Around my 20s, Jung Min taught me how to live again while he learnt that no one messes with my camel riding abilities.

We left the hot desert behind us and encountered so many creatures along the way, including some weirdly looking vampires that hid inside sand. Fortunately, we were able to avoid everything and the only time when we were attacked, it was because of Hyung-soo’s huge mouth. Being chased by those vampires wasn’t fun at all, especially when they threatened to drink our blood... well, mostly Jung Min and Hyung-soo’s. They had a thing for men I was grateful for that because they got spooked at my sight. I was becoming their savior in a dress.

Except that one another time when the boys, again, dressed as women to lure some guards out of a temple, knock them out cold and then search for that nasty ghost with their skirts up and hairy legs. I laughed so hard, it vibrated through the temple, which then shook from every single corner and almost collapsed on us if not for Jung Min’s amazing awareness and speed.

We fought a lot then – that I should have been silent, knowing how fragile that place was, but I insisted I had nothing to do with that. Hyung-soo later explained there was a massive earthquake in the area and we couldn’t have known, so I was forgiven, but Jung Min wouldn’t speak to me anymore and I didn’t want to either. We were both extremely stubborn and that could be seen from miles away.

Hyung-soo joked from the start that we would make a great couple with tall children as beautiful as us.

We smacked him.

All that action with the supernatural and among us was what I really needed... and all I wanted. Anything that didn’t make me feel worthless was heaven. Anything that didn’t let me rot in one place like an unattended plant with its roots on the outside, made me feel whole.

So I didn’t fully believe it when Jung Min grabbed my head one day and silenced me with a kiss.

That boy who saved me and whom I’ve saved countless of times, thought it was a good idea to give me his heart. And I accepted it, because I didn’t know then that I wasn’t allowed to love, wasn’t allowed to care for those around me and most importantly, that Jung Min and I weren’t allowed to be happy together.

---

The mist cleared fast, in time for me to dodge another attack. Two figures stepped forward and my senses alerted me they were reapers. What I didn’t expect was to see Jessica smiling as she closed her fingers in order to dissipate her energy. Seungri was beside her, extremely bored. He flapped one of his wings without warning. Usually, I’d catch anything thrown at me, but I hadn’t seen or heard the white feather that plunged in my shoulder. I let out of cry as I grabbed onto the wound.

“Hold still,” Jessica’s words penetrated every muscle of my body. She forced me to kneel, my arms slowly spreading away from my body. The feather inside my shoulder sank deeper as the other woman snickered with pleasure. Her heels drummed on the floor tiles as she came closer and closer to me with the same menacing look. “I’m sorry, Yuri,” she lowered her voice to a softer tone that still echoed louder than anything I’ve heard before in my life “but you have to disappear forever.” She slapped me hard across the face. Seungri winced from the sound of her palm over my skin. I only grinned and spit her with the blood from my broken lip.

“I was right,” her face twisted with repulsion “you are another of those reaper es.”

“Don’t compare me with those low Seekers!” the ruins lightly trembled. Seungri watched as a few pieces of brick came from the ceiling and panic overrode his monotone feeling. Her eyes flashed green and I knew then of what sphere she belonged to.

When the kids thought I was sound-asleep, I had listened to the Keeper’s explication of the Other World and drew an imaginary sketch of it in my head. Red means low, blue means high, so the green present in Jessica and Seungri’s eyes could only mean one thing: they were from the middle sphere.

“You guys...” I spit some more blood “are Warriors, aren’t you?” My shoulder hurt so much. It felt like poison pushing its way down my veins. Jessica laughed with such force, more bricks cracked at ground contract.

“Seungri may be a Warrior,” she cupped my chin and lowered her head enough for only my ears to hear her whisper “but I’m a Watcher.” Somehow, the control she had over my body loosened, enough for me to remove Jessica from my side with a simple head kick. She grabbed onto her skull and watched me horrified. Watchers, Warriors, Seekers, Keepers... they were all reapers in the end, made of the same substance they all burnt from when touching my hot skin.

Black vines of energy tied around my body until I was released from under Jessica’s spell. She turned to Seungri, angrily shouting something in a language I did not understand, but recognized. It was the reaper alphabet, something undecipherable for my human ears. Nevertheless, they all go down the same – scorched with my holy flames or earth-bounded until completely drained of soul.

The vines formed circles and were ready to slash the two betrayers. I had a clue that Jessica wasn't who she pretended to be from the start, because Black Priestesses are too weak to possess powers beyond those of my kind.

One thing's for sure: nobody s with Yuri and gets away, for I am still the mighty Red Mistress.

/random/ I played two hours of BloodRayne 2, so now I'm sooo hyperactive .-. and I turned 20 today, but who the f cares, right?