The wind picked up; crying, warning, howling like a pack of wolves into the night. The marble gravestones glimmered under the full moon, illuminating the whole graveyard in ghostly white.

"So I guess I underestimated you," Hyukjae's mother murmured, unnaturally long thin fingers crawling up Aera's face like tarantula's legs. Sharp red nails notched into the skin until a bloody trail rolled down her chin. "You're not as gullible and foolish as your mother used to be." She snarled. "But are you as weak? Perhaps we'll have to see."

Petrified, Aera's whole body knotted up. The hateful name had been buried somewhere deep in the back of her head. Jiah. Jungkook ended up being right. The truth had been in front of them all along, her grandmother even told her so in her dream. But she had been too stupid to see the real picture, blinded by her hatred for her half-brother and Yoongi.

"It was you all along." she gave a little whimper of pain.

"Correct." Jiah grinned crookedly, increasing the intensity of the pain.

"You... aren't human." Aera winced.

"Well now you're just being a show-off," Jiah spat out, face twisting with indignation. "I said you were smart, but that wasn't a compliment. You're still a whiny, pathetic, spoiled little brat!" With those words, she shoved Aera to the side violently and the girl fell on her right hand, the bone cracking sinisterly under the weight of her body.

Confidently, Jiah strutted towards the grave, her long red dress gliding on the ground behind her. She came to a halt just in front of the tombstone, performing a little pirouette as she spun around to look at the breathless Aera, amusement flickering in her scarlet orbs.

"What do you want?" Aera rasped, wrapping her hand around her injured arm. She was by no chance delusional enough to think that she could deal with Jiah on her own. Help was more than needed, but she was clueless if someone might even come to her rescue. Jimin was probably still angry with her, and he was the only person who could ever figure that she might be at her parents' grave. The others had no idea she was even there.

"I want you to die," Jiah simply stated in a monotonous voice. "Why won't you die already, Aera?" she shot forward to kneel before the trembling girl, eyebrows dipped slightly as if the subject made her deeply distraught. "Why? Are you that stubborn?"

"Were you the one dictating Hyukjae's actions?" Aera questioned, astounded by the clarity of her own thoughts. She was desperate, feebly clinging onto any stalling tactic her brain could produce.

"Yes I was," Jiah giggled, flattered by Aera's perturbation. "It didn't take much to control my son, he listens to everything I say anyways." She became dark. "But this isn't an interview, so stop asking me dumb questions."

Quickly, she hoisted herself up and made a circle around the bench, her feet barely touching the ground like a ballerina. Her bright red hair glowed in the dark, streaks of orange and copper mingled in the scarlet hue.

Aera's brain felt like it was being bombarded with thoughts. All this time, they had been barking up the wrong tree, going after Hyukjae, while he was merely executing orders given to him by his mother.

"You were the one who invaded my dream!" it was a shot in the dark as Aera's brain frantically connected all the dots. The fox that had appeared in her dream just before the whirlwind had emerged. She recollected Jungkook's words about demon foxes being able to penetrate and influence one's mind.

"That's true too," Jiah seemed entertained by her guesses. "It wasn't too hard considering how brittle your mental barriers are. You can't conceal and protect your true mind even if your life depended on it. I can access your thoughts and feelings right here and right now, too." She smirked.

The wind continued to violently blow around them and Aera whipped around to see a branch hitting the ground.

"While I'm glad that we girls could have a chat one-on-one, I'm afraid it must come to an end," Jiah pouted, lower lip buckling up like that of a sad child. "You have something I want and when you give it to me I'm finally going to get rid of you. For real this time."

Beaming, she extended a hand eagerly.

"Give me the crystal skull." Jiah demanded, her brows slightly raised.

Aera's jaw tightened, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. Unwittingly, her fingers clutched around the small object in the pocket of her jacket. Too afraid to leave it somewhere, she had carried it around with herself all this time ever since Yoongi gave it back to her.

"I don't know where it is." she said sharply, praying that her lie wouldn't come crashing down.

"You really expect me to believe that?" Jiah hissed before breaking into hysterical laughter that echoed through the cliffs. "You're just as weak and fragile as your mother. That's why it was so easy for me to kill her."

Another lightning split the sky in two. Aera was blind sighted, brain melting into a pool of nothingness. A rapid nausea took over her system and she tried to suppress the urge to vomit. Her limbs were shaking, her mind unable to make sense of the input of her ears. Her mother... killed. It was no accident, no. A part of Aera always knew it wasn't. No. Fear and panic ensued as the realization dawned on her, like ancient familiar knowledge she had suppressed deep within but had always carried with herself.

"Are you shocked?" Jiah sang out and gave an ugly chortle. "I know what you're probably thinking. Your father was in that car with her, right?" her voice trailed off as her red eyes flashed at Aera, the scarlet hue too glossy. "This was never part of the plan."

She sat down on the bench, not paying any attention to the scrambling Aera on the ground. She gave a long sigh, her face creasing with distress.

"I loved your father," Jiah mumbled, placing her chin on her hand. "As much as a creature like me could experience love, at least. I fell in love with him from the first time I laid my eyes on him. I had wandered this world for centuries – yeah, I know, thank God for never aging, am I right? - and I had never stumbled upon a man so mesmerizing and magnetic.

"He was kind, brave and a gentleman. The kind of man who stops you in your tracks. A captivating human being. And the way he looked at me, like I was the most beautiful woman in the world... which, let's be honest, I am," she let out a deep exhale, glazed orbs fixated somewhere in the distance and for a split second, her face softened. "It was perfect. Until that day."

Abruptly, Jiah stood up and strode towards the oak tree hunched over the gravestone. Her bright red nails dug into the crust as her face twisted with unadulterated rage.

"One day I decided I couldn't carry my secret with me anymore. It had become a terrible burden. Jiho had been the first human being I felt I could be myself with, my true self. I wanted to confide in him. Tell him what I am. I was sure he'd be understanding, that he'd accept the real me. And after he came to terms with the truth, I'd offer him the greatest gift you could ever give someone – eternal life. We'd roam the world together, never aging, always staying young, enjoying every single bit of pleasure this beautiful life had to offer. Be each other's companion for eternity. I supposed he'd be tremendously happy when he'd finally find out about all the things I could offer him."

A clap of thunder rolled across the malevolent sky.

"But then that day came, and when I told him..." Jiah's long fingers gripped at her dress, the clothing creasing around her hands. Her gaze fell to the ground, wide eyes staring down sightlessly as if she was reliving the unpleasant memory all over again. "I'd never forget the way he looked at me. Like I was an abomination. A freak. Actually, I think he couldn't even look at me, that's how revolting he found me. He was sickened by me."

She looked at the sky, chest heaving with hurt and indignation. Ashen faced, she resembled a sad porcelain doll standing under the cracking booms of the dark sky.

"So he ran from me," Jiah murmured. "And shortly after, he met that stupid bitch, your mother," Aera's anger smoldered under the surface at the mention of her mother. "He fell in love with her. Why did he fall in love with her? He said I was the one," Jiah's traumatized gaze snapped back at Aera as if she was the answer to all of her questions. "Why did you fall in love with her, Jiho?!" her blood-curdling holler cracked through the air like a thunderclap.

Briskly, she marched towards the groaning girl on the ground. She crouched down, her lethal glare piercing through Aera.

"She was your father's Protector," Jiah barked, baring her pearly white teeth. "Just like that handsome blond boy is supposed to be yours. As a matter of fact, he looks rather delicious. I wonder how he tastes like." slowly, her tongue swept over her pearly whites, causing a cold shudder to run down Aera's spine.

"But I guess I'm getting carried away," Jiah went on, still carrying that psychotic glint in her scarlet eyes. She sat down on the ground casually, folding one leg over the other, and giggled like a teenage girl at a sleepover. "So they got married, blah-blah. I followed them, observing them closely all those years. Jiho didn't want to have anything to do with me, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't the one who got to have the last say in this. It was me. And if he didn't want to return my love, then I was going to make him love me back." A cruel grin spread across Jiah's mouth.

"You bitch!" at this point, Aera's wrath exploded through her. Staying silent all this time and listening to Jiah's atrocious story made her rage flare, blanketing her mind like a thick fog.

"I made him come back to me," Jiah chimed, ignoring Aera's fierce glare. "It was troublesome, I admit, your father was very resistant when it came down to mind control. But I succeeded. I wanted to have him, to put my claim on him. So I needed something that would bind him to me for life, something that would link our existences. And what better thing there was than sharing the joy of creating a life together?" mindlessly, her hand traveled down to rub her abdomen and she sighed thoughtfully.

"No," Aera breathed out, tears stung her eyes to the point where Jiah's arrogant face became a messy blur. "You manipulated his mind!"

"For a greater good!" Jiah shot back, almost offended by Aera's indignation. "He had told me back in the day that he wanted a baby, Aera. I did it for the both of us."

"Without his consent!" Aera cried out, her face a picture of raw devastation. The thought of someone abusing another person's willpower was upsetting enough as it was, but the thought that it was her father they were talking about was literally excruciating. Her heart was shattered.

She never knew she could hate Jiah more than she already did, but now her hatred was to her wrath what gasoline was to flames. Aera was appalled by what had been done to her family. Even more, her half-brother had been brought into this world as the result of an atrocious act. That was why he seemingly lacked many fundamental human qualities – he never felt remorse or compassion for anyone. He was an abomination, half-human and half-beast. There was no love in his heart, because he wasn't born from love, but from Jiah's spite and thirst for revenge.

She remembered what her grandmother had told her word by word. "The Keeper is supposed to be someone who was born out of pure love, and not out of wedlock and adultery. The latter is tainted, going against the principles of life. Its fruit is rotten and hideous, much like the soul of the one who is the result of an act against true love. Those are the rules of the Powers."

"Whatever," Jiah completely dismissed Aera's rage as irrelevant as her gaze drifted to the side. "I thought Jiho would welcome Hyukjae in his life. I thought I would make him happy by giving him a child, a heir. But then you came," her head swung back and she narrowed her eyes at Aera, blazing with envy. "And he loved you more."

Of course he would, because he actually wanted me, Aera thought.

"Once again, I was neglected because of that stupid bitch your mother," Jiah gritted. "And then I realized. As long as she was alive, I'd always come second. I had to get her out of my way for good," she smirked. "Which wasn't exactly difficult, considering she was already ruining her health by sipping on alcohol 24/7. But I needed her to die sooner. It didn't take much planning, all I had to do was stand in front of her car and the job would be done. But..." suddenly her voice broke and she started shaking violently. "But Jiho... he wasn't supposed to get into that car with her that night!" she bellowed, wide eyes boggling. "He wasn't supposed to die with her!" clutched into fists, her hands started hitting the ground.

A couple of choked up sobs erupted through Jiah's throat as she hid her face in her hands. Despite the expressive theatrics, Aera was unsympathetic, staring down at her darkly. More than evil, this woman was mentally unstable.

"But!" Jiah sprung up suddenly, her grief seemingly evaporated. Face split by an eerie grin, her rounded eyes burned holes through Aera. "I have a plan how to finally be with my loved one."

Grabbing at the material of her dress, she stood up gracefully and tip-toed to Jiho's grave. She raised a hand and her wrist twisted clock-wise. As she executed the gesture, a tall iron gate materialized in the middle of the graveyard. The same gate Aera had seen in her dream.

"Abaddon." The words escaped her mindlessly as her breath got caught in her throat.

"I told you I hate show-offs!" Jiah spat out fiercely, glaring at her. Her gaze averted to the desolate threshold. "But you're right. I'm going to reach into the afterlife and bring your father back to where he was supposed to be all those years. By my side." She informed happily.

"You can't do that," Aera shook her head erratically, remembering what her grandmother had told her in her dream. "It goes against every law of nature!" Even if her father was brought back from the dead, would he still be the same? She flinched as her stomach twirled in an unfriendly way. This was wrong on so many levels, it was sickening.

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" Jiah frowned. "You're just a stubborn little bitch. You remind me of your mother so much. Which makes me cause you even more pain. I wanted to be done with you rather quickly, but since you're being such a pain in the ass..." she sighed as her shoulders slightly drooped. She pivoted her head to the side.

"You can come out now, darling." Jiah said in a sweet voice.

The leaves on the ground rustled and there was a subtle sound of movement somewhere behind the oak trees.

From the shadows came Yoongi.