Black Magic

Lights Out

Chapter 24: Lights Out

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Sehun slumped against the wall, feeling absolutely miserable.

It'd been three days since Tao had vanished into the Catacombs. Three days.

Sehun was beginning to wonder if the slave was even still alive.

Since taking over his self-proclaimed position as "Catacomb Watchman," Sehun had so far counted seven times that Kris had ventured into the underground labyrinth to search for Tao. The EXO leader's aversion to the Catacombs was no secret, and besides that minor detail, he also had about a thousand other tasks to attend to right now....but Kris somehow always found the time to come back to the Catacombs.

He'd lift an inquiring brow at Sehun, no longer surprised to see the Air Dragon standing watch, and Sehun would shake his head, and then Kris would sigh heavily before starting toward the dark entrance.

Tonight was no different.

The Air Dragon stretched, expanding his spine and exhaling heavily as he listened to the approach of Kris's familiar footsteps from down the hall.

"Anything?"

Sehun shook his head.

"And you're sure he went down there?"

"I tracked his smell right up to the doorway. I'm positive he went in."

Sehun watched Kris's jaw clench and unclench in frustration, the dragon's eyes glowing purple with judgement. But Sehun had nothing to hide. Kris hadn't asked many questions concerning the incident, but Sehun had answered with nothing but the truth to those few questions he had asked.

Besides, he knew Kris had smelt Tao too.

It was abnormal to be able to scent a new dragon just before he Changed for the first time, but Tao seemed to be an abnormal case all together. His scent, ripe and potent, had led directly to the Catacombs. In fact, Sehun had ventured in a little ways before giving up.

Tao had had a pretty good head start, and wherever he'd been going in the Catacombs, it was probably somewhere that he wouldn't be easily found. No one knew the Catacombs like he did.

The EXO leader heaved another sigh and headed toward the stairs that descended into the darkness of the underground. "Go to sleep, Sehun. You're not helping anyone by just standing around here."

Sehun grunted as Kris disappeared, knowing his words were true, but still feeling as though this whole situation was his fault.

He slumped back on the wall, that sense of misery still hanging over him.

Nothing seemed to be working out for him lately.

First, he'd managed to make Luhan mad at him by crossing a line in the alcove a couple of weeks ago, and then the Air Dragon had started avoiding him. Not long after that encounter, the whole thing with Tao had happened the night of the Dark Dragon attack, when the Council had mentioned Kris's engagement... and since then the slave had started avoiding him too.

Sehun was tired of being ignored, of being left alone, brushed aside by everyone.

And even though Kai, who had been ignoring him for weeks in favor of the Earth Dragon, had suddenly popped back into Sehun's life, he wasn't fun to hang out with anymore. Kai was distracted, angry, always brooding about something or the other...and to be honest, so was Sehun. They used each other to blow off steam, and then they usually parted ways, both preoccupied with separate problems.