One.
Two.
Three.
Jangmi counted in her head with every step she took. She was in the forest, hunting for anyone. She thirst for blood and she would go to the ends of the Earth to quench it. Until today, nobody was able to sense her, which was to her huge advantage since she could easily sneak up on her prey, and she could easily sneak off from her mentors. As much as she hated vampires, she couldn't hate her teachers. This side of her might be feral, but they still held feelings.
Her steps were quiet, as she continued counting in her head, wondering how many steps it would take to find her first victim. Her hair stood as soon as she felt a presence besides herself, she might have venom running in her veins, but it didn't mean that she had abilities of a vampire. She still had her normal sense of smell, sight and hearing. It was just that her blood was able to kill vampires instantly if they came in contact with it, which was why she would always fill her dagger with her own blood before using it to kill them.
She continued walking, trying to find the source but; "Found you." a female voice suddenly sounded in her ear and she instantly widened her eyes in consternation. She stopped her tracks and looked around her but saw nothing. She frowned as she put a barrier around herself but as soon as she heard a chuckle from her left, she threw a dagger towards that direction telepathically, earning a gasp as the source of the voice started to materialize from nothing, blood oozing out of right shoulder and her face was contorted in pain. A girl with brown hair that reached her waist, pale skin and red lips, and she looked around Jangmi's age, if not, younger.
"Found you." Jangmi repeated the girl's words and the girl gave Jangmi a glare. She took out the dagger from her shoulder with a groan and threw it to the ground.
"Hwang Jangmi." The girl called out as Jangmi used her mind to pick up the dagger and kept it in the holster that was hiding under the white cloak. It was still soaked with blood, plus she didn't even changed out yet. "Wow, I didn't expect the rumors to be true. The amount of hatred radiating from you is immense." The girl continued and Jangmi looked at her, her face not giving out any emotions.
"You clearly know me. You're a witch." Jangmi stated and the girl just smirked, her wound already healing.
"In other words, you're my princess, although you don't look like one at the moment. You look like a psychopathic killer." The girl said but Jangmi didn't even show a small hint of reaction from the girl's statement. It was supposed to insult Jangmi but Jangmi actually agreed with what the girl said. She was no princess, princesses wouldn't kill her own subjects, and well, princesses certainly wouldn't be out here with clothes covered in blood.
"What do you want from me?" Jangmi asked the girl and the girl shrugged.
"I was just curious about you since rumors were going around, saying that the Princess was a lunatic that craves to have innocent blood on her hands. You've killed innocent witches and vampires just because you felt like it, that was what everyone have been saying and I just wanted to see whether the rumors were true so I have been searching for you." The girl said and Jangmi looked into her eyes to search for anything that could doubt what she said. She saw complete sincerity but there were more to it than what the girl was leading Jangmi on, so she waited for the girl to continue.
"And... My parents have been captured by Le Creux and I heard the royal families, including the vampires, are searching for them high and low. You're searching for them too. That was the main reason I seeked out for you. I believe that you have the higher chance of finding them with how powerful you are." The girl continued after taking a deep breath, looking down on the ground and Jangmi felt her heart clenched at the girl's revelation.
She knew first-hand how the prisoners held by Le Creux were treated, and it was the main reason she had a split personality. The feral side slowly backed down and the glow in Jangmi's eyes dimmed, soon, the Jangmi who was locked in her mind, surfaced. She somehow managed to hear what the girl said when the feral Jangmi let her guards down which was rare since she always had her guards up high and the main Jangmi would've remembered nothing of what the feral Jangmi did while she was in control.
Jangmi gave the girl a sad smile before turning her back to the young witch and started walking. "Where are you going?" The girl asked and Jangmi stopped her tracks.
"Hunting. You have no idea how many creepy crawlies there are in the forest, watching my every move, especially those who craves for my power." Jangmi replied and continued walking. She heard the girl catching up to her and stopped her tracks again.
"Can I follow? I mean, I'll help you in any way I can. I may be a witch still in training but I could still be useful. Please?" The girl said, her eyes practically begging for approval. Jangmi assessed the girl's eyes, wondering if she could trust her. The girl could be working for the organization for all Jangmi knows and she could betray Jangmi and kill Jangmi on the spot.
"I won't be held resposible if you were to die. If you even do a small thing that could make me doubt you, your head will be rolling on the ground. Understood?" Jangmi said, her voice cold and the girl gulped in fear before nodding. Satisfied with her answer, Jangmi just gave a curt nod and continued moving with the girl trailing behind her.
"I'm Dahyun." The girl said but Jangmi didn't respond and simply walked, trying to sense anything abnormal. She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes when she managed to sense something, but it wasn't what she wanted. "Hwang Jangmi!" Jin called out and appeared in front of her, stopping her from walking further. Soon, he was joined with the others, including Jungkook, her parents, brother, and sister-in-law. The only people she didn't see was Jhope, Suga and Jimin.
The first-breeds were surprised to see Jangmi's eyes not glowing and all of them noticed the girl behind Jangmi. The girl seemed overwhelmed by the amount of people around them and subconsciously went nearer to Jangmi, holding onto her cloak. Jangmi glanced back to Dahyun before looking at Jungkook, who was on her right. "Just in case you guys get over yourselves, I haven't killed anyone." Jangmi said.
"Then why do I smell blood on her?" Rapmon asked, frowning.
"It's mine." Dahyun said softly, a little intimidated as she tried to hide further behind Jangmi's back, which wasn't all that successful since Jangmi was rather small herself.
"Did someone attack you?" The sorceress asked softly, looking at Dahyun warmly and Dahyun glanced at Jangmi, which went noticed by everyone. Of course, since everyone was looking at the both of them. "You attacked her?" The sorceress directed the question to Jangmi and Jangmi changed her focus to her mother.
"And if I did?" Jangmi raised an eyebrow towards her and the sorceress' eyes grew cold and distant while her father looked taken aback by Jangmi's response.
"B-b-but it was a misunderstanding. I sneaked up on her and it was on instinct." Dahyun said, trying to save the situation before it got worse.
"How did you gain control of your body again?" Suho asked, diverting the subject. Jangmi simply shrugged and turned to look at Dahyun.
"Stay with them." Jangmi said and turned her back against them.
"Where are you going?" She heard her brother asked. She didn't turned and just looked forward as she answered, "Anywhere but here. I want to present myself to my enemies."
"What?" Jungkook asked and was instantly before Jangmi's eyes, his hands on her shoulders as he bent down to meet her eyes. His eyes were glowing red as fury radiated from his scarlet pupils, there was a hint of concern and disbelief as well but fury beat out the two emotions. Jangmi removed his hands from her shoulders with her own and looked at him with no emotion.
"Are you crazy?" Jungkook scoffed and Jangmi shrugged.
"We are finding one another, so, better sooner than later right? Besides, if I do get captured by them, the sorceress will be able to track my whereabouts like how she found me here. All of you would know the location of the leader and you can kill him." She said, not really giving any rooms for arguments and expected them to just follow through. She actually thought about this plan a few years back but she decided to toughen herself up first before going with the plan.
She wanted to delay it further but since the leader clearly wanted her, she decided to push it forward. But she had her doubts, if they wanted her so bad, they could've just taken her since she have been killing his pawns, but then again, they'd rather die than bring her to him, the choice was theirs actually. Jungkook looked taken aback by what she said and a furrowed his eyebrows, clearly not agreeing to the plan.
"What about you? Have you ever thought about the things that they could do to you?" Jungkook asked and Jangmi raised her eyebrows.
"It's not what they can do to me, its what they have done to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be hunting for my predator now." She gave a lopsided smile and patted Jungkook's cheek before side-stepping him and she disappeared in a fog, leaving no scent behind.
"How did she get so powerful to the extent that she's able to do that?" The sorceress asked, her eyes not leaving the clearing fog that Jangmi left behind.
"She did it all on her own. We only trained her in physical fights and well, how to fuse with her powers more." Lay said as he threw a glance to his brothers. Suho was deep in thought, trying to process what just happened and decipher what the hell Jangmi was trying to accomplish. It was a clear goal, but to risk her life like that in front of her family, friends and mate? It was ridiculous and hard to comprehend.
The sorceress closed her eyes and tried to reach out to Jangmi's core, her powers but she was suddenly pushed back to a tree, her back hitting the trunk hard. Her mate exclaimed and rushed over to her in shock. "Yongdam-ah, what happened?" Joongki asked and the sorceress shook her head, letting out a groan as her mate helped her up. Her back aching from the impact.
"She blocked her powers. I can't track her down." She said and everyone had their eyes widened, shocked at the sorceress' words.
"Then how are we going to find her if she does get captured by them?" Jungkook asked, panicking for his mate. No matter how much she hated him, he will always love her like he never did to anyone else. He regretted every single pain that he caused Jangmi and was willing to give up his entire future just to make it up to her, if she would just let him.
He lost her once, and never will he risk losing her again, but with that being said, she just disappeared in front of him just a few minutes ago and there was nothing he could do about it. "Where's the girl?" Jin suddenly asked, looking around. All of them knew who Jin was referring to and some of them had a frown on their faces while the others seemed indifferent towards her disappearance as their head was more focused on Jangmi, one of them being Jungkook.
"Damn it." Bogum cursed, getting frustrated by the situation and soon, he disappeared, leaving even his mate behind. Yoojung didn't seemed to be affected by his action and simply waited for someone to come up with at least something to try and resolve whatever situation they were in.
"So, now the siblings and the unknown girl disappeared. Now what?" Baekhyun asked, his hands on his hips as his eyebrows met. Suho gave his younger brother a glare at how straightforward the latter was being but Baekhyun just brushed the look away and like Yoojung, waited for a plan of action. Suho turned to the sorceress, who was deep in thought as her husband had a hand on her back to support her.
"I have an idea but this would hurt you, a lot." Suho said and the sorceress looked up at Suho, hearing his words.
"An idea to what?" She asked and Suho just gave a lopsided smile.
"Destroy the organization. But not only will it affect you, but it would affect Jangmi as well. As much as Jangmi wants to deny it, the bond between mother and daughter can never be severed, especially when they're bonded in spirit. Your powers can still reach out to Jangmi, but it would hurt both of you. I'll explain it in details later, I just need your consensus to proceed with the plan." Suho said, as he waited for the sorceress's answer.
It didn't take long for her to make a decision as she nodded and Suho nodded before signalling Kai to teleport them back to the palace to properly formulate the plan.