“I’ve been dying to give a soliloquy since the day I killed Yunho and became demon king,” Suho sighed.  “It’s just that every time I try to give a lovely soliloquy, some idiot interrupts me—”

“Boss, with all due respect, it’s a monologue.”

“Shut up, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun bowed.  “I apologize, my lord.”

“I know everything about you, my dear Cheon Sa,” Suho continued, focusing on the human in front of him.  “A lot of it comes from the files, but another big chunk of my knowledge comes from your idiot brother.”

He could see her tense up, and he continued.  “He was really stupid, even for a human.  Did you know that your brother made a contract with me?”

She shook her head.

“Well, he did.  I had nothing to lose, really.”

“D-Did you kill my brother?” She stuttered.

He held his hand up.  “Let me finish.  I’m getting there.  Now…where was I?  Oh yeah, demon contracts.  You may or may not know this, but if a human dies before their contract ends, then the demon is allowed to take their soul.  Do you know what I’m getting at, my dear Cheon Sa?”

She gave him no response.

“I love making contracts with humans.” Suho smirked.  “They’re such fascinating creatures.  They act on their feelings instead of logic.  Tricking emotional humans into contracts is my favorite hobby, you know.”

Cheon Sa’s hand gripped the knife, wondering when he would give her a chance to strike.

“Of course, when I get bored playing, the logical thing is to kill them, right?” He grinned, turning around.  “Taking their souls makes me more powerful.”

It’s now or never.  She clenched the knife in her fist and charged at the demon king.  The knife exploded on contact, and Suho shot a blast that sent Cheon Sa across the room and into the wall.  She winced, feeling warm liquid running down her face and didn’t have to touch the liquid to know that it was blood.

“Cheon Sa, don’t you know that it’s rude to stab people in the back?” Suho smirked.  “And I wasn’t even finished with my story…”

“Why…did you kill Chanyeol?” she choked out.  If I’m going to die, then I want answers at least.

“Hm?  Park Chanyeol?  Ah…what an odd human.  He had an extremely weak soul for his type.  I never really understood it.”

She struggled to stand.

“He was a healthy human male in his twenties, but his soul was so weak.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.” She glared at the demon king, who smiled.  “Chanyeol oppa was the strongest guy I knew.”

“On the bright side,” Suho continued, “You can be reunited with oppa when I take your soul.  Sorry it had to be this way, my dear.  You’d make a beautiful demon.”  He reached out a hand, and with nothing left, Cheon Sa closed her eyes and waited.

“Don’t you dare give up now, Park Cheon Sa!” A voice called out from behind her. 

What came next happened in a flash.  Jongin, with a knife drawn, ran at Suho.  Cheon Sa could barely see it, since he was almost too quick for the human eye.  But when she stared at Suho, he seemed to be calm.  Almost…happy.

Putting two and two together, she screamed, “Jongin, don’t!”

But it was too late.

Cheon Sa closed her eyes as a big cloud of smoke washed over them.

<:>

When she opened her eyes, Suho had disappeared.  Cheon Sa stared at Jongin, who stared back at her in horror.  Baekhyun lay on the ground in between them, coughing up a black liquid, which Cheon Sa figured was the demon equivalent of blood.

“B-Baekhyun…” She ran over to him.

“Hey…human,” Baekhyun replied.  “So it really was a trap.”

“Why…”

He smiled.  “Hey, I mean, if I’m gonna die, then at least it was to protect you.  I promised you, remember?”

“…what can I do to make you live?” She screamed, frantically ripping pieces of cloth off of her sleeves and wrapping it around his wounds.  “You can’t die.”

“Let me go, Cheon Sa.”

“No!  You’re not going to die!”

He smiled.  “If I am forgiven, then I’d like to be born again as a human.”

“Baekhyun.”

“I’m sorry…I couldn’t make it through until the end.”

“Baekhyun, you can’t leave.  Please.”

“Kai…Jongin…will protect you.”

Byun Baekhyun did not open his eyes again.

Already weak from the loss of blood, Cheon Sa stumbled over to Jongin, who stood in his spot, horrified.  His hand trembled, the knife forgotten.  Baekhyun…the one demon who had never liked him…had just saved his life.

“How unfortunate,” a voice sighed.  “He was really good at making coffee too.”

Cheon Sa turned around just in time to see Suho step out of the shadows.  Only…it wasn’t exactly Suho.  This thing had black wings coming out of its back and fangs, standing about a foot taller than Jongin.  Its eyes glowed red, but it had the voice of Suho.

“I’ve never had a demon soul before.  I wasn’t even sure that demons had souls…but I had to risk it.”

“You…killed him,” Cheon Sa whispered.

“Hm?  Oh, yeah.  Baekhyun was an unplanned sacrifice, but I guess he’ll make do.”

Jongin, coming back to his senses, stepped in front of Cheon Sa.  The thing in front of them grinned, exposing all of its fangs for the two to see.  “Are you next, Kai?  I must be lucky today, hm?”

Jongin was fast, but the thing was faster.  It slammed Kai into the cement floor and Cheon Sa into another wall.  She felt pain in her abdomen, probably broken ribs.  The pain made her eyes water, and she spent the next few seconds catching her breath.  Jongin lay about fifteen feet from her, and the thing stood over him.

Chanyeol oppa, Baekhyun, and now Jongin?  How many have to die before all of this is over?  Cheon Sa caught sight of Jongin’s knife, on the floor about ten feet from where she was, and began to crawl toward it.

<:>

Suho stood over Kai, grinning.  “Never thought that you would betray me, Kai.”

“B-Back there, when Baekhyun died, I remembered…Park Chanyeol.  You…I helped you kill him.”

“Hm?  You remember that?” Suho sighed.  “I thought I did a good job of erasing your memories too.”

“That human girl…Cheon Sa…she’s hurting because of me.”

“So?  You’re a demon, Kai.  You don’t care about humans, remember?  You’re better than a human, remember?”

“Our contract states that once she kills the murderer, I can take her soul.  But I’m the murderer, Suho!”

“Calm down, Kai,” Suho replied.  “It’s going to be okay.”

“But it’s my fault.”

“I guess we’ll just have to erase your memories a second time, won’t we, Kai?”

“No.”

Suho grinned.  “I really wish I could kill you, but like I said earlier, there’s a shortage of demons.  And you’re valuable.”  He reached out a hand toward Jongin.  “This shouldn’t hurt, and you’ll be back to the old Kai when it’s all over.”

“What about Cheon Sa?”

“Her?” Suho frowned.  “We’ll just have to kill her, won’t we?  I’m taking her soul.”

Jongin began to struggle against Suho’s spell and caught a glimpse of Cheon Sa, inches away from his knife.  His eyes widened.  “Don’t!”

She ignored him.

“If you touch it, you’ll—”

Cheon Sa wrapped her fingers around the knife.

Everything turned white.