Mir had been right about the Kims: they didn’t like or trust Hyoyeon.  And that might have been a bigger problem if the humans among them hadn’t been so enamored with her.  While she was big for a wolf, Hyoyeon was also friendly and very gentle, getting close to Ricky and Aron with surprising ease considering what they’d been through.  Minhyun took more of a cue from Key’s standoffishness but even he wasn’t immune to her almost puppyish charm.

                Annoyed, Jaejoong, Heechul, and Key brought up the rear of their little group as they moved, glaring suspiciously at Hyoyeon as she pseudo guided them with nudges to Mir to change their direction as needed.  She was still more than close enough for Ricky to keep petting her and his smile at least was worth the morning Mir had spent in trying to convince the others she wasn’t going to hurt them.  Mika hadn’t said much on the matter but he was more of the mind that so long as she wasn’t trying to hurt them or lead them into danger, he was good either way.  Quite frankly, he was still more wary of the Kims.

                And they certainly didn’t take Mir’s words about the creature replanting the forest particularly well.  But in their condition, none of them really wished to run into one so the unanimous consensus had been to avoid the creature and any like it as best they could.  “Can’t have you guys becoming mere humans too,” Heechul muttered, the bitterness in his tone easy to hear.

                That was a thought the Hunters in particular worried over.  Mir spared another glance down at Hyoyeon who maintained her pace at his side with her tongue lolling out of .  Misty air emerged from her maw with every breath, just like them, but she seemed otherwise safe.

                “Why do you think she’s out here by herself?” Ricky asked, carding his gloved fingers through her fur again.

                At his side, Aron shrugged and shook his head.  “Maybe she got lost.”

                Mir snorted once and raised his brow.  “Wolves don’t normally get lost.”

                “Normally, we put rogue wolves down,” Jaejoong reminded from the rear, still sour about the whole arrangement.

                “She’s not a rogue,” the Bang shot back with a frown, annoyed by that suggestion.

                “She certainly doesn’t have a pack,” Key quipped, his hand lingering near his weapon on his hip.

                “She did before we left,” Mir reminded the trio as he glanced at Mika.  When they’d first gotten the mercenary and taken him away, there had been quite a few wolves and vampires existing together.  It was strange to find Hyoyeon out here by herself; stranger that she wouldn’t transform to talk to them, but since she was a Kim, he had no reason to believe she was going to hurt them.  Her interactions with Ricky, pausing every so often to turn her head so she could his hand in reassurance, told him that much.

                “What if they all died?” Ricky wondered aloud, earning a soft whine from Hyoyeon.  She could obviously still understand them, but it was very much a one way street.

                Mir would have answered but Mika drifted close with a knowing smile.  “They’re a little more resilient than that.  It’s damnably difficult to kill off one of them, much less an entire pack.”  His words made Hyoyeon peer back at him for a long moment, her expression unchanging.  But then her ears flicked and she snorted with a head bob as if agreeing.  “See?” he gestured, sharing a smile with the human boys at her side.

                “Mir?” Jaejoong called ahead, his pinched face drawn into a frown.  “Do you smell smoke?” the Hunter asked, tilting his nose into the air.

                Confused by the question, Mir stopped and Hyoyeon did with him.  He took a deep breath and jerked in surprise.  “Yeah,” he called back, glancing at the boys beside him and then down at the wolf.  She pretty much smiled back with her tongue hanging out and her tail wagging.  Smoke meant fire and fire meant that either something was burning or someone had a fire going somewhere.  Both could be trouble.  “Are we supposed to be going to the fire?” he asked Hyoyeon who simply whined and nodded her head once.

                “I don’t trust the wolf,” Key reminded him before Mir could even ask.

                “I know,” the Bang Hunter rolled his eyes, glancing over at the boys and Mika.  “Which is why I’ll go,” he volunteered himself, turning around to look at the trio behind them.

                “Stupid,” Heechul frowned, shivering once.  Immediately, Jaejoong and Key drifted close to help provide him with body heat, leaving Minhyun standing awkwardly at the edge of their circle.  He looked over at Ricky, who gestured for him to join them, and Aron who simply shrugged, and rolled his shoulders in response.  Without a word, he trudged through the snow and moved close to the other humans, keeping an eye on Hyoyeon as he did so.

                “I’ll take Mika with me,” he smirked, eyeing the former mercenary who jerked in surprise at the statement.

                “Hey,” he complained with a frown.

                “You don’t mind do you?” the Hunter asked, waiting expectantly for a response.

                Mika eyed the Kims at the back and then looked over the uncertain humans next to him.  “No.  I guess I don’t,” he laughed once, moving to the other side of the Hunter that was free of the wolf.  “At least it gives me something to do,” he added with a hint of humor in his voice.

                “See?” Mir grinned, the gesture partially teasing the Kims.  They didn’t respond and he laughed lightly under his breath.  “Alright kiddos,” he added, focusing on the Ricky, Aron, and Minhyun.  “The Kims will watch over you while we’re gone.  Stay close to them and keep warm, alright?” he urged, ruffling Ricky’s hair with a grin.

                “Hey!” Ricky complained, though he was smiling.

                “Come on then.  Let’s move,” Mir urged, shooing Hyoyeon ahead of him while Mika fell into step at his side.

                “Be careful!” Aron called out before they’d gone too far.

                “We will!” Mika waved, flashing him a confident smile over his shoulder.

                In moments, they were out of sight and traveling only under the guidance of Hyoyeon.  Mika struggled to keep up with the faster speed of Mir but the Hunter traveled just slow enough so he wouldn’t lose him.  Hyoyeon bounded in front, jumping through snow drifts and appearing to frolic as she ran.  It almost made Mir relax, but that was a luxury they couldn’t afford.

                The smell of smoke grew stronger as they ran and he came to a sudden stop when they reached an overhang where the ground fell away, revealing an expanse of earth somewhat hidden in the depression in the ground.  At the top of the veritable cliff, they could see into the safe zone and it was there that a fire was crackling.

                “Is that a city?” Mika asked with a frown, shielding his eyes to try and see better, not that it would do him any good.

                “I think so,” Mir answered slowly, noticing figures moving around the fire.  He inhaled sharply when he also caught sight of one of the monstrous plant things moving around the perimeter.  Oddly, no one seemed particularly frightened of it.

                “What is that?!” the other man asked in confusion when he finally caught sight of the same thing.

                “One of the monsters that the Kims might have run into,” he explained.  “It looks like the one I saw in the forest as well.”

                Mika looked over at Mir with a confounded expression as he pointed at the city.  “So why isn’t it attacking the people?”

                “I have no idea,” the Hunter shrugged, glancing down to see what Hyoyeon had to offer on the matter.  But when he looked, she wasn’t at his hip anymore.  “Hyoyeon?” he asked, belly clenching in an automatic, nervous reaction.  What if this was a trap?

                “Huh?  Where’d she go?” Mika asked, tearing his attention from the town to look for himself, brown eyes narrowing.

                Mir placed his finger to his lips and gestured for his companion to be quiet while he looked around.  She hadn’t gone down the cliff face and he was sure she’d been with them when they stopped which meant that she left when they were distracted.  His head jerked to the side when he heard an attention grabbing bark and they both saw the wolf panting between the trees.  She looked like she’d been running.  “There you are,” Mir murmured, beginning to stand upright until he noticed that something snow covered was moving slowly behind her.  “Oh boy,” he blinked, raising an arm to keep Mika behind him defensively.

                “Is that what I think it is?” Mika asked, peeking over the arm in front of him with a tense expression.

                “Probably,” Mir agreed with a nod, willing his heart to stay calm.  Snow drifts fell off the creature as it moved carefully through the trees, revealing the same, solid body beneath that Mir had seen earlier.  But this one also happened to have what looked like flowers on it.  That was strange.  They were huge and white with a strangely familiar smell that competed with the smoke from below.

                Mika seemed to smell it too as the audible sniffing sound revealed.  “Jasmine?”

                That’s what that smell was…  Too keyed up to wonder at how impossible that should have been, he watched the creature instead, tensing up as it got closer, but it stopped long before it reached them.  Hyoyeon wriggled her body as she looked between the two and then bounded over to the creature as it lowered itself to the ground and took root, several vines burying into the earth while others anchored to trees around it.

                With a low grinding sound, the body shifted and peeled open, revealing a man inside.  “What the…” Mir trailed off, his eyes widening as the human type person stood up and quite easily stepped out.  Only, he wasn’t entirely free: vines trailed after him, attaching into his body at various points, though they didn’t seem to bother him.

                Even from yards away, he was striking in what looked like outdated, blue robes from somewhere in Japan.  Obsidian hair flowed down his back and bright blue eyes gleamed as he smiled down at Hyoyeon when she quickly moved to his side.  The wolf sidled up to him and sat on the ground, ears laid flat in a happy gesture as he pet her; her tail wagged furiously against the snow.  “There’s a good girl,” he crooned in a soft, melodic voice, his ageless smile lighting up his face.  “Who did you find today?”

                Mir and Mika exchanged looks before the former stepped closer and called out, “Who are you?”

                The stranger looked up, catching Mir by surprise with the intensity of his gaze.  But the smile was disarming and he stood upright to better regard the Hunter.  “My name is Satoru.  What can I call you?”

                “What-?  How-?”  Mir didn’t even know how to ask his questions.

                Fortunately, Satoru seemed to understand as he sent Hyoyeon back towards them with a patient smile.  “I do not know what it is called.”  He looked over his shoulder at the thing attached to him.  “It has no name that I know of, but I have been calling them Guardians.”

                “Of what?” Mika couldn’t help but ask, hedging behind Mir just a touch when he gained the other man’s attention.

                “Life,” Satoru responded as if it should be obvious.

                “But it’s dangerous,” Mir pointed out with a frown.

                “You’re dangerous,” he commented back, gaze unchanging.  That surprised them both.  Satoru turned his head and his eyes flickered wildly, almost as if he was having a seizure.  But then he blinked and came back to himself, focusing on them once again.  “One of the Guardians was killed,” he frowned, the news obviously painful for him.

                “How can you-?”

                “Trees and plants can talk to each other over vast distances through their roots,” he pointed out, long finger aimed at the vines anchored in the ground.  “I don’t know how they came into being, but I do know they’re trying to repair the damage that has been done,” he explained, tapping on his lip with his finger.

                “Why are you a part of it?” Mir asked, even more unsettled than before.

                “It found me,” Satoru answered simply.  “Hyoyeon wasn’t afraid of it when it arrived so I knew that I did not need to be either.  When it made me a part of it, I understood.”

                “Hyoyeon was with you?” the Hunter frowned, shifting his attention back to the wolf.

                “Yes,” he smiled.  “I found her badly wounded in the desert.  She’d nearly been shot to death it would seem.  I knew she was no normal wolf then, since she survived.  It was a miracle to me when she transformed too,” he added fondly, a warm smile gracing his lips.  “But then she fell ill and I think something in her broke.  I didn’t understand it at the time, but when it found us and I merged to join its consciousness, I could see that part of what she was had been changed.  The magic in her was fractured,” he frowned.  His gaze turned thoughtful when he focused on the other man again.  “You have magic in you too.”

                “I’m a Hunter,” Mir agreed with a nod.

                “Dark magic,” Satoru startled him by adding.

                “You lie!” the Hunter snapped, on the defensive immediately.

                “Calm yourself,” he warned with a soothing hand and a glance over his shoulder as the creature behind him twitched in reaction.  “It does not react well to anger or violence.  It is still learning but it associates those emotions with destruction.  You will provoke it if you continue.”

                Part of Mir wanted to call him a liar again, but the more rational side of him considered what Satoru had to say.  The one he’d seen hadn’t tried to hurt anybody and the one that the Kims had tangled with… they said they were protecting Key.  He took a calming breath and chewed his bottom lip.  “Our gifts were divine in nature,” he explained simply, meeting Satoru’s gaze evenly.

                “So you have been told,” Satoru agreed with a solemn nod.  “I can show you if you’d prefer,” he offered, extending his hand simply.  “It has many memories to pull from.  I can see that one somewhat clearly,” he added, twitching when his eyes fluttered again.

                Mir looked at the hand with erse curiosity before checking with Mika.  The other man shrugged as if to say go ahead, but the Hunter was not convinced.  “How do I know you won’t take my power like the Kims?”

                Satoru’s mouth quirked into another patient smile, his demeanor utterly disarming.  “If it wanted to take your power, I wouldn’t be offering to show you a memory.”

                “Some reassurance,” Mir muttered darkly, shifting from foot to foot.  Every Hunter was taught that their gifts came from the heavens.  To be told it was a lie so simply was alarming, to say the least.  He believed the other man to be lying but a small part of him feared he was telling the truth and that scared him more than the possibility of losing his powers.

                “What are you gonna do?” Mika asked softly, standing from foot to foot as he mirrored Mir’s unease.

                Frowning at the question and annoyed with himself for being so afraid of an answer, Mir grumbled, “Wait here.”  Resolutely, he walked up to Satoru, steeling himself for any sign of betrayal or action.  When nothing moved as if to attack, he swallowed and stared at the hand offered.  “Now what?” he asked, jittery and tense and wanting nothing more than to simply leave.

                “Take my hand,” the other man urged again, waiting patiently for the other to act.

                “If you try anything…” Mir trailed off with narrowed eyes, letting the implied threat hang in the air so that he hopefully wouldn’t piss the thing off.

                “I know,” Satoru smiled in amusement with an acknowledging nod.

                Taking a small breath, Mir his lips and hesitantly moved his hand to rest atop Satoru’s.  For a moment, nothing happened and he feared he’d been tricked, but then he inhaled sharply as warmth blossomed between their palms.  Before he could pull away, Mir was overwhelmed with images that swarmed through his mind.

~~~~~~

                With Youngjae’s help, retracing his steps and finding the other vampires became an easy and short matter.  Despite having to take care for the sun, the vampire had managed to cover a surprising amount of ground.  It left the wolves worried that they might not be able to return to the cave at a reasonable hour.  But that was a concern they pushed to the back of their minds as they heard the sounds of those creatures in the distance: never more than one at a time, but they were there as they traversed the terrain.

                Youngjae in particular looked spooked, but he was determined in his role as their guide, sprinting at the front with all the haste he could manage.  When he finally pulled up short, it was only so that the wolves could help him break into the shelter they’d made.  “They’re here!” the vampire pointed, throwing himself at the tree trunk they’d managed to position in front of the overhanging rock that allowed them to hide beneath the shelf.

                Winded from the run, he could only move the block slowly until the wolves stepped in, retaining their lupine forms as they anchored teeth into the crumbling bark and dragged it away.  Seungho moved first to inch under the overhand, scraping at the dirt that was on top, helping to cover their scent.  “I can smell them!” he announced after clearing the first couple inches away.

                With swift efficiency, the half-turned and the wolves squeezed into the space to begin excavating the vampires who were sleeping beneath the dirt.  The first one they found was Zhou and that was as startling as it was exciting.  Digging with his paws, Hyuk yelped when a thin but powerful hand broke the surface and grabbed his wrist hard.  Teeth snapped in reaction and the vampire let go.  A second later, Zhou sat up like a zombie rising from the grave.  Loose dirt tumbled from him and went flying in every direction as he tried to clear his eyes and get a good look around.

                “I’m back!” Youngjae cried out, throwing himself into the space so the other vampire could see it was true.

                “Oh thank goodness,” Zhou sighed in relief as he finally focused on the Cho.  “Sorry,” he apologized briefly at Hyuk who shrugged and wriggled closer to continue his task of removing dirt.

                Ren was next to be found, the pretty vampire’s features smudged and dirty as he was freed.  He looked supremely disoriented as he gathered his bearings, but it didn’t take him more than a moment to turn around and assist in finding Kangin and Jinki.  The last two had been sequestered in the back of the hideout to keep them the safest.  Jinki was nonresponsive when they pulled him free and Kangin was equally inert.

                “Holy ,” Soohyun blinked and then frowned when they all had a chance to see the extent of Jinki’s injuries.  His clothes had been partially melted, much like several parts of his flesh where it was unprotected.  Red patches of skin glared angrily against the otherwise pale tone of his complexion, and he looked more dead than a vampire typically did.

                Kangin was relatively unscathed but per Youngjae, “He drained his reserves trying to promote an unassisted healing in Jinki.”

                “Geng.  Kyung,” Seunghyun ordered when he shifted into his human form with a grimace, the transition taking more time than he wanted.  Whining softly, they followed suit and then offered themselves to Zhou and Ren, both of whom tried to appear as if they weren’t half as hungry as they felt.  And only Zhou was able to maintain that mask between the two of them.  “Siwon,” he nodded his head towards Jinki as he moved to kneel beside Kangin, frowning at the Cho.

                “On it,” the Choi wolf nodded tersely, ripping his wrist open with his teeth while he settled beside the severely injured vampire.  Seunghyun did the same so he could drain the hot, viscous liquid into his mouth.

                “We’re gonna check the area real quick,” Junsu explained with a terse nod of his head.  “Make sure we’re in the clear for now.”  He hurried off with the rest of the humans and half-turneds at his back, leaving Hyuk to stay and watch.

                “Be careful!” the Choi Alpha snapped, growling when he felt a hand dig into his arm.  A glance down showed a half-conscious Kangin coming around.  Claws dug into the flesh of his forearm, holding tight, and his nails grated against bone in the process.  “Cho,” he warned with a throaty snarl, making the black eyed vampire twitch in recognition.

                Kangin offered no apology but he relaxed his hand in favor of simply biting on the offering instead, sating the worst of his gnawing hunger before letting the Alpha pull away with a disgusted growl.  “Jinki,” he whispered hoarsely, closing his eyes as he let the blood sink in.

                “No better, no worse,” Siwon answered when he heard the question, looking up with a pinched face.

                “,” Kangin exhaled, pushing himself to his feet with weary determination.

                “I’ve got him, Kangin,” Youngjae called out, waving the other Cho off so he could tend to the unresponsive Shim while Zhou and Ren looked on, worry etched clearly on their faces.  Sparks jumped over their bodies as Youngjae placed his hands on either side of Jinki’s shoulders, creating a circuit through his figure in an attempt to ‘jump start’ the other vampire.

                “Did you run into trouble on the way here?” Zhou asked, nose turned to the air as he smelled for anything out of the ordinary.

                “Nothing we couldn’t avoid,” Seunghyun commented, listening intently.

                “There was a lot of activity on the coast though,” Hyuk added softly, his eyes edging to the west more often than any other direction.

                Ren hissed when a beam of light broke through the sparse cloud covering and singed him with its touch.  Immediately, he crawled back under the overhang and promptly dragged out their mangled sun shields, frowning as he did so.  “I’m not sure how good these are going to be anymore,” he grimaced, pulling the device out to inspect the bent and battered frames and fabric.  It was a near miracle they’d survived this long with that mad dash they’d had getting away from the plant monster.  They’d only been fortunate it had stopped chasing them after a little while, falling back as they pressed forward.

                “We’ll figure something out,” Zhou promised as he squatted next to the other Song, inspecting the remains with keen eyes.

                “Soon,” Siwon encouraged as he noticed Junsu returning with the rest of the patrol at his tail.

                “We caught wind of one of those things not that far off, but I don’t think it knows we’re here yet,” he explained, waving the humans into the safety of their company.  “How we gonna do this?” Junsu asked, letting his dark eyes run over the present company, including the mangled sun shields.

                “We could carry them,” Siwon shrugged with a motion at the vampires, his expression showing just how much he liked that idea.

                “But what about the sun shields?” Seunghyun grumbled, clearly just as annoyed by that prospect.

                Zhou shook his head as he held up one, peeking through a significant rip in the fabric.  “By themselves, they’re pretty useless, but if we salvage two, we should be able to make at least one solid shield.  If we’re riding, that would be quite feasible to manage.”

                “And we could carry Jinki between two of us,” Kangin pointed out, hovering near Youngjae and Jinki, both of whom were just in the protective shade of the overhang.

                “Three?!” Siwon barked with a frown.  His reaction made the other wolves who regularly carried people roll their eyes.

                “It’s possible,” Hyuk confirmed with a determined nod.  “I’ll carry three if you’ll take my riders this time,” he explained, checking briefly with Yukwon and Soohyun, both of whom shrugged in quiet agreement.

                Zhou and Ren weren’t paying attention to them as they worked to make two solid sun shields between them.  They’d let the wolves figure it out.  “That’s fair,” Junsu joined in, meeting eyes with Seunghyun and daring him to object.  The Choi Alpha clearly did not like the subtle challenge but he simply made a face at the Kim Alpha and snorted.

                In a matter of moments, the vampires were done jerry-rigging something for them to use and they stood up proudly with their cobbled sun shields.  “Ready!” Zhou announced, obviously wondering who would be riding which wolf and how.

                “Zhou.  Ren.  You take Jinki with you,” Kangin solved the dilemma for them.  “We’ll ride with one of these two,” he urged, taking one of the shields as he nodded at Siwon and Seunghyun.

                “Got it,” Zhou nodded, moving to retrieve Jinki as Ren held the shield up for them.  Hyuk shifted into his wolf form and padded over, waiting patiently for the three.  His dark brown fur ruffled in the slight breeze and he stood steady as Ren got on first, holding the cover up and helping to hold Jinki in place against his back until Zhou could get on, securing the injured vampire between them.  “We’re ready,” he announced as soon as they were settled, their legs extending out dangerously into the light but they’d be able to adjust the shield based on the position of the sun as necessary.

                “After you,” Kangin murmured, waiting impatiently as he looked between the Chois.  Already, the other trios were getting into place, leaving the Chos and Junsu’s riders to look between the unchanged wolves.

                “I’ve got them,” Seunghyun finally rolled his eyes, snapping his fangs as he fell forward with the change.  With their reserves getting low in turn, it was harder on their bodies every time they transitioned.  This time was no different and he reflexively snapped at the vampires when they accidentally tugged on his fur as they settled into place.

                “Let’s go home!” Youngjae cheered in front of Kangin, holding onto the shield with both hands tightly.  Seunghyun huffed once and snapped his teeth again, issuing a low howl to get them moving.

                Immediately, the wolves fell into step at his back and they were off, carrying their new burdens with as much speed and care as they could manage.  They could easily recognize the tracks they came across on the return trip, and each new revelation made them more nervous than the last.  Their group even nearly ran into one such thing, seeking to travel over a mound of debris that suddenly started to rise up as they neared.

                Yipping in confused panic, the riders were very nearly unseated when the wolves pulled up and veered away, keeping wide eyes on the shifting mound.  It lowed after them, the inhuman sound haunting as it vibrated through every part of their bodies, but it did not give chase.  Though they wondered why, none of them questioned their good fortune as the wolves continued on, tongues lolling under their burden and heated breath misting out between parted jaws.

                No one spoke as the sun continued across the sky, moving lower and lower towards the horizon with every moment that passed.  There was still daylight left and they were almost home when the wolves stopped again, this time unseating Taeyang and Minhyuk in the process.  They yelped as they flew over Kyung’s head, landing awkwardly on the trampled, snow covered ground.  “Hey!” they cried in unison, glaring at their wolf first and then at the rest of the group who remained on wolf-back.

                It became abundantly clear that the only reason none of the others had followed was because at least one of the people in the pairs wasn’t human: Seungho had his arms wrapped around Amber’s waist so she wouldn’t fall off; Yukwon was doing the same for Soohyun; and Jiyong had nearly flattened himself against Chaerin’s back in the process.  As for the vampires… well, they were vampires.

                “Blood,” Ren murmured, nostrils flaring and eyes wide.

                “Lots of it,” Kangin added, nudging at Youngjae to get off so they could move forward together.

                Freed from his burden, Seunghyun bounded ahead, the most prominent scent familiar to him.  The others followed after quickly, with Zhou carrying Jinki bringing up the rear as Ren maintained the shield.  Youngjae blanched and shouted when they finally came upon the remains of what had been their home when they’d last left.

                “Oh no,” Amber placed her hand over as she moved closer with Seungho shadowing, his stance screaming defensive while his eyes scanned the horizon for any potential threats.

                “Look!” Chaerin as L. Joe pointed while the duo sprinted towards the strange mound of stones, plant growth, and blood clustered near the remains of the cave.  Jiyong followed quickly after but then turned slightly green as he saw the crushed body within.  “It’s one of those things!” the spirit frowned in concentration, squatting on one of the rocks to get a better look.

                “Daehyun,” Youngjae exhaled sadly, watching as the wolves clustered around the remains with tails lowered and hackles raised.

                “ to be him but where the hell is everyone else?!” Kangin demanded, clearly alarmed for those missing.  “Come on,” he commanded, yanking the still shocked Youngjae after him so they were protected as they drew close to the wreck that was their home.  He could see the humans and half-turneds coming with him, crawling over the stones like monkeys.

                “Blood here too!” Yukwon announced, obviously searching for someone as he ripped through the wreckage.  “Wolf.  And vampire,” he confirmed after a moment, the results of which seemed to make him somewhat relieved but that didn’t stop him from continuing his search.

                “Claw marks!” Soohyun announced, fingers tracing over one of the rocks.  “Looks like they were digging someone out.”

                The wolves howled low in their throats as they finally broke away from their dead packmate and swarmed the area, noses to the ground and tails sticking straight out.  They moved with fervent intensity, noses blasting snow and dirt up with every exhale.  Even though they didn’t speak, the question was obvious: Where?  But with the muddled array of so many tracks coming and going already, it was hard to pinpoint the fresh ones.

                Kangin paused at one of the blood splotches in the rocks, his face losing all emotion.  “Kyu,” he whispered, tracing his fingers over the mostly dried liquid that was accompanied by burnt marks around the rock.  Bits of stone appeared to have been incinerated into a fine powder but that did not make him feel any better.

                “There’s no ash and no body,” Youngjae reminded him in a thin voice.  “He could still be alright.”

                “Fresh tracks!” an excited Taeyang announced loudly, causing every wolf to stop, their heads darting up to locate the human unerringly.  “Here!” he cried again, waving his arms to gather their attention.

                Streaks of agitated fur rushed around him, noses back to the ground as they confirmed his claim.  Satisfied, they took a couple steps in the direction the tracks were heading and paused.  Six howls rose into the air, echoing discordantly together as they all made the same cry: Where?

                The echoes died off and silence reigned for a moment, filling them with dread at the implied meaning.  An answering howl finally rose up, joined shakily by a chorus of others who all replied with the same call: Here!  Immediately, the wolves threw themselves ahead, stampeding through the forest to find those they had lost.

                “Chaerin!  Jiyong!  Come on!” Seungho called as he and Amber surged after the others, trailing just behind Yukwon and Soohyun while Taeyang and Minhyuk tried to maintain their lead in the front.  It was short lived and they were overtaken by the slightly more than human riders all too soon.  Even the vampires paid them little mind: at first.

                Still frowning, L. Joe brushed off Jiyong’s hand as he stared at the new growth already beginning to sprout from the center of the dead.  He reached a hand out to tap the seedling and flinched when it jerked away.  But then it returned, curious and questing as the tiny vine curled around his finger.  “I’ll be damned,” he exhaled, the plant with his finger gently.  “Magic indeed,” he nodded, a slow smile pulling at his mouth before he stood up.

                “Chaerin?” Jiyong questioned uncertainly, a flash of disappointment crossing his face when it was apparent that wasn’t the case.

                “Come on,” L. Joe announced, grabbing his hand and forcefully pulling the human along, gifting him with the benefit of a Possessed’s strength so they could catch up to the others.  They drew even with Taeyang and Minhyuk before noticing that Zhou and Ren, still in possession of Jinki, had returned to provide them with a protective .  They had to love the Songs for that.

(a/n: Not relevant to this story exactly but well worth checking out if you're interested in fairy tales - and various twists on them - and whatnot is the Weavers of Words, Spinners of Tales: Fairy Tale Contest Pt 2 that is still looking for participants.  If you're interested, just follow the link and take a gander to see if anything strikes your fancy (for reading or writing purposes).  The deadline is June 30th so that still leaves almost 7 months to make something happen.  ;)

On a different note, my original plans of ending this have been slightly skewed by unexpected plot developments and character behaviors.  lol  We're still getting close to the ending now but I'm trying to work out the new kinks in the plan.  haha  I'm definitely trying to finish this before January 21st since I'll be traveling at that time and I don't know when I'll have a chance to write/update after otherwise.  Wish me luck and thank you for reading!  You guys are awesome.  ^_^)