“Come.” Tao spoke, gesturing down the hall. “I have something to show you.”

“Right, because that doesn’t sound ominous.” I chuckled nervously.

All the weird looking weapons were beginning to creep me out a little bit, especially since I could still remember so clearly Kris’ eyes as he had stabbed me – probably with one of these weapons.

“How many times do I have to say it?” Tao suddenly sighed, noticing my eyes flickering to the weapons. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

“I also recall you once saying to me ‘I'm not the one you should be afraid of’, right before having me stabbed.”

“And ? I wasn’t lying then, I’m not the one you should be afraid of. I didn't stab you.”

“Oh right, because a person going around letting their friends stab people should be trusted, right?”

“I told you that time in the coffee shop; it was a test.” He reminded me like I was being purposely forgetful. “Back then… Well, we’d been watching Myungsoo and Sandara for some time, but we had no real proof that they were Demons. Unlike others of their kind, they kept it so well hidden and managed to hide their urges so well that we couldn’t be 100% sure. We needed evidence.”

“You stabbed me to see if he would heal me.” I concluded bitterly, not really needing an answer. It was written all over his face. “So... What? If you had been wrong, you’d have let me die?”

He shrugged suddenly looking uncomfortable. “It wasn’t one of our better ideas, admittedly, but we were growing desperate. We’ve invested a lot of time and effort into watching Myungsoo and Sandara to simply have it turn out we were wrong all along. But luckily for us, Myungsoo confirmed their status when he healed you.”

 “Congratulations. And now you've upped your crazy status by going around kidnapping anyone they talk to and telling them what they are, I'm guessing?”

“Don’t be stupid. My main goal right now is enlightening you to the truth, not the world... Yet.”

I didn’t respond. We had reached a door in the hall and Tao was unlocking it with a set of keys he pulled out of his dark jeans. Pulling it open, he gestured for me to head down and immediately I backed up, shaking my head.

“Oh right, and I’m the stupid one.”  I muttered. “Do you expect me to go down?”

At the other side of the door was a winding concrete staircase lit up only by extremely small candles set into cut-outs in the concrete walls. It looked like something in a horror movie.

“I promised we wouldn’t hurt you didn’t I?” 

Rolling my eyes at his attitude I my dry lips and took the first step down, wincing as the door shut behind me as Tao’s footsteps joined mine on the decent down.

“Push the door, it’s a little stiff.” He instructed as we reached a wooden door at the bottom.

Giving it a firm push, I blinked at the room beyond; finding myself in what was literally a hall of cells like you’d see in some sort of medieval prison. Spotting movement beyond the shadows of the bars to my left I screamed and backed up, only to crash into Tao’s chest.

“Woah, calm down.” He chuckled grabbing my forearm to steady me.

“Wh… What is this?” I asked, my voice shaky. “Who... Who are they?” I pointed to where the shadowy figure was pacing, the scratching on something solid against the dusty concrete floor sending shivers up my spine.

“It’s exactly what it looks like; our prison and these, as you’ve probably guessed, are our prisoners.”

“Why?” I whispered, watching the shadow pace, unable to take my eyes away.

“Why she asks.” Someone answered from the shadows. “Secrets, little human. How can you know? How can we tell?” A scream caught in my throat as the shadow suddenly threw itself against the bars, causing me to leap back into Tao so hard he slams back against the door.

“Dammit.” Tao mutters. “Get the back, Shin!”

Shin… It has a name. I’m staring at the creature, unable to drag my eyes from its distorted form. It’s vaguely human like in shape, though its limbs are grotesquely stretched – its arms in particular, which drag on the ground from their length. Its back is hunched over and also misshaped, the spine protruding prominently. The face, too, is warped, he jaw stretched into what I could only compare to a dogs, eyes watching me hauntingly as they glowed a brilliant burgundy.

It was also save for a small pair of torn, ragged shorts; skin tainted a strange brownish red colour which, upon further inspection as it stretched out a long arm towards us, was the product of fine hairs covering its body. Drawing back its thin lips it bared its canine like teeth towards Tao, eyes murderous.

 “Or what?” It asked simply.

I’m aware now that the hall is wide with two black lines in the center for obviously walking along to be safe from this creatures grasp. I make sure I am stood in the center, watching the creatures long arm just feet from where the line ended.

“Come on.” Tao muttered grabbing my wrist.

He lead me along the black lines and I walk with stiff legs, constantly jumping as several of the creatures throw themselves at their cell walls as we pass. But it’s the cell near to the end that catches my full attention and I find myself straying off path slightly to get a better look, pulling Tao to a stop as I do. A young girl, perhaps fourteen or so stands near the bars her head down with her light brown hair falling about her face. Her arms aren’t distorted and she looks fairly normal standing there in her sack like clothing, shaking. I open my mouth to ask Tao what she’s doing here when her head snaps up, revealing her face alike that of the others. Her whole body is trembling, and as I watch her arm makes a weird snapping sound and suddenly begins to stretch, her body then dropping to the floor where it curls up, still shaking.

"Don’t watch. She’s doing it to get a reaction out of you.” Tao whispered to me, his voice cutting through the sounds of growls, bitter laughs and groans coming from the room.

“It… Worked…” The girl gasps from inside the cell as she carries on writhing on the floor. “, this hurts.”

“Good. I hope it does.” Tao spits, giving my hand tug, urging me to keep moving.

I follow mutely, my eyes fixed forward onto his back as he unlocks another door at the end and ushers me through, before shutting it securely. Taking my wrist again he leads me down another hall, this one just as wide and filled with cells along just one wall this time, though not even all of these seem full.

Reaching the end where a pair of chairs sit facing the end cell, Tao pushes me down gently onto one of the seats whilst he takes the other and gives me a stern look.

“Prepare yourself for this.” He tell me softly.

I can’t answer, my eyes watching inside the cell at the darkness, looking for what I was guessing was inside. Another one of the creatures, probably disfigured, probably about to transform in front of me again… From the shadows a set of burgundy eyes fixes on us – on me – and they rush forward, where the figure slams into the cell bars. I almost topple off my chair in surprise.

“Let me introduce you.” Tao begins calmly, though his expression is grim. “Hana… Meet Kim Moonsoo, Myungsoo’s younger brother. Moonsoo, this is Yoon-Hana.”

My eyes widened as I stared at the red eyed man before me. His face was like an exact replica of Myungsoo’s, though his beauty wasn’t as striking as Myungsoo’s. Still, he was handsome, even with his shaggy, unkempt hair and scruffy clothing. The resemblance was undeniable.

“I… I don’t understand.” I mumbled, staring dumbly into the cell. “How?”

“What’s the matter, Cutie? You wanting Oppa to give you the birds and the bees talk?”

“Shut up, Moonsoo.” Tao sighed before turning to face me. “Moonsoo would have been in yours and Sandara’s year – a Freshman, like you.”

“Don’t mention that in front of me.” Moonsoo suddenly growled. “If it weren’t for her…” His voice trailed off into a mutter.

“But…” I began, still confused.

“Myungsoo and Sandara have never mentioned him, right?” Tao guessed, though at the mention of Dara Moonsoo winced. “That’s understandable, since Moonsoo was exiled from their pack.”

“Pack?” I echoed.

“The Pack!” Moonsoo spoke up, his eyes showing a hint of his earlier anger. “We’re Hounds, Sweetheart, part Demonic Wolves who have the same needs and priorities as your wolves. We live in Packs, we hunt in packs and we mate like animals.” He winked at me then and I frowned, feeling it awkward hearing such things come from somebody who looked just like Myungsoo.

“Myungsoo is Seoul Pack’s second.” Tao explained. “With Myungsoo’s Father leading the pack as it’s Alpha. Sandara’s mother was pregnant with Sandara when she killed Myungsoo’s mother, YooHee, just after YooHee had given birth to Moonsoo.”

“Why would she do such a thing?” I asked.

“So she could become my Father’s official mate.” Moonsoo told me, his voice and face expressionless. “The knew that giving birth to her little runt without a mate would be shameful, so she attacked my mother just hours after she had given birth to me… When she was at her weakest.”

“That’s horrible!” I gasped. “Why did your father still accept her? How could he?”

Moonsoo raised an eyebrow at my question and answered, his voice now sounding somewhat sad.

“He allowed it, because he was tired of my mother. He made sure to wait until she birthed me before having her killed.”

“So that’s why Myungsoo and Dara have separate last names…” I voiced aloud. “I’d been curious about that, but I could never have imagined this… Why is Myungsoo able to accept Dara, then, and you’re not?”

“Myungsoo believes that Sandara isn’t to be blamed.” Moonsoo huffed bitterly. “He thinks that it should be her mother that we are angry with, and not Sandara. That’s why he’s so damn protective of her, to help her against the pack members who still show resentment.”

“But you can’t forgive Dara.” I guessed.

“Of course not!” He hissed. “If her mother hadn’t gotten pregnant with her then Father would never have allowed our mother to be killed! It’s all because that was pregnant with Sandara that Father wanted to marry her! If she hadn’t been born… If her mother hadn’t seduced our father then our Mother wouldn’t have died.”

“That’s why Moonsoo was exiled from the pack.” Tao went on. “Because he tried to kill his Father’s mate and Sandara when he was just eleven.”

“I would have gotten away with it, too, if my perfect Hyung hadn’t told our Father about our plans.” Moonsoo seethed. “T