And so the lamp became the beast

We've been together for five minutes.

"I don't understand why this keeps happening," San groaned. The wolves had all transformed and were sitting on the Hwang's front yard. Kai sat next to Bahiyyih. He continued to use his power to repel people from he and Bahiyyih.

"Well," Bangchan said, eyes never leaving the girl, "we've all maintained one tradition. Every wolf has imprinted on a female." Bangchan reached out towards Bahiyyih like he wanted to make sure she was real and Kai growled at him. The two new vampires were skittish. Bangchan withdrew his hand but never looked away from the frightened girl.

San looked at Bangchan, surprised. "Yeah, you're right." He ran a hand through his cropped hair. "I just wanted normal," San moaned into his hands. "I just wanted a normal wolf pack with normal human mates protecting our tribe from normal vampire enemies."

"And now you've got a weird wolf pack with weird human and vampire mates and you're protecting your tribe from vampire enemies with your vampire friends," Ryujin snarked back. Yeji ran her hand through Ryujin's long hair, a small smile on her face. Yeonjun saw the comfortability between them and looked away quickly. "I think this is the best you could have hoped for, Sannie Boy."

Ni-ki walked over and threw his arms around Yeji's neck. She stood up, giving the boy an impromptu piggyback ride. She spun slow circles with the boy hanging from her. San quietly watched Yeji with the smallest member of his pack. "Yeah, I guess it really is, huh?" Ni-ki giggled in Yeji's ear, and the sound lit up her eyes.

Soobin watched Yeji. His sister usually made his gift difficult to have. Her constant anger and pain fed him with a never-ending well of painful and unpleasant emotions. Now, even with the impending threat to all their lives, Yeji was happier than he'd ever seen her. Her joy at spinning Ni-ki around allowed him to drown out his own fearful emotions. Yuna laced her fingers through his. His small smile showed his concern.

Soobin came back to the task at hand. He took in Bahiyyih and Kai. Kai's ability to repel people was amazing. "What can you tell us?" Soobin asked them. The question was for both of them, but he was willing to bet that Kai would answer the question. He wasn't disappointed.

"Heejin has been amassing an army. She's turning people with reckless abandon. The newborns are wild and uncontrolled. They're sloppy killers, and they love wanton destruction. We," he looked at Bahiyyih, "we've killed a lot of people. We didn't want to, but there was no other way."

Taeyong crouched low to appear unthreatening. "We have all made mistakes. No one here faults you for that. We're happy to have you here, so please, don't worry. We'll do the best we can for you here." He looked at Kai, then at Bahiyyih. "We need whatever information you have, and then we will do our best to protect you. If you want, we'll let you leave and make your own way. We just want to protect our family. There are no ulterior motives, no threats, nothing like that." The two vampires examined Taeyong, seeming to come to a conclusion.

"We'll tell you anything you want to know," Kai agreed. "But first, we need to eat."

"Of course. A few of us will go with you, if that's okay." Bahiyyih nodded, her eyes falling on Bangchan. "Would you mind if a few of the wolves come too? We just want to make sure that you don't accidentally attack any humans. No one will hurt you."

"Okay," Bahiyyih agreed. Bangchan hurried to change. A large group rushed out of the clearing, leaving the rest of them to wait.

"Well, they won't be back for some time. I know what we can do to pass the time." Yeji wiggled her eyebrows at Ryujin, who took a surprised step back.

Ryujin and Yeji stood on the Shin front porch. Ryujin shook from head to toe. Ryujin rolled her shoulders. Yeji watched her mate with an amused look on her face. "This will be fine. Everything will be fine." Ryujin looked at Yeji. "Don't be nervous babe, he'll like you!"