Okay. So maybe centuries was a bit of an overstatement but still. Yoongi was well aware he was in the wrong, not that it made the aftermath any more palatable. He glanced over to gauge how Jungkook would react to the news but it seemed to wash over him without the expected effect.

                “Shadow Elemental Prime?” he asked with curiously narrowed eyes. The head tilt probably meant he’d heard the name before but he obviously didn’t remember the importance.

                Yoongi nodded. “Magic’s first children.” He kept his eyes on his mentee, waiting expectantly.

                “Ah,” he nodded in acceptance, the words registering but not the meaning yet. That hit a moment later and he literally jerked as if Yoongi had flicked him in the head. “Eh?!” His eyes grew almost comically wide as he stared at the other vampire.

                “Yeah,” Yoongi agreed with another nod, threading his fingers together and placing his hands lightly between his knees. He looked down when he spoke again, “Hyuna’s focus is usually special cases. The rare. The powerful. The tragic,” he added with a grimace, gaze focused on the tops of his knees. Even without looking over at Jungkook though, he could feel his confusion and shock.

                “But… if she’s something so powerful, what was that about earlier?” he asked, deftly accepting the most shocking part and moving on to the confusing bit.

                The older vampire grimaced once more and rolled his head before rubbing at the back of his neck. “She will be powerful. More anyway. Later,” he explained in choppy fragments of sentences. “Now, she’s little more than a damaged child.”

                “She looked fine to me,” Jungkook mumbled under his breath.

                 He held his hands up in surrender when Yoongi looked at him, unsure if he was being intentionally obtuse or trying to be funny. “Physically, yes. On the other hand, most of the residents at Sanctuary aren’t actually orphans, but having that front buys them sympathy from more places. Especially among humans.”

                “Oh…” the younger vampire trailed off, mulling it over. “So is Hyosung an orphan?”

                “Might as well be,” Yoongi sighed with another grimace. “You saw it earlier, didn’t you? The shadows move?” Jungkook nodded with an affirmative sound. “Vampires can manipulate shadows if they’re strong enough, but Hyosung is the shadows. She is them and they are her. She looks human but spend enough time around her and you discover she’s not.” He paused and looked over at Jungkook with a sad expression. “Get treated like a monster long enough, you start to act like one. Whether you want to or not.”

                Jungkook’s hand rose to hover in front of his mouth in mute horror. “What did she do?”

                A bitter laugh escaped the older vampire and he explained, “Her shadow came to life and ate a schoolmate.”

                Jungkook’s expression would have been funny in any other circumstance. “Like, being taken into the shadow paths?” he wondered for clarification.

                Yoongi shook his head. “No. Literally ate as in no trace left behind. There’s not really any coming back from that.” He closed his eyes and scrunched his face, trying to scrub his memory of their entrance to the kitchen. “Hyuna’s been teaching her to control her powers but still, when things like today happen, Hyosung shuts down. It’s too similar to what set her off the first time so she makes herself small instead of lashing out. Safer for everyone that way…” he admitted in a quiet voice, uncomfortable with the semi-comparable mechanism in his own life.

                “I’m sorry,” Jungkook murmured, reaching over to wrap his hand around Yoongi’s, offering quiet support. “But… if you knew that, why did you land in the middle of the kitchen?”

                There was no accusation there; just honest curiosity and it made the answer all the more difficult to give. Yoongi opened his mouth and ran his tongue along one row of teeth, buying a second to think. “It wasn’t intentional. Well, not landing there. I meant to drop us near Hyuna. She’d make sure nothing happened and she did, but I didn’t expect her to be where everyone was still. Figured she’d run off with you or Hyoyeon for a more private conversation. It’s what she usually did when Namjoon came or brought other vampires to be introduced.”

               “Okay, but why?” Jungkook pressed, relentless in his quest to understand.

                Part of Yoongi resented it. He wanted to hide his weaknesses and insecurities away where no one but him could find them. Before he could force the answer out, Jungkook beat him to it.

                “Was she really better than you?” he wondered, his hand still lying atop Yoongi’s.

                “No.” But that was a lie and it tasted bad on his tongue. “And yes.” He tilted his head to the side and gave a partial grimace as he air through his teeth. “I’ve underestimated her before and taken a beating for it. Today…” he admitted with a disappointed frown. “I know she’s a Prime Elemental but it still stings when you’re on the verge of being beaten by a literal child.”

                He watched Jungkook’s hand rise up to cup his cheek, turning his head so he could see the other vampire. “It’s nice to be reminded you’re flawed like me sometimes.”

                “That’s your takeaway?” he scoffed with an added snort, turning his head to look anywhere but at Jungkook.

                A quiet laugh followed him anyway. “One of them,” he admitted, leaning over to wrap his arms around Yoongi, gently trapping him in the embrace.

                He turned just enough to see Jungkook’s face in the corner of his eye. “Brat.”

                “Sometimes,” he grinned in response, holding just a bit tighter. “But why do you help train her? I mean, you said Hyuna was working with her so…?”

                Yoongi shook his head and grabbed one of Jungkook’s arms with his hand. “She’s too close. She taught Hyosung the basics of control but fighting…” He barked a laugh and rolled his eyes. “She had a hard enough time training me in combat, much less someone like Hyosung. And…” he paused, trailing off when Jungkook opened his mouth as if to ask a question. But the younger vampire stopped too, apparently intent on hearing the continuation instead. Yoongi wrinkled his nose slightly and went on, “I’m not sure she can keep up with Hyosung’s shadow play anymore.”

                Jungkook’s confusion was obvious. “But isn’t she a Rank 4 vampire? She did use vampiric force, didn’t she?”

                That made the older vampire laugh. “She did. And she is. But not like any other vampire I’ve ever met. She has thousands of stories but she never told us hers. Ask her anything about her children and she’ll go on for days. Ask her about herself and she’ll pretend she didn’t hear you or answer like you asked a different question.”

                “Huh,” Jungkook chirped, brow furrowed in thought. It was obvious he had many other questions about her but was realistic enough to know that Yoongi either didn’t have the answer or might not part with it so easily when it came to her. Given that, he switched his focus. “So… you said that the others are special too?”

                It was a statement that came off as a question and it made Yoongi smirk. “Yes.”

                When he didn’t say anything in the immediate silence, Jungkook shook him with an added, “And?”

                “Nosy busybody,” he retorted, clinging to the simple banter that had an underlying tension running through it. Was he going to ask? That was the question and it kept Yoongi wound tight. Jungkook’s satisfied grin was all too convincing though and Yoongi made another face but he nodded. “You probably know that Minzy falls under the rare category. The Anansi,” he explained, just in case. “Wonshik too, since he’s another elemental.”

                “Tragic?” Jungkook asked with a preemptive cringe.

                Yoongi laughed and shook his head. “Mostly just rare and too much of a playful handful. He needs control more than anything. The redhead might fall under that category as well.”

                “Joshua?”

                “So that’s his name,” Yoongi mused, filing it away. “He smells like an Elemental. Not sure how Hyuna finds em. She never explained it to us, but every now and then, she’ll disappear for all of five minutes and come back with a new kid in tow. Last time I was there, I saw her bring in the Water Vessel and a different Fire Vessel. She only does it for the Elemental Prime vessels though. The others make their way here somehow or other, but Hyuna herself rarely leaves and only for very short periods at a time. I suspect Shownu – the Ghillie Dhu you might have seen or heard about that hangs around Sanctuary – is her eyes and ears in Tradeborough.”

                “Why doesn’t she ever leave? Wouldn’t she want to from time to time?” Jungkook wondered, brow furrowed as he turned it over in his mind.

                Yoongi just shrugged. He honestly had no good answer for what Hyuna wanted. Well, almost. “Why would she want to leave her children though? She’s strongest in Sanctuary but… I have a hunch it might be for her protection as much as anyone else’s. That barrier Hyoyeon hit today is some kind of Magecraft and I don’t know if it was established to hide Sanctuary, protect it, or do both for her…”

                “Okay. Now you’ve made me curious,” Jungkook snorted, eyeing the other vampire warily in case he was trying to hide anything.

                “You and me both,” Yoongi laughed once as he shook his head. For all the talk of Hyuna being his secondary mother, he did have a lot of questions about her, many of which arose after he left Sanctuary. She was more approachable than an Exile but just as bad about keeping her secrets close.

                “Ugh! This is almost maddening,” Jungkook laughed with an excited grin all the same.

                “Want me to stop?” he shot back, half hoping the younger vampire would say yes. If they continued, and if he let it, he was pretty certain the conversation would invariably turn to him.

                “No!” his mentee jerked back and waved both hands to ward off such an occurrence. When Yoongi gave him a narrow-eyed look in mild suspicion, Jungkook leaned close again and rested his chin on the other man’s shoulder. “It feels like I’m part of some special club with this information and… I like it when I can learn a bit more about you. Grumpy curmudgeon,” he teased, wrinkling his nose at Yoongi before laughing in amusement.

                He felt like he should be offended, but honestly… it was pretty true so yeah. Yoongi opted to roll his eyes instead and nod in slow acceptance. “Fine, but how did we end up talking about Hyuna when this started with Hyosung?”

                Jungkook shrugged innocently and added, “Because they’re all interconnected?”

                Yoongi glared. Jungkook grinned. “Little .” The grin widened before he tried to control it and smooth his features into something less gleefully self-satisfied. “But yes, they are. Especially the Baku and Cat person.”

                “Oh! I was wondering about them,” he couldn’t help but admit.

                A raised brow made him quiet down again and Yoongi nodded. “Hyuna actually did explain this part and, as she put it, it’s very much a different kind of adoption. Baku’s are essentially healers of a sort. They’re drawn to places where nightmares often flourish. Sanctuary is no different. When the old Baku passes on, it takes a few days, but a young one looking for a home eventually makes their way here. I think she tampers with the barrier or perhaps it’s something they can just sense. Like through dreams or whatnot.”

                “Like the shadow paths?” Jungkook wondered, reaching for a comparison.

                “Maybe. I just know that no new ones come by when there’s a Baku in residence.” Jungkook nodded thoughtfully and waited for the continuation, gaze expectantly trained on Yoongi. It made him laugh again. “So there is some mystery around the Baku but the Cat person is far less interesting.” He laughed and shook his head at the almost absurdity of it.

                “What?” the younger vampire wondered, afraid of he was missing something.

                “Nothing. She just… literally posts a help wanted ad on the magi-net. Obviously, it doesn’t have any linking information specifically for Sanctuary, but according to her, ‘The right Cat person always finds it and will come to her when she needs them.’”

                Jungkook frowned. “But why a Cat person?”

                Yoongi opened his mouth to answer but found he didn’t have one. Pausing, he shut his mouth and tilted his head to the side, blinking slowly. “I never thought to ask.”

                For a second, it looked as if Jungkook was going to laugh or fall out on the bed. He did snort chuckle after a pause, slightly losing the battle to stifle his reaction. “I’m not laughing,” he lied, holding his hands up in surrender.

                “Uh huh,” Yoongi huffed, looking the younger man up and down in mild irritation. “Guess I’m done storytelling,” he sighed, doing his best to pretend that he was actually offended by the reaction.

                Whether Jungkook ended up playing along or was genuinely serious made no difference as he flipped the switch and immediately pouted with a disappointed, “Yoongi…” It was made worse by the fact that he leaned close and slung both arms around the vampire to hug him tight and then placed his chin on the other man’s shoulder so he could stare at him with the equivalent of puppy dog eyes.

                Well . His traitorous belly did a fluttery flip and Yoongi knew he wouldn’t have been able to deny Jungkook much of anything in that moment. “Okay, okay!” he relented quickly, huffing at his own weakness. “But focus,” he demanded, pointing a finger at Jungkook despite his limited arm movement. “You and your smart… … questions,” he snorted, delaying the second word just long enough to watch Jungkook’s face light up and then dim with withheld sarcasm.

                “.”

               “Sometimes.”

               “Fine,” he laughed once and nodded, sitting up to at least put on a better front. “So… since you don’t know all the answers when it comes to Hyuna, let’s go back to the children. What about the baby from today? I’ve never seen such silver eyes before,” he mused, marveling at the new sight.

                Yoongi looked at him for a second, slightly miffed at the comment about not having some answers. Though he couldn’t deny it so there wasn’t much point. After a brief pause, he shrugged to himself and responded, “Fairy. Definitely a tragic case. There’s no other reason for her to be there. But most fairy babies have silver eyes before they grow into an eye color,” he reminded Jungkook with a light tap on his forehead with a single fingertip.

                “Ow!”

                “Liar.”

                “It could have hurt.”

                “But did it?”

                Jungkook glared but answered, “No.”

                “So, liar then.”

                “Hmph. Anyway,” Jungkook grumbled with the beginnings of an eye roll. “What about the other two at Sanctuary?” At Yoongi’s raised brow, Jungkook frowned, wracking his brain for the names. “They were talking about a Summer and… Min… something,” he finished.

                “Mingyu,” Yoongi surmised quickly. “He’s an elf. Another tragic case. Poachers. Surprisingly… Yixing saved him.”

                “The Exile?!” Jungkook gasped, pulling back enough to get a clear look at the other vampire’s whole face. “I thought they didn’t care about the weaker creatures?”

                “Usually,” Yoongi confirmed with a nod. He felt himself relaxing from the easy line of questioning and opted to lean a bit against Jungkook’s shoulder. It felt nice. “They have a soft spot for children though. It’s not easy for vampires to have their own, so we often cherish them all.” He shrugged as if that was the only explanation one needed, though it did cause a small ball of tension to twist in his gut.

                “Okay. So… that leaves Summer I guess.” Jungkook’s shift was casual but welcome as he wrapped one arm behind Yoongi and lightly grabbed his shoulder.

                “A banshee. They get a bad rap. Rare and tragic,” Yoongi admitted, remembering the story of how her parents had literally abandoned her. Left her at a park when she was four or five and never came back. He could hardly imagine it. Hardly. He looked down and tried to fight the thought that followed; dreaded the way Jungkook’s hold shifted just enough to show he had another question; feared what it might be.

                “And you?” the question came, so soft it would have been missable by human ears. Jungkook scooched closer so they were pressed harder together. “You stayed with Hyuna for a while.”

Yoongi nodded mutely without looking up. Everyone knew that so there was no point in denying it.

                “Vampires aren’t exactly rare and if you were a child, you shouldn’t have been that powerful…” he started to say, leaving the last option unspoken. “Even if you were over a hundred.” The last was whispered almost as if to himself.

                It nearly made Yoongi laugh. Instead, he countered with a question: “Human or vampire?” By Jungkook’s confused look, he knew he needed to clarify. “Was I turned into a vampire or born as one? Answer correctly and I’ll tell you.” It wasn’t a test so much as a question he hoped Jungkook wouldn’t know the answer to as much as he hoped he would. If he answered correctly, he would tell him. If not…

                “Vampire,” Jungkook replied with no hesitation.

                “Eh?” His surprise was genuine. Shouldn’t that have taken at least a little more thought?

                Yoongi’s surprise clearly amused Jungkook for he laughed, his smile bright and irritatingly infectious. “Anybody can play a brooding vampire,” he teased, literally patting Yoongi on the head, which earned him a fierce glare from said vampire. Not that it had any effect at all. “But there are too many moments where you act like you learned how to be human to fit in amongst them.” Yoongi narrowed his eyes doubtfully and Jungkook laughed again. “For example, back when Jaejoong attacked me,” he explained, pointing his finger at Yoongi to keep him from saying anything when he opened his mouth reactively. Yoongi clicked his jaws shut and waited for him to go on. “You were far too surprised at how fast my heart was beating. A human wouldn’t have been.”

                “I still say it could have been a lucky guess,” he grumbled irritably.

                “You also talk about humans as if they’re something you learned about. Not something you were.” At Yoongi’s glare, Jungkook added, “You humans and all.” He would have objected but Jungkook beat him to the punch. “I’ve never once heard you mix it up.”

                “So?”

                That made Jungkook chuckle before he leaned back and looked Yoongi over one more time. “Okay. The most obvious, though I did arrive at this conclusion late, is Hyuna herself.” Yoongi narrowed his eyes and then rolled them in quick succession. “Vampire rules dictate you must be an adult before you’re turned. Hyuna only takes children from what I’ve seen. You’re an adult vampire, which means you couldn’t have been born a human and have been placed under Hyuna’s care.”

                Yoongi wanted to be annoyed. And he was, but another part of him was quite pleased that Jungkook had managed to piece all that together. It was strangely gratifying. On the other hand, it did mean he’d lost the bet of sorts. “Fine,” he groaned, raising both hands as if in surrender. “Yes. I was born a vampire. And yes, I was one of Hyuna’s special tragic cases. Ugh!” he scowled, glaring at Jungkook before it gave way to a forced laugh that quickly faded. “I was barely a hundred. A Rank 2 vampire. We should have been safe at home. But we weren’t. I was resting and felt something strange inside our house. I went to check and saw my father…” He couldn’t continue for a second as the visceral memory of his father, impaled by a clawed hand and being gnawed upon, popped into his head.

                “Like the mimic cases?” Jungkook asked softly, biting his bottom lip in the process.

He nodded. “The mimic and a demon. I out after they killed my father but my mother disappeared that day.” He ran his tongue over his front teeth and shook his head.  “When I came to, I was a Rank 3 vampire with no family and no home. Well, I had a home – still do, but it wasn’t one that I could stay in as I had no idea how to control my newfound power. Not with everything else I was feeling at the time,” he admitted, looking down as he balled one hand into a fist and clenched it in his other hand.

                A gentle hand reached out to cover them again and Jungkook was looking at him when he picked his head up to see. “Does anyone know what happened to her?”

                Yoongi shook his head and blinked once. “The only thing I’ve been told is that she left to protect me, but how can that be when the mimic from that day found me? And why would she leave to protect me? Wouldn't it have been easier or better to stay here, where I am?” he asked, looking down to stare at the hands in his lap and sniffing once despite his best efforts not to.

                “Yoongi,” the younger vampire murmured, uncertainty heavy in his voice.

                “Didn’t she want me?” he whispered, clenching his fists tight so that his nails dug into his palms. He hadn’t meant to ask such a question out loud. He was a born vampire so his mother should have wanted him but… Hanging in the open, it felt like such a pitiful thing to say and he hated that it bothered him now, yet it did.

                Jungkook’s arms circled him then, pulling him close and holding him tight. “Come here,” he grumbled, clearly upset by Yoongi’s state.

                “I envy your family,” he admitted with a bitter laugh as he let his head settle in the crook of Jungkook’s neck.

                “Well, you can see them anytime,” Jungkook promised, cupping Yoongi’s head.

                The quick and easy response conjured the shadow of a smile on Yoongi’s lips. “I should visit Hyosung tomorrow.” Uncertain silence followed and it made Yoongi feel awkward.

                He was going to pull away when Jungkook hesitantly offered, “I’m not sure how much help I’d be but… I can go with you, if you’d like?”

                Yoongi smiled ever so slightly and reached out to grab the front of Jungkook’s shirt in his fingers, holding tight. “I’d like that,” he whispered, closing his eyes as he accepted what comfort Jungkook could offer. The conversation had not gone in a direction he’d been ready for, but now, sitting like this in the circle of Jungkook’s arms, it wasn’t all bad.

(a/n: Okay! Better timing this time around, though I still didn't cover as much ground as intended. The next chapter will have a shift to the Hunters to check in with them - and maybe something else. But this was too good of an opportunity to pass up on dishing on some of Sanctuary's secrets. ;) Considering we have one from Yoongi's perspective, it's safe to say there will be one more at least from Hyuna's later. Maybe not all the details exactly but we'll get a bit more eventually. For now, I thank you for being patient with me and I hope you enjoyed the update. Please look forward to the next and I'll do my best to get it out in a timely manner. Thank you!)