Seungmin ran down the corridors of the mansion as fast as he could. He had heard Wonpil's voice call for him. It probably had been his demon voice but it didn't matter to the redhead. His brother's voice had sounded faint and broken, so something must have happened to the older. You couldn't hide your true feelings when you used the demon voice after all, which made Seungmin imagine every little bad thing that could have happened to his older brother. A lot of those scenarios included the two brothers' demonic mother.

The redhead made a sharp turn to the right into another corridor. Wonpil's room wasn't far now. Third door on the right side. Seungmin slowed down until he stopped in front Wonpil's room door. For some reason he didn't know himself, he knocked on the wooden door while trying to calm down his breathing and racing thoughts. A silence followed that felt like an eternity to Seungmin. He tried to listen closely to maybe hear something like a shuffling sound or footsteps but there was nothing beside a suffocating silence, which was occasionally broken by Seungmin trying to shallow the lump in his throat.

"Who is it?", he heard his brother's voice ask from inside the room. It sounded unnaturally cold and closed off. "Seungmin", the redhead answered and didn't wait any further. He opened the door of the room and closed it behind him after he had entered. The redhead kicked off his boots and walked out of the little hallway into the main part of the room.

Now Seungmin could finally see his older brother, who sat on his bed with his gaze fixed on his lap. Normally he would greet Seungmin with a hug or a smile but this time he didn't even move a muscle when his younger brother entered the room.

Seungmin just stood there and looked at his brother. He had many suspicions on what had happened to the older but he still was unsure which one was right. Suddenly Seungmin noticed how the spell that hid Wonpil's demon horns and tail started to fade. This only happened when demons made deals, did it on purpose to show someone or when they couldn't hold the spell upright because they were injured or emotionally unstable. Seungmin figured it was the last thing so he rushed forward and hugged his brother, who immediately held onto the younger.

"What happened? Why did you call for me?", the younger demon asked worriedly after a while of just holding his older brother. Seungmin needed to know what had happened so he could do something against it. Wonpil gently released himself from the younger. Seungmin sat down beside his brother and could finally look at his face. The first thing he noticed was the red bruise on the older's left cheek.

"Mother had a little talk with me after I came back from university. It was about the things father told her", Wonpil answered and bit his lip while trying to stay calm. The older's eyes never left the ground before him. Seungmin was already angry at his mother but he also felt helpless and kind of guilty. Why couldn't he protect all people dear to him? Why wasn't he there for his brother when he needed him?

"It didn't go well, did it?" Seungmin guessed. "It was terrible", Wonpil hiccuped and brought up his hands to cover his face. The younger of the two just hugged the older again. Wonpil tried hard to not cry with trembling shoulders.

"She was not happy with anything of what father told her so the first thing she did was slap me and scream into my face that I am a disgrace to this family because I'm in a group of non magic users. She made it very clear that she ... that she expected more from her first born son", the older continued with a unsteady voice. Seungmin gritted his teeth when he heard that and tightened his hold on his older brother, who fought against the tears that were slowly building themselves up in his eyes.

Wonpil had been in a group called Day6 since he was eighteen years old. The group was founded by Sungjin, Wonpil's werewolf friend, in their time at Miroh High. The other members of the group were Jae, Dowoon and Younghyun.

Being in a group like Day6 meant that you had people that would back you up and protect you whenever you needed it. Every group member had the group's symbol somewhere on their body. When the group had a bond that was strong enough the other members would feel if one of their own was in trouble.

Wonpil had hidden the fact that he was in a group from his mother for the reason that revealed itself today. Lilith had a hatred towards creatures that were unable to use magic because she thought they were even weaker than an average warlock and therefore forbid her sons to ever spend time with nonmagical creatures. Seungmin got lucky with having Jisung, a warlock, as a friend but Wonpil always had to be careful when he met his friends, knowing that he would be in trouble if his mother ever found out about them.

Seungmin had always hoped that his mother would never find out that all of Wonpil's close friends were non magical creatures but it was bound to happen. Lilith wasn't that stupid after all, despite her disinterest in her sons lives. But that didn't change the fact that Seungmin was furious. He tried to not show it for the sake of calming his brother down and mostly succeeded doing so.

"You know she calmed down a little after that. I thought the worst part was over but then, but then, she told me that I can't be part of the group anymore because not only is Day6 a group with no magic users except me but according to her also consists of three incompetent vampires and a weak werewolf", Wonpil quietly started to cry. He took his hands away from his face while sniffling and rolled up the right sleeve of his grey shirt.

The older redhead showed the younger his Day6 symbol, which was on his wrist and now had two scars over it. Seungmin stared at the crossed out symbol and only looked up to Wonpil's face again when some of the older's tears dropped down onto the carefully drawn circles, which had the number 6 in the middle.

"I am no longer a member of Day6. She canceled my symbol. I'm, I'm not allowed to see anyone of my friends ever again", the older cried with tears streaming down his cheeks uncontrollably. "She even took away my phone so I can't communicate with them directly and casted the tower curse over me, so I can't sneak out of the mansion even if I tried. I am not even allowed to go to university anymore because I could meet them there", Wonpil sobbed but in the end just yelled in desperation.

If someone else would have been there with the two demon brothers, Seungmin would have let that person take care of Wonpil, so he could waltz over to Lilith's office and scream right into her face. The young demon was beyond angry at his mother and would love to punch her in the face. This woman cursed her own son, so he would stay put. Who wouldn't want to punch someone like that? But that was easier said than done. Lilith wasn't the queen of hell for nothing.

Seungmin held his brother close for he didn't know how long while he thought about many ways how he could make his mother pay for this. It slowly became dark outside, so Seungmin figured he should better tell Byungho and Jisung that he wasn't coming to his room anytime soon with the help of his demon voice. The young demon felt sorry for his best friend because he more or less promised him an explanation for a lot of things but right now taking care of his older brother was his number one priority.

Wonpil stoped crying at some point and was close to simply passing out because of exhaustion. Seungmin carefully detached himself from his brother to stand up to get a damp towel from the older's bathroom so he could clean the other demon's face. When he came back into the main room and saw Wonpil sitting on his bed with his empty eyes fixed on the ground again, his demon horns and tail still visible Seungmin got the feeling that his heart slowly shattered in his chest. His older brother, who normally would joke around, smile wide and be his weird but adorable self just looked absolutely exhausted and broken.

The younger demon went up to Wonpil, gently made him raise his head a little by lifting his chin and began to carefully whip off the tear stains from his cheeks. Seungmin was especially careful when he whipped away the tear stains from Wonpil's left cheek so he wouldn't hurt the older. The younger demon didn't look directly into Wonpil's eyes because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to stay calm when he saw how utterly broken and lifeless they were at the moment.

Seungmin swore to himself that his mother would pay for this one way or another. It didn't matter if he was scared of her or not. If she was the queen of hell or not. She would pay for this and if it took Seungmin years to make a plan for it.

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Byungho and Jisung waited a long time in Seungmin's room without having much of a conversation. The silence was suffocating for Jisung. Not only were the warlock's thought running miles but also Byungho's expression made him want to just scream his lungs out. The brown-haired male looked deep in thought as well as a little irritated and worried. It was just an expression that made Jisung's stomach twist.

"Okay I can't stand this anymore", Jisung groaned and got up from his place on the armchair, which was located between the big window of the room and a bookshelf. Byungho was ripped out of his thoughts by the other's sudden movement and looked at Jisung with a questioning look.

"What's going on?" Jisung asked and he sounded a little desperate. "I don't understand anything that is going on right now. Seungmin told me he wanted to talk about something and explain things to me I apparently have the right to know about but he just ran off without explaining anything. And what's up with your family that Seungmin and you act so strange? And why the hell did you two never even mention that you live in a damn mansion?!" the warlock ranted while walking up and down in the room like a tiger in a cage.

Byungho seemed absolutely calm and just followed Jisung with his eyes, waiting for the warlock to get a hold of himself again. The blue-haired male stopped his nervous up-and-down-walking, ruffled through his dark blue hair in frustration and looked at older male who calmly sat on Seungmin's bed.

"Please, just say something", Jisung whined. He needed someone to talk to him before he was going nuts here. Byungho exhaled and patted the spot on beside him. Jisung walked over to the older male and sat down beside him, hoping to get some answers form the brunette.

"I don't know what Seungmin wants to tell you exactly but I can explain why Seungmin and I acted so strange before we entered the mansion", Byungho said with a rather serious tone. Jisung nodded so the older would continue. The brown-haired male exhaled again.

"You could call our family, a patchwork family but way more complicated. You maybe already know that Seungmin and I are half brothers. Samuel is also our half brother but I think that's obvious he looks more like his mother than us. My father was five sons as far as I'm concerned. Except Wonpil and Seungmin we all have the same father but a different mother", Byungho began to explain. Jisung needed to wrap his head around that for a second. He knew about Wonpil, Seungmin's older brother since the redhead had mentioned him a lot over the years of them being friends and he knew about Samuel ever since the younger was at Miroh High and of course he knew Byungho but that there was another Kim brother was new to him but the more mind blowing thing was that Mr. Kim had children with four different women.

"Wow, so your father had children with four different women?", Jisung asked and looked like he didn't really believe it. Byungho nodded. "That's harsh", the warlock commented. He couldn't imagine how awkward that must be for Seungmin and Byungho. "I didn't say the best thing yet", the older responded sarcastically.

"Seungmin probably told you plenty of stories involving his older brother Wonpil", he questioned and Jisung nodded in confirmation. "Wonpil and Seungmin's mother was our father's first wife but he divorced her when Seungmin was four. I don't know why exactly I just know that he had already cheated on Seungmin's and Wonpil's mother more than one time at that point. Shortly after father divorced Seungmin's mother he married mine. I was six at that time. My mother moved in with her now husband and that was how I began living here but my father is an ass that's why Seungmin's and Wonpil's mother still lives here", Byungho continued.

Jisung grimaced. This sounded even worse what he imagined. "By all gods how did nobody get killed yet?", he asked. Byungho shrugged his shoulders. "I have no clue. Father made it work but I am still not finished", the older added. The warlock looked at the older like he grew a second head, which seemed to amuse Byungho a little bit since he let out a little chuckle. Still Jisung asked himself what could be worse than what he already heard.

"I was getting along with Wonpil and Seungmin even though it was kind of awkward between us at first. We eventually warmed up to each other and behaved like brothers even when Seungmin and Wonpil's mother tried her best to keep her two sons away from me because naturally she really disliked my mother and me", Byungho told Jisung and the younger nodded in understanding.

"When I was eleven our father came home from a business trip with another woman and a boy just a year younger than me. Father introduced the two to us as his new girlfriend Athea and their son Minseok. On a side note we call Minseok Woosu because he doesn't like his birth name very much", Byungho continued and Jisung gasped. "I am sorry but what his your father for a player and ass?", the warlock scoffed, grimacing. Byungho lightly chuckled again.

"How did your mother react to that? I mean she ... she is your father's wife", Jisung questioned carefully, hoping to not be too curious. Byungho just sadly smiled. "My mother is a very kind woman. Sometimes too kind if I'm honest. She welcomed Athea and Woosu warmly even though Athea was never a person you easily got along with. Often I think that my father really doesn't deserve a wife like that in any way", the older answered, his eyes darkening a little at the last sentence.

"Totally. If I were your mother I would have ditched him the second I knew he had other women beside me", Jisung agreed while nodding funnily to cheer Byungho up a little. It worked since the older chuckled and smiled after hearing that, which made Jisung feel better too. Byungho and Seungmin's family life sounded chaotic and kind of stressful but he was glad they had each other to lean on.

Despite that the warlock also felt kind of honored that Byungho told him his family's story and felt glad that he could distract himself a little bit while also making sure Byungho didn't feel too gloomy while talking.

"Athea wasn't very happy with the idea of living together with two other women of my father and their children so she kept Woosu always near her. Wonpil, Seungmin tried to play with him a couple of times but his mother would always take Woosu somewhere else. When I was sixteen Woosu rebelled against his mother and spend a lot of time with me. At some point his mother accepted this because she liked my mother and me more or less. She just despises Seungmin's and Wonpil's mother so she still tries to keep Woosu away from them but that doesn't always work.", the older continued to explain.

Jisung just let sink that all in for a short second, remembering that until now Byungho had barely talked about Samuel. "And when did Samuel and his mother join the family?", the younger questioned while remembering the black-haired woman, who had opened the door for them. Was she Samuel's mother? They did look kind of similar after all.

"One week after this school year started. Father introduced them after coming home from a business trip", Byungho answered. The warlock blinked in surprise. Sure Samuel appeared very suddenly but he had joined the family only a few weeks ago? He seemed to be used to being around Byungho and Seungmin like he had known them all his life.

"I thought Samuel's sudden appearance was suspicious but he seemed to feel so comfortable being around you and Seungmin at school I really believed you were brothers, who have been living together their whole lives after a while", Jisung admitted and rubbed the back of his neck. Byungho laughed lightly after hearing that.

"Yeah, I think Seungmin is the one to thank for that. He sat Wonpil, Woosu, Samuel, himself and me in one room and well made us all feel like ordinary brothers. Samuel is also a pretty sweet and open but very innocent kid, so it felt kind of natural to look after him", Byungho explained with a smile on his lips. Jisung could only agree even though he didn't know Samuel that well. The young siren just had something that made you want to look out for him.

"Sounds nice", Jisung commented while nodding a little. Byungho wanted to agree but then he stopped and in the next moment Jisung heard Seungmin's voice in his head just like at the sleepover when Seungmin said they would talk. What kind of spell even was that?

"I am sorry, I won't come to you two any time soon", Seungmin said sounding rather gloomy and exhausted but their was a spark of anger in his voice, that Jisung almost missed. The warlock was worried about the redhead and a glance to Byungho told him that the brunette was just as concerned. Something really bad must have happened to get Seungmin to sound like this.

Byungho got up from the bed. "Are we going to search for him?", Jisung asked and immediately was on his feet. "Yeah and I know the first place where we will look for him", Byungho responded and went to the door with Jisung following behind him.