Kai clicked his tongue repeatedly and wagged his head. "Don't you worry about where I got this," he said with an air of confidence, "that doesn't matter. What matters is that, after hours of researching online, I was able to track down some silver bullets used to kill werewolves. The guy said he was willing to let go of these family heirlooms because all the werewolves were killed a century ago by a secret organization or whatever. Now, you might question what werewolves have to do with vampires, right? Well they're both unholy creatures, and these bullets, he told me, cancel all types of unholiness." With a shrug of his shoulders, Kai continued, "I thought it was too good to be true, too, but I only paid a few quid for 'em. And no one is willing to sell rounds for that cheap, so even if I got regular bullets, I still got them for super cheap. And they actually work with my pistol, so it's destiny!"

After glancing at the ornate pistol in his friend's hand, Kyungsoo rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Every time I think I know you, you prove me wrong. I mean, did that gun ever have a different purpose?" he let his words drift away as he fought against the notion that Kai was capable of committing heinous crimes.

 "Don't worry," Kai asserted, "I've never killed a man or attempted strong-arm robbery. Just had this for 'in-case' moments like these. But!" he exclaimed with a bit of a smirk as he kissed his gun, "I'll be sure to be of help with this. I got enough silver bullets to take down an army of Vampires! I also kinda took a pay advance to pay for the rounds..." he added in a hushed tone.

 "You really want to go that bad, huh? That you're willing to buy bullets off the black market or from God knows where?"

 Kai breathed out and spoke with a solemn tone, "Every night you come back looking as though you were ten centimeters away from death. I get sick and tired just sticking around here, without being of any help at all. Kyungsoo, trust me," he insisted as he placed his hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder.

 Kyungsoo felt doubtful. There was an ominous feeling that kept on nagging him, disturbing him, and it was something he couldn't quite put into words. Something about this specific night felt off and he wasn't sure of the cause, whether it was simple nerves or pessimism. It felt like a quickening with too many things happening all at once for him. He had an urge to tell Kai to stay, but then he looked at his enthusiasm, at his determination to be of help, at his smile. And the simple thought of Kai being there, near him, stirred up a type of confidence within himself. I think we'll be okay. Was it a dumb decision born out of a visceral conviction? Maybe it was, but Kyungsoo, at any rate, didn't want to argue with Kai after mending their friendship just that day. 

 "Alright, but run away if it gets too dangerous!" Kyungsoo said with a look of concern.  

Slamming open the window, Kyungsoo told Kai to follow him using his bike, and that if he were able to stay caught up, for him to stay as a rear-guard for him. Kai nodded and did in fact do as told. 

Kai was huddled against a tree in the middle of the not-so-dense Salisbury Woodland. His hands were readily clutching his pistol in case any of the fiends got too close to him. Kyungsoo was already at work, having just dispatched two of The Flock. Kai admired his courage and was more than glad having recognized his old wrestling moves now at use by his brother. Because now the two were brothers since Kai had shared his own blood with him. He saw one of the fiends stealthily perch itself atop some overhanging boughs of a tree. "Now's my chance!" Kai told himself as he shot at the beast. Kyungsoo quickly turned around in the direction of the loud blast and saw the beast drop heavily onto the dirt path, dust springing up into the air because of its mass.
 
"Thanks!" he shouted, his heart still pounding from the loud boom of the gunshot. He was happy the dreary feelings of worry and uncertainty were wrong. In the span of a moment he considered how taking Kai with him had actually saved his life. Kyungsoo smiled as he remembered the sayings, "There is a friend who is closer than a brother", and "A three-fold cord is not easily broken". The "three-fold cord" consisted of himself, Kai, and God, who he was sure was looking over them on this fateful night.

 But that small second of carelessness was enough to knock Kyungsoo off his super-concentrated state. A beast pounced at him from behind and gashed him with its talons. The beast growled as drool slowly dripped from its open mouth, creating a pool of saliva between its two legs. Kyungsoo grunted in pain, his eyes glued to the blood that covered his hand. He knew he had to get up and fight, but the beast leapt on top of him, forcing him to the ground as dirt was kicked up into the air during the struggle.

Kai rushed to the scene and shot multiple rounds at its back without hesitation, killing it instantly. He kicked the corpse off Kyungsoo and kneeled to ask if he was okay.

 "Yeah, I guess I did need help after all!" Kyungsoo said with a slight smile. He was squirming from the pain. The fiend had slashed his side up pretty well, causing blood to continually flow from the wound.

Kai retrieved the vial of medicine Rx had gifted him from within his jacket. After taking its cap off with his teeth, he let the blue liquid drizzle on Kyungsoo's wound. It was more than a simple scratch, he had observed. He swore he could see some of Kyungsoo's organs jiggle from the gaping hole on his side, and that's what drove him to empty out nearly half of the bottle on him. "Better he use this up, since he might die because of bleeding," he said under his breath as he finished closing the bottle. Although Kai was grateful for the elixir, he never convinced himself to believe Rx was an ally. After all, he's the one who made Kyungsoo a Vampire, and surely all these fiends of The Flock were his fault.

 "What was that?" Kyungsoo asked, perplexed by Kai's action. He was half awake, lightheaded and dizzy from the loss of blood in addition to the fatigue of fighting.

 Kai kept staring at the wound, "just some medicine. Stay quiet and let it work it's magic," he replied, never letting his eyes move from off the injury.

Kyungsoo grunted in pain, but that was only momentarily. The liquid medicine, or potion, whatever it may have been, worked its magic without a hitch. After reloading his trusty arm with another 6 rounds, Kai sat back on the ground, relieved that the battle had ended and that Kyungsoo's wound had sealed up. He noticed Kyungsoo had fallen asleep, tired from the battle, so he took a breather. With his head tilted up and eyes fixed on the night sky, he took a minute or two to absorb all of the night's events. 

His mind then gravitated to a couple of things. Seeing just how bad the horror of battle was caused Kai to reconsider the course of his life. He really felt Kyungsoo could've died had it not been for him gunning that monster down. That scared him and actually caused him to pity Kyungsoo who had already gotten used to fighting. But, surprisingly, even to himself, the acknowledgement of their own mortality distilled the desire to reconnect with his parents, who he was unsure of- if they were even still alive. Were they alive? Is that why they didn't answer his call? Because maybe they had already died in the decade since he last talked to them? I'll try calling them again when I get the chance.

Kai heard a groan coming from Kyungsoo.  Most likely just the uncomfortable terrain he was sleeping on. But, the small noise prompted him to remember the danger of having people discover the aftermath of the fight. He weighed the choice he had, to let him rest or to wake him up and leave the place. Before settling on a choice, he looked around, making sure no other of The Flock was around. He stayed still and listened around for anything unnatural. No noise was heard, that is, no sign of a lurking monster anywhere around. Only the gentle swaying of branches and quiet whisper of the wind. "I think I'll just let him rest a little."

 Kai stood up as silently as he could and brushed the dirt off his pants. His morbid curiosity pushed him to look at the dead monsters the two had just killed. All it took was a few steps to the east and there he was, a few centimeters' distance separating him from the corpse of a fiend. It was one Kyungsoo had killed. But whoever of the two killed it didn't matter to Kai. It was no competition, of course. Rather, what mattered to Kai was how many the beast had killed and presumably eaten up. That thought really irked Kai. It's hideous exterior proved to be a reflection of its own macabre nature, Kai thought as he knelt to take a good look at its ugly face. Every moment he took looking at it, hating it, further magnified the disgust and anger he already held toward its kind. He pointed at it's ugly face with his gun and spat at it, "Stupid piece of!" Before he could finish his sentence he quieted down when he heard the snap of a twig nearby. He tightly held his gun next to his face and slowly made his way closer to Kyungsoo. Nothing. At least that's what he thought.

About 3 or 4 meters away from where he stood, the body of one of the monsters laid on the ground, twitching. It was a weird. Kai was sure it was dead, but it was twitching! After glimpsing at Kyungsoo, making sure he was okay, he went and stopped in front of the beast that jerked and shook. Only now, to his surprise, it had begun to change its form. His jaw dropped. What hit Kai first was the unbelief that swept over him as he noted the change in the corpse's skin, no longer like a diseased cat, but more like a man's. Then it was confusion and ambiguity when its hideous features, those horn-like protrusions and long fangs, slowly vanished, retracting inside the body. It was twitching, convulsing more and more until it finally stopped, and what it had turned into disturbed Kai. His hand trembled as he gasped and saw that the beast had transformed into the body of a young man. He recognized it as the thug Kyungsoo had feasted on over a month ago, the night he had discovered his secret. What did this mean? 

Then, out of nowhere, another of The Flock dropped in front of him. He fell flat on his rear, but he didn't hesitate. Although his palms were moist from a nervous sweat, he shot a number of rounds, more than enough for sure, and so the beast laid dead on the ground. Kai, still in shock, hastened to reload his pistol a second time. His hands were shaky, his head dizzy, and his gut hurt deep in the intestines, but he had to make sure his gun was loaded in case another monster popped up. 

He shook his head and told himself to calm down for Kyungsoo's sake who might be in danger. But the thought of seeing a monster turn human perturbed him.  Kai reasoned this phenomena was a mystery even to Kyungsoo. If Kyungsoo knew the fiends that make up The Flock were actually human, there was no way he would hold it a secret from him. Furthermore, he was sure Kyungsoo would've thought twice of slaying the monsters so mercilessly had he known they were most likely a victim of an unknown evil. For clearly these monsters were changed into what they were without their consent. Yet, Kai wondered, who made them this way? He felt beads of cold sweat gather on his forehead as he questioned "Was it Kyungsoo?" Could he have done this without his knowing? No, there was no way possible. Right?

 "Kai!" Kyungsoo cried out from where he was laying down. The loud blasts had startled him from sleep.

 "I'm fine!" he assured him as he quickly ran back to him. "Just another monster."

 Kai, lightheaded and all from what he just saw, told Kyungsoo to rest a little longer. 

Kyungsoo, stubborn, got up and insisted on burying the bodies.

 "I- I got it, don't worry about it." Kai told him with a nervous tone. After thinking about it, he was sure it's best to keep what he saw a secret from Kyungsoo. He didn't know how he'd react to it, and so, when keeping in mind how it might traumatize him, chose to keep his lips sealed.

Kyungsoo coughed, and coughed a second and then a third time. With the third cough, however, he spat out a mixture of phleghm and blood, some of which disgustingly landed inside Kai's mouth. Kai was letting out a deep sigh at the sight of his friend's bad health when the admixture landed inside. He was quick to spit it out and slapped Kyungsoo on the back pretty hard in retaliation. Kyungsoo fell on his face, fainting and leaving Kai to worry even more. Kai knelt and asked him to get up, but then he felt a sudden, intense pang in his abdomen. 

He cried out in pain as he clutched his stomach. "What's going on?!"

 At that instance, the familiar melody he heard when he first met Rx in the dungeon rang in his ear. He looked up and spotted Rx, in front of him.

 "I told you not to drink his blood. Oh, sorry! Maybe I should've said not to even taste his blood! Now, unless you kill him, you're going to turn into one of those," he said as he wagged his finger at the corpse of the monster Kai had just killed. "It's just no fun if I do it, you see."

 "What?! Why?!" Kai spat out some blood and looked closely at his hand, slowly changing to resemble the claws of The Flock.

 Rx, with a cheeky smile, continued, "Do it! It's his fault. You see all these monsters? They're all his offspring. Whenever he on someone's blood, as his fangs grew, a small trace of blood secreted out along with them. His blood then made its way into his victim's bloodstream through the holes he made with his sharp fangs and they become another of The Flock. A monster without any real intelligence. With you, it happened by accident as his blood landed on your tongue. How unfortunate. I'm surprised, myself, how that was enough to change you. Oh, well!"

 Kai was losing his consciousness. Reason had slowly started to float away from him. Even so, he desperately struggled to maintain his mind, his sanity. The pain surging through his body crippled him, he was unable to do much besides flail around and pound at the ground. His eyes were getting blurry and the memories of who he was as a person were a mere haze now. He wailed, unable to stop his body from changing. His clothes were ripping apart as his body grew in size and jagged protrusions emerged from his limbs, his voice of despair turned into the shriek of a monster. Still, an innate desire to save Kyungsoo, an emotion more stronger than primal rage, love for his brother, prompted him to reach for the loaded gun laying in front of what used to be his fingers, now long talons.

 "Shoot him!" Rx cackled.

Despite his awkward grip with which he held the gun, just in time before he lost all sense of reality, he did it. One shot. Two shots fired and he dropped to the ground, trembling in anguish from the self-inflicted wound. With his mind still in tact, maybe as a result of the sudden jolt of pain, he quietly prayed, "Save him. Save me. Forgive me."

Kyungsoo woke up, bewildered by the beast only a few meters away from him. He gasped as he saw a torn scrap of the white jacket Kai loved hanging on one of the beast's horned protrusions. Next, he saw the gun by the beast's head as it jerked in agony. Without hesitation, Kyungsoo rushed to the beast and killed it. He violently dug his hand into the gunshot wounds, which he presumed was Kai's work and last ever act. The beast cried, but Kyungsoo didn't stop there. He totally mutilated the body.

Kyungsoo, hands bloody and eyes clouded from sweat and tears, hammered at the corpse again and again until Rx finally stepped in and pulled him away from the body. But he was out of it. Kyungsoo had spiraled into insanity. His best friend had been killed without his knowing and the fact that he was sleeping during the fatal encounter ate at him.

He kept blaming himself for Kai's death. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. He bit his lips in anger, prompting blood to spurt out into the air. I knew I should've made him stay home. I did it. I did it! He dropped to his knees and pounded at the ground in a deep rage. I killed him! I killed Kai! He shook his head maniacally and his vision met the sight of the mangled corpse. No! It was you! Stupid monster! He mounted it again and pummeled it, blood squirting into the night sky with every strike. His hands were dripping with blood and his cheeks, too. His whole face was tainted in the scarlet hue.

 "Now, I don't think you should treat you dear brother's body like that. Shouldn't you have more respect for the dead?"

 Unable to comprehend, Kyungsoo got up and shot a hook at Rx, "He's not Kai!" but Rx dodged it and pulled himself away. He slapped him and told him to simply listen.

 "You just finished off Kai. He turned into that after tasting your blood. Sad, huh? But it happened to all those people you drank blood from. And then it happened to all those people those monsters, The Flock, feasted on. Figuratively, that is. They never ate their victims. They only drank their blood. It was a misconception you had, thinking they ate their victims. It was a happy coincidence, I admit, that you never saw them turn into that, or turn back human once you murdered them."

 His eyes bulged out in horror as he recalled the scraps of clothing he always found at the scene whenever he fought The Flock. "Those pieces of torn clothing..."

 "Yes, when they transformed their clothing burst off as a result of the dynamic change their body took. See," Rx rolled his eyes, "that's why I didn't really want to explain everything. Because it gets hard to understand, at least for you."

Kyungsoo nodded "no" in a frenzied manner, refusing to believe him. "It's just lies!" he repeated over and over again. Frustrated, Rx pointed to the various corpses that were once monsters, now human. Kyungsoo was incredulous, still. "That's just my mind playing tricks on me!" He rejected, protested Rx's words. He could not allow himself to believe he had just killed his friend. 

But it struck him. Why did Rx say brother? Did he mean it in metaphorical way? He didn't get it.

Rx relished at the sight of Kyungsoo's deranged expression and motions, constantly nodding no. "Look here," he told Kyungsoo as he gestured his finger at him. He successfully gained his attention, so now he whispered an incantation and cusped his hands together. A small fire lit up, hovering over his palms. Its embers were green and swayed with the blowing of the wind. Rx grasped the fire with his hand and clapped the ground with the same hand. A ball of smoke emerged from where he struck the ground. "Come and see," he instructed.

 Kyungsoo didn't respond, his lips only mouthed a word, a name, "Kai."

"Aphasia? Of the brain? The heart? The soul?" Rx sighed and snapped his fingers. With the snap a vision of Kai undergoing his change manifested itself from within the ball of smoke.

 "Kai!" Kyungsoo shouted.

 Using his sorcery, Rx replayed all of what had happened when Kyungsoo was asleep for him to view. Kyungsoo tugged at his hair and stretched out his hand, attempting to reach Kai and somehow help his dead friend. "He's still alive!" he moaned. 

 "No, he's not! I told you already. Keep looking!"

The vision ended, leaving him distraught and miserable, but settled with the notion, "It's all my fault."

 "Not yet. Keep looking and you'll see the moment you two became brothers. For he shared his blood to save you."

Rx repeated his trick and Kyungsoo anxiously watched to see what he meant. He saw Kai slit his palm and drop his blood into his open mouth as he slept. That's why he had gotten a renewed vigor that very morning. It was all thanks to Kai. Kyungsoo remained quiet as he slouched over to get a better look at his friend when he was still alive. But the vision disappeared, and now he was forced to accept reality. Kyungsoo accepted it. Kai was dead and there was nothing he could do. His jaw was slack and his lips were drooping as he whimpered. Scenes from earlier in the day, from when they played as kids together, from when they first went to school, even the most banal of memories resurfaced and drove him to tears. It was all because of his blood that Kai died. All because of him.

But Kyungsoo remembered. With his breath still winded, his eyes swollen, his face uncomfortably hot and his head still throbbing, he remembered how it was Rx who turned him into what he was.That's right, he told himself, I didn't choose to be a Vampire. He did it. He made me this. He did it! He did this! If it wasn't for Rx, than all of this wouldn't have happened. All reasoning came to a halt, hatred possessed him. Hatred over himself and moreover, hatred for Rx. He gritted his teeth and continually grinded them, resembling a wild beast in nature as his lips furled up and contorted. He accepted the fact that he must kill Rx and then himself for all of this to stop. "I have to do it," he mouthed, "I have to." His solution was fully settled on.

He breathed in deeply and took note of where Kai's gun was, an arm's length away from him. Rx kept staring at him, sensing he was up to something. But it was too late. In the blink of an eye, Kyungsoo threw his body to reach the gun. Rx's eyes grew wide, knowing he had made a fatal mistake. He did. Kyungsoo shot all the remaining rounds at Rx, causing him to stumble and spit out blood. Rx missed the opportunity to recite a spell, and now he was paying for it. Or was he?

To Kyungsoo's dismay, Rx stood back up, drenched in blood but standing without any distinguishable look of being in pain. He laughed and tilted his head back, laughing and laughing. Kyungsoo was unsure what to do. The ringing of a phone broke the silence. It was Kai's phone. Rx smiled at Kyungsoo, nodding with his head for him to answer it. Who could it be?

The screen on the monitor was lit and its ringtone pierced through Kyungsoo's ears, urging for him to answer. It was rumbling not far off from Kai's mangled corpse. Kyungsoo hesitated with a knot truncated in his throat. He whimpered as his eyes forced themselves on the dead body of the monster, Kai's body. He was feeble, yet he forced himself to crawl his way over to finally clutch onto the phone with trembling hands. He was hyperventilating and had trouble holding onto the phone, much less actually answering it. Every time he swiped at the screen, the humidity of his muddy, blood-mingled finger caused him to fail. With his abdomen convulsing from being so distraught, the abnormal palpitations of his heart, and his nose incessantly sniffling, he wiped the dirt and grime off his hands on his jeans and then the miry screen on his jacket. He choked when he noted the number calling was an international one. No, it couldn't be.

He withheld his tears and all his emotions, doing his best to manage the semblance of a composed voice. "This is Kai."

 It was Kai's father with his mother speaking over him. He apologized for not answering the call and continued to say that the number Kai had dialed belonged to a phone he had stopped using several years ago but one he held onto in case something like this happened. He explained that after checking the phone during his lunch break, he rushed home to mom and so the two were now anxiously awaiting to speak with him after ten long years. And they really thought they did, so they kept prompting for a continued response, a follow up to "This is Kai."

Kyungsoo whimpered. "I'm sorry," he said as he hung up. He smashed the phone against a nearby rock and stood still with his gaze casted on Kai.

 Rx grinned and pointed at Kyungsoo, "You, die!"