Chapter 7. The Vows

The alarm didn’t go off as to not scare the sheltered. There were already too many things to panic about for the youngsters, to be adding loud alarm sounds at the mid of the night. The extremists had been sighted at the borders of the eighth shelter, at the northeast point. Seunghyun adjusted the belt around his waist; he ran a hand over his swords and knives and cleared his throat. In front of him, Maeum sheathed his sword and looked back at him with a strong, determined gaze.

“Everything fine?” he asked, his wings stretched behind him ready to take flight.

“Mhm,” Seunghyun nodded and straightened his shoulders, “Let’s go find them.”

They took flight. The night wind was chillier than usual. A line was all there was of the moon up in the sky, making it harder to see through the foliage below them. By his side, three more alphas flew with them. One of them, a demon, kept diving down into the foliage just to come out miles in front, tracking the scent of the enemies. He kept going until he came out no more, and a whistle informed them of his success. He had found them.

“You two! Go from the south! Seunghyun, you will move from the north! Don’t lose track of them. And don’t let them take flight!” Maeum ordered with his jaw set and eyes focused. His wings kept flapping silently, trying to make the less noise as possible. He looked down until another whistle echoed through the wind and then the shout came, “Go!”

Seunghyun plummeted down, gliding through the wind. The air his feathers and pushed them back with more strength the more he came closer to the ground. He tripped with a fallen trunk the moment he landed. But no sounds came but the ethereal darkness of the woods and the rustling of the leaves moved by the wind. His wings remained tensed, ready to take flight if needed. With narrowed eyes he scanned around, listening for any sound, any clue.

It happened quick and fast. A shadow ran to his left, only a patch of white he saw until it disappeared behind the trees. Without hesitation, he chased. The demon was fast, zigzagging through the forest. The demon’s agile and light movements were impressive, and Seunghyun knew he was chasing a female. There was no way he would outrun her but he could fly faster. His wings opened and he took off without stopping and soon he was chasing the female demon from above. Her blonde hair stood out from the green darkness around her. She looked up. For a moment their eyes met. There was nothing but determination in her eyes; she was convinced she could escape.

He moved faster and once he passed her, he plummeted down and crashed onto her body. The female demon groaned and cursed when both rolled on the ground, crashing onto the rocks. Seunghyun moved fast and with a powerful move he pinned her down, a hand squeezed the back of her neck. She growled and tried to bit his arm.

“Don’t move,” Seunghyun snarled, his hand pushing her down hard. His other hand searched for the ropes to tie her up.

But she didn’t give up easily. Her legs kept kicking; her wings flapped hard and painfully in an attempt to push Seunghyun off her back. “ you!” she spat out and managed to claw her nails on his arm. Seunghyun was about to knock her out but suddenly she stopped moving and her eyes went unfocused. It was quick but managed to shock Seunghyun enough to not hear the other demon move behind his back.

A second later, she opened her eyes and looked at him with a smirk, “Fool,” she whispered and a hard rock hit his head.

“SooJoo take off! Now! Fly!” the voice of the other demon shouted behind him. The woods and the voices blurred and merged together. Seunghyun fell on his knees, shaking his head trying to focus but the pain was searing and distracting. The last thing he saw was the two demons taking flight in front of him. Maeum shouts echoed from the distance. A pair of arms grabbed his waist and pulled him up, his legs gobbled.

“We got you,” the demon Alpha said by his side and then looked up at the two shadows of the demons disappearing at the sky.

Soon Maeum reached them. Blood ran from one of his wings and his teeth were still bared and angered. He scanned Seunghyun’s wounds and gave a sharp nod.

“There were just two,” he said looking at the sky, “They weren’t planning to attack. But they don’t usually move in such small troops. Keep all of your eyes open. There might be trackers sent to scan the territory.”

“The girl was an omni-linguist, not a tracker,” Seunghyun coughed, still leaning his weight on the other alpha, “I saw her establishing a connection with the other demon.”

Maeum glared at him and sighed. “Be careful. Let’s go back. Adra!” he addressed the demon holding Seunghyun’s waist, “I want two patrols scanning the borders of the shelter at all times. If they are sending trackers, we find the goddamn trackers. Understood?”

Adra narrowed his eyes and nodded, “Yes, sir.”

The way back to the shelter was silent. Maeum sent quick glances to Seunghyun, who was more silent than normal. He knew Seunghyun hated to be beaten or defeated by the enemies. His pride was too easy to wound, his concentration too easy to shake.

“Hey,” he whispered when they took off their soldier belts and hung them on the weaponry’s wall. Seunghyun’s eyes remained looking down, stubborn as he was. “Listen to me. Go and make sure your sheltered is fine. It’ll make you feel better.”

Seunghyun’s lips flattened and he threw his war knives to the ground, hummed and walked out from the room.

Daesung’s was sleeping comfortably on his bed, his blonde hair messy and covering up his eyes. The sight pulled a small smile on Seunghyun’s lips when he entered the room. But when he looked at the other angel’s bed, he saw Seungri awake and sitting on his bed with his eyes wide and shocked.

“What happened?” he ran to the side of his bed and touched his shoulder. Seungri jumped and locked his eyes with his. But there was not fright on his face but utter confusion.

“He had yellow eyes,” Seungri whispered and looked down at his mark, “I think I saw my Alpha.”

Seunghyun tensed up and looked at the open window and the fluttering curtain. He ran out to the balcony and looked at the sky but there was nothing. No marks, no traces left. Then he looked back at where Seungri was, running a finger over his mark and he understood. He let out an angered laugh and hit the rails of the balcony with his fist. It all had been a distraction to take them out of the shelter so that demon could reach Seungri.

SooJoo and Youngbae flew for miles without stopping. Even the pain on SooJoo’s back wasn’t enough to stop them from moving without looking back. SooJoo kept trying to establish contact with Jiyong or Aigiel but none of them answered back. It wasn’t until they were about to reach the quadrant third when Jiyong joined them. He looked confused and didn’t even acknowledge them but moved only by instinct. Youngbae shared a look with SooJoo and when she nodded back, he dived down. SooJoo and Jiyong followed behind.

“Are you ok?” Youngbae asked once they found a good place to camp for the night. His hands ran through SooJoo’s feathers and her lower back. She gasped in pain when he touched the lowest fold of her right wing.

“I think the Alpha sat down on my right wing,” she murmured and retracted her wing to allow Youngbae to bandage it with the few cotton fabric wraps they had brought from their central camp at the borders of the first quarter.

“Can you reach Aigiel? Tell him we are going back but will stop here for the night,” Youngbae asked and kneeled down to start a fire. She sat on the floor and placed her extended palms on the floor, with her eyes closed she whispered something and seconds later opened them and sighed.

“I’m too exhausted. I hope it reaches him but I can’t promise anything. I’m too exhausted tonight,” She used a folded cotton wrap as a pillow and lied down on the ground, “Jiyong,” she turned her head to the right and called to the silent figure of the demon, sitting a few meters away.

He didn’t answer. His eyes reflected the reds and oranges of the fire in front of them. One of his hands remained in a fist. He was shaking.

“Jiyong.”

The demon raised his eyes and focused on his friend.

“What happened? You ran out of Youngbae’s brother house straight to a shelter protected by Alphas. If it wasn't for us you would have been caught and killed! What were you thinking?”

Beside the fire, Youngbae stopped moving and turned back to stare at the quiet figure of his friend. With a sigh he stood up, tossing the dirt from his pants and went to sit by Jiyong’s side. He rested his elbows on his knees and his hair fell over his sweaty forehead. One of his gloved hands grabbed one of Jiyong’s trembling ones and didn’t let go. It was the only way Yo