Chapter Text
"The weather's worse than we thought." Mira grumbled, checking her phone again. For the nth time that night.
The wind was howling and fat, heavy sheets of rain whipped against the windows of the car. That was the only sound besides the low purr of the engine, wave after of wave of dense rain almost melodic cadence.
"We're less likely to be spotted this way." Zoey muttered in response from across the car, leg bouncing, fingers drumming against her knee. Her eyes were locked outside the window, staring into the dark as trees flew past.
They were all on edge - this was night that everything was going to put into motion. The night Rumi planned on turning against everything they stood for, by summoning demons. For a man who had betrayed her, who had used her deepest insecurities against her to get what he wanted- that thought burned the back of her throat, the taste of it bitter on her tongue.
But he also gave his life for mine.
And he'd had also understood her in a way that her friends couldn't - being a demon was something they could never understand. Accept, yes, empathize with, yes, but never truly understand. The lifelong shame was a rot buried deep, twisting and corrupting the roots until the spread reached even the top-most branches, turning them black.
Was this really love?
Or was it just companionship in their shared misery? Or was that love?
I can't think about this right now.
She bit the inside of her cheek - she would've lost herself entirely that night to Gwi-Ma's influence if she had completely lost the hope she’d had with him and she couldn't have stopped the demon king without Jinu's sacrifice. She tasted blood on her tongue, and she felt the seat shift beside her, as Zoey leaned into her, resting her head on her shoulder. Her weight and body weight was grounding.
"You guys...you guys don't have to do this." Rumi muttered, the statement slipping from her mouth before she could stop it, a quiet voice to her internal conflict.
"Yes, we do!" Zoey's voice was low, with none of her usual cheeriness. "You want to rescue Jinu, right?"
Rumi paused, her heart hammering in her chest and she couldn't meet Zoey's gaze. Her shoulders fell, deflated. Zoey's eyes narrowed, catching her hesitation.
Mira's voice was steady, "Of course she does." The woman's fierce gaze was on her, watching. "He was the world's biggest fucking idiot, but..." That brought a small, watery smile to Rumi's face, “...I can’t say I blame him. I’d die for both of you. Maybe not to a giant bonfire, but still…” At that, both of them leaned in on either side of Rumi, to shoot quips about her ‘boyfriend’.
"Yea, that stupid pair of pink sunglasses made him look so goofy!"
"Or, what about when he busted his butt in the bathhouse!"
"I bet he can't eat spicy food!"
Rumi laughed, listening to her friends dog on Jinu. It stopped her spiral, humanized him again in her mind. And that, despite everything, she still had feelings for him. Her thoughts drifted back to the night of the Idol Awards - what he’d said lingering in her mind.
“All we get to do is live with our pain, our misery.”
Was that for both of us? Or for him?
She shook her head -those other thoughts were for after.
For now, I just need to get that idiot back.
--
They parked the car about a 10min walk away from the compound, far enough to not get caught by security, but close enough to make a run for it if needed. Rumi pulled on her dark raincoat, Mira and Zoey following suite, the car filled with sound of rustling fabric. She looked at both of them. One final check.
Because there was no coming back from this.
Both of them nodded in silent agreement. They exited the car and split off into the forest surrounding the archives. The rain was still pouring down in heavy sheets, the wind howling. There was very little visible light from the occasional street light. Rumi had no problem seeing in the dark, though. One perk of being part demon.
“Still getting used to your eyes, Rumi.” Zoey commented. Rumi chuckled – she’d accidentally freaked the younger girl out one night when she couldn’t sleep and was hanging out in the kitchen. In the dark. And apparently, her eyes were reflective.
“Well, come on.” she replied, stepping further in the woods. Her friends trailed close, as they navigated well-worn game trails. They’d played in these woods enough as children, it was almost second nature. Well, maybe not in the dark and pouring down rain, but still – it was recognizable enough.
The archive was away from the rest of the training compound, thankfully. It made breaking in easier.
The outside of the hunters' archive was nondescript, by design. Anyone who happened by wouldn't give the small building a second glance and nobody would guess that underneath, were miles of weaving tunnels stacked high with manuscripts.
They paused at the treeline, waiting. Loaded leaves, weighed down with rain, whipped by the wind, slung water on Rumi’s face. She wiped her cheeks, before raising her chin. Sniffing, scenting.
No strange scents, nothing but rain, decaying leaf litter and grass. She couldn’t pick up any human scent.
She bumped Zoey’s shoulder and pack move closer. They were still careful, but a little bit more relaxed. Not fully off-guard, eyes and eyes still open. But not nearly as on edge.
The door opened with a soft click and they all stepped inside. Rumi lowered her hood and shook off the water that stuck to her face and hair. “Ready?”
“Yep.” Two voices chirped back.
She paused at the top of the stairs, leading down into the expansive underground library. She took a steadying breath.
It’s the last chance to turn back.
She stepped onto the well-worn stairwell leading down, her footsteps echoing softly. The stone had grooves etched into them from the amount of souls that had passed over them. She traced her fingers along he wall, just as she had done as child.
The underground portion of the archives was expansive. Floor to ceiling ancient wooden shelves, stretching out in the cardinal directions. Four expansive wings. But at the center was their target.
A sealed vault – an ancient wooden door leading to...something.
The hunters never knew actually what was contained within- Celine and the elder generation of hunters had never deemed them worthy of knowing.
Well, perhaps they were right in not telling us. Rumi thought to herself.
The vault was wrapped in delicate silk ribbons of holy scripture. Rumi reached out and touched one of the ribbons, running the soft fabric through her fingers. She didn’t know what she expected. Pain? Electric shock? Crumble to dust?
“Huh.” She muttered. “Well...let’s get to it, I guess.” She hesitated again, her fingers hovering.
“It’s ok, Rumi…” Mira replied, reaching past her to thread her fingers the ribbon. She pulled back, but paused, the ribbon taunt. They were afraid. No – apprehensive.
“You guys know what this means, right?” Rumi whispered. It was one thing to put herself in danger, but her friends was a different story.
“We know, silly.” Zoey laughed, bumping her shoulder. But even that was stiff, uncomfortable.
One more look and Rumi sucked in a breath and popped the ribbon in her fingers. Zoey made a nervous sound yelp. The two halves fluttered down slowly, curling into coil as they hit the floor.
“That was...anti-climatic.” Mira huffed, releasing the breath she’d been holding.
“Yea, I was expecting...more.” Zoey replied, “Something crazier, I guess.”
Rumi continued to pulled the ribbons away, each one dropping to the floor. When the last one popped, she felt it instantly. Magic flowed from behind the door, and it was powerful. Some of it was evil, the aura of it twisted, permeating the air like the smell of rot. Others were neutral, like rain and petrichor. But regardless of its affinity, it was all incredibly powerful.
The three hunters lurched back - they weren’t expecting this level of power. It was overwhelming. “Holy shit.” Rumi choked out.
“No kidding.” Zoey. “This is a lot.”
“Let’s find what we’re looking for and get out.” Mira said, “We shouldn’t hang around.”
Rumi reached for the iron door handle and twisted. It turned in her hand with some resistance, clearly haven’t been opened in ages. But turn in did and the heavy door swung open a crack. She pressed her face to the opening to look inside.
“Wow, I thought there would’ve been more.” The inside was much the same as the outside, the room was roughly 20x20, lined with more of the same rough craved shelving as the rest of the archives. Ancient scrolls and books lined the entire room. She pushed the door open further, enough to slide sideways into the room. The magic was suffocating, crushing.
“We just need to grab what we need and go.” she choked out, “This feels awful.”
Lisa had described to them what they were looking for – a scroll wrapped in blackened leather. The three of them pushed into the room and began to root around. It didn’t take long.
Zoey shouted in excitement, “I think I found it!”, holding up a parchment scroll wrapped in black leather. “It definitely feels like it has demonic energy around it.” She held it away from her like it was something that was going to bite her.
“Good, now let’s go.” Mira swiped the scroll from her and they exited the vault. Rumi pushed the door closed behind her and immediately, the flow of magic stemmed.
The rain was settled to a steady drizzle by the time they returned to the upper level. Rain coats donned and scroll tucked underneath against her chest, Rumi stepped back out into the dark. The magic of the scroll felt like a living thing, pulsing against her chest like it had it’s own heartbeat.
Checking back at her friends, Rumi stepped back out into the night.
---
Celine froze, hands midway through turning the page of her book.
The magic bond she had placed down had been broken, sending a gentle ripple across the threads of the Honmoon, on a such a low frequency only she would notice. By design, of course.
A warning.
A trap.
“It was only a matter of time.” she whispered, and snapped the book closed before releasing a slow breath through her nose. She placed the book on her bedside table and stood up. She had to get ready.
---
The sun crested over the horizon by the time the hunters had returned to their flat. After the heavy rain over the course of the night, the air was humid and sticky. Rumi was glad to step back into their flat, in the AC. She shucked out of her raincoat and dropped it on the floor in a wet heap.
She pulled the scroll out of her shirt – it sat heavy in her hand, like it was a thing with teeth. She sat it down on the table, watching it carefully, like it was going to grow legs and run away. But it was still, magic fainting pulsing off of it.
Zoey and Mira moved around the kitchen, pulling out of their wet clothes, both of them giving the occasional wary glance towards the parchment.
You guys ready? Rumi pushed through the bond she had with the demons. They’d been waiting on the outskirts, ready to reinforce if needed but certainly not on the front line. The last thing the hunter’s needed was their cover blown early because they had demons with them.
Yes, we are ready. Romance replied.
We good for tonight, then? Baby questioned. How was it?
Stressful. 0/10 wouldn’t do again. She felt their amusement, their relief and she laughed softly.
She pulled the rest of the way out of her wet clothes, tossing the garments into the washing machine. Mira and Zoey did the same and they changed into dry clothes in relative quiet.
“We should take a nap. It’s gonna be another long night.” Zoey suggested and Rumi couldn’t agree more.
“Yea, let’s do it.” Rumi chewed on her lip. The stress of the night was getting to her and she wanted nothing more than to crash out. But she had that itching urge again to make sure they were safe. “Can I sleep with you guys?”
Why did I ask that?
“Sure thing, Rumi.” “Yea, we can sleep in your room!”
Any awkwardness was assuaged and Rumi’s nerves instantly settled. They both disappeared into Zoey’s room and emerged with handfuls of pillows and blankets. Curled up on Rumi’s bed and alarms set, the three of them promptly passed out.
At 5pm that afternoon, the five of them were in a clearing deep in the mountain forest, far away from any other humans. The scroll was sat in the middle of them, the dark magic flowing off of it. Calling with its demonic siren’s song.
The demons were getting restless. Baby couldn’t sit still – he’d been picking at the sleeve of his hoodie for that past 20 minutes, pulling off off his beanie, ruffling his hair, replacing beanie. Repeat. Romance paced back and forth, watching, trying not to stare, but clearly getting irritated.
Nobody said a word, working themselves up.
“So...who should we summon first?” Rumi muttered. She reached for the scroll, her fingers working the leather cords holding it closed. They had to rip the bandage off, they had to do this.
She rolled the old parchment open, the scroll crinkling in protest. Black ink scrawled across its aged surface. What the hell? The figures twisted, morphing, ever changing, never settling into a form that she could read. Romance stepped forward to look over her shoulder, his brows pinched. Rumi glanced over her shoulder at him, “Can you read this?”
“No. Lisa said demons weren’t able to read it.”
Oh. She’d forgotten about that.
“Let me see, Rumi.” Mira demanded, holding out her hand. Rumi placed the parchment in her hand. “It’s rough, but I can definitely read this.”
“Lucky for you.” Rumi snorted.
“I guess she’s just illiterate.” Baby cut in. He was trying to break the tension, but it fell painfully flat. They all fell back into an uncomfortable silence.
“But seriously…” Zoey groaned, “who do we summon first? What about Mystery? He seems ni-”
“No.” Romance snapped, “Abby first.”
Zoey eyes narrowed at him, “Why? He seems nice.”
“Zoey, please just trust me. Abby first.”
Mira placed the scroll down, moving to begin sketching out the runes it called out for. “Ok, Abby first.”