and over again.” Seulgi felt amazed and pitiful at the same time.

 

 

“Hey, there are always new things to learn, okay?” Irene quipped with a smile. The small town of Mystic is not only inhibited by the day and nightly beings. But humans resided there as well. Warlocks are immortal. They will stop growing at a certain age and stay that way for the rest of their lives. The humans have no idea about their existence. It has been that way ever since the town was first founded. The Legacies, the oldest living beings of different kinds, made the law that no humans can know of their true identities. They also forbid killing humans. Anyone found guilty is immediately sentenced to a death penalty.

 

 

Irene’s immortality will cause suspicions. So, in order to prevent it from happening, she will go back to attend the local university after a few years gap. Of course, she had fake IDs and documents to fake her identity. It was only this year Sunny was kind enough to let her use her real name. “I wish you were in high school with me. It was hard time for me since I was starting to changed.” Seulgi said. Well, her teen years were mostly her feeling uncomfortable to be in her own skin since she kept having her sharp teeth and claws emerged unexpectedly during school sessions.

 

 

“I rather not face teenagers with their uncontrollable hormones.” Irene said in which Seulgi agreed to.

 

 

“Hey, Irene.” A young man greeted. They look to the side to see him standing there with an awkward smile and posture. It was Suho, their classmate.

 

 

“Oh, hey.” Irene greeted. Suho takes something out of his jacket’s pocket. “I have tickets to go see a band’s gig this Saturday night. I heard from Baekhyun that you’re a fan of them. I thought maybe…you want to join me?” He shyly asked.

 

 

“Oh, umm, well.” Irene pressed her lips into a thin line. “I…I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to help my guardian at the inn.” She rejected him politely. The sadness in his face is so obvious despite his forced understanding smile. He puts the ticket back into his pockets. “It’s-it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Another time…then?” Irene could only nod her head. He awkwardly nods to himself and quietly gets back to his seat. The women can hear Baekhyun giggling behind them. Irene looks at him.

 

 

“You got to stop telling him to ask me out, Baek.” She said to him. Baekhyun is a werewolf himself. He knows Irene is a warlock and she can never date anyone but immortals themselves. But he does have fun seeing the awkward responses of ‘normal’ men that Irene has rejected.

 

 

“Come on, it’s funny.” Baekhyun laughed.

 

 

“All fun and jokes until Tiffany find out about your little prank.” Seulgi said. His smile immediately fades away. He clears his throat and lays back. As much as he enjoys his pranks, he is terrified of the alpha woman. Irene just chuckles at the scene.

 

 

“Hey, we should go to that gig.” Seulgi suggested. Irene looks at her. “What? Oh, no, I’m good.”

 

 

“It’s your favourite band. It’s been forever since we hang out outside the inn. Let’s go and do something fun!”

 

 

“Calm down, wolfie. I can’t just go out without Sunny’s permission, you know that. She’ll never let me.” Irene stated.

 

 

Seulgi scoffs at the response. “It’s because you never ask her, dummy. Come on, I’m not getting any younger, Irene. At least let me enjoy my short youth with you.” She looked at her with begging eyes. Irene sighs and thought about what Seulgi has said. Werewolves are non-immortals. Seulgi would not be around as long as she will be. She finally gives in. “Fine, I’ll ask her tonight.” Seulgi excitedly hugs her in which Irene gladly accepts. The lecture resumes again soon after. The excitement Seulgi had earlier was replaced with boredom and sleepiness.

 

 

**

 

The night approaches. Both Sunny and Tiffany arrived in front of a familiar big-house situated in the middle of the forest. Before they can even step out of their car, they can already see the owner of the house standing at the upper floor's balcony. They exit the vehicle and look up to her. The woman easily jumps down and lands near them. “Do you really need to do that kind of entrance, Tae?” Sunny said.

 

 

“Old habits die hard.” Taeyeon replied.

 

 

“Vampires and their attitudes.” Tiffany remarked. “Werewolves and their stench.” Taeyeon responded. The two women chuckled. Although vampires and werewolves are supposed to be natural enemies, that is not the case for them. Since both of them are Legacies, it is important for them to have a good friendship to maintain harmony. We do not want a second war to break out. “Want to come in? I have some wine inside.”

 

 

“I would love to sit and have some ‘down the memory lane’ chats with you but I’m afraid it’ll be for another time.” Sunny said. Taeyeon feels there is something that the warlock has in mind and it is definitely not a good one. Sunny looks at the second floor where she can see the rest of the vampire residents behind the glass-sliding door.

 

 

“We need to talk in private.” Sunny said. Taeyeon nods and leads them to another house of hers’ not far away from there. Once they step inside the “invisible wall” that Sunny created years ago, they completely disappear from sight. Not far away from there, Wendy is standing near a tree, with her shoulder leaning on the bark. After she could no longer sense her sire, she quietly leaves.

 

To be continued.