…seven, eight, nine, ten.

            You calmly counted until ten before you finally acknowledged that you had survived the attack. Survived another attack. There must be some kind of a divine force that favoured you—or loathed you—so much to allow you to keep surviving all the attacks in barely a month.

            It made you wonder how much luck and favour that you have left before death would welcome you for good. As you kept blinking at the sight of the unfamiliar dark ceiling, a soft groan caught your hearing, making you sit up immediately. Could it be Taehyung? Or Seokjin? But to your dismay, there seemed to be nobody else inside the room with you. Your eyes roamed around, squinting in the dark as you take in the situation of your surroundings. Apparently you had woken up in someone’s bedroom—or at least the remnants of it. There were barely any lights around, the only sign of the day outside being the sunlight streaming through some cracks on the top of the walls.

            You were sitting on a mattress on the floor, no bed seen around. In one corner of the room was a broken vanity table, the mirror already smashed to pieces, much to your relief. After what happened previously, facing a mirror in a place this dark would be an utter nightmare for you. A cupboard stood just beside the broken table, and you eyed it suspiciously for a long while before stepping off the mattress and nearing the furniture. Gripping the knob, you took a deep breath before pulling it open, causing dust to fly all over the place. As you flapped your hands around to rid of the dusts, you realised that the cupboard was empty.

            Pushing it back close, you stepped towards the curtains and tugged them open. You were met by a surprise when it revealed windows that had no glass but were barricaded with wooden planks. From the outside. You reached out absentmindedly to trace the surface of the wood, your fingers coming away blackened with thick dust. What were they trapping inside this place?

            Just as the thought came to your head, fear started pouring inside you rapidly, your heart hammering wildly. Were you being trapped in here right now? You immediately pounded your fists on the wood, panic eating your insides. On your fifth pound, you heard the sound of the door opening—there was a door? Somehow you never saw it—and the first thing that came into your head was to cower down and scream.

            The figure standing in the doorway started to scream as well, and it took a moment for you to recognise the voice as Seokjin. When you stopped screaming, he did too and you saw him staggering inside, clutching his chest. It was relatively brighter outside the room, so you can now see his face and the room clearer. He was frowning at you as he sat on the mattress. ‘You scared me! Why would you scream so loud like I’m a ghost or something?’

            ‘But you scared me first, barging into the room like that!’ You protested, frowning back at him. If this situation happened two months ago, you would have laughed at him for screaming just because you screamed, but you were feeling too tired to even let the humour get to you.

            His face softened and he let out a sigh. ‘I heard your poundings. I was worried you got hurt again.’ He took a good look at you before his gaze flitted to the barricaded windows above you. ‘You didn’t get hurt, right? Why were you pounding on the window just now?’

            ‘I thought I was trapped here,’ you said in a small voice, before standing up and hugging your body. Memories flashed across your mind, the vampires jumping on the truck, Taehyung’s nervous expression, the stranger named Junhui, Seokjin’s face turning to horror, the truck thrown down the cliff—you stumbled backwards against the barricaded window, your whole body trembling. It felt too cold suddenly. ‘Seokjin, what actually happened?’

            ‘What?’ He questioned, not quite hearing your shaky voice. But he saw the change on your body and quickly rushed to your side.

            You gripped onto his sleeve, watching the fabric bunch between your clenched fists. ‘There’s no way I could have survived that, the truck fell down a cliff! Tae didn’t even—,’ the sound of Taehyung’s voice screaming your name before you out made you wince, ‘Where’s Taehyung? What happened to him? How—’

            ‘Calm down,’ Seokjin cut off your words, gently prying your fingers away and holding your hands in his own. ‘Remember when I was sleeping the whole way we were running?’

            He did not continue, so you gave a small nod.

            ‘It might look like I was slacking off, doesn’t it?’ He continued with a smile, and you nodded again. ‘Well, I should have explained to you about it earlier. Come, let’s sit down first. You’re shaking all over.’

            You let him tug you out of the room where it was a lot brighter and seemingly warmer. This side of the house looked rather liveable compared to the room. There were sofas arranged neatly in the middle, the carpet looked clean enough and the windows were not boarded with any wooden planks. The curtains were drawn away, so you could see the green view outside. There were so many trees out there.

            Seokjin watched you as you gazed around, a new smile forming on his lips. He brought you to one of the sofas and made you sit down, taking in a seat himself next to you. ‘I spent more than half of my childhood here.’ When you turned to look at him, he had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was remembering a fond memory. ‘This house belonged to my mentor, whom I also considered as a friend despite the difference in our age. This is where I trained to use my powers.’

            ‘What kind of powers do you have, Seokjin?’ You asked curiously.

            You were surprised when he gave you a shrug, but then he chuckled softly. ‘There’s not a way to explain in details on what a dream walker does, but one can say that our main element is being a shield. We’re able to manipulate things in dreams and change the way reality is perceived. Sometimes we’re able to create something,’ he snapped his wrist in front of you and large flower petals suddenly fell into his palm. ‘Sometimes we manipulate things,’ and with a snap of his finger on his other hand, all the curtains were drawn close at once, burying the whole room into darkness. ‘And sometimes we destroy the things we created as well.’ You heard another snap and suddenly the petals in his palm were burning, but they did not seem to hurt him at all.

            He blew on the fire and it ceased, before another snap of his fingers drew the curtains open once again, allowing sunlight to come through again. Seokjin grinned at you, lifting his palm to show that nothing had scarred his skin at all. ‘Amazing, isn’t it?’

            You had not realised that you were gaping at him the whole time, so you nodded, covering your mouth with the back of your hand embarrassingly. ‘So, you mean you can manipulate whatever that you wanted?’

            ‘Not everything. The things that we created were temporary and aren’t meant to stay in this world. They’re just fragments of the dream world, another dimension where our powers are much stronger and permanent. I mentioned earlier that a dream walker’s main element is being a shield, right?’

            You nodded, not quite sure you understood anything he was saying.

            ‘Dream walkers mostly have a mild nature, and we often dedicate our lives protecting those who we care about. By becoming their shield. I’m used to being Taehyung’s shield even though he no longer needed it, so when you came into his life, it’s a given that I’m becoming your shield as well. I’m stronger when I’m asleep, when I’m allowed to roam the dream world freely. That was why I was asleep during the whole drive—I was protecting our tracks. Though I must have underestimated that man, seeing how he managed to jump on us.’ He muttered the last sentence bitterly to himself.

            ‘You mean you were protecting us… by sleeping?’ You asked slowly, looking at him with a frown.

            ‘Protecting you mostly, but yes, that’s correct,’ he confirmed. ‘When Tae called for me, the shield broke, but there were remnants of it left enough to protect you during the fall. I almost thought you couldn’t survive, hell, the truck was in pieces.’ He reached out to pat your head softly. ‘You have so much strength to survive in you, you know? I don’t think my shield alone is enough to save you.’

            Your lips trembled and your eyes welled with fresh tears. Seokjin laughed softly before pulling you into his arms, embracing you. You let the tears fall, burying your face in his chest as you sobbed. ‘Thank you, Seokjin,’ you mumbled incoherently, not knowing whether he understood your muffled words or not. You were beyond grateful; despite what he said, you know you would not have survived at all without him and Taehyung.

            The thought of Taehyung made you pull away from Seokjin’s arms, surprising him momentarily. You rubbed your fists on your eyes in an attempt to stop the tears. ‘Where’s Taehyung? He didn’t get hurt, did he?’

            Seokjin nodded. ‘But he probably won’t be back in another day or two, though.’

            ‘What? Why?’ Why would he leave?

            ‘It’s time for him to feed. He doesn’t normally need a lot of blood, but once a month, he would need to leave to consume more blood in order to restore his energy.’ He stopped, seemingly hesitant to continue, but after giving you a thoughtful look, he continued. ‘The last time he was feeding, he attacked you, remember?’

            Oh.

            Your hand instinctively went to the side of your neck as you nodded. It had been a month since then… that was probably why he seemed to be losing his energy while fighting the other vampires in the truck.

            ‘Though I’m a bit worried for him now,’ Seokjin said softly, catching your attention.

            ‘Why?’

            ‘Taehyung… he never drank human blood before. Ever since that night, I’m worried that whatever he consumed from on wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him any longer,’ he explained, rubbing the back of his neck restlessly.

            ‘What does that mean? You mean he would need to drink a human’s blood again?’ There were so many horrible thoughts jumbling in your mind, and you stood up abruptly, feeling lightheaded. ‘Y–you think he’d attack someone?’

            ‘No,’ Seokjin grabbed your hand gently, guiding you to sit back down. ‘No, that’s not what I meant. I know—we know that he would not attack someone. I’m not worried about that, I know he’s smart enough to avoid that. What I’m worried for right now, is you.’

            ‘I don’t get it. Why would you…’

            ‘He’ll want your blood again,’ Seokjin stated simply, and you froze. He must have noticed how stunned you were, because his face softened immediately. ‘But I know him. I know he would never risk hurting you. Just… try not to look for him for a couple of days at least. Wait for him to be able to control his hunger, and then you won’t be harmed. I just don’t want something bad to happen to both of you.’

            ‘Okay,’ you said shakily, closing your eyes and taking deep breaths to calm yourself down. When you opened your eyes again, you caught Seokjin staring at you with a worried frown, but he immediately turned away, scoffing as if he never looked at your direction. You did not wish to think about it as well, so you changed the subject. ‘Who does this house belongs to, Seokjin?’

            He seemed more than eager to change the subject as well, so he started telling you how the house belonged to the only other dream walker that he met before. The woman had been his mentor and close friend, guiding him to hone his skills. When she passed away, Seokjin inherited the house from her as she had no other living family members. The way he continuously talked about how wonderful she was showed just how much he admired and respected her.

            ‘How did you meet her?’ You asked curiously, hugging your knees against your chest as you listened to Seokjin’s past.

            ‘In a dream, of course,’ he said gleefully, as if it was very obvious. ‘I have no idea as well, but I still remember the dream when I first met her and she told me to meet her here. You know, thinking about it, I trusted her very easily. Thank goodness I didn’t end up falling into a trap or something.’ He pretended to shudder before laughing aloud.

            You laughed along for a moment, before remembering the boarded windows of the room you woke up in. ‘Why was the room just now barricaded? The windows, I mean.’

            ‘Ah, that,’ he paused for a second. ‘Well, it used to be an empty bedroom, but we end up using it to practice my skills. Somehow the room was the best place for me, and because we don’t want to risk anything in the reality, we boarded it up from the outside. There’s really nothing much to it. It’s just a bit dusty now that I haven’t used it for so long. Were you… did it scare you when you woke up?’

            ‘A little bit,’ you admitted with a small smile. ‘I thought I was the one being trapped in.’

            ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have told Taehyung to place you in there. It’s just a habit of mine to use that room.’

            The mention of Taehyung’s name made you jolt, but you tried to ignore it. You suddenly felt exhausted, a small yawn escaping as you covered your mouth with the back of your hand.

            ‘Rest some more, your body is still recovering.’ Seokjin said and he patted the couch before standing up. The way he was watching you made you confused, but then it dawned to you that it was probably him who was making you feel sleepy now. ‘You can sleep here if it makes you feel better.’

            There were many other things that you wanted to ask him, like what happened to the stranger named Junhui, or what was going to happen to them after this, but you could barely keep your eyes open, so you silently nodded. You lied down on the sofa, and it did not take long before you drifted into a deep slumber.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

            It was so cold, you could almost hear your teeth chattering. You were walking barefooted in the middle of the forest, lost and confused. ‘Where am I?’ You whispered to yourself, your breath forming a thick cloud of mist. Rubbing your arms in an attempt to warm yourself, you looked around for any sign of help or escape, but all you could see were trees and more trees. You lifted your gaze towards the night sky, thankful that the moon was bright tonight.

            A loud scream suddenly pierced through the silent night, causing you to jolt in surprise, stumbling back against a tree bark. From the corner of your eyes, you saw a flock of birds disperse away from one direction, fleeing into the darkening sky. The scream continued for so long, until even your heart grew painful from hearing it. But then it slowly subsided, followed by the sound of tearful sobs of a boy begging for help.

            Your eyes widened. It couldn’t be…

            A swift movement caught your eyes, and you turned just in time to see a man running between the trees and bushes, towards the direction you saw the birds fled away. No. Not a man. Another boy. You wasted no time in following his tracks, making sure not to lose him as the trees started to get closer, causing the surrounding to get darker. The bushes grew denser and you found yourself having to push yourself forward as roughly as you can, sticks and twigs scratching your exposed hands and feet. For a split second, you thought you lost sight of the boy, before you stumbled out into a clearing in the middle of the forest, finding yourself face to face with something that you never thought would be possible for you to see.

            Young Seokjin was cradling a bleeding body of a boy—young Taehyung. The latter was half , and from the way Seokjin was holding him, you could see the torn skin on his back, raw meat exposed and crimson blood oozing out continuously. Seokjin was softly patting his cheek, trying to rouse him up. ‘No, no, you can’t die yet,’ he said aloud, determination on his face. But you saw the way his fingers were trembling; you knew he was afraid too. You just stood there frozen, unable to tear away your gaze.

            From the amount of blood pooling around the two boys’ frames, you knew this must be the day Taehyung was left to die by his own kind. You could not bear to look any longer, but before you were able to turn away, Seokjin lifted his head, eyes gazing straight into yours. You jolted in surprise, never expecting that he would see you. You had thought this was a vision or a dream… or was this a memory?

            ‘Please, help him.’

            In a blink of an eye, the surrounding suddenly changed, and you found yourself standing in the middle of the doorway of a familiar yet unfamiliar room. Young Taehyung was cowering at the headboard of the bed, young Seokjin holding out a bowl filled with porridge at him by the bedside. When Taehyung knocked the bowl away in a fit, Seokjin simply sighed before waving his hand and the bowl righted itself back in his hands. ‘You need to eat if you want to get better.’

            Taehyung merely hissed at him, scooting further towards the wall. When he tried to turn away, his body suddenly folded and he whimpered aloud, his face scrunching in pain. He was still shirtless, and when he curled on the bed, you saw the jagged stitches on his back, his skin still coloured in angry red. Seokjin hastily placed the bowl on the vanity table next to him and rushed to Taehyung’s side, trying to calm the latter down.

            The surrounding changed again, and this time Taehyung was sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs dangling off the floor. He had a shirt on this time, and he seemed slightly healthier, his blonde hair now brushed neatly. Seokjin came bounding into the room with another bowl of food, this time containing raw meat and blood instead of porridge. He watched as Taehyung cleaned everything from the bowl, patting Taehyung’s head when the boy finished his meal. ‘You wanna try walking again today?’

            The way Taehyung nodded vigorously made your eyes water and you covered your mouth with your clasped hands, preventing yourself from making any choked sound. Seokjin gently helped Taehyung get off the bed, wounding one of Taehyung’s arms around his neck while his own arm was around Taehyung’s waist to support him. For what seemed to be very long hours, Seokjin patiently helped Taehyung to take a step forward, never once letting the latter fall down.

            Just before the surrounding changed again, you saw Seokjin flicking a look at you, his face beaming. ‘He’s getting better, isn’t he? He’ll be able to walk on his own soon!’

            And then you were enveloped in darkness.

            For a long time, you wondered if you were supposed to wake up from this dream or memory, but there was nothing but darkness and silence. For a long while, you thought that maybe this would be the end of your life—nothing but darkness and silence.

            ‘I’ll answer only one of your questions.’

            The soft voice made you whirl around, and you saw a woman standing behind you. You turned around slowly, facing her. She was taller by possibly more than five inches from you, and her grey hair was pleated into a single braid. She had a warm smile on her face, and somehow she appeared to be glowing, seemingly becoming the source of light in the darkness.

            You had never seen her before, and you had no idea how you would have known, but the words tumbled out calmly from your lips. ‘You’re Seokjin’s friend.’

            Her eyes crinkled as a small laughter erupted from her, her hand swiftly covering as she laughed. The way how graceful she was made you understood the reason why Seokjin had admired this woman so much; you do too, and you had barely seen her for more than a few seconds.

            ‘Did he say I’m his friend?’ She asked amusingly, to which you nodded. ‘Well, I guess he’s not that wrong.’

            ‘Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be… ?’

            You did not dare to finish the words, and she left it as it was as well.

            She simply nodded, a sign that she understood your unfinished question. ‘Dream walkers’ life span works just like a normal human being, but our spirits will forever roam the dreamland. Technically, we are immortal, just not in your world.’

            ‘Are you allowed to visit anyone in their dreams, then?’ When she nodded, confirming that she indeed communicated with Seokjin on several occasions, you continued, ‘Is this… is this a dream?’

            She clasped her hands behind her, suddenly walking around you in circles. ‘You are in a dream, but what you’ve seen before were memories of my own.’

            So they were her memories. That was why Seokjin was talking to you.

            ‘Why would you show those to me?’

            She gave you a shrug, a smile playing at her lips. ‘I just thought you needed to see that, for the questions that have there,’ she said, pointing at your chest to where your heart is.

            You just stared at her, your mind a jumbled mess.

            ‘You don’t have much time left.’ She tapped on a non-existent watch on her wrist. ‘I’ll answer only one of your questions.’

            There were so many things that you wanted to ask, so many answers that you needed. But the only question that came out of your mouth was, ‘Why was I bonded with him?’

            She laughed again, her laughter silky and tickling your ears. Her face softened as she tilted her head to a side. ‘I personally don’t believe in soul mates, but you’re bonded only for a single reason.’

            ‘And what is that?’

            ‘You’re soul mates because you needed each other.’

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

            When you woke up, the first thing that came into your mind was ‘what a foolish answer’. But your heart knew enough that it was the only answer to your question. And right now, you knew that Taehyung needed you.

            Seokjin’s warnings about not looking for him for at least a couple more days were ringing in your head, but you could not ignore the unsettled feeling inside you. You need to find Taehyung right now, no matter how foolish it sounded.

            You had no idea how long you slept on the couch, but when you went to the windows, it seemed that the night had fallen for quite some time. You tried to look for Seokjin around the house, but he was nowhere to be seen. Somehow it made you feel relieved, because he would definitely pull you back in if he saw you exiting the house at this moment. You did not even bother to put on a pair of shoes or a thicker piece of clothing as you walked out, eyes set out to only look for Taehyung.

            The forest welcomed you like an embrace, and though you know you had never stepped foot in it before, the trees all seemed to be familiar. You hummed softly to yourself as the wind blew against you, gently moving you forwards, your barefooted steps creating soft crunched noise on the ground. You walked and walked, until your steps turned into long strides, until the strides turned into running. You were desperate to look for him, yet you could not muster any strength to call out his name.

            There were blisters and cuts on your soles, the hem of your shirt slightly torn when it caught a stray twig just a while ago. But your steps never halted, not until you stumbled into a clearing in the middle of the forest, a large stag lying motionless on the ground.

            For a while, it seemed to be just the corpse of a dead animal, but then you saw the missing chunk of meat on its neck and a trail of blood, leading away from it towards the bushes. Instinctively, you followed the trail of blood, until you found Taehyung’s body lying unconscious on the forest floor, not too far away from the dead stag.

            ‘Taehyung!’ You gasped as you rushed to him, immediately pulling his head onto your lap, tears stinging your eyes. He was shirtless and his body was too cold. There was so much blood on his exposed skin and mouth, you were not even sure if the blood was his or the animal’s. His blonde hair was matted with blood as well, and he was not moving. He was not moving.

            ‘No…no, Tae, wake up,’ you whispered shakily, pulling him into your arms as close as you could. You reached out with trembling fingers for him, squeezing his hand. ‘Please, I need you.’

            His body suddenly jerked, and you gasped in surprise. He started to shake all over, his body convulsing as guttural sounds came from his throat. The shakings grew worse, to the point you had to lie down next to him and hold him tightly, in fear that he might hurt himself. But as quick as it had come, the shakings abruptly came to a stop, causing you to gasp again as you were accidentally thrown slightly on top of him.

            When you lifted your face to look at him properly, you were shocked to see that he was already awake and staring at you. But you felt no happiness or relief as his gaze pierced into yours. You could only feel fear. Deep, raw fear.

            Because he was not looking at you as Kim Taehyung. The two dark red orbs that were staring at you were not the eyes of the man that you love.

            They were the eyes of a bloodthirsty creature. With the hunger for your blood.

            He roughly pushed you off his body and lunged for your neck.