“Even if you hope for Prince Charming to come and rescue you, that will never happen, My Dear. You can wait until you get old and wrinkly, and maybe by then, you’ll stop hoping and start looking at what you’ve lost behind…”

In front of Hana’s eyes was the end of her life. It might sound cheesy, but when one was faced with a lot of cannibals and a steaming hot pot, waiting to burn her to the core of her bones, she finally gave up screaming altogether and pressed her lips onto thin line.

Her tears were flowing freely, forming small streams on both sides of her cheeks. But there was no sound coming out of Hana’s mouth. She was utterly silent, and in her mind, she couldn’t think of any way to escape. So, here it was, the end of her life, still so young and beautiful.

“All the girls I’ve brought here cried, just like you do,” One of the hooded things talked to her, caressing her cheeks with his abnormally long fingers. It smelt, and was a little too rough for Hana’s delicate skin. “Oh, yes, they plead, they beg, they try everything in their might. But look where they are right now. Chopped off like meats.”

Chopped off like meats. Hana’s left eye twitched at the mention of human’s body parts.

“Why aren’t you talking?” The thing laughed hysterically. God, they were ugly. Especially when they smiled, because all Hana could see was crooked teeth, and they smelt. “Cat got your tongue?”

Hana was still silent. Why would she talk to these monstrous eaters whose feet didn’t even touch the floor?

“Ah, talking about tongue, it is one of the softest meat,” It the lips and stared at Hana intently, not in a erted ‘I-want-to-eat-you’ way, but more like staring at her face, possibly contemplating on which part to eat first. Hana trembled again. That was freaking disgusting.

“I love tongues. The others love it, too. That’s why we always fight over it. Say, can you tell the others that you’ll give the tongue part for me?” The creature continued. Hana was actually shocked to see these creatures talked and fussed so much. Pretty much all they talked about was meats and eat, but they talked, unlike the Forsaken creatures that attacked blindly.

“Ah, silly me, you’d be dead by the time your tongue is steamed. Not my favorite way of cooking, but of course your meat will make up for it,” He grinned, and Hana leaned back, trying not to breathe in his stinky odor.

“Junsu, stop talking and get your over here,” Judging by the way he spoke, he must be Taec, the leader. Hana couldn’t differentiate these cannibals at all. They really looked alike, with those crooked teeth, and boney skin. They looked almost human, except for the fact that they were floating with their torn up clothes.

They were whispering words, and she was tied down to the chair.

Sehun, I really need you right now…

***

“Are you sure it’s here?” Sehun threw a glance at Yongguk, his face masking a cold, calm facade as always. Yongguk grunted, “Why don’t you try to and barge into the tunnel, Genius?” Sehun pulled out his favorite weapon, his blade from the back. His hand was itchy to kill some ghouls today.

“I’m quite sure they are inside,” This time Himchan spoke. His golden eyes were still shining bright under the moonlight. It wasn’t full moon yet, and so, the two werewolves wouldn’t turn to their animal form in a few weeks. “I can definitely smell something from inside.”

“Are you done talking?” Kris folded his hands in front of his chest, “Because the ghouls might be eating her remains right now if you don’t hurry.”

Sehun’s face was blank, once again, and Luhan could see the immediate change in his expression. Even though Sehun denied it, he must have cared for her, even for a little bit. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t rush to Yongguk without a second thought.

“She’ll be okay,” Luhan was surprised at how firm and calm he sounded. Sehun gave him a questioning glance and Luhan repeated, with the same tone, trying to reassure him, “Hana is okay.”

She’d better be okay. Sehun let his right hand did a little twirl, and instantly, a small wind swirl was formed near them. It got bigger, and stronger, and when it finally reached the size Sehun wanted, Luhan signaled Kris to move from the way. The taller male stepped aside and watched as Sehun made small, ‘meaningless’ gestures to command the wind around him.

Sehun’s ability was always amusing to watch. It was quite rare among the Shadow creatures, especially vampires to have elemental abilities. What Sehun had was a special gift, because he controlled the wind better than any air-bender Kris had ever seen.

With one loud bang, the sealed door to the underground tunnel was destroyed. Luhan chuckled to himself, “Do you think the ghouls are alerted by now?” To his surprise, Sehun, who was usually passive and quiet, growled as a reply, “They’d better be. No one destroyed my house and get away with it.”

***

Jaejoong heard a commotion outside his room. It was nighttime, and since he had lost sleep for almost a week, he would sleep for the entire day. His eyelids fluttered close, and in his lover’s arms, he dozed off to sleep again. He was tired and drained, physically and mentally, despite taking fresh blood from the veins.

The lover he had tonight was one of the many lovers he had out there. Jaejoong wouldn’t really call them his ‘lovers’ because he hadn’t loved any of them at all, but if the calling pleased them, then might as well do that. He didn’t give a damn about their broken hearts or undying love anyway.

“Please, let me see him!”

Jaejoong groaned.

“I have to see him, this is important!”

Now, his mood was spoilt, and it wasn’t good, at all. He didn’t like it one bit when someone disturbed his sleep. Jaejoong taped the girl’s arms and whispered in low, husky tone, “Well, why don’t you go tell that annoying outside that he can either off or be killed.”

“I will,” the girl chuckled and kissed him on the cheeks, before slipping out of the bed and into the door. Jaejoong hummed to no one and closed his eyes again. There was silence afterwards, and he almost smiled at it. Maybe his lover had done some justice to whoever it was outside.

“Tell him I’ve found his Mark!” The voice called out again, this time sounding more confident than ever. “I have found her!” Jaejoong’s eyes shot open and he rose up in an instant. He heard struggles outside, and a slap, probably from his lover. But he could care less about that right now.

Jaejoong put on the robe to cover his upper half. He didn’t tie it together, and just let it hang loose around his body. The words had ruined his mood to sleep. Instead, he felt excitement rushed through his vein like poison. Still, he managed to keep the poker face and pushed open the huge door that connected his room to the open space.

Kim Myungsoo, who was also known as L, was one of the underlings Jaejoong despised. Not only did he like to sweet-talk and lied, L was also a very unreliable and untrustworthy person. His eyes were wide, and sweats trickled down his face. His breathing was uneven, his chest heaved up and down. There was confidence, however, confidence that Jaejoong liked and hated at the same time.

“My Lord,” L breathed out. “My Lord, I bring good news for you.”

“I am not pleased that you disturb my sleep tonight,” Jaejoong purposefully missed out his name, because Kim Jaejoong didn’t remember names that weren’t important in his life. “This would better be good news, because if you don’t, my Dearest here,” Jaejoong pointed out to his lover, “…would love to have you as a late snack.”

Jaejoong’s lover hissed, and opened out . Instead of round, pink tongue, what came out was snake-like slits, hissing and grinning at the same time.

“No, I am quite sure you’d like what you hear, My Lord,” L replied quickly. Jaejoong coldly smirked. He doubted the news L was bringing. No matter how satisfied he would be later on, L would still end up as his lover’s dinner tonight.

“Tell me.”

“A few ghoul friends of mine informed me that they have caught this girl,” L rambled excitedly, clearly feeling important right now, “She is Marked. And her Mark is still growing. They are quite sure the Mark resembles our House’s symbol.”

“Are you sure…?” For the first time ever, Jaejoong sounded unsure.

“I am very sure, My Lord. They held her captive for several hours.”

Jaejoong knew what this mean. A person with their house’s Mark. “Are they absolutely sure that it’s the vampire’s Mark and not those filthy werewolves’?” L shook his head, and a sense of relief and happiness filled Jaejoong’s heart. “And you said it’s a girl…?”

“It is a girl, indeed, My Lord,” L replied, observing Jaejoong’s blank face, which gave out nothing as a reaction.

The matter of the Mark had been a sensitive topic to the Shadow worlds. No one really talked about it, with the exception of the clans’ leaders. The Mark on the body was a taboo topic to share, because it could cause chaos and war between races, and Jaejoong didn’t want that. In fact, he didn’t want anyone to know that the vampire clan’s Mark was found on someone’s body. And much to his delight, it was a girl.

“You said the ghouls held her captive?” Jaejoong asked, his dark orbs boring a hole into L’s greenish ones. L nodded. “Then, what are we waiting for? We have to make sure that what you’re saying is right, aren’t we?”

That was it. Jaejoong was coming to get the girl, and he was going to get her no matter what the consequences would be. 

A/N: Honestly, all these introduction chapters are killing me as well. But I don't want to speed things up. I want to introduce these characters slowly. How they think, how they behave, what they do and what they want. Jaejoong will be a major character, as well. And I haven't talked about the last main character in this story, so please be patient, because things will pick up from chapter 20. I promise.