Vampires.

If in the last ten years you had glimpsed at the news, joined in any water cooler talk, or just in general had one of the five senses - you probably would have some idea the blood- undead existed.

With murders and missing people counts reaching record highs,  bloodless corpses and mysterious strangers with fangs in every club, it couldn't have been any more obvious. Still, for some reason, it was something that many humans mutually agreed to pretend wasn't happening. It was almost as though they were hypnotized to do so - which was, hey, a working theory.

Vampires weren't something new. Of course they weren't. For decades, or centuries, or maybe even longer - vampires have been on this earth. The way they fell into shadow and obtained a place in the fiction genre couldn't exactly be known. Maybe that hypnotism mentioned before had just been taking it's time to wear off.

The fact was that now, there was an awareness. Now, someone needed to do something.

Alarm clocks were another brand of evil.

This particular one, loudly ringing on the table by the bed of Kim Joonmyun, had a snooze button that pretended to be much bigger during the day, but in the early hours of head-thumping morning it was absolutely impossible to find.

"No," Joonmyun whimpered from beneath the comfort of his blanket, his arm somehow freezing as it reached around the stupid clock. "Not today."

The clock tumbled from the table in response to Joonmyun's groping, hitting the floor far beyond his reach.

Joonmyun sat up in a shocked second, gazing and sighing at the fallen, far away alarm clock.

Minutes later, he shuffled through a dark hallway, eyes opening wider as it occurred to him that someone within his house was already awake.

After a night in which they all drank together, that fact made absolutely no sense.

Yet he got into the doorway of the lit kitchen, and there stood Do Kyungsoo like a morning savior, flipping around eggs in a frying pan.

"You actually got up," Kyungsoo said to Joonmyun, as though this was an impressive surprise.

Joonmyun smiled and put his hand on his head. "How stupid was I last night?"

Kyungsoo's small grin gave Joonmyun more of an answer than he wanted.

"Nevermind," said Joonmyun, giving an embarrassed smile as he slumped within a chair at the kitchen table, where a brown envelope sat in front of him. He flipped it in his hands, and hadn't asked the question before it was answered.

"That's for you to take today. It should help you get to the kid."

"Kim Jongin," Joonmyun said. For as bad as his head was throbbing, he was impressed with himself for remembering the mission right away. He placed the envelope on the table again.

"Mmhmm," Kyungsoo hummed, and scraped eggs from the pan and onto a plate with toast. "It's good for hangovers." He dropped the plate on top of the brown envelope. "Don't expect me to do that every morning after you've torn yourself up."

"Fork?" Joonmyun looked up at Kyungsoo expectantly, to be met with a cold expression.

Joonmyun laughed awkwardly, "I can get them."

That laugh might have melted Kyungsoo's icy exterior, because Kyungsoo decided to get the fork for Joonmyun after all.

"You need to make sure no one who knows anything gets a look at those." Kyungsoo gestured towards the envelope. "They can't be terribly accurate. Chanyeol did them, after all." His voice went light explaining that, but Joonmyun still heard the bitterness and was kind enough to let it pass without comment.

"I don't think I'll encounter many problems," Joonmyun sighed and gave a slight smile. "It's only a school."

School was yet another brand of evil.

Joonmyun hadn't been in one for three years, and upon entering this one, butterflies unexpectedly invaded his stomach. Amazingly, the tone of this school felt as much like a prison as the one he'd attended had. It was the same over-priced sort of place that obviously spent a ton of money on upkeep.

Students weren't around at the moment, likely all in class. The office, on the other hand, was busy - which made Joonmyun feel a bit sick. This undercover, pretend-to-be someone else thing was much more Chanyeol's line of expertise. Chanyeol, unfortunately, had a character to uphold.

He cleared his throat to grab the attention of a woman behind the desk, who was looking determinedly in a binder.

"Excuse me."

She blinked and tilted her head to look at him. "Can I help you?"

With a severe brow and an airy, uninterested expression - she made Joonmyun's insides squirm. Even so, he put on a pleasant smile. "I need to speak with one of your students." At her inquisitive look, he pressed further, "Regarding an ongoing investigation about his parents."

"Investigation? Of what sort?"

"It's classified." Joonmyun broke eye contact and thumbed at his envelope, trying to get it open. "I have some identification, and a court order with me today."

Her stare burned into him as he wriggled a sheet of paper from the envelope. He inspected it very briefly, but hardly knew what any of it meant when he handed it over. He could only hope she knew less than he did.

She suddenly questioned, after barely looking at it, "The name of the child?"

"Kim Jongin."

"Right. I'll get you a guest pass and you can speak to him during lunch, since it's coming up in a minute or so. And what was your name?"

His smile was real, as it was all he could do to not give a relieved sigh. "My name? It's Suho."

Everything ended up conveniently easy. Joonmyun's headache had even cleared up some. He waited now in a hall by a classroom door, meaning not to interupt the lesson inside. Jongin should be in there now. Lunch, however, did seem to be taking longer than a minute or so to arrive.

He played with the silver tear-drop shaped charm that dangled from a long silver chain around his neck. It didn't suit the proper look he was going for today, really, but he considered it good luck - and he had to thank it for the work it had done in the office a moment before.

By the time the door of the classroom opened, he had only just tucked it away. With impressive timing, the bell rang just then. Joonmyun stepped quickly into the door, blocking the way of hungry students and making eye contact with an older woman, who must have been Jongin's teacher.

"I'm looking for Kim Jongin?"

The teacher didn't even check the guest pass on Joonmyun's shirt. She gestured. "Over there."

Kim Jongin was the only student still sitting at his desk. He heard his name and stood, however, as the rest of the students fled out and Joonmyun found the center of the room.

The teacher looked back, with a sudden hint of curiosity, but as neither of them were speaking quickly, she soon stepped out and closed the door with her.

Joonmyun thought he might be more relaxed in the presence of someone younger, but Kim Jongin had a stiff expression and... was quite tall. He tried to give the wildly curious looking youth an encouraging smile.

"I'm Suho," he greeted, lamely.

Jongin nodded, but his brows furrowed and he looked Suho over.

"I just had a few questions--"

"Are you a vampire hunter?"

Suho didn't have to pretend to be shocked. "What?"

He noticed, strangely, that Jongin's expression was already softening, looking hopeful.

"Are you?" Jongin pressed.

"What makes you think--"

"Your necklace." Jongin moved suddenly closer.

Suho reached up, fingers finding the tear drop charm that he thought had been hidden behind his collar, but must have slipped. He stepped back, but Jongin followed him, and he grabbed Suho's hands in a tight grip.

"Please..."

Suho felt a rush of pity watching Jongin's eyes swell with tears.

"Please help me."