Jiwoo’s eyes scanned the vampires around the table with slight caution as she ate. As far as she knew, they could attack her. She kept her guard up knowing, and noticing, that each vampire appeared to be holding himself back from jumping her.

“So, I have some questions,” Jiwoo said slowly. Her eyes moved from Jackson to Bambam. “First off, how are you still alive? Or...well...I mean, I know you’re not alive-alive but—”

Bambam chuckled softly. “Uh, Jaebum hyung saved me. In fact, he saved all three of us.”

Jiwoo glanced over to Jaebum who sipped from the carton of blood. “Is that so?”

Jaebum shrugged as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his finger. “Not all vampires are bad, you know. So you don’t have to be so suspicious of us. We won’t hurt you.”

Jiwoo frowned. “How do you know I’m—”

“The way you’re looking at all of us. You’re tensed up. I can tell by the way you have your jaw clenched,” Jaebum stated as he examined her. “Plus, when a human is nervous, their heart rate increases. Your heart is beating really fast right now.”

Jiwoo awkwardly cleared and rolled her shoulders back. No one had ever been able to read her that easily other than Jungkook and Rosé. There had definitely never been any vampire she faced that was able to pick up on all of that. Not that she ever left them live longer than ten seconds on their first meetings anyway.

“So, you saved them?” Jiwoo asked wanting to desperately change the subject. She had suddenly felt uncomfortable and not only because she was in a room full of male vampires.

Jaebum nodded and the look in his eyes shifted to one that appeared to be reminiscent. “Yeah, I did. You see, I have...well, I gained the power to see lifelines when I turned. I didn’t want my power to go to waste and decided why not use it for good. I didn’t want to be another feared vampire,” he explained. “I became a traveling doctor in search of those who deserved second chances, those who never got to live their lives.

“Youngjae here,” he said gesturing to Youngjae who sat next to him, “he had an illness that was incurable. He couldn’t do anything because of it. It even limited the amount of time he could stay outside. Bamba, as I’m sure you’re aware was attacked and at such a young age, I couldn’t bear to just let him die. And Jackson, he actually begged me to turn him. He felt he didn’t have a life worth living as a human.”

Jiwoo glanced at Jackson, “Why didn’t you become a hunter instead?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Jackson replied.

Jiwoo tilted her head noticing hurt and pain in Jackson’s eyes, but didn’t press on. She knew better than to pressure someone into talking about something they didn’t want to talk about.

“Were there others?” Jiwoo asked turning her attention back to Jaebum.

He nodded, “A few, yeah. A couple of them were slain by your kind and others left to find something else to do with their lives than being holed up in this house all the time.”

“Ah...sorry about us killing the others…”

Jaebum shrugged. “Actually, they deserved it after attacking those towns and killing humans.”

“Oh…” Jiwoo said as she finished her last piece of food. “I see.”

Jackson stood reaching for her empty plate. “About time you’re done. Humans take damn forever to eat.”

“I didn’t take that long…”

“It’s almost noon already. You took forever,” Jackson complained.

Jiwoo snorted, “Such an impatient princess.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself in Chinese so no one else could understand as he made his way to the kitchen.

Youngjae laughed softly and glanced toward Jiwoo. “So, um, how are you feeling? You know”—he gestures to the back of her head—“the bump.”

“Oh, I’m fine. Trust me, I’ve gotten worse injuries.” Jiwoo smiled as her fingers played with the pendant on the necklace around her neck.

Jaebum studied the pendant for a short moment before speaking. “Oh, I see. That’s why Jackson brought you.”

Jiwoo frowned and looked at Jackson when he flopped down on the chair next to her. “Why did you bring me here?”

Jackson shrugged. “You don’t need to know.”

“Yes, I do. It concerns me!” Jiwoo spoke loudly. “I feel like I deserve some type of explanation why I was just kidnaped by a vampire and taken to some house in the woods filled with more vampires! Tell me now or I swear I’ll kick you in the balls.”

Jackson twitched and shielded his crotch with his hands. “Don’t you dare.”

Bambam snickered. “Then tell her hyung. She needs to know.”

“Know what?”

“Jackson made a promise to your brother before he—” Jaebum’s voice trailed off when Jackson shot a piercing glare at him.

“Before what?” Jiwoo frowned and looked at Jackson repeating her question. “Before what?”

Jackson exhaled and stood up off the chair and gently tapped her on the shoulder. “Follow me.” He made his way over to the basement door and motioned her over.

Jiwoo slowly stood and moved over to him. “What you’re about to see will be disturbing. I’m warning you now,” Jackson said. “Are you sure you want to see it?”

Jiwoo nodded and felt something in her stomach twist as Jackson swung open the basement door. He flicked on the light and headed down the stairs with Jiwoo behind him. With every step down the stairs, her heart beat quickened. She felt nervous. Her mind was racing going over all the possible things that could be down here, but what was actually down there wasn’t something her subconscious could even imagine.

In the basement, in one of the two cages, was a single body that was chained to the wall. Jiwoo gasped noticing the single body as her twin brother, Jungkook.

“What is this?” Her voice cracked as she spoke. Fear and confusion arose in her system as she stared at her brother who was slumped by the wall, wrists severely burnt and raw from the silver shackles on them and with bloodshot red eyes that pierced into her soul.

“I knew he was sent out here to kill me the first time I saw him. I hid and followed him around for awhile,” Jackson explained as he leaned against the bars of the empty cage behind him. “One day, he was attacked. It happened so fast, he didn’t even have time to react. He hunted that vampire down for two days before finding it and killing it with his bare hands. But the one thing they don’t tell you about vampires is if a vampire kills the one who changed him, he turns into a rogue vampire.”

Jackson’s voice darkened as he spoke making a chill run down Jiwoo’s spine. “I tried to help him. We all did. I brought him here to see if we could help reverse his rogue vampire transformation, but it was no use. Jungkook himself knew he was changing and told us to lock him up, so we did.”

Jiwoo felt tears well up in her eyes as she listened to Jackson. She stared at her twin feeling nothing but sadness for him.

“Before he transitioned, he started telling me about you. He bragged about you a lot saying how he had the prettiest sister and how she was a lot better than he was at nearly everything. I could tell he really loved you. He didn’t stop until the last second,” Jackson said. Jiwoo smiled at his words and didn’t say anything. “I promised him that I would protect you before he turned. Not that you really need it, but...it put his mind at ease. It gave him peace of mind that you’ll be safe.”

A tear slipped down Jiwoo’s cheek which she quickly wiped away. Seeing Jungkook this way and knowing what his last moments were before he became a monster was a little too much for her to take.

“Oh, Kookie,” she muttered.

“Rogue vampires are dangerous,” said Jackson quickly gaining Jiwoo’s attention. “Jaebum hyung has been researching them and Bambam’s been going out trying to hunt them down. There was a family camping out in the woods that were attacked by a pack of rogue vampires not far from here, or so Jaebum hyung says. Rogue vampires are actually the reason why us normal vampires are being killed. They’re the monsters, not us.”

At that, Jungkook laughed. “No hunter is going to care what kind of vampire you are. If you’re a vampire, you’re a vampire and you’re dead. Isn’t that right, sister?” He smirked, a fang poking out through his lips. A laugh escaped him when he saw the expressions on Jackson and Jiwoo’s faces. “No need to look so shocked you two. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Well, except you, Jackson. You always look like that.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “No dinner for you tonight, you little .”

“Ah, so you didn’t bring her here for me to feed on. How boring.”

Jackson growled between his teeth as his eyes flashed bright red with anger. He stepped in front of Jiwoo, pushing her behind him protectively. “Don’t you dare touch her.”

“Strange,” Jungkook said, his red eyes scanning Jackson. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you like her.”

Jackson twitched slightly, his eyes turning back to their normal brown. Jungkook smiled. “So, you do. But does she like you back?”

Jackson grabbed Jiwoo’s wrist and yanked her up the stairs not wanting to hear any more.

“Is it true?” Jiwoo mumbled as Jackson dragged her to his room. Jackson said nothing as he threw her into the room and slammed the door. He held tightly onto the doorknob and grit his teeth.

“,” he swore silently.