Of Calscence and Chroma - Chapter Two
Of Calescence and Chroma
Chapter Two
Although Hoon looked, spending time at the pond and ranging through the forest, it was nearly a week before he caught sight of the werewolf again. The creature who had inevitably heard his approach but didn’t acknowledge him, was perched on an outcropping of rock several feet above a high river. A leg dangled over, swaying back and forth gently, but he gave no indication that he planned to throw himself forward.
Red pulsed gently through his aura, not exactly peaceful but calm enough that there weren’t any signs of distress. A ball of green hovered writhing on the fringes of the aura, pressed and surrounded by red. It was a strange contrast, seeing the two auras and the two very separate feelings they were giving off when he inspected them. Two very separate identities trapped in one body.
He didn’t attempt to mask the sound of his footfalls as he moved closer to the werewolf and settled beside him. It was easier, he found, to move like he had a short time ago as a human. The stealth of a predator still seemed to be a chore to him. He settled beside the werewolf, far enough that they would have to move if they wanted to touch but near enough that it would be clear that he was there to see him. Dangling both legs over the ledge seemed like the thing to do, and he did so, peering down at the water below.
A few fish moved through the fast speeding water, their auras flickering brightly as they swam. There were other things below as well, soft glows that he didn’t recognize, likely plant or animal life he wasn’t yet familiar with. The water wasn’t loud since there were no rocks to interrupt its path, but he could hear its melody as it moved downstream.
“I’m not sure it is deep enough for you to sink in,” Hoon mused, squinting at the moonlit surface below. “Although if you do it right you may be able to break both of your legs in the fall and therefore be unable to stand up in the water. That might do it for you.” If he had expected a laugh or a comment in response, he was sorely disappointed.
Some minutes later, when it was clear that he wasn’t going to leave, the werewolf spoke without looking away from the water below. “What do you want Pup?”
The question wasn’t as harsh as he had been expecting and almost seemed inviting. He took that as a good sign. “A name would be nice, or maybe the reason why I had to pull your heavy butt out of a pond.” Silence greeted him and he continued unperturbed. “I mean I know fishing is all the rage these days but I suggest using a pole not trying to go in after them yourself. Especially if you sink like a rock.”
“Are you always this chatty?” the werewolf asked after a moment, glancing at him.
Hoon shrugged. “No, usually not. Usually I’m pretty shy and being new to the seethe means that I don’t get much time to talk to anyone.”
“Probably a good thing,” the wolf grumbled, “You should be learning from them silently, Pup. Your Maker must not be very good at this to let you out of his sight already.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Hoon asked, mildly offended.
“You are so loud a human could hear you coming. Your breathing just makes unnecessary noise since you don’t need to do it to survive. You lack the grace of half of your kind, and you still smell human,” the werewolf said flatly.
“I can’t help the way I smell,” Hoon snapped. “I shower regularly.”
“Smelling human isn’t a bad thing,” there was a faint grin on the face of the werewolf as it turned to look back at the water, “it just means that you haven’t been changed long enough to stop smelling alive.”
“Oh,” Hoon wasn’t sure if that was a compliment when he put it that way.
“A pack would never let a Pup as new as you out of our sight. It’s your Maker’s fault not yours,” the werewolf told him.
“He doesn’t exactly know that I’m out here,” Hoon admitted. It wasn’t as though he snuck out most nights; he simply didn’t tell anyone when he walked through the front door. Someone in the seethe had to know he was gone so he wasn’t sneaking out, not quite.
“Dangerous, little Pup, especially to come and play with one of my kind. We generally don’t like one another.”
“My name is Hoon,” he reminded the werewolf and then paused. “Why doesn’t our kind like one another?”
The werewolf shrugged. “I have to imagine it had to do with competing for the same resource once upon a time. Our kind generally don’t like any but our own and we don’t even get along all that well with our own kind outside the pack. Perhaps it comes from the human side of us, since humans seem to be rather good at distrusting anything different. Why do you ask Pup?”
Hoon twitched at the name but he didn’t correct the werewolf. At least they were talking, that was better than nothing. “I don’t know. No one tells me these things.”
“Ah,” the werewolf hummed as if he knew what had happen. “Sometimes we get so caught up in our own immortality we forget those who still number their time in years instead of decades or centuries. You are young, before long you will find that you know enough not to care anymore, have seen enough not to give a damn.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Hoon asked. It must have been the wrong question since the werewolf fell into a scowling silence, as he glared down at the water beneath them. Hoon sighed as he watched the red in the werewolf’s aura roll with an emotion he didn’t yet recognize.
He wasn’t certain how long they sat there without talking, not exactly in companionable silence but close. The sun was nearing its time to rise, he could feel the almost itch under his skin as he rose from the rock. “Well I have to get going unless you want barbequed vampire for breakfast. The sun and I still don’t see eye to eye.”
There werewolf grunted and didn’t turn to look his way. That would be all he was getting from the creature for the night. It was more than he had hoped for, he supposed. Standing he stretched a bit and was puzzled for a moment about the lack of stiffness in his body. It was one of the perks of not being human any longer. His body reacted differently to everything, including sitting unmoving for long periods of time. The only time he ever really ached anymore was when he was hungry and his Maker had a habit of keeping him well fed.
“Well I’ll see you around,” he offered. He didn’t expect an answer so he was already out of human hearing range when the wolf spoke.
“Soohyun, my name is Soohyun,” the werewolf said, loud enough that he would be able to hear.
“Soohyun,” Hoon said with a nod trying out the name. “Have a good day,” he offered, before he set off in a run that reminded him of a slow moving car, instead of his typical human speeds.
As he dodged through the trees, he thought he heard the werewolf say “You too Pup,” but he didn’t have time to be sure.
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“Everything has an aura,” he argued, seeing the faint outline around the trees and their leaves as well as every bush as they walked.
“Everything?” the werewolf countered skeptical. “So you are telling me that this,” he stooped and picked up a rock, “has an aura?”
Hoon huffed in annoyance. “Everything living,” he corrected.
“And you can see them?” Soohyun still sounded skeptical.
“Yes. Every vampire has a Talent. Mine is the ability to see auras.” Hoon didn’t think he was giving away any vampire secrets with the admission of the fact, especially not since Soohyun seemed to know a lot more about what he was then he did.
“I’ve heard of several Talents, but that one is new,” the werewolf said. “That must be annoying seeing all of those all the time. The whole world must be a wash of color to you.”
“Not really,” Hoon admitted. “Things with a simpler consciousness or none at all seem to be smaller and softer, almost like the thing itself is just glowing faintly, but people can get kind of taxing. I haven’t been in a crowd yet since my change, but I imagine it would give me a migraine.”
“So you can see my aura, right now?” Soohyun asked.
“Yes,” Hoon answered sheepishly. “It is how I knew you were in the pond and didn’t want to die.” As soon as he said it he had regretted it. For the few weeks he had been able to find the werewolf they had spent the time talking about all sorts of subjects but never once mentioning the way they had met. It seemed almost a taboo subject for them.
“My aura said I didn’t want to die?” Soohyun asked softly.
Surprised, Hoon could do little more than offer a murmured “Yes.” After spending more time with the werewolf, he was growing used to the two separate auras that resided in him. The man and the Beast both seemed to react to whatever was happening, and usually they reacted differently. It was a curious thing to him to behold irritation in the man but to see amusement in the Beast’s green aura. At the moment neither man nor Beast seemed particularly upset with him.
“And what is my aura saying now?” the werewolf questioned.
The statement surprised him and he took a moment to study the creature beside him before answering. “It is hard to explain to someone who can’t see it,” Hoon said first, “and I’m still new at this.” He hoped Soohyun would be able to read between the lines of that statement. “It seems cautious, but not in a bad way. It is wary but feeling secure enough to be curious. Your Beast is amused, by everything I think, or maybe just me, but you are in control of him completely at the moment.” There was what seemed to be a grumbling pulse of agreement from the green and it brought a smile to his face.
“Interesting,” Soohyun told him. The werewolf didn’t elaborate on what exactly was of interest and he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
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“This is ridiculous!” Soohyun growled as they moved through the forest together a few nights later.
Although Hoon could think of several things that would fit into that category, he was unsure as to which one the werewolf was referring. “What is?” he asked curiously.
“You!” the werewolf accused, yet his aura didn’t show any signs of real anger. “You are moving around like an elephant stomping across the plains! There is no wildlife in this forest because you are scaring it all away!”
He hadn’t really given much thought to the fact that he didn’t see anything larger than an insect every time he had been out and about. Hoon winced as he stepped on a stick and a particularly loud crack rang through the otherwise still forest. Perhaps there was some truth to the werewolf’s statement. “Sorry,” he muttered.
Soohyun sighed and an arm shot out, catching him in the chest and stopping him from moving forward. “Take off your shoes.”
“What?” Hoon asked, blinking in confusion. That was about the last thing he expected to hear from the werewolf.
“Just do it,” Soohyun growled.
Belatedly he remembered that werewolves, no matter how dominate, did not like their orders being challenged when they had given a direct one. Despite the fact that he was technically under no obligations to obey the wolf and he doubted that the man would hurt him no matter what he did, the fact remained that Soohyun could likely kill him without him being able to do much in the way of defending himself. Quickly he removed his shoes and socks.
He looked to the werewolf in expectation of the next order and was met with a considering gaze. “I want you to stop breathing. Unless you need to inhale to speak or to scent the wind, don’t draw air into your lungs.”
Even though he didn’t need to breathe, the idea of stopping frightened him. Soohyun must have seen something in his eyes or body language that spoke as much because he sighed. “You already stop breathing occasionally when we are not talking. If you don’t think about it you won’t breathe, you’ll be fine. Now I’m going to teach you how to walk.”
Hoon very much wanted to inform the vampire that he wasn’t stupid he knew how to walk, but he clamped his mouth shut. “Your problem is you slap your whole foot down and then half drag it before picking it up again. You are scuffing your feet like a teenager and that is something you will never be again. As a predator you need to learn to move silently. The best of your kind seem to float instead of walk and never make a sound. While my kind can be nearly silent in most things, your kind can achieve complete silence.”
“Now pay attention,” he ordered. It wasn’t like his attention had wandered but he made sure to focus on exactly what the werewolf was doing. “Instead of stomping your whole foot down, walk lightly on the balls of your feet. Let your feet find good surfaces with a small touch before you crunch down on something loud.” He demonstrate walking, slowing down his motions so that Hoon could see exactly what he was doing. “Try it,” he ordered.
Carefully Hoon tried to mirror what he had seen, stepping forward lightly and not placing his foot unless he felt the cool earth beneath it. He made it three steps before Soohyun called, “look forward, you don’t need to watch your feet, you have to learn how to feel it, not see it.” Hoon nodded, raising his eyes to look straight ahead.
He made it three more steps before he crunched another stick beneath his foot. “You are still walking too human,” Soohyun told him. “You have new instincts that want to move in new ways now. Trust them and you will be fine.”
Easier said than done, Hoon thought, but he didn’t say a word as he nodded and continued forward. He thought the entire thing was ridiculous but he didn’t put his shoes back on his feet for the remainder of the night.
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“Better,” Soohyun commented lightly as he approached, “but you still sound like a rhino.”
“Well not all of us can be little floating fairies,” he countered.
“And some of us may not live to see their first birthday after their change,” Soohyun shot back with a grin.
“I’m twenty and going to be twenty one in a month, thank you very much,” Hoon informed him as he fell into step beside the werewolf.
“Aw that is so cute,” Soohyun cooed in mockery. “You still celebrate birthdays.”
Hoon frowned, suddenly serious. “You don’t? That is sad.”
Soohyun looked away, the light playful streaks of red fading from his aura. “When you are as old as I am and have seen what I have, things like being alive another year becomes meaningless.”
“That sounds like a sad existence,” Hoon admitted softly.
“I suppose it is,” Soohyun agreed. “That is why most of us that were once human and find ourselves no longer so, tend to go a little crazy the older we get. A part of us remembers and mourns the increasing loss of our humanity.”
Hoon had seen evidence of that within the very walls that he called home. The older a vampire was the less stable they seemed to be as far as he had seen. It wasn’t something he looked forward to, but inevitable he supposed. “Why do we have to lose it?” he offered. “If we remember, is it ever truly gone?”
At his words, Soohyun froze, a sharp intake of breath the only thing signaling his halt. His aura flared brightly, stroked through with the deeper shades that Hoon had come to recognize as sorrow. The pain that flashed through the werewolf’s face and aura was deep enough that the Beast’s green echoed it in the patterns.
“Soohyun?” he said softly, afraid to reach out and touch the less than stable man. “Are you alright?”
The werewolf shook his head as if trying to clear it. “Fine,” he growled, moving forward again, stepping in front of Hoon and continuing to watch. With nothing to do but follow quietly after Soohyun, he was afforded a perfect view as the streaks of sorrow were taken and shoved away from the man’s aura until they were only a flicker along its edge. It was the place, Hoon was learning, that people’s true emotions were displayed, the emotions that they wanted to keep hidden from the world.
Clearly something he had done had set the werewolf off, but he couldn’t figure out what it could possibly be. They had simply been having one of their regular conversations so he didn’t think that was the cause. Even the sound of his walking had been improving. He wasn’t soundless yet but he was better. He was even getting better at not breathing unless he needed to.
Somewhere between his incomplete ponderings of what he had done wrong and what he should say, Soohyun quickly spun and slammed him into the nearest tree. Panic filled him as a large hand covered his nose and mouth, shutting of his air supply. His hands scrapped at the werewolf’s arms frantically trying to pull the one away from his mouth or shift the other from his chest, anything to get himself free. Like this he would be easy to kill, oh so easy.
The werewolf leaned close; his eyes flashing predatory gold, and Hoon renewed his struggles. Strength that he didn’t yet know flowed through him and he racked deep furrows into the werewolf’s arm before the creature pulled him from the tree and slammed him back against it again. “What the hell are you doing?” Soohyun hissed, so softly that even he had trouble hearing the words. An answer formed in his mind but it was impossible to say due to his ever increasing lack of air.
“You don’t need to breathe your idiot. Just be still and use your Talent. There is something in the forest,” Soohyun hissed.
Belatedly he realized that the werewolf was correct. If he had truly been trying to kill him then he may have settled on a slightly more effective method than trying to suffocate the creature that didn’t even need to breathe. His fingers, which had still been digging into the werewolf’s skin, loosened their hold slightly as he forced himself to relax. It had been foolish to think Soohyun would try to hurt him, but it did bring to the forefront of his mind just how defenseless he was. The realization wasn’t one he liked, and was something he planned to remedy as soon as he possibly could.
Once he was calm enough to think clearly he realized that Soohyun had a reason for his actions and he strained to see beyond the pulsing red in his vision to what lay beyond. There, in the forest, were auras that hadn’t been there a few minutes before or he was certain he would have noticed. There were nine of them, all different colors, but all bearing the same look. Every single aura seemed to have a darker quality to it, one that made him shiver in Soohyun’s hold. They were human, he couldn’t say how he knew that, only that he did, and every single one of them carried within their aura the very real intent to hunt and to kill.
It was impossible to know what the humans wanted. He was a vampire but that didn’t make him telepathic. There was no way of telling what their intent was, nothing to give him an idea except for the small flicker he saw in their auras. Hoon still wasn’t certain how reliable his ability to perceive things like intent was. Most of his understanding of auras focused in the large and obvious things leaving those that were more subtle a mystery to him. Spending time with Soohyun was helping but not enough that he trusted it.
He tapped Soohyun’s arm lightly in attempts to get his attention. When the werewolf looked at him, narrowing his eyes, Hoon lifted his hand and curled his fingers in the imitation of claws. He swiped once with them, then drew a finger across his neck miming death. In response Soohyun nodded grimly, clearly having sensed whatever it was the men were doing.
After giving Hoon a firm look Soohyun removed his hand from the vampire’s mouth and nose, then gestured at the forest with it. He gave the vampire a questioning look and then waited for a moment. Clearly Hoon wasn’t as adept at reading body language as the werewolf would have liked, because a moment later his brow wrinkled in frustration. Soohyun pointed to Hoon then to himself before using two of his fingers to mime running.
‘Safe passage?’ Hoon mouthed. Soohyun nodded curtly. It hadn’t occurred to Hoon until that moment that the werewolf may not know the exact location of the men even though he knew they were there. The senses of the wolf didn’t give him all knowing or x-ray vision. He would be able to smell and hear the men clearly but he wouldn’t have a way placing their exact locations. Nine men would be a few too many for them to safely fight and running right into them was not a safe plan. The werewolf had to be counting on the fact that Hoon may be able to see them through their aura to grant them the freedom of moving safely.
He took a moment to look and to really see the bright spots of aura that were moving through the forest. It wasn’t as though he was seeing human shaped colors since every aura appeared to him as a loose blob of color around the creature. He could, inexplicitly, tell that they were human through something in that aura. Somehow, in a way he hadn’t quite figured out yet, his brain had associated some part of a creature's aura with what the creature was, allowing him to be able to tell without really being close enough to see the creature itself. He assumed that it would work for only those creatures he had seen before, but he had never had the opportunity to test his Talent like that.
The auras, a variety of colors, were moving along together in a tight formation. Nine of them spread out like a semi circle combing the forest, almost as if they were a net sweeping over the area trying to trap anything inside it. If they didn’t move, they would be caught right in the middle of it.
Hoon pointed over his shoulder. There weren’t any auras, or at least those belonging to humans behind him and that might provide a safe getaway, although he was hardly certain where they would go. It was impossible to know where the humans were headed or how long they were going to be a presence in the forest. They couldn’t run forever, not with the dawn only a few hours off.
Soundlessly Soohyun picked him up and hoisted him over his shoulder. Hoon resisted the urge to release a noise of protest at the action, helped by a warning squeeze to his leg that threatened violence for making any noise. It made logical sense for Soohyun to carry him since the werewolf was the one that could move silently unlike himself, but it didn’t make him any more warm to the idea. As soon as he was settled, Soohyun set out silently in the direction Hoon had indicated leaving him nothing to do but dangle across the man’s shoulder until they got to wherever they were going.
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By the time Soohyun slowed, the auras of the men were small spots of color at the far range of his Talent. “Dawn is coming,” the werewolf whispered so softly that nothing that wasn’t supernatural could have heard him.
“Shit,” Hoon hissed startled. He had been so intent on watching the auras of the men that had been following them that he had lost all sense of time. He could feel the tingles just under his skin, the warning of instincts to flee or die.
“Will you be able to return to the safety of your seethe?” Soohyun inquired as he set him down with a gentleness that had been missing earlier in the night.
Hoon paused for a moment, glancing up through the trees to the sky that was already lightening. He could feel the instincts inside him pressing him to crawl into something dark and sheltered for the night, instincts that told him there was little time. Hoon was fast, much faster than any human, but even he doubted he could outrun the dawn. “I don’t think so,” he admitted and as he did so, panic clenched in his chest.
There had been so many reasons he had agreed to become a vampire, not the least of which was the fact that his lifespan would be measured in centuries instead of decades. If he died now, younger than he would have if he had only stayed human, it would all be for nothing. Frantically he looked for a nearby place to seek shelter, anything that would shield him. The forest, with its thick trees would remain shaded most of the day but mere shade would not be enough to save him, not with as young as he was.
“I didn’t think so,” Soohyun stated, answering his silent panic. “Come on then,” strong fingers closed over his wrist and tugged, leaving Hoon with little choice but to follow after the werewolf at an inhuman speed.
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The cottage was tucked into a thick stand of trees and nestled in a small valley that would have been impossible to find if Soohyun hadn’t been guiding them. Hoon was reasonably certain that even with his senses he would have walked right past the tiny trail through the underbrush that led down into the valley and the home concealed there. It was a beautiful little cottage, picturesque in its appearance as if its wood had been carved from the forest itself and perhaps it had.
Soohyun wasted no time in opening the door and slipping inside, dragging Hoon with him. He only had a moment to see the sparse furnishings of a living room and a small kitchen and dining room as well as three closed doors, before Soohyun was dragging him through a door and down a flight of stairs. The room that they stepped into was much smaller than the house itself and more like a small cellar added beneath one end of the house than any real basement he knew of. Certainly much smaller than the underground maze his seethe boasted.
A light clicked on, manipulated by the werewolf’s skilled hands from a switch that Hoon couldn’t seem to find. The single bulb cast a dull glow on the small windowless space. “You can stay down here and sleep or whatever it is that you do during the day,” Soohyun offered, looking a bit uncertain of what exactly he should say. “There are no windows and as soon as I get upstairs again I’ll seal the cracks of the door so light can’t get in.”
“That isn’t necessary,” Hoon reassured, thankful but not wanting him to go out of his way. “As long as there is no direct sunlight coming through the cracks a little bit of second hand light isn’t going to hurt.”
“It stays pretty dark down here during the day,” Soohyun confirmed. “Help yourself to anything you need.” Then, with those clipped instructions, he turned and vanished up the stairs again. The sound of the door closing behind him, told Hoon that their short conversation was over and he sighed before looking around his sleeping place for the day.
The cellar seemed to have been used mostly for storage as one wall housed a large number of shelves covered with jars and other food things. A small refrigerator was tucked into a corner and humming softly as it chilled whatever its contents were. There were a few boxes lining another wall, some marked with a flowing scroll that he supposed gave clues to its contents. In the opposite corner was a cot with a mound of blankets upon it, rumpled as though someone had just risen from the bed and forgot to make it.
He was still young enough that he spent most of the day sleeping, and although he didn’t really need a bed, having something to work like one was comforting. A part of him, he supposed, should be worried that he was in the home of a werewolf during his most vulnerable time. He would be an easy target to pick off, one of the many reasons that he was required to spend the day in the seethe until he had been a vampire for a decade or two, forced to stay where he could be protected. Somehow, despite what they were, he knew that Soohyun wouldn’t harm him and that the werewolf would likely go so far as to protect him. That thought relaxed him and he moved to the bed and settled upon it.
The blankets smelled like the werewolf so he certainly had been sleeping on the cot recently, a curious behavior when Hoon was certain there was a bedroom upstairs. He added it to the long list of things that he wanted to ask the werewolf when he had the chance and sighed as he closed his eyes.
For a minute or two he lay waiting for sleep to come and claim him, but it was elusive, leaving him sitting up and casting off the blankets again. The light, for whatever reason, could be what was keeping him from sleeping and with a sigh he threw his feet over the edge of the cot in order to go search for it.
Before he could stand, he realized his foot was perched half on a large black book. Curiously he bent and retrieved it from the floor, settling it upon his lap. Closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t a book, but leather bound photo album. Intrigued by the idea that a photo album would be laying here of all places, he gently flipped open the cover to see what lay within it. A beautiful woman whose photograph filled the entire page stared back at him, a look of playful mirth on her face. She was attractive, with dark hair and eyes, but her smile lit her facing allowing her to look equally dangerous and harmless, a deadly combination.
He turned the page carefully and found another picture of the woman, bent over with her hands covered in the dirt of the garden she was tending. She seemed to be unaware of the camera in the shot and the one below it captured her in a similar state, spread across the grass with her eyes closed in slumber. The page beside it was empty, as if the pictures had been removed or never placed there, so he turned to the next.
A smile crossed his face at the next picture that greeted him. There was the woman again, looking proud of herself with her arm stretched out holding the camera and looming over the sleeping form of a man with dark marks on his face. In her hand sat the incriminating marker that had likely caused the marks to the man’s body. The man, completely unaware of what had happened, appeared to be a younger version of Soohyun.
The next picture bore the two of them together again, she in his arms as they laughed about something. The one after that was much the same and Hoon found himself caught up in the life displayed in the photos. It wasn’t that Soohyun was truly younger in them Hoon decided, he simply looked lighter, as if the weight of the world hadn’t yet been cast on his shoulders. Hoon didn’t know who this woman was, but she was certainly well loved and he found himself drawn to her and to a photo book of a side of his friend he had never known.
It was a long time before he closed the album and tucked it beneath the bed. Even when he had done so, and discovered the location of light switch, sleep took its time in claiming him. When it finally did, his dreams were filled with a lighter version of the Soohyun he knew and a woman with dark eyes and a loving smile.
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The next night he was still half asleep when he trudged up the stairs and out of the basement. His body would have been more than happy to curl up and sleep for a few hours more, but he was possibly in more trouble than he could imagine already. He yawned as he closed the door behind him carefully and ran a hand through his tousled hair.
“You’re still alive I see,” Soohyun’s voice flowed from the kitchen, carrying a hint of amusement.
“Yes thanks to you,” Hoon replied, stretching. His stomach rumbled with hunger but he knew that nothing Soohyun had would be enough for him, or at least nothing that Soohyun would be willing to provide him with.
Upon a second inspection he found the house to be a bit more lived in than he had originally thought. There was a decoration here, a quilt spread there, enough touches to the décor that it was clear someone had tried to make this a home. A part of it seemed odd though, as if several things had been removed for one reason or another. On the mantle over the fireplace sat a single picture, the only one he could see. In the wooden frame he saw the woman with dark hair and eyes that had dominated the photo book downstairs.
The werewolf must have seen him looking because there was an angry growl from behind him and he felt anger coming from him. He knew better than to ask who she was, not when everything from their relationship was still so new and fragile. Instead he turned back to the werewolf and bowed respectfully.
“Thank you for your hospitality. I will not forget it,” he promised.
“I would prefer if you would,” Soohyun grumbled under his breath before taking a sip of the contents of the mug in front of him.
“I have to go. I’m already in trouble,” Hoon admitted.
Soohyun gestured to the front door with his mug, “Don’t let me keep you.”
“I’ll see you later?” Hoon didn’t mean for it come out as a question, but he hoped that Soohyun wouldn’t suddenly disappear over one instance of humans in the forest. The grunt that answered him wasn’t exactly a promise for a later meeting, but it wasn’t a refusal either. For now, that was enough.
One || Two || Three || Four
AN: There is chapter two. I plan to post chapters every few days. I think my wonderful beta is done editing the entire thing so it should all go up in no time. Let me know what you think. :)
Chapter Two
Although Hoon looked, spending time at the pond and ranging through the forest, it was nearly a week before he caught sight of the werewolf again. The creature who had inevitably heard his approach but didn’t acknowledge him, was perched on an outcropping of rock several feet above a high river. A leg dangled over, swaying back and forth gently, but he gave no indication that he planned to throw himself forward.
Red pulsed gently through his aura, not exactly peaceful but calm enough that there weren’t any signs of distress. A ball of green hovered writhing on the fringes of the aura, pressed and surrounded by red. It was a strange contrast, seeing the two auras and the two very separate feelings they were giving off when he inspected them. Two very separate identities trapped in one body.
He didn’t attempt to mask the sound of his footfalls as he moved closer to the werewolf and settled beside him. It was easier, he found, to move like he had a short time ago as a human. The stealth of a predator still seemed to be a chore to him. He settled beside the werewolf, far enough that they would have to move if they wanted to touch but near enough that it would be clear that he was there to see him. Dangling both legs over the ledge seemed like the thing to do, and he did so, peering down at the water below.
A few fish moved through the fast speeding water, their auras flickering brightly as they swam. There were other things below as well, soft glows that he didn’t recognize, likely plant or animal life he wasn’t yet familiar with. The water wasn’t loud since there were no rocks to interrupt its path, but he could hear its melody as it moved downstream.
“I’m not sure it is deep enough for you to sink in,” Hoon mused, squinting at the moonlit surface below. “Although if you do it right you may be able to break both of your legs in the fall and therefore be unable to stand up in the water. That might do it for you.” If he had expected a laugh or a comment in response, he was sorely disappointed.
Some minutes later, when it was clear that he wasn’t going to leave, the werewolf spoke without looking away from the water below. “What do you want Pup?”
The question wasn’t as harsh as he had been expecting and almost seemed inviting. He took that as a good sign. “A name would be nice, or maybe the reason why I had to pull your heavy butt out of a pond.” Silence greeted him and he continued unperturbed. “I mean I know fishing is all the rage these days but I suggest using a pole not trying to go in after them yourself. Especially if you sink like a rock.”
“Are you always this chatty?” the werewolf asked after a moment, glancing at him.
Hoon shrugged. “No, usually not. Usually I’m pretty shy and being new to the seethe means that I don’t get much time to talk to anyone.”
“Probably a good thing,” the wolf grumbled, “You should be learning from them silently, Pup. Your Maker must not be very good at this to let you out of his sight already.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Hoon asked, mildly offended.
“You are so loud a human could hear you coming. Your breathing just makes unnecessary noise since you don’t need to do it to survive. You lack the grace of half of your kind, and you still smell human,” the werewolf said flatly.
“I can’t help the way I smell,” Hoon snapped. “I shower regularly.”
“Smelling human isn’t a bad thing,” there was a faint grin on the face of the werewolf as it turned to look back at the water, “it just means that you haven’t been changed long enough to stop smelling alive.”
“Oh,” Hoon wasn’t sure if that was a compliment when he put it that way.
“A pack would never let a Pup as new as you out of our sight. It’s your Maker’s fault not yours,” the werewolf told him.
“He doesn’t exactly know that I’m out here,” Hoon admitted. It wasn’t as though he snuck out most nights; he simply didn’t tell anyone when he walked through the front door. Someone in the seethe had to know he was gone so he wasn’t sneaking out, not quite.
“Dangerous, little Pup, especially to come and play with one of my kind. We generally don’t like one another.”
“My name is Hoon,” he reminded the werewolf and then paused. “Why doesn’t our kind like one another?”
The werewolf shrugged. “I have to imagine it had to do with competing for the same resource once upon a time. Our kind generally don’t like any but our own and we don’t even get along all that well with our own kind outside the pack. Perhaps it comes from the human side of us, since humans seem to be rather good at distrusting anything different. Why do you ask Pup?”
Hoon twitched at the name but he didn’t correct the werewolf. At least they were talking, that was better than nothing. “I don’t know. No one tells me these things.”
“Ah,” the werewolf hummed as if he knew what had happen. “Sometimes we get so caught up in our own immortality we forget those who still number their time in years instead of decades or centuries. You are young, before long you will find that you know enough not to care anymore, have seen enough not to give a damn.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Hoon asked. It must have been the wrong question since the werewolf fell into a scowling silence, as he glared down at the water beneath them. Hoon sighed as he watched the red in the werewolf’s aura roll with an emotion he didn’t yet recognize.
He wasn’t certain how long they sat there without talking, not exactly in companionable silence but close. The sun was nearing its time to rise, he could feel the almost itch under his skin as he rose from the rock. “Well I have to get going unless you want barbequed vampire for breakfast. The sun and I still don’t see eye to eye.”
There werewolf grunted and didn’t turn to look his way. That would be all he was getting from the creature for the night. It was more than he had hoped for, he supposed. Standing he stretched a bit and was puzzled for a moment about the lack of stiffness in his body. It was one of the perks of not being human any longer. His body reacted differently to everything, including sitting unmoving for long periods of time. The only time he ever really ached anymore was when he was hungry and his Maker had a habit of keeping him well fed.
“Well I’ll see you around,” he offered. He didn’t expect an answer so he was already out of human hearing range when the wolf spoke.
“Soohyun, my name is Soohyun,” the werewolf said, loud enough that he would be able to hear.
“Soohyun,” Hoon said with a nod trying out the name. “Have a good day,” he offered, before he set off in a run that reminded him of a slow moving car, instead of his typical human speeds.
As he dodged through the trees, he thought he heard the werewolf say “You too Pup,” but he didn’t have time to be sure.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“Everything has an aura,” he argued, seeing the faint outline around the trees and their leaves as well as every bush as they walked.
“Everything?” the werewolf countered skeptical. “So you are telling me that this,” he stooped and picked up a rock, “has an aura?”
Hoon huffed in annoyance. “Everything living,” he corrected.
“And you can see them?” Soohyun still sounded skeptical.
“Yes. Every vampire has a Talent. Mine is the ability to see auras.” Hoon didn’t think he was giving away any vampire secrets with the admission of the fact, especially not since Soohyun seemed to know a lot more about what he was then he did.
“I’ve heard of several Talents, but that one is new,” the werewolf said. “That must be annoying seeing all of those all the time. The whole world must be a wash of color to you.”
“Not really,” Hoon admitted. “Things with a simpler consciousness or none at all seem to be smaller and softer, almost like the thing itself is just glowing faintly, but people can get kind of taxing. I haven’t been in a crowd yet since my change, but I imagine it would give me a migraine.”
“So you can see my aura, right now?” Soohyun asked.
“Yes,” Hoon answered sheepishly. “It is how I knew you were in the pond and didn’t want to die.” As soon as he said it he had regretted it. For the few weeks he had been able to find the werewolf they had spent the time talking about all sorts of subjects but never once mentioning the way they had met. It seemed almost a taboo subject for them.
“My aura said I didn’t want to die?” Soohyun asked softly.
Surprised, Hoon could do little more than offer a murmured “Yes.” After spending more time with the werewolf, he was growing used to the two separate auras that resided in him. The man and the Beast both seemed to react to whatever was happening, and usually they reacted differently. It was a curious thing to him to behold irritation in the man but to see amusement in the Beast’s green aura. At the moment neither man nor Beast seemed particularly upset with him.
“And what is my aura saying now?” the werewolf questioned.
The statement surprised him and he took a moment to study the creature beside him before answering. “It is hard to explain to someone who can’t see it,” Hoon said first, “and I’m still new at this.” He hoped Soohyun would be able to read between the lines of that statement. “It seems cautious, but not in a bad way. It is wary but feeling secure enough to be curious. Your Beast is amused, by everything I think, or maybe just me, but you are in control of him completely at the moment.” There was what seemed to be a grumbling pulse of agreement from the green and it brought a smile to his face.
“Interesting,” Soohyun told him. The werewolf didn’t elaborate on what exactly was of interest and he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“This is ridiculous!” Soohyun growled as they moved through the forest together a few nights later.
Although Hoon could think of several things that would fit into that category, he was unsure as to which one the werewolf was referring. “What is?” he asked curiously.
“You!” the werewolf accused, yet his aura didn’t show any signs of real anger. “You are moving around like an elephant stomping across the plains! There is no wildlife in this forest because you are scaring it all away!”
He hadn’t really given much thought to the fact that he didn’t see anything larger than an insect every time he had been out and about. Hoon winced as he stepped on a stick and a particularly loud crack rang through the otherwise still forest. Perhaps there was some truth to the werewolf’s statement. “Sorry,” he muttered.
Soohyun sighed and an arm shot out, catching him in the chest and stopping him from moving forward. “Take off your shoes.”
“What?” Hoon asked, blinking in confusion. That was about the last thing he expected to hear from the werewolf.
“Just do it,” Soohyun growled.
Belatedly he remembered that werewolves, no matter how dominate, did not like their orders being challenged when they had given a direct one. Despite the fact that he was technically under no obligations to obey the wolf and he doubted that the man would hurt him no matter what he did, the fact remained that Soohyun could likely kill him without him being able to do much in the way of defending himself. Quickly he removed his shoes and socks.
He looked to the werewolf in expectation of the next order and was met with a considering gaze. “I want you to stop breathing. Unless you need to inhale to speak or to scent the wind, don’t draw air into your lungs.”
Even though he didn’t need to breathe, the idea of stopping frightened him. Soohyun must have seen something in his eyes or body language that spoke as much because he sighed. “You already stop breathing occasionally when we are not talking. If you don’t think about it you won’t breathe, you’ll be fine. Now I’m going to teach you how to walk.”
Hoon very much wanted to inform the vampire that he wasn’t stupid he knew how to walk, but he clamped his mouth shut. “Your problem is you slap your whole foot down and then half drag it before picking it up again. You are scuffing your feet like a teenager and that is something you will never be again. As a predator you need to learn to move silently. The best of your kind seem to float instead of walk and never make a sound. While my kind can be nearly silent in most things, your kind can achieve complete silence.”
“Now pay attention,” he ordered. It wasn’t like his attention had wandered but he made sure to focus on exactly what the werewolf was doing. “Instead of stomping your whole foot down, walk lightly on the balls of your feet. Let your feet find good surfaces with a small touch before you crunch down on something loud.” He demonstrate walking, slowing down his motions so that Hoon could see exactly what he was doing. “Try it,” he ordered.
Carefully Hoon tried to mirror what he had seen, stepping forward lightly and not placing his foot unless he felt the cool earth beneath it. He made it three steps before Soohyun called, “look forward, you don’t need to watch your feet, you have to learn how to feel it, not see it.” Hoon nodded, raising his eyes to look straight ahead.
He made it three more steps before he crunched another stick beneath his foot. “You are still walking too human,” Soohyun told him. “You have new instincts that want to move in new ways now. Trust them and you will be fine.”
Easier said than done, Hoon thought, but he didn’t say a word as he nodded and continued forward. He thought the entire thing was ridiculous but he didn’t put his shoes back on his feet for the remainder of the night.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“Better,” Soohyun commented lightly as he approached, “but you still sound like a rhino.”
“Well not all of us can be little floating fairies,” he countered.
“And some of us may not live to see their first birthday after their change,” Soohyun shot back with a grin.
“I’m twenty and going to be twenty one in a month, thank you very much,” Hoon informed him as he fell into step beside the werewolf.
“Aw that is so cute,” Soohyun cooed in mockery. “You still celebrate birthdays.”
Hoon frowned, suddenly serious. “You don’t? That is sad.”
Soohyun looked away, the light playful streaks of red fading from his aura. “When you are as old as I am and have seen what I have, things like being alive another year becomes meaningless.”
“That sounds like a sad existence,” Hoon admitted softly.
“I suppose it is,” Soohyun agreed. “That is why most of us that were once human and find ourselves no longer so, tend to go a little crazy the older we get. A part of us remembers and mourns the increasing loss of our humanity.”
Hoon had seen evidence of that within the very walls that he called home. The older a vampire was the less stable they seemed to be as far as he had seen. It wasn’t something he looked forward to, but inevitable he supposed. “Why do we have to lose it?” he offered. “If we remember, is it ever truly gone?”
At his words, Soohyun froze, a sharp intake of breath the only thing signaling his halt. His aura flared brightly, stroked through with the deeper shades that Hoon had come to recognize as sorrow. The pain that flashed through the werewolf’s face and aura was deep enough that the Beast’s green echoed it in the patterns.
“Soohyun?” he said softly, afraid to reach out and touch the less than stable man. “Are you alright?”
The werewolf shook his head as if trying to clear it. “Fine,” he growled, moving forward again, stepping in front of Hoon and continuing to watch. With nothing to do but follow quietly after Soohyun, he was afforded a perfect view as the streaks of sorrow were taken and shoved away from the man’s aura until they were only a flicker along its edge. It was the place, Hoon was learning, that people’s true emotions were displayed, the emotions that they wanted to keep hidden from the world.
Clearly something he had done had set the werewolf off, but he couldn’t figure out what it could possibly be. They had simply been having one of their regular conversations so he didn’t think that was the cause. Even the sound of his walking had been improving. He wasn’t soundless yet but he was better. He was even getting better at not breathing unless he needed to.
Somewhere between his incomplete ponderings of what he had done wrong and what he should say, Soohyun quickly spun and slammed him into the nearest tree. Panic filled him as a large hand covered his nose and mouth, shutting of his air supply. His hands scrapped at the werewolf’s arms frantically trying to pull the one away from his mouth or shift the other from his chest, anything to get himself free. Like this he would be easy to kill, oh so easy.
The werewolf leaned close; his eyes flashing predatory gold, and Hoon renewed his struggles. Strength that he didn’t yet know flowed through him and he racked deep furrows into the werewolf’s arm before the creature pulled him from the tree and slammed him back against it again. “What the hell are you doing?” Soohyun hissed, so softly that even he had trouble hearing the words. An answer formed in his mind but it was impossible to say due to his ever increasing lack of air.
“You don’t need to breathe your idiot. Just be still and use your Talent. There is something in the forest,” Soohyun hissed.
Belatedly he realized that the werewolf was correct. If he had truly been trying to kill him then he may have settled on a slightly more effective method than trying to suffocate the creature that didn’t even need to breathe. His fingers, which had still been digging into the werewolf’s skin, loosened their hold slightly as he forced himself to relax. It had been foolish to think Soohyun would try to hurt him, but it did bring to the forefront of his mind just how defenseless he was. The realization wasn’t one he liked, and was something he planned to remedy as soon as he possibly could.
Once he was calm enough to think clearly he realized that Soohyun had a reason for his actions and he strained to see beyond the pulsing red in his vision to what lay beyond. There, in the forest, were auras that hadn’t been there a few minutes before or he was certain he would have noticed. There were nine of them, all different colors, but all bearing the same look. Every single aura seemed to have a darker quality to it, one that made him shiver in Soohyun’s hold. They were human, he couldn’t say how he knew that, only that he did, and every single one of them carried within their aura the very real intent to hunt and to kill.
It was impossible to know what the humans wanted. He was a vampire but that didn’t make him telepathic. There was no way of telling what their intent was, nothing to give him an idea except for the small flicker he saw in their auras. Hoon still wasn’t certain how reliable his ability to perceive things like intent was. Most of his understanding of auras focused in the large and obvious things leaving those that were more subtle a mystery to him. Spending time with Soohyun was helping but not enough that he trusted it.
He tapped Soohyun’s arm lightly in attempts to get his attention. When the werewolf looked at him, narrowing his eyes, Hoon lifted his hand and curled his fingers in the imitation of claws. He swiped once with them, then drew a finger across his neck miming death. In response Soohyun nodded grimly, clearly having sensed whatever it was the men were doing.
After giving Hoon a firm look Soohyun removed his hand from the vampire’s mouth and nose, then gestured at the forest with it. He gave the vampire a questioning look and then waited for a moment. Clearly Hoon wasn’t as adept at reading body language as the werewolf would have liked, because a moment later his brow wrinkled in frustration. Soohyun pointed to Hoon then to himself before using two of his fingers to mime running.
‘Safe passage?’ Hoon mouthed. Soohyun nodded curtly. It hadn’t occurred to Hoon until that moment that the werewolf may not know the exact location of the men even though he knew they were there. The senses of the wolf didn’t give him all knowing or x-ray vision. He would be able to smell and hear the men clearly but he wouldn’t have a way placing their exact locations. Nine men would be a few too many for them to safely fight and running right into them was not a safe plan. The werewolf had to be counting on the fact that Hoon may be able to see them through their aura to grant them the freedom of moving safely.
He took a moment to look and to really see the bright spots of aura that were moving through the forest. It wasn’t as though he was seeing human shaped colors since every aura appeared to him as a loose blob of color around the creature. He could, inexplicitly, tell that they were human through something in that aura. Somehow, in a way he hadn’t quite figured out yet, his brain had associated some part of a creature's aura with what the creature was, allowing him to be able to tell without really being close enough to see the creature itself. He assumed that it would work for only those creatures he had seen before, but he had never had the opportunity to test his Talent like that.
The auras, a variety of colors, were moving along together in a tight formation. Nine of them spread out like a semi circle combing the forest, almost as if they were a net sweeping over the area trying to trap anything inside it. If they didn’t move, they would be caught right in the middle of it.
Hoon pointed over his shoulder. There weren’t any auras, or at least those belonging to humans behind him and that might provide a safe getaway, although he was hardly certain where they would go. It was impossible to know where the humans were headed or how long they were going to be a presence in the forest. They couldn’t run forever, not with the dawn only a few hours off.
Soundlessly Soohyun picked him up and hoisted him over his shoulder. Hoon resisted the urge to release a noise of protest at the action, helped by a warning squeeze to his leg that threatened violence for making any noise. It made logical sense for Soohyun to carry him since the werewolf was the one that could move silently unlike himself, but it didn’t make him any more warm to the idea. As soon as he was settled, Soohyun set out silently in the direction Hoon had indicated leaving him nothing to do but dangle across the man’s shoulder until they got to wherever they were going.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
By the time Soohyun slowed, the auras of the men were small spots of color at the far range of his Talent. “Dawn is coming,” the werewolf whispered so softly that nothing that wasn’t supernatural could have heard him.
“Shit,” Hoon hissed startled. He had been so intent on watching the auras of the men that had been following them that he had lost all sense of time. He could feel the tingles just under his skin, the warning of instincts to flee or die.
“Will you be able to return to the safety of your seethe?” Soohyun inquired as he set him down with a gentleness that had been missing earlier in the night.
Hoon paused for a moment, glancing up through the trees to the sky that was already lightening. He could feel the instincts inside him pressing him to crawl into something dark and sheltered for the night, instincts that told him there was little time. Hoon was fast, much faster than any human, but even he doubted he could outrun the dawn. “I don’t think so,” he admitted and as he did so, panic clenched in his chest.
There had been so many reasons he had agreed to become a vampire, not the least of which was the fact that his lifespan would be measured in centuries instead of decades. If he died now, younger than he would have if he had only stayed human, it would all be for nothing. Frantically he looked for a nearby place to seek shelter, anything that would shield him. The forest, with its thick trees would remain shaded most of the day but mere shade would not be enough to save him, not with as young as he was.
“I didn’t think so,” Soohyun stated, answering his silent panic. “Come on then,” strong fingers closed over his wrist and tugged, leaving Hoon with little choice but to follow after the werewolf at an inhuman speed.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
The cottage was tucked into a thick stand of trees and nestled in a small valley that would have been impossible to find if Soohyun hadn’t been guiding them. Hoon was reasonably certain that even with his senses he would have walked right past the tiny trail through the underbrush that led down into the valley and the home concealed there. It was a beautiful little cottage, picturesque in its appearance as if its wood had been carved from the forest itself and perhaps it had.
Soohyun wasted no time in opening the door and slipping inside, dragging Hoon with him. He only had a moment to see the sparse furnishings of a living room and a small kitchen and dining room as well as three closed doors, before Soohyun was dragging him through a door and down a flight of stairs. The room that they stepped into was much smaller than the house itself and more like a small cellar added beneath one end of the house than any real basement he knew of. Certainly much smaller than the underground maze his seethe boasted.
A light clicked on, manipulated by the werewolf’s skilled hands from a switch that Hoon couldn’t seem to find. The single bulb cast a dull glow on the small windowless space. “You can stay down here and sleep or whatever it is that you do during the day,” Soohyun offered, looking a bit uncertain of what exactly he should say. “There are no windows and as soon as I get upstairs again I’ll seal the cracks of the door so light can’t get in.”
“That isn’t necessary,” Hoon reassured, thankful but not wanting him to go out of his way. “As long as there is no direct sunlight coming through the cracks a little bit of second hand light isn’t going to hurt.”
“It stays pretty dark down here during the day,” Soohyun confirmed. “Help yourself to anything you need.” Then, with those clipped instructions, he turned and vanished up the stairs again. The sound of the door closing behind him, told Hoon that their short conversation was over and he sighed before looking around his sleeping place for the day.
The cellar seemed to have been used mostly for storage as one wall housed a large number of shelves covered with jars and other food things. A small refrigerator was tucked into a corner and humming softly as it chilled whatever its contents were. There were a few boxes lining another wall, some marked with a flowing scroll that he supposed gave clues to its contents. In the opposite corner was a cot with a mound of blankets upon it, rumpled as though someone had just risen from the bed and forgot to make it.
He was still young enough that he spent most of the day sleeping, and although he didn’t really need a bed, having something to work like one was comforting. A part of him, he supposed, should be worried that he was in the home of a werewolf during his most vulnerable time. He would be an easy target to pick off, one of the many reasons that he was required to spend the day in the seethe until he had been a vampire for a decade or two, forced to stay where he could be protected. Somehow, despite what they were, he knew that Soohyun wouldn’t harm him and that the werewolf would likely go so far as to protect him. That thought relaxed him and he moved to the bed and settled upon it.
The blankets smelled like the werewolf so he certainly had been sleeping on the cot recently, a curious behavior when Hoon was certain there was a bedroom upstairs. He added it to the long list of things that he wanted to ask the werewolf when he had the chance and sighed as he closed his eyes.
For a minute or two he lay waiting for sleep to come and claim him, but it was elusive, leaving him sitting up and casting off the blankets again. The light, for whatever reason, could be what was keeping him from sleeping and with a sigh he threw his feet over the edge of the cot in order to go search for it.
Before he could stand, he realized his foot was perched half on a large black book. Curiously he bent and retrieved it from the floor, settling it upon his lap. Closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t a book, but leather bound photo album. Intrigued by the idea that a photo album would be laying here of all places, he gently flipped open the cover to see what lay within it. A beautiful woman whose photograph filled the entire page stared back at him, a look of playful mirth on her face. She was attractive, with dark hair and eyes, but her smile lit her facing allowing her to look equally dangerous and harmless, a deadly combination.
He turned the page carefully and found another picture of the woman, bent over with her hands covered in the dirt of the garden she was tending. She seemed to be unaware of the camera in the shot and the one below it captured her in a similar state, spread across the grass with her eyes closed in slumber. The page beside it was empty, as if the pictures had been removed or never placed there, so he turned to the next.
A smile crossed his face at the next picture that greeted him. There was the woman again, looking proud of herself with her arm stretched out holding the camera and looming over the sleeping form of a man with dark marks on his face. In her hand sat the incriminating marker that had likely caused the marks to the man’s body. The man, completely unaware of what had happened, appeared to be a younger version of Soohyun.
The next picture bore the two of them together again, she in his arms as they laughed about something. The one after that was much the same and Hoon found himself caught up in the life displayed in the photos. It wasn’t that Soohyun was truly younger in them Hoon decided, he simply looked lighter, as if the weight of the world hadn’t yet been cast on his shoulders. Hoon didn’t know who this woman was, but she was certainly well loved and he found himself drawn to her and to a photo book of a side of his friend he had never known.
It was a long time before he closed the album and tucked it beneath the bed. Even when he had done so, and discovered the location of light switch, sleep took its time in claiming him. When it finally did, his dreams were filled with a lighter version of the Soohyun he knew and a woman with dark eyes and a loving smile.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
The next night he was still half asleep when he trudged up the stairs and out of the basement. His body would have been more than happy to curl up and sleep for a few hours more, but he was possibly in more trouble than he could imagine already. He yawned as he closed the door behind him carefully and ran a hand through his tousled hair.
“You’re still alive I see,” Soohyun’s voice flowed from the kitchen, carrying a hint of amusement.
“Yes thanks to you,” Hoon replied, stretching. His stomach rumbled with hunger but he knew that nothing Soohyun had would be enough for him, or at least nothing that Soohyun would be willing to provide him with.
Upon a second inspection he found the house to be a bit more lived in than he had originally thought. There was a decoration here, a quilt spread there, enough touches to the décor that it was clear someone had tried to make this a home. A part of it seemed odd though, as if several things had been removed for one reason or another. On the mantle over the fireplace sat a single picture, the only one he could see. In the wooden frame he saw the woman with dark hair and eyes that had dominated the photo book downstairs.
The werewolf must have seen him looking because there was an angry growl from behind him and he felt anger coming from him. He knew better than to ask who she was, not when everything from their relationship was still so new and fragile. Instead he turned back to the werewolf and bowed respectfully.
“Thank you for your hospitality. I will not forget it,” he promised.
“I would prefer if you would,” Soohyun grumbled under his breath before taking a sip of the contents of the mug in front of him.
“I have to go. I’m already in trouble,” Hoon admitted.
Soohyun gestured to the front door with his mug, “Don’t let me keep you.”
“I’ll see you later?” Hoon didn’t mean for it come out as a question, but he hoped that Soohyun wouldn’t suddenly disappear over one instance of humans in the forest. The grunt that answered him wasn’t exactly a promise for a later meeting, but it wasn’t a refusal either. For now, that was enough.
One || Two || Three || Four
AN: There is chapter two. I plan to post chapters every few days. I think my wonderful beta is done editing the entire thing so it should all go up in no time. Let me know what you think. :)