A/N: I'm always feeling apologetic about this fic with the sparse updates. But if you would like to talk to me about the fic or anything, aside from aff, you can reach me @icywitchy on Twitter or ask.fm/icywitchy. Thanks for the support for this fic. :)

Sungjin stepped harder on the pedals of his bicycle, speeding through the deserted route. His eyes were fixed on the three-storey house that was nearing with each turn of the bicycle wheel, his heart racing with apprehension. The gates automatically opened as he neared, allowing him to speed through the front yard without any interruption. He hopped off his bicycle as he came to a stop before the main door, letting Shindong take his bicycle without any words.

“Sungjin,” Leeteuk, who had been expecting the human, greeted with a smile.

“Hyung!” Sungjin gave a quick, brief hug to Leeteuk, unperturbed that the one in his arms was a vampire. He had more or less gotten used to the Ohana, though they had made him stay away from the house the past two months because of Sungmin’s unstable state. “Have you all found him?”

“Heechul said he saw something, so we gathered everyone. We’ve been waiting for you.” Leeteuk explained, leading the human through the door, moving towards the dining room.

When he entered the room, he felt the weight of eyes on him, except one pair that was focused on the paper being drawn on. Sungjin quietly slipped into the seat left empty for him, giving a smile to Ryeowook when the vampire greeted him with a light pat on his arm. The attention was promptly returned to the quick, sketching sounds coming from the cherry-haired vampire, whose eyes were moving visibly behind the closed eyelids.

It took another fifteen seconds before the pencil was rammed onto the table with controlled strength, marking the end to the drawing. A scowl formed on Heechul’s face as he opened his eyes, staring at the drawing in front of him.

“What is it?” Leeteuk enquired calmly, careful not to startle Heechul in case his visions were still playing.

Heechul lifted his drawing, one that was of the front of a small cottage house, surrounded by many trees. “We have to find this. Sungmin should be there.”

“Are you sure?” Kangin asked. “Not that I doubt your visions, but would that definitely lead us to Ming?”

The sides of the paper crumpled as Heechul clenched his fists. “He made a decision; I don’t know what, but it was related to this small cottage.”

“It’s a start.” Yesung sighed, and Ryeowook squeezed his mate’s hand at an attempt to comfort. He knew the elder had been feeling guilty since Sungmin broke down three days after erasing Kyuhyun’s memories, and the guilt all but amplified when the mind-reading vampire disappeared two weeks ago.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to find—”

A sharp gasp from Heechul cut off Leeteuk’s words and every head whipped towards the vampire with all light absent from his eyes. Sungjin tensed up in worry when Heechul shook his head, muttering “no” repeatedly under his breath. Before he could wonder how long the visions would take this time, the vampire had disappeared from the seat opposite of him with a blink of his eye. 

“The cottage. , we have to find the cottage.”

Sungjin turned his head towards Heechul’s voice, catching sight of the vampire clutching Leeteuk’s arm rightly.

“He’s withholding his thirst. He wants to lose control—he’s gonna—rage—The Regalis—” Heechul slipped down onto his knees, as though the visions had took away all his strength. Sungjin abruptly stood up on his seat when he saw the shoulders of the vampire shaking, an indication that the always bright, carefree and almost y vampire was crying.

He ignored the frozen atmosphere in the room, stomping towards Heechul. Prying the vampire’s tight hold off Leeteuk’s hand, he knelt in front of Heechul, lowering his head at an attempt to check Heechul’s face.

“What happened? What does that mean?” Sungjin held Heechul by his shoulders, shaking the vampire whose head was bowed. There were no tears falling onto the vampire’s clothes, but Sungjin knew that though they didn’t have tears, it didn’t mean that they never cried.

“Tell me! What Regali?! What is Sungmin hyung planning?!” He yelled when the silence continued, everyone lost in their own thoughts, including Leeteuk who had not moved an inch even after Heechul broke down beside him.

Enraged, Sungjin jumped up from the floor, stepping into the line of sight of Leeteuk. “Yah! Leeteuk hyung!” He slapped the vampire on the cheek, ignoring the burning pain in his hand instead. That seem to have successfully pulled the vampire out of his trance, and Leeteuk caught his hand, examining it closely.

“Don’t do that again. You could get hurt.” Leeteuk warned, and Sungjin yanked his hand away.

“I’m fine! Tell me, what happened to Sungmin hyung?”

Leeteuk’s face quickly fell at the question, the conflict evident in his eyes. His mate, Kangin, decided to save him from the painful explanation.

“If Heechul’s right, Sungmin is deliberately withholding his own thirst until he loses his sanity and control. That would send him on a blood rage, taking many lives without even bothering to hide his tracks. And that would attract the Regalis… to send someone to kill him.”

“Regalis? Who the hell are they?” Sungjin turned towards Kangin, his face painted with anxiousness and worry.

“They are like the vampire ruling clan who reside in Italy. The three brothers who head the clan are the oldest vampires around, and they have sworn to keep the existence of vampires unknown from the world to avoid humans collaborating and hunting us instead. They… get rid of whatever that threatens our secret.” Kangin explained, before rubbing his face harshly with his hands.

Sungjin felt his knees buckle at the information, and Shindong seated him in a chair instantly.

“How long, Heechul?” Leeteuk enquired quietly. “We have to try; we have to stop him.”

“A d-day? Few hours? I don’t know!” Heechul shouted with his coarse voice, before stomping out of the room. It took a second before he reentered, slamming a map onto the dining table. “I don’t care. We have to get him.”

“We have to get him.” Eunhyuk repeated, standing up and sweeping his eyes across the map.

“It’s somewhere here.” Donghae reached over, drawing a circle around a part of the forest on the map with his finger. “I secretly followed hyung for fun one day, but he caught me before we even got far from the house. He told me he was building a cottage for himself… and his future mate.”

“We’ll search here then.” Shindong announced loudly, sending everyone to attention.

“We need to split into two teams.” Leeteuk said suddenly when everyone stood up to make a move out of the room.

“Sungmin’s thirsty. Our storage’s out of blood.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The pair of coal black eyes stared blankly at the framed photo lying in his hand, the bar ring on his fingers seemingly too heavy for him to even lift in his weakened state. He was almost at his limit; the burning in his throat had reached a peak that he was sure wouldn’t be able to escalate further, especially with the lack of strength in his entire body. But he knew this was only temporary – the last burst of strength would hit him when the tatters of his sanity and self-control slipped away, driving him on an uncontrollable blood rage. He wouldn’t know what he would be doing by then – unconsciously killing and dry victim after victim until his neglected thirst would be finally satisfied. When his consciousness returned then, it would be to meet his death – The Regalis were fast.

He took in a deep breath that served no purpose except reminding him of the loneliness. The cottage was void of his human lover’s scent – he had planned to show Kyuhyun this secret hideout after the basketball game. His secret hideout – Our secret hideout.

Everything was ruined because of his stupidity, stupidity of assuming that he would be able to have a love relationship with a human. Kyuhyun wasn’t safe; he was never safe since the first time they met in the laboratory.

He wanted to not regret his decision to hand the human over to the shape-shifter; he thought he would be fine after seeing their stage performance, which was akin to a declaration of their own whole new world, one that had a lack of vampires, a lack of him. But he was so wrong.

He found himself sprinting here just five minutes after reaching the Ohana residence, because he couldn’t stand the thoughts of concern from the other vampires. Those thoughts reminded him of how pathetic he was, how lonely he was, how… detestable he was.

If only he wasn’t a vampire – he could love Kyuhyun f