Of Calescence and Chroma
Title: Of Calescence and Chroma
Rating: R
Chapters: /5
Word Count: 20,500
Groups: U-Kiss, TRAX, Infinite, Super Junior
Pairing: Soohyun/Hoon, Jungmo/Jay
Summary: While taking a moonlight stroll, Hoon finds something out of place in a nearby body of water. After reacting on instinct, he finds himself face to face with an unhappy werewolf. Despite their first fateful meeting, Hoon just can’t seem to leave well enough alone and finds himself drawn back time and time again. This might just be the time when his curiosity finally gets the best of him.
Note: This is a side story in the Of Flesh, Fur, and Fang universe. Reading the rest of the stories is not required as this can stand alone, but it might be helpful
Chapter One
The water was cool around him, chilling in its embrace as he slipped further and further beneath it. Calm darkness washed over him and after a time longer than he could remember, it was a welcome sensation. The creature within him was panicked, outraged, savage at what was happening but it didn’t matter. That creature didn’t have a say any longer, maybe it never had in the first place and that was what brought them to this point. It hardly mattered; there was no going back now that he was in water five times as deep as he was tall. Perhaps in any other substance it would have made a difference, but he had entered the water with one thought in mind. Werewolves couldn’t swim and they certainly couldn’t float.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Simply put, he missed the sun and no amount of wandering around in the dark was going to change that. The bright star in the daytime sky had been the furthest thing from his mind when he had accepted the change that his Maker had presented but he wished he would have thought of it then. Moonlight was a poor substitute to that of the sun.
Sure he didn’t technically have to stay out of the sun for his entire life. Jay, the Master of the Seethe, could be out in the sun as long as it wasn’t directly on him for too long. The Master could, at the very least, stand in the shade and peer at the sun for as long as he would like. It would be several hundred years before he would be strong enough to do the same. He didn’t know if he could last that long. So instead he, the freshly turned vampire, took long walks in the moonlight hoping that it would remind him of the sun. It didn’t and he hated it.
At the very least he could still enjoy the night time breeze on his skin, and smell the scent of the forest almost sharper than before. The Master had told him once, when his change was only just beginning, that he wasn’t cut out for this life. Perhaps the much older vampire had been right. He had expected a sort of hardness to wash over him with his change, but there wasn’t anything different except for his new taste for blood. Sure he had improved senses and a few new instincts but it wasn’t anything that surprised him, nothing that seemed to make him dangerous like the other vampire’s around him appeared to be. Nothing impressive. Perhaps his Maker hadn’t done things quite right and he had come out a defective vampire. It wouldn’t be the first thing in his life that had turned out the exact opposite of what it should have been.
He turned his face into the breeze and felt it tickle across his skin. With his eyes shut he could nearly pretend he was still human, able to sit and wait for the rising of the sun, but with his eyes opened he couldn’t pretend. With eyes open he saw colors so numerous that he never knew existed, radiating from anything living. Auras, his Maker had called them when he had first begun to see them. It was his Talent, he had been told, to see the life in things in a way he hadn’t been able to before. Things without a conscious mind, like trees or plants, seemed to glow faintly around the edges, small specs of life outlining their existence. However the more a living thing thought, the wider and livelier its colors were.
His Maker had told him that he would learn, learn things about his Talent that he didn’t know now, teaching himself things about it that would aid him. Like any skill, his Master had told him, he would grow in it and learn new undiscovered sides of it. Already he was beginning to see what the colors meant, a flicker in a pattern here or a bright flash there, could mean a decision had been made or be any of several emotions. It was the thing from his new existence that fascinated him most, the only thing that made him willing to give up the sun.
The Talent he possessed brought a new side to simple activities such as sitting beside a deep pond in the middle of the night. Fish were a shimmering array of color that flickered and flitted everywhere, visible to him no matter how deep they swam. Even if his eyes couldn’t perceive the creatures it seemed that his Talent could, if he focused. It was one of his favorite ways to pass the time before the rising of the sun chased him away, and it was to the pond that he headed that night.
He saw the fish first as he neared, crowded to one side of the pond with their auras flickering widely as if frightened by something. On the other side of the pond was a splash of color larger than any he had ever seen beneath the surface of the water. There were large splashes of reds and obscured earthy greens, two separate auras occupying the same space and both fading as he watched. He had seen the fade before, in a human who was dying, their aura extinguishing with their life.
As he watched the red slowed, almost peaceful, resolved to what was happening, but the greens called his attention. They, despite their fade, were frantic, desperate, and lit through with flashes of golden anger. No matter what half of the aura seemed to be saying, this half clearly did not want to fade out and die. That knowledge was enough for him, and without further thought he leapt to the water’s edge and dove beneath its surface.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
He woke first, wet and pissed but alive. The snarl was inevitable as was the sharp movement of rolling onto human hands and knees. Savior or not, he wouldn’t submit to the creature, couldn’t do so.
“You’re alright. My name is Hoon. I just pulled you out of the pond but you are alright now,” the creature was saying, his tones light, nearly human.
This one was foolish, young, and easy to kill if he had wanted. Clearly whoever had created him had not taken the time to teach him the power of things, such as a name. That, however was the least of his worries, since he knew the human within him wouldn’t slumber forever. The human was stronger than he, well versed at this struggle and would have his way.
“He is trying to kill us,” he growled, hating that he was admitting the weakness to a creature so weak himself, but he was out of options. “Will kill us. You can’t let him.”
“Who is trying to kill you?” the young one asked, his hand touching his shoulder lightly.
Struggling to fight the exhaustion the near death had brought them, he lifted his eyes knowing the creature would see wolf gold. “The human side of us,” he growled. “You can’t let us die.” With that last plea, he felt the human within him awaken.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Hoon watched it happen through the man’s auras, as fast as a wildfire, green being eaten and buried by red until only the small angry pulse of it was left. He had never seen a thing like it as long as he had been alive, which admittedly wasn’t all that long. It seemed as if two auras were inhibiting one body, sharing the space or at least fighting for the same space. The golden eyes that had been watching him with such pleading intensity faded to a tired brown and the man rocked back on his heels.
“Damn it,” he cursed, glancing at the pond and then back to the vampire. “You pulled me out didn’t you?” he accused, anger flashing bright red through his aura.
“I,” Hoon stuttered, not certain how to deal with the change in the man. “Yes. You didn’t want to die. I saved you.”
“Stupid vampire, do you know nothing?! Drowning is one of the only ways a werewolf can commit suicide!” he snarled rising to his feet.
Werewolf. He had heard of those, although the closest thing he had ever seen to one was the mate of the Master, Jungmo. Jungmo’s aura had been a pleasant blend of blues and greens, nothing he had seen before or again, until now. It clicked then, the double aura he was seeing, red over green, the coexistence of man and Beast.
“I didn’t know,” he stuttered still at a loss for what to do. “You looked like you wanted to live.”
The man looked at him, narrowed his eyes for a moment and then sighed. “What would you know you are only a pup? You still smell human. Hell you still breathe like a human.”
“I’m not,” he said stubbornly, feeling the need to rise as well. He didn’t think he would win a dominance game with the wolf but he hardly needed to give his Maker a reason to criticize him.
The werewolf laughed bitterly, shaking his head and causing water to fling from his curling hair. “Listen pup, go back to your Maker and learn how to be a vampire. The next time you meet one of my kind, it will be trying to kill you, so you best learn while you can.” The werewolf didn’t wait for a response before he turned and stormed through the forest away from the pond, dripping water as he went.
Unable to simply let things go, Hoon found himself calling out after him, “Clearly you don’t want to die that much! The pond is the other way!”
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Fascination drove him, fascination with something that didn’t quite understand. He had always had an immense curiosity that had landed him in this situation in the first place. Never had he figured out when it was well enough to leave things alone and even when fangs had pierced his neck he had driven on, out of curiosity. It, of course, had led him to kneeling in what served as the greeting room for the Master of the Seethe.
“Hoon?” a voice asked, softer and gentler than the Master. It was Jungmo, exactly the man who he had hoped to see.
“I wished to have a word with you,” he said and then paused. His Maker had never quite covered what to call the mate of the Master, likely because he wasn’t ever supposed to speak with him alone for several years yet.
“Jungmo is fine,” the man said then he sighed. “And do get up off the floor. That position is ridiculous.”
Startled he rose from his prostrated position and hesitantly straightened his clothing. He didn’t want to offend the much older and more powerful man. He wasn’t afraid of death since he was reasonably sure that his Maker would throw a huge enough fit to keep that from happening, but he didn’t want to be disrespectful either. The politics of being a vampire were starting to make his head hurt.
“You’re from Korea right?” Jungmo asked and he glanced up to see the man juggling an armload of books and picking up more from the table as he moved about the room.
“Yes,” Hoon answered simply, uncertain what the man was after.
“Then here, in this part of the seethe, you can just treat me as your hyung. All the politics are so tiresome all the time and I, since I’m not even a vampire, get to ignore them when I want to,” he shot Hoon a lopsided smile full of playful mirth and held out the books he had just picked up. “Carry those for me, and grab those other two from the table?” he asked.
Hoon rushed to do as he had been asked. “Yes,” he hesitated then added, “Hyung.”
The man’s smile was warm and his aura bright and soothing as he turned to head deeper into the Master’s personal apartments. “So Hoon,” he said gently pausing at the doorway and holding the door open so the young vampire could slip past him. “What was it you wanted to talk about?” Jungmo let the question hang in the air, giving him all the time he needed to construct his answer.
“I met a werewolf,” he said finally as they entered a large room whose walls were lined with shelf upon shelf all full of books.
“Ah first time seeing one?” Jungmo asked, holding up one of the books in his arms and reading the title quickly before moving to a shelf.
Hoon wasn’t quite certain how to answer that. No one had ever told him what Jungmo was, but he couldn’t deny the similarities in the aura between the werewolf and that of the man gently placing books back onto the shelves. “Yes. I saved him from drowning,” he said finally.
Jungmo turned and looked him over as if searching for something and then smiled. “Well you are still in one piece so it must have turned out alright.”
“Yes,” Hoon agreed as the older man turned back to the shelves. “He knew what I was.”
“I imagine he did,” Jungmo agreed, shelving another book. “Their sense of smell is as sharp as most vampires, and they have good eyesight. Plus if this wolf was old enough to be drowning he would have known what you were simply by your lack of heartbeat.”
“My heart beats,” Hoon replied, shocked and shifting his hand to his chest in panic.
Jungmo’s laugh was warm. “Yes, when you want it to, and just after you have fed, but if you aren’t thinking about it, it no longer does. The things that your brain does without your conscious command are different now. Don’t worry Hoon; no harm will come to you from the lack. It will just feel different for a while.” He thought he would have noticed the lack of a beating heart in his Maker, but then again, the times he had been close enough to hear his Maker’s heartbeat had been just after the man had fed from him or right before and that had been the last thing on his mind at the time.
“But you didn’t come to talk about your heartbeat or lack of,” Jungmo reminded, taking the books he was holding gently from his arms.
“No,” Hoon agreed, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room while Jungmo moved around him. “I can see auras,” he blurted uncertain where to start.
“Ah yes,” Jungmo agreed, inspecting a book briefly and then reaching to a high shelf to place it. “Jay had mentioned something about that. A rare Talent. I believe the last vampire with it was killed sometime a century ago.”
That was news to Hoon and he nearly got distracted by asking after information about that vampire that shared his Talent. “The werewolf’s aura was strange,” he said, trying to keep himself on track. “Sort of like two auras in one.”
“Interesting,” Jungmo commented, pausing to look at him for a moment. “You can see both man and Beast. Fascinating.”
“I think I may have talked to the Beast too,” Hoon agreed, unsure but willing to voice his opinion.
“It is likely,” Jungmo agreed, returning to his shelving. “The Beast side of the werewolf, likely wouldn’t have wanted to die and in the moment of weakness would have been able to overpower the human side.”
“His aura looked like yours only more separate,” Hoon blurted, then flushed in embarrassment. It very likely wasn’t polite to comment on what he could see since it seemed to be the private side of a person. Jungmo, however didn’t appear upset, in fact his aura rolled together blues and greens bubbling and shifting with amusement.
The man shelved the last of the books in his arms and moved to the large table in the center of the room to collect some more before answering. “Understandable, since I am half werewolf.”
“Is that why-” Hoon began and then stopped. It would be horribly disrespectful to keep prying, almost like asking the man what sort of undergarments he wore, something too private.
“Is what why?” Jungmo prompted moving closer. “It’s alright to ask me about my aura. While I would say it probably is something private that you shouldn’t poke around at people too often about, you will never learn if you don’t ask, and I don’t mind the questions. Here,” he handed three books to the young vampire and then pointed across the room. “These go on that shelf there. Alphabetical by author.”
Grateful for something to do, Hoon moved to the shelf and began to search for the proper place for them. He had shelved one before he found the courage to speak. “Is that why your aura is two colors but moves like one?”
“People’s auras are normally one color?” Jungmo asked curiously.
Hoon found that it was hard to describe something that only he could see to someone else. “Yes,” he decided on eventual. “There is one main color like the Master is golden, but his aura holds all the different tones and shades of it and changes within that color.”
“Interesting,” Jungmo commented and he wasn’t sure how to respond. “You can see different tones of gold. Most people think there are only one or two shades of that particular color before you hit yellow.”
“I can see colors that I never knew existed when I was human. My Maker is a color that I don’t have a name for. Sort of a mix of a purple and blue but its own creation and deep,” Hoon suddenly clamped his mouth shut afraid that he had said too much.
“What is my color?” Jungmo prompted, seeming curious.
Hoon turned, pausing for a moment to watch the aura that nearly pulsed to him with curiosity. “Your aura is a very pretty blue that I can’t quite describe mixed with an dark green that reminds me of the forest, but both colors move together so I’ve never been certain if it’s just you or not.”
Jungmo brightened, “I would say that you can see my aura and that of my Beast. I wonder which is which,” he mused.
“You have a Beast too?” Hoon asked, confused.
“Yes,” Jungmo said absently, his mind clearly still back on the previous point. “We just agree on pretty much everything so we probably look pretty much the same. We’ve lived together for a very long time.”
“So his Beast might look like a different aura all together, because they weren’t agreeing?” Hoon asked.
“I imagine so,” Jungmo agreed, seeming to refocus. “You are growing quickly Hoon. You’re very smart and your Talent suits you well.”
“Thank you,” Hoon murmured, flushing red and turning back to the shelf for something to do.
“Did you find what you came looking for?” Jungmo asked him after a moment.
Hoon nodded as he slipped the last book in his arms onto the shelf. “I think so, yes. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything but listen,” Jungmo told him.
“It was very helpful though,” Hoon admitted. He turned and bowed deeply, respectfully to the man. “Thank you, Hyung.”
“You’re welcome,” Jungmo told him. He had moved to the door before the man’s voice called him to a stop again. “You are welcome to come talk to me any time you need to. You remind me of one of Jay’s Children.”
“But he hasn’t had any Children in a long time,” he blurted before he could stop himself. He hadn’t been living in the seethe all that long, but word of things like that seemed to travel. His own Maker had been the last of the Master’s Children and he was old enough in his own right.
“No he hasn’t,” Jungmo agreed, not offended. “And we both miss it. Perhaps we will have to remedy that soon.” Hoon nodded, uncertain what to say. “Oh and Hoon,” Jungmo continued. “I’ll talk to Kiseop about spending more time with you. It isn’t fair that he forgets you now that he has Kevin to entertain him. Even weaned you still have need of him for a while yet.”
That wasn’t something he had ever thought the man would offer and the idea filled him with warmth. “Thank you,” he murmured and slipped from the room before he could say anything else that would embarrass him.
One || Two || Three || Four
AN: I'm back!~ I'm so excited to finally start writing again. It has been truely crazy how much I have missed doing it. The good news is that I have this entire story written already so that I never have to make you guys wait for monthes for the next chapter. It is a short story but it is something after such a looooong dry spell. Also as a note, I have updated my masterlist at least somewhat so some of my fic should be a bit easier to find. Please let me know what you think. :)
Rating: R
Chapters: /5
Word Count: 20,500
Groups: U-Kiss, TRAX, Infinite, Super Junior
Pairing: Soohyun/Hoon, Jungmo/Jay
Summary: While taking a moonlight stroll, Hoon finds something out of place in a nearby body of water. After reacting on instinct, he finds himself face to face with an unhappy werewolf. Despite their first fateful meeting, Hoon just can’t seem to leave well enough alone and finds himself drawn back time and time again. This might just be the time when his curiosity finally gets the best of him.
Note: This is a side story in the Of Flesh, Fur, and Fang universe. Reading the rest of the stories is not required as this can stand alone, but it might be helpful
Chapter One
The water was cool around him, chilling in its embrace as he slipped further and further beneath it. Calm darkness washed over him and after a time longer than he could remember, it was a welcome sensation. The creature within him was panicked, outraged, savage at what was happening but it didn’t matter. That creature didn’t have a say any longer, maybe it never had in the first place and that was what brought them to this point. It hardly mattered; there was no going back now that he was in water five times as deep as he was tall. Perhaps in any other substance it would have made a difference, but he had entered the water with one thought in mind. Werewolves couldn’t swim and they certainly couldn’t float.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Simply put, he missed the sun and no amount of wandering around in the dark was going to change that. The bright star in the daytime sky had been the furthest thing from his mind when he had accepted the change that his Maker had presented but he wished he would have thought of it then. Moonlight was a poor substitute to that of the sun.
Sure he didn’t technically have to stay out of the sun for his entire life. Jay, the Master of the Seethe, could be out in the sun as long as it wasn’t directly on him for too long. The Master could, at the very least, stand in the shade and peer at the sun for as long as he would like. It would be several hundred years before he would be strong enough to do the same. He didn’t know if he could last that long. So instead he, the freshly turned vampire, took long walks in the moonlight hoping that it would remind him of the sun. It didn’t and he hated it.
At the very least he could still enjoy the night time breeze on his skin, and smell the scent of the forest almost sharper than before. The Master had told him once, when his change was only just beginning, that he wasn’t cut out for this life. Perhaps the much older vampire had been right. He had expected a sort of hardness to wash over him with his change, but there wasn’t anything different except for his new taste for blood. Sure he had improved senses and a few new instincts but it wasn’t anything that surprised him, nothing that seemed to make him dangerous like the other vampire’s around him appeared to be. Nothing impressive. Perhaps his Maker hadn’t done things quite right and he had come out a defective vampire. It wouldn’t be the first thing in his life that had turned out the exact opposite of what it should have been.
He turned his face into the breeze and felt it tickle across his skin. With his eyes shut he could nearly pretend he was still human, able to sit and wait for the rising of the sun, but with his eyes opened he couldn’t pretend. With eyes open he saw colors so numerous that he never knew existed, radiating from anything living. Auras, his Maker had called them when he had first begun to see them. It was his Talent, he had been told, to see the life in things in a way he hadn’t been able to before. Things without a conscious mind, like trees or plants, seemed to glow faintly around the edges, small specs of life outlining their existence. However the more a living thing thought, the wider and livelier its colors were.
His Maker had told him that he would learn, learn things about his Talent that he didn’t know now, teaching himself things about it that would aid him. Like any skill, his Master had told him, he would grow in it and learn new undiscovered sides of it. Already he was beginning to see what the colors meant, a flicker in a pattern here or a bright flash there, could mean a decision had been made or be any of several emotions. It was the thing from his new existence that fascinated him most, the only thing that made him willing to give up the sun.
The Talent he possessed brought a new side to simple activities such as sitting beside a deep pond in the middle of the night. Fish were a shimmering array of color that flickered and flitted everywhere, visible to him no matter how deep they swam. Even if his eyes couldn’t perceive the creatures it seemed that his Talent could, if he focused. It was one of his favorite ways to pass the time before the rising of the sun chased him away, and it was to the pond that he headed that night.
He saw the fish first as he neared, crowded to one side of the pond with their auras flickering widely as if frightened by something. On the other side of the pond was a splash of color larger than any he had ever seen beneath the surface of the water. There were large splashes of reds and obscured earthy greens, two separate auras occupying the same space and both fading as he watched. He had seen the fade before, in a human who was dying, their aura extinguishing with their life.
As he watched the red slowed, almost peaceful, resolved to what was happening, but the greens called his attention. They, despite their fade, were frantic, desperate, and lit through with flashes of golden anger. No matter what half of the aura seemed to be saying, this half clearly did not want to fade out and die. That knowledge was enough for him, and without further thought he leapt to the water’s edge and dove beneath its surface.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
He woke first, wet and pissed but alive. The snarl was inevitable as was the sharp movement of rolling onto human hands and knees. Savior or not, he wouldn’t submit to the creature, couldn’t do so.
“You’re alright. My name is Hoon. I just pulled you out of the pond but you are alright now,” the creature was saying, his tones light, nearly human.
This one was foolish, young, and easy to kill if he had wanted. Clearly whoever had created him had not taken the time to teach him the power of things, such as a name. That, however was the least of his worries, since he knew the human within him wouldn’t slumber forever. The human was stronger than he, well versed at this struggle and would have his way.
“He is trying to kill us,” he growled, hating that he was admitting the weakness to a creature so weak himself, but he was out of options. “Will kill us. You can’t let him.”
“Who is trying to kill you?” the young one asked, his hand touching his shoulder lightly.
Struggling to fight the exhaustion the near death had brought them, he lifted his eyes knowing the creature would see wolf gold. “The human side of us,” he growled. “You can’t let us die.” With that last plea, he felt the human within him awaken.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Hoon watched it happen through the man’s auras, as fast as a wildfire, green being eaten and buried by red until only the small angry pulse of it was left. He had never seen a thing like it as long as he had been alive, which admittedly wasn’t all that long. It seemed as if two auras were inhibiting one body, sharing the space or at least fighting for the same space. The golden eyes that had been watching him with such pleading intensity faded to a tired brown and the man rocked back on his heels.
“Damn it,” he cursed, glancing at the pond and then back to the vampire. “You pulled me out didn’t you?” he accused, anger flashing bright red through his aura.
“I,” Hoon stuttered, not certain how to deal with the change in the man. “Yes. You didn’t want to die. I saved you.”
“Stupid vampire, do you know nothing?! Drowning is one of the only ways a werewolf can commit suicide!” he snarled rising to his feet.
Werewolf. He had heard of those, although the closest thing he had ever seen to one was the mate of the Master, Jungmo. Jungmo’s aura had been a pleasant blend of blues and greens, nothing he had seen before or again, until now. It clicked then, the double aura he was seeing, red over green, the coexistence of man and Beast.
“I didn’t know,” he stuttered still at a loss for what to do. “You looked like you wanted to live.”
The man looked at him, narrowed his eyes for a moment and then sighed. “What would you know you are only a pup? You still smell human. Hell you still breathe like a human.”
“I’m not,” he said stubbornly, feeling the need to rise as well. He didn’t think he would win a dominance game with the wolf but he hardly needed to give his Maker a reason to criticize him.
The werewolf laughed bitterly, shaking his head and causing water to fling from his curling hair. “Listen pup, go back to your Maker and learn how to be a vampire. The next time you meet one of my kind, it will be trying to kill you, so you best learn while you can.” The werewolf didn’t wait for a response before he turned and stormed through the forest away from the pond, dripping water as he went.
Unable to simply let things go, Hoon found himself calling out after him, “Clearly you don’t want to die that much! The pond is the other way!”
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Fascination drove him, fascination with something that didn’t quite understand. He had always had an immense curiosity that had landed him in this situation in the first place. Never had he figured out when it was well enough to leave things alone and even when fangs had pierced his neck he had driven on, out of curiosity. It, of course, had led him to kneeling in what served as the greeting room for the Master of the Seethe.
“Hoon?” a voice asked, softer and gentler than the Master. It was Jungmo, exactly the man who he had hoped to see.
“I wished to have a word with you,” he said and then paused. His Maker had never quite covered what to call the mate of the Master, likely because he wasn’t ever supposed to speak with him alone for several years yet.
“Jungmo is fine,” the man said then he sighed. “And do get up off the floor. That position is ridiculous.”
Startled he rose from his prostrated position and hesitantly straightened his clothing. He didn’t want to offend the much older and more powerful man. He wasn’t afraid of death since he was reasonably sure that his Maker would throw a huge enough fit to keep that from happening, but he didn’t want to be disrespectful either. The politics of being a vampire were starting to make his head hurt.
“You’re from Korea right?” Jungmo asked and he glanced up to see the man juggling an armload of books and picking up more from the table as he moved about the room.
“Yes,” Hoon answered simply, uncertain what the man was after.
“Then here, in this part of the seethe, you can just treat me as your hyung. All the politics are so tiresome all the time and I, since I’m not even a vampire, get to ignore them when I want to,” he shot Hoon a lopsided smile full of playful mirth and held out the books he had just picked up. “Carry those for me, and grab those other two from the table?” he asked.
Hoon rushed to do as he had been asked. “Yes,” he hesitated then added, “Hyung.”
The man’s smile was warm and his aura bright and soothing as he turned to head deeper into the Master’s personal apartments. “So Hoon,” he said gently pausing at the doorway and holding the door open so the young vampire could slip past him. “What was it you wanted to talk about?” Jungmo let the question hang in the air, giving him all the time he needed to construct his answer.
“I met a werewolf,” he said finally as they entered a large room whose walls were lined with shelf upon shelf all full of books.
“Ah first time seeing one?” Jungmo asked, holding up one of the books in his arms and reading the title quickly before moving to a shelf.
Hoon wasn’t quite certain how to answer that. No one had ever told him what Jungmo was, but he couldn’t deny the similarities in the aura between the werewolf and that of the man gently placing books back onto the shelves. “Yes. I saved him from drowning,” he said finally.
Jungmo turned and looked him over as if searching for something and then smiled. “Well you are still in one piece so it must have turned out alright.”
“Yes,” Hoon agreed as the older man turned back to the shelves. “He knew what I was.”
“I imagine he did,” Jungmo agreed, shelving another book. “Their sense of smell is as sharp as most vampires, and they have good eyesight. Plus if this wolf was old enough to be drowning he would have known what you were simply by your lack of heartbeat.”
“My heart beats,” Hoon replied, shocked and shifting his hand to his chest in panic.
Jungmo’s laugh was warm. “Yes, when you want it to, and just after you have fed, but if you aren’t thinking about it, it no longer does. The things that your brain does without your conscious command are different now. Don’t worry Hoon; no harm will come to you from the lack. It will just feel different for a while.” He thought he would have noticed the lack of a beating heart in his Maker, but then again, the times he had been close enough to hear his Maker’s heartbeat had been just after the man had fed from him or right before and that had been the last thing on his mind at the time.
“But you didn’t come to talk about your heartbeat or lack of,” Jungmo reminded, taking the books he was holding gently from his arms.
“No,” Hoon agreed, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room while Jungmo moved around him. “I can see auras,” he blurted uncertain where to start.
“Ah yes,” Jungmo agreed, inspecting a book briefly and then reaching to a high shelf to place it. “Jay had mentioned something about that. A rare Talent. I believe the last vampire with it was killed sometime a century ago.”
That was news to Hoon and he nearly got distracted by asking after information about that vampire that shared his Talent. “The werewolf’s aura was strange,” he said, trying to keep himself on track. “Sort of like two auras in one.”
“Interesting,” Jungmo commented, pausing to look at him for a moment. “You can see both man and Beast. Fascinating.”
“I think I may have talked to the Beast too,” Hoon agreed, unsure but willing to voice his opinion.
“It is likely,” Jungmo agreed, returning to his shelving. “The Beast side of the werewolf, likely wouldn’t have wanted to die and in the moment of weakness would have been able to overpower the human side.”
“His aura looked like yours only more separate,” Hoon blurted, then flushed in embarrassment. It very likely wasn’t polite to comment on what he could see since it seemed to be the private side of a person. Jungmo, however didn’t appear upset, in fact his aura rolled together blues and greens bubbling and shifting with amusement.
The man shelved the last of the books in his arms and moved to the large table in the center of the room to collect some more before answering. “Understandable, since I am half werewolf.”
“Is that why-” Hoon began and then stopped. It would be horribly disrespectful to keep prying, almost like asking the man what sort of undergarments he wore, something too private.
“Is what why?” Jungmo prompted moving closer. “It’s alright to ask me about my aura. While I would say it probably is something private that you shouldn’t poke around at people too often about, you will never learn if you don’t ask, and I don’t mind the questions. Here,” he handed three books to the young vampire and then pointed across the room. “These go on that shelf there. Alphabetical by author.”
Grateful for something to do, Hoon moved to the shelf and began to search for the proper place for them. He had shelved one before he found the courage to speak. “Is that why your aura is two colors but moves like one?”
“People’s auras are normally one color?” Jungmo asked curiously.
Hoon found that it was hard to describe something that only he could see to someone else. “Yes,” he decided on eventual. “There is one main color like the Master is golden, but his aura holds all the different tones and shades of it and changes within that color.”
“Interesting,” Jungmo commented and he wasn’t sure how to respond. “You can see different tones of gold. Most people think there are only one or two shades of that particular color before you hit yellow.”
“I can see colors that I never knew existed when I was human. My Maker is a color that I don’t have a name for. Sort of a mix of a purple and blue but its own creation and deep,” Hoon suddenly clamped his mouth shut afraid that he had said too much.
“What is my color?” Jungmo prompted, seeming curious.
Hoon turned, pausing for a moment to watch the aura that nearly pulsed to him with curiosity. “Your aura is a very pretty blue that I can’t quite describe mixed with an dark green that reminds me of the forest, but both colors move together so I’ve never been certain if it’s just you or not.”
Jungmo brightened, “I would say that you can see my aura and that of my Beast. I wonder which is which,” he mused.
“You have a Beast too?” Hoon asked, confused.
“Yes,” Jungmo said absently, his mind clearly still back on the previous point. “We just agree on pretty much everything so we probably look pretty much the same. We’ve lived together for a very long time.”
“So his Beast might look like a different aura all together, because they weren’t agreeing?” Hoon asked.
“I imagine so,” Jungmo agreed, seeming to refocus. “You are growing quickly Hoon. You’re very smart and your Talent suits you well.”
“Thank you,” Hoon murmured, flushing red and turning back to the shelf for something to do.
“Did you find what you came looking for?” Jungmo asked him after a moment.
Hoon nodded as he slipped the last book in his arms onto the shelf. “I think so, yes. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything but listen,” Jungmo told him.
“It was very helpful though,” Hoon admitted. He turned and bowed deeply, respectfully to the man. “Thank you, Hyung.”
“You’re welcome,” Jungmo told him. He had moved to the door before the man’s voice called him to a stop again. “You are welcome to come talk to me any time you need to. You remind me of one of Jay’s Children.”
“But he hasn’t had any Children in a long time,” he blurted before he could stop himself. He hadn’t been living in the seethe all that long, but word of things like that seemed to travel. His own Maker had been the last of the Master’s Children and he was old enough in his own right.
“No he hasn’t,” Jungmo agreed, not offended. “And we both miss it. Perhaps we will have to remedy that soon.” Hoon nodded, uncertain what to say. “Oh and Hoon,” Jungmo continued. “I’ll talk to Kiseop about spending more time with you. It isn’t fair that he forgets you now that he has Kevin to entertain him. Even weaned you still have need of him for a while yet.”
That wasn’t something he had ever thought the man would offer and the idea filled him with warmth. “Thank you,” he murmured and slipped from the room before he could say anything else that would embarrass him.
One || Two || Three || Four
AN: I'm back!~ I'm so excited to finally start writing again. It has been truely crazy how much I have missed doing it. The good news is that I have this entire story written already so that I never have to make you guys wait for monthes for the next chapter. It is a short story but it is something after such a looooong dry spell. Also as a note, I have updated my masterlist at least somewhat so some of my fic should be a bit easier to find. Please let me know what you think. :)