Baekhyun’s P.O.V

It’s a calm morning. The scent of coffee is drifting in the air while the soft melody of pop music echoes in the background. His eyes stares at the scenario that is passing by outside as he feels Chanyeol’s eyes occasionally glance over at him. The car is silent most of the journey like usual, but it’s a pleasant silence. They both are tired since it’s still early in the morning and they’re heading towards their daily lives in the city after being away for far too long. He has missed too much of his school life as it is and Chanyeol needs to check how Xiumin and Chen are doing in the office.

“It’s going to be a very long day…”

Chanyeol mostly mutters tired under his breath, but he easily hears his husband’s complain. He wants to chuckle slightly at him but refrain from upsetting him or mocking him this early in the morning. You can say whatever you want about his husband, but he has noticed that there is a slight morning temper from time to time in their daily lives. It’s not often, but Chanyeol occasionally mutters annoyed or sighs tired whenever he forces himself up from bed in the morning.

“You know, I do know how to drive, and we do have two cars now. I can leave on my own and you can go to the office in later hours if needed.”
“I don’t want you to go on your own… This is the little time we have together during the week and- “
“Don’t tell me you’re worried that something will happen? If anyone should be worried, it should be me.”

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything and remains silent. He shakes his head slightly but doesn’t push the conversation any further. He will leave the problem to Chen and Xiumin who know how to handle the giant better than him. He loves Chanyeol, he truly does, but some things are easier explained by the two very handy vampires.

“Seriously Baekhyun… Today… Be… Be careful.”

The serious tone in Chanyeol’s voice makes him look up at him in surprise. Chanyeol is a bit anxious, he can sense it, but he tries to not show it. He really wonders what Chanyeol has been doing in Busan. He actually never told him the whole story except that he was looking some people up – people who got angry and hurt him. Once again, he struggles to not sigh worried as he puts on a brave face instead.

“Of course, I will be careful. I’m honestly more worried about you than me at this point, but I will keep an eye out.”
“Good, that is what I had hoped you would say.”
“Just don’t let me distract you from work, alright? Chen and Xiumin need you and there is still the normal business you need to take care off. I will text you if anything strange is going on or if I feel like I’m in danger. I want you to do the same, alright?”

He eyes his husband slightly, not sure what he might be thinking at the moment. It takes a while and some glaring from his side of the car before Chanyeol nods to an agreement. Good, it looks like his words got across to him. He smiles satisfied before he lets out a long sigh.

“There is also something else I would like to ask before we arrive.”
“What’s that? Is there anything else bothering you? Can I help?”
“Well… I’m going to be honest with you, I have been thinking about both Lay and Kyungsoo the past days.”
“Oh… Really…? I thought you were distracted enough with me…”

Chanyeol mostly mutters, but he can hear him clearly. There is a slight tint of jealousy in his voice which makes him chuckle lightly: it’s a bit cute to see Chanyeol jealous, but also a bit weird. He doesn’t know if he will ever get used to this side of his vampire or if it will constantly catch him of guard like this.

“Of course, I have been thinking a bit about them since I do consider them close friends. After all, before we got… along shall we say, I was a very restricted werewolf with no family or friends around.”
“Do you need to bring that up all the time…? I feel bad about it as it is. I said it several times, I’m sorry- “
“I know Chanyeol, that’s why I’m still here and hasn’t run away yet. But it doesn’t change the fact that I became close friends with both of them. I know Kyungsoo was especially worried or anxious about something.”
“I noticed it too, but he never told me anything about it. He just suddenly asked if he could take a couple of days off and it has just expanded into weeks and soon months.”

He nods while listening to his husband, not really liking the strange lump in his stomach. Maybe they should have checked up on him earlier? After all, they didn’t know that Sehun and Luhan had a fight and were going through rough times – maybe Kyungsoo is doing the same?

“I would like to try and contact Kyungsoo even though he’s supposed to be off duty. If possible, I would even like to go and see him.”
“Since you seem to know him better than me, I guess I will let you handle that part.”
“You should concentrate on getting your sorry out of trouble, nothing else. I know we decided to not bring this up again, but I will say it once last time: don’t mess around with any more people Chanyeol. I really don’t know how I would be able to handle another situation where you get hurt again.”
“I… I know… I will try to finish the business I was doing and wrap it up as quickly as possible. I will also make sure to tell Kris to stay out of trouble as well from now and on. I wouldn’t want him to get hurt because of me either.”

Once again, he nods to his husband’s words while staring at the scenario passing the car. They’re not in the city, passing the busy streets and tall buildings. He somehow misses living in his old town where his family still live, but on the other hand he also enjoys the peaceful home they have now. He just wants them to live in that peaceful bubble of theirs and not worry about others.

It doesn’t take many more minutes before the car finally stops outside his school building. He feels how Chanyeol grabs his left hand, lifts it to his lips and kisses it softly. They stare at each other with tender eyes for a couple of seconds before he realizes that people will start staring if he doesn’t get out soon.

“Be careful and have fun if you can. I will pick you up later when I’m done, so please stay on the school ground or call Chen if you plan to go anywhere else – just for now.”
“Alright, I will do as you say – for now.”

Chanyeol smirks happily at him and seems satisfied with his answer. He gives him a quickly peek on the cheek before he exits the car and inhales the strong scent of humans, cars, and civilization. He slowly heads towards his school building, looking around slightly for familiar faces and classmates. Hopefully, he hasn’t missed too much of school that people have forgotten him already…

***

During the day, he tried to spend some time with his classmates and focused heavily on befriending them. He also caught up to what he has been missing and tried to distract his mind from thinking about his life at home. But he couldn’t help to stop thinking about it – about the fact that Chanyeol still got hurt for not long ago and that there might still be people after him. Throughout the day, he couldn’t help himself from texting his husband several times to just check upon him and it seemed that Chanyeol felt relieved to hear from him as well.

He also took the opportunity to during the day to think of something he can do for Kyungsoo. His dear friend who he, shamefully, had forgotten for a while hasn’t been in touch with him for a couple of weeks now. He knows that Chanyeol has been texting him occasionally and even called him to make sure he’s still okay, but he never mentioned anything about coming back or how well he is doing. This is quite worrisome if you ask him.

So instead of ignoring his worries for his friend and as a try to not let him seclude himself from everyone, he decides to try to call him. Sadly enough, Kyungsoo didn’t pick up his call and it looks like he won’t be calling back any time soon. Instead of worrying the whole day for when he will call back, he sends him a text in hope he will read it soon and get in touch with him. He tells him he should come by for some tea if he has some time or meet up in town to just chat – after all, he still considers him as a close friend even when he’s not working.

After the long day of classes, he remains in the school’s library for a couple of hours. Chanyeol hasn’t finished work and he said it might take some few more hours before they can let him go – so he decides to use the time to study. He finds a quiet and empty spot in the library and opens his books and scrolls through them slowly. He got to borrow some notes from some of his new classmates since he has been gone for nearly a week, but he doesn’t feel like he has been missing out too much of the lessons.

He’s absorbed in his studying for most of the time, just occasionally hearing the scrapping sound of a chair in the distance whenever someone leaves. He ignores most of the other noises and reads his books in peace and quiet. He loses the track of time and starts feeling a bit sleepy at the end of studying session – it is then he notices the feeling of someone watching him. He tries to not react too strongly to the feeling and instead tries to sit up straighter and look around without appearing suspicious. He can’t see or spot the source of the uncomfortable gaze around him, but he doesn’t dare to look around too obviously either. Maybe that is his cue to leave…?

He quickly sneaks out his phone and sends a text to Chanyeol, wondering if he can come and pick him up any time soon. While waiting for his answer, he packs his books down into his bag and tries to appear as calm and normal as possible. It doesn’t take long before his phone vibrates and Chanyeol is already on his way to get him. He sighs relieved as he gets up and is just about to leave when he notices a figure dart behind a couple of bookshelves. That must be the source of the uncomfortable gaze.

He refrains from making any kind of scene as he throws the bag over his shoulder and starts walking. It’s hard to not pick up his pace since he just wants to get out of here; he’s scared that whoever is watching him will notice him trying to hurry out. On his way out of the library, he notices how awfully empty it is in here. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize that he’s probably one of the last people to leave and the thought of him being alone with someone in here hits him.

Suddenly, he doesn’t feel as calm and composed anymore. He glances behind him, noticing how someone is now following him. A hooded figure walks a bit hunched after him – they try to appear as a normal introvert who doesn’t seem to want to be seen by anyone, but he finds it awfully suspicious. Without realizing it, he’s picking up his pace and almost hurries out of the library at this point. His ears are fully focused on listening to the footsteps behind him and he quickly darts out of the library and nearly stumbles into the corridor.

Just as he stumbles out, a taller man blocks his way, and he nearly slams his face into him. He quickly jumps back, feeling how his instincts take over as he nearly throws himself back. The man in front of him is also hooded, but he can see a pair of red eyes glowing down on him and it is then he senses the person behind him catch up to them. He looks around nervously in hope to find someone else in the corridor, but it looks like most students and teachers have left at this point. For now, he can’t hear or sense anyone around them.

“Sorry… I didn’t see you, little one.”

The man smirks at him, but he doesn’t make any move towards him just yet. He carefully glances back at the man behind him, noticing that he’s holding something hidden in his right. They might be up to something really horrible here…

“It’s alright… If you excuse me, I do have somewhere else to be.”
“Oh, really? What a coincidence, so do we.”

A slight wicked smile spreads on the man’s face as he hears the man behind him make a move. It looks like they won’t let him go and they’re definitely after him. He quickly tries to run, feeling how his instincts have already kicked in and how a part of his body had slowly transformed slightly underneath his clothes. Though, he already knows too well that one of the men must be a vampire since he saw his red glowing eyes.

“Don’t try to run kid! You will only make it worse!”

A hand tries to grab him, but his instincts are fully protecting him. He barely manages to throw himself to the side as he begins to sprint down the corridor, but there are two men and not one here. The other man suddenly appears in front of him, his red eyes glowing from underneath the hood as he grabs his arm and tries to stab him with something that looks like a very short dagger or perhaps a knife.

His body flinches back when the sight of the lethal metal appears in front of him. He tries to dodge to the side, but he can sense the blade easily cut through a part of his arm through the clothes and all the way into his flesh. He cries out in both pain and fear as he allows himself to run faster. This time, he doesn’t try to see where the men are and just runs as fast as he can towards the exit. There must be someone near here and they wouldn’t attack him near others, right?

“Just let it end quickly and we promise a quick and painless death!”

The taller man’s booming voice echoes in his ears as he runs faster, but he gets a sense that the men are just behind him. He takes a sharp turn to the right in hope to startle the vampires, but the shorter vampire seems nimbler than the taller one. He has already caught up to him again, this time he swings the knife right down towards his chest area to stab him, causing his whole body to try to jerk to the side. Though, it looks like the vampire fooled him.

Just as he darts to the side, he suddenly allows the knife to swing downwards, hitting him nearly right into his thigh as he screams in pain. As a reaction to the pain, his nails turn to claws and his animal instincts kick in. He digs his nails and teeth into the man’s arm, biting him as hard as he can and feels how his teeth sink deep into his flesh. The vampire screams in pain, not expecting him to attack back so suddenly. The other vampire catches up to them and is about to grab him when he throws himself to the ground, pulling out the knife from his thigh while holding back as much of the pain he can before he tries to run once more.

“Argh! Get him! Get that er!”

The shorter vampire cries in pain while holding his hurt arm – it looks like he managed to hurt him quite badly since he’s not running after him right away. The other vampires scoop up the dagger from the ground as he runs after him, but at this point he won’t be able to run as fast as before. Blood is gushing out of his wound and it’s hard to move through the pain – the adrenaline is the only reason he can still be moving.

“Come here you little piece of-!”

He feels how the man is just about to grab him and he watches him swing the knife towards him at the same time. In a heartbeat, he felt all the fear and pain overwhelm him and it felt like he stared right into death’s eyes. In a second, he suddenly watches the man’s arm nearly break as he’s thrown to the side. He stumbles to the side, startled to what just happened and it takes a second or two before the strong and familiar scent fills his nostrils. He nearly cries out in relief as his eyes spots the tall figure besides him, his red eyes glowing in fury as his fangs are being displayed in a displeased and disgusted expression.

“What do you think you are doing to my husband?”

He stares at Chanyeol and his cold glare that is luckily not directed at him, but at the two men who are now stumbling away from them awkwardly. It is in this moment he feels how his body collapses onto the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks as his hands clenches the stab wound into his thigh. The burning pain almost sizzles in his ears as he feels it getting more and more intense and the adrenaline seems to be slowly fading at this point.

“I will kill you for hurting him!”

Chanyeol roars in anger, but the men are already running away at full speed. It looks like he was about to chase after them, but then the strong scent of his blood must have stopped him. He watches Chanyeol nearly throw himself down onto him as he helps press his hands against the gushing wound which only burns in more pain at this point and he can’t refrain from screaming in pain.

“B-Baekhyun! I-It’s going to be alright, okay? We can fix this, okay? I got you.”

He’s happy to see Chanyeol trying to keep composed even though he can sense the strong anxiousness and fear within him. Chanyeol quickly takes off some of his clothes and uses them to cover the wound and try to stop the bleeding at the same time. He mutters under his breath about calling an ambulance, but it would be hard to explain what happened without telling them the full story.

“We got to get you out of here. I will try to move slowly, but we can’t wait for too long. Lay is nearby the city, he might be able to help us.”

He can only nod to an answer as he feels Chanyeol hands grab him. It doesn’t matter if he tries to lift him up slowly, his head feels dizzy, and he has started sweating and shaking weirdly. He feels sick and it’s almost like the burning pain is now spreading inwards and into his blood stream. He cries in pain whenever his stab wound throbs painfully as Chanyeol is nearly running out of the building at this point. The car is parked just outside, and it looks like not many people just happened to be around to see them.

His sight feels a bit blurry at this point and it almost feels like it’s hard to breath. He feels strange and it’s almost like his body is burning at this point. Chanyeol must have noticed since he’s suddenly looking a lot paler and much more worried.

“Baekhyun? Can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me.”

A grunt manages to leave his mouth, but he feels sick and weak. What is going on…? His vision feels blurry and Chanyeol’s voice has started to feel distant – almost like it is fading. He tries to focus his eyes, but everything around him is suddenly just a mess. He doesn’t really know what is going on at this point, he just feels how the pain is slowly spreading and that he slowly loses consciousness until everything is just pitch black.

***

His eyes snap open as a painful gasp leaves his mouth. His muscles tense up slightly as he struggles to move, not knowing where he is or what is going on. It felt like his body would lose control from the pain as he cries and struggles to get away from the pain. A pair of hands – slightly chill but soft – holds his cheeks gently and he thinks he hears someone trying to talk to him. The words seem to get lost in his pain and cries. It feels like his body is burning up in an aching pain that is slowly biting into his flesh and doesn’t seem to want to go away.

His body keeps on struggling for something that feels like hours. He kicks and cries, just desperately wanting to get away from the pain and the feverish heat that has spread. He occasionally hears voices around him, but none of their words rings clear in his ears. They’re muffled, mixed or too weak for his ears to pick them up. He keeps struggling to handle the pain, not being able to recall why he’s hurt at the moment since the intense burning sensation keeps distracting him.

After a while, it feels like he’s throwing up and struggles to breathe normally. His eyes try to look around, but he can only see dark figures and strange movements. His heart beats dangerously loud in his ears and it feels like his whole body is trembling and shaking. It only seems to get worse and worse until a couple of pair of hands grab onto him. At first, he cries out in fear and pain, not knowing what is going on or who it is. He struggles for a while, but his weak body doesn’t stand a chance. He’s easily held down, feeling something sting in his arm for a while until eventually his body begin to relax.

It is around now he starts feeling the soft scent of roses, but they’re much sweeter and he thinks he hears a light sizzling sound coming from the burning of incents. His head feels a bit lighter, and clarity is slowly reaching him. He’s now slowly coming back to his senses, feeling how a pair of hands is gently his cheeks and forehead and a deep and soft voice is slowly fading in. His eyes can finally focus slightly on the person in front of him and calmness spreads when he sees the warm brown eyes calmly staring down at him.

“It’s alright… It’s over now… Just rest… We’re here… Everyone is here… Just rest…”

Drowsiness begins to overwhelm him while the exhaustion in his body reminds him that it’s also there. He just tries to breathe slowly while looking around in the room, sensing that they’re not alone. He thinks he hears the familiar voices of Chen and Xiumin, but he can also smell someone he hasn’t seen for a while – Kyungsoo…? He struggles to look around, but Chanyeol’s gently hands stop him and keeps his face as calmly and softly he can.

“You’re safe Baekhyun… Don’t worry… Everyone is here: even Kyungsoo showed up and Lay as well. We will watch over you, so please rest. Just rest…”

He manages to nod very slightly, feeling how he can’t keep his eyes open for much longer. The memory of what has happened to him plays through his head while he tries to fall into a soft slumber. The two men that attacked him: who were they? Why did they come for him? How did they find him so easily? The questions spin around in his head, but all he can do for now is allow the tiredness and sleepiness overwhelm him and force him into a deep sleep.