Chapter 8

When Hoseok awoke the following evening, his throat was practically burning. It felt as if were closing in on itself and he knew that if he tried to speak, his voice would come out dry and rough. His fangs were throbbing with the need to pierce flesh and they refused to retract. He knew that if he were to look at himself in a mirror, because yes, vampires have reflections, he would see that his pupils would be dilated. Hoseok wasn’t sure when the last time he had fed was. Perhaps a few weeks ago. He was pushing his limits. One of these days, he knew he would break.

He rolled out of his bed and rubbed his eyes. He knew that today he would have to feed. He felt his stomach drop at the thought. He hated himself. He wished that the hunger was something that he could just switch off like Yoongi could switch off his emotions. The most primal need, the most basic necessity, and Hoseok hated himself for it. Every time he fed, he could only see her face. Her face appeared in his head and he suddenly felt sick. He would end up throwing up most of the blood that he had consumed. However he had always been very careful to hide this from the others. If they knew. If they only knew. What would they think of him? Would they throw him out to fend for himself? The news would spread around to every gang in the city and no one would take him. Of course the hunters would never accept him either. He would be trapped between worlds, not really belonging to either one.

He dressed himself and headed downstairs where most of the others were already awake. Namjoon was sitting at the table and he had Perrie pulled up in front of him in another chair. He was feeding. Taehyung stood protectively behind her with his hand on the shoulder opposite of Namjoon. Something had changed in Taehyung. He suddenly seemed to care. Which was strange for him; he never cared about humans beyond how their blood tasted. Hoseok couldn’t place what it was, what event had taken place that had made him switch his attitude towards Perrie, but whatever it was, it was obvious in the way he suddenly handled her like a china doll rather than a rag doll.

Jin, Jimin, and Jungkookie were waiting for their turn to feed so Hoseok got in line. Namjoon finished and wiped his mouth. The line moved along, Taehyung cut Jimin and Jungkookie off when he thought that they were taking too long. He didn’t do that with Namjoon of course or with Jin as he was his elder. Hoseok was his elder as well, but they had a friendly relationship. Jimin protested in Korean but stopped after a moment, not wanting to get into it again. By the time that Hoseok’s turn came, Perrie was swaying slightly and she looked sickly. He felt his heart break when she looked at him with a sad, resigned expression in her eyes. Hoseok took her by the chin and as softly as he could, tilted her head to the side. He aimed for the punctured holes left behind by the others so he wouldn’t leave her with more scars. When he began to drink he felt his throat rehydrate almost instantly. His fangs stopped throbbing and he felt like he could breathe normally again. The life was brought back into his body as it left Perrie’s. He hated every second of it. He hated himself. As soon as he received barely enough to last him another few weeks he pulled away. He met her eyes, blue and large like a little scared deer. “I’m sorry.”

He stood and Taehyung picked the girl up, bridal style and carried her upstairs. She was asleep immediately, as though he had cast a spell over her, which he probably did, to help her regain her strength faster. She curled into his chest as they disappeared up the stairs.

Hoseok would have to be conservative and ration his energy. This Sanguine was smaller than the last few which meant that she couldn’t afford to lose as much blood as the previous ones could. Still he knew that as long as she remained their Sanguine, she would die an untimely death. They always did. And every time it left Hoseok feeling empty, like a monster that didn’t deserve to live any longer. Yoongi called him empathetic, and assumed that it had something to do with his telepathy, his ability to see into the minds of others. But it wasn’t that. Yoongi, nor the others, could ever know what it really was. The longest he had ever gone without feeding had been six weeks, but by that point, he had been close to death, suffocating and barely able to move. Normal vampires could only last a few days at most.

Taehyung came back down a few minutes later. “She’s asleep.” He sat down next to Hoseok on the couch.

Jin was the first to break the silence that had fallen among them. “Namjoon, what are we going to do about Yoongi?”

Namjoon sat silently in his chair for a moment. “It is more than likely that he is already dead. The huntresses took him, but that doesn’t mean that they plan to save him.”

“They’re probably planning to use his body as a trophy or some stuffed museum piece.” Jimin said.

Jin flipped the coffee table and sent it flying at Jimin. He ducked just in time and it crashed into the wall behind him, shattering into pieces. “Do you think this is funny?”

“Of course not.” Jimin responded quietly, scared by his elder’s sudden outburst.

“We don’t know that he’s dead.” Hoseok said, trying to deride Jin’s attention from Jimin. “In fact let’s assume that he isn’t and they are keeping him a prisoner. What’s step two?”

Namjoon looked thoughtful again. “Step two is to either bargain for him back or attack.”

“I vote for attack.” Jin said.

“I second that.” Jimin added.

Namjoon turned to Hoseok, who said “I would be willing to do any negotiating. In fact I would prefer that. No one else would be hurt that way.”

“You don’t know that.” Jin spat. “Those vermin are merciless and won’t listen to reason.”

“Then I’ll make them listen. Can we guarantee that no one will be hurt, of course we can’t. But it’s a lot safer of a bet than fighting. We need to pick our battles, and this is one that I think that I can win with words.”

                “I vote for Hoseok’s peace talk.” Jungkookie said.

                “Me too.” Everyone looked at Taehyung.

                “Really, Tae?” Jimin sounded just as surprised as the rest of them. “Aren’t you usually all for violence and bloodshed?”

                He shifted uncomfortably. “Well, Hoseok makes a good point. It would be stupid to risk more lives if there’s no need.” It wasn’t a very convincing explanation. Hoseok suspected it had something to do with Perrie. He wish he knew what had happened between them that had caused such a strange change in Taehyung.

                “Does this have anything to do with your sudden and unexpected fondness of the Sanguine?” Jimin voiced Hoseok’s thoughts.

                “I’m not fond of her, it’s just…uh. She is…” Taehyung trailed off and Namjoon spoke up, saving him from making up another stupid answer that nobody was going to believe.

                “Three out of two.  My vote makes it four. Hoseok, I trust that you will be able to convince them to release Yoongi, provided that he’s still alive. How do you plan to find them?”

                “Perrie is going to take me.”

                Taehyung’s head snapped to face Hoseok. “Wait, what? I didn’t know that trading her in was part of the deal. Forget that; fighting it is!”

Jimin cheered.

                “I’m not trading her in.” Hoseok spoke over them and they both settled down.

                Namjoon interjected. “As long as I have her bond as our Sanguine, she physically cannot leave without her masters’ consent. Hoseok will have her lead him to the Huntresses place of residence, but they will not be able to keep her if I do not will it, because she is still be bound to me. Hoseok will use his charm and telepathy to find a way to convince them to return Yoongi to us. Then the three of them will return here.”

                It sounded like the plan had way too many holes in it and based on everyone’s doubtful expressions, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. “Okay.” He said anyway. “Sounds good to me.”

                “Can you wait a few hours before you go? Perrie needs a little rest first.” Taehyung pleaded.
               

So anyway that was how a few hours later Hoseok ended up walking to the Living Legacy Guild House with Perrie leading the way. Taehyung had tried to convince Namjoon and Hoeseok to let him go too, but neither of them felt that his presence would help smooth the situation over. They ended up walking for several hours, and a couple of times she got turned around since she was unfamiliar with the neighborhood Bangtan lived in. Eventually she began walking faster, getting excited. “I know where we are now.” And then they came to a nice street with several fancy houses. Every street light was lit and the windows to all of the buildings were in one piece with soft glows behind them. Perrie suddenly took off running and Hoseok had to jog to keep up. “Guys!”  She shouted as she ran up to the front door of the building at the end of the street. “Guys! I’m home! It’s me, Perrie!”

The door swung open and the huntress that Hoseok had been fighting during their raid, tackled Perrie in a bear hug. “Perrie! Oh my God! Perrie, how did you escape? What happened to you? Look at you; you look awful! What did they do to you?” She was checking over all of Perrie’s scars and bruises, making Hoseok feel even more like a monster than he did on a regular basis. The huntress seemed to finally notice that he was there, standing a few feet behind to give them some space. She sneered and jumped him, catching him completely off guard, though he should’ve expected this.

She pinned him to the ground, slamming his head on the concreate below. He was seeing stars. His vision cleared in time to see her draw a rowan knife from nowhere. Behind her, Hoseok could hear Perrie shouting faintly, but honestly his head was still spinning too much to make sense of her words. He tried to explain that he came in peace, not realizing that in his confused state, he had resorted to his native Korean tongue and she couldn’t understand him. Before she had the chance to slice his throat, the girl was grabbed around the middle, arms pinned to her sides, and hoisted off of him.

Hoseok sat up slowly and found two huntresses rolling in the lawn. The one Hoseok recognized as the leader finally won. She straddled the other girl on the grass and clamped her hands above her head, squeezing her wrists until she dropped the knife. “Lex you can’t kill him. He brought Perrie back; don’t you realize that killing him could lead to even more animosity with that gang?”

“So what? They all deserve to burn in Hell!” Lex was struggling underneath the leader.

“Lex stop! He just wants to negotiate to get his friend back, then he’ll leave!” Perrie was standing there too. Namjoon had asked Hoseok not to tell Perrie that she would be coming back with them until after Yoongi had been freed, least she refuse to cooperate.

Lex seemed to finally relax, or give up; one of the two. The leader got off of her and turned to Hoseok. “I’m going to invite you to come in, but that does not grant you the same rights of any other guest. You’ll be required to wear this.” She held up a rope. Hoseok stood up and turned around, compliantly allowing her to tie his wrists together. He wasn’t sure what a rope would do until she tightened it into a firm knot and Hoseok hissed involuntarily. The rope had been soaked in vervain. An herb that was extremely toxic to vampires. If ingested it would burn the throat and digestive track and make a vampire sickly and weak. If exposed to vervain by physical contact, as Hoseok was at the moment, it would burn the flesh in much the same way exposure to direct sunlight would. Hoseok understood the implications of the vervain rope, struggling would get him nowhere and give him intense pain. Not that he had planned to fight anyone anyway.

He was led into the house by the leader and Perrie, and followed very closely by the huntress called Lex. Upon entering, Perrie was embraced by several other girls. Two of them had been present during the raid, but another hadn’t. A blond girl who along with the girl with glasses and asymmetrical hair that Jin had tried to crush, helped lead Perrie down the corridor. Hoseok, on the other hand was taken up the stairs which wrapped around and over the door they had entered. He was brought into an office like room and seated in a chair in front of a desk. Lex leaned on said desk and the leader sat in a chair behind it in front of a large window. The third girl with the tips of her brown hair dye blue and grease stains on her face stood by the closed door.

“I have a feeling that you have some kind of message from Namjoon.” The leader spoke.

Hoseok nodded and cleared his throat. “Yes. I’ve come to negotiate the release of Yoongi Min, the vampire that you took when you left our warehouse.” Hoseok was careful to exempt any words like “raided” or “attacked” so that he could come across as someone without any malicious feelings towards these women.

“You took one of our members and made her your Sanguine. Judging from her condition, you did not treat her gently by any stretch of the imagination. Why do you believe that you deserve to have your vampire friend returned to you unharmed?”

  Hoseok felt himself sigh in relief. “So he is alive?”

Instead of looking like she was caught in a trap, the leader responded confidently. “Of course he is. We are not monsters like you. Your friend is in stable condition and he is unharmed. However, this state is all dependent on how you respond to my next question.”

Hoseok had flinched at the word ‘monsters’, and swallowed hard before asking, “And what is that question?”

The leader’s stone cold green eyes bore into his. “Why should I not kill both of you right now?”

This was the moment of truth. Hoseok didn’t doubt for one second that if he didn’t answer the question correctly, that these girls would kill him. Sure she had said outside to Lex that they didn’t want any more animosity with Bangtan, but he realized now that she had said that for his benefit, so he would cooperate. They had Perrie back and as far as they knew, she was here because she had been released as the Sanguine. They didn’t know that she was still bound to Namjoon and she was only here because he had allowed her to leave. They had no further use for Hoseok and Yoongi. There was only one way to save their lives. But how could he also get Perrie to return with him? He would have to play that one by ear. He would convince her to come back somehow, using telepathy to bribe her with her deepest desire if he had to, though it made Hoseok sick to imagine using his cursed gift. He hated diving into people minds without permission. And he hated dragging Perrie back to her eventual death, but it was either her life, or the lives of all of these huntresses. Namjoon wouldn’t let them live if they kept his Sanguine from him. This was the only way.

“If you kill me or Yoongi, you will be digging not only your grave, but all of your huntress’s graves as well. The moment Namjoon finds out that you’ve killed us, he’ll send out the others to retrieve Perrie, who by the way still his Sanguine, and he will kill all of you personally. That’s why the only way out of this mess is to let Yoongi and me go.” The leader tilted her head. Her straight brown bangs shaded her green eyes as she frowned and gave her verdict.

“Wrong answer.”