Chapter Text
There was a knock on the hotel room door.
Jimin’s brow lifted in surprise, while Jungkook’s eyes narrowed. He could feel… something. There was magic there, though it didn’t come across as malicious.
Jungkook stood up first, leaving the small table to approach the door. He peered through the peephole – and then growled, throwing open the door with enough strength Jimin thought the hinges might break. On the other side was a young man, but Jimin only glimpsed him for a second before he disappeared.
‘I suppose that was a fair reaction.’
Jimin jumped at the voice behind him and instinctively stumbled away from the table, right into Jungkook who pushed him back with a protective arm.
In the corner of the hotel was the same young man, inky curls styled around his ears and above his eyes that were as equally dark. He was dressed in a light grey, slightly baggy suit that sat on his slender frame and he would have come across as entirely human had it not been for the deep-purple haze of magic curling around his body.
‘Who are you?’ Jimin asked.
The man grinned. ‘My name is Taehyung.’
‘He’s a witch,’ said Jungkook, and Jimin noticed his claws had appeared.
Taehyung lifted a hand placatingly. ‘Indeed I am, but I am not like Hayeon.’
‘The fact that you know her is reason enough for me to burn you to ashes,’ Jungkook threatened.
‘I am not like Hayeon because unlike her, I am here to give you a warning,’ Taehyung told them. He tugged down the sleeve from the hand he had raised, revealing a burn scar on the inside of his wrist that looked like a runic symbol. ‘I used to be in the same coven as Hayeon, until I fled it twelve months ago when I learned of her plans.’
Jimin’s brow furrowed, confusion settling in his chest. ‘Her plans to resurrect her lover?’
‘He wasn’t her lover, not really. She may have believed so, but he was only using her.’
‘Get to the point,’ Jungkook snapped.
Taehyung pursed his lips, eyeing Jungkook for a moment. ‘She wasn’t just resurrecting a soul. She was trying to free a demon. A very powerful demon… Asmodeus.’
Jungkook stiffened; Jimin felt it from how closely he stood behind him. Jimin recognised the name, knew Asmodeus was the demon of Lust – a prince of Hell. Demons like him could be summoned for temporary deeds and deals by witches powerful enough, but they were ultimately imprisoned in hell.
Jimin remembered the presence he had felt inside Hayeon’s pentagram, how sinister and heavy it felt.
‘Asmodeus needed a body though,’ Taehyung continued, eyes sliding to Jimin. ‘Hayeon only had enough magic, even with a conduit, to steal his soul out of Hell but not enough to reform his true physical self in the mortal realm. A mortal body was the alternative.’
‘She was going to use me,’ Jimin remembered.
‘We stopped her,’ added Jungkook, though there was a touch of uncertainty to his voice, as if he was speaking the words only to reassure himself.
Taehyung grimaced. ‘You stopped her from giving Asmodeus a body, but his soul did break free.’
‘Hellhounds will find him.’
‘Will they?’ Taehyung countered, tilting his head. ‘Asmodeus is not just any lesser demon or vengeful soul. He’s powerful and clever, and he has an entire coven of witches helping him.’
Jungkook shook his head dismissively. ‘What has this got to do with us?’
‘Because Asmodeus still needs a body,’ Taehyung said, his tone grave, ‘and he’s coming for Jimin’s.’
Silence fell, and for a moment Jimin wasn’t sure if he had heard Taehyung correctly. Asmodeus… a demon, one of the princes of Hell, was coming for his body?
‘What?’ he finally whispered.
Taehyung’s brow drew in, just a touch of sympathy crossing his expression. ‘A human conduit is rare, Jimin. I’m sure Hayeon already told you that. No one has even figured out how or why a human is born a conduit, but all covens know that human conduits are an exceptionally valuable thing to have because of your amplification abilities but demons know how valuable human conduits are because of your ability to withstand possession,’ the witch explained, and his eyes flicked down to the brand on his arm for a moment. ‘With Asmodeus freed from Hell, he will stop at nothing to give himself a physical form. Of course he would prefer his own, and if he gathers enough power he could reshape his original body, but he needs yours until—’
Jungkook was a blur as he shot forward, a clawed hand snatching Taehyung around the throat right before Jungkook slammed the witch down onto the table, sending the containers and cutlery scattering across the surface. Jimin gasped, reaching out to try and stop Jungkook but Taehyung suddenly vanished from underneath him and Jungkook stumbled into the table himself.
‘That was rude.’
They both snapped around, seeing Taehyung now on the other side of the hotel room, irritably readjusting his suit jacket.
Jungkook was shifting into his demonic form though, the shift slow and gradual, and Jimin wasn’t even sure if he realised it was happening. His fangs and claws had elongated, veins igniting under his skin with molten gold like rivulets of lava, and his burning gaze was honed on Taehyung like a predator sizing up their prey.
‘I will not let any harm come to Jimin, he is mine,’ Jungkook snarled, voice distorted with a bestial deepness.
It was a promise and a threat, and it offered a small sense of comfort that was enough to loosen the fear that had tightened around Jimin’s lungs. He stepped close to Jungkook’s side, unconcerned by his demonic nature, and slipped his hand into the hellhound’s, fingers curling against the heat of his skin. The touch had Jungkook softening, his attention turning to Jimin instead.
Gently squeezing Jungkook’s hand, Jimin looked back to Taehyung and said, ‘You came here to warn us, but are you also here to help us?’
‘If you want it,’ Taehyung replied, levelling a wary gaze at Jungkook.
Jungkook was looking more human now, as if Jimin’s touch had pulled him back from shifting completely. ‘You know how to stop Asmodeus?’
‘Not… exactly,’ the witch admitted. ‘My new coven is very powerful and very determined though, so they’re working on it. In the meantime, we want to offer Jimin protection.’
Jungkook scoffed. ‘I don’t trust witches.’
‘You can trust us.’
Despite Jimin’s penchant for attracting the supernatural, his only encounter with a witch had been Hayeon and that experience alone was enough for him to steer clear of witches in the future, especially knowing now the advantages his conduit abilities could provide them. So, naturally, there was a cautious voice in the back of his mind that whispered what ifs about Taehyung and his coven; what if Taehyung was deceiving them just so he could use Jimin for his coven?
But if he focused on that voice, Jimin knew it wasn’t the same as what often steered him from danger or encouraged him forward like that day he chose to help Jungkook in his injured canine form. That voice, he suspected, stemmed from his conduit abilities, something innate and primal inside him knowing what magical energies were safe and what were not. It wasn’t that voice which warned him now, in fact that voice was calm, unconcerned by Taehyung’s presence, unthreatened by the magic flowing around him.
The only voice which warned him was his fear, was the memory of Hayeon’s magic crawling under his skin and pinning him down, trying to take control of his body, the threat of the dark, menacing presence coalescing nearby that he now understood was Asmodeus’ soul. If Jimin shifted away that fear, tied it only to Hayeon and what she did, he realised that he wasn’t scared of Taehyung.
But then Jimin’s instinct did warm him, and it had nothing to do with the witch. He felt the warning ripple up his spine a moment before something smashed through the hotel window and landed on one of the beds. Jimin startled, confusion falling over him as he looked at the glowing sphere that had entered the room, its surface like clear glass but trapped inside was a storm, magic of darkness and an electric blur churning around itself.
‘Oh, Gods,’ Taehyung uttered. Then he threw out a hand, his fingers encased in a plume of purple magic. ‘Get back! It’s an arcana bomb!’
Jungkook barely had the chance to throw his body into Jimin’s before the bomb exploded, and Jimin felt several things all at once.
Magic, firstly. It erupted from the sphere and slammed into Jimin, even with Jungkook’s fiery shield expanding outwards to take the brunt, and it was like lightning tearing through him, bright and sharp and painful and all of Jimin’s nerves went haywire. He was sure he screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the next shockwave that blew the hotel room apart. He heard the terrible ripping and cracking of the room, the floor fissuring, the beds exploding into feathers and lining, glass splintering, the roof snapping open – and then it suddenly whipped around him, turning into a tornado and Jimin thought he felt the pull of Jungkook’s energy, just a flash of familiar heat striking at the part of Jungkook’s soul he still had embedded inside him, but Jimin lost it as quickly as he had felt it, the unfamiliar magic that had blown into him from the bomb still ricocheting through his body like hundreds of electrified bullets.
And then they were outside, the sudden stillness and silence from the rush of the explosion almost as jarring as whiplash. Jimin felt the softness of grass under his feet for just a second before his knees buckled, a rush of dizziness coming over him that was far worse than any other time Jungkook had transported them away with his magic, and as his vision faded into a mix of black and blurred edges he began to fall.
‘Jimin!’
The jolt of strong arms catching him had the world snapping back into place, but only for a moment. He caught a flash of Jungkook leaning over him, his gold eyes alight with concern, and then everything spun around him again, that storm of lightning inside him now a whirlpool that he sank into the middle of it, that churned through his veins as if he was being tossed amongst tumultuous waves even though he was still within the circle of Jungkook’s arms.
‘What is wrong with him?’
Jungkook’s voice was laced with a snarl, the demanding question almost like a threat.
‘That blast was pure magic,’ Taehyung murmured, ‘and as a conduit I think Jimin absorbed most of it, even if he didn’t intend to.’
Jimin tried to focus on the witch, but the slightest turn of his head had everything shuddering around him and he grimaced, his body curling into Jungkook’s when he felt the hellhound’s arms tighten around him. It was the only thing offering him a sense of orientation, like a lifeline stopping him from being ripped away by the tide. He couldn’t make sense of what was up or down without it.
‘Help him.’
And Jimin knew Jungkook was worried, if he was now asking Taehyung for help.
‘His soul should be naturally processing the magic but… I’m not skilled enough to make that determination. My friends can help. Let me just—’
Jungkook snapped his teeth in a growl.
‘Calm down, hellhound. He will be in less discomfort if I send him to sleep.’
Jungkook was still growling, a low rumble from his chest and so Jimin forced his eyes open, searching for Jungkook’s face amongst the blur of colours filling his vision. ‘It’s… it’s okay,’ he uttered.
Jungkook’s protests stopped instantly and then his arms shifted around him, bringing Jimin’s face into the crook of his neck and Jimin nuzzled into it, the warmth of his skin comforting. He felt fingers brush across his forehead, felt a new touch of magic slip beneath his skin and he thought he could smell lavender. It waded through his mind, quietening it, and then Jimin drifted into blissful unconsciousness.
*****
There were moments when Jimin almost woke, unfamiliar voices drifting through his ears and unfamiliar magic slipping through his veins, though neither of which felt threatening. Jungkook’s presence had always been there, like a gentle fire warming his back, and Jimin had sunk into it before consciousness could take hold.
When he did wake that heat was still there, wrapped around him and Jimin’s face was pressed into soft fur. He nuzzled against it instinctively, feeling the familiarity not just in the texture, not just in the warmth or the earthy, woodfire scent, but in the way his soul – and the small piece of a hellhound’s soul – felt the familiarity. Home, it whispered.
As consciousness seeped back into his mind Jimin realised he no longer had that intense, dizzying magic churning through his body. The world wasn’t spinning, he could tell up from down, and his skin wasn’t buzzing in discomfort.
So Jimin opened his eyes, greeted by a blanket of black fur that curved around him. He tilted his head back to find Jungkook sleeping not just in canine form but in his full demonic form, his body twice as large as Jimin’s and looking utterly ferocious despite being asleep. As a hellhound Jungkook was the size of a horse, his skin glowing under his fur like burning coals and his paws bigger than Jimin’s feet, the claws carefully retracted given how close Jimin lay against him.
Jungkook woke the moment Jimin shifted, golden eyes glowing as they blinked away sleep and the moment he recognised that Jimin was awake the hellhound pushed his snout into Jimin’s neck, nestling against him and inhaling deeply. Jimin reached up, curling his arm around Jungkook’s neck and scratching behind his large, soft ear.
‘Hi,’ Jimin whispered.
Jungkook grumbled, the sound like a reluctant purr, as if he was irritated yet relieved. And then he was rolling over, half-smothering Jimin in fur. It took only a second for Jimin to realise that the hellhound was scenting him and using his whole body to do it – even at the expense of Jimin suffocating beneath his fur.
Wheezing, Jimin smacked at Jungkook’s broad back and said, ‘Enough, Jungkook. Enough.’
The hellhound huffed and shifted off him, allowing his lungs to breathe comfortably again, but he kept pressed close to Jimin’s side, one paw resting across Jimin’s waist. It gave Jimin the opportunity to sit up and observe the unfamiliar room he was now in, though as his eyes swept across the timber walls and floors, the peaked ceiling, plush rugs and mismatched furniture, Jimin doubted they were in a hotel. It looked more like a cabin, though far cozier and more personalised than any of the holiday park cabins Jimin had stayed in before. The large bed they lay on was tucked into one corner, partially obscured by creamy linen curtains that draped from the ceiling, and two plush sofas faced an unlit fireplace while a kitchen with rustic cabinetry and round stools occupied the opposite side of the cabin. The windows had their curtains closed but Jimin could tell it was night outside, only a few lamps switched on to illuminate the cabin.
Before Jimin could ask where they were, knocking sounded from the cabin’s front door and in response Jeongguk growled. It was a low thing, a sound of discontent rather than anger, but Jimin recognised Taehyung’s magic. He called out to the witch, letting him know he could come in, and then Taehyung walked through the door dressed in a mint-green sweater that sat loose on his shoulders but was tucked into a pair of beige chinos, the leather belt around his waist visible and his curls haphazard around his eyes.
Jimin glanced over the witch’s shoulder, checking for a hint of where they were but it was too dark outside. The lack of outdoor lights suggested they were somewhere remote though, especially given Jimin couldn’t hear any traffic in the distance.
‘Feeling better?’ Taehyung asked, shutting the door behind him and as he crossed the cabin Jungkook curled his body around Jimin, long black tail flicking irritably. Taehyung paused mid-step, lips pursing. ‘Really, you still don’t trust me?’
Jungkook smacked his tail atop the mattress with a loud whump in answer.
‘I’m feeling much better,’ said Jimin, with a reassuring stroke of his hand over Jungkook’s head. ‘I don’t understand what happened though. The blast… and so much magic. It was a bomb?’
Taehyung nodded, easing himself onto the armrest of one of the sofas. ‘An arcana bomb, yes. It’s not an easy thing to create, but it’s pure magic inside a temporary binding spell. Depending on the type of magic used to create the bomb, the explosion can be fatal.’
‘We all survived though,’ Jimin pointed out, though he could remember the force of the explosion, could remember the hotel room blowing apart.
‘I don’t think it was meant to kill us, but if it hadn’t been for Jungkook’s power conjuring a shield around us we would have at least been injured,’ the witch replied. ‘It was probably a message, or maybe a test. For you, that is, to see how much magic your conduit abilities can withstand.’
Jimin’s brow lifted, catching the implication. ‘It was from Hayeon’s coven?’
‘It was. All magic has a signature and I recognised the coven’s straight away.’
Jungkook started shifting then, plumes of dark, smoke-like power billowing out around his body until he was back in human form and that same power was materialising a simple black outfit of pants and a t-shirt.
‘So what you’re saying is, you led Hayeon’s coven to Jimin?’ the hellhound suggested as he slid off the bed, bare feet pressing to the timber floors and the heat of his energy filling the cabin.
Jimin thought Taehyung might protest, but instead he exhaled deeply and said, ‘If it was because of me then I apologise. The coven was already on your trail and, like I said, I came to warn you of that, but I can’t be entirely sure I wasn’t followed. The coven knows I am trying to stop them.’
Jungkook was silent, as if he was caught off-guard by Taehyung’s willingness to take blame. Jimin interjected, saying, ‘Where are we now?’
The question had Taehyung perking up slightly, his lips pressing together in a fond smile that brought a touch of innocence to his face. ‘My home, with my new coven. I brought us here so my friends could help siphon away the magic overdose you were experiencing. They’re keen to meet you when you’re ready.’
Taehyung seemed just as eager to introduce them, and again Jimin felt no quiet warning over his shoulder that tried to convince him of danger.
Standing up, Jimin nodded his head and—
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Jungkook cut in, catching Jimin by the waist to pull him back.
Jimin staggered, looking up at Jungkook in confusion. ‘To meet with—’
‘Not tonight,’ Jungkook decided, his arm pulling Jimin in more closely. ‘Rest tonight. I already met one of the other witches and so far I am unimpressed.’
‘Hey.’
‘It can therefore wait until tomorrow,’ the hellhound insisted.
Jimin couldn’t deny that a certain haze of exhaustion still clung to his body, but if Jungkook was comfortable enough for them to spend the night here without meeting the rest of Taehyung’s coven first then he trusted Jungkook’s judgement.
So he relented. ‘All right, tomorrow then. Is that okay, Taehyung?’
Taehyung was side-eying Jungkook but he nodded, flicking his gaze back to Jimin. ‘Of course. I’ll bring you something to eat in the meantime. There’s plenty of clothes in the drawers over there, I’m sure you’ll find things that fit you.’
Jimin smiled gratefully and when Taehyung slipped out of the cabin, Jimin felt Jungkook press in behind him. Two arms curled around his waist, fingers clinging to the front of his sweater, and Jimin leaned back when Jungkook nuzzled into his neck with a deep inhale.
'There are plenty of things I have discovered since being with you which I have enjoyed,' Jungkook said, a shuddering sigh sweeping over Jimin’s skin. 'The emotion of fear is not one of them.'
Jimin turned slightly, lips brushing over Jungkook's temple. 'You were afraid?' he asked. Jungkook responded by tightening his arms and Jimin understood, his own hands resting over Jungkook’s comfortingly. ‘You were afraid of losing me.'
Again, Jungkook didn't say anything. Jimin shifted in the hellhound’s arms until they were chest to chest and Jimin was gently lifting Jungkook’s head so their eyes could meet. The molten depths of Jungkook’s eyes seemed a little duller, the gold shadowed with worry. It was a rare sight; Jimin had encountered plenty of supernatural beings that posed a threat to him but Jungkook had never been bothered by them, his hellhound abilities unrivalled. This, though, had him worried.
Jimin lightly combed his fingers back through Jungkook’s hair, the strands the same midnight black as his fur and long enough now to curl over his ears, then he pushed up on his toes and kissed Jungkook tenderly.
Jungkook welcomed the kiss, his hands curling around Jimin’s hips and Jimin felt the wavelength of Jungkook’s soul pulse between them like it always did when they touched, as if the two pieces rejoined in those brief moments.
'You heard what Taehyung said,' Jimin murmured as he pulled back from the kiss. 'If it hadn’t been for your shield we would have been injured from that blast. You protected me, like you always do.’
Jungkook’s worry didn’t abate. 'But if what Taehyung says is true... Jimin, I’ve never faced a demon like Asmodeus.’
It was still a little surreal, and maybe that was why Jimin hadn’t yet felt the full paralysis of fear at the thought of a powerful demon coming after him. He didn’t necessarily want to think about it, especially if even Jungkook was worried.
'Let's just hear what Taehyung’s coven has to say,' Jimin decided. He held Jungkook’s stare a little longer before kissing him again, hoping to ease away the concern in his eyes. If only for tonight.
Tomorrow, he would deal with his own fear.