┏ ✦❘ ༻ 𝓗𝖞𝖚𝖓𝖏𝖎𝖓'𝖘 𝓟𝓞𝓥 ༺ ❘✦ ┓

"I'm looking for someone."

A polaroid picture is planted down on a wooden desk, slid across and handed over to the male before him, standing idly with an unsuspecting grimace. Hyunjin raises a brow, studying him briefly, biting back a careful remark as the polaroid is taken between the male's finger tips, studying the person within the picture.

"Never seen him." The response, dry and uncooperative, caused Hyunjin to sigh, reaching for the picture, snatching it out of the man's hands.

"Thanks for your help," Hyunjin replies, tucking the picture back into his pocket, zipping it shut, turning on his heel as he prepares to make his leave out of the desolate shop, but the man's voice stops him.

"Though, I've heard rumors. Blonde, freckled. . . a vampire–?"

Hyunjin snaps his head around, narrowing his eyes, watching as a smirk folds onto the male's lips.

"Interested?" He asks, chewing on the interior of his cheek, tapping his fingers against the wooden desktop. Hyunjin raises a brow, straightening his leather jacket before offering a nod.

"What do you know?"

"What do you want to know?"

Hyunjin sighs, taking a few steps closer, folding his arms against his chest. He had to be careful, keeping the sense of his true self a secret, trying to buy his way into information he shouldn't be privy to. The man, elderly and slightly arrogant, by the seems of it, held more knowledge than he was leading on. Hyunjin wasn't entirely in the mood for games, biting back the bitter attitude that Soobin had warned him about, choosing his next words carefully.

"I need his name, at least. There's someone looking for him, someone not necessarily as nice as me, and I'd like to warn him."

The male nods, slowly sitting down in the chair that had been behind him, getting comfortable with a slight exhale. Hyunjin watched and waited, biting his tongue, trying to keep his irritation at bay.

"You're looking for blondie, huh?" He says, gesturing to the board that was settled to his left, laden with missing posters and news articles, all from mysterious animal attacks and people that had vanished, without a trace of where they could've gone. "He's the one behind all these attacks. You really think that someone like me is going to give you the information that you want?"

"A person like you?" Hyunjin counters, his tone low with conviction. "I know who you are, Mr. Jeon. I'm not an idiot. I came here for information, and if you're not going to give it to me, then I'll move on and pay the next person who will."

Jeon sits, his smile faltering slightly as he folds his hands together on his lap. He studies Hyunjin, almost too well, smiling wider before he speaks. "You talk a big game."

"Because I'm not fucking around–" Hyunjin nearly sneers, leaning closer. "I will get the information I want, one way or another. Stop wasting my time and tell me what you know or don't."

"How much are you willing to pay?" Jeon asks, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "I can tell you what you want to know, but it costs. . . a price."

Hyunjin wanted to roll his eyes and walk away, but he was desperate, and he was sure that Jeon picked up on that.

"I'll give you whatever you want," Hyunjin says quietly, pressing a palm against the desk, trying to steady himself. "Start talking."

Jeon, seemingly pleased, nods his head, leaning back into his chair. "Alright. His name is Lee Felix. The hunters around here have been tracking him down for decades, but more appropriately in this last year. He seems. . . uncontrollable. His thirst belays that of any other vampire we've seen before, as his hunger never seems completely satisfied. He's around this city, somewhere. . . just don't know where."

"So, he's lurking?" Hyunjin asks, raising a brow.

"Like a shark," Jeon replies, glancing down as he reaches for one of his desk drawers, pulling it open. Hyunjin watches him closely, taking in the sounds of the area around him, listening closely for any attempt of bad intentions, but to his surprise, Jeon lifts up a yellow folder, marked with a red stamp across the top.

"Here," Jeon begins, passing it over. "This is everything we know about the coven of vampires within the area. They're mostly unheard of, as we haven't seen them personally for a long time. Since the coalition of hunters has decreased over the last few years, we haven't been able to keep our eyes on their movements, nor to where they reside now. We know they're out there. . . just can't seem to pinpoint where."

"Interesting," Hyunjin replies, taking the folder lightly between his fingers, feeling the heft of the contents inside. "What makes you think Felix is just running rampant around these woods? If he's alone, surely he wouldn't be around a coven, right?"

"Not necessarily," Jeon says, narrowing his gaze. "Why would you think that?"

Hyunjin keeps his composure, trying to shrug it off, belaying his true knowledge into the vampiric coven within the city. He just couldn't tell if Jeon knew he was a werewolf or not, but he wasn't about to let him find out either.

"Makes sense, I suppose. Rogues don't necessarily mingle with others very nicely."

"Like a pack of wolves, huh?"

Hyunjin glances up, finding a glimmer of something dangerous lurking in Jeon's hues. He was testing him, treading the waters, almost unsure of if he was on the edge of discovering something or nothing at all.

"What's your point?" Hyunjin asks, eyeing down Jeon with a narrowed glimmer, hoping to steer the conversation elsewhere.

"You think I didn't know?" Jeon questions, leaning forward. "Your necklace. Not exactly subtle."

Hyunjin raises a brow, not bothering to glance down at the necklace in question, which just so happened to be a piece of moonstone wrapped in a spooled silver metal, dangling from his neck with a few silver beads towards the bottom. Not everyone with an untrained eye could make out such an artifact, but Jeon knew more than Hyunjin realized, and that worried him.

Moonstone, a rare white stone with an almost pearlescent radiance surrounding it, had been the mark of Soobin and Yeonjun's pack for as long as Hyunjin can remember. It was a subtle thing, something that harnessed enough energy to calm the storm from within, almost as if it locked away the curse that Hyunjin now saw himself entangled with.

It was a calming agent, something that could lessen the effects of a gnawing feeling to just turn, to ravage someone and seek full animalistic ability, and somehow, the moonstone did just enough to quell that. Jeon, apparently, had been more knowledgeable than Hyunjin realized, causing him to take a half-step back, but not yet removing his gaze. He wasn't scared of a man like Jeon, one who was rumored to run a league of cultists and hunters on this part of the town where another larger-named male ran the inner city leagues, tracking down anything even the slightest bit mythical. Whoever he was, the man within the city, Hyunjin didn't know him. But he knew better than to test him.

"Well," Jeon begins, tapping his fingers against his desk. "You really thought of me to be a fool? To think that I'd simply give you, of all people, the information you seek about this rogue vampire?"

"You did, did you not?"

"Not entirely. I know more; all of us hunters know enough to keep tabs on every single occult within this city. And if you think for more than a second that we'll bend the knee to the likes of any of you–" he leans forward, his tone dropping. "You're wrong."

"What're you going to do about it?" Hyunjin threatens back, his voice traveling in a sneer. "If you're so big and tough, Jeon, be a man and prove it."

"Hyunjin, that's enough. I told you not to behave like this."

Hyunjin pauses, his fingers slightly curling into the wooden top of the desk before he leans further away, biting his tongue. Fucking Soobin.

"Yeah–? And what of it Soobin? He's going to give me everything that I want, right here; right now."

"Get out." Soobin's voice was a clear direction, his tone not leaving much room for argument. "He knows something about us that we have yet to comprehend. I'm not about to risk the safety of my pack just because you're after some rogue vampire. Get out, Hyunjin. That's an order."

With a subtle breath, Hyunjin relents, tossing the folder back on to the desk. "You know, Jeon, you can sit here and hide within the depth of this nasty, old antique shop all you want. Just because you seem to know so much doesn't really make you all that high and mighty."

He raises a brow at Hyunjin, and all the wolf can do is smirk. "I can smell a rat before I see one."

Jeon stood out of his chair quickly, fists bundled at his sides, face tight with subdued anger, almost as if he was thinking of acting out, yet hesitated. Hyunjin grinned, a knowing smirk that seemed to belay all of the power he still held.

"You may be a vampire hunter, Jeon, but you're never a wolf hunter. Remember that," Hyunjin says, turning on his heel as he strode for the front door of the small, run-down shop, walking past shelves and rusted items laid in different parts of the floor.

"I will send my hunters after you!"

"Bite me." Hyunjin locks eyes with Jeon, a flicker of gold shimmering beneath the facade of his usual umber hues. "I'm not scared of humans like you, Jeon. You're like a scared little girl. I'd love to see you try something with me–"

"Hyunjin–! I mean it."

"Come find me if you want to know what it's like to have your heart ripped from your chest," Hyunjin murmurs, pushing the door open and leaving without another word.

The night ripped past Hyunjin like a blur, cast with a cold breeze that wrapped around him like an unwanted hug. The Earth smelled of previous rain, rich and deep, masked over with the unforgettable musk of raw oak, splitting from the trees as they rooted deeper into the ground, soaking in the moisture from the depths of the turf. His eyes glanced around the immediate area, scanning the depths of the surrounding forest as he stood in the middle of the parking lot, just miles away from any polluted city air, leaving him to soak in every single breath he could, feeling more at home when isolated, just like this.

He had a pack to return to, of course, but there was something about being alone, only worrying about himself with little chaos to bother him with. He loved his packmates, though small in numbers, yet close nonetheless. But solitude, just like this, clinging to the moon's howling crescent, felt something similar to safe.

"Hyunjin," Soobin calls from the right, lingering near a tall oak. "Let's head home. Yeonjun is waiting, and you and I both know better than to make him wait."

Hyunjin sighs, nodding his head as he relents, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Yeah, yeah, fine. Just don't expect me to be overly thrilled."

Soobin nods, the glimmer of his own moonstone necklace radiating brightly, almost as if reacting to being within the proximity of Hyunjin's, binding them closer together. Hyunjin walked tiredly, keeping his pace even, listening to the shift of rocks and dead leaves crunch beneath each press of their shoes, breaking up the quiet that the forest usually wrought.

"Do you think he'll follow us?" Hyunjin asks softly, to which Soobin raises a brow, his raven hair hanging loosely over his eyes.

"No," Soobin says, looking forward, focusing on what was ahead. "If I catch wind of him, I'll rip his head clean off. He knows that."

"Do you think he knows where we live?"

"You're quite trivial for someone who was also threatening this same man just minutes ago," Soobin remarks, offering the trace of a smirk that belayed his inner amusement. Hyunjin huffed, folding his arms against his chest, locks of his brunette hair becoming tousled from the passing breeze.

"I'm not scared of that guy," Hyunjin attests, though his expression slightly falters. "I just worry about him. I don't know why, but ever since that night, I can't help but feel concerned about what has happened since."

"I'm sure he's alone for one reason or another, Hyunjin," Sobbin assures, leaning closer slightly. Hyunjin raises a brow, glancing over at the taller male, rolling his eyes a moment later.

"Vampires aren't the lonely ones. You know that."

"Yeah, I do know that," Soobin replies, keeping his tone light. "However, everyone has their reasons. We don't know why his coven shunned him, but he's out here alone purposely. Or, maybe he just wasn't interested in living amongst a group."

"I need to know," Hyunjin replies, gritting his teeth. "It's driving me insane."

"Relax," Soobin soothes, reaching a hand over, settling his palm over Hyunjin's shoulder. "You're tense. This vampire. . . they have a hold over you, don't they?"

Hyunjin wants to admit it outright, but the fact in admitting that he was even remotely attached to a vampire was beyond breaking the rules. Werewolves and vampires didn't just bond together like that; this was something else. It was primal, almost as if every fiber of Hyunjin's being didn't seem to agree with the neurons firing off within his mind. He was hungry, but not in the way one craves a meal, rather needing to feed off of the energy that came from Felix, looking into the eyes that once pleaded for help, saved from a trap of ravenous hunters that marked him as prey.

Felix, from what Hyunjin knew, had been labeled as The Ripper. According to local rumors that Hyunjin had tracked down days before his present situation, listening to murmurs that a blonde male ravaged the bodies of those who were on death row with needles in their arms, clinging to a faint sense of life as they teetered the thinnest line between life and death. He took the helpless, the homeless, draining the soul from their eyes and eating their heart, killing without the faintest trickle of remorse. But, Hyunjin didn't see that.

Felix, in all of his shy, pained grace, with his blonde hair and freckled cheeks, the glimmering green hue that danced in his eyes amongst a cloud of red; he didn't seem to be the one they claimed for him to be. He seemed innocent, too kind for his own good, slaughtered with a reputation that belayed the truth of who he truly was.

That was the thing about rumors, though. They were dangerous, a leap into an unknown reality, clouding one's judgment and dirtying the name of someone who could've been completely innocent. Hyunjin had to find out for himself, to unveil the truth and peel back the layers of scrutiny that the underworld murmurs had conjured for themselves.

Lee Felix, Hyunjin thinks to himself solemnly, letting his jaw relax, the tension drifting from his shoulders, eyes cast down at the path before him as he walks idly along. Why were you there that night?

"You're deep in thought," Soobin says softly, his hand pulling away. "I won't pry, Hyunjin, but you know better than to hide behind the idea that you're okay. This is hard, I won't lie to you. The fact that you could be. . . bound to someone like him–"

"I know what it means." Hyunjin paused, his words defiant, yet calm, brows slightly furrowing before he began walking again, listening as Soobin followed him. "I'm not a child anymore, Soobin. I'm not just a pup. I can handle this more than you realize."

"I never said you were incapable," Soobin retorts. "I've been glued into this world for far longer than you have. You're the newest addition to our pack, someone who arrived basically at our doorstep, begging for help just before the moon engulfed you with its power. I've watched you grow, practically raised you, and you're going to sit here and pretend that I'm the one, out of everyone else, who would judge you?"

Hyunjin shakes his head, threading a careful hand through the locks of his long hair. "No, no– I just–"

"Listen to me," Soobin interjects calmly, walking by Hyunjin's right side. "Yeonjun might be a bit more. . . impulsive in comparison to me or Minho, maybe even Jisung. But he would understand. A bond isn't something you choose, Hyunjin. It chooses you, regardless of how prepared you are for it to happen. For some reason, it chose you, and it chose Felix."

"But in the centuries that werewolves and vampires have been around, since when have you ever heard of a werewolf and a vampire bonding to completion?" Hyunjin asks, raising his gaze, watching as Soobin's soft expression falters slightly, replaced by something muffled by concern.

"Never," he replies quietly. "But what can we do? We can't run from it. Even if you try to deny it, it will eat you alive, Hyunjin. It probably already is!"

"I feel like I want to tear my skin off," Hyunjin practically growls, gritting his teeth again. "But I don't know where he is. I need to talk to him about that night. I need to know why he was there, why he was trapped, why he was marked by the hunters."

"I think we all need that answer, especially if the hunters are growing to be more prevalent than they had before." Soobin takes a breath, his eyes scanning the forest around them before speaking again, lowering his tone. "We're almost home. I'll bring this up to Yeonjun when we know more. For now, we were just out scouting, making sure that our home is still safe."

"Don't you two have a marriage bond?" Hyunjin asks, watching as Soobin nods with the faint curls of a smile. "So. . . can't he hear your thoughts from a mile away? Can't he feel what you feel?"

"Partially," Soobin assures, keeping quiet. "I won't keep it from him for long, and even when I tell him, he'll understand. Just. . . stay calm, Hyunjin. Head to your room, isolate yourself for the night, let the evening pass. The moon is weighing on you and it's amplifying everything you feel."

"I'll just go to sleep at this rate," Hyunjin drawls, earning a chuckle from Soobin as he lightly pats Hyunjin's lower back, nodding his head.

"That'll do. Let's just go home, relax, enjoy some of Minho's cooking–"

Wait.

Hyunjin freezes. His entire body tenses, eyes sharpening as the wide perimeter of the woods suddenly narrows down to a single feeling, a single murmur, a single scent.

"Hyunjin–?" Soobin asks, pausing in his steps, turning to glance at the younger wolf with an intrigue that teeters on the edge of caution.

Hyunjin swiveled his head, rotating in his spot, searching through the dense thicket of trees, watching as the flora around him began to blur into a sea of greens and browns, each sound and each pass of wind amplifying every single thing he began to feel. But, as suddenly as the feeling came, it dissipated again, but not without leaving the lingering scent of something familiar, or rather someone familiar.

"Hyunjin–" Soobin warns, reaching a hand out. "Don't–"

But Soobin was too late in his warnings, watching as the cusp of the moon cast a light down over Hyunjin's skin, a sudden gleam from his moonstone shimmering brightly, signifying an imminent change that couldn't be avoided. It was practiced and familiar, feeling as his posture shifted, his eyes narrowing, hands shifting into the familiar curl of paws as the hair that once adorned his head blurred into an array of greys and white. Layers of delicate fur now surround him, the gleam of gold in his eyes now practically glowing with life, the necklace that once controlled his inner sense of peace humming with an aura that controlled the pace of this transition, giving way to a form that was larger than a grey wolf itself.

Primal instincts run rampant, guiding him to hone in on the one scent that had slowly begun to drive him crazy. He could vaguely hear the sounds of Soobin calling after him, but nothing could prevent this interaction anymore. He needed to see Felix. He needed to find him, to speak to him, to figure out why that night led to all of this. He needed to know more, to seek the answers to the questions that plagued him for more than just a few months.

Strong legs and paws carried him through the thick brush of a dense forest, storming past trees and bushes, traveling over stone and branches, curving his body with practiced ease, trailing himself further and further from home. The scent was growing stronger, almost insatiable in its familiarity, that is, until he saw him.

This wasn't Felix. Not at all. But, it was then that the scent of a vampire traveled and mingled with the scent of a human, one that had been shrouded in a mask of protection from that of whoever had bonded to him.

Hyunjin pauses his trek, feeling the form give way, slowly guiding him back to his normal, human state. The fur melted away, eyes hazing back over to a neutral umber color, hair falling back down his shoulders with ease.

Peering around a tree, Hyunjin watched as the two strangers in question walked in a casual line within the woods, far from the territory where vampires usually reigned supreme. He was curious, overly curious at that, wondering if these two knew anything about Felix, or even if they had heard anything in particular.

He studies them closer, watching as the more human of the two, slightly shorter with waves of black hair, wore a black hoodie and ripped jeans, adorning a smile that was overly jovial, speaking in pitched tones about something he seemed passionate about. The other, the vampire by the looks of it, was just watching him with a smile, hands tucked away in the pockets of his leather jacket, simply letting this human merely exist around him.

But, Hyunjin knew that look all too well. They were bonded, just in the way he had been bound to Felix. The same scent of protection, the same level of familiarity, the same essence of affection; it all bled from the same ideals. Hyunjin swallowed sharply, eyes darting between the two males until he took a hazy step backwards, hand clutching onto the tree nearby, trying to ground himself away from the ravenous feeling burning from inside.

He was jealous. He wanted what they had, wanted the ease of just being with the one person his soul was tied to. But Felix had vanished, fallen from the realms of this reality, gone with the wind, or so it seemed.

Another step back causes a branch to snap beneath his heel, spurring his gaze to look upright, watching as the vampire, the same one that had once been standing in front of him and smiling delicately at his partner, vanished. Hyunjin stayed still, searching the area carefully, trying to track the scent, but it was masked by something stronger, something that exuded whatever senses he contained.

But then, he felt him.

The presence of a dominant vampire, the sting of eyes that bore into his very being, the unease that came with being around someone so powerful; he was right behind him.

Hyunjin whipped around, turning just as the vampire's hand clamped around his throat, eyes seething with anger, pinning him harshly against the thick bark of the tree. Hyunjin scrambled beneath his touch, grabbing at the male's wrist, watching as his fangs became more and more prominent.

"You have ten seconds to tell me why you're out here, wolf–" he sneered. "Or I'll mount your head on my wall for decoration."