As soon as Taren dipped out of sight, the boys went to the window to watch her cross over into the other building. “ I know that we’re all grown people here, but I can’t help but look out for her,” Woo said, his eyes switching from the mode that he suppressed on a normal basis-Hawk Vision, where nothing was hidden from his mind- to human vision, and turned to the rest of his friends who nodded at him. “There’s going to be heartbreak if she manages to stay with us for this trial period,” Junsu sighed as they turned to follow shy Minji down the opposite hallway to their photo shoot. “Yeah- maybe Jaybeom will finally be inspired to fully embrace his culture with Taren-ni around,” Junsu said, and this time Jay, whose mind was still on his dance with said counselor, let his irritation show.

“For the last time- it’s not my fault okay?!Not everyone was blessed with learning Korean as their first language in their household, Junho!!” Minji was far enough ahead to not notice his outburst through clenched teeth, but everyone else heard it clearly. Junho shrugged and continued casually, knowing full well he was treading on dangerous ice with his leader. “I mean, this is, what-our millionth photo shoot together, and you still haven’t been able to grasp all of the instructions given to you by the director?” Nick, sensing the threat rising in Jay’s soul for his teammate, tried stepping in, “Okay okay, but remember, Korean isn’t an easy language for everyone, I even struggled with it and my country hugs Seoul,” he said, trying to lighten up the mood as Jay looked at Junho with less than friendly eyes. Junsu snorted, then suddenly lifted his eyes at Taek, whose nose was wrinkled as he sniffed the air in measured bouts. “Taek-hyung? What’s wrong?” Taek’s eyes went amber as he turned to the rest of the group. “….The person who delivered the message to Taren….they’re here..in this building..”

All semblance of a rivalry were completely forgotten as the other members spun and looked quickly at the Beast, whose head was now swiveling and trying to pinpoint the exact location of his prey. “What? Where? Just now?” Nick placed a hand on Taec’s quivering shoulder. “Lead us to them, Taecyeon.” Chan pointed at Minji’s shrinking back, “Guys-what should we do about her?” Woo looked at Junsu and grinned, and Junsu caught on quickly and smiled disarmingly right back.  “The usual Dawn Charm, coming right up..”

“Hey, Minji-ni~ wait up!!” the manager in question turned to see every starstuck fan’s greatest fantasy come to life, Junsu of 2PM, running to her, smiling and waving in all of his glory. She swooned before catching herself as he came to stand next to her. “Yes, Junsu-oppa?” Junsu smiled, and as everyone else walked up slowly, his eyes turned into the Charming Vision. “Minji-ya, you are devastatingly beautiful, so attractive, so deadly….” The magic immediately kicked in, as Minji’s eyes turned a hazy lilac, showing that she was now underneath the Charmer’s full control. Junsu grinned, his own eyes rich lavender; even though time was of the essence here, he still took the time out to enjoy himself fully-it was, of course, his nature to do so.

“Minji-ya, my lovely princess, would you be so kind as to tell the company that we need to reschedule our shooting? It is very important to me that you succeed in your mission,” Junsu trailed off letting his fingertips slid down Minji’s face and grinning as she shuddered deliciously under his caress. She stood slowly, and nodded, ever so blessed by her king’s presence. “It shall be as you said, my king..” turning, Minji straightened up and went down the hallway, turning to wave a little wave at her temporary master before walking into the photo shoot room.

Junsu’s eyes cleared up and he did a little bow as Woo and Chan clapped. “I never get tired of that.” Jay nodded to Junsu, and turned his attention back to Taec, who was now crouching and sniffing along the floorboards, with Nick and Junho trailing him like a stylish version of a mystery drama. “This is a guy…..who’s roughly our build….doesn’t work here….hangs around often….never bothering anyone…wait…” Taec picked up the pace, hurrying down corridors, with the others following close behind. After a minute, this turned into a full sprint, and Taec’s hands turned into his claws, his body subconsciously preparing himself for combat as the scent of someone scaring his friends and family grew stronger. The others saw this as they ran, and prepped themselves as well-anything that Taecyeon considered a threat, their rapper would NOT face it alone.  Taec stopped suddenly in the dark, twisting  stairwell, and Junho slammed into his back. “What? What is it?” he asked the Beast. Taec said nothing and then-with a terrifying snarl, he leapt -straight up and over the stair safety rail- dropping over 8 floors below!!

Jay jumped right after him, his fangs coming out in his own snarl, and Nick followed right after that, his powers surrounding him in a protective shroud of royal blue, as he took a plunging swan dive into the darkness below him, completely trusting the instinct of the animals that went before him. Wooyoung nodded at Junho before coughing and throwing up twin Magnums and jumping with the water bender, following him down the twisting, topsy-turvy ice slide he’d just created, with Chan following with a spurt of afterburner as ers and Junsu bending the sonic waves around him to glide as the vanguard.

As the others caught up with the two hellion forerunners, there were sounds of a struggle as Taec tackled someone and they went rolling to the ground. “Get the off of me!! Get back you monster!!” was all that could be heard between the broken Korean cuss words and Taec’s less-than-human growling. Jay grabbed his fellow rapper by the cuff of his hoodie and dragged him backwards as Nick stepped in gracefully, picking the culprit up by his neck and slamming him magically against the dimly-lit wall of the emergency exit. With the lone light-bulb swinging above their heads, everyone could see that it was a guy, no older than 25, brunette, and developed, glaring at everyone and holding a bag. It was obvious to them all that he was terrified and wasn’t expecting to be caught, but he put on a brave front as Nick simply said, “State your business, and nobody gets hurt.”

The guy sputtered, but regained his courage as he lashed out in Hangeul, “ you!!Thai Prince, more like Thai piece-of--you can’t scare me!! I’m not afraid of someone who can’t even get famous in his own heritage!!” Nick calmly wiped the spittle from his face as the man laughed victoriously, and Chan stepped in threateningly, raising a burning fist, but Nick shook his head and smiled at his maknae, stating, “It’s okay-I can handle him.”

Nick snapped his face back to the laughing fool, and his eyes glowed dangerous cobalt. The hallway seemed to fill with a blue gloom as the faintest trace of a crescent moon at bay appeared on Nichkhun’s forehead. At once, the man reached his hands up to the magical binds that suddenly appeared around his throat and began to close in on his windpipe, slowly but surely. “What are you doing-urk?!” Nick cracked his knuckles and Woo smirked as the man’s face turned an interesting shade of green. “You should’ve just answered his question, man.” “No worries, we have all the time in the world,” the Thai Prince replied smoothly. Nick ignored the man’s feeble attempts to break free and picked up the plastic bag he dropped, tossing it to Junho and Chan, who immediately ripped it open and began rooting through its contents. They pulled out a stack of folded notes, a marker, a lockpick, a stolen security access card, and a bundle rapped in butcher’s paper. Both Jay and Taec took one delicate sniff and shuddered in repulsion. “It’s a pig’s heart, recently killed,” Jay said in way of explanation to the others. Taec stood up, and stalked over to the man held against the wall. “Start. Talking. Now.” Taec’s own fangs came out, and he held a steel claw underneath the man’s chin, letting the smallest amount of blood trickle from his Adam’s apple.

The man shuddered then, and shouted out. “She needs to know the truth-the whole world needs to know about you!!You guys are nothing but fakers, denouncing the goods of the world for your own selfish gain!!! Walking around like you are all high and mighty, acting like it revolves around you, putting up your front at shows and such-so awful….?! You’re not even human, and yet you try and bend us to your will?! Who gave you that ing right?! We have to stop you somehow…..” Chan stood then, and shook the bundle into the man’s face, “What the hell? So what the were you planning on doing with pig’s blood?!” The man sneered and spat in the Firedancer’s face, laughing hysterically as the very heat from Chan’s fury evaporated the fallen, bitter moisture from his face.

Junsu, who had been quietly examining the notes, spoke up. “He was going to paint this message in blood on Taren’s car: You didn’t heed our message the first time, so now this punishment will fall on you instead..” the Charmer didn’t get to finish as Junho strode forward, shoved Nick and Chan out of the way, and before anyone could stop him, solidified his fist into an iceberg and delivered a right hook into the man’s stomach, causing the man to choke out blood. “You bastard- you were going to attack her?!An innocent?!” Woo and Junsu wrestled the water bender back as the man still laughed some more.

Chan grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck, and yelled, “How many of your people are out there? Where’s M? What are you planning on doing?!” The man’s laughter only grew louder, and Taec and Jay cringed as the sound, bouncing off the metal walls of the abandoned staircase, affected their hypersensitive personas. Nick snapped his fingers once, in a line, and a band of purple stretched across the man’s face immediately to stop the noise. Mmph!!Mmph!! was all that could be heard as Junsu slowly passed a hand over the man’s forehead, not even willing himself to actually touch the man’s sweating, nasty forehead, and turned to his comrades. “He’s well trained, Nichkhun- my charms aren’t breaking through his mental barriers..” the man’s foot lashed out at Junsu’s back, and shoved defiantly, causing Junsu to come forward unexpectedly and Woo to step and catch him.

Jay’s eyes turned black. “I’ve had enough of this . Since peaceful negotiations won’t work, I’m doing this the hard way then.” In the blink of an eye, Jay stepped from down the lane to be at the man’s neck in the next frantic heartbeat. Nick nodded his approval, and Jaybeom started slowly, and carefully, keeping his tone level as Taec appeared on the other side of the man’s neck and his ear slowly, grinning feral. “He’s so scared, so puny, so human…” The two animals shared a knowing grin as Jay started talking directly to the man. “As you know, I’m not a man known for dragging things out too long. You have threatened our peace of mind, and I congratulate you for that; however-“ here, Jay the other side of the man’s neck and chuckled darkly, “-your win was not a well planned one. No matter where you are, no matter what you do, we own you. We can find out everything there is to know about you and your pathetic existence up until this point. For you see, as much as we may show the spotlight, there’s a whole nether side that you can’t even begin to fathom what we see, what we can do to you…” Woo stepped forward and shot the shirt ends off the man’s body, allowing Taec to peel the layers off the man, one by one.

Nick winked at the man, and the silencing bind evaporated, causing the man to gasp out, “No. no-what are you going to do to me?” In a slightly more confident voice, he added, “You can’t kill me-we’re in a public place!!” Junsu, just as smug as Nick, leaning against Chan and holding Junho back, grinned. “Yeah, but guess what-we’re 9 floors away from civilization. The 9^th floor is completely soundproof- so that means nobody could hear you scream unless you were actually on the floor with them..” Junho knelt and blew a small, steady stream of freezing nitrogen on the man’s toes, smiling at last and the chill began to creep and cover the man’s kneecaps, “Now you can’t run, courtesy of yours truly,” he added, bowing slowly.

It was as if the man finally realized where he was, and cried out, “I’ll tell you anything, anything, okay?! Anything that you’d like to know, just please, don’t kill me!!” Nick stepped forward as Jay at the now steady flow of blood trickling from the man’s throat and moaned, relishing the source of life as it went down his own hungry throat, and smiled sweetly, “Oh really?” He tapped Jay and Taec, and they crouched at the man’s legs, purring and rubbing their faces against his knees like two well trained cats-or, in this case, tigers.

The man nodded frantically, as the smallest chuckle escaped from Chan’s throat, “Yes-Yes!! M and his crew are planning to tear you apart at your Valentine’s Day concert. Since Taren just arrived, he’s hoping he can recruit her into his crew by influence, fear-whichever one works better!!He’s got an operative working in the ranks of one of the local news castings that will be covering the performance!!” Nick brushed the man’s lips carefully with a handkerchief, and whispered gently, soothingly, “And that’s all you know?” The man nodded a fervently as the bind would let him, “Yes-I swear!!” Taec sniffed the man’s knee, and snorted, “He’s telling the truth-that’s all he knows.” Nick smiled, and straightened up slowly, bowing courteously to the man, “Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Uncle.” The man gasped as Nick snapped his fingers and the animals stood right up, finishing peeling off his shirt till he was only in his pants and shoes. “Wha-?! But I thought you’d let me go-I told you everything!!”

The man’s fears grew as Junsu smiled at him, “Now why would we let you go, after all that’s been said and done?” Woo counted on his fingers, pointing at each finger with the tip of his precious guns, “Let’s see, you insulted us greatly, broke our honor, confessed to the crime, and worse-you scared someone dear to our hearts, threatening to even take her away,” he said, and Junho nodded, continuing as he and Chan put their hands together making a smoldering heart, “You should understand love and obsession, right ajusshi? After all, your jealousy is just love and hate at the same time…”

Nick patted the man’s shoulder as he began to cry, “Do not be sad, my friend-your death will not be in vain; after all, you’ll be feeding our dear leader here.” Indeed, Jay had gone a full week without feeding himself his true nourishment. Nick nodded to Jay, “He’s all yours-Our Lady says so tonight.” Jay laughed, a full, sensual laugh, and threw his head back, showing the others his true face-the face of a hunger embedded with lust, longing, and thirst-for chaos, fangs extended, and bit deeply into the man’s neck, even as the man screamed for help. Taec sat and howled fully as the man struggled, but he was no match for a man whose hunger strengthened all of his senses.

This is what Jay lived for-his Dhampir’s Heritage. His powers never came to life until he came back to the motherland, Seoul, the land of his parents’ birth and the threshold of his precious bloodline. The monster inside came in full force, bending and shrieking and twisting its way form the core of his soul to the outside world, and it was in that moment of monster and man, of dark and light, of human and creature that Jay felt truly alive as he joyously drank the man clean. Soon the man’s cries and pleading turned into gurgling and bubbling, and with a final noise, Jay drank the man in full, stepping back and taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

There was now a very dead man slumped on the wall, and Woo reached out gingerly, to touch Jay on the shoulder-as strong as the marksman was, even he didn’t dare mess with Jay when he had just finished a meal- and asked, “You all right?” Jay looked up and smiled, fangs gleaming, “Oh, I’m good, Woo-hyung; I’m better than before…” His left arm glowed a light color before fading out, signifying that the blood was acceptable to his demoniac’s side..

Nick passed his handkerchief over the man’s remains, and at once the evidence disappeared completely-only thing that remained was the bundle of items the man dropped; his own legacy mark fading away on his forehead. “I’ll see to it that the evidence is burned away,” Nick said to the others, handing over the letters to Junsu and the heart to Chan, who nodded grimly and at once, began to burn it off. “Anybody have any regrets,” Jay asked quietly, once he felt that he could say a whole sentence without laughing maniacally. Not one person shook their head back at him, and he grinned slyly, “Good-then we have a lead. We know what M plans on doing, and now we can better prepare ourselves.”

Woo swallowed his guns as they straightened themselves out. “I only wish that I knew exactly what the bastard was planning…” Junsu smiled, and patted his hyung’s arm, “Don’t worry, all will come in good time.” Just then, Nick’s phone beeped- “A text from Taren-unni!! She’s wondering where we are,” Nick said, and Taec chuckled evilly, “Can we tell her what we’ve been up to?” The others yelled out, “No!!”

Junsu looked at Nick, “Can you transport us to the bathroom closest to her?” The sorcerer grinned, “Read my mind-are you sure you and I aren’t related in blood?” Nick spread his arms out wide, and a pentagram appeared underneath the boys. “Come on in-the water’s fine,” he said, and as one the boys were whisked away to the area closest to their newest beloved…