True to his word, Taeyong led the group out of the stables as the sun peaked over the horizon, creating a beautiful mix of yellow and orange in the early morning sky, slowly pushing away the darkness of the night. 

Yuta pat his black mare in-between the ears, thankful the silver-haired vampire had the decency to send guards to fetch their horses. 

Once they were outside the castle walls, Yuta was able to inspect the vampire’s city clearly for the first time.  The roads were stone clad and lined with an assortment of shops and houses.  Only a few red-bloods were out and about, considering the time of day.  When they recognized the vampire prince, they stopped to respectfully bow as the group passed by and resume their daily tasks when they were out of sight. 

It wasn’t until they rode out of the city when Johnny asked a question that was on all their minds, “Where’s shorty?” 

From the front of the formation, Taeyong hollered above the thundering of the horse’s hooves, “He’ll catch up.” 

Yuta looked to the right at Jaehyun for answers, who only smiled.  “Don’t worry.  This happens all the time.  Ten isn’t very good at getting anywhere on time.”  Upon hearing the explanation, Johnny worriedly started looking behind his back more and more often. 

Before they mounted the horses, Taeyong had shed some light on the riding arrangement.  Taeyong, as the leader, rode at the front by himself.  Behind him, in a row of three, were Taeil, Yuta, and Jaehyun.  Yuta tightened the reigns in frustration, remembering how Taeyong explained that because Yuta would be the easiest to pick off, he should be surrounded to eliminate that risk.  Doyoung and Hansol rode behind them, and Johnny was alone in the back.  Yuta guessed Ten would ride beside Johnny when he caught up to them later on in the day. 

Supposedly, according his royal pain in the , the roads that led to and from the two vampire clans were far more dangerous than those that led to the human kingdom.  Over the hundreds of years, quite a few blue-bloods were exiled from the kingdom for treason, who were now rogue bandit leaders, waiting for the very day to extract their revenge on the royals.

Yuta huffed in annoyance.  Just because he was the only human here didn’t mean he was the weakest link.  He didn’t need to be treated like a child.  He was the leader of their vampire slayer unit!  Hell if he didn’t know what he was doing!  As if the prince knew he was glaring daggers at the back of his head, he peaked back at Yuta and smirked before picking up the pace as they hit open road.  “Bastard,” he muttered.

The ride was long and hot, only stopping to use the restroom.  Today was one of the hottest days since summer hit.  Yuta lost count of how many times he had to wipe the sweat from his eyes, of how many times he almost slipped out of the saddle from the sweat that pooled underneath him.  However, it seemed he was the only one having these problems.  Out of curiosity, he stretched out his hand to touch Taeil’s arm; it was cool to the touch, perfectly smooth with no hint of moisture.

Taeil furrowed his eyebrows at the touch and looked at Yuta in concern, “Are you okay?  You look like you’re drowning in your own sweat.”  

It was true; even Yuta’s hair was flattened from the moisture that was pooling from his scalp.  He had run out of water long ago but didn’t want to have to stop just because of his humanly needs, not wanting to see the sneer cross Taeyong’s face since he was the one slowing them down.  Yuta knew he was being stupid but had too much pride.

Yuta looked away too quickly in an attempt to hide his desperate need for the precious clear liquid.  Too quick to stop him, Taeil reached out and grabbed the canteen that hung at Yuta’s side.  With a quick shake, Taeil threw the canteen back at Yuta with enough force to knock Yuta out of the saddle.  He didn’t register he was as dizzy and lightheaded as he was until he realized he couldn’t control his body as he fell out of the saddle.

Shouts were heard from Doyoung and Johnny as they witnessed Yuta’s fall, causing everyone to stop.  Taeyong immediately leapt from the saddle to stand by the fallen boy’s side.  Assessing the situation and coming to a quick conclusion, he briskly picked up the empty canteen and headed into the forest towards the stream that paralleled the road they had been taking.  Drunkenly grasping at what Taeyong was doing, Yuta shakily stood up and yanked the canteen from Taeyong’s grip, almost tripping over his own feet in the act. 

Not even bothering to look behind him, he treaded forward, disappearing into the jungle of trees.  “Stupid water.  Stupid Taeyong,” he muttered as he pressed on.

Almost ten minutes later he finally found himself at the stream they had told him about previously.  Yuta sighed as he slid onto his knees and dunked his head into the water.  Never had water or its coolness ever felt so good; he needed more.  He opened his mouth in invitation but came to the surface spluttering as something pulled on his boot. 

Not quite refreshed but his head a little clearer, he realized he was surrounded by three red-bloods he wasn’t familiar with that were all brandishing weapons his way.  If he was in perfect condition, he could easily take on all three by himself, but as it currently stood, he was in trouble.

Kicking away the hand that was still on his leg, he grabbed his sword and leapt at the bandit with a snarl.  Said bandit easily ducked away and fell back with the other two.  Yuta eyed the bandits, trying to come up with a strategy.  Should he stay and try to fight or run back to the others and have them help take care of them? 

Once again, his pride kicked in as he attacked with the swing of his sword.  Easily blocked, they started their swords play.  Yuta had the upper hand, but as soon as it looked as if Yuta would win, another bandit swung at him, causing him to jump away.  They were back at square one and Yuta was worse for wear.  He had yet to drink any water and his vision was getting more and more blurry, his head fogging up to the point that he was blindly swinging at whatever entered his eyesight. 

How many of them was he was fighting now?  Did they just double in number?  He could swear they were six of them now.  Legs wobbling like jelly, he took a step forward but cried out as he felt a searing pain in his arm; he had been struck.  Trying to back away, his foot slipped on a wet rock that protruded from the stream.  Yuta was half in and half out of the stream as they advanced on him. 

As his vision faded from a dull fog to almost black, he made out a different form coming towards them from the forest.  Great, another red-blood to enjoy watching his death.  Barely able to see now, he focused on the energies surrounding him. 

That was no ordinary red-blood; it was a blue-blood.  How could he have missed the tremendous pressure of that vampire’s power coming towards them?  Oh, but was no ordinary blue-blood, either.  In the back of his brain, he could feel the familiar pull, the desire to go towards the blue-blood. 

All Yuta could hear were blood-curdling screams and the tearing of flesh, but that didn’t keep him from blindly searching for the source of his attraction.  Moments later, the screaming stopped, but the lust he felt was getting stronger and stronger the more he moved.  Mind not thinking, he hunted for flesh with his raised hands.

He felt a chest.  Reaching higher, a face and a pair of lips.  A delicious-feeling pair of lips that Yuta so desperately needed on his.  Right as Yuta leaned in for the kill, the vampire struck the pressure point in Yuta’s neck and he saw black.

Jaehyun watched in amusement as Taeil threw the bottle at Yuta but was immediately concerned when Yuta easily slid out of his saddle, unable to keep himself upright.  Stopping with the rest of the company, he watched the events unfold until Yuta disappeared into the line of trees.

Everyone looked around at each other wondering what the heck was going on until Taeil told Jaehyun, “The idiot’s dehydrated but didn’t tell us he ran out of water because he didn’t want to slow us down.” 

“And that’s your first in command?  Pathetic,” Taeyong spat out and sat on a fallen tree truck on the side of the road in wait.  The others followed his example.

Not five minutes after Yuta’s departure, the outline of a person on a horse could be seen coming towards them on the road.  After a tense couple of minutes, they could make out Ten’s form.

Johnny turned to Doyoung and announced, “You owe me $10.” 

Doyoung looked to the sky and grumbled, “Damnit,” as he fished in his pocket for the money.

“Did you seriously bet on when Ten was going to catch up to us?” Taeil eyed the two gamblers.

“I guessed before sunset and Doyoung said after,” Johnny explained with a wolfish grin.

Taeil laughed, “Doyoung, I don’t even know why you try, you’re terrible at any kind of game.” 

“This wasn’t a game!  We were just betting!” Doyoung protested with puffed cheeks that Jaehyun deflated with a poke of his finger.

Taeyong rolled his eyes at the banter, “Well congratulations, you at that too.”

The boys waved Ten down as he drew near.  Face mixed with guilt and anger, he dismounted his horse, “What’re you guys waiting around for?” 

Johnny quickly answered, “Well, short stuff, Yuta-“

“Ouch! What the ?” Taeyong hurdled off the log clutching his arm and clenching his teeth in pain.  Not two seconds later, realization flashed across his face, and the boys watched as he sprinted into the forest in Yuta’s direction. 

“Do you think…?” Doyoung trailed off, waiting for an explanation.

Jaehyun spoke up, “Yuta’s fine.  I’m not completely sure what’s going on, but if Taeyong needed us he would’ve told us.”

Jaehyun watched as Doyoung worriedly bit his lip, eyes searching for the answers that hid behind the forest trees.

They didn’t have to wait for long.  The blue-blood emerged from the forest carrying an unconscious Yuta bridal-style. 

Before he was stampeded by questions, he hurriedly satisfied their distress, “He was attacked by a few red-blooded bandits.  He’s fine except for a small cut on his arm.  What got him in the end was his dehydration; he ended up passing out before I got there.”

Doyoung ran up to Taeyong to look at Yuta for himself, but instantly backed away at the growl that the blue-blood emitted from his chest.

“Taeyong!” His cousin demanded his attention as Doyoung was in a slightly dangerous situation.  Taeyong whipped his head from Doyoung to Jaehyun at the sudden yell, growl disappearing.  Jaehyun seemed to have successfully shaken Taeyong out of the protective state he was in. 

After a few awkward seconds of silence, a very pink Taeyong grumbled, “He rides with me.” 

Not wasting anymore time, the silver-haired vampire climbed onto his horse with Yuta still in his arms.  Jaehyun motioned for the rest of the boys to follow as Taeyong once again set a steady pace down the long, winding road.

Yuta opened his eyes, or so he thought he did because everything was still very dark.  His eyes quickly adjusted and he made out a yellow glow coming from not too far away near his feet.  He was about to sit up when he felt fingers softly playing with his hair.  Trying to figure out the position he was in, he determined that his head was lying on someone’s lap.  Yuta didn’t panic for even a second; he was so unexpectedly warm and calm and felt so very safe.  It would be a shame if he ever had to move; he hummed in contentment.

The fingers froze to a stop.  Without warning, his head hit the ground with a dull thud and the warmth that had once surrounded his body was ebbing away from him.  Wincing in pain, he sat up to nurse his head from the dull throbbing.  Looking around himself, he saw that the boys were all sitting around a small fire, quietly nodding off, necks bent and eyes droopy.  The only one that was wide-awake and alert was the that was glaring at him from across the fire.  Yuta suddenly had so many questions.

Reaching out and jostling the unsuspecting prince awake, Yuta whispered, “Hey.  Taeil.  What’s going on?  Where are we?  What happened?”  As far as Yuta could remember, he had left the group in search for water and now he was here in the dark.

Taeil slowly blinked the sleep from his eyes and accusingly looked for the perpetrator that had broken his sleeping spell.  His eyes widened and he spluttered, “Yuta!  You’re awake!  Thank god!”  Taeil hesitantly wrapped his arms around his best friend all the while making sure Taeyong wasn’t going to attack him for touching Yuta.  Taeyong continued to glare but didn’t budge from where he sat. 

It seemed Taeil’s spluttering had broken the sleep bubble that was affecting the rest of the members as they stirred awake.

While shoving bread and cheese in his mouth, Yuta shook his head in disbelief as the boys one by one recounted the events that had happened earlier in the day.  Taeyong saved him from bandits and carried him on his horse the rest of the way?  And if Yuta was right in guessing, Taeyong’s lap and fingers were the ones he woke up to.  Yuta must be dreaming.  Yep.  Very much dreaming. 

To test his theory, Yuta shakily stood up and wobbled over to where Taeyong sat.  Yuta stared him down before turning around and dropping himself into Taeyong’s lap.  After a couple seconds of no reaction from the prince, Yuta wiggled his to get into a more comfortable position and leaned his back into Taeyong’s chest. 

There it was.  He was once again engulfed in cozy warmth that he had grown very fond of in just the past hour.  Yuta came to the conclusion that he was most definitely dreaming.  There was no way in hell Taeyong would ever let him sit in his lap so easily. 

Yuta shuddered as hot breath assaulted his neck.  Man, this felt pretty real for a dream, he thought.  Soon, a pair of lips met the curve of his ear.

“What.  The .  Do you think you’re doing?”  Yuta’s stomach dropped at the dark iciness in the blue-blood’s voice.  Looking around his self or the first time, the boys donned pale faces and bulging eyes, clearly worried for Yuta’s safety.

His first instinct was to run, but icy cold hands snuck around his waist, trapping him in a death grip. 

Taeyong closed in on his ear once again, “You know.  I haven’t eaten yet today, and I know just how much you like getting .”  Yuta turned a dark shade of red, praying to whatever gods were listening that the others hadn’t heard what Taeyong said.

Taeyong’s lips connected to the back of Yuta’s neck but stopped when Jaehyun loudly cleared his throat to remind the prince that there were multiple spectators. 

Taeyong sighed and shoved Yuta off his lap.  Still red in the face, he staggered back to Taeil’s side. 

Taeyong stomped out the fire and warned, “Get to sleep.  We have another day of riding ahead of us and we leave at dawn.”

Yuta rolled his eyes.  What was with him and dawn? 

Jaehyun had the first 3-hour shift watch and Ten the second and was to wake Taeyong at the first light.

Still exhausted from the day’s events, Yuta slipped easily into a deep sleep.

The next day was pretty uneventful, save the random glares the -wipe would give him at every opportunity.  Yuta had to hold himself back from sticking out his tongue; he didn’t want to cause another scene like the one last night.  His ears turned red at the memory.

By mid-afternoon the company was able to spot the castle far into the hazy distance, but it wasn’t until evening that they reached the city gates.  Unlike the other vampire’s kingdom, the Northern clan’s gates were closed and kept under guard. 

Reaching the doors, two guards stepped up to receive the group.  “Good evening Prince Taeyong, we have been expecting you.”  The other guard peeked at the rest of them and counted.

“All eight are accounted for.  I’m glad to hear there were no casualties.  The roads get rowdier and rowdier by the day,” the red-blooded guard remarked with gloom in his voice. 

Taeyong nodded in agreement and the guards opened the gates for them to enter the city.  The first thing Yuta noticed was how packed the roads were of people.  Actually, it wasn’t just the roads, the houses, stores, markets, etc. were jam-packed right next to each other.  All the clutter distracted Yuta from his exhaustion of the day’s ride. 

The closer they got to the castle, the more grandeur and spaced out the buildings became, and the vampires were no-longer dressed in dull colors, but very saturated and beautifully decorated clothing. 

Outside the castle wall, a royal procession was there to meet their company.  The boys dismounted and followed Taeyong’s lead in bowing to what Yuta assumed was King Yifan and Queen Amber.  The King’s stature was similar to Johnny’s:  tall and wide-shouldered, but King Yifan’s facial features seemed piercingly cold.  His smile said otherwise.  The Queen’s appearance took Yuta by surprise:  her black hair was chopped short with blonde highlights, and she had an attractive, wild sort of appearance as if she couldn’t be tamed. 

Off to the side was an innocent-looking pretty blue-blooded boy with bright pink and yellow hair, whose limbs seemed abnormally long.  Holding his hand was a devishly handsome brunette red-blood that looked like he was up to no good judging by the smug smile on his lips. 

That must be the prince… and his boyfriend? Yuta assumed. 

From behind the couple, Yuta saw two smaller boys poke their heads out from behind the men in front of them.  One of which was definitely up to no good; a blue-blood with tufts of thick, wavy blonde hair.  The kid’s resting face seemed impish, as if he was constantly planning his next victim and how to make their life miserable.  The other was a dark chocolate haired red-blood that seemed just as innocent as the strawberry-lemonade haired blue-blood, seemingly still missing a couple of his teeth.

Before he knew it, they were being ushered into the castle and shown to their rooms by the guards.  The guards showed them four different rooms, all right next to each other, and apologized that they didn’t have enough rooms for all 8 of them.  That meant two to a room and they were, of course, free to choose their partner; which was no problem for Yuta, he could just room with one of his friends.

By the time Yuta turned around to claim Doyoung, Jaehyun had already grabbed onto his hand and pulled him into the nearest room.  Ok, no problem, he’d room with Johnny.  Too bad Johnny already held an unhappy Ten bridal-style in his arms as he made his way into their own room.  Maybe Taeil?  Yuta looked around.  Hansol and Taeil were already gone.  .  That left…

Yuta ran and grabbed ahold of the guard’s arm that was walking away and begged, “There has to be another room, right?” 

The guard smiled and shook his head in apology.  “You’re lucky to have 4 rooms to be honest.  We’ll be back in an hour to take you to supper.”  The guards once again left Yuta in the hallway, still on his knees. 

There was a sudden tug on the back collar of Yuta’s shirt, and he realized he was being dragged backwards.  Too busy sulking to care about his current predicament, he made no move to stop the tugging.  As soon as he was fully in the room, the door was slammed to a close. 

“You’re pathetic, you know that?” Taeyong frostily bit out. 

“I’m not pathetic, I just have really bad luck, apparently.  I had a 6 in 7 chance and of course I ended up with you.” Yuta stood up and snapped back.  He went to dump his baggage onto his bed but looked around confused.

“Why is there only one bed…?” Yuta asked through clenched teeth. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Taeyong shrug.  “I guess you can have the floor then.” 

Oh hell no.  This was not how this was going to work.  “Oh, so you get the bed, huh?  What?  Because you’re a prince? We should play a game so it’s fair and square.” 

Taeyong crossed his arms and grinned evilly, “And what game do you propose, oh mighty human?”

“Uh…”

“To be honest, I don’t think it’ll matter because I’m better than you in all aspects, mind and body.” With every word Taeyong spoke, the more aggravated Yuta became.

“King of the bed.” Yuta spoke up.  He had no idea where the idea came from or why he said it, but it was too late to take it back. 

Taeyong his lips in anticipation, “Perfect.”

And so Yuta found himself standing on the king-sized bed facing the most annoying pain in the he had ever met in his life; the most attractive pain in the if he was perfectly honest. 

After bickering for a few minutes about whom should say go, Yuta declared, “1-2-3-GO!”

Yuta aimed for the chest, but Taeyong was quicker, much quicker.  !  He forgot Taeyong was no ordinary vampire!  Abandoning his first attack, he hastily sat down and tried kicking Taeyong’s legs out from underneath him.  That didn’t work, either.  In retaliation, Taeyong kicked at Yuta and connected, almost knocking him clean off the bed.  It would’ve worked, too if Yuta hadn’t latched himself onto one of Taeyong’s legs. 

“God damnit, let go!  What’re you, a sloth?  Get off of me!”  Taeyong tried shaking his leg to shake Yuta off, but Yuta was firmly fastened on.  Taeyong’s hit the bed so he was on the same level as Yuta.  Yuta took the opportunity to push Taeyong with the leg he was attached to.  It almost worked, too if he didn’t roll in the opposite direction, farther from the edge. 

Yuta disengaged himself from Taeyong’s leg and held onto both edges of the bed with his hands and feet as if he was a starfish.  Taeyong stood back up and grabbed onto Yuta’s waist as if to pull him up off the bed, but it seemed Yuta was really good as staying latched onto things.  Taeyong tightened his grip on his waist and heard a small squeal escape from Yuta’s lips.  Yuta’s eyes widened in terror and Taeyong’s lips broke out into a wolfish grin.

Taeyong attacked and Yuta squealed, his fingers dancing underneath Yuta’s shirt, creating a very intense tickle-fest across his sensitive flesh.  Yuta wiggled, shimmied, and wobbled in an attempt to fend off the Taeyong’s tickles.  Tears and shrieks were erupting from Yuta’s body until he couldn’t take it anymore.  Yuta flipped around, laughing, sobbing, and laughing some more.  By this point, Yuta had the giggle fits and couldn’t stop, not that Taeyong had stopped tickling by a landslide.

 No longer just tickling his sides, Yuta’s entire body was victim to Taeyong’s playful fingers: tummy, armpits, neck, thighs, and feet.  Through the tears, Yuta could see Taeyong genuinely smiling.  It turns out laughter really is contagious.  In the middle of examining Taeyong’s smile, the door banged open with 6 bodies piling into the room.  The two boys immediately sat up, startled out of their game. 

“We heard Yuta screaming and came to make sure everything was okay,” Jaehyun breathed out.  He took in the messed up sheets, their tousled hair, and sweaty skin and turned beat red.  The others boys got the same drift and slowly backed out of the door until they were all gone and the door completely shut again. 

Without warning, Taeyong kicked and Yuta went tumbling off the bed.

“Looks like I get the bed tonight.”