Of Blood and Brooms - Chapter One
Of Blood and Brooms
Chapter One
Pain, white hot and searing, flared brightly from the right side of his neck. Something solid was pressed against him so firmly against the wall that he could barely breath, let alone move. His fingers tore at fabric, the only part of his body that could move properly, and attempted to escape the clear danger he felt himself in. He could feel the fangs that pieced the side of his neck, slowly draining the life from his body, yet he was powerless to stop it.
Then, in the back of his mind came the faint crooning whisper, nothing more than a name, spoken from a voice that he had never thought to hear again, ‘Jinki.’
He couldn’t ignore it and his fingers curled into the fabric, no longer trying to tear at it, as his body relaxed. His eyes fluttered closed, and he gave into the darkness.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“I wonder if Taemin is okay,” Onew mused, clearly not focused on the herbs he was supposed to be mincing. Key rolled his eyes and flipped a page in his book, not saying anything.
“Didn’t Jonghyun tell you he was alright?” Jessica asked, as she cut a carrot into even strips.
“Only today, and yesterday, oh and the day before that,” Key mumbled not looking up from the book.
“What if Jonghyun is just saying that to reassure me?” Onew asked.
“Seeing as it hasn’t worked yet, I doubt it,” Key snapped.
“I’m sure he is fine. Jonghyun has no reason to lie to you,” Jessica patted him lightly on the arm.
Onew nodded and focused on chopping at the greens with his knife. There was a moment of silence then, “I want to see him, just to be sure.”
Key groaned and snapped his book shut. “Is there anything else you would like to do like, I don’t know, go swimming with sharks without the cage?”
Onew frowned, “There is nothing wrong with making sure a friend is alright.”
“Only when that friend would like to eat you for dinner,” Key snapped.
“How do you know? Taemin wouldn’t do that,” Onew sounded thoroughly convinced.
“In case you missed it,” Key said, hopping off the counter where he had been reading his book from, “Taemin is a vampire. You know one of those evil soulless creatures who drink human blood and you just happen to a human with blood. No, wait, you’re a witch with powerful blood which is even worse.”
“Taemin would rather die than hurt any of us,” Onew said confidently.
“Oh yes,” Key replied sarcastically, “Except for wait, I forgot, he is already dead!”
Onew narrowed his eyes, “Why is it that you get to waltz off wherever you want and I can’t go anywhere? I am older then you. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Probably because I’m the more powerful witch,” Key snapped.
“No, I think it is because you are too stubborn to listen when people tell you no. I can be stubborn too. I’m going to go visit Taemin and you can’t stop me,” Onew placed the knife on the counter and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“What kind of moron are you?” Key accused.
“The kind who cares enough about his friends to make an effort to see them,” Onew snapped.
“Knock it off guys,” Jessica told them both. “Onew why don’t you just ask Hankyung?”
“Because he would say no,” Key answered for him. Onew scowled.
“Not necessarily,” Hankyung’s voice came from the doorway, startling all of them. “Onew clearly will not let this go so I will take him to see Taemin, provided that I go with him.”
“Really?” Onew asked and Hankyung nodded shortly.
“I’m coming to,” Key snapped.
“Why? You don’t even care,” Jessica asked. Onew was happily scrolling through his contacts looking for a number.
“Because I’m not going to let him go in unarmed,” Key snapped.
“Fine,” Hankyung agreed. “We will leave after dinner.”
“I have a date tonight,” Jessica announced.
“That’s fine we don’t need your help,” Key told her.
“Fine,” she snapped. “And I’ll let Henry know that while he was visiting his relatives half of his coven got themselves killed by vampires because Key said something stupid while they were visiting.”
“You do that. I’m going to go get ready,” Key announced, tucking his book beneath his arm and moving swiftly from the room.”
“I’m going to call, Jonghyun,” Onew announced. Selecting the contact on his phone and then holding it to his ear as he moved out of the kitchen and towards his room for privacy.
“Fine then,” Jessica said irritably, “I’ll just finish dinner.”
Hankyung, grinning, pushed forward from the doorway and towards the counter where she was working. “I’ll help you.”
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Onew wasn’t certain what he expected the home of the seethe to look like, but he certainly didn’t expect the door to be opened by a vampire dressed in a polo shirt and dress pants with his hair nicely styled. Nor did he expect to be led down brightly lit halls with tasteful decoration throughout them.
When they arrive at a set of double doors that looked ancient, that seemed more to his expectation, yet when they opened, they revealed a homely sitting room not at all dark and hardly dangerous. In a large armchair and dressed with a pull over sweater, dress pants, expensive shoes, and a pair of glasses, sat Heechul.
“Welcome,” he said lazily, staring down the tip of his nose at the book in his hands and not caring to look up at them.
“Is today prep school day?” Hankyung asked.
Heechul hummed and placed a book mark in his book, before closing it and setting on the table beside him. “Well if I had known that you were coming over Hankyung, today would have been a clothing free day.”
Hankyung’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t pretend you had no clue.”
“I knew that Onew was coming but not you,” Heechul said with a smirk.
“You know I wouldn’t let them come here without me,” Hankyung challenged.
“Taemin is through the door there,” Heechul said gesturing to a door to the left.
“He is not going into your bedroom alone,” Hankyung snapped.
Heechul rolled his eyes, “It isn’t like I’m in their lying in wait to molest the boy. Taemin is simply working on his school work on the bed.”
“I’ll be fine,” Onew tried to reassure Hankyung, eager to see his friend.
“No, there are all sorts of dangers in there,” Hankyung murmured.
“Oh but there are just as many dangers out here,” Heechul purred, rising with a grace that most humans could never master.
“I’ll go with him,” Key declared, wrapping a hand around Onew’s arm.
“Fine,” Hankyung hissed, not looking at them, instead focusing solely on Heechul. Onew was glad he said nothing else, forgoing the lecture and sparing them from further debate in favor of watching Heechul with wary eyes. He didn’t know what was going on between the head of the seethe and the head of his coven, but Onew was fairly certain that he didn’t want to know. Hankyung was more than capable of taking care of himself and needed no extra help from anyone in their coven, not that they would be of much help if push came to shove.
Onew let Key lead him from the room through the set of doors that Heechul had indicated and to what appeared to be a bedroom. Taemin was stretched out on the bed in a school uniform with books spread around him. He looked like a teen who was simply spending the weekend working on homework, but when he turned his head to see who had entered, the flash of red in his eyes reminded Onew he was far from a normal human boy.
“Jinki!” Taemin exclaimed. Somehow he managed to rise from the bed and cross the room without dislodging a single paper on the surface of the bed and had Onew in a hug before he had completed his word of greeting.
“Hey,” Onew returned, a bit startled at the sudden movement. Apparently in his own home Taemin didn’t bother with playing human, since the little stunt he performed was something that no human could have done. It took him a moment, but he wrapped his arms around Taemin to return the hug.
The young vampire shifted, still in Onew’s hold, but turned enough that he could look at Key. “He isn’t happy to see me,” Taemin declared in a voice that sounded somewhere between disappointment and irritation. “I don’t want to see him either.”
Onew didn’t need to look to know that Key was glaring at the teen in his arms. “Good to see someone hasn’t grown up yet,” Key snapped.
“Good to see someone else still has a stick up his ass,” Taemin snapped back. Then he turned and pressed his face against Onew’s neck.
Despite that it was Taemin, a vampire that he trusted not to bite him, Onew stiffened as Taemin inhaled deeply. Onew counted three heartbeats before Taemin’s breath expelled hot against his neck and sent tingles up his spine either from fear or the sensation of it, he couldn’t be sure.
“Sorry I’m acting like a child,” Taemin murmured into his neck, his lips just brushing against, Onew’s skin. “Heechul made sure I was overly full because you were coming over. He didn’t want me to have to worry about wanting to drink from you.”
“That would be more convincing if you weren’t at his neck,” Key hissed. Onew glanced his direction and noticed his hand edging towards his back where, he could only guess, several weapons were being kept. On reflex his arms tightened around Taemin as if his body was preparing to protect him.
Taemin smiled into his neck. “He smells good, like home, but I feel like if I drank from him I would be sick.” There was another inhale and exhale against his neck before Taemin lifted his head and smiled. “I just wanted to be sure.”
“I’ve never heard of a vampire being too full to drink human blood,” Key said suspiciously.
“Me either,” Taemin agreed with a grin, pulling away from Onew at last. “But Heechul said I’m not ready for human blood yet so I wouldn’t want it. I was just checking.”
“On Onew,” Key said flatly.
“No,” Taemin snapped his eyes flashing angrily. “I would never hurt Jinki. Or you. No matter how much of a dick you are being. Jonghyun wasn’t kidding about you.”
“Speaking of him, why are we not graced with his presence today?” Key asked his voice dripping with venom.
“He didn’t want to see you so he left,” Taemin told him flatly. Then he turned his back to Key as if he simply didn’t care any longer. “Hey Jinki,” he said his form suddenly filled with childlike excitement. “Do you remember how we used to play hide and seek as kids and you guys could always cheat to hide from me? Do you want to play now? I bet I can find you no matter what spell you use.”
“Sure,” Onew agreed, desperate for anything that would get them away from the awkward conversation that they had been having.
“Great!” Taemin said brightly. He grabbed Onew’s wrist gently and led him from the bedroom back into the room that they had first entered. Heechul was lounging lazily in his chair as if it were a throne gazing at Hankyung who sat stiffly upon the couch. “Heechul,” Taemin called excitedly. “We are going to play hide and seek.”
Heechul smiled slowly. “That is fine Taemin.”
“Uh,” Onew asked hesitantly, not knowing if there was some protocol for talking to the head vampire of the seethe and not wanting to be rude.
As if he could read his mind, and for all Onew knew he could since Hankyung hadn’t told him much about this particular vampire, Heechul answered his unspoken wonder, “When in my quarters you can simply talk to me as you would any of your hyungs. Titles are for impressing people, as is ritual, and there is no one here to impress,” Heechul said airily.
Onew nodded. “Is there anywhere that we shouldn’t go?” If they had to play in just the two rooms he had been in, it wouldn’t be much of a game, but he also didn’t want to go somewhere he wasn’t wanted and insult anyone. He did want to be able to come back and see Taemin again in the future.
Heechul paused as if pondering for a moment. “You are free to go anywhere, however if you go to the West Wing and touch the Enchanted Rose, prepare for me to be very pissed. I’m still trying to get someone to love me in return.”
“Uh ok?” Onew wasn’t entirely certain but he had a feeling that had been a joke of some sort.
Sighing, Heechul replied for real, “You may go wherever you choose. My seethe knows that you are my personal guest and will leave you alone. However if you go barging into their personal quarters, then there is no guarantee what you will see.” Onew nodded. He had no desire to see what vampires got up to behind closed doors.
Hankyung gave him a look stating his displeasure at the idea but he didn’t say anything. Clearly he trusted Heechul to keep his promise that they were guests and no harm would come to them. “Great I’m counting first!” Taemin declared. “Key are you playing?” he asked the teenager who had just walked into the room grumpily.
“No I think I will just sit here and join the staring contest,” Key snapped, plopping down beside Hankyung.
“Just us then,” Taemin said exchanging a look with Onew. “I’ll count to 150 to give you a lot of time to find a good hiding place and cast your spells.” Onew nodded and couldn’t help but smile. He had never thought to see Taemin again let alone play games with him like they had when they had been kids. “One, two, three,” Taemin began counting with his eyes closed.
Onew quickly left the room through the door they had been let in through. Once in the hall the first thing he did was close his eyes and will his power to activate. It took three tries before he couldn’t see his hand anymore, indicating that he was invisible to the naked eye. He had no idea if it would work on vampires, but he knew Taemin, if anyone else saw him and could offer information of his whereabouts, Taemin would get it out of them.
He started off down the hall, looking for a hiding place. Heechul’s warning hung in his mind and kept him from opening any of the closed doors that he found. There were a number of spells that could have told him what lay behind the doors but he didn’t have time to cast them, and he was unwilling to leave it to chance. Instead he moved down the hall until he found a door that was ajar.
Onew knew a bit about vampires and one thing he knew about them was that they were highly territorial. He doubted a vampire would leave a door to their own space open since that would be like an invitation to all that passed by to enter. His time was running short, that much he knew, and that made him willing to chance it.
He ducked inside and found a simple sitting room housing two arm chairs and a table, that was much too open to provide any good hiding places within it. Beyond that, set into the far wall was a simple door that looked like it might lead to a closet. Not the best hiding spot, but one that would hopefully give him a moment or two to cast his spells for hiding. If nothing else he could cast them on the door itself to try and seem as though it hadn’t been opened or was locked. Locking a door was simple enough and he moved to it, glad to find that it was unlocked.
Carefully he pulled it open, just in case it wasn’t what he had thought it was, and peered inside. Darkness met his eyes and he felt along the wall for a switch. His fingers couldn’t find one and he sighed. There was hardly time to find a new hiding place now so whatever this was would have to do. If he had unwittingly stumbled into a bedroom he could always apologize later.
Onew pulled the door close behind him, and shifted to the side. He still couldn’t find the light switch and he hardly wanted to run into anything so instead he pressed his back to the wall and lifted his arm. On his wrist hung a charm bracelet that Hankyung had showed them how to use and made them to wear all the time. His fingers drifted over the charms one by one until he found the small one in the shape of a key.
It was the nearly completed enchantment to lock or unlock any door stored in a way that made it possible to be used again and again with a simple action, phrase, or word. Key had been flashy in the creation of his, choosing to pair motions with words in a variety of languages. Jessica and Henry had both used English phrases for theirs along with some creative motions. Onew preferred his to be simple and easy both to remember and to perform. He laid his palm against the door and simply said, “Lock.” He felt the enchantment activate, drawing a tiny bit of his power, and the locking mechanism clicked shut.
As if that had been some sort of signal, a low growl sounded from somewhere in the room. Onew’s heart leapt at the sound of it, since it hardly sounded friendly at all and his fingers scrambled for the shielding charm. Before he could find it a body slammed into his and his hands were wrenched apart as if whatever it was that was in the room with him had known what he had been trying to do. He scrambled to remember the words to a spell any spell but found that it didn’t matter when a second later he felt pain flare up on the right side of his neck. It only took a moment for him to realize that fangs were sinking into his neck, and another moment for it to register that blood was leaving his body. His mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out.
Several things registered in Onew’s panic and adrenaline filled brain all at one time. He was trapped, in a locked room, in the dark, with a vampire that was currently latched onto his neck, in a house where no one knew where he was, but more importantly then all of that, he realized he was going to die.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“One hundred forty four. One hundred forty five,” Hankyung listened to the young vampire pronounce each and every word in a long drawn out fashion that made him want to strangle the teen and tell him to hurry up already. The quicker they played their game, the quicker Onew could be talked into going home, and the quicker he could get out of Heechul’s presence. It wasn’t that he was scared of the powerful vampire, quite the opposite in fact, but he would rather not stay too long in his presence for fear of what he may give into, especially with the way Heechul was currently watching him.
Key sat stiffly beside him, blissfully unaware of their silent exchange and trying to look at anything but Taemin. Hankyung knew of some of the history between the two, the attack that had killed a mutual friend of theirs and Taemin’s choice to be turned, which seemed like a betrayal to Key. He wasn’t certain that the young witch’s hostility was warranted but at the same time he also wasn’t certain it wasn’t.
Taemin had just said the last number when he felt it, something was inexplicitly wrong, not with him but with one of his. Although not connected to his coven through anything but magic, his age gave him an advantage that most blood bound witches didn’t have: he could feel when the members of his coven were in danger, and one of them was in horrible danger now. He was up off the couch at the same time Heechul hissed and rose from the chair.
Somehow he knew something was not right as well, which could simply be from being within his domain but more likely was because one of his own were directly involved. Without a word Heechul moved from the room staying just slow enough that Hankyung could follow him easily. The two confused teenagers scrambled behind them, more than likely trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Hankyung?” Key called, worry clouding his voice.
He didn’t have an answer for his unspoken question, so he didn’t offer one and neither did Heechul, although Taemin asked no questions, at least not verbally as he moved beside Heechul. At the speed they were going it was a short trip down a hall with few turns. The door Heechul reached first was ajar and that was very likely the only thing that saved it from being torn clean off its hinges.
It crashed into the wall, frightening the young man inside who was walking back towards the chair with a book in hand from the shelf. The young man, whom Hankyung recognized as Jonghyun, jumped nearly a foot into the air, screeching as he whirled to face them.
“Who is in his room?” Heechul said darkly, dangerous.
“I-I don’t know. I was in the bathroom just a minute ago,” Jonghyun muttered, clearly not yet recovered from the fright of the door smashing open.
Heechul snarled and moved to the door. Hankyung, having seen the anger of a vampire before darted sideways and threw a shield over himself and Key just as the vampire tore the door from its hinges and threw it against the far wall. Splinters fell against the shield and Taemin’s back in a deadly rain, yet bounced off both harmlessly. When they had settled, Taemin released Jonghyun whom he was curled around protectively and Hankyung let his shield fall in favor of pushing into the room.
A hand on his arm held him fast from entering the darkness and he hissed, “Let me go Heechul, we both know what is in there.”
“I know,” Heechul growled in return. “You do not. Lights.” As if triggered by his command, lights began to glow softly around the room. There in the center of the room was the single piece of furniture, a bed. Laying on it was Onew and above him was a vampire, his face turned towards them and his fangs bared in clear warning. “Enough,” Heechul said as if he was bored, but his grip did not loosen. “You are wasting his blood and he will die if you allow it to continue to flow freely.”
The creature looked as though it was contemplating whether or not to listen before it dropped its head and lapped at the puncture wounds on the side of Onew’s neck, never taking its glowing red eyes off of them. Slowly the blood flow eased until it was dripping sluggishly and then stopped altogether.
“Let me go!” Hankyung heard Key exclaim from behind him and could only assume that Taemin and Jonghyun had been attempting to keep him out of the room and away from harm. Taemin cried out in pain and Heechul hissed in response, although he didn’t turn behind him to see what was going on and neither did Hankyung.
“Let him go,” Heechul ordered. Hankyung was unclear of who he was speaking to. The vampire on the bed shifted so that if they were to try and get to Onew they would have to go through him. Hankyung watched for the tell tale signs of breathing and felt a bit of relief when he saw Onew’s chest rise and fall with it. He itched to reach for the sliver stake that he had concealed at the small of his back, but he couldn’t chance setting the vampire off and causing it to do further damage.
A moment later he noticed Key’s presence beside him before he heard the quite intake of breath and the sound of his weapon clattering to the floor as it slipped from numb fingers. He expected that Key was shocked at the sight of his friend in clutches of a vampire, but the word that fell from his mouth was not what Hankyung expected. In a soft disbelieving whisper he muttered, “Minho.”
Chapter Two
Masterlist
AN: So here it is, the spin off to "Off Flesh, Fur, and Fang". I didn't intend to write this already but my SHINee muses wanted it written... Hopefully when this little thing is said and done, it will answer some of the questions people have.
Chapter One
Pain, white hot and searing, flared brightly from the right side of his neck. Something solid was pressed against him so firmly against the wall that he could barely breath, let alone move. His fingers tore at fabric, the only part of his body that could move properly, and attempted to escape the clear danger he felt himself in. He could feel the fangs that pieced the side of his neck, slowly draining the life from his body, yet he was powerless to stop it.
Then, in the back of his mind came the faint crooning whisper, nothing more than a name, spoken from a voice that he had never thought to hear again, ‘Jinki.’
He couldn’t ignore it and his fingers curled into the fabric, no longer trying to tear at it, as his body relaxed. His eyes fluttered closed, and he gave into the darkness.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“I wonder if Taemin is okay,” Onew mused, clearly not focused on the herbs he was supposed to be mincing. Key rolled his eyes and flipped a page in his book, not saying anything.
“Didn’t Jonghyun tell you he was alright?” Jessica asked, as she cut a carrot into even strips.
“Only today, and yesterday, oh and the day before that,” Key mumbled not looking up from the book.
“What if Jonghyun is just saying that to reassure me?” Onew asked.
“Seeing as it hasn’t worked yet, I doubt it,” Key snapped.
“I’m sure he is fine. Jonghyun has no reason to lie to you,” Jessica patted him lightly on the arm.
Onew nodded and focused on chopping at the greens with his knife. There was a moment of silence then, “I want to see him, just to be sure.”
Key groaned and snapped his book shut. “Is there anything else you would like to do like, I don’t know, go swimming with sharks without the cage?”
Onew frowned, “There is nothing wrong with making sure a friend is alright.”
“Only when that friend would like to eat you for dinner,” Key snapped.
“How do you know? Taemin wouldn’t do that,” Onew sounded thoroughly convinced.
“In case you missed it,” Key said, hopping off the counter where he had been reading his book from, “Taemin is a vampire. You know one of those evil soulless creatures who drink human blood and you just happen to a human with blood. No, wait, you’re a witch with powerful blood which is even worse.”
“Taemin would rather die than hurt any of us,” Onew said confidently.
“Oh yes,” Key replied sarcastically, “Except for wait, I forgot, he is already dead!”
Onew narrowed his eyes, “Why is it that you get to waltz off wherever you want and I can’t go anywhere? I am older then you. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Probably because I’m the more powerful witch,” Key snapped.
“No, I think it is because you are too stubborn to listen when people tell you no. I can be stubborn too. I’m going to go visit Taemin and you can’t stop me,” Onew placed the knife on the counter and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“What kind of moron are you?” Key accused.
“The kind who cares enough about his friends to make an effort to see them,” Onew snapped.
“Knock it off guys,” Jessica told them both. “Onew why don’t you just ask Hankyung?”
“Because he would say no,” Key answered for him. Onew scowled.
“Not necessarily,” Hankyung’s voice came from the doorway, startling all of them. “Onew clearly will not let this go so I will take him to see Taemin, provided that I go with him.”
“Really?” Onew asked and Hankyung nodded shortly.
“I’m coming to,” Key snapped.
“Why? You don’t even care,” Jessica asked. Onew was happily scrolling through his contacts looking for a number.
“Because I’m not going to let him go in unarmed,” Key snapped.
“Fine,” Hankyung agreed. “We will leave after dinner.”
“I have a date tonight,” Jessica announced.
“That’s fine we don’t need your help,” Key told her.
“Fine,” she snapped. “And I’ll let Henry know that while he was visiting his relatives half of his coven got themselves killed by vampires because Key said something stupid while they were visiting.”
“You do that. I’m going to go get ready,” Key announced, tucking his book beneath his arm and moving swiftly from the room.”
“I’m going to call, Jonghyun,” Onew announced. Selecting the contact on his phone and then holding it to his ear as he moved out of the kitchen and towards his room for privacy.
“Fine then,” Jessica said irritably, “I’ll just finish dinner.”
Hankyung, grinning, pushed forward from the doorway and towards the counter where she was working. “I’ll help you.”
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
Onew wasn’t certain what he expected the home of the seethe to look like, but he certainly didn’t expect the door to be opened by a vampire dressed in a polo shirt and dress pants with his hair nicely styled. Nor did he expect to be led down brightly lit halls with tasteful decoration throughout them.
When they arrive at a set of double doors that looked ancient, that seemed more to his expectation, yet when they opened, they revealed a homely sitting room not at all dark and hardly dangerous. In a large armchair and dressed with a pull over sweater, dress pants, expensive shoes, and a pair of glasses, sat Heechul.
“Welcome,” he said lazily, staring down the tip of his nose at the book in his hands and not caring to look up at them.
“Is today prep school day?” Hankyung asked.
Heechul hummed and placed a book mark in his book, before closing it and setting on the table beside him. “Well if I had known that you were coming over Hankyung, today would have been a clothing free day.”
Hankyung’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t pretend you had no clue.”
“I knew that Onew was coming but not you,” Heechul said with a smirk.
“You know I wouldn’t let them come here without me,” Hankyung challenged.
“Taemin is through the door there,” Heechul said gesturing to a door to the left.
“He is not going into your bedroom alone,” Hankyung snapped.
Heechul rolled his eyes, “It isn’t like I’m in their lying in wait to molest the boy. Taemin is simply working on his school work on the bed.”
“I’ll be fine,” Onew tried to reassure Hankyung, eager to see his friend.
“No, there are all sorts of dangers in there,” Hankyung murmured.
“Oh but there are just as many dangers out here,” Heechul purred, rising with a grace that most humans could never master.
“I’ll go with him,” Key declared, wrapping a hand around Onew’s arm.
“Fine,” Hankyung hissed, not looking at them, instead focusing solely on Heechul. Onew was glad he said nothing else, forgoing the lecture and sparing them from further debate in favor of watching Heechul with wary eyes. He didn’t know what was going on between the head of the seethe and the head of his coven, but Onew was fairly certain that he didn’t want to know. Hankyung was more than capable of taking care of himself and needed no extra help from anyone in their coven, not that they would be of much help if push came to shove.
Onew let Key lead him from the room through the set of doors that Heechul had indicated and to what appeared to be a bedroom. Taemin was stretched out on the bed in a school uniform with books spread around him. He looked like a teen who was simply spending the weekend working on homework, but when he turned his head to see who had entered, the flash of red in his eyes reminded Onew he was far from a normal human boy.
“Jinki!” Taemin exclaimed. Somehow he managed to rise from the bed and cross the room without dislodging a single paper on the surface of the bed and had Onew in a hug before he had completed his word of greeting.
“Hey,” Onew returned, a bit startled at the sudden movement. Apparently in his own home Taemin didn’t bother with playing human, since the little stunt he performed was something that no human could have done. It took him a moment, but he wrapped his arms around Taemin to return the hug.
The young vampire shifted, still in Onew’s hold, but turned enough that he could look at Key. “He isn’t happy to see me,” Taemin declared in a voice that sounded somewhere between disappointment and irritation. “I don’t want to see him either.”
Onew didn’t need to look to know that Key was glaring at the teen in his arms. “Good to see someone hasn’t grown up yet,” Key snapped.
“Good to see someone else still has a stick up his ass,” Taemin snapped back. Then he turned and pressed his face against Onew’s neck.
Despite that it was Taemin, a vampire that he trusted not to bite him, Onew stiffened as Taemin inhaled deeply. Onew counted three heartbeats before Taemin’s breath expelled hot against his neck and sent tingles up his spine either from fear or the sensation of it, he couldn’t be sure.
“Sorry I’m acting like a child,” Taemin murmured into his neck, his lips just brushing against, Onew’s skin. “Heechul made sure I was overly full because you were coming over. He didn’t want me to have to worry about wanting to drink from you.”
“That would be more convincing if you weren’t at his neck,” Key hissed. Onew glanced his direction and noticed his hand edging towards his back where, he could only guess, several weapons were being kept. On reflex his arms tightened around Taemin as if his body was preparing to protect him.
Taemin smiled into his neck. “He smells good, like home, but I feel like if I drank from him I would be sick.” There was another inhale and exhale against his neck before Taemin lifted his head and smiled. “I just wanted to be sure.”
“I’ve never heard of a vampire being too full to drink human blood,” Key said suspiciously.
“Me either,” Taemin agreed with a grin, pulling away from Onew at last. “But Heechul said I’m not ready for human blood yet so I wouldn’t want it. I was just checking.”
“On Onew,” Key said flatly.
“No,” Taemin snapped his eyes flashing angrily. “I would never hurt Jinki. Or you. No matter how much of a dick you are being. Jonghyun wasn’t kidding about you.”
“Speaking of him, why are we not graced with his presence today?” Key asked his voice dripping with venom.
“He didn’t want to see you so he left,” Taemin told him flatly. Then he turned his back to Key as if he simply didn’t care any longer. “Hey Jinki,” he said his form suddenly filled with childlike excitement. “Do you remember how we used to play hide and seek as kids and you guys could always cheat to hide from me? Do you want to play now? I bet I can find you no matter what spell you use.”
“Sure,” Onew agreed, desperate for anything that would get them away from the awkward conversation that they had been having.
“Great!” Taemin said brightly. He grabbed Onew’s wrist gently and led him from the bedroom back into the room that they had first entered. Heechul was lounging lazily in his chair as if it were a throne gazing at Hankyung who sat stiffly upon the couch. “Heechul,” Taemin called excitedly. “We are going to play hide and seek.”
Heechul smiled slowly. “That is fine Taemin.”
“Uh,” Onew asked hesitantly, not knowing if there was some protocol for talking to the head vampire of the seethe and not wanting to be rude.
As if he could read his mind, and for all Onew knew he could since Hankyung hadn’t told him much about this particular vampire, Heechul answered his unspoken wonder, “When in my quarters you can simply talk to me as you would any of your hyungs. Titles are for impressing people, as is ritual, and there is no one here to impress,” Heechul said airily.
Onew nodded. “Is there anywhere that we shouldn’t go?” If they had to play in just the two rooms he had been in, it wouldn’t be much of a game, but he also didn’t want to go somewhere he wasn’t wanted and insult anyone. He did want to be able to come back and see Taemin again in the future.
Heechul paused as if pondering for a moment. “You are free to go anywhere, however if you go to the West Wing and touch the Enchanted Rose, prepare for me to be very pissed. I’m still trying to get someone to love me in return.”
“Uh ok?” Onew wasn’t entirely certain but he had a feeling that had been a joke of some sort.
Sighing, Heechul replied for real, “You may go wherever you choose. My seethe knows that you are my personal guest and will leave you alone. However if you go barging into their personal quarters, then there is no guarantee what you will see.” Onew nodded. He had no desire to see what vampires got up to behind closed doors.
Hankyung gave him a look stating his displeasure at the idea but he didn’t say anything. Clearly he trusted Heechul to keep his promise that they were guests and no harm would come to them. “Great I’m counting first!” Taemin declared. “Key are you playing?” he asked the teenager who had just walked into the room grumpily.
“No I think I will just sit here and join the staring contest,” Key snapped, plopping down beside Hankyung.
“Just us then,” Taemin said exchanging a look with Onew. “I’ll count to 150 to give you a lot of time to find a good hiding place and cast your spells.” Onew nodded and couldn’t help but smile. He had never thought to see Taemin again let alone play games with him like they had when they had been kids. “One, two, three,” Taemin began counting with his eyes closed.
Onew quickly left the room through the door they had been let in through. Once in the hall the first thing he did was close his eyes and will his power to activate. It took three tries before he couldn’t see his hand anymore, indicating that he was invisible to the naked eye. He had no idea if it would work on vampires, but he knew Taemin, if anyone else saw him and could offer information of his whereabouts, Taemin would get it out of them.
He started off down the hall, looking for a hiding place. Heechul’s warning hung in his mind and kept him from opening any of the closed doors that he found. There were a number of spells that could have told him what lay behind the doors but he didn’t have time to cast them, and he was unwilling to leave it to chance. Instead he moved down the hall until he found a door that was ajar.
Onew knew a bit about vampires and one thing he knew about them was that they were highly territorial. He doubted a vampire would leave a door to their own space open since that would be like an invitation to all that passed by to enter. His time was running short, that much he knew, and that made him willing to chance it.
He ducked inside and found a simple sitting room housing two arm chairs and a table, that was much too open to provide any good hiding places within it. Beyond that, set into the far wall was a simple door that looked like it might lead to a closet. Not the best hiding spot, but one that would hopefully give him a moment or two to cast his spells for hiding. If nothing else he could cast them on the door itself to try and seem as though it hadn’t been opened or was locked. Locking a door was simple enough and he moved to it, glad to find that it was unlocked.
Carefully he pulled it open, just in case it wasn’t what he had thought it was, and peered inside. Darkness met his eyes and he felt along the wall for a switch. His fingers couldn’t find one and he sighed. There was hardly time to find a new hiding place now so whatever this was would have to do. If he had unwittingly stumbled into a bedroom he could always apologize later.
Onew pulled the door close behind him, and shifted to the side. He still couldn’t find the light switch and he hardly wanted to run into anything so instead he pressed his back to the wall and lifted his arm. On his wrist hung a charm bracelet that Hankyung had showed them how to use and made them to wear all the time. His fingers drifted over the charms one by one until he found the small one in the shape of a key.
It was the nearly completed enchantment to lock or unlock any door stored in a way that made it possible to be used again and again with a simple action, phrase, or word. Key had been flashy in the creation of his, choosing to pair motions with words in a variety of languages. Jessica and Henry had both used English phrases for theirs along with some creative motions. Onew preferred his to be simple and easy both to remember and to perform. He laid his palm against the door and simply said, “Lock.” He felt the enchantment activate, drawing a tiny bit of his power, and the locking mechanism clicked shut.
As if that had been some sort of signal, a low growl sounded from somewhere in the room. Onew’s heart leapt at the sound of it, since it hardly sounded friendly at all and his fingers scrambled for the shielding charm. Before he could find it a body slammed into his and his hands were wrenched apart as if whatever it was that was in the room with him had known what he had been trying to do. He scrambled to remember the words to a spell any spell but found that it didn’t matter when a second later he felt pain flare up on the right side of his neck. It only took a moment for him to realize that fangs were sinking into his neck, and another moment for it to register that blood was leaving his body. His mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out.
Several things registered in Onew’s panic and adrenaline filled brain all at one time. He was trapped, in a locked room, in the dark, with a vampire that was currently latched onto his neck, in a house where no one knew where he was, but more importantly then all of that, he realized he was going to die.
▪▫▪☼▪▫▪
“One hundred forty four. One hundred forty five,” Hankyung listened to the young vampire pronounce each and every word in a long drawn out fashion that made him want to strangle the teen and tell him to hurry up already. The quicker they played their game, the quicker Onew could be talked into going home, and the quicker he could get out of Heechul’s presence. It wasn’t that he was scared of the powerful vampire, quite the opposite in fact, but he would rather not stay too long in his presence for fear of what he may give into, especially with the way Heechul was currently watching him.
Key sat stiffly beside him, blissfully unaware of their silent exchange and trying to look at anything but Taemin. Hankyung knew of some of the history between the two, the attack that had killed a mutual friend of theirs and Taemin’s choice to be turned, which seemed like a betrayal to Key. He wasn’t certain that the young witch’s hostility was warranted but at the same time he also wasn’t certain it wasn’t.
Taemin had just said the last number when he felt it, something was inexplicitly wrong, not with him but with one of his. Although not connected to his coven through anything but magic, his age gave him an advantage that most blood bound witches didn’t have: he could feel when the members of his coven were in danger, and one of them was in horrible danger now. He was up off the couch at the same time Heechul hissed and rose from the chair.
Somehow he knew something was not right as well, which could simply be from being within his domain but more likely was because one of his own were directly involved. Without a word Heechul moved from the room staying just slow enough that Hankyung could follow him easily. The two confused teenagers scrambled behind them, more than likely trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Hankyung?” Key called, worry clouding his voice.
He didn’t have an answer for his unspoken question, so he didn’t offer one and neither did Heechul, although Taemin asked no questions, at least not verbally as he moved beside Heechul. At the speed they were going it was a short trip down a hall with few turns. The door Heechul reached first was ajar and that was very likely the only thing that saved it from being torn clean off its hinges.
It crashed into the wall, frightening the young man inside who was walking back towards the chair with a book in hand from the shelf. The young man, whom Hankyung recognized as Jonghyun, jumped nearly a foot into the air, screeching as he whirled to face them.
“Who is in his room?” Heechul said darkly, dangerous.
“I-I don’t know. I was in the bathroom just a minute ago,” Jonghyun muttered, clearly not yet recovered from the fright of the door smashing open.
Heechul snarled and moved to the door. Hankyung, having seen the anger of a vampire before darted sideways and threw a shield over himself and Key just as the vampire tore the door from its hinges and threw it against the far wall. Splinters fell against the shield and Taemin’s back in a deadly rain, yet bounced off both harmlessly. When they had settled, Taemin released Jonghyun whom he was curled around protectively and Hankyung let his shield fall in favor of pushing into the room.
A hand on his arm held him fast from entering the darkness and he hissed, “Let me go Heechul, we both know what is in there.”
“I know,” Heechul growled in return. “You do not. Lights.” As if triggered by his command, lights began to glow softly around the room. There in the center of the room was the single piece of furniture, a bed. Laying on it was Onew and above him was a vampire, his face turned towards them and his fangs bared in clear warning. “Enough,” Heechul said as if he was bored, but his grip did not loosen. “You are wasting his blood and he will die if you allow it to continue to flow freely.”
The creature looked as though it was contemplating whether or not to listen before it dropped its head and lapped at the puncture wounds on the side of Onew’s neck, never taking its glowing red eyes off of them. Slowly the blood flow eased until it was dripping sluggishly and then stopped altogether.
“Let me go!” Hankyung heard Key exclaim from behind him and could only assume that Taemin and Jonghyun had been attempting to keep him out of the room and away from harm. Taemin cried out in pain and Heechul hissed in response, although he didn’t turn behind him to see what was going on and neither did Hankyung.
“Let him go,” Heechul ordered. Hankyung was unclear of who he was speaking to. The vampire on the bed shifted so that if they were to try and get to Onew they would have to go through him. Hankyung watched for the tell tale signs of breathing and felt a bit of relief when he saw Onew’s chest rise and fall with it. He itched to reach for the sliver stake that he had concealed at the small of his back, but he couldn’t chance setting the vampire off and causing it to do further damage.
A moment later he noticed Key’s presence beside him before he heard the quite intake of breath and the sound of his weapon clattering to the floor as it slipped from numb fingers. He expected that Key was shocked at the sight of his friend in clutches of a vampire, but the word that fell from his mouth was not what Hankyung expected. In a soft disbelieving whisper he muttered, “Minho.”
Chapter Two
Masterlist
AN: So here it is, the spin off to "Off Flesh, Fur, and Fang". I didn't intend to write this already but my SHINee muses wanted it written... Hopefully when this little thing is said and done, it will answer some of the questions people have.