Ablaze (Are The Hearts of The Damned)

Fools

"Where exactly are we going?" Kai asks, suspiciously glancing around him. They were currently walking down a shady path with nothing but woodland surrounding them. He tries to sense for the presence of at least someone or something, but he was not getting the usual buzz he gets. His senses were starting to turn hazy, as if something was blocking him off. He usually feels this when he tries to read into Lord Chanyeol, whose mind had a barrier against Kai's mental powers like all the other gods. Or with Baekhyun, but it is probably because his mind is toxic and too polluted by raw evil for Kai to penetrate. But this was different, more large scale.

"This place is in laid with magic," Kai announces.

"Of course it is," Baekhyun says matter-of-factly. "Yuha is a lone witch. She has to protect herself from evil."

"Like you?" Chanyeol chimes in.

"Of course," the demon grins, showing off his fangs. "I can feel her magic weakening my powers now, similar to what you have done to me before. You should probably protect me from curses that might be surrounding her cottage. I do not want to die yet."

"What?!" Chanyeol booms, eyebrows furrowing as he stands in front of the demon, towering over him with a look of annoyance. Kai could only watch in silence at the side, sighing at his fortune at having to bear with another round of the couple's bickering.

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun says, raising an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You dragged us over here to ask for help just to tell me that you are probably going to die from this witch's protection measures if we are not careful enough?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So what?! Do you seriously think this is no big deal?!"

"I have faced more dangerous circumstances, Chanyeol! You know me! What's a bit more of danger going to do to me?"

"Baekhyun, we went here because the way you said it before sounded like you were actually friends with this witch. Not someone hostile against you."

"You assumed, is it my fault?"

"It was what the context clues were telling me!"

"Well, what can I do? And by the way, she is not particularly hostile with me. She is hostile with people like me in general, so..."

Chanyeol runs his fingers through his fiery locks. "Does that even make any difference?"

"It does not, you giant. But I just had to point that out."

"I do not know what to do with you anymore."

"Umm, should we not just get going?" Kai says, getting in between them, thinking that if he let them they might take the whole day. He thinks that the developing attraction between the two of them only built up more grounds for arguments.

"We should," Chanyeol says. He gives Baekhyun one last glare, saying, "You better stay behind me at all times," before turning around and letting Kai guide them through the woods.

Baekhyun starts humming pleasantly as they continue their trek deeper. Yuha was actually his friend before he went all ballistic and turned into a massacre machine, and they even shared an intimate relationship at one point. They distanced from each other when Yuha tried to put a spell on him while he was sleeping to suppress the evil that was starting to form in him. He had nearly killed her if he had not forced himself to stop and leave. She must be holding something against him now or was simply traumatized. Hopefully, Baekhyun could try to talk her into helping them.

"Is that it?" Kai says, pointing towards a small little house in the distance. Baekhyun cranes his neck to look at what he was pointing at and nods in confirmation.