[A/N: Poster from suseolay. Thank you so much!]

“That was a good run.” Yoona said as they were panting after racing back to the town. “We should do it again next time, oppa. It’s a good workout.” She stretched her legs and arms while fanning herself.

“That was strange.” Kyuhyun said as his hands were on his hips. He looked around and looked at Yoona. “Did we just get tired?”

“It’s strange but natural. That run’s extreme, no wonder why we feel tired.” Yoona said as she tried to clear her vision as she saw someone coming.

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess vampires get tired too.” Kyuhyun’s eyebrows furrowed. As everyone knew, vampires exhibits incredible strength and endurance—exhaustion was never in their history. He followed Yoona’s gaze and saw someone coming. “Hey, I have to go now. It’s nice bumping into you in the city.”

Yoona nodded and smiled widely, “I have to go too. I need to talk to Jessica-unnie and ask how it went with Donghae-oppa.” She bowed and walked with Jessica who she saw coming their way. Kyuhyun watched Yoona and Jessica made their way to their house but his mind was filled with bewilderment.

He needed to know what just happened and what Seohyun had been through in the city. Maybe it’s not just Suho and Jaejoong who has to do research now.

Seohyun and Kris left the Kara’s residence with frowns plastered on their faces. Seohyun couldn’t even bring herself to speak. Kris couldn’t find the right words to say. They walked together in silence until they reached Jaejoong’s place. Kris didn’t want to go up to the room, he didn’t want his fury to push him to kill Jaejoong. They just stopped in the ground floor.

Kris couldn’t leave without saying anything, knowing Seohyun tried to find a way to heal Lay. Even if she was the one who led Lay to the idea of healing Jaejoong, his number one enemy, he could still see sincerity from Seohyun’s actions. They were real.

“You know, it’s not your fault.” Kris said, stopping Seohyun from walking towards the elevator.

“It is my fault. I took Lay for granted all this time, I didn’t know his heart was so pure that he’d do something as big as this for me.” Seohyun said, just looking directly at Kris.

“No, it’s not that. I mean, it’s not your fault that Kara declined to help.” Kris said. “They’re your friends and they know what could harm you. Being involved with a lot of different creatures entails a lot of consequences.”

“They’re my friends and real friends don’t decline a friend in need.”

“Lay isn’t their friend. We, angels, did not even know witches existed.” Kris said. “Besides, we cannot expose ourselves. It’s enough, Seohyun, that the witches knew we exist.”

“They’re witches, Kris. Geniuses, strong ones. Even if you didn’t walk in that mansion, they’d know you exist.” Seohyun said. “I’m going to visit Lay again tomorrow, and beg Kara if I must.” Seohyun said, dark expression still filled her eyes. She was clearly and obviously devastated.

“S-Seohyun!” Kris called out, which made Seohyun stop again. She turned around and saw Kris walking towards her. He stopped when he’s a good two feet away from her. He took a deep breath as if he mustered all the courage to say the next words that left his lips. “Some of my brothers may hate you, but you have to remember I don’t. Well, I did for a moment back then, but I just found myself here, unhating you.” Then he continued, “Just promise me one thing,” Seohyun looked at him, his eyes slowly changed into silver color and she thought it was amazing. They changed really slow, but the colors were bright after they shone completely in a different color—silver has now become her favourite. They look better than gold. “Don’t ever tell Jaejoong about what happened, about us, angels. It may be his fault, or it may have involved him. But just please, promise me you won’t tell him anything.”

Seohyun waited for a few seconds, trying to figure out what exactly Kris meant but she found herself saying, “I promise.” That’s when she got surprised when she felt Kris pulling her face closer to hers. But tall as Kris was, she felt his lips touching her forehead. She thought it was only made by human—to kiss the forehead as a sign of affection. However, without thinking, she closed her eyes for a second and relished the moment. Soon then, she felt cold air touched her forehead, a sign that Kris had started walking away from her. It was as if she wanted to run to him, hold his hand and be comforted by his embrace until she heard a familiar voice coming from behind.

“What is it that you promised not to tell me?” Jaejoong appeared behind her. For a second, it was as if Seohyun’s heart did beat and skipped one—if only it could. She swallowed and avoided Jaejoong’s eyes.

“That I left without your permission.” Seohyun said, walking ahead of Jaejoong who just followed her.

“Yes, and not to mention you actually went out with that new SM Town kid.” Jaejoong pressed the close button in the elevator. “You think I’m going to believe that’s what you promised not to tell me?” Jaejoong scoffed.

“Why? You think I’m going to tell it to you after knowing you kept so many things from me?” Seohyun said, walking out of the elevator once it opened.

“You know I didn’t really want to do this.” Yunho said as he sat on his chair. He looked up at Donghae who was standing in front of his table. “Donghae, you’re an honourable vampire. I can always talk to Sooman-sajangnim.”

“I’m okay with it, Yunho-shi.” Donghae said. “I’ve made a mistake. I think I deserve this.”

“No, you don’t.” Yunho clasped his hands and sighed, “You only made a single mistake and that doesn’t mean you deserve to be demoted like this.”

“It’s a mistake I wanted to make. I deserve this.” Donghae said, looking indifferently at Yunho. He watched him take the pen and sign the papers—the papers that will authenticate the transfer of his trainees to other vampires. That’s when the doors of Yunho’s office suddenly swung open with a loud bang.

“YOU! YOU ARE REALLY DRIVING ME INSANE! YOU KNOW YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE SIGNED THOSE PAPERS. HOW CAN YOU JUST LET ME TRANSFER TO OTHER TRAINER? ARE YOU NUTS?” Donghae and Yunho both looked at Jessica who was walking towards them in fury. “You,” she pointed at Donghae, “are really absurd. You go talking like a really possessive mentor back in the city to some stranger who was with me, and then you go back here like you didn’t care about me at all. That really made complete sense, huh? What is your actual problem?” She then stopped when she reached a few feet away from Donghae and took a deep breath. “Are you really giving me away? ‘Cause that’s how it feels like.”  She then said in a soft voice, making a radical shift from her tone when she entered the room.

Donghae couldn’t even utter a single word.

Well, Yunho spoke for him. “Am I missing something?” That’s when Jessica realized Yunho was actually in the office. Changmin suddenly knocked on the door that was left opened.

“Hyung, I tried to tell her.” He then gave a mischievous chuckle and walked back to his office.

Donghae and Yunho looked again at Jessica who was now completely speechless. She felt embarrassed thinking that Donghae was alone in the room, doing some work punishments. She was slowly turning red, if only she blood ran inside her body.

Yunho waited for Jessica to answer and he was anticipating for an informative answer since he was disturbed from signing the paper.

“Hyung, would you mind…?” Donghae pointed outside, meaning to ask for a permission to let him talk to Jessica first in private.

There was a dead air when they went out of the TVXQ office until Donghae broke the silence. “You know I miss you, right?” Donghae softly said while looking at Jessica whose arms were crossed against her chest. She then just looked away. “Things got out of hand. I didn’t want you to suffer.” He still said in a tone that Jessica admitted to herself she missed the most about her trainer.

“How does that make me free from suffering?” Jessica asked.

“You don’t get to be demoted or punished. You don’t get to explain yourself if it was that hard for you why you had to break rules. You don’t have to be stuck in the same room for the as long as time permits—Jessica,” Donghae sighed. “I’m okay as long as you don’t suffer. You’re my trainee, a very good one even if you’re always slacking off or ditching practices. Knowing you for years, I don’t think I can’t care—I can’t let these things happen to you.”

Jessica was touched. In fact, she thought her eyes moistened. If only vampires could cry, she already did. “You think missing you is not suffering?”

Donghae was frozen for a moment.

“What are we doing?” Jessica asked. “Why do we do this to ourselves?”

“I don’t know. All I know right now is that I have to do this.” Donghae closed the gap between them and pulled Jessica to a tight embrace. This surprised her the most. At the same time, she thought it felt nice. He closed his eyes and felt how nice it was to keep her close to him, this close. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m sorry, okay? I really am.” His voice started to shake but he managed to control it by breathing deeply once again. “I cannot let you suffer. I’d rather take the burden from you. I had an important meeting that day, but as soon as I got the news you were missing, I had to look for you. I just had too. It didn’t matter as long as I get to find you. I did… I did find you.”

“I’m sorry I had a fight with you.” Jessica said. “I’ve always been a stupid and really lazy trainee, but I’m really thankful you’re the one who always knew how to discipline and take care of me.”

“I’m Lee The Great Donghae.” They both chuckled as Jessica finally wrapped her hands around Donghae’s waist. After a few more seconds, Donghae finally loosened up and held Jessica’s hands. “I’m sorry but I promise you will be handled by a good trainer again. It may not be me anymore, but I think my brothers did choose the best one who will fit you and your personality.”

“Can I visit you? Anytime?” Jessica asked.

“Well, we can sneak out if you want.” Donghae then chuckled with Jessica who slapped his right arm.

“Pabo, you want to stay working forever?” They continued laughing until Yunho cleared his throat. He was actually in the terrace of his office watching the two of them. The higher vampire actually thought the relationship between a trainer and trainee will always be something remarkable and unchangeable. That’s when Donghae took this as a cue to go back inside, leaving Jessica watching him go inside. When Jessica looked up at Yunho, he just gave her a nod which she didn’t really get what it meant. In the end, she was half relieved that she finally got to talk to Donghae.

“I have to go.” Seohyun fixes the scarf around her neck and opens the door of Lay’s room.

“You—you just got here.” Kris argued though it came out as if he wanted her to stay longer. “I mean, you don’t have to go here always.”

“I can’t let Lay’s soul leave him. I’m going back to Kara’s place.” Seohyun said and without even looking back, she left the house of EXO and vanished in the thin air.

Kris just stared at their front door.

“You wanted her to stay longer, didn’t you?” Chanyeol appeared behind Kris who just shrugged. “You don’t have to sulk in a corner, hyung. She’s been here all throughout the week, even at times when you weren’t here,” Chanyeol paused when he noticed the surprise look plastered in the older’s face, “ and I’m guessing she didn’t tell you that.”

Kris looked surprised upon hearing this but he just decided to say, “I’m not sulking. I’m standing in front of you, see?” Chanyeol then returned the shrug and headed towards the kitchen.

Nicole opened the front door and welcomed Seohyun inside. It’s the fifth time that she visited them this week. They will never get tired of seeing Seohyun but looking at the tired Seohyun is not something they’d love seeing all the time.

“Guys, stop the tricks.” Nicole said as Seohyun followed her towards the living room where all sorts of furniture were floating around. “Jiyoung, fix the seats already!” Nicole shouted as she ordered the youngest to put the grandeur sofas down for them to sit on. It took only a minute for the other members of Kara to fix the living room.

As soon as everyone settled down, Nicole sat beside Seohyun.

“I’m not going to offer you any drink this time because I know the moment we decline your request, you’ll be walking out the front door again.” Nicole said and the other agreed.

“Besides, I know vampires aren’t as fashionable and conscious as witches, but look at yourself, unnie. This isn’t you.” Jiyoung said with respect, knowing Seohyun’s older than her.

“It’s like we just watered the flowers outside and when you walked in, they all died again.” Hara compared but she only received a glare from Nicole.

“I water them alone, don’t I?” Nicole muttered while looking at Hara before smiling again at Seohyun.

“Honey, you need to think this through. We’re putting a lot at stake here.” Gyuri came in from the kitchen holding cups with something that’s hot, probably tea, Seohyun thought. Seungyeon followed suit.

“Unnie!” Nicole called out.

“What?” Gyuri asked.

“You do realize she’s not going to drink that, don’t you?” Nicole complained as she stood up to take the cup from Gyuri.

“No, this isn’t tea.” Gyuri spatted Nicole’s hand away. “And no one’s going to drink this because it’s for the cure, not edible at all.”

There was a few seconds of silence as Gyuri put down the cup on the table and took the sit across Seohyun. Her eyes wanted to shed tears because she couldn’t believe what she just heard. Her persistence is finally paying off.

“Goodness, say something, Seohyun-ah.” Nicole held her hands. “I didn’t know we’re going to actually do this.” She glanced at Gyuri who only smiled at her.

“I—I don’t know what to say.” Seohyun finally muttered her first words since her arrival. “I was so close to giving up.”

“That’s not you, Seohyun. Giving up is just not you.” Nicole said, and the other witches nodded their heads in agreement. “But as Gyuri-unnie mentioned, we’re putting a lot at stake here.”

“I understand.” Seohyun looked down, partly ashamed of asking a huge favour from her friends. “But I don’t want to just chicken out of this. Just lay everything down in front of me, tell me what it’s gonna take.”

Gyuri looked at her four sisters before sighing. “First thing is that we’re sacrificing our identities as witches here.” Seohyun was taken aback. Of course, she didn’t think of this. “Secondly, we need the other fallen angels.”

“Fallen angels?” Seohyun asked.

“There are other angels out there, Seohyun. We just haven’t found them yet. The main reason why we couldn’t say yes to you, those four times you came here, is that we’re still trying to locate the other angels.” Nicole explained.

“And we just couldn’t see them. Now that we’ve officially told you we’re going to do the spell to save this particular angel, it means we’re asking for your help to find the other angels.”

Seohyun nodded but with worried eyes, “You need them for what?”

“For the ritual. We can’t perform this spell without the presence of the other angels.” Gyuri explained further.

“Alright, I’m going to help you. But how many angels are there?” Seohyun asked. Her eyes sparkled which showed her determination to accomplish healing Lay.

“That’s the main problem too—we don’t know how many angels are out there. There could be five or ten…”

“Or a hundred.” Seohyun mumbled. “This is insane. This is close to impossible.” She mumbled some more.

Nicole patted her back, “It’s going to be fine, Seohyun. For all we know, there might just be two of them.”

“Which isn’t true because come on, we know it, and there are more than two angels in the world.” Hara snorted which only earned a glare from Gyuri and Nicole.

“The thing is dear, Seohyun… You need to go first. Rest assured, we’ll cure that friend of yours.” Gyuri stood up and opened the front door. “Rest, Seohyun. We’ll meet again soon, okay?” Nicole helped Seohyun to stand up and led her to the front door.

“I heard looking pretty attracts more angels, so you might want to fix yourself before hunting.” Nicole winked at Seohyun before closing the door with Gyuri.

“We all know that look of hers going to return when she finds out.” Gyuri walked back towards the living room. Nicole was left standing there with a frown on her face. Being the closest to Seohyun, she sure knew what it’d be like for her friend.

Kris was peacefully watching Lay’s body when he heard the door clicked open. It was Suho. Though it was awkward and both of them knew it, Kris decided to turn the table around.

“What’s up?” He asked as he straightened his back on the chair. Suho pulled up his sleeves up to his elbows and folded his arms across his chest.

“You know I’m sorry about last time… You know what I’m talking about, right?” Suho kept his voice down to avoid his other brothers from hearing.

Kris nodded a little, “I know and I understand. I know not everyone will understand what I’m going through right now, so yes, I understand you.”

“I saw Lay in my dreams too before. I failed to tell you but yes, I saw him. It’s just a little awkward for me to get along with that vampire.” Suho sighed. “I appreciate her trying to help Lay but—“

“It’s okay, Suho. You can hate her but just this once, please do trust her. I’m sure you’re not too blind to see that everyone else has started to trust her but you.” Kris said. “What I’m saying is if it’s for Lay, just please do it.”

It took a minute before Suho finally said, “Okay.” It was as if it took all pride in Suho to say this. For a moment there, Kris felt guilty. He knew Suho too well. So he waited for Suho to tell him something else, and so he did. “Look, I have something else to tell you.”

“I saw that coming. What is it?” Kris stood up.

“It’s about what Jaejoong wants from us.” Suho said as he opened the door of Lay’s room and led Kris to his room. His room was a little bit more organized than before, but piles of papers can be seen everywhere. His laptop was , and so as his desktop computer. The files looked more organized but it was obvious that Suho had done more research than ever.

He took one document and handed it to Kris. He scanned through it as Suho said, “I’ve done my part in this research and it says nothing.”

“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” Kris asked. “What are these papers for, then?”

“I did everything I could, hyung. I researched online, read the old and oldest newspapers, I went to different libraries and borrowed books, I read articles from magazines—but I found nothing.” Suho sighed, “Fine, I may have broken inside Jaejoong’s office again. There’s no fall out or argument or—there’s just no connection between the vampires and angels. There’s no reason for Jaejoong to have the twelve of us killed.”

“Wait, this…” Kris pointed to the document  Suho handed him earlier. “This is Jaejoong’s profile.”

“I’ve done my fair research about him.” Suho walked towards his desk and leaned on it as he crossed his arms again. “When I found nothing about any disagreement between the vampires and angels, I took the last straw—to find out something about Jaejoong. The same vampire who killed your parents.”

“What about him?”

“This is only a wild guess, a speculation, you may say. But hyung, if you read more, you’ll find out what I’m saying.” Suho sighed, “I don’t want it to come from me. I want you to know and discover by yourself.”

So Kris listened and he knew that Suho was serious about this. He read through the document and gasped, “Yoochun and Junsu—these are the vampires he’s staying with, right? For years since he left this town.”

Suho nodded, “Yes, in fact, as I’ve researched, these two worked as doctors in Europe. They’re not just doctors, they’re specialists. It wasn’t accidental when Jaejoong met these two.”

“They’re his psychiatrists?”

“They refused to leave Jaejoong by himself even after his consecutive sessions in the hospital. Results from Jaejoong’s session was kept confidential by Yoochun but not by Junsu so I found them on his blog online.” Suho then rested his hands inside his pockets. “Jaejoong, yes, he’d been through a lot after he was kicked out of SM Town. Only Yoochun was his psychiatrist, but he needed more help, that’s why Junsu came into the picture.”

“It says here he killed so many people—that’s why he needed an intervention from these Yoochun and Junsu.”

“Jaejoong murdered a lot of people—actually more like supernatural beings. On the list, he started killing wizards. He killed the group called CN Blue and FT Island. These two groups are known wizards in Europe. He then started to kill groups of witches like T-ara and After School.”

“What?”

“It’s like when he thinks he’s done with a certain group of supernatural beings, he jumps and goes to another group. His results, again based from Junsu’s blog, show that killing suddenly became Jaejoong’s habit. It stopped for a while, having the two of them stay beside Jaejoong. It took therapies. When they thought it was safe enough, they finally decided to bring him back to his home—SM Town.”

“But this town won’t just accept him. They threw him away.”

“The thing about Jaejoong is that he started researching about angels, and that’s just him. He also researched about wizards and witches beforehand. It’s like an addiction for him—knowing these creatures and killing them after.”

“But I thought he’s friends with B2ST? Those wolves, remember?” Kris asked as he closed the folder.

“Back then, he thought he already killed all the existing wolves. Then he didn’t know these friends of his are wolves—not until we came into that coffee shop. Remember that night? He ran after them, getting a bite and trying to say he saved Seohyun and scared them off?”

Kris gasped again, “Ohmy—it wasn’t true. He tried to kill them, didn’t he?”

“I have the same guess. And when you told me about this group of witches?”

“Kara?”

“Yes, those girls. You told me their house is practically invisible from everyone. Because they’re the last group of witches out there—I researched about it too. They’re afraid to be killed, all their families were killed by Jaejoong.”

“So they’re hiding?”

“Yes.”

There was a few seconds of silence before Kris spoke up, “If you can’t see any reason behind these murders done by Jaejoong, then is there at least a pattern or something?”

“None.” Suho just shrugged.

“None?”

“None, definitely nothing.”

“What, is Jaejoong somewhat like crazy just going around killing supernatural beings? I thought you researched about this before and it seemed that killing angels is the only for vampires to get free of their curse?” Kris almost scoffed when he noticed the look on Suho’s face.

“There, you said the word, hyung. Apparently, he’s just that crazy. I tried to verify the first files I’ve read, they were signed by Jaejoong himself. It’s like he’s writing a book, everything’s fictional.” Suho breathed in before he continued. “It it true that vampires are cursed, but there is no cure to theirs. He just wanted an excuse in the future to why he would do such thing to us.”

“Wow, he must be crazy.” Kris muttered weakly.

“Well, crazy’s kind of a little bit too much. He’s just out of his mind, a little. Like I told you, killing is like some sort of addiction to him. But basically, what I’m trying to say here is the need for us to avoid him.”

“He’s dangerous.” Kris mumbled when Suho’s door swung open.

It was Kyungsoo, “Kris-hyung, someone came to see you.” He opened the door wider and there revealed Seohyun’s figure, still on the same clothes.