Going to attempt some happier stuff... I said attempt. I'm gonna see how this goes.
"I grabbed this," Taemin says, not all that confident. When Hongbin had called us for dinner, I had worried about what we were going to eat. I mean, with Taekwoon, would it be okay to eat bloody stuff? But I was relieved when Taemin showed that he had brought a bunch of fruits. It wasn't like demons completely couldn't eat other foods, so we all devoured the fruits and a nice salad with dressing. I knew, though, that we'd have to get Taekwoon more meat. A lot of it, since he was a Demi-Wolf. Also some blood. The food was finished quicker than I thought, and Taemin gave us bedrooms for the night. Taekwoon and I were put into the same bedroom Taekwoon had been revived in, while Taemin and Kai took the room opposite of ours, and Hyuk and Hongbin were two rooms down. The room between ours and Hongbin and Hyuk's was a small library - which I couldn't see the logic of, considering there were lots of books in this room alone. We went up to our rooms.
"Wonsik?" Taekwoon said after shutting the door. He plopped down beside me on the bed.
"Mm?" I was lying down, so Taekwoon also did so.
"Can you tell me the names of the other people? I forgot already." I smiled.
"The one that brought the food is Taemin. The one that revived you is Hongbin. The youngest one, the brown-haired boyfriend of Hongbin is Hyuk. The last one with the tanned skin is Kai."
"Those aren't their real names, are they?"
"Kai's 'real name' is Jongin. Hyuk's, apparently, is Sanghyuk. I think. That's what Hongbin said. Taemin and Hongbin use their real names."
"You're other name is Ravi, right?"
"Yeah." There was a silence before I spoke. "Do you want to be called Leo?"
"Huh? Oh. I guess it sounds better. Then can I call you Ravi?"
"Sure." I turned to my side, looked at Leo who was staring at the ceiling, and grabbed his waist and turned onto my stomach. I buried my face into the pillow next to his. I put my other arm out. It was an awkward position, until Leo maneuvered out of my grasp and pulled me on top of him. His arms then wrapped around my waist, and for a while I just stayed in his embrace for a while. I took in his scent - which I realized was somehow more vivid than before. Maybe it was because I was concentrating more this time. Leo smelled of a winter day in a forest, where all the plants are moist and had a sharp addition - like a strong lemon, or strong mint. Leo's arms moved away, and one started to slowly pat me. Er, not really. It was a gesture that moved down my back, then restarted from the top over and over in a rhythmic way. I let out a small sound of pleasure, and relished the feeling as he kept doing it. He was stroking me - that was the word, I guess, closest to it.
"I'm sleepy," I say, and roll back to my own spot. As if on cue, Taemin walks in.
"I came to say goodnight," he says. "Goodnight, then."
"Goodnight," Leo replies. I return the same word. Taemin leaves us be, and I turn off the lights with a switch by the bed. The curtains are already drawn, but slivers of silver moonlight were leaking through anyway. I turned to Leo, whose eyes were glowing gold. But he wasn't going crazy - it was his nature. Like how humans smile when their happy - it was just something that normally happened. I bet my eyes were red. I hadn't realized I had tucked away my wings, but it was all the better anyway. I closed my eyes, and drifted off into a rather peaceful sleep.
"Ravi." I wake up immediately at Leo's whisper.
"Huh?" I rub my eyes, and look around, finding a clock. It was nearly midnight - why was Leo up now? I asked him the same thing.
"I can't sleep." Leo pouts slightly, which is extremely cute.
"What do you want to do, then?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?" I joked in a hushed voice.
"No!" Leo's whisper becomes slightly louder.
"Then what?"
"I don't know. I feel like... like I need to move around a lot."
"So you have a lot of energy?"
"I guess." I get up from the bed.
"Let's go outside, then. Quietly." Leo nods, and we silently crept out of the house without waking anyone. "Are you up for running?" I say louder, since we were moderately far from the house now. No one was around - I couldn't sense any humans.
"Running?" I had already begun to sprint anyway.
"Catch me if you can!" I shout. I catch a precious smile from Leo, and he begins to chase me. He's faster, since he's both werewolf and vampire - so I force myself to pick up the pace. I wasn't exactly 100% into the idea of running, seeing as I just woke up, but I forgot any of those thoughts when I looked back at Leo. He was gaining on me - the space between us was drawing close. Fast. I ran towards an alley, then leaped out of the way last moment, faking. But Leo followed me perfectly. Wolf instincts, I guess - but I'm not some expert on them. I kept running, but was soon caught. Leo pounced and had the two of us crashing to a soft grass bed. We had run really far that we were near more nature. Leo and I began laughing - for no reason. This was fun stuff - I could see why humans had thought of something called 'tag.'
"Ravi, I want to try to shift," Leo whined. Someone was getting excited.
"It could hurt," I say with concern. "No, it will hurt." But Leo's expression doesn't change. He was a person that couldn't be stopped on something they were determined for - and I knew there wasn't a chance to convince Leo to try shifting another day. So I got up, brought him over to a nearby mini-stream and told him to stay in the glare of the moonlight. It reflected off of water, I knew that. And it grew stronger after bouncing off of water. I moved so I wouldn't cast shadows on him. "Are you sure?" I ask again.
"Yes!" Leo says, exasperated. "Tell me what to do!"
"It's going to hurt like last time," I warn him. Leo nods. "I think you need to focus. Just focus hard, close your eyes if you have to - I guess you have to imagine you're shifting. Imagine what you want to be, and hold the picture." Leo closes his eyes, and I grew silent. I didn't move, and the only sound that you could hear was the occasional rustle of trees against trees and the wind's whisper. Then the edges of Leo's body became blurry. His outline wasn't clear. Then he began to shift. As each part changed, I could tell Leo was trying hard not to scream. But eventually, he fell to the ground and screamed. But the shifting was faster after that, and soon, I had a large wolf in front of me, making sounds of pain still. The wolf had fangs, and was larger than a regular one. It had silver fur, and it's eyes were still lunar gold - and the fur around them was black. Leo has black legs - the fur is a gradient from silver to black as it's lower down on his body.
"That was good," I tell him, after he stops shaking. He gets onto his four legs, and looks at me. He barks, then speaks.
"Can you shift too? It's awkward," he says.
"Sure." How I shift is different from how Leo shifts, I think. I reach deep into myself mentally, and have reach into a dark corner. Then I channel a bit of the dark space into the center of my body, and I shift. I did the same thing, rolling my shoulders back and releasing my wings again. I tilt my head and smile when I finish. Leo barks happily like a small dog, and pounces on me again. He licks my cheek once. So much for being a dog.
"S-Stop!" I say. It tickles as he keeps doing it. I felt happy right then. "L-Leo, stop!" After a few more licks, he does cease the licking. "You're already used to it."
"Yep." Leo smiles - even as a wolf.
And it's then that I feel the dark presence, and before I can do anything, I get shoved to the side. Leo growls, and I look up - a blonde demon with green eyes looks back at me. Leo immediately dives onto him, and pins the demon to the ground with his powerful paws. But an invisible force hauls him back, tossing him to a tree.
"Leo!" I shout. I leap up, but the blonde demon grabs my collar. I look straight into his challenging stare. But I immediately regret it - there's something hypnotizing about those green eyes. My mind screams at me to look away, but I can't. Move your head, Ravi. Move. You're helpless to save Taekwoon like this. MOVE! With a great amount of willpower, I move my head away, and kick the demon in the stomach with as much force as I could manage with my feet off the ground. I fell to the floor once dropped, and run to the wolf that was still leaning against a tree.
"Leo!" I say again. Leo hauls himself onto his feet again, but staggers. He doesn't have broken bones, but I can tell he's bruised badly - and maybe even bleeding somewhere. I have no time to check when I follow Leo's gaze to the mysterious green-eyed demon. Surprisingly, he grins. And it's eerily happy.
"You're as strong as I was told," he says, keeping his grin. "You escaped the light."
"Who are you?" I demand.
"It doesn't really matter, but I guess I can tell you. The name is Ken, Ravi. And I know the wolf is you're beloved Jung Taekwoon." He says Leo's name with a mocking sweetness.
Don't look at his eyes, I mentally transmit to Leo. I know he heard me because he stares at the ground. The demon's eyes had a hypnotic effect - and I believe that's what he called 'the light.' I had barely escaped it, though. I feared I wasn't going to be able to in the future, if I ever got caught in it again.
"What do you want, then? You just want to kill us?" I say with gathered bits of confidence.
"I need to take both of you alive, unfortunately, so that won't be happening," Ken says with disappointment. "But I guess you both'll put up a great fight. That should be good enough."
"But it won't be happening!" My eyes that had been focused away perked up at the sound of Taemin's voice. I watched as Ken was shoved to the ground.
"How-" Ken didn't finish when Taemin pulled him back onto his feet.
"Leave Ravi and Taekwoon-ssi alone," Taemin says fiercely, staring straight at Ken. But for some reason, Ken didn't use the light thing - he was probably too surprised. I was a bit surprised, too, since I thought Ken would've sensed him. I didn't sense Taemin, either. And then to my surprise, Ken does as Taemin ordered. Ken begins to walk away. And before he's out of sight behind a cluster of trees, he turns back and says, "I'll come back for you two. And maybe even you, Taemin, and Kai, and Hongbin." Then he disappears into thick greenery.
"He knows our names," Taemin says with surprise.
"I think I know why. I think he works with N - he said he needed to take us alive," I say.
"It sounds like something N would do - I mean, send someone else and save his own weapon for later. And to hide someone from us - 'cause, well, you can't trust anyone." I nod.
"How did you come to us?"
"I woke up because of Kai's mumbling. He talks while sleeping - and I ended up with my ear right next to his face, so I woke. Then I sensed you guys were out here. I stayed in because I felt you guys running around in the same area, meaning you weren't being pursued or anything - and then I felt Taekwoon-ssi get moved to the side at a far distance, and felt him suddenly drop. I decided to check on you guys since it felt like he was thrown, and I saw this."
"Thank you," Leo says.
"You two need to loosen up with formality. It's awkward - and also with Hongbin and the rest," I say. Taemin nods.
"Let's go back now. I think Kai woke up, and he probably woke Hongbin and Hyuk after he found us missing." We headed back to the house.
---
After Ken had told N what had happened, he hadn't gotten mad - he had lots of time, anyway. No rush. Though he was annoyed he couldn't savor Ravi and Leo going through torture sooner, N hadn't yelled or scolded Ken. He had merely told Ken to go back later on for them.
"But next time, I want you to use your 'light' ability more effectively," N says. "It's going to be easier that way." Ken agreed to it. "How do you do it, though? How come you're the only one?" N asks with fascination.
"Oh, my mother was a witch. And because of that, she died after two days from my birth. Then my father abandoned me when angels attacked, but I hid until they left and few demons were left. I found out about my ability after nearly hypnotizing myself in a mirror. If I had, I would've been stuck in a paradox forever and eventually died from the glare growing brighter as I hypnotized myself." N hesitated.
"Could you teach me, somehow?"
"I don't think so. It's something you're born with. But because my mother was a witch, I know where a bunch of dangerous potions are stored. Could I give those to you instead?"
"Better," N says. He had earned something new - a whole storage of lethal potions. "What do they do?"
"All sorts of things," Ken says, knowing he has his hooks on N. He felt overjoyed with the fact that N, the demon master, had a great interest in him. "They can transform you into things you wouldn't have imagined!" Ken knew he was exaggerating it a little, but a little couldn't hurt. "They could poison someone with a horrible effect that would torture them for decades. Anything you want!"
This really grabbed N - he wanted Ravi and Taekwoon to suffer the most possible. "Take me there," N says. "Now." Ken smiled. And like that, N was taken to Ken's late mother's potion storage.
---------
YES! Another update! :D