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Changbin brushed passed the hunter before him, getting behind him within a heartbeat and knocked him out with on powerful hit on the head. The hunter stumbled forward before his legs broke away under him and he crashed onto the floor.
The young, uncrowned vampire king let a puff of air escape him before he turned and looked towards his hyungs. Changkyun send him a sort of proud smile while he quickly ripped the crystal off the hunter he had knocked out.
"Good reaction, Binnie", Baekhyun praised Changbin quietly when the older vampire rejoined his king's side. Changbin showed the older a quick smile before focusing on the door, which had been guarded by a lot of hunters. The corridor, where the group of vampires had found themselves through Taeyong's guidance over the mind link, was covered with now six knocked out hunters. The sixth one had come unexpectedly and was the one Changbin had knocked out. For the most part the older vampires of the group didn't let Changbin anywhere near any hunters which from their perspective was smart, but it slightly annoyed their uncrowned king.
Changbin shook the thoughts of the older vampires being too protective of him off and focused on the door ahead of him. According to Taeyong there were five supernaturals behind that door and a part of Changbin had the selfish hope that it were vampires from the royal palace. Of course there was no doubt that Changbin would help whoever was behind that door, but a part of him longed for the satisfaction that saving people of his own kind would bring him. He was aware of just how stupid and incredibly selfish that thought was, but he had to somehow proof himself as the next vampire king.
With Baekhyun, Changkyun and Chanyeol close by his side, Changbin walked towards the door. Meanwhile Dowoon, Sehun and BM worked on separating the hunters from their crystals and then hiding them under an illusion spell casted by BM.
Changbin stopped when he stood in front of the metallic, white door and mustered it, searching for any visible signs for protection charms or any other sort of magic. There was non, but he had to be sure before he did anything. The young vampire turned around and towards BM who - to his surprise - was already heading his way.
The guardian with the blond hair, reached out his right hand when he stood beside Changbin, letting a cyan colored magic seep from it. The magic slithered around the door frame, searching for any kind of magic in the doorframe before dripping down and testing out everything else. There seemed to be nothing there.
BM retracted his magic slowly, letting it fade into the air and disappear before he shook his head. "There is nothing there. No magic runes or charms, nothing. It's completely unguarded from a magic point of view, but there could be hunter traps I can't sense yet", BM explained to which Changbin nodded in understanding.
Just some moments ago, Byungho had warned the other leaders of hunter traps hidden within cells that were hard to notice at first over the mind link that connected them. When the older had reported that, Changbin's heart had stopped for a short moment in fear of his friends having run into one to gain that information, but Byungho had clarified that they had disabled it with magic before Changbin had had the chance ask if they were okay.
"Try opening the door with magic while continuing to search for anything that could be considered a threat to us or the ones inside. We should be sure it's save before opening the door", Changkyun spoke up, looking at BM. The guardian nodded and let his magic return to the door.
Changbin continued to watch the guardian's magic until the door creaked open, revealing a dark room. The air coming from the inside brought the scent of blood back into Changbin's nostrils, making the crown prince almost gag. A quick and tiny movement in the dark room attracted the young vampire's attention, but it was gone so quickly that he wasn't entirely sure if his eyes hadn't fooled him.
Changkyun entered the dark room along with BM while Baekhyun and Changbin followed behind them with a bit of distance. Before Changbin's eyes could adjust to the dark, BM mumbled a spell under his breath, which the young vampire recognized as a spell for generating light. Shortly after the guardian had finished mumbling the dark room lit up in the glow of cyan magic.
The cyan light revealed that the room was occupied by five rather young vampires. To Changbin's surprise did he know all of them. Huddled up in the far right corner in the back of the room cowered the barely recognizable form of Chantelle. Her usually well kept dark brown hair was a matted mess which covered half of her cowered form. There were chains around her ankles and most likely her wrists too, but the young noble vampire had hidden her arms behind her legs.
Not far from Chantelle, was another recognizable face. Ryan, who had spend the majority of Changbin's time at Miroh High at the crown prince's side, was cowering in front of the back wall, his whole form was shivering while his face was buried in his knees. Despite his hair being brown, Changbin could see a bit of dried blood in the matted mess of hair.
The other three vampires weren't in any better condition. Changbin wasn't entirely sure about their names, but he knew that he had seen them at school at some point. One of three, a girl judging by the long raven hair, was laying on her side and not moving an inch, which worried the young crown prince and made him internally pray that she wasn't dead.
Changbin felt his chest slowly constricting the longer he looked at the scene in the room. He had never been on good terms with Chantelle or Ryan and generally had never really liked any of the vampires at Miroh High save for some exceptions. There was no denying that most likely all of the young vampires present had just hung out with Changbin when they were still going to school because of his status as crown prince. They were only here because they had been unlucky enough to return to the castle of the royal vampire family a bit too fast.
Changbin gulped down his negative feelings and pushed the remaining ones into the back of his mind before he looked up at BM. The guardian had stilled his movements and let his cyan magic cover the entire room to scan every last corner to make sure it was safe for them to move around freely.
It took the guardian a moment before he gave his okay to Changbin in the form of a nod. The group of vampires then split up. Sehun remained by the door, BM was still keeping track of the room with his magic, which was noticeably by the way the cyan light seemed to faintly pulsate, while turning to the female vampire that laid unmoving next to the wall. Dowoon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun also tended to one of the prisoners each, leaving Changbin and Changkyun to take care of the remaining prisoner, which to his own surprise was Chantelle.
"Don't break the chains on your own. They have a mild, hidden enchantment on them. I think it would set off an alarm if broken carelessly", BM spoke up. Changbin turned towards the guardian for a short moment, seeing how he made the chains of the vampire girl with the black hair break on their own with his magic. The female vampire still didn't even lightly stir, letting Changbin feel a bit nauseous.
"Chang- Changbin?", a broken, female voice spoke up, letting the crown prince's head snap around to Chantelle. The female vampire had raised her head ever so lightly, letting her black eyes focus on Changbin.
The last time Changbin had seen her eyes was when he had seen her stuck to the wall with fear and anger swimming in them. At the time Changbin hadn't paid much attention to her, too focused on Seungmin who had been suffering from a sort of magic overload, which had been caused by Chantelle. He remembered how angry he had been with her, with Ryan, with basically all the vampires at Miroh High. He remember just to which lengths he would have gone to keep his friends save from her and Ryan.
He remember how she had represented one of the hardships he had to overcome.
It felt like an eternity ago.
Changbin approached the girl, squatting down before her. Her black eyes were still on him. They shimmered with unshed tears and so much hope that Changbin felt undeserving of it. He had hated Chantelle for what she had done to Seungmin and what she had been ready to do to the rest of his friends, but she didn't deserve being here.
"We'll get you out of here", the words slipped out of Changbin's mouth without the young vampire fully realizing it. Chantelle's eyes lit up for a short moment before a dam in her eyes seemed to break and she began bawling her eyes out while mumbling 'Thank you' over and over again.
At one point, BM came over to Changbin, Changkyun and Chantelle and freed the vampire girl from her chains. The girl was still crying, but a lot less noisy. There were still tears streaming down her face, but that was about it. When she was freed from her chains she mumbled a last 'Thank you' to BM which the guardian acknowledged with a smile and nod before moving on.
"Can you stand?", Changbin asked the girl, reaching a hand out for her to grab should she need help. Chantelle sniffled and faintly nodded before she attempted to stand up her own. It was a fruitless attempt since her legs buckled away under her immediately. Changbin lunged forward, catching her by wrapping an arm around her waist in the nick of time. Without asking any further questions, Changbin picked the girl up by rearranging his grip, so on arm was around her shoulders and the other under her knees.
Chantelle send a weak, appreciative smile his way before she let her head drop against his chest. Her body was basically limp in Changbin's arms which fueled a small flame in Changbin's chest. Zendala and the hunters will pay for their crimes and if it was the last thing Changbin did in his life time.
After they had freed all the prisoners in the room, BM started to create a portal. Changkyun was the one, who had picked up the vampire girl with the black hair that BM had taken care of before starting to create the magical portal. She looked sickly pale and tiny in Changkyun's arms. It let Changbin's stomach tie itself into a knot while he dearly hoped that the girl would make it.
When BM had finished the portal, Changbin lead the group of vampires through it. The young crown prince was glad when Baekhyun took it upon himself to notify the other leaders of their discovery and warned J.Seph that they would bring five very weak, young vampires with them.
The swirling of magic slowly disappeared from Changbin's vision, making room for the clearing where other creatures were waiting from him and his group. The crown prince caught a glimpse of Seungmin before his view on the redhead was taken by a tall werewolf, taking Chantelle off his arms.
He barely noticed Chantelle being taken from him and only snapped back from his trance when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. His head automatically turned to the owner of the hand on the shoulder, coming face to face with Changkyun. The older vampire showed a small empathetic smile and let a finger hover in front of his eye for a short moment. It didn't take a genius to piece together what that meant. Changbin's red glow had intensified to the point where it was visibly noticeable.
"I'll be fine," Changbin mumbled to no one in particular. "Don't lie to yourself like that, hyung," a voice seemed to echo in his mind, but it wasn't from the other leaders. It was a voice that was oddly familiar to him, but for a moment he couldn't say why until his eyes focused themselves on Seungmin who at one point had walked up to the vampire crown prince and Changkyun.
Seungmin showed the vampire a light encouraging smile and then nodded towards something behind Changbin. The crown prince followed the nonverbal signal to turn around and saw his vampire hyungs waiting for him at the portal with Wonpil, who was keeping magic stable.
Right, they had a mission to fulfill.
"Good luck," Seungmin's voice echoed in his mind, letting Changbin look back to the redhead. He made a mental note to ask Seungmin how he could transmit telepathic messages without seemingly anyone else noticing later. He quickly nodded at him before he returned to his group, ready to continue the mission.
Changbin let himself be engulfed in the magic of BM and Wonpil's portal once more before reappearing in the room, which had previously been the prison of Chantelle, Ryan and the three other young vampires.
Sehun was still stood by the room's door and BM was still keeping up the portal until everyone was back safely. Changbin didn't loose any time and made his way back to the door of the room.
"Taeyong we might-," Changbin wanted to ask the guardian with the red hair for a new destination, but was promptly interrupted by Byungho.
"We have a problem. A massive one. Zendala isn't the only magical creature on the hunters' side. Shiela, the nurse from Miroh High is helping the hunters too. We have come across her just now and we need help. I don't know how long I can keep her busy," Byungho's words were rushed, but clear enough for everyone to understand.
Changbin felt a bit of panic rise in his chest. Zendala had help this whole time. She wasn't the only magic user at the hunters' side and the one who helped her was Shiela, the nurse of Miroh High of all people.
A sudden realization was slapped into Changbin's face. Shiela was THE nurse of Miroh High. She had access to ALL the school's medical files. She had scanned Byungho and Seungmin after they were both drained of magic! The attack on the Kim brothers made so much more sense now. Zendala knew that the Kim brothers were special creatures through Shiela!
Changbin felt like the world around him was swimming until something suddenly clicked in his head and the panic began to subside. He needed to get to Byungho as fast as possible. The brunette may not have come to the same conclusion as him and that alone was dangerous enough.
"Changbin, Baekhyun, your group is the one, that can reach Byungho the fastest," Taeyong's voice seemed to pierce through Changbin's thoughts in an instant. He needed to focus and get to Byungho as fast as possible.
The vampire crown prince turned to his group. The portal was already gone and they seemed to be waiting for his command. The young royal quickly came up with a strategy to get to Byungho as fast as possible. BM was the only one who had no supernatural speed. Dowoon was the fastest among the vampires, meaning the one they could slow down a bit.
"BM get on Dowoon's back. We need to be as fast as possible," Changbin quickly instructed. The magic user nodded in understanding. "Taeyong-hyung, lead us to Byungho-hyung," the uncrowned king replied to the guardian, receiving the first directions as an answer. With that, the vampires were off.
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Byungho's shoulders grew less tense when he heard the footsteps of his group members growing more and more distant. He was glad that they had listened to him and retreated. It would be easier to just shield himself from Shiela's attacks than a whole group.
It still felt unreal to see Shiela standing before him with her silver magic directed at him with malicious intent. He had never thought that the kindhearted nurse of Miroh High had a connection to the hunters.
In his head Byungho could faintly hear Taeyong giving the vampire group directions, but he basically ignored the quiet noise and focused on the woman ahead of him. Shiela's magic was still pushing harshly against his shield, ready to overwhelm him the second he made a mistake.
The young magic user gritted his teeth lightly while pushing back just a little bit and letting his shield become a bit smaller in order to focus is magic better. A bit of weakness was creeping up Byungho's legs, but the adrenaline that was pulsing through his veins kept him upright and going.
"You can't hold that shield forever, Byungho. You will have to put more effort into it if you want to have a chance," Shiela casually commented. At the same time, she let a strong wave of magic clash against Byungho's golden shield, pushing the younger back by a few centimeters. The brunette could feel his hands cramp up a bit while his magic had flickered for a short moment. He had never realized how strong Shiela was until now.
"Stop playing weaker than you are, will you?," Shiela continued to speak. If Byungho didn't so stubbornly fight against Shiela's magic he might have been caught off guard by that question, but he wasn't fully listening to the female warlock. His attention only shifted back towards Shiela when he felt her magic getting less violent in their attacks.
Byungho looked at the female warlock, seeing nothing but a blank expression on her face. It was foreign and unreal to see her without a kind smile and warm eyes. There was no denying that he had liked Shiela. She had always been a good nurse and often helped Seungmin and Jisung when they accidentally got hurt playing pranks. Just why did she help the hunters? He couldn't understand her in that point.
Her blue eyes focused themselves onto Byungho. They may be void of emotions, but it was easy for the young magic user to see past the emotionless front she put up. The brunette had a hard time focusing only be on his magic when he could still see the kindhearted nurse in her.
"You know what I really hate about this, Byungho? Me crossing paths with you was unavoidable and bound to happen. Maybe a part of me even dreaded it because I know you and Seungmin and even Wonpil," Shiela said, her shoulders tensing up a bit. There was a bit of sadness lighting up behind her emotionless front which was only highlighted by less and less magic actively pushing against Byungho's shield.
Byungho tried his best to keep his shield as strong as before as a precaution, but he could feel how he was carefully lowering his mental guard. He didn't really know what exactly Shiela was talking about and why their meeting had been inevitable, but she had just confirmed with her words and behavior that she hadn't always been on the hunters' side while working at Miroh High, she hadn't always lied to him and his friends and family.
"Byungho, do me a favor," Shiela spoke up again. Her blue eyes were focused on Byungho's dark ones, which currently glowed in a faint golden light. Her expression was mostly unreadable, but a part of Byungho told him that she was being genuine.
"Stop hiding and fight me with all of your powers. It may be your only chance of getting away," Shiela said in a quieter voice, but Byungho could still hear her. The words were ringing in his ear and he had no clue just how much Shiela truly knew about him and his family until it hit him.
Could it have been Shiela that had informed Zendala about the Kim brothers' true species? Had she been the one to figure out that Seungmin and Wonpil were demons and Byungho an angel-demon mix? Was she the reason why Zendala had become interested in the Kim family?
A sudden push against his magical shield let Byungho snap out of his thoughts and focus back on Shiela. Her magic had begun to clash against his shield more violently that before. He couldn't properly see Shield through the swirl of silver magic that was smashing against the golden wall in front of him in increasingly stronger waves.
"Now fight me, Kim Byungho! Show me what the child of two otherworldly beings can do! Show me how mighty you can be when you aren't hiding!" Shiela challenged, her voice now having a dangerous edge to it. Byungho could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He wanted to run now. There was no reason for him to show his true self. His friends were saved and he had promised to only use his powers when they were in danger.
A silver light in the corner of his vision made Byungho's body react faster than his body could comprehend. His gigantic black wings showed themselves on their own and pushed the young male away from Shiela with one strong blow.
The woman with the silver hair, stopped her attacks only to shield herself from the massive amount of wind that was send her way. Byungho breathed heavily while his eyes remained on Shiela. His golden shield was gone, but he wasn't without protection. The black wings that had showed themselves shielded his sides and were ready to complete surround him should Shiela decided to attack him.
Shiela looked at Byungho from behind her shield with wide blue eyes, her mouth slightly agape. Panic began to flood Byungho's system when Shiela's lips curled up into a triumphant smile. She had reached her goal.
And before she could open her mouth to say another word, a black lighting came from the side and punched her in the face hard enough to send her flying to the ground. Every bit of air left Byungho's lungs when the cloaked creature, that had saved him, turned around and the unmoving winged male had to realize that it was Changbin who had rescued him.
Changbin stared down the corridor where Byungho stood, obviously seeing the huge wings that were attached to the brunette's back. The vampire wanted to open his mouth to say something until a panicked scream for Changbin's name ripped both young male's back into reality.
Only one reacted just a second too late.
Byungho had to watch in horror how the second Changbin turned towards the panicked scream for his name, he was stabbed by a hunter with a long crimson blade.
Author's Note:
... Do I have a justification for this cliffhanger? No. Was is planned? Yes.
I swear the little writer's block that formed itself over the course of last week has made writing this chapter nearly impossible (despite me having drafted it out like weeks ago) but here we are! It is shorter than I wanted it to be, but hey I reached my 3k words goal, so we're fine.
I hope you liked the chapter. Sorry it took me so long, but my creativity is up and kicking now, so the next chapters shouldn't be too hard to write.
In all honesty, I still can't predict how many chapters there will be til I'm 100% finished with this book, but we are basically in the "final part" (which a lot you probably already figured out XD).
So, yeah. I hope you have a great day, take care of yourself, eat and sleep well!
Love you lots and lots <3
-Akeminii