Madame’s nose twitched as Lay came closer.

“Psst…animal blood,” she lamented but beneath the odour there was a tantalizing scent that she would not have expected from a non-royal. Her curiosity was perked.

“You…called for me?” Lay asked hesitantly with his usual blur expression.

Madame held his gaze. In that moment, Lay felt that time had paused for them. It felt like she could see through him – his loneliness, his lethargy…his desire.

Madame folded her arms on the table and leaned closer towards Lay.

She began sultrily,

“Have you heard of…”

She dropped her voice.

“a blood covenant?”

Lay shook his head slowly.

A self-indulgent smile slowly made its way onto Madame’s face. She traced his jaw-line down to his neck with her finger. Lay shivered under her touch. He felt an adrenaline rush.

“Let’s make a deal…” she whispered. She placed her hand on Lay’s shoulder and bent in to whisper something in his ear. Her scent flooded Lay’s senses and his fangs throbbed. He stiffened and Madame knew that he was still cautious in her presence. But it would not matter. She could do it slowly. She could kill him slowly, after she has had her fun.

She pulled back and saw the awestruck look on Lay’s face. She saw him his lips carefully. He remained silent as he pondered and she rubbed small circles on his shoulder.

“Deal,” Lay finally replied.

Hae Ri aimed for the bulls eye on a small wooden board above her head. She kicked but missed and staggered as she tried to keep her balance. Her eyes immediately searched for him. He was right there, some distance away from her. She looked up at him and was greeted with a warm smile.

His smile seemed to tell her to not give up.

The young and small Hae Ri focussed on the target determinedly and her feet went for it. She missed and crashed to the ground. The boys sniggered and Hae Ri bit her lip to hold the pain in. A large hand appeared before her and Hae Ri looked up.

“C’mon, you can do it. One more time,” Jong Hun encouraged while offering to pick her up.

Hae Ri placed her small palm into his large hand and he closed his palm around hers. She nodded her head and stood up with even more resolve. She would not let him down.

Lu Han looked around the club as he mixed the drinks for the next batch of orders. They have not been here for long but he had already begun to get the hang of being a bartender. He looked around for Hae Ri, hoping that she was coping well today. They had all realised how tough it was for her. The rest of them were doing work that was behind-the-scenes but Hae Ri had to interact directly with the customers. It was not a safe place for a girl to be and they were all worried for her. Lu Han could sense that someone else was staring at Hae Ri and he looked to his left to see the supervisor gaping at her. He was walking slowly towards the backroom but his eyes were fixated on her instead of on where he was going. A cheeky grin appeared on Lu Han’s face as he used his telekinesis to hold one of the supervisor’s legs still and tripped him. The supervisor fell flat on his face and hurriedly stood up, looking about to check how many people had witnessed his embarrassing moment. Lu Han tried to contain his laughter.

“Did you see that?” he sent a telepathy to Hae Ri

Inexplicably, there was another person whom Lu Han was worried about. She headed towards the bar counter to take a break and Lu Han offered her a glass of water for she was not good with alcohol. Mari accepted the drink gratefully and Lu Han gave her a kind smile. He was really good looking and Mari blushed slightly. Lu Han had never been a very caring person. Work at Lamia had taken a toll on both him and Baekhyun. While Baekhyun was one who dared to let loose whenever he was stressed out, Lu Han kept everything to himself. He closed himself up, not wanting to depend on anyone and not wanting anyone to depend on him. However, things have changed a lot since he had met Hae Ri and Chanyeol. He found himself becoming a worrywart. He found himself taking the responsibility for the group’s safety and welfare. He found himself becoming different. As such, Lu Han was not surprised when he felt a need to take care of Mari. He thought that she was vulnerable and there was just this natural feeling of wanting to protect her, to take care of her. It was weird and frightening to discover this side of himself. Since he was already scared by how much he is caring for someone he had just met, he was afraid that Mari would be equally scared off by his actions.

“My shift just ended as well, let’s go get something to eat,” he offered gently.

Mari was surprised by his invitation. She had not talked to him much and it was odd that he would offer to eat with her. However, she assumed that he was a nice person since he was part of Hae Ri’s group of refugees.

“Sure…” she agreed timidly.

 Hae Ri saw Mari following Lu Han to the back and she smiled. Lu Han was being the gentleman like always and now that she was sure that Mari would not be bullied, she carried on her shift with a lighter heart. As she was about to take the orders of some new soldiers who had just entered the club, someone called for her.

“Yah!” A fellow waitress shouted at her.

Hae Ri looked at her quizzically.

“That table over there,” she pointed at a group of soldiers who were wearing a different set of uniform from the rest. They wore uniforms of a lighter colour and there were many badges on their arm.

“requested for you,” the waitress stated.

“Me?!” Hae Ri cried. Each soldier had their own designated hostess, apart from those who were first-timers but waitresses did not have to entertain them.

Hae Ri appeared reluctant and the waitress grabbed her by the arm and hissed into her ear,

“Those are high-ranking officers. They are VIPs. Apart from adhering to their requests, there is nothing else we can do. Do you understand?”

Hae Ri cursed in her mind but outwardly she remained calm and compliant. The waitress brought her to the table and announced,

“I have brought her here.”

The VIPs ignored the hostesses who were sitting with them and gawked at Hae Ri. One of them, presumably the leader considering the number of badges he had, patted the empty space beside him. The waitress pushed Hae Ri forward and she settled herself beside him. Hae Ri pulled at her short dress awkwardly as she felt the soldier’s eyes on her. He smirked upon seeing Hae Ri’s submissive reaction and poured her a small glass of strong alcohol. He passed her the alcohol and commanded,

“Love shot.”

He hooked her arm around Hae Ri’s and downed the glass in one shot. Hae Ri did likewise but before she could pull away, he grabbed her in and whispered into her ear,

“If not for Madame’s rules, I would make you my hostess.”

Hae Ri felt goosebumps all over and the flower vase on the table rattled vigorously.

“What’s going on?” one of the soldiers asked upon seeing the flower vase move. Hae Ri tried to calm herself down and the flower vase stopped vibrating. She remained silent and kept her eyes on the empty glass of alcohol before her.

“A stubborn one I see,” the soldier commented.

“Let’s see how long you’ll remain quiet for,” he spat.

Baekhyun took the next shift after Lu Han’s and he began to mix drinks. The club was as loud and noisy as usual and he was tired. They were not making much progress and time was running out. Baekhyun felt frustrated and he started to look around for Hae Ri. He was sure that they shared the same shift but he could not find her with his eyes. He tried to locate her by her scent and it was clear that she was somewhere around here but somehow he just could not find her. He stopped what he was doing when he realised that there was something wrong with her scent. There was something vile amidst the sweetness of her fragrance. At that moment, he heard some loud disagreements in the central part of the club. He hurried over, something was not right.

Baekhyun ran over to the table when he saw Hae Ri sitting among the soldiers. Her face was flushed red and she was not looking like herself. He caught her when she fainted forward, right into his arms. Loud gasps could be heard from the hostesses when they saw Hae Ri losing consciousness. Baekhyun was furious upon seeing Hae Ri like that and he glared at the soldiers at the table, particularly the one who was sitting beside Hae Ri. The said man was equally unhappy with Baekhyun’s interference and he stood up and towered over him with an irritating smirk on his face. Before any of them could say anything, Madame came over and cried,

“What’s going on here?”

The hostesses were frenzied and they started explaining to Madame the situation albeit unclearly since all of them were trying to speak at the same time. The soldier pinched the bridge of his nose as he was frustrated that Madame had to step in and ruin his plan.

“Bring her to the back,” Madame ordered.

Baekhyun laid Hae Ri gently onto her bed. Since they were working here full-time, Madame had kindly offered them lodging in the empty rooms at the back of the club. Hae Ri had a room all to herself whereas the 4 of them shared a larger room. He tucked her in carefully and swiped her bangs away from her sweaty forehead. She would be alright. The vampire blood in her will detoxify the alcohol and with a good rest she would be fine again. Baekhyun flicked her forehead lightly and scolded,

“Pabo pabo pabo…”

He clenched his fists as well as his jaw. This could not go on any longer. They had to hurry and find the last tattoo. Not only is time running out, this place was not safe for Hae Ri at all. He went down onto one of his knees by her bedside and brought her hand to his lips. He kissed the back of her hand softly and vowed,

“Nothing bad will happen to you again, I promise.”

She could smell sweet delicious blood everywhere. Her stomach rumbled as her fangs grew longer. It had been so long since she last fed on human blood. Too, pathetically long. There were so many choices for her today but her senses zeroed in on the most attractive scent. It was very near to her. She zoomed out of her room and entered the next one. The aromatic scent was driving her crazy. She needed to have this blood now.

The room was big as it occupied 4 beds. He had his back to her as he slept. She could hear his soft snoring as she climbed onto the bed carefully. She placed her hand on his neck and let out a sharp cry. Chanyeol jolted awake and turned around swiftly but it was too late. Hae Ri was already about to sink her fangs into his neck. 

YEHET finally an update! :D

Thanks shiki3600 for subscribing! <3

I've really been very very super busy for the past week and the upcoming week will be equally bad as well ><

Sobs sobs I hope that you guys have not given up on the story yet :(