Park Jiae had just finished her lunch, when Lee Sojin one of the Secretaries from the front desk popped her head around her door.

“Jiae, someone has walked in and wishes to see you.” Jiae took a mouthful of water and stood up behind her desk. ”I think it might the be one we have been monitoring walking around the building.”

“About time,” Jiae commented making her way around her desk, “I was beginning to think we were going to have to tranquilise him.”

The two left the office and made their way down the maze of corridors, that lead to the front of the building. Bows were given to Jiae as she passed and anyone who was new to the building, would find it strange. Jiae was only 23 and turned up to the office -only three times a month- looking more like an apprentice, than someone who held a title.

“What are these lights so dull?.” Jiae asked taking her id out of the front pocket of her jeans, and scanning it id over the lock pad to reception.

“Energy saving bulbs.”

“Energy saving bulbs.” Jiae froze in front of the door, her hands slightly touching the metal object. She could not believe what she was hearing, they fought monsters everyday that put them close to death each time and, yet they were worrying about light bulbs. “Whose idea was that?”

“Elder Park.” Her Great Grandfather, of course it was.

Shaking her head Jiae pushed the metal door open and prepared her card again to use in the next lock pad. The space that the two doors lead into and out of out, was big enough for 30 normal sized bodies to be in; before in got uncomfortable. Two smaller -still lock pad equipped- doors were on the two remaining walls. One lead to the main office of the reception, while the other lead to the cleaning cupboard/ staff room/ small weapons room.

“I put him in the first waiting room.” Sojin told Jiae and she opened the main office door. “It’s busy out there, wolves fighting over territory; again.”

Jiae rolled her eyes and swiped her card again, the normal beep sounding as the door unlocked itself. Why the wolves couldn’t stick to their territory was beyond her, she was glad she only dealt with vampires; half of them didn’t leave their living space unless they had too.

A mixture of arguing and the smell of blood hit her as she entered the main entrance, to her right were the wolves that were arguing and the tired looking Protectors that must have brought them in. Jiae shot the one Protector a smile, when he looked her way and he rolled his eyes in return; wolves always seemed to have the same problems.

To her left were the waiting rooms and a very sad looking plant, that probably should have been thrown out a week ago. All the doors she noticed, had a red dot below the room number; showing they were in use. The building had a pattern of being quiet for weeks and then everyone seemed to be coming through the door, for one thing and another. It was one of the reasons why, she only appeared three times a month.

This time Jiae placed her id card in front of the red dot and waited for the beeps to stop as it read all her information. The red dot turned purple and the door unlocked itself, a small part of the clean simple room becoming visible through the open space.

Pushing the door open slightly, she made a gap big enough for her to slip through but not big enough, that everyone outside could see who was in the room.

“Good Afternoon,” Jiae let the door close beside her and leant back against the wall, “you asked for me?.”

The figure that was sat in the chair opposite her, wore a grey hood that completely covered their head; hiding their face from Jiae. Judging by the build and leather jacket they were wearing, it was indeed the figure, she had been informed had been hanging around the building, for a couple of days.

“Maybe we should start from the basics.” Jiae pulled the other chair away from the small half a table that was pushed against the left wall and sat down. “My name is Park Jiae and I am a Protector in the Vampire Sector of the Seoul Supernatural Order. You don’t have to tell me your name, you can just give me an initial if you wish.”

The figure remained silent and Jiae looked them over, their shoes were black and tied with red laces, their jeans were medium denim and frayed around the bottom. Their hoodie was zipped right to the top, so she couldn’t see what they wore underneath, but she could see their hands holding on the edge of their sleeves and a backpack lay by their left side; bulging with whatever was inside.

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

“Mark.” The name came out quiet, less than a whisper but thanks to her enhanced hearing, she had been born with to work with vampires; she heard it.

“Mark, Ok. I need you to take your hood down for me, you can put it up when you leave the room again. I just need to see your face, as you can imagine, we get a lot people saying they are one thing and they end up being another.”

Jiae watched as the hands on the edge of the sleeves tightened and then within a blink of an eye the hood was pulled down, to reveal a male who looked no more than 18.

“Usually, we have to do a test to see if they person in front of us, is who they say they are but with you I don’t think I need too.” Jiae held eye contact with Mark until he looked away. “The fact that you have been hanging around here for days and not coming in, tells me this is you and not someone using a form. They normally march in, making it easy to be suspicious of them.”

Mark placed his hood back up and Jiae stood pushing the chair back under the table.

“Let’s have a talk in my office shall we, these rooms are a bit intimidating.” Mark stood and collected his backpack, while Jiae opened the door. “Don’t pay attention to the bodies out here, they’ve been brought here for defying the peace.”

The two left the room and Jiae felt the atmosphere change in the room, a lone vampire and two packs of werewolves in the same room. If this had been outside the building carnage would follow. Jiae quickened her pace to the main door and in doing so managed to catch Sojin’s eye and the main door beeped as she got to it. Jiae held the door for Mark and quickly closed it after him, she didn’t want a werewolf charging through the door.

The next door was opened by Sojin as well and again Jiae made sure to close the door quickly, securing them both in the offices and maze of corridors.

“Welcome to the maze, Mark,” Jiae lead the way and started the confusing journey again to her office, “Do you want a drink?.”

“Yes, please,” The voice was louder but raspy, a sign she had learnt over the years meant that a vampire required blood, “A, if you have it.”

“Of course we do, body temperature?.”

“Yes.”

When they got to the department that her office was placed in, Jiae told someone behind a desk- whose name she probably knew but couldn’t remember- about the blood for Mark and kept going until they reached her office.

“Make yourself as comfortable as you can,” Jiae unlocked the door and held it open for Mark to enter, “the chairs in here are horrible, but I’m not here enough to justify doing up the place.”

Jiae took her previous seat and tidied away her rubbish and plastic box from lunch, while Mark shifted around, on one of the uncomfortable seats opposite her desk.

“Right, let’s talk then,” Jiae wiggled the mouse of her computer around, to wake her computer up, “I must tell you, that I have a form I have to fill in while we go. Which will be kept on record, if you are not happy with that you can leave now.”

Jiae watched him out of the corner of her eye, as she brought up the form she had to fill in. The only move, he made was to put down the hood on his hoodie.

“So you go by Mark, have you always been Mark?.” He nodded.

“I’m Minhyung aswell, Minhyung Lee.”

“My older brother is a Lee as well. Birth place?.”

“Vancouver, Canada. August 2nd, 1999.” Jiae stopped typing when she heard his birthdate and looked at him.

“You’re turned?.” He nodded once again. “When?.”

“Two years ago,” Jiae started typing again, “ I got hit by a car on the way home from school. That’s what I’ve been told anyway.”

“You went to school here?. From what age?.”

“Early teens. I’m sorry, I don’t really remember anything clearly.”

“Brain damage the cause of death?.”

Another nod.

“What made you come here today, Mark?.”

He fell quiet and his hands resumed their tight position on his sleeves again.

“I was told if I wanted to leave,” he said after a while, “that I should come here.”

“Who told you?.”

“Someone, he disappeared not long after,” Mark shifted around in his seat, “I think he came here, it’s what was spread around.”

“Spread around where?.”

“The Clan.”

“How many in the Clan?.”

“I don’t know.” He shifted again and Jiae noted the behaviour, he was nervous that easy to tell but he also wasn’t telling the complete truth.

A knock came from the door and the person from behind the desk came in, a cup in their hand. They passed it to Mark and quickly left, not looking at Jiae once.

“Ok, Mark I know you are nervous, but I need you to tell me the complete truth, we can’t help if you don’t tell us the bigger picture.” She turned away from the computer and faced him straight on, the young vampire was sipping the blood from the cup. “You died in your human life from brain damage, which of course I have to consider, but your body language is telling me; you do know something about the numbers of the clan.”

“A lot.”

“Mark.”

“I don’t know the numbers, I just know that everywhere I went they knew my name.”

“Do you know the names of where you went?.”

“Gangnam, I got left there a lot,” Mark took a big gulp of blood, “Also, by the river in some offices. I wasn’t allowed that far, I get confused after a while.”

“Do you remember any names of places?.”

“There was a hotel, it’s where I got left with a few others.” There were only a few Clans that she knew of that owned or had anything to do with hotels. “For the offices, I used to see a white sculpture a lot; I think it was Yeouido.” Even less had offices in Yeouido.

“This is the last question I am going to ask you today, so we can get you situated somewhere quickly. I can see you are getting tired. How did you know to ask for me?.”

“Your name, it went around the clan. Why am I not….. supposed to know…. your name?.” Marks speech was becoming slow and his eyes were starting to droop. The person behind the desk had put the right amount of the sedative into his drink. They could do something right here it seemed.

“No, you can know my name, it makes a change for someone of your kind to not run away when they see me.”

Jiae watched on as Mark tried to fight against, what the sedative was doing to him; but it was no use. Within seconds his upper body slumped forward and Jiae counted to 30, before she picked up the phone on her desk and hit 0.

“It’s me, we had a walk in at the order and I need someone to collect a body for further questioning. We need someone to get into his head, he’s from the top two.”

 

Thank you so much for reading.