“What on earth is going on here?” a woman in her late forties dressed elegantly and eyeing everybody with the same foxlike eyes Himchan possessed. He was still standing right next to Himchan while Daehyun and Youngjae who had appeared out of nowhere were standing to their right and left.

“It might take some time to explain,” Himchan answered.

“It was..,” Daehyun started to talk but Himchan turned to him with a commanding look in his eyes that made him silent instantaneously. Yong Guk had never seen Himchan like this before. There was a power and strength in this eyes that even had an effect on him.

“You turned someone, how could this happen? Or better how could you two let his happen?” Himchans mother asked. Her voice was not loud but with a judging undertone that was even worse than being screamed at.  Yong Guk was not even there when everything happened but felt at fault hearing her words.

“I will explain everything to you,” Himchan said. Yong Guk had the feeling Daehyun and Youngjae felt silent on Himchans command but wanted to explain it themselves as they looked back and forth at each other and at Himchans mother.

“You just want to take the blame for them, don’t try to…,” she began to say but broke off as Himchan felt foreword. Noticing it Yong Guk tightened the grip around him, trying to hold him on his feet. He could see the stern look disappearing from her face being replaced by one full of concern.

“Himchan, are you alright?”

“I think I have to lie down again.”

“Daehyun, Youngjae why are you still standing there? Help him.”

“Yes ma’am,” Daehyun and Youngjae said in unison.

“And who are you?” she asked and eyed Yong Guk carefully.

“Bang Yong Guk,” he answered as he stepped away so Daehyun and Youngjae could help Himchan move to his room again.

“And you are here because…?”

Yong Guk did not know if it was for him to tell her about what happened especially since he was not sure what had happened by himself so he remained silent in hopes someone else would answered.

“I told you I’m going to explain everything,” Himchan answered his voice sounding faint and tired.

They started walking towards Himchan’s room, Daehyun and Youngjae at Himchan’s side, Mrs. Kim following and Yong Guk trailing behind. He wasn’t even sure if he should go with them but he just did not know what else to do feeling more and more lost. Himchan’s mother suddenly froze in her movements.

“You turned someone?” she asked, her voice somewhere between angry and surprised.

“You only smelled him just now,” Himchan answered turning his head towards her.

“How could you turn someone? How? Why? What happened?”

“It was an accident,” Daehyun answered earing him an angry glance.

Himchan slowly kept going on. His mother was still asking questions but he seemed to have decided to ignore all of them until he reached his room. As they arrived he noticed that Himchan had started to breath heavily and his pale skin looked almost translucent. As they went inside he decided to wait outside. After a moment Daehyun and Youngjae left the room again.

“They’re going to talk in private,” Youngjae explained.

“What is going to happen now?” Yong Guk asked.

“First Himchan is going to take all the blame on himself. The next move depends on how good he will be with it. If he’s successful and we keep our job we are moving him somewhere save until we find out who wants to harm him,” Daehyun explained to him.

“What happens to me?” he asked.

“That depends on you. If you want to stay be his side, you could do that, if not we need as much of your blood as we can take, which would be one maybe even one and a half liter and then we come again in 3 month,” Youngjae said.

“And if I stay?”

“Well it’s not that your blood is going to regenerate faster, but I think for Himchan you are of more value than just for your blood.”

“Well it seems like Himchan’s mother doesn’t think of me very highly.”

“That’s only because you’re human,” Daehyun answered, “It would be totally different if you were a vampire.”

“That does sound kind of racist,” Yong Guk mumbled.

“See, I told you were behaving racist,” Youngjae said to Daehyun.

“It’s like accusing humans that they are racist against pigs because we see them as food. Speaking of food, I’m hungry,” Daehyun said.

“Seriously, you’re thinking of food now.”

“What? We haven’t eaten anything and we were up all night. The pharmaceutical company has a canteen for sure,” Daehyun explained excitedly.

+++

The discussion with his mother had been tiring. Himchan knew that she was just concerned and wanted to know him save since they were the only family they had but he just couldn’t let the blame fall on Daehyun and Youngjae since it wasn’t there fault. His mother went because she wanted to make sure that the police did not investigate the accident. Himchan could not hear the voices of Daehyun and Youngjae outside. The only presence he could clearly feel was the one of Junhong. He felt tired but at the same time he did not feel like sleeping.

“Sorry, are we late?” Youngjae said as he walked into the room, Daehyun and Yong Guk following.

“We were grabbing some food.  Are you hungry?”

“No not really.”

“Where is your mother?” Daehyun asked.

“She is covering up the accident.”

“Do you want to sleep, you look tired,” Youngjae noticed.

“No. You better tell me what your plan is, so I can persuade my mother.”

“We need to get you somewhere safe. A place no one knows about and then we would like to have the permission to investigate what exactly is going on and who caused the accident. The more we know before the council starts looking for you the better.”

“So where are you taking me?” Himchan asked not questioning Daehyun’s and Youngjae’s idea. They may have made a mistake but they knew it as good as he did and they would do everything to make sure something like this would never happen again.

“What about the boy?”

 “The less know about him the better, so he, Jung Up and Yong Guk are going with him,” Youngjae answered him.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to let a freshly turned vampire and a human be so close together?” Himchan asked and saw the startled looks on their faces. They seemed to have forgotten this fact in their plan.

“Jong Up has to watch him every second then,” Himchan said. He doesn’t seem to react on Yong Guk. I have no idea why. Maybe you can find out more about it when everything is over.” Himchan’s voice sounded heavier then he expected.

“When are we going?” Himchan asked but no one answered for a while.

“I guess it’s best to go as soon as possible, which would be…,” Youngjae said while looking something up on his phone, “in about three hours, maybe better four to make sure it’s completely dark outside.”

“Wake me up.” Himchan said as he changed his opinion and decided it was better to sleep a bit more.

The other three made their way out of the room as soon as he said he wanted to sleep and someone made the mistake of turning the lights of, leaving the room in total darkness.

“Turn the lights back on,” he heard Youngjae say.

“Why?” asked Yong Guk.

“He’s afraid to sleep in the dark.”

Youngjae came back inside, turned the lights back on and left.

“But he’s a vampire,” he heard Yong Guk say outside of the room. Himchan felt embarrassed and buried his head in his pillow. First he had cried in front of him, now he knew about his fear and he wondered what would come next.  

He was seating next to Junhong in the backseat while Youngjae was driving. Daehyun, Yong Guk and Jong Up where following them in another car. It was already early in the morning and apperantly they had to drive a bit faster to get there before the sun went up. The plan to move in a few hours had been delight a few times. Himchan had no idea why because he had been woken be Youngjae only half an hour before they started going.

He had decided to be in a car with the boy to get to know him better since he had no time to even take to him since he had turned him. The atmosphere was awkward. Himchan had no idea how to begin the conversation and he could feel that Junhong was nervous, too.

“Junhong, my name is Himchan. Kim Himchan,” he finally said.

“I’m Junhong. Choi Junhong,” he said, speaking really fast and quietly. Himchan noticed that speaking out his name made him feel uncomfortable. He felt an inner struggle radiating from his feelings.

“Junhong,” Himchan repeated just to feel these strange emotions again.

“You don’t like your name, right?” Himchan asked.

“No, not really.”

“May I ask why?”

The boy just shook his head but remained silent. Himchan knew it was better not to ask.

“Would you like it, if I used a nickname?”

“I don’t have one.”

“I could give you one.”

“Okay,” the boy answered a bit hesitantly.

“It might take a while,” Himchan told him. He could not think about any good way to make a nickname out of his real name and he thought it would probably be better if it was something interlay different. He wanted something meaningful since the boy was someone who was important to Himchan so he had to have a meaningful name, too.

“Can I ask you some questions?”

Junhong just nodded. Himchan noticed by now how shy he was. It would probably take a while to get him to build trust to Himchan.

“Do you know who turned you? Do you know what happened?” It was a question he did not really like to ask, but a question that had to be asked.

“Jong Up told me. I don’t remember.”

“I want you to know that I’m really sorry for what happened. I did not want for it to happen. I’m sorry that you have to leave your old live behind and be with us now. If you get used to everything and we’ve taught you everything you need to know, you can always leave but for now I want you to know that we are here for you.”

He remained silent. Himchan could only guess how confusing everything for him was, so he let him stay silent and just went on questioning.

“You have met Yong Guk, right? You noticed that he is human, you smelled it.”

“Yes.” His answer was almost not audible.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed about it. It’s going to be normal for you to notice the difference in human and vampire because of how their blood smells. You just have to get used to it.”

“Okay.”

“How did you feel being next to Yong Guk?” Himchan wasn’t sure if it was really the best way to get to know the boy by asking him all these serious questions but it intrigued him that Junhong showed no reaction to Yong Guk.

“I smelled his blood.” Himchan could feel that he felt ashamed admitting it.

“It’s okay, I smell his blood, too.” Himchan said smiling at the boy.

“If I should stop asking questions, you just have to say something, okay.”

He nodded again.

“Didn’t you want his blood?” Himchan continued.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“His blood…it’s not for me.”

“What do you mean, it’s not for you. Did you not like the smell?”

“No.” He felt silent again and he saw that he had trouble explaining what he was feeling.

“He was next to you. His blood, it’s not mine to take.”

Himchan gasped. This was not what he had expected. Junhong somehow noticed that Yong Guk was a human that meant something to Himchan so he had the dedication to declare his to someone he should not harm.

“How about Zelo?”

“Zelo?”

“As your new nickname.”

“Zelo. I like it.”

“Can I ask you something, too?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Can I stay at your place now?”

“Don’t you want to go home?”

“No, I rather stay at your place.” Himchan was surprised by everything the boy said. He could not understand why he did not hate Himchan but he did not mind that at least the relationship with the boy was going forward better than expected.

After a while Himchan could see that they were leaving the city behind driving deeper and deeper into the country. They roads they were using got smaller and soon they were driving into a forest before they pulled up in front of a wooden house near a lake.

“Better get you inside, the sun will be rising soon,” Youngjae said as soon as he turned down the engine.

He was staring at the ceiling. It was late at night and Himchan was wide awake. He saw no chance to fall asleep anytime soon as he had been sleeping most of the day, so he stood up as quietly as possible. Jong Up and Zelo had been outside all day long after they found a soccer ball somewhere and were know asleep covered in some blankets on the floor by the fireplace. The lake house was a small but cozy wooden building with old fashioned interior that added to the homey atmosphere.

His legs and his back was still aching the bruises were healing slowly but he couldn’t take lying down anymore. He had the feeling he knew every detail of the ceiling and needed something different to look at.

With unsteady feet he walked towards the window and opened the curtains. An almost full moon stood deep in the sky illuminating the lake, his reflection displaying in the calm water. The lake was surrounded by tall trees, which were mostly conifers and no other house could be seen from the window. As he saw this picturesque view for the first time he knew why this place was something special for Daehyun and Youngjae. He couldn’t imagine a place that radiated calmness and intimate togetherness more than this lake house and he felt sorry and thankful at the same time that they allowed him to stay here.

“It’s nice outside,” said a deep voice behind him. He had been too absorbed in thoughts that he didn’t noticed Yong Guk waking up.

“The view is breathtaking,” Himchan answered without turning to Yong Guk.

“Do you want to go out? I’ve seen a bench near the shelf.”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Wait a moment,” Yong Guk said. He felt something placed on his shoulders. Yong Guk had a grey woolen blanked around him.

“It might be fresh outside.”

“Thanks,” Himchan said and turned around. Yong Guk looked sleepy and his hair was slightly disheveled.

“Can you walk?” Yong Guk asked.

“I think so.” Slowly he made his way towards. He could feel Yong Guks presence closely behind him.

He made his way to the bench and sat down. Yong Guk sat right next to him. For a moment both stayed silent and watched the scenery and listened to the noises of the forest at nighttime.

“Why did you name him Zelo? Where does a name like this come from?” Yong Guk asked breaking the silence.

“Greek mythology.”

“Really? Is it some kind of god?”

“It’s stupid, really. It’s not important,” Himchan said, trying to avoid answering.

“You wouldn’t give the kid a stupid name. It’s something that embarrasses you, right?”

“How do you know?”

“Just tell me. I could search it up anyway,” Yong Guk said and pulled his mobile out of his pocked. Himchan had not thought of it. Now that he already told him that it was linked to Greek mythology, it wouldn’t be hard for Yong Guk to find out the rest.

“Zelos is the personification of dedication, eager rivalry, zeal. He was the son of Pallas and Styx. Pallas was a Titan, a being with incredible strength. His wife was Styx, which means hate, detest. Styx was a being somewhere between the living and the dead. She was a goddess that formed a boundary between the world of the humans and the underworld. Styx had special powers and could make someone stronger or even invulnerable.”

“So you named him after rivalry and zeal?”

“More after dedication. You know by now that vampires crave blood when they are weak. New born vampires want nothing more than blood, even if there body doesn’t need more, there mind wants it. When he first saw you, he should have attracted you. He shouldn’t have been able to think clearly but he didn’t.”

“Why?”

“He told me he doesn’t want your blood. It’s not his to take.”

Yong Guk stayed silent for a while and Himchan could see that he thought about all that and he gave him some time.

“You’re still regretting what happened,” Yong Guk said.

“I will always regret it,” Himchan answered.

“What will happen with the boy?”
“He will need to stay with me till I taught him everything, he has to leave his old life behind.”

“I could think of worse things than staying with you.”

“What would you do now if you wouldn’t be stuck here with me?”

“Learning, probably. I studied politics”

“Really? Wait studied?” Himchan noticed that he was talking in past tense.

“Yeah, well at the moment I’m missing all my lessons,” Yong Guk said not really sounding very regretful.

“You can go back when it’s all over.”

“What do you mean by over, when it just started.” Himchan was not quite sure what Yong Guk wanted to tell him.

“What if I like to stay with you?” Yong Guk asked him seriously.

“We can sit here till the sun goes up.”

“No, I mean, what if I like to be with you.”

“What? No, you can’t, I don’t know…why?”

“Because I want to.”

“You are human. I’m not a good person…. I don’t understand.”

“Then don’t try, just let me stay by your side.”

“And what about all the things that are happening around me? People hurting, people dying. Would you really like to live in darkness?”

“It’s because it’s better to live together in darkness than to be alone in the light.”

Himchan could feel that Yong Guk pushed him slightly towards him, slowly closing the gap between him. Yong Guk leaned even more towards him while he just sat there frozen. As Yong Guk’s lips touched his, he did nothing being too surprised to act. Then slowly he started kissing him back. He closed his eyes and felt Yong Guk’s warm lips on his. As they broke apart Himchan opened his eyes again and starred into Yong Guk black eyes for a while. He had never kissed anyone before and he had never felt like this before. He just wanted this moment to last forever.

“Is it still so hard to believe that I want to be with you?” Yong Guk asked and turned his head to look at the moon.

Himchan laid his head onto Yong Guks shoulder doing the same.

“It’s still hard to believe, but I want to believe it anyway.”

As he sat there his head on Yong Guks shoulder and Yong Guks arm around him it was as if he could feel his dead heart suddenly skip a beat.

+++

“So, where do we start?” Daehyun asked, because he knew that Youngjae liked it, when he was the one that took the lead in the case. He could take the lead elsewhere.

“The cars,” Youngjae answered.

“Have you memorized a driver’s license?” Daehyun asked getting excited by the possibility.

“No, I havened, have you?” Daehyun’s excitement vanished as fast as it came.

“So are we going to search for every damaged black SUV in Seoul now?”

“If I think about it, it might have been dark blue.”

“That makes it so much easier now.”

“Let’s go,” Youngjae said abruptly and went to one of the cars.

“Wait, where to? You’re not really thinking about searching for the car, are you?” Daehyun asked while following.

He noticed that Youngjae went to the passenger seat, so he took the drivers place.

“Don’t you want to drive?” Daehyun asked curious as why they weren’t arguing.

“No, you drive. I have to think.”

“About what?”

“About a plan.”

“So do you at least have a plan where I should drive to?”

“Ah, yes, the police station.”

“You want to go to the police? And what? Go there and ask about a case that doesn’t exist because Mrs. Kim did everything to cover it up?”

“Something like this,” Youngjae answered and Daehyun noticed that he was only half listening because he was still thinking.

“That’s never going to work. I doubt that they even made a case out of what happened.”

“Just because there is no case doesn’t mean they have not started investigating. And I’m not asking anybody, where going to someone I know.”

“Oh.” Daehyun didn’t quite now what to make out of this information.

“Would you start driving instead of asking me all this questions?” Youngjae asked him.

“If you would tell me what you’re thinking instead of making plans all by yourself, I wouldn’t have to ask.”

“I’m not even sure myself. I just thought about that a moment ago, it’s not that I had all day planning.”

“That’s no excuse for leaving me out,” Daehyun said, his voice sounding a bit harsher than expected. All that had been happing was chewing on his nerves and he was emotionally more drenched than he would have liked.

“I could stop planning all together and we just do what you think would be best,” Youngjae replied sounding angry.

“I’m sorry. Let’s go and meet up with your friend,” Daehyun said and finally started the engine.

“He is not really a friend of mine, more someone I now.”

“Someone you used to know?”

“Not everyone I know was automatically a person of my past love life. Stop being that jealous.”

“I’m sorry. Again.”

After a while of driving in silence Youngjae spoke again.

“We are Journalists.”

“What?”

“My friend at the police station thinks we are Journalists.”

“I thought he wasn’t your friend?”

“Seriously, isn’t enough arguing already?”

“You know I can never get enough,” Daehyun said as playful as possible to lighten up the mood.

“If you thing getting cheese will get you out of every argument your wrong,” Youngjae said, destroying Daehyun’s plan.

“Okay, okay. Back to the journalist story. He doesn’t know you. I mean the real you.”

“No. I went to him once with a fake story of being a journalist because I needed some info.”

“When?” Daehyun asked and immediately felt how Youngjae’s body tensed.

“You don’t want to know.”

“You know that if you say something like this I want to know it even more.”

There was an awkward silence in the car as Daehyun waited for Youngjae to tell him what he already guessed but hoped could be wrong.

“I searched for him,” Youngjae said, his voice faint.

Daehyun slammed his hand into the steering wheel.

“Why? Why can’t you just leave it behind? Am I not good enough?” Daehyun shouted. He was furious but he didn’t really know if he was mad at Youngjae or mad at himself. He hated the fact that Youngjae still could not forget him but also that he could not make Youngjae forget him no matter how hard he tried.

“This is why I had to ask every single thing, because you searched for a way to leave out the fact that you’ve searched for him?”

“Daehyun, calm down. Please. It’s over and you know it. It’s only you now and no one else.”

“Then why?”

“Because all that happened was not his fault. I love you and you know that. I would just feel better knowing he is okay. I want nothing more. I just want to know that he is not hurt and living a peaceful live somewhere.”

“And what if not? Would you run back to him and console him.”

“I…no, no I would not leave you.”

Daehyun tried to believe Youngjae but some part of him was just too afraid Youngjae could leave him.

“Would you do the same for me?”

“No,” Youngjae answered and Daehyun froze for a second.

“No, I would never stop looking for you. I would stop helping Himchan, I would not life my life untill I got you back. I would look for you forever.”

“You would?” Daehyun asked surprised.

“I would. But never ever try to test me, got it?”

“No, I don’t think I have a reason to leave you anymore.”

“Anymore?” Youngjae asked pouting.

“You gave me quite a scare.”

“Then now it’s my time to apologize. Are we good?”

“Yeah,” Daehyun answered smiling at Youngjae.
 

It took a while for them to arrive at the police office but the rest of the drive had passed in comfortable silence. As they went inside their argument was almost forgotten and Daehyun tried to concentrate in playing a curious journalist. He imagined himself as a reporter asking someone inquisitively and the thought of it seemed quite promising.

“I’m searching for Officer Kim Minkyu,” Youngjae asked the police officer at the reception.

“One moment please.”

After a while a rather small round-faced police officer walked towards them.

“Oh, Yoo Youngjae. Why are you here? I told you I couldn’t find anything.” Daehyun noticed that the police officer wasn’t too pleased seeing Youngjae.

“I’m here because of a different matter,” Youngjae said.

“You can’t just come here and ask me for favors. I told you it was a one-time thing.”

“This time it’s not something like last time. My friend saw an accident yesterday night and he told me about it and I said to him he should report it to the police and that’s why we’re here. We just want to know if everyone is alright.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were here because of the favor. You can make an official statement as a witness of the accident, if you want to,” he said directed towards Daehyun who was puzzled for a second.

“Yes I would like to do that.”

“Wait a minute, I’m back in a moment,” the police officer said and disappeared.

“I thought I should play a journalist,” Daehyun said to Youngjae.

“He doesn’t seem too fond of journalist anymore so I changed the plan.”

“You could have told me.”

“I didn’t know. I’m improvising. Just play the curious witness who wants to know what happened.”

“The journalist role seemed way cooler.”

“This is not some kind of stage drama.”

“What’s the argument about?” asked the police officer as he came back and probably witnessed a discussion going on.

“I just told Youngjae that it’s probably not really necessary to come here and take your time just because I want to know that everyone is alright.” If Youngjae could improvise so could he, he thought.

“So, may I ask what exactly happened?”

Daehyun described the accident as someone would have seen it from the sidewalk.

“So did you see anyone getting hurt?”

“No, I just stood there frozen. I did not really know what to do and then I heard a siren so I went by. I know it’s a stupid thing to do and should have checked if someone was hurt but I had a few beers that night so did not behave like myself,” Daehyun lied praising himself for his good acting skills.

“I’m searching for records of the accident but I can’t find anything,” police officer said.

At least Daehyun knew that Mrs. Kim had done her work. 

“Maybe it looked worse than it was,” Youngjae said.

“It’s still strange. It’s like nothing happened, are you sure you weren’t totally drunk and imagined everything.”

“No, I’m quite sure an accident happened.”

“Let me check some other records.”

Some minutes passed as the police officer typed onto the keyboard in search for records.

“I found some information about two total losses. One was a Hyundai genesis limousine the other was an Audi Q5. Neither are there records about someone being hurt, nor someone complained to the police.”

“I’m so relieved nothing happened. I was thinking about it all day long,” Daehyun said maybe a bit too theatrically because he earned a strange look from Youngjae.

“Thank you so much for your help officer,” Daehyun said taking more and more pleasure in acting.  

“No problem.”

They both said there thanks and left the station again.

“So at least we know which brands of cars we’re looking for,” Daehyun said.

“Which brand. The Hyundai was the car we were driving,” Youngjae corrected him. Daehyun could see his mood was a lot better now that they were investigating again.

“But at least we know it was an Audi Q5. It’s not the most common car. And it had to be towed away, so either it’s still somewhere waiting for its owner or someone came for it, so we have a lead.”

“Since we accomplished something, shouldn’t we celebrate that?” Youngjae asked sounding a bit too excited. Daehyun knew that Youngjae would get all hyper in a moment and he himself felt way too exhausted to deal with a hyper Youngjae.

“What were you thinking about?” he asked carefully.

“I want to get ice cream! I say choco, you say ice cream,” he started singing while clapping in his hands and jumping around like a little kid.

“Ice cream!”

“Shut up.”

“Choco...”

“Shut up.”

I say vanilla, you say ice cream. Vanilla!”

“Shut up.”

“Vanilla!”

“Youngjae dummy.”

“Oh come on,” Youngjae pleaded him and Daehyun knew he had not really a choice.

“Okay, okay, let get some ice cream.”

“Ice cree…,” Youngjae began to say as a man dressed in black suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind him and held a hand over his mouth. At the same time Daehyun felt a needle piercing through is skin on the right side of his neck. Immediately his vision began to get blurry and he could barely hold himself on his feet. He felt someone grab him and punch him onto the backseat of a car.  He felt the presence of Youngjae next to him. His head could barely focus but he somehow felt that a man was on the driver’s seat and a vampire sat on the passenger seat. The last thing he heard before total blackness overtook him was someone saying:

“…that’s because you’re cute like an angel.”

Author’s note: Again I’m really sorry that this update took forever. I’m not good with romantic stuff, I hope it wasn’t all too bad.  Next chapter will have a guest appearance of another boy band. I hope you don’t mind but the story is getting quite long and I need more characters as each chapter seems to be  longer than the previous one.  Originally I planned 10 chapters but I’m working on a much longer storyline now. My author’s notes are getting longer too, sorry.

Bye J.J.