Without her companion's approval, the young girl journeyed alone down the winding trail leading to the old Tower of Light. Well situated, it stood in all its ancient glory at the nexus of a luscious peninsula surrounded by a calm protective sea. Her bare feet met with slippery, uneven stones smoothed by centuries of waves, wind, and rain. Her careful steps made little noise as not to alert the vampire of her coming. One moon sank as another moon rose. The vampire stood waiting, translucent in the fazed holy light.

He had undoubtedly been expecting her arrival.

"If you're truly awake, then you must know what I've come to take." She spoke boldly for she knew he could do her no harm without her consent.

"I do not. But if you so wish it, you may enlighten me."

"The magic marbles. I must have them."

"Ah..." He turned to reveal a pair of yellow eyes and a handsome face. "Marbles invested with the power to turn back time."

"Yes."

"But they are of no use to you." He vanished to appear again in a manner only a vampire of his age and knowledge could. His pale hand hovered over her shimmering hair in a sign of endearment.

"I will go back..."

"...and undo the wrong." Vampire and Spirit spoke as one.

"But you must know this, my succulent creature. You alone cannot change the past." His raspy voice grew unexpectedly deep and sweet. "But I can help you. Your soul knows I speak the truth."

"I will never strike a bargain with you!" Her heart seemed ready to burst from her chest.

"Ah, but you will... and in exchange for my assistance, you will offer me..." He tilted back his pretty head to breath out the pinnacle of his existence. "All your life's blood."

"What I need are those magic marbles."

He displayed no signs of disappointment at her rejection. "If you insist on pursuing this folly, they are there waiting for you,  laying dormit in that cursed box."

At his response, the girl grew hesitant. "You have no intention of stopping me?"

"Mmm... now why would I? I am no holy guardian."

• • • • • • • • •

Jaejoong had consumed all the humans she had brought back to the Witch Tower, but it was not nearly enough to rejuvenate his vigor let alone his mind.

"What do you see, Priestess." His hand latched onto .

"The future is... cloudy."

Jaejoong's hypnotic eyes glowed. "You had better hope it clears before I return... that is... for your own future." He hurled the woman across the large study room.

Even with her body crushed, the Priestess still had the nerves to respond. "But one truth remains unchangeable. Xinling, the living spirit, will destroy Jaejoong, the undead necromancer."

"Lie there and re-evaluate your future. My return is imminent." As much as he would love to punish the traitors, there was no time. Xinling's soul had escaped her latest vessel. He had to find it and bring it back like he had always done, but this time... more was at stake.

Who would come out victorious in the end? It was only a matter of who assembled first. Jaejoong and Xinling were both broken. Half and half. Body and soul.

"Time is of the essence. You will aid me in my search for her soul." Jaejoong addressed the Lovers with a voice of authority. It was not a request but a command.

In a fury of passion and fear, the words caught in . Her hand searched for Dragon's comforting one. Naturally, their hands found each other, and it gave her courage to shake her head, a weak effort to reject the new master's order.

"I will, master!" The fool stepped fearlessly forward, renewing his loyalty to his previous master.

Sky shot him a disgusted look.

"What, Sky? Don't you two remember our conversation? My loyalty lies on the side with the most adventures." Ki glanced down at his ex-mistress. "And the right choice should be clear. She's dead and he's undead. There's no challenge."

• • • • • • • • •

The young girl was caught but her companion was the one to take the fall. She tried explaining... that it was her plan, her doing, hers alone but the elder gods had long passed judgment on the brothers. Within the realm of light, bad seeds tend to come from the same tree. Jaejoong and Junki... they were to be stripped of their wings and exiled... to suffer immortal damnation.

"Jae... I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"It is a choice we must bear."

"Whatever it takes, I will bring you back to the light. I promise, Jae. I promise."

"Just promise me this, Xin... that you won't act recklessly."

They took him away. With tears dried, Xinling shook her head. "That... I can't promise you, Jae."

After going for days without her companion, the young girl found herself again at the same winding trail leading to the old Tower of Light.

"Has your mind finally cleared, my sweetness?" The vampire was delighted to see the light creature back so soon. "How are you faring?"

She was in no mood for pleasantries. "You know a way for them to return."

"Them? There is more than one?"

"Jaejoong and Junki."

The vampire wagged his finger. "No, darling. You may only choose one. My offer is a fair exchange. One life for another."

"How do you intend to save him."

"Who are we talking about?" The vampire already knew the answer but he wanted to hear it from her own lips.

"... Jaejoong."

He let out a parched dry laugh. Her conflicts amused him greatly.

"You see, I have the power to hide your departure from those fat old fools you call elder gods. And you, my dear, have the power to end an immortal life."

"Who's life must I end?"

"His."

"But I want him to return!"

"And that is precisely how he will return. He must shed off his eternal life to be reborn. Only then will he walk in light among the living as a living."

"Can I trust your word?"

"My deep desire for your life's blood. Is that not proof enough? I am eager to show you another wrong can make a right."

"It seems I have no other choice but to accept your offer."

"But I must warn you... killing an immortal is difficult even for a light creature of your caliber. You must weaken him first, and even then, he will not stand still to be dispatched."

"I will tell him the plan. He will understand."

Another wave of scratchy laughter issued from his open mouth. "How childish... he will not remember you. Why would he want to? You have always been a burden. A disruption, so to speak, in the lives of others. And this... what I give you, is a chance to make amends."

• • • • • • • • •

"Dead? I think not, Ki. I am quite alive, thank you... and feeling very much like myself."

Jaejoong turned in time to witness the light creature's grand return. She rose from a portal much like his own. So... she regained her body of power. What are the odds that her soul would enter this body out of the million others? She was always one to risk everything... wasn't she... 

But why? Why did he feel as if he was whole again? Could it be?

"Never. Never am I going through a portal like again. By all means, throw me at a werewolf but not a portal. Please!" Vampire Jaejoong wiggled up through the shiny puddle on the floor.

"It seems you brought back my other half. Should I thank you or thank your stupidity?"

Xinling snatched the vampire copy by his ear and yanked him down so they were at eye level. "I didn't think you'd actually follow me here."

Vampire Jaejoong tried his luck. "We'll play together and die together, remember...?"

"Die, yes... sooner than you think." Xinling stuffed his back through the portal and closed it. Unfortunately, not before vampire Junki flew out, stretching his arms and legs like a crane.

Xinling sighed. "You didn't have to die too, you know..." She bound vampire Junki to the spot with a click of her tongue and disemboweled him with the slightest quiver of her lashes.

"No!"

"Ay! Who's stupid now, Joongie-pon."

Ki raised his hand. "Is it just me or is the mistress a little different?"

"Please, just die." With two clicks of her tongue, the undead necromancer, Kim Jaejoong, burned up like a kiln and incinerated, leaving behind an ugly pile of ashes.

Xinling smiled. "And be reborn from your ashes like a phoenix rising."

"My succulent creature, it is time to pay up." A raspy voice whispered in her ear.

And as one creature of light rose from the ashes of its former undead life, another one disappeared into thin air, painless and sudden... for the last time.

Order returned. The world bathed in natural light once more. And life went on like it always has... except this time... without her.