The lab could be quite a dreary place on a normal day, much like a hospital, filled with medical things and bad karma. Usually, people could feel the negative energy of the room if they spent a great amount of time there - but this morning, Jungkook noticed Taehyung whistling as he rearranged the medicine shelf in the cabinet, and not just a cute little tune to pass the time, but a full out song of happiness where birds and rainbows threatened to escape his mouth at any moment. It helped to lift Jungkook's mood a bit and get his mind off what had happened yesterday.

     "I was shocked Seokjin called you to go out and take care of Yoongi last night."

     "And by shocked, you mean relieved?" Taehyung looked up at him, Jungkook smirked.

     "By the sudden chirping coming from your mouth, it went well?"

     Taehyung blushed, he had indeed 'taken care' of Yoongi, "My lips are sealed."

     "Well good, I hope you keep him preoccupied more," Jungkook sounded more bitter than he intended.

     "Still mad at Seokjin?"

     "Not mad, just... I dunno. Indifferent," Jungkook scooted up on the counter, "Sometimes I think we have totally different philosophies in life."

     "Isn't this a red versus blue thing?"

     "I dunno, maybe I just need something to do to remind myself I have a purpose other than being righteous." Jungkook leaned his back against the wall, "Namjoon and Yuta are up figuring out a way to defeat Yoosun, Seokjin and Yoongi are out hunting down the traitor at the blood bank, Jimin is still trying to decipher the laptop and well, you... you get to take care of Hoseok. What am I doing?"

     "Helping me?"

     Jungkook scoffed. "I'm sick of him being so damn overprotective all the time, ‘Stay here,’ ‘No, you can't come,’" Jungkook mimicked. "I can take care of my damn self."

     "Woh killer, calm down," Taehyung stood, it was obvious the younger was dealing with some inner turmoil.

     "He expects me to lie for him, but his first choice when it comes to the physical stuff is Yoongi?"

     "They've been friends a long time, they work well together-"

     "And I don't? I'm his ing soul mate-" Jungkook huffed, Taehyung frowned, "Sorry, it just annoys me."

     "Understandable," Taehyung patted Jungkook's back, "You have a good reason to not like it."

     "I know I'm inexperienced on missions, but how am I going to learn if he won't take me on them?"

     "Why don’t you tell him this?"

     Jungkook shrugged, "Being with Seokjin is hard."

     “Old habits are difficult to break," He was giving himself a pep talk as much as he was to the younger, "We just have to show them that embracing change can be okay too."

     “Meh.” Jungkook stood, feeling like his mind needed to be preoccupied with something that he could control, “I should go study I guess.”

     “Hey, you can do me a favor if you want?” Taehyung looked at him hopeful, the task he was about to upon Jungkook was one of his least favorite.

     “Oh god, what?” Jungkook had an uneasy feeling he was about to clean a toilet or something.

     “Sehun could use some fresh air.”

     “Sehun isn’t a dog,” Jungkook sighed.

     “Yeah, but he needs to be watched like one and well, I know you won’t let him run off.”

     Jungkook shook his head, “Why aren’t we letting him go?”

     “Yoongi doesn’t fully trust that his story is legit,” Taehyung bent back down to the medicine cabinet, “And he knows too much.”

     Seokjin had the blood bank clerk pinned to the wall, the clerk felt like if he moved, the daggers Seokjin was staring at him would come to life and penetrate his heart. Meanwhile, Yoongi rifled through the filing cabinet marked ‘employees’. They found out that a woman by the name of Nero was working when the call came in that Yoongi was making a blood run. She tipped off Jihoon and he was waiting there when his nemesis arrived. Yoongi never saw it coming.

     “Who doesn’t use computers in this day and age?”

     “We can’t exactly use something so hackable for our special services, can we?”

     “And this is hard to access?”

     “This room is hidden from the general public and non-cleared personnel.”

     Yoongi pulled out a file, "Bingo." He laid it out on the desk and opened it, scouring the page.

     “Can you let me go now?” The clerk huffed, glaring at Seokjin.

     Seokjin pushed him aside and walked over to Yoongi, glancing over his shoulder, “Is this her current address?”

     “The odds that's a legit address is slim, you know that right?” The clerk smirked, “You wasted your time for nothing.”

     Seokjin grabbed him by the collar and slammed him back against the wall, making him expel a big breath, “Wanna know what happened to the last guy that wasted my time?”

     The clerk’s eyes were wide, he wasn’t about to die for some stupid job he never wanted in the first place, “The addresses are code, the numbers are always flipped, so 123 is really 321.”

     “Anything else?” Yoongi asked, grabbing the phone and ripping the cord from the wall.

     “The street name is always the one to the left of it, if it’s the last street in the neighborhood, it moves back to the right. Same with north and south.”

      “This is the dumbest system I have ever seen,” Yoongi nodded to Seokjin as he kicked the chair across the room to him. Seokjin guided the clerk to sit in the chair, nearly tipping it when his buttocks made contact with the cushioned seat.

      The clerk looked up at Seokjin and then to Yoongi who was approaching, wrapping the wire between his fingers, “W-what are you doing?”

     “What’s your species?” Yoongi held the wire up, tensing up the slack, glancing up to give Seokjin a sly smile.

      “W-What?” He looked back up at Seokjin, the elder squeezed his shoulder and he gulped, “H-human. Just human.”

      “Humans don’t get this job, lie again and I wrap this cord around your throat and snap your head off,” Yoongi hissed.

      “I’m a familiar, I’m going to be turned soon,” The clerk had tears in his eyes, he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo on his wrist, “I... I swear.”

     “Wrong answer.” Yoongi shook his head, “I hate familiars.”

      “Don’t k-kill me, I won’t t-tell anyone you w-were here,” The clerk implored, "I p-promise."

      Yoongi backhanded the clerk, his knuckles connected with his temple, instantly knocking him out, “And he begs. He’s going to make a vampire,” Yoongi sighed, the blood from the back of his hand.

     “Just tie him up so we can go,” Seokjin backed up, “I’m going to go find his cell phone.”

      Yoongi watched as Seokjin left the room and then began to wrap the phone wire around the guy's wrists, tying them behind the chair. He stood back to admire his handiwork, “I wonder where they keep the duct tape.”

     Jungkook and Sehun were strolling around the outskirts of the property. Sehun spotted a bunny in the bushes and made a bee-line for it, it evaded the vampire's grasp, darting left then right. Sehun misstepped and tumbled over into the brush, rolling and standing up just as quick. Jungkook was so preoccupied with his thoughts, that he didn’t even notice Sehun’s acrobatics.

     “Aren’t you supposed to be guarding me or something?” Sehun questioned, brushing off his jeans, “I could have escaped at least five times by now.”

      “Huh?” Jungkook stopped and turned to him.

     “You’re good at this,” Sehun snickered, “Really.”

     “You wanna die?” Jungkook warned. He was not in the mood for Sehun's smartass mouth today.

     “Jin again?” Sehun taunted, enjoying trying to get a rise out of Jungkook.

     “Jin?” Jungkook was about to wipe the sly little smile from this vampire’s face, “It’s Seokjin, and shut the up. Like you know.”

     “I know he treats you like you’re gonna break,” Sehun walked ahead, past Jungkook who had stopped walking to stare at him with a bitter look on his face.

     “SO?”

     “So, you’re sick of it and I don’t blame you,” Sehun stopped and turned to him, “He’s never gonna stop treating you like a kid unless you stand up to him.”

     “Stand up to him?” Jungkook knew he shouldn’t listen to this jerk, but he had guessed right off what the issue was, so maybe it was a bigger problem than he realized.

     “Kick his , show him you got balls for once.”

     “You want me to kick his ?” Jungkook laughed.

     "If your balls have dropped that is."

     “You’re an .” Jungkook walked ahead, bumping the vampire's shoulder and knocking him off balance.

     “He doesn’t think you can handle yourself, so he’s gonna leave you behind,” Sehun caught up to him, grinning widely, “He’ll always choose Yoongi ‘cause Yoongi isn’t incompetent.”

     “I’m not incompetent either-“

     “I know that and you know that,” Sehun's words cut deep, he was playing Jungkook like a fiddle, “But, Seokjin will never see you that way.”

     “Okay, so you suggest when he gets home I should just grab him up in a chokehold and pummel him until he has some sort of an epiphany?"

     “Seokjin has respect for the fist and not much else,” Sehun assured him.

     Jungkook took a deep breath, “Yeah, whatever.” He stopped and looked up at the setting sun, “You almost done?”

     “What am I, a dog?” Sehun was offended, “I need blood.”

     “Blood bags are in the fridge in your room, yum-yum,” Jungkook pushed him ahead and they walked back towards the house in silence.

     Jungkook sat on his window seat staring at the sun descend into the earth, welcoming darkness. What Sehun had said to him made sense, Seokjin was all about the fight and he despised weakness. He wasn’t about to challenge the elder to a fight though, for one; Seokjin would kick his . Second, he didn’t want to fight him to prove to him he was worthy, Seokjin should believe in him because of how close they are. Third, he was sure Sehun was setting him up and he needed to figure out why. He sighed, his head swirling with too many thoughts. Above all, he just missed hanging out with his boyfriend.

     A knock sounded on the door and Jungkook looked over, hopeful Seokjin was back and there was good news. Taehyung peeked his head in, "Yo."

     "Yo ho," Jungkook gave a nod, sighing.

     “Yoongi texted, they found the leak and are heading over to her house now,” Taehyung informed.

     “Seokjin didn’t message,” Jungkook glanced at his phone. No messages, he frowned. “How’s Hoseok?”

     “No change. Yuta is with him right now,” Taehyung leaned against the jamb, “You okay?”

     “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Seokjin?”

     Taehyung was intrigued, he nodded, “Yeah, of course.”

     “I think Sehun is trying to set me up for something-“

     “What did I miss?” Taehyung walked over and sat on the window seat next to him, settling himself in for a juicy anecdote.

     “I want to figure out his story, I think if I do, maybe Seokjin will stop doubting me.”

     “I still think you should just talk to him,” Taehyung urged.

     “I might need your skills in the near future,” Jungkook ignored his advice, he knew talking was a dead end at this point.

     “You know where to find me,” Taehyung consented, deciding against debating with Jungkook about it, knowing it would go in one ear and out the other, he was just as stubborn as Seokjin and Yoongi.

     Seokjin pulled across the street from the address they were searching for, and he shifted into park. He glanced out the window, studying the derelict house. It was a run-down, two-storied row home with half the windows boarded up and graffiti covering much of the front.

     "613, this is it."

     "My nostrils tell me it's a real upscale domicile," Yoongi joked, sarcastic as ever. The whole area reeked of sewer.

     “What did you find out?” Seokjin turned off the ignition and unclicked his seatbelt.

     Yoongi looked up at him from his phone, “Nero used to be one of my father’s bodyguards, but she was fired before I was born. Since then she’s been part of Amelia’s entourage,” Yoongi scrolled down a webpage, “Full species heritage unknown, but she’s part vampire.”

     “So," Seokjin slipped on a pair of leather gloves, "Who gets to kill her?”

     Yoongi put his phone away and glimpsed at his watch, “The house is dark, she’s probably not home.”

     “Yeah, we should take a look around before she gets in,” Seokjin opened the car door and slinked out, glancing around the neighborhood. All was quiet except for the distant sound of a barking dog and the passing traffic on the highway a couple blocks away. He zipped his hoody and peered back into the car, “You coming?”

     Seokjin popped the back door lock with his pick and pocketed it again, turning the handle, he pushed the door open and held out his hand for Yoongi to go in. The smell hit their noses the second they crossed the threshold. The unmistakable smell of death. Seokjin covered his nose and flipped on the light, they both gasped when they saw the kitchen was covered in blood; on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, dripping off every appliance in between. They exchanged horrified glances, wondering what the hell they were walking into.      

     "Found you a wife-" Seokjin joked.

     " you," Yoongi flipped him off, chuckling to himself.

     The floor was slippery and Seokjin had to hold on to the wall so as not to tumble over, he grabbed a towel from the counter and threw it down on the floor, sliding his way over the tiled walk space towards the living room area. He threw the towel back to Yoongi who did the same. Seokjin giggled at how ridiculous Yoongi looked waddling across the blood-soaked tiles like a tiny little pissed-off penguin. 

     The carpet was crunchy beneath their feet as they stepped further into the room from the small hallway, soaked to the core in dry blood. A low growl filled the air and Yoongi could make out a small dog standing over a lump of what looked to be a person in the corner. He flipped on his flashlight and shined it over to see a filthy Chihuahua snapping its jaws at them, guarding a decomposed woman’s body. Yoongi nearly threw up when the second wave of death hit his nostrils from the rat dog jarring her body sideways as he inched forward ready to attack, the foulest aroma his nose ever had the misfortune of knowing.

      “Oh great, a half-crazed rat dog about to rip off our ankles,” Yoongi shook his head.

     Seokjin’s face was frozen in disgust, a permanent scowl adorned his features. He let out a growl aimed at the little dog and it took a few terrified steps backward, tail tucked in between its legs, shaking.

     "Leave," Seokjin flashed his fangs and it retreated out of the room whimpering, scampering out the back door and off into the night.

     "Ain't that the ," Yoongi giggled.

     “Problem solved,” He brought his forearm up to his face and covered his nose.

     Yoongi shined the light onto the dead body. It was obvious it had been there for a while, the skin had turned black and the bodily fluids had seeped into the carpet around it, It was bloated out at least two sizes bigger than when she died, plus it was crawling with maggots.

     Seokjin bent down to examine it, the cause of death wasn’t going to be determined by him and he wasn’t about to search the pockets for identification on who this was. He stepped back, gagging, “Either Nero has a severely horrific diet of putrefied organs or this is her.”

     Yoongi felt like he was about to retch all over the carpet, “Are those bite marks?”

     Seokjin nodded, stepping over some random body parts that were strewn about, all showcasing messy teeth marks. The whole room contained bits of what looked to be human remnants, but he didn’t think that this Nero woman ate this disgusting 'delicacy'... or at least he hoped. He looked around the room for pictures or something to get an idea if this girl lived alone, “There has to be pictures of her somewhere.”

      “You’re going to identify… that?” Yoongi motioned towards the dead body, “Good luck.”

     "Maybe she has a pet-"

     "Maybe it was the rat dog," Yoongi quipped.

      “If she eats this for survival, what the is she then?” Seokjin felt like the smell was lingering on his skin and soaking into his hair and nails, he wanted to get out of this room, he glanced towards the hallway staircase, “I’m going top.”

     Upstairs were three bedrooms, each of them littered with carcasses and rotting remains, worse than downstairs. It was a scene straight from a horror movie, he half expected to see zombies roaming around covered in crumbs of flesh, dripping in blood. Seokjin had to leave, the stench was so foul, he couldn’t bear to be in this house for another second.

     He joined Yoongi in the backyard, both of them taking some deep breaths of the crisp night air, “How the hell does that smell not seep out?” Seokjin complained, looking over at Yoongi, who was speechless.

      Yoongi shook his head, gathering his wits, “A masking spell.”

      Seokjin took out his phone and dialed Taehyung. It rang several times before Taehyung picked up, “Hey, I need you to find something out for me.”

     “Sure, what?” Taehyung responded.

     “What species of abomination lives with corpses and feeds on them?” Seokjin leaned against the fence, “And not a zombie, because I think this goes beyond normal undead cravings.”

     “Only thing that comes to mind is from a horror novel-“

     “Humor me,” Seokjin insisted.

     “A feculent, aka, the devourers of rotten flesh,” Taehyung thought for a s