STAY

Prologue

It was cold. The icy wind brushing against the barricaded windows as a small girl huddled into the corner of the shed. Over the howling of the wind, the twitching cat ears on top of her head picked up on people yelling at each other. They were searching for someone. They were searching for her.

A small whimper left her throat. She immediately clasped her small hands over her mouth. There was danger in noise; there was danger in just breathing. She couldn't be found like her parents, her siblings, her clan. Her cat ears twitched. The people were still yelling, but they were closer. Too close.

The little girl brought her knees further up to her chest, fingers digging into her pale cheeks as forced her mouth shut and pressed her eyes close. She had to stay hidden; she had to stay quiet; she couldn't be found. She silently prayed to the stars - her clan called them Star Hunters - to save her.

The wind was pushing against the shed, the wood groaning as it moved. A voice near the broken window yelled. A language she did not understand. Footsteps in the mud. The shed's door was slammed open, the wind bursting in, but no scent. She heard the dark chuckle, heard the wood creak underneath someone's weight, but still no scent. They never had a scent.

Someone yanked the girl up by the scruff of her neck. Her eyes snapped open as she screamed bloody murder. Furiously trying to free herself by clawing at her attacker with pupils turning to slits. Her attacker laughed until a blind swipe hit their face. They screamed and dropped her. She bolted. Out of the shed, straight into the storm but also into the arms of more of them.

Hunters.

With crystals dangling from their neck and weapons in their hands, they chased her. Mud soaked boots against socked feet. The girl sprinted, lungs burning. She couldn't see with the wind smashing dust into her face as it almost lifting her small body into the air. A shot rang through the storm, but there was no pain. She kept on running. There was yelling behind her and then a howl.

A lone wolf's howl.

The yelling turned into screaming. The girl kept running but she could hear it. A wolf's growl, cats' hissing, the swooshing sound of a vampire, a siren's song and the cackling of magic.

She risked a glance over her shoulder. A hunter was aiming with their gun at her. A dark flash and the hunter was knocked off their feet. A vampire stood over them, quickly disarming them and knocking them out.

The girl ran to the nearest tree, hiding behind it as she tried to catch her breath. Was the vampire on her side? Was she safe? Her lungs were burning, her eyes watering. She gulped down the air, a pile forming in her throat, almost vomiting. Her heart hammering against her rib cage as she dug her claws into the tree, sweaty palms connecting with cold wood.

She peeked from behind the tree, trying to look for any nearby hunters and the vampire. The wind was brushing past her, carrying no special noise outside from metal clashing against trees, the growls of a wolf, the hissing of cats, the beating of wings. Were the hunters fighting other supernaturals? Were those on her side? She caught a whiff of the damp, strangely bloody scent of a vampire and was ready to bolt again.

"Girl? You... You here?" a voice called lowly. The words of her language badly pronounced but understandable. The girl looked around, letting the damp, bloody scent of the vampire direct her head to where she could see the other supernatural. The vampire walked carefully through the forest, his eyes softly glowing red as he looked around, searching. His shoulders were relaxed, yet his back straight; his footing confident and quiet, yet not quiet enough to be sneaky to a cat hybrid's ears.

"I ... friend. Safe," the vampire reassured, his softly glowing eyes meeting the frightened ones of the girl. He stopped moving, slowly crouching down to be on eye-level with her despite his already short but still bulky stature. She looked at him, searching his face for some form of deception, or a lie. She found nothing, but an unguarded expression and honesty in his eyes. He almost seemed familiar.

"I safe," he repeated. He slowly raised a hand to the zipper of his jacket and unzipped it to show the plain black shirt underneath. He pulled the collar of the shirt down to reveal a big part of the symbol on his chest. A group's symbol made of three letters. S, K and Z. SKZ. Stray Kids. It dawned to the girl then and there that kneeling before her was the king of all vampires, Seo Changbin. He was the only vampire in the eight-headed group of Stray Kids and her savior.

She rushed towards the king, flinging herself into his arms almost knocking him over. The Star Hunters had heard her. She was safe. She was finally safe.

The king's arms circled around her, holding her. She clung to him, hungrily taking the safety he was both providing to her and symbolizing for so many other creatures. He gently patted her back as she started to shake, the last bits of energy leaving her as well as the adrenaline.

"Go?" the king asked, his chest rumbling slightly as he spoke. His voice as so warm and soft. It felt so contradictory to his scent of damp wood and thick blood, but it was safe. All vampires smelled like mustiness and the thick blood that was sluggishly flowing through their veins.

The little girl nodded against the vampire king's chest. He moved a bit, securing her more into his arms as well as wrapping his jacket around her before slowing rising back onto his feet. She let herself be carried, huddling closer to him when the wind started to brush past her. She felt that he was moving, but she was exhausted and cold. She did not care where he would take her. She buried her face into the vampire king's chest and let herself sink into the feeling of safety.

She was slowly drifting into unconsciousness and the last thing her brain registered was the comforting rumble of the vampire king's chest as he talked, the multiple voices replying to him and the warmth of something soft draping itself over her. It cackled like magic.