Author's Note: Second to last chapter and I'm still not sure what's going to happen. I know what I want to happen but we all know that can change with a few simple keystrokes. I don't force myself to write things I don't believe in, so I let the characters take me where they will.
I'm thinking of starting a blog, but I'm not sure. It would help me write every day, but I don't know who would read it. It would be a mixture of fanfics and my own personal things I found on Pinterest and whatnot. It may help me become a better writer.
Chapter 16 won't be up until tomorrow because I have a doctor's appointment today and won't want to write until tomorrow.
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The Hunter's High Council met in the most obscure places when they had an urgent meeting. Today was no different. Today they were in the basement of the Empire State Building during a raging thunder storm.
Word had spread like wild fire that the Halflings had gone after the Wild Power and her hoard. The bombing had been covered by the news but for some reason they weren't allowed anywhere near the burning house. It was by someone's power they had been held at bay.
Other than the fire, no news had come from South Korea. No one was talking to anyone. Was the battle still raging? How many had been lost? Were their Hunters safe? Even the ones that had been on the hit list, were they okay? They were the best of the best and the Council had sent others to kill them. There was no way any of them were left alive. Dasha's team was too powerful, too good.
But the worst murmurings were those of Kang Shi Yoon. He had gone to make things right with Dasha and make sure she understood that he wasn't going to be able to be with her. He had been given a leave for thirty-six hours. He had been booked for the flight home that evening. Now would he even get a chance? Was he in danger like the others? He had to be. He was right there.
One man looked around the room nervously. He looked from Council member to Council member in hopes that someone would have some information. Everyone was too concerned with their own lives to care about what he was feeling. He was nervous about what was going on. He had no answers and had no one he could call to get any because the one person who had always been there to give those to him was under attack. He should have known better than to issue that kill order on his final day in this position.
The murmurings became yelling as someone was given some sort of information. Bethany Scott was dead yet the battle still waged. The Spanish heir to the Scott family was dead and so was their line of Maker heritage. The Spanish lineage ended with that woman, leaving the Russian half lineage the only true lineage to those who had created them. There were only two people who had the power to kill anyone of Maker lineage and they were undoubtedly on the front lines.
His hands became sweaty, and no matter how much he rubbed them on his pants leg they were still damp. He had no information but for some reason his heart beat double what it usually did. He had no control. Why was he so upset for no reason?
"Sir, what should be do?" one member asked.
"There's nothing we can do. Our Hunters are more than likely dead," another argued.
"Bethany Scott was not a Hunter. She flunked out after she came into her own. Why did we even team up with her to begin with?" a third asked.
"We gave them half of everything we have for that one piece of contentment." The fourth person looked up at the man in charge. "Sir, we've made a mistake. We sent unequipped people to the front lines to fight a battle they cannot win. The combined powers of the Wild Power and Dasha plus the prowess of your son and Dasha's team, there is no way they will come out victorious. Guerilla warfare does not work on a telepath."
Someone else snorted. "We gave them the psychic distorter. Anyone can take on Dasha Chen now."
The fourth person shook her head. "Dasha was not trained to use only her psychic talents. She can use brute force or compassion as she sees fit. We trained her better than we trained anyone, and she has taken that training to use when she needs it. She is better equipped than all of us who sit in these chairs."
The room descended into silence. They had trained the best of the best since they had been children. When Creed, Dasha, Benji and Shi Yoon had been placed together as kids, no one had dreamed they would form a strong bond that would far surpass anything anyone had ever seen. No one in the history of the Hunters had ever been as close as those four had been. They had used each other's strengths and weaknesses to their advantage. Where one left off the other would pick up the slack. They were such a well-oiled machine everyone had been afraid of what they could do.
So Shi Yoon had been advised to go into management. It had taken a lot of time but he had finally accepted and had gone on to train in that aspect. He still trained just in case they had ever been attacked but he had stayed away from Dasha and Benji.
But no matter how much they pushed, they could not get the two to separate for long. Even sex wasn't an off topic for the two. They had been caught several times together. Most of the time it had been Shi Yoon's mother who wasn't as strict as his father, and she had been very lenient when it had come to finding her son in bed with a woman. Even after his father found out, there wasn't much he could do when his wife pretty much beat him every time he brought it up.
They were so concerned with their discussion no one really heard the indistinguishable pop outside. The door slammed open. No one said a word as they stared at the woman.
Their fears had been confirmed. Shi Yoon had been in the middle of the fight. He had been with Dasha when they had been attacked. But the worst part was what was going on, on the outside than what was in South Korea.
Dasha strode across the room and very gently placed Shi Yoon on the table in front of the group. At first glance, it looked like he was sleeping. But the table was soon red and it dripped on the floor. What was more saddening was the red had spread to Dasha's clothing and skin. There was an obvious wound on her chest but it wasn't the one that had caused all that blood.
"Who sent the group with Bethany Scott?" she demanded. She looked around the room at the men and women assembled but her gaze landed on the one in the dead center.
No one answered her. They were too busy looking at the body on the table. The man at the center slid from his chair and fell to his knees before the deceased man. He reached out to touch him, but Dasha grabbed his hand and held it in a vice grip that no one could break.
"Let go," he muttered, pulling on his arm like an insolent child. "Let go!"
"Why should I?" she asked. There was no give in her voice.
"He's my son!"
Dasha slung his arm away with so much force that he fell backwards. "What kind of father allows an attack when he knows his son is in the area?! Because you sent that crazy woman after Baye, you caused your son to be in the crossfire! He died protecting that woman!"
"He died protecting you!"
She stared down at him, hatred filling her eyes. "You have never seen him protect me. You have never known what he would do for me, and half the stuff he did do, I never asked him. You knew nothing about your son, and you know nothing about the people outside these walls. You claim we're to protect those who can't protect themselves, but all you want is to protect those who have meaning to you. You have no idea what goes on out there."
She snapped her fingers and Hyuk brought her a manila folder. She didn't take it immediately, staring at it sadly. Then without warning she ripped it out of the folder and set it on the pool of blood. It quickly became red.
"This is Shi Yoon's final will. This isn't the original copy. I left that with the lawyer, but it states who he wishes to take his position. Read it."
Everyone waited in silence as Shi Yoon's father picked up the soaked piece of paper and began to read. Dasha looked into the pale, lifeless face of the will's master, wishing desperately that he was there. She didn't want to do what he had requested, but she had trusted and respected this man until his death and she would continue long after he was buried.
"This can't be true," his father muttered. He looked up at her. "He was supposed to get married and have a family so this wouldn't happen. You caused this!"
"I may have caused a lot of things, Kang Yoo Jin, but Shi Yoon's death was not one of them. That will was dated three months ago. He had been planning this long before any of this had been put into action. Nothing you could say or do would change his mind. He was a stubborn ass, but I will respect what he wants. And that includes his funeral."
She went to pick him up but Yoo Jin held her arms to her side. "Don't take him! He's the only child I had. Don't take him."
Dasha hurt just hearing the anguish in his voice, but she didn't have any choice. All of this was in Shi Yoon's will. Whenever they had promised something, they had followed up with that promise. He had asked for her to bury him in Korea and that was what she was going to do.
Slowly she pushed his hands off and picked up Shi Yoon again. She stepped back to Hyuk. The maknae looked at her then slid his hand into the crook of her elbow. Within seconds they were gone.
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Leo didn't know what was worse. The silence downstairs or the sound of the woman upstairs silently crying to herself.
Dasha and Hyuk had returned and the funeral for Shi Yoon had been arranged. Everyone had been moved to Jun Pyo's residence, but some were sharing a room. They had tried to give Dasha a room, but she had refused. As far as they knew, she hadn't slept since the funeral. They had seen her walking around outside before but no one could recollect if she had slept.
It had been somber since the night of the attack. No one really laughed because they didn't feel like it. Usually this house was full of music and laughter and cutting up. No one was talking about anything. Even the children were unusually quiet.
Baye set about rebuilding their destroyed house. Everything was covered under insurance since it was considered an arson. The house would start being renovated within a week. Hopefully in two months they would be back.
Everything was going according to plan, except helping ease the pain of a certain heartbroken woman. Dasha had hidden out all day in one of the upstairs rooms. No one was sure which one so they couldn't find her.
Leo rounded a corner and saw Hyuk coming out of one room with a tray. He closed the door quietly. He saw Leo and shook his head. He walked by him quietly as he tried to balance the china carefully.
The older man walked to the door then knocked lightly. He wasn't given a reply but he still heard the sniffling that came with crying. He opened the door and walked in. Dasha was sitting against the far wall with her knees drawn up and her face buried in them.
He walked over to her and sat beside her, arms going around her shoulders. She didn't move but she didn't shrug him off either. They sat there for what felt like an eternity unmoving and in the stillness of the room. No one moved outside the door. It was only the two of them and their aching hearts.
He wasn't sure when, but Dasha's tears subsided into small little hiccups. Still Leo sat there. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, her head fell to the left into his shoulder. He didn't move, especially when her breath evened out and she went to sleep. She turned onto her side and wrapped one arm around his waist. Sighing, he rested his cheek against hers, content just being the pillow she needed to recover.