“Did you manage to stay awake?” N asked once the last class of the day finished. Bora nodded, yawning and stretching as she stood.

“Somehow,” she shrugged, “although I have no idea how.”

“Come on,” Gayun sighed dramatically, “let’s go. I wanna sleep.”

“The brat is right,” Ken admitted, “it’s been a long day and I’m tried, too.”

“Let’s get going then,” N agreed and led the three to the front gates. It wasn’t long before the rest of their family showed up and they all headed for home.

The whole time, the twelve werewolves – called EXO by their fans – kept a close eye on the group. Ever since lunch, they had been watching the vampires, waiting for a sign that they were evil or not.

Sure, Gayun clearly took glee in classmates tripping or getting scolded by the teacher, but that didn’t show her to be a monster. Sadistic, sure, but a monster? The rest of the group didn’t show much heartlessness either. Bora, Jiwook, N, and Leo kept to themselves a lot, but that wasn’t a sign of this dark, monstrous nature that N had warned them about at lunch. The rest of the group seemed very nice and often tried to make friends with their classmates. Although Jina did seem rather shy about it, as did Hyuk, this was – again – not a sign of a dark hidden nature.

It was completely possible that N was lying when he warned them off. Kris had pointed how the hint of distain in N’s expression every time he looked at one of the werewolves. If he hated werewolves for some reason, then of course he’d make up some fake warning to keep them away from him. Yet, something told them not to completely dismiss N’s warning to be nothing. After all, they had a dark nature, all werewolves had a monster locked deep inside that came out every full moon. So why couldn’t vampires have an inner monster?

“We can’t keep watch all night,” D.O pointed out as the twelve started following the vampires down the street, “there’s a full moon tonight. We have to chain ourselves up soon.” The others nodded, not wanting to risk the lives of innocent humans so they could stalk some vampires that may or may not be evil, monstrous beings.

“We’ll follow them to their house,” Kris instructed, “then we go home.”

The others could only hope that the vampires had not taken up residence too far from the school. The longer they were out, the less time they had to spend chaining themselves up in their basement. This was the curse of any werewolf; to lose their mind on the night of every full moon when they changed from human to wolf. Ever since the boys were young, they had needed to lock themselves away with silver chains come the night of the full moon. If they didn’t, then they would run amuck in the city once they changed into their wolf forms.

“Are they still following?” the twelve heard Bora ask N and the other nodded.

“Do they really think us that stupid not to notice?” Gayun scoffed, “they aren’t even being stealthy about it. If they thought we wouldn’t notice, they I feel insulted.”

“I hate to say it,” Ken sighed dramatically, “but I have to agree with Gayun.”

“They’re going to have to leave soon,” N told the others, “it’s a full moon tonight. They don’t seem like the type who let’s themselves run around killing innocents, so they probably have get home in time to chain themselves up.” He paused in thought, “or they have a forest area they go to. Either way, both take time and that’s something they aren’t going to have if they follow us all the way home.”

“The joys of living out of the way,” Bora laughed and Suho and Kris shared a look. If Bora was telling the truth, then following the group of vampires would have to wait for another night. A night with no full moon.

“Let’s go,” Kris said, “we can follow them tomorrow. There isn’t much point in risking it if they are telling the truth.”

Bora and N shared a look as they waited for the werewolves to leave completely. Once gone, the pair instructed the others to duck into an ally. Away from the eyes of humans, the group used their vampire speed to carry them home on the other side of town. More specifically, the city limits in the other direction.

The house was large, a clear sign of how much wealth Song siblings had gathered over the years.

Once upon a time, Bora had made a point of never buying a large, lavish home when the group moved into a new city. Large homes drew attention and that wasn’t something that they needed nor something they wanted. However, times had changed and her family had grown larger. Now the vampires could get away with buying a large mansion to live in for a few years without questions, so they did just that. A large house also made life easier for all as it gave everyone the space they needed to do what they wanted.

“I’m hungry,” Suji whined, “can I go out hunting tonight?”

“Nope,” Bora smirked at her younger sister, “you wanted a real human experience, or as close as you could get, so you’re going to have to put up with blood bags for a while.” Suji frowned, but nodded. Pretending to be a regular human had been her idea, so it was only fair that she acted as human as she could. Normal humans didn’t go out at night hunting for a human to drink from, so she couldn’t do that either.

“Get your homework done,” N told her, gently ruffling her red hair, “I’ll bring you up a blood bag once you get it done.”

“Ok, oppa,” Suji grinned before running up to her room. Hongbin and Hanbi followed soon after, telling N that they would take care of Suji’s blood needs if he wanted to go out later. Bora turned her attention then to her brother, only to find him gone.

“When did he leave?” she asked, not expecting an answer as no one ever noticed Jiwook leaving.

“I’ll help Jiwook oppa study,” Nara grinned before running off, trying to find the older vampire.

“Dang fangirl,” Gayun scoffed, “he’s never going to interested in a brat like her. She’s way to clingy.”

“I think Jiwook secretly does care,” Ken argued, “he wouldn’t have turned her four thousand years ago if he didn’t like her.”

“But that was four thousand years ago,” Gayun pointed out, “he’s totally seen what a stupid twit she is since then.”

“Do you have to go around insulting everyone?” he fired back.

“No, I do it because it’s fun,” was his reply. Hyuk and Leo stepped in them, each leading one of the two vampires away in hopes of avoiding any bloodshed.

“Come on, Jina,” Ravi offered his arm to the youngest vampire, “we can form a study group until Leo takes you for some more training.”

“Oh, before you go,” Bora called to the pair, “I hear you didn’t have any accidents today, Jina. I’m happy to hear that.” Jina grinned, proud to receive such praise from Bora, before she left with Ravi who added his own praise over her performance at school.

“Are you hungry?” N asked once he was alone with Bora.

“Are you?” she replied, “I don’t really feel like hunting tonight, but if you want to go then I might as well come along. A warm body is much better than a cold bag of blood.”

“I’m fine,” he said as he offered his neck to her, “but if you’re in need of blood, I think mine is better than anything you’ll find in a bag.”

“How many times have you offered your blood to me, Hack Yeon?” Bora asked, her lips lifting slightly to form a gentle smile, “You know I’ll never take it.”

“I can always hope,” he replied, “at least you know where it comes from. It’s not blood from some random stranger who could have countless diseases.”

“Maybe another night,” she told him before heading off to the kitchen, “but for now I’m going to have to turn you down.”

After she left, N found himself leaning against the wall, frowning sadly that she had turned down his offer once more.

“Taking blood for another vampire isn’t that common a practice,” Leo voiced, suddenly appearing in the hallway beside him, “only lovers do it because it’s such a personal thing. She thinks that you’re sired to her and as long as she thinks that…”

“She’ll never think that I might really love her,” N finished, a sad smile upon his face, “what will it take for her to see that I do love her, that it’s not the sire bond talking?”

“Don’t ask me,” Leo cracked the slightest of smiles for his oldest friend, “I’ve never been sired. Remember? But might I suggest making her fall in love with you? I might be easier to make her believe your love is true if she loves you in return.” N thought about it before a smile lit up his face. He’d tried countless times over the years to show Bora that his feeling were true, but he’d given thought to the idea that she might not love him in return. Not when they were as close as they were, not after his final few years of being human. Maybe, just maybe, if he made her fall in love with him then she would realize how true his love was.

With that in mind, N left to start planning.