- knock knock -

"Come in. Ah, Princess. What shall I do for you today?"

I smiled uncomfortably at his greeting. I don't know how many times I've told him to stop calling me by such a girly name.

"Um..." I paused in my steps and leaned against the closed door casually. He told me before that I could come to him for anything, whether it was needed help, or to tattle-tale on Junsu. Now that I finally have the chance, I suddenly realized how childish and improper telling on Junsu was. "The medicine. Thank you."

"Oh that? I do apologize for giving it to you late, it's because that stupid demon never told me when he started feasting again. If I knew, I would have given to him four months ago!"

"Four...months ago?" 

"Hm? He started four months ago, yes?"

"Wait, the medicine is supposed to restore the blood I lost right?" He nodded. "Then...Then if he's been getting my blood for four months now, how am I still okay? I should have been drained already."

He looks at me quizically, "Princess, you don't know? Xiah has--"

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you!" Junsu suddenly bursts through the door. "Yah, come with me."

"Looking for me? What are you talking about, you went ahead, stupid!" I retorted as he dragged me away from Kangta's office.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on!"

"Junsu let go of me!" I dragged my heels causing him to pull back and stop. "You're so rude, I was talking to Kangta!" I huffed.

"I'm not letting go if you're going back to talk to him," he sighed, annoyed.

"Geez, are you that scared of being scolded?" I shook my wrist out from his grip. "You're a demon for pete's sake."

"You didn't even tell on me, there's nothing to be scared of."

"Well then why'd you drag me out? God," I paused when I suddenly remembered what Kangta just told me. "Yah. You got some explaining to do. How is it that I'm still alive when you started drinking four months ago?"

"What?"

"You said the medicine restored the blood I lost, right? But I only received it yesterday and I'm not dead yet. What are you doing, Junsu? How am I still breathing?" I insisted.

He looked at me expressionless before tearing his eyes away and shoved his hands in his pockets, a habit he had when he was hiding something.

"It's a demon thing," he sighed, trying to put off the subject coolly.

"Junsu."

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you, RiIn. Be happy that you're still living, okay?" He looks at me tiredly.

He was beginning to get stressed, which only meant he would need to drink if I were to push the stress further. Demon thing, huh? 

"Fine. Whatever," I waved him off and turned to leave, leaving him in a probably not so good state. 

"Do you not know when to limit whatever comes out from you babbling mouth?" I hissed.

"I'd like it if you came in here without slamming the door. I'd also appreciate it if you didn't look at me with such a dark face," he clicked his tongue as he leaned back against his chair.

"What are you doing?"

"Are you talking about RiIn? You know you're getting used to dragging the Princess around, you shouldn't disrespect my lady. Also, as her informer, I have the right to tell her anything she wants or needs to know, that includes everything she doesn't know. Keeping secrets from my lady is breaking the rules. You should know that, demon. Shall I recite the rules to you once more?"

I scoffed and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. Even if he was her informer and had a point, couldn't he get a clue and try to at least avoid making the situation worse? He's such a goody two-shoe.

"You're unbelievable!"

"What's wrong with telling her about it? It's not like it'll change anything, Xiah."

"Do you not know how the human mind works? Do you know what her reaction will be if she finds out?"

"That you kissed her in her sleep to restore the blood she lost before she received the medicine? I think she'll be fine with it," he answers coolly, as if he wasn't hearing himself. "And it's half of a human mind. She's part demon."

"Are you hearing yourself?"

"Why yes, my hearing capability is perfectly fine."

"You know what, there's absolutely no use talking to you. I'm leaving."

"I just don't get why you're being so defensive, Xiah. I understand that she'll probably call you a ert but this is so not like you, keeping secrets from the Princess. It's not like you roam your lips around her white, milky skin while you're in the middle of kissing her."

I froze. I knew he meant the last part as a joke and was just merely teasing me, but even so my feet had stopped on it's own from leaving the room.

"Oh my god..." I heard him trail off when he realized I had become tensed. "Don't tell me...YOU ERT!"

"YAH!" I turned when he suddenly through a pen at the back of my head.

"What the hell were you thinking?! This is it, isn't it? This is why you don't want her to know! Besides kissing her, you let yourself go! That's falling into temptation you idiotic demon! Now I know why you didn't tell me you started feasting! You were touching her! ERTED DEMON! YOU'RE A DISGRACE! I SHOULD KILL YOU!" He yelled as I dodged the objects he was throwing at me.

"Will you shut up! For your information, I never got passed her neck, you moron! And she was always fully clothed, don't make me sound like a !" I flared, throwing the objects he threw back twice as hard. 

"Liar! You? Not passing the neck? Yeah right! Who are you kidding? You and I both know you got it down with the first Princess--"

"SHUT UP!" I roared, unconsciously flaming up our surroundings.

"YAH! What are you trying to do?! Burn my office?!" He backed away, cowering at a corner. "Okay, okay! Just calm down!"

"Jesus, I can hear the both of you from my room," Ri In suddenly bursts but stopped when she took a good look around her. "What are you doing, Junsu? Retreat your flames," she commanded.

But I was too pissed off to obey. I wouldn't let Kangta off so easily. Not this time.

"Ri In, his eyes are turning red," Kangta shuffles to her immediately, obviously using her as his shield.

"He wasn't in the brightest mood earlier. You made it worse," she sighs and approaches me. I felt her hand intersect mine and pulled me slightly towards her. "I said, retreat your flames," she whispered suddenly into my ear, causing me to calm down.

"Anger management problems. That's his problem," Kangta clicked his tongue and went ahead to his desk, knowing that I had cooled my head. "You can let go now, demon."

Before I could have comprehend what he said, I felt her loosen her hand from mine, the sudden warmth immediately disappearing.

"What did you two do in here, start a war?" She asks, noticing the mess both Kangta and I threw at each other on the floor.

"It's his fault," both Kangta and I said in unison, pointing at each other.

She looked at us amusingly before waving us off. She then stayed silent for a moment before her eyes landed once again to the oldest.

"Princess?"

"I have a question for you. I forgot to mention it earlier."

"What would that be?"

She paused and glanced towards my direction, obviously hesitating to say anything in front of me. 

"There's this guy," she started, but was immediately cut off my Kangta's exaggerated gasp. 

"Are you in love, my lady?" He says a little too happily. I turned away and shoved my hands in my pockets. I didn't like conversations like these.

"Um, no. Where did you even--"

"Oh, that's too bad," Kangta pretends to be sad. Whether RiIn noticed it or not, there was obviously a mock in his voice. "We would've been happy for you."

I felt like busting his face. Who else would he point that emphasis on? Damn idiot.

"Anyway," RiIn looks at us weirdly. "That's not it. It's about earlier at school. A boy. I haven't seen him in school until today, at the school garden, reading. And..."

"And?"

"He had this aura. It was weird."

"Well obviously it's because he's a loner absorbed in books. There's a lot of auras like that, RiIn, it's all over the school," I said, a little annoyed.

"You don't know what I'm talking about since you weren't there," she rolled her eyes. "I'm telling Kangta this because I wasn't sure if he was different."

"You said you saw him just today?" 

"Yeah. His face wasn't familiar at all."

Kangta was now running around his office, digging through his pile of mess. Ri In and I looked at each other, confused as to what he was doing. He immediately stopped when he came across some blue paper. His eyes widened and tilted his glasses upwards--a habit of his that I've unfortunately noticed too many times.

"Max."

My ears twitched at the familiar name.

"Did he look like this by any chance?" He scrambled towards us and showed Ri In what he was holding.

"Identical except for the clothing," Ri In frowned. "What is he wearing? It's so girly."

"My lady," Kangta said frantically. "This is Max. He is one of the four stones. His specialty is shape-shifting. When you said he was reading in the garden, and that you've never seen him before, I knew who it was. He tends to shape-shift into different people, whether body or face. The only time he shows his real face is when he has a book in hand and a garden to sit on. Fascinating boy, isn't he, Princess?"

"Not fascinating, it's gross. The whole shape-shift thing, I mean," she paused."Anyway. What now? Looks like Junsu will be getting company soon."

I rolled my eyes when she looked at me.

"I am perfectly fine with that. At least I won't be alone with that idiot anymore," I pointed, causing him to gasp.

"You shameful demon! My lady are you hearing this? No manners to his superiors!"

"Shut up. Just tell us what to do so we could get Max back here. The last thing we need is reports on girls going missing," I pushed him away from Ri In. He was obviously getting way too close.

"Girls going missing?"

I smirked and leaned in so that I was at the same level as her. She didn't flinch when I the painful mark that I left.

"We all feast at the same time, Princess. Who do you think Max is feasting on when his source his right here? He has to get blood somehow."

"Are you saying that it's my fault why there are girls going missing?" My smile dropped when the emotions in her eyes changed. 

"No, of course not," I patted her head and gave a comforting smile. "I haven't seen that smart for centuries. It's time I get my revenge for letting him bully me," I laughed.

That was my attempt to lighten up the atmosphere, since Ri In suddenly got quiet. Kangta and I both knew what she was thinking about.

"My lady, think positively. You're getting good at sensing them, and that means you'll find the rest of Xiah's members sooner. Like Xiah said, they all feast at the same time, so maybe up to 5 girls for each of them. It's really not that bad, so to speak."

She looked at him in horror and I shot him a deathly glare.

How can anyone be so stupid? 

_________________________

OMG, I didn't even know it's been a year since the last update /shot. Please forgive me. I never found any time at all to write, so updates has been progressing extremely slow. I will try to update as much as I can, depending on time. Thank you so much for the comments and readers! Hope you guys are still out there ~