Kyuhyun sat beside Joohyun. Her tears had dried and she sat there like a statue. Her eyes red, hand trembling as it clutched a well-used tissue.
“What do we do?” Kyuhyun questioned Changmin.
 
But Changmin just shook his head. “I don’t know. Can we find them?”

“Find them?!” Kyuhyun groaned at the thought, the stress starting to affect him. “How; we don’t even know where they are!”

“Minyoung…” Joohyun swallowed, her lips beginning to quiver. “Minyoung where are you?”

Changmin and Kyuhyun exchanged glances. They were going to have to tread lightly. Joohyun turned to them, irises widening. “W-why do they want her blood?”

The two vampires had come to an impasse. They didn’t see any other way to escape it.
“Joohyun we need you to listen…” Kyuhyun tugged at his collar, the heat of the moment causing discomfort.  “The reason they want blood is because… They aren’t human.”

“He’s right.” Changmin jumped in. “They’re vampires.”

Joohyun froze, not able to look at them but stare at the floor. Kyuhyun removed his hands from his neck. “It’s not just them… Changmin and I… We’re vampires too.”

She started to shake. With tortoise speed movement Joohyun got to her feet. “W-what… I-I don’t believe this.” Kyuhyun stepped towards her his arms out. Joohyun retracted back. “N-no don’t come near me…”

“Joohyun-ah please let me try and explain-”

“-please stay away oppa!”

Changmin took the opportunity while she was distracted to examine her spirit. Letting his upper lids cover his eyes he saw into them. Aside from the blackness surrounding the soulless objects he saw Kyuhyun’s frame with a red that was moving around. He then turned to where Joohyun was to have a look.

He suddenly opened his eyes again. “K-Kyuhyun-“

“—Changmin I’m a little busy.” He was further away as Joohyun gingerly stood in front of the door, hand reaching behind, about to make an exit.

He couldn’t keep it in. “Kyuhyun its purple!”

~~~

The words hit Kyuhyun like being shot with a gun. His jaw remained locked in a gape. It only moved a little to stammer a response. “I-It’s purple?”

Joohyun had no idea what was happening. “What is purple Changmin?”

“Y-your soul is.” He never thought his gift would be a burden. “It means…” He couldn’t meet her eyes, the realisation hard to admit. “It means that you aren’t human Joohyun.”

They could not predict how she would react now. But her expression was not of shock. To add to their confusion she nodded.
“You’re right… Like you I’m not human.”

Kyuhyun backed away a little, his eyes wider than just before.
 
“Truthfully … I think I’ve known for a while.”

“Known you weren’t human?”

“Yes. I’d look back at old photographs and wonder why I haven’t aged. Why I look the same as I did back then.” She pushed her hair onto her shoulders. “But then I remembered; remembered who I really am.”

Kyuhyun had been glancing at his feet before looking up at her. “So where did you come from?”

“Joohyun?” She shook her head at my name. “No… That isn’t my name. My real name is Seohyun in Korean.”

“Seohyun?” Changmin and Kyuhyun had not expected that.

“Yes and I’m one of the nine muses. We live on Mount Olympus with the other Gods in Greece.”

Kyuhyun blinked hard. Changmin’s mouth was slightly ajar.
“Y-you’re a muse?”

“Yes, there are nine of us. All of us are guardians of the arts. I was known to hold the position for hymns.” She stopped, her face falling slightly from remembering. “That is until…”

“What happened?” Changmin asked not able to block the flow of concern evident in his voice.  The confession had brought out emotions he’d pushed away before.

“We were out for a journey… But something happened and we had to go home. All of us went back… I got lost, couldn’t find the door. I was trapped. That was how I became part of their family. They welcomed me with open arms, called me their own, and treated me like their real daughter. When Minyoung was born I thought they would reject me, but they didn’t. They still loved me.”

She wiped her eyes unaware she had started crying. “So I’m like you two; except for needing to drink blood.”

Kyuhyun’s face was pale which was normal except it was like marble. “After all this time…” He lifted his head to Seohyun, face crestfallen. “… Why did you never tell me? After all the time we’d spent together how could you—“

“—How could I what?!” Her cry made them jump. “You mean tell you that I’m a goddess?! How could I? You wouldn’t believe me oppa!”

Her words inflicted injury onto Kyuhyun. Changmin received the recoil. She laughed but for the wrong reason.

“How could this happen?! I get separated from the other muses, my sisters and have my dongsaeng captured by murderous vampires!”

Kyuhyun remained frozen. Changmin lifted his gaze to her. For a moment he was torn between two choices. One requiring more effort than the other would have. He chose the latter.

Walking slowly over to her he watched her flinch as he reached for her. Finally he placed a hand half on her shoulder.
“Seohyun, Kyuhyun and I… We would have believed you. I would have because I found, that nothing surprises me anymore.” He would have said more if it had been the two of them. The urge was welling up in him.

“And Kyuhyun-ah well… To be honest the guy is smitten with you. I don’t think he would have written you off as insane or crazy considering how he feels. Maybe if you had shared then he could tell you about him being a vampire. Then you would have bonded over that and become a lot closer.”

Seohyun looked at him, her gaze softer than before but still holding intensity. “D-do you… Do you really mean that oppa?”

Oppa; a term he never expected her to use on him. Kyuhyun and Yonghwa had always been oppas to her. She’d bridged the gap between her and Changmin catching him unawares.

He confirmed this with a small bob of his head. “Yes I do. We’ll get Minyoung back and then things can be how they were right?”

He thought she would like that but Seohyun didn’t seem to agree. Her eyebrows met her eyes, the corners of turned down in disappointment. Changmin turned behind to Kyuhyun for help. He did not speak, let alone move.

“We’ll stay with you for as long as you need. Leave it to us. We’ll find Minyoung.”

~~~

Changmin and Kyuhyun stayed for the rest of that day and the next. Seohyun ended up going to bed; the shock taking an emotional toll on her. They assumed it was around seven in the evening though they hadn’t checked the time recently.

The two vampires sat in the living room, neither of them moving hearing nothing but static. Kyuhyun finally spoke.

“… I wanted to be the one to tell her how I felt. Not you.” He sighed, taking a hand to lean his head on. “If the timing had been different… Maybe she would have said then and there how she feels. Now I do not know what she wants. Oh Changmin I’ve really hurt her.”

Changmin knew he hadn’t thought it through. Truthfully he wanted her to know for the sake of his infatuated friend. However why didn’t it work? Why did the truth of Kyuhyun’s deep feelings not move her?

“I know it was wrong, I’m sorry.” Changmin said softly. “Maybe… Maybe you should go up and see if she’s woken yet. If she has then you can talk with her, get it out in the open. No more ‘what if’.”

Kyuhyun agreed. “You’re right. I will go to her soon. Right now I need to think of what to say.”

Changmin closed his mouth, attempting to grin in an assuring manner. “I’ll leave you to think about it. The sun went down hours ago so I might step out for a bit.”

“Ok, be on high alert. We don’t know if Kibum or his friend will be watching.”

With this in mind Changmin stepped outside, carefully closing the door behind him. Outside he went to the front of the house to the pavement just before the gate. There he stood, his mind replaying her expression in front of him.

“Why were you not satisfied with my answer?” He said as if he was asking her personally.

“What else should I have said to you for you to show a bit of hope? Or am I foolish to think that a vampire can say sweet words which could heal the wounds of a goddess?”

The questions he’d been keeping stored away were now answered. Her singing had not been normal because she wasn’t. She was and always would be a goddess, someone of immortality not from a curse but from the beginning.

He let out a sigh. “Seohyun… If I could, I would stop what I have. Stop the feeling I get when I see you hurting. Stop my pausing whenever you smile and how I react every time you manage to reach out to me with your kindness, your voice—“

“CHANGMIN!” He shut his mouth. Kyuhyun was running to him, breaking the gate off its hinges as he spurred through to his friend.

The surprise caused Changmin’s eyes to bulge. Kyuhyun looked paler than before, almost white as chalk. “Kyuhyun… W-what is the—“

“—Joohyun’s gone!”

 Blinking Changmin struggled to understand. He almost didn’t believe it.
“S-she’s gone?!”

“I went to her room and she wasn’t there. A window was open but that was it.” Kyuhyun’s eyebrows drew up near the bridge of his nose, biting his lip.

“Changmin, where could she have gone? I’m worried about her. She’s still upset over Minyoung…”

Meanwhile Changmin had a vacant stare the moment Kyuhyun said ‘Minyoung.’ Taking out his phone from his pocket he turned it on.

“It’s eleven pm…” Shaking his head in frustration Changmin’s hand dropped, the phone still clutched firmly. “Damn it.” Changmin gritted his teeth.

“Damn it she’s gone to him! She’s gone to Kibum for the exchange!”



This chapter probably reveals what most of you already knew. Sorry I wasn’t able to keep people guessing I’ll work on it in the chapters to come.