A week later

'Tae can you pass me the salt?'

'The magic word hyung, the magic word' Taehyung replied slyly shaking his finger like a mom.

Suga sighed and rolled his eyes.

'Bibidibobidiboo.' He answered looking at Taehyung with an expression of defiance.

The whole table burst out laughing. Jungkook gave in and reached for the salt but Taehyung was faster. He snatched it out of Jungkook's reach and kept it firmly hidden inside his two large hands.

'No no no hyung this doesn't work on me.'

'Tae your mom sent me a pic of Soonshim!' Jimin exclaimed from across the table, earning everyone's attention.

'My baby! Show me!' Taehyung threw himself forward to grab Jimin's phone over the table, hence letting go of the salt. Jungkook picked it up and handed it to Suga who was sitting next to Jimin.

'But, there is nothing.' Tae pouted.

'Exactly' Jimin smirked and high fived Suga who was eventually diving into his now seasoned salad.

'Guyyyys!' Taehyung whined with a pout, earning once again the whole squad's laughter, including his.

'By the way Yoon have you worked well today?' Jin asked.

'Yep, the composer replied happily. I wrapped up two compositions and started the last one. I think my album will be done by the end of the week.' He grinned with his adorable gummy smile when everyone cheered for him.

'And you hyung? Any news concerning the school?' Jungkook asked.

'Not much. It's not as hectic as last month. I did receive a visit from a student though.' Jin answered. His seriousness caught the boys off guard.

'This happens all the time Jin, Namjoon chuckled.'

'You tell me. Sorry to break the mood guys but she stayed almost an hour crying over the fact that she has been having nightmares for two whole weeks of a vampire who slits every night.'

The whole table stopped dead. Only Jin kept on munching his meal as if he just announced the weather forecast.
'She was pretty cute. Well her huge eye bags and red eyes put aside of course. The first couple of times I saw her she couldn’t stop crying for half an hour straight.'

Jimin laughed nervously.

'She might have watched too much of Twilight.'

'Yeaaah suuure.' Jin answered without giving him a glance. ‘I recall she said something about one bumping into her one night when she was walking her dog. You know, a short light haired one who looked rather anxious. I wonder if ‎Stephenie Meyer described a scene like that in her books. I don't know much about vampires after all.'

'A couple of weeks ago...' Hoseok murmured 'wasn't it that night you- ow!' he suddenly bent down to rub his shin and threw a dark glare at Jimin on his side.

'I do think so too.’ Jin answered. He sighed and leaned backwards on his chair, running his fingers in his ash blonde hair.

‘Guys she clearly described Jimin as he was that night. She even remembered his clothes and she said she saw two men running after him, one with silver hair! The oldest urged them as he looked in Namjoon’s direction incisively. Good thing I was wearing my hood that night. I should change my hair colour, it’s way too noticeable.’

‘So you really think she saw you?’ Yoongi asked worriedly.

Jin nodded his head tiredly.

‘Tell me Chim, honestly, did you bump into someone who was walking her dog that night? A big beige golden retriever.’

Jimin whimpered quietly under the whole table’s stares.

‘I think so yes.’ The poor short boy was barely audible. ‘I remember thinking it would be the perfect prey. Not the girl uh? The dog! I am so sorry.’ He cried in a tiny voice when he noticed Jungkook’s astonished expression. ‘I didn’t think she would remember me but she might have seen my fangs.’ He whispered with his eyes averted towards his knees’ direction.

The whole table showed signs of despair.

‘What are we going to do? V asked worriedly. Do we have to move? I don’t want to leave the school!’

‘Now guys calm down. I had the occasion to talk with her a lot, she doesn’t seem to know that I am a vampire too. She was very honest and said that she has always trusted vampires and that she might have imagined things, she was sick that day. She promised to keep me updated if she still feels scared in the following weeks. But you need to be extra careful when mentioning our specie from now on. And Jimin for heaven’s sake, and mostly ours, why won’t you seek for help? April’s full moon is approaching and I don’t want to risk anything.’

Jimin tensed up but managed to contain himself.

‘I will be fine. I did many researches and I worked on myself. I am sure I will be fine.’

It was late at night. All the lights were out and all seven inhabitants of that apartment in Seoul were sleeping soundly. Maybe six and a half actually. Or even Six.

Hoseok blinked in the dark, his eyes staring at the invisible ceiling of his bedroom. For some reasons he could not find sleep although nothing was really in his mind. After a quick self check-up he had also come to the conclusion that he was feeling perfectly fine. There was no noise to disturb him either. He could hear Taehyung’s steady respiration but there was no other sound. Nor any light. Aside from that digital clock sitting onto his bed table constantly spreading an orange-ish light on his little shelf next to his bed. But Hoseok was used to this light. He rolled over his side. The square numbers indicated 2:18 and the little dots separating the hours and the minutes were blinking. J-Hope lot himself staring at them. It had been so long since his sister gifted it to him when he moved out several years ago.

The student remembered this day quite well. He was packing the suitcase he would bring with him in the train to Seoul. Months before, when J-Hope had received his letter announcing him that he had been selected amongst hundreds of candidates to study in the most prestigious art university of the country, the whole family had been enchanted. They even went to the restaurant that day. But as the weeks passed by J-Hope’s sister had become gloomier. She started questioning him about the location of his apartment, concerned for his safety. Everything was a matter of worry. His food, his lessons, the pressure at school and the friends he would make there. And most of all his vampire nature.

Hoseok tried to reassure her. He had never had troubles before, there was no reason to have some now that he was moving out. But it was no use, he eventually understood that all Dawon wanted was for him to stay with her a bit longer. Her university was close to the family house so she never had to move out. Her brother on the contrary had always thrived for that one establishment and he was all too excited to take part of it. So the evening before he had to leave, Dawon had gently knocked on his door to give him that clock. ‘It is merely nothing, she had said, but if it can make me watch over you despite the distance it is more than enough.’

No it was definitely not the clock the problem. And the sheets of his bed were not too fresh nor too warm, not too lose that they would tangle with his feet nor too stiff. So what was it?

Hoseok sighed and threw the cover back at his feet. He stood up silently to not wake up his roommates and walked his way in the dark to his door. The knob turned silently. With soft steps muffled by the rug of the corridor, he walked past the door to the others’ bedrooms and the bathroom and stepped into the main room. Although it was late at night, the curtainless sliding window to the balcony let a halo of silver moonlight spread in the room, bright enough for J-Hope to make out the shapes of the objects around him. His eyes caught the tiny red dot of the TV screen as he turned to his right towards the open kitchen. Hoseok liked it when the house was silent. Well he liked almost everything but this feeling of being the only one moving in the house and having all his five senses on alert for any sort of noise was particularly exciting to him.

He reached up towards one of the cabinets where he grasped a glass and opened the fridge. The sudden yellow light and burst of fresh air made him squint and tense up a little bit. He quickly grabbed the bottle of semi-skimmed milk and shut the fridge closed. Leaning against the counters, Hoseok sighed contently and sipped his refreshing beverage, letting his mind drift into a blank and empty universe where there was no school pressure and especially no risk of being bullied and chased for who you truly are inside.

The glass hitting the top of the hard and cold counter made a small ringing noise. J-Hope balanced his weigh back onto the flat of his feet and walked towards the sliding door leading to the balcony. Taking in the fresh air of March, he leaned his forearms on the edge and lost himself in the view over Seoul. Some windows were still lit here and there in buildings. J-Hope wondered who left the light on because they were too uncomfortable with the darkness, which one was a student cramming over his homework or which one was just a night owl appreciating the silent of the city. Perhaps one of them was a vampire too, dealing with vampire problems.

He looked up at the sky. The stars were glittering through scattered vaporous clouds and most of the light came from behind one of them. Hoseok assumed it was the moon. If he remembered well the satellite should be half way visible this night. Still two weeks to go. The young man hoped dearly that everything would go well.

And then his mind focused on the conversation they had earlier at dinner. What would happen now? What kind of person was that girl? He had heard some chilling stories about vampires being hunt down and undergoing horrible treatments in the medieval times. But society had evolved right? He could walk around freely now without fearing for his life. Hoseok wasn’t really scared for his own, his strength was four times more developed than a normal human being and two time more than a vampire. He liked being strong. It was reassuring and if he was really honest, he wouldn’t be such a great and recognised dancer without his fine yet robust muscles.

The sound of the door sliding open behind him suddenly cut the man’s trail of thoughts.