[Fic] Until You - 13/15
Title: Until You
Author: Coley Merrin
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Vampires, Angst, Fluff
Warnings: Brief violence, angst, sexual situations.
Summary: Research points to a vampire bite being unbreakable, but Kyuhyun can't give up. And with Zhou Mi, he works to undo the blood bond that forced them together.
***
Chapter One * Chapter Two & Three * Chapter Four & Five * Chapter Six & Seven * Chapter Eight & Nine * Chapter Ten * Chapter Eleven * Chapter Twelve * Chapter Thirteen * Chapter Fourteen
***
By the time the van they rode in had stopped, Zhou Mi had managed to work off his blindfold. Not enough to see much of anything, but for Kyuhyun’s face. He struggled against his bonds, to little effect. And they had blindfolded him again, dragging him out with hands he could not fight for fear of endangering Kyuhyun. Unable to see, he only knew they were led, or in Kyuhyun’s case carried, inside, and down a set of stairs. Some kind of basement.
Kyuhyun began to moan, rousing, as they walked, and Zhou Mi held his breath, hoping he would not be hurt.
There was milling around them, the sound of more feet. And Zhou Mi was forced to his knees.
“Kyuhyun?” he called out, careful.
“Your pet is right here,” someone said, the sound almost a sneer in itself.
“I’m awake,” Kyuhyun whispered, and it soothed his heart.
But the voices made his head spin.
“We are hungry. Why bring this human?”
“Can’t you smell him? It’s just a dhampyr, who got himself a blood bond.”
“Bond or not, he smells like dinner.”
“No, you should wait. He wasn’t brought as a meal.”
“A bite won’t hurt him.”
At first he though he had heard part of it wrong, dhampyr. It was a word he had seen used before, in one of the books he had. It spoke of vampires untransformed, and he had always taken it to mean before a vampire got its teeth. But their conversation with the researcher sprang to his mind. I think the most interesting thing is the vampires that can bite without bonding…A progenitor, of sorts. If that was who had taken him and Kyuhyun, did they then consider him half, less than them? If they could bite without bonding, then perhaps to them he was lesser. Incomplete.
The blindfold came up off of Zhou Mi’s eyes, and the binding from his wrists, and he blinked in the light. Whatever was around him could have been snarling tigers, because all he saw was Kyuhyun being pulled up onto his feet. Kyuhyun tried to shake off the vampire who was holding him, but got nothing but a cuff to the head. And Kyuhyun’s eyes were solid on his. We’ll get out of this, Kyuhyun’s eyes seemed to say. He wanted nothing more than to say those words aloud. Stay strong. They can’t hurt me. I would give my life for you.
The feeling that caused someone to bind themselves to another, give up immortality and live as bonded as two people could be.
He had never understood it more than in that moment.
“Let him go!” Zhou Mi ordered, and was ignored, as the squabble about dinner and wait kept going. He shook his head, struggling against the hands on his shoulders. “He is mine!”
“Not any more,” the vampire sniggered, and twisted Kyuhyun’s head. For a long, horrific moment, Zhou Mi nearly expected the pop and crunch of a neck being broken. He never expected that the sound he would hear was worse.
The instinctual cry of pain from Kyuhyun’s throat, as the vampire’s teeth sank into his neck.
Zhou Mi screamed, thrashing from the hold of one man, making it only so far on his knees before he was covered and bound up again. Forced to watch as Kyuhyun’s hands went stiff and trembled, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. But a hand over Zhou Mi’s mouth kept him from shouting, every obscenity he knew. The neck, full of blood, it wouldn’t have taken long for Zhou Mi to feed. But the vampire didn’t let up, and his heart shattered with every second that past.
Was he to be forced to watch Kyuhyun killed in front of his very eyes? What hospital could transfuse him fast enough.
The sound of the bite ending, satisfaction from the vampire, and another pained sound from Kyuhyun, nearly undid him. And for a second Kyuhyun was left to stand alone. Zhou Mi’s breath held in fear, as Kyuhyun swayed, unsteady.
“Kyuhyun, no-“
The hands holding him released, and he nearly stumbled to his feet, staggering toward Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun was pushed into his arms, the vampire laughing as it sent both of them to the ground. But he didn’t pay attention to the stinging in his knees, but to the puncture wounds on Kyuhyun’s neck, dripping blood with alarming speed. The vampire had not even tried to stem the flow. Something was off about it, the smell. Someone else’s smell on Kyuhyun’s skin. It would have been jealousy had he not been so frightened. That blood was Kyuhyun’s. And it didn’t matter what scent made his lips curl in disgust, he could not allow Kyuhyun to bleed.
The taste of Kyuhyun’s blood was not what he expected. As though it had been laced with acid and chalk, not the coppery richness he was used to. He did not bite, only cleaned. Urging the wounds to close by smoothing them with his tongue, his antibodies. And he wanted to wash out his mouth afterward.
“What did you do to him?” he asked, wanting to snarl.
“Just a little snack.”
Kyuhyun was listless against him. But the bleeding had stopped. And his color, at least, was good.
It began like a headache might. A tiny throb. Only instead of in his head, his bones. Like every vein was beginning to swell, and change, and course with fire. He gasped, nearly dropping Kyuhyun from his grasp. Screams, in his head, biting into the loose cloth at Kyuhyun’s shoulder to keep them from coming out. It was like coming back to consciousness, after the avalanche of pain had ceased. But some of it still remained, everywhere in his body he could name.
“He needs a hospital,” Zhou Mi mumbled, scattered. “Kyuhyun. You’re okay. You’re okay.”
“Zhou Mi?” Kyuhyun’s voice was almost rusty, but so beautiful.
“He will be fine,” a man’s voice said. “You drank from him?”
A man crouched nearby, and Zhou Mi had to blink twice not to see his own face. Different, wider. Sharper nose, wider chin.
Zhou Mi nodded slowly, surprised his neck allowed it. “I had to stop the blood. He was bleeding.”
“You had a blood bond?”
“Someone forced it on us,” Kyuhyun said, surprising Zhou Mi when his eyes opened. Clearly listening even though he was weak.
“No longer,” the vampire told them. But his eyes were fixed on Zhou Mi’s. “A vampire’s bite will not break a bond. But you drank from the human after a true vampire bit him, and the bite of a vampire is far stronger than yours. What bound the human to you is no more.”
“That was what we were looking for,” Kyuhyun breathed, looking to Zhou Mi.
It could not be true. It was impossible. He was still holding Kyuhyun. They had been looking for a way to break the bond, not to use it. Not to be tricked into it. But the pain he’d felt- Hurting inside in ways he’d never known. Was that the feeling of what had bound him to Kyuhyun’s blood breaking apart?
“You lie. Blood bound we are not a threat do you. Why would you do that?”
“It was not our intention. You are here because you are a dhampyr, and we keep close tabs on those who seek to find us. But now that I see you, you are a curiosity to me. You are a child of mine.”
Too many surprises, too many punches to his emotions. The words echoed in Zhou Mi’s head. “You are my… My father?”
“In human terms, your grandfather, I would suppose. A son of a son of mine. My name is Chilhyun. Your father has been long dead.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No, you would not. We will speak later. Bring the human a drink.”
“The bond, it can be renewed?” Zhou Mi asked, desperate. “What are you? How can-“
Chilhyun did not respond, just walking away.
And though he could still just faintly smell it, Kyuhyun’s blood smelled dank and vile. It was fading from him, the scent of it. It did not stop him from placing barely perceptible kisses against Kyuhyun’s skin. He hoped as comfort to them both. And he learned it was possible to sit very still, very calm, when inside he was breaking apart. And it had nothing at all to do with the stinging ache in his limbs. As though his whole body protested the separation from Kyuhyun.
A word of thanks almost left Zhou Mi’s lips as a cup of water was offered to him. He took it, jostling Kyuhyun back to reality. Most of the water made it into Kyuhyun’s mouth, as Zhou Mi held the cup to his lips. And it seemed to revive Kyuhyun. He drank deeply, almost desperately. And seemed more alert, leaning less heavily into Zhou Mi.
The jeers of the others only had him holding Kyuhyun tighter, trying to work through it in his head. It could not be true. The thought of it was too much to bear. Why had they come? If there had been no vampire bite, if he had not drank Kyuhyun’s blood after it had been tainted? Kyuhyun’s words, that was what we were looking for. Had they been happy, pleased? Or confused. Kyuhyun still seemed half drowsy, and he did not think he could hold Kyuhyun to his words. But the sting of them was still there. Perhaps Kyuhyun had been less willing to stay with him, in the face of an option to get away, than he had thought.
But Zhou Mi was forced to his feet before long, helping Kyuhyun to stand drunkenly as well. And they were locked in a room with not a stick of furniture to fill it. No windows, just a single, locked door. Undoubtedly guarded. In the cool air, he stared at the gray walls, and sat beside Kyuhyun. Holding him against his chest.
Praying.
***
When the door opened again, it was Chilhyun, alone, and Kyuhyun stirred. In Chilhyun’s hands was food in a plastic bag, and it was set beside them. Zhou Mi opened the bottle of juice, the jerky, the bread. And Kyuhyun sat up, eating slowly as they sat in silence.
“Why did you bring us here?” Zhou Mi asked, steadying Kyuhyun’s shoulder.
“Put yourself near someone’s home, and you may not get greeted the way you wish.” Chilhyun focused on Zhou Mi. “Can you smell him, your human?”
“No,” Zhou Mi said. “What little I can smell is just vile.”
“It’s interesting. We did not study blood bonds very closely. So we will take note of this.”
“They called me a dhampyr. Why?”
“Because you are not a vampire, to us. Your blood is thinned, weak.”
Chilhyun leaned back against the wall and seemed to consider, before speaking again. “The number of male vampire babies was always somewhat higher. When we lost most of our women to - I cannot speak of it - there was a desperation. Vampires may not mate from necessity, and a blood bond is impossible. But there is often deep emotion that surrounds a mating bond. And there may be children born to that union. But desperation grew with every male child born. At least ten men vying for every un-bound female, if not more. Bonded couples moving to seclusion to escape harassment. That is the desperation that led us to humans.
“It was our greatest experiment. To see if the humans could provide us with mates. Of course, mixed children had been born before, but quickly eliminated. Imagine our chagrin, that among those half-human children, that immortality set in after the blood teeth came down. But no children could be produced from a union between vampire and the lesser dhampyr creatures we created. The trial failed. And all that were left when our trial was done were half-vampires who could feed from a single human only. Able to breed with humans and create more of their own kind.”
It was Kyuhyun who spoke, when Chilhyun had finished. “So you created vampires that could do what you couldn’t, and replicate themselves without loss. With unlimited human choices. Then the immortality of vampires has its limits.”
Chilhyun acknowledge that with a subtle movement of his head. “Any dhampyr with a blood bond could tell you that.”
“But vampires were acknowledged a century ago. How long ago was the experiment?”
“Twice that.” Chilhyun smiled. “There are always those who would see the events of the past gone, whether it is watching for the unbonded or not. Since it is considered reprehensible to kill the children. But it did give us one thing - cover. Since “vampires” existed, real ones, true ones, could exist without living in hiding.”
Zhou Mi shook his head. “But the documentation on vampires, it would guarantee that you couldn’t bite and kill at will. Since bites are documented as bonding.”
“Creatures mutate, change. There are always those awkward examples.”
“And your women?”
“We find our kind no longer in danger,” Chilhyun said. “If your past was all you came to find out, then I have nothing more to tell you.”
“We wanted to find a way to break the bond,” Zhou Mi said, his words hitching painfully.
“You found a way. Probably the only way. But I doubt in other circumstances that you would find a vampire willing to bite for such a purpose.”
A soft knock sounded on the door, and Chilhyun granted entrance to two vampires. “The human, remove him.”
Zhou Mi was on his feet before the vampires could move, solidly in front of Kyuhyun who was still slumped against the wall. “No. We stay together. I won’t let you touch him.”
“His blood is no longer yours, so he is not your concern,” Chilhyun said.
“Like he could fight us,” one of the vampires joked, pushing Zhou Mi’s warding hand down, and pressing him back into the wall with a hand against his chest. And he whispered, “Quiet, or the human might get it by accident.”
It took a few moments for Zhou Mi’s brain to engage, staring at the man. “I know that voice. You helped to force me to drink from Kyuhyun to begin with!” His head snapped around to accuse Chilhyun. “Was it you? You forced me to bite him?!”
The man only smiled, sending fury spilling through Zhou Mi’s veins. “Do you think there is some vampire hierarchy? Some code of law?”
“But one of your people was there!”
“Not mine. Some band together for protection, but I am not their leader. I am the oldest, and they may choose to take my advice. Or not. You’ve heard our reasoning already, to keep the mistakes of the past from perpetuating. But don’t fret for the human. He is not to be someone’s meal.”
Helpless and sick, he watched, held to the wall as Kyuhyun was urged to his feet.
“Kyuhyun.”
What he saw in those eyes did not comfort him. Uncertain, and still a bit weak. Led out by the scruff of his neck like a recalcitrant puppy, until Zhou Mi was shoved to the floor, and left. And it sickened him as the door closed, that he had not fought harder. Could not have fought, with the implied danger to Kyuhyun’s safety. But even the door against his fists and feet did not give. Chilhyun had assured him that Kyuhyun would not be a meal but he had no idea why they would want Kyuhyun alone. What information could Kyuhyun could give them that he couldn’t? Perhaps only that he was human, and his perspective was different, or-
It was another hour before a container of animal blood was left for Zhou Mi. And prepared to wage war, he was mollified by four words.
“The human is fine.”
But he was too ill with worry to eat.
***
Kyuhyun, to say the least of it, did not feel well. Led through the basement of whatever building they were in, he could only see Zhou Mi’s horrified eyes. As though he had been incapable of protecting Kyuhyun and to blame for everything. But he had seen how hard Zhou Mi had fought in that alley. Hitting with a power he feared would shatter the fragile-looking arms. But two vampires on one Zhou Mi was never going to be good odds. And Kyuhyun’s only fighting experience came by way of video games. The arm around his neck had been so debilitating, the most he could do was claw and kick and choke while watching Zhou Mi be flung into the wall. That Zhou Mi fought that hard for him. And still, here they were.
To say he wasn’t afraid for his life would have been a lie. Though, he thought wryly, if he were killed, at least Zhou Mi wouldn’t end up dying.
The bond. The bond he hadn’t wanted, manifested and broken without his consent. How ironic, that in Zhou Mi trying to help him, he had broken them. And in his haze, Zhou Mi’s horrified face to learn of it, loomed like a heavy blanket.
And as he sat, sullen in a chair of a room much like the one he had been in with Zhou Mi. Only he was with Chilhyun.
“Zhou Mi is safe?” he asked.
“He’s immortal,” Chilhyun said. “Short of shining the sun on him, we can do little to hurt him. I want you to tell me everything you know about the blood bond. Everything you experienced.”
“Are we your research subjects?”
“You were bound to a child of mine. Does it change anything? A line of vampires, even diluted. I am curious.”
For his own pride? He rolled his eyes. But he did speak, if reluctantly. The cold, the feeding. The registration. None of what he had experienced, the tingling warmth, or Zhou Mi laughing against him. Or touching him.
Chilhyun hummed. “You have been with him a long time. What he passed to you, what he needs from you, it is written in your marrow, your liver, your spleen. When the bite of the vampire that unbonded you is gone, all that will remain is mine, and his. Mine will fade. But your body will not forget him so easily. I’m curious if my bite, even if it’s stronger, bears the same mark. Every cell you produce sings for him. ”
With a broken bond? He remembered the singing in his veins too well. “How long until that goes away?”
“Seven years.”
“What?”
Chilhyun snorted. “It won’t be tomorrow or next week. Maybe not even within your puny lifetime. You are the ones who choose to tie yourselves together.”
“It wasn’t our choice. Kidnapping people, forcing them-”
“You may think me a monster, but even I can smell regret. Even without interference, the dhampyr have chosen to throw their lives away. He would have given his to keep you safe.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth thinned, standing to steady himself carefully against the wall. If he was going to bargain, he’d do it on level ground. “Then let us go.”
“To us humans are little more than cattle at times. Some fall in love, take an interest. A beloved pet. That son of mine is no vampire. Just a child who found a pretty toy to nibble on.” Chilhyun cupped Kyuhyun’s chin in his hand, and it took every shred of willpower not to jerk his head away. “I want no vampire thinking they can do the same. By invoking the bonds, the dhampyr die in peace. He will be better off to die with you.”
“Not anymore.” And he didn’t even know where the words were coming from. “Zhou Mi won’t look twice at me now, even if the bond can be done again.”
“That isn’t my concern. I will bleed you faster, but you are young. You’ll regenerate with his healing well before morning. And I will be sated. But I will not be so kind to your wishes.”
The vampire pushed back his head, pinning Kyuhyun to the wall. He would have shouted, screamed for help. But as the vampire’s teeth sank into his neck, his body went limp, useless. And he felt the pain of it. Slack jawed and useless as his blood was drained, mouth gaping and eyes nearly blind. Pain. It was nothing like the heady rush of Zhou Mi’s bite, the warmth, the feelings. No bond to perpetuate it, no gentleness originating in it. No voice telling him that it would be okay, eyes smiling at him.
When the feed was over, his knees buckled. And Chilhyun’s smile was nothing like Zhou Mi’s. A mockery, a satisfied one.
“Sleep, little pet. He may not wait forever.”
Weak as a child, he was laid on the bed, the blanket covering him. The chill in his bones was almost unbearable, though it faded after a few moments. Proof of the bond going away? Perhaps. If he could have spoken, urged his lips to move, there would have only been one name he said. It carried with him into his dreams.
***
Zhou Mi startled, as the door opened, and was frozen in horror as Chilhyun appeared.
Kyuhyun, carried. Not dead, and limp. But shaking uncontrollably.
“He rattled in his bed loud enough to wake anyone within a mile,” Chilhyun said, setting Kyuhyun down on legs that crumpled. Sinking to the floor.
Zhou Mi was afraid even to reach. What had they done to Kyuhyun, to get that kind of response? As though it was freezing cold, when the air itself was not.
“Why is he shaking like that?”
“Because he yearns for his mate.”
The denial was immediate. “No. You said-“
“I know. And the bond no longer exists- in you. In biting him myself, I erased the bite of the vampire before me. It seems my theory was correct. My bite is like enough to yours, that all his body senses now is you. His body had months to take you into his marrow. No vampire bite erases that. All you would smell, with your feeble senses, is yourself.”
“You fed on him?” Zhou Mi asked, the image of it too much for his brain to handle.
“Yes. And you come from me. If you bit him now, you could eat, but it would not bind him to you. What passed to him from me is stronger and won’t allow it. But that will break down, in time. Two weeks, if not a few days more.”
Kyuhyun would be horrified to know it. “We can’t stay together.”
“You’ll have to, unless you want him to break his head off shaking. Think of it as my last gift to you.”
“Last gift?”
Chilhyun leaned by the door, his shoulders even and relaxed. “There is too much attention here. We’ll move on. Go back to your city and live what remains of your life with your mate.”
The breath left Zhou Mi’s body. “He is not my mate.”
Chilhyun’s mouth twisted into a smile. “No vampire bite can change that.”
On his knees, he finally reached, and saw the fading red marks on Kyuhyun’s neck. It was one thing to see Kyuhyun bitten by another, torn from him with as little finesse as they had been bound, but to think he had been fed upon against his will as well, to the point he couldn’t even stand, shivering blankly on the floor?
“I fed, one last time,” Chilhyun said, almost goading. “His blood is good. It seems a pet who to your tastes can be useful. I’d be tempted to offer to let you leave him here, if he isn’t to your liking.”
“No,” Zhou Mi barked. “He has a life, and a family. He’ll return with me.”
“It’s your choice. We will leave you here when we leave this place. Do as you wish. But unbound, if time enough passes, you will be found again. Perhaps bound to a mate less your liking.”
Zhou Mi’s shoulders shook with anger, lips trembling for repressing it. “Don’t threaten me. I didn’t make this problem. It was your mistake that created me.”
“Which is why he leaves alive.” Chilhyun opened the door and paused, looking back one last time. “We won’t see each other again. But the experience has been…enlightening.”
He gathered Kyuhyun tightly to him, breathing in the scent of his sweat and skin and hair as the door closed firmly. Smelling his fear. The warmth of him.
“Kyuhyun, are you okay? Answer me, please”
The breath that came out was warm, and unsure. But Kyuhyun’s voice was strong. “I wondered when you were going to get your ass over here.”
The trembles had stopped.
As though they were still bound.
Though they were not.
He cried into Kyuhyun’s collar, until his face burned with tears. Knowing Kyuhyun had fallen asleep, and glad for it. He had thought being bound to Kyuhyun had once been a mockery, but this was more so. That they could have a chance. Once Chilhyun’s bite was gone from Kyuhyun, the bond could be renewed. But what hope was there in that?
He breathed deep, trying to compose himself. His first concern could not be for himself, but for Kyuhyun. He slept with his hand on Kyuhyun’s wrist, feeling the steady thump of his heart, and dreaming of when he had been able to smell Kyuhyun. That Kyuhyun lived was enough for right then. It had to be enough.
***
Zhou Mi woke as Kyuhyun stirred, staring in confusion as Kyuhyun moaned and rotated his neck. He felt a little stiff himself, as he pulled up. The floor was neither soft, nor particularly warm. Though Kyuhyun at least felt warm against him.
“How do you feel?”
Kyuhyun covered his face with his hand, and groaned, as he sat up. Leaning heavily on one arm.
“Like someone ran a cement mixer over me. Did they say they were letting us go?”
“I think so.”
He wanted to reach out, cup Kyuhyun’s face. Tell him how sorry he was, how worried he’d been. But he thought of more productive things. Like getting out of there.
“You haven’t eaten since last night, I think. We need to find you food.”
“I’m fine. You haven’t eaten either.”
Zhou Mi’s eyes skidded away from the container of animal blood. He’d tried it, in the middle of the night. Cool and distasteful. But what little he’d had, had strengthened him a little.
“I’m fine.” And he tested the door, his spine tingling as the knob turned in his hand. At the soft click, his eyes flew to Kyuhyun’s, and he could see they shared the same thought. If the door was unlocked, were the vampires gone?
He left it for a moment, reaching down to help Kyuhyun up. And the points of contact between their skin, his hand on Kyuhyun’s arm, was almost painful. They stood carefully, and Kyuhyun took a step, making sure he was steady enough to do so. And with a nod, Zhou Mi let go. It was him through the door first, looking out into the outer room. Empty. Nothing but scattered garbage. He went slowly, cautiously, making sure Kyuhyun was close and that he wasn’t going too fast. He had no recollection of which direction they had been brought in from, only that there had been stairs. And leading up one corner of the room, he spotted them.
“Doing okay?”
“Let’s get out of here,” Kyuhyun said, face grim.
He almost wanted to run for it, but he also realized he had no idea what time it was. What day it was. They’d be able to tell if the sun shone, but he fingered the cloth around his neck just in case. And Kyuhyun couldn’t have run, anyway.
***
Zhou Mi thought at first he was hallucinating as they climbed the stairs. The sounds of sirens. It quickened both their steps, to see flashing lights on the street outside, Kyuhyun heavily supported beside him. It was not daylight outside at all, when they had emerged from the abandoned house. Police swarming them as though they were criminals themselves, before Eunhyuk appeared through the crowd. The missing researcher Daniel, unbeknownst to them, had been held there too. And he had made it to the street before them, using a neighbor’s home to call the police. Police who, with Eunhyuk in tow, had found the house and both of them. No other people were there. Just two abandoned humans, and Zhou Mi. And the police had taken them home, delivered them to Eunhyuk’s doorstep.
He had never before seen his friend cry.
But that night, he did. If only briefly. At Zhou Mi’s insistence, they called for delivery, for the two human men. Anything Zhou Mi could think of that would tempt Kyuhyun’s appetite. They had been gone for nearly a day, Daniel almost two. And he knew Kyuhyun had not eaten much. And while Daniel ate quickly, passing out on Eunhyuk’s couch, Kyuhyun was slower, more deliberate. It took all his willpower not to shove the food into Kyuhyun’s mouth, fixing long stares at the walls of Eunhyuk’s apartment. Pictures of people in various stages of a dance. It showed Eunhyuk’s job, his hobby. But it didn’t keep his attention from Kyuhyun for long.
“You need to eat it all.”
Kyuhyun glared at the meat Zhou Mi was trying to move onto his plate. “Are you going to chew it for me, too? I’m eating, take a break.”
“It’s your health,” Zhou Mi retorted.
“Sure. Whatever.”
The disgusted sound he made surprised even himself, and he stalked away to fiddle with the bag they had brought. Their clothes, mixed in together. He’d changed already, but Kyuhyun hadn’t. Eunhyuk dropped down beside him, getting a hand on his knee.
“I’d think you’d be trying to be sweet to him instead of pushing him away,” Eunhyuk said.
“This is what he wanted. He never wanted me. It was stupid to think he would’ve been happy, when it was never his choice.”
“But it can be his choice now. And yours?” Eunhyuk told him. “You showed up here, and I thought he’d be totally indifferent to you, but he wasn’t. And you were so into him. You would’ve been happy to keep him. You fell for him.”
“How do you not, when someone is right there, all the time? He is so-” Zhou Mi shook his head, almost gasping. “Of course- I didn’t try to. But he was my friend, too. Not just my roommate.”
“And your lover. I’m not stupid.”
“But that wasn’t for very long.”
“But you think after all that, that he’s just going to dance away without a care?”
Zhou Mi glanced over at Kyuhyun. “If I were him, I probably would.”
Eunhyuk’s face was still, and he saw there everything he was trying to deny inside. Reason. “Then you got involved with someone you don’t think cares about you at all.”
“We’ll leave on the first train,” Zhou Mi said softly. “I need to get him back. I can’t stay here like this.”
“I know. Give yourself a chance, Zhou Mi. No one else is going to for you.”
After Kyuhyun had eaten, showered, Zhou Mi hugged Eunhyuk goodbye. Leaving Eunhyuk and Daniel there, to catch a taxi to the train station. Taking the last train of the night, with Zhou Mi holding their clothes and Kyuhyun’s computer. There was nothing left for them in that town. The vampires, Chilhyun his grandfather, had moved on. He had found out everything he had never known, and so much he had never wanted to. And with the computer bag bumping between their feet, Kyuhyun drooled against the front of Zhou Mi’s shirt like a sleepy child most of the ride back into the city. At the very least, Kyuhyun was not afraid of him. And he allowed himself, for Kyuhyun’s sake, to stroke that soft hair. Back in their apartment, where things were familiar to them both, where they had come to know each other, they would see. They would see.
***
Author: Coley Merrin
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Vampires, Angst, Fluff
Warnings: Brief violence, angst, sexual situations.
Summary: Research points to a vampire bite being unbreakable, but Kyuhyun can't give up. And with Zhou Mi, he works to undo the blood bond that forced them together.
***
Chapter One * Chapter Two & Three * Chapter Four & Five * Chapter Six & Seven * Chapter Eight & Nine * Chapter Ten * Chapter Eleven * Chapter Twelve * Chapter Thirteen * Chapter Fourteen
***
By the time the van they rode in had stopped, Zhou Mi had managed to work off his blindfold. Not enough to see much of anything, but for Kyuhyun’s face. He struggled against his bonds, to little effect. And they had blindfolded him again, dragging him out with hands he could not fight for fear of endangering Kyuhyun. Unable to see, he only knew they were led, or in Kyuhyun’s case carried, inside, and down a set of stairs. Some kind of basement.
Kyuhyun began to moan, rousing, as they walked, and Zhou Mi held his breath, hoping he would not be hurt.
There was milling around them, the sound of more feet. And Zhou Mi was forced to his knees.
“Kyuhyun?” he called out, careful.
“Your pet is right here,” someone said, the sound almost a sneer in itself.
“I’m awake,” Kyuhyun whispered, and it soothed his heart.
But the voices made his head spin.
“We are hungry. Why bring this human?”
“Can’t you smell him? It’s just a dhampyr, who got himself a blood bond.”
“Bond or not, he smells like dinner.”
“No, you should wait. He wasn’t brought as a meal.”
“A bite won’t hurt him.”
At first he though he had heard part of it wrong, dhampyr. It was a word he had seen used before, in one of the books he had. It spoke of vampires untransformed, and he had always taken it to mean before a vampire got its teeth. But their conversation with the researcher sprang to his mind. I think the most interesting thing is the vampires that can bite without bonding…A progenitor, of sorts. If that was who had taken him and Kyuhyun, did they then consider him half, less than them? If they could bite without bonding, then perhaps to them he was lesser. Incomplete.
The blindfold came up off of Zhou Mi’s eyes, and the binding from his wrists, and he blinked in the light. Whatever was around him could have been snarling tigers, because all he saw was Kyuhyun being pulled up onto his feet. Kyuhyun tried to shake off the vampire who was holding him, but got nothing but a cuff to the head. And Kyuhyun’s eyes were solid on his. We’ll get out of this, Kyuhyun’s eyes seemed to say. He wanted nothing more than to say those words aloud. Stay strong. They can’t hurt me. I would give my life for you.
The feeling that caused someone to bind themselves to another, give up immortality and live as bonded as two people could be.
He had never understood it more than in that moment.
“Let him go!” Zhou Mi ordered, and was ignored, as the squabble about dinner and wait kept going. He shook his head, struggling against the hands on his shoulders. “He is mine!”
“Not any more,” the vampire sniggered, and twisted Kyuhyun’s head. For a long, horrific moment, Zhou Mi nearly expected the pop and crunch of a neck being broken. He never expected that the sound he would hear was worse.
The instinctual cry of pain from Kyuhyun’s throat, as the vampire’s teeth sank into his neck.
Zhou Mi screamed, thrashing from the hold of one man, making it only so far on his knees before he was covered and bound up again. Forced to watch as Kyuhyun’s hands went stiff and trembled, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. But a hand over Zhou Mi’s mouth kept him from shouting, every obscenity he knew. The neck, full of blood, it wouldn’t have taken long for Zhou Mi to feed. But the vampire didn’t let up, and his heart shattered with every second that past.
Was he to be forced to watch Kyuhyun killed in front of his very eyes? What hospital could transfuse him fast enough.
The sound of the bite ending, satisfaction from the vampire, and another pained sound from Kyuhyun, nearly undid him. And for a second Kyuhyun was left to stand alone. Zhou Mi’s breath held in fear, as Kyuhyun swayed, unsteady.
“Kyuhyun, no-“
The hands holding him released, and he nearly stumbled to his feet, staggering toward Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun was pushed into his arms, the vampire laughing as it sent both of them to the ground. But he didn’t pay attention to the stinging in his knees, but to the puncture wounds on Kyuhyun’s neck, dripping blood with alarming speed. The vampire had not even tried to stem the flow. Something was off about it, the smell. Someone else’s smell on Kyuhyun’s skin. It would have been jealousy had he not been so frightened. That blood was Kyuhyun’s. And it didn’t matter what scent made his lips curl in disgust, he could not allow Kyuhyun to bleed.
The taste of Kyuhyun’s blood was not what he expected. As though it had been laced with acid and chalk, not the coppery richness he was used to. He did not bite, only cleaned. Urging the wounds to close by smoothing them with his tongue, his antibodies. And he wanted to wash out his mouth afterward.
“What did you do to him?” he asked, wanting to snarl.
“Just a little snack.”
Kyuhyun was listless against him. But the bleeding had stopped. And his color, at least, was good.
It began like a headache might. A tiny throb. Only instead of in his head, his bones. Like every vein was beginning to swell, and change, and course with fire. He gasped, nearly dropping Kyuhyun from his grasp. Screams, in his head, biting into the loose cloth at Kyuhyun’s shoulder to keep them from coming out. It was like coming back to consciousness, after the avalanche of pain had ceased. But some of it still remained, everywhere in his body he could name.
“He needs a hospital,” Zhou Mi mumbled, scattered. “Kyuhyun. You’re okay. You’re okay.”
“Zhou Mi?” Kyuhyun’s voice was almost rusty, but so beautiful.
“He will be fine,” a man’s voice said. “You drank from him?”
A man crouched nearby, and Zhou Mi had to blink twice not to see his own face. Different, wider. Sharper nose, wider chin.
Zhou Mi nodded slowly, surprised his neck allowed it. “I had to stop the blood. He was bleeding.”
“You had a blood bond?”
“Someone forced it on us,” Kyuhyun said, surprising Zhou Mi when his eyes opened. Clearly listening even though he was weak.
“No longer,” the vampire told them. But his eyes were fixed on Zhou Mi’s. “A vampire’s bite will not break a bond. But you drank from the human after a true vampire bit him, and the bite of a vampire is far stronger than yours. What bound the human to you is no more.”
“That was what we were looking for,” Kyuhyun breathed, looking to Zhou Mi.
It could not be true. It was impossible. He was still holding Kyuhyun. They had been looking for a way to break the bond, not to use it. Not to be tricked into it. But the pain he’d felt- Hurting inside in ways he’d never known. Was that the feeling of what had bound him to Kyuhyun’s blood breaking apart?
“You lie. Blood bound we are not a threat do you. Why would you do that?”
“It was not our intention. You are here because you are a dhampyr, and we keep close tabs on those who seek to find us. But now that I see you, you are a curiosity to me. You are a child of mine.”
Too many surprises, too many punches to his emotions. The words echoed in Zhou Mi’s head. “You are my… My father?”
“In human terms, your grandfather, I would suppose. A son of a son of mine. My name is Chilhyun. Your father has been long dead.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No, you would not. We will speak later. Bring the human a drink.”
“The bond, it can be renewed?” Zhou Mi asked, desperate. “What are you? How can-“
Chilhyun did not respond, just walking away.
And though he could still just faintly smell it, Kyuhyun’s blood smelled dank and vile. It was fading from him, the scent of it. It did not stop him from placing barely perceptible kisses against Kyuhyun’s skin. He hoped as comfort to them both. And he learned it was possible to sit very still, very calm, when inside he was breaking apart. And it had nothing at all to do with the stinging ache in his limbs. As though his whole body protested the separation from Kyuhyun.
A word of thanks almost left Zhou Mi’s lips as a cup of water was offered to him. He took it, jostling Kyuhyun back to reality. Most of the water made it into Kyuhyun’s mouth, as Zhou Mi held the cup to his lips. And it seemed to revive Kyuhyun. He drank deeply, almost desperately. And seemed more alert, leaning less heavily into Zhou Mi.
The jeers of the others only had him holding Kyuhyun tighter, trying to work through it in his head. It could not be true. The thought of it was too much to bear. Why had they come? If there had been no vampire bite, if he had not drank Kyuhyun’s blood after it had been tainted? Kyuhyun’s words, that was what we were looking for. Had they been happy, pleased? Or confused. Kyuhyun still seemed half drowsy, and he did not think he could hold Kyuhyun to his words. But the sting of them was still there. Perhaps Kyuhyun had been less willing to stay with him, in the face of an option to get away, than he had thought.
But Zhou Mi was forced to his feet before long, helping Kyuhyun to stand drunkenly as well. And they were locked in a room with not a stick of furniture to fill it. No windows, just a single, locked door. Undoubtedly guarded. In the cool air, he stared at the gray walls, and sat beside Kyuhyun. Holding him against his chest.
Praying.
***
When the door opened again, it was Chilhyun, alone, and Kyuhyun stirred. In Chilhyun’s hands was food in a plastic bag, and it was set beside them. Zhou Mi opened the bottle of juice, the jerky, the bread. And Kyuhyun sat up, eating slowly as they sat in silence.
“Why did you bring us here?” Zhou Mi asked, steadying Kyuhyun’s shoulder.
“Put yourself near someone’s home, and you may not get greeted the way you wish.” Chilhyun focused on Zhou Mi. “Can you smell him, your human?”
“No,” Zhou Mi said. “What little I can smell is just vile.”
“It’s interesting. We did not study blood bonds very closely. So we will take note of this.”
“They called me a dhampyr. Why?”
“Because you are not a vampire, to us. Your blood is thinned, weak.”
Chilhyun leaned back against the wall and seemed to consider, before speaking again. “The number of male vampire babies was always somewhat higher. When we lost most of our women to - I cannot speak of it - there was a desperation. Vampires may not mate from necessity, and a blood bond is impossible. But there is often deep emotion that surrounds a mating bond. And there may be children born to that union. But desperation grew with every male child born. At least ten men vying for every un-bound female, if not more. Bonded couples moving to seclusion to escape harassment. That is the desperation that led us to humans.
“It was our greatest experiment. To see if the humans could provide us with mates. Of course, mixed children had been born before, but quickly eliminated. Imagine our chagrin, that among those half-human children, that immortality set in after the blood teeth came down. But no children could be produced from a union between vampire and the lesser dhampyr creatures we created. The trial failed. And all that were left when our trial was done were half-vampires who could feed from a single human only. Able to breed with humans and create more of their own kind.”
It was Kyuhyun who spoke, when Chilhyun had finished. “So you created vampires that could do what you couldn’t, and replicate themselves without loss. With unlimited human choices. Then the immortality of vampires has its limits.”
Chilhyun acknowledge that with a subtle movement of his head. “Any dhampyr with a blood bond could tell you that.”
“But vampires were acknowledged a century ago. How long ago was the experiment?”
“Twice that.” Chilhyun smiled. “There are always those who would see the events of the past gone, whether it is watching for the unbonded or not. Since it is considered reprehensible to kill the children. But it did give us one thing - cover. Since “vampires” existed, real ones, true ones, could exist without living in hiding.”
Zhou Mi shook his head. “But the documentation on vampires, it would guarantee that you couldn’t bite and kill at will. Since bites are documented as bonding.”
“Creatures mutate, change. There are always those awkward examples.”
“And your women?”
“We find our kind no longer in danger,” Chilhyun said. “If your past was all you came to find out, then I have nothing more to tell you.”
“We wanted to find a way to break the bond,” Zhou Mi said, his words hitching painfully.
“You found a way. Probably the only way. But I doubt in other circumstances that you would find a vampire willing to bite for such a purpose.”
A soft knock sounded on the door, and Chilhyun granted entrance to two vampires. “The human, remove him.”
Zhou Mi was on his feet before the vampires could move, solidly in front of Kyuhyun who was still slumped against the wall. “No. We stay together. I won’t let you touch him.”
“His blood is no longer yours, so he is not your concern,” Chilhyun said.
“Like he could fight us,” one of the vampires joked, pushing Zhou Mi’s warding hand down, and pressing him back into the wall with a hand against his chest. And he whispered, “Quiet, or the human might get it by accident.”
It took a few moments for Zhou Mi’s brain to engage, staring at the man. “I know that voice. You helped to force me to drink from Kyuhyun to begin with!” His head snapped around to accuse Chilhyun. “Was it you? You forced me to bite him?!”
The man only smiled, sending fury spilling through Zhou Mi’s veins. “Do you think there is some vampire hierarchy? Some code of law?”
“But one of your people was there!”
“Not mine. Some band together for protection, but I am not their leader. I am the oldest, and they may choose to take my advice. Or not. You’ve heard our reasoning already, to keep the mistakes of the past from perpetuating. But don’t fret for the human. He is not to be someone’s meal.”
Helpless and sick, he watched, held to the wall as Kyuhyun was urged to his feet.
“Kyuhyun.”
What he saw in those eyes did not comfort him. Uncertain, and still a bit weak. Led out by the scruff of his neck like a recalcitrant puppy, until Zhou Mi was shoved to the floor, and left. And it sickened him as the door closed, that he had not fought harder. Could not have fought, with the implied danger to Kyuhyun’s safety. But even the door against his fists and feet did not give. Chilhyun had assured him that Kyuhyun would not be a meal but he had no idea why they would want Kyuhyun alone. What information could Kyuhyun could give them that he couldn’t? Perhaps only that he was human, and his perspective was different, or-
It was another hour before a container of animal blood was left for Zhou Mi. And prepared to wage war, he was mollified by four words.
“The human is fine.”
But he was too ill with worry to eat.
***
Kyuhyun, to say the least of it, did not feel well. Led through the basement of whatever building they were in, he could only see Zhou Mi’s horrified eyes. As though he had been incapable of protecting Kyuhyun and to blame for everything. But he had seen how hard Zhou Mi had fought in that alley. Hitting with a power he feared would shatter the fragile-looking arms. But two vampires on one Zhou Mi was never going to be good odds. And Kyuhyun’s only fighting experience came by way of video games. The arm around his neck had been so debilitating, the most he could do was claw and kick and choke while watching Zhou Mi be flung into the wall. That Zhou Mi fought that hard for him. And still, here they were.
To say he wasn’t afraid for his life would have been a lie. Though, he thought wryly, if he were killed, at least Zhou Mi wouldn’t end up dying.
The bond. The bond he hadn’t wanted, manifested and broken without his consent. How ironic, that in Zhou Mi trying to help him, he had broken them. And in his haze, Zhou Mi’s horrified face to learn of it, loomed like a heavy blanket.
And as he sat, sullen in a chair of a room much like the one he had been in with Zhou Mi. Only he was with Chilhyun.
“Zhou Mi is safe?” he asked.
“He’s immortal,” Chilhyun said. “Short of shining the sun on him, we can do little to hurt him. I want you to tell me everything you know about the blood bond. Everything you experienced.”
“Are we your research subjects?”
“You were bound to a child of mine. Does it change anything? A line of vampires, even diluted. I am curious.”
For his own pride? He rolled his eyes. But he did speak, if reluctantly. The cold, the feeding. The registration. None of what he had experienced, the tingling warmth, or Zhou Mi laughing against him. Or touching him.
Chilhyun hummed. “You have been with him a long time. What he passed to you, what he needs from you, it is written in your marrow, your liver, your spleen. When the bite of the vampire that unbonded you is gone, all that will remain is mine, and his. Mine will fade. But your body will not forget him so easily. I’m curious if my bite, even if it’s stronger, bears the same mark. Every cell you produce sings for him. ”
With a broken bond? He remembered the singing in his veins too well. “How long until that goes away?”
“Seven years.”
“What?”
Chilhyun snorted. “It won’t be tomorrow or next week. Maybe not even within your puny lifetime. You are the ones who choose to tie yourselves together.”
“It wasn’t our choice. Kidnapping people, forcing them-”
“You may think me a monster, but even I can smell regret. Even without interference, the dhampyr have chosen to throw their lives away. He would have given his to keep you safe.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth thinned, standing to steady himself carefully against the wall. If he was going to bargain, he’d do it on level ground. “Then let us go.”
“To us humans are little more than cattle at times. Some fall in love, take an interest. A beloved pet. That son of mine is no vampire. Just a child who found a pretty toy to nibble on.” Chilhyun cupped Kyuhyun’s chin in his hand, and it took every shred of willpower not to jerk his head away. “I want no vampire thinking they can do the same. By invoking the bonds, the dhampyr die in peace. He will be better off to die with you.”
“Not anymore.” And he didn’t even know where the words were coming from. “Zhou Mi won’t look twice at me now, even if the bond can be done again.”
“That isn’t my concern. I will bleed you faster, but you are young. You’ll regenerate with his healing well before morning. And I will be sated. But I will not be so kind to your wishes.”
The vampire pushed back his head, pinning Kyuhyun to the wall. He would have shouted, screamed for help. But as the vampire’s teeth sank into his neck, his body went limp, useless. And he felt the pain of it. Slack jawed and useless as his blood was drained, mouth gaping and eyes nearly blind. Pain. It was nothing like the heady rush of Zhou Mi’s bite, the warmth, the feelings. No bond to perpetuate it, no gentleness originating in it. No voice telling him that it would be okay, eyes smiling at him.
When the feed was over, his knees buckled. And Chilhyun’s smile was nothing like Zhou Mi’s. A mockery, a satisfied one.
“Sleep, little pet. He may not wait forever.”
Weak as a child, he was laid on the bed, the blanket covering him. The chill in his bones was almost unbearable, though it faded after a few moments. Proof of the bond going away? Perhaps. If he could have spoken, urged his lips to move, there would have only been one name he said. It carried with him into his dreams.
***
Zhou Mi startled, as the door opened, and was frozen in horror as Chilhyun appeared.
Kyuhyun, carried. Not dead, and limp. But shaking uncontrollably.
“He rattled in his bed loud enough to wake anyone within a mile,” Chilhyun said, setting Kyuhyun down on legs that crumpled. Sinking to the floor.
Zhou Mi was afraid even to reach. What had they done to Kyuhyun, to get that kind of response? As though it was freezing cold, when the air itself was not.
“Why is he shaking like that?”
“Because he yearns for his mate.”
The denial was immediate. “No. You said-“
“I know. And the bond no longer exists- in you. In biting him myself, I erased the bite of the vampire before me. It seems my theory was correct. My bite is like enough to yours, that all his body senses now is you. His body had months to take you into his marrow. No vampire bite erases that. All you would smell, with your feeble senses, is yourself.”
“You fed on him?” Zhou Mi asked, the image of it too much for his brain to handle.
“Yes. And you come from me. If you bit him now, you could eat, but it would not bind him to you. What passed to him from me is stronger and won’t allow it. But that will break down, in time. Two weeks, if not a few days more.”
Kyuhyun would be horrified to know it. “We can’t stay together.”
“You’ll have to, unless you want him to break his head off shaking. Think of it as my last gift to you.”
“Last gift?”
Chilhyun leaned by the door, his shoulders even and relaxed. “There is too much attention here. We’ll move on. Go back to your city and live what remains of your life with your mate.”
The breath left Zhou Mi’s body. “He is not my mate.”
Chilhyun’s mouth twisted into a smile. “No vampire bite can change that.”
On his knees, he finally reached, and saw the fading red marks on Kyuhyun’s neck. It was one thing to see Kyuhyun bitten by another, torn from him with as little finesse as they had been bound, but to think he had been fed upon against his will as well, to the point he couldn’t even stand, shivering blankly on the floor?
“I fed, one last time,” Chilhyun said, almost goading. “His blood is good. It seems a pet who to your tastes can be useful. I’d be tempted to offer to let you leave him here, if he isn’t to your liking.”
“No,” Zhou Mi barked. “He has a life, and a family. He’ll return with me.”
“It’s your choice. We will leave you here when we leave this place. Do as you wish. But unbound, if time enough passes, you will be found again. Perhaps bound to a mate less your liking.”
Zhou Mi’s shoulders shook with anger, lips trembling for repressing it. “Don’t threaten me. I didn’t make this problem. It was your mistake that created me.”
“Which is why he leaves alive.” Chilhyun opened the door and paused, looking back one last time. “We won’t see each other again. But the experience has been…enlightening.”
He gathered Kyuhyun tightly to him, breathing in the scent of his sweat and skin and hair as the door closed firmly. Smelling his fear. The warmth of him.
“Kyuhyun, are you okay? Answer me, please”
The breath that came out was warm, and unsure. But Kyuhyun’s voice was strong. “I wondered when you were going to get your ass over here.”
The trembles had stopped.
As though they were still bound.
Though they were not.
He cried into Kyuhyun’s collar, until his face burned with tears. Knowing Kyuhyun had fallen asleep, and glad for it. He had thought being bound to Kyuhyun had once been a mockery, but this was more so. That they could have a chance. Once Chilhyun’s bite was gone from Kyuhyun, the bond could be renewed. But what hope was there in that?
He breathed deep, trying to compose himself. His first concern could not be for himself, but for Kyuhyun. He slept with his hand on Kyuhyun’s wrist, feeling the steady thump of his heart, and dreaming of when he had been able to smell Kyuhyun. That Kyuhyun lived was enough for right then. It had to be enough.
***
Zhou Mi woke as Kyuhyun stirred, staring in confusion as Kyuhyun moaned and rotated his neck. He felt a little stiff himself, as he pulled up. The floor was neither soft, nor particularly warm. Though Kyuhyun at least felt warm against him.
“How do you feel?”
Kyuhyun covered his face with his hand, and groaned, as he sat up. Leaning heavily on one arm.
“Like someone ran a cement mixer over me. Did they say they were letting us go?”
“I think so.”
He wanted to reach out, cup Kyuhyun’s face. Tell him how sorry he was, how worried he’d been. But he thought of more productive things. Like getting out of there.
“You haven’t eaten since last night, I think. We need to find you food.”
“I’m fine. You haven’t eaten either.”
Zhou Mi’s eyes skidded away from the container of animal blood. He’d tried it, in the middle of the night. Cool and distasteful. But what little he’d had, had strengthened him a little.
“I’m fine.” And he tested the door, his spine tingling as the knob turned in his hand. At the soft click, his eyes flew to Kyuhyun’s, and he could see they shared the same thought. If the door was unlocked, were the vampires gone?
He left it for a moment, reaching down to help Kyuhyun up. And the points of contact between their skin, his hand on Kyuhyun’s arm, was almost painful. They stood carefully, and Kyuhyun took a step, making sure he was steady enough to do so. And with a nod, Zhou Mi let go. It was him through the door first, looking out into the outer room. Empty. Nothing but scattered garbage. He went slowly, cautiously, making sure Kyuhyun was close and that he wasn’t going too fast. He had no recollection of which direction they had been brought in from, only that there had been stairs. And leading up one corner of the room, he spotted them.
“Doing okay?”
“Let’s get out of here,” Kyuhyun said, face grim.
He almost wanted to run for it, but he also realized he had no idea what time it was. What day it was. They’d be able to tell if the sun shone, but he fingered the cloth around his neck just in case. And Kyuhyun couldn’t have run, anyway.
***
Zhou Mi thought at first he was hallucinating as they climbed the stairs. The sounds of sirens. It quickened both their steps, to see flashing lights on the street outside, Kyuhyun heavily supported beside him. It was not daylight outside at all, when they had emerged from the abandoned house. Police swarming them as though they were criminals themselves, before Eunhyuk appeared through the crowd. The missing researcher Daniel, unbeknownst to them, had been held there too. And he had made it to the street before them, using a neighbor’s home to call the police. Police who, with Eunhyuk in tow, had found the house and both of them. No other people were there. Just two abandoned humans, and Zhou Mi. And the police had taken them home, delivered them to Eunhyuk’s doorstep.
He had never before seen his friend cry.
But that night, he did. If only briefly. At Zhou Mi’s insistence, they called for delivery, for the two human men. Anything Zhou Mi could think of that would tempt Kyuhyun’s appetite. They had been gone for nearly a day, Daniel almost two. And he knew Kyuhyun had not eaten much. And while Daniel ate quickly, passing out on Eunhyuk’s couch, Kyuhyun was slower, more deliberate. It took all his willpower not to shove the food into Kyuhyun’s mouth, fixing long stares at the walls of Eunhyuk’s apartment. Pictures of people in various stages of a dance. It showed Eunhyuk’s job, his hobby. But it didn’t keep his attention from Kyuhyun for long.
“You need to eat it all.”
Kyuhyun glared at the meat Zhou Mi was trying to move onto his plate. “Are you going to chew it for me, too? I’m eating, take a break.”
“It’s your health,” Zhou Mi retorted.
“Sure. Whatever.”
The disgusted sound he made surprised even himself, and he stalked away to fiddle with the bag they had brought. Their clothes, mixed in together. He’d changed already, but Kyuhyun hadn’t. Eunhyuk dropped down beside him, getting a hand on his knee.
“I’d think you’d be trying to be sweet to him instead of pushing him away,” Eunhyuk said.
“This is what he wanted. He never wanted me. It was stupid to think he would’ve been happy, when it was never his choice.”
“But it can be his choice now. And yours?” Eunhyuk told him. “You showed up here, and I thought he’d be totally indifferent to you, but he wasn’t. And you were so into him. You would’ve been happy to keep him. You fell for him.”
“How do you not, when someone is right there, all the time? He is so-” Zhou Mi shook his head, almost gasping. “Of course- I didn’t try to. But he was my friend, too. Not just my roommate.”
“And your lover. I’m not stupid.”
“But that wasn’t for very long.”
“But you think after all that, that he’s just going to dance away without a care?”
Zhou Mi glanced over at Kyuhyun. “If I were him, I probably would.”
Eunhyuk’s face was still, and he saw there everything he was trying to deny inside. Reason. “Then you got involved with someone you don’t think cares about you at all.”
“We’ll leave on the first train,” Zhou Mi said softly. “I need to get him back. I can’t stay here like this.”
“I know. Give yourself a chance, Zhou Mi. No one else is going to for you.”
After Kyuhyun had eaten, showered, Zhou Mi hugged Eunhyuk goodbye. Leaving Eunhyuk and Daniel there, to catch a taxi to the train station. Taking the last train of the night, with Zhou Mi holding their clothes and Kyuhyun’s computer. There was nothing left for them in that town. The vampires, Chilhyun his grandfather, had moved on. He had found out everything he had never known, and so much he had never wanted to. And with the computer bag bumping between their feet, Kyuhyun drooled against the front of Zhou Mi’s shirt like a sleepy child most of the ride back into the city. At the very least, Kyuhyun was not afraid of him. And he allowed himself, for Kyuhyun’s sake, to stroke that soft hair. Back in their apartment, where things were familiar to them both, where they had come to know each other, they would see. They would see.
***