Chapter 7

 

“I’m home!” Sunny announced while standing at the door. “Irene?” She called out the youngest. But there is no answer. She puts down her bag next to the receptionist desk before heading to Irene’s room. Weirdly enough, she is not on bed nor the bathroom.

 

A few of her books are still neatly stacked  on the night-stand. Usually, one or two of those books would be out of place; either on the mattress or the desk. Did she go out? Sunny highly doubts Irene would ever do that. After all, she did tell her to stay at home while she was away.

 

Sunny goes to the kitchen where she sees a pot on the stove. She checks to see there is half-cooked porridge inside of it. She begins to feel suspicious. Suddenly, the front door is knocked several times. “Yes?” She quickened her steps to see who it is. Taeyeon stood there, along with two others dressed in black cloaks. “Taeyeon? What are you doing here?” She asked as she gave a way for the trio to come inside.

 

“I hate wearing this.” Joy complained while taking off the cloak. Thankfully, she is a vampire. Or else she would drench in sweats. Sunny knows the two familiar faces. They are Taeyeon’s so-called adoptive daughters. But she does not understand why all of them are suddenly here.

 

“Tae, what’s going on?” Sunny asked once more.

 

Taeyeon inhales sharply. “Wendy’s gone.” She informed. That name is the one that Sunny have come to familiarized the most. Yes, Sunny is fully-aware of the existence of a vampire named Son Wendy in this town.

 

“W-what do you mean…she’s gone?” Sunny frowned.

 

“She’s gone, Sunny. I don’t know where she is. They went out last night and she never came back. I’ve tried calling her but she won’t answer. I’ve tried tracking her. She’s too far away from me. Joy said that there were werewolves in the pub last night. A pack of them tried to attack her.” Taeyeon explained. “I fear now that  Tiffany’s not around, those wolves went rogue.” She added.

 

Sunny hold Taeyeon’s shoulders to calm her down. “Okay, you need to relax.” She turned her attention to Joy. “Tell me what happened.” She needed to be sure of the story from the vampire herself.

 

Joy crossed her arms and responded. “Just like Taeyeon said. We went to the pub. Wendy’s a regular there. We were sitting at the table when she saw the band going back-stage. She told us, she found her prey and took off. We didn’t bother following her since she was already used to being on her own. So, we just waited. But she never came back. I was looking for her until well, those werewolves suddenly came at me. I swear they wanted to just bite my head off.” She rolled her eyes at the last words.

 

Sunny thought deeply of what she just heard from Joy. It is possible that the werewolves would plan something like this since their alpha is out of town. However, she doubts the pack would’ve done it. There must be another explanation. “Sunny.” Taeyeon called. “What if they…killed her?” She felt worried. Sunny comforts her by gently caressing her arm.

 

There is a brief silence. Joy speaks up afterwards. “I don’t think it was the wolves.” Her words confused the rest in the room. She took a quiet, deep breath. “Yes, they did try to attack me, but they didn’t. Someone intervened. A young girl…with black hair. She told them to back off or else they’ll get in trouble.”

 

Young female, black hair; it must have been Seulgi. There is no doubt it’s her. Taeyeon feels slightly relief. It may have not been the werewolves after-all. But then, where is Wendy? Did she take off on her own will? It could be. While the others remained clueless, Sunny goes to searches for answers around the inn.

 

Irene is not at home. Her books are untouched. There is half-cooked porridge on the stove. Irene always put pots on the kitchen’s counter. Sunny goes to the bedroom again; looking for anything unfamiliar. It is at that moment; she sees the med-kit on top of Irene’s desk. Sunny checks the small, transparent box. The lotion’s bottle was recently opened. It was fairly new and Irene had never used it until now. Sunny goes ahead to the trash-bin and sees blood-stained tissues along with cotton-buds at the bottom.

 

Sunny has something in mind. But she hopes that, is not the case. She hurriedly walks to the kitchen. Taeyeon sees her getting anxious and follows along. They enter the kitchen almost at the same time. “What’s wrong?” Taeyeon asked when the warlock halted her steps. Sunny’s irises turn cyan. She holds out her arm to perform magic.

 

Soon, the dusty-like particles that comes out of Sunny’s hands begins to show foot marks on the floor. There seemed to be two people standing so close together; with the other looking to be held in a choke-hold position. The third person is standing a bit further away, looking at their direction. Nearby that position, there seemed to be a small-portion of ashes scattered on the flooring.

 

Sunny kneels down. Taeyeon watches her from behind. She holds her hand on top of the ashes. She uses her magic to put the ashes back together to its’ former form. It is a photograph of an old house. But not just any house. But a home that both Sunny and Taeyeon are familiar with. They both look at each other. Suddenly, there is knocking on the door.

 

Sunny goes to see who it is while the rest stay inside. When she opens the door, Baekhyun greets her with a bow and a smile. “Baekhyun? What are you doing here?” Joy instantly recognizes the scent. It belongs to one of the pack members from last night. She just hopes that he did not notices their presence.

 

Taeyeon cannot let Baekhyun pick-up their scents. So, she quickly scoops the dirt from the nearby vase and starts smothering on Joy’s and Yeri’s faces before hers’. It would at least make their scent less recognizable. Thankfully, it works.

 

“I came by to see if Seulgi’s here.” Baekhyun asked.

 

“Oh,” Sunny nodded. “She’s not here. I think she’s in town. Irene’s not at home too.” She replied.

 

“Ah, I thought she’d be here. I was just worried.” He spoke.

 

“Why’s that?” Sunny curiously asked.

 

Baekhyun rubs the back of his neck while awkwardly smiling. “Well, we were out at the pub last night. Irene was there with her. Seulgi suddenly left in a hurry after Irene called her. I don’t know what happened. I just thought they got caught by you.” Baekhyun explained. His words are what Sunny needed. She finally put the pieces together.

 

Baekhyun left soon after. Sunny closes the door and sees the trio vampires’ faces are covered in dirt. In normal circumstances, she would have laugh. But not now. Joy disgustingly wipes the dirt away from her face while Yeri quietly do the same. “Sunny?” Taeyeon called, not bothering to get the dirt off her own face.

 

Sunny looks at Taeyeon with the photograph she picked up from the table. “I think I know what happened.”

 

**

 

Irene stands in front of her old home. The white walls are now grayish and long-thick vines grew around its’ pillars. Leaves and branches scattered on the porch down to the steps. Her old swing is still there. The steels have rusted and its once bright colors became dull. Irene inhales deeply. She feels nostalgic. But she also feels sad. This house used to be her home she had shared with Lux, Sunny and her adoptive sister, Beatrice. 

 

She simply shrugs the feelings away. She has no time to ponder with her sadness. Seulgi is in danger and she have to save her. With a deep breath, Irene enters the house. The door creeks when she pushed it open. The smell of old furniture goes through her nostrils. She cautiously walks ahead to search for Seulgi. Wendy may ambush her if she is not careful.

 

Irene goes into the old mini ball-room where Lux used to invite guests over for fancy parties. She gasps silently when she sees Seulgi is tied on the pillar. She instantly quickens her steps to approaches her but halts when she notices a shadowy figure standing behind the pillar. Wendy comes out with a satisfied smirk. Irene frowns upon her presence.

 

“I thought you wouldn’t listen.” Wendy spoke while eyeing at the warlock. She, indeed, came alone.

 

“Let her go.” Irene demanded.

 

The vampire laughs it off. “A’ah, it’s not that easy, Bae Irene. You see, I’m not planning to free her.” Wendy’s irises became bright blue as she took out the engraved sword. Irene notices what sword it is. But she did not say. “If you want to get out of here with your friend, you’ll have to kill me first.” She growled deeply.

 

Irene expected that Wendy wanted to fight. So, that is what she gets. Irene’s brown irises shifted into orange-color instead of the usual gold. Reddish-orangery flames emerged from the palms of her hands; spreading to her arms. She knows she should not use this power. But she has to, if she wants to win.

 

Wendy firmly stood her ground; waiting for the right time to attack. But seeing Irene’s eyes challenging her to come forth, Wendy launches forward in a fast speed. In just a second; the vampire appears in front of Irene with a sword swinging at her direction. Irene quickly crosses her arms; using the flames as a shield. The sword and shield collided.

 

“Ahh!!” Wendy shouted and swung the sword strongly and fiercely multiple times. Irene keeps on shielding herself. “Stop being a coward and fight me!” Wendy gave her hardest swing and the shield broke. But before she can even do her next attack, Irene immediately sink her feet into the floor.

 

“I am!” Irene angrily screamed and used a telekinetic force to threw Wendy across the room.

 

Wendy flung; landing on her back. The sword fell out of her hand. Irene grunts while forming a flaming-ball on her palm. She strikes the flames at Wendy. Wendy speedily dodges the attack. She tries grabbing the sword but Irene would not let her. She blocks her from reaching the weapon using a flame-wall.

 

Wendy has no choice but to uses her physical strength. She goes to the wall; easily punching her hands through the concrete and pulls out a huge sized of it. With a full force, she throws the large concrete rock at Irene. Irene got distracted by the move. She forms a flaming whip to slashes the incoming rock. Wendy took the chance to jumped over the fiery wall and grabs the sword firmly.

 

Irene cannot let her attack again. She blasts the blazing flames at Wendy. The vampire cannot react fast enough. Once more, Wendy found herself to be burst out through the walls, flying far into the wooded area. The wall has melted to shaped a massive hole. The concrete is dripping from the intense heat.

 

Wendy slowly gets up. Her burned skins regenerate itself fairly quickly, thanks to her vampire ability. She managed to hold on to the sword this time. But the flames were strong. It almost burns her into crisp. She got hold back because of the severe injuries. Irene melted the chains that tied Seulgi. She gently lays her friend on the pillar.

 

“I’m sorry…” Irene apologized with teary eyes while using her magic to heal Seulgi’s wounds. She feels guilty for having Seulgi involved. She should have not put her guard down despite having the barrier around the inn. If it wasn’t for her own mistake, Seulgi would be safe from harm. She would not be here; unconscious and almost losing her life at a young age.

 

The thought of Wendy was the reason to all this mess made Irene lost her common sense. She simply cannot let the vampire go off that easily. No. Forget about the absolute law. Irene will end Wendy’s life. She gives one last gentle caress on Seulgi’s cheek before getting up to go outside. She may feel guilty about Wendy but now, that she has crossed the line, she no longer feels so.

 

Irene intimidatingly walks through the hole she has made with her fiery blast earlier. Her orange irises glow intensely bright. So does the flames on her arms. Her blonde-colored hair is slowly changing; turning to reddish-orange to matches with her fire abilities. She sees Wendy is still standing. Anger rushes inside of her.

 

“I’ll make you pay for your sin.” Irene spoke. Maybe Wendy is hallucinating, she heard two voices just now; one belongs to Irene and another is a deeper voice; almost devilish like. Sooyoung was right. Irene is incredibly strong. She should have not underestimate her. Wendy curses herself for not planning-well but instead, went for her own desperation for revenge.

 

But there is no turning back now.

 

Wendy will die here if she has to. At least, for her, she knows she will lose her life, fighting for the injustice she had suffered all these years.

 

The vampire fearlessly lifts the sword up with a smirk. “Come at me.” She challenged. Irene took that challenge. Using her entire magical force, she creates a huge, ball of red flames on her hands. Wendy tightly holds the sharp weapon without budging. Both of them stood their grounds; gathering their greatest strengths to fight against each other once and for all.

 

A full-blown fight comes to a halt when an unknown person comes to the scene.

 

A man with a white cloak appears nearby. “Enough!” His voice echoed. Using a staff, he pounded onto the ground; creating a mind-blowing force field effect. It instantly spread throughout the whole wooded area. Irene and Wendy immediately fainted. Their bodies fell down simultaneously. Irene’s orange hair goes back to being blonde as the flames vanishes away.

 

The unknown man approaches them. After confirming the two women are unconscious, he turns around to the few people wearing silver-armors and red cloaks. They are armed with bows and swords. “Bring them back to the headquarter.” He ordered. With a flick of his cloak, he shape-shifted into a crow and flies away. The men did as they are told. They go ahead to apprehend the two while another enters the house to take Seulgi.

 

They are brought away by those unknown men and women in cloaks.

 

**

 

On the way to the old-house, Sunny senses a powerful magic from afar. “Stop the car.” She spoke. Taeyeon hits the break. The car stopped in the middle of the road. She confusingly looks at the warlock that exits the vehicle in a hurry. Same with Joy and Yeri. The rest gets out to where Sunny is standing. Sunny looks at the sky where only she can see the magical lights in the sky.

 

She knows who is behind that powerful spell.

 

“He found them.”

 

To be continued.