As Taren and Taeyang went down the hallway into the elevator, Woo sat down on the couch in Taren’s office, with Chan and Junsu following. Nick folded his arms as Taec took a deep whiff of the room before speaking to them all, “I thought I smelt it last night-and now it was confirmed for me as I came here today-Taren-ni is facing her womanly trials right now.” Nick folded his arms and looked at them all as he said, “I know I won’t have to tell anybody in here not to cause her unnecessary stress and pain, right?” Everyone nodded back as Taec snorted, “The Beast is in his protective state right now-I can feel him bristling, right underneath the surface,” he said, and the others knew right away that Taecyeon wasn’t fooling around-his eyes turned amber as he continued, “The Beast wouldn’t let me leave when Jay walked in for his appointment-he was so concerned for Taren-ni’s safety that I smelt Jay smelling the blood before Jay even knew what he was doing, and told me to walk into the room.”  Junsu leaned forward to look at Jay. “Jay-hyung, will you be alright?” Everyone looked at Jay as the vocalist codenamed Snaketongue continued, “With her blood and your sensitivity..” The leader looked out the window before looking back at his teammates, snorting, “I’ll be fine- we were in here, alone, for 2 hours and nothing happened, right? Besides, I ate last week,” Junho stood up from the carpet and came to stand right in front of his leader. “Listen here, Jaebeom-“ Woo shook his head rapidly as Chan said, “Junho!!” in a warning tone- “You keep that Dhampir business in check, you hear me- if anything ever happened to Taren-noon because of you-“ Jay unfolded his arms as Nick reached forward and pulled Junho back. “Do you really think that I can’t control my urges, that I’m just some animal?! I have never just randomly let loose on random innocents, and I wasn’t planning on doing it now!!”

Woo tried to lighten up the air, standing with Chan and saying, “Now now guys, let’s not get  out of hand here-“ Junho only had eyes for Jay, as he continued his attack, “You really think your ‘alone time’ can control that, that thing within your soul?” The water bender laughed a mirthless laugh as he shook his head. “All of your hopes and wishful thinking doesn’t compare to team training, Jaebeom-you forget that a lot!!” Nick came in full peacemaker mode, putting a hand on both shoulders of the opposing forces. “We are all a team now-surely we can meet each other halfway by now?”

Junho folded his arms and walked to the door, scoffing, “How can I trust someone who doesn’t even like to hang with his own anymore?” Jay finally lost his cool, “Look-!!I have a fear, alright?! A fear that I will lose control and hurt you all like,” his voice cracked, and Taec put hand out in concern, but Jay grabbed it before continuing, “like back home, with that family, and those people…” He looked at them all before settling his gaze on Junho, whose eyes never waved from his own. “I have to make things right, and I have to do this on my own for part of the way!!”

Chan held up a hand and watched his flame dance around a finger before it disappeared. “But Jay-hyung, we understand what you’re going through-we’ve walked our path of destruction and had to fight to control our demons, too-let us in, please!!” Jay shook his head sadly; smiling a sad smile, he patted Chan’s arm and nodded to the others, saying, “No, I can’t let the ones I love get hurt again-even you too, Junho..” Stepping backwards slowly, the others had no time to react as Jay stepped back into a pillar of smoke and disappeared from the vicinity.

No one spoke as Nick moved to the doorway and signaled the others to follow him, saying quietly, “We will meet up with him later-right now, the vocalists have their practice for the concert-it’s still in two days,” Nichkhun said, trying to lighten up the mood as they walked into the sound room and Junsu, Woo, and Junho took their positions. Taec growled a little. “We do not need any more on our plates before the show-I’ll personally hunt down anyone in our way…”