Safaiaunnie: So okay, this was fast, but I'm updating now because I'm starting the new semester next week and I know I won't doing much writing. This is the meeting between the clans. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

“TaeYeon-ah, you have to come out of your room.” Yuri softly told her. She had her nose buried in a book again, and from what she could see, this time, it was the Jung’s history, again. Yuri motioned SeoHyun to take away the now empty glass of blood and to come back as soon as possible. “We have to get you ready, the Jung are coming today.” TaeYeon slowly looked at her, and Yuri’s heart tightened at the unshed tears. “Come Taengoo-ah, let’s just get you ready and have this over with, then we’re going to go back to find a way out for you.”

“It’s not going to happen, Yuri…” TaeYeon whispered out, her voice was the slightly raspy from being unused. Her guard shook her head, still not used to this defeated version of the Kim princess, “you don’t know that TaeYeon. We’ll find a way.”

“There’s no other way Yuri, both are too afraid of the other breaking the treaty so marrying us off is the best way to insure that it does not happen.” She closed her eyes; she was dreading today, the day where she would actually meet her future family in law.

“There will be a way TaeYeon-ah, don’t worry… There will be a way.” The look in Yuri’s eyes scared TaeYeon a bit, it was almost deadly. She’d seen that look on many of their soldiers before they went to war. Not wanting to see it anymore, she agreed with the taller woman at the same time as SeoHyun came back. “SeoHyun already laid out your outfit for today. Call us if you need help.” TaeYeon nodded as she retreated into the bedroom portion of her suite and closed the double doors.

Yuri waited until she was sure the princess could no longer hear them. “I heard you spotted an intruder two days ago.”

“Yes, did the guards catch him?”

“KyuHyun and his guys caught sight of him but the person was faster than them.”

“Faster?” SeoHyun looked surprised at that, Kyuhyun was one of the fastest people in the guard, “Yes, faster. There are very few people that can match that pace.” Yuri looked at SeoHyun sharply, “When you have time, can you go to Ryeowook, for him to make a portrait of the intruder?” The younger nodded, and both turned silent again, both waiting for their lady to come out. It took a while, but when she stepped out, the two almost sighed in relief.

Kim TaeYeon knew to keep up appearances, and knew she couldn’t show their weaknesses in front of their enemy. She was dressed in a dark plum colored knee length dress with no sleeves; it had a cowl neck and a small black belt at her waist. She also put on a pair of pumps, and let her hair down with virtually no makeup, vampirism comes in handy once in a while; it keeps the state of their skin virtually perfect. “How do I look girls?” she asked. Neither answered, but the smile on their lips were telling enough. If she had to go through with this, she was at least going to do it in style. Looking over at her two friends, she finally noticed what they were wearing. SeoHyun was wearing a shorter no sleeve high neck white dress with a white with metal flat sports belt. She also paired it with a pair of white sandal heels. Yuri was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a silk white shirt with a similar cowl neck and a pair of black formal short heels. All the ladies’ entourages had to look good today. When they finally stepped out of the room, TaeYeon took in the sight of the familiar hallway, and knew that she was now walking to her doom.

Along the way, they ran into HyoYeon who was flanked by Yoona and Sooyoung. The younger of the two princesses couldn’t hold back, and lurched forward to hug her sister. She hadn’t seen her in at least a week and she missed her. TaeYeon had her arms open before she even ran forward. She had missed her younger sibling as well. Without saying a word, she pressed a firm hand on the small of her back and guided her towards the dining room where they were receiving the Jung for supper.

Before long, they had all stopped in front of the heavy oak doors.

“Ah, it’s nice to see you here again. This is my wife, JiHyun” Kim Jungsoo said as he greeted the Jung family. He let himself look over the three children and seemed to dwell longer on Jessica before continuing greeting their father.

“Kim ssi. It is indeed good to be back.” Jung MinHyuk said as he watched the man look at his daughter. He kept himself from tightening his fists; the man was not getting his innocent daughter. “I was under the impression your children would be here as well?”

“My son is out of town for the next week or so, and my daughters are on their way, I have already sent their maids to get them. They wanted to look their best; you know how the young ladies are these days.” He said, smirking. He leaned back into his chair and motioned for them to sit down around the table as well. At that moment, the door swung open to let in six women.

Jung Yunho leaned forward, studying the six women at the door. The two dressed in white were the maids, which he could easily tell; they were more demure and submissive than the other four. From what he heard from Yoochun, the one with the longer hair was Kim HyoYeon. He had already seen his fiancée before and guessed the tall women to be the guards; they certainly fit the description YooChun gave him. His eyes lingered on them a bit, much more intrigued by these two than the other four, before pulling himself together and looked at TaeYeon again; she was why he was here.

 “Oh there they are. Let me present to you my two daughters. Girls, come here.” The Jung siblings watched as all six moved in unison, the maids were three steps behind the princesses and the guards were two steps behind the maids. When the two princesses stopped next to their father, the four other spread out behind them again, “This is my youngest Hyoyeon,” she gave a small bow “and my eldest daughter TaeYeon.”

Said woman tried hard not to fidget as both the eyes of Jung Minhyuk and Jung Yunho were trained on her. She held her chin high and bowed lightly. “It’s nice to meet such polite young ladies nowadays, let me present to you my children as well, this is my oldest, Yunho.” He gave them a small nod. “My eldest daughter Jessica,” the latter felt just like TaeYeon did when the King’s eyes zoned in on her but curtsied either way, “And my youngest Krystal.” Krystal curtsied as well, and was left wondering why the two tall vampires were clenching their fists. She could see that from her position. “Of course, this is my beautiful mate, TaeHee.” The mother gave a polite bow as well, but kept quiet as she examined TaeYeon.

“Let’s all sit down shall we?” Kim Jungsoo waved his hand behind him, and both Sooyoung and Yuri bowed before heading out the door. “If you don’t mind, I would ask that the guards step out. This is after all a weaponless affair.”

“Of course, Tiffany, Amber, if you would.” The other king said. The two vampires bowed before heading out the same way. When they pass the door, they were surprised to no longer see the two other guards. They had thought that they would have stayed close, in case something happened. This put the both of them on their guards.

“Should we stay here or walk around?” Amber asked Tiffany. The other shrugged “ I don’t know. We were not told where to go…”

“Actually…” The door had opened again and this time, it was Kim TaeYeon’s lady in waiting who came out. “The King wants me to lead you to where you will be waiting. Follow me please” The young girl did not wait for them to answer as she was already walking. The two easily caught up with her, and they followed her down the hallway and to a higher floor, where they stopped at a smaller scale door. The maid knocked lightly, and then opened the door. She motioned for them to walk in and left.

“She’s a strange one.” Amber commented and Tiffany could only nod. The maids back home were much more, warm, if that was the right word. Shaking it off, they entered the room to see the other two already seated. They nodded at them and the taller of the two gestured to the west wall.

They turned to look at it and saw that it looked down on the dining room. “We are not allowed in the room when the feasts start, but to keep it secured, they built a room here, something akin of a security chamber” The taller said. The shorter of the two stood up and went to the bar to pour them drinks. “You are going to need it, they usually take a long time, and we never have had to intervene in my 300 and some years of service” She told them, “I’m Yuri and this is Sooyoung.”

“I’m Tiffany, and she is Amber.”

“American names, I noticed a trend.”

“Force of habit I must say” Tiffany answered, keeping her eyes trained on both of them. She accepted the drinks nonetheless and sat down beside Sooyoung. “So nothing ever happens?”

The two Kim guards scoffed, “As if, there’s always something happening. Watch that one; he’s got a knife under the plate he’s carrying.” Sooyoung said.  Both Tiffany and Amber turned towards them, “Shouldn’t you be barging in there?”

Sooyoung shook her head, “Our king would be pissed if we did. Watch.” They both turned to look and nothing had happened yet. “Keep watching.”

Then it happened, the man had dropped the platter he was carrying and made to stab at TaeYeon with impressive speed. Krystal gave a small yelp, while both Yunho and Jessica stood up. Their father did as well, however, the Kim patriarch just waved for them to sit back down. The man was suddenly dangling in the air. Kim TaeYeon had stood up and turned to look at the man, a young vampire from what they could see. His sleeves seemed to roll up by itself and his wrists shot up, showing the shadow of a tribal tatoo, his grasp slackened to let the dagger fall.

“We haven’t had ladies this strong and smart in quite a few generations. I am sure that you know of the abilities of our princesses.” Yuri said, “I am sure that most clans have that information, our king always did like to show off, unfortunately, that made our jobs so much harder.”

By now, the man had been thrown up, and was plastered to the glass of their room. The two laughed, and Sooyoung disappeared for a second, the next, the man was with her. “It is your turn.” Yuri told her, smiling. Sooyoung only laughed, this time, it would have brought shivers to the two guards, if they weren’t who they were.

“Where is she taking him?” Amber asked.

“The interrogation. I would have gone, but it was her turn this week.”

“Week?” Even they never had that many kidnapping or maiming attempts and their king made a lot of enemies with that mouth of his.

“Like I said, our King makes our life harder by flaunting the princesses in the face of his enemies, so we deal with attempts like that weekly.”

“Why are you telling us all this?” Tiffany asked. No self-respecting and loyal guard would spill all that without prompting.

“After all, our two kingdoms are about to be at peace, I see no harm in telling you all this.” The darker woman said, as she leaned back into her seat. She turned to look at the two and smiled, “We are about to become a family no?”

Tiffany did not like the tone of that woman. She is hinting at something, and she knew exactly what it was. “Of course.”

“That was quite spectacular.” Jung MinHyuk said, watching the princess as she sat down gracefully again, as if nothing happened. Yunho glanced up, seeing the man disappeared and thought back to what Yoochun had told him. Not seeing these people does not mean that they are not next to him. The Kim leader just smiled peacefully and leaned back. He glanced at his daughter and gave her a proud smile, and she gave him a small nod back, albeit hiding her smile. “Thank you sir”

HyoYeon watched them interact, and turned to the Prince. Good looks, strong build, however that meant nothing. She wanted to see him in action. She narrowed her eyes and turned to the sisters. Her mind immediately dismissed Krystal as weak, but Jessica, there was something intriguing about her. She wasn’t like her sister, and had not said a word since the service started, the younger however, had been talking cheerfully with her. Examining the older vampire more, she was tugged out of her musing when she felt her sister’s hand on her knee, as in to say snap out of it. She turned her gaze in; she had plenty of time to examine these people.

“HyoYeon-ah?” Her father called, “Why don’t you show the Jung your harp playing?”

“Of course Father.” HyoYeon said, as she motioned to Yoona to go pick up her harp. She knew what her father wanted to do. He had always been offended when the other kingdoms thought that they were classless and were only good on the battlefield.

“Harp?” Yunho asked. He didn’t expect them to be able to play anything so delicate, after a vampire was stronger than the average human.

“Yes, Hyoyeonnie picked up the harp when she was travelling in Europe a few decades ago. She instantly fell in love with its beautiful sounds and had been practicing it since then.” TaeYeon answered.

“And do you play any instruments TaeYeon-ssi?” Yunho asked, firing a charming smile towards her. She seemed unresponsive to it and simply nodded, “I dabbled with the piano and the violin, but my favorite is still flute.”

“Yes, my daughter has quite the pair of lungs,” Kim said, laughing heartily, “You should hear her sing.”

“Oh, Jessica sings well too.” Jung said, displeased that his enemy was overshadowing his children. Kim stopped, and looked at him and nodded gently, “Why don’t Jessica-ssi and TaeYeon have a duet with HyoYeon on the harp? Krystal-ssi, do you play any intrusments?”

“I do play the piano.”

“Good! Good, SeoHyun, have them bring in the Grand.”

“Yes My Lord” SeoHyun bowed before leaving the room as Yoona walked in, the harp being rolled in by two men behind her. “Lady HyoYeon, your harp.” She announced, head bowed before motioning them to bring it to the princess.

“Thank you Yoona,” Hyoyeon said as she stood up, fingers already aching to play her instrument. “Shall we wait Father?”

“Yes, it shouldn’t be long now. Jessica-ssi, Krystal-ssi, why don’t you two go work out the song with the girls?”

The two Kim princesses were already by the harp, the elder watching as the younger strummed a few chords, satisfied with the sounds. They turned as they heard the Jung princesses approach and greeted them with a small smile and a small “go ahead” motion. It wasn’t long until SeoHyun had men roll in the Baby Grand and Krystal sat behind it, experimenting with the keys. “I’m ready” she announced, and all four began.

Up in the watch room, all three bodyguards sat forward in their seats. They could not wait to hear the song. They each knew of their lady’s talents and even in the company of their enemies, they will make time for it. Sooyoung quietly slipped back in the room and sat next to Yuri, ready to enjoy the show. They could not help the smile that came to them, it simply was divine.

Jung Yunho sat next to his father, in what was admittedly awe over the four’s performance. “When people can make music that good together, they should never be separated” something said in the back of his mind. The higher pitch of Jessica’s voice harmonized perfectly with TaeYeon’s own unique pitch, the light sound of the harp blending with the strong notes of the piano seemed the perfect mesh for the singers. For having never met, they sound like they’ve been performing together forever and a day. At the end of their performance, the two kings and the prince clapped heartily, giving them a standing ovation.

“Wonderful.” Jung said, nodding, it seems that the Kims were not all only barbarians after all. At least, his future daughter-in-law will be civilized to a certain degree.

“I thought you were supposed to meet the Jung today?” One of his friends asked him. JaeJoong looked at him and smirked. “No, I’m saving that for later.”

“What are you planning hyung?” A man taller than him asked, his own lopsided grin appearing when it was only the three of them left.

“What can you possibly mean Changmin?”

“I have to admit, I’m curious as well. You seem too, satisfied. Almost as if you were the cat who ate the canary.” Another man said, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the prince.

“Come on you two, have you now confidence in me?” Changmin raised an eyebrow and shared a look with the third man, and both shook their head. “Oh hyung, they call you the Nightmare for a reason.”

“A very good reason” Agreed Siwon. JaeJoong just looked at them and shook his head, smirk still firmly planted on his face. “If I took a guess, you finally got the balls to go up to Yul and court her?” Siwon said, knowing of his friend’s infatuation with the guard.

“Yul? Since when are you two so close?” JaeJoong asked, smile disappearing. “So it is that!” Exclaimed Siwon. Eyes still narrowed, the prince shook his head, “Not at all, but you are still going to tell me how the two are so close you give each other pet names.”

“Sooyoung is my cousin, JaeJoong, do the math. Now if that’s not why, why the grin?”

The other kept his eyes narrowed for a second before chuckling, “I’m going to get myself a mate boys.”

The two friends looked at each other and shuddered, if it wasn’t Yuri, then who was this poor woman? And as if JaeJoong could read their minds, which he technically could because the man was lucky enough to be granted two abilities, however small his control and spread is with the mind control, he slapped them both on the back of their heads.

“Hyung, no offense, but you know you kind of need the woman to be willing right?” Changmin asked cautiously, holding his head.

“What makes you think she won’t be willing?”

“Your charm is good and all, but in the end…”

“Come on boys, who says I’m going into this blind? Of course you two are helping.”

Now the men could only groan. Of course they’d be dragged into it.

Safaiaunnie: Next up, Jaesica's meeting