Hidden under an invisibility spell, Taeyong sneaked towards the destination where Jisung said he had used a restriction spell on a female human. The red-haired male was almost certain that this woman was a hunter but he needed to check to be absolutely sure. He reached the place rather quickly and without making much noise.

The little clearing Jisung had described was empty but Taeyong could feel a faint trace of magic and saw parts of a magical plant laying in one spot, which meant that Jisung had said the truth and the woman must have been here.

"She broke free from the spell but how", the guardian thought and looked around, trying to pinpoint the woman's location with his ability to see and feel souls. He was a little baffled when he could only see Taeil's soul along with Jisung's and Minho's as well as the ones of Ten, Yuta and Jaehyun which were further away but not the one of the woman.

"Are they able to break spells and hide their souls now?" Taeyong mumbled to himself without realizing it. The hunters were dangerous with their knowledge about all creatures' weaknesses but they would become unstoppable if they found a way to break all magical spells and hide from even Taeyong's eyes.

Suddenly a sharp throwing knife grazed the guardian's cheek, letting him whirl around like lighting. Taeyong stared into the eyes of a tall woman with black hair and black eyes, an ordinary human you would say if she wouldn't carry a belt with knives around her hip and a gun draped over her shoulder. Now it was obvious that she was a hunter but Jisung didn't mention her having any kind of weapon, just an ear piece for communication. The thing she also had was a black crystal, which she wore around her neck.

The woman wanted to make her next move but to her misfortune Taeyong wasn't an inexperienced teen warlock like Jisung. Without even muttering a word thick, red straps made of pure magical energy wrapped themselves around the woman's ankles and wrists, restraining her from any kind of movement which made her curse.

"Not again", the woman hissed between gritted teeth and the crystal around her neck began to lightly glow. Taeyong felt a different kind of magical energy come from the black crystal. He wanted to rip it off the woman to prevent whatever the crystal would cause but he was too late. The black crystal seemed to just cancel Taeyong's restriction spell like it was created by a inexperienced magic student but not only that it also made the guardian visible again.

The woman was fast this time, she took her gun, a sniper rifle with a special kind of suppressor, off her shoulder, aimed at Taeyong and didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. The guardian barely managed to dodge the bullet but he quickly created a shield around himself to prevent to get hit by the second bullet the woman send his way. The bullet, or better the tranquilizer pin, hit the shield around Taeyong, bouncing off it.

The guardian noticed how he still couldn't see or feel the woman's soul which was scary for him since he never saw something like this before. It was like the woman was a black void.

"What do you want here?", Taeyong tried to talk to the female hunter. "Getting my job done", the woman answered in an ice cold tone, while she reloaded her rifle quickly to point it at red-haired man again.

"I don't want to hurt you. None of us do", Taeyong tried to explain to her, looking into the cold black eyes of the woman, searching for something like empathy but he only found an unexplainable emptiness along with cold hatred. There was no way she would listen to Taeyong in any way.

"Well, I do want to hurt you", the woman said and if Taeyong hadn't noticed the glowing of the black crystal around her neck, then maybe the tranquilizer pin would have hit him this time but he wasn't stupid. The guardian dashed forward when the pin left the rifle, dodging it and not giving the woman any time to reload. He yanked the gun out of her hands with magic, throwing it far away while he grabbed the black crystal with his right hand, ripping it off her neck. Within the next second the woman was under a strong restriction spell again and Taeyong brought some space between himself and the female hunter for safety measures. The woman cursed loudly but this time nothing happened and she stayed where she was. Finally Taeyong could also see her soul, which was colored in dark grey, which he deemed fitting.

Taeyong released a breath, opening his right palm to look at the black crystal which seemed to be just an ordinary crystal. The guardian wanted to inspect it further but suddenly he felt a sting in his right palm, directly where the crystal laid. At first he did nothing, not fully understanding what was going on but the second the guardian's palm began to turn pitch black, was the crystal dropped to the ground and the red-haired male jumped away from it, immediately inspecting his right hand.

Where the crystal had been laying was now a pitch black spot. The flesh felt fine, so it wasn't a burn or anything similar but what was it then? "What did just happen?", Taeyong asked out loud and looked at the female hunter. She just chuckled a little but said nothing to answer the guardian's question. "I will take you with me for further investigation", the red-haired male then stated, sounding very serious now.

"So you take prisoners to torture them now? Not just mindlessly kill them anymore?", the woman spat, her eyes now burning with this cold hatred Taeyong saw beforehand. "We don't kill or torture anyone", the guardian responded in a calm but still serious voice. "Oh yeah, right. You evolved from being blood hungry, satanic beasts to civilized creatures, who wouldn't hurt a fly", the female hunter almost growled, making Taeyong question why the woman suddenly talked so much.

"We would never hurt anybody if it's not for self defense", the guardian said, trying to get the woman to talk more. She only laughed a little. "A vampire will always thirst for blood, a kitsune will always want to cause trouble, a siren will never stop luring others into a trap", she said with a almost wicked smile on her features. "A monster will stay a monster no matter what", the woman chuckled like she was insane.

"The legacy of hunters will continue and we will hold together forever, so do you realize that my comrades will come for me? They will hunt you down and everyone you love", the woman said, looking to Taeyong thinking she had the upper hand. She was mistaken because if you shouldn't do one thing, then it is threatening Lee Taeyong's loved ones because he would do anything to keep his group, his family safe.

The woman noticed her mistake when she saw how the guardian's eyes changed from serious to just dark. "I want to see them try", the guardian said in a low, dangerous voice, making the huntress regret opening her mouth while pure fear was written all over her face.

——————————

Jisung was afraid that Minho would break down any second but the older just sat beside him, drawing patterns into the back of the warlock's right hand and occasionally playing with his fingers like a little child. You couldn't read his mimic and you couldn't tell what was going on inside his head. It scared Jisung a little but more out of worry than actually fear.

Taeil had explained everything the seven NCT members knew so far about the fire, that had somehow shallowed the whole sky clan, to Minho. It included the things Jisung had told them and what all of the seven NCT members were currently doing. Of course Taeil had also said that as soon as all the NCT members came back from their investigation he would personally bring both teenagers somewhere safe. Minho had taken this all in with an unreadable expression while he had held onto Jisung's hand.

Now the two sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, Minho concentrating on Jisung's hand while the warlock watched him even though he sometimes glanced to Taeil, who was busy preparing something with magic not even Jisung could fully understand. It seemed like he was setting up a barrier while also preparing a what seemed to be a portal but Jisung wasn't sure it looked to complex even for him.

"You are brave, Jisung", Minho mumbled, getting Jisung's attention. The warlock turned his head to his boyfriend, noticing how the cat hybrid was still focusing on playing with Jisung's hand. Jisung couldn't understand how Minho could think he was brave. He was the opposite if he was honest.

"I am not brave", the warlock answered, focusing on the snowy ground in front of his feet and lightly shook his head. "You stood your ground against the woman who probably drugged me with a stupid, little needle. If that's not brave then I don't know what", the older huffed, still focusing on Jisung's hand, not even attempting to look up.

The warlock was silent for a while. He didn't feel even remotely brave but Minho did have a point. Jisung couldn't explain any of the things he felt and did in the past few hours and honestly he wouldn't even try. Everything just felt so surreal and himself felt weird. His abilities seemingly didn't follow any known rules, letting Jisung switch from brave to afraid in spilt seconds.

"Maybe I am just weird in every aspect of the word", the warlock absentmindedly mumbled to himself while thinking about it. "Then it's a good thing", Minho answered and finally his gaze shifted from Jisung's hand to the warlock's face. Jisung looked up top, letting the dark orbs of the cat hybrid met the warlock's sky blue ones.

The blue-haired male tried to find out what Minho was really feeling at the moment once more but was still unable to do so even though the eyes were supposed to be the gateway to someone's subconscious, true intentions and overall their soul. The only thing Jisung could see clearly in the older's eyes was a strong kind of certainty. Minho meant every single word he had said, not that the warlock had doubted it but it was still a nice little surprise to see that the older didn't say it for nothing.

"Thank you, Minho-hyung", Jisung mumbled, earning a tiny smile from the older. Their eye contact broke when a cold breeze brushed past them, making Jisung squint his eyes and shiver slightly. Minho reacted to this by simply letting go of the warlock's hand and putting an arm around him to just pull him close. Jisung couldn't help but lightly smiled and snuggled into Minho like the cute little squirrel the older thought he was.

——————————

"Yuta seemingly put out the fire completely. That's good for us", Doyoung stated and you could almost hear the smile in his voice. Felix didn't even dare to look up even though that should be considered as good news. The cat hybrid only buried his face deeper into Changbin's shoulder. His head was empty and he felt emotionally drained. He still didn't know much about his current situation and his body seemingly just wanted to shut down but for now this was impossible. They needed to get somewhere safe before Felix could allow his body to just shut down.

Doyoung continued to happily chat with Kun, making some comments and overall trying to cheer up the traumatized teenagers in front of him. Felix really appreciate the older male's efforts but the ginger just felt numb, leading to him not even being able to smile lightly.

Changbin wasn't really responding to Doyoung's happy chitchat either but at least he didn't seem as emotionally dead as Felix. The cat hybrid even found a little bit of a comfort in the vampire since the older made it clear to the cat hybrid that he was right there.

Occasionally Felix would involuntarily go into his empty mind which wasn't good for him in any way. Changbin was seemingly able to notice that and would pull the ginger out of it by simply patting his hands, which were on top of the vampire's stomach. Sometimes Changbin even began to draw invisible patterns on the back of Felix's hand with his pointer finger but most of the time the vampire's fingers were buried in Kun's soft, brown fur. Still Felix found this very calming and internally thanked Changbin more than once.

Suddenly Felix felt how a rather strong, cold breeze brushed passed his side. It would have been an insignificant event when this breeze hadn't carried a very familiar scent to the ginger's good nose. The cat hybrid's head snapped up in an instant, almost scaring Doyoung. He took a deep breath through his nose with his mouth a little opened so he could make sure it really was the scent he thought he had picked up and it was.

"Minho-hyung, Jisung!", the young cat hybrid immediately called for his older brother and Jisung loudly while he looked around searching for the familiar hazelnut brown hair with the cat ears poking out of it or the dark blue mob of hair, which belonged to Jisung. He needed to see if they were okay, if they were hurt.

"Calm down, Felix", Doyoung said and put a hand on the ginger's shoulder, making him snap his head towards him. "We will get to Minho and Jisung soon enough don't worry", the male with the violet hair assured the cat hybrid, who looked at him like a distressed kitten.

Kun ran to a certain spot without hesitation even though you could see no one. Felix soon enough understood why because suddenly they ran through something which caused the ginger to immediately spot his brother standing not far away. It was simple. This little place was surrounded by an little invisible barrier.

The minute Felix locked eyes with Minho. The older jumped up from his place on the trunk of a fallen tree where he had sat with Jisung right beside him. The both of them looked unharmed.

Before Kun could completely halt, did Felix already jump down from his back, running straight into the open arms of his older brother. Almost immediately did the ginger bury his nose in the fabric of Minho's coat which covered the older's neck, taking in the familiar scent of his family.

"I am so glad you are okay", Felix could hear Minho say, sounding so relived even though the younger cat hybrid could tell that his brother was beyond mentally exhausted. "Me too", Felix responded just closing his eyes and being glad that at least Minho was okay, was still there.

"Taeil-hyung, let's get these kids home", Felix heard Doyoung say and he took this as his cue to slowly let Minho go even though he wasn't planning on fully letting go of his brother. The two cat hybrids separated from the hug but they had a nonverbal agreement about holding hands like little children.

Felix saw how the male, Doyoung had referred to as "Taeil-hyung" began to create a sort of portal. The ginger let his gaze wander a bit and noticed that Jisung, who had seemingly stood up like Minho, was currently busy with patting Changbin's back while the vampire clung onto his front like a limpet but Felix was the last one to judge him for that.

"Alright boys. Let's get you to the NCT headquarter. Please mind the loudness", Doyoung announced jokingly, earning himself a little slap on the shoulder from Taeil. The two men stood by a rather big portal which rotated slowly like any portal would. You couldn't see through it or hear anything it was just like somebody created a white, little, vertical swirling pool in midair.

The male with the violet hair gestured for the four teens to come to him. They obeyed, staying close by each other now because they just naturally gravitated to one another at the moment. Felix even noticed how Minho grabbed Jisung's hand.

"Just walk through the portal. I will follow suit so don't worry. Taeil and Kun will stay back though to wait for the rest of our team", Doyoung explained and then hushed the teens towards the portal. Felix was a little hesitated but he was dragged along because Changbin and Jisung were seemingly a little bit more confident about this whole thing.

For a short time it was too bright for Felix to let his eyes stay open but that was over as soon as his ears picked up rather loud noises. When the ginger opened his eyes again he was met with a chaos caused by literally everybody in the open space room with bookshelves and couches they just entered.

"I swear to all gods Donghyuk when you burned my plant spell book because of that stupid potion you tried to make I will skin you alive", a very angry Jaemin yelled after a running Donghyuk, or as Felix got to know him, Haechan.

"Nana we talked about the skinning part", you could hear Renjun say from his place on one of the couches, wrapped up into a back hug by none other than Lee Jeno. They looked awfully comfortable.

"Trust me skinning Donghyuk wouldn't be fun. He isn't a shifter", YangYang threw into the round, sitting on the ground, leaning onto the couch behind him. "What's that supposed to mean?", Jeno asked looking at the wind mage with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, if you skin a warlock you basically get nothing but when you skin a shifter you get scales, fur or something like that", a male with the black hair and pointy ears stated, who sat lazily on the couch behind YangYang.

To say Felix, Changbin, Jisung and Minho were a little bit overwhelmed by the chaos of this place was an understatement but they would lie if they said they didn't know it well enough.

"Listen up, children", Doyoung called using this special voice again. Everything calmed down immediately and the attention was on the male with the violet hair. "Be a little less noisy, alright? We have guests here", Doyoung said and gestured towards the four teens behind him. "Oh. Hey Minho, hey Changbin", the, for Felix unknown, male with the black hair greeted. "Hey Hendery", was the rather weak response from Minho.

Doyoung beckoned the four of them to follow him shortly after that this little conversation, getting them away from the eyes of the younger members of NCT. He lead them out of the open space room into a corridor with doors on each side. At the end of it was a big window and a staircase with plants lined up on the sides making it look really natural. It was calming in Felix opinion since it was simple but still gave off homey vibe.

Doyoung opened a door on the right side of the corridor, leading the little group into a room which looked like a living room with big windows, white curtains with blue accents, a TV and two comfortable looking couches but it also had a cozy looking bunk bed made of wood pushed to the left wall.

"You can stay here until the rest of the investigation group comes back. You can also walk around, just don't get lost because he have a rather big headquarter. I will come to get you when the rest arrives so we can catch you up on everything we found so far", Doyoung explained with a sympathetic smile on his lips.

"Am I allowed to ask where we are exactly?", Changbin asked cautiously, being the only one of the group of four, who asked questions. "Of course you are allowed to ask. We are at the NCT headquarter in the central of Yellow Wood on the fifth floor", Doyoung answered with a smile. The vampire thanked the older in a small voice.

"Just come and get me or one of the other members if you need anything", Doyoung then said with a reassuring smile before leaving the four of them, closing the door of the room behind him. Like this was his cue Changbin walked to one of the two big windows and looked out of it before fishing his phone out of his jacket's pocket.

"What are you doing, Changbin-hyung?", Jisung asked while he pulled the Lee brothers towards one of the couches. Neither Felix nor Minho protested.

"I'm letting Changkyun-hyung and Jae-hyung know that you and I are alive and currently at the NCT headquarter so they don't search the whole country for us", the vampire prince answered in a rather weak voice before he held the phone to his ear. Jisung hummed as response and made himself comfortable on the couch along with Felix and Minho.

Felix was laying on top of Minho, who had his head on Jisung's lap. The three had taken off their jackets and coats along with their shoes beforehand since it was rather warm in this room. Jisung had also draped Minho's dark blue hoodie over the backrest of the couch. He had been holding onto the piece of cloth for a while without even noticing it until now. Changbin still wore his black leather jacket along with his black boots. Being not very sensitive to temperature had it's advantages after all.

It was silent in the room before the vampire prince began to talk into his phone. "Nice to hear you too, hyung... Jisung is fine too, don't worry. He is currently with me... Yeah I know, I'm in trouble... I'm at the NCT headquarter in the center of Yellow Wood, fifth floor. I got brought here through a portal ... I also know I'm stupid and reckless, thanks for reminding me...", you could hear Changbin say into the phone and while his voice seemed almost normal at the beginning it became weaker and weaker with every word he said which of course got the attention of his three friends.

"I know... thanks, hyung and please tell the others we are fine... yeah, bye", and with that the vampire prince ended the call, looking absolutely exhausted. Felix could feel something tugging at his chest when he saw his friend like that. He got up upon, separating himself from his brother so he could walk up to Changbin and wrap the vampire up in a hug. They were all tired physically and mentally but that didn't mean they couldn't help each other.

Changbin leaned onto the ginger for support but was seemingly unable to fully return the hug and just continued to stare out of the window while he still held his phone in his hand.

"Let's just lay on the couch together and rest. Alright?", Felix suggested and Changbin weakly nodded. Felix released the older from the hug, leading him to the couch while Minho and Jisung rearranged their positions, so Jisung was leaning onto the armrest of the sofa with Minho leaning against his chest.

Felix got Changbin to take off his boots and jacket before he sat down in front of Minho and pulled the smaller male into his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around the vampire once more. Changbin just buried his face into Felix's chest, tiredly draping his arms around the younger's torso.

Nobody of the four wanted to disturb the rather comfortable silence in the room. They were all tired and too much had happened the last few hours for their brains to properly process anything, so it didn't take them long to just fall asleep.

It was a pretty deep sleep because even when Doyoung came back to get them because Taeyong and the rest of the investigation group had returned they didn't wake up and the violet-haired male didn't have it in him to wake them, so he just draped a blanket over Changbin and Felix and exited the room, telling everyone to be especially quiet now.