i have no idea where all this inspiration comes from for this story. also, i'm sorry

Byun Baekhyun, as Jongin got to know was an Alchemist.

The unexpected friendship between the two of them led to many late night rendezvous at Baekhyun’s laboratory.  By now, Jongin had already explored most of it. The main room was filled with different kinds of potions Jongin had spent reading the labels of for hours. There was something so intriguing in this handsome mortal’s belief of magic and what he referred to as “chemistry”. Jongin was book-clever but he was mostly Art and Literature clever, not whatever this “chemistry” fell under.

Thus, everything seemed new to him, so interesting, and made him curious as to how all this worked.

Baekhyun had made it a habit of walking around Jongin when he worked, circling him when he needed something and the other stood in the way. Jongin would always somehow end up standing in the way. He would mix so many potions in search of so many different things Jongin thought that the human was insane. Beautifully so.

“I’m trying to find cure for cholera.”

Jongin shook his head at the answer he got when he asked what that transparent, jelly-like liquid was in a tall glass container placed in some dark corner of the shelf. Cholera was in fact recent news and there had been so many deaths across the country, all being reasoned as symptom-less. Some humans had started putting the blame on Overseas, calling it an inside job because the country had always been discriminated by the ones around it. Or so they said. As an immortal, Jongin never really paid much attention to human disagreements. He had another Society to obey to.

“And how is it going?” The newborn asked as he poked a mouse through the cage bars. Baekhyun had multiple rodent cages about the main and back rooms.

Baekhyun tsk-ed. “Could have been better.”

“Do you even believe in all this?” Jongin couldn’t but feel a bit hypocritical. Here he stood, a vampire in all of his glory, doubting some potions of a man who seemed to—or at least tried to look like he did—know what he was doing. For all he knew, there might as well be other creatures in this world, all of them hiding just like his own kind. Maybe this Alchemist profession was also cryptic in that way.

“I want to,” was Baekhyun’s simple reply. Jongin liked his devotion to his job as suspicious as it was. The young Alchemist had too many dreams for his petite figure to hold that it made Jongin wonder where all those charms fit. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Honorifics were long ago forgotten and Jongin smirked playfully for there was a light blush over Baekhyun’s face.

“I’m undressing you with my eyes.” Just what he expected, Baekhyun became flustered, hands suddenly clumsy and the grip on the two glasses unstable.

“Sh-Shut up!”

Jongin took far too much pleasure in Baekhyun’s offence. He was such an easy target, with such adorable blushed cheeks. That was mainly the reason Jongin was by his side whenever his Maker and the Leader himself didn’t need him. After the situation that brought them to each other, Jongin was afraid he would be once too late.

His Maker didn’t ask many questions when he’d return to their haven at early dawn. The sun light would be just minutes before reaching them but he would always wait for his newborn. Jongin wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t trust Jongin enough or if it was a way to make sure he still had a newborn to take care of and that he wasn’t murdered yet. Not quite yet.

Although Jongin was not even a speckle in Wu’s life, they shared the same blood and therefore, it was impossible for Wu not to care if Jongin would make it through the next day or not. He was his first newborn after all, finally being blessed with the permission a little over a decade ago from one of the country’s undead Governor themselves.

That time, Jongin hadn’t noticed how Wu’s eyes would flash red from anger whenever he returned from Baekhyun.

++

“Can I get permission to leave the capitol for one day?”

Wu’s strict glare made him feel even less in front of him.

“What is the reason behind this?”

“I want to visit my previous family.” Jongin couldn’t lie. He was unable to do that to his Maker. The first rule the newborn had to always obey was honesty and as soon as he voiced the reason he wanted to leave the city, he knew the answer.

“None given.”

“But please! I promise I won’t interfere with them. I just want to make sure they are alright.”

Wu sent him a glare, obviously displeased with his attitude. “No.”

Jongin could feel tears in his eyes. Mister Lu had informed him that even Leader Xiumin’s voice had no say between the two of them. If Jongin wanted something, and Wu refused, the Leader had no right in getting involved unless the Maker was restricting the newborn’s basic needs. Which he most likely did not and therefore, Jongin was left by himself, crying in one of the bedrooms in the house they lived at, and wiping tears of blood from his eyes.

He’d exchange anything to be Lu Han’s newborn but fate was too cruel and he was made to run errands for the next week for Wu because he was less than amused by the newborn’s begging. Jongin wouldn’t care if he had work to do for Wu had a particular young man not beenwaiting for him. He wasn’t sure if his Maker knew about Baekhyun but he could sense a strong scent of satisfaction in the air whenever he would be late at some errand.

In the end, it took around a month until Wu was satisfied enough with Jongin’s work that he dismissed him for a night. Surely enough, he had to spend his early evening with Leader Xiumin and Lu Han because there was a small event. The Leader himself was fond in meeting him to other vampires of high status, having invited them from the nearby cities.

A Leader he rather befriended was Leader Suho of Suwon. His city was the second biggest, located just a couple kilometers away from the capitol. He was a very gentle man, smiling and carrying a friendly demeanor. It was his second hand, Mister Kim Jongdae that he couldn’t stand. The man himself was handsome although not bearing the charms of Leader Suho. However, he appeared to be suspicious of whoever approached his Leader at a close enough distance. It’d took months for Jongin to find out Leader Suho was in fact Kim Jongdae’s Maker.

“Ah… Kim Jongin of Kim Daehyun!” Leader Suho exclaimed. “What a pleasure to finally meet the son everyone has been talking about.”

“You’ve met my father, Leader Suho?”

The elder vampire nodded, a wide smile on his face. “I’ve kept tabs on him and I’ve also cooperated with him on bringing electricity to the country a good while ago.”

Jongin vaguely remembered overhearing his father talking with a man when he was five about some new technological advances. Back then, he hadn’t understood anything from the conversation and he surely did not know the man his father was meeting was a night shadow of great power. However, Leader Suho’s words woke some despair in his heart.

“Could you, maybe, know what my family is up to, Leader Suho?”

The man seemed pleased for some reason. Jongin guessed it was for his constant use of honorifics that made him content.

“Kim Daehyun, you say.” He made a thoughtful expression. “He’s gotten old so fast. After the disappearance of his firstborn, he was devastated. He spent much fortune on his younger son in hopes of that bringing him what he wanted but everyone knew he was not satisfied. Thus, the stress weighted on his shoulders so much he had troubles with health. Hs wife took care of his meetings until their son married a high status young woman. They bore two children and Kim Taemin himself made some clever investments to help his father. He was still sick when I last heard of him.”

Jongin froze a bit, feeling his emotions choke him. Everything had gone downhill because he’d gone missing. Counting back, Jongin was surprised to find out it’d already been more than ten years since he last experienced how it felt to be human. In those ten years, the family he left behind, was devastated. And it all led to one reason and one immortal behind all this. It was then that his Maker appeared and he wasn’t sure if he was thankful he cut the conversation or hateful because it was all his fault.

“Jongin, you are dismissed for the rest of the night,” announced Wu and Jongin lowered his head in reply. He bid farewell to Leader Suho and quickly escaped from the room that seemed to close on him despite its size.

Regret pooled in his stomach and he sought what would make all of his pain go; Byun Baekhyun.

He practically ran to the Alchemist’s little house, hitting on his door urgently. When it was pulled open and the short young man looked up with sleepy, confused eyes, Jongin all but threw himself against him. The collusion must have hurt Baekhyun from the light sound of pain Jongin felt against his lips, but he stopped not to apologize. He didn’t want Baekhyun to notice the dirty scarlet stains on his face if he pulled away.

As Jongin kissed his neck, feeling the fast pace the mortal’s heart beat under his lips, he heard a series or , arousing sounds coming from above.

“What..?”

Jongin ignored Baekhyun’s question and just led them inside the house, feeling his nails grow and dig into flesh. Baekhyun was probably surprised by that.

Baekhyun’s bed was small. The poor Alchemist didn’t have a fortune automatically placed under his name when he was born, like Jongin himself. His whole house was small and so much tiny compared to what Jongin had gotten used to through the years. But that was one of the things he liked about Baekhyun’s lifestyle; how real everything was, normal.

How his imperfect way of life had shaped a man so perfect was beyond the vampire’s comprehension.

Jongin hadn’t done this before, not since he was turned, and his lack of understanding was frustrating. In the dark, he found Baekhyun stare at him in surprise.

“Is something wrong?”

Jongin hovered over him, unsure. He knew he should have been somehow aroused but being dead probably had a much bigger effect. Immortality seemed to have some flaws, after all. That was when a thought occurred to him and he leaned down, lips tingling Baekhyun’s ear.

“Let me try something.”

He bared his fangs and pierced them into Baekhyun’s porcelain skin and right into his neck muscles. The aroma and taste worked better than any touch and caress for his body and he felt his heart start to beat as the foreign blood entered his system. The static blood in his veins started pumping an organ so long dead it ached from the sudden warmth.

Baekhyun’s light moans and digging nails made him pull back before too late, at the wound and letting it heal immediately. Then, he turned and kissed Baekhyun, making the mortal taste the metallic taste of his own blood. It dripped on the sheets, letting small spots of scarlet that filled the whole room with a sweet aroma. Baekhyun whimpered but didn’t stop and neither did Jongin.

It was the first time they acted as one and later, in the morning, Baekhyun would wake up alone because Jongin was unable to stay. He’d have left a letter, though, that spoke of compliments and love and how he anticipated the next time they’d meet. Not in an kind of way per se, but more like amorous.

Jongin had fallen for a mortal.

++

War was coming closer, Jongin could sense it.

Leader Xiumin himself was unsettled. He’d attend meetings every other day to discuss the news. From the few things he managed to pick up, Japanese ships were sailing to the country. Leader Suho had informed Leader Xiumin to be careful since the armies were mostly after the capitol rather than Suwon.

Military swarmed the streets and humans were ordered to refrain from walking around too late at night. No human could pass by a soldier without being asked of their ID due to great distrust. That made vampires harder to hunt since food would be scarce in places where there’d be no witnesses. Little stores and diners would close for the night as early as eleven and after that, hunting was out of the question.

Wu had specifically ordered Jongin to refrain from hunting for as long as he could—much like Leader Xiumin himself had ordered all the vampires in his city. There was too much risk with so many soldiers patrolling. Thus, it was a sudden surprise when bodies of dead humans appeared out of nowhere, scattered corpses of mortals across public places.

Leader Xiumin made an emergency call, informing Wu, Jongin and Lu Han of this. Jongin and Lu Han were sent for patrols during the late evening to find the vampire behind this news and to pick up and hide any of the victims before the soldiers found them.

“It’s probably an uncontrolled newborn,” Lu Han made a guess as he examined a young woman. She was so beautiful, Jongin noticed. No wonder the killer would go for such a gorgeous mortal. “They are too dry and too many for an independent vampire.”

Lu Han was right. Only newborns had no control over how much blood they took. It was then that their instincts were over common sense and the only thing they wanted was blood and more of it. The new-born nodded his head in agreement as he pulled on another victim.

“Maybe it’s someone who’s passing by with his pet, sir.”

Lu Han glanced at the woman once more as he passed two fingers with his saliva over the wound. “Most likely a lone va