Sunggyu’s driving skills are quite good but today’s weather is just ghastly. He’s used to cutting through the New York traffic on a daily basis but never in this weather. In the twenty years he’s spent navigating the city, he’s never faced such weather - wind howling and rain beating and splattering against the window with source force he’s nervous it may break. The wipers are cutting arcs on his windshield noisily, but the drops are thick and persistent, and visibility is near zero. Right now he’s using his instincts to drive.

It’s not that difficult for him – vampires have superior instincts to anyone else; blinding rain is not a challenge or an issue for him. Humans, however, are a different story, they’re not created to navigate blindly they need to see what they are doing. No wonder the traffic is terrible today.

He drums his fingers on the steering wheel, and he checks the time once again. He promised to pick him up at five. It’s already four fifty-six.

If there’s one thing he likes, it’s punctuality (besides ice cream and music). For him, five means five and not a second later. Yes, he counts the seconds, sometimes milliseconds if he’s especially ornery. Sunggyu glares at the numbers on the dash– if only he had the power to freeze time. Better yet if only he could utilize his super speed - but they can’t do that here, in the middle of a crowded city. He’s been very particular about the use of their power.

They need to blend in not stick out.

Never use your power, unless it’s to save your life. He’s warned the younger man countless times, he trusts that he will obey.

Life in New York City has been all about staying low, hiding in plain sight, quietly living among a species far less superior to his own. As much as he may dislike the human race, right now they’re a necessary evil. Humans are not his problem, they usually don’t notice anything around them, too blinded by their very limited view of the world. The problem is that there are vampires and other supernatural creatures lurking on every street corner. If anyone recognizes them for who they are – it won’t bear well.

Finally, the cars in front of him start to move and he pulls out, manoeuvres past a lorry and a van and quickly swerves into a side road, which is blissfully empty. His speedometer slides up alarmingly and within a few minutes, he brakes hard in front of a café.

“Sungjong!” he calls through his window.

A tall, slender figure turns around at the sound of his voice. The tan overcoat accentuates the boy’s elegant figure and enhances his pale features. Sungjong’s holding a file above his head to shield himself from the rain. When he turns to face him, there is a dazzling smile on his face. Sungjong skips towards the car and gets in the front passenger seat, shaking his head in an effort to dry off. Tiny drops of the cold liquid splash across Sunggyu’s face, he smiles, the child truly is like a small puppy at times. He inhales, and Sungjong’s rich coffee scent fills his nostrils.

The younger doesn’t drink coffee, but he smells to the older vampire like he’s been brewing Sumatra, Sunggyu’s favorite. It’s intoxicating. On sunny days Sunggyu swears the younger smells like spring flowers and sweet monsoon, sublimely sweet.

“I missed you,” Sungjong says immediately, turning awkwardly in his seat to give Sunggyu a hug.

Sungjong is strangely affectionate, and Sunggyu blames the TV. Showing affection is a very human trait and one that Sunggyu hasn’t practiced in a long while. Since he has pretty much raised Sungjong by himself, he'd hoped to pass on his disposition to the young man. But ever since he was a child, Sungjong has been affectionate and needy for contact – he’s nothing like him, like other vampire children. It’s something Sunggyu can’t explain.

“You’re not mad that I’m late?”

All of a sudden, the mark on his hip beings to itch lightly, for no reason at all seemingly. He wonders it if because of Sungjong being so close.

Sungjong only smiles.

“I’m seeing you after such a long time, how can I be mad? It’s been ages,” he whines cutely, grabbing hold of his arm.

“It’s been five weeks only,” Sunggyu reminds him, but he's glad on the inside that younger shares his feelings.

“Like I said, ages.” He rolls his eyes. “I’m not used to being away from you for so long.”

That indeed is true. Even as a school kid, Sungjong didn’t like going camping or on picnics with his classmates because it meant being away from Sunggyu. It never sat well with the elder either that Sungjong would be away from him for days. He feels a constant fear that somehow, they will be discovered. And if he’s not close to Sungjong, he won’t be able to protect him.

Protecting Sungjong is an instinct which was born within him twenty years ago, the night he had tried to kill the younger, and has only grown stronger over the years. He doesn’t understand it, and he knows it’s not right – but it doesn’t change the fact that he’d break the universe in two and watch it bleed to protect the younger man.

So when it was time for Sungjong to go to university, the vampire had to convince both the younger and himself that it was a good thing. However, he has made sure that the college he chooses is only an hour’s drive from his home so that he can be there when younger needs him.

For the first few weeks, Sungjong was homesick, and the older vampire had to come down almost every day to tuck him into bed. It’s gotten better now and Sungjong can manage to be without seeing him for almost two months at once. He wouldn’t have picked Sungjong up this weekend had it not been for a special occasion.

“So do you have my birthday present already?” the younger asks eagerly, resting a hand on his thigh.

“Maybe,” he shrugs, not wanting to give anything away.

“I know you do.” He looks at him with bright, expectant eyes. “It’s my special birthday.”

“Your last birthday, you mean.”

“My last human birthday. You told me vampires celebrate birthdays too.” Sungjong pouts at the idea of not having a birthday from this year onwards.

Sunggyu smiles despite himself. He knows he shouldn’t encourage the very human traits in the boy. But he’d be lying if he said a part of him didn’t like it. He remembers little arms around his neck, and butterfly kisses followed by bursts of giggles. Sungjong as a child was like the sunshine after the rain, gloriously illuminating everything its rays touch.

Sunggyu had many worries about raising a child, especially one that came with a warning.

But the little boy was adorable and try as he might to keep his distance, everyday Sunggyu found himself more and more in love with the adorable youngster. Until one day Sungjong was no longer the child that would destroy his brethren, no, Sungjong was simply his child.

“Appa,” the little boy comes barreling around the corner with tears in his eyes.

Sunggyu is so distracted by the tears he doesn’t notice the item in the child’s little hands.

“What is it Jongie?” Yes he knows nicknames are yet another human thing, but he can’t help it, it suits the youngster.

“Appa, it’s hurt,” the child holds the item up to Sunggyu’s face and the vampire realizes it is a small bird, obviously hurt, the dying beats of the creature’s tiny heart deafening in his ears. It's moments like these that has Sunggyu wondering if the prophecy is correct.

How could someone this innocent destroy anything?

"Sungjong, he won’t be hurting anymore soon.” Sunggyu tries to figure out how to talk about death to a child who has never experienced it. With a horrible blob of guilt stuck in his throat, he thinks about the time when Sungjong had been just as close to death, only a step away, and it was all because of him.

Sungjong blinks in confusion, and Sunggyu sits down pulling the child into his lap to explain.

“The bird will not hurt because it will die soon. His little bird soul will be gone.”

“So,” the child’s eyes squinched together, “The birdie is just broken?” He asks so innocently Sunggyu has a hard time contradicting him.

“Sungjong-ah,” the vampire starts to say but stops speaking when the little boy puts the animal’s beak to his lips and proceeds to blow air into the animal’s dying lungs.

Sunggyu is about to caution the child on germs and such when to his surprise he hears the dead animal chirp before flapping its wings - no sign of morbidity - and taking flight.

“There, now he isn’t broken,” Sungjong says with satisfaction, before placing a kiss on Sunggyu’s cheek and bouncing away.

The vampire is stunned into silence.

What was that? How did Sungjong do that?

Only the oldest of vampires have mastered the healing powers of this child. And even then most only have the power to heal vampires, not others.

Again he wonders, how could this child, the one that heals be the cause of destruction?

Sunggyu decides. Like he had decided years ago...

He can’t.

When Sunggyu turns his attention fully to Sungjong again, he’s busy keying in a postcode into his GPS. He’s taking considerable care not to show it to Sunggyu, which gives him a bad feeling.

One day can’t be that bad, he tries to reason. Besides, today might be the last time Sungjong’s childlike innocence shines through. After tonight, he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. Will he even be able to recognize the child he has raised?

“What are you thinking about?” the younger asks.

“Just-how time goes by so fast. I can’t believe you’ll be twenty-one so soon,” he says quietly.

“Twenty you mean, stop using the Korean age, it’s confusing.”

It’s actually true how even to a vampire like him who has lived for hundreds of years, the time that has flown by seems precious. If only he could capture these days and moments when Sungjong was sweet and innocent forever…

Unlike what most people think, natural born vampires have to be turned as well. Another turned vampire’s bite can unleash the deep magic within the blood of the vampire, stop their heart, and freeze their features in time, leading to the realm of immortality. A naturally born vampire can choose when to be turned; most of the times, they discuss it with their families and loved ones. Most vampires opt to be turned before thirty, when they are young and fresh, good-looking. However, there are many vampires who wait for years to feel ready; or they wait to find the perfect person who would turn them.

The vampire who delivers the bite is important because just like their human counterparts, the bitten vampires form a close bond with the one who bites them.

When Sunggyu had explained to Sungjong all about the ritual, the younger had been terrified of the idea that his heart would stop someday and he would never grow old. He had cried and begged Sunggyu to never turn him – he wanted to be like this forever. But then, the elder had explained that he wouldn’t have a forever if he wasn’t turned.

“You won’t be like me, we will be different,” Sunggyu had calmly explained.

The realization had dawned on Sungjong – before he had always wondered at the difference in strength and special powers between the two. He had been amazed at how Sunggyu never seemed to age a day and how his dark hair didn’t show any graying, like some of his friends’ fathers’. But now, it all became clear.

“I don’t want to be different, I want to be just like you!” he had cried out finally, hugging him tightly.

On his eighteenth birthday, they had decided that the special day would be Sungjong’s twenty-first birthday, and Sunggyu would have the honor of turning him. Not that they had that many options – Sunggyu has no contact with any vampires. He knows a couple of very trustworthy werewolves, but that is all. Sungjong assured him that even if they knew a dozen vampires, he’d still want him to turn him.

Secretly, Sunggyu had felt relief. He couldn’t hope to mean something to the Renegade, but if it goes through, he will have a bond with the boy.

No matter what happens, you’ll remember me, right?

With a jolt, he recalls the dreadful night, twenty years ago, when he had first laid eyes on Sungjong. He had hoped to drive his knife through his arteries, but instead, he had ended up killing his trusted servant and the parents of the newborn vampire. At the thought, his insides shrivel up. What would Sungjong say if he knew that the man he loved so much is the murderer of his real parents?

No, I can’t let him know that.

The panic subsides after a few seconds when he realizes that no one knows the truth except for himself. He is the sole witness, and he would never open his mouth. Something tells him that Sungjong wouldn’t understand if he explained that he did that to protect him. All lives are precious to Sungjong. It has to rest with him forever.

With a sinking feeling, he realizes that it’s not the only secret he’s harboring. However, there is one other person who knows the truth of this secret, only one. The one to whom he is bonded. The one whose trust he betrayed. The one who gave him a new life right after taking his old life away. The memory him in without warning.

“Omma…”

The figure grows dimmer with every passing day, her outstretched hands a little farther away. The red is more intense though, intense and profound.

“Omma, I didn’t mean to…”

“We’re here!” Sungjong’s enthusiastic voice pulls him to the present and only then he realizes where they are. Hitting his brakes, he groans.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Sungjong is already unbuckled, clawing at the handle to get out. His eyes are wide with excitement and Sunggyu can’t help but crack a smile.

“Fine,” he says resignedly. “Today, it’s all about you.”