Archive of Our Own ^beta

They knew it from the beginning, from the day they met. They've always known it.

Celine had been very strict in telling her to hide her patterns, that once the other girls came into her life, she was to keep her father's inheritance hidden at all costs. They were never to know.

It's a pity that Rumi, even at such a young age, was a selfish child.

Selfish enough to not want to keep such a horrible secret from the only two people she truly felt connected to in any way. Selfish enough to sneak the two girls with her to a remote part of the estate for a night. Selfish enough to reveal to them the dark, purple patterns that ran across her chest and part of her right arm. Selfish enough to want to be loved by them.

Luckily, Zoey and Mira were selfish too.

Selfish enough to continue acting as if they didn't know what lay beneath Rumi's layers of clothing during the day and trace her patterns at night. Selfish enough to hide from Celine that they knew what Rumi was and still loved her. Selfish enough to pretend they didn't understand why Rumi wore longer and longer sleeves as Huntrix grew in popularity and be the ones to rip her jackets off with hunger shining in their eyes when they came home. Selfish enough to love Rumi's entire being, demon and human.

All three were selfish, they knew it themselves.

They knew this because Rumi would rather watch the world engulfed by Gwi-Ma's flames than be separated from the other parts of her soul, even if someone else got hurt in the process. They knew this because Mira and Zoey cared more about continuing to share their lives with their third half than anything else, even more than a golden Honmoon.

The three of them would do anything to stay together.

Even if, to do so, they had to use their knowledge as hunters to hunt something completely different from what they were trained to do.

A sudden stomach ache was what started it all.

After turning the Honmoon gold, Rumi's patterns persisted. They had spread throughout her body like tree roots and had acquired an iridescent glow that varied in hue, apparently depending on her emotions.

So, Celine lied. The Huntrix members would be lying if they said they were surprised.

But that wasn't the only change Rumi had gone through. Her fangs were now sharper; the rest of her teeth were less human-like. Her nails had lengthened into claws that extended two centimeters beyond her fingertips. Her left eye had acquired a golden hue around the iris that became all-consuming when she felt a strong emotion.

A completely new look.

Needless to say, they'll have to create a new era for Huntrix with all those demonic changes. Once their three-month break is over, of course.

Now? They had something else to take care of first.

Hunger.

The hunger that kept growing in the half-demon's stomach, and that no amount of human food seemed to satisfy or even quell. Rumi felt like they could raid an entire supermarket and not even that would quell the burning consuming her abdomen.

There was no pain (thank goodness), but the discomfort the feeling caused her was not something she wanted to live with for the rest of her life.

“What if it’s more than just food?” Zoey had asked absentmindedly one night as they cuddled up on the oversized living room couch.

“What do you mean?” Mira asked, pulling Zoey closer against her side and stroking Rumi’s scalp as she lay next to her, using her lap as a pillow.

“Well, Rumi isn’t completely human, and you’ve seen all the changes she’s gone through lately since we sealed the Honmoon,” the maknae traced her fingers over an iridescent pattern on the half-demon’s cheek. “Maybe this has to do with something demonic?”

“Maybe…” Rumi hummed from her vantage point. “It’s the only thing that makes sense at this point, isn’t it? Not even medication has helped with this situation.”

“Okay, yeah, demonic stuff…” It was Mira’s turn to hum thoughtfully. “But, Rumi, what could you possibly be hungry for?”

“Souls.”

The women with colorful hair turned their gazes in unison toward the lyricist, who had blurted out the reason as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Come on, girls, think about it. Humans eat food, demons devour souls. Rumi is half human, half demon, so maybe her body is catching up with some sort of demonic puberty none of us were aware of?”

Maybe it really was the most obvious thing in the world.

Glances exchanged, words unspoken but clearly written on their faces. The silence they shared couldn't have been more overwhelming.

Because they all knew what it meant to devour souls. They'd seen it firsthand with the Saja Boys and the constant disappearances that occurred while those demons roamed the streets of Seoul.

So they came to a unanimous conclusion: they didn't care.

All Mira and Zoey cared about was helping Rumi, no matter what. Rumi just wanted to get rid of the discomfort in her stomach no matter what it took.

That night marked the beginning of something new in their relationship, a pivotal moment that would seal the fate of the city and its inhabitants in ways unimaginable to outsiders.

It started with something simple. A homeless man no one would miss, an alcoholic with a history of being a total piece of shit, if the rumors circulating around that remote part of town were anything to go by.

Mira had cornered him in a dead end and dragged him to the back by the collar of his dirty, battered coat. She had unceremoniously thrown him to the ground, sending him a bored look, as if he weren't even worth her time.

Then, as he tried to stand up, Zoey launched two Shin-kals from her position on the rooftop above their heads and the spirit blades had sunk one into each of the man's hands, pinning him to the ground like an impromptu ceremonial rite.

A figure with iridescent patterns that pulsed to the beat of her racing heart landed on top of the man, one foot on either side of his grimy body.

The man was barely able to utter an attempt at a pitiful cry as Rumi opened her mouth and his life essence left the shell of his flesh to feed the beast looming over him.

His soul was far from a delicacy, but it had satiated her hunger enough to calm that burning in her stomach. Having his body disintegrate into literal dust as his soul was absorbed was a bonus none of them were willing to turn down.

With her stomach full and her mind clearer than ever, Rumi returned home hand in hand with her girls.

Their lives continued as usual until, days later, the burning returned, stronger than before. A literal hell whose heat spread beyond her stomach with each passing hour without a soul to extinguish the flames of voracity.

'One soul won't be enough this time,' was the collective thought of the three women.

Neither Mira nor Zoey were deterred by the implications. No, they'd do anything to help their girlfriend feel better, and if that meant indirectly ending people's lives to achieve it, then so be it.

Rumi just hungered for more.

As it turned out, souls weren't the only thing that attracted the demonic part of her.

The trio discovered this one afternoon as they explored each other's naked bodies with soft caresses and tender kisses.

During one of her explorations, something inside Rumi roared with hunger, but it was different from the ardor she had learned to associate with the need for souls.

No, this was different, this was more carnal.

So she followed her instincts and sank her nonhuman teeth into the soft flesh beneath her. Copper flooded her taste buds, her gums stained crimson, and her fangs left deep indentations in the skin.

She expected the gasp that escaped the woman beneath her, but not the moan of pleasure that followed.

“Fuck, Rumi, do it again,” Zoey begged, moving her body toward the mouth that was moving away from her with a gasp.

“You’re bleeding,” Rumi muttered mortified, her teeth and lips bloody. “I’m sor—”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said do it again, silly.” Gentle hands cupped her face tenderly before lips kissed hers with a hunger similar to the one she felt burning in her stomach every few days.

“Nuh-uh, I'm next,” Mira chimed in before pushing Rumi off Zoey and pinning the half-demon to the mattress. “Zoey can't have all the fun,” she finished her statement by licking a crimson drop from the corner of her girlfriend's lips before kissing her properly.

“Hoarder,” the rapper joked with a smile, but made no move to try to win Rumi back. She would have her chance.

As the sun set and the room went dark, Rumi's iridescent patterns dimly illuminated red-stained sheets, deep bite wounds in taut flesh that were already in the process of healing completely (thanks, Honmoon), and a half-demon with her lips and neck stained with the blood of the most important people in her life.

Sweet lifeblood that gladdened something twisted inside her. Her demon, perhaps.

Whatever it was, it still wasn't satisfied.

So she licked her lips with a tongue longer than the average human's and leaned in to taste her girls once again inside and out.

After that experience, the hunts changed a bit.

It was no longer just 'hunting humans so Rumi can absorb their souls,' but 'hunting humans so Rumi can taste their flesh before absorbing their souls.'

The hunger that burned in her stomach was now occasionally accompanied by an itching in her gums, an itch that only seemed to be deterred by the texture of human flesh and the taste of human blood.

(They had tried other types of animal meat, both raw and cooked, but the itching didn't stop but seemed to increase in intensity. Of course, that was more of a formality than anything else; they all knew what Rumi really wanted.)

So now every person who was served on a silver platter by her girlfriends lost a part of their flesh before their soul was devoured by the beast.

She tore eyes from their sockets with her claws and devoured them in a single bite. She ripped the throats of her helpless prey with her sharp fangs and swallowed the torn flesh with a smile. She opened their chests with clinical precision, cracked bones to remove them from her path, and removed lungs, livers, and hearts to feast on before the dessert that would be their wretched souls.

All while Zoey and Mira watched with morbid fascination.

They could see it in her eyes, that deathly gleam; as much as they were doing all this to help Rumi survive, she was enjoying it, taking pleasure in it. She enjoyed the hunt, the anticipation of who would be the next unfortunate soul she would devour, with a relish that hadn't been there the first time.

When Rumi was feeling more playful, the three of them would play with their food. They would stalk the unsuspecting person and make them so paranoid that something was following them that they would run wild through the streets of Seoul. When they wandered into a dark alley, Mira and Zoey would catch them and hold them down while Rumi moved in with malicious intent to devour their soul and flesh. If she made the process slower and therefore more painful for the person, none of her girls complained.

In the eyes of the other two, Rumi was satisfying her seemingly endless hunger, so she had the right to have fun with her food if it meant making the process more enjoyable for herself.

Rumi was eating, Rumi was devouring souls left and right to spend one more day on earth with her soulmates. If that wasn't the definition of love, then neither Zoey nor Mira knew what it was.

Because they would do anything to keep their half-demon breathing the same air as them. They would do anything to keep Rumi with them. If that meant staining their hands with human blood, well, they were more than willing.

After all, it takes a monster to love another.

Disappearances increased every week, missing persons reports were filed almost daily at police stations, and news reports warned that the number of missing people was higher than during the time when a male K-pop group challenged Huntrix's reign.

Mira continued to corner their prey with tools ranging from seduction to deception and physical subjugation.

Zoey continued preparing the meal by pinning the unsuspecting people the dancer lured to the floor or walls, preventing them from escaping their impending doom.

Rumi continued to absorb the souls of her victims, devouring the flesh of the vessels that held them and drinking the blood that once helped keep them alive.

In an estate far from the city, an old hunter watched everything unfold from the safety of her home, surrounded by golden waves that shimmered with the promise of protecting what remained on this side of the barrier.

The golden Honmoon was the ultimate defense, a powerful and eternally lasting barrier that prevented demons from crossing into the human realm.

This couldn't be the work of a demon from the demonic realm. It was impossible; not even the barrier itself had given its usual warning in the form of red ripples that something was trying to break its threads.

No, this wasn't the work of any normal demon, she knew that.

What she didn't know was if she would be strong enough to face the person who caused all this mess.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Huntrix had returned to the public eye after a well-deserved break and with a new image for the group.

Fans were thrilled with the new songs, the girls' new style, and their upcoming world tour.

Everything was perfect, everything was going swimmingly.

The girls were celebrating their last night in Seoul before starting their tour the next day. Settled on the couch, they'd prepared a movie night with a cheesy vampire saga to watch and a mountain of snacks to last them the whole night. Zoey had grabbed the remote to start the first movie, her thumb hovering over the ‘play’ button—

Until their celebration was prematurely interrupted by a distinctive beep indicating that someone had arrived via the elevator.

The sound of heels echoed throughout the otherwise silent living room. A tall, slender, suited figure, with some strands of gray hair that betrayed her age, appeared next to the kitchen island, hands clasped behind her back and posture rigid.

Three heads turned in unison towards the source of the sound, three pairs of eyebrows raised when they saw who had invaded their home, and three astonished voices asked in unison:

“Celine?”

In response, the older woman just calmly said:

“Rumi, you have to stop this.”

Surprise gave way to understanding and then turned to annoyance.

"I can't."

Celine's eyes wandered around the leader, but she never made eye contact, just frowned as if she'd seen something she didn't like. That was probably the case.

The three women stood up and turned fully toward the older woman, adopting vaguely defensive postures.

“You are stronger than whatever is forcing you to do this,” the former mentor pleaded.

“I need to do it to survive. If I don’t, I’ll die,” a fact, not an assumption.

“But you’re taking the lives of innocent people!”

“Debatable,” Mira muttered.

“Most aren’t. The first few weren’t, at least,” Zoey commented under her breath.

“I take lives to stay alive, Celine, just as a tiger hunts deer to survive. It’s not my fault that the demons’ natural prey is humans.”

“Then you’re just like them.”

Silence. One, two, three, four seconds of complete silence before it was interrupted by a low laugh.

One moment Rumi was standing in front of the couch, the next she was standing an arm's length away from what was once her mother figure.

“Am I?”

Two simple words laced with poison, and a woman who couldn't look her in the eye. Not anymore.

“If you're so sure, then do what you should've done a long time ago before I devour your being from this world.”

Silence, once again. This time, burdened by something heavier, a long-broken bond, and a woman who couldn't face the truth, preferring to live a lie, while the other embraced the reality that had become her life.

Then, in a whisper almost as low as Celine's hope of surviving this encounter, Rumi finished:

“So be it then.”

Rumi disappeared in a puff of reddish smoke, giving way to something small, shiny, and sharp that buried itself in Celine's sternum, knocking her back half a step. Two more Shin-kals sank into each of her collarbones, drawing a groan of pain from her throat.

The handle of a Gok-do swept across her legs and made her fall ass-first to the floor with a thud. A multicolored blade loomed over her face from behind, and she screamed once more as her hands were pinned to the ground by spirit blades.

From her periphery, she could glimpse her tormentors looming over her dying body. There was a wild, dangerous gleam in their eyes, something more animal and less human, as if they were looking not at a person, but at prey they were proud to have hunted.

Both women watched her with a mixture of delight and anticipation.

Her vision was obscured as a monster materialized above her. Teeth interlocked like a crocodile's, twisted and sharp in a mouth that extended to her ears. A golden eye, corrupted, shining with malice and an immeasurable hunger.

Claws sank deep into her chest, blood escaping from her veins and staining her clothes and the fingers searching for her heart red.

Mismatched eyes stared at her as Rumi opened her mouth and unhinged her jaws so that a long, pointed tongue licked the blood around the freshly made wound.

Celine’s last breath became the appetizer for that night.