I stood still, dazed and distant. I didn't utter a word to anyone. I couldn't. I just couldn't wrap my head around what had just happened. Never in my own wildest dreams, and I've been having a ton lately, did something remotely as insane as this occur before.  A few more butlers came by to get rid of the bodies. Not all of them had died, but were too weak to fight so they were transported in to the dungeons also. My stomach couldn't handle all of the blood and dead vampires in the hallway, so I had to get out of there before my dinner came back to say hi to me. Queen Jenny and King Tablo both returned to their rooms. The King had gotten extremely weak and lightheaded from the amount of control he was exerting, and needed to rest properly. They insisted that at least one boy stay with me, just in case another assassin tries something that again. But the thing is, not just one boy stayed, but all of them did.

Hoya took a hold of my hand after I broke down in Queen Jenny's arms and pulled me into the room. The rest of the boys followed. One by one, they took turns to wash up and get changed in their respective rooms; yet there were always six of them in my room with me. Sungjong and Sungyeol brought as many pillows as they could into my room and placed them on the floor. Woohyun and Sunggyu dragged all of their blankets. My wooden floor was completely covered with soft layers of fluff and cotton, just like the balcony that one day. Since I didn't have any blood on me, I didn't bother taking a shower. I was too... out of it.

Myungsoo grabbed a hold of my waist and forced me to sit down on the layer of softness they had prepared. It indicated that they were all going to stay with me. "Are you hurt?"

I nodded no.

"This is all our fault," Dongwoo sighed. "We should've taken better care of you and eliminated them earlier."

I looked at him with a confused expression. What did he mean by that? "The first attempt to kill you was two weeks ago, again at night time. But they sent in inexperienced vampires and so it was no problem for us," Sungyeol said.

"But now they sent in a whole specialized team, we thought there were only five of them, and so one slipped away and was able to reach you so effortlessly," Hoya continued. "If we had known, we would've kept at least one of us near your side."

"When we realized there was more, it was too late. Since Sunggyu is the fastest of us all, he ran to your side," Sungjong added.

"I apologize that you had to see that side of us," Sunggyu bowed slightly. "I understand it's not in any way something you are accustomed to."

I blinked a couple of times. "I... I don't even know how to begin to process what happened. It's not every day my life is put in danger and I am attacked by a group of vampire assassins sent by a royal family who just want me dead."

"Begin by telling us how you feel," Woohyun insisted. "Feelings matter the most. Including your real thoughts in situations like this."

"He held onto my neck so tightly, like he wanted to suffocate me and make me suffer. He wanted me to die slowly and painfully. The look in his eyes told me everything I ever wanted to know—it was clear that he didn't care if I lived or not, but only did as he was ordered..." I sniffed as the fear overtook my body and caused me to break down once more. "It reminded me of the look in Damien's eyes."

"Damien doesn't want you dead," Sunggyu announced.

"I know," I looked at him with pain in my eyes, "but he wants you guys dead. And he'll stop at nothing until every single one of you is."

"He won't kill us," Myungsoo held onto my hand. "Don't worry about us, okay? We are extremely powerful and capable of handling our own problems ourselves."

"Did you not see how easily and quickly he killed them?" I asked. "He even had this twinkle in his eyes that showed me that he was glad to dispose of them so effortlessly. How can one possibly defeat that?"

"We acknowledge the fact that he is one of the most skilled hunters out there," Sungyeol patted down a pillow before laying his head on it. "It's no doubt that he is one of the best, if not the best. But his mentality is nowhere near perfect. To survive in our world, you must have an impenetrable mind with no worries or fears. His is the exact opposite."

"Continuing to hate us is not powering him,"  Woohyun finished his brother's words. "It is only holding him back greatly. This is how we know he wouldn't do anything to us."

"As we have told you before," Dongwoo added, "a lot of hunters have gone insane because their mentality isn't in the right place. They let the hunger of killing take over. In a sense, they are no different than us."

I nodded. Their words were correct. The amount of skill that Damien held was extraordinary, but his thoughts behind it all is holding him back. He was still extremely upset at me, but I felt like it was my duty to thank him properly. If he hadn't come to my aid... I would probably be dead or worse, one of the Princes could be.

"You know," Hoya caught my attention, "You don't have to stay close to us. We see how much it hurts you to not be able to speak to him; it's clear that you two were incredibly close before we became a part of your life."

I was astonished. How could he suggest something like that? "It's my choice. I'm not going to listen to his words. You guys aren't dangerous; if anything you just protected me."

"But none of it would have happened if you just stayed away," Sungjong  sighed. "We could have totally avoided an attack in the first place."

"If I have to repeat it ten times," I wasn't changing for anyone. I cared about every single one of them, alongside Damien, but this was a time for me to be selfish. They brought me immense happiness; something that I couldn't experience with Damien... it was completely different, "I'm not going to cut ties with any of you. You all matter way too much to me."

"If you insist," Myungsoo's grip on my hand tightened. "But at least talk to the boy."

"No."

"Sophia," Sunggyu sighed disappointingly. "As much as every single one of us enjoy the amount of time you spend with us and not with him—"

"You need him just as much as he needs you," Sungyeol smiled. "Come on~ you know you want to talk to him."

"I refuse to talk to such a hardheaded person!" I groaned.

"You talk to Myungsoo, and that's just about as hardheaded as they come~!" Dongwoo started laughing. Myungsoo launched himself onto his brother, letting go of my hand. They proceeded to wrestle and mangle each other. Even though Dongwoo was clearly the strongest of them all, Myungsoo was the sneakiest.

"Aish aish!" Hoya hit them both with pillows. "We just fixed this."

The two boys stopped while laughing. The relationship all seven of them had was extremely special... it was truly a work of art to experience. Hoya wiggled a bit to be by my side and Woohyun inched a bit closer. Myungsoo noticed and walked ever so gracefully to Hoya, shoving him to the side so he'd get inbetween us.

"That would be my spot," the chic brother grinned.

"You snooze you lose," Hoya taunted.

"Too bad none of us sleep," Myungsoo chuckled.

"Touche, brother," Hoya started laughing. "Touche."

For hours, we just continued to chat like we normally did. According to them, to properly kill a vampire, you must stab them in the heart, for anywhere else can easily be healed. I believe it's because the heart is what causes the entire body to function, and so it must continuously beat. They told me the way that vampires' hearts work is different from a human's. My heart pumps blood so that the rest of my body functions correctly. Well, once you turn into one of them, your body doesn't need the rest of those systems anymore. So technically, they don't even need to breathe—cool right? Creepy, I know, but at least its endless swimming! But for vampires, which I found completely interesting, the heart is just like a generator. All it does is continue to supply energy and power to the body. Also, the blood that they drink doesn't go to their stomachs, actually it is absorbed so quickly as it passes by their throat, which is how they get so strong so quickly after feeding.

Eventually, we got onto the subject of hunters and vampires. Well, the headquarters for the hunters is in an area not too far from here. That's where every single hunter is trained. Apparently, the only vampires allowed on the grounds are the Woos; but then they are still under close watch. There are trials held there to convict out of control vampires of crimes, where they are either jailed or killed. Hunters originally only sought to kill all vampires with the belief that every single one is out to use humans as food. That's where the Woo family comes in, or should I say Moon. Okay, I'll say Woo so you don't get confused. A lot of people don't actually know, but the head honcho of the headquarters is actually Tablo. The duty is passed down from every member of their family to the next. See, the vampire hunter organization was started because an ancestor of the boys' felt that vampires were too out of control. He begged an old friend to, if at any point he was to lose control, kill him quickly. This ancestor then began to train his friend, showing him the weaknesses and strengths of every vampire. And so, the tradition was carried on until they were able to build a headquarters for it all.

This is why the Woos have their own personal line of butlers, or should I say hunters, ready to carry out any duty or mission assigned to them. These hunters are the best of the best and perform only the first priority assignments.

After story time, I made the biggest announcement I could possibly make. And boy, did every single one of them oppose.

"Hey guys," I coughed. "I want to go down to the dungeons."

Every single one of them looked at me with a concerned or surprised look. "Excuse me, what?" asked Hoya.

"Dungeons, me," I broke down my words. "Now."

"Absolutely not!" Woohyun let out his feelings. "Are you insane!? What if they attack you! You never know what the hell will happen down there."

"But I can get answers," I tried to explain to them. "Think about the amount of information we can get if I can just talk to them."

"They won't talk, Soph," Sunggyu sighed. "You saw how much we beat them, and still barely enough for a trial."

"Something is better than nothing," I pleaded. "You guys will be there anyway, so I'll be fully protected. This may be our only chance if they're about to be shipped off to headquarters."

"Not if dad issues an immediate kill tag on them," Myungsoo told me. "Since he's the boss, once that's been announced, then Damien and his team can do whatever the hell they want with them."

"And killing them quickly isn't going to be an option," Sungyeol added.

I sat up and patted down my pajamas. "Then let's go."

The boys formed some sort of barrier as we walked outside of the palace itself. I didn't even know where the dungeons were, but it was clear they did. I didn't bother memorizing the route, because quite frankly, I didn't care. It wasn't like I was going to visit a convict who I needed to stay in touch with anyway. We were far enough from the staff quarters and the palace though, so that no one could hear a word that was said. The amount of land in the kingdom walls is incredible. We approached a stone pathway and then stairs that led to a basement of some sort underneath.

Two familiar guards were keeping watch.

"Oh my God Sophia knows!!!" Isaiah screamed. Anthony turned to look at him, and then looked back at me. Both of them were just as surprised as me.

"Wait, how do you two know?" I asked them after running closer. They both scratched their heads then smiled.

"You see..." Anthony sighed.

"Vampires, also," Isaiah grinned. "Been that way for a while actually."

"And how long is a while?"

"Oh you know, a couple hundred years, give or take a decade," Anthony started laughing. "Actually are the great great great great great grandpappies of the Princes who escorted you here."

Wait. HOLD UP. Too many damn ties with too many damn people. Did they just say what I think they said? "You're related!?"

"The two of us are brothers," Isaiah smiled. "We ruled this kingdom once, and then decided to travel the world a couple hundred years. Our other brother is the real great whatever grandpaps of them. Blah blah blah. Returned because we wanted to see how everything turned out."

"Then why the hell are you guards!?"

"Because I don't want to be bossed around by my lineage!" Anthony told me. "Good lord I would probably choke them."

"And we like keeping eye on things discreetly," Isaiah smiled.

"That's great Pops," Dongwoo interrupted. "But we have no time to waste since Father is extremely angry at how the idiots down there decided to try to attack Mother. Story time is for another time."

He then took a hold of my hand and dragged me downstairs. Both Isaiah and Anthony's smile didn't falter, even while waving goodbye to me. The walls in the dungeon were all made of stone. Artificial light lit up everything brightly. Myungsoo, Woohyun, and Hoya remained in front of me while Sungyeol, Sungjong, Dongwoo, and Sunggyu remained in the back. We followed the main hallway, occasionally moving under other archways and paths. Didn't bother to keep note of it all either. I guess it was meant to be a maze for a reason.

I could hear voices up ahead. I pushed my way to the very front, while poking my head into the corridor. Damien and the rest of his team were leaning against the wall as the vampires who managed to survive the attack were chained immensely. Their legs, waist, and arms seemed to be attached to both the wall and at least 30 tons of weight.

"What do they want with Sophia?" Damien growled.

None of them spoke a word. He nodded to one of his teammates, who held a bucket of something hot since I could see the steam floating from it. They threw this bucket on the one who didn't answer the question. He yelled in great agony, which surprised me. I thought they'd heal quickly. But it seems like the burns and blisters on the vampires' bodies weren't healing but only getting worse.

"Salt clogs the arteries and such," Hoya whispered to me. "That's why when it comes to torturing us, people try to cover us completely with salt or make us drink it or even manually insert it. Completely weakens us, to the point where we are even weaker than humans. But we cannot die."

"It's the best torture method," Woohyun's voice sounded in pain.

I was about to step into the room when Myungsoo held onto my hand and pulled me back. "Don't. I want to see what's going to happen?"

"Why?" I asked.

"We need to see his natural colors," he answered me. "To determine what to do with him."

"Don't make me ask again," Damien ordered in the room.

"They want her dead alright!" one yelled.

"WHY?!" Damien matched his voice.

"She's a disposable part of our world," another laughed. "No one would notice her dead."

Damien took a hold of his weapon and stabbed him close to his heart. The vampire screamed in agony as the blood rushed out his wound incredibly quickly. The other hunters didn't budge. The other vampires tried to jump on their comrade, for the hunger of blood was too much to handle.

"Don't speak of her like that."

"What's with this damn family and her?" the one who first attacked me asked. At this point he was incredibly weak and injured. "No offense, but she's just another girl."

Damien turned to face him, the proceeded to walk right in front of him. "You are in no position to ask questions," he growled while lifting his weapon swiftly to the vampire's throat. "Now tell us what the Lees told you precisely."

"Exterminating the human is first priority," a new vampire spoke. "After a week or two, if no announcement is made about at least one Prince's choice of marriage, then exterminate the rest of the family. Do not return if the job isn't done."

"Then I guess you won't be returning," Damien chuckled evilly. "If they can't marry them, why kill them?"

"Shouldn't you be asking yourself that same question, hunter?" asked the one who tried to kill me. He truly was the leader of the pack, you could tell. "If you can't kill them, why work for them?"

"I can kill them."

"Then why don't you? I'm sensing it's all because of her. How interesting... she seems to hold a place in your heart and in theirs. Let me tell you something, sonny, the vampires never lose. And it's only a matter of time before she becomes one of us. Then you lose her forever."

That made Damien snap. He also stabbed this vampire in the chest, leaving his weapon inside him. The amount of anger in his expression was intense. "I will not let her become a filthy thing like you. Even if it kills me."

"And why are you so willing to risk your life for hers?" the vampire grinned. He no longer felt the pain of the wound. Something about his grin... Damien didn't answer. He nodded for another bucket of hot oil, as I presumed, to be thrown on them. The original vampire started to laugh maniacally. "It's because you love her. You love a girl who loves vampires."

Damien didn't budge, his grip on his weapon tightened. Myungsoo looked at me with a concerned look. Hoya glared at Damien. Woohyun grabbed a hold of my hand swiftly. The rest of the boys froze. The vampire's grin gave it away. He could smell me! This was all a rouse to upset Damien... He had known since I had gotten here.

"Burn in hell," Damien managed to speak. He started to walk towards the hallway, where we were at. His teammates followed closely behind him.

Both of us froze in place as our eyes met. He then looked away swiftly. I grabbed a hold of his arm and wouldn't let go. Damien tried to wiggle away, hoping that my grip would loosen, but it didn't. It only got tighter. "Let go Sophia," he coldly ordered.

"I'm not going to until you explain to me what the hell is going on."

"I'm sure one of the Princes would gladly love to," he groaned before forcing my hand to let go. He then ran down the hallway. I didn't even bother to think before running after him. I left the boys with the other butlers. This was too important of a situation to think thoroughly.

What I did know was that I was tired of it all. I wanted answers. And the only person who wouldn't answer anything was Damien.

Before I knew it, we were both outside as the sunrise slowly showed a brand new day. Isaiah and Anthony probably returned to their posts at the gates. "DAMIEN TALK TO ME!" I yelled.

"There is nothing to talk about," he was only a few feet away from me.

"Why are you so cold now?" I asked. "Why are you so distant from me? What did I ever do wrong?"

"You befriended them! You chose them over me!"

"Don't you dare make me choose! You're making me do something that is hard on us all. Why can't you just accept that all of you belong in my heart!?"

"Do you not see the amount of danger you're in because of them?! Sophia! Open your eyes! You almost DIED last night. Do you not realize how permanent death is!?"

"But I didn't die Damien!" I tried to reason with him. "Don't you see that they protected me?! Isn't that your worst fear, me getting killed or injured because of them? Look at me! I'm fine!"

"I am not going to let your life be continually put on the line because of those blood ers."

"It's my choice!" I was in tears by now. "Do you not see that I want them in my life? Do you not see that I want you in my life? Why won't you just listen to my words?"

"You are clearly not thinking straight to make your own choices."

"Damien!" I screamed his name. I couldn't handle it anymore. The frustration, the anger, the pain, everything. "They aren't a threat to my life. They haven't hurt me. They keep a smile on my face with their stupid jokes and stupid cheesy ways. They wake me up every morning. They set up a little picnic just so we could talk. Those 'blood ers' clearly care more about me then you do!!"

"I care Sophia! I care more than anyone here! I put my life on the line to save yours. I watch over you as much as I can so I can be there when they do snap. Why don't you just accept reality and stay away!? No matter how much I plead for you to keep a distance, you won't. This lifestyle, this world, is not some place I want to bestow on anyone. You, of all people, the most, Soph. You deserve something so much grander than this. You belong with your own kingdom, where you can help the commoners as much as you want."

"That won't make me happy. They make me happy Damien. Please open your eyes to that fact."

My head began to hurt. I could barely keep my eyes focused on him. His entire figure started to blur immensely, where I couldn't even differentiate shapes from colors. But I could still hear his words, his sniffles. My body could no longer support the weight and felt like it was about to break down.

"The words that vampire said in there," he turned away from me to conceal his own tears. "About how I'm so willing to sacrifice everything for you because I love you. It's true. I believed you'd choose me. I thought we had something. I thought you felt that connection. I love you Sophia. I've loved you for years. I was not happy at all about hearing that you were going to start working here. That's why I volunteered to be your mentor as much as I could. I didn't want you to know about me. I didn't want you to know about them. I hoped that you'd fall in love with me as I did for you and then I'd let go of this lifestyle just to be with you forever. Soph, I would run away with you if you asked me to. I would've changed my occupation and opened up some hopeless normal store just so I could come home to your smiling face and warm embrace. But I can't do that now. Those things... those fantasies... those were destroyed by them. Because I know, I know just as long as one of them breathes, you won't be with me."

And that was when my entire world darkened and crashed. 

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LONG CHAPTER. This is twice as long as normal. I did it this way because I was too lazy to split it and I felt like I owed you guys ;w; lol. I like this chapter a lot actually. :3 The ending sure did make me incredibly emotional though. Even though Damien's confession is similar to Myungsoo's, you can tell the major differences, right? ENDS IN A CLIFF HANGER. DON'T YOU GUYS HATE CLIFF HANGERS. haskjdhfaksjdf; well, yeah. I won't be updating that much for a week since I have major tests coming up ;w; sobs wish me luck! 

anyways, i'd love some feedback. <3 Next chapter already thought up and ready to type! ;D

@Rubyfur-thanks for subscribing! <3 hehe~ yes the others do, but i haven't elaborated just to what extent. You'll see :3 hehe~

@joycecute25-thanks~ i'm updating as much as my little fingers can type XD

@BeautyDarkAngel-hehe~ the Lees will be revealed later :3 He is still as meanie as ever! hsakdjfhas; such a frustrating boy he is. kfjahsdkjfa; he's changed drastically since finding out that she knew. all is explained this chapter hehe. both of them are so hardheaded ;w; 

@Oknamstar-wait til the next story i'm going to write up. she will definitely look even more hoarish oh dear.hfaksdjfha

@KaMiMi-I HATE THAT TOO. like when you're playing hide and seek. I SCREAM EVERY TIME. JDHFAK; thanks~

@LeePeppers-OOOH GIRRRRL. XD thanks thank thanks! most is revealed right now! kajsdhfkjas; ready for it? haha. 

@klutzyriceball-I love how you commented on different points as you read, it gives me great happiness XD hehe~ smart smart smart! I thought i gave the whole vampire thing away early XD BUT QUEEN JENNY IS SO MUCH COOLER. and she's mute. so extra special :3 hehe~ hehe~ most is show this chapter :D

@shirokuro-WOOT INTENSE CHAPTERS. the lee family is a family... >___> trololol. WOOHYUN=MAJORFLIRT. XD