Kyuhyun froze, turning back to Donghae and Eunhyuk, he saw that they both were still using their flashlights against the shadow; they hadn’t even touched their guns yet. He looked down at his, dumbly, knowing that if his gun had gone off, he would’ve felt it rather than just heard it. So it had to be someone else’s gun, but whose could it have been?

The shadow that Donghae and Eunhyuk weren’t trying to fend off suddenly dissolved back to the floor, creeping away from the two hunters and around the edge of the shaded area. All three of them followed after it, moving around the shaded area, only to come to halt when they saw four other people inside the temple. All four of the men were standing in front of a solid white round bed where a white, pale skinned creature laid. Their guns pointed towards the creature, the end of one of the guns was smoking from being just fired, yet the pale skinned creature seemed unharmed. The four didn’t notice the shadow that was creeping up against one of the pillars behind them.

Quickly the three hunters ducked down behind one of the fallen pillars to cover themselves from being seen while they watched the shadow shoot flames out at the group. Two of them started shooting at the shadow, their bullets going straight through and hitting the pillar behind it, while the other two quickly moved towards the bed in an attempt to pick the creature up and run out with it. Although they didn’t get far when the shadow shot a flame out as soon as they stepped close to the bed, causing them to fall back, one of the men’s legs was caught by the flame.

“Were there others that followed after us?” Kyuhyun questioned as he watched the scene, he was not going to step into the line of fire to help the other four out, especially since it seemed like they were after the same thing that he was after.

“We didn’t see anyone and we kept our eyes open for anything and everything,” Donghae replied.

Eunhyuk’s eyes were on the man that was slowly being burnt alive as the flames spread from his leg to across his whole body, “Maybe they were scoping out the place before we got here and just waited until there was a distraction to sneak past the shadow like we did?”

Kyuhyun scoffed, “Sounds typical.” His gaze moved towards the white bed at the creature lying on the bed, he didn’t see any wings coming from the being, but it had to be the angel. It was lying there like it was dead, and the shadow was definitely trying its hardest to protect it. “I’m guessing that is the angel there?” He pointed towards the being.

“Would seem like it. How are we going to get to it now? That shadow has already finished off two of the men and their guns have proven to be useless,” Donghae noted.

“Well, we got the flashlights, that might be enough to keep it at bay until one of us can sneak up and get the angel.”

“I don’t know, Kyuhyun, that shadow seems to be really pissed, its not showing those four any mercy at all.”

“Well, we—” Kyuhyun started until he saw movement coming from the bed. “Oh gods, is it waking up?”

Within the blink of an eye, the white, pale skinned being was on his feet, his hand wrapped around one of the men’s throats as he held up his hand towards the shadow. The hunters gawked at the sight of it, two solid white wings sprouted from its back, slightly covering his bare body, as he crushed the man’s throat with his hand. A form of light started emitting from his hand that was held up towards the shadow, he let the man fall to the floor before he turned towards the shadow, the light coming from his hand shot out against the shadow, blowing a whole right through it as it slowly started disintegrating into nothing.

The only living man that was left had fallen back in surprise; he started crawling away from the angel. He wasn’t even going to try firing at the being or fighting against it, he was scared out of his wits and wanted to get away. But the angel noticed the action and in an instant, he was in front of the man, causing him to cry out in shock before he started crying and pleading for his life.

The angel merely placed his hand on the man’s head and a streak of light shot through the man’s body, killing him instantly.

All the adrenaline that Kyuhyun had earlier completely dispersed at the scene, the angel was awake now, and the angel was beyond powerful, beyond anything they had ever faced. Maybe this mission was just suicide, maybe they had just walked up right up to their deaths, maybe the promises of ten thousand pounds of gold was nowhere near enough to be in this situation right now. Maybe this would be the last time working with his two partners, and maybe, just maybe, his pride and greed had ended up being his downfall.

The hunters didn’t have time to think when the angel disappeared from their sights, Kyuhyun and Donghae looked around for it until they heard Eunhyuk’s strangled cry for help. They looked back to see the bare angel holding up Eunhyuk by his throat. Kyuhyun cursed, the angel had heard them, had known about their presence, and now they were going to die.

Tears streamed down Eunhyuk’s cheeks as fear gripped his heart, he tried pleading, he tried getting the words out but the grip on his throat was tight. He prayed as he struggled to look down at the angel’s face. Those dark brown eyes bore into his, but the angel’s face was blank of expression, he looked like stone.

“Pl-please don’t kill him,” Kyuhyun jumped when he heard Donghae speak up, tears gathering up in his eyes as well. The angel’s head turned towards the voice, staring at the brown haired hunter, “Please, I-I beg of you… d-don’t kill him. Take me instead, spare him and take my life instead. Pl-please.”

The angel’s eyes widened as he stared at the brown haired hunter, he saw the fear in the hunter’s eyes, but he also saw something that he’d recognize before. Then he looked back at the blonde that was still in his grasp, “You two are lovers…” he whispered, his hand loosening around Eunhyuk’s neck as he lowered him back to the ground, and releasing him.

Eunhyuk started coughing and gasping for air until a warm hand fell upon his shoulder, his breathing regulating instantly. The hunter looked the hand on his shoulder, his eyes wide with fear as he looked up to meet the angel’s gaze. But unlike before, the angel’s eyes were soft, a small smile overtaking his lips as the being spoke.

“I’d rather not be the cause of two lovers being separated. I will not harm either of you,” he spoke softly.

Kyuhyun stared at the being in shock after seeing the smile that the angel held. It looked oddly familiar, he had never seen that face before but that smile, he knew it. He’d seen it before. That voice sounded familiar as well. But this was the first time meeting the angel, seeing the angel, so he couldn’t have seen the angel anywhere else. Yet why did he find it so familiar?

“May I ask why you three are inside my chambers? As well as why those four men were here?” the angel questioned, watching as Eunhyuk slowly walked over to Donghae before embracing him.

The two hunters were still shaken by the near-death experience and from almost losing one another. Eunhyuk knew there was a reason why he felt uneasy about the whole thing, he’d almost been killed. And he probably would’ve been if it weren’t for the man that was holding him right now.

Kyuhyun shook his head, glancing at his two partners, before speaking up, “We, um, uh, we were sent to protect you from those four men.” He lied as smoothly as he could, catching Donghae’s attention since Eunhyuk was still uneasy.

“But that was what the shadow’s job was… before I banished it,” the angel trailed off, looking towards the area where he sent the shadow. “My brothers sent the shadow to guard me as I slept.”

Kyuhyun cursed himself when he realized the flaw in his lie, but he quickly shook it off, coming up with something else, “Yeah, but those four men, they had a weapon that would’ve destroyed the shadow so that’s why we were sent, so we could stop them.” He glanced around at the sun coming into the temple, and quickly added, “We need to get you some place safer than this now, since those four men aren’t the only ones that were after you.” He needed to go ahead and get the angel back to their employer before anything else came up that stopped them.

The angel slowly nodded, his eyes widened in wonder, and his mouth hung agape, “Oh… alright. Forgive me for questioning your motives. I did not know you were merely trying to protect me.”

He smiled brightly at the hunter, and just from seeing that smile, so innocent and childlike, Kyuhyun, almost, felt guilty about his lies. But that guilt quickly dispersed as he shook it off and started handing out orders to Donghae and Eunhyuk to start moving out, along with finding something to cover the angel’s ness that had gone almost unnoticed until then. They couldn’t go back to the village with a angel in tow and not expect to get weird looks, nor go unnoticed by officials.