Hongbin’s POV

            When I had felt Ravi approach the door of our math classroom three hours ago, I knew something was wrong. It was not often that any of us made such an urgent approach during the daytime hours, especially without hiding our aura. But when he uttered that it was important, I knew exactly what was up. Would it be cliche to say ‘duty calls?’

            We had all gathered in the foyer of the house, except for Ken, who seemed to be late for some reason. Leo had repeatedly tried to contact him but the other was blatantly blocking communication, save a quick message to tell us he was on his way. A dull thud indicated that Hyuk and Leo had finally been successful in kicking N off the couch, and another thud told me that Ravi had suffered the same fate. The two dejectedly went to sit next to each other in the corner. I rubbed my temples in frustration; the more time we wasted here the more trouble we were going to be in. Finally, Ken (the cause of much grief) sauntered in at a relaxed pace as always before freezing at our expression.

            “Guys? Is everything ok?”

            “Of course, that’s why we called you out of school. Obviously, we just wanted to hang out with you,” I said sarcastically. For a split second, Ken looked sad but his expression quickly returned to normal.

            “So what’s the problem this time?” he asked, settling himself between Leo and Hyuk. Ravi spoke up.

            “We have maintenance to do.”

            “What is it this time?”

            “Level 2B, at the club back in town,” he muttered as we winced. Those were never fun. Level 2B demons usually came up for some fun in the human world, feeding off of human energy and emotions. The problem with them, was that they often took it too far and refused to cooperate. They were relatively high up in demon hierarchy, with zero being the highest rank one could achieve; which meant that one on one they could put up a decent fight. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t know who they were dealing with or whose territory they were in. Once the sun went down, they wouldn’t stand a chance. There came the second problem: It was around three in the afternoon at the moment, which meant at least another two hours before sunset. Which meant having to distract a demon for two hours. Fun.

            At a slow, grueling pace, we began to walk towards downtown where the club was situated. We wasted as much time as we possibly could by dragging our feet and blaming our sabotaged van for not being there when we needed it. Even so, we had reached the club at 4:30 and wormed our way inside by 4:45. We all knew exactly who it was the second we entered. There, on the second floor sat a boy with tousled silver hair and a girl on each arm. His shirt had been ed the majority of the way down, and some sort of dye had been worked through his hair to make it glow rainbow. He lifted his head from where it had been buried in a girl’s neck and his eyes burned like molten gold. Only on him, it didn’t look pretty or mysterious but rather sinister. I could feel Ravi shift behind me, dissetled. If his empathy senses had been triggered even now, it likely meant the boy sitting on the second floor was not going to leave easily.

             The boy only looked up again when we were all settled in the chairs and couches that surrounded his. A scowl grew on his face as he took us in. I gave him a leisurely smile and draped my legs over the edge of the loveseat and onto the armchair next to it, effectively cutting of the exit towards the stairs. Ravi and N had settled into a couch on his other side, Hyuk sat on the balcony railing, and Leo stood behind my head. A growl was ripped from his throat as his eyes finished scanning our positioning.

            “Hey, hey, easy there,” said Ken from behind him, and plopped onto his couch. “We don’t mean much harm.”

            “Keyword being much,” whispered N to Ravi before the two giggled like little kids. A stare from Leo shut them both up. The boy’s eyes flashed back to Ken as the other smiled.

            “What do you want?” he barked, unhappy with being interrupted.

            “We’d just like to inform you that you’re on our territory, Mr.....” Ken trailed off as he realized he didn’t know his name.

            “Sehun,” whispered Leo from behind me.

             “Sehun,” nodded Ken, finishing his sentence. Sehun’s countenance grew darker.

            “Territory?” he asked with a small laugh. “Who are you to tell me what to do? A mere guardian? I could take all of you out with a flick of my wrist.”

            “I’m afraid that even if we are guardians, we will have to ask you to leave,” said a quiet voice. The girls at Sehun’s side stared in bewilderment at Leo’s words. Sehun exploded with laughter, before suddenly turning serious again. His eyes glowed with a golden light, shimmering and flowing as he trained them on Leo.

            “Say that again ? I’m afraid I didn’t catch what you said.”

            “We must ask you to leave,” Leo said calmly, showing no reaction to the demon’s provoking words. Sehun’s eyes flashed, and in a blink Leo was hanging by his neck from the second floor balcony.

            “Don’t tell me what to do,” hissed Sehun in anger. His eyes blazed red for a second, and dark, black markings appeared along his cheeks. Leo’s face began to turn blue and he struggled to rip the boy’s fingers off. “Oh, you want me to let go? Ok, I’ll let go,” said Sehun as he let Leo fall to the ground from the second floor. A crunch sounded below. Sehun smirked in response as he turned to face us. “Would anyone else like to say anything?”

            “Oh, I don’t think we need to,” said Hyuk. I nodded in consent.

            “After all,” I started, “Leo will take care of it.” That’s when a presence made itself known. It beat down and crushed everything around it using sheer anger and fear, its force so strong Sehun was forced to his knees. Leo stood behind him, black hair no longer tied back into the neat ponytail it had been in earlier, but now fell over his face and accented the two black lines that ran from his hairline, where they met between his eyes, and then hid them as they s towards his neck. More markings in the form of skeletal hands reached down his arms, visible in places where his long sleeve shirt had ripped. All traces of the normally quiet and shy leo were gone as he spoke.

              “I believe we asked you to leave.”

              “Ha, so you think since you can pull some tricks...” Sehun had stopped after glancing over to us as the marks appeared.

              “I’m warning you,” I said, feeling my powers return. “Leave or we shall forcibly evacuate you from the area.”  The demon growled lowly, glaring at each of us individually.

              “I’ll remember you,” he said, voice trembling in anger. Finally, the ground split open around him, softly shining red, and he disappeared. The floor returned to its normal state.

             I turned to Leo.

            “Are you ok?” He gave me a thumbs up, choosing not to speak, and gestured towards the door. “You’re right, we should leave.” Thanks to Ravi, the humans in the club had fallen asleep for the duration of the fight, and it was a good thing too for the only thing remaining of the dance floor after Leo had landed on it was a shattered circle of glass. Leo ignored it, and tugged me through the door, unsuccessfully. I landed on my back from the impact of colliding with someone else.

            “Hongbin?”

            “Ji-hyo?”