I stared at the clock; already 11am? Hm. I paced back and forth. I wonder if Kevin is back y--  “Hey Babe!” Hm? I turned around to find Kevin sitting on the wooden chair beside me. Staring at him weirdly, I approached him slowly and asked him;

“I thought you left to go see Chanyeol. Back so soon?” He looked back at me with a weird expression and shook his head.

“What are you talking about, baby?” Kevin asked, puzzled. I d-don’t get it.

“Well. I thought…that maybe you know, the phone call from like an hour ago, Chanyeol wanted you to go over for a year and you went to talk to him about it—“

“You want me to go to the Star Realm and stay there for a year?” His expression darkened.

Wh-what is he saying? Was he not listening to me earlier? Did he not understand it when I had a pained expression on my face? It’s as if that didn’t happen.

“What? Kevin! I... no. I don’t want to be separated from you especially after all the... Pardon, my language, but the that so many people put us through. You want .. Do you honestly believe that I want to just ship you away?” I placed my hands on hips and glared at Kevin who was baffled, speechless to what I had to say. What the hell is going on?

“I don’t know. Why don’t you TELL me?” Kevin growled, suddenly his eyes started to glow darkly. K-Kevin? I took a step back and stared at the dark aura surrounding him. Crows, dark crows flew around him as their crimson red eyes gleamed like beams.

“Kevin?.. Kevin! Wh-what’s going on?”

He looked towards the ground and he started to chuckle. His chuckles gradually turned into small laughter, then louder laughter. But it wasn’t his laughter, it didn’t belong to my Kevin. His head slowly risen up until his eyes met with mine. His red, crimson eyes. Shocked, I fell back onto the bed.

“You lied to me. You betrayed me. You hurt him. You killed him.” He said, no--, that wasn’t Kevin’s voice.

“Kevin, you’re scaring me.” I whispered, trembling.

He remained silent and an evil smirk went across his face. Before I knew it, his hands were around my neck. Ke-Kev..

All I could do was grab his wrists. I couldn’t scream.

***

I let out a screeching scream and my breathing quickened.

Wh-what was that about? A d-dream? Kevin? I sat up front my bed hastily and was met with nothingness in my dark room. It's already 1am. He still hasn't returned... Dear God... I placed my hand on my neck and went to the mirror. Shocked, I stared at the bruises on my neck. Then suddenly, they faded. W-what? I muttered. I let my hair fall onto the side of my neck as I pulled the elastic out of my hair. Where... what is he up to? I got up and grabbed my phone. Speed dial...

Ring. Ringgggggggg. Ring. 

"Hello?" I greeted questioningly, as the ringing stopped. 
"______?" I heard my angel's voice. I expressed a worried face as his voice sounded groggy and tired. 
"K-Kevin. Are you alright? Why are you staying there so late?" I blurted out everything hurriedly. 
"Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry, I couldn't keep your promise about coming back before you fall asleep." 
I shook my head and told him that it didn't matter, that I just wished he could have told me he was going to stay pretty much all night at the Star Realm. 

C-crash. My head shot up and felt my heart race. 

"_____, what was that?" Kevin asked sternly with a hint of worry hidden within his words. 
"I don't know." I whispered softly. I placed my ear against my cold door and heard nothing. 
"Are your parents’ home?" He asked. 
"N-no. They are at a friend's place. They're probably going to come back home pretty late. I.. bet it was just the wind. “I assured him. I heard him sigh and he replied;
"Stay in the room. I'm coming back home soon. I'm going to leave now. “I nodded and locked my bedroom door. 
We said our goodbyes. I hung up the phone and sat back on the bed, hugging my blanket around my knees. R-ren? I whispered in my mind. If that's you downstairs or wherever, can't you just poof here. Dont freak me out.. please. 

Creeaaakk.. Thunk! 

Gulp. I tippy-toed to my closet and took my tennis racket. Hesitantly, I placed my ear against the cold surface of my door and heard absolutely nothing. Grasping and turning the knob slowly, I stared outside into the darkness of my hallway. R-ren? That's not funny. Nothing. Closing the door behind me, the click of the door scared the crap out of me. God. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand and smelled something burning. B-burning? I ran down the stairs and went straight to the stove. Turned off. Why.. I checked every appliance but nothing was even hot or on the urge of burning. Another vision? I shook my head and heard footsteps. Oh god. I fit myself into the closed closet and closed the doors. The closet door had those old-fashioned horizontal slits where you could partially see the outside but not the other way around. A shadow passed the closet. I held my breath, and felt my limbs become sore as I became so stiff and tried not to move. Then, the shadowy being came back, standing still in front of the closet. I was now on verge of practically praying, hoping it wouldn't yank the door open. Please. Suddenly,

"_____?" I heard the front door open. The shadowy being's head shot up to the side, and crippled, disappearing as it roared silently in my mind. Its roar rung and screamed in your mind, the walls of your skull felt like it was going to burst, it was excruciating pain. 

"You will pay. " It whispered in such a hollow, screeching tone. The same voice form the dream.

You felt two strong grips on your neck, but nothing was there. Begging for air, your hand scratched and tried to become free from its grasp. But you were merely scratching your neck, as if what was strangling you was an entirely new force. You felt your blood rushing through your veins and your vision went blank. 

"Turn back. Pay for what you've done. “Its sinister voice, you felt the monster smile, and the sound of glass screeching, dagger teeth. 

"Die. “The word repeated endlessly. Then everything went dark. Absolutely dark. The last thing you visioned; Erian's smirk. 

[ Kevin's POV ]

“____!” I yelled. I ran up the stairs and flung her bedroom door open, only to be met with a messy bed and no one inside. “____?” I felt myself feel weak as the thought of ___ being hurt was engraved in my mind and something else… was weakening me. I closed my eyes and heard a sudden roar. W-What? I ran down the stairs almost tripping on a few steps. Wait. Clo-closet. She always said she’d hide in a closet. I ran to the closet down at the mainfloor and flung it open.

“_____!” I expanded my arm under her frail knees and heaved her up. “_____. Hey. Hey!”

[ Your POV ]

H..huh? My eyes fluttered open slowly.. all I saw was Kevin’s worried face, and hearing his voice calling out my name over and over in a soft tone.

“___... ____! You’re awake!” He rejoiced and held me close. So, the Kevin from much earlier was a dream.. then what about the incident in the closet. What was that all about? “_____.  What happened to you?”

“I’m not sure..” I murmured, staring at Kevin worriedly. “How... was the meeting with Chanyeol?”

“W-Wait! ____. Your neck.” His hands trailed on certain spots of my neck, shivering, I pushed his hand away. His hands were ice cold. “There’s bruises, jagiya. They’re.. they’re like hand-marks.” His eyes widened and sat closer; “Baby! What the hell happened?”

My eyes became watery, “I-I don’t know! I..” I explained every single thing that happened earlier. From the dreams of him, to the dark shadow figure that caused such excruciating pain. I tangled my hands in my hair and felt like I was going insane. I couldn’t.. I couldn’t dare to say it but.. I thought everything was going to be okay but..

“Is… it Erian again?” I choked on tears and tried to calm myself down. “Is..is he going to come back? He’s going to come back again, isn’t he?” Slowly, I started to panic. Kevin shook my shoulders and yelled;

“____! Get you self together. He is locked up. I swear. He won’t bother us anymore. I saw him earlier, he was in jail, highly secured, the Starlites are dealing with him, guarding him, having a close eye on him. ____. It’s probably all just nightmares.”

“What..what explains the bruises on my neck?” I whispered. Kevin trailed his fingers on my neck again and whispered; “I..I don’t know. But don’t worry. It won’t come back. It won’t.” I nodded and held him close. Okay, I told him.

***

[ Kevin’s POV ]

Many days passed, _____ still can’t sleep soundly through the night. Some nights, there would be screams. Some nights, there would be sobbing. Some nights, she just stayed up late, unable to sleep without one eye open.  It was scaring her so badly. But.. some nights, it did go away. The majority of nights, she slept soundly when I was by her side. Although, those occasional nights of terror did happen, at least one or two times a week. But.. what scared me the most were the occasional bruises on her neck. So.. I decided to visit Erian, to find out what the hell is going on.

“Erian.” I gritted my teeth, walking towards the dark cell. Erian was locked up, with glowing rings around his wrists and legs. Those rings.. Ren told me about those. They were to prevent him from using magic. Then.. how could he have.. don’t those things to ____. It isn’t him. But he should know something about it. It could possibly be a side-effect from all the events during the trance.

“Well. How do you do, Kevin?” Erian smiled. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes were of a shallow purple. The same smirk and darkness filled the atmosphere with discomfort.

“I’m not here to freaking chit-chat I want answers.” My hand grasped on of the jail bars and looked at him threateningly. He slowly approached with slide steps and approached his head towards mine;

“And what are your questions, Kevin? How’s_____?”

I slammed the bar and Erian didn’t even flinch, but was staring directly, deeply into my eyes. This bastard, I scoffed.

“I ask the questions, you . Now, tell me. Who else is associated with you? Why is ____ having these nightmares and these bruises?”

Erian chuckled and lifted his wrists:

“I can’t contact anybody. I can’t even cast one single spell. What makes you think it has something to do with me? Maybe.. it’s an entire new kind of dark force. And.. I will not help you. Kevin. You better learn your skills and techniques quick. Or..you just might lose the one you’ve been fighting for, for ages.” Erian laughed, and walked deeper into the cell, camouflaging and emerging with the darkness.

Damn it.

Damn it.

Angrily, I stomped my ways out of the dark halls. Ren, worried, followed me.

“Kevin! Kevin! What happened?” Ren stopped my track by suddenly summoning a wall in front of me. I turned towards him and gave him an annoyed expression. Sorry, he apologized. But he pleaded. I explained everything and sighed. I sat on the white couch and rested my hand in my hands;

“I.. I need to learn everything.”

Ren scooted closer and replied: Huh?

“In order to protect ____, I need to undergo the training.”

Ren went wide-eyed and stood up. “Hyung! That means.. for a year. Maybe more!”

I know. I let Ren read my mind. I know. I know ____ won’t be happy with it. I’m not happy with it. If it’s to protect her. I’ll undergo the training. I want to finish my lessons as a healer and learn more techniques. I stared at Ren.

“Hyung.. you do know it could take longer than a year. And there is no way, they’d let you out until you finish. It’s a strict process. I know _____ isn’t going to be ready for this. Will you be ready for this? You just got the girl! You’re going to push her aw—“

“I’m not pushing her away, Ren! I’m doing this for our future. What will happen if ____ and I get married, have kids. What if those things, those abominations go after ____, no, better yet our children. Our grandchildren. I love her, Ren. And I know a Starlite can’t be with a human, but I didn’t choose this path! I didn’t choose to become a Starlite.”

Ren stayed silent.

“How are you going to tell ____?” He asked.

“I don’t know.”

I really don’t know.

--------------------

[Author's Note]

Hey guys! It's moi! Khay! I just want to thank you guys for subbing, commenting and errrrr-ything! I have a feeling the sequel will be coming sonner then as predicted. Woah. That sentence. Fail. oh, words. Haha. My hopes are to ONE day get on the featured, but I have quite a long way, don't I? Haha. Doesn't matter. As long as I have you guys, then I am the happiest little author here! Thank you for subbing. Oh. I have also decided to write and post my sequel within the same link so then you wouldn't have to scavenge to another link and sub to it, haha. Or.. I don't know. Help me out! Please sub, comment and vote please! (If you think I deserve it, obviously. haha) Thanks, <3 Love, Sierra a.k.a Khay