The demon prince stared out over his kingdom below, the place was already in ruins when he was crowned, and despite his different laws and the preferences that he’d made, it seemed the demons loved living in the ruins. The only thing that was changed was the castle that was now his, it was beautiful now, not something that looked like it was about to fall apart any minute like the old castle did. He didn’t understand the reason why the last prince wanted everything to look so ugly and filthy but he’d set out to change that.

But truly, despite the love of authority that he had over the entire Underworld and the powers that were given unto him, Heechul missed the human realm greatly. Although with the small changes he made to the Underworld, he was slowly bringing back some of the things he missed of that realm of the humans.

He shivered as a cool breeze reached the balcony that he was standing on, leaning against the stone railing. This was something else he missed in the human realm, and no matter how he tried to imitate the things on earth, the stench of death still drowned any peace that he would’ve felt. The prince was about to wrap his arms around himself to cling to some warmth before having to retreat to the warmth of the castle when a robe was slipped over his shoulders.

Heechul glanced back to see the human that he loved, walking up in his own black robe, to stand with him and look out over the ruins as well. “Thank you, Hankyung.”

The human simply nodded with a smile on his face, “I can’t have my prince getting cold, can I?”

“You could’ve, I was about to go back inside anyway,” he replied, but made no move to turn and walk back in, instead he laid his head against Hankyung’s shoulder.

Hankyung scoffed, but wrapped his arm around the prince, “Yeah, all I’d need is you suffering from a cold to worry about as well.”

Heechul raised his head to glare at the human, “Yah! Is that any way to speak to your prince?” At Hankyung’s eye-roll then glare, he sighed, “I’m worried about the rabid dog too, and I would’ve thought he’d learnt his lesson with the other two by now.”

Hankyung chuckled, “He’s as hardheaded as you, Heechul. Just because I was protected by several holy men and we were forbidden from each other because I was a prophecy child, did that stop you?”

The prince smiled at the memory, reaching up, he kissed the human’s cheek, “No, it didn’t, but Yesung doesn’t have the guts to snatch anyone away like I did. He’s too noble, especially for a demon! Always thinking of others’ happiness instead of his own, he’s allowed to indulge! I think something’s wrong with that boy.”

“You raised him to be sensible. But maybe something happened to make him this way now? Remember, he was willing to fight Leeteuk for Siwon’s soul--”

“Until Leeteuk informed Yesung that Siwon would become an angel,” Heechul inserted.

“Then to deal with the pain, he ended up ripping his own heart out. I still don’t know how he survived that, I know demons don’t need their organs but that must’ve hurt more than anything else.”

Heechul nodded, grasping Hankyung’s hand and drawing them back inside as the wind started picking up, “It was simply a way to stop hurting emotionally. Even humans resort to self-infliction to get their mind off whatever it is already hurting them. What amazes me is that even though he is heartless, he isn’t cold to the touch like a vampire. Even though demons don’t need their organs or blood, for that matter, it does help the body operate like a human’s. Generate heat, produce color for the skin, and allows,” he glanced downwards at Hankyung, smirking, “enjoyment as well.”

Hankyung shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips as he pulled his robe off then helped Heechul out of his, “You forget though, he was like that after it happened but sometime after that other boy came and went, he started regaining his color and his warmth just like before he did that to himself.”

“I wonder if he found some sort of spell to restore what was lost.” The prince fell back on the bed, sighing in contentment, “He does spend a lot of time in my library, perhaps he did find something.”

“I may ask him about it,” Hankyung said, and placed the robes at the end of the bed before lying down beside Heechul. “When were you going to inform Leeteuk about the angel?”

“After the rabid dog takes him back to the human realm,” he answered. “I don’t want him to come down here for the angel, it’d cause too much of an uproar with the other demons.”

“Are you going to send Yesung on a mission after the angel gets taken back? It’d help keep his mind off things.”

“Maybe, or we could try parenting a grown demon again. What do you think, Umma Geng?” Heechul flashed a grin at the human.

He simply shook his head with a laugh, “I don’t think we did that great of a job last time, Appa Chullie, but I’m willing if you are.”

The prince chuckled, rolling over on top of the human, pressing a quick kiss on his lips, his hands roaming from Hankyung’s chest down to the his stomach, “Are you willing in something else?”

He grinned up at him and winked, “Always, my prince.”

--

Behind the closed wooden doors, quiet moans were heard by the demon. After eavesdropping and finding out what information she needed, she quickly made her way down the hallway to avoid hearing anything else that the prince and his human were doing. Her partner was right; he had smelled the scent of an angel. It was merely faint traces of it but it was there, he wasn’t delusional.

Quietly making her way out of the prince’s wing of the castle, she headed straight to her partner’s room. Upon arrival as she opened the door, she found him sitting up at his desk, a pen in his hand as he scribbling rapidly in a notebook. He looked up when he heard her enter, and judging by her expression, he knew that she’d found out something.

“Well?”

She closed the door and made her way to the chair in front of his desk, smirking, “You were right, there’s an angel in the castle. And it belongs to one of Prince Heechul’s most treasured demons.”

His expression didn’t change from the bored one he had moments ago, “Let me guess, his rabid dog?”

She nodded, “Yeah, apparently the angel’s going to be taken back to the human realm soon and then they’re going to call for the leader to come get it.”

His ears perked up, “They’re calling for the leader? Is the angel incapable of flying back to the angelic realm or something?”

“I didn’t hear that part, they were speaking outside on the balcony for the longest time but I heard that Prince Heechul was going to call for Leeteuk to get the angel once they’re back in human realm.” She paused before asking, “Are you going to go after it?”

He shook his head, “Not now, that damned dog probably has the angel under heavy protection, I don’t want to spoil any plans by doing something careless. But I want you to go back to the human realm and keep an eye out on his home there and inform me when they get there.”

“Alright,” she stood up to bow and leave but he stopped her.

“If you can, pay off some vampires to try and steal the angel away but keep yourself unknown. I don’t want any traces coming back to us before I can get my hands on the angels’ leader, alright?”

“I understand.”

--

The entire scene in front of him was white; white like clouds, white like snow, white like the white he was surrounded in before the attack with the vampires. He could hear the music that played, he could see the colors that danced overhead, he could see others gathered around, singing, playing their golden instruments, he could almost feel home, but he felt trapped. As if he were outside of a glass house and only looking in, seeing everything but he couldn’t join in. He couldn’t be with his brothers and sisters.

He looked around at the blackness that was spreading around him, he could feel something coming for him from the darkness, something evil. He felt terrified, he felt helpless, just like the night those two monsters took him away. He screamed for help, beating with heavy arms against the glass in front of him, hoping that someone inside would hear him, hoping that someone would save him.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a pair of glowing red eyes in the darkness, he couldn’t make out any figure of the person because of the darkness but they were coming closer. He beat harder on the glass, yelling for someone to help him, as several other glowing red eyes started showing up in the darkness behind him. He felt something wrap around his legs, tightening its grip and starting to pull him. Quickly glancing down, he saw shadows wrapping around his legs, the white pants of his were getting swallowed by the shadows as they slowly climbed higher and higher until his waist down was gone.

“Please! Help me! Brothers, sisters! Please!” He shouted, his fists pounding on the glass, but the glass stood firm, not cracking in the slightest.

He could feel the shadows tightening around his stomach now, and this time, they were cutting through his shirt and into his skin. Small streaks of red soaked his shirt. He cried out one last time before falling against the glass, his tears streaking down the glass, while the shadows continued to creep up his body.

He knew that this was it. He was going to die. No one was going to help him. No one was going to save him from this darkness. Those monsters were going to kill him.

But suddenly, he felt a slight pressure just above his top lip, like something rubbing the skin there. He realized the shadows weren’t cutting into him anymore, they weren’t progressing further up his body, and the feeling of being trapped was gone. Slowly, the shadows faded from black to several shades of gray, each getting lighter and lighter until he was standing in a blank space of the lightest shade of gray. He looked around and saw the fluttering of a black coat, his eyes trailed from the black boots up the black jeans to the black shirt but just before reaching the person’s face, he felt the pressure on the skin above his top lip increase slightly causing him to stir.

Waking up to the feeling of something touching his philtrum, Kyuhyun swatted at whatever it was before snuggling back into the cocoon of blankets, trying to keep his grasp on sleep. He was warm, cozy, and content, aside from the weird dream; he was not ready to greet the day yet. But that plan was interrupted with someone caressing his cheek instead of touching his philtrum. Although the caressing was pleasant and would’ve lulled him back to sleep if the hand wasn’t clammy.

“Aish! I’m trying to sleep,” he brushed the hand away from his face and rubbed at his eyes before cracking one open to see the black eyed demon propped up on his elbow, facing him.

“I know, but I was going to try to wake you since it sounded like you were having a nightmare but your sleeping face interested me too much to do so,” Yesung answered, raising his tiny hand to touch Kyuhyun’s cheek again.

He quickly ducked under the blanket though to prevent the skin contact. “That’s creepy, you know.”

He heard Yesung sigh, “I’ve been told that before too. But it is nice to see your face without all the markings on it that you had yesterday.”

That statement had Kyuhyun’s eyes snapping open, he didn’t realize it at first but the cheek that Yesung was caressing, it was the one that had the bite mark. He couldn’t forget when Chungho bit into his cheek, his mistake for becoming flustered when Seunghun’s hands trailed further down his stomach. Curse the blood rushing to his cheeks from the almost violating act. He couldn’t forget the pain that surged through his face and kept throbbing even after Chungho finished drinking from his cheek.

“I’ve never known vampires to bite into a person’s face before, but I suppose there’s a first for everything. Who did it?”

Kyuhyun pulled back the blanket from over his eyes, looked up at Yesung, and muttered, “Chungho, the one that loved to torture me.”

The demon sighed, pushing himself up to lay back on the pillows propped up against the wooden headboard of the bed, “I figured, the sadist bastard.”

“It was my fault anyway for blushing,” the angel mumbled, his gaze falling to rest on black sheets instead of looking at the demon. He knew that Yesung was waiting for an explanation on that reply, “I should’ve known that Seunghun was only moving the bottom of my shirt out of the way so he could bite into my side, but I was so light-headed that I panicked and didn’t know what he was about to do.”

He felt a hand on the top of his head, ruffling his hair a little, and then Yesung’s voice filled his ears, “That wasn’t your fault, none of that was. I can understand that anyone in your position would’ve been worried about something like that happening.” Yesung paused for a moment, “It’s kind of a good thing that you were taken by vampires and not demons or you would’ve been tortured and… probably .”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened before he looked up at the demon in curiosity, Yesung’s hand falling off his head and retreating back to his side, “What do you mean?”

“Vampires can only take pleasure in drinking blood, they’re dependant on it for everything, but since they’re basically dead humans made immortal, they have no blood flow. Demons, on the other hand, usually have perfect blood systems so they can partake in the same pleasures that were meant for humans. Unless they’ve had their heart removed then they’d end up living like a vampire,” he explained. He paused for a moment then grinned to himself, glancing at Kyuhyun, a dark smirk claiming his lips. “Are you only asking me these questions about vampires and demons so your side will have the upper hand if we go to war?”

Kyuhyun quickly shook his head, his eyes growing wide in fear, “N-no, it’s just curiosity; I-I promise I won’t use anything against you.” At Yesung’s amused laugh, his fear-stricken face turned into a scowl. “Meanie.” He to his back, pushing the blanket down as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Yesung laughed even more at the pout that the angel was pulling, “I know it was only curiosity. A newborn like you probably only knows how to lead souls home and not much else, am I right?” Kyuhyun nodded, his pout dropping as he hurried to pull the blanket back up to keep warm against the chill of the room. Yesung continued, “Then ask me anything you want to know since you just promised not to use any weaknesses against me.”

“Okay, what did you mean by demons having their hearts removed? Wouldn’t they die?”

Yesung shook his head, “No, they’d still live. It’s a painful process for a demon’s heart to be removed but they can survive and live without it.”

Kyuhyun paused to reconsider asking his next question but he shrugged and asked anyway, “So what could kill you then?”

The demon laughed, “In that big of a hurry to get rid of me, huh? Your dagger, and that’s the only way. An angel’s dagger is crafted with holy light, a part of the angel’s soul, and the finest of silver you’d never find on earth, demons don’t stand a chance against it. Well, that and the demon prince is given the power to kill any demon he wishes after he’s crowned but aside from that, it’s impossible.”

Slowly, Kyuhyun nodded in understanding, he was about to ask another question but the knocking on the bedroom door stopped him. Kyuhyun glanced from the door back to Yesung for reassurance that it wasn’t someone that would harm him. At the curious expression Yesung’s face, it made him wonder who it was and what they could possibly want. But the demon threw a small smile and a nod to the angel and got out of bed to see who was at the door.

Yesung opened the door to a spiky light brown haired boy with big dark eyes, with the hairstyle and the facial features, the boy almost reminded Kyuhyun of a monkey.

“I’m sorry to inform you of this, hyung, but there are a few contracts that have been completed today and require you to retrieve the souls.”

“I asked if we could do it instead since you were protecting the angel but the contract has your name on it,” another voice added quietly, Kyuhyun sat up in the bed, but still couldn’t see the person due to Yesung being in the way, but he recognized the voice as the one servant from last night.

Yesung sighed, “I forgot about some of the deadlines coming soon… alright, will you go get Hankyung? I need someone to stay with Kyuhyun while I go--”

“We can’t, hyung, him and Prince Heechul are locked up in his room, and from the stuff me and Eunhyukkie heard last night, I don’t think they’re even awake yet.”

Kyuhyun heard Yesung sigh again, he glanced over his shoulder at Kyuhyun and then back to the two in front of him. “Since he’s out of commission then this is my order to you two, get Shindong and Zhou Mi to guard the outside of the door, and you two will keep Kyuhyun company, alright?”

“That’s his name?” the monkey looking servant asked. “Kyuhyun?”

“Yeah, so avoid the term ‘angel’ since no one else is supposed to know he’s down here. Now go find those two.”

They both saluted and rushed down the hallway, in search of the other two servants. Yesung closed the door and walked back over to the bed, grabbing his boots and started putting them on. Kyuhyun watched in silence at first, trying to process what was going to happen. Yesung was going to see about contracts? He was leaving him? With just four servants as protection?

Before he could rattle his brain with too many questions, Yesung spoke up, “I need to go out for a little bit to retrieve some of my souls,” he finished lacing his boots up then turned towards Kyuhyun. “Donghae and Eunhyuk, my two servants will stay in the room with you, under my orders, they are not allowed to harm you so there’s no reason to fear them. Don’t forget that you also have your dagger for protection, too.”

When the demon mentioned that, a small wave of relief fell over Kyuhyun. He nodded and reached under the pillow to clutch the dagger to make sure that it was still there.

“Although, as I said, you don’t have anything to worry about with those two, so don’t be rash and kill two of my best servants, alright?” Yesung added with a little chuckle, but Kyuhyun could see the slight touch of worry in his eyes, he let go of his dagger and nodded at Yesung’s words. “They’re very playful, too, almost childish, so you shouldn’t be bored with them.”

“Alright. When should you be back?”

Yesung shrugged, getting up to slip his coat on, “If all goes well then tonight but if not, then probably tomorrow morning. But you can just rest or bathe or whatever to stay entertained since you won’t be able to interrogate me with any more questions for the day.”

A pout tugged at Kyuhyun’s lips, catching the demon’s attention, he laughed, “Don’t worry, I’ll think of more to ask when you come back.”

He shook his head, a laugh falling from his lips as well, “I’ll return with answers ready for you then.”

The knock at the door wasn’t surprising this time; Kyuhyun knew that it was the two servants. Yesung told the two to come in and Kyuhyun finally saw the boy that he assumed was Donghae. He already saw what Eunhyuk looked like, but Donghae looked more like a child, with his big toothy smile and bright eyes that seemed to light up when he saw the angel.

“Wow, he’s really pretty, hyung! Even in your dark clothes, he’s still glowing!” The child-like servant exclaimed as the other servant closed the door behind the two.

“Yes, he is,” Yesung agreed and then turned to both, “Now, I want both of you to take care of him, any needs he has, anything, you two get it. Anyone that tries anything, you stop them, and you, yourselves, behave. He was attacked by vampires and is still on edge, alright?”

Donghae’s eyes grew wider if that were possible, he looked at Kyuhyun and started to rush up to the angel without thinking until he saw that the angel shrink back against the headboard of the bed, “Sorry, sorry, you were attacked by vampires?” At Kyuhyun’s nod, Donghae turned back to Yesung, “Hyung, did you kill them?”

“No, Donghae, not yet,” He replied, glancing at the clock on his desk. “I’ve got to go. Shindong and Zhou Mi will be outside the door, right?”

“Yes, hyung,” Eunhyuk replied, “Are we free from chores today since we have to stay in here?”

Yesung nodded, “Yeah, your only job is to protect and tend to Kyuhyun, I’ll let you four come to the human world with me when I take him back for completing this order.”

He said his goodbyes to each of them and left the room, leaving Kyuhyun with the two servants that were dancing around with each other over the fact that they would get to go to the human realm. Donghae was spouting off things that he wanted to go once they arrived there, and Eunhyuk was adding things to list. Kyuhyun was quite amused with the two that he relaxed and decided to take Yesung up on one of his suggestions from earlier: bathing.

When the two noticed where he was headed, they quickly gathered up a towel, another pair of clothes, and all the necessities that he could use before he stepped foot into the bathroom. This was going to be interesting, he decided. He couldn’t wait to see how the rest of the day played out.