Just as Zico had told you, you went up the stairs an hour after you received his text. You warily turned the corner after you reached the top of the steps. Upstairs, the lighting was dark. You could see but not as well as you could in the well lit foyer downstairs. You didn’t want to call out Zico’s name for fear of the mayor hearing you. You did not want to end up tied to a chair again.

As you peaked around the next corner, a hand landed on your shoulder. You whipped around quickly, your fight or flight system on high alert. “It’s just me.” The voice of the person in front of you now calmed you down. Taeil smiled due to your jumpiness, “Don’t worry. The mayor is outside with his wife.”

“Where’s Zico?” You questioned him.

Taeil nudged his head up, signifying that Zico was straight down the hall from your current position. He nodded and without another word, you followed Taeil down the hall to the last room on the right. He opened it, revealing an office. The mayor’s office. The very same office you had been in when you were tied up. You recognized the chair next to the sofa in the room as the chair you were strapped to.

“Help me look.”

You heard Zico tell Taeil. Taeil immediately went to searching the room alongside Zico. They rummaged through things quickly yet quietly.

“What are you looking for?” You asked Zico. You felt helpless to the situation since you were just standing there watching them.

He looked away from the bookcase towards you, “A key.”

“A key?” You cocked your head in confusion but still took steps towards the mayor’s desk. Your eyes scanned the top surface as you thought over it. Around forty minutes went by as you went through drawers in the desk.

There was nothing but assorted papers involving current events and a few spreadsheets about expenses the town was making. You had almost given up on your search as you leaned down and opened the last drawer on the left. You flipped through the papers, your eyes scanning the words quickly.

You flipped through the whole stack before your mind went blank. You blinked a few times before your hands quickly went back to the pile of papers. You flipped through them again, this time focusing on what they contained.

Your mouth fell open as you looked at the intricate sketches of what seemed to be the blueprints for some kind of building. As you looked through them, you found other sketches of rooms and doors and gates. There were assorted notes on the pictures. The notes seemed to be instructions of some kind.

Before you could make any sense of them, a loud pound came from the right of you. You dropped the papers back into the drawer in surprise before closing it. For some reason, you felt like you were looking at something you weren’t supposed to know about. No, something no one was supposed to know about except the mayor.

Zico suddenly growled as he banged his fist against the bookcase again. Taeil had to shush him and fix the books because technically they were not supposed to be ransacking the mayor’s office in an attempt to steal from him.

“Where the hell is it?” Zico busted out, his anger getting the best of him.

You stood up from your kneeling position and tapped your chin, “I don’t think he’d hide it so secretly. The mayor is the type to like his assets out in the open. That’s what the werewolves told me anyway.”

“So what? How does that help us?” Zico was apparently out of patience due to the snarkiness of his comment.

“So,” You mocked him by dragging out the word before continuing, “He would keep it somewhere obvious. So he could show it off.” You knew first hand that the mayor loved to show off.

“An obvious place to keep a key?” Taeil sat back on the desk. He knocked into a decorative bowl and almost knocked it over. He caught it before it fell and breathed out in relief. As he looked at the bowl, he suddenly got an idea, “Like a key ring?”

He pointed to the bowl that contained a ring of keys on the mayor’s desk. Zico grabbed the ring of ten or so keys and scanned each one. His eyes twinkled as he reached the seventh one in the line.

“Here it is.” His smile got so big you thought his cheekbones wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure of it. He pulled it off of the key ring and stared at it in his hand. “Finally.” He breathed out, a softer smile making its way onto his face.

He looked back to you and Taeil now before wrapping the two of you in a bear hug. Taeil laughed as you awkwardly patted his back. When he let go, he slipped the key into his pocket and pointed at Taeil.

“Go tell the others its time to leave.” Taeil nodded before promptly leaving the room. Zico turned to you and grinned, “Ready to get out of here?”

You nodded though were cut short as he grabbed onto your hand and pulled you behind him. Hand in hand, the two of you ran down the stairs without a single person noticing you. Everyone was outside, otherwise preoccupied with the final dance of the night. You felt as though you were Cinderella the way your dress flowed after you. As you two rushed across the foyer, you couldn’t help but notice Zico’s smile of excitement. You looked down at his hand that held yours, not paying attention as Zico dragged you through the foyer walkway and towards the front door.

Someone else was turning the corner to walk down the foyer walkway. You bumped into them. Immediately you mumbled a short sorry and bowed slightly before you felt Zico tugging on you to hurry up. Neither he nor you had noticed whom you had bumped into.

As Zico opened the front door and pulled you outside, the person stared at your receding figure. “That was Zico.” They titled their head in confusion, “Does he have a girlfriend or something? What was with the rush?”

“Dongwoo, hurry up. We can’t miss the final dance!” A voice called him from the foyer.

Dongwoo, the person you had bumped into, turned and continued his trek to the backyard, “Sorry Hoya. Did they make you come get me?”

Hoya shook his head, “That’s right, now hurry up before all the girls are taken and we’re stuck dancing with each other.” Hoya lightly pushed him to move faster.

Dongwoo laughed, “What’s wrong with that?”

“Hey slow down.” You said again as you almost stumbled over, “Why are you running so fast anyway? Do we have to turn into The Flash to run away? Why does everyone assume I can run in these things?” You looked down at your heels and frowned.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a tomboy you’d know how to act like a woman for once.” He shot back as he came to a stop.

“That’s not what you were saying a little while ago when we danced together.” That comment shut him up. You smirked at him, causing him to freeze in place. It was the first time you had actually loosened up in front of him since you joined the hunters. You actually showed some kind of smirk instead of down casted eyes or a faraway look. He didn’t know why, but your little cocky smirk drew him in. Attracted him. Sure, before he thought you were pretty good-looking, y even. But that smirk, that made him want to wipe it off of your lips with his own.

You noticed his look and frowned, “Weren’t we making a get away?” You raised an eyebrow. He flinched out of his daze and laughed. He reached out and grabbed your hand again, dragging you with him down the cobblestone path leading away from the house. You let him do it all the way to the two cars where the rest of the hunters waiting by.

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A/N:

Oh! What's this? Zico is acting odd isn't he? 

This ends the Autumn bash chapters~ Look forward to the upcoming full moon!