Youngjae groaned as he shoved a carton of blood into Bambam’s hands with a straw. “Where the hell is he?” He glanced at the clock and rolled his eyes. “He’s going to get himself killed being out there by himself.”

Bambam happily sipped from the carton as he shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he hooked up with a hot mortal last night.”

Youngjae’s eye twitched. “No! Hell no. I’m not going to allow that. That’s just wrong.”

“Calm down,” Jaebum said pushing his empty carton aside. “He’ll be back soon. You know he’s not going to be dumb enough to fall for a human.”

Youngjae huffed and took the empty carton, throwing it into the trash. “That’s not what I’m worried about. He’s got vampire hunters after him. He shouldn’t be out there by hi—Jackson hyung.” Youngjae quickly straightened up when Jackson walked through the door.

Jackson rose an eyebrow looking at the other three vampires. “What? You guys talking about me again?”

Bambam swallowed the blood he sipped from the carton and nodded. “Aren’t we always?” Youngjae nudged Bambam in the side making the younger vampire whimper.

“Where the hell have you been?” Youngjae asked placing his hands on his hips as he directed a glare in Jackson’s direction.

Jackson shrugged. “Out.” He moved over to the small fridge where they kept the blood and pulled out two cartons. He slipped one into his jacket pocket and opened the other. He leaned against the wall and took a drink.

“Where did you go? You can’t just strut around in the open. Vampire hunters are probably out there looking for you.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and chugged down the blood and threw the carton away. “I was just at the usual place I go to. It’s better than staying home all day.” He walked to the basement door when Youngjae said something that he just tuned out. He couldn’t care less about what Youngjae thought about him going out every day. He waved his hand dismissively to brush off whatever it was that Youngjae had said and headed down to the basement.

“Unbelievable,” he heard Youngjae say. And Bambam’s response. “I’m telling you. Hot mortal.”

Jackson snorted. If only that were true. Although, Youngjae would probably kill him if he found out Jackson was hooking up with a human.

He made his way down into the basement and flicked on the light. It illuminated the room showing the two cages in it. One empty, one holding a vampire who sat on the floor. His hands were shackled and the long chains held him to the wall. Jackson pulled a stool by the cage and threw the carton of blood in through the bars and watched as the vampire scrambled for it desperately.

“I saw her today,” Jackson said as the vampire sunk its fangs into the carton and it dry. “She was training someone. You were right about her. She is very pretty. Almost too pretty if I say so myself.” The vampire’s ear twitched as Jackson spoke. “It’s a shame actually. She probably won’t survive much longer.”

A low growl emitted from the vampire’s throat as it glared at Jackson, its eyes hazing over black and irises turning an iridescent red. It began to tug on the chains attempting to get out of them only to be burned by the silver they were made out of. The vampire screeched in pain and stared at its hands studying the singed flesh.

Jackson tilted his head and leaned forward closer to the cage to whisper. “Don’t worry. She’ll get exactly as she deserves.” He stood off the stool and left the basement leaving the vampire by itself again.

Jackson dropped himself on the chair next to Bambam who was playing with a silver throwing star by spinning it in his hand. Bambam looked at his hyung as he stopped spinning the shuriken.

“I don’t get it, hyung. Why are we keeping him alive? He’s dangerous to, well, everyone now. Why don’t we just get rid of him?” Bambam suggested. “We have the tools to get the job done.” He waved the silver shuriken in front of Jackson’s face teasing him. Jackson growled at Bambam through his teeth and shot the younger a glare as his eyes flashed a threatening red. Bambam immediately retracted his hand back with a pout.

Jaebum tapped his fingers on the table and leaned back against the chair. “If we kill him, we’ll for sure look guilty of killing him. However, I’m not sure it even makes a difference. They probably already think Jackson did it.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” said Jackson as he crossed his arms across his chest. “Someone is probably on their way to kill me as we speak. So what?”

“It should matter.” Youngjae frowned. “Don’t you want to live? Didn’t you make a promise to that...thing down there?”

“A fake promise.” Jackson straightened in his chair. “What makes you think I’m going to ‘protect’ her? She’s basically our enemy and you want me to stay alive to protect her? She was raised to kill our kind. Who’s to say she won’t stab me in the back when I try?” The other vampires fell quiet. Jackson had a point. Even if he did try to protect her, it’s in her blood to kill vampires. There was no way to convince her otherwise especially after the accusation on Jackson’s head.

“Then why did you promise him something you wouldn’t do?” Youngjae asked.

Jackson sighed. “To give him peace of mind before he permanently lost his.”

Youngjae looked down into his lap. “It’s still cruel of you not to keep your promise.”

Jackson shrugged his shoulders. “Sure as hell doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter to him anymore. She doesn’t matter to him anymore. Nothing does.”