2 weeks later

 

I was woken up by the sound of people talking; some noises being made, and laughing.

 

Slowly, I sat up and looked at the clock. It was 12:30 pm; I had over slept for the fifth time this week. At least it was a weekend and not a weekday.

 

I got out of bed and threw on some clean clothes. I walked down the hall to clean myself up a bit more before greeting whoever was here. As I walked to the bathroom, I heard a voice that sounded very familiar to me but it couldn’t be who I was thinking of. There was just no way.

 

The best thing I could do was ignore it and see for myself after I got ready. I closed the bathroom door behind me and turned to face the mirror.

 

“Ugh.” I poked my cheek and frowned. My skin was dry once again and once again I had forgotten to by more face cream. Either way, I had to wash my face.

 

I grabbed a towel from a drawer and the water. I looked around for my facial cleanser but that was also nowhere to been seen. I sighed, opened the mirror and took out The8’s cleanser. Everything was written in Chinese on it but I knew he used the same kind as I did.

 

I closed the mirror and went back to the task at hand. While running my hands under the water, I heard a knock on the door and Woozi popped his head in with a smile.

 

“Good morning Joshua.”

“Morning Woozi. Who’s here at the dorm?”


“You’ll see soon enough. Wash up and come on out.” He closed the door and walked off.

 

Turning back to the mirror, again, I took some of the cleanser and began to rub it on my face. After about 5 minutes of scrubbing, I splashed water on my face and grabbed the towel.

 

As I dried off, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. I finished quickly and took it out to see who it was.

 

Margo: Hi Joshua. Are you and Minghao free to hangout today?

 

I put the phone down and put my things away. The thing is, I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I wasn’t even sure who was in the dorm at the moment and depending on who it was, I would have to stay.

 

I sighed as I took out Hoshi’s facial cream. Then I picked up my phone and tried my best to answer her.

 

Hi Margo. We would love to hangout with you but there is someone at the dorm right now. I don’t know who it is; the others seem to have an idea though. Depending on who it is, I might have to stay

 

Stuffing my phone in my back pocket, I walked out of the bathroom and went into the kitchen to see who was here.  “You...” I couldn’t say anything else other than that.

 

“Well that’s not a great way to greet me. We haven’t seen each other in 6 years and this is how you say hi?” She gave me a sad puppy look and the others just looked at me.

 

I frowned; I didn’t want to see her. Not after what had happened in Korea. “What are you doing here Jin?” I stood there refusing to move.

 

“Oh come on Joshua. Stop being so stiff. The others aren’t.”


“Yes. But that’s because you didn’t do to them what you did to me.” I glared at the others and turned around so I could go to my room and get ready for a day with Margo.

 

“Joshua!” She practically screamed at me. This time I turned around, my eyes were turning red.

 

“What do you wan from me now?! Do you want me to come crawling back to you like an idiot? I never should have loved you. I don’t even know why I did.” By this time I was fully facing her and the other members were standing behind me. They must have moved away from her at some point.

 

“Look, I know we aren’t on the best terms right now but please consider it?”


“I’d rather burn in Hell than date you ever again. Especially considering what happened last time.” I felt a hand on my arm and I turned to find The8.

 

He whispered so that Jin couldn’t hear what he was going to say. “Hyung…you’re fang are growing back. Please stop.” I took one good look at the kind and all of a sudden, I felt like I couldn’t move. It was like I was stuck in that position just looking down at The8.

 

“Joshua.” Woozi took a step towards me, I noticed that his eyes were turning blue.

 

“Sorry…I’m sorry…” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. When I saw Woozi again, his eyes were the same shade of brown as they always were.

 

“It’s not your fault. We didn’t ask for this to happen, nor did we remember what happened. I’m sorry for that. But this isn’t the way her sister would have wanted you to feel.”

 

“I know…but it’s kind of my fault. I mean, I did…what I did.” I felt my phone vibrate again in my pocket and took it out.

 

Margo: Oh, ok. Well just let me know and I hope to see you guys if you can make it

 

I looked at The8, then at Jin. Sure thing Margo. Actually we are free to hangout. It’s nothing important. What time do you want us to meet you?

 

I put my phone away and looked at Jin. She looked at me with a smug expression as she twisted her hair around her finger.

 

“The8, let’s go. We have a meeting to be at.” I took his hand and dragged him out of the dorm before the others could say anything else about the situation.

 

Once we were outside of the dorm, I stopped and faced The8 who I had somewhat mercilessly dragged out of the building. He rubbed his wrist carefully as he talked.

 

“Joshua, why exactly did you drag me out of the dorm?”


“Margo wanted to hangout with us. I couldn’t really say no.” I looked down at the floor.

 

He smiled at me and patted my back. “好的，我们走吧.”

 

I looked back up at him and sighed. “Chinese?”


“Hey, I can use both if I so wish. Come on Hyung, I’m sure Margo is waiting for us right now.” I started to walk off in the direction of the bus stop. I followed after him and tried to smile.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

When we got to her house, the front door was open. I mean full-blown, open for the world to see inside. The8 and I looked at each other with concerned expressions.

 

“Hyung, look.” I followed where he was pointing. Blood. Not a lot of it but enough to make me worried.

 

“We have to.” I looked at him.

 

“But what if she’s just fine? We can’t show her what we really look like now.” His eyes were scared. I really hated asking him to do this. The first time we were faced with this it was so bad that it gave all of us horrible mental scars.

 

“The8, she’s our friend. If I see blood, I’m going to be concerned.” I turned back to the open door and took a deep breath. I left myself get angry, my eyes were turning red, my canines grew longer and sharper.

 

I heard The8 sigh next to me. I opened my eyes and turned to face him. His eyes were a lighter shade or red and his canines had grown out. He looked at me with a sad expression.

 

“The8,” I touched his shoulder. “I know this , but we can’t help that what we are now. Just be glad it wasn’t a werewolf that we ran into.” I started walking to the front door and we both heard a blood-curdling scream come from within.

 

“We’ve got no choice.” I ran into the house and listened carefully. “Go up the stairs and to the right. She should be in a guest bedroom.”

The8 ran up the stairs to find her. I stayed downstairs to make sure nobody was in the house other than us three. I slowly walked around the corner to look in the kitchen. No one was there, but something didn’t feel quite right in the house anymore.

 

 

“HYUNG!!!” The8 yelled out from one of the rooms.

 

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” I ran up to the top floor of the house and ran to the right. I saw a path of blood stains on the floor, I knew that it wasn’t The8’s blood, it had to be Margo’s.

 

“The8!!” I yelled back. I found him in a guest room kneeling down next to Margo who was unconscious.

 

“I found her like this. I didn’t think I should do a blood transfusion because I may not be the right type.”

 

I came over to them immediately and touched her cheek. It was still warm, that was a good sign. She was still alive, but just barely. “No, you were right not to.” I looked down beside her, and saw a small pool of blood. I went to the bathroom to get a tissue. When I came back I dabbed it in the pool of blood and ssniffed.

 

“She’s AB negative. Not very common for Asians.”


“You could give her the blood transfusion.”

 

“I’m not the same blood type.”


“Hyung, you’re blood is O negative. You can give her the transfusion. If you don’t do it now we have to take her to the hospital.” I was starring at me with a very intense look in his eyes. I then noticed that his eyes weren’t red, nor were his fangs out anymore.

 

I took a deep breath. “If I do this…This means I have to watch over her for the rest of my life.”


“It does. However, I think you’d be up for the task.” The8 lifted her up slightly and leaned her against his chest. “But whatever you do, chose now or she dies in our hands and we have to move again.”


“We don’t know each other very well, but…” I trailed off. I didn’t want to ruin her life by biting her.


“Hyung enough thinking, time’s up. Just do it.”

 

I groaned and closed my eyes. I couldn’t do this to her but if I didn’t, her death would be pinned on us eventually. So I moved closer to her and The8.

 

“But you have to make sure that she doesn’t scream when I bite her.”

 

The8 nodded his head and placed a hand gently over . I tilted her head to the side so I could get a good angle on her neck. I cringed slightly, the last time I bit someone…it didn’t end well.

 

I leaned in slowly to her neck. The first thing I smelled was lavender and I knew that I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

 

“Joshua Hong!” The8 said with a great amount of force.

 

Without even realizing it, I had already sunk my teeth into her neck. I tried not to scream myself because this was NOT what I wanted to do.

 

“Now give her the transfusion and don’t make me yell at you again.”


The feeling of transferring my own blood to her was weird. I felt like part of me was being out slowly and somewhat painfully. I hadn’t done this in a very long time so you can imagine how that would go.

 

When I finished, I pulled away slowly so that the after effect wasn’t too bad for her. The8 and I looked down at her neck; the place I had bit down on was turning a bit red.

 

“You might want to fix that too.”


“Don’t push your luck.” I tired to sound normal. “You do it. You were always more of a healer than I ever was.” I leaned back against the bed, closed my eyes and took very deep breaths. I felt limp and shaky.

 

I watched The8 bend down and very gently bite her. When he lifted his head again, the marks were gone and her neck was more of a rosy shade of pink. He smiled at his work. I truly believe that he would be a great doctor one day.

 

“All done.” He said and looked at me.

 

“I told you, you were always better at it than me.” I rubbed my temples, trying to keep my mind from exploding.

 

The8 leaned Margo against the bed and moved closer to me. He placed a hand on my forehead and spaced out for a minute or two. When he looked back at me, his expression wasn’t anything I could describe.

 

“Joshua, when was the last time you ever gave someone a blood transfusion?”


“You know when. I don’t need to relive/retell that moment in my life.”


“Sorry, bad question. Uh anyway…” The8 was stalling and I didn’t know why.


“Just tell me what I did wrong this time.”


“You didn’t do anything wrong. But Joshua you need to eat a lot now and drink a tone of water. If you don’t then I think you’ll suffer from the significant lose of blood. How much did you give her? A pint and a half?” He said as he pulled out a bar and handed it to me.

 

“I don’t know. I gave her as much as I could though. She lost so much blood.”


“Eat.” The handed me the bar and went back to looking after Margo.

 

I slowly ate while The8 ran from the room to the bathroom and vise versa with a bowl of water and a cloth in his hands.

 

“How you feeling Hyung?” He asked while putting the wet cloth on her forehead.

 

“Better I guess. I’m just worried about Margo.”


The8 nodded his head slowly. He didn’t have to say anything for me to know that he was doing his best in the current moment. Especially considering that we didn’t have the supplies we needed to do what we just did.

 

“I think she’s coming around.”

 

I looked at Margo and sure enough she slowly started to move. I stayed completely still while The8 took the cloth off her head and wiped it gently with a dry one.

 

“Hey there.” He spoke in Chinese.

 

“Hi. What happened?” She asked and looked at me.

 

“You lost a lot of blood. We just came over to hangout and saw that your front door was open and we got worried.”


“When we found you, you were lying on the floor and there was a large pool of blood around your abdomen. But luckily, Joshua and I were trained to be medics for part of our education so we fixed you.” The8 looked very solemn suddenly.

 

“Oh…” Margo didn’t say anything other than that. It was like she couldn’t tell us what happened.

 

“See Margo, you lost a lot of blood. Joshua and I had to give you a blood transfusion in order to save you. It seems as though we did just that considering that you’re awake right now.”


“How do you feel?” I asked calmly and placed my hand on hers. When I did, I saw her blush ever so slightly.

 

“I feel fine I guess. I’m a bit light headed but I guess that’s to be expected isn’t it?”

 

The8 smiled with relief, his solemn expression was gone and all that was left was warmth in his whole face.

 

“I’m sorry but…do you guys think you could help me to my bed?”


“Of course.” The8 stood up immediately and held out his hands for her to take.


She got her knees slowly but didn’t move from there. We looked down at her then at each other. There was something going on with her and I didn’t like that she wasn’t telling us. Though, it was her choice to tell us or not. So I let it go.

 

“Margo? Do you want me to carry you?” I offered by kneeling down in front of her on the floor.

 

“Uh…no…I think I’m ok.” The8 and I waited again for her to move but no such luck.

 

“Ok, I’ll just carry you.” I motioned for The8 to come and help her onto my back so that we could get her into her bed as soon as possible.

 

Once she was on, we walked to her room. I sat her down on her bed and I was about to leave when I saw her go limp and fall forward. I caught her in my arms just in time but she was once again down for the count.

 

“The8, help.” I held her up as The8 got her bed ready. Then we both laid her down gently and slowly so that we didn’t wake her up.

 

“I think we should go. It seems like she went through a lot today.” The8 turned to leave then spotted the medical equipment in the corner of her room.

 

He walked over and pulled back the curtains and his eyes grew wider. “Hyung, she’s on a heart and blood monitor…”


I walked over to where he was standing and sure enough, there was the equipment. It was prepped ready to go but it hadn’t been touched since last night it looked like.

 

“Hook her up. She’s lost enough blood and her heart might not be able to take that kind of a blow too well.”

 

The8 pulled the machine out and over to the bedside. As he began to set up, I noticed something weird about her room. It was nothing outstanding but it was a smell or some object in the room that was off.

 

“What’s wrong?” He looked at me as he held the needle in his hand.

 

“Before you do that, help me look around the room. Something just…isn’t right.” I began to walk all around her room. Looking in her drawers, the closet, even under her bed.

 

“Is this what you mean?” I turned and there stood The8 holding a black stone that hung from a chain. Then I noticed that he was starting to sway back and forth so I grabbed it from him before he hit the floor.

 

“Yeah, this is it.” I set it down on the table so I could get a better look at it. “Oh boy. S.Coups and Jeonghan will want to know about this one.”

“It’s not…” He had a look of panic in his eye. I hated to confirm it but yes. It was what he thought.

 

“Yeah. We haven’t seen this in a long time. Last time…”


“Last time it was embedded in a persons chest. I remember that all too well hyung. Let’s not talk about it again.” The8 finished getting her set up and the machine. The familiar sounds of a hospital filled the room and then I knew we had to leave.

 

“We have to leave. There’s nothing we can do until we find out who did this, why and when.”

 

As we left the house, we made sure that everything was secure so that not even a vampire could get in with the first couple of blows. The8 set out his own version of a medicine wheel around Margo’s bed then began to speak a prayer in Chinese.

 

While he did that, I made sure that all the doors and windows and even smallest cracks were covered, guarded or locked more than once. I went back upstairs to check on them and found The8…well….it looked like he was crying.

 

“The8, you ok?” I kneeled down next to him and rubbed his back. I didn’t really know what to say or do for him.

 

“I’m-I’m fine. Let’s just get going.” He brushed the tears off his cheeks and walked out of the room.

 

When I looked back at Margo, I saw a black spot forming on her arm. That wasn’t a good sign. But I couldn’t stay, we had to get this under control. I took out my phone and called the more reliable people I knew.

 

“Woozi. Get over to Margo’s house now. She’s in trouble. Please bring Vernon and Wonwoo with you. She’ll need all the protection we can giver her. No questions asked for now.” I hung up and ran after The8.

 

I found him standing outside, his back turned to me while he stood stiff as a plank. When I came up beside him, I saw tears rolling down his cheeks quietly and slowly. He looked at me without turning his head then back ahead of him.

 

“I’m not ready to deal with this again. It’s only been a year hyung. One god damn year!” I expected him to cry even harder then but no. He stood there with his eyes closed for a moment.

 

When he opened them again, he took a deep breath and began to walk to the bus stop. I walked with him in silence, and we both knew what the other was thinking. Catch the son of a who did this to our friend and make sure it doesn’t get worse.