“What’s really going on here?” Yoona asked curiously as a female vampire freed her arms from the bounds of the rope that restricted them. She rubbed her wrists soothingly, her eyes wandering her strange surroundings which gave refuge to the many vampires and humans who came into sight. This place is amazing, she thought as she brushed her hand over the shapes carved into the tall wall structures of the cave. Yoona could have never imagined the whole thing was built by hand, even if they were vampires with speed and strength, and she was sure there was more to it than what beholds the eye.

 

She raised her eyebrow questioningly at the disappearance of the others who were missing from her line of sight. Taking a few careful steps forward, Yoona twisted her head from side to side in search of them, squinting her eyes in an attempt to make out any figures in the surrounding darkness. Her thoughts travelled back to Victoria who she’d last seen horror-struck, dragged away by Lee Minho’s followers. Yoona pondered over the idea that Victoria had already been killed at the vampire’s hands and despite only knowing her for a short period of time, she knew that Victoria didn’t deserve to die that way.

 

Deep in thought, she wandered into the path of the flames that lit the underground abode, inching closer and closer with each step. The rancid fumes filled her nose, eyes watering with the stench. Yoona flinched at the sudden touch on her shoulder, breaking her out of her trance. Her eyes widened in shock, frozen in her steps as her breaths quickened in fear.

 

“Were you trying to kill yourself or are you just being stupid?” a deep voice spoke as she took a step backwards, tripping over an object, falling into the voices’ arms. A worried expression played on Taecyeon’s face as he gawked at her, hoisting her up to help her back on her feet. Linking his hand with Yoona’s, he led her away from the flames and through one of the dimly-lit tunnels as she squeezed his hand tightly in fear of the walls caving in. His lips curved into a smile at the opportunity to get closer to his soul-mate who seemed to be quite distant at times.

 

“Where have you guys been?” Yuri asked as they approached the group were lounged across a couch, shovelling food down their throats as if they’d been starved.

 

The pitter-patter of rain drops sounded above their heads, increasing in its speed until it was evident that a storm was occurring, awaiting the crack of thunder. The room was decorated snugly with furnishings from the land above; couches to sit; rugs laid across the dirt floor and memoirs of their pasts in the photo frames hung on the wall. Although they also had necessities like a sustainable food source and fire for warmth and light, it was impossible that they could lead a ‘normal’ life underground.

 

“Yoona here decided to wander off. I found her almost killing herself,” Taecyeon answered, squeezing Yoona’s shoulders as her sat her down. Tiffany, who was receiving an earful from Wooyoung about how she shouldn’t wander off and that she should stick with the group, was glad that she finally had someone else to converse with. Taecyeon chuckled as he recalled Wooyoung enveloping Tiffany in his warm embrace when his arms were untied, going on and on about how worried he was.

 

“So why are you all down here? I mean, you wouldn’t really live underground by choice,” Minho questioned as he straightened his back, brushing his hand through his unruly brown locks of hair.

 

“It’s a long story. A lot has changed over the last hundred years,” one vampire answered as he strolled out of the darkness with his head raised, beaming with an ice cold aura, “I’m Kris.”

 

“Well, we’ve got time,” Tiffany propped her chin up on her hand as Wooyoung inched closer.

 

*****

 

Nichkhun strolled through the isolated halls of the mansion alone, his footsteps tapping against the marbled flooring. After Victoria had been dragged away, everyone had gone their separate ways, disappearing to their own work. Bored in the chambers his uncle had ordered the servants to direct him to; he decided to wander the castle which was much larger than what it had appeared to be on the outside. With unanswered questions sitting at the back of his mind, he looked for his uncle who was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Have you found them yet or are they still missing?” He could hear a voice ask from the end of the hallway. Raising an eyebrow questioningly, he slowly crept towards it, hoping he would find his uncle there. The faint smell of Minho’s cologne lingered in the air, murmurs and voices heard as he neared the end. Crouching down, Nichkhun pressed his ear against the door, eavesdropping on their conversation in curiosity.

 

“We’ve been looking everywhere but we can’t seem to find them. Their leader was spotted at a party in Seoul last night but disappeared with one of our targets before we could get our hands on her,” someone replied.

 

“They’re probably planning something right this moment. Who knows when they’ll attack,” Nichkhun lost his balance, falling and pushing the door open in the process. He became the centre of attention as they all turned to face him sprawled across the ground. His ears reddened in embarrassment as his uncle stepped forward and hoisted him up from the ground.

 

“What are you doing here? I thought I sent you to your chambers,” Minho growled, furrowing his eyebrows in anger. Realising his associates were watching his every move, he loosened his grip on Nichkhun’s arm, and “This is my nephew Nichkhun. The one who brought the Magnet.”

 

“What’s all this about an attack? What’s really going on here?” Nichkhun asked curiously as he tore his arm away from Minho’s grasp, scanning his surroundings in awe. Large bookcases covered each wall, complete with a selection of books of each genre while the fireplace, much like the one in the lounge, sparked with flames. A polished oak table sat in the centre of the room, surrounded by plush arm chairs where Minho’s associates sat comfortably, the section of ceiling above it covered in glass.

 

“Well where do we start?” Minho asked as he sat Nichkhun down in one of the chairs.

 

*****

 

“The head vampires are scared,” another vampire, known as Suzy, explained

 

“Of what?”

 

“Scared that they’ll lose their power,” Hyunseung answered as he tossed the ball in his hands up in the air, only for it to be caught by Minho.

 

“But from what I’ve been told, they’ve had a lot of power for hundreds of years. How would they manage to lose it all?” Tiffany blurted out in response.

 

“If more vampires are finding their human soul-mates, they’ll have an uprising against the laws which forbid us from being together. Head vampires will lose their support of their followers – no more power for them,” Kris answered as he sat himself down next to Yuri who had rested her head on Minho’s shoulder.

 

“But that still doesn’t explain why you guys are all down here,” Taecyeon replied.

 

“A hundred years ago everything began to change for the worst. The whole city was changed so that the ones at the top had even more power above the rest. They built themselves castles, forcing everyone else into small huts. Anyone who went against their new laws was murdered on the spot. They hunt down and kill our soul-mates so they can stay at the top. And then you come to us who formed a rebel group who have been hiding down here, where they can’t find us, for the last couple of months,” Kris paused, heaving a low sigh, “If they find us, they’ll kill us all.”

 

The group exchanged worried glances with each other, eyes widening in fear. It was a huge mistake for bringing the humans there, for getting them involved in the first place. At that point they only had two options – return to the human world or hide in a cave. With either option came a high possibility of death.

 

“So what are you going to do now? You aren’t just going to sit here and wait until they kill you, right?” Wooyoung asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that the room had dropped into. It seemed most likely that the rebel group had some form of a plan up their sleeves.

 

“For now, we await our leaders return. He’ll inform us of our next actions,” Suzy answered.

 

*****

 

“Are we there yet? I’m really tired,” Sooyoung complained as they trudged along through the pitch black forest.

 

Her feet crunched on the fallen leaves and branches scattered along the forest floor, the wind whistling as it brushed past. She could barely make out his silhouette in the distance, not sure if she was still following him in the right direction. Thinking she heard a voice behind her, she turned her head, only to find darkness everywhere she looked. As she turned her head back, Key’s silhouette was no longer visible in her line of sight.

 

“Key! KEY, where are you?” she screamed. With no response, she began to worry that something bad had happened to him and could happen to her if she wasn’t careful. Or he had left her behind because he was sick of her. Sooyoung had found herself in a world darker than earth, scarier than earth and a whole lot more frightening place to be lost in. Somehow hoping that he was playing some kind of joke, she brushed away the tear from her eye, breathing in and out slowly until she was in complete serenity.

 

“Okay Key, you got me. You can come ou-”

 

“Ssshh. If they hear you, they’ll kill you,” Key spoke in a hushed tone, covering with his hand as a means of quieting her. Who will kill me? She thought as she nodded in agreement.

 

 A chill ran up Sooyoung’s spine as she cowered behind him. She held her breath in fear, the sound of footsteps growing louder each second.  Key slowly leaned towards her, draping his cloak over her shoulders to conceal the smell of her blood. One sound and they would be dead meat.

 

“I thought I heard voices,” one figure said, just mere inches away from them.

 

“I can’t hear anything. Let’s just go back,” another replied, turning his back away from them as he began to wander off in the opposite direction. The other took one last look of the area before diligently complying with his commands. Sooyoung felt a light tingling sensation between the bridge of her nose. She slowly reached upward to pinch her nostrils as she tried to hold back the oncoming sneeze.

 

“ACHO-” Sooyoung sneezed into Key’s hand as he placed it in front of her face. They were somehow free as the vampires were too far away to have heard her. Her face flushed to a bright red as she watched Key wipe his hand clean of her germs, embarrassed that she had committed something quite unladylike.

 

Sooyoung gently held on to his sleeve so she couldn’t be able to lose him again, looking down at herself to find that she was still in the fitted black dress that she’d worn to the party. A lot had happened that day; Key’s secret had been revealed; Donghae’s party; Key’s sudden appearance and running away from said party, only to find herself in the vampire world that she’d never thought had existed until she saw it for herself. She stole a glance at him, sure that there was more to him than what her eyes could see. There was something mysterious about him. Something that somehow made her feel protected and safe, relieving her from the fear built up in side. She stifled a yawn, her eyes closing for prolonged periods of time making it evident that she was exhausted.

 

“I know you’re exhausted but we’ll be there soon,” Key said reassuringly as he crouched down in front of her, signalling for her to get on. He lifted her up onto his back, carefully watching his steps as he continued across the forest floor. She looks quite cute when she’s sleepy, he thought.

 

*****

 

“Victoria, you better get some sleep. You look exhausted,” Victoria raised her head to see Jessica standing over her in worry with a blanket in her hands. “I know you’re upset and scared right now, we all are when we first get here, but we have to just stay strong.”

 

The soldiers dragged her off to the slaves’ quarters in the basement of the castle, shoving her in with the rest of them. Without acknowledging her existence, the other slaves had continued on with their work, disappearing every once in a while to do work for the vampires above. Eyeing the others, she crept towards the far corner, sliding her back down on the wall until she was in a seated position on the ground. Victoria tucked her knees up to her chin as she held her head down, the tears she’d bit back flowing down her pale cheeks.

 

The door had opened a few hours later, a group of girls chatting incessantly walking through as they sat down on the beds, complaining about their day. Yet again, none of them had bothered to enquire who she was or why she was there. Although, she forever complained that she had no privacy or time for herself, she yearned for someone to talk to for reassurance in the situation.

 

“Are you okay?” a voice asked as the clock on the wall solemnly announced the arrival of 10 o’clock. The girl crouched down beside her as Victoria glanced up, hurriedly brushing the tears away with her sleeve.

 

“I’m fine,” Victoria spoke shakily, “perfectly fine.”

 

“You don’t look fine. Here, take this,” the girl said as she a handkerchief into Victoria’s hands. Victoria accepted it somewhat gratefully, blowing her nose into it after wiping away the occasional tear that she’d missed. The other girl settled into a seated position by her side. From what Victoria could see from the corner of her, the girl was stunningly beautiful, her light brown hair secured into a tight bun on her head as her aqua eyes glistened like diamonds.

 

“Thank you erm …” Victoria murmured in an almost whisper as she handed back the handkerchief.

 

“I’m Jessica,” the girl beamed with a smile, “So how did you manage to get yourself here?”

 

Thank god someone wants to hear me rant about my problems, Victoria thought, “I put my trust into a vampire who said he could help me avenge my parent’s death. He brought me here and betrayed me. Now I wait here until Lee Minho decides how to kill me.” Jessica’s mouth dropped at the sound of her words. And she’d thought she had the worst problems there. The girl beside her sounded like she’d suffered from so much worse.

 

“So what happened to you?”

 

“The vampires kidnapped me. I’d gone on a camping trip with my sister and a couple of friends but stupidly, I wandered away from the group. They grabbed me in the middle of the forest and dragged me away. I’ve been stuck here for three years, so long that I don’t even know what life is like on Earth anymore,” Jessica broke down into tears at the memory, her cheerful façade slipping away from her fingers. The other girls glanced curiously at her, turning back as if it was some normal routine to cry about the whole ordeal of them being there.

 

“Sometimes I wish that I could go back in time and stop this from happening to me,” Jessica declared regretfully. Ditto, Victoria thought as she nodded in agreement.

 

“I will. Thanks,” Victoria replied as she buried her head into a pillow, forcing her eyes shut as she tried to get some sleep and forget about everything that had happened to her that day.

 

For all she knew, death was just right around the corner. In time, she’d find out what fate had in store for her.

 

 

*****

 

“He’s here!” Jiyeon shouted in rejoice, rushing forward to the group who were in desperate need of some rest. Taecyeon’s eyes shot open, gradually sitting up from his slouched position next to Wooyoung, exhausted from hearing another one of Daesung’s stupid stories.

 

“I’m awake! I didn’t fall asleep,” he reassured everyone who had turned to look at him questioningly.

 

They all rose from the couches, ready to greet the rebel leader in his return to the cave. From what they’d been told, he’d gone off a few weeks before to track down his soul-mate who was on the list of those who were to be killed. Whether or not he managed to find her before that happened was not clear at that moment. Taecyeon twiddled with his thumbs as they awaited his appearance, which was taking much longer than expected. He’s such an idiot sometimes, Yuri thought as she slapped his arm.

 

The sound of footsteps moving towards them gradually increased until they were able to see his shadow on the tunnel floor. The figure poked his head around the corner, a smile curving at his lips as he strode forwards, the girl on his back slowly blinking her eyes open as she adjusted her eyes to the light. He let out a low sigh as he set the girl down on one of the couches, her body gently curling into a ball as she attempted to sleep.

 

“I hope everything’s been fine here while I’ve been gone. The vampires haven’t discovered our location, have they?” Key asked Kris in worry as he paced himself up and down the room

 

“We thought we had an intrusion earlier but they have the same motives as us,” Kris replied as he motioned Key over to the group who were idly standing alongside without a clue of what was going on. Key raised an eyebrow curiously as he walked towards them, scanning them up and down. He nodded as he finished.

 

“I’m Lee Kibum, call me Key, the leader of this group down here,” Key introduced himself, holding out his hand as a means of welcoming them.

 

---

 

Hi everyone. I know it’s been so long since I last updated but I am really sorry. With a broken laptop and writer’s block it is really hard to write. I know I promised to write a His story, Her story … their story update but this one was just easier to do first. I still have more to write for this chapter but I’ll put it up for now to give you guys at least something.

Even though I don’t reply to them very often, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

I also gave Kris a role since I really like EXO at the moment and he's my bias, hehe :)

Take care because I care and I love you all (subscribers and readers),

Love from coolgirlaamy xxx