Jongho looks over his shoulder as he follows the narrow path and it didn't look like he was being followed. It was quite windy that night so he pulls his hood up and looks down at the map one last time before folding it back up and shoving his hands in his pocket.

It'll just be a peek. If it looks sketchy I'll leave. He tells himself.

Eventually he spots the building and slowly made his way towards the creepy looking lot. It looked like it would collapse if someone were to make the mistake of jumping inside. As he gets closer he sees light illuminating from inside indicating a candle or two were burning. He releases a shaky breath and makes his way up the small set of 4 stairs towards the front door.

He looks around from the entrance and it didn't look like there was any signs of life in there. He then tries to step inside that's when he gets stopped by some sort of invisible wall. He blinks in surprise and presses his hand against the space but it was clear someone had put a spell over the house because a wall stops his hand from going through.

"Hello?" He calls out but it was quiet.

"Jongho! Jongho! It's me!" Wooyoung practically screams in his face from the other side, tears forming in his eyes but the younger vampire obviously couldn't see nor hear him.

"Is anyone in there?" Jongho calls out again this time kicking the empty door only to be once again stopped by an invisible wall. His forehead creases with thought, if someone placed a protection spell on the place its obvious there's something inside they're trying to protect. Could Wooyoung really be in there?

He looks down and picks up a pebble by the door then he tosses it inside. The pebble goes through with no problem. So it's a specified protection barrier. And if he had to guess it was probably keeping just vampires from entering.

He sucks on his teeth then slowly backs away before turning to leave. Wooyoung wails out as he slams against the magic barrier. "No! I'm here!" He cries out in panic, tears falling fast. "Don't leave.. Jongho! Jongho.." His voice slowly falls as the vampire quickly walks off and was already disappearing past the tall trees. Wooyoung's legs gives out and falls to the floor, hands forming fists on the old chipped wood flooring.

"Please... don't leave us" He whispers, his voice broke and tears after tears fell as he cried hard. Yojin comes and sits beside him, wrapping an arm around his torso in a hug.

Jongho makes his way up the grand stairs in the palace, head swimming with many things at once. And it all came back to one thing, he needed to get inside that building.

He was so deep in thought he didn't much acknowledge the servants that greeted him as they walked past each other. He gets to his room and sees Junkyu making his bed.

The merman, who was startled at the door opening so suddenly, immediately bows at his entrance. "Welcome back. How was the travel?"

Jongho releases a shaky sigh and slumps on the loveseat closest to the door. "I.. I don't really know" He sounds confused and Junkyu also gets a look of confusion on his face.

"What happened?"

Jongho thought about telling him about the envelope and the map, he just needed to tell someone because he felt like he was losing his mind. Plus he knew Junkyu was trustworthy. He'd known him for a very long time afterall.

After giving the dark haired male a long stare he pulls out the map from his pocket and stands up. Junkyu was a bit anxious but takes the folded piece of paper once Jongho walks across the room to hand it to him.

Junkyu's confusion grew even greater once he read over the words. "Prince W-wooyoung's.. alive?" He looks back up at Jongho with hope filled eyes. "I don't understand. I-"

"It came in an envelope that was under my pillow. And the back-" He takes the paper and turns it to the back while holding it up for Junkyu to see. "-It's a map and think that's where he is"

Junkyu stares at the drawing, following the pathway with his eyes to the spot with a circle scribbled around it. He quickly puts two and two together. "Is that were you went? All by yourself? That's so dangerous. It could have been a trap or something" His brows furrow with worry. What was he thinking?

"I know I know. But I didn't really trust anyone with this info" He shrugs.

"Well.. what happened? Was he there?" He fidgets with his nails something he often did when he was nervous.

"I don't know" Jongho runs his hand through his hair and sits on his bed. "There was some kind of invisible barrier protecting the place. I'm pretty sure it keeps vampires out."

Junkyu looks down in thought for a few seconds before looking up, a different kind of strength in his gaze. "Take me there. If it only affects vampires I should be able to go in"

Jongho immediately shakes his head. "Absolutely not. It's too risky. We don't know what's even in there"

"We have to try. To bring down a magic barrier you either need another witch to counter the spell or kill the original caster. Since both options are not in the cards right now I'm your only shot" Junkyu says, his eyes pleading. If there's a chance Wooyoung is in there they needed to try.

Jongho looks at him for a few very long seconds as a smile grows on his lips. Junkyu sudden felt embarrassed. "W-what?"

"Nothing. It's just.. I've never heard you speak with this much vigor before" He comments. Junkyu just looks away unsure of how to even respond to that.

"Fine, we'll go with your plan. But if anything looks weird or off I need you to run out as quickly as you can. I can't protect you in there"

Junkyu takes a deep breath, his piercing blue eyes extra clear and penetrating. "You won't have to"

They arrive at the place and even if it was Jongho's second time seeing the building that night it didn't look any less creepy. He could sense Junkyu become more and more hesitant as they approach the place.

"You don't have to do this y'know? We could find another way to get in" He asks, his voice soft and encouraging.

Junkyu shakes his head and takes in a deep and shaky breath once they stop at the front entrance. A pitch darkness staring back at them. It was already quite dark inside to Jongho even with the small candle burning somewhere and his acute vampire vision but to Junkyu it was practically impossible to traverse the place.

He sticks his arm through the doorway and it goes right through but Jongho does the same and just as he had said it looked like some invisible wall was stopping him. He looks up at the vampire's dull grey eyes and Jongho just looks back, not saying anything. His gaze saying 'It's not too late to turn around'. Junkyu simply smiles with reassurance.

The night air was quite windy but mostly quiet. Jongho squats and pulls out the lantern from an old straw bag he grabbed at the last minute on their way out. Junkyu breaths a sigh of relief. "Nice thinking"

The vampire only smirks then turns it on before handing it over to the merman. "Be careful" He repeats for probably the nth time.

"I will" Junkyu takes it and swallows the lump in  throat before slowly walking in.

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Ffxdthoihvbkalbum of the year just dropped everyone 🫂 claim a track.. cyberpunk is mine 🧎🏾‍♀️