Felix started by counting the minutes, even though he knew it was ambitious. Minho was usually fast at tracking his brother’s movements. But then he had to count the hours. Then the days. Three days. 72 hours. 4,320 minutes. 259,200 seconds. Too many, when put like that. “Jisung,” he implored wearily.
“I know,” he griped. “We’re doing the best we can, but Hyunjin knows how to stay off the grid. No cards, no security cameras, no car, no nothing. And since he’s flying below the radar, he’s beyond my skill level to track. I’m not really a ‘beat the pavement’ kinda guy. Don’t worry. If he does slip up, I’ll see it.”
“You are doing your best, I’m sorry,” Felix said regretfully. “It’s just...”
“Yeah,” he said, pushing his laptop a little to the side to see Felix better. “We’re all concerned. You need to take care of yourself, though. You still don’t look so hot.”
Felix shrugged one stiff shoulder. He wasn’t wrong. The withdrawal symptoms were starting to manifest for him now. Not having Hyunjin around with his scent and skin... physically it was starting to hurt. Today, his newest symptom was the inability to get warm. He had borrowed a long-sleeved black shirt, black sweatpants, and a thick gray hoodie from Hyunjin’s room, and had also added his own comforter to wrap up in. Still, the chills wracked his body from time to time no matter how much he turned the heat up in his room or how many layers he piled on. “I will recover. I’m more worried about Hyunjin.” Surreptitiously he sniffed at the hoodie to take in the trace scent of Hyunjin left on it.
“His symptoms must be ten times worse than yours,” Jisung said. “Which means he’s probably laying low somewhere. He’ll be easier to find if he’s staying in one place.”
Felix pursed his lips as he shuffled to the kitchen to make coffee, more for the warmth than the taste, but Jisung and Minho also agreed that the way he made it was somehow better than either of their brews. Once the coffeemaker was set, he wandered back into the main room and sat next to Jisung. “If Hyunjin’s symptoms persist, he may not be able to fight them on his own. It’s the reason that I offered to help him in the first place.”
His hazel eyes widened. “You think... no way.” He shook his head. “He couldn’t have gone out to find someone else? Do you think? No way.”
“Why else would he just leave like that?” Felix demanded, frustration evident in his voice. “What I said before is still true. Whether or not we want to accept it, Hyunjin is becoming less human and more incubus every time he takes an offering from me. He may not wish to fight it anymore. If that’s true, there would be nothing holding him back from finding someone else.” His entire body ached with the admission, true or not. He thought he’d been enough. He thought they’d had an understanding. He thought that Hyunjin wanted him. He clutched the blanket tighter to his chest, rubbing at his sternum as if that might relieve some of the pressure. Selfish anger coursed through him.
Part of him hoped that they found Hyunjin soon just so that he could tell the stubborn man exactly why he was doing all of this. He’d moved Heaven and Earth for Hyunjin; rebelled against his brothers and sisters - his father. Bled for him, died for him, been to Hell and back for him. What in the world did Hyunjin think that all of it meant? He slumped forward in the chair and thunked his forehead down onto the table. There was nothing that he could imagine denying the elder one. He could have everything if it meant anything. His life, blood, grace, body, all of it. He already did.
A warm hand touched the back of his neck gently. “It’s okay, Felix,” Jisung said softly. “We’ll find him. We always do.”
The door opened above them and Felix brought his head up to squint towards the balcony. He slumped again when he saw Minho returning without his 'brother' in tow. “No go,” he said unnecessarily. “Looks like Hyunjin really went to ground this time and doesn’t want to be found. I’ve checked everywhere I could think of.” He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and tossed it onto the table. “I’ve called nearly everyone we’ve ever had contact with. No one’s heard anything.”
Felix stood and dragged himself back to the kitchen to make them all fresh cups of coffee. Minho accepted his gratefully, taking a long swallow and ignoring the burning heat. Felix wrapped both hands around his own mug, the warmth soothing away the persistent ache in his fingers. “I’m sorry that I don’t have enough power at the moment to help track him.”
Minho shook his head. “It’s not your fault, Felix. You’re feeling the separation, too. Plus, he probably warded wherever he is so you wouldn’t be able to find him, anyway.” He sighed, took another sip of his coffee, then turned his attention to Jisung. “Seen any signs of incubus activity anywhere?”
Jisung turned the laptop towards Minho and said, “No, but I hope we don’t. Unless he hopped a plane to some other country, he’s not out doing anything incubus-y that I’ve been able to find.”
“Small miracles,” Minho answered wearily. Then he muttered, “Dammit, Hyunjin.”
Felix voiced the question that had been haunting him since Hyunjin’s disappearance. “Why did he do this?”
Minho knuckled his eyes. “My best guess is that he heard us talking about you, Felix. If there’s one thing Hyunjin is good at, it’s running away when he thinks he’s hurting someone.”
He’d figured as much, but the confirmation still stung. “It was foolish,” he said severely. “He could have stayed. We could have avoided one another. He knew how close Jisung was to some completed spells.”
“You said yourself he wasn’t thinking straight,” Jisung pointed out. “He was just reacting. Sure, it wasn’t smart, but what else would he have done? He’s never really been all that great at waiting.”
“True enough,” Minho said. “Regardless, we have to be ready when we find him. How are those spells working?”
This time, Jisung smiled. “Felix and I have narrowed down three potential spells. They’re sort of cobbled together, so they might not work. They look promising, though.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Minho answered. “In the meantime, let’s-” he was cut off by his cell phone suddenly vibrating on the table. All eyes locked onto it as Minho snapped it up and swiped the call button. “Chan?” he said, turning it on speaker.
“You wanna tell me what the hell is going on with you boys this time?” he demanded.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve got your damn fool brother locked in my basement and it looks like he’s gone twelve rounds with Death.”
Minho couldn’t keep the mild hysteria out of his voice when he said, “Hyunjin’s with you? Where’d you find him?”
“I didn’t,” Chan said drily. “He found me. Stumbled in here a few hours ago messed up and babbling a bunch of nonsense. I locked him up, just in case. What happened? One of your cures go wrong, or something?”
“No, nothing like that. He’s probably deep in withdrawal. Kind of a long story, but we can fix him. We have some spells. Just... Chan, don’t let him out of your sight, okay? We’ll be there soon.”
“Better be,” Chan warned. “He ain’t got a lot of fight left in him, if you know what I mean.”
“I do. Thanks, Chan.” He disconnected the call and the three of them sprang into action immediately, collecting clothes, spell components, laptops, weapons, and phones. They were out the door and piling into the Impala within minutes.
YOU ARE READING
Nightfall Curse
Fiksi PenggemarOn a hunt gone wrong, Hyunjin finds himself cursed to be an incubus. While Minho and Jisung rush to find a cure before the change is permanent, Felix decides to become Hyunjin's "offering" when the hunter begins to deteriorate under the effects of t...
