⋯

The sun brushes the horizon, sending the last rays of dissipating warmth down the edges of the beach. Burned skin in contact with the evening air stings, sending goosebumps down their chilled limbs. It's a strange mix between the two, cold and hot, that dances along their arms in some kind of sadistic symphony.

Still, their thoughts push forward, and Sulli crosses the crest of the narrow beach, crawling upwards back towards the remains of Kelsey's house. Chase's words echo in their head, reverberating across a mindless cacophony of distant thoughts.

I think you'll find them.

It wasn't as innocent as Chase wanted it to come across. Sulli knows what those words mean.

Find them.

Siobhan is nowhere to be seen when Sulli crosses the ash-dotted landscape, winding trails of smoke rapidly melting into the slowly darkening skies. Mebh is near the car, standing there, clutching the two young daughters to her side. In sync, Saorise and Corinne both look up and immediately are unlatched from Mebh, running towards Sulli.

They barely have time to register the short, choked sobs from both of them before they're latched onto their legs. One on each, clinging to them like the world was seconds of falling apart. Broken-hearted cries reverberated across the earth, and the wind rustles the trees, restless with dissonance. The sound carves down their chest, into their blood in bones as Sulli drops to their knees in front of them.

Don't cry.

Sulli can't cry right now. It would make the twins feel worse about the prospects, so instead, he draws them both close to them. The vivid memory of their younger step-siblings stands at the forefront of their thoughts, and it's all Sulli can do to bury the memory in favor of keeping their mind unclouded.

"It's alright." Their voice comes out surprisingly even, reaching to smooth one of the young girl's hair, "It'll be alright, Corinne, Saorise." The wind chill has gathered, sending chills down each of their bodies. "I'll bring them back."

"Do you promise?" Saoirse's voice breaks, eyes bright with tears. They're glittering with something else too though, something arcanic and volatile. Corinne looks up too, joining her sister in that pin-prick stare, before raising her pinkie towards Sulli.

Sulli knows. They do. You shouldn't make a promise with a Fae. And after what happened last time, when they made a promise with a Fae in the middle of the forest, it's probably a bad idea to make another one.

Then again, Sulli knows themselves, and they doubt they would have made a promise if they had been able to find another option that night in the forest. They probably didn't have another choice. They were standing at the precipice of a mutilated, maimed body, after all.

Sulli swallows the rising fear in their chest, staring at the little pinkie, still outstretched towards them. Corinne is staring at them dead in the eye now, unrelenting and fearless, while her sister clasps her other hand in her own. Before Mebh can protest, Sulli links pinkies with Corinne. "I promise to bring them back."

Dead or alive.

They don't want to think about it like that, but in all truth, they have to. There's a small part of them that is terrified of the idea that it might be too late for them at all. Even if it's been less than a day, nothing but dread is coating their throat at the idea of the unknown.

You were right to be scared.

Sulli's gaze looks back to the twins as black ichor trails from both of the girls, crawling up Corinne's arm and onto theirs, weaving a pattern across their skin. It does sting a little bit, the sensation of the ink stitching across burned skin, but it's hypnotic all at once. The symbol starts small, a golden outline of a squirrel at the base of their wrist, encircled with black ink before two dashed lines appear, leading to another black circle, with a silver sword pointed upwards, inlaid with something in Latin.

Endweaver.

Sulli doesn't know Latin, not even a little, but the word is embedded into their thoughts in a single instant, before the two daughters draw away, leaving Sulli with not one, but two new Fae tattoos. They try to ignore the upwelling of guilt and iniquity, offering a short smile. It looks forced, and Sulli knows it does as much as they don't want it to. They reach up their hands, ruffling each of the girl's hair as they push to their feet.

Get up, Sulli.

"It's getting late, we gotta get you both somewhere safe with your aunt." Sulli nods to Mebh as she approaches, her features unreadable and subdued as she watches them. Reaching down, she picks up Corinne instead, and Sulli understands the command, doing the same for Saorise as they make their way to the car, where Erlik is still patiently waiting. Sulli reaches their hand out, ruffling Erlik's fur too, and allowing a much more genuine smile to cross their features. "I guess Erlik will have to sit in the back with you two girls."

"Where are we going?"

"The Kwon's house." Sulli's response comes without missing a beat. It's the only place that Sulli can think of that might be safe enough for them. They don't know Adelaide's parents well, or really at all, but certainly they wouldn't turn away two young Fae children in need of safety. Mebh has been suspiciously quiet, but Sulli doesn't pry, and after buckling the two girls in, they climb into the car all the same.

The way back down the road, away from the now demolished house, is quieter somehow. Even though Sulli now has three more people in the car, it's like silence has a chokehold on the evening air. It's not a far drive, maybe a half-hour, but it's long enough that the skies finish darkening and the two exhausted twins have fallen asleep. Mebh has remained silent, watching the world through the window. Sulli's tempted to say something, but at the same time, they don't want to break whatever fragile peace that's momentarily fallen over all of them as they wait for the inevitable beginning of something irreversible.

The Kwon household feels unsettled. There are a couple of cars already parked there, and a ghostly chill runs up Sulli's spine as they park beside them both. It's only a moment before they step out, sharing a worried glance with Mebh before Sulli shakes their head, "I'll go first. To explain the whole..." Sulli waves a hand over the car, towards the twins. "...situation, I guess."

Mebh nods, watching as Sulli turns on their feet, walking towards the looming doors of the Kwon estate. Fear trails in the wake of their footsteps, revived memories of panic and terror floating in their lungs. The house looks scarier than it does in the daylight, the doors looming over them as they reach their hand up to knock.

Before Sulli even has the chance to, the door is thrown open. A tall figure looks down at them, eyes sharp and prying. Older, but handsomely so, relatively speaking, with slicked-back black hair, and a stone-cold resting bitch face. Sharp features, almost bird-like in quality, stare back at them, and Sulli fights the urge to cower where they stand. "I know you."

What?

"You're Addy's human friend."

Oh.

"You were here on Samhain."

Sulli chokes back the painted echo of the thoughts, nodding their head. Before they can respond, a lighter, softer voice pokes through, along with the head of an older women. She was aged gracefully, with delicate, pinned-back hair. "Oh- yes, Addy talked about you, have you heard from her? She was supposed to be here for dinner."

A lump forms in the back of Sulli's throat, and they manage to swallow it. "Adelaide is missing." The realization settles deep in the pit of their chest, lungs tightening with unrelenting emotion. "I just- um- I just came from Kelsey's house. His family was attacked, his house is gone, and-"

"Where are the girls?" The man's face has shifted to worry, concern crossed over each twist in his face, eyes dark with worry as they glanced past Sulli, towards the now parked car.

"They're in the car, I brought them here." Their emotion threatens to shatter them whole, but Sulli keeps their voice as even as they can manage. "I didn't know where else to bring them."

"Dad? Who is that?" Another male head poked out, smiling warmly for a beat before locking eyes with Sulli, then it shifted into something that Sulli doesn't dare mistake for anything friendly. "Ah. A human."

A human.

"Mr. Kwon." Sulli returns their gaze to the figure in front of him, whose eyes have remained locked on the car before turning back to them. "I'm going to find them."

"Don't you think you've done enough?" It's that other one, assumedly Adelaide's brother, and Sulli pretends the words don't sting. Not very well, unfortunately, because each of the faces before them shifts.

Adelaide's mother's face is pinched, tilting her head. "Perhaps you should let someone else handle it, Sullivan- was it?"

As much as Sulli wants to correct her, they don't, swallowing the growing lump of emotion in their throat. They don't think they can do it. It's not surprising. After all, Sulli is only a human. Instead of responding, they turn to find Mebh and the girls quickly approaching. It's a tense hand-off, but Saorise allows Mrs. Kwon to pick her up, and Corinne is handed gently off to her husband. The Kwons retreat with a murmured word from Mebh, who lets the door close before looking back to Sulli.

They can't quite place the emotion on her face, but whatever it is, it settles the uneasiness that Sulli's been feeling on their back for quite some time now. There's a warm, gentle hand on their face a moment later, and a soft, maternal smile. "Come back alive, Sulli. I can't lose all of you." And then Mebh is gone, back inside the now warm household, blooming with childlike laughter and warmth, and Sulli is left in the cold, staring at twin mahogany doors.

I can't lose all of you.

The line feels haunting, following Sulli's now lonely footsteps back to the car. It's a burning relief that Erlik is sitting there, awaiting their return. Their chest tightens with each breath, strangling the oxygen from their lungs as they sit back in the car. Sulli can seem themselves shaking, but they press it back again, starting the car once more, and flicking on the headlights.

Beside them, Erlik whines, setting his head on the middle console. The sound startles Sulli from that slippery feeling of dissociation, and they set their hand on his head. They don't have anything to say, not for now, it's just nice to have this one single moment.

Peace is so fragile, isn't it? It must be handled with great care. Every movement is cautious. Every turn is mapped out. Such a delicate, brittle thing. Easy to break, so very difficult to craft. It's not very fair. For all the energy and time people put into it, anger and disquiet can take it away in only a moment.

The Wolfhound whines again, and in response, Sulli hears their stomach grumble. They manage a laugh, pulling the car back out to bumble back down the road towards the college. "I guess you want dinner too." At least Sulli had eaten something for breakfast before heading over to Yaşru's, otherwise they'd probably be feeling a lot worse than they already were. "We'll pick something up on the way back, I'm sure there's something around." Sulli ended up stopping at some pizza place that Magnus liked, fast Al's, to pick up a pizza before getting back in the car. They set it in the back, sending Erlik a warning glance. "You know, I don't think Yaşru would be very happy about me giving you a couple of slices of pizza as dinner, but in complete honesty, I don't want to walk back to Yaşru's dorm in the dark Erlik. Even with you."

That pressing anxiety is back, honed between his shoulder blades. For a glance from the back mirror, Sulli swears they see a person standing behind them, watching with dead, dull eyes. Their breath sharpens, and they whip their head back, only to find once again, nothing there at all.

God fucking dammit Sulli, now is a really bad time to start seeing things again.

And yet, Sulli doesn't believe they're just seeing things. Someone is following them. They have been for some time now, and despite thinking that not telling Club Lore about it would keep them safer, they're starting to feel as though it might have had the opposite effect.

Shaking the ruthless image from their head, Sulli heads back towards their dorm, parking the car in the complex lot near their dorm. They'll have to figure something more permanent tomorrow, to assure that it'd be fine to leave it there, but it'd have to do for now. Fishing out Erlik's leash from the back seat, Sulli hooks it on, stepping outside the car with leash in one hand, and carefully balanced pizza in the other.

The walk is short, but Sulli can't stop that aching, eerie feeling that follows them as they reach the door. It's directly outside, so the privacy is nice, not having to walk by a bunch of other dorms, but it's less secure this way. Their hands tremble as they turn the lock, stepping into the quiet of their studio apartment. It's only a moment before Sulli unhooks the leash, closing the door behind them both.

Wait.

Sulli's eyes catch on the kitchen table. There's now a pizza box sitting there, but Sulli distinctly remembers that nothing else had been there. And now, near the corner of the table, where it's pressed against the wall, is a small glass vial.

Erlik's ears pin back slowly, and a low growl rumbles from his throat. Shadows dance across the room, and in a single beat, the front door swings open again. Sulli whips to face whatever creature has been trailing them, hands trembling as they meet the dark, empty eyes of the figure.

He's a large man. That's what it looks like anyway. All in black, with some kind of bandages covering the lower half of his face. The door creaks shut behind him, and Sulli's breath catches in their throat as they reach behind them, gripping the fragile glass vile in their hand.

"That's for you." The voice is deep and gravelly, but it's less human than Sulli wanted it to be. Robotic in a way. Monotone. Sulli doesn't trust their voice, so they don't say a word, grip tightening. The man takes a step forward, and Erlik arches unnaturally. Less like a dog at all. More like a cat. "My boss wants your blood as proof."

Proof.

"That's going to be the only thing left of you, after all."

Oh.

Oh.

The Devil of Dublin. 

Sulli takes a deep breath, setting the vial back on the table, refusing their eyes to shift towards the closet. They have a sword in here. They have multiple ones, actually. Only one other than their fencer swords, one that they bought on their eighteenth birthday, solely as a present for themselves. They'd used it for their cosplay before. But it was real. Real and very, very dangerous. It's cliche that they have one, they're perfectly aware, but it's the best idea that they had right now.

All they had to do was get to it.

Erlik's growl is unearthly, but in another moment there's a flash of dark fur as he launches himself at the killer, and Sulli turns on their heel, diving towards their closet, ripping it open as the horrid, aching sound of a thud, and then gunshot fire. Desperately, they grip the sheath of the sword, yanking the iron-laded blade out.

Not fast enough.

A moment later, Sulli feels a thick hand on their throat, shoving them back into the wall, choking the air from their lungs as their fingers press deeper and deeper. So they do exactly what they did on Samhain, and nail him right in the fucking crotch.

It's enough that the grip loosens, and a choked cough strangles from their throat as they kick out from the killer, grasping the hilt of their sword, and swinging into the intruder about as hard as they can. It's been a while since they've used the sword, but it cuts deep into the side, drawing out an agonized scream. The gun has been knocked from his hand, even if he crawls towards it from the blow.

A wave of nausea and dizziness throttle Sulli, but they pull the sword back out, ignoring the metallic taste lining their tongue and nose, before swinging it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Over and over until the screaming has stopped, and heavy, heaving silence is all that remains. Sulli can feel the slick liquid underneath their shoes. It's all over, dripping from the sword, onto the handle where trembling fingers stay.

Erlik.

A shaky sob manages to collapse from Sulli's throat as their neck snaps back towards where the dog lays, and on trembling limbs, they manage their way towards the Irish Wolfhound, only to find in utmost relief that he's alive.

Frantically, Sulli searches for the gunshot wound they were expecting, from the shots they'd heard, only to realize that there's nothing there at all. Creeping fear trails up their throat, but they manage to swallow back their vomit as they finally glance down at themselves. They'd heard before that people who suffer from gunshot wounds, sometimes don't feel it in the moment with all the adrenaline. They just didn't think it would ever happen to them.

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Sulli stares at the thick trail of gushing blood coursing down near their thigh. It doesn't look like the bullet actually went through them, but the sight of it is enough to make Sulli's stomach churn over. Another wave of dizziness pins them to the ground, but their own thoughts manage to grasp the fact that the glass vial is still on the table. The distant remnants of pain have begun to register now, but Sulli grits their teeth, pressing up on their hands, reaching for the vial before pulling it back to their chest. A small written inscription is attached, in Gaelic-, along with one short phrase in English.

Send by water.

Sulli doesn't have a lot of time to think, they're going to lose consciousness. As they press the vial to their wound, they manage to dial 112. It's almost mesmerizing watching how fast the vial actually fills. It's sickening too, sadistic almost. The scent lingers, and absently, Sulli registers that the killer's blood smelled the same way because of the Iron.

Human.

Sulli isn't exactly sure what they say on the phone. Everything feels like a hallucination. Still, they manage to wobble to the bathroom. They don't look at themselves in the mirror, knowing that they'll just end up vomiting up all over themselves. Instead, Sulli drops the vial into the toilet and sends it down the draining pipes.

It's hard to breathe now.

They brace themselves on the bathroom floor, digging out the first aid kit. They'll need an excuse for why they were found in the bathroom after slaughtering a man. Sulli's head drops against the door, watching the ceiling as blood pools beneath them.

We'll keep you safe.

Sulli frowns, closing their eyes as they hear the piercing sirens of the outside world beyond them.

We'll keep you safe.

That's not very fair, is it? For as long as their friendship lasted, it'd always been Club Lore promising to keep them safe. That's not how it should work. Couldn't they keep each other safe? For as much as Yaşru had felt guilty about not being able to keep Sulli safe, Sulli hadn't done a very good job at making sure he was safe either.

I won't die here.

No. Because they still needed to keep the promise to Saorise and Corinne. But more than that, they needed to keep the promise they'd made to themselves, the unspoken one they'd made to their friends.

I'll keep you safe.

───────────────

WYN

chapter sixteen!

that one was wild guys, kinda have been looking forward to that one for a while, so I'm glad I finally got to write it!

also! some good news, my girlfriend kissed me for the first time today :) I'm the first-ever girl she's dated, so we took it nice and slow, and today we were doing one of those silly kiss trends where she's got lipstick all over her face and she kissed me! it was super sweet

remember to do your homework, i love you all lots <3 good luck this week!

also! i think it was Lydia's recently, so happy birthday to her! (kinda a shitty present sorry <3)

also! wonder what's gonna happen when the boss gets that blood...

guess we'll see!