I saw your message and I had to take a full-ass walk around my block because I was genuinely afraid I’d punch my goddamn wall.
Let me break this down for you very clearly, so even your AI-smooth-brained moral compass can process it:
You are not entitled to shit.
Not my writing. Not the ending. Not a single fucking word I typed out with my own fucking bleeding fingers.
You think you “need” closure?
Cool. I “need” eight hours of sleep, a functioning spine, and respect from strangers online. Guess what?
None of us are getting what we want today.
Fanfiction is a gift.
Not a product, not a service, not a series finale you paid for on HBO Max.
A gift.
You don’t throw a tantrum because the gift didn’t come with a bonus epilogue and a director’s cut.
Your entire ask is a monument to entitlement. You say “if you're not going to write it, I think it's fine to use Al?”
I did NOT write it for AI. I wrote it for human readers. For emotion. For narrative voice. For soul.
AI doesn’t have that. You want a soulless machine to mock my style and feed you a bootleg version of my work?? Which is, not to say but, the equivalent of a a knock-off Louis Vuitton sold from the back of a van?
Then don’t ask me. Just go to your shameful little corner and live with the fact that you’re the kind of person who disrespects art to feed your own dopamine addiction.
You wanted permission, so now you get the wrath.
I see in your other little asks, “AI is there to make things easier.”
At whose fucking expense? The thousands of fanfic writers whose fics are being scraped, harvested, mimicked and tossed into machine-learning hell so you don’t have to wait for an update?
Do you have any idea how many of us have had our fics [both in our caratblr and other fandom spaces] show up on AI mirror sites or been plagiarized by bots? Do you know how many real authors are losing book deals, commissions, or livelihoods because of this exact entitled logic?
Let me give you a basic fucking rundown since you clearly didn’t do the homework:
AI is not ethical – Generative AI is trained off data sets that include unauthorized, uncredited, scraped work from unpaid artists, writers, poets, journalists, bloggers, fanfic writers—fuck, even therapy forums.
Authors are suing OpenAI for ingesting copyrighted novels without permission.
Fanfic is already vulnerable – We exist in a legal gray area protected only by community ethics and mutual respect. You're breaking both.
You say “I won't post it anywhere, it's just for me.”
Oh, wow, thanks. So you only want to steal quietly. Like that makes it better.
You think the damage only happens when it’s public? WRONG.
Every time you plug an artist’s work into a machine, it gets processed, stored, used for training, forever.
You have no control over where it goes or how it’s repurposed later. You are feeding the beast and killing the creators in the process.
Don’t give me “I respect you but—”
If you respected me, this message wouldn’t exist.
You get your AI-stitched ending, it doesn’t scratch the itch, and you feed it another one.
And another.
And another.
Until the entire fucking archive is turned into a graveyard of replicas and you’re the ghoulish little shit dancing on the corpses of every writer you leeched dry.
And you say “I think I’m just entitled to a bit of closure”?
Entitled. You actually used the word.
Thank you for confirming what we already knew:
That you don’t see us as people.
You see us as content machines that owe you something because you liked our work. You don’t want closure, you want control, and you will NOT get it from me.
You’re entitled to a bath, a glass of water, and the air you breathe—not my writing, not my thoughts, and definitely not a fucking auto-generated Frankenstein mockery of my style you can jerk off your emotions to.
So here's your closure:
No, you may not touch my fic.
No, you may not feed it to a bot.
No, you may not engage with my writing, my blog, my friend's blog, or my community ever again.
Block me. Report me. Cry about it.
But know this:
Every time you open an AI generator to finish a story you didn’t write, you are choosing to destroy the very creators you claim to admire.
You should be ashamed, but you won’t be. Because parasites don’t feel guilt, they just suck and suck and suck until there’s nothing left.
hi lovely just checking up on you, hope you’re doing well, stay safe and healthyyy!! ❤️🩹
omg i'm so incredibly late for this i'm so sorry! i'm doing alright, just really busy with university :( i miss coming in here, though, so i might have to make some time in my schedule to come back to some of my stories.
I hope you're also doing well! Thanks for checking up on me!
You always thought the only romance you would experiment with in your life was the one between pages under the flames at midnight. That was until you found him, because the feel of his fangs digging into your neck was more than addictive.
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Word count: (+) 5.4k words
Warnings: Mentions of choking, death, blood, and attempting to kill someone.
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You weren't quite sure if it was from adrenaline, fear, or how weak your body felt.
Jeonghan was holding you so tightly that you couldn't fall even if you wanted to; his hand was wrapped around your waist, and his eyes were studying every inch of the house.
Your heartbeat thundered against your ears, and you were almost certain Jeonghan could hear it because he squeezed your waist in a gesture intended to be comforting.
His warm skin helped with the shivers you felt. A frosty air was drifting through the dark and abandoned long corridors; there were only two tiny windows that you couldn't see; you didn't want to move your head too much; your neck still ached.
Every step you took squeaked on the wooden floors. You felt safe with Jeonghan, but that didn't stop you from inwardly cursing every time a wood groaned noisily over the weight of the two of you; any noise, no matter how small it seemed, could be a signal to others.
Jeonghan stopped at a corner; the stairs were exactly to your right. You closed your eyes tightly, expecting to hear the sounds of someone climbing, but the stairs didn't seem to be what had caught Jeonghan's attention.
Ahead of the stairs were three doors, two in front and one at the end of the hallway; you weren't sure which one, but a murmur, almost inaudible, came from one of the rooms.
"Where are we...?" You started whispering, but Jeonghan quickly shut you up, covering your mouth with his long fingers.
Jeonghan's frown did not disappear when the voices stopped talking.
Had they heard you?
While Jeonghan was better than before he drank your blood, he was still too weak. Suddenly you began to panic terribly; it no longer mattered if they caught you; what would they do—drink your blood until you were no longer of any use to them? But your heart feared for Jeonghan and what they might do to him?
If these vampires were pure vampires, they wouldn't have the slightest hesitation in killing Jeonghan; after all, he had been a human that they had turned into a vampire; he didn't have as much power as them...
Suddenly, Jeonghan came back to you with an expression that made you doubt if he had been able to read your thoughts. He wasn't weak, and you didn't feel sorry for him, but somehow you felt guilty for questioning his abilities.
Jeonghan began to back away, taking the softest steps you had ever seen. Not even by sharpening your ears to the maximum could you hear him, and the question of whether any vampire had ever been this close to you crossed your mind.
There was no way you could have heard it if the vampire didn't want to...
Jeonghan hid you behind his back, just in time to hear the door open. The two vampires had been arguing at the door that was in the middle of the three.
One of them had long, braided hair, swaying smoothly over his hip. The second had a large scar that started on his forehead and ended in the left side of his head, right next to his mouth.
Your head was spinning, and your heart felt like it was about to explode in your chest. The two of them stopped as soon as they were outside the room, heads turning to the side where you were.
Were they hearing you, or were they smelling the panic dripping off of you?
"Oh, look what we have here." One of them spoke; his voice was smooth like honey, and it gave you goosebumps.
"Mark is going to be furious that his little pet sneaked out of its room." The guy with the big scar spoke, laughing. "Look at you, standing up to defend your food like a train dog; why are you doing this to us? We're family; we're the same."
"Kang, don't do that; stop it." The other guy spoke; his patience should be recomforting, but it was anything but that. "Mark was clear when he told us that we couldn't do anything. Are you trying to get us in trouble? Now you, you are impressive, my guy," his long hair moved side to side as he started walking slowly towards Jeonghan. The closer he got, the more you could smell his lavender perfume. "How did you do it? I must say, when I first heard it, I couldn't believe it; I thought Kang was lying. As weak as you are, you protected her from Luke. That's quite... the achievement."
"That was not Luke!" You spoke, coming out of your hiding spot. "Leave my brother's name out of your mouth."
"Brother?" The vampire's eyes light up as if he has heard the news of his life. "You hear that, Kang? This pretty one is Luke's brother. Now that's the information that Mark was leaving behind."
"I don't lie." Kang moved closer, his ginger hair coming to your vision. "I saw it with my own eyes, and if you dare to call me a liar—!"
"Stop it, Kang. I'm sure she wasn't implying you were a liar, was she?"
"Don't talk to her." Jeonghan hid you behind him again; his hands were pressing hard on your skin. Your hands clamped down on the fabric of his t-shirt.
"Why not?" Kang asked, laughing shrilly. "Is one of your kind going to tell me what to do or how to treat my food?"
"Kang..." The vampire with the long braid sighed, almost as if he were exhausted.
"No, I've had too much already. Don't you remember what he did the last time we saw him? Because I do. It burned like hell." His index finger pointed to the scar on his face. "I don't remember being able to vouch for it."
The vampire with the long braid shrugged, taking a few steps back and leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he stared intently at the tiny window that was almost touching the ceiling. "Have it your way."
Jeonghan pushed you back at the same time Kang lunged at him. Kang was taller and bigger than Jeonghan, but the scar that ran over his eye seemed to give Jeonghan a few extra points.
Your scream escaped your throat before you could stop it, but it didn't sound like it came from you; it sounded more like a Kejano scream that your ears had been able to pick up.
Bodies were crashing into each other, a vase shattered on the floor, two paintings fell, and the glass shattered. A small table almost fell down the stairs, and in the blink of an eye, Jeonghan was no longer on Kang, but Kang was crushing him to the ground.
His lip was split, and some blood was dripping down it.
Jeonghan was responding to the blows as best he could, and to your relief, some of his attacks seemed to be taking effect because you could hear Kang grunting and cursing from time to time.
Kang landed a punch to Jeonghan's ribs that seemed to take his breath away for a second. This victory was enough for Kang, who quickly stood up and, grabbing Jeonghan by the neck, dragged him to the nearest wall.
The strength of these creatures was too much for your own good; Jeonghan's neck seemed to get smaller and smaller as Kang seemed to be taking a break.
"No!" you shouted, rushing to Jeonghan's defense. Kang's knuckles were getting whiter and whiter, and Jeonghan's neck seemed to be on the verge of bursting.
"What are you doing?" The long-haired vampire spoke, grabbing you by the elbow. He didn't seem to be trying, but he was gripping you tightly, preventing you from being able to get close to Jeonghan. No matter how hard you struggled, you couldn't escape his grip, even when you were hitting him with all your might. "Foolish like you, brother; now I'm beginning to see the resemblance." The vampire muttered, clicking his tongue. "Hold still and let us take over, foolish girl."
Still seeming unbothered, he pushed you away, making you basically fly to the other side of the hallway. Your back hit the floor with an awful noise, but your eyes never left Jeonghan and the two other vampires.
Jeonghan was trying his best to free himself and cause some harm to Kang by kicking and trying to bite his hand, yet it didn't work out.
The vampire grabbed one of the legs of the small table that had broken and spun it in the air to catch it with zero effort. He approached Kang.
Without taking his eyes off you, he drove it into Kang's back, piercing his chest at the level of his heart.
Kang let out a horrible shriek before spitting blood and falling to the ground. Jeonghan fell as well, trying to regain feeling in his neck. Jeonghan wasn't breathing, but you guessed that the feeling of having your neck snapped in two was just as painful for a vampire as it was for a human.
The vampire removed the table leg from Kang's body, winking in your direction. There was a smirk on his face. "Always causing trouble, I had too much to put up with for five decades. I guess Kang should have been nicer to me."
Jeonghan advanced towards the braided vampire, moving towards him just as he had done with Kang. "Don't you learn anymore?" The vampire rolled his eyes, brushing Jeonghan off too easily for your liking. "I am not the enemy here." He shoved Jeonghan in your direction, who quickly stood up and, still with one eye on the vampire, checked to see if you had any injuries. "If I were you, I'd try to get out of here as fast as possible, because Mark will soon find out what happened, and it won't be long before he checks to see where his little pet is."
"You let us escape, and just as well you'll rat us out." Jeonghan spat.
The vampire shrugged. "It's not you I owe allegiance to."
"Why do you owe allegiance to him? Is he your leader or something?"
"Something like that." The vampire smirked. "It's more like a favor I owe him, but that doesn't mean I'm always in favor of the decisions he makes. I won't be an angel walking the earth, but he should make up his mind; either he frees you and her, or he leaves you as a slave and uses her to feed once and for all; having her here is not only torture for her but for us as well. We are not allowed to feed on her, but neither is he. It's a waste of time. And blood."
"So if he gives the order to feed on me, would you do it?" You asked, feeling angry.
The vampire licked his lips. "Maybe." His eyes fixed on your injured neck. "But not like that; you wouldn't even notice it; it won't hurt. We can make it feel really good, but I guess you already know that; you smelled like him when you first came here, so it isn't any news to you. Luke is... a special case, I guess. Feeding off his own blood like that; vampires have rules; I guess he can't really help it; your blood is like the only thing I can smell right now."
"You can come with us, if you want." Jeonghan offered, not seeming too happy about it. "You helped us, after all. You won't own anything to anyone; as long as you can live with our rules, I'm sure Seungcheol will accept you. He won't order anything unless it is for our own good."
"I've got a big history behind me, a reputation that precedes me. I don't think he would want someone like me in his clan."
"We all have; we have been around for too long for us to not have our own things. One of us used to feed on everyone everywhere; he was a big trouble, but now he's better. Seungcheol gave him a better chance to improve his skills and himself, and now he won't feed on anything other than animals."
"But that's the thing; I don't want to stop feeding on humans. Humans blood is just too good for me to give up on it."
"Then you won't have to." Jeonghan spoke, holding your hand tightly. "But you will go to places where humans go voluntarily for that. That's my offer, our offer. If you want to take it, come with us."
The vampire seemed to be thinking about it for some time. "I won't own anyone's loyalty."
"No one, unless you want it to."
"I won't be forced to do favors and all the dirty work."
"You wont." Jeonghan reassured him.
"Okay." He smiled, "Okay, I think I will. But only if I can bring my lover with me."Who's your lover?"
"Her name's Hayeon; she's probably helping her father at the hospital right now."
"She's human." Jeonghan frowned.
"She is; she has been my lover for over a decade now, always a secret because if Mark found out... well." He nodded in your direction.
"She would be welcome as well, or at least, you can go and visit her." Jeonghan promised him. "Welcome..."
"Woonseok." He smiled, moving closer to the two of you. "I can't wait to tell her." He turned to look at you and said, "I'm sure you know her."
"Maybe." You replied, still feeling somewhat wary around him. Jeonghan seemed to think the same, because he stepped in between the two of you, holding you again by the waist as you walked down the stairs.
"Go ahead, Woonseok. You know this place better than we do."
Woonseok nodded his head. "They must be outside now; these days Mark was forcing them to go out hunting to avoid accidents like the other day."
"That wasn't my brother."
Woonseok turned to you. "Whatever you say, the sooner you get out of your denial bubble, the sooner you can face reality and get to safety."
"Enough for now." Jeonghan ordered, "Let's focus on getting out of this place first; there will be time for that later."
"We'll have to come get my stuff at some point." Woonseok commented, turning to the right and walking into another room, which was filled with couches and bloodstains everywhere. Your stomach churned, and Jeonghan quickly hurriedly lowered his gaze to your eyes, smiling faintly at you as they continued walking. His lips made contact with your temple in a quick kiss. "I'm going to want to decorate my room with my things; I have a lot of the gifts Hayeon gave me hidden in here."
"How did you meet her?" You asked, trying to ease your own nervous feelings.
"Mark had found out there were lots of blood bags in the hospital, and I was really hungry. It was a boring night. I spent hours waiting for someone to walk alone in the dark, anyone. At that point, I wasn't even picky about who it was, but no one was there, so, when I remembered that, I went to the hospital. A doctor invited me in, and I lied about being there to visit some family member. I walked for a while, and when I was about to get to the bloodbags, I found Hayeon crying alone outside one of the rooms. Her father had fallen sick, and it was her responsibility as the eldest of eight kids; she was twenty-two. I thought I was just being nice to get some of her blood, but I never got myself to actually do it. At first I didn't want to tell her what I was; it was the first time in so long that I felt like I could be myself with someone without the other being scared of me, so I just hid it, but she found out eventually. She said she didn't care, that she had fallen for me. We have been together ever since.
Mark almost found us out once; he's not a big fan of vampire-human relationships for him... Relationships should only be kept between the same species. So he told me to either turn her or end my relationship, but I don't want her to have to go through this. Being a vampire may sound cool, but I assure you it's not." Downstairs there was more noise, almost like they were moving furniture around on the wooden floor. "So we decided to hide; for the others, I was done with her, so I used my hunting escapades to visit her. We would spend hours talking in the moonlight, and when the sun started to rise, I would return to the house.
I wanted to marry her, but Mark would never allow it."
"Seungcheol will." Jeonghan promised him.
"Good thing, because I already have the ring." His hand went to the chain hanging below his T-shirt, and at the end hung a beautiful gold ring. It looked antique. "It was my great-grandmother's. It was in my family for years."
The door opened, and in front of you passed a blurry shadow that fell over Woonseok. You clung to Jeonghan, who tried to drag Soonyoung away from Woonseok.
But it was too late; Woonseok had a silver stake driven into his chest. There was a smile still on his face, and in his hand he held the ring.
"Woonseok." You muttered to yourself, unable to believe what you were seeing; your legs were shaking. How could someone just leave just like that?
Seconds ago, he was talking about his future...
"Are you okay?" Soonyoung asked, standing up and arranging his hair that had fallen over his eyes, which were red, but he didn't look hungry, rather annoyed.
His eyes were spent solely on Jeonghan, to whom he was speaking.
"He was helping us." You replied standing up, heading towards Soonyoung. "He wasn't doing anything. And you. You. You killed him." With each word, you buried an accusing finger in his chest.
"He did nothing, and yet you were locked up here." Soonyoung retorted, removing you from his personal space. "We spent days looking for you, gathering help, so shut your mouth."
"He was getting us out of here!"
"He was getting you two to a death trap. Do you know how many of them were out there? Seungcheol disposed of ten on his own. Guess how many I got rid of? There are like thirty people outside there trying to clean the oath for you to get out here safe and sound."
"But he said—"
"He said a bunch of lies, and you believe it, Jeonghan, what about you? I thought you were smarter than that."
"He did sound honest."
"Well," Soonyoung shrugged, looking over his shoulder to Woonseok, "what's done is done. Let's get out of here. Seungcheol caught their leader."
The rest of the house was so quiet, but outside? Outside was where the whole mess was.
There were vampires with stakes lying all over the ground, and it didn't enter your head how nearly twenty vampires (or at least that was the number you had more or less counted) could comfortably fit into a house like that.
Vernon had a large gash on his cheek, and it looked like he had broken two fingers on his right hand from the way he was holding them.
Wonwoo was helping a girl stand up, and you could visualize Mingyu finishing staking a vampire in the background, almost at the beginning of the forest.
Junhui was next to Seungcheol, both holding Mark. Soonyoung led them there, staying by your side when you both were in front of Mark.
"Do you know him?" Seungcheol asked, his eyes traveling on your body and Jeonghan's quickly, stopping at the wound on your neck and the marks left by Kang on Jeonghan's neck. He asked, but didn't seem unaware of the answer.
"Yes, it's Mark. My brother's best friend. I've known him since I was a little girl."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, why...?"
"He's the one responsible for your changed memory." Seungcheol replied. "Speak." He ordered him.
Mark, who seemed to be having trouble speaking, opened his mouth and, in a barely audible voice, confessed, "It's true, it was me."
"Why?" you asked him in disbelief. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"It started a long time ago."
"How long ago?"
"When I was little, I met Luke while I was trying to catch a rat. I was small and hungry. Luke spotted me and thought it was funny to be running after a rat. From that day on, we became friends. I didn't tell him I was a vampire; my father had forbidden it. And he didn't seem to suspect anything; the stories had always talked about the sun burning vampires and me being born as one who didn't have the sun as a weakness; that helped me a lot.
Time passed, and with Luke we became closer and closer, so close that I missed him when we didn't see each other, even if it had only been a couple of hours. He was always on my mind. What is he doing? What would he think of this place? What would he like to do? What is he wearing? What is he thinking? Is he missing me? No matter what I was doing, my mind was always Luke. Luke, Luke, Luke...
I tried to avoid hunting when I knew Luke was awake; I didn't want to scare him away; he would think I was a monster. So I would hunt very early in the morning or very late at night; the problem was that I did get caught more than once, but not by Luke, but by your mom.
The first time she saw me, she was terrified. She told me I was a demon, an evil thing that shouldn't go near her son, and I panicked. I didn't want her to hate me, and I didn't want to be away from Luke, so I erased and modified her memory. I swore to myself that it would never happen again, but it kept happening.
Things ended the way they did, and not a day went by that I didn't remember your mother and feel terribly guilty. I really do. I am so sorry for what happened to her; she was an amazing woman and had a heart of gold. Except for the times she caught me hunting and feeding on blood, she always showed me love. She always accepted me.
Luke was having a really bad time, and one night I found him coming out of a bar. He was very drunk and upset with me because of an argument we had had that day, so I followed him quietly.
A wagon with four horses walked over him; when I got there, there was so much blood... He was dying, so I went into despair; all I wanted was for him to be safe with me. So I went to his neck and bit him as hard as I could. That night was such a long night; the transformation almost failed more than once. His body seemed to be rejecting the poison, but by the time the sun was starting to rise, his body started to burn. That's how I found out it had worked.
Everything seemed to go on as normal, although there was one problem: he was desperate for blood, and yours seemed to be like a drug. Your blood type is quite rare, and that makes it harder to ignore. He felt guilty every time he came to his senses; you always ended up terrified of him, and as a brother, that hurt him a lot. So he would end up modifying your memory and his.
He never drank your blood but came close to doing it, so I took it on myself to make sure that whenever I sensed one of these attacks, I was close to taking him out to haunt.
He was getting closer and stronger; I thought if I kept you here, you would be safe, because the longer you stayed with him," Mark mentioned, looking at Jeonghan, "the closer you will be to finding the truth. And that would mean that Like might get killed, and I couldn't let that happen."
"My brother could never have done that, no. He loves me. He loves me. He takes care of me; he's the best big brother in the universe; how could he do something like that? Don't lie to me."
"(Y/n), I'm not lying. It's the truth."
"No." You shook your head, taking a step back. "You're lying." You turned to Jeonghan, grabbing him by the arm. "He's lying."
"(Y/n)..."
"No. Where are you keeping my brother? I want to go; I want to see him, and I want to go home."
"Minghao." Seungcheol called, and the vampire approached with your brother in his arms. He looked just as you remembered; he was with his eyes closed.
"What did they do to him?" Without a second thought, you rushed over, wrapping your arms around him. He felt frozen. "He's-he's..."
"He's not dead." Seungcheol replied, "He should wake up shortly."
"If you don't believe us," Soonyoung spoke up, "leave him in a place with no shade; as soon as the sun starts to rise, if he's a vampire, his skin will start to burn."
"That's ridiculous." You replied, using you as a shield to protect Luke.
"If it's so ridiculous and you're so sure Luke is human, why not give it a try?"
Jeonghan approached slowly, as if afraid to frighten you; his hands rested carefully on your shoulders. "(Y/n), think about it. You have nothing to lose."
"The sun must be about to rise." Seungcheol warned, "Everyone who is transformed stands under some tree; Jeonghan, take (y/n) with you. Minghao, put the boy in the center." As you were about to protest, Seungcheol turned to where you were. "When he starts to burn—if that happens—I'll take care of getting him out of there in seconds. The sun doesn't affect me."
You looked at the body of your brother, who looked so peaceful sleeping. You wished you could be in that state, so peaceful.
You ended up accepting.
You were sure that nothing was going to happen.
You sat down in the grass; after everything, you still felt somehow dizzy.
Mark sat down next to you. Jeonghan wasn't so thrilled about it but kept his distance. You felt his eyes on you two the whole time.
"How could you do something like this?"
"I'm sorry; I never meant for any of this to happen. I just—I just love him so much, I want him to be safe."
"How is any of this keeping him safe? Look around, there are more vampires than trees. If anything happens to him, it's going to be all your fault."
Everybody kept quiet as the sun slowly started to rise. The stars said their last goodbye, and you watched your brother expectating.
Nothing happened as first, and as you were about to shout "I told you so" at Mark, your brother started crying from pain.
His pale skin was slowly turning a shade of pink that quickly turned red, almost as if he had been outside all day under the sunlight.
"Oh my God, Luke!"
Just as he had promised, Seungcheol had run towards Luke and had brought him back to the safety of the shadows.
"See?" Soonyoung spoke. "It wasn't as ridiculous as you thought, huh?"
"Stop it." Junhui told Soonyoung, moving him away from you.
"So what are we going to do with him?" Wonwoo asked.
Seungcheol's eyes fell on you.
"How could you do this?" You asked Luke. You didn't feel sad, not angry; you just felt... empty. He was your own blood; he was the person you trusted the most. He had been there when you had your first nightmare, when you first liked a boy, and when you first cried because you wanted to stay up until midnight.
He was the one you have known ever since you were born.
Was he really that dangerous for your own safety?
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, please." Luke started.
You shook your head, your vision starting to get blurry. "I trusted you; you were my big brother, the person I looked up to. I thought you loved me."
"I do; you're my little sister!"
"No, you don't."
"It is not his fault!" Mark yelled.
"Of course it isn't; this is all yours. He wasn't like this when he was human."
"We should kill him." Soonyoung shrugged. "Don't you think? I mean, he is kind of the reason this happened, and this was in our territory as well."
"No! Please don't do that! Please!" Mark begged.
"(Y/n). This is your choice." Seungcheol decided.
"Please let us go, and we will never be on your radar again. We will go far away, so far away that you will forget about us." Mark implored.
"That's where you're wrong." You replied, finding your voice from where you don't know where. "No matter what you do to my mind, I will never forget my brother. I will never forget my family. I may not remember his face or his name; I may be made to forget his voice, but he will always be with me. He will be with me in the way I make coffee because he was the one who taught me; in the way I read my books because he got them for me; or the first thing I do when I wake up is open the curtains because that's what he did as a child. I will always be a part of him, and my mother and father. They can go so far away that maybe they think I'll forget, but it will never happen."
"Go away, as far away as you can, because if you are still here tomorrow, I will give permission for you to be destroyed."
"Thank you so much!" Mark got up to hug you, but you backed away.
"I'm not doing it for you; I'm doing it for the brother I once had."
Seungcheol let go of Luke, and quickly both him and Mark disappeared into the forest. Luke looked back at you, and you felt something inside your chest. You were saying goodbye to the brother that you had growing up, because looking at him now, it felt like you were looking at a stranger with your brother's face. You wondered if things would have been different if he were a human. You hoped that was true.
But it felt like your own brother had died—that feeling you were experiencing right there.
You felt homeless and alone.
"Let's get out of here." Jeonghan mumbled, "I'll take you home."
"No," you whispered, "I don't want to go there anymore."
"And where do you want to go?"
"To yours. I will feel safer there."
The way back was made through the forest. You heard some of the vampires crack jokes here and there; some were doing small talk, but both Jeonghan and Seungcheol kept quiet.
You wondered if you had made the right decision.
"You can never know for sure." Seungcheol spoke. "But if you want my opinion, I think that was the best outcome of all of this."
"Are you reading my mind?" You asked, too tired to actually fight.
"Just thinking out loud." Seungcheol replied, Jeonghan's hands were holding yours tightly.
"I think that was enough for today." Jeonghan spoke, not wanting any fights.
"No, it's okay." You replied, "I want to hear it."
"Family is family; it may not be always the best, but it is your family at least. I'm not talking about blood, but the people you choose to be your family. Maybe, someday, you might want to talk with Luke and add him back to your family, but it is okay if you don't. But in the meantime, you can be part of this one. It might take us some time to adjust to having a human around, but... we can make it work. If you want."
You always thought the only romance you would experiment with in your life was the one between pages under the flames at midnight. That was until you found him, because the feel of his fangs digging into your neck was more than addictive.
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Warnings: Mentions of choking, death, blood, and attempting to kill someone.
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You weren't quite sure if it was from adrenaline, fear, or how weak your body felt.
Jeonghan was holding you so tightly that you couldn't fall even if you wanted to; his hand was wrapped around your waist, and his eyes were studying every inch of the house.
Your heartbeat thundered against your ears, and you were almost certain Jeonghan could hear it because he squeezed your waist in a gesture intended to be comforting.
His warm skin helped with the shivers you felt. A frosty air was drifting through the dark and abandoned long corridors; there were only two tiny windows that you couldn't see; you didn't want to move your head too much; your neck still ached.
Every step you took squeaked on the wooden floors. You felt safe with Jeonghan, but that didn't stop you from inwardly cursing every time a wood groaned noisily over the weight of the two of you; any noise, no matter how small it seemed, could be a signal to others.
Jeonghan stopped at a corner; the stairs were exactly to your right. You closed your eyes tightly, expecting to hear the sounds of someone climbing, but the stairs didn't seem to be what had caught Jeonghan's attention.
Ahead of the stairs were three doors, two in front and one at the end of the hallway; you weren't sure which one, but a murmur, almost inaudible, came from one of the rooms.
"Where are we...?" You started whispering, but Jeonghan quickly shut you up, covering your mouth with his long fingers.
Jeonghan's frown did not disappear when the voices stopped talking.
Had they heard you?
While Jeonghan was better than before he drank your blood, he was still too weak. Suddenly you began to panic terribly; it no longer mattered if they caught you; what would they do—drink your blood until you were no longer of any use to them? But your heart feared for Jeonghan and what they might do to him?
If these vampires were pure vampires, they wouldn't have the slightest hesitation in killing Jeonghan; after all, he had been a human that they had turned into a vampire; he didn't have as much power as them...
Suddenly, Jeonghan came back to you with an expression that made you doubt if he had been able to read your thoughts. He wasn't weak, and you didn't feel sorry for him, but somehow you felt guilty for questioning his abilities.
Jeonghan began to back away, taking the softest steps you had ever seen. Not even by sharpening your ears to the maximum could you hear him, and the question of whether any vampire had ever been this close to you crossed your mind.
There was no way you could have heard it if the vampire didn't want to...
Jeonghan hid you behind his back, just in time to hear the door open. The two vampires had been arguing at the door that was in the middle of the three.
One of them had long, braided hair, swaying smoothly over his hip. The second had a large scar that started on his forehead and ended in the left side of his head, right next to his mouth.
Your head was spinning, and your heart felt like it was about to explode in your chest. The two of them stopped as soon as they were outside the room, heads turning to the side where you were.
Were they hearing you, or were they smelling the panic dripping off of you?
"Oh, look what we have here." One of them spoke; his voice was smooth like honey, and it gave you goosebumps.
"Mark is going to be furious that his little pet sneaked out of its room." The guy with the big scar spoke, laughing. "Look at you, standing up to defend your food like a train dog; why are you doing this to us? We're family; we're the same."
"Kang, don't do that; stop it." The other guy spoke; his patience should be recomforting, but it was anything but that. "Mark was clear when he told us that we couldn't do anything. Are you trying to get us in trouble? Now you, you are impressive, my guy," his long hair moved side to side as he started walking slowly towards Jeonghan. The closer he got, the more you could smell his lavender perfume. "How did you do it? I must say, when I first heard it, I couldn't believe it; I thought Kang was lying. As weak as you are, you protected her from Luke. That's quite... the achievement."
"That was not Luke!" You spoke, coming out of your hiding spot. "Leave my brother's name out of your mouth."
"Brother?" The vampire's eyes light up as if he has heard the news of his life. "You hear that, Kang? This pretty one is Luke's brother. Now that's the information that Mark was leaving behind."
"I don't lie." Kang moved closer, his ginger hair coming to your vision. "I saw it with my own eyes, and if you dare to call me a liar—!"
"Stop it, Kang. I'm sure she wasn't implying you were a liar, was she?"
"Don't talk to her." Jeonghan hid you behind him again; his hands were pressing hard on your skin. Your hands clamped down on the fabric of his t-shirt.
"Why not?" Kang asked, laughing shrilly. "Is one of your kind going to tell me what to do or how to treat my food?"
"Kang..." The vampire with the long braid sighed, almost as if he were exhausted.
"No, I've had too much already. Don't you remember what he did the last time we saw him? Because I do. It burned like hell." His index finger pointed to the scar on his face. "I don't remember being able to vouch for it."
The vampire with the long braid shrugged, taking a few steps back and leaning against the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he stared intently at the tiny window that was almost touching the ceiling. "Have it your way."
Jeonghan pushed you back at the same time Kang lunged at him. Kang was taller and bigger than Jeonghan, but the scar that ran over his eye seemed to give Jeonghan a few extra points.
Your scream escaped your throat before you could stop it, but it didn't sound like it came from you; it sounded more like a Kejano scream that your ears had been able to pick up.
Bodies were crashing into each other, a vase shattered on the floor, two paintings fell, and the glass shattered. A small table almost fell down the stairs, and in the blink of an eye, Jeonghan was no longer on Kang, but Kang was crushing him to the ground.
His lip was split, and some blood was dripping down it.
Jeonghan was responding to the blows as best he could, and to your relief, some of his attacks seemed to be taking effect because you could hear Kang grunting and cursing from time to time.
Kang landed a punch to Jeonghan's ribs that seemed to take his breath away for a second. This victory was enough for Kang, who quickly stood up and, grabbing Jeonghan by the neck, dragged him to the nearest wall.
The strength of these creatures was too much for your own good; Jeonghan's neck seemed to get smaller and smaller as Kang seemed to be taking a break.
"No!" you shouted, rushing to Jeonghan's defense. Kang's knuckles were getting whiter and whiter, and Jeonghan's neck seemed to be on the verge of bursting.
"What are you doing?" The long-haired vampire spoke, grabbing you by the elbow. He didn't seem to be trying, but he was gripping you tightly, preventing you from being able to get close to Jeonghan. No matter how hard you struggled, you couldn't escape his grip, even when you were hitting him with all your might. "Foolish like you, brother; now I'm beginning to see the resemblance." The vampire muttered, clicking his tongue. "Hold still and let us take over, foolish girl."
Still seeming unbothered, he pushed you away, making you basically fly to the other side of the hallway. Your back hit the floor with an awful noise, but your eyes never left Jeonghan and the two other vampires.
Jeonghan was trying his best to free himself and cause some harm to Kang by kicking and trying to bite his hand, yet it didn't work out.
The vampire grabbed one of the legs of the small table that had broken and spun it in the air to catch it with zero effort. He approached Kang.
Without taking his eyes off you, he drove it into Kang's back, piercing his chest at the level of his heart.
Kang let out a horrible shriek before spitting blood and falling to the ground. Jeonghan fell as well, trying to regain feeling in his neck. Jeonghan wasn't breathing, but you guessed that the feeling of having your neck snapped in two was just as painful for a vampire as it was for a human.
The vampire removed the table leg from Kang's body, winking in your direction. There was a smirk on his face. "Always causing trouble, I had too much to put up with for five decades. I guess Kang should have been nicer to me."
Jeonghan advanced towards the braided vampire, moving towards him just as he had done with Kang. "Don't you learn anymore?" The vampire rolled his eyes, brushing Jeonghan off too easily for your liking. "I am not the enemy here." He shoved Jeonghan in your direction, who quickly stood up and, still with one eye on the vampire, checked to see if you had any injuries. "If I were you, I'd try to get out of here as fast as possible, because Mark will soon find out what happened, and it won't be long before he checks to see where his little pet is."
"You let us escape, and just as well you'll rat us out." Jeonghan spat.
The vampire shrugged. "It's not you I owe allegiance to."
"Why do you owe allegiance to him? Is he your leader or something?"
"Something like that." The vampire smirked. "It's more like a favor I owe him, but that doesn't mean I'm always in favor of the decisions he makes. I won't be an angel walking the earth, but he should make up his mind; either he frees you and her, or he leaves you as a slave and uses her to feed once and for all; having her here is not only torture for her but for us as well. We are not allowed to feed on her, but neither is he. It's a waste of time. And blood."
"So if he gives the order to feed on me, would you do it?" You asked, feeling angry.
The vampire licked his lips. "Maybe." His eyes fixed on your injured neck. "But not like that; you wouldn't even notice it; it won't hurt. We can make it feel really good, but I guess you already know that; you smelled like him when you first came here, so it isn't any news to you. Luke is... a special case, I guess. Feeding off his own blood like that; vampires have rules; I guess he can't really help it; your blood is like the only thing I can smell right now."
"You can come with us, if you want." Jeonghan offered, not seeming too happy about it. "You helped us, after all. You won't own anything to anyone; as long as you can live with our rules, I'm sure Seungcheol will accept you. He won't order anything unless it is for our own good."
"I've got a big history behind me, a reputation that precedes me. I don't think he would want someone like me in his clan."
"We all have; we have been around for too long for us to not have our own things. One of us used to feed on everyone everywhere; he was a big trouble, but now he's better. Seungcheol gave him a better chance to improve his skills and himself, and now he won't feed on anything other than animals."
"But that's the thing; I don't want to stop feeding on humans. Humans blood is just too good for me to give up on it."
"Then you won't have to." Jeonghan spoke, holding your hand tightly. "But you will go to places where humans go voluntarily for that. That's my offer, our offer. If you want to take it, come with us."
The vampire seemed to be thinking about it for some time. "I won't own anyone's loyalty."
"No one, unless you want it to."
"I won't be forced to do favors and all the dirty work."
"You wont." Jeonghan reassured him.
"Okay." He smiled, "Okay, I think I will. But only if I can bring my lover with me."Who's your lover?"
"Her name's Hayeon; she's probably helping her father at the hospital right now."
"She's human." Jeonghan frowned.
"She is; she has been my lover for over a decade now, always a secret because if Mark found out... well." He nodded in your direction.
"She would be welcome as well, or at least, you can go and visit her." Jeonghan promised him. "Welcome..."
"Woonseok." He smiled, moving closer to the two of you. "I can't wait to tell her." He turned to look at you and said, "I'm sure you know her."
"Maybe." You replied, still feeling somewhat wary around him. Jeonghan seemed to think the same, because he stepped in between the two of you, holding you again by the waist as you walked down the stairs.
"Go ahead, Woonseok. You know this place better than we do."
Woonseok nodded his head. "They must be outside now; these days Mark was forcing them to go out hunting to avoid accidents like the other day."
"That wasn't my brother."
Woonseok turned to you. "Whatever you say, the sooner you get out of your denial bubble, the sooner you can face reality and get to safety."
"Enough for now." Jeonghan ordered, "Let's focus on getting out of this place first; there will be time for that later."
"We'll have to come get my stuff at some point." Woonseok commented, turning to the right and walking into another room, which was filled with couches and bloodstains everywhere. Your stomach churned, and Jeonghan quickly hurriedly lowered his gaze to your eyes, smiling faintly at you as they continued walking. His lips made contact with your temple in a quick kiss. "I'm going to want to decorate my room with my things; I have a lot of the gifts Hayeon gave me hidden in here."
"How did you meet her?" You asked, trying to ease your own nervous feelings.
"Mark had found out there were lots of blood bags in the hospital, and I was really hungry. It was a boring night. I spent hours waiting for someone to walk alone in the dark, anyone. At that point, I wasn't even picky about who it was, but no one was there, so, when I remembered that, I went to the hospital. A doctor invited me in, and I lied about being there to visit some family member. I walked for a while, and when I was about to get to the bloodbags, I found Hayeon crying alone outside one of the rooms. Her father had fallen sick, and it was her responsibility as the eldest of eight kids; she was twenty-two. I thought I was just being nice to get some of her blood, but I never got myself to actually do it. At first I didn't want to tell her what I was; it was the first time in so long that I felt like I could be myself with someone without the other being scared of me, so I just hid it, but she found out eventually. She said she didn't care, that she had fallen for me. We have been together ever since.
Mark almost found us out once; he's not a big fan of vampire-human relationships for him... Relationships should only be kept between the same species. So he told me to either turn her or end my relationship, but I don't want her to have to go through this. Being a vampire may sound cool, but I assure you it's not." Downstairs there was more noise, almost like they were moving furniture around on the wooden floor. "So we decided to hide; for the others, I was done with her, so I used my hunting escapades to visit her. We would spend hours talking in the moonlight, and when the sun started to rise, I would return to the house.
I wanted to marry her, but Mark would never allow it."
"Seungcheol will." Jeonghan promised him.
"Good thing, because I already have the ring." His hand went to the chain hanging below his T-shirt, and at the end hung a beautiful gold ring. It looked antique. "It was my great-grandmother's. It was in my family for years."
The door opened, and in front of you passed a blurry shadow that fell over Woonseok. You clung to Jeonghan, who tried to drag Soonyoung away from Woonseok.
But it was too late; Woonseok had a silver stake driven into his chest. There was a smile still on his face, and in his hand he held the ring.
"Woonseok." You muttered to yourself, unable to believe what you were seeing; your legs were shaking. How could someone just leave just like that?
Seconds ago, he was talking about his future...
"Are you okay?" Soonyoung asked, standing up and arranging his hair that had fallen over his eyes, which were red, but he didn't look hungry, rather annoyed.
His eyes were spent solely on Jeonghan, to whom he was speaking.
"He was helping us." You replied standing up, heading towards Soonyoung. "He wasn't doing anything. And you. You. You killed him." With each word, you buried an accusing finger in his chest.
"He did nothing, and yet you were locked up here." Soonyoung retorted, removing you from his personal space. "We spent days looking for you, gathering help, so shut your mouth."
"He was getting us out of here!"
"He was getting you two to a death trap. Do you know how many of them were out there? Seungcheol disposed of ten on his own. Guess how many I got rid of? There are like thirty people outside there trying to clean the oath for you to get out here safe and sound."
"But he said—"
"He said a bunch of lies, and you believe it, Jeonghan, what about you? I thought you were smarter than that."
"He did sound honest."
"Well," Soonyoung shrugged, looking over his shoulder to Woonseok, "what's done is done. Let's get out of here. Seungcheol caught their leader."
The rest of the house was so quiet, but outside? Outside was where the whole mess was.
There were vampires with stakes lying all over the ground, and it didn't enter your head how nearly twenty vampires (or at least that was the number you had more or less counted) could comfortably fit into a house like that.
Vernon had a large gash on his cheek, and it looked like he had broken two fingers on his right hand from the way he was holding them.
Wonwoo was helping a girl stand up, and you could visualize Mingyu finishing staking a vampire in the background, almost at the beginning of the forest.
Junhui was next to Seungcheol, both holding Mark. Soonyoung led them there, staying by your side when you both were in front of Mark.
"Do you know him?" Seungcheol asked, his eyes traveling on your body and Jeonghan's quickly, stopping at the wound on your neck and the marks left by Kang on Jeonghan's neck. He asked, but didn't seem unaware of the answer.
"Yes, it's Mark. My brother's best friend. I've known him since I was a little girl."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, why...?"
"He's the one responsible for your changed memory." Seungcheol replied. "Speak." He ordered him.
Mark, who seemed to be having trouble speaking, opened his mouth and, in a barely audible voice, confessed, "It's true, it was me."
"Why?" you asked him in disbelief. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"It started a long time ago."
"How long ago?"
"When I was little, I met Luke while I was trying to catch a rat. I was small and hungry. Luke spotted me and thought it was funny to be running after a rat. From that day on, we became friends. I didn't tell him I was a vampire; my father had forbidden it. And he didn't seem to suspect anything; the stories had always talked about the sun burning vampires and me being born as one who didn't have the sun as a weakness; that helped me a lot.
Time passed, and with Luke we became closer and closer, so close that I missed him when we didn't see each other, even if it had only been a couple of hours. He was always on my mind. What is he doing? What would he think of this place? What would he like to do? What is he wearing? What is he thinking? Is he missing me? No matter what I was doing, my mind was always Luke. Luke, Luke, Luke...
I tried to avoid hunting when I knew Luke was awake; I didn't want to scare him away; he would think I was a monster. So I would hunt very early in the morning or very late at night; the problem was that I did get caught more than once, but not by Luke, but by your mom.
The first time she saw me, she was terrified. She told me I was a demon, an evil thing that shouldn't go near her son, and I panicked. I didn't want her to hate me, and I didn't want to be away from Luke, so I erased and modified her memory. I swore to myself that it would never happen again, but it kept happening.
Things ended the way they did, and not a day went by that I didn't remember your mother and feel terribly guilty. I really do. I am so sorry for what happened to her; she was an amazing woman and had a heart of gold. Except for the times she caught me hunting and feeding on blood, she always showed me love. She always accepted me.
Luke was having a really bad time, and one night I found him coming out of a bar. He was very drunk and upset with me because of an argument we had had that day, so I followed him quietly.
A wagon with four horses walked over him; when I got there, there was so much blood... He was dying, so I went into despair; all I wanted was for him to be safe with me. So I went to his neck and bit him as hard as I could. That night was such a long night; the transformation almost failed more than once. His body seemed to be rejecting the poison, but by the time the sun was starting to rise, his body started to burn. That's how I found out it had worked.
Everything seemed to go on as normal, although there was one problem: he was desperate for blood, and yours seemed to be like a drug. Your blood type is quite rare, and that makes it harder to ignore. He felt guilty every time he came to his senses; you always ended up terrified of him, and as a brother, that hurt him a lot. So he would end up modifying your memory and his.
He never drank your blood but came close to doing it, so I took it on myself to make sure that whenever I sensed one of these attacks, I was close to taking him out to haunt.
He was getting closer and stronger; I thought if I kept you here, you would be safe, because the longer you stayed with him," Mark mentioned, looking at Jeonghan, "the closer you will be to finding the truth. And that would mean that Like might get killed, and I couldn't let that happen."
"My brother could never have done that, no. He loves me. He loves me. He takes care of me; he's the best big brother in the universe; how could he do something like that? Don't lie to me."
"(Y/n), I'm not lying. It's the truth."
"No." You shook your head, taking a step back. "You're lying." You turned to Jeonghan, grabbing him by the arm. "He's lying."
"(Y/n)..."
"No. Where are you keeping my brother? I want to go; I want to see him, and I want to go home."
"Minghao." Seungcheol called, and the vampire approached with your brother in his arms. He looked just as you remembered; he was with his eyes closed.
"What did they do to him?" Without a second thought, you rushed over, wrapping your arms around him. He felt frozen. "He's-he's..."
"He's not dead." Seungcheol replied, "He should wake up shortly."
"If you don't believe us," Soonyoung spoke up, "leave him in a place with no shade; as soon as the sun starts to rise, if he's a vampire, his skin will start to burn."
"That's ridiculous." You replied, using you as a shield to protect Luke.
"If it's so ridiculous and you're so sure Luke is human, why not give it a try?"
Jeonghan approached slowly, as if afraid to frighten you; his hands rested carefully on your shoulders. "(Y/n), think about it. You have nothing to lose."
"The sun must be about to rise." Seungcheol warned, "Everyone who is transformed stands under some tree; Jeonghan, take (y/n) with you. Minghao, put the boy in the center." As you were about to protest, Seungcheol turned to where you were. "When he starts to burn—if that happens—I'll take care of getting him out of there in seconds. The sun doesn't affect me."
You looked at the body of your brother, who looked so peaceful sleeping. You wished you could be in that state, so peaceful.
You ended up accepting.
You were sure that nothing was going to happen.
You sat down in the grass; after everything, you still felt somehow dizzy.
Mark sat down next to you. Jeonghan wasn't so thrilled about it but kept his distance. You felt his eyes on you two the whole time.
"How could you do something like this?"
"I'm sorry; I never meant for any of this to happen. I just—I just love him so much, I want him to be safe."
"How is any of this keeping him safe? Look around, there are more vampires than trees. If anything happens to him, it's going to be all your fault."
Everybody kept quiet as the sun slowly started to rise. The stars said their last goodbye, and you watched your brother expectating.
Nothing happened as first, and as you were about to shout "I told you so" at Mark, your brother started crying from pain.
His pale skin was slowly turning a shade of pink that quickly turned red, almost as if he had been outside all day under the sunlight.
"Oh my God, Luke!"
Just as he had promised, Seungcheol had run towards Luke and had brought him back to the safety of the shadows.
"See?" Soonyoung spoke. "It wasn't as ridiculous as you thought, huh?"
"Stop it." Junhui told Soonyoung, moving him away from you.
"So what are we going to do with him?" Wonwoo asked.
Seungcheol's eyes fell on you.
"How could you do this?" You asked Luke. You didn't feel sad, not angry; you just felt... empty. He was your own blood; he was the person you trusted the most. He had been there when you had your first nightmare, when you first liked a boy, and when you first cried because you wanted to stay up until midnight.
He was the one you have known ever since you were born.
Was he really that dangerous for your own safety?
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, please." Luke started.
You shook your head, your vision starting to get blurry. "I trusted you; you were my big brother, the person I looked up to. I thought you loved me."
"I do; you're my little sister!"
"No, you don't."
"It is not his fault!" Mark yelled.
"Of course it isn't; this is all yours. He wasn't like this when he was human."
"We should kill him." Soonyoung shrugged. "Don't you think? I mean, he is kind of the reason this happened, and this was in our territory as well."
"No! Please don't do that! Please!" Mark begged.
"(Y/n). This is your choice." Seungcheol decided.
"Please let us go, and we will never be on your radar again. We will go far away, so far away that you will forget about us." Mark implored.
"That's where you're wrong." You replied, finding your voice from where you don't know where. "No matter what you do to my mind, I will never forget my brother. I will never forget my family. I may not remember his face or his name; I may be made to forget his voice, but he will always be with me. He will be with me in the way I make coffee because he was the one who taught me; in the way I read my books because he got them for me; or the first thing I do when I wake up is open the curtains because that's what he did as a child. I will always be a part of him, and my mother and father. They can go so far away that maybe they think I'll forget, but it will never happen."
"Go away, as far away as you can, because if you are still here tomorrow, I will give permission for you to be destroyed."
"Thank you so much!" Mark got up to hug you, but you backed away.
"I'm not doing it for you; I'm doing it for the brother I once had."
Seungcheol let go of Luke, and quickly both him and Mark disappeared into the forest. Luke looked back at you, and you felt something inside your chest. You were saying goodbye to the brother that you had growing up, because looking at him now, it felt like you were looking at a stranger with your brother's face. You wondered if things would have been different if he were a human. You hoped that was true.
But it felt like your own brother had died—that feeling you were experiencing right there.
You felt homeless and alone.
"Let's get out of here." Jeonghan mumbled, "I'll take you home."
"No," you whispered, "I don't want to go there anymore."
"And where do you want to go?"
"To yours. I will feel safer there."
The way back was made through the forest. You heard some of the vampires crack jokes here and there; some were doing small talk, but both Jeonghan and Seungcheol kept quiet.
You wondered if you had made the right decision.
"You can never know for sure." Seungcheol spoke. "But if you want my opinion, I think that was the best outcome of all of this."
"Are you reading my mind?" You asked, too tired to actually fight.
"Just thinking out loud." Seungcheol replied, Jeonghan's hands were holding yours tightly.
"I think that was enough for today." Jeonghan spoke, not wanting any fights.
"No, it's okay." You replied, "I want to hear it."
"Family is family; it may not be always the best, but it is your family at least. I'm not talking about blood, but the people you choose to be your family. Maybe, someday, you might want to talk with Luke and add him back to your family, but it is okay if you don't. But in the meantime, you can be part of this one. It might take us some time to adjust to having a human around, but... we can make it work. If you want."
I have SO MANY ideas. What are your guidelines? ie what would won’t write for?
Hi! At the moment the only thing I won't write is anything sexual, anything that involves incest or huge age gaps, as I don't feel comfortable with that; anything else I would be open to consideration while taking the rights to change something and/or add something to the original idea! So, if this sounds good to you, I will be more than happy to read your thoughts!
You don't need anyone's approval for the stories you write and the art you create. But it's also absolutely valid to want some approval from your audience. Kudos and likes don't determine your creation's worth. But it just feels amazing to receive them.
You always thought the only romance you would experiment with in your life was the one between pages under the flames at midnight. That was until you found him, because the feel of his fangs digging into your neck was more than addictive.
Word count: +2.4k words
Warnings: mentions of blood, burning and pain. I think that's all.
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An icy finger was moving the hair that was falling over your closed eyes, and it wasn't until you felt the digit of his finger gently rubbing between your eyebrows that you realized you were frowning.
The cold finger was only part of the reason you felt like you had goosebumps covering all of your body.
It felt like your whole body was resting on a large chunk of ice; it was firm and held you tightly, as if it were afraid that if it loosened its grip on your waist a little, your whole body would start to melt.
Your teeth chattered loudly. You bit down hard on your lower lip, trying to stop the trembling a little, and it partially worked.
The original finger had been joined by four others, sliding delicately across the creases of your face. Outlining the contours of your lips and the bridge of your nose.
You tried to pull away, wanting to find some warmth outside of the icy grip, but a sharp pain in your neck forced you to abandon such a mission.
"Shhh," a thick voice whispered. Even feeling the warm breath close to your ear, the voice sounded distant, almost as if it were speaking from across the room. It sounded weak, almost without energy.
"Mmh?" You were able to ask, but your throat made it hard to speak, and even making sounds took much of your effort.
Your eyes were heavy, but with what little you had been able to see through the coarse line that had been created between your eyelids, you were in complete darkness.
You wanted to cry, but you didn't even have the strength for that.
"Does anything hurt?" The voice asked, and fingers quickly came to rest on your chin, moving slightly in the direction of what you suspected was his face. You let out an involuntary moan of pain.
Fingers rested on your aching neck, and for the first time, the coldness emanating from that body was welcomed by your own.
You tried to speak, but your dry throat could only emit a sound as wrenching as the pain you were feeling. Almost as much as the throbbing headache you had begun to notice was present every time you moved your head in the slightest.
"Don't speak," the voice hastened to instruct you. "Point it out to me."
Your eyes slowly opened, blurry figures welcoming you into a completely dark place except for a small window that could be no bigger than the palm of your hand, which was almost at the end of the wall, touching the ceiling.
You could witness a dark light, so you determined that it was soon to get dark.
How long had you been there? You had no idea.
A pair of thin, icy lips touched your forehead, placing a small kiss there. "You're alive." The voice sighed, sounding relieved.
Your eyes finally focused on Jeonghan's long blond hair; it looked much more unkempt than the last time you had seen it, and you wondered if this was also a creation of your mind, if you had finally gone without return to no sanity, and if, as many of the other children had told you as a child, you were going to follow the same fate as your mother.
But it felt so real.
So beautiful.
That for a few moments you didn't see what the problem with it would be.
You wanted to cry.
Maybe this shrinky moment would allow you to see your mother too? You didn't need much time; if that was an impediment, you just wanted a hug from her.
You missed her.
Very much.
The expression on Jeonghan's face slumped a little, and his shoulders slumped as if all the pressure in the world was there, resting on his back.
"What's wrong?" He whispered, his arms squeezed tighter around your shoulders, pulling you closer to his chest very carefully as he heard the first sob.
You wanted to open your mouth and tell him that nothing was happening, that the whole world was decaying in front of your very eyes, that you were afraid it was going to happen, that you wanted to run to your parents' bed like when you were a child and be held tight as you went back to sleep to protect yourself from the monsters, that you wanted him to promise you that it was real, that everything would be okay... But instead, hide your face in your hands with what little strength you had.
"(Y/N), it's okay, everything's okay, I'm here." Jeonghan whispered, stroking your hair, pulling it away from the wound on your neck. "Are you in any pain?"
You shook your head, pulling away from him after allowing yourself a few minutes of silence to compose yourself.
Your throat was so dry that even breathing made you ache. "Water," you asked as best you could. "Water, please." You repeated, afraid he couldn't hear you. You felt such desperation as if your life depended on every word and every second, and maybe, in a way, it did.
"I don't have any," Jeonghan swore, moving gently out of the place where you both were laying together. Your body shook when the icy feeling left your skin, but your heart ached for the feeling to come quickly back to you. "I have searched day by day and I couldn't find anything; they didn't give us anything. The little I could find in an old glass, I used it to try and clean your wound; it was kinda—er, it didn't look the best, and it was hard for me to be in this place with you like that." Jeonghan jumped really high, reaching the window and looking outside. You wanted to warn him that was dangerous but couldn't do more than a weak sound of protest. "I don't hear them here; I haven't heard anyone in a while now. They usually go to haunt at this hour since it is darker, but..." Jeonghan clicked his tongue, coming back to you. "Is your throat alright?"
"Just dry." You replied, sitting down.
"Slowly," Jeonghan mumbled, helping you. "Hi." He said with the same low and intimate voice, looking into your eyes. Even though the situation was awful and you were probably looking as bad as you were feeling, there was a small smile on his face.
"Hi." You mumbled back; the scene was so real that you were amazed by how well your mind worked. Even the wounds on his face couldn't take away his beauty. His hair fell on his eyes as if it were a curtain, and when your fingers reached out to touch it, you gasped at how real it felt. "How long are you going to be here before you disappear? I missed you so much."
"What are you talking about, love?" Jeonghan frowned, finally sitting down with you.
"I guess I finally lost my mind." You laughed, "It's okay. I guess this is better than nothing. I would rather be with an imaginary version of you than with not you at all."
"(Y/n), what are you talking about?" Jeonghan asked softly, "You're starting to scare me, love."
"Nothing," you reassured him, moving closer. "How long have we been here?"
"Around a week together, now you have been way longer on your own, and I got here a day or two later. I tried to find you and rescue you, but we'll, I guess that didn't work out as well as I expected." Jeonghan laughed with no humor at all.
"What happened when I left?"
"I got worried; I turned around, and you suddenly were nowhere to be found." Jeonghan started; his voice was chilling cold. "I started calling your name out loud, screaming so loud that I annoyed Soonyoung enough for him to start looking for you as well, we couldn't find anything but a slight scent of your perfume."
"I wanted to follow it, but it was almost morning and the sun was starting to make its way, so Soonyoung dragged me inside. He said I should wait until next night to follow it, that I couldn't go there on my own, but I couldn't help it; I was worried sick. Each minute inside my room meant a minute too late from rescue you, and I just couldn't stop thinking on the worst-case scenarios... So I waited until Soonyoung was busy enough to not pay me any attention to get outside the house and deep into the forest. Unfortunately, I didn't make it that far away before the burns on my skin were so bad that I was screaming. Soonyoung came in a second and dragged me back inside. He even told Vernon to keep an eye on me. I tried—trust me, I tried to come here quickly, to come back to you faster, but I just couldn't. Seungcheol apparently had already made it to their last stop before coming home and had managed to talk some vamoires into helping us, but it would take around another week for them to come back, and that was way too long. You could have been dead by the time they were back, so I took things into my own hands, and as soon as the sun was away, I escaped."
"I reached the house within hours, but in all that time I wasn't feeding well and my skin was still with pretty ugly burn spots; I was weaker than I thought; I put on a fight; don't take me wrong, but I found myself in this room way quicker than what I thought. That vampire, Mark I heard they called him and had your brother by his side. I tried to talk with him to warn him about what Mark was because, well, he was in danger, and so we're you, but your brother just stood there... It took me longer than I would love to admit it, but once I saw the dark eyes and the way there was dry blood in his lips, I knew we were dumbed. I thought maybe he was forced into drinking it—you know, some vamoires can be a little too—but then the night was coming to an end and suddenly he was being rushed inside the house."
"No." You shook your head. "Luke would never..."
"So I stayed here day and night, attempting to get out. But as the days passed, I wasn't feeding on anything; I still was starving and getting weaker and weaker. A vampire can't technically die by not feeding, but I felt as if I was dying. I was reaching the dying phase... And then I heard you screaming. I don't know where the strength came, but suddenly I was able to fight... Me, the one that minutes before couldn't even stand up. Anyways, once I got you out of here, you passed out, and I just kept taking care of you. I had to make sure you kept breathing at night because the temperature drops."
"No one came here; I did hear someone having a discussion downstairs, but I couldn't really make out what they were saying. I think someone left the house because after that, the whole place became so silent that it creeps me out." Jeonghan finished his story; his eyes were on the window, and for a fraction of a second you saw two birds flying freely. You never wished to be a bird as much as you did right there.
"What are we going to do?" You asked after a terrific thought had made its way into your mind, "Are we going to die in here? Am I going to die?"
"No." Jeonghan growled, "I will never let you die. Never. I kept you alive all these days, bearing with the burns that come from the sunlight through that window to let you die just like that. There's no way. We will get out of here somehow, even if it is the last thing I do."
"Then how are we going to get out of here? Not even the house; how are we going to escape this room?" You asked, feeling like the walls were closing. "How many of them are here?"
"Last time I checked around ten." Jeonghan sighed, throwing his hair out of his face frustrated. "Now there could be less, but I couldn't be sure."
"How many of them can we beat?"
"In our current situation? One, if he's weaker than me and we're lucky enough that he's a vegetarian."
"We can't beat them." You realized.
"Not alone." Jeonghan nodded.
"Seungcheol and the others," you remembered, "could come here and..."
"My scent would be gone by the time they got home; I doubt they would know where I went." Jeonghan punched his head. "I should have listened to Soonyoung; maybe I should have brought him or even written a note. I don't know; I was so stupid. I wasn't thinking."
"You're not stupid; this is my fault; I should never put a foot outside."
"It isn't." Jeonghan reassured, searching for your hand in the darkness of the room; you could barely make out his factions with the lack of light. His fingers interluded with yours, and the gesture was so comforting that for a second you thought you could make it out of this prison. "I should have kept an eye on you. I would have been out of your life; if anything, this is my fault, but I promise you, I will save you."
"If we want to make it out alive," you mumbled, almost as if it were a secret for you both and the moon to keep, "you need to drink."
Jeonghan stayed silent, and if it wasn't for his hand holding tightly your own, you would think that he had vanished.
You held it as tight as you could; you didn't care if it was hurting his fingers or yours; you were scared that your kind would give up on you for real and the ghost of Jeonghan would disappear forever.
"You're real, right?"
You felt two thin lips coming into gentle contact with your own. A hand caressed your right chin, and without knowing it, your lips were moving in a slow dance that you both seemed to know for lives before this one.
He was real.
He was going to save you.
You would be alright.
"I trust you." You mumbled against his lips. Moving the fabric that was covering your neck.
"You sure?" Jeonghan asked, moving his hand to the side of your neck that wasn't hurting.
"We need to get out of here, and you can't do it if you're weak."
Jeonghan took a deep breath before moving his mouth to the skin there, and you felt how your lungs were fighting for more air when you felt his fangs breaking the skin.
