In a cottage at the edge of a small village outside Daedeok, sleeping peacefully were the Jung siblings. The door to their room opened with a light crack sound and two men walked in. One was old, with a long white beard and white hair, dressed in a dark suit and eyes cold and passive. Next to him was a much younger man, in his early twenties with short brown hair, dressed in blue jeans, white shirt and a coat. His eyes fell over the siblings and his gaze softened. The older brother, even asleep, was hugging his sister closely, taking care of her before anything else.

“Stay behind me Jitae.” The man mumbled before he turned towards the siblings,  “Wake up!” The older man shouted.

The girl didn’t stir but the boy opened his eyes.  

Joonyoung’s eyes were changing colors continuously, making his appearance even scarier. The brother growled when the old man took a few steps towards him before his eyes fell over Jitae. He didn’t look like he wanted to be there and something about his dress code made Joonyoung relax, his eyes settling for their natural color.

Feeling her brother stiffen, Jina opened her eyes and hissed. She wasn’t that small but she looked fragile and very tired.

Jitae walked closer to her and smiled. Unlike her brother, Jina looked so broken.

“It’s ok. I won’t hurt your sister.” He said, glancing at Joonyoung knowingly. “I’m Jitae. What’s your name?” He asked softly.

“Why am I here? Where are my parents?”

Jitae glanced at his master, curious. She was a vampire yet she wanted to see her parents. Something was very weird.

“What’s she talking about, master?”

The so called master signed for Jitae to sit next to him, on the other bed in the room.

“You have the worst and most dangerous vampire alive, right here, in front of you. That’s Jung Jina”

Jitae gasped, his eyes widening at how Jina looked. She didn’t look like a vampire in the first place, but a dangerous one? The one who destroyed so many lives?  It was impossible.

“But she looks so tiny.” Jitae mumbled, glancing swiftly at the siblings.

Master nodded. “There is a whole theory behind her transformation. But one thing I know for sure. She didn’t use to be evil. Joonyoung, her brother, never left her side. He’s as loyal as you are, Jitae.”

 “Why are you showing this to me?”

The master smiled a creepy old man’s smile. “Because this is your lifetime mission. You, Jitae the vampire slayer will take under your wing these two vampires.”

The young man gasped and stared at his master in shock.

“What?! But you said it yourself. They are dangerous. Why would they want to be cared of by me when they have each other?”

 The master  turned and stared at Jina before continuing, “They suffered and they still do. I’m sure you’ll teach them how to be normal teenagers with normal lives. Your mission is to be a parent.”

There was a moment of silence, in which Jitae could hear Joonyoung whispering soothing words to his sister.

“Why me?” The vampire slayer finally asked.

 The master sighed and patted the young man on the back. “You’ve seen Joonyoung’s reaction when he saw you. That’s a sign. I knew your kindness will be enough. Maybe you are a strict and great vampire slayer but you have a good heart and I want you to teach them how to open their hearts too.”

“But they are dead. Vampires don’t have feelings.”

Master stared blankly at his student. “Then teach them how to feel again, Jitae.”

The older vampire slayer left the room while the younger one stood there, thinking over and over again what he got himself into.

••••••••

“And you remembered this when?”

Jina sighed. “I never forgot that time. I just pushed it in the back of my mind and never thought it important. I didn’t know what they were talking about. I was scared.”

Hongbin nodded and Jina took it as a sign to continue.

••••••••

Days have gone faster with Jitae around. Jina and Joonyoung got used to his apartment and lifestyle very fast, suspiciously so even. Five years passed like wildfire and the Jung siblings were quite enjoying being normal. Living through such traumas as they have had, it was only normal for them to forget some pieces of themselves.

One day, Jina got curious and went to her father.

“Dad, are you in there?” She asked as she opened the door to his room and checked for Jitae.

He was on the bed, exhausted.

 “Are you ok?”

 The man groaned and looked up to his vampire daughter. “What’s wrong Jina?”

 She entered and sat on the bed. “Why don’t we change?”

When he heard the question, Jitae’s head raised instantly.

“What do you mean?” He never thought about a lie for that question.

“The kids from the neighborhood change; grow up and go through transformations. Girls about my age look younger than I do, as well. “Jina started, staring up at him with innocent brown eyes. “And Joonyoung…he’s just so mature for his age, isn’t he?”

“Jina…you have to understand that some kids grow faster than others. Yours and Joonyoung’s bodies matured faster. That’s how it works. “ Jitae explained messily.

But it looked like Jina bought that without having anything else to ask.

••••••••

Hongbin laughed when he heard Jina’s story.

“It’s not funny.” She stated firmly.

But Hongbin continued to laugh. “It was obvious something was wrong yet you believed him

 “Well, I didn’t want to be different so I just accepted his explanation, no matter how bad it was. Anyway… dad never told me much and Joonyoung wasn’t that interested. He was thankful with what we had. But sometimes there needed to be a woman in the house and when dad told us about his date we got curious.”

“Did you meet one of your father’s ladies?”

Jina nodded.  “Yes, all of them. Sometimes dad and Joonyoung would talk about girls and what they liked in one. Joonyoung’s stereotype never changed. He had had a lot of girlfriends but he never found the right one.”

“And that’s how he got in jail and hospital?”

Jina almost chocked on her ice cream and shook her head. “No! He loved parties, girls and .”  Thinking that it probably wasn’t good for Hana to hear the rest, Jina bent to the human girl and smiled softly. “Hana, do you want to go play in the park over there?”

The kid nodded. Hongbin flashed her to the park and told her not to talk with strangers or go with them and stay close. The girl nodded and went to the swings.

“We should go closer. I don’t want her harmed…” Jina mumbled, throwing the ice cream in the garbage can as soon as Hana was further away.

“It’s alright. Bucheon is a safe place and no one will harm her. Besides, she’s human so she’s safe.”

Jina nodded absent mindedly and glanced warily around,  “Myungsoo is around too, isn’t he? So, Joonyoung. He lived the rock’n’roll life for a while but what he wanted was just not there.

“He wanted someone like his mother, right?” Hongbin intervened.  “That’s almost impossible to find these days. That woman had so much class and you inherited it, in a way.”

“Joonyoung was flirty like any other vampire, and of course he had the gift to lure girls into wanting more. But some girls had brothers who were playing football or some kind of sport and were pretty damn fit.  Joonyoung isn’t big. He couldn’t control his strength well or sometimes at all. So when he’d beat the crap out of someone he’d get in jail and when he’d lose, in hospital. But one day, dad came home with a woman he really liked. Her name was Yerin. They married and that’s when it begun. For the first few months we were genuinely happy but Yerin didn’t know what we were or what dad‘s job was. He would leave for days and come back tired and stressed. We never commented but she started to. One day, Joonyoung got mad because for some unknown reason she didn’t let him go out with his friends. He growled and pushed her hard. His powers were reviving. She got scared and asked dad. He told her the truth and surprisingly, she took it pretty well.”

“Then what went wrong?”

“Dad had to travel around for his job. Vampires were moving often and he had to chase them. We traveled with him. It seems Yerin didn’t get used to it or the idea that her ‘children’ were older than she was. The night with the fight, dad also heard vampires speak about me and remembered what his master told him. She chose to leave. They got a divorce and we moved to Bucheon, the land where it all started in.” Jina finished.

“Do you think reviving your old self is good?”

Jina nodded. “That’s ME. Of course I want to. I want to remember, I want to be free and choose what’s good and bad for myself. I don’t want to stay like this forever, Hongbin. I’m afraid I will kill everyone and I will lose control over my rage. I want to be who I really am.”

Hongbin sighed, his eyes staring into Jina’s with a tinge of melancholy and worry. She was right, they were all against her and her wishes; they wanted the best for the city, for the world but mostly for themselves. Having Jung Jina back alive would cause a disaster. She could rule the vampire world if she’d want to. In the end it, if she were to lose control, that was it.

 “Do you think you will regain control over yourself?” Hongbin asked as they walked towards Hana.

 “I don’t know. Maybe with some help I will. But you have to be careful, Hongbin. When I will fully lose control, you’ll be the first I’ll come after.”

The man chuckled and nodded, “I know and I will be ready. I’ve prepared myself for a while.”

 “Anything else you want to know about little old me?” She asked bemusedly, linking her arms behind her back childishly. Hongbin chuckled and shook his head.“Alright, then.”

 Jina glanced at the park but stopped when they reached the street. A big truck drove by and once it was out of sight, Hana wasn’t alone anymore; behind her was a teenage boy smirking evilly. Jina’s smile fell instantly but she couldn’t do anything in bright daylight. She didn’t want the vampire to take a closer look at her or Hana but it was already too late.

“Did you see that?” She asked, tugging on Hongbin’s shirt.

Hongbin only tilted his head to the side. That evil teenage boy appeared and disappeared really fast and Hongbin didn’t see him. But someone else did; Myungsoo was just walking into the city when he saw the exchange of looks between the two vampires.

 “He saw you.” That was the first and worst line that she could hear. “We have to keep the guard up.” He said glanced at a confused Hongbin.

“What do you mean he saw her? I didn’t see anyone and I’ve-“

Myungsoo scowled, “Yeah well, not so sharp anymore, are we noble Hongbin?” Myungsoo snapped at the older vampire before turning to her, “He will tell the others. They will come after you.”

“No.” Hongbin interrupted. “They won’t hurt her right away. Even in her recent condition, no one’s stupid enough to piss her off willingly.”

Myungsoo glanced between Hongbin and Jina and nodded. “True but we still have to keep our guard up. This isn’t a game and they will attack sooner or later. They will try and approach you too.”

Jina raised an eyebrow and looked at Hongbin. “What does he mean?”

The noble vampire grabbed a hand through his black messy hair and sighed heavily.

“They will stare, even stalk you. They will be in the shadows; they will be your shadows. After that, they will gain enough courage to come closer. They can be anyone that starts a conversation with you, day or night. They will want to hear your voice, to see what changed and what not. And in the end…”

“In the end…?”

Myungsoo took it upon himself to finish the line. “They will either want you to become what you were or kill you. But don’t be afraid about the latter. Even if you lost control, you will still have the power to wipe them off before lunch.”

That didn’t sound assuring at all.