Vampires. Also known to werewolf kind as “the cold ones", are immortal beings who feed on the blood of humans and animals. They possess superhuman powers, such as enhanced speed and incredible strength. Vampires have very keen senses and are able to even hear a bird sing from a mile away and eyes that see in even total darkness. 

They never sleep. Instead, they spend all days and nights awake. They are also able to walk freely in the sunlight without being physically damaged by it. 

Vampires subsist on blood as their only food source. As blood is the only component of a vampire's diet, failing to drink blood whether human or animal for an extended period of time will physically and mentally weaken a vampire. Their teeth are also venomous, affected by the vampire venom that flows in their mouths. They do not bleed. They do not tire, unless blood is lacking.

Vampires are immortal unless destroyed. The only known way to kill a vampire is to dismember his or her body parts and burn the remains before it can reconstruct itself. Thus their weakness is the strength of their own kind or something as strong, which cannot be copied by humans, and fire that consumes them. It is also said that a vampire can undergo any kind of physical pain with ease, thus making them immune to any kind of pain.

Vampires are the mortal enemies of Werewolves. But they are said to be stronger than Werewolves, and can usually overpower them easily. Vampire venom, once injected into a Werewolf''s body, doesn't kill them immediatly, but it causes much pain and if the victim isn't strong enough to fight it, it will eventually die. As for humans, once the venom is injected into their skin, takes effect immediately, killing them instantly.

Werewolves, on the other hand, also have advantages when it comes to battling against Vampires. Every Werewolf, when born, is given a special gift or ability while only some Vampires possess them. Gifts and abilities possesed by Vampires are extremely rare, every 1 in a 50. Thus, Werewolves, when working together as a pack and combining their abilities into one, are able to overpower Vampires. Their senses are similiar to a Vampire's, and it is only strength and speed that is lacking.

Though Werewolves reach a great speed, they are still slower than Vampires. Big teeth are are a werewolf's greatest weapon. Even while in their human forms, their speed, strength and endurance are equal to their wolf forms. In their wolf form, not only are they larger than normal wolves, but also supernaturally stronger. 

It is believed that Werewolves are stronger than they usually are, and more beastly, during a night of a Full Moon. But they are side effects. Though it is rare, a Werewolf MIGHT lose control and go insane during the night of a Full Moon. So strong that not even an entire pack of Werewolves can stop him, and is able to win a fight against 3 vampires in a heartbeat. But cases like this is so rare, it almost never happens. 

Werewolves and Vampires are mortal enemies. And is said that they can never really make any peace. Peace treaties have been made, but all of them, broken. There is no way to solve this war. Or is there?

Pine branches sag under the weight of their snow cover. Other branches have become crisp and brittle in the frozen air, snapping in the wind. The trees look dead but they are simply holding their breath for summer. The air is cold. Everything around you seems like it has finally been put in a long sleep.Voices rang in your head, whispers. Thoughts.

“Am I lost?"

By scent, you assumed it was a hunter, who just happened to be hunting in the forest. But who would be a fool enough to do that on a winter season? Unless, they're looking for trouble. Or a more appropriate phrase: unless they're willing to freeze themselves to death. After all, It is winter. Humans can't stand the temperature this low for long.

“I need to get out of here," again, the same voice echoed in your head. 

“You should," you said out loud, as if he could hear you.

“I've got to build a fire."

"A fire's not gonna be enough."

You pushed your hands into the pocket of your coat and kicked the snow off the forest floor. Though you didn't feel cold, you shivered at the thought that you wouldn't be able to find a prey to feed on. You throat was burning. Like a flame was already set ablaze from the inside. A beast eating you from the inside out. 

"What if something comes out and attacks me? No, musn't think this way. My family needs me." You heard again.

Curious, you followed his scent and when you knew you were close, you hid behind a tree and peeped out to see a young hunter warming his hands in front of a newly built fire. He couln't be more than 30 or so. He had a sharp looking dagger in his belt and a bow and arrow at his side. It was obvious he just laid them out to show that he was dangerous, but to you, not even a bit. 

You concentrated your mind reading ability on digging through his thoughts and memories. Slowly, you entered his head. You dug. As hard as you could. And as if they were yours, his memories flashed through you and you could see into his life just like a slideshow in fast motion: His family living sitting in the streets, begging for money or for food. A bowl of rice was already enough to satisfy them, despite being a family of five. Exhausted, you released and his memories disappeared. You wiped a tear that had just began to slide down your cheek and leaned in closer to see the man by the fire.

“Too bad you got lost in here," you said in a soft voice, careful not to attract his attention. "3 days already, huh."

Though you were thirsty, killing a human just for their blood disgusted you. You never wanted to attack a human. And you never have. You thought they deserved life, just like you. So leaving this man wasn't much of a challenge to you. You turned around to get out of there when you heard the breaking of a twig on the ground. You didn't realise it at first, but when you looked down at your foot, you knew it was too late. 

"Wh-who's there?" Said a voice from behind you. , you cursed at yourself mentally. "Turn a-around!" the man yelled. You could sense that he had a weapon in his hand. Was it the bow? Was he going to shoot an arrow through your heart? Be calm, be calm. You wanted to just run and disappear, but for some reason, you didn't want to. You lifted your hands up, as a sign of surrendering and pulled down the hood covering your head. Slowly, you turned around to face the man. You had never been this close to a human before. But you felt a good feeling about this. Sure enough, the man had an arrow pointed straight at you, ready to release it. 

"Who are you?" he demanded. You smiled, lowered your head and put down your hands. What should I say? You thought. "I come in peace?" Was that even right? You forgot that talking to a human would mean the same as talking to a normal vampire. 

The man scrunched his eyebrows and you took a small step closer to him. "D-don't come n-near me!" He shouted, holding the bow up high. "Why are y-y-your eyes o-orange?" You could already see it through his eyes. Those eyes that were filled with fear and terror. It saddened you that Humans were terrified of you and your kind. But you never wanted them to see your kind as monsters. It was true that Vampires feed on the blood humans, since most of them think Human blood is more than enough for you to go without blood for weeks. But you were different. You, unlike every other Vampire, fed on animal blood. Although most Vampires prefer human blood rather than animals', you didn't care. And because of your diet, unlike other Vampires who had red eyes, you had orange. Other Vampires would sometimes call you a "coward", and sometimes, "vegetarian", telling you to only care about yourself and not about the Humans, because in a Vampire's point of view, Humans were considered only a source for blood, nothing more than that. But no matter what the others said, you never listened. You've gone through a week without blood. You felt weak and thirsty, but you still couldn't do it. Your body was holding you back. And you were glad it did. 

"Are y-you?" The man stuttered. His hands were shaking. No, his entire body were. You kept your distance and took a few steps back. You looked up confidently and smiled. You weren't afraid of this man. His arrow wouldn't kill you anyway. You'd need something even more powerful than that to kill a Vampire. 

You took a deep breath and nodded. You didn't regret admitting it. But you certainly didn't want this man to feel afraid of you. The man shuddered and took his knife out of his pocket, pointing its sharp blade towards you. "So the legends are true," he didn't take his eyes off you for even a second. You nodded and stepped closer to him. Closer and closer. One step. Two steps. Three. Four. Five. Until you were only inches apart from each other. The man had his eyes shut closed as if waiting for the attack, but it never came. You gently took the knife out from his hand and threw it to the ground. He was completely helpless right now. But you couldn't bring yourself to attack him. Instead, you did something you were quite proud of. 

"Your town is East right that way, sir, I hope you'll make it hope safe," You said casually and the man slowly opened his eyes. He looked at you in confusion. 

"What?" He said, unable to believe that you were letting him go just like that.

"What?" You repeated, acting clueless. "East is that way, you better get home soon. Your daughter is ill and both your sons are looking for you," You said. The man's eyes widened in shock. 

"H-how did y-you-"

"Thats enough questions," You bent down and gathered up his things, throwing them to him and crossing your arms together. The man looked alarmed. Speechless. Confused. He stood there as though he was paralysed, and you frowned at him. You didn't want him to think of you as a monster like all the rest. You wanted to stand out. And you were going to show him you were different. 

The man turned to you, gulping as he met your orange eyes. "You're just letting me go? Just like that?" You paused for awhile, then nodded, patting him on the shoulder. "W-what are you?" The man said and you shrugged. 

"I'm a Vampire," You openly said, as if you were so proud of it. And as a matter of fact, you were. "And shouldn't you be going? Its getting late. Better go find your boys before they get lost in the dark looking for you," you reminded and the man nodded and began to walk away, slowly. Glancing back once in a while to see if you were still watching him, which you were. Until he finally disappeared beyond the hills. And you were left to wonder. Congratulations, Haneul, you praised yourself. Congratulations. 

And you regret nothing.

***

You pushed one of your hands into the pocket of your coat and rubbed your forehead with the other. How long has it been? 5 hours. And no luck. Nothing would ever come out in this kind of weather. Winter wasn't so bad before, but this year, it seemed to get worse. Colder. Deadlier. And a threat to even Vampires. You sighed and place a hand to shade over your eyes. You were bending over a frozen lake. The sun shone in a distance, a bright orange. Take the risk? You questioned yourself. So, are you going to cross of not? You were terrified of frozen lakes. The fact that the ice could break at any moment when you were halfway crossing it and you would plunge to the very bottom of the lake wasn't something you would dare to do. Your mind fought back and forth trying to decide. And after a very long while, you gave in to fear. You're a coward. You stood up, picked a rock from the ground and threw it forwards. The rock landed on the solid ice with a loud "tack!" and you winced. Better not. 

You stepped back and turned around. Something caught your attention from the corner of your eye. Something on the snow. You scrunched your eyebrows and went closer. But 3 seconds after you found out what it was you immediately backed off. It wasn't something you wanted to see. Or at least, today.

Those Werewolves better not be off catching MY prey. You said in your mind. Annoyance entered the picture. Werewolves weren't such friendly creatures, according to other Vampires. But of course, Vampires would say cruel, horrible things about Werewolves, and Werewolves would do the same thing too. Both parties just never seem to get along. Put both of them in a room and only one of them will come back out alive. Either that or none of them. 

You've never actually seen a Werewolf up close. And you wished you would never. All those rumours about Werewolf and Vampire murder were flying around. For example: Three days ago there was news that a dead Vampire was found buried in the ground. According to evidence, a Werewolf was responsible. But no one bothered hunting him down. No one cared anyways. Living this kind of life, death was just a common thing. So common no one would even remember if anyone was gone. That one rule we always hear: Its one man for himself.

But even without ever meeting them, you hated Werewolves. You'd blamed them for the decrease in your catches ever since last Autumn. Full moon nights are the worst. No catches at all. Probably taken by them. You hated it. But though you did, you were always that one person who stays out of any conflicts between Werewolves and Vampires. Any fights between them would not involve you, because you never wanted anything to do with them. You prefered to stay away.

Werewolves and vampires aren't quite in good terms, that's for certain. 

You tried pushing those thoughts out of your head and got back to reality. Feeling uneasy at your thirst for blood, you climbed up the tallest tree you could find using all the energy you have left. You thought it would give you a better view of the grounds. Once you reached the top, you finally caught a scent. A scent that gave you the feeling of relief. Relief that you've finally found blood. A deer. It wasn't very far from where you were. 

Excited and relieved at the same time, you jumped down the tree and landed on your feet back on the ground with ease. Following its scent, you ran after the deer as if it was your life. It was your life anyway. Adrenaline rushed through you as you ran, and you picked up your pace. It felt so good, so free, to run. And then, for the first time in so long, you finally found your prey. You thanked the Gods that you did.

Right in front of your eyes, you saw a doe, unmoving on the snow. 

You stared amusingly at the doe, waiting for the right moment to attack. You couldn't afford to lose this catch. Right now, it was the most precious thing to you. Your throat itched, and you were tempted to rush in, but you held it back. The right moment had to come. Just as you took one step, your feet had accidently stepped on a frozen twig on the ground, breaking it. Realizing that danger was approaching, the doe immediately jumped on its feet and scurried away. Using all your strength, you ran after it at top speed, speeding through the trees and bushes, dust flying everywhere. You ran so fast you turned invisible with speed. Your eyes were so focused on the doe that you were certain you could catch it. But something came in your way.

A long, loud howl sounded. It couldn't have been far. No, no, no, this can't be happening. Losing your concentration, you carelessly tripped over a dead long and fell face down on the hard ground. Your body gave up on the deer immediately. Something else troubled you. What if they were close by? You lifted yourself off the ground and dusted the snow off your body in exasperation. Another howl sounded, and you felt goosebumps rising on your skin. Run or to not run? 

You took a step back. Turned around. Finding nothing. Rotating slowly, senses alert. Braced. And that was when you heard it. Voices whispering things in your head. They had to be thoughts. But whose? ", I'm dead."

"Who the hell-" You froze when the realisation hit you. You turned to run but not before something, or someone, came crashing into you. And its powerful impact threw both of you to the ground. When you opened your eyes again. it met with someone else's.