1) “Do you think it’s dead?”

2) “No! And stop poking it.”

1) “Wait why does hyung have a human in his bed?”

2) “Donghyuck, I don’t think we should be in here.”

1) “But Mark~ I want to play with him!”

2) “Donghyuck-“

Yuta awoke to the sound of a door opening. 

“You two probably shouldn’t be in here,” announced the male that just entered the room.

“Ah!  Ten hyung!  I can explain!  Donghyuck-“ one of the young boys started.

“Let me guess.  Your brother sensed the presence of a new human and couldn’t ignore his curiosity?  Because that’s exactly something he would do.”  Ten stated cheerfully.

The same boy glared at his brother and aggressively nodded his head.

“OH MY GOD HE’S AWAKE!” Shouted the overexcited Donghyuck. 

Yuta immediately sat up and went to grab his sword from his hip but felt nothing but air.  He was weaponless in front of these vampires.  Yuta felt like a trapped animal.  He would have to fight tooth and nail to get out of here.

Realizing Yuta’s situation, Ten quickly explained, “Hey, no worries.  We don’t bite.  Well maybe little Donghyuckie here might.”  He winked at Yuta.

Was that supposed to make Yuta feel better?  Because he sure as hell didn’t feel any better.  Ten, apparently his name was, was very handsome.  Thick dark black locks fit his head like a helmet and ran across his forehead.  He seemed cheery with a pleasant smile.  This was a vampire?  He was obviously a red-blood though.

Yuta turned his head to look at the two young boys by the bed.  They both looked to be in their early teens.  One had an extremely round face with his hair two different colors.  His bangs were an orangeish blond while the rest of his head was a similar mahogany as Yuta’s own hair.  The other boy had more of an oval face with a lot of baby fat around his cheeks.  His hair was also a brown red. 

What stood out most about the boys was that they were both blue-bloods.  Royals.  As young as they might be, he could feel their power from where he sat on the bed.  Why weren’t they attacking him?  Didn’t they want his blood?  And why was Ten smiling so much?  Did vampires always play with their meal before eating?

“Dude we aren’t gonna eat ya!”  Ten laughed again.

Donghyuck tilted his head in confusion.  “Ew why would we eat him?  He’s a human, not blood!”

The other teenager facepalmed and Ten rolled his eyes.  “Blood comes from humans, idiot.” 

“Oh yea I forgot.”  Donghyuck laughed sheepishly. 

Yuta was so confused.  That kid was a vampire.  How could he just forget he drank blood from humans?

“Don’t mind the twins.  And never listen to anything Donghyuck says.  You can trust Mark though.  He’s got a good head on his shoulders.  I would watch out for Taeyong though.  He’s the one that would definitely bite your head off.”  Yuta could tell Ten was trying to lighten the mood, but Yuta wasn’t convinced. 

Also, who was Taeyong? 

“Yah!  I’m your prince!  You can’t just say something like that about me!” Donghyuck puffed out his cheeks and pouted.  “Plus.”  He turned to look at Yuta.  “I want you to call me Haechan, not Donghyuck.”

Prince?  Twin princes?

“Not that again…”  Mark started.

“But it sounds cool!”  Donghyuck exclaimed with a fist pump to the ceiling.

“Oh, by the way, what’s your name?”  Ten had just realized they never asked Yuta who he was.

“Nakamota Yuta.  Just Yuta is fine, though.”  Yuta mumbled.  Ten walked up to the side of the bed the twins were on and stuck out his hand to Yuta.  “Well it’s nice to meet ya!  I hope we can become friends!  We seem to be around the same age.  Also, you’ll be seeing me around a lot since I’m Taeyong’s bodyguard and all.  Not that he even needs one, but duty calls!”  Yuta looked at Ten’s hand for a little longer before hesitantly accepting the gesture. 

Cold.  His hands were so cold.  Also he had mentioned that Taeyong guy again.

“Who is Tae-“ Ten cut off Yuta’s question by clapping his hands together.  “Ah I almost forgot!  Before I take you to breakfast, you can wash up in the shower in the other room.  There’s also a change of clothes on the bathroom counter you can use.  I’ll be back in a half hour to come get you.” 

Ten smiled at Yuta one last time before beckoning for the boys to come with him.  Before he knew it he was alone again in the room. 

Just what was going on?  How was he not dead?  He, a mere human, was alone in a room with three vampires.  And never once did they ever seem threatening.  He pinched himself.  Well, he definitely wasn’t dreaming. 

His cheeks grew hot as he suddenly remembered what had happened last night.  Just who was that vampire?  Yuta’s eyes widened as he suddenly remembered Johnny and Doyoung.  Did they escape? Are they alive?  Or are they… No.  Of course they’re ok.  They have to be…

Not wasting anymore time, Yuta undressed himself and showered off all the sewer grime, sweat, and other bodily fluids.  After drying off, Yuta eyed the clothes that were laid out for him to wear.  They looked odd.  The top was more normal than not.  A simple royal blue baggy long sleeve top with a few decorations, but the bottom was the thing that confused Yuta.  It looked to be a navy blue… skirt?  Is this really what vampires wore?  He had yet to see one wear something like this?  Well, it’s not like Yuta had a choice anyways.  He slipped the skirt on and by the time he got dressed, there was a light knock from the other room.

Ten poked his head through the door, “Perfect!  It seems like you’re ready.  Let’s get going shall we?”  Ten’s radiant smile appeared on his face once more.

Yuta still didin’t completely trust Ten but thought it was the best option he had at the moment.

Yuta walked out to the hallway beside Ten, making their way to who knows where.  Ten turned his his head to talk to Yuta but stopped as he finally took in Yuta’s full appearance. 

“Uh… What are you wearing?”  Ten was currently trying to stifle his laughter.  Yuta looked down at his clothes and shrugged his shoulders. 

“I just put on what you told me to…?”  Yuta and Ten both whipped around when they heard someone having a case of the giggle fits behind them.  Donghyuck, or rather, Haechan was on all fours slapping the ground, this time laughing from his belly. 

Ten growled, “You little !  You switched out the clothes I laid out for him with a maid’s skirt!”  Yuta immediately blushed and looked down at the offending cloth hanging from his tiny waist.  Everything made sense now. 

Ten started towards Haechan, but the perpetrator rushed off in a flash, still hee-hawing down the hallway.

“Sorry about that.  I really meant it when I said you have to watch out for him.  He loves pulling little tricks like this.”  Ten looked back down at Yuta’s skirt.  “I’ll be right back with a change of pants.”

It took Ten less than a minute to come back with this time a pair of navy slacks.  Yuta slipped into a room to change.  Not too long after, Ten and Yuta were once again on their way.   Still on the second floor, Ten finally stopped at a door. 

“Go ahead and go in.  Breakfast has already been delivered.  I’ll see you later, K?”  Ten left with his signature grin. 

Yuta in a breath before turning the knob to open the door.  Who, or what, was waiting on the other side?  He finally pushed the door open and let out a gasp. 

The room was a dainty little thing.  Probably a tea room with a single table in the middle, and sitting in a chair right in the middle of it was Taeil. 

“Taeil!! You’re okay!! Oh, thank god!”  Yuta rushed to the sitting Taeil and embraced him with all his strength. 

“Yuta!  How did you get here?  Yes, yes I’m perfectly fine!” a bewildered Taeil hugged his friend back.

“You were kidnapped!  Of course we had to come save you!” Yuta exclaimed with teary eyes.  He finally pulled back from Taeil to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

“Yuta, seriously.  I don’t even have a scratch on me!  They’ve treated me really well.  Just like a prince, which of course I am!”  Taeil tried joking to get his friend to settle down a bit.

Taking his eyes off his prince, he realized they weren’t the only ones in the room.  Sitting right across the table from Taeil was another gorgeous being.  His hair was jet black.  Short on one side and long and swept to the side on the other, covering the majority of his forehead.  He had such a perfect, symmetrical face and pretty almond eyes with thick, dark eyebrows.  Another blue-blood.  Yuta was surprised he didn’t feel him on his way into the room.  Apparently his concern for Taeil was too great.

Yuta immediately put his guard up.  “Who are you?  And why did you kidnap our prince?”

“Yuta settle down!  This is Jaehyun.  He’s really nice.  Now, sit down so we can properly explain everything to you before you take someone’s head off.”  Taeil was looking at Yuta will pleading eyes. 

Yuta looked back and forth between Taeil and Jaehyun before pulling up a seat right next to Taeil.  No way was he sitting any closer to the vampire than deemed necessary.

Jaehyun smiled for the first time as Yuta sat down.  Did all vampires have such dazzling smiles?  Before, if looks could kill, Yuta would’ve been dead in a heartbeat, but looking at Jaehyun now he felt no threat.

“We are sorry to have taken your prince without permission, but we meant no harm to anyone.”  Jaehyun started.  “Ah, forgive me, I have to introduce myself first.  My name is indeed Jaehyun.”  He sent a gentle smile Taeil’s way before going on.  “Son of Jongdae, the younger brother of the crowned King Jongin.  It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”  Jaehyun stuck out his hand for Yuta to take.  Yuta didn’t hesitate this time before shaking.  If Taeil was ok with him, Yuta should be too.

“Nakamoto Yuta.  Just a friend of Prince Taeil.”  Yuta muttered back.

“He’s the one I was telling you about!”  Taeil cut in.  “Yuta’s the leader of NCT, our vampire slayer unit.” 

“Ah, I see.  Yes, he seems very reliable, indeed.”  Jaehyun looked Yuta up and down.  Yuta scowled.  He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a jab as he was currently doing a very bad job at being a vampire slayer.

Jaehyun looked back at Taeil with another dimpled grin.  At any rate, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.  Taeil was always good with trusting the right people.

“Oh by the way, eat as much as you want.  This is all for you since I already ate.”  Taeil motioned to the assortment of food laid out across the table.  Yuta grabbed a piece of toast and started buttering it as he addressed Jaehyun again.  “So about Taeil’s kidnapping…”

“Ah, yes.  I was just getting ready to speak to your prince about it.  There’s a lot to discuss, so try to get comfortable.  I’m not sure how much of our history you two know, so I’m going to try to start from the beginning.”  Yuta and Taeil nodded their heads in confirmation for Jaehyun to continue.

“Everything started with the Mirotic War.  Actually, it started before that.  The Mirotic War took place in the TVXQ era, back when Jaejoong was our king.  In that era, Junsu was your king, correct?”  Yuta and Taeil nodded their heads in agreement.  “Humans and vampires were at peace before that time, actually both races had lived in tranquility for thousands of years.  It’s amazing what one war can do to a country.”  Jaehyun shook his head in disappointment. 

“The cause of the war is what many don’t know or try to understand.  You see, Jaejoong had a younger brother.  Yunho had always been jealous of his brother’s power.  That he was the king and not himself.  One day, Yunho couldn’t take his jealously anymore and attacked his brother.  He every last drop of blood from his body.  It turns out, if a vampire is dry of all his blood, he turns into a dark being.  An immortal creature without a soul is born.  A bearer of pure evil.  A demon.”  Jaehyun shivered slightly. 

“These beings…  are strong.  Far stronger than red-blooded vampires.  Even a blue-blood wouldn’t stand a chance in a solo fight.  Demons look similar to regular vampires, with the exception of their purple blood and red eyes.  All they seek in this world is death and destruction.” 

Yuta had never heard of these demons.  One look at Taeil confirmed Yuta’s suspicions that he never had either.  But what did this have to do with Taeil?

Jaehyun continued, “Yunho had no idea what he had created until he, too, was turned into a demon by his brother.  To turn a vampire into a demon, a fellow vampire has to their corpse dry, but for a demon to turn a vampire into a demon, all they have to do is simply bite them.  Similar to a vampire turning a human into a vampire.  Just one bite does the trick.  Luckily, for whatever reason, demons cannot touch humans.  They live in a different realm.  Demon’s bodies just pass right through them.  Humans are untouchable, but vampires are fair game.”

Jaehyun laughed at Yuta and Taeil’s expressions.  Here he was talking about these terrifying creatures, freaking them the out, when in reality the demons can’t affect them at all. 

“Anyways.  Yunho and Jaejoong wanted only the best as their companions, which in their case meant the royals.  They ran from the castle and devised a plan.  They wanted the human king and his brother, and the king of the vampire clan to the north of us.  Before Yunho had Jaejoong bite him, he turned the human king and his brothers into vampire so he could their bodies dry.  Soon the four demons turned into five as they easily overcame the other vampire king.  These five are known as “Tong Vfang Xien Qi” or “The Rising Gods of the East.” 

Yuta buttered another piece of toast.  He felt the story was long from being over.  Even Taeil was starting to pick at the food again.

“Because of the death of the human king and his brother, the humans blamed the vampires.  And then the war came.  The humans attacked us.  We had no choice but to fight back.  We tried to explain to them, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“This is where the vampire slayers come in.  The humans had always been aware of our overpowering strength, so they secretly created a unit called SuJu, just in case our relationship turned sour someday.  We could’ve easily overpowered the humans if it wasn’t for SuJu.”

Jaehyun was shaking at this point.  Clearly not wanting to go on with the story.   

“Over half of our population was killed.  It was even worse for the humans.  So much death for no reason.” 

Yuta couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Over half?  That was… over 50,000 people.   Over 100,000 if he included the vampire’s deaths.  If Yuta had ever asked Sehun about history, he would always shake his head.  Yuta and everyone else grew up being told vampires were evil creatures, with nothing to back up their statements.  And today he was finally getting the truth. 

“Eventually, everyone was too weak and sick to continue the war, so humans and vampires alike pulled the white flag.  Since then, we’ve had no contact with humans.  After the death of the TVXQ kings, a new era began, the SuJu era.  Jaejoong’s son, Yesung took over the vampire throne, as did Junsu’s son, Donghae, for the humans.”

“After the SuJu era came the SHINee era, and now the EXO era.  During all that time, the five demons have been kidnapping vampires from our clans to create a demon army, and we finally figured out why 21 years ago.  There was a prophecy.  That if a pre-pubescent royal vampire is turned into a demon, he would be an all-powerful being that would be absolutely unstoppable.  The fate of the world would literally sit in the palm of his hands.”

“That brings me to the Exodus War.  21 years ago, King Jongin and Queen Krystal had a son.  We were attacked by the demons not long after he was born.  Many were killed, but luckily the five demon founders did not partake.  We were able to fend them off, but Queen Krystal was killed, and the child…  To this day not a soul knows what happened to the baby prince.  The only thing we know is that the demons did not get ahold of him or else the world would have been destroyed by now.”

“King Jongin was devastated, but like every king should, he remarried to the now Queen Victoria and had the three sons he does today.”

Jaehyun took a deep breath.  “And that’s it for the history.  Now for Taeil’s kidnapping.”

Yuta was completely shaken, but he was very ready to understand why he and Taeil were here in the first place.

“Our oracle, BoA, produced another prophecy.  10 chosen ones, human and vampire alike, would come together to defeat the five demon gods and save the world.  Pretty cheesy, but it’s not something we can ignore because the other prophecy about a pre-pubescent child is still active.”

Ah.  Now Yuta understood.  Humans refused to make contact with the vampires, so the only way was to take Taeil and hope he would listen. 

Taeil stood up and started pacing.  “How do you know who the 10 chosen ones are?” he asked Jaehyun, voice serious.

“BoA, our oracle, is in possession of the very first vampire’s heart.  Over time it hardened and turned into what looks like a ruby stone.  If a chosen one touches the heart and it glows, then he is a chosen one.  We have already found four of the ten chosen ones from just our clan alone.  However, we have searched our entire kingdom, so we are assuming the other chosen ones are either human or from the clan to the north of us.”

Taeil stopped his pacing to look at Jaehyun fully.  “I understand.  Would you mind if I touched the stone?  Yuta too.” 

Yuta’s eyes widened.  “Wha-“

Jaehyun clapped his hands together.  “Splendid!”

Taeil continued, “I’m sure the other two vampire slayers in our unit would-“

A deep voice broke through Taeil’s, “you mean these?”

Yuta felt him before he saw him.  He whipped around in his seat and found the silver-haired blue-blood standing in the doorway, carrying Johnny and Doyoung on his shoulders like sacks of potatoes.

The cocky bastard made eye contact with Yuta and smirked before dropping his friends on the ground. 

“Taeyong, did you really have to drop them like that?”  Jaehyun snapped. 

So this guy was Taeyong?  The one Ten warned him about?  Oops.

“I found these rats sneaking through the sewers trying to get back into the castle this morning.  And plus, they’re already unconscious.  Giving them another bump or two won’t hurt.”  Taeyong snickered as he looked at the two lumps on the ground.

“You er-“ Yuta began, but Taeyong once again interrupted, “it seems your language is just as dirty as you were last night.”

Yuta squeezed his fists and started towards Taeyong.  “Yuta!  Stand down!”  Taeil cried out.  Even though Yuta was the leader of NCT, Taeil was still his prince.  Yuta was absolutely livid.  He didn’t know what he expected from the guy he made out with last night, but it certainly wasn’t this.  He suddenly felt dirty.  Tainted by this disgusting being, but even knowing Taeyong was a complete bastard, Yuta was still drawn to him like no other.

“Tch.” Yuta spit out.

It seemed the fall to the floor knocked Johnny and Doyoung back to reality because they were stirring awake on the floor. 

“How about we let them rest a bit before proceeding with the stone.” Jaehyun addressed Taeyong.  It wasn’t a question, more like a statement.  Taeyong gave Jaehyun a curt nod before turning heel and slamming the door shut.

As soon as Taeyong left, Jaehyun let out an apologetic sigh.  “Sorry about that.  The prince can be somewhat of a handful.” 

“PRINCE?  Er-  I mean, prince?”  Yuta was absolutely flabbergasted.  It made sense though.  Jaehyun did say Queen Victoria had three sons:  Taeyong and the twin brothers.  “So Taeyong is the crowned prince?”

“Don’t worry, he’s actually a pretty warm-hearted guy.  He’s just not good with new people.  You’ll see.”  Even Jaehyun didn’t sound convinced by his own words.

“Taeil? Yuta?”  Johnny started sitting up with Doyoung following suit.

“I’ll let you guys catch up a bit before we do anything else.”  At this Jaehyun left the room, but not before getting a good look at the blonde that was nursing his wounds on the floor.

Johnny and Doyoungl were just as surprised as Yuta when they noticed Taeil.  After patching up and feeding their friends, Yuta and Taeil took the rest of the afternoon to explain everything Jaehyun had discussed with them. 

“Well damn.”  Johnny let out when everything was finally said.  “I guess everything kind of makes sense now.  It’s no wonder no one would ever teach us about our history.  It’s because they didn’t even know the truth.”  Johnny let out a laugh and mumbled, “stupid bastards.” 

Doyoung just stared at his hands.  He was usually a man of many words, but he was being abnormally quiet today.

“Alright so when are we gonna touch this magical stone thingy or whatever?”  Johnny looked at Taeil for an answer. 

Yuta had a sudden thought.  “Wait… did anyone tell the king where we were?  Of all the things we don’t need another war.”

“Don’t worry I already wrote a letter to my father saying everything was fine before you came in the room.  They sent it by owl for me.”  Taeil informed them.

“You know, it’s weird.  All our lives we’ve considered the vampires our enemies when in reality they’re no such thing.  It’s going to take awhile for me to get used to it.  To not have to fear for my life every time I see one.”  The vampire slayers nodded at Yuta’s words.

“I agree.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything.”  Taeil added.

The boys started drifting off one by one as they waited for Jaehyun’s return.  Yuta was the last one to start drifting when they finally heard a knock on the door.

“Ready?”