Absolute - Chapter Five
Title: Absolute
Chapter: 5/?
Fandoms: TVXQ/DBSK, Super Junior, SS501
Pairings: Various (a LOT O.o; )
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Angst, Violence, Character Death
Summary: Seoul’s All-Boys Night School is just like any other night school in the area, but there’s one thing that sets them apart from all the others, and that is their students. Seoul has been the battleground of an underground, interspecies cold war for centuries, with populations of vampyres, lycans, and all those in between. Even so, no one saw it coming when young members from practically every division ended up in the same night class, along with several unassuming humans. How do you deal with suddenly having to play nice with those you were raised to hate? A dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, where the only rules were to get rid of the enemy, not be caught by the humans… And not to fall in love.
A/N: Sorry for updating later in the day than normal~, I got dragged into Christmas decorating *sweatdrops*. Also, just a reminder, this fic will only have a few of the regular pairings in it. A few, being 3 or 4. The rest are all rare pairings. So if I haven't commented on pairing requests/fangirling (because I usually do), it's most likely because the pairing's NOT in there but it's a very popular pairing and I'm terrified of being clubbed to death for not including it @.@; So I am sorry in advance *hides*. Thank you mi_iseul for betaing~ <3
Teaser Trailer | Characters and Terms | Prologue & Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four
Chapter Five
KiBum nursed his slashed arm carefully, watching what was going on around him. The main fight had moved on to a different location, but there were still pockets of Vampyres and Lycans fighting slayers throughout the alleys. The whole situation was so explosive; both sides ready to fight at a moments notice. Though longtime rivals, Vampyres and Lycans had a common enemy in slayers, and worked together against them actively.
Using his good arm to shoot down a Vampyre that hadn’t died after the first round of silver was fired into his body, KiBum winced. The blood loss was making him dizzy. That wolf (whom he’d seen to be KyuHyun before he shifted) had sunk his claws into his skin, leaving three large gashes down his arm. It was painful, and left him dizzy, but he couldn’t back down now, not while his friends and family were fighting around them. Not when some of them lay in the dirt, never to get up again.
Reloading his gun, KiBum was knocked to the ground by a hit to his back. Gasping as the air was knocked out of him, he tucked into himself and rolled out of the way. Not half a second later, the ground beside him was destroyed by an iron-hard fist. Looking up at the Vampyre glaring down at him, KiBum barely managed to avoid another hit, his human reflexes not up to fighting against a Vampyre. His gun was knocked away, skidding across the ground to hit the opposite wall.
Was he going to die here?
Someone ran up behind the Vampyre and hit it hard on the back of the head. The attack hardly hurt the creature, but it startled him enough for KiBum to gain the upper hand. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small vial of holy water and uncorked it, splashing the liquid up into the monster’s face.
A pained scream left the Vampyre, as it let go of KiBum and held on to it’s face in agony. KiBum dragged himself with his good arm to where his gun had been tossed, gripping it tightly and whirling around. The Vampyre had turned on whoever had distracted him, but before the other person could be killed, KiBum fired a round of silver bullets into the Vampyre’s body. The creature dropped like a stone, and didn’t get back up.
Looking to see who had saved him, KiBum’s eyes widened. RyeoWook sat on the ground, hands gripping the heavy bag he’d hit the Vampyre with, eyes wide. “RyeoWook hyung? What are you doing here?” KiBum exclaimed, getting to his feet and wincing when he jostled his arm by accident.
“I heard noise and came to see what was going on,” the slightly older male replied, blinking in shock. “That was a Vampyre, right? It wasn’t an MMORPG you guys were talking about.”
Seeing he had no way of hiding it from the other boy now, KiBum sighed. “Right. I’m a slayer, and that was a Vampyre. Now, you need to get out of here, before you’re hurt.”
RyeoWook looked around at the splashes of blood, color drained out of his face. When he saw KiBum’s arm, his mouth fell open. “You… Your arm! That needs a hospital, right away!”
“I can’t go to a hospital,” KiBum replied, shaking his head. “What am I supposed to tell them? I was mauled by a Lycan?”
It seemed to take a moment for RyeoWook to take the information in, but then he looked up at KiBum again, lips pressed firmly together. “I live nearby. I’ll take care of your injuries. It might not be much, but I have something of a first aid kit in my apartment…”
“I need to get back to the fight,” KiBum protested.
“But you won’t be able to do anything like that,” RyeoWook pointed out gently. “You’re losing too much blood.”
Grudgingly, KiBum had to admit RyeoWook was right. He could barely see straight. “Alright,” he murmured, shoulders slumping slightly.
RyeoWook smiled hesitantly, walking over to support KiBum from his good side. “This way,” he instructed, leading the worn slayer away from the mess of bodies and blood.
*****
HyunJoong skidded to a halt, looking around himself warily. Quite a few lives had been lost here, human and non-human alike. Lycans and Vampyres stood to one side of the alley, human slayers on the other. It was a stalemate for now. Both sides were becoming aware there were too many losses, and they’d made too much noise. It wouldn’t be long before human law enforcers came to check out the noise. They’d have to run fast then.
Looking around, his eyes landed on two figures hiding in a nearby doorway. Noticing the scent in the air, HyunJoong raised an eyebrow. SiWon, and a human? SiWon in such close range with any human was rarely seen; the Christian’s feeding habits were well known throughout the Seoul clans.
Deciding to leave them for now, HyunJoong turned his attention back to the stalemate. JunSu was uninjured, though his hands were covered in blood. At the other end of the alley, YooChun carefully tended to scraped hands and arms from falling to the ground a few times after the initial push. That other slayer, KiBum, was nowhere to be seen. And the wolf that had been there at the beginning, KyuHyun, had vanished as well.
About to break the stalemate, injured or not, HyunJoong paused as a ripple ran through the Vampyres’ lines. “Police,” the whisper spread like wildfire through the gathered group. Slayers looked at each other, wolves pausing mid-crouch.
Then the fight split up, slayers taking their injured and dead and carefully maneuvering them off the street. The few wolves present did the same, without shifting back into their human forms. The Vampyres melted into the shadows, spreading out to make sure the wolves went back to their own territory.
About to leave, HyunJoong remembered the two hidden in the doorway, witnesses to the whole thing. Walking over, and wincing slightly at the injury caused by KiBum’s silver bullet, he leaned against the wall next to the doorway. “You guys might want to leave the area. The police are on their way,” he told them, completely oblivious to the blood staining his arm. It was borrowed blood anyways; he’d just have to feed at some point during the night to make up for it.
JaeJoong, the human, looked as white as a ghost. SiWon nodded, lips pressed firmly together in what HyunJoong recognized as an attempt to not breathe. There was too much blood around; he would lose it the second he inhaled.
“Want me to take him home?” HyunJoong asked the other Vampyre. “You look ready to attack the first person who comes near you. Go eat something, or I’ll get HeeChul on your case.” SiWon’s shoulders slumped slightly in defeat.
JaeJoong looked at HyunJoong with wide eyes, then pressed his lips tightly together. “I can make it home myself,” he said, starting to walk past the Vampyre, then gagging at the overwhelming stench of blood.
“Sure,” HyunJoong said, amused. “I won’t bite, don’t worry. I think you’ve had enough of Vampyres for one night, right?” He led the human off.
SiWon watched them go, eyes lingering on JaeJoong’s frame worriedly, before he turned around and left as well.
*****
He really, really shouldn’t have left his side of the border. Even with the other Lycans that responded to his howl for help, the fight had been more of a massacre than anything. So much death, on all sides.
The funny thing, KyuHyun mused as he limped through the alley in wolf-form, was that no one ever considered how much lives were lost on the other side. It was always this way. Slayers didn’t count the fact that non-human lives ended in these fights as well; did the fact that they weren’t human make the loss any less? It didn’t.
But try to explain that to a slayer now and you’d just get your head blown off for your troubles.
The Lycan managed to make it to the edge of the alley, but not back into Lycan territory. Fantastic he mused drily, collapsing onto the concrete and looking back at his injury. A large knife slash down his back was the source of the pain. His fur was matted with blood, and more was oozing out of the wound.
He wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere with this. The loss of blood was making him dizzy; he wasn’t even sure if he had the concentration to shift back into human form. That, and his clothes were probably covered in blood and torn somewhere. He’d have to go back and find them, and he wasn’t able to move another inch.
If only he could somehow get the attention of the other Lycans, but with human police so close, he would give himself away the second he howled. There was no way he could outrun even humans as he was now.
“Huh? Are you lost?”
A voice nearby made KyuHyun look forward, ears flicking straight up. That oddball from his class, JongWoon, was standing at the mouth of the alley, looking right at him.
Great. Not only was he exhausted, bleeding, stuck in his wolf form and alone, but now a human had found him. What would JongWoon do, seeing a wolf in the middle of Seoul?
Seeing the human approaching, KyuHyun bared his fangs and growled, hoping the other would get the message to leave him alone. JongWoon paused, blinking, then kept right on coming, dropping down beside the Lycan.
“Ouch, what fight did you get into?” JongWoon asked upon seeing the blood matting the wolf’s fur, the young man wincing. “You don’t have a collar? It’s sad, seeing dogs wandering around like this…”
Dog?!?!
KyuHyun growled in annoyance. You’ve got to be kidding me… He thinks I’m a dog?!?
JongWoon looked at him for a long moment, frowning lightly. Then he snapped his fingers. “I know. I’ll bring you home with me! The landlord shouldn’t mind, too much… Just don’t pee all over the floor, all right? She won’t be too happy with me then.”
How could anyone look at an oversized wolf, think it’s a dog, and want to bring it home? Why couldn’t it be a sensible human who found him, not this idiot?
KyuHyun snapped at the hands that reached for him, to warn JongWoon off, and was tapped lightly on the muzzle. “Now, don’t be like that, I can’t carry you if I’m missing fingers,” the human scolded gently. “You’re pretty big. I’ll need all the fingers I have.”
Before KyuHyun could bite him for real, careful arms wrapped around him and shifted the large wolf off the ground. JongWoon grunted slightly and held the ‘dog’ close to him, standing up shakily. “Th… There. Wow, you’re heavy for a dog,” he said with a breathless laugh.
That would be because I’m not a dog, KyuHyun thought darkly, but the movement was making his head spin, so he could do little more than growl in the back of his throat, something that JongWoon obviously found very easy to ignore.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be home soon,” was the last thing KyuHyun heard before he finally lost consciousness.
*****
“There, the bandages will have to be changed every hour, but it should stop you from losing too much blood.”
RyeoWook fastened the bandages with a safety pin, being very careful. KiBum watched the older male work, noticing absently that RyeoWook really seemed to know what he was doing. Very few people knew first aid like this, and had such elaborate kits just hanging around their house.
“Have you done this before?” he asked, to keep his mind off the dizzying pain. He’d noticed RyeoWook had put some sort of spray on his arm to numb the pain, but it hadn’t set in yet. The throbbing from the injuries was making him nauseous.
“No, I just read a lot,” RyeoWook replied with a shaky smile. That didn’t explain the large first-aid kit, but KiBum wasn’t in the mood to pry answers out of the other boy right now.
Once he was satisfied with the bindings, RyeoWook moved on to KiBum’s hands, raw and scraped from falling. “I’ll bandage these up too, but just to keep you from getting the injuries dirty,” he said, looking through his kit for the antiseptic. “You might catch an infection with them like this.”
“Thank you,” KiBum replied, flinching at the sting of the antiseptic. Instead of watching, he looked around the small apartment RyeoWook had brought him to. It wasn’t in the best of locations, not too far away from the fight, which must have been how RyeoWook noticed the conflict before the police. It had only the bare minimums, things that a student would buy. There were very few personal touches, the decorations very neutral. The only things KiBum noticed that might set this place apart as RyeoWook’s own was the small keyboard in the corner of the room, and scattered music sheets on various surfaces.
“You play?” he questioned, nodding to the keyboard since RyeoWook was tending to his hands.
“Hm?” The other boy looked up to see where KiBum was looking. “Oh, yes, I do,” he murmured, looking back down. “I’m not that good though.”
“Can I hear?” KiBum asked, curious.
A faint smile appeared on the other boy’s lips. “Maybe some other time.”
They fell silent then, KiBum returning to watching RyeoWook. RyeoWook cleaned the scrapes on his hand with great care, brow furrowed in concentration. Then he bandaged the injuries, leaving the bandages in the right locations and just loose enough that KiBum would still be able to move his hands. It really did look like he’d done this before…
The painkiller was started to set in, though there was still a dull throbbing from his arm. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” RyeoWook asked, worried. “Those cuts were deep.”
“They’ll be fine,” KiBum replied, shrugging his shirt back on carefully, and trying not to jostle his arm. Gentle fingers curled into the material, helping him pull it back on.
“Thank you for your help, hyung,” KiBum said again, giving the older boy a grin. “You didn’t have to help me, you know.”
“What was I supposed to do, just leave you there?” RyeoWook smiled back at him shyly, adjusting KiBum’s sleeve for him before standing to put the first-aid kit away. “I wanted to help. And I understand why you were lying to me before. I wasn’t supposed to know about all this, right?”
“Right,” KiBum said with a sigh, watching the other stand up on the tips of his toes to place the kit away in a closet. “Though since you already know, and you helped me… I guess it can’t make that much more of a difference to explain the rest to you.”
“I think I can figure out most of it by myself. I read articles on supernaturals,” RyeoWook said with a smile over his shoulder. “Since you’re here, want something to eat? I haven’t cooked for anyone in ages, I’m going to get rusty.”
KiBum frowned. “I don’t want to be a bother…”
“You’re not. I’m the one offering,” RyeoWook replied with a laugh. “Please? I haven’t had people over in so long…”
Weighing the pros and cons, KiBum finally gave in. “Alright.”
“Great!” RyeoWook skipped off into the kitchen. KiBum stood after a moment to follow him, where he was promptly ushered into a chair. “It’s not good to stand after losing so much blood,” RyeoWook told him with a frown. He really wasn’t the shy, mousey boy he’d first appeared to be in class, not once KiBum broke through that initial barrier.
“So, you’re human, right?” RyeoWook asked, looking through the fridge for something to cook. “I mean, you look human, and you get injured just like one…”
“Right, I’m human,” KiBum replied. “I’m a slayer, from one of the elite slayer families.”
“And those other two you were talking with, back at school… YooChun sshi and HyukJae sshi?”
“They’re slayers too. YooChun’s from another elite family, while HyukJae’s from a middle-class family. There’s about six slayer families in all of South Korea; there used to be seven, but the seventh was killed off years ago by a group of Vampyres and Demons.”
“Demons…”
“Yeah. Right now, we’re aware of races such as Vampyres, Lycans, Demons, and Gifted. Oh, and Elementalists, but they’re pretty rare. Only one Elementalist family per element, and one Elementalist per family generation. So there’s never more than three with an element at one time. I’ve never seen an Elementalist before; most people go through their entire lives without ever so much as entering the same city as one.”
RyeoWook nodded absently. “I see.” He took out pans and started to cook, humming softly.
“Then there are the half-breeds.”
RyeoWook paused. “Half-breeds?”
“The ones born from a human and non-human,” KiBum said with a shrug. “It’s impossible for Vampyres, seeing as how they’re dead, but for other races it’s possible. Lycans, and Demons. Elementalists are passed down through generations, and it’s similar for Gifted, but there have been plenty of Lycan and Demon half-breeds.”
“I see,” RyeoWook intoned softly. “What do you do about them? I mean, they’re half human too.”
“They’re still monsters,” KiBum said firmly. “Some slayer families have rules against slaying half-breeds, or Gifted even for that matter. Not my family.”
“… I see,” RyeoWook repeated himself.
KiBum shrugged. “It’s to keep humans like you safe,” he said, smiling at the other boy’s back. He could tell he’d upset RyeoWook by talking like this, but it was his view on the issue.
“Right. I understand,” the other boy said with a smile in return, looking over his shoulder at KiBum. “So, your parents won’t flip if you stay here for a while?”
“No. As long as I’m home before dawn. If it gets to be after dawn, they’ll wonder if I was eaten by something,” KiBum replied with a laugh. RyeoWook laughed in return, smiling at him.
“Well, you won’t be eaten by anything here.”
*****
After dropping off the human, HyunJoong wandered through the area. It was too early to head home yet; dawn was a few hours away, and he wanted to get as much fresh air as he could before he had to stay inside for the day.
That, and his arm was killing him. Even though the bullet had only grazed the skin, it had left small remnants of silver that was quickly taken into his bloodstream. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make the next few days painful ones. So he just stopped by his apartment to grab a jacket, to hide the injury, and then left again.
Feeling his cell phone vibrate, HyunJoong pulled it out with his good arm and glanced at it, smiling in amusement. It was HeeChul, asking if he was still alive or if he was going to have to find a new right-hand man. Chuckling to himself, he sent a quick text back to confirm that he was still alive.
… Or as alive as a Vampyre could be.
He’d been dead for… It had to be nearly forty years now? HyunJoong and HeeChul had actually been turned around the same time, by the same man, a few months apart. So, as far as Vampyre relations went, they were blood brothers. Their Sire was the ‘leader’ of the Vampyre clans in Seoul, and had held that post for many years. HeeChul was going to inherit that title one day, he was sure, and already did a lot of work with the younger, more independent Vampyres. It was HeeChul who kept tabs on JunSu, the self-proclaimed outcast of the clans, and SiWon, the vegetarian fledgling.
HyunJoong had to admit that, despite his temper and blunt personality, HeeChul was leader material. People listened when he talked, despite being one of the newer Vampyres. And he had a large following; the Vampyres under a century old preferred to turn to HeeChul in a crisis than the elders of three or four centuries.
Now if only HeeChul and YunHo could stop going at each other’s throats all the time, they might have something great. Not that HyunJoong blamed HeeChul; Lycans were always hard to work with.
Rubbing his aching throat with one hand, HyunJoong was debating if he should hunt when a quiet coughing from the main street got his attention. Already heading that way, he turned the corner and looked around absently.
That human from his class, HyungJoon, stood at one of the bus stops. The other boy’s teeth chattered audibly, the boy hopping from foot to foot to stay warm. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and his shirt looked rather thin.
Raising one eyebrow, HyunJoong started to walk by when HyungJoon turned around and spotted him. “Oh, h-hi!” he chattered, waving with one hand.
HyunJoong smiled politely. “Hi. Isn’t it a bit cold to be out in that?” he questioned, motioning to the other boy’s thin t-shirt.
“It is, but someone made off with my jacket again,” HyungJoon muttered, shivering. HyunJoong laughed, watching him with an amused look for a moment.
“Where is the bus? It was supposed to be here by now…” HyungJoon started, then trailed off as something warm was draped over his shoulders. Looking down slightly, he tugged questioningly at the jacket around his shoulders, then looked back at HyunJoong. “Thanks… But I’m not a girl,” he commented, frowning slightly, not quite sure how to take it.
“You looked like you were going to freeze,” the Vampyre said with a shrug. “You don’t have to be a girl to catch hypothermia.”
“But now you’ll catch it.”
“I have a high immunity to the cold,” HyunJoong replied, amused.
HyungJoon opened his mouth to protest, but trailed off again when his eyes landed on HyunJoong’s injury. “What did you do to yourself?” he exclaimed, eyes wide.
HyunJoong looked down at the blood staining his shirt and arm, perfectly visible thanks to the streetlights, and shrugged slightly. “I fell.”
The human stared at him, clearly not buying it. “Are you alright?” he questioned, frowning.
“Never been better.”
The bus showed up then, pulling up to the curb. HyungJoon made to give him back his jacket, but the Vampyre waved him off. “Give it back to me in school tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?” HyungJoon asked, still looking at the other boy’s injury.
“Positive. Now go before the bus leaves without you.”
HyunJoong watched as the human got on to the bus, showing the driver his pass and going to sit down. The doors closed, and the bus pulled away, HyungJoon watching him from a window until the vehicle pulled out of sight.
*****
“…Are you certain? This isn’t something to joke around about.”
The young man paced around his room, phone pressed to one ear. Listening carefully, he toyed with a knife in his free hand, flipping it around his fingers with skilled ease.
“I will. I’ve told you before. When I say I’m going to do something, I stick by it.” A faint sigh left the young man, a frown on his lips as he sat down on his bed.
“No one suspects a thing. They think the last of my family died that night; no one even knows that I’m still alive, thanks to you. Don’t worry; I’ll repay my debt to you. And I’ll get rid of those monsters that killed my family.”
Listening to the response from the other end, the fingers around the blade hilt tightened slightly. “Understood. I can do that. The Vampyres and Lycans are at each other’s throats anyways; it shouldn’t be too hard to send them over the edge. A gentle push, right? … No, they won’t know it’s me. I doubt they even know I exist.”
A soft laugh left his lips. “Don’t worry, you’ll have your war.”
A faint click from outside his room got his attention. “… I’ll call you again the second I have more to report,” the young man murmured into the phone, clicking it shut and stuffing it into one pocket. He climbed back into his bed, returning his knife to underneath his pillow and closing his eyes.
Footsteps approached his room, then paused at the door.
“… Kyu? You asleep?”
JaeJoong watched the young man curled up under the bed sheets for a moment. When KyuJong didn’t respond, he padded into the room quietly, stopping next to the bed. KyuJong seemed to be asleep, his breathing easy.
JaeJoong smiled fondly, watching his adopted brother for a moment before leaving the room, closing the door quietly. Once he was sure JaeJoong was gone, KyuJong opened his eyes and sat up again.
A soft sigh left his lips, as he pulled the knife back out from under his pillow. KyuJong looked down at the blade in his hands, turning it between his fingers carefully.
He couldn’t afford to falter, not now. He’d lost his family thanks to those monsters… But he’d gained a family member back. For JaeJoong hyung, he had to get rid of those creatures, to make them pay.
It wasn’t just a question of revenge. He couldn’t let them touch his adoptive brother. JaeJoong was all the family he had, and they were so close the lack of blood relation made no difference. If Demons and Vampyres found out he had survived the attack, was still alive, they would come after him. And JaeJoong would be in danger.
KyuJong couldn’t let anything happen to him.
He opened his bedside drawer, placing the knife inside underneath his books and closing it again. Soon, they would all be gone. The people who saved his life that night were smart; they had plans drawn up and everything. And KyuJong was more than willing to help them.
Nothing else mattered, except that his brother stayed safe. And that no one had to ever suffer through the nightmare he went through.
Seeing Vampyres and Demons come into his home… His family fighting back, caught off-guard and overwhelmed… His older sister hiding him in the closet before she was beheaded right in front of him… Being dragged out of the closet kicking and screaming…
KyuJong buried his face in his pillow, fingers tightening around his bed sheets. No, he could never let that happen again.
He was going to kill them all.
Chapter: 5/?
Fandoms: TVXQ/DBSK, Super Junior, SS501
Pairings: Various (a LOT O.o; )
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Angst, Violence, Character Death
Summary: Seoul’s All-Boys Night School is just like any other night school in the area, but there’s one thing that sets them apart from all the others, and that is their students. Seoul has been the battleground of an underground, interspecies cold war for centuries, with populations of vampyres, lycans, and all those in between. Even so, no one saw it coming when young members from practically every division ended up in the same night class, along with several unassuming humans. How do you deal with suddenly having to play nice with those you were raised to hate? A dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, where the only rules were to get rid of the enemy, not be caught by the humans… And not to fall in love.
A/N: Sorry for updating later in the day than normal~, I got dragged into Christmas decorating *sweatdrops*. Also, just a reminder, this fic will only have a few of the regular pairings in it. A few, being 3 or 4. The rest are all rare pairings. So if I haven't commented on pairing requests/fangirling (because I usually do), it's most likely because the pairing's NOT in there but it's a very popular pairing and I'm terrified of being clubbed to death for not including it @.@; So I am sorry in advance *hides*. Thank you mi_iseul for betaing~ <3
Teaser Trailer | Characters and Terms | Prologue & Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four
Chapter Five
KiBum nursed his slashed arm carefully, watching what was going on around him. The main fight had moved on to a different location, but there were still pockets of Vampyres and Lycans fighting slayers throughout the alleys. The whole situation was so explosive; both sides ready to fight at a moments notice. Though longtime rivals, Vampyres and Lycans had a common enemy in slayers, and worked together against them actively.
Using his good arm to shoot down a Vampyre that hadn’t died after the first round of silver was fired into his body, KiBum winced. The blood loss was making him dizzy. That wolf (whom he’d seen to be KyuHyun before he shifted) had sunk his claws into his skin, leaving three large gashes down his arm. It was painful, and left him dizzy, but he couldn’t back down now, not while his friends and family were fighting around them. Not when some of them lay in the dirt, never to get up again.
Reloading his gun, KiBum was knocked to the ground by a hit to his back. Gasping as the air was knocked out of him, he tucked into himself and rolled out of the way. Not half a second later, the ground beside him was destroyed by an iron-hard fist. Looking up at the Vampyre glaring down at him, KiBum barely managed to avoid another hit, his human reflexes not up to fighting against a Vampyre. His gun was knocked away, skidding across the ground to hit the opposite wall.
Was he going to die here?
Someone ran up behind the Vampyre and hit it hard on the back of the head. The attack hardly hurt the creature, but it startled him enough for KiBum to gain the upper hand. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small vial of holy water and uncorked it, splashing the liquid up into the monster’s face.
A pained scream left the Vampyre, as it let go of KiBum and held on to it’s face in agony. KiBum dragged himself with his good arm to where his gun had been tossed, gripping it tightly and whirling around. The Vampyre had turned on whoever had distracted him, but before the other person could be killed, KiBum fired a round of silver bullets into the Vampyre’s body. The creature dropped like a stone, and didn’t get back up.
Looking to see who had saved him, KiBum’s eyes widened. RyeoWook sat on the ground, hands gripping the heavy bag he’d hit the Vampyre with, eyes wide. “RyeoWook hyung? What are you doing here?” KiBum exclaimed, getting to his feet and wincing when he jostled his arm by accident.
“I heard noise and came to see what was going on,” the slightly older male replied, blinking in shock. “That was a Vampyre, right? It wasn’t an MMORPG you guys were talking about.”
Seeing he had no way of hiding it from the other boy now, KiBum sighed. “Right. I’m a slayer, and that was a Vampyre. Now, you need to get out of here, before you’re hurt.”
RyeoWook looked around at the splashes of blood, color drained out of his face. When he saw KiBum’s arm, his mouth fell open. “You… Your arm! That needs a hospital, right away!”
“I can’t go to a hospital,” KiBum replied, shaking his head. “What am I supposed to tell them? I was mauled by a Lycan?”
It seemed to take a moment for RyeoWook to take the information in, but then he looked up at KiBum again, lips pressed firmly together. “I live nearby. I’ll take care of your injuries. It might not be much, but I have something of a first aid kit in my apartment…”
“I need to get back to the fight,” KiBum protested.
“But you won’t be able to do anything like that,” RyeoWook pointed out gently. “You’re losing too much blood.”
Grudgingly, KiBum had to admit RyeoWook was right. He could barely see straight. “Alright,” he murmured, shoulders slumping slightly.
RyeoWook smiled hesitantly, walking over to support KiBum from his good side. “This way,” he instructed, leading the worn slayer away from the mess of bodies and blood.
*****
HyunJoong skidded to a halt, looking around himself warily. Quite a few lives had been lost here, human and non-human alike. Lycans and Vampyres stood to one side of the alley, human slayers on the other. It was a stalemate for now. Both sides were becoming aware there were too many losses, and they’d made too much noise. It wouldn’t be long before human law enforcers came to check out the noise. They’d have to run fast then.
Looking around, his eyes landed on two figures hiding in a nearby doorway. Noticing the scent in the air, HyunJoong raised an eyebrow. SiWon, and a human? SiWon in such close range with any human was rarely seen; the Christian’s feeding habits were well known throughout the Seoul clans.
Deciding to leave them for now, HyunJoong turned his attention back to the stalemate. JunSu was uninjured, though his hands were covered in blood. At the other end of the alley, YooChun carefully tended to scraped hands and arms from falling to the ground a few times after the initial push. That other slayer, KiBum, was nowhere to be seen. And the wolf that had been there at the beginning, KyuHyun, had vanished as well.
About to break the stalemate, injured or not, HyunJoong paused as a ripple ran through the Vampyres’ lines. “Police,” the whisper spread like wildfire through the gathered group. Slayers looked at each other, wolves pausing mid-crouch.
Then the fight split up, slayers taking their injured and dead and carefully maneuvering them off the street. The few wolves present did the same, without shifting back into their human forms. The Vampyres melted into the shadows, spreading out to make sure the wolves went back to their own territory.
About to leave, HyunJoong remembered the two hidden in the doorway, witnesses to the whole thing. Walking over, and wincing slightly at the injury caused by KiBum’s silver bullet, he leaned against the wall next to the doorway. “You guys might want to leave the area. The police are on their way,” he told them, completely oblivious to the blood staining his arm. It was borrowed blood anyways; he’d just have to feed at some point during the night to make up for it.
JaeJoong, the human, looked as white as a ghost. SiWon nodded, lips pressed firmly together in what HyunJoong recognized as an attempt to not breathe. There was too much blood around; he would lose it the second he inhaled.
“Want me to take him home?” HyunJoong asked the other Vampyre. “You look ready to attack the first person who comes near you. Go eat something, or I’ll get HeeChul on your case.” SiWon’s shoulders slumped slightly in defeat.
JaeJoong looked at HyunJoong with wide eyes, then pressed his lips tightly together. “I can make it home myself,” he said, starting to walk past the Vampyre, then gagging at the overwhelming stench of blood.
“Sure,” HyunJoong said, amused. “I won’t bite, don’t worry. I think you’ve had enough of Vampyres for one night, right?” He led the human off.
SiWon watched them go, eyes lingering on JaeJoong’s frame worriedly, before he turned around and left as well.
*****
He really, really shouldn’t have left his side of the border. Even with the other Lycans that responded to his howl for help, the fight had been more of a massacre than anything. So much death, on all sides.
The funny thing, KyuHyun mused as he limped through the alley in wolf-form, was that no one ever considered how much lives were lost on the other side. It was always this way. Slayers didn’t count the fact that non-human lives ended in these fights as well; did the fact that they weren’t human make the loss any less? It didn’t.
But try to explain that to a slayer now and you’d just get your head blown off for your troubles.
The Lycan managed to make it to the edge of the alley, but not back into Lycan territory. Fantastic he mused drily, collapsing onto the concrete and looking back at his injury. A large knife slash down his back was the source of the pain. His fur was matted with blood, and more was oozing out of the wound.
He wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere with this. The loss of blood was making him dizzy; he wasn’t even sure if he had the concentration to shift back into human form. That, and his clothes were probably covered in blood and torn somewhere. He’d have to go back and find them, and he wasn’t able to move another inch.
If only he could somehow get the attention of the other Lycans, but with human police so close, he would give himself away the second he howled. There was no way he could outrun even humans as he was now.
“Huh? Are you lost?”
A voice nearby made KyuHyun look forward, ears flicking straight up. That oddball from his class, JongWoon, was standing at the mouth of the alley, looking right at him.
Great. Not only was he exhausted, bleeding, stuck in his wolf form and alone, but now a human had found him. What would JongWoon do, seeing a wolf in the middle of Seoul?
Seeing the human approaching, KyuHyun bared his fangs and growled, hoping the other would get the message to leave him alone. JongWoon paused, blinking, then kept right on coming, dropping down beside the Lycan.
“Ouch, what fight did you get into?” JongWoon asked upon seeing the blood matting the wolf’s fur, the young man wincing. “You don’t have a collar? It’s sad, seeing dogs wandering around like this…”
Dog?!?!
KyuHyun growled in annoyance. You’ve got to be kidding me… He thinks I’m a dog?!?
JongWoon looked at him for a long moment, frowning lightly. Then he snapped his fingers. “I know. I’ll bring you home with me! The landlord shouldn’t mind, too much… Just don’t pee all over the floor, all right? She won’t be too happy with me then.”
How could anyone look at an oversized wolf, think it’s a dog, and want to bring it home? Why couldn’t it be a sensible human who found him, not this idiot?
KyuHyun snapped at the hands that reached for him, to warn JongWoon off, and was tapped lightly on the muzzle. “Now, don’t be like that, I can’t carry you if I’m missing fingers,” the human scolded gently. “You’re pretty big. I’ll need all the fingers I have.”
Before KyuHyun could bite him for real, careful arms wrapped around him and shifted the large wolf off the ground. JongWoon grunted slightly and held the ‘dog’ close to him, standing up shakily. “Th… There. Wow, you’re heavy for a dog,” he said with a breathless laugh.
That would be because I’m not a dog, KyuHyun thought darkly, but the movement was making his head spin, so he could do little more than growl in the back of his throat, something that JongWoon obviously found very easy to ignore.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be home soon,” was the last thing KyuHyun heard before he finally lost consciousness.
*****
“There, the bandages will have to be changed every hour, but it should stop you from losing too much blood.”
RyeoWook fastened the bandages with a safety pin, being very careful. KiBum watched the older male work, noticing absently that RyeoWook really seemed to know what he was doing. Very few people knew first aid like this, and had such elaborate kits just hanging around their house.
“Have you done this before?” he asked, to keep his mind off the dizzying pain. He’d noticed RyeoWook had put some sort of spray on his arm to numb the pain, but it hadn’t set in yet. The throbbing from the injuries was making him nauseous.
“No, I just read a lot,” RyeoWook replied with a shaky smile. That didn’t explain the large first-aid kit, but KiBum wasn’t in the mood to pry answers out of the other boy right now.
Once he was satisfied with the bindings, RyeoWook moved on to KiBum’s hands, raw and scraped from falling. “I’ll bandage these up too, but just to keep you from getting the injuries dirty,” he said, looking through his kit for the antiseptic. “You might catch an infection with them like this.”
“Thank you,” KiBum replied, flinching at the sting of the antiseptic. Instead of watching, he looked around the small apartment RyeoWook had brought him to. It wasn’t in the best of locations, not too far away from the fight, which must have been how RyeoWook noticed the conflict before the police. It had only the bare minimums, things that a student would buy. There were very few personal touches, the decorations very neutral. The only things KiBum noticed that might set this place apart as RyeoWook’s own was the small keyboard in the corner of the room, and scattered music sheets on various surfaces.
“You play?” he questioned, nodding to the keyboard since RyeoWook was tending to his hands.
“Hm?” The other boy looked up to see where KiBum was looking. “Oh, yes, I do,” he murmured, looking back down. “I’m not that good though.”
“Can I hear?” KiBum asked, curious.
A faint smile appeared on the other boy’s lips. “Maybe some other time.”
They fell silent then, KiBum returning to watching RyeoWook. RyeoWook cleaned the scrapes on his hand with great care, brow furrowed in concentration. Then he bandaged the injuries, leaving the bandages in the right locations and just loose enough that KiBum would still be able to move his hands. It really did look like he’d done this before…
The painkiller was started to set in, though there was still a dull throbbing from his arm. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” RyeoWook asked, worried. “Those cuts were deep.”
“They’ll be fine,” KiBum replied, shrugging his shirt back on carefully, and trying not to jostle his arm. Gentle fingers curled into the material, helping him pull it back on.
“Thank you for your help, hyung,” KiBum said again, giving the older boy a grin. “You didn’t have to help me, you know.”
“What was I supposed to do, just leave you there?” RyeoWook smiled back at him shyly, adjusting KiBum’s sleeve for him before standing to put the first-aid kit away. “I wanted to help. And I understand why you were lying to me before. I wasn’t supposed to know about all this, right?”
“Right,” KiBum said with a sigh, watching the other stand up on the tips of his toes to place the kit away in a closet. “Though since you already know, and you helped me… I guess it can’t make that much more of a difference to explain the rest to you.”
“I think I can figure out most of it by myself. I read articles on supernaturals,” RyeoWook said with a smile over his shoulder. “Since you’re here, want something to eat? I haven’t cooked for anyone in ages, I’m going to get rusty.”
KiBum frowned. “I don’t want to be a bother…”
“You’re not. I’m the one offering,” RyeoWook replied with a laugh. “Please? I haven’t had people over in so long…”
Weighing the pros and cons, KiBum finally gave in. “Alright.”
“Great!” RyeoWook skipped off into the kitchen. KiBum stood after a moment to follow him, where he was promptly ushered into a chair. “It’s not good to stand after losing so much blood,” RyeoWook told him with a frown. He really wasn’t the shy, mousey boy he’d first appeared to be in class, not once KiBum broke through that initial barrier.
“So, you’re human, right?” RyeoWook asked, looking through the fridge for something to cook. “I mean, you look human, and you get injured just like one…”
“Right, I’m human,” KiBum replied. “I’m a slayer, from one of the elite slayer families.”
“And those other two you were talking with, back at school… YooChun sshi and HyukJae sshi?”
“They’re slayers too. YooChun’s from another elite family, while HyukJae’s from a middle-class family. There’s about six slayer families in all of South Korea; there used to be seven, but the seventh was killed off years ago by a group of Vampyres and Demons.”
“Demons…”
“Yeah. Right now, we’re aware of races such as Vampyres, Lycans, Demons, and Gifted. Oh, and Elementalists, but they’re pretty rare. Only one Elementalist family per element, and one Elementalist per family generation. So there’s never more than three with an element at one time. I’ve never seen an Elementalist before; most people go through their entire lives without ever so much as entering the same city as one.”
RyeoWook nodded absently. “I see.” He took out pans and started to cook, humming softly.
“Then there are the half-breeds.”
RyeoWook paused. “Half-breeds?”
“The ones born from a human and non-human,” KiBum said with a shrug. “It’s impossible for Vampyres, seeing as how they’re dead, but for other races it’s possible. Lycans, and Demons. Elementalists are passed down through generations, and it’s similar for Gifted, but there have been plenty of Lycan and Demon half-breeds.”
“I see,” RyeoWook intoned softly. “What do you do about them? I mean, they’re half human too.”
“They’re still monsters,” KiBum said firmly. “Some slayer families have rules against slaying half-breeds, or Gifted even for that matter. Not my family.”
“… I see,” RyeoWook repeated himself.
KiBum shrugged. “It’s to keep humans like you safe,” he said, smiling at the other boy’s back. He could tell he’d upset RyeoWook by talking like this, but it was his view on the issue.
“Right. I understand,” the other boy said with a smile in return, looking over his shoulder at KiBum. “So, your parents won’t flip if you stay here for a while?”
“No. As long as I’m home before dawn. If it gets to be after dawn, they’ll wonder if I was eaten by something,” KiBum replied with a laugh. RyeoWook laughed in return, smiling at him.
“Well, you won’t be eaten by anything here.”
*****
After dropping off the human, HyunJoong wandered through the area. It was too early to head home yet; dawn was a few hours away, and he wanted to get as much fresh air as he could before he had to stay inside for the day.
That, and his arm was killing him. Even though the bullet had only grazed the skin, it had left small remnants of silver that was quickly taken into his bloodstream. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make the next few days painful ones. So he just stopped by his apartment to grab a jacket, to hide the injury, and then left again.
Feeling his cell phone vibrate, HyunJoong pulled it out with his good arm and glanced at it, smiling in amusement. It was HeeChul, asking if he was still alive or if he was going to have to find a new right-hand man. Chuckling to himself, he sent a quick text back to confirm that he was still alive.
… Or as alive as a Vampyre could be.
He’d been dead for… It had to be nearly forty years now? HyunJoong and HeeChul had actually been turned around the same time, by the same man, a few months apart. So, as far as Vampyre relations went, they were blood brothers. Their Sire was the ‘leader’ of the Vampyre clans in Seoul, and had held that post for many years. HeeChul was going to inherit that title one day, he was sure, and already did a lot of work with the younger, more independent Vampyres. It was HeeChul who kept tabs on JunSu, the self-proclaimed outcast of the clans, and SiWon, the vegetarian fledgling.
HyunJoong had to admit that, despite his temper and blunt personality, HeeChul was leader material. People listened when he talked, despite being one of the newer Vampyres. And he had a large following; the Vampyres under a century old preferred to turn to HeeChul in a crisis than the elders of three or four centuries.
Now if only HeeChul and YunHo could stop going at each other’s throats all the time, they might have something great. Not that HyunJoong blamed HeeChul; Lycans were always hard to work with.
Rubbing his aching throat with one hand, HyunJoong was debating if he should hunt when a quiet coughing from the main street got his attention. Already heading that way, he turned the corner and looked around absently.
That human from his class, HyungJoon, stood at one of the bus stops. The other boy’s teeth chattered audibly, the boy hopping from foot to foot to stay warm. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and his shirt looked rather thin.
Raising one eyebrow, HyunJoong started to walk by when HyungJoon turned around and spotted him. “Oh, h-hi!” he chattered, waving with one hand.
HyunJoong smiled politely. “Hi. Isn’t it a bit cold to be out in that?” he questioned, motioning to the other boy’s thin t-shirt.
“It is, but someone made off with my jacket again,” HyungJoon muttered, shivering. HyunJoong laughed, watching him with an amused look for a moment.
“Where is the bus? It was supposed to be here by now…” HyungJoon started, then trailed off as something warm was draped over his shoulders. Looking down slightly, he tugged questioningly at the jacket around his shoulders, then looked back at HyunJoong. “Thanks… But I’m not a girl,” he commented, frowning slightly, not quite sure how to take it.
“You looked like you were going to freeze,” the Vampyre said with a shrug. “You don’t have to be a girl to catch hypothermia.”
“But now you’ll catch it.”
“I have a high immunity to the cold,” HyunJoong replied, amused.
HyungJoon opened his mouth to protest, but trailed off again when his eyes landed on HyunJoong’s injury. “What did you do to yourself?” he exclaimed, eyes wide.
HyunJoong looked down at the blood staining his shirt and arm, perfectly visible thanks to the streetlights, and shrugged slightly. “I fell.”
The human stared at him, clearly not buying it. “Are you alright?” he questioned, frowning.
“Never been better.”
The bus showed up then, pulling up to the curb. HyungJoon made to give him back his jacket, but the Vampyre waved him off. “Give it back to me in school tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?” HyungJoon asked, still looking at the other boy’s injury.
“Positive. Now go before the bus leaves without you.”
HyunJoong watched as the human got on to the bus, showing the driver his pass and going to sit down. The doors closed, and the bus pulled away, HyungJoon watching him from a window until the vehicle pulled out of sight.
*****
“…Are you certain? This isn’t something to joke around about.”
The young man paced around his room, phone pressed to one ear. Listening carefully, he toyed with a knife in his free hand, flipping it around his fingers with skilled ease.
“I will. I’ve told you before. When I say I’m going to do something, I stick by it.” A faint sigh left the young man, a frown on his lips as he sat down on his bed.
“No one suspects a thing. They think the last of my family died that night; no one even knows that I’m still alive, thanks to you. Don’t worry; I’ll repay my debt to you. And I’ll get rid of those monsters that killed my family.”
Listening to the response from the other end, the fingers around the blade hilt tightened slightly. “Understood. I can do that. The Vampyres and Lycans are at each other’s throats anyways; it shouldn’t be too hard to send them over the edge. A gentle push, right? … No, they won’t know it’s me. I doubt they even know I exist.”
A soft laugh left his lips. “Don’t worry, you’ll have your war.”
A faint click from outside his room got his attention. “… I’ll call you again the second I have more to report,” the young man murmured into the phone, clicking it shut and stuffing it into one pocket. He climbed back into his bed, returning his knife to underneath his pillow and closing his eyes.
Footsteps approached his room, then paused at the door.
“… Kyu? You asleep?”
JaeJoong watched the young man curled up under the bed sheets for a moment. When KyuJong didn’t respond, he padded into the room quietly, stopping next to the bed. KyuJong seemed to be asleep, his breathing easy.
JaeJoong smiled fondly, watching his adopted brother for a moment before leaving the room, closing the door quietly. Once he was sure JaeJoong was gone, KyuJong opened his eyes and sat up again.
A soft sigh left his lips, as he pulled the knife back out from under his pillow. KyuJong looked down at the blade in his hands, turning it between his fingers carefully.
He couldn’t afford to falter, not now. He’d lost his family thanks to those monsters… But he’d gained a family member back. For JaeJoong hyung, he had to get rid of those creatures, to make them pay.
It wasn’t just a question of revenge. He couldn’t let them touch his adoptive brother. JaeJoong was all the family he had, and they were so close the lack of blood relation made no difference. If Demons and Vampyres found out he had survived the attack, was still alive, they would come after him. And JaeJoong would be in danger.
KyuJong couldn’t let anything happen to him.
He opened his bedside drawer, placing the knife inside underneath his books and closing it again. Soon, they would all be gone. The people who saved his life that night were smart; they had plans drawn up and everything. And KyuJong was more than willing to help them.
Nothing else mattered, except that his brother stayed safe. And that no one had to ever suffer through the nightmare he went through.
Seeing Vampyres and Demons come into his home… His family fighting back, caught off-guard and overwhelmed… His older sister hiding him in the closet before she was beheaded right in front of him… Being dragged out of the closet kicking and screaming…
KyuJong buried his face in his pillow, fingers tightening around his bed sheets. No, he could never let that happen again.
He was going to kill them all.