Two Lines (Baeksoo, Vampire AU) Chapter Four-Seven
WARNING: This story will contain perhaps graphic or offensive depictions of violence, murder, abuse, religious themes, dubious and/or non consensual sex, and other possible triggers. It is meant for audiences 18 and older. Continue at your own discretion.
A/N: This is a writing practice work and is likely to contain many errors, please be forgiving and offer lots of feedback.
Chapter One-Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight-Epilogue
My right wrist bled. Tattooing was a different, longer, and more painful process back then. I'd been dizzy, but I didn't cry. Now I stared at the black crosses marking my skin, feeling utterly proud.
Taegon sat by my side and pulled my hands into his lap, gently patting the skin with an alcohol soaked towel. I flinched, but he didn't mock me. "I'm so proud of you, Kyungsoo," he said, so my heart fluttered. "Wherever you go in life, God will be with you."
"And we match as well," I said happily and took his hand in mind, twisting them to see his wrist and compare how similar our marks were. Just about the same, I thought.
He was the closest thing to a father I had, though he was only about twelve years my elder. My own father had died when I was young. I was sent to Taegon when I was just becoming a man - to be his apprentice, to learn of God and, as I would find out, so much more.
"We do," he chuckled and pulled me close, kissing the top of my head.
I leaned in and just enjoyed silence for a moment, before my mind wandered and I sat up straight to ask. "Will your son.. will Baekbeom have marks like this?"
"One day. When he's ready," Taegon said.
"And Baekhyun?"
Taegon hugged me, sighing. "Baekhyun... is going to live another life. A safer life."
I inspected him, uncertainly. "But we are safe now. We have the mark of the cross. The devil has no power towards us."
"The mark will help to protect us, but we are not immune to pain, as you might have noticed." He meaningfully squeezed the cloth around my wrist, so I flinched again. "Remember this, Kyungsoo," he repeated, "We are not immune to pain."
Two Lines: Chapter Four
Kyungsoo's P.O.V
The crowd moved outside for the burial. I stood in the doorway, looking into the hall where the front door was open for the line of black clothed people trailing out. They were especially sad today. The boy they buried was young, died in a car accident. I could still hear sobbing from the front of the long line.
When they were all out, our priest nodded to me and I nodded back. He closed the door, blocking the light from the sun.
I turned and found Baekhyun undressing, pulling away his tie and shrugging off his blazer. When he noticed I was watching, he smiled at me. "I've got some embalming to do," he said. "I thought I'd get it done before the sun went down today. So we could have more time tonight, you know?"
I nodded. "Do you want any help?"
"I've got this," he assured me, stepping over and kissing my cheek. It seemed like he might just fly by, so I grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.
"I love you," I said.
He grinned and hugged me. I wanted a kiss, but he stepped back and pushed his jacket and tie into my arms. "Will you clean this for me then?"
"Pfft," I said. I gathered the items in my arms, watching him walk away before I got motivated enough to take the clothes to the laundry room.
I was folding. There was a knock on the door. It couldn't be the priest, he'd know to walk in without a knock. I could only imagine it was part of the procession, returning for a left belonging or a need to use the bathroom. I exhaled upon returning to the front door, and when I pulled it open I stepped behind it to shield myself from any sunlight that would come in with the guest.
A lacy blue parasol twirled into my sight, then Chanyeol pulled the door from my hand and shut it. "Hello again, Kyungsoo," he said with a grin as he turned to me. He snapped the parasol closed one handed. His other hand clutched a large purse.
It felt like he wanted me to grin with him. I wasn't going to. In the days since we met Chanyeol, Baekhyun tried to encourage me to meet with him again. I wasn't ready for it. Whatever my childe thought, I couldn't so easily trust or rely on others of our kind - and there was a reason I didn't invite them to our home.
Seeing him here now was something I could only take as a threat.
"How did you find us?" I tried not to sound as angry as I was. "How did you get here?"
"Please," he laughed. "It's a cloudy day. You're really a cautious type, aren't you?" He wandered, entering the first room, where funerals were held, passing empty chairs and inspecting the floral arrangement on the podium.
I followed him, repeating my first question, "How did you find us?"
"Your van says Covenant Funeral Homes, doesn't it?" He shook his head. "What a job for the undead. You must be one sick mother fucker to revolve your life around human death like this."
"Why are you here?"
"Bringing good tidings," he answered and turned back to me, holding out his purse. "Human blood. We have some pull at the hospital now, so there you are."
I took it and sat it on a chair to unclasp it and look in. Plastic packets of blood were mixed in with ice packs.
He continued, "Figured you guys were still laying low. That or doing a good job disposing bodies - but hey, that does look kind of like your forte, right? You could probably help us out a bunch."
I turned to him. "Maybe one day. But you're new here. We don't know you."
He moved his arm fast, grabbing onto my hand and pulling it to himself to shove up my sleeve. There wasn't much of a choice. I used my other hand to punch him in the chin. He loosened his grip enough for me to yank my hand away, then I kicked his legs out from under him and watched him fall.
He didn't fight back, he just laid back on the floor laughing hysterically, like I'd told him a joke instead of took him down. "Ex-hunter," he said. "Got it."
"What did you say?"
"Look, sire Kyungsoo." Chanyeol got up on his feet, wiped off his knees, even though they hadn't touched the floor. "Me and my group aren't the kinda people to hold someone's past against them. We're not gonna hurt you because of two lines on your wrist."
"I don't know what you're talking about." I moved behind the chair with the bag full of blood, but stood strong there, glaring at him.
"Yes you do." He grinned and picked up his parasol. twirling it in his fingers. "But you've got nothing to fear. Unless, well, unless it's not in the past. But that's ridiculous, right?"
It wasn't something I had to deal with before, an unfamiliar someone of our kind directly confronting me about my weakness. My instinct was to punch my fingers through his throat, but I couldn't do that even if it was something I should do. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"Chanyeol?" We both looked to the doorway. Baekhyun's sleeves were up and his shirt partially unbuttoned and disheveled. It made him look especially helpless in his blatant confusion. "How did you get here?"
Chanyeol chuckled.
I needed to protect Baekhyun. I looked at Chanyeol again and demanded. "Leave us alone."
He put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. The parasol was precariously balanced between his thumb and index finger. "Alright," he said. "How bout I go?"
"Wait. What?" Baekhyun stepped in closer. "Back up, what's going on?"
"I was just trying to help," Chanyeol said and dropped his hands by his side. "I shouldn't have come uninvited. That's uh, a no no for vampires anyway, huh?" He winked at Baekhyun. I felt rage boiling my insides, ready to burst.
"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun said, looking at me as if he was hurt and as if I was the one hurting him. I scowled at him. He must have not understood that as weak as I might physically be by comparison, I still had to make choices like this for him - choices to protect him.
"Look, if either of you wanna talk, invitation is still open to our place. 164, don't forget." Chanyeol shrugged before he stepped to the door. Both of us were quiet as he snapped his parasol open and left the house, the door shutting behind him.
"He just walked out while the sun was up," Baekhyun said, stuck in amazement.
I walked to the hall, but I paused just long enough to tell him, "It's cloudy."
He followed behind. "What do you mean? We can do that? What, we just need some girly umbrella and we can go outside during the daytime? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"It's stupid," I said, thinking it must be. "Risky." I stomped up the stairs. "It's pointlessly dangerous."
"But he just did it like it was nothing," Baekhyun argued, several steps behind. "Why was he here? Why didn't you call me?"
"Why are you interrogating me over his actions?" I countered, seeing red. I stopped in front of the door of my bedroom, tried to calm myself, stretched my neck, but he kept talking, asking questions that I couldn't comprehend because I was so furious. I only knew that he was talking, blaming me, mad at me again as if he had any right, as if he was some tortured victim.
I turned around, but he wasn't there any more. I looked across the hall into an open room, and saw light spread through it. For one angry moment, I wanted to walk into that room and find him a pile of ash in the sunlight. I regretted the thought when the fear that it could too easily be reality struck, that after all of this time he could just be gone.
It was somehow difficult to walk straight. I held onto the doorway when I reached it and pulled myself through.
He stood there in front of the window, staring out like he was seeing something beautiful instead of lingering dangerously close to his own demise.
"You idiot," I said. I think I did.
"Kyungsoo," he said with a gentle voice. "It's fine. It's warm."
I pushed him away from the window, my hand grasping his shoulder and my wrist pressing into his arm to hold off his power. When I had him against a wall, I used my other hand, and my knees, and my feet to hit and kick every vulnerable part of his body as he feebly tried and failed to shove me away. When he got too good at blocking, I grabbed his hair and hit his head, again and again into the wood of the wall behind it. I wanted to see him bleed or bruise, but he wouldn't, so I settled in wishing for his tears.
I shoved him down to the floor, forgetting that to stay stronger than him, my wrist needed to stay in contact. I kicked him and kicked him, and he had every ability to fight me off, but he didn't. He stayed down and blocked his face, so I couldn't have the satisfaction of his watering eyes. Pathetic.
I kicked him a final time, wishing to hear the crack of bones, but all I heard was his scream.
I left the room. I went to mine. The night was quiet and I didn't feed.
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The woman had an aged face, defined cheek bones and piercing eyes. I saw all of that over her snarling fangs. I was always troubled by how, as white as their skin was, they looked human. That was until a wooden spike penetrated their chests.
I held the back of her neck, my wrist pressed tight into it as I forced the stake into her. I watched her white skin coated with a layer of dark colorless dust before it fell away as if there was never anyone beneath it. Some was swept off with the wind, but most of it dropped into a pile where she once stood.
I brushed some of the ash off of my cloak, sighing.
"That was a good kill, Kyungsoo." It was Taegon.
"You're late," I accused, returning my stake to it's hiding spot within my coat. "I wouldn't count on finding any others here."
He stepped into view, tiredly moving to my side with a wobble in his step. His eyes and his voice were tired. "I'm sorry, Kyungsoo."
I broke at the sound, shoulders slumping. "You don't look well."
"I'm less of a man without my wife," he confessed, pulling me to him, hugging me.
"You smell more and more like wine." I was disappointed, but I returned the embrace, put my head on his shoulder. "Taegon, maybe you can be with her. You don't have to involve yourself or Baekbeom in this any more. It can be my burden."
His laugh was low and rough. I felt the shake of it. "I'm proud of how far you've come, but this is something in our blood. You are.. here to..." He trailed off with his voice in a strange slur. His hand moved hard up and down my back, and his other dipped beneath my waist. His hips pushed into mine.
"No." I took his hands off of me and stepped backwards. "You're drunk. You don't know what you're doing."
"It's okay," he said in a calming way, reaching for me again.
I got violent. I shoved him backwards and wanted him to fall, or to just be gone, to make this moment a pile of ash on the ground.
I stared at him. For a moment, he looked like someone I had never met. I repeated, this time, I think, talking more to myself.
"You don't know what you're doing.."
I left him there as fast as I could.
Two Lines: Chapter Five
Kyungsoo's P.O.V
The call came in the morning. Our priest was dead.
I took it as a sign. When I woke from my sleep, I started looking at real estate. We had a good budget to work off of. It'd be easy enough to get a new start somewhere. We didn't have to work monotonous jobs surrounded by death any more, if we didn't want to. There was nothing we had to do.
Baekhyun came into my room. He didn't knock, but he didn't need to. He opened the door and sat on the edge of my bed, looking over my shoulder at the computer screen. "Are we moving?"
I wasn't sure. I said "Yes" anyway.
"Oh," he said, passing up the opportunity to argue. I looked at him and noticed he looked unhappy. For only a second, I thought of apologizing to him for the night before, then I was sure he hadn't earned any such apology.
He left my room, and at sunset, I heard him leave the house. I thought he might come back in, but when our appointment arrived at 7:15PM, he wasn't home yet.
I opened the door. The man was young and his gaze was sharp. He was dressed in a long white coat that made him look somewhat noble, contrasting with pierced ears and chopped hair. He was also tall enough that I felt bitter annoyance, having to raise my chin to him.
"I'm Kris," he said, looking closely at me. "About Father Kim."
He'd called in the appointment. I reached my hand out to shake his. "Kyungsoo."
When he shook my hand, his coat fell back just enough for me to glimpse two lines on his wrist. A cross tattoo. Staring, it occurred to me after a few seconds that I was keeping his hand hostage, and I let it go. "Come in."
Our priest had no family. Kris had been staying with him while he was visiting from China. In my office, he sat down across from me in a wooden chair. He only mentioned then, "You're cold."
"It's cold in here." He was staring at me in a way that felt uncomfortable. I wished Baekhyun was with me.
"Is it?" He didn't look convinced. I felt angry tension take hold of my muscles.
"They're having a funeral for him," he said slowly. "A teacher he knew, holding a service at a Catholic church two days from now. It's in the afternoon."
"So he's only here for cremation," I speculated. "Or are you inviting me?"
"I said it's in the afternoon." He leaned forward slightly. I knew this was an interrogation. "The sun will be up. He told me you're allergic to daylight."
"I wouldn't say it like that," I said.
"You'd be surprised by how many have the same problem."
"No, I wouldn't." I'd never purposefully showed someone before, but instinct guided me. It seemed like a defense when I yanked my sleeve up and turned my wrist into his sight.
He stared and sat upright again.
We were both quiet. Each second stretched out. I was nervous. The sharpness in his eyes told me something. It told me he could end me, if he decided to.
"I'd like to be here for it, if that's alright," he spoke, finally.
"Of course it is," I said.
"As soon as possible."
"How about seven in the morning? Unless you don't like any of the urns we have on hand, it can be done that quickly."
"The urn doesn't matter. He wanted his ashes spread on the grounds here."
It surprised me, a bit. I knew he liked it here, but I certainly didn't know he liked it here that much. From what I knew, we shared our priest with a few other funeral homes and churches as well. "I see.. well, I have to get you to sign some things."
I walked him to the door when he was finished. He nodded at me, but didn't say goodbye. The door closed.
I found myself in desperate need of blood. I'd left the blood from Chanyeol, but I was relieved to see Baekhyun had stuck it in the refrigerator. I probably only needed one pack of it, but I sucked down four of them, each unpleasantly cold but satisfying despite it.
Panic only set in after. If Kris was a hunter, and I couldn't imagine him not being, there could be others - or even just he could be enough to hurt Baekhyun. I called Baekhyun's cell phone, and it rang in an upstairs room. He'd left it. He usually did.
I got in the van, knowing he couldn't have walked far, but worried he might have got help. After I drove around a few blocks, I couldn't think of anywhere else to look.
That's how I ended up at The Towers apartments, standing in front of the door marked 164.
I didn't recognize the person opening the door. I recognized it as another immortal, pale skin and a pretty young face, but it wasn't someone I'd seen before. Before he could say a thing, I questioned him, "Is Baekhyun here?"
"Chanyeol~ it's for you~."
I narrowed my eyes. A second later, the door opened wider and Chanyeol joined the boy in the doorway, grinning.
"Did you finish all of the blood I gave you so soon?"
"I'm just looking for Baekhyun," I answered.
"He's not here."
"Thanks." I turned and walked. He followed.
"It's dangerous out there for vampires right now," he said. "Hunters in town."
I was trying to not to cringe at his use of the word vampires. I continued walking, without any patience. "I noticed," I said.
"I wanna help you find him."
I was quiet as I returned to the van. Next to the driver's door, I finally paused and turned toward him. I tensed when he didn't stop walking toward me. He ended up uncomfortably close, placing his hand on the door of the van, just next to me.
"If you two want to survive here, you need our help."
"We're leaving," I said, straightening and glaring. I was ready to fight. Inwardly, I begged him to make one move against me. It didn't matter that he was stronger - I could take that from him.
"Leaving."
"Moving away, as soon as possible. If you want to help find Baekhyun, fine, look for him, and then tell him to bring his ass." I turned away and knocked his hand off of the door so I could open it.
"You swear you're not with them?" Chanyeol questioned, stepping back. "You're not a vampire vampire hunter?"
"I'm not any of those things," I answered, then I pulled the door shut.
I used half a tank of gas driving around the city looking for Baekhyun, but I didn't find him. When I returned home, I spent a long time sitting outside with the graves and worrying. I was there until the first light, then I urged myself to finally go inside. I would need a long shower before Kris came.
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The smell of something salty had me nauseated upon waking. My head was aching and cold. I reached up and felt a damp cloth lying on it. I pulled it off as I opened my eyes and took in the sight of an unfamiliar bedroom.
A small platter next to me had soup and a bowl of rice. It looked warm, couldn't have been there for long. I ignored it for the time. sitting up for a look around. Bright, orange light was coloring the room from an open window. The air was fresh and pleasant, a little bit cool for the late summer it was in. I saw my clothes folded on top of a wooden vanity before I even realized I wasn't dressed.
I rubbed my head and my eyes, trying to decide how much of the night before had only been a dream. I remembered a pale, naked body in chains and a set of inhuman teeth.
"You fainted." It was an old voice. I turned to see a man sitting in the corner. He was plump and had a wide jaw, his hair full and dark gray while his eyes were beady and staring. I pulled the thin blanket further over my lap. He continued, "I think you should eat something. You'll need your strength."
"Where's my father?" It was only the most reasonable of the questions that flew through my mind.
"Taegon," The man paused, looking thoughtful before he continued, "Your father will be around soon." He had a strange, rough laugh that sounded out of place. "I imagine you're wanting to know what happened."
"Yes?"
"Well that's easy. You looked into the eyes of the devil and you weren't strong enough. No shame in it. Don't let your father tell you otherwise."
"That thing I saw was real?" My insides were squirming and the world spun. I laid back down, hoping one or both of those would settle.
"It was real. A demon. Don't doubt it for a second."
"And my father?"
"What of him?"
I remembered hitting the ground and blacking out. I remembered arms coming under me, lifting me off of the floor. I remembered opening my eyes one more time, just long enough to see my father's face, pale and scowling with sharp, white teeth.
"Is he a demon?"
Two Lines: Chapter Six
Baekhyun's P.O.V.
I leaned against a red door, listening.
"What was that all about?"
"I've got a crush, what can I say?"
I threw myself backwards. I was disappointed that was all I'd hear, but Chanyeol was returning fast. The red door slung open and I stood there trying to look guiltless.
Chanyeol didn't even pay attention to me until the door was closed. He showed me a purple tube and announced, "Got it."
I smiled. "Oh, good."
He lowered it, grinning wide as he stepped up to me, encircling my waist with his long arms and tugging me against him. He must have seen through to my curiosity, because he said, "Yes. Kyungsoo came to look for you. But I sent him away, you're safe."
I frowned as long as he couldn't see it anyway, but I put my arms around him too. The moment was short lived. He pushed me off and turned away, cheerfully approaching the other guest in his room.
Lying on the floor, amongst strewn laundry and comic books, was a muscular human boy. His hands and feet were tied with rope and his clothes were ripped, even bloodied in places. I don't know how long Chanyeol had him before. He'd been here when I arrived, passed out then and only barely waking up now. Bruising under the mess of dark bangs on his head told me he might have a concussion.
Chanyeol knelt next to him, setting the purple tube to one side. He had to look around for a moment, eventually lifting up a shirt on the floor to find a roll of duct tape. He tore a strip off and put it over the human's mouth, saying now, "Come here. You could probably use a bite, huh?"
"You don't mind?" I tried to play it cool, but it had been driving me crazy. I stepped over to kneel next to Chanyeol, just waiting for one more confirmation.
"Go ahead," he urged, moving his hand onto my back for a moment. "However you want him. I wanna see."
I hadn't been a way from Kyungsoo for a full night, but I missed him. It felt like doing something terribly wrong to hide from him, but at the same time, I needed to impress Chanyeol. I wasn't sure about my feelings for my sire, but I was sure about that. I wanted Chanyeol to be amazed by me. I wanted to show him the strength I had, that Kyungsoo loathed.
I grabbed the human by his neck and listened, satisfied, to the last of a whimper he could make before my grip was tight enough to take away his sound. I lifted him into a sitting position and straddled his lap, without hesitation biting into his shoulder where his sleeve was ripped.
Biting into a human is different than drinking their blood. In that moment, you're tied to someone else, absorbing strength and taking it for yourself. If you let them live, within days they'll be immortal like you. This one wouldn't live. I could taste his oncoming death before Chanyeol shoved me off of him. I hit the floor hard, but it didn't hurt - I felt invincible.
Chanyeol bit me and it was nothing like when Kyungsoo did. I could fight him and he could take it. His fangs ripped a chunk of my skin out when I shoved him off. My blood spilled onto him when I climbed on top, drawing a yell from him when I slammed my fist into his face and busted his lip. Red splashed onto the white of his skin and I dragged fingers through it, finger painting his cheeks until he threw me off of him. The force of it broke the door of the closet I hit. I still couldn't feel pain. I was on my feet before he came to me again, but he grabbed my neck in a tight grip and lifted me, holding me into the broken door and tearing the zipper from my pants.
I wouldn't die if he suffocated me, but it was uncomfortable and if it went far enough, I'd pass out. He kissed me and tasted of his own blood. I used both of my hands to hold his neck and squeeze, so we were both breathless, and there was a wonder of which one of us would black out first, a competition of trembling fingers trapping throats.
He tugged me away from the wall and closer to himself, piercing my bottom lip with his fangs with a vengeance. This time I could feel the pain and the gush of blood falling over my chin. My fingers loosened enough for him to escape and I heard his heavy breath before he let go of me and I could have my own. I inhaled my own blood and coughed. He claimed the chance to push me down on the floor, tore my jeans from my hips and pinned me with a strong hand on my upper back while his finger prodded dry into the crevice of my ass. I saw the purple tube of lubrication lying across the floor, forgotten along with the human boy. I laughed until my eyes teared up.
It was a high. I was barely thinking. I'd never been with someone as strong as me before and somewhere deep in me there was guilt for the pleasure I took from it. I knew I belonged to Kyungsoo, but Chanyeol was some kind of drug. He was guitar riffs breaking a century of silence, violently screeching fear into me so that for a moment, he had all of me while I tried to figure out if he was good, bad, or nothing.
He pulled me backwards into his lap and I realized two things, that he somehow he got his clothes off and that his hands were so big, both of them on my stomach almost hid it completely. I pulled off my shirt and he bit into the center of my back so that blood fell neatly down my spine.
I thought that the top meant power and straddling him, pulling him into me even when it hurt, I felt like I had won our unspoken contest until his grip on me tightened and it was up to him when I would rise and fall.
We were loud, I remember not always knowing if it was him moaning or me. There was a knock on the door, one of his roommates telling us to quiet down, but neither of us listened. We laughed like teenagers and changed positions, trying to take each other down, trying to hurt each other with the side effect of getting each other off.
I don't remember where it ended.
I woke up with my hands in knotted ropes and a metal cross slipped in next to them. I would have thought I was home with Kyungsoo if not for the distinct colorful mess that was Chanyeol's bedroom. The human I'd bit was dead on the floor, a deep slash on his back.
I was more confused by the fact that I was dressed than anything else. An oversized t-shirt and loose sweatpants, noticeably clean of any bleeding that I knew I did. For a little bit, I pulled on the knots that bound me, but I soon found them to be too tricky, and they would tighten whenever I stressed them. "Chanyeol," I finally called, feeling too shy to scream it like I would have screamed Kyungsoo. I raised my voice just barely above speaking level to call again, "Chanyeol!"
"He's not here." The voice that spoke was behind the door. I didn't recognize it.
I looked toward the window. The sun was still down. "Can you untie me?"
"No," the voice answered, but the door opened. I sat up to look. "Who are you?"
"Jongin," was the answer. He looked more like the kind I was used to, clothes black and expression solemn. He stared at me for a long, lingering moment before he stepped inside and shut the door. "I can't untie you."
"Well, you can use some scissors or something," I suggested.
He almost smiled. "No. I mean you have to be our prisoner now." He stepped closer. "We hunt hunters. Need bait. Sorry."
Denial. I had to deny it. "That's not. Why would you just tell me that like it's nothing? Why did you bother to-- why did Chanyeol bother to--"
"He's into betrayal. Sorry."
"I don't believe you."
"That's fine. He wanted to tell you about this himself. Watch the look on your face or whatever. You're just giving him an opportunity to do that." He shrugged and leaned closer, offering, "I really am sorry."
"Stop saying that!" I strained in the ropes. I wanted to hit him. Whether it was true or not, that he could speak to me so casually about it, I wanted to make him suffer. I wanted to force emotion and tears out of him, instead of feeling anything like it on my own.
He straightened and blinked at me.
Another voice called into the room. "Jongin," it said, "you better leave him alone."
I saw Jongin smirk before he turned and walked out. I wanted to believe that smirk meant it was a stupid joke, but I couldn't convince myself. All of the signs had been there and it's not like I had exactly trusted Chanyeol to begin with.
I went numb.
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My hands shook on my cup. It was an herbal tea, some nightcap to get me sleeping again courtesy of a woman I attended church with. I was so used to being up during the night. I wanted nothing now but to sleep through the rest of them in my life. The reality of Taegon's touch on me was something I couldn't face. I couldn't look at him the same. He didn't see himself the way I saw him. He had never tried to be a father to me, if I thought about it. He was a man of sin, fighting himself when he struck down the literal demons.
It had taken me a week to convince myself of that.
I put the cup on the table by my chair, giving up on it. The smell of the herbs wasn't the comfort I'd hoped them to be. I couldn't relax.
The knock on the door lifted my guard higher. I stood slow and went to pull one of the wooden stakes from the closet where my cloak hung. There was a knock again before I made it to the door. I breathed behind it before I opened it. I never knew it was Taegon until I'd hit the floor, and the stake was far gone from my grip.
He was on top of me, breathing not the smell of wine but the smell of blood. I screamed, but his hand held my mouth. He bit my neck and sucked my blood until I had no strength left. My head dropped and I watched dark liquid spread on the floor, listening to the sound of him pulling my clothes away.
Two Lines: Chapter Seven
Kyungsoo's P.O.V.
"Is everything okay?" Kris' eyes were large with curiosity. He was a different man than the one I met yesterday. Actually, he was kind of cute.
"I don't usually do this by myself," I said, circling the button that would roll 'Father Kim's body into the burner.
Kris stepped to my side and hit it for me, giving me a somewhat harder look.
We were quiet. I wasn't nervous.
Nearly half an hour later, I made herbal tea for him in the kitchen. My hand was steady, placing the cup in front of him. He thanked me with a nod and sipped fearless of the heat.
I sat next to him at our small, barely used kitchen table and sighed. "You hunt the undead."
"And you are the undead," he said, lowering his cup. "Is that right?"
"Yes," I answered, uncertain of where my bravery was coming from but glad for it. "Plan on killing me?"
"Maybe," he answered. "You?"
"No." I laughed, bitter. "I'm not planning on it, anyway."
"Hm." He nodded and sipped the tea again. It still looked hot.
I waited a moment before I asked, convincing myself that he'd give me enough truth to be worth it. "Have you killed any recently?"
"Shortly after we got into town. There was a group of three. They were starving and weak. Easy kills."
I knew it wouldn't have been Baekhyun and that was enough. "Hm," I imitated him before my silence.
"You used to be one of us?" He questioned. "Before you were turned?"
I slowly nodded the confession. "A long time ago. More than a hundred years."
"You kill humans now?"
I didn't even consider lying. "Yes."
He didn't look surprised. For whatever reason, we each trusted each other to be honest for the time being. I vaguely wondered if we were secretly under the influence, breathing in alcohol.
"We're leaving," I offered a moment. "Me and my childe plan to move."
"It could be too late," he suggested. "You are having tea with a hunter."
"I'm not having tea," I pointed out. I smiled when he rolled his eyes, apparently annoyed with the technicality. I added, "I don't think it's too late now."
It was more comfortable after that. The elephant in the room addressed, we were in our own minds, planning our moves against each other. He finished his tea and I washed his cup before we returned to wait by the crematory.
"It's my first time," he said after a long while. When I looked at him, questioning, he explained himself, "Talking to one of your kind outside of a fight."
"I quit hunting before I was turned," I decided to tell him. "Just a few days before. I realized, fangs and white skin weren't the only source of sin. Two lines on each of my wrists didn't protect me from darkness. Are we bad for murdering your kind, are you bad for murdering ours? Or is the truth that everyone is bad in some way or another?"
"I'm aware that things aren't black and white," he said. "But in a war, you fight for your country, without wondering about the opinions of soldiers."
I laughed.
"What?"
"That's stupid."
He didn't look offended. He looked dangerously close to breaking into laughter himself, but he settled into a slight smile and a shake of his head. "You're a terrible host."
"I'm not myself today."
We were quiet until it came time to collect the ashes. They filled one of our most basic urns and I walked Kris to the door.
He turned to me, lingering. "I think you should be the one to do it." He held the urn to me. "He would prefer that."
"I don't think we were as close as you seem to think," I told him, staring at the urn.
"It isn't that." He sighed heavily, straightened his shoulders. "Father Kim was an atheist."
I stared.
He chuckled. "I can go out there and get emotional about the spreading of his remains, or you can go out there with distant appreciation of human death that he would have secretly approved of." He pushed the urn further towards me and I took it without much more thought.
"Goodbye, Kyungsoo."
He left.
When it was dark, I dressed warmly without a real need to and went outside to spread the priest's remains. It felt strange to think of him like that - 'the priest', who was an atheist. Like the hunter who became a vampire, it was a terrible contradiction.
The best I could do was not leave the ash in an ugly pile, looking like it needed to be swept away. I tilted the urn and let the wind take it as I walked around, wondering what was special about this place to Father Kim, wondering why he hid his beliefs until his death, wondering why Kris was special enough to hear otherwise.
I looked again and again toward the path leading to our door, hoping to see Baekhyun coming. I tried not to be worried. The hunters hadn't hurt him, I could assume. I trusted Kris, in the strangest possible way. I wondered if he could be mad at me and whether or not he deserved to be.
I felt angry at myself for even questioning it. Even if he deserved his anger for once, he wouldn't deserve to leave me this way, have me worrying.
I sat at a gravestone, calming myself. The empty urn rolled from me and I couldn't bring myself to care. It might be about time to waste another half tank, I thought, when I noticed a car rolling up.
I couldn't tell who got out of the car from my place on the grass. I stood on my feet, but soon saw that whoever it was was walking my way. I stood and waited with hope, but my heart sunk.
It was Chanyeol.
"No luck yet with the whole Baekhyun thing, huh?"
I glared at him and walked around tombstones, heading for the house. He followed.
"Maybe I know something you don't know," he said.
"Then you can tell me or fuck off." I wasn't going to play his game. The mere suggestion of it was infuriating.
"He could be in trouble."
"I know." I turned to face him with a glare. "I don't care. Fuck off."
Chanyeol looked smug, giving me a very punchable smirk as he stepped closer, hands in the pockets of his coat. "And if I don't? What are you going to do?"
A raging side of me thought it would be better to try and have him kill me than to back down after that. I thought about how long it would take me to get my axe from the shed, and I imagined his head jaggedly cut from the rest of his body. I wondered how long it would take before he burst into dust, so that I couldn't enjoy the satisfaction of his death any longer.
I made myself turn and walk again, but he rushed up behind me and grabbed around my waist. He was stronger than me, I already knew that, so I froze. I knew he'd like it if I struggled, because I was the same. I listened carefully as he whispered against my ear.
"I know where he is," he said, moving his hands on me. "I have him. He came to me, scared of you. I fucked him all night while you stayed back and worried." He laughed, then said, "I'll give him back to you. You can have revenge. I just want a little something in return."
"Chanyeol," I laughed softly. "The only way I'd fuck you is if I had a guaranteed chance of biting your dick off."
I moved forward. He grabbed my arm and twisted it, pulling me back to him.
"Bet not," he said, smiling widely.
Read Chapters Eight-Epilogue
A/N: This is a writing practice work and is likely to contain many errors, please be forgiving and offer lots of feedback.
Chapter One-Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight-Epilogue
My right wrist bled. Tattooing was a different, longer, and more painful process back then. I'd been dizzy, but I didn't cry. Now I stared at the black crosses marking my skin, feeling utterly proud.
Taegon sat by my side and pulled my hands into his lap, gently patting the skin with an alcohol soaked towel. I flinched, but he didn't mock me. "I'm so proud of you, Kyungsoo," he said, so my heart fluttered. "Wherever you go in life, God will be with you."
"And we match as well," I said happily and took his hand in mind, twisting them to see his wrist and compare how similar our marks were. Just about the same, I thought.
He was the closest thing to a father I had, though he was only about twelve years my elder. My own father had died when I was young. I was sent to Taegon when I was just becoming a man - to be his apprentice, to learn of God and, as I would find out, so much more.
"We do," he chuckled and pulled me close, kissing the top of my head.
I leaned in and just enjoyed silence for a moment, before my mind wandered and I sat up straight to ask. "Will your son.. will Baekbeom have marks like this?"
"One day. When he's ready," Taegon said.
"And Baekhyun?"
Taegon hugged me, sighing. "Baekhyun... is going to live another life. A safer life."
I inspected him, uncertainly. "But we are safe now. We have the mark of the cross. The devil has no power towards us."
"The mark will help to protect us, but we are not immune to pain, as you might have noticed." He meaningfully squeezed the cloth around my wrist, so I flinched again. "Remember this, Kyungsoo," he repeated, "We are not immune to pain."
Two Lines: Chapter Four
Kyungsoo's P.O.V
The crowd moved outside for the burial. I stood in the doorway, looking into the hall where the front door was open for the line of black clothed people trailing out. They were especially sad today. The boy they buried was young, died in a car accident. I could still hear sobbing from the front of the long line.
When they were all out, our priest nodded to me and I nodded back. He closed the door, blocking the light from the sun.
I turned and found Baekhyun undressing, pulling away his tie and shrugging off his blazer. When he noticed I was watching, he smiled at me. "I've got some embalming to do," he said. "I thought I'd get it done before the sun went down today. So we could have more time tonight, you know?"
I nodded. "Do you want any help?"
"I've got this," he assured me, stepping over and kissing my cheek. It seemed like he might just fly by, so I grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.
"I love you," I said.
He grinned and hugged me. I wanted a kiss, but he stepped back and pushed his jacket and tie into my arms. "Will you clean this for me then?"
"Pfft," I said. I gathered the items in my arms, watching him walk away before I got motivated enough to take the clothes to the laundry room.
I was folding. There was a knock on the door. It couldn't be the priest, he'd know to walk in without a knock. I could only imagine it was part of the procession, returning for a left belonging or a need to use the bathroom. I exhaled upon returning to the front door, and when I pulled it open I stepped behind it to shield myself from any sunlight that would come in with the guest.
A lacy blue parasol twirled into my sight, then Chanyeol pulled the door from my hand and shut it. "Hello again, Kyungsoo," he said with a grin as he turned to me. He snapped the parasol closed one handed. His other hand clutched a large purse.
It felt like he wanted me to grin with him. I wasn't going to. In the days since we met Chanyeol, Baekhyun tried to encourage me to meet with him again. I wasn't ready for it. Whatever my childe thought, I couldn't so easily trust or rely on others of our kind - and there was a reason I didn't invite them to our home.
Seeing him here now was something I could only take as a threat.
"How did you find us?" I tried not to sound as angry as I was. "How did you get here?"
"Please," he laughed. "It's a cloudy day. You're really a cautious type, aren't you?" He wandered, entering the first room, where funerals were held, passing empty chairs and inspecting the floral arrangement on the podium.
I followed him, repeating my first question, "How did you find us?"
"Your van says Covenant Funeral Homes, doesn't it?" He shook his head. "What a job for the undead. You must be one sick mother fucker to revolve your life around human death like this."
"Why are you here?"
"Bringing good tidings," he answered and turned back to me, holding out his purse. "Human blood. We have some pull at the hospital now, so there you are."
I took it and sat it on a chair to unclasp it and look in. Plastic packets of blood were mixed in with ice packs.
He continued, "Figured you guys were still laying low. That or doing a good job disposing bodies - but hey, that does look kind of like your forte, right? You could probably help us out a bunch."
I turned to him. "Maybe one day. But you're new here. We don't know you."
He moved his arm fast, grabbing onto my hand and pulling it to himself to shove up my sleeve. There wasn't much of a choice. I used my other hand to punch him in the chin. He loosened his grip enough for me to yank my hand away, then I kicked his legs out from under him and watched him fall.
He didn't fight back, he just laid back on the floor laughing hysterically, like I'd told him a joke instead of took him down. "Ex-hunter," he said. "Got it."
"What did you say?"
"Look, sire Kyungsoo." Chanyeol got up on his feet, wiped off his knees, even though they hadn't touched the floor. "Me and my group aren't the kinda people to hold someone's past against them. We're not gonna hurt you because of two lines on your wrist."
"I don't know what you're talking about." I moved behind the chair with the bag full of blood, but stood strong there, glaring at him.
"Yes you do." He grinned and picked up his parasol. twirling it in his fingers. "But you've got nothing to fear. Unless, well, unless it's not in the past. But that's ridiculous, right?"
It wasn't something I had to deal with before, an unfamiliar someone of our kind directly confronting me about my weakness. My instinct was to punch my fingers through his throat, but I couldn't do that even if it was something I should do. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"Chanyeol?" We both looked to the doorway. Baekhyun's sleeves were up and his shirt partially unbuttoned and disheveled. It made him look especially helpless in his blatant confusion. "How did you get here?"
Chanyeol chuckled.
I needed to protect Baekhyun. I looked at Chanyeol again and demanded. "Leave us alone."
He put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. The parasol was precariously balanced between his thumb and index finger. "Alright," he said. "How bout I go?"
"Wait. What?" Baekhyun stepped in closer. "Back up, what's going on?"
"I was just trying to help," Chanyeol said and dropped his hands by his side. "I shouldn't have come uninvited. That's uh, a no no for vampires anyway, huh?" He winked at Baekhyun. I felt rage boiling my insides, ready to burst.
"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun said, looking at me as if he was hurt and as if I was the one hurting him. I scowled at him. He must have not understood that as weak as I might physically be by comparison, I still had to make choices like this for him - choices to protect him.
"Look, if either of you wanna talk, invitation is still open to our place. 164, don't forget." Chanyeol shrugged before he stepped to the door. Both of us were quiet as he snapped his parasol open and left the house, the door shutting behind him.
"He just walked out while the sun was up," Baekhyun said, stuck in amazement.
I walked to the hall, but I paused just long enough to tell him, "It's cloudy."
He followed behind. "What do you mean? We can do that? What, we just need some girly umbrella and we can go outside during the daytime? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"It's stupid," I said, thinking it must be. "Risky." I stomped up the stairs. "It's pointlessly dangerous."
"But he just did it like it was nothing," Baekhyun argued, several steps behind. "Why was he here? Why didn't you call me?"
"Why are you interrogating me over his actions?" I countered, seeing red. I stopped in front of the door of my bedroom, tried to calm myself, stretched my neck, but he kept talking, asking questions that I couldn't comprehend because I was so furious. I only knew that he was talking, blaming me, mad at me again as if he had any right, as if he was some tortured victim.
I turned around, but he wasn't there any more. I looked across the hall into an open room, and saw light spread through it. For one angry moment, I wanted to walk into that room and find him a pile of ash in the sunlight. I regretted the thought when the fear that it could too easily be reality struck, that after all of this time he could just be gone.
It was somehow difficult to walk straight. I held onto the doorway when I reached it and pulled myself through.
He stood there in front of the window, staring out like he was seeing something beautiful instead of lingering dangerously close to his own demise.
"You idiot," I said. I think I did.
"Kyungsoo," he said with a gentle voice. "It's fine. It's warm."
I pushed him away from the window, my hand grasping his shoulder and my wrist pressing into his arm to hold off his power. When I had him against a wall, I used my other hand, and my knees, and my feet to hit and kick every vulnerable part of his body as he feebly tried and failed to shove me away. When he got too good at blocking, I grabbed his hair and hit his head, again and again into the wood of the wall behind it. I wanted to see him bleed or bruise, but he wouldn't, so I settled in wishing for his tears.
I shoved him down to the floor, forgetting that to stay stronger than him, my wrist needed to stay in contact. I kicked him and kicked him, and he had every ability to fight me off, but he didn't. He stayed down and blocked his face, so I couldn't have the satisfaction of his watering eyes. Pathetic.
I kicked him a final time, wishing to hear the crack of bones, but all I heard was his scream.
I left the room. I went to mine. The night was quiet and I didn't feed.
----------------------------------------------
The woman had an aged face, defined cheek bones and piercing eyes. I saw all of that over her snarling fangs. I was always troubled by how, as white as their skin was, they looked human. That was until a wooden spike penetrated their chests.
I held the back of her neck, my wrist pressed tight into it as I forced the stake into her. I watched her white skin coated with a layer of dark colorless dust before it fell away as if there was never anyone beneath it. Some was swept off with the wind, but most of it dropped into a pile where she once stood.
I brushed some of the ash off of my cloak, sighing.
"That was a good kill, Kyungsoo." It was Taegon.
"You're late," I accused, returning my stake to it's hiding spot within my coat. "I wouldn't count on finding any others here."
He stepped into view, tiredly moving to my side with a wobble in his step. His eyes and his voice were tired. "I'm sorry, Kyungsoo."
I broke at the sound, shoulders slumping. "You don't look well."
"I'm less of a man without my wife," he confessed, pulling me to him, hugging me.
"You smell more and more like wine." I was disappointed, but I returned the embrace, put my head on his shoulder. "Taegon, maybe you can be with her. You don't have to involve yourself or Baekbeom in this any more. It can be my burden."
His laugh was low and rough. I felt the shake of it. "I'm proud of how far you've come, but this is something in our blood. You are.. here to..." He trailed off with his voice in a strange slur. His hand moved hard up and down my back, and his other dipped beneath my waist. His hips pushed into mine.
"No." I took his hands off of me and stepped backwards. "You're drunk. You don't know what you're doing."
"It's okay," he said in a calming way, reaching for me again.
I got violent. I shoved him backwards and wanted him to fall, or to just be gone, to make this moment a pile of ash on the ground.
I stared at him. For a moment, he looked like someone I had never met. I repeated, this time, I think, talking more to myself.
"You don't know what you're doing.."
I left him there as fast as I could.
Two Lines: Chapter Five
Kyungsoo's P.O.V
The call came in the morning. Our priest was dead.
I took it as a sign. When I woke from my sleep, I started looking at real estate. We had a good budget to work off of. It'd be easy enough to get a new start somewhere. We didn't have to work monotonous jobs surrounded by death any more, if we didn't want to. There was nothing we had to do.
Baekhyun came into my room. He didn't knock, but he didn't need to. He opened the door and sat on the edge of my bed, looking over my shoulder at the computer screen. "Are we moving?"
I wasn't sure. I said "Yes" anyway.
"Oh," he said, passing up the opportunity to argue. I looked at him and noticed he looked unhappy. For only a second, I thought of apologizing to him for the night before, then I was sure he hadn't earned any such apology.
He left my room, and at sunset, I heard him leave the house. I thought he might come back in, but when our appointment arrived at 7:15PM, he wasn't home yet.
I opened the door. The man was young and his gaze was sharp. He was dressed in a long white coat that made him look somewhat noble, contrasting with pierced ears and chopped hair. He was also tall enough that I felt bitter annoyance, having to raise my chin to him.
"I'm Kris," he said, looking closely at me. "About Father Kim."
He'd called in the appointment. I reached my hand out to shake his. "Kyungsoo."
When he shook my hand, his coat fell back just enough for me to glimpse two lines on his wrist. A cross tattoo. Staring, it occurred to me after a few seconds that I was keeping his hand hostage, and I let it go. "Come in."
Our priest had no family. Kris had been staying with him while he was visiting from China. In my office, he sat down across from me in a wooden chair. He only mentioned then, "You're cold."
"It's cold in here." He was staring at me in a way that felt uncomfortable. I wished Baekhyun was with me.
"Is it?" He didn't look convinced. I felt angry tension take hold of my muscles.
"They're having a funeral for him," he said slowly. "A teacher he knew, holding a service at a Catholic church two days from now. It's in the afternoon."
"So he's only here for cremation," I speculated. "Or are you inviting me?"
"I said it's in the afternoon." He leaned forward slightly. I knew this was an interrogation. "The sun will be up. He told me you're allergic to daylight."
"I wouldn't say it like that," I said.
"You'd be surprised by how many have the same problem."
"No, I wouldn't." I'd never purposefully showed someone before, but instinct guided me. It seemed like a defense when I yanked my sleeve up and turned my wrist into his sight.
He stared and sat upright again.
We were both quiet. Each second stretched out. I was nervous. The sharpness in his eyes told me something. It told me he could end me, if he decided to.
"I'd like to be here for it, if that's alright," he spoke, finally.
"Of course it is," I said.
"As soon as possible."
"How about seven in the morning? Unless you don't like any of the urns we have on hand, it can be done that quickly."
"The urn doesn't matter. He wanted his ashes spread on the grounds here."
It surprised me, a bit. I knew he liked it here, but I certainly didn't know he liked it here that much. From what I knew, we shared our priest with a few other funeral homes and churches as well. "I see.. well, I have to get you to sign some things."
I walked him to the door when he was finished. He nodded at me, but didn't say goodbye. The door closed.
I found myself in desperate need of blood. I'd left the blood from Chanyeol, but I was relieved to see Baekhyun had stuck it in the refrigerator. I probably only needed one pack of it, but I sucked down four of them, each unpleasantly cold but satisfying despite it.
Panic only set in after. If Kris was a hunter, and I couldn't imagine him not being, there could be others - or even just he could be enough to hurt Baekhyun. I called Baekhyun's cell phone, and it rang in an upstairs room. He'd left it. He usually did.
I got in the van, knowing he couldn't have walked far, but worried he might have got help. After I drove around a few blocks, I couldn't think of anywhere else to look.
That's how I ended up at The Towers apartments, standing in front of the door marked 164.
I didn't recognize the person opening the door. I recognized it as another immortal, pale skin and a pretty young face, but it wasn't someone I'd seen before. Before he could say a thing, I questioned him, "Is Baekhyun here?"
"Chanyeol~ it's for you~."
I narrowed my eyes. A second later, the door opened wider and Chanyeol joined the boy in the doorway, grinning.
"Did you finish all of the blood I gave you so soon?"
"I'm just looking for Baekhyun," I answered.
"He's not here."
"Thanks." I turned and walked. He followed.
"It's dangerous out there for vampires right now," he said. "Hunters in town."
I was trying to not to cringe at his use of the word vampires. I continued walking, without any patience. "I noticed," I said.
"I wanna help you find him."
I was quiet as I returned to the van. Next to the driver's door, I finally paused and turned toward him. I tensed when he didn't stop walking toward me. He ended up uncomfortably close, placing his hand on the door of the van, just next to me.
"If you two want to survive here, you need our help."
"We're leaving," I said, straightening and glaring. I was ready to fight. Inwardly, I begged him to make one move against me. It didn't matter that he was stronger - I could take that from him.
"Leaving."
"Moving away, as soon as possible. If you want to help find Baekhyun, fine, look for him, and then tell him to bring his ass." I turned away and knocked his hand off of the door so I could open it.
"You swear you're not with them?" Chanyeol questioned, stepping back. "You're not a vampire vampire hunter?"
"I'm not any of those things," I answered, then I pulled the door shut.
I used half a tank of gas driving around the city looking for Baekhyun, but I didn't find him. When I returned home, I spent a long time sitting outside with the graves and worrying. I was there until the first light, then I urged myself to finally go inside. I would need a long shower before Kris came.
----------------------------------------------
The smell of something salty had me nauseated upon waking. My head was aching and cold. I reached up and felt a damp cloth lying on it. I pulled it off as I opened my eyes and took in the sight of an unfamiliar bedroom.
A small platter next to me had soup and a bowl of rice. It looked warm, couldn't have been there for long. I ignored it for the time. sitting up for a look around. Bright, orange light was coloring the room from an open window. The air was fresh and pleasant, a little bit cool for the late summer it was in. I saw my clothes folded on top of a wooden vanity before I even realized I wasn't dressed.
I rubbed my head and my eyes, trying to decide how much of the night before had only been a dream. I remembered a pale, naked body in chains and a set of inhuman teeth.
"You fainted." It was an old voice. I turned to see a man sitting in the corner. He was plump and had a wide jaw, his hair full and dark gray while his eyes were beady and staring. I pulled the thin blanket further over my lap. He continued, "I think you should eat something. You'll need your strength."
"Where's my father?" It was only the most reasonable of the questions that flew through my mind.
"Taegon," The man paused, looking thoughtful before he continued, "Your father will be around soon." He had a strange, rough laugh that sounded out of place. "I imagine you're wanting to know what happened."
"Yes?"
"Well that's easy. You looked into the eyes of the devil and you weren't strong enough. No shame in it. Don't let your father tell you otherwise."
"That thing I saw was real?" My insides were squirming and the world spun. I laid back down, hoping one or both of those would settle.
"It was real. A demon. Don't doubt it for a second."
"And my father?"
"What of him?"
I remembered hitting the ground and blacking out. I remembered arms coming under me, lifting me off of the floor. I remembered opening my eyes one more time, just long enough to see my father's face, pale and scowling with sharp, white teeth.
"Is he a demon?"
Two Lines: Chapter Six
Baekhyun's P.O.V.
I leaned against a red door, listening.
"What was that all about?"
"I've got a crush, what can I say?"
I threw myself backwards. I was disappointed that was all I'd hear, but Chanyeol was returning fast. The red door slung open and I stood there trying to look guiltless.
Chanyeol didn't even pay attention to me until the door was closed. He showed me a purple tube and announced, "Got it."
I smiled. "Oh, good."
He lowered it, grinning wide as he stepped up to me, encircling my waist with his long arms and tugging me against him. He must have seen through to my curiosity, because he said, "Yes. Kyungsoo came to look for you. But I sent him away, you're safe."
I frowned as long as he couldn't see it anyway, but I put my arms around him too. The moment was short lived. He pushed me off and turned away, cheerfully approaching the other guest in his room.
Lying on the floor, amongst strewn laundry and comic books, was a muscular human boy. His hands and feet were tied with rope and his clothes were ripped, even bloodied in places. I don't know how long Chanyeol had him before. He'd been here when I arrived, passed out then and only barely waking up now. Bruising under the mess of dark bangs on his head told me he might have a concussion.
Chanyeol knelt next to him, setting the purple tube to one side. He had to look around for a moment, eventually lifting up a shirt on the floor to find a roll of duct tape. He tore a strip off and put it over the human's mouth, saying now, "Come here. You could probably use a bite, huh?"
"You don't mind?" I tried to play it cool, but it had been driving me crazy. I stepped over to kneel next to Chanyeol, just waiting for one more confirmation.
"Go ahead," he urged, moving his hand onto my back for a moment. "However you want him. I wanna see."
I hadn't been a way from Kyungsoo for a full night, but I missed him. It felt like doing something terribly wrong to hide from him, but at the same time, I needed to impress Chanyeol. I wasn't sure about my feelings for my sire, but I was sure about that. I wanted Chanyeol to be amazed by me. I wanted to show him the strength I had, that Kyungsoo loathed.
I grabbed the human by his neck and listened, satisfied, to the last of a whimper he could make before my grip was tight enough to take away his sound. I lifted him into a sitting position and straddled his lap, without hesitation biting into his shoulder where his sleeve was ripped.
Biting into a human is different than drinking their blood. In that moment, you're tied to someone else, absorbing strength and taking it for yourself. If you let them live, within days they'll be immortal like you. This one wouldn't live. I could taste his oncoming death before Chanyeol shoved me off of him. I hit the floor hard, but it didn't hurt - I felt invincible.
Chanyeol bit me and it was nothing like when Kyungsoo did. I could fight him and he could take it. His fangs ripped a chunk of my skin out when I shoved him off. My blood spilled onto him when I climbed on top, drawing a yell from him when I slammed my fist into his face and busted his lip. Red splashed onto the white of his skin and I dragged fingers through it, finger painting his cheeks until he threw me off of him. The force of it broke the door of the closet I hit. I still couldn't feel pain. I was on my feet before he came to me again, but he grabbed my neck in a tight grip and lifted me, holding me into the broken door and tearing the zipper from my pants.
I wouldn't die if he suffocated me, but it was uncomfortable and if it went far enough, I'd pass out. He kissed me and tasted of his own blood. I used both of my hands to hold his neck and squeeze, so we were both breathless, and there was a wonder of which one of us would black out first, a competition of trembling fingers trapping throats.
He tugged me away from the wall and closer to himself, piercing my bottom lip with his fangs with a vengeance. This time I could feel the pain and the gush of blood falling over my chin. My fingers loosened enough for him to escape and I heard his heavy breath before he let go of me and I could have my own. I inhaled my own blood and coughed. He claimed the chance to push me down on the floor, tore my jeans from my hips and pinned me with a strong hand on my upper back while his finger prodded dry into the crevice of my ass. I saw the purple tube of lubrication lying across the floor, forgotten along with the human boy. I laughed until my eyes teared up.
It was a high. I was barely thinking. I'd never been with someone as strong as me before and somewhere deep in me there was guilt for the pleasure I took from it. I knew I belonged to Kyungsoo, but Chanyeol was some kind of drug. He was guitar riffs breaking a century of silence, violently screeching fear into me so that for a moment, he had all of me while I tried to figure out if he was good, bad, or nothing.
He pulled me backwards into his lap and I realized two things, that he somehow he got his clothes off and that his hands were so big, both of them on my stomach almost hid it completely. I pulled off my shirt and he bit into the center of my back so that blood fell neatly down my spine.
I thought that the top meant power and straddling him, pulling him into me even when it hurt, I felt like I had won our unspoken contest until his grip on me tightened and it was up to him when I would rise and fall.
We were loud, I remember not always knowing if it was him moaning or me. There was a knock on the door, one of his roommates telling us to quiet down, but neither of us listened. We laughed like teenagers and changed positions, trying to take each other down, trying to hurt each other with the side effect of getting each other off.
I don't remember where it ended.
I woke up with my hands in knotted ropes and a metal cross slipped in next to them. I would have thought I was home with Kyungsoo if not for the distinct colorful mess that was Chanyeol's bedroom. The human I'd bit was dead on the floor, a deep slash on his back.
I was more confused by the fact that I was dressed than anything else. An oversized t-shirt and loose sweatpants, noticeably clean of any bleeding that I knew I did. For a little bit, I pulled on the knots that bound me, but I soon found them to be too tricky, and they would tighten whenever I stressed them. "Chanyeol," I finally called, feeling too shy to scream it like I would have screamed Kyungsoo. I raised my voice just barely above speaking level to call again, "Chanyeol!"
"He's not here." The voice that spoke was behind the door. I didn't recognize it.
I looked toward the window. The sun was still down. "Can you untie me?"
"No," the voice answered, but the door opened. I sat up to look. "Who are you?"
"Jongin," was the answer. He looked more like the kind I was used to, clothes black and expression solemn. He stared at me for a long, lingering moment before he stepped inside and shut the door. "I can't untie you."
"Well, you can use some scissors or something," I suggested.
He almost smiled. "No. I mean you have to be our prisoner now." He stepped closer. "We hunt hunters. Need bait. Sorry."
Denial. I had to deny it. "That's not. Why would you just tell me that like it's nothing? Why did you bother to-- why did Chanyeol bother to--"
"He's into betrayal. Sorry."
"I don't believe you."
"That's fine. He wanted to tell you about this himself. Watch the look on your face or whatever. You're just giving him an opportunity to do that." He shrugged and leaned closer, offering, "I really am sorry."
"Stop saying that!" I strained in the ropes. I wanted to hit him. Whether it was true or not, that he could speak to me so casually about it, I wanted to make him suffer. I wanted to force emotion and tears out of him, instead of feeling anything like it on my own.
He straightened and blinked at me.
Another voice called into the room. "Jongin," it said, "you better leave him alone."
I saw Jongin smirk before he turned and walked out. I wanted to believe that smirk meant it was a stupid joke, but I couldn't convince myself. All of the signs had been there and it's not like I had exactly trusted Chanyeol to begin with.
I went numb.
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My hands shook on my cup. It was an herbal tea, some nightcap to get me sleeping again courtesy of a woman I attended church with. I was so used to being up during the night. I wanted nothing now but to sleep through the rest of them in my life. The reality of Taegon's touch on me was something I couldn't face. I couldn't look at him the same. He didn't see himself the way I saw him. He had never tried to be a father to me, if I thought about it. He was a man of sin, fighting himself when he struck down the literal demons.
It had taken me a week to convince myself of that.
I put the cup on the table by my chair, giving up on it. The smell of the herbs wasn't the comfort I'd hoped them to be. I couldn't relax.
The knock on the door lifted my guard higher. I stood slow and went to pull one of the wooden stakes from the closet where my cloak hung. There was a knock again before I made it to the door. I breathed behind it before I opened it. I never knew it was Taegon until I'd hit the floor, and the stake was far gone from my grip.
He was on top of me, breathing not the smell of wine but the smell of blood. I screamed, but his hand held my mouth. He bit my neck and sucked my blood until I had no strength left. My head dropped and I watched dark liquid spread on the floor, listening to the sound of him pulling my clothes away.
Two Lines: Chapter Seven
Kyungsoo's P.O.V.
"Is everything okay?" Kris' eyes were large with curiosity. He was a different man than the one I met yesterday. Actually, he was kind of cute.
"I don't usually do this by myself," I said, circling the button that would roll 'Father Kim's body into the burner.
Kris stepped to my side and hit it for me, giving me a somewhat harder look.
We were quiet. I wasn't nervous.
Nearly half an hour later, I made herbal tea for him in the kitchen. My hand was steady, placing the cup in front of him. He thanked me with a nod and sipped fearless of the heat.
I sat next to him at our small, barely used kitchen table and sighed. "You hunt the undead."
"And you are the undead," he said, lowering his cup. "Is that right?"
"Yes," I answered, uncertain of where my bravery was coming from but glad for it. "Plan on killing me?"
"Maybe," he answered. "You?"
"No." I laughed, bitter. "I'm not planning on it, anyway."
"Hm." He nodded and sipped the tea again. It still looked hot.
I waited a moment before I asked, convincing myself that he'd give me enough truth to be worth it. "Have you killed any recently?"
"Shortly after we got into town. There was a group of three. They were starving and weak. Easy kills."
I knew it wouldn't have been Baekhyun and that was enough. "Hm," I imitated him before my silence.
"You used to be one of us?" He questioned. "Before you were turned?"
I slowly nodded the confession. "A long time ago. More than a hundred years."
"You kill humans now?"
I didn't even consider lying. "Yes."
He didn't look surprised. For whatever reason, we each trusted each other to be honest for the time being. I vaguely wondered if we were secretly under the influence, breathing in alcohol.
"We're leaving," I offered a moment. "Me and my childe plan to move."
"It could be too late," he suggested. "You are having tea with a hunter."
"I'm not having tea," I pointed out. I smiled when he rolled his eyes, apparently annoyed with the technicality. I added, "I don't think it's too late now."
It was more comfortable after that. The elephant in the room addressed, we were in our own minds, planning our moves against each other. He finished his tea and I washed his cup before we returned to wait by the crematory.
"It's my first time," he said after a long while. When I looked at him, questioning, he explained himself, "Talking to one of your kind outside of a fight."
"I quit hunting before I was turned," I decided to tell him. "Just a few days before. I realized, fangs and white skin weren't the only source of sin. Two lines on each of my wrists didn't protect me from darkness. Are we bad for murdering your kind, are you bad for murdering ours? Or is the truth that everyone is bad in some way or another?"
"I'm aware that things aren't black and white," he said. "But in a war, you fight for your country, without wondering about the opinions of soldiers."
I laughed.
"What?"
"That's stupid."
He didn't look offended. He looked dangerously close to breaking into laughter himself, but he settled into a slight smile and a shake of his head. "You're a terrible host."
"I'm not myself today."
We were quiet until it came time to collect the ashes. They filled one of our most basic urns and I walked Kris to the door.
He turned to me, lingering. "I think you should be the one to do it." He held the urn to me. "He would prefer that."
"I don't think we were as close as you seem to think," I told him, staring at the urn.
"It isn't that." He sighed heavily, straightened his shoulders. "Father Kim was an atheist."
I stared.
He chuckled. "I can go out there and get emotional about the spreading of his remains, or you can go out there with distant appreciation of human death that he would have secretly approved of." He pushed the urn further towards me and I took it without much more thought.
"Goodbye, Kyungsoo."
He left.
When it was dark, I dressed warmly without a real need to and went outside to spread the priest's remains. It felt strange to think of him like that - 'the priest', who was an atheist. Like the hunter who became a vampire, it was a terrible contradiction.
The best I could do was not leave the ash in an ugly pile, looking like it needed to be swept away. I tilted the urn and let the wind take it as I walked around, wondering what was special about this place to Father Kim, wondering why he hid his beliefs until his death, wondering why Kris was special enough to hear otherwise.
I looked again and again toward the path leading to our door, hoping to see Baekhyun coming. I tried not to be worried. The hunters hadn't hurt him, I could assume. I trusted Kris, in the strangest possible way. I wondered if he could be mad at me and whether or not he deserved to be.
I felt angry at myself for even questioning it. Even if he deserved his anger for once, he wouldn't deserve to leave me this way, have me worrying.
I sat at a gravestone, calming myself. The empty urn rolled from me and I couldn't bring myself to care. It might be about time to waste another half tank, I thought, when I noticed a car rolling up.
I couldn't tell who got out of the car from my place on the grass. I stood on my feet, but soon saw that whoever it was was walking my way. I stood and waited with hope, but my heart sunk.
It was Chanyeol.
"No luck yet with the whole Baekhyun thing, huh?"
I glared at him and walked around tombstones, heading for the house. He followed.
"Maybe I know something you don't know," he said.
"Then you can tell me or fuck off." I wasn't going to play his game. The mere suggestion of it was infuriating.
"He could be in trouble."
"I know." I turned to face him with a glare. "I don't care. Fuck off."
Chanyeol looked smug, giving me a very punchable smirk as he stepped closer, hands in the pockets of his coat. "And if I don't? What are you going to do?"
A raging side of me thought it would be better to try and have him kill me than to back down after that. I thought about how long it would take me to get my axe from the shed, and I imagined his head jaggedly cut from the rest of his body. I wondered how long it would take before he burst into dust, so that I couldn't enjoy the satisfaction of his death any longer.
I made myself turn and walk again, but he rushed up behind me and grabbed around my waist. He was stronger than me, I already knew that, so I froze. I knew he'd like it if I struggled, because I was the same. I listened carefully as he whispered against my ear.
"I know where he is," he said, moving his hands on me. "I have him. He came to me, scared of you. I fucked him all night while you stayed back and worried." He laughed, then said, "I'll give him back to you. You can have revenge. I just want a little something in return."
"Chanyeol," I laughed softly. "The only way I'd fuck you is if I had a guaranteed chance of biting your dick off."
I moved forward. He grabbed my arm and twisted it, pulling me back to him.
"Bet not," he said, smiling widely.
Read Chapters Eight-Epilogue