Everything was just black. There was no sound, no light, no scent, nothing to feel, everything was just black. Chan couldn't even feel the pain from his wounds anymore. Was he dead? No, no there was no way he could be dead. He still needed to protect Yedam. Wait, where even was Yedam, where was he himself? Was he still at the moon pack territory in the middle of a battlefield? Was he somewhere else? Was he safe? Was Yedam safe?

Chan began to slowly panic while asking himself those questions. He had no clue where he was, if he was okay or if he was just dead and this seemingly infinite blackness was the afterlife but he calmed down when he felt a calming present beside him. It was warm and comforting and let Chan's mind come to peace.

The next thing he could feel was a warm hand which was holding his own. He felt how his knuckles were carefully caressed like he was made of glass. It seemed far away but slowly the wolf hybrid could pick up voices around him. They were too quiet to understand but enough to prove that Chan was still alive and not dead yet.

The feeling for his body returned along with his hearing. He was laying on something soft while being surrounded by something warm and comfortable, so he guessed he was resting in a bed, covered under a comfy blanket. There was still this dull stinging in his right arm and his left shoulder, reminding him of the wounds he had received. The wolf hybrid released a breath. He seemed fine as far as he could tell now even though his eyes still felt too heavy to open them.

"Channie?", he heard a soft voice speak up beside him. The grip on his left hand became a little stronger but it was still light enough to not hurt him in any way. Chan knew the soft voice belong to Byungho just by the sound of it but the nickname, which only the brunette used was also a giveaway.

The voice of Byungho alone made Chan long for enough strength to wrap his arms around his mate and never let go but for now he was too weak to even open his eyes.

"Hyung are you awake? Please hyung wake up", another voice joined Byungho's. Chan wanted to cry out in that moment because the second voice clearly belonged to Yedam. The younger sounded like he was completely fine. He didn't sound scared, hurt, sad or traumatized just a bit worried but that was plainly because of Chan's semi-unconscious state.

"Let him rest a while longer, Yedam. He will wake up when he feels strong enough", a third voice spoke up. Never in his whole life was Chan more relieved to hear his mother's gentle and caring voice. The young silver-haired male silently thanked the gods for keeping his family safe and then began differing off to a much needed sleep.

——————————

Hesitantly Johnny knocked onto the door of Taeyong's office door. He hissed lowly when this simple action shot pain through his whole right arm. "Damn this stupid huntress", the male internally cursed but then mentally thanked Taeil for patching him up with his magic when the pain was numbed again not even five seconds later.

There was no answer from the inside of the room, so Johnny just opened the door finding his leader seated behind his big desk with his head in his hands. This sight alone made the harpy angry all over again but he needed to be calm and collected for the sake of everyone in the NCT headquarter as well as his leader.

"Taeyong?", Johnny announced his presence again while closing the door behind him. The guardian with the red hair flinched a bit but relaxed as soon as he realized it was just Johnny, who had entered his office. The guardian straightened his back, raising his head and folding his hands on the table.

He seemed composed now but Johnny knew the guardian for too long to not notice the light tremble in the other's shoulder and the dull dark blue eyes, which had a very faint red rim. Taeyong wasn't okay, Johnny could see that.

"Did something happen?", Taeyong asked with a unusual monotone voice. He raised his gaze from his desk to look at the harpy, who was walking towards his desk. Being a bit nearer to the guardian made the exhaustion in the dark blue eyes a lot more visible. Still, Taeyong seemed to refuse to show how tired he was or how much he was suffering from today's event.

"Nothing happened. I'm just checking on you", Johnny answered with a hint of exhaustion in his voice he couldn't manage to hide. He internally cursed at himself, knowing that the last thing Taeyong should worry about right now was him.

"I'm fine", the guardian got out with more effort than he wanted. It clearly was a lie. A complete, unmissable lie. Taeyong wasn't fine at all even though they won the battle at the Moon Pack and took some hunters and huntresses captive, who were currently being interrogated by Yuta, Sicheng, Mark, Yukhei and Jungwoo.

Still this day marked a new, terrible part of the supernatural creature's history. It marked the day they were officially exposed to the human society, the day the vampire king and queen died leaving their eighteen year old son to lead their kind in a time of crisis, the day were NCT, one of the groups, who had sworn to protect the supernatural world lost two important members.

They won but also lost. They could fight off one attack of the hunters but it was all just one part of Zendala's big plan that was sure. The female warlock seemed have thought everything through. She knew the hunters wouldn't win the battle at the moon pack, which was why she somehow managed to let a lot of them escape, leaving only a few for NCT and the groups to catch.

Johnny ripped himself out of those thoughts and once again focused on Taeyong. He knew the other male blamed himself for what happened and probably even doubted his position as a leader and guardian. This was the reason he pretended to be fine while everyone else allowed themself to heal by not suppressing their emotions.

"You aren't fine, Taeyong. Currently nobody is", Johnny mumbled the last part. Taeyong stood up from his sitting position abruptly, pushing his big swirling chair back while slamming his hands onto his desk with full force. The enchantments Yuta and Sicheng put on the headquarter were silently thanked for by Johnny because a normal desk and floor wouldn't have stood a chance against this blow from the red-haired guardian.

Johnny couldn't see his leader's face because Taeyong's gaze was fixed onto the desk's surface. Without saying a word he turned around to face the big window behind the desk instead of the brown-haired harpy while crossing his arms over his chest in a protective manner.

A little sigh escaped Johnny before he walked around the big desk, so he could hug Taeyong's smaller frame from behind. "Stop saying you are fine when you aren't", the harpy mumbled while holding the red-haired guardian, who was desperately trying to stay composed, in his arms. It broke Johnny's heart when the smaller male began to tremble, losing the fight against his own tears.

"It's my fault. I should have given them more back-up. I-I-I should have reacted quicker. It's my fault they were injured and captured by Zendala", Taeyong began to quietly cry. That Zendala's goal was to capture Ten and Jaehyun was something nobody had seen coming, not Taeyong and as far as Johnny knew not Jisung, who had been the one to predict the battle at the moon pack. Still Ten and Jaehyun being captured was no one's fault. Especially not Taeyong's.

"It's not your fault. Nobody even considered that Zendala was able to just teleport from Transylvania to the Moon pack camp out of nowhere and capture someone", the harpy tried to assure his leader but Taeyong wasn't having that. He shook Johnny off and brought some distance between them by walking a few footsteps to the side. Johnny didn't follow him because he knew the guardian sometimes needed the space even though he wanted nothing more than to comfort the other male.

"I still should have known", the guardian mumbled subconsciously digging his fingers into his arm. Johnny bit his lip. Taeyong was a guardian and therefore one of the most powerful creatures to exist but he couldn't see into the future or know everything. He had limits even with the enormous amount of magic he could use.

"Even as guardian you have limits. You can't protect everyone at all times. You can't be at more than one place. You can't know everything if it isn't shown or said to you", Johnny argued in soft, reassuring voice.

Suddenly Taeyong turned around sharply, looking at Johnny with tears streaming down his face. His usually kind, caring and reassuring blue eyes were filled with nothing but sadness and anger, his lips trembled lightly and his hands were balled into fists.

"I should have known, not because I'm a guardian but their soulmate! I should have listened to this little voice in my heart, which told me something was up minutes before Ten crashed to the ground with a jade dagger in his back! I should have known they needed help before Jaehyun screamed out my name with the last bit of strength he had! I should have ripped Zendala apart the second I saw her standing over Ten with Jaehyun grabbed by the neck but before I could do anything she disappeared with a smirk on her lips because she knew she won even though the hunters lost!", the guardian lashed out in anger and sadness.

Johnny watched this, keeping up his calm expression while Taeyong breathed heavily with even more tear leaving his beautiful blue eyes. "I failed as their leader and their soulmate", the guardian brought out with a crack in his voice. His eyes dropped from Johnny's face back to the ground and his shoulders slumped but before he could hang his head low his face was gentle cupped by the tall harpy.

"Which color does my soul have, Taeyong?", Johnny asked rather sternly while looking directly into the guardian's blue eyes. He knew the answer himself but he wanted Taeyong to say it, so he could remind him that it wasn't all his fault.

Taeyong hesitated before choking out "Scarlet Red" as the answer. "And whose red is that?", the harpy questioned using his softer voice again. "Mine", the red-haired male breathed out and closed his eyes, avoiding Johnny's now sad but warm, dark brown orbs. Johnny laid his forehead onto Taeyong's while the guardian tried to not completely break down now.

"If you failed as their soulmate, I did too", the harpy mumbled.

They stood there for a while with their foreheads put together. Taeyong slowly calmed down, letting his hands wander up to put them over Johnny's.

"You would be a better leader than I am. You can stay calm in situations like this", the guardian mumbled when he opened his eyes to look into the dark brown orbs of Johnny. The harpy showed his leader a lightly amused smile.

"You know yourself that harpies are angry before they are sad. I probably would have gone on a killing spree if it wasn't for the remaining members of our group and you", the brunette chuckled.

A little soft smile made it's way onto the harpy's face the longer he looked at his soulmate. He would have done something reckless if it wasn't for Taeyong and NCT. There was nothing Johnny wanted more than protecting his group members and soulmates. Right now he only managed to protect one but it was also the one, who kept him sane right now.

"I love you, Lee Taeyong. That's keeping me sane right now", Johnny admitted and let hands fall from Taeyong's face to disconnect their foreheads and stand straight again but the guardian wasn't having that. With a swift movement, the red-haired male laid his right hand onto the back of his partner's neck to pull him down into a short kiss.

"I love you too", the guardian mumbled almost shyly after pulling away from the kiss. He let go of Johnny, who couldn't help but smile softly when he saw a certain determination back in the guardian's eyes.

"Zendala messed with the wrong group if she thinks we will sit still now", Taeyong began after a deep breath while he walked around the desk and towards the table, which was pushed to the east wall of the room. He was back to being an unmatchable professional. "She made a mistake by taking Ten and Jaehyun with her and we will use this against her", the guardian continued and wiped the remaining tears away from his face with the sleeves of his sweater.

Johnny followed his leader and stood on Taeyong's right side when he started to enchant the table to make the map of Yellow Wood and its surroundings visible. the guardian sounded like he was developed a plan even he hadn't one already.

"Do you have a plan?", the harpy asked looking at the map. "I still need to work out the details but overall yes. We will need everyone available, even the young ones but if it works we can end Zendala as well as the majority of the hunters with one strike and free everyone they are currently holding captive", the guardian answered.

The harpy nodded scanning over the map of Yellow Wood. "So if your plan works the Lee brothers get their parents back, we our two missing soulmates and we can say bye bye to Zendala", Johnny summarized in his own words.

"Yes and the first thing I will do after getting our boys back is tell Jaehyun that he has three soulmates he can't escape from, may the rules be damn", Taeyong said and he meant every word.

——————————

Waiting for something to happen was a terrible thing in Seungmin's opinion. A very terrible thing. It had been hours ago since Chan along with a lot of other injured creatures had been brought to the NCT headquarter. Seungmin had been more than relieved to see that Byungho didn't even have a scratch and since he as far as Seungmin knew saved Chan there were no consequences for his disobedience.

Still, most of the people, who came with the returning NCT members were badly injured. Apparently they were so many that at one point Donghyuck came to the group of friends and asked if anyone of them had any kind of training with medical magic. No one of them had but Jeongin had still asked if they could help in any way. Donghyuck had only shaken his head and disappeared again, leaving the seven friends in the common room.

Why seven? Because Chan was one of the creatures, who were heavily injured and Byungho, being his boyfriend and mate stayed with him because the older was the only one of their friends group, who possessed healing abilities.

Seungmin was basically the only one that knew of Byungho's angelic healing powers, which came in very handy in situations like this. It made the younger wish he was like his older brother. As a demon Seungmin would never be able to heal anybody without consequences. Those consequences weren't a direct problem for him though but they would harm the person he had tried healed.

The redhead was so caught up in his head he didn't notice how silent the common room had become. He only noticed it when Hyunjin stood up abruptly and loudly exclaiming: "I can't take this silence anymore"

"Hyung, calm down", Jeongin tried to calm his cousin down. Hyunjin wiped his head around almost glaring at the kitsune. "No! We have been silently sitting there for I don't know how long. It felt like an eternity", the siren argued, clearly irritated but Seungmin knew the other was just scared like they all were right now.

"We still don't really know what's going on exactly. We were briefly told the humans declared war to us and exposed us to the whole human world. A really helpful information if it would have been more elaborated. Thanks to Jisung we know the pack Chan-hyung was staying with had been attacked but we still don't know what went down there. We don't know if that fight was won, we don't even know how many of those who returned from this battle are injured, we only know that it must be so many that NCT seemingly can't handle it on their own anymore", the siren began to rant while pacing the room up and down.

Seungmin glanced at the Lee brothers while Hyunjin continued to rant. It had been hours ago, that the hunters officially declared war to the supernatural world but the two cat hybrids still didn't know what had been done to their parents. This thought reminded the young demon of another horror he had seen, making him subconsciously squeeze Changbin's hand he was still holding.

The redhead hadn't let go of the vampire's hand since he took it after they saw what had happened to the vampire king and queen. He also wasn't planing on letting go until he was one hundred percent sure the shorter male was okay. Changbin had stayed completely silent through the hours of their waiting and it scared Seungmin because his eyes hadn't stopped glowing in a terrifying tone of red. The redhead had no clue what this meant since he had never seen it before. Not on Changbin and not in any sort of book in his father's library. Maybe that was what was scary him the most, not knowing what was wrong with his friend.

"You know Hyunjin it sounds like you want to know everything about this situation even those information that are purposely kept from us for a good reason", Changbin suddenly spoke up startling not only Seungmin but almost everyone in the room. Hyunjin even stopped his pacing and looked at the black-haired vampire with slightly widened eyes.

Seungmin was even more surprised when he noticed, that the red color of Changbin's eyes had reduced when the vampire looked up to face everyone. "I just want to know what's going on and not being treated like a little child", Hyunjin almost whined, looking at the vampire. "We are children", Jeongin mumbled on the side, earning another glare from the siren.

"I'm pretty sure the youngest of NCT know more than we do and they are a little younger than us", Hyunjin argued, shutting the young kitsune up effectively. It was almost a wonder.

"So you want to be treated as an equal to groups like NCT?", Changbin questioned getting Hyunjin's attention back. "If that means getting answers, yes", the siren answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

Seungmin looked back and forth between Changbin and Hyunjin. He didn't have a clue what Changbin was going for or what he wanted to achieve with this but he saw no reason to interfere yet. Glancing at Jisung, Minho and Felix told him that those three pretty much felt the same way.

"Alright then", Changbin breathed out and stood up, automatically letting go of Seungmin's hand to the dismay of the demon. Hyunjin was a bit confused when Changbin joined his side in front of their remaining five friends.

"Does everyone feel the way Hyunjin does?", the vampire asked. Everyone was a bit unsure at that point, even Seungmin, who wanted to know everything that was going on in his surroundings because he believed that knowledge was power. This situation was tricky and scary enough to have the redhead question if he really wanted to have access to every little detail. After all he didn't want to see someone getting killed again.

"Well kinda. It sucks to be left in the dark all the time but maybe there are reasons for it", Felix admitted, absentmindedly playing with the sleeves of Jeongin's shirt since the younger was seated to his left. "But Hyunjin does have a point", the ginger then added, looking up.

"If everyone here wants to have access to information the groups receive on a daily base we just need to form a group ourselves", the vampire said. Seungmin blinked at Changbin. Did he mean that or was this just some sort of trick?

"That doesn't guarantee that we get the information we want. There are enough groups out there who are possible more clueless than us", Minho argued, raising a brow. Seungmin had to agree with Minho on that. Even if they formed a group there would be no guarantee they would just be part of everything unless Changbin planed on using his status to his advantage.

"Your are right about that hyung but most groups don't have two children of clan leaders and ...", Changbin started to say but he trailed off while the red in his eyes became a bit more prominent again. Seungmin knew why Changbin was struggling with this right now because he technically wasn't the vampire prince anymore. To Seungmin it felt like an instinct to help the vampire.

"The vampire prince in their rows", Seungmin finished what the vampire said and stood up to stay by Changbin's side, taking the older's hand again. He would help Changbin even if he had to lie a little.

"With Changbin-hyung, Felix and Minho-hyung in one group we would have an valid argument to receive important information because of their situation and position in this chaos of a situation. Nobody would be able to say no", the redhead added.

Minho still looked skeptical but Felix was convinced and stood up, dragging Jeongin along with him. "I am in", the ginger said, joining Hyunjin's side. "You can't just drag me along, hyung", Jeongin whined a bit. "You don't want to join?", Hyunjin asked his cousin in confusion and a bit offended. "I never said that. Count me", the kitsune huffed and showed a little smile.

The attention was now on Minho and Jisung, who still sat on the couch. The cat hybrid with the hazelnut brown hair looked skeptical while Jisung seemed unsure of what to do. His sky blue eyes flickered between Seungmin and the others and Minho.

"What makes you think they will suddenly change their mind about keeping information from us just because we form a group?", Minho asked. Seungmin internally hated the older for this kind of question because he really didn't want to reveal what Changbin wasn't sure sharing with them but he didn't get to answer anyway.

"I already worked with Taeyong-ssi as the temporary vampire king. I was allowed to access any kind of information I needed. The rest was kept from even me to protect me because that is one of the things NCT along with the other groups like GOT7 and K.A.R.D do. They protect us from harmful things. I get that keeping the ones, who are indirectly involved in this mess, in the dark is necessary to keep them safe but it's different in our case. We are too involved to not get annoyed and stressed because of missing information. We should know what's going on", Changbin began, making Seungmin a bit more worried because his eyes slowly wandered from looking at Minho and Jisung to the floor.

"If we form a group we can gain access to any kind of information because now I'm the official king of all vampires as well as some sort of key to an ancient but powerful vampiric artifact", the black-haired vampire ended. There was a suffocating silence in the room while everyone was slowly connected the dots but Seungmin took it on himself to signal everyone what Changbin meant with "official king" by hugging the shorter male.

Hyunjin was the first to join the hug, laying his head on top of Changbin's while mumbling a quiet "I'm so sorry, hyung". Jisung was the next to join and almost crashed into the hug from the front, wrapping his arms tightly around the vampire's chest. The warlock sniffled a bit, which made Seungmin remember that Changbin's parents were theoretically Jisung's adoptive parents even though he never met them personally.

Felix, Jeongin and Minho joined the hug too but without a real direct contact to Changbin. The vampire was just silent. He couldn't look at the floor anymore since that way blocked by Jisung but he did hide his face by burying it into the warlock's shoulder.

To Seungmin Changbin felt distant in the moment, like his mind was far away which he didn't know was good or bad, so he decided to make use of his demon voice. That way he could sing to the vampire without anyone else hearing it. The redhead didn't know if it worked to calm the vampire down like that even though he had done it once before already when Changbin had panic attack after the fire, which had destroyed the Sky Clan territory.

Changbin flinched a little when Seungmin began singing with his demon voice but then relaxed significantly. It made the redhead smile a little bit and continue singing. The vampire began to tremble after a while and sob lightly. "Thank you", he cried quietly and Seungmin felt how Changbin's grip on his hand tightened a bit.