eighty-four

"A haunted building?" Minho mumbled crossing his arms. "How stupid."

"You're just scared," Jeongin taunted him. "Too scared for a dare..."

"I'm not fucking scared," he hissed. He really wasn't—but he was extremely annoyed at the idea of hanging out in this so-called haunted building. They were basically begging to be in trouble.

"Are you guys coming with me?" Jeongin asked and earned himself a bunch of doubtful stares from the others. "Come on! It's not Halloween if we don't do something exciting."

"Listen, I'd prefer if we stayed here," Seungmin replied. "The party is really fun, so why leave?"

"So? Will you guys skip this opportunity like a coward?" He sneered, receiving a glower from a certain demon that was ready to strangle him.

"Shut the fuck up," Minho growled.

"Stop arguing, please," Jisung chimed in. He was getting uneasy with all the tension around them and wanted this issue to be resolved quickly.

"Does that mean you and your coward of a boyfriend will stay back?" Jeongin asked provocatively.

Jisung could almost feel Minho snap. He felt his boiling rage that was about to explode. And he figured that he should atleast do something before Minho completely lost his chill.

"We will accompany you, okay? But only if you stop it with the insults," Jisung said. "That's not exactly nice, you know? What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"I agree with him," Chan said and gave Jeongin a disapproving look. "You shouldn't act like a jerk to your friends."

Jeongin rolled his eyes at them but finally shut up. "Okay, sorry then."

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By the time the group exited the building, it was only 1 am, too early to leave in Jisung's opinion. They passed a large parking area where they spotted a few people. Some of them were drunk, others seemingly waited for a ride home.

While they walked down the street, Jisung used his smartphone as a flashlight since the streetlamps here were either broken, flickering like a strobe light, or ridiculously dim.

He soon regretted not bringing a warmer jacket. It had been hot inside the club, but outside in the middle of the night, it was rather cold.

A few lonely houses lined up left and right of the street. Everything looked old. He sensed strange hints of magic lingering in the air and shuddered. It was impossible to identify since he had never encountered anything comparable.

Minho and the other demons, however, had an idea of what it was, and judging by their dark stares, it wasn't good.

"Someone used blood magic here not long ago," Felix started. "I don't know whether that person it still somewhere in this area. So Jisung, stay close, okay?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Jeongin asked, glancing back at them over his shoulder.

"The presence of blood magic in this area is very strong." Felix replied.

"Huh? I don't seem to sense anything at all. Maybe it's just you guys."

They soon turned into a street that was leading farther away from the nightclub. Far enough that they could only see its faint lights in the distance. A few trees grew left and right of the small street.

Except for the chattering of the group, it was eerily silent here. Jisung didn't feel good about this, and so did Minho. They didn't like the darkness surrounding them.

"Hey, I think we should leave," Seungmin suggested. "There's something really strange about this place. I feel uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I also don't want to be here," Chan said, biting his lip. He was looking around uneasily, trying to spot possible dangers that were lurking nearby, but there were none.

"Cowards," Jeongin sang and laughed arrogantly. "Do you guys want to run home and hide under your blankets? Go ahead then! Leave me!"

"No. You can't go alone. It's too dangerous. We'll keep you company," Minho decided. Even if he was still quite mad at Jeongin, he wouldn't be able to bear it if something ever happened to him...

To be continued...