Chapter Text
No matter how hard he tried, Abby couldn't recall how he used to get around during his youth without a smart phone. He remembered owning a shabby bicycle that took him anywhere he needed to go, but the memories of how he was able to navigate routes, pinpoint cardinal directions, and locate street addresses faded with time.
Thankfully, he had bumped into a stylish man carrying shopping bags a few days ago and "borrowed" his phone from his jacket pocket for directions. Without it, he'd be lost for days in a city he used to call home.
The app with the interactive map instructed him to make a right. The blue dot turned around the corner with him. He then stopped, glanced up at his destination, and exhaled a sigh of relief. The rectangular Yes24 Live Hall building stood on the street across from him.
He tugged his hoodie tighter around his head, slipped a single black glove on his left hand, and approached the building with an air of "I know what I'm doing," even though he, in reality, didn't know what he was doing. Every step leading him to this moment was pure guesswork and luck, and fortunate for him, luck struck again in the form of a propped door around the side of the building. He didn't hesitate. He entered the open doorway, found another door to the stairs, and climbed them two by two, ignoring the stinging pain poking his sides.
Abby kept going until he heard it. Music, and not just any music. He cracked open a door in the staircase and peeked into the hallway only to find a row of dressing rooms, each with the name of an adored HUNTR/X member. He was close, but not close enough. The music played again, and he glanced up at the next floor.
They're on the stage, he thought and teleported up one flight of stairs.
He peeked through another door. The crisp musical notes of a song he wasn't familiar with floated through the air. He was getting closer. With no one in sight, he walked through the door and jogged down the maze of hallways, dodging boxes, carts, and stanchions, until he reached another doorway labeled MEZZANINE.
Luck favored him again when he poked his head through and discovered the houselights were off, giving him the perfect cover to step into the shadows of the mezzanine. He removed his hood and drew a hand through his sweaty, raspberry pink hair as he slinked closer to the railing.
The deep and confident voice from the equally pink-headed member of the HUNTR/X trio echoed from the stage. "Let's do the kick, fall back on the other leg, and then spin."
It'd been ten months since he last heard that voice, and despite having no substantial reasons to miss it, he did.
His eyes remained glued to her as she performed the moves with a short music clip. Zoey and Rumi followed her lead and rejoiced when it went smoother than their previous attempts.
"Okay, let's take five," Rumi said and reached for a nearby water bottle.
Zoey hopped off the edge of the stage and into the arms of a man with an unmistakable head of hair: Mystery, or as Abby liked to call him, Mystie. Although, the young demon preferred to go by his given name, Min-jae or Min. Abby, on the other hand, preferred his own stage name. Sure, it was connected to a superficial part of his body that no longer had any kind of allure, but he grew to like it and take ownership of it.
As he spied from the balcony, he was dying to know how Min ended up on the surface and under the protection of the daintiest Hunter. The new Honmoon made it damn near impossible to travel between worlds, and Gwi-Ma wasn't doing anyone any last-minute favors, especially for the Saja Boys who failed to bring about his reign of unlimited power.
Abby saw the opportunity to corner him when he left through the side door in search of Zoey's notebook, which she accidentally left behind in her dressing room.
"Hello?" It was Mira's sultry voice again. This time, it was aimed right at him. For a moment, he froze like a deer in headlights, but then he ducked down by a row of chairs.
Rumi's voice spoke up next. "What is it, Mira?"
"I thought I saw someone."
"It's probably just security."
"Right."
Zoey chimed in and wiggled her fingers. "Or maybe it's a ghost."
The girls laughed it off, but Abby exhaled a relieved breath. He could handle Mira on her own, but he didn't have the strength or energy to deal with all three of them. He had enough bruises and scars to last him another lifetime.
With the attention off him, he teleported himself near the dressing rooms. Zoey's door was cracked open, so he pushed it the rest of the way with the tip of his finger and smiled at the sight of Min-jae digging through Zoey's tote for her notebook.
"Hello, brother."
Min-jae's eyes snapped up to the mirror, catching Abby's classic grin in the reflection. Abby wasn't expecting a hug or even a handshake, but he could tell by the way Min's jaw clenched that his presence was not welcome. "What are you doing here?"
Min-jae stepped with caution toward the door, and to give him peace of mind, Abby walked the opposite way past a comfy-looking couch in the direction of the mirror. "Oh, you know. Just checking in."
"I'm not going back to Gwi-Ma."
"Relax, I'm not here for you. Love the new look, by the way. Zoey's been a good influence on you," he said and pointed to the new hairstyle that revealed his right eye while keeping his left eye hidden under a curtain of silvery purple hair. He didn't blame the kid for covering it, especially after Gwi-Ma's fury scarred and permanently damaged his left eye.
"If you're here for her—"
"Down boy. I'm not here for Zoey, either. It's cute how protective you are of each other, you know that? Like tooth-rotting stuff."
"How—"
"Do I know about you two? Because I’ve been following you and noticed you're glued to each other’s hips. This is the first time in days I've been able to get you by yourself. The one thing I can't figure out is how you got here. And let me tell you, Gwi-Ma was not happy when you," he paused to snap his fingers, "vanished all of a sudden. You left me in a really tight spot."
Min-jae bowed his head. "I didn't mean to… Zoey was at a wishing well in downtown Seoul, and she wished for me."
Abby blinked and considered the possibility. He wasn't as old and experienced as other demons, but even he understood there were other forces out there beyond the demon realm.
“Someone that pure of heart getting her deepest desire? I can believe it. I wonder what spirit or god granted her that wish. Probably some do-gooder who had nothing else to do." He buried his hands in the pockets of his pants, satisfied at having an answer, and smiled at Min-jae. "Despite leaving me high and dry, I'm happy for you."
A subtle blush appeared on Min-jae's cheeks. He wasn't shy by any means, but he also wasn't one for having all the attention directed at him, either. "Thank you."
Abby then dropped the smile, and his tone shifted. “Are you using protection?"
"What?"
"For sex, Mystie. Are you using protection?"
The initial blush turned into red-hot stains across his face and down his neck. "Abby, seriously?"
"You're one of the youngest of the group. Aren't you and Zoey around the same age? Whatever. The point is demon babies are just as adorable as any other babies, but you and Zoey are way too young—"
"YES! We're using protection! Can you stop now? Jeez!"
Abby's calm and collected smile returned. "Good. I want to be an uncle as much as the next person, but give it some time, okay?"
Min-jae rubbed what Abby assumed was the early stages of a headache from the bridge of his nose. "Okay."
"Now that we got that out of the way—"
"Why are you here, Abby?"
As much as he wanted to go into detail or just plainly stick around and catch up, he had to speed up this conversation. "I'm here for Mira."
Min-jae's jaw dropped. "Are you insane? She's going to kill you."
"I have no doubt she'll try again, but I need her."
"For what?"
"I don't really have time to explain. I just need you to go back out to the stage, tell her a friend's looking for her in her dressing room, and I'll deal with the rest."
Min-jae backed away to the door. "I'm not doing that."
A third voice stopped him from exiting the room. "Doing what?"
Mira walked in, her presence commanding and imposing as ever. Her cute jean shorts emphasized how her bare legs went on for miles and complemented her simple black tank top. Now that she stood closer, Abby was able to read the hot pink word scribbled above her chest—queen. He thought it suited her well.
"Hey, beautiful," he said as he leaned against the edge of the makeup table and flashed her one of his charismatic smirks. "Miss me?"
Her brow furrowed, a clear sign his charm wasn't working on her. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm picking you up for our first date."
"That's not happening," she said and summoned her gok-do without a second thought.
"Oh, come on. You have to admit, there was a bit of spark between us."
"In your dreams, maybe."
"We did a lot more than talking in my dreams." He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Ugh," she muttered and scrunched her nose, a trait he found both adorable and insulting, before she directed her staff at Min-jae, the bright glow of the blade lighting up the worried expression on his face. "Was this your plan all along?"
Abby withdrew his hands from his pants pockets and snapped his fingers. "Hey, he didn't do anything wrong. If you want to point your pointy stick at someone, I'm right here.” He then vanished and reappeared behind her, catching a whiff of her raspberry and vanilla-scented perfume. "Or back here."
Mira jabbed the staff behind her, but he sidestepped and hooked his arm around the fancy stick, forcing her to turn. She would have kneed him in the groin, but he was faster and more prepared. He opened his gloved hand and blew a palm-sized mound of blue dust toward her face. He lifted the neckline of his hoodie and covered his own nose as Mira shook her head and coughed, the grip around her weapon loosening until it disappeared. She took a few steps back and stumbled, but he reached out and caught her. Mira's eyelids fluttered and then closed completely as she lost consciousness.
"That was easier than I thought it was going to be," Abby said and laid her down on the couch.
"What the hell, Abby? Whatever it is you're planning, I don't want part in it. And you're not taking Mira."
Abby sighed. He loved Min-jae like a little brother, but he didn't want him interfering with his grand plan by ratting him out to the rest of the HUNTR/X trio.
"I was worried you were going to say that."
Before Min-jae could do anything about it, Abby blew more of the sleep-inducing blue dust in his direction. Min-jae batted at the air with Zoey's notebook and coughed, but it was too late. The shimmering particles had already made contact with his skin. And as hard as he tried to fight it, Min couldn't keep his eyes open and his legs sturdy beneath him anymore.
Abby grabbed him, set him down on the floor, and gently patted his head. "Things are going to be different for us, Mystie. Just trust me on this."
He turned his attention toward Mira. Even though he just voiced a promise to Min-jae that things would be different, part of him wondered if this was a stupid plan. She hated his guts, but he was banking on her to cooperate. If she didn't and stabbed him in the back instead, well, at least he'd be dead for real this time. He held onto hope, though, and crossed his fingers, neither of which did anything for him in the past, but it was a start.
"Alright, beautiful. Let's get going," he said and slid his arms under her back and legs to pick her up. The raspberry and vanilla aroma invaded his nostrils again. "It should be illegal for you to smell this good."
It took him a moment to concentrate on his destination. Once he located it in his mind's eye, he and Mira disappeared in a cloud of crimson smoke.
***
Mira moaned as her head drooped forward. She couldn't remember the last time she had a deep night's sleep with no bladder-related interruptions and no nightmares about snapping turtles breaking her toes (she blamed Zoey for that one). The only weird thing that happened was that demon jerkface showing up at the concert hall, but she waved it off as a random dream—except it wasn't a dream.
She popped her eyes open. Her hands, wrists, and ankles were bound with rope. A sleeping Abby sat back across from her. His arms were interwoven above his chest and his right leg was stretched out beside her, while the raised knee from his other leg acted as hook for his backpack. Despite his rugged appearance of worn-torn jeans and a bulky hoody, he looked serene and in much need of sleep, something she refused to give him as she lifted her bound boots and rammed the soles on his shoulder. She relished the string of obscenities that erupted from his mouth.
"Where are we?!"
He nursed his shoulder and steered clear of her feet. "It's pretty self-explanatory!"
She glanced around, but everything was blurry. She was in the process of putting on her contacts when she overheard men's voices in Zoey's dressing room. She should have had them on during practice, but she picked today to be lazy about it. "A cave, seriously? Could you be more prehistoric?"
"It's a sewer drain, for your information. It started pouring, so we're just taking a small break."
Mira pointed her gaze toward the entrance. She couldn't make out much, but she heard the water droplets pitter-pattering above her, so at least he wasn't lying about the weather.
"Taking a break from what? What game are you playing, Abby?"
He placed a hand on his chest and cocked his head. "Aww, you remember my name."
She slammed her back against the tunnel wall and groaned. "Let go of me!"
"Not yet," he said and stood up to approach the entrance. She tried tugging her hands loose, but no matter how much she pulled, they wouldn't budge free. "It looks like the rain's died down, so let's go."
Mira turned on her rear to evade his hands. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"You don't really have a choice right now, do you? Now, come on," he said and mustered enough strength to haul her over his shoulder. Her long hair dangled and grazed the sewer floor.
"I am going to kill you!"
"Been there, done that, remember?"
Once they exited their shelter, she tried lifting her head, but her mop of hair made it difficult to see her surroundings. There were trees and grass; that much she was able to surmise.
"You should have stayed dead, then."
"I would have been perfectly fine with that if it weren't for Gwi-Ma wanting to take his anger out on me and the others."
"Oh boo-hoo. Go tell your sob story to someone who cares. Oh wait, that's no one!"
"Stop squirming!" he said through clenched teeth. "This was so much easier when you were knocked out."
"Where are we going?!"
"You'll see soon enough."
As much as she wanted to make the journey more difficult for him, she quickly grew tired of the struggle. She blamed skipping out on lunch and the blood rushing to her head.
"Why can't you just teleport us to wherever it is you're going? I feel like I'm going to vomit my stomach acids."
"Because I've never been here before."
"If you've never been here before, how do you even know where you're going?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Oh, that gives me so much confidence," she said, but before she knew it, her world turned right-side up and her rear was on the wet grass. She took a few breaths to calm her stomach, the blood in her veins rushing back to her extremities.
She pushed her hair back and scanned the area. It was a small clearing surrounded by trees and, shocking no one, even more trees. There was nothing special about it, but the way Abby walked around the clearing in a circle tickled her curiosity. Only a teensy bit, though.
"What are you doing?"
He brushed a hand through his damp hair and crouched down on the ground, gesturing to grass in front of him. "I think this is it."
"What are you talking about? There's nothing here!" She slid her bound legs beneath her to sit up on her knees, but she lost her balance and fell forward.
The moment her bare arms touched the grass, a white glow emanated through the dirt. She gasped and pushed herself back up, but the severed connection caused the glow to fade.
She couldn't see it all that well, but she desperately wanted to wipe the smirk off Abby's face. "You were saying?"
“What is this?”
Abby stood up and pressed an intentional step on to the ground, as if to test whether it was sturdy enough to hold his weight. "It's the entrance to the demon world."
Mira recoiled and landed back on her rear. That's not possible. "Nothing like that exists."
He took a more confident step forward as his hands grasped at the air in frustration. "You're still so gorgeous, even when you're so wrong! Not all demons can teleport, so once upon a time, there was a literal entrance to the human world." He opened his arms wide and gestured to the ground beneath. "The Honmoom did what it could to keep demons at bay, but this entrance was still an open wound in the earth. So, when the Demon Hunters discovered it centuries and centuries ago, they sealed it."
Celine never told them anything about a secret doorway. Then again, by the way Abby described it, she probably didn't even know about it. It could have been intentionally or unintentionally forgotten with time, which could explain why it never came up in their teachings.
"But you can teleport. Why do you even need this?"
"Because your new and pretty Honmoon won't let me go back."
"How did you get here in the first place?"
"Gwi-Ma sent me. He had enough power left to squeeze me through, and believe you me, I never want to go through that again."
Abby approached her and helped her stand up, his searing hands cupping her elbows for support. "What did he send you to do?"
He huffed a breath. He was close enough for her to clearly see the dark circles under his eyes. His hair had grown a little longer, a little shaggier. The light scar cutting through his right eyebrow was also new—all of it, a stark contrast to the day when she first saw him in the street in front of Healer Han's clinic.
"I could stand here all day and answer questions, but time's not on our side," he said as he pulled a butterfly knife from his back pocket and spun it open to cut the portion of the rope tied around her hands, taking extra care not to loosen the restraint around her wrists. He obviously didn't trust her, and it was a smart move. Otherwise, she would have punched across the face.
She ground her teeth. "I'm not opening this door."
"I know you won't. That's why I'm doing it for you. Sorry for this."
"Sorry for what? Kidnapping me? I'm surprised you feel any remorse at all."
"No, I'm sorry for this."
He sliced her palm open. Mira yelped, but he extended the wounded hand above the seal, drizzling the blades of grass with drops of her blood. The ground glowed and vibrated beneath them. Part of the seal cracked and sank inches deeper into the dirt. More cracks followed and the ground kept sinking until a spiral staircase started to form.
Mira shoved Abby away and tried to summon her gok-do, but he wrapped his arms around her.
"Don't even think about it. You're still coming with me."
"Over my dead body!" she shouted and struggled against his grip.
"That's not gonna happen, either!"
He lifted her up by the waist and carried her down the grass-covered stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, he slapped Mira's wounded hand against the wall and the stairs began to ascend. As bits of the afternoon sky disappeared, torches ignited down the length of a tunnel.
Mira shoved him again and wobbled on her feet, but she maintained her balance. "Why do you need me here?!"
"If you sit down so I can patch up your hand, I’ll tell you."
She growled in frustration, her voice echoing down the empty hallway. Her hand stung, her stomach groaned, and her head ached something fierce. She never felt this defeated before. Well, that wasn't true. She had the Saja Boys to thank for the last time this feeling arrested her. And now here she was, in the clutches of a former Saja Boy once again.
"Help me down," she said and held her hands out. She expected a witty comment in return, but he set her down in silence. Abby took a seat beside her legs and brought his backpack around to his lap, where he pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, cotton pads, stitch bandaids, and gauze.
He planned for this, she thought to herself. He could have left her wound untouched, let it get infected in a mysteriously old tunnel, but instead, he had gone through the effort of getting the materials she would need after everything was said and done.
Abby angled her hand toward the light and began the process of cleaning it out. She knocked her head back against the wall when the sting of the rubbing alcohol pierced its way up her arm, but she let her eyes close when his breath cooled and calmed it down. After he applied the butterfly stitches with additional care she didn’t think he was capable of, he wrapped her hand in the gauze.
"You know what?" she said, her head rolling on the wall toward his direction.
"What?"
"If you weren't a demon, I could have fallen for a guy like you." She didn't know what possessed her to say that. Maybe it was the fact that he managed to hold his own against her or the fact that her ravenous hunger tended to push her to say anything, even her deepest and darkest secrets.
"Maybe you should expand your horizons, then."
"That's rich coming from you."
Abby eyed her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Maybe you should expand your horizons, but instead, you're doing Gwi-Ma's bidding."
"That's easy to say from someone who has choices."
"Jinu had one, apparently."
"Yeah, and look where that got him," he muttered and stuffed the supplies back in his bag.
"You understand your master's on his deathbed, right? That your realm's crumbling around you. Why not let him die like the coward he is?"
Abby inched closer to her. "I am."
That wasn't the response she expected, her eyes blinking in puzzlement. "What?"
"You think I brought you down here to feed him your soul? Get him back on the up and up just so that I could be on his good side? I brought you so you can help me put an end to him."
Mira had no words, his confession stalling her brain.
"If I kill Gwi-Ma, I take his powers. And under my rule, there'll be no more holding people's sins against them, no more hiding in shame, no more living in squalor."
So, this is a power grab. I should have known. "I don't believe you."
Abby exhaled a tired breath and ran a hand through his hair, but he seemingly found the energy to face her again. "I need you for this, Mira."
"Why not bring Rumi and Zoey too?"
"Gwi-Ma is a master manipulator who knew Rumi's father. Even in his weakened state, he could tempt her with whatever he knows about her parents."
"Rumi isn't gullible."
"It doesn't matter. I've seen honorable people fall to their knees to get a fraction of whatever Gwi-Ma dangled in front of them. Rumi isn't an exception."
"What about Zoey?"
The sharp features of his face softened. "I've seen the way Min-jae looks at her. If something were to happen to her, he'd kill me. And I prefer not to have that happen. Again."
Despite presenting valid reasons why he didn’t bring her best friends along, she couldn't help but feel like he was scraping at the bottom of the barrel. "So, I'm your last resort?"
"You're my first choice, Mira."
His words stunned her into silence again. For so long, she believed herself to be someone people barely tolerated instead of someone people sought after. Joining HUNTR/X was one of the rare moments in her life when she felt wanted and accepted. Was this moment with Abby in a dark and desolate tunnel beneath the ground another one of those rare moments? It was difficult to say, or maybe she didn’t want to give it too much thought.
"Why did Gwi-Ma really send you?"
"I convinced him I could open the seal on both ends, round up enough demons to create a weak spot in the Honmoon, and let them harvest souls. He ate it up. Even told me he'd reward me after I conquered the human world in his name, but guess what? I lied," he said and searched his backpack for something. "And you're probably thinking, 'How do I know whether or not he's lying to me too?' And to be honest, I have absolutely nothing that will make you trust me, but Gwi-Ma took people from me—people I care about—and the only way to bring them back and revamp the demon world as it stands right now is to take Gwi-Ma's throne. So, I'm begging you here."
Mira searched his face for any cracks in his story, but there was something concrete and believable in his honey brown eyes that chipped away at her icy anti-demon exterior. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"
"It's the only angle I have," he said and pulled out her contacts case and cleaning solution from the depths of his backpack. He must have gone back for them while she slept. Even with her poor eyesight, she could still fight, but apparently, he wanted her to be fully on top of her game.
"If, and this is a planet-sized if, I go through with this, how do you propose we kill him?"
Something akin to hope flashed on his face. "I'll kill him, but I need you to watch my back. There are other demons vying for power. That's why delaying this trip any longer isn't an option."
"Won't Gwi-Ma try to stop us?"
Abby shook his head. "He should be dormant by now, reserving what little energy he has left. I can barely hear him in my ear."
"Why can't you just let him die?"
"Because the basic components of his power end up dying with him. And the demon world wouldn't crumble necessarily. It'll just fester and breed more chaos unchecked. I'm thinking you don't want to deal with that or leave it to your successors. Am I right?"
That was not a scenario she had considered before, and as much as demon hunting thrilled her, the thought of the demon world bursting at the seams didn't appeal to her one bit. "You still need to answer my question about how you intend to kill him. Even if he is dormant, isn’t he a giant flame of evil?"
Abby chuckled. "He was, but those flames consume too much energy. His physical form resides in the main temple. It's how he's protected himself for centuries."
"So, you want to break into the temple, locate his physical body, and kill him?"
He presented her with an apple. "Hell of a first date, huh?"
Mira's eyes transformed into hearts at the sight of actual food, but she batted the hunger fog away to address his comment. "This is not a date."
"Keep telling yourself that," he said and held the apple closer to her like dangling a carrot in front of a horse. "So, are you with me?"
She eyed the apple and replayed the highlights of their conversation in her head. She could lure him into a false sense of trust, then turn the tables on him, or stuff the apple down his throat, but she ultimately came back to the same point: there was too much at stake.
Mira thrusted her bound wrists toward him. "You better not try any other stupid moves, or your little plan ends with me."
The corners of Abby's mouth stretched into a pleased grin as he grabbed his knife. "I love when you threaten me. It's your version of flirting."
She was already starting to regret this. "Hurry up, loser."
***
When Abby learned about the tunnel's existence decades ago, he expected it to be a bug-infested, light-deprived, never-ending tube of dirt. Instead, it was a mostly bug-free, well-lit, never-ending tube of limestone with curves, dips, and the occasional climbs.
During one of those dips, Mira slid down the slope and paused where she landed, essentially blocking his way. "Before we continue to move forward with this," she said as she turned and crossed her arms. "I need to know more about the demon I'm helping to put into power once Gwi-Ma's taken down."
"Takedown, takedown, takedown, down, down, down."
Given the way Mira eyed him, she was not impressed when his internal radio kicked in.
"What? It's a catchy song."
"Can you be serious about this, please?"
"Okay, fine," he said, his legs dangling as he angled himself back to ease the growing discomfort around his torso. "What do you want to know?"
"What made you a demon in the first place?"
"Same traumatic story as Jinu and most other humans who ended up down here."
"Which is?"
Abby pressed his lips together and fixed his eyes on a random spot on the wall beside her, his words concise and clipped like his memories. "I was a soldier. A lousy one. I was forced to fight in a war I didn't want to be in. There was enemy fire one day. I ran for it, leaving the rest of the soldiers behind. I got shot down. I didn't want to die alone in the forest, but I couldn't do anything about it. So, just when I thought I was going to die, Gwi-Ma slithered his way into my head and gave me the option to live as long as I served him. And like the idiot I am, I took it."
It was one of the lowest points in his pathetic life as a human. Not only did he run away to save his own skin, but he willingly subjected himself to a demonic life of shame and misery. He spent years berating himself and calling himself a spineless coward and many, many more years under Gwi-Ma's thumb building the spine he wished he had all along.
Abby had no doubt in his mind Mira had a low opinion way before this little adventure of theirs began, and he was absolutely certain her opinion of him dipped even lower after sharing his origin story. Regardless, he risked a glance in her direction, but he only found a look of contemplation. At least it was better than a look of disgust.
It took a few moments, but she finally moved aside, allowing him to slide down the rest of the way.
"So, how old are you?"
He couldn't keep the math straight in his head, even on a good day. "A few years shy of a hundred, I think."
"Wow, you're old."
Despite the truth bomb he dropped on her about his past, he chuckled. "Has no one told you to respect your elders?"
She rolled her eyes and focused on the steps ahead of her, even as she voiced another question. "Do demons age slowly?"
"More like they're frozen in time. But for the most part, it's whatever Gwi-Ma wants it to be. Some do age normally, like Rumi and Min-jae, because they were born as demons instead of being held back by a contract."
"Is that one of the things you plan to drop as the new ruler? Making deals for people's souls?"
"Yes. No one should be manipulated into being the worst version of themselves and then be punished for it."
A comfortable silence fell between them, something he didn't think they were capable of doing in the same space. He imagined the wheels in her head turning, racking up another batch of questions. He couldn't help but smile when her mouth opened to do exactly that, but just as quickly as his smile appeared, it faded.
"What's your given name?"
"I was named after my father," he said. Someone I wish I could forget. "But I prefer Abby, if that's okay?"
"Fair enough," she replied before transitioning to another least favorite topic. "Why did you participate in the whole Saja Boys scheme?"
Abby brushed his fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his neck. "You were right earlier, about me having a choice. I could have stood up to Gwi-Ma and risked being killed for it, but instead, I fell in line. Despite telling myself not to be afraid, the fear still got to me. It got to all of us, especially since he was getting desperate. It didn't help that his magic had a hold over us, either. We were like zombies, doing his bidding. I know you're not looking for excuses, but that's why we ended up doing what we did. And for that, I'm sorry."
Mira kept her head forward, even though his peering eyes were curious to see what was swimming around in hers. Understanding? Aversion? Tiny visions of kimbap? He imagined the latter, since it was almost dinner time.
"Can I ask you something?" he said, his body twisting to walk backwards as he slipped his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie.
"You already did, loser," she replied, except her delivery didn't carry as much of a bite as before.
"Who hurt you?"
He took a major risk by asking the potentially lethal question. It'd been circling his mind for the better part of a year, but as much as he tried pushing her out of his head, he was still curious about her. He knew the basics: she was severe, assertive, didn’t take crap from anyone, but she was also endearing when she wanted to be, quick-witted, and thoughtful.
Anyone who bothered to look past the basics, however, would know there was a reason why she guarded herself. And call him crazy, but he wanted to know that reason.
Her eyes drifted over to him. "What?"
"In your past. Someone or several people hurt you. I can see it in the way you talk and hold yourself up."
Mira rotated the ruby-studded ring she wore on her right hand a few times. For a moment, he wondered whether he should tell her to forget he even asked, but she surprised him with a response.
"My parents, mostly. They wanted to fit me into this mold of theirs, but I didn't want to be a cookie-cutter daughter with cookie-cutter expectations. They never supported me in anything I wanted to do for myself."
Abby had read an interview about Mira's parents prior to abducting her. And even though what he did to get her to the bridge between the human and demon realms was wrong, it was safe to say what her parents did to cut her off and shun her was way, way worse because at least he believed in her abilities.
"It wasn't just them, though, right? Who hurt you after them? A boyfriend? A girlfriend?"
That got her attention so much so it almost looked like she was impressed with him. "You know, for someone who was a lousy soldier, you're pretty observant."
A casual smirk graced his features. "Let's just say, it took me a few decades to refine my skills."
She inhaled a deep breath, her fingers now fidgeting with their hair. "I had this girlfriend a few years back before joining HUNTR/X. We were great together until we weren't. She wanted me to pursue ballet with her. She even put in a good word for me with her troupe. I liked ballet, but I wasn't passionate about it. She kept pushing me and pushing me toward it, trying to put me in another box like how my parents tried. When I refused, she made me feel like my interests in other forms of dance weren't good enough, that they weren't worth pursuing."
Mira grabbed him by the neckline of his hoodie and tugged him forward to stop him from falling down the next dip in the tunnel, the act unintentionally bringing him closer to her. She snatched her hand away, but he did nothing to put space between them. And he noticed, neither did she.
"Do you miss her?"
Mira shrugged one of her shoulders. "Sometimes."
"Do you want me to terrorize her dreams?"
Her eyes widened. "You can do that?"
Abby released a genuine laugh for the first time in months. "No. Sleep demons can, though. I know a really good one. She owes me a favor."
"No thanks."
His gaze traced the sharp yet elegant lines of her face. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you didn't change for anyone. You're pretty badass the way you are now."
She dodged his stare and slid down to the next level, essentially brushing him off.
"What? I can't give you a compliment?"
"It's… weird."
He followed close behind her. "If you saw me as more than just a demon, it wouldn’t be weird."
She spun around on her heel to face him, forcing him to come to an abrupt stop. "What else would you be?"
"A former human who made mistakes, who's trying to make up for them in some way."
Mira scanned his face like the human version of a lie detector. He wasn't a mind reader, but he was smart enough to know what was coursing through her mind: just because they were sharing stories about each other, that didn't mean they were suddenly friends.
"You're not winning me over with any of this."
Abby wished he could have put money on her response, because it would have earned himself a nice pot of won. Still, it disappointed him to know he wasn't anywhere near her good side, so he shrugged. "I know."
He stepped around her and took the lead, but this was the thing about Abby—he was persistent. She didn't think much of him right now, but he wasn't going to give up until she at least saw him in a more positive light. And maybe he was a fool for thinking he could change her mind about him, but it was still worth a shot.
***
Mira's thoughts were somersaulting in her head for the past hour, calculating and jumping from one point to another. Abby was a demon, plain and simple. She hated demons, so in doing the math, she hated Abby, except the more she got to know him, the more human he turned out to be. It aggravated her to know his origin story, even though she literally asked for it. She wished she could wipe the information from her mind and go back to seeing him as a heartless, good-for-nothing demon.
I'm glad you didn't change for anyone. You’re pretty badass the way you are now.
She shook her mental fists in the air. Why did he have to go and say a thing like that? She spent her entire life fighting to be who she wanted to be, struggling to find people who accepted her faults and insecurities. Zoey and Rumi were a godsend. Mira let them in, and they instantly became the family she always wanted, but that was as far as her circle went. She rarely let anyone else in. She preferred to keep a wall up and keep other people at a distance, but this jerk had the audacity to say the one thing that meant the world to her, causing a crack to appear on her wall.
Mira wanted to shove his face against the floor. Though, by the way he kept tripping over his feet, he was bound to do that himself. They’d been walking for a handful of hours, so he couldn’t be that tired. Something else was messing with him.
“Are you okay?”
Abby stopped and planted his hands on the tunnel wall to hold himself up. “I need a break.”
“Weren’t you talking about time not being on our side? No breaks.”
He leaned his forehead on the limestone, his chest rising and falling with every hard breath he took. “I need a break, Mira. Please.”
“What is with you?”
“I just… I need a couple of minutes.” He reached one arm back to remove his backpack, the simple movement resulting in a wince.
“Are you hurt?” When he refused to answer, Mira didn’t seek permission. She lifted his hoodie and undershirt to find bloody gauze wrapped around his middle. “What happened?”
He braced his forearm against the wall and buried his eyes in the crook of his elbow. “Before Gwi-Ma sent me, he gave me a deadline. And to reinforce that deadline, he gave me one of his favorite torturing devices. I just need to give it some time, and then, it’ll stop.”
Mira thought about scolding him for keeping something like that to himself, but she tossed her anger in the backseat and focused on what to do next.
“Take this off,” she said and tugged on his clothes.
“It’ll stop in a minute or two.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re bleeding and in pain. Take. It. Off.”
Abby sniffed back his tears of anguish and pushed himself off the wall. “You’re gonna have to help me.”
Mira rolled up the hems of his hoodie and shirt with extreme care, and once it was past his chest, he was able to squeeze his arms and head out of the garments. She unwrapped the sweaty gauze, and with every spin, it revealed a thin metal wire coiled around his stomach, constricting him like a python. There were some areas on his torso where the skin had been ripped open, but there were other parts where the chafing hadn’t cut into him. Yet.
He extended an arm back out to the wall for support. “I tried cutting it off, but nothing works.”
“This is going to sever you in half if we don’t stop it.”
Even with his life on the line, he still found a moment to favor her with an amused smirk. “You almost sound worried.”
Mira frowned. She was worried, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the truth, part of the truth being that not even someone like him deserved a death like this. “Let me get your knife.”
“I told you, it won’t work.”
She crouched down and rummaged through his backpack. “It’ll work for me. It has to! I’m a Hunter, remember?”
“I don’t think it works that way, Mira.”
Mira bellowed, irritated with Gwi-Ma’s stupid precautions and Abby’s pestering secrets. She wished she could transport herself to the gym. Whenever she needed to expel her frustrations, she’d whack a punching bag around or dive straight into a gok-do training session or—
She shot straight up, an idea exploding like fireworks over her head, and held her hand out. Swirls of silver and gold erupted in midair until her gok-do appeared.
The sight of her weapon blanched Abby’s face. “You’re joking.”
She couldn’t help but reveal a smirk of her own. “Do you want that thing off you or not?”
“Will it even work?”
“Demon killer,” she said and pointed to her staff, then flipped her finger toward his stomach. “Demon device. Demon killer stops demon device, so it’s going to work.”
“Your logic is blowing my mind right now,” he replied, his voice dripping with notes of sarcasm and skepticism.
“Fine, don’t trust me. I’ll put it away and let you suffer a slow and agonizing death,” she said and extended her hand to make it disappear, but he caught her wrist.
His heated palm sent a ripple of goosebumps up her arm. Her eyes snapped to his like magnets. An alarm tripped in her head, similar to the alarm that sounded off whenever her inner Hunter sensed demons encroaching, except this new alarm was warning her about something different. Stop staring into his eyes, she chided herself. She indulged in another moment of drinking them in before ripping her gaze away.
“I trust you,” he said and released her arm. “How do you want me?”
Mira’s head jerked in a frantic need to not think about that question in a provocative sort of way. The man was suffering, for crying out loud! She cleared her throat. “Standing. I’ll see if I can cut it from the side, so face the wall and put your arms back up.”
“Tell me something. Distract me from the pain.”
Her fingers hovered over the abrasions, trying to figure out the best way to cut through the metal wire without cutting into him. “When I first saw Min-jae in Zoey’s apartment, I attacked him and sliced his arm open. It was the first time I saw a demon bleed after my blade touched them. I didn’t know demons could bleed.”
“As a Hunter, you were taught to kill, not to question, so I’m not surprised you know very little about us,” he said, groaning and balling up his hands into fists when the coil tightened around his waist. He inhaled and exhaled a few calming breaths before continuing. “Your blades have the power to disintegrate us, but we still bleed just like any other animal or creature would. The reason your weapons don’t work on me and Min-jae the same way anymore is because this is part of Gwi-Ma’s punishment. Disintegration is an easy out. If we were to die again, especially at the hands of a Hunter, he wanted us to feel that final blow.”
The more Abby talked about Gwi-Ma, the more she hated him and his fiery guts. Mira moved around to inspect his right side and spotted three letters tattooed on his back below his shoulder.
“What’s IHK?”
“Someone I care about.”
Mira wasn’t pleased to admit it, but this detail intrigued her. His vague statement could include a variety of people: relatives, friends, lovers. She was itching to ask follow-up questions, but she had a task to focus on. She also didn’t want to entangle herself even more in matters that had nothing to do with her.
“Okay, I found a good spot to cut through, but I have to dig in a little bit.”
Abby dipped his head back and closed his eyes. “Do what you have to do.”
Thanks to his sweat, Mira managed to squeeze two fingers behind the wire. She didn’t bother easing him into it after that; it was either now or never. She stuck her knee on the back of his thigh to keep him forward and wrenched hard on the wire, separating it from his skin. He released a series of expletives from his mouth, stuff she also had the habit of shouting herself, but with one firm tap of her blade the coil snapped.
Mira’s face lit up with joy. “It worked!”
Abby breathed out a sigh of pure relief. “You’re a goddamn lifesaver, thank you.”
Her gok-do vanished, allowing her to use both hands to remove the rest of the wire. She dumped it off to the side and spent the next half hour cleaning and patching him up as best she could before adding clean gauze as the final touch. Neither of them spoke the entire time. Mira had no idea what was going through his mind, but she was still processing what he’d told her about demons.
He was right. As Hunters, they were taught to kill, not to question. She often looked forward to demon hunts, to kill a few dozen of them and then pat herself on the shoulder afterward in a job well done, but she never questioned. Not even when Min-jae was bleeding on Zoey’s floor. If it weren’t for Rumi doing the questioning and standing in her way, she would have ended him right there and then.
She brought her mind back to the present. “Why didn’t you tell me about the device?
Abby pulled on the short-sleeve shirt and stored the hoodie inside the backpack. “I didn’t think you’d care.”
“I care!” She didn’t like the implication that she was some sort of stone-hearted ice queen. Then again, he had a point. When did she ever care about demons? She quickly amended her statement to be more accurate. “I care… about your mission.”
He trained his honey brown eyes on her. She waited for some kind of sharp-witted response, but all he did was stare.
She considered herself an expert at staring contests. Even that quack Zoey found for Rumi’s voice backed away when he tried to read her personality through her eyes. But there was something about Abby’s fixed, unwavering gaze that threw her off, and she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Stop with the staring!”
“I’m not staring. I’m admiring. There’s a difference.”
She finally dragged the question that’d been on her mind out in the open. “Why do you even find me attractive? I’m aggressive, blunt, confrontational.”
“Is any of that supposed to scare me off?”
“It should.”
“It doesn’t.”
Mira averted her eyes. People finding her attractive wasn’t the issue. She captivated the attention of men and women everywhere, sometimes without even trying. The issue was that, for the first time, the person on the other end was a demon. He didn’t give her a chance to dwell on it further.
“Help me up.”
Mira stood, flung his backpack over her shoulders, pulled him up by the forearms, and held onto his elbows to keep him from swaying. She tried to ignore the way his bare arms seared against hers. It wasn’t alarming, like touching the handle of a boiling pot of food. It was the kind of heat that reminded her of the sun’s warmth on bright summer days.
“Be honest with me about something,” he said, their arms lingering longer than they should.
“What?”
“Will you miss the perfect abs? Because a lot of that’s going to scar—”
Mira ground her teeth and shoved his arms away. Maybe the hunger was getting to her and keeping her from thinking straight after all. “You’re infuriating.”
Abby laughed behind her as she led the way this time. “You love it, though.”
***
Mira yawned and stretched in her fluffy, comfy, and spacious bed. She rubbed the gunk out of her eyes, but once the change in scenery registered in her mind, she bolted upright. Her room looked exactly the same as she had left it.
How did I get back home? What happened to Abby? Was all of that the result of some strange dream?
She grabbed the phone on the nightstand to confirm the date. It was the day after the practice session, the one she and the girls attended at the Yes24 Live Hall.
She swung her legs over to the edge of the bed and reached for her house slippers. Nothing stood out of place, not even her favorite polar bear sweatshirt. She took cautious steps toward the door and paused when she heard voices.
Zoey and Rumi.
Her face lit up. She opened the door, but abruptly left it ajar when her name came up in conversation.
“I don’t know how much longer I can put up with Mira, you know?” Rumi said in an exasperated tone.
“I know exactly what you mean!” said Zoey. “She’s just so overbearing. And other times, she’s all over the place. ‘Let’s do this move. No wait, let’s do that move.’ I know she’s the lead dancer, but part of me wonders whether she knows what she’s doing.”
“Not only that, but the dance workshop she participated in, did they even bother to show her current stuff? She’s making us look so outdated. It’s embarrassing!”
Mira’s heart sank in her chest. They were always open and honest with each other, especially after Rumi’s secret almost tore them apart. Why would they talk about her behind her back?
The phone in her hand suddenly burst to life, its ringtone startling her. She closed the door and answered it. “Hello?”
“I hope you’re satisfied.”
Her brow creased. “Dad?”
“Your grandmother died last night.”
Tears pierced her eyes as she pressed a hand to her already aching heart. “You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie about something like this? The last thing she said before she died was how disappointed she felt in having a granddaughter who never cared about anything or anyone, except herself.”
Mira swung her head from side to side. “She wouldn’t say that! She would never say that!”
“She did, and now she’s gone!”
She launched her phone across the room and slumped down to the floor beneath her, covering her raised knees with her sweatshirt and sobbing her broken heart out.
Mira saw her bedroom door open from her peripherals, but she couldn’t care less about who saw her in this state. Her best friends thought the worst of her behind her back, and her most favorite person in the world died thinking she was a rotten granddaughter.
“Mira,” said a familiar voice and gripped her arms.
She lifted her wet eyes to him. “Abby?”
“Mira, you’re still asleep. I need you to wake up.”
Mira shook her head as she shed more tears. “I’m all alone.”
“You’re not alone. I’m right here. There’s a sleep demon feeding on your sadness and fears. I can’t kill him while he’s still connected to you, so I need you to wake up.”
Mira looked toward the direction of the living room. “Rumi and Zoey?”
“They’re not real. The real Rumi and Zoey are on the surface in the human world, remember?”
She sniffed and swallowed the ball of emotion lodged in her throat. “We’re in the tunnel.”
“Yes! It was getting late, so we decided to go to sleep. There was a slight draft coming through, so I suggested cozying up to each other for warmth, and you said…”
“I’d rather freeze to death.”
A genuine smile adorned his face. “There she is. Now I need you to wake up!”
The real Mira opened her eyes. She was back in the tunnel, the beige and cream-colored ceiling surprisingly feeling like a welcome sight.
Abby yanked the sleep demon away from her side and slammed him against the wall. He was a raggedy, nightmare-inducing creature with a dark blue face, pointed ears, and beady yellow eyes.
“Give it back!”
The demon hissed in return. “Give what back?”
“The ring you stole from her finger and don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Mira glanced down at her bare right hand. She patted her shirt and pockets, but it was gone.
The demon’s eyes swam over to Mira. “It’s a marriage ring. She has no one special in her life. She has no use for it.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” Abby snarled at the demon, his purple patterns spreading up his arms and neck. She couldn’t see his face from where she stood, but she imagined his eyes were glowing a fierce gold. “You either give it back, or I’ll rip your throat open and dig it out myself.”
The sleep demon growled in response, but he spat out the ring, the piece of jewelry landing on the floor in a small puddle of mucus and saliva.
“She’ll have to sleep again sooner or later,” the demon said as he licked his parched and cracked lips.
“It’s a good thing you won’t live to see that happen. Mira, your gok-do.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. The moment after the weapon appeared in her hand, she spun it around and stabbed the demon, a look of confusion etched on his face as he dissolved into thin air.
Mira slumped against the curve of the tunnel, her mind at ease knowing the source of her nightmare was dead and gone. Her tired gaze fell on Abby who used one of their water bottles to clean the ring, the patterns sinking and fading under his skin. Patterns like his often activated her fight mode, but this time around, she didn’t feel threatened by him. Oddly enough, she felt protected.
“How did you know the demon took it?”
“When I tried waking you up, I noticed it wasn’t on your hand. Sleep demons like shiny stuff like this. Some like to take little trinkets from their victims. They’re not all bad, though.”
Abby lifted her right hand and placed it back on her ring finger, the pad of his thumb brushing over the three rubies. “It’s pretty.”
The heat emanating from his palm was distracting her again. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said and started gathering their belongings.
Mira figured there was no point in going back to sleep, so she helped, even though traces of the nightmare still haunted parts of her brain. Everything had felt so vivid and real, but none of it had felt right.
“The ring belonged to my grandmother,” she said as they resumed their journey. “For the longest time, she called it her engagement ring, but it was a ring she ended up buying as a gift to herself.”
Abby walked beside her, their arms brushing with every other step. “She was special to you?”
Mira nodded. “She was the only person who accepted me for who I was as a kid. She even encouraged me to rebel against my parents.”
“Go, grandma.”
His little comment brought a smile to her face. “She gave me this and told me the number one person I had a devotion and commitment to make happy was me.”
“She's not wrong. Is she still…?”
“Alive? Yeah, living it up with her latest boyfriend.”
“Damn, so she’s taken.”
Mira snorted and nudged his arm. “Don’t be gross.”
“Don’t be jealous.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. The faster we get out of this godforsaken tunnel, the better.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
***
An hour later, Abby and Mira discovered the source of the draft. The breeze and the subtle hint of wet dirt and clay were traveling without restraint through a boulder-sized hole on the side of the wall. A mixture of hairline and wide cracks radiated from the opening.
Mira rubbed at her arms from the sudden and unexpected chill in the air. “That’s not the exit, is it?”
“Definitely not,” Abby said as he extracted the hoodie from the bag on her back and handed it to her. He’d already exposed her to hunger, a sleep demon, and the embarrassment of urinating without a toilet. Despite the wind’s refreshing effect on him, he wasn’t going to expose her to hyperthermia, even if that was a massive exaggeration.
Mira removed the backpack and pulled the hoodie over her head. “What do you think happened?”
“Earthquake, maybe. This is probably where the sleep demon slipped through.”
There wasn’t much to see outside the makeshift window, except a cylindrical abyss of dirt and rock, but she poked her head through anyway. “That is a looong way down. And look, there’s paths along the walls.”
“It probably leads down to—”
A piece of the limestone Mira leaned against broke off, causing her to lose her balance and tip forward into the chasm.
Abby realized three fundamental truths about himself at that moment.
One, like Mira, he loathed the idea of being alone. He grew up with a big family, so being alone wasn’t an option, but even when the opportunity of solitude presented itself, he preferred having someone by his side. And right now, that someone was Mira.
Two, he grew easily attached to people. When he first met Min-jae, for example, the kid barely reached his hip. He could have turned the other way when one of the older demons taunted him for being a hybrid. It wasn’t his problem, but Min gave him one pleading look, and Abby crumbled like a house of cards. Instead of walking away, he punched the living daylights out of the other demon. He and Min became fast friends after that. So, it wasn’t surprising to him that he’d grown attached to Mira after spending less than a day with her altogether.
And three, he had wicked fast reflexes.
Abby grabbed the back of the hoodie and pulled her flush against him, his other arm tight and secured around her waist. The short spike of adrenaline sent his heart racing, but he sat his forehead on her hair and breathed in the faint traces of her raspberry and vanilla scent to calm him down.
~
The swift save stole her breath away and jolted her heart. One moment, Mira believed she was going to fall to her death, and the next, she was encased in Abby’s arms. Under normal circumstances, she would have cut the contact short and knocked his arms away, but Abby’s grip held her tight against his chest, as if his own life depended on it.
The tender nuzzle to the back of her head short-circuited her brain because the more she told herself to put some space between them, the more she reclined against him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice soft, sincere, and somewhat muffled by her hair.
Her face grew warm, but she couldn’t tell if that was the result of wind burn or something else. Or maybe she could tell, and she didn’t want to acknowledge it.
She drew her tongue over her dry lips and cleared her throat. “I’m okay.”
“Can you not scare me like that again, please?”
Mira’s chest tightened. The thought of her exiting the picture so abruptly and prematurely terrified him. She was both touched and bewildered by his words. Her brain tried to link his fear to the fact that, without her, he would remain trapped in the tunnel forever. No Hunter blood meant no seals opening on either end. She tried to convince herself that that was the reason for the tremble in his voice, but somewhere in the back of mind, she suspected another reason, something rooted far deeper than basic attraction. And that scared her more than the fall itself.
She tapped his hand. “You can let go now.”
Abby released her with some hesitance, and she busied herself with getting a sip of water. “What were you saying before? About where this goes?”
“It probably leads down to the Pit.”
“The Pit?”
“It’s what's underneath the demon realm.”
Mira was certain she’d learned enough information about the demon realm from Abby to fill an entire book by this point. “What lives down there?”
He gave her a confident look as she attached the bag to her back again. “Dinosaurs.”
Mira’s jaw dropped, but Abby couldn’t contain his laughter.
“The look on your face was priceless. You’re so adorable, you know that?”
Mira narrowed her eyes and almost gave into the urge of pinching the visible nipples under his shirt. “You’re so annoying, you know that?”
“You still love it, though,” he said as they scurried past the unsettling hole in the wall and toward their destination.
***
A finish line ribbon, confetti, and a boatload of ramyeon weren’t waiting at the end of the tunnel, even though Abby had wished for them the entire way there. Apparently, Zoey was the only one whose wishes were granted, and Abby thought that was incredibly unfair.
He drew the knife from his back pocket and handed it to Mira. “Moment of truth.”
Mira eyed the knife. Part of him wondered whether she was second-guessing her decision. The other side of the door above them wasn’t a picturesque sight. It was a rocky, bleak, and inhospitable place, especially whenever the thick and depressing fog rolled through. The blood-red skies and craggy mountain ranges in the distance weren’t worthy of being on postcards. There were a few hidden gems scattered here and there, if you knew where to look, but unfortunately, they didn’t have time to explore.
If she walked away right now, would he let her? It seemed counterintuitive, but he would. He wouldn’t slice her hand open again and force her to help him. That was how it started because he knew she wouldn’t listen to him otherwise, but now, as he held the knife out to her, it was her decision whether they moved forward or not.
When she accepted the knife from him, Abby exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“We’ve come this far,” she said and nicked her palm open to activate the seal.
A cloud of dry dirt and tangling weeds greeted them as the stairs descended, the polar opposite of the lush green stairs from the human world. When the last step of the spiral staircase revealed itself, Abby advanced forward and kept sharp eyes open, the desire to see any other demons at an all-time low.
Luckily for them, the coast was clear. Mira touched the ground beneath her feet and closed the seal behind them. Instead of sitting around and mending her hand like last time, they elected to wash her hand with water and to leave it at that.
Mira glanced around, her eyes tracing the ridgeline to the west, a sea of barren trees to the south, ruins of an ancient civilization to the east, and a wall of fog to the north. “I’m guessing we’re going in the direction of the ruins?”
“Your guess is correct. That’s where Gwi-Ma’s temple is located.”
Mira smacked his wrist and gripped it tight. “We have to cross all of that?” she said and pointed to the horizon. They were so far away, she could squeeze Gwi-Ma’s temple with her forefinger and thumb. “Are you insane?”
An amused smile threatened to part his lips, but he kept his face serious and stony. “Yeah, we might not make it.”
Her nostrils flared. If he had put a thermometer under her tongue, he could have seen her internal temperature reach a boiling point. “By the time we get there, Gwi-Ma will already be dead!”
“Mira—”
“Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have done this.”
“Mira—”
“What is even the poi—”
Abby grabbed her by the arms and teleported them. They now stood near the outskirts of the temple in an area with toppled columns, decaying walls, and chunks of bedrock protruding from the ground.
“We’re officially in the demon realm,” he said in a soft and low voice. “Did you forget about the teleporting?”
“I… let’s not mention this meltdown ever again.”
He chuckled. “This is as far as the teleporting goes, though. Gwi-Ma doesn’t allow it in or around the temple for security reasons. Only a few demons have that permission, and I’m not one of them, so we have to walk the rest of the way. The fog’s getting thicker, so that should help. There’s a few paths here and there that should be mostly cleared, so just stick close—”
He stopped himself short. Footsteps in the vicinity were approaching. Abby captured Mira’s hand, pulled her under a half-broken archway, and hugged her against the remains of a stone wall, his eyes peeking over the opening they just ran through.
A group of demons of various sizes and colors walked past where they’d been standing, probably to hunt for food in the southern forests. One of them lingered behind to string a bow, but the demon paused to sniff at the air.
Abby snatched his head back from being spotted, coming face-to-face with Mira. Her beauty had a funny way of stunning him at the most inconvenient times. He was mesmerized by how the specks in her light brown eyes shimmered even when the light around them was scarce. He struggled not to flick his stare down to her lips, but he failed spectacularly. Even without lipstick, the natural pink color of her lips looked delicious and inviting.
“Are you coming?” one of the demons in the group shouted.
“Yeah, I’m right behind you,” said the demon with the bow followed by the sound of footsteps retreating.
Abby forced himself to take a step back and tear his eyes away from her, his gaze landing on a mud puddle. “Here, put this on,” he said and bent down to scoop up a handful.
If Mira’s glare had the power to kill on sight, he’d be dead already. “Don’t you dare.”
“We have to mask your scent. Or do you want every demon down here to know there’s a human with a mouth-watering soul among them for Gwi-Ma?”
Mira’s face broke into a fake sob. “This sucks so much!” she said and angled her leg out.
“Think of it as a mud bath,” he replied and slapped the dollop of mud on her thigh, smearing it up and down in streaks across her skin, before straightening to add some to her face. “Can I go under the hoodie a bit? I promise I won’t try anything.”
“Might as well,” she said in defeat and folded the hem up for him to spread it like sun lotion. A sly smile appeared on his face when his fingers grazed the unexpected stud on her navel. “What is it?”
“You’re wearing a bellybutton ring.”
“What about it?”
Abby debated whether he should voice what was on his mind. On one hand, she could take it as a compliment. On another, she could continue to dismiss his advances. Having just used a certain word to describe her soul, he figured it wouldn’t be too bad to use it a second time in reference to her navel ring, especially since it was the truth. “It’s mouth-watering to me.”
Mira’s gaze darted up to his, her response being the opposite of what he expected. “You should see it when I’m wearing a bikini.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to another, his eyes locked with hers. “Is that an invitation?”
“Do you want it to be?”
Abby knew there were more important things to prioritize right now, but he was internally losing it. “You know I do.”
The spell broke when she snorted and exhaled a breathy laugh. “I can’t believe you fell for that.”
Abby swallowed hard. For a few moments, he allowed himself to believe he had some sort of a shot with her, that he was somehow worthy of her attention. Boy, was he both wrong and foolish. Irked, he dropped his hands and wiped off the excess mud on his pants.
“We’re done.”
Mira had the nerve to look upset. “So, when you flirt with me, it’s okay, but when I do it—”
“The difference is I actually like you, Mira. From the moment Jinu briefed us on who the Hunters were, I thought there was something interesting about you. What you’re doing right now is just messing with me at my expense for a good laugh. But hey, I’m just a demon, right? We don’t feel anything.”
“Abby—”
“Forget it. We have to move,” he said, his feet carrying him toward the temple in a desperate need to get this over with.
***
Mira had committed her fair share of mistakes in the past, but this one stung, and she regretted it instantly.
When Abby hid them out of sight behind the ruins and shielded her on the crumbling patch of wall, her heart galloped in her chest but not because of the demons passing through. She could have eliminated that threat in a matter of seconds with her eyes closed.
No, her heartbeat drummed a cadence so swift and loud against her ribs because of the way he closed the gap between them, their bodies fitting with each other like long-lost puzzle pieces. She was also close enough to smell traces of her perfume on his shoulder mixed with his own sweat. The temptation to bury her nose in the inviting curve of his neck and suck in a long and embarrassing whiff almost overpowered her.
And as if that wasn’t enough, when his face hovered near hers, and his eyes lingered on her mouth, a strange yet welcoming shiver erupted from the tip of her spine and branched down her back like lightning across the night sky.
The parts of her brain that had been shaped and refined by her Hunter training yelled at her, telling her this attraction to a demon was absolutely absurd. But the other parts, the ones that processed the way he held and protected her, the way he listened intently, the way he talked about bringing change with a glimmer of hope in his eyes—those parts craved more.
No, stop it. He is a means to an end. The faster you get this done, the faster you can go home and forget this ever happened. Play around with him to get it out of your system, if you want, but that’s as far as it goes.
Mira wished she hadn’t listened to her inner voice because now a visibly hurt and upset Abby was walking a few feet ahead of her, barely acknowledging her presence.
She swung the backpack around to get the last water bottle, but one of the items inside caught her attention. It was a small spiral notepad that fit in the palm of her hand. She flipped it open, thinking she’d find a to-do list with “kidnap Mira” at the top, but it surprised her to find a collection of rough drawings instead. There were sketches of the Seoul skyline, cherry blossom trees, a bicycle, Romance and the other Saja boys, and her.
The words left her mouth before she could stop herself. “You like to draw?”
Abby spun around and saw the open notepad in her hands. He took a wide step toward her and plucked it from her grip before hiding it in his back pocket. “It helps pass the time.”
Unable to find the words to compliment his skill, she went for the most obvious and bland fact. “That notepad looks rather new.”
“It’s only a few days old. I stole it along with the backpack and medical supplies. And I know what you must be thinking, ‘Wow, not only is he a demon, but he steals too. What a catch.’ If I could have paid for them, I would have, but Gwi-Ma didn’t exactly give me an allowance when he sent me to the surface, so I had to find other means.”
Despite what he just said, Mira didn’t think about him that way. And even if she said something to the contrary, something positive about him, he probably wouldn’t believe her anyway, so she switched gears. “How did you learn to draw?”
He turned back around and kept walking. “My mom taught me. And please, don’t ask me about her. I don’t like thinking about how much of a disappointment I’d be to her.”
A disappointment to the family? Mira understood that feeling better than most. “Abby—”
“Well, well, well,” a deep and guttural voice belonging to a red-faced demon with green horns and scraggly black hair surfaced from behind an outcrop of rocks. He was a hulking beast, standing a couple of feet taller than Abby, while the rest of his gang of minions barely came close in height and size. “If it isn’t my favorite disgraced Saja Boy.”
Abby backed away and stopped directly in front of her as if his wide frame could make her invisible. Regardless, she appreciated the instinct to keep her hidden, her hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. “Geondal. What a pleasure to run into you today of all days…”
“Rumor is you’re supposed to set us all loose in the human world.”
“I’m still working on it.”
“Another rumor is Gwi-Ma’s on his last days. And since you’re one of the few who’ve been inside the temple and know your way around, I thought we could pay him a visit.”
“Gwi-Ma doesn’t like unwelcome guests, you know that.”
“Like he can do anything about it,” Geondal said, the others laughing around him. “I’m thinking I can be his successor.”
Abby wasn’t kidding when he said other demons were thirsty for power, but the idea that this bonehead thought he was more than capable for the job almost made Mira laugh out loud.
There’s only one person I trust enough to be Gwi-Ma’s successor, and he’s standing right in front of me, pal. So, move on from that pipe dream.
Mira jerked her head back. Did she just…? The sudden realization that she trusted Abby and genuinely believed in his vision struck her like a tidal wave.
“Thinking is a really intense activity for a guy like you. Maybe you should—”
“Who’s she?”
Mira recovered from her errant thoughts. She figured the attention would fall on her eventually, but Abby kept his cool. “She is… a mud demon.”
Mira shut her eyes in mild annoyance and tipped her head forward against the back of his neck. There was no such thing as mud demons. Come on, Abby! I’m vouching for you here! She should just unleash her gok-do and end this here and now, but the gang leader’s subtle interest caught her by surprise.
“A mud demon?”
“Yup, it’s a thing. They’re very rare, which is why you’ve never seen one until now.”
Geondal stomped toward Abby, shoved him aside, and aimed his large nose at her, sniffing and inspecting her “mud demon” qualities.
“Something’s off about her.”
“Uh, her mud’s a few days old, so she doesn’t smell as fresh,” Abby said, unknowingly impressing Mira with how quickly he was able to think on his feet. “Have you ever been around the water demons when the water’s stagnant? Same thing.”
Geondal’s nose flared and a visible shiver racked his shoulders. “They do smell rancid, even on a good day.”
“Exactly!” Abby laughed and extended a stretched hand in her direction. She threaded her fingers through his, and he pulled her along, his legs picking up the pace. “Well, we’ll let you and your gang be on your way. I saw a hunting party going down south, actually. You might want to join them, or you know, steal their food or something.”
They hurried past the minions, Abby waving them off and bowing his head as they went, but Geondal’s voice brought them to an immediate stop.
“Wait a tick,” he said and sniffed at the air again like a fox that’s caught the trail of its next meal. “I’ve got it! One of you has an intact soul.”
Abby sighed. “Shit.”
Mira leaned closer to his side, their hands still joined between them. “Did you really think he was going to fall for the mud demon thing?”
“I thought it was pretty believable.”
“Get them!” Geondal shouted.
He tightened his grip on her hand. “Run!”
Abby and Mira bolted toward the temple. They’d been so close. If it hadn’t been for Geondal and his crew, they would have made it the rest of the way without any issues, but the chase alerted other demons in the vicinity and incited them to join the hunt. Demons she’d never seen before crawled out of hovels in the dirt and rock. What started as a small group on their tail transformed into a horde of demons.
“I can fight them!” Mira called out.
“There’s too many! Follow me!”
Abby led her up the main stairs of the temple, their feet climbing the steps in twos and threes to avoid falling behind. The setting was exactly how he had described it during one of their conversations back in the tunnel, except there was no menacing flame waiting for them at the top. Only an ornate throne carved out of white jade stood at the center. Abby sped toward it with Mira close behind, dropped to his knees with his head bowed in front of the throne, and despite feeling out of breath, whispered a string of Old Korean words for entrance.
The throne began to slide back but at a snail’s pace.
Mira summoned her gok-do. “Can’t this thing go any faster?!”
“It’s not my fault this entrance takes forever to open!”
Abby flipped his knife open, ready to engage in the approaching fight, but his back was still turned when a demon with webbed arms appeared and leapt toward him. Mira lunged with her weapon and stopped it in its tracks.
He blinked a few times in apparent shock. “Thanks for watching my back.”
“That’s why you brought me here, remember?” she said, a slight smirk tugging on the corner of her lips as she reversed their positions from before and had him stand behind her.
There was only one person she trusted to be Gwi-Ma’s successor, and she would do anything to protect him.
***
If you asked Abby for his thoughts, he’d tell you demons were generally decent people with bad reputations—you had to sit down and get to know the “real” them. And while he still vehemently held onto that notion, he wished they would stop proving him wrong as they kept charging toward them with claws out and fangs on display.
Mira handled the first wave with the grace and agility he’d witnessed firsthand months ago, and even though she made her thoughts about him perfectly clear throughout their journey, he still couldn’t dismiss the massive crush he had on her. Watching her in action—twirling, spinning, and hacking away to her heart’s content—made the crush even worse.
Abby glanced back at the throne. Since it took the same amount of time for it to close as it did to open, he was waiting for the right second to dive in and avoid having a slew of demons on their backsides. When the moment finally presented itself, he brought his attention back to the demon slaying and was about to call out her name, when a demon hound tackled her from the side, knocking her down.
“Mira!”
Hounds in the demon world were not your average dogs. They were rabid, vicious creatures with a network of pulsing veins surrounding their bodies and a mouthful of venom that Gwi-Ma often used as ruthless weapons against anyone who crossed him. Abby fought his way through to get to her, resorting to fighting with his claws when his knife wasn’t enough. She stabbed and disintegrated the hound with her staff much to his relief, but a different demon swooped down and tried to chomp at her face.
The demon’s eyes opened wide when she smelled it. “Soul!” She opened her mouth wide over Mira’s face to extract it, but Abby covered the demon’s mouth with his clawed fingers.
“Not her!” He pulled the demon back and shoved her out of the way and into another incoming wave of demons climbing and slithering up the stairs. Word clearly spread far and wide that there was a human among them, so this was their last chance to make an exit before they were swarmed.
“That was close,” Mira said, her arms unfurling beside her on the floor out of exhaustion.
“Come on!” He hauled Mira up by the hand.
The pair squeezed through the narrow opening beneath the throne and slid down the stairs just in time before it closed, the sounds of growling and hissing demons replaced by an eerie silence.
They sat on the stairs to catch their breaths and knead their sore muscles, their pants and groans filling the narrow space around them. Abby fixed his eyes on the back of Mira’s head. She was the reason why they were still alive. He wanted to run his talons through her hair and give her the shoulder massage she deserved, but he settled for standing up to inspect her face and arms instead.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Mira said, wiping the sweat off her brow as her eyes focused on his hands. He was taking a big risk by touching her in his demon form, but he needed to come off his adrenaline high to be able to resume looking like a human again. “Were you using your human disguise to make me comfortable?”
“Yes, and no. I prefer looking like my human self, but sometimes, the demon side comes out when I get upset or scared,” he said and lifted her arms.
“What are you doing?”
“Some demon bites are venomous. I’m just checking to see if you’ve gotten any.”
She brought her arms down and gave him what he believed was a reassuring smile. “Thank you, but I’m fine.”
Abby nodded and let her hands go. He leaned off to the side and gestured to the stairs leading down behind him. Similar to the tunnel, there were torches of fire lighting the way, but unlike the tunnel, the walls bore ancient writings and drawings depicting Gwi-Ma’s stories and conquests.
“This part of the temple is a maze meant to protect Gwi-Ma. One wrong turn and you could be lost here and never be seen again. Literally. So stay close.”
“Seems excessive.”
Abby began to lead the way, his hands returning to his preferred normal. “That’s what happens when someone who hoards power is scared of losing it.”
“Do you plan on hiding your physical body here?”
“Nope. I’m going to make myself age normally, finally. Then, when the time is right, I can pass along the mantle to someone else.”
“Sort of like how the Demon Hunter system works. It goes from one generation to the next.”
He liked her comparison and smiled back at her over his shoulder. “That’s how it should have been, but Gwi-Ma never gave it up.”
A few moments later, the sound of her laughter tickled his ears. “What’s so funny?”
“Mud demon.”
His grin widened. “It was the best I could come up with on the spot.”
“The way you tried to play it off as ‘Oh yeah, they’ve always been around, they’re just rare.’”
Abby chuckled. “It worked for a few seconds, though, you have to admit.”
Mira pinched the back of his shirt and pulled him to a stop. He got the impression she wanted him to turn around, so he did. She stood a step above him, making her five inches taller, and to be honest, he liked the view.
“I’m sorry about what happened before.”
Abby shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve done way worse to you. I should be the one apologizing.”
“True, but I’m still sorry.”
“Me too.” He raised a hesitant hand to wipe away the remaining flakes of dried mud on her cheek, but his brow creased. “You look a little pale.”
“I also feel warm, and my mouth is dry.”
He cupped her cheeks, his pulse quickening. “No, no, no, no.” Abby knew those symptoms all too well. He helped remove the backpack to examine her upper back, but when his eyes drifted down lower, he located the problem on the back of her thigh: an ugly bite that had torn through her skin. The veining around the wound was already starting to turn black. The sight filled him with an awful dread as he leaned his forehead against her hip. “The demon hound bit you.”
“It… it’s whatever. We can’t stop.”
Abby pulled back and straightened to face her. “It’s not whatever, Mira. It’s going to continue to spread until it kills you!”
“Is there a cure?”
Abby ran his fingers through his hair as he searched the archives of his mind, rifling through memories and past experiences. He wished Rommie was around. He’d know what to do. He always knew what to do.
“There’s no cure, but Gwi-Ma could reverse it. I remember hearing stories about how he’d use venomous bites as a form of torture, then he’d clear the venom from his victim’s system before doing it all over again. The thing is I don’t see him doing us that favor.”
“We keep going, then. The faster you take Gwi-Ma’s powers, the faster you’ll be able to stop the venom from spreading.”
“Mira—”
She placed a warm and gentle hand on his chest. He could see the fear floating in her eyes, the same fear she undoubtedly saw in him, but she put on a brave face. “There’s nothing else we can do. Lead the rest of the way.”
***
It wasn’t long before they switched to carrying her on his back when it became too difficult for her to walk on her own, the blackened veins having stretched and spread down to most of her right leg.
“So many stairs and tunnels,” she said, her cheek resting on the curve of his neck, her breath occasionally tickling his ear. “How do you even know where you’re going?”
“Years of practice.”
She drew faint squiggly lines on his chest. It took every fiber of his being to not let those little squiggles distract him into making a wrong turn.
“You’re all I can think of, every drop I drink up, you’re my soda pop, my little soda pop… I hate how catchy it is, even after all this time.”
Abby couldn’t help but laugh, despite the dire situation they found themselves in. “That was Jinu for you.”
“Do you miss him and the others?”
“Sometimes,” he started and then amended his answer to be more accurate. “A lot of times, actually. We were all miserable together for years, but friendship has a way of springing up out of that.”
“Who did you connect with the most?”
“I’ve got two answers. Min-jae. He’s what you get if you mix a street dog and a human together. He’s loyal to a fault, and if you mess with the things he cares about the most, he’ll literally rip you apart. I also love messing with his hair,” he said with a chuckle. “And Rommie.”
“Who’s that?”
“Romance.”
“Oh yeah, the other member of our supposed pink-haired threesome.”
Abby smiled. He’d be lying if he said it hadn’t crossed his mind once or twice… or a half-dozen times. “Is that something you want? Because I could arrange that.”
“I…” she started and hesitated. He wished he could see her. Mira was often good about keeping a straight face, but some expressions tended to give her away. Her continued silence gave him the impression the possibility was playing out in her head. Maybe part of her was intrigued by the idea in general, which, given her rebellious nature, wouldn’t be too surprising. “Stop that. All of this is already confusing.”
“What’s confusing?”
“How I feel about you.”
Abby nearly skipped a step. He could ask many more questions about her thoughts and emotions regarding him, but it wouldn’t be fair to her. The fever from the bite was making her say things she wouldn’t normally say, so he left it at that.
“You’re really hot, you know that?” she said and traced the outer shell of his ear.
“Demons have higher temperatures than humans, so that pretty much tracks.”
“No, I mean, you’re hot hot and not just in your human form.”
Abby eased to a slow stop. The floodgates were open, her words threatening to sweep him away. “You’re delirious.”
“No,” she whined. “I’ve been seeing things clearly. I’ve just been too stubborn to admit it.”
“The Mira I know hates demons, including me.”
“I don’t hate you. I don’t hate Min-jae, either. He makes Zoey happy. Really happy. It’d be nice to have someone like that.”
He yearned to be that someone. “You’re young. You’ll find a human partner when you least expect it,” he said, the thought sickening him and turning his stomach. “Give it time.”
“What if I don’t want a human?”
Her breath down the side of his neck scorched his skin in such a delectable way, he had to close his eyes to find the strength to keep it together. “That’s the venom talking.”
“It’s not,” she said as she nuzzled her nose in his hair. “I swear, it’s not.”
As much as he wanted to give in, he had to think about the reality of their situations. She was a Demon Hunter, and he was a demon on his way to becoming the new Demon King. Yeah, he flirted with her and hoped she’d see him differently, but maybe he was kidding himself into thinking they could ever work. Or maybe he was overthinking it. He didn’t know. He just knew that at this moment, he didn’t feel worthy of her, especially since he was the reason she was in this mess in the first place.
“You can do way better than me, Mira.”
The heated kiss on his neck melted his insides as did the others she dropped on his shoulder when she tugged the neckline of his shirt aside. “Nothing’s better than you.”
Abby bowed his head to the floor and exhaled a heavy sigh. He’d give anything to hear those words again, to feel those kisses again when she was in a right state of mind, but for now, he put them aside and hitched her up on his back to snap her out of it.
“Mira, focus.”
“I’m trying,” she groaned out and hugged him tighter around the neck. “I’m so tired.”
It pained him to hear her like this. “I know, baby. We’re almost there, okay?”
“Mm, I like that,” she said in reference to his term of endearment for her. “I should hate it, but I like it.”
It was one of those things that slipped out of his mouth without much thought. Or maybe that was his subconscious’ way of claiming the person he genuinely wanted to keep.
“I won’t forget it,” he said, even though he was absolutely certain that once the fever passed and the chills set in, she would.
***
Mira was back on her bed again, but this time, she wasn’t alone. When she opened her eyes, she found a tranquil Abby sleeping beside her.
A day ago, she would have flinched at the sight and sent him careening off the bed and across the room, but now, all she wanted to do was to watch him sleep. A sharp contrast to when she first caught him sleeping in the sewer drain, and she rammed her boots into his shoulder to wake him up. She exhaled a soft chuckle at the memory of his eyes bulging.
Mira slid a hand across the bed and caressed his bicep with her knuckles. She wasn’t sure how they got to her room. Maybe she died from the hound’s bite, and this was her version of coping with it. Or maybe this was her heart’s way of telling her this reality could work if she opened herself up to the possibility instead of fighting against it.
Love just happens, Mira! You would know if you just let other people in!
It sounded harsh at the time, but Zoey was right. Mira had a tough time letting other people in. She’d been disappointed in the past by people she thought were her family and friends. Maybe she should lower her walls and expand her circle, but that was so much easier said than done after keeping those walls fortified for years. And to top it off, if she did knock her walls down, she’d be doing so for a demon, someone she considered an enemy.
Mira sighed. She had a lot to think about. Unless she was dead, then there was no point in thinking at all. She inched closer to Abby under the covers and positioned her head on his chest, her hand slipping under his shirt and gliding up his side.
“You just had to go and make things complicated for me, huh?” she whispered.
Abby stirred and draped an arm around her. “At what point did I make things easy?”
A genuine smile split her mouth open. “Good point, loser,” she said in her own affectionate way before shutting her eyes and going back to sleep.
Someone tapped on her cheek.
“Mira, wake up.” It was Abby. The real Abby. Not the one from her dream. “Hey. The fever made you groggy, but you’re freezing right now.”
Violent shivers tore through her body as he helped her put the hoodie back on. “What c-c-comes after the cold?”
“Paralysis,” he said and rubbed her arms. She appreciated his honesty. Most people would want to sugarcoat the truth, but she preferred knowing what to expect. “Do you remember anything we talked about before you fell asleep?”
Mira tried to think back, but the last thing she solidly remembered before things turned fuzzy was the comfort of being lifted off her feet. “I don’t. What did we talk about?”
He sucked his lips together, forming a thin line, and shook his head as he sandwiched her hands between his to keep them warm. “Nothing worth remembering.”
“Why did we stop?”
“Because we’re here.”
The dazed fog clouding her mind parted, allowing streams of clarity to trickle through. She peeked over his shoulder at the two colossal wooden doors leading to Gwi-Ma’s chambers. It was one thing to envision the goal, but it was another to be only a few feet away from achieving it. If she wasn’t having chills already, she’d be tingling all over. Not in a terrified sort of way, but more out of the thrill in getting a front row seat to the demise of the biggest demon of them all.
“This is it, huh?”
“Yeah. I already looked inside. He’s dormant, like I said.”
“Good. The faster we get this done, the faster we can go home,” she said, except they didn’t share a home together. His home and his soon-to-be throne were in the demon realm. Those were undeniable facts, but that didn’t stop traces of her fevered dream—the one with her and Abby nestled in each other’s arms—from fluttering around in her head.
“Mira, I wouldn’t have been able to get here without you.” His gratitude pulled her back to the present. She could say he was exaggerating, but without her and her gok-do, Gwi-Ma’s torturing device would have killed him.
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said with a wince and let her forehead fall forward on to his, more out of exhaustion than anything else, but she still found it comforting. “If this doesn’t work—”
“It will.”
“But if it doesn’t for whatever reason, I want you to know, I don’t regret helping you. Even if you did kidnap me to do it,” she said with a breathy chuckle. “And you better tell Rumi and Zoey I died kicking major demon ass.”
He tightened his grip on her hands, his voice tense and unwavering. “You’re not going to die.”
Mira allowed herself a few brief seconds of gliding her thumbs over the dips and crests of his knuckles, reminding her that if she did make it out alive, she really did have lots of ruminating to do about the man kneeling in front of her.
“Come on. I’m starting to lose sensation in my foot.”
Abby helped her up, placing her arm over his shoulders for support.
Before he opened one of the doors, she had imagined a four-walled room with decor that spoke to Gwi-Ma’s poor tastes. She was not expecting a vast cavern the length of a football pitch with hundreds upon hundreds of torches littering the jagged walls and ceilings like the night sky.
Pools of steamy, murky water were scattered across the uneven ground, forming winding paths to the center where an altar surrounded by four stone columns at each corner stretched precariously over their heads.
“Legends say Gwi-Ma used to be a giant as big as this cavern, but he decreased in size after the Hunters created the first Honmoon,” Abby said as they approached the ornate stone altar with carvings and reliefs down the sides.
Resting on its surface was a purple-skinned creature as tall and wide-shouldered as Abby with taloned hands and feet, but his face was unlike anything Mira had ever seen before. Clumps of brown fur around his head were sculpted into fine points, and his yellow-stained fangs and tusks were cracking at the roots. His one, two, three… she couldn’t keep count, but his dozen or so eyes were closed, thankfully, so the tank of nightmare fuel ended there.
Mira propped herself up on one side of the altar while Abby circled around to the other side. He pulled his knife from his back pocket and tightened his grip on it, but that was as far as he went.
“What’s the holdup?”
“Self-doubt,” he said, his Adam’s Apple bobbing up and down in apprehension. “I don’t know how I thought I was the right person for this.”
Mira cocked her head to the side and searched for his gaze. “Abby, look at me. You are the right person for this. You went from a scared soldier to a confident leader. You have great ideas—selfless ones. Don’t give up now. Not when we’re this close. My life is also counting on you, remember?”
“Right,” he said, that last bit lighting a fire under him as he flipped the knife open. “Give me one more positive affirmation.”
Her body was moments away from collapsing, but Mira found the energy and patience to favor him with a gentle smile. “Your mom would be proud of you. I know I am.”
Abby whipped his head in her direction, the sentiment striking a cord deep within him. They held each other’s stares for the briefest of seconds before he sniffed back his emotions and cleared his throat. “Okay, here goes nothing.”
Mira inched closer and held her breath. He raised the knife without further delay, took aim at Gwi-Ma’s chest, and plunged his arm down.
But the blade’s tip halted an inch above the skin. Abby’s hand vibrated in mid air. “I-I can’t move!” he said through clenched teeth.
A surge of panic shot through her when Gwi-Ma’s veil of eyes burst open. Abby’s patterns rippled to life along the surface of his skin with a fiery magenta glow before his body was tossed and slammed against one of the columns, his voice crying out in pain.
“Abby!”
With her leg about to give out from under her, Mira stood no chance as Gwi-Ma captured her by the arm and lifted her up like a rag doll. She struggled against his hold, her free fist jabbing his forearm.
“You promised me a feast, Ji-hun,” he said, his head twisting ever so slowly in Abby’s direction.
A bead of sweat rolled down Abby’s temple and plenty more dripped down her back as she dangled in the air. “Have you ever heard of a little something called a lie? You should know. You’ve been spitting them for over a millenia.”
“I’ve only ever spoken the truth to you. Did I not save you from that forest all those years ago and give you the life you wanted?”
“The life I wanted? Here’s the truth for you, Gwi-Ma, this is the opposite of what I wanted. I wanted a wife, children, a place to work on my art. You made me believe I could have that if I served you in return. So, every year, I gave, and I gave, and I gave, but you never held up your end of the deal. And on top of everything, you took away the one person in this damn place who brought me joy and comfort. So, don’t talk to me about truths because you’ve spent your entire existence building your throne on lies and suffering.”
Gwi-Ma hummed a note of contemplation. “It’s unfortunate you see it that way, Ji-hun. You had a lot of potential to become my new second-in-command. I do appreciate your offering, however,” he said as he shoved Mira higher into the air and briefly examined her infected wound. “Even if she is rotting from the inside, I suppose she will have to do.”
His jaw cracked as it extended downward with the intent to siphon her soul.
“Gwi-Ma, NO!” Abby shouted, but his inflamed patterns kept him bound to the pillar.
Mira’s arm slackened, but even through her exhaustion and her impending soul-sucking death, she managed to learn new pieces of information about Abby—one of them being his real name. She didn’t know why he preferred one name over the other. She just knew that he did, and she wasn’t going to let Gwi-Ma forget it.
“His name is Abby!”
She invoked her gok-do, swung it upward with as much force as she could muster, and sliced his wrist clean off. Both she and Abby crashed to the ground, Gwi-Ma’s howling agony forcing him to lose control over Abby’s patterns. As if reading each other’s minds, Mira speared her staff through the air in Abby's direction. He caught it, the handle sturdy in his hand, and ran for the nearest rock mound to launch himself toward the altar.
The curved blade pierced Gwi-Ma’s chest. His only functioning hand tried to push the weapon back, but Abby shoved it deeper with a fierce growl, cursing Gwi-Ma in a language Mira didn’t understand. Gwi-Ma’s eyes rolled back as he sank against the altar, his lifeless arms dangling off the sides.
A sudden ray of crimson light fled Gwi-Ma’s chest, raced up Mira’s gok-do, and flooded Abby’s patterns. He flinched and tightened his grip on the staff, the transference of power appearing and sounding more like a burning at the stake as he tipped his head back and yelled into the hollow ceiling above. Mira covered her ears and witnessed as the deep red burning into his patterns transitioned to vibrant, iridescent colors.
Before she could question the meaning behind it, the transfer ended with the opalescent light zipping back down to Gwi-Ma and disintegrating him, leaving no traces of the former demon king behind. Mira’s weapon vanished the moment Abby released it, but without the support, he swayed back and forth until he tumbled to the ground on the other side of the altar.
“Abby?” she called out.
When he didn’t respond, Mira feared the worst and dragged herself around to his unconscious body. She rolled him onto his back, relieved to find him breathing. His new shimmering patterns were still on display, and she couldn’t help but take a closer look. They were similar to Rumi’s patterns, except there were hints of gold in them. A mark of royalty, she supposed. She was tempted to trace the designs, but she regained enough sense to tap him on the cheek.
“Abby, wake up. It worked!” she said, but he remained stationary. “If you wake up right now, I’ll go on a second date with you.” His continued silence started to worry her. “I’ll go on all the dates you want!”
She cupped his cheek and stroked it with her thumb. “Please wake up.”
Abby’s eyes fluttered open. “Please tell me I’m in a fancy 5-star hotel room, but the bed sucks and that’s why my back hurts.”
Mira exhaled a soft laugh. “Definitely not a 5-star hotel, but I’m glad you’re okay.”
He turned his head to look at her—or admire her, as he phrased it before. “Thanks to you.” He then bolted upright and cradled her face in his hands, a sudden burst of panic in his eyes. “Gwi-Ma, did he…?”
Mira shook her head. “He came close to devouring my soul, but all of me is still here.”
Relief eased the tension in his shoulders.
“Your patterns got an upgrade,” she said, her palms caressing his forearms. “Do you feel any different?”
Abby examined one of his hands. He looked like himself, even sounded like himself, but she remained cautious, hoping the core of what made Abby Abby was still intact.
“I do,” he said as he examined his hand. “But it’s a good different.”
She figured there were aspects of his newfound powers that felt both strange and exhilarating, but that didn’t prevent her from grasping his chin and turning his attention to her. “Don’t let that power go to your head, okay?”
The corners of his lips stretched into one of his classic handsome smiles, a sign he was still very much himself. “I won’t. Plus, I know you’ll kick my ass if I do.”
“I’m glad we have an understanding, then,” she said as she tried to reposition her numb leg. “Any chance those fancy new powers of yours can heal me now?”
Abby’s hand traveled to the back of her thigh, his warm and tender palm a salve to her festering wound. The blackened veins that’d branched out to her knee and shin began to recede and fade. “Feeling better?”
A moan escaped the back of her throat as she rolled her neck. “Much better."
“There’ll be a faint scar.”
“Better than dying.” She glanced up at the flickering flames scattered around the cavern. “What now?”
The source of her pain was gone, but Abby’s touch lingered, his thumb caressing a small patch of skin below the cuff of her shorts.
“I have to get you back home.”
She loved the idea of soaking in a hot bath and ordering all of her favorite take-out foods, but a nagging part of her—the part that got used to being around him—tugged at her heart because that meant they had to go their separate ways.
“Yeah, Rumi and Zoey must be worried sick.”
Abby helped her up, and a subtle smirk appeared on his face. “Not bad for a first date, huh?”
Mira couldn’t help but laugh. “Shut up.”
***
Abby could understand how someone as selfish as Gwi-Ma protected his power for centuries. The rush of healing the punctures on Mira’s leg and teleporting them to the temple’s summit without batting an eye, only because he deemed it so, had the capacity to transform greedy people into monsters. The truth was he had no desire to be another Gwi-Ma, not when so many people depended on him, including the Hunters who now had to rely on him to keep his realm in check.
“I thought you said there was no teleporting inside the temple?”
“Those were Gwi-Ma’s rules. I might keep some of that in place moving forward, though. I wouldn’t want random people showing up in my house, either.”
“Wise choice. Think about what happened to the last guy who had trespassers.”
Abby chuckled as his eyes connected with hers. He was going to miss her brand of humor and sarcasm. A dozen different versions of him extending an invitation for her to visit anytime raced through his mind, but he wasn’t ready to hear “no” just yet, so he held off on it and resorted to another round of thanks.
“Mira—”
A pink demon walking up the center stairs entered his line of vision, and despite Mira being perfectly capable of defending herself and the demon appearing passive, he stepped around to shield her. The demon rushed the last few steps and stumbled on to her knees before she bowed her head.
“Demon King,” she said in a soft and timid voice. “Your servants await you.”
Mira poked her head around his side, and both she and Abby shared a curious look. He strode forward, Mira close behind him, and they both came to an abrupt stop at the end of the stairs.
Hundreds of demons were gathered at the base of the temple, and upon seeing him, a flurry of bows rippled through the crowd.
“Did you make them do this?”
Abby shook his head. “They sensed a new leader rose to power, but they’ve only ever known one king, so they’re conditioned to be afraid.” He approached the demon nearby and gave her arm with a gentle touch. “You can stand.”
The demon looked unsure, so he offered her a hand. She didn’t take it, the apprehension evident in her eyes, but she stood up on her own, her shoulders hunched to appear docile. He was in her spot for years, so he understood the need for self-preservation.
“I have to take my friend back home, but you can let the others know I’ll return soon.”
The demon bent down for another bow and remained silent as she descended back down the stairs in a hurried pace.
“You really do have a lot of work ahead of you.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” he said and pulled Mira out of sight away from the crowd, his hands holding hers. Casually touching her was another thing he was going to miss, but he forced himself to focus. “Ready to go home?”
“You have no idea,” she said as she closed her eyes. “I can’t wait to take the longest bath ever, eat all the kimbap I can get my hands on, and then sleep on my bed for three days straight.”
He wished he could have captured the look of surprise on Mira’s face when she opened her eyes and realized she was back in her bedroom. Her head swiveled from side to side before she finally nudged him on the chest. “You’re not the result of a sleep demon, are you?”
Abby’s smile widened. “No, you’re wide awake, trust me. Turns out, your Honmoon doesn’t recognize me as a big, bad demon with nefarious intentions, so it’s sort of like I have permission to pass.”
“And here I thought we were going to use the tunnel again.”
“If you really miss it, we can go back—”
“Don’t even think about it.”
Abby huffed a laugh.
He didn’t get a chance to look around before when the sleep demon invaded her mind, but this time, he let his gaze float around the room. There were dozens of photos on the space above her bed, a wall covered with rows of books, a fluffy bean bag he imagined her sitting on whenever she opened one of those books to read, and a variety of abstract artworks scattered around, which prompted him to ask a question similar to the one she’d asked him.
“Do you paint?”
“Sometimes. It helps me destress. I still prefer going to the gym and punching something, but my therapist said I should try painting, so…” she said as gestured around her room.
“I like ‘em.”
“You’re just saying that because you like—”
She stopped herself and averted her eyes.
He had a strong suspicion she was going to end that sentence with the word “me,” which was still as accurate and true as the moment he told her in the ruins, so he tested the waters. “Because I like…?”
“Art,” she blurted out and crossed her arms.
Disappointment tightened his chest. Mira wasn’t the type to mince words. She spoke her mind regardless of the outcome, so the deviation spoke to something else going on in her mind.
“I should get going.”
Mira nodded and cleared her throat. “Yeah, I should give Zoey and Rumi a call.”
“Tell Min I’ll drop by and apologize to him another time.”
“What did you do?”
“I knocked him out with the same stuff I used on you.”
Mira bared her teeth in a grimace. “Zoey will probably maim you, so you might want to steer clear of her when you do visit.”
“Thanks for the advice,” he said and lingered for a bit longer. “Listen, Mira, I know I said this already, but I really can’t thank you enough for helping me with this.”
Her face softened, but her raised eyebrow still reserved some judgment. “Even though you kidnapped me, slit my hand open, and nearly risked my life?”
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like a bad thing.”
Mira’s smile stretched a little wider. “You’re welcome, loser.”
They held each other’s stares. If she invited him to stay, he would say yes in a heartbeat. He would prepare her a relaxing hot bath, pick up the food she craved, and fluff up her pillow for a good night’s rest, but most of all, he’d kiss her until their lips bruised and the air in their lungs ran out.
Mira made her choice by waving a hand at him. “Bye, Abby.”
He had no doubt the version of Mira who confessed her feelings to him in the temple was inside her somewhere. He just had to be patient and give her time to embrace that side of herself. “Bye, Mira.”
For now.
***
Things in the human world had a funny way of looking a little dull and boring after spending a day in the demon realm. Maybe it was the sudden jolt back to reality, or her lingering curiosities about the place, like why were there ruins near the temple? Was there a demon civilization prior to Gwi-Ma taking over? What else existed past the ridge line and the forests?
It didn’t help when she recounted the entire story to Rumi and Zoey. If anything, it made the curiosities worse. How was Abby going to do this by himself? Where would he find the resources to support his vision of improving the demon world? And her least favorite thought: what if someone tried to kill him to steal his power for themselves?
“I think the world’s about to end because it sounds like you’re invested in the demon world’s future,” Rumi said before getting a face full of pillows from Mira.
“And it sounds like you and Abby connected,” Zoey chimed in. A momentary flash of the dream she had of Abby sleeping beside her entered her mind, but she batted it away. “Maybe this is the start of a potential partnership? Or friendship?”
“We have a responsibility to be Demon Hunters, not Demon Huggers,” Mira replied.
“That would make a great t-shirt!” Rumi’s comment ended the conversation in a fit of giggles before they attacked their food.
Mira’s routines went back to normal after that. She began working on the choreography for their upcoming music video, she responded to a pile of fan letters, and she even dedicated some time to painting, but she couldn’t put the brush on the canvas without thinking about Abby.
It'd been five days since he vanished from her room, and this quiet moment with her art supplies was as good a time as any to think about the growing ball of Abby-related emotions in her chest.
The truth was she missed him. She missed the way he ran his fingers through his hair whenever he was in deep thought, how he complimented her at every turn, and the multiple times he insisted their trip to the demon realm was their first date. And every morning, she felt the gnaw of disappointment when she woke up only to find her side of the bed empty.
But unlike Zoey, who pounced on Min-jae regardless of his demon side, Mira still struggled with the idea of letting a demon anywhere near her inner circle, even if that demon looked oh-so-hot and delectable in his new and shiny patterns.
“It should be illegal for him to look that good,” she groaned out to herself and pushed the art supplies away.
Maybe she just needed a few more days of her human world life to help stamp out her crush. Because that was what it boiled down to, right? A crush.
She threw on the brown maxi skirt Zoey got her last year for her birthday, claiming Mira “never wore flowy skirts,” a beige v-neck tank with cute bows adorning the base of each strap, and platform sandals. She didn’t need the additional height, but she enjoyed towering over people.
Mira then grabbed the fan letters that’d been addressed to Zoey, exited the HUNTR/X Tower, and spent the rest of the journey to Zoey’s apartment trying not to think about Abby.
She was doing an excellent job until she keyed the code on Zoey’s door and overheard her best friend shout, “If I ever get my hands on him!”
Zoey exited her bedroom in a huff, Min-jae not being far behind her. “He apologized, Zo.”
Mira interrupted by flapping the stack of envelopes in the air. “Hey, I hope it’s okay I stopped by. I had fan letters for you in my pile, but clearly, there are more pressing matters. What’s up with you?”
“Abby dropped by to talk with Min, but I was in the shower, so I missed my chance to give him a piece of my mind.”
A wave of yearning fluttered through her chest. “Abby was here?”
“Yeah, king or no king, I’m going to tug on his ear so hard for what he did to Min. And not only that, but he stole my mints!”
“Technically, he only took a few but only after he asked,” Min clarified as he massaged Zoey’s lower back to help calm her down.
Mira wondered if Abby had shown up in her room after she’d left on her impromptu visit to Zoey’s place, or if he hadn’t bothered at all. Probably the latter, since she’d given him plenty of I’m-not-interested-keep-dreaming clues.
“What else did you two talk about?”
Min shrugged his shoulders. “Demon world stuff, mostly. He was trying to convince me to visit, but I’m not comfortable with the idea of going back.”
“He didn’t mention anything else?”
Min and Zoey exchanged brief looks. “No, why?”
Mira shook her head and stuffed her ache deep inside. “No reason,” she said, her eyes wandering as she collected her thoughts. “Anyway, I should head out.”
Zoey reached for her arm. “You don’t want to stay for lunch? Or we can go out to eat?”
Mira gently patted the back of Zoey’s hand. “I don't really have an appetite right now.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind, just let us know.”
Mira closed the door behind her and huffed a dejected sigh. She forgot how much crushes hurt. Her body operated on autopilot as she descended the stairs and began the trip back to the HUNTR/X Tower. She didn’t even recall entering the deluxe apartment or her room until her feet stopped in front of her balcony’s railing.
She didn’t even have time to wallow or question her feelings all over again before a presence appeared behind her.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Her heart soared at the sound of Abby’s voice. She bit down on her lower lip to stop her grin from overtaking her face as she slowly turned around. “I heard you visited Min earlier.”
“I did. We were catching up. I told him about what I’ve been doing to spruce up the place,” he started, but as he continued talking, her gaze wandered over his sleeveless arms. The hoodie and t-shirt he had worn before did nothing to enhance his cut muscles, but this tan wrap shirt he was wearing was both a blessing and a curse because she couldn’t stop staring. She was also fond of how the plunging neckline revealed part of his chest. If she’d been standing closer, she could have hooked her finger in the intersection and opened it up a little more…
The amused tone in his voice captured her attention again. “My eyes are up here, you know?”
Mira inhaled a sharp breath and directed her gaze elsewhere. “So, what brings you here, oh esteemed Demon King?”
Abby smiled that perfect and infectious smile of his. “I can’t stay long. I’ve got territory disputes to settle, but I thought I’d stop by and check on you.”
“Well, as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Yes, you are,” he said as a compliment, his own eyes scanning her. “I love that skirt on you.”
She couldn’t remember the last time she blushed like a doe-eyed teenager, but her cheeks were burning. “Thank you. It was a gift from Zoe.”
“I would thank her, but I know she’d tackle me to the ground.”
“Yeah, she really has it out for you.”
Abby laughed softly as he moved to stand beside her and leaned against the railing. “I also wanted to let you know Romance and Baby are back.“
Despite not knowing the others well enough, the hint of pep in his voice pleased her. “That was nice of you to give them another chance. What about Jinu?”
“I don’t own his soul, so there’s nothing to recover. Wherever he is, I don’t have access.”
She ached for Rumi. There were times when she caught her talking with the spirit tiger she adopted. Jinu was often a topic in their one-sided conversations. “Anything else you wanted to share?”
Abby pulled a pouch from his pocket and handed it to her.
Mira’s curiosity spiked as she took it and scattered some of its contents on her palm. “Pomegranate seeds?”
“Eat one whenever you want and you’ll be transported to the demon realm.”
She arched an eyebrow, not at all missing the mythological inspiration behind his gift. “You want me to be the Persephone to your Hades?”
“Except you get to leave whenever you want.”
She pulled the drawstring of the pouch closed and bounced the bag on her palm, intrigued by the idea of having free access to his domain, before slipping the loops around her wrist like a bracelet. “And what makes you think I’ll take them?”
He slid closer. “Because I know you miss me.”
“And what makes you think I miss you?” she said, her tone light and playful as her heart hammered wildly in her chest.
Abby raised a confident hand and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I just have this feeling. I know I do.”
“You miss me?”
“All the time,” he replied, their faces close enough for him to peck her softly on the cheek. She didn’t understand how something so innocent and tender broke the elastic band that’d been holding her back.
As he leaned away to search her eyes, Mira’s swift hands cupped his face and pulled him back in for a scorching, hungry kiss—the kind of kiss that wiped the rest of the world away as she guided him back and wedged him on the nearest window pane. Deft strokes of her tongue savored the crisp and cool remnants of the mints he’d taken from Zoey. The thought of the so-called robbery tickled her and almost prompted a laugh, but she was too absorbed by him to do anything of the sort.
Mira’s hands itched to be everywhere all at once and relish every inch of him. She wanted to comb her fingers through his tousled hair, dip them beneath his shirt, and graze the hard and sculpted muscles of his back. Abby, on the other hand, knew precisely what to do with his hand as he grabbed fistfuls of her skirt to glide his palm along her bare and velvety thigh. She hooked her leg around his, desperate to eliminate the empty space between them, and devoured the animalistic groan that rolled out of his throat.
But of course, that tiny voice inside her had to point out the obvious—don’t get too carried away. You still need to think this through.
Mira didn't obey her conscience as her teeth nipped and tugged at his bottom lip, unwilling to let him go just yet and subject herself to hours of hand-wringing introspection. But much to her surprise, Abby was the one who broke the spell and curtailed the heat between them by setting her leg back down and holding her cheeks to wrench their lips away from each other. He lightly bumped his forehead with hers, their chests heaving to catch their breaths.
“It’s killing me to do this, but I really have to go,” he whispered and greedily stole one more kiss. “See you later, beautiful.”
Abby disappeared to handle his territory disputes, leaving an aroused and speechless Mira behind.
I kissed Abby. I kissed the Demon King. Her world tilted and her foundations shuddered upon realizing this was more than just a crush.