I Know It's been so long, but I didn't want you guys to think I forgot about you. Here's the next Chapter of Torn. I hope you guys enjoy it. And leave some comments. I love reading them.

Chapter 4

The Curse

Key slammed against the wall of the locker room shower. The scores on his body were getting worse and worse. They had only showed up a few hours ago and by the end of first period they covered his entire body. They burned deeper into his skin to the point where they bled. He healed only to have another take its place.

The heat of the water did nothing to sooth the pain and before he knew it he was screaming out. He scratched at the cuts with some hope that he could some way peel away his skin and grow some new one, like a snake shedding its skin. Key’s screams grew louder and by the time Jonghyun found him the water was running red down the drain.

 “Key!” Jonghyun yelled. He scooped up key in his arms and carried him over to the bench. He laid him down, taking a towel and wiping away the blood. “What happened?”

 “Don’t tell Onew.” It was all that Key could muster before he passed out and his hand fell limp on the floor.

A few minutes later Key woke up bruised all over with Jonghyun, Donghae and Eunhyuk staring at him. Key sat up trying to avoid the stupid worried looks casted across their faces. There was no need for them to worry. The cuts were gone and he was feeling better as the minutes passed.

Eunhyuk sat beside him.

 “Why are you all here?” Key looked out the window to avoid their gazes. He didn’t need the sympathy. All he was worried about was keeping Onew out of the loop. He didn’t want him to think that he couldn’t take care of himself. It would break his heart if he had Onew at his side for the rest of their Nightling lives. They might not even be together after high school was over.

 “There’s something wrong with you. You can’t be too stupid to not see that.” Eunhyuk plainly said. his feelings. He thought standing up and taking his place by Donghae. He grabbed Donhae’s hand. He wouldn’t know what he would do if he lost Donghae. If Onew didn’t have Key, he’d go on a rampage and the Council would be forced to put him down.

 “I’m okay. The cuts are all gone now.” Key opened his shirt so they could inspect him. They were gone, but the red spots they left behind were far from healing.

 “You’re not fine.” Donghae said. He hadn’t always seen eye to eye with Key in the past, but that’s just what it was, the past. He didn’t want him to die. Besides they had resolved any tension between them after he stopped picking fights with Taemin. “You need to see someone.”

  “When I say there’s nothing wrong it’s because there’s nothing wrong.” Key was frustrated by the simple fact that they were right. He wasn’t okay. There was something wrong and even now, as he hid it from his face, that something was attacking his heart and he didn’t know how much longer he would go on for.

   “It’s a curse.” Jonghyun finally added in watching Key battle with himself.

   “A curse?” Eunhyuk asked.

   “A curse as old as us. It’s been forbidden for so long. It must have fallen on Key when the Darklings broke the Watcher amulet. They released it and seeing as how Key has some…magic that he hasn’t explained how he’s gotten, the curse was attracted to him.” Jonghyun sat by Key, his eyebrows furrowed. He wasn’t going to play nice. Not while the people he was supposed to trust to keep his brother safe was hiding important information that could keep them from doing just that. “Are you going to explain it to me, or are you going to make me go to Onew to find out?”

*

Taemin didn’t know what he was going to do when he got his hands on Kevin, but he thought wrapping his hands around his neck was a start. He was family and family was to be handled with care. Even if they were as corrupted as his peddling cousin.

  No one’s going to take Minho away from me. Taemin thought scoping out the hallways and finding Kevin leaned against one of the walls in front of the music room.

  Kevin was bobbing his head to the music seeping out into the hallway. He’d looked peaceful and kind. An appearance Taemin was so fooled by. Why exactly was Kevin even around? What had he been planning in that head of his? And why had Taemin never heard of him before? Was he just another demon casting a spell over his mother to squeeze his way into their lives only to destroy each and every one of them?

 Taemin wasn’t willing to put that theory to the test and charged at him.

He threw his punches only to have Kevin dodge every one of them. He was fast. Faster than any human should be, in fact he was faster than Taemin. But Taemin knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge him forever. Because he was indeed human and his energy would run out eventually. And when it did, Taemin wrapped his fingers around his neck. He squeezed as hard as he could, but still gave him room to breathe and talk.

Kevin outstretched his neck in Taemin’s hand. “I’m really getting tired of this position.”

“I’m not going to let you take Minho away from me.” Taemin growled. His eyes glowed pure red, his fangs retracted and the veins around his eyes and neck turned black.

He truly is king.Kevin thought, before staring straight into Taemin’s eyes and sending him flying across the hall and hitting the wall hard. The tiles against it cracked. Taemin covered his ears as the screeching noise traveling up and down the hall banged against his eardrums. It was the first time he had wished he didn’t have Nightling hearing.

“So you got my dream. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to get it. I’ve been a bit rusty lately.” Kevin stuck his hands in his pockets and circled Taemin like a predator about to strike his prey.  

“Why do you want to kill Minho?” Taemin yelled over the sound.

“Kill him? Come on Taemin. You and I both know that’s nearly impossible. I just simply want to keep you two apart.”

“Why?” The sound kept getting louder. Taemin looked up and down the hall. It was too loud for anyone to ignore, but when he saw no one in pain or looking at him he knew something was different.

“They can’t see us. You see, I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.” He hunched down to Taemin and placed his hands over Taemin’s. The sound slowly subsided.

“Why don’t you want me to be happy?”

“You think I don’t want you to be happy?” His voice broke with each word. “I’m your family all I want is for you to be happy.”

“Then why are you doing this.”

Kevin swallowed hard. The next words were hard to say. “Trust me, Taemin. Nothing good will come from falling in love with that family. I know because I went through it.”

Taemin looked up at him and saw tears rolling down both of Kevin’s cheeks. “But if I had a choice to never fall in love with him, I wouldn’t change anything. That’s why I want to save you the heartbreak.”

He wiped off both tears with his hands and stood up. He looked down at Taemin one last time before breaking the barrier and making his way down the hall.

*

“How do we save him?” Minho asked Jonghyun. They had filled him in a few hours ago when Jonghyun knew that Key’s problems would not get better only worse. Jonghyun knew if they didn’t save him soon he would die.

“Heechul.” Jonghyun expected Minho’s malevolent gaze when he had said the name.

Minho hadn’t wanted to walk down memory lane, but he couldn’t stop the memories from flooding his brain when his brother mentioned his old friend. They were close, almost brothers, but when Heechul killed a human and turned the council on Minho, they were nothing. And Minho didn’t know exactly what Jonghyun wanted him to do by contacting the bastard.

“He’s the only one that can lift the curse.”

Minho turned to his brother. If it hadn't been Key and Onew's help, Taemin would be dead, so he thought it was only fair if he returned the favor. “Give me a few hours. Then we’ll go.”