c026

Seokga wakes, not to the smell of citrus and cinnamon, but to a shrill ringing.

His brief sleep was dreamless, but he is not grateful. This, he knows, is the calm before the storm. Nightmares will come soon enough—and with them, the eoduksini. He has the uncomfortable, prickling feeling that it knows he's returned to New Sinsi.

Seokga blearily reaches for his cellphone and fumbles to answer. "What," he mutters as he sits up in his bed and pushes away the silken black sheets.

"Detective Seokga."

"Chief Shim," Seokga says, annoyance draining considerably. He glances at the digital clock on his bedside table. Four a.m. "Is everything all right? Did you find Dok-hyun?"

"No. But you'll want to know that three more bodies were uncovered last night, all at NSU. We have officers on the scene now." The old chief sounds like he is utterly done with the world. "I'd hoped you and your assistant would join us."

Three bodies. Seokga stiffens. "The eoduksini?"

"No." On the other end of the line, Chief Shim sighs. "The Scarlet Fox."

The early morning air is frigid and sharp as Hani and Seokga stand underneath the cherry blossom trees, staring down at the three bodies limp on the white cobblestones below. For the sake of appearances, the surrounding haetae officers are clad in the standard human police uniforms, waving off wide-eyed students as they approach the taped-off area that spans the entire underpass of trees. Although it is still dark, barely yet dawn, the red and blue lights of the surrounding precinct cars illuminate the white sheets covering the bodies.

He is acutely aware of the dokkaebi paparazzo standing just outside of the yellow tape, zooming in on Seokga and Hani, snapping away with his bulky camera. No doubt Godly Gossip's next issue's title will read: family feud—sexy seokga still seeking forgiveness from hottie brother hwanin! (plus: who's this mystery brunette? is single seokga finallytaken?)

If Seokga ever finds out who the inane magazine's editor in chief is, they will suffer.

He grits his teeth and tries to concentrate on what Shim is saying underneath the wailing of sirens, but it is becoming increasingly hard to do.

"They were found an hour ago by a janitor. We're already collecting as much footage as we can." Shim rubs at his forehead wearily. Chang Hyun-tae stands beside him, his expression dark underneath his black hat. "Hyun-tae has confirmed there are no souls to collect. They are gone. The amount of paperwork," Shim adds to himself as he shakes his head, "will be obscene."

Hyun-tae nods, his expression incredibly fatigued. "I looked everywhere," he confirms. "Sometimes, there are errors with this sort of thing. Souls can't be found because they're hiding, or scared. This isn't the case here. They're just gone. And I called my superiors, too: Jeoseung's internal database confirms that no souls from this area were predicted to be collected this morning."

Seokga drags a hand through his hair. The souls of the dead boys are gone, along with their livers. The Scarlet Fox has struck again. "Great," he mutters.

And the Spring Solstice, Chunbun, is only eleven days away. With both the eoduksini and the gumiho still on the loose, Seokga's chances of returning to Okhwang are looking slimmer and slimmer. "Souls and livers," he repeats coldly. "It seems like she was hungry."

"It does." Next to him, Hani is staring at the three dead boys, her face slack with…horror? Shock? It seems to be a combination of both. Odd. She wasn't so pale when examining the other two dead boys.

"Did you pick up on another power flare?" Seokga asks Chief Shim. The old haetae shakes his head.

"It's probable that the Scarlet Fox didn't use an energy blast to subdue her victims. Logic tells us that this is still clearly her handiwork." Chief Shim rubs his temples with a wrinkled hand. "Without Dok-hyun, we haven't been able to have an autopsy yet. I believe a human coroner is on his way; he can handle the rest. Until we get the footage, there's not much that we can do. I'll call you, Seokga, when we've collected the security camera recordings of both the campus and the city. Hani, have you been able to go through the tapes from the first murders?"

"I've been able to go through some," she replies quickly. "There was nothing on them. There are six others, though, that I wasn't able to look through before going to Geoje. If you want, I can return those to the precinct—"

Shim frowns. "Why were they taken off precinct grounds in the first place?"

Hani falters. "It was so busy, and—"

"It's my fault," Seokga interrupts. "Out of necessity, we've been focusing mainly on the eoduksini case. I didn't give her enough time to watch all of them, so she took some home. She didn't do anything wrong." Hani, he sees, is blinking in what looks like surprise. He tries not to feel offended. They're…well, friends, aren't they? Of course he'll defend her.

The haetae raises his brows, now looking slightly amused. Seokga scowls. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," says Chief Shim, still looking somewhat pleased despite the crime scene around them. "Nothing at all." He sighs, turning back to the sheet-covered bodies. "Return the unwatched tapes at your earliest convenience. We'll go through them when we can. But to be honest, I doubt that there is anything of use on any of them. We've been interrogating all of the gumiho supplied to us on the list you made of those old enough to be our fox, but so far, all alibis have checked out. Whoever she is, she's adept at hiding. And between her and the darkness demon, this city doesn't stand a chance."

"We'll find her," Seokga assures Shim.

Without a goodbye, Shim departs, tiredly making his way over to the other officers. The remaining trio stands in silence, all eyeing the bodies. Hyun-tae is the first to break the quiet, turning to Hani.

"I did what you asked of me in your absence," he says dutifully. Seokga only half-hears him, still glaring at the corpses. Damn the Scarlet Fox to the depths of Jeoseung. "I now work part-time at the Creature Café from three to five."

"Good job," Hani replies, her voice vague, as if addressing an eager puppy. But then her voice stiffens, straining as she says, "Seokga."

He turns to her. "What?"

Hani's face is still ashen, but the fox gives him a small smile. "I'm going to go grab some chocolate at the Creature Café. I'll be back soon."

Seokga nods. "I'll come with you," he says. A cup of cold, bittersweet coffee and the subsequent caffeine buzz may calm his rising temper, soothe his fraying nerves.

And breakfast with Hani may have a similar effect. Being around her has become…very enjoyable, to say the least. Putting her in the guest room last night had been a reluctant decision on his part, and he's eager to be with her again. Perhaps they can also talk about what they are. Seokga feels—lost, out of his depth. Was the car a one-time thing? Seokga has had many one-time things, but he doesn't want Hani's name on that list. He wants her in his bed, perfuming his sheets with her citrus and cinnamon scent, his name on her lips.

"I will go, as well," the jeoseung saja chimes in promptly, adjusting his hat and glancing at Hani.

Seokga scowls.

A peculiar expression crosses Hani's face, and his stomach drops as he wonders if she'd rather Seokga not accompany her. If she has gotten sick of him already. Was their kiss in the car a mistake? Does she regret it?

It has been a while since Seokga has felt wounded.

He does not enjoy it.

At all.

But then Hani is cheerfully smiling and nudging Seokga with her elbow. "I have a feeling that I know your order," she says with a snort. "Coffee," she rattles off, deepening her voice, "with one cream and one sugar, or fear my wrath."

He bristles, offended even as relief settles over his shoulders. "I don't sound like that."

"Oh?" Hani winks, looping her arm through his with a comforting casualness. An intimacy that is new, yet entirely welcome. He fights back an involuntary smile as she gazes up at him, her nose crinkled in a way that suggests she finds what she's about to say very, very amusing. Seokga loves the feeling of Hani being by his side. "I think that my impression was pretty accurate. Perhaps we should ask Hyun-tae's opinion."

"Do not."

"Hyun-tae," Hani says as the three of them start to walk away from the crime scene, "on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most accurate, how would you rate my Seokga impression?"

"I would rate it a ten," the grim reaper replies dutifully before meeting Seokga's glare and clearing his throat abruptly. "A five, I mean. A middle ground."

Hani snorts, tightening her grip around Seokga's arm. Before he can stop himself, he leans into her touch.

And she leans back.