She feels like a groundhog navigating back up to the streets. It’s been months since she’s last seen daylight and she’s not sure what to expect returning to civilization. Would tensions between the vampires and humans really have died down after the ball as Jaehwan had predicted? Or would they be met with a bloody fate?

Ria is given a mask filled with herbs, similar to that of the Contagion doctor she had met so long ago to soothe her coughs. Weak and pale, though she’s surprisingly able to be upright and mobile with Wonshik supporting her at his side. The ascent is lengthy, the dank moisture of wet earth and trapped air slowly shifting to warmer temperatures and a fresher atmosphere as the catacombs are left behind.

It’s like breaking the surface of water when they finally emerge from the alleyway and her senses rush to process her surroundings.

Bitter cold, dark. The smell of fire and decay burns her nose. The sky is heavy with dark smoke and ash falls from the heavens, pooling at their feet like black snow. Ria starts coughing violently and it takes a moment for Hakyeon to help settle her down, coaxing deep breaths.

“What the hell happened here?” Sanghyuk murmurs. The street is completely deserted, though it looks to be as if there had been activity here not long before, a riot even. Carts and wagons are overturned, rotting produce spilled out on the pavement, small fires lit in the strewn rubbish littered about, fanned by the ashen breeze. Bodies of fallen victims lay slumped throughout the village square, too still for comfort.

“Hysteria,” Jaehwan says simply, “the uprisings must have already started.”

“On which side?” she asks.

“Both.”

In the span of a few short months, the world as she had known it has changed forever. Friend fighting foe, friend fighting friend. The vampires and humans had finally reached their boiling point, the spark had ignited. Paranoia and a fleeting sense of asserting dominance on the human side, vengeance and murder for the vampires.

So it had begun.

Movement on the other side of the street makes them all stop in their tracks. A girl, no older than ten, toddles out into the road. She’s beautiful, soft brown hair falling in ringlets to her shoulders, skin pale as moonlight. She looks incredibly out of place in an area of such destruction.

“Let me go talk to her,” Hakyeon murmurs. Wonshik stops him with an arm across his chest.

“She’ll have seen your face, what then? We can’t risk her tipping off a guard.” he hisses.

Jaehwan raises his eyebrows, surprise lacing his voice. “She’s a child, Wonshik.”

The group slinks back into the alleyway and Hakyeon watches her intently from the mouth of the alley, hidden in the shadows. Sola hears him utter a sound of despair.

The child is a vampire, she realizes, freshly turned. Her beauty is one of supernatural and she moves with extreme agility, too quick for her eyes as she ravenously falls upon the  corpse of a young boy. She wipes the back of her hand over bloodstained lips once sated.

Suddenly, the girl sniffs the air and locks eyes with the six vampires.

“Get behind me,” Sola hears Jaehwan whisper before she and Ria are pushed behind the broad back of the Viscount. Over his shoulder, she can see the girl beginning to cross the dirt road towards them.

“What do we do?” asks Wonshik.

“We can’t just kill her!” Sanghyuk hisses. The young girl breaks out into a run, the tattered fabric of her dress flowing behind her. Her grin is sinister despite her innocent appearance. Time seems to slow down.

Jaehwan’s back stiffens and she feels his grip tighten on the two peasant girls behind him.

“I can’t do it, I can’t,” Hakyeon’s voice comes out in a cracked whisper. He stands there, his entire frame heavy with defeat. “I won’t.” He says.

Before the young girl can lunge, Hongbin steps in front of Hakyeon and lets out a low growl. The sound is enough to make goosebumps ripple across Sola’s arms as she sees Hongbin snap his fangs in warning. His eyes flash gold, all traces of the royal playboy of the palace gone.

Here stands Lee Hongbin, the pleasure vampire long tired of being The High Family’s plaything.

The girl recoils. Shrinking back in fear, she lets out a whimper before bolting back from the direction in which she came. Jaehwan relaxes in front of them and lets out a pent up breath.

Hakyeon falls to his knees with a sob. Ria quickly brushes past her and the others to join his side, removing her mask and laying a hand on his shoulder.

“I can’t kill anymore,” he whispers to her, “I can’t even do what my kind are supposed to do.” He cries into her neck and she can see tears glistening in Ria’s eyes. “I hesitated, I’m a liability. I could have gotten you killed.” Ria shakes her head.

“No, Hakyeon. It makes you human.”

He doesn’t answer her, only holds her tighter in his arms as she soothes him. Sola suddenly remembers one of her first conversations with Hakyeon back in the castle dungeon when she had tried so desperately to stall, thinking she would be killed by the vampires now standing beside her as her allies.

“I'm human. As you used to be.”

Silence, save for the gentle clinking of chains.

“Not many see me as human, I'm quite the opposite. I'm a monster.”

Hakyeon, it seems, will never have closure.

--

They move silently through the deserted town. It’s eerie, once a place of bustling markets and people now empty and in ruin. The sun has just started to dip below the ashen clouds, flooding the road before them in a strange, reddish light.

And that’s when she hears laughter echo behind them.

The others hear it too, a second too late before she and Ria are thrown to the ground by two quick flashes of movement. Sola struggles to her feet as her attacker roughly hoists her up, a cold hand secured around to keep her from fleeing.

An all too familiar sense of primal terror shoots through her bones.

“Hello, sweetheart,” the voice purrs in her ear from behind. Her blood turns to ice.

Beside her, Ria has also been captured in a similar fashion, no doubt another vampire. She can tell by his tall, lean frame and snow white skin. Interestingly, a collar of gold metal lines his neck.

Were they from the castle?

Sola looks to Hakyeon’s coven and she doesn’t miss the flicker of panic in Taekwoon’s eyes. That enough coils fear in her stomach. A nervous Taekwoon was very, very bad. Hakyeon steps forward, a new sense of composure settling into his features.

“Yoongi,” he says evenly, “I must say I’m surprised by your choice to be recruited by The High Family.”

The voice behind her laughs again, this time in disgust. “Choice? You left me with none. After you dogs killed two of our own, we had no choice but to submit. It was the only way of finding you.”

Realization clicks in her head. These two were from the coven that Taekwoon and Wonshik had murdered in front of her the night they were attacked. She starts to struggle and Yoongi hisses, tightening his grip.

“Let them go.” Jaehwan presses.

She feels the vampire stiffen. “Like you did with Jungkook and Taehyung? I kindly decline, my Lord.” Yoongi chuckles darkly, “The Queen is looking for you, Viscount Jaehwan. I’m more than happy to deliver you to her.”

Jaehwan bristles at the remark and his eyes flicker to his two captives. “You take me there alone. They have nothing to do with this.”

Sola is forced to shuffle backward as the vampire called Yoongi starts to peddle her back with him, his lips dangerously close to the pulse of her neck. He’s grown quiet and when he speaks next, his voice is dripping with venom, so much so that she can practically taste it.

“They’re the sole reason my brothers are dead,” he spits, “you will follow Seokjin and I to pay your respects to the Queen. If not, the girls will die.”

Taekwoon and Wonshik look so helpless it breaks her heart. They can only watch her as Yoongi tightens his grip.

“Of course. Lead the way.” Hakyeon murmurs.

--

Her third trek to the castle and again Sola is reminded of the death she had been sentenced to that had brought her here in the first place.

It’s a beautiful and cold fortress, the stone archways and glass stained windows depicting generations of royal nobles and mythical legends in their prime. The castle is devoid of light, save for the candles illuminating the empty hallways and moonlight filtering through the skylights. Everything a mere ghost of Jaehwan’s grand ball.

They’re taken through candlelit corridors until they reach the throne room. It’s enormous, the ceiling so high she resists the urge to crane her head if Yoongi weren’t right behind her. Lanterns throw gilded light against the grey stone, scarlet drapes and tapestries surrounding the paintings of The High Family drawing her attention to the center of the atrium.

Three figures are seated in their respective thrones. Queen Véronique sits perfectly poised with her daughters, Princess Helia and Princess Lunette on either side of her. A crown of blood diamonds glistens on the Queen’s head of raven hair, radiating complete dominion and allure with her chin held high and hands steepled.

The Princesses are adorned with silks mirroring their names. Helia, Dawn of the New Age in gold and Lunette in silver, The Empire’s Moon.

It’s pure instinct being in the presence of the monarch themselves that Sola panics a bit and wants to drop to her knees, but boiling hatred keeps her on her feet. A smile crosses Véronique’s beautiful features.

“I’m so glad you all could make it, my dears,” she chuckles. She rises from her throne and her gaze flickers to the men surrounding her. She clicks her tongue in disappointment, “though, I wish we were meeting under different circumstances.”

“You did well, my sweet.” Queen Véronique purrs to the two men beside Sola, voice like honey. Yoongi looks incredibly pleased, and his eyes flutter as she lovingly caresses his cheek.

“Thank you, my Queen.” he sighs. The facade of the Queen’s generous hospitality breaks when her expression turns grave, standing in front of Hakyeon’s coven, her former subordinates. They all stand still as statues.

“Viscount Jaehwan,” she addresses him suddenly, “I have been made aware that the ball you organized last winter was merely a ploy to attack and kill my kinsmen. Am I correct?”

“No, Your Highness.”

She strikes him. “Don’t you lie to me, leech!” She hisses.

Jaehwan does not answer, keeping his eyes cast to the marble floor. Helia and Lunette gracefully descend the stairs to join their mother’s side.

“We are not dense as you perceive, and you made a terrible mistake in disobeying us.” says Helia.

“Turning against your masters like rabid dogs. How could you do such a thing when we have given your kind everything?” adds Lunette. Queen Véronique nods in agreement, all traces of her previous anger gone as her cold complexion molds back over her features, her shoes clicking eerily through the chamber.

“Yes, my daughters speak some truth. However, Jaehwan’s actions reflect poorly on our behalf as well.” The Princesses look to her, confused and the Queen smiles, her painted red lips splitting to reveal white teeth. “The vampires no longer trust us, hence why Viscount Jaehwan, a long trusted noble within our monarch, decided to betray us. Our rule is no longer legitimate.”

She stops pacing to stand before them once more. “Which is why you are going to turn us.”

Sola sees Seokjin’s eyes widen, even Yoongi looks taken aback. Hakyeon and the others look horrified.

“Turn..?” Hakyeon asks.

“With your immortal abilities, we’ll be able to sustain our rein for a millenia. Our kinds will finally join forces with an alliance and this plagued country will have a new world order.” Véronique finishes with a pleased chuckle. The Princesses advance towards Hakyeon’s coven, Helia throwing herself into the arms of a stiff Sanghyuk and Lunette practically coiling herself around Hongbin like a whorish snake.

“You boys were always the favorites of my daughters,” the Queen hums, “I only thought it fitting that you should do the honors of performing it.”

“And if we refuse?” Hakyeon presses. Her smile falls immediately from her lips and she turns to address Ria and Sola for the first time since they all entered the room.

“Then your precious blood supply will be turned and used for entertainment among the noblemen as they please.”

Ria starts to retort, but falls to her knees in a convulsing fit. With a wet cough, blood splatters against the floor as the mask of herbs clatters to the ground. Lunette stops to gather her silver silks more closely around herself and kicks Ria back in disgust.

“Their fate is sealed either way. The choice is yours.”

Sola’s stomach plummets through the floor as Yoongi draws himself to her again, fangs elongated. Hakyeon stands there in defeat and looks on at them, his eyes swirling with a million thoughts and emotions.

Give The High Family immortality and Paris, inhabitants of vampires and humans alike would never break free from their totalitarian monarch. Do nothing and Sola and Ria would be subjected to the same fate as so many vampire servants of pleasure before them. The vampires would return to the oppression of the nobles and nothing would change, their whole effort for nothing.

Tears stream down Sola’s face. How desolate their future has become.

Behind Hakyeon, she can see Sanghyuk squirming against Helia, who’s trying to kiss him. He shoves her off with a hard push that sends her falling to the floor and he storms up to Véronique herself, looking completely and utterly terrifying with that red gaze.

“You can find someone else to turn you and your ty daughters, you .”

The Queen is about to reprimand him when she sees his hand fly to his throat, fiddling with the chain of his collar and her eyes blow wide. The others rush to stop him but it’s too late.

“No!” She screams.

Sanghyuk yanks off his collar and the silver stake is deployed.

Or so Sola expected. It’s dead quiet, a heavy silence filling the chamber before she realizes Sanghyuk is still standing upright. The skin of his throat has been rubbed raw from all those years wearing such a collar, but no silver stake in sight.

Her mind swims. But where was the stake? That was the whole point of the collars, so that the nobles could remove them if a vampire ever disobeyed, to keep them under their control.

The metal collar falls to the marble floor with a loud clang.

“The collars are duds.” He whispers. Sanghyuk is shivering with rage, the Queen trembles.

“You,” he breathes, “do you know how long I’ve waited to kill you?” Sanghyuk laughs.

And then it clicks. The vampires were too powerful to truly ever be restrained. The nobles could never bear to kill their most precious asset.

Véronique and The Royal Daughters shrink back as one by one, metal collars are ripped off. Sanghyuk falls upon them and Yoongi and Seokjin join him. Silk and flesh alike are torn apart as the fateful screams of The High Family ring through the bloodstained chamber.

Jaehwan’s plan of a new democracy would work, she had a sure feeling of it. It will be hard to establish trust among all once more, like a wound splitting open again and again, but the country was ready for change.

Outside, the sun has just started to rise above the clouds. Crimson light shatters the sky with gold halos at the promise of a new day.

“It is finished.” Taekwoon breathes.

Thank you thank you, dear reader, if you've stuck through with this story til the very end. A bit of background on this story, if you can't tell from the thematics, this was planned way back during Chained Up era. I was going through a very tough time of my life and this story was one of the few things I could hold onto to keep me happy. Even though this story hasn't gotten a lot of views/subs (compared to my other fics) the numbers don't matter bc I'm so happy that I could put something out to the world that I had worked so hard on and receive some amount of feedback regardless. So, again, thank YOU! I hope you enjoyed <3 I will mostly likely be putting in a character chart in the foreward to explain how each VIXX member was turned etc. I will also be having some new stories coming soon! Thank you again, everyone. Til next time xxSara