Veiled | JHS | ✓

Child of Shadows

"You telling me the truth, buddy? You know what will happen if you are lying to me, don't you?"

The beefy man raked his eyes over Hoseok who stood by the entrance frozen in shock. How? How did they find out?

"I swear! I'm a hundred percent sure! His power is entirely different from ours. I could feel it. And when I asked him about his clan, he told me the name of a clan that doesn't even exist anymore!" The bartender cried at the buff man's feet and Hoseok watched him as betrayal coursed through him. What was this? Was the bartender never on his side? Was he trying to lure Hoseok in from the beginning?

"If that's true then we've got the biggest fish ever, boss. Plenty would love to get their hands on him. Something so rare." A scrawny guy by the corner, chewing on an unlit cigarette exclaimed greedily.

"You're right, Cephalo. If tha's a wizard, we're gonna rake in gold. The potion makers woulda love ta have a vial of 'is blood." Another roundish fae rumbled, licking his lips as he eyed the prize.

"Well, then. What're you waiting for?" The beefy man in the center mused as his eyes fixed on the wizard in the room. 

"Get him."

Hoseok couldn't move as the gang of fae advanced on him, ready to take him down as their fingers emitted green sparkles of power ready to be released. He glanced at the bartender who was still on the floor wondering what he had done wrong. He thought the bartender was his friend. He thought they had forged a good friendship but...

Betrayal. That was all he felt as he stood staring at the fae on the ground who avoided his eyes. Any moment now, the faes would surround him. They would capture him and all he had worked for would go to vain. Was life meant to be this cruel?

"JUNG HOSEOK! RUN!"

A strong pull on his wrist snapped him out of his reverie and before he could register the scene, Sia was dragging him out of the restaurant and into the crowded streets, shoving past the people as she hastily made her way away from there. Thankfully, Hoseok soon gained his presence of mind and ran along as outraged cries rang out from behind them.

"GET THEM!"

"Sh*t," Sia swore as she looked back and found the fae thugs keeping up with them, skirting around the people.

"Take right, take right!" Hoseok cried, tugging her to a narrow deserted lane to their immediate right and Sia stumbled but she managed to stay up.

"Gogogogo!" Sia urged as they barely lost sight of their pursuers. But that didn't mean they had lost them.

"We can't lose them," Hoseok wailed desperately, running with all he had, periodically turning around to check their tail.

"Yes, but—" Sia sucked in a sharp breath and slowed her pace. Hoseok turned his attention back on their way to find the reason Sia had slowed to stop. There was no more place to run. Because they had run into a dead end.

"Sh*t!" Sia cursed again, frantically looking behind. The angry growls of their pursuers were ringing closer and they knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up with them. Heaving in huge deep breaths, Sia forced herself to calm down and think of a way when an idea hit her.

"Hoseok! Teleport."

Hoseok seemed momentarily startled at her command but quickly nodded his head. Closing his eyes, he swiftly summoned his powers. Nothing. He couldn't feel it. He tried again to teleport, grasping at his power from within but all he received was void. Empty. There was nothing.

"Hoseok, they're coming! Quick!" Sia yelled.

"I- I can't. I can't teleport," Hoseok cried in panic, and Sia's eyebrows furrowed in alarm.

"Why? Why now?"

She looked around now feeling his anxiety herself as the roars of their chasers slowly rose indicating their nearness when her eyes fell on their interlocked fingers. Realization struck her like a thunderbolt.

"The link! My touch breaks your link with the host!" She cried in understanding, wrenching her hands away from him. Taking a step back just in case as Hoseok watched wide-eyed, she ordered, "Seok, try again!"

Hoseok began to stutter, "I- I don't know if it'll wor—"

A moment later all that remained where Hoseok stood moments before was empty air. Sia heaved a sigh of relief. She stumbled back into the alley, leaning her back against the wall as the footsteps neared where she was.

Now all she had to do was find a way to get out there herself. She wondered if they'll do something to her. She was just a human after all. Even if she couldn't, at least they would never get to Hoseok anymore. Thankfully, all she had to do was hold out and see how things progressed.

She wasn't entirely without a plan though. The angel's brethren status and her Guardian Angel should come in handy about now.

"Winters!"

Sia's eyes shot open in shock. "Seok, what?! Why did you come back? Get out of here!"

"I can't leave you behind!" He yelled back, incredulously and Sia heaved a frustrated breath, "Just go back! I'm human. I'm sure, I will be fine!"

"No, you're stupid! Did you see their leader? He won't hesitate to hurt you!" Hoseok reasoned, equally getting annoyed at her.

"I WILL BE FINE. PLEASE! Just get out of here. I will find a way out of this, alright? Now go!" Sia pleaded, her eyes searching the way they came for the footsteps now sounded closer and she was sure any moment now, they'll round the corner and find them. Two palms slamming into her shoulder snapped her eyes back to the man in front of her who was seething at her recklessness. "Sia, I'm not letting anyone get hurt as long as they're with me! Especially if they're getting hurt for me!"

Sia was stunned by the ferocity she saw in his eyes as she opened her mouth to reply but nothing would come out. But then she'd be damned if anyone could find their voice when they were being stared down by brutal eyes like his.

"THERE HE IS!"

Someone yelled and Sia knew their chasers had finally caught up with them but all she could do was gaze, stupefied under his fiery gaze as Hoseok's hands fell away from her shoulders and he stepped back, black smoke circling up the length of his arms. "I'll fight them off."

She gasped as a sudden wind swept over the place, silencing everything there with a chilling finality, and watched his eyes grow darker than the night before dawn.

The fae must have sensed the shift in power in the air; they stopped and looked around in confusion and looked back to their leader for further instructions. How could they not when the intensity of that power was so thick that it crackled with electricity. Jung Hoseok slowly revolved around to face his pursuers just as a little breeze brushed against him, transforming everything about him in a matter of seconds.

The fae thug and his cronies watched as the shadows embraced him and ran their fingers through his jet black locks, transitioning them into a gradient of obsidian to smoky ash that raged into a flaming red at the tips, reminiscent of fire and ashes: symbols of destruction. A chill encompassed the narrow path as the skies darkened and thunder rumbled in the distance. The wizard strode forward, the shadows garbing him in a suit of darkness. A cloak of onyx blue swished behind him as his steps progressed. A cut ran down the front of his suit revealing a sliver of his pale skin underneath enticingly. A ringlet of fire flared around his irises signaling the final true awakening of his powers.

And if nothing else warned the fae about what was to come, the flash of lightning illuminating his lips that turned in a cold sneer certainly did.

Jeong Ho-Seok tilted his head and grinned.

"Did you call for me?"

_____________

A/n: Maybe I'm too emotional. Your apathy's like a wound in salt...

Idk why I'm singing that but hey! Isn't it salt in the wound?