4th Chapter : “all black”

It was only 10 am when Jace Leroy entered the small café.

His forehead was damp because of all the running he’s been doing minutes ago. With the back of his hand, he wiped the sweat away, his fingers worked on throwing his hair back and at the same time, he hastily looked for the person he came to meet.

The hunter had a small idea of who he was looking for. After they've both talked on the phone last night, he assumed that the man would be in his thirties and clearly not a smoker. His voice wasn’t too hoarse, and his tone…well his tone was sweet.

His eyes landed on a person sitting alone at a table, wearing blue denim jeans and a simple red t-shirt. His round glasses were slightly perched on his nose, and his head was resting in the palm of his hand. The man looked as if he was waiting for a particular someone for some while now, and Leroy knew he had found the right person. Again, he ran a hand in his, probably messy, dark hair to make sure he was at least presentable before walking to the table.

"Mr. Yoo I assume?"

Haneul lifted his gaze only to be met by lovely hazel eyes. Something in him stopped functioning, probably his brain because he couldn't start thinking straight.

Maybe it was because of his job, but along the years, Yoo Haneul picked a quite common trait : he grew meticulous and very attentive to the details surrounding him.

So when Jace Leroy stepped next to his table and started a conversation, Yoo Haneul’s eyes instinctively scanned him from head to toe, storing any information he could get from that first checkup somewhere in his head.

For starters, he didn't expect his niece's teacher to be this young.

His face looked recently shaved and his hair was a dark wavy mess, probably because he was sweating, which either meant he was the type to get ridiculously nervous or he just came over after a run. His knuckles were red and bruised. There were old and new cuts. As his eyes trailed lower, he noticed some white matter on his track pants. Haneul concluded that he had been out for a run. If he was the nervous type, he would’ve chosen a different attire.

Now the white stuff. What could it be? Baby powder?

Definitely not. It looked a lot more like paint.

Yoo's eyes kept studying Leroy's muscular built, still not believing that the person in front of him was a high school teacher. And it was only when Jace cleared his throat that he realized he was staring.

"My bad" He apologizes, his cheeks turning red in embarrassment, "You must be Mr. Leroy, my niece's history teacher"

Haneul awkwardly stood up to shake his hand.

"The one and only", Jokes the other man before sitting down in front of him, "and please, call me Jace"

Haneul nods his head, slowly calming his embarrassment.

"I'm sorry for the delay. I've met some complication on my way" Jace carefully choses his words.

"Is everything okay? What happened? If I may ask" Worries Jeongyeon's uncle.

"Nothing to worry about"

It wasn't a complete lie.

Earlier that morning, Jace was woken up by a loud specific ringtone. He had quickly gotten out of his bed, knowing that it was a serious matter.

As soon as he had picked up the call, he learned that his partners from the Agency had tracked down a potential suspect for the murders of the two teenagers, and that they were currently following him, without the creature being aware of it.

Not wasting any time, he quickly changed into some comfortable clothes that would allow him to move at ease, and grabbed his weapons before bursting out of his house.

However, as soon as he showed up to the said address, he was greeted with a battle scene.

Turns out the said vampire knew about the little group following him all along, and ended up leading them to a trap: his lair.

Instead of one vampire, they had to deal with at least five more.

Fortunately, the agency was much bigger in number. Unfortunately, the vampires still did damage and ran away with two of his partners.

On another hand, Jace now memorized their faces, and was sure he'd recognize a vampire if he saw one on the street. Unless, there was more of them he didn't know about...

"Anyway" He starts seriously, "I'd like to talk to you about your niece for a few minutes"

Haneul smiled. He was expecting to listen to a long list of qualities and compliments. He always was present in Jeongyeon's life, almost as much as her parents, and he knew how much of a good student she was.

Before starting the school year, Mr Leroy was warned by his fellow teacher and comrades, about Yoo Jeongyeon's case.

She had lost her parents and a brother in a car accident earlier during summer. Three weeks before school, to be more exact.

"I know she used to be an excellent student, with great grades" He starts, "but I'm scared her behavior might change"

To say that Haneul was surprised and taken completely off guard was an understatement. The confusion was clear on his face. He was expecting every thing and anything but this.

"I don't understand" He finally says.

Jace takes a deep breath thinking of a way to put his thoughts into words.

"She recently lost all of her family in a car accident"

"I know thank you, I've lost my brother, his wife, my nephew and I almost lost her as well" Haneul bites his tongue as soon as the words leave his mouth. He didn't mean to sound so rude, nor to interrupt and quickly apologizes.

"My condolences" Jace, suddenly feeling guilty.

The uncle flashes him a sorry smile and mentions for him to keep going.

"She may cope with their death in the wrong way" Continues the teacher, "I've seen cases of teenagers completely losing themselves after they had to deal with a traumatic experience. I don't wish for the same to happen to Jeongyeon" He finishes.

Haneul takes a deep breath, letting the new information slowly sink in. What if his niece ended up choosing a wrong path?

For a few minutes, he deeply thinks about the endless possibilities.

"I will pay more attention to that. Please don't hesitate to tell me if her behavior changes"

Jace decides to stay silent about the scene that occurred in his classroom. He thought he'd give his student the benefit of the doubt.

"Of course" He reassures him, "But then again, I'm sure your niece will do perfectly fine this year. I just wanted to share my concerns with you"

A few seconds passed in silence only making Haneul’s confusion grow. He was expecting more. There had to be something else the teacher wanted to talk about. Something important enough to make him want to meet his student’s tutor.

“Is that all?” He asks seeing as the teacher kept studying him as if he was one of his copies, not uttering a single word.

If Haneul would’ve been a different person, he probably wouldn’t have noticed Jace’s wandering eyes, examining his face and particularly his eyes, looking for something. But Francis specialized into reading people and noticing the smallest details about them. It’s what made him so good in his job.

“Yes.” Replies Leroy cracking a smile, “I apologize for bringing you all the way here, the school is currently closed for the day so I had to find somewhere else we could meet” The lies roll out of his tongue easily. Practice makes perfect after all. “I didn’t think it’d be a good idea to meet at your house, in case Jeongyeon was there, and mine is still going through some constructions”

The school wasn’t closed. His place wasn’t having any constructions.

The real reason why he suggested to meet was because he wanted to see the tutor in person. The man who lived under the same roof as the student whom he found suspicious.

Chosing a public place like a café was a way for the hunter to avoid any unnecessary combat if Haneul had turned out to be as suspicious as his niece.

Mister Yoo nodded his head at the teacher’s excuses, ignored the way his tongue left his mouth to wet his lips and thought about how a phone call would’ve been sufficient to communicate the information he had just received. He then stood up from his seat, leaving a bill on the table to pay for his piece of cake and coffee.

"Thank you for caring, but if you don't mind, I'm going to leave now" He watches as Mr Leroy stands up as well. "I don't want to leave Jeongyeon alone at home for too long, not after what happened last night"

"Tragic turn of event indeed. Jeongyeon was at the party yesterday?" Jace asks suddenly intrigued.

Haneul pushes his glasses further up his nose.

"Yeah. Her best friend stayed over last night. Poor girl was so scared she didn't want to stay home alone"

Jace took notice of how he didn't speak about his niece's state, almost as if she wasn't fazed by the events. Maybe she wasn't there when the bodies were found? Or maybe he was just asking himself too many questions...

"Best friend?"

"Yes, Hirai Momo.. I believe she's in your class as well"

He remembers the blonde girl in his class that seemed closer to Jeongyeon than anyone else.

"Yes. I know her" He says, knowingly nodding his head.

They both stand in silence for a few seconds, before Haneul decides to interrupt the silence again:

"I will be leaving now"

"Right. Have a nice day Mr Yoo" Answers Jace, extending his hand for the other man to shake.

Haneul suddenly remembered how the teacher had asked him to call him by his forename, and how he had forgotten to return the gesture.

"It’s Haneul" He smiles back at the dark haired man, putting his hand in his. It was rough and dry, unlike any of the teacher hands he once got to shake, "Have a nice day Jace".

And as he turned around and walked towards the exit, he could still feel the teacher’s eyes on him.

............................

The week-end passed by quicker than expected, and unfortunately for both girls, Monday came earlier than they wished it would.

Momo ended up spending the whole week-end at the Yoo’s apartment and borrowing clothes from Jeongyeon’s close, apparently too lazy to drive to her place to bring her own.

"Wake up sleeping beauty"

Momo always was one to wake up early in the morning. In fact, she never needed an alarm in her life. Don't ask her how she does it because, frankly, she doesn’t know either.

The blonde girl barely shook her best friend's body, when, as fast as lightning, Jeongyeon woke up, grabbed her, turned them around so she was on top and made sure to pine both Momo’s arms against the mattress, preventing her from carrying out any movement. All of that in a matter of brief seconds. Momo didn't even have the time to blink nor scream. She laid there, in absolute shook and confusion, staring at her best friend who seemed to contain all the hatred in the world in her eyes.

"Okay...I promise I won't ever wake you up again" Momo tries her best to joke. She doesn’t know her voice is trembling and she refuses to admit to herself that she’s scared

She quickly chases the thoughts away from her head, eliminating the possibility that Jeongyeon could ever do her harm.

"Can you please get off me you elephant? You're actually hurting me!" She says, sounding way more confident than she did a few seconds ago.

Momo watches as Jeongyeon's dark eyes lose their previous intensity and feels her grasp slowly loosen, until she completely lets got of her wrists.

The brunette blinks rapidly, regaining consciousness and only then does she notice the position she was in.

"What the..." In a swift move, she gets off of her best friend and sits on the bed's edge. "How?" Seems to be the only word she can utter, too confused to form a proper sentence.

"I was just going to wake you up, when you suddenly turned all ninja on me and BAM!"

Momo sits down by her best friend's side, feeling less threatened than a few seconds ago. The Jeongyeon that held her against the mattress, and the Jeongyeon staring at her own feet right now felt like two different persons. Two opposites.

“Were you sleeping?” She asks, knowing that Jeongyeon had a few troubles to do so these past few weeks.

“Barely”

After a moment of silence, Momo decided she couldn't hold back any longer and let the words flow out of :

"Are you sure you didn't get bit by the vampire? Or, transformed into one in some way?"

Jeongyeon snaps her head in her direction as soon as she hears the two key words: vampireand transformed.

1173826. it be...

She quickly stands and walks to the mirror of her room. After putting her hair up in a ponytail, she inspects her neck first, then arms, before stopping in the middle of her search of a bite mark.

"No" The brunette slowly turns around to face Momo "I wasn't bit"

She may have looked extremely unsure with her furrowed eyebrows, but she could've sworn at that moment, that she has never been more sure about anything else in her life.

...............................

Alchemia's high school never looked this...actually, Jeongyeon couldn't think of a better word to describe it than dead. She liked it.

The students looked tired. All of them, with no exception, had large dark circles under their eyes. They looked afraid, and nervous, and kept whispering to each other while occasionally and as discreetly as possible stealing glances at the two police cars parked in the school's student's lot, acting as if getting caught looking would bring them trouble.

"What is happening? Why is the police here?"

Momo was definitely a lot more terrified and concerned than Jeongyeon about their presence.

"I have no idea"

The two girls silently agreed that they wouldn't stay outside during the few minutes they had left before school started, and entered the building.

"Do you think I should tell them about... you know what?"

Asks the brunette in a very low tone, choosing her words carefully. She didn't want anyone to hear. She felt like it should be kept a secret from everyone, but maybe not the police. Especially if they were here to try to solve the murder case.

"You mean tell the police about the vampire? Or the werewolf? Or both-!"

Jeongyeon slaps her hand on her best friend’s mouth, shutting her up on the spot. Her other hand closed firmly around her arm pushing her in the direction of the lockers and looking around them for reassurance. If anyone was staring at them, it wasn’t because of what had Momo said.

"Say it louder will ya?" Warns Jeongyeon, finally letting go of the blonde girl.

Momo rubs her arm, making the slight pain go away.

Jeongyeon sure didn't spare her this time. Either she slapped her really hard, gained more strength in a matter of two days, or Momo just was extremely weak.

"Sarcasm. I like it" Jokes the blonde girl, still fighting the pain bugging her arm, "no but seriously, I think you should. We need to warn everyone. We can’t risk more accident. The police force need to know what they’re actually dealing with"

The bell rung, reminding both girls that they would have to part ways and get to their respective classes.

"I don't think he's still alive though. That werewolf didn’t look like it was ready to let him go anytime soon” starts the brunette.

And amidst that conversation that Jeongyeon recalls the two silhouettes that noticed from her balcony late last night. And as if on cue, she suddenly felt like she was being watched, however, now that she has learned from her mistakes, she didn't turn around and kept walking.

"Plus, a werewolf bite is enough to put a vampire on his death bed" She adds, completely ignoring her thoughts to make a run for it, to tell Momo.

“Weird comparison there. Considering that vampires are already dead and sleep in coffins: in other words, their death bed.”

“I doubt Vampires sleep in coffins. That’s too cliché”

Momo rolls her eyes. “Now you wouldn’t know would you?”

Each girl soon went in a different and totally opposite direction.

As Jeongyeon was walking in the hallways with the very few students, that feeling of unexplainable attraction invade her once again.

1. was here.

She knew someone, or to be more exact, something, was here, somewhere, in her surrounding. And the fact that the feeling in her only kept growing bigger and bigger, larger and larger, deeper and deeper within her made her realize that she was getting closer and closer toit. Danger was near, and it felt like she was walking straight in a trap. She only hoped that it wasn’t a certain creature with long white terrifying fangs and a yearning thirst for blood.

No matter how fast she walked, trying to escape, it seemed like the thing, was catching up with her. The feeling only grew stronger, until she felt someone grab her her wrist and pull her away. She would've gladly yelled for help if a hand hadn’t covered .

Jeongyeon felt her back hit the wall before her brown eyes found themselves staring into another pair.

“You better not tell a single word of what you saw two nights ago. Especially not to the police” Their tone threatening enough to make shivers run down and up her spine. She knew she’d have no choice but to agree and obey.

Her eyes scanned her surrounding. She was near the stairs, but it seemed like, every student was already in their respective classes, which was odd because, she remembered having a few students by her side when she was dragged. It was almost as if they disappeared.

The kidnaper withdrew her hand from Jeongyeon’s mouth before taking a step back, away from her. A small smirk crept on as soon as Jeongyeon fell back on the stair’s steps, still looking at her with the same big brown eyes full of horror.

“You-you-you’re one of them…I-I felt it” Stutters the brunette. She didn’t mean to fall back on her while trying to escape.

She didn’t know what this newcreature wanted from her. Except maybe her blood. That’s when it finally hit her.

Jeongyeon did get thatfeeling on the first day of school, when she saw them. She regretted not realizing sooner that Tzuyu and Sana, the equally flawless new students, were creatures of the night.

Sana frowned at Jeongyeon’s words.

“You…felt it?” She repeats her words in a questioning tone, and automatically takes a step forward in the brunette’s direction.

Jeongyeon panics seeing her come closer, which only results in her climbing up a step further of the stairs.

“You’re one of them” She says once again, as if to prove a point, “You’re a vampire!”

Sana freezes at the accusation, clearly not believing her ears and Jeongyeon is expecting anything and everything but what happens next.

Sana bends down hugging her stomach and erupts into fits of laughers that make Jeongyeon’s heart stop beating for a few seconds, accepting death, before abruptly stopping and looking her straight in the eyes.

Jeongyeon doesn’t think she’s ever seen anything more terrifying than watching the blonde girl’s eyes turn darker and darker until she couldn’t distinguish between the pupil, iris nor the white sclera, because there was no more color, no whiter. It was all…black.

“How dare you mistake me for these low life creatures?”

It seemed like Jeongyeon’s lungs had given up on her, because no matter how much she breathed in, it felt like there was never enough oxygen to fill them entirely. The thought of suffocating to death was much less scary than whatever she was witnessing.

“What-are-you?” She hates how her voice is trembling. She hates this. She hates everything about this. From the blonde girl, (or was she even human? she couldn’t be) to her inability to save herself from this situation.

Sana snickers, showing off a set of perfectly aligned white teeth.

“I’m guessing you still didn’t get your powers.” The blonde girl walks over to the brunette, this time however, Jeongyeon doesn’t have the strength to move, “The transformationis supposed take a few weeks but I didn’t expect for it to be this long though”

Sana crouches in front of her novice. She was so close that Jeongyeon could, not only smell her strong perfume, but also feel the strong aura that surrounded her. And oddly enough, something about it reassured her. She ignored what it was, or how, but, she felt less scared than she was in the beginning.

“God” The word escapes in a sight, as she watched Sana’s eyes find back their original colors. As anticipated, she was immediately met with the hammering headache for a few seconds.

The blonde girl winces, feeling pity for her apprentice, “Why’d you have to mention them? That stuff hurts a lot”

She shakes her head as if disagreeing with Jeongyeon’s actions, before smiling back excitedly at her, resembling a child that couldn’t wait to open their Christmas gift.

“I cannot wait to see what powers you’ll be gifted with.” She gets back up on her feet and frowns before finishing her sentence “That’s of course, if you survive the transformation”

Jeongyeon wished she never heard her last words.