As soon as the sun set a woman slipped into the hallway and ran out to the moonlight garden and pulled a phone of out the pocket of her robe. She looked around before she dialed a number and waited tensely for the other end to answer. When they finally did she spoke in a rush.

“She is here…. what do you want me to do now?”

“Have you done what I told you to do?”, a harsh voice said on the other end.

She blinked back tear as she answered, “Yes…. he is much kinder now.”

“Good, do not contact me again. We don’t want anyone to get suspicious. Have you been taking the serum like I told you to? Otherwise they will know why you are there”, the voice snapped at her and she pictured his face when he was angry and flinched.

“Yes……. He has been kind to me”, she whispered as she heard footsteps approach, “I have to go!”, she whispered and hung up and dropped the phone into some bushes where she could retrieve it later. As the footsteps got closer she turned around. It was just one of the servants with a basket in hand. She gathered some of the blooms and bowed as she passed the startled woman. Once she was out of sight she ran for the main hall and made it there before anyone else showed up and sat down and tried to look casual.

Dongwan and Andy slipped on some silk pants and robes that had been left for them and went out to the main hall. Everyone else was gathered out there already and it looked like they had waited. They hurried to take seats and looked around sheepishly.

“Sorry, we woke up a little rough this morning. Sorry we made you wait”, Dongwan said and reached for the mug of coffee in from of him. As he took a sip his eyes widened.

“You mix blood with the coffee too?”, he looked at Andy who shrugged.

“Some of us still enjoy the taste of coffee, the blood makes it easier for our bodies to handle.”

Minwoo stood and cleared his throat and smiled at everyone.

“I hope everyone slept well last night…… I’m sure you were all exhausted”, he smirked slightly and looked right at the late comers, who still bore marks of their lovemaking. They looked away and focused on the pattern of the tablecloth. Minwoo chuckled and continued.

“So we have decided that everyone but Ric will move in here by sunrise. His family will be moved to a house closer to here and we will hire security to assure their safety”, he said as he looked at a parchment in front of him.

“Dongwan and Andy will take the chamber they had last night, Ambrosia will share Daehyun’s chamber, Su-yeon will take the one that holds all the things I saved over the centuries and Jinnie will take the chamber he had last night as well. All the blood that were here last night will remain. I will call and arrange things with their managers. They are servants of the kingdom effective immediately. Anyone that must venture out during the night will have extra security and Ambrosia will be escorted always by either Andy or Jinnie. Does anyone have any questions?”, he looked up from his list.

“My mother…… she comes to clean my apartment a few times a week. What will I tell her?”, Dongwan said and sipped his coffee.

“You will keep the apartment and be there when she is to come by, but you must not tell her what is going on. We can assign her a guard as well, though I doubt that harm will come to her”, Minwoo said kindly and added a note to his list.

One of the women filed away all the information mentally; all the while she smiled pleasantly and carried conversations with the others. While she couldn’t report directly she should at least keep track of things for when she was pressed for information.

“What should I tell my wife when she asks why we have to move?”, Ric said nervously and reached for a pastry that was on a plate for him and Amber and took a bite.

Minwoo thought for a moment before he answered, “Give me your wife’s work information. I will see if I know anyone that works in the company or even a close business associate. We can probably say it is part of a promotion or something”, he passed Ric a piece of parchment and a pen and waited for him to write everything down. After Ric passed it back to him, Minwoo called a servant over and had it delivered to Chansung so he could get the process started.

“I still think it would be safer if I didn’t stay here. Surely you can find a safe place for me”, Su-yeon said quietly and looked around the table, “I would hate to put any of you in unnecessary danger.”

“You belong here”, Amber said and took her hand, “this was your home then and it is still now. Plus, how can I get to know you if you are hidden away somewhere?”, she smiled at Su-yeon and squeezed her hand gently.

“She is right, Su-yeon”, Minwoo said and looked at her, “Besides, I am the king and I can just order you to stay and you can’t disagree”, he said with a chuckle.

Su-yeon smiled at Amber, it was the indulgent smile a mother might give their child when they asked for a cookie. The smile she gave Minwoo was tinged with sadness.

“Okay you two…. You got me, I’ll stay here”, Su-yeon said and started to laugh. Her laughter rang through the room and was so contagious that everyone joined her, even the servants.

He packed a couple of suitcases and made sure that he had the passport with his fake name on it then went to call each of the men he had stationed in the different parts of Seoul. He had the location of Minwoo castle thanks to a GPS tracker in the phone he had given her before he sent her to find him. He had worked to assemble enough manpower to take over the kingdom but it would be all up to luck; Minwoo was a powerful king with a wealth of resources at his disposal. Hopefully he had been softened and less likely to anticipate a full-scale attack. He still had days until he was set to leave but he wanted to be completely ready in case the situation changed.

Everyone calmed down and Minwoo began to make phone calls to arrange moving trucks for everyone and took care of Ric’s wife situation. One of his informants was a business associate within her company and he could arrange it to look like the last account she had handled had come with a massive promotion and a new house. Dongwan would head home soon to pack what was necessary and to meet with his mother as it was her usual day to come clean. Andy stayed behind and helped Amber go to get her things packed. She was excited and sad at the same time.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

“This was my first place after I graduated college”, she said sadly as she wrapped her dishes in newspaper to pack them away. A lot of her things would be taken to storage because she could use what Minwoo had already.

“It isn’t forever, Amber. Minwoo will make sure the place is safe and you can move back in once the danger has passed”, Andy said as he took a wrapped plate and placed it carefully into a box that was almost full.

Amber smiled at him nervously and nodded, only Su-yeon and Daehyun knew about their conversation the other night. She may not need to come back here if things went as planned.

“You’re right Andy. I’ll just pretend like it’s an extended holiday”, she handed him the last plate and h