WE ARE THE NIGHT - 뜨거운 너는 내게 말했지(Talk to Me)

The air was heavier than he remembered, but that might have been because Seoul was such a crowded city. The smell of pollution was so thick that it almost made him change his mind and go back to his little village instead of following her heartbeats.

Ah, they were definitely beautiful to the ear. He felt rather nostalgic, hearing the fast beats of an immortal like her. Her smell was different from the others, more refined, like one of a kind fruit.

"It's been a long time, cousin." He started when the smell became prominent.

"Indeed. And here you are doing what you swore you'll never do. Why are you betraying me, Igor?" She asked her tone cold yet he could hear a tinge of sadness.

"Times have changed, Katherine. They changed so much right before our eyes."

"I left once and no matter how many times father will bring me back, I'll always leave."

"I know and believe me, he doesn't. He's in no condition to order you to go back. He's dead. Been for almost a century." Igor answered nonchalantly as he walked towards her. "I don't want to bring you back. I want the mark."

"You mean you want its power. Too bad, you can't just rip it off and use it for your own gain. It's in me, in my every fiber and every blood cell."

"There's been an invention that I quite make use of: blood transfusion. It's amazing how much that can change one's vitals." Igor explained, smiling politely at his cousin. "It wouldn't be a blasphemy if I take my wife's blood. After all, you have always taken mine."

"You gave it to me," she corrected.

"And you will give yourself to me. All of you."

Yerin frowned, feeling the mark burn her back. She was angry and all those years of laying back and never interfering into the vampire world were slipping out.

"If you want a war, you'll get one."

"Oh, come on cousin. I don't want a war, didn't come all this way for such a petty activity. I want the mark and I don't care if I have to kill you and eat you."

Yerin sighed and looked aside, reminding herself just who she was talking to.

Dongwook was so anxious for the whole time at work that he almost sewed his finger to the corpse. He glanced at the clock for the fifth time in the last 5 minutes and sighed heavily. How could he stand and watch when the subject was the woman that he loved. He hated how independent and stubborn she was before but now it's only increased.

"We need you, doc!"

Dongwook jolted and turned to the door to see detective Lee Jinwook dressed in his usual leather jacket, looking more like a biker than a police man.

"Should I change?" asked Dongwook though the only thing he wanted was to go to Yerin.

"Ah, no, no. Bring them in boys!" Jinwook called for the boys outside.

Not one, not two, but five corpses were brought in, each having the same visible problems. Their bodies seemed to have rotten early and their eyes were gauged out.

"You don't see such an interesting sight every day, do you?" Jinwook asked, walking next to body no 1. He seemed to act so carefree compared to the doctor.

"That would be traumatizing," Dongwook commented, his eyes finding the clock again.

"In a hurry to go home? I know these guys won't leave but we do need information on them as soon as possible." Jinwook added, smiling at Dongwook.

"They're dead. All have been killed." Dongwook said, looking expressionlessly at the detective.

"You don't say," Jinwook mumbled taking a closer look just to amuse himself, "Well, I'm sure it will be fun to see just how they died and under what circumstances! Good night!" Jinwook said and left, winking at Dongwook on the way out.

Dongwook groaned and leaned against the corpse in front of him. At a closer look, he noticed something on his wrist. He had a mark, done with a knife by someone who knew that it won't kill if the cut was deep.

When Yerin arrived at Blue that night, she did expect something to have happened. Igor had a way of manipulating young vampires in various ways but the end was always the same: they were nothing but food for the immortal. Drinking vampire blood was tastier than any human’s and this odd drug effect was even more intense for a younger vampire thus how he had so many greedy youngsters around.

As soon as she opened the door, she smelled vampire blood. It was intoxicating especially for her, who avoided drinking it as much as possible. Her eyes were changing and her mark was forcing her towards the food but Yerin spent half of her life fighting her urges. Calming herself down, she followed the trace, all the way keeping her defense just in case.

In the very back, trying not to whine too much was Seojoon. Liu Wei was trying not to overreact, seeing the boy as a baby not a man.

"That git will get it when he last expects it. I assure you, he will pay." The Chinese man hissed.

Yerin glanced at the bar, her eyes changing slightly in order to let herself recognize just what kind of vampires were inside. There were none.

When Liu Wei walked out with a limping Seojoon, he didn't expect to see the club empty. It was as if no one has been there to begin with, every table cleaned and every drink on its shelf. He sighed when he heard noise in their personal area, the one where he'd usually stay and drink.

Sliding the thin door aside, he found his master in a state of ambiguity.

"What exactly are you doing?" He asked, not sure if he should back off or not.

Yerin was literally squeezing blood from her wrists in a bottle of Chardonnay. Liu Wei noted just how the bottle looked just so he won't take a sip by mistake. Then he saw three other bottles and breathed out in worry.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't sanitary." He mumbled as he took a step in, moving so his figure was shadowing her.

"Where's Seojoon?"

"Searching for something to do since we have no clients."

Something in Liu Wei's tone triggered the vampire in Yerin, maybe a tinge of annoyance mixed with his usual bossiness. She threw him a swift glare, one that sent a shiver down his spine.

"Your eyes are red..."mumbled the Chinese vampire, his feet moving backwards unconsciously.

She looked down at her wrists and squeezed one last time before she closed the bottle and placed two napkins over her wounds. She closed her eyes and suddenly jolted, her spine bending slightly in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. A low growl escaped her lips before everything calmed down. It was so silent. Liu Wei had no idea what happened but he knew it was bad to have an immortal squeeze its blood out.

"What was so urgent that I had to run here?" Ji Soo asked in between breaths as he entered the morgue. He stopped when he saw five dead bodies covered by white sheets on one side and five left arms on the other. "What the ? Hyung, tell me you didn't cut them off!" He started as he hurried to Dongwook.

The elder was standing in front his laptop, searching for information on a tattoo. Ji Soo took a quick look at the arms before he walked and leaned against the back of Dongwook's chair.

"All these hands have this marking on their wrists. I'm not sure what it means but it's not a tattoo." The vampire started, waiting patiently for a match.

Ji Soo stumbled upon the dead bodies and uncovered the face of one. He frowned and checked all their faces before he looked up with wide eyes. Very slowly he turned towards his hyung and swallowed nervously.

"I've seen these people before. They were in a group at Blue. I almost got eaten by one of their female friends." He informed.

"What do you mean eaten?" Dongwook asked, spinning his chair around.

"As in-" Ji Soo stopped, having second thoughts if he should tell him. What if Dongwook won't believe him?

Seeing the reluctance on his expression, Dongwook got up and very slowly walked towards his younger co-worker. Ji Soo gulped, feeling afraid for some reason. The man that was so professional that it hurt the pride of others was staring at him with empty dark eyes.

"H-Hyung?" Ji Soo took a few steps back by reflex and stopped when he hit the cold chambers. "Um-this is odd,"

Dongwook raised an eyebrow yet the glint in his eyes didn't change. Ji Soo encountered a very erted woman, a cannibal or a vampire. Dongwook was inclined towards the latter since it made more sense.

"Hyung, why did you call me here? You-um-should have left already. It's past ten." Ji Soo tried to reason with his boss, knowing that in tensioned situations it was better to keep talking.

"There's-" Dongwook stopped when he heard the light and high pitched sound of his computer. He hurried to look at the results and sighed heavily.

Something must have been very wrong because Ji Soo has only seen Dongwook so worried when he had a fight with Yerin.

"Hyung, is this about Yerin?" Ji Soo found the bravery to ask. Dongwook leaned his head back and groaned in reply.

"These marks are not made in order to kill but to show respect for your leader, to show that you'd sacrifice your life by dying slowly at his feet. It's something people used to do more than 1000 years ago in the dacian tribes. Some would do them in the shape of Z over their whole forearm as a plead for the dacian God Zamolxes to keep their daughters pure. It has a lot more meanings but for a 21st century police officer, they are marks of someone who cut their wrists with a worn out knife." Dongwook explained, throwing the pictures on the table in front of Yerin.

Everyone gathered in Blue and while Jiwon was tense because of Ji Soo following his boss in, Liu Wei was more worried about Seojoon's wound and Yerin's own cuts. Talking about those, they healed incredibly fast even if she didn't feed in a while.

"Back when I was in Transylvania, young fighters would make these marks in order to find each other during fights. It was easier to see their wrist rather than their face. But they were definitely made by Igor." Yerin answered, looking up at Dongwook.

"Five bodies came in, all killed from inside out. Their blood was gone and their eyes gauged out." Dongwook added seriously. "If they are Igor's men, why would he kill them?"

"Because they made a mistake. Igor's father taught him not to accept mistakes, ever. The lesson was learned in a gruesome and painful way." She started. When noticing people were waiting for the rest of the story, Yerin sighed and added, "His father gauged the eyes out of Igor's pet. Right in front of him."

"What kind of monster does that?" Ji Soo asked having no idea.

"Those were the times. My father wasn't much better and as children, we'd often help each other. It wasn't just me and Igor but or siblings and other cousins too."

"You have siblings?" Ji Soo asked again.

"I used to. I was the second out of five children. My older brother was killed during a battle and my younger brothers and sisters died in time. Most of the children couldn't survive the transformation and others wouldn't feed. And now look just where that led us to." Yerin replied with melancholy.

“Excuse me, feed? Survive a transformation?” Ji Soo asked meekly.

“Did you meet him? Did he tell you what he wants?” Liu Wei asked, drawing Yerin’s attention.

She sighed and leaned back, rubbing her face, feeling a lot of angst filling her heart.

“He wants me, my mark to be exact.”

“But you are the mark. He cannot just take it since it’s mixed with your body.” Dongwook stated, his eyes narrowing. “Besides, he can’t just transfer your soul into his. That’s just impossible!”

Liu Wei seemed to grow just as annoyed with the situation while Seojoon rubbed his head nervously.

“He can if he eats her…” Liu Wei mumbled, feeling disgusted with the blond vampire. “He has to get her blood and eventually the cells will recognize the similar DNA and will probably-“That was all theory and sounded just as impossible as eating her.

“There’s blood transfusion. He can swap our blood and then kill me. Once I’m dead, the mark will pass onto the next immortal that has my cells.” She explained which suddenly made Liu Wei realize some little detail.

“What about Dongwook?”

The older vampire as well as Seojoon and a very confused Ji Soo turned to the Chinese man at the same speed. Liu Wei glanced at them before he turned to Yerin.

“You tell him. I’m sure he’ll be both delighted and grossed out.”

Yerin looked down at her hands before she looked into the dark eyes of Lee Dongwook.

“Yeah well, about that. You see, there’s a lot to talk about that so it would be better if we don’t. I say we just-“

“What does he mean?” interfered Dongwook annoyed that she was keeping secret something that was directly involving him.

“I can answer if she doesn’t!” a new husky voice interrupted, making Yerin freeze in her seat.

Everyone turned their heads to the bar where a man was sitting with a drink in hand already. Just like he has been described, Igor was a tall and imposing man with bright blond hair and blue eyes. He was elegant in a way that men these days can’t compare and he had the power to raise tension with one word only.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you, especially Lee Dongwook; a man who was ready to embrace death when a demon with red eyes brought him back to life. She, an immortal, changed a human. It’s like the first love syndrome, the love you can never forget, the love you inserted a bit of your own soul into. Dongwook, the human changed by the Leader. Doesn’t that just sound so poetic?” Igor asked, taking his glass and walking suavely towards the group. “The ending will be even better, I assure you.” The blond immortal smiled widely before his expression fell into a grimace and he threw the glass at Ji Soo’s head. Fortunately, Dongwook’s reflexes kicked in and caught it before it could hurt the human.

“Leave.” Dongwook growled and he kept his glare even when Igor flashed right in front of him.

“You are stronger than a normal vampire but that doesn’t make you an immortal. You will die slowly; you, the Chinese man and the . You will all die right before Katherine’s eyes and then I will use that pain to get what I want.” The immortal whispered before he flashed out of the pub.

Extremely angry, Dongwook hissed and broke the glass in his hand making him bleed. Liu Wei smelled the blood and glanced at Yerin, whose eyes were set on the red liquid as her eyes turned into the same bright colour.