At around midnight that night, Jiwoo woke up She lay quiet in bed staring into the darkness, her hands folded on her stomach just below her ribs. She could feel her heart racing as a million thoughts ran through her mind. Thoughts about Rosé. About her father. About Jungkook and everything she was told about him. And about Jackson, whether or not she should kill him or disobey her orders. He, after all, didn’t kill Jungkook.

Her mind wandered through many things as the darkness around her stayed quiet. Jiwoo shook off her thoughts and climbed out of bed. She didn’t bother to put her boots on and padded quietly to the door. She pressed her ear to the door to hear if there was anyone out there and waited a couple seconds. When she didn’t hear any noises, she opened the door softly cringing when it creaked lowly.

Jiwoo peered out of the door and looked around making sure there was no one around. She guessed she was the only one in the house based on how quiet it was. Still, she stayed quiet as she went to the basement door. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She flicked on the light and made her way down the stairs.

Jiwoo had no idea why she even came down here, but she felt like she had to. She grabbed the stool against the wall and placed it by the cage that held Jungkook and sat upon it. She felt a chill run up her spine when Jungkook looked up at her with a smirk.

“Hello, dear sister,” he said. “Back so soon?”

Jiwoo grit her teeth and said nothing as her eyes locked with his piercing red ones. Everything about him was different now. His body language, attitude, and even his voice seemed to be deeper, darker even. It was scary. Not to mention his eyes now showed zero hints of humanity. Everything that had once made him human was now gone. He had truly turned into a monster.

Jungkook cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows raising. “What? Not even going to say ‘hi’ or ‘I miss you, brother. I’m so glad you’re alive’? I’m truly hurt.”

“I just…” Jiwoo paused, her breath hitching as Jungkook’s eyes flashed a bright red. She looked away from his gaze, her fingers nervously interlocking with each other. “You’re…a monster now.”

The rogue vampire feigned a painful groan as he held his chest. Jiwoo twitched hearing the silver shackles burn Jungkook’s skin when he moved. “How could you call your own twin brother a monster? I thought you’d be glad to see me alive. Turns out, you don’t care.” His expression darkened. “I can see it on your face, Jiwoo. You actually care for that weak little vampire who damned my life, don’t you? What would dad say? More importantly, what would mom say?”

Jiwoo frowned. “You’re wrong. I don’t care about him.”

“No? Then why is he still alive? He kidnapped you and is keeping you here. He’s keeping your dear brother trapped and you chose to keep him alive?” Jiwoo kept quiet as he spoke. “Could it be you’ve grown soft, sister?”

Jiwoo shook her head. “No—”

“You could become stronger, you know,” Jungkook said cutting Jiwoo off. “It’s crazy how much power you gain after you kill the vampire who made you.” He smirked yanking at the chains. Jiwoo cringed hearing his skin sizzle as the silver cuffs burned his wrists. “The only miserable thing about having this much power is the thirst.”

Jiwoo shrunk away from the cage feeling Jungkook’s sharp gaze piercing through her. If he were to break out of his cell now, she would become his next meal.

“Join me, sister. Together we could rule the world,” he said.

She frowned. She wanted nothing more than to be with her brother again. But was it worth becoming a monster too?

“I—” she started before she was cut off by Jackson yanking her off of the stool.

“What are you doing down here?” Jackson asked shouting.

Jiwoo jumped at his shouting. “I...I just wanted t-to…” Her voice trailed off and she looked to the ground.

Jackson growled seeing the hurt and fear in her eyes and turned to Jungkook. “What did you say to her?”

Jungkook snickered. “I don’t have to answer that.” He tilted his head, looking at Jiwoo. “Think about it, won’t you? Just know, I won’t wait forever for an answer.”

Jiwoo ducked her head down as she was dragged out of the basement by her wrist. Jackson slammed the basement door behind Jiwoo and dragged her to his room.

“What were you thinking? He’s dangerous. He could have hurt you,” Jackson snapped.

Jiwoo looked down. “He’s my brother. I just wanted to talk to him.”

“He’s not your brother anymore, Jiwoo. He doesn’t care about you anymore.” Jackson paused noticing tears sliding down Jiwoo’s cheeks and sighed to calm himself down. “Listen to me, he’s not the same as he was before. If he got the chance, he could kill you and I don’t want that to happen. I won’t let it happen. I made a promise to your real brother and I do intend on keeping it.”

“Why do you even care? Why don’t you just…” Jiwoo huffed as she tilted her head back to hold back the other tears that threatened to spill over.

“Just what?” Jackson asked.

“Why don’t you just kill me? It’d be a hell of a lot easier for you. You don’t even look like you want to protect me. Why do you keep trying to drag this out? Just get this over with and let me be with my ‘real’ brother.”

Jackson pursed his lips, his eyes locking with Jiwoo’s. “You won’t understand…”

“Try me.”

He sighed knowing it was useless to try to argue with her further and sat on the bed. He pat the place next to him for her to sit. When she did, Jackson grabbed her hand and spoke.

“When Jungkook was still...well, still Jungkook...I was always there to listen to his stories about you. You were all he could talk about every single day. I was so intrigued by the stories he would tell me that I…didn’t realize I had feelings for you until the first time I saw you.” Jiwoo looked at him with wide eyes at the sudden confession but said nothing as he continued to speak. “I would go every day just at the border of the forest and the training grounds and watch you train. At first, it was only so I could update Jungkook about how you were doing but…Every time I saw you and saw a smile on your face, I felt...alive.

“At first, I pretended that I wasn’t going to keep my promise. I didn’t want the others to know about my life...pathetic crush on you. Youngjae would certainly kill me if he found out that I like you, although I’m sure he already knows.” Jackson exhaled and glanced up at Jiwoo. “I’m keeping the promise I made to your brother because…you’re the one person who has ever made me feel human in my entire life. My human life was absolute . My vampire life is no better but it’s at least less boring. It’s better now because you’re here.”

Jiwoo breathed out as she studied Jackson’s expression. She could tell everything he was saying was genuine by the look in his eyes. She felt her heart skip a beat when Jackson leaned his forehead against hers for a moment. Jiwoo blushed. What was he doing?

“I don’t expect you to like me back. I just thought you should know the reason why I’m trying to keep my promise to him,” Jackson said and sat back up.

Jiwoo nodded and stared at the hand that Jackson still had a hold of. “So…tell me, why didn’t you want to become a vampire hunter?”

Immediately, Jackson’s expression changed like he was remembering something painful. “I thought I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Please,” Jiwoo said as she grasped his hand tightly. “I just...want to understand.”

Jackson sighed. “My parents were killed by hunters. They weren’t even vampires. They were killed for nothing. Can you explain it to me, Jiwoo?” She looked up at him. “Why were my parents killed by vampire hunters if they weren’t vampires?”

Jiwoo saw the pain in his eyes and looked down, holding his hand tightly to try to comfort him. “When did this happen?”

“Ten years ago.”

Jiwoo gasped, her head snapping back up at Jackson surprised. Her hand immediately touching her chest where her scar was. “Ten...Ten years...ago?”

“Yeah. Why? Did something happen ten years ago?”

Jiwoo bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Yeah. Ten years ago, this was before my dad became leader...um…There were these vampires who posed as vampire hunters. It was like a weird vampire cult where they posed as vampire hunters to hunt. They snuck into headquarters and attacked up…” She gripped onto the bottom of her shirt as she spoke. “One of attacked me. It’s the reason I have this scar.” She lifted her shirt to which Jackson tried to look away but when he saw the scar in its entirety, his eyes widened. There was one single scar across her torso that went from just above her left all the way down to the top of her hip bone. Jiwoo pulled her shirt back down and sighed. “If it wasn’t for Jungkook and my dad, I would’ve died that day.”

“S-So...you’re telling me that...it was vampires who killed my parents?”

“I’m not certain but considering the timeline, it’s highly likely.”

Jackson frowned as he tried to process the new information and gently pat Jiwoo’s hand. “Get some rest, okay?”

Jiwoo nodded and slid under the covers as Jackson stood. He went over to the door and glanced back at her. “Goodnight.”

At that, he left the room leaving Jiwoo in the quiet. She curled up on the bed touching her chest. “Goodnight,” she mumbled.

Jackson went to Jaebum’s room and pushed the door open knowing he and Youngjae were up talking to each other, as they were every night. “Why didn’t you tell me my parents were killed by vampires?”

Jaebum looked up at Jackson and frowned. “What?”

“Jiwoo just told me that ten years ago there were vampires that were posing as vampire hunters going around killing people. Is that true?”

Jaebum and Youngjae exchanged glances and didn’t say a word.

“Did you guys know?” Jackson asked, his hands clenching at his sides. “Because I swear…”

“Hyung, calm down,” Youngjae said. “We…We were going to tell you.”

“Were you?” Jackson snapped. “When?”

“We just found out,” Jaebum replied. “And we’re just as shocked as you are. I was actually looking into your parents’ deaths and things didn’t add up. During my research into rogue vampires, things actually started to come together. Rogue vampires didn’t always exist. Your parents and a bunch of other innocent humans were killed as some kind of ritual for them to gain whatever we regular vampires don’t have. The ritual needed human blood, the blood of their makers, and a young human sacrifice. I don’t think the ritual was completed though. It’s the reason why rogue vampires are unstable.”

Jackson frowned. “Young...human… Jiwoo told me she was almost killed during that time. You don’t think…she was a part of the ritual...do you? She told me her dad and Jungkook saved her that day.”

Youngjae gasped softly. “Am I the only one who is thinking that there was some kind of ulterior motive for Jungkook being attacked? Like they knew that he would hunt down the vampire who attacked him and then eventually turn rogue to have someone close to Jiwoo to get to her…”

Jaebum’s eyes widened. “Jackson, you’re going to have to protect her with your life. If any of the rogue vampires get their hands on her…No…If Jungkook gets to her, their ritual would be complete and I sure as hell don’t want to know what it will look like when it is complete.”