Taesun reached forward, grabbing Onew’s shirt and pulling him up and towards him so that they were face to face. “What the hell do you mean my little brother is his first target?” he growled.

Onew sighed, knowing that this was the reaction he would receive. Although he didn’t like it, he understood the other’s feelings well, and spoke as calmly as he could in hopes that it would calm the other a bit, though he knew there was nothing calm about the situation. Honestly, he was quite worried about Taemin as well, and wanted nothing more than to protect the boy and help his friend.

“We had no idea this was going to happen, and if we had, we would’ve let you know sooner. However, now is not the time to argue about this. We need to find them quickly before Minho finally transforms and wreaks havoc everywhere,” Onew responded.

“How long do we have until Minho transforms?” Jongin asked.

“We can’t know for sure, since we haven’t seen Minho all day, but it’s already been a few hours since it’s began, so I’d assume we still have a bit of time. The problem comes when his wings come out,” Jonghyun said. Taesun and Luna glanced at each other, before looking back at the demon for an explanation. “Once his wings come out, there’s no stopping the rest of the beast from coming out whenever he wants. When he does, it’ll be even more difficult to stop Minho.”

“He’s a.. demon then?” Luna asked. Key shook his head.

“Not quite. Honestly speaking, it’s a bit worse than that. Even so, we need to go now, you’ll find out what he is when you see him.”

“Wouldn’t it be best if you told us what he is now? So that we know what we’re getting into?” Jongin asked. Key shook his head again.

“Nothing could properly prepare you for what he is.”

The answer unsettled Taesun even more, and he feared for his brother’s safety. Now more than ever, he hoped that this could have been avoided, and that he could have kept Taemin away from Minho, but even he knew that it would have been impossible either way.

“If we are going to do this, then we’re going to need more help. Jongin, you go with Key and Jonghyun. Onew, you’re coming with me,” he said.

“What about me?” Luna asked.

“You’re staying here. You still don’t have any abilities and I can’t put you in any kind of danger. Taking Jongin is bad enough. If I took you too, I wouldn’t know what I would do if something happened to either of you. I need you here. Stay with Hana,” Taesun said, leaving no room for argument. Luna kept shut, knowing that whatever she said would only in one ear and out the other.

Her only comfort was knowing that Hana would not settle for being left behind, and would no doubt go to help.  Hana was just that kind of person, especially when two of her precious people were in danger. The woman was in love with Taesun like no other, but she also had a massive soft spot for Taemin, and would become enraged if anything happened to him.

Jongin and Onew nodded, switching places and leaving with their group. Luna left with Taesun and Onew to find Hana, and Jongin, Key, and Jonghyun went after Taemin and Minho. Jongin wasn’t happy with the plan, but he would do anything for his hyung.

“Where are we going?” Onew asked.

“My parents. We’re going to need help, and right now, they are the best we’ve got,” Taesun replied. He quickly gave Luna directions to his house and left the girl on her own. Onew nodded at the idea, a bit fearful to meet the other’s parents, but he knew that this was their best shot. A pair of older, wiser vampires would be able to help them, no doubt, even if they were relatively young in vampire years. They most certainly had connections to more powerful vampires, and they’d need the strongest to bring down Minho.

At this point, they were desperate to get help, and they were going to do anything they could to get it. He walked quietly behind Taesun, not wanting to upset the other too much since he knew exactly what Taesun was capable of, and he knew that even as a demon, the chances of doing anything against Taesun’s control over gravity was unlikely.

There was so much that he wanted to say, and so much he wanted to do in that very moment, but all ideas were shut down by the fact that he was doing this for Minho. As much as he wanted to go to Minho himself with Jonghyun and Key, he knew that it wouldn’t be the best idea. He was needed more here right now, where he could explain everything that was going on.

He was led deep into the forest, to a house obscured from anyone’s view. This part of the forest was too deep for anyone to go through, and everyone chose to never even go half way through what he’s already walked. The house, when it came into view, was a moderately sized one, but large enough to fit a large family. The closer he walked towards the home, the more he felt the need to run, because right now, he was in vampire territory, and although demons were characteristically stronger than vampires, a single demon surrounded by an unknown amount of vampires was unfavorable for his side.

Taesun didn’t even knock before he opened the door, practically dragging him into his parent’s home. As soon as he was inside, he could sense the tension within the home.

“Lee Taesun, you finally come to see us after weeks and you bring a demon? Have you gone mad?” he heard a woman asked. Entering the living room, Onew faced Taemin’s parents. He could tell that although they weren’t the type of vampires to completely hate demons, they were still apprehensive about them, and there was no doubt that they were uncomfortable with one in their home.

“I wouldn’t bring him here if it wasn’t important,” Taesun replied. The woman was about to speak again but the man spoke first, his voice low and Onew knew that this was not someone he wanted to anger.

“Why is he here, and where is Taemin?” the man asked. Onew gulped, fidgeting a bit before stepping forward from Taesun’s nudge to his side.

“Your son is in the Creature’s Realm,” Onew said quietly. He saw the man bristle a bit, though he did a good job of keeping his anger down.

“Why?” Onew knew for a fact that the man was holding back every ounce of anger he had in him.

“O-Our friend, Minho, got sick, except, not really sick. Taemin was taking care of him, and these two demons working for Minho’s parents took them to the Creature’s Realm to give Minho some... space,” Onew explained.

“I take it this Minho boy isn’t human?” The woman asked. Onew shook his head regretfully.

“Minho thinks that he’s human. He doesn’t know what’s happening to him right now, but he’s transforming. His parents chose to keep him from learning how to willingly transform, and now the beast inside his is trying to get out on it’s own.”

“And what does my son have anything to do with this,” Taemin’s father asked. He could tell that whatever the boy was going to say wasn’t going to be what he wanted to hear, and he held his wife’s hand, hoping that it would calm him even if only just a bit.

Onew explained everything to them: from the fact that Taemin was dating Minho, to the type of creature that Minho was. He watched as their expressions went from shocked, to angry, and eventually to terrified, for nothing more that their youngest son’s safety he assumed.

He vaguely wondered what Minho’s parents were thinking. Those two were probably happy with all the chaos they were creating.

“How could you allow this Taesun! You were supposed to be watching him,” the woman screeched. The man was too in shock to properly say anything at the moment, and Taesun bowed his head to them in shame.

“I didn’t sense anything from him. I thought he was just a human,” Taesun admitted.

“He wasn’t supposed to get close to humans! He wasn’t supposed to meet anyone,” the woman said. She turned towards him and Onew couldn’t help but feel like everything was his own fault at the helpless look in her eyes. “Does this Minho boy know about vampires?”

“He knows. He discovered what Taemin was even before they started dating, and Taemin has been teaching him about magical beings,” he replied softly. He watched as the boy’s mother seemed to immediately flare in anger while his father’s expression was much more dangerous. The man’s previous shock had subsided, leaving nothing but bitter anger as he glared at the two before him. Onew watched as his arm reached out and his hands closed, almost into a fist, before he felt his own throat being crushed under an invisible weight.

“Dating?” the man asked. Onew wasn’t sure if the man was being an overprotective father who didn’t want his child to be in a relationship, or if he was mad at the fact that Taemin was dating someone who was supposedly human but turned out to be something else entirely. It could be both at this point. “What do you mean they’re dating?!”

“Dad stop! We need him!” Taesun tried to advance forward but his father other arm stretched out towards him, his hold being on Taesun’s entire body judging by the way the man’s arms seemed to be crushed into his sides. The hold on Onew’s neck had loosened, but Onew could feel the invisible fingers on his skin still.
 

“You knew? You knew that he was dating someone and you allowed it,” the eldest questioned incredulously. A hand on his shoulder made him pause in his actions, but never releasing his son. He turned towards his wife, who was staring at his disapprovingly.

“Release them both Shin-won. I’m not happy either, but you know not to use your abilities like this against your own family, and we need Onew if we want Taemin back,” she said. Shin-won grudgingly released the both of them, but his anger had no simmered in the least. “Now explain Taesun.”

“I knew that they were dating. I didn’t know right away, but when I found out, I tried to stop them. I warned Taemin, but he threatened to go against all of us if he had to, just to be with Minho. I told them that if he promised to eventually turn Minho into a vampire, that they could stay together,” Taesun explained.

Shin-won rubbed the bridge of his nose with a deep sigh. He wanted to blame everyone else, be he knew that he was partially to blame for keeping Taemin locked away for so long in the first place. It only made sense that he’d find a reason to rebel at one point.

“Can you lead us to where they are?” Shin-woo asked them. Taesun turned to Onew who nodded wordlessly in response. He turned to his wife next, who still stood beside him. “Get ready Boa. We’ll have to go over there ourselves since I don’t want to involve the rest of the family. Where are Jongin and Luna?”

“Luna is with Hana,” Taesun quickly replied. Boa turned towards him questioningly.

“And where is Jongin?” she asked.

“He went with the two other demons to find Taemin before Minho transformed,” he replied. She sighed at the idea of dealing with more demons, but she figured it was inevitable at his point.

“How much time do we have left?” Shin-woo asked.

Onew finally spoke up after staying quiet for a while. He was hesitant, not wanting to anger the vampires further, though his answer did nothing to settle them.

“Only a few more minutes...”

Minho felt another burst of heat course through him as the pain in his back intensified ten fold. Taemin was beside him, trying to comfort him, but despite the younger’s calming words, the pain was too great. However, his voice seemed to be down in the pit of flames that was currently swirling inside of him. He felt his chest rumble as growls were the only thing that managed to escape him.

Something felt like it was moving in him. Festering and boiling up and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold it back. Whatever  it was that wanted to come out of him was poking around his back muscles and cutting him from the inside, out. He could feel it. He felt something sharp digging at him, trying to claw it’s way out of his back.

His fists clenched as he growled once more, trying to stop whatever it was.

“Don’t fight against me. You won’t win.”

That wasn’t Taemin’s voice. Someone was talking to him though, and he didn’t know who.

“I’m going to show you true power, like you’ve never seen.”

“Who are you?” he asked. He heard the voice in his mind laugh, but it was nothing like the sweet laugh from Taemin that he was used to hearing. It didn’t even sound like his own laugh. Whatever was talking to him had a voice much deeper and raspier than Minho had ever heard. It’s laugh held no hint of humor, but it was filled to the brim with so much malice. Minho didn’t think someone was capable of being so wicked.

“I am you. You just didn’t know about me until now. Stop fighting. It’ll hurt less,” the voice ordered. Minho didn’t want to give in. He could almost feel every promise of malevolence in the creature’s voice, but the promise of less pain was too appealing to him.

“No more pain?”

“You won’t feel a single thing once you let me out. You’ll sleep like a baby,” the voice reassured. Minho nodded, giving up his fight to the creature promising tranquility, with only one final thought in mind.

“Don’t hurt Taemin,” he said, as he drifted off.

“That, I cannot promise,” the creature replied. Minho could do nothing more other than release an agonized scream as large red wings ripped through his skin and his body was enveloped in flames.

“Congratulations. You’ve finally become your true self. Me.”

Taemin watched horror as Minho’s body was engulfed in a swirl of flames. Yunho had moved him away before the flames could touch him, but he had witness Minho’s wings appear. They were larger than anything Taemin had ever seen, with deep crimson scales. They were thin on the wings, but looked strong nonetheless. Just as the demons had said, Minho was most definitely not a demon.

Soon even the wings were encased in flames, which only increased in size and intensity. Taemin could only gaze in shock as the flames filled almost the entire field they were in, burning some trees in it’s path. He hadn’t seen anything so large in his entire life, but what the flames left behind as they slowly flickered away was only so much more terrifying.

In place of his boyfriend was a creature more than 60 meters long. Taemin wasn’t even half as big as it’s head. The full span on the creature was a deep red, dark and ominous with two horns adorning his head with spikes around them. The underside of the creatures belly was a paler color, with flecks of gold Taemin realized was not gold at all. It was the flames glowing through the scales, ready to burst at any moment. It was there that the scales were the thickest.

His wings were even larger than his body, probably at least 10 meters or more longer, Taemin supposed. Its claws and teeth were sharp to a point, and saw as the claws easily broke into the rock beneath it that they would have no problem tearing through anything.

This was no creature. What stood proudly before him was a monster he had never seen. The nictitating membrane of its eyes retracted slowly before Taemin could glimpse at the yellow and red-tinted eyes. It’s pupil was narrow as it focused on him, and Taemin saw every intention of destruction in its eyes. There was no trace of humanity in those eyes.

Definitely, this was not his fun loving Minho that he had come to know.

This was a monstrous dragon in search of blood.