Nightfall Curse

chapter 16

“Hyunjin, you need to calm down,” Chan said through the viewing port in his panic room. He didn’t know whether Hyunjin could hear him through all his yelling and raging. He’d never seen him in such a bad way, even when he’d been a demon. This was so much worse. “Please, just take a breath and tell me what’s going on.”

Hyunjin threw himself into the door with brute force, his face filling the view hole. Chan took a step back and held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Let me out, Chan,” Hyunjin growled. “I need to get out.”

“Forgive me for saying so, but the hell you do,” Chan answered, keeping his voice calm. “You’re not right. We can fix it, but you need to tell me what’s happening.”

“Nothing,” Hyunjin seethed. “I’m fine. Pissed off about being locked up down here. There’s no - I’m not - just let me out.”

Chan dug in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Can’t do that. Sorry. I’m gonna call Minho now and see what he has to say. You didn’t say where you’d wandered off to when you left the bunker. Tells me you’re hurting for something.”

Suddenly, Hyunjin veered off and pushed away from the door. Chan scooted closer and watched as the hunter collapsed into a chair, head in his hands. Hell of a mood swing. When Hyunjin spoke again, his voice was laced with weary resignation. “I need to talk to Felix.”

“Huh,” Chan said doubtfully. “Still a little thin on the details there, Hyunjin.”

“It’s not what you think.” He grimaced. “Okay, it’s probably pretty close to what you think. We... he’d been helping me. With keeping the curse from getting to me too much. But the last time wasn’t like the other times. Chan, I did something real bad, and I need to know that he’s okay. Just. I have no idea what happened to him.”

Finally some honesty. Chan could get behind that. He was far from willing to let the man out of his containment, because if he’d hitched himself to Sioux Falls with barely a single memory as to how he’d ended up stalled on the side of the road, he clearly didn’t need to be wandering around free. They could deal with this much, though.

“Felix’s little midnight walk to you landed him unconscious in the hospital. Jisung and Minho got him there, and he was still breathing, but that’s all we got so far.”

“That’s something,” Hyunjin said softly. “That’s... that’s something.” Then he went quiet again.

Chan dialed Minho. The younger hunter picked up after the first ring.

“I got Hyunjin back,” Chan said immediately. “He ain’t doing so good, so I hope you have something worked out with one of those fancy cleansing spells.”

“We do,” Minho assured him with deep relief. “Jisung and I complied the spells and got all of the reagents we need. Now we just have to cast it in Hyunjin’s presence tonight.”

“Not a minute too soon, I’m assuming. Hyunjin’s been sort of in and out of lucidity. He’s asking about Felix.” The silence on the other end of the line spoke volumes and Chan dipped his head, turning around from the room so that Hyunjin, even with his increased hearing, couldn’t quite make him out muttering, “how bad is it?”

“It’s bad,” Minho admitted. “Not sure how much yet, but bad. We got Felix to the hospital, and they say he’ll live, but that’s all I can tell you.”

“Damn,” Chan answered. Now that Hyunjin was calmer, he felt safe walking away from the room and up the stairs to leave the man unsupervised for a bit. Hyunjin, though, might have been too wrapped up in his own head for the moment to pay attention, but if he put his hyped up senses to the test, he could probably even make out what Minho was saying. Better not to risk it. Once he’d climbed the stairs and shut the basement door firmly behind him, he said, “what are a bunch of doctors gonna do for an angel, anyway?”