Yuna is not fond of dirty necks. She prefers the smooth and clean ones especially those with no tattoos. Every servant in her mansion knows this fact. However, they can't understand why she's being picky when the physical appearance of necks doesn't determine the taste of the blood. Sometimes a very clean neck might taste awful and a dirty neck, divine. But Yuna doesn't care. Every human that is being brought to her must have a clean neck and her servants won't be beaten. That's it.

Another man has been brought to her tonight for dinner, and as usual she examines him first. He's thin, but surprisingly muscular. And of course his neck his clean, not a single mark whatsoever. The man has a confused look on his face, quite different from the norm. Normally they'll have this anticipating look on their faces because they're thinking that they're in some kind of an s and m setup. Obviously they're erts--the easiest targets. But this man in front of her doesn't look like a voyeur. She wonders how were they able to catch him, then she thinks that perhaps he's the dumb type.

"Sorry, he was the only one we managed to find for the day." her servant tells her.

"It's fine. You can leave now." And both of them are alone in the room.

Without any word, she caresses his face from the cheekbones down to his jaw line. She then leans in close to his neck, about to bite him and drink all of his blood.

Hoseok quickly avoids her and finally speaks up. "What are you doing?" he asks, shocked. "What are you?"

Yuna smirks. "I thought you weren't going to speak until I every ounce of blood inside you." she says. She thought he is going to be cooperative ‘till the end.

Hoseok furrows his brows. “What do you mean?” With blood being mentioned, it confirms that he’s really alive. For now, that is. It looks like this woman in front of him is about to devour him.

Yuna just realizes that with the exception of his face, the rest of his body is gravely filthy. She decides to ask him out of curiosity, “Wait, what happened to your clothes?”, ignoring his former question.

Hoseok sighs as he answers, “I don’t know.” despite knowing he fell. She wouldn’t care anyway.

Yuna crosses her arms and begins to think. Her servants are not allowed to bring in men through violence. Is he perhaps tortured then hypnotized? She looks at his waist and arms. There are wounds, but clearly not by fingernails nor fangs. But then it doesn’t mean he isn’t tortured in other ways. What happened to this man before he came here?

“You don’t remember anything?”she asks once more.

Hoseok wonders why she becomes like this all of a sudden. But he answers anyway, “Well, if you’re that concerned, I fell from a cliff. And when I woke up, I’m already here.”

Right after he answers Yuna storms outside the room. He didn’t see her expression but based on her gesture she must be angry. He wonders why.

5 years ago when she became the head of the mansion, she declared that her servants must only bring men that have been seduced. Not by violence, nor by threat.

This was to divert attention from them. Witnesses of their crimes have quite grown in number but they just don’t have much evidence to prove that they’re guilty. Aside from this, other people (especially men) won’t believe them because they think they’re ‘too beautiful to kill’.

And so to prevent witnesses to even rise up in number, Yuna thought of using their beauty instead of violence in order to lure in humans to their mansion. Rumors about them have toned down ever since.

But now it seems that someone is trying to endanger all of them.

Yuna summons all of her servants in the lobby. As opposed to her bedroom, the rest of the rooms in the mansion look normal in the perspective of a human. It’s designed that way just in case they have visits like deliverers of water or electricity bills, lost travelers or beggars.

“Who brought him here?” she immediately questions.

Everyone looks at each other in confusion until someone steps forward. “I did. Why?”

Yuna squints her eyes and recognizes that it’s Soni, the one next to her in position. But high ranked or not, she should be fair to everyone. If it’s proven that she violated the house rules, she’ll be killed.

“Didn’t I tell you that it’s forbidden to bring humans in here by torture?”

“But I did not torture him.” Soni says.

“What were those wounds in his body then?”

“I’m not sure what happened to him, but I saw him lying unconscious by the mountain. He was the only human I managed to find.” she explains.

Yuna calms down with what she said. “Are you sure no one saw you? Was he alone?” Yuna worriedly asks.

“Well… I’m not sure about that.” she looks away. “But I made sure there were no other people in the vicinity.”

Yuna her chin. Soni seems to be telling the truth. However, it’s risky to keep him. If he had companions, they will search for him in the area and their place will not be exempted. She thinks of a way to fix the current situation.

After a few seconds she speaks, “I understand that it’s been difficult to hunt humans these days but we always need to be careful.” and with a deep breath she adds, “I’ll let him live.”

Murmurs of disagreement roared in the lobby. All of them thinks that it’s an even more dangerous decision than killing him.

“But why? If you do that, he’ll tell everyone about us!” Soni says. “Isn’t it better to kill him and leave his body far away from here?”

Yuna also thought of this. But she’s certain she can convince the guy to keep quiet. There must be a better option than leaving his body elsewhere.

“I’ll do something about him, trust me.” Yuna says.

 “The reason that I decided to let the guy live is because I’ve thought of using him as an opportunity for us to be completely free of rumors. As you all know, some people in the neighborhood still won’t stop talking about us.” Yuna states. “So, we will keep him here until his friends or family find him. The news will spread and the people that live in this village won’t find a reason to suspect us again.”

Everyone nods as they now understand her intentions on letting the man live. Yuna is also aware that this might not go smoothly as thought because the success of the plan depends on the guy’s behavior. So she has to make sure that will keep his mouth shut about them forever. She hears the others talking to each other.

“Wow, she actually thought of that.”

“Talk about turning a bad situation into a favorable one.”

“Well, she wouldn’t be our leader for no reason.”

Yuna speaks. “I’m glad that you agree with me in this decision. You’re all dismissed.”

Little did she know that among the cheering women, there’s one vampire that’s bitterly cursing her name.

“Don’t think so highly of yourself.” 

When Yuna comes back to her room, she glances at Hoseok who looks very tired. When their eyes meet, “What? You’re going to kill me now?” he speaks in a husky voice. He must be thirsty.

She stands in front of him and crosses her arms. “No.” she says.

Hoseok’s face lightens up in a second, but then he frowns. “Saving you dinner for tomorrow, huh.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you but no. I’m keeping you alive in here ‘till your friends find you.”

“Then what? You’re going to kill us all?”

“Again, no. You’re out of here, that is.”

Hoseok looks at her full of doubt. “I don’t care if you believe me or not. But don’t think this doesn’t have something in return.”

“What? I leave one behind?”

“For fck’s sake, let me talk first.” she snaps. Hoseok shuts up then she continues. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about anything about us—what you saw, what you hear, even what you smell. Everything. Then I’ll let you live your boring life.”

Hoseok wants to comment about his life not being boring but he doesn’t because she might take back her decision.

“So you’re letting me escape once my friends find me?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Is there a time limit?” he nervously questions. Who knows, what if she decided to kill him if they don’t find him in an hour?

“No.”

Hoseok sighs in relief at this. He doesn’t question her if she’s telling the truth because he has no other choice but to blindly believe. Besides, she won’t get any benefit by fooling him so she wouldn’t do it. He thinks something must have happened that she decided to compromise with him. 

“A room is being prepared for you. But before going there wash yourself first. The bathroom’s there.” Yuna points towards a door at the east side of the room then she carefully removes the cuffs in his hands and feet.

Hoseok rubs his wrists. “Don’t even think of escaping. I got the place fully guarded everywhere.” Yuna warns even though it isn’t true.

“I won’t.” he says as he proceeds to the bathroom. After realizing that he has no clothes to wear, he pauses and turns around. “Don’t tell me I’ll re-wear this everyday.”

“Search in the black closet. Men’s clothes are there.” she lazily replies. She’s already lying down in her bed.

“Why do you have men’s clothes in here?” he asks.

“They’re from our past victims. At least I finally put them to good use.”

Hoseok’s eyes widen and when she sees it, she chuckles. “Just kidding. They belong to my dad. Now go.”

He blinks before proceeding to the bathroom. Did she just say ‘kidding’?

Once Hoseok goes out of the bathroom Yuna tells him to go to his room. “Wait, let me ask a few questions first.”

Yuna sits up. “Fine, what?”

“What are you?”

“I’m a vampire.” she answers with boredom in her eyes. Can’t he think of more interesting questions?

Hoseok nods. He didn’t think such creatures really exist. It explains why she’s so oddly attractive. He doesn’t know about the others, but she must have been using her looks to attract people and kill them afterwards.

Good thing it didn’t work for him, if he didn’t speak in that split second when she’s about to bite his neck, he’s surely dead by now.

On second thought, it did kind of distracted him at first.

“Why have you decided to not kill me all of a sudden?”

Finally he asks what he’s supposed to ask. “Because I’ll use you to erase the rumors in this village about us. If they find out that a lost man has been found alive in this house then they won’t think that we’re vampires anymore. The longer you’re here the better.”

“Or they might think you kidnapped me for a ransom.” he comments.

Yuna glares at him. He raises his hands in front of his chest defensively. “It’s true! I mean, some might buy that story, but others might twist it in a way that suits their beliefs. Not everyone is easily persuaded.”

“Whatever.” she mutters even though she knows he’s right. “Are you done? I’m sleepy.”

“Okay, this is the last.” he says. “What’s your name?”

Yuna smirks. “Are you hitting on me?”

Hoseok quickly shakes his head. “No, I have a girlfriend! It’s just, you know, for me to be able to address you properly. I can’t always call you ‘you’ can I?” he states.

 “Why not?” she asks, she doesn’t think it’s important that he calls her by her name. And she feels a bit surprised with the mention of a girlfriend. Who would have thought he had one?

“Just think of it as a way to show that you trust me.” he says even though he just wanted to know it.

She thinks that it’s a pretty rational reason so she answers. “It’s Yuna.”

Hoseok thinly smiles and says, “Okay. I’ll go to my room now.”

“Hey you’re not telling me yours?”

“I thought you’re not interested.” he shrugs.

“I thought it’s a way of showing trust? Don’t you trust me?” she shoots him a look.

Hoseok puts up his defensive stance again. “I trust you, well not that much to be honest, but I still do.” he says.

“So what is it?” she asks impatiently.

“I’m Hoseok. Jung Hoseok.” he answers and he leaves the room.

“Hoseok. Sounds familiar.” she comments to herself.

Then something hits her. She never knew the names of her past victims and her dad isn’t named Hoseok.

So why did it sound familiar?

  Update: 051915

It took longer than I planned. 

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter.

Thanks for subscribing~!