It was that time of year when the sun disappeared quickly, shrouding the night in darkness early in the evening. It was barely six o’clock and yet the sky was already a velvet black and a blanket of fog coated the shining stars, hiding the moon from sight. This was the time of year that vampires loved, the time of year that they could spend more of their lives outside. It was this time of year that Minseok often feared, because it was this time of year that the incident had happened.

“You seem very tense,” Jongin noted.

Minseok shifted uncomfortably, “Well, I’ve never tried hypnosis before,” he mumbled as an excuse.

While, yes, Minseok would admit that this was part of the reason, it was not the entire reason. He held his breath and tried to will away the fear of the vampire in front of him when Jongin flashed him a sweet smile, fangs and all. As surprisingly friendly and kind as Jongin was, he was still a vampire and Minseok just couldn’t shake that thought from his mind.

“You have nothing to be afraid of,” Jongin mused, “Would you like a cup of tea though? It might calm your nerves.”

“Oh,” Minseok’s face flushed when he realized that Jongin was worried for him while, instead, he was worried because of him, “No, that’s alright. I’ll be fine.”

Jongin smiled and nodded, “Well, I don’t want to rush you. Do you have any questions you’d like to ask first?”

“Do you mind,” Minseok cleared his throat, “Explaining the process?”

“Of course!” Jongin clasped his hands together, ever eager to help his old friend even if he didn’t remember him and the scent of fear lingered in the air whenever he was around, this was an important step into a new blossoming friendship. He couldn’t screw it up.

“Essentially, what my ‘hypnosis’ is able to do is make suggestions to your mind. For example, when Sehun was trying to quit smoking, I just gently suggested to his mind that cigarettes taste like paint. He quit almost immediately, because, having never tasted paint before, his mind tried to combine different tastes to create what he thought paint tasted like. He was pretty ticked…” Jongin laughed.

“You can hypnotize vampires too?” Minseok asked surprised and Jongin nodded.

“Everyone is susceptible to a vampire’s abilities, including other vampires.” he confirmed.

Minseok sighed with relief internally and then smiled wearily, “So, what will you suggest to me to make my nightmares go away?”

Jongin sat back and his lips, “That’s easy. I’ll just suggest to your mind that it’s not having nightmares. You’ll get better rest instantly. However, depending on how strong your will is, the nightmares can return. In which case, you can just come see me again and I’ll suggest to your mind that you should stop having them.” he said with a beaming smile, “My door is always open for people in need!”

“So, this is just a temporary solution?” Minseok sounded disappointed and Jongin frowned.

“Unfortunately,” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “And, the more you are hypnotized, the less effective the treatments can become over time. It’s best to get hypnotized only once a month, or once every three weeks at the most. I’m still working on strengthening my abilities since I’ve only had them for a few years.”

“Oh,” Minseok blinked in surprise and then blurted, “When were you turned? Not many humans get turned nowadays…”

Jongin chuckled behind his hand causing Minseok to trail off in embarrassment, “I was born like this. Most of us vampire-borns don’t experience our abilities until after twenty years or so.”

“So… When- um,” Minseok flustered and Jongin grinned.

“I was born in 1962.” he laughed and Minseok’s eyes widened.

1962…

Why did that year ring a bell?

Minseok chewed his lip, “You’ve been around for a while then,”

“Not as long as some of my friends,” Jongin shrugged, “You met Chanyeol earlier, he was born in the 1400’s some time.”

Minseok gasped, “The 1400’s? Wow… What about the other one…?” he asked curiously, his cheeks growing hot again at his own interest in the mysterious vampire.

“Baekhyun,” Jongin hummed with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, “He was turned… A long, long time ago. No one is really sure what year, to be honest. I don’t even think that he knows.” he said with a laugh and then glanced down at his watch.

“I really don’t mean to rush you into this,” Jongin said with a yawn, “But isn’t it getting late for someone like you?”

Minseok blinked and checked the time on his phone, shocked to see that it was nearing ten o’clock and that he had four missed calls from Luhan along with several text messages asking where he was.

“I didn’t realize how much time had gone by,” Minseok mumbled as he sent a quick text message to his roommate, “Do you mind if we-”

“Reschedule?” Jongin asked and Minseok nodded.

“Is this weekend okay for you?” he asked as he checked Luhan’s reply of ‘I was so worried! Come home soon :)’

“This weekend might not be doable for me,” Jongin scratched the back of his head, “There’s this party… Actually,” he grinned wide and almost mischievously - a smile Chanyeol himself might have even been proud of, “Why don’t you come to the party? I can do the hypnosis there and it would be fun to see each other more often outside of the cafe!”

Minseok blinked a few times, processing the invitation before he shrugged. He could barely remember the last time he had attended a party, probably some time in his third year. Now he was in his fifth year, working hard on his masters that would be finished, he hoped, by the spring. It had certainly been well over a year since he’d last been to one and he had wanted a way to let loose this weekend anyway… He could afford to lose one night, right?

“Sure,” Minseok mumbled, thinking about maybe dragging Luhan along to add to the fun. They hadn’t attended a party together since that night… Minseok’s cheeks flushed as he let his thoughts wander.

“Great!” Jongin exclaimed, “What’s your email? I’ll send you the details.”

“Email,” Minseok nearly snorted, but gave Jongin his university Email anyway, since that’s the one he checked the most often.

“I haven’t gotten used to technology yet,” Jongin defended afterwards, “I use my cellphone as paperweight most days…”

Minseok couldn’t help but laugh at that, because Jongin was kind of, sort of cute. Too cute to be a vampire.

Vampire.

Jongin was a vampire. And Minseok kept having to remind himself that the barista was not a human like himself, but instead a blood- creature who could only come out at night like some monster from an old horror movie. Yet, somehow, Minseok felt strangely comfortable around Jongin despite the ideas in his head he had about vampires that made him nervous. Because when the two got to talking, Minseok forgot all about the red eyes and the fangs that were a part of Jongin.

Actually, Minseok began to realize, it was pretty weird how comfortable he was around Jongin anyway regardless that he was a vampire. They had only just met and now Minseok was invited to attend a party with him? Minseok was sure he was losing his mind for agreeing, but there was something about Jongin that made him think of the vampire as his friend, something that reminded Minseok of his childhood… But that couldn’t be right, Minseok’s childhood had been a nightmare in itself.

***

“I don’t think this is going to work,” Sehun muttered as he stamped another envelope with a wax seal.

“We’re going to try and make it work,” Junmyeon argued back, signing off another cream-coloured card with the smooth gliding of his fountain pen.

Baekhyun and Jongdae snickered at the two bickering before Junmyeon shot them a glare. Jongdae put his hands up in defence and Baekhyun continued to sit there, folding cards and tucking them into envelopes. Jongdae picked up a bundle and brought them over to Sehun, dropping them gracelessly onto the desk before sticking his tongue out at the vampire.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and mumbled something about everyone being an idiot and of course this isn’t going to work, I can’t believe we’re doing this in the first place. Baekhyun and Jongdae laughed again behind their hands, trying to muffle the sound as they stuffed more crimson envelopes. Yixing pouted and flicked Kyungsoo’s forehead to shut him up, which resulted in Kyungsoo grumpily agreeing to do whatever Yixing asked, because Yixing was his favourite after all.

“Oh, shush, shush,” Junmyeon said suddenly, scurrying to cover the things spread out on the desk, “Guys, be quiet, he’s coming.”

“He is?” Jongdae asked, scrambling to tuck the boxes of envelopes beneath the table.

“,” Kyungsoo groaned, “The car just pulled up.”

It was a matter of mere seconds before Chanyeol burst into the room, all smiles and arms filled with bottles of blood that Kyungsoo had insisted on for tonight’s gathering and the only store that carried this particular brand just so happened to be on the other side of town. Kyungsoo had made sure of that when he sent a few of his men to buy out the local stores of the blood. However, Chanyeol had been back a lot faster than they had all been assuming and he stopped at the door when he noticed everyone looking a little suspicious.

“What are you all doing-” he began to ask, but then his focus went distant and his eyes became a little spacey, the usual features of one of Chanyeol’s ill-timed visions, before a stupid grin spread across his face so wide, everyone was sure that it might split his head in two, “Awe, guys!” he exclaimed happily, tears welling in his eyes.

“I said this was a stupid idea!” Kyungsoo yelled, kicking the box of cards under the table and everyone groaned, long and dragged out.

Baekhyun sighed, “Well, it was worth a shot.”